2014-04-15 - Rescue The New Year! Part 2/3

Rescue The New Year! Part 2/3
Summary: In pursuit of the Jewel of Beginnings, the assembled heroes must rescue Billy the goat fairy from the Bigger, Badder Wolf
Who: GMs: Madoka Kaname, Chao Lingshen Players: Cute Wolf Tsukiko, Princess Runealy, Kuniko Saito, Mai Tokiha, Sailor Moon, Fuu Hououji, Homura Akemi, Mami Tomoe, Tuxedo Mask, Cure Beauty, Cure Peace, Anthy Himemiya, Utena Tenjou, Sailor Mars
Where: Dark Realms
OOC - IC Date: <December 31st, 2013 - April 15th, 2014>

NEW YEARS EVE: 1:00 PM

Pop, the tiny, fluffy, very serious lion fairy, has recovered from Majorina's sleep curse (it's pretty likely that his little sister Candy smooched him on the cheek to snap him out of it), and returned to the scene of The Crime.

Which is to say, the shore of Tokyo Bay. He's found a detective-esque cap somewhere, and a magnifying glass, and he's peering through it, up at the sky, when--

"Pyoko~pyoko!"

Out of the sky, /another/ book comes flapping down like a bird, and out of the /book/ comes what looks to be a frog fairy, with those gangly limbs, flippers, and bumps on his little green head.

He bashes into Pop, head-first, then grips his fearless leader by the mane and screams at him, nose to nose and eye to eye. "IT'S TERRIBLE~pyoko!! The wolves~pyoko!! They've taken Billy-chan, right out from under our flippers~pyoko!"

In the (literal and figurative) face of this panic, Pop is calm, if intense with urgency. "That's troubling news~de gozaru. We've been expecting trouble, but not like this... if Billy-chan is gone, we know what they're planning. Given the timing... it must be in order to protect the Jewel of Beginnings~de gozaru."

Hopping up onto that somehow-still-intact park bench, he addresses the various magical girls who have assembled here, at the same time and the same place as yesterday. "Listen up! Warriors of Earth, your strength is needed. The evil forces that have stolen the Jewel of Beginnings must not be allowed to retain it! If you would rescue it... come with me~de gozaru."

He still has his own book, a big pink hardbound -- doing something with its pages, a moving staircase abruptly springs out of it as though popping up from a pop-up book. It is creaky-looking, even unsound, with a gothic metal railing. Wherever it leads cannot be a pleasant place.

"This will take us to the Bad End Kingdom~de gozaru. As we are now, we must avoid Pierrot's stronghold... we would surely perish. Fortunately, it sounds like the Jewel is being held outside of the stronghold, beneath the Great Bridge of Trolls~de gozaru."

His soft brown eyes blink solemnly.

"Unfortunately, the trolls cannot be defeated without the presence of Billy-chan, a citizen of Marchenland and a member of the Resistance against the Bad End, and he has been kidnapped. We will first need to recover him safe and sound. He is probably being kept in the Dire Den of Wolves... so we'll go there first, as quietly as possible. It's on the very edge of the Kingdom, so if we are, ahem, sneaky, we should be able to get by~de gozaru."

He pads over to the staircase and hops aboard. "Anyone with questions may ask them en route -- we have no time to lose. Billy-chan is in grave danger~de gozaru."

"Pyoko~pyoko!!" agrees the frog, gesturing emphatically towards the book with his flippers. He will, presumably, be staying behind to clean up the mess.

OOC: As a note, everyone has an IC sense of what's going on even if they weren't there, courtesy of bbpost 12/72 -- you're welcome to have heard a rumor about the Jewel, definitely know there was a commotion near Tokyo Bay's New Years Eve setup yesterday, and feel deeply in your heart that New Years is about to go badly awry if something isn't fixed. This, in combination, is more than enough reason to investigate, even if you weren't here yesterday.

Cure Peace has managed to compose herself from tonight's earlier commotion. She's looking around a little concerned. Where is the other Cures? Surely they're coming.. right? They've had to had sense that! They just HAD to...

Her Smile! Pact beeps... she meeps and brings it up. "Ah--- Re-- Beauty, Sunny-- please come to the Bay Quick...it's the Bad End Kingdom!" she says worriedly as she slips it back to her belt clip. She also does her best to get into contact with Akane. She knows where she was. Her family's resturant no doubt got swamped with New Year's revelers wanting those delicious, filled pancakes.

She frowns a little. As Pop explains all this to the assembled magical girls after Majorina's sleep spell wears off..

Also, Candy totally awoken Pop with a cheek kiss. She had to do it three times. This may or may not be the reasoning for Pop's waking up. Candy is most certainly a concerned little sister. (~kuru)

"Ah--Pop..! Have things gotten that bad in Marchenland already!?" she asks a little worried, tapping two fingers together in front of her. She frowns just a litte. Maybe that's why things have been so quiet, Akanbe and Bad End wise over here---they've been busier over there.

If only it was so easy to help on that side of the page all the time...

She shakes her head as the frog fairy appears from anyone storybook falling from the sky. A frog. She blinks a little at the frog's news, then back to Pop. "Ah!? But.. what do...these two things have to do with one another?" she wonders, then she looks over to the side.

"Ah...! Beauty! Sunny!" she says, her face lighting up. They showed up! "Beauty--- Sunny! Some Akanbe showed up, and I--- we, I mean, did our best, but....there were two of them. And Majorina....she stole something important!- They're going to try to bring a Bad End to the New Year..." she says, filling her in. She still has that unsure stance about her as she watches Pop produce the Stairway into the Bad End Kingdom.

She huffs. "I-- it's our duties as the Protectors of Marchenland to-- help it's people, and fight the Bad End kingdom..." she says, gathering near Beauty. "Right-- Sunny, Beauty!?" she says with wide eyes, steeling her confidence as much as she can as she looks to Beauty, and most certainly Sunny! Sunny may not forgive her is she becomes a crybaby /now/! and That's the oath they took afterall. It's a big responsibility, then she nods confidently at Pop and begins to follow him up and along the staircase to the Bad End Kingdom, she'll have more questions. She'll ask them on the way as Pop insists.

She's never been to the Bad End Kingdom proper. She has a pretty vivid picture of what it looks like in her head though. Candy is sitting on her shoulder. "I can help, too!~Kuru!" she says with a gleeful pose, one paw raised high in the air. Cure Peace nods matter of factly to the small sheep fairy. It was her home, too afterall. She had a right to help protect it with all her cute, adorable might.

Princess Runealy had something to recover from too; focusing on clearing out the akanbe threatening the celebration even though they were known to be distractions, had left her open to quite the barrage from Majorina. Yet she returned to the bay, and followed Pop's investigations. He's cute despite (or perhaps because of?) his serious demeanor, and in better circumstances Rune would be delighted to just be near him.

These are serious times, though. They demand focus as another book and its enclosed frog fairy arrive. 'If you would rescue it'? That draws a single, deep nod from Rune. She'll go along, following the stairs. "That's a big risk, isn't it? A necessary one, but... will we have to be quiet /and/ fast? If we're that close to their stronghold..." Runealy's voice trails off, mind already racing while considering possibilities and troubles that might arise.

This train of thought leaves her giving a quick gaze to others individually, glad they're here. Candy's perky remarks are encouraging and draw a hesitant smile from Rune. "That's starting this off right."

"Waitwaitwait, okay... no, wait. Marchingband?! Wait, never mind, I have it!"

Sailor Moon raises her phone high in the air, basking in the triumph music that is playing in her head. "I took notes this time! Now I won't be lost about what's going on~de gozaru!"

Her mouth hangs out for a moment, and then she shuts it sharply and smiles sheepishly at her sub-party: Puella Magi Mami Tomoe and Sailor Mars! "Eheh, sorry, I was listening really closely and I guess it rubbed off on me~de gozaru."

Usagi clamps a hand over her mouth. She slowly lowers it after a moment, and whispers: "Okay, I think they're... gone..."

"...~de gozaru."

While everyone else is queuing up to enter the Bad End Kingdom, Sailor Moon is jogging in place with her hands over her ears. "Aaaaa, they must be like hiccups~de gozaru! Someone scare me--no wait, don't scare me~de gozaru!"

"Bad End Kingdom?" the Magic Knight of Wind repeats quizzically - somehow latching onto *that* out of the middle of Pop's explanation of what's going on. However, her picking out one name to verbally scratch her head at should not be construed as meaning she ignored the rest of it; when Pop says to start up the stairs, the Wind Knight promptly moves to get on the magical escalator.

Upon Cure Peace reacting to the name, though, Fuu turns her attention to her. "So these are your 'natural' enemies, then? Is there anything the rest of us should know ... ?"

Going up (or wherever) obviously needs to take priority over asking questions/getting answers, though, so if she has to get back to info-gathering later, she will, and without complaint. In the meantime, she's also taking stock of who else is here in the category of 'familiar faces' ...

Sailor Mars was there, indeed, looking at Moon with flat eyes. She doesn't understand how that girl works sometimes, what makes her tick that way. But whatever, she's having fun...

Wait, no, that's terrible. They are investigating the place after what happened last time, and her 6th sense has been going haywire the entire day, in the worse of ways. Usually not a good sign. "Scare? I can scare you if that's what you want." She glares at Usagi, forming a fireball in her hand, the sort of dark silhouette forming from their light making her look like some kind of demon "What do you think about roasted bunny?"

It disapears just as fast as it came though, as she sighs "Be a bit more serious about this, something is going to happen again, I can feel it."

... She reaches over and tickles Moon under the armpits. Maybe that'll cure those 'hiccups' u.u

"Really, can you never focus at all, de-goza..."

"..."

"Now you're making me do it too!" >_<#

New Year's Eve, and the Linden Baum diner is on the verge of closing its door. There's a sense of malaise - the usual hope and optimism leading up to the new year having faded to a banal indifference. Reservations for the evening have been cancelled, and the lunch rush was...not a rush at all. The doubled staff has been made redundant, and so several of the scheduled waitresses have been sent home early.

So Mai's in a bad mood. Those extra hours and New Year's tips won't be bolstering the savings account today - and while a bit of rest is nice, taking advantage of the break from classes was going to be nicer. Sort of. She caught another waitress's eye on her way out, both of them aware that something was up...but Akane still has a shift, and Mai might have a better sense of where to go. It's not like two Linden Baum waitresses would have magical powers, right?

Just that sense of something wrong...she might not be a wildcat like Mikoto, but Mai has some instincts. For once, she's followed them to where trouble is happening instead of avoiding it, and arrives at Tokyo Bay just in time for the fairies' explanation. She listens, takes in the information, and...

...follows, staring blankly. "...you're serious? We're going into the Bad End kingdom, to fight a wolf and rescue a billy goat..." She looks around, recognizing a couple of people from the hot pot party, and spotting a few outfits from previous fights. Even as she follows along the staircase, boggling at the path going into a book of all things, and grasps desperately for sense in all this. "Are these two - are we actually going into a fairy tale land, of all things?!"

Mami Tomoe, too, is here. She's come back after yesterday, after a chance to make sure that a certain friend (for whom she may have been showing off extra) is somewhere safer than here. Without school to worry about, she's simply made sure her apartment was in order, checked the stove twice, and... headed out. Which means /now/...

"Another world?" Mami replies seriously, looking to the staircase that has suddenly appeared. "...All right." She pauses, then, as Sailor Moon raises her phone, having taken notes...!

There's a small shake of her head, though the Puella Magi is smiling. "Try holding your breath, Sailor Moon." Beat, "Though they say that the best way to cure hiccups is to give them to someone else. Maybe you just need someone else to start talking that way...?"

And then Mars does it. Maybe it works.

"Just be careful," she says to both. "We have no idea what to expect there, except for a stronghold too dangerous even to approach."

The blonde, of course, takes the stairs.

The silent, tall, black-clad Precure who faced Princess Kraehe back in Hokkaido stands on a lamp post, balancing with her heeled boots. No one saw her arrive, or climb up there. She is just /there,/ looming down with an unreadable expression.

Cure Muse leaps down to land on the ground amid the other gathering magical girls, the fairy Dodori perched in the fur trim of her costume. She does not yet say a word or even really introduce herself, merely following the others. She makes a point of walking by herself, purple-pink eyes darting with suspicion from potential ally to ally and long cape flapping behind her.

MINUTES IN THE PAST (but not many):

"Akane! A third helping, please!"

"C-c-coming right up!"

It's the new year's rush at Akane's, that is to say 'the okonomiyaki restaurant also named after her but also Akane Hino's place of residence'. Naturally, the place is packed, and everyone has to chip in a little. It's just kinda unfortunate that you also need to be doing things like saving the world. With wibbly tears in her eyes, Akane Hino stacks ingredients on both shoulders and her head and runs back and forth from the kitchens to the storefront, whimpering all the while.

NOW:

With a couple hairs out of a place and a haggard-looking expression already, Cure Sunny is here!

"Gomen... you know how difficult it is to get away from your family some times!"

She looks around to see - wowie zowie, this really is quite the crowd, isn't it?

"So, we finally have to go to the Bad End Kingdom... what a note to end the year on! Are you guys all ready?" she asks, with a brave smile. Pumps a fist.

"I asked March and Happy to watch our backs if we're going in there. They might still have a trick in store for us!"

Somewhere behind and above everyone, in a shadow-- because even if shadows are unlikely, there's always one for him-- Tuxedo Kamen observes the gathering and listens to the pitch, watching even the tiny lion with a straight face. But then the 'another world' part comes to the fore, and -- just in case things split up, you understand -- he drops lightly down to the ground, cape falling noiselessly behind him.

And, holding his top hat so he only stands about a head and a half taller than most of the gathering instead of two and a half, he weaves through the crowd until he's just sort of. Silently. Standing with Sailors Moon and Mars and Mami Tomoe.

Cute Wolf Tsukiko spent most of last night sleeping extra hard - yesterday's fight had left her bruised and exhausted. Still, she had made it to the meeting with plenty of time, and had listened attentively. The mention of the Dire Den of Wolves brought a small frown to her face - while it's not a place she's familiar with, it does sound like it will be full of, well, wolves.

"Um, how, er, -wolflike- are the wolves?" she asks as she climbs the stairs, feeling a bit unusually self-conscious of her ears and tail. It's not that she's scared of wolves; nothing like that. And it's not that she doesn't trust this assorted band of magical girls, because she does.

She's just hoping that it'll be easy to tell her apart from the foes.

Kuniko Saito's screaming mad-on for killing giant monsters and people who are throwing around poisoned fruit has abated. She went home, grabbed a shower, called upstairs to mom that she's 'gonna go save the new year,' and showed up fifteen minutes before show time. During that interval, she sat on the ground, wrapping up dolmas with brutal, machine like efficiency.

When another book comes in, she asks in a semi-rhetorical tone, "What's with the books?" but doesn't butt in otherwise. She packs up her wrapped treats, rising upwards with a grunt of minor leg ache.

She nods to the small creature. This got drilled into her. "Got it," she says, straightening up and adjusting her toque, before marching to the staircase.

The Holidays tends to be a trying time for Homura Akemi.

It's not simply the fact that she's reminded how desolate her life is. For indeed it is: She has no family, no friends they know of, and her place of residence is wholly dedicated to a single task which is not at all any sort of good cheer. Nor is it the fact that all the holiday shopping or school trips that gets her down. For indeed the as mentioned lack of friends and family handles the shopping aspect tidily and the school trip, despite the fact it nearly brought about the enslavement of all mankind, was fairly run of the mill for her. No the reason that it's a trying time for her is because everyone seems to think it a bright idea to try and end the world all at once during the holidays.

Perhaps it has something to do with bad exam results and too much free time on their hands.

zThe violet Puella Magi arrives in the middle of the lion fairy's expository explanation of the situation presented before everyone. In truth Homura doesn't listen too closely. Instead she runs her eyes over the crowd of magical soldiers gathered. If there's any indication of her emotions its not immediately obvious. As usual her face is a mask of tranquil calm.

Though... perhaps there are a few cracks in her mask this time around.

The first is for Sailor Moon's small party, though Mami in particular. Her eyes narrow a bit at the blonde Puella Magi in a mild show of contempt. Why her in particular?

Might it have something to do... with... a certain... friend?

Pale fingers slide through long black strands as Homura approaches the stair case as well. A waterfall of of raven locks flips freely through the hair behind her as she begins her ascent. She doesn't say anything to anyone else, nor even seems nervous about the prospect of traveling to another world.

Apparently she has done this sort of thing before?

A wicked witch wants to bring a Bad End to all the people by distorting and stopping time, leading to indifference to the world around them?

"Oh my, how awful," says Anthy Himemiya.

She stands next to Utena Tenjou, hands folded demurely in front of her as she listens to Pop's explanation and what all they'll have to do. Most people will not recognize her--not this mysterious young woman in a flowing red dress and a golden crown. She turns a worried-seeming look over at Utena, but gives her a soft smile and a nod. On her shoulder, Chuchu looks up at her.

"Chuchuchu! Chu, chuchu, chu?"

"No, you had best stay here, Chuchu. Utena-sama and I will be back soon," the Rose Bride tells him gently, offering her hand to him so she can give him an elevator ride to the ground. "Please take care of things here, all right?"

"Chu!"

She stands then as the mouse-sized monkey scurries away, then looks again to Utena. Anthy says nothing, but her demeanor and gaze is patient. If she gives the command for them to go rescue the New Year, she shall obey.

The Aoki family had its own traditions before the New Year. Reika and her mother had made Mochi together, for the rice cakes to be consumed after the New Year began. In an apron, Reika was pounding the rice within the usu into paste with a mallet, for her mother to later mold. One strike after the other. Pound. Pound. Until the mallet slipped, striking the edge of the container.

There was an overwhelming feeling of stagnation in the air. It was almost dizzying. Reika put down the mallet, just as her mother gave her a questioning look, "Reika? Are you well?" Already slipping off the apron, she bowed to her mother, a touch more formally than was required, before stating, "My apologies, okaasama. I had forgotten a commitment I made to my friends for the New Years celebration." Her mother smiled at her, unperturbed that she had broken one of the little traditions between mother and daughter, "Then you should go." "Thank you, okaasama for understanding."

Fortunately, Peace filled her in in short order.

Now standing with the others as Cure Beauty on the next day, even the smell of the salty spray on the wind felt wrong to her. She smiled at Peace, and Sunny because of the bonds of camraderie between them, despite the gravity of the situation. She felt more confident with them at her side, able to forget her failure against the Raven ballerina. To Sunny, she replies to it being difficult to get away with her family with a mildly quizzical look in her eyes, "I don't know what you mean, Sunny." Before she turned to Peace. "I know you put forth your best efforts, Peace." She places a hand gently on Peace's shoulder, trying to lend strength with her presence to her, just as Yayoi lent the same to her unknowingly. "The story of this New Year has yet to begin. We will protect it against a Bad End, even if our path takes us into their kingdom."

Normally whenever Pop was here her friends had their own little game of teasing him that he was cute, causing him to refute it, then instead switching to praise until he became flustered. It should be especially hard to resist the urge given his detective cap and monocle. There was none of that tonight with Cure Beauty. She watched the frog fairy arrive, and bowed to him, just as he began screaming at the little Lion fairy. She was unperturbed, Pop's intensity causing her to listen in grave silence despite thinking the little frog was almost as adorable as his Lion-Maned leader inwardly. Instead she rubbed Candy behind her yellow ears, smiling at her exuberance. Turning to Mai at her reaction, she explains, "Is that so strange? Stories are important. And do not underestimate Wolves. One of the Generals of the Bad End Kingdom, Wolfrun, is very powerful, and cunning."

The staircase rose, and she placed a hand upon the sharp, metal railing with gothic adornments rising from the pop-up book. As she strode along the staircase, she only asked in a mild voice while moving, "And so we are to defeat trolls using the cunning of Billy-chan? A sound strategem, given the tales."

Magic is weird sometimes. That is what Utena is taking away from this one -- not weird in a bad way, mind, but weird. Everything feels like a fairy tale -- the Jewel of Beginnings, all these kingdoms, the trolls... it's sort of romantic to her, in a way.

How fitting, then, that she is here with the Rose Bride. "See you later, Chuchu," Utena offers, before turning her attention to the Rose Bride with a smile. "I... guess we've got a new year to save," she says, that smile still plastered across her face.

Her gaze briefly flits up toward Mami as she prepares herself for what's ahead. Now that she's not in the heat of battle -- isn't that...?

Usagi shrinks away from Mars' flame, balancing precariously on one foot and leaning all the way back. When it's gone, she exhales in relief and catches herself on both feet again. "Mars-chan would never--AAA!"

How can the New Year be so joyless when Sailor Moon is laughing so happily?

Harsh Mars (when she gets to tenth grade maybe she'll get two Harshes) leaves her shorter teammate wobbling on shaky legs and wiping tears from her eyes. "M-Mars-chan, please, I'm a s-serious agent of justice, and--"

Usagi falls silent, perking up in attention at Mami's thesis on hiccup transfer, and then Rei's verbal slip. She slides over, leaning in to look closely at Mars' mouth while she's having an eyes-squeezed-shut-headache moment.

"Ahhh, it's cute when Mars-chan does it," she offers, very sweetly, and then clamps a hand on Rei's back. "Now focus, we've got adventuring to do! Party order, all set!" And then she's after her brave senior magi, possibly dragging Mars along hand in hand.

--only to pause at the entrance. Sailor Moon frowns, standing up straight and craning her neck to see. "Chuchu...?"

A red dress. A not-quite-smile. Usagi's eyes widen.

Princess Runealy watches the bickering between Mars and Moon with... almost amusement. It was worrying at first, especially when fire came out, but quickly turns into what seems to be admonishments between friends. The key word there being 'friends'. That's good. Mami's comments draw a "Right. Careful, smart... we can do this if we don't get too reckless."

As people begin heading along, Rune opts to stick close to Fuu and tries to address Mai's concerns. "It looks that way. Remember, what you think of as 'fairy tale' is perfectly real to others. To them, a world of tiny boxes that throw your voice clear across Tokyo to go to one exact person... a world where everyone does that by drawing power from little holes in the wall, might be just as strange?"

Then to Sunny, "I'm ready. Your friends have the 'reserve' in hand? Please give them my thanks." Rune mirrors the fist-pump, though it's a much more shy gesture in her case. Beauty's resolve is acknowledged too: "We'll make it work, just like you say. Even if a general might be there." Kuniko gets a handwave after that, and in a light tone: "And thank you too!" The princess remembers Kuniko's help very well, and is glad to see her here. Utena and Anthy get nods as well; the latter is largely an unknown, but Rune assumes the best given the circumstances... especially as Chuchu is sent away in such a cute way.

Finally, there are Homura and Tuxedo Mask. Both are mysteries to Rune, but welcome ones. Tuxedo earns a slight smile, and Homura... well, Rune hesitates in light of the Puella Magi's apparent demeanor, but Homura gets a similar acknowledgement too. "Glad you're here. Both of you."

The staircase is like an escalator, but Pop, at least, is not just hanging out letting it slowly bring him up -- he takes the steps two at a time, using his forepaws as well to help him along, as needed. The urgency of the quest is made clear with every bump of his tiny knees or scrape of his bottom along a step.

"It is not kind to mock others' manner of speech~de gozaru," Pop remarks sternly to Sailors Moon and Mars, before addressing what seems to be the major question of the day: "Marchenland is the home of many fairy tales, and yes, we travel to the Garden of Rainbows, your world, by book~de gozaru. The Bad End Kingdom is our enemy... filled with many vile creatures also from the tales. They seek to bring about the Worst End, an end to all happiness, joy, and dreams~de gozaru. Please do not take them lightly, even if they are from your stories~de gozaru."

At some point Tokyo disappears below the clouds, and the sky seems to subtly -- and not so subtly -- change. One moment it's a journey beneath the sun, the next through an endless snow of fragments of paper, each one bleeding words. "Trouble at home~de gozaru," Pop mutters, without explaining more than that. They travel over a sea of stars, and beneath a starscape of seas, until finally it is an endless and very chilly night sky surrounding the stairs.

"My forward scouts reported that Wolfrun has returned to the Dark Castle~de gozaru. No, I think if liberating Billy-chan involves a fight, it will be with a bigger, badder wolf than he is~de gozaru."

The Bad End Kingdom is unsightly, to say the least. Towers and spires, crooked with malice, rise in darkened silhouette against a blood red moon. The land itself is but a fragment of something greater, clearly shattered away -- it floats through dread violet mists, aimlessly, endlessly. There is no laughter here, no music. There is occasionally a scream.

The staircase creakily connects with the very edge of this strange land -- the gothic points of the handrails digging in, and then, as though a trick of the light, growing metallic roots. It's been a moderately hostile structure throughout, always squeaking unpleasantly, and now it seems to have had /quite enough/ of its occupants, and accelerates to dangerous speeds. If people aren't careful, they'll be dumped into a big pile!

They seem to be at the base of some rolling foothills -- gray heath in all directions, gloomy, even morose. That chilly fog curls and swirls, making it hard to see and harder to breathe. It smells ghastly, a noseburning stench of rotting flowers and the even more sickly sweet scent of rotting meat.

It is most strongly coming from a darker gray blot dead ahead. A... cave?

Mami Tomoe does not respond to Homura Akemi's contemptuous look. Maybe she didn't even see it; it would be easy to miss, given how very stealthy the violet Puella Magi can be. ...She does, however, stop and turn back to the Sailor Soldiers when Pop delivers his rebuke and looks down her nose their way. It would seem that Mami, too, agrees... though she gentles it with a slight smile after, looking back ahead to their destination.

From stories... Mami knows how powerful those can be. Though she's not going to /admit/ it, the idea of going off to some sort of fairy tale kingdom is... honestly terribly exciting. Mami is a bit excite.

...Even as it turns out that /this/ place is not exactly the bright side of the tales. But that just means that they're here to help, to bring a bit of light to the darkness, as it were. The chilly fog does make it hard to breathe, and Mami extends an arm. With a wave of light, a beautiful silver firearm appears in her hands, long enough to require both... and to allow her to display a bit more vigilance than is usual.

And in that vigilance, she sees...

"...?" Mami stops, just beside Anthy, for a moment, but then continues anyway. "Sailor Moon," she murmurs, "I'll be behind, watching." She gestures to the cave.

This smell is just awful.

Cure Peace looks to Fuu with a frown... "The...Bad End Kingdom. They're..." she tries to find the right words.. "Marchenland... is where the fairy tales live." she says, like this is a perfectly normal fact to lay down on someone. "The Bad End Kingdom want to bring a bad end to these stories and take away the 'Happily Ever Afters...' and replace them with a Bad End-- then bring a Bad End to Our World." she says. This is how she basically understands. She smiles as Pop reaffirms this. "See?...! "We're... the Cures in charge of making sure that doesn't happen!" she insists confidently. "Cure Happy, Cure Sunny, Cure Peace, Cure Beauty and Cure March!" she says with her arms in front of her, as if trying to Psyche herself up as she walks up the staircase. She looks kinda non-threating doing this, she's so incredibly short.

She looks to Cute Wolf Tsukiko. "Probably big... and- dangerous... and...big.." she reiterates again. She thinks on this and frowns, yeah that's not helping her confidence or bravery right now. "Maybe... they're related to Wolfrun..." she thinks on this a bit. She's kind of hoping not. The Big Bad Wolf is a lot scarier when he's real and you're the pig and there's no brick houses in sight...

She smiles at Sunny. "That's a good idea--- considering... the trick they played to get the Jewel." she says a bit sadly. She KNEW something seemed off about two Akanbe at once. She smiles at Beauty. "We'll do better, together!" she says insistently!

She frowns. "A..BIGGER, BADDER WOLF!?" she says with wide eyes. "Ah---but, we're all here. We. Can handle this. R-right?" she says softly as she looks around at everyone.

"I Mean.... right! We can." she says, trying to put up a tougher front.

Candy makes a face at Sailor Moon from Peace's shoulder. "You shouldn't make fun of Pop's speech!~kuru!" she says and sticks her tounge out. "Big Brother speaks perfectly fine!~Kuru!" she wiggles an accusing sheepy-paw at Sailor Moon and Mars. *wiggle*

Peace arrives up te gothic staircase and down into the dreary, fog ridden, foul smelling Bad End Kingdom. More or less what she imagined in her head. She frowns. "It's so... dark." she says worriedly. She'll follow along with the group.

Kuniko pauses to admire Chuchu's style. He is a mascot with swag.

She says in passing, "Hey," to Tsukiko; "Sorry I was kinda... mad last night. You holding up OK?"

They keep running upwards. Upwards. To an absolute destiny of some kind. Kuniko keeps one hand on the railing, and she starts to grimace when the rotting smell rises up over them. She draws something out of her pocket -

A lemon? She starts peeling it steadily, flicking the fat slices of glistening rind to those who need it. "Hold this under your nose and squeeze it, backwards," she says grimly. "And other than that... breathe through your mouth, I guess."

She keeps the paring knife in her hand. She also remarks to Mami, mid-transit, "Hey, did you like the espresso?"

"Yosh. Boy, this is gonna be a surprise for them. Fast, quiet, and like sixteen people...!"

Akane does her best to contain her excitement, because really, why wouldn't you be? This is like a party! A really weird sneak-in-places party with extra fun things to do like rescues and saving. And she got someone to join in her rally! Couldn't be better. She'll have to get to know everyone's names at the afterparty!

"So don't worry! We know the score, and now so do you! Just get ready to bop some clowns in the nose. And the most important thing of all..."

"Keep smilin'." Aheh. Such cheese.

It's important to maintain a sense of good cheer, after all, because even as she skips two steps at a time up the iron staircase, she knows she's going to the most dangerous place.

Get the lead out, time to swing, whoop-dee-doo and bada-bing...

And suddenly Sunny's going way too fast.

"Uh... w-woah, waah!"

CRASH

Oh, it all looked so strong and confident, and now here she is in a girlpile spitting red dirt out of her mouth. Who else ended up in that pile? Quick, stand up so nobody notices you don't look cool!

"Man... this sure is a dreary place after all."

With Pop putting an effort into climbing the steps, the Magic Knight of Wind follows suit, listening to him and to the others. "Considering how vicious some of the villains and monsters in fairy tales could be," she comments, "I should hope none of us will be underestimating them ..." She glances at the glove-jewel which adorns her left hand. "If one of these 'big, bad wolves' is the same one who troubled the three pigs, my wind magic may be hard-pressed to counter him," she admits.

Worried? Her? .... well, yes, at least a little bit. Overconfidence can be dangerous, after all.

She has to nod in agreement with Rune-san, "It's like what that Western author Clarke said - 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' I hadn't thought of cell phones in quite that way ..."

She trails off, listening to Cure Peace's explanation - and then the magical escalator brings us into view of the Bad End Kingdom itself. "Goodness," she says quietly as she steps off the escalator, so as not to get in anyone else's way - although it's very, very clear that there isn't much 'good' to be found here.

In fact, the only 'goodness' to be found in this world is probably what the magical girls brought with them. A slice of lemon peel is accepted from Kuniko with a grateful nod, and the Wind Knight puts it to use immediately. "Well ... the sooner we go in, the sooner we come out, right?" she asks her allies.

A frown crosses Cure Muse's face as she surveys the Bad End Kingdom. It looks entirely too much like what she was told of...

No, don't think of that now. There's more important things at hand, she tells herself, even as Dodori gives her a reassuring pat on the neck. If she's bothered by the stench, she doesn't show it, but she still keeps a bit of distance from the rest of the group. She doesn't want them to get the wrong idea.

It's Dodori who speaks up in her ladylike...squeak. "Cure Muse is going to assist you for the greater good~dodo. She says to be sure to keep alert~dodo!"

Cure Muse does give a slight odd glance at Tuxedo Mask. Maybe she's just jealous of the top hat.

Tsukiko is flung from the staircase, but she lands with a roll. The oppressive smell causes her to sneeze a time or two, and the hairs on the back of her neck are standing on end.

"I think this is the creepiest place I've ever physically been in," she whispers with a shudder, backing into the main group.

Oddly enough, Cure Peace's description of the likely foe helps the wolfgirl calm down. Her great-grandfather fought a werewolf; fighting a less human-shaped wolf, even if huge, seems a bit more straightforward.

She nods to Kuniko. "As long as I'm with friends and allies, I should be fine," she admits with a small smile.

There's a lot of people here - some Mai knows, some she doesn't. Utena she gives a nod, glancing with curiosity to the red-garbed girl beside her. Utena's...'roommate', was it? Mai can't hide her curiosity, and asks straight out the question on the world's mind. "...was that a mouse or a monkey?" Because clearly that's the most important thing.

The Puella Magi and Sailor Senshi she's only fought beside - after a moment's thought, she summons her Elements in a flash of flame. Hopefully, those golden rings are distinctive enough to jog memories. The Magic Knight of Wind gets a nod, as does Cure Sunny; still, of those here it's Princess Runealy she knows best. "I...suppose that makes sense. This is still my first time actually visiting another world, though, so you'll have to forgive my being a bit flabberg-"

...did they just reach a snowstorm of paper? After pointing and staring a moment, she looks for confirmation that she's not seeing things...but everyone seems to be handling this better. Okay, fine, listen to the fairy thing. "Right. The Big Bad Wolf. So are we going to have to worry about it eating-" She's cut off by the staircase's sudden acceleration, flailing her hands for balance - and when there's a sudden end to the stairs, Mai is among those left in a groaning heap. Mai seems to have forgotten she could fly.

Sailor Mars is dragged along by the hand. Sailor Moon is way too happy when she is happy. But that's alright, she guesses. She's just some kind of opposite to the naturally stern and serious Mars after all. "Don't tell me to focus, you're the one not paying attention half of the time."

Bad End Kingdom... that sounds like a suspicious name too. She plugs her nose though, the stench getting to her, while she's pulled along by Moon "Don't get ahead of yourself, don't want to fall into some kind of trap." Like they usually end up in when following Moon anyway.

She ignores the mentions of making fun of speech impediments... She wasn't making fun of it after all. But who knows what Sailor Moon was doing.

And Chuchu will eat *all* your cooking, Kuniko. /All/ of it.

Over there is a cluster of faces that Anthy knows. Mami, Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Moon, and to a lesser extent, Sailor Mars... The Rose Bride regards the group with a steady, regal gaze; when she dips her head in greeting and acknowledgement to the group, one could have balanced a book on her head behind her crown and never seen it tip over.

When she straightens, she meets Moon's widening eyes, and responds with a gentle smile. She seems unperturbed by Mars' tickle attacks on Moon. To Mami, as she stops next to the Rose Bride, she murmurs, "It's reassuring to see you here, Mami-san."

Meanwhile, Runealy receives a somewhat shallower nod. To Homura is drawn a long, lingering look; should the Puella Magi notice or acknowledge her, the Rose Bride bequeaths unto her a slow smile. This is interrupted when Mai addresses her, and Anthy blinks her way. "Oh, do you mean Chuchu?" she says politely. ...she does not actually answer the question.

"Yes, Utena-sama," she says dutifully to her fiancee. When Pop leads the way down, Anthy follows after the pink-haired girl, the wide skirt of her red dress rustling against the edges of the staircase. She keeps close to Utena's back, and as the world melts away from them, revealing the warped fairy tale land, screams occasionally carrying on the wind, her expression takes on more of a worried cast. She clings very close indeed to her protector.

At the end of the journey, when the staircase suddenly accelerates and dumps them all off, she cries out and is flung down, too fast for her to even try to brace herself. A good thing that Utena is here too...

'Glad you're here. Both of you.'

It's nice to be acknowledged. That there are people who see Homura's attempts to help set things right and keep them in order are just that. In spite of her demeanor, her tools, and sometimes ... her actions. However if Princess Runealy was hoping for anything as nice as a smile or an appreciative nod she will be left wanting. Instead the violet Puella Magi's eyes flick over towards her and appraise her with a stern look. "I go where I am needed." The Puella Magi states calmly. "Be thankful that no one was foolish enough to allow Innocents into harm's way." Her tone hints the words 'this time', but they are left unsaid as much as who she was speaking about.

As it turns out the staircase is more of an escalator. Convenient! Though much like Pop, Homura isn't patient enough to wait as it takes her up at an elegant pace. Instead the Puella Magi's heeled feet continue to take her up.

'Oh my, how awful,'

Even if Homura cannot recognize the strange young woman in the flowing red dress, those words would be enough to send a chill down her spine. The violet Puella Magi glance back at both the Rose Bride and her Engaged. As usual her expression is difficult to read...

The group traverses the border between worlds, and arrives within the bounds of The Bad End Kingdom. An unpleasant place to be sure, and it seems the escalator agrees. Though Homura has not minded the creaking and seemingly unstable nature of the mode of transportation, it is altogether different when the thing tries to spit them all out unceremoniously. Thankfully in her characteristic style the violet Puella Magi manages to avoid being sent sprawling across the ground, and instead alights gracefully upon its surface. If perhaps taking a few steps to cancel her momentum.

'Ah---but, we're all here. We. Can handle this. R-right?'

Cure Peace's uncertainty rings through her voice. And though the Cure tries to put on a brave front soon afterwards, her following comment once again airs her nervousness. The Puella Magi raises her left hand so that her soul gem can light up, spreading bright purple light through the vicinity. She speaks with calm certainty: "We will handle this." And that is all there is to it.

Cure Peace looks to Fuu with a frown... "The...Bad End Kingdom. They're..." she tries to find the right words.. "Marchenland... is where the fairy tales live." she says, like this is a perfectly normal fact to lay down on someone. "The Bad End Kingdom want to bring a bad end to these stories and take away the 'Happily Ever Afters...' and replace them with a Bad End-- then bring a Bad End to Our World." she says. This is how she basically understands. She smiles as Pop reaffirms this. "See?...! "We're... the Cures in charge of making sure that doesn't happen!" she insists confidently. "Cure Happy, Cure Sunny, Cure Peace, Cure Beauty and Cure March!" she says with her arms in front of her, as if trying to Psyche herself up as she walks up the staircase. She looks kinda non-threating doing this, she's so incredibly short.

She looks to Cute Wolf Tsukiko. "Probably big... and- dangerous... and...big.." she reiterates again. She thinks on this and frowns, yeah that's not helping her confidence or bravery right now. "Maybe... they're related to Wolfrun..." she thinks on this a bit. She's kind of hoping not. The Big Bad Wolf is a lot scarier when he's real and you're the pig and there's no brick houses in sight...

She smiles at Sunny. "That's a good idea--- considering... the trick they played to get the Jewel." she says a bit sadly. She KNEW something seemed off about two Akanbe at once. She smiles at Beauty. "We'll do better, together!" she says insistently!

She frowns. "A..BIGGER, BADDER WOLF!?" she says with wide eyes. "Ah---but, we're all here. We. Can handle this. R-right?" she says softly as she looks around at everyone.

"I Mean.... right! We can." she says, trying to put up a tougher front.

Candy makes a face at Sailor Moon from Peace's shoulder. "You shouldn't make fun of Pop's speech!~kuru!" she says and sticks her tounge out. "Big Brother speaks perfectly fine!~Kuru!" she wiggles an accusing sheepy-paw at Sailor Moon and Mars. *wiggle*

Peace arrives up te gothic staircase and down into the dreary, fog ridden, foul smelling Bad End Kingdom. In a pile, with a loud 'Eeeeeeek!' and flail, into More or less what she imagined in her head. She frowns. "It's so... dark." she says worriedly. She'll follow along with the group.

It has to be her. But why is she--

Sailor Moon's attention is snatched away by Pops' address. "I wasn't--" but then there's a tiny sheep doing an accusing point at her and then she spins around to see who the sheep is pointing at and Tuxedo Mask is standing there and it couldn't be him so she looks back to confirm that she is the sheep-target and Mami is giving her that look.

Usagi cringes somehow smaller. She nods hurriedly at Mami's orders, rushing down the stairs into a suitably malicious change of scenery, studiously avoiding eye contact with anyone else as she does so.

A distracted Sailor Moon is the natural prey of wonky staircases. The blonde soldier tumbles down with a squeak, once again blessed (this is not her first time failing down stairs, not even on an adventure) by not being the first one to the bottom.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," she apologizes in a tiny voice, wiggling furiously to extract herself.

Princess Runealy pays keen attention to Pop along the way. "So Earth is... that sounds important." No sarcasm there, she finds this revelation about the Garden of Rainbows interesting. He seems cute, insightful, and practical; doubly so with the mention of scouting reports. "'If' it involves a fight. So there's a chance it won't? That would be good."

Then Rune gets a better view of the Bad End Kingdom, and gazes every which way in shock. "Is /this/ what the 'Worst End' would look like on any other world?" After the scream, "And what it would sound like?" That's a frightening idea; she envisions Tokyo like this, then her homeworld in much the same way. Making a hop upward as the staircase increases speed, she's ready for the end of the ride but nonetheless stumbles several steps to regain balance. This doesn't save her from the fog though, expression wrinkling as she struggles to breathe... and picks up on what Kuniko is doing to deal with it. "Huh? That's..." Rune takes the lemon slice, using it. "...That's better." Not ideal, but a huge improvement over what the mist normally offers to breathe. "Thanks!" Then to Fuu, "I'm not sure who Clarke is, but in this case it's more like technology is beyond what I knew magic could do."

And to Tsukiko: "It probably is. This whole place looks like it's against us." She paces over to offer Mai a hand up. "You alright? Going to another world, even a nicer one, is pretty scary at first." Then an over-shoulder look to Homura. "I am thankful, and you probably are needed here." Some things about Homura's demeanor are frightening to Rune, and things might be different if she knew the full breadth of the Puella Magi's actions... but with what Rune is aware of, Homura appears benign and thus welcome. Reassurances that they will handle this likewise find the princess to be a receptive audience, as Runealy is quite tense.

As Peace introduces her, she bows just a little, mostly to those whom she doesn't know within the large group. Beauty mostly nods in acknowledgement to Runealy, given that she would mostly echo her own thoughts. Her smile however is gracious to see her there. As they rose she spoke to Sunny, "Even with so many Sunny, it would be wise not to underestimate them in their kingdom." She comments, as she strides up the stairs past the clouds of tattered paper.

"A wolf that is a worse threat than Wolfrun." Beauty repeats to herself, her voice touched with wonder and disbelief. Even if Wolfrun frequently could act foolish, she did not underestimate his strength, cunning, and power. That the Bad End Kingdom had another more powerful Wolf in store disturbed her, even if her expression was unchanging.

There's no wince as Sunny falls, only a slight movement forward as she intends to outstretch a hand to help her up, which is when she falls as well from the sudden acceleration, sprawling out on top of her and Peace. She hurriedly states, "A-Ah my apologies Peace, Sunny!" She gets up, before offering a hand to each to try and help them both up. Only then does she dust herself off a little.

The Bad End Kingdom was even more disturbing than the thought of a greater wolf than Wolfrun. The weight of this place felt palpable, the gloom, the despair of the violet mist. Even the edifices themselves looked tortured, crooked, and twisted. The first scream that sounds, has her looking in it's direction, pausing as if to decide whether to act upon it. Ultimately, she does not. Looking towards Cure Muse, as Dodori speaks, Beauty takes in the sight of another Cure, before asking Dodori conversationally, "Do you speak for Cure Muse?" She doesn't ask why, however, noting how Cure Muse seperates herself from the others. But when the stench hits her, Beauty pauses, and observes what lay ahead. "Should we draw them out of their lair?"

The foreboding atmosphere of the Bad End Kingdom puts Utena a little on edge as they walk along the staircase; she's nervous about this, more than she'd care to admit. It's unfamiliar, and a little scary. On the other hand, that unease makes her more than ready to handle things when the staircase stops playing nice. At first, she retains her footing... but then she sees the plummeting Rose Bride, and a very different set of instincts kicks in.

Launching down toward her Bride, Utena manages to catch up with her again; without hesitation, she scoops her up into her arms, making a slightly rough -- but much safer -- landing.

"... Phew," she breathes, at the bottom. "You all right?" she asks, wincing as she realizes her landing took her down knee first.

There's a slight smile in return to Princess Runealy when Tuxedo Mask happens to catch her looking his way, but for the most part, he just follows along with everyone else, keeping close to the Sailor Senshi. And then--

--despite the urgency of the quest, despite the quick-moving crowd, they're surrounded by wonders. One white-gloved hand dusts against the rail for a moment, and Mamoru stares over the side, openmouthed. A sea of stars, a starscape of seas; fragments of paper bleeding words-- he reaches cloth-covered fingertips out for a half second, almost extending his hand.

Then he doesn't. He has to make himself focus, but it's not mindbendingly difficult: despite the fact that everything seems to point to fairytales and dreams, and it's another world entirely they're going to, they are going into danger. The sight of the Bad End Kingdom only brings this into sharp clarity. The smell of it drives the point home.

He glances toward Mami as she starts talking to Sailor Moon, spots the Rose Bride and stares for a half-second before frowning very slightly-- gets a brief glimpse of surprised-Usagi-face when she sees him there, and only has the chance to start looking faintly defensive--

Because all of a sudden it's speeding up. Eyes front, and there's the end approaching-- unceremoniously, Tuxedo Mask leaps. The ceremony comes in while he's in midair, because a twist and a tumble means he lands lightly on his feet, facing the pile of sprawling girls and brushing off his suit. He puts on his hat, locates a particular individual (guess), then makes sure he's not looking in her direction when she spots him because then there's the chance that he didn't see that landing.

He waits, this time, until everyone's getting to their feet and moving before he heads in the direction of the cave.

At the bottom, rather than the people-pile, the Rose Bride finds herself in the arms of the One Engaged. She blinks once, slowly, and gazes up at her. Those reactions, that instinct, the immediacy of her response... "Yes," she murmurs, green eyes unswerving. "Thank you, Utena-sama."

When they get up, she remains close to the pink-haired girl, but this time, her attention is drawn towards the cave and those discussing what to do. It's not her role to take action, only to follow those who do.

Some things are obvious even from the cave's edge.

Drip.

Drip.

The cave is wet.

Drip.

Drip.

The cave is dark.

Drip.

Drip.

The cave is smelly.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

"HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~mehh!"

It may be smelly for more than one reason, because while the gnawed bones strewn around atop carcasses of once-beautiful flowers aren't particularly sweet to the nose, there is nothing in this or any world more foul than the smell of wet goat.

Or wet goat fairy, as the case may be.

"HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~mehh!"

"CAN it, pipsqueak, no one can hear you bleat," growls a deep, rich, distinctly feminine voice, one with bloody undertones. The length and sharpness of her fangs is audible as her words shred the air.

"I'm yelling at /you/~mehh!! I feel sick~mehh, I'm think I'm going to... mehh..."

"Oh, for... NOT IN THE CAVE, you ingrate!" There's a clanging sound, harsh, rusty. A grate lifting, perhaps. "mehhh heheheheh!!" "YOU SNEAKY LITTLE -- GET BACK HERE --"

A tiny fairy with cloven hooves, cute little horns and a cuter little tail, all over in brown fur, sprints out of the cave.

An /enormous/ wolf, her white fur stained red around the mouth and claws, bursts out less than half a second behind her, picks her up by the nape of her neck, and hurls her over her head, back into the cave.

"Aiiiiiieeeeee~mehhh!"

"Billy-chan~de gozaru!" shouts Pop, horrified.

Then she plops down on her haunches, that restful position pretty clearly an insult to everyone in front of her, looks down with her baleful yellow eyes, and smirks, widely. Her wet black nose contains a disdainful sniff.

"Well, well, well... what have we here? A rescue? How... delicious." Her pink tongue snakes out to polish her gleaming white teeth. "And you've brought enough for company, too... that's very thoughtful of you all. Now I don't have to break into my private stores."

Glancing over her shoulder, she chins her guests outwards.

"HELLO!" "HELLO!" "HELLOOOOOO!!!"

Their artfully tattered violet capes sweeping behind them, Bassdrum, Baritone and Falsetto, better known as Trio the Minor, walk out of the cave to the sound of their own harmony.

"HEELLLLLLLOOOOOOO!!"

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname transforms into The Bigger, Badder Wolf!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 8 opponents!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor transforms into Bassdrum!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has fully healed itself. It is now ready to take on 7 opponents!

The Magic Knight of Wind ...

... bows politely to the four wolves, although without looking away from them. "I'm afraid we didn't actually come for dinner," she says as she straightens up, her tone politely apologetic. "So you needn't worry about feeding an army, if that was your concern. Consider this a business call, rather than a social one."

As the Wind Knight speaks, a gentle breeze stirs her skirt and hair; then the breeze grows more pronounced as she brings her left arm up. "Imashime no Kaze!" she calls, and the Winds of Admonishment race forth in an attempt to bind the nearest of the wolves - the one who already came out to meet them.

There's a certain irony in the back of Fuu's mind as she unleashes her spell: if any of these wolves are the one who huffed and puffed and blew little pigs' houses in, she's going to have her work seriously cut out for her.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Imashime no Kaze on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

"Oh yes," Mami replies to Kuniko, immediately recalling the rather lovely flavors of the beverage. "You really do have a gift for it; I usually prefer tea, but it really was just the thing for the moment. Was that... honey?" She has gracefully avoided any injury to her dignity on the part of the staircase, as is her way; Mami Tomoe is much too cool to join everyone else in the team-building experience of falling into one big pile.

Anthy's voice and way of addressing her clinch it, though that doesn't illuminate the situation any for Mami. "...I have to admit, I wouldn't expect to see you here. That's... a lovely dress." Beat, glance to Utena--Utena? Seeing the girl catch Anthy during the fall, Mami smiles over. She is not sure, entirely, what /to/ say though. It seems that Utena is already handling... everything. "Well--"

She's rescued by the shouts. Well, 'rescued'. Eyes widened, Mami lifts her rifle, only to see the terribly bloody wolf before them, huge and frightening, who has thrown away the goat and who has...

Friends?

Mami takes aim, this time with only one of her weapons. ...Though, for some reason, the barrel is much /larger/ than it was a moment ago. "You picked the wrong territory, Wolf-san."

Mami fires the rifle cannon.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Riding Hood's Revenge on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly counters Fuu Hououji's Imashime no Kaze, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Cripple and Trap applied to Madoka Kaname!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname's counterattack, Puff, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname perfectly dodges Mami Tomoe's Riding Hood's Revenge, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge!

It takes Mai a minute to extract herself from the heap of less-than-agile magical girls. The first thing to greet her eyes as she rises is Utena, holding her companion bridal-style, a dashing hero. Her immediate reaction: blush a bright crimson, turn away, and try to straighten out her skirt-

Oh. Great. Dashing hero in a tuxedo on this side. Anyone in the other direction? Anyone? Whew.

Once everyone has straightened themselves out, it's off to the cave. Mai's embarrassment and wonder at Marchenland quickly turn to disgust at the dark, wet, smelly cavern. "...okay, I am willing to believe that this world is more than just our stories, because I don't think any of the fairy tales mentioned places this disgusting. Bleh." Mai looks around some more - and the bones catch her eye. What sort of-

Something called for help. Mai whirls, sees the goat running - could it be so easy?...nope. That is one gigantic wolf. It plops down right in front of the party, and Mai outright stares at it as it talks. Still, amid the surprise, she can't help but comment. "...you know, I'm actually kind of relieved. Yes, there's a big bad wolf ready to eat us up...but at least if that happens it'll be literally."

And then...a barbershop trio. "I...what? You're...singing. You're singing fairy tale villains. I can't - you know what, I'm just going to hope this world isn't too flammable." And with that, Mai spins once and sends a torrent of flame to encase the singers.

...she wanted karaoke magical girl powers, dangit.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Infernal Prison on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

Runealy's helping Mai up! That's good! It means she can help Peace and Beauty up- "It's ok, it's ok-", and get a reeeealll goood look at... well, the stomping grounds of their personal nemeses. It really is a nasty place. Mess wherever you step.

"How disgusting," Sunny says, as if she's looking at a particularly intimidating looking bug with far too many legs or something. Big ol'... big ol' centipede, let's go with centipede. She gives Mai a glance of acknowledgement, to make sure she- and everyone else- are standing and ready to move.

She only now begins to consider the words other people are reflecting on- Wolfrun, the Bad End General who frightens her the most... and the idea that there's a worse monster than /the/ Big Bad Wolf. That is a despair-inducing thought... it's a good thing she's got other people who have her back, and friends and family at home to go back to, isn't it?

Yes, that's definitely the thoughts Akane uses to bouy herself up as she, having made their way to the cave, presumably sneaking and stealthily-- ends up basically just running right into this big big big BIG BIG (ok calm down) wolf due to unfortunate coincidence.

And boy, look at the /bones/...

...strangely, it's the appearence of a barbershop quartet-minus-one that actually helps snap her out of it, because wow, that really is a strange thing to encounter in a place like that.

"Billy...! Don't you dare manhandle someone like that, you overgrown bear trap!" Sunny shouts, giving the wolf the pointer finger. The best way to deal with your fears, are...

"C'mon, Peace! Let's clear the air a little!"

To make sure others around you are brave. Sunny gives Peace a confident, supporting gesture, so that the two Smile! Precure can get ready to scorch the smell out of the air!

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has used Smile! on Cure Peace.

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Peace accepts Cure Sunny's Smile!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cure Peace is Cheered! Surge applied to Cure Peace!

"This is a pretty big group, but that doesn't mean we're gonna be flexible enough," Kuniko answers Tsukiko, cryptically. She also looks over her shoulders as people start stumbling over, frowning. How the heck -

Well, either way. Oh, it's Tuxedo Mask. "H, hey," she says to him, during the wait for everyone to recombobulate. "Thanks, for the thing in Hokkaido." After this, she sort of stalks off, towards that looming cave entrance, at which point the smell - and sound - of a goat ring through the air.

She is momentarily distracted by the wise words of Mam(i). "Oh yeah, actually, it seemed like it fit. I'm glad I read you right." She trails off as the bleating turns into a beating and turns into...

Kuniko's head tilts upwards as the wolf licks her chops at them.

She stalks forwards, leaning into matters. Her body is tensing up. That outrage from the previous evening is coming back to her, and it feels kind of good, really. She moves towards the wolf even as guns fire and wind whips ahead of her. She's pretty close when she tilts her head up, stabbing a finger up at the creature.

"YOU! As a member of the Blue Ribbon it is my duty to protect the helpless mascots of this world from those who would misuse them, and that looked a lot like misuse to me!" She pulls out her paring knife...

And then pauses, looking at it, theatrically. Then back up to the wolf, with a crazed look in her eyes. "Oh wow," she says, "this is pretty DUMB of me... isn't it? Look at this little thing. Six centimeter blade and it's what I've got against you and your big bad teeth and your big bad wolf breath."

She sighs. It is obviously feigned. "Yeah, though," she says, glancing over her shoulder for a moment. "I guess I /should/ give up... do the sensible thing..."

The knife whips through a clove of garlic then and she slams her hand up to try and drive it up the wolf's nose, "BUT I'M REALLY ANGRY RIGHT NOW!!"

I'm getting bit, she thinks.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Fresh Slivered Garlic on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Kuniko Saito's Fresh Slivered Garlic, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Cripple applied to Madoka Kaname!

Normally Cure Beauty would sit back, and analyze the situation a little more. When she hears the initial bleating of the poor goat fairy. She realizes there is not time. Billy-chan had made her bid for escape, and if they did not act... then there might be little left of her.

She initially surged forward as the White Wolf turned to taunt them, until the Trio Minor appeared, pausing so abruptly that a little bit of mud was kicked up from the cave floor. The air in the cave in close proximity to her grows more chill, as suddenly a blade of gleaming ice forms out of one of the puddles, point downward. Wrenching it forth from the hilt, she waves it, causing trails of snow flakes shaped a little like azure hearts to pick up. "I'm sorry to disappoint. But our story does not end in your belly. Let's go, Sunny, Peace!" Raising it parallel to her head, she rushed forward, with a quick light slash at one of her legs. An attempt to hamper its movement with the formation of a bit of ice.

Cure Peace frowns and looks to the cave with everyone else as she's helped up. "Ah--thanks Beauty---". Then sounds eminate. Talking!? She huffs and takes a few steps forward. She blinks confusedly as she looks down to Pop, then a sound of a grate opening. "Ah---!? Billy-Chan!!!!" she calls out. "Leave him alone! He's not your dinner! You...you----" she sort of falters as she just tosses the goat backwards. That is one big, bad horrific well fed wolf.

Then she introduces three, singing 'Guests'. She's not familar with these three. Are they from another story? The Three Evil Tenors? The Three Terrible Tenors!?

That's it. She's SURE of it. THE THREE TERRIBLE TENORS.

"Ah--you won't..." she thinks really hard to think of some sort of dinner related speech! "..won't need to set out any dinner plates! Because, we're not on the menu!" she says.

She looks to Sunny, smiles back with a curt nod. "Right, Sunny!... let's.. show this wolf who's---"

"Nrgg. the leader of the pack?" she says with a blush as if it hurt to say that wolf related pun-like sentence. "Ah--was that a good one!?" she asks Sunny and Beauty, as she looks at the Wolf and with a wide eyed look of determination fires off a bolt of lightning.

Also Candy is now hiding behind Peace somewhere.

She is deathly afraid of that wolf.

Princess Runealy presses her lemon-slice even closer to nose, hoping desperately that it will do /something/ about the smells coming from this cave. And it does to some extent; Kuniko's idea was very clever. Yet calls for help get her adrenaline flowing, and ultimately that's what makes the smell bearable. Billy's escape offers a moment's encouragement, one that turns to shock when the goat-fairy is flung back inside. Rune stares at the wolf. "Private stores? What do you mea--" The red stains give a pretty good idea what that means. Her mind flashes with a visual of... being a wolf's meal. A wolf that is big enough and likely vicious enough to make that happen. A cold fear lances through the princess...

...though it's replaced by uncertainty as the trio arrive. Are they even enemies? They seem to be, as the wolf appears to be directing them. "'Hello', huh? Don't know whether you're being polite, relaxed, or mocking us... but if you're here to keep someone trapped and terrified, then...!" Wand aimed at Bassdrum, Rune begins running in an arc around the area and makes an aggressive shout! This creates a green energy ball that flies toward him. Whether it strikes Bassdrum or somewhere else, it detonates into sparkles on impact and releases a set of swirling white arcane symbols that try to wrap arms, to hinder any defensive gestures!

As it flies, Rune calls out to Mai: "Keep your guard up! Noise can be used to fight too!" Her hearing recalls, all too painfully, evidence of just that happening all too recently.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has used Empowering Bolt on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has used Drifting Snow Slash on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking.

Tsukiko's eyes widen at the sight of the huge wolf. Okay, that's... fairly impressive, really. Rather vicious-looking, too.

And then she sees Bassdrum and the rest of Trio the Minor, and her eyes narrow. "Looks like it's time for a rematch!" she calls at them, a fighter's smile starting to cross her face. "And I'm not going to go down as easily as I did last time!"

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Bark! on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Rune Blast on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.

"Thank you," Anthy says to Mami, tilting her head to one side as she smiles, eyes shut. She says nothing in regards to why she's here, though. Perhaps that's a conversation for another time. Certainly this isn't the time or place for that.

Especially not as a very big, very bad wolf grabs the goat fairy, then sneers at all of them to musical accompaniment. Anthy gasps in apparent horror. "Utena-sama!" she cries, cringing back behind her fiancee.

But surely it will be all right. Utena already effortlessly saved Anthy once, just a moment ago. It's that strength that she attempts to convey: the remind Utena of her desire to be a Prince, of whom she must protect.

COMBAT: Anthy Himemiya has used Damsel In Distress on Utena Tenjou.

COMBAT: Anthy Himemiya has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly counters Cure Beauty's Drifting Snow Slash, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Cure Beauty is Psyched! Trap applied to Madoka Kaname!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname's counterattack, What Big Teeth You Have, partially gets through, doing 14 Fatigue damage to Cure Beauty!

COMBAT: Cure Peace has cancelled their attack on Madoka Kaname. If there are more attacks that need to be +cancelled, please hold all +attacks until the process is complete.

The cave is indeed quite wet, quite dark, and quite smelly, even Homura Akemi would agree to that. However she's not the sort to let an unpleasant situation chase her off from achieving her goal. Perhaps there was a time where she was set out before a cave much like this one. And in that case she had to stumble through the cold, the wet, and the dark to find her objective. Perhaps she was with a friend. Perhaps she was alone. Perhaps...

... but this time things are different.

This time it is Billy who takes the initiative. The tiny goat fairy takes the initiative, and using guile very nearly manages to effect an escape. Homura is surprised. Perhaps things will go easily this time. Unfortunately though the Bigger Badder Wolf decides to put her paw down and stop the kidnapping from descending into a farce.

How tragic.

Homura stands beside the tangled failpile as they slowly work at detangling themselves. She allows the pale purple light from the jewel upon the back of her left hand to fade as she sighs. Then the light suddenly intensifies as the jewel upon her left hand fires a bolt of magical energy directly at one of the Wolf's eyes! Not her most powerful attack by far, but the ability to fire a bright bolt of energy still has its uses.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Magic Arrow on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has used Empowering Bolt on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Cure Peace's Empowering Bolt, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cure Peace is Psyched!

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou accepts Anthy Himemiya's Damsel In Distress, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Withstand applied to Utena Tenjou!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to brace Homura Akemi's Magic Arrow, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi is Psyched!

That is a lot of stuff going on, right there. Tuxedo Mask sidesteps away from the mouth of the cave, and then when things progress to the point of harmonic villains, he finally gets an expression that's blindingly clear even with the half-opaque mask over his eyes: indignation. Leaping up to a rock a few feet higher up the mountain, he lifts his cane and yells out, "Villains who use the sweet art of harmonic vocal expression to bolster the foul trespasses of a bully who apparently consumes sentient life, I won't forgive you!"

He jumps off, wielding the cane like a sword, and slashes toward Baritone as he sails through the air. "What's more, you're a quarter of a step flat!"

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Junction Railroading Attack on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.

Well looks like this is where the problems start. A trio of... noisy ones, from the looks of it. She urghs. She likes to sing, but she wishes she could be tonedeaf when she hears those voices in unison like that. "Alright, I'm not throwing myself at them like last time, I feel like I'm in a rather bad streak recently. So Moon..." She looks at her "Don't do anything stupid." ~_~

Meanwhile, she puts a hand on Moon's shoulder and surrounds her with the fiery shield she gave her last time too. She's starting things slow, gauging the opponent's strenght. She doesn't know what to expect after all.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Flame Veil on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Sailor Mars's Flame Veil, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Withstand applied to Sailor Moon!

Sailor Moon is not a graceful person. Even though she was the last onto the pile and the first to start trying to wriggle away, she is also the last to actually get back to her feet. This means she joins the pre-dinner theater halfway in, freezing in her position of safety amongst the other magical girls.

The size of the big bad wolf scares away all the blood in her face, leaving her pale and stricken, clutching her transformation brooch. "Moon stick!" she shouts impulsively, using both hands to grab the spinning crescent-tipped wand out of the puff of sparkles it appears in. Then that too is clasped to her chest, right as--those guys walk out. Those guys from the park.

A little bit of her magical girl and magical jerk relationship chart is filled in within her mind. She never was very good at tracking down all the file completion stuff.

The first trades are taken in earnest, and Sailor Moon just has to find an opening--there! No, too late. She can rush in there! No, hesitated. There! That's not even close to a good idea. Any second now she'll find her chance.

Usagi almost leaps fully off the ground when Rei puts a hand on her shoulder. She forces a sharp, short laugh at the advice, only relaxing a little bit within the swirling fire. "I, um--I'll be extra cautious!"

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used I Won't Forgive Anyone Who Mocks Mascots on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Sailor Moon's I Won't Forgive Anyone Who Mocks Mascots, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Taunted!

The goat fairy's distress grabs Utena's attention, once it's grabbable -- and Himemiya's distress grabs it even harder. In the moment, she allows herself to buy into her own hype, just a little bit -- to imagine herself as the protector, as the one who's going to save everyone. It's a nice moment.

As Trio the Minor likewise step forward, Utena decides that the best thing she can do is focus on them; the wolf seems fairly well in hand, and Trio the Minor are no less a threat. She steps forward, blade in hand, ready to wield the power that brings world revolution.

Her opening gambit, such as it is, is mostly simple and straightforward, though no less deadly for it; Utena steps in with a direct, overpowering slash, hoping to drive off at least one of the harmonizing trio in short order.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has used Someone Who Can Exercise Power on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has finished attacking.

The Bigger, Badder Wolf's smirk widens. Kids these days -- handing you straight lines like that. It's almost more considerate than the bow.

"Oh kiddo, you're not here for dinner... you're here, for dinner."

There is no irony whatsoever as she draws back, sitting up further, and does indeed blow the worst of the whirlwind straight out of the air with a calm, composed, malicious blast of DOG BREATH.

It's awful.

And then she leaps, her white fur black against the brightness of that enormous, vile moon, gracefully avoiding Mami's enormous rifle cannon blast. In midair, she remarks gleefully, "You must be joking. The way this place attracts prey -- I obviously picked the right one." She comes down claws-first, trying to knock the Puella Magi head over heels.

Chef Kuniko's right there, and the garlic does, indeed, go straight up her nose. Her tail bushes up, then twitches. She sneezes it out, extends her tongue to catch it in midair, and swallows it. 'I'm gonna bite you,' she thinks. "Not bad technique, but I think that hefty amount of aromatic would be best accompanied by a little goat -- or maybe a little girl." Her jaws snap, trying to get a little taste of the Creme de la Creme.

Whether or not she draws blood on Kuniko, the Bigger, Badder Wolf definitely interposes her teeth on that ice blade of Cure Beauty's, snapping at it gleefully as though it's a popsicle, then again at its wielder for good measure. "Oof, brain freeze..." she complains, just as Cure Peace shocks her with a bolt of lightning and Homura blasts her with violet light. She sizzles, smoke coming from the tip of her big black nose, and sneezes again, hard enough to quite possibly blow the yellow Precure and purple Puella Magi off their feet.

It's hard to say if she's grudging or appreciative when she remarks, a beat later, "Heh. You're all pretty decent prey, at least. I do love a good chase... helps me work up an appetite."

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Huff on Fuu Hououji.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used What Big Claws You Have on Mami Tomoe.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used What Big Teeth You Have on Kuniko Saito.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used What Big Teeth You Have on Cure Beauty.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Huff on Cure Peace.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Puff on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Dinner Conversation on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Dinner Conversation on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Dinner Conversation, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars is Quipped! Sailor Mars's Fade ability activates! Sailor Mars's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Puff, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates! Tangle and Trap applied to Homura Akemi!

COMBAT: Sailor Moon narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Dinner Conversation, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Quipped! Sailor Moon's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji perfectly dodges Madoka Kaname's Huff, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Cure Peace narrowly braces Madoka Kaname's Huff, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stagger and Stun applied to Cure Peace!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe perfectly dodges Madoka Kaname's What Big Claws You Have, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Mami Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Mami Tomoe's Flash ability activates! Bind Break! All of Madoka Kaname's debuffs are cleared!

COMBAT: Cure Beauty narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's What Big Teeth You Have, taking 10 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito narrowly braces Madoka Kaname's What Big Teeth You Have, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Kuniko Saito's Block ability activates! Kuniko Saito's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor perfectly braces Mai Tokiha's Infernal Prison, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Trio the Minor's Block ability activates! Trio the Minor's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor narrowly dodges Princess Runealy's Rune Blast, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy is Psyched! Stun applied to Trio the Minor!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor perfectly counters Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Bark!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter! Trio the Minor's Reverse ability activates! Trio the Minor's Tactician ability activates!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor's counterattack, Baritone Rock Punch, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cute Wolf Tsukiko!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor fails to brace Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Junction Railroading Attack, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Tuxedo Mask is Psyched! Stagger applied to Trio the Minor!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor fails to dodge Utena Tenjou's Someone Who Can Exercise Power, taking 30 Fatigue damage!

Yay, Akane's an enabler.

An enabler of awful puns, I grant you, but we take what we can get.

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Sunny decides, because that was a pretty good pun there! Unfortunately, it looks like this is going to be a war of words as well as wiles, because this is apparently a wolf who can talk and decided they liked it so much that they were going to do it as much as possible.

"Alright, let's get it on," Sunny declares. "You're such a /blowhard/, though!"

Under the circumstances, there's only one thing to do. Especially since so many of her allies are the sort to fight from a distance, and Kuniko is the only one getting up close and personal, it'd be remiss to not help her out! Someone's gotta!

So, through the smoke and stink, Cure Sunny breaks out into a bird-armed run, shouting "ORAAAA!"

And when she gets close enough, what do we do?

>> Punch in snout to establish superiority

Possibly more than once!

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has used Precure Pummel on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has finished attacking.

Yep. It *is* that wolf, apparently.

That's all Fuu gives herself time to think as she sees the big mama (?) wolf inhaling - and then the Wind Knight leaps away, ahead of the gust of ungodly stench that would probably have sent her flying. At least the Winds of Admonishment weren't entirely countered by it, as far as she can see. It's a useful starting advantage - and it reassures her, somewhat, that her wind magic might well stand up to this beast's supernatural lungpower.

The Magic Knight of Wind alights on an outcropping from her leap, bow and quiver materializing, and she wastes no time in pulling an arrow from the latter, nocking it to the former's string, and drawing back, sighting down the shaft.

Feather and arrowhead and target align briefly ... align again ... and she looses the arrow at what feels like the correct instant. Aiming for the eye or the nose is too chancy; she's trying to put this through wolf-san's ear.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Trick Arrow Shot on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly counters Cure Sunny's Precure Pummel, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Madoka Kaname!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname's counterattack, What Big Teeth You Have, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cure Sunny!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Fuu Hououji's Trick Arrow Shot, taking 4 Fatigue damage!

A successful strike! Though unfortunately, as suggested, the magical burst of energy from Homura's gem did not do much more than sizzle upon the thick fur of the Bigger Badder Wolf. Worse it seems to get into the beast's nose and inspire a mighty sneeze that blows Homura off her feet! The violet Puella Magi manages to tuck and roll in an attempt to land gracefully, as she had demonstrated on the escalator earlier...

... unfortunately she ends up landing awkwardly instead. Her ankle is twisted, and she is briefly forced down to one knee. She doesn't remain that way for long however.

With a slight wince the violet Puella Magi rises again to her feet. Her recovery is punctuated by another artful flipping of her hair with her right hand, while she raises her left hand again. She doesn't move, but there is a sudden rush of light and sound from around her as numerous tiny metal projectiles appear in the air near her and rush toward the Bigger Badder Wolf! So tiny and so fast that it's hard to tell she attacked at all.

That is, unless, you happen to be on the receiving end of all those bullets.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Carbine Assault on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.

Kuniko wonders what brought her to these decisions in her life, silently, as magic rips around her. She grimaces; she can smell wolf, and goat, and more besides, and none of it is good.

And wolf BREATH... and then...

• hompf*

Kuniko's legs kick outside of the wolf's mouth. The teeth dig down, but the protective cloth of her whites is enough to spare her from a bloody puncture. She bruises, though, around the waist, and lands on the ground, having gone partly limp.

She is coated with wolf slobber. And she lost her new toque, too.

Bullets run overhead as Kuniko silently struggles for words for a full second - another - a third second... and then, with a scream, she lobs a handful of dolma up, aiming for that gaping maw. "YOU--!!"

"Give me back that hat!!"

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Yalanci Dolma on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.

The enormous jaws of the Wolf snap at her blade, and it shatters into pieces of ice, most of it melting in the beast's hot breath. Beauty's eyes widen as she only barely ducks beneath the next snap of the monstrous wolf's jaws. It was such a close call, that she feels flecks of saliva upon her azure hair. Leaping backwards, sliding upon the wet floor of the cave. "That is why one should not be so hasty eating a chilled dessert." She couldn't make a mistake here. One mistake would end her against such a creature. She dropped the now useless hilt of the ice blade.

But she doesn't form a new one. Instead she tries to capitalize on what she 'thinks' might be an opening with the giant wolf as Sunny makes her move to establish dominance. "Take care, Sunny!" Their movements were not synchronized as she leaps to try to strike one of the Wolf's shoulder joints with a knife hand strike using the knuckle of her pinky finger against where she believes the pressure point is.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has used Shuto Strike on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking.

Though her discussion is cut off for now, Mami at least does seem rather excited about the culinary conversation. She nods brightly to Kuniko, but that seems to be about it for the moment. Mami, too, is concerned with the wolf before them, after all. As she should be; the blast of her rifle goes straight through the air, brutally punishing the fog... and completely missing her target.

The wolf's logic is sound, to be sure. All the same, the Puella Magi leans backward, and in fact seems to entirely fall... except for the part where instead, she spins out of the way, hopping to her feet only after the wolf's attack is committed and not against her. She sees garlic--

Her eyes move to Utena and Anthy, just for another moment, before the talk of prey and appetites brings her vision back. "Working up a healthy appetite is something good people can value--it helps them appreciate the work that goes into the food they're about to enjoy!"

"I won't let a monster like you mock that!" From the ground erupts, in a shower of dust, a half-ring of new muskets, all pointed directly at the biggest, baddest wolf to the tune of the Trio's music. "Tiro...Circle!"

It gets loud.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Circle on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

Bassdrum, Baritone, and Falsetto stand there belting out the background music for a while, all but daring people to move against them. They get that; Mai lashes out at them with her fire powers, a lash of flame seeking to entrap them. They, collectively, stop singing to take a deep breath...

During which Bassdrum, the huge one, sucks in air with such incredible force that he slurps up Mai's flaming torrents, sucking the air out of the fire, and the fire out of the air! "GA HA HA! You're not the spiciest critic I've ever dealt with!" Bassdrum crows. "Don't underestimate the incredible melodies of--"

"TRIOOOOO THEEEEEE MINOOOOOOR!"

They belt it out at full, insulting volume, and then immediately launch in three different directions, scattering away from Runealy's rune blast. Baritone, the blue-haired prettyboy, lands right in front of Cute Wolf Tsukiko, smiling dashingly. "You've got a lot of spirit, pup," he declares. And then punches her in the neck, just enough to paralyze her vocal cords and keep her from sassing him so much. "But you know, you can't compete with...o/` A TRAINED VOCALIIIIIIIST~ o/`"

>"TRAINED SINGEEEEEERS! o/`"

Unfortunately, while they're posturing, Tuxedo Mask swings down and clobbers Baritone for his confidence, and at the same time, Utena swoops in, finding her locked in with the heavyset Bassdrum! "You're a sharp one eh??" he taunts. "But I know all about dealing with swords!"

He then attempts to deal with the sword by slamming Utena in the face with his fist, which is the size of her head. Baritone, seething in Tuxedo Mask's direction, throws up his hand - and emits a blast of raw magic, an invisible shockwave fit to knock him clear across the field!

As for the other three - Falsetto has set his place nearby, and opens his mouth wide. He hems, hums, "Hum hum hem HEMMMM!" to test his vocal cords - and then sings.

But it isn't the three-part harmonies the three have used so far. A terrible melody, a sonic wave of despair, rips across the field. The very dust and grasses turn brittle and ashen in its reach - so imagine what it can do to human hearts...?

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Bam Bam Smash Smash on Utena Tenjou.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Once More With Feeling on Tuxedo Mask.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Bolero of Bummer on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Bolero of Bummer on Princess Runealy.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Bolero of Bummer on Mai Tokiha.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has finished attacking.

Cure Peace is huffed...and puffed and blown down like a house of straw or sticks. She flails a bit. "Ahha!" she yelps out, wide eyed a moment before she gets herself to her feet, having done her best to tuck and roll--- she came out no more worse for wear save her now unsteady footing. She frowns a little as she closes her eyes and steels herself. "Sunny, be careful! Keep, keep it up!" she says as best as she can, smiling for her friend! "You can show that wolf who's boss! Who's the top dog! Who's best in show...! I---i'm going overboard aren't I.." she says suddenly worriedly.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has used Smile! Smile! Smile! on Cure Sunny.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko narrowly dodges Trio the Minor's Bolero of Bummer, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Flash ability activates! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is Taunted!

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask narrowly dodges Trio the Minor's Once More With Feeling, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Trio the Minor is Psyched! Tuxedo Mask's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou narrowly dodges Trio the Minor's Bam Bam Smash Smash, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Utena Tenjou's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly braces Trio the Minor's Bolero of Bummer, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Mai Tokiha's Block ability activates! Mai Tokiha is Taunted!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy narrowly counters Trio the Minor's Bolero of Bummer, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy's Tactician ability activates! Princess Runealy is Taunted!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy's counterattack, Aegis Burst, partially gets through, doing 10 Fatigue damage to Trio the Minor!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Homura Akemi's Carbine Assault, taking 21 Fatigue damage!

Sailor Mars acks, jumping out of the way when the wolf comes fangs out at the two Senshis. She gives Moon a push out of the way, but both of them get grazed. Rolling off the ground, she moves back to her knees and then her feet, drawing up the fire energies between her hands "Bad doggies need to be taught out to play nice it seems. Let's tame this one, Sailor Moon!"

Throwing her hands in front of her, the flames are released, a small flamethrower kind of attack with a spiraling fire cylinder aimed at the big bad wolf. "Youma Taisan!" Shinto tantras and charms mixing up with the fire powers aiming to make the monster's day worse.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Youma Taisan! on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to brace Kuniko Saito's Yalanci Dolma, taking 9 Fatigue damage!

Tuxedo Mask's in the process of leaping away from Baritone-- but the guy's fast, and that's raw magic. He takes the blast in the side, overbalances, and lands hard, skidding a little ways. When he looks up and starts picking himself up, he sees Sailor Moon just sort of standing there, looking like she's not where to attack or what to do, and he jams his hat back on his head. "Hang in there, Sailor Moon! Just fight what's in front of you, don't mind anything else!" he calls over to her, voice a solid line through the noise and chaos.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Inspirational Monologuing! on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Tuxedo Mask's Inspirational Monologuing!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cleanse! All of Sailor Moon's debuffs are cleared!

Tsukiko coughs as she rolls away from the punch, trying to convince her vocal chords to not go hoarse. The vibrations of the Trio's attack, while not quite the same as that one fight, are nevertheless a bit too familiar.

The wolfgirl sizes up the fight, trying to determine where her efforts would work best. Perhaps... an assist from a different direction?

"Sailor Mars!" she calls out, voice slightly rapsy as she runs a hand through her hair and charges a strand, which she then flicks. "Wolf's Blessing!"

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Wolf's Blessing on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars accepts Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Wolf's Blessing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Surge applied to Sailor Mars!

That is one big, bad wolf. Mai's much happier focusing on the trio - a couple of her fellow:COMBATants seem to recognize them, so presumably they'll have some idea how they can be beaten. That tuxedo-clad man joins Utena in attacking directly, and Mai finds herself fistpumping at Tuxedo Masks's speech. "Right! Karaoke's supposed to be fun, not for evil!...oh god I can't believe I just said that."

And then one of them EATS the fire. What. Mai turns to Runealy, and points at Baritone, speechless. This means she's not looking when they sing in three-part harmony, and barely turns in time for Falsetto's song of despair. Her rings flash for a moment as the sound wave rolls past her, but...what are these things?

Mai moves near Runealy. "...I think your magic's a bit more effective here than my fire, if they can just do that." Her face scrunches up. "...I think they're better singers than me, too." Mai's Element spins, sending a trickle of flame to dance around Princess Runealy - the warmth and light should at least ward off the worst of this cave.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Affectionate Inferno on Princess Runealy.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy accepts Mai Tokiha's Affectionate Inferno, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy is Cheered! Cleanse! All of Princess Runealy's debuffs are cleared!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly counters Cure Beauty's Shuto Strike, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Madoka Kaname!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname's counterattack, What Big Teeth You Have, partially gets through, doing 36 Fatigue damage to Cure Beauty! Critical Counterhit!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname perfectly dodges Mami Tomoe's Tiro Circle, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to brace Sailor Mars's Youma Taisan!, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars is Psyched!

"Utena-sama!" Anthy calls, but this time with apparent awe in her voice, as the pink-haired girl dives in for a righteous sword stroke against Trio the Minor. While it's not an unimpressive attack, though, Bassdrum returns her efforts with a fist to the face. "Utena-sama!!" she repeats, this time in horror, but hangs back so as not to interfere with the Champion's fight. For a moment there, though, she may look vulnerable and afraid to someone looking on. Someone who might want to protect her. Someone who happens to glance over at just that moment, at her and Utena back.

Someone like Mami.

But will that bolster her or not...?

COMBAT: Anthy Himemiya has used Damsel In Distress on Mami Tomoe.

COMBAT: Anthy Himemiya has finished attacking.

Princess Runealy gets to learn some interesting things all in a row. First is that Tuxedo Mask is more than willing to share, in eloquent language, just what he thinks of the threats before them. And Sailor Moon doesn't seem to be quite herself right now; Rune associates her with bold defiance against evil, of being quick to move and quick to strike... now Moon hesitates? Odd. She'll have to keep an eye on that, but ultimately Sailor Mars is closer and likely better suited to helping out.

The Trio demand Runealy's attention here and now, anyway. They just /inhaled fire./ That's the reverse of how that exhibition trick usually goes! Rune quickly goes over what she knows: They can take in fire (and possibly other things?), they can fight with sound, they move reasonably quickly, and can fight up close. Plus there are three of them, and they act in such obvious concert that she has to assume their teamwork is excellent.

Falsetto prepares his performance. Rune preemptively surrounds herself in a red energy dome, and it does a fine job shielding her against the soundwave itself; the barrier ripples but holds. While it shielded her from the physical effects, the mental ones transcend forcefields. The awful noise and its effect on the environment find hold in her emotions, starting to drag her down as Rune envisions this sort of ruin spreading elsewhere. A shout torn between desperation and anger collapses her barrier, turning it into a thin beam sent at Falsetto!

Then Mai is by her. "You said it, but it's true. Say it as many times as you need to..." This is weak, hurt agreement about karaoke. Then fire begins orbiting Rune, drawing her attention. It's a spark, a small thing... but symbolic and warm. "Maybe they're better singers." Warm and helping her narrow despair into confident aggression. "Are they better people, though? Think about that..." Rune's sentence trails off, giving way to another shout!

This one is firmer, willful and reflective of Mai's fire hovering around the princess. Her wand points at Baritone; she saw the punch he gave to Tsukiko. Another green magic-ball flies, but this one splits apart in mid-air. It becomes a stream of tiny sparkles, dozens of projectiles trying to pepper him!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Scatter Orb on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.

Sailor Moon leans backward into Sailor Mars' hand, at least, where Sailor Mars' hand was. She's never been afraid of dogs, but this thing is just so big that it makes her heart pound. The only thing stopping her from picking 'flight' right now is the weight of the lunar scepter in her hands.

It reminds her.

"What?!" --it's just Rei-- "Um, right!" Usagi stumbles and very nearly trips, but eagerly follows the path Mars has taken. She keeps the soldier of passion on her left while holding her crescent wand as a defensive charm on her right. The flamethrower gives her a chance to breath, and she finally spreads her feet to take a defensive stance like Makoto taught her.

Free time means a wandering mind, when she's in a mood like this. Sailor Moon turns to watch--Mami in furious, the mysterious raven-haired shield Magi keeping up pace for pace. And Mami is looking at Anthy, in that princess dress dress, and that duelist who is--no. Is that Utena? How did she never notice it before? She's so like--Tuxedo Mask, whose words cut her distraction like a thorn.

"Tuxedo-sama! I--right! Focus on what's in front of me!"

First person style battle mode only! Focus on that! Sailor Moon raises her wand, adding it to Mars' fiery rebuke. A stream of moonlight is cast over the flames, still silver despite the fire's bright glow.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Usagi Tsukino's Modest Backup on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe accepts Anthy Himemiya's Damsel In Distress, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe is Cheered! Withstand applied to Mami Tomoe!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to brace Sailor Moon's Usagi Tsukino's Modest Backup, taking 11 Fatigue damage!

"At least I'm not all bark and no bite," the Bigger, Badder Wolf rejoins fairly cheerfully when Cure Sunny calls her a blowhard, obligingly lifting her chin so that the Precure will punch her in the fang instead of the snout. No blood is drawn in either direction, but it's a lot less pleasant on the knuckles than that soft puppy nose -- those teeth are far harder than steel. And far sharper, too, as she fast discovers first (but hopefully not no-) hand.

The Magic Knight of Wind's arrow bounces off the wolf's ear without any particular effect beyond a rippling of fur. Smirking at Fuu, she blows the girl another awful-smelling kiss. Right about then, some /bullets/ obligingly go through the Bigger, Badder Wolf's ear, and she snarls with pain -- and leaps up into the air again, trying to come down on Homura claws-first.

She gets a mouthful of dolma instead, and obligingly swallows, and even more helpfully digs around between her teeth with her tongue, and--

• ptoo*

One hat, just as ordered. It's painful to look at, all tattered and slobbery.

The she-wolf grins. Cure Beauty runs up and tries to jab her, and she grins all the harder, probably with some piece of the Precure's costume within her teeth. At least it's an effective diversion; Sailor Mars scorches her badly, Sailor Moon pummels her with moonlight, and she snarls, that grin gone at last.

Mami Tomoe, however, requires and receives her full attention, as she once again leaps out of the way of those terrifying rifles, up and over the half-circle. As she descends, she exhales once again with that noxious breath.

"Truly, Billy-chan must have suffered terribly~de gorazu." Pop hangs his head, sadly.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used What Big Teeth You Have on Cure Sunny.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Puff on Fuu Hououji.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used What Big Claws You Have on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used *ptoo* on Kuniko Saito.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Puff on Cure Beauty.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Puff on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Puff on Mami Tomoe.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Puff on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars fails to dodge Madoka Kaname's Puff, taking 23 Fatigue damage! Tangle and Trap applied to Sailor Mars!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito narrowly counters Madoka Kaname's *ptoo*, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname is Psyched! Kuniko Saito's Reverse ability activates!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito's counterattack, Knife Skills, partially gets through, doing 20 Fatigue damage to Madoka Kaname!

COMBAT: Sailor Moon narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Puff, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Moon's Flash ability activates! Diversion, Tangle, and Trap applied to Sailor Moon!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe fails to counter Madoka Kaname's Puff, taking 30 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Diversion and Trap applied to Mami Tomoe!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe's counterattack, Legare, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Madoka Kaname!

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to brace Madoka Kaname's Puff, taking 36 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Tangle and Trap applied to Fuu Hououji!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi fails to brace Madoka Kaname's What Big Claws You Have, taking 32 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Cure Beauty narrowly counters Madoka Kaname's Puff, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cure Beauty's Tactician ability activates! Diversion, Tangle, and Trap applied to Cure Beauty!

COMBAT: Cure Beauty's counterattack, Icicle Throw, partially gets through, doing 5 Fatigue damage to Madoka Kaname!

COMBAT: Cure Sunny accepts Cure Peace's Smile! Smile! Smile!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower applied to Cure Sunny!

The wave of despair makes Utena wince -- but that in turn only makes her redouble her efforts, tightening up her footing and getting ready to swing a second time. There's not a whole lot she can say in the face of trained vocalists -- anything she does say will probably get drowned out in the sheer force of the sound.

Still eager not only to save the goat but to protect the Rose Bride, Utena moves toward Falsetto, whose recent terrible melody has made him something of a target in her mind; anything that awful becomes a priority. She steps in with a quick two-part strike -- first a thrust, then a quick followup slash.

As she finishes her second maneuver, she glances back toward Himemiya -- and toward Mami -- as if to indicate that, despite her growing fatigue, she's still fine.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has used Princely Strike on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Sunny fails to brace Madoka Kaname's What Big Teeth You Have, taking 35 Fatigue damage!

Mami fires, and fires, and keeps firing; her supply of weaponry seems inexhaustible, and though she has kept the big Wolf's attention, she hasn't managed to strike any telling blows. As her attack is evaded once more by that predator's graceful movement, she hurls out magic, a ribbon right for the wolf, to hold er down and block that awful breath to boot--but something about it is just so vile that her ribbons rot in mid-air, becoming just another part of the dreary landscape.

The distress begins to crack through her expression, just for a moment--and in the same moment, she does see Anthy looking at her. Anthy, who is afraid, and watching. ...And then Utena, still going too.

Her eyes narrow. "I won't be left behind!" she calls gamely to Utena, her bravado already returning. She calls up another rifle, aiming right for the wolf's snout-

But doesn't fire it. Instead, her left hand snaps outward, and something nearly-invisible snaps with it--tiny, thin, and yellow, a length of ribbon that might just be a trick of the light... except for the part where it's sharp enough to cut steel, and aimed to curl about one of those giant paws.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tagliare on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

"Oh yeah, well let's see how things go when /you're/ all bark and no bite!" Sunny shouts back! It's like punching a brick wall, but even bricks crumble if you hit them enough! She's going to de-fang this wolf, and with a little he-

CHOMP

And all of a sudden in one big scooping bite, Sunny finds herself, along with Beauty, inside the wolf's mouth, a forest of teeth. She's forced to slam her hands on the roof of its mouth- and it doesn't entirely succeed. Both of the Cures are going to find themselves chewed up and spat out...

But Peace keeps her in high spirits even so. Through it all, she can hear Yayoi punning like there's no tomorrow, and if there's any way to do this fight it's with laughs, right?

If only she wasn't very nearly just close to being swallowed then.

...hey! Swallowed!

"Beauty," she says, voice strained, struggling to keep them from being crushed. "Let's give this thing indigestion!"

She clenches her fist and it ignites into flame! Together, fire and ice can form an awesome combination!

Kuniko is still getting back to her feet, when the hat she asked for is returned to her. It lands on her face, slobber-slick. It clings there, covering her face with white(ish) cloth. The horrible thing, formerly a garment of pride and cleanliness, slides down her face.

Her hair is stuck down against her forehead by it.

Her eyebrows are a little modest anyway, thanks to occasional flareups.

Then her left eye is revealed... and it is wide, almost bugged out. Her lips are twitching once the hat falls all the way loose.

In that moment, Kuniko Saito SCREAMS and lunges forwards, forgetting all thoughts of service or culinary technique. Flames leap up around her, the semi-hypothetical flames of the Mise-en-place's kitchen assembly roaring into rampaging life - fortunately, merely surrounding her with an impression of heat, of life.

Then she reaches the leg of the creature and she stabs the paring knife into it!! Probably only into a mat of hair - maybe - but she's hauling herself upwards now, cursing under her breath, sinking her burn-tinged fingertips into the matted hair as she deadlifts herself up, bearing her entire weight as if she were scrambling up a rope in gym class!

Perhaps Mami's ribbon is helping. Either way, she recovers the power of speech, saying as she reaches the wolf's back, however temporarily, "I'll show you bite, you disgusting mongrel!!" She lunges forwards - but her hands don't have a knife? That would really be a useful thing right now.

She wraps her hands around a harmless loose flap of skin, or the hair above it - either way, and with desperate, furious strength, she yanks upwards.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS?!" she screams, her voice resonant and piercing. Hopefully, in her frenzy, she'd found... the scruff.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Rising Outrage on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.

The downside to having parked herself on a ledge like that is that the Magic Knight of Wind doesn't really have anywhere to dodge *to* when the Bigger, Badder Wolf blows another cloud of stench her way. All she can do is try to hold her breath and dig in against it -

Which turns out not to work terribly well: the focused gust of pungent lupine exhalation slams into the Wind Knight hard enough to bounce her off the wall behind her ledge, which in turn leads to her falling off of said ledge. At least she manages to roll with the landing and NOT break her glasses this time - but the impact still tweaks her knee something fierce, and she staggers to the side, gasping in pain ... and just the act of gasping makes her scrunch up her nose and regret breathing any deeper than she had been.

Clearing her head gives her a moment to survey the field of battle, such as it is; those two magical girls - the blonde with the ribbon, and the aloof, dark-haired girl with the shield - both seem to be rather the worse for wear as well. The Wind Knight straightens up carefully, keeping more of her weight on her good leg, and calls forth her magic:

"Iyashi no Kaze!"

The Winds of Healing blo gently across the battlefield - around the Wind Knight herself first, mending the knee injury, then gusting across to Mami and Homura, helping set them right from the more debilitating effects of the wolf's prior attacks upon them. It's just a patch job, but it should help get them back up to fighting optimally.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Iyashi no Kaze on Fuu Hououji.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Iyashi no Kaze on Mami Tomoe.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Iyashi no Kaze on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji accepts Fuu Hououji's Iyashi no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Fuu Hououji's debuffs are cleared!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi accepts Fuu Hououji's Iyashi no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Homura Akemi's debuffs are cleared!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe accepts Fuu Hououji's Iyashi no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Mami Tomoe's debuffs are cleared!

Cure Peace frowns and steels herself after giving as much as a Smile! as she could give Sunny. She looks back to the Wolf and gets back to bussiness! No more puns, it's--it's time to get serious. There's people counting on her. She raises he fingers, and throws a bolt of lightning. It dances through the air at it's target, the big bad wolf.

She holds those peace signs high! "Ah---! You won't be allowed to eat anyone else!" she says with a loud huff! and a puff! and a 'oh god what am I doing, look of despiar as she tries to shake it off'.

She looks towards Beauty, and Sunny, who are doing thier best. She merely nods matter of factly to herself---Sunny's Drive.... Beauty's Confidence--- she has to have those things too!

She throws her arms up front of her.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly counters Mami Tomoe's Tagliare, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Mami Tomoe is Psyched!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname's counterattack, Mostly Armless, partially gets through, doing 7 Fatigue damage to Mami Tomoe! Critical Counterhit!

COMBAT: Cure Peace has used Chain Lightning on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has finished attacking.

My, what great big claws you have!

Homura Akemi is on the receiving end of them as well. The Bigger Badder Wolf apparently deciding that the most appropriate way to respond to being smacked with a half dozen high velocity metal objects is to swipe the violet Puella Magi with a lower velocity, but much larger, sharp objects attached to her paw. Unfortunately for whatever reason it seems that Homura doesn't attempt to simply ... vanish before the blow lands. Indeed she seems to instead bring up her arms and shield in an attempt to block the blow. Folly, as it turns out, and the full brunt of the huge wolf coming down against the slight middle school age girl is that she is sent rocketing backwards!!

There is no grace in her landing this time. Instead she impacts the unforgiving ground with the full force of her combined mass and velocity. After bouncing, once or twice, she comes to a stop much the worse for wear. But she stands again, albeit this time in shakier legs. Her purple eyes shine with defiance as she stares up at the much larger wolf. Then in a flash she vanishes.

In that same instant she reappears, in the air and directly before the wolf. Fuu's magical winds of healing blow across her, taking away some of her aches if not doing anything for the state of her soul gem (alas). Meanwhile Mami's ribbons attempt to ensnare the wolf's paws, and it seems that Kuniko is attempting to make use of the fabled ... scruff. Homura is making use of both as distractions so that she can bring her own attack to bear and bring a blunt object down across the wolf's muzzle like she were chastising a bad dog!

... is that a golf club?

Let's hope it doesn't conduct Cure Peace's chain lightning.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Rolled Up Newspap-CLUB! on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly dodges Kuniko Saito's Rising Outrage, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Kuniko Saito is Psyched!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Cure Peace's Chain Lightning, taking 6 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Homura Akemi's Rolled Up Newspap-CLUB!, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi is Psyched!

"A little, Peace. But you shouldn't look down on your efforts. You are tryi..." Which is when the jaws clamp down on the uniform around her shoulder, tattering part of it. There's a gasp as the sheer force of the bite clamping down causing a vacuum pressure which tumps her backwards into a pile. An icicle forms, and she throws it just as she exhales her noxious breath, casting her backwards against the cave wall. She hits hard slumping down initially, before falling forward, into a pile, sprawled upon the ground. Using her palm, she tries to pick herself up, finding she could not immediately.

It was not so very different from her battle against the Raven. Had she not put her in much the same position? Her arm trembled with effort, just as she looks at the pathetic sight of the tattered Chef's hat. She sees the outrage of the Chef. She remembered a lesson in frosting cookies, a technique in gradient blending. It was a happy memory for her.

And as she rises with painful languour, she states in a voice which is soft, but with a conviction as unyielding as iron. "A chef's hat is a a symbol of their authority and knowledge. The mark of their craft... their story progressing. It is precious to them. As Pretty Cures, we won't forgive you for ruining it." There are so many other things that she might accuse the Wolf of. Ruining the New Year. Holding Billy-chan captive. Why this?

"Nothing would please me more, Sunny." Grasping her smile pact. She places it to her chest. A starwheel pinwheel of azure motes forms, moving clockwise. Raising it in her right hand, a gleaming sky-blue globe now, she draws an X with one hand, "Beauty..." She juts the hand down to form a | creating a snowflake, "...Snowstorm!" The snowflake dissolves into a storm of sparkling ice and snow synchronizing with Sunny's flame in an attempt to drive the antipodal forces of ice and flame down the titanic She-wolf's gullet.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has started a combo targeting Madoka Kaname!

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has joined the combo started by Cure Beauty!

Sailor Mars is a tiny bit confused at the help she's getting from the other wolf, but at least its not threatning her like the big bad one in front of her! And like any bad wolf she would expect, its puffing her out too! Her first reflex is to put her hands in front of her skirt so it doesn't flit up and show things any good girl shouldn't be showing in public. She still get pushed back, hitting her back against the wall, before she gets her footing back and pulls out her top. Where does she hide those anyway?

Reciting her tantric chating, she holds the ofuda in front of her forehead, charging it up with her mystical energies. "We don't need someone full of hot air like you around here. Evil, begone!" A small twist on herself, and she throws the paper toward the wolf, as it seems to harden and fly over the distance, until it sticks to the wolf's forehead somehow. If it doesn't affect the she-wolf, it might at least blind it for a moment! Or at least distract... maybe if she could tie a bell or a bone, it would distract the doggie more...

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Evil, Begone! on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor narrowly braces Princess Runealy's Scatter Orb, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Trio the Minor's Block ability activates! Trio the Minor's Parry ability activates!

Cure Sunny says, "Precure... Antipode Strike!"

COMBAT: Trio the Minor narrowly dodges Utena Tenjou's Princely Strike, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Utena Tenjou is Psyched!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly counters Sailor Mars's Evil, Begone!, taking 18 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname's counterattack, Puff, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Mars!

COMBAT: COMBO! Cure Beauty and Cure Sunny have used Combo: Pretty Cure Antipode Strike!, composed of Beauty Snowstorm and Sunny Scorch, on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Cure Beauty and Cure Sunny's Combo: Pretty Cure Antipode Strike!, taking 36 Fatigue damage!

Oh, Usagi's eyes are watering and it's not for the usual reasons. Sailor Moon withdraws her moon-laser attack to try her best at creating a full-face mask out of her arms. This does not work. This does not work even a tiny bit. She wails, thankfully muffled and completely disabled during the initial gust of wolf-stank.

Even when it's gone and the pretty soldier dares to lower an arm, she is still wracked by gagging at the nauseating scent. Wait, she can get out an attack phrase: "--hrk," no, nevermind.

Her eyes stinging with odor and shame, Usagi retreats behind the much more fierce and flashy Mars to consider her next step. She could--or she could--no, not that--ugh it's so hard to think with that smell! How can she fight when she can't even think?

Putting her entire body into the motion, Sailor Moon leans back and then slashes her wand forward in a huge arc. The air around her rushes forward in a possibly alarming but ultimately fangless assault--except for the chance that it may temporarily blast the offensive smells right off the wolf. Maybe fighting it won't be so painful without the stench.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Usagi Tsukino's Becoming Distracted by Inconsequential Details on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly counters Sailor Moon's Usagi Tsukino's Becoming Distracted by Inconsequential Details, taking 2 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname's counterattack, Puff, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Moon!

The Bigger, Badder Wolf stares straight down the barrel of Mami's rifle--

--and then runs alongside it, leading the ribbon on a wild goose chase that ends with her losing the tip of one of her claws, and with Mami losing a pint of blood to those teeth, right on the arm. She sinks her teeth in realllll good.

Kuniko's drawn blood, too, just a moment before, and yanks hard on her scruff even now. "Back off," the wolf warns her, ripping out with a claw. Her eyes narrow at the incoming ofuda from Sailor Mars, and she puffs out some air to keep it away.

She's starting to get a little bit winded. Lightning crackles along her muzzle, and Homura's golf club makes a hollow 'thwack' on it, as well. She blows away the worst of Sailor Moon's blast, but some of it gets through. Fortunately, she doesn't mind her own scent.

Her muzzle spattered, Cure Sunny and Beauty also get a taste of Mami running down the wolf's gullet, before they deliver a serious taste of pain. Her stomach is apparently very tough, but it does, at least, get her to burp them out -- straight at Sailor Moon and Homura Akemi, who may get slobbery Curejectiles slammed into them if they aren't careful. Sailor Mars and the Mgagic Knight of Wind get the breath instead. She winces, licking her teeth delicately.

"That was even hotter than Majorina's curry -- color me impressed."

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used What Big Teeth You Have on Mami Tomoe.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used What Big Claws You Have on Kuniko Saito.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Huff on Cure Sunny.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Huff on Cure Beauty.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Puff on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used *ptoo* on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used *ptoo* on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Puff on Fuu Hououji.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.

Baritone, freed up a little by his shock blast to Tuxedo Mask, turns an eye around the field for a few precious moments - moments in which Runealy gets her feet back under her! "Oh-hoh," he says, condescending. "And what do you think you'll be doing?"

She answers. He throws up his arms in defense, warding them off with his forearms, the mystical power of his raw energy, and a yelped "AH OW NO NO OWIE MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!"

Utena, meanwhile, takes issue with Falsetto's shrilling Bolero, and lays into him! His reaction is actually pretty similar, batting at the sword with his arms; evil lieutenants cannot be so easily cut! "Did you not like my serenade?" he wonders, considering Utena as she cuts him up.

And then snaps his hand up, palm toward her face. "Then perhaps you'd prefer this!" he cries out, and a blast of formless energy lays into Utena, potentially blowing her clear off her feet!

Similarly, Baritone finally gets his feet back under him, and lunges a punch at the nearest wall - which causes a matching chunk of rock to shoot out of the space near Runealy and bowl her over!

Bassdrum surveys the field for a few moments, and then decides to make his presence known - by impressing himself on Mai. Which is to say, by leaping at her, coming down with a huge overhand swing that craters the ground with the impact, and then another, and then a third, chewing up the ground as he chases her! "SPECIAL DELIVERYYYYYY o/`"

Meanwhile, Tuxedo Mask, who dared turn away from the fighting to tend to Sailor Moon...finds Baritone tapping his shoulder.

And when he turns around, the blue-haired man immediately starts singing in his face. It is an agonizing, dragging melody - like a physical, draining chain upon his body, an effect that might linger through the cave to others daring to fight.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Hand Blast on Utena Tenjou.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Symphony of Sadness on Tuxedo Mask.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Bassdrum Beatdown on Mai Tokiha.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Baritone Rock Punch on Princess Runealy.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Symphony of Sadness on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon narrowly braces Madoka Kaname's *ptoo*, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname is Psyched! Sailor Moon's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty narrowly braces Madoka Kaname's Huff, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Stagger applied to Cure Beauty!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito narrowly braces Madoka Kaname's What Big Claws You Have, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Kuniko Saito's Block ability activates! Kuniko Saito's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi perfectly dodges Madoka Kaname's *ptoo*, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko narrowly braces Trio the Minor's Symphony of Sadness, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is Quipped! Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Block ability activates!

COMBAT: Sailor Mars narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Puff, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars's Fade ability activates! Sailor Mars's Flash ability activates! Diversion and Trap applied to Sailor Mars!

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask fails to counter Trio the Minor's Symphony of Sadness, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Tuxedo Mask is Quipped! Trap applied to Tuxedo Mask!

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask's counterattack, Dramatic Intervention!, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Trio the Minor!

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji perfectly dodges Madoka Kaname's Puff, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Cure Sunny narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Huff, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Cripple, Stagger, and Stun applied to Cure Sunny!

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou narrowly braces Trio the Minor's Hand Blast, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Utena Tenjou's Parry ability activates! Stun applied to Utena Tenjou!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe perfectly counters Madoka Kaname's What Big Teeth You Have, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe's counterattack, Tiro Retort, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Madoka Kaname!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly counters Trio the Minor's Bassdrum Beatdown, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Trio the Minor is Psyched! Mai Tokiha's Reverse ability activates! Mai Tokiha's Tactician ability activates!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha's counterattack, Sanctum Blaze, partially gets through, doing 9 Fatigue damage to Trio the Minor!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy narrowly dodges Trio the Minor's Baritone Rock Punch, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy's Fade ability activates! Princess Runealy's Flash ability activates!

Another breath attack? Really? The Magic Knight of Wind simply *runs* to the side, bringing her arm up to cover her nose and mouth with her sleeve. This is a difficult fight to keep proper track of; fortunately Trio the Minor are being handled by a different group of those who came, and Fuu is able to focus on a solitary enemy along with a number of allies - mostly known, a few known rather well.

The Wind Knight finally comes to a halt, nocking another arrow and drawing it back as a stiff breeze rises around her - helping to push the ambient stench back from her, although it stirs up the miasma that *doesn't* get pushed away. Still, she breathes in shallowly, and out ... focusing once more, gathering her willpower and her magic, and waiting for -

"Reppuu no Ya!"

- just the right instant. The Gale Arrow leaps forth from her bowstring, propelled and guided by the gust of magical wind that erupted behind it just as the Magic Knight loosed her shaft; surrounded by the same wind that guides and speeds its flight, the arrow hurtles towards the Wolf's muzzle, aimed to fly straight into a nostril if Fuu's aim is as true as her belief.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Reppu no Ya on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

Tsukiko grits her teeth as Baritone's song echoes past her. She risks a glance towards the source, and sees Tuxedo Mask getting sung to point-blank.

The wolfgirl runs a hand through her hair, plucking a single strand and charging it. "Tuxedo Mask! Wolf's Blessing!" she calls as she flicks the hair towards him. Sounds like her voice is doing better, too!

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Wolf's Blessing on Tuxedo Mask.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask accepts Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Wolf's Blessing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Surge applied to Tuxedo Mask!

Perhaps in another life, Mami might look on proudly at Homura Akemi's golf club assault, or even call out advice on how she should make sure to be careful, being so close in melee! ...This is not that life. In this one, she's locked in:COMBAT with a gigantic wolf, and barely even looking to Homura in turn. Of all those close, only Kuniko's rage can get her attention, and of those far, she can only keep them in her mind's eye.

If she splits her focus any more than that...

Her feint starts to function, Mami's ribbon following along with the Bigger, Badder Wolf even as her gun is held right in place. ...It hits its mark, to be sure. But so do those jaws. Mami screams, despite herself, the pain in her voice obvious and piercing as the hand that was holding the sharp ribbon twitches and holds nothing at all. Eyes barely open, she levels her rifle right at the muzzle of her foe, where it's locked onto her own arm--

And fires, point blank. She expects the wolf to be fast enough to move. She stumbles backward as that happens... and manages to /keep/ her arm, though it's thickly red with blood, torn and useless. The ruined limb hangs at her side as she keeps stepping backward.

Mami lets out a breath, and has no witty remark this time. She just jumps upward, again, and in the dim light it's almost as if the red all over her left side is moving /back/--but in fact, it's more ribbons, her right hand this time throwing them out for the Bigger, Badder Wolf's legs. If she just gets a little time--

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Stay Over There! on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

"I'll do what I have to!" Princess Runealy snaps to Baritone. "I've seen enough of what you do here to never want it anywhere else!" She might say more, but she's puzzled by his decision to... attack a wall? Why? Rune's mind replays advice from her training back home. React anyway, don't just /let/ them hurt you... move! Thus she responds to the punch rather than the resulting 'mirrored' rock, jumping backward and avoiding it. The stone juts through where she had just been standing; Baritone's cleverly angled attack definitely would have snared her otherwise and the thought that he can do that is rattling.

Yet Runealy's attention turns to Mai, returning to what they were just discussing. "Maybe they are better singers. So what? Who would /want/ to listen to them, if this is all they can do with it? I'd rather listen to someone who doesn't go around hurting everyone! Someone like you, who told me you wouldn't be a victim! So try again, find another way to use your fire against them!"

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Royal Speech on Mai Tokiha.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha accepts Princess Runealy's Royal Speech, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Mai Tokiha is Cheered!

This is pretty ugly. Cure Sunny, Cure Beauty and Cure Shooty... I mean Mami... are somewhere between the biggest wolf's teeth and its guts right about now, until the point when they unleash a spectacular combo that ends up... well...

Sufficed to say it's pretty gross! Akane's doing her best to not think about this too hard! It's easy in a way because she's coughed out and SMASH BANG CRASHED along the ground. What an unpleasant event.

She picks herself up, covered in dirt and spittle, injuries giving her no small degree of aggro. She might even have a little bit of Mami's blood on her beautiful uniform, which is certainly a disturbing thought considering everything.

But she's not giving up. No way.

"You're the most disgusting... nasty... GROSS wolf I've EVER met! How dare you hurt all of my comrades so badly! And you terrorized Billy! AND YOU STINK!"

Energy begins to sparkle and flow into the Smile Pact, as Cure Sunny gets really fired up!

She glances at Peace, who has been holding firm throughout this entire hootnanny. "Peace! Let's do what we shoulda done and clear this air good and hard!"

You've got to scorch it all away! Cure Sunny prepares to combine her powers with Peace, so that they can create a coruscating energy ball combined from heat and lightning! Merge their energies together, the sources of light and power, and you get a pale orange ball of flashing, rumbling power, which they can thrust forward! It's called...

Cure Sunny says, "Precure Glittering Spark!"

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has started a combo targeting Madoka Kaname!

Kuniko is dislodged, her furious rampage coming to an end as she strikes the ground and bounces. Her back spasms as she does, and as she feels the tight muscles interfering with each other, her eyes go wide.

That's it, she thinks.

That's what that dish was missing.

She lands on her feet, hunched over. "What it was missing wasn't the simmer of the broth... it wasn't even the kind of pasta... it was missing a protein. It was missing -"

She levers herself back up with a huge audible POP.

"Oh that felt good."

Kuniko resumes: "It was missing /scallop/."

Flames rise up around her, but she doesn't strike forwards. "Hey! Woolly Bully. Want to know a fact?"

She's kneading something out, pouring in a black fluid... Kneading again... and with a flourish she produces the battered looking slicer she was using to chop up soba noodles the previous day. As she slices out what looks to be fresh ground pasta, "Back in the old days, they still had breath that stank, like yours! They couldn't just buy toothpaste at the supermarket, either, because it hadn't been invented yet. For freshening up their stinky maws, they had to resort to two techniques!"

Having finished this, she leans backwards - and throws something into a silver-outlined pan near her. It sizzles and bubbles - and Kuniko's face hardens when she sees red on the sleeve of Mami. Back ahead, and more grimly, she continues her spiel: you can't leave a thing half finished.

"One of them was salt... and the other was fresh herbs." She gathers up the fresh cut noodles, throwing them into something else with a splash. "But all they ever did was cover up the problem. If you want your mouth to not smell, you've got to brush! But for the moment, it's enough to cover it up."

A platter is slammed down. Pasta is flipped onto it, with a handful of basil and oregano crushed in Kuniko's (mysteriously fresh-washed) palm sprinkled over it. The scallops are flipped up, caught /still sizzling/ in her palm, and arranged. Raising it upwards, Kuniko throws her other hand forwards in an accusing point.

"So if you're starving - don't bite the defenders of the new year, or innocent little goats. You should have just asked. Here!" And with a twist of the wrist, the platter is spun outwards, moving implacably towards the monstrous wolf. "With new year's buckwheat noodles--"

The soba is ink black and rich with the aroma of the sea, mixed with those fresh herbs. And - is that a hint of lemon verbena?? When'd she sneak that in. Either way, Kuniko steps back a pace, gritting her teeth. Will it work? Will the great wolf go for it?

"It's served!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Kuniko Saito has used Service - Squid Ink Pasta with Scallops on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.

Mai turns to Runealy, uncertainty plain on her face. "Well, it feels a bit awkward just blurting it out!" She glances to, well, the rest of the battle. "Though it seems everyone else is comfortable with that sort of thing..." Utena's swordsmanship and Runealy's magic are both rather impressive, and both not getting eaten by the monstrous singers. Mai's stance is uncertain...but Rune might be right. Food for thought-

-a thought that will have to wait, as one of them has lunged towards her, to smash her into the ground! With a panicked cry, Mai throws up a wall of fire - and manages to bring her bracelets in the path of the blows. It hurts, but Bassdrum's pained yell shows that the fire hurt him too...

...and when the flames clear, Mai rises one knee, starting to smile again. "...good point. Even if they are better - heck, even if they're the best, which I'm pretty sure they're not - that still doesn't mean they're worth giving the time of day!" The HiME gathers her flames, and lashes out - not trying to burn everything, but sweeping a long flame across the cavern floor! The grass is dead anyway, right? So, no harm in giving these three a case of hot foot...

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Pyre Lash on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

Homura's secret weapon, which may be a golf club but really who knows for sure, is at least definitely bent at an unfortunate angle following her assualt. The mystery weapon is then unceremoniously discarded into some dark corner of the cave that no one will think to look in.

Never.

Neeeeeeeeeeever.

Seriously, don't go looking for it. The earth will just crack open and swallow it. Things like that happen in this world all the time.

The Bigger Badder Wolf continues her brutal assault on the multiple magical girls attempting to bring it low. It manages to brutalize several of those nearest to it before blowing two of the Cures directly towards her and Sailor Moon! She, at least, manages to escape impact by performing her typical disappearing trick.

When she reappears again she is holding her left arm up. Upon her wrist is her buckler, her Puella Magi weapon. Much like Mami's ribbons and Kyouko's spear they serve as her primary armanent. And while neither as versatile nor as obviously threatening as those two often are, Homura's buckler has a power that is no less frightening.

Indeed, it might be the single most frightening Puella Magi tool in existence.

As its two 'eyes' open revealing the reservoirs of sand, it turns 45 degrees. This slows, but does not stop, the flow of sand. Meanwhile gear that turns the pendulum in the strange clockwork device begins to turn slowly. The result is that it creates a temporal distortion around the Bigger Badder Wolf. Subtle, but unless she notices the difference the lost seconds of time can cause a great deal of trouble.

"It's time for us to end this."

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Clockdown on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.

Despite the messiness of the continuing fight all around him, Tuxedo Mask lets the tiniest, batmanniest secret smile touch one side of his mouth for a second as he sees Sailor Moon buck up. He is, unfortunately, unaware of the stench wafting her way and making it impossible to fight, because--

--he gets tapped on the shoulder. Absolutely one hundred percent the last thing one desires to do in the middle of a big fight is turn around when someone taps you on the shoulder without expecting someone to hit you. OH IF ONLY BARITONE HAD JUST PLANNED ON HITTING HIM. The preparation? It's a quarter-step back and a rose, because that makes perfect sense, and when he sees Baritone opening his mouth, Tuxedo Kamen moves to actually shove the beautiful flower in the other dude's mouth.

But that. Is the most dolorous and wrenching of songs, and-- and the magic rose just... just wilts with sorrow.

For a second, the gentleman in the top hat looks at it in surprise, and then he starts getting hit with the thing, and he staggers, dropping the rose to put his hand to his heart, looking stricken. It's all-- it's--

CUTE WOLF TO THE RESCUE! Blue eyes flashing with gratitude at the tiny wolfgirl (girlwolf?) from behind the outline of his white mask, Tuxedo Kamen turns back to Baritone and yells right back in his face, "No one can sing karaoke to this! IT'S AWFUL! Be cheerful like Sailor Moon, or GO HOME!"

And then he hauls back and has a go at straight-up socking the guy in the face with a classy white-gloved hand.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname perfectly dodges Fuu Hououji's Reppu no Ya, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Mami Tomoe's Stay Over There!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Kuniko Saito's Finisher, Service - Squid Ink Pasta with Scallops, taking 6 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly dodges Homura Akemi's Clockdown, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Trap applied to Madoka Kaname!

Cure Peace ahs and does a magical girl leap over to Sunny. She's been mostly a non-target. This is generally good. She raises her arms in front of her all dramatic like. "Right, Sunny...! Let's... clean the air with scorching...zapping...glittering..!" she throws her arm to the sky. "Pretty Cure.....!"

A bolt of lightning falls from the fel night sky, even in this dark realm... she then-- seems completely surprised-- "Ehhha!?" but she still gathers herself, she spins.... "Peace....!" she then stops and jumps forward, her attack joining in force with sunny, a burning, searing, glittering array of force sailing for the the big bad wolf.

"Thunder!" she calls out watching the combination of fire and electricity burn through the air.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Cure Peace has joined the combo started by Cure Sunny!

COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Cure Sunny and Cure Peace have used Combo: Precure Glittering Spark, composed of Sunny Scorch and Peace Thunder, on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly dodges Cure Sunny and Cure Peace's Finisher, Combo: Precure Glittering Spark, taking 123 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used In the Name of Odango Atama! on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.

There's that moment of horror, as if wondering if their efforts to dislodge themselves from the Wolf just weren't enough. That she's about to be eaten. Which is about the time that she's spat out, covered in saliva. A slobbery Curejectile rolling towards Sailor Moon. And the only way to blunt the impact.. is to roll with it. So she rolls into it. And into her, slamming into her with painful force. Given the beating Beauty has taken, she doesn't exactly want to get up. She lays there for a while, stating a murmured "My apologies Sailor Moon." The apology is real, but her voice has all the weight and force of nearly smothered kitten.

She felt like she had nothing left. Absolutely nothing. And yet she did. It wasn't that it was her duty, even though it was. Duty enough wouldn't be enough to make Cure Beauty jump into a wolf's jaws. The thing is, she didn't know why she was doing this. She had no idea, could not even comprehend the myriad of emotions which were running through her in regards to the other Mahou Shoujo, to her friends and teammates. But she didn't need to, they were there all the same, driving her forward. And that was enough. Her legs continued to tremble and shake, covered by a multitude of lacerations from the wolf's teeth. Her attire while resilient, was torn in just as many places.

A blade entered into her hand, she didn't even know when she had created it. Arcing it back in one experimental motion to test the weight. She takes one step forward, stumbling slightly, then another. And then the run begins, her legs screaming from the strain. As she ran, the air grew ever more chill in her close proximity. There was no way that she could freeze something so massive. But she might be able to manage a small part of it. And maybe that is all that was required, a small piece.

As she moves closer, one of the titanic wolf's front forelegs starts to have the temperature drop even more abruptly. Rime and hoarfrost formed, before the ice became more visible and abrupt. And then she moved through it, her sword sweeping forth in one motion from its position behind her, like a Samurai practicing Iaido, except with no scabbard. The blade's quick motion trailed snow in it's wake, shattering the ice that had formed during her rush. At the end of her rush, Reika stumbled one pace, then a second, and fell to her knees, chest heaving like bellows.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Cure Beauty has used Beauty Glacial Shatter on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Cure Beauty's Finisher, Beauty Glacial Shatter, taking 6 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor fails to brace Tuxedo Mask's In the Name of Odango Atama!, taking 33 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

Sailor Mars is getting puffed on alot it seems, along with her Ofuda. Someone is in a bad mood. Maybe its for considering it like a doggie. A big, humanoid doggie anyway. But if charms and curse don't work, fire still does. And fortunately, she still has plenty of those. And fire might be good against the smell too, fire it up. As long the air as its not flamable at least.

She brings a hand to her side, forming a small fireball, sized like a baseball. Throwing it underhaded toward the puffing wolf, she turns around in the same motion to cover up Moon from the blasts of air and bad smell "They are weakening, keep up on the pressure!"

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Fireball on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Sailor Mars's Fireball, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Madoka Kaname!

Utena throws her hands up into the blast of force, retaining her footing but nearly getting bowled over; she staggers back after a second or two, and grits her teeth. She's starting to feel outmatched by the trio of musical monsters, and affirms, "It -- wasn't -- great, no." She shifts her sword a little, trying to get herself ready to move again.

Springing forward on slightly unsure feet, Utena comes in for two quick slashes at Falsetto, then puts all her weight into a third, more forceful maneuver. It's a little more forceful than her usual style -- more aggressive, taking a little more control of the battlefield.

And, yet again, as she finishes her final maneuver, there's another small glance back at the Rose Bride, as Utena does her best to make absolutely certain she's safe.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has used Someone Who Can Exercise Power on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has finished attacking.

One way to blunt the impact is to roll with it. Sailor Moon does not roll with it. She yelps and raises her arms, but that many pounds of girl (anything above ~10 counts as 'that many' for someone as athletic as Usagi) isn't going to be stopped by reflexes and thinking 'no no no no.'

Cure Beauty apologizes to a flattened pretty soldier, spread on the ground with eyes staring up at the unfriendly world. "Mmmuhhh," she replies.

There's tension in the air. It's that dreamy feeling of almost existing that Usagi has come to associate with magic. Serious magic, not the kind that pops out and surprises or delights or shocks, but the kind that demands sincerity of feeling. The usual Usagi's sincerity is of wonder or admiration. Today's Usagi's sincerity is of pressure.

She makes her way to her feet, and quickly. It's not because she's eager to join in--it's because she should be eager to join in. Her palm is sweaty against the smooth, cool surface of her wand, and Usagi self-consciously glances down at it. Can she summon the magic she needs to? The feelings she associates with this power aren't exactly joyous. It's difficult to say what they are. They're definitely good, even if it's a little scary.

It's not something she feels right now. Still, Mami will be counting on her. Usagi bites her lip and looks for the Puella Magi, hoping to find inspiration in her relentless quest for justice. Just seeing her will help with this weird, sickly feeling that's been growing in the pit of her stomach.

Mami Tomoe is holding something that's all red and ripped. Is it a bone to distract the wolf? Does that work? It's a funny--no, she's not holding anything. That's her arm.

Sailor Moon opens her mouth and finds that even thought it feels like she's shouting something at Mami, nothing is coming out. It feels like there's nothing in her lungs, or in fact nothing in her body. She's numb, and then sees black, and then faints away.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used MAMI YOUR ARM!! on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Sailor Moon's MAMI YOUR ARM!!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is unable to keep fighting! Sailor Moon is Quipped!

COMBAT: Sailor Moon is unable to keep fighting!

"If you don't like the smell of wolf, you shouldn't come over to her house," The bigger, badder wolf remarks, somewhat dryly, even as she tilts her head to one side, causing Fuu's arrow to zip right past her.

Red ribbons from Mami wend around her legs, but she walks through them -- not with ease, but also without being bound. Walks, onwards, towards Chef Kuniko, who has offered her a delicious feast.

She eats it with /great/ enthusiasm. "That was /very/ good -- you can cook at my house any time!" The tip of her tail is wagging, just a little bit. "But you know, I think you might have the seasoning a little bit off -- this would taste /even better/ with, hmmm..."

While she's occasionally pleasant and always rather charming, the wolf never stops being terrifying -- and never moreso when she tries to tear off the Chef's coat of arms, her apron, with those nasty teeth.

"...YOU."

Homura's time trick slows her down just long enough for Cure Peace and Cure Sunny, combined, to blast her back at what might (or might not) have been the last possible moment. She's bowled her backwards, burning and crackling with terrible heat. Things smell better than they have all day, albeit in another gross way. And she howls with pain, howls for the first time all night.

Her voice is clarion and clear. It is beautiful, even, a single, sorrowful note of pain, of loss, of loneliness.

It has depth from times and places that are not the here and now.

Cure Beauty smacks her out of it, her sword striking but not true, the ice around her forepaw shattering abruptly, the remnants melted immediately (though painfully) by Sailor Mars' fireball.

She takes a limping step back, and then another one.

And then she inhales... and exhales.

Inhales... and exhales.

She huffs-- and she puffs--

--and she tries to blow these nuisances away, right off the cliff that marks the Bad End Kingdom, which would send them falling down into oblivion!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used What Big Teeth You Have on Kuniko Saito.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Huff on Cure Sunny.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Huff on Cure Peace.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Puff on Cure Beauty.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Madoka Kaname has used BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN! on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Madoka Kaname has used BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN! on Mami Tomoe.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Madoka Kaname has used BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN! on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Sunny fails to brace Madoka Kaname's Huff, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Stagger applied to Cure Sunny!

COMBAT: Cure Peace narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Huff, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Cure Peace's Fade ability activates! Cure Peace's Flash ability activates! Cripple, Stagger, and Stun applied to Cure Peace!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Finisher, BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN!, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Sailor Mars fails to dodge Madoka Kaname's Finisher, BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN!, taking 43 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito fails to dodge Madoka Kaname's What Big Teeth You Have, taking 46 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Bad Breath on Fuu Hououji.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Puff, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Cure Beauty is unable to keep fighting! Diversion, Tangle, and Trap applied to Cure Beauty!

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly counters Madoka Kaname's Bad Breath, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji's counterattack, Imashime no Kaze, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Madoka Kaname!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Finisher, BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN!, taking 30 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Mami Tomoe's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor narrowly braces Mai Tokiha's Pyre Lash, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Trio the Minor's Block ability activates! Trio the Minor's Parry ability activates! Stagger applied to Trio the Minor!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor fails to dodge Utena Tenjou's Someone Who Can Exercise Power, taking 29 Fatigue damage!

Sailor Mars is blown away alright. The strong wind knocks her away, crashing into several obstacles along the way. Posts, benches, walls, and it seems nothing that she could get a hold of either. Every impact just knocking out more of her fighting spirit away.

But before she's out of reach, she still has enough mind to bring out the last canon fire. Ranged attacks are still her speciality, and even if the distance increases, it's not far enough for her to take a good aim at the wolf. Bringing her hands in front of her face, she starts chanting again. This time, a much larger fireball starts to form in front of her, partially shielding from the wind.

She lets out a loud shout "MARS FIRE SOUL!", the fireball cutting right through the wind, following the path she just flrew through in the other direction, straight toward the huffing and puffing menace. Wind can fan the fire.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Mars has used Mars Fire Soul on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

Everything suddenly goes horribly wrong....

Mami is over there, probably bleeding out or something. The Wolf seems on the ropes...but is not falling to the assorted magical girls yet. This makes her heart waver. This isn't very fun. Then the wolf gets back on her haunches. She's preparing something. She'll huff....and she'll puff....

and she'll blow all the Cures down.

Peace tumbles, but manages to keep on the cliff---- Beauty is tumbling...Sunny is sailing through the air. "A-HHHHHHHHH!" her eyes go wide. She immediatly leaps into action, her arms reach out to Beauty, who's falling. "Ugn..Beauty..you need to grab Sunny! Yoo--You need to grab her!" she cries out as she grabs the blue Cure's hand. She's doing her best, her small form trying to keep Beauty from falling off the edge entirely---while Sunny is just sailing within range---

Come on Beauty...please find the strength, she begs. "Ah!...come on! We---you can do it Beauty!" she pleads! (Repose with more correct I.Ds.)

Kuniko jumps backwards as a huge mouth snaps at her.

She is almost - almost free.

The teeth though, they encompass her apron. It is a simple thing, apparently, though immaculate; worn at the waist, covering the lower body, it's obviously just another drop cloth against stains. It shimmers into color as the knot behind Kuniko comes undone...

And she lands on her backside again. She is wearing a battered T-shirt for Morning Musume and a pair of comfortable-looking blue jeans, the kind of things you wear on a holiday when you don't have to go out. It is fortunate for her, perhaps, that she didn't make any real efforts to hide her identity.

The huffing and puffing blows her Mise-en-place in the air like a glittering blue piece of scrap paper. "Oh shit," she says, running after it. Swearing, cursing, she leaps up several times, trying to grab at it, panic growing in her eyes. She grasps it, at the top of a leap, just as that huge breath picks up --

She is instructive in new vocabulary.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito transforms into Kuniko Saito!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Sailor Mars's Finisher, Mars Fire Soul, taking 14 Fatigue damage!

"Imashime no Kaze!!"

With the Bigger, Badder Wolf(-san) huffing and puffing so obviously in preparation, the Magic Knight of Wind *knows* that the true test of wind-power is coming up. The logical thing to do would really have been to focus her power into a Mamori no Kaze, and use the barrier for shelter against the incoming gale - but no.

Not this time.

As much on a hunch as anything more reasoned, the Magic Knight of Wind instead channels her power into another attack with the Winds of Admonishment, turning her whirlwind against the rancid lupine exhalations, striving - struggling, even - to not only repel the wolf's breath but to turn it back against the source, to entrap the wolf in the binding twister.

Whether it works or not ... well, Fuu's whirlwind never gets to the Bigger, Badder Wolf; it blows fiercely enough to stall the conjured cyclone out of existence. But by the same token, the wolf's breath doesn't get close to the Wind Knight: a Mamori no Kaze might have been disrupted and penetrated, but the Imashime no Kaze is a more active counterassault - and the extra effort pays off. She can't do as much as she'd like to support her allies, her friends ... but she has faith in their ability to survive. That's really about all she can do - with one exception. She can help bring this fight to a close, so she's able to focus on assisting her friends.

"I believe that makes it our turn ... doesn't it, wolf-san?" The Magic Knight of Wind stands up straight, crossing her arms in front of her chest, then drawing her arms back as the breezes pick up around her - once again, pushing back against the pungent miasma that enshrouds the Bad End Kingdom, as she slowly but deeply breathes in ...

"MIDORI NO ... SHIPPUU!!!"

Her arms snap forward as she invokes the Emerald Tornado, unleashing the full fury of the storm against the Wolf, trying to blow her straight back into her own cave - and hopefully it'll be a bone-rattler of a landing for the Bigger Badder Wolf.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Fuu Hououji has used Midori no Shippu: Focused on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Panic!! on Kuniko Saito.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito accepts Kuniko Saito's Panic!!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname perfectly dodges Fuu Hououji's Finisher, Midori no Shippu: Focused, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!

Baritone's thundering song of sorrows blasts into Tuxedo Mask's will...

And then his mouth snaps shut at 'No one can sing karaoke to this', his eye bugging out. "You...IMPERTINENT--MY VOICE IS THE LOVELIEST IN ALL OF MIN OH GOOD HEAVENS MY NOSE" That would be Baritone getting socked so hard he /gets air/, flying a good few meters until he lands on the ground with an ungainly WHOOF and a boggle-eyed expression. "Bassdrum," he says, absently, "The gentlemen did not like your composition."

"NOBODY HAS ANY TASTE AROUND HERE!!" Bassdrum declares, even as he slams another fist down toward Mai, and then "AHHH FIRE," he adds, aborting his punch fiesta to hop back and vigorously shake out his hands. "Ow ow ow! A musician's hands are very important! Have you no SHAME?"

Response: FIRE. "Fah!" Bassdrum announces, and hurls his arms out wide, deflecting the worst of that power with raw emenations of strength, his choral robes fluttering in the force of his own strength. He's sweating visibly by the end of it, though, and takes a single step back, huffing. "See!" he declares. "Effortless!"

Falsetto's response is to wail "SHE'S CUTTING ME LOTS," while being cut lots, Utena just /laying into him/. He can't keep up with that ferocious of an assault, apparently, the Duelist Prince keeping him too far off balance to do much but wail. The last hit takes his chest, but instead of piercing him through, it bounces him away - magic defenses! He slams into the cave wall, eyes spinning.

Bassdrum regards his fallen comrades with an unimpressed eye - and then crosses his arms before himself, channeling strength. "VERY WELL. I'll show you the power of the LEADER OF TRIO THE MINOR!!"

"NOBODY MADE YOU LEADER!!"

Bassdrum laughs, "BUT I'M THE ONE STILL STANDING!!" before suddenly EXPLODING off the ground - grabbing for Tuxedo Mask's pretty cloak, and rumbling, "So you want to sing, do you?" and then swinging his free arm down, SLAMMING it into Tuxedo Masks' pretty hat with strength enough to crumple /even its invincible structure/. "Try squawking, first! Ga ha ha!"

And then he rounds, firing a blast of furious energy down toward Utena; it chews up the rock beneath it, tearing it to flinders as it streaks toward her! Before it even gets there, he's surged onward toward Mai, gripping for her neck to smash her into the ground! A great hulk of a man, releasing all the terrible power of his physicality!

And then, rounding on Tsukiko and Runealy, he takes a deep breath...and he sings.

And it's a thousand times worse than the beating he was just dishing out. It doesn't even singe the soul like before - it is an agonizing, magical assault, battering down magical defenses and tearing at everything at once. If he's allowed to keep this up...! Would anyone be able to stand!? Especially with the beatings the Bigger Badder Wolf is dishing out over there!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Concerto of Crying on Tuxedo Mask.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Once More With Feeling on Utena Tenjou.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Bam Bam Smash Smash on Mai Tokiha.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Melody of Sorrow: Overture on Princess Runealy.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Melody of Sorrow: Overture on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko fails to dodge Trio the Minor's Melody of Sorrow: Overture, taking 44 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou narrowly dodges Trio the Minor's Once More With Feeling, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Trio the Minor is Psyched! Utena Tenjou's Flash ability activates!

With horror, Beauty could process what was coming. And she knew the likely consequences. The wolf huffs, and the wolf puffs, and she's blown away. And yet one last effort is made to control her flight, as she tries to make a desperate grasp for a handhold. But reflexively surveying the battlefield, she saw the situation as Peace does. And so.. she doesn't. She lets Yayoi catch her hand.

As the noxious wind continued to blow against them, she stretched out her other hand, arm screaming against the strain, eyes wide with horror. To barely grip Sunny by the fingers mid-flight. It was like watching three Pretty Cures in a Wind Tunnel, as Reika barely managed to hold onto Peace, their Anchor, and Sunny, who was fluttering desperately in the breeze. Internally, she was pleading that Peace's strength was up to the task. Her voice is hoarse, and small over the howling of the wind around her, "Don't you dare let go Sunny!" Her voice snaps, before her tone softens, "Teammates don't let each other down."

And then abruptly, it stops. And she falls to the ground. She felt like both of her shoulders had popped from the strain. And she just.. lay there. She was conscious, but her ability to get up or defend herself was very doubtful.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy narrowly braces Trio the Minor's Melody of Sorrow: Overture, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy's Parry ability activates!

The howl... Mami can't quite understand it, not really. Whatever it is, wherever it's come from, it at least keeps the Wolf at bay for a few more moments. The Puella Magi cannot look back to see a friend so distressed by her wounds that she can't continue; she can only look for Sailor Moon after the battle is over. She can see Homura, in the fight, and the magical girls working together ahead.

But most importantly for now, she can see the wolf. Huff--and puff--and--

Mami looks behind her, suddenly, to the cliff, searching for anything that could break her fall--and the wind comes. It slams her backward, leaving her only moments to alter her course, to send herself towards a solid, leafless tree sitting in the cliff. She slams into it with a sick thud and a cracking noise, but is stable. She doesn't go over the cliff.

She steps forward once again, standing straight, with a proud smile touched at the edges by pain. "I can handle this sort of story. But, I have to admit, the wolf isn't my usual prey." Her good hand rises. "...Usually, I hunt Witches."

"But I think the principle is the same. Let me show you how you blow a house down." Her good hand outstretched, golden light spreads before her, touched with reds and greens encircling an invisible, gigantic weapon that solidifies into a beautiful silver firearm easily a story tall. It has two barrels, designed like an elaborate version of the old hunter's rifle from the tales. Mami smiles, a wicked sort of grin touched by pain, but she smiles all the same.

"TIRO FINALE!"Both barrels fire full blast.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask fails to dodge Trio the Minor's Concerto of Crying, taking 33 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly counters Trio the Minor's Bam Bam Smash Smash, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Mai Tokiha's Reverse ability activates! Mai Tokiha's Tactician ability activates!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha's counterattack, Flare Shroud, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Trio the Minor!

COMBAT: FINISHER! Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Finale on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

How many battles has it been now?

How many times has she seen her fellow soldiers fall?

After a while you simply stop counting. Counting in and of itself becomes too painful to contemplate. It's one of the things you learn in order to live with yourself in spite of all the things you have seen, done, and will see and will do. That's why for Homrua Akemi the sight of Mami's arm badly torn up causes barely a flinch from her. It also helps that she understands the true nature of a Puella Magi, and why such an injury isn't remotely life threatening.

However it would seem that a younger magical soldier isn't nearly so lucky. Sailor Moon has been taken under Mami's wing, for better or for worse, and seeing her mentor in such a state seems to have had a pretty strong impact on the neophyte. Homura's expression becomes grim as she sees the girl faint dead away. Especially when she also hears that wolf start to huff.

And puff.

... and we all know what comes next.

Homura does. And not wholly by virtue of knowing her fairy tales. Dodging a wall of wind is actually a difficult proposition, even for someone like her, and when that wolf unleashes the gale force blast she is briefly swept up in the surge! The long ribbons of her Puella Magi uniform and her raven tresses alike whipping wildly in the sudden gust, and the full force of the blowing wind enough to pick her up off her feet

But then the wind stops, and the Puella Magi falls to the ground and upon her shoulder with a harsh impact. Its painful, but decided not lethal. All around her the world has come to a halt. Homura looks at the figures around her. The Cures are desperately struggling to save each other. Mars is launching her fiery assault. An unknown girl running after ... an apron?

Fuu is attempting to fight fire with fire ... or more literally, wind with wind. But Homura doesn't have that sort of arrow in her quiver. Instead she has... a small cylinder. Again not very threatening compared to ribbon muskets or lances. However when she presses her palm down upon it, it begins to glow an ominous red hue.

When the winds die down there are now a lot of tiny ominous cylinders set down around the Bigger Badder Wolf. And there is Homura standing there with her back to the wolf and with one more pipe bomb resting in her hand. Just as Mami winds up her Tiro Finale shot she taps the top of the cylinder and tosses it, nonchalantly, back over her shoulder. The improvised explosive spins end over end as it heads directly towards the wolf's still open maw, and in that same instant Homura simply ceases to exist!

At least... she ceases to exist where the explosions are about to happen. Instead she has reappeared now beside Mami, still facing away from the Wolf ... and whatever explosions there may be.

It's a shame she doesn't have any shades to slip on while she's doing that.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Homura Akemi has used Timed Explosives on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.

Tsukiko winces and whines, caught between the collateral wind of the huge wolf's breath and the raw sonic pain of the Trio the Minor. "Ow ow ow ow ow..." she whimpers, eyes rather damp. She looks at the loud three before her, catching her breath and trying to compose herself.

"My turn," she whispers fiercely, her eyes glinting as she dashes forward, trying to corral the singers into a limited space.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Herd the Quarry on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly dodges Mami Tomoe's Finisher, Tiro Finale, taking 117 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Homura Akemi's Finisher, Timed Explosives, taking 126 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname is unable to keep fighting!

And then suddenly everything goes a bit horrible.

Despite the intensity of their blows- despite the commitment of their combination- there's not much you can do when you're just plain knocked away like a ragdoll. Sunny who can't fly or anything, who mostly fights by scorching the ground-- goes flying into the air, knocked away by the wolf, rocketing, pinwheeling, being tossed towards oblivion--

And for a second, she thinks, is this really happening? Are we going to lose? Will I never see mom and dad again? Or Nao, or Miyuki?

Is the new year going to slip through our fingers?

Clasp.

Reika has her by one hand. Reika caught her. It takes a moment for her to process this- and then she grips onto her friend's hand for pure, sheer, dear life. For a brief moment, she realises the enormity of everything- that she was swallowed by a huge wolf, that people around her are bleeding and crying--

But in all of this, there is -- there are --

Your friends.

".../right/!" Sunny shouts back over the sound of the wind, her entire world consisting of Reika's hand for a second.

Just a second, though. She notices Kuniko - sailing past, just like her- and whips out her other free hand. She's never met this person before. But she'll be darned if she lets her fall.

For a moment, the four girls hang there, muscles screaming, suspended-- and then they're safe again. Gasping, frightened-- but alive.

Mai should really be taking this more seriously. These are a fearsome trio of apparently demonic lieutenants or...something. Look, it's not like HiME get any instruction on their own enemies, let alone others. The problem, of course, is that the trio are now arguing with each other, and really what can be said to that? Well, Tuxedo Mask is ranting about karaoke. So that's something that can be said-

Oh, the leader is being serious - Mai panics, lets out a squawk, summons a shining red sphere around her. Sadly, it's not as fiery, and Bassdrum simply slams it into the ground. While the fire Element's power largely protects Mai from harm, she finds the rock has cratered from the barrier's impact against it.

...okay, time to take this a bit more seriously. Somewhere behind her, there's a sudden gust of wind - her Elements flare with light to keep her steady through the inclement weather. How are things going against the wolf?...she can't spare the attention to check. She can only glance at Runealy and Utena for a brief moment. "Right, then. Lead vocalist - I've had enough of your singing!" With a warcry, she flies forward, full speed, bent on disabling his most dangerous weapon.

By which she means ramming her golden rings into his chin.

GOD it's cathartic to punch someone like Baritone in the face. It really, really, really is.

Tuxedo Mask shakes out his hand a little where no one can see. He's turning around to put his attention back on-- she fell down. She's just sort of-- Sailor Moon doesn't look especially injured...

There is no time for analysis that wolf is HUFFING and PUFFING and all of a sudden people are sailing through the air! And Mamoru's back is to the guy yelling at him, because the wind is actually getting stronger and--

--and he gets clocked in the head *and his hat is smashed flat on it*.

This fight involves a lot of ears-ringing.

"I DON'T-- ow-- HAVE TIME FOR YOU!" he yells over his shoulder, ripping his hat off his head and flinging it toward Bassdrum's face, taking off like a rocket. A foot-powered rocket. With a super classy cape to make up for the loss of the classy hat. Quite firmly, he keeps himself from holding his head as he sprints; the foul wind has already picked her up, so he pours on the speed. Almost, almost--

ALMOST THERE--

--and Tuxedo Kamen takes one more leap, shoving himself through the air to catch up with the fainted and flying pretty soldier of love and justice, and grabbing her by the wrist. The other arm flings outward and a cane slides up into his hand, and he uses it to hook around a tree branch, jarring them both as it catches.

Note to self: the New Year's Jewel is really, in all honesty, probably not the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Sailor Moon's in Trouble! on Tuxedo Mask.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask accepts Tuxedo Mask's Sailor Moon's in Trouble!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

A fireball comes flying back at the Bigger, Badder Wolf, and she takes it head on -- literally, butting it out of the air, then stamping out the last of the flames with her forepaws. This singes them quite a bit, and she curls up for a moment, licking at them.

A single yellow eye quirks upwards at the incoming Emerald Tornado, and she reminds everyone why wolves are incredible, vaulting out of the way with seconds to spare.

She lands hard... in the middle of a pile of timed explosives. They go off at precisely the same moment as Tiro Finale re-enacts the grisly ending of Little Red Riding Hood.

The magnificent force of their two simultaneous explosions send /her/ up, up, and away, over the edge of the cliff, falling, falling, falling...

...never to be seen again.

(Just kidding, she'll be baaaack~)

"Billy-chan~de gozaru!" cries Pop over the clamor of battle. "Where are you~de gozaru!!"

Weakly, from within the cave, there is a soft, miserable bleating.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname transforms into Madoka Kaname!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has fully healed herself.

Princess Runealy hops away from Mai to give her space for conjuring up those flames. Mai has indicated she can be somewhat discerning about who they hurt, but why test that theory here and now? Rune is happy with the little orbiting spark Mai gave her. She is far less happy to see Sailor Moon suddenly collapse, though. Worry races through the princess' mind; what caused /that/ to happen?! And Cure Beauty... and things just get worse from there. The wolf seems like it could seize the upper hand if not for sudden, forceful efforts by those still standing!

Bassdrum rushes in to disrupt that line of thought. Mai bears the brunt of it his assault first, but it snaps Rune's attention back to this half of the battle very well. The princess' eyes narrow as he takes that breath, and she tries to cut him off by shouting! Nothing articulate, just a loud yell meant to offer some defiance to his song. On its own, this would not be enough; his trained singing is superior to her random calls. But it gives some emotional context to her barrier, as Rune wraps herself up in another sparkling red dome. It wavers, buckles, cracks, even as the noise drives Runealy to her knees... but this defense is somewhat muffling the song and buying valuable time for her to think. 'Had enough', Mai calls.

'Enough' is probably right. Rune rises, dismissing her barrier and leveling her wand at Bassdrum. "I don't understand you at all. You /are/ talented, but this is how you apply it? That's sad..." This isn't said mockingly or with any sarcasm; it's easy for her to see how, in other circumstances, this apparent member of the Bad End Kingdom and his associates could use their singing for entertainment rather than spreading ruin. "Wardliiight..."

A partially clear, partially white dome forms. It grows until it's wide enough to potentially encase Bassdrum. "Epilogue!" This shout sends it toward him, aiming to surround and trap. Regardless of whether it holds him, or will even affect him, the energy is spent. Gold light spreads within... brighter, wider. It's a brilliant symbol of resolve to seal demons away from those they would hurt, a symbol that spreads until the dome containing it bursts!

COMBAT: FINISHER! Princess Runealy has used Wardlight Epilogue on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.

Cure Peace ahs and makes a wide face... nrgggg....so heavy. She can feel herself start to slide---

NO!. She begins to tug. And there's Candy tugging at her heel, too, suddenly... "I can.. help too!~Kuru!" she says with abosoulte worry on her face. Peace nods.. "Right---we can---" she stops sliding, she tugs, and pulls.....

Beauty...Kuniko..Sunny. She drags the chain upwards and grits her teeth. She pants. "Ahhah---! I did it..." she says with a blushed face. "Ah--you're all okay...!" she says all worriedly. She may not have super strength... but she has a super heart. For what it's worth.

She huffs... "Ah---guys---I!..." she looks towards the cave-- "Ah- right!..." she says. "Please... I--we need to still get Billy." she says as she runs past Pop towards the cave now. Tired and Distressed, but they still have a job to do right now. She saw Billy get tossed into that Cave. Let's see what's there. She doubt it's treasure.

Well, that could have been more satisfying .... but Fuu has to admit - privately - that even if her own spell didn't connect, seeing the wolf dodge straight into the other girls' high-firepower attacks was contenting in its own right.

She can't stick around to admire their handiwork, though - and as much as she'd like to help rescue the little goat-fairy, she *did* see Cure Peace and Cure Beauty getting blown away. So the Wind Knight lets her bow and quiver disappear, and goes racing off to help get the Cures and their friends back onto relatively solid ground ...

The New Year's Jewel is probably not the Silver Crystal. Unfortunately for Tuxedo Mask, neither is Sailor Moon. There's very little royal profit in rescuing flailing eighth graders.

Not that Usagi is doing much flailing right now. She is breathing steadily but otherwise completely dead weight in Tuxedo Mask's hands. It's a good thing he's like six foot ridiculous.

As the leader of the trio -- at least, the self-appointed leader -- starts to fire blasts and regulate, Utena tries desperately to hang on. The battlefield is starting to quake at this point, and she can't quite maintain that steadfast, confident posture she likes to have when she's on the field of battle -- especially not with the power of the Engaged.

Nevertheless, she manages to get stable, putting herself in a position ready to lunge forward. Something princely swells within her, and --

-- Bursting forward in a sudden swell of raw physicality, Utena springs at Bassdrum, sword in hand. As she nears him, she brings the blade up slightly, then lashes out with it in a forceful whirling slash; once the slash is complete, she brings her feet in, neatly standing in front of her handiwork.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Utena Tenjou has used Cleaving Sword of Dios on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has finished attacking.

Homura simply appears, before her, and Mami blinks. There is no saucer for her teacup, not this time, but she could not forego the little flourish that is part of her magic. But she does not have two, and her free hand is... well, not terribly useful, until she heals it herself. "Akemi-san," she starts, looking over at her fellow Puella Magi. There's a moment's hesitation, as her shoulder twitches, the bad arm instinctively starting to move--

And then she remembers the last time she and Homura spoke, at Mami's home.

"...Good work," the blonde says instead, and begins walking towards the cave.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor narrowly braces Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Herd the Quarry, taking 1 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Trio the Minor's Block ability activates! Trio the Minor's Parry ability activates! Tangle and Trap applied to Trio the Minor!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor fails to dodge Princess Runealy's Finisher, Wardlight Epilogue, taking 110 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor narrowly braces Utena Tenjou's Finisher, Cleaving Sword of Dios, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Trio the Minor's Block ability activates! Trio the Minor's Parry ability activates!

Kuniko is grabbed on the elbow, her Mise-en-place glittering in the mist and dankness of the Bad End Kingdom as she lurches...

She's hanging. Hanging over nothing. Her heart jackhammers in her chest as she dangles, looking up at the Pretty Cures. Her eyes water - but impossibly, terrifyingly, they go upwards. They lurch, they swing, but finally she's on hard land again. She lays on her side, gasping for breath.

A part of her wants to cash out. Flop over, curl out, and go to sleep. Sleep for the rest of the break. Her eyes track to Cure Peace as she swallows loudly.

Despite adrenal exhaustion, she rolls onto her back. She sits up, looking at the blue shimmering apron in her hand for a long moment.

She can smell the slobber still clinging onto her, and the foul miasmas of this place, and even so, she pushes herself up - to her knees, then upright. She wraps the apron's two strings around her waist, knotting them behind herself. Closing her eyes, she seems to dry wash her hands - and even takes the time to splash her /face/, before sweeping everything dry.

And with that cleansing the outfit ripples into place around herself. The hat doesn't, though.

"Never let the side down," she mutters to herself. Then, coming back to awareness, she gives Cure Peace a slightly ghoulish smile; her face is looking a little careworn. But her voice is still fine. "Thanks. That was super close."

She looks towards the cave. "OK," she says then, stepping forwards, towards it - and is about to call out towards Mami, about the injury.

She then realizes, abruptly:

NO INTRODUCTION!

"Psst!" she hisses to Cure Beauty. "What's her name? You know -" She makes a spiralling gesture behind her head. This is an attempt to mime the hair; it may, of course, parse differently.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito transforms into Commis Kuniko!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Binding Ember on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor narrowly braces Mai Tokiha's Binding Ember, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Trio the Minor's Block ability activates! Trio the Minor's Parry ability activates! Exhausted applied to Trio the Minor!

Though the two rarely seem to see eye to eye there is something to be said about the ability of Homura Akemi and Mami Tomoe to work together. In this particular moment everything seemed to be timed just right. Not only did Homura take advantage of Fuu's tornado but also Mami's Tiro Finale, and with her own explosives, produced a force most magnificent. And fully sufficient to send the Bigger Badder Wolf flying off to bother some other little pigs.

It's almost like the two of them have worked together before. Not simply as allies of convenience, but as a genuine team that worked on learning how to combine their skills together. But this cannot be.

Not in this world.

The two are still standing side by side. Homura with her back turned to where the wolf was. Out of the corner of her eye she gives Mami a glance. Her eye then looks toward where the Cures are in the process of being rescued from the edge of the cliff. Fuu seems to be running over to bring more assistance to their need. Her eyes then travel over to where Sailor Moon had collapsed. Tuxedo Mask is, of course, rushing to her aid.

When Homura finally does speak up, to Mami, it's not any sort of reassurance: "The battle isn't over yet." The Puella Magi warns. Her gaze then moves to look at Trio the Minor. It seems like they have their hands full.

Mami says softly '...Good work' before walking toward the cave. Homura turns her head to look after her fellow Puella Magi for a few moments. Her expression is as flat as it usually is. But under the mask...

Homura casually flips her hair with one hand while drawing a grief seed from its container and placing it upon her soul gem. Motes of corruption are drawn away, and the gem is restored to its original shine. She tucks the grief seed away and moves toward the cave as well. For now, Mami's silent shadow.

Cure Beauty in the meanwhile, is contemplating the mysteries of the universe. Currently that mystery is why everything is pain. Particularly her shoulders, as she lays there, breath heaving out. Kuniko gestures towards Mami, and makes a spiraling gesture about her hair. Cure Beauty isn't looking towards Mami's direction, so she parses that a lot differently. She interprets the spiral gesture to be like sheep like yellow ears covered in hair instead. Cure Beauty continues to just inhale, exhale, ribs aching, before she answers in a partially inquisitive tone, as she mumbles out. "Do you mean Candy?"

Drip.

Drip.

The cave is still dark.

Drip.

Drip.

The cave is still wet.

Drip.

Drip.

Splish!

But the cave is almost totally empty, except for the tiny, sprawled out goat fairy, who is trying to crawl her way out again, elbows first, her face black with dirt and possibly worse things that were on the cave floor.

She looks up at Mami, at Cure Peace, at Homura, standing behind them in the shadows.

"Take me~mehhh," Billy-chan gasps out, to the trolls."

Pop tiptoes his way through the muck, backing up fast when he sees his friend and bonking the back of his head on a femur, which crashes down. He leaps in the air, startled, then brushes back his mane in a probably-unconscious homage of Homura, and tries to play it cool. Besides, his goat fairy friend needs his help.

"Billy-chan!! Don't worry, we've got you~de gozaru." Rushing forward, he works to support her, over his shoulder in a firelion's lift.

...this is an especially slow and ineffective way to deal with this issue, considering that there are magical girls with free hands (or free... hand) towering over them. At least he's got heart.

Bassdrum - stands there. He thunders out a momentous aria, a melody of only a handful of bars that nonetheless feels like it tears at something searing, something fundamental. The very world curls up before the power of it - an overwhelming, soul-wrenching SORROW.

For a normal person, it would be crippling; a debilitating melody played on the soul, reducing all possibility to despair. The magic of transformation, the magic of the heart, these protect one from the psychic effect - but it's still /painful/, an aria of very wrong noise that splits the head like a drum.

And he keeps doing it. He grunts out a pained "Hrgh," as Utena comes at him, but Baritone manages to get his senses together enough to lunge at her, taking the hit himself. He screams, falls to one knee - but holds her, gripping her by the midsection like a football player; refusing her progress. His look up is one of spite. "Non non," he commands. "You will listen...TO OUR MELODY!"

Runealy's blast is more effective; it actually stops Bassdrum's aria for a moment, as he's blown off his feet by the power of her Wardlight Epilogue. But his response... "Sadness..." he laughs, roughly. "That's the /point/." He rises to his feet. "Listen, then! It is incomplete, but it will still bring you to your knees! LISTEN TO THE MELODY OF SORROW!"

And he continues - picking up right where he left off, the awful melody ripping and tearing at the walls that protect the spirit. A magical girl's heart is too strong to be moved by this incomplete tune. But it still hurts. A LOT.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Trio the Minor has used Melody of Sorrow: Finale on Mai Tokiha.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Trio the Minor has used Melody of Sorrow: Finale on Cure Peace.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Trio the Minor has used Melody of Sorrow: Finale on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Melody of Sorrow: Overture on Utena Tenjou.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Melody of Sorrow: Overture on Princess Runealy.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy narrowly dodges Trio the Minor's Melody of Sorrow: Overture, taking 32 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy's Fade ability activates! Princess Runealy's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Cure Peace narrowly braces Trio the Minor's Finisher, Melody of Sorrow: Finale, taking 76 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou fails to dodge Trio the Minor's Melody of Sorrow: Overture, taking 42 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko narrowly counters Trio the Minor's Finisher, Melody of Sorrow: Finale, taking 42 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko's counterattack, Soulful Howl, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Trio the Minor!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly braces Trio the Minor's Finisher, Melody of Sorrow: Finale, taking 74 Fatigue damage! Mai Tokiha's Block ability activates!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has used Melody of Sorrow: Pianissimo on Tuxedo Mask.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask narrowly dodges Trio the Minor's Melody of Sorrow: Pianissimo, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Tuxedo Mask's Flash ability activates!

Cure Peace is rushing towards the cave and.... rippling, sorrowful noise wrecks through her, and her heart...nrggg----it stops her, it slows her down---she squints and pushes through as much as she can, taking a deep breath---she can't stop her, from getting to her objective--he can't be allowed to---

She eventually enters the cave and collpases to her hands a moment as she pants and lifts herself up. Barely. She's still up...and powered---

Barely as she frowns , seeing Pop move a hurting and distressed Billy-Chan--"Ah--it's....too dangerous Pop--- stay in here until..until the others can take care of the Evil Terrible Tenors....!" she pleads all wide eyed.

She looks back towards the cave opening and raises her arm.... ---just in case the next figures that come through that cave entrance aren't friendly.

Though her legs are shaking.

Oh god the sound.

Tsukiko was already feeling incredibly sad, but when the Trio started on the finale of their Melody of Sorrow, well.

Focusing as hard as she can, she channels all of her emotions into one loud howl. Sorrow, frustration, determination, defiance.

The Melody drives her to her knees, but she's still conscious - and feeling much happier. Whatever else you can say about it, the howl was therapeutic.

Unfortunately, the Trio is still standing. "Fine," she growls, staggering to her feet. No time for anything fancy; just charging the Trio with raw, primal agression. She pounces, fully intending on chewing on them like a wild animal.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Gnaw Your Head Off!!! on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.

Magnificent. That's the only word in Mai's head to describe the show put on by Runealy and Utena - a magnificent sword strike to Baritone, a climactic blast of power to Bassdrum. It's impressive, even as Mai recovers from her out-of-control charge. But then...they sing. They sing a song of sorrow to rend the very soul. A song that, terrible as it is, brings up the worst of memories.

For Mai, the melody sounds strange. Not like a baritone singer, or even the howling wind...she hears a rushing river. There's still action going on in the cave, still shouts of desperate hope and fear, but all Mai can hear is the Melody of Sorrow and the memories that echo in its refrain. Overwhelmed, she falls to her knees.

The impact of knees on hard stone jolts her - shouldn't it be mud, here? Slowly, she looks up, realizing that she's still in the cave, she isn't back there-

Fury crosses her face. Raw fury at the trio, for their attacks, for their singing, for the memories they somehow stirred up with that awful song-

Flames build up around Mai, a blazing bonfire to briefly engulf her - and then she screams. Not a scream of pain, but a scream of raw fury, one that almost echoes with some strange creature's cry. The flames rush forward, bent on enveloping the singing trio.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Mai Tokiha has used Ardent Light on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

For some odd reason, Tuxedo Mask can't actually be bothered to think of diving after eighth graders as a profit/loss scenario. No: he's just thanking every god there is that he managed to catch this particular one. When the wind finally dies down and they fall to the ground, he pushes himself up to his knees and pulls her close--

--which is a good thing, because it means he can cover her with his sometimes-occasionally-magical cape as he throws them both to the side, away from the world's saddest song played on the world's quietest Bassdrum. The magical sound hits him and tears at his heart, bringing him nearly to tears, but--

--but--

--Sailor Moon's just passed out, it's going to be all right. As long as she's okay...

The boy's black hair whips in the wind of his turning his head to glare daggers at Bassdrum from behind that slender white mask. "I don't," he yells across the battlefield, "wish for you to MISINTERPRET a ROSE as PRAISE. Everyone! Put him our of our misery! FOR THE HOPES OF THE NEW YEAR!"

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Ridiculously Condescending Remark of Cutting Precision on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.

Princess Runealy watches as several others head into the cave. /Good./ This needs to be done quickly, if they're as close to a terrifying stronghold as Pop's advice seemed to imply. If a split effort can keep Bassdrum busy and give them time to find Billy, it's worth doing. Or maybe it won't be necessary; her demon-sealing magic seems to be working!

...Working, but not enough on its own. He emerges from the dome still able to stand. His words cut through her consciousness; 'that's the point'... he's /laughing/ about making others suffer. "Is that really all there is to your singing?" The prospect of someone using a medium of expression just to drag others down, and enjoy doing it, is staggering to even consider!

His hurtful singing is staggering on a different level. It drives the princess back a step at a time, one hand cupping an ear to try to muffle the noise. Her wand lashes out with energy blasts at the ground, kicking up dirt and making their own sounds to try to dull the melody. This only works so far, and eventually Rune's eyes begin watering both from emotion and from her head pounding.

Yet Tuxedo Mask calls for this to come to an end, and Mai is screaming. This pulls her mind up, gives her some focus. "Right!" She takes aim, wand humming as magic charges around its tip. This only lasts a moment though, unleashing a roughly basketball-sized green orb. Darker, 'thicker', than most of the ones she has used before. It has a similar effect though, soaring through the cave with intent to explode into sparkles if it strikes the remaining singer!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Charged Shot on Trio the Minor.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.

The melody bowls Utena over -- even the strength of Dios can't save her from this one, it seems. In spite of everything, though, she pulls herself right back up again, getting ready to come in toward the Trio, or at least its last standing member, one last time.

She can't quite pull herself together enough to attack, though -- not just yet. She takes a moment to steady herself, rather than coming in toward the musical maestro; as much as she'd like to finish this, right now... she's just too exhausted to swing again.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has used Take A Breather on Utena Tenjou.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou accepts Utena Tenjou's Take A Breather, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

Kuniko's kidneys are squeezed dry. (That's where the adrenal glands are, before you get too saucy.) The wave of sorrow washes over her, making her grimace - but she steps into the cavern, looking towards the tiny fairies with an expression of genuine pain and sympathy.

"I'm counting on you guys," she tells the Cures (and others), before sinking to one knee. She sets out a small dish of water and some chopped mesclun for the sake of the poor little Billy, as well as putting herself between the cavern mouth and the two of them, just in case.

It's true; the battle isn't really over. But now here, with Homura and Cure Peace, Mami Tomoe looks down to the first fairy, and then the second, with aslight smile, as if she hadn't just gone through this battle or the difficulty that she has. ...And admittedly, she has to respect Pop's tenacity.

"Don't worry," she says to Cure Peace, doing her best not to hold her arm but instead sound reassuring. "You've done your best so far, and you and your friends can get through this, too. Trust the people left outside." Mami smiles, lightly, and steps closer to the fairies.

"...I'm afraid I won't be much help just yet, but I will say that I'm glad to see you safe. Let me offer a hand." Mami reaches her good one, to support the goat-fairy-lion-fairy combo.

COMBAT: Trio the Minor accepts Tuxedo Mask's Ridiculously Condescending Remark of Cutting Precision, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor accepts Princess Runealy's Charged Shot, taking 18 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor accepts Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Gnaw Your Head Off!!!, taking 20 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Trio the Minor accepts Mai Tokiha's Finisher, Ardent Light, taking 137 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Trio the Minor is unable to keep fighting!

"Yeah speaking of that, do you - want a, towel, or," Kuniko begins to say, trailing off as she realizes this is the third bloodiest injury she's ever seen. (Second if you consider the fact that Nijimura just gashed his scalp and wasn't in actual danger.)

"You're taking it really well, uh -" she tries again, to Mami. Shit, she thinks: I still don't know her name!

Cure Peace looks over to the drilled hair, musket using Puella Magi. She may not be familar with her. But she seems to care a great deal. That goes a long way. "You got very hurt.....are you sure you're okay yourself----" she blushes. "Ahhh--!? I don't know your name, I'm terrible sorry!" she spouts.

Kuniko can sit there awkwardly, Peace can just just blurt out the question on her mind in an embrassed tone easily enough where Kuniko can hear it, and hopefully get answered. "I..I know they can do it!" she finally answers in determination.

That soul-penetrating howl just can't crack the power of the Melody of Sorrow. Bassdrum has the gall to smirk in Tsukiko's direction. His thundering bass drowns out Tuxedo Mask's rebuke, refuses to allow anything but livid despair to creak through the air of this little corner of the Bad End Kingdom.

Runealy's anger pelts him with shells, earning her a pained grunt between notes. Tsukiko leaps at him to interrupt, but while Baritone checks Utena, Falsetto has managed to get his brain back in order, and lunges to tackle the wolf girl, his magnificent pink hair tussling as he wrangles her to the ground, eyes wide and smiling wild. "I don't think you'll find it that easy!" the high-pitched man chimes.

But that means that Bassdrum's two backup singers are busy - and THAT means when Mai comes at him, Bassdrum has no defense. Bassdrum's eyes shrink to pinpoints but he can't do much but switch from singing to SCREAMING, a horrified, "NNNNAAAAAAAUUUUGH!!" before he's sent flying across the room by that fire, slamming into the far wall with a THUMP. "N...ngh..." he grits out. "You... ..." His eyes sweep across the room, lips curling up into a sneer, and then: "Baritone! Falsetto!"

"WE'LL REMEMBER THIIIIIS~!!" they sing, and then the three of them vanish, flickering away.

A towel? Mami turns to look at Kuniko as she asks, and... "Oh, that would be lovely." Her response has a certain amount of genuine relief and appreciation in it, no less, at merely an offer. "If my outfit weren't magical, I'm afraid I'd have ruined it quite completely by now."

...It might, yes, be strange how /calm/ she is about the entire thing. The winces here and there, the careful way she moves to avoid jostling it, show that it does at least /hurt/, but still she talks as if she's simply discussing a particularly unexpected bit of rain. ...But Cure Peace, too, chimes in, and Mami smiles back, lifting her right hand to try and dispel some of the worry. "It's fine, I stopped wearing a nametag a while ago, when I realized the experienced magical girls preferred to skip it."

"I'm Mami Tomoe," she answers, looking between both. She accepts Peace's certainy as it is. "...And don't concern yourself, I've had worse." Beat, "what's important is that we're all alive, isn't it?" Pause, "...Once we're out of this dark hole though I /could/ use some tea. I don't suppose you have any more...?"

Kuniko's so /good/ at drinks.

Pop reaches up with his free paw to take Mami's finger. He can't really hold more than that. Then he shakes his head, brown eyes thoughtful, and lets go.

From nowhere in particular he pulls out a little tiny scroll, something that looks like it belongs on the set of The Last Ninja. He holds it up to his forehead. "Transform -- de gozaru!!"

There is a puff of smoke.

When it clears, a little Pop-colored wagon, with a handle that could easily be pulled by one hand, is present, Billy already inside, her eyes little swirls of exhaustion. She'll be fine with a little time to rest.

Pop's eyes are still there, as is his mouth. His whole face comprises the front panel of the wagon, in fact. "We have to go /right now/~de gozaru," he says with all the urgency such a sentence entails. "Time flows differently in different worlds... we have less than two hours left in the Bad End Kingdom before the New Year in the Garden of Rainbows~de gozaru!!"

He looks up at Mami.

"PULL, MAMI, PULL LIKE THE WIND~de gozaru!!"

NEW YEARS EVE: 10:30pm

It isn't until after the Trio has already disappeared that the bonfire around Mai dies down. The stone around her has been scorched in a small circular area, and parts of the rock are still burning. (Can stone burn? Maybe this world really is paper...) There's no triumphant shout of victory, though - just an exhausted HiME, fallen to her knees and breathing heavily.

There's a brief flurry of flame, and the golden rings around wrists and ankles disappear. Still, Mai doesn't move - she's just catching her breath, and staring blankly at the cave floor before her.

"I'm Kuniko Saito," says Guess Who.

Then, she looks at the fairy.

Shortly thereafter, a bracing cup of sencha is held out to Mami. She will need it.

Princess Runealy recoils... not from her shot, but from Mai's flame. She had been briefly considering heading in to close-range fighting with Bassdrum, and is now VERY glad she did no such thing, in light of the blaze that got sent his way. Those fires didn't seem to be spawned from confidence, nor did the shout that accompanied them. Awe quickly gives way to worry...

...And Rune hurries over to Mai's side. "Mai!? Hey... are you okay? We did it. Just..." Just what? Calm down? The princess is really not sure how to end that sentence. What /do/ you say, after witnessing an outburst like that? An outburst that Rune can sympathize with, as she has had her share of similar moments in the last two weeks and change. Hesitantly, Rune tries to offer Mai a hand up.

Tsukiko staggers to her feet once again, watching the Trio leave. She looks at the other magical girls, and gives them a weary grin. "So far, so good?" she smiles weakly.

The wolfgirl starts walking alongside the Pop-wagon, intent on keeping moving. She really, really could use a nap, but there's a New Year to save. Sleep can wait for a few more hours.

Mai's breathing finally settles down after a few moments more; the staring, by contrast, lasts a little longer. Eventually, though, she turns her head to the outstretched hand, then to the girl holding it out to her, and her eyes focus again. "...sorry about that. I got a little carried away." She tries to smile, and accepts the hand up.

Once she's standing again, she shakes her head to clear it of...thoughts. "Right! So - is the goat fairy okay?" Belatedly, she notices the Pop-wagon. "Okay. So now it's...troll bridge, right?" she looks to Runealy for confirmation before starting to move. A staggering step, then another, and then trying to keep up. Compared to - for instance - the spiral-haired Puella Magi, Mai's not too bad off. She can resummon her Element in a bit, once she's recovered.

"I think so," Rune responds as her magic fades. She tries to help Mai along, but if the HiME looks stable then she'll eventually move to help with hauling the wagon. "And... don't worry about 'carried away.' From how it sounded, you had something strong enough to, well, 'lift' you." There is that lingering concern. "We're going to make it, though." She hopes they will. This fight seemed to take its toll on the group, and heading to what might be another one while within the Bad End Kingdom sounds like a huge risk. One that must be taken, but that doesn't stop it from being a daunting situation.