2773/Parent Trapped

Parent Trapped
Date of Scene:	24 September 2025
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	Sometimes, a fight has a forgone conclusion. Our heroes are strong, and the enemy isn't always up to their level. When faced with a Witch, though, even the weakest enemy can break your heart. Rashmi, Madoka, Sayaka, Taro, Amy, and Usagi help one such lost soul find peace.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Madoka Kaname, Amanda Faust, Rashmi Terios, Sayaka Miki, Taro Yamada

---

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Evening in Juuban, and there's a presence on the air, that heavy, potent mix of despair and wrath that experienced mahoujin can recognize as only one enemy:

A Witch.

Newly hatched and still weak, an especially experienced Puella might realize she can't be more than a day old, likely not to be much of a threat... but for the fact that the entrance to her labyrinth is near the center of Juuban's downtown. The apartment building is older, but full of character, lovingly upkept by the residents and owners alike. Potted plants and ivy grow along the exterior stairwells, apartment doors with little mats and decorative items, homes, made cozy by years and years of living and settling and growing.

And one of those apartment doors, fourth down on the second floor, is now the gateway to a Labyrinth.

Those who can't sense Witches directly, who can't just follow them to their lair on pure vibes alone, have another way of finding the Witch's Labyrinth: the sight of the victims, largely middle-aged adults, being led to the building by string-tied hands, marionettes the size and general shape of preschool-aged children leading them along. The marionettes are obviously made of wood, but they walk with the smooth grace of living beings, neither deliberation nor the jerk of a puppet on strings observable.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi Tsukino is one of those who might not be able to sense a Witch directly, but absolutely can sense that particular mix of wrath-filled despair and darkness, and while she had just been casually strolling around downtown, planning to hit up one of her favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants for gyoza with friends...

Duty calls.

And the sight of the granny who runs that particular gyoza restaurant being lead around by a creepy looking marionette is not exactly subtle.

"Oh, man, hey!" She turns around, looking for something to hide behind, and decides that a bus stop will have to do - darting behind the poster-covered stand, she grips her broach and thrusts her hand into the air.

"Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Not quite a minute later, Sailor Moon is leaping towards the Familiar, tiara in hand.

"Don't worry granny, the Soldier of Love and Justice is here to save the day, and your gyoza!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Tia and Sio were floating around this area of Juuban all by themselves when they first sensed it. A familiar feeling, reminding them of Gretchen from before she got purified. Immediately they texted Kamiko, who got Madoka involved.

    Now Hope Blossom is merged with Tia, hopping between rooftops with parasol in hand. Kamiko and Sio are clinging to her shoulders while Kamiko gives directions. "I feel her this way. No, that way silly. Look where I'm pointing!"

    Hope Blossom stops as she lands, stumbles for a moment and then changes direction. "Sorry! Sorry! I'm doing my best."

    Sio points ahead and says, "Hey, isn't that Moon-chan? I bet she might know where the Witch is."

    Madoka looks at the string of human victims being led away, presumably to slaughter, she comments, "Somehow, I don't think finding it will be a problem. We can't let anyone get hurt! Kamiko-chan?"

    After Hope Blossom lands, Kamiko detaches from her and floats ahead. "I get it. You want me to detour them to my Labyrinth, right?"

    The divine fairy vanishes into a portal that looks not unlike a frilly mandela. Wake Labyrinth portals open all around, trying to snatch some of the innocents away. Witch Stickers appear on top of the Witch Kisses, competing directly for control as Kamiko tries to guide them to safety.

    Meanwhile, Madoka is perched on top of a lamp post with her branch bow, sniping carefully at any Familiars that might think to fight back. "Hi, Moon-chan!" she calls out, once her presence becomes very obvious.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    There's that feeling again...

    ext to Miho: I sense a Witch. Somewhere in Juuban I think.

    A henshin and a bit of roofjumping later, Amy comes into sight of the Labyrinth's entrance. And... She stares, for a moment.

    The little marionette-familiars remind her of when she and Mamoru got turned into dolls.

Text to Miho: Damn it, there's people going into the entrance. Sorry, going in now.
Miho: Wait?! What! Be careful!
Miho:I don't know if I can snowport over there fast enough!

    And already, Sailor Moon and Hope Blossom are on the scene.

Text to Miho: Will be careful. Backup is here.

    Amy leaps from the roof, a flying kick aimed at one of the marionette familiars "HYA!" -- if she successfully kicks it to the ground, she finishes it off with rocket-bullets from her pistol.

    "Hi girls, good to see you!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The weather was turning, and Rashmi's birthday neared. With things in *general* calming down, the Devicer was taking advantage of her new wealth of free time by going out and finding interesting things to see, do, and eat.

Tokyo was the kind of place where even a native could be a food tourist, after all.

Unfortunately, she was *just about* to walk into the door of a Juuban restaurant, when Nicomachea pinged loudly in her mind's ear.

    << ALERT. MASTER. ALERT. DISTORTIVE ENERGY SIGNATURE DESIGNATE 'Witch' PROXIMATE. >>

The word that nearly fell from Rashmi's mouth would *very much* have earned her a disapproving look from her parents.

With a sigh, she alters course to find a nearby alleyway, there to henshin and take flight toward the source of the reading.

        << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

<< Check check, >> her thoughts wing toward her nearby friends. << This is your Telepathic Service Provider, almost there. How bad is it looking? >>

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka really just wanted to hit the local FaM-Mart for a quick stocking of juice, but Ula was feeling weirdly strung up about the quiet atmosphere of the little mall. Not that Sayaka doesn't get her, it was unusually empty even for this time of the day. She hopes it's not losing business, it's not a bad place.

With a quick snap, the bluenette pierces the juice box with a straw and gives it over to the small fairy, turning it to show her the illustration of grapes on the box. "Thank you, Sayaka", Ula smiles, giving the box a fullbody hug and sighing contently when the juice starts flowing into her mouth.

"They should have done something about the light", the tiny mermaid comments between sips. "Has nobody told them all that flickering is spooky?", she complains. "Right, Sayaka?"

But the bluenette is holding the Pretty Change Mirror, and the shining trio of yellow, green and blue is already spreading out.

"Time to change!", it exclaims, opening to reveal Sayaka's assured face and releasing watery musical notes, surrounding the Precure.

"The melody of justice that rises from the sea depths", Sayaka recites, the blue shape of an armored mermaid wearing a wide heart-shaped collar appearing in front of her before the figure dives into the bluenette and spreads bubbles all around her. "Cure Sharpsong!"

"Seems like Madoka is out on patrol", Sayaka points to the pink silhouette leaping from rooftop to rooftop when she sees the questioning look on Ula's face. "Let's go say hi!"

"Oh, we can", Ula blinks, and grits her teeth forcing the other end of the straw into the box. "Ready!", she confirms, floating onto Sayaka's shoulder.

White light spreads from the ribbon on Sayaka's back, and wings take its place, raising the Pretty Cure to the sky. "I think she is after... a Witch", Sharpsong's brow furrows, reached by a subtle wave of misery and despair. Why is it so faint?

"Hey, Blossom!", the bluenette smiles when she gets close enough to her best friend. "Do you have space for two tagalongs?"

<< I don't get why it's so faint. Do you think she is good at hiding?>>, Sayaka shares her thoughts on the telepathic line.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Text to Amy: evil dolls downtown. they don't look like mine but i'm checking it out anyway. might be one of yours?

Kuiper Belt Cape has one wooden doll on each shoulder, Dory in her white kimono on the left and Jack in his black suit on the right, and is following one of the marionettes, a large hand curled around the strings.

He blinks and looks at the other mahou gathered, then lets go of the marionette strings and waves. "If you're all here, you probably already figured out where they're going, right?"

"We're better constructed," Jack huffs, crossing his little wooden legs daintily.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The Wake Labyrinth openings are an effective ploy, with some of the marionette Familiar's tripping right into the Labyrinth alongside their victims. The Witch Stickers are a bit less obviously effective - the victims aren't freed but they also aren't plodding along equally either so... could be worse! Could be better?

Amy strikes one of the Familiar's dead on, and it collapses in a heap of limbs-and-strings, and is gunned down before it can stand up, dissipating in wisps of energy and wood shavings.

The Familiar that Sailor Moon called out did not bother to respond to her, continuing on its way, and the Soldier of the Moon huffs and chases after it, hurling her shining tiara.

<<Hi Rashmi-chan! Hi Madoka-chan, Sharpsong-chan, Amy-chan, Kuiper-kun - wow, there's a lot of us today, huh?>> It's a good thing there's no need to breathe while speaking telepathically, because her words are a run on of syllables as the Familiar struck by her tiara collapses.

She helps the shopkeeper to her feet, and gently encourages that she go back in the direction of her shop.

<<So... those Familiars went down pretty fast huh?>>

Amanda Faust has posed:
(A minute ago)
Text from Taro: evil dolls downtown. they don't look like mine but i'm checking it out anyway. might be one of yours?
    Amy blinks at the message, perplexed. "But I don't... have any evil dolls?"

    And then she senses the Witch.

N(Now)
    A lot of us today, huh? Amy looks around at the gathered crowd of mahou that practically materialized out of nowhere in the last two seconds.

    It hits her that if this is how it seems when they show up to stop Dark Generals, no wonder they're so frustrated about Mahou showing up. Where did they all come from?

    ...Oh right they're all veterans and can sense dark energy and were literally drawn here, right.

    Amy looks at where the familiar she gunned down was and nods. "Yeah... these seem like they're on the weaker side, for familiars. The Witch must have a lot of them..." << Good to hear you too! More trustworthy than my backup telepathy provider. >>

    "Long time no see, Sharpsong!" And she runs over to give Taro a hug, "Hi, you three." Her smile briefly fades as she glances at Jack.

    Red hair and skirt twirl slightly as she turns back towards the labyrinth entrance and approaches it. She can't see it, but if the marionettes were leading people that way...

    She keeps her hand out in front of her, watching for that tell-tale ripple in the air. She's in a good mood, but... you can never get careless, against a Witch.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi soars over an office building to see... the pandemonium that typically accompanies a Witch no longer content with lurking. But from her friends' chatter, it's not a terribly *difficult* fight? Hm...

There are far fewer civilians in danger than there were moments ago, but any amount is too many. << Nicomachea, show me where they're headed, so we can get the entrance locked down. Then I want a Barrier over the block, just in case things get... difficult. >>

        << *BONG!* >> << COMAND INPUT EXECUTE >>

As Nicomachea analyzes the poor victims' path, and draws bright golden lines on Rashmi's visual cortex to show the most likely spot for the Labyrinth to be, Rashmi blinks at the new name and voice. << Kuiper-san, is it? Hi! How are you-- oop, one sec. >>

        << *BONG!* >> << TIME-SPACE BARRIER >>

The yellow-black staticky field bubbles out and away from above the pages of Rashmi's Device, sweeping everything magical in its confines just a bit *that way,* dimensionally speaking. Will it take the remaining civilians out of harm's way? Hopefully yes, but Barriers and Witch Kisses aren't a terribly *well-studied* interaction. Thus Rashmi arrows down after the civilian closest to the projected Labyrinth entrance, Barrets blinking into view around her just in case any Familiars get too handsy.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Aw, so its not because we're all stronger?" Kuiper asks, watching the marionettes guide their prey along. As a civilian and marionette pass, he swipes down with his palm blade, cutting the strings and wooden head from wooden body before taking the businessman by the shoulders and seating him on a nearby bench. As he turns to look for more strings to cut, Rashmi's barrier goes up..

"There really are a lot of us today - and if the head honcho is as weak as the Familiars, we can hopefully wrap up quickly!" he cheers in response to Usagi's telepathy. "It'll be nice working along some new faces."

And he hugs Amy back - and his smile also fades as he sees Amy and Jack staring at each other - but then it's time to find the labrinth. He keeps his eyes peeled for any other stray civilians and for any stronger wooden companions around...

Sayaka Miki has posed:
It's really surprising how quickly the familiars fall down; Sharpsong didn't even have to lift a finger with how quickly they fell. But there are a few more still holding people hostage, and she rapidly zigzags between them, felling each one with a hit of her sword.

"Hello, Red!", she returns the greeting, trying to find out the entrance to the Labyrinth. Fortunately there still is a good amount of that vicious energy that she doesn't have trouble following it to its source like a trail of breadcrumbs.

<< This all looks very easy. Maybe the Witch split herself too thin?>> she reasons at Puella Red's consideration on familiars. << No kidding we are many, but she won't be able to get the jump on any of us even if she wanted to. >>, Sharpsong smiles, steps away from the entrance. "Hello, Page Mage!", she greets her friend out loud when they find themselves next to each other.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Sio turns to look behind them as she sees Cure Sharpsong approaching. "Doka-chan. It's Sharpsong!"

    Madoka glances over to where Sio is pointing and smiles. "Hey, Sharp-chan! We've always got room for a good friend."

    Kamiko appears out of a portal next to the PreCure and says, "We're hunting a Witch today!" Then she smiles at the koi mermaid and says, "Hii, Ula-chan!"

    Telepathically, Madoka reaches out, << Yeah, it looks like there're a lot of us here. Nice to see you all again! Can anyone see if someone's been hurt? I get the feeling that this Witch hasn't fed very much yet. >> A grim thing to think about, but it's also a good thing if it means they can nip this one in the bud.

    A Barrier goes up. Sio hovers over Madoka's shoulder and crosses her arms. "Huh... so how many pocket dimensions do we have going at once here? A Barrier, two Labyrinths... Hey maybe we should get Moon Sp--"

    Kamiko cuts her off. "Maybe we shouldn't! They're all close together, but nothing is stacked yet. As long as they aren't stacked it's fine. Mostly. Except for the Witch's Labyrinth but that was never going to be fine so it doesn't count."

    Sio taps her chin and says, "Oh, so don't cross the streams. Got it!"

    Meanwhile, within the Wake Labyrinth, several benotafraids are flapping their too-many wings in front of the 'faces' of the Familiars that have been dragged in, trying to harass them or at least distract them from civilians.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"<<I wouldn't say we didn't get stronger,>>" Sailor Moon says with her mouth and Rashmi's telepathy at the same time, letting the message spread out further. She glances around at all the people stumbling still as the Stickers and Kisses fight, at the little glimpses of the Wake Labyrinth, and smiles a bit when the barrier goes up fully.

The Witch Kissed civilians disappear only if they've been touched by one of Kamiko's Stickers - those she hasn't managed to sticker remain, pulled along gamely by the Marionette Familiars - though, they quickly manage to die off, with the forces rallied against them. "<<I don't think I want to see what happens if a Labyrinth opens in a Barrier again,>>" Sailor Moon says with a squeamish expression - what litttle she remembers of New Moon includes a bit of that disastrous final fight, and the hellish place that they'd created meshing their other dimensions. "<<But... I don't like the, you know, puzzle pieces I'm getting...>>"

Amy starts spreading out, looking for the entrance to the Labyrinth, and between Amy's poking and Nicomachea's scans, they're able to pinpoint the entrance: a perfectly normal looking apartment. The door is simple and clean, but the paint is a bit faded with age, in that cozy way that means a place has been well-inhabited. It would be comfortable and even lovely, if not for that aura of menace and despair.

A Witch that hasn't fed much yet, and her lair is in an apartment complex. The puzzle pieces of a Witch's origins are never happy, and these aren't unusual in that regard.

Once Amy has thrust her hand into the entrance, everyone can make the choice to enter the Labyrinth. What they'll find inside is a long fall before a landing on a splintering floor, a house quite literally divided. Everything feels a little bit off, and they're not quite to scale - the house is bigger than them, but they're not doll-sized, more... child-sized.

More child-sized than any of them usually are, anyway.

As they're getting their feet under them and orienting to the new environment, there comes a heavy, thudding sound, rapidly approaching, and if they look up, they'll see a pair of Teddy Bears the size of trees, lumbering towards them.

Before anyone can properly recover from this sight, one of the bears opens its mouth and roars. The other closes in on Hope Blossom, wrapping stubby paws around her as it - throws her to the ground like an angry child. The roaring one does the same to Rashmi, knocking her from the air if she'd been flying. It looks more offensive than painful, to be honest.

Sailor Moon sweatdrops.

"Hey! You can't just - bully people like that! Didn't your mama ever teach you manners?!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Hi Sharpsong-chan!" Rashmi answers back, dropping down to hover near her friends. "Same here, Kuiper-san! Though if you've never fought a Witch before, this is probably gonna feature in a nightmare or two later on..." The moment the entrance to the Labyrinth is identified, and that those civilians *not* touched by Kamiko are still very much in danger, it's no choice at all but to fly into the Labyrinth. << Yeah I will never open a Barrier *inside* a Labyrinth for that reason, >> she says in answer to Sailor Moon. << At least out here I'm just grabbing the hole it pokes in reality. *Way* different. >>

The long fall is, of course, not even a fall at all, and if anyone looks particularly terrified by the idea of landing, the Devicer does offer a hand or flat Shield to stand on, instead... And when they hit bottom, like Usagi, Rashmi begins to deeply regret the story she's putting together in her head. A literally broken home, scaled up to make small children out of mahou...

<< Hope-chan... D'you think there might be anything you can doWHAT THE HECKING-- >>

Look, there aren't a lot of proper responses to 'teddy bears the size of oak trees roaring and charging.' All that remain, equally valid, including the wide-eyed stare as the brain attempts to process. << What?! >>

Big, stuffy arms grab Rashmi, shocked out of resistance. << What?!?! >>

And with all the fury of a tantruming toddler, she is *hurled* to the floor, bouncing once before coming to rest, eyes the size of dinner plates. << Wait... WHAT?! >>

Rashmi's Barrier Jacket is, thankfully, only a bit scuffed, and the girl herself mostly unharmed. She has, after all, been thrown into buildings hard enough to crater. This didn't really *hurt,* so much as stun her sense of reality.

<< ...So is *this* where the teddy bears have their pic nic? >>

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom is almost having a good day today. Her friends are here! Her fairies are here. Homura isn't here but Madoka is pretty sure she'd show up if called. If they were fighting literally anything but a Witch she'd probably be happy about it, but with things as they are she has to worry about someone getting suddenly killed in a horrifically gruesome manner. It's a good thing the innocents are vanishing as they are.

    Hope Blossom calls out, "Kamiko-chan, keep stickering them and get them out of here. Once you're done, follow us inside. Be sure to stay safe." Then, at normal volume, "Sio-chan, stay out here and keep an eye on Kamiko in case anything happens to her. You stay out of trouble too."

    Kamiko waves Hope off and says, "Yeah, yeah. I got it."

    After casting a concerned glance at the minidokas and the people they're helping, Madoka turns towards the Witch Labyrinth entrance and says, "Wait for me!"

    She isn't saying much, but she's also putting some puzzle pieces together. It's a weak Witch, and that could mean one of two things. One, that a Familiar just upgraded, or Two, that some poor Puella Magi met their fate. If it's the latter, Hope Concept could save their soul, but that alone wouldn't change the fact that this is a tragedy.

    On the inside of the Labyrinth, Hope Blossom drops from high up above and oh geeze is it a good thing she's used to super jumping and landing on her feet. Everything looks bigger, like it did when she was half her current age or so. Suddenly a Teddy Bear is charging at her. She smiles and holds her arms open because she's expecting a hug.

    It was not a hug.

    Why was she expecting a hug? This is a Familiar. It was never going to be a hug.

    ... but it's a Teddy Bear. How could a Teddy Bear ever betray her?

    As Madoka lays sprawled on the ground after being thrown down, she ponders the intrinsic unfairness of life and how nothing could ever truly be trusted. Except her friends. As long as they don't turn into a Witch or get dunked in Dark Energy.

    After picking herself up and whining, "Owwww," she turns around to face her attacker. The branch bow vanishes and is replaced by a parasol again, and she jabs the tip of it into the big bear baddie. "That's enough meanness out of you."

Amanda Faust has posed:
It's not because we're all stronger?
    "I mean... I don't think any of us level up, unless something very strange is going on..." Sailor Moon comments, and Amy nods. <<These still would've been easy to beat on my first day. ...They're not even attacking us.>>

If the head honcho is as weak as the Familiars--
    << That's not how it works. >>

This Witch hasn't fed very much yet.
    Amy stops and looks at Madoka, surprised. << You can sense that? >>

How many pocket dimensions? Hey, let's add more!
    << Are you trying to find out if it rips a hole in reality like in D&D? ...Well, I guess life isn't D&D but... Kamiko, what does happen if they're stacked? >>

    A Witch that hasn't fed yet. The Labyrinth entrance is at the door to an apartment.

    Thoughts go through her head in the blink of an eye. Amy wonders, if this is how the people who became her friends would have found her, instead, if she'd remained distant, kept telling herself she was an adult.

    That train of thought leads to conjuring worrying scenarios in her mind, about what could have happened here. Who knows what they'll find when the Witch is defeated...?

    About a half-second after finding the entrance, Amy sucks in air through her teeth.

    Once inside the labyrinth,



                                  "AAAAAH!"



                                           Amy screams in surprise as she falls, before using midair explosions to slow herself down and land, looking around.

    She notices the scale of the house, and looks down at herself to make sure she hasn't changed. She's a little surprised it didn't change them, but... they've never seen a Witch do stuff like that, after all.

    Amy looks up from examining herself to see GIANT TEDDY BEARS.

    Well, she handled the E1M8 boss fight just fine, and this is softer and faster and hopefully not throwing fireballs.

    Having contextualized this as a Bash Brothers Bear (mini-) Boss Battle, she hefts her rocket launcher and fires at the roaring one.

    Yeah, it does make that distinctive KAFWOMF sound as a slow-moving brown rocket leisurely travels towards the bear. Although pointed exactly level and horizontal, it steadily moves upward to mouth-level where Amy was looking in a straight diagonal line, but explodes normally.

    After a few seconds to process what's happening, Amy glances at Rashmi -- seems okay? -- and at Moon. "I don't think teddy bear monsters have mamas? ...Oh, I guess the Witch, maybe... Well, the girl she was..."

Taro Yamada has posed:
Kuiper jumps in with the others and falls, falls, falls - and then his falling slows as a streak of blue catches him, slowing his fall enough to land on his feet. "Thanks for the save!" he calls out, waving to Sayaka with a huge grin.

"I've already done my time in the Witch nightmare mines," Kuiper tells Rashmi with a shudder as he looks around at the oversized labrinth. "This better be less fu - messed up than the last one I saw. One of the top ten worst things I've seen in my life, and I've seen things!" Watching someone get flipped inside out like a glove was! Bad! He'd been so intent on rescuing one of hte victims that he'd missed what the witch was doing until t o o l a t e -

Ahem. Anyway. "Time to make sure we don't have another round of that, thanks!"

And then there's. Bears.Bears punching people. Cute bears punching people! When they should be the balm of youth's heart! Kuiper attacks the quieter of the two bears with an arcing slice of his red palm blade, removing the offending shoving arm.

...and then he gives the non-attacking mahous a Look as he hops away. "Hey, uh, we ARE supposed to be fighting these guys before they start eating people, right? Before they can sully the name of all things good and cute."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Hi, Kamiko!", Ula's face peeks from behind the juice box with a smile. If she had somewhere to put it down, she would have already hugged the Chara Guardian, but as is, things would have to wait until the situation calms down.

"That does explain why it all feels so faint", Sayaka nods sagely in agreement with her childhood friend. "I was thinking that she was hiding herself on purpose, but it's not often we can stop one from growing", she observes relieved. Feels like those they meet have all already been growing for a while, and that they never really had the opportunity to stop one this early.

Maybe if they had come a little earlier, they could have even... Instead of ending that thought, Sayaka shakes her head and follows along with the others when the Labyrinth opens. Whoa!", she shouts when she finds herself with a long fall below her, and her wings flutter harder to keep her in flight.

Her eyes fall on Kuiper first, and she catches him between her arms, coming from his side and flying up to counter his fall. "You are welcome", she replies, flying down and letting him stand on his own.

"Wha-?", she stares mouth agape when there are chairs with seats coming up at her waist. Looking around, this isn't the only exception, and the proportions are all wrong. Taking out the Pretty Change Mirror again, she stares at her reflection, putting it away with a quiet scoff when she sees her usual face peering back.

Well, at least she knows it's not her who changed. Still, it really is novel and somewhat disorienting, like someone really has turned back the clock. "This Witch must be really tall, right?", she turns to ask the others, and her eyes briefly widen just when she notices what has happened to Hope Blossom and Rashmi.

"That was a long flight. Are you guys ok?", she asks after flying at a teddy bear and slashing at it.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
With two friends down (even if absolutely not out), Sailor Moon is much more cautious about things. Even if one of the bears is flaming now, thanks to Amy. "Everything in a Labyrinth is from a Witch, right? So that means everything from a Labyrinth had a Mama if you think about it!"

Is that logic logicing? Maybe, maybe not. She's not giving anyone time to ponder it for much longer, because she's already pulling out one of her rods - this one the Spiral Heart Moon Rod, pulled purely at random. Even a young Witch can be exceptionally dangerous, and even a newly upgraded Familiar can be a problem, but though these heroes can't afford to let their guards down just yet... the fact that Hope Blossom prodding the posturing Teddy Bear with her parasol is enough to rip fabric and expose stuffing is proof enough that they have so much more firepower than is necessary for this fight.

The Teddy Bear Familiar which so readily betrayed Madoka looks down at it's ripped fabric with an expression of baffled dismay, as if it can no more understand how it has been injured than Madoka can understand being given a throw and not a hug. Truly, life is an unfair thing, and nothing (but friends) (when they aren't corrupted) (or turned into Witches) can be trusted.

The Teddy Familiar's day is more ruined when Kuiper Belt Cape slices cleanly through its arm, causing it to wail in anguish... which draws answering roars, as legion of lumbering Teddy Bears rushes them, ready to strike with all the force of a balled up wet blanket! It's... it's... they're trying.

"I mean, we are stronger," Sailor Moon says, winding up her Spiral Heart Moon Rod as though it were a baseball bat. We've all learned to be a lot better at what we do. I bet this would have been harder if we were new."

As it is? She takes down three of the approaching Teddy Swarm with a quickly called, "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"

Meanwhile, the flaming Teddy Bear that Amy attacked tries to pick Amy up to throw her around, but doesn't succeed at all, what with the flaming fabric, and then there's Cure Sharpsong, tearing it asunder with a sweep of her blade. It collapses into scraps of cloth and stuffing, only to be replaced by another from the lumbering masses.

Behind the Teddyggedon of it all, there's the sound tottering forward, the sound of a body falling, getting up, falling again, echoing from the distance.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
...Sailor Moon's anti-logic falls upon Rashmi's brain like the heel of a hand on an old radio, jarring the components and allowing them to fall into a much more stable order. << ...I'm not sure I follow, >> she thinks, picking herself off the ground, then pushing herself into a hover as more golden Barrets materialize around her. << ...I mean yeah we're stronger, in mind if -- walking miracles excepted -- not in actual power, but like... these guys are *worryingly* weak. Like I feel *more* threatened by how little that hurt, y'know? >>

To prove her point, she spots three Barrets each for four of the next teddy giants to rush, dialed up to maximum striking power and homing ability, and lets fly. << ...I think we probably need to clear the field as best we can, so we don't get bogged down when the Witch shows up... >>

        << *BONG!* >> << PENTA ACCEL -- BOOST UP >>

Five golden wisps materialize around Rashmi, streaking out to all her allies. The Kuiper Belt Cape might be the only one of Rashmi's allies unfamiliar with the emotion that comes with the brief boost of speed; a strong rush of childlike joy, of running in the park under the summer sun, needing to move for no other reason than the sheer joy of speed.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods to Moon, agreeing that the Witch counts as a Mama, at least linguistically. And makes a note to aim center of mass if she's trying to oneshot these bears. She leaps over the one coming for her as Sayaka cuts it in two, holding out her hand and using a point-blank explosion to blow up the one that comes after.

    "Hard to say until we see her." She answers Sayaka. "I think it means she was small. I'm fine."

    Incendiary grenades are thrown into the distance to thin the horde -- before Amy realizes that if the familiars are this... weak, she can just shoot through them.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Each shot, though small, violently tears holes through teddy bears because of the sheer force involved. It only stops without going through the whole horde because those same forces break each shot into tiny bits of glowing-hot metal over several meters, slowed by air resistance until they can no longer pierce highly-flammable fabric.

    "I guess that's true!" Amy shouts over the battle, and then remembers telepathy. << Day one? I'd have only had the rockets... but damn, these guys are endless... >>

    There's the sound of something trying to walk. << ...She wasn't... that young, right? A Familiar or Witch based on a younger sibling...? >> Amy muses, grimly. She certainly hopes such a child wasn't present when the Witch... hatched, though.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "I mean... all my plushies have a momma," says Hope Blossom, pointing to herself. "Though... I guess they'd mostly be adoptees, while I'm pretty sure the Witch made these herself." Her logic, such as it is, seems to line up with Usagi's.

    Look. It's a Witch Labyrinth. Reality is defined by metaphors and misery more than real world concerns here.

    The Teddy Traitor is losing stuffing, but the coming of the horde means that Madoka is going to have a lot more problems soon. She hops back away from the monster, exchanges her parasol for a branch bow, and fires a spread of arrows into the unkind ursine. Then she turns towards the hoard, charges an arrow for a moment as the line closes in on her, then unleashes the projectile which splits and spreads into many. Madoka keeps firing, trying to hold the line back. She can only fire so fast, but on the other hand... maybe these guys aren't ready to fight magical opponents yet.

    << Maybe she was small, or maybe... >> Hope says it out loud, then considers what that means. Oh geeze. She closes her eyes for a moment, but only briefly. This is still a fight after all. << I hate to say this, but... when Kamiko and I went around the world, after she was first purified, we um... we did run across some Witches who were children. It's happened before. >>

    Madoka wonders for a moment if maybe that's why she's not really fazed by things anymore. She's already seen deeper layers of hell. Not that it necessarily makes it easier to parse just... less surprising.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"That'd fit with how all the witches with parental isuses seem to have dolls," Kuiper Belt Cape says as he starts slashing through the army of bears in earnest, crossing the room like a blender in a toy store. I guess I'm Dory's dad, since I created her!"

The tiny monster-faced doll nods eagerly as she swings an arm wide, creating a thin scyhe that bisects another Terror Bear before zipping back into her arm.

"And I guess Jack is an absolutely awful uncle," Kuiper adds as Jack jumps onto a bear's head, tunnels through it and bursts out of it's chest Alien-style. "You're the worst!"

Jack nods as if to say yes, yes he does know.

Then there's the distant thumping noise, the fall, the rise, toddling footsteps - Kuiper stops spinning through the bears, eyes narrowing. "If that's a giant evil baby doll, I'm going to fling myself into the bay."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"She is not wrong", Sayaka admits with a smile. She is not sure Moon is right either, but she can still see where the Sailor Senshi is coming from, at least. "But her children aren't very good-mannered. Let's pick up her slack!", she comments, flying to another and another and another and striking at them with her sword. They are falling down easily so far, so she doesn't see a need to use her actual magic instead.

"Oh?", Sharpsong grins at Blossom. "You have a really big family, then. But I guess you are used to it with all the Chara you are looking after. Try not to overload yourself with 'children'", she jokes.

Flying around rapidly, the Pretty Cure continues her offense against the hordes of Teddy Bears, coming from just above their heads and striking at them through, aiming at their arms if they raise them to fight back.

When Madoka brings up the results of her trip around the world, Sayaka grimaces. It would make a lot of sense if they are sharing her perspective instead, or at least the one she had before becoming a Witch. "Either way, she won't have to suffer anymore soon. It's just a bit more of w wait."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"See, Madoka-chan gets me," Sailor Moon says, nodding in thanks for Madoka's support. The Teddy Bears do have a Mama: the Witch. And they are stronger, she's confident in that; it's partially because they've grown up, and partially because they've just gotten stronger. They can do more than they used to.

Still, her friends do have a point, in that this enemy... it really is worryingly weak. And given the apartment, the home, the height... you don't have to be an expert in symbolism to pick up what all this is laying down.

There's Teddy Bears to worry about, though, and they're coming for them - oh they're dying. Oh they're going down fast, huh? Rashmi's joyous boost of speed and energy only ensures that the damage spreads faster, with Sailor Moon's blasts, Amy's bullets, Madoka's arrows, Sayaka's sword slices, Rashmi's own barrets, and Kuiper Belt Cape's whirling red blades all creating what would have been a horrific tide of carnage...

You know, if the enemy wasn't enormous Teddy Bears. There's stuffing going everywhere, some of it burning, some of it flattened, but it all dissipates eventually, and the crowd of bears thins and thins as they pour in, followed by what can only be the Witch.

The good news is that Kuiper Belt Cape doesn't need to throw himself into the bay: she's not a giant baby doll.

The other good news is that Amy's worst case imaginings of a toddling child also seem unlikely - the Witch before them is not an oversized infant.

She is a shell of a person, instead, a hollowed out mass, pieces interlocking much as the literal broken home might fit together if lifted and pressed back into place. She is a creature off papier-mâché and tape and glue, a child's project that cannot hold together.

Half of her face is the fractured pieces of an old-fashioned Western clock, with a spinning hand endlessly rotating. The other half is an oversized eye, weeping tears. Her torso shared the sort of hollowness that a half-finished building could understand, more scaffolding than form, empty space, ragged tape edges, patchy clumps of papier-mâché dropping to the floor. Her legs are stubby, like the legs of the Teddy Familiars, and strings entangle her body, leading her to trip along as she walks, falling to her knees and pushing herself back up with arms constructed of taped together pens.

As she comes within sight of them, she stumbles once more, and her clock-piece face opens as she wails, only to drag herself back up. Her tears splash the ground, corroding the floors, further destroying the broken foundation of the Labyrinth.

Sailor Moon shudders at the sight of the pitiful creature, and her voice grows solemn. "It's almost time for her wait to be over. Sayaka-chan's right; the sooner we finish this, the less she has to suffer."

Even the joy of Rashmi's boost has fled, in the wake of this poor, pitiful creature who couldn't even put up a proper fight.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Not a toddler. Not a baby doll. But a child, nonetheless, barely glued together on skeletal scaffolding. The metaphor speaks for itself.

"Go on," Jack hisses in his ear, "do it. Put her out of her misery."

And Kuiper could do it. It would be easy. A few slashes and the Witch would be in pieces.

But.... Does he need to do that? The way he fights is so violent compared to the gentle energy of Sailor Moon, Rashmi's glimmering shields or Amy's cleansing fire. Sailor Moon alone could probably defeat this Witch.

It's a foolish idea to not destroy an enemy he knows is dangerous. But if he was a vicious and lonely monster, how would he want to meet his end?

So he steps away from the witch to continue turning the traitorous bears into so much fluff and fur. "I"l keep the bears busy! You all do your thing!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
As they say, quantity has a quality all its own.

They may not be in much *physical* danger from the tide of megalostuffies, but every attack that takes one out requires energy, magic, and soon it's apparent to Rashmi that this is a battle of attrition; if there weren't *so many mahou,* it's entirely likely that the fighters would have been overwhelmed, and perhaps food for the Witch.

But there *are* so many mahou, and they all have each others' backs, and while winded from effort and expenditure, Rashmi still has gas in her tank, and a full accumulator.

Then she turns, and spies the Witch herself.

...Oh.

You poor, *poor thing.*

Between the Labyrinth, the familiars, the puppets leading people to their doom, it's not hard for Rashmi to put the story together.

A little girl, desperately lonely in the wake of her parents separation. Was it tragedy? Was it unfaithfulness? Worse? Better? It really... doesn't matter, because this was probably a child who couldn't *understand* why her parents separated. Who might have blamed *herself* for that separation.

Who Wished with all her heart, to have her family back together again.

And in the space of a few, shuddering breaths, Rashmi feels *real hate* for the blank-faced little marshmallow.

"...Yeah," she manages to push out, her voice heavy as stone. "Yeah... let's not keep her waiting."

Rashmi exhales, then draws in a deep, quivering breath. "Verbal command: Accumulator Purge."

        << *BONG!* >> << COMMAND INPUT EXECUTE. PURGE CHANNELS GREEN. ALTERNATE GRIMOIRE LOADED. AWAITING COMMAND. >>

"...I wish we could even know your *name,*" Rashmi whispers, her heart contracting painfully in her chest as she lifts her hands up, palm pointing at the poor Witch. But there's no time to satisfy curiosity; every second they hesitate in an eternity of hell for an undeserving girl, become a pitiful wreck of a monster.

"Solar Buster."

        << SOLAR BUSTER >>

There's a rushing, hissing noise, and a basketball-sized globe of golden energy appears in front of Rashmi's hands. In the next instant, it all collapses down, becoming a beam of coruscating energy, about as wide as a coffee beam, that Rashmi tracks up the Witch, from foot to shoulder. Even if the beam were simply cutting energy, a sweep like that would maximize the damage it could do.

But once the magic passes through the Witch, explosions follow the beam's path.

Even at small scale, a Bombardment-class spell is a Bombardment-class spell.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Madoka is her plushies' momma. ...Does this make Amy her own plushies' momma? ...Amy's not often thought before of conceptualizing herself as any sort of momma, and now is not the time to see what feels are down that (plush) rabbithole.

    (She does conclude that she's not her plushies' momma, though: Two of them are almost as old as she is -- companions, not children -- and one is a plush Hannah, and that would be weird.)

    << ...I assumed she was a kid, but he's not recruiting toddlers, is he? >>

    Kuiper Belt Cape has yet another unpleasant theory. "Can you fling it into the bay first?!"

    And there is the Witch. Not based on a younger sibling, it seems, just... the Witch took a shape not suited to walking, and can't fly.

    "That's... kind of just sad. You don't even get to be a cool monster, just... stitched-together symbols of parents with no time for you." Amy says to the Witch, melancholy.

    Although a chill runs through her at the terrible, terrible thought that if Kyubey had come to her at the right time, when she was a child, she would have wished for her parents to get back together and unlike then she now knows why that would have been terrible. Wishes can really mess up lives...

    She's no clue what the child before her Wished for. It doesn't matter now. "I'm sorry the world was so awful to you," she starts speaking seriously and her eyes immediately tear up, dammit.

    "and that your time was so short... but it's almost over." Dammit. She has to take a controlled breath to not sob.

    << Rashmi. >> Amy waits for the buff, or until it's clear it's not coming, and then flies up to the Witch's head/eye, holding out her hand, palm inches from the former Puella.

    She uses the same attack she's used on Solomon and Seriss Nyx's other creations, trying to blow the Witch's head off in one shot. It's probably overkill. It's a waste of magic, she could let the others do it.

    But... Puella Magi to former Puella Magi... it feels like it would almost be disrespectful, somehow. She'll have plenty more magic shortly, after all.

    When Amy lands, tears are streaking down her face.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka smirks a little awkwardly at Sayaka's comments. << I mean... I have 7 minidokas. If there's a point where I should've stopped I think I'm well past it. >> Then, she nods, a bit more seriously. << Kamiko-chan is here, so... when we defeat the Witch, we can put her to rest right away. >>

    The Witch arrives, and mercifully it is not a giant baby doll. Madoka never played the game where the giant hell babies invade the world, but she saw metube videos of it and that's about as close as she cares to get to that. Instead, it's... Um...

    ... Well it's a Witch. It'd probably make perfect sense if she knew the backstory, but right now it's just a horrific nightmare mess to her.

    Madoka thinks out loud, "I wonder if there was a divorce?"

    No time to really think about that. << Oh, be careful she doesn't fall on you! Witches can use surprise attacks sometimes, so be careful even if it seems easy. >>

    Hope Blossom focuses everything she has on the Witch, firing shot after shot into it, hopping away from the Teddy Bear Army and seeking high ground to keep away from them. Eventually Kamiko enters the Labyrinth and flies towards Madoka with tiny flailing arms. Sio flies in shortly after. The two of them orbit Hope Blossom for a moment before hiding behind her shoulders.

    Hope frowns at the Witch as she considers. If the others don't think that they should keep her waiting then...

    "Kamiko-chan... swap with Tia," says Hope Blossom. Kamiko nods, and then Tia's egg pops out of Madoka's chest while Kamiko's goes in. In a flash of pearlescent light and pink stars, Hope Concept Manifests. The world suddenly changes. Did you just get a case of vertigo? No, it passed too quickly. Something is different but it's impossible to tell what. The Aura of Hope spreads from Madoka to all of her friends, trying to comfort their dark thoughts and encourage them in the cause of making the world... if not right, then at least a little bit less wrong.

    Hope Concept charges her arrow, unleashing it into the sky. It turns into runic circles and lines which, in turn, rain pretty pink pulverization across the Labyrinth. Especially down upon the Witch.

    A voice comes out of Nowhere. It's Madoka's voice, and it's not telepathy. It's as if the universe itself is talking. "I'm sorry you faced such tragedy. It wasn't right, and it wasn't fair, but you don't have to suffer any longer."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
She was calmly taking care of the Teddy Bears, assisted by the boost of Rashmi's spells that has allowed her to move through the toy army like it was made of air, effortlessy cutting through them with the glow of her friend's magic. And yet, she is not feeling very cheerful now, not after being proved again and again how cruel Kyubey really is.

She would be willing to bet that the only reason he doesn't go after toddlers is because he can't, not because he doesn't want to. Well, she wants to send a flurry of her blades at him, all while Sharpsong Legato is holding him still.

But the Witch has appeared, a deformed mess that reflects her own mood terrifically, her paper-mache arms swinging with the mindlessness they have come to wall all too well. "Let's do it", she agrees.

"Symphony of Justice, turn into sacred power!", she says, raising her right arm and with the left spinning the dial on her wrist. "Love PreBrace!" At the callout, 10 train wheels made of water spawn into existence floating in the air.

"Pretty Cure Rondo con Toccata! Justice, return to the Heavens!" Cure Sharpsong says, all the wheels converging onto the Witch at the same time, striking with purifying force, lingering in a circle around the Witch.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon's rod is raised, her eyes fixed on the Witch, shambling and half-empty, a shell of a being, no longer a person, patched together unsuccessfully. The Teddy Bears, the Marionettes on strings, the apartment for a Labyrinth -

The time for grief and the time for action come hand in hand with one another. It's with a heavy heart that she spins the Spiral Heart Rod, adding her own magic to the bevvy of assaults the Witch faces.

She falls.

Of course she does. There was never any chance otherwise. Between Amy and Rashmi unleashing their finishers - Amy's, which takes her head in a decisive blow when it can land, and Rashmi's, which sweeps up from foot to shoulder, tearing through the already fractured and broken pieces which make up this Witch's despair and thus her form.

She's already collapsing in on herself when Sailor Moon adds not the Moon Spiral Heart Attack, but the Moon Princess Halation, bolts of pink light and a shower of energy forms in the shape of stars and moons so much more gentle compared to the crushing force of the Spiral Heart. And yet - the final blow is given by the girl who escaped this very same fate. Cure Sharpsong, who was once Puella Magi Sayaka Miki, bringss to bear the force of her power, ten train wheels of water which crash against and crush the form of the Witch, leaving her no room to escape, no chance to regroup -

And no further to fall, either.

Hope Concept is more than just a Mahoujin. She is the embodiment of Hope itself, most especially for Puella Magi, those dogged by the cruel pursuit of despair. When the Witch crumbles, her Labyrinth begins to shake, collapsing around them, and the Teddy Bears plop to the ground, the malicious force gone out of them. One of them even reaches to pat a shadow where Hope Concept seems to be, before it too, fades to nothing.

"I'm sorry this is all we could do," Sailor Moon voices quietly, I hope - I hope your next life is much, much kinder than this."

Hope Concept will find that she has the chance to do what only she can - that this grief seed, so fresh and new, most certainly possesses a soul, one willing to go on, with only the faintest of sorrowful regrets.

The apartment building stands untouched when they leave the Labyrinth, though Rashmi's Barrier has fallen, and many neighbors and locals mill in the streets, discussing what an odd sense of urgency there had so recently been. The door that had once been the Witch's Labyrinth yawns open, revealing a darkened home, and silent walls.

"I don't think we should go in there," Usagi says very quietly. "That can be someone else's job. It should be."

She closes the distance between herself and Amy, hugging her close. The Witch's Grief Seed waits for them like a present resting on the welcome mat of what had once been her home.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    It's over, for most of them, but not for Hope Concept, and not for the Witch. Yet it will be soon. Hope Concept appears next to the Grief Seed, with her long flowing pink hair that seems to never end, and her translucent wings as thin as fabric. She takes it into her hands, where it floats up right, and closes her golden eyes.

    Moments pass. A conversation is had, but no one hears it. Comfort is given, though no one feels it. No one but the Witch. A tear forms at the edge of Madokami's eye, but she does not give the reason. This small child's misery is a private matter, and one that should likely not be shared, though the hints of it in the Labyrinth are rather obvious.

    Once the deed is done, and Madoka accomplishes both the unknowable and the incomprehensible, she floats over to Amy Faust and offers it to her. "Homura-chan is fine. She doesn't need this. I don't know that many more Puella Magi other than you and her, so..."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    As the Labyrinth fades, Amy's left standing in front of the apartment, staring into the empty space beyond the door.

    The world is rife with pain and horror and darkness happening out of her sight, and she's seen the evidence of it, the impressions left behind on the world, and in the minds of its people, more than most people she knows -- and now again, here she and her friends faced a Witch born of a young child's suffering, and they could do nothing for her but end her suffering and release her soul to rest.

    Hope Concept attends to the dead, and Amy doesn't see it, but it feels significant to witness nonetheless. She didn't know the girl, but they were both Puella Magi. And until -- if -- the Fade takes her, or it's her turn for the goddess to attend to her, she'll remember that someone was here, caught up in this whole business, and fought and suffered and died.

    An impersonal rememberance, perhaps, more like an anonymous grave marker, but it's something that whoever comes by later and finds the body, or the empty apartment, won't know, and couldn't be told anyway.

    Tears keep flowing, dammit.

    Amy takes the grief seed and nods, looking at it. She clutches it in her hand, hugs the goddess, "Thank you. For doing this, for all of us..." then steps back and slips the grief seed into her belt pouch, and conjures a handkerchief to dab her eyes and blow her nose in. "M...Moon's right. We should probably go before we're suspects."