1912/Witching Hour

Witching Hour
Date of Scene:	31 August 2024
Location:	Beach
Synopsis:	Part 1 of the final confrontation with the Meanie Dokas! The sparkles have found Gretchen's Labyrinth and intend to put a stop to her mass brainwashing, but Rens and Tia stand in their way. What follows is a chaotic battle followed by the purification of the two X-Chara.
Cast of Characters:	Madoka Kaname, Hinoiri Kirara, Hinote Kagari, Usagi Tsukino, Taro Yamada, Haruka Tenoh, Mamoru Chiba, Yuki Hoshino, Coco Kiumi, Amanda Faust
Tinyplot:	The Meaniedokas

---

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    This is it.

    Today will be the day.

    Here on the beach of Yamegahama, at 10:00 PM at night, Madoka Kaname has called out to her friends and allies through any and all means at her disposal. She's called those whose phone numbers she had, left messages at The Shed, and even used the communicators she got during their trip into Beryl's time echo dimension. However she got the word out, the message was roughly the same.

    Gretchen has gone to far. We've found her hideaway. Please send help.

    As Hope Blossom stands on the boardwalk overlooking the beach she can't help but notice just how obvious the entrance to X-Paradise is. There's no portal that she can see, but she doesn't need to. The crowd of Witch Marked civilians gives it away.

    Smack dab in the middle of the beach is a statue of Hope Witch made of stony Labyrinth matter, meaning that only magicals should be able to see it. Surrounding the statue are non-magical human beings, each of them wearing one of Gretchen's Witch Stickers. They are mindlessly shuffling around like zombies, muttering phrases like, "Let's all love Gretchen!" and "Gretchen is the cutest and the best!"

    It is at the same time a little bit cute and at the same time absolutely horrible. Hope has to take a moment to reflect upon all the events that happened in her life to make this of all things seem almost normal.

    At the base of the statue is a food bowl, where these mindless humans leave small offerings of candy and pints of ice cream. Once in a while, a tiny portal opens and the food disappears.

    Madoka frowns in disappointment. They're taking offerings. "That's far enough!" she shouts as the portal opens. "You can't just take advantage of people like this!"

    The portal opens wider. Rens and Tia emerge. Rens speaks first, "It was not by our hand that we were once again given candy!"

    Tia shouts, "It was brought to us by humans who wish to give us cuddles!!"

    Okay, now Hope Blossom is angry. All of this... and they think that they can laugh it off with a bit?! She shouts back, "It's wrong and you're stealing from them! They don't know what they're doing!"

    Rens responds, "Perhaps the same can be said of all dummies!"

    Hope Blossom summons her wooden branch bow and fires a pink arrow directly at the statue, destroying the top half and sending it's debris into the ocean. "I'm not here to joke around! Cut it out with the bit!"

    Tia and Rens glance at their now destroyed statue as it starts to dissolve into strange black smoke. The fancy fairy shouts back, "What is a bit? A referential pile of memes! But enough talk..."

    Suddenly a huge Labyrinth portal opens, and waves and waves of Familiars start pouring out. It's a literal army, of all shapes and sizes. There are Familiars as small as bees, some the size of a house cat, and others as large as people. Two of them, Hansel and Gretel, have grown to the size of houses, and float near Tia and Rens respectively.

    "... HAVE AT YOU!"

    Madoka's eyes widen. Her X-Chara are actually moving to attack her. Except... actually, no they aren't. They're flying past her, surrounding her, swirling around her, but not harming a single hair on her head. A moment later, a portal opens under her feet and she falls though. It closes before anyone can stop what's happening.

    Rens adjusts her glasses. "Now, with our Bearer with us, no one can undermine our plans."

    Tia agrees, giggling, "That's right. All of the dumb things in this world will come to an end!"

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W-nlfhh8Uo

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara had been fiddling with the things she'd acquired. A weird knicknack she'd gotten from that shop, a few stickers she got from Gretchen, the little faded pin she'd stol-- borrowed from the nurse. She could feel magic in it. In all of it. She just had to--

And then she could feel *that*. She stuffed the pieces in her bag and got to her feet. Wait, why did she feel...

Gretchen? Wait, no, that was nonsense. How could she know if Gretchen was in trouble? That'd be ridiculous. They were like... friends and that was all. She...

Still, she got up and headed out. That sensation faded quickly, but it wasn't hard to notice people who were touched by the kiss of Gretchen. She rode up on her motorcycle, skidding into a stop in time to see Madoka, and whoever arrived with her, start to contront the tiny charas... "Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Was I ever this bad?" she muttered to herself.

Only to watch the memes and the bits from the tiny dokas. Couldn't they see... and... of course, they captured Madoka. Didn't they realize this was... this wouldn't make things better? It would only make things worse? This wasn't how Gretchen was going to get Sor-- Madoka to notice her. To see her.

"Gretchen, ugh..." She pulled out the tiny little wax cola... Oddly, she wasn't that concerned about being attacked by the familiars. After all...

She was a civilian. Gretchen may have been, somewhat, in control... and she wasn't a killer.

The sparkles, on the other hand? Those concerned her a bit more. She kept her helmet on, letting them all make the first move. If she could avoid being associated with this, she could... just be a weird girl in a black and red leather jacket, pants and motorcycle helmet with a motorcycle okay so she was honestly easy to identify but the sparkles had more important things to worry about.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote was helping Madoka search for The Meaniedokas and here they are, at the precipice of all their bad decisions. He looks over to Tracy as he looks over to Madoka. "Kaname-san, be careful." he says. Then there's this bit and he winces at just how dumb it is.

He has a reply to this. "My Own Heart: UNLOCK!" he calls out, merging with Tracy, who enters his egg to become Pulp Noir in a flash of light as he raises a pistol and aims at the statue, firing at it as he frowns.

"Bad bits and memes aren't going to help you. Please stop this." he pleads. "This has gone on lon----KANAME-SAN!" he says as Madoka is carted away through a hole as he makes a move to try to charge the Labyrinth... but the Labyrinth comes to them, as familiars pour out, two big ones hanging out near Tia and Rens as he raises the pistol and starts firing into the target rich environment of way too many familiars with powerful jets of water.

"...shit." he whispers.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon arrives with Tuxedo Kamen, because of course she does - in this moment and time, who else would be by her side? Madoka had reached out using the communicators (and also her cellphone), and they had both received the message.

At 10pm, the tide has certainly come in, not that that stops the worshipful crowd of Witch Mark'd civilians, and Sailor Moon is grimacing as she looks out at the crowd, because this really is too much.

She and Tuxedo Kamen, along with some others, are not far from Hope Blossom when she opens fire on the statue of Hope Witch, and she grimaces, looking at the gaudy thing. Getting worshipped like a god, Gretchen? Like being mistaken for a god ever went well.

Clutching her Crescent Wand, she finds herself hoping she won't have to use it, that they can still talk things out, but then Tia and Rens appear, and with them an army of Familiars -

"Hope-chan!"

She cries out, terrified for her friend, but Madoka isn't attacked by the swarm - she's just dropped. Into nothingness.

Mmmmm, yeah, still terrified for her friend, and now, angry about what these two are doing.

"What did you do to her?!" She cries out towards the two Chara, and strikes with the best weapon she has - a golden circle in the air in front of her, the Silver Crystal faintly glowing in her Crescent Wand as she casts the attack.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

Purifying beams of silver light and fogs of mist flow across the battlefield, heading for the front-running familiars.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Many more people than usual have wandered into Nounamu to buy wagashi. Many more. And there'd been a significant bump in attempted shoplifting, enough that Taro had had to jump the counter and start escorting people out. It was great for business, but also ominous. He'd told Oyaji to close early because he had a bad feeling, give Chiyo his apologies.

Taro had noticed the strange bruise marks, the glazed eyes, the way they compulsively tried to take -

Look. He's not proud of his past shoplifting, but he was usually BETTER at it than this. And usually he had looked anxious or hungry, not like a zombie straight out of 28 Days Later. The facts looked magical, and he was not going to wait it out until it turned into giant horrible vines slapping people to death.

Which is why the Ripper, aka the Back Street Slasher, aka Kuiper Belt Cape, is here in his ragged brown coat and his black kimono decorated with embroidered sunflowers and oleander, his red knife-horns short on his unnaturally pale forehead.

He doesn't know that girl with pink hair, but he does know those little magical girls kidnapping her and taking in offerings. He remembers their despair at being rejecetd, and how he'd advised them to find ways to regain the love they craved.

He flexes out a red blade from his palm to defend himself, to slash any familiar that tries to attack him, but in the other he holds up the precaution he brought - a box of pink mochi.

"Hey! I know I said you ought to make people love and adore you, but brainwashing doesn't really count! Can we talk? I brought an offering!"

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "Please send help." That was pretty much what Haruka Tenou needed to read, really. There's a lot of reasons she's here and some of them are rather selfish of her; protecting her city's streets, boredom, a bit of a daredevil instinct generally... but really, she's here because someone needs help. Because she's a Sailor Guardian and protecting the world is her duty. She can't just let a threat go unanswered, whether that threat needs to be handled with words or with wrath, she's there for it.

    Sailor Uranus arrives, but there's no way for her to stand tall on a beach dock log and make an entrance because the villains are in the middle of a whole 'thing' and then Madoka is gone, so she gives up on the grand Entrance Speech and just jumps down next to Hinote. Maybe it's because she's noticed he's blasting them with dangerously high pressure water and she knows how to work with that kind of attacker pretty well, so the tall girl in the Sailor Shorts lands next to him with a glowing sword to keep any familiars from getting too close to let him blast at the distant ones.

    Then Sailor Moon shows up and purification rocks out and Sailor Uranus calls out. "Hey Moon-chan, guess this means I'm in the right place!" she calls out.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru did, in fact, bring a slightly mean secret weapon.

Tuxedo Kamen came with Sailor Moon all right, but he's never had any purification of his own -- instead, he brought 'offerings' for Gretchen and her youngest sisters in the shape of Chiyo's purification lollipops, a precious and limited commodity now that Chiyo can no longer make them.

He sticks them back in his hat when Usagi pulls out the Escalation, though, because with Madoka dropped out of sight, almost all bets are off.

"I'm going to start trying to thin out the crowd of civilians," he calls out after a half-second's indecision-- there were other things he could have chosen to do, but he still doesn't want to hurt Gretchen, or her sisters, or Madoka-- because aren't her charas still part of her?

So cape and all, Tuxedo Kamen bounds down the beach toward the water and starts just taking stickers off the people the escalation didn't reach, ducking familiars as he goes and occasionally getting feathers in the face.

You know what birds literally never expect? Getting shoved. Perhaps the same goes for benotafraids.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki has been spending too much time split between studying, and working on the new parts she recovered from the Arthra's crash while she continues to try to repair Argent Dawn.

Unfortunately the RHA dorms are not the best (or safest,. or most convenient) places to work on the dimensionally-entwined interior of an Intelligent Device. She'd tried various campus facilities, but conference rooms, gymnasiums, and the like suffered from a mix of 'in use' and 'not private enough'.

She's not quite sure how she ended up deciding to try working on it in Gretchen's labyrinth - maybe the amount of time she's spent in there running from various baddies - oh this is really a bad idea, isn't it?

Besides, it meant time at the beach, according to the reply she'd received from the X-Chara. So she'd packed her tools, her parts, her swimsuit, and a few bags of candy, and headed off for the location in question.

A couple of hours of work have demonstrated to her that the distorted spacetime of a Labyrinth does not play sufficiently well with the distorted spacetime of a Device's interior to accomplish her goals. So at last she's given up, packed up her stuff, and dropped off the last of the candy before heading towards where she remembers the exit being.

"Oh, hey, Madoka," she greets the Pinkette she emerges next to. Then she looks down at her suddenly-awash feet and mutters something unpleasant under her breath. "What's with all the groupies?" she asks, waving at the assembly of humans and, presumably, the mahou outside.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco had just been here the day prior, meeting with Madoka at the beach to discuss Gretchen and exchange information. She had also tried to help the pinkette rest, and to help further with that, the mermaid princess had made sure to reserve some time to prowl the area, just in case she would manage to find something useful to tell Madoka. To calm her worries, at the very least.

And of course, she had explained everything in detail to the otters. Because there was no way she would sift through an entire beach by herself. Not even the sea was spared in her search. She'd met a marine Witch before, she wasn't leaving anything to chance.

Still, she had been quite puzzled when a statue of Hope Witch had shown up out of nowhere. Why would Gretchen be that blatant? Was she so self-assured? I mean, yes, probably.

First thing she did after the statue popped up was tell Madoka, then she left the beach to try and find a way to set up a barricade around the statue. She hadn't been particularly successful. Did the coral fairies had to have gone on vacation today of all days? This was hopeless.

She has come back just in time to watch Madoka get abducted by her own Charas. "You have really let the adoration go to your head. The statue was already eccessive." Cora agrees, because she runs over to try and tip the bowl.

"I avoid this the other time, but now you get to hear what is up with my singing. Legend of Mermaid: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!", Coco tells the two X-Chara, before starting to sing a purifying melody. The melody of the oceans starts narrating about the nostalgic song of a faraway world, and a promise to always be connected as long as the paradise of the seven seas is remembered, the fantasy of a night where stars like pearls release a wondrous light and give everyone a shining future.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy comes with her friends to see what the Meanie Dokas are up to and... what the hell?

    She can understand maybe using the witch marks to stop civilians from control by something else, but there... doesn't seem to be a point here?

    And she stares at the bit. "Guys, this is kinda serious... She doesn't move to attack, but then they're attacking Madoka?! "No!" She transforms and-- they didn't attack Madoka, they grabbed her.

    "Gretchen, what are you DOING?!" She pleads with the meanie dokas if visible, or shouts at the air assuming they can hear. "You're supposed to be making paradise! You promised!"

    If she can sense the labyrinth entrance, she'll walk towards it.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Rens and Tia look at Hinoiri, and spot the tiny cola. They look at each other for a moment, and then all of a sudden there is A Presence here.

    It's hard to really tell how you can feel her, but somehow, in some way, this whole area just feels Like Gretchen. The presence is powerful, yet distant. Calm, yet burning. She does not yet speak, but she's letting it be known that She Is Here.

    Pulp Noir's water jets cut through many of the different Familiars. The person-sized and cat-sized Familiars are probably the easiest to actually hit, and they fall rapidly to a concentrated attack. The tiniest minions fall rapidly to even the slightest damage, but there are so many of them that the swarm almost seems unstoppable. Wide area attacks like Moon's Healing Escalation is a bit more effective against them since it can hit the whole swarm at once.

    Uranus's swordplay can keep the rest of the Familiars away from the Chara detective, though some of the larger benotafraid knights start to surround them and fight back with eldritch spears.

    Coco's singing is perhaps the most wide spread, affecting all who can hear it. Truly, between Coco's song and Tuxedo Kamen's efforts, it doesn't take long for the Gretchen Kisses to get depowered and removed. The result is that the normal humans pass out in the middle of the beach. For some reason, likely due to Gretchen's spatial manipulation, none of them end up face down in the water.

    Tia and Rens look down at the Ripper and the offering of pink mochi, crossing their arms as they float back to back against each other. Tia says, "We don't have time for snacks right now! We're saving and conquering the world!"

    Rens adds, "Though... all of these non-combatants are getting in our way. I don't suppose anyone would object if we cleared the field?"

    Tia gloats, "After all, that's what we did with Madoka-chan. We merely moved her out of the way, to where she wont be harmed."

    Space once again twists and distorts, and all of the magically unaware are shifted away to the nearby boardwalk, left upon benches where they can rest comfortably and not drown. Rens and Tia may be little monsters but murder isn't on the docket.

    As for Amy... her efforts to reach the Labyrinth portal are stimied by a weird effect. No matter how long she travels towards it, she never actually manages to get closer to it. Soon, the portal closes, leaving the two X-Chara and their Familiar armies to face the sparkles. Rens speaks to her, "Everything is serious, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun with it!"

    Hinoiri, also, gets pushed over to the boardwalk. She can still be heard, if she wishes to speak, but there is a weird warping effect preventing magical attacks from reaching her or the others. Madoka is planted in roughly the same area, floating in a warp bubble of her own that she's unable to leave. "You guys!" she protests, "Stop this! If you wanted candy I would've bought you all the sweets you could ever eat!"

    While the purification song does eat at the dark aura currently surrounding the X-Chara, they are currently holding onto Dark General amounts of power, and it will take a lot in order to bring them down. Tia glances towards Madoka, saying, "Obviously this isn't about candy. None of this would've happened if you had simply accepted us from the start."

    Rens says, "If even someone as soft as our Bearer can sin against us so greatly, then what good is this world, anyways?"

    More Familiars appear out of the air, this time of the Actual Witch variety. The recklessly driving cars from the captive Persephone appear, driving around the beach and spinning helplessly out of control.

    As for Yuki, who was working with Gretchen with matters unrelated to global conquest, she's mostly left alone by the attacking Familiars. As is Ripper and Amy, since they haven't attacked yet.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Uranus and Pulp Noir get swarmed with a squad of benotafraid knights, armed with spears, swords and shields and all manner of medieval melee weaponry. Moon and Mask get chased down by reckless cars. Coco gets approached by a swarm of cat-sized winged spheres that shoot tiny black lasers at her.

    Tuxedo Mask shoving the smaller familiars results in a brief panic as they flap to regain flight control, followed by tiny eldritch complaints that is both completely incomprehensible but also sounds very distinctly like the general mood of, "Hey! That's not fair!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Hey, as long as Tuxedo Mask isn't in the recklessly driven cars, he's sure he'll be all right-- he immediately jumps up on top of one of them and starts riding it like it's a subway car and he's surfing.

The grumblings and protesting sounds from the littlest shoved benotafraids means that any time the car he's on drives him through formations of familiars he, yes, shoves them out of the way. And then he jumps from one car to the next, to the next, to the next, until he's on one that gets close enough to where Sailor Moon is dodging cars that he can stretch out on top, reach out, and grab her up on top of the car with him.

"I don't know," he huffs after a second, "what we can aim for, so I'll just let you figure that out--"

There's scrambling carefully and swaying with the motion of the car to get them both back on their feet, and Mamoru holds on to Usagi, and he's not just saying 'you pick' but also 'I'll back you whatever you decide' because there's that glow, that warmth, as he adds his power to hers.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"You're taking over the world?"

hey what. Arent you all like, kids?? Teens? Baby, even?? It's not that he does not respect the power here, but as someone who has been a teenager for over 50 years, he does have some questions. He uses his long, long legs to leap over familiars and bound across, trying to get closer without picking a fight.

Almost everyone else is going for violence, which, very fair. He usually uses violence. Violence is awesome, actually. But he'd had hands offered out to him - by Amy ,by Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, by Chiyo, by Naru and Adrien. IF they were like him, and he could be talked into being not a threat, maybe they couldtoo?

(And like. If not, he's very hard to kill. He's got his weak spot nice and hidden. It's not like he wants to get himself mauled, but he can take it better than most of the people here, in his estimation.)

"I figure you're all busy. It looks like you're making something really cool and important! I remember you telling me about the wonderful theme park you wanted to make last time we met!" He smacks the top of his box of mochi, using the noise as punctuation. "I know you want to make a wonderful world where everyone can have fun! But right now, all people can see is the scary wrold Beryl made, where she controlled people and made them sad! A hero should be able to entice the hearts of people without needing magic to MAKE them want to come."

He smacks the box again. "I brought these as an offering because I want to see your beautiful world! But as a villain, I can't accept it without being convinced by your beautiful ideals! If this world will be your playground - show us why we should love you, not with your magic but with your spirit!"

Come on. Engage them all in talking. Speak to them. He has spend decades trying to make the world acknowledge him; he is aware of how this can spiral.

Come on, Dokas! Show him the ideals you wield, and make him backdown not with power but with the soul of your argument!

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Sailor Uranus looks around, being poked back closer to the pulp private eye by the spears. "Are you sure it's that you haven't accepted Kaname-san?" she calls to the Charas. Well, she doesn't know how Charas work, it's just a shot in the dark.

    She looks to Hinote, more worried about him than her. She can just jump out of the collapsing wall but she doesn't recall working so directly with him before and she's not gonna leave the guy alone! "Hey, do you have your own way out of this or do you want a lift?" she asks, gesturing with her free hand to the steadily reducing space.

    "Look, I'm sure you want to try to keep me here but I kind of have a thing about small spaces and not being free to run..." she notes, collecting power in her hand in the form of an orange-colored prism. She's waiting for Hinotes answer before deciding how she's going to lob it at her opponents.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara watched all this, shaking her head. She was shunted away from the others, with the civilians. But well... that... didn't bother her. "Gretchen, all of you," Hinoiri said before taking her helmet off. "I know what you're doing. I understand what you're trying to do. But this isn't the way. I know you feel powerful right now, like it's the only way you can have everything you want. I've been where you are, I made the same mistake you're making. I thought... I thought if I made a big enough explosion, if I did *something*, finally she'd notice. I made excuses, I told myself it was the right thing to do. I said I was doing it for myself, I said I was doing it for the world, I said I was doing it to make things better, I said I was doing it to fix things."

"But all I ever wanted was for Sora to see me. And she never could. I know how it feels to have the most important person in the world to you deny you, Gretchen. I know how much it can hurt. And I know how desperate it can make you. How you finally turn to that darkness, how you think it can finally get you everything you wanted. But it can't. Madoka *loves* you. And even if she's not ready, you can't *force* her to see what she's doing. No more than she can just purify you and expect everything to be okay."

"You are just like Sayaka in that. Two halfs of the same coin. Trying to 'fix' the world, especially with dark energy like this, will only cause both of you heart ache and drive you further apart!" she called out to her.

Then, she placed the cola down on the boardwalk.

"Gretchen, if you push this too far, you'll cross a threshold you'll never be able to take back. You won't get everything you want, because what you want is something you can't force on the world no matter how much you want to. It can only come when the two of you understand each other, truly understand each other. And... while the goal of saving witches, of saving those who don't deserve their fate is good and noble... it's just another excuse. It's not what you truly want and until you understand that, until both you and Madoka understand that, you won't be able to fix any of this."

Hinoiri then walked back, sitting on the boardwalk. Another civilian. Helpless. Forced to watch. Only able to speak.

Gretchen deserved better, she didn't deserve to suffer this... and she... wanted to help. But she couldn't save anyone like this. But she understood it. That drive. That goal. Changing the world...

That moment when taking over and breaking the world seemed so, so much easier than actually getting what you truly wanted. When it seemed easier so you made it your goal. When snuffing out the sun and becoming the new sun was easier than just accepting the truth of what you really wanted being impossible and realizing you had to re-write your entire purpose up to that point, had to redefine the very person you were...

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir looks over to Sailor Uranus as he nods to acknowledge her help. He keeps firing until suddenly, he looks over to Uranus and answers her. "A little help would be lovely, I'm fast but maybe not that fast!" he says as he lets Uranus do what Uranus has to do to get them out of the way.

This is followed with him changing his pistol for the tommy gun as Uranus lifts him, he starts firing magical laser blasts from the tip of it towards the knights as he provides covering fire for Uranus.

"Let's go!"

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki slings her bag over her back and sighs softly. "If you were going to drop me in the water you could've warned me to change into my swimsuit first," she admonishes Gretchen and the other Charas.

At least all the non-combatants got teleported away. Good on that. Yuki recognizes some of the attackers as heroes she's heard of before, which puts a temporary hold to her first instinct to start shooting back and protect her friends. Instead she puts up a small shield to protect herself from any stray shots.

"Just what the heck are you all blasting away for? Gretchen isn't some sort of monster. She's a good person! She's helped lots of people! What is wrong with you all???" She stomps her foot in the water, sending up a little splash.

"You're supposed to be heroes, not gangsters! Act like it!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is quick to realize why she can't reach the portal. "You can do that even outside your labyrinth? That really is impressive..."

    Then what good is this world, anyway? Somewhere, Keaka sneezes.

    Amy sighs. She feels so tired. She glances at her less-than-3/4ths-full soul gem. But the familiars aren't attacking anyone who didn't attack first, and the humans -- for all that the Meanie Dokas look down on them -- are being kept safe.

    She turns to Rens and Tia. "She's only human, you know. We all are. We're weak, and scared. Most of us are thoughtless, and would have mindlessly declared you 'bad guys' and written you off; Hell, you kind of did yourselves, having declared this your 'villain arc' and all.

    She shakes her head. "Madoka may not have wanted to become you, but can't you see that doesn't mean she hates you?! She's been looking for you, she's worried about you-- Okay yeah, I hear it now." Amy holds a hand to her head.

    Amy sighs again. "...They don't accept you now, but..." She looks across those gathered.

    So many of her friends have gone on the offensive, attacking. Her soul gem dims slightly.

    But Taro didn't.

    She looks back to the self-proclaimed Meanie Dokas. "...But some of us do. That..." She hangs her head for a moment, then looks at them again. "That might be all anyone can get, in this world. You'll never be beloved by all, none of us will. But you... you reached out to help... people no one else saw any way to. Please. There has to... for your dream of X-Paradise, there's gotta be some way to work this out, right? Why were..."

    She waves a hand at where the statue and offerings were. "Why were you controlling humans? That's what, that's what turned this into a shooting match instead of a shouting match!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Somehow, one of the things Sailor Moon had not expected to face today, was not one, but a whole host, of recklessly speeding cars. Cars! They aren't even covered in millions and billions of eyes, Gretchan, what the hell!?

The presence of her is unmissable, heavy in the air, even with the Labyrinth closed, and Sailor Moon is dodging by mostly throwing herself out of the way every time a car gets too close, spinning like a top with dizziness from all the motions -

"Uranus-kun, you are so in the right place," she calls, and then shrieks as her hand is grabbed - only to stop shrieking, as she realizes who it is.

Tuxedo Kamen pulls her up to surf a car with him, and despite the wildly inappropriate setting, she takes the chance to press herself against his chest, cup his face, and kiss him. Right there in front of the eldritchly squawking benotafraids.

"I think we should go for the big ones," she says, feeling the warmth of his love and his strength, and she directs them both at the target.

"Golden Moon Healing Escalation!"

Gold and silver beams fly across the battlefield to strike one of the two house-sized familiars with purifying light.

Looking through the golden circle she's carved in the air to stare at the two chara, she adds her voice to those calling out.

"This isn't the way to do things! You can't just control everyone in the world and think you'll make them happy!"

And then theree's some girl, and she calls out -

"Did you miss all the brainwashed citizens?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Cora's efforts to tip the candy bowl get thwarted when she gets shifted to the boardwalk together with everyone else. Everyone that happens to be there can hear a squeal of frustration. Those candies really shouldn't have been theirs. The chief otter just sits down on her hind legs, watching everything that is occurring, hoping everything turn out alright. Meanwhile some of the other otters have moved around Hinoiri, silently wondering how she is staying awake.

"Leave Blossom, will you?!", Coco shouts at the two X-Chara. "If you had the minimum awareness of how much she has been running herself ragged because you don't have a minimum of awareness, then you would be still be apologising to her next year at this time." She is frustrated that the purification actually isn't reaching them, but there is nothing she can do there but persist.

"She cares for you so much, that it actually makes me angry you refuse to accept it. She really want to make things right for you three, but you only stress her further. Gretchen, you should have understood that by yourself! Even if she has made mistakes, you know how bad Madoka feels about your situation. Do you really think driving her to exhaustion is the way to get result?"

Resuming her purifying song, she puts all the emphasis she can into her words of posivity, letting them reach the X-Chara if not the purification. When it comes to the spheres attacking her, she forms a Live Stage sending the large white sphere to crash against them, about to overrun them like being on a bowling course.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "We're taking over the world!" confirms Rens.

    "One step at a time!" agrees Tia.

    After hearing Ripper's arguments, Rens says, "I mean... we can't very well convince them when they don't even see or hear us."

    Tia adds, "Being invisible is kind of a communications barrier, you know."

    Rens speaks, "All of these people are sad and alone and scared for a variety of reasons, sometimes of their own making and sometimes for factors completely out of their control."

    Tia says, "It's not fair, so we're going to make it fair! Change may be scary, but we will have our perfect world!"

    Hinoiri calls out to Gretchen, and Tia sticks out her tongue. "How can you say she loves us when she doesn't even accept us! The three of us were rejected before we were even born. What chance did we even have?"

    Rens responds, "Dark energy is all we have. We don't get to sparkle like you, so we're doing what we can."

    Madoka squints at her two wayward X-Chara, and then she smiles widely while shouting, "Actually, Tia-chan, I can accept you just fine. NEGATIVE HEART---" Before she can complete the phrase, Hansel is already interposing itself between Tia and Madoka, "-- LOCK ON!"

    Despite everything, despite the weird warp bubble surrounding Madoka and isolating her from everything else, her attack still gets through. Her heart-shaped outlines pelt against Hansel's wings and brass rings full of eyes while Tia raspberries at Madoka from a distance. "You still can't hit me, dummy!"

    Even though she says that, Tia's clearly worried. Madoka is serious this time. Rens pats Tia on the back. "Don't worry. We'll still play with you even if you stop being evil."

    "You're next, Rens!" shouts Madoka. "Someone needs to help bring my grades up!" The science chara also seems a bit nervous.

    Gretchen's presence also seems to communicate... something. There are no words persay, but it gives off a feeling of, "... but I'm so close... I can't stop now."

    Yuki speaks, and Madoka responds, "They're mind controlling people! We can't just let them have their way anymore. As their Bearer I'm putting my foot down!"

    Amy gets a response from the Gretchen presence. Truly powerful Witches can do this and more. Rens also responds to her, "True. We did. We called ourselves the Meaniedokas and we didn't hide from this."

    Tia adds, "We called ourselves that because we knew it would upset our Bearer to leave, that it would upset others, and because darkness in this world always carries certain implications. Implications that are better embraced than denied."

    Rens continues, "Besides. We knew how Puella Magi work. We knew that whenever a good thing happens due to magic, a bad thing has to happen in return! We're just getting the bad out of the way."

    Tia says, "As for the humans, we need their energy, and they need our guidance!"

    The wall of soldiers closes in on Uranus, but they are respecting the distance. Nothing is more vulnerable than an army that crowds and trips over itself, and the X-Dokas seem perfectly content to keep them corralled without actually going for the kill. Unfortunately for the Familiars (and fortunately for our mahou) this means that Uranus and Pulp are able to force their way through, leading to the strange knights chasing after them allowing magical wind and water to tear them apart.

    Moon's purification magic goes right for the house-sized Hansel and Gretel, and the two overgrown minions shake and shudder as they tank the hit from the Golden Moon Healing Escalation. They wither, weaken, and start to squeak... but they remain firm. Rens and Tia start pouring their darkness into their bodyguards, keeping them alive and active against Moon's and Mask's combo attack.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Though... it strains them. Yellow Pearl Voice's song isn't helping matters, either. Or rather, it is, depending on your perspective. There's a lot to get through, as Gretchen is pulling energy from devotees all over the world, but there's something to be said for persistence. Her Live Stage hits the flying Familiars like a bowling ball, knocking them around like pins, knocking them into each other so that they have to rapidly change their flight plan in order to stay afloat. Some of them don't make it, either crashing into the ground or dissolving as her song nullifies so much of their energy that they can't maintain their form.

    Yet the X-Chara's hearts refuse to change. Tia says, "If you knew how much we were hurting, or how long Gretchen was hurting, you'd know it was Madoka who owes us an apology!"

    Madoka frowns at her X-Chara, retorting, "I am sorry, but for you two at least... I know I can make things right between us."

    Tia shouts back, "If you can't save Gretchen too, then we don't care!"

    As for Moon's objections to Gretchen's plan, the Presence responds with something vaguely like, "I can and I will."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Sailor Uranus wraps an arm around Hinote and jumps out of the squad of familiars, unleashing an attack onto the ground just as she does so, slamming that prism-like condensed energy into the ground as she leaps."WORLD SHAKING!"

    The sphere of condensed energy of the Solar Wind rips the ground around them in a spiral, bringing a real shakeup to the battlefield as she leaps away and sets Hinote down somewhere that isn't an impending circle of stabby spears.

    Then she looks up to Yuki. "Girl, can you not feel the evil energy radiating from them?" she asks. It's not occured to her that perhaps Yuki can't. "They're at the very least misguided in their actions right now, and they're the ones who summoned a crew of goons too. So if anybody's being gangster like it is them!" And Sailor Moon brings up the brainwashed citizens which... is a better argument. "Also that!"

    "And little fairy-girl-things... We can't just let you do this even if you think it's right. Everyone has the right to their own life and their own mistakes!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    People keep ranting about how worried Madoka's been, how much she cares, and now that Amy's noticed it it's grating. Yellow Pearl voice shouting that they should apologize for a year actually makes Amy scream in frustration. "Auuugh!" She tries to gather her thoughts while the Meanie Dokas talk.

    Ah. So the people were suffering too. Amy can understand that well, and nods; able, at least, to accept that Gretchen meant well and was not merely using them as worthless creatures beneath her or something.

    Madoka says she accepts them and then launches an attack. "Madoka no!" Amy reaches out a hand, uselessly.

    She turns to the others. "But Madoka never accepted them. She... all of you, only care for... For some idea of what Gretchen, Rens, and Tia could be in your heads, rather than who they are. I'm sure they prefer a Bearer who's... I'm sure they prefer Madoka to, to someone who actually hates them, but... can't you hear yourselves?"

    She gestures towards Hinoiri. "At least she gets it. Kind of."

    Good magic must be balanced by bad. "Kyubey may talk like that but that doesn't make him right!" Amy objects. "The universe doesn't get its worth from just existing according to rules. A hundred years... a year... even a month of people finding beauty and friendship and love in the universe is worth more than a trillion years of... of rocks flying in curves in the light of distant fusion reactors!"

    "Paradise can't run on such a rule! You've got to believe you can do better, right?!"

    She nods as Tia points out that if Madoka won't accept Gretchen, that doesn't resolve the conflict here.

    Amy turns to Rens and Tia, gesturing towards Hinoiri. "Is she right? Is saving Witches not really the goal here?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The enormous Hansel and Gretel tank the attack, quaking, wavering, and Sailor Moon grits her teeth at the sight, trying her best to think of how to double down on this, because -

"No, you can't, Gretchan!" The affectionate nickname remains, despite what's happening here, but her words come out ferocious nonetheless. "Some of these people might be sad, they might be lonely, they might even be in despair! But they deserve to be themselves! You don't get to make them into someone else, just because you're arrogant enough to think you know best!"

The Silver Crystal glows a little more at the fire in her words, and she turns towards Amy, snapping out, voice hard,

"People who turn other people into their slaves don't get to be accepted all open hearted! Madoka-chan might have rejected her dreams, but are you going to tell me there's anyone here who's never turned away from a dream? Tia and Ren have the right to be hurt - they DON'T have the right to do all this nonsense! That's why we're here! To fight for everyone you're using like toys! You don't get to take their energy! You don't get to change their hearts! And as long as you think your own hurt means you do, there will always be people who stand against you! You can't make paradise by manipulating and using people - copy the Christians, that's just trapping them in hell!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There is kissing, and Mamoru is delighted, kissing back right in front of the benotafraids-- but then they get to work, and Sailor Moon calls her attack with their combined strength, and it has an effect! But the Meanies keep pouring more dark energy into the big-as-houses familiars, Hansel and Gretel, and Tuxedo Kamen looks up at them. "Is it bad I want to ride around on one of the really big ones? Kunzite would be so annoyed."

Then he leans forward past Usagi so he's not yelling in her ear when he yells past her, after she rebukes the Meanie Dokas, "And besides, Gretchen you really are the best! You don't need to go full witch and hurt people, you're already the best!"

Then he hears Amy start arguing that they shouldn't fight-- and worse. "Red! This is not a platitude! Dark energy corrupts even the most earnest of impulses, it makes hurts worse. The hurts can't be fixed until the dark energy is gone! We HAVE to get the dark energy out BEFORE any of your speechifying will work, and I really resent the fact that you think you have the right and the obligation to lecture people who are trying to stop dark energy from making a problem too big for us to handle! You have no idea what any of us thinks or feels, so don't decide you do! Either actually help, or stand down!"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"You think I dont know about the Fade? I've been active for decades! I have a wikipedia page! First year of activity, 1973, even though I was definitely doing stuff in 1967!" the Slasher yells, and he is hopping over more familiars as he heads toward the Meanie Dokas. If they don't put a barrier of some kind up, he will be attempting to join them wherever they float or stand next round so he can try and talk them down mano a meanie.

"I had to swap between human and monster, monster and human, over and over again to make the memories stick. I spent so much time trying to make people remember me. It sucks so much for no one to acknowledge you," he says, sweeping through the familiars with one black sleeve. In the dark, the gold of his sunflower embroidery glows against the blood red of the oleander flowers on his kimono.

The other mahou are wearing the army down - which is good. His goal remains the Meanie Dokas. The others plead and yell and - it's natural, of course. The natural reaction to a hurt and angry child lashing out is to ask them to stop. He's been on both sides of that equation.

"Controlling people to love you won't work! Trust me, I've been there. I saw what happened when people had to accept others at the barrel of a gun!" Not that he's still mad about growing up in the 50s.

He makes to the feet of the Meanie Dokas and holds his offering of handmade mochi up. The delicate smell of peaches wafts from the box.

"You want to be loved. A love forced by someone else doesn't work! It tastes terrible! It only feels good if you earned it!"

The towering nine foot tall vampire-yokai says, "Please! You're good kids! You'll just feel sad after this! Your Ma may be frustrating, but she loves you! You don't have to become yokai or gods to be loved!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara crossed her arms over her chest, watching them. Why. Why did it have to be this way? Madoka... she really was the source of all this. "Sometimes people hurt the people they love," Hinoiri said softly. "Sometimes people misunderstand. Things aren't easy. We say the wrong things. Do the wrong things. Gretchen, Madoka owes you so, so many apologies..."

"... And you need to hear them."

She clutched her hands and looked out, watching the battlefield. Purifying them wouldn't work. No matter how many times they were purified, it wouldn't solve the root cause. That was what dark energy WAS. It snuck in, it took your vulnerability...

It was something they'd accepted. Not something they'd had forced on them. They weren't the victims of dark energy. They were the victim of Madoka's denial.

"Dang it, Madoka! You can't MAKE things right between yourself and them! You have to accept them! It doesn't matter if you purify them because the dark energy isn't the CAUSE of them being like this, it's the EFFECT! The only one who can change this is YOU! DANG IT! GRETCHEN!"

Hinoiri growled and then got to her feet and ran off. There had to be some way out of the spectator area. Some way to get there. To talk to Gretchen. All of this, it was all just a scream for help. For someone to rescue her. To save her. To save them. Trying to reason her out of it wouldn't work, because what Gretchen needed... Gretchen needed to understand what it was she really wanted. Until she saw that, until Madoka saw what she was doing, all this would do was cause more heartache...

And as she disappeared from sight, as she ran out of view, trying to find some way to get to the battlefield, her necklace glowed, the little wings in her pocket, the little sticker sheet of Gretchen kisses and the small little pin...

All of them glowed...

And in the middle of the fight, a few moments later, a figure in black and gray descended on the battlefield. An explosive boot came down, to kick the bubble trapping Madoka. When it kicked it, an explosion erupted from the foot, as if there was a shotgun attached to the end of it and it erupted out, into gray blasts of magic. There was only one person who could end this fight. Who could stop this. And it wasn't because of her purification, or her destiny, or her power.

It was because she was the mother of these dreams and the thing they needed, more than anything else... was their mommy.

"The only one who can stop this now without more heartbreak is Madoka Kaname. Not Hope Blossom," the strange figure said.

Totally not someone any of them know, definitely not.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir gets carried away. Literally, but Sailor Uranus out of harms way and and he continues firing. As people talk, he stops and hefts his gun downwards a moment. Not firing.

He talks. "I'm sorry, Gretchen, Tia, Rens, but we can't allow you to do this. This case gets closed tonight, whether you like it or not." he says.

He then lifts the gun and starts firing magical blasts again, rapidly into familiars.

"So stop this Hubbub already!" he yells

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco didn't expect the vehemence with which Amy is expressing her opinion at them. "Red, she tried! She tried her best to accept Gretchen! She didn't really know how and didn't always do the right thing, but you know Hope Blossom too! She would never be rest as long as she is suffering and they can be well! Is this the girl the three of them want to cry foul against? The one she is so stressed that she barely sleeps!? Do they think making her feel worse will make her progress?"

She really can't believe Amy is advocating for compromising Madoka further, whether intentionally or not, but she doesn't get why she would have believed messing with dark energy would produce anything good to begin with.

"Why then? Why would Madoka owe you an apology? What do you think she hasn't tried her best in? Why do you think she doesn't care about Gretchen's suffering?" Coco stares at the X-Charas.

"And you really know nothing about guiding humans. How old are you? A month? Something around that number? We mermaid princesses have kept the seas safe since forever, and we have never needed to make them adore us. If they didn't have to fear the demons that populate the seas, if the oceans thrive, that's because we have intervened in their protection. Are you really sure what you are doing is necessary to guide humans?" she yells infervorated. She really cares about the mission they have been entrusted with for their whole life.

The mermaid princess raises her right arm, the bracelet on her wrist shining with white light as a halo of yellow light moves downwards from the mermaid princess's head, transforming her further and enhancing her purification. "The Tale of the Seven Seas ~Pearls of Mermaid~: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!"}" Coco too sings of the story that leads all lives to paradise, shimmering beyond the seven seas. Everyone is surely protected under the veil of love. and go down their own paths. The melody speaks of bonds and heartbeat will still be conveyed through a stormy sea. She sings of wanting to become a life that can warm the world. Even when the large rainbow fades away, at the end of our dreams there will surely be an overflowing rain of happiness that everyone will share.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
The charas... are mind-controlling people. To try to make paradise. Yuki's palm covers her face as she takes this accusation in, and the X-charas admit it.

"Gretchen," she starts to ask, "Rens. Tia. Is this what you've been planning all along? While I helped you?" So maybe she wasn't a whole lot of help. So what. She still helped. And let Gretchen help her. And now she's maybe a little angry.

"Gretchen. This is a bad plan/ By which I mean a lose your hat plan. Any plan requiring mind-controlling the entire population to make them get along.... I mean, what's the point of it all after that? You don't have people, you have puppets! Isn't that why you were rescuing the X-charas? So they wouldn't be someone's puppets?" That was what she thought the plan was, at least.

An octagonal midchildan mandala starts forming behind her, spinning into position, spell-darts forming as vertxes intersect. Nothing fires yet, the darts holding in place and orbiting around her with the circle as she continues building up.

Someone mentions a 'veil', and now she's curious, but she has bigger things to worry about at the moment. "Get over here RIGHT THIS MINUTE, little lady! You and I need to have a talk about why you think I am not going to give you the spanking of a lifetime!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Tia shouts down to Uranus, "Yeah that's right! We're gangstas!"

    Rens adjusts her glasses and joins in, "We are, indeed, straight up G's."

    Hope Blossom shouts at them, "I don't know what that means and neither do you!"

    Rens ignores her Bearer and keeps talking to Uranus, "But nobody even wants their mistakes! Everyone always has regrets. Why let them get hurt that way?"

    Rens and Tia agree with Amy on at least one point. Rens shouts, "That's right! Missing us isn't enough. It's no different than a mother who loves their children but then forgets to feed them!"

    Tia frowns at the mention of saving Witches not being the goal, and she says outright, "Even right now, Gretchen-chan is trying to reach the hearts of the two captive Witches. Not only to do it, but to prove that it can be done. Maybe there's some hope that doing so will prove her value in Hope's eyes... but if I'm being honest? We've given up on the idea of Hope-chan ever accepting her. We don't care anymore."

    Rens adds, "We're just trying to do the best we can with what we have. Just because we can't come true, that doesn't mean our existence has to be worthless."

    Sailor Moon's impassioned rebuke gets frowns from them, and since she doesn't attack they no longer have to reinforce their battered defenders as hard. A lot of the Familiar-based attacks seem to have died down, since the army has thinned out a lot, but Rens and Tia are not yet surrendering. Even as Uranus and Pulp Noir continue to wear down their numbers, and Coco's song rings out across the battlefield.

    "Are our actions truly so evil in your regard?" asks Tia to Moon, sincerely.

    Rens frowns. "Perhaps our vision of paradise isn't living up to peer review."

    Tia shrugs, "The X-Eggs seem to enjoy it."

    Tia and Rens watch the Slasher approach, not really stopping him as he isn't attacking. They look down at the Mochi, and Tia takes objection to at least one thing he says. "Love that must be earned is dumb, too. Always wondering if you deserve it... always being measured to an unknowable, moving standard. I couldn't care less about that."

    Rens adds, "Aside from that, Gretchen is a god. Whether people know that or not, whether they worship her or not, is immaterial. People worship spirits that cause hurricanes and storms. She can redefine the very rules of reality. What more could you want?"

    Yuki's response is immediate. The Gretchen Presence responds. We were looking for a friend, and those X-Eggs were just being used for Easter's experiments. In no universe is our plan worse than whatever dumb thing Obsidian is doing.

    Hope Blossom frowns at Hinoiri from within her own bubble and says, "I know my own heart, thank you. I wouldn't be doing this if all it would result in was hurting them. I came here to finish this. I did not come unprepared." Then she takes her eyes off of Hinoiri for a second and she's gone. A moment later, a brand new magical girl is showing up to kick her out of the bubble. Now freed, Hope Blossom lands on her feet and says, "Thank you... whoever you are... but I'm going to end this now."

    Hope's feet settle down on the boardwalk where all of the civilians have been tossed. Her hand brushes against the invisible wall that separates them from the battlefield. Gretchen's power is manifesting here, outside of her Labyrinth. Or... perhaps it would be more accurate to say that her Labyrinth has extended all the way out here.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Yet the barrier is not perfect. Madoka may not be as good at math or science as Ami or Takashi. She may not understand the intricacies of space travel, but she has been Hope Witch often enough to know how bending space works. If this barrier were truly impenetrable, then light and sound wouldn't get through either. So, now that she knows a hole exists, it's only a matter of finding it. She fires an arrow at a specific point in the invisible wall, creating a gap which she then jumps through, turning back to Equivalence and saying, "If you want to come help, you better move quickly. She'll close up the wall soon."

    Madoka then walks towards the shore, towards the ocean, towards the spot where Rens and Tia hover high up in the air. Her two X-Chara squint and glare at her as she approaches. Then, with the kind of firm boldness that only a parent can wield, Madoka shouts, "I came here to bring you home. Rens, Tia, and even Gretchen." She places her hand over her heart. "I know I've let you down. I know I've hurt you, but we need each other. Since the moment you two hatched, all I wanted was to get to know you better. I'm not here to pass judgment on you, or tell you that you're bad children, but I will stop you from doing bad things. That's my job."

    Her hand moves to the Humpty Lock hanging around her neck. "I'm really sorry... for the way things have gone, and for how hard things will probably always be. I'm sorry for not accepting Gretchen or you two until now. But Gretchen has always been meant to represent the best in me, and that's not what this is!" She gestures towards the broken statue, the tire tracks left in the sand, and all of the mess that their battle has created. "I could do better than this by doing nothing at all! This isn't me, and this isn't you! This is all of the darkness that you two took onto yourself!"

    Holding her Locket up high, she looks up at her two prodigal X-Chara, saying, "I love you two with all of my heart! Ceaselessly and always, no matter what you do, but I have no love for the dark energy that's twisted your mind and led you to make these choices! That power, that hatred is my enemy!" Hope Blossom starts to glow with pearlescent power. Even without being Hope Witch, her emotional power is spiking.

    All of a sudden, Rens and Tia's dark aura sputters and fades. The Familiars retreat through portals. The Gretchen Presence tells them that enough is enough.

    Rens, surprised, demands, "Gretchen... why?! We can still beat them! She can't stop us!"

    Forget all of that. She has already accepted you in her heart. Go and be happy. There's no reason why you two have to suffer with me any longer.

    Tia shakes her head, "And leave you by yourself?! Never! I can't accept that!"

    We will not be apart for long. Hope and I will settle things shortly. For now, please, just be happy... I will take it from here.

    It's then that Hope Blossom shouts her purification phrase, "NEGATIVE HEART: LOCK ON!" The beam of heart shapes emits from Hope's hands, trapping the two inside.

    Tia shouts, "No! I won't accept this ending! I refuse!" and points her parasol towards Madoka, opening it to form a dark barrier that beats back the purification.

    Rens joins her power with her sister's, reinforcing the barrier, "We can't stop now. We're so close!"

    Madoka takes a deep breath in, and lets it out, before shouting, "OPEN HEART!"

    A lot of pearlescent rainbow magic comes out of Madoka's hands, but there's still a lot of pure darkness inside the twin X-Chara. The darkness forms a solid wall before turning into a beam. Wicked and horrible darkness pushes back against pearlescent light, gaining ground against their Bearer, but Madoka grits her teeth and is not giving up.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir raises his hand now. "Everyone with a purification power....now's the time to help Kaname-san!" he says as he raises the gun and keeps up the cover for folks, trying to keep familiars off people as he pulls his fedora down a little.

"Gangsters...." he says as his eyes glow from underneath the fedora ominously. Someone said a magic word. His gun starts firing faster. Yeah that was a magic word.

"Hoodlums..."

"Thugs...."

"All the same to me, kid!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The car Familiar that Tuxedo Kamen and Moon are riding on top of is doing donuts while spinning out at the same time. It seems lost and doesn't know where to go.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy sighs at Yellow Pearl Voice. "Yeah, she did try her best and she couldn't. That might not be Madoka's fault..." Amy points at the mermaid, "but it's not Gretchen's either."

    Amy glares right back at Sailor Moon. "It's fine that they're sad and lonely and in despair, is it? That's not our business. We'll just, you know, go on living in a world where we know magic is real and could help them, and they only know a lie, kept in the dark. Not our fault that it serves us more than it serves them."

    Amy turns back towards Rens and Tia. "You're right that they shouldn't be under Gretchen's control and the being forced to give candy offerings thing was just creepy, but there's no outcome we can offer where their agency is truly their own."

    Tuxedo Mask got words right back at her, though. People she cares about are mad at her, and have a point, and resent her, how dare she claim to know their thoughts and speak for them! (Well, that's not exactly what he said, or what she said, but it hits all the same.)

    Amy grips her arm, glaring down at the sand, clenches her fingers, and looks up at Tuxedo Mask. "You... heard them. They... don't get to sparkle. Only... to suffer. Why isn't the light offering to make a new world, then?! Because this is messed up!"

    Even Taro is telling them to give up. "'Good kids', really? Isn't that a little patronizing?"

    Always wondering if you deserve it. Always being measured to an unknowable, moving standard. Amy winces at the words, hands clenching tighter.

    At least Hinoiri still sees the root of the problem, although none of them can make Madoka accept Gretchen, nor can they make Gretchen someone Madoka can accept.

    And then there's someone new on the field, also arguing for Madoka to solve this without blasting the X-Charas with magic. That's... something?

    Yuki also addresses the mind control. Amy assumed it wasn't going to be forever, but...

    What if she's read Gretchen wrong?

    What if she's read Gretchen wrong the whole time?

    She could... Amy could still join the fight. She could help. But imagining striking a blow against Gretchen feels so wrong. Can someone really be so bad... just made that way?

    What did you do, Mallory?!

        An unknowable, moving standard.

    What is wrong with you?!

        Knowing you'll never deserve it.

    You should know better!

    It never mattered how hard he tried, or what his intentions were. He was always wrong.

    They were wrong. The adults were wrong. The other kids were wrong. She knows that now, having found acceptance at Radiant Heart. Amy looks over at her friends. Will they change their minds, too?

    She remembers talking with Taro and Usagi about what they really are.

    No, they wouldn't... but there's also no hope for Gretchen? No hope for Witches?

    That can't be right either...

    The red Puella Magi holds her hands to the sides of her head, feeling unsteady before collapsing to her hands and knees.

    Hearing Tia and Rens shout they can't accept this ending makes her lift her head to look at them, but. She doesn't have an alternative to offer. Maybe Tuxedo Mask is right, she should just stay out of the way.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Yeah, love shouldn't be earned. But brainwashing for it doesn't work either. It's not real. You know it's not real as well as I do. Love, like fear - you can't really earn it but you can't really not-earn it either. It's something that's special for you!"

He hauls himself up to be on the Minidoka's levels, one arm free, the other still holding the box of mochi.

"Even if she's frustrated, your ma Madoka still loves you. You don't need to earn it. You don't deserve it, either. She ought to love you, but you ought to love her too! You're both two sides of the same coin! No matter what - a bunch of earnest kids like you deserve love from your mama! There will always be a place for you!"

And - he can't bear to raise a hand to them. He's here to bring them home, like he will never go home. But as purification attacks ring out, he'll keep the minidokas in place, ensure that their hearts are freed from their agonies - let them go home to their mother, like he never will be able to.

He's neither light nor dark. The attacks will sting, but they won't disintigrate him. It's worth it - it has to be. Who could bear to watch a mother and her children tear each other apart?

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Steady -- and Madoka's got her Charas pinned with the weight of her regard, as it were, as well as a purifying attack.

Barely steady, anyway. It's really hard to keep the steady as the bumper car under them is being a bumper car at full size without bumpers, and Mamoru sighs through his teeth and scoops Moon up and jumps!! On top!! Of the nearest tall thing!! Which in this case is a lifeguard stand, or maybe the boardwalk railing. "Still wish I could still fly," he tells Moon as they land and he sets her down.

And then his hand's on the small of her back again, and glowing warm again to boost her attack--

And Amy's calling back to him, and he yells, "We can talk about it over ramen later, and we should! But the middle of the fight is not the time!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence smiled when Madoka went through the hole. Maybe... Maybe this time Madoka could get what she needs. And through it, Gretchen could. She kicked off the ground and followed Madoka into the abyss.

She did this for Gretchen, though, not Madoka. And hearing Madoka say that Gretchen was the best in her? Well...

It seemed, finally, perhaps finally, Gretchen was going to be saved this time. And well, once the underlying issue was solved, all that remained was the need to kick that darkness OUT so the healing could start.

The gray-haired girl followed Madoka, her own heart burning. She didn't know what this was, or how she was doing it now, but well...

It seemed she finally got that miracle she'd wanted, and she'd help them save Gretchen and make the right choices this time. "There's nothing any of you can do," Equivalence said. "If she's finally able to accept you, to no longer deny you? Then all that remains is to wipe away the darkness and set you free so you can return to where you belong."

And for now? She'd just cover Madoka. In case any of the familiars got clever ideas, her feet exploding like little magical shotguns when they came close. Sorry, not sorry.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "You should learn from your mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, but what matters... the person you are... is shaped by learning from them." She says, firmly. She certainly has her own share of mistakes, and while she might regret making them, she doesn't regret learning from them.

    "Puella girl, this already is a new world!" She can't remember if she was in the past, but to be fair Haruka wasn't really in the group for that one, a lot of the time. "This world exists because we said something wasn't right and we were going to fight to make it better! But brainwashed minions, hurting people, forced offerings is no better than what Beryl wanted to bring. And I didn't fight one tyrant to get another one!" she yells. "But you're right about one thing, these girls don't seem to want to be tyrants. So we're going to help them see the light!"

    And in this case it's the light that Sailor Uranus meant literally, the purifying light of Sailor Moon's and Madoka's hope and the concept of hope in general. More literally than even she knows.

    "The barrier that's trying to stop you from understanding... I'll help destroy it!" She says, calling her blade to her hand once again.

    "Space Sword BLASTER!" she calls, sending out cutting waves that seek to open the path for the purification Madoka is pushing towards the Chara.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Red, are you being obtuse on purpose?" That's surprisingly harsh for Sailor Moon, but it's probably not a surprise to literally anyone who's seen her take the Shitennou to task. "It's not fine but that's their hearts! That's their feelings! No one in the entire world gets to use magic to STEAL THEIR FEELINGS!"

Yes, she's yelling by the end, and the Silver Crystal glows, glows, glows, alight with how much her heart is full.

"The world can be cruel and unkind. Everything can end in fire and blood. You can be alone as your world ends -" there's a flash in her mind, of the sword gripped in her hands, of the sword that cut down the love of her life, of the fires that set a world ablaze in the distant, the despair and hurt and the determination that shrouded it all - "But that doesn't mean someone gets to come and steal away your heart!"

Words for Amy. For Rens. For Tia. For Gretchen, most of all.

Madoka has found her answer, her truth, and she strikes out with the heart shaped attack that had helped catch Sunset of Sora -

And like, giving a speech is really hard while cars are bumping and moving. So she's grateful, really, when Tuxedo Kamen scoops her up princess style and umps onto the lifeguard stand, and he says they should tall about it over ramen, and he's right, and she will not kiss him again right now even though like - she really wants to. Because she can feel the love in his hand, his love and determination and the swell of his heart, and she smiles.

"You'll get there again," she believes it, "Hemachan doesn't get to keep that one."

And then she doesn't draw a golden circle - nope, she draws a golden heart in the sky. There's only one name that could truly suit this attack. Even if, maybe, it's not the most suited for the moment.

"Insufferably In Love Golden Moon Healing Escalation!"

Gold and silver beams of light BLAST the barrier, joining with Madoka's power.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco just briefly looks sadly in Amy's direction at the fact she seems not to want to see where the issues with Gretchen lies.

There are merrier news though when Madoka has pierced through the barrier, and the yellow mermaid smiles brightly in her direction, happy to see her all right. Let's go ahead with this!

"Mother Symphony: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!" Coco has a joyous smile on her face now that Madoka is fully taking a stand. The magical notes of her song swell up in energy and reach with her, a melody of taking care of worn-out wishes, a call to give a sad heart the kind mother's lullaby, its seven-pitched melody a call to let everyone know you're fighting with your soul's pride. "Fine Heart Pitch!" she declares, the purification reaching out in order to cleanse the darkness and restore what fatigue has taken away.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki... continues facepalm. Because she's honestly not happy with pretty much anyone here right now. She kind of wants to just shoot *everyone*, even the heroes who are trying to save everyone.

Well, shoot everyone except Madoka.

"You little idiots! You aren't even listening to anything anyone is saying, are you? You're bound and determined to see this through, because you've put so much into it that you can't think of anything else. But you're wrong! This whole stupid plan is wrong!"

She's making a lot of guesses about how things work and what was really happening, here.

"Just because she was afraid of one thing you did doesn't mean she hates you!"

She's running out of things to say without resorting to foul language, and she's getting more and more frustrated as her arguments fail to get through to anyone. Finally she just gives up completely and cuts loose, the spell-darts orbiting her turned loose to just smash into the ground in concentric circles around her, letting off explosions that do very little to anyone with any sort of defense at all. They make a nice show, though, for those who appreciate explosions.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Pulp Noir's cover fire ensures that even the straggling Familiars who stayed behind can't interfere with what's happening. Equivalence helps, and for what its worth one of the wild driving cars does swerve her way only to get superkicked and flipped upside down.

    Slasher grabs the twin Meanies and holds them in place. Tia gives him a wild eyed 'how dare you?!' stare for a moment, but... she's facing the combined might of multiple overpowered mahou right now and there just isn't a whole lot she and her sister can really do. Moon and Mask's insufferable love, washing over them. Uranus's Space Sword Blaster cracking their combined barrier. Coco's song, ringing out over the sea. Hope Blossom, calling them home with both actions and words.

    It's too much. Tia and Rens watch with anger that gives way to fear as the light overwhelms and overtakes them. It's far too much, and at last they see it. They see the darkness being stripped away, they see the light, and they see the love that was always right there, just for them, waiting for them to notice. Exactly what their wounded hearts were afraid to see.

    Their black, X-marked eggs close around them, pushing aside Taro's hands in order to do so. The light of love washes over those eggshells, turning them bright pink as the icon of a specific Soul Gem that can't exist in this world appears over them, flanked by wings. The spitting image of the very same eggs that most of the other minidokas have.

    Hope Blossom's face lights up as the eggs descend down to the beach, hovering in the air as she catches them. "Tia? Rens?" she calls out.

    Tia's egg cracks open, and the fancy Chara peeks out as she pouts, "You may have stopped us from using darkness. You may have even fixed us and stopped us from being X-Chara..."

    Rens's voice calls out from within her own eggshell as it wobbles back and forth, "... but unless you can fix Gretchen-chan too, we'll never forgive you!"

    Hope Blossom blinks. Can a Chara still get mad at you even if they aren't X-Chara? Apparently. "W-wait... Hold on, can't we talk?!"

    Tia's egg closes, and then launches itself at Hope's face, bonking off of her forehead. Rens's egg flies away at rapid speeds and Tia's follows suit. Before Madoka can even recover from the audacity, let alone stop them, Gretchen is already curving and bending space to speed them on their way. After they've safely retreated, Gretchen's Presence also fades.

    A hole opens up in reality. There's something wrong about it. It's not a Labyrinth portal. It's literally just a crack in the universe, hovering over the beach, revealing void inside. Madoka frowns at the tear in space itself, and speculates, "Gretchen... is this your way of telling us that you're more than a Witch now?"

    Hope Blossom turns around to face the rest of the group with a smile. "Thank you for coming everyone. I know it's not over yet, but... what comes next will be hard. I don't know what Gretchen is capable of, or what she'll do, but... I can feel her determination. She isn't going to relent easily."

    She glances at the group, seeing the discord between them, and lets out a sigh. "Before we go in... all of us are friends here. All of us want to do the right thing, both to stop Gretchen as well as help her come around. I know a lot of that depends upon me, but... I don't want to go in with bad feelings between us. All of us are valid here."

    She turns towards the gap in reality, saying, "With her heart in the state that it is, Gretchen can't tell right from wrong anymore. She was sincere in saying that she wanted to help Witches, and I can tell she still is, but I don't know if she can with the way she is now. I have no idea what we're going to find on the other side."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Smiling back at the group, she says, "So... even if it's confusing, and even if we don't fully agree on every detail, let's go in as friends and wrap this up, okay?"

    After looking over at the battlefield, Madoka frowns, "Though... I suppose we could probably use a breather before we take on... Whatever we'll find on the other side of that."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Sailor Moon's words hit Amanda like she was slapped. I didn't say she was right to take their feelings... The words form in her mind but she knows quibbling and justifying and explaining won't help at this point. She's caused enough trouble.

    Well, she didn't hurt anyone at least, this time, even by accident, but people whose opinions she cares about are mad at her for reasons that make sense to them and that she has no solid argument against.

    Plus, the whole X-Paradise thing didn't work out so back to the status quo of no hope for Witches and hoo boy she's not ready to fully process that right now. She couldn't even commit to helping Gretchen, in the end. It feels like taking a stand for something and being wrong would have at least been... a more honest and true and respectable thing, somehow.

    Amy braces herself for a telling-off. She messed up, there's nothing for it but take her licks and accept punishment.

    ...

    ...

    ...Oh fuck the fight's not actually over. Well, this is awkward. This is going to be awwwwwwwwwwkwaaaaaaaaard.

    Amy takes a breath and stands up. She looks at the crack in reality, then at the assembled mahou. "Well. I've already shown I'm compromised. You can't be sure Gretchen won't sway me. So... Go on. I'll be... I'll be here to yell at when you come back."

    She looks away, clutching her arm again, and says more softly her eyes watering, "Sorry, Gretchen. I let you down, too." She doesn't know if the X-Chara can hear her, but it seems like... probably, whatever she is right now?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
He holds the two X-Charas as light floods them, as love soaks into them -

It probably ought to hurt him more. He is a former Villain capital V, after all. But although the attacks sting, he does not find himself withering as the X-Chara do.

He does find them shrinking within his arms, though. From child to infant to egg, shrinking until they are small things, speeding away from Madoka and the rest of them.

Taro-the-Slasher falters where he stands, wheezing for breath, his face pale as porcelain in the moonlight.

To Amy: "They were kids fighting their Ma. It's their right as kids to rebel. But isn't it our responsibility as grown ups to try and help them come home to a loving mother?"

Maybe he's comprimised. Maybe he's thinking too intently of his own mother, who had accepted him even as he turned into something full of spite and knives. Maybe he's too intent on the idea of helping other people as he had been helped.

But back then, Gretchen had struck him as being another pea in his pod, a rejected child seeking a world that would love her.

He is willing to trust Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen. He is willing to face an enemy that would drive Amy to madness. Taro-the-Slasher was a child who had begged the heavens for one more chance to feel his mother's love; if there is a fragment of a chance to help Gretchen and Tia and Rens, isn't it worth fighting with every scrap of skin he has left?

But for now. "Owwww." OUgh. He'll be ready to fight in a minute. Just. Give him a moment. "Did the kids make it to their Ma?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence grins as the little charas finally received the love they needed. The care they wanted... The knowledge that they were where they belonged.

And she totally grinned even more and actually snickered, a hand over her mouth, when they bounced off Madoka's skull. Well, she couldn't blame them, she was still, in some ways, on Gretchen's side in all of this.

"In the end, it doesn't matter if you purify Gretchen, or beat Gretchen. The only path forward, once the darkness is gone, is for Madoka to accept Gretchen. Otherwise, this'll all start again. Gretchen doesn't want this any more than any of us want this, but it's the only way she sees forward. So it'll all come down to what Hope Blossom here can do."

"Just because you have the capability of doing bad things doesn't mean you will. I hope you're ready for the change that will be necessary, because things can't go the way they have gone, or this will all just happen again."

"... But man dark energy can be a headache sometimes. Add in a pair of witches to that, and it'll only get worse. But... well. I'm not really... good at... the team thing. So I'm going to go ahead and see what I can do on my own. Good luck, later," Equivalence said before, with an explosion from her feet, she took off, running off ahead.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Kuiper Belt Cape grabs hold of the two Chara, and Sailor Moon smiles as he emerges without injury from the purification, as the two X-Chara finally lose the Dark Energy and emerge from two pretty pink eggs and -

She covers her mouth as one of them launches themselves at Hope's poor face, wincing. What a little shit!

But then they're gone, sped away, and Madoka turns to them all, and Sailor Moon sighs, because she certainly has been frustrated, but obviously she still cares about her friend. But there's some real wet cat energy around her friend, that at least helps make it clear that even if she's... maybe not even listening? She's still feeling bad. The first part of this fight is over, and the familiars are gone. The people who were controlled and bewitched are safely unconscious, swept back to positions where they can't drown.

"Are you alright, Madoka-chan?" This first, because she was the one struck in the face with a very large egg. But then, her eyes turn to Amy, and they're softer, without a fight actively going on, and she says, "Red-chan, you still care about Gretchan. As long as you're not going to turn on the rest of us if we do have to fight, I think you should come. Gretchan can't remain as she is now. She's full of Dark Energy and she obviously can't handle it - but talking can still help, you know?"

Then she hops over to Kuiper Belt Cape and gives him a hug, because he's a nine foot tall scary figure and reminding the other Mahou that he's cool sounds like a good idea right now.

"Hey, good job! You made sure they couldn't try and dodge."

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir puts his gun away, into his coat, when he listens to the purified minidokas. He says. "This case doesn't close until we get through to Gretchen. Don't worry." he says as he takes out a Silver Crystal lollipop from his coat and inserts it into his mouth after unwrapping it.

It's the non-purifying kind as he talks. "Red, you should come with us, you're a good egg. Don't worry about it right now. This?" he says, gripping the edge of his fedora. "This is Chinatown. Forget about it." he says, using his idiom he does when he wants to forget.

He offers Amy one of his lollipops, pulling it out of his coat.

"Want one?" he asks Amy. "Anyone want one?" he asks the group at large. Then a pause. "Bye mysterious girl..." he says to Equivalence.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's absolutely a moment after that -- before Madoka talks to all of them but after the purification works -- where this time Tuxedo Mask is almost the one to lean down and take time out for an insufferable kiss, but hesitation costs!

He gives Madoka a big thumbs-up from up there on the lifeguard stand. "Yeah, we're coming," he says with good cheer, "and yeah..."

Yeah, because he looks down at Amy, where Usagi's talking to her, and he nods along after he also hops down. "You should definitely come. The reason the light hasn't offered a panacea for the world is because they don't work, and we're not muddled enough by dark energy to think that they could. There's no such thing as a utopia -- there's no attainable perfection. There's only better, and better is something we can work for and actually get."

He sighs, reaching up and running a gloved hand through his hair, then holding his hand at the back of his neck for a second before deflating a little. "Sorry I yelled, but it got me really mad when you seemed to be projecting your experiences on the X-Charas, and then telling us we were in the wrong, and telling us that we were projecting our ideas of the X-Charas on them and reacting to that. We were trying to get the dark energy out of the way so that talking had the remotest chance of working."

Mamoru glances over at Usagi hugging Kuiper Belt Cape, then looks back at Amy. "I wasn't throwing my attacks because I didn't want to hurt them. I was giving my power to Sailor Moon so she could use it to purify."

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki slumps a bit as good sense finally seems to overtake violence and anger in the group of assembled mahou. Of course, that's just because they've won the fight. Mostly.

"Hey, Madoka," she asks quietly. "Been a while." Yeah, it's a bit lame. "I think I missed ... a bunch of what was going on, the last few weeks." She sighs again.

She looks up at the assembled mahou again, then back to Madoka. "I know she's doing some crazy stuff now... but she's been a good friend, even so. Gretchen saved my life more than once." She shrugs. "Just saying... still a good person, and don't forget it."

Taro Yamada has posed:
Kuiper sags into Sailor Moon's hug. With the lack of civilians to be afraid, he's shrinking. He's falling into her arms.

"It's what we oughtta do," he mutters to her, his cloaked form shrinking around her. "Kids don't know any better. We gotta take care of them...."

But as he stablizes at a solid six feet, he pushes himself to his feet, looking around at the others, and then dabs to demonstrate he is fine, Really.

"Amy. Let's sit back and get ready. Hopefully Gretchen-chan isn't going to do something reckless, but she might, so we should be ready. Even if we don't feel like grown ups, we should try and be responsible. Who else is gonna try and save everyone? Gretchen is a good kid. We face her anger and we carry her weight so she's not alone."

And he will gently pap Tuxedo Kamen. For fun. Gotcha!!!

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy has to respect Tia's and Ren's commitment to their sister. And it seems this can be a Good and not Dark thing, if even the purified Charas can feel and act in accordance with it.

    Knowing that makes Amy feel a little better about respecting it, too.

    Our responsibility as grown-ups? Amy gives a short, sharp chuckle at that. "HA!" She looks up at the Slasher, blinking away tears. "Am I acting like a grown-up, here?" She waves a hand at the assembled mahou and shakes her head. "'Cuz I sure don't sound like the mature one, here. I don't deserve that title."

    Equivalence runs ahead. "Wait!" Amy reaches out, uselessly. "Never Enter a Witch's Labyrinth Alone! That's like rule one!"

    But she's gone, and whoo boy, Amy does not feel up to charging blindly after...

    Come to think of it, Gretchen... probably wouldn't hurt them the way another Witch would, right?

    Right?

    Amy sees Sailor Moon turn towards her and cringes pre-emptively, bracing for a telling-off that doesn't come.

    She still can't meet her friend's gaze. "...I'll follow my heart. That's... all I can do. If you can accept that like you can accept Gretchen..."

    Yeah fine she will take a lollipop. It's only fair, if she doesn't deserve the title of grown-up, then she does deserve a lollipop.

    Well, grown-ups deserve lollipops too, really. Everyone deserves lollipops.

    There's no perfect world, only better. "I know that!" Amy retorts around the lollipop and looks up at Tuxedo Mask as he continues. Cringing a little again as it's called out that she was projecting.

    "...I know there can't be a literally perfect in every way Utopia. But we could do a damn sight better. A perf--" She takes the lollipop out of her mouth and continues, "A 'perfect' world for humans would still have... struggle, and challenge, and difficulty, and heartbreak, and, and otherwise we wouldn't be people anymore. It's just there wouldn't be... That someone can just come and take your feelings, or your life, or an accident of nature could make you suffer forever. That was the whole point of the stories." What stories, Amy, you've literally never talked to anyone here about this.

    "It's like the other side of the coin of how can Madoka be a god and still be human, I guess."

    "...I guess we'll find the answer to both if it's a dream she can accept." Amy slips the candy back in her mouth.

    And looks at Madoka. "...I'm happy to discuss whatever ideas way too much online philosophy has gleaned, if it helps."

    She looks back to Mamoru. "I wasn't... well... Okay hang on," she pulls the lollipop out of her mouth again, "I thought Hinoiri was on to something, and the X-Charas seemed to agree too. Was... was all of that really completely off-base? Madoka loving them but not being able to accept them for so long, and Gretchen feeling that. Like, I thought that was the issue?" She emphasizes the word waggling the candy a bit like a pointer.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka turns towards Amy with a slight frown. "Red-chan... I don't think you were wrong to have faith in Gretchen. The Meanies meant what they said. Just because they were mistaken doesn't mean they lied to you, and for what it's worth? I still think there's hope for Witches."

    She glances around at all of the others before turning back to Amy. "You've been in this from the start, from the very day that Gretchen, Tia and Rens ran away from me. No one can deny that you have a stake in this, and I'm sure that Gretchen will want to hear what you have to say too. Come with us, and help us figure out how to save Witches the right way. Without needing something bad to happen in order to gain something good."

    Clasping her hands over her own heart, Hope Blossom smiles. "Magic and miracles do exist, and we've proven it before. We can prove it again."

    Turning to Yuki, Madoka shakes her head, "I don't doubt that she sincerely wants to do good, but dark energy can't be trusted. Gretchen has always been a bit sad, and a bit angry, and even if she helped me out a lot it's always come with a risk and a cost. I don't blame her for being the way she is, and I know she deserves better, but... it's like I said." Looking into the rift, she says, "This isn't her. This is the darkness. Whatever that evil energy is... whatever's been hurting her this whole time... I blame that, more than anything."

    A couple of the others jump into the rift. She'd stop them, but... she's tired, she trusts them, and she doesn't think that Gretchen is so far gone that she'd kill people without good reason yet.

    Yet.

    Madoka frowns as she considers the Hinoiri discussion. "I mean... Hinoiri... Hinoiri was trying to relate to Gretchen because they have a similar experience when it comes to acceptance. However, at the end of the day, Hinoiri is Hinoiri and Gretchen is me. I want to save the world more than I care about acceptance, but that doesn't mean I don't care about having friends."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Kuiper Belt Cape shrinks until he's the size of a regular stupidly tall person (says the girl who's four foot eleven inches tall. "Yeah! We helped two out of three so far, and soon they're all going to be home with Madoka-chan."

She pats his back one more time, then turns around and sighs a little.

"Amy-chan, taking those feelings away is exactly what Gretchan and Tia and Rens were doing. It's what they wanted to do, you heard Gretchan - she said 'I can and I will'. That's why I'm here. Because even if I care about her, she's doing something that can't be allowed to continue."

Not at all.

"Like, don't get me wrong - Madoka-chan is right, and Gretchan is like, literally a part of her, and so of course there's love and all that too, but that's um, not to be mean or anything? That's a problem only Madoka-chan and Gretchan can fix. The problem that brought us all here, I think, is not just wanting to help Gretchan and Madoka-chan's relationship, but, you know, Gretchan brainwashing people all over Tokyo so they'd worship her as a god and let her steal their energy."

Her tone is a little dry, by the end of this.

"Of course you don't have to get mad at Gretchan or anything. I'm mad about what she did, but I mostly just want her to stop and go home and let Madoka-chan love her. Hinoiri-chan... is always going to see things through her own very special Hinoiri-chan eyes. She called out a problem, sure, but not, like, the problem."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Good. I'm gonna try for the talking it out play again next time. it feels funny trying to fight a little kid like that," Kuiper tells Sailor Moon quietly before he untangles hismelf from her. He's an adult! responsible! it's fiiine!

"Who feels like a grown up? I have it from actual adults that they dont feel like it! So we're batting ten for ten on not feeling like real people even though we're definitely adult enough," Taro reassures Amy.

The two of them are oddities among mahou - although maybe not as much as he's thought, watching Madoka. Being an adult, being a kid, being stuck as both and neither - it's hard enough being stuck between catagories. Worse still to be stuck as several people and also stuck between catagories!! That's so much more work to synthesize as an identity!!

He bows politely to Madoka. "I don't think we met, miss? But I've met your little friends. I've been a dumb kid with issues like they are. It's rough, but it gets better with someone waiting at home. Your Charas seemed like good kids, so I'm hoping I can help them all come home." That's the least he can do, given everything. After being alone for decades - if a mess like him can find something, surely these kids can!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Sailor Moon speaks to Amy, and Mamoru nods. "And I don't think you're wrong either. I do think your timing was off," Tuxedo Mask says with a wry little smile. "We were working on purification so that words would work. Dark energy... it's really difficult to think clearly, to take advice, to believe people telling you good things, if you're full of that stuff."

He even sounds a little apologetic. "You've seen me with varying levels of dark energy problem."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka looks up to Kuiper Belt Cape, as she is a mere 5' tall, which maybe places her slightly taller than Usagi but not exactly to a significant degree. With a smile, she bows slightly before him and says, "Hope Blossom. Sometimes I'm Hope Witch, but... eheh... well, actually, I probably won't be Hope Witch anymore after all this."

    The thought of that hits her for a moment. She actually didn't think for one second about losing a powerset. She was only thinking about losing her fairies.

    She takes a deep breath before saying, "I cannot express in enough words how glad I am that you all are the ones who showed up. People willing to help my Chara instead of... being vicious with them."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Magic and miracles do exist, and we've proven it before. We can prove it again.

    Amy finally smiles as she looks at Madoka and nods.

    I blame the dark energy more than anything.

    Amy nods, but waves the lollipop slightly. "Our reticence to accept existence as godlike beings played a part. Although perhaps that's less important right now; It's feelings that many humans have had, it's not like it's just us."

    She nods to Sailor Moon, too. "Yeah, I just..." Amy scratches at the side of her head. "I'm frustrated at the world. An' I do think it's unfair people don't get to know about magic and we shouldn't... let ourselves get too complacent with the status quo just because it favors us. That's the mistake that's made casual villains out of so many out in the nonmagic world." Amy shakes her head. "But I don't think Gretchen was right to do that, although I hope she wasn't planning that to be a long-term answer to their problems and was just... trying to figure out what to do."

    She nods solemnly to Tuxedo Kamen as well.

    I have it from actual adults that they don't feel adult! We're batting 10/10 on not feeling like real people! Amy actually laughs at that, a light laugh rather than the bitter chuckle or the cackle she makes when she really finds something outstandingly humorous.

    So glad that people who wouldn't be much worse to the Chara showed up. Amy smiles at that too. "I guess... maybe we weren't really at odds after all."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"There's a difference between being complacent and being cautious," Sailor Moon says quietly, looking at Amy with eyes that have seen plenty. "Magic comes with a lot of costs. I used to want to be normal again more than anything, and the only reason that's changed is because of all the memories and the people I'll lose. But I don't get to be normal anymore than some people get to be magical."

And whether it's fair or not, some of that really is just, the nature of the world.

"I think she was planning on making it permanent. She wants to be a God. She wants to change the world to make it one where everyone is always happy and the only way to do that is to control everyone, forever."

Which is pretty messed up!

"But that's why we're here. To take out the Dark Energy, so she can see that what she's doing isn't what she really wants. And we know that's true - because it's not what Madoka-chan wants."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy sighs at hearing Sailor Moon's expectation of Gretchen's plan. "I really hope you're wrong... with how much the X-Charas tried to be good, forcing people to be happy really didn't seem like their style. Or do you think it's because of too much dark energy overwhelming her restraint?"

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki blinks and puts a couple of things together in her head. "That's one thing I just don't get," she says to Amy. "Dark energy? I thought that was an astrophysics thing. What's it got to do with us?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Oh boy," Sailor Moon says tiredly, "Okay - I'm not actually sure who you are, but, Dark Energy is a corrupting source of power that people can use for magical strength. It makes you stronger but also messes your head up, makes you worse. Gretchan and Tia and Rens were all full of Dark Energy, and Gretchan still is."

A little sigh.

And Red-chan, people with Dark Energy try to be good all the time. Sunbreaker tried being good sometimes, too, and look what she ended up doing. Gretchan said she wanted to help Witches - and because she didn't have enough power, she made all these people worship her and give up their energy and messed with their brains."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Okay, yeah, you have a point." Red nods. "I just figured, with how much restraint they showed before... that they were keeping a better handle on it than that."

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
"Oh... so it's like the Dark Side of the Force, then?" Yuki asks. NERD. "I... guess that makes some sense. And if they've been pulling on it so much...."

She shakes her head. "I... guess you all think we're going to have to fight her...?"

She climbs up along the beach, tossing her bag down in the sand before settling herself behind it. "I need some time to process this."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"We're going to have to purify her," Sailor Moon corrects. "And I mean, they were doing really well - but they also were already draining energy from people. Just becuase they didn't want anyone killed doesn't mean they weren't already messing with people's lives. I always knew they were going to have to get purified, I just hoped they would agree to it, instead of us having to force the issue."

She glances over at Madoka, and it's clear that she wanted that for Madoka as much as Gretchen.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy wonders about that. "...Has anyone ever agreed to be purified?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Hemachan. He agreed and he was quitting Obsidian, before we ended up having to attack Soryuu Shrine and caught him by surprise. And Chrono-kun, when he was poisoned with it," Usagi answers promptly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods as Hematite is mentioned. Though... "Chrono was poisoned with Dark Energy?!"" She holds a hand to her head. "Geeze. A lot's happened I probably never heard of, huh."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I don't think it was for very long," she shrugs. "It hurt a lot, though. Sometimes it does. But he still agreed, so there's still a chance Gretchan will agree."