2014-04-16 - Rescue The New Year! Part 3/3

Title: Rescue The New Year! Part 3/3
Summary: The final battle to rescue the Jewel of Beginnings! Can it be returned to its place by midnight on New Years Eve? WARNING: Scene is truly epic in every way possible.
Who: GM: Mytho! Players: Cute Wolf Tsukiko, Princess Runealy, Kuniko Saito, Mai Tokiha, Sailor Vega, Cure Sunny, Sailor Moon, Fuu Hououji, Homura Akemi, Mami Tomoe, Tuxedo Mask, Cure Beauty, Cure Peace, Sailor Neptune, Nadeshiko Fujisaki, Utena Tenjou, Sailor Mars, Madoka Kaname
Where: The Bad End Kingdom, then, Tokyo Bay!
OOC - IC Date: Apr 16, 2014 / New Years' Eve, 2013

<Pose Tracker> Mytho [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

NEW YEARS EVE: 11:00pm

It's about half an hour's journey along the fringes of the Bad End Kingdom to make it to the Great and Terrible Bridge.

It lives up to its name: it is truly great, an enormous structure spanning a chasm of epic width and seemingly endless depth, given that it connects two pieces of the Bad End Kingdom, with but the void between. The blood moon rises high behind it, drenching everything in light that serves no purpose but to darken the shadows.

It is also /terrible/. It is predominantly made out of woven straw, with rotting planks and, here and there, some hemp rope knots. Crossing that bridge looks like no fun at all.

But very, very faintly beneath it there's a familiar glimmer of rainbow light -- of infinite potential. Of new hope. Even the distant presence of the Jewel of Beginnings is like a cool hand on a sweaty brow, rejuvenating exhaustion, revitalizing breath, infusing the very air with a sense of progress rather than stagnation, an intangible sense that there is a way forward -- there is a future -- and it's a bright one.

That feeling abruptly vanishes (along with the light) as, too deeply within the chasm to be seen, but presumably clinging to one of the walls or holed up in a crack, someone or something shrouds it with their very presence. An icy maleficence drifts upwards.

"WHHHHHHOOOOOOO TTTHHHHIIIINNNNKS THHHHHHHEY CANNNNNN CROSSSSSSSSS MYYYYYYYY BRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIDGE?" The voice is even more great and terrible than the crossing, a baritone's worth of sandpaper cruelty.

"Hang on -- I got this~mehhh," whispers Billy-chan the goat fairy, from high aboove. Having been rescued from the Bigger, Badder Wolf (with special guests Trio the Minor), she took a power nap in the Pop-wagon on her way here, and seems much improved. Her dark eyes are as bright as the tips of her horns.

She rolls out, and Pop transforms in another puff of smoke, back into his usual lionfairy self. He folds his arms and chins towards the bridge encouragingly, and once she's well on her way, looks over towards the group. His soft, velvety voice is hushed, keeping his words for the magical girls' ears alone.

"Billy-chan is my most tricky agent; we have nothing to worry about~de gozaru. Once the troll comes out, you can beat it up while we steal the jewel! Because turnabout is fair play~de gozaru."

---

Just then, back on Earth

The site of the theft of the Jewel of Beginnings, along Tokyo Bay, should be packed to the brim with crowds. New Years Eve is the second most important day of the year, after all, and second only to New Years Day. And so it is, but they wander, listlessly -- the sound of a hungry baby's cry mingling with the loud, harsh voices of salarymen on the phone with their bosses, who want them to come in and work.

The gigantic hourglass structure out in the Bay hangs silently in the darkness, unlit.

Nobody notices the tiny frog fairy perched on a park bench -- nobody, that is, except for those with an eye for such strangeness. He's sitting on top of a hardback pink book.

Inevitably, when approached, he lays it out: "We have to go help Pop~pyoko! And save the New Year~pyoko! Climb aboard~pyoko!"

Growing to the size of a short school bus, it's easy to clamber up onto his bumpy back. With a single, phenomenal leap, he's up, up and away, Tokyo fading into darkness below...

...and lands in the midst of the girls in the Bad End Kingdom with hardly a bounce.

"Pyoko~pyoko!!" he greets his fearless leader, smugly.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

New Year! It's time to start counting down, and Asagao Uekawa has been living up every second in the crowd along Tokyo Bay. Classy silver sweater, velvet coat, high-heeled boots, the classic/upscale effect is all but totally undone by the sheer volume of cheap plastic New Year-themed jewelry and apparel she's layered onto herself over the course of the evening.

And the noise-makers. Oh, the noise. She's also got poppers sticking out of her pockets and some kind of kazoo-type thing in her mouth.

Frankly, it's amazing Asagao even catches sight of the frog through the obnoxious '2014' glasses she's got on, and the light-up hat. But she does.

"We have to help" is all it takes - Asagao hasn't questioned a talking animal that demanded help since she became a Senshi and tonight is no exception. Invitation/Command extended, Asagao exuses herself long enough to duck out of sight to transform. Whe she returns, Sailor Vega is set to hop on the creature's back!

Dear Diary; Today I rode a giant magical frog into a Dark Dimension...

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

The trip bringing the Pop-wagon over was, in a word, unpleasant for one Mami Tomoe. Oh, to be sure, havin an adorable oat fairy in tow was a plus, as well as knowin that fierce little lion fairy is there as well. It's a mild dream in its own way. However, her wounds are yet untreated on the way over, and that means a lot of stinging because running is just not very gentle, least of all when dragging along a(n admittedly wonderful) wagon.

The Puella Magi is, however, way too cool to ask for help on this front. As the most perfect and supportive senpai, she must instead smile and cheer on everyone else, encouraging them when they flag with a bright nod and perhaps a joke. While she still looks about the same as she did, she demurs concern by suggesting that it's really not as bad as it looks. In reality... Well, in reality a glance back at Billy-chan and her morale, at least, stays strong.

...So the feeling from that rainbow light being /more/ a relief than just stopping is a surprise, finds Mami breathing it in despite the... smells... of this place besides it. Stopping with a frown, the blonde girl steps back at the great voice, looking for its source amidst the echo. The goat apparently has this, though. Mami will accept that.

...So, while the goat is going and the lion is preparing to speak, Mami slips away from the group for a few moments, hidden behind an especially threatening rock. There is a faint glow, but it's easy to miss because rock.

'Turnabout is fair play~' Mami steps out, refreshed and looking like she hasn't even been /in/ a fight yet. "Well, I'm certainly not concerned with her tenacity. We'll do our part, too. Right, everyone?"

<Pose Tracker> Cure Sunny [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

It's been a very short amount of time since the dust finally settled on the encounter with the Big Mama Wolf Plus Three. In that dreadful showdown, the Smile Precure Team Minus Two had done what they always do- held together with their bonds of friendship.

Literally, in fact. Imagine a brief 'previously on' flashback to a human chain of interlinked hands, dangling over oblivion...

"Don't you dare let go, Sunny! Teammates don't let each other down..." "/Right/!" "I can.. help too!~Kuru!" "Right---we can---"

And so, broken but unbowed, the Cures gathered their wits and proceeded on in their first foray into the true menace of the Bad End Kingdom. Cure Sunny knew that she had to keep everyone going strong- there was a lot of panic and despair in the clinch. They can't back down half-way.

That's why, when it became obvious that Cure Beauty was the most hurt of all of them, she did the best thing she could think of. "Lemme return a favour." And that's why the warm-hearted Cure is currently giving the bluenette a piggyback ride, shouldering the weight so that Reika can get her second wind.

And eventually, they came to... "So, it's a troll bridge instead of a toll bridge!"

Hey, the puns worked the last time, didn't they? Gotta keep that rolling!

<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Forwards, into the future. Having not been elected to pull the cart, Kuniko Saito has mostly walked in the vanguard, perhaps to defend the younger girls, perhaps in the expectation that Mami "Lefty" Tomoe is going to keel over from her injuries at any moment.

She has also been inventorying her supplies. It is a grim situation. Tsukiji was closed for the new year, and her powers of replication are meager. She is out of squid ink entirely. Garlic supplies remain adequate, but onion is a little sparse (go figure). There is one remaining trump card, she thinks... But other than that, she's down to cans, jars, and odds and sods.

She doesn't say this aloud. Grimly, she nods to Pop as he lays down the law. "A troll," she says, before glancing towards -

"Oh," Kuniko says, as Mami must have slipped off to... you know, she reasons. Back to Pop, even as the frogbus starts rolling in. "Trolls got a weakness or anything?"

<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

No rest for the weary. Cure Beauty was exhausted and wounded from the previous battle, as she limped alongside the Popwagon for the first few minutes, it was obvious she was falling behind. Which is when a certain offer came, and she answered in a dignified tone, "That is hardly necessary."

Smashcut to a short while later, where she's being piggy backed on Cure Sunny, legs held up, arms wrapped around her neck. There was no time for allowing embarrassment to override pragmatism, too much was at stake for her to fall behind in the Bad End Kingdom and she needed the rest. She might have blushed, but if so it was hidden, for the cheeks of her Henshin were always lined with a touch of it already applied by her Smile Pact. A short rest was enough, it had to be.

The terrible bridge lives up to its name, looking as if it weren't worthy for anyone to cross, it was an amalgamation of every bridge she'd read about from any of the tales. Which is when the malevolent voice resounds, echoing throughout the canyon. The Pretty Cure dropped down from Sunny's back, raising tiny plumes of dust. Listening to Akane, she offers, "Well, I think in the tale this story is based upon it's an actuall toll bridge, Sunny."

Beauty nods to Pop, with a sedate smile, "She very nearly escaped from the Wolf on her own, after all." Turning to Kuniko, she relays, "Well in the stories they were defeated by cunning, more than brute strength."

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Princess Runealy has been helping push the Pop-cart despite Mami's apparent intentions, which has given Rune a lot to think about. This is probably the first time she has done significant manual labor in a very long time, if ever; princesses rarely have to do such things. Then there's the fact they're trudging through very hostile territory, meaning that each fight brings with it the possibility another one might follow. Could the Bad End Kingdom overwhelm them with wave after wave?

As they approach the bridge, Rune looks over those gathered. She says something quietly to Mami: "Right." That part is simply an answer to Mami's broad, encouraging question. Rune has a little more to say, however. I'll explain why later, when it's a better time. For now... thank you."

The bridge itself is daunting given its layout and condition... she's not sure crossing that is a good idea, aside from the brief reassurances provided by the light. Pop's plan sounds smart, and she nods to the no-longer-a-cart lion fairy... but worry persists. "Is it going to have to be a fight? Is everyone here like the ones we saw at the cave?" Despite that concern, Rune takes heart at the new arrivals. They net a quick smile, one that shows fatigue but relief at the same time. If a battle does follow... they'll be much welcome help.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Peace [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Cure Peace is following along with Sunny, and Beauty. She's managed to mostly recover the past half-hour trip, that few moments of rest and not needing to worry about her friends falling off the side of the Bad End Kingdom into oblivious probably does wonders for her. She's cautiously optimisitc as she watches Sunny carry Beauty, smiling just a little.. "Are you feeling better yet Beauty?" she asks softly as she looks over to Beauty as she expounds upon the story of the Billy Goats Gruff. She maybe hasn't read this story, but might be vaugely familar with it.

Maybe she should actually read some of those books in the Magical Library when she gets back. For next time. She nods that to herself, too shy to mention she doesn't know that entire story---she's supposed to be a hero afterall. Confident! Not Unsure.

She eeeekks as the Malevolent voice icly speaks from below--- she sort of cowers down a little, less out of fright and more out of trying to 'hide' so Billy-Chan can do her best. Also, maybe they can surprise the troll properly if she's not immediatly apparently.

Then again she's a bright yellow cure in a dreary landscape. She probably sticks out like a sore thumb.

Candy is being sneaky. Candy is being sneaky too, well, as best as she can near Peace.

"Ah--so.. uh. When she pops up... just..?" she looks over to Sunny and Beauty. Then over to Mami. Who seems oddly well despite. Well. Almost maybe bleeding out last time. Well. That's hopeful at least! Right?

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Homura Akemi doesn't have time to bleed.

Though unfortunately she doesn't have time to knit. After using a grief seed to rejuvenate her soul gem she has been able to repair her wounds. Good thing too: That bigger badder wolf had some bigger badder claws, and she certainly was willing to demonstrate their uses on the violet Puella Magi. The end result is that her outfit is torn in several places, but as far as visible injuries there are none.

As is her nature, Homura Akemi has largely been silent during the trip through the Bad End Kingdom. The horrible landscape is filled with sights both terrible and rancid. The bridge is little better. It appears as if it could fall apart at a moment's notice, and any trip across it would likely be a swaying nerve wracking affair.

Thankfully it doesn't seem that crossing it will part of the game plan. Billy naturally volunteers her services in this endeavor, and in truth the violet Puella Magi can think of few better to volunteer for this task. Cure Beauty notes that in the stories they were defeated by cunning more than brute strength.

That is mostly true.

"The way the tale goes, the first two managed to get across through guile." Homura states calmly, "Though only by promising that the next one to try and cross would make a much more satisfying feast."

Is she suggesting that Billy might get across by convincing the Troll that a magical girl feast would satisfy his hunger much better than a scrawny little goat fairy? Perhaps. If Homura is at all perturbed about the idea of being used as bait though she doesn't seem to show the slightest sign of it.

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Something's...weird. Nadeshiko had plans to go see the festivities, like always, but her mother called, saying it was going to be practice tonight. Dance practice? But Nadeshiko had already done extra practice earlier to make time... ...no, something was wrong, buzzing and churning in the heart of her gut. So the Guardians who could make it do their usual routine, splitting up to search for clues. And then Nadeshiko looks up and sees...a fairy. A frog fairy. Talking about saving the new year. Nadeshiko looks up over her shoulder at Temari, marginally tipping her head at the creature. Her own pet fairy, maybe the size of a softball, titters. "He seems like an upstanding young frog," Temari decides, and Nadeshiko sighs quietly. "Saving the new year...I should really call Amu-chan, but she's at the other end of the festival..." Hem. Looks up again. "Temari...Chara Change."

There's a low POP!, and Nadeshiko, still clad in the nice violet skirt and matching sweater she'd selected for the evening, climbs aboard. Fairies are a thing she gets.

And then HOLY COW THAT JUMP!! The landing is also pretty intense, and Nadeshiko is braced to get bounced out of her seat when the impact hits.

Instead, she looks over the edge, blinks twice, and then shifts her feet over to delicately land on both feet, then holding out her hand to call her naginata to her with a flash of sakura pink. "So...saving new year?" she asks, fishing for the bullet summary. She raises a hand, waving to Mami, because she actually knows her as opposed to some of the others whom she just occasionally shows up to stab demigods with.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Normally one expected a rabbit when being taken to strange worlds.

To tumble into a world of the storybook that might seem more like a dream than anything else, where fantastic stories and creatures came to life. It was the realm of the wonder of children. And Michiru Kaioh may not be quite a child anymore, despite her ripe old age and grade in comparison to the others here.

But there was a twisting in the back of her heart. There seemed to be a looming darkness on the very horizon, and while Michiru Kaioh did not quite understand...

It was certainly not something Sailor Neptune would let go by.

So as Sailor Vega settles on the frogs back, she may catch the scent of the ocean wind. Or perhaps the sight of the elegant Senshi as her boot likewise alights on the back of the amphibian. "Frog-san - if you are going somewhere where we could help - please, lead on," says Neptune, letting her eyes drift over towards Vega, a certain mystery to her look.

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

For Cute Wolf Tsukiko, a nice long nap is usually a good way to recover from a tough battle. Of course, that assumes enough time to rest plus a place to rest at, both of which are currently lacking.

Instead, she has to rely on other measures - namely, the resilience of her wolven side. The long walk from the wolf den was enough to freshen and restore herself, but the circles under her eyes hint at how much sleep she'll need to recover from the recovery.

The wolfgirl covers her mouth as she yawns slightly during Pop's briefing, then shakes her head briskly to push sleep further back. "Fight troll, be distraction," she murmurs in acknowledgement, doing some stretches to loosen up.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Sailor Moon woke up not long after the previous battle. In the chaos and rush, it is likely that several people missed that she was unconscious at all.

That is the way she prefers it. The past thirty minutes have seen her at the back of the line, trudging along in awkward silence. Silence because walking is not her favorite thing to do no matter how weird she's feeling, and also because she'd rather not mess anything up; awkward because Tuxedo Mask is beside her.

His was the masked face that she woke to. It was like a dream--she was briefly someone else, another day's Sailor Moon who does not know that the thief in a tuxedo was also Mamoru Chiba. Her heart still hasn't slowed down.

It's not because of the hurried pace they've set. Stories don't work that way.

Usagi is very much today's Sailor Moon however, and today's Sailor Moon has awoken to find that Mami Tomoe is not dying and that she's been almost literally dead weight. Tuxedo Mask has been gracious enough to let her focus on existing, or whatever his motivation may be, and so Usagi has kept her quiet.

It's difficult to see much from back here, at least at her height. The brief glimpses are enough--Mami determinedly leading despite the effort, Utena and Anthy in their strange new roles, Pop-wagon bravely guiding them on their path. She puffs her cheeks out and furrows her brow. She hasn't let go of her crescent moon wand this entire time.

The voice of the troll is more horrible on top of horrible, but Usagi has a very great capacity for reacting to such things. She moves with a worried start, instinctively darting closer to Tuxedo Mask before wobbling in indecision inches away from him. Finally, she decides to stand there, pierced in place by her worries, while others execute the plan.

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

At least not everybody has to walk from the Cave of Wolf and Trio to ...

"Goodness," the Magic Knight of Wind comments as she observes the terribly rickety-looking bridge, and hears the bellowed challenge from somewhere far below. "An actual troll bridge ... we're fortunate this isn't online, aren't we?" she asks wryly.

Yeah. A Bridge of Trolling, or so it would appear. And it's the good guys who get to troll the troll, with any luck ... but for now, time to get ready to fight the troll in question.

The Wind Knight stands up straight, willing her bow and quiver to materialize once again, and moves to stand behind a rock - somewhere she can dodge for cover, but where she'll have a good shot at the troll ... this might mean she's closer to the edge of the ravine than comfort would dictate, but she'll have to make do. It also ought to give her a decent vantage point to provide support for the rest of the magical girls (and occasional guys).

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Having seen what state the other half of the team is in, Mai has the distinct suspicion that those fighting Trio the Minor got off easy. Even though the Bigger Badder Wolf was mercifully female, it seems to have made a good attempt at eating people literally - and Mai had to stare in horror at Puella Mami's injuries for a few minutes. So, she walked on, helping as best she could, ignoring any of her own soreness and exhaustion.

After all, there was just a singing ogre trying to turn her into paste. Nothing major.

So, onward to the Great And Terrible Bridge, which is clearly both its descriptors. Mai's been looking with awe at even the horrors of the Bad End Kingdom, but this has her looking to her rings. "...you know, I can try flying people. It'd probably have to be one at a time, but..." The bellow cuts off that idea sharply - right. Trolls. This is a situation that calls for a pint-sized girl with an obsidian claymore. Or perhaps a billy goat fairy to take the lead. The lion-fairy transforms back, and abruptly a giant frog lands in their midst, and...

In all honesty, Mai's not even subtle about boggling at everything and everything. Staring, pointing, kind of not able to say much...the violet-clad Puella Magi says something that gets her attention, though, and her expression shifts to pensive. "Hmm. So, we might need some sort of bait for the trolls to go after?" She folds her arms, considering. How best to get some trolls' attention?...

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Utena has come along with the rest of the magical girls; she's come so far -- she's got to see this through to the end! ... Even if they've picked up a big group of new friends along the way -- friends who aren't entirely clear on what's been happening here and could probably use an explanation of what, exactly, is happening, and why they've been shuffled into a magical realm.

"So... okay, as far as I can tell, the Bad End Kingdom has stolen the Gem of Beginnings, which is what makes the new year... happen. And we've got to get it back! So we have to beat up a troll." Utena Tenjou is the queen of straightforward explanations.

Turning her attention forward again, Utena gives a small, worried glance to Mami -- but only a small one, because apparently she's got this -- before watching Billy-chan stride forward.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

There's a hand that grabs at Sailor Moon's fuku, just tugging her back. A silent shaking of her head. Tuxedo Mask did come to their rescue a few times, but still counts as a potential threat at this point. It could simply be a trap after all. She is the voice of reason and reflexion in the group (well, at least when Ami isn't around, then she's just support most of the time).

If she's going to be trapped in this dark world, at least she's standing near comrades. Moon seems to be friends with that Mami girl, who was also fighting the other times, so that's enough to reassure her for the moment. Most of the others she fought along with in the previous days too, she trusts them as well. In this world, her 6th sense is going a bit haywire. Its like, danger from every direction. Almost impossible to filter out with her current capacities at least. But you don't even need sharp senses to know this either, its pretty obvious just looking around. She'll just have to keep her other senses in alert while she's here...

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Conversation's difficult when hiking at the best of times; this is not precisely the best of times. Tuxedo Mask, minus his hat and not appreciatively upset about it, doesn't seem to be much the worse for wear for having carried Sailor Moon part of the way.

He's used to her being the one to carry conversations, generally. He's also used to her being a little more into justice and hope.

Awkward.

So once they've been walking in silence for a while, he studies her sidelong. When the troll bellows and Pop starts explaining it'll be cool, he's about to finally say something--

--and then Mars grabs at Usagi's fuku, and there's a moment of blank-faced surprise; he slows down to match, and when she stops, he reaches to take Sailor Moon's hand in his. He bends down slightly, keeping his voice low. "You know-- the only reason she looked at you like that is because she knows you're capable of so much better."

Despite Mars standing right there, he continues, his tone firm and his voice quiet. "*I* know you're capable of miracles, Sailor Moon. All the people you've saved, all the evil you've stopped-- this is something you can handle, easy. Don't think about how hard it looks, about how everyone's doing something else-- you're the leader of the Senshi for a reason. They believe in you. I believe in you. And so does Mami." He straightens, smiling down at her, cape and hair fluttering in the breeze from the crevasse. He squeezes her hand, then lets go. "So be everything you are. Live up to what we all know you can do. Teach that troll a lesson, and shine brighter than all this darkness!"

<Pose Tracker> Mytho [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Pop answers no questions, holding his paw to his lips and peering out around the corner at the bridge, intent on what's going on.

Further ahead, Billy-chan has hit the bridge. She hardly puts one cloven hoof on its surface when there comes a terrible rumbling and shaking, and she has to hold onto the ropes for dear life. Bits of either side of the chasm break off, shattering into the depths below.

THE TROLL appears one vibrantly green claw at a time -- then one hand, each the size of a door. These are fire-engine red, and so is the rest of him, all sinew and muscle, probably from a high-protein, low-carb diet.

By the time he's all the way up, his shadow reaches from the far side of the bridge (where he's standing) to the near (where Billy-chan is).

"WHOOOOOOOO THIIIIIINKS THEYYYYY MAYYYY CROSSS??"

Billy-chan is shaking from the tips of her tiny horns to the end of her little brown tail, but she gulps, hard, and looks up and up and up to meet THE TROLL's vicious yellow eyes.

"I-it is I, Billy-chan the goat~mehh."

THE TROLL laughs from the belly. It isn't a pleasant sound.

"IIII'LLLL GOBBLE YOOOOOOU UUUUP!!"

Billy-chan holds up a forestalling hoof. "W-wait, your greatness! I'm so little... I-I'd hardly make a single bite~mehh! You should wait for my brother, he'd make a much better meal~mehh."

. . .

9

"...OKAYYYYYYYY. YOOOOU MAYYYYYY PASSSSSS."

Billy-chan prances to the other side, then between the troll's legs. He doesn't bother turning around to watch her, but she is a careful goat fairy, and makes it all the way behind a rock before shrugging off her tiny fairy backpack and shrugging INTO her climbing gear. Pulling goggles down over her eyes with a snap, she starts rapelling down the far side of the chasm...

Pop gives the lion's paw equivalent of a thumb's up, then heads out alone.

"WHOOOOOOOO THIIIIIINKS THEYYYYY MAYYYY CROSSS??"

Pop takes the bridge with confident, bold strides, the tip of his tail twitching behind him the only betrayal of his herves.

"It is I, Pop~de gozaru!"

"IIII'LLLL GOBBLE YOOOOOOU UUUUP!!"

Pop, too, holds up his paw in a 'patience, patience' gesture. "Wait, your terribleness! I'm so small... you should save room for my sisters. They'd make a much better meal."

. . .

9

"...OKAYYYYYYYY. YOOOOU TOO MAYYYYYY PASSSSSS."

No sooner is Pop between THE TROLL's legs does he gesture at the magical girls to come forth. He, meanwhile, also begins a descent of the chasm, using his tiny claws to dig into the soft rock.

THE TROLL, by now, is expectant of a major offering, and bellows across the bridge, impatiently:

"WHOOOOOOOO THIIIIIINKS THEYYYYY MAYYYY CROSSS?!?!"

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Tsukiko steps forward. "I think we will cross!" she calls at the troll. "Myself and the rest of my 'sisters'-" (and 'brother') "-will be crossing this bridge! And you know what??"

She looks to the others, a grin spreading on her face, before facing the troll again. "There's nothing that you can do about it!"

Hopefully that should be distracting enough!

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Bark! on Mytho.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Cure Beauty nods just as sedately to Peace, "I'm fine Peace. Don't worry about me." Even if she weren't she wouldn't say anything. Which is when Homura tells the rest of the story, and Beauty shows no sign of being startled by the implication. Instead she adds in a mild voice, with the same confidence, "Well, that is because they knew that someone that could handle the troll was coming." Inwardly she was a little less confident, given her performance against the Big Bad Wolf, but she concealed it well. She replies to Mai with the same even tone, "Less bait, and more the solution to the problem if the troll comes."

The troll emerges, an engine of destruction, a lean, mean creature on a high protein that has probably been working out in addition to the diet. And the story progresses. Billy-chan crosses, Reika nods. Pop crosses, and refers to them as his sisters. Cure Beauty gives Homura a look. It neither confirms nor denies that they are bait, or the solution. Just that it progressed as they both thought it would.

Given the results of rushing in like before, Cure Beauty decides on a different approach. She smiles in a dignified way at Sunny, "Thank you, for your aid, Peace." She bows formally, "I would likely not be here if it wasn't for you. And as before, we'll make it through, together."

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

The crumbling of the edge as the troll made its way up from the abyss prompted the Wind Knight to look for a different hiding place - and there aren't all that many of those to pick from ... and then she gets a look at the troll itself. Big, none too pleasant to look at .... and its breath probably smells worse than the Bigger, Badder Wolf's did (and Fuu got a few too many facefuls of THAT for comfort). Fortunately, the Magic Knight of Wind is upwind of the troll, at least for now - and she'd be happy to stay there, if the tides of battle permit her that luxury.

For now, Billy and Pop make their way across, and Cute Wolf Tsukiko issues the first challenge. The Wind Knight was getting ready to loose an arrow to start, but with a straight line like Tsukiko-san's leading the way ...

"Imashime no Kaze!"

The Winds of Admonishment blow forth, wrapping around the troll in an effort to bind it in place.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has used Beautiful Smile on Cure Peace.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Imashime no Kaze on Mytho.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Peace accepts Cure Beauty's Beautiful Smile, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cure Peace is Cheered! Empower applied to Cure Peace!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to brace Fuu Hououji's Imashime no Kaze, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Trap applied to Mytho!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly dodges Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Bark!, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is Psyched! Exhausted applied to Mytho!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Sisters and brother, eh Tuxedo Mask?!

Though if we're talking about satisfying meals it is Homura Akemi who would hardly be filling. Why she's so slender there's probably no more than a couple of bites of meat on her for such a big and hungry troll. Thankfully for him it seems like he is prepared to take the issue of quantity over quality. Unfortunately for the gathered fighters that means it's unlikely that they're going to get past without a fight.

After Billy and Pop have managed to slip through safely from under the hungry gaze of the bridge troll, Homura Akemi steps forth with many of the others. Her gaze is as always defiant as she looks up and the hungry mound of crimson muscle and sinew as it demands to know who thinks they can cross. Homura says nothing. Instead she reaches back with one hand in order to perform an artful flourish with her long dark hair.

And then she raises her other hand. There is a flash of bright light, a rush of sound, and suddenly a dozen or so small projectiles are whizzing their way toward the troll's face and torso!! It's unlikely that they'll be enough to knock the creature from its structure as it happened in the story, but it's not like she can just set or use explosives on the rickety rotting bridge.

... unless things get /really/ desperate anyway.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Let Them Eat Lead on Mytho.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

"Hrm," Kuniko says. "Cunning, huh?"

To Homura, she says, "Well, Billy isn't going to sell us out, I don't think. She doesn't seem like the type."

She looks over her shoulders, at the Cures, at Tsukiko, at Tuxedo Mask and the girl with the spaetzel coiff he's hanging out with...

And then the TROLL speaks up. Billy defers the troll toll. So does Pop. And when the Troll's gaze turns towards them, Kuniko says with a sort of puzzled disbelief, "Was... was she a /judas/ goat?"

As the troll looms above them, Kuniko stares upwards. She then raises one hand, head tilting downwards as an index finger curls upwards. "My name is Kuniko Saito... Commis of the Blue Ribbon. And if you've been gobbling up passerby raw, I've got something that will be even better for you. You'll give up eating your guests forever, once you have a taste of this."

She takes in a deep breath. "But," she says with finality, "my friends have to buy me some time to prepare, so," she scoots out of the pathway, "Let's get service going."

Kuniko's first act is to set out her last three clean espresso cups and fill them with that fragrant blend. Looking around, she considers - and can just straight up hand one to Homura. The other two require her spinning magical toss, and THIS time she has the wit to call out, "Sailor girls! Heads up!"

Before, bam: coffee. Everyone got a honey drop this time. For better or worse, her eye caught Vega instead of Mars, however.

But then... she kneels down, wrestling something up - and BAM, on the plane of countery force in front of her - a still twitching full sized Hokkaido style king crab!!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Service - Espresso on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Service - Espresso on Sailor Vega.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Service - Espresso on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi accepts Kuniko Saito's Service - Espresso, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi is Cheered!

COMBAT: Sailor Vega accepts Kuniko Saito's Service - Espresso, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Vega is Cheered!

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Princess Runealy just stares at the Wind Knight, utterly lost by mentions of trolls and 'online'... the internet is an alien concept to Rune, nevermind its sub-culture. She looks back to Sailor Moon after that, silently worried but willing to leave the direct intervention to Mars and Tuxedo Mask; they seem to know Moon better and thus be more suited to helping right now but Rune will definitely keep an eye on the situation.

Mai's offer intrigues Rune. The thought of flight, even under someone else's assistance, is /very/ appealing. Yet... "It's a good idea, but maybe hold onto it as a surprise in case it's really needed?"

Then... the troll. Easily as big or perhaps even bigger than the worst demons Rune has faced. Its size and voice easily pull her attention, watching the situation with uncertainty. Billy speaks and passes. The similarities to certain children's tales are lost on her, but the lesson it presents is perhaps all the more stark and interesting to her given its novelty. Now the plan makes sense to her: They're the distraction while Pop and Billy climb to handle more subtle tasks. That's going to mean being careful where she aims, to avoid dropping cliff-debris or pieces of the bridge on them.

"That depends. Why should we want to pass? Is this /your/ bridge? It's in shambles!" Rune punctuates this critique by aiming high at the troll's upper body and letting a bright green magic-ball fly from her wand. This is important; her shots explode into sparkles on contact... and it's better to let as much empty air as possible take that so that the ground itself won't be shaken so hard, for Billy's and Pop's sake. The swirling white arcane symbols that try to wrap the troll's arms and weigh them down are ultimately a potential bonus; minding the climbing pair's safety is what Rune really worries about.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Rune Blast on Mytho.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Kuniko Saito's Service - Espresso, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Cheered!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Homura Akemi's Let Them Eat Lead, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi is Psyched!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Princess Runealy's Rune Blast, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy is Psyched! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Sunny [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Cure Sunny would whistle there, but wow. Now that's a speech from Tuxedo Mask. She is going to have to take pointers there from that one. She can't say anything more, so she just echoes his statement with a "Here, here."

And then she takes a breath. It's going to be tough, but that's inspiration enough. Just a little glimmer of that gem of beginnings down there is something to give you hope...

And we're gonna need it. It's time to put this plan into action.

"Let me tell you something!" she calls up, following Tsukiko's statement. " I already got eaten /once/ today, like half an hour ago! And you know what I did to /that/ person? Hotter indigestion than a five-alarm chilli! You think you can stomach me, you've got another thing coming!"

"If you try, you won't get the chance, because we're gonna turn you from red to black and blue! Maybe you should consider other options."

D

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has used 2spicy2nite on Mytho.

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

While she doesn't recognize Chara Change, Sailor Neptune she is steadily becoming more familiar with. Where Neptune's smile to her is enigmatic, Vega's smile in response is warm - of the 'Of COURSE we're doing this!' variety.

In the Dark Land of Darkness, there are friendly faces familiar and not - but falling in with a group of magical girls against a common enemy is becoming a habit. Noticing that Tuxedo Kamen is giving Sailor Moon some kind of a talking to while Sailor Mars is nearby, Vega takes stock of the... Troll Situation.

"What do you think?" she asks Neptune. Of course, it's rhetorical, because 'attack the troll' has become a thing.

Suddenly, coffee. "What? OH!" Vega REMEMBERS this coffee - as she plucks it from the air, she catches Kuniko's eye in return and raises the espresso cup in thanks. "Kampai!" Down the hatch! MMM!

The coffee works it's magic, and Sailor Vega gets to hers: hands to her heart, she doesn't bother with harrassing the troll verbally - the other girls have it down. "Compassionate Wing..."

Extending her arms outwards, Vega intones loudly, "CANONADE!" and sends a great cloud of magical energy birds flapping and screeching towards the giant!

COMBAT: Sailor Vega has used Compassionate Wing Cannonade on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Vega has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly counters Cure Sunny's 2spicy2nite, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Mytho's Reverse ability activates!

COMBAT: Mytho's counterattack, TROLLing To Undermine, partially gets through, doing 8 Fatigue damage to Cure Sunny! Cure Sunny is Quipped!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Peace [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Cure Peace notes the arrival of a frog.. she's a little delayed in that, with more Magical Girls! Which is good because things are getting super dicey now. A giant troll is demanding why they think they might cross. She huffs and she puffs and she..

Okay the tiny yellow Cure doesn't blow any houses down. But she does try to get serious, and bring her arms up to her chest and ahs!? "We should pass because you're a big... jerk!" she says.

"Ah-- that wasn't good at all, wasn't it sunny..." she says. But Beauty's urgent advice, and smile help her understand that heroic one liners are only PART of being 100% Hero! (They're only like 5% of the package hero deal.).

She holds her fingers out heroically and lets loose the lightning, a quick zorting bolt of electricity firing through the air.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has used Empowering Bolt on Mytho.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho perfectly dodges Sailor Vega's Compassionate Wing Cannonade, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Cure Peace's Empowering Bolt, taking 1 Fatigue damage! Cure Peace is Psyched! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Travel on a frogbus was a rather novel thing for Sailor Neptune.

But as she arrived - and as the young senshi sets her boot upon the bridge, her eyes do narrow - lifting up to look up and down the troll. In spite of herself, Neptune found some part of her charmed. Just some part. Quirking her head to one side as Utena explains the situation at hand, her eyes narrowing some as her eyes return towards the troll.

Folding her arms over her front, she steps unto the bridge proper. "I think that if this tale is true - that if there is a gem at the end of this storybook that will save the New Year - we should do whatever it takes to reacquire it," says Neptune. "And playing the goat that gores the troll...?" Neptune lets her voice trail off, the young woman drawing her hands in front of herself, a blue light shining there.

"And what do you think?" she asks, her voice lifting up in a bit of a curling question, her eyes flickering towards Moon and Mask both. A gentle curiousity dances in her gaze.

Before that blue light coalesces into a ball of energy - a ball that Neptune sends twisting towards the troll proper - the scent of the ocean left in its wake. And the sound of violins in the back of her mind.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Current Crossing on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Mai's first thought when the word 'troll' was said was relatively small-scale. Short humanoid thing, covered in hair and warts, basically just ugly and mean. The crumbling of the chasm, however, hints that there might be more to this one... ah. That is not a small troll. That is a very, very big droll. That is a Big Bad Troll. It towers, it looms, it bellows. Mai takes a step or two back, trying to remember how this fairy tale went - it's something Western, not something she necessarily knows by heart. The goat is supposed to beat up the troll, right?

...Billy heads on, after being a bit sneaky. And then Pop goes ahead, being sneaky...wait. Sisters? Better meal? "...did those two just sell us out?" She looks to the magical chef, who seems to have had more or less the same idea, and then back to the Troll. "...yup. We're the big sisters. And you're going to let us pass, because we're not something a troll can stomach."

Mai grimaces. That came out wrong. Screw it, when in doubt set something on fire - a twirl to build up momentum, then a lash of fire whips out at one of the troll's hands.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Pyre Lash on Mytho.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Sailor Neptune's Current Crossing, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Neptune is Psyched!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Mai Tokiha's Pyre Lash, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates! Stagger applied to Mytho!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

yoink

Usagi totters backward because Rei is very experienced at dragging her around with minimal effort. The blonde soldier spins to look at her fellow as if she hadn't been there for the past thirty minutes, but her expression quickly softens into something closer to resignation. Rei is right.

She begins to step backward, but Tuxedo Mask is swift and has a huge reach advantage. Sailor Moon freezes, eyes widening, breath catching--

"Tuxedo-sama," Usagi murmurs, too quiet against the growing calamity of the troll. Her eyes shimmer with tears that will not be shed.

She forgot that getting hit doesn't always mean a game over in real life. It's something Sailor Moon has that pixelated Sailor V can't compete with!

Sailor Moon looks over her shoulder at Mars, grinning lopsidedly and raising a clenched fist. "Sailor Mars! We can't let these youma ruin everyone's entire year! That's a power reserved solely for Haruna-sensei!"

With a final, breathless glance at Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Moon charges through the crowd, leaping to stand where the troll can see her! She blasts past Vega and Neptune, whirling around to smile at them as she goes.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

"Everyone comes in different shapes and sizes! Even the smallest people can make delicious meals when guided by love and determination to feed the important people in their life! I won't forgive anyone who implies that Moon-chan's heartfelt seafood medley isn't delicious because it was made with care!"

With a spin and a gesture, Sailor Moon accuses the troll of grievous misdeeds with a commanding point!

"I'm the sailor-suited pretty soldier of love and justice, Sailor Moon! And, in the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

Kuniko's coffee slides magically over to her. Without taking her eyes off the troll, Sailor Moon takes it daintily between her fingers, finishes it with a demure tilt of her head, and sets the cup back down. Just like Mami taught her. Her eyes narrow.

"I know you were talking about making meals of us but I decided to ignore that because you're gross."

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used In The Name Of The Moon on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly counters Sailor Moon's In The Name Of The Moon, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Psyched! Mytho's Reverse ability activates! Cripple and Trap applied to Mytho!

COMBAT: Mytho's counterattack, TROLLing To Undermine, partially gets through, doing 2 Fatigue damage to Sailor Moon! Sailor Moon is Quipped!

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Mami happens to be lookin at Utena as Utena looks to her, having heard her explanation as she was considering the new arrivals. The worried glance is met by a confident nod, approving of the duelist's skill at summarization. ...Earlier, she did similar for Mai, and now that she sees all the others, she smiles to Nadeshiko in greeting and...

Well, she doesn't /smile/ at Sailor Neptune precisely. But she notes her presence politely with a nod all the same. Some things are important enough to do even on a rush.

"Akemi-san," Mami comments lightly, "I didn't think you were the type to be interested in such stories. I'm impressed."

As for Runealy, she isn't sure what the princess means, necessarily, but, "We're all interested in the new year coming. Each of us has to do our part."

...she smile, too, to see Sailor Moon awake, and now, watches the bridge. She establishes herself near the front of the column, though not at the very front--she is, after all, a primarily ranged:COMBATant. And, she waits. She waits as Billy-chan passes, and speaks of her brother. She waits as Pop goes ahead. ...And as...

As the very large troll is told that they're delicious. The implication that she is delicious has no particular meaning to Mami Tomoe.

What does have meaning is the quickly-established battle. "Tenjou-san!" Mami calls, suddenly, waving a hand before her and throwing three ribbons into the air, large enough to bear footsteps and spread just right to get an angle up towards THE TROLL. "I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do!"

She turns and offers a smile that's the very definition of encouragement and appreciation for heroics--...and as she turns back, she indeed sees Sailor Moon up and about again, and drinking properly.

So far, so good.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Senpai Believes on Utena Tenjou.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou accepts Mami Tomoe's Senpai Believes, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Utena Tenjou is Cheered!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Sailor Mars gives a warning glare to Tuxedo Mask as he talks to Sailor Moon. As if she wasn't there. What he says does make sense though, but she's still weary of him being around. She doesn't know why she hates the idea of him being around Sailor Moon though...

She doesn't need too many theatrics to enter the battle, since Moon already took most of the spotlight. "Don't forget me, Sailor Mars, I am here to Chastise you!" She does that sideway finger pointing, standing next to Sailor Moon, taking the pose. TOo bad the others aren't around, it makes much more of an effect.

But there are two other sailors here... Neptune that she met before, but Vega she doesn't know much about. She has no idea what to make of either yet, even if Neptune seemed to be friendly toward her before... She has that loner feeling around her...

When Sailor Moon makes the first strike, she follows suit with her own fireball, a twril of fire from her cupped hands aimed at the troll. What's with Trolls and Bridges anyway?

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Youma Taisan! on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Sailor Mars's Youma Taisan!, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Mars is Psyched! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Nadeshiko gives Utena a look, weighing both the girl and her words. "You know," she asides to nobody but sort of vaguely in Utena's direction, flipping her naginata around her hand lazily, until it slaps into her opposite palm, dropping her into a ready stance. "Somehow the Chairman never mentioned trolls from magical dimensions kidnapping the magic of the new year when he made his pitch." A low, long breath, watching the big troll thunder at them. She quivers, just a bit. That...that's not what she was banking on, here. But everyone immediately charges in. That's something she can work with, that explosive move to attack! She lets her grin coil across her face, and her eyes slide up to where Temari hovers in her peripheral vision. "You don't mind, do you? It's a fairy, sort of."

"SUCKER LIKE THAT AIN'T NO FRIEND OF MINE!!!" Temari shrills.

Nadeshiko's lips curl into a shark's grin. "Works for me!!" she hollers, and then takes one step and PITCHES her spear - the weapon flashing between the charging magical girls to take the Troll in the gut. Because Nadeshiko isn't an /actual/ murderer, it just hurts.

But, like. A lot.

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

The third, juiciest meal, it seems, is the legion of magical girls -- and Utena is very ready for this sort of turnabout. She takes a last deep breath before charging right in, declaring proudly, "I /know/ I may cross!" That's a princely thing, right? Decisiveness? Right. Right.

Glancing back toward Mami as she's called to, Utena continues to let that feeling of princeliness swell inside her, glancing up to the set of steps Mami has conjured and charging squarely up them before leaping off.

Sailing through the air, Utena raises her blade, coming down toward the troll with a forceful straight slash. It's not the usual feeling-out swing that she starts a battle with -- it's decisive, forceful even.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has used Princely Strike on Mytho.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has used Naginata Throw on Mytho.

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly dodges Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Naginata Throw, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Mytho is Quipped!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Utena Tenjou's Princely Strike, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Utena Tenjou is Psyched! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Right, all right, that is a big troll. But it's Sailor Moon's reaction that Tuxedo Mask is watching for, meeting her eyes-- attacks are ringing out in the background, that really honestly immense troll is shouting a lot-- he hears so many voices he recognises--

--and then he sees Sailor Moon's resolve kick in, and he just grins as she runs past and right into the fore. He gives Sailor Mars a crooked look of mischief as he jogs along with, keeping pace with the other Senshi despite Usagi's head start because his legs are unfairly long.

The speech is impressive. The results are good! The caped and masked gentleman slows to a stop, watching for a second, then nods firmly. "You're no match," he yells up toward the troll, "for the teamwork and dedication you face, for the friendship of your opponents! Meet what will forever be more powerful than you or your small imagination!"

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Night on Sailor Moon. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Night on Sailor Mars. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Night on Sailor Vega. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking. COMBAT: Sailor Mars accepts Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Night, taking 0 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Night, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Moon is Cheered!

<Pose Tracker> Mytho [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAYhNHhxN0A

THE TROLL is shouted at with such a torrent of words that he can barely keep track of them; his eyes start to glaze over after the third or fourth angry speech. He decides to respond with actions, which speak somewhat louder than words, and are also easier for him to keep up with. He has a bandolier across her chest, and from it he whips out plate-sized cookies, studded with razor-sharp chocolate chips. They probably have about five hundred thousand calories each, and Kuniko can sense their threat from all the way on the other side of the bridge (which he has yet to set foot on; it continues to sway, rickety and scary, and if you want to engage him at a reasonable range, you will need to get onto it, suckers -- and the meleeists among you are already, by definition).

He hurls them with superior range, courtesy of his ridiculously long, multi-jointed, buff-bicep and tricep and quadracep and quintacep arms. A slice of his claws on their way out, and they are rent in twain, exposing even sharper bits within! These fly towards the Cute Wolf, the Guardian Princess, Chef Kuniko, Sailor Vega, and Mai-HiME.

Still, he manages to slip a few words in edgewise. "HA HA HA! MY STOMACH CAN TAKE ANY PERIL!!" he chortles at Cure Sunny. "AND THANKS FOR REMINDING ME OF THOSE TWO, SAILOR MOON... THEY CAN BE DESSERT!"

Of course, more than words are being wielded against him. The Winds of Admonishment rush in, accompanied by bullets that care little for the wind; the one holds while the other strikes, at which point he busts his way out of the whirlwind, and just a bit further forward, onto the end of the bridge. For them, he has a gigantic club almost as big as he is, which he pulls as impossibly out of his bandolier as Mary Poppins might pull a lamp out of a carpet bag. He also has some money, heavy gold coins from previous extortions, presumably, which he swats, baseball-style, at each of them, plus the nearby Mami Tomoe, Tuxedo Mask, and Cure Beauty.

The bridge squeaks beneath his weight.

Princess Runealy perhaps unwisely insults the bridge itself, while in a fairy tale world -- which squeaks again, taking rightful offense -- but THE TROLL bats away the white runes with his claws going criss-cross through the air, then ducks under the birds, all the birds, all of Sailor Vega's birds forever.

Cure Peace's lightning twists around Sailor Neptune's ball of seawater, and the two explode against his chest in bitter combination, the shock amplified and spread by the water's touch. Swinging his club back and forth, he generates a blast of hot air, which sails towards them, sizzling. It steals some of the heat from Mai's incoming lash of fire and Sailor Mars' fireball, which whip and detonate against him with some force but nothing too serious.

Chara Changed Nadeshiko and Revolutionary Girl Utena, between them, raise a criss-cross of slashes on his chest... which slowly start to close. "HA HA HA HA," he booms again, the whole bridge trembling with his laughter, "FINALLY SOMEONE WHO WILL FACE ME DIRECTLY!" Congratulations, Utena! Her reward: that club brought whistling down, straight for her head, the hot wake of which sails towards Nadeshiko, no matter how distant.

---

Below the bridge:

Pop and Billy trade off sides, bouncing back and forth as they descend the chasm one gut-wrenching, heart-stopping leap at a time. At one point, Billy's hooves slip on the rock, and Pop catches her; at the next, Pop's claws fail to find purchase, and she wraps him up in a lasso of some of the rope that falls beneath her, saving him from probable doom.

The rainbow light of the jewel twinkles in their eyes, and though it's still so far beneath them, they're getting closer every second.

COMBAT: Mytho has used TROLL House Cookies on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Mytho has used TROLL House Cookies on Princess Runealy.

COMBAT: Mytho has used TROLL House Cookies on Kuniko Saito.

COMBAT: Mytho has used TROLL House Cookies on Mai Tokiha.

COMBAT: Mytho has used TROLL House Cookies on Sailor Vega.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Conversational TROLL on Cure Sunny.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Conversational TROLL on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Pay The TROLL on Fuu Hououji.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Pay The TROLL on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Pay The TROLL on Mami Tomoe.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Pay The TROLL on Tuxedo Mask.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Pay The TROLL on Cure Beauty.

COMBAT: Mytho has used The Phantom TROLL-Booth on Cure Peace.

COMBAT: Mytho has used The Phantom TROLL-Booth on Sailor Neptune.

COMBAT: Mytho has used The Phantom TROLL-Booth on Nadeshiko Fujisaki.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Utena Tenjou.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Pay The TROLL on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Mytho has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars narrowly dodges Mytho's Pay The TROLL, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars's Fade ability activates! Sailor Mars's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Cure Peace fails to brace Mytho's The Phantom TROLL-Booth, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko narrowly dodges Mytho's TROLL House Cookies, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Flash ability activates! Stun applied to Cute Wolf Tsukiko!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito narrowly dodges Mytho's TROLL House Cookies, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Kuniko Saito!

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou narrowly dodges Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Utena Tenjou's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi perfectly dodges Mytho's Pay The TROLL, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy perfectly counters Mytho's TROLL House Cookies, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Princess Runealy's Tactician ability activates!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy's counterattack, Aegis Burst, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mytho!

COMBAT: Sailor Moon perfectly dodges Mytho's Conversational TROLL, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Sailor Moon's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe fails to dodge Mytho's Pay The TROLL, taking 25 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly braces Mytho's Pay The TROLL, taking 10 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask fails to dodge Mytho's Pay The TROLL, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune narrowly braces Mytho's The Phantom TROLL-Booth, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Sailor Neptune's Block ability activates!

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki narrowly dodges Mytho's The Phantom TROLL-Booth, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Cure Beauty perfectly counters Mytho's Pay The TROLL, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter! Cure Beauty's Tactician ability activates!

COMBAT: Cure Beauty's counterattack, Frozen Assets, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mytho!

COMBAT: Cure Sunny narrowly braces Mytho's Conversational TROLL, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cure Sunny is Quipped! Cure Sunny's Block ability activates! Cure Sunny's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly braces Mytho's TROLL House Cookies, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Mai Tokiha's Block ability activates!

COMBAT: Sailor Vega accepts Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Night, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Vega is Cheered!

COMBAT: Sailor Vega fails to dodge Mytho's TROLL House Cookies, taking 25 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun applied to Sailor Vega!

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Tsukiko dives to get clear of the deadly cookies, then has to scramble to keep ahead of the sharp shrapnel. A shard or two nicks her, stinging and drawing a few drops of blood.

She snarls at the Troll, trying to use the terrain and the realm's atmosphere to appear more intimidating than usual. This also gives her a moment to size up the bridge, and what it would take to fight on it...

You paged Sailor Moon with 'Extending cane attack :3'

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Moonlight Growl on Mytho.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Moonlight Growl, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Mytho!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

'I didn't think you were the type to be interested in such stories. I'm impressed.'

In truth this was a story Homura knew not because she had foreknowledge of this day. It was a tale she knew because there was once a sickly orphan who had trouble making friends. She found it hard to keep up with the other kids at play so often she would have to sit instead. And while she sat it was common that she read. Stories kept her company while her peers ran, laughed, and played. Stories like this one.

It's not a story that Mami gets in response to her statement though. Instead the violet Puella Magi leans her head back at an odd angle to look at her blonde ally of convenience. "I am interested in knowing whatever I need to win." Is all she says. The light in her pale violet eyes is cold.

And it's unfortunate that not everyone makes use of the knowledge she shares. Even Kuniko seems to simply deny the possibility that they'd be betrayed and used as bait by both Billy and Pop. When that is exactly what happens though, the disbelief in the uttered '.../judas/ goat?' is as predictable as the sun rising in the East. However that isn't to say that Kuniko doesn't manage to do something surprising. She offers Homura... espresso. In the middle of a:COMBAT zone no less. That isn't to say that Homura is immediately appreciative though: She gives the Commis an incredulous look. But in the end she accepts the offered beverage and, taking a moment to moderate its temperature, and then drinks it.

Even more surprising ... it's actually good. She gives Kuniko an appreciative nod...

... and then the Troll starts throwing HUGE coins everywhere.

The Puella Magi's expression turns in surprised appreciation into a frustrated grimace just moments before she blinks out of sight. It seems that the swaying of the bridge under the weight of the troll doesn't impact her ability to dodge.

Perhaps it's not super speed so much as teleportation?

Regardless each of the coins aimed for the violet Puella Magi impact empty air instead of their target. After her evasive maneuvers though, Homura doesn't press her assault. She instead allows the more eager and melee focused of her compatriots shoot by her to engage the foe more directly. Meanwhile she takes a moment to consider her foe, the conditions surrounding him... and to think back.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Sunny [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Cookies?!

Cure Sunny does a double take at that one. Why would he have- ohgod he's throwing them at us. Time to bail out of the cart!

Akane goes, moving to and fro as these gigantic razor-sharp (well, we know what this guy does when he has trick or treaters) bombs of doom go smashing down all around her. Hop, step, jump! Parried, parry, pa- wait, no, this is the wrong series. But she is doing those things anyway! Puffs and bursts of fire come from Cure Sunny's hands to deflect these nasty things. She's going to end up with some melted chocolate on her.

Oh no! Will that make her more appetizing? Look out, Akane!

She's putting up fire shields here and there, walls of flame that begin to create potential hidebehinds for her allies.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi performs an analysis on Mytho!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has used Too Hot to Handle on Mytho.

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

"Ah... Is it always so cold with you? There's more to life than victory, Akemi-san." Mami responds with confidence, but the coldness in Homura's gaze is frankly unnerving. As for the use of baked goods for evil... Mami narrows her eyes. "Look out!" she calls, just in case one of them wasn't watching or something, and indeed is already looking to see what her best move should be.

...Of course, regardless of what it /should/ be, it's in practice to get hit with a huge, heavy gold coin. It hits her center-mass and sends the Puella Magi flying backward, landing farther back and going into an uncontrolled roll (because of the uncontrollable TROLL), stopping only after. She coughs, and stands, taking a quick breath.

She's hardly finished /yet/.

Indeed, suddenly she's running forward, leaping into the air after a few yards' start before throwing a ribbon to cling to a tree, /swinging/ for the platforms she made for Utena a moment ago. She lands, spins, and jumps again, sailing straight for the melee.

She is now /above/ the bridge. So are the guns she's gathered along the way, nine long-barrel muskets that hover beside her. "Didn't anyone ever teach you about flashing your money around? How classless can you get?"

Mami starts falling; the guns fire, lighting up the night a moment with beautiful golden shot.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Circle on Mytho.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Cure Sunny's Too Hot to Handle, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly dodges Mami Tomoe's Tiro Circle, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Beauty states hurriedly at Kuniko, "Ah, I don't think they betrayed us. More that they believe we can handle the situation." But she offers no further defense of Pop and Billy. Being one of Marchenland's defenders only went so far, and she was half-considering having Candy pull at her brother's mane for this. "It was good enough, Peace." Beauty says mildly to her.

The troll pitches the giant sized coins at her. The golden disks sail towards her, and so Cure Beauty plays the role of the Japanese National Tax Agency.

She freezes the Trolls assets.

There's a sudden flurry of knife hand chops from both hands as they arrive, each strike coating the coin in frost as they're deflected away. But her aim is inexpert, and she doesn't manage to deflect any of them actually back, instead the coins go sailing off the side of the bridge, down, down into the giant chasm.

Her hands each ache from the strain of deflecting the giant projectiles, and thus she snaps out a blade of gleaming frost, growing into full length from dagger size to sword size in a moment. Rushing the troll amidst the charge of the other Magical Girls, she drops low, and spins a slash at one of his knees, the blade trailing a flurry of snow in it's wake. A thin layer of rime and hoarfrost would try to form on whatever in touches, hampering movement.

<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

"Yeah!" Kuniko calls, provisionally, in agreement with Sailor Moon. She is too occupied with the king crab in front of her. It is approximately 1/7th of Kuniko's body weight and /still alive/. She is focused for several seconds in solving this problem, before looking back up to see --

Mami Tomoe, totally fine. Kuniko wonders inwardly; Is her magic one where she recovers from wounds when she goes to pee?

Wisely, she does not voice this thought.

When the troll booms at them, she says in disgust, "Nothing in this world wants a freakin' meal. I swear, these -" Her head snaps back up as she sees that cookie drawn back like a titanic discus, but she hops to the side, shouting "HA!" as the thing with its Wicked Butter and Dark Dark DARK Chocolate slams into the ground near where she'd stood.

The crab digs one claw into her middle finger. She screams. But only briefly.

After this the crab is adequately dispatched. She pulls out a cleaver, but before she gets to work, she does two more things.

1. Step onto the bridge... /very carefully/.

2. Flick a flat golden-brown butterflied shrimp towards the troll, glistening with some of her last dashi. In fact -- Kuniko realizes, that WAS her last dashi and now it has tempura bits in it. "Dammit!!" she shouts, even as the shrimp flies straight, true, and flavorful!

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has used Drifting Snow Slash on Mytho.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Service - Shrimp Tempura on Mytho.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Cure Beauty's Drifting Snow Slash, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Cure Beauty is Psyched! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates! Trap applied to Mytho!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly dodges Kuniko Saito's Service - Shrimp Tempura, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Mytho!

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Princess Runealy goes tense as claw shards fly, wrapping herself in a sparkling red dome! Just before impact, she detonates the forcefield; a shockwave sends the troll's attacks scattering away from her... though she simply doesn't see a good angle to shoot the lingering energy back at him with; not with that many people on the bridge. ...The bridge. Did it just react to what she said? A muttered "sorry" follows, but this gives Rune an idea. "Mai! What you were talking about just now," she looks to the flame-Element wielder, "Can you do that? Could you get us so we're behind or beside him, but staying out of arms' reach? I'm worried if too many go onto the bridge, that... well." The implications are obvious. The poor bridge might not be able to take it.

While waiting for Mai's thoughts on the plan, she looks to Sailor Vega. Rune calls to her: "This is for what you did!" She creates a paper-thin, tall wall of red energy and sends it flying toward the Sailor. It tries to wrap around her, hoping to provide two effects: One is healing warmth, not unlike a blanket sticking to her. Yet parts of this split off to take the shape of miniature shields, floating wildly around Vega to serve as a layer of defense without hindering her attacks. Apparently Vega did something good.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Comfort Ward on Sailor Vega.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Vega accepts Princess Runealy's Comfort Ward, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Withstand applied to Sailor Vega! Cleanse! All of Sailor Vega's debuffs are cleared!

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

When Sailor Moon made her heroic speech, Mai found herself turning to face the blonde heroine. That...was actually rather inspirational. Might be worth seeing if she gives lessons or something. This means that she's a bit distracted when the troll unleashes its assault, and can't do much except cover her face and hope for the best.

The barrage ends, and Mai winces - she has a number of cuts and bruises, and one piece of shrapnel lodged between Element and wrist. It's burning, but she's able to pluck it out for brief examination before it crumbles to ash. "...cookies? Look, these are supposed to be tasty rewards, not wea..."

Mai glances to the:COMBAT chef for a moment, then clears her throat.

Of course, there's little time to mull things over -:COMBAT is making the bridge sway worryingly, and Mai needs a moment to regain her balance. Or...does she? Runealy's words are met with a grin. "Good point - let's go!" With rather less care than might be warranted, she moves to pull Runealy into a tight embrace - then lets momentum carry them off the bridge entirely.

Flames burn brightly, and - while somewhat slowed by the extra weight - Mai is able to fly up from the ravine, settling on a position above the troll and off to its side. With care, keeping Runealy held against her with one arm, she briefly extends one hand. Flames spiral out, wrapping themselves around the troll's head, seeking to engulf it entirely. Hopefully that'll be far enough removed from the worryingly flammable bridge...

<Pose Tracker> Cure Peace [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Cure Peace ahs!? Cookies!? Y..you can't use cookies for EVIL! YOU CAN'T USE COOKIES FOR EVILLLLLLLLL.

Okay, maybe you can if a troll bakes them with the evil Powers of Darkness. That means these cookies have at LEAST 50 CP each. That's pretty beefy for a cookie.

Totally Meta-Jokes aside, Cure Peace is blasted with hot air. She eeks as she jumps back after throwing her arms around her torso protecticly as she frowns a little. She looks over to Neptune and head tilts. "Ah--did you see that!? We--should-- ah-- try to----" she gets more shy halfway through the suggestion. "Try to combine our powers for this..maybe.. later!..." she says.

She just shakes it off as she huffs and throws her arms out. "I..I'm going to---" she she says as she throws her arms out to either side of her and Sparkles with electricity. She then turns practically into the bolt of lightning herself, suddenly she's over there. Now suddenly she's thrown herself into the upper torso of the troll, trying to knock him over to make him more vurneable with her powerful lightning tackle.

"Ah--using..Cookies--for evil!" she says as she lands on her feet (hopefully) after the outcome. "That-'s..!" she can't finish the setence. She can't think of a proper word.

"Um.. unforgiveable?" she finishes almost with a question mark. "Right!" she then finishes with a curt nod.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Infernal Prison on Mytho.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has used Flash Tackle on Mytho.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Out of nowhere-- well, not nowhere, but batted at him by that giant-ass troll-- Tuxedo Mask gets gutpunched back into the ground by a really big gold coin. He rolls back to his feet with a slight stagger, then picks up the heavy coin. "Sa--" he starts, then coughs and clears his throat. "Sailor Moon! Need a ride?" His eyes flash behind the mask, and there's something undeniably rakish about the smile that accompanies the question. He holds up a white-gloved finger, then hurls the coin straight up in the air, flat on its face--

--and whirls on one heel, cane slipping into his hands, then bats the coin right back at the troll--

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has started a combo targeting Mytho!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Creaaaaak.

Neptune was distracted briefly by the sound the bridge makes beneath her - her eyes drifting down to the wooden bridge. Of course, earlier in the evening, when Mami had nodded to her? Of course Neptune would nod back, her eyes fraught with an almost suspicion as she watches the heavily armed young puella magi a bit.

Usagi's smile distracts her a moment more. That almost led her to being hit with the cookie, full on. Instead, the sharpened cookie wings her shoulder, causing her to stumble - Michiru trying to make certain her steps move towards the centre of the swaying bridge more than the corners.

And it is with a subtle little burst of energetic seawater that Neptune flings towards the troll next, her eyes flickering away from it towards the other young women. "...Careful of the bridge!" she calls out - as if such a thing weren't obvious enough already.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Mai Tokiha's Infernal Prison, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates! Diversion and Trap applied to Mytho!

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Gentle Undertow on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Sailor Neptune's Gentle Undertow, taking 10 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Cure Peace's Flash Tackle, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates! Tangle applied to Mytho!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

While trying to dodge shrapnel exploding from the cookie attack, Vega fails to take into account one of the actual cookies and gets a clobbering for her trouble - knocking backwards and skidding across the ground, shrapnel and crumbly bits tearing and sticking to her - cuts, bruises, and a little bit of shame for not paying enough attention.

Dazed but undaunted; Vega comes back to a full stand, tossing her hair back over her shoulder at the same time, a determined look on her face. It helps that Princess Runealy's spell washes over her, clearing the haze from her eyes, healing her cuts. The warmth of that protection surrounding her cuts through the sudden steel in her expression - Runealy gets a sparkle-eyed smile that's all love and thanks.

"I think you've got the right idea!" Sailor Vega calls to Neptune, once more standing proud, love surging in her heart as she raises one arm to the sky in faint echo of the oceanic Senshi's earlier attack, "VEGA BOLIDE!"

A spark of golden light swirls through the shields around her, then shoots up well above her - unseen until it steaks down and curves with the point of her extended hand, a fiery, spiralling comet of love cutting the darkness!

COMBAT: Sailor Vega has used Vega Bolide on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Vega has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Sailor Vega's Vega Bolide, taking 33 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

"A heart as dark as yours could never appreciate the soul-lifting joy of dessert!" Sailor Moon shouts back, bold against his threat. He's on the other side of the bridge, of course, but when it comes to danger Usagi's heart is always within striking distance.

That bridge is the matter, though. Usagi braces herself at the edge of it, wand in hand, gauging the distance and watching how others deal with it. At this point in her meteoric career, a part of Usagi (represented by an imperiously frowning Rei) knows that her crossing it would be a bad idea. Maybe she should--

"Tuxedo-sama?!"

There's only a moment to place a hand to her heart before the coin comes shooting by. On impulse born of trust, she unthinkingly reaches out and grabs hold of it.

It works. It is also scary.

"AAAAAAAAAA," Sailor Moon bravely shrieks as goes flying across the chasm while clinging to probably-evil currency. The gems in her hair reverberate with increasing intensity, furnishing her now-more-literally meteoric journey with a blaring trail of visibly shivering sound waves. Whether they hit or not, Usagi wisely pries her fingers loose and goes floating down in a halo of light, hopefully finding something solid to stand on that isn't troll-stomping territory.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has joined the combo started by Tuxedo Mask!

COMBAT: COMBO! Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon have used Odango Softball and Supersonic Screaming on Mytho.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon's Combo: Odango Softball, taking 55 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

The coins which get batted towards the Wind Knight are too widely scattered for her to dodge efficiently - and with the terrain along the edges of the crevasse as unstable as it seems, she chooses *not* to dive between that rock for cover, instead trying to hunker down and protect her face and vitals against the flying coins.

One of the coins smacks her right in the forehead for her efforts; a few more slap into her armor (or the seeming-fabric of her uniform where obvious armor doesn't cover it) and spin off past her, making her wince with each impact - and she'll probably have a beaut of a bruise where the one hit her forehead. "You probably didn't want to start throwing money away at us," she remarks to the troll with a bright, friendly smile, "but I'm sure we'll find a good use for these coins after we've chucked you back down the ravine."

Then she takes a moment to size up her allies ... "Tsukiko-san, be careful! Mamori no Kaze!" The Winds of Protection blow towards the Cute Wolf, weaving into a protective shield - one that should move with Tsukiko, at least as long as Fuu can focus adequately to keep it with the wolfgirl.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Mamori no Kaze on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko accepts Fuu Hououji's Mamori no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Accelerate and Withstand applied to Cute Wolf Tsukiko!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Tuxedo Mask tries to do... something for her. She can appreciate that. Except that she felt nothing from it. Just like all men, useless u.u

But that doesn't mean she doesn't keep with the offense. Pulling ofudas from her top, she throws them at the troll, forming a circle in the air as they fly toward it. Lines of fire link the 5 ofudas into a star shape, making a larger fireball in the process, sticking at the troll to slow it down some more, for everyone's benefit at least.

Moon meanwhile... against that earlier suggestion, still seems to have gotten involved with Tuxedo Mask. She'll have to remind her more sternly later.

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

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Continuing her battle on that trembling bridge, Utena tucks and rolls forward, getting in closer in hopes of making that unwieldy club a little more unwieldy. It's close, and it still grazes her -- but it's a much less nasty blow than it would've been if she'd just eaten it whole, and that's what counts. She winces as she pulls herself back up to a full, standing position.

The implicit premise of the troll's statement -- that Utena outstrips many in bravery -- is not lost on her, and she presses in closer, eager to press that close-quarters advantage and continue facing the troll directly, as he says.

Stepping forward, she continues with that advantage, trying to lash out at the troll's legs. The unsteady footing goes both ways -- sure, it's starting to be a little taxing for /her/ to retain her balance... but it can't be easy for the troll, either!

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has used Someone Who Can Exercise Power on Mytho.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly counters Sailor Mars's Evil, Begone!, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Mytho's Reverse ability activates! Stun applied to Mytho!

COMBAT: Mytho's counterattack, TROLLing To Undermine, partially gets through, doing 5 Fatigue damage to Sailor Mars! Sailor Mars is Quipped!

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Nadeshiko hurls her naginata down range, and then charges in after it, because that's how she do. She's just about to hit the bridge when the wake streaks toward her; she swings low, the wake narrowly missing her ponytail, and comes up with an elegant little pirouette. She breathes, roughly. That was close.

She's an elegant, trained dancer, though, and so actually the swaying bridge doesn't hurl her into space or anything. It's tough, forcing her to pick her steps carefully as she approaches. "Face you directly, eh!?" the Yakuzafied Nadeshiko declares, her voice dipping low. "You've got me! I LOVE A STRAIGHT-ON FIGHT, YOU KNOW!? GA HA HA!" And as she edges closer into range, she snaps out her arm - and her naginata reappears in hand! She swings it sharply, crashing into the TROLL's belly with a fierce sweep! "SO LET'S GO, MISTER! YOU AND ME! AND... ...and these other people! I guess!"

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has used Naginata Flourish on Mytho.

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Naginata Flourish, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Utena Tenjou's Someone Who Can Exercise Power, taking 27 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Mytho [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhHwnrlZRus

Meanwhile, back on (and near) the bridge...

THE TROLL blinks at the Cute Wolf, taken a little bit by surprise. Then he growls back, his vicious baritone echoing through the chasm. He swats another spare coin at Homura Akemi, who's hanging back, unwilling to give her a great deal of time to think (or so he assumes), and still another at the Guardian Princess.

He must have had a lot of successful extortions.

While he /hurls/ himself backwards, out of the way of Mami's rifles, Cure Sunny's fire shields eat into the bridge, whose most important architectural component is straw (though some is hemp, and there are wooden planks strung here and there for feet). As Sailor Neptune's seawater and the clinging frost of Cure Beauty's trailing sword whips by, it begins to slow but not stop the flame's advance along the bridge's handholds. THE TROLL hasn't noticed this development yet, it seems, perhaps because he was blasted back by Neptune and sliced at by Cure Beauty at the time -- and distracted by Chef Kuniko's fried shrimp. "NOT KOSHER!!" he complains, just in time for the Lafayette Exemption to create a seafood-flavored explosion right in his face at the same moment that Mai's fiery prison just straight-up burns off his beard.

(Yes, he had a beard, for as long as it took to think of it, then have a pissed-off HiME get rid of it.)

He ducks and rolls forward, laying about with his tremendous fists on the backswing, and claws on the fore -- getting right in the faces of his foes with blinding speed, including Mami, who he leaps up to smash downwards, if he possibly can.

Through the explosion comes Cure Peace, however, who once again knocks him back towards the end of the bridge -- and while he's prone, there's no possible way he can get out of the way of Sailor Vega's shining comet, nor Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask's declaration that money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can definitely transmit shrieks of bravery. Roaring with pain, he chucks more of those deadly cookies at all four of them, except for Peace, who is right there behind him -- she gets an air-shattering swap of his club. The backblast of that air heads straight for Fuu and Sailor Mars, whose ofuda-laced fireball scorches him some, but perhaps not as much as it might have, thanks to that interposition.

And Utena is still right there, brave and bold, right in his face, joined now by Nadeshiko. The two of them slice and cut still more, and are beginning to draw enough blood that it can't just heal over immediately. While he gets his club in the path between naginata and tummy, he doesn't jump back in time to avoid Utena, who scores a nasty slash along his thigh. Unhappy with this, he stomps, hard, making the bridge nearest him rattle, shake, and sway precariously beneath the two of them!

---

Below...

Pop and Billy have a new challenge -- dodging frozen coins raining down on them from above. Initially they do so with style and grace, inspired by the sounds of victory above them. Of course Pretty Cure and their allies would do an excellent job of distracting THE TROLL from what's going on right under his feet.

Pop's grip slips completely when he sees Runealy and Mai plunge past him. Billy grabs him by the tail, which leaves both of his hands free to frantically gesture back upwards, his eyes suddenly filled with grave concern, worry that this is going to attract the troll too early.

Billy yanks on his tail a couple of times, hanging slack from her rappel line, and gestures with her free hand. There it is -- the Jewel of Beginnings! Tossing Pop onto the ledge, she scrambles up alongside him, and the two of them silently and skillfully go about the business of freeing it from its locks and chains, beneath which it is mostly buried.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Conversational TROLL on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Pay The TROLL on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Pay The TROLL on Princess Runealy.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Obvious TROLL on Cure Sunny.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Obvious TROLL on Sailor Neptune.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Obvious TROLL on Cure Beauty.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Obvious TROLL on Kuniko Saito.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Obvious TROLL on Mami Tomoe.

COMBAT: Mytho has used TROLL House Cookies on Sailor Vega.

COMBAT: Mytho has used TROLL House Cookies on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Mytho has used TROLL House Cookies on Tuxedo Mask.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Cure Peace.

COMBAT: Mytho has used The Phantom TROLL-Booth on Fuu Hououji.

COMBAT: Mytho has used The Phantom TROLL-Booth on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Bridge TROLL on Utena Tenjou.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Bridge TROLL on Nadeshiko Fujisaki.

COMBAT: Mytho has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji perfectly dodges Mytho's The Phantom TROLL-Booth, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Cure Beauty perfectly dodges Mytho's Obvious TROLL, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!

COMBAT: Sailor Mars fails to dodge Mytho's The Phantom TROLL-Booth, taking 16 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly dodges Mytho's Pay The TROLL, taking 32 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly counters Mytho's Obvious TROLL, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cripple, Stun, and Tangle applied to Mami Tomoe!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe's counterattack, Tiro Retort, partially gets through, doing 24 Fatigue damage to Mytho!

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki fails to dodge Mytho's Bridge TROLL, taking 23 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy narrowly braces Mytho's Pay The TROLL, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Sailor Moon narrowly braces Mytho's TROLL House Cookies, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon's Parry ability activates! Stun applied to Sailor Moon!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito fails to brace Mytho's Obvious TROLL, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cripple and Tangle applied to Kuniko Saito!

COMBAT: Sailor Vega narrowly braces Mytho's TROLL House Cookies, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Sailor Vega!

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune narrowly dodges Mytho's Obvious TROLL, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Tangle applied to Sailor Neptune!

COMBAT: Cure Sunny fails to brace Mytho's Obvious TROLL, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Tangle applied to Cure Sunny!

COMBAT: Cure Peace narrowly dodges Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 32 Fatigue damage! Cure Peace's Fade ability activates! Cure Peace's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko perfectly counters Mytho's Conversational TROLL, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko's counterattack, Silver Fangs, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mytho!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

This time, the Magic Knight of Wind *does* dodge - practically a full-out cartwheel to her right, further 'inland' ... which has the side effect of lining her up a little closer to everyone else - and she takes advantage of her new vantage point, as she straightens up, to size up what shape her allies are in. Sailor Moon and the flintlock-conjuring magical girl seem to be having some trouble, as does the magical chef ... among a sizable handful of others, but Fuu can't stretch her magic to heal everyone at a go. She has to focus on what she *can* do easily, in the brief window the troll gives the group.

"Iyashi no Kaze!" calls the green-clad Magic Knight, raising her left arm as she invokes the Winds of Healing; the gently-glowing breezes enfold Sailor Moon, Kuniko, and Mami, soothing their injuries some and helping them regain their stride, so they can keep fighting (or in Kuniko-san's case, cooking) at something resembling full effectiveness ...

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

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

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

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

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

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito accepts Fuu Hououji's Iyashi no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cleanse! All of Kuniko Saito'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!

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Tsukiko flashes the Wind Knight a grin of thanks as the Winds of Protection shields the wolfgirl, then faces down the Troll again. The volume of the Troll's growl is impressive, and she figures that she can't drown it out.

But, as she discovered the hard way against Trio the Minor, you don't always have to be louder than someone to silence them.

Lunging forward, she snaps her jaws at the troll's nose, magical fangs coming just short of connecting.

(Might be better that way - Tsukiko has no idea what Troll tastes like, and she certainly isn't in a hurry to find out!)

Having gotten this close to the bridge, she dashes onto it, kicking at the boards under the troll's feet and generally trying to make it lose balance. Even if it doesn't fall, it should at least reduce its mobility.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Sunny [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Uh oh.

This is getting really chaotic- even last time there were four opponents to help, but this is just tons of people against one giant, and there's so much stuff flying around it's hard to do anything other than react on instinct. Coins are being thrown, more cookies, there's a screaming psycho girl with a naginata, comets, Kuniko's throwing SHRIMP at him, Peace is struggling with her heroic dialogue...

"Yeah, 'unforgiveable' is a good one to use here, it's pretty awful," Sunny advises.

Pan slightly to the left, to show the fire next to her.

Sunny's eyes widen, as she notices fire there... and there... and thereandthereandthereandthere...

"Oh no!"

This is bad! Really bad! Cure Sunny's in a pinch! She's got to do something! Rather than attack, she just does her best to evade the troll's swinging blows and random shrapnel as she runs back and forth across the bridge, trying to use whatever she can- like a frozen coin, maybe- to try and douse or smother the spreading flames. Blink here, there, everywhere!

It'd be easier if she wasn't occasionally getting bashed!

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

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Kuniko's mouth hangs open.

"Wh - but - You don't - Are you really -- No!!" Kuniko sputters, evidently dismayed by these saucy words, even as the troll endures the explosive dissolution of that food's infused Terroir. She waves her cleaver in the air, saying with an increasingly incensed tone, "You gotta be kidding me!"

She tries desperately to remember that unit on Religious Sensitivity in Meal Preparation. Most of it was about what does and does not qualify as vegetarian for purposes of feeding to a dedicated monk or priest. Kashrut and halal were pretty minor topics.

The cleansing winds clear her mind, ending her confounding. She realizes the horrible truth of what's been done with her even as Sailor Moon's screams arc overhead. Leaning against the side of the bridge, she reaches into an invisible bain-marie, taking out her last half-dozen dolma and lobbing them forwards. "Gaaaahhhh!!!"

She takes it out on the crab. She may be finding a use for all these shell fragments soon...

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Yalanci Dolma on Mytho.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

'There's more to life than victory, Akemi-san.'

If Mami were hoping for any sort of overt response to that statement, Homura offers none. What possible response could she give after all? A truthful one? No. Mami will likely discover the truth one day regardless, and Homura would rather that be later instead of sooner ... and not by her hand. That said she has no desire to lie. This sort of lie will undo itself in time, and amplify the resulting fallout in the bargain.

No. Homura has no choice but to keep these thoughts, these feelings, and this knowledge a secret. But there was once a time where she would have agreed with Mami.

~*~ Once upon that time ~*~

That poor bespectacled Puella Magi, her hair all tied up in braids. It seems she's in quite a pickle this time! Her feet her kicking uselessly at the as she struggles to keep her grip onto the rickety bridge! It seems at this rate she will soon come face to face with the gorge of eternal peril. But then a voice calls out to her. A smiling face, and a gloved hand held out for hers. Fearful tears shine behind the lenses of her glasses as the inexperienced Puella Magi accepts the hand up.

Massive coins continue to rain from the sky as the battle against the Troll continues. Another Puella Magi, a companion of the bespectacled one, calls out to her as she wields two muskets akimbo. The young violet Puella Magi nods in response before pulling a small cylinder from behind her shield and tosses it into the air. It explodes directly in front of the Troll's face, blinding and deafening it with brilliant light and explosive percussion! Another Puella Magi takes the opportunity to rush forward, bladed weapon in hand, and slashes at the beast's Achilles Tendon. Or some anatomically similar structure. Meanwhile a cannon of massive proportion impacts the beast in the chest!!

And he is sent roaring, flailing, falling from his bridge...

~*~ Fin ~*~

Unfortunately(?) that is a story from another time. But there is still some useful information for Homura to use. Sadly though it comes at a cost when another golden coin is flung in her direction. She avoids being crushed by it!! ... barely. The impact is heaviest against her shoulder and nearly knocks her from the bridge before she recovers.

But recover she does, and uses a part of the bridge's handhold not on fire to steady herself. "I will just have to improvise..." She says calmly to herself . A cylinder suddenly appears in her hand, smaller than the usual ones. A small metal pin is pulled from its apex before it is tossed directly towards the Troll's face. "Close your eyes!" Homura offers as advice.

Will it be heeded though?

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask perfectly dodges Mytho's TROLL House Cookies, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Tuxedo Mask's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Flashbang on Mytho.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Mai had either forgotten or not noticed that the other fairies were, well, actually doing something during all this. The glares and admonishments she receives are admittedly deserved. Once high up with just Runealy, she nods. "Okay, okay. Stick to keeping the troll's attention up high, got it."

The bridge is shaking, and the troll's attempts to smash the heroines isn't helping matters any. Pausing a moment to let her ears stop ringing from Sailor Moon's high-speed screaming, Mai judges how things are going. "...Rune, I have an idea. Let's see if this gets his attention up high." She flies a bit closer, looking at the troll's scorched face and ruined beard...

...and a thin tendril of flame licks out, to scorch off some more facial hair. "Sorry about that, Mister Troll, it looks like I missed a spot." Mai gives the troll a bright grin.

And then flies back upwards immediately because she's reckless, not stupid.

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Princess Runealy faces the incoming coin, bracing her wand to deflect it! This partially works; the swipe knocks it off course such that it glances her in the side and forces Rune to stumble back a step with a hurt wince. Then she stows that wand behind-back and leans into Mai's embrace, one arm holding on /very/ tight; a fall at this height could be disastrous! Yet the flight itself is amazing; it feels very different from magic-boosted jumps. "Have to wonder why you don't fly all the time, if it's like this!" There's just a bit of envy as she ponders just how much freedom this must offer Mai... it seems like it'd be a lot of fun outside of fights, too.

As they soar, Runealy sees the fairies. She sees the danger those two are in, and makes a worried comment for their sake: "Mai... please don't take us any lower than the bridge itself again if you can help it!" A glance back to Billy and Pop tries to put a face on this request.

Gliding along in the HiME's grasp, Rune reaches into her dress' ribbon and pulls out a flashlight-sized wand. Aiming down at the troll, Rune lets loose with a trio of thin, red sparkling beams! This is important: Rune is avoiding using her more explosive magic, mindful of the effect that could have on the bridge and those upon it. Just after firing, Rune closes her eyes; she has no idea /why/ Homura is calling for that, but trusts the Puella Magi enough to do as asked. 'Why' will come soon enough.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Fiery Shave on Mytho.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Beam Volley on Mytho.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Peace [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Cure Peace eyes go wide when a club comes for her face. She acts fast and jumps backwards....ducks underneath. She expends way more energy than she should as that club grazes past her hair, just touching the frills of her dress. This is insanely close calls. Her eyes frown to the burning bridge... That's she's on right now.

Sunny is moving to stop that. She frowns. Sunny needs backup, and the troll needs to be kept busy. She looks all worried.. "Ah--Sunny!!!" she cries out.

She raises her fingers and throws sparkling, gliterring sparks from her fingers into the vision and area of the Troll.. to make a commotion. Keep it busy...just a little longer, she thinks in her head.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has used Sparkling Glittering Diversion! on Mytho.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

For all of his size, the troll is lightning fast. There's a sudden gasp from Cure Beauty as she skips backwards from the titanic claws, catching azure hair fluttering in the breeze, as the troll slashes off part of one of her hair tails. And then the fists come. Each one would pulverize her, and so she falls backwards into a presto rhythmic tempo of handstands and flips which forces her to divest herself of the ice blade, which breaks apart into shards as the next blow flies by, leaving a forlorn hilt on the bridge. At the end of its monstrous assault, she finds herself precariously close to the edge, nearly singing herself on one of the now burning handholds, "Ah Sunny! I think you may have gone overboard!"

No path is laid behind her except down. And so contrary to her favorite poem, Beauty's path lay straight forward. Her hands still throb from the effort, but the air grows more chill around her, easing the pain. A new blade is created in her hands, at first just a hilt, but trails upwards into shining blue ice. And lurching forward, she begins her fevered charge trying to be mindful of any forthcoming blows, which would surely spell her doom off the edge.

She stops just in front of the troll, pirouetting, her voice calling out in a sharp battle cry, "KIAIIII!" The sword arcs with enough force that she does not expect to keep the blade. Indeed, it is meant to shatter it upon the troll's guard, into a hail storm of ice splinters and diamond dust, consuming the hilt as well. But she isn't done yet, for on the backswing of her spin, she dips low and picks up the discarded hilt of her first blade, and continues the momentum. The blade regenerates into its full glory as it's being swung, and like the other... it shatters, blanketing the area in gleaming shards.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has used Beauty Hailstorm Brand on Mytho.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Fire tends to catch the eye.

It certainly caught that of Sailor Neptune's, the woman letting her lips turn down into a bit of a frown as she sees the fire spread across the bridge. Frozen coins raining down on the bridge below... bridge swaying beneath her feet - she stumbles - lurching to one side as she ducks her head beneath the swing of a club, a coin 'pinging' off of the side of her teal head. With a cry, she goes down - falling on her side - only to roll unto her butt, lift up her hand...

And call upon the seas of her long-forgotten kingdom. It was a wave - crashing around her, a wave that she directs not towards the troll - but hopefully, to wash over the handrails and prevent that fire from spreading too much more. Or extinguishing it alltogether.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Perhaps Runealy's magic shield gave Vega a bit TOO much confidence - she doesn't even TRY to get out of the way, and though the shields *do* hold... well, Vega's buffeted about by the force of the angry troll's attack and is once more shaken, not stirred.

"C'mon, Vega, get your act together," she mutters to herself. "KEEP IT UP, WIND KNIGHT! she yells to the by-now familiar form of the aforementioned magical girl, running along to try and suss out a new position to attack from while calling her wand to her hand.

COMBAT: Sailor Vega has used YOU GO, GIRL! on Fuu Hououji.

COMBAT: Sailor Vega has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Mami expects suspicion from Neptune, accepts it. She does not expect a screaming Moon on a coin, and accepts /that/ only with a considerable amount of inward complaint and frowning--frowning that, thankfully, is obscured by the part where Mami is spinning in mid-air towards the bridge. Her old friend gravity appears to function just fine in the Bad End Kingdom, and despite her concerns about the methods, Mami calls, "Nice job, Sailor Moon! Thinking of a new hobby?"

It could happen.

What /does/ definitely happen is that THE TROLL is faster than anything that big has a right to be. He moves out of the way, all right, but what passes next is not the memory of Mami and her full /team/ of magical girls. Here, Mami is still a bit distant, still not quite part of the group, holding herself apart.

And here, Mami has a giant fist headed straight for her.

A handheld cannon springs into her hand in a flash of light, its barrel nearly the width of one of the giant's fingers, and fires in a deafening roar just as she's struck. The weapon goes flying, and in the explosion, Mami briefly can't be seen at all...

Though a magical wind does reach her, blowing away the acrid smoke. Mami is falling, and falling quickly, missing the bridge entirely as she tumbles down towards the ravine it covers. The darkness swallows the sight of her, except--

A golden thread wraps about the bridge near its center, a thread that expands and is /strong/, strong enough to shake the bridge a little further... as from below, Mami swings on a ribbon all the way to the other side, letting go as she moves above the bridge and being /hurled/ upward once again. She is smiling. She may be sort of pleased with herself.

('Maybe' is a lie.)

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Does Her Own Stunts on Mytho.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Herd the Quarry, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Trap applied to Mytho!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to brace Kuniko Saito's Yalanci Dolma, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Mytho!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Homura Akemi's Flashbang, taking 9 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to brace Mai Tokiha's Fiery Shave, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Mytho is Quipped!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Princess Runealy's Beam Volley, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to brace Cure Peace's Sparkling Glittering Diversion!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly dodges Cure Beauty's Beauty Hailstorm Brand, taking 15 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji accepts Sailor Vega's YOU GO, GIRL!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly counters Mami Tomoe's Does Her Own Stunts, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe is Psyched! Mytho's Reverse ability activates!

COMBAT: Mytho's counterattack, Pay The TROLL, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mami Tomoe!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

The thing that fiction gets wrong is that big things move slow. The troll is big. It is also thrashing about into everyone like a madtroll.

His initial distraction with the other magical warriors gives Usagi time to finish floating down in her luminous, pale bubble, which soundlessly pops once she sets down. With a tiny hop forward, she flashes a victory symbol to no one but herself and the Sailor V that watches over her coolest moments. Good work, Sailor Moon.

Let's see--bridge on fire. Too far away for her to help without endangering herself, and others still have time to take care of it safely! Mascots still in the pit. They're professionals and probably doing fine, no sense in worrying when there's bigger problems! Incoming death cookie.

Usagi frowns fiercely. "How dare you use cookies--"

CRACK! Sailor Moon grits her teeth and skids backward several inches, but the sinister morsel shatters across her lunar wand!

"--FOR NON-DELIGHTFUL PURPOSES!"

The magical wind sent by Fuu blows dramatically through, catching her hair and sailor collar in the breeze. V-sama, this is really coming together.

But Sailor Moon isn't the only star. It would be lying to say that she could have gotten here by herself, and there's one very important actor who has a mixed relationship with the spotlight and is trapped extreme stage right even now! Usagi calculates the angles, and then runs to find her mark.

"Tuxedo-sama!" she calls, leaping and waving her wand as she runs to catch his attention. "This time, trust me to distract him!"

This is the perfect spot! Planting her feet, Sailor Moon raises her wand and incants the words of power: "Moon Twilight..."

The crescent of the moon on her scepter lines up with the gem on her tiara. It glimmers, then gleams, and then flashes with a beautiful intensity that briefly casts the entire battlefield in bright white and sharp shadows.

"FLASH!"

And in the shadows of midnight, there is a velvet mantle--

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has started a combo targeting Mytho! COMBAT: Utena Tenjou perfectly dodges Mytho's Bridge TROLL, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Utena Tenjou's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Despite the frowns being thrown his way from various directions, Tuxedo Mask's trust is in Sailor Moon-- and he laughs, loud and unexpectedly bright, in the ringing aftermath of the ear-burstingly shrill scream of attack courage. As she's floating down gently, he's facing in entirely the correct direction to see an enormous cookie winging through the air toward him.

And then-- Sailor Moon's asking him to trust her. As if it were ever in question. She may not be able to see him, but it earns a quick, firm nod. And then like it's magic, the black-clad youth's abruptly no longer in the cookie's path; he's leapt up into the air quicker than reasonable eyes can follow, letting the giant cookie smash to bits on the ground beneath and behind him.

The jump takes him high, higher still, and then

the brilliance of the moon, magnified and concentrated, covers his motion in the shadow of the monster itself, and

the velvet mantle twists aside and flares, sharp red of its lining heralding the coming of a white-gloved fist toward the bridge of the troll's mighty nose! "YOU, sir, are an ABOMINATION unto the PROPER USE OF SWEETS!"

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has joined the combo started by Sailor Moon!

COMBAT: COMBO! Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask have used Combo: Nobody is Alone!, composed of Moon Twilight Flash and Moonlight Mystery Punch, on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho fails to brace Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask's Combo: Nobody is Alone!, taking 60 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask are Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Leave it to Sailor Moon to think about cookies and food during a serious fight for your life -.- She can't tell what's worse anymore, between her and Tuxedo. But that's stuff for later... Right now she has to keep pushing. Live to scold her later anyway.

That troll is clubbing her rather hard though, and that's never a good thing. She waves a hand, creating a shimmering wall of fire in front of her, attempting to give herself a bit of an edge now.

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

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

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

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

For an instant, Utena finds herself more worried about Mami than the close-quarters battle she's embroiled herself in, worrying about the other girl's safety as she seems to fall off of the bridge. It's a passing worry as she sees her hop up, though -- and that emboldens her to make her own efforts at keeping her footing all the more impressive.

Taking to the air as the bridge continues to shake, she leaps atop the troll, giving it a clean, simple stomp on the head like she's a plumber. It's maneuver and attack all in one -- a wasteless motion that she continues by leaping back off and landing behind it at just such an angle to stop the shaking of that section of the bridge entirely.

A smile crosses her face, and she does a quick flourish with her blade, feeling pretty clever.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has used Aggressive Dodging on Mytho.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Utena Tenjou's Aggressive Dodging, taking 18 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Nadeshiko doesn't have the presence of mind to notice the bridge she needs to stand on being on fire, because right now she's kind of a violent madwoman. The Troll is hurling cookies around and blasting people with his club, but Nadeshiko dares to stand right in his face!! Or at least, like, in the vicinity of his ankles. But he's stomping! "Grrgh--" Nadeshiko grates out, a wordless gurgle as the bridge sways and shakes her. She stumbles, one two three steps back, one forward...onto her face. "Nnnnn," she rumbles, which is an impressing thing to achieve for a ten year old girl. Her eyes track the incoming projectiles for a second, then move to follow Utena's movements, keeping an eye on the fighting Revolutionary Girl. She lets herself grin a bit, and shoves up to her feet when the wobbling ebbs a bit. She snaps out her hand, her naginata appearing in it with a cherry pink *FLASH* - and then charges again, howling. "'EY, YOU DIDN'T FORGET ABOUT LI'L OLD ME, DIDJA!?" she jeers, and sweeps at the taller TROLL's legs and feet, making decisively unmaidenly "GRAA!" and "nNNGYAAAA!!" kiais.

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has used Unmaidenly Conduct on Mytho.

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho fails to brace Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Unmaidenly Conduct, taking 9 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Mytho [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed. 

<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii1tc493bZM

Once Cute Wolf Tsukiko has once again shown that turnabout is fair play, causing THE TROLL to land, hard, right on his chiseled red butt, things start going rather badly awry for him.

He opens his mouth to object only for it to be filled with dolma, which stuns him with its sublime taste; he's too busy savoring it to notice Homura's flashbang. "HRRAAARRRGH!!!" Clutching his eyes in agony, he loses the last of his handlebar mustache (he had one of those too, as of now) to Mai's tossed flames, while Runealy's triplebeams laser across his upper arms painfully, drawing wisps of smoke.

Spreading his fingers, he peeks between them to see if it's safe to look, only to get blinded by Cure Peace's sparks, which makes him bellow again, in rage as well as pain. He kicks and flails, which just barely carries him away from Cure Beauty's ice blades and their shattering shards, but he can't escape the cloud completely, and is unable to try. Then the bridge shakes under him again, and he doesn't even know why -- he grasps desperately to stabilize it, only to be dowsed completely by Sailor Neptune's summoned tsunami (along with the flames, between that and Cure Sunny's frantic, valiant efforts).

When the fiery agony clears behind his eyelids, his restored sight is greeted by Mami Tomoe's smirk, and in a moment of EXTREME FRUSTRATION he hurls another one of those coins... past her.

That's about when he gets Moon Twilight Flash'd right to the chest, and punched right in the nose. There's a satisfying crunching sound to it, and when a tuxedo gloved fist pulls away, THE TROLL is, improbably, even uglier than before. Utena stomps him for good measure, and his nose crunches back into place, while Nadeshiko lets his shins /have/ it, and he howls with pain once more.

WAY under the bridge...

There's tension, tension, tension in the chasm's crack, as the locks and chains are carefully removed one at a time, with a great deal of care taken to not scratch the Jewel of Beginnings itself. "Yes~mehh!!" bleats Billy-chan excitedly, as she picks the last of the locks binding the Jewel in place. It's worth noting that this sound is a little bit muffled, since she picked all of them, down to the very last, with her teeth. She grabs it, struggling mightily to get her arms around its entire circumference, then HEAVES.

"Lift with your lower back~de gozaru," Pop suggests helpfully, in a low-voiced hiss, before getting a glimpse of the sky... and the moon. "We're out of time~de gozaru! We've got FIVE MINUTES~de gozaru!!"

He leaps straight off the ledge, holding up a second one of those tiny, improbable ninja scrolls to his forehead. One poof of smoke later, and he's a gigantic eagle...lion...thing that completely fails to emulate a gryphon in any sort of respectable way. More like a goofon. It's cute.

Visual aid: http://prettycure.wikia.com/wiki/File:Pop.bird_(2).jpg

Billy's on his back in a twinkling, Jewel in tow, and the two of them have moisture in their eyes from the wind as they go screaming downwards, deeper into the infinite chasm, even through Billy's goggles. Its light is blinding, unshielded by the chains, and it gets the attention of THE TROLL immediately. "TRIIIICKED!!" he shouts defiantly, and with a single slash of his claws, he flat bisects the bridge, just like that, and swan dives off of it, after the Jewel and the fairies.

The bridge moans one plank at a time as it comes apart, which is impressive since it happens in less than a heartbeat.

Billy looks up, the wind howling against the tips of her horns, to see THE TROLL pursuing them, and is grateful for her goggles after all. "Dive, dive, dive~mehh!!" she screams in Pop's ear, while, keeping one arm around the Jewel, she splays the other one forward--

--and an enormous portal opens up to the tune of flapping pages, parallel to where the bridge was. Nearly-midnight Tokyo is easily recognized through it, those lit skyscrapers impossible to mistake for anything else.

Pop plunges downwards, THE TROLL right on his tailfeathers, and discovers on the other side that the portal opened directly above the sadly unlit hourglass-structure out in Tokyo Bay-- which is where the Jewel was stolen from in the first place, there in the center of the two bulbs, at that point of transition. The fireworks are definitely still mounted on it, but there should be a light display as well, showing sand ticking downwards through the glass... Pop spreads his wings frantically, circling around it rather than avoiding it, but going at much too breakneck a speed to dare land.

NEW YEARS EVE: 11:55pm

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Nadeshiko Fujisaki.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Utena Tenjou.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Tuxedo Mask.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Mami Tomoe.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Sailor Vega.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Sailor Neptune.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Cure Beauty.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Cure Peace.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Princess Runealy.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Mai Tokiha.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Kuniko Saito.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Cure Sunny.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Mytho has used THINK FAST on Fuu Hououji.

COMBAT: Mytho has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars narrowly dodges Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars's Fade ability activates! Sailor Mars's Flash ability activates! Stun and Trap applied to Sailor Mars!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha fails to brace Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 23 Fatigue damage! Trap applied to Mai Tokiha!

COMBAT: Sailor Vega narrowly dodges Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Sailor Vega's Fade ability activates! Sailor Vega's Flash ability activates! Stun and Trap applied to Sailor Vega!

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly dodges Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates! Stun applied to Fuu Hououji!

COMBAT: Cure Peace narrowly braces Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Cure Peace!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito narrowly dodges Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Stun and Trap applied to Kuniko Saito!

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko perfectly dodges Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly counters Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 6 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi's counterattack, Suspend Time, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mytho!

COMBAT: Sailor Moon fails to dodge Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Trap applied to Sailor Moon!

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune narrowly braces Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Sailor Neptune's Block ability activates! Stun and Trap applied to Sailor Neptune!

COMBAT: Cure Beauty narrowly braces Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Trap applied to Cure Beauty!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly dodges Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Mami Tomoe's Flash ability activates! Stun and Trap applied to Mami Tomoe!

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki perfectly dodges Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask perfectly counters Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask's counterattack, At The Last Second!, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mytho!

COMBAT: Cure Sunny fails to dodge Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Stun and Trap applied to Cure Sunny!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy narrowly dodges Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy's Fade ability activates! Princess Runealy's Flash ability activates! Stun applied to Princess Runealy!

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Mai can't help but grin at the troll's fury, even as it bellows in frustration. Everything seems to be going well - and then the fairies shout, and the troll realizes the trickery. One blow, and the bridge is cleft in twain - Mai stares in horror as everyone she's fought with this journey begins to fall...

Unacceptable. Flames spread out from Mai as she jets downward faster than gravity, enveloping her and Runealy in a fireball as they dive past the collapsing bridge. The flames expand, becoming a massive firestorm that fills the chasm - and with the flames comes a call for aid. A shout. A summoning.

"KAGUTSUCHI!"

From the inferno emerges something. A monster. A massive, sinuous body appears in the flames, like some great white serpent or sea monster. The flames settle from a wild storm to a pair of fiery wings, spread wide to support it in the air, and bulky shoulders support a pair of massive clawed hands. The creature's head is last to appear - covered with fins and nearly a dozen green eyes, with a red-and-gold sword impailing it through the roof of the mouth. Overall, the thing might be best described as a dragon, or perhaps some terrible phoenix.

But the creature's back is soft, and it flies upwards to catch those who were beginning to fall. Atop the beast's head, hand resting against a handle as tall as she is, stands Mai Tokiha. She looks back at her friends and allies with worry, then down to the creature's head - but the creature simply croons, and Mai looks up again in determination. At some unspoken command, it flies toward the portal, extending its tail to grant its riders stability.

"All right. If we - no." Mai clenches one fist, and addresses the others with confidence. "Everyone! Hang on to Kagutsuchi - we're going to save the New Year!" She turns forward, hanging on to her Child. Mouth sealed shut by that massive blade, the creature...almost seems to purr, and it flies through the portal toward Tokyo, and the enemy.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha transforms into Mai and Kagutsuchi!

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Tsukiko's agile attack brings her to the far end of the bridge. She turns around, preparing for another run...

And the Troll takes out the bridge.

She gasps as the others start to fall, but her worried expression turns into a happy grin as Kagutsuchi arrives. The wolfgirl leaps down, touching down in a three-point landing on the draconic back.

"Thank you," she whispers, patting Kagutsuchi's back.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Wolf's Blessing on Mai Tokiha.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha accepts Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Wolf's Blessing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Surge applied to Mai Tokiha!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Sunny [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Gotta think fast!

Cure Sunny would much rather be punching, but she made a mistake and she's gonna face up to the consequences! She clutches that frozen coin, even though it's so cold it turns fingers numb and hurts her hands, and moves as quickly as she can, slapping down flames, working with Neptune, doing her best to prevent the bridge from--

The bridge--

CRAAAAAAASH

And then the bridge is sundered in a second, all of her effort rendered moot, and for the second time today Akane experiences the terrible, stomach-dropping feeling of weightlessness that comes from being in midair with no control over your own motion. She falls, she's falling-- again, again the horrible crack of oblivion is yawning underneath her--

And she reaches a hand out to Beauty, to Peace, to Candy or Kuniko or anyone, grasping - but they can't save themselves, now, much less her, and she--

And there's a portal shining in the air, a last sight of Tokyo-

...did she really just think the words 'last'? No, no-- she can't-- she can't think that, she--

But--

Akane's expression is momentarily full of fear as she looks at her friends...

And then there's an incredible roar, as THE DRAGON appears once again. That incredible, super cool dragon! The one Cure Sunny met once before! And Mai has saved them!

She lands quickly on Kagutsuchi's back, clinging on, gasping for breath. Mai...

Cure Sunny runs over and HUGS her, laughing like a silly fool, eyes-- not crying! She's not!

"That's the second time you've saved the day for me, Mai!"

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Princess Runealy cringes as her eyes and ears suddenly understand why Homura made that request. Had she been /looking/ that way, the flash would have been blinding. The sound it makes is still very jarring though, enough to make Rune dizzy in mid-air for a second... good thing she's not the one doing the flying. Yet when her senses clear, one situation seems to have improved: Sailor Moon is moving, and shouting against evil. "That's right!" A broad agreement with Moon's protests about evil cooking, as Rune is glad to see her friend motivated once again.

Riding with Mai has given her a fine view of other things too. Pop and Billy rise, and the bright light suggests they've succeeded! Yet... 'Kagutsuchi'? The name on its own doesn't mean too much to Runealy. What emerges from the flame, however, /does./ Mai has described this to her before! The HiME also added very clear instructions at the time, to the effect of: 'If you see it? Run.' All the princess has to do is look at Kagutsuchi and see why. 'Run'? That's some of the best advice Rune can imagine here and now.

Yet Mai is not advocating running from Kagutsuchi now. She's advocating /riding/ it. "What?" ...Mai actually seems to have it under control, to Rune's wide-eyed amazement. Riding Kagutsuchi out is certainly better than any other idea the princess has, and she drops out from Mai's hold to land atop the massive creature. Rune crouches low, momentarily overcoming her awe to strafe the troll with a single beam aimed at the shoulder to follow up on what was hit earlier and hopefully hinder its attacks. For all she knows it might not even be necessary... but it never hurts to be sure.

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Mami continues upward, propelled by the force of her swing under the bridge, as the space beneath her is illuminated in brilliant magic. The coin sails right past her as she watches THE very angry TROLL seem to grow more and more off-balance. It's almost time. She eyes Utena and sees her opening, smiling at the talk of desserts from people she has herself made cake for in the past, and--

THE TROLL has been tricked. That was the plan. That was how it was supposed to go. ...The troll jumping off the bridge while also destroying the bridge was not, and the portal opening beneath them was /definitely/ never explained to Mami as part of how this should be. ...Which is why, now, she's hurtling upward at some speed when where she needs to be going is /down/, immediately.

She takes one, quick breath as she prepares the only plan she can, thinking fast even as beneath her the flames engulf what seems like the whole world. It's too late for her to abandon her action by this point, however; her hands stretch out, and suddenly both are holding guns with barrels far larger than there's a right for them to be. Two columns of light slam outward... and upward.

It jars her arms something fierce, and as the weapons drive her elbows back the entire movement knocks the wind out of her, but it works; Mami Tomoe is now rocketing towards the portal (and Tokyo) below like a very well-dressed yellow comet, riht back the fearsome Kagutsuchi. She stare briefly at it as she passes, and those on it.

There's no witty remark to hand for something as singular as that.

Her answer goes for THE TROLL instead; suddenly in freefall in the (relatively) clear Tokyo air, the Puella Magi locks onto her opponent--and below Kagutsuchi, the sounds of gunfire roar to life as Mami fires and discards one gun after another, emptying a staggering amount of beautiful golden firepower directly at THE TROLL.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Flourish on Mytho.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Wand Beam on Mytho.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

The flash is a distraction - for Vega as well as the Troll - but then the troll has fallen and taken out the bridge on his way down!

In a panic, Sailor Vega LEAPS for the nearest collapsing board, and for a second she tries to hold some sort of skyboarding thought in her head before her high heels tell her how COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS that is.

Luckily, Mai provides an alternative in the form of a GIANT MONSTER. Ohgod, but... okay! Landing heavily, Vega scrabbles for a handhold or something - the Child is big, sure, but they're going to be moving quickly!

<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Above her, Kuniko hears someone mention... sweets.

This distracts her from the bridge being on fire, as she frowns. Kuniko Saito does not have a huge sweet tooth - certainly she appreciates the power of sugar but they are merely friends, she is not enthralled by the sweet combination of twelve carbon atoms, eleven oxygen atoms, and twenty-two hydrogen atoms as many are.

Her meals have often been short in the dessert department, preferring a small dish of yogurt. Maybe this was her flaw all along.

"But I don't have time to prep that - wait," she says.

And perhaps it is the magic of a certain [Bunny] that motivates her in what she does next. "I can't bake it easy in this situation. BUT--"

A bucket slams down on the hidden marble countertop of her dreams and her passion. In it: Rice!! And a pestle. She slams down on it with shocking force and terrifying speed. "There's a WAY to manage it!!"

That same honey she'd used to spice up coffee is poured in after the mochi's been pummeled into submission. A handful of roasted pistachios is lifted up, crushed into powder in her disturbingly slim-yet-truckasaurus-powerful hands, poured in - and then the bridge starts collapsing!!

But reflexes take over, and Kuniko throws the mochi on the griddle, nuts facing upwards, even as she falls to her gruesome yet inevitable demise. Let her death be a sweet one. Perhaps this is the dedication to her craft that has earned her what renown and acclaim she has gotten so far. A sweet smell rises as she looks down, too overwhelmed to do more than close her eyes -

And land in a squat atop something.

She cracks one eye open and finds that she is on the back of some sort of titanic dragon. Straightening up, she looks around, but the dragon appears to be friendly. Her lips purse, as if mildly displeased by this, but she says aloud as she walks forwards, towards a more fo'c'sle-like position, "Let this be your last good luck dish."

She flips the mochi shut - with her bare hand, sealing it even as it crisps just a little. The intense heat stings, but it is a palpably positive sting - at least, by the traditions she bears. And the magic of the Mise en place takes the edge off, anyway, as she raises up the improvised sweet turnover, the outer crust golden brown, and declaims once more that motivational phrase: "En la ventana--"

And she throws it like a Hail Mary pass towards the troll. Inside of it, the rich and sweet terroir rises...!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Service - Mochi Baklava on Mytho.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

There's nothing the Magic Knight of Wind can do to save the people who are on the bridge when it suddenly starts to come apart - but she pulls a fresh arrow from her quiver, nocking and drawing, and trying to put her arrow through the troll's eye before it falls out of sight.

And then .... a dragon rises from the abyss - specifically, a dragon that's answering Mai-san's bidding, from all appearances. The veiled look of horror that had started to secure a foothold on the Wind Knight's face is replaced by a profound and unconcealed expression of relief, and Fuu races towards Kagutsuchi, summoning an updraft-tailwind to support her leap onto the back of Mai's dragon. "Thank you .."

She pauses to look towards the portal into the other world. They really don't have any time left to spare, do they?

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Trick Arrow Shot on Mytho.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Sunny [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Cure Sunny gives Mai a winning smile, morale restored-- but it's not over yet, no, not at all.

She's got to secure their escape now, so they can get back to Tokyo. It's five minutes to midnight, after all.

She glances at Beauty and Peace-- she doesn't need words right now.

She holds out one hand, the other still around Mai, and puts her spirit into her hand. She's going to create a fireball- not one as dense or as powerfully propelled as her Sunny Fire, but a purifying blast to align with her friends' attacks. It glows orangehot in her palm, and when it's ready, she'll launch it in concert with ice and lightning to form one ultra happy attack!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Peace [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Cure Peace ah!... she's flying through the air, "Ah!? Noooo!" she says, eyes wide. There's nothing to grab onto, nothing to grasp at, expect someone else. She falls and falls. Is this it? That's a long drop... maybe her powered form can take it. Maybe if she lands just the right....

She closes her eyes. It's so hard to think....! She has to---

She lands on something large...kinda soft, and.. large. Her eyes go wide. "Is it... a dragon!?" she says wide eyed at Mai. Wow---she has a dragon.. that is..that is..

"SO COOL!...."! She says out loud with a smile! She's impressed, and awesomely happy at this prospect. Though. She kinda wonders where this thing was when they were fighting a dreadfully frigtening wolf. This thing would make it seem like a puppy...

She however, looks down. The troll is trying to...chase down into the portal into Tokyo!? No--that can't be allowed to happen. She looks at determined as she raises her fingers and makes a Peace Sign.. "Sunny.. Beauty! We need to...stop that troll! Stop him!!" she yells frantically.. "Let's... do this together." she yells as she fires her bolt of lightning--- at the same time.....hopefully the others do, too!

COMBAT: Cure Peace has started a combo targeting Mytho!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Many things happen all at once. The Marchenland Fairies gambit is revealed to the troll. The troll leaps. The Bridge snaps into pieces, one board at a time. Cure Beauty is left grasping onto a plank, just as it shatters in half. As she falls, her mouth opens wide, and even for one as nearly as unperturbable as Cure Beauty is.. she screams, a piercing shriek echoing through the chasm. Believing she is falling to her doom, she can do naught else.

There is suddenly an inferno, and her world becomes fire. And for a moment Cure Beauty wonders if she has fallen into some infernal depths. She controls her flight just enough to turn over, and see the emergence of what looks to be a mechanical representation of a creature of legends. She's speechless, as she falls onto it's back, initially, gripping onto one of its metallic feathers with trembling arms, fearing for her life. And pulling herself up. She's still trembling from the adrenaline rush, as she climbs up to her feet. Her tongue finds its speech just in time to echo, "Kagut.. suchi?" As she stands upon the side of its back, near where the wing meets the joint, she sees the digital clock. 11:55

And suddenly her limbs still. Her features grow stoic and neutral as she looks at the troll upon the hourglass platform. There was no time to contemplate this wonder. No time to think about how close she was to death. Instead she faces the troll. And thinks of Miyuki. She would know what to say. As it stands, Beauty does not understand how she inspires so well. As it stands, Peace does a good job on her own, "Right Peace! Sunny!" Her hair tails flutter in the breeze as Kagutsuchi flies. "Let's bring the light of hope to the New Year!"

Raising her smile pact, she charges it with power, a glittering starburst, it becomes an azure globe, which she raises high, like a torch. "Beauty..." Her hand draws an X, then juts down to create a |. It becomes a snowflake. "...Snowstorm!"

It dissolves into a sparkling cloud of ice and snow, streaming off from Kagutsuchi's shoulder in a burst of power, synchronizing with Sunny's flame, and Peace's lightning.

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

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

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou narrowly braces Mytho's THINK FAST, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Utena Tenjou's Parry ability activates! Stun and Trap applied to Utena Tenjou!

COMBAT: COMBO! Cure Peace, Cure Beauty, and Cure Sunny have used Combo: Precure Power Combination, composed of Peace Lightning, Beauty Snowstorm, and Sunny Scorch, on Mytho.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Sunny has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Thinking fast!! It means, for Tuxedo Kamen, jumping up again to use the troll's giant descending fist as a launching point instead of getting hit by it! He somersaults in midair, cape enveloping him momentarily, then unfolds in a rush and twists to hurl an impossibly sharp and hardy rose stem-first at the enormous red monster's head--

--the enormous red troll who just... obliterated the bridge...

He's pretty high up, now, and the troll's descending pretty rapidly, and everyone's screaming and falling, and then there's so much fire below him, and a dragon phoenix fire Mai teamup, and-- that's an awful long way down, too.

Suddenly feeling very much like he may accidentally create a Mamoru-shaped crater in Mai's giant partner, Tuxedo Mask shuts his eyes tightly for a heartbeat, then yells downward, "LOOK OUT--"

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used The Sharpest Stem on Mytho.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Sailor Mars isn't too afraid of fire... but its still not a comfortable thought. As the bridge gives off beneath her, her first reflex is to reach for what's left of it, and cling to it for dear life. But problem is, its also very unstable, and her grip eventually gives off. But what's below... its Tokyo? "Looks like we're going back home, but not quite like I expected..." She muses a bit, trying to control her fall. Like Tuxedo Mask, she figures that if she's going to hit ground at terminal velocity, she can probably use the troll as a cushion too. She speeds up her descent to reach for the bridgekeeper (and bridge destroyer now), not reaching for him directly, but close enough to break her fall if need is.

While she's that close, and lets go of another fireball at point blank range. If she could knock it out, it would reduce much of the pain she's sure.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Youma Taisan! on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Utena thinks reasonably fast -- not the fastest, but she manages to keep herself far away enough from that descending fist to stay relatively safe from the initial burst of smashed bridge. She is a little less safe, however, from the much scarier thing: the fall. She plummets, only getting her bearings after a few seconds, gasping for breath.

As a result, it takes her a few seconds to get her head around the situation, and move herself toward Kagutsuchi. Fortunately, she climbs aboard before it flies through the portal.

Rather than go in in earnest, she takes a second aboard the enormous beast to just breathe, catching her breath and generally trying not to give in to that (admittedly retreating) feeling of vertigo.

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!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Constants and variables.

Despite what may seem to be the case, there is no winding back of the clock. Time and space is more complicated than that. It is more like an ocean, whose depths are vast, uncharted and perhaps unknowable. In one world a Witch may have familiars that appear to be female backup dancers, while in another she has an entire orchestra and violin playing minions. In one world the Troll may have been knocked from its bridge in a fashion similar to the fairy tale. In another world, the bridge may be hewn in two by that same troll as it lunged after its prize.

Unfortunately it wasn't an eventuality that Homura was prepared for. She will be able to save herself. Perhaps she may be able to save another, and perhaps others will be saved. However chances are that some of them will plummet to their deaths.

At least until a HiME comes up with a better solution. The Child Kagutsuchi roars into existence and becomes a mighty flying platform for the others to land upon! Homura herself manages to slow her descent, pushing herself off the collapsing bridge and managing a handhold upon the beast's tail. It's not a comfortable place for her to land or ride ... at least until the Child extends it for better comfort of its passengers. Homura demonstrates an impressive amount of physical agility as she flips herself up and onto the tail. She raises her left arm with its buckler. The eyes of the shield snap open once more and twist 45 degrees. The flow of sand slows. The gears begin to click in rhythm with the passage of reality. The world remains the same... except in a tightly knit pocket around the troll. She is attempting to slow it down: Buying a few precious seconds for Pop and Billy, and for the rest of them as well.

Unlike the others who are amazed by the act of flying upon the majestic dragon phoenix... thing, Homura is as usual calm. It's like she has taken up dragon riding alongside the mandatory Ohtori kangaroo boxing curses.

(note: This may not in fact be mandatory)

"This is a creature born from a dark realm." The Puella Magi intones to no one in particular. "Banishing it or purifying it would be easier than destroying it. Partiuclarly in the middle of Toyo." Briefly Homura's eyes seek out Sailor Moon. It is only for a momentary glance. But a meaningful one.

"But I will destroy it if I must."

That is assuming the Cures don't finish it for her with their impressive combined assault. And assuming Moon is able to hear what she is saying and grasp what she is implying. Unknown variables... but Homura does have ones in her direct control. And she will use them to obliterate the foe should the worst come to pass.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Clockdown on Mytho.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly counters Fuu Hououji's Trick Arrow Shot, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Mytho's Reverse ability activates!

COMBAT: Mytho's counterattack, Pay The TROLL, partially gets through, doing 7 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Tuxedo Mask's The Sharpest Stem, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Tuxedo Mask is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

The light--! "DOWN HERE!" Nadeshiko roars, trying to get THE TROLL's attention, sweeping and swatting, but it does her no good; he's noticed their game. He tears the bridge in half. Sometimes - when she's given time to think - Nadeshiko can lock up; take too long to consider a problem, unable to deal with a moving target before it moves again.

Chara Change is more decisive. That is one of Temari's defining traits. Nadeshiko backflips away from it, coming out in an arrow-pointed dive, face first, eyes staring downward. "Come on!!" Nadeshiko jeers, defiant. "WHO BOTHERS TO THINK AT A TIME LIKE THIS, EH!? AHAHAHAHA!"

Despite the wind, despite the portal yawning below them, Nadeshiko keeps her arrow-straight trajectory...right up until a FREAKIN' DRAGON appears, and Nadeshiko boggles at it for about half a second before, following her own taunt, she just flips back around and touches down on it with grace. She doesn't even take a moment to relax; instead taking three steps along Kagutsuchi's back to get into position to HURL her spear down at THE TROLL, whole body coiled for the follow through - spear buzzing with magic power as it sails narrowly past the fire-god dragon's head!

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has used Naginata Bullet on Mytho.

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Princess Runealy's Wand Beam, taking 1 Fatigue damage! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates! Exhausted applied to Mytho!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Mami Tomoe's Tiro Flourish, taking 34 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Kuniko Saito's Service - Mochi Baklava, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

And then everything happens all at once. Usagi recoils from the edge, driven back not by fear but by the sudden complexity. Her gaze holds tight, and she does her best to catch up like Ami told her--just one fact at a time, no jumping to premature conclusions!

That way you get all the way to the end before making a decision, and you don't miss anything like a falling Tuxedo Mask.

"Tuxedo-sama!"

With that ardent wail as her battle cry, Sailor Moon dives off the edge into the swirling chaos of flame and girls and fairies and trolls and noise and Tokyo, willing herself closer to him with the passion every unsaid word in her heart.

They meet in the dimming of twilight moonlight, his cape all bunched up around them as she tries to somehow gather him in her arms. No matter how much she wants it to be, it's an impossibility. She'll settle for clinging together, and--

A flash of silver fairy-lights, and her wand becomes a very frilly parasol. Despite its dainty size, their descent is slowed from morbid speeds to just alarming. It's enough time for her to flash a nervous smile at Tuxedo Mask.

"It is I, Tuxedo Moon-sama--"

--and who is going to catch her? Usagi closes her eyes and hopes and hopes and then there is a dragon.

Her parasol closes with a soft 'whumph' as Kagutsuchi soars beneath and saves them both from a very long and very awkward trip to whatever's at the bottom of this pit. Sailor Moon cracks open a wary eye, to see something "pretty," she murmurs. Being atop something radiating a sense of (sad?!) power this strong is enough to distract her from how close she still is to a frustrating boy named Mamoru Chiba.

Sailor Moon finds a sense of balance on her knees, swishing her parasol through the air and returning it to wand-form with a shower of sparkles. Behind her, a word catches her attention. Banishing, purifying--those are words Luna uses. Usagi spares a glance, one filled with concern. Shield girl, who are you?

That's a mystery. There's a dragon here. One thing at a time. Sailor Moon leans forward as much as she dares, bracing herself with one hand like she imagines a proper dragon rider should, and conjures with her wand a beam of searing moonlight. She's done it several times before, but this time she feels inspired. It feels more forceful than usual!

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Kagutsuchi's Overpowering Majesty on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly dodges Cure Peace, Cure Beauty, and Cure Sunny's Combo: Precure Power Combination, taking 66 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to brace Sailor Mars's Youma Taisan!, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars is Psyched!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Homura Akemi's Clockdown, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cripple and Trap applied to Mytho!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Naginata Bullet, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Sailor Neptune draws her hands back - happy that the bridge wasn't going to burn to cinders. But in the long term, such motions may have been wasted. There was very little warning - very little time for Neptune to do more than call out as the bridge breaks beneath her, her body twisting - hands grasping futile at a rope - at a board - at anything that she could.

Hands come up empty.

It was luck that finds her landing upon the back of that dragon - and frankly, her heart was racing too much for her to care. Gloved hands twist on the dragon's back, and she pushes herself up unto her knees, teal hair whipping in the wind as she smiles to herself. There was a moment, as she checks to see who has survived and who has not. Another moment, as water surges into her hands again, Michiru aiming carefully - following up the moonlight that ~Sailor Moon~ provides with blasts of the coldest ocean water.

"Are you all alright?" she calls - her eyes flicking towards Vega, mostly - even if she spares a glance for Moon and her companion.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Harsh Harsh Neptune on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Sailor Neptune's Harsh Harsh Neptune, taking 31 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

...it's going well. Mai trembles with relief that nothing's gone wrong, that her Child didn't go berserk and start attacking everyone in sight. But she didn't have an acceptable choice - friends and allies were imperiled. She stumbles a moment, having to hold onto the sword hilt for stability, as Cure Sunny tackles her with a hug. Mai looks down, and smiles - though it's a serious smile. She looks to Runealy, who she'd warned about this creature, and to anyone else she knew before all this happened...well, there's time for regrets later. For now - it's time to deal with the troll, and to prevent disaster from striking the New Year.

The kingdom of fairy tales fades away as Kagutsuchi crosses the threshold, swiftly replaced with Tokyo's nightscape. The hourglass structure stands below them, two fairies frantically fleeing a furious troll, and generally the darkest New Year's Eve celebration imaginable. The dragon's great fiery wings flap once, slowing the group's descent - and unleashing a typhoon of hot air to stir up the water below.

The dragon-phoenix-whale-monster-thing does a slow circuit of the hourglass structure. Its flight is gentle for one breath, two, three - long enough that anyone brave enough to leap from the dragon's back could do so safely. Then, the wings of flame flap once more, Kagutsuchi in hot pursuit of the troll. It seems to be lining up a clear shot, which is only a matter of time...

"Kagutsuchi!" Mai grips the sword's hilt, having stayed right atop the creature's head for the moment, regardless of what anyone else has chosen to do. "Only the troll, okay? Don't hurt anyone else, just the troll!" There's the sound of steel on flesh, the Child's lower jaw working against the blade so that the mouth might open a fraction. Steam jets out from the mouth, scattered by the countless sharp teeth revealed within, and Kagutsuchi lets out a trilling cry. A challenge? Regardless of the reasoning, its wings flap again. This time, however, the hot air is replaced by a massive firestorm - an inferno, bearing down on the troll and whatever combustible things might be near it.

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly braces Sailor Moon's Kagutsuchi's Overpowering Majesty, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Mytho's Block ability activates! Mytho's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Immolation on Mytho.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Mai Tokiha's Immolation, taking 65 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kaname [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

YESTERDAY, 12/30

"Stay here, Kaname-san," Mami tells her, in an alley, as a double Akanbe (eventually revealed to be a triple Akanbe) attack on the shores of Tokyo Bay turns a pleasant New Years Eve Eve outing into total chaos.

Afterwards, Madoka went home -- and was distinctly not invited for the transdimensional adventure the next day. Increasingly panicked as neither Mami nor Homura are answering her texts (which she's eventually both bold and desperate enough to turn into phone calls), she can't help but feel the effects of the missing Jewel of Beginning seizing her heart in an icy, stagnant grip.

Why should anything change? Next year is going to be just like this year... with her just as useless, just as much of a burden, just as miserable a waste of space as ever.

<< Madoka -- it doesn't have to be this way!! >>

Curled up on her bed around her gigantic Totoro plushy, soaking it with saline self-pity, Madoka detaches herself, falling back on the matress, and looks straight up at the shelf above, where shines a shiny demon^H^H^H^H^Hfairy. His red eyes bore into her pink ones.

She blinks the tears away.

"Y-you're right... you're totally right."

. o O ( yessssssssssssssssssssss )

She looks past her thin, drawn reflection in the windowpane, out to Tokyo Bay. Dark, dark Tokyo Bay, missing the display that everyone has been looking forward to so much.

"Maybe I /can/ do something!" She springs out of bed, shrugs into her fluffy pink coat, and races for the door, stumbling into her shoes even as it slams behind her, the sound the only warning her apathetic and depressed parents get from where they were drinking beer on the couch.

. o O ( nooooooooooooooooooooooo )

NOW

Madoka's knees are shaking and her hands are freezing -- she really wish she'd thought to bring her mittens! There are construction ladders and maintenance ledges that have made her journey up towards the top of the hourglass easier than it might have been, but with these gusting winds, it's still really, really cold, and she has to keep at least one hand on the metal railing at all time, lest she be blown away.

(Let's face it, she's terrified -- and inching along using both hands. It's a good thing that apathy has also afflicted the security guards, who totally ignored her as she snuck past them on dramatic but otherwise ineffective tiptoe to commandeer a zodiac and motor out across the Bay.)

She gasps as a portal blossoms right above her head, shrieks as an eaglelion buzzes past her at epic speeds, screams as THE TROLL plunges downwards, and again as the phoenixdragonspacewhale makes its fiery appearance--

--but through the cracks between her fingers, she spots the people she was looking for, and her heart fills with pride. Of course they wouldn't just take this lying down. Of course they'd be doing everything they can to help.

And it's not much, but...

"EHHH!!" she yells fiercely, putting all of her tiny weight into slamming down the primary ON/OFF breaker switch for the display.

The hourglass flickers to life, synching automatically with satellite time... the last few sparkling grains of sand pooling in the top glass, while the bottom bulb is gloriously luminescent. And all this light, light, light makes it a whole lot easier to see the structure, which is composed of narrow beams that would otherwise be quite easy to miss in the darkness.

Madoka herself is also clearly visible, silhouetted against the top of the hourglass frame, hanging onto that handle for dear life, her extra-tousled pink twintails bushy around her, as she looks upon what she has wrought. The sparkles in her eyes find that it was good.

NEW YEARS EVE: 11:57:00 pm

<Pose Tracker> Mytho [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

FALLING

In a few moments of suspension, THE TROLL throws a cookie behind him to intercept Fuu's arrow, the shattered shards rushing towards her after the inevitable impact. Tuxedo Mask's rose plants itself in his forehead, however, and he stabs himself on its thorns tearing it out of his head with a justifiable roar of rage.

FALLING

It doesn't help matters that THE TROLL's head is below his feet as he plunges after Pop, Billy and The Jewel -- it makes it especially hard to see incoming attacks, much less defend himself from them. If this were a dogfight, Kagutsuchi-and-friends have got him in their sights.

To some degree his sheer toughness helps him make it through. His thick skin bounces off the worst of Runealy's wand-beam and Sailor Moon's searing moonlight and the explosion from Kuniko's thrown Terroir (there's no way he could have eaten it, not with both of his hands reaching outward, downwards, trying to grasp his prey, not even the most delicious baklava.

But he has a horrible time /getting out of the way/, which is really his only option against the combined might of three Pretty Cure -- their dazzling beam sizzles towards him, and with an enormous and very audible (and also slightly gross) grunt of effort, he manages to spin out of the way of about half of it, while the other half of his body is blankened on impact.

And after Homura slows time around him, he has no chance at all of avoiding being perforated by Mami's golden scattershot, doused by all of Sailor Neptune's fury. He eats a fireball from Sailor Mars at point blank, right to the back of his head, and never even realized she was there until it was too late.

FALLING

The sky, Earth's sky, rushes upwards to meet everyone, and it brings with it the tangy scent of sea air.

And then the awful scent of BURNING TROLL, as Kagutsuchi inhales, exhales, and immolates. Now his other side is black, as well.

His eyes blink-blink, all that's left of him in color, and with total determination he accepts all this punishment as necessary to win through to his goal--

--reaching out to grab Pop by the tail!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~de gozaru!!" shrieks the lion fairy, retaining his voice (and face) despite his eagle form. "JUMP, BILLY!!"

Billy jumps, jumps straight for the now-visible centerpoint of the hourglass, reaching out with both hooves to try to insert the Jewel of Beginning back into its proper place--

--but is intercepted by THE TROLL's other hand, disappearing within his fist with a panicked bleat!

He lands in Tokyo Bay with an enormous splash, but wastes no time beneath the water, exploding back out of it and onto the hourglass structure, which he clambers up using the crooks of his elbows for holds.

Then, furiously, he swings two-fistedly at Kagutsuchi and all the magical girls he can see, which involves hurling Pop straight at the phoenixdragonspacewhale's wings as his first move, while Billy and the Jewel suffer every impact from the rest!

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Mai Tokiha.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Sailor Neptune.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Nadeshiko Fujisaki.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Utena Tenjou.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Tuxedo Mask.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Cure Beauty.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Cure Peace.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Fuu Hououji.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Kuniko Saito.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Sailor Vega.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Mami Tomoe.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Princess Runealy.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Mytho has used Blunt TROLL on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Mytho has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty narrowly dodges Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 23 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune fails to brace Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 38 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy fails to dodge Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 38 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi perfectly dodges Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly braces Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 26 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe fails to dodge Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 32 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Cure Peace perfectly dodges Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Cure Peace's Fade ability activates! Cure Peace's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko fails to dodge Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 42 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki narrowly dodges Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: You don't have an incoming attack from Blunt. Please check +queue to see your incoming attacks.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask narrowly dodges Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Tuxedo Mask's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha fails to brace Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 40 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Sailor Moon narrowly dodges Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi covers Madoka Kaname for Mytho's attack, Blunt TROLL, taking it upon themselves instead!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi perfectly counters Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi's counterattack, Suspend Time, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mytho!

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou fails to counter Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 44 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou's counterattack, Someone Who Can Exercise Power, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mytho!

COMBAT: Sailor Vega narrowly counters Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Sailor Vega's counterattack, Sparkling Defense, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mytho!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito fails to counter Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 46 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito's counterattack, Service Halloumi Grilled Skewers, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mytho!

COMBAT: Sailor Mars narrowly dodges Mytho's Blunt TROLL, taking 33 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars's Fade ability activates! Sailor Mars's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Reika doesn't yet grasp what being a Pretty Cure means. You can tell her that she is a Legendary Warrior and she will give it the same weight in speech as her duty of watering flowers, or cleaning classrooms, or greeting people before class. It is just another piece of whom she is, another shard of her inner beauty which makes up the mirror of her soul. She doesn't grasp what sort of mantle has been placed on her shoulders, emotionally distancing herself from full comprehension. And yet as the light of the hourglass shines again, a beacon over the Tokyo Bay, and Billy-chan and the Jewel are enveloped in that Fist she makes a decision, "Excuse me, Peace. I'll see you and the others soon."

As she leaps from the flaming Dragon, she only narrowly avoids becoming a paste upon Kagutsuchi by just a split second, the fist grazing as her as she leaps by, and throws her just off course. Weaving to dodge the blasts from the other splendid Mahou Shoujou while righting herself, a sword of gleaming ice formed of condensation materializes.

She grasps it in two hands, azure winds picking up and billowing sparkling snow around her that grows more fearsome the further she gets from Kagutsuchi. And then something happens that she doesn't expect, as Peace's Thunder, rockets down to her sword, like a lightning rod raised to the heavens, and for once, it's Beauty that is shocked by the start of the powerful attack, and she can't help but shout in surprise. "WAUUGHHHH!" Her blade was now charged and wreathed with sparkling lightning, and she had to steel herself to contain it, lest her flight be fully interrupted. And in this moment she might at least look the role of Legendary Warrior moreso than Vice President of her Student Council. Downward she plummets, straight at the troll, breath now steaming in the frigid air, legs extended. As she grows closer, the temperature drops even more sharply, a snap flash freeze.

Right as she attempts to drive her blade point down right into the troll's shoulder joint, of the arm that holds the jewel combining the fury of winter with the power of Peace's lightning forming a circuit through the troll. But she can't hold on long, from that assault. Her feet kick off of it's arm to reverse her momentum and flip backwards, as the blade tries to shatter whatever ice, if any, had formed over the monstrous troll's joint, before leaping into the icy waters of the Bay.

It makes no practical sense, and in a way, it's almost insane. The troll is titanic, there are more than a dozen Magical Girls firing frantic blasts behind her, all trying to save the New Year as she is. If asked later why Cure Beauty made such a leap from the Dragon, she would give it no more weight than deciding that tomorrow she should go out with her family and friends to celebrate the holiday. But in her heart, perhaps that piece of the mirror that is being a Pretty Cure within her is beginning to mean so much more, even if she is incapable of realizing it.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Cure Beauty has started a combo targeting Mytho!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Peace [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Cure Peace makes a face as Beauty leaps out towards the troll.. "Oh--Oh no you don't Beauty! You're, not alone....!" she says with a puffed up determined face! She huffs. Beauty is getting help, wether she wants it OR NOT.

So Peace raises a hand to the air... like so much of a lightning rod. "PRETTY CURE!...." she yells out. "PEACE!....." she spins like a top on top of the dragon still as she throws her hands out at Beauty. "THUNDER!" then she suddenly shocks Beauty!? Rather. Her sword is now, sparkling.. Glittering....

Thunder Ice Sword.

She throws her Peace Signs again at Beauty.. "F..Finish it Beauty! Show this Troll not to help mess with a New Begining again!" she almost pleads out, worriedly for her friend, who's just gotten the completely unasked for Power Up.

She then worries look down. She'll be getting ready to hop down there.

Then she stops being hesitant of how high up this is, even if it's not extremly high.

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

COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Cure Beauty and Cure Peace have used Combo: Pretty Cure Thunder Ice Sword!, composed of Beauty Glacial Shatter and Peace Thunder, on Mytho.

COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cure Peace has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

There are no speeches. There are no tactics. There is only dragon. Kagutsuchi's flames scorch the troll black, adding to the damage tally from the entire group's efforts - but it retaliates by grabbing the fairies and using them as blunt instruments. Pop is hurled at Kagutsuchi directly - a small attack, an insulting one. Kagutsuchi simply inhales to incinerate the projectile-

Mai realizes what her Child is planning just in time. "No! Only the troll!" She flies between the dragon and the projectile fairy, and takes the impact full on. A massive blow, one that has her slamming into Kagutsuchi's chest from the force. Mai's left coughing, arms barely able to move enough to cradle Pop to her chest. The shouts and yells of everyone's battle against the troll gets her moving again - and still holding the fairy, she flies back up to Kagutsuchi's head.

Mai looks into the dragon's eyes - well, a few of them, anyway - and the beast looks back. Kagutsuchi's eyes linger on Mai's injuries - and then there's the sound of steel on flesh again, Kagutsuchi straining to open its mouth horribly wide.

Mai's eyes widen. "Please, Kagutsuchi, don't-" She looks to the city, and pauses. "...aim for the bay. Aim for the water. Please." Her Child stares back a long moment - and then with a cry, swoops around to an appropriate firing position. In the moments of its flight, Mai calls to the Cures and anyone else not safely on Kagutsuchi. "Everyone, get clear of the troll!"

Kagutsuchi's wings flap one final time, then spread wide - the Child coming to a halt in midair. A line could be drawn - dragon, troll, open water. A perfect firing position for those sharing the dragon's location. For a moment, it stands triumphant in the skies, reveling in the light of the mighty powers fighting for the sake of the new year.

"DO IT!" Then, two cylinders in Kagutsuchi's back pop out and rapidly begin to spin. The very air howls, drawn inwards as if the monstrous Child is inhaling a typhoon, stray debris being pulled up by the force. The flaming wings grow larger, fanned by this wind into a pair of grand infernos. Within the beast's chest soon blazes a powerful force of heat and light, visible enough from without to track its location. It works its way slowly but inexorably up the throat, toward the mouth...

Mai flies up, and at the last moment throws every ounce of power she can muster into a barrier - one to shield her allies from the backlash of this attack. As she does, a massive fireball emerges from Kagutsuchi's fanged maw, hurtling toward the troll with terrible speed and force!

COMBAT: FINISHER! Mai Tokiha has used Annihilating Light on Mytho.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

The Magic Knight of Wind tries to shield herself as best she can against the Troll's assault; the force of a punch drives her to one knee, but she doesn't fall further than that, riding out the onslaught and once the coast is clear, rising back to her feet. Her bow and quiver have vanished by now; she doesn't need them at this point.

It's a little tricky to keep a steady footing on Kagutsuchi's back, but it's better than most of the alternatives - and she shouldn't need to be here much longer. For now, though, she draws her arms up and back, the wind picking up around her in a manner that has little to do with the dragon-beast's slipstream.

And then she brings her left hand forward, glove-jewel shining brightly as the winds gather in front of her, a barely-tamed cyclone, ready to rage forward but currently held tightly leashed. "Joint effort!" she calls out, glancing at Tsukiko-san, then looking to others nearby. "Ready when you are ... let's show this troll what we can do as a team!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Fuu Hououji has started a combo targeting Mytho!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Clinging to Kagutsuchi for dear life, the struggling Sailor Vega is feeling none too graceful (maybe she should have unsummoned her wand? why does she only think of these things when it's NOT an issue?) - but VERY grateful; as the Guardian Princess is there to offer a steadying hand.

Holding onto Runealy, Vega offers a tight smile, holding onto her friend with one hand and her wand with the other... The time is getting so very, very close...

"Come on," Vega tells Runealy, then looks to Sailor Mars - beckoning her closer. "Together we might just stop this monster!"

Gritting her teeth a little - she raises her wand and oh-so-carefully traces out the pattern as she calls "AURORA...." the star-shaped tip of it glowing fiercely bright!

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Vega has started a combo targeting Mytho!

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Tsukiko had heard of the phrase "between a rock and a hard place". Swap "Troll's fists" for "rock" and "dragon's back" for "hard place", and one can get a sense of how hard she got flattened.

Standing back up, she looks over at the Wind Knight and nods. The wolfgirl takes a deep breath, and starts to sing with a heartfelt howl.

Hope, the promise of the new year, defiance against the darkness, the power of friendship, the joy of home; all these feelings and more, she pours into the cyclone that the Wind Knight created.

In the wild, a wolf's howl can travel for miles on the wind; here, it will travel a much shorter distance, and hit much harder.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Cute Wolf Tsukiko has joined the combo started by Fuu Hououji!

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Princess Runealy looks aside to see others are, understandably, landing here too. Doing an odd crouch-run to keep her own balance atop Kagutsuchi, Rune hurries over to where Vega landed and offers a hand to help pull her to more stable footing... though that may be a relative term when they're riding a dragon-esque creature. "Don't want you being left behind!" Especially when Kagutsuchi represents a life-line; a good chance of getting back in time, and getting back relatively safely.

Or at least getting back in an exciting way. Mai's commands unleash incredible firepower (literally) upon the troll, and now Kagutsuchi's reputation is solid. It is a fact in Runealy's mind, her wide-eyed gaze committing the firestorm to memory. Then... did they just swoop past Madoka? What is Madoka doing here? That's incredibly dangerous, the princess thinks with some worry in her mind's voice. Dangerous, but significant as light shines forth.

What follows is horrifying, though. She has to watch as the troll manages to intercept Pop, unable to safely do anything about it from here. It's only after the splash, after the troll has climbed onto the hourglass that she has any real choices. The first choice is how to deal with the oncoming Pop, and Rune hopes for the best by throwing herself flat against Kagutsuchi. This doesn't do much, aside from provide a surface for her to be crushed against! Rune cries out, rising on shaky feet as Kagutsuchi prepares to fire. She can hear it. She can almost feel what's being prepared, and gratefully keeps behind the barrier Mai provides.

Vega calls for cooperation, and a confirming "Mm!" comes as Rune hurries beside her while switching back to her larger wand. Vega begins tracing; Runealy watches in appreciation, then nods aside to Mars. Rune's own wand begins tracing too; it creates a wide, white-lined circle. "Wardliiight..." The circle begins to form into a dome, one that will expand to roughly troll-size once it takes flight. But not yet; she needs to time it right, with Mars and Vega and on their signal.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Princess Runealy has joined the combo started by Sailor Vega!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

While falling, a bit before hitting ground, Sailor Mars gives a kick off the troll to project, flipping elegantly to get in range of being picked up by the dragon. That should be alot safer for a landing, she hopes!

But even the way down was not simple for her. She received some mean hits, but she's still standing at least. She wonders if Sailor Moon is okay, but she must be. She has other ways, like that pen. She saw it in action before after all.

But standing next to the other Sailor, Vega that is, she nods as she looks over to her "Let's do it." Closing her eyes, she flares up with a red aura, her hair sticking straight up as if she had been hit by a burst of hot air from below. "MARS FIRE..." The red aura seems to float and mix with Vega's own powers. Sailor Senshi powers are definitely compatible.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Mars has joined the combo started by Sailor Vega!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

In another world, shield girl began her journey toward becoming a magical girl by finding a black cat. Though the black cat didn't try to talk to her, it did seem to befriend her. Perhaps it was because they were both small and lonely. That is, at least, until a girl with pink hair came into their lives. She saved one of their lives, and for the other gave her a life that was worth living.

As many times as it takes to save her.

One of the first sights that the violet Puella Magi sees upon re-entering Tokyo is that familiar silhouette. The light of the luminous hourglass shining bright behind her to provide a distinct outline to her eyes. Her heart immediately sinks down into her stomach. 'Why...' is all she can think to herself. Why is she here? What is she doing here?! Why couldn't she be at home where it was safe. Did she make a contract? Did ... nothing she did, nothing she worked so hard to achieve matter? No. No she's not a Puella Magi. Not yet, at least.

But there she stands, directly in the path of The Troll as he makes his descent. At that moment everything else falls away. The other magical soldiers upon Kagutsuchi's back? Tokyo? The rest of the world? None of it matters.

Everything attenuates down to that one light. The light which Homura has been following this entire time. Through every single battle, through every single struggle. Through pain, through sorrow, through despair. And right now, at this moment, the one thing standing between her and that light is The Troll.

Pity.

The creature, badly abused by fire, lightning, and everything else, rises from the bay in a fury! It climbs onto the hourglass structure and uses it as a hand hold as it brings its club around to swing at her at Kagutsuchi and all the magical soldiers riding upon it... but worst of all is the trajectory of that terrible swing. Where it will descend. And who it might crush.

Without a second thought Homura leaps from the back of the phoenix dragon and in an instant her shield turns another 45 degrees, halting the flow of sand between its reservoirs! Some color drains from the world. Everything stops. Everything except for the gears clicking away the seconds, minutes, and hours within the confines of the shield, allowing its owner to continue to move through the space of null time. She lands on the Troll's club, but only briefly. In that wink of time the Troll is is motion while the rest of time has stopped, but it hardly makes a difference. Homura is just as quickly back in the air and using her momentum to continue her journey to the hour glass where the twin tailed figure remains silhouetted!

The two figures collide, and in that moment the grey slides from the twin tailed figure just as (to her) color slips from the world. Suddenly she will also be aware she has someone's arms around her. The two of them travel together, careening, falling, until coming to a stop safely out of the path of The Troll's club!

For a moment then the two are alone. In a world without sound, without motion ... without life it seems save for the two of them. For a few moments more she is aware then that Homura has her arms wrapped very tightly around her. She's shaking. Why? When Homura sits up to look down in Madoka's face her expression is once again the mask of calm, but there is a hint of ... frustration? Concern? In her eyes. It's hard to tell.

She doesn't say anything for now though. Instead she loosens her arms from around Madoka and rises to a standing position above her. One of her feet continues to touch Madoka, and so the two remain in together in the strange frozen world. The violet Puella Magi then reaches behind the shield upon her left wrist, and draws from it a submachine gun. She raises it toward the frozen and terrible figure of that troll and fires every single round within the clip!! Each bullet flies several feet from the mouth of the muzzle before freezing in mid-air, visible to the naked eye.

Once the magazine is empty, Homura holds the trigger for a few seconds longer until a faint 'clicking' sound is heard. Then she sighs, and the shield on her arm rotates 90 degrees in the other direction. The gears stop turning, the flow of sand resume, and once again color... sound... and /life/ returns to the world around them. Within that time frame for everyone else all they will see is that both Homura and Madoka vanished! Homura from the back of Kagutsuchi, and Madoka from her position on the Hourglass. Then, in that same instant they reappeared together. Safe.

And The Troll will have a face full of smg bullets to contend with alongside everything else.

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

The flash of light from the structure makes Nadeshiko's eyes burn, and she throws up her arms to cover her eyes. But the time -- "The time!" she shouts. "We've got ot finish it! Right now!" she calls.

And then Kagutsuchi rocks from the punches loaded onto it; she staggers, a one-two-three step, but manages to keep her footing this time. Unfortunately...that means it's GOT THE FREAKING GOAT. Grrgh rassum frassum sassa frassa...

Eyes take in the scene, just a heartbeat. A...girl? Somebody, on top of the structure. Billy-chan and the Jewel are held in its hand. She tenses her hand and her naginata reappears in it with another *POP!* "Sempai!" she shouts, apparently indicating Utena, since that's the next person her gaze seeks out. She jerks her head off the EDGE OF THE GIANT HELPFUL DRAGON AND INTO OPEN SPACE. "C'mon!"

And then she takes two steps forward and bounds off it, forward flipping into a rapid descent toward the tower. She is very graceful indeed; with the light, she's able to stick the landing on the girders and then hop from beam to beam, getting closer to THE TROLL with each jump. Her target is none other than the wrist of the hand containing Billy-chan. As she shoots up the body of THE TROLL, she slashes - again again again, shouting "NYAH! HAH! OOOORYAAAAA!!" nonverbal roars as she just slices everything she can swing her blade at - until she manages to vault herself ingo the air over the ogre's wrist. Her plan is quite simple: Make him hurt so much he has to open his hand! "SEMPAI!" she shouts, cueing Utena - even like this, Nadeshiko has a head for timing - and then Nadeshiko's own feet touch down /on/ THE TROLL's hand, and Nadeshiko uses her sublime footwork to keep her feet as she dashes all the way up the length, roaring, "FUJISAKI-RYU! METEOR ATTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" as she strikes with such fury into the monstrous time-ender's arm that the blade is only visible in quadruplicate, so great is its speed! "ORA ORA ORA!!"

And then, when that abates, she bounds back - using nothing but her skill with her own body and of course magic to come back down on the far end of THE TROLL's arm and streak down it, digging her naginata in for a finishing streak!

COMBAT: FINISHER! Homura Akemi has used Submachine Gun on Mytho.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Nadeshiko Fujisaki has started a combo targeting Mytho!

COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Sailor Vega, Princess Runealy, and Sailor Mars have used Combo: Guardian Aurora Soul, composed of Aurora Revelation, Wardlight Epilogue, and Mars Fire Soul, on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Vega has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

As fun as it might have been to remain upon the dragon - the recent fall might have left Neptune a bit nervous about remaining quite so high. So Neptune does leap down into the water when it swoops low enough - but with widening eyes, she realizes she made a drastically terrible decision - one of the troll's swipes and strikes does strike her, knocking her back towards the hourglass structure.

It might have been a terrible time to notice it, but... her eyes roll upwards - glancing at the clock before she makes impact with the earth again. Didn't they say before midnight? Wasn't the time drawing desperately near to just that?

It was with a little less strength that Neptune pulls herself to her feet again - her eyes not going to the troll so much as... "Where is the crystal?" she calls out. And for lack of direction in /that/ regard. There was still a creature loose in Tokyo that needed to be dealt with. As the powers from the myriad of magical girls lash out at the creature - they are joined with a lapping wave - Neptune raising a fist high as she calls upon the unrelenting tides of Neptune to strike the Troll.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Unrelenting Tide on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Maybe knees weren't such a good idea. Sailor Moon shouts sharply and throws herself low on the dragon's back, holding on for dear life as the fiery girl who is its master puts the titanic creature through evasive paces. Whoever she is, the redhead girl controlling this much danger is amazing.

Usagi lifts her head. She has to be amazing too, even if just a fraction of it.

Banish and purify. That's what shield girl said. Banish and purify. Luna said something about that while explaining important magical metaphysics. It isn't like before, when Ami was in danger. She knows what happened then. Today's Usagi is a little more wise.

"Tuxedo-sama," she says, a gentleness in her voice and a softness in her gaze. Her eyes speak the rest: thank you for what you said.

The sailor-suited pretty soldier of love and justice slides her feet into a crouch, standing with increasing bravado, her feet moving apart to support her on Kagutsuchi's sinewy back. Her hair, shining silver in the moonlight, flows in graceful wind-animated arcs behind her. She raises the crescent moon wand, the shadow of unknowable aeons mirroring her movement.

"Moon Healing--"

Through the air, Sailor Moon traces a luminescent circle in a gorgeous, fey glow. It's too much light for what's she's made, too much light to be fully contained for even a moment--her uniform shines silver, and so does her pale face, and so does Kagutsuchi's imposing white-scaled magnificence. The halation is brilliant at this hour.

Then, she reaches out to pierce the circle, extending her wand--

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

It happens too fast to parse, initially, at least with his mind-- but his heart, something in his heart, that which allows him to find her when she needs him, it understands. Tuxedo Mask's face is, in fact, wreathed with shock as Sailor Moon grabs hold of him in midair; he clings just as desperately, somehow unafraid even though they're both falling--

--and his faith is borne out, as the twintailed soldier of love and justice produces another miracle out of thin air. His breath is caught, his eyes are captivated, and he lets out the most surprised little laugh, incredulous. "Tuxedo Moon-sama?" he whispers, barely audible over the rush of wind, now quieter with the help of the parasol. "Sailor Moon, you've saved me--"

And they land on Kagutsuchi's back in a brief tangle amidst warmth and cacophony and light and power. Mamoru just breathes for a second as Usagi mostly rights herself, and then he picks himself up a little unsteadily, slowly. He looks down at her, and his own blue eyes are bright and unguarded behind the luminous white outline of a mask. He doesn't use words, either.

When she begins to stand, to raise the wand, he steps behind her. 'Moon Healing,' she starts, and he reaches his arms around her, bracing her from the back and putting his gloved hands around hers.

All around them, there's the furious screaming and brilliant light of attacks, the combined might of so many determined magical girls, the friendship and teamwork that he told the Troll he wouldn't be able to withstand--

She's so strong. All he wants-- all he really wants, deep in the fibre of his being, is to help her be stronger still.

And behind her voice is his, steady with belief and fierce will.

"Tuxedo-- la Smoking--"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Moon has started a combo targeting Mytho!

COMBAT: FINISHER! Tuxedo Mask has joined the combo started by Sailor Moon!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

--Mamoru takes her hand. Usagi stops just short of invoking her heart's magic, turning away from the lunar light to look into his eyes. They're so blue. A blue like the oceans of the Earth, not here in Tokyo, but all of them, seen all at once from the heavens. It's the same blue and the same promise and the same wish to dream and believe and to protect dreams and belief.

She must be remembering a picture in a textbook.

With her wand in her hands, and her hands in his, Sailor Moon says the word that lets her heart speak truth. It's so strange. The second shout doesn't seem to drown her out at all. It's like they're saying the very same thing.

"ESCALATION!"

"BOMBER!"

The circle explodes in a joyous kaleidoscope of the silver of an eternal moon, the reds of a passionate flame, the blues of an ocean of wisdom, the greens of a courageous oak, and the rich purple-black of a gentle midnight.

COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask have used Combo: I Believe in Dreams! I Believe in Everyone!, composed of Moon Healing Escalation and Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber, on Mytho.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.

COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Fuu Hououji and Cute Wolf Tsukiko have used Midori no Shippu: Focused and Soulful Howl on Mytho.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

The heat of just being anywhere near Kagutsuchi is more than enough to dispel for Mami the chill of the air up here. Well, maybe all the excitement helps, Regardless, she continues to fall, her hat remaining in place on her head only through some sort of fashionable magic, her eyes focused widely on just one target--

A few holes aren't enough; they need to /stop/ the troll. ...There's the jewel, but also... if it can swim half as well as it can fight, the people gathered at the bay are in danger. There's so much that goes into these few, precious moments, as they surely have almost no time left--

Mami doesn't see Madoka, of course, not at first; she's thought of her, to be sure, but she doesn't get cell service in the Bad End Kingdom, has no idea that her friend would brave this place at this time for what she's doing. ...But then, the lights flash on. The hourglass is shining, and a familiar pink figure causes the older Puella Magi to break into a surprised smile. "Kaname-san!" she calls, mid-air, brightly--and sees a certain provider of delicious beverages, a fellow warrior who understands the value of food perhaps even better than she does--

Well, Kuniko is /falling/, and closer to the water than Mami is. "--Saito-san!" she calls, and the ribbon of her sleeve suddenly grows, rushing outward at the speed of... well, greater than falling speed, that's the part that matters. Should Kuniko accept it, then when the small object bursts into a great big flowy band of ribbon, it will support the chef much like a parachute.. headed for the land.

ami turns back to Madoka, planning to just take a moment's breath before she attacks, and then she sees that fist in motion. Mami feels as if time has frozen, for a moment.

For her, though, it's only a feeling.

But in the same breath it's all right. Homura is with her, and Madoka is safe. ...Well, sort of 'all right'. But priorities.

So, Mami finally alights nearby, catching the framework with both hands and spinning herself into a hard landing on THE TROLL's shoulder. "...This year... This year is going to be the best year I've ever had," Mami says, and her elegant detachment is briefly melted away. Her words earnest, her feeling obvious, like someone seeing light after being trapped underround. ...But, it's hard to hear over the battle for anyone whose ear she isn't in. She's on the arm without the jewel, but that doesn't matter.

"I won't let you take it away! TIRO...!"

A gigantic pistol easily the size of THE TROLL's head spins into existence in gold and green, pointed for the troll's ear. "FINALE!"

Mami fires the gun, and the impact sends her upward, spinning out of the way of anymore.

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

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Hanging on for dear life as the swinging begins, Utena ends up eating a hit squarely in the chest, going flying. She manages to keep her hold on Kagutsuchi, though, just long enough to see Nadeshiko address her, and subsequently, take to the air and toward the tower. Despite how exhausted she is, how bad she hurts -- she's still ready to go, and nods back before she, too, takes to the air.

Landing in a crisp, efficient three-point landing with her free hand down, Utena wastes no time in crossing the girders on a different path from Nadeshiko's, hopping from beam to beam with the grace of a gymnast. Her movements aren't efficient -- they're graceful flips and twists -- but they get her there just as fast.

She eventually lands atop the troll's head a second time, giving it a quick downward slash before leaping, sure enough, to meet Nadeshiko. She says nothing this time, only taking a moment to collect herself before she, too, slashes at that arm, albeit with much less fury and much more grace.

Another backflip, and she's back off of the troll, landing neatly on the structure, twirling once on her heel, and briefly just holding her sword at the ready.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Utena Tenjou has joined the combo started by Nadeshiko Fujisaki!

COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Nadeshiko Fujisaki and Utena Tenjou have used Combo: X-Slash, composed of Fujisaki-ryu Meteor Attack and Cleaving Sword of Dios, on Mytho.

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Utena Tenjou has finished attacking.

[OOC] Sailor Moon says, "(our last two combos get more sappy with knowledge that they're lyrics from http://sailormusic.net/lyrics/ai-wo-shinjiteru/ :3c )" [OOC] Mai Tokiha says, "I think that's enough sap to murder me."

<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

"Son of a REFRIED FATCAKE!" Kuniko growls, feeling another momentary surge from her abused adrenaline glands. She swings her fist forwards, the pre-grilled halloumi cheese skewers in her hand - one of the few staples she had much left with - coming with them.

She realizes her mistake as it becomes clear just how big that fist is.

With a majestic FAP, Kuniko goes flying into the air.

This is a moment when you take a second to reassess your life. In a certain sense, Kuniko Saito realizes, she's not in any real profound danger. Mise en Place has protected her from getting even more horrible skin injuries while immersed in hot boiling ramen juice. Falling into the bay is way easier than that; people dive from high up all the time.

As she tumbles through the air, Kuniko realizes the folly of this way of thinking. She's on her way outwards, isn't she? She has little she can do; faced with this fact, she looks at the gently roasting crab sitting to her virtual left and sighs.

She looks down at the remaining half-dozen skewers of halloumi cheese.

Her final yellow Parma onion comes up and is carved into eight parts, like Gaul times two and a half, but it's going to be too late, isn't it? A yellow bell pepper, the sole sad and crisp survivor of a lengthy journey and trial by dimension, meets a similar fate, some of the inner rind whipping away from her in the slip stream.

"I can't use four ingredients on the New Year," she growls.

Crushed garlic. Five.

The last of her rosemary. Six.

A cup full of white wine is held in abeyance... because it makes seven. Kuniko grimaces, looking up again, seeing that the bay is rushing closer. She reaches out - and something lands in her hand. A burst of ribbon. It explodes in her hand - rising upwards. A parachute! She jiggles as she finds her fall arrested, hanging in midair. Quickly enough, she wriggles the ribbon into a loop around her shoulders, being inclined to wear a seatbelt. The sea rises beneath her, but far, far more gently now.

"Thanks!" she calls. Dangling. Surrounded by heat, from the Mise-en-place. A stifling heat, almost, now, in the last moments of this new year.

A thought hatches in her mind. Kuniko glances upwards, at the spread-out length of ribbon, and then around her. The heat they generate, she reasons. It's real. She pulls herself backwards - and wills the heat to rise, even as she swings herself forwards. The parachute jerks. A tug on the side, and Kuniko finds herself dipping violently to the side - but her lip curls up in realization.

Mere moments from touching the water, something leaps out of it - a mackerel, something that swam into the bay, attracted perhaps by the commotion and going on. The fish lands in Kuniko's palm, as if an offering from Heaven. "Number eight," she says, solemnly.

AND SO:

Legs stuck forwards, parasailing on magical ribbon, Kuniko Saito returns to the scene of action. Still 'gliding' forwards, the sizzling smell and warm fragrance of roasting fish near her, she says with a grin that shows all of her teeth, "Hey. BIG RED!"

One of her feet touches the ground. But she doesn't dismount. No; she pours the white wine onto the griddle, and it flares to life, along with the warm and radiant fires of her heart. At the same time, she kicks up - the ribbon billows above her, rustling hugely, and then /she's going up/.

It is not the cleanest sort of flight. Even so, she rises. Reaching over with one hand wrapped in a fluffy white towel, Kuniko says with satisfaction in her voice, "/I told you/ I'd feed you something, didn't I? OPEN WIDE--" She brandishes the skewer, now merrily aflame!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used I'm Gonna Get You Sucka on Mytho.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

The howl of the Cute Wolf mingles with the force of the Magic Knight's conjured winds, and Fuu closes her eyes briefly, *listening* to Tsukiko's voice. The winds at her bidding intensify ...

"Howling Emerald Tornado!!"

And the storm erupts, the winds literally howling as the Midori no Shippuu, laced through with Tsukiko's soulful cry, races towards the Troll at full force.

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Cure Beauty and Cure Peace's Finisher, Combo: Pretty Cure Thunder Ice Sword!, taking 203 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Cure Beauty is unable to keep fighting!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Fuu Hououji and Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Finisher, Combo: Midori no Shippu: Focused, taking 119 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly dodges Sailor Vega, Princess Runealy, and Sailor Mars's Finisher, Combo: Guardian Aurora Soul, taking 146 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Homura Akemi's Finisher, Submachine Gun, taking 69 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Sailor Neptune's Unrelenting Tide, taking 31 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask's Finisher, Combo: I Believe in Dreams! I Believe in Everyone!, taking 264 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Mytho is unable to keep fighting! Mytho is Quipped!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Nadeshiko Fujisaki and Utena Tenjou's Finisher, Combo: X-Slash, taking 150 Fatigue damage! Mytho is unable to keep fighting!

COMBAT: Mytho narrowly dodges Mami Tomoe's Finisher, Tiro Finale, taking 150 Fatigue damage! Mytho is unable to keep fighting!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Kuniko Saito's I'm Gonna Get You Sucka, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Mytho is unable to keep fighting! Kuniko Saito is Psyched!

COMBAT: Mytho fails to dodge Mai Tokiha's Finisher, Annihilating Light, taking 229 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Mytho is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Mytho [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Pop, once again a tiny lion, gazes up at Mai, something more than relief in his eyes, as he's in her arms. More than gratitude...

...it's hope.

NEW YEARS EVE: 11:59:00 pm

How many ways can THE TROLL die?

Let us count.

Cure Beauty, gloriously empowered to delivery all of Cure Peace's wrath as well as her own, stabs downward, her sword detonating inside THE TROLL's shoulder, then again as she kicks off, and back. He roars, swaying on his feet, his arm flying outwards reflexively -- then flopping uselessly to the side.

Cute Wolf Tsukiko's howl is magnified infinitely by the roar of the Magic Knight of Wind's divine cyclone -- their two powers slamming into THE TROLL, forcing him to stagger backwards. The entire hourglass structure shakes.

And then the beautiful and terrible Flaming Aurora Energy Dome descends and detonates, courtesy of Sailor Mars, Sailor Vega, and Princess Runealy respectively; a tremendous number of SMG bullets perforate the smoke of that explosion, followed by Sailor Neptune's magnificent wave, which washes it away completely.

NEW YEARS EVE: 11:59:15 pm

A kaleidoscope of light pours not into THE TROLL but through him, easily visible out the other side, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask's love rendering him a transluscent shadow of his former self -- one that Nadeshiko and Utena slash through in a vicious X, causing his other arm to fall limply to his side.

Once again, he screams.

NEW YEARS EVE: 11:59:30 pm

Mami Tomoe lands lightly on his non-destroyed shoulder, and empties the thunderous Tiro Finale into his head at exactly the same moment that Chef Kuniko feeds him his last, flaming meal. They both get clear, and it's a good thing, too...

...because when Kagutsuchi's impossibly intense annihilation explodes against THE TROLL, blasting him back, away from the hourglass structure... there's just nothing left.

Nothing, that is, except for a goat fairy and The Jewel of Beginnings, which fell out of his limp hand only moments before, and are tumbling helplessly towards Tokyo Bay.

NEW YWARS EVE: 11:59:45 pm

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Fire, to welcome the new year, to scatter the waves. Mai's arms fall limp as her barrier fades - it looks as if the destruction didn't touch her friends and allies. She looks to Kagutsuchi for a moment, the Child staring back as it flies closer to the hourglass. There's something there. Some reason she'd forgotten...

The grand phoenix-dragon-whale-thing lets out a trilling croon - but then it starts to disappear. As it nears the hourglass, flying above the bay, it becomes intangible from its tail up to its head. There's moments at best for those on its back to react. For an instant, the body is made entirely of flame - cool flame, that harms no one under Mai's protection - and then those fires die away in the nighttime air.

Mai sees none of this. When Kagutsuchi let out its croon, the exhaustion of putting up that barrier caught up with her. Her head falls limp, she slumps in the air...and her rings dissipate into dying spirals of flame. Unconscious, the HiME falls.

<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

That blast catches at Kuniko Saito's parasailing gear, throwing her upwards and causing her to hover in a less than totally dignified way. "HA!" she says - before the shifting air masses whip her downwards.

Just in time for more things to fall into her grasp. Her cutting surface becomes more visually apparent as two things fall onto it - a goat-fairy and the Jewel. The latter bounces; Kuniko grabs it on pure reflex, clutching it to her chest.

The goat-fairy bounces. Disinclined to rescue it, Kuniko simply glares after Billy, and feels kind of guilty a moment later. She holds the jewel against herself all the tighter.

11:59:48

"Uh," Kuniko says to herself.

11:59:49

"Crap," she continues, yanking on the side of the parachute and landing on the central scaffold for the array of fireworks and other systems, battered now by the passage of magical battle.

11:59:51

Kuniko gazes ahead at the trickling flows of the last moments of the New Year as they move through the space between them. This close, the light show has its own magic, beautiful and shimmering. It is a religious feeling in a girl who does not have them often. Behind her, the ribbons flap.

11:59:55

The memory of being here for a reason, not merely for splendor, drifts in her awareness again. Stirred to action, Kuniko holds the jewel out.

11:59:56

She attempts to force her will through it to activate its Terroir. It is a jewel and does not have a flavor.

11:59:57

"Aa - ngh - HAH!" She lunges forwards, two handed, slamming the jewel forwards. It doesn't quite manage it.

11:59:58

Kuniko shoves upwards at a contorted angle, feeling a hot line of pain beneath her chef's jacket.

And at 11:59:59, the jewel moves into place, just as the last shimmering light reflects through it. A swell of emotion rises outwards, a feeling like the magic of a dawn seen besides one who you love the most - an invisible emanation as hope rises once more.

12:00:00

Kuniko looks at her hands as the swell of voices rise up and the jewel shines before her. Around her, electrical triggers fire, and a shower of pyrotechnics erupt; she really should not be standing, right where she is, but the Mise-en-place's protection from the flames of the kitchen is enough to guard her from stray sparks and flames. She cranes her head upwards, watching the prismatic arrays of light as they all emanate out from the pure white flames around her.

"It worked?" she says, as the wind flaps the ribbons behind her with proper dramatic flare. Her words are small, being at the center as they are, but her laughter isn't. Turning around slowly, even as the great hourglass begins its automatic pivoting to pour the new year's sands once more, she raises both fists in the air.

"It worked!!?" she cries out, towards the assembled.

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Utena's /incredibly cool/ pose atop the structure leaves her once again facing the grand Child in the sky -- and when it begins to dissipate into the flames, and Mai begins to fall, Utena is /ready/. Her body moves exclusively on instinct, weaving through the structure a second time; she navigates it even more adroitly than before, moving through it as if it were no more an obstacle than the air around her.

With a smooth, graceful motion, Utena leaps off the structure, turning her blade around to make her lack of a plan marginally less awkward to actually execute. She dives forward toward the falling Mai, arms outstretched, neatly catching her as they land on the ground, just as Kuniko slides the gem into place.

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

The Troll is defeated, the Jewel of Beginnings is placed just barely in time; victory conditions met ...

Now it's just a matter of surviving the fall, as Mai's dragon fades out of existence from underfoot. The Magic Knight of Wind feels it starting, glancing down more curiously than concerned - and then Kagutsuchi vanishes completely, and gravity snarls 'get down here' at all of the dragon's passengers.

The best Fuu can think to do is conjure an updraft to at least slow her fall; if she's able to steer herself towards a dry landing, excellent. If not ... well, she's been fighting in an alternate dimension and could *probably* stand to rinse off, but there are better places for that than Tokyo Bay. Much better places.

Either way, once the Wind Knight has landed - on something, in something, or possibly been rescued by one of her allies - she turns her attention skywards, smiling in relief at the dawn of a bright new year ...

<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> Saikou No Smile -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJOlVFlcDtw

Cure Beauty hits the bay waters with a splash, an imperfect swan dive. Her fall barely registers as a blip as the water geysers upwards, given the onslaught that follows. With the wind knocked out of her, and the impossibly cold bay waters around her, Beauty struggles, kicking up to rise quickly, her head breaking the water with a gasp at the heavens.

And the heavens tonight are wrathful. And yet beautiful as well as she catches the last glimpse of the Dragon Phoenix's annihilating light, like some sort of angry deity made manifest. Already shivering, and kicking, she moves towards the hourglass like structure jutting out, holding onto the Zodiac as a liferaft. As she climbs up, she crosses her arms across her chest, plopping down and creating a small puddle beneath her instantly as her drenched azure tails drip drop within the floor of the tiny craft.

And yet as miserable as the Pretty Cure looks, she smiles as the jewel shines with shimmering light, the hourglass turns, as the pyrotechnics display starts, her eyes fill with wonder. She may be an adolescent, but she is definitely not beyond being awed by such things as the beautiful fireworks in all their colors and glittering, wondrous explosions. Her voice is small, still filled with that same reverence as before. "Happy New Year, Minna-san!" It's doubtful anyone can hear her, and yet she is so grateful to every single one of the Magical Girls that gave this old year a happy end, and gave the New Year such wondrous, sparkling, hope.

And then slowly rising from her seated position, she is smiling far wider than usual, and as she thinks on it, the perfect words come to her, echoing a girl she knows and adores with all of her pink pigtails worn as buns with that radiant smile. They are spoken with no more than a whisper, but with forceful enthusiasm, "Happy Smile!"

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kaname [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

The sparkles in Madoka's eyes wink out one by one like dying stars, shadowed by the ascending club, which blocks out the light of everything beneath it, and then as it gets still closer, everything above it. Her eyes screw shut, not wanting to watch her own death, her long, dreamer's lashes tickling her delicate cheekbones with all the strength her lids can muster. She doesn't even have time to scream, though she instinctively inhales--

--and exhales, her voice impossibly loud, ear-ringingly shrill with terror and the expectation of her imminent reduction to a fine red mist, within this empty space, this null-time, where there is nothing else to compete--

--only to cut off abruptly as she realizes that she's only been slammed into by--

"H-Homura-chan?!"

It's a gasp, it's a sob.

She started to cry long before she realized it, and is still weeping unknowingly, with relief rather than terror, into the Puella Magi's sensible shoulder. Her hands scrabble for purchase on Homura's back, and she clings to her quite as hard as she's being squeezed herself. She releases only reluctantly when Homura does, and gazes wetly up at her from her lap, her breathing gradually becoming more regular, Homura's calm as infectious as it is fake. Her heart is still pounding in her ears, though, louder than any drum.

When their eyes meet, the expression on her face is as distraught as Homura could have feared, as grateful as she could have hoped, and as loving as she could never dare to dream. For in such a moment-between-moments as this time, Madoka's feelings are too powerful to remain tightly confined to any one category -- and she can't help but love her rescuer, the one who has saved her time and again, now, while being mysterious and abrasive, even verbally cruel, with all her heart -- because she understands, all too well, that actions speak louder than words. Understands, and responds.

The tiny girl looks on in silent, shell-shocked wonder as Homura produces a submachinegun from nowhere and fires more bullets than she could have imagined a gun could hold. Her ears are still buzzing from the sound of her own screen, and she doesn't bother clapping her hands to them to protect herself from the SMG fire. She's in no presence of mind to do so.

Even after the world reverts to normal, it takes several seconds for Madoka to desuspend from time, to come down from the most extraordinary, bizarre, terrifying, wondrous heartbeats of her life.

And then the world explodes in light and sound, in flame and sparkles, in hope.

Mami is there, too, having landed beside them.

Her knees shaking, she struggles to her feet, and attempts to grab them both in the most fierce embrace she's ever had the beating heart to give. Her breath is warm and sweet. Her skin is soft, but her hair, bushily brushing up against nearby cheeks, is softer still, and her voice is softest of all.

"H-happy new year!!" she wails, she sings, she prays.

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Princess Runealy watches as blow after blow tears through the troll; that was /quite/ the concerted effort to bring it down! Billy and Pop are released, but... not in quite the way Rune was hoping for. They're in freefall! Other problems abound too, time is running out... Kagutsuchi no longer seems to be a good perch, for that matter. With mere seconds to think things through, Rune arrives at a conclusion: She has no answers. She's too far out, or has no means of directly helping, or there isn't enough time for what she would do.

Runealy's boot wings light up, blue-silver sparkles trailing as she leaps for the shore. It's all she can physically do, even as her gaze wanders from situation to situation with eyes that convey a mix of worry and hope... trust that they can handle things from here.

It ends up being so. Tension fades, overwhelmed by successes one after another in the span of several seconds. Utena catches Mai, leaving Rune sagging in relief.

And Kuniko places the jewel in with virtually no time to spare. What started as 'trusting' hope is replaced by raw satisfaction and optimism as pyrotechnics flare, as feelings rush through! She doesn't say much, but does smile and share in with the celebrations that way. Everything that just unfolded strikes the princess as being extremely daring, high-risk... but necessary and it worked. The new year may have its challenges, but it is starting off happy, full of potential.

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Mamoru's heart is so full: reality holds its breath for a dream, and the strength of fellowship and the searing, incandescent beauty of millennia stands behind them both. They are the same. He sees her eyes for that eternal moment, blue like some phantom memory he can't bring to mind, and in the middle of the chaos--

for a split second

he belongs.

And then everything fades; the deafening sound dulls to a faraway echo and his vision tunnels. Before Tuxedo Mask starts to sway in blinding exhaustion, the last thing he sees is the brilliant victory of the protectors of hope and dreams. And then he crumbles like a tower stripped of its base--

He's unaware of anything and everything for a long moment: Sailor Moon catching and lifting him, the resounding cheers and screams of delighted victors, the disappearance of the enormous being beneath them--

--the struggles of the one girl still desperately trying to save the New Year--

<Pose Tracker> Cure Peace [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Cure Peace eyes go wide..."BEAUTY!....." she yells as she hits water, she leaps off the giant dragon, leaping downwards toward's the scaffolds and beams of the giant hourglass. As this happens she immediatly begins to loose steadiness as she throws her arms out and eeks! audibly, as it shakes the beams just a bit. She catches herself thought as she leaps down onto the boat, frantically smiling.. "Ah---Beauty, you're alright!" she says relived....

Then the Light of the Jewel of New Beginings shines from behind her and she looks over it , eyes wide in wonder in delightly.. "Ah----! It's so..beautiful...!" she says widely, as she holds her hands to the side of her head, smiling a bit. "Ah--!", the light and hopes of a brand new year fills her eyes.. "Ah--Happy New Year!" she says out, and leaps a little bit. She smiles over at Beauty---"Ah---right...!" she says to her happy smile.. "Happy Smile~" she says a bit.

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Tsukiko watches as the chorus of blasts, blades, and bullets rock the Troll, turning it into a fading wisp, and cheers as Kuniko restores the Jewel to its rightful place. And then...

She's nimble and fairly acrobatic, and a pretty good jumper. Not the best, but she can leap onto streetlights and land on her feet without too much trouble, then leap to another fairly easily.

Jumping /after/ something vanishes from beneath her feet, though, is a bit beyond her ability, as is flight.

The wolfgirl falls with a yelp as Kagutsuchi disappears. She lands on the sand, rolling with the impact. While it blunts the damage, she's still winded, and takes a minute or two to stand up again.

"Happy New Year!" Tsukiko calls with a grin to the Wind Knight and anyone else who's nearby.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Usagi can't breath--just like before, and the time before that, and before that--because she's out there. This light is her, but it's not only her this time, and then it's all gone.

She doesn't sink to her knees this time. The next breath is a steady one, labored but the difficulty is expected. Sailor Moon stands tall, lowering her wand slightly--and seeing Tuxedo Mask's hands slip away from hers.

There's no time for words. Beneath them both, Kagutsuchi turns to a pyre, and beneath that the year turns to ash. Usagi wobbles atop nothing but magic, unbalanced by the slumping Mamoru and the inherent instability of fire. That too disappears, but Usagi knows that once you understand flame, it will always come back to warm you when you need it most.

That's not her business. Tuxedo Mask is, because it's what she's best able to help with right now.

Still burning with strength, more strength than she's ever felt at this stage in a fight, Sailor Moon pushes off the last ounce of stability her feet can touch and goes near-floating through the air. She touches the hourglass soon enough, teetering at the edge leaning forward with all her might until both her charge and herself go tumbling into a pile on fortunately solid surface. Above, Kuniko saves the entire year. How could you not believe in the quick expertise of someone who can make such delicious coffee that fast?

"Hey," Usagi says, first gently, then more insistent: "Hey! We won! Just because you can't disappear mysteriously doesn't mean you get to pass out and avoid celebrating that way! What's the good of saving New Year cheer if you don't be cheerful?!"

She leans close, looking for a sign of his eyes opening. The moon is so bright and there's so many other lights that it's very easy to see from this angle!

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Tuxedo Mask's awareness filters back slowly. First it's warmth and safety, gentleness, the feeling of, somehow, home and safety. So like something so longed for, so unreachable; that he can only imagine he's asleep. He's being held, but he feels no gut-level rejection of the sensation of touch; he's being spoken to, and the voice is familiar and welcome--

Mamoru's eyes open slowly behind his mask, that endless, depthless blue, framed by an outline of moonlit white, and the reflected spatter of fireworks and silvery light looks for all the world like stars in his black hair, his tuxedo, his cape.

All he can see is the figure above him looking down: the silhouette of the girl holding him, backlit by the enormous moon and hair shimmering like silver silk. The one he dreams of, every night; the one he's dreamt of for such a very long time-- he must still be dreaming. It's all right to cry. It's all right to cry when everything is perfect, just this once.

The joy and overwhelming hope of the Jewel of Beginnings swells in his soul and drives every wish he's ever had home. Every hour, every minute, every day; each unspoken desire, each aching moment of loneliness, they're all swept clear. The only thing in his heart is a clean and full rejoicing.

Wordlessly, Mamoru Chiba leans upwards just a little, and his free hand comes up to lightly touch the occluded face of the girl who's so close. He doesn't hesitate. He closes his eyes and touches his lips to hers

a kiss

as the Jewel touches and the clock's hands hit twelve

and the light and sound and fireworks and moonlight

if time stopped right now it would be all right--

Then Tuxedo Mask makes the mistake of opening his eyes as he breaks off. The moonlight is no longer framing his rescuer.

He just kissed Sailor Moon.

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Nadeshiko tears through the monstrous Troll with all her strength, then bounds back, coming down hard on the tall structure, her naginata in hand. She watches the Troll writhe and burn - she even has the presence of mind not to scream and leap when Kagutsuchi releases its full, awe-inspiring power, though her grip on her polearm grows tighter. Not like she could do much with it; after that rampage, she's tired! So she watches - watches the Troll burn to nothing - and Billy and the Jewel fall away. "NO!"

But she's not in any kind of position to do much but reach out; too tired to trust in Temari's powers to save her from an improbable leap. She watches it fall away - and also watches with relief, her weight collapsing onto her naginata as the light of the Jewel shines, and Temari titters at her side. Nadeshiko glances at her briefly, and then...looks around for a way down.

She's not jumping that in this condition. No sir. "Looks like we did it," Nadeshiko asides to her fairy friend.

"Mmhmm!"

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Sailor Neptune breathes out a long - steadying breath as the wave strikes home - the hair around her tiara a bit mussed - out of place. A white-gloved hand lifts, in fact, to tuck the most wayward of those strands back behind an ear where it will keep for now. The crystal - someone else had got it into place, and right now - that was precisely what she had wanted.

The darkness of the future brightens a little bit, and Neptune releases a sigh of sorts.

There was still that gloom, still that overbearing anxiety at some distant future that may never ever be.

A brief flicker of her eyes over Vega - over the Precures - and Neptune gives the slightest of approving nods, an enigmatic smile on her face. A smile that softens as she looks at the profile of Moon and Tuxedo Mask. Happy New Year indeed, and her mind drifts to ~other~ things.

And with that, Neptune turns on a teal heel and starts to stride away, her eyes drifting a bit shut. Goodness, did she have a story to tell now.

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

The explosion of light and color in the night sky mirror the explosions of emotion within the violet Puella Magi's beleaguered heart. When their eyes met in that realm outside of time there was a part of her that was angry. Truly, fully enraged at Madoka who once again had managed to put herself into harm's way. And for what? For why? To turn on the Hour Glass. Surely in an attempt to in some way repair the damage caused by the loss of the crystal. That's admirable. That's lovely. That's... Madoka.

BUT SHE COULD HAVE GOTTEN HERSELF KILLED.

On the other side of the coin, however, she simply wishes that she could hold onto Madoka forever. She's so relieved that she is ok, so happy to see the light of hope return to her eyes, and for the first time in so many months she feels the warmth of that light shining upon her face. She could have kept the moment going longer. She could have made time stand still, and remain still ... at least until her magic ran out. However long that might have taken. And it would have been wonderful.

BUT SHE COULD HAVE GOTTEN HERSELF KILLED.

Worst of all she was forced to reveal her trump card, the secret of her power, to Madoka. While it's unlikely that she will understand the full depths of her abilities in time manipulation ... it's still a danger. Her powers carry many unique and exploitable features... but so too do they carry many strict limitations. Though in a way nothing has changed. Madoka holds Homura's fate within her hands just as it always has been.

So Homura fired a full magazine of submachine gun rounds into the Troll. Nowhere near enough to kill the beast, but it certainly contributed to his downfall at least. The empty weapon is once again placed within that space between dimensions she wears upon her arm. Where it will wait until it is called again. She doesn't look back down at Madoka though.

Instead she remains standing and staring up at the sky as the time to the New Year ticks down. Mami lands beside them both but Homura's eyes do not follow her, for instead they are busy following the movements of Kuniko as she manages to last second save.

And the veteran Puella Magi breathes a sigh of relief...

... and then she takes air back in as a gasp! An arm is flung around her, and drags her into a startlingly fierce embrace. Between her. Between Madoka. And between Mami. 'H-happy new year!!' That all too dulcet voice declares in many meaning tones.

It's wonderful.

It's terrible.

For while the embrace itself causes her heart to leap with a joy that has become unfamiliar to her, it also invites the all-too-familiar feeling of old dreads.

For you see there was once a celebration much like this one, a long time ago. Sometimes it was three. Sometimes it was four. Sometimes... maybe even five, or more. The number doesn't matter. What matters is that Homura remembers a simple truth: No matter how joyous the present, chances are it will end in tears.

So Homura is a part of the embrace, but she in no meaningful way embraces it. She is paralyzed, caught between her emotions, unsure of whether to stay or go... until the situation demands action.

As the Hour Glass begins to turn, so too will Homura turn away from the embrace. "Happy New Year..." She whispers softly.

For now, at least, she won't berate Madoka for putting herself in harm's way.

For now, she just vanishes. Now that the danger is past she is once again comfortable leaving Madoka in Mami's care.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

"About time you--mmf."

Tuxedo Mask gets a better look at Sailor Moon. How could she be the princess in his dreams? Her face is several shades more red and the princess probably does not have an expression that closely matches a deer standing in the oncoming headlights of an aircraft carrier that has had enormous novelty headlights installed on it.

All this celebration and she can't hear a single thing over the sound of her heart beating in her ears.

It's like I've done this before. A party with all these people I care about, but there's one warmth I desperately want to feel more than anything else.

I've felt this way...

...many times...

...before.

"MAMI NEEDS ME WE HAVE A POST MISSION THING WHERE WE HIGH FIVE," Usagi says, very loudly and without noticeable pause between words. She looks for a moment longer, unable to tear her gaze away, and then bolts like her namesake.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

There's light, and joyous laughter, and a warm sensation. Mai's eyes flutter open, her vision blurry. What she can see, hear, feel is limited - a night sky, a cool breeze, and someone in a very dashing outfit holding her bridal-style. A romantic moment, not something Mai's had a chance to even hope for in far too long. "...I haven't dreamed of being saved by a prince in years..." She turns her head to take in the tall dark prince's pink hair-

...wait. Mai blinks again, vision beginning to clear - and finally she realizes she's being held by Utena. And that she just blurted out-

Mai's face burns crimson as she completely freezes up. The moment of being held lasts longer than it really should, and then Mai's finally able to react. "Gah! I mean- sorry- um- ack!" Incoherent flailing in panic, swiftly ending in Mai falling free of Utena's heroic grip to land on the floor of the boat. Mai then covers her red face with her hands.

"...Utena-san? Could you...perhaps...forget I just said that?" After a moment, the fingers of Mai's hands spread enough for her eyes to peek out - though it's clear her face is still very red. She takes a look around, soon seeing that the great hourglass has turned over, that there's hope in the air again. She can only draw a blank for how she got from Kagutsuchi's side to here, and is left guessing what's happened. "It...looks like we won. I guess it's a happy new year?" She lowers her hands - blushes again. "Um. Thanks for the rescue. Very dashing. Please forget what I said."

<Pose Tracker> Cure Sunny [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.

Spladoosh!

Ahhh, what a way to start the new year! AND YES I MEAN THAT WITH COMPLETE SINCERITY.

Cure Sunny's hair- that bun at the back- it's going to be ruined by this. Her uniform, which funnily enough didn't have any blood on it any more? Soaked. She's treading water in the may, but it no matter.

Because she's doing so next to Reika and Yayoi, and over on dry land she can see Miyuki and Nao, and Candy's got wet hair as well and will probably need to style it later and the fireworks are going off and everything's coming up Smile.

AND THANK GOODNESS, we won't have to go to the Bad End Kingdom again any time soon, right? Eh? Eh?

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

It's just all so close. The troll is, frankly, annihilated, attacked with such force that it's just /gone/, THE TROLL no more. ...For now. But now is what matters, with only seconds to spare. Mami does not know where the gem has gone, not until she sees familiar ribbon come closer, and hears a certain chef working and then cheering about how it worked, and why not? The wave of hope makes her feel like cheering, too, and she already did just moments ago.

There's a new year approaching, and Mami can really believe that this year is the year her dreams will come true.

Her feet touch down, and she turns, only to find Madoka closing the distance entirely, with Homura still here, too. Her mixed feelings about the violet Puella Magi aren't enough any more than her other worries are--not enough to make her try to move out of the way, that is. Instead she hugs Madoka back tightly, forgetting any tiredness or exertion. ...But, since she noticed those shaking knees, she might be working to be just that little bit extra stable, to make sure nobody falls.

It's reflexive, really. And her other arm moves t hug Homura, too, while the other irl is paralyzed in indecision. She doesn't realize this, of course, can't comprehend in this moment that things can be any less than just this great. "Happy New Year," she replies, and smiles back as she steps away, only to--

"...?" Homura leaves. ...Just like that. Well...

"You did so wonderfully, Kaname-san!" Mami cheers brightly. "...You really are..." She shakes her head, "Ah, haha, sorry. It must be so cold havin been up here so long! Come on, let's--"

...Was that a shout of her name? ...Nah, couldn't be.

"Let me take you home." Mami moves to put an arm about Madoka. "Ready?" ...She doesn't actually wait, but her hold is secure anyway. Mami just outright jumps off of the hourglass...and is in less than a moment swinging from the framework on a ribbon towards the shore.

Yes, it was dangerous... but the blonde is just glad her friend was here.

<Pose Tracker> Mytho [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

The bottom half of the hourglass explodes with light, the sand rearranging itself to spell out 'happy new year' for the newly rejuvenated crowds on the nearby shore -- and across all of Tokyo, and even the world, given that their New Years Eve display is epic enough in scope that it is broadcast on a great many stations.

The shouts of excitement reach a fever pitch as the Jewel of Beginnings shimmers all the more brightly, taking in all of the feelings of the girls around it, then transmitting them across, and throughout, the world. The New Year dawns with impossible beauty and poignancy, with strength of purpose, strength of heart.

The Jewel fades away with a final gleam, back to being theoretical, hypothetical, metaphorical (or, possibly but unpoetically, simply invisible and intangible), just as the sounds of the bells in Buddhist temples across Tokyo, ringing simultaneously, fill the air -- once, twice, thrice... ultimately, one hundred and eight times in total, though their both joyous and solemn cacophany becomes impossible to count as one merges into the next. The crowds toast each other with their amazake. The shrines and temples alike are full to bursting with kimono-clad celebrants practicing hatsumode, though more of them will come later on, throughout the day, to mark their first visit of the year.

Pop and Billy leap free of their respective catchers (Utena-via-Mai and Nadeshiko), and stand next to each other on the gradually flipping hourglass. Their arms fold with the satisfaction of a job well done. Their eyes glitter beneath the light of the fireworks. Their appreciation and respect of the magical warriors of Earth is palpable.

Also, they look /super/ cool.

...And then the hourglass' momentum knocks them both slip-sliding off the lower edge!

They fall off towards Tokyo Bay. Pop tosses a ninja scroll out, and in midair, it turns into a book, which flops open. They both fall into it, and the book itself swings shut and winks out of existence almost as quickly as it had arrived.

NEW YEAR'S DAY: 12:01am

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

That moment of paralyzed staring is shared in equal measure by Tuxedo Kamen. He can't blink, and his face is also quite red, swiftly and unmistakeably.

Eyes wide, he just watches Usagi, uncomprehending. That just happened. And he-- but it was--

...so familiar. Like this has happened before...

Mamoru watches her run away, gaze following her, and he finally blinks.

And then he realizes that everyone else is still here. Happy New Year, oh god.

Good thing there is always, always a shadow to disappear into. In the dark, no one can see you blush.

<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

As the bells ring out, Kuniko cuts her ribbons loose.

She is alone on the scaffolding, but she is used to that odd schedule, the curious offbeat patterns, the slightly shadowed life that turned out to be more than she had thought. She sits, dangling her legs over the scaffolding, and looking at the moon in its sea of burning colors.

"Did you do things like this, dad?" she asks the sky, her face tightening momentarily, even though she's smiling.