Brittany laughed maniacally as she continued throwing vials, encouraged by Alex’ praise. “Haahahaa! aren’t you a charmer! What a splendid idea! Yes, let’s give it a big shot!” The two went off, continuing to spread mayhem along the countryside. They soon found themselves heading right in the way of a convoy of Wonderland vehicles including trucks, jeeps, and even a couple of tanks they had hidden away, all piloted by Wonderland soldiers: they wore goofy pea-shaped helmets, but otherwise resembled the same kind of soldiers that occupied Bolorton, and threatened Penrose. They seemed to be heading somewhere, not that Brittany cared as she pointed at them. “Look, Wonderland soldiers! Let’s go for a hit and run!” The tiny shopkeep girl suggested as a devious toothy smile formed on her lips, turning more and more unhinged in the eyes. Alex found himself pleased by the idea as well; as the rock music continued to build up all around him, the explosive sounds of the vials beckoned him for a bigger show of pyrotechnics. [i]The bastards did take me away from Lily and lock me up. This would be a great moment not only to take revenge but sabotage the Queen[/i], a thought appeared in his mind. [hr] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/72bEcUi.png[/img][/center] Lily beamed as Gaia recounted her own experiences with Alicia, and found herself nodding to the verdant girl’s vocal lack of patience when it came to matters of Wonderland, as grassy fields eventually gave way to trees, and a forest slowly started to fill up the landscape before them. [color=fff200]”I totally agree! They crossed a line, those jerks!”[/color] She then turned momentarily pale in the face as Connie suggested Alexander being killed by fire. She looked like she was about to say something, only to be interrupted by Gaia giving a more rational explanation for the blaze that smoked ahead in the distance before them. [color=fff200]”But Alex doesn’t know any fire magic. How did he set a…Oh wait, I think he’s with Brittany,”[/color] Lily realized. [color=fff200]”Maybe she brought bombs, or maybe-”[/color] The talkative girl was swiftly and surely silenced by a sight of movement before them. It seemed to be soldiers, though something about their silhouette was…off from what she remembers of Wonderland military forces. Urged by Gaia’s cautionary warning, Lily summoned Ramuh in staff form while steering her motorcycle with the remaining arm, holding it at her side as one of the larger shapes approached. But instead of hostility, the many-faced, chilling entity…spoke like Magical Dream Princess, complete with the kind of cutesy language that the whimsical Mahou herself would use. However, the voice wasn’t quite the same, causing Lily to blink in confusion. There was something familiar about it, like she had heard it somewhere, but at that moment Lily failed to recall it. It mentioned not liking Wonderland, and Lily definitely didn’t like Wonderland. But whether it meant this pink crystal monster was opposed to the invaders or not, it was enough for her to give her answer: [color=fff200]”My favorite thing about hugs is sharing them with the people you love,”[/color], she spoke, reminiscing about hugs she shared not only with Alex, but all of her dear friends she had made as part of her adventures in Penrose. [color=fff200]”Do you not like Wonderland too, Mister Crystal Face?”[/color] She asked in return. [hr] Alicia flew into the fray like an archer from heaven itself, and with arrows of light provided cover fire for her fellow Mahou, disrupting the red pawns’ projectiles with her own, and detonating a red bishop’s explosive shot prematurely mid-air. A white knight piece attempted to take her by surprise with a lunge, only to be parried by a graceful slash of her lightsaber, forcing the automaton to back off to avoid the followup swing of her bow blades. As a result of Alicia’s support, Ronin and Miko got the opening they needed to fly past the pawns’ arrow fire. The Rooks were caught by surprise, preoccupied as they were with Rachel, and a red one was sliced apart in a combination X-slash attack, leaving the robot scattered in four diagonal pieces. The twins successfully retreated despite a red knight attempting to swing into them, tanking the blow with the Reinforcement barrier that broke, but propelled them back to the backlines, ready to support as other chess pieces advanced. As Mac invisibly slipped past the pawns that were approaching the illusion of Ashley, she realized that their attacks seemed confused as they swung far ahead of Ashley or aimed at her feet, aiming for an area somewhere between the spunky image and the unseen Mahou herself. Perhaps the robots didn’t operate purely on sight and other human senses, and also accounted for some method of magical detection that Mac’s incredible powers of stealth didn’t fully account for. The attacks were far off the mark, so she didn’t have to fear for harm. However, the strange behavior could be seen by a keen eye in the battle as an oddity. Nonetheless, she pressed the advantage given by her trickery, and after the fake teleportation “Ashley” successfully evacuated Rachel, who in a practiced motion flipped after the throw and landed on a conjured barrier platform. The Inquisitor at first rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration, but seemed to swallow her pride as she stood up. “Well done,” she muttered under her breath, and proceeded to jump and destroy the white Rook that she had smashed earlier, crushing it with the downward impact of her hammer, the hefty size enlarged by a square barrier. The black golem Akhenaten joined the fray, shielding Ashley from a red pawn’s arrow with a swipe of his arm, followed by running up to it and delivering a football tackle that smashed the robot apart. “Geez, these are incredible pieces of tech!” Nefer lamented as she shot at another pawn with her blaster, leaving it a pile of ash. “Can I keep one? Pretty Please?” Meanwhile, Magical Dream Princess was chatting with her newest friend, Mister Hatty. The enchanted drone seemed happy as a clam as it listened to the ditzy magical girl prattle on about things it liked, forming a heart with its hands as it visibly swooned. When the girl took its comical gloved hand and held hands with it, [url=https://i.imgur.com/vVM1GWf.png]two heart symbols[/url] popped out of the hat as if there were cartoon eyes there all along, dragged along by the giddy girl like a floating balloon. “I’m so happy,” she heard the hat mumble shyly, and realized that her magic had combined with that of Wonderland’s mana, and created a sentient new being. AS MDP hopped along the chess boards, the pawns and chess knight confronting her hopped the same way, sticking to the same rules of movement as the real pieces did. When a pawn attempted attacking her, the sword turned into a wobbling rubberfoam sword one could see at a Legoland theme park, as did the spear that the white knight lunged at her. A tactical glomp was then deployed, and the white king was seemingly paralyzed, a red glow forming on the grill resembling a knight’s helmet that the automaton possessed. However, the red king was not quite as easily swayed by the pretty pink princess, and pointed an accusing finger at her: one of the white bishops successfully hit her with an enchanting projectile, forcing her to keep hopping on the chess board one space at a time like she did before, only now it wasn’t voluntary. This angered Mister Hatty, who slapped the white bishop, causing it to be knocked down like a bowling pin. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/K2ssvzh.png[/img][/center] Justine and Caroline managed to hold their own against the two queen pieces despite the wounds that the former had sustained, her experience with battle proving her superiority as she skewered the white queen with her spear after a dodging twirl. However, the automaton was undeterred even when pierced, and slammed down on the spear, causing Justine to momentarily flip in mid-air. As the piece went for a follow up, Caroline slashed the robot in two from behind with her flaming sword. But Justine's face turned pale. [color=bc8dbf]”Caroline!”[/color] The remaining red queen, of course, took advantage of the distraction, and flew behind Caroline, mace raised up…And an explosion rang out. [center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/30027fc3-a6c3-4eb6-90a6-bae15038b2d2.png[/img] [img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/200312/bd228c426d0da7459764cb788d45b1cd.png[/img] [Sub].:⋮The White Rabbit Sends In A Little Bill⋮:.[/Sub][/center] The two sisters turned to see Penny, her opened chest blaster still glowing from the aftermath of launching the gauss cannon that shot the queen piece into pieces. The former vampire sighed in relief as Caroline dusted off the remains of the robot off of her dress. [color=9e0039]”Got room for one more in this tea party?”[/color] Penny asked with a smug look. [color=bc8dbf]”I suppose our gracious host forgot to invite you,”[/color] Justine quipped, as if she was in a cinematic universe for a comic book, causing Penny to groan but Caroline to giggle. The Mad Hatter seemed to hear the exchange, as his voice once again blared out from the loudspeakers: “Nobody makes fun of me! Nobody! Forty-seven, activate the Triple P!” Another man’s voice could be heard, slightly fainter: “Sir, do you mean the Pawn Promotion Protocol?” A smack could be heard, followed by an “ow”. “Of course I mean the Pawn Promotion Protocol, you idiot! Why did you think I used the abbreviation to not reveal my trump card to those fools? Fine, I’ll do it myself!” A crank could be heard turning, and the pawns began to glow: all at once, they transformed into white and red queens, the white ones wielding greatswords and the latter automated crossbows tipped with bolts resembling miniature lances. They took into the air, assaulting with blade and crossbow bolt in accord. “Bwahaha! Feel the wrath of my genius!” [hr] The Pea Princess did not wake even as a corner of her dress smoked from a tiny ember that failed to light into a proper flame. Mariette then summoned Lilliputs to deal with the problem. After opening a portal and pointing at the issue without a word, Mariette immediately received assistance from the Lilliput Princess by two mischievous Lilliputs, who introduced themselves as Tyltyl and Mytyl. They not only possessed a knack for magic, but seemed to have a lot of ideas on how to proceed after they poked the unconscious rebel vassal on the cheek: with some magic, they produced a pair of cymbals, an air horn, and even a detached kitchen sink with a faucet that somehow continued to drip water one obnoxious droplet at a time. Mariette didn’t stay behind to see how they would fare, but she had a feeling she might not want to find out: these two resembled fey more than Lilliputs, with capricious and even cruel penchants for pranks that could put dark fairies to shame. Nonetheless, the dark magical girl moved on, focused on setting her plans into motion by delivering Lilliput spies and saboteurs to various places including the Queen’s castle itself, fearless as they worked their way around soldiers much bigger and threatening than them for the purpose of tactical espionage action. For example, a legendary Lilliput soldier wearing a bandanna and a bodysuit and equipped with nothing but a tranquilizer pistol and a pack of cigarettes codenamed Tiny Snek was set to infiltrate a cold island base with a castle made of ice where the loyalist Ice Princess lived. The base supposedly also hid a super weapon of some kind according to the Lilliput Princess that the agent was set to destroy; she saluted Mariette once the portal was opened, calling her “Big Boss”, before she began the infiltration mission through it, crawling under a bowl of rice she found nearby and used for camouflage as a soldier approached. Next, Mariette proceeded with observing and confirming that her plans for rebellion against her delusional mother figure were set into motion from high up in the clouds. Various portals told different tales of Wonderland: from the battle at the Mad Hatter’s factory that continued to intensify, the preparations and movements of the various rebel forces and spies, and even some convoys of allied troops that had begun moving. Dwarves marched toward the mountains, ready to join their alpine brethren in building weapons and machines of war, with one trail of smoke followed by another as furnaces churned. The aquatic army of the Mermaid Princess gathered upon the shores of Wonderland, and in great waves flowed through the rivers and underground channels that snaked through the land, bringing forth a great host in the name of rebellion. One particularly notable sight was a Green Helms regiment that mobilized using trucks, jeeps, and even some tanks. Mariette also saw a great fire that began to form in the forested regions of the land, signaled by cute little woodland critters escaping in terror, just like the ones that accompanied the Forest Princess. As far as she was aware, there were no loyalist troops stationed in that region, which meant she had no idea what could be terrorizing the countryside. That path of destruction would soon cross over with the convoy. However, that was not the only scene of a serious situation that the so-called Sinner of Sloth had seen: there was also an enemy force of skeletal-looking soldiers and warmachines that were heading towards points of Wonderland interest, such as a city seemingly made of rubies, and one of the larger units having turned pink and separated to drift towards…Lily, Connie, and Gaia riding on unicorns led by a kite?! Mariette had to quickly make a decision on how to proceed at that very moment: she could only appear in person at one of the two locations in time before the situation at either location developed. But which was more important to her: her friends, or her schemes?