1650/The Sweetest Battle

The Sweetest Battle
Date of Scene:	10 June 2024
Location:	Nounamu Sweets
Synopsis:	Hossiwa goes after the candy shoppe where Chiyo works. Heroes arrive to defend... and the world is introduced to Groom Tuxedo Terribad.
Cast of Characters:	Phantom, Chiyo Sakai, Taro Yamada, Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino, Amanda Faust, Ren Morimoto

---

Phantom has posed:
As the warmth of the June sun continues to promise that it will be a hot summer, Nonamu Sweets stands to open, an unsuspecting victim in a dangerous game that has erupted in the power vacuum of Queen Mirage having set Phantom to the side and suggested that she may wish to have a new general as her right hand.

Oresky had taken his best shot. A Terrimime. While promising at first, it had fallen due to the same issue that Oresky always has - the need to be recognized and praised, things that are hard to do when there is only silence. Eventually, it had failed and the heroes had recovered the canister of energy that he had gathered.

Now it was Hossiwa's turn. Stepping out of her mirror, the young looking woman drank in the shop from beneath her apple hat. She had found the bag that Phantom had discarded and left aside before he had disappeared. And just a few days ago, she had observed him in the shop, speaking with the teen girl that works there. While she had her suspicions, she could not approach Queen Mirage with charges as deep as she had hoped to level against Phantom without proof.

After all, if she could prove that Phantom had broken the greatest of Queen Mirage's edicts -- Don't Fall in Love, she would easily become the right hand to her Queen and may even take over the Graveyard in his place.

She needed proof. And in order to get that proof, she needed the girl. So, once she was clear of the mirror, she held her striped umbrella aloft. "Let the future reflected in the mirror turn terrible! Welcome, my kindabads!"

And around the shop, people are trapped in mirrors, and from them, human sized creatures of black arrived, with silver gloves and boots and pink scarves and trim and red sunglasses. No Terribads yet, she is keeping it to the smaller forces. However, that is not the only change she makes.

The streets turn to red and white checkerboard. Cars and trucks become colorful piles of Fairy Floss. Street lamps become lollipops. A stream of water running down the street becomes a Ramune Stream. Everything is made into sweets and delights, candies for all to behold! Cupcakes, whole cakes, graham crackers, ice cream cones!

Now that she has her world set, Hossihwa smiles, a flourish of her umbrella as she calls out, taking a seat upon a throne of sweet treats. "Oh ho ho ho, Candy Girl~!" she calls out to Chiyo, not knowing her real name or what she looks like. "Come on out, I wanna have some girl talk~" And in her hands after she sets her umbrella out on the side of the throne to give herself some shade. "Let the others fight, I wanna talk to you about..." And she holds up a magazine. Across the front of the page is a What's your type? QUIZ. And then she has a pair of kindbads come over and set up two refreshing glasses of iced lemonade and a few cookies on a tray. "I even brought treats while we talk! And with that, she takes out a magazine to wait for the girl.

As Hossiwa is calling out to Chiyo, the kindabads are starting their advance on the shop in small groups of three or four. There's several of them, the street was pretty busy, after all. But they are not very powerful. Really, their main power is that there are just so many of them! The civilians that they were formed from rest peacefully in their coffin mirrors.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Upstairs from the shop was the actual apartment that Ojiisan and Chiyo lived in. Or that Chiyo had lived in as she was now rooming at the dorms of RHA in an effort to avoid the very same thing that is happening right now to the shop. The only reason she IS there today is because it's a day off of school, and she was preparing to help Ojiisan with the shop as well as spend some time with him.

She's upstairs when it happens. Ojiisan was... not so lucky, as one of the mirrored individuals turned into Kindabads is quite possibly him. He had been downstairs getting things set up with the part timer and dealing with the early morning customers that tended to show up.

Just as Chiyo was putting the last ribbon into her hair things *shift* from the regular, normal day to... to Candyland? Gazing out the window she regards it with eyes narrowing as she reaches for her phone to shoot off a quick mass text to a few numbers she knew well.

Group Text Usagi, Mamoru, Ren, ...etc: Some Candyland loving blonde just turned the shop and street into a parfait. Ojiisan is in the crossfire.

With that Chiyo walks across the room toward the back window, knuckles cracking, as she transforms into Daifuku. "Let's Cook!"

A moment later the Culinary Guardian leaps onto the rooftop where she pauses to point her kine toward Hossiwa. "I like candy as much as the next person but this is taking it to extremes! Turn everyone back before I toast your marshmallows!"

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro's on his way to the shop in his t-shirt and jeans for a few reasons - for fun, for advice on buying or making a fruit basket so Sailor Moon doesn't beat him like a drum for nibbling on her boyfriend, for maybe seeing if that pretty redheaded boy is around and and - ok, Taro does not apologize to strangers, he has a reputation to maintain, but he might've snapped at him a little too hard? Ugh, if he was Chiyo's friend, he should at least double check that instant gut feeling that Phillip was dangerous before getting weird about. His.. friend's.... friend.

Disgusting. He's practically domesticated! What's wrong with him, feeling bad about completely normal behavior to have!!

His shoe squishes.

Taro looks down. He's stepped in ice cream. The road is graham crackers. There's some girl who looks like an upside down cake pop hanging around with a bunch of licorice baddies. And even if Taro can't sense magic on his own, he can feel the twinned hunger and fury from Dory the doll in his backpack looking upon all - this -

(Our territory! Our food! Our shop! Slice them, slash them, skewer them!)

He sidles into an alley while the licorice creatures are distracted and pulls out Dory's coffin, holding it to his chest - "I ate it all because it was very nice. Catch me if you can!"

The creature transforms - the long brown hooded cape, the dingy straightjacket, wild black hair pushed out of glowing red eyes - the creature's white-blue skin almost matches the ice cream as it steps out of the alley, red blades growing from the forehead.

He slaps one kindabad in the back with his red palm blade, sucking away the small motes of energy within it until it pops, then sidles up to cake pop girl, looming over her as much as his fear-enhanced body allows.

"Hey. What's the Bonbon Mafia doing, harassing a wagashi shop? Is western candy's death grip on Japan on Valentines and White Day not enough for you? You have to start kneecapping rivals during the rest of the year? All the magical whatevers who live in this city are way too young for an old hag wearing her granny's rouge to put the moves on, anyway! Stop waving that magazine around, you look like a fool. You're making the forces of evil look even worse than we usually do before a bunch of teenagers kick the crap out of us."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"We weren't even tempting fate!" Mamoru says, aggrieved, as everything turns to candy on their approach to Nounamu Sweets. He takes out his pocket watch and holds it up right there on the sidewalk in a white gloved hand-- then glances to Usagi, and a grin flickers across his face-- before he calls it out:

"Earth Prism Power, Make Up!"

And after a whoosh of a crackling transformation, Tuxedo Mask is on the scene!

He stalks forward, cape billowing behind him and white tie and tails absolutely spotless; he keeps stalking forward and flips a rose out from nowhere, holding it... threateningly. "We weren't even on a date!" he yells across to Hossiwa, not stopping. "We--"

He stops as Chiyo calls out an absolutely great threat, and then turns and sees THE BACK-STREET SLASHER and the Back-Street Slasher disses Hossiwa and Tuxedo Kamen's eyes go wide behind his mask and he almost stops.

But NO! Dammit.

"I hate to admit it but THAT CREEP HAS A POINT! About the wagashi, anyway! And these civilians didn't do anything to you! Let them go!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's a day off from school. They're not on a date. They're just going to hang out! Probably with friends, even, after they buy some candy! Usagi was planning to check on Ojisan and see how he's been doing!

And yet everything is still candy anyway. Someone else might have considered it kind of egotistical, that Usagi and Mamoru both immediately jump to the conclusion that this is on them, but that someone else would be an idiot who didn't know an UsaMamo date is a prime time for the world to turn dumb.

"It really isn't a date," Usagi groans, and ducks to the side to crouch behind an advertisement for another store before she grabs her her broach.

"Moon Prism Power, Make up!"

And Sailor Moon is on the scene, just as her phone beeps.

TXT to the Group Chat: We're on the scene!

"Yeah! This boyfriend eating jerk is right, how dare you try to sabotage a small business! Don't you know a sweets shop is sacred?! You turn the world into candy, but don't respect the joy of candymakers?! In the name of the Moon, I, Sailor Moon, will punish you!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The weekend! Amy wakes up and is just having one of those days. Mio is doing homework or something all morning or, and of course Pin is hanging around as when you're a mascot there's not a lot else to do but hang out with your magical girl whenever mundanes aren't around.

    Amy wonders if having a fairy like Pin to talk to would be nice or just weird. She's certainly not spilling her guts to Kyubey about the trials of being a teenager again...

TAnyway, she needs to get out and clear her head. So it is that she's out for a jog/walk by the park when she notices the scent of something... sweet? What? She slows down and surreptitiously sniffs her forearm and her hair. Then some flowers growing by the side of the road. No, it's just... everywhere, suffusing the air, it doesn't matter what her nose is close to. "The heck? What is that..." Wait, isn't Chiyo's family candy store here? Maybe something there?

    Following her nose around the corner, Amy comes into sight of... Candyland, brought to life. She ducks back behind a building, henshins, and strides into the effect. Having been further away puts her behind the kindabads. She can't help laughing a bit at the Back Street Slasher's comments. "Hey!" she calls out, pointing at the kindabads following Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon's intros. "You leave the candy store alone, it's us you gotta fight!"

    And then uh.

    Well, they're kindabads. She hasn't really fought just them much? So she charges up to a group of kindabads and puts her regular defense classes to use to see if (mahou strength) punches and kicks will do the job. If not, she starts clubbing them with her rocket launcher!

Ren Morimoto has posed:
It's such a nice day to be out and about! So of course Ren is stuck at home, doing chores that he's been neglecting. Gotta keep up appearances so he doesn't end up kicked out or anything.

So what's he doing? Well, technically he's got the broom in his hands, but can it really be said that he's sweeping? There's dirt in a pile at his feet so he's done some actual work at some point, but he's just leaning against the broom now, doom scrolling on his phone.

Which at least means he sees Chiyo's text immediately! So Ren is out the door in seconds, the broom clattering to the ground in his wake.

It's a few minutes before Guardian Sukiyaki will make it across town to get to Chiyo's shop, but he's on his way! If only he'd thought to text the group chat confirming such.

Phantom has posed:
Oh oh ho ho ho! She came from the shoppe! That has to be her! Hossiwa gestures, "Like I said, I just wanna girl talk! But if you want to fight, I g-ue-ess we can do that too." she says with an exaggerated sigh as she shakes her head, grabbing her umbrella and closing it to wield it as a weapon. "And after everything I went through to get your attention! But, you can at least answer my questions! First one..." She glances down at the magazine. "What's your idea of an epic first date?"

"Going to a booooring movie? Going to the club! Well. Karaoke in your case. You're kinda young. Out to a restaurant? Probably a cheap place, considering..." Hossiwa's hand gestures over the Daifuku package. "Or making them something special at your place?" She pauses to look at the magazine. "Okay, yeah, this rated for teens!"

Back to the questions. "Question Two! Pick the pet peeve you hate the most! Poor Hygiene, No Ambition, A Smarty-Smarty Pants, or a Flake? Oh hey, speaking of flakes!" She gestures at Taro with a giggle. "Are you visiting~? I'll let you stay because you're kinda edgy. Like a butterknife." She totally doesn't mind that he eats a Kindabad or two. They're really sweet! However, when she's inferred to being old, she tsks. "You should learn to respect beauty. I don't think she..." Hossiwa gestures to Daifuku. "...appreciates the suggestion she wears her gamma's rogue." A wink at Taro.

And then her attention is back to Daifuku as she asks coyly. "Question Three. How many relationships have you been in before?" She looks up at Daifuku. "One. You're totally a one. I'll answer that one for you, sweetie!" She picks four gotta inflate those numbers!

And then there's Mamoru... no... Tuxedo Mask! "Oh look! Suitors out of the wood-work, Candy Girl!" she teases her, but he's yelling at her, and she tsks, but glances at her sheet. "He reminds me of an important question, though!"

"Imagine your dream wedding for a moment. Do you want it in a church? On a beach? To Elope? Or you don't wanna get married? But don't worry, sweetie, I'll provide you with the groom!" With that, her hand gestures out at Tuxedo Mask. "Let the future reflected in the mirror turn terrible!" And while she may not have Phantom's Eternal Gauge, she can certainely mirror someone and create a Terribad from their greatest desire. "Let's see what he thinks of the question, shall we?" she asks Daifuku with a playful pirouette.

When Sailor Moon arrives as well, Hossiwa turns her attention again to Taro. "Wow, you eat boyfriends? Is it just boyfriends? Is that your thing? Boyfriend snacker?" Anyway, back to Sailor Moon. "Of course I know they're sacred! Check the theme! Ca-and-ee!" she grins brightly. "I know you. Beryl bitches about you once a week!" the candy princess points out. "Like, all of her broadcasts should end with 'And I really hate this girl' and your picture shows up." It doesn't, but why not throw shade at Beryl?

The Kindabads go on the attack on Amy, and she finds that they are pretty easy to beat. There's some clumsy punches and kicks. But as long as she doesn't let them start ganging up on her, she shouldn't have too hard of a time! They all seem to be armed only with fists and feet anyway! Kick and punch until they're done!

With Ren on his way, not that she knows this, she decides to call out to Daifuku. "Ready for some more questions? I need answers!"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I just want said that I am NOT associated with this moron," the Back Street Slasher says, pointing a red claw at Hossiwa. "I can feel my IQ falling from that speech. Is every single female villain boy-crazy these days? You know, they let women have jobs and credit cards now. It's not my fault that I have happened to eat boys who date. What do you want me to do, survay them first?"

But - ok, this lady's likely gunning for Chiyo, which is not ALLOWED. And if she's looking for a boy around Chiyo - if it's recent, that's him or that Philip guy, who he GUESSES he won't throw under the bus because he SUPPOSES Chiyo likes him. And before, it's that guy who got thrown out the window and he doesn't remember his name.

So. New tactic. He drapes himself over the parasol and tries to snatch the magazine out of her hands with his long ol arms. "How do you know that Tuxedo Guy there isn't dating wagirlshee? I know he's playing the field, he's got a blond on each arm and two in the bush. It wouldn't surprise me if he started trying to pull someone of every hair color to get a rainbow set. Or is it a specific boy you're trying to bag? I can tell you now, every man that's been in and out of that shop under the age of 50 is a grade A nothingburger, only useful for getting a little flavor from eating well."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Are you... QUIZZING me from a magazine!?" What EVEN WAS THIS? Daifuku spins the staff of her kine around in hand as she grits her teeth in frustration. Not only was this an attack on her shop but apparently on her dating life! As if that wasn't enough of a messy embarassment!

"One, none of your business! Two, ALL of them! ... But mostly a flake, I'm really tired of flakes." Okay no, what was even going on.

As others begin to arrive she leaps down off the roof to land lightly in spite of the height. The urge to glance back at the shop is resisted so she doesn't draw too much attention--Hopefully. It was already the center of attention as the Kindabads were approaching. She swings her Kine out to physically slam into one that draws too near sending a flaming hammer head right at the gooey ... Was that licorice? Ew. No one likes licorice.

"Three... Two, actually, thank you *very much* for that assumption." One was Koji. It was fake. But they HAD gone on a few dates to just. Check. Before deciding it really was fake. Close enough.

When the others show up she flashes a knowing grin at the familiar, and unfamiliar alike. The Slasher wasn't one she'd seen before but he was sassing this weird girl so that worked. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen? Perfect.

"Glad to see you two--" She begins only to shoot a suspicious look at Ripper. "You *ate* her boyfriend?!" Oh no. Not that the revelation means much as suddenly, talk of marriage comes and out comes that mirroring for Tuxedo.

"Hey he's not--LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Another Kindabad gets a swing of the hammer as she tries to clear the path from the shop to Hossiwa.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
A solitary rose falls to the ground with the slow-motion drama of a portentous door closing.

At that very same second, an incredibly flustered Tuxedo Kamen has a coffin-shaped mirror come at him from behind and close around him, red ribbons rolling out to criss-cross back and forth around and around it. He's frozen in place, his arms crossing over his chest like he's actually in a coffin--

--and the mirror lights up bright, flashing out in a briefly ongoing explosion which suddenly gets red sunglasses for eyes, and when the bright explosion finally resolves into a giant. A giant wedding tuxedo, embroidery and all, with a top hat that's wearing sunglasses instead of a head! It's also, for the record, wearing a pink scarf.

"NYARNGHaaahr!" the Terribad growls, big white-gloved fists and pink vambraces and boots shining bright against the black wedding tux-- and it takes a moment to adjust its scarf into a stylish ascot before pulling out... an enormous Silver Crystal lollipop and sticking it under its head-hat, presumably into its mouth, which it must have if it's making threatening sounds like that one.

Then it pulls the huge lollipop out -- it's got to be the size of a cafe table -- and throws it at Daifuku! "SECOND-HAND KISSU!" it yells!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"If you know, then why are you messing around with this store, huh?!"

Sailor Moon puts a hand on her hip, pointing at Hossiwa with the other - and that's when Daisuke is on the scene, and the girl starts quizzing her, as Sailor Moon joins Red in just bodying the kindabads with the moves she's practiced in self-defense class.

What? They're kind of weak! Why waste energy?

"Are you seriously just quizzing people right now? Why would you - hey! Hey! NO!"

The yell is because there's a hand pointed at Tuxedo Kamen, an incantation called out, and then there's a mirror trapping her boyfriend, and a monster rising up and out from the depths.

Forget about restraint! Forget about not wasting energy!

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

A golden circle is violently slashed into the air, and silver beams and mists blast at the brand new Terribad, hoping against hope to purify the monster right away. It probably won't work. It probably needs to be damaged.

But that giant, wedding tuxedo monster with the embroidery top hat and sunglasses is absolutely created by her beloved boyfriend, and of course she's naturally going to try and stop his suffering and entrapment -

"SECOND-HAND KISS?!"

Yeah so she jumps to take the hit. You're not yourself when you're jealous.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Hya! Ha! Hey!" Amy shouts as she punches and kicks her way through a squad of kindabads. At least the basics of self-defense classes manifest -- she opens with a one-two punch combo, then when really close grabs and knees them or if the angle's wrong for a grab, kicks them away! With mahou strength, a mule kick or side kick can send them flying a short distance...

    'They let women have jobs and credit cards now'? How old is the Back Street Slasher? The slightly weird chatter between him and the Dark General(?), with her accusation being followed up by his assurance that any men who've been to the shop have no flavor, just calls to her mind the image of a little fluffy kemono character captioned with 'you like to snack boyfriends, don't you?' Amy shakes her head to clear it. Focus on the fight!

    "Tuxedo Mask! No!" But, oh no, Tuxedo Kamen has become Tuxedo Terribad! ...Terribad Kamen? Whatever, she'll fire some rockets at it!

Phantom has posed:
"I'm not looking for a type, thank you very much!" Hossiwa responds as she uses her parasol to poke Ripper away from her. She'll put up with him for now, because he's helpful. Especially if someone comes in on her, she can definetly use him as a shield. That's the idea at least. "I already have to deal with that idiot Oresky, why would I want to deal with another one?" She makes a face at that, but her attention is turning back to Daifuku.

Oh hey, she's answering her questions! Hossiwa starts to make notes as she is in the midsts of keeping Ripper AWAY FROM HER. "Okay, okay, good answers. Next! Would you ever date someone that's a bit awkward? Like this guy here?" Pokes Ripper with her parasol. "Definetly? Sure, if the mood's right? I'd flip a coin? Or definetly not?" she asks, as the Tuxedo Terribad emerges. "Oh, I should have saved my Bride terribad for him!" she offers with a giggle as he launches a...

SECOND HAND KISSU! on Daifuku. And Hossiwa? She just smiles smugly at Ripper. "You. Were. Saying?" Huehuehue she giggles as she watches as Sailor Moon dives in to take the kiss like she's jumping on a grenade.

For now, there's no more questions for Daifuku. She seems to have her hands full at the moment. Everyone does, really, with the giant Tuxedo Terribad in the midsts of the fight at the moment.

Ren Morimoto has posed:
Finally, alighting atop a nearby building, Culinary Guardian Sukiyaki swings his giant cleaver around to the fore. From up on high he calls out, "This is a toothache waiting to happen! What've you done to Nounamu Sweets?!"

Arriving just in time for the mirroring, he looks on in horror at what happens to Tuxedo Mask, too stunned to say anything but a quiet "No!"

But it does prompt him to act, leaping down from his high perch to land on the sticky ground, which he only makes a slightly disturbed expression about as he readjusts his stance. He takes a labored step forward as the sidewalk squishes beneath his feet, and then Sukiyaki is looking around at the candy-themed chaos erupting around them.

"What--" he begins to ask, but the Terribad attacks, and Sailor Moon boldly jumps to just... take it.

He knocks away a Kindabad with the flat of his blade and then finally gets his wits about him enough to find Guardian Daifuku in the crowd, saying, "I'm here! We can team up and end this quick!" With his giant cleaver lifted in the air, Ren takes another running leap, this time to cross over the heads of some of the Kindabads to get closer to his fellow Culinary Guardian.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The Escalation hits before the giant silver crystal lollipop does, and the Terribad sizzles and smokes and ROARS, stamping one enormous pink boot and making Candyland shake, big lamp-post lollipops swaying from the miniature earthquake.

The Second-Hand Kissu does, in fact, smack straight into Sailor Moon, and that is a really sticky pineapple-flavored full-body punch back into the candy ground. It might take a minute to detach from it. I mean it's a really really big used lollipop.

Red's rockets land true, exploding into fire which catches at the fancy wedding tuxedo, and the Terribad roars again, slapping at itself to put the fire out before flinging a car-sized white wedding bouquet of roses at Amy and yelling, "TUXEDO LA WEDDING BOUQUET!"

No matter where it hits, it's thrown petals first, and the petals explode away from the stems, each petal the size of a sheet of printer paper! In addition to the potential for knockback of the impact itself, each petal sticks to whatever is sticky, and stepping on petals that large can get slippery! "HA HA HA!" laughs the Terribad.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Oh no. This was not good at all. Mamoru had JUST gotten healed and out of the hospital, and gotten his magic back, and now there was this bondage mirror sweeping him up to make a Terribad. A Tuxedoed Terribad with one of her signature lollipops oh no.

"We're teenagers, we're ALL awkward!" Daifuku blurts out without thinking as she sends one Kindabad flying away with a solid hit. Just in time for the Second Hand Kissu to come out toward her which causes her to bring her Kine forward spinning rapidly to create a shield of sorts. Even so... Naturally Sailor Moon responds.

"I *swear* this isn't what I meant when I said he was someone I love, Sailor Moon, really!"

Then Sukiyaki is calling out and she lets out a relieved sigh. More help. Good. "Sukiyaki! Let's FRY this abomination to good taste!"

The hammer is brought up, and then abruptly down to slam into the concrete. Er. Graham cracker. Cracks erupt and from it steam burst forth in jets going straight for Hossiwa. "BAINE MARIE!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon goes rolling across the ground, an enormous pineapple-flavored used lollipop stuck to her front, and yes, it's gross, yes, it's ridiculous, yes, she has newly rebruised her tailbone, and no, she does not regret anything!!!

It's enough she has to share kisses! She's not having them forcibly thrown from her monsterized boyfriend to her cousin!

"This is - gonna be a minute - "

She is yanking at the candy stick, trying to detach it from herself. It's taking a bit. It's taking such a bit.

The wedding bouquet is thrown, and she calls out -

"You can definitely catch that one!! The bride isn't supposed to catch the bouquet anyway!"

Usagi, please, Usagi are you considering yourself the bride?! (Of course she is. If Tuxedo Kamen is the groom, then obviously she is the bride.)

And then Chiyo says -

"OBVIOUSLY IT ISN'T WHAT YOU MEANT, BECAUSE HE'S TAKEN!" She knows this! She trusts this cousin of hers. She - "I ALREADY TOLD HIM NO SISTER-WIVES!"

Not in those words, but, they had had a form of agreement about who was an appropriate datemate!

It's going to take her a minute to get that lollipop off. Come back to her.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "What is WITH this?!" Amy shouts at the Dark General. "Sweets everywhere and weird romance quizzes? What the hell is the theming-- OH." Amy looks as if she's realized something important. She raises her hands to her cheeks in mock astonishment. "You put together a Valentine's Day event! But it took you too long and now you're doing it out of season!? Oh dear, did you think the heroes wouldn't notice you missed the deadline? And how will this look to your bosses at Obsidian?!"

    Amy shakes her head with mock sadness, waving an arm at Tuxedo Terribad. "Once they're past the event date, their power's cut in half! Such is the horror of a limited-time monster!" Is she quoting something?

    Okay, Amy really doubts the Terribad can understand her, but maybe Hossiwa will be demoralized?

    Yeah no, Amy looks wide-eyed at the giant bouquet attack and dives for cover!

    ...Right into the ramune. While she isn't hit directly, the giant petals do cover her and stick to her back. She struggles to stand. "Ugggh-ick I'm gonna be all sticky!" Look, one thing Amy really hasn't had to deal with is getting dirty or covered in... stuff. Okay like her third youma ever covered everyone in whipped cream but since then it's all been injuries or other kinds of weirdness.

    And now she just fell in a river of ramune and her clothes are wet and uncomfortable and it sucks! Also the petals stuck to her are making it hard to stand and move about, so, she's kind of distracted trying to peel them off her? "Why would you do this?!" That whiny tone is really unheroic, Amy!

Taro Yamada has posed:
He's just. Gonna let all the goodie two shoes wail on the Tuxedo monster, they've got that covered. He's got Miss Cake Pop to deal with, playing tug of war with the parasol, trying to get closer.

"You looking for some pretty boy's girlfriend? Or maybe a pretty girl's boyfriend? You're targetting one of the top candy shops in Tokyo, it could be anyone looking to gift sweet things. Look at what you're doing, causing marital discord!"

He yanks ,trying to drag Hossiwa closer to him to swipe at - or to get the parasol out of her hands.

Or! He can see that one girl with the hammer coming for him and yank HARD on the parsol to drag Hossiwa into the path of the hammer, letting go once he feels his balance slipping - whether she's smacked down or not, he'll be able to tumble away and let the cake pop get pounded!

Phantom has posed:
Oh, the Tuxedo Mask Groom may be the best Oresky Trio (tm) Terribad that has ever been created. As he sows chaos and reaps hearts, Hossiwa is just in the middle of the greatest noblewoman's laugh, "Oh ho ho ho ho!" she laughs as she watches the flowers taking out not just heroes, but also her kindabads, but that's okay. Because she's winning! And she will make sure that Oresky and Phantom know that she is so much better than them both!

As Daifuku launches her hammer strike, sending up candy and cookies and cream, Hossiwa ohs. "I finally have a use for you!" she crows as she swings around the parasol with Ripper attached and launches him into the path of the attack. Daifuku can nurse him better later. Maybe.

And then Amy is making her claims and she laughs. "Oh sweetie, it's June!" she calles out to Amy as she's splashing around. "It's the season of weddings!" Because Sailor Moon is definetly feeding into that. But also...

"Ah! So that... well. It's not what I thought!" Hossiwa pouts her lips cutely. "I thought you were into broody teens that were mysterious." A sigh. "Alas!" she says, a frown as she goes to sit on her throne again. She can't link Daifuku to Phantom. That sucks.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"ENGAGEMENT... RINGU??" yells the Tuxedo Terribad, jamming its hand in its tailcoat's secret pocket and pulling out a ring box, which slams open to reveal a diamond ring the size of a really thick tiata... and the Terribad takes it out and flings it directly at Sailor Moon!

It's a very specific-looking diamond ring, actually, even if it's gigantic and probably made of dark energy or something.

The Terribad laughs again, big and rumbling, "OH HO HO!" and reaches into the other side of his jacket. This time it's a big beautiful wagashi rose it pulls out, kind of like the ones Darien got for Usagi once upon a time, and it gets hurled at Guardian Sukiyaki mochi-first!

"TUXEDO ADHESIVE ROSE!"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Just making sure!" Daifuku calls out toward Sailor Moon in turn. The last thing she needed was a further misunderstanding after all the other misunderstandings that had occured with those two and their relationship(s) which she had been involved in. Thinking Sailor Moon was two-timing Mamoru with Hematite, and many others.

Pulling back from her attack she looks up in time to see a very large, tall, pale vampire being swung toward her. Eyes widening she gives a yelp of surprise as she moves trying to recover her own balance as well as not get entangled with the Slurper-of-Boyfriends.

Daifuku shifts her weight to the side with one arm coming up to try and sort of catch Ripper bringing his momentum around to... To yeet him BACK at Hossiwa with her own strength!

"This is getting really confusing!"

Ren Morimoto has posed:
Right, team up time! There's a startling lack of strong edifices to leap off of given that so much has been turned into confectionary, but Sukiyaki finds a structure made of chocolate-covered biscuits, which he runs full-tllt at. Up he leaps, rebounding off the cookies to sail dramatically high into the air, and then from up on high he shouts:

"Boiling Broth Torrent!"

With a sweeping motion of his giant cleaver, Ren summons forth a wave of hot sukiyaki broth that goes splashing down towards Hossiwa.

While the soup begins to descend, Ren begins to fall back to the ground, only for a wagashi rose to smack right into him and throw him wildly off course. He goes sailing off into the distance with a yelp, landing in some candy floss which, thankfully, cushions his fall to some degree.

But now he has a mochi rose stuck to his chest. He tries to tug it free with his unoccupied hand, struggling for a long moment as he sits half-buried in cotton candy, before he finally sits up with a groan and tries to cut it off instead!

Taro Yamada has posed:
Damned centrifugal force! Just as he spun Miss Cake Pop, she spun him, until the Back Street Slasher was being yote at ludicrous speed towards the plumette! He wraps his arms over his head to try and protect himself -

Only to find himself grabbed and thrown BACK!!

"YES!!!" Not a crash but a counter attack! Perfect form! He twirls into a ball, knees tucked to his chest and arms curled, and lets great red blades burst from along his spine - One Fanged Fastball, coming up!!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon has that mahou strength - the kind of strength far beyond a normal fourteen year old girl.

Which goes to show that that enormous lollipop is really sticky, because she only just manages to rip it off now.

"Hey! You pink jerk! You candyland-loving boyfriend-monsterizing JERK! EAT THIS!"

And she spins around, with the lollipop, putting momentum on, as she focuses, as color and light and power flow, flow, making the lollipop bright with cosmic energy -

"Moon Sticky Lollipop Action!"

and letting it fly straight for Hossiwa, right after she chucks the supposed Back Street Slasher at Daifuku!

Of course, that's when the engagement ring is called out, and of course Usagi recognizes that ring, of course she'd seen it once before, on a day that started a new adventure, swiped out from under her by the most obnoxious boy -

"You... have you just been carrying it around?"

A startled gasp, which uh, isn't good because the ring is flying right at her -

She catches it, skidding back a little because of the force, and throws it right back - with a little extra.

"Moon Ring Rejection Action!"

REJECTION?! This time, the attack is flying right for Tuxedo Terribad!

"Give it to me when you're yourself!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    So sticky... u_u And Hossiwa was completely unaffected by her psychological attack! This sucks! "I mean... well..." she tries to come up with a retort while pulling sticky petals off, but fails. But then she has an idea!

    She's suddenly clad in a pink frilly magical girl dress, which she spins and rips off and tosses aside (it had drama clasps), taking the petals with it! Underneath is something like the outfit she henshined into back at Thetis's spa:

    Armored red gloves and boots and a white, black and red leotard with an armored red collar and an armored red-and-white sort-of-skirt-thing open in front. Less skin covered means less constantly feeling the bodysuit sticking to her. Also, her hair's in twintails, held in place by armored barretes(sp)? Hairclips? Little armor pieces that match her outfit and have little loops to hold her hair in place. Their tying back and holding away her hair sightly also means it's not constantly sticking to her as much. A marginal improvement!

    But really, getting rid of the petals was what mattered.

    Amy sighs. "Why would anyone want someone mysterious and brooding instead of someone who'll tell you their feelings?!"

    She waves a hand at the terribad, "And tall dark and monstrous over here can't talk to anyone like that!" She thrusts her arm out towards him as the large launch tube forms braced to her arm. "AURA PILLAR!"

    There's a backblast of colorful red magic as the missile streaks forward and then splits into a dozen tinier ones that all detonate into lances of light, Amy hoping to pierce the Terribad and make a weak point for Sailor Moon or the others to attack!

Phantom has posed:
And Tuxedo Terribad takes out a ring. A RING. Not on a telephone. Even Hossiwa has to have mad respect for the fact that the man is ready to propose to... not Daifuku, but to Sailor Moon? Oh, teenagers. They are SO confusing! "Which one are you trying to marry, you big doofus!" she yells up at the Tuxedo wearing Terribad. And while she's distracted, there are attacks that are incoming.

And Hossiwa barely has a moment to prepare as she pops open the parasol. The boiling soup slams into it, splashing over it in a wave as she ducks behind it, trying to shelter herself from the damage, just as Ripper crashes into the same parasol and she shrieks in terror, shaking the parasol like mad. "I'm NOT ANYONE'S BOYFRIEND!" she screams out and FLINGS THE PARASOL WITH RIPPER ATTACHED away from her as hard as she can!

And that leaves her without a parasol as she is slammed into by the lollipop. "Ewww!" she squeaks in panic, covered with sticky that was in her terribad and then on Sailor Moon and now on her and now it's stuck on her and she's too busy being grossed out to realize she could just dark magic it away...

....and is wide open to finishing attacks.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Third-hand kissu..?" asks the Terribad as it slowly looks down at Hossiwa, and the face it is making is audible from under that top hat. "Ugh."

But that's when Guardian Sukiyaki manages to cut the mochi rose off his chest, mostly,,, the important part is that enough of it is cut off that the Culinary Guardian is no longer impeded! Which is a good thing, because that Terribad is opening up for finishers as much as Hossiwa is!

He's very very very distracted by Sailor Moon's REJECTION!!! which slams into him and cuts open a deep wide chasm of nothing, and Amy's magic missile hits the newly revealed darkness in myriad places, priming it for some wild purification! Tuxedo Terribad ROARS! and falls to its enormous knees, top hat and sunglasses tilted towards the heavenand white-gloved cartoon hands clenched into fists, shaken at the sky.

Yeah Hossiwa apparently Sailor Moon.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Obviously he's trying to marry me!"

Sailor Moon raises her arm to the heavens, and the Crescent Wand drops into her hand, fit perfectly to her grip. The Silver Crystal gleams in the sunlight, and a circle of golden light is carved.

"I am the one Tuxedo Kamen will marry! I am the girl who will be his housewife! I am the one and only Sailor Moon!"

The golden circle is completed. Silver flares as beams of light streak from the circle and mists rise, crowding Tuxedo Terribad.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

Purifying light, to strip away the darkness. To restore to rights the boy she loves, and set to right this whole, foolish endeavor.

"Now scram, you fake candy girl!"

Taro Yamada has posed:
The Back Street Slasher hits the parasol and keeps rolling with it until he hits a stop sign-turned-lollipop; he smacks into it upside down, which blows the parasol inside out and leaves him sprawled inside it, butt over head, leags hanging down over his face.

Well! He got the parasol!

And he's pretty sure he knows what time it is and he, for one, is not interested in getting hit by multiple laser beams.

So he's just gonna. Sit up. Un-reverse the parasol. Walk away so that he is firmly BEHIND one of those mahous and thus not in murder laser range, the pink parasol held daintily over his shoulder.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Of course he's not proposing to ME!" The very thought of it. No offense over there, Tuxie, but yeah. She was not into the thought of her cousin's boyfriend proposing to her, ugh.

With the vampire thrown back at Hossiwa, and Hossiwa's sudden abandonment of the sheilding umbrella thanks to Sukiyaki's attack and Amy's as well she straightens. Baine Marie was already used. She usually just clobbered people after that but there was another attack she'd been preparing. Now was an excellent time to use it.

Her hand dips into the pocket on her apron to withdraw a handful of colorful candies that she tosses up into the air in front of her. Before they come down all the way she hauls back with the hammer to SLAM into them sending the candy shrapnel toward Hossiwa.

"KONPEITO PURIFYING EXPLOSIONS!"

Look when you come up with your own attack names, and your cousin is Sailor Moon, sometimes you just roll with the most obvious attack names. Either way the Konpeito was set to explode on impact with sharp shards of purifying candy shards.

Ren Morimoto has posed:
Big attack already used, Guardian Sukiyaki is at a loss as to what to do. But people seem to just be making up attack names as they go, and that's... well, it's pretty awesome!

At least he's pretty sure Daifuku hasn't done anything with konpeito before... especially nothing that explodes in candy shards. Naturally this would be where he should try to come up with his own.

So he stands there, half-risen from where he'd been knocked down. And then finally he's up on two feet, if a bit sticky in places he'd like to not admit, and then finally he runs towards Hossiwa and hoists his cleaver.

"SIMMERING SLASH!"

Okay it's basically just a reskinned Boiling Broth Torrent, but more hot soup starts pouring out towards her in a tsunami of savory flavor!

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Firing off finishers is really satisfying. If only Amy could properly exploit the opportunity her own attack opens...

    Sailor Moon proclaims her status as future housewife. People still want that, huh? Amy doesn't really understand, although...

    Into Amy's head comes a vision of a years-older Hannah coming back to an apartment where a years-older Amy awaits her, having cooked one of the few dishes she knows how to make. And Hannah is so happy to see her and she's so happy to see Hannah so happy and--

    --The hell was that mental vision, brain?! Amy shakes her head, blushing. It must be the weird marriage-themed dark energy getting to her, yeah!

    So she'll punch monsters until it goes away! Amy shakes her head, adjusts her stance, and the launcher on har arm fires just the backblast this time, propelling her fowards towards Tuxedo Terribad! In midair she switches to her usual launcher, landing on its body, firing a point-blank shot at the chasm of darkness -- "Take this!" -- and backflipping off of the monster!

Phantom has posed:
"You're not supposed to reject him!" Hossiwa howls at Sailor Moon as she SHUTS down her MAJOU MASTERPIECE MONSTER. And then she declares her intention to be his housewife and she just is agape. "You'd look terrible in an apron!" she counters. "Can you even cook??!" It's probably going to be the last bit of snark that she's going to get out in this fight as both she and Amy are bringing down the big terribad.

And then her shielding parasol is gone, taken... well, no, she tossed it away so that Ripper couldn't grab her. Oh shit.

And that's when the attacks come in. The sharp little rock candies start to exploding all over, the damage starting to show - she's not a tank like Oresky is, after all.

And then the simmering slash hits. And the soup hurts and burns, but at the same time, she licks a little on her cheek. "Oh my gosh, that's so good!" she says, "Can I have the recipe??" Hossiwa asks, and for a moment, in front of all the heroes, she starts to glow.

She's weakened. So much so. If they could get in one more good round... if Sailor Moon had purified... or if Tuxedo Mask could have helped -- they could purify her completely and saved her from the Phantom Empire - she looks human. For just a moment. And then she opens her mirror portal, much like that of a certain Phantom, and falls through it.

The candy landscape disappears, returing to normal. Civilians start to step out of their mirrored coffins.

Along with a certain Tuxedo-wearing Mahou.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
That Terribad, as it dissipates from the combined attacks and the defeat of its Dark General, calls out sadly, "NUUUUUU!"

When Tuxedo Kamen's left on the ground beside where the red-bound mirror had been, he literally sits there for a moment with his hands over his red, red, red face.

He mumbles something. It sounds a little bit like 'nuuuuu...'

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I would look GREAT in an apron, thank you very much! And no! I can't cook!" Why is she proud of that? She shouldn't be proud of that.

There's a moment where the candy-loving girl looks almost normal. Almost regular. It's enough to make Usagi wonder... is this a Hematite situation?

But then she's gone, and Mamoru is back, and she rushes over to him and hugs him tight, patting his back sympathetically.

"I didn't see anything, Mamochan," she lies, like a liar.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Well. That was something! He thought the lasers only, well, did as lasers usually traditionally did, with the burning and the death. He's never seen someone look better after a lasering. There's so much the Slasher needs to learn about mahous...

With the lack of fear in the air, he's down to almost human size, and the hood has fallen, leaving his face clear; the Back Street Slasher could be a very stressed 25 or a youthful 50, and the fangs are almost too large in such a skinny face.

He marches over to the girl with the hammer who had jumped from the shop, snapping the parasol shut and offering it to her.

"I need you to do me a favor and if you do, I'll leave and not eat anyone. Deal?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
That was the first time she'd tried that. Typically she could only really purify if someone ate what she made, but Daifuku had wanted to see if using it to physically attack might help too. It seemed it did. For that breif moment she takes a step toward Hossiwa starting to call out, "Hey, wait--!" But she was gone. In that similar manner as Phantom.

A single shiver runs unpleasantly through her. Mirroring people and coffin shaped teleports, but not Phantom. Just Mirage's people it seemed.

A glance is cast over toward Tuxedo Mask with a wince of sympathy in reaction to his embarassment. There's nothing she can do to help with that perhaps except deal with Ripper when he steps over to speak to her.

Uncertain and a bit suspicious she asks, "And what's that?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy lands dromatically from the backflip! It would look cooler if her hair wasn't soaked with soda!

    I can't cook! "Not even spaghetti? Or hamburgers? Or fish?" Amy wonders. Then dismisses her weapon. "Guh, I need a shower after this fight..." u_u

    The Back Street Slasher is given a questioning look, but Mamoru is a bigger concern. "You feeling okay?" she asks Tuxedo Mask now that he's de-mirrored. Although she guesses he probably feels a lot better with Sailor Moon rushing over to hug him, in any case.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"There's some girl in that shop who's having boy trouble. Purple hair like you," ....wait, could it be? He can't risk trying to tell right now when he's the Slasher Who Does Not Know Her, keep going, "apron, probably an employee. Buncha boys keep visiting her. I know this because I have been hanging around here for a few days to figure out if this place does fruit baskets."

LIKE REQUESTED! SAILOR MOON!! THE FRUIT BASKET!! DO YOU SEE HIM OBTAINING IT?

"Whatever's going on probably means Miss Cake Pop back there is going after one of her boys. The umbrella would probably be useful in IDing whichever boy it is. It'd be really inconvenient for me to have to find a half-decent pattisserie to buy a fruit basket at if this one blows up, so go make sure no one blows it up!"

Obviously he only cares because of the fruit basket. He has no connections here. Why would a monster eat wagashi?

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Kamen, hatless, just hides his face in Sailor Moon's shoulder for a minute, burning red. Even his ears are red.

"Okay," he says into her shoulder.

It's seriously a minute, because there's no way he's lifting his face until some of the blush goes away.

Finally, he takes a breath and lifts his face, and lifts a hand to card his hair out of his face, and looks... embarrassedly dignified, and lets go of Usagi to start getting up. "I'm fine!" he calls out to everyone, "I'm absolutely fine! Thank you! For getting me out of there--"

Didn't see anything. Right.

He leans down and whispers something to Usagi, voice a little shaky.

"Will you-- I mean, someday will you-- I mean, you meant I should ask now? Or should I-- I was going to wait for a dramatic opportunity and--"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Guardian Daifuku reaches out to yoink the umbrella away from Ripper with a sigh and roll of her eyes. "It's a Wagashi shop I doubt it makes fruit baskets. Maybe candied fruit or something." Because she totally doesn't know. Right? Right. With a sigh she just shrugs, muttering, "Boys," with a shake of her head. "Alright fine, I like this place too." Certainly not because she works here. Or because of her grandfather owning it. Nope.

Her attention shifts over toward Tux and Sailor Moon again only for her to wince further when he leans down to whisper.

Loudly clearing her throat she raises her voice as she only ever really does when transformed. "Okay then! Shop is safe, street is safe, everyone is way too young to be getting married--What even WAS that!? It's way too early for rooftop ramen so we should get out of the street before we end up truck-pancakes!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She pats Mamoru's back until he can speak, recognizing how embarrassed he is and with no reason to push, because personally, she is delighted to her core, even if obviously she would have preferred the moment to be different, but she's delighted, delighted, delighted!

And when he whispers to her, his voice shaky, she whispers back,

"The answer is yes. Of course it's yes! It's always yes. But if you want to wait for the perfect opportunity, I'm happy to wait."

As if she was going to say no. As if she was EVER going to say no!

The purchasing of this fruit basket is entirely beyond her awareness.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy, who came over to ask Tuxedo Mask if he was alright, hears... Oh my.

    Yeah, they're young, but... there was this whole other life they also had together, and also, they've had eachothers' backs in countless fights!

    She switches back to her normal outfit, and cheers with earnest excitement for a couple finding happiness amongst youma battles and multiple world-ending threats. "Congratulations, you two!"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"It could be candied fruit or pastries shaped like fruit," he grumbles. It's fine! It's normal! "Fine, fine, whatever, I've got other avenues for fruit baskets. He can eat grocery store fruit for all i care."

Huffs. Although, uh. Maybe if all that ring stuff was going on, maybe it requried a fancier basket? He's already committed to a fruit basket! He can't un-commit!

...and he's making a note to make Amy some proper wagashi when he had time. Give her a proper taste of Japan. He'd been making it nonstop for the past three weeks anyway, it wouldn't be out of character to share it.

"I'm outta here before the lovebirds stop tweeting." He throws her and Amy a little salute before skulking back into the shadows. Slasher OUT.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's very tempted to make a rude gesture in Daifuku's general direction, but occasionally he is possessed of some decorum.

Instead, he just starts beaming at Usagi, the smile transforming his face, just as it did when he was Endymion-- and even, at least once, when he was still Hematite.

He'll thank Amy in a minute, they'll get out of the street in a minute--

Right now, he bends down to kiss Sailor Moon right in front of the world.

She tastes like pineapple.