1485/Mirage Zone

Mirage Zone
Date of Scene:	03 May 2024
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Sunbreaker teams up with Phantom to create an Eclipse zone... and unfortunately for Rocket Red, Hope Witch and Daifuku, the two are a terrifying duo. Worse, Daifuku runs into some problems of her own! In the end, everything comes crashing down... as the second Eclipse Zone goes up.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Phantom, Chiyo Sakai, Madoka Kaname, Amanda Faust

---

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
It hadn't been that long ago that Sunbreaker had been speaking with Queen Mirage. Frankly, any opportunity to get further away from Beryl was worth it. Now that her Eclipse Zones had been up for quite a while, giving a steady supply of energy to those who'd bought in, it was only natural that other departments would want to invest in them.

And now? Sunbreaker was taking the opportunity. While all the prior ones had taken place at locations owned by Easter or Beryl's departments, this one had been held by Mirage's. An old garden center, now it was being remade into an arcade. There was a lot of construction equipment... And a single massive tower in the center of the building, where a 'garden' was being setup in the center of the arcade.

A single tree was growing inside it. A tree that would possibly be familiar to some of the people here, those who had fought Sunbreaker's Timberwolf in the past.

Sunbreaker, meanwhile, was tapping on the tower as it began to pulse.

"And three, two, one and..."

And this time it was NOT subtle. They'd be able to feel it from all over. Fortunately, there were more attacks going on today than just hers, so the hope was that the sparkles wouldn't be able to come at them in full forces... she hoped, at least.

"I'd say... maybe an hour or two. Accelerating the setup like this can have some drawbacks, though. We'll have to make sure they can't get through us." She glanced to Phantom. "But if they don't stop us in time? Queen Mirage will have an Eclipse Zone of her very own, won't that be exciting?"

Phantom has posed:
"We'll see. And it's not..." Phantom is sitting on one of the branches of the tree, popping a last piece of strawberry daifuku into his mouth. "I will be sure to make Queen Mirage aware of your failures." he comments dryly. There's a glance towards Sunbreaker and then he hops down from the branch as the Eclipse Zone starts to rise.

"Though, I suppose I am here to ensure the success of it. Thus... I will not hold back." Holding out a hand, he calls out, "Let the future reflected in the mirror turn terrible!" And instead of summoning a Terribad - this time it is he himself that is envloped by the dark energy.

As it wraps around him, his form is changed. It becomes more feminine, slighter and smaller as her clothing appears in place of his sword and shield.

This young woman appears to be in her early to mid-teens. Standing at five foot four, something seems... off about her. First, she definetly appears to be a Precure. But there is a strangeness to her. Her long hair that is held in a pony-tail that falls to her waist should be a light blue, but has a greyish tint to it. What should be bright blue eyes are dull and lifeless. Her smile is crooked when she makes it, almost evil in the way it twists.

Even her clothing that seems to be in grayscale. A gold headpiece is adorned with blue gems and a gold veil. She has a cropped blue vest with a periwinkle collar, puffy elbow-length sleeves in white, and white scallops along its bottom hem.

Underneath a white skirt with a yellow front panel she wears sheer light green harem pants and open-toed gold heels with an ankle strap and a bow across the front.

"The flowing waters of strength unending... CURE DENIAL!"

Finishing his transformation into the mirrored form of Cure Nile, the young woman cracks her knuckles. "I'm ready."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
These Eclipse Zones were becoming problematic in more ways than one. Chiyo had done her best to avoid the areas because, frankly, being in them felt *awful* when she was in henshin, and just very, very tiring at best when not in henshin. Either way they were annoying.

She wasn't the one that brought down buildings though. Others were working to find ways to bring the buildings down, to take out the energy stealing auras that filled these zones around them. People more adept at computers and the use of magic than she was.

Unfortunately she still had to deal with their existence until then.

That wasn't why Chiyo was out today as she walks through the area where the old garden center was. It was one of the places Ojiisan had enjoyed getting plants from, so now that it was gone she had to go further out to get the seedlings that he wanted. It's this she carries with her currently as she walks past a... Tree? When did that get here? It's mostly ignored until that feel of magic slamming into place sucks her breath away causing her to stumble, and fall, sending the small planter of seedlings and dirt scattered over the sidewalk.

The purple-haired candy girl remains there a moment on her knees to catch her breath as she resists the urge to just. Henshin right there.

THIS is why she was carrying some snacks with her in a pocket though. If you're constantly having your energy drained it helps to have a way to try to replenish, and she hadn't really tried it out yet either.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Regardless of any semi-peaceful communication she has had with Hinoiri, regardless of their shared hatred of a certain Obsidian Director, Madoka Kaname cannot simply allow Sunbreaker to set up a new Eclipse Zone. They still haven't figured out what to do about the last one, after all.

    The moment that they feel another 'odd feeling' that reminds them of the first Eclipse Zone, in the middle of another youma fight, Gretchen is tugging on Hope Blossom's sleeve. "Sunbreaker's doing something weird again!"

    "I know, Gretchen-chan." Blossom pulls back a pink arrow and unleashes her magic into the air. "CHERRY BLOSSOM BLAZE!"

    The youma objects. "Finishing moves already?! But that's not fa-AAAAAUUUGHH!!!"

    Shortly after, Hope Blossom arrives to the sight of the new Mirage Zone via rooftop jumping. Gretchen is floating along just behind her. When they arrive and see Cure Denial, Blossom's eyes widen. "This isn't going to be a normal fight, I think..." She holds out her hand to Gretchen, cupping the X-Chara in her hands. "I know you're still tired, but..."

    The dark fairy crosses her arms. "Just hurry up and get it over with!"

    Blossom offers her X-Chara an apologetic smile, makes the unlocking hand gesture, and softly says, "My heart: unlock!"

    Lydian pops out, Gretchen goes in. Hope Witch turns towards Sunbreaker and Cure De-Nile and commands the art fairy, "Go hide, Lydian. Tell the others what happened."

    Lydian salutes and flies away, leaving Hope Witch alone. Well, alone for the moment anyways. She shouts, "Sunbreaker, don't think that I'll go easy on you today! I'm not going to let you have your way here!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy has generally avoided eclipse zones that are active, trusting other types of magical girls to handle it. That whole time travel adventure used the rest of her last grief seed, so it's not like she has a big buffer of extra power to spend.

    But this doesn't feel quite like the other eclipse zones? So maybe it's some other weird dark thing?

    Which means that as Magical Rocket Girl Red falls out of the sky into the Eclipse Zone after rocket-jumping to the roof. Suddenly feeling awful, she doesn't stick the landing and instead crashes through the garden's skylight, barely using point-blank explosion to arrest her descent in time to NOT crash onto the floor, instead landing unsteadly. The tower looks enough like pictures others have taken and confirms it, realization flashing across her face. She's in an Eclipse Zone.

    She looks at Sunbreaker tiredly, trying to shake off the feeling and stand tall. Or stand short, at 4'11", but, you know. "I thought you were..." she sighs as her expression changes to disappointment. "...Right. Still a villain. You said so yourself. At least you're honest."

    And uh. Standing at Sunbreaker's side is an unfamiliar magical girl. "Who's your friend?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker gave Phantom the slightest bit of a glare. "My Eclipse Zones work perfectly. It's getting them up that's the problem, if you think it's so easy, well... that's why you're here today, isn't it?" she snapped.

Beryl would have one, if this worked? So would Mirage. On the upside (for the sparkles), there being two of them wouldn't be quite as bad due to the way the energy was being divided...

But it wouldn't be good, as it would mean that Mirage was getting a steady stream of power.

... She stared for a moment when he transformed. Was.... was he a friend of Keaka's?

"... You're... ready... I see," Sunbreaker said. She bit her tongue and didn't ask him what he was ready for, though... Denial, though. Cure Denial. Could a pretty cure be on their side? If so, nifty.

Getting into the building, at least, wouldn't be hard. As even though it was a construction zone, the area was pretty empty of people. But when Hope Witch appeared, Sunbreaker sighed and glanced towards her. "Really? You again? You don't actually think this is going to go well for you, do you?"

And right on time, Rocket Girl Red. Who asked about Cure Denial. "Well... I'll let her tell you who she is. But she's my assistant for the day. Of course, she's not my only one."

She then snapped her fingers. The tree began to crumble, break, shatter and collapse into timber on the ground...

Before reforming into a massive wooden hound, growling and bearing its fangs at them.

Phantom has posed:
"That's what I was ready for." When Cure Denial speaks, she has a warm voice, one of a Pretty Cure, one of the dozens that are currently asleep in the graveyard - this is just the one that Phantom chose to pick the powers from today. As the heroes start to arrive on the scene, the Precure steps forward. "I'll buy you the time that you need Sunbreaker." she promises to the girl, giving a quick, solid nod of her head before turning her attention to the others.

She was asked for an introduction - and it is with that in mind that the Precure rises up, bringing one up to her side, her knee bent, toe pointed down as her hands go above her head. And around her hands, water starts to form, growing and developing into a ball that forms above her head.

Her foot slams down as she's chosen her target, the most dangerous of them, really, as she twists her hands and lowers them to ain towards Hope Blossom. "NILE STREAM!" she calls out.

From her that ball she created, a powerful blast of water is unleashed, more powerful than a firehose on it's highest setting, cracking the concrete and kicking up dust as it attempts to intercept the Pinkette Puella.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Shattering glass only solidifies that something was going on in the closed off garden center. Abandoning the purchase that had spilled over the ground, Chiyo rises to her feet with a quick look around. It was mostly empty. Enough so that she can do what's needed.

"Let's Cook!" She utters with the tone of voice one would not expect to hear when speaking: Angry and curt. Was angry cooking a thing?

Moments after Cure De-Nile lets off her attack, there's another shattering of glass as shards are sent inward opening up the door quite nicely with one swing of Guardian Daifuku's mochi hammer. The glass crunches under her feet as she strides in to join Hope Witch, and Red facing off against--

"SUNBREAKER! What is it with you and plants!?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy obligingly waits for Sunbreaker's assistant to introduce herself before starting the fight.

    Instead, an attack comes for Madoka. Who can probably handle it. "Ugh, Rude." Amy hefts her launcher to her shoulder as it's suddenly replaced by a ten-foot-long-or-so recoilless artillery gun that she has some difficulty carrying and aiming... but she doesn't need to aim very well when her target, the tower, is right there.

    It shouldn't be that easy. But she hasn't heard of anyone actually just trying extreme force on the towers, so... Time for a little science experiment!

                                     BOOM!                                      

    "Sunbreaker, your assistant appears to be incapable of introducing herself. I guess it's really hard to find good help these days, huh?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "Yup! Me again!" says Hope Witch, pointing dramatically at Sunbreaker. "You can't buy me off with suckers this time!"

    She was, of course, aware of Cure Denial, but wasn't really expecting to be the first to pull aggro. So when the stream of magical water comes at her, she's caught a bit off guard. Not so much that she takes it full force, but enough that she has to scramble and panic in order to pull up a proper defense.

    A Labyrinth gate appears in front of her, and a round buckler with a clock face takes the full brunt of the blast. A Familiar walks out, clock shield on one arm, and a spear made out of a weird brass-like material in the other. Madoka, meanwhile, has summoned a winged bird cage and is riding inside of it as it flies into the air.

    Crossing her arms, Hope Witch shouts, "Clock Knight, go! If they're going to be a PreCure, then show them how it feels to face a youma!"

    Is this a good idea? Maybe, maybe not, but Hope is letting the intrusive thoughts win today. Clock Knight lunges towards Cure Denile, holding its shield up to cover its approach, ready to stab with the spear the moment it's allowed to close the distance.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker cringed when Denial just started breaking the concrete and windows. "I don't think you need to... well, okay then." Eh, it was his boss's building, what did she care? It wasn't going on her tab.

... It couldn't, could it?

Of course, then Daifuku. She cringed and tried not to think too hard on the words said. This time it was different. "These are my own creature, inspired by some creatures from home. Well, them and the fruit bats. The fruit bats aren't as effective, though. This wooden boy, though? He is *very* efficient at what he does. And what he does is crush little sparkle skirts like yourselves. Also, was breaking our door REALLY necessary? I know there's construction going on, but that's just rude."

The rocket flew through the air and-- Exploded before hitting a barrier around the tower, unphased.

"Not a bad idea," Sunbreaker said. "But it's tied to my power. So long as I'm here, you can't damage it. Still, a bit surprised that it took you girls this long to try this... then again, I normally tie it to a youma and the youma gets its butt kicked pretty hard... eh. Not a huge loss either way. And this is... Cure Denial. Sorry, it seems you missed her whole introduction spiel. She likes long walks on the beach and kicking all of your flanks."

While it had been less than effective against the tower, the rocket did have one effect....

The Timber Wolf had turned its gaze to Amy. Bearing its fangs, the massive wooden wolf lunged forward, jaws open to try and bite the poor girl!

Which, frankly, at least left Daifuku free to engage Sunbreaker, or assist her allies. "You know, I really was expecting a larger turnout for this, but welllll... admittedly, I did check the schedule. So I imagine quite a few of your friends are already tied up in other matters. A true shame, that. They'll win a battle, but lose the war," Sunbreaker taunted, a somewhat vicious smirk on her face.

Phantom has posed:
As Madoka cages herself away and sends out the knight, if she had expected Cure Denial to just wait for it to come up to her, she was sorely mistaken. Cutting off the stream of water immediately, she leaps backwards, one hand going out. Into it forms a scimitar made of water that she clutches into her hand.

And she's suddenly moving, quickly upon Daifuku as she's preparing her hammer again. "Looks heavy." she says with a sudden and sharp grin that shows off dangerous teeth curled into a sneer that looks completely out of place of the girl's face. "Think you can swing it around before I do this?"

With that, she throws a hard punch with the hilt of the scimitar into Daifuku's stomach, looking to double her over. Why? Becase she plans to leap over the Culinary Guardian and put her between the Dark PreCure and the Clockwork guardian and also to use her as a spingboard to launch her towards Madoka!

Maybe she just doesn't know how powerful Madoka really is? Maybe she's just distracting the biggest gun from the Tower.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"There's laws about unleashed pets in Tokyo, Sunbreaker! And you're right. We've been sidetracked."

Normally she could banter and fight with Sunbreaker, unless one or the other was very angry. But this new girl was an unknown. She'd seen some Prettycures before but not on this side. It wouldn't be the first time something surprising had happened with mahou though.

Daifuku had her hammer gripped in both hands. It was't a *short* hammer though. It was a long handled one which was quite nice because... as Cure Denile comes at her throwing a punch she doesn't try to swing the hammer. Instead she brings the hammer back bringing the long staff up to block the punch with the wooden pole, and then she twists to the side bringing the business end around to hammer into Cure De-Nile's back with a forceful swing.

"Heavy never bothered me," she utters simply before calling out, "Heads up, Hope Witch!" Likely it was still sending the evil Cure in her direction but she was hoping it'd be for a good old one-two-combo.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "Wha-- that's not fair!" objects Madoka, as her flying birdcage flaps harder and harder to carry her up and away. "You can't just attack the leader, you have to fight the monster first!" Clearly this evil Cure doesn't understand mahou fight etiquette! How rude! Who taught her manners?

    Clock Knight seems to panic as the Dark Cure races away from it, and rapidly turns on the weird sharp appendage that it seems to be using for feet in order to chase Denile. Witch runes appear to float out of its head as it makes noises to voice its indecipherable objection.

    While the hapless Familiar is playing catchup, Daifuku seems to have her own attack in mind. Deciding to drop the role-reversal before it could really even start, Hope Witch's black branchbow materializes in her hands. She draws back and then fires, unleashing a torrent of homing arrows with the hope that Daifuku's swing launches the Dark PreCure into them.

    Ever the dogged contender, Clock Knight keeps chasing after De-Nile even though it might not actually be able to keep up with her. It glances once towards the Timber Wolf to see if it'd be better off helping Amy instead.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    It really did take this long for someone to just shoot the towers? Puella Red is a little incredulous. "Hitting them with artillery from outside the zone was my first suggestion! ...I guess I'm the only one who can do that, though. Nobody called me, though, and I'd need someone to spot..."

    She half-expected that there'd be some kind of field around the tower, though, and so had a back-up target planned. As soon as her first shot hit the field, she was already swinging the massive cannon over towards the Timberwolf. She frowns slightly though, as she already knows blowing it to bits won't actually help -- and that hesitation, combined with the heavy weapon slowing her down, costs her the initiative and her chance to dodge.

                                     CHOMP                                      

    Teeth clamp down on her body. Amy sucks in air through her own teeth in pain and then turns that off. Well, on the bright side, now she's perfectly positioned to just shoot right down the thing's gullet. So she does. Switching to a smaller weapon, she fires grenades that splash into sticky burning goo. (well, one's enough if there isn't an actual throat to shoot down.) That way even if it breaks apart and reforms, the burning fire will stick to the wood.

    "Really now? You know you can't kill me. And honestly it's just doing its thing, if anyone's off their leash it's that girl." Look, she started out trying to needle the unknown magical girl and drive a wedge between her and Sunbreaker by emphasizing her incompetence to Sunbreaker, she's gotta keep hitting that wedge!

    Boy, Amanda sure does hope that the Timber Wolf is going to drop her when it starts burning though. Otherwise... she may have to change plans fast!

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker felt her eye twitch slightly. "Ahem, excuse me? Since when do you sparkles ever care about etiquette? I get attacked ALL the time when I'm doing my thing. I barely even get an introduction half the time. Not to mention the sheer number of times I've been interrupted or attacked in the middle of my villain rant. It's like none of you girls ever care about the etiquette! If anything, Denial is just giving you a taste of your own medicine!" Yes, she WAS annoyed by that. A lot. Because, well... rude. RUDE! So RUDE!

However, she rolled her eyes at Amy. "No, hitting them once they're active. I mean... it's a bad idea because it's so obvious. I have defenses for that in place. I'm just surprised it took you girls this long to try."

And then... Amy was bit. Sunbreaker's eyes went wide and she covered her mouth. Oh. Oh wow. She hadn't expected... Uhhhh... she was going to be okay, wasn't she? She was--

FIRE! There was now FIRE in her timberwolf! It let out a yelp before shaking its head hard and tossing her away, then hacking on the ground. Burning wood came toppling out a moment later, little charred bits and bobs landing on the ground, the smell of burning elm filling the building... The timber wolf WAS smaller, though. Giving a little growl...

"I see," Sunbreaker said. "I guess we're playing with fire now then?" She held out her right hand and formed a bolt of fire, before sending it hurtling at Amy... however, once it came within about ten feet, it would explode into a NET of flame! Which... would actually just hrut a lot, not actually tie her up.

The timberwolf, meanwhile, had switched targets. Daifuku would hear bounding from behind her before the slightly smaller timber wolf tried to BARREL into her. Not biting this time, at least.

Phantom has posed:
"Hnh." Cure Denial offers as the punch is blocked and cryptically the girl says, "It's not you today." She doesn't resist when Daifuku brings around the hammer in a swing towards her back, opting instead twist about and leap. Her legs fold in, her feet set against out to land on the head of the hammer and using it as a spingboard propulsion as she launches from it, racing upwards towards Hope Witch.

Launched upwards into the hail of arrows, there's a massive explosion as the arrows detonate around the Pretty Cure. It was a combo attack that is worthy of taking out most magical girls, forcing them to dehenshin and most likely knocking them onto the bed in Nurse Meiou's office for an extended rest and lots of healing lollipops.

However, out of this mass of explosions, a new figure is still flying towards Hope Witch. The Precure of Cure Denial is ripped away and instead, the blister shield on Phantom's arm is lifted at the Puella at near point blank range. Red energy forms and swirls around him, black electrical magic snapping and shrieking out. His eyes are wide, his grin manical as his voice rasps, "Got you." Then, his voice carries as he shouts out,

"ETERNAL... GAUGE!!!"

Here. At near point blank range, Phantom unleashes his most devastating and mirror forming attack on the powerful Puella. Puellas may not be able to die, but if they are trapped in a mirror darkly for an eternal slumber, does that effectively take them off the field?

Amanda Faust has posed:
    A taste of their own medicine? "Fair enough. Yeah. I'm surprised too." She's not sure if it's because of dulling the connection to her body, but right now she's just... not feelin' it? This is still important, obviously. Her voice is coming out kind of flat and monotone, though.

    Oh thank goodness it let her go! Amy tumbles across the floor and uses her rocket launcher like a staff to help stand herself up.

    Playing with fire? "Yeah..." She starts to respond, but has to dive out of the way of the bolt. Exploding into a net makes it clip her lower legs and feet. Magic heals over the burns but they're discolored. She gets back to her feet. "Now that it's come to this, we may as well destroy the tower, you know?"

    She turns her launcher towards the timberwolf again, but... damn it, it's engaging someone else in melee. She fires an explosive homing airburst missile to try and shake it apart, or at least knock it away from Daifuku.

    And then THAT VOICE makes her head swing around, wide-eyed. The Cure Hunter is here?! Fear pierces through the haze of dulled feelings. "YOU! NO!" Amy just. Keeps firing homing missiles at him. Can she interrupt that attack? Put him on the back foot? ANYTHING! She can't let him capture Madoka and escape!

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Joining in on the convo between Amy and Sunbreaker, Madoka actually chimes in. "I actually tried shooting into the other Eclipse Zone with arrows from a distance, but it didn't work. My projectiles lost all their firepower when entering the zone. I doubt your artillery would've fared much better."

    Granted, Madoka doesn't have that much time to talk. She's seen enough anime to know not to count your target as dead until the smoke clears, but the one thing she wasn't expecting was to see Phantom rise out of the sparkle cloud.

    She shrieks. Eternal Gauge... where has she heard those words before?! Something on the edge of her memory, from another timeline maybe. The black lightning courses through the bars of the cage, causing it to scream in the eldritch voice of a Familiar. Feathers break off of its giant wings as it all falls apart, dumping Madoka out of the bottom where she freefalls towards the ground. Hope Witch avoids getting stuck in a mirror, but the cost is the minion she was using for protection.

    The Clock Knight then leaps through the air to catch Madoka, princess carrying her while turning its back towards Phantom, with the intention of body blocking any more attacks from the PreCure hunter. The Knight is faithful to its Queen, even unto death.

    Hope Witch then raises a hand into the air, aiming her palm at Phantom. "WAKE LABYRINTH!" she shouts, and suddenly the world shifts and turns around them, replacing reality with Madoka's Barrier-like space. At first the nature of her attack isn't clear, but after a moment the PreCure hunter might notice that gravity, for him alone, is unstable. It varies wildly between working way too fast to simply not existing at all.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Not her today? It wasn't often that Daifuku felt ill at ease but something about that remark makes her stomach knot unpleasantly as she finds the attacking mahou leaping above her own attack to bounce off her Kine toward Hope Witch.

A quick shake of her head comes as she turns toward the rest of the fracas. Red being bitten by a Timber Wolf, and Sunbreaker starting to warm up her fire.

The Kine is swung overhead to bring down as she builds up her own attack, fire glinting over the wooden hammerhead. "Baine Marie!"

It impacts with the already broken concrete floor to break it further. A crevace racing out toward Sunbreaker--and the tower being set up. Fire and steam shoot from the cracks.

The cry of Eternal Gauge was in a unfamiliar voice though, and the shriek from both Hope Witch and Red has her whirling around to stare at Phantom. Where had the other girl gone? It didn't matter--She had SEEN what he could do.

"Oh no."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker had only a moment to realize... huh. Denial had denied her new form. Heh heh... okay that one was terrible and it was a good thing she didn't say it out loud. That was... bad. However, what it did do was force Hope Witch to set up a barrier of sorts. What Sunbreaker didn't expect... was the way the device began to react to it. It began to lightly hum. And Hope Witch would find that things went from bad, to worse. The tower began to hum. A few of the lights on it were glowing now.

And everyone was focusing on Phantom. Perfect. "Phantom, keep it up! Whatever they're doing? It's helping!" she yelled. The wolf, meanwhile? Lost another chunk from the blast of air from the missile. However, it was still able to get in close to try and tackle Daifuku!

The firey, steamy crack raced towards Sunbreaker and the tower. However this time she was ready. She held out her right hand and black flames gathered for a moment before crashing down in the path of the blast. It'd explode against it, the crack surging to the left and right, but not making it to the tower. "I'm a lot stronger than last time we fought, Daifuku." Also, she hadn't just almost killed Daifuku's grandpa this time. So that helped.

She glanced back at the console. It was about 60% ready... if they could just hold them off a little longer, the zone would go off. And having a dark energy field setup? Oh, it was only accelerating the process.

Phantom has posed:
There's a growl of frustration. Phantom had her dead to rights. The birdcage had saved her, and now he's back on the defensive. Completing his leap to land in the tree, he was preparing to turn on her to continue the attack, just as Madoka unleashes the Wake Labyrinth.

Gravity is turned on him and he is slammed towards the ground, landing with a sharp grunt when he slams into the ground. That hurt and he felt it for a moment, as he's yanked back into the air. This is going to get annoying quickly. For a few moments, Madoka has the advantage, but at the same time, she is not the only one that can change the battlefield.

"Sunbreaker, be prepared." intones Phantom as he sends red lightning racing down towards Clock Knight's back. He needs to keep Madoka pinned down a moment longer. That's when he hears Amy's missiles streaking towards him, and he twists, curling underneath his shield as they all collide with the Gauge weapon and send him upwards. Smacking against the edge of the labyrinth as the gravity is changed again, the Precure Hunter has had about enough.

Slamming his hands together, he starts to summon his own dark energy barrier to interact with the labyrinth. With the magics colliding between the pair, Phantom was attempting to open his portals that he uses to go between here and his graveyard. Instead, with the interacting magic - the ground around the group darkens. Large amethyst crystals start to jut from the ground as grey fog rolls in, casting the area into a dark pallour.

"No, Hope, you do not get a home field." he growls as he forces his graveyard into the area. Shadows of the mirrored coffins start to appear, increasing the darkness of the area as he stands in the middle of the room, arms splayed to his side as he draws all the attention to himself.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Okay, that guy's dangerous. <<"Focus fire him!">> Amanda urges over telepathy to... whoever she can reach? Does that just work? She thought Kyubey had something to do with it, but he's been deceptive before... <<"I'll try to distract them!">>

    "HEY! BARKY!" She explosively launches herself towards the timberwolf, flying tackling it with the launcher braced in front of her to make impact. "You know what the problem with this minion is? It's all BARK and no BITE! It should MAKE LIKE A TREE AND LEAF! Let's get to the ROOT OF THE PROBLEM!"

    And if tackling a timber wolf and not caring if it bites her and shouting annoying puns isn't enough to get Sunbreaker and Phantom's attention...

    Missile racks appear all over her body, braced to her shoulder armor and additional armor parts on her arms and legs. Dozens of miniature missiles the size of... like, say, popsicles but longer? all launch at once, splitting up between Sunbreaker and Phantom, zig-zagging and arcing around to explode at them from all directions!

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Wha-- It was helping!? Madoka had to make a choice here and now: Either let go of the Labyrinth and all of its advantages, or accept the fact that using it put them on a much tighter schedule. At the end of the day, she didn't want to be the reason why the tower went up faster.

    Clock Knight's body shudders as the red lightning smashes into its back, leaving a smoking hole in its brass-like armor. Hope Witch looks at it with pitying eyes as the knight familiar sets her down on the ground.

    Then the Graveyard opens, and things get so much worse, and Madoka starts to wonder how much her small trickle of Gretchen's darkness would even matter in the face of the overwhelming despair from such a terrible place.

    Madoka is glaring daggers at Sunbreaker from over Clock Knight's shoulder. The flaming horse girl always did have a way of getting underneath Madoka's skin in a way that literally no one else could. "So this was your tactic. I didn't expect it'd be enough to matter. Gretchen-chan must be more powerful than I thought."

    This is bad. Actually, really bad. Madoka's whole attention has been on Phantom, leaving Amy to fight the Timber Wolf. Yet, if Madoka recalls how these things are set up, killing the youma will probably stop the tower. Yet, if she takes her attention off of Phantom...

    Hope Witch speaks strange words, and suddenly there are a thousand eyes opening all over the landscape. The ground itself awakens as eldritch creatures and benotafraids walk out of the walls. Each of them looking big and frightening, but it's a trick. None of them would offer much in the way of resistance once tested, popping like bubbles once hit. There's no point in giving them much armor when Phantom or Sunbreaker could probably tear them apart with ease regardless.

    No, the real attack comes from Madoka herself. Hope Witch grabs onto Clock Knight's hand and pulls it closer, and the strange Familiar stats turning itself inside out. It is, apparently, nothing but a suit of armor, and that armor starts wrapping itself around Madoka. With the Clock Shield and brass spear in hand, a pair of feathery wings sprout from Madoka's back as she flies towards the Timber Wolf. The spear glows with pink, and she raises it as the distance closes, trying to pounce on the youma and impale it with the strange improvised weapon. Then, leaping off of it, she reforms the branch bow in her hands and fires another volley.

    Then, with another strange command, the whole Labyrinth turns. Every Familiar, every piece of terrain under her influence, every bit of it raises into the air and launches itself at the youma wolf.

    <<I think the wolf is linked to the tower. We should try taking it out fast!>>

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Fire meets fire. The dark fire from Sunbreaker's counterattack clashes with what Daifuku had sent her way causing the flames to eat one another, and then die off. That's what tended to happen with a firebreak after all.

"So I see," She utters whirling her hammer around as Hope Witch mentions the wolf. It was already dangerous enough that she swings her Kine around in a defensive position preparing to ...

To what? An odd expression of surprise flits over her face. Whether it's the labrynth or the appearance of the mirror graveyard it's hard to tell. To Sunbreaker who was familiar enough with Daifuku's powers from several battles she might at least be able to sense something was Very Wrong.

The flames that often licked and flickered over her hammer flare up suddenly, die down, and then flare again in an erratic manner as Daifuku herself crumples to the ground unexpectedly with arms curling in over her chest.

The hammer thuds to the ground.

Energy is practically ROILING off of her with steam rising, and fire flaring in the most uncontrollable way. Much like power being sucked right out of her.

"I-I'm sorry," she manages to get out to her fellow mahou. For a moment, her Henshin flickers. Then it's back as she grabs for her hammer, hoisting herself to her feet. Pale and stricken she casts one glance to the fight with a shudder. Then without warning she leaps up through the hole in the skylight Red had created to flee.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
The timber wolf, dangerous as it was? Was also kind of dumb. And so when it was taunted? With PUNS?! Oh. It. Was. *On.*

The leafy monster turned and was slammed into, bracing against the ground and skidding.

AND THEN IT WAS HIT BY ALL THE RANDOM BULLSHIT GO! First pierced by a spear, then pierced by a bunch of arrows... then pierced and torn apart by everything. The wolf collapsed to pieces, missing a leg, half its face, much of its body...

Sunbreaker, unfortunately, had lifted her arms up and formed a barrier of magic over herself, catching the raining missiles and exploding them far away enough that she wasn't caught in the blast. She then let out a low whistles as her wolf was barely even moving anymore... Unfortunately for them, though, the tower was connected to her, not the wolf. She'd even been nice enough to tell them that earlier!

Then Daifuku... has some kind of magical discharge? What? For a moment, Sunbreaker was concerned. A part of her wanted to reach out and try and help the girl, but she buried that part down. She was the enemy here. She quickly buried those feelings and focused on the tower. Between all that dark energy and them...

It was at 82%. And rising.

Phantom has posed:
You know what the biggest problem is with splitting your attacks - it weakens them down into something managable. Hearing the fire from Red Rocket, Phantom grunts out lightly. "Annoying pest." he snarls, and as the missiles fly towards him, he suddenly summons one of the mirror coffins in to his flank. The girl trapped within is wrapped in greenish henshin magic and red ribbons as the missiles slam into the coffin - which remains unscathed. As for the remaining missiles? A defensive strike with his lightning sets off a chain reaction as several of them are detonated in rapid succession. A couple get through to score a hit, but Phantom doesn't appear terribly phased.

Madoka launches her attack - and the distraction is a good one. There's too many targets for Phantom to deal with and it allows her the opening to go after the Timberwolf itself. "No." Phantom rasps as the attack seems to be effective on the large wolf. And for a moment, it seems that the heroes may pull out the victory yet.

"Let the future reflected in the mirror turn terrible!" he calls out suddenly, his hand aimed at the falling creature.

Dark energy wraps around the wolf, and with a large howl, it moves to rise again, now as a Terribad wolf. A massive paw launches out, looking to strike at Hope Witch and swat her away.

Could the Timberwolf be the focus... or is Phantom? After all, it is a Mirage Zone. Make the connection.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Dangit all. The Wolf likely wasn't it, and now Daifuku had to go. It's just Madoka and Amy left. <<If darkness is helping them, then it seems like a Purifying attack would help, but I don't have anything like that.>>

    This is bad, time is running out, and it doesn't seem like anything they're trying is actually helping. Breaking the Tower doesn't work. Hitting Sunbreaker would draw more aggro. They probably can't beat Phantom outright in this situation. Hope Witch isn't even on the same level as one dark general, let alone two. Being able to draw others into Labyrinth hasn't really saved any other Witch from being defeated, so she can't actually expect that the same will save her here either.

    She starts sweating bullets as she back steps and hops from side to side, avoiding the TerriWolf's swipes. Her mind is racing and she can't just keep throwing Familiars at the problem. One of the claw swipes rends the clock-faced shield apart and rips it off of her arm, leaving her with nothing but her (flimsy, by magical standards) branchbow to protect herself.

    Brute force wont work here, but that doesn't preclude trickery. She probably can't stop the tower from charging up, but she still has some amount of power over space.

    "You know, Sunny. Since your tower needs so much dark energy..."

    She aims her hand at one of the portals to Phantom's graveyard. Gravity shifts again. Hard. Hope Witch strains herself as she pours as much energy as she can into this one tactic. Amy, and most other things here, remain mostly unaffected. The tower, as well as the ground beneath the tower, is the primary focus, and Madoka's intent is to send it directly into the Graveyard.

    This is either a brilliant idea or a stupid one.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Phantom chain-explodes the missiles. "Bullshit..." she should have used shaped charges! What a waste of magic... and damn, Amy was expecting to tank the wolf, but instead it's just. Annihilated by Madoka! Well okay.

    She incendiary grenades what's left of it to be sure.

    ...Which probably just makes it a Terribad fire wolf when it's re-empowered a moment later. That's a pretty terrible future, certainly!

    <<"Guys, we might need to retreat here... Unless... Madoka, in that form can you approach the tower?">>

    On the bright side: Despite Amy leaving herself open for a moment there, no one took advantage of it! She could be in way worse shape. But uh. Damn, he's tough. Unconventional forms of attack may be needed. Needle him. probe for a reaction. While dodging the Terribad's attacks, she asks, "So. You turn into the Cures you hunt, huh?" It's a reasonable guess, since the water Cure was just completely different theming than he has. "It doesn't feel weird at all? Being in a different body?" Hmm, no, that's not really a productive direction of inquiry...

    A whole lot of awful insults pop into her head but it would be so, so wrong to hurt him with things that could be used to hurt her.

    Aaaand Daifuku had to go and Madoka has no way to purify things. Guess they have to go in the opposite directions!

    Amy leaps to avoid some firewolf punch or the like, and looks down her nose at Phantom trying to put as much cold disdain in her eyes as possible. "Possession's the worst. Taking them down to turn into them's no better. S'just creepy. No feeling in it at all. Boring trash."

    She fires a few rocket-bullets at Phantom from the gyrojet pistol suddenly in her hand, but that's clearly more meant to just make him defend against something rather than something she thinks will actually overwhelm him.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker glanced back to Hope Witch. And smirked at her. "Time's running out, sparkle skirt. You know, you really shouldn't use dark energy like that. You obviously don't know how to handle it. It--"

And then gravity. Crud. She reached out with her hands, tendrils of darkness enveloping the tower and trying to hold it in place. It was almost there. They just. Needed. A little. More. TIME! Phantom's zone was amplifying it. The girls could feel it, like something just... tearing into the soul of the world, but near them.

92%.

"Phantom! We've almost got it! See if you can stop this! If you do, Mirage's Eclipse Zone should be able to go up!"

It had cost her a timberwolf and a lot more energy than she'd care to admit, but...

They were almost there. Just a little longer. Come on!

"Queen Mirage said you were the best, didn't she?" Oh, that was a bit manipulative, maybe... but there was a reason she hadn't exactly been getting her hands dirty this battle.

Phantom has posed:
While Amy may be wanting to start a deep, philosophical conversation on the whole idea of how his Eternal Gauge works. Maybe over tea and tiny cakes. But, this is not the time nor place. He doesn't bother dodging the attacks anymore. He just takes them all. Flame and smoke rise from his body, his jacket burned, lips cracked, teeth gnashed together.

Hope Witch is pumping more and more dark energy in. It flows through the Graveyard and the Precure Hunter manages it, with himself as the conduit, forcing it about. But apparently, it seems that it could have been too much to bare as he snarls at Sunbreaker for a moment. He recognizes the manipulation for what it is. And he dryly hehs.

"My Queen knows best." he comments flatly, before suddenly, he collapses the graveyard, taking all of the of dark energy with it as it rushes through him and cries out as his skin darkens and breaks, before he collapses to his knees, a cry of pain as he falls forward, his hands crashing into the broken ground and he looks up with bloodshattered eyes to see the finale for what it is.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    <<There's no way that I can actually use the tower myself even in henshin, and I'm not risking Gretchen to do that either. Not with both of them right here.>>

    Madoka Kaname hates saying that, actually physically hates deciding not to sacrifice herself or put herself at risk, but...

    Gretchen's voice pipes up in her head. Yeah, but failing Homura again would be even worse, especially here. Throwing it all away today means you can't do anything tomorrow. Don't forget about our other plans.

    Madoka frowns. She does have one method in mind for trying to take out these Eclipse Zones, but it'll likely only work once, it'd feel dirty on a moral level, and she can't rely on that when there are two Obsidian Big Names looking directly at her.

    <<Red-chan... I think you're right. There's a very good chance that we don't win this. If that field goes up, we should just run, okay? Your magic is too precious to waste here and there wont be much left I can do. If I start using the kind of dark energy needed to fight inside the field, Gretchen would suffer and her condition would get worse. She's on a knife's edge as it is.>>

    Madoka, however, is digging her heels in. Pushing with all of her might. As long as the tower isn't here then it's not that bad! It can be later mahous' problem.

    She might feel differently if she actually thought about how bad it would be for the Graveyard to be even more difficult to assault.

    Only, the portal to the other world closes, and while that may slow down the tower's progress it certainly doesn't stop it.

    All of a sudden, just as the Graveyard closes, so does the Labyrinth, leaving them all back in the real world. One last benotafraid Familiar appears in front of Sunbreaker, roughly her size but nowhere near her power, attacking her directly with giant, angelic claws. Madoka fires another volley of pink arrows at Sunny, each of which explodes into a cloud of sparkles, and then she steps back into a Labyrinth portal. There's a brief window in which she could technically be attacked if someone were quick.

    <<I'm sorry, Amy. You can use my portal to flee if you need to.>>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "It's always the same, no creativity at all-- uhhh, shit man, are you OK?" Amy lands from her jump and her rant is interrupted as she's shocked to realize that the wild shots Phantom was supposed to block or dodge were just... taken? What is he doing?! Should she take this chance to--

    A giant flaming wolf paw smacks her partway across the room.

    She doesn't groan in pain as she sits up, because she didn't actually feel that, after all. She fires a quick burst at Phantom -- she's decided the gun is autofire now, it can be if she wants -- and then uses an explosion to propel herself towards the portal, kinda clumsily skidding along the ground a bit before just, scrambling through with no grace at all. It's hard to be graceful and coordinated on a dime with the lag the degraded connection to her body introduces, okay?!

    Once inside the safety of the Labyrinth Puella Amy drops to her knees, and then flops over onto her back and lets out a breath. She holds her hand up in front of her face to look at the soul gem on the back of her wrist. It's about a fifth filled with corruption already. "...Do you have any grief seeds? I used my last one up in the past."

    "...I'm sorry. Maybe if we'd... no, we can't just blame and second-guess ourselves. We tried." She lowers her hand and turns her head to look at the... 'scenery.' "We can't win 'em all. But I'm glad you were there. Gretchen too. All of you."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker would be damned. He did it. Phantom managed to take out that final desperate attack...

But it cost him dearly. She could see the marks across his body, practically feel the burning he was suffering through.

But he'd also done it. All over the city, magical girls would feel it. As the benotafraid appeared behind her, Sunbreaker barely flicked her wrist, a small blade of flame incinerating it. She was too busy to worry about such.... trifling matters.

The girls, meanwhile, were able to bear witness to an eclipse zone going up. The tower was suddenly wreathed in darkness. Then it exploded. From the main body, four smaller towers erupted, teleporting away, somewhere, in the building. The main tower show... something up into the sky, though it seemed to evaporate.

Then the darkness fell. Like a curtain, the presence of it could almost be felt. Crashing down on them all. And they could *feel* it. Like a needle piercing through the very essence of magic itself. Driving into it... and beginning to drain.

As the rockets rain down on Phantom, Sunbreaker was suddenly there. She held both hands together, then spread them out. A bubble of fire formed around both them them, spreading out and erupting the rockets, holding the blasts back.

"Mission successful. Congratulations, Phantom. Mirage Corporation is the proud owner of their very own Eclipse Zone. I'm sure your queen will be proud..."

She then turned to look down at him... before slowly offering her hand. "Are... you okay?"

Phantom has posed:
"She will be pleased." Phantom manages as he accepts the hand to get back to his feet, holding one arm with the other as he watches the thing of beauty that is the Eclipse Zone activate. "I will just need to rest."

And eat lots and lots of candy. There's a grunt of pain. "I did what others were willing not to do." And he leaves it at that as he offers a bow. "Mirage Corporation thanks you for your cooperation, Sunbreaker-san."

He glances to the Terribad wolf. "He can guard the area until I have healed properly." Opening his portal back to the graveyard, which looks even darker than usual, he grunts. "I need to tend to this." With that, he steps into the coffin-shaped mirror and he, along with the remainder of the dark energy he brought with him, are brought back to his recovery area.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka may be safely hidden within her Labyrinth, but she's still aware of what's happening outside. She calls out to the air, "Gretchen-chan, commit everything you see to memory. Write it down, use Familiars, record it as a zone within the Labyrinth... whatever you need to do. Don't worry if it ends up being in Witch Runes. I can translate it later. Try to see what that thing was in the sky, too."

    To Amy, Madoka gives her a sympathetic, almost apologetic frown. "Knowing when to run is also an important part of survival, even if it doesn't feel good. If you need a Grief Seed..."

    She reaches into a plushie pile, one of the many that occupy the abandoned plushie store that serves as the entrance to her Labyrinth. She pulls out a shining black seed and offers it to Amy. "Here, you can borrow Suzanne. Just give her back to me or Saya-chan when you're done, okay?"

    Yeah, Madoka knows the Witches by name, even if it isn't their real names. She owes them that amount of respect, at least.

    Quickly, the Labyrinth moves away, out of the Eclipse Zone and far away from any draining influences. There's no time to waste here. The battle is over.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy sits up and blinks, reaching out to take the seed. "You named--?! Oh, right." She looks at the seed for a moment. This was once a person, and now she needs them for fuel.

    Well, it might be her turn one day, too.

    She touches it to her soul gem and drains the corruption away, then slips it into her pouch.

    Her hand comes out with the other, corruption-filled seed, which she holds out to Madoka. "Here. Baast. May she find peace."

    "...Thank you."

    Red eyes water as thoughts go through Amy's head. She hasn't... thought about all this in awhile, and it's rushing back now. "I'm glad. That if... if it ever happens... to us, someone will... think of us, and watch over us... Better than being fed to Kyubey."

    A tear runs down one cheek, then the other. She looks at the plushie pile. "Do you think they have any awareness...? If they do, I'm sure they're grateful that someone cares for them." She wipes the tears away with her glove.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope looks at Amy with a soft sadness in her eyes. Not so much pity as much as... commiseration. She accepts the seed, Baast, and places her where Suzanne once rested. A gentle place, where nothing can hurt them. Far away from the section used for actual combat, and hidden within a quirk of 4-dimensional space that 3-dimensional creatures wouldn't see. Being a Witch has taught Madoka more about math and physics than school ever could.

    It's a grim fate that Puella Magi face, to either die or become monsters. It's one that Madoka knows well.

    "I honestly don't know what Baast, Suzanne or the others are feeling right now. I do have some awareness of other timelines. Some in which I became a Puella Magi. Some in which my Soul Gem became corrupt turned into a Grief Seed. However, I can't remember my Witch ever being defeated."

    Madoka pauses to consider how to put it into words. "The mind of a Witch is filled with sadness, and while you're sometimes at least somewhat aware of what happens around you, you aren't actually in control of what your Witch does. Half the time you're in a weird dream space. It's... not really something I can get into right now. Right now I think we need to figure out what to tell the others about the new Eclipse Zone."