Scene #2268:

Owner	Pose
Takashi Agera	On a nearby rooftop, Riventon was experimenting with something different; another way of activating Jewel Seeds, but on a more subtle path. Figuring that perhaps he could use smaller, more directed energy pulses to awaken the ancient artifacts, perhaps he could find one and then send Fate to acquire it before every Device wielding sparkle in Tokyo came down on one spot and turned a smash and grab into a protracted fight. It also meant that the readings from the Jewel Seeds, if activated, would be smaller... and meant the readings might not be from Jewel Seeds at all, but from other stones that merely resonated like them. Still, in the moment, the test was worth it, and would be increasingly more so if the two of them were able to get a Jewel Seed back to Precia without work. The smaller pulses of energy meant that only Devices within a close radius would pick up on the signal from any seed, and a smaller Barrier might be able to contain them. Unfortunantly for Riventon and Fate, Tokyo is home to several Device users, many of whom have equipment that would happily report a Jewel-Seed like signal that was anywhere near them. Which is precisely what would be happening to Molly's Device as Fate raced towards a 'possible resonant signal' in shadows of a hotel in the Yumegahama ward, largely empty due to its off season. The cloak-wearing twintailed girl was alone, using her staff to try to zero in on the possible reading and confirm - or deny - the presence of the precious Jewel Seed.
Molly Skyline	Tonight just happened to be a really pleasant night to be out on patrol for Molly. Homework done, helping out at the restaurant done to her Mom's satisfaction, nothing on her plate... a little cold outside, but who's worrying about that? Her barrier jacket is keeping her nice and warm as she soars above the city, carrying Starcrash in staff form and letting her Flier Fin wings do all the work. She's bouncing her brain between day-dreaming about automobiles, contemplating a build for a D&D character for a campaign a friend of hers from England is thinking about running every second week over the glory of the interwebs -- she's honestly thinking she might try a cleric this time around, but not one of those silly healy-clerics, no. War cleric is the way -- and wondering if she can modifyp her barrier jacket to include a sling to carry Starcrash across her back -- when her device alerts her to the Jewel Seed signature. << SEND OUT AN ALERT? >> Starcrash queeries her, as a little, pink tag with a ? marks the location of the potential Jewel Seed. "Nah," Molly answers, "It might be nothing, let's go get eyes on it before we interupt other people's patrols." And so Molly banks and angles downwards, diving rapidly out of the sky for the mostly empty hotel in the Yumegahama Ward. She lands on the roof, taking a moment to study the information Starcrash can show her with his (admittedly limited) scanning abilities. "Alright, let's stay alert," she muses. "Put up a Round Shield just in case, if we're here it's entirely possibly one of Obsidian's people will also be on the away." As a globe of energy snaps into place around her and disappears, Molly jumps off the side of the building, floating downwards slowly as she looks for a more precise location for the signal.
Takashi Agera	Fate is on the ground, Bardiche in hand, eyes scanning the area slowly. Normally, Riventon would be with her, but he's still sweeping pulses across other areas, and Arf stayed behind in case there was another possible signature. She'd checked out two of these before, and found nothing, but she wasn't going to give up or anything, even if the girl was a little tired. The two girls, Molly and Fate, are bound to come within visual distance of the other as their devices home in on the weak possibly-a-jewel-seed signal. Fate's in her full Barrier Jacket right now, and when Molly casts her magic, Bardiche is able to pick up on it, and the girl sees the other girl as they both draw closer. "Are you with Obsidian?" Fate calls out to the girl, while Bardiche informs Riventon of a signature. Well, Fate's nine, she can't be expected to remember every individual she's met at the office or fought across Tokyo streets and skyline.
Molly Skyline	''Are you with Obsidian?'' Molly just kind of hovers there for a moment, eyes resting on the person on the ground below her. Are you with Obsidian? She's never been asked ''that'' before, and the question has her taken aback at first. Her brow knits, and she just... works that through for a moment. "Uhh. No?" she answers, halting her descent to hover in place, still holding Starcrash at her side. "I go to Radiant Heart Academy. ...Are you with Obsidian?" You'd think, even if Fate doesn't recognize Molly, that Molly would recognize Fate. She was the girl who tried to cut Chrono in half at the docks, and who Starcrash warned her would absolutely murder her if she took a hit without her shields up. But, she's all the way down there, and it's not like they ever exchanged words. But then Starcrash fills in the gaps for her; a little red tag appears next to her with a little >:\| face, and 'Fate Testarossa' that soon enough gets shortened to 'Fate' to save screen clutter. So here's Molly, facing down Fate, one on one. "...uhm. Oh."
Takashi Agera	"Yes. I am. From Obsidian." Fate says, her voice shifting from less 'curious, hopeful' girl tone to serious business nine-year-old, which for Fate can actually be quite serious indeed. "You need to leave, then." Fate says, that coldness in her voice like ice. "If you leave, we don't have to fight. If we don't fight, I don't have to hurt you." she says, rather matter-of-factly. "But there might be a Jewel Seed here, and as long as there might be, I can't have you here." she continues. "Bardiche isn't reading anyone else here. If you're alone you should really leave." she suggests, again. Her grip tightens around Barche's shaft, the girl looking at Molly with a determined coldness that leaves no doubt about her focus or intent if the advice to leave isn't followed.
Molly Skyline	Oh good, she's from Obsidian. Which, Starcrash had already worked out for her, but it's nice to have things confirmed, so everyone knows where they stand. (Or fly, as the case may be.) "Sorry, I can't do that," Molly replies. She tightens her grip on Starcrash and tries to ignore the feeling of her heart against her ribs. This is '"Fate''. "If there's a Jewel Seed, I need to check it out. I can't let Obsidian have it if if can be avoided." She watches, holding her thumb and fingers against each other with her free hand, ready to snap (and trigger Neutrino Rush). "Starcrash," she murmurs, "Charge Solar Barrage, forty barrets, and hold it ready just in case." << AFFIRMATIVE. ARMED >> Molly keeps looking downwards, holding motionless for the moment, and other than charging a spell that could clear a city street not doing anything overtly threatening. "Hey look, if we do have to fight, let's at least put up a barrier first so we don't wreck the neighborhood, yeah?"
Takashi Agera	"I was already going to put a barrier up. Riventon says I can fight alone as long as it's just one of you. He believes in me. My mother believes in me. And Bardiche believes in me." Fate says, and Bardiche pings. <<YES SIR. DEPLOYING BARRIER.>> The world warps into the strange duplication of the dimension that is a barrier, but there's a catch today - it's a ''small'' barrier, not more than a city block. "And... Riventon also said... if I beat you badly enough... but leave you enough to tell the others... I might not have to hurt anyone else." she says, her eyes cold, distant, a little bit sad, with the way she regarded Molly. "But Riventon already put you through a building once, didn't he?" she asks. "What are you fighting for?" "There must be something, if you're here today." she says. "You must be fighting for someone. Otherwise, you'd have turned around." she says. "Don't dismiss my age. I'm more trained than ''he'' is." she says, leveling Bardiche at her. "Ask your Device. I'll still let you leave... if you're willing." She says, as stray electrical energy starts to crackle off her Barrier Jacket and Bardiche, and the ambient electricity in the area itself seems to rise as a yellow Mid-childan circle opens up underneath the small girl with the stern expression. "If you stay, it's on you." And steadily, yellow orbs with crackling purple energy erupt into being - one for each of the charged barrets of Solar Barrage.
Molly Skyline	Indeed, Starcrash is busy marching warnings across Molly's Battle Visor, which end with three words, flashing across her vision in big, bright red letters: << RECCOMMEND PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE >> Well then. "I fight for all sorts of things," she explains, instead of opening fire, though as the barrier goes up she points her staff down at Fate. "And I won't disrespect you for your age, don't worry. I might be a few years older than you, but I was your age once too, and it wasn't that long ago. And I remember what it's like; everyone treating you like a twerp, nobody thinks you can look after yourself. Nothing but rules, people telling you when to go to bed or get your hands outta the cookie jar even if they weren't there in the first place." She sighs, and shrugs her shoulders. "I fight for my friends and family, to protect Tokyo and the world, and do what I believe is right. And because I believe it's right, I'll stand and fight whenever I have to, no matter what the odds are or how dangerous it is. And..." She shakes her head, the corners of her lips quirking upwards, "Yeah, Riventon put me through a wall. Wasn't the first time, I'm sure it won't be the last time. But... if we are gonna fight, Starcrash says I should do this. Sorry. ...FIRE!!" Still holding her staff with one hand she unleashes a torrent of superheated barrets, all of them sizzling through the air as they rocket towards Fate. Hey, she did say not to dismiss her for her age. So she won't.
Takashi Agera	"Actually, it's only people like you that think that. Everyone at the company Mother and I work for knows better than to underestimate me." Fate replies. "Nobody calls me those things. I'll show you why." That's Fate's warning before Molly says her bit about what she's fighting for, and Fate shakes her head. "So... you're unfocused." she says, to Molly, before Molly's blasts fire forward. <<PHOTON LANCER.>> Bardiche announces as the surges of electricity meet the superheated barrets, one for one, each trying to cancel out or even overwhelm the other. Some get through and Fate deftly spins in mid-air to dodge them, letting the two attacks cancel while she heads in for something more simple, a swing against Molly with Bardiche's axe-like head, an impact she hopes will send her into another building. "The sooner you give up, the better for you!" she calls as the solid head swings in a wide arc.
Molly Skyline	Molly wasn't really expecting her first attack to do any particular damage. When she'd first started, the idea of firing off forty barrets and not having it use all her mana, all her friend's mana, and knock her unconscious would have seemed ludicrous, but she's grown since then and now forty barrets is more like the general cost of doing business. It's still a drain, but a sustainable one. But watching Fate fire off her own attack and basically just eat Molly's is a little disheartening. A few of Fate's electrically charged barrets make it through as well, and the lightning surges blast away at her shield until it breaks, and her barrier jacket is struck in multiple places, raising alarms on her Battle Visor to alert her to what he body is already telling her -- she got hit. "Fine! I'll be an annoying little gremlin then," she shouts, just as Fate is coming at her. Fate is coming at her. That sets off all sorts of alarms on her Battle Visor, with a big, red ''DANGER'' warning attached to the head of Bardiche. Yeah, that'd be bad. Molly gets halfway through "Starcrash, disengage safety protocols, charge Ste--" Nope. She hurriedly snaps her fingers, disappearing into a burst of light and reappearing nearby, but at least not where she's going to get cut in half by a big enormous axe. << PARAMETERS EXTRAPOLATED. STELLAR BUSTER OVERCHARGED >> Starcrash states rather helpfully once she's oriented. "Well then. Fire!!" Molly aims her staff and lets fly an unstable, crackling beam of energy; and where it hits, it touches off a sizeable explosion, releasing a blast of energy and a shockwave. If it hits Fate, great, or if it hits a building... well it'll put a big hole in it and that's fine too.
Takashi Agera	It's a little disheartening for a lot of people to go up against Fate, but part of that is due to the truth that even the girl herself doesn't know - Fate isn't just trained, she's a living weapon, built from the ground up, a clone, and her magic skills are rarely aralleled partly because of it. One of the big parts of that, in addition to her ability to convert mana directly to electrical energy, is the girl's vast reserves of it - which is coming up presently, as she throws her hand out in the face of Molly's incoming blast. A round Midchildan shield of yellow energy interposes itself between Fate and the Stellar Buster, and she's able to redirect a large portion of energy into that shield to buffer it against the Buster. The energy still curves around it, doing significant damage to the landscape and showing off the power that could have been put forward on Fate if not for that shield. But as the smoke clears, there's only a little bit of time to process that damage, as Fate moves her shielding hand back to Bardiche. "Bardiche, let's keep her up close from now on." Fate says to her device. <<SCYTHE FORM.>> Bardiche announces as the head flips back and a glowing blade of energy erupts from it and Fate dives in, her speed distorting the remaining dust from Stellar Buster in its wake as she tries to move in on her, using her speed to try and unleash several unnamed slashes towards Stellar Buster. Bardiche is, after all, a weapon that has felled several talented Devicers up close already.
Molly Skyline	Molly, by contrast, is not a clone or a weapon built from the ground up. She's a nerd from England who found a magic device and started getting into fights, and whether it's courage or just Cockney spite, she doesn't like quitting. While her Stellar Buster is landing and the vents on her jacket and staff are hissing out steam, she's already thinking about her next spell. "Starcrash, let's slow her down, charge Eclipse Barrage, forty barr--AUAAUGH!!" Before she's done giving her instructions, Fate is already on her with Bardiche turned into a... Scythe?! What is this, the Grim Reaper's second favorite kid or something? Molly tries her best to ward off the first few blows with Starcrash, and she manages to deflect a couple but the others hit her barrier jacket; plates buckle and go flying off as she's struck, and a multitude of warnings flash all over her Battle Visor as Fate is coming in for another one, until Molly regains her presence of mind and snaps her fingers. The Artillery Mage vanishes in a burst of light, reappearing behind Fate, inside the blasted out building that she'd... just blasted. She did that. "--Forty barrets, commence homing after two seconds, random trajectories," she breathes, "Prioritize freezing over damage, FIRE!!" She sweeps Starcrash in an arc as she lets loose another torrent of barrets; these ones freezing cold, and designed to freeze and ice up the target when they hit. They all fly off in different directions, before turning to come back in towards Fate, all from different directions. (A couple hit buildings before they start homing in, leaving ice patches on the walls.) "Starcrash, deploy Vulcan Defense," she breathes, ducking back into the smashed building to hopefully give herself another half second before Fate is onto her again, with her heart racing and her hands shaking, as a glowing, purplish orb with a ring of spell-runes around it appears behind her shoulders. "Target Fate instead of incoming spells." << AFFIRMATIVE. DEPLOYED >> Acknowledges Starcrash, with the orb ready to spray tiny shards of heated magic at what comes close -- Fate, in this case.
Takashi Agera	Fate is trained, with a giant magic array, and she's small and very very fast... but she's not perfect. This is true, especially now, when she's trying to stay in on Molly - and while she has more raw power than Riventon, she hasn't entirely been forced to develop the same bag of tricks as her nominal manager. This time, without the warning, she's unable to match Molly barret-for-barret, and has to dodge. This is still something she's very good at - and she dodges most of them. 5tGood, but not perfect, and than can be a problem when the opponent's trying to freeze you and also defend from close in. Some of the bullets do hit Fate, spreading ice across her barrier jacket, and making her a little bit progressively slower - as well as causing her stern face to fault just a bit at the impacts. She's quick-witted as well as just quick, and Bardiche silently acknowledges the threat of the Vulcan Defense - so instead of diving in to go into melee again with her blade, she makes the blade go to Starcrash. <<ARC SABER.>> calls Bardiche as Fate swings the blade well short of melee range and instead the blade goes flying through the air like a dangerous crescent boomerang, rolling in a strange looping arc and aiming to either avoid a barrier or at least get wedged in or against it. Fate opens her mouth to say something and then decides against it. The girl's made her choice.
Molly Skyline	Molly pokes her head out, and pulls back just in time to not get decapitated by the ARC SABER, which makes her eyes go wide as she ducks back behind the wall. Unfortunately she's still hiding behind the wall and looking in the wrong direction when it boomerangs back, which she wasn't aticipating. Starcrash takes the initiative and targets it with the Vulcan Defense, and a spray of mana-blasts knock it just enough off course that it's not a clean hit; so instead of having a magic scythe embedded between her shoulderblades Molly is just hammered hard in the back. Fate, from where she is, will see the wall explode outward and Molly come flying through it, as bardiche comes behind her and past her, leaving a glowing slash-mark along Molly's back. All of the warnings are going off on Molly's Battle Visor. Barrier Jacket compromised. Mana levels dwindling. She's bleeding from... somewhere, she just ddsmisses the warnings she doesn't have time to read them who cares. Does this mean she's going to quit? Call it good and yield the battlefield? Why would anyone think that? That notion is fundamentally offensive as long as she's still conscious and has mana. Molly wipes the back of her gauntlet across her bottom lip, ignoring the little red smear it leaves, as she re-orients herself and tears off, following Bardiche back to its wielder. "Starcrash, charge Starfall," she instructs, "Maximum kinetic output!" << ARMED >> As Molly follows Bardiche, the Vulcan Defense opens up on Fate as she gets close. "Express Elevator to Hell, going DOWN!" she yells, quoting one of her favorite films as she pases underneath of Fate; and as she passes, she snaps her fingers, vanishing in a burst of light and reappearing above her. A warning appears on her Battle Visor, alerting her that Neutrino Burst needs thirty seconds to cooldown; but that's fine. "FIRE!!" she yellws, and abruptly rockets straight downwards, the spell designed to carry her straight down to the ground as rapidly as possible and just fire off explosions to slow her down (and basically blast a crater out of the ground in the process) at the last second. And the plan is to bring Fate along for the ride. With luck. If she doens't get out of the way.
Takashi Agera	Unfortunately for Molly, she's not the only one who can move quickly. In fact, Fate's the Mage who taught Riventon ''his'' spell to rapdily reposition. As she learned from Rynth, though, she doesn't use it commonly - she saves it for when it can turn the tide. <<FLASH MOVE.>> calls Bardiche as Molly's rockets fire off, slamming into the yellow shield Fate brings up. It's not quite fast enough to save her from damage - some of those explosions rock her and when she appears above Molly (above where Molly appeared above her) there's some smoke coming off her in tendrils and clear damage to her barrier jacket, a scar across her arm - her torn barrier jacket revealing a crisscross of much older scars on that arm similarly. "You're... dangerous." Fate says, and it's a compliment. As is what's coming next, in its own way. "But for Mother... I am... more dangerous." she says as a yellow circle appears under her and she brings Bardiche down. "I am sorry." <<THUNDER RAGE.>> Bardiche calls, as Fate uses one of her most powerful attacks - a one-two barrage of a momentary instant bind which is followed directly with the thunderous power of a truly massive column of energy - a non-lethal but not non-painful lighting strike that rips down from above.
Molly Skyline	That... almost worked. But in spite of icing her up first to slow her down, Fate is still just barely fast enough to get out of the way. She doesn't make it entirely clear, but she doesn't get carried to the ground and smashed into a crater, like she managed to do with Riventon; it's hard for Molly to process what happens with this spell while it's in progress, and she usually just has to give her mind a second to catch up afterwards. Usually, that's fine, because her opponent is busy wondering 'how did I get here and why does everything hurt so much' while she's at it. Today is different, and Molly abruptly finds herself stuck in a bind while she's piecing together how her own attack played out. Which isn't great. And then Lightning Molly is struck by more voltage than she's ever known was possible. For a moment, there's just... a bright flash, with Molly's skeleton visible in dark silhouette. The proto-canister hanging at her hip winds up and fires, snapping a globe-shaped emergency shield around her, which takes some of the strike but not all of it, leaving the cannister empty and smoking as it ends. Molly, also, is smoking. She couldn't even scream as she was being hit, as the electricity just snapped all her muscles into full tension; as it ends she's sprawled out on the ground, gasping for breath. She remains there, for a long moment, weirdly distracted by all the warnings flashing across her Battle Visor, along with an urgent recommendation from Starcrash that she she immediately withdraw. Slowly, while painfully aware that Fate is up above her in a rather commanding position, she drags herself up to a crawl; she rests for a moment, then tilts herself back, until she's resting on one knee. She pants softly, and shakes her head, before finally staggering back up to her feet, and looking up at Fate. "Alright," she gasps. "We'll... we'll call it a draw." Molly clutches one hand to her side, through what's left of her ruined barrier jacket, of which more than half is just straight up missing and the rest has holes rent in it and is half-slagged. She clutches Starcrash with her other hand, using him a bit like a crutch as she turns to stagger off.
Takashi Agera	Fate's eyes narrow. "I wanted you to withdraw all along." That's the only kind of draw the tiny electromage seems to accept from this. She dismisses the barrier, content that Molly isn't going to try to stop her and only staggers a little bit once she hits the ground, shaking it off. "It's nothing." Fate tells herself, as she uses Bardiche to continue searching before finding a strange bit of metal that, while perhaps part of the Artha or another subspace ship, is not a Jewel Seed. She considers telling Molly, but decides maybe it's crueller to notify her of this situation directly than to let her trudge off. Maybe Riventon can get her some bandage... and ice cream... and she didn't lose another Jewel Seed to anyone, which is good, right? If there had been a jewel seed, she'd surely have brought it to her mother today, right?