Scene #8352: Beryl & Bellamy

Owner	Pose
Rowdyruff Boys	THE CITY of TOWNSVILLE... is under attack by... itself?! Sad, but true. Chaos has erupted all over the city as a new PRODUCT has hit the streets! Colorful pop-ups spread through the city have begun to sell, of all things, a new kind of vape pen! (It is, insistently, not an e-cigarette, although some older users equally insist back that, yes, this is a cigarette and not a vape.) Regardless of what they're being called, those who have taken them have become hopelessly addicted in record time! Oh, and it gives them superpowers. That's the important part. Already the supply that's been delivered to the city has dwindled enough that those who want more are fighting openly in the streets, hurling cars, firing eye lasers, using telephone poles as baseball bats, and generally being an exceptionally violent nuisance for themselves and each other. Two familiar figures are already out in the streets trying to calm people down and stop them from hurting each other too badly. Bellamy can be found in the central part of town, where the cybernetic quasi-hero is doing a formidable job keeping people from simply annihilating each other with fire trucks, but she's looking worn down. Beryl is busily fighting... another actual superhero?! Yes, indeed, soaring through the skies battling Buttercup's practical twin is an enormous blonde-haired man in white-and-blue. Those who are familiar with Townsville's past will recognize this as MAJOR MAN, who DOES have his own superpowers but only ever staged problems for him to solve without ever risking himself. He's not as robust as he used to be; he's middle aged and has the look of somebody who let themselves go a little before getting jacked again. But it seems he still packs enough of a punch to credibly fight with ONE pseudo-Powerpuff Girl. Overhead, there is an ominous feeling in the air. Though he will only be seen by those using some sort of spiritual or scrying-observant sight, HIM watches this unfolding with naked glee.
Rowdyruff Boys	ELSEWHERE, JUST BEFORE DISASTER STRIKES... Brick sits down opposite Blossom at a local crepe restaurant. For today at least, they've chosen for their Saturday morning date to be local. This, as it happens, is a mistake. There is a thunderous CRASH outside followed by one of the combatants outside being hurled through the window onto the table in front of them. "I suppose we won't be skipping this one," he says, clearly disappointed. Boomer is asleep because this is way too early for real people to be awake, and will only be roused in a small while either by deliberate bugging or the sounds of chaos becoming too loud to ignore. ... And Butch is asleep on the Utonium household's lawn for reasons known only to himself (and probably Buttercup).
Utsuho Reiuji	Last night, Utsuho ran away from the police in Townsville even though she didn't do a damn thing wrong (this time). She flew northeast and napped in the national forest, because she actually likes sleeping under the stars when she can; it's still a novelty despite her time outside the Underworld. This morning, she came back to find absolute chaos. Now, Utsuho understands the desire to acquire more powers and then go out and mess something up with them. Probably quite a bit more than most people! But she didn't get the memo about what was being sold, having been literally sleeping in a tree up to about half an hour ago, and so to her it is completely random. Her solution to this is to ask what's going on. "Hey!" Utsuho drops from the sky, perching on a traffic light right in the middle of the hot zone as she calls toward a pair of citizens who are currently dueling with lamp posts. "Can you tell me why there's a fight? It's a little random, is someone setting up a danmaku festival or - " She interrupts herself to duck one of them throwing the lamp post at her. "I just wanted to know if there was something - " The other one throws his lamp post at her too. "Would you STOP THAT and answer my question?" Utsuho punctuates her question by pointing at the road with her arm rod and releasing a basketball-sized sphere of energy, which explodes into a gout of flame on impact with the street that takes a good twenty seconds to burn itself out. Until then it's just a freestanding pillar of fire that is high enough to make a good signal for anyone who's looking for a target.
Remee Halcyon	THE LIBRARY OF TOWNSVILLE "Okay. I've got my library card, I've got my state and federal ID's and two original copies of utility bills showing that I do have a residence in the area serviced by the library system, I've got a listing of the exact book including ISBN number, a printout of the book showing as available in the library, a printout of the confirmation screen where I checked it out in advance, a whole wallet of various denominations of bills in case of any late fees and honestly enough money to just buy the hecking book straight out, and I've got-" "Oh. You're saying I can just have it." OUTSIDE OF THE LIBRARY OF TOWNSVILLE Remee's fur starts standing on end as soon as she leaves the library. Something's up. "Something's wrong..." she says to herself, absently ducking under a thrown car as she heads out along the sidewalk. "Reynard's doing? No, doesn't feel quite like him..." she mutters as someone comes up to her with a spiked baseball bat. Acting fully automatically, she draws a can of pepper spray and fires it from the hip, driving the attacker off without breaking her stride. "Someone else from the family? No, I'd recognize that..." "... Maybe I'm just imagining it," she decides, at the end of her walk along the sidewalk, a trail of sidestepped chaos in her wake. "That's probably it."
Ishirou	Getting the warning about Townsville causes Ishirou to freeze up. The screen-faced synth, currently occupying a temporary body can't seem to make an immediate decision on what to do. He just died, he just went away forever...but only got brought back because he was lucky. Should he just...dive back into danger. It's hard to think that when he gets glimpses of the two familiar figures. Even Bellamy, who just wants to be a normal girl is getting involved instead of running away. Which...might be what those people that are going after her are trying to provoke. He takes a breath...he can't just jump into danger...he can't just go recklessly around and fight like he's Lilian or Go. [4] James Bond says, "You did hold your own against the Concord. I read the report. That was good work, but it was also making the best of a bad situation. Not creating one and diving right into it." [4] Futaba Nuki says, "Mister Bond James Bond is right. You're supposed to be the smart one, aren't you? Leave the diving into bad situations to the experts, and do the smart guy thing to get us out of 'em." [4] Lilian Rook says, "How long is it going to take until you internalize what Dimo told you?" There is a middle ground, Ishirou realizes. He can be brave...without throwing himself into the jaw of lions. He can be cautious without running away from every engagement. He has to use his skills to support those who /are/ reckless, capable of diving into danger, and make sure they come back safe. "POD. RESCUE online," he says, and POD connects with his new systems, wrapping around him like a suit of armor. -Systems still damaged, modules will be limited.- "I know, the flight unit should still be operational. We'll connect with it if we need to, otherwise, let's stick to the high ground and provide operational data...and be careful. On scene, he's doing what he suggested, sticking to buildings and running along rooftops. He hasn't connected any units, so right now it looks like a screen-faced little guy is connected to the RESCUE unit's base form, which is more or less like a black suit with a visor. "POD, we still have access to SUPPORT OPTIONs right?" -Affirmative.- Alright...and things start being produced. Bellamy is first, as an OPTION takes up residence near her shoulders, and aids in helping suppress powered civilians, while also connecting her to his backup energy reserves and aiming to assist in her being warn down. Beryl too, gets assistance, the option of sticking near her and providing covering fire. Everyone else gets the support option that hovers near them, providing non-lethal means to weaken and suppress civilians who are currently super-powered.
Stanley Padgett	For once, STANLEY PADGETT isn't here out of some sort of goodness of his heart or some sort of misbegotten Superhero Dreams or Asking Remee To Prom. No. He WAS making a delivery. "Was" is the operative word of that sentence. Said package made its way to its owner, who promptly smashed it in a fit of manic Chemical X glee, and now Stan's currently trying to... defuse things. "...Lady, honest, I'm just trying to get out of your hair, this isn't... it's not a friendly call." "NO! STAY A WHILE! I WANT YOU TO STAY!" The front desk lady is busy trying to use magical webs to try and slow Stanley down, but it's not really working, not when Stan can just zip and zoop out of their holds. "Lady, I gotta be going, I have to pick up another delivery and be across the Multiverse by 4 so like... can I just go?" The gangly kid poofs into three of himself and lets her punch one of his clones, as he holds up his hands placatingly. He isn't in his combat gear, not yet. That said, he does whisper an apology under his breath, and lays down a "DORMINA!" at the lady, who promptly keels over and takes a wee nap. "...Heck, okay, uhhh..." He peers out the window to spot Beryl having a spot of trouble, and sighs. "...Okay, let's go." He takes a moment to actually henshin into his gear, a digital wash of vaporware pixels slashing across his form as he slips into his Neon Shakespearean get up, pulls his saber from its scabbard, and trots outside. "...gonna need to ask for part time fees here eventually."
Futaba Nuki	It was bad enough when it was just the Lumpkins wreaking havoc in the streets, but now it's just everyone at once. If nothing else, though, at least Futaba's prepared for some kind of trouble considering the last few Saturdays being rather busy here already. Her gear is ready (even though she doesn't really have much), her ninja-ing outfit is impeccably decorated (even though it's mostly flat colors), and she's ready to go once she sees things already breaking out into fights and chaos. She sees some familiar faces, too, including one that's actually only familiar from TV! "Hey, hey! What're you doing fighting each other over there? Quit messing around and help us get these folks under control!" The tanuki calls out to Beryl and Major Man as she sprints right beneath their battle, slowing down only momentarily to toss some debris from the road at them to try and snag their attention on her way towards a pair of jousters armed with telephone poles. Leaping right between their charges, one hand turns into a massive steel plate while the other turns into a great boulder, each side aimed at redirecting those poles right into the ground. Collateral damage notwithstanding, it gives her a chance to try and slap some sense into people (with regular hands, not the metal and rock hands). "Hey, hey, hey! Keep your cools, people! We'll have you all back to normal in a second, so just sit tight!" Futaba proclaims confidently, fully unaware that this is probably the worst thing to say to people actively getting into fights for their next hit of superjuice.
Powerpuff Girls	THE CITY OF TOWNSVILLE... Could do with some adverts about the dangers of vapes and e-cigarettes? Didn't you know those devices are known by the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects? Well there's a STICKER that will TELL YOU if you didn't know know! Bubbles is at Stanford for the day, with a big set of glasses and a sweater over a blue top and tan shorts, presenting very animatedly before a lab room in the Marine Bio wing. Buttercup is at the Utonium Household, in one of the many Samey Suburbs of Townsville... and laying in bed, arms wide. She doesn't want to get up. She doesn't want to do anything. Her skin crawls, despite. Was this really better? And Blossom is eating a crepe. Leaned over a standing counter, mooning at Brick and grinning with her cheek smushed by the depth of her fond lean into her curl-fingered palm. She hears before Brick comments, sighing and righting with a few less careful bites of the top of her crepe in-paper before balling up the top to carry it. "Certainly not." Blossom sighs, when the fights outside over vapes/cigarettes begin to develop right onto the table in front of them! "It smells like Chemical X." Hoping the person through the wall wasn't the violent one, Blossom dash-hops through the window and looks out down the street at -- combat. Riots. "Where did everyone get this much Chemical X? They're going crazy! This is really bad!"
Timespace Riders	ARMOR TIME! KAMEN RIDE. WOW!! Decade, Decade! DE-KE-I-DO! Future Time! Immovable! Implacable! Futurering Archwolf! ARCHWOLF! Two armored fighters have found their way into the fray. One wears bulky magenta and black armor with a helmet and a cuirass sporting a barcode motif. The other is in all black, with armor that evokes wolf imagery via the gauntlets, helmet, and cuirass all resembling howling wolves. "Woz, go help Bellamy! I'll help Beryl!" "As you wish, sire." As usual of late, Woz's response seems distant, but he complies. Zi-O puts his strength to use with Bellamy, grappling with the frustrated citizenry to try and wear them down one at a time, focusing on throws and leveraging his own power to try and keep things as gentle as possible. Woz, meanwhile, looks up at the fight between Beryl and Major Man, uttering a 'hmph' of annoyance. He mashes the button on his belt, which procures a green-tipped polearm announcing itself as the JIKAN DESPEAR. Its blades quickly change to resemble three curved claws as he swings it underhand at an already-smashed car, lifting it into the air to hurl at Major Man with a powerful kick.
Rowdyruff Boys	There's a man lying on the ground near Utsuho's scuffle. He remains there until he feels like the locals are distracted, then cracks an eye and says, "They won't! They might not win if they stop." Then he resumes playing dead. Beryl blocks a punch from MAJOR MAN and kicks him away, before shouting at Futaba, "HE'S WITH THEM, GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!" The block-and-deflect doesn't last. MAJOR MAN fires a pair of lasers from his eyes towards Beryl. The powered civilians are... not easy to JUST suppress, actually! They have powers very similar to the Powerpuff Girls, though they're more comparable to the girls in their youths than the Puffs the people assembled have met. Immature powers, immature understanding. Even so, it's enough to make them strong and durable and flight-enabled. The problem for them, of course, is the 'for now' about that, but you're not certain how long the effects will last. Especially since some of them ARE getting ahold of new doses and inhaling them quickly. What would an overdose even entail, here...? For now, it just means that after a very short break the shoving and throwing and shouting resumes. "Thanks," Bellamy calls to Ishirou, hurling a powered citizen a considerable distance into the air. They soar uncontrollably for a while before realizing they can fly, and then beeline to... somewhere else. Certainly not back to Bellamy. MAJOR MAN takes a hit from a car while trying to eye-laser Beryl, which throws his aim off. He glances down at Woz. "Fear not, citizen! I, MAJOR MAN, will vanquish these villains!" You're not sure he actually knows what the hell is going on.
Rowdyruff Boys	//Certainly not.// Blossom says. Brick shoves the guy that came through the window off the counter. "Does smell that way, yeah. Where the hell did they even get this much?" He pins the guy on the ground with a foot, leans over, and withdraws his e-cigarette. Frowning, he tosses it to Blossom and then kicks the guy across the restaurant, evidently assured that he has the endurance to take it. Butch wakes up because a fight trips over him. He frowns, rubbing his eyes as the indestructible front door of the Utonium household is hammered incidentally by suburban hit-seekers. "What the hell..." Boomer continues to sleep, his weekend happily uninterrupted by the ruckus, somehow.
Ishirou	"You're welcome!" Ishirou says from on high. His eyes look out over the situation and get a better view of what's going on. These people are super-powered, similar to the Power Puff Girls, but still in an immature form. Though they're slowly learning those powers, this causes Ishirou a small frown. Just suppressing them is going to be hard. For now, he turns his sensors on to where the highest concentrations of the chemical are, trying to ID the sources of the E-sigs so he can send that information to everyone else. Everyone else, however, gets a handshake protocol from Ishirou, so that he can share information across the group and keep a HUD updated for their benefit. Specifically, Stanley gets an update, that updates the location of signals of X he can find. A piece of debris is thrown up at him, but he quickly ducks behind some cover. He comes back around and causes a burst through each of his OPTIONs around others, which causes a burst of energy. Simply put, trying to drain their energy the best that he can.
Stanley Padgett	Right, this IS an issue. Stanley sighs, looking around at the people starting to get Puff High, and dodges the punches of the clerk who's ALREADY roused from her short nap and is throwing fists at him now. One or two get close though, and Stan lets a shadow of himself take one of the punches, as he takes in all of the activity around him... and formulates an image in his head. All of the people hopped up on the stuff are... here. It's like a little map opens up around him, and the Obvious Trouble People light up. Something he's been practicing, actually. He grumps, and instead of punching the Clingy Clerk in the nose, he instead flicks around her several times at high speed, frisking her for her doses of Copium X. "Come on, lady, give em up, we can't have this going on." And when he's got hers... he starts zipping around the nearby street, speedstering his way to try and filch as many of the damn things he can from people tossing chunks of sidewalk and having laser eye duels.
Remee Halcyon	Oh. Remee finally gets clued into what's going on. "Don't tell me my uncle was right, and cities really are being taken over by superpowered druggie cartels..." She spends a couple minutes fending off attacks while she comes up with a plan. The plan she comes up with is... a bit silly, but she's banking on the druggies not having the best critical thinking skills. One quick duck into an alleyway later, the Drug Runner Dog emerges. You can tell it's a Drug Runner Dog because it's carrying a backpack and sidebags that have 'Contains Drugs' written on them in bold letters. "Oh dear, I hope nobody stops that dog that's carrying a bunch of vape pens and other things!" says someone near the Drug Runner Dog. It's almost like it came from the Drug Runner Dog itself, but that's silly, dogs can't talk. Also the Drug Runner Dog looks like a wolf, not a dog? But that's not important. The Drug Runner Dog takes off, running semi-randomly throughout the city, trying to get the attention of the Chemical X'd civilians and get them to chase it around for a bit instead of fighting each other.
Utsuho Reiuji	Utsuho lets the fire pillar burn itself out, which at least saves her for a few seconds - she's shown herself a relatively hard target and there have got to be easier ways to get the drugs, especially because she doesn't have any. But then she's addressed from the ground, from someone she assumed wasn't even conscious. "Wait, win? They're competing?? It is a danmaku contest!" Utsuho flips up on top of the traffic light, balancing there mostly on one foot - her concrete-encased one is more of a liability when balancing than anything else. "I'm going to win first! You hear that? I, Utsuho Reiuji, the Scorching Divine Flame, will show you some real danmaku!" Having just made herself a target, Utsuho... well, becomes a target, though mostly of opportunity at first. A thrown piece of scenery smacks right into her and launches her off the traffic light, sending her tumbling into the street. Utsuho rolls, ending up on her back and looking straight up into a little flying box. Utsuho grabs the box with her hand, simultaneously pulling herself up and keeping ahold of the flying drone. It's kind of cute, in a square sort of way. "Right! You and me!" Utsuho, carrying the Option tucked under her arm (despite any protests it might provide) charges at the biggest cluster of people she can see fighting. She winds up with her rod arm, slamming it against the ground as it shimmers red-white. A few instants later, a line draws itself along the street, roughly away from her and toward the crowd, slightly zig-zagging. A few moments after that, it explodes upwards, showering asphalt chunks and raining fire pretty much at random. Between Utsuho remembering to restrain herself and the Option, it's non-lethal, but it sure does make a mess. "...Unyu? When'd everyone else get here?" She sees a lot more definitely non-locals fighting than she saw before. (They were there. She just didn't notice.)
Futaba Nuki	"Where'd all these things even come from?!" Futaba gets her answer fairly quickly as those e-cigarettes or vape pens or whatever they are end up being identified as the cause, and that gives her a little more of an idea of what to look out for in between getting cars and superpowered punches thrown right at her. Major Man's presence in the situation turns out to be the opposite of helpful, too, and she's already got her hands full with the superpowered civilians. "Those little sticks, huh...? Hey, no! Get that out of your-" She manages to stop one car from crashing through a building by just tanking the thing, but gets distracted long enough by another person inhaling a dose to get socked right into a wall. She even splatters against it like she was made of water or something since... She is! It helps keep the impact from being too painful, at least, and she reforms moments later with a renewed vigor once she's told by Brick that she can, in fact, be a little rougher on these people. Not that she's going to enjoy it or anything. Really. "Druggie whatnows? Well, we just gotta find out where they're coming from, then, right?" Futaba calls out to Stanley before slipping forward again, arms lagging behind her as they stretch further and further along the ground while she sprints after another set of people trying to get their hands on the X-laden cigs. Using the stuff as bait, she waits until they're just close enough to go for the sticks before swinging her arms around that smaller group, wrapping it arund them multiple times for both binding and to secure her hold on them while slinging them back and over her head in some kind of messed-up looking slam into the ground! And a second one for good measure. "Hey, Major Guy! If you really wanna help, start smashing those little doohickeys!"
Powerpuff Girls	It's genuinely not the first time that Townsville has to deal with the spread and whim of people hopped up on Chemical X -- and when Blossom catches the vape pen Brick tosses her, she takes a moment to examine the battery, and then checks the cartridge carefully. And immediately gets laser visioned by a fan! Blossom aghs and stumbles forward, more annoyed than really damaged as the heat vision flashes and dissipates across her. "Hey! Watch where you're pointing those!" She complains ironically, and realizes she's waggling around a live vape cartridge. Crushing it in her hand (which causes an epilepsy warning provoking black-white stutter of light around her closed palm before dissipating. Dropping the device - she had given it a look with her X-Ray vision! - the situation on the ground is more or less handled by the combination of DRUG DOG and ... ... DRUG TEEN. Once people's powers run out, things would start to wind down, which just left: "Major Man!" Blossom calls, looking up annoyed. "You're going to show your face around here? You've got nerve, con man!" SKRR! With a flash of ruby energy and a streak from ground to air, Blossom skips the intervening frames of distance directly to wind-friction-heat uppercutting Major Man right in his big, MAJOR CHIN! "It's no coincidence you're here, Minor Disaster! Give it up!"
Timespace Riders	The rider on the ground looks almost insulted, which is a testament to his ability to emote in full armor. "Your choice of opponent implies precisely the opposite," calls Woz back to Major Man, arms thrown imperiously wide as one of Ishirou's support options hovers nearby. "Heed Futaba Nuki's words, or..." he calls, reaching for another of his futuristic Ridewatches. Dare Ja! Ore Ja! NINJA! Futurering Shinobi! SHINOBI! His armor is now sleeker, a lightweight cuirass and shoulderpads with shuriken displayed prominently, as well as an iconic, flowing purple scarf. He strikes a kuji-kiri with his hands, the gesture causing him to disappear in a puff of smoke, complete with the obligate deer-scare 'thunk.' "Begone!" Reappearing in the air beside Major Man, he twists impossibly in midair for an option-enhanced overhead kick, timed after Blossom's attack for maximum unfairness. "Beryl! What is the meaning of this bedlam?" It can be assumed he knows it's something to do with the vapes--he's just looking for more context, if she has any. Meanwhile, Zi-O is discovering just how effective Chemical X is, having a hard time wrangling the townies, getting punched and kicked and clawed by superpowered jones-ers. Having realized that he can be a little rougher with them (and having seen Bellamy do exactly that, to good effect) he soon changes up his tactics, with a swap to a different Ridewatch, slammed into the bulky magenta Decade greeble. FINAL FORM TIME! F-F-F-Fourze!! The barcode 'sash' over his breastplate swaps to a scrolling text crawl which reads FOURZE MAGNETSTATES, and the helmet's 'screen' flips over to an image of a more aerodynamic, space-shuttle looking helmet, with orange eyes and black plating. The magenta armor changes colors to white, with red and blue highlights evoking the poles of a magnet. Powered up by Ishirou's options, he begins blasting with two bulky shoulder-cannons. Each cannon fires debilitating electromagnetic energy, which Zi-O follows up on with decisive body blows aimed at the stomach, be they hooks or knee strikes. "Please try to calm down!"
Rowdyruff Boys	Where is the Chemical X? Everywhere. It's fucking everywhere. Somebody really went all-in on the vape pens so the entire city is a hotbed of it, which most definitely not coincidentally masks more coherent hotspots that would've been visible literally an hour ago. What's worse is that 'zooming out' far enough shows that the bay itself is pretty contaminated with the stuff; something that was known to have happened quite a while ago, resulting in the Predator X incident. Unfortunately, Chemical X is a forever chemical. This is where some kaiju come from-- and one of the biggest hotspots is the Utonium Household. But even without tracing specifically Chemical X, it's easy to figure out where this batch CAME from. A series of pop-up "H.I. E-Cigarette" stands have been selling them today. The problem, of course, is that this prompted the current riots when they ran out. Most of them have already been trampled underfoot, and whoever was running them is indistinct from everybody else. Although there are several streaks of light as those targeted by Ishirou's OPTIONS more specifically dart out of the way, he does discover that their power depletes RAPIDLY even in the face of passing contact. Chem-X isn't a natural part of their systems and so they don't just keep going like the Puffs and Ruffs or Bellamy do. The good news is that Stanley manages to get some of the pens away. The bad news is some of the pen-havers are as fast as he is and SOME of them steal their pens back or, worse, take the opportunity to steal pens he stole and huff some more Chem-X. This clears out some people, but also powers up a few people that were probably close to running dry. It's hard to decide where the balance sits. Somebody who took a little too MUCH Chem-X tries to grab Stanley with a newly-grown tentacular appendage and hurl him into a building. Remee encounters an interesting problem as a result of the distribution method. Very few people are interested in 'actual obvious drugs', because their drugs are completely legitimately purchased and hypothetically legal. Several guys DO chase her dog, but she's fairly certain they are all actual normal addicts that happened to also have vaped Chem-X. They bring a trail of more chaotic random destruction than is ordinary even among Townsville bozos. The man on the ground picks his head up again. "Why d'you need to win, you already have powers, also what's a dan-mack-oo?" Somebody with ice vision notices Futaba GOOP against a wall and immediately decides that, hey, maybe the correct strategic decision is to freeze her. So she gives it a shot, cyan beams of energy racing from her eyes towards Futaba's feet! "WHAT?! You want me to destroy perfectly legal AMERICAN property?" MAJOR MAN exclaims at Futaba. He seems absolutely baffled by this, and certainly does not stop to help. The man on the ground, although not a fight participant, certain learns what DANMAKU is as Utsuho engages in the spirit of the thing and immolates the street with a shower of colorful explosions and projectiles. This BREAKS several e-cigarettes and sends dozens of the afflicted hurtling into nearby walls and cars. Thankfully, they ARE as durable as Brick suggested, so even without the deliberate nonlethality they'd be fine. In response, those who are still conscious rev up from the dust storm and simultaneously fire a variety of eye lasers at Utsuho in an equally colorful array that may or may not occur in a useful pattern to dodge. "Look! I have one of my own!" MAJOR MAN declares, pulling one of the e-cigarettes out of his cape and using it. This, coincidentally, is timed perfectly with Blossom punching him in the face. She punches the e-pen, which shatters. He, however, has already received the benefits of the Chem-X injection. "Now, now, Blossom. I did my time!" MAJOR MAN declares, trying to eye laser her in return.
Rowdyruff Boys	"Blossom's right, he's a fucking con man, he's got SOMETHING to do with this and came right at me when the chaos started, beat his ass!" Beryl replies to Woz, darting in with a SKRRRR of her own to try to tackle him from the waist while he eye-lasers at Blossom. Major Man is so focused on Blossom that Woz takes him from above easily and Beryl tackles him the rest of the way to the ground below. There is a thunderous WHAM as he brings a knee up into Beryl and sends her flying towards Woz, though he looks MUCH WORSE for the exchange than anybody else involved in it.
Remee Halcyon	The tweakers are after her! And not the normal, otherwise law abiding citizens who just happen to have taken legal drugs. Abusing perscription medications is a perfectly fine thing to do. "I need five seconds!" calls Drug Runner Dog as she runs past Blossom, leading her trailing pack of druggies past her, and then sharply turning a corner. Literally, if Blossom can distract them or slow them down for just a few seconds, when the pack resumes their chase and turns the corner... ... they'll walk right into a net trap that, hopefully, scoops the majority of them up and dangles them from a streetlight, Spiderman style. "THANKS!" adds Remee as she makes her reappearance, running the other way past Blossom. The next plan is, largely, more of that. Setting up traps, and leading or herding people into them as appropriate. Nets, snares, tripwires, and in one instance a large strip of person-sized flypaper dangling in an alley, at the right height for some newly flying individual to blunder right into it. When there aren't opportunities for traps or Remee starts running low on supplies, she has her rifle with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of high-powered tranquilizers for clean takedowns, often before the target's even aware of her presence, aided greatly by Ishirou's OPTION feeding her some advanced tactical data. Between the traps and the darts, it's just like hunting! Except instead of against animals, it's against humans. Which Remee has certainly never done. Nope.
Stanley Padgett	It's actually a little disconcerting for Stanley to interact with people as fast as he is. It's been a while since that's happened. Though as people try to counter-filch him, the lanky teen starts squirming and teleporting away from grabby hands, only to get snagged and actually caught by that tentacle arm. He yelps, and is SMASHED into the side of an ATM booth. He sighs, rolls his shoulder as he recovers from the attack, and grumbles. "...I suppose we DO have to do this the Townsville way, after all." Right, there's a squad of speedies, that guy with the tentacle arm, and random no-good-nicks and confused people hyped up on perma-powers. This is going to go poorly for everyone involved. Stanley takes a breath and calls up... "MERCUTIO. MY OTHER SELF." The massive, ghostly, faceless fencer springs out from behind Stanley and starts taking precise swipes with a long sword, while also laying down blasts of magical energy from the flintlock in its other hand. Stanley just keeps swaying in and out of the fight himself, swishing to and fro and trying to dodge attacks as best he can as Mercutio makes hay around him. He IS trying to make his way over towards the others though. Woz and Zi-O and Major Man and Beryl.
Powerpuff Girls	Blossom, fast as an action cut, sees the shape of one of those ~~vapes~~ Electronic Cigarettes come out of Major Man's cape, and her swung fist moves to try and intercept-- Too late. That's toxic metals! In his lungs! And the incredible power of CHEMICAL X! "This really is your MO, isn't it, Major Con?!" Blossom follows after Beryl's words, immediately getting full-power beamed by the heat vision crackling with a coruscating focused beam of attention! Crossing her arms before her, Blossom holds firm, a ruby red whirlwind whipping around her as directed energy bleaches and singes cloth and heats the air to a cooked lobster steam and heat. "All together now!" Blossom calls, and dives around the focused beam attack when Beryl and Woz tackles Major Man to the ground. "Woz! Use a heavy power, a light one will just get tossed off! Zi-O! -- Keep using those magnets!" Coordinating, the red Puff dives into the pile with Woz, hesitant to get into a fierce punch contest with the buffed Major Man. Instead, she joins the pile. "Grab his arms!" She suggests, while she goes for a neck-hold. "We have to wait for his power hit to wear off!" And do they have the time???
Ishirou	This time, Ishirou doesn't duck down in time. Fear builds up, and remembering that moment when the sword came down causes him to freeze up. He goes flying back and smashes into the top of the building and groans in pain. Damage readouts warn him, shaking him out of his stupor. More readouts come, and he shivers, but grabs onto something nearby and forces himself up. Breathe, Ishirou...or wait, you can't anymore. Calm down, remember we don't have to charge in, we don't have to throw ourselves away...if we need help we can call for it. We don't have to do this alone...we're not alone.. He's back on his feet and looking out. He starts handing out suggestions again, before boosting the OPTIONs on Remee and Futaba, either aiding their power or precision. He updates Stanley's HUD, and suggesting to immediately smashing them. He sends his readings to Blossom and Boomer, to show them the build-up of Chemical X. Then all of the OPTIONs burst again, aiming to release a large pulse of electromagnetic energy at those who aren't friendly to them, aiming to increase their relative weight and make even basic movement use their powers.
Futaba Nuki	Someone tries freezing Futaba's feet to the ground, and for a moment, they succeed! The sudden stopping of her feet has the ninja tipping forward and nearly landing on her face in the process, stopping only by stabbing her hands through the ground with spiked hands. Glancing back at her still-frozen feet, the tanuki deftly maneuvers her tail into her pouch, pulls out a flaming katana that's too big to fit in said pouch, and then waves it over the ice to free herself from the ground. She probably could've done that in a more efficient way, but maintaining proper form is still important in these situations! "Legal?! Are you calling all /this/ crap legal?" Sounding bewildered by Major Man's assertion, Futaba takes a cue from that ice spewing Townsville citizen to eat her own sword and transform her head into a dragon's. Roaring like someone badly imitating what a dragon should sound like, Futaba starts darting around once more to start spewing flames at any of those e-cigs she can find on the ground. "I'll keep working on breaking these things! I got extra eyes with me!" Futaba announces, taking advantage of Ishirou's OPTION to help her find those troublesome e-cigs for faster burning. The roaming bands of wild civilians aren't ignored, though, as she alternates between destroying AMERICAN PROPERTY and assaulting AMERICAN CITIZENS, whipping her arms around after transforming them into oversized chain-linked... Chains!
Utsuho Reiuji	Truly, everything is danmaku if you only believe. Honestly, the Gensokyo of Utsuho's origin has a bit of a different attitude to danmaku and spellcards than the usual, which means that Utsuho is actually more experienced with people not playing by the rules; it's like the difference between fencing and swordfighting. Which means the wild blasts of many, many eye lasers does indeed count as danmaku as far as she's concerned, and that means she can try to dodge them. Unfortunately, Utsuho is... not the most evasive target in the world. Her flight tends to be in obvious straight lines when she's using her thrusters, or kind of slow when she's using her wings. She manages to skim past several of the beams, but not all of them, and the shining white-blue barrier she puts up to protect her right side doesn't cover her left at all. Though, it does protect the Option, so there is that. Utsuho half-lands, half-crashes in the crowd of laser-firing civilians. Now she's being told to destroy things, but carefully. As far as she's concerned this is kind of mixed messaging! Though it's not generally in her nature to hold back, this time she does, drawing energy to herself. She begins to glow, as if she was getting red-hot. While she does ... whatever she's doing, Utsuho fires back, releasing a series of small spheres that erupt into white globes of burning. She's aiming mostly at people who actually still have e-cigs, but... let's be honest, it's Utsuho, there's a fair bit of aiming everywhere. She also gets slightly distracted by Futaba, because... c'mon. "Surface youkai! ...You should leave the fire to an expert!" Given she says this while slowly shading from red-hot to white-hot this is probably a little ominous.
Timespace Riders	Beryl flies right into Woz, but in this more agile form, he's quite slippery. After impacting with his upper body, the retainer shifts with the force of the impact, sliding around her. In the split second she passes him, he flings out his shiny purple scarf. It expands impossibly, chasing after her to provide a useful handhold to halt her momentum. "It beggars belief that this needs explanation," says Woz, as he turns and hurls a spread of five exploding shuriken at Major Man. >Woz! use a heavy power! We have to grab his arms! Ordinarily, at the very least, Woz would ignore tactical advice given by someone who hasn't passed his frankly absurd standards, and isn't in the Concord. However, Blossom's advice is immediately relevant and correct, which he finds when his shuriken hardly seem to slow him down. Huge! Hearty! Destructive! Futurering Kikai! KIKAI! "I waste my breath explaining good works to a charlatan," says the now-robot-themed rider. He sports wrench motifs on the breastplate, shoulders, and antennae of his helmet. Four golden mechanical manipulators sprout from his back, attempting to bind Major Man's limbs. Trying to wear out the townspeople is proving an effortful endeavor, but Zi-O is not easily discouraged. In between blasts of debilitating energy, Zi-O uses the form's magnetism to levitate in short bursts, evading counterattacks and swooping just out of reach. Spotting Mercutio, then Stanley, he waves. "Stanley!" calls Zi-O. "It seems like they gas out, as long as they can't take another puff!" He levitates down to fight alongside the persona, his punches and kicks drawing electrical charge from the cannons on his shoulders, one at a time. Some townies are positively charged, some negative, and each target is picked out deliberately, despite appearances. With a shout of effort, Zi-O mashes the button on his Timespace Driver. Townies bearing charge are flung through the air to collide with each other, timed at just the right moment for Mercutio and Stanley to strike!
Rowdyruff Boys	The thing about the people of Townsville is that they are, even at their best, stupid. Remee finds that the thing that works best is the fly trap; this may be a matter of locale alone, because it seems like the sillier the bait the more often the people of this city come towards it. In any case, she ends up with a flystrip full of townies. Some of them are not smart enough not to put their faces in it. She will have to deal with that. "Hey, wait, where did you get some cartridges with THOSE power--" A townie says, before getting shot with totally real bullets and not weird psychic nonsense by Stanley. The exclamation attracts more of them to his position though-- they want those powers! How did he get them? In the end, for his troubles, Stanley is inundated with idiots. MAJOR MAN struggles his way out of the dog pile long enough to get out of the way of Blossom's attempt to interject with it. He snap-kicks at her, not feebly, but certainly not as impressive as it OUGHT to be, "I don't know what you're talking about!" Actually, he doesn't SEEM to be lying. On the other hand, there might be something wrong with him right now... Beryl growls and barks at Woz, "Major Man's a huge piece of shit but he's not THIS flavor of piece of shit. Fucking look at him, he's been out of this game for a while. Something's off!" True to her observation -- joined by a burst of kinetic energy from an outstretched fist -- MAJOR MAN is rather paunchy. Very much a Superman-who-let-himself-go-and-changed-his-mind-kinda-build. Not really 'dad bod', but not really a superhero physique either. As it happens, just shooting at these people repeatedly DOES deplete their reserves just fine. It's just not always fast. A few of them that turn to rush after Zi-O specifically fall to the ground on the way there as the juice runs out, the column of light racing behind them abruptly terminating as they obtain an emergency need for rapid dental work against the pavement. Bellamy rockets over to Ishirou's position and stops, doubling over for a moment as heat pours out of freshly-opened vents. She's breathing heavily. She explains, "I don't have as much stamina as they do. Created with too little X. What's wrong with you?" She has no idea. The pulse of energy that races out DOES do the trick, rapidly increasing the endurance requirements of the other enemies and beginning to wear them out faster. Despite the timing, Bellamy is correctly unaffected thanks to Ishirou's selectiveness. "What is a yokai," A random townie wonders before they and several around them are flattened by Utsuho. From nearby, MAJOR MAN fires a lance of eye lasers that go wide towards her maybe-coincidentally. The crowd is thinning... MAJOR MAN crosses his arms and braces for the explosive shurikens, but he's not actually as durable as the Puffs or Ruffs despite clearly being some kind of flying brick even without the buffs. He is pushed backwards, his arms and shoulders scorched black. He pulls the corner off of a building and throws it right back at Woz, then whips around and tries to clock Blossom with a fist right in the center of her mass. "Hey, that's really cute," The icebeam townie says of Futaba's dragon impression, until she starts targeting GROUND DRUGS, at which point they fly out of the debris they were buried in, grab a light pole, and try to joust with Futaba's neck.
Ishirou	Ishirou would be sweating a lot if he could anymore. When Bellamy hits the roof, she can tell something is already wrong with Ishirou. His body isn't right, his face is definitely not right. He pulls back the visor of the RESCUE unit to reveal everything. That is to say, currently, his face is a screen instead of a normal face. He puts it back on quickly. "That...Petra killed me," he says, not sourly, but...perhaps still trying to come to terms. "People got hurt over me, and..." he says, despite his freak out trying to keep information going around. "Sorry, this isn't the time for my problems, and I'm becoming a hindrance to people.." he says, which he might be more afraid of than anything. This time, Blossom, Sougo, and Woz's options start to burst. Sougo's and Woz's start to flare powerfully, connecting to their suit systems and overcharging their potential damage output. Blossom's helps correct her aim, providing up-to-date telemetry for the General. Another burst of energy surges out, aiming to try and connect a line of electromagnetic energy across as many people as he could. It bounces from one of the OPTIONs, and then to a person, then to another, and another. It keeps going until it can't find anymore, or too many people are too far apart. Ishirou himself tries not to curl up but instead looks over at Bellamy. He takes a breath, "It's...hard to do this after that...but...I have to try..." he says, trying not to sniffle. He fails. However, he does scan her, trying to ID where the heat is building up the worst, and then updating her option. It starts drawling out her excess heat and releasing it more efficiently. "Here, that should help...so why are...you here? You could have ran..?"
Stanley Padgett	Despite his best efforts, despite the Rider's best efforts, all that Stanley and Mercutio manage to do in the end is hose up the street with more Chemical X junkies and vapeheads. The Brave Fencer is forced to use more and more of his shadows, push his speed, as he dodges grabs and fire blasts and laser eyes and all sorts of garbage... It's bad enough that Meructio even has to tank a hit or two, dissipating back into the Sea of Souls to take a breather. The young man is undeterred though. Stanley's eyes are wide and bright, his danger sense on full alert as he deftly swishes and parries, turns aside more attacks, and just starts to Flow. Standing alongside Woz and Zi-O, the Fool finds himself fighting a better fight, moving faster and cleaner. He's using Zi-O for standing cover to feint out multiple attacks, zipping around Beryl and Woz to snag and stab and pistol and Garu and lay down toxic fields. He's doing everything he can to just take his stake in this spot and Defend It and the Others Around him.
Remee Halcyon	Remee is forced to deal with townies who aren't smart enough to not stick their faces in the flypaper traps. "Oh come on." This involves a very careful and time consuming process of cutting air holes and/or applying glue solvent, all while trying to avoid the general chaos. "Okay - I need a different sort of humane trap, then," grumbles Remee as she gets her phone out and hits the speed dial for her realtor. --- There's a hot new vape shop in town! When we say 'new', we mean it just opened up literally five minutes ago! The name's a little odd, Roach Motel Smoke Shop, but the hastily erected signage indicates that they've got that new vape pen in stock, in a whole bunch of new flavors you've never heard of, too. Curiously, however many people seem to go in, nobody ever seems to leave.
Futaba Nuki	"Right? Gyeh... He's supposed to just be stupid, not evil!" Futaba shouts over at Beryl and Woz, still spewing flames around in between trying to deal with the superpowered citizens. The one with the ice beams proves to be more resilient than she had expected, too, and that light pole coming towards her snaps the ninja's attention right back to them. Catching the pole in center mass, Futaba minimizes the impact as it slides right through a hole forming in her, letting wriggle around it awkwardly at first like she's just partially liquefied her body to do so. "You again? Shouldn't you have run outta juice by now?" She asks while sliding forward along the surface of the pole, becoming less like a raccoon-themed ninja and more like a surging mass of goop that's using the pole to get closer even faster. It'd probably be a terrible idea to spread herself so thin considering those ice powers, but she's got another ace up her sleeve: More of that fire breath keeping herself warmed up long enough that she closes into punching range to start... Punching! It's not just coming from two goopy arms, though, but from a half-dozen stony hands that burst out of the goopy Futaba, all aimed at pummeling the ice-breather into submission. "Trust me, this is for your own good! Just take a nap already, and we can fix this whole mess with... Do we know who put these things out, anyway?"
Powerpuff Girls	Major Man isn't the tremendous threat Blossom expects, not that the snap kick to keep her away from a headlock doesn't stymie the Red's efforts to jump in. If Ishirou's words were true, and the amount of Chemical X in the air really was going to summon - or re-summon - Predator X, then it wasn't just a danger to a bunch of drugged-out townies: It was a danger to the whole city! "Hey - wait a second - you're not really in this to win this, are you, Major Man?! Youre . . ." Blossom levels an accusatory finger, air-hovering at a stop above the street. "Being controlled to! There's something messing with people's memories, their minds, and you're a victim. Which means... You're just a Major-!" The Puff puts it together, just in time to get zip-punched back in the solar plexus, sailing back with an 'oof' into a nearby SUV that had already been broken into and smashed by Chemical X miscreants earlier. Gasping, shocked and stunned, Blossom still finishes her line, wincing and winking woundedly. "-Distraction! So I'm going to need you to cool it!" With such a callout, one might expect the Puff to immediately use ice breath! But not so. First, she reaches back, twirls, and super-heaves the broken SUV right at Major Man for him to clash and handle! One of Ishirou's options - now a bit usual, at least on Saturdays - falls into formation besides Blossom and she takes careful aim. "Handle this please." She suggests, pointing at the flung SUV. Then -- SKRR! -- in a blooming flare of ruby around the oncoming SUV, Blossom pushes behind, leaps over, and blows a frigid gust of freezing cold from her lips to stop up the Major! Futaba's suggested nap might come on ice.
Utsuho Reiuji	"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to her!" Utsuho replies to - oh, she doesn't see who said it, but she waves at Futaba anyway. "The tanuki!" The blob with a tail that's inching up a pole anyway. Utsuho has a pretty strong stomach - working in Literal Hell with a job that involves handling corpses will do that - but even so... "Ew?" She realizes she's still heating up and, grudgingly, releases the now slightly scorched OPTION. "Sorry, buddy!" She seems honestly apologetic to the little drone as she lets it go, giving it a gentle push that makes it bob in the air as she tries to guide it out of there. Then she turns back to what remains of the combat-engaged citizens. "All right! Everybody put your e-cigs," and she still says it as if she has no idea what it means, "in the fireball and then run away! Because if you don't I'll explode it." Utsuho releases an immense amount of energy, all at once, pushing her glow out of her, through her rod and into a ball that slowly swells in front of her. It is fortunate that it isn't really aimed at anyone... it mostly appears in the middle of an intersection, largely filling it with a red sphere of churning but incredibly constrained flame. Getting close to it feels warm, shading to oven-hot. It keeps most of its heat on the inside. (It's also going to leave a crater in the intersection.) About this time, Utsuho takes a stray EYE LASER. It wasn't even aimed at her! Her blue-white barrier comes up to stop it, but only manages to slow it, shattering it into a cluster of smaller beams that strike her in the side. It hurts - But more than that, it makes her mad. Utsuho practically throws herself at Major Man, who really did nothing to deserve having an upset hell raven in his face. "And as for YOU, if you want to fight me, fight me! Don't fight someone else and then shoot me as - as an extra!" Mostly she's waving her rod in his face and now getting in the way of his other battles. She might be in Blossom or Zi-O's way, but right now she doesn't really care. "Otherwise you'll get ganged up on!" Left alone, the giant sphere of sunfire starts to roll its way over towards Utsuho, leaving a burning trail behind it and spraying out white energy pellets of formless danmaku in all directions as it does. If her order didn't help (and let's be honest, it's not very likely to have been followed), the increasing chaos of a drifting giant fireball spewing energy bullets might be convincing people to sit down and stop fighting.
Timespace Riders	>Major Man's a huge piece of shit but he's not THIS flavor of piece of shit. "Hm. Is that so?" He has seemed rather disoriented thus far--and there is something about his choice of words that seems somehow familiar. Blossom's assertion to the same is what makes him certain. "It bears later investigation. For now..." The suit's manipulator arms form a protective brace around Woz, alongside his gold-trimmed circuitboard bracers. The corner of the building shatters against him, sending up a shower of sparks and knocking him off balance with a grunt. Stumbling backwards, he observes Ishirou's surging option. With an imperious 'hmph', Woz reaches for the green gate on the Beyondriver at his waist, opening and closing it in one brisk motion. BEYOND THE TIME! Jets of steam hiss from evenly spaced ports along the cuirass of Woz's robot-themed armor. The manipulator arms at the back surge forward with a mechanical whine, each one tracking one of Major Man's limbs, made faster for Ishirou's aid, such that they clamp down right after Blossom's hurled SUV, holding him in place for the ice breath. As Stanley weaves around him, the rider musters his strength, visibly, as golden tendrils of electricity snake across the armor. KIKAI EXPLOSION! Woz grinds along the ground, racing towards Major Man holding a pose begging for an attack--arms wide, chin up, as if exulting in his own strength as his boots send up sparks along asphalt. At the last moment, turns, lifts and extends his leg at the last moment to deliver a hook kick. The energy build up surges through to his foot, making the ice-breathed Major Man the epicenter of a forceful explosion, just as the arms release him. Zi-O has fought alongside Stanley plenty, and knows how to cover him, choosing to interrupt and intercept the remaining townies' attacks with his own, purposefully striking them off-balance to open them up to precision strikes from Mercutio. He's not exactly a skill fighter himself, and gets by mostly on his durability, strength and willingness to brawl--so a lot of those openings he makes for Stanley come at the cost of getting socked himself. "How do we get it out of the air?" Zi-O asks Blossom, after summoning a hefty broadsword with clock hands spanning the crossguard. RIDE HEISABER! Fighting in tandem with Stanley and Mercutio's strikes, he lacks their skillful spacing and placement, but more than makes up for his passable competence with spirit and strength.
Rowdyruff Boys	"Nobody is perfect. Everybody is a burden," Bellamy straightens up, her concealed cooling vents hissing shut. "The willingness to accept one another's burdens is a necessary element of society as humans understand it. It never feels good to be the burden, but eventually it is your job to shoulder somebody else's burden. It's like the poem goes:" "What are all folks made of, made of? What are all folks made of? Fighting a spot and loving a lot, That's what allk folks are made of." "If you have a broken leg, you should step back and take it easy. That's why we have society," she concludes. The heat build-up is weird. Her body shouldn't actually fully function mechanically. The venting systems aren't even actually enough to deal with it, something else inside renders the impossible possible. The reason she's slowing down is to replenish that 'something'. But even when she's given a boost, Bellamy remains there, not re-entering the fight. //Why are you here?// "They picked Beryl to go after. While there's this much Chem-X in the air they won't be able to track me. I don't feel like being an ordinary girl all the time. Also... did you say the Amazing Petra killed you? That's weird," Bellamy carries on, conversationally. Remee's trap works again because the people of Townsville are still fucking dumb. The problem is keeping them in the store. They want the ONE THING, now! Consequently, once they're in the store, they don't want to leave. They want to look around for that one thing, and impulsively smash stuff if it's not there. It still takes plenty of them off the streets and out of the greater fight, though. Stanley creates a DEFENSIVE POINT with Woz, Zi-O, Beryl, and probably a few others. The people of Townsville are attracted to this because it looks like a place where there might be cool stuff. Like bandits in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. This is a well-defended position, however. A group of human-sized amoebas wearing old-time-y hats wander up and look at this. "Boss," one of them says, "it looks like they've got the goods!" "Well, get it, then!" "Okay." One of the Amoeba boys slides over to Stanley and stares at him. "You gots the money?!" "We ain't after money, we're after pens!" "You gots the pens?!" The other amoeba boy repeats immediately. None of them actually do anything, but they DO get in the way. "Wha--" says the pole-wielder, before being pummeled into the ground by Futaba. They stay down. An oversized straw hat they were wearing drifts off of their head right onto Futaba's. "HEY." Comes a thunderous cry from a nearby crowd. It's Fuzzy Lumpkins. He does not look like he's taken Chem X. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY PROPERTY!" "What ARE You talking about, it's obvious that I'm the real hero here!" MAJOR MAN exclaims to Blossom, and he believes this, because why wouldn't he? He's MAJOR MAN. Blossom is right, though... MAJOR MAN is a MAJOR DISTRACTION. Kind of. Sort of. Ice pours over Major Man, who in fact is not used to the cold, and begins shivering violently immediately because he's not even REALLY used to pain. For all his power, he's got a glass jaw. Immediately afterwards Utsuho gets upset and produces a LOT OF BULLETS AND FIRE, which Major Man is too immobilized to actually get out of the way of! He lets out a less-than-manly shriek as the fireball crashes into him. All things considered, he's more scared of it than it is painful-- though it IS painful to him, pushing him back steadily until he works up the nerve to get the hell out of it.
Rowdyruff Boys	"How dare you accuse a hero of justice of doing anything INCIDENTALLY! Perish, demon!" MAJOR MAN exclaims. He then pulls a gun from his cape and shoots at Utsuho and Blossom, as if to at least subtly undermine Utsuho's polite fireball-based request. Fittingly, MAJOR MAN is immediately t-posed at by Woz while Sougo immobilizes him-- causing his gun to go skittering off into the distance (notably, it also says H.I. on the side), well out of reach while the maneuvers with STANLEY keep the townies away and layer on a respectable amount of damage all-around. Townies groan. MAJOR MAN groans. It's a bad time for everybody else. One of the Amoeba boys slides up to Woz and tries to grab his belt, "HEY BOSS, IS THIS A VAPE?"
Rowdyruff Boys	"You don't," Brick says grimly, appearing in the air above the ongoing struggle with Major Man. He takes a deep breath and blows into the surroundings, stirring up the air heavily but not REALLY doing much to help the Chem X situation. He was evidently just trying to see if that would work.
Futaba Nuki	"Eh? Wait, you were talking to me?" Futaba finally catches on to what Utsuho's saying, taking a moment between punches to recall what was said. "... Wait. Surface yokai? I'm just a regular tanuki, not a special one or anything!" There is little regular about her at all, but that doesn't mean she won't deny it anyway. Noticing the reaction to her blobbening, she purses her lips (she still has a face in this form, weirdly enough) and huffs briefly. "Hey, what's with that? This is just what adaptability looks like for us normal yokai! And what's with that thing on your leg?" And then she goes back to punching. With the troublesome icebeam blaster finally down, the day is saved! Except it's not actually saved because there's still the issue of whoever's manufacturing these e-cigs, who's distributing them, and also another familiar voice yelling at her about property. "What's with all of you and this property stuff today? We've got bigger problems to deal with!" She shouts right back at Fuzzy, not yet noticing that she's got a snazzy new (to her) hat on. Looking down at that pole still partway inside of herself, Futaba reforms herself around the pole enough to just pick it up with her regular arms instead of her torso, then lifts it up right and spots... The culprits! Maybe. Except... The Amoeba Boys never really struck her as particularly threatening or even particularly hostile, so dropping this on them wouldn't really feel right without knowing for sure it's them. And even Fuzzy Lumpkins, mad as he sounds, doesn't ring any bells for Futaba as far as being the mastermind behind distributing drugs and stuff. She does have her work cut out for her trying to not get shot or smashed while dancing around that light pole, though, slipping further and further up the thing until she's just perched right on top of it to get a chance to think. And then she notices the hat. "... Eh? Oh. Wait, this is yours, isn't it? Here ya go." Futaba flicks it off the front of her head with one hand and catches it with her tail behind herself, then extends it aaaaall the way down to Fuzzy as a show of good faith before spotting someone she can feel better about dropping the pole on: Major Man. Pushing her weight way in one direction, Futaba tips that pole over to start falling towards Major Man, but it's not nearly close enough to land on him. Flipping it over herself once she touches down on the ground, though, does give her that needed distance, and she aims to plant it right on top of him with an overly flashy slam to try and keep him pinned down proper!
Ishirou	'Nobody is perfect. Everyone is a burden.' The attack that was aimed at him is easily smacked away by Bellamy, protecting him, and causing him to look upwards as she strikes her heroic stance. Perhaps...perhaps he learned the wrong lesson about the people he looked up to. The...heroic lessons they in turn tried to show him...but he was so focused on trying to be like them. Was it... the mistakes they were trying to have him avoid..? Or...was it that he was being reckless and not brave. He didn't face Petra because he was unsure how to respond to her, but it wasn't either brave or heroic to needle her until...he got what he wanted. Just like... Nephra was right, it /was/ just like her. He shakes his head finally, "No, not her. The...other Petra. Not Amazing Petra. Amazing Petra is still resting somewhere, and recovering. Someone saved her like I guess someone did for you.." he says, and takes a breath, "...Like I think you did for me just now. Thanks, Bellamy...though I'm still a boy and thick-headed, I'll try and remember what you said." He takes a breath. Okay...he can't fight directly, not as he is right now. Too much is wrong with him...but he /can/ make sure everyone can fight at full effectiveness! No...he can make sure they can fight at /better/ than full effectiveness. Each of the OPTIONs surges, transferring more than enough energy into each combatant. Trying to overcharge their combat styles, while also providing as much telemetry as he can to make each attack that was boosted, also be placed where it needed to be. He also bursts each OPTION again, creating a wide field effect that attempts to DRIVE each affected civilian into the ground and make the effects of gravity tenfold. <"Brick, they're after Beryl. They can't find Bellamy anymore, and that's why she was fighting today.">
Timespace Riders	"Hello!" Zi-O cheerfully says to the Amoeba Boys. "The pens are bad, actually! They're making everyone want to hurt each other." He ducks a clumsily thrown right hook. "Like that! You should really take cover instead of looking for them." Woz's deflects the Amoeba Boy's cytoplasm with a swipe of his left bracer. His right leg crashes rudely into him in a curt snap kick. "My equipment is not for the likes of commoners such as you, and these 'vapes' would kill you where you stand. Take my Demon King's counsel to heart and trouble us no longer." He isn't actually certain the vapes would do that, but contempt is his natural state for certain people. "We don't, huh... then it's damage control!!" Zi-O quickly spins the clock hands on his broadsword, lifting the Heisaber aloft. "Get clear, you guys!" Zi-O calls to the Amoeba Boys. HEY! FOURZE! FINISH TIME! MAGNET TIME BREAK! With the swing of his sword, Zi-O conjures a trail of person-sized, holographic cards leading from the apex of his swing to his retainer. When the last one touches Woz, giant U-shaped magnets appear over the demon king and his retainer--one red, one blue. The attracting forces carry the magnet-aspected king and his metal-clad, robot-themed retainer in a frenetic whirlwind through the crowd, bowling over townies and crashing into the disarmed Major Man in their path, before their kicks collide with each other, sending out an electric shockwave from the point. "If, somehow, you have not had enough," says Woz, landing gracefully and standing to point an accusing finger at Major Man. "I assure you that will change shortly. Who you were yesterday is irrelevant. Today, you are a pawn, and not a hero. Listen, if you have the ears. If not..." His manipulator arms flex in challenge.
Rowdyruff Boys	Amidst all the carnage, a defiant MAJOR MAN struggles out from the ongoing dog pile. "No... no, I'm not the villain here! I'm not under control. I'm..." He engages his own superspeed, meager though it is compared to the Girls and even some of the others around here, and rapidly collects the few remaining pens lying around, some with only tiny fragments of useful material left in them. And he inhales every single one of them back to back like he is in some sort of BELT SHOW and hitting a GADGET to do something COOL. Unfortunately he is still like a 50 year old man pounding back e-cigarettes in the middle of the street and it is not actually very cool.
Remee Halcyon	Remee has a roach motel full of rowdies. (No, not those rowdies, the other kind of - nevermind.) They are still being destructive, but they are, at least, contained. This is possibly the best she can do. "My kingdom for some sleeping gas, or something..." she mutters as she considers what to do with them all. What can she do with a building full of innocent people who truly don't deserve any of this just for trying a tainted product? ... Well, okay, maybe the ones that stuck their faces in the flypaper deserve a little more than they're getting, but that's beside the point. "..." Remee's out of ideas. Remee's stomach grumbles. "Does Chemical X give you the munchies?" --- A short while later, a couple dozen pizzas are pushed through the door of the vape shop. Cheese, double pepperoni, stuffed crust, and extra tranquilizer on top.
Stanley Padgett	One month ago: Stanley Padgett is bored. Terribly horribly bored. So fuckin' bored. Bored of this assembly. There's a group of peppy 20-somethings pretending to be teens telling the class not to do drugs. Two months ago: Stanley Padgett is bored. He is in a small classroom, with a police officer in front talking about how drugs are bad and how kids should snitch to the cops. Four months ago: Stanley Padgett is bored. He is in Jimmy's Grotto Pizza, waiting for his pizza. Jan, the owner, is there telling him about how kids shouldn't do drugs, how it hurts their growth and development. Jan is smoking. PRESENT DAY: Stanley Padgett is not bored. Stanley Padgett is busy not dying. "AMEOBA BOYS, THESE DRUGS ARE TOO STRONG FOR YOU, YOU DON'T WANT THEM, THEY ARE BAD!" He parries a pair of projectile dagger eyes into the dirt and then pins a woman who is currently trying to slime herself all over him into the pavement with his saber. "DRUGS ARE BAD."
Utsuho Reiuji	"That's my leg!" Utsuho completely unhelpfully 'explains' to Futaba. "If you're allowed to melt I'm allowed to have a stone foot." Not to mention the rod, or the third eye... which in the battle has 'woken up' enough to roll, looking left and right with its extended pupil. Though it doesn't appear to be able (or, perhaps, willing) to do more than look. Better. If there's one thing Utsuho hates, more than anything else, it's being treated as an afterthought - and someone firing on her without actually meaning to means she didn't rate highly enough to have him mean to attack her. Which is perhaps ironic given her shooting style is 'shoot everything and let the targets sort it out', but nobody ever accused her of not being hypocritical. "Sorry to interrupt!" Utsuho clears out far enough to let Blossom and Zi-O (and anyone else) get in without much of a problem, her giant fireball continuing to roll around and spray danmaku wildly behind her. At least it clears space out, more or less; nobody's going to sneak through the Red Giant without getting burned, shot, or burned and shot. And speaking of getting shot... For all the times Utsuho has been in fights she's not sure anyone has just pulled out a plain old gun and fired it at her before. A laser gun, sure. A bullet gun? It could be worse, but it could be better. It hits Utsuho's shield, which comes up again, a hemisphere of light - but where it hits the barrier it partially disintegrates, turning into a cone of shrapnel instead of a single bullet, the shrapnel starting to vaporize and vanish into light around the edges. Not fast enough, though. It hits Utsuho while it's still disintegrating, an energetic impact as much as a penetrating one. Buffered, it slides her back about five steps despite the size of the round, and she lets out a yelp of surprised pain, the kind of pain you get when you don't even see it coming. As Major Man starts to pull in all the e-cigarettes, Utsuho's eyes light up. "Oh! THAT'S what they are. Those are what I was supposed to destroy!" She raises her rod, takes aim at him - and fires. No, not quite at him. At the e-cigarettes. The fact that the attack she is using to destroy them will make them explode in a cloud of light is completely 'accidental' (it is in absolutely no way actually accidental).
Powerpuff Girls	Major Man Denies and Reverses Victim and Offender, and then, while standing his ground, pulls out a concealed carry weapon, aims it at a foreign national and a person classed as a weapon of mass destruction and pulls the trigger several times. That's several incorrect things! This may be the City of Townsville -- but it's also the State of California! Blossom is shot! Repeatedly! Bringing up a forearm to shield her face and eyes with her hand, the ruby red is simply shot and reacts exactly as you'd expect her to, when the bullets impact, flatten, ricochet off of her, painfully welting for a moment and stinging with metal flinders and sparks. "Actually, Major Man - I'm accusing you of several felonies!" Blossom shouts, dropping her hand to point as the out-of-shape mind jacked hero gets creamed several shocking ways. "I know all the rules for superpowers in Townsville. I helped write them! And matching force to force means you can throw a punch at me all you like, or blast me with lasers, and that's just playing rough, just assault." "But that doesn't get around gun laws! You still have to follow them, that's not your power! Major Man -- you're going to jail!"
Rowdyruff Boys	The end of the path was originally Major Man, but he made himself the end of the path by smoking all the remaining e-cigarettes. A lot of the remaining townies go flying into the (quarry)/distance, but in the meantime MAJOR MAN will be there to-- get the piss beaten out of him in fast-forward, apparently. But-- the amount of Chem-X in the air is interfering with Ishirou's attempts to pin everything down. They're beginning to regain more from the ambient X in the air than he's able to drain away. That's not a good thing at all. If that keeps up, the townies on the ground will simply... get back up, after a while, and resume the fighting. MAJOR MAN is shot directly in the hands with Utsuho's weird nuclear blasts, screeching in surprise and pain and dropping the now-slagged remnants of the final vape pen. He is literally producing a squeezie tube full of aloe vera when Blossom starts shouting legal things at him. "Ha! An electromagnetic pulse just wiped out all the camera footage and I wear gloves! You'll never prove it was mine! Also, this is AMERICA!" Which pretty much demonstrates his full actual character. Speaking of demonstrating full character, Remee throws a pizza party and it shuts down the shenanigans because Townsville's people are stupid enough to fall for that. The Amoeba Boys fail to extract either a BELT or more DRUGS thanks to WOZ and STANLEY going all DARE and POTION SELLER on them simultaneously. "Uhhh... boss, he says we can't handle it!" "WHAT?" Asks the boss, who is far enough away he can't hear. "HE SAYS WE CAN'T HANDLE IT!" "HANDLE WHAT?" The amoeba boys turn around to face Woz and Stanley, "Uhh... what can't we handle, again?" Beryl explodes out of a pile of townies a moment later, wiping some dirt off of her face. "I am so fucking sick of this, holy shit." One suspects that MAJOR MAN was the only person here who might have successfully kidnapped her, slim a chance though that might have been. But immediately after having said the things he did, SOUGO AND WOZ reach the end of the track of townies, incapacitating those that remain-- and barrel into MAJOR MAN, ultimately sending him hurtling... directly next to his gun. He lands with a THUD and groans, trying to push himself up and reach forward-- only to directly lay his freshly burned and extremely DNA-evidence-slathered hands on the D.I. firearm. He blinks. "NOOOOOOOOOOO--"
Rowdyruff Boys	But his cry of despair is drowned out, because this is not a single episode. Oh, no. You're in... A TWO-PARTER In the distance there is a great crash of disrupted waves as a great mechanical lizard strides out of the bay, and the levels of Chem-X in the air drop abruptly as it 'inhales'. Fans whirring violently draw in the air, take in the saturated Chemical X, and then filter the actual air back out into the city. MECHA PREDATOR X stomps forward, mechanical vocalizations thundering over the rooftops. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScL1BJPiGC0#t=2m40s All to be resolved... IN THE NEXT EPISODE.