jigokulogs | Raid on Dandelion

Who ⬤ Aerith and Busy Bees
What ⬤ Something's going down at the flower shop...
When ⬤ During the bombing panic
Where ⬤ Dandelion
Content Warnings ⬤ There may be some violence in this.

While there weren't any buildings suitable for hiding the fire bombs in nearby Dandelion, that was never really the point. Emerging from the shadows, dressed in ragged black leathers and what appeared to be gas masks of some variety, wielding all manner of nasty looking, improvised weapons, they made their move.

The job was simple. Get the flower girl, and get out. Kill anyone that got in the way. It wasn't unlike the last job, really, and they were feeling fairly confident they could pull this off. They had their notes on who could be at the store at this hour, came prepared for a potential fight, ready to torch the whole place to the ground if they had to...

This was a Holy Mission. Failure was not an option.

The largest of them gave a silent signal to begin surrounding the building. Cover all entrances and exists. With another signal, a crossbow wielding member of the group raised a big boot and began to attempt to kick the side entrance in.

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[ When Pray does it’s job, she’s pulling Haru and herself back into the foray. If Aerith knows her at all, she’s got something up her sleeve that might be able to cinch this for them, but the trio of “no”s does the job. She looks between them all for a moment, touched, but there’s no room for much. The lowest point of the Mythril Rod hits the floor once more. ]

—Watch the flowers!

[ Ah… a display goes toppling to the floor, from where the hole now exists… Though a flurry of things happen, this is, in truth, the thing that gets her. Petals scatter to the floor, a ruined red rose spreading like blood. This place was supposed to be safe. ]

Okay. Now I’m mad.

[ They had put that there, grown those flowers themselves, arranged them just so... The idea of someone trying to trample on their hard work is enough to make her blood boil. One more time, for the road— Ray of Judgement is cast with force, enough so that this time, she’s raising off her feet, an arcanic ward burning into the wood below Aerith’s feet. Hopefully everyone is behind her this time; now, there’s definitely no negotiating in her mind. Might as well burn the bridge. ]

[ No lucky dodges or errant ricochets this time. Ray of Judgement finds a target; the big guy himself, the clear leader, pushing him back from the other attacker who was no very suddenly by himself when trying to assault a group of Radical Teens while his other cohorts were either already KO'd or otherwise in other scuffles.

It's not great being alone, is it? ]

I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but please seek medical attention elsewhere if this hits. [ with a bit of a sigh, but she's dragged back into the fray, still not completely recovered but more than recovered enough to finally swing the grenade launcher up and take aim.

At least there's already a hole in the wall. ]

Everyone else, please cover your ears!!

[ Because yes. Haru is firing the grenade launcher. ]

[ And what could any of them, in that small of a space, really do against a grenade? No matter how well armed they were, there was just no winning against that kind of force in so contained an area. Even the allies of the shop would face some damage, though not as much as the attackers in this case. By serendipity, they'd be mostly alright, being blown back by concussive force aside.

Boom.

It takes a moment for the dust to settle, but the largest of the marauders doesn't need to call out to his cohorts to know... they're as good as dead, if not still dying. The ones outside are all useless. This mission wasn't allowed to fail, however.

The words of Iron Bear echoed in his mind, his holy proclamation. That this forsaken city should bear witness to them. To the glory of the Sun. ]

"And I shall walk into the light... Behold as I stride! Behold as I ignite!"

[ The large man rips off his mask, shouting as he pulls from his vest the last resort, what they'd been prepared to do if everything failed...

The sound of shattering clay is heard.

And it's followed by an unholy scream.

Magenta colored flames rip out, spreading like tendrils, like vines, wrapping over everything in sight, first claiming the marauders and using them as fuel to burn everything to the ground. ]

[ Just when Megumi thought it was finally over, that he could heave a sigh of relief and focus on incapacitating the recovering marauders, that leader of theirs goes and burns it all to the ground. The flames swept across them in seconds, leaving Megumi no time to react, no time to shield both himself and his friends behind him. The smoke is making him choke, burning his through his windpipe, and that lick of flame has caught onto his shirt, dancing up his skin and sides, searingly painful to the point he wants to scream.

But there's no time for that. People are in danger. The people that he cares about.

It's a shame about the new shop, but ... ]

The radical ones are the most troublesome. We're leaving right now!

[ The shadow he's casting behind him seems to take a liquid-like quality, looking less like a shadow and more like a tar pit. It's a portal that will open up to the outside of the store. The ones with a lesser chance of surviving this -- he has to get them out! ]

The other side of my shadow will lead to the outside. Anyone who can hear me -- jump in!

[ With their eyes ringing, can anyone hear him, though? Before he loses focus from the pain of having his skin charred up, he has to save someone. Divine Dog reaches for Shin, attempting to grab the boy so that it can shove him into the shadow. ]

[ It happens so fast that the fire alarm goes off almost instantly. It melts just as quickly, as flames crawl up the walls and eat away at the foundation of the shop. The flowers burn, going up in powerful, strong, unnaturally colored flames, and she hears it, feels it… it’s agonizing. The blast from the grenade has her ears ringing, her head pounding and her body still adjusting and the smoke now filling her lungs doesn’t help. She feels the heat like she’s being cooked.

Aerith, then, steps back, coughing as she tries to clear her airways. The men who intruded upon the shop are dead, gone, finito, and she doesn’t feel a lick of sympathy or guilt for them. They had come to collect her, and had aimed to kill the rest of them. Associating with Aerith put a bounty on their heads. It shakes her to her core, and she feels guilt for that, and nothing else. The Mythril Rod starts to burn in her grip, retaining the heat, but she kicks the doors behind them open and cries out, ] Run! Now!

[ Her chest burns. She thinks of Cloud, of Tifa, of Zack… Goodness, a number of names come to mind, their faces all mixing together in the haze of her panic and upset. Kim, Andy, Eula, Emily… Musashi, too— She needs to make it out here alive. Her grip tightens, and she raises the staff over her head. Immediately, raindrops sprinkle to the floor. It’s a small, tiny little rain cloud… it blooms in size, slowly but surely, as Aerith focuses more and more. As the drops fall, they leave rivulets that heal in their wake. Enough, she hopes, to help.

She smiles, looks at the rest of them, and pushes. The cloud grows. ]

C’mon, don’t I look like I know what I’m doing? Just go.

[ Her vision is already straining. She can’t let them know. ]

Raid on Dandelion

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