When the Stars Reach for the Moon (Full Moon)

[Maria Stark]

Maria managed somehow to dodge all the incoming attacks but the last wind attack still managed to hit her. It didn't hurt that much thanks to the armor and her persona being good against that shadow. This skirt really works! Maria said. She could see the persona users around her getting pretty damaged. "Let me help you, Pixie!" Maria did shout the last word. Another gust if wind was released form the pixie. It was the only offensive spell Maria had at the moment. She didn't think Marin Karin would work here. It was a tad to early to start casting healing spell. She would do so after hitting the shadows some more.

Action: Magaru.

[Gin Takemoto]

Interesting... These humans have already found major weaknesses on my brethren. This may just be a fun fight to participate in. Maybe I could assist-

Looking over the human forces, Gin recognized Phoebe as one of the fighters. As well as the girl he had fought against before, and he saw the old man from the springs. Those humans alone gave him reason to fight against his fellow shadows, especially Phoebe. The girl he respected, if not really understand. The old man, well... Gin knew him.

With a sigh, Gin entered the fray. "Evening all," he said while still in his shadow form. "If you all try not to kill me, I may come to be of some assistance." He then turned towards the English teacher. "I'm going to start repaying the debt I owe tonight, if you don't mind. Although you may want to make sure that your comrades don't do something rash."

Gin was preparing a spell when he realized that he may have to explain the reasoning behind his impending attack. "Those that can, target the sun. The moon is just a pale reflection that has no power without a light source. That being said, I'm possibly about to heal the moon with my attack. It should cause a good deal of damage to the sun though, and that will help with me testing my theory." With that, he created a field of darkness that surrounded his enemies. 

((Die for Me!))

[Layla Amare]

Of all the attacks thrown out, only the fire one managed to hit Layla, and she still wasn't set into a frenzy by it the way some of her allies were. Or rather...briefly set into a frenzy, since soon after the carefree, blue-haired man from the last fight cured both the ones who were enraged and charmed by the shadows' attacks. At any rate, there was little doubt now that the two of them were hostile.

Meanwhile, multiple people were now suggesting to focus on the sun-like shadow. It was a good idea in theory. Take down one first so that they didn't have to deal with both. But these two shadows...sun and moon, light and dark, probably couldn't exist without the other. In other words, if they were anywhere near as strong as the last two shadows to appear under the full moon, they would probably be capable of reviving each other.

...Granted, after the small, blue-haired girl's massive charged attack, that seemed like less of an issue than she was thinking.

"I'll trust your judgment on this one," Layla said, mostly to Holly. She pulled out her otta, clearing the distance between her and the shadow of light with an acrobatic leap, and snapped the weapon at it with an aimed strike at what would hopefully be a vital point.


[Action: Strike attack on the sun shadow]
Crit Roll:
M1I3Qo5Z1-21-2

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Yaaaaaaawn.

Sakuya was bored. Went to go shopping for a while. But it was getting late! So why not get a couple of drinks? Nope, goddamnit, full moon! You know what that means. It means people get frozen, something nasty comes out, flashy explosions, a miniature war breaks out, the whole works. Sakuya was strolling along when she literally called serendipity into the amazing war that had broken out. As Sakuya was shopping, she was not in her Shadow form, however, she recognized an incredible number of familiar faces. Maria, Isolde, Phoebe, and even her one TRUE LOVE Jaelyn was there! (Sakuya couldn't forget about the lovely Indian she gave Isaac's card to either) Oh, how wonderful! Sakuya tilted her head and eyed the scene unfolding before her. There were two larger Shadows in the fray, they seemed to be representing something obvious, but Sakuya didn't care. The Persona Users were fighting and it seemed to be a difficult fight.

Yet, upon further inspection, Sakuya realized that the old crazy man who tried to blow her brains out with a shotgun was there. The girl who tried to kill her by breaking through her resistances and then use her own thriving in the darkness against her was also fighting hard, using the exact same strategy. Wow, talk about one-trick pony! There was another Shadow there too, but Sakuya didn't recognize it. Though he did seem familiar, and judging from his voice, it had to be that one guy, Gin. He looked to be charging up an attack and was quite familiar with Phoebe, too. Huh. Interesting. She stayed a little to the sides in the darkened parts of the mall, hoping nobody would see her.

She didn't want to come out yet. Though, seeing Jaelyn from her, she would hop in if she felt Jaelyn needed her help. Sakuya was in her human form as well so she would hopefully not stand out... too much.

(( Watch and do nothing for now. ))

[Boss-sama Desu]

The battle continued. None of them were purged, sadly. Instead, they continued to try to match the Shadows' pace of the dance. One human left. Another tried to play leader, though nobody seemed to pay her any attention. Poison spewed, but the purity of a blazing torch in the sky purged all filth! One human went to sleep. All in all, the humans didn't do much that the Shadow did not expect or plan on. Then, however, one of their own stepped in. It even had the gall to strike at the Sun, and heal the Moon. One of their own would waste energy in such a dreadful manner? A human was one thing, the Shadow could understand that, but for one of its own to try something like that, when the evidences were already there? Travesty! Such ignorance was not to be tolerated in a waltz of light and darkness! Looking to its partner, the Shadow nodded. It was time to progress this dance.

The Shadow spread its arms out, allowing a gentle light to coat and bathe both it and its ally! Both Shadows are cleared of debuffs!

And then the Sun began to glow, its radiance striking like a tank! The party and Gin are hit for Major Strike damage! Furthermore, critical damage would be inflicted on Phoebe, Rikki, Jonathon, Pyxis, Vice, Tristan, Nisha, Holly, Isolde, and Gin!

The Shadow then prepped its knives and slashed, projecting a cutting pulse at Vice for Major Slash damage!

Repeating this action, the Shadow projected another slicing pulse at Gin for Major Slash damage! Additionally, the attack was a critical!

Then, spreading its arms wide, the Shadow produced a bright, burning light. The light of purification burns strong! Focusing into an orb of absolute destruction, it surges at Alisa for Severe Light damage!

Again, the Shadow looked to its partner and nodded before offering its hand. Upon contact, the two sent out a pulse of energy, forcibly moving everyone on the field! Then, a wall sparked to life between the two! One side was blotted out by the darkness. The other was too bright to gaze through. The Shadows had separated the battle. While they had halved their own forces, they had also halved the enemy forces! Holly, Luka, Pyxis, Layla, Rikki, Ally, Ringo, Vice, Kyle, Sakuya, CJ, and Crux are all on the Sun's side! Furthermore no attacks or spells can pass the wall!

[Za Bossu!]

The humans continued their assault as the two shadows danced their deadly dance under the moonlight. The humans for the most part, seemed utterly incompetent. Their organization was awful, some of them didn't bother fighting, and they clearly didn't understand the concept of logic on a number of levels. But then something hilariously stupid happened. A figure that seemed to give the readings of a fellow shadow chose to help the humans. It attacked the both of them, but ended up healing the darker shadow. Regardless, such an act should not go unpunished. Their dance had only just begun after all. Nodding back to its lighter partner, the darker shadow readied itself for their next display.

The Shadow hugged itself, sending a dark aura to engulf the humans and the renegade shadow. All buffs have been removed!

A number of spikes began jutting out from the darker shadow, which then shot out from its body at the enemies! The party and Gin are hit for major pierce damage! Critical damage is inflicted on Phoebe, Rikki, Pyxis, Amane, Tristan, Ally, Alisa and Akira!

In response to its partner's slash, the darker shadow also took its crescent blades and slashed at Maria for major slash damage!

The shadow repeated this attack just as its partner did, slicing at Akira with its crescent blades for Major Slash damage!

Then, hugging itself tightly once more, the Shadow produced a dark, impenetrable mass of energy. The power of the unknown! Focusing into an orb of absolute destruction, it surges at Layla for severe dark damage!

In response to its partner, the darker shadow nodded back and made contact with the brighter shadow's hand. Upon making contact, a strange and powerful energy began to move the humans about! When they had all been moved, a wall was erected between the two of them. Both sides seemed like polar opposites of one another. The battle had been split in two! Phoebe, Jonathan, John, Amane, Tristan, Alisa, Akira, Jaelyn, Nisha, Isolde, Maria and Gin are all on the Moon's side! Furthermore, no attacks or spells can pass the wall!

[Ringo Shiro]

Ringo watched the chaos of battle. So far so good, they got their weaknesses pinned down. They just have to keep attacking. Ringo did shudder at one sight once he got his baring straight again. Oh you got to be kidding me!!. The sleepy girl from last time was here...again...and asleep. Suddenly Ringo watched as the moon like shadow unleashed dark spikes from its body. He quickly placed his sword away in its sheathe and darted over to her.

"I can't believe I'm even doing this!!" Ringo quickly ran over to Ally and threw her aside...just in time for his stomach to get skewered by one of the spikes. "Tch...!!" Ringo bit his lower lip to keep him from screaming out in pain. "This better not be the death of me..." Ringo looked up from his wound to see the two shadows joining hands...and soon the area around them became divided. They were now divided. "Oh crap..."

Action: Pushing Ally out of the way

[Kyle Shibata]

Nothing really could've prepared Kyle for the utter shitstorm that happened. Hell, so much was going on that he didn't even know for sure what happened. All he knew for a while was pain as attacks came one after the other. First came the fire - that hurt like hell and filled him with a sense of being really pissed off. A bolt of lightning zapped right past him but it missed him. Then came the ice and the wind and he really felt like he'd been trapped in a snow storm. The wind hurt the most. It was awful. Not only that, but the stupid Shadows seemed to be taking off all the debuffs they'd managed to put on them and the good buffs they had.

Shit. On toast.

Dazed from all those hits, he actually spent a good deal of time on his back, seeing stars. When he managed to get with the program, Phoebe was yelling something and the Shadows were attacking yet again.

Oh fuck me...

They both caught him utterly unprepared. They hit with the force of two trucks, one after the other and Kyle fell back on his back and actually slid backwards from the impact. Blood flew from his mouth in an ugly splatter. He lay there, dazed and hurt and unable to move but awake. All he could see was a blurry picture of the sky, like a painting whose colors had run after water was thrown on it.

Get up! Sitri commanded.

Not so much in response to that and more due to feeling well and truly pissed off, Kyle got up just as he felt something picking him up and violently moving him.

"The fuck!?" he blurted and found himself on one side of the court, which was now separated by a kind of wall. He was on the side with the Sun Shadow. "Oh you're fucking kidding me!"

Well, at least now they only had to worry about one Shadow. Hurt as he was, there wasn't much he could do except hang back, on his knee and supporting himself on the handle of his axe. He couldn't attack physically even if he'd wanted to. He was still spitting blood and there was more of it coming from his nose.

"Fuckin' hell... Sitri, hit 'im!"

Sitri materialized and roared, sending a swarm of darkness to smother the Sun Shadow. It was small compared to what the Shadow dished out but hey, better than nothing.

[Action: Mudo]
Roll for Dodge
Major Lightning:
w_RNrEG01-5
1-5�1-5

[John Nicholson]

Just when he thought the worst of it was over the shadows sent some kind of wave that wiped away the enhanced attributes that were granted to everyone. Then he was battered aound some more by a multitude of physical attacks. He slumped to the ground, bleeding quite profusely. He was in no way currently fit to perform any attacks. Then, just to complicate matters even more, the two shadows divided everyone with some kind of forcefield. Luckile, the majority of the people he knew were still with him.

"Whoever has healing spells, please use them before someone bites the dust!" It was shouted across his half of the battlefield. John could clearly see he wasn't the only one who needed healing. However, he still wanted to keep the pressure on their adversary. Thus, he used tarukaja once more. It seemed like the best plan for now.

action: Tarukaja

[Akira Nakajima]

So, the boy had one thing he was proud of- his contributions to the battle effort. What happened to that? The Shadow pulled its pants down and shit on top of those efforts. He was going to say something. Then the wave of destruction batted him back. Then the weakened pierces of the other Shadow. Then a Slash-based attack. Then the whole damned battle was split in two. Nope. No. Nope! He was done. Damn it all, he was done. If not for the fact that he believed he was the only capable healer on his half of the battle, he would have gone off to go do that “liberating” of funds from registers. With a sigh, the boy stood straight.

”Great. Great, great, great.” He wasn't even bothered by the fact that he had just been pummeled. He was pissed because his efforts had essentially been for naught. Even if he only cast Heat Riser once. ”Just fuckin' wonderful, with rainbows and sparkles.” The boy kicked the ground before rubbing the tip of his pumps into the flooring with a growl. His free hand reached to his hair, where it just gripped his temple. His head was starting to hurt. Really? Then, of all times? Either way, he was angry.

”Alma Elma, take care of this mess! Mediarahan on everyone on our side!” Never mind the Shadow, Takemoto Gin. He was unreliable. Bipolar fuck that he was could potentially just go off attacking them if he thought someone was threatening him again. Frankly, Akira wasn't going to heal him. And that Mediarahan? It didn't heal him. Just the Users.

Action: Mediarahan on Users on Moon-side.

[CJ Jackson (TechChris)]

Turn 2
"It worked!" CJ exclaimed, "I knew it! That thing IS weak to light!"

He was overjoyed that his prediction came true. He was also glad to see that fire and lightning also hurt the moon Shadow more substantially. He felt confident, perhaps a bit too confident, that they might all walk out of this alive.

Then the surge of fire came. It was so fast! It was everywhere! He panicked and couldn't dodge in time. The wave struck him. He could almost hear his flesh sizzle before he felt the unbearable pain of burning fire. He screamed in pain. The waved knocked him backwards... In that painfully long moment of being airborne, his consciousness began to fade. He was grateful, in a way. The searing agony was fading slightly.

The hard impact with the floor brought him back to his senses, back to the pain of reality. He half-growled in determination, half-screamed in agony as he pulled himself to his feet. He noticed ice around him, and scorches on the ground that looked like lightning had struck right where he stood. It seemed like the fire surge pushed him out of the way of the other attacks. He looked at his left arm, the one in the most pain. His sleeve had been burned, and the flesh on his arm was horribly blistered. His hand had suffered the same fate. He doubted he could use it without a healer's help.

He limped back into the fray. The attack knocked him back quite far. He was determined to keep fighting, though. His magic was still a valuable asset, even if he was still pretty weak compared to some of the other users there.

Action: Limping back into combat (Missed chance to attack in Turn 2, but just in time to be attacked.)

Turn 3

That... hurt...

He was on the ground again. It felt worse this time. He could barely move.

Is this... it?

He tried lifting his head at the very least, to see where he was now. That proved to be too hard as well.

No... It hurts... Still alive... But what...

He could recall the Moon Shadow's dark aura blasting away the feeling of nimbleness he was imbued with (for all the good that it did). The Sun Shadow's glow hit him like a speeding locomotive. Then the Moon Shadow's spikes ran through his left arm. The pain was too much. He blanked.

Dammit... Hurts... Too tired...

With that thought, CJ passed out, hoping that nothing would hit him while he was out, as the shadows put the barrier in place that split the users apart.

[Tristan Carter]

Mother of...

He was hurt. Badly. Not only was he hit hard in his weakness, but it seemed to hit him harder than others. Of course, the other critical hit didn't help. Still, he felt a healing wave go over him that helped tremendously. He looked to the girl that did it and nodded, then focused his attention on the shadow that had joined the fray on their side.

He didn't trust it.

Shadows were horrible, sickening monsters that needed to burn. On the other hand, it wouldn't do to attack a current ally. With that in mind, he turned to the shadow that isolated them from the others. "Fucker. You've got the wrong person over here. I'm gonna torch your disgusting ass! Ifreet, Agilao again!" He watched as the Persona materialized and sent a ball of fire.

Then Tristan noticed that someone had already fallen. I was never like that, was I? If so, it seems so long ago...

You were indeed. Once. But linger not on him, he shall strengthen in time... I hope for his sake that this is so...

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe was busy trying to get her thoughts in some order and whoever was near her organized when Gin showed up. She swore, eloquently. The last thing she really needed at that time was to see him. The stupid Shadow just couldn't have picked a worse time to pop in. Was she even right to have spared him? What would the others think? What if everyone just freaked out and turned on her for sparing him in the first place?

"Gin! What are you doing here?!" she barked. She wasn't angry. She was scared. "Guh, okay! Just... just don't you dare do anything fishy or I'll put this hammer so far up your fuzzy backside you'll taste it!"

There was a long, heavy pause.

She stared at him. "Don't make me regret my decision. Please."

She really didn't want to admit that she was glad he was siding with them. Maybe, just maybe she'd been wrong about him. Or right. She didn't know. She never understood why she spared him. When she first met him he was just a boy, her student. To find him a Shadow had quite shattered her world. Then why had she spared him, protected him from the other Users there? She hadn't even known him well.

Hypatia's words from then echoed in her head. To protect needs little explanation and demands there be no selfishness. In killing him, you will become him.

Yeah. Right. Now everything was going pear-shaped. She felt energy drain from her, that sense of well-being and goodness going away. Almost instinctively she realized what had happened - they'd lost their buffs. Damn. But there was no time to waste. The Shadows attacked again. The bright light came first, with the force of a charging rhino. Phoebe braced herself, unable to move. It hit, hard. She felt like every bone in her body was on the verge of breaking and she flew off her feet, screaming. She landed on her back and heard an ugly crack from her ribcage. It was a blunt attack and Hypatia was weak against those.

She actually heard the Persona screaming in her head.

She groaned and rolled over, getting up on her elbow and swore, again. It hurt more than anything she'd ever felt... until then. Then came the piercing shard of darkness and Phoebe felt it jab bury itself straight into her thigh. A raw scream tore through her throat and her body tensed. She flopped to the floor with a whimper and her eyes wide open from shock. Vaguely, she was aware that CJ had screamed in pain somewhere near her. Then she heard Kyle swearing. All around her, everyone seemed to get hit hard.

I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm sorry I couldn't protect you! Please, don't die!

Bleary eyed, she saw the Shadows move together and suddenly, she felt hoisted in the air and moved, quite roughly. She yelped and whimpered in pain when she hit the ground again. The Shadows had split the whole group in two smaller ones. Whether they liked it or not, they had to focus on one Shadow at a time.

Stand up. You cannot give up. Please. Hypatia said gently to her. There is more yet to be done.

---

[MOONY SIDE]

---

Suddenly a strange soothing feeling came upon her. She looked up. A petite figure in a skirt cast something. She felt her ribs knitting together and her leg tingled. Flesh stitched together and skin grew back. She felt rejuvenated and stood up with a pained grunt. Hypatia was right. They weren't done. She shook herself down and took count. She was on the moon side with a few people - Tristan and John most notably. As far as she knew, Kyle was on the other side with CJ. She hoped he'd look after the poor journalist. She knew some of the others with her, but not too well.

Then there was Gin.

"I don't know you, but thanks," she said quickly to the girl that healed her. Strange little figure.

She took a deep breath. "Okay, everyone. Stay calm. We only have one to deal with. Let's get it. Too bad it can clear itself off debuffs but with that wall up, maybe it can't debuff us anymore. It hits hard so anyone with heals, please keep your eyes open and spare a moment to help the rest if you see someone failing. The rest of us, just hit it hard and watch what it does, try to work out whether it has a pattern."

Well, whether anyone listened to her was their business, so long as nobody did anything stupid. She really had no idea why she even spoke up to take a leading role. It really was so unlike her that she seriously wondered what on earth she was doing. She wasn't sure what to do, but honestly, simply persisting through with attacking seemed like the best option. She would've liked to specifically designate someone on support but she felt like if she tried, she'd get a bollocking and she was already in a precarious position, what with being on speaking terms with a goddamn Shadow.

To be perfectly honest, Tristan worried her. She actually made her way towards him and grabbed him by the shoulder, turning him to face her. "Tristan. Stop it. Calm down. Do not freak out on me here. Please. Keep your head and fight. Nevermind the Shadow with us. I'll take responsibility for him. Now keep calm and work with me!"

She debated between attacking again and lending some support to everyone. She wasn't a particularly heavy hitter but she tried. She was more of a support. Sort of.

She summoned Hypatia again. Her gentle glow gave her a bit of a pep in the hopelessness.

"Hypatia, Rakukaja."

The gentle swirl of orange light rushed through them again, boosting their defenses a bit. If that thing hit so hard., they might as well have some pep to deal with it.

[ACTION: Rakukaja for the Moony Side]

Rolling for Dodge
Major Wind:
_WE90xEG1-5
1-5�1-2

[Nisha Dovickssen]

Nisha wasn't entirely sure about what to expect with the next wave of attacks from their adversaries. However, when she felt all that warmth from the buffs fade away, she felt very. . . lonely. She knew that everyone was still there and fighting, but that sensation of “togetherness” was gone. It was almost heart-rending. It likely would have been, had she the time to worry about it. Instead, though, she faced the attacks that came with neither protection of spells or protection of armor. First came the impact of the kinetic wave. However, she brushed it aside with only a confused blink. It seemed that Shango now nullified such attacks. That was a wonderful revelation. However, the piercing assault from the other Shadow ran through her. In the following chaos, she realized that their unity had been shattered in a very real way. They stood against their foes, a house divided.

Sighing and standing straight, the woman willed for Shango to prepare. They had been healed. They weren't capable of healing or support- only destruction. That was their way of defending and helping their allies. Now, there were two Shadows on their side of the wall. One was a tiger. The other was the half-ling of the original duo. The tiger said something about trusting it, but it was a Shadow. Shadows. . . couldn't really be trusted, could they? If they could, she'd apologize later, but, for now, it wasn't worth taking any risks. She willed for an Akasha Arts, targeting both Shadows.

Action: Akasha Arts; targeting both the Moon and Gin Takemoto

81wrGmcd1-2

Crit on Moon, if 1.

1-2

Crit on Gin, if 1.1-2�1-2

[Jonathon Montoya]

Jonathon saw both shadows attack. He also felt the dark shadow wrap itself around all of them, draining any sort of extra energy he'd felt from skills the other persona users had used. He felt very slowed down after it. Then the attacks hit. First the light shadow swung, the attack hit him, not just hitting him though. No, the attack hit him and sent him sprawling. Then, of course, the other shadow attacked as well, hitting him again while he was down. Jonathon was in a lot of pain now, barely able to stand up. However, he did observe something. Due to the wall the shadows had summoned they were now separate, meaning using a spell that would usually hit both would now only hit the dark shadow, meaning that Jonathon wouldn't unintentionally heal the light shadow while abusing the weakness of the dark one. Of course, seeing as he currently lacked the strength to stand, firing off a spell wasn't something he felt he could currently do.