Timeline

The Battle Fantasia MUSH Timeline

Every magical girl in Tokyo contains the light of hope in her heart, but each of them takes their own path down the road of destiny! This timeline places the story of the MUSH in chronological order, advancing by in-character season. It chronicles the major events of Battle Fantasia, both supernatural battles and the struggles and triumphs of normal (mostly school) life, along with highlights from smaller arcs as they arise, particularly when they involve important character development of some kind. It is not intended to document every monster of the day by any means. Players are encouraged to add missing events (if you’re not sure when within a given season something took place, please contact the staff), and continue to add events going forward, with the following guidelines:

• Please use the basic format common to all entries: bolded, two-sentence-fragment “episode titles” (which can also be turned into a link to the log, if it’s available), then a single paragraph summary of the event. If several connected events happened back-to-back within a short time period, they can be collected within a bullet points list.
• In general, it is unnecessary (and undesirably spammy) to list all of the participants of a big scene. Many of our largest events never break down the magical girls involved at all beyond stating that there's a big group of them, and that's okay!
• If someone was the GM of a scene, please check with them before adding their event to the timeline; please respect their right of first refusal for the opportunity to do it themselves.
• If someone feels that a scene summary is misrepresenting events, please contact the staff; we’re happy to all work together to make the timeline as perfect as possible!
• Please use the timeline for events that you feel are truly important, either to the characters involved, the game as a whole, or both. It is fairly common practice to group a bunch of monster-of-the-day events into a single entry to establish an antagonist’s arrival or notable activity during a given time period, emphasizing the ways in which these daily battles impacted the feel of the city, and of the game.
• Note that this is continuously under construction. Italicized Placeholders are in a few spots to mark events that are known in time, but are still being summarized. Please leave them where they are!

Fall 2013

Dark Fall Invades The Fairy Realms! The Long Dark Night! The Long Dark Night occurs ICly approximately the week before the game opens, with the demonic legions of Dark Fall sacking and occupying most of the Fairy Realms within a single terrible night, sending fairies flocking towards Earth to recruit magical girl champions.

Battle Fantasia MUSH begins both In and Out of Character on September 26, 2013! It is the fall term at school. To give a sense of character ages at the start of the game, Usagi Tsukino is an 8th-grader, Mai Tokiha is a 10th-grader, and Nanoha Takamachi is a 3rd-grader. Magical girls, in general, have been awakened within the last week or so, though there are a few exceptions who have been operating for longer, including examples such as Sailor Venus, Natsuki Kuga, and Mami Tomoe.

The Sister Schools Gather At Juuban! Autumn Sports Festival Fun! For their first major joint event, the newfound Sister Schools decide to hold their annual Sports Festivals all together in one massive, glorious, no-holds-barred celebration of sports. Juuban wins the toss (or draws the short straw, depending on perspective) to host, and the students of the three schools converge for a long day of relay races, obstacle courses, bread-eating contests and more. It’s a great opportunity for the students to all get to know each other, especially at the grand finale, a traditional line dance around a bonfire, to the haunting strains of Turkey In The Straw.

A Massive Evil Threat! Fusion Assaults Tokyo! Fusion, an evil amalgamation of all the darkness exorcised from monsters defeated throughout history, empowers himself to full size (like, Godzilla size...) and sentience by first attacking magical girls and absorbing their magical attacks, then making his move to destroy Tokyo by consuming all of its energy. He is ultimately defeated by a massive team-up of magical girls.

Witch in the Forest! Puella Magi Meetings! Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki wander into their first labyrinth in the forests of Southern Cross Island, and are rescued by Mami Tomoe, Kyouko Sakura, and Homura Akemi, all of whom converge on the Witch. Afterwards, Mami takes Madoka and Sayaka home to explain what happened, and soon thereafter, they are regularly accompanying Mami on her Witch patrols (and occasionally being rescued when they stumble into trouble on their own), while Sayaka grows closer to Kyouko and Madoka tries to understand Homura.

Disaster! The Blue Rose, Torn Asunder! At Ohtori Academy, Zoisite grows jealous of the musical talents of Miki Kaoru, and retaliates by completely shattering his hand, rendering him unable to play the piano (though, after some time in the hospital, Miki retrains in fencing to use his left hand instead of his right). Distressed at the plight of her longtime childhood friend, Sayaka Miki visits him in the hospital often.

Assault on Infinity Institute! The Golden Star Falls... Nephrite loudly claims the tower in the name of Queen Beryl, and for the first time, all four of her generals take the field in defense of their claim. In the end, they're driven off by the magical girls, but at the height of the battle, golden light, power incarnate, is called into the skies above Tokyo, creating an immense, scintillating aurora. It dazzles, it blinds, it burns; it fills the heart with sheer, overwhelming emotion. And the star cluster popularly known as Mutsuraboshi disappeared from the sky.

The Seven Star Shards! Who Will Wish On A Broken Star? The prior full-scale assault on Infinity Institute was actually there to distract from the dark ritual being performed /in/ Infinity Institute, to free an ancient, sealed power from imprisonment. The golden light heralded the arrival of that power, which fell straight towards Earth upon its escape. However, it broke up in transit, becoming seven golden "star shards," which nestle themselves in the hearts of seven humans. It becomes widely understood that by uniting the shards of a fallen star, they could grant any single wish. The shards emerge when their bearers strongly feel a corresponding emotion to the one that drew the shard into them in the first place, such as loneliness or joy, at which point their power quickly attracts a variety of claimants, from monsters to magical girls, who fiercely contest ownership of the shard. Six stars shards emerge throughout the late fall, into early December.

• The Organizations Respond! Tangled Webs Intersect! Dark Fall, who unleashed this power in the first place, pursues these shards directly, having a magical means to detect their bearers and manipulate them to feel the emotion that would cause their star shard to emerge. The Magic Association recognizes these shards as the 'Seven Sisters' of an ancient and terrible prophecy, and begins to pursue them as well with the intent of sealing the power away again. The Tuner Organization puts a bounty out on the seven star shards, intending to keep the wish in reserve for when the world needs it most desperately. Ends of the World originally bided their time, then ambushes everyone who had successfully collected a star shard, all at once, and wind up being the ones holding six of the seven star shards, with only one still to be revealed.

Miki Kaoru's Shining Thing! The Blue Rose Duel! Miki has been training for months to relearn how to fence using his left hand, in the hopes of paying Zoisite back with a resounding defeat. He's forced to confront what he's really fighting for, however, and when he realizes that what he really wants is Anthy Himemiya, finally challenges Utena to a duel -- and loses. In the aftermath, he falls into deeper depression about his destroyed right hand, and hates himself for being even more disappointed that Anthy remains Engaged to Utena.

Puella Magi Conflict! Poaching Won't Be Tolerated! Eri Shimanouchi, desperate to gain territory of her own after having a falling out as Mami Tomoe's protege, starts poaching Witches in Shinjuku for Grief Seeds. Eventually she gets caught by that area's hunter, Puella Magi Yaori, who fills her with holes and leaves her bleeding out in a Shinjuku alley. Madoka and Sayaka stumble upon Eri and fetch Mami, who heals her erstwhile ally from the brink of death. Madoka, who had previously been on the crux of Contracting out of excitement, is left with lasting nightmares of Eri's fatal wounds.

Winter 2013

The Dark Hour! DD Girls Strike! On December 17, all normal citizens of Tokyo are abruptly and horrifyingly killed as a massive ritual drains all of their energy towards Tokyo Tower. They are further at risk from an army of Witches and other monsters which spring up to gorge on the despair suffusing the city. Magical girls respond to contain the monsters, while the Sailor Senshi approach the tower, having been challenged directly by a voice in the sky; there they discover the DD Girls, powerful lieutenants of Queen Beryl, who have also kidnapped close friends of the senshi including Naru Osaka, Anthy Himemiya and Madoka Kaname. They rescue the hostages and drive back the DD Girls, culminating in Sailor Moon's first summoning of the Cutie Moon Rod and use of Moon Healing Escalation, which sends the stolen energy back to the people of Tokyo, reviving everyone.

Wonder Winter Yatta! The Snowy School Trip! The Sister Schools schedule a school trip to the northern, snowy island of Hokkaido over winter break. There, students get to stay at a luxurious ski resort. They partake of crab buffet, unlimited cocoa, and a variety of winter sports, and also visit the city of Sapporo, where a Winter Social dance is held inside the Ice Palace in Odori Park.

• Nutcracker Nightmares! The Final Star Shard Appears! The seventh and final star shard emerges from the stage frightened heart of an Infinity ballerina at the dress rehearsal for a special production being put on at the ski lodge, at the same time that one of Mytho's heart shards, containing the feeling of loneliness, emerges as well. Princess Kraehe interferes with Princess Tutu's efforts to bring the ballerina's heart some peace, and it becomes a running ballet battle on the snowy slopes, until, at last, a swarm of chrome helicopters loudly sear through the sky to claim it in a lightning-fast strike, then depart. The magical girls are left wondering who would do such a thing, since such tactics (and equipment) are rarely seen in their battles.
• Hearts of Ice! Rescue the Fairy Resort! While in Hokkaido, fairy princes of Snow and Ice, named Frozen and Freezen, come howling down the mountain, having been corrupted into terrifying monsters. Once they've been purified, they beg for aid, for their sacred hot springs (also a fairy vacation resort) are under attack by mysterious men in black. Magical girls help drive them off, long enough for the fairies to permanently hide their home underneath an icy but effective illusion.
• The Stars Are Right! An Evil Wish Is Made! The official plan at Ends of the World was to use the seven star shards to wish to increase the conspiracy's control over financial markets, but the Ends agent who had actual physical possession of the shards, Joseph Greer, decides to betray them and wish to become a God. The reunited star shards grant his wish on Christmas Eve by putting everyone in the world to sleep over the course of Christmas Day, and enslaving them within their dreams to build a massive altar to their new god. If the altar within dreams is completed, everyone will sleep forever within this terrible dream world.
• Battle For The Dreams Of Humanity! Sailor Mercury's Depression! The magical girls, the only people to resist the unnatural compulsion to sleep (after having two very vivid dreams, the two consecutive nights before, first of the story of the star shards, then of Joseph Greer's wish being made), take the fight to the "God Among Men" by first hiking to the nearest place of great mystical power, the highest point on the island of Hokkaido, Mt. Asahidake, and then rolling out the sleeping bags and entering the dreamworld. While confronting the God Among Men in the world of dreams, Sailor Mercury's dream-self is killed. She awakens with her dreams temporarily extinguished, and, not understanding what had happened, falls into a deep depression. However, the magical girls ultimately defeat the God Among Men, allowing everyone to reawaken... but infuriates the power that had granted the wish in the first place, the power of the seven star shards, which finally incarnates itself in its original form as the Maiden of Dreams, a truly ancient guardian of dreams who had, during the Silver Millennium, been sealed away by Queen Serenity after abusing her powers to bring nightmares to the populace because she was tired of being taken for granted.
• We Won't Fight You! A New Dream Dawns! The Maiden of Dreams confronts the girls who had undone her granted wish to turn Joseph Greer into the God Among Men, feeling taken for granted again, and lashes out with all her deadly magical might. The magical girls are faced with a choice -- to destroy their opponent, or, having heard her story, try to convince her that her newfound freedom was a fresh chance for a new start. Ultimately, at great personal risk (since the Maiden of Dreams is unceasingly seeking their deaths), they manage to break through to her with words rather than attacks. She abandons her weapon, the Sword of Ten Thousand Broken Dreams, in the ice cave at the top of Mt. Asahidake, and disappears to be reborn, along with her power, into the modern day, while the girls descend the mountain to celebrate with their friends.

Home From Hokkaido! Winter Fun In Tokyo! After everyone returns to Tokyo, there are a few remaining days of winter vacation.

Rescue The New Year! The Jewel of Beginnings is Stolen?! On December 31, monsters from the Bad End Kingdom steal the Jewel of Beginnings, a mystical item used to bless the coming year. If the monsters are allowed to retain it at midnight, the new year will be cursed with a Bad End before it even begins! Magical girls pursue them into the Bad End Kingdom, and recover the Jewel from evil Trolls-Under-The-Bridge with the help of Billy-chan the goat freedom fighter, who they first had to save from dire wolves. In the end, the magical girls catch a ride on Mai Tokiha's Child, the dragon Kagutsuchi, to soar back to Tokyo and return the Jewel of Beginnings just before midnight. They also rescue the New Year's Eve celebration by manually activating the countdown clock, which had been sabotaged.

School's In Session! It's Entrance Exam Season... With the conclusion of Winter Vacation, school restarts. The 9th and 12th-graders are plagued with stressful work, as their entrance exams for high school and university respectively are imminent, only a few months away.

Sayaka’s Wave Motion Swing! A New Monster Hunter Steps Up To The Plate! As part of her sort-of-an-internship-program, Mami Tomoe has equipped one of her civilian hangers-on, Sayaka Miki, with a minor-league magical weapon to help her defend herself, by the simple expedient of enchanting her softball bat. However, with Kyouko Sakura’s encouragement, Sayaka becomes increasingly aggressive as a monster hunter, both with -- and without -- Puella Magi supervision. She (and Madoka, who often goes along with her) narrowly avoid serious injury on these excursions, but sometimes it’s very narrow, indeed.

Storm Warning! The Arrival of Gloom! Takumi Tokiha is targeted by an emotional parasite called a Cardiax, from the Sea of Sorrows, who inflames his emotions to fever pitch, causes him to collapse into a coma, and explodes into a massive ice storm all around his body. La Sirene du Nord and allies (including Mai Tokiha, Takumi’s older sister) arrive to combat this monstrous worm and release Takumi’s drained sorrows. They succeed, but afterwards are warned by Gloom, one of the banished sons of the Mother of Sorrows, not to further interfere in his affairs.

Plight of the Rose Queens! The Mysterious DJ Dite! DJ Dite hosts a popular radio show where people call in to talk about their love lives. He sends his callers beautiful rose pins, and it takes quite a while for anyone to connect those pins to the women, young and old, starting to have regular fainting spells across Tokyo. As time goes by they start getting seriously ill -- eventually, magical girls figure out the pattern and confront DJ Dite, revealed to be Jadeite, one of Queen Beryl’s four generals, at the radio station. They break his energy-draining broadcast antenna (and his nose, but it gets better). Jadeite continues to actively pursue his small-business-based energy draining schemes for several months, thwarted each time and under increasing pressure to get major results. When he’s defeated at last, Queen Beryl makes her first, brief appearance, to warn the Sailor Senshi and their allies of the dragon they’ve awoken.

Cry and Wail!! The Arrival of Labyrinth on Earth! With Dark Fall having invaded the Kingdom of Sweets, the fairy Tarte is tasked with the protection of the baby fairy Chiffon, who, for some reason, the forces of the dark world Labyrinth will stop at nothing to acquire. Arriving on Earth, they recruit Love Momozono, Miki Aono and Inori Yamabuki as Cure Peach, Berry and Pine respectively, and they don’t do so a minute too soon. The moment Labyrinth Executives Eas, Westar and Soular start their Tokyo operation, their dual goals of capturing Chiffon and filling Labyrinth’s Despair Gauge with the siphoned misery of the local population, are both pursued with the same basic tactic: summoning monstrous Nakewameke. Fresh Pretty Cure really have their hands full thwarting scheme after despair-creating scheme, all while playing host to Tarte and nursemaid to Chiffon!

The Sister Schools Produce A Play! Who Will Be Dracula? Starting with auditions in March 2013 and remaining a major project into the spring, the Juuban, Infinity and Ohtori drama clubs unite to do a major production of Dracula. There are both typical and atypical sub-dramas, involving everything from who gets the eponymous leading role (the eventual answer: Michiru Kaioh) to supernatural disasters on opening night. (Maybe those are both typical, these days...)

Protect The Holy Ritual! Shadows Swarm The World Tree! Late one cold winter's night, magical girls are awakened by a particularly extreme sense of mystical wrongness, a disbalance as taut as a straining, screaming violin string. They follow their feelings to the massive, magical World Tree in Tama, where mysterious, particularly young (elementary school, perhaps) magical girls are up in the higher boughs, clearly deeply entranced within a beautiful, prismatic ritual. And sword-wielding shadows have come too, to stop the ritual at any cost! The newly arrived magical girls leap into action to defend their brethren. At last, in a flash of rainbow light, the ritual ends, the girls performing it vanish, and the shadows are banished -- for now.

Inflamed Passions! Nephrite’s Dark Seals! Nephrite, second of Queen Beryl’s four generals, concocts a rather different plan for energy draining than Jadeite; where Jadeite draws a little energy from dozens of targets of his small business operations, Nephrite starts draining all the energy from particularly juicy targets (often, though he doesn’t realize it at the time, magical girls, but sometimes just extremely passionate people, often athletes, artists and the like) in such a way that ultimately transforms them into a monster under his control, as well! His targets include alien princesses, swim team champions, the manga artist Yayoi Kise (who is also Cure Peace), and karaoke-lover (and HiME) Mai Tokiha. Each time, Nephrite’s plans are foiled at the last minute, but he does a great job of making a lot of magical girls really hate his guts. Not everyone thinks he’s simply evil, though -- Makoto Kino continuously tries to look deeper to understand, and sometimes challenge, his motivations.

Eas Attacks! The Birth of Dark Mercury! Labyrinth Executive Eas jumps Ami Mizuno outside her cram school, wanting useful Earth intel from a smart Earth girl, and quickly discovers that her opponent is a listless, largely helpless Sailor Mercury, lost without her dreams. Upon defeating her, Eas drags Ami back to her evil mansion, where she is filled with the dark power of Labyrinth, brainwashing her into becoming their agent. The symbol of this darkness was a blue Data Diamond, which they built into her tiara. And so, Dark Mercury was born and began going on missions to gather Misery Energy for Labyrinth by creating Nakewameke and both tormenting and fighting her former friends.

Collateral Damage! Destructive Monsters On A Rampage! There are a number of at first seemingly-unconnected attacks at a variety of popular public locations; Penguin Park alongside Tokyo Bay, Dream Land Theme Park, Clover Town Street and Hikawa Shrine all become battlefields. The attackers tend to be acidic in nature and especially monstrous even by magical girl standards, not at all the weird-humanoid variety of youma, but very alien with slavering fangs and immense claws, and in every case, with a glowing red rune on their forehead of unknown origin. Even when they’re successfully destroyed by magical girl defenders, there tends to be lingering damage that will be very expensive to repair. It isn’t immediately obvious, but in all cases these restorations are paid for by generous, anonymous charitable donations, in exchange for the display of a modern art installation that looks like a weird, many-sided mirror on each site, except for Dream Land, which is bought outright by the Easter Corporation (and a mirror is installed there too).

Liches and Labyrinths! Game Night At Madoka's House! In an act of superlative diplomacy, Madoka Kaname manages to assemble Mami Tomoe, Kyouko Sakura, Homura Akemi, Eri Shimanouchi and Sayaka Miki around a table at her house, hoping that they can all play a fun game together and mend some fairly wounded fences. Sayaka's suggestion that this be a Dungeons and Dragons game may have fatally wounded any hope of forging unity from the outset, but when the rather bickering-filled game is crashed by a Witch forming a Labyrinth right on top of the group, separating Madoka from the others, the fantasy of being heroes fighting monsters and saving damsels becomes a terrible reality. In the aftermath, Mami finds out that the enchanted baseball bat she gave Sayaka to help defend herself during their evening outings, has been being secretly used to seek out trouble, fighting other monsters alongside Kyouko. Mami leaves in a huff, feeling devastated and betrayed, and the evening ends poorly.

Spring 2014

Rite of Spring! What Makes A Flower A Flower? What Makes The Sun The Sun? For some reason, the cherry blossoms -- and all the other spring flowers -- are weirdly late to bloom across Tokyo, their buds remaining stubbornly, tightly closed. On the evening of the Vernal Equinox, softly colored balls of light are seen rushing towards Ueno Park in the heart of Tokyo -- flower fairies, who gather together to fight a shadowy figure for their right to blossom. But the shadow consumes and corrupts them. The magical girls have to first remind the berserk fairies who they are and why they're important, and then confront the shadow -- which turns out to be the spirit of the resentful Sun, who, if she isn't reminded of how she makes everyone feel, will turn into an ordinary ball of gas upon the first dawn of spring! This crisis is averted through an outpouring of love, and people gather to watch the flowers of Tokyo blossom at last in a glorious cacophony of sight and scent.

Graduation Day! Endings And Beginnings... The school year ends, and everyone advances. The 9th-graders, having survived their high school entrance exams, collect their diplomas and leave for their new school buildings. When helping prepare for their ceremony at Juuban Public School, they discover a set of old photographs, an ominous camera, and a ghost.

Spring Break! A Mysterious Ritual At Library Island... Magical girls who defended the World Tree (and the mysterious sparkly ritual taking place there) from a horde of shadows a few months back recognize a similar dynamic at work when, in the midst of a quiet Spring Break, that sense of terrible wrongness and mystical disbalance draws them to Infinity Institute’s Library Island, the labyrinthine dungeon in the nearby lake. The Library itself has a mystical sentience that helps them fight back an army of shadowy katanas, but when they reach the shadow’s goal at the heart of the labyrinth, those same little girls in diaphanous gowns and shiny tiaras, they witness something strange: the girls’ ritual appears to summon a red-rune-marked monster larvae superficially similar to the ones that attacked and nearly destroyed places like Dream Land and Hikawa Shrine a few weeks ago, and then somehow forces the substance of the island to absorb the monster directly into it. Mai Tokiha recognizes this monster as an Orphan, the HiME’s sacred foe. And everyone realizes, as the little girls are evacuated by, of all things, flashbang-wielding masked men on ziplines from helicopters, leaving nothing but real, non-magical glitter and some kind of shattered device behind, that they may have been had, both at the World Tree, and then again in the Library today, in terms of who or what they were really supposed to protect...

Tokyo Tower Is A Tasty Treat?! Vita’s Dragonslaying Distraction! At the behest of their mysterious benefactors in Ends of the World, Vita of the Wolkenritter allows the Book of Darkness to disgorge the power -- and, by extension, reform the body -- of a massive, magic-eating dragon they had previously collected from a magical world, and sends it to tear down Tokyo Tower. At the same time, that sense of mystical wrongness pops back up again, and everyone reasonably assumes, as they’re supposed to, that the dragon attack on the Tower is to blame. While the magical girls defeat the dragon, a strike force of more red-runed Orphans, white-plated robots and golden-masked lieutenants have mounted a full-scale invasion of the Magic Association’s Kanto headquarters, under St. Ursula’s Church, across town. (This is totally Ends of the World at work and has been all along, a joint operation led by Searrs Corporation and the Order of the Glittering Crux, but the magical girls don’t know any of those names.)

• Confrontation at St. Ursula’s Church! Who Controls the World Tree? Once the magical girls have defeated the dragon at Tokyo, it’s clear that the mystical disbalance, the Wrongness wasn’t resolved at all; the tiny angel-winged lion-cub plushy-esque critter Kero-chan comes with an SOS, and everyone rushes to St. Ursula’s and arrives around the same time as the mysterious, Orphan-summoning little girls from Library Island and the World Tree, who are being ushered behind the secured perimeter to do what they do, presumably. The magical girls fight their way through the hostile forces occupying the Church, assisting beleaguered Magic Association witches as they go, but in the end, though they drive off the invaders, led by a disguised Miyu Greer, they’re too late; Alyssa Searrs and her artificial HiME team (known as PRInCESSes) have implanted another Orphan larvae, this time in the Magic Association’s basement, in some kind of sacred chamber. Having accomplished their goal, they escape, allowing the Magic Association to regain their home.
• Dire Portents! Kaoruko Explains It All! Kaoruko Hanasaki, an elder member of the Association, explains that this sacred chamber contains one of the World Tree’s several “control points,” mystical nexuses of power that, when the World Tree releases its power once every hundred years, are used to harness that power -- whoever occupies the most control points will get the power, and the power is scheduled to release later this year, in 2014. The Orphan larvae at Library Island, here at St. Ursula’s, and in the World Tree itself are undoubtedly part of an effort to redirect that mystical energy to geographically shift the location of the Magic Association HQ’s control point to... somewhere else, presumably under the control of whoever is summoning these Orphans. And in the time it takes Kaoruko to explain all this, the weird eight-sided mirrors installed at Clover Town Street, Penguin Park, Dream Land, Hikawa Shrine, and one on top of a skyscraper owned and operated by these people in the first place, activate some kind of mystical energy beam, which arcs between the Orphans emplaced at Library Island, the World Tree, and St. Ursula’s. But then (the hits just keep on comin’), Soular, a Labyrinth Executive of Dark Fall, activates a series of Data Diamonds he planted on the geomancy mirrors over the last month, transforming each mirror into a monstrous Nakewameke youma, and instead of moving the Control Point somewhere, all that mystical energy is simply drained, and disappears, as do the five Nakewamekes themselves, who leap into the sky.
• Dark Fall's Payback! The Best Laid Plans of Ends... So, to summarize the big picture more clearly than anyone sees it in-character: In anticipation of the World Tree producing apocalyptic amounts of magical energy later this year, Ends of the World tried to steal one of the World Tree control points out from under the Magic Association by using a combination of Orphan larvae and feng shui mirrors that they installed across Tokyo (by trashing the necessary locations with fully grown Orphans, then anonymously donating towards the repairs on the condition that their mirrors would be installed), but at the last minute, they were sabotaged by Dark Fall, who took all their hard work and turned it into five gigantic super-youma. (This might have also been payback for Winter 2013, when Dark Fall labored for months to unleash the power of the seven star shards, and at the last minute, Ends of the World collected them all and used them to power a wish for world domination.) And now one of the World Tree’s control points is nowhere at all, its mystical energies contained within said five monsters rather than bound to any geographical location.

The Awesome Power Of Feng Shui! The World Tree Is In Danger! A few days later, the five Mirror Nakewamekes reappear in the forests of Tama, which is unusually problematic because it’s Golden Week and it feels like half of Tokyo has gone camping -- a lot of people are in danger. Magical girls are able to defeat the monsters by shattering their mirror-bodies, but the stolen mystical energy of the World Tree’s control point has to go somewhere, and is now apparently uncontrollable by any party. Carrying Soular’s evil circuitry with it, it transforms into a massive tree of pure energy, hundreds of feet tall, with roots ripping into the ground to drain all the energy of the forest -- and surely within hours, nearby Tokyo -- into itself. The magical girls manage to defeat this final monster, saving Tokyo and very probably the world, which causes the unbound mystical energy to soar off to the East. Unknown to anyone but the Labyrinth conspirators who pulled it off, the World Tree’s missing control point finally reforms inside the Desolate Mansion in Tama, one of Dark Fall’s Earthly fortresses, giving them one more piece of the harness that will one day control an apocalyptic amount of magic, when it’s released by the World Tree later in the year.

• The Big Picture! The Dark Future of the World Tree?! The other four of the World Tree’s five control points, for the record, are well-documented thanks to many centuries of magical study, and while the typical magical girl doesn’t know where they are, sages in all four organizations do. As of Spring 2014, they remain at their original locations: under Infinity Institute’s skyscraper (the Magic Association thinks they have control of it, but secretly, Dark Fall probably does, a good out-of-character summary of the entire situation at Infinity), Library Island (ditto), in a secret cavern system underneath Jindai Botanical Gardens (this one’s still under the Magic Association’s care, for now), and -- because of course it is -- underneath Tokyo Tower (which is more of a no-man's-land, in terms of who “controls” it, than the Magic Association would like to admit). In other words, for those of you following along at home, the Magic Association thinks they still have 4/5 of the control points, 3/5 at worst if they can’t hold Tokyo Tower, when in reality (assuming they can hold Infinity Institute and Library Island once they finally show their hand), Dark Fall just secretly established a 3/5 majority.

Placeholder: sorrow’s sea plot, a strange exhibit

Cooking Club Calamity! Challenge In The Chairman's Arena! The Infinity Cooking Club, advised by the bunny Gordon, is visited by the Kyoto Culinary Institute, whose leader, a keeper of very traditional Japanese cuisine, despises Gordon's more fusion-based cooking and challenges him for control of Infinity's students. The Chairman, a mysterious figure in the magical cooking world, intercedes, sending the conflict to be played out in his mystical cooking Arena. Poissonnier Kuniko Saitou, Gordon's best student, is chosen as Infinity's champion, and assisted in the kitchen by many of her friends; together they manage to triumph over the KCI (making a few new friends and rivals along the way), and even impress one of their final judges, a Jewel of Cuisine, the highest title given to a magical chef!

Clow Card Chaos! Sakura's Busy Month... Cardcaptor Sakura has been active since the beginning, but has an especially busy month of May, capturing The Watery at an aquarium, The Flower at a charity footrace, and The Shadow at Juuban Elementary School, in rapid succession.

Hearts As One! Dark Mercury Redeemed! After almost succeeding at reminding Dark Mercury of her true feelings as Ami Mizuno, and then getting interrupted by Eas, the second time, a combination of Sailor Senshi and Pretty Cure allies fight off Eas so that they can finish the job. Surrounded by the love of her friends, Dark Mercury shatters the brainwashing of Labyrinth, and becomes Sailor Mercury once more.

Plum Pox Purge! Soothe the Spirits! Plum blossom season has ended, and one of Tokyo's most popular viewing spots, Umeno Park in Ome, has finished the season with a sad announcement: it is chopping down all 1,266 of its famous plum trees to prevent the spread of a disease called plum pox. The city plans to replant the park once the area has been free of plum pox for three years... but not everyone is going to let them go quietly. Shining Rune Maiden Akemi and her friends intercede when the construction workers are placed in danger by a furious, frustrated, grief-ridden forest spirit. Ultimately they calm the spirit, who is reborn into a mystical plum pit, to be someday planted anew somewhere safe.

Seismic Sentiments! A Jewel Seed Quake! Fate's growing desperation to find the Jewel Seeds drives her to recklessly summon a massive maelstrom over downtown Tokyo, causing one to activate. The myriad of feelings and wishes of the Magical Girls that fight to possess it cause a dimensional quake. In an attempt to stop the distortion before it grew out of control and consumed the city, Fate rashly grasps it within her hands and wills it to seal, causing the quake to still just in time. The TSAB, Magic Association, and Tuners are alerted to how dangerous these Lost Logia can be and begin their efforts to stop the young mage.

Dark Fall's Revenge on Pretty Cure! A Miracle Gathering! The evil amalgam Fusion returns with help from Eas, Siren, Dark Precure and Majorina, who collaborate in order to absorb the power of the Pretty Cure, then defeat them. Once they're out of the way, Tokyo's next! Pretty Cure converge and unite on the battlefield to stand up against this threat, finding the strength to do so in each other, side by side and hand in hand.

Three Cultural Festivals In One Week! Fun For All! The Sister Schools hold their annual Cultural Festivals (a yearly school fair where students transform their classrooms and courtyards into exhibits, events, and even restaurants), one after the other. Each of them chooses a theme; Infinity does the Halls of Endless Horrors, with emphasis on spooky aesthetics and haunted houses. Ohtori transforms themselves into the Circus of Whimsy, with a festival budget that dwarfs most schools' annual funding, and a central game show-like event where students can dazzle their peers and receive grand prizes bestowed by the Student Council. Juuban's centerpiece is the elaborate Cafe Grande, a huge restaurant produced by multiple classes which dwarfs the more typical yakisoba stands in both ambition and results -- and when a magic spell causes the student workers to shrink down to one-twelfth of their normal size, they have to scramble to fill orders without letting anyone realize their tiny predicament!

There Are Two Miki Kaorus? Sayaka's Dueling Gambit! Sayaka Miki overhears talk of the unlimited magical power of the Dueling Games and steals Miki Kaoru's Ends of the World invitation letter, fencing sword, Rose Signet and school uniform, hoping to defeat Utena Tenjou and use the revolutionary power granted to the victor to heal Miki's shattered hand. She is further encouraged in this gambit by Touga Kiryuu, though Kozue Kaoru, Miki's twin, is disparaging about this girl so clearly romantically interested in her brother. However, before Sayaka gets a chance to duel Utena, Juri Arisugawa interferes, pointing out that it isn't Sayaka's turn to challenge The One Engaged, and demands that Sayaka defeat her in order to advance to Utena -- and then defeats Sayaka completely. Sayaka secretly returns Miki's belongings, and starts to consider other ways to gain a miracle in order to heal Miki's hand.

Museum Mayhem! The Black Knight Conquers... The Museum of Western Art is having a Dark Ages exhibit, and it's a race between magical girl thieves like Kaitou Jeanne, magical knights like Lancelot, and deadly adversaries, to see who will claim Arthur's powerful and sacred scabbard. The Black Knight appears for the first time, and lays waste to all around them. They leave the scabbard with Lancelot, but not before shattering its form, and its power. How will the Knights of the Round Table Reborn fix their artifact?

Useless! Useless! Useless! X-Eggs Attack Ohtori Students! The eggs of children’s dreams are being forcibly extracted by an unknown party, at which point they transform into monsters. If these monsters are destroyed rather than purified, their child’s dream will be destroyed too! Fortunately, Amu and the Ohtori Guardians are on the case, and they go about purifying X-Eggs as they arise, including that of an archery student, and notably a member of the journalism club, Tsubomi Kisaragi, who is able to testify that the teacher Yuu Nikaidou was present when her X-Egg was stolen. He resigns from his position as an elementary school teacher at Ohtori faster than he can be found, and disappears.

Vampires At Ohtori?! Monsters Prowl By Moonlight... Girls walking alone at night on Southern Cross Island suffer a rash of attacks by an unseen adversary who leaves them bruised and terrified. The Student Council steps up nighttime patrols, and when that fails to catch the culprit, institutes an actual, enforced early curfew (to much grumbling). Assisted anonymously by magical girls, they discover not a monster but, very unexpectedly, the choir coach Sister Yukariko Sanada, who is taken into custody, and later released when no further evidence can be found.

Tokyo Invaded By The Stars! Nephrite's Betrayal! An army of demons pour through a portal ripped open in the skies above Tokyo by Queen Beryl -- constellation demons, summoned and led by Dark General Nephrite in his last chance to defeat the Sailor Senshi and claim Tokyo. The city becomes a battlefield, and in the midst of the chaos, Sailor Jupiter confronts Nephrite, convincing him at last to lay down his arms and cease to support his unjust cause. Just as he turns to her, however, he's executed by Zoisite, by the simple expedient of being stabbed in the back. Tokyo is saved, but ancient and modern griefs linger...

The Moon Princess Revealed! Tears of Grief and Joy! A challenge for the Moon Princess lures the Sailor Senshi to the Searrs Symphony Hall, where Sailor Venus, believed at the time to be the Moon Princess, is killed in battle by Zoisite. Sailor Moon rushes the stage and weeps over her friend -- the Silver Crystal emerges, revealing her true identity as the real Princess Serenity, heir of the Silver Millennium and the Moon Kingdom. Shielded by Sailor Mars, she revives Venus, and then all of the senshi blast Zoisite into oblivion. Kunzite arrives to comfort him in his final moments, giving him a beautiful death, then swears vengeance on the girls.

Summer 2014

Ueno Park Overrun By Witches! Eri's First Territory, Sayaka's Big Debut! Kyouko uses Grief Seeds to hatch Witches directly on top of rival Puella Magi, plotting to dispose of the current hunter of Ueno Park. This works a little too well, creating a situation where multiple Witches are rapidly spawning familiars, and a labyrinth is growing out of control, centered in the Museum of Western Art. Puella Magi and a few allies converge on the scene and narrowly manage to defeat the Witches; Sayaka, having recently secretly wished to heal Miki Kaoru's hand, makes her Puella Magi debut (outside of Madoka, who she rescued from a Witch within hours of her wish, and thus already knew). In the aftermath, Eri claims Ueno as her territory, while Sayaka and Mami decide to become a Puella Magi duo.

There's No Such Thing As Vampires! Oil Refinery Fire! Suspicious of the lack of results in the investigation of Sister Yukariko Sanada, HiME Midori Sugiura seeks the true source of the "vampires" that were attacking students at Ohtori during the spring. She stumbles on Searrs' headquarters underneath the school chapel, and is captured, then used as bait to draw known HiME including Mai Tokiha, Natsuki Kuga, Mikoto Minagi and Kozue Kaoru, plus other allies, into battle at a coastal oil refinery in Keiyo Industrial District. Miyu Greer and Alyssa Searrs reveal themselves as the summoners of these vampires (which were really Orphans under her control all along, as were many of the monsters who spent the spring attacking locations like Hikawa Shrine and the Dreamland Theme Park), and flee when they fail to defeat any of their enemies. Kagutsuchi's dragonbreath irreparably damages the oil refinery, leading to conflict between Mai Tokiha and the offended Mami Tomoe.

The Star Festival! Be Careful What You Wish For! Tanabata is here at last, celebrating the legend of lovers who meet but once a year, and involving, among other rituals, writing a wish down on a slip of paper and tying it to a bamboo frond. But when a mysterious force starts granting some of these wishes, chaos erupts. Most of the wishes are granted capriciously, such as someone wishing for a dog receiving a stuffed animal, or someone wishing to be a better writer gaining the talents of William Shakespeare... in English, not Japanese. But magical girls have to intercede when a wish for the death of a rival nearly leads to a major car accident, and are unable to immediately uncover the power behind these mysterious events.

The Great Egg Caper! Yuu Nikaidou’s Dream! Having resigned from his position as an elementary school teacher at Ohtori Academy after being caught turning students’ dreams into X-Eggs, Yuu has retreated to a secret cabin in the woods to continue to work on his nefarious X-Egg project. Once he’s tracked down, he escapes again, first to an Easter building in Yamanote, and finally, now with Amu’s green Guardian Egg as his hostage, to an old Eastern employee dorm outside of Tokyo. Amu and her friends fight past his robotic guardians to reach out to their former teacher, and help him remember his true dream. Touched by their care (and their lovebeams), he abandons the Easter Corporation and returns to Ohtori as the robotics club advisor.

Maelstrom of Grief! A Jewel Seed Nakewameke?! Fate Testarossa, Arf, and Westar, executive of Labyrinth, join forces in the activation of six Jewel Seeds over Tokyo Bay which quickly go out of control. Having anticipated this, a grumpy masked individual (Chrono Harlaown) places a barrier over the ocean to attempt to entrap and overwhelm them. The Magical Girls of Tokyo decide to enter the barrier anyhow to save the three, Nanoha Takamachi extending her hand to Fate again in friendship. Westar decides to take control of the situation by transforming the Jewel Seeds into an out of control Nakewameke, which promptly shatters the barrier and knocks both the Executive and Fate senseless. Before the Nakewameke monstrosity can make landfall, the Magical Girls of Tokyo sever the connections of Labyrinth tech, causing the Jewel Seeds to go dormant. They're collected by Nanoha Takamachi.

Placeholder: Wishes Before Obon! Remembering Lost Friends!

Kunzite Hunts The Moon Princess! Glorious Princess Gatherings! Kunzite, the only surviving member of Queen Beryl’s Four Heavenly Kings, is determined to see the Moon Princess dead for her many sins. To this end, he tries to lure her into a series of Princess-themed traps, in order to identify her civilian self, such as the Princess Seminar, a multi-day charm school course in being a princess, and Princess On Ice, an ice skating competition which is also rather romantic (rumor has it the Moon Princess was a talented skater). He never fails to attract Usagi and her friends to these events, but can’t pick her out of the crowd -- while they inevitably shut down his operations once he reveals himself.

School's Out For Summer! A Long Hot Summer Vacation Begins! Unlike winter break, the school trip will be at the end of summer instead of the beginning. Freed from most of the burdens of school (except for their summer homework, which they're expected to complete before summer's end), the girls enjoy vacation at home in Tokyo.

The Jewel Seeds Incident Reaches Its Climax! Precia Seeks Eternity In Al-Hazard! With all the known Jewel Seeds discovered and claimed by either Fate or Nanoha, events move quickly, as Nanoha is determined to seal these dangerous artifacts away permanently before they cause another dimensional Quake, while Fate is desperate to satisfy Precia’s demands for the Jewel Seeds, but has no idea why she wants to go to the legendary and lost realm of Al-Hazard so badly...

• Fate and Nanoha’s Grand Duel! Homura Steals The Jewel Seeds?! Nanoha calls Fate out over the Rainbow bridge placing all of her Jewel Seeds on the line against Fate's. The executives of Labyrinth and magical girls all over the city observe the clash that follows. Despite what looks like an easy early victory for young Testarossa, Nanoha unleashes her ultimate attack, the Starlight Breaker, and claims victory. Precia Testarossa unleashes a powerful dimensional attack in an attempt to kill her daughter and take control of all the Jewel Seeds, but not only is the attack blocked by Westar, who extracts the mage, but the Jewel Seeds are found to be missing in the aftermath, stolen between seconds by Homura Akemi. In the aftermath, Lindy Harlaown tries and fails to get permission from the TSAB to pursue, and secretly goes to the Tuner Organization instead.
• Hot Pursuit! Precia Gets The Jewel Seeds -- and Chrono! During the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival, Precia Testarossa unleashes a number of her Jewel Drones on Asakusa to hunt down Homura Akemi. She's found making her stand atop a tower, and quickly engaged by Mami Tomoe, who hopes to seize the jewel seeds from her Puella Magi rival. It quickly becomes a heated battle between the Magical Girls of Tokyo, the Jewel Drones, and Homura Akemi. Unfortunately it ends only in tragedy, as the only victor of this battle is Precia, who reclaims all of the Jewel Seeds. Disobeying his mother's orders, Chrono Harlaown makes a solo move on the Garden of Time and is swiftly taken hostage by the Grand Magus.
• A Heart-Felt Plea! Fate and Nanoha Reunite! As a result of the hostage situation they face, Lindy Harlaown agrees to teleport a small force into Labyrinth's base on Earth, the Fortuneteller's mansion. Nanoha Takamachi, Lera Camry, and other mages who fought against Fate confront the girl and the Executives of Labyrinth, making their plea that Precia will destroy the world if she's allowed to make her wish. Fate is eventually swayed and submits herself to Tuner custody, earning her the contempt of Eas.
• A Mother’s Love? Project Fate Is Revealed! On behalf of the Tuners, Lindy Harlaown attempts to bargain with Precia Testarossa for the release of her son. Fate shares her feelings with her mother, and is laughed at. Her origin of being a clone with only the memories of Precia's true daughter, Alicia is revealed. The epiphany renders Fate catatonic, while Arf completes her covert mission into the Garden of Time and rescues Chrono, paving the way for the subsequent assault. Lindy Harlaown vows that Precia will never hurt Fate again.
• The Garden of Time! Precia’s Endless Journey! The assault on the Garden of Time begins, and the mages and Magical Girls of Tokyo find their way barred by Eas, Executive of Labyrinth. Wielding Jewel Seed powered armor and joined by Precia's Drone army, the Magical Girls nearly fall at the Garden's doorstep. Fortunately the armor overloads before she can wipe them out. Fate awakens from her catatonia, and empowers the battle worn Magical Girls to continue their journey into the bowels of the Garden of Time. Facing down both distortions in time and the grief stricken, power mad magus herself; Fate makes a heartfelt plea to her mother and is rebuffed. The Magical Girls of Tokyo ultimately manage to pull through when Precia makes a mother's choice to keep a promise and falls into Dimensional Space with the body of her daughter Alicia in tow. The Dimensional tears in space ripped asunder by Precia are ultimately sealed by the efforts of those involved, but there’s lasting damage to subspace, cutting Earth off from Midchilda perhaps indefinitely. That’s just as well, because the Time-Space Administration Bureau is forbidden by the Magic Association from further meddling on Earth (secretly, this is the successful fruition of decades of work by Ends of the World to drive a wedge between the two organizations), and disavow Lindy and her crew as traitors who refused to follow orders to back off. Stripped of the Arthra, they permanently join the Tuner Organization instead (having worked well together during the Jewel Seeds Incident), and begin their new lives in exile on Earth.

Kunzite Dies In Orbit! Tuxedo Mask Kidnapped! At the behest of his mistress, Kunzite freezes Tokyo to prepare it for Queen Beryl’s arrival (as her idea of decor is “like the North Pole”). Naturally, the magical girls respond en masse, which is just as he’d hoped, since he’d like some payback against Sailor Moon and has found a powerful dark crystal to help him get it. The fight ultimately goes up into space, where Kunzite is finally defeated by an invocation of the Sailor Planet Attack. While all that was happening, however, Queen Beryl sent the DD Girls to retrieve Tuxedo Mask, also known as her favored Prince Endymion, and take him to her fortress, where his brainwashing can begin...

The Friends of My Enemies! Jaren Zastava and the Guardian of Ten Thousand Points! Jaren Zastava, long pursuing Ren Aizawa for her Intelligent Device, has gotten desperate. He decides to make his mysterious employer satisfied by raising a powerful Ancient Belkan Lost Logia: Citadel, the Guardian of Ten-Thousand Points!

• Lera versus Jaren! Sky's Fate! He succeeds in this, which angers Lera Camry. She runs off to fight him and loses badly, her Device taken, and she almost died except Eas rescues her and goes against everything Labyrinth believes in.
• Mothers and Daughters! Friends Fight Foes! With some help Help from her friends, Lera reconciles with her mother and comes up with a plan to save her Device, recapture Jaren's, and deal with Citadel. Which is good, because they discover Citadel's plan!
• Citadel's Impenetrable Barrier! A Place to Call Home! Citadel, desperate to return to Ancient Belka -- and refusing to believe it is lost -- makes a huge barrier around Tokyo Tower. He decides to power up, then teleport everything inside of the barrier... either to Ancient Belka or into the waiting hands of Jaren's employer. Who is most displeased. Thankfully, working together, Lera, Ren, Endo, Fate, and the other magical girls stop Jaren and Citadel. Tokyo Tower is saved, Broken Ground is recovered, and Citadel doesn't have a home... but maybe he can find a new one. Everyone can breathe easy, except for Jaren and the mysterious man he worked for.

Ghost Story Season! Tokyo Is Haunted?! Summer is the season for ghost stories, but they all start coming true, as girls first feel themselves being watched by something dead right out of the corners of their eyes, which later escalates to being trapped in a haunted haze and seeing the ghost of their most precious loved one. The one behind it all is Labyrinth Executive Soular, whose Ghost Nakewameke is defeated at last, freeing everyone from these terrifying illusions of the dead.

To The Moon! The Silverine Dreaming... Sailors Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus and Jupiter are led by their mascot moon cats, Luna and Artemis, to teleport to the ruins of the Moon Kingdom in search of answers about Queen Beryl and the terrible events of the past. While there, the memories of their past lives overtake them so strongly that they relive the fall of the Silver Millennium -- Endymion’s betrayal by his Four Heavenly Kings, Beryl’s attack, the Inner Senshi and Endymion’s deaths, Princess Serenity’s suicide and Queen Serenity’s sacrifice. The mystical resonance of these memories are so strong that every magical girl in Tokyo winds up experiencing the final moments of Queen Serenity’s life in a dream, including her Three Wishes upon the Silver Crystal, which banished evil from Earth, established the magically-enforced phenomenon of Recognition Inhibition, and rewrote reality to demand that, whenever darkness rises, there will always be light to oppose it in the form of magical girls. Afterwards, Sailor Venus reclaims the cursed but sacred sword that is the mark of her status as the leader of Princess Serenity’s bodyguards, then Usagi and her friends return to Earth, knowing that they must soon face Queen Beryl and her darker mistress, Queen Metallia, before history repeats and everything is destroyed.

All The Summer Homework Is Gone!! Save The Final Days of Vacation! In perhaps their most monstrous move ever, an impressive team-up of major-league villains, including Queen Beryl and Chief Executive Northa of Dark Fall, plus (anonymously) Akio Ohtori and the Head of the Order of the Glittering Crux, both of Ends of the World, make it possible for every single piece of summer homework done by diligent students over the break to vanish into their possession. Then they load it up into a monster which, when magical girls stop it from smashing up Tokyo, causes the resonance between their magic and their workbooks to create a clear link between the two; the monster’s defeat sends most of Tokyo’s homework back to their owners, but the magically tagged ones are safely teleported back to the villains, and then used to create an address list to which a ransom note (for the homework) is sent. The girls naturally respond, walking knowingly into a trap by following directions to caverns under Southern Cross Island, where they first experience the cosmic, psychedelic phenomenon of Zero Time as a Cybody is activated and remote controlled by Northa, using a Sorewatase seed (like a monster larvae) as a pilot. It’s an awful battle (Cybodies are hundreds of feet tall before being further enhanced by the power of despair), and only with the heartfelt belief from the normal students of Tokyo reaching them can they prevail, but they manage to triumph, and in so doing, reclaim. Now nobody has to spend the last few days of summer frantically redoing everything (which would have created a lot of energy for the bad guys to drain, their basic plan other than “creating a list of dozens of magical girl addresses, even if they aren’t sure who is who”), except, of course, for any slackers who never started their homework in the first place...

Final Showdown At The North Pole! The Fall of the Dark Queen!! Beryl casts a spell that possesses the reflection of every magical girl in Tokyo, in order to deliver a threat and a challenge: she will wipe humanity from the Earth tomorrow, unless she’s stopped at the North Pole. Just to make orientation even easier, Beryl sends up a massive pillar of darkness into the sky from her position, which looks like a geyser torn from the heart of the world. This ‘dark aurora’ is reported on by news networks and is a source of considerable, worldwide wonder and bafflement, but the magical girls know what’s up; the Magic Association opens a portal, the Tuner Organization sends helicopters, and numerous other girls find their own ways to the North Pole, whether by teleporting, by riding a-dragonback, or through other means.

• The Battle of the Dark Kingdom! Queen Beryl’s Dark Wish!! Upon arriving at the North Pole, this unprecedentedly large assembly of magical girls discover that the column of pure darkness is, in fact, a worse experience at close proximity than the terrible cold of the Arctic. The darkness is an identity, breathing, pulsing, an unstoppable assault on the senses. There is little time to analyze or philosophize, however; Mamoru Chiba, missing since the night Kunzite met his end, reveals himself as Dark Endymion, standing at the head of a seemingly-endless army of darkness composed of the entire remaining forces of the Dark Kingdom, which erupts from the ice to surround the magical girls on all sides! The battle, fought in a torrential, unnatural ice storm, is savage; it is also a distraction, with Sailor Moon and her court reluctantly seizing this opportunity to slip past enemy lines towards the dark fortress itself, while Queen Beryl is using this bought time to enact a dark ritual of scope unseen since the Silver Millennium. Invoking the powers of all the Dark Queens and Evil Witches slain throughout history, she channels their rage and grief into the pillar of darkness, and then through herself. Just as the battle is won by the magical girls, the war is lost; Queen Beryl speaks seven words in a cruel and hateful inverse of the wish Queen Serenity used in a bygone age to seal Evil away from the world. “NEVER AGAIN SHALL LIGHT TOUCH THESE SHORES!”
• Every Magical Girl, Banished From Earth!! Adventures Adrift In The Multidimensional Chaos World! Queen Beryl’s dark wish warps reality, causing every magical girl to vanish without a trace -- all warriors with the light of hope in their hearts, every last one on the planet (except for five in particular whom she wants to murder personally). They find themselves scattered between time and beyond space, in a twisted tangle of dimensions known only in hushed whispers as the Multidimensional Chaos World. There they battle everything from endless deserts to giant robots to dinosaurs, all the while pursued by their most familiar foes, who have seized on this opportunity to try to destroy their enemies for good. Notably, Nagihiko Fujisaki comes to terms with his love of athletics and hip hop, and he and his newborn Chara first transform into Beat Jumper. Gradually, magical girls reunite with one another, and small groups of magical girls eventually discover a single, crystalline flower of scintillating colors. They sense that normally, it would transport them back to Earth, but Beryl’s curse is barring the way; however, within the petals there is a vision, allowing them to witness and cheer on the last magical girls on Earth, as they make their way into the heart of darkness.
• Death of the Inner Senshi! Usagi Alone At The North Pole... While the massive battle rages at the North Pole, Sailors Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus sneak around to the back door, the secret entrance to the Dark Kingdom known simply as D Point. Every step of the way is agonizing, the cold and darkness wearing them down, draining their will to fight. But the toxic magic and environmental hazards have nothing on the agony of seeing tortured loved ones, and it is with these illusions -- starting with Ami Mizuno’s mother and Minako Aino’s mascot Artemis, that Mercury and Jupiter (acting to protect Sailor Moon) are lured to their deaths, butchered by the DD Girls, who’ve returned for their rematch after their near-victory at Tokyo Tower what now feels like a lifetime ago. The battle that rages from there shatters the ice plain, and Venus perishes taking two more of them out below, leaving only Mars and Moon to traverse the frightening, labyrinthine tunnels of their enemy’s lair. In the deeps, they come upon a seemingly tortured but lucid Tuxedo Kamen, and Mars perishes defeating the disguised leader of the DD Girls, before she can take Sailor Moon by surprise. In this same moment, Beryl’s evil wish reverberates through the dark, leaving Usagi as, truly, the last magical girl on Earth.
• Sailor Moon vs. Dark Endymion! The Tragic End Of A Miracle Romance?! Sailor Moon, bereft at the death of her closest friends, nonetheless manages to stagger her way into the throne room, where Queen Beryl waits for her, attended by Dark Endymion. He eagerly attempts to slay who he believes to be the ancient betrayer of his Golden Kingdom, while Usagi, reluctantly, decides to fight back, so that her friends’ sacrifice will not have been made in vain. But she also shares words with him, words and her feelings, allowing Endymion to regain control of his heart. Once he has no further use to her as a meat puppet, Beryl extracts the last of his usefulness by murdering him in front of Sailor Moon’s devastated eyes. He dies in her arms... and Usagi, in a crescendo of righteous anger and passion, rises to confront her ancient foe.
• What Does It Mean To Be A Normal Girl? Queen Beryl, Defeated By Hearts United As One! Sailor Moon and Queen Beryl clash on the icy floor of the throne room. But, despite Beryl’s continuous taunts to the contrary, Usagi gradually discovers that she isn’t fighting all alone -- she can feel the presence of her fallen, beloved teammates in her heart, surrounding and entwining her in their love; and she senses the adamant belief of the banished magical girls of Earth, cheering her on. In retaliation, Beryl shatters her crystal ball, breaking the last of the seals on her benefactor, the elemental evil Metallia, and channels all the dark energy her soul can handle, and more, against Sailor Moon’s Moon Healing Escalation. Empowered by the ghosts of her friends, who return to stand proudly behind her, Usagi once again becomes Princess Serenity and blasts through Queen Beryl’s hatred. As the Dark Queen dies, though, she gets in the last word: Serenity may have won the fight, but she’s already lost everything else.
• I Am Never Alone!! Metallia Is Vanquished By The Myriad Hopes of Earth! Princess Serenity weeps in a shattered icy cavern, surrounded by corpses, but the abyss of grief cannot contain her hope for the future. Making a heartfelt wish on the Silver Crystal, she shatters Queen Beryl’s curse, allowing the scattered magical girls of Earth to return, all of them appearing at her side. And those souls still close to this world, who fell in the costly battle for the North Pole, are welcomed back, too. Friends and allies are together again at last, but their joyful reunion is interrupted by the reanimation of Queen Beryl’s corpse by the dark power of the demonic Metallia, the true orchestrator of the fall of the Silver Millennium and the revival of the Dark Kingdom in the modern day. Finally, after countless ages and endless plans, Queen Metallia walks in flesh upon the Earth, and, after growing to a hundred feet in height, immediately begins satiating her hunger to consume every soul in existence, to cleanse this ugly, filthy world of the blight that is life. But the magical girls of Earth are there to confront her. She welcomes, even honors, their defiance, eagerly engaging them in the battle of their lives and everyone else’s, but the battle turns against her as the gathered Princesses of the Solar System don their royal mantles and together with the others invoke the light of hope in everyone’s hearts. As Metallia’s presence is finally and absolutely erased from existence, everyone hears the still, small voice of Queen Serenity in their hearts, urging them to live in happiness, and remember their most important identities, not as chosen warriors, but as ordinary girls.

Lord Moebius’ Cruel Weapon! Eas’ Eager Sacrifice! Having failed over and over to defeat Fresh Pretty Cure, including in the Multidimensional Chaos World, while Love, Miki and Buki meanwhile have tried to befriend her civilian identity as Setsuna Higashi, Eas begs for a last chance and is granted the Nakisabeke Card, which allows her to summon even more powerful monsters at the direct and painful expense of her lifeforce, every time. After the third confrontation, Eas discovered that she just couldn’t keep hurting these girls any longer; like it or not, they were her friends. She knew, however, that stopping her mission would be a betrayal of everything she stood for, so she determined that she would turn herself over to Lord Moebius’ judgement and her certain deletion. Love Momozono fights this decision, with fists and words, and finally convinces Eas to stay on Earth as Setsuna, and seek out her own happiness. An ordinary girl for a time, Setsuna is taken in by the Momozonos, and enrolled at Juuban Public School just in time for it to reconvene.

The Beach City Economic Exploration Exchange! The Crystal Gems Keep Tokyo Weird!! Due to an economic initiative spearheaded by Mayor Dewey, citizens of Beach City arrange to swap places with citizens of Tokyo, Japan, allowing for a voyage of cultural discovery! When Steven Universe realizes he’s losing virtually all of his friends, he becomes distraught; his Gem activates and warps the Temple onto the shores of Tokyo (where it is veiled by recognition inhibition into looking like a particularly weird, retro art installation). Now the people of Beach City have a new stage of their life to leap into, and the Crystal Gems have a lot more proximate people to protect! And, drawn by their presence, the many monstrous, corrupted Gems of Earth start to converge on the city... while Steven decides he’d like to try his first day of school at Juuban Elementary.

The End of Summer Vacation Is A School Trip! Sun, Sand and Sea at Okinawa! At the very end of summer vacation, the Sister Schools briefly reconvene to collect summer homework and permission slips, and then it’s off to Okinawa to explore the beaches, caves, jungles and cultural sites of Japan’s southern archipelago. There is an academic element to the trip, with a very structured morning and a series of optional events in the afternoon, with study time allotted to the evenings, but few teachers can keep a totally straight face while they sternly talk to their students about how this isn’t just a trip to the beach.

• Monster on a Plane! First Convention of the Mile-High Fight Club! After volunteer student chaperones for the elementary students run themselves ragged trying to herd them through the airport, they discover, to their horror, that the airplane full of tykes is being attacked in midair by some sort of gigantic, flying red monster! Magical girls take to the skies (sometimes by carrying each other, as many can’t fly) in order to fight a battle to defend the wings of the plane, which the Vermillion Beast seems bound and determined to tear asunder. After driving it off, it’s time for Okinawa!
• Beachside Band Battles and Beach Blanket Monsterthons! The tropical routine becomes a mix of classwork and field trips, including visits to pineapple plantations, distant island towns, and more! But there’s still plenty of time for the beach, where the Sister Schools music clubs set up a memorable battle of the bands -- and where the evil forces of King Ego are eager to stir up trouble by turning selfish impulses such as cutting in line into deadly monsters that will cut right through them, instead! Led by the Dokidoki! Pretty Cure, Cure Heart and Cure Sword, the magical girls beat back the Egogy, revive the victim and resume their fun in the sun.
• The Death of Eas! The Birth of Cure Passion!! On a field trip to the outlying island of Iriomote, home of the legendary and very endangered (and very adorable) jungle cat Yamamayaa, a hiking trip through the rainforest becomes disastrous when Love Momozono becomes separated from the group. While the group searches frantically for her, a projection of Labyrinth Executive Northa instructs Setsuna to hand herself over for execution... or others will die, starting with the “corruptive influence” of Love. She runs to the appointed place, followed by a group of magical girls unwilling to accept her sacrifice, and a battle ensues against the demonic plant Sorewatase planted there as a trap. Seeing her best friend in danger, Setsuna tries her hardest to free Love from her viney cage, only to be stabbed through the back and killed by one of the monster’s sharp roots. However, as the battle raged on, a tiny fairy, Akarun, rushed to where it sensed its fated partner, and merged with the girl who had once been an Executive of Labyrinth. Eas is reborn as Cure Passion, given new life and new purpose, now able to fight alongside her friends. Together the group overcomes the Sorewatase, leaving Setsuna to figure out the meaning of her new life.
• Return of the Vermillion Beast! Protect Naminoue Shrine! On a field trip exploring Naha, the capital of Okinawa, a group of students are given a tour of Naminoue Shrine, an ancient place of worship with a complex history involving the local traditions of the island. The Vermillion Beast that attacked an airplane heading for Okinawa returns, apparently hunting elementary schooler Mina Koruske, or perhaps the glowing golden pendant around her neck, which shines with blinding brightness as the monster approaches. After driving the Beast off, the shrine maiden at Naminoue advises them to seek out the local Sea Dragon God for help dealing with this foreign beast once and for all.
• Placeholder: stormy seas, sirens of sorrow’s sea marine biology field trip
• Hearts of Glass! A New Enemy Will Steal Your Pure Heart?! A field trip to Ryukyu Glass Works is interrupted by the first appearance of Eudial and a monstrous product of superscience called a Daimon! Her target is a well-regarded master glassmaker in his sixties, who had been giving the tour group lessons on how to make some simple glass crafts. Eudial is unable to hold onto the mysterious, glimmering crystal she extracts from his heart, but the daimon covers her escape as she retreats into the rainforest to report to the Death Busters and plan her next move.
• Prayers for the Sea Dragon God! Free the Vermillion Bird of the South! Like many powerful spirits, the Sea Dragon God is everywhere and nowhere, but the magical girls who wish an audience are advised that he can be petitioned at the back of an especially creepy cave. After passing through his trials of courage and compassion, he explains that the Vermillion Beast is actually the corrupted and controlled form of the Vermillion Bird of the South, a sacred Chinese beast who has no business here in Okinawa, and was undoubtedly sent by dark forces to gain Mina’s pendant, which is connected to the Bird and is the last thing that could save her... and her greater target, the Sea Dragon God himself. Magical girls lure the Vermillion Beast to the cave in order for Mina to perform the ritual that will cleanse her of whatever that controlling influence is, but it’s a desperate battle indeed to keep it close enough to heal while keeping it from killing anyone! They succeed in the end, the freed and grateful Vermillion Bird soaring south across the sea, and are left to ponder the Sea Dragon God’s hostility to all foreigners, including these visitors from Tokyo.

Back From Okinawa! Fall Semester Is In Session! All good things must come to an end, and summer finally does, too. The Sister Schools fly back to Tokyo and to ordinary classrooms, and begin anew their ordinary lives as the seasons turn and the leaves begin to redden. It’s crunch time for the large contingent of the cast who are now 9th-graders... high school entrance exam studying is starting to become all-consuming for some.

Fall 2014

Let The Future Reflected In The Mirror Turn Terrible! The Terribads Try To Take Tokyo!! With the magical realm called the Blue Sky Kingdom having fallen over the summer, there have been low-level incursions by the Phantom Empire on Earth, and, correspondingly, a few Pretty Cure recruited by their enemy, Blue, some of which have already fallen to Phantom, the Pretty Cure Hunter. But now the invasion commences in full force, with the Phantom Empire’s lieutenants making a massive push to turn humans into mighty monsters at their command! Mold-loving Namakelder and sweets-aficionado Hosshiwa are the first to appear, targeting everyone from fired-up coaches to enthusiastic cram school students to taiko drummers at an autumn festival. But the newly empowered Cure Fortune responds, along with many other magical girls eager to leap to their beloved city’s defense!

You People Have Too Much Money! Ohtori Hosts The 2014 Sister Schools Sports Festival!! It’s Ohtori’s turn to host the joint Sports Festival of the three Sister Schools, and it’s used as an exercise in leadership, with students taking the reins to organize truly epic events, not to mention the construction of their new arena. The opening ceremony is Olympic in scope. Despite all that, it’s a fun, if long, day of athletics, and both friendships and rivalries are spawned on the battlefield of sports. It concludes not with a bonfire dance but with a Grande Ball, with black-tie attire provided for every student by the Ohtori Fashion Club. But this glorious, glamorous night is shattered by the prismatic propagation of Zero Time, which draws the magical girls into combat with another gigantic magitechnological Cybody. They emerge triumphant but exhausted, only to discover that, of all things, paramilitary tanks and other armament have surrounded the campus, and to cap things off, the bridge connecting Southern Cross Island to mainland Tokyo is blown to smithereens by a titantic golden explosion. There’s no escape from this...

• Occupied!! The Searrs Foundation Takes Over Ohtori Academy! The Golden Age PMC forces have filled the island with soldiers and tanks, and surrounded it with warships, explain to the students and teachers that the bridge was attacked by terrorists and that they’re the vanguard of a joint UN peacekeeping taskforce, here to protect the civilians and find the terrorists responsible for the attack, who are believed to be hiding on the island, probably within Ohtori Academy itself. Students and staff are rounded up and kept mostly in classrooms; the dormitories are emptied, and complaints are met with brutal indifference that quickly escalates to violent subjugation. There is no internet and no cell phone service. Golden Age’s search for justice appears to include systematic blood tests of the female population; rumor has it they’re testing for some kind of virus that the terrorists may have released on the island (though why they’re only testing girls is less clear). As certain students are led away by soldiers and never come back, magical girls suspect foul play, and many of them escape the campus, taking shelter in the forest surrounding it, where they discover an extraordinary number of Alyssa Searrs’ red-runed Orphans waiting to hunt them down. Others stay, concerned that the exceptionally high population of Witches on Southern Cross Island are going to gorge and breed on the panic and despair of the student body.
• A Forest Fire! Alyssa’s Ultimatum! In truth, this entire operation is a play by the Searrs Foundation to identify and capture all of Alyssa Searrs’ rivals, which is to say, the HiME, magical girls who battle Orphans under the baleful red eye of their HiME Star. When blood testing largely fails to get them what they want, Alyssa makes a magical broadcast (disguised by a physical one, in which Nanami Kiryuu is forced to read off of a script accusing certain students of being conspirators with the terrorists), demanding that said students, Mai Tokiha, Natsuki Kuga, Mikoto Minagi, Yukino Kikukawa, and Kozue Kaoru, plus any other HiME, surrender within thirty-six hours, or she’ll destroy the school and everyone in it. Alyssa demonstrates that she’s serious by calling down the same golden beam that blew up the bridge in the first place, this time taking out much of the forest surrounding Ohtori, and starting a massive wildfire. As escaped magical girls fight the flames, they’re confronted by Alyssa’s guardian, the magical android Miyu Greer, whose overwhelming power forces them to retreat to the only hiding place left (other than one patch of surviving forest with as many soldiers as trees): the labyrinthine cave system that riddles Southern Cross Island. And what’s worse, the shadowy and deadly Orphans are starting to infiltrate underground, too...
• A Deep Conspiracy! The HiME Force Assembles! Grim, professional men in black suits with glasses pinpoint escaped magical girls with astonishing accuracy and offer to escort them to a meeting that will determine the fate of Southern Cross Island and all of its people. There, in a subterranean cavern of massive scope, they’re met by the Ohtori High School Headmistress, Mashiro Kazahana, who’s apparently in on the secret of magical girls, and able to organize them into a coherent plan to evacuate Ohtori Academy’s student body before Alyssa nukes the campus with what is, apparently, her Child (in the HiME sense), a magitechnological orbital weapon called Artemis 1. Evidently Alyssa’s thirty-six hour ultimatum deadline also corresponds to how long it will take Artemis to be overhead for another blast. Headmistress Kazahana does not, however, answer questions about herself, her men in black, or her secret headquarters under the school.
• The Battle of Ohtori! Artemis’ Fury and Miyu’s Grief! The Battle of Ohtori begins as magical girls boil out of hidden exits from the caves, all over Southern Cross Island, to simultaneously engage the land and sea forces of the Golden Age PMC, drawing them away from Ohtori Academy so that a small strike team can lead the students to a well-hidden harbor where a friendly cruise ship owned by an absurdly wealthy magical girl is waiting. Everything is going swimmingly until Alyssa Searrs emerges from her headquarters in the Chairman’s Tower and reveals that Artemis is ready to nuke the school early. Mai Tokiha summons her massive draconic Child, Kagutsuchi, and soars overhead to intercept the blast. They momentarily appear to be vaporized, but reform out of the flames, ready to rocket into space and take out the monstrous satellite weapon for good. Everyone else hops aboard Kagutsuchi and they blast off to confront Artemis, leading to a high-speed but near-zero-gravity battle in orbit. Artemis’ defenses include smaller-scale golden lasers and apparently unlimited missiles, and Miyu Greer also joins the battle, though she abandons it halfway through, sensing that Alyssa is endangered on the tower balcony below. While Mai and friends blow up Artemis, Miyu races towards her charge. But she cannot beat a stopped clock; Homura Akemi, unwilling to further contend with this obstacle, executes Alyssa in cold blood. As fragments of Artemis fall into atmosphere, their link to Alyssa’s soul broadcasts her death above Southern Cross Island. The magical girls in space, meanwhile, are teleported back to the surface by Kagutsuchi, but this time, he and Mai do not reappear from the flames.

Rescue and Reconstruction! Sifting Through The Ashes... In the aftermath of the occupation, the Sister Schools students are evacuated by Tokyo emergency services and the JSDF, and are home in very short order. To hear the news tell it, the terrorists were defeated; normal life reasserts itself rapidly, albeit with optional mental health counseling for any students who desire it, spearheaded at Ohtori by Souji Mikage, and at Infinity by Yuuko Arimura (aka Eudial). (Juuban’s students are blessed with actual, non-evil therapists.) Some consequences linger and some don’t; Surprising her grieving friends, Mai Tokiha reappears after a few days, having hitchhiked across Japan after reappearing in Okinawa, but the forests of Southern Cross Island are almost entirely ash. Restoring them fully will be the task of multiple lifetimes, but the students of Ohtori seem eager to begin immediately, the task spearheaded by Gardening Club President Eri Shimanouchi, in an unlikely team-up with the socially luminous Chihaya Izumi, who appoints herself in charge of fundraising.

Knight At The Museum! Setsuna Higashi’s Pure Heart! An optional Sister Schools field trip to the Museum of Western Art turns into something straight out of a horror movie; the lights go out and there’s a monster in the shadows, something with altogether too many claws, fangs, and eyes. The Death Busters call it a protodaimon, but magical girls mostly name it with screams; having emerged from the back of an Infinity Institute student, it absorbs her body into it like a nucleus, then promptly attacks Setsuna Higashi for her Pure Heart Crystal. In the midst of the inevitable battle that ensues, a sense of pure and total despair washes over the chaos; this, the gift of the Black Knight, who has reappeared for inscrutable reasons. They wrest the Pure Heart Crystal from the protodaimon, inspect it, abandon it, and depart; in the end, the monster is defeated, melting into shadow, saving the student and Setsuna, but raising more questions than answers.

The Value Of Purity! The Indigo Rose Duel! Kozue Kaoru, sickened by the value Sayaka Miki and Utena Tenjou each claim to put on the ideal of purity, decides to teach them both the harsh lesson that the only way to get ahead in this world is to dirty your hands. She offers each of them what she thinks they want most, but with a price tag attached; to Sayaka, she suggests that if she became the One Engaged to the Rose Bride, she’d keep Anthy away from Miki forever, which would give Sayaka a chance with her crush -- but that she’d also separate Anthy and Utena, just because she can. She twists the knife by promising that if Sayaka warns Utena about this plan, she’ll tell her brother about Sayaka’s feelings immediately. To Utena, she offers a way out from the duels, promising that she’d both protect Anthy from those who’d use her for her power, and allow Utena to retain her friendship with her while otherwise getting to go back to her normal life; all Utena has to do is deliberately forfeit, and forsake her pledged responsibilities to the Rose Bride. Kozue intends to cheat in the duel regardless, but victory would be so much sweeter if Sayaka dirtied herself by keeping Kozue’s intended betrayal from Utena for her own sake, or if Utena simply allowed her to take over her responsibilities out of laziness or indifference. However, both girls rise to the challenge -- Sayaka tells Utena everything, and Utena in turn swears to make sure Kozue doesn’t get her way. Even with Kozue bringing her summoned Child into the Dueling Arena to make it two on one, Utena still manages to narrowly defeat her, while struggling to understand why Kozue would weave all this conspiracy in the first place.

Keys to the City! Monster On Monster Combat?! It’s not atypical for a normal day to be interrupted by a single monster after some sparkly item, but when two very different monsters, one a Jewel Seed Drone from the arsenal of the supposedly-dead Precia Testarossa, the other a demonic plant Sorewatase favored by Labyrinth Executive Northa, converge on Harajuku fighting over a shining, singing, blatantly magical key, something really weird is definitely going on. The magical girls manage to defeat both monsters and secure the key. Afterwards, the Magic Association, Tuner Organization, and the newly arrived Sailor Pluto explain to all and sundry that this was the first of seven Keys to the City, an occasional phenomenon that appears in metropolitan areas with particularly high concentrations of magic; their owners are able to affect small-scale changes over the city’s well-being and overall demeanor, and if all seven keys were united, they’d merge into the Master Key, which could usher in a golden age for Tokyo or, alternatively, leave it in a permanent state of violent unrest. More keys begin popping up over the coming weeks; the Magic Association and Tuners are after it separately, and magical girls find themselves fighting each other over the keys almost as much as the monsters who invariably arrive to collect them.

Eri and Kyouko Kill Yaori?! Puella Magi Conflict Heats Up! Eri Shimanouchi and Kyouko Sakura have been working together for some time to weaponize Grief Seeds against their enemies, and this project reaches its peak when they target the Puella Magi who left Eri for dead in an alley a year prior. Yaori’s territory, Shinjuku Capital Ward, is prime Witch hunting district, and Eri is eager to expand into it from her base of operations in Ueno Park. They unleash a Witch on top of Yaori, and a fight erupts between the three Puella Magi within the resulting Labyrinth. When it’s all over, Yaori is dead, Eri is responsible and Kyouko is certainly a collaborator, and Sayaka Miki -- who was attracted by the Labyrinth’s formation, and came to help -- discovers to her horror that some Puella Magi are willing to do anything to survive. She furiously demands possession of the corpse, in order to bring it to the police so it can be reunited with Yaori’s family for her funeral. On her lonely journey to the station, she breaks down and calls Madoka Kaname for emotional support; Madoka rushes to her side, and, horrified by what’s happened, considers finally making her wish to revive Yaori. Homura Akemi arrives to prevent this through a combination of truth-telling and bullying, and by the end of the night, Yaori’s still a corpse, Madoka’s still a normal girl, and Sayaka is determined to put an end to Eri and Kyouko’s activities somehow.

A Kraken In Tokyo Bay?! Heated Underwater Battle! A Key to the City emerges on the Rainbow Bridge, and gets dragged into the depths (along with its civilian holder) by a massive protodaimon with an octopus host, which is functionally a shadowy demon squid; magical girls dive into Tokyo Bay and save the victim but not the Key, which disappears in the fighting.

• Where Did The Key Go? The Mysterious Portal! The Key’s magical signature reappears a day later, broadcasting out of a clearly Midchildan portal of dangerous and unstable power levels; Key aside, if this isn’t investigated and resolved, the portal could explode and take out some of Tokyo with it. Magical girls investigate, and find themselves in a darkened ruin which is gradually revealed to be a derelict Belkan starship crashed on the Dark Side of the Moon. They’re ambushed by what seem to be ancient Belkan automata, which drive them into the depths of the ship.
• Fallen Stern and Souverain Heraut’s Lost History! Everything Old Is New Again?! In the ship’s old control room, Endo Naoki’s equally ancient Belkan Device, Fallen Stern, finds itself wrestling with sealed memories, and offers to interface with the ship’s crystal to restore these lost functions. Ren Aizawa’s Device, another historical relic called Souverain Heraut, flips out at this idea, but refuses to explain why; when Endo allows Stern to upgrade itself using the ship, Heraut responds by unlocking its own anti-Belkan countermeasures for Ren to use, apparently fearing that Stern will go out of control. Regardless, this entire adventure appears to have been a trap; a mysterious message indicates that by luring Fallen Stern to the ship, and allowing the Device to unlock its sealed powers there, this has allowed someone to download the entirety of that battle data, for use in their own weapons! Which, apparently, include the “ancient” automata that drove them towards the control room in the first place; newly empowered with the same upgrades Fallen Stern has received, Endo, Ren and the rest of the group has to fight the robots to escape with their lives. With the portal having closed behind them, they reluctantly power up the ship, which somehow manages to lurch off the Moon and into orbit; it starts to break and burn up from there, but Fallen Stern and Souverain Heraut work together to transport everyone back to Earth in the nick of time, Key in tow.

A New Challenger Arrives!! Phantom, The Pretty Cure Hunter! The Phantom Empire’s greatest warrior has been largely operating outside of Tokyo until now, with only occasional hunts within city limits, but now he’s here to stay. He first appears in pursuit of one of the Keys to the City (which he almost effortlessly claims despite the good half-dozen magical girls trying to stop him), but continues to pop up regularly to torment his preferred prey, intending to weaken Pretty Cure’s resolve to make defeating them that much easier. He responds to the unexpected obsession of Cure Fortune with gleeful mockery, and drives Fortune that much further apart from other Pretty Cure, knowing that as long as she insists on fighting alone, she’ll never amount to much on the grand scale.

Pretty Cure Is Breaking Up?! It’s Not A Trick Or A Treat! While the Sister Schools arrange for older students to chaperone younger ones on a massive and joyful trick-or-treating excursion, not everyone is having a good time. Although they’ve been Cure Black and Cure White since the Long Dark Night, tension has been rising between Nagisa Misumi and Honoka Yukishiro ever since, on Okinawa, Honoka accepted the confession of the Juuban Science Club president, and they began dating. Nagisa is filled with enormously conflicted feelings that she struggles to understand even as they torture her heart, and it comes to a head on Halloween, when the two of them are unable to transform in response to a Zakenna attack. Fortunately, Fresh Pretty Cure are there to save the day, but Nagisa tearfully declares that she doesn’t want to be Pretty Cure anymore because it’s too painful, and bestows Mepple on Honoka, declaring that she should find another partner. Distraught, Honoka flees the scene, fairies in tow, afraid that she won’t be able to protect them as a civilian... and even more afraid that her friendship with Nagisa is over forever.

More Pretty Cure Splash Onto The Scene! The Baseball Championships Are Crashed By Karehaan! Dark Fall has made its latest play on a fairy realm, this time the mystical Land of Fountains. As before, fairy refugees flee to Earth in search of champions, and find them in Saki Hyuuga and Mai Mishou, granting them magical power and a mission. But they're pursued by the evil lieutenant Karehaan, who doesn't give up after just one attempt to secure the fairies and the intelligence he believes they possess; tracking his targets to Juuban Public School, he crashes straight through the viewing screen for the 2014 Japan Series, interrupting a big party thrown to watch this year's baseball championships! Other Pretty Cure in the audience, and their allies, leap to Saki and Mai's defense. In the end, they miss a couple of innings, but manage to be there for the big plays and the climax of their game.

The Seventh and Final Key! Tragedy at Tokyo Tower! The last Key to the City emerges from an Infinity Institute girl’s heart... at the same time that a protodaimon emerges from her back. It promptly swallows not just her, but her four friends, and begins consuming the energy of all of their Pure Hearts, growing to enormous size and threatening to swallow Tokyo Tower and everyone in it! Magical girls respond and manage to extract the key; Lera Camry and Chitose Shiratori try to get it away from the monster, but are ambushed in a running battle with unknown chrome helicopters and paramilitary forces very reminiscent of the ones that occupied Southern Cross Island. Meanwhile, the rest of the group is locked in mortal combat with the immense protodaimon, and it’s at the crucial moment when Sailor Moon strains against its dark energy blast in a beamwar that everything goes wrong: instead of helping Sailor Moon, Mami Tomoe turns around and fires Tiro Finale at the finally-in-the-clear Chitose, willing to risk killing her in order to prevent her from leaving with the key. Takeo Akamizu (aka Lancelot) throws himself in the way, and is nearly killed instead. Meanwhile, Fuu Hououji, the Magic Knight of Wind, hangs back from the conflict, unsure that her contribution would make much of a difference. The net result is that Sailor Moon, lacking most of her allies, is overpowered by the protodaimon, and though it’s finally defeated shortly thereafter, having been weakened by the conflict, its death comes after it has fatally drained the five girls’ hearts. In the aftermath, Fuu loses faith in herself, while Usagi’s Silver Crystal is fractured by her total devastation at being unable to save the day; both of them are rendered temporarily unable to transform.

Belief Becomes Power! Return To Cephiro! Upon hearing that the Magic Knight of Wind is currently unable to transform, Alcyone seizes the opportunity to kidnap Umi Ryuuzaki, the Magic Knight of Water, leaving Hikaru Shidou, the Magic Knight of Fire, without allies. In so doing Alcyone also takes a good dozen other middle school competitors at a fencing tournament along with Umi, as useful hostages. Hikaru and Fuu pursue her to Cephiro accompanied by many friends and allies; together, they fight through Cephiro’s Forest of Treachery to the Tower of Tears, where Umi has managed to free herself and the others. But she can’t do it all alone, and just as help arrives, she is fatally stabbed in the back by Alcyone. As she falls, she begs Fuu for aid; Fuu realizes that there are some things only she can do to help her friends, and her magical powers are reborn in a mighty gust of wind, while Hikaru’s explode with vengeful new strength in a burst of fire. Fuu heals Umi to stability, then joins Hikaru and the others in defeating Alcyone. Lord Zagato, the leader of the effort to destabilize Cephiro and destroy the Magic Knights, arrives not to rescue his underling but to kill her for her repeated failures; he then uses her life energy to turn Master Magus Clef, the girls’ most precious magical teacher and advisor, to stone. Everyone flees through the forests back to Tokyo, and as a final insult, Zagato sends a fresh wave of monsters through the portal after them, now that Clef is unavailable to close it. They disappear into the forests around Tokyo, while the portal is sealed with help from the Magic Association.

Battle Lines Drawn! Birth of Sayaka Miki’s Crusade! Mami Tomoe and Sayaka Miki (with Madoka Kaname in tow) confront Eri Shimanouchi in her new territory, Shinjuku, demanding that she cease her hostilities against other Puella Magi and join their cooperative, mutual defense pact, an alliance they plan to use to get Kyouko Sakura to stand down as well. Eri is unimpressed by their plan of taking the Soul Gems away from killer Puella Magi who refuse to cooperate (which would, as far as anyone knows, simply render them unable to transform); the plan still feels impossibly idealistic and unwieldy. Sayaka, losing patience, declares that if Eri won’t join them, she’ll start hunting familiars in Shinjuku (another point of philosophical contention between the two groups). She’s touched by Madoka’s worries for her safety, however, but before she can make a decision, Kyouko arrives, separating the two sides of the conflict with a barrier, and declares that Eri is under her protection, and that the next time Mami and Sayaka come into their territory, it will be taken as an act of war.

Madoka and Usagi Kidnapped! Showdown at Mitsui Shipping Company! Ends of the World has most of the Keys to the City by now, and wants the rest. To get Mami Tomoe and Sailor Pluto's, they decide to kidnap Madoka Kaname and Usagi Tsukino respectively. Kasagami Araki brings in Madoka but has to go through Sayaka Miki to do it, while Touga Kiryuu brings in Usagi by threatening Madoka's safety. Once the ransom notes go out, Sayaka raises a magical girl army to go get the hostages back. Though the exchange goes smoothly, Mami decides to get revenge in the aftermath, killing as many men in black on site as she can in her efforts to take down the perpetrators. Chaos ensues, including Touga testing out a new weapon that summons shadow copies of himself (reminiscent of the copies that once attacked the World Tree and Library Island), Vita showing up to try to munch on Madoka's magical potential and getting driven off by Sailor Pluto, and Usagi regaining her transformation, with a new weapon and new powers, thanks to the love shared between herself and Madoka. In the end, Ends retains possession of both keys and is finally able to buy the Mitsui Shipping Company (which they'd chosen as the swap location in the validated hope that the collateral damage would be large), but Madoka and Usagi have been rescued.

First Forestization! The Vertex Attack!! Technically the first on-camera Forestization, since at least one is assumed to have occurred off-camera to bring the Hero Club into the know, but nonetheless; time seems to stop, and then Tokyo is abruptly suffused in a rainbow tsunami of magical sakura petals. When the light clears, many magical girls -- including a mix of Magical Knights, Device-wielders, HiME and Pretty Cure -- discover themselves in the Jukai, a mystical realm containing only the World Tree (also called the Shinjuu) and its impossibly infinite root system. They've been called to defend it from an otherworldly alien called a Vertex. Heroes Fu Inubozaki and Akira Moto are on the scene, and they lead the group in the Vertex's defeat, explaining why it's there and how to kill it (by using their Sealing Prayer to reveal its Core, then destroying the Core). In the end, the day is saved and so is the world, but now there's another looming threat on the horizon.

A Field Trip To A Cake Factory! A Cake Decorating Challenge?! A Sister Schools field trip to the popular TipTap cake factory culminates in a hands-on cake-baking activity. Fun is had by all, but the event is interrupted by the arrival of another of Chef Gordon's Blue Ribbon Society rivals -- this time, Madame Roquefort, a golden goose who leads the Mille-Feuille Academie du Patisserie! She challenges him to match his students against hers, and ultimately both groups are bid to gather ingredients from a mysterious realm of desserts. In the end, the judge (a TipTap employee) is unable to decide which cake she likes best; it is declared a tie, and everyone finally gets to enjoy their just desserts.

The Master Key Is Formed! Visions Of The Tokyo That Lives In The Heart! Ends of the World has gathered all seven Keys to the City, and in the hopes of luring magical girls into making a public enemy of themselves, decides to show off their prize to the rich and famous at the Golden Tokyo Gala. Girls do infiltrate through a variety of strategems, but no one expected what comes next: once formed from the combination of the seven smaller Keys, the Master Key instantly reacts to the feelings of its holder, Superintendent of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Natsuna Sakurada, which sends everyone into a vision of four years in the future, in a Tokyo where magical girls work directly alongside the police (Natsuna's dearest wish). Several major figures within Ends of the World instantly take steps to lay hands on the Master Key instead, which changes the vision to that of their Golden Age Tokyo, instead. After breaking free of this horrible future, the magical girls storm the stage, battling both security guards and numerous magically anonymous luminaries of Ends of the World who find their leadership's vision worth fighting for. Fuu Hououji is able to escape with the Master Key, but Searrs Symphony Hall, the venue, does not survive the night. That tends to happen when Mai Tokiha's Child, the dragon Kagutsuchi, is summoned while indoors. In the aftermath, there is some media backlash, while Fuu will have to decide whether to use the Key to help guide Tokyo according to her more noble ideals, or to destroy the Key, so no one can.

• The Ritual of Rending! Defend the Master Key! After consulting with her friends and loved ones, Fuu elects to destroy the Master Key to Tokyo's future, to allow events to proceed naturally, without magical influence from any single person's ideals. With help from the Magic Association, she undertakes the ritual out in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, away from places and people that might be put in danger by the inevitable response from Dark Fall: to send an army of demons after the Key! With help from friends and allies, they're able to protect the ritual and see the Key safely destroyed, bringing these events to a close.

Takeo Akamizu's Resentment! The Dark Orchid Rose Duel! Goaded by his own recent failures on the battlefield and a prompting letter from Ends of the World, Takeo decides to seize the Power to Bring World Revolution from Utena in hopes that he can use it to save his sister's declining health -- a much more pleasant use of his time than spending time with her in the hospital, where he has to face her potential mortality directly. In pursuit of this goal, he allows himself to sink deeper into his memories of his past life as Sir Lancelot, which significantly boosts his powers -- but not enough to overcome the Power of Dios. For her part, Utena is troubled by the continued insistence of all and sundry that she's in possession of some sort of ultimate power -- and moreso, by everyone's eagerness to use Anthy to achieve whatever it is they seek.

Two Usagi Tsukinos?! The Black Moon Clan Arrives! A little girl who shares your name arriving and hypnotizing your family into thinking she's supposed to be there would be enough of a mystery on its own, but dark forces follow Chibi-Usa Tsukino to modern-day Tokyo. Besides apparently seeking to end her life, the Four Ayakashi Sisters also seem to be infecting significant places and events with dark energy, turning citizens against one another -- all of this for purposes unknown.

Tokyo Motor Showtime! It's... MORTAL KARBAT?! Ladybug and Chat Noir have recently arrived on the supernatural scene, but so has their enemy, Papillon. And he makes his power known in a big way by Akumatizing an engineer at the Tokyo Motor Show, who promptly transforms everyone into a self-driving car under her control! It's up to Ladybug, Chat Noir, and friends to beat Mistress Karma at her own race, cleansing the Akuma and turning everyone back to normal!

Winter 2014

Into The Darkness! What Lies Beneath Library Island? A rash of kidnappings -- often, incidentally, the friends and family of magical girls -- leads to a series of investigations into the labyrinthine Library Island. Below the surface, it seems a whole lot more malicious than usual; it was always archaic and scary and full of traps, but not only is someone definitely using it as a staging area for experimenting on their captives, but the library itself seems conscious (not totally unusual) and very malicious (this is abnormal). Only a few slender shoots of a plant seem willing to light the way for the magical girls in this dark place.

Finals Week Is Freezing! The Endless December Blizzard! Looking back, the snowstorm first started early in finals week, after another member of the Witches 5, Tellu, drained the energy of studying students to give to her dark Master -- but it continued long after that was resolved. As temperatures dropped (along with truly epic amounts of precipitation), darkness rose. One such example: a Witch who, while feeding off of freezing dockworkers trying to provide emergency supplies to the city, had its familiars animate snowmen to gather more victims.

War Breaks Out - The Chevaliers invade Shinjuku, hunting ground of Eri Shimanouchi, in an attempt to put a stop to her practice of 'farming' Grief Seeds at the cost of innocent lives. Expecting little resistance, they are shocked to confront a powerful force of individualistic magical girls waiting to oppose them. Large-scale battle is joined for the first time between these two factions and their respective allies. Though equally matched at first, the Chevaliers are soon hard-pressed as Magic Knight Fuu withdraws from the fight, forcing her now-outnumbered friend Hikaru to flee as well. With the berserk Mikoto now free to rampage, the Chevaliers begin to drop one by one, and are only able to withdraw due to the quick thinking (and timely hostage-taking) of Garnet. A war has begun...

Tokyo In Need! Dangerously White Christmas! By Christmas Eve, the weather has become so extreme that it's blatantly unnatural, blowing past 'the greatest blizzard in living memory' and 'a state of national emergency' to 'magical girls are some of the only people capable of moving around the city safely'. With the trains shut down and thousands stranded, no less a figure than Santa Claus called on them to restore hope to a beleagured city... and then rescue him from the inside of a giant, turtlesque Obsidian Beast. On the evening of Christmas Day, they drove the Beast off, finally ending the storm -- but not the threat, as the Beast fled to the snowy island of Hokkaido...

For more information, please see: Logs, Cutscenes, History, Glossary, Theme: Glossary.