2024-10-19 - The Labyrinth Revolutions 1

The Labyrinth Revolutions 1
Summary: Our heroines confront Northa and rescue the Fresh Pretty Cure.
Who: Setsuna Higashi, Lera Camry, Endo Naoki, Fate Testarossa, Nagisa Misumi, Honoka Yukishiro, Nori Ankou, Mikoto Minagi, Kyouka Okazaki, Inori Yamabuki, Northa GM: Pink Moon Stick
Where: Dark Realms
OOC - IC Date: 10/19/2024 - 6/17/16

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Dark Realms +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
  Light cannot exist without darkness, nor darkness without the light, or so    
  some claim. Whether the Dark Realms are simply the Fairy Realms through a     
  mirror darkly is difficult to ascertain, but it's undeniable that some        
  realms in either domain lack an obvious counterpart in the other. Certainly   
  the ceaseless war between bright virtue and dark evil gives little heed to    
  the notion that ultimate victory is impossible.                               
                                                                                
  Indeed, a given realm of darkness will often commit itself solely to          
  extinguishing the light forever. With names like Minor Land, Labyrinth and    
  Dark Kingdom, perhaps that isn't all that surprising. Endless plains beneath  
  a midnight sky lit only by bolts of violet lightning harbor armies of         
  strange creatures, or yet stranger war machines. If there is water, it is     
  brackish, tainted. The air itself stabs lungs like a superheated knife. Some  
  denizens of the Dark Realms claim that they're trying to transform the        
  entire universe into worlds like their own, but colonizing more pleasant      
  environments might be sufficient motivation alone.                            
                                                                                
  Black, too, has shades; there are many dark wastelands, but also dark         
  cities, dark oceans, dark forests, dark deserts, dark skies. Some are even    
  possessed of a loveliness all their own; as beautiful as it is deadly, with   
  shadowy landscapes that mesmerize before they surprise. No matter how         
  populous, all are pervaded by a sense of emptiness, of absence, masked at     
  times by swirling rage or despair, but never erased.                          

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

Pretty Cures Black and White close on "Buki" from either side, and though she tries to resist them, their teamwork is in many respects her anathema. Labyrinth is all about solitude, in a way -- a totally regimented life under the singular control of Lord Moebius. He knows nothing of the power of humanity when they fight, work, live, and love as one.

Black and White teach him a swift and decisive lesson.

But not a final one. That is not their blow to strike, even if they could, and he is too great a foe for them to somehow both contain and destroy him at the same time.

What they do do, accidentally, is engage in such a tight and intricate melee that the illusion simply cannot hope to keep up.

With a final sort of clipping animation Buki is, of course, revealed to be Lord Moebius. This does not change their positions -- Black has him in a headlock, White has one of his legs and is going for an elbow. But it does change their PROPORTIONS... there's a lot more head to lock, and it's a further reach between his leg and his arm. They manage, somehow, but not without stretching to their full heights, spreading their wingspans to the max. If they were at the beginning of their career they couldn't have done it. Not because of inexperience -- but because of the growth spurts they've had along the way.

No one is who they were when they started, of course. Life is measured in centimeters but also in Nakewameke -- almost forgotten now, it's been so long since anyone from Labyrinth has used anything but a much uglier (and less prone to accidental comedy) Sorewatase. It's measured in Christmas dates and found familiars. In conversations with mothers and bowls of ramen.

They have all, one way or another, gotten their happiness since stumbling into the world of magic. Happiness yet incomplete, certainly. But isn't that what life is?

"DEFIANCE," barks Lord Moebius, an almost mechanical response to Cure Passion's impassionate speech. She tries so hard to reach him that even Mikoto is stirred to hold back, just a little -- talk about not being who they were at the start. Passion speaks of love and faith and hope and friends, and also of ignorance, of confusion.

"YOU ARE WRONG," he bellows. "I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I AM. IT IS YOU--"

The first energy hearts smash into him. The greater portion of Passion's hearts and feathers and feelings initially explode outwards, however. The wall nearest him, its great curvature so subtle as to be almost flat, warps beneath the strain. Then a panel rips off, falling away outside. The city can be seen below.

"--WHO--"

Mikoto's scream is sharper than even Miroku in this moment. Against anyone else it might be the greater weapon. But it does not make him flinch, even a little bit, as a regular person would. Nor does the blade, though differently, and disturbingly. It's as though he feels no pain as it begins to enter him from the side.

It's as though he feels nothing at all.

Kyouka, too, gives a fine lecture, backed by an even finer strike, a single, perfect punch right at his conveniently immobile face. And not just a punch, of course. The explosion from her brave, boon companion, Strike Wolf, is as much his as hers, a different kind of teamwork, of connection made manifest. A pure and unyielding strength. A beautiful purplish light.

"--ARE--"

Not the only beautiful violet light, of course. Endo brings down the column he and Fallen Stern have summoned as one -- so broad and terrible an attack that everyone in melee has to clear the path in the end to let it pass. To do otherwise would be suicide.

And, having swirled to a feverish pitch, the vortex of Passion's Happiness Hurricane collapses inward to a single point, brighter even than the heart of a star.

"--CONFused."

His last word dies on his lips, dropping like a stone, like a tripped breaker.

From the hole Passion made, gray, overcast natural light pours in in a great swath, almost like a curtain.

And what is illuminated, the leftovers which emerge from the titanic clash... is not the familiar visage of the Lord of All Worlds at all.

Or, rather... it is him, it is surely him; at least, there was no last minute substitution. But his skin was never skin, and his flesh was never flesh. When knuckles and toes bruised against the preternatural pallor of this titan, it wasn't because of his extraordinary muscle density, and it wasn't even because of some kind of energy shielding beneath the robe.

It was because he's made of metal.

His robes, torn to strips by the combined assault, reveal the unvarnished truth: they've been fighting a machine. Humanoid the robot may be, but he is certainly no cyborg, not truly human at all, not even in part.

And he crashes to the floor of the platform with an immense CLANK.

Silence falls.

There is time, then, to stand back up, and to stand Lera back up -- it transpires that she fell not all the way to the base of the tower but just a few circles down the double spiral, landing on the no-longer-a-desert, just-a-staircase, still-intact-because-Black-hasn't-thrown-it-yet path.

But not very much time.

Because the wall of the Tower pulses with cyan energy. Not all at once. It first overtakes one level of wires and buttons and ports, then another, then another. Until, finally, the whole thing is illuminated by the beautiful radiance of Chiffon's sacred light. And the whole thing is a single massive supercomputer; even by Midchildan standards, an absurd technomagical achievement, both in how it is huge and in how it is intricate.

Something is wrong.

The light didn't pulse downwards, from above. It pulsed upwards, from below.

From outside, the Tower stood in a vast chasm, and went downward seemingly without end, its base invisible in the distant darkness...

And already the cyan light is vanishing. One wire at a time, it is disappearing. But not because it's fading like a heartbeat might, between pulses. No. The extraordinarily intricate circuitry that goes round and round and up and down is being... overwritten. Engulfed, one slender wire at a time.

Overwritten by something that... crawls.

<SoundTracker> An Incident Occurs - Fresh OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT0bbcrDM0U

It becomes very dark in the Tower of Labyrinth, but for the light from the hole, which is rapidly reducing. Vines slither into place across it, as they have along each and every component of the Tower's sides -- vines not a natural rutilous brown, but the ugly bruise-green of a plant grown strong with sorrow -- or, perhaps, this time, strong with something else.

Before, the illusory jungle was a false one, but now the heat feels very real, as though the plants are doing the opposite of what they should do, breathing as people do, there's not entirely enough oxygen to go around in here, it's stuffy...

Suddenly, the vines all writhe as one, very much like a heartbeat or set of lungs, engorging and deflating. Then again -- and again. It's all too perfect, too natural, to be some kind of sudden, fresh, wild growth. It feels much more like old growth. Like being at the heart -- in the heart -- of something truly ancient.

This supercomputer... was it ever truly inorganic?

Or was it grown, like a trellis, all along?

"...hahaha..."

Even if it was only off the feed from the Pericosmic Array, everyone knows that laughter. And it's infected the nightmares of most, over the years.

"...so, you have defeated my puppet... exactly too late."

Like Lord Moebius, her voice seems to come from everywhere in the Tower at once. Unlike Lord Moebius, it doesn't come through speakers. Some of the smaller vines, with disgusting simultaneity, shape plump, cruel lips in order to deliver this message from every direction.

"I know what you are here to retrieve. Come down and take it... if you can."

And, as the very last of the hole is plugged with plant matter, the lights go out completely, as Northa laughs, and laughs, and laughs...

TO BE CONTINUED... NOW

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Defiance, Lord Moebius says. Cure White and Cure Black have dispelled the illusion, but cure Passion is still there. She has acquired many forms of happiness int he time since she came to Earth. She has come to understand what emotion is; she has come to understand who she is.

Who she wants to be.

And still, he calls it mere defiance.

"I'm NOT!" Passion cries, that she is not confused--and then she stops short, staring. Not a purification--but a hole. A brutal finish to a brutal battle, and Cure Passion watches as Lord Moebius's true form is finally revealed. Metal. A machine.

"...M-Moe...Moebius..?"

She stares. "...Ah..."

It hurts. It hurts, despite the triumph, because after all this time, she had hoped. She had believed. And in the end, whatever he was, it was too inflexible to listen. She could not change him.

Should she have known?

fPassion is quiet, when she hops down to find Lera. She is quiet, as she looks to her friends. And she is quiet, when the tower starts to pulse.

The laughter. How he was.. a puppet.

"Northa!" Cure Passion calls, in hurt and dismay and righteous anger.

The lights go out. But Passion does not give up. From her Linkrun Akarun shines, suddenly, a soft red radiance that starts at her hip and begins to expand. It becomes white, though still red at the edges, allowing Cure Passion to see some of her friends--though she cannot light the entire darkness.

"Northa," Passion sasy more quietly. The nightmares she has had about that voice are many. But today, she has come farther than fear alone would allow.

"For what you've done to my friends..."

"For what you've done to Labyrinth!" Passion cries.

I'm coming!"

And she stands with resolve. Her back is straight; her voluminous pink hair cascades down her back. The armor of her clothing shines in her own light, the Clover emblem at her chest bright.

And her red eyes, brighter than when she is Setsuna alone, look into the dark. "Everyone," Passion says. "...Let's go."

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

It is dark in the Tower, and Lera Camry can scarcely see despite the light that comes from both her Devices. She fell such a long distance.

She rises, now. She only heard Moebius's death throes. To realize -- as Northa said -- that he was only, and always, a puppet of hers. The former Queen of Belka, seeking a new kingdom (of sorts) here. Her eyes widen a little.

She hears that laughter -- and then she looks up, as Cure Passion lands before her. She exhales -- and it's so much brighter around Passion. She smiles at her.

Then she nods. "I'm with you, y'know?" she says; she rests Soaring Sky on her shoulder, then she falls in beside her. "We won't let her get away with this."

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

When the inert chunk of metal that is Lord Moebius crashes to the ground. Endo lets out a low breath, the muscles in his arms loosening as the point of Fallen Stern dips to rest upon the tower's floor.

Before he can celebrate their success or contemplate what comes next the tower changes. Endo's eyes try to follow the snaking vines, and then all the mouths that speak from him.

He glances toward Cure Passion, giving a short nod of agreement. "I'm ready." Says the boy, lifting his weapon to rest on his shoulder. The cloth of his barrier jacket is torn and the dark plating is burnt, but he forces his aching limbs into motion.

"Let's stop her."

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

Fate would ordinarily be shocked when her attack does little more than singe someone's robes, but she's far too angry in this moment.

"Strike THROUGH!"

And several cartridges pound in, but before that expression of reserve power can manifest, feels a manifestation of something, and-

"What...?"

For one long moment she's wondering if this was an illusion, because they were all there, and they were not, but no she felt that teleportation effect.

And she's left there, with only those worsts of authoritarian condescension behind, patronization as if it were a child's tantrum, and her hand grips Bardiche more tightly.

"Westar... Soular..." Her shoulders slump beneath her cape as that anger becomes grief, "I wish..."

What does she wish? That they were still here? That they would see the 'truth' before it got to this point? That Setsuna had been that person for them, as Nanoha was for her?

"... I wish I'd gotten to say goodbye."

She's not even certain her mother heard her, when she shouted out her name, and to this day, she feels even if it were rejected, she would have appreciated that before the loss.

Now instead, the victims become the casualties and she feels a little hollow inside. But...

'I've fought Love! And it won't be the last! Because I care about her!'

Her eyes shoot up to the screen overhead, now displaying the continued battle, and Fate looks surprised, "She's still fighting." And despite the grief in her eyes, there's a thin smile. "Then... I know without a doubt... you'll win."

<Yes Sir.>

With Bardiche's agreement, she lifts off, as if to go find them, to rejoin the fight, but then- "Come on La Sirene, let's go join them!" As she then takes off, flying at a rapid speed before.

Stopping.

Turning around, and coming back, and in an apologetic tone...

"I'm sorry, I forgot not everyone can fly."

-=-=-

And thus, the two had flown around for a while, trying to locate them all to join the battle, as the sounds of it were 'live' overhead, for all citizens of Labyrinth to hear.

But, even as they arrive, to the sounds of Mobius' last gasps, his final defeat... "We're here! We-"

Seeing the plants swell and writhe, Fate suddenly halts, surprised. "Northa..." Something within her twists in fear, that idea that she'd made even Mobius her puppet.

"We're with you." Is all she says quietly, to Passion, because this feels less a triumph, and as they fly forward, she says to her more quietly, "I'm sorry."

They can grieve later, but for now... in this moment, she needs to let her know that she's there with her, in this way too.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Black [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Cure Black's eyes bulge as Buki's limbs bulge. It's unclear if she was a half step behind her friends in realizing who this really was, or if she just had an understandable difficulty picturing it even though she understood, but for a moment she is glancing back and forth over Moebius's shoulder, trying to reassess what she and Cure White are doing. Cure White, a far more intuitive grappler, adjusts more easily and quickly, but imperfectly; skill can compensate for mass, but only so far.

But with dogged determination, the two Pretty Cure partners contain the surging foe, long enough for Cure Passion's hearts to begin pummeling him. They hang on for as long as they can risk it, but soon leap off in opposite directions, allowing the cavalcade of sparkling violence to tag in for them.

Cure Black raises her hand to shield her eyes a little as darkness falls, a paradoxical reaction that suggests that for her, darkness has often been more hostile than a mere dimming of light. Her lips curl away from her teeth as the supercomputer begins to swelter. Even she, one of the least-online students of Juuban, understands the hostility that ought to exist between circuits and leaves, humidity and electricity, but the unnatural confluence cannot be the only source of her sudden anxiety. With a hop, she and Cure White leap closer to one another, meeting up behind Cure Passion's flowing pink hair. Their palms nestle inside one another for security.

Bristling, Cure Black glares at the nearest pair of plant-lips, as if her anger seeks to wither it on the vine, her shoulders drawing up to make herself a little taller, a little more effective a shield.

"We're here for you too," Cure White tells Cure Passion.

"They better cough up the real Buki," Cure Black agrees. "And everybody else."

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

The teleportation did not sweep her up to join her sisters and brother in battle.

La Sirene de Diamant was displeased.

Fled she did, to the streets of Labyrinth. There has to be another way. Another route. Another way to get to where she's going. There aren't any rooms without any entrance, are there?

Terror fills her. Her friends may be dying. Batiste has gone on some errand. He could have already been crushed, or worn as a stole, or some worse nightmare from stories and legends of the Tokyo of just a year ago. Are there not people who might *cook* him?

She leaves scrapes and scores in the ground as she vaults herself up - she can jump quite high, perhaps improbably so - to try and get better vantage points. She has made it to a rooftop, looking around desperately and occasionally snatching glimpses of the fight taking place on a nearby massive screen -- itself, sadly, six stories above her, but carefully positioned to loom.

But then her wordless heart-prayers are answered. Fate!

La Sirene looks at her for a moment in surprise, then up towards the screen. "We're not too late," she says, clenching a fist. And then Fate swoops into the air.

La Sirene's lower lip quivers. Her eyes glistening as that sense of frustrated angst suddenly crests and --

Oh, she's turning back. She can swallow those tears, metaphorically speaking.

* Energy restored!

Soon enough...

"Everyone!" la Sirene cries out in her curiously penetrant voice. "Hold on - we are coming --" And they swoop through the hole just in time for everything to begin to seal up behind them. La Sirene's eyes flick over the fallen shape of Mobius but she does not speak.

The world writhes -- vines speak to them through cursed lips. La Sirene glowers at them. She takes a deep breath and her eyes gleam slightly. One hand forms a loose fist. "She..."

Cure Black speaks. La Sirene grasps the hope in her heart. "If they know what's good for them," she says, that fist tightening. To Setsuna, in specific, she says: "I'm with you, until the end."

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

"Huh?" Mikoto issues, when Miroku bites in without flinching, and neither does Lord Moebius. It's enough even to cut through her rage, enough to let a little of that confusion leak through, a dozen broken capillaries protesting their injuries.

Just like... her...

She has no final words for him, though she does ask, "Lera?", and is relieved to see her well. Though she couldn't possibly hear Fate, down there and at a different time, her thoughts are on Westar and Soular too -- the ones they couldn't pick up, after the battle was done. "Mm..." she hums, discordant. She's clearly sad; just as clearly, she has no better words for it. Here and now, Fate returns, though, and Mikoto brightens as she looks to her -- and her passenger. "Fate! La Sirene!"

As visibility fades, her too-golden eyes catch the scraps of it, bouncing the half-light inside themselves and seeming -- seeming? -- to glow with the effort. But there's that terrible laughter, prickles on the back of her neck, and she growls, rolling the name across her lips: "Norrrtha!" Vines should not have mouths, she thinks, bitterly. She's the one who eats plants; it's not the other way around.

"Right!" She barks, as she follows Cure Passion, grasping her blade.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

The stop Lord Mobius--or rather, they stop...

"... a robot?"

Kyouka is... confused, still with her guard up, trying to make sure she can marshal more strength in case this somehow wasn't enough. But no, it appears to be. But there is no need. At least, not for that threat.

She will have... a lot of questions. Later. But she finally lets her guard down as she sees Passion fall quiet. Kyouka walks up to her friend's side and places a hand on her shoulder, in a show of support. "Sorry. I know how much you wanted to reach him." She doesn't really know what else to say.

It's dark, and Kyouka holds her hand out. A ring of Midchildan runes appear, briefly, before a ball of violet-white light erupts in front of it to try and help light up the darkness.

And the puppetmaster reveals herself.

"... How long has she been planning this?" asks Kyouka incredulously. (She is okay with time travel via memory and actual, literal time travel--mostly--but the scope of this plan is... Mind boggling.)

(Just when she thinks she's got some sort of a grasp on the 'magic' thing...)

And Northa taunts them to come and take what they're after, if they can. "Well this is definitely a trap," mutters Kyouka. She closes her eyes for a moment, taking a long, slow deep breath to steady herself.

They can't stop here. Too much is at stake. Her family, her home, her friends, all those worlds...

She lets it out sharply, opening her eyes with a set, determined expression. "But there's no way forward but through it. Right, buddy?"

Strike Wolf's gem pulses with an inner light as he responds. <Affirmative.>

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

The staircases have been, shall we say, structurally compromised by the battle (whether that's due to people being slammed into them so hard that they cracked, or people ripping them out of the tower wall to chuck them at Lord Moebius), but there are of course other means to descend. One is easiest and fastest.

To fall...

The light cast by Cure Passion and others illuminates the group, but not their surroundings. In the newly imposed absolute darkness of the tower, it is both easier and harder; scary and less scary. Wind whips at hair, tugs at ruffles and bows, but the descent takes such a long time, and without any visual frame of reference, that it is possible, eventually, to simply adjust.

Velocity is not the only thing to adjust to, however, nor blindness. The further down they plummet the warmer it becomes. This is no dry desert heat nor searing volcano, nor even the brutal electronic heat of the data center. This heat is wet. It is breathing. It is alive. And, like attracting like, it draws wetness and heavy breath from all other living things within it.

It is around the time that falling and standing become indistinguishable from one another that the darkness parts for the first time. Northa's laughter died away some time ago. With the soft rustle of vine on vine, a sort of porthole appears. An apt metaphor, given that the Pretty Cure, Device-wielders and allies are essentially plunging down a giant metal tube, submarine-like but for its uninhabitable verticality. Soft radiance pours through it like an old-fashioned black and white television. They are falling past it, but... seemingly slowly, slowly enough that it lends further credence to the feeling that they might be floating.

It is not a round window to Labyrinth, outside. It is another world entirely. A world visited briefly by some of Tokyo's magical girls... and less briefly, by three of them.

Cephiro...

...home of the Princess who was stolen from her home by Belka, who wielded Souverain Heraut in the revolution, and who died to see the cosmos free of the Queen's tyranny, and see her Device, along with Fallen Stern, sent to Earth to find happier endings and righteous partners both.

There are a lot of flavors of magical world in the universe; Cephiro is, for lack of a better way of saying it, more 'high fantasy' than most. A place of silver and shade and cool waters, where the stars shine like bonfires at night and the green of day is always the green of spring. Youth, love, beauty. Proud steeds, bright metal, soft lips, dark ale. Honor...

Tokyo has never known Cephiro at its fullest blossom of peace, but even under the yoke of Zagato it was still a vibrant setting for an adventure, with its knights and dragons, its long-bearded wizards, it's many and varied people, some with gracefully pointed ear, others tiny as a child even as an adult.

No longer.

The magical forest has withered, the trees barren of leaf and twig. The sky is as gray as the ground; dry. Empty.

The view through the porthole zooms in, tightens, around a rustic village. The people there were marching, shoulder to shoulder. It is possible to read their lips; made easier by how all their lips, grandma and babe alike, are being shaped identically.

"--thing for Lord..."

As one, they trail off, interrupted. They fall as still as they fell silent. Some look around, but not in an alert way; rather, in a terrible bewilderment, not as though they are emerging from a dream but rather that they are falling even more deeply into one.

Their eyes are empty of light. Of hope. Of... magic.

A tear collects in the grandma's eye, wells, wells, but is not quite shed.

Our heroes keep falling. More portholes keep appearing. Some show desolate fairy realms, like Tarte and Azukina's Sweets Kingdom. Its sugar spires are intact but its populace is clearly not; cute they remain, and free will, perhaps, they have regained, thanks to the destruction of Lord Moebius. But their expressions are so quiet and so sad. Something has been lost. Something vital.

Another porthole shows Midchilda. Almost the opposite of Cephiro, Lera's homeworld was a place of high magic but also high technology; despite its proud heritage as the ultimate leader of the anti-Belkan resistance it has also become, in certain ways, what Belka might have looked, if it had lasted longer; if its Lost Logia had gained a more modern aesthetic along with its people. Magic is absolutely ingrained in every part of life. It powers the towers and runs the trains. The capital city is at a standstill. There should be panic, even looting, in a blackout of this kind. But instead people regard the empty billboards and too-quiet streets with vague disquiet. Some gather, and others stand alone, but all are too disturbed even to scream and shout. They can only stare.

"Is this truly better than Labyrinth?" Northa asks, her voice emitting once again from every direction; the portholes themselves dimly illuminate the frames around them, which are continuously writhing vines forming them in real time; with bud-mouths of leaves, tongues of pistil and stoma. "I was not blind to what happened to the worlds left behind when my Knights brought me their magical hearts for safekeeping, for protection from the Outside. How they became cold, and their peoples strange. How there was a void in them... where the magic used to be."

Falling, falling. Windows to a dozen worlds float past. A hundred. All of them rapidly becoming very much as Northa describes.

Perhaps most alarmingly of all, though the images of the world are mostly in grayscale, the people themselves are very much in color, if pale and wan. The gray and dismal sky and ground and trees, those changes are real; something essential has been drained from the natural world itself, in realm after realm.

"I created Lord Moebius to fill that void. To give people... purpose. Now, you have taken it from them. Only... sorrow, remains for them now."

Northa usually speaks of sorrow as a resource to gather; as a precious treasure with which to nurture her plants; as a fascination to study. She is systematic and demanding; and also capricious and cruel. Now, for the first time, she sounds like she actually understands that sorrow is also a feeling. That sorrow is a consequence.

It is worse, that she was once the Belkan Queen.

It is worse, that she always knew what sorrow really was.

It is worse, that she created a distraction to help everyone forget that they must have reached terminal velocity quite a long time ago.

The floor gives no warning and shows no mercy.

OOC: I'm not going to do a literal +attack that will create csys fatigue for 'surprise floor in darkness' but people might enjoy
reacting in various ways, be they badass in the 'prevents a crash' or 'gets up from a crash' flavor. It is intended to be a trap,
Northa manipulating the perception of space a bit by sending the 'portholes' down with you at a different velocity -- flying, in
itself, cannot avert slamming into a surprise floor though it can make it easier to stop safely if it's less of a surprise because
you saw someone else hit first, perhaps.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna is worried about Love, Buki, and Miki. But her heart hurts for Labyrinth now, too. Once, it made sense; Moebius was just... too strict a ruler. Now...

"It's... Our whole society was built for her to use," Passion says quietly.

But Lera is with her, and Passion can't quite smile, but she can take Lera's hand for a brief moment, and squeeze it.

Endo is with her, and he's ready. Fate knows she'll win... and--"Thank you," Passion says quietly.

Grief is for later. For Soular, for Westar...

"I know," she says to White and Black. "...And I'm relying on you both."

La Sirene, too. "Then we'll make sure it ends," Passion answers La Sirene. "...She can't keep doing this." She looks to Mikoto, growling, and nods sharply. She knows just how she feels. "...Thank you," Passion says to Kyouka too. She did want to.

And... Well, Passion can't fly, but she can jump very high. And very quickly. She doesn't move to teleport ahead; even if she could get past Northa's defenses, it would be a terrible idea to go on her own. She's learned that lesson.

And as she sees the broken and dead forests behind, as windows appear to other worlds... Passion looks upon them. And she recognizes the words they speak.

"Labyrinth wasn't yours to use!" Passion calls out at Northa, in any and every direction in her pain and anger and compassion all. "You created Moebius for your own selfish ends! Don't pretend that you did it for anyone but you!"

Only sorrow...

"They had plenty of other things than sorrow! They had their own lives, their own hopes, their own wants! You--"

CRASH. Passion hits the ground hard, unable to arrest her momentum. And for a few moments, she is still and silent.

A trap. And once again, she walked right into it...

"...You took..."

"You took so much from us..."

For the first time, Passion grieves not as a girl without a world, but as a denizen of Labyrinth. And that, at least, gives her enough to go on. That means that her fist clenches, and punches down into the ground, as she slowly drags herself out of the pile she became. Slowly, and then all at once she rises.

"You don't get to talk about Labyrinth that way! Not when it was you who made it what it was!"

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"I'm okay, Mikoto," Lera tells her, as she comes down. She smiles up at her.

There's a relieved look on Lera's face to see Endo, Fate, and the others come too. She smiles at them -- and then she looks at Cure Black. She nods, rotating her shoulder. It's still a little sore after that fall.

"We'll make sure of it," she promises.

Cure Passion leads the way -- and Lera follows. It wasn't any question. She flies down after her, as they jump. The length of the descent makes the difference between flying and falling more academic than she would like.

And they get their look at another world; at Cephiro, that magical land of will, and home of the lost princess. Her fingers tighten around Soaring Sky; Sky, for his part, murmurs uncomfortably. He remembers more now.

But the way that Cephiro has withered like that forest puts her heart in her throat.

And when she sees Midchilda, it's all the worse for her -- the way the capital city is without light, the way nothing moves, and people stare hopelessly.

"That isn't purpose!" Lera shouts up at Northa. "You--you just made a master for them, after taking away what they needed! This, everything you've done, this can't be worth this sort of despair!"

She hits the ground. She realizes at the last second -- and light blasts out from her in a ring, before she comes down into a three-point stance that's too rough. She grunts, forcing herself up after Cure Passion.

She looks sideways at her. "We'll help them, Passion," she promises. "As soon as... as soon as we take care of Northa."

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

"We're back." She tells Mikoto, even as she sets La Sirene down, but then they must go. And there are no stairs to where she is. And so as others leap, Fate flies, at a fast clip, albeit not at her top speed given the uncertainties that exist in the void.

It is no longer laughter that greets her, but glimpses of other worlds.

'Cephiro'

She still remembers it from their brief trip, even if they did not truly get to see it, to meet its people, and something within her twists at seeing them in such a state of emptiness, of despair.

And for Midchilda. It was the place of her birth, even if she grew up elsewhere upon it, she still has vague memories of the girl she was meant to be of the city through the eyes of a child.

The city is still.

'Is this truly better than Labyrinth?'

Her jaw sets, she flies, not answering the question, but she keeps talking, and this time she shouts, "That's not true!" Fate barks back, but still not answering, when the floor comes up and...

... she slams down. It is not a gentle landing, one who learns how to fly must learn how to fall gracefully, but she lands gracelessly, the auto-protection systems of Bardiche sparking as her barrier jacket absorbs the impact beneath layers of runes that spring up.

For one long moment, she's in a heap, then with one noise like a sob, but gets up, grudgingly, as she listens to Passion and Lera, before...

"He threw them away like trash, the people who gave everything to him." Fate says, pained, but still angry, determined, "If you created him, then it's time for you to take responsibility."

Just like her Mother never did.

"And if you won't... then we'll stop you from harming anyone else."

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Darkness has never fazed Mikoto; like the cats she allies with, she's always been able to see in the dark. This, evidently, is something deeper than black -- because she can make out her allies perfectly well, in Setsuna's red glow, but the walls remain obscure even to her.

She feels the heat, oppressively, sweat on her skin until it feels she can shed it no more for the humidity around them. It is as if hands grasp her skin, squeezing her insides to the outside through the sieve of her living flesh.

The portholes... and...

Mikoto remembers the Vermillion Knight hefting her arbalest, defying the Queen after all her kindnesses. Her... kindnesses? Her...

"RRRRrrrraaaahhh--!!" Mikoto bellows, as she lifts Miroku against the impossible, terminal pressure of their velocity, swinging it overhead, swinging it down. It bites into the earth FIRST, sending a terrible shockwave around -- which might make someone else's landing more complicated, even as it arrests hers, her feet coming to land long moments after her blade does, step-hup, having to find her footing before she can wrench the blade out. Her arms ache from absorbing all the impact of their landing, but the birthmark over one of them ensures she can still lift Miroku from the ground, when they're done.

"I don't like you!" She yells, as she hefts her blade, grasping it between her hands as she finds footing on her broken earth.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

Endo is used to jumping, and also to falling. There's at least some small good news and a sense of comfort in the return of Nori and Fate. And the lights of Cure Passion and the other magical girls to give some sense of form in the endless darkness they descend into.

Fallen Stern glows too, though dim; more like an aircraft warning light, a little speck of orchid in the dark that's easily dwarfed by the campestral views that the portholes afford to those on the descent.

He's never seen most of these places personally, only heard stories from his friends. The vistas, aside from those burned in memory from the skein, are alien. It is easy to tell, however, that all of them are withered and mourning.

The flashes of light from Fate and Lera's defensive systems give some brief indication that there is a floor, but not enough to not make it a problem. Fallen Stern's protective efforts are similar but remain dutifully on brand: the energy thrown outward from the impact is enough to leave a small crater for Endo to crumple into.

"Don't..."

There's an unpleasant grating noise as Endo pulls himself from the place he'd been embedded, using his device to support his weight.

"Don't act like..." He hisses out a pained breath. "you were doing anyone a favor."

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

La Sirene, without hesitation, descends.

The heat is difficult. She is, after all, dressed for stormy weather - even a warm day storm will soon become kill, from the wet if nothing else. Sweat glistens on her skin. The aura of un-light around her avails little against this darkness; she can see her own nose in front of her face, if she crosses her eyes.

And then, there is a glimpse --

-- Cephiro! She can remember it; her left hand throbs for a moment, the scar from where that woman, Alcyone, struck her --

-- other worlds, passing quicker, not enough to recognize. Worlds she never knew. Perhaps now she never will. Not after what Northa has done, in past and in present and in the oh-so-terribly-near future...

Only sorrow remains for them now.

La Sirene takes a breath and THAT is when she strikes the floor. La Sirene had led with her feet, expecting perhaps to be able to land in three or four points and then leap back up. Instead she lands in one; the shock ripples through her body and she staggers afterwards, her other foot slamming onto the ground as she stands askew, reels, and pitches forwards - catching herself on her left hand.

She stays there. Three point landing, in the end. The pain ripples through her several times; she brings her right arm down, and pushes herself up to stagger back for a moment.

Trembling a little, her voice doesn't quaver even as she shouts, "Having regrets at the very end? If you're changing your mind - you'll need to speak quite quickly! And it won't excuse what you've done, either!" Afterwards, she stops, simply breathing heavily as she straightens up, gingerly testing her left leg a little, then the right.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Black [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Cure Black and Cure White give each other's hands a long squeeze. They are experienced enough to know that it does not make sense to take this jump linked together; better to be two leaves on the breeze. But Pretty Cure does not always select their tactics based on logic, and on the edge of the precipice, Cure Black decides to keep squeezing, insistently: an offer. Cure White, after a pause, returns some gentle modulation of her grip. After a moment of silent communication, Black nods to her, releasing her hand. Into the unknown, they leap as one.

Cure Black's bleached hair inverts fully and immediately, the spiky texture blasted smoother by the whipping passage of drenchingly humid wind to resemble a rippling orange rose. Cure White's far longer hair has its ornamental bow to keep a portion of it intact, and thus retain more similarity to her usual look but what is left unbound is extravagantly, almost absurdly longer than Black's, leaving a long inky river behind her as she plummets.

As the visions of fairy worlds flash past, the two Cures watch in dismay, escalating as the extent of the damage widens. The lost innocence of those realms is heartache enough even before you have the joy of experiencing their Eden at is peak. Everything is so soft there, so friendly. The cruelty of ravaging such a place in some ways stings worse than the sight of their own home city under assault. Tokyo is vulnerable... but tough, too. The Sweets Kingdom finds suffering so foreign.

Strange realms pass by as well, ones Cure Black knows far less about. Short trips to rescue a world do not always allow the sight of villages and glades like this, and Cure Black struggles with feeling grief for a wonder she only just discovered. To live in a magical world like she's seen only in manga... it was possible, but it is being lost before her eyes.

Until suddenly...

LABYRINTH FAULT: UNEXPECTED FLOOR ON LINE 109

Cure Black is a seasoned faller, as befits a magical girl who fights very close but also cannot fly. She has kept her legs ready for impact and her arms stabilizing her above her head the whole time, and is theoretically somewhat ready at any moment, but she had intended to make final adjustments and focus when she saw ground coming her way. Instead, her dark magenta boots punch into the ground and she instantly is forced to (literally) kick her own butt with the back of her heels, as her falling velocity compacts her down like a spring.

A split second too late, Cure Black engages her visually-athletic and physically-herculean leg muscles, slowing her body's compression. It was probably not the right move, based on the way her eyes enlarge and her cheeks puff out, her body dispersing the impact... but across itself.

Cure White gains the benefit of her partner preceding her. Maybe the direct-minded Black made a more effective arrow of herself, maybe it's the fact that her black shorts allow her to let her skirt invert like her hair without worry, maybe it's simply the drag produced by the luxuriously long tassel of night-black hair that followed Cure White past all those miserable images of Labyrithine dominance. Whatever the case, Cure White gains the chance to react to her fall. And Cure Black gets to react to it, too.

If she had a brief instant more to analyze the situation, Black would have let White handle it herself; she's better at it to begin with and Black provided more than enough assistance just by ramming the ground like a bullet herself. But the sudden floor scared her, and before she fully understands what happened, she sees White careening down towards it as well.

Tucking into a midair backflip, Cure White intentionally lingers in the horizontal phase, catching as much air as she can without risking a backflop onto the ground. Her legs numb and jangling with agony, Black forces them straight just then, diving to catch the startled Cure White, which knocks her right out of her perfect balletic flip. An instant later, Cure Black is sprawled fully on her stomach, with Cure White cradled across her extended arms. It broke the White Cure's fall... but less than Cure White would have managed.

"Sorry," a frog manages from somewhere inside Cure Black's throat. She coughs, embarrassed. The cough isn't because she's embarrassed, though. That would be the bellyflop.

One of Cure White's cheeks puffs out, but she flicks a disordered orange lock of hair back into place on Cure Black's head.

Helped up by Cure White, Black dusts her skirt off and examines her surroundings, checking on her various allies. "Wait... is Northa...?" Black begins to piece together what she was hearing before that rather jarring impact.

"She was," White corrects and agrees at the same time, her thundercloud brows tight with righteous anger.

"Oh..." Cure Black shakes her head in disbelief, checking a second time hastily on Endo, Lera, Fate, and Kyouka. She isn't very clear on her Midchildan history or culture, cannot understand the full ramifications, but the greater shape of the betrayal has a face to her. "Oh no. Their..."

An image of a golden-haired, omnibenevolent statue of a contented woman perched on her regal red throne flashes through Cure Black's mind.

"Their Queen..." she whispers, pained.

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

The staircases are destroyed. And Kyouka, unlike her fellow Device Mages, hasn't really worked out the whole 'flying' thing yet. (To be honest she hasn't been particularly worried about that thus far. Superpowered parkour is, honestly, really fun.)

As she stares over the edge at that total magical darkness, though, she silently adds 'Maybe think about learning to fly' to her to-do list.

She has to believe she'll make it out of here to check on that to-do list.

"Remember to bend your knees when you land to absorb the impact," she says out loud to nobody in particular.

She jumps, the belt tied behind her whipping up above her head as the winds rush past her. First darkness, then heat. Strike Wolf silently adjusts Kyouka's barrier jacket to try and make it a little more bearable, but... most of his energy is going towards impact management.

She draws in a sharp breath as she sees the vision of Cephiro. How it is drained of magic, the trees barren... everything hurts to see, but the trees are a special kind of hurt to her nature-loving heart. And to see the people drained of all free will...

It makes her mad. She grabs onto that anger, to use as fuel for what's ahead.

More and more and more worlds are shown... That anger burns still, but it is an anger in a slowly growing sea of sadness at the sight of so many worlds affected, drained, without purpose...

A purpose Northa insists she provided, through Lord Mobius.

"... You're sick, you know that?" says Kyouka quietly. Can Northa hear her? She doesn't particularly care. She can't help but look as more and more portholes float past them, even though she doesn't want to. "You started this problem. You turned your knights against each other, you inflicted... this on all these worlds..."

"... What would your daughter think of what you've become?"

Is she pushing a button there? Probably. But she carries some of the Ashen Knights's memories within her, now, her grief, what the struggle cost them... (She can't fully forgive Ashen, either, but she at least tried to make a change.)

It's all a distraction. Crap. The floor rushes up at her, and Kyouka extends her legs in the instant that she has for it, as Strike Wolf's gem on her gauntlet glows. She slams into the ground, the floor cracking and fracturing underneath her in an ever widening circle of cracks She's in a three point stance, with her gauntlet carrying Strike Wolf pounded into the ground in a fist.

It still took a lot out of her to move that much power at once to brace herself and she is winded for a moment, gasping for air (which is made wore by the humid, suffocating heat of Northa's plants.) "Oh... you..."

Thankfully she's too winded to curse right now.

Slowly she pushes herself up, bracing against her knee as she rises to her feet. First slumped over, and then standing fully upright.

"Okay. ... *huff* ... Whatever it takes... *huff* ... we'll stop you."

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

Getting up, bodies adjust, one hair on the back of the neck at a time, to a sense of greater space. The tower was unspeakably vast, but wherever they've landed is vaster still, and in fact opened up a while before impact; it is tall as well as wide. The tower being, for all intents and purposes, a chimney, provides a decent sense of proportion in this space.

And, very gradually, shapes begin to resolve as well. Organic shapes, one and all. If Lord Moebius' supercomputing circuitry has been overwritten by vines, this is of course where they began; and vines do not just begin in isolation. Before leaf there is twig; before twig there is branch; before branch there is limb; before limb there is trunk; and before trunk there is root.

A rutile smell wends through this place as well as the hot wet perspiration of vines and leaves. But there's something off about it -- something chemical. Nostril-singing, almost the dangerous scent of ammonia, though it is not too difficult to breathe. Anyone who has studied enough biology might recognize that it isn't an additive aroma but rather another smell that is missing: the smell of soil. Absent the rich and loamy scent of earth itself, roots smell the denizens that dwell within and around them. Like a vast symbiotic network. And that network does not use, nor produce, oxygen...

But then, Northa's plants never grew strong with such ordinary elements as nitrogen, phosphorous, or iron.

There is so much here. Roots and vines grow so thick and fast into one another that they could be also be called trunks, as very old banyan trees sometimes are. Other vines that are thinner individually, thin as long snakes and sometimes long fingers, and writhe. Where leaves are in evidence they are matte rather than glossy, darkness among darkness, and their edges are razor sharp.

A jungle explodes outward from the center in a vast explosion of life -- if you can call this life. But then, that's what this is all about, isn't it?

<SoundTracker> Negai, Yami no naka de - Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWEz3lzz7GQ

Northa's voice comes from up ahead, guiding the group to her. Arrogant and proud, she is every inch a queen.

"It was not I who created the Outsider threat," she replies. Ten thousand years have not changed her position at all, it seems; she could be lecturing that lost Princess or her rebellious Knights. Still, it is not easy to forget that which she refers to, either: traumatic even to look upon in a dream of a memory, with the human mind filling in mandibles and claws and wings as shorthand for even more alien Wrongness that does not belong in our universe at all, the Outsiders were attracted to magic, and consume everything in their path in terrible slaughter, were an implacable threat. A threat paused, but not eliminated, only through the enormous personal sacrifice of the brave Knights of Belka, and the life of their leader, the Crown Princess.

How the Queen felt being opposed, later on, by another proud and brave Princess so very similar to her own deceased daughter, is a question that has never been asked of her, until now.

But here and now, far below everything, in the heart of her own darkness, Northa explains...

"Silence! I am doing what my daughter did. When I found Labyrinth, I acted to protect it. And I succeeded, where in Belka I had failed. I will not deny that the fate those original worlds suffered was a terrible one. With their very memory of magic sealed within the vault Infiniti--"

Chiffon. She's talking about Chiffon, the infant lamb fairy whose eyes sometimes become black and strange and calls herself Infiniti, The Infinite Memory.

"--they were invisible to the Outsiders, and thus spared from that reaping. But yes, without something to replace that magic, they withered and died. It was a terrible mistake. I bear that stain on my soul forever. Labyrinth, in contrast, was the first world that I ever truly saved, through the advent of Lord Moebius -- a power source in his way, something to worship, to serve, to derive purpose from. And now, with the help of Infiniti, whose capacity has grown enormously during their slumber -- and with Labyrinth technology to connect everything -- I have extended that salvation to every world."

The main light source had been the slightest, barest background radiance coming from Northa's general direction.

But now the girls are emerging into a sort of clearing in the heart of the jungle.

As they step forth, everything is suddenly lit up by a massive one of those plant-projected 'screens', a porthole that opens overhead... onto Earth.

Those who stayed behind to fight have failed. The oceans are as gray as the sky. The plants have yet to start dying, thankfully, but they have been robbed of color entirely. All animals are in hiding, curled up in the smallest balls they can manage. Technology is still working, for the most part; smokestacks still belch into the sky; trains still run, at least if they are automated.

But the people... humanity... is as dazed and lost as everyone everywhere else. They too had been forced to march for Lord Moebius; and now they too are emerging from that control, out in rows on the streets of Tokyo, to find the world forever changed. The projection happens to be in the Juuban neighborhood. Not everyone's parents live there, but many do, and they can be seen in the crowd, desolate as everyone else. If Northa is telling the truth, they are seeking something inside themselves that they can no longer find. Some weep and others stare. Some try to console one another, but both the action and the reaction are disjointed; again, it is as though something is missing. Kindness seems as alien now, as Outside the reality of Earth, as the monsters that Northa has sacrificed everything to hide from.

The image on the screen illuminates Northa in the flesh, who stands in front of the largest trunk of all, with the kind of unspeakably massive curvature that seems flat, akin to the tower itself. It is possible to see the Belkan Queen in her features, now that you know. Her hair wasn't blue (was it? it was always under a wimple) and she didn't seem so tall in those ancient dreams; and the clothing is different. She wore a crown of metal and jewels instead of one of roots and leaves.

But the madness in her golden eyes -- and the cruelty -- is the same.

To her left, Miki Aono, Love Momozono and Inori Yamabuki have been crucified to roots made out of crosses, though thankfully their limbs are secured by vines that wrap around wrists, necks and ankles, rather than piercing through any hands, feet, or throats.

"Everyone!" Love shouts, looking up and over, though her head cannot move far.

"Everyone!" Northa shouts too, interrupting: "-- everyone! -- is finally, finally... saved," Northa announces. "All that remains is to replace Lord Moebius. Perhaps I shall fashion the next Lord of All Worlds in your image, Eas. You always were... the best, of the people of this little world."

"--don't give up!" Love finishes. Clearly not for the first time, she struggles mightily against her bonds. They overcome her, and a root grows to fill her mouth as well, gagging her completely. If they can be freed and reunited with their Linkrun, they are clearly eager to rejoin the fight--!

Northa smirks, unperturbed by her hostage managing to get out a message. She takes it for herself, as she has taken everything else.

Her voice rings with terrible truth as she sets herself into a readied stance. An entire jungle animates around her, around all of them, ready to fight.

"Don't worry, little Earthling," she coos to Love, whose name she has apparently never bothered to learn. "I never give up."

OOC: You are certainly invited to pose your parents/families out in the streets in the way this pose implies if they are Tokyo-
based, still alive, etc; greater specifics of what your character sees on the screen. If not parents then friends, any NPCs are
encouraged, cameo away.

OOC: Miki, Love and Buki can each be saved and their root-bindings can safely be attacked at magical girl force to do so without
harming them; each save will require a csys attack from one person, y'all can split them up however you like (maybe the three
Precure PCs will do it, but maybe not, I leave that to the group to decide).

OOC: Setsuna, you found their Linkrun in the abandoned Momozono House and brought them along, Cure Passion's skirt has pockets,
truly ultimate power for magical girls.

COMBAT: Northa transforms into Northa, Queen of Sorrow!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Mikoto says what Setsuna is feeling, once again. They have always had their similarities, for all that in other ways they are opposites. She doesn't like Northa. ...And neither does Cure Passion.

Lera promises to her, and Passion can put her certainty in that, turning to look at her girlfriend for a long moment. "...Yes," she says. "Yes."

Not just Love, Buki, and Miki but...

Like trash, Fate says, and Passion still feels the raw wound that is the fate of Soular and Westar.

Endo is with her. He agrees. And La Sirene has a quip as ever.

"Yes," Passion confirms for White and Black. "...She was the Queen of Ancient Belka. We learned it in another time..."

"Chiffon!" Passion cries in dismay at the matter of Infiiti. But Northa continues still. The Outsider threat...

"But Moebius only gave us a shadow of purpose! We were missing something still! Something important!"

They arrive. Passion looks out over the people. She sees classmates from Juuban roving and seeing each other. Girls from the Tennis Club wander aimlessly.

This isn't where Setsuna's adopted parents live. But she knows they're out there on Earth...

Love calls to them, and Passion sees her. "I hve your Linkruns!" Passionc alls. And then--she sees the madness in Northa's eyes. But everyone....

In her image, Northa says. Passion glares back at her. "If you think I'm the best," Passion says, "Then there's something about me that I can still make better." Her voice twists a little with it--but Love calls for them not to give up...

"Lera!" Passion calls. "Cover me! Senpai!"

Then she rushes, crossing the distance almost too fast to be seen, to her friends. To her sister. To Love. "Haaah--"

Passion swings with a roiling kick at the vines, as inevitably strong as the tides, and she leans close to rip vines off of Love as best she can.

"Love!" she says. "This time... I'll save you!"

Cure Passion--the girl once known as Eas--can only get one fo them at once.

But she believes in her friends. In her senpai. In the others, who can help them, too.

In all of her friends.

"Setsuna!" Love calls when Passion manages to get the vines out of her mouth. "What are you saying, 'this time'? You've saved me tons of times now!"

"You know what I--"

She does. They both know what Setsuna means. And as soon as Love's hands are free, she takes the Linkrun Setsuna gives her.

COMBAT: Cure Passion has used Breaking Wave on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa braces 6 Fatigue damage from Cure Passion's Breaking Wave, taking 9 Fatigue damage!  Cure Passion is Psyched!
Northa's Block and Parry abilities activate!  Stagger applied to Northa!

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Lera knew, perfectly well, that none of them would accept what Northa says. It still helps to hear that; to be reminded that she isn't facing against Northa alone, in body or in morale. She stands tall, the way that Cure Passion does.

She smells the plants, and it's not a great surprise. They've faced Northa before; they've encountered her vines before. She still tenses when that jungle explodes outward, dark and sharp. All the while, Northa lectures them.

It's eerily familiar. Memories that she lived through, on the journey here. She exhales, softly.

And she tenses, as she sees Love, Buki, and Miki bound like that in roots. "No," she says, her voice quiet. Then, her eyes narrow. "Don't you talk to her that way!" Lera shouts. "Or about Infiniti that way! You..."

She shakes her head. "You haven't changed at all! You're talking about people the same way you did about Cephiro's Pillar! As--as something to be used, not as people!"

Passion calls out for her to cover her. Lera nods, sharply, and lifts Broken Ground. The clockwork shield gleams; the energy fields between its segments shine.

As the red Cure bolts forward, a trio of bolts of light erupt off it -- they shoot around Setsuna, arcing to not hit her -- and then converge on Northa herself.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Fault Siege on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa dodges 5 Fatigue damage from Lera Camry's Fault Siege, taking 8 Fatigue damage!  Lera Camry is Psyched!  

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghb6eDopW8I (Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks)

La Sirene looks up at the Earth for a moment. She can feel her heart sink.

All of it, too late.

The thought quibbles in the back of her mind - a small voice saying, at the worst possible time, 'it's *your* fault.' If she'd stood a meter to one side, she could have been there - they would have stopped the False Buki more quickly-

- Earth would have -

Have -

'Everyone!' shouts Love, at the end of all things, and la Sirene snaps out of it. She looks towards Love, Ibuki, Miki, and raises her left hand towards them, a brief wave. She might flash a handsign... but there is only one hand sign she is interested in, at this moment.

Her left hand changes its gesture as she turns to face Northa. Index and pinky up: ring and middle down: thumb crossed over them. It is an ancient salute, a simple one seen in many places. A challenge it has ever been, and it is one now.

"Perhaps when you began, you were steered by something good," la Sirene says. "But this... it would have been better for you to have never begun. I cannot say whether it would be better to be devoured by these -- these things that you speak of. But do not feed us ashes and tell us it is a wonderful feast! You have left them nothing but sorrow. You realized it yourself, just a moment ago."

"You -"

La Sirene's voice cracks. The sonorous, bronze-and-lead bell voice she often assumes in this guise fades. For a moment it sounds just like Nori Ankou if with a curious reverberation. And it is LOUD:

"YOU RUINED EVERYTHING AND ACT LIKE IT WAS A FAVOR!!!"

That same ragged voice continues as she cries out, "Les Mysteres, come!" The stroke down with her right hand comes swiftly, savagely, and there is that roaring sound, that semi-electric wail as it strikes and echoes outwards. In the strange light here, of screen and sorrow and Labyrinthine gloom, the subtle shapes and glyphs in the echo-lights behind her shine all the brighter: and the burst towards Northa, sudden and broad like a thrown fist of ink, roars all the faster.

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Les Mysteres on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa braces 18 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's Les Mysteres, taking 15 Fatigue damage!  Northa's Block and
Parry abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Plants. They're a thing Kyouka knows well, after many upon many camping trips with her parents (and with Wolfy.) But it takes her a moment to notice the absence of Earth--a bewildering absence to latch her mind onto, until it suddenly clicks. "How are they growing without--"

She cuts herself off. She has a feeling she won't like the answer much.

Northa--the Belkan Queen--speaks. Labyrinth was the first world she saved, she claims, and Kyouka scowls. "You call this saving? There's more to life than just--just existing! What happens after you drain everyone's magic, all of their light, and love--are you just going to keep everyone in that state forever?"

"I know you're hurting, but this isn't the type of world your daughter sacrificed herself to create."

The emerge into a clearing, more portholes--

Earth, fallen. Juuban, in its current state...

Kyouka gasps, her voice pained. "Mom... Dad..." Her parents, standing in the middle of the street, lost and confused. Her dad is looking at something in the distance, perhaps nothing at all. Her mom is fidgeting, like she's trying to remember something, but whatever it is slips her mind every time she tries.

It's like a punch to the gut, and Kyouka is winded. There is a quiver in her voice. She can only imagine where Wolfy is, potentially spared but lost and confused and alone. She squeezes her eyes tight to block out the image, something wet dropping from her chin to the ground below.

Love calls for them to not give up, and Kyouka opens her eyes again. They're still wet, but they're also set. And determined. "Right then..."

She sets her stance, sliding one foot forward, one hand leading in front of her, the other high up and behind her as she gets ready to attack. "You've made a lot of mistakes, Northa. So here's one more to add to the list."

"... You messed with my family, and everyone I care about... and you pissed me off."

It seems like barely yesterday when she happened to catch Strike Wolf's telepathic call for help, when she saved him and stepped into this whole strange world of magic. She's had... her fair share of concerns and misgivings, uncertainties about if she was a real magical girl or not, using a borrowed Device.

But right here, right now, her and Strike Wolf have never been more in sync. There have been dangers, yes, but also such wondrous things, too. Whole new worlds of possibility she never imagined before.

She trusts a hand out. A Midchildan circle of bright violet energy appears before her hand, and in front of it several purple bolts of energy form.

<Gale Shot.>

The swarm of purple bullets hurls itself forward at Northa, as Kyouka gives chase behind them for a follow-up attack.

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has used Gale Shot on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa fails to dodge Kyouka Okazaki's Gale Shot, taking 12 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Kyouka Okazaki is Psyched!  

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Trees are familiar, to Mikoto, raised on a remote mountaintop; she is a creature of nature, in many ways. (Not all of them natural.) But this... this isn't...

It's different. She doesn't like it.

"Everyone..." Mikoto says, as she looks to the harrowing images of Juuban. And then -- stricken -- her head jerks up: "What about Mai?!" There are two tiers of people: everyone on Earth, itself devastating, and Mai, which is something completely different.

The Cures on their crosses are of course terrible, but in this moment Mikoto is only glaring right, at Northa. "Give Mai back!" She screams, single-minded. "Don't save Mai like that--!" She can't see Mai on the screen, but she can imagine what's happened to her, and that, in its way, is worse.

(Is it worse that she doesn't think of Chie and Aoi, right now?)

She charges, spinning once, twice, three times, before her sword comes up for the impact. "Rrrrrhhhh--!!"

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Devastation on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa fails to dodge Mikoto Minagi's Obsidian Blade: Devastation, taking 29 Fatigue damage!  Mikoto Minagi is Psyched!  

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

The streets of Tokyo, in a queue of bodies that had once been marching in mechanical single file, Chiaki Naoki sits despondent. There are others in similar states, but that's the figure Endo focuses on. The one that makes his heart ache with sorrow, even though he's far away from the husk of Earth.

When his gaze pulls back to the scene before them, the mass of vines, the oppressive heat, the captured cures, his teeth clench.

The journey through Labrynth has been brutal, but they aren't done yet. Purpose gives the boy the strength to raise his weapon once again.

"You call this saving people? This, or Labyrinth?" Endo asks, his voice choked with anger.

"Your people believed in you," Endo says, echoing la Sirene's condemnation, "whatever you were! Your knights died for you! But if this is the best that you can do...then I don't want it!"

Endo launches from his position like a bullet, a Belkan triangle at his feet adding to the propulsion like a spring board. He burns through the air, whirling in a sharp arc to cleave through any errant roots in his path. Purple-black contrails cut the air in the wake of his Device, and with the final spin Endo turns the enormous blade toward Northa, Belkan Queen, on its final arc.

<METEOR ABSTURZ... YOUR MAJESTY.>

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Meteor Absturz on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa cleanly braces 62 Fatigue damage from Endo Naoki's Meteor Absturz, taking 11 Fatigue damage!  Northa's Block and
Parry abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Black [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

There are two sorts of heroism, the sort you celebrate, and the sort you mourn. The yellow-furred Chuutaro is exemplifying the latter, his yellow-furred body sheltering some smaller, stray dog that Cure White has never seen before, with no real ability to defend his fellow canine against what is happening. Cure Black steps forward, eyes stinging, as if she could get closer to her mother and father, the former of whom is carrying her little brother Ryouta. The boy has objected to such mode of transport for some time now, but he makes no complaint this time, hugging his mother's neck tightly with one arm. Rie Misumi cannot so much as look at him, nor he at her, their faces turned forward in the direction every else is looking at. But she is exhausting herself to keep her arms around her son, rather than swinging in an orderly fashion at her side.

"M-mom?" Cure Black whispers.

Clutched in his fist, Ryouta has brought along his Ultraman figure. That arm is at his side, and it seems like an effort to hang onto the little plastic man. But his small fist clings on, for now.

There are two sorts of heroism. If you are fortunate enough to have the power to achieve something with yours, you owe it to those who do not to make the most of it.

"Huwaito," Black requests, her voice harsh with emotion.

"Blacku," White agrees readily, her eyes on their lost friends, the blue heart on the back of her fist rising to the level of her chin.

Black has been calling Buki's name all night, and now she does it one more time loudest of all, as she sets off at a run. "BUKI! Hang in there! We're coming!"

"Miki-san!" Cure White calls, taking an elliptical route to avoid Northa's interference. Both Cures rely on their comrades to cover their approach, and both rely on that fact that Momozono-san has someone who really Loves her here.

Leaping like a cougar, all four limbs a threat, Cure Black slams into the cross of roots, her heel next to Buki's thigh, her hands gripping the wrist-bindings pinning poor Buki's arms out wide to her sides. "Ossu," the mystically empowered jock now face-to-face with Buki greets, a crookedly confident smile on her face now that she has finally found her friend visibly intact.

Cure White runs much further than Black did before leaping, actually passing the cross, skidding as she turns around just beneath it to face the same direction as Miki. With a weightless leap, she reaches up high and catches the right arm of the cross, swinging up it like an acrobat and landing atop the arm (and Miki's arm) with her white boots. "Are you all right, Miki-san?" she asks.

Gripping the vines on Buki's wrists, Cure Black manages to find a spot on the cross for her other boot, in the hollow of Buki's waist. Bracing her legs and squeezing her fingers, she starts a horizontal deadlift, pulling with raw main force. "Rggggghhh... hang on!" The vines begin to crackle loudly, and Black briefly hesitates, making sure they will break before she just rips the cross in half and folds Buki like laundry. Satisfied, she tightens her leg tendons harder until the vines rip freely.

"This one first," Cure White explains aloud in a soothing voice, inserting her palm between Miki's long elegant model neck and the cruel vines keeping it tightly affixed to the cross. Exhaling to focus, she lets her eyes drift half-shut, then, with a sudden, martial violence, twists her palm into the vine so that it has to deal with its widest rather than its thinnest angle. The sudden change pops it open instantly, without a moment's pressure on Miki's neck. "So there's no pressure on your neck," Cure White smiles.

Without her arms to help, and with her ankles bound around but not supported from below, Buki slides down a little, and suddenly feels like a parent tightened a necktie too tight on her school uniform. Cure Black, as the vines tore away, let the momentum flip her backwards, and as she falls, she catches onto the ankle-vines with both hands. "One sec," she assures, teeth gritted, realizing the problem Buki is having. Clambering her feet onto the cross as though climbing up, she plants them again, bracing as she assumes another cat-like position, her hips lifting to pounce. Pulling harder and harder on the ankle-vine, she waits until she can hear it tearing before she gives it a final, impossibly strong yank, simultaneously hauling herself upwards with force, and shredding the ankle-vines into pieces.

Sliding down alongside Miki, Cure White wraps an arm around her shoulder to support herself, the way a weary friend might. But Cure White's blue eyes could not be sharper. Settled into a position next to Miki on the cross, she hooks one bootheel beneath the ankle-vines, and plants the other above them. "Pardon me," she apologizes for the physical imposition. "This may sting," she informs, not apologizing for that part. With a second exhalation to focus herself, she drives her higher leg straight as hard as she can, cracking the vine across her heel and tearing it wide open.

Buki is now left with only the neck vine, and much of her weight hanging from it, albeit largely from her jaw rather than her actual throat. Still, Cure Black moves with haste. As her cat-leap tosses her back up to Buki's eye level, she lifts one knee and elbow to help herself rotate. Her left arm slides behind Buki's lower back, and for an instant, the captive Cure may fear Cure Black is about to strangle her with the weight of TWO orange-haired girls. But it is not Buki upon whom Black intends to drop her compact, muscular weight. Her free hand catches the neck-vine as she falls, she rams her hip violently into the cross, and between those two opposing forces, Cure Black pops off the fiendishly strong restraint as if it were a loose tag on a tee shirt. This was a rather uncomfortable liberation...

...but it did conclude faster than Miki's. Cure White is now faced with the two wrist-vines that Black had started with, left for last for Miki's comfort and dignity. Swinging a knee over Miki and stepping beside her waist with perfect grace, Cure White's long-rippling hair curls in the air, a luxuriant question mark on what efficient martial arts flourish will complete Miki's liberation. Instead, Cure White's boots plant just where Black's had, and her hands grip the wrist-vines for the exact same brute-force deadlift her partner had executed.

Futari wa Pretty Cure, you know.

Cure Black scoops Buki as she falls, and when they land, Buki is being princess carried by some of the strongest arms in the world. Any potential confusion that might introduce to their friendship is likely muted, however, by the fact that Cure Black is already watching Cure White complete her deadlift with sparkling eyes and a happily open mouth. Cure White and Miki Aono flutter elegantly where Cure Black and Buki had dropped heroically, and Cure White catches Miki so delicately it is as though the liberated girl weighs no more than a fluffy white feather.

"Are you all right?" Cure White asks, one resplendently beautiful girl to another, as her hair drops behind her like a cloak of twilight, strand by belatedly lavish strand.

"Aaa," Cure Black sighs dreamily, not to Buki at all.

COMBAT: Cure White has used Femme Freedom on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa partially dodges 2 Fatigue damage from Cure White's Femme Freedom, taking 9 Fatigue damage!  Cure White is Psyched!
COMBAT: Cure Black has used Butch Breakout! on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa fails to dodge Cure Black's Butch Breakout!, taking 13 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Cure Black is Psyched!  

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

No one has ever faced Northa before. Not like this.

They've faced countless Sorewatase, a Nakawameke's more physically dangerous (but honestly somewhat less emotionally profound) cousin, which are basically plant kaiju. Indeed one could assume this subterranean jungle to be either dozens of those dire youma or a single, massive lifeform's worth, depending on how you slice (or punch) it.

They've faced themselves, caught in a terrible, malicious hallucination, when Northa weaponized her Fuko Gauge, infecting everyone with sorrow collected from humanity by countless such monsters, plus Soular, Westar, and of course Eas herself.

Not content with only combating them via nightmares, Northa has also engaged with magical girldom indirectly, stealing things from them that they had to fight to reclaim. But they didn't fight her, generally speaking. She moved through proxies. Agents. Manipulated allies.

...Knights, one might say. Sometimes extremely big names. Northa is known to be the co-architect of the only time Dark Fall and Ends of the World collaborated. Together they deprived every single magical girl of the thing they needed to transform, without throwing a single punch or drawing a single sword. The handful of girls whose 'items' are inside themselves? Rendered temporarily unconscious and spirited away, as for that matter Buki, Miki and Love were just today.

If it hadn't been for the intervention of all the mascots, it would have been all over for the magical girls of Earth, years ago... because of her.

The single time Northa has taken the field directly it was on Earth. Not in the Haunted Mansion, which is half a shattered hellscape anyway, through a mirror darkly, nearly as desolate a dimension as the North Pole was and parts of Infinity Institute have long been implied to be. Deeply shadowed, at the very least. No, she was fully in the normal world, and even so, in that battle, she obtained her objective, which was decidedly not lethal, or even so direct as any magical girl's mere defeat.

Now the magical girls face her at a time and in a place of her choosing. That time is after she has obtained Infiniti and the place is the seat of her power, the laboratory where she has studied sorrow for thousands of years; the garden she has tended for even longer. The place where she landed, as the seed of the tree she became in the Pericosmic Array, to heal and to regrow.

...at least one of those two things transpired. But maybe only the one.

Northa steps between Lera's tri-bolts gracefully. She raises a single hand to La Sirene's fury and just... takes it, takes it to the palm, not going so far as to absorb it, but almost more frighteningly, distributing it. Les Mysteres is a powerful, terrible, wonderful force, and this ancient Queen's skin... is just too thick for it to penetrate. There is a little dust, afterwards. She closes her fist, and lets it crumble to the floor.

"It isn't too late!" she shoots back at La Sirene. "Once you intransigent... children are gone, I will finish what I have started! They will live as Labyrinth has, in safety and security!"

Her eyes roll -- REALLY roll, roll with madness and rage -- when Lera brings up the Cephiran Princess. "Do not speak of that, that idiotic child to me," 'child' really seems to be an insult to her. But she's so steamed by the memory that Kyouka gets to be the first to land a real hit. A small one. But a real one. The shot across Northa's bow lands on one of her spiked pauldrons.

She turns to stare at the purple-clad warrior. Kyouka sees, in those golden eyes, her anger multiplied a thousandfold. Ten thousandfold. Ten thousand years of... fury.

Perhaps the alternative was ten thousand years of anguish...

Mikoto spins in and slashes at full force. Northa retreats a single step from the blade, which leaves a purple-green bruise on her too-pale, too-cold, too-strange skin. This is a victory but also a dire warning, for much larger monsters have been bowled head over heels by such a direct hit from Miroku, tumbled like so many pins or rocketed over the horizon and out of the world forever.

And then everyone finds out what it is to fight Northa on her own terms.

She raises her hand, and sorrowful plants explode out of the ground. What had been a clearing is returned to jungle in a half heartbeat; jungle that it always was, only temporarily in hiding. One could accuse her of cowardice, to have lured them in only to trap them thus, but it is rather ruthlessness that guides her. How could she do ought else for the million worlds she is determined to save?

It is hotter than ever. Wetter than ever. And sharper than ever. Those razor leaves, mostly avoided until now, are suddenly everywhere. Those writhing vines, which parted like curtains to allow the group to approach her, are now ten thousand fingers, ten thousand daggers, ten thousand garrotes. Ten thousand teeth, also, as what had been curious lips and tongue suddenly sprout spines and engorge massively into Venusian traps of human scale.

Mikoto is parted from her by a half dozen trees that simply grow between them, pressing both apart. And for Endo -- Endo and --

"Fallen Stern," she recognizes, as it happens.

Even one such as she still had something to lose.

Some light in her goes out.

Her eyes narrow to slits.

"Your master would be ashamed by this betrayal," she sneers, hatred making her features ugly. "But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. He was the best and greatest of my Knights... and he failed. Failed to protect me. Failed to protect my daughter."

The blade falls to execute her as it did so many of her enemies.

But it does not fall faster than her garden can grow.

One, two, ten trunks. Dozens of vines. And hundreds of roots. Meteor Absturz cleaves through them all... but not through the Queen of Belka.

Her voice emerges from behind the wall of greenery between her and her enemies; its coolness suggests she is essentially unscathed.

"At least now I can be confident. With such enemies, who needs allies? Surely you will fail again. It is the only thing you have ever done in these ten thousand years, Stern."

Roots surround Endo, swirling at him from every direction, especially below.

Then they all lash at him at once -- lash INTO him, sticking like harpoons wherever they can find purchase.

The Belkan greatsword may be strong, but flesh is weak. And the boy can feel his lifeforce beginning to drain away... little pumps of it flowing down the roots to strengthen his enemy.

COMBAT: Northa has used Venus Girl-Trap! on Cure Black.
COMBAT: Northa has used Venus Girl-Trap! on Mikoto Minagi.
COMBAT: Northa has used Venus Girl-Trap! on Kyouka Okazaki.
COMBAT: Northa has used Venus Girl-Trap! on La Sirene de Diamant.
COMBAT: Northa has used Venus Girl-Trap! on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Northa has used Venus Girl-Trap! on Cure Passion.
COMBAT: Northa has used Venus Girl-Trap! on Cure White.
COMBAT: Northa has used Roots of Darkness! on Endo Naoki.
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant partially dodges 7 Fatigue damage from Northa's Venus Girl-Trap!, taking 29 Fatigue damage!  Stun and
Trap applied to La Sirene de Diamant!
COMBAT: Lera Camry dodges 11 Fatigue damage from Northa's Venus Girl-Trap!, taking 16 Fatigue damage!  Lera Camry's Fade and Flash
abilities activate!  Stun applied to Lera Camry!
COMBAT: Cure Passion fails to dodge Northa's Venus Girl-Trap!, taking 30 Fatigue damage!  
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to counter Northa's Venus Girl-Trap!, taking 32 Fatigue damage!  
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi's counterattack, Obsidian Blade: Dynamo, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Northa!  
COMBAT: Endo Naoki braces 20 Fatigue damage from Northa's Roots of Darkness!, taking 30 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Endo
Naoki's Block and Parry abilities activate!  Northa drains 12 fatigue from Endo Naoki!
COMBAT: Cure Black fails to dodge Northa's Venus Girl-Trap!, taking 33 Fatigue damage!  Stun applied to Cure Black!  
COMBAT: Cure White perfectly dodges 41 Fatigue damage from Northa's Venus Girl-Trap!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!
Critical Dodge!  Cure White's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki partially dodges 7 Fatigue damage from Northa's Venus Girl-Trap!, taking 27 Fatigue damage!  Kyouka
Okazaki's Fade and Flash abilities activate!  Trap applied to Kyouka Okazaki!

<Pose Tracker> Inori Yamabuki [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Inori Yamabuki had stopped struggling at least, with the idea of conserving her energy, but 'stop struggling' had never meant stop trying. Indeed, her eyes are upon Miki, and Love in turn, even if they can only look out of their periphery, and when they arrive, "Thank goodness! You all made it!"

There's at least a sense of rising belief in her, that they might be saved. Whereas Northa is like the antithesis of all of her issues, with someone that has so much confidence, they no longer need to believe in themselves.

Passion announces she has her Linkruns and she has a swell of relief, but it's still so much, so overwhelming, dare she believe that much? But even if it's not easy...

Miki Aono gives Love and Passion a thin smile at the moment of rescue, "Not quite perfect..." She offers to their exchange, "...but close enough." There's a pained tease there. And Black - Black calls out to her, and 'buki's eyes go wide, as she looks right at her.

For a moment it's in wonder, and then despite her situation, there's a smile in her eyes, "I... know you are."

I believe

Those are the words, that took a girl with no self confidence and made her a Pretty Cure. The idea of believing in others over herself was always the easiest thing, such that she had to believe in herself first. Now, it's an expression that she believes in others...

... just as much as herself.

Believing in Cure Black is the easiest thing.

Watching the two in their teamwork, as Black and White fly, taking different routes to avoid interference, as one leaps and slams into the roots right beside her, jostling her. And one might expect 'buki to speak more formally, as an Ohtori girl, but instead, "Hey yourself." She says back to her friend.

Before...

"Not even for a second."

She says, even without prompting, but perhaps Nagisa understands 'Not even for a second, would I doubt you.'

Whereas Miki grins at Honoka as she asks, pained, "Could be better." It's a stark admission for a girl who often says she's perfect, but in that much it's no longer a front or airs she's putting on, in this moment - they're all comrades, "But once I'm down..."

Then, she'll be perfect.

'Buki braces herself as Black tears at the vines with raw strength, while Miki marvels at White, "I couldn't have asked for a better rescue." She tells her, whereas 'Buki, slides down and momentary makes a choking noise, until Nagisa corrects the problem, and she clutches at her neck, relieved.

"My hero." 'buki says with a muted sound of cheer... but within the same statement is 'My friend.' more profoundly than that, as she momentarily takes a reprieve from the safety of being newly freed and with her, "Thank you."

White asks, and as Miki takes her Linkrun...

"Now..."

'I'm perfect.'

Whereas 'Buki takes Kirun in hand.

"Change, Pretty Cure... Beat Up!"

"Change, Pretty Cure... Beat Up!"

The two change in sync, an expression of falling for one, and rising for the other, in flashes of yellow and blue, the world cascades into light as their worn clothing becomes the brilliant garb of the Pretty Cure, as each girl steps forward in what might seem like defiance in that they do not attack immediately.

"The blue heart is the emblem of hope. Freshly-gathered, Cure Berry!"

"The yellow heart is the emblem of faith! Freshly-harvested, Cure Pine!"

"Sorry we're late." Pine then apologizes, like she was merely not punctual enough, whereas Berry's smiles awkwardly, "More like we were far too early, Pine."

Pine seems momentarily astounded, then smiles ruefully, "I guess that's right. But thanks to you-" She gives Black and White a grateful look, "-we didn't miss it."

"So now, we get to show her exactly how we feel about everything she's said to Passion and all of you." Berry presents, as Pine nods, then without any further warning, Berry launches herself into a high, elegant leap, before coming down in an enormous kick, whereas 'Pine, drives right in, beginning to punch as if she were going to try and work the abdomen with rapid, powerful punches.

COMBAT: Inori Yamabuki transforms into Cure Pine!
COMBAT: Inori Yamabuki has used Pineapple Express on Northa.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"...I'll come sooner next time," Passion says to Miki, with a small smile. She knew that Black and White would get her friends. She watches them, for a long moment.

Everyone has so much to throw at Northa, so much to say and do in this moment where it is so important that something must be done.

And Endo is right. They believed... And Labyrinth believed in Moebius.

Passion manages to finish freeing Love, and Love takes her Linkrun from her. "Setsuna," she says. "...We'll do it together."

"Right!"

Northa. Her true enemy. The enemy of her home. The enemy of all homes. Passion turns to look at her as she speaks. She calls them children, and Passion narrows her eyes.

But Northa counterattacks, before the girl of few words who is Setsuna Higashi has a chance to say anything at all. Passion falls amidst the vines, suddenly out of sight.

Love Momozono holds out her Linkrun. "Change...!" Her face grows serious. "Pretty Cure! Beat... Up!"

She starts forward, running, and jumps into the air, where her brooch appears, her outfit, her shoes, her new hair--

In glorious pink she rises, charging up beside Cure Passion. "Freshly picked!" she calls, "Cure Peach!"

And where Cure Passion fell, Peach wrenches open the mouth of that writhing vine, ripping it apart and freeing her sister. "Passion!" Peach calls.

Passion hits a knee on the ground--and rises again, taking up position with her former enemy.

Passion and Peach stand together. "No matter how many times you throw us down..." Love starts, and starts sprinting forward again,

"...We'll get right back up!" Setsuna finishes.

BGM: Riot Rhythm - Sleigh Bells https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OwYkI7m1DM

They crash forward, a flurry of punches and kicks together. Where Peach leaves off, Passion picks up again. The world roils around them as they dodge more and more of those terrible vines, but Peach and Passion work in perfect sync. "So you're not too late!" Passion calls to her teammates. And Peach calls, "I'm just as late! So let's go DOUBLE TIME!"

"Pine!" Peach calls. "Berry!" Passion calls.

And as one, they strike a final time--and it rings with the finality of the clock, a pair of KICKS straight for center mass!

COMBAT: Cure Passion has used Twelfth Strike on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa fails to brace Inori Yamabuki's Pineapple Express, taking 28 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Inori Yamabuki is
Psyched!
COMBAT: Northa braces 27 Fatigue damage from Cure Passion's Twelfth Strike, taking 41 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Northa's
Block and Parry abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

They have Love, Buki, and Miki free -- and that's a small victory, Lera thinks. It isn't nearly enough, though, as she sees the plants exploding. It's more than she has ever dealt with before. Northa's magic is beyond what she has seen.

She grits her teeth and soars forward. Lera weaves and bobs between the vines, the thorns, and leaves. She only just gets through, and barely soars away from a trap's teeth.

"Endo-san!" she shouts out. "Hang on!"

She watches Peach, Passion, Pine, and Berry rush in. Lera sucks a breath in -- and she bursts forward the rest of the way. She swings back Soaring Sky, gripping him with both hands. Flame erupts along him.

Plasma, specifically; it glows bright enough to be blinding. <Corona Crash!>

Then, Lera sweeps it down for Northa -- and the plasma explodes off the slash the moment the strike comes close.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Corona Crash on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa cleanly braces 28 Fatigue damage from Lera Camry's Corona Crash, taking 5 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Lera
Camry is Psyched!  Northa's Block and Parry abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

La Sirene looks at Northa through her upraised fingers. "You call that living?" she asks her, even as the warrior voice turns round. La Sirene, perhaps, has been a little bit in her own feelings ever since she rejoined everyone, but that is abruptly ended when she sees Mikoto hurl herself forwards and SMASH with that great sword!

For a moment, she remembers - with a curious sort of salty-sour nostalgia, like remembering the awful taste of a dinner at the most wonderful weeklong vacation of your life - when she stood against Mikoto and her blade.

"Yes! Strike her," La Sirene calls to Mikoto, and she was about to say 'down' but instead the ground, the hot living metal-plant ecology that is growing to riotous profusion around them, has reached up and snapped around her midsection - the angle isn't quite a direct shot at the solar plexus on her, but it is enough that the word becomes a soundless wheeze.

Her hands come downwards, and she can feel the lurid warmth of the place. Sweat is pouring out of her skin, or it feels that way. She thinks, she feels, she reaches for the thought-memory-heart of something else. The storm she had brushed against.

The lashing winds. The driving rain. The great transfer of force. Her eyes close for a moment as her hands grasp either side of the engulfing trap and *pushes*. The Pharos at her hip glitters for a moment. The mouth that engulfs her is filled, silently but with great vigor, with that un-light around her. It swells - it pushes outwards, having traits more in common with liquid than with gas - it spills outwards as la Sirene pushes -- and perhaps more to the point it pours forwards, surging up and outwards. To *her* it is no peril - it's honestly quite refreshing.

To Northa's plants, localized though the impact it may be, it may be less so. What spills out, perhaps what bursts, surges outwards; a bucket of light, or its opposite, poured out into this steaming jungle hell and rippling outwards. "Ngh - Endo!! Pretty Cure, help him--!"

COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Salute the Four Corners on Northa.

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Safety and security... isn't that what Mai wants?

Even so -- "No!"

It can't be like this.

Following up on Kyouka's strike, Mikoto makes a mark with Miroku -- and notes how much of a mark isn't made, in the process. This is a terrible foe, she thinks. She never realised... Northa was this.

Not that she wasn't more distant than Soular and especially Westar, but...

The trees grow, and Mikoto tries to charge right through them, meaning to cut them all down, just as La Sirene says. Except that they grow too fast, and too many, one-two-three-uncountable, and for long moments she is distracted by this sudden, unclimbable jungle.

(At least she hears 'Buki's voice, out there. At least she and the others are okay.)

But when Northa turns her attention on Fallen Stern, that's when Mikoto finally manages to cut her way out, descending with a howl: "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Endo, or Fallen Stern? Perhaps she's worried about them both, as her blade comes down in an overhead swing.

COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Dauntlessness on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa neatly dodges 28 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Obsidian Blade: Dauntlessness, taking 7 Fatigue damage!
Mikoto Minagi is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka... has missed all of Northa's previous plots. She's still, in the grand scheme of things, oh so new to this, after all, though she has faced plenty of her own challenges in her short stint as a magical girl.

But she's seen the scale of the threat that Northa poses to the many, many worlds out there. Northa showed them all, during that long drop.

She showed them what's happening on Earth.

That might be the only favor she's done for Kyouka, to fully cement in the girl's mind just how alarmingly big this threat is. (Not that she needed the help before, of course. But any possible doubts, no matter how slight, have been vanquished.)

Kyouka's righteous anger is only a candle in the blaze that is Northa's millennia of fury and madness. Surely one girl can't stand up to that, but thankfully, Kyouka is not one girl. She is here with her friends and allies, all indignant over what Northa has done, and so she can bear her portion of that fury to stare defiantly back.

She'd been chasing after her first attack, intent to follow it up with something closer range--but the ground erupts in vines, and while Kyouka jumps to avoid the stinging of thorns, she's just a tad too slow. Something wraps itself around her ankle just as she's left the ground and pulls her back, slamming her into more plants.

She struggles, as more and more plants attempt to latch onto her even as she struggles to stand. The other leg and am arm are ensnared, and her last hand temporarily escapes a vine as she yanks it free, then slams her fist into another vineto try and pry it free. "I can't imagine how badly you're hurting, that you held a grudge for all these years..." She pries a leg free, then another. There are still vines clinging to her, but she'll make do as she leaps into the air.

"But this isn't going to ring her back!" As Kyouka sails through the air, a band of midchildan runes surrounds her right gauntlet, which begins to shine brightly with violet-white light. "Lunaaaaar--" She slams the fist into Northa, releasing a giant exposion of energy on impact, if she connects. "IMPACT!"

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has used Lunar Impact on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa fails to dodge La Sirene de Diamant's Salute the Four Corners, taking 27 Fatigue damage!  Bind Break! All of La
Sirene de Diamant's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Northa perfectly braces 45 Fatigue damage from Kyouka Okazaki's Lunar Impact, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!
Critical Brace!  Northa's Block and Parry abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

Endo finds himself awash in smoothing vines, fingers flexing and arms straining to break free of the draining tendrils. They cut, they strangle, they sap the will to move from his body.

But he doesn't let go of his weapon.

<WE SERVED HONORABLY.>

One tug, then another, and the knight wrenches an arm free.

<LAID LOW A DOZEN WORLDS IN YOUR NAME.>

A foot finds purchase somewhere in the tangle below.

<AND FAILED, INDEED.>

A push and Endo shoulders enough room to get his other hand around the hilt of his device. She's dimly aware of Lera, Nori, Mikoto, of other voices outside the consuming tendrils. "She failed you first, Stern." The boy hisses, the message conveyed more through their link than his garbled worlds

ENDOST: Still in the Dark - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPA3Y-acjb0.

<YES. I SEE IT NOW.>

Light floods from the cocoon, magical heat and light bleeding off of Fallen Stern as the device pulses with power. The vines will be their chrysalis, device and wielder honed into a vicious instrument inside.

<MY FAILURE WAS OF UNDERSTANDING.>

"Stern!" Endo calls.

<KNIGHT.> His device responds in kind.

Magic floods outward.

<ZERSTORUNG DRANG.>

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Zerstorung Drang on Endo Naoki.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki accepts Endo Naoki's Zerstorung Drang, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Empower applied to Endo Naoki!  Cleanse! All
of Endo Naoki's debuffs are cleared!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Black [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

When she sets Buki down so she can receive and use her Linkrun, Cure Black first gives her a hug. "Thank you," she says, her voice raw. "For being okay. I was super worried."

Cure White inclines her shoulders in the slight, grateful bow of a girl raised in a fine old house with tatami mats and and old stone well. "Then I'm perfect too," she says in relief, meaning the exact same sentiment as her partner had with Buki. Unfortunately, it gets Cure Black's eyes all starry again.

"They're so... scenic together," Cure Black sighs, not quite finding the right word. "Like they're walking on the red curtain."

"Isn't it 'carpet', mepo?" Mepple demands. He's been on Earth long enough to fill in for Honoka when she's not around to correct Nagisa's idioms.

"Haven't you been to a theater? It's a red curtain," Cure Black stands her ground distractedly.

"Who walks on a curtain-mepo?!"

"What stage is carpeted?" Black rejoins heatedly.

"Dark power mepo!" Mepple shouts, suddenly snapping to attention. The discord falls away in an instant, Cure and fairy once more of one purpose, but just a little too late. The damp ground beneath Cure Black's feet closes up like a giant book. A venus fly trap would be a useful metaphor... if only it were a metaphor at all.

Leaping off the ground, Cure Black manages to plant her feet against one half of the trap, and her back against the other, but its teeth are nearly closed regardless. With her back this bent and her knees nearly touching her chin, she can use only a tiny portion of her considerable physical might, but even that portion is strong enough that the fact that Northa's trap is still closing startles and frightens her.

"I have it!" Cure Black shouts to Cure White urgently, trying to warn her off. "I have it, so don't--!"

SNAP.

Cure White had been poised to follow Cure Berry into battle, but she halts, her cheeks losing what little color they had. "Blacku!" she shouts, lunging forward, only to find a single vine tendril around her ankle. She looks down at it, then forward at the waving leafy fingers, the beckoning curls of vines, the spiralling thirsty thorns. A trap within a trap. She is expected.

"No," Cure White decides aloud, with the tremulousness her voice takes on when its silverine lilt rises to authority, the waver of a strong woodwind rather than any frailty of tone. "That is not how this will work."

With a swift yank of her leg, Cure White snaps the thin tendril on her ankle. She walks at first, and when the first exploratory thorns reach for her, she slaps at them decisively with the blade of her hand, chastising the attempt. The heat is getting worse and worse, and she feels like she is breathing steam from the humidy at this point, but the most either gets from her is a shake of her head to toss some damp hair off her forehead. As the jungle-flora intensify their attacks, lunging like snakes from the ground or swinging out from either side to try and snag her, Cure White glides, dips, and dodges, untouched. Across the last, most intense battleground, she enters what is essentially a floor routine, flipping feet over head, pivoting, and finally, on her last flip, landing with both heels on the fattest part of the venus fly trap that has her partner.

As if punched in the gut, the trap belches out Cure Black, sending her tumbling out onto the ground. She spits some ichor with a sour look on her face, a hand over a ragged wound she somehow obtained in there on her shoulder, though her shoulder raiment absorbed much of the damage.

"Oh my gosh," Cure Black pants. "Through that?"

Cure White nods minutely.

"Huwaito..."

A cry comes across the battlefield, interrupting this reunion. La Sirene wants Pretty Cure help for the sorely taxed Endo, and everyone else is embroiled already.

"He's far," White observes meaningfully.

"On it," Cure Black agrees, catching her meaning. Back on her feet without hesitation, she charges back at the Venus Girl-Trap, tackles it, and wrenches hard with her hips, tearing it up out of the ground like a weed. Flipping it over onto her shoulders, she tests its weight with a few hefts of her arms, then starts off at an awkward run, the massive, flapping maw of the dead plant bouncing atop her head. Hiking back and bouncing for her last few paces, Cure Black heaves the enormous plant with a bark of strained exertion, "HUFF!"

And soaring through the air goes an enormous, toothy plant corpse, a trail of ichor following it. It passes over Endo Naoki's head by quite some yards, plummeting down towards Northa. Hopefully, even someone like her will need a second or five to deal with that, buying the Belkan hero some time.

COMBAT: Cure Black has used Mighty Red-Faced Lift on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa dodges 19 Fatigue damage from Cure Black's Mighty Red-Faced Lift, taking 29 Fatigue damage!  
COMBAT: Cure White has used How This Will Work on Northa.
COMBAT: Northa counters 3 Fatigue damage from Cure White's How This Will Work, taking 9 Fatigue damage!  Cure White is Psyched!  
COMBAT: Northa's counterattack, Grow Strong With Sorrow, partially gets through, doing 16 Fatigue damage to Cure White!  Critical
Counterhit!  Northa drains 4 fatigue from Cure White!
COMBAT: Cure Passion has saved her current combat state for later!
COMBAT: Northa has saved her current combat state for later!
COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has saved her current combat state for later!
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has saved her current combat state for later!
COMBAT: Lera Camry has saved her current combat state for later!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki has saved his current combat state for later!
COMBAT: Cure Pine has saved her current combat state for later!
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has saved her current combat state for later!

TO BE CONTINUED