[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/72bEcUi.png[/img][/center]

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:

[color=fff200]”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.”[/color]

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:

[center]“How doth the little dragon
  Improve her shining tail
And pour the fires of the volcano
  On every shadowy scale

How cheerfully she seems to grin,
  How neatly spreads her claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
  With gently smiling jaws…”[/center]

As the fight came to a conclusion Alex cut Lily from the tangle of strings, and she proceeded to hug him in gratitude.
[color=fff200]”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!”[/color] 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. 
[color=fff200]”Thank you for rescuing us! We would have been goners if it weren’t for you!”[/color]

[hr]
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.”

[hr]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/K2ssvzh.png[/img][/center]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Rl7cktP.png[/img][/center]
[center][Sub].:⋮Can’t Stand Beating Time⋮:.[/Sub][/center]

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 [url=https://imgur.com/a/Xx7mJOy]clock creature[/url] 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.

[color=9e0039]”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…”[/color]
 
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.
[color=9e0039]”Understood. We’re finished on our end. We’re coming, so sit tight.”[/color]

[color=bc8dbf]”What is it?”[/color] Justine asked as she was now looking over Caroline’s grey statue, having noticed her tight expression.

[color=9e0039]”Mariette has been captured by the queen and brought to the royal castle,”[/color] she relayed the information to the others.
[color=9e0039]”An enchanted necklace traps her inside, but she still can communicate with us, it seems. The others are, quoting her, doing fine.”[/color] She pointed towards the main entrance.
[color=9e0039]”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.”[/color]

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.
[color=bc8dbf]”I suppose I’ll stay as well. It’s not like I can leave Caroline, and she is…rather heavy now.”[/color] With that, she proceeded to lift Caroline and slowly fly her up the stairs as well.

[hr]
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.