[b]Kathelia![/b]

“TWO! FOUR! SIX! EIGHT! WHO’S THE QUEEN THAT WE ALL HATE?! LET’S! BEAT! EUPHERIA!!!”

Princess Kyouko explodes into the tent, shaking her pom-poms, right as you put your glasses back on. This is unexpected for a lot of reasons. For one, you’d probably hoped that Kyouko would have avoided getting caught. Now you know that even if your allies are in the labyrinth, Eupheria’s happy to toss curses on them as well.

Also unexpected is the fact that Kyouko is wearing a magenta-and-sequins Labyrinth High top, a pleated miniskirt that keeps lifting up and flashing her panties every time she jumps, which she is doing a lot, and thigh-highs. And... okay, some princesses can rock pigtails, but sadly Kyouko really isn’t one of them. But that’s okay, because if she did look super cute in pigtails, you would probably expire on the spot.

“IT’S ABOUT TIME TO SEE US MEET; WORK TOGETHER, WE CAN’T BE BEAT! GOOOOOO TEAM PRINCESS!!”

And from behind her, Eupheria politely claps.

***

[b]Adila![/B]

“Well, well, well,” Eupheria says, sweeping in grandly. She’s turned Caddy into an umbrella, and has a tiny hat cocked on her magenta hair, and is generally dressed for a very posh day out at the athletic meet, cheering from the sidelines like a proper queen. Her corset is impossibly tight and her skirts don’t so much billow out as annex territory. Her hands fan her, hold her teacup, fan out a copy of [i]Princess Sports Monthly,[/i] and make condescending little gestures.

“Eight little princesses! Isn’t that... so frustrating!” She sounds playful! You would know if she really was mad. She’s playing another game. “Today we’re doing triples, darlings, not a simple [i]good princess against bad princess[/i]. Which means we need another competitor!  Luckily, I’ve been giving it a careful think, and there’s someone here who thinks she can get away with [i]not playing[/i].”

There are a bunch of hands grabbing at you again, and you can’t move, as the umbrella-Caddy gleams. It’s a bad memory, and for a moment you’re back in Feloria and Oberon is forcing your jaw open, but this time Dandy’s standing right next to you, her eyes wide with horror. Then Euphie shoves her arm into your ear instead of your mouth and [i]gwubarble—[/i]

***

[b]Mittens![/b]

You’re all frozen. It feels like you should be able to move, but you’re all helpless to do anything but watch. Your heart screams: stand up! Stop her! But it’s as if someone snipped the thread between your heart and your body, and you have to watch as Adila’s eyes spin and bounce around like the googly eyes of the glass dragon.

“Ahahaha, here we are,” Eupheria says, and [i]yanks[/i]. What she drags out, for a moment, looks like a glyph made of intricate words, much like an Axonian dream-catcher. Then she smacks two hands on it hard, clap, and that frees everyone to move. Pandemonium breaks out in the tent as Adila howls, a heartbreaking sound, and everyone half-bolts forward—

And Euphie wrings Adila I out of her hands, dangling the starry-eyed young woman above the grass.

“Hey there, Addie!”

Adila I rallies as quickly as you’d expect. “You [i]are[/I] aware I’m just an echo of the original, correct?” Maybe you should start calling her Echo Adila so there’s no confusion. Or Solid Adila, because oof, those muscles. “Enacting vengeance on me would be as pointless as torturing one of your art pieces.”

“You’re close enough for me, honeybuns~!” Eupheria tosses Solid Adila on top of Adila (Fuzzy Adila?) and summons up the Curse Generator with a wave of Caddy.

Momma clings tight to both you and Adila, and you’re not sure if it’s in support or desperation. Azora is sarcastically clapping. And Eupheria stands there, so dumb, so smug, maybe having just hurt your friend, and how dare she? How [i]dare[/i] she?

Dandy actually takes a swing at her, and without even looking at her Euphie snaps her fingers and the farm princess socks Adila Prime right in her fuzzy jaw instead, having instantly turned around like she was her own reflection in a mirror. She gasps in horror and clutches the dragon-dog’s head tight to her chest. “Oh, oh, shucks and tarnation, Ah, Ah didn’t mean that, oh hayseeds...”