April 8, 2019
Advanced Tactical Learning and Nonstandard Training Institute
aka "Atlantis High"

It was a dark and stormy Friday night. Many students of the institute informally known to its residents as Atlantis High thought this totally sucked, since all outdoor extracurricular activities had been canceled. Others had not bee too bothered and used the weather as an excuse to hold the Unofficial Atlantis High Horror Movie Night. That was how a pile of girls found themselves sprawled out on the dorm lounge, blankets and pillows littering the floor, junk food close at hand, and eyes glued to the television on the wall.

That was until one trembling Freshman got too excited at the part where Freddy attacked a girl in her bathtub and accidentally made the TV to explode. This triggered a chain reaction among the other girls who had gotten wound up from the horror-fest and once everything had finally gotten sorted out everyone returned to their rooms smelling vaguely of burned clothes and singed hair.

Sleep came quickly to some and only after a few hours of fitful twisting and turning to others. At last everyone in the dorm had nodded off to sleep.

To the surprise of a select few, they woke up the middle of the school yard. It seemed to be noon. Not a trace of yesterday's rain was present on the ground or sky. For that matter, not a trace of any of the other students could be found either. Normally a weekend afternoon would see hundreds of girls going about to eat, or stroll, or a number of other activities. Now, save for a few others, there was nobody in sight.

It fell to Erica Farragut, a Sophomore with short brown hair, to asks the obvious questions on everyone's minds.

"Where is everyone? How did I get out here?" Looking down she noticed that her pajamas had been replaced with her magical costume. "How did I get changed? Oh, my God! What are those!?"

That last shout was a question not so obvious since Erica had been the first to spot them. Those whose heads turn in the direction Erica had pointed saw humanoid figures moving towards them from the opposite side of the pavilion where most students ate lunch. Tall and gangling, they moved less like people and more like limp dolls that some invisible force was propelling by forcing one leg forward, then the next with the rest of the body following along as an afterthought. They wore no clothing, their grey bodies were completely featureless. Even their faces were non-existent.

Without warning, the lead creature raised it's arm. It held what looked like a large gun. A second later in was confirmed to definitely be a gun when a loud bang echoed across the yard, followed by a projectile the size of a golf ball striking the earth where Erica had just been.

For whatever reason, the students of Atlantis had a fight on their hand.

Combat

The Sleeping War

Objective: Defeat All Enemies

Map◊

Magical Girls: 14

Hannah Barca

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov:6

Julia Caesar

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov: 6

Erica Farragut

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov: 5 (Water 8)

Giselle Furst

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov: 6

Maya Hattori

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov: 6

Hope Marshall

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov: 6

Prita Maurya

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov: 6

Alexis Megálos

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov: 6

Magda von Richthofen

• Lv: 3
• HP: 5
• Mov: 7

Akane Takano

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov: 5 (Water 8)

Voirrey Torriques

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov: 6

Georgia Washington

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov: 6

Haley Williams Lv: 3

• HP: 6
• Mov: 5 (Water 8)

Lyn Zheng

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov: 6

Enemies: 10

Dream Monsters

• Lv: 3
• HP: 6
• Mov: 6
• Weapon: Small Arm

edited 22nd Apr '13 7:59:51 PM by Parable

"Gast a Gurun!" Voirrey looked around, "Lavarit ar pezh ocʼh e, met perak lavarit e saozneg?! N’eus ma hunvre an dra-mañ? *

With that she headed for her foes at 16.16.

edited 22nd Apr '13 7:13:56 AM by Fauxlosophe

— Takano Akane —

The sound of the gunshot quickly snapped Akane into focus. She had been wondering why she ended up in the middle of the pavillion, and looking around at the fellow students trying to figure out why this group had been assembled; but weapons fire in her general direction quickly took precedence over idle wandering. Her eyes narrowed as she looked across the field at where the shot had come from, seeing the group of... things.

"What do you think, Haley?" Akane addressed her roommate, "They don't appear to have a large effective range, we could easily huddle around one of the lakes while you and I weaken them from a distance, letting the team quickly dispatch them as they break through the middle."

Akane paused, thinking critically about the situation, "However, if the elect not to pursue us and go run amok in the rest of the building, chasing them down would be difficult, and there is a larger potential for damage to the building itself."

edited 21st Apr '13 1:13:34 PM by zzzdragon

Prita groaned inwardly when she saw herself in her magical girl form, with her nun's robes and shaved head. She barely knew some of these girls, and this was the impression they were going to get of her. How would they ever be able to take her seriously? First thing the next day, she was buying a hat at least.

Get a grip, she told herself. She needed to figure out what was going on.

The last thing she remembered, she had fallen asleep halfway through watching a Bollywood DVD on her computer in her dorm room. Obviously, she hadn't gotten out to the parade ground by herself. Her first thought was that it was a dream, but it seemed too vivid for that. She then jumped to the next most likely guess — this was some kind of subliminal training simulation, designed by the instructors to make them battle-ready. Fair enough — a nice win here might win her bonus points with her teachers later on. Best not to let the others know this, however, or else some of them might not take it seriously enough.

Aloud, she said, "Let's plan for two things. If those guys cross the bridge near them, we try to delay them in the field while a flank moves quickly to seize the fortresses and then uses that position as a base for future attacks. Or if they take the long way around, we bottle them up by first securing the bridges and fortresses and then squeeze them. They don't look like they have water mobility, although we never know."

To herself, she thought, "And I'll be in the back again, of course. Oh goody."

Magda rubbed her head as she woke up, before realizing that she could feel the cloth of her hat. She frowned in confusion as she realized she was in her costume, in the middle of the courtyard, at the edge of a group of her dorm-mates. She glanced at Prita, as the girl next to her outlined a plan.

"Heading for the pavillion is probably best," she agreed. "Any kind of defense would help us here, since most of our weapons are disadvantaged." She looked at the others. "I can drop someone in the forest or pavilion, then double back here, I think. Who's best on fortified ground?"

edited 21st Apr '13 2:34:20 PM by KarrinBlue

Giz thrust her spear into the ground and stretched lazily. This was hardly the first battle dream she'd had in her three years at the academy, though usually they came on after a cram session or late night workout, not a movie night, so she wasn't terribly surprised to find herself in her battle gear facing down a swarm of mooks.

"My subconscious is getting lazy. I know I can do better than grey blobs," she said to no one in particular, taking in the field. The obvious course of action was to take the fortresses in the center of the field to negate her squad's general disadvantage in weaponry. Just as she was sure this was a dream, she was certain that she was in command on this unit; she always was in her dreams. Maybe if those stupid instructors could see her here they'd pull their heads out of their rears and give her a real squad of her own, finally.

"No, wait, I've got it! They represent the mainstream bourgeoisie, all faceless and crud without a commander to tell them what to be! Ha! Still got it," she laughed, pleased with her subconscious's sharp use of symbolism for biting social commentary.

Lyn looked around as she saw several girls around her in elaborate battle gear. Looking down at her own magical girl costume, dressed in pink and green, she stretched a bit and jumped around a little, feeling out her footwork.

She turned to the others as she heard suggestions for battle tactics. She herself have never really been in these situations before, but surely with the mind of the First Emperor within her, she would have a natural gift for tactical warfare.

"I definitely think capturing that base of fortifications in the middle would be a good idea." Lyn said with her arms crossed as she nodded to Prita and Magda. "However, I also think we should stick together. A lot of us are at a disadvantage against them, and if one of us get isolated and swarmed, we are done."

Magda nodded. "Safety in numbers. Hm. If we can mobilize quickly, then after I drop someone off in the pavilion, I can stay in the forest to harry any attackers. Since we want to keep them away, it'd better be someone with ranged attacks. Any volunteers?" she asked, looking at the rest of the group. "Though, we should probably put our ranged people on the outside, to keep them from getting too close," she added.

edited 21st Apr '13 3:18:23 PM by KarrinBlue

Al scratches her cheek. Strangely, she just couldn’t be bothered to get pumped up for this skirmish at all. Doing a quick headcount, she realizes the reason- her unit actually outnumbered the enemy, for once.

Now where’s the challenge? Ah right, the small arms.

In any case, she regards the terrain. The benefits of holding the pavilion is obvious, and might as well be left unsaid. She is standing next to both Hope and Georgia, so she can ford the “river” easily enough.

She shakes her head at Magda's "offer". It will be better if she just travel the conventional way.

Sighing, Al resolves to let her strategists do the thinking for this one.

edited 21st Apr '13 3:22:55 PM by PBlades

Hannah found herself in the same boat as the others, and listened as the plans were laid out.

"Uh huh!" she replied, hearing what Lyn just said. "I don't think any of us want to try stabbing at any of those things, and if they manage to get there first we're in a lot of trouble. So we should have our fighters mobile and able to run around, while those of us who can hit them from across the field can hole up in that pavilion and shoot at them as they chase you!"

She looked at the girls who had swords, spears, and what have you. "You're okay with going for a walk, right?"

And in case I somehow can't post in the next 30 hours, she's going to move to 16.10 for this turn.

edited 21st Apr '13 3:52:33 PM by nman

Georgia stood up, and shook her head. Well, she was out in a big field, she had her magical girl clothes on, and she had a rifle...

Oh lordy, everyone else was talking all about strategy and where to go! She didn't know what to do! Why, she—

Georgia looked over at her wisp. The source of her power! That's right, she was Georgia Washington! Georgia temporarily ascended to get the lay of the land, then dropped back to the ground. "Pleasure to meet y'all, ah'm Georgia." She eagerly shook hands with all she could, then pointed to the lake. "My powers can get us over that lake, so ah'll head over there to help out."

Georgia then slung her rifle over her shoulder and jogged off for 18.10, head held high and arms at her side, a real track star. The skirt and long detached sleeves sorta detracted from the image of strong athleticism, but, you know, points for trying.

"Alright, quicher mumblin' and listen up! You guys," Giz said, indicating all the girls north of herself with a sweep of her spear, "head north around the water. The rest of you, we're taking the bridge. We're heading for Fort Lunchables over there. Now move out!"

Knowing her dream-army would follow her, Giz led by example and crossed the bridge halfway, leaping off the side at the height of its curve. The water beneath her shimmered as she fell, and the ghostly construct of a wooden boat appeared around her as she landed on what might as well be solid wood; Georgia's powers at work, she knew, though she'd only seen them at work a couple times since the new girl had come to school. The ghost-boat drifted toward the far shore, and Giz hopped out nimbly, stopping her charge shortly after to look back and check her troops' progress.

Derp, didn't actually do it: Move to 14.14.

edited 21st Apr '13 9:34:57 PM by Wryte

Julia, being so tired that evening, was the last to "wake up" on the field. "Ugh, my head," she said, as she got up, balancing on her spear for support, unfazed by her transformation. She naturally noticed that her friends dashed down the hills surrounding her, to fight the metal. Oozy. Liquid. THINGS. God, what even are those? She thought, as she staggered towards 17.09.

"These things seem to be sharp shooters," Voirrey looked over at Giz, "Hiding 'neath a bench does not make harder targets of us. We may not have much want of 'em grouping there themselves, but the better goal'd be to lure 'em in and keep 'em close. Your fort'd be helpful for that maybe, but we'd do better to stay spread, rather than grouping close to eachother 'neath those benches."

edited 22nd Apr '13 6:18:30 AM by Fauxlosophe

Gaaah! Al was a woman of action, not words. These ceasless prattles bores her- there were glory to be had!

Her mind made up, she make to cross the bridge. Realizing an oppurtunity to moves just a bit further, she impetously charges straight through the river. She had absolute certainty in the simple fact that the insolent body of water would part in the presence of her glorious charge. Unmindful of the fact that the water remains unimpressed and inresponsive, Al forges on ahead. Stepping on platforms made by her roommate's power and leaping, Alexis tumbles down to shore, her cape afutter dramatically.

Al moves to 15.14

Magda turned to the girl next to her. "Do you need a lift over?" she asked Hope.

For a moment Erica could only stand there in shock at having been shot at. Not that this hadn't been the first time she'd been fired upon. Whether awake in practice combat or dreaming up the history of Admiral Farragut, that was something she was used to. Being shot by strange, unfamiliar creatures was another matter entirely though. Fight or flight instincts kicked in and the enraged magical girl shouted from across the yard.

"Hey, you giant freak! That could have - " Another shot caused her to flinch and bend down. The shot missed by a wide margin, but succeeded in making Erica even more angry. "I'm going to kill you." she growled in the direction of the lead creature, the one that had shot at her.

Erica vaguely heard the battle strategy from the girls next to her, but even without the suggestions she knew what she was going to do. From her right arm, a glowing blue light engulfed everything from the elbow down. The limb began changing shape, growing longer and thicker. When the light dissipated, Erica's hand and forearm had been replaced by a dimly colored cannon.

At this range she wasn't going to hit anything, but the magical girl let loose a blast of magic from her weapon in the direction of the enemy anyway just to how two could play at that game. Then with a wild cry she charged ahead.

Erica move to 15.12

Julia was lost among all the commotion, so she tried to get closer to the monsters.

Seeing her comrades mobilizing around her, Lyn hopped around a bit for fun before considering where she should bring her first steps. It seems everybody was about to head for the forts, a decision that she agreed with. As she prepared to step forth, she turned in surprise as she heard one of her allies charge with a war cry after firing off her weapon at nowhere.

Blinking a few times and shaking away her surprise, Lyn walked toward 16.09.

The last thing Maya remembered was standing, cross-armed, in the shadows behind Magda. Ever since the Sprite imparted her with Hattori Hanzou's memories, she felt a compulsion to stand so, ever the shadowy guardian. Usually, she fought it off and did whatever she wanted, but she didn't want to watch any of the movies they screened, and was too tired to dance. So she stood behind Magda, thinking about the shadows.
Except that now she was in her ninja outfit, holding the Chained Dragon, and staring across a field at a bunch of, well, grey-ish person-shaped gun-toting things. Seeing that her compatriots have already started moving, and figuring that for now her skills in assassination and her mountain knowledge won't be useful, Maya decided to close the distance between her and the creatures.
Hanzou's memories suggested an improvement, and she nodded to herself. Forming a few hand-seals, she vanished, then re-appeared a large distance away from her current location.
Using Ninjutsu, move to 19.5.

Magda blinked in surprise as her roommate teleported to the other side. 'Shouldn't I have noticed her? Well, I suppose that is the point,' she thought. She focused, and a bright red glow emanated from her right arm and back. A few seconds later, a pair of bright red, rectangular wings marked with the Iron Cross appeared from her back, and her arm had changed - something that vaguely resembled a machine gun had been attached to the outside of the limb, with the end at her shoulder and the muzzle at the back of her hand. She'd always wondered how she was able to fire the thing without destroying her hand, or even how she somehow managed to bend her arm like this, but she guessed it wasn't really important. She lifted into the air and flew over the water, landing neatly on the other side.

Flying over to 13.14

edited 22nd Apr '13 1:25:25 PM by KarrinBlue

Prita looked with disdain at those of the girls who were charging into the fray and firing their weapons at random. Couldn't they act with a little more dignity? They weren't impressing anyone but themselves. At least they had heeded her strategy advice.

Staying in back of the other girls, she headed across the stream and towards the pavillion.

Prita goes to 15.13.

Haley to 18.08

edited 22nd Apr '13 4:49:36 PM by SOCR

— Takano Akane —

Takano listened and watched as the others got into position. Hunkering down defensively would keep them alive, if the creatures escaped the pavilion other people might be in danger.

"I'll harass them as you all get into position," Akane said, using the edge of the water ahead of her to get a speed boost.

Akane to 17.08

Hope to 14.13

The Atlantis students wasted no time in putting their training to good use. A few short moments after discussing strategy and they were off to the pavilion, running or flying as fast as they could. Some made their way across the bridge or water of the yard's lower pond, others went around the water. Either way the objective was the same, beat the enemy to the defensible position of the pavilion.

Across the schoolyard, the enemy was advancing as well. With speed that did not seem possible with those unnatural bodies they stalked on towards the girls, guns firing at random. If they communicated with each other in any way the girls were not able to pick up on it. As a body, they moved across the bridge.

Combat

The Sleeping War - Turn 2

Objective: Defeat All Enemies

Map◊

Magical Girls

Unchanged.

Enemies

Unchanged.

edited 22nd Apr '13 8:18:59 PM by Parable