[center][h3]The Lady Circles[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] The Maw - Kabuki Theater
Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Blazermate’s [@ArchmageMC], Hat Kid’s [@Dawnrider], Geralt’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN], Ace Cadet’s [@Yankee], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey],  Link’s [@Gentlemanvaultboy], Mirage’s [@Potemking]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 14111 (+15 EXP)[/center]

[center][hider=For Geralt]Notable Spirit Consumed:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/lr5PJmW.png]Resentment[/url][/b]
The host has gotten notably larger with lanky limbs. He’s gained patches of green scales, a cuirass of purple-highlight blue armor as well as a maroon mantle with dangling diamond-shaped charms of amber, including a hood. His fingernails are long, sharp, and ruby red, and a scaly green snake tail protrudes from his lower spine. His slitted eyes are now diamond-shaped, larger, with concentric black and crimson diamonds constantly molting outward from the center. This spirit confers the Power [b]Swindler of Progress[/b], allowing Geralt to charge up and fire a narrow violet eye laser capable of regressing targets to childhood states if applicable. While charging Geralt can’t see. The curse lasts only a few seconds unless sustained by other means, it takes a lot out of the host to use, and it’s affected by the target’s resistance. This spirit also inflicts the Weakness [b]Demon’s Bane[/b], causing the host to take extra damage from light/faith-based attacks, weapons, spells, and miracles[/hider]

[hider=For Mirage]New Striker spiritbound:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/DmS7qAL.png]Tempura Wizard[/url][/b]
A magic-type Striker with a very long cooldown. Its only ability other than floating atop its giant bowl of rice is its trademark Tempura curse. It comes in two varieties, being a lobbed projectile and a point-blank bonk, both requiring a wind-up and incurring the cooldown even if it misses.[/hider]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LpkS_cLNHU[/youtube][/center]

Determined to lead by example for once, Peach led the silent but determined process of well-armed children down the creepy Kabuki theater’s central aisle. It felt rather like walking down a lonesome road to a haunted manor, the looming forest of mannequins on either side. She and just about everyone else expected one of the geisha dolls to turn and lash out at them at any moment, but the kimono-clad army held formation, allowing the posse to pass unhindered. Even with the Lady appearing to honor the challenge she’d offered, the kids wanted to linger in the crowded darkness even less than they wanted to take center stage, and all too soon they reached the edge. Everyone paused, collecting themselves as best they could for what could very well be their final act. But with escape -and sweet, sweet revenge- so close at hand, nobody was going to turn back now. A few at a time they jumped, climbed, and clambered onto the stage. Then, once everyone was accounted for, they took their tentative step forward.

Nadia shivered, keeping a tight hold on her magnet half. It was cold, so cold in fact that she could see her breath when she exhaled. As much as she wanted to gouge the Lady’s eyes out for making everyone suffer, to dish out the karmic justice that the mistress of this gruesome nightmare so richly deserved, she couldn’t stop her little heart pounding. Goosebumps covered her skin and a chill ran down her spine. What she was feeling, what her every instinct told her, couldn’t be her imagination--the Lady was [i]here[/i]. Even a cat’s keen eyes couldn’t pierce this darkness, so she couldn’t say exactly where, but Nadia could feel the baleful eyes of the silent watcher upon her, staring out in hatred from that primeval, horrible darkness. Nadia looked this way and that, teeth bared in a defiant scowl as the scoured the pitch for any trace of her foe, but she found no sign. It was only natural that she, like all the rest, hurried for the safety of the light.

For Mirage, the Maw had been far more than he ever expected when he decided to disembark. To think, not long ago at all he was just about to enjoy a nice little vacation. It felt so oddly distant, and jarring. From a little wondrous nature romp to scuttling around clinging onto life in a panic from beasts and humans alike that wanted to eliminate his now child-self. As he worried scrambled into the light, eyes scanning the darkness around them with a raised dart gun despite it's lack of ability to damage others, he questioned if he'd make a different choice if he'd known what sailing off would have entailed. One look at the group along with the fact his other arm was outstretched to his side as if it'd be any use to keep those beside him safe made it an easy no. It felt good to be part of a team again; A weird team, maybe, but he was a bit of an oddball himself sometimes. It'd been a rough time, but somehow felt worth it just because of who he got to know along the way. If they didn't escape, however, it'd all been for nothing. Especially the losses they suffered, the fate of those less fortunate still ringing in his mind as a reminder he could be next. It left him cautious, but with a chill going down his spine as he more frantically searched the dark, his eyes unable to find any figures lingering beyond the border of the spotlight. 

Compared to those two, the Troop matched towards the final confrontation heavily armed, the emphasis certainly being on the heavy. Bowser, holding his steel chair sized hammerhead over his shoulder, lead the way, a little flick of fire on his breath acting like a lighter to try and hold away the darkness as they approached the spotlight. Following him to one side was Kamek, the now more muscle bound turtle looking like a shoddy murderer with his bloody book and (entirely normal sized) scissor blade combo. To the other, Rika, her two cannons held at the ready and agitatedly scanning the darkness in a vague hope that she could use their aim to ward off the lady. Bringing up the rear, and slightly worried about whether Rika’s battery powered systems would conk out at this critical hour, was Jr.

Weighted down most heavily of all, the young prince was hauling the chain wrapped winch of his sentient meat hook over his head. Said hook acted as a rear lightsource, the 6 glowing ‘eyes’ on its hook doing their best to keep watch of the rear (when Hook wasn't grumbling about this not being its intended usage), alongside the spectral Mimi perched on he trainer’s shoulder as always, and the Baby behemoth, Tyrant, trotting ever fearfully at jr’s heels. For some reason as he walked, the boy kept glancing up. Of the Chef Bros (and the two transformed children) there was no sign as they had their own task to attend to.

Geralt only took a short while to look over himself in yet another new form. This reminded him of when he took in the Enderman’s Spirit to help traverse the endless pits of the End and destroy the Ender Dragon. He didn’t feel the same crippling weaknesses that the Enderman imposed upon him either. He certainly felt more cruel, almost like the Resentments were inherently evil and that had transferred onto him. It was a feeling wholly unlike using mutagens, Geralt mused as he calmly walked forward, breath steady and eyes carefully scanning the group’s surroundings. For many of the others, this would be the first time they saw a Witcher truly in action. 

Their time on Shippy hadn’t allowed him to unleash the true breadth of his skills against an opponent capable of surviving more than a single blow, and he would hardly count any of the experiences they had here as what being a Witcher was about. Yes, there was a lot of thinking, preparing for your enemy’s weaknesses as they had done, but there was a desperation in their actions that Geralt felt...disillusioned with himself for having experienced. He was a veteran monster slayer with powers and abilities that even “typical” Witchers lacked. He was not some snot-nosed child scurrying in the dark, relying on numbers and makeshift weapons to kill his targets. If he had some of his blade oils and bombs on hand, he could very well call this a proper hunt. The Nail still wasn’t ideal, but it worked well enough. 

Blazermate, unlike the others who went to the room with her, doesn't look all that different compared to when she went into the storage room. The only noticeable difference on the medabot was the occasional ghostly images that faintly flowed through her blue metal. That and the fact that once she entered the room, a dim red glowing crack appeared in the room, thrumming and beating as if asking to be released.

Sakura was as silent as the others. Clutching her little mirror like it was a life raft, the little girl’s eyes drifted over the new forms and new weapons of her friends. Ever since Geralt became a million feet tall back on Shippy, the idea of being skeeved out by a spirit transformation had become a distant memory. Now they seemed useful and empowering, and Sakura was sure they’d put their new abilities to good use. All that was left was to ignore her heart hammering away in her ribcage and concentrate. Where was she? Where was the Lady?

Trudging along on the group's flank was the miniaturized monster hunter. Perspiration dotted his face, his mess of ginger hair was coated in dust, and his mouth was a tight, resolute line. The Ace Cadet was stalwart and optimistic even in the worst of times, and anyone would be hard pressed to deny that this was indeed one of the worst of times. Still, the boy was determined as he walked alongside the rest of the Seekers. His grip was tight around the magnet half he held, even now thrumming with dull power. They [i]would[/i] do this, defeat the mistress of the Maw and escape. He only wished they could have done it before it had cost them anything.

    Link conspicuously brought up the rear, white knuckling his weapon as his eyes flicked across the manikins flanking them on either side. If she expected to slide out of the darkness behind them and pick one of them off she wouldn't find such as easy a victim. Not this time. Not ever again if he had anything to say about it. He thought back to yesterday, how he had felt a small disappointment when the group had decided to avoid The Maw altogether in favor of riding the waves across the dark ocean. He had wanted to see what such a place had to offer, and now that he had he was surprised to find that his opinion had not changed. Had he known everything he did now back then he would have still chosen The Maw, but only so he could destroy it. This place needed to be brought to an end. Maybe then all of its victims would be able to rest in peace.

The Lady did not keep her challengers waiting for long. The kids trying to make out the doors leading to the helm where they remembered them being were the first to see their enemy’s marble-white mask appear, arriving with a sort of [i]whoosh[/i] noise without sliding in from any direction. It was simply absent one moment and there the next, and as the only part of the Lady visible in the gloom, it hung there as if suspended from the ceiling by marionette strings. The next moment, however, it began to move. Gliding forward like a phantom above even the tallest Seeker’s head, the mask accelerated in its approach.

Bella, as tense as she was primed and ready, opened fire. Her leviathan tail spat its railgun shot with all the vitriol built up over a half-day of pain and seeing her cherished one suffer, but its explosive slug never found its mark. The Lady, as evidenced by her mask, did not dodge left or right, but flickered in place. When Bella’s shell detonated against the wall behind her, narrowly missing the doors that the momentary light of the blast revealed, it briefly backlit the spindly silhouette of the Lady. One questing arm outstretched, she continued her relentless advance as she fell into darkness, quickly getting too close for comfort.

Rika’s own cannon shells and Bowser’s fireballs flew out a moment later and suffered the same fate, proving rather resolutely that what had happened to Bella’s shots was no fluke or trick of the light.

Geralt added to the volley with a powerful throw of the Nail, calling it back with a whistle once it flew past her and embedded itself in the wall. Catching the weapon with barely a flick of the eyes, Geralt’s demonic eyes narrowed. 

    Blazermate didn’t really have much in the way of ranged attacks to try to push back the lady, nor was that red crack she had seen within the light. And considering how her scanners couldn't’ even identify a weak point, Blazermate stayed back not wanting to risk getting into melee range for good reason.

Even Mirage gave it a try, firing a few of his harmless darts towards the Lady, though yielding the expected result of being unable to even bonk the projectiles off of her face. While he figured it was worth a try, it didn't mean he was any less distraught at the failure to nail down their single target. [color=DEBA42]"This is [i]NOT[/i] fair!"[/color]

    The mounting panic and desperation finally gave way to terror as the Lady, untouched by any of the Seeker’s projectiles or spells, reached the group at last. Her gaunt hand reached out into the spotlight, and with the same unseen force that crushed the dreams of the Runaway Kid, wrenched Mirage into the air. Peach, being right next to him, jumped to grab him by the legs and pull him back down, but the sum total of her meager weight and strength proved far too weak to prevent him rising to eye level with the Lady, choked by her levitating grasp. Too horrified by come up with any puns for once, Nadia hissed wildly as she hurled herself forward to scratch the Lady with her nails, but a dismissive wave of an elegant hand hurled her sideways into the darkness. Bella’s tail lashed out to chomp down on the Lady’s arm only for its gnashing teeth to close on nothing, the silk of her sleeve slipping through the Abyssal’s inferior maw like smoke, or water. Link darted forward, eyes wild, and he tried to drive his knife into one of her knees to no avail. A stream of black particles began to flow from Mirage to the Lady, causing him to vibrate so intensely that he shook Peach off, and without enough air to even cry out he could only wither away in her grasp. 

The Cadet's head whipped around from where Nadia had been flung to where the Lady still stood with Mirage in her grasp. With their adversary right here hurting one friend, he had to trust that the other was alright. [color=salmon]"Let him go!"[/color] Rushing towards the Lady, the Cadet attempted to take Peach's place, but Mirage was lifted higher than they could reach. Just like the others, any attempt to touch the Lady herself was for naught. Little fists slipped right through the dark fabric of her kimono.

While Bowser rushed forwards as well, attempting to bath the lady in flames but only getting a weak stream due to his young body, the other three backed up, Rika firing, Kamek holding back his all or nothing tamura shot while trying to think while jr, in vague hope that maybe the supernatural could be hurt by itself, ordered [color=SpringGreen]”Mimi, hit her with your shadow!”[/color] prompting the mon to extend her dark impression on the world towards the lady to try and swipe down the intangible foe with her ghostly power.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Can we move the light onto her?”[/color] Kamek suggested, mind racing overtime to try and figure out what they could do, and her lack of stepping into the spotlight being the only thing he/they could go on.

[color=SpringGreen]”We can try! Hook, can you reach the spotlight’s lamp to move it onto her? Don’t break it!”[/color] Jr commanded his burden.

“That is not an intended- yes going!”the sentient meathook replied, and then tossed itself into the air, chain unraveling behind it as it sought out the source of the light above them, [color=SpringGreen]”or pull me up!”[/color] he cried out after it as the hook spent precious seconds climbing into the sky like a beanstalk rising out of a ? block. Seconds Mirage really did not have. The spotlight swiveled as desired, but its touch provoked no reaction from the Lady.
    
[color=SpringGreen]”Drat”[/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Language!”[/color]

Geralt, despite his size making him seem like the best option for direct combat, hung back a moment as he noticed all of the various attacks that the others made were completely and utterly ineffectual. Kamek’s suggestion was a good idea, if the execution could be pulled off. He didn’t know quite how that hook worked, but he had another idea. “Sakura, the mirror!” He called. “If they can’t get that light to move properly, reflect it!”

    Sakura hadn’t heard the witcher, as she was already too busy trying to get the light into the horrible Lady’s face. It reminded her of using her seatbelt buckle to flash a reflection into her little brother’s eyes. She watched the reflected light dance along the distant back wall as she tried to get the angle just right. [color=f49ac2]"Leave him alone!"[/color] She yelled desperately. After what felt like an eternity, but was only a few moments, she focused the light on the Lady’s mask. As if to make her blink, falter, and drop Mirage.

The instant the little girl got close enough and presented the Lady with her own reflection, both mask and mirror responded. A harsh glare built up between the two, repelling one another with an almost magnetic force, until the phenomenon quickly reached breaking point and, like a rubber band stretched too far to either side, snapped. The feedback knocked Sakura off her feet and the mirror out of her hands, landing both on the floor in the middle of the spotlight, but it also blew the Lady back into the shadows with a shriek. She reeled as if struck, just barely keeping her footing, then vanished as Mirage fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

    Gasping sharply as she was tossed through the air, Sakura hit the floor and came to a stop, grunting. For a moment she wondered if she would be able to get up, and maybe she wouldn’t have if she hadn’t eaten. But she pulled herself into a sitting position to see that Mirage was okay, and then she frantically crawled back over to the mirror on the ground. She checked it for cracks, and then planted three quick, grateful kisses on the non-glass portion. Clambering to her feet she unconsciously moved back to the edge of the ring. [color=f49ac2]”It works!"[/color] She shouted, elated but shrill. 

[color=FD0000]”Gahaha, knew it! Right in her lair too!”[/color] Bowser pumped a fist while congratulating himself for the other’s finding of the mirror. 

Blazermate, while keeping up with whatever healing was needed, found that since her other abilities weren’t there, she couldn’t really help fix Mirage in any amount of time after he had most of his life force sucked out of him from the ladies grasp. But there was a cure-all that worked for situations like this, if she was still allowed to do it. Which indeed Blazermate was. Conjuring a friend heart, she threw it at the now dropped Mirage as the lady retreated upon seeing her own reflection. That little tidbit gave Blazermate an idea…

Blazermate was made of metal, metal that could shine and reflect if polished enough which could make her far better at defending her charges here, so in between healing and keeping an eye out for the lady in the dark, Blazermate began to polish herself to a nice shine. The good news was that thanks to the slight acid bath she had earlier, most of the work had already been done for her. 

Gasping with life, Mirage shot up in a panic as the last thing he recalled was the air being choked out of him. Things were, to say the least, extremely overwhelming in that moment. The scene around felt even more wrong than it did before, but now for entirely different reasons. None of this rushing through his mind mattered in this exact moment, however, as the most recent memories: Of those around him, and how they'd helped him get this far through this hellish ship, took priority given he’d have no time to fret if he was dead. The first step he found was at least trying to stabilize, and figure out exactly what the situation was. Which led to him scanning the field and keeping ears open for the nearest command.


From the shadows a lightly bruised but otherwise unharmed Nadia hurried back into the  spotlight. Even though she’d learned in the chaos that the Lady didn’t care about the light, instinct told her to seek shelter inside it nonetheless. If she couldn’t see her foe coming, after all, her enemy could get near enough to assassinate her without any chance of opposition. This was, after all, not over. “Look out, guys!” she warned them, jostling back into the safety of the crowd with her ears twitching. “She’s still here!” 

Sure enough, the Lady was on the move. Her mask reappeared to the front-left, just out of the spotlight’s reach, but now that she knew her challengers possessed something that could hurt her, she stopped short of charging straight in. Instead she strafed sideways, gliding around the perimeter of the light in a hair-raisingly spooky fashion, her eyeless gaze always oriented toward her targets. She disappeared, then reappeared to the back-left and strafed toward the back-right, letting everyone know that she could attack from any angle.

The realization provoked a quick order from Peach. “Don’t everyone face forward! We need to watch every direction!” As everyone repositioned themselves (while avoiding stabbing themselves on the royal Koopas’ shell spikes as they formed their tight circle) the creak of their footfalls against the stage’s wooden planks became lost in the noise of shifting props. The faint outlines and suggestions of objects in the pitch revealed that the shrouded kabuki stage’s two-dimensional scenery props were floating off the ground. No doubt lifted via the same power that allowed the Lady to levitate her victims, the objects coalesced into a single large mass of thin, painted wood, out of reach and ready to be hurled straight into the children’s midst.
    
Though shaded in darkness, the unnatural movement and sound got the attention of the group of children already on high alert. Upon spotting the collection of props, the Ace Cadet broke away from the group only enough so that none of his companions would be caught up in the wave of water he sent crashing in the Lady's direction. He raised an arm, watching it mutate and summon the waves, casting the rushing tide at the growing lump of wood before it could gain any momentum, hoping to scatter the pieces away. His efforts to destroy the gathered debris came up short, but the force of water pitted against his adversary’s telekinesis slowed down the attack just enough for allies with a little more stopping power to take aim. Aces' attempt was followed by Rika cocking her guns and hammering the ball with shells, followed quickly by Bella’s own gunfire, while Bowser aided by rather more literally hammering it via the magic of stepping out front he protective circle and hurling his hammerhead at the mass using an olympic style hammer throw and Geralt used his newfound size to launch his Nail with terrifying power. As they were at it there came the sound of the reeling of chains as Jr used Hook to ascend, slowly, up towards the spotlight to try and shed some more light on their situation.

With the stage props reduced to splinters the Lady lost her hold on them, allowing a smoking shower of shrapnel to clatter back down onto the stage. By that time, however, the Maw’s mistress was already making her next move. While most of the children still faced in the direction of the attack, the Lady whooshed in behind the group. Her lethal grasp extended toward Sakura, her sole true opposition, but Bella’s back-facing firing stance meant she noticed the threat in the nick of time. “No!” The Abyssal dove in front of Sakura and was promptly yanked upward as if by the hangman’s noose, her hands scrabbling in futility at her throat as her tail lashed in pain. With the element of surprise spent on the wrong target, however, the Lady was vulnerable.

    Sakura was quick to act. Though for a moment she feared for her own life, Bella had once again acted to protect her, and this time, Sakura was going to pay her back for it. Anger flashed in her little eyes, and she angled the mirror at the evil Lady’s face. [color=f49ac2]”Coward! [i]Kurae![/i]"[/color] She shouted, telling the Lady in her assumed shared tongue to “eat this.” This time she grounded herself in a fighter’s pose, leaning into the mirror’s force and grounding her weight.

    As Sakura enacted her counterattack, Geralt moved into a defensive position, flourishing the Nail threateningly in the direction of the Lady, eyes boring into her and reminding her that she would remain without help.

Another screech of pain heralded the second successful attack on the Lady, and once repelled she quickly vanished into the shadows again. Sakura rushed forward and helped Bella to her feet, thanking her with a brief side hug that the Seaplane Tender happily returned. With her previous tactic rendered ineffective, the Lady no doubt planned to change strategies once more, and with her heart pounding Nadia did what she could to ready herself for anything. Once more her keen cat eyes squinted into the darkness, searching in desperation for any clue of what might be coming and where. This time, however, she spotted something. The familiar glint of metal, each glimmer small but so numerous that for a moment the little feral thought she might be looking at a starry night sky. Then a storm of nuts, bolts, screws, and nails streamed forth, striking the coalition of children like a swarm of locusts. Sakura yelped, trying to cover her face while keeping hold of the evidently crucial mirror.

As Sakura cried out Link made his way through the storm of metal to her side, covering her with what remained of his makeshift shield and his body as bits of metal plinked off his helmet. If even one screw or bolt scored a lucky hit, it was over for them. 

Mirage, scrambling through the metal storm to try and join the defensive effort for the team with a raised arm that found itself getting pelted multiple times, acted as quickly as he could in aiming his dart gun downwards, firing his darts beside each other and ducking behind them as cover. The metal violently slammed against his makeshift and admittedly small wall, but thankfully flung around the sides rather than straight through. At best, it kept Link's legs from getting pelted with flying debris, but Mirage was otherwise bunkered down and quite afraid to even peek a hair over the dart wall lest he get a screw through his eye. 

“Gah!” Gritting her teeth, Nadia raised her arms to protect her face from the hardware fusillade. Pings and cuts from the stuff hurt, but the real problem was the loss of visibility, making it nigh impossible to tell where the Lady might strike from next. An inordinate amount of junk seemed to be gathered around her, but at the moment Nadia had yet to put two and two together.

It was at that time that Junior, having busied himself trying to adjust the spotlight away from the protection of the group, jerked suddenly into the air. Embroiled by a sudden, inexplicable agony, he found himself staring at the barely-visible mask of the Lady as she stood upon the scaffolding from which the spotlight hung. He shook violently (while Mimi ineffectual swiped at his attacker from his shoulder and Hook dangled from the scaffolding unable to assess how it could help), a stream of vital black particles draining into the Lady’s mask, undoing the damage done by Sakura’s last reflection.

Eyes darting about as he tried to bodily shield some of the smaller children from the hail of hardware, Geralt’s demonic visage focused on the scaffolding that held the Lady, the spotlight, and Junior’s cohort. One arm came up to shield his face, while the other drew back awkwardly to aim his Nail skywards, his goal to disrupt their foe’s concentration with a throw empowered by his shiny, new, relatively long arms aimed not at her body, but at the surface keeping her up. The piercing tip of his nail failed, however, to pierce the metal supports keeping her up, and the Lady’s cruel attack continued without skipping a beat. With a quick, frustrated grunt, he whistled for the Nail to come back and caught it easily.

When the rain of metal bits started, the Cadet retreated back towards where the group was gathered under the spotlight. The small and quick iron pieces easily pierced through a second wave of water, and no amount of swatting was effective. The boy raised his arms to cover his vitals, his face and neck, as he regrouped. There seemed to be a pile of nails and shrapnel forming around him, laying at his feet or embedding themselves shallowly in his body - and other pieces simply sticking, held in place by some curious force... a force like the magnet in his other hand. In a less stressful situation he might have let out a large [i]duh,[/i] but as it was he said nothing, just grit his teeth against the stinging and thrust the magnet high over his head. The volley of iron was dragged upward, collecting at the magnet's poles. It wasn't sustainable alone though. With his free hand the Cadet reached out to grab hold of the other half of the Ace Decoys' arm. 

[color=salmon]"Nadia! The magnets!"[/color] Nearer to her, his own half's power increased.

Feeling a little like an idiot for not realizing sooner, Nadia thrust her arm upward with her own magnet half upheld, joining the Cadet’s. With the pair being about as close as they could get at the moment, their respective halves seemed to resonate with one another and further boost their attractive power. The wild whirl of iron assailing the Seekers became a vortex, flying in to clump together around the magnets. As the air cleared, bringing relief to the children besieged by the stinging torrent of nuts and bolts, the force that kept them aloft seemed to dissipate. When Ace and Nadia drew apart, the cluster of junk dropped harmlessly between them. Nadia grinned in triumph, yet another victory under her and Ace’s collective belts, but the next thing to drop wiped out her good mood and then some. A shadow broke up the spotlight overhead, and when she looked up, she beheld to see a small, cone-headed Nome plummet from above. Dread sent a terrible chill down her spine, even though she didn’t know the details; what the hell had happened up there, while she was distracted by the Lady’s storm of metal?! Feeling the same awful chill, her red haired partner cast his eyes wildly around, looking for both the perpetrator and the identity of their victim. He held some misguided hope that the nome wasn't one of them, but noting that there was one turtle among them missing dashed that hope fairly quickly.

A howl of anguish rose up from the boy’s family as his father rushed forwards, shoving others aside in order to catch the falling child in his arms and then pulling him close crying [color=FD0000]”Son! Jr! speak to me!”[/color], to which the mute and cursed child could only reach out a shaking hand to brush his fathers snout as the rest of the Troop looked on in horror.

Knowing Junior personally and being uninvolved with the others’ magnetic deflection, Princess Peach received the full traumatic impact of what happened to the young Koopa, and it left her utterly stupefied. As such, when the Lady attacked again, she barely seemed to react. There came the unmistakable sound of shattered glass, or maybe smashed mirrors, before blades of glass flew from the left to skewer the children where they stood. “Left, left!” Nadia yowled, bringing around her fan to use as an emergency shield, but it didn’t take a genius to realize how bad this was. Even if a lethally sharp spike didn’t pierce her defense, not everyone could defend themselves. Bowser had his shell, but he wasn’t big enough to protect everyone. Bella had the size to bodyblock Sakura and maybe one other kid, but those lethal shards would slice right through her soft flesh. Jaw clenched and eyes screwed shut, Nadia prepared for the worst.

Heeding Nadia's words, Mirage popped out and changed the direction of his defensive wall: Spraying a trio of darts back in a wall formation, it didn't offer much but if those close to him managed to squat down behind the wall and Mirage himself in some manner it'd keep the glass at bay. Though it didn't provide a solution to the larger individuals who might stick out of the borders of the small defensive line. [color=DEBA42]"C-C'mon! Duck down!"[/color] He yelped, trying to take any initiative he could to help at this stage. Link was able to tear his rage filled eyes away from the stricken prince and his grieving father long enough to obey the boy. Close behind him was the Cadet, regrettably bare in the defense department he ducked down with the other boys to weather the storm of glass. 

Geralt scowled as he saw Junior’s fate, but reacted appropriately to Nadia’s call of warning: moving between the grieving Troop and the storm of glass, he turned his back and crouched so as to minimize the exposed area that wasn’t covered in shiny new armor. He knew that they had shells of their own to work with, but their current condition wasn’t one to take chances with.

Bowser clung to his cursed boy, shielding him and him alone from the rain of glass. The rest of the troop did what they could to protect themselves, and only themselves, any coordination broken by the fate of the prince. Kamek hid in his far weaker shell while Rika brought up her gauntlet covered arms and ducked down to try and shield her body, while Tyrant simply fled in a panic into the darkness. The only one of them that could be of aid was Hook, the sentient meathook’s drum diligently reeling down after its owner to dangle among the group, the steel roll offering a small potential shield to anyone with no better options.

Blazermate, being made of metal and still the largest of the group, moved to take the brunt of the glass attacks. Due to her massive twintails and metal body, she made an excellent wall from the glass for the others that weren’t covering their own defense. Bowser would be fine thanks to his shell, but the others were far, far squishier. She could also take this time to help up the injuries of those who had gotten battered in the metal storm, Blazermate only being lightly affected by that attack. Although she wasn’t sure she could do anything for Jr. after he got transformed, there had to be a way to change him back.

Considering the tactics this lady was using, Blazermate made sure to keep an eye out for her at all times, as this glass did nothing to her. Seeing as this lady liked to sneak up on the blind spots of the party and all to make her attacks.

The ever-helpful Blazermate’s selfless swoop in to save everyone from the blades of glass elicited a cheer from Nadia when she peeked out from behind her untouched fan to find the whole group safe from skewering. “Way to go, Blaze!” she called, but the Medabot said nothing. She gave no cheerful quips, nor derogatory smack-talk, nor even turned around to make sure everyone was okay. Something was wrong. “Blazermate?!” When she took a step to the side to try and get an angle on the healer’s face, she laid eyes on the mask of the Lady instead.

“Wha?!” Nadia nearly toppled over from surprise. Blazermate had been so preoccupied on the group’s blind spots and flanks that she didn’t react in time to the Maw’s mistress appearing directly ahead of her. Like with the others, the Lady had reached out her deadly hand, but with no life to drain from the Medabot, she settled for a telekinetic crush instead. The metal that so easily deflected the blades of glass was already crumpling inward. Suddenly, bodyblocking the team from the glass had turned into blocking the Lady from the team. There wasn’t a second to waste. “Sakura!” Nadia screeched, pointing her fan toward the Lady and turning it on. If the little street fighter hurried, she could be blown right into the perfect position to attack their hated foe a third time.

    Sakura turned and nodded. [color=f49ac2]”[i]Un! IKUZO![/i]"[/color] Clutching the mirror tight and ran forward as fast as her little legs could carry her. Once in line with Nadia, she was boosted forward at high speed to rescue their rescuer, Blazermate. And avenge Junior. Sakura’s glare was white hot. She ended up sliding forward face first, turning her shoulder to take the brunt as she slid along the ground. Friction took some of the layer of skin away on her elbow. Practically at the Lady’s feet, she reflected the Lady’s cruel mask at her from below. 

Another shrill cry tore through the kabuki theater, echoing off the distant walls. This one sounded even more vehement than its predecessors, as if Sakura had lain waste to a well-laid plan right on the cusp of its execution. Then the Lady fled once more, and the kids got another brief moment to prepare themselves for whatever fresh plan their enemy had in store for them next. 

    [color=f49ac2]”Yeah! You like that?!"[/color] She shouted after the fleeing villain. Sakura pushed herself to her feet, rubbing her bleeding elbow. She patted Blazermate on her metallic side, both making sure she was alright and thanking her for blocking the glass. [color=f49ac2]”You okay?"[/color] 

[color=0072bc]”A bit crushed… but I can heal that up as long as my arm part isn’t broken. Thanks.”[/color] Blazermate said, sprinkling Sakura with a bit of healing before focusing her beam on herself, parts popping with a loud metallic popping when they were healed enough, but there wasn’t much healing time so she could only pop a small bit of herself back to normal before the lady attacked again. Sakura noticed both of them feeling a little better and nodded. [color=f49ac2]”No problem.”[/color] She said, backing up towards the center of the spotlight.

Nobody, however, anticipated the form the Lady’s next attack would take.

The stage itself began to rumble and shake, its giant planks moving as if they had minds of their own and were fighting to break free. Then, in a chorus of hideous wrenching sounds, they began to tear loose. All around the floor beneath the central spotlight the planks ripped up and flew away to clatter on the stage farther away. Where the light shone down into the darkness that the stolen boards left behind, no bottom could be seen. Only rows of the narrow beams that the planks had been nailed to remained, stretching neatly over the void. As the room the kids had to work with got smaller, a plank at a time, they crammed closer together, until finally the whole crew crowded onto a single large board. Yet even that wasn’t enough for the Lady. From her unseen vantage point she pulled at the stubborn, rusty old nails holding the final plank in place, moments away from yanking their last foothold out from under them.

    As the group was slowly forced together and onto a single plank, Geralt carefully watched the positioning of the beams that held the various planks in place. Having correctly assumed that she wouldn’t conveniently leave them alone once they had nowhere else to go, Geralt made sure to stand roughly in the center of their final bastion, Nail in hand and ready to be used. Using one lanky arm to wave the others away, He lifted his hand into the air and forcefully drove the nail into the plank they were standing on before calling out, “Bowser! The hammerhead!”

Bowser took one look left into the surrounding void just in time to see the hammerhead he had thrown tumbling down into it. Hammerless, the king was forced to use his head. He used his head to headbut the nail over and over, driving it in and then stumbling back, head ringing and dizzy and having to be steadied by his family.

With the team’s foothold secured, at least for a moment, everyone readied themselves as best they could for the Lady’s next trick, and she didn’t keep them waiting. One of the giant planks torn free from the floor and discarded moments ago rose up once again. With no trace of the Lady to be found in the pitch black beyond the spotlight, everyone could focus on the board as it reoriented itself in the air. After a brief moment it came to a stop perfectly on its side, like a long wall, and proceeded to float toward where the troop of children took refuge. It was a laughably simple and brutally effective move. In a matter of moments, the giant, sturdy plank, taller even on its side than most of the Seekers present, would sweep them into the abyss.

    [color=f49ac2]”Seriously?!"[/color] Sakura shouted.

Lacking in any other ideas, the still dangling chain of Hook wasn't going to get them all over, Kamek tossed a magical ball of dough over the heads of the children and at the incoming plank, transforming it into a very large tempura that plopped down onto the plank just inches from slamming into the foremost children.

Not having much room to work with, Mirage eyed the transformed plank in front of him, firing a dart and planting it against the wood that could lead to their demise. Initially looking useless or even more dangerous as it'd hit Mirage sooner with how it was positioned, Mirage took away more of his own floorspace by firing a dart downward directly in front of him, making a wall in the direct path of the dart he stuck to the plank to try and keep their demise at bay long enough to find a way to destroy it entirely.

Mirage’s blockade bought the dough tossing mage a moment to think and then suggest [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Your striker, the one with the same power, it tried to eat that dish before, can it do the same for this?”[/color] 

Mirage looked as if a lightbulb went off in his head, with Kamek flipping the metaphorical switch. [color=DEBA42]"Oh right, that thing!"[/color] He responded, turning to the tempura-plank. Unsure of how to call upon the power he received, he simply pointed with his empty hand in finger-gun fashion and tried his best. [color=DEBA42]"Uh, wizard thing! Go bam[i]foodzle[/i] 'em! Told ya there'd be a meal eventually!"[/color] Conjuring forth the Tempura Wizard, it hovered over the darts holding their demise at bay, taking advantage of the magic transformation similar to it's own and snacking down on the former piece of large wood.

Dutifully the Tempura Wizard went in to chow down, its open mouth slavering in anticipation as it reached out its chopsticks. For a moment its chosen utensils looked completely unfit for the task, but somehow the monster managed to pinch the super-sized shrimp fry between them and lift it into its mouth. It was then that the plan hit a snag--try as the wizard might, it couldn’t gulp the whole thing down fast enough, and when its duration ended the Striker’s abrupt [i]poof[/i] left the uneaten tempura to fall back down to the ground. Only a moment of the curse’s duration remained.

Moving by instinct, Bella lunged her tail forward. Its teeth managed to pierce the tempura, and with all her strength the Seaplane Tender hucked the foodstuff off the edge of the plank. It disappeared between the beams and turned back to normal without even a second to spare, becoming too big for the Lady’s telekinesis to bring back up without some time-consuming manipulation.

At the moment, however, the Seeker’s foe had other plans. Already a thick black power cord, taken perhaps from the lighting scaffold above, wound through the air like a snake. Under the lady’s direction it looped around the group, encircling everyone but Bella and Blazermate at about waist height, then tightened to forcibly clump them all together. Then, with the whole pack of kids in her grasp, the Lady began to drag them toward the edge.

[color=DEBA42]"You've GOT to be kidding me!"[/color] Mirage irritably spat, struggling against his entrapment and being glad he hadn't ended up squashed between Bowser and Kamek. He attempted to wrap his legs around the dart on the plank to keep himself from being pulled away, but found his bottom half giving out and not being able to resist the pull presented by the Lady's latest scheme.

[color=salmon]"She's really getting desperate now,"[/color] the Cadet wheezed, glancing over his shoulder and seeing the abyss coming up quick. He tried to wriggle free, or at least get his top half loose so he could raise an arm up and attempt to grab hold of anything to stop their movement, but the children were lassoed tight together.

The cord hit a snag as it pulled though. Link had brought up the butcher's kitchen knife as soon as he had seen the cord encircling them. He planted a hand on the back of it, braced his elbows against his chest, and put every punch of strength he could into resisting the cord as it tightened around them. Then, with both hands, he started to saw at the cord. 

    Geralt, seeing Link’s efforts, placed his hands on Link’s shoulders (careful to avoid piercing the boy’s skin with his new claws), and aided in the sawing motion.

The quick thinking -and cutting- of the small swordsmen paid dividends, and almost as soon as it came the peril was gone. Before the cord could drag even one child into the yawning dark below the knife severed it in half, and both segments shot away into the dark under the last remnant of the Lady’s power left in them. Ace, Nadia, Mirage, Rika, and Sakura -having been toward the front- teetered close to the edge of their plank for a moment, but it was nothing a little steadying from their friends couldn’t solve. Sakura wobbled, sweating and sighing a sigh of relief as she was pulled from the brink. Rather than offering relief, however, their recovery allowed them to witness the Lady as she stood still on one of the beams. She had come close to catch whoever she could as they fell into the void and drain them for her own benefit, but instead been the one caught unawares by her plan’s bafflement. Nevertheless, with Sakura on the brink the Lady saw her opportunity, and despite the risk she took it. Her unseen grasp extended to take hold of the little girl’s mirror and pull both off the edge into the abyss.

    Sakura wasn’t afraid anymore. Even her anger had transformed into something purer, more righteous. With everyone working together, it felt like they were finally winning. So when she yelped in surprise as the Lady, waiting in the dark depths like the shark from Jaws, went to drag her under, she held onto the precious mirror as tight as she could. 

    [color=f49ac2]”It was right in your lair!”[/color] She said, echoing Bowser’s words. Not even bothering to stop herself from being pulled off the plank, having absolute faith one of her friends would stop her from falling. For the fourth time, she reflected the Lady’s masked face at herself, knuckles white.

The Lady recoiled as if dealt a heavy backhand slap, letting out a cry of pain, and maybe fear. As Blazermate, Mirage, Ace and Nadia grabbed hold of her, Sakura caught the briefest glimpse of cracks in her enemy’s mask before the Lady abruptly vanished. A shrill howl echoed through the theater a moment after, an expression of abject anger as the last of the Lady’s dignity and honor gave way to one vital objective: to win. The street fighter wasn’t the only one getting a grasp on this situation, and with every attempt so far shut down in some way or another, the Lady couldn’t hold back any longer.

Nadia swallowed as spotlight -no, the entire scaffold- began to shake overhead, the all-important beam swaying dangerously as the sound of creaking, warping metal chased away the echoes of the Lady’s scream. Then, with bloodcurdling suddenness, the bulb exploded. With only a shower of sparks to mark its passage, the beacon of safety was no more.

The darkness held dominion, black as death, and it held much worse than mere trickery and boogeymen. With no light at all, even a cat couldn’t see, leaving Nadia as blind as a bat. The only sources of light in the darkness were the gallery boxes of the Guests of Honor all the way across the theater, providing basic orientation for the children, but of her immediate surroundings Nadia could see nothing at all, not even where the plank ended and the pit began. She could hear her allies’ panicked breathing, her own especially, but that wasn’t what she wanted. “Ssh”! She urged, then with ears craned listened with every fiber of her being for the [i]whoosh[/i] that would betray the Lady’s arrival.

Instead she heard something different: the slam of opening doors opposite the Guests of Honor, in the direction of what must be the Helm. A trace of light darted through, a gathering glow, and in its multicolored shine Nadia thought she spotted a small frame, and familiar features. A little face, cute as a button but filled now with steely determination, gazed back at her.

Then Hat Kid unleashed the neon extravagance of her Projectile Badge, cutting through the Stygian blackness of the massive room with a beam of brilliant light. Like a lightning flash it briefly illuminated every corner of the nightmare theater, including the Lady standing right in the middle of the group of kids, looming over Sakura like a scarecrow, a glass shard clutched in her hand, just a second away from quieting the girl’s precious heart for good.

    Sakura didn’t have time to turn around. Of course she knew the Lady would go for the mirror first. In the split second between Hat Kid releasing her light, and seeing her friend's eyes glance above and behind her head, the little street fighter reacted as quickly as she could. Still holding the mirror in both hands, she hunched and held the mirror over the back of her shoulder. Prepared to be struck, she squeezed her eyes shut. Instead she felt and heard the feedback of the Lady facing her reflecting, and after another moment the two blasted apart. Sakura tumbled into the protective arms of her teammates, while the Lady staggered back and disappeared. Her unused glass shank stuck into the plank where Sakura stood a moment ago.

As the dark surged forth again, Hat Kid sprinted toward the group. She ran and leaped toward where she remembered the platform being, cruising in for a deft landing among friends. Then she started charging her beam again. The pink, blue, and yellow light built up in three motes that surrounded her in addition to the locus of power at her umbrella’s tip, and by not releasing the beam, the Seekers’ original child provided a new source of light with which her friends might stave off the Lady’s attacks. Nadia could only imagine that Hat Kid had tangled with the Lady already and knew how she worked. In the glow the feral could see just how smug Hatty looked, as if she knew just how much of a miracle she was.

    Exhaling a shaky breath, Sakura regained her balance from the arms of her friends. Grateful for the new light, she ran a hand through her brown hair. [color=f49ac2]”Phew...that was a bit close.”[/color] She chirped. 

[color=0072bc]”I really don’t like this lady. How many tricks does she have? We can’t rely on another person coming out of nowhere to save us…”[/color] Blazermate said, putting her opinion of the situation out there.

Lowering his dart gun in relief for Sakura being okay, he slowly moved towards her. Putting his back in her direction and facing off to keep an eye out once he was close, still cautious until that Lady was truly out of commission. [color=DEBA42]"Tellin' me! That psycho has it out for you, kid."[/color] He noted, gaze momentarily falling onto their new smug companion, who Mirage didn't truly recall and was feeling a bit of confusion about. On top of the recent freedom from Galeem's influence, it probably wasn't much of a surprise that he was on edge and asking a question in whisper to the small Street Fighter. [color=DEBA42]"Psst, speaking of kids, who's the lightshow?"[/color] He held back on the fact he was utterly impressed by Hat Kid's light display and entrance. Mental notes were indeed being made, he needed something that shot out lights, too. Talk about [i]fancy![/i]

     [color=f49ac2]”Hat Kid. That’s her name, as far as I can tell?”[/color] Sakura answered, unsure.  [color=f49ac2]”They don’t talk much.”[/color] Due to Hat Kid’s mysterious nature, Sakura sometimes had a hard time picturing her as just a regular kid, and wondered if she was some kind of trickster spirit or something.  [color=f49ac2]”I saw cracks in that lady’s mask. She [i]really[/i] doesn’t like looking at herself in the mirror.”[/color] 

Calming a little as he nodded along, Mirage was glad that King Bowser was right about that mirror-- Though, thoughts of complimenting the king brought Mirage's eyes his way, bringing him back to the cruel reality of the situation before them with what happened to Junior. She couldn't get away with this, and they had the tool to make sure of it. It left Mirage somewhat invigorated, but his heart was thumping in his ears. He'd almost been drained himself, and he was terrified it could happen to him again. It didn't make his resolve waver, however. [color=DEBA42]"Then that's exactly what she's going to get,"[/color] Mirage responded with determination. [color=DEBA42]"Let's give her as many looks at herself as it takes!"[/color]

    [color=0072bc]”If only I was a diva line medabot, I could just project a hologram of herself...”[/color] Blazermate mused.


     [color=f49ac2]”[i]Yosh![/i]”[/color] Sakura declared, nodding.  [color=f49ac2]”She’s gone too long without a proper ass kicking, I can tell.”[/color] 

    Geralt had let out a short bark of laughter at the Hat Kid’s triumphant return, glad that for once it was his enemies that couldn’t catch a break. “Good to see ya, Kid!” He greeted, then angled a bit towards Mirage. “We just got him out of the spell, so he might be a bit spacier than usual for a short while.” He didn’t bother to remind her who he was, assuming she’d figure it out based on who was missing. She might’ve guessed Glenn, and he’d correct her if she did, but his sardonic sense of humor would probably give it away. The Kid was always more clever than one might expect of her stature and apparent age, and he wasn’t going to patronize her.

[color=FD0000]”There you are Kid! Where in the world have you been?”[/color] Bowser asked, a mix of concern and relief in his voice, as jr, who was rather lively for a cursed child all things told, waved at her from within the protective circle of the Troop.

[color=salmon]"Doesn't matter, at least she's alright!"[/color] The Ace Cadet would have ruffled her hair despite being around the same age and height as Hat Kid currently, if not for her, well, hat. [color=salmon]"Nice timing,"[/color] he told her, settling on patting her shoulder. Even with the relief they all felt from Hat Kid's reappearance, they couldn't relax just yet. They had to revitalize Junior, and there was no way that persistent witch was done with them. 

Ace’s intuition proved to be spot-on. Although Sakura’s latest reflection hurt the Lady more than any other thus far, the hadn’t been just been sitting on her hands the whole time the kids chattered, and now her next strategy came to fruition. Dark figures suddenly appeared in the light given off by Hat Kid. Not one, not two, but seven Ladies stared down at the kids, sliding through the open air toward them with eerie synchronicity. Nadia bristled, taken aghast by what appeared to be yet another in her enemy’s already astoundingly potent bag of tricks, but then she remembered that the Lady’s persistent use of every object close at hand need not be limited to the stage. “Mannequins!” she guessed, ears flattening as the seven reached out their arms in unison. Her first instinct was to find the one with a cracked mask, and though she quickly found her mark, a quick second guess forced her to give her foe a little credit. Every mask had been cracked, likely by the Lady herself, so as to not betray her identity.

Peach, having overcome (or at least bottled up) her trauma during the cord attack, decided to test the theory for herself. She closed her parasol and flung it like a javelin with an Olympian’s finesse, if not strength. It flew through the air and bonked against the hollow chest of one supposed Lady, then fell silently down into the void. “Only one of them is real!” she advised, hoping that someone among the group could think of a better method to tell the dummies apart than throwing away their weapons. Link couldn't think of one, as evidenced by a badminton racket clonking off another of the fakes and joining Peach’s parasol. 

With the Lady and her mannequins closing in on them, the faster they found the real Lady the better, or else they would be at risk of being surrounded. If that happened it would be all the harder for anyone to escape the woman's grasp. While some chucked what they could in hopes of determining which was real, the Cadet maneuvered his way to the front of the group with his arms up, sea spray already forming around them. [color=salmon]"You can run, but you can't tide!"[/color]

As Nadia’s jaw dropped he summoned the water again, using both hands to create a wider wave. It swirled around and surged out, washing over the line of Ladies. With his brows pinched in concentration, the Cadet willed the waves to knock the fakes away - but ultimately all they needed to do was push them back enough so that when the real one slipped through the water unphased, Sakura could focus the mirror on her.

Sure enough, the spray of water splashed against the kimono-clad torsos of the six fakes, while Bella saw it fly straight through the body of one of them as if she wasn’t even there. “That one!” she cried, maybe a bit too loud. Before either she or Sakura could close the remaining distance between them for another flash, the Lady broke formation and dodged backward into the darkness with an angry hiss. Sakura pointed the mirror after the Lady, swearing in her native tongue. Silence reigned for only a moment, though, before the clatter of wooden boards against one another filled the air. In the low but far-reaching light of Hatty’s beam charge the kids could see the outlines of giant planks rise into the air and start to spin, speeding up quickly. Then, one by one, the boards hurtled forth from a variety of angles like frisbees, flying toward center stage to slam the kids into the abyss if their wooden mass didn’t clobber them to death first.

Able to fly up to avoid the chaos, Blazermate did spot something strange the others did not--a glowing red crack on one of the boards as it span through the air.

Torn from making the mental note of banking Ace's wordplay for later use, Mirage's mind instead had to focus on the boards in the sky. [color=DEBA42]"Aaaah, thinking, thinking!"[/color] He worriedly spoke, scuttering around his and Sakura's area, making a triangle-formation of upward-facing darts. Having to eyeball the size of the planks swooping upon them, he wasn't absolutely sure if the boards were too big to compromise the formation or not. But with remaining at a fairly small size, Mirage tried to maintain some confidence as his triangle was also quite small. [color=DEBA42]"Alright, uh, maybe that'll work! Just keep the mirror low, and your head even lower!"[/color] He insisted as he himself lowered down, as to not have his head whacked off any boards that surfed just above the darts' height. 

     [color=f49ac2]”Good thinking, [i]Mirage-san![/i]”[/color] Sakura said, crouching down and clutching the mirror tightly. But not soon after that, the darts were knocked asunder by the might of the board and the street fighter yelped, diving for the floor. 

As the weight and speed of the first board broke through the makeshift barrier of darts, Bella took a more active approach. She moved forward as far as the available space would allow and chomped down on it with her leviathan tail’s vicious, crushing mouth. Then she yanked it upward in an effort to divert its path above the others, but she underestimated its force. As it sailed over the others it struck her high, and with her tail raised rather than behind her for balance, the Seaplane Tender was too top-heavy to stop herself falling over backward. “Eep!” With a cry of alarm she went off the edge, just barely managing to twist around and grab the board with both hands. But relief wouldn’t come so easily; a terrible sinking feeling told her exactly what came next, inevitable as gravity itself, and anyone who realized the same thing had only a short window to take action. 

At this point three more giant planks were already lined up, ready soared in one after another. If Hat Kid stopped charging in order to dodge, as she had almost considered doing, the light would be gone, and the Lady would appear. While an overcharged laser sweep would certainly solve the weaponized floorboard problem, the window it would have afforded the Lady to get on top of them made such a move ultimately ill-advised, and was perhaps exactly what she was counting on. As if they weren’t at enough of a tactical disadvantage already. She and Sakura needed defense almost as badly as Bella needed saving. Nadia wanted nothing more than to put her agility to work saving her own skin, but the memory of Glenn falling to darkness made her pause, and the recollection of one other detail made her realize that she could do something about it.

A moment later the full weight of Bella’s bloated body and tail fell on her meager grip, instantly wrenching her loose. Her eyes went wide, glistening with tears even brighter than the glint of her black metal tail, as she began to fall. “Sakuraaaaa!” she wailed.

    Still laying flat on the board, Sakura watched as Bella tried and failed to stop a flying board. [color=f49ac2][i]”Bella-san!”[/i][/color] Sakura called out. 

“Ace!” Nadia yowled, already kneeling over the spot where Bella had fallen with yet another crazy idea in mind. She pointed her magnet downward, aimed at the Abyssals’ metallic leviathan tail, and a stream of magnetic energy sprang to life. Like a lifeline it connected to Bella, but it only managed to slow her fall. Without more power, the Seaplane Tender would be gone in just a moment’s time.

The monster hunter all but dove in the direction Bella fell, brandishing the magnet half to join with Nadia's. Despite the power boost the Abyssal did not fly back up towards them as they might have hoped. Bella kept falling, an agonizingly slow descent toward the darkness below. The Cadet flung out his hand to summon the watery tendril that had saved Nadia back at the restaurant, but it dissipated as soon as it appeared. He cursed the unreliable power, reaching out desperately with his hand to try and take hold of her. [color=salmon]"Grab on!"[/color] he yelled, but she was out of reach.  

Simultaneously, Peach grabbed hold of both Mirage and Kamek, shaking them. “What are you waiting for, they’re gonna hit us!” she yelled.



Mirage's eyes fixated on Peach for a moment, a blink of life returning him to reality which he'd lost at the horror of Nadia and Ace having to try and save Bella's life. But it'd all be for naught, if those boards came and struck the others, too. [color=DEBA42]"R-Right!"[/color] His response was quick, shrugging Peach's hand off as he turned to eye his targets.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Oh, uh”[/color] Kamek stammered, his mind very much caught up by Bella’s fall until peach shook it out of him and he said to the equally shaken Mirage [color=DeepSkyBlue]”same plan? But it barely managed to get through half last time-”[/color]  Before Bowser shoved past both of them and declared [color=FD0000]”I’ll eat wood if i have to! Let me at it!”[/color] adding his maw to the problem solving. 

[color=DEBA42]"H-Hold on, King!"[/color] Mirage spoke nervously, not wanting to insult Bowser by any means, but a thought came to mind. [color=DEBA42]"My wizard-guy-thing couldn't even eat the last one. But it did let Bella knock it down, remember?"[/color] That name was a reminder a lot was on the line at that moment. [color=DEBA42]"We blast two of them, then send 'em down! Minimize damage!"[/color]

Tempura Wizard appearing beside him, Mirage took command against one board. [color=DEBA42]"Do the thing!"[/color] He ordered, gesturing at one of the boards with his dart gun. [color=DEBA42]"The food-blob thing!"[/color] And so the Tempura Wizard lobbed it's floury attack towards an oncoming board, causing it's tempura transformation. As it slowed, Mirage tried to put his plan to work. [color=DEBA42]"I know this is gonna be disappointing, but you gotta pinch that one and drop it off the ledge! It's too much for you to eat!"[/color] Mirage felt bad, though in reality he wasn't sure if the Striker even had feelings. Regardless, he watched as his summon went against the board, chopsticks at the ready. The spiritbound Tempura Wizard obliged, plucking the giant snack up from the ground and neatly depositing it over the edge before it disappeared. Kamek and Bowser followed Mirage’s lead, Kamek sending the blob flying, while Bowser supplied the muscle to help toss/ haul the tempura over the edge.

    Blazermate meanwhile, while flying, saw the board with the red crack flying around. While she wasn’t entirely sure what it did, she did know she had to tag it for its effect to happen, and she made an attempt to do just that, being late to saving the bloated Bella but managing to touch the crack on the board, causing the board to rupture as the crack opened wide and a single ghost appeared with a spooky look on its face. It let out a shrill cry before zooming off into the darkness. 

At the same time Link had pushed his way to the middle of the group, where the dangling chain of Junior’s hook still swung back and forth. He wrapped his arms around it and gave it a yank, causing the hook to become undone and fall into his outstretched hands. Then he turned, standing over Nadia and Ace, to throw the hook down to the plunging princess. “Bella, catch!” He allied out, breaking the silence he had maintained since before the battle had even started. The grappling hook instead magnetized to the nearest magnet half and clapped against it, much to Nadia’s surprise. Link’s eyes slid over to it. The blank horror on his face would have been comical in a less desperate situation. Getting the hook clear would take more time than Bella had before she dropped beyond the magnets’ range.

Geralt ran to the side of the platform, looking down and watching Bella slowly, agonizingly, descend into the abyss below them. He saw that the magnets were too weak to lift the girl, and he looked down at his body as an idea came to him. Those things were responsible for them transforming, right? The Lady’s own curse was different from this eternal childhood they had, and Geralt had felt some kind of...power...within him ever since taking the Resentment’s Spirit into him. 

Looking back to Bella, he let that Power swell up within him, overflowing until it eventually burst out of him in the form of a beam of light that swept over Bella’s form. When the lavender beam faded, cast down to disappear into the illimitable dark beneath, it left behind a confused but much smaller Water Princess, no longer doomed to drift into obscurity. Instead she flew upward toward the magnets, hauled by the tail as if plucked by the seat of her pants, until her rescuers could grab hold and pull her to safety. Bella collapsed onto her hands and knees, blubbering tears of relief. Nothing like a near-death experience to teach someone the meaning of fear, Nadia guessed. She patted the little Abyssal on the back as her chest heaved, exhausted by the ordeal herself. “Hey, whoa. Betcha never thought ya’d be glad to see yourself like this again, huh?”

Sakura rose from her prone position and scrambled over to Bella, putting a hand on the newly re-littled girls shoulder. [color=f49ac2][i]”Bella-san![/i] I knew you’d be okay.”[/color] She smiled breathlessly at her before giving a thankful peace sign at Ace, Nadia, and Geralt. [color=f49ac2]”That was clutch!”[/color]

Of course, the whole rescue would have failed if not for the defensive efforts of the others. Mirage and Kamek managed to dispose of two boards with their Tempura-making abilities, but the third found a surprise solution in Blazermate. Having identified a structural weakness with her scanner perhaps, the Medabot struck at a glowing crack on its length, which both broke the thing and released a [url=https://i.imgur.com/Q8p4dr8.png]spirit[/url] into the open. It wasted no time flying away, albeit with such speed and direction that its appearance couldn’t be an accident. Exuding a phantasmal red glow, it arced through the darkness until it reached its goal just a second later, illuminating a familiar dark kimono and cracked porcelain mask. After finding the Lady the ghost circled her in a quick, tight orbit until she teleported away, only to be chased down and orbited once again. She repeated the motion, appearing in front of the doors leading to the Helm, but found the spirit a relentless pursuer. Though baffled at first, the Maw’s mistress quickly realized -along with the children- exactly what this meant.

Her stealth was compromised; she could ambush the Seekers no longer. The darkness was no longer her ally.

Despite the hours upon hours of pain, suffering, and loss, Peach found it within herself to smile. A devious, gleeful energy possessed her, prompting her to point a little finger forward and shriek the two words that everyone wanted to hear.

“GET HER!”

    In reply the Lady gave a shriek of anger, as if daring the children to try. She lifted up her arms and gathered her arsenal. Shards of glass, swarms of metal bits, stage props, whiplike sections of cord, and the last two planks all began to swirl around her, a storm of debris ready to rage against all comers. The final showdown was at hand.

    First things first: the Seekers needed to get off their plank and onto firmer footing. Already the Lady hurtled projectiles their way, but with her light source unnecessary, Hat Kid finally unleashed her beam. The multicolored surge of energy blazed forth, blasting open a path for the others to make their way toward the Lady. Rika joined in on providing covering fire, hammering the triggers on her cannons and unloading her scant remaining reserves towards the Lady. Adding to this from off stage came a barrage of cookware (and some rotten tomatoes) from the chef bros who hadn’t joined the performance and had instead been ordered to stay in reserve for a moment just like this.

Bowser was directed via his mute son to retrieve the magnetized sentient meat hook. Hauling it above his head he spun it round and then blindly hurled the Hook into the darkness, the little lights of its six ‘eyes’ glowing and illuminating the ceiling bound scaffolding as it passed it by. Upon seeing its objective, Hook swerved, latched onto the metal framework and announced “Your desire has been hooked. Please hold on tight.”

[color=FD0000]”Alright! Now come here”[/color] Bowser said before grabbing Peach in a time honored tradition, and then leaped into the abyss, swinging across the gap with the princess in tow like a certain great ape and then landing on the other side, before turning and tossing it back to Mirage, who nearly ended up stumbling off the edge as he tried to get a grip on their chance at escape. Thankfully, he managed to grab hold and mentally prepared himself for the swing.

[color=DEBA42]"Okay. [sub]Deep breaths, nothin’ to worry about.[/sub]"[/color] He muttered to himself, used to zipping around and being flung into the air, but not above bottomless-looking pits of darkness, and without support to break his falls nonetheless. Putting a face of confidence on, he turned and called out, noting there were quite a few of them to be going across one at a time. [color=DEBA42]"Next stop, off this freakin' plank! Two at a time, c’mon!"[/color] Link wordlessly joined him, eyes fixed across the way, before they swung out across the pit. Mirage’s confidence instantly dropped as he yelled in terror the entire way, starting from his feet leaving solid ground. When they touched down on the other side Link, who hadn’t even seemed to notice the pit, gave his companion two light pats on the shoulder before throwing the chain back and starting forward. Mirage followed quickly while wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

    As the others began getting off the plank they were standing on, Geralt reached down to the Nail and pulled at it, his new tail even slipping around his torso and wrapping the weapon up as he pulled. When that failed, he shook his head and whistled, the Nail popping right out of the wood and into his waiting hand. “Good.”

Blazermate being the only flyer of the group, picked up Geralt and Sakura, them being the lightest of the seekers and both not having much in the way of powers or abilities. The food items being thrown didn’t really bother Blazermate, while the storm of glass and bits the lady was sending out weren’t doing too much damage to her, not like when she tried to crush the medabot. Her metal body also shielded the seekers she was carrying from some of the storm, but not much more than that. While Blazermate could track the Lady, the ghost being unable to attack her but incredibly angry and aggressive at pursuing her and always finding the correct lady let everyone else know her location too which was really useful. Finding solid ground for the two in her arms didn’t take her long, as they really only needed to cross a large gap to the other side of the stage. 

    Once Sakura was set down, she exhaled, safely away from that isolated plank. She clutched the mirror tightly, examining the situation. [color=f49ac2]”Ms. Blazermate, would it be too aggressive if you tried to just fly me right in her face?”[/color] She asked. [color=f49ac2]”She might be too fast for us, but...”[/color]

[color=0072bc]”We might as well try.”[/color] Blazermate said, not happy about the plan, but seeing it as the best way to get this fight over with. The lady didn’t seem to be able to control or destroy the mirror, so that helped ease her worries at least.


Her question trailed off as she spotted Ace hurtling through the air, ejected from the plank ahead of the hook-swinging pack courtesy of Nadia, who’d put her handy-dandy fan to use once again. After the monster hunter landed, the feral stowed her fan in favor of her magnet, and despite all the laws of physics it took just a strong thrust of her half towards his in order to pull Nadia straight across the pit and onto firmer footing. That solidified Peach, Bowser, Blazermate, Geralt, Sakura, Ace, and Nadia as the first wave of heroes ready for action. Though Link plus Mirage would arrive in another moment, and Bella would no doubt follow with Kamek and Nome Junior shortly, the opening created by Hatty and the Abyssals’ bombardment wasn’t going last forever.

With a cry the Lady unleashed her maelstrom of matter, pitching a fusillade of wood, glass, and metal toward the heroes. The efforts of the koopas in reserve quickly turned out not just to be in vain but actively harmful, since the power of the Maw’s mistress caught their hurled projectiles up in the chaos. It was now or never; if the heroes could brave the storm long enough for Sakura to get in range, the day was theirs.

Running forward into the fray, Geralt braved the storm of projectiles with an arm up to protect his face from punishment, trusting his armor to prevent a lethal blow to his other vitals. He took some punishment, for sure, but he was able to redirect some of the attacks with the Nail as well. “Let’s do this!” He rallied.

“Butcher.” Link said as he trudged forward toward the oncoming storm. Now that they weren't on that single thin platform Link was free to use the monster he had acquired. The butcher surged forth out of the boy, standing tall in front of the group of children gripping an expertly prepared side of beef in his meaty hands. He held it out in front of him as a shield, letting it and his own body when necessary be tenderized by the brunt of Lady’s assault in lieu of the children behind him. 

“LADY!” Larry bellowed. “I QUIT!” He charged forward into the storm, protecting himself with the meat, looking to punch a new hole that Sakura and Blazermate could use to close in before his timer expired. To the man’s credit he managed to armor through a lot of punishment, and his advance paved the way for others to follow. As he charged, Ace and Nadia followed close behind, using their magnets to gather all the metal they could and take it out of the equation.

Bowser’s response was to yell [color=FD0000]”Quit throwing her ammo you goons!”[/color] at his minions while trying his best to shield himself and Peach with his shell armored back, arms held over his head to prevent it being bonked or worse by the flying debris.

Behind them Rika, Kamek and Jr were all having some trouble with the hook swing due to the mage’s small size, the prince’s unfamiliarity with his body’s weakness, and Rika’s locked in hands not being the most dexterous in the world. [color=FD0000]”Kick me closer, I want to give that creepy schmuck a toasting she won't forget!”[/color] Bowser demanded, before retracting his limbs and presenting Peach with a very kickable turtle shell. The princess obliged without delay, possibly using even more force than the situation called for, for whatever reason. Hat Kid saw and took the same opportunity to drive Bowser forward, tethering to the rafters to build instant momentum with which to swing boots first into the rear lip of his shell in tandem with Peach, assisting her in propelling him. As a result the little Koopa King hurtled across the stage, shrugging off everything that came his way until he entered the Lady’s range.

[color=f49ac2]”This is it, Ms. Blazermate!”[/color] Sakura said, hopping up into the robot’s arms. Holding onto her tight, she could hold the mirror behind Blazermate or in front of her, with a quick twist of her waist. That way it was better than Blazermate simply just taking the mirror, lest the Lady take her by surprise with a teleport or a telekinetic grab again. Sakura squinted, closing one eye, and lowered her face until it was right up against Blazermate’s shoulder.

    Blazermate, using what clearing the others could give to approach, held Sakura as she held the mirror ready to shine it at the lady when they got close. Thanks to Blazermate’s ghost, she could track the lady even easier than normal now, and kept aware of her as she flew towards the lady, getting in position for Sakura to shine the mirror.

In quick a whole host of children, having braved the Lady’s onslaught with only a handful of cuts and bruises to show for it, closed in on their hated foe. She reached out to receive them, taking hold of Bowser and Geralt, only for Ace and Nadia to surge forward into her grasp instead. There were just too many targets, and with the situation no longer under the Lady’s control, she couldn’t deal with the chaos. And through that tumult, in a blaze of glory, came Sakura. Before the Maw’s mistress knew what hit her, she found herself looking once more at the reviled mirror. Within the glow, unbearable and blinding, she saw a reflection that could be neither ignored nor accepted, a reminder of mortality and degradation that was anathema to her. She couldn’t bear to look at it, but nor could she look away.

One last scream echoed through the theater, this one longer than the rest, starting stronger and ending weaker. The ghost detonated against the floor and darkness took hold for a moment, until another spotlight came on -albeit somewhat fitful and flickering- to illuminate the fallen form of the Lady. She lay on her front with strangled breathing, her hair undone and her mask in pieces, in front of the door to the Helm. Sakura’s mirror had shattered as well, its purpose served. As the children gathered around their now helpless oppressor, that familiar, dreadful hunger welled up within a few of them once more. What would be more fitting, after all, than to devour the devourer?

(...To the victors go the spoils…)

Not allowing their target time to rally, Geralt quickly stepped forward and raised the nail up, holding it ominously for what may have seemed an eternity, but was only a moment before driving it downwards into her chest, piercing her heart as he’d promised Nadia. With a final, weeping gasp she perished. It was with a self-satisfied sigh that he watched her, before turning his head to the others. “I’m sorry if you wanted to make that slower, but I’ve learned it’s best not to underestimate a beaten foe.”

When he looked back, however, he found himself disquieted by the faces he half-witnessed among the others in the murky darkness. Some harbored an uncanny blankness and a wide-eyed stare, or others a longing, hungry leer bordering on fanaticism. Whether driven by a simple albeit powerful desire for revenge, or perhaps a desire for something else, the expressions he saw in that moment of unawareness made him oddly confident in his decision to not stand on circumstance.

    [color=0072bc]”Why would you ever want to prolong the death of a serious threat like that? You did a good job Geralt. Always end a robattle as fast as possible after all.”[/color] Blazermate said, patting Geralt on the head. Although as she looked at the others following Geralt's gaze, she said. [color=0072bc]”Or uh… I guess that was good for a different reason… Are they ok?”[/color]

As the Lady turned to ash, her corporeal form destroyed, the others shook off the strange mood that possessed them. The fading of adrenaline left little legs wobbling as their owners did their best to stay standing, not giving up the ghost just yet. There was more to be done.

Sakura had instinctively averted her eyes, staring at the broken mirror in her hands. [color=f49ac2]”We did it. We really won.”[/color] She put a hand up to her cheek. Dry. Sakura exhaled. For some reason, she found herself wanting to say something to the Lady, ask her a question. Maybe something like…’why?’ But now that it was over, Sakura felt taller than before. Even if she hadn’t grown an inch. 

“I knew you could do it.” Link said, his voice as wobbly as he felt right now. He looked down at his little hands expectantly, then frowned. It was going to be a struggle freeing the crocodile if this turned out to be permanent. 

The Cadet sighed long and deep. So it was over. Despite a couple of missteps, it was an amazing display of teamwork from the Seekers... but it didn't feel right to celebrate and start patting each other on the back for a job well done. Especially not with the macabre applause from the audience he'd all but forgotten about until this point. He didn't say anything aloud for once, just nodded along with Link's comment, hoping his thoughts of [i]you did amazing Sakura![/i] could be transmitted through the air. The Cadet glanced at Nadia, giving her a little shoulder bump and a weak but encouraging smile. The next step was getting out of this place and back to their bodies.