Seras strode at the head of her float, basking in the joy and adoration of the crowd. The excitement in the air was almost tangible - the spectators were having a wonderful time, her cosplayers couldn’t possibly be happier and every beaming face she saw made her heart fluttering gleefully in satisfaction. Today really was a perfect day.

Then an explosion tore through one of the floats ahead, erupting in a plume of fire and burning debris. And after a moment of perfect silence, the screaming began.

Seras stared up to face Charity, blood slowly chilling in her veins. [color=f6989d][i]”Please tell me that was an accident,”[/i] [/color]she begged. [i]Please.[/i]

Charity shook her head grimly, expression hardening as she stared over the top of the crowd. [color=00a651][i]“Terrorists,”[/i][/color] she growled.

[i]Oh crap. Ohcrapohcrapoh[b]crap[/b].[/i] There were far too many people here, far too many people - they’d all be fish in a barrel. If someone wanted to hurt civilians, there was no way they could possibly [i]miss[/i]. [color=f6989d][i]”What can we do?”[/i][/color] she shouted hysterically. [color=00a651][i]”There’s no way we can protect everyone, there’s thousands of people here, there are [b]children[/b] here - “[/i][/color]

[color=00a651][i]“Delegate.”[/i][/color] Charity’s voice was hard and composed, level as a blade. [color=00a651][i]“You take front. I take the back. Let the other avatars handle the rest.”[/i][/color]

[color=f6989d][i]”But…”[/i][/color]

At that precise moment, Tantalus shot through the air in a silver-white blur, impaling a offending Golem with his spear.

[color=00a651][i]“They’re competent. Don’t worry about the others - face forwards, guard my back and protect the people [b]here[/b]. I can look after myself.”[/i][/color] For a brief moment, Charity closed her eyes. Then her entire body began shining bright blue with the power of a fully-charged Calm Mind.

Seras turned back to her cosplayers, panic tempered by a wafer-thin thread of determination. Rather than running, her cosplayers had huddled together behind her, obviously too terrified to flee on their own. [i]Thank Arceus that none of them heard that.[/i] She pulled together a feeble smile, echoing some of Charity’s confidence. “You don’t have to worry,” she reassured them. “All of us avatars will fight to protect you, and none of us are leaving until the danger has passed.” It wasn’t much, but it was the best she could offer.

Casting her distractions aside, she conjured several fist-sized gemstones from the air - her pebble-sized diamonds were fantastic as a distraction, but there was no way they could hit hard enough in a fight. Nobody had directly attacked them yet, but a Koffing was heading directly for Yveltal’s float, otherwise unnoticed as it spewed toxic smog across the street. [i]Oh no you don’t.[/i] Gathering an orb of silver-white energy in one palm, Seras hurled an Ancient Power at the Koffing. Blindsided by the sudden assault, the orb struck the Pokemon cleanly and detonated, sending Koffing cartwheeling through the air.

Recovering mid-spin, the Koffing spun towards her. Seras fired a pair of gemstones after it with the force of a bowling ball, planning to force it away from Yveltal’s float. Instead, the Koffing simply face-tanked both diamond - snarling in pain, it flew directly towards her instead. [i]Oh crap.[/i] The Koffing accelerated furiously as gas spewed from its rear-facing vents - Seras hurled another silver orb at it, but it swerved effortlessly to one side with another flare of gas. From roughly ten feet away, the Koffing opened its mouth and belched as it flew, hurling toxic sludge in a wide cone towards both her and the cosplayers.

[i]Don’t you even [b]dare[/b].[/i]

Physically aching with the effort, Seras threw up an enormous planar shield of amber light - seven feet tall and wide enough to shelter the entire float. But while the sludge splattered feebly against her barrier, the Koffing simply flew [i]over[/i] it, looping back down towards her. Rather than attack immediately, the Koffing began glowing white-hot, allowing its momentum to carry it directly between Seras and her cosplayers as it prepared to explode. position itself directly between Seras and her cosplayers. Seras froze in panic. [i]I can’t seal it in. I can’t hit it fast enough. I can’t protect everyone, they’re all too spread ap-[/i]

A pebble-sized diamond lanced straight between Koffing’s eyes and out the other side of its body, fast enough to leave a solid blue streak and a plume of red mist in its wake.

From on top of the float, Charity gazed down coldly at the Koffing’s corpse, eyes [i]blazing[/i] with light.

[color=00a651][i]”Not my daughter, you [b]bitch[/b].”[/i][/color]

A flurry of razor-sharp leaves from behind the float interrupted the moment, whistling dangerously past Charity’s ear. Cursing telepathically, Charity whipped around to resume her fight with a colossal Gourgeist closing in from the rear. Tearing her eyes from the oozing corpse, Seras began charging another Ancient Power, but Charity cut her off. [color=00a651][i]"Get the civilians out of here first. Once there’s no more lives in danger, we can afford to play nice.”[/i][/color] As she spoke, the nearest foot of pavement began glowing blue as Charity seized the diamond fragments strewn across the street from their display. With a dainty flick of her wrist, she sent a [i]maelstrom[/i] of razor-sharp gemstones hurtling towards the Gourgiest. The Gourgeist dived desperately behind Hoopa’s float as the buckshot shredded the surrounding air, carving hundreds of deep grooves into the float’s painted woodwork.

[i]Later. Deal with it later.[/i]

Seras scanned their surroundings. Most of the crowd had already fled their immediate area - Alain seemed to be holding his own and Tantalus had found sufficient time to gloat, so the immediate situation was under control. Her cosplayers were all ashen-faced - some were weeping openly, while others stared numbly at the Koffing’s corpse. She finished charging her Ancient Power and hurled it at the portable barricades separating the floats from the sidewalk, blowing a clear path wide enough for fit several people abreast.

 “On my count, we all run for the barricades together,” she commanded. “I’ll deflect anything coming our way while my Gardevoir covers us. Head down the alley, get off this street and find your way to an evac point - once you’re all safe, I’ll loop around and rejoin the fight.”

None of them argued.

As Alain hurled his Dark Pulse, the cosplayers ran head-down towards the barricades, apparently unnoticed by any assailants as the battle raged on around them. One of them attempted to thank her as she slipped down the alley, but Seras shooed her away without paying attention - there were bigger things to deal with. She swivelled around in time to see Charity teleporting onto the crown of the Diancie float, neck craning as she scoured the street for her opponent. The Gourgeist appeared to be completely missing from both their viewpoints - where the heck did it go?

Then a cloud of pitch-black mist materialised behind Charity. The Gourgeist condensed silently from the mist, grinning wickedly as its entire body radiating malevolent purple energy. Seras tried to shout, do [i]anything[/i], but barely had time to think before the Gourgeist body-slammed into Charity. The wooden statue splintered beneath them as the pair of them crashed straight through Diancie’s crown - Charity screamed in agony as she was crushed against the floor of the float. The Gourgeist immediately began constricting Charity in its arms, ignoring Seras entirely.

[i]Fuck it.[/i]

Charging up her Dazzling Gleam, Seras fired a narrow cone of searing cherry-pink light that clipped the Gourgeist across the flank of its lower body. The Gourgeist snarled in pain as it recoiled from the hit, shooting Seras a venomous glare before dissolving back into pitch-black mist that quickly faded from sight.