raisetheearth | Echo Incursion 01 - Jurassic Gateway (August 10th, 2016)

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Echo Incursion 01 - Jurassic Gateway (August 10th, 2016)

It's a particularly hot day in the Gateway City zoo. What else could you expect? It's not like it's not to be expected, it is the middle of August, after all. But there's plenty of things to see here at the zoo, and the visitors' center is air conditioned well enough.

Just a normal summer day in a typical summer vacation spot. Right?

Well, that's when things change. Those in the visitor's center would find the building changing around them. There's suddenly a dinosaur skeleton in the middle of the place, with the banner "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" hanging from the ceiling.

That's not all. The animal enclosures are now different. What used to be a pen for the african elephants now has very large, very long necked reptiles in it. A gigantic, meat-eating dinosaur just tromped its way out of the lion habitat it's too much too large for, and unfortunately for the people around it, its vision is based on movement. The monkey house? Well, those are velociraptors breaking out of it. The aviary? Now filled with particular aggressive flying pterosaurs.

These are just some of the creatures making their sudden emergence, and it's not long until they spill out of the zoo and into the city proper. Dinosaurs are now walking the streets of Gateway City.

Yes, indeed. Just a normal summer day.

[OOC: The new event is live! Please see this post for npc information and just what characters will have to deal with.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Gateway's situation is already a catastrophe in the making. With giant beasts running rampant through the city, people in a panic... but at the very least it seems a portion of the creatures are more-or-less peaceful. Herbivores more interested in staying away from their predators.

Until that behavior abruptly changes.

Without warning, several of the dinosaurs suddenly thrash as if in fury or pain or both, slamming themselves against walls and roaring as loud as their lungs will allow. When the fits pass, the creatures... change. Formerly peaceful plant-eaters suddenly become violent and aggressive and the predators... well, the predators only get worse.

But what could be causing this sudden swing? The only hint might come in the angry red light shining deep in their eyes....

And the cloying scent of dark magic hanging in the air around them, clearly detectable by anybody sensitive to its presence.

[OOC: So, yeah, welcome to Keldek's first move as a bad guy. He's done something to the dinosaurs to transform them into vicious, aggressive attack machines. Affected dinosaurs will attack everyone and everything they see but can be stopped if the enchantment is broken.

Dinos can be NPCed by you, or I'll take the reigns. Just let me know in your reply if you have a preference.]

Edited 2015-08-11 03:38 (UTC)

It's only been a couple minutes since Winter broke down and transformed into Cure Diamond; by now, a Precure's presence can only help calm the panic in Gateway City, rather than make it worse. No, the problem now is that she's attracting a lot of attention. When she subdues one, three more come to take its place, and it seems like half the city's prehistoric population knows that the real fight is here. She's being overwhelmed, but liberal application of Diamond Shower is helping to keep things in her favor, at least for now. She has larger spells in her arsenal, but... no, better not to use that yet.

From her hip, though, she feels a certain stiffness for a second, before a panicked voice calls up to her. "I sense the movement of darkness... but that can't be right! There can't be Selfish in this world, can there?"

Her blood runs cold, and despite herself, Diamond shivers. "Movement of... no." It meant one of two things. Either someone who could make those terrible monsters that preyed on people's insecurities had found a new life in this world, or, well... someone else that could make a similar one had. Maybe one of the enemies of Lily's team, or perhaps... someone new entirely? Maybe it wasn't even related to the Precure.

For now, that's not important. Cure Diamond has a duty, one she won't hesitate to fulfill. "Okay, Raquel. We're going in. It's going to be all right... I won't let anything happen." Her eyes narrow, and she crouches for half a second, before she springs into the sky. "I'll protect everyone...!"

She hasn't figured out what direction it's coming from. If it was above her or on the ground with her. She doesn't have any information at all, but that's never stopped her before.

[If you want to throw something at Winter yourself, go for it♪ Diamond may not be the only Cure, once things get nasty, but we can work something out if need be.]

One can almost hear the mutter before a flicker and a flash appears above Winter as she launches into the air. Glowing cape billowing out behind her, Moonlight's long arm snaps out, hand grabbing for Diamond's. With more momentum she'd have outright plucked her from the sky, but she's damned well going to make sure she doesn't descend right away into a pack of angry, magically imbued dinosaurs.

"Not alone, you're not," she says, trying to keep her tone even, though her eyes likely betray a flash of concern. "You do have a team, dear, and even we're not going to outpunch some dinosaurs, of all things."

There's a 'tsking' sound as Cologne drifts by Diamond's hip. It's not directed at her, so much, as it was at Raquel. "Particularly if the dark feeling coming off them is correct," he adds.

It looks like there isn't going to be time to discuss the situation in too much detail, as a rumbling bellow. A car comes flipping around the corner, sliding along the street before crashing into a wall as more human screams come from it.

Hot on its heels comes a triceratops, the normally docile beast roaring and stomping its feet hard enough to shake the ground as it shakes its head in uncontrolled anger. A vicious red light shines from its eyes and it charges to overturned car, slamming its bony horn into the car as if trying to smash it open to get to the people within....

There's a moment of open shock as Diamond's pulled back, and she looks up to find Moonlight with... not really shock, but question. "Well, yeah, but... we have to do something, right? We can't just watch. There's no time for planning! We-"

She cuts off hard as the car comes around the corner, which isn't doing her mood any favors. With panic in her eyes, she looks over to Moonlight again. "We have to go!" That light is worrying in and of itself, but she's more concerned about the people. It's her mission, but... she made herself a promise, what feels like forever ago.

"I'm not debating that! But we should do it together, not just rushing in without--"

She sees the crash coming before she hears it, and she's already flying down like a bullet towards it. Which, in their current state, would also likely pull Diamond right along with her. Sending them dropping at such a momentum, she suddenly releases her cloak and takes hold of Diamond's hand, attempting to flip the both of them over in tandem and ideally crash her foot into the dinosaur's side.

Now, if Lily did something like this as a normal young woman, she'd probably break herself in half. A Triceratops does not exactly move easily. But dropping out of the sky, with their combined power... well. She's banking on that being quite a bit more than enough, at least instinctively.

The tug on her arm does indeed pull her right along, and she squawks indignantly for a second before she sees where they're going, swinging herself around and helping to deliver that strong kick into the side of the beast. Really, she's not sure how much damage such a thing will do, but it has to do something, right?

She'll argue about proper rescuing and/or protecting protocol later; it's kind of a special situation.

The double kick strikes home with spot-on precision. The force of it is enough to knock the triceratops off the car and sending it stumbling away several steps. It's a good kick, maybe strong enough to crack a rib or two and the animal slumps down as its sides heave once or twice. For a moment, it's almost a pitiable sight.

... But then its head is up and looking at the two Cures. The light in its eyes burns brighter as emotions flickers across them. Pain, fear, anger. Hatred. It slams its feet down on the street with enough weight and power to crack the asphalt beneath them and roars at the top of its lungs. It's a... considerable sound.

And then it's moving. Charging straight toward the two of them with its head down and horns aimed to stab straight through them.

As the two Precures land, Moonlight immediately moves the rip a door off the car, shouting and ushering the occupants to flee. There's a shout from above her as Cologne comes swooping down, while the Triceratops is still recovering.

"Cure Moonlight! Cure Diamond! These creatures, they're acting unnaturally! That darkness Raquel and I felt, it's within them!"

Moonlight grits her teeth and nods, just in time to see the beast charging straight for them. She bites back a curse and moves to dive out of the way, smacking her brooch to draw her Moon Tact at the same time. A flick of her wrist, and a wave of light, pure force and power of light, surges out for the beast's face. Her hope is to, at the least, temporarily blind it or slow it down.

From there, she's counting on Winter to back her up.

Diamond winces as she lands; that thing is strong. Strong enough to give herself and Lily trouble on sheer power. And that's not something that's happened particularly often before. Neither is the coming darkness that Cologne warns her about, of course, but... priorities.

When Moonlight springs to one side as the dinosaur charges again, Diamond goes the other way, bringing one hand below herself to spring back into readiness as she touches down, the other going to her side and claiming her Love Heart Arrow without fanfare. She slams a Loveads into it just as quickly, and when she lands, her momentum carries her a little bit further. Diamond begins to tap on the edge of her weapon lightly, the familiar sound of a tambourine ringing out over Gateway gently as snow issues forth. Creatures like this tend to charge in straight lines, right...? That's her assumption as she sends her ice straight into its path. Or, at least, what she hopes is its path.

The trike doesn't recognize the weapons being drawn on it, nor does it have any understanding of the words being spoken. Not that it would anyway. All it knows is the rage. All-encompassing, undeniable, and driving it to crush everything its eyes fall on. And right now that's the two creatures that struck it. Its side aches, and the tiny creatures are glowing with a bright light. It hurts its eyes.

Its charge doesn't falter when Moonlight's energy wave strikes across its face, although it does issue a pained bellow and squeeze its eyes shut. As a result, its feet hit the ice at full speed, sending it slipping and sliding across the surface. It doesn't quite lose its footing though and at the last moment, heaves its bulk to one side, attempting to smash into Moonlight with all its considerable strength and weight.

Moonlight is already springing further away when the beast tries to smash into her, weapon trained on it. She hits the ground, heels skidding back along it, though she knows she isn't going to stay there for very long. No, if darkness is truly coming from that thing, there's really only one thing to do? At the least, she was able to calm the raptors with her power... surely, this had to work too?

Still, she doesn't want to play around, either.

"Winter, let's hit it at once!"

She lifts her baton into the air, a light erupting as a massive bulb appears above her. "Shine, flowers! Precure... Silver Forte Wave!"

The swell of energy launches with force, rocketing straight towards the beast. She can't quite do so in her position, but damn does she want to cross her fingers right now.

While Marina's magic senses weren't the most attuned - something she'd only sporadically worked on, hampered by the fact that gods weren't always all that good at teaching mortals things that came naturally - said god warned her, the rumbling voice in her head, when he felt that magic.

They weren't going to go full giant robot here, not unless it was the only way, but it left Marina dodging and ducking and diving much more often, firing off spells without hesitation, now, to keep the monsters at bay.

These were definitely monsters, now, rather than simple animals, and the ankylosaurus that seemed to be intent on turning her into a bloody smear on the pavement really highlighted that.

That is certainly the case now. Or at least, if they're still animals, they're definitely animals under the sway of some kind of unnatural force. These creatures in particular had seemed relatively less aggressive, and only striking out at something perceived as a threat.

Until this one had suddenly run wild and begun smashing everything in sight, roaring and stomping in a mad rage. For whatever reason, it apparently decided Marina needed to die right then and there.

It shook its head and snorted as a blast of magic struck its side before recovering and swinging its tremendous tail toward the girl with rock-crushing force behind it.

Marina was tough, and her armor was magic, but a blow like that could still cripple or kill if it caught her wrong, leaving her diving out of the way and snapping up to her feet to keep moving. It was all she could really do; as horrible as the thing was, just killing it outright seemed wrong. That armored back would be hard to damage, though, and she turned and slammed another Water Dragon spell into it, to, if nothing else, make it seem like attacking her was more trouble than it was worth.

It's not a bad idea and maybe the torrent of water would have convinced the beast that it would be better off going about its business. But in this case, the darkness clinging to its mind is enough to force it onward, driven to crush everything in sight.

The blast makes it stumble to the side but its massive bulk is enough to absorb the force and keep going. It gives its head another shake and it bellows before rumbling forward to try to smash her flat with its sheer size and power.

Well, it sorta shoved the thing away a little bit. So, that could've gone worse, but it should've gone much better. By the time it's up and moving, Marina was as well, she took off, weaving off to the side, hopefully much more agile - and hopefully not getting slammed in the head by the power of that tail.

She might really need Seles, and she looked around for any other alternatives, like a flying friend or... or anything at all.

Marina does at least have the edge in agility, if lagging behind terribly in strength and size, and intelligence as well. The animal is simple-minded to begin with and that isn't helped by its mind being clouded by such fury.

Its size carries it forward as Marina slips aside again, and its head crashes into a parked car, flipping it right over onto its back. For the moment, its temper seems to get the better of it and it rears up to bring its feet down on the flipped vehicle, smashing the metal into a flattened pancake.

For the moment, its attention seems to be off Marina at least. Although that tail is still swinging wildly.

Good job! Fight that car. Hopefully the owner's insurance covers dinosaur rampages. While it's distracted, Marina decides that it's time to clear out and try taking a different angle.

Running really fast.

If there's dark magic afoot, she wants a Cure to come along and... and... cure it... and that means she doesn't want to kill the big lug, so she takes off at a pretty normal athletic human speed. At the same time, she mentally calls out to Seles to be present and at the ready for some mecha action, if only to keep her from getting crushed if the ankylosaurus turns back around too quickly.

It doesn't take very long at all before the offending car is smashed into a nice metal pancake. With that obstacle well dealt with it raises its head again to look for something else to smash... and then spots the tiny thing that had been bothering it far away and running for the hills.

That should be enough. Chasing off the bothersome pest but something... compels it onward. Something that won't be satisfied until the creature is smashed to paste under its feet. The ankylosaurus roars after Marina and then begins rumbling after her.

She's got a good head start and the first few steps are rather slow but... it isn't going to take too long before it starts building up speed.

Edited 2015-08-16 20:24 (UTC)

Nope this is the worst, she's going to be squished if she doesn't do something more than run away and fire off magic - because this thing doesn't seem to be tiring out at all. There's definitely dark juju afoot given how doggedly it's chasing her, and, with little other recourse, Umi calls out to Seles.

The dragon flashes into its mech form, and, soaring down across the city, skids to a stop in front of her. Another beam of light sucks her up into its body, and as she turns, she holds out a hand to try to cushion the dinosaur instead of letting it run head first into a giant metal leg.

The dinosaur doesn't even hesitate in the face of the giant mecha suddenly appearing in its path. Sadly, as big and powerful as it is, it really... isn't much in the face of a giant, magical robot so it slams right into Seles' hand and stumbles back a few steps.

... Doesn't mean it's not going to damn well do its best though! Metal hand or not, the ankylosaurus goes right back on the attack, swinging its tail wildly at the robot.

"Okay big guy, you can-" It's still going. This thing is bigger and harder, and it's still going at her. Umi sighs, twisting Seles' hand to catch the club, letting it push the hand so that the dinosaur remained unharmed. Hopefully being in a mech didn't cause any sort of panic while she tried to tire this thing out. "Come on! I'm huge! Just - go away! Jeez..."

It's not stopping. At all. The last metal thing it attacked had been crushed and smashed under its weight easily, so why should this one be any different?

Driven onward by unquenchable anger it lunges again and again, slamming into the big metal hand. ... Marina might need to do something about this.

Okay, this thing might be able to dent Seles if it kept this up long enough, and at that point it'd probably hurt itself too. Grumbling, Umi reached out to grab it, struggling with it to try and flip it over like a poor little stranded turtle.

"Just... just nap!"

From Bad Straight to Worse

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hold for one extra Diamond tag;

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Well, this whole thing just seems silly now

Mechs! What can you do?