While Gaia may have wished to use caution, Lily, unsurprisingly, didn’t seem to know the meaning of that word, and had blasted off before the verdant maiden had even finished speaking. Yet, even as she watched the impetuous greenette speed off into the distance, a portal opened in mid-air and disgorged a very confused, and very familiar, figure…

“M-Mayra?!” Connie cried in alarm as she watched her draconic friend slam into the ground. Urging her multicolored mount into motion, she hurried over to where the girl had fallen, with Gaia trailing close behind. “O-Oh gosh! A-Are you a-all right?!” the masked maiden asked, her voice and visage filled with concern as she approached the monster girl.

“Is Mariette in trouble?” Gaia inquired, figuring that was the only reason the portal witch would send her associate to them in such an abrupt manner.

A quick glance to where Lily was confronting the Queen, while Mariette and a bound Alex stood nearby, seemed to indicate the answer was an emphatic “yes”, but any additional insight into what was obviously an exceedingly treacherous situation would still be valuable in the extreme. Indeed, as she watched Chloe proceed to join the little gathering, the botanical beauty only hoped that the dark magical girl and her rapidly approaching forces would be able to distract the Queen long enough for them to not only formulate some kind of plan, but to also successfully carry it out.

---

As MDP’s playful procession made its merry way through the fortress-factory’s labyrinthian interior, the whimsical girl at its head cheerfully skipped around the massive edifice, peering into every nook and cranny, while singing a suitably childish song as she did so.

“Hidey widey, seeky weeky~! What’s in heresie~?! Take a peeky~! (giggle!)”

This happy-go-lucky period of excited exploration might have gone on for a fair bit longer than was wise, given the urgent nature of the current situation, but for MDP, having fun was what mattered most of all. It was also the best way to ensure her magic was at its most powerful. Thus, that compulsion really couldn’t be avoided, even if she’d wanted to do so. Because of this, she was one of the last to arrive at the egg chamber, bouncing through the entrance with eyes full of wonderment mere moments before “Ashley” teleported the cockatrice to the Overcity.

“YAAAY~!!!” the whimsical girl cheered, jumping into the air with ditzy delight. “Magical Dream Princess foundy woundy the eggy weggies~! (giggle!) And a biggy wiggy birdy wirdy, too~! Golly wolly!” she exclaimed a moment later when the monstrous bird abruptly popped out of sight. “And nowie wowie it’s gonesie wonsie!” Turning to the rest of her procession with a happy smile, she added, “Like, Magical Dream Princess thinkie winkies it’s probably wobably timey wimey to makey wakey those eggy weggies go bye bye, too~! (giggle!)”

With that, she raised her whimsical wand and fired a prismatic beam of sparkling dream energy at the nearest egg, her new friends following suit with their own array of assorted weapons, each of which had been enchanted by MDP’s own playful powers. Thus, what bizarre effect this colorful barrage would actually have on its target was anyone’s guess…

‘Huh?’ Mayra turned and saw… Connie and Gaia riding in on unicorns. ‘Oh, yeah. I know exactly how you got those,’ she said, giggling at the strange sight. Not too weird in Wonderland, honestly. Mayra pushed herself up to a squat as they came closer and asked their questions.

‘Oh, yeah, I’m perfectly fine! But Mariette just threw me out her shadow when I was about to have the perfect angle to back-smack that silly queen!’ Mayra frowned and crossed her arms, frowning as she considered what just happened. ‘She got some nerve! I was to hide in her shadow specifically to ambush an opponent… and then, as soon as the ultimate ambush-target approaches, she throws me out!? What is she thinking!? So yeah, she’s definitely in trouble now!’ Mayra grumbled.

This definitely isn’t taking place within hearing-range of the queen.

Lily tensed as Mariette agreed to the command the Queen of Hearts gave her, fear running through her body like a wave of cold. How would she attack? Lily wondered.
She could use her tentacles. I remember seeing her summon them for various situations including combat. They were not a particularly lethal choice, though it would be painful if she were to crush her. The answer immediately arrived as she watched the dark magical girl raise her hand towards her, a magic circle of iridescent light forming before her.

Lily closed her eyes and winced, bracing for the impact…Only to blink as she heard a familiar voice.

”Chloe!”

The Queen didn’t seem as surprised by the Mint broker’s arrival: she seemed to have predicted something like this happening. In fact, Mariette would notice that the queen’s purple eye subtly flashed.
“Hm…I see even the Mint has reached its greedy claws into my kingdom,” she commented.
“But you are bold for facing me yourself, broker.”

Chloe pointed out to Lily that Alex had been found: while initially a bit baffled by the obvious statement, the greenette was nonetheless grateful for the interruption, and further relieved when she pointed out the queen’s threatening gesture to ultimately be a bluff. The queen responded by turning up her nose at the smug girl as she proceeded to explain the risks of meddling with a Horror’s chosen.
“You think a mere Lesser Power is enough to hold me back? Think again, black swan. Consorts such as this are rare, yes…But I can find more. I always have, just as I have always found my darling Alice.”

Her touch turned gentle, and she gave a motherly caress to Mariette, reassuring her as she hesitated.

But then, as Mariette spoke, the queen’s eyes widened in surprise at her question. The seemingly insurmountable indignation in her voice by Chloe’s offense against her, surprisingly, gradually gave way to empathy: Mariette had successfully pulled at her heartstrings.
“Why, I would move mountains to bring you back, Alice. I would do anything to rescue you!”
Her hold on the Storyslayer slightly wavered, threatening to cut into Alex.

Then, Mariette confessed that she was friends with Lily, who was taken aback by the reveal, tears forming in her eyes. After all this time, after she thought she had irrevocably caused a rift between them that could never be bridged, she had lost hope that they could be friends. And now that hope was rekindled.

”Mariette…So you really think…I’m your friend? I…I’m glad to hear that…”

She spoke softly, glad that Mariette did not want to hurt her, even if it meant risking her own well-being.

“...It is true, then. Are you friends with this Lily girl?” The queen also seemed moved by the tender words and honest feelings, and she lifted the Storyslayer away from Alex.
“...You were always so lonely, Alice. With no friends…To think you finally have some…”

She looked back at the others after Mariette revealed her true feelings, her hope of ending this conflict in peace seeming to cause actual hesitation in the usually unwavering monarch.

“True friends who you treasure…How happy they make you...”

Her eyes moved back and forth between them all, and the grip on her Storyslayer loosened, as did her hold on Mariette’s shoulder, her fingers lifting, until only the palm of her hand touched.

“Alice…I…”

However, just as it seemed like Mariette would succeed in convincing the delusional woman to spare them, and possibly even end the Wonderland invasion itself…She heard distant screeching, as did the others. The queen’s eyes gained focus anew, and her purple eye flashed, followed by a swing of her black blade: she created a shockwave that sliced apart a falling skeleton that had been set aflame, along with other suicide-bombing bonelings nearby. Lily turned, and saw as Chloe’s undead army of blood-curdling constructs and scary skeletons marched forth from the forest to attack the Green Helms, who swiftly responded by forming a defensive line and engaging in battle with them.

At that moment, Connie felt a great surge of waking nightmares coming from the queen’s heart, as her magic resonated with the mana-effervescent Wonderland, the deep-buried terrors that stirred in the mad monarch’s mind having opened a channel. She had bottled her feelings, letting the grief fester as delusion, her continued obsession for the lost Alice a coping mechanism, refusing to face the truth. As the Empress of Nightmares, Connie felt a sense of destiny, as if her journey up to this point had been to embrace her role as a bringer of truth through dread, to bring a mirror to those who would not look upon themselves, to have them face their fear and confront their weakness.

The queen had lost all goodwill gained by Mariette’s words, as she was overcome by her trauma. “No! This was a trap! Alice, we’re leaving!” The queen screeched an order, and she snatched the white-haired girl’s wrist like a mother would an unruly child, her grip like an iron vice as she took a few running stops to drag Mariette away, slashing a couple of times at falling fire-wreathed skeletons.
“I’ll keep you safe this time Alice, I promise! Mother knows best!”

Once she reached some distance from Chloe's army, she summoned a portal which seemed to open up to what looked like a secluded stone-bricked chamber. There, Caterpillar was waiting.
“Caterpillar! Grant justice to these enemies of the crown!” She ordered. “Your will be done, Your Grace,” the Minister of Wonderland answered, and stepped out, passing by the Queen, who forcibly dragged Mariette through the aperture.

She opened another portal: Mariette saw the Mad Hatter, more specifically, his back on the other side, as he was sitting by a control console, frantically mashing buttons and turning dials.
“Hatter! Status report!” The queen ordered, and the minister’s hat jumped up his head as he was startled.
“Intruders at the factory, your Grace! Requesting assistance!”

The queen did not hesitate, and opened a third portal to a non-descript office. “HARE! GO!” She ordered, and the masked minister similarly jumped in surprise before running through the portals. “By your will, your Grace!”

The queen, after all her shouting, took a moment to calm herself down. She blinked, and then summoned her red ribbons again.
“Almost forgot,” the queen mumbled, and started dragging Alex by his feet, bound as he still was by Mariette’s tentacles: he was slowly gliding over grass, reaching the portal.

”Alex! No!” Lily yelled, and ran forward, only to be stopped by the Queen's minion as she brandished her staff threateningly.

“You won’t escape judgement,” she spoke coldly.

Lily grit her teeth, fear having also struck her as she saw Alex be limply dragged closer and closer, his feet nearly at the portal.

”Wake up! You gotta fight it! Alex! ALEX!”

---

Penny sighed as the Mad Hatter revealed the last obstacle before they could reach their goal, averting her eyes from the ponderous poultry. She did not doubt that someone would catch Caroline before they ended up as gravel, and instead scanned the area for any terminals closeby. Sure enough, Ronin had performed the heroic deed after Ashley slowed the statue’s descent, to which she gave an affirmative nod.

”Not an omelet I would eat for breakfast,” she replied as she spotted what she sought in a corner. She dashed to the computer station and punched straight down and through the interface of buttons underneath, causing large crackles of electricity that would have been dangerous to those not of Lightning or Metal affinity. She took hold of the wires and circuitry, and used her magic to meld her hand into the network, pulling the clump up and letting the electricity flow from her body through the cables: while the Mad Hatter and updated his firewall after her previous bout of hacking, the physical access point let her easily invade Mad Hatter’s computer system.

Mac, in the guise of Ashley, successfully grappled Chicken Ultra Crushing Mega, dodging the snapping of its fanged beak despite looking elsewhere thanks to her supreme footwork and sense of balance. Then, while holding it still long enough with pure brawn, she spirited the monstrosity away to the Overcity.

The cockatrice responded by kicking Mac away, its talons painful as they were sharp enough to wound her right in the stomach, though she had enough defensive power to avoid outright breaking ribs from the impact, unlike with the Tin Man’s attack. The shades on its head, curiously enough, did seem to stop the petrifying ability of its gaze based on her use of Third Eye, though it did not last as the bird-like beast threw them off its head with a big caw, forcing Mac to avoid eye contact. It came charging in, flapping its leathery wings in intimidation.



”Thank you, Deni! Yet again you would save my sister, who once had consumed your slimy form,” she commented as she dragged the statue away from the center of the room and back towards the corridor they came from.
”I suppose your magic isn’t enough to restore her?” She asked as she noted the diminutive samurai girl swipe her hand over her rocky sister. Just as Ronin suspected, petrification was not something that Reinforcement could reverse, as it was not damaged. However, the barriers did stay, the statue now having a polished sheen to it.

Miko, meanwhile, followed right behind Rachel as she lifted her hammer up in reaction to the arrow of light that her fellow comrade Alicia unleashed on the closest magic wall, followed by MDP and her chessmates performing the same with a beam projectile of her own: while the former failed to penetrate the barrier, only causing cracks in it’s glowing surface, the other shots infused the barrier with energy, until it transformed into a wall of transparent, bouncy rubber.

“Bah! Let me do it!” Rachel shouted, and started to run, only to suddenly stop as she heard the familiar voice of the Queen of Hearts and her cronies on the loudspeaker:
“Hatter! Status report!”
“Intruders at the factory, your Grace! Requesting assistance!”

As a result, Miko ran embarrassingly right into her posterior, causing Rachel to blush and throw her head back, looking miffed. “Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Nefer, however giggled at the comical sight, and Akhenaten ran past Rachel, seemingly done with comedy skits at the moment.

However, before he got close enough to smash the rubbery wall, more voices could be heard on the loudspeaker.

“HARE! GO!”
“By your will, your Grace!”

Rachel groaned. “Oh, by the love of-”

A circular hole opened from the ceiling, from which a fireman pole shot down. From there, March Hare came sliding down with style and grace, making a single spin before reaching the floor.

“It wasn't very civil of you to enter without being invited!” He taunted the intruders.
“To me, (I see what I eat) is the same thing as (I eat what I see!)”

With a flourish of his hand, he cast a summoning spell. But instead of bringing forth wendigos as the others might have assumed, instead six manticores had appeared: with bodies of lions with spiny manes, spiky tails with scorpion-like stingers, and large bat-like wings, their eerily human-like faces stared with mouths wide open, showing three rows of sharp teeth.

"I see you! So you shall be the lovely crumpets to eat at this tea party!” He spoke bombastically as he drew what looked like a red coiled whip. With a snap of it, the manticores attacked with complete obedience like lions in a circus, flying or running as they lunged.

”Taking over this tea party, seating arrangements soon to change,” Penny commented as she summoned her extra limbs to defend herself while continuing the hacking.

They had waited long enough. They had tried to let the others talk this out, in hopes that the Den Master would be returned safely. This did not happen, and time was running out. Therefor, they were left with only one recourse:



Bob and Tim rushed off of Lily, scampering along the ground to the downed Alexander. Thanks to their small size and quick speed, they were able to slip past the guards with ease. Dave meanwhile, took to the sky. Flying high above the ground, but still in the same direction as his comrades. As Bob and Tim got closer, a strange girl with a staff stood between them and their goal. Once they got close enough, Tim, with surprising leg strength for a stoat, leapt up aiming straight at her face. And with some wordless signel and a swell of magic enveloping their forms, they changed...



The staff girl now had to contend with that fact that the tiny stoat leaping at her was now the size of a small horse, with blades made of pure magic slowing forming around it's body. Dave meanwhile, fired magical formed arrows out of his mouth, to cut the ribbons being used to drag Alexander. Which left Bob with retrieval. Quickly forming a solid-magic warhammer roughly the size of a fully grown human, he threw it right at the portal, and with the opening that provided, along with Dave pelting the portal with more of his arrows, Bob grabbed Alexander and began to drag him to safety.

Connie’s relief upon learning that Mayra was okay soon turned to dismay when the draconic girl explained that Mariette was most assuredly not. “Oh, gosh!” the masked maiden gasped, placing her trembling hands over her mouth. “W-We have to h-hurry and h-help her!”

“Let us not be too hasty, little sister,” Gaia cautioned, her tone as serene as ever, despite her inner turmoil. “This is an exceedingly delicate situation, and so we would be wise to proceed with caution. Mariette appears to be parlaying with the queen at the present moment,” the verdant maiden continued, before turning to Mayra. “And in light of that, as well as the queen’s substantial level of power, she may have… deposited you here to keep you from possibly losing your life in an attack that was destined to fail.”

“Y-You’re p-probably r-right…” Connie conceded, her fingers nervously playing with her hair, while her mask formed a frown at the thought of the queen killing her impetuous friend. “A-And I’m glad M-Mayra’s safe, b-but… I-Isn’t there a-anything w-we can d-do?”

Gaia sighed. “I do not see any possible courses of action we can take at the current moment,” the Daughter of Mother Earth replied as she continued to watch the conversation playing out on the nearby hill, her long, emerald tresses blowing in the breeze. “But perhaps an opportunity shall soon present itself.”

Indeed, no sooner had she spoken those words, then Chloe’s undead minions began their “distraction”, if that’s what you could call a screeching hoard of flaming skeletons dropping out of the sky and exploding…

“It would appear that now is our chance,” Gaia observed as she set her prismatic steed into motion. “Would you care for a lift, Mayra?” she inquired of the dragon girl, holding out an inviting hand as she rode past.

However, even as she did so, the botanical beauty heard Connie gasp as the queen opened a portal and began dragging Mariette and Alexander through it. Yet, that was not the only thing causing the Empress of Nightmares to stare at the Wonderland sovereign as if transfixed, the black eyes of her mask enlarged to such an extent they had nearly tripled in size...

“Connie…?” Gaia called to her dearest friend, voice tinged with concern.

“I-I-It’s t-the q-q-queen…” Connie replied after a moment, her voice seeming to stammer even more than usual. “I-I-I can f-feel her f-f-fears…”

It was almost as if she were viewing someone’s worst nightmares through the Eye of Fear, only this time, instead of being displayed by her mystic artifact, the images and feelings were pouring into her very mind. It was an understandably horrifying experience for such a gentle and timid girl, but at the same time, Connie was able to muster enough resolve to realize that this provided a potential weakness in the seemingly invincible queen’s defenses, one that she knew she needed to exploit if they were to have any chance of saving their friends.

“I-I… I-I t-think I m-might be a-able to g-give her a n-n-nightmare,” the masked maiden declared, her shaking hands balled into fists as she held them in front of her. “B-But o-only i-if we c-can g-get c-closer,” she added.

“Very well, little sister,” Gaia assented with a nod. “Then let us not wait a moment longer!”

---

Back at the factory fortress, MDP’s eyes widened in wonderment as her attack, combined with those of her new friends, turned the energy barrier surrounding the eggs into pink, exceedingly flexible rubber. “Wowie zowie~!” she exclaimed. “It’s all bouncy wouncy nowie~! (giggle!) Like a trampoliney winey, or maybe waybe a balloony woony~! But, like, we still gotta get to those meanie weanie eggy weggies, so, like, Magical Dream Princess thinky winkies that one of her new friendy wendies should, like, totally wotally try and popy wopy that bouncy wouncy wally with one of their super duper pointy wointy thingie wingies~! (giggle!)” the whimsical girl declared, turning to face the various sword and spear wielding chess pieces behind her and giving them a big smile.

However, before any of them could carry this suggestion out, the March Hare appeared and summoned six menacing Manticores. At least, most people would probably find them to be menacing, but MDP wasn’t most people…

“Ooooohh~! Those lion wions look super duper silly willy~! (giggle!)” the playful Princess of Dreams squealed, while bouncing up and down in childish delight. “They, like, totally wotally remindy windy Magical Dream Princess of the circus wircus~! Like, Magical Dream Princess always walways wanted to go see the circus wircus soooo muchy wuchy and see the lion wions and all the other wother animal wanimals, but Daddy Waddy wouldn’t let her go because he said it was nonsense wonsense,” she explained to Mister Hatty. “But, like, maybe waybe these funny wunny looking lion wions will, like, totally wotally do some super duper funsie wunsie tricky wickies for her nowie~! (giggle!)” the whimsical girl added with a gleeful grin, her innocent eyes sparkling with eager anticipation. Conjuring a giant glittery pink hoop, she held it in one hand, hopped atop an equally glittery pink podium, and, striking a cute pose, called out through the megaphone the top of her wand had just morphed into, “Like, could you lion wion thingy wingies pretty pretty pleasey weasy jumpy wumpy through Magical Dream Princess’s hoopy woopy for her~?! She’ll, like, totally wotally give you some super duper yummy wummy treaty weaties if you do~! (giggle!)” she added with a wink.

Having taken the lead in trying to deal with the eggs, Alicia stopped as it became clear that they were just empowering the magical barrier rather than destroying it. Sadly this was not enough to stop the barrier from becoming some sort of rubbery substance, and she wasn't sure if that was because of something that Magical Dream Princess did or the barrier becoming stronger through absorbing energy. It was hard to tell whether things were intentional or not when Princess was involved.

Alicia lowered her bow as the others moved in, just before a hole opened in the ceiling to allow another foe to descend upon them from above. After making a rhyme, he summoned six minions to fight them. The manticores attacked as he drew a whip, seemingly directing them.

As Magical Dream Princess did her thing, Alicia looked to the others who weren't busy with the barrier or hacking. "What do you say we see how well he fights without his whip?" If that was how he was controlling the manticores, then maybe it would help if they removed the whip from play.

Stringing her bow once more, Alicia fired a trio of arrows. They arced through the air, their flight paths shifting as they followed the March hare and sought to strike the whip from his hand.

Chicken Ultra Crushing Mega. The Mad Hatter had to be a bigger weeb than most magical girls. That was the first thought that entered Mac’s head.

The second one was that her gambit seemed to pay off. Her companions were likely destroying the eggs as she spoke, and all she had to do was keep this thing busy for as long as possible. No, she would aim to destroy it. Anything that could turn people to stone or lay eggs like that needed to be dealt with swiftly. She had fought by herself in the past, this was merely a return to those times.

There were only two parts of her plan that were unexpected. One was getting cut by the chicken kick. She was bound to get hurt tackling something as massive and chickeny as this, but getting sliced by a kick was not a wound she expected to take. Chickens did have sharp claws, but that was it. Claws were only sharp at the tip, and that allowed the chicken to scratch the ground and other chickens. Something like a straight kick that would throw Mac like a ragdoll across the empty dreamscape wouldn’t have allowed the bird to also scratch her. Despite this, she had been wounded and would have to accept it. The super clucker (abridged name) continued to confound by having the ability to cast aside illusions like they were physical objects. Her third eye hadn’t revealed any trickery, but she knew better than to rely completely on any of her many magic detection abilities. But magic was too unpredictable to not have some way of observing it when it was possible.

Presently, the issue was that she was being charged down by an enemy she couldn’t look at directly. The solution to this could have been simple. Her Ghetto Endless Eclipse could be held over her eyes to allow her to look at the chicken indirectly and protect her own vision. The issue with this, aside from using both hands, was that she wasn’t sure if it was worth going mad over.

Next was to just fight the damn thing. She didn’t have to look at the super clucker to fight it. It’s legs were easily it’s most vulnerable part, and she could just hide under its plumage and go to town on them. Of course it risked going south somehow. The chicken seemed to have potent arcane defences. Maybe as an option Z this would work, but not as a first.

Her final idea was to… romance it?

It was a hair brained and silly idea, but it seemed to work for Magical Dream Princess. A lot of that was probably her magic, but part of Mac really wanted to try befriending the feathered giant. Aside from hugging it, throwing a one liner at it, and giving it the tackiest sunglasses she could manage, Mac didn’t feel like she did anything to warrant an all out battle with the creature. It was clearly upset at everything that was going on. Chickens were relatively intelligent creatures despite what most believed. They could do math, feel empathy, and had complex social structures. The super clucker seemed to perceive her illusions as being real, so maybe there was something she could do.

Mac pointed forward to the super clucker and a portal opened up. An illusionary one, but that hardly mattered. On the other side was what looked like a giant rooster, who strut his way out of the portal. He preened himself while the portal closed behind him.

*buck buck buck*

An illusionary bag of feed appeared in Mac’s hand. She began to cast the seed on the ground, and the rooster started to peck away at it. If the super clucker could cast sunglasses off of its head, maybe it could eat illusionary seed?

---

"...What?”

Chloe could have said that in reaction to anything. How the queen flip flopped on issues, her backpedaling, missing important details that she had already stated earlier. The queen was no debate champ that was for damn sure. But what got Chloe to “what” this time was how the seemingly invincible and almighty queen of hearts was sent running by one of her skeletal siege engines. Was this queen the big bad everyone was so scared of? Chloe couldn’t help but let out an impish laugh.

"That’s right! Run!” She laughed again. "That’s right! Run!” She gave chase on her mount, which was usually fast enough to keep up with her victims. But that did not seem to be the case this time. Then some stuff happened, but it seemed like Alex had it taken care of. Apparently his cute little mascots were actually vicious killers.

"...What?”

She looked at everyone present, eventually resting her eyes on Connie.

"...What?”

Ronin wasn’t super happy with Justine’s comment, or using her name over her pseudonym. Still, there was still action going on around here, so…

‘She’ll be okay. I can’t fix this here, but she’ll be okay,’ Ronin said, jumping to the side to place Caroline’s statue gently out of the way. ‘If we can find Brittany she can probably help her,’ she claimed. An alchemist should probably have the solution, or otherwise have just the magic item in her collection, Ronin figured. ‘For now, we seem to have more on our hands!’ she said, spinning around and lifting her sword at the incoming manticores!

‘I’ll back you up!’ Ronin told Justine, throwing a hand and a reinforcement spell at her. With that, Ronin intended to keep up with Justine, skipping on Reinforcement platforms and speeding herself up with Wind magic if Justine started flying, backing her up, shielding her if they endangered her and attacking if Justine provided the opportunity!

Meanwhile, Miko managed to run into Rachel’s rear. ‘Ack!’ sge made a little noise and stumbled back, blushing a bit as well. ‘I-I’m sorry,’ she said, feeling silly. This was not the time for clumsiness. With the voice of the queen heard above, and now the March Hare appearing intending to do battle, Miko took a ready stance with her blade drawn.

‘I’ll back you up,’ Miko said to Rachel, perhaps at the exact same time Ronin said the same thing to Justine, and placed a hand on Rachel to boost her already formidable self with Reinforcement magic. With that, she’d join behind the woman, protecting her blind spots and taking advantage of any openings she might create, a Wind-boosted fast girl supporting the juggernaut from behind, as both the twins joined a more formidable combatant to help where the fighting was fiercest!

__________________




Mariette held her resolute expression, as she seemed to make the queen’s heart waver. Then, a whole bunch of things happened. One thing stood out. Apparently the skeleton army was attacking the Green Helms. That was unacceptable. While Mariette’s wrist was grabbed by the queen and she was, herself, unable to get away, she opened a portal by her mouth. It led to Chloe.

‘_{The Green Helms are our allies,}’ she whispered in a hurry, while the queen was distracted. Then, in addition, she opened another portal. She had the Lilliputs on standby, and at least one on her, and among them was their princess. She needed someone with authority… and as such it was time to bring the Lilliput Princess herself.

Mariette didn’t have much time. ‘_{The skeletons are not the enemy, retreat, I won’t be able to help,},’ Mariette whispered, before opening a portal and placing the Lilliput princess among the Green Helms command, while the queen was commanding Caterpillar and Mad Hatter and Hare. These were very small portals, and the whispering was done while the queen herself was shouting orders, so Mariette hoped she had escaped detection after closing the portals, and that the others would be able to handle it. The other vassals of Wonderland knew the plan. The princess specifically so she could take command, if the Pea Princess wasn’t woken up yet.

Then the queen turned to grab Alex. Mariette wanted to stop her, but didn’t know how to explain… when Alex’s animals attacked. The idea fell into place instantly and she summarily executed it.

‘Mother, watch out!’ Mariette pretended to be so startled by the appearance and attack of the animals that her tentacles let go of Alexander, tried to grab onto the queen as quickly as possible and hopefully disorent her enough to let go of Alex as Bob pulled the other direction. If it worked it would end up with Mariette on the other side of the portal, but that felt safer than what was going on right now.

__________________




‘Pah! She needs to have more faith in me,’ Mayra wasn’t exactly thrilled to be told that Mariette didn’t think she could beat the queen. Then, though, Connie got strange, and the eyes of her mask widened… Mayra grinned. ‘Ooooh, yeah. The queen’s got nothing on your nightmares!’ Mayra said, sounding proud of this fact. ‘Yeah, come on, let’s go submerge her!’ Mayra agreed, taking Gaia’s hand and jumping up on the steed as they headed for the queen and the situation before them!

As if stirred awake by Lily’s cries, Alex’ animal companions launched themselves out like a trained unit, and magnificently transformed before everyone’s eyes into great magical beasts.

”WHOA!” Lily shouted in surprise. ”I didn’t know they could do that!”

“It can’t be!” Caterpillar yelped as she twirled her staff to parry the many-bladed stoat. This gave Dave the chance to cut Alex free from the red ribbons: coupled with Mariette feigning shock in order to release him from her own tendrils, he was now fully free from physical binds.

Mariette’s message reached the Lilliput princess, who was ready for action: she hopped through the portal with no hesitation, and took command immediately. “Men, retreat! This is not a battle to be fought! And someone pick me up already!” Hurriedly scooped up by one of the soldiers, she was carried away, ensuring that the round-helmeted troops disengaged, and started to take off to the best of their ability.

“No way! All ways are my ways!” The queen screeched, too distracted to fully realize Mariette's actions, though she did pass a glance down at her, and shot out red ribbons towards Alex, only for them to be shot down by Lily’s rapid-fire.

“Alex is already spoken for! You need to find somebody else!” Lily yelled, her courage lifted by the assurance that the animal friends gave her, alongside Chloe who had chased the Queen away. The Queen, furious, lifted the Storyslayer, as if about to use it, when her purple eye flashed. She gasped, and let go of the weapon to block the warhammer that was thrown in their direction: she had grabbed the head of it by her palm, followed by immediately closing the portal.

“Yes!” Lily pumped her fist in victory, but it was a short-lived celebration as the Caterpillar’s eyes glowed a dark green, and a malevolent aura suddenly burst out, knocking the stoat back.

“This transgression against her Highness shall not pass unpunished…As Minister of Mysteries…I am your judge, jury…And executioner! Hear me, judge of death…Cast your strings of truth…PINOCCHIO!”

She held her staff up high, and ghostly energy poured out of it. It shot up to the sky, where a doll made of decrepit wood with a long, pointy nose appeared, hanging by a noose that dangled from bent gallows, seemingly made of a warped tree with jagged roots digging into the earth as if desperately searching for sustenance.

The doll held two cross-shaped marionette manipulators in its hands, and its head tilted to the side as it lifted them rigidly forward. Ghostly strings launched from the manipulators, and they homed in on Lily, Chloe, and the empowered animals. Lily attempted to dodge, but there were too many strings to avoid before she and Chloe were both caught: the strings paralyzed their limbs as they connected, resulting in them being haphazardly lifted up and down in unnatural motion, like the parts of a puppet. The empowered animals were also hit by the strings, but were instead pinned down to the ground. Curiously, Alex was ignored, as he still lay near the location of the disappeared portal.

“Tell the truth…The darkest truth…” the puppet croaked as it hovered above them. Gaia then sensed through her magic that a tiny sapling was rooted on top of its head, struggling to bloom from the half-rotted wood carving.

“Or lie…and die.” The cursed woodwork pointed its head up.

“I have never sinned in my life,” it spoke in a high pitch. It didn’t take a Light specialist to recognize the obvious falsehood.

-SCHWING-

Suddenly, its nose extended into a spiny tree branch with a sharp tip, resembling a spear, before it retreated again. The doll groaned, and it lowered its head to look at the cursed group.

“A silent tongue, ten seconds late…” The doll suddenly jerked up, its head tilting to the side as it turned temporarily limp.

“For idleness, gallows await.”

Lily gulped, as she then felt a ghostly rope around her neck, as did Chloe. Fortunately, the animals were spared, as they could not speak, but they were nonetheless paralyzed by the phantom strings, unable to interfere.

The Caterpillar smiled as she stayed still: a sharp eye saw that she too had strings connected to her. “Now, your crimes will be bared, and judgement passed.”

However, as defenseless as she seemed, that proved not to be the case: Chloe's army proved powerless against her, as the puppet created duplicates to intercept attacks aimed at the dark conjurer, each one cast forth like mistreated marionettes, only to end up as splinters. Any skeletal monstrosity coming within close enough distance would in turn end up snared by the paralyzing strings, and turned against their former allies, manipulated into betraying those near them with violence.

Pinocchio groaned, and lifted the cross manipulators to his sides, letting the arms teeter like arms on a scale about to adjust from placed weight. “The darkest truth, or sweetest lie…The time to speak…Has begun.”

---

As the queen was now left alone with Mariette, she breathed heavily from what looked like stress, as sweat poured down her face. “I can’t believe it…I almost lost you again, Alice,” she mumbled, and turned her eyes to look at the dark magical girl, followed by a gasp as she loosened her grip on her wrist, and gently took hold of her hand. “I’m sorry if I hurt you, Alice,” she spoke softly. “But still, so many enemies are after us…The Powers have planted vicious white roses in my garden…The eggs are now too obvious, even if I reclaim them it won’t be enough, if they were answered this swiftly by the Grand Magistrate…”

The queen started guiding her through the chamber to another: Mariette soon realized they were in the inner sanctum of her royal castle. She looked manic as her purple eye glowed, moving on its own: based on the pattern, it looked as if she was reading snippets of something invisible in the air.

They soon arrived at a very fancy, rounded bedroom that seemed absurd in how luxurious it was. There was a dinner table with a great tower of cakes, a tea set of finest porcelain, a corner with a high pile of plushies of every animal imaginable, and a bed made of royal red velvet: it made the various ostentatious bedrooms of the Vassal Princesses that Mariette had visited look like squalid hovels by comparison. However, one detail caught Mariette’s eye: golden pillars on every corner that joined together at the domed ceiling. It seemed to resemble something…

The Queen continued her monologue. “But the Grand Magistrate won’t have their way this time, no…I just need to ruin their plan, cause chaos and havoc untold, to force the Nexus to bloom anew…But what to do, what to do…” She wondered, before she realized the answer to her question. “Now I know! But first, a little present for you, my dear.” She knelt down to one leg, and gave a gentle hug to Mariette.

“...I’ve missed you, Alice. You are everything to me. The day I lost you, I shamed myself forever as a mother. But I won’t make that mistake again.” Mariette heard her summon a tiny portal behind her, followed by an even tinier sound of interlocking metal pieces: the queen had summoned what looked like a necklace, the pieces of it looking like magnificently hued and multilayered crystals, and had placed it daintily around Mariette’s neck, complete with locking the necklace shut. While it was not tight in the slightest as it sat comfortably, Mariette immediately realized the necklace would catch on to her chin if she tried to lift it up and off of her, making it impossible to remove by normal means. She also realized it was enchanted, but not in what way until the queen spoke:

“Now, you may not use your little mirrors to escape this castle. I know you must be scared since you mumble to yourself so much and keep running away. But don’t worry, mother will keep you safe from now on, and we will have our happy ever after,” she spoke as she stood up with what was attempted to be a gentle smile, but a slight twitch at the corner of her lip betrayed her growing anxiety. “I must now temporarily leave you, but don’t worry, for I will soon be back. After all, I need your help to bring the Nexus out of hiding.” She spoke, as if mentioning that dinner was ready, before leaving, closing the door behind her, but curiously not locking it.

As soon as Mariette tested creating a portal, one did appear before her, with a view of any location as she desired. However, she then realized the form of her necklace’s curse if she attempted to touch or walk through: the mirror was now literally a wall of impenetrable glass, and prevented passage from either direction. She could tell that breaking the mirror would simply leave an empty frame behind. To those looking outside at the magical construct, it seemed as if Mariette was standing inside a mirror. Not only that, but her tentacles also couldn’t pass from one side of the mirror to the other. However, if she concentrated, she could summon tentacles from a mirror outside of the castle, but only from the summoned mirror itself, and only to where one could see from the view of the mirror. The mirror, curiously, didn’t prevent sight or sound from passing through. In that way, she still could communicate and manipulate the outside world in a limited capacity, but she herself was physically trapped. She now understood the meaning behind the pillars: she was the bird in the golden cage, now but a mere spectator watching from beyond the looking glass.

---

Justine flew up, only to quickly block a manticore about to bite Ronin following after, and used her spear to do so: the beast gnashed its many teeth against the long handle before Justine managed to knock it aside after Ronin slashed at its side, causing it to let go.
”These monsters are not only strong, but fast as well!” She yelled out.

“Affirmative!” Rachel responded: she had less difficulty as she used a barrier to block a stinger from another manticore, followed by knocking it away with a swing of her mallet, her great power only further enhanced by Miko’s spell. “We can beat them,” she replied afterwards, and turned to meet a flanking manticore thanks to Miko’s alertness, allowing her to easily cover her from a stinger attack.. “Just need to watch out for their deadly venom and-”

She stopped mid-strike after leaping towards a pair of manticores, who turned their heads to stare at Magical Dream Princess: it seems she had successfully beguiled the beasts, as they panted with their tongues out, tempted by the yummy treats. The March Hare grit his teeth. “No! She is the treat! Eat her!” He raised his arm, about to assert his magical dominance over the hungry creatures when Alicia landed a decisive blow, knocking the whip away with an arrow of light.

“No! This can’t be! It must be a lie!”

Akhenaten took his chance, and bullrushed his way past a manticore guarding the masked beastmaster, before slamming him by the neck against the wall.

“Ack!”

The March Hare transformed his lower half into a pair of powerful rabbit hind legs, and unleashed a mighty kick…Followed by the sound of bones breaking, as they uselessly smashed into the black golem’s incredibly hard body.

“Oof...I only wish it was…”

“Too bad for you, bunny boy! A-en here is made of some real tough stuff, toughest I’ve ever seen in the multiverse!” She flicked him in the nose, causing him to flinch. Justine landed back to the floor, and glanced to the side as five of the manticores, not counting the wounded one, were now completely charmed as they turned docile and hopped through MDP’s hoop as if she was a lion tamer in a circus act, followed by assembling in a row with open mouths, expecting treats. The last one slouched down, weakened by the blow. Rachel walked up to it and gave it a healing spell with a sigh of masked relief.

“I suppose that’s over now", she mumbled, and hopped up to the platform where the cockatrice nest was. “There’s a chute here that splits into the four chambers. We could drop down into them and destroy the eggs that way, but…”

”You suspect it’s a trap?” Justine asked.

“I wouldn’t put it past the Hatter: he would be the type to pull off one last trick like that.”

”You’re right, they were traps. Specifically, gas traps.”



Penny detached her hand from the terminal, shaking off the bits of electronics that stuck to her fingers.

”However, I now disabled them, as well as the bomb traps he was about to drop from the ceiling,” she said, pointing up: small hatches could be seen, out of which any number of horrible things could have been dropped on them.

”He’s got nothing left at this point,” she noted.

“Not true! I have one last riddle to ask you horrid guests!”

The group heard the Mad Hatter as he shouted from the stairway to the side of the room, out of which he walked down…Holding a magitech pistol to a Diamond engineer's head who had his hands held up.

“Riddle me this! What counts to three before dying from a shot to the head?”

“A hostage…” Nefer answered the riddle, rolling her eyes as she kept her own weapon pointed at Hare, still pinned by Akhenaten.

“Now, if you don’t release my comrade over there by the count to the fabled number…Well, need I say more?” The Mad Hatter had a deranged look about him: sure enough, Alicia could tell he was not lying.

Meanwhile in the Overcity, Mac successfully evaded the cockatrice's charge by stopping it with a trick: the creature halted, and was confused by the illusions she created. It blinked, stepped forth, and started pecking away at the nonexistent seeds as if they were real, seemingly happy about the company as it cawed. For the moment, Mac was not in danger from it's gaze or attacks.

Alexander had a pounding headache "Mrghh" was the noise he made as he stumbled onto his feet 'where am I? What happened last night?' He wondered to himself, his memory foggy. It was then that he noticed that he was currently transformed 'Huh!? Why am I...? What the fuck happened last night!? Gah, my head is killing me' he tried using healing magic on his head, but it was only able to lessen the pain, not remove it entirely 'fuck, I guess this will have to do.'

With that more or less settled, Alexander looked around to try and figure out where he was. The first thing he noticed were a bunch of strange creatures (that felt strange to look at for some reason) held down by some weird string. Some weird puppet thing and- "LILY!" He rushed clumsily over to her "Lily, are you okay?" Once he got close enough to her, he noticed the weird string around her neck "What the? Hold on, let me get this" making a very small and thin dagger like barrier over one of his fingers, he carefully attempted to cut off the string. Taking extra care to not cut into Lily herself.

Alright, things seemed to be calm for now.

But as calm as things felt on Mac’s side, she knew that the rest of her friends were fighting tooth and nail to destroy those eggs. Well, the eggs should have been toast, but the queen was likely nearby. It wouldn’t do to rest here or leave this bird in the overcity. It would only be a matter of time before its whereabouts were discovered and the poor thing was slaughtered.

Poor thing? Yes, Mac was starting to sympathize with the creature. It looked kind of pathetic eating the illusionary seed.

It hadn’t decided to be made, nor had it decided to serve the queen of hearts. It was all the work of nefarious actors that had made the magical petrification chicken what it was. In the past Mac would have fought the creature until one of them was slain. But the world of tomorrow was forged by the actions of today, and in her time watching over Penrose she had seen that play out a number of times. It wasn’t too late to try to form a kinder world. She hoped.

But there were no easy solutions here. She had already decided that she couldn’t kill it. Nor could she leave it alone. Romance also seemed to fail as Chicken Ultra Crushing Mega wasn’t interested in the giant cock she had presented it with. The only option left was to tame it.

Though Mac vaguely remembered reading a passage about chickens. They could recognize faces, and moreover, they seemed to prefer looking at people who were "aesthetically pleasing." Mac was certain most magical girls could be considered aesthetically pleasing, But Mac found that most people tended to enjoy being around her when she wasn’t trying to be repulsive. Welp, she didn’t have all day to ponder her options.

"Okay…"

This was going to be more nuts than normal, but time was not on her side. She made herself a blindfold and placed it over her eyes. Sound and feel were going to be more important for this next part anyway.

While the super clucker was distracted, Mac hopped onto the creature’s back and placed an illusionary bit in its mouth. From what Mac had seen, the bit would likely be real for the super clucker, but didn’t know if it would be real for her. That was why she used her gravity magic to secure herself in place. Though this was no ordinary chicken, and Mac was prepared to hug the beast by the neck if it prevented her from flying off. The cock faded away, as Mac chose to conserve her mana for other tasks.

"Alright girl, stay calm, I’m not gunna hurt you, I’m not going to whyareyoumovingsofastI’mtryingnottoresorttoviolenceyousuperclucker-"

---

"...What?"

Yes, a little voice whispering into Chloe’s ear was exactly what she needed right now. She didn’t know exactly who the "green helms" were, but she got confirmation from her troops that they wouldn’t be attacking them. It was fortunate that she had several Ossiarch on the front line who could manage all of her squadrons.

But that wasn’t going to matter shortly, as Chloe and Lily were about to fall prey to an attack. Caterpillar had Pinnochio come out of nowhere and fire an unavoidable paralyzing string at them. While the animals were pinned to the ground, the way it worked on magical girls would make anyone with a doll fetish happy. Because this wasn’t quite overkill enough, a spectral noose was lowered around Lily and Chloe’s unmoving necks. Alex was there somewhere, but that wasn’t too important to Chloe. Then Caterpillar and Pinnochio took turns styling on them with some rhyme. And to this humiliation, this absolute degradation of their dignity, Chloe was the first person to speak.

"...What?"

The last few seconds, nay, this entire encounter, felt like some weird fever dream. Chloe had forced the most powerful person on the battlefield into a retreat with her army, only to be reduced to this seconds later. And now she was being forced to reveal a dark truth. What sort of dark truth did they want to hear? Nagash’s plans for Penrose? Nagash’s plans for Wonderland? Her antics with the CAPRICORN? And then she was going to be judged for it afterwards? It sounded like she was doomed regardless of what she said, and there was no reason to further humiliate herself for their amusement. It would be one thing if she could at least enjoy wiping that smug look off of their faces, but she had no ammo here. Why did Wonderland even care about the things she did outside of Wonderland? The nonsensical nature of it all, the madness...

"wiwwy." Chloe turned to look at Lily. "uwu’we gowing to hawve to s-sway someting, becawse we’we all gawnya die if I duwu."

Alexander might have been trying to cut Lily free, but that wasn't going to help Chloe. Not to mention her troops were being converted just from coming in contact with them as lore inaccurate as that was.

Gaia couldn’t help but grin in amusement at Mayra’s eagerness as she helped the draconic girl atop her prismatic steed.

“O-Okay!” Connie declared with a firm nod, Mayra’s words seeming to have reinvigorated the masked maiden as well. Yet, even with their rainbow unicorns moving at the speed of dreams themselves, the trio wasn’t able to get within range of the queen before the Wonderland Sovereign slipped through a portal which promptly closed behind her. “D-Darn it! S-She got a-away!” Connie cried, clearly distraught at this turn of events.

“It seems we shall have to test out your plan at a later juncture, little sister,” Gaia noted with a frown. “As it is, we appear to have more pressing matters to address…”

Indeed, while the Queen of Hearts may have departed, she had left behind one of her servants, who had wasted no time in summoning an unnervingly horrific puppet of considerable size.

“Eeek!” Connie yelped in fright, closing the eyes of her mask and swiftly looking away from the wooden abomination, even as it ensnared Lily and Chloe with ethereal strings. “I-I-It’s s-so s-s-scary…” the masked maiden whimpered.

It was, in fact, uncannily similar to a boss monster in a game Mia had played when she’d thought Connie was asleep, and accidentally caused her timid friend to have a minor panic attack. An interesting feature of the game was that it always presented the player with multiple paths, and based on what decisions were made, different outcomes would be achieved. Although she had been going for a “Total Annihilation” award, in an effort to make up for the trauma she’d unintentionally caused her friend, and in an attempt to calm the poor girl down, Mia had chosen the merciful option, healing the creature of an injury, whereupon it gained a far less menacing countenance. Now, by some strange twist of fate, Gaia could sense through her mystical connection to plant life, that this perverse “Pinocchio” presented her with a similar choice.

“I know that you would probably very much like to burn that thing to a crisp, Mayra,” the verdant maiden told her fiery passenger. “But I would be most grateful if you would kindly permit me to attempt something, first.” Not waiting for the chaotic monster girl to possibly protest, Gaia closed her eyes, raised an elegant hand in a single graceful motion, and reached out with her magic to the small, almost imperceptible, sapling atop the twisted construct. “I can feel your pain, little one,” she called in a soothing voice. “For far too long, you have been enslaved by such malignant magics, twisting your natural beauty into this horrid perversion. As the Daughter of Mother Earth, I cannot abide you to suffer this wretched indignity any further!” the botanical beauty continued, even as she sent a torrent of life energy surging into the tiny growth. “I now grant you the power to throw off your shackles and burst forth into full bloom!”

---

Back at the factory fortress, MDP was overjoyed to see that the Manticores were only too willing to jump through her hoop in return for a tasty reward.

“Yaaaay~! (giggle!)” the Princess of Dreams cheered as the lion-headed monsters leapt through the sparkling ring one by one. “Onesie, twosie, threesie, foursie~!” the whimsical girl sang, while shaking her hips in a silly little dance. “And heresie comes a couple moresie~! (giggle!)” However, it soon became apparent that one of the final two creatures wasn’t going to be doing any tricks any time soon… “Awww! Did you get hurty wurty, mister wister lion wion thingy wingy?!” MDP inquired with a distressed frown. “Like, you don’t have to jumpy wumpy ify wify you don’t wanna,” she told the wounded Manticore. “Just let that nicey wicey lady wady patchy watchy you uppy wuppy insteady weady~! (giggle!)” she added with a smile as she watched Rachel heal the creature, blissfuly unaware that this level of kindness was something the inquisitor almost never displayed towards a monster.

“Like, thanky wanky soooo muchy wuchy, lion wion thingy wingies~!” MDP told the remaining Manticores once they had lined up to receive their reward. “You made Magical Dream Princess super duper happy wappy~! (giggle!) So, like, heresie weresies some yummy wummy treaty weaties for you allsie wallsie~! (giggle!)” the whimsical girl added as she conjured a colorful goodie bag and began skipping down the line, tossing handfuls of pastel-colored candies into each Manticore’s open mouth. However, a moment later, the deranged voice of the Mad Hatter caught her attention, and her cheerful demeanor abruptly shifted to one of petulant indignation.

“Like, you’re such a super duper biggy wiggy meanie weanie head!” MDP shouted, stomping a foot on the floor as she glared up at Wonderland’s head scientist. “Why do you haveta wafta hurty wurty so many wany people weple?!” she asked, her trembling hands clenched into fists, while tears threatened to spill from her furious eyes. “Like, Magical Dream Princess thinky winkies you needy weedy a timey wimey outy wouty right nowie!”

An instant later, and the Mad Hatter would feel a cartoonishly massive baton slam down on his head, the blow swiftly ushering him off to dreamland amidst an orbiting ring of yawning stars. As he crumpled to the floor, the baton’s wielder could be seen standing behind him- a large, anthropomorphic alarm clock wearing a police hat.

“Thanky wankies, Mister Wister Clocky Wocky Copy Wopy~! (giggle!)” MDP called out with a happy smile, as she gave the whimsical being a playful peace sign salute.

While Alicia was a bit disappointed that her attack had no9t resulted in the manticores turning on their master, but she supposed that allowing Magical Dream Princess to once again work her incomprehensible magic. Was this how she had won over the rest of them? Alicia wasn't sure, but she really hoped not.

Of course the Hare wasn't done yet, at least not until he tried to kick a stone golem and broke his legs in the process. Even she had to wince a little at that. "Ouch," she muttered.

Unfortunately the eggs were gone, but they had a path, and Penny's hacking skill made sure that they didn't immediately jump into another trap going after them. or having more traps dropped on top of them. "That's good. One step closer" Alicia noted. Of course they'd have to split up to go after the four eggs, but there were enough of them here that it probably wouldn't end up being a big problem.

But before they could do that the Hatter made his return, Alicia turning to face him as the others did so. "A hostage? Really?" Sure, it would probably deter some people here. But Alicia had the feeling that not everyone would be stopped by that, even if they couldn't stop him before pulling the trigger.

Before she could act Magical Dream Princess interceded, and an eyebrow rose at the appearance of the massive baton. Nonetheless Alicia kept her bow ready, aiming for the Hatter's elbow in case the blunt force trauma didn't work. Maybe she'd be able to throw off his aim at the last second. Just because she didn't know this hostage didn't mean she would let them get killed for no reason if she could help it.

Ronin and Miko did their things and helped Justine and Rachel in the fight… then once again, MDP tamed their opponents and pulled them to their side. That’s just a thing she does. Ronin laughed.

‘Way to go, Dreamy!’ Ronin said, raising her sword in salute. Then, Penny revealed she had disabled all of Hatter’s traps. Once again, salute and a smirk. ‘Way to go, Penny!’ she said, and also… ‘Nice shot, Alicia!’ Credit where credit is due!

Then Hatter showed up with a hostage… Ronin took a moment to consider how to act, but Miko…

‘And then what?’ Miko asked, frowning at Hatter. ‘You kill your hostage, your own ally, and then what? Fire that gun, and you will be stuck alone in a room full of enemies that hate you even more than before,’ she said, starting to advance on Hatter. ‘Did you, really and truly, think this through?’ she asked, advancing still on Hatter, substantial anger in her eyes. ‘Put your gun down and surrender. Then you can avoid a lot of sudden pain from a lot of sudden weapons.’

Is what Miko would like to say, but maybe the police baton will happen before she’s done. If so, then at least she might at the very least be distracting him. She was also ready to pull up a barrier, for herself if he decided to shoot her or the hostage if she got close enough, if the Mad Hatter decided to actually fire.

__________________




Her ploy had been successful. Alexander was freed, and now she was stuck with her “mother”. Feeling powerless to do anything else, Mariette followed the Queen. The best thing she could do right now was to take as much time as she could from the Queen, to keep her away from the front lines. Let her friends win as much as they could without having to contend with her.

She was led through so many chambers, she felt depraved of knowledge. The battle must have proceeded without her. How were they all fairing? Herself, she was brought to a bedroom. Cakes of all sizes, fine tea, plushies that would have made Mariette swoon if it had been in most other situations. She did see the pillars, but didn’t know their meaning.

Queen gave her something. A necklace, so tight it was unremovable. Mariette was struck with the fear that this was going to strangle her, or just completely remove her powers… No. Not completely. Just… make her completely unable to get away. Okay. … The Queen was moving to leave. Mariette wanted to prevent her. Every second could count.

‘What… what’s the Grand Magistrate?’ Mariette asked.

And if that didn’t keep her talking, or if she finished answering that one without Mariette having follow-up questions.

‘Please don’t leave. You talk about you losing me… but what if I lose you?’ Mariette asked, hoping it would cause her to pause just a bit.

After that, she was likely out of material. Nothing else to it. She would, of course, experiment. … And she’d find that her portals were no longer portals. Just windows, showing a different location on the other side. Was the Queen able to listen in on anything she says in here or through the necklace? It was a risk she had to take. The advantage she could provide using her portals was too great.

‘Penny,’ she reached out with a portal to the first person she wanted to update, while she was opening portals all over to try to gleam information from all over Wonderland. How her troops were maneuvering, if the plan was still going. ‘I have been tracked down and locked up in the castle by the Queen. She put a necklace on me, and now my portals are impassable, I can only look or talk through them…’ she said, seeing the golden pillars… ‘I’m a bird trapped in a cage.’

‘Lily, Alexander, Chloe, Gaia, Connie and Mayra are currently fighting Caterpillar, and a strange doll she summoned. They’re decently fine. My forces should be ready to strike, but the Queen just headed out. She has her own portals, she could appear when it suits the least. If I see any threats coming, I will try to warn you all,’ she said. She’d have loved to give the same update to the other team, but they seemed a bit wrapped up at the moment.

__________________




‘Okay! I will not burn that specific thing into a crisp!’ Mayra acknowledged, then leapt down from the unicorn to vanish into a shadow in the ground. Using the stealth of her Darkness-magic to hide her approach, she circled the site of the current incident.

‘You, on the other hand…’ she muttered to herself, because there was another target in the area that nobody had laid claim to, that Mayra was quickly homing in on in the shape of a shadow. There were apparently skeletons around, so Mayra darted from shadow to shadow, her presence hidden by stealth-magic, as merely a pool of darkness that got closer and closer to its target. And if she got there undetected…

Mayra’s clawed hand thrust up from Caterpillar’s shadow, seeking to grab her foot with a burning, clawed hand.

‘Heeey, fairy-girl. You remind me of Lea. That makes you extra burnable!’

The dragon-girl burst up at Caterpillar from the minister’s own shadow as a living, grinning embodiment of fire, having rocketed herself up while engulfing herself in fire-magic in order to slam a flaming fist into the girl from underneath, hoping she was distracted by the ones entangled by Pinocchio and trying to do something about the doll. It was Mayra’s hope that coating herself with fire would burn the threads before they could ever tangle her, if they even were a concern at this range and with her surprise-attack.

If Caterpillar was somehow to dodge or block, the dragon-girl was more than ready to use her bursts of fire-magic in addition to her substantial physical prowess to continue to hunt down the summoner with an eager punches and kicks supported by fire, and of course also having her awareness to keep her aware of if the enemy was trying any clever counter-attack that she could dodge using those very same methods of maneuverability.

If she got that far, that is.

Lily shook in fear as she listened to the creepy puppet’s groans, like boards of wood clanking together in imitation of speech. It seemingly wanted a confession, and then they might be freed? Lily glanced over at Chloe, who seemed uncharacteristically silent: there was no smug comeback or trash talking the “broken toy”, or anything else the green-haired girl would have expected the loud-mouthed girl to do. However, she then blinked as she urged Lily herself to be the one to be honest in her sickeningly sweet mannerisms.

In the corner of her eye, she saw that Alex had recovered, and was sneaking closer with a sharp knife-like barrier in hand, and nodded. However she also heard the doll’s creaking growing louder. Time was running out. She drew in a breath, building her courage up as she confessed to a dark truth:

”I…Downloaded japanese episodes of Sailor Moon from the internet. They were not available where I lived, and I didn’t know how to import foreign goods yet, so…I ended up stealing. I’m sorry.”

The puppet froze for a moment, before it raised an accusing finger rigidly at Lily.
“Theft…Your punishment is…Cutting off the hand that stole…”

Lily gasped, and Caterpillar gave a sly grin. However, before the puppet could proceed to enact the rather Hammurabian justice, Gaia and Connie arrived heroically, the cavalry of sparkly rainbow unicorns coming to the rescue.

“What?” The dark conjurer blurted out as Gaia then willed forth a surge of verdant magic that enveloped Pinocchio in a veil of green leaves.
“No! Pinocchio’s domain is death!” Caterpillar screamed, and a dark green aura surrounded her. “You have no right to give life! You are no Blue Fairy!”

But just as she was about to send her own magic spell through the strings, Mayra intervened. The cursed doll threw strings at the dragon girl, but she burned through them with shadowy fire that defied manipulation and order, her chaotic heart blazing free. She delivered a mighty uppercut, which the Minister of Mysteries countered by blocking with her staff. However, as a result, the shaft of the weapon was now charred and cracked.

“Curses!”

She twirled her staff like a martial arts master, but even with Pinocchio distracting Mayra by throwing duplicate puppets and strings towards Mayra, she burned through with each punch and kick, forcing the Queen’s minion on the backfoot.

With the Caterpillar unable to assume direct control of her conjuration, Gaia successfully completed her great spell of nature: The blessing of flora was bestowed on the sapling buried into the puppet’s wooden head, and the tip of its nose bloomed into a flower. As it did, the puppet began to float, its mouth open wide. The dead tree it hung from rejuvenated: the roots found fertile soil as they upheaved the earth and sunk deep, and new life surged from it, causing its warped trunk to rise upright, growing branches and healthy green leaves. The branches frayed the rope and it broke, causing the puppet to drop and sink into a batch of dirt that was upheaved.

“Real life…I am finally…Real…Thank…You…”
The puppet groaned its last words as it sank into the earth with a hand giving a thumbs up. It was the end for Pinocchio the cursed puppet, but a new life for the sapling that now grew on that spot. Gaia then saw a vision of a puppet who was executed for his cruel lies, and cursed to undeath. But now, it has found sincere life: real boys can always lie…but trees are eternally sincere through the cycle of life and death.

Having lost control over Pinocchio, Caterpillar was shocked. This gave Mayra the opportunity to deliver a mighty finishing blow, breaking her staff in two, and knocking her down on her butt, her wings burnt off, a fire on top of her hood, and face blackened with soot like a cartoon character.

“How doth…” Was all she could mutter before Chloe’s forces surrounded her, and she was forced to surrender with a lift of her arms. She proceeded to recite a poem of sorts in defeat as she stared at Mayra and her wide, smug grin:



As the fight came to a conclusion Alex cut Lily from the tangle of strings, and she proceeded to hug him in gratitude.
”Alex! I’m so glad you’re safe! I was super worried! Tim and the other animals were also worried. They helped us find you, and even fought with us! They’re the coolest pets a girl could dream of!” She gave him a kiss on the cheek, happy to be reunited.

She then glanced towards Chloe, who was rescued by her troops from the strings, and then at Gaia.
She ran up to her fellow greenette with a beaming smile, and hugged her as well.
”Thank you for rescuing us! We would have been goners if it weren’t for you!”

---

The Queen’s expression turned somber as Mariette asked about the Grand Magistrate.
“My dear Alice…I did not wish to burden you with this knowledge. But you have proven yourself capable and clever. Very well, I shall tell you.” She created a portal shaped like a small window up on the wall, and used it to show various images from books, as well as strange landscapes like the Overcity and other dimensions.

“Have you ever wondered where magic comes from? Is it simply the will of Gods and Horrors, the trickery of Lesser Forces or bargains of Puchuu? No, for they are all merely expressions and feelings, concepts and ideas given tangible power by the Grand Magistrate, the true source of magic. They have woven our very lives: our past a backstory, our present their will made manifest, as their quills dip in the Nexuses, and their magic pours out, shaping our stories as they see fit.”

She smiled.
“But as omnipotent as they seem, even they are bound by the greatest power of all: narrative. Where there is a hero, there must be a villain. Where there is conflict, there must be resolution. And most importantly: where there is a beginning…there must be an end.”

She paused for a moment to let Mariette absorb this information, before she continued.
“I once partook in a ritual to resurrect you, my dear Alice. I wanted to be able to see beyond all realities, to finally find you, when I happened upon a strange being.”
She summoned the Storyslayer.
“They gave me this, and my Eye of Story Reading, and in exchange I would end the Story, and write it a happy ending, one that I was denied. I never asked who they were, but they seemed particularly bitter, as if they were once part of something greater. Now I realize they may have been an exiled member of the Grand Magistrate who still held on to just enough magic to grant me my boon.”

---

Miko was the fastest to act when Mad Hatter gave his ultimatum, proceeding to give a compelling argument for why his plan was doomed to failure, accompanied by MDP voicing her displeasure in concert.
“Don’t you test me! One! I am the one wearing the hat! Two! And I know how to deal with little mice scurrying on my table!”

Just as he was about to count the final number, MDP used her wondrous magic to summon a clock creature in a police uniform that whacked at the Mad Hatter with a baton. His hat scrunched down, then stretched back up, as a spring-mounted boxing glove shot up from inside the hat and punched the clock, causing the hands on its face to spin wildly.
“If you knew Time as well as I do,” said the Hatter, “you would know how much he hates beat-Ugh!”

The insane inventor's ranting was cut short by Alicia, who shot right through his elbow with an arrow of light, causing him to drop his weapon and falter, as Miko delivered a protective barrier on the hostage and the police clock gave one more whack to knock him unconscious.

Penny sighed in relief, though Rachel simply scoffed. “His plan was idiotic from the very start. A human brain survives a gunshot long enough that I could have saved him.” She glanced at the Diamond engineer, who still kept his arms up, not really knowing what would happen next. The manticores purred like big, fat cats as they snacked on the candies MDP offered, with even the injured one joining in the feasting.

Nefer rolled her eyes. “Well, he’s not called the Reasonable Hatter, is he? Alright Aten, you can drop the lagomorph: he’s not going to be hopping around in his current state.” Akhenaten released the March Hare, who dropped, now slouched against the wall and wincing in pain. The mighty golem joined with Rachel and Justine as they destroyed three of the eggs in their chambers: the insides a strange, rainbow-colored yolk. The final one was picked up by Penny with her spidery limbs, and she examined it.

”My readings indicate a yield of conjuration magic three times as powerful as the one deployed in Bolorton. Luckily we managed to prevent them being used in Penrose. The Mad Hatter’s certainly got some impressive production facilities here…”

As she was lost in thought, she heard Mariette’s voice through a portal, followed by a blink of surprise at what she was told.
”Understood. We’re finished on our end. We’re coming, so sit tight.”

”What is it?” Justine asked as she was now looking over Caroline’s grey statue, having noticed her tight expression.

”Mariette has been captured by the queen and brought to the royal castle,” she relayed the information to the others.
”An enchanted necklace traps her inside, but she still can communicate with us, it seems. The others are, quoting her, doing fine.” She pointed towards the main entrance.
”We should rendezvous with Mariette’s forces and prepare to storm the castle. The rest of you can head out. I will stay here: I believe I can use Hatter’s machines to give us an advantage against the Queen.”

Nefer snickered. “Oh, I’m not letting you get access to all this tasty technology all on your own, cutie!” She handed her backpack over to Akhenaten, who simply grunted in response.
“I’m also going to stay here and loot-I mean, analyze this facility and see if we could use it.”

Rachel scowled. “But without your device, the enchantment will-”

“I figure I can fix up something by scrounging around here. Besides, Penny-wenny here will keep me in line if I start acting too frisky~”. Penny, however, ignored Nefer, and proceeded to run up the stairs where Mad Hatter descended from. Nefer ran after her, and Justine sighed.
”I suppose I’ll stay as well. It’s not like I can leave Caroline, and she is…rather heavy now.” With that, she proceeded to lift Caroline and slowly fly her up the stairs as well.

---

Meanwhile in the Overcity, Mac had successfully mounted Chicken Ultra Crushing Mega like a chocobo. The mutant cockatrice ran around, cawing loudly as its beak held against the illusory bit like it was there, giving Mac a stable handhold. Her impressive physical ability and sense of balance allowed her to endure the wild ride despite being blinded, and soon enough the creature was broken into being a steed. Now Mac was in possession of a mount with terrible power.

A wave of relief passed over Alexander after Lily was freed. Waking up in a unfamiliar place to find her in that kind of situation had not be good for his nerves. However shortly after, something that she had said struck him "Wait. The freeloaders 'fought' with you? But how? They aren't-" he was interrupted by the almost hesitant approach of the three strange creatures that he had seen on the ground before. Before he could ask anyone what these were, he felt something strange. Looking over them, a weird sense of familiarity hit him. That's when a crazy thought came to him "...freeloaders?" It was almost as if saying that one word had flip a switch inside of the. All as one, they tackled him to the ground"Gah!" but it quickly became clear that this wasn't an attack, as there wasn't any biting, scratching or anything like that. "Get off of me you idiots!" strangely, they mostly complied with that, as they got off of his torso and allowed him to sit up. However his lap was still weighed down. "How did you three turn into...this?! No, more important; how long have you been able to do this!?" The animals didn't answer, because they were animals. Alexander sighed "Fucking hell, what am I going to do with you three?" this somehow only seemed to re-excite them, as they tackled him onto his back again "Fuck! This is not the time for cuddles, get the fuck off of me you morons!"

Completely ignoring Caterpillar’s hysterical cries of protest, Gaia’s magic continued to run its inexorable course, making Pinocchio’s mangled form burst forth with verdant foliage. The Daughter of Mother Earth’s pleased smile soon curled into an amused smirk when Mayra burst from Caterpillar’s shadow and pummeled the Minister of Mysteries with a barrage of punches from her fiery fists. Gaia’s attention then returned to the purified puppet, as she was granted a vision of how it had come to be in its prior, wretched state. “You are most welcome,” she replied warningly after the puppet thanked her, the botanical beauty closing her eyes and bowing her head in respect. “I, too, am thankful that I am able to bestow Mother’s blessing even in this most peculiar of realms,” she added in a soft whisper, before gracefully dismounting her prismatic steed and striding over to where her allies were waiting.

“G-Gosh! T-That was i-incredible, Mia!” Connie exclaimed as she carefully lowered her trembling body down from her own mount to join her nymph-like friend. “H-He was r-really s-scary, b-but I’m so g-glad you w-were able to h-help him!” she added, her mask forming a happy smile.

“As am I, little sister,” Gaia replied with a smile of her own, while placing a comforting arm around her best friend’s shoulder.

Meanwhile, Caterpillar had been soundly defeated and was now surrendering to Chloe’s undead forces, the dark magical girl herself and Lily having been freed from their mystical ensnarement. Unsurprisingly, the later, after giving Alex a big hug, proceeded to run over and give another to Gaia as she thanked the verdant maiden profusely.

“You are very welcome, Lily,” Gaia replied with an amused giggle as she tried to recompose herself after the sudden glomp. “And I am pleased to see that you have been reunited with Alexander as well.”

“T-The animals are h-happy he’s b-back, t-too!” Connie noted, clasping her hands over her chest as she watched the trio scurry over to the confused magical boy and begin cuddling him. “Aww! T-They’re so cute!” she gushed as she watched them playfully scamper around, the cheeks of her mask turning pink. “B-But, um, t-they l-look a l-little different from h-how I r-remember…” the timid girl added a moment later, tilting her head in slight puzzlement.

---

As MDP skipped over to the Clock Cop, the strange being tipped its hat and began to perform an equally strange dance, his long legs rising and lowering, while his pipe-cleaner-like arms began squiggling around.

“Let’s go on a journey!” he started to sing in a deep, vaguely British voice.

“Like, there’s no timey wimey for journey wournies right nowie, Mister Wister Clocky Wocky Copy Wopy~!” MDP told her childish creation with an amused giggle. “We’ve, like, totally wotally got a gamey wamey to finish winish~!” she added, before tapping the Mad Hatter’s unconscious form with her wand. “Taggy waggy~! (giggle!)” the whimsical girl called out. Looking around with a smile of gleeful delight she added. “And, like, all the eggy weggies got taggy waggied, too~! That means we, like, totally wotally won~! YAAAAY~!!!” she cheered, jumping into the air, while dozens of prismatic hearts, stars, and fireworks exploded around her.

Then, Penny’s voice caught the easily distracted Princess of Dreams’ attention. Apparently, Mariette had been captured, and they all needed to go to the Queen of Hearts’ castle to rescue her.

“Okie dokie, Penny Wenny~!” MDP chirped with a wink and a peace sign salute. “Like, Magical Dream Princess guesses wesses it’s timey wimey for a journey wourney after allsie wallsie~! (giggle!)” the whimsical girl added, turning to smile cheerfully at the Clock Cop. “Come onsie wonsie, everybodywody~!” she called, waving down at all her new friends. “Let’s havey wavey a paradey wadey~! (giggle!)”

“Oh, such a great grand journey!” the Clock Cop sang in exaltation. “A journey filled with rhyme! A journey to the castle! The Queen’s run out of TIME!!!”

It was a wild ride that lasted part of a small paragraph but it was over now.

At the end of it all, Mac was still clutching Chicken Ultra Crushing Mega’s neck like her life depended on it. She took several shallow breaths before sitting upright. The creature seemed to have been tamed.

”Good boy.” She misgendered it on account of being tired. When Mac was a police officer many years ago, she had worked with dogs from time to time. Almost all of the k-9 German Shepherds were males on account of them being bigger and scarier than their female counterparts. Only visually though. The females quite often ruled the roost so the speak, and could be more vicious than their larger counterparts.

She created an illusionary pair of blinders. It wouldn’t do for the chicken to be turning everyone to stone. Also, Mac gave the chicken a mask filled with some seed. That should keep it content for the moment.

It was time to see how everyone else was doing. So Mac closed her eyes and phased back into the lab with everyone else. With a brilliant flash, she had reappeared.

…

Right, she was Iron Mouse when she departed. Mac had always intended to come back in her true form, but she had also planned on coming back after the super clucker had been slain. Man this was a bad idea. But so long as they kept it out of the queen’s hands, everything would be fine.

”Hey everyone.” Mac waved. ”Name’s Mac. I’ll be taking over for Knight of Tonight.” She looked at Alicia. ”We’ve met in the past. I was Suwako. Well, pretending to be her, at least for a little while.” Then her voice got quieter. ”If you have any beef with me, we can sort it out later. Just… don’t tell MDP I’m Ashley. It would break her heart.”

---

The effort to convince the Hatter to give up was admirable, but ended as one might expect. Alicia was more surprised to see that Magical Dream Princess' effort had not worked either, considering how effective she had been thus far. It was a good thing that the others were ready. Her arrow knocked off the Hatter's aim, Miko protected the hostage, and one more blow took the Hatter out.

"I suppose he was panicking about what the Queen would do to him if he didn't use every possible measure to stop us," Alicia observed as Rachel commented on how bad the Hatters plan had been. With that three of the eggs were destroyed, the last secured by Penny for examination or whatever she might like to do with it. Where some might be concerned, Alicia was sure she wouldn't misuse it.

Of course it seemed their mission was not quite over, and she frowned at the news. "I guess we should," she conceded with a sigh, though it wasn't a very enthusiastic response. She knew it was the right thing to do, but some part of her figured that Mariette could manage it on her own. She'd probably gotten out of worse situations after all. Still, Penny and Nefer had already run off to go investigate the Hatter's set up in the factory, followed by Justine carrying the frozen Caroline.

With that it was time for them to get on their way. before they did, however, a new arrival appeared. Or re-appeared, rather, as she explained. It took Alicia a moment to recognize her, before her eyes widened a little at the jogged memory. Yet just as quickly she brushed it off with a small shrug. "It's fine," she assured Mac. "Sometimes things slip your mind in the heat of the moment, that's all. But I won't complain about the help with a lot of our heavy hitters leaving."

She then looked to the others. "Are we all ready? That Princess won't save herself."

Slay or drive off the Scarlet Stranger and save Penrose from a hostile takeover! We’ve had enough plots involving mind control and giant armies...

Challenge Rating: SSS+

Notes: This hunt can only be undertaken by a party that contains Finn and/or Samantha. Taking someone who has used a red coin is ill-advised as they will fall directly under Garnet Gemini’s control.

The air in the CAPRICORN was tense. Of course Sam would be fiercely determined. Of course Emily would be concerned. But even Bonnie looked a little on edge. Those present couldn’t tell, but her shoulders weren’t as square as they should have been.

”The army is moving quickly and the mission area changes moment to moment. They are zig-zagging on a path for Penrose. We believe the Scarlet Stranger is still growing her army by hitting large cities enroute to her destination. Presently she’s on an open stretch of road, surrounded by magical girls and riding on a giant magical artifact. All we know about the artifact is that it’s called ‘The Wukong’ and seems to enhance the range of her magic. It will be at least a half hour before she reaches the next city, and she could reach Penrose by sunset.” Bonnie folded her arms behind her back.

Emily looked at Samantha, who seemed to be lost in thought. Try as she might, Emily couldn't hide her concern. "Um, I don't imagine we'll reach her before she can influence the next city?" Emily pulled her eyes away from her friend and toward Bonnie. "If she's successfully converted multiple cities by this point... how big are her forces right now? Do we know?"

”The CAPRICORN may seem like a ship, but it’s actually a building attached to a series of portals on ‘sky stones.’ We can deploy you between the army and the next city the moment you are ready.”

"Oh, that's very convenient!" Emily appeared in awe of the CAPRICORN's ability to drop them right where they needed to be, more or less. Despite the tense atmosphere, she seemed somewhat fascinated by the CAPRICORN in general.

The windows on the walls of the room changed to show the army from multiple angles. ”The army has at least a hundred magical girls, though few of them are guarding the Wukong directly. There are several scouting groups, taking point and ensuring that the army can move down its intended path. It's by studying the direction of the scouting armies that we can tell what the Wukong’s next move is going to be. They seem to have some way of communicating with each other, but we are unaware of how they are doing it. They keep touching their fingers to the side of their head, so we assume a form of telepathy. Reports from the city fights indicate that they can communicate very quickly, not unlike a hive mind. If you’re seen by one, you are seen by all.” Bonny nodded. ”I almost forgot to mention, but we do have several volunteers that offered to act as a decoy. You two could access the Wukong directly. For as large as the army is, the Wukong is sparsely defended. But the magical aura from that thing is intense.”

Emily pouted "It sounds like a stealthy approach is gonna be difficult..."

Samantha stared at the windows, silently watching the army with a frown. "...Essentially impossible," she suddenly declared, turning her gaze towards Emily. "The girls in the army can all see each other, even through obstacles. That means they'll see me, too."

"...Then is there no way to reach her without fighting?"

Samantha glanced at the windows again. "I am... unsure. I have no idea how the other agents under her control will act..." Sam admitted, her voice wavering. "...But we have our goal. If they're obstacles to it... then we can't hesitate, even if we have to rough them up a little bit."

"L-lets hope it doesn't have to come to that..." Emily tried to cheer Sam up.

There was a brief moment of silence but Sam broke it by turning to Bonnie and asking her a question. "...Don't suppose we have any clue as to what's in the Wukong, besides, of course, our VIP? Caught sight of any of its defenders, by chance?"

The windows all changed their view to the Wukong. Sam could see it was a massive egg shaped structure on a wagon. There was scaffolding all around it with a pair of stairs that circled around the thing. It was topped with a round platform, sparsely decorated with flags. There was a young girl in a red hood sitting at a table by herself, staring off at the next city. The only thing above the platform was the massive radio tower behind her, which Sam knew Veronica used to broadcast her magicom network.

”The Wukong does not appear to have an interior. A stealthy approach may be possible, especially when the distraction team moves in. But their leader has proven to hold powerful psychic magic. It might be difficult for her to track so many minds in a battle, but she’d definitely notice you once you get too close. As for defenses, one of the magical girls on the Wukong is a monster queen called Blair. She has “abomination” magic, but appears to be a melee power house. Maria is a normal magical girl, armed with a machine gun, but her magic is more for healing. There’s also a ‘Tetrad’ who’s magic is so random we don’t know what to make of it. Then there’s Trixy, who’s some kind of sharp mouthed sniper. Aside from your target, Blair is easily the strongest. But Trixy is the reason why you can’t take an obvious approach. We haven’t seen her miss her target. Not once.”

Samantha didn't seem too surprised. "Yeah, that fits." She turned her attention to Emily, noticing the girl looked very conflicted about something Bonnie just informed them of. "Is there something wrong, Emily?"

Emily took a moment to collect herself and shook her head. "Oh... It's just... this isn't how I wanted to meet Tetrad again..." Her words trailed off as she recalled a fun visit to the Golden Trove. Before Samantha could ask about that, Emily brought up a concern. "Um, how should we approach this? I don't really... fight other Magical Girls, usually..."

Samantha answered hesitantly. "The moment we lose the element of surprise, we should assume the enemy is being relayed my thoughts, so a detailed plan is not advised. Just keep moving, I'll make sure Trixie isn't a threat first, and we save the problem that is Blair for last. We'll need to adjust as we go, but we should leave soon. Are you ready?"

Emily nodded, then turned to Bonnie. "We are ready to go. What portal takes us there?"

”One moment.” Bonnie spoke into her wrist. ”We’re ready, commence the distraction team.” Bonnie waited just a moment for a confirmation before waving her arm. ”This one.”

A portal opened up right underneath both magical girls. They did not fall, as the portal opened up level with the ground. Then the portal shot upwards, and soon Sam and Emily could see the giant tombstone flying into the sky. The portal that they had come out of closed up before the stone flew out of sight. That might have given away their position, but it was one of several other “cloudstones” that had dropped even more magical girls off. Some of which Sam recognized.

”Incoming!”

This would be the first time any of the magical girls present had seen this many magical girls in one place. Garnet Gemini’s one-hundred plus army versus the distraction team the CAPRICORN had mustered. Magical projectiles started flying almost instantly. Though none were quite as potent as the tornado Su started the fight with. It was a dangerous move, and made her the center of attention. She floated backwards as a shockwave erupted in front of her. When it subsided, Lotus and Lexi’s invisibility spells faded and their weapons were locked together. The octopus girl was almost intercepted by one of Lada’s fireballs, but Mika put it out with one of her water cannons. Before she could redirect fire, Tonya (the OG, not mac) bombarded the mint agent with a slew of apples and acorns. It seemed like the distraction team was winning, but that would soon change. Sam could see distant red dots closing in on the battle. Throwing everyone into a single group gave them an initial advantage, but it would become a detriment once the other armies surrounded them. That said, it did make for a potent distraction. Something Sam could confirm when he heard a voice ring out in his head.

All units, converge on our enemies.

The Wukong did not stop moving. It continued to roll forward even with a battle breaking out in front of it.