Chapter 1: Petals Born on Spring

The ship Shizuka had commandeered hadn't been docked, so it was aimlessly floating through the canal. However, she didn't notice until it had drifted into the middle of all of the shamon that emerging form the water. Her constant blaring of the foghorn slowed to a stop, and there was a moment of awkward silence as all the shamon locked onto the ship as their primary enemy.

"Oh, uh, sumimasen~"

Although Shizuka didn't know the first thing about piloting a ship, she knew what a wheel was and turned it hard to port in an attempt to avoid the shamon and to get closer to the canal walls. She didn't want to damage a ANOTHER ship while battle shamon, her allies would start thinking she was doing it on purpose!

It was at that time that Abenanka sprinted across the boats to reach Shizuka, which Shizuka watched with amazement. She didn't know exaclty when the petalframes would be delivered, but figured she would be able to see the large trucks arriving along the shoreline. The shamon surrounding their boat had other ideas, however, as their vine-like appendages began to thrash around.

"Abenanka-san! You're like a ninja! Let's get out of here before we're sliced to bits."

Making her way to wherever her petalframe was delivered, Shizuka attempted to dodge and weave between the shamon's attacks to get to her mech.

Claude assesses the tactical situation. The squad was doing well, but it was no reason to get cocky. Not everyone can blink out of the way of danger, and so it was important to keep the cops safe.

"Fireteam two, your turn to do cover fire. And fireteam one, reposition and take cover at that pile of huge debris!" the ensign pointed with the sabre.

Seeing through her link that she was having some success, she continued to assist by distracting the Shamon while Chimera blasted them, hopefully together they could find some success. She could see herself standing in the street through the bird's eyes, she was still somewhat far from the immediate danger, but she spotted in the plaza and water the other groups attacking. Determination filled her and she focused her energy to dive in on the Shamon for another attack.

The birds screeched loudly as they swarmed the beasts, the flitting black outlines of their wings filling the air with turbulent noise.

Homura was starting to sweat. Not from the sweltering heat she caused, as she subconsciously repelled it, but from the exertion of pushing her powers.

Damn it... I managed to kill a few of them, but there's more than I thought.

Hands still blazing, Homura spared a glance over her shoulder, seeing that the people she protected had gotten a safe distance away. That was good. A weight lifted off her shoulders.

But what about those who hadn't gotten away? There could be people hiding in the surrounding buildings, too scared to move, or maybe unable to due to injury or frailty.

Until the petalframes arrived, Homura was more concerned about saving lives than trying to battle shamon. She absolutely could not let anyone die on her watch, especially when she'd likely caused this. So, she flew back into the air with a rush of fire from her feet, and boxed in the plaza shamon with another perimeter of flames. It's stressful on her, but she bears with it. She doesn't want them straying too far while she's shifting her focus.

She takes in a deep breath before yelling so that anyone left in the surrounding area can hear her. "Hear me! If you haven't escaped yet, now's your chance. I promise I will protect you! Follow the fires in the sky! Those are your evacuation routes!" She held out her hand and cast bright motes of fire across the sky, aligning them to pinpoint paths to safety. From this high up, she was able to see road blockages or dead-ends due to debris, and thus use her guiding fires to help people avoid those.

"If you're injured or have injured with you, yell! I will come!" Homura shouted, her form serving as a beacon. Her words held a steadfast promise to anyone that was listening: hope wasn't lost.

As is the case with a fair number of old guns, reloading them after they've been fired is a time-consuming process. That goes more than double when there are so many barrels in play. After letting off one good shot (and being launched back in the shop), Chimera tosses her weapon into Rika's arms as she pops her head out.

"So the curse's true power has yet to be revealed...but before the eye of the omniscient, all are equal!"

Utilizing the cover of Hana's aviary assault, Chimera dashes to the pastry shop across the street, beelining to the kitchen. After a few short moments, Chimera comes out hefting jugs of cooking oil under her arms.

"Secret Gambit: Giant Slaying Territory!"

Chimera boldly weaves through the shamon, her small frame doing her as much favor for her ability to evade harm as her bloodline as she makes the street run slick.

"Keep it up, and be always ready to reposition as the situation demands. I have an urgent matter to attend to," shouted the ensign, and ran off.

As the Rose Verte descended from the skies under the canopy made of silk, Claude concentrated and blinked upwards towards it, grabbing onto it by the half-retracted throns, punching the button to open the door, and getting inside while still in the air. The cloak meant for establishing the esoteric link with the frame was already in the seat, laid out and secured so as to allow easy donning - perhaps thanks to the foresight of Dominique. Thus, Claude took the place in the pilot's seat, wrapped up in the cloak, and inserted the frame's key with a stabbing motion.The Rose came to life, activating rear thrusters to get some horizontal speed, flying as a giant improvised paraglider. Claude directed the frame towards the flank of the nearby group of shamon, softening them with a barrage of shooting thorns, then, once enough altitude was lost, cut the strings of the parachute and dropped upon them with a downwards swing of the blade, proceeding to sow chaos into the group's flank while the machinegunners kept the front of the group suppressed.

It was fortunate there was no one that Homura needed to carry to safety... However, that one guy sticking around to take photos of her without any regard for his own safety really worried her. "HEY! Are you crazy!? This is not the time for a photo op! Get out of here! ...AGH!!"

Due to being distracted, she got taken down hard by a shamon's vine. She landed in the plaza's central fountain with a massive splash. When she rose from the water, her long, layered wine-colored hair was now a sopping wet mess that covered her eyes. She whipped her head from side to side and pushed her wet hair back with both hands...

Her unintentionally jaw-dropping display was interrupted by another click and flash aimed right at her.

"You're still here!?" She snapped at the camera guy. That was when she realized the state of her dress. Not only was the large tear running along it, it was soaked through, outlining her undergarments through the delicate fabric. She'd picked a terrible day to wear white.

"AH!? You'd better destroy that roll right now, you motherfu-"

She was cut off by the sound of Sunrise Flare landing just meters away from her, shaking the ground. Finally, she thought. However, that guy was still there. She couldn't be seen getting into the petalframe... Right? She hesitated for a moment, but the decision was quickly made for her when a vine came whipping for her. Eyes widening, she ducked, letting it pass through the air where her head just was. Right now, she couldn't worry about being exposed... in more ways than one.

Her soulkey had been in her handbag. Panic briefly gripped her when she realized she wasn't holding her bag anymore, but she then noticed the contents floating around her in the fountain, the bag itself drifting past her. It must have spilled when she was struck. She noticed the vermillion glint of her soulkey sitting at the bottom of the fountain. She hurriedly grabbed it and leapt out of the fountain in time to dodge another vine attack slicing through the air.

She went sprinting for Sunrise Flare. As if it sensed her urgency, the crouching petalframe's front opened up automatically as she approached. She leapt into the seat and closed the hatch behind her, shoving her soulkey into the slot and twisting to start it up. However, when she brought Sunrise Flare into a standing position, the movement was jerky.

"What the...?" Homura was perplexed for a moment, until she remembered something Rika said during the petalframe's first launch. They needed to wear something special, or most of their spiritual power would dissipate instead of going into the petalframe. She looked around the tiny exterior, expecting one of the poncho-like capes from the first launch, but instead... she found what she could only assume to be her finished uniform, tucked neatly near the seat.

On one hand, she really appreciated having a change of clothes, given the damage to her current outfit.

On the other hand...

"I don't have time for this!" She yelled, quickly trying to get her dress off while in the heat of combat, all while blows thundered against the exterior of Sunrise Flare. She noticed a shamon set its sights on the camera guy, whipping a vine-like tendril out towards him.

If he was killed, it would be no one's fault but his own, but Homura couldn't let it happen. Down to her undergarments, she grabbed a control lever and jerked it to the side, making Sunrise Flare drunkenly slide to intercept the attack with its body. The blow caused the cockpit to lurch.

"Nh... For the last time, RUN!"

She grabbed her uniform and began to put it on, hitting all kinds of controls by accident in her rush! She extended her leg and pressed a button with her foot, activating Sunrise Flare's jets just as a shamon was wrapping its vines around the mech. Sunrise Flare shot forward, dragging the unfortunate shamon across the plaza. Homura's other foot hit a button that disengaged the jets. The sudden stop sends the shamon flying clear into a building.

To an outside observer, Sunrise Flare was acting seemingly at random. They might assume it was malfunctioning, except... every erratic move seemed to fortuitously double as an attack or defense.

"Come on... Isn't this a little too tight, Rika!?" Homura accidentally elbowed the control levers, causing Sunrise Flare to barely dodge a series of brutal vine whips. The motion of pulling her arm into the top made the mech clumsily swing its flamethrower, sending out a sweeping arc of consecrated fire.

As they skated across the ice to the shore, Shizuka was a little bit behind Abananka. She watched as the ice princess gracefully landed on solid ground, but as Shizuka was about to make the leap a massive vine broke through the water and struck her in the gut. The blow threw her into the air and right into a mess of canvass and fish. After regaining her senses, Shizuka found herself wrapped up and badly bruised.

"Urk --" COUGH "-- Today is not my day."

While dangling she heard the sounds of large machinery landing nearby. Tilting her head back she could see both Rooster#6 and the Yuki-onna making a hard landing on the nearby road. She also spotted a growing fire in the distance, which was even more alarming than the Shamon. She wasn't sure what European cities were like, but fires and Japanese buildings did not mix well.

"F-fire, put it out! Tokyo is very flammable!"

Struggling in her prison of fabric, Shizuka wiggled like a caterpillar for a while before she noticed the water shamon moving in for another attack. Silently groaning to herself, she got over the pain in her stomach and attempted to flip herself out of the canvass so she could get into her petalframe. Rocking back and forth to build up momentum, she aimed to either bound out of the top or break through the bottom of the canvass.

As Chimera slipped and fell into Hana, she hit the pavement hard, her breathing was sharp as she was knocked out of her link with the animals. Breaking the link was always a shock to the system, nauseating, and it made all of your nerves burn with white fire. She cried out as she awoke with Chimera ontop of her.

She stumbled to her feet and unceremoniously tried to run from the blaze Chimera had set, she heard the bang and saw the parachuted petalframes dropping in the sky, she was not in a condition to pilot right now she shook her head and tried to come to her senses, moving to position herself near where the Viperlily would fall.

"Chimera.. are you alright?" She said raggedly, though she looked worse for wear, she tried to pay close attention to her surroundings she felt around in her robes for her soul-key, locating it she prepared to board the Viperlily. She hoped to find the place she could help the most, or find an opening.. most of all avoid an ambush, the Shamon were everywhere!

The petalfram slammed into the ground cracking the stone underfoot and she quickly clambered up it's side, taking in her surroundings with the higher vantage point before diving into the control suite.

"Not...hah...even a scratch!"

After catching her breath and readjusting her disheveled uniform, Chimera flings on her plugcape and hops into the Eggshell Tulip. The first thing she does once she's online is to pick up one of the antique tapestries that were ruined in the skirmish and wear it as a cape. After all, wearing something with provenance is cool. She'll have to get the rundown of the history later to weave into her lore.

For now, there are shamon to defeat. The wind stirs, and the cape billows behind the mech as Chimera crosses her arms.

"Shamon borne from sound, sing your funeral dirge! Shamon borne from curse, lay your grudges upon my name! You have but one final breath, and I will take it away! Gale Force Cannon!"

With the thrust of its arm, the Eggshell Tulip fires a powerful beam of cyclonic wind. With the aid of the slick street, Chimera aims to send the shamon flying into the water.

Abenanka landed on the shore at the same time Yuki-onna dropped near her and sent a tremor through the stone of the dock. She let it run through her without complaint, the weight and solidity of her frame a reassuring presence. The calm it brought didn't last long though as she looked back over her shoulder to where Shizuka struggled with the net.

Exasperated she turned back to her frame and noticed the burning. "What? How?" She sighed, irritated. "Who set fire to the city? It sure wasn't the-"

When she clocked who must've been responsible she rubbed her temples and didn't finish the thought. Instead she scrambled over to Yuki-onna and into it's defended cockpit. Here she found a uniform, but it wouldn't help her. It'd take far too long to remove the layers of her jackets and underclothes let alone all her charms. Instead she took the coat of the uniform and wore it on top, hoping it and her spiritual training would be enough.

She settled into the cockpit and rested a hand on the controls. "I'm here girl." She whispered. "I'm here."

The machine responded with a gentle pulse of energy and motion, unfolding and propping itself up on it's claws. This time she wouldn't be late to the action, nor would she hesitate. It was time for their counter attack. She'd trust Homura to deal with the fire, and have words with her later, since the city itself wasn't really important. Whatever Chimera and Hana were doing they could get by, and she wasn't worried about Claude.

So she turned to Shizuka and barreled back toward the icy water.

Claude comes flying from the sky, raining down volleys of thorns, each puncturing deeply the shamon band, almost impaling them, until she finally severs the parachute and falls down like a cannonball - sporting a sharp blade!

Her first downward slash slices a shamon in half, while subsequent spinning attacks make mincemeat of them, as the white fumes their corpses dissolve into saturates the air into a smokescreen, being fanned away by Rose Verte's spinning blade.

Once she breaks the enemy's flanks, she notices how the soldiers and policemen took care of the frontline, with them mostly all right, the ground below them drowned in bullet cases, with many man cheering their immediate victory and apparent safety.

A man approaches Rose Verte's, bearing the rank of captain, and talks to her: "We appreciate your help, miss... I know we can't disclose your identity, and rest assured I'll make my men keep quiet about what they just saw, but they're definitely cheering you, at least on their hearts!"

The men rejoiced behind him, to ascertain his point.

---

Indeed it felt like it is a bit tight! Though Homura had no time to ponder if it was whether for her soaked state, if Rika messed with her measurements (wait, have she taken her measurements?), or if it was intentional!

White struggling to put it on, Homura laid havoc on her surroundings, either by fire or stomping! Her fire clears the plaza from the gross of the enemy forces, while erratic lunges and shoves keep them at bay, making sure the people and... And that annoying photographer are safe!By the time she is done with her uniform: a deep orange tailcoat with gold-lined details and white cuffs, with frilly sleeves and a white waistcoat below that; a silky sash in a nice ribbon adorning the lower waist over thin and sleek breeches of fine cold wool that proved very flexible, with ankle boots to go on top of that. It nicely mixed the appearance of an equestrian/fencing suit (called shadbelly) with maidenly and military motifs and is also something totally appropriate for being used on a stage by dancers.

Of course, she didn't have the time to set it as neatly as it should, be it should do for now!

After that relief, Homura noticed that just a handful of shamon remained, and she could deal with them in her next assault!

---

Thankfully, Hana wasn't hurt by the fall: the street wasn't as hard as it seemed, and Chimera was softer than she looked! She quickly stands up, after Chimera, or after pushing her aside, and rushes to her petalframe, swiftly climbing it and taking a good look around (or so it seemed) before going in.

Once inside, she sets her eyes on a bunch of shamon advancing at her position, and prepares her bow, drawing an arrow on its energy string.

But then, as she was about to shoot: a shamon jumps from over a building, a higher point than she had access to, and descends on her, slashing the back of her frame and pulling her to the ground.

Once over her, he raises its tendrilous arms to strike a devastating blow!

---

Starting her Eggshell Tulip, Chimera readies her secret weapon: a powerful wind canon!

After a moment of loud turbines spinning, an increasingly strong current leaves the canon, like a tornado! The frame must brace itself to not fly backwards by it, while blowing away at the slick street, sending shamon, debris and vehicles flying!

Once she turns off the fan, the streets looked surprisingly clean, while the water splashed at everything being thrown it it.

---

On the meanwhile, at the small docks, Abenanka casts a high wall of ice to protect her comrade, who struggled against the canvas, while slicing away any who tried to jump or cross it with her claws.

They hacked the shamon with ease, and having them come une at a time gives her a good advantage, and she takes down many of them with her frigid attacks.

But such advantage doesn't last forever: as soon as Shizuka finally untangles herself, the wall gives in, exploding into pieces as a shamon punches a hole through it and lunges at her; Shizuka instinctively throws her previous captor at the shamon, which turns the possibly fatal blow into a grazing miss: its tendril smashes the fish booth, and Shizuka is sent flying once again!

At least now she's closer to her frame, but the shamon are closing in on her too!



ROUND 4

The Steel Petal Force seemed to dominate most fronts of the battle, with good hopes of overall victory, despite some highs and lows...

At a turning point though, as all the petals' sensors cry hazard, that previous buildup of shamon energy exploding as, between the nearby buildings, another shamon appears:

Shizuka was thrown into the air once more, although this time it was with glittering pieces of frozen fish and ice. The glittering air was abruptly cut short as she slammed back into the ground after her short fall, her arms raised up around her head in an attempt to protect herself from any major damage. Laying on her back, she took a moment to shake off any dizziness as the rest of the fish shack pieces rained down. She took inventory of her body parts: she could still feel her toes, had all 10 fingers, and her vision was clearing up. After sitting up, she took a deep breath felt a sharp pain in her side, but was otherwise still able to fight. The bruises tomorrow would look pretty bad, but on the bright side both Shizuka and her petalframe had matching damage.

"Ugh... Oh hey, Rooster is here. Lucky~"

Operating somewhat on autopilot, she staggered to her feet and fished out her mech's soulkey from her robe. After getting thrown around byt the shamon, climbing up to the top seemed like a daunting task. Mustering up a burst of energy, she leaped up halfway and pulled herself up to the cockpit. Once the hatch was open, she slid down into the cockpit with a thud, jammed the ingition key, and booted up the mech's hardware.

"Too easy. Now, where's the fancy jacket they told us to wear?"

While Rooster#6 was warming up, she was able to easily slip on the upper portion of the pilot's uniform thanks to already being fairly lightly dressed. She also slipped an earpiece in so she could talk to the others. The system flashed with warnings about the petalframe's existing damage, as well as some pilot health warning indicators, but Shizuka quickly tapped though all of them to continue the booting process.

"So. Many. Menus! Let's launch already and help Abenanka-san!"

As Rooster#6 came to life, Shiuzka found her second wind. It was good timing, since the shamon that already gave her a beating was now stomping towards her. There was a loud warning about the buildup of shamon energy, but for now Shizuka had to deal with the most immediate threat. She also hoped that the nearby fire wouldn't spread out too much.

Charging forward with her shield, she pulled back on the controls at the last moment. The petalframe's torso twisted to one side, revealing a pistol-like gun the mech's off-hand. Due to her momentum, she crashed into the shamon with the pistol already poking into its chest. Inside the cockpit Shizuka pulled the trigger until the ammo was spent, a little payback for whacking her around.

Once she'd managed to get her uniform on, Homura felt the difference immediately. Every bit of spiritual power she could muster was going right into Sunrise Flare. A steady hum resonated from the petalframe's internal mechanisms, surrounding her in a comforting vibration.

Wow, this outfit's focusing my power... and it looks great too. I've got to thank Rika after this.

After she finished admiring her attire, she finally noticed the devastation she'd accidentally wrought among the plaza shamon. Only a few were still in any condition to fight. "Eh? How'd this happen...?"

Oh well. She gripped the control levers at her side, a sense of purpose burning in her chest. It was time to clean up these stragglers so she could meet up with the others. That was when she was alerted to the influx of shamon energy, the appearance of the new shamon pinging intensely on her radar, its presence dwarfing the little dots that represented the small shamon.

"Shit..." She couldn't quite see the new threat from where she was, but she got the sense it was bigger and stronger than the plant-like grunts they'd been facing. She needed to get in touch with the others.

"Acrux Division, come in! This is Sunrise Flare! I've entered my petalframe and dispatched most of the shamon in the plaza. I'm picking the last few off right now. What are your statuses?" Her voice crackled over the group's comms. "Does anyone have sights on the shamon that just joined the fun?"

She took Sunrise Flare into the air and started to sweep around the plaza, spraying the heavy flamethrower down at the remaining shamon. She was trying to make this quick.

"This is not over yet," booms the distorted voice out of the frame's external sound-horns. "Reload, triage, regroup, and then get ready to follow, keeping me within weapons range. Be on alert for more announcements of tactics and be ready to act on them."

Then the frames' internal comms became alive. "I'm d'Armagnac, going off in search of the big one. Will engage upon sight. Also, this reminds me: once done with the mop-up, we should come up with pseudonyms. Or even two for some. One for use in the Frames, another for professional names under which our audience should know us - surely my real name is awkward for locals."

And with that, Claude rushes in a circling arc towards the source of the new readings, trying to stay out of line of fire. Upon getting visual contact with the monster, the swashbuckler would dive with the blade ready into the fray, cutting not so much to wound as to taunt, then immediately taking a step back. And each time, the step would be in the direction opposite from the machinegunners.

Once the shamon looked sufficiently focused on the mêlée, the speaker-horns blared once more:
"Focus fire! NOW!" and the frame would Blink out of the line of fire.

Only once the mocking gambit was complete, whether successfully or not, would Claude follow up with more committed attacks, hoping to further wound the shamon leader while the machinegunners reloaded.

Chimera takes a moment to confirm her handiwork and to get eyes on the new threat.

"At last, the curse reveals its chosen elite."

A smirk crosses her face as she takes up her chain scythe.

"Kukuku! Useless! All lives are chaff before the reaper's blade! Engaging!"

Paying little regards to Claude's methodical approach, Chimera dashes towards the shamon and whips forth the chain of her weapon. Cutting through the air with a crack, the blade of the chain scythe snaps forth at sonic speed to dismember the shamon.

Curses, what now? Having more helping hands is great, but now I can't plan . . .

The Maupenite seems put off-balance by the sudden interruption of plans, and switches to fighting more conservatively - still trying to keep drawing the monster's attention to keep the princess and the infantry safe, but now less inclined to make daring dives, instead tauntingly stepping just out of reach whenever the shamon overcommits to an attack.

"Fire support squad, I've got this. Keep up the good work, but don't do anything too risky."

Let's keep the shamon busy. Hopefully soon I can figure out Chimera's next steps, and more Petals clean up the chaff and refocus on the enemy commander. Then things should get easier . . .

Claude opens up the internal comms once again. "Rose Verte here, I'm continuing engagement with the shamon commander, a bit not as planned but without critical problems. Will reassess situation for a few beats, then ready to up the pressure again. Suggesting coordinated action by the time that happens. Sunrise and others, who is ready to join in on that?"

"Acknowledged, d'Armagnac-san! I'll be right behind you!" Homura replied over comms before turning her focus to making quick work of the few remaining shamon in the plaza. The cheers of the people she helped served to invigorate her even further, and before long, the plaza was safe.

However, before Homura took off, she realized she was missing one crucial thing that she failed to grabbed earlier. She landed Sunrise Flare by the plaza fountain and brought the mech into a crouch before opening the front hatch. She climbed out of her petalframe and approached the fountain, reaching out for the bird plush floating in the water. It was thoroughly soaked, as was the omamori charm tied around its neck, but she couldn't just leave it behind.

She quickly got back into Sunrise Flare and took off into the air, thrusters flaring behind her. She broke free of the curtain of smoke hanging over the plaza, and once she did, it wasn't hard to see the new shamon, as well as Chimera and Claude fighting against it.

Looks hard. But how's it going to fare against fire? Homura thought, quite eager to find out the answer to that question. However, her focus was soon disrupted. She gritted her teeth when she saw the soldiers and officers get blasted away, accelerating beyond safe speeds to get the conflict as fast as possible. Sunrise Flare streaked across the sky in a blur of orange, picking up more and more momentum.

Blinded by a righteous fury, she didn't respond to Claude's update and request for coordination. Like in the plaza, her blood boiled and her heart roared once again, and this time, she accepted the call without hesitation. Sunrise Flare started to glow akin to heated metal as it greedily drank the power Homura freely gave. She pointed the flamethrower forward and squeezed the trigger. With how fast she was going, the spray of flames reversed directions and washed over her petalframe. However, instead of dispersing, the flames swirled around Sunrise Flare and took the shape of a giant phoenix. Serving as the fire phoenix's 'beak', Sunrise Flare burst forth at hypersonic speeds. Homura aimed for the elite shamon's left arm, seeking to take it off entirely and hopefully shut down that powerful soundwave attack.

"FAITH-SWORN ONSLAUGHT!"