Scene Listing

||

Scene Schedule

||

Scene Schedule RSS

Owner	Pose
Melona Mizu	The slightly later evening, after most people have gone home for the weekday. Mostly the only people still out being the ones who were out partying, or other weird night owl types. And the Mahou, of course. One such Mahou had been Misfortune Marie, who had been still doing her hunt for her Misery Melon, who had thus far mostly evaded her once learning that she was in town. Unfortunately, 'evading' her had meant that she'd ended up avoiding many Witch fights recently, and while she'd had a small supply through Obsidian, that had dwindled, along with the light in her soul gem, to the point she had been forced to go out to hunt. Which is when it had happened. "Mitsu~ke~ta~." Of course. The MOMENT she went out and about she'd been found by Misfortune Marie. It was half of why Melona had MOVED to Japan, Marie *always* seemed to find her no matter where she went or what she did. "...God damn it." Melona mutters to herself. The conversation had rapidly broken down from there into a fight, and so what drew the various Mahou -- sparkly and not -- to the area was not a sense of dark energy (Though it was present, as Melona as usual was channeling it), or that sickening feeling of a Witch awakening. No. It was the sounds of gunfire and explosions, it was the much more saddening sight. Of two Mahou fighting. The scene they arrive to is Misfortune Marie jumping back as Misery Melon leapt towards her with an angry cry, her tri-headed flail glowing with power as she calls out. "SPITZEN BURST!" The impact just barely missed Misfortune Marie, but the explosion that sent out spikes of energy caught her, sending her flying back with a wild, maddened sounding laugh. "YES! That's exactly what I want, My little melon! You've grown so strong! Aaaa~aaah~. It looks it it wasn't a waste to invest all that time in you..." In spite of the fact that she was clearly battered, there was an almost maddened love in her eyes as she lifts one of her twin derringers -- other derringers littering the ground around her and gradually disintegrating into motes of energy -- to unleash an empowered shot towards Misery Melon. "WHY WON'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?! DID YOU NOT GET THE HINT WHEN I LITERALLY MOVED AND CHANGED MY NAME?!" The area around them has been carved up by explosions, gunshots, and Melona's ability to scrape materials out of the area to use as weaponry. All in all it was a fairly wrecked situation to walk into already, both mahou having clearly taken wounds, and both of their soul gems fairly significantly drained from the conflict.
Mamoru Chiba	"Melon!" calls a voice from above, up at rooftop height, but-- it's the voice of the boy whose power welcomes and gives a sense of home, of safety, when he heals. "Misery Melon! Do you need backup?" he yells, and throws a rose PETALS-first at Misfortune Marie's face. Tuxedo Kamen steps up and his cape billows behind him, the blood-red of the inside a contrast even in the street lights.
Madoka Kaname	Madoka Kaname and Homura Akemi were already out on patrol. Puella need Grief Seeds, and goddesses need to free souls. It's only natural then that they'd be out and in henshin.     It's also only natural that two Puella Magi would be fighting each other.     Nature is often cruel.     When the couple arrive, they set down on the edge of a nearby rooftop, watching the battle from above. Madoka clasps her hands over her heart as she looks down. Homura comments, "They're making a pretty big mess over... whatever they're fighting over."     Madoka frets, "Homura-chan... their Soul Gems."     Homura closes her eyes and says, "I know, but... if they aren't backing down, what can we do?" The veteran doesn't want to say what she's thinking, but she doesn't need to. Those two are playing with their lives tonight, though it seems like Misfortunate Marie is the aggressor here.     Madoka, seeing Tuxedo Kamen move in, decides to at least try to de-escalate the fight. She fires a spread of arrows into the melee, but these don't do much damage. Instead, they explode into pink clouds of smoke that fill the area. Her hope is that they'll stop fighting for a moment if they're unable to see each other, but she gets the feeling it might not be enough.
Amy Faust	Amy's mind was wandering while patrolling, and she's found herself back in Mitakihara. It's almost... too peaceful.     Until... freaking ''gunshots''?     She can't recall anyone else who sounds like ''that'' except Homura... oh right, maybe Mami, has she come back? But, why doesn't she sense darkness?     If there is some kind of ''actual'' shooting in progress, of ''course'' a magical hero is going to get involved. So whatever the reason, she investigates.     Only to see Melona and that other Puella Magi from before ''fighting''. (Or, perhaps, a youma that's taken the form of that other mahou?)     The words tell her enough.     Instead of an explosion, there's only a scraping noise as Amy ''flings'' an RPG round in the direction of the fight -- only when it's close does it suddenly ignite, turn towards Misfortune Marie, and as soon as it gets close enough, the shaped charge airbursts (or it's dodged and slams into scenery and goes off).     Amy's not actually sure what this will do to another mahou, but at most it's going to punch a small hole through someone -- plenty survivable for a Puella Magi. "STOP! Leave her alone! What is ''wrong'' with you?!" Amy shouts from the roof across the street she's just left to.
Takashi Agera	Melona's been one of Riventon's charges for a while, but ever since the interaction with Mami, he'd been leery of pushing her too hard. Puella Magi had limitations that were more severe than his other employees, the natural outcome of spending too much magic being much worse than being defeated in a fight or even injured, but could lead to the destruction of their aptly-named Soul Gems as they became a witch.     Because of this, he'd called on Melona less and less, which probably didn't help her feel part of the team. And at the same time, he sawe her less and less, and without Mami to worry about, he targeted witches less and less. Especially lately, with the business around Black Moon and Hiddenite, he'd simply not done a good job taking care of her, and that in addition to other problems was inevitably likely to come to a head; the mixture of soft abandonment and neither reaching out meant the distance was present.     The sound of mahou fighting isn't rare in Tokyo, truly, but usually it's not the same as this battle. Sure, there was Dark Energy here, but there was a feeling as Riventon arrived that something was going down beyond just 'the usual' fight about energy or something else.     Unfortunantly, he was still suffering from the effects of having consumed energy straight from the tap of a Dark Energy Mixed Nightmare, and was absolutely weaker than he should have been, meaning he wasn't really able to get in between the two of them like he would have preferred, grabbing them by the scruffs of their collars or something.     But he's here, and his presence is still a little bit more notable for the increase in the clear feeling of Dark Energy it brings when he lands from the sky.     "What the hell are you both wasting your magic on?" he says, before coughing a bit. His body wasn't sure how to handle the Nightmare Energy corruption and appeared to have decided to react to it as though he had caught a more mundane illness, and the guy just ''looks'' like he's gone a few rounds with influenza or similar.
Melona Mizu	"Aww~. Playing hard to get, my little Melon? Come on... you're my partner, of course I'd come find you! All that work to make sure you were strong enough, that you wouldn't die..." The gun is lifted to take another shot towards Misery Melon -- as a rose suddenly strikes her in the face. It was enough to make her pause. To look at the rose that fell to the ground between herself and Misery Melon, her face twisting into a frown. "Oh come now. We're having a private moment." A private moment that Misery Melon takes advantage of, that distraction resulting in a hard strike with the three-headed flail towards her side which causes her to strike the side of a building, crashing and falling to the ground. "Why would I want to be your partner? Why would ANYONE want to be your partner? I *hate* you." Melona spits back, as she begins to walk towards Misfortune Marie, that flail lifted above her head. The absolute rage. The absolute HATE plain on her face. The only thing that stops her from following through with another strike being that spread of arrows that shoot into the area, a spread of pink clouds that cause Melon to reflexively jump back. Meanwhile, Misfortune Marie's response is... suddenly different. "But little Fr--" "DON'T YOU SAY THAT NAME! DON'T YOU *DARE* SAY THAT NAME! OF ALL THE PEOPLE *YOU* DON'T GET TO SAY THAT NAME!!!" "That person is dead. I am Melona Mizu. That is my ONLY name." "Just *leave* me alone. *I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN*, do you understand?!" The scraping sound of a missile comes flying in towards Misfortune Marie, who scrambles out of the way through that pink fog, dealing some damage to a random storefront as it explodes. "I am just here to recover my part--" "I *WILL NEVER* BE YOUR PARTNER! WHY DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! I hate you. I have ALWAYS HATED YOU. I will NEVER come to like you. If we fought alongside each other I would take *EVERY CHANCE TO GET YOU KILLED*! YOU KILLED ALL OF MY FRIENDS!" "N-no that was the wit--" "JA! JA! It's easy to hide behind the witch. BUT WHO WAS SHOOTING AT OUR FEET ANY TIME WE TRIED TO RUN?!" "T-that was just to make sure you would be str--" "WHAT IF I DIDN'T WANT TO BE STRONG? WHAT IF I JUST WANTED TO BE A NORMAL YOUNG WOMAN WITH A NORMAL LIFE? HUH??? WHAT ABOUT ME? WHAT ABOUT WHAT I WANTED AND NEEDED?!" The screaming was making Melona's throat hoarse. A hoarseness that was showing in her voice as she screamed, her voice cracking here and there, her eyes glowing as the darkness around her seemed to grow. A darkness that seems to break as Riventon appears. It fades down to something calmer as he asks her what the hell she's wasting her magic on. "... You're right. She's not worth wasting my energy on."
Melona Mizu	She didn't really blame Takashi for 'abandoning' her. She had been mostly just quietly in her little corner of the offices, staying quiet and taking care of herself to the best of her ability. She had been used to being alone, after all. It was just how things were for someone like her. "Not... not worth your energy?! But... but I am ... everything I did... it was ALL FOR YOU..." Misfortune Marie sounds... broken in the moment, as that pink smoke clears. Misery Melon turns away from her, beginning to walk away, though holding a crossbow she had been making in the smoke. "D...don't walk away from me! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Her soul gem grows dimmer... dimmer... darker... and darker. "..." Melona turns towards her, glancing towards that soul gem. "You won't hurt anyone else." As that soul gem grows completely dark, that crossbow fires. In the moments before it transforms into a grief seed, it shatters. Misfortune Marie falls over with a look of surprise on her face. "Finally. I have avenged you, mein freunde." Misery Melon glances towards the other, her face a mixture of emotions. Relief? Glad that they were there? ...She wasn't sure what to do with those emotions, so instead she turns to start to walk away. ...Why did her cheeks feel warm? She pauses as she walks, her hand reaching to touch her cheek, pulling that hand away from her cheek. Rubbing her fingers together. "...Why is it wet?" Like the tears flowing down her cheeks, black tears flowed down the top of her soul gem. All of her anger. All of her rage was cooling. Those black tears pooling, filling that already-darkened soul gem rapidly. "...Oh." "...I see. ...I'm joining you. ... Mein freunde..." She looked towards the others, those tears streaming down her cheeks. No longer was she the rage-filled, aloof girl she had been almost all times. "..." "I'm sorry." Crack. And reality begins to distort.
Mamoru Chiba	"Oh, f--" Mamoru sees who-all came here, and it's all people he knows and trusts, it's all-- It's all He saw what happened with Oktavia, but that was such a different, such a strange and different thing, this is-- there's still some hope, isn't there? Madoka is here. But she needs a ''body'' for that. Reality is already breaking around Melona, and Mamoru wants to ''bite'' something in frustration. He's going to have to-- "Riventon!" he yells, "I'm going to have to triangulate off you, please try not to teleport much in there?" Tuxedo Kamen hates witches. And he hates dark energy. And he's been swimming in dark energy, and now here's a witch, and Riventon is still effed from the nightmare, and he saw Klarissa crack and now he's seen Melona crack and this is one of the ''worst things he could see'' and there's ''no bringing them back from this'' it's an ending he can't stop it's too late to stop The prince lands from his leap over by Madoka and Homura.
Amy Faust	Amy winces as she blows up a storefront. Uh, whoops. Shoulda been ready to unsummon that if it missed...     But also this is getting kind of uncomfortable to watch. Not, like, in a way that would make Amy ''leave'', the creeper needs to be stopped. It's just, she's come across a number of toxic romance stories in her time but has mostly avoided IRL relationship drama and it's a reminder of how awful some things would be in real life.     And then her eyes see the black soul gem, darker than any she's ever seen, and her brain has to shift gears without a clutch. Oh no.     Amy missed by ''moments'' seeing it happen to Klarissa. But she knows what happens.     Marie is going to Wi     And then Marie is gone, just like that. Just like anyone else, when the substrate their consciousness is running on is violently disrupted.     Melona killed someone, but... she maybe kinda deserved it? Even if it was extreme--     Amy shakes her head. No, they could all see it. She was going to Witch. It was a mercy killing.     Amy drops down to the street and approaches, hand held out. "Melona... are you alright?"     She is not alright.     Once, Melona made a wish.     And now her despair has become a curse -- on Melona, for the rest of her short life, and on the rest of them, for the rest of Melona's short tortured existence.     She didn't see what happened to Klarissa. She can't look away. Red eyes stare at the thing that was in the gem -- the SOUL -- as it changes form, without a second thought for the two empty husks now lying in the street.
Madoka Kaname	Madoka and Homura can only watch as things play out. There's too much happening at once, and when Melona finally puts an end to someone with whom she ''apparently'' has a lot of history with...     "Misery!" calls out Madoka. She never felt close to that Puella Magi, but that doesn't stop her from feeling something the moment she notices the Witching process. Her hands cover her mouth.     Homura takes a step back, and then shouts, "Watch out!" as she tackles Madoka to the rooftop. She's seen this moment before, and it often gets pretty violent, so her first instinct is to guard her soul mate from... whatever happens next.     Madoka is curled up into a ball under Homura's protective embrace when Mamoru lands next to them. Madoka's gloved hand reaches up to pat Homura's arm. "Kamiko... get Kamiko... We're going to need her."     Homura pulls her phone from her shield and starts texting the minidokas. Surely one of them knows where the divine fairy is.     "There was no avoiding this moment," intones Homura. "Sooner or later... this fate catches us all."     "That doesn't mean we can't save her," objects Madoka.     The two go silent after that. There's always a chance that Hope Concept can do something to make this right, or at least make it ''better'', but it's incredibly rare for a Witch to ever turn back into a living person. None of the ones that Madoka have saved so far ever returned to being a Puella Magi. The tragedy happening before them cannot be undone.
Takashi Agera	It's all too late. Riventon is always too late. Takashi is always too late. Always trying to save too many people, and like with Hotaru becoming Mistress Nine, like with Hinoiri losing her grip on Dark Energy, like Sara dying in front of him - he's sick, he could have moved faster if he was healthy, but he was too weakened by the energy he absorbed.     A fit of coughing later, and Tuxedo Mask's words reach him, and he has to soldier on for now, because there's a Witch Barrier, and that means a witch, and he doesn't want anyone to die in a labyrnth. He tries to collect energy in his hands only to have it fizzle into another coughing fit, like the nightmare energy he drained was something he could just cough up, even though it's not - and that reminds him that he doesn't want HIMSELF to die in a labyrnth either. There will be time for regret later. Time for sadness later. Time for misery, later.     "I'm here." Riventon says, his voice cold and distant. "We're still here, and there's a witch now, and it's going to be a threat." He says.     "And I can't fight at full strength." At this point, in the newborn labyrnth, there's no Obsidian and Mahoujin, to Riventon. There's just Witches vs Not Wanting To Be Killed. So there's no point in hiding that. "I'm still working poison out of my system. But I can contribute probably about as much as any of you here, so. Let's make sure this doesn't become a greater tragedy."     If only he hadn't been so distracted, had finished his project to save Mami, then nobody would be at risk. He makes a note to kick his own butt some more later.
Melona Mizu	Like a foul wind blowing, the cracked soul gem distorts, growing larger over Melona's fallen body, like a massive cross lamenting her falling, colors distort, reality becomes an absolute mess, and when all of that foul wind and the blowing force of the formation of the Witch's Labyrinth is completed... reality has become a massive junkyard, a patchwork of trash and treasure and wild, distorted, overgrown melons in colors that make the eyes strain and hurt as the name of the Witch flashes over the maze-like mountain of junnk. MELONE SCHMIEDEN. The Melon-Forging Witch. In spite of the violence of the creation of the labyrinth, it's ... not... /immediately/ aggressive. They stand at the edge of that mountain of overgrown trash, even as parts of it start to move, the slow sound of uneven, wild ticking beginning to grow audible as from the mountains of trash, jerky, awkwardly moving figures begin to crawl out, the form of the familiars being some sort of ... clockwork soldiers of some sort, each one holding different weapons -- some held trash swords, others held maces made of chunks of sidewalk and metal pipes, others held rebar-and-stick crossbows. Each one had a head with a face drawn on it, made of melon. The faces were consistent, though repeated throughout the familiars. Five different 'people' in those familiars. Each one marching in an exaggerated way towards the invaders who threatened their 'friend'. And atop it all, there was a unique familiar. A revolver-bearing familiar. This one does not threaten anyone. It is, instead, being smashed by an absolutely massive, barbed-wire wrapped three-headed flail held by a twisted half-witch half-magi-looking form of Misery Melon, half of her face clockwork that leaks teardrops of what looks like oil, the other half a blank stare down at the gathered mahou. She points towards them. And the minions start to charge, as she turns, grabbing a massive hammer. CLANK. ...And begins to forge something atop that mountain.
Madoka Kaname	The wind blows over them, and Homura hunkers down over Madoka. The two of them clinging together behind the edge of a rooftop gives them just enough wind resistance to avoid getting blown away. It's probably a good thing that there aren't any Chara with them, aside from Brai who is currently merged with Hope Blossom.     Once the strange Labyrinth appears around them, the two girls look up and get back to their feet, brushing themselves off for a moment before looking ahead. Homura glances towards Mamoru for a moment and asks, "I take it you knew her?"     Hope Blossom closes her eyes for a moment, takes a deep breath, and then opens them. She takes in the scenery for a moment, but she only has so much time to gawk. The Familiars are charging. Her bow forms in her hand and she starts firing. Homura pulls out an assault rifle and follows suit, the two of them jumping backwards away from the charging line and firing into the crowd as they can.     "Kamiko's a few minutes out," says Homura. "She's on the way."     Madoka, with a bit of sadness mixed with seriousness in her voice, says, "I'm sure she's doing her best. Let's make sure Melona doesn't hurt anyone else in the meantime, okay?"
Amy Faust	At some point during the transformation Amy's flung against a wall, adding to the disorientingness of the Labyrinth forming around them.     A melon junkyard. Honestly, the inclusion of the melons is ''more'' intelligible than anything about someone's Witch they've seen so far. Well, Sayaka does have some interest in music. Maybe something like that is par for the course. ''Amy hasn't known that many people who became Witches.''     And then there's ticking. And clockwork familiars rising from the piles of junk. "Oh, tell me she doesn't have a bunch of witch-bodies under those piles too..." Amy breathes, to no one.     She looks at the familiars, ruled over by the Witch herself, enacting revenge for her sorrow.     The familiars clearly represent the The friends Melona lost... Here Melona was, with ''real'' sorrow weighing on her soul, instead of worry about how a world that doesn't even know she exists would see her if they knew she did. "I'm so stupid."     Before attacking, she focuses on reaching the others, as junk-made bolts fly through the air around her.     She lands in front of the group, a gyrojet pistol out shooting homing bullets at the heads of the familiars coming their way. "I hate to be a bother, but uh, ''just to be safe'', have you got any...?"     Yes, she got a supply of grief seeds before they went to the future, and all through their adventure in Crystal Tokyo, she carefully conserved energy... But then Nemesis happened, and she's been in so many more fights since they came back to the present, and Riventon baited her into spending so much,     She holds out a depleted grief seed in her left hand to drop into Madoka's or Homura's, showing her own soul gem slightly corrupted. More than a tenth, less than a fifth. She shouldn't be in danger any time soon, hopefully.
Mamoru Chiba	Nothing but oh no, oh no, oh no: Mamoru's blown over by the blast, but his cape isn't actually a sail so he doesn't go far-- and when the labyrinth has blossomed around them, he gets to his feet, too. "Not well," he huffs, "but she's one of Riventon's. And before that I met her a few times as Hematite. She--" He looks around, and then way up, and he grimaces. "Great." But familiars! He knows how to deal with familiars. There's one coming for his head specifically, and he braces his feet then flips one hand up, and it starts to glow. "Tuxedo la Smoking Bomber!" he yells, the kickback making even his braced stance wobble as his hand's glow intensifies, then lets go into a giant KSHOOOOO of punchy laser.
Catra	Catra was eating dinner with one of her favorite people to eat dinner with -- nobody. She had herself a nice box of noodles with extra chicken and was sitting on the edge of a tenth story rooftop, not bothering with her stupid disguise illusion and munching away happily, when she heard... Gunfire? Definifely gunfire. However, not her problem. There are Mahou about. They can deal with that. She has food, and she's enjoyoing it, and she's not about to go marching off into battle on a half empty stomach. Besides, she's an obligate carnivore and she needs to eat this. She does, however, quicken her pace, after turning up the music blaring in her ears. The gunfire continues. "OH FOR FFFF--!!!" Catra prioritizes the chicken and when she's got it all eaten, she tosses the box, remaining noodles, and choopsticks off the roof towards a trash bin down on the ground -- and because she really didn't care about the outcome she misses and it goes ''splat'' on the pavement. Meanwhile, Catra is descending the outside of the building via her claws, leaving five jagged lines in the facade; and moments later she's on her bike, raciing towards the sounds of battle. What the hell, might as well get some combat practice in. As she speeds towards the battle she summons the flames, fire wreatching both wheels of her bike and herself, making her look like a glowing orange rider by the time she arrives, screeching to a halt and dismounting where she can get a good idea of waht's going on before diving in.
Takashi Agera	Labyrnths are... always... always... messy. Chaotic. Patchwork. Fractured parts of a psyche. But for the first time Riventon stands in the labyrnth of a person he knew, and can pick occasional parts out of the scenery, out of the world. That just makes it more disorienting, frankly.     Hearing Mamoru call her 'one of his' cuts deep and he grits his teeth. "She kept largely to herself. I tried to keep her in grief seeds but... something about Puella Magi I've interacted with... they often don't want to take charity." Riventon says.     "If she'd told me what was going on... maybe I could have helped before it escalated. I always tried to keep her and Mami out of things because of... this." He explains. Shaking his head. And then going into another coughing fit.     Once the coughing subsides, Riventon digs in his cavernous labcoat pockets and pulls out a Grief Seed - needle and orb - a recent kill. "In fact, this would have been for her." He says. Instead, he tosses it towards the Rocket Red Puella. "You can pay it back later." he says, making it clear it's not generosity, but pragmatism.     The familiars stack up. And Riventon sighs. He outstretches his arm and a Midchildan circle erupts underneath him, glowing purple-and-blue. Several black orbs, dripping as though made of ink, burst into existence. <<DAMMERUNGSFEUER.>> (Dusk Barrage) Riventon calls at the same time as his Device does. The orbs and Riventon's outstretched hand fire shotgun-spread blasts of liquidy Dark Energy at the familiars, to either cut them down or, given Riventon's current strength, keep them suppressed for the others.
Usagi Tsukino	Usagi can always feel Mamoru, but she's not a psychic. She's not usually all that in-tune with the whole thing, primarily content to ''know'' that he's well, even if she can't see him. But she's not Usagi, anymore, not quite, and New Moon keeps close tabs on her Wicked Lady's interests. Her ''father'' is certainly of keen interest. So when Mamoru's since of place wavers, as if he had been somewhere and not for a moment, she frowns, and then, in a flurry of darkness, teleports to him - no, that's the outside of a strange distortion, all too familiar. A Witch's labyrinth. "I hate Witches," New Moon says darkly, and then - and then there's ''Catra'', on her fiery motorcycle, and New Moon looks at her and laughs, loud enough for Catra to hear. "Oh, it's Adora's little stray," she coos, and then - "No, that's not right. You're ''Hinoiri's'' little stray, aren't you? Found a new home, someone to pet your head and dry your tears... if you're looking for the fight, Kitty Cat, it's in here." And she enters the Labyrinth, floating to avoid the disorienting nature of it all, looking about for her Lady's father, her darling fiancé. "There you are, Mamochan," she announces, pleased, when she sees him near Madoka and Homura. "You know these places disagree with you. Why did you come in here?" She's fully ignoring the fight, and the sad tableau the Familiars have created.
Melona Mizu	The familiars are, like most familiars, a threat of numbers more than individual strength, as Hope Blossom and Homura Akemi unleash into the charging front line -- the swords-familiars charging first in their jerky unnatural manner, while the back-line of crossbow-familiars fire from behind and slightly above on the mountain, rebar-bolts raining down towards the gathered Mahou. At first glance, it ALMOST looks like it's following standard military tactics, but then one notices things like one of the crossbow familiars charging with the sword-familiars and one of the mace-familiars in the back line chucking its mace towards the Mahou (only for it to fall a bit short....) But those arrows and bullets tear through them easily, many of their melon-heads exploding in a shower of melon that seemed to jerk around like it was poorly animated slices of melon instead of a melon that had been shot by an arrow or a bullet. And when the familiars fall, they turn back into the trash that made up that mountain of treasure-filled garbage. ...And weirdly-perfect slices of melon. As Amy moves towards the others, instead of towards the mountain, it seems that focus ... moves away from her and towards others who were moving more forward than backward from them. Sure, there's still rebar-bolts flying through the air in her general direction, but it's less of a focus. Than Mamoru, who was bracing and unleashing a beam of punchy laser into a group of the Swordsmelons, which go almost comically flying -- only to land on their heads, the melons splitting into those weirdly perfect cut segments. ...It's not recommended to actually eat them though. Witch energy is unpleasant. Riding towards the 'gunfire', Catra finds herself less... 'entering' the Labyrinth, so much as dragged in by the after-effects of its creation. There's not really much of a 'safe' distance to watch from, as entering into the Labyrinth means she is on that mountain of trash overgrown with miscolored melons in it that seemed to twitch and bounce unnaturally, as more of those familiars are created from the mountain of trash. And there are mace-familiars charging towards her with uneven, out-of-synch ticking and possibly a little squeaky 'raaaaa!' There was a bit of childish to it, belying Melona's youth. Purple-and-blue ink orbs tear through the familiars, sending some of them flying, others taking cover behind those sent flying to charge Riventon after their friends fall, some jagged metal-pole-spearmelons charging towards Riventon. Meanwhile, from above, Melone Schmieden rears her little head again, the small form pulling out and beginning to install a comically large ballista compared to her own size, being a much more 'chibified' shape, compared to her weaponry. Much like her flail had been, the ballista is wreathed in barbed wire that cuts into the witch's hands as she grabs onto the handles to aim it, those oily tears trailing down her cheeks as she starts to unleash a series of shots, the ballista firing more like a gun emplacement than a ballista made of junk and trash, launching lightpole-bolts towards the gathered Mahou, that *EXPLODE* with wild energy upon impact. As a likely mistake. One of the 'Mahou' aimed at with those lightpoles, is New Moon.
Madoka Kaname	Madoka takes a glance at the depleted Grief Seed that Amy is handing to her, says, "Thanks," and then hands it to Homura to put into her shield. Kamiko will look at and process it later. On the topic of Grief Seeds, Homura digs around and produces a halfway used one. "Crystal Tokyo wiped out a lot of my supply. I have this one if we get desperate. Of course.. assuming we finish the fight..."     Homura isn't ever really sure how people will take such grim practicality in tragic moments like this, but... she didn't survive for as long as she has by being unrealistic.     Homura sees Riventon chuck a Grief Seed at Amy, and the way that he explains himself... is he trying to secure a trade for later? Is he the sentimental type who'd want to keep Melona's Grief Seed? She calls out to him, "Just so you know, we're grabbing Grief Seed first."     Madoka glances at Homura, and then looks to Riventon and explains, "I know she was your friend, but if I can't get to the Grief Seed, then I can't free her soul. She deserves the right to pass on properly. If you have a problem with that, we can sort it out after."     Homura also notices New Moon and calls out to Mamoru, "Hey, is Dream Girl Evil here going to be a problem?"     The Familiars are marching towards them in droves, and as the rebar bolts fly at them, Homura lifts her shield, protecting Madoka with a flare of purple light. Madoka forms up behind her, charges a single arrow for a moment, and then fires it directly into the sky. The charged arrow turns into a runic symbol made of circles and sharply-bent lines, glowing with pink magic, that in turn rain down arrows that fly past the Familiar army's heads, ignoring them to instead seek out the Witch.     As the lightpoles rain down around them, the two magical girls dodge in opposite directions, scattering rather than trying to absorb such a hit. Yet even though they're apart, they're still very aware of each other's presence.
Amy Faust	Amy grimaces and sucks air through her teeth as Homura points out that a fresh grief seed will be available shortly, but she just nods slightly, not seeming put off. It's part of life for Puella Magi, after all.     Amy's gun vanishes as she catches the grief seed from Riventon and immediately holds it to her soul gem, draining the corruption. For ''once'', she manages to succeed on a social roll and makes a decent attempt to wrest the narrative away from him. "I'm only out because of your little stunt with the memory jar." Despite the content, her voice is dispassionate right now. ''You're'' the one paying ''me'' back for asking me to spend energy. Thank you."     She might have difficulty not smirking, were it not for the grim circumstances.     As she slips the grief seed into her belt pouch, New Moon (and Catra!) are here. "This just happened." the Red Puella tells Wicked Lady's assistant. "We were caught in it." In that same flat tone.                                     '''*BOOM*'''                                         An exploding lightpole sends her tumbling across the ground, lightly burned by the explosion, junk shrapnel embedded in her lower legs and side. She groans in pain as she tries to get up, and then suddenly gets up without issue, conjuring her trusty launcher and firing explosive shells at the ballista. If it takes the Witch time to assemble another one, maybe destroying her weapons will keep her locked down?
Takashi Agera	Riventon sees the familiars charging him now and scoffs. "I'm not ''that'' sick." he grumps at the familiars as though even now he's annoyed that they dare to stand to him - because he is. This is Melona's Witch, don't these familiars know BETTER?     His triangular Belkan runic shield comes up to shield him from the assault of the rebar crossbows. It holds well, and he's able to continue the barrage of low-energy but persistent and high quantity blasts from his orbs from behind it - until one of the larger lightpole-bolts comes in and collides aghainst his shield, shoving him back a bit before exploding. When the smoke clears there's scorch marks on his white labcoat. Just in time for hiom to notice New Moon. Great. He's ill with nightmare-itus and now Mamoru's New Stalker is here. But he has to focus on the Witch. <<Did you call her? You DIDN'T.>> Riventon telepathies to Mamoru, and even with the usually flat affect of Devicer mental comms, he can hear the exasperation in his brother's mental voice.     He collects energy into his hand as he stands up. Melona attacking him? That he thinks is slightly more fair. She's a Witch so she's strong, and maybe she's got a bone to pick with him, though she attacked all of the Mahou, really. "Time to settle down and get the rest you've been denied, Mizu-san." he says, his voice heavy as he thrusts his hand out once more and calls in tone with his device.      <<SCHATTENSCHLAG.>> (Shadow Strike) And, the shadowy blast that is his signature attack carries less energy than it normally would, than it should, but nobody defeats a witch by ''not'' attacking the witch.     "I don't really care about the seed." Riventon says, trying to maintain an external facade of dispassion. "I just don't like giving away things to people who make a habit of being a pain in my ass.." But it's obvious there's more to it than that, especially when he looks towards the Witch he just attacked. "In any case, I thought that's what we were doing; making sure she passes on instead of wallows in her Despair."     "I just ''told'' you I'm Ill, I'm not going to fight with you over the dispensation of anything today." He might try to steal it, but not ''fight'' over it. That much is accurate.     "You're not going to want to owe me, rocketeer. This is a debt you should know I can quite literally collect from your very person." he warns. Just before coughing fit round twelve.
Mamoru Chiba	"Sorry, Riv, I just meant I mostly knew her in passing that way, not that it was your fault or anything," Tuxedo Kamen says, stepping back a pace and almost falling down the mountain of melony junk-- but he has amazing balance, so there's only a brief balance dance and then New Moon is right there. "Goth-bun," he says with an incredulous laugh that isn't funny at all, "Melona just died and this is her Witch. It opened around us. Please help us with it? I mean you're stuck in here now anyway--" Then Homura calls out to Mamoru and he shakes his head. "I'm with her!" He starts to reach for New Moon which means he's not actually paying attention in order to duck, and he gets a crossbow rebar grazing his upper arm, and nearly taking his cape off, for his troubles. "Ow! Oh LOOK OUT!" There's a rain of sharp exploding lightpoles; Mamoru dives into New Moon to get her out of the way. << I DID NOT. She just always knows where I am. >>
Catra	oh so apparently observing from a distance isn't a thing. This is new. Catra's never been in (or even near) a witch's labyrinth before. It does, however, remind her of the Portal, somehow. Not that she can really remember any of that, but this sensation of her skin prickling is definitely familiar, and the feeling of corruption isn't helping. She parks her bike, and is about to go and get closer, when... there's Usagi making fun of her, and her ears flatten against the side of her head as she grits her teeth and her hands ball up into fists. "I am ''NOBODY'S'' 'little stray'," she snarls, realizing that her sword has come to hand and she's seriously considering going after New Moon with it. Perhaps fortunately, the corrputed moon princess (is everyone around here a princess or something? EXCEPT FOR CATRA) takes that moment to move further away, leaving the feline standign there burning and seething. At least she's got this Spirit Ember figured out so she ''can'' burn, even if she's not very good at it yet. Not taht she's admitting that to anyone. So, with sword in hand she energizes the blade with heat, making it glow like it's about to go molten as she charges forwards, dashing after New Moon like she means business -- even thought she might not be the actual problem. "HEY!!" she yells as she runs, "DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME!! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! GET BACK HERE SO I CAN KICK YOUR BUTT!!" Not that Usagi is likely to have heard her, but whatever, it feels good to yell. Even if she still has no idea what's going-- "HEY!! RIVENTON!!" she yells, grinding to a halt and ducking some directed energy directed in more or less her direction. "What the hell is all this and who's the bad guy here?!"
Usagi Tsukino	"All you are is the saddest little stray," New Moon contradicts. "Running from Adora to Rashmi to Hinoiri for a home, I applaud you. Get it girl, find you a place to belong~!" Usagi genuinely rather likes Catra, in the sense that she generally likes everyone, especially if they want to do good and she believes Catra does. New Moon has decided to hold a grudge about that one time Chibiusa-napping, and the fact that that lovely tree was once hung up on this wandering stray. Still, she's got better things to do, and she winks at Homura. "Evil Dream Girl is here to keep an eye on him. Don't worry, I've got not beef with your goddess." She might have said more, but Amy is reassuring her that the Labyrinth opened around them, and Mamoru is saying that someone's died - and a vague memory sparks. "...the miserable little girl? That's rough." That's the best she can offer, at least until the attack comes, and she's annoying, blue eyes sharp, raising hands filled with dark power, when Mamoru ''jumps in the way of the lightpoles that are exploding'' and she ''shrieks''. "I AM STRONGER THAN YOU!" Her hands are thrown up. One grasps for Mamoru - the other summons a ball of dark energy, writhing and vivid and purple, all her hatred and sorrow and anger in semi-physical form, and it balloons to the size of a volleyball, absorbing light, sucking in air - and then she chucks it at the Witch. "Moon Sunder Eclipse!" It explodes much as the lightpoles did, bursting forth with dark power, radiating energy that will strike anything too close, infecting them with darkness that scours.
Melona Mizu	As those arrows shoot into the sky, the Witch actually... dodges?! It's a little squeaky almost 'Henh!' that can be heard as she jumps away from the ballista as the arrows shoot in towards it, the chibi-witch sliding in the garbage for a half-moment as the follow-up explosives from Amy blow up what was left of the ballista, while the arrows chase after her still, striking on and around her which causes her to roll away again, back into the mountain's edge. Much like the familiars, her movements were a bit more ... disjointed than one would expect, but she moved a little more smoothly than them at the very least. And then there is more clanking audible as she seems to be building something again. A building that is disrupted by Riventon's shadowy blast that cuts through part of the mountain, sending junk -- and the mini-witch flying, comically flailing in the air in an almost distressed way. But the flat look on the 'human' half of her face and the oil-tear-streaked clockwork half of her face show that she's not truly distressed. A lack of distress shown when the suddenly is pulling out that barbed wire-wreathed tri-headed flail again, which drags her back down to the ground with a resounding BOOM that sends junk flying everywhere. ...Which might be a bit of a threat to those who don't get out of the way because really. ...Nobody wants to get hit by a falling fridge. Or a sewing machine. Or a car engine. ...You get the picture there's heavy stuff falling, though it's not really a directed attack, and in fact, several of the familiars are crushed under those same falling objects! Especially the poor line of crossbowmelons. On the upside this means there's no focused attacks on anyone at the moment, just a rain of random objects for people to dodge or knock away. ...Also some of the swordsmelons but they're familiars. And starting to dwindle, not that there's not still a seemingly unending flood of them crawling out of that trash mountain, but as they're defeated... the trash mountain was starting to get a little... smaller? Or at least less tall and more wide in that strange space. Moon Sunder Eclipse. A volleyball-sized sphere of dark energy that shoots into that spot where Melone Schmieden had been. And it explodes. And there is silence for a moment. ...Until there is a shockwave of dark energy that comes from the little crater atop the mountain, and the familiars begin to move more... precisely. Their attacks growing stronger. It had been an effective attack, no doubt, but it had also left something floating in the air, a thing that Misery Melon had been using most of her time as a Puella. Dark Energy. So when she steps back up over that crater's edge, the extra-chibi form was now... a bit taller, more normal Misery Melona sized and shaped. In fact, she /almost/ looked like the regular Misery Melon at first glance. Until you noticed that her eyes were lights. That her cheeks were porcelain over a ticking cover. And those tears of oil were falling down her cheeks again. ...Is there a moment of hesitation though? A moment of recognition in her eyes? Clearly not. It's a Witch. Not a person anymore. It was just watching its newly-empowered minions, clearly.
Amy Faust	''Really?!'' They're in the middle of fighting a ''Witch'' and Riventon insists on trying to push a debt? Amy is trying to focus on the fight and compensating for lag, and her mouth runs as she fires more 84mm shells at MELONE SHMIEDEN, switching from HE to HEAT and leading the target.     "You see what happens if you take too much. I don't trust you to be more careful with ''me'' than your ''friend.''"     She winces, after the words have left her mouth, and adds in a more neutral tone, "A reasonable request is fine. ...Most uses or timings of using seven wolves are not reasonable. Try to make it agreeable."     It occurs to her that she can just give the partially-used seed back after taking her fill, and then he can claim nothing. Maybe she'll do that.     "Damn it!" Amy curses as the Witch goes down the other side of the mountain. In the back of her brain, some part of her takes note in what strategies are enabled by piles of junk.     (It might be important one day for She Who Is Undeserving Of Love...)     Now Catra is here and yelling. "SHE'S A WITCH." Amy shouts back, and points at MELONE SHMIEDEN. "See the boss title?" At least, she assumes since Catra ''just arrived'', maybe she sees the runes now?     Amy continues her explanation as she frantically dodges falling junk, barely able to do more than fire homing bullets to try and help keep the population of Familiars down. "Killing her is the only way out."     "...No, we can't read them either." M---N- S-M--D--N... yeah, Amy has no clue what that said.     "Sorry. You have to fight these sometimes on Earth. S'my... job... but they're everyone's problem. ...Sorry."     Okay, stuff's stopped falling, but now there's... "Did you just ''FEED THE WITCH?!'' Wait, they can use Dark Energy?!" Amy groans and holds her hand to her head. "Of course, if we can while we're alive, why not?"     She takes a breath, and is suddenly holding a 3m-or-so long 105mm artillery recoilless cannon on her shoulder, and she starts firing at the Witch. BOOM!
Madoka Kaname	Homura doesn't have time to squint at Riventon, but she's doing so in her heart. "As long as we're on the same page..."     Mamoru gets a sideways glance and a raised eyebrow. Especially with the way he is around New Moon. Wouldn't Usagi get jealous? Whatever. Mamoru's love life is not Homura's problem.     New Moon's comment gets a curious look from Homura. Calling Madoka Homura's goddess has a few layers underneath it that the raven haired Puella really shouldn't be distracting herself with right now. "... then nor do I have beef with you."     Madoka also gives New Moon a wary look, but she genuinely seems like she wants to protect Mamoru even if she's being a bit Full Of Dark Energy about it.     Madoka's arrows seem somewhat effective against the landscape. Too bad they were aiming at the Witch. "Seems like she's diving into the junk pile for cover," comments Madoka.     "In that case, leave it to me," says Homura, and the two immediately swap roles. Madoka is now on the defensive, using her spread shot arrows to take out or redirect the debris that's raining down all around them. Homura, stands behind her and summons an array of rocket launchers and RPGs, and she picks up each in turn before firing at the Witch.     She isn't just trying to damage the Witch, but to destroy the ground she's using as cover.     A Labyrinth portal opens, and a tiny squeaking goddess flails her way towards the couple. "Hope Blossom! Love Lily! I'm here!" calls out Kamiko, narrowly dodging bits of debris as she flies. Yikes!
Takashi Agera	Riventon hates so much about what's going on right now. Kohai's a witch now, yep. New Moon's here, yep. He's sick, yep. There's a fridge he just nearly dodged? yep. He's surrounded by unbearable mahoujin? Big yep.     He shoots Amy a glare at her words that doesn't need a threat behind it and for just a moment it looks like he might join former-Melona in attacking the other Puella. There's certainly an aura of Dark Energy about him, literally dripping from his hands in liquid droplets as he glares. He'll remember that, for sure. Even if she apologizes after. But for now. He's sick. Melona's a Witch. They're dodging - whoof, there goes a micorwave - attacks. There will be time to get her back later, though Amy will find herself specifically denied any sort of fire-support that Riventon might be giving now, in a conspicuous manner, given that as he watches Melona absorn New Moon's attack, he suspects if it wasn't for the tainted Nightmare Energy coursing through him she might have done the same to his attacks, and it's best not to test it. So various large objects heading for Not-Amy Mahoujin are blasted off course by Riventon's shots. And of course, for someone as monologenous as Riventon, his sudden silence speaks volumes.
Mamoru Chiba	"I wasn't jumping in front of you!!" protests Mamoru, "I was getting us both out ouph--" Yoinked. "Oh ''fuck''," he finally says, looking at what Moon Sunder Eclipse did. "AMY-CHAN THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS OK DON'T DO THIS," he yells, dangling from New Moon's grip. "Can you put me down?" he asks as a dishwasher goes flying past them and crashes into the ground next to a big old cast iron sink. "I want to crater the crater!" Once New Moon puts him down, he keeps his eyes on the 'sky', ready to duck out of the way of anything that has a trajectory which intersects with him, and he crouches down and jams his hands into the surface they're standing on. The mountain. The mountain of junk in a Witch's labyrinth. It's not Earth, so he doesn't talk to the 'ground' he's digging into, he can't talk to replica Witch-junk, he can't-- oh but he ''can'' because this attack is ''his'' energy, at heart. "Tuxedo la Smoking Crater!" There's a rumbling, and then from below the Witch the crater starts to ''bulge''...
Usagi Tsukino	Now that was just irritating. New Moon is breathing harder after the attack, her face taking on a more wan look, frustrating creeping in, and there's a sense that she's absolutely pissed off about that. "Seriously?! A Witch that absorbs Dark Energy! Who does that?! I'm blaming your brother and his stupid mega corporation!" This outburst is followed up by New Moon reaching up towards her head and plucking her straw hat off of it, stretching her wrist to ensure of its limberness. Fine then! If that wouldn't work, she'd go for the tried and true! The straw hat in her hand glows, shimmering with sparkling light, tinged at the edges with purple and mauve, but still brighter than the previous attack had been, not a burst of Dark Energy, but a vaguely familiar cosmic radiance. "New Moon Action!" She hurtles it like a boomerang or say... a tiara... and it flies towards the Witch, intending to separate the flail-wielding arm from body, or at least wound it seriously. "Fine," she says begrudgingly. "I'll put you down so you can open up the ground and make the stupid thing die faster. It's bad enough she's died and made you sad, the least her shambling soul-zombie can do is lay down and die."
Catra	Catra didn't get an answer out of Riventon, and her ear twitches in irritation. At least Amy is on the ball enough to tell her what's going on. Also, at least Catra is on the ball enough to dodge an entire pallet of jelly beans (candy is heavy), and then a cement mixer, and then a wax statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator (Where did ''that'' come from?!) before it splats on the ground behind her. "ALRIGHT YOU KNOW WHAT I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS." And she does. There's a fight with some witch that's messing up reality, there's this new person who's a complete jerk and is being mean about her relationships with various people and is desperately asking to have an arm cut off, and Riventon is sulking about somethign and being a knobstacle about it. "Fine I guess I'll take care of this myself," she growls. She clenches her fists and fire erupts around her; the holt of Powersend chances color to brass, and blue flames dance all over her (except on the sword, those ones are yellow). "You want to--AUGH!" She dives to the side again, avoiding a forklift that says "Hitachi" on the side of it. As she rises, she gathers up all the firey thoughts she can muster and unleashes a torrent of flame at this witch, using her sword to aim like it's a wand. Which isn't nearly as powerful as she'd like because as much as she thinks she's got the Spirit Ember figured out, she's only just started learning.
Takashi Agera	"This witch used to be Melona." Riventon snaps angrily at Catra. "She snapped like Puella Magi tend to." He's too angry at present Puella Magi company to care about being polite.     "This is her Witch. If we want out of the labyrnth alive we have to put her out of her... despair." He says, deciding not to say 'out of her misery'.     "She was always a little bit into Dark Energy so it's not surprising her Witch can use it. I'd love to do research on it but right now I'd also love to not die being pasted by a statue of an American actor or whatever other equally humiliating thing might squish me, so the plan is the same even with this information - kill the Witch."
Melona Mizu	In fairness, normally Witches have their own unique form of twisted energy. However, Melona had been already corrupted by darkness when she fell. She had already been attuned to it, somewhat, which made her situation ... while not unique, more uncommon than others. On the upside, HEAT rounds are still effective of her regardless, striking the Witch, which seemed to make her spin and almost dance as she's struck, not even... seeming to dodge too much as she stood on that precipice, even as that massive artillery cannon came up. But she seemed to snap out of her reverie right before it struck, a shield of junk being pulled up in front of her to mitigate the worst of that recoilless cannon. A shield of junk that is promptly broken away by a rapid barrage of rockets that, while not aimed at her, were consistently destroying any barriers or cover she seemed to take, rain of perfectly-broken-melons and random trash -- is that an iphone 17 with a broken screen?! -- and 'treasure' falling around her as that 'mountain' grows smaller, roughly about 2/3rds its original size. A torrent of flame joins in the barrage, adding more to the extensive, unending explosions inexplicably (Maybe she was standing on a conveniently placed explosives barrel or something?!) The ground beneath the witch bulges and EXPLODES from below Melone Schmieden, consuming her in further explosions! And from those explosions, Melone Schmieden is sent flying, right into the path of the NEW MOON ACTION, which sends her flying up higher... C-C-C-Combo! Unfortunately, Melone Schmieden still has that ... almost familiar, if twisted three-headed flail. Which was now beginning to grow. Bigger... /Bigger/... BIGGER! If there were a sun, it would be blotted out, as the dark energy that had suffused her is channeled into those three massive spiked headed flails, wreathed in barbed wire (That still cuts into her own hands, oddly enough.) begins to fall towards the group, beginning to glow brighter with a mix of dark energy and witch energy. Nevermind that compared to the flail Melone Schmieden looked absolutely tiny, she was less riding it down so much as being dragged down with a dispassionate look on her face. Getting out of the way is likely for the best. Especially because on impact, the explosion would likely send the entire half of the junk mountain flying and/or simply obliterate it. <SPITZEN VERWUSTUNG> Wait it even gets a witch text name?! That's cheating! Witches don't get finishers!!!! I personally blame the Dark Energy.
Takashi Agera	Riventon is still, all things considered, a quick thinker, much to many people's chagrin. And while Witch Labyrnths don't always care about things like physics and inertia and energy, the way stuff continues to fly towards him and the Mahoujin with rapid speed indicates to him it's in the ballpark.     So when that big flail, clearly dragging the Witch down, is headed his way, he can process how that's going to go. One, don't get hit by it. Two, don't get hit by all of the additional crap it's about to throw into the air. Three, kill the Witch.     So he left around and back, into the air after getting out of the impact zone, and pointed a Midchildan shield downwards - serving as a sort of barrier between him and all of the stuff that he expected to come up. And well, just because he couldn't ''blast'' the witch with Dark Energy didn't mean he couldn't use Dark Energy offensively still - just in a more boring (to him) way.     He tries to catch a junked car out of the air, but he can't fully guide it and he doesn't succeed at throwing it anywhere near Melona's direction - too sick to pick that up - but a half a couch starts to fall back to earth from the impact near him and that he's able to grab, spin, and swing-launch towards the Witch. Followed by a microwave.     Two could play at Random Bullshit Go. Dark Energy could give him the strength, but once it left his hands, instead of an energy blast, it was just good old fashioned Heavy Object At Speed, just looking for something to impart its thrown energy into.
Madoka Kaname	Kamiko finally flies into Madoka's waiting hands as Homura's Rockets prove effective at clearing the Witch's shield, at least. The pinkette looks up at the Witch and realizes something that would probably have been pretty clear if the possibility had ever crossed her mind. "Never let a Witch use Dark Energy."     The massive flail comes down on them. Madoka is giving it a wide eyed stare. There's no time to dodge something that huge.     Fortunately, time isn't something that Homura gives a damn about.     A moment before impact, their image flickers and vanishes. There's a few seconds where it might not be clear whether they got obliterated or somehow teleported. Homura reappears further away from whatever's left of the mountain, but Madoka is still absent.     No... actually that's not right.     Madoka, Hope Concept, her ''presence'' is felt Everywhere. Her signature Hope Aura fills the Labyrinth, washing over everyone, bathing them in optimistic pearlescent light that grants them just a bit more boost to their magic. Rays of light shine down from above as a Goddess descends, translucent wings spread out in all of her glory, strands of pink hair flowing into infinity, backed by a mandela of white lace and pink teardrops.     Homura shouts, "Heads up! Purifier!" because she's not actually rude enough to stab her dark using temporary allies in the back.     Hope Concept, meanwhile, holds her hands in a heart shape over the Humpty Lock hanging from her neck. "Negative Heart: Lock on!"     A beam of heart-shapes flies out from her hands, trying to lock onto the Witch and, if possible, pin her into place for a moment. Such an attack normally wouldn't be as effective as other things Madoka could do, but against a Witch using Darkness this might at least take away one of her advantages, and Madoka is gonna need to be Hope Concept today anyways.     Then Homura and Hope Concept call out in unison. "OPEN HEART SURGICAL STRIKE!"     Following after the heart beam is a blast of purifying rainbow energy, and in that same moment Homura is following up with a spread of bullets and rockets that... honestly don't make sense considering what she's clearly firing with. There's no way the guns or rocket launchers she's using could ever fire that fast.
Usagi Tsukino	Attacks land. Words are exchanged. The Witch hurls up a flail that could block out the sun. Tuxedo Kamen will feel New Moon's hands grip him by the back of his suit jacket, a tug, and then - teleportation, there and gone in an instant, and they're high, high in the air, and she's still gripping him by the back of his jacket, and she's flying, but he ''can't'' fly, so that's probably a bit uncomfortable and disorienting. "You just ''had'' to come and care about this," she says huffily, "You weren't even friends with that doomed little girl." Out of the way of the attack, there is an opening, and she does ''not'' have her rod, she does ''not'' have her wand, but she ''does'' have this hat, and she contemplates it for a split second before yanking it from her heart and spinning about with Tuxoed Kamen in her arms, the hat glowing. "Twisted Heart Spiral Action!" An enormous straw hat wearing heart appears before them, a deep purple-pink in color, and it races forth to ram what once was Misery Melona with all the force of a run away train.
Mamoru Chiba	Oh it's deeply uncomfortable, but it's at least not disorienting, because between Riventon and New Moon, Mamoru can tell where he is and which way is up. The spinning? That's disorienting. When they stop and Mamoru can get an arm around New Moon and ''not hurl thank you'' she's already throwing ''"Are you kidding me?"'' Mamoru hiss-whispers to Usagi. "Anyway me caring is one of the reasons you love me, I think, so I'll stick with it--" "Tuxedo Glittering Rose Bomber!" he yells and flings his cape aside, sending a spray of explosive glitter petal antimagic bombs headfirst at the Witch.
Amy Faust	Through it all, in the back of her mind, some part of Amy wonders what it means that this Witch appears as a construct. Did they both tend to feel alienated from humanity at times?     Amy growls a little at hearing Puella Magi 'tend to snap' and at the Witch trying to shield her attacks with junk. How dare the Witch use basic defensive tactics to defend its existence!     But, it does seem like the others are onto something. There's only so much junk...     But there's still a lot, as she dismisses her artillery to leap out of the way of a falling car chassis and a dumbbell. Fortunately, the others' barrage is tearing through those shields as fast as Melone can make them.     In her head, she can almost ''hear'' the homerun bat sound as NEW MOON ACTION strikes at the end of the combo and the Witch is sent flying...     And then she blots out the sun.     Red eyes widen. ''Oh holy shit...!''     Amy desperately tries to get out from under the attack. She ''barely'' manages to dodge getting hit directly, but the explosion sends her battered body flying.     Being able to numb her connection to her body is a blessing. Although it does mean that as a pillar of flame switches her armor's form, she's unsteady in the air for a moment. Her thrusters being magically guided is the only thing that stops her from spiraling like an out-of-control rocket.     She ''barely'' dodges a falling car that tries to knock her out of the air.     Enough. Their Goddess is here. Attacks are called out. "[UNCHAINED da!]" She declares her super mode, rather than a specific attack, but the heavy artillery cannon returns and fires again. And then is dismissed as she jets out of the way of a projection TV, and then it's back and fires again, and then it's dismissed as she dodges broken robot pieces, and then she fires ''again''.     And then, more solemnly, she adds, "I'm sorry, Melona-san. Your suffering ends here."
Catra	"I'm assuming," Catra shouts back at Riventon, "That since you haven't said 'we're trying to save her' that this is it, and we can't save her." Well, what? Catra doesn't know anything about Puella Mages except that they exist and this one has apparently turned into something awkward. And, her sword appears to be the way she does her best work right at the moment, so she just dashes forwards, dodging all manner of things as she leaps, lands on a falling washing machine and jumps off it, landing on a plummeting car and jumps again, bouncing from one piece of falling debris to another to gain altitude; in her wake she leaves things on fire with either blue or yellow flame, and the fire around her sword grows. As she gets close, she jumps gain and splits; one Catra is left behind, standing on the piece of debris while the other one keeps ascending, splitting again in the same way and continuing to rise. Catra's eyes glow their respective colors as she and her doubles all abruptly leap inwards; Catra makes a slash against the witch, then tosses the sword to one of her illusory doubles -- who catches it and attacks with a rising cut, then tosses it to the other double who descends with it for another slice. The real Catra bounces off a piece of debris, catching the sword again; and she picks up speed, bouncing about between falling pieces of machinery or vehicles, tossing the sword back and forth between her doubles until finally she can't stay in it. She drops back down and lands, holding up her hand to catch the sword after her double makes one last cut. Powersend clicks as she slams it back into its scabbard and she walks away, not bothering to look over her shoulder.
Melona Mizu	... The witch has... a couch... and a microwave flying towards her. As she's still being blown back by her own attack -- which oddly seemed to have effected HER too. Like. The microwave just beans her in the head and sends her spiraling off into the distance with her now-much-more-normal-sized flail twirling behind her. In spite of the dispassionate, empty look on her face, she almost looks just. Stunned by that fact. Which leaves her open as a twisted heart wearing a straw hat comes flying in towards her as she twirls in the air from that microwave hit -- an impact that sends her flying off towards the further edge of the junk mountain, which leaves her open. As Hope Concept makes her presence known. As her Negative Heart is Locked Onto. As she falls head-first towards that remaining half of the mountain, time almost seeming to slow to a crawl for a half moment. As explosive petal antimagic bombs strike that falling form. And then artillery strikes. And again. And again. And then doubles of Catra appear as the explosions begin to clear. Jumping from falling junk piece to falling junk piece. And slashes through her, clearly removing an arm with that burning sword, which falls down into the junk pile below her. And then... The Lock-On is launched. And such a negative heart it is. Bullied for being short when she was younger. Survivor's guilt. The empty wrongness after getting revenge. Abandonment. Isolation. Not any particular person's fault. Half of it was her own. Bullets and rockets impact the falling witch, keeping her in the air a few moments longer with their strikes, as those oily tears drip down to the ground below the falling Puella. And then she's consumed in that blast of purifying rainbow energy. Guilt becomes acceptance. Emptiness fills with light. Abandonment is erased, reminders of those who care about her. Isolation filled with memories of those who had worked alongside her, who had reached hands out towards her that she had all but slapped away. Despair becoming, if only in those moments before the Witch is erased. Hope. "...I'm sorry." Those words echo through the rapidly-disintegrating labyrinth. And the witch's body burns away with the light. Leaving only the glittering gemstone held in a cross that is a Grief Seed. Pure. Ready to absorb someone else's despair.
Mamoru Chiba	"--please let me heal anyone who needs it. Amy-chan needs a lot," Tuxedo Mask murmurs to the evil girl he's clinging to in the sky.
Takashi Agera	Riventon hears - or feels - the apology and looks down and murmurs one too. He's sorry he didn't help her enough. He's sorry he didn't change the world enough. He's sorry this happened while he was sick - that he didn't more aggressively try to talk to her, connect to her - he knew she was a Puella Magi that was using Dark Energyu, this could have been a priority.     But she didn't want to make it his problem; she was probably heading for this fate inevitably. Still, it hurts. It hurts to not save her. It hurts to live in a world where he can't save everyone.     "There wasn't anything we could do for her today." Riventon says to Catra. ''Today'' is part of his response because anything he could have done, should have done, would have had to be done earlier. All of these distractions. And real people, they pay the price, don't they?     "At least she can rest now." He says, solemnly. He doesn't make a swing for the grief seed. It's not something he needs; especially now, with no Puella Magi in his divison. He can slay other Witches next time he wants one, this one doesn't need to be held in specific - not while he's sick, and running at such low power, and surrounded. It'd only reveal the extent of what absorbing that Nightmare did to him, if he tried to fight.     "I'm tired of seeing people waste their potential." he says, after a pause, and starts to walk away.
Madoka Kaname	There are, in the eyes of Hope Concept, two kinds of Grief Seeds: Those with souls, and those without. Those with souls get their souls freed, and become those without. It's not always clear which one she's dealing with at first, and sometimes it can be difficult to check, but none of that is necessary right now.     The goddess saw it with her own eyes.     Hope Concept descends upon the Grief Seed, racing for it, really. Homura flickers into existence right next to it, grabbing it before anyone else can, and offers it up to the object of her affection and, let's be honest, worship.     Madoka takes it from her darling's hands and clasps her own around it, closing her golden glowing eyes as both she and the Grief Seed radiate with a gentle light.     What happens next between Madoka and the saved soul varies from case to case. Sometimes there's a swift sendoff. Sometimes there's review of the soul's life. Sometimes the soul is allowed to bear witness to one event of import. Whatever it is, it's usually a very personal moment, and isn't always shared with others.     For now, Hope Concept keeps it to herself.     However, a new Familiar appears behind her. A benotafraid made of anvils scrap, wielding a mace. "That's not her," explains the Concept, "... but, it felt right, to leave for her a memorial." She closes her eyes, and then holds out the Grief Seed.     Homura takes it from her hands, looks at it, and then looks over to Amy. "One of us should take this. Don't worry. It's not her anymore. Do you need it?"
Amy Faust	Amy didn't know her well. She doesn't know if there's anything she could have done. Melona refused to top off from or take offered grief seeds in the past, but that probably wouldn't have made a difference today.     She lands, and looks at Riventon. "Uhh. Hey." It's awkward, but she does need to call out to him; she'll say his name if he doesn't turn around.     Meeting his eyes, she holds out her arm so he can clearly see her soul gem. Already almost a sixth corrupted again even after the purification a moment ago. She pulls the grief seed he gave her from her belt pouch, holds it to her SOUL, and draws the corruption out. Then tosses it back to him. "We're even." (If he wouldn't turn around, she hits him in the back with it. Not thrown hard enough to hurt.)     And then she turns and walks towards Hope Concept, nodding at the memorial, "She's at peace now?" and at Homura, taking the grief seed, looking at it -- another empty shell -- for a moment, and then slipping it into her belt pouch.     Beat.     And then realization flashes across her face. "Oh shoot, I should've had you free the soul before giving that back-- she turns to look back towards Riventon--
Usagi Tsukino	"Yes, fine, you can heal her, but then we're leaving. This was depressing. We didn't even get anything nice for Wicked Lady, since all she had in her soul was junk." Pouting, selfish, and unhelpful - yep, that's New Moon! She twirls her hat on a finger, before replacing it on her head with a sigh. "All that, and Dark Energy couldn't even be useful..."
Takashi Agera	Riventon turns to look at Amy as she tosses him part of the seed back. Well, that's actually fine with him; he can really only use it for research now, since it can't go to Melona, and it'll hatch again and need to be put back down; but at least hopefully then he won't be sick and it won't be an issue.     "What, you want to free the soul of this one?" He asks, holding up the seed he had just been passed back. "Is that a ceremonial thing or... actual magic?" He asks, looking from Amy to Homura and Hope Concept. "I don't mind either way, really." he says, offering it back once more. He's calmed down a bit now, from the emotional high. Maybe the sadness got to him."     He turns to Catra and opens his mouth - then thinks better of it and instead tells her through Device Telepathy. <<This is what happens when someone lets their inner demons win and doesn't accept help from the people who try to help them.>> he says. Not that Catra and Melona's situations are entirely alike, but maybe this situation can do some good, somewhere.
Madoka Kaname	Hope Concept frets a little when Amy realizes out loud that they hadn't checked for a soul yet before giving the seed to Riventon. However, that fretting fades when the dark scientists says he doesn't care either way.     The goddess floats over to him, and her ridiculous endlessly long hair trails after her. "It's actual magic," she explains, "and it's a core part of my powerset. Not all Grief Seeds contain souls, but the souls who exist within Grief Seeds are often in torment. It's... not that different than a mercy kill, in that way, but even then it's the lesser of two evils."     As she reaches Riventon and the seed, she takes it into her hands for a moment. It glows, and she passes it back to him.     With a frown, she mentions, "I'm not exactly happy about what happened with Gaito, but now isn't the time to settle that. I'll see you around, Riventon."     Then she turns and floats away, towards Homura, with her arms spread wide, and because this isn't the worst cliffhanger ever the raven-haired Puella actually does allow Madoka to carry her away.
Catra	Catra has, lately, been doing so well. And she's just fought a battle to save people, right? She did come here of her own volition. It wasn't her fight. She could have just left. Or at least not risen to the bait from New Moon. Oh, don't worry; she hasn't forgotten about her. And her eyes absolutely blaze as she whirls around, sword in hand as she's about to advance on this newly arrived snotty little upstart pipsqueak bigmouth, when Riventon's telepathy rattles around her in skull, and her resolve just kind of falls falt on her face. Catra's flames go out, and she once again returns her sword t oits scabbard, and her shoulders slump. << Yeah but... I don't have 'inner demons'. I am the demon. I dunno how much longer these 'heroes' are gonna put up with me before they wise up and figure that out. >> And with that, Catra just... oozes dejected as she trudges back in the direction of her motorcycle.
Mamoru Chiba	"Witches are always depressing," Tuxedo Kamen says, then kisses New Moon on the cheek, warm, uninjured hands resting on her shoulders for a second, and then he jogs over to Amy, taking a glove off. "Pardon me. New Moon's in a little bit of a rush, but... I think Amy you're the only one who really took much of a beating? Everyone else okay?" he asks, holding his hand out to Amy... and not looking at any of the girls, just Riventon, leaving. Then he glances back and sees Catra leaving dejectedly, and he ''still'' hasn't told her about Chibiusa... Well, Usagi has her number. He'll just text.
Amy Faust	Amy is relieved to hear that Riventon won't hold the (possible, it might've been from a Familiar) soul hostage. And she gives an understanding half-smile at his earnest confusion, sympathetic as an atheist woman of science standing next to her god. She nods at Hope Concept's words. "Thank you." To her, and to Riventon. And smiling at Hope Concept and Homura. ''Awwwww.''     And then Tuxedo Mask is at her side. Oh right, she almost forgot she was hurt for a moment there, on account of turning off pain. She turns to face him, and he can see the shrapnel embedded in her side and her leg and the blood soaked into her costume, and the bruises through tears in her bodysuit. Today was not the ''worst'' he's seen her, but it's worse than she comes away from the vast majority of battles.     She looks down at herself and winces, and looks up at him and takes his hand.     She's not sure ''exactly'' what that would cost to heal, maybe even more than one wolf? Probably not two, she ''hopes.'' There's the mental vision of about how much of her soul gem that might be.     Her other thoughts are about the similarities and differences between Melona Mizu's Witch, and her own -- based on what Hinoiri told her, she could fill in the blanks.     The piles of junk her Witch somehow teleported or jumped to spare bodies in; Melona's used for weapons and defenses. The familiars based on Melona's friends vs the familiars based on so many awful stories and the darkness of humanity's imagination mixed up with feelings about women or wanting to be them. (Amy feels that Melona's are more personal and this is better, somehow.) Both of them robots. Amanda feels othered by humanity, and now so many (but not her friends, not Radiant Heart, and not other accepting people) would demonize her if they knew her situation; thus a robotic weapon with a succubus's horns and wings and tail. Melona is also a construct. Did she feel othered? Alienated? Or just that others, like Marie, ''saw'' her as a toy or a ''thing''?     These worrisome thoughts are soothed and softened a bit by that sense of home and Earth and warmthm but they're there. There is a light apologeticness at oversharing but it's a mental link and what just happened is on her mind and unavoidable.     "Thank you." She breathes, and again, there's the mental image of soul gem saved.     She looks at New Moon waiting impatiently behind him. "Good luck." And to her she adds, "And thank you for helping, New Moon."