As Ami approaches the restaurant with her faithful Mau a step behind her, the cries of Uranus Power and Neptune Power are heard from inside!
---
As you transform and reappear as the Sailors Neptune and Uranus, a sight greets your eyes! Miss Nakahime's icecoffin sinks into the now fully iced floor, vanishing like magic!
"Haruka, the Mirror was reacting to her," Neptune says, holding the lofty artifact.
Haruka makes her way carefully to inspect the spot on the floor where the encased sculptist vanished, "Did you see anything?" she asks Viluy, giving her partner's Talisman a curious glance at that.
Frowning lightly, "I'm not sure - the image wasn't fully formed," she says, putting the now normally reflective mirror back in subspace. "But she triggered something," Viluy shakes her head, dismissing it and instead tapping her chin. "We need to do something, though."
"But what?" Haruka asks with a puzzled frown.
Ami moves closer to the source of the trouble, scanning the area with her visor, and backing it up with the computer. She glances around as she approaches the door to the restaurant, pushing errant hair from her eyes out of habit. Where are you...
Cautiously, she steps inside, still scanning...
Ami - The source of a considerable amount of the anomaly is here, but it's vanishing just as you arrive in earnest! Artemis goes along, frowning. "This feeling...wait, that's Uranus and Neptune!" he says, hearing the shouted voices a moment ago.
If anything, your computer is compensating now for the strange movement of the anomaly source.
Funny how this always works out. Useful, though.
---
"I'm not sure, but it caused my Mirror to react," Neptune replies, still thinking.
Ami frowns at her computer. "Where is it going...Ara?" she interrupts herself as Artemis calls out, pausing in the middle of trying to anticipate the next moves of the anamoly. "Uranus and Neptune?"
Oh, Good. Can I go home, now? No, No. Still have a job to do.
Haruka jumps slightly, whirling around at that, taken off-guard. "Oh, Mercury," she says, more calmly now, then on catching sight of the Mau, "Artemis?" she asks in puzzled tones.
Turning as well, Viluy smiles in relief. "It's a pleasure to see you," she murmurs,
Artemis smiles to Ami, then to Haruka. "Good to see you two. Did you find out something was going wrong here as well?" Coming up and into the actual little tea shop, Artemis shivers. "Or, better yet, have you found a jacket?"
Ami smiles a little at the two older girls, a little less uncomfortable now that she's not operating without substantial backup. "It's good too see you both, as well." she nods, glancing at Haruka for a moment, before turning back to Viluy. "Did you get to see what happened here?"
Haruka smiles at the pair. "The 'something' happened right in front of us, in fact..." she tells the Mau. "Though the who, what and why of the situation is a bit... foggy, but what I can say is that it's somehow related to the Criminals from last year."
At that she turns her gaze to Ami. "I'm hoping maybe you can help us fill in the gaps," Haruka says, tapping her temple indicating Ami's scanning visor.
Ami glances back at Artemis, smiling wryly. "I apologize for doubting you, Artemis...it seems you were dead on." she glanced up at Haruka. "That would be Celcia, ne?"
"I would have to say yes to that." Haruka says with a nod. "The topic of Celcia was the last thing that came up with Miss Nakahime before all," she waves her arm around indicating the icy landscape as illustration, "this."
Ami frowns a little, and glances back at her computer, wondering if it's determined where the anomaly was going. "Um...pardon me, but...Miss Nakahime?" she asks as she works, looking up at the older girls to punctuate the statement.
Smiling back at Ami, Artemis just shakes his head. "Don't worry about it, Ami," he says, focusing again to the matter on hand. "If it is Celcia, we need to stop her as soon as possible."
"She's who made the ice scuptures downstairs," Viluy adds in, frowning now. "I can't believe we didn't figure out what was blatantly wrong there until it was too late..."
Ami's visor continues to scan. The entire area is under a cold based anomaly of subtle but potent power. Tokyo Mall is swiftly again becoming a palace of ice and frozen snow, hundreds caught inside. The main source of the anomaly can't be detected at this time, though.
Nodding to Viluy and turning his gaze to the new ice skating rink that Tokyo Mall is, "We need to find Celcia and finish this before something bad happens to all the people trapped here," the Mau says, determination present again.
"The Orestes and Cynthia sculptures," Haruka says, adding to Viluy's statement. "I knew something was wrong, but I didn't think it was going to turn out like this..." she trails off, her tone colored with some self-accusation and guilt.
With a shake of her head she continues, looking at the other two Senshi. No use thinking about what we COULD'VE done. "Artemis is right, we've got a job to do, ladies. First order of business is to track down Celcia, but I'd like to get the mall go-ers out of here. Any ideas?"
Heh. Of course Eudial pops into my head with that... she thinks to herself with a mental smirk.
Ami smiles slightly, glancing over at the nearest frozen mall goer and letting her visor check them for dangers to their health from the ice, hoping fervently that the freezing process was cold enough to simply put them into suspended animation.
"I'm not optimisitic..." Ami responds, a bit apologetically. "They're essentially furniture at the moment. "Moving them away could be time consuming. We might be better served trying to draw her away from them, and choosing the battleground ourselves, if that's possible."
Ami:
Your scan results are...the people seem to be alive, just frozen so quickly that they are almost suspended. Also, the ice around them connects to the ice sheet across the floor, generally.
"Furniture? Moving them?" Haruka echoes, staring back at Ami uncomprehendingly for a moment before, "Oh! No, I meant the people in the mall who weren't on ice, actually...."
With a cough, "At any rate, yes, your idea about taking the fight out of here sounds great, but how do we draw her away? I'm not sure we have a suitable bait for the occasion."
"What we need to do is to stop here as soon as possible. If we root out the cause, everyone here should be saved when we do. I think." Declaring so, Artemis shivers and glances around...stopping when he sees the open space between floors. Ice is sheeting out from the floor, extending and sealing the floor with a thick seal of blue/white ice!
"Well...crap." Artemis says, succintly. "She's not going for the floating throne above the mall this time."
Why can't these things ever be simple? Ami checks her computer again, devoting a portion of the scan to looking over the ice sculptures, their only lead to date on where Celcia might be.
"I think Artemis is right." Ami affirms. "As nice as it would be to ensure everyone got out safely, time is of the essence..." she trails off, watching the ice. "And that hilights the point rather nicely." she replied, shaking her head, and turning back to her computer. Where do we go? I don't want to stand and watch this happen...
Gazing at the now iced over surface of the open gap aboe and below, the area darkens somewhat due to even the weak light through the snowclouds being further blocked.
"We need to do something soon, before we get trapped in ice as well," Viluy comments, turning back to Haruka. "We need to find Miss Nakahime, too."
And take care of this...together.
Ami:
Your computer scans the ice scuptures as well as...there's something. There seems to be a deep anomaly on the first floor, by the statues. It's not clear if it's the main anomaly quite yet, but it's something.
Ami smiles a little. Success! she stores her computer for the moment, but leaves her visor down, continiously taking readings for the moment. Not what I wanted, but any information is a victory of sorts.
Reaching into her subspace pocket, her fingers closed around the familiar metallic shape of her bracelet, withdrawing it and slipping it over her gloved wrist.
"I've got readings on the first floor." she tells the older girls. "...Near the statues...But, it may not be her." she cautions, then bites her lip, nodding. "Or, I could begin trying to undo some of what's already done, and we can see if it draws her out..."
Artemis nods, with a pleased smile. "Good work, Ami-chan. I say well try to get to the first floor and deal with what's down there...it may not be her, but I imagine it's related. Better that fishing around up here and hoping."
Sailor Neptune merely turns to Haruka, curious to her love's imput before commenting to Artemis. "If the Mirror reacted to Miss Nakahime before, perhaps it can find her now?"
"Near the statues..." Haruka parrots with a contemplative frown before nodding. "Sounds like we're going to the first floor then."
She eyes the icy landscape around her warily before setting off in the lead.
Walking alongside Viluy, she ruffles the girl's green hair slightly before asking in measured tones, "You sure you'll be okay? When we were down there last time...." Haruka leaves the statement unfinished, giving Viluy a glance to convey her worry.
Smiling back, "I'm fine, Haruka," Viluy comments, composed now. "We have a job to do." Doing the same composure to herself that she did to her spirit, she assumes a calmer pose.
Fighting for a new age and for reformation...sounds good...and gracefully.
Yet that breaks a moment later, a familiar smile appearing. "Fighting gracefully..." Viluy murmurs to Haruka.
As you begin to walk, you notice the escalators have been iced over as well with a thick sheet of ice that covered everything else. Going down without doing something isn't viable at the current time. And to top it off, it's getting colder.
Artemis nods to Ami as he begins to walk. "Ami-chan, can you do something to help us reach the first floor?"
Ami nods. "Alright." She closes her eyes, reaching into her bond with water and ice, feeling for the bracelet's power as well, and extending the control to the ice coating the escalator, and telling it to retreat...
* Hatbot --> "Ami-chan rolls 2d6-1 and gets 6."
Reaching into her Talisman's power and her own mastery over ice, Ami extends her spirit outward! Were one so inclined to see it by a great gift of extrahuman sight, the faint, concentrating face of one Ami Mizuno could be seen over the ice, as it receded from the escalator in a ten foot wide hole, the sheet of ice proving to be at least fifteen feet thick. A blast of colder, frigid air gushes out from this, causing a welt of shivering and wincing!
"Good work again," Artemis nods, through slightly chattering teeth. Below, the second story sits, cloaked in shadows and cold.
Ami shivers, smiling wanly at Artemis, and nodding, pulling out her computer again to suppliment her visor, cycling through viewing options to pierce the shadows, tentatively stepping forward to the top of the escalator, wary of what else might come up from below.
"I suppose no one has torches or a floodlight on them..." she jokes weakly as she peers into the gloom.
Fiddling with the visor, Ami reaches a mode which improves her seeing downstairs somewhat. Peering into the blackness, you can see the second floor, with similiar, all encasing cloak of ice across it. At the moment, it doesn't look dangerous.
Well, as much as icy stairs and freezing air isn't dangerous.
""I'm afraid not," Viluy ventures back weakly, staring down into the abyss herself. "Can you see anything, Sailor Mercury?"
OOC - I hate to double post, but since Liddo needs to vanish for a few days, I'm going to slightly move up a planned plot event.
IC -
As the words leave Neptune's lips, they are chased savagely by the sound of ripping, moving ice! A large section of the icy floor rises up rapidly, with Artemis and Haruka on it! They barely have time to give a yelp off before they are rising straight up and away, pushing through the seal of ice above!
Viluy, who stepped forward to look into the abyss and was missed by inches, has her skirt pushed up by the skin close edge of ice! "Wha...? Haruka!" she calls as she whips around, confronted with the tail end of a moving ice block!
OOC -
I'll move Haruka and Artemis into a new thread. Ami, continue to use this one for now. I'll likely be merging them back into it sooner or later, as well as Natsume.
Ami whirls around at Viluy's exclaimation, her eyes widening as her reply to the initial question was lost, and she gasps. "Artemis!" she cries, whirling an moving to the ice, reaching out and trying to slow the ascent with her power over the element...
Thrusting your power forward as quickly as you can, you try to halt or arrest the jutting upward ice platform! Yet by the time you can reasonably react and begin to assert any control whatsoever, it's pretty much up there.
You do feel a slight response, but it's just too late to prevent the course, the ice zooming through a swiftly appearing gap in the fourth floor ice sheet.
"Haruka!" Viluy cries again, unable to affect the outcome herself, eyes stuck to where the hole is now sealed with the rising chunk of ice, Artemis and Haruka stuck above.
Ami quickly pulls out her communicator, setting it to contact Haruka and her wayward Mau. "Haruka? Artemis?" She asks the little device pleadingly.
Yanking out your trusty Senshi communicator, it beeps and fuzzes for several seconds.
"CANNOT TRANSMIT TO COMMUNICATOR. ERROR." is displayed on the fuzzy, snowy screen.
Ami looks to Viluy nervously. "I can't reach her...Can you?" she asks, eyeing the escalator briefly, before deciding the fate of their friends is more important.
Viluy simply shakes her head. "I'm afraid not," she says, looking upward still. "Ami, we need to get to the fourth floor and get them back down here."
If she gets herself in trouble...
Glancing at the nearest up escalator(A bit away from your position), Viluy nods. "We should hurry, especially if there was a trap waiting for them up there."
Ami glances down at the hole into the first floor uneasily. "Viluy...I want to go after them, too...but...Can we afford to delay?" she asks, wincing at the sound of her own words. "They're most likely looking for us, and if we run up after them, we could miss each other..." She says apologetically.
"We can't just leave them up there, either," Viluy comments quickly, still keeping an eye upward. "And if Celcia is strong, we'll need the help. Being the Senshi of Water and your being the Senshi of Ice, we aren't cut out to battle her."
Turning her gaze to you, she smiles a bit. "And I just can't run off on Haruka in good concience. Can you leave Artemis behind, Ami?"
"No." Ami admits softly, hanging her head. Just the thought of heading in the other direction while her friend is in trouble makes her gut clench painfully.
"You're right, but rushing off blindly after them might also complicate things. Uhm...Can you locate them with your mirror? If we could get an idea what they're doing, we could retrieve them more quickly..."
Nodding and pushing down her own worry, Viluy withdraws her Talisman from otherspace. Taking it and carefully gazing into it's mirror, her reflection seen a moment - the reflection of a aqua haired teenager, only the faintest trace of white left in her hair. One may even mistake it for a bit of premature gray and not her former luster if they were unaware.
Yet her eyes are focused as she gazes in...
...
"I...I think there's danger up there, but I'm not sure," she says finally, letting the Neptune Mirror drop to her side and changing her gaze to you. Worry is starting to show in those eyes.
Ami flinches. Not exactly helpful... her brain chastises, but she shakes her head. "Did you see anything that might help us locate them? Where they were? Are they moving?" she asks, shifting out her computer, and scanning for a layout of the mall, and looking for life signs as she did...
"No...I'm still learning how to fully use my Talisman," Neptune admits, frowning slightly. "I only felt a sense of danger and saw a murky view."
Ignoring the ball of tension her failure caused, Viluy waits on Ami.
Your computer scans the mall...while it will take a few moments to fully scan, as there is some interference now, it reports Sailor Uranus and Artemis are up on the fourth floor and quite alive.
"They're safe...for now." Ami replied briskly, but nodded to the escalator Viluy indicated earlier. "Let's go, before the interference gets too great to find them at all.." she said finally, a nervous flutter in her stomach.
"Agreed," Viluy says, coming along with you. A short walk takes to a slippery, ice encoated escalator that goes right up into the floor of ice, almost cut in twain by the frigid spread. Some ice manipulation looks to be in order.
Turning to you, "Could you, Ami? I can't affect water when it's ice like this."
Ami nods, and stretches out her hand, as if to touch the ice, envisioning the hard, shimmery substance obeying her will, and retreating from the surface of the escalator...
* Musk-bot --> "Ami-chan rolls 2d6 and gets 5."
Once again reaching into your powers as the avatar of Mercury, Ami implores and moves the ice to move! Retreating from the escalator, a space is created to go through, up to the next floor!
Viluy smiles a moment at Ami, "That was good, Ami," she says, beginning to carefully ascent the slippery stair.
Ami smiles self depreciatingly. "I've gotten better at it since Rei-chan's been helping me." she admits, gingerly following the green haired woman up the frozen steps.
"Rei's excellent at spiritual matters," Viluy agrees, thinking a bit of her occasoinal stints at the Shrine while ever so slowly climbing up the stair. And up, and up and up...to the fourth floor!
OOC - Short pause until I get a bit more done with Haruka. Hold on.
Rising through the hole in the floor, you come up and get a look around. It's a bit brighter up here, but otherwise the same. Almost.
Except for, you know, four stubby pillars of ice around Haruka and Artemis in a roughly 10 ft radius, forming a rough off center square, with a terrible blizzard starting inside!
"Guh!" You hear Artemis gasp, staggering from the cold! A step behind you, Neptune sees the scene ahead of you.
"Haruka!"
"Artemis!" Ami cries, rushing closer as she turns back to her computer, adjusting her visor once more, trying to see what's at work, and how it can be stopped.
Rushing forward, Ami's trusted visor analyses the situation.
....
It seems that the four pillars are a source of cold energy, sending out the nasty trap that is currently trying to make Uranus and Mau-sicles. Together, they are projecting the field, a distant fountaint of power feeding it, but that'll take a bit ot time to trace.
Haruka staggers slightly under the strength of the focused blizzard as the cold bites into her. She turns to the Mau quickly, "Get out of the circle, Artemis! I'm gonna see if taking out one of these pillars will help any," Haruka tells him, not waiting for a response, she gives the cat-man a push forward.
Turning in the opposite direction now (so as to not accidentally blast Artemis) Haruka raises a hand to shield her eyes slightly from the wind. Spying the shadowy outline of her target she gathers energy into her palm and calls out...
"World Shaking!"
Ami grits her teeth, and considers an attack, but judging the nature of the trap, she decides her powers may make things worse. Instead, sets her computer to seek out the frequency and nature of the power feed, to find out if there's a way to block the incoming power...
* Musk-bot --> "Haruka rolls 2d6+1 Musky and gets 10."
Haruka's World Shaking fires forward, hitting the pillar straight ahead of her! It shatters into a million pieces even as your body numbs from the cold. (5 damage).
Artemis stumbles forward, towards the edge of the blizzard! Just barely stumbling out, he falls to his knees at the very outside border, shivering deeply!
Ami - You could, maybe, with your own powers, but it would be a battle.
The cold wanes a bit with one pillar destroyed, yet is still icy death for Haruka's skin! Despite the pain, she is still functional, however.
Ami turns quickly Neptune, urgency in her voice. "Viluy! The pillars are generating the storm! Try and destroy them, and I'll try and cut the incoming power!"
Nervously summoning all the strength she posesses, Ami prepares for the struggle, and reaching out with her connection he her element, she feels for the influx of power, and pictures an icy wall, to prevent any more of the blizzard's power from getting through...
"Boom..." Haruka chatters out with an icy grin at the destruction of her target.
Eyeing the remaining three spiers, she gathers energy into her upraised fist once more, then lets loose her attack! She was banking on the hope that this last strike would bring it all down.
This should do it....
"World Shaking!"
* Musk-bot --> "Haruka rolls 2d6+1 for icy fun and gets 8."
* Musk-bot --> "Ami-chan rolls 2d6+2 burning 20 EP! and gets 12."
* Musk-bot --> "Viluy rolls 2d6 and gets 7."
"World...."
"Deep..."
"Sumerge! Shaking!"
Haruka's golden orb flies forth, shattering a second pillar while Viluy's called attack hits another! While not destroying the pillar, it does rock it and seem to liquify some of the ice on it!
Meanwhile, Ami focuses her will on the power stream as best she can! The two wills meet in a battle!
Yet Ami's attempt is roughly pushed back by the force!
The cold around Haruka slows considerably, lessoning by quite a fair deal. The ice and snow stops almost entirely. (2 damage). It feels better already, Viluy calling out.
"Haruka! Get out of there!"
And Artemis just picks himself up, giving Ami a momentary smile as he rights and focuses himself after that.
Ami frowns, irritated by her lack of progress, but abandoning the attempt as she sees two more pillars destroyed, and Artemis free. She smiles a little at Artemis, hurrying over to check the Mau out, and make sure he's not hurt, and at the same time, scanning for Haruka...
Haruka staggers out of the circle gingerly, feeling rather stiff and languid, as she tries to rub some warmth into her arms as she goes.
"C-coming..." she manages to shiver out with a strained grin, putting in as much frozen humor as she can muster.
Quickly inspecting Artemis, you can see that he looks alright. A bit cold, though. Haruka is just working her way out of the slackening storm, a bit of ice having formed on her fuku.
"C-coming..." she grins, as she steps out of the circle and into the relatively warm air here.
"Thanks, Ami," Artemis smiles at you again. "Can't believe we got so involved that we let that trap get us..."
Viluy, meanwhile, after a momentary hesitation, darts over to Haruka. Supporting her the moment she reaches her, "Haruka, are you alright," she asks, already starting to rub away the ice on the front of Uranus' Senshi uniform.
Ami smiles softly, rubbing his upper arms lightly and working her way down to restore some of his circulation. "It's all right. It happens to the best of us, even when we are paying attention." she assures him. "How do you feel?"
HIs arms are a bit on the cold side, even to the touch. "Yeah, but...." he frowns, annoyed with himself. "I'm fine, Ami. Haruka was in there longer than me..."
Turning to Haruka and Viluy, "I think she'll be okay, though. She's tougher than whatever Celcia hit us with."
If nothing else...
Ami glances up. "Viluy's looking after her." she replies, with a vaguley bemused expression, which melts into a smile. "So I'll look after you. Just hold still a second." she adds, massaging his hands and arms quickly. "This cold isn't good for you, either, no matter how long you were in it."
"Never been better," Haruka tells Viluy wryly. "Though now I know what a frozen vegetable feels like..." she grumbles out.
Haruka grabs Viluy's hands to stop her ministrations, giving her a reassuring look. "I'm okay," she tells her, then on recieving a somewhat skeptical look in reply, "Really."
"Besides," Haruka begins, her eyes growing a bit more firm at that, "We have an appointment with an ice wench to keep, and we wouldn't want to keep her waiting now, do we?"
Haruka pauses slightly, "But seeing as how we had trouble getting a hold of each other through one floor..." Haruka trails off, "I'm not holding much hope that we can get a hold of the others with the communicator," she finishes with a frown.
Turning to regard Ami now, "Which means you'll have to handle dialing for backup with that Senshi Mental Network if we butt heads against something beyond us."
Ami looked up from where she was trying to encourage circulation in Artemis' arms, and smiled. "I can handle that, but you don't need to worry. I told Professor Tomoe where we were going before I left, and the twins are keeping an eye on things. If we get into serious trouble, there are people watching out for us."
Viluy nods, though still keeps a careful eye on you. If anything, she whispers to you, "Don't let that happen again, Haruka. You worried me!" Giving your arm a final rub, she withdraws her touch, letting her arms hang at her side.
"And I'm looking forward to that part," Artemis butts in, patting Ami's hand absently as he begins to rise to his feet. "The ghosts of the past like her should stay there."
Haruka relaxes somewhat at Ami's words, some worry abating with the revelation. Though the issue of not having an alternative to the communicator did rankle her some... at any rate.
A smile is the only thing Haruka gives Viluy by way of acknowledgement, patting her on the shoulder. The concern was appreciated and rather cute, really, but...
I can't really promise her something I can't keep.... Something like that is par for our appointed occupation, after all. It's bound to happen again, and again, and again.... Guh.
And lastly, she turns her attention to the somewhat rude, overbearing, annoying, grating... Mau, and smirks at the truth in his words.
So, you have plans of unleashing some feline fists of fury? Haruka mentally quips. She wanted to jab Artemis a few times verbally, but thinking better of it, she shoots, the now man, a grin instead.
"We've burned enough time," Haruka begins, heading towards the direction of the escalators, "Let's get to the first floor, clean up this mess, and go home."
Ami nods, standing as well, and following after Artemis and Haruka. "Next time I suggest a little investigation, I'd like someone to tie me up and slap me until I come to my senses..." she murmurs under her breath.
"Right," Artemis nods to Haruka, as Viluy rises herself. "The sooner we're done, the sooner we can get out this damn cold." At that, he rubs his arms again, sighing.
Viluy gives Haruka a worried smile, but nods. "Sooner we finish..." she muses glancing down below, where hopefully Celcia waits...
Ami smiles a little at Artemis. "Next time, you'll listen when I suggest warmer clothing?" She teases gently over her shoulder.
Looking at Am instead of at his cold arms, "I think you're right, Ami-chan," he murmurs, agreeing with you rather agreeably this time. He stops a moment, turning to Ami. "Can I borrow your disguise pen a moment?"
Ami blinks, then smiles slowly, and agreeably reaches into her subspace pocket, and retrieving and handing Artemis the pen. "Sure."
Taking it with cold fingertips, "Ami, what's the command phrase for it," he asks, holding the pent with number digits.
"The phrase 'Mercury Disguise Power' is the activation phrase, then it works much like Usagi's pen. Just tell it what you want." Ami replies, bemusedly pondering a way to remotely control the disguise pen herself, watching Artemis as they walk.
A short nod as he raises it above his head, gripping it on the bottom so the top is pointing into the air freely.
"Mercury Disguise Power! Transform me into a warmly clothed...um...version of myself!" The words echo as the Mau is covered by a screen of bubbles, almost reminisent of Ami's transformation at points.
It tingles...!
A brief few moments later, the bubbles pop and fade away, revealing Artemis, decked out in a warm muffler with fur lined hood, red gloves, and heavy pants. Lowering the pen, he nods and seems to snuggle a bit. "Thanks," he says, putting the pen in a newly obtained coat pocket.
Ami covers her mouth with one hand to smother her smile, finding the moment oddly cute, but not electing to share that observation.
"You're welcome." She replies simply, her smile warm, but no longer on the verge of giggling.
"And here I thought we were going to get a dose of Sailor Artemis," Haruka comments over her shoulder, sporting an amused, face splitting grin at the Mau's expense.
As loose as she was acting though, Haruka makes sure to keep one eye open for any other nasty surprises that might unexpectedly pop up.
Quick, easy, and everyone goes home. Is that too much to ask?
Artemis shoots Haruka a momentary glare, but he lets it drop.
Sailor Artemis...gah! As if those pictures from a few months ago aren't bad enough...
Luna would claw me to hell and back.
"We really should be going now," he says, beginning to head towards the escalator.
Ami blinks at the exchange, raising a single eyebrow curiously. They love sniping at each other...And he passed up the chance to return fire? She followed the group in silence, eyeing Artemis contemplatively. 'Sailor Artemis' indeed. But for some reason, it got a reaction...
Indeed, the Mau is simply silent as you go on. The fourth floor escalator is still deiced and passable, you find. Nothing blocking your way down to the third floor at all. At least right now.
Staying with the group, and shifting her visor back to the vision ehanced mode she'd found while preparing to enter the first floor, Ami moved to the head of the escalator, and cautiously began making her way down, examining her surroundings in slow, relentless sweeps of her gaze...
The third floor looks relatively unremarkable again - more or less as you left it, you think. But, to be sure, you make a second sweep - and this one does find something! There are a few minor energy patterns in the floor near the 3rd to 2nd floor escalators, four in total. They form a rough circular pattern.
Ami turns back the group quickly. "Be careful! There's something embedded in the floor near the escalator." she warns urgently, turning her gaze back toward the energy patterns, and pulling out her computer once more, trying to identify them before they get too close.
Haruka stops short at that, alert now for something to occur.
To Artemis and Viluy, "Be ready for anything." Sidling along side Ami now, eyeing the general direction of the escalator suspiciously, "What do you see?"
Viluy nods, carefully falling into place on Haruka's other side. Artemis chooses to hang back, quiet for now as he lets his Senshi of Ice take the show.
Ami eases down until she gets to the bottom of the escalator, pausing from her new vantage point to look again, trying to identify the strange signatures...
It's not long before you have a match - it's the same as the pillars of cold from the fourth floor. Exact, as a matter of fact, the icy stands protecting the way down to the second floor of the mall.
Ami frowns. "It's the same booby trap that You and Artemis tripped upstairs." She reports to Haruka, moving closer to see if she can determine how the trap is set off.
Buzzing right along, your computer quickly returns that it seems to be set off by a source of warmth entering the area.
Like a human body, for example.
Ami frowns at her computer. "Triggered by body heat." she muses then focuses her scan on the four energy signatures, and runs a quick simulation on the effects of her power used on them directly, hoping to be able to mask the body heat of the party long enough for them to pass.
Scanning...
The results are that it may be possible to do so with your powers, yes. But, there is a chance you could cause some damage and pain to yourselves as a side effect. The exact results are dependant on Sailor Mercury's skill and control.
"I think I can supress the trap long enough for us to walk through." Ami frowns, then looks up at Haruka. "Or we can trip it, and destroy it, first."
"I'm rather partial to the 'destroy' option, myself," Haruka says turning to regard Ami and with an amused grin. "But I'll leave it up to you. If you think you can tackle it, then go for it," she tells her, patting the girl encouragingly on the shoulder.
With a serious look she adds, "If I see that it's too much for you though, I'm blowing it away."
Artemis nods to that. "Ami, if you think you can handle it we can just slip by." Giving you a quick smile, he turns to Haruka. "Though, if she does try and fails, we'll need to be ready to blast down the ice rods right away.
Sounds like something for you, eh?" he says, remembering that last World Shaking. "I doubt Ami's Aqua Illusion or Shrike will do much to these."
Ami gives Haruka a wry look, and nods. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, and putting her computer's rather grim warning from her mind for the moment, Ami reaches into her own control over the element of ice, and reaches out to her talisman's power as well, pooling the elemental control and touching the energy signatures gradually with it, slowly but surely lowering the temperature of each by icing them over, getting ready to withdraw at the slightest indication it's gone wrong...
Haruka simply nods in reply to Artemis, readying herself by Ami's side should things suddenly go awry.
* Shai`Hulud --> "Raquel_Casull rolls 2d6+1 burning 20 EP for some decent luck, for a change and gets 11."
OOC - Poor Ami-chan, yet again.
IC -
Schooling together her mighty power over ice, Ami closes her eyes in a deathlike focus trance! She begins to try and effect the the pillars and the signatures there, attempting to assert her control over the ice!
Yet before she truly gets going, you feel a counterforce pushing you, sending a shiver down your back! It's vague and somewhat disorganized right now, but it does cause you to retreat from your endevour.
Ami's eyes snap open and she grimaces with frustration. "It's not letting me touch it." she sighs. "I can try and force it, but the risk of accidental injury is fairly high."
"Demolition it is," Haruka announces, giving Ami a pat on the back for reassurance. "Good effort, but it seems destruction and mayhem just happens to be on the menu as part of today's special," she quips with a chuckle.
"Followed by finishing off Celcia," Viluy murmus, still close to Haruka. Though, she doesn't look terribly happy at saying that. In fact, "Haruka..." she leans over, whispering. "Have you thought about Miss Nakahime? If she's Celcia or connected to her..."
Haruka leans over so as to hear Viluy better then, "Yeah, I have been thinking a little about how she's related to all this, and frankly, I don't have any firm answers."
"What I can say is this - Miss Nakahime isn't doing this on her own volition," Haruka tells Viluy as her mind goes over the events again. "She was way too confused and scared when we all this began at the tables... I think she's being used as a tool or something. Maybe a conduit for Celcia?"
Haruka sighs. "There's just way too many unknowns right now. Like, how did she know what Oxyite, Cynthia and the other Criminals looked like?"
"Guh..." Haruka begins with a grimace. "I hate puzzles..." she mutters wryly with a shake of her head.
"A conduit, or perhaps she's possessed in some manner," Viluy agrees. "We'll have to figure it out before the end of this, puzzle or not." Turning away with a thoughtful half smile, she turns to Ami. "Were you going to want to try again, or should we get to blasting this away?"
Ami blinks at Viluy's prompt, and turns to Haruka, leaving the role of defacto leader of the makeshift squad to the older girl. "I -can- try again." she offers again. "If I can manage it, it will probably be less draining on the group as a whole." She adds, making it clear by her tone that she considers it a valid option.
"We should give it one more go, Ami. Though if it's a no-go this time around, we go in blasting," Haruka says loud enough for all concerned to hear.
"Right." Ami nods to herself, and closes her eyes again. This time she braces herself against the counterforce, bringing all the control she has to bear...
OOC:
[07:36] <@Ciel> roll 2d6+2
[07:36] * +Hatbot --> "Ciel rolls 2d6+2 and gets 7."
Wheeeeeee! Duney said this was kosher. >_>
IC:
Ami feels the counter force that defeated her first attempt twist and yield under the force she herself commands. The faint pressure is there, but she holds it back, turning to Haruka, and speaking in a low voice to maintain her concentration, and hold on the trap. "It's ready...You can walk through, now, but hurry...I don't know how long I can hold it back."
Haruka nods, "Alright, let's get going you two," she tells Viluy and Artemis, following up behind the pair. Once safely across, "Okay, we're on the other side," Haruka tells Ami, keeping a cautious eye trained on her fellow senshi.
Ami nods, and her face still strained with concentration, she follws the group. Once she's past the trap, and all the group is safe, she relaxed her hold on the trap with a sigh of relief...
Artemis lets out a breath as you have passed by the trap safely. "That's one less trap," he notes, glancing down at the stairway to the second floor. Like the others, it's coated in ice....again. The path to the second floor will have to be cut out. Did it refreeze?
Still quiet, Viluy says nothing. As she ponders the fate of one quiet, hopefully innocent woman...
Only to be broken by a shattering, explosive sound behind on, a wall from outside to the third floor being blasted apart rather noisily. Ice and the concrete underneath are sent aflyin', a small pile of rubble and dust spilling out and momentarily cloaking whomever just did this.
Haruka eyes the iced over passage with some worry.
I have a bad feeling about this....
Her suspicion is only confirmed by the explosion as she whirls quickly around towards the direction of the blast. She strains to see through the obscuring haze at who... or what, might be the culprit responsible.
Ami whirls around at the sound of the noise, only barely remembering to stay back from the trap she just passed through. "What...?"
Viluy jumps back, surprised but trying to cover it as best she can. Spinning around swiftly as she lands, she faces the threat, as does Artemis.
As the frigid dust settles, you can see two figures entering. Floating down from outside...it looks like two women...Cyprine? Ptilol? Waving her hands and coughing a bit at the dust, "Uranus? Neptune? Mercury?" Cyprine calls, getting out of the mess she and her sister made.
Ami laughs, pleased to see something going her way for a change. "We're here." Ami calls to the twins. "Watch out for the traps..."
Haruka lets out the breath she was holding.
Couldn't they have done a much less... showy entrance? she wonders to herself with a shake of her head.
"Welcome to the party girls," she greets with a smile and a wave, then on hearing Ami's caution she adds, "Yeah, the trap is body heat activated so watch yourselves."
Ptilol nods as that, as her sister half sneezes on the dust she kicked up. "Finally...It's been hard to pinpoint you, let alone tell something wrong is going on." Cyprine, recovering from her sneeze, agrees. "There seems to be a dampening field of some sort around here - we couldn't even tell anything was off until we were almost here."
Staying carefully where they are, "We even had to blast in because of that."
"There's a dampening field?" Haruka asks Cyprine before shifting her gaze towards Ami at that. "Anyway," she begins to say, "It's good to have you two to back us up. Does it look bad from the outside?"
On seeing their predicament - being seperated from the Twins by the damanable trap. "All this pussyfooting.... I should've just blown the darned thing up in the first place," Haruka grumbles.
Ami blinks, checking her computer again. Did I miss the dampening field? she wonders curiously. Or does it not register from the inside?
At Haruka's complaint, Ami simply rolls her eyes.
"It's frozen over...from the outside," Cyprine starts as she carefully examines the area, Ptilol finishing. "How did you get past it in the first place?"
Ami looks up sharply at that. "It wasn't frozen over when Artemis and I got here, and we arrived after Haruka and Viluy-san." she replies, frowning. "This situation is escalating a bit more visibly than I'd thought. Maybe we should hurry..."
Viluy nods. "I think it's getting colder, too. We need to try and finish this before it gets any worse."
Or before we waste all our energy upstairs. Ami's starting to look a little strained...
Ptilol nods. "We passed on a message to Professor Tomoe, but it may take a little bit for anyone to arrive because of the field." Cyprine glances down at that, agreeing. "So the sooner the better..."
Responding to the Twins, "The first one we ran across, we blew apart, but with this one, we had Ami use her ice mastery to keep it from triggering," Haruka tells the pair.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to end this quickly then," Haruka tells Ami and Viluy with a nod. "But first, the annoying little trap...."
Cyprine nods. "Can you walk us past it as you did with the others...
...Ami?" Ptilol finishes automatically. "Or we can expend the energy to destroy it ourselves?"
Ami smiles, a bit wearily. "I can hold it open for you, I think." she agrees, nodding. "We should probably avoid destroying traps that have us on either side..."
Reaching once again into her command over the element of ice, and the talisman encircling her wrist to bolster it, she tries duplicating the moove that allowed them to pass...
* Musk-bot --> "Ami-chan rolls 2d6 for entrapment! and gets 2."
IC: With having mastered this trap before, it's simple play for Ami to guide the Twins past it. It barely takes an effort at all, even, to get the two to your side.
Nodding a short thanks, the Twins turn their gaze to the escalator nearby. "We're heading downstairs?" Ptilol asks.
OOC: Only expended 1 EP due to a critical. Lucky Ami-chan.
Ami nods in return to the the twins, turning her attention to the iced over passage in front of them. Encouraged by the relative ease of her dealing with the trap, she turns her attention to where the elcalator disappears into the ice, and once again dips into her power over the element, commanding it to part for them...
* Musk-bot --> "Ami-chan rolls 2d6 for 'waiting for luck to run out' and gets 5."
IT does so, Ami's excellent control again sufficient to part the ice and move it away from the path ahead!
Artemis smiles to himself a moment, before stepping forward. "Let's go. We're getting close to ground floor again, and that's where this will hopefully end."
Ami nods, smiling with rueful admiration at the Mau. Out of all of us, even me, he's probably the least equipped for this, and he's leading the way...
She moves up beside him, her nearly forgotten visor scanning for threats once more as she accompanies him through the passage...
"Good work," Haruka tells Ami with a pat to her back, as the group begins to make their way towards the now opened passage to the next floor. "Looks like you're in a starring role today, eh?" she teases with a grin.
After her moment of musement she drops back a few paces to fall in step with the Twins and Viluy. "Do the two of you have anything to deal with something like possession and the like?" Haruka gestures to Viluy at this, "There was a woman we encountered, who might be at the center of this, but we're not sure if it's wholly voluntary."
"We have a little bit of experience with it," Cyprine nods. "But we're not overly capable at it," Ptilol finishes. "We learned the majority of our spells that we have under Germatou's influence, and he didn't teach from that sphere of magic."
Frowning a bit as she finishes, Cyprine goes on. "We'll have to do as best we can."
"I guess, 'our best', is all we'll have to work with then," Haruka replies with a slightly strained smile. "I don't like the thought of confronting someone who might not be our enemy minus influence..." she begins, then with a sigh Haruka laments, "I wish Rei was here now for this...."
Turning her head towards Viluy, she asks hopefully, "Is the Mirror picking up anything more, now that we're headed closer to the first floor?"
Viluy shakes her head, withdrawing the Mirror again and viewing in it. "No good...it's still cloudy." With a slight, controlled shake of her head, she continues on downward.
As you head on down, the second floor is a bit different than the first. Instead of a sheet of ice across the empty space, the upper parts of what appear to be castle towers poke through. It's dark here, the only light coming from gleaning reflections of light from the ice castle. Dazzling to look at as you come down, it's like a starscape cemented in the icy reaches of this place.
Ami winces inwardly at the condition of the second floor. She seems to be moving in. She reflected. Not commenting at all, Ami simply continues to scan the floor for traps that might snare the unwary.
Haruka whistles at the sight. "Someone is getting reaaaaaaally comfortable down here," she notes, truly taken back by the changed surroundings.
"Although let's see if we can do something about the lighting..." Haruka comments before drawing out her Space Sword. She holds it in front of herself like a torch then pauses, concentrating slightly.
Ami - By your computer's scans, this seems to be the likely source of the anomaly. In other words....this is it.
As Haruka fires off another commentary, her Space Sword lights up brightly. This casts light in a roughly circular radius around yourselves, greatly aiding your sight. You can see that the floor is a solid glaze of ice now, everything else around subsumed to it.
"So...this must be where Celcia is holed up. Can we get inside from here, Ami," Viluy asks the lake-blue haired girl.
Instead of answering directly, Ami asks her computer to scan for the path of least resistance to the center of the anamoly, making a 'just a moment' gesture to Viluy.
It's a bit hard to say, but this place doesn't stand out any more than anything bleow it for relative resistance.
Ami frowns and narrows widens her search, simply looking for the nearest available entrance from where they are.
It looks like with a bit of blasting, you could proceed in from the tower tops. There even seem to be stairs past a trap door on each one, lik ea real castle.
Ami eyes the tower tops thoughtfully. "Haruka, do you still feel like breaking something?" She asks the blonde senshi innocently enough, but with a slightly teasing twinkle in her eyes.
Haruka returns the teasing look with an amused grin. "Oh, always willing and able for you, princess," she answers back, squeezing as much scandalism into those two words as she can.
After an amused chuckle, "Why, you have a plan for getting us in?" she asks, eyeing the general direction that Ami's gaze was pointed towards.
Ami smiles. "If you'd be so kind as to remove one of the tower tops, they all have staircases to lead us down..." she replies gesturing to the tops of the castle. I must be tired...this is all becoming slightly amusing...
As Ami and Haruka chat merrily...
Viluy watches on, stepping quietly just out of Haruka's line of sight. A small downturn of her lips plays, before she quickly banishes it.
I must be getting weary...
I just thought that...
Haruka hums slightly as she eyes the pointed to target in contemplation. "Hmm..." she begins, then turns to regard Ami, "Yeah, I think that might be do-able," she says with a nod of her head.
"Here, hold this a sec," Haruka tells Ami, handing the Space Sword to her for safekeeping, while she performs her task. "Now don't go losing that now," she teases, "That's part of my soul you've got in your hands there," Haruka finishes with a smirk.
Turning to the tower now, she extends her right hand out and gathers a bit of energy for the task as she calls out, "Space Turbulence!"
OOC: HAruka rolled a 3, but I had to reboot before posting. Argh.
Winds howl at the tower roof, ripping into the ice and sending shards of ice flying as a path is opened! A stairway down can be seen, hewn of solid ice...It's semi lit inside, various sparkles making it dazzling.
The Space Sword is warm and vibrant in Ami's hand, almost invigorating as a fresh wind.
Ami eyes the sword, faint spots of red on her cheeks. Did she just...? Ami glanced surreptitously at Viluy...just in time to miss the frown.No...No, I'm imagining things. Am I that pent up that I'm reading into something so innocent? I think I need a looooong bath tonight.
This is an interesting weapon... she thinks, eyeing the warm sword curiously.
(http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ebiris/sword.jpg)
The Space Sword glows with a strong light as you hold it, continuing to illuminate the area around you. Like a stick-flashstick almost. If it was neon, you'd be able to wave Haruka's Talisman at a rave. Your visor detects strong energy from the Sword, perhaps to be expected. It's in snych with Haruka's, the edge of your own Talisman's energy visible to your scan.
Ami idly records what she can of the space sword's energy reading for examination later, and after a moment's thought, does the same for her bracelet. She has been putting off a thorough study of her talisman...perhaps now that she has a reminder, she'll remember later.
Looking up, she smiles faintly, waiting for the intrepid leader of this makeshift band to sound the charge...
"I suppose sneaking in is out of the question now..." Haruka comments with a snicker before turning to the others. "We've just kicked open our host's door, girls, and we're playing the part of spoilers. Let's greet them as only party crasher can do and wreck their fun."
"Yes," both Twins nods, Artemis as well firmly agreeing. Of course, it's a bit of a jump to the tower from the floor, but it's nothing you girls can't manage.
Viluy, however, simply nods and barely looks up at Haruka. "Yeah..." she half murmurs. If anything, she seems to be almost starting to gloom up.
That blush...Jealous? Of Ami?
"Let's go." Looking up a few moments later, Viluy proceeds with a gynastic, graceful leap, landing soundly atop the tower floor space.
Haruka blinks curiously, just catching Viluy's reaction. She makes a motion to ask her what's wrong, but is left minus any answers as she bounds away.
Mental note: ask about that later.
"Thanks for holding that, Ami," she says in thanks, taking the Sword back from the girl. "Don't fall behind," she calls over her shoulder as she follows after Viluy.
On catching up to her lately cuddly, yet now puzzling partner, Haruka places a hand on her shoulder. "Slow down there," she tells Viluy a bit worriedly, but still with her usual cheer. "We don't know what's waiting for us ahead so we have to stay together."
Even through your boots you feel the cold of the ice you now stand on, seepign in and chilling you from the soles up. Viluy shifts a bit at your hand, notably but softly moving a bit away.
"Yeah," she nods, shaking her head mildly before turning to you. She looks focused on business now.
Haruka remains quiet a moment, frowning slightly at how Viluy pulls away from her. The ice is a present and palpable sensation, but a minor thing in the forefront of her mind as she asks, "Is something wrong?"
Another damnable pause before Viluy replies, of course, one that tears at you like a greatsword. "No, I'm fine." With that, she lifts her voice a bit higher. "I just want to finish this."
And think....God, I have so much to think about today....and there's still Miss Nakahime to go...
"We also need to hurry for Miss Nakahime's sake." With that final comment, she turns and waits for the others.
Haruka's lips thin just noticeably as an indicator of how the reply sits with her. "I'm never going to know what you're really thinking if you don't say anything..." she says softly, with a touch of sadness, as she brushes past Viluy on her way to inspect the entryway.
Ami frowns, shaking her head. She hasn't seen anything, exactly, but there's a vague sense of the mood of the party becoming more serious. She glances at Cypriene and Ptilol nervously before traversing the distance herself.
Somehow, I have the feeling I missed something important... she sighed inwardly.
Ptilol returns the look but lets it lie, frowning slightly in the direction of Viluy and Haruka. Artemis is aided across by the Twins, whom fly over the leaping distance and land lightly. On being put down, Artemis goes right to the edge of the tower, looking down.
"Ami, come here. I think I saw someone moving down there."
Ami moves over beside Artemis, glad to not have to ponder why the mood of the little group has just gone slightly sour. Following his gaze over the edge, she looks for what he's seen with her visor scans on full.
"Do you think it was...her?" Ami wonders, peering into the pseudo-starlit gloom.
There's just enough light below to see...you can see what appears to be various ice statues, as well as a woman a bit away. Long black hair, but it's hard to tell anything else. But she's notably unfrozen, which is a step up from par. Your visor reads her life signs, strong and glowing with chi. That's quite a step up from a normal person, as a matter of fact. It's noting she's talented...
"Know her, Ami," Artemis asks, gazing down. "If she resisted being frozen or came into here...she could be in great danger.."
"I don't recognize her." Ami admits. "But I really can't from here. All I can tell is she's full to nearly overflowing with life energy..." Ami bites her lip. "Should we try to stop her?"
Haruka - Stairs below lurks, slightly steep and winding against the wall. It's dark inside, and you don't see anything of note from how far you can see. Looks as safe as icy stairs are going to be safe.
Ami -
You hear footsteps as the Twins come over, jostling slightly to see as well. "If she's not Celcia, we should at least make sure she's alright. And if she can help..." The Mau shrugs. "Let's talk to her, at the least. She might be a trap, too, but...."
Haruka takes the initiative and walks through the entrance then pauses to look over her shoulder at the others. "We won't get anywhere by just standing around. Besides, if nothing else, this'll gets us closer to the source of this all," she says with a firm look. "Keep your eyes open and let's be careful though," Haruka adds at Artemis' point.
As Haruka speaks and you watch below, you see the woman charge forward, towards the castle and ice statues! A swing of a glowing blade appearing in her hands severs one statue with ease, combat joined swiftly.
Ami's eyes widen, and she checks her computer for the number of opponents the woman is facing. "Well, she appears to be able to take care of herself..."
There are...quite a few statutes down there, 32 in total here and there. They aren't all in the immediate area of her, though, and there may be more inside.
Artemis nods, but glances down again and frowns. "Cyprine? Ptilol? Could you go down there and make sure she doesn't get herself killed?"
"Thirty two..." Ami breathes, staring at her computer, then down at the fight below. "I hope she'll be all right...Should we try and bring her with us?"
Catching sight of the fighting girl as well, after a few steps in, Haruka decides to take the quickest path to the fray. She gauges the height quickly, then without further hesitation, jumps off the stairway and plummets down, down, down; to the ground below.
Haruka grips her Space Sword tight and ready at her side, as her descent causes chill wind to buffet against her fuku and hair.
Now, if I can time this just right.... she tells herself, eyeing her potential landing spot.
Okay, I'm going to make this one thread now for sanity.