267/In the Name of Despair

In the Name of Despair
Date of Scene:	08 August 2015
Location:	Uminari City - Verone Academy
Synopsis:	Phantom lures Cures Victory, Boost and Drive- and friend Storm Knight- to his Pretty Cure Graveyard in an attempt to stop them all at once.
Cast of Characters:	Yuko Minami, Mari Katsu, Suzuki Natsume, Phantom, 53

---

Mari Katsu has posed:
    It's still summer break! Or at least school was still out, and that meant lots of things for Mari to do that /weren't/ sitting in a stuffy class room! Case in point, an early afternoon jog before Tennis Practice was in store for Mari.. and any of her friends who had answered her call - Minami-chan, Amaya-chan, Suzuki-chan, each one of them had gotten an invite from Mari to join her on the run....

    Of course, it wouldn't be Mari if tennis wasn't involved in some way - even knowing she was going to be heading to practice shortly after the run. So she was already dressed in her practice uniform, and carrying her raquet in one hand, smacking a ball up and down in such a way that she would be underneath the ball to catch it on the downswing. Which probably lead to an interesting sight, given one of the star players of Verone was chasing after her own returns... Sort of. It's not really a return if you're just hitting the ball up and down after all! If someone asked, she'd just say it was to work on coordination or something. Really she just loved the sound of the ball connecting with the raquet.

"Mari-channn...." Comes the dizzy voice of Raquel, being bounced up and down on Mari's shoulder with each step. "Can you take it a bit easier? Being strapped to your collar like this makes it a bit difficult to not bounce up and down every time you impact with the ground... I can't garuntee I won't get sick!" The fairy cries out in Mari's ear, still trying to keep her voice down to prevent anyone nearby from hearing.

    The complaint causes Mari to snicker a bit, before she comes to a stop behind a statue and lets the ball come to rest on her raquet, spinning around slowly before she inhales slowly.

"Raquel.. You don't /have/ to pretend to be a plush-toy, you know. You could hide in my backpack or something..." Mari states, making sure to look around before she starts speaking to the 'doll', who just huffs and folds her arms.

"Do you have any idea how hot it is in that /torture/ chamber you call a backpack? No thank you. I'd rather stay strapped to your shoulder." Raquel replies before she quietly unhooks her harness and floats off of Mari's shoulder for a moment to stretch her own muscles.

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     Suzuki was still geting used to this concept of 'having friends'. So when she got the call during morning meditation from Mari... she was a bit surprised! And she agrees without even thinking about it. Soon enough, she's quickly put on a t-shirt and some exercise shorts! And quickly dashed out of the house before her parents could object to her choice of clothing. Soon enough, she is out the door and heading towards where Mari was!

     It wasn't all that long before Suzuki was where Mari had said to meet up with her, approaching that statue roughly when Mari's conversation with Raquel ends. Because good timing is good! Suzuki gives a little smile, lifting a hand to wave towards Mari. "Katsu-san. I'm here. ... Where are we running at?" She asks curiously towards Mari, moving to lean against the statue. A hand reached to idly 'tickle' at the plushy some. She didn't expect a response, really. It was a plushy, after all. Though it was a cute one. And she had a secret fondness for cute things that was absolutely not a secret. Which is why she frequently had bandages on her left hand.

     Because there was this one cat...

Yuko Minami has posed:
     After a long year of working, it was finally time for the summer break! Alas, Yuko had little time to actually relax, what with the supermarket still being a thing. Luckily enough, however, today was actually one of those rare days off she had! And what better way to spend it than to meet up with a friend and her friends by extension?

     Okay, so maybe she could be spending the time playing video games or lounging around instead. But doing that for the entire day, while enticing, would just come back to bite her in the ass tomorrow morning. It's for that reason that Yuko shows up at the requested location, bearing her usual gigantic backpack! She's dressed in running pants and an airy t-shirt, and the backpack looks fairly hollow for once.

     "There we go.. Ah! Hey, Katsu-san." She waves lazily and hooks her hands into the backpack straps, bobbing on her heels a bit while looking from Mari to Suzuki. "And hello... Uh." The green-haired girl gives her a blank stare for a moment before holding a hand out somewhat stiffly and just a liiittle nervously. "Minami Yuko. Er. Pleased to meet you."

     She still needs to work on her people skills.

Amaya Naga (53) has posed:
    Amaya was running along, and almost just a constant dash, not wanting to be late to meet up with her new friends that she has only really gotten to see once or twice. Not to mention she was out on her morning jog and when she got home the message was already a little old. She never took her devices with her when she went jogging, should she?

    Of course, sprinting or dashing along the sides of people just to not be late was causing quite a stir when Amaya had passed people, and her long legs only adding to her speed. her size, and weight could be dangerous if she would run into someone, but with how agile she is from training, it isn't much of an issue for her to avoid people.

    Amaya starts to slow down to a slow jog, and hasn't even changed out of her sweats yet forgetting that she even had them on at the moment. She finally slows down to a walk once she joins Mari, Minami, and Suzuki at the statue, "Eh.. Sorry I am a little late, I was already out on a jog." She laughs a little bit, rubbing the back of her head lightly.

Phantom has posed:
Suddenly.

The ground changes to a deep purple wasteland with purple crystals dividing up the area, and replacing much of the structure and fauna of the area with them. Katsu knows what this is. She's seen it a lot. It's Phantom. Yuko and Suzuiki have seen this once before at least. The problem is....

Where's Phantom? He isn't here. It's like the ground maybe did this spontaneously? Without help?

There is however, something moving fast, around the edge of the permiter. It's hard to track--- and when it's on everyone's left.

The strike comes from the right. It's hard, and fast and--- not aimed at any of the girls. Instead, Raquel, Mari's fairy partner gets grabbed by a fast moving shape. Being held with one hand. Phantom stops his movement and faces the girls. He doesn't know that these girls may be Pretty Cure. But there WAS a Pretty Cure fairy just hanging out with that girl. His logic dictates at least one of these girls are Pretty Cure.

A bright, red mirror-- acting as a portal appears behind him.

"If you care to see your friend again," he says. "I know you'll follow me." he says with a stotic, serious tone until he back jumps into the red mirror portal.

Instead of closing like it always does. It remains open. The ground receeds back into normal, crystal growths dissapearing- though the mirror portal still remains.

The energy coming from it seems to be a powerful, overwhelming, sense of despair.

Mari Katsu has posed:
    Mari turns, waving her hand at Suzuki as she arrives and gives a quiet giggle before she nods her head, quietly tilting her head as the girl leans against the statue.

"Tired already, Suzuki-chan?" She asks in a teasing voice before she grins. "We were already doing a bit of jogging.. Just stopping to take a breath." She replies, though Suzuki might catch the out of place 'we' that Mari mentions, as just before she speaks up, Raquel notices that she's approaching and goes rigid, plunking to Mari's shoulder. Of course, after a few moments, Suzuki is reaching for the 'doll' to tickle it, and Raquel's endurance is put to the test as she remains rigid and does her very best not to cry out in laughter or the like, even as Mari does nothing to stop it.. After all, it might seem odd if she were too defensive...

    Though Minami's arrival gives her a way to save the fairy!, Turning to face Minami as she calls out, Mari grins a bit and moves over to give Minami a casual hug before she grins, the motion causing Raquel to drop from Mari's shoulder onto her backpack and bounce from there onto the edge of the statue where she comes to a rest.

"Minami-chan! I was worried you were upset with me after the abrupt vacation I took. I hadn't heard from you since I got back... I'm glad you got my message, though!" Mari states as she gives a thumbs up to the girl with a grin. "...Minami-chan. We need to talk. And soon." She whispers, her eyes glancing to Suzuki as she tries to remain below earshot as she speaks. "Not here... but soon."

    Then, Mari smiles as she hears Amaya speak up and turns, giving a slow wave.

"Amaya-chan, great. Everyone's here!" She states before she takes a deep breath and shoves her hand forward into a proud little thumbs up. "You're not that late at all rea-" Mari pauses as that sudden shift in the environment happens and her face immiediately stiffens, her eyes glancing around quickly until Raquel is suddenly yanked off the statue base and cries out in surprised.

"RAQUEL!" Mari cries out, turning to face the shriek from her friend before she glares at Phantom as he stops to face them, narrowing her eyes slightly as she slaps her tennis ball across the distance at the jerk carrying her fairy friend off! Sadly the ball misses it's mark - possibly one of the few times in her life Mari can say that.. Likely from the stress. Either way, Phantom suddenly ducks into that mirror... and Mari turns running after him while pulling her change mirror out of her backpack, and literally dropping everything else, including the conversation with her friends. Sense of despair or not, she wasn't leaving Raquel to whatever Phantom had planned!

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     Another woman walks up, talking to Katsu-san! ... Suzuki supposes she shouldn't be surprised. Most people could function and make friends easily without getting overwhelmed. As Yuko approaches and gives that awkward greeting, Suzuki gives a small smile towards her, bowing her head politely towards her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Minami-san. I am Suzuki Natsume." She says, glancing at the offered hand. ... Western handshakes? Hmm. She reaches her hand out to take the offered hand, giving a slightly timid shake. She didn't shake hands. She bowed. Why were there so many that shook hands? So odd! Then again, that girl had green hair. So she supposes she must be some sort of foreigner. The fact that Yuko might just be dyeing her hair didn't really occur to her.

     And then... a slightly more familiar person ran up! Naga Amaya! She smiles towards her as she lifts to wave her hand towards her as well, "Hello, Naga-san." Suzuki says towards her in a cheerful, if quiet tone. "You're surprisingly un-winded for someone already out on a jog." She comments lightly, more a comment on Amaya's training than anything else.

     That question if she was tired already is met with a shrug. "No. Not really, though I am a bit relaxed. You called me while I was meditating." Suzuki says with a soft chuckle, "So I'm still somewhat in that mindset of calm and relaxation." She says, continuing that tickling a few moments more, before Mari turns towards Minami. Things seemed normal, and Mari seemed pretty happy! She pauses though.

     The doll was snatched, stolen, and crying out in surprise. Mari called out a name. And Phantom stopped. Called for people to follow him if they wanted to save Raquel. "..." She glances towards Amaya and Yuko. "Your lives will be much simpler if you forget what you see and have just seen." Suzuki says, before she lifts her arm up, Verdrehen Sturm dangling before her face. "Verdrehen Sturm."

            <SET UP.>

     Immediately, Suzuki's clothing seems to explode off of her into motes of energy, replaced with her Barrier Jacket. As Mari dashes towards the mirror portal, Storm Knight dashes faster, using her supernatural speed to attempt to slow Mari's dash. She noted that change mirror, murmuring softly, "Change first." And then... she didn't hesitate. She plunged through that mirror. She was too straightforward of a person to even lift her Naginata defensively as she slipped through. One thing was likely obvious for Phantom though. She wasn't a precure. And she /really/ hoped that Phantom couldn't see through that portal, because then things could get even more complicated than they already were.

Amaya Naga (53) has posed:
     Amaya chuckles a little bit to Mari, and looks to Suzuki, "Hello, Suzuki!" She smiles a bit, "Well, I just do it to keep my endurance.. I might as well be a female boxer for as much as I jog." She gives Suzuki a large grin.

    Once the scenery changes she looks around, "What the..?" She leans her head to the side a bit, "Okay! Who turned this into the dulldrums?!" She glances around, and catches something for a brief moment, but only truly sees the figure once it is standing still with Mari's plushy that just shouted?

    "You better give that bad to Mari, because I do not play nice with bullies!" Despite the situation she doesn't stand down, in fact she starts to march up to Phantoms location, but then he vanishes into that mirror, and things turn back to normal.

    Amaya stands there looking at the mirror, and looks back to Mari, and Suzuki who just transformed. She sighs a little bit, and her mirror had already formed, but has yet to actually use it. She pulls her change mirror out of one of the pockets on her sweat pants, along with a couple of cards!

Phantom has posed:
Cure Victory doesn't even think. She transforms. She runs into the mirror. On her heels is Suzuki... and soon Naga Amaya is joining in the rush into the mirror. Jumping through a mirror feels like passing through a film of water that doesn't get you wet. On the other side....

Is large expanse in space with a deep purple wasteland of ground and various large purple crystals. Really. It looks like the ground whenever Phantom activates his powers- except it streches for miles and miles in various directions. Rising up into the skies at the end of this weird looking dimension are black collums. They dissapear into deep grey cloud cover.

Though, it feels wrong. despairing. The evidence on why is littered all over the ground. Sticking up in the ground are numerous coffin like mirrors.

Every single one contains a Pretty Cure, a depressed, dire expression on all of thier faces and eyes closed- with red ribbon crisscrossed the opening. There is not just 'a few of them'. They continue into the expanse. There has to be hundreds... maybe thousands of coffin like mirrors expanding out the expanse. Certainly... they don't all contain captured Pretty Cures..... do they? It's gut wrenching to think about it for too long.

Phantom stands atop a tall purple crystal, still grasping Raquel. Phantom lets out a 'tsk' sound.

"This is where it ends. Victory. For you. And your friends. That one is not a Pretty Cure." he says pointing at Suzuki- The Storm Knight. He talks to Suzuki. "If you leave now. I won't chase you. You do not need to share in the fate your friends will tonight." he offers, as if this is a reasonable deal to make.

Mari Katsu has posed:
"LET HER GO YOU JERK!" Cure Victory calls out to Phantom as she materializes her magical raquet. The weight of the situation hasn't set in yet, her eyes locked on Phantom and Raquel as she flies past Storm Knight with her wings spread wide, heading straight at Phantom - It's only as she passes one of those mirrors that her brain connects, when she makes out the shape of another precure in the glass, her eyes going wide. That weight.. it forces her to stop, the area around her so void and... sad. It's almost overbearing, to the point that it even brought Cure Victory out of her charge.

"Cure Victory! Get your friends and get out of here! You can't stay here, it's too dangerous!" Raquel calls out, struggling in her captor's grip as she cries out to the group below.

    The call back from Raquell causes Cure victory to shake her head before she focuses her eyes back on Phantom and narrows her eyes. For a moment, the Precure considers continuing her initial plan.... but Phantom is right about one thing.

"Get of here, Storm Knight. This isn't your fight. Get out and warn the others." She mutters beneath gritted teeth. "I'll put this jerk in his place and get my friend back..."

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     A small smile is spared towards Amaya, but Storm Knight is a bit focused at present. On that mirror. And getting through it. Because really... it was something important to Mari, and she couldn't just let it be! Especially since it seemed to be alive. Maybe that was like Mari's Armed Device?! In which case, that was extra-dangerous!

     And then... then Storm Knight enters that... space. That purple wasteland. And... that... those coffins. Storm Knight's eyes trail over them. That despair. Being trapped in it. Her grip on her naginata tightens. Tiredness from helping Miss White last night faded, because her mind was suddenly incredibly focused by one of the stronger forms of passion. She looks up towards Phantom, her lips twitching slightly. "...Captured dreams... captured wishes... captured hopes... so many that you've captured..." Her knuckles were turning white.

     "What does this even get you in the end?! What is the point of all this?! There is no reason worth doing /this/ to so many people! You've stolen their lives, you've stolen their hopes and dreams and joys and left their families in despair and sorrow! WHY?! How could ANYONE do this and still sleep at night?! There is nothing that could justify this! Every one of those girls. Every one had a hope. Every one had a dream. WHY?! What could you POSSIBLY think could justify this?!" ...No. She's not entirely coherent. No, she's not entirely thinking straight.

     No, she's definitely not taking that offer. "I will not allow you to take anyone and do that to them. Even if I hated them, nobody deserves that." She quietly hoped that she could back that up. This land... it was so full of despair. She was passionate in her anger, but if that faded...?! No! She had to focus! She places a second hand on the shaft of her naginata.

     Storm Knight glances towards Cure Victory. And she simply shakes her head slightly. "I refuse. It became my fight when he performed this before my eyes. It is my duty as both the Storm Knight, and as your friend." She says, her tone firm and kept in very tenuous control. A fight when you were angry is going to be a losing fight. At least... in Kendo, that was the case. She turns her gaze towards Phantom, watching him silently. She lifts her hand. "Verdrehen Sturm."

                <SCHLAG BOLZEN.>

     Storm Knight lifts her naginata, several magical triangles appearing, each of the corners had a sub-circle, an arrow-shaped energy bolt that was crackling with energy on each of those corners... and in the center of the three magical circles had the same crackling energy bolt in the center. She points the Naginata towards Phantom. However, it was gathering energy for now... not firing just yet.

Amaya Naga (53) has posed:
    Amaya isn't following right in after Suzuki, or Mari and stays behind for just a moment. It seems as if she is debating something, and finally closes her eyes with a stern nod. "They're going to need me.."

    Amaya waits for the two of them to go in, and selects her cards putting them into the change mirror. With that, she says, "Pretty Cure Kururin Mirro Change!" She pushes down on the top of the mirror and her clothes vanish, but there is so much magical fire surrounding her as this happens, no one can see a thing! (Yay for expensive censorship!)

    Cure Drive, who was just Amaya feels an incredible amount of power coursing through her body. "I... I feel it, but.." She shakes her head, "No time to think, I have to do this." She grips the bo-staff that appeared with her change, and gets a surprised look, realizing what kind of dress she is in, and looks down at herself, "Ohh..." She shakes her head again to regain her focus once more.

    Drive marches through the mirror, and well, what she sees on the other side, and hearing the end of Suzuki's speech. She sees it all, and doesn't bother repeating Suzuki's speech. She closes her eyes, and does not let her anger get to her, but instead, she focuses it into power in which she will pummel Phantom with.

     "My dream to protect the weak, and uphold what is right. To cheer my friends on to do what is right, cheer them on to do their best... However, there will be no cheers for today.." She twirls her bo-staff around a little bit, and the final move is to move the staff around her lower back, holding it towards one end, and bracing it with her elbow and hip, pointing it to Phantom, "Today, you will learn to do what is right, or I will drive those evil intentions from your heart."

Phantom has posed:
Phantom seems dissapointed, for some reason. "If you wish to share in this fate. Very well." he says. He does however, answer Suzuki. "Something like justice... like courage. Like love. Are illusions." he says. "You will all die. Along with love." he says as he literarly throws Raquel to his right. She might crash into one of those creepy mirrors. If she hits it, it'll hit with a hollow 'thunk'- but otherwise doesn't crack or break.

"Dreams. Wishes. Those are also illusions." he says to Cure Drive. He's not familar with Cure Drive. But she is a Pretty Cure.

He raises his hand with the red bracer and points it at Victory. There's a quick charge in his hand. Then some sort of red energy expells from it, looking like an orb with a long red tail after it. It seems he's trying to grab Victory with it around one of her limbs. He doesn't seem too concerned about damaging the mirrors here. They're unbreakable anyways, in convential fashions. Maybe that's the one good thing going here for the Cures--- they don't need to tip toe around glass and shattered dreams.

Mari Katsu has posed:
    Cure Victory leaps to the side to catch Raquel as she's thrown - the last thing she wants is for her partner to suffer an injury, even if she has to put herself into harm's way to prevent it. With both arms wrapped firmly around the fairy, she uses her wings to slow herself and land, next to one of those mirrors, eyes glaring at the man before her, her teeth still gritted tightly before she gently places Raquel down on her shoulder.

"What.... Do you know about /love!/" She calls out to Phantom. "Someone like you.. ANYONE like you, who would go to these lengths to destroy the hopes and dreams of so many... What can you /honestly/ say you know about LOVE?! Love for your friends.. Love for something more! Love is no illusion! Love is... being unable to imagine a life without the people you love... Like Raquel! And my friends! And... I may not know alot about it... I hope one day I understand it more than I do now! But I know you don't feel that way either! I sensed it once before!"

    Of course, leaping in to grab hold of Raquel as she flies is probably something Phantom expected, because the minute she lands and starts her speach, Phantom's already attacking her, and she brings her raquet forward in defense, attempting to bat the orb of red energy away with her magical raquet as she attempts to regain her balance from that sudden position shift

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     Storm Knight glances towards Cure Drive. Three people. Good, she wasn't alone. A bo-staff user, she could work together well with that if it came to close combat, a naginata and a bo side-by-side. And Cure Victory could limit Phantom's movement with ranged attacks. Probably. "...Honor, dreams, wishes... justice... courage... love... they might be illusions on their own, but we make them real. Just like we make teamwork real." Storm Knight says firmly, her gaze focusing on Phantom. "You must have been hurt. Thinking that such things are illusions, and no longer able to make them real."

     "Cure Victory, use your ranged attacks to limit his movements, if he can't move and dodge around, the two of us can defeat him!" Storm Knight calls out, lifting her naginata. "Release!" She calls out. Those three magical circles unleash an electric crackle. Aimed ... slightly off from Phantom.

     They were aimed to try and similarly limit Phantom's movement. One aimed to clip his head, the other two aimed to clip his hands. Either way, it should hopefully hit him head on regardless of his movements! Three lightning bolts, aimed for Phantom! And... possibly more importantly, it would allow Storm Knight time to dash towards him and get into melee range! And hopefully give Cure Drive time to get in close, as well! She didn't have the energy to truly engage in direct melee fight though. She'd used a fair amount of energy last night. A lot of it, in fact. Phantom might be able to easily notice that. She's definitely not moving quite as fast as she had in the last fight with him.

Amaya Naga (53) has posed:
    Cure Drive looks to Storm Knight for a moment, then looks up to Phantom, listening to what Storm Knight has to say, which brings a big smile to her face. However, when she seen Mari flying she looked kind of surprised, "Victory, I'm going to ask you how to fly when we are done here.. Got it?!" She laughs out loud, and it sounds kind of.... maniacal.. Odd enough for someone that is supposed to be a hero here...

    Cure Drive doesn't know what to do with her strength that she has right now, but she definitely doesn't want to push herself too hard when she doesn't know her own strength at the moment, so she just waits patiently for a opening.

    "Sheesh, you're not leaving me anything to say, so I guess I got nothin' to say to the fella. We'll just have t' beat some sense into..." She coughs a moment, "Stupid accent buggin' me again." She smiles sweetly, not taking her eyes off of Phantom. "We should just be careful here... I have the reach advantage if we can get in close.."

Yuko Minami has posed:
     It was hard keeping up with everything that had just happened. One minute, Yuko was greeting more friends of Mari's, including that girl she had carried away that one time. The next, Phantom was snatching away Mari's fairy!

     It beat restocking, at least. And what made things really interesting was the fact that her and Mari weren't the only ones transforming! Suzuki's transformation practically confirmed Yuko had suspected in their last meeting, but it was a surprise to see that Naga had her own transformation as well!

     Luckily for Yuko, though, she's a little slower to react before the three girls and Phantom are occupied with each other in that mirror world. It gives her a convenient opportunity to bring out her own mirror and transform herself without much to worry about. A few minutes later, and...

     ... Cure Boost finally arrives! Just in time for everyone to make their own dramatic speeches, too. Lugging those two tower shields over her shoulders, her arrival is fairly obvious with the loud clanging of metal on ground with each heavy step. She's also looking just a little winded even as she points dramatically at Phantom with one of those shields in hand.

     "... You! Enemy of the weak and.. Such. Uh. You think you can do whatever you want here?" She takes another moment to catch her breath. Really needs to work on her entrances. Glaring at Phantom, Boost shifts her gaze to Cure Drive to Storm Knight and then to Cure Victory before clanking those shields together.

     "Well.. It doesn't matter! We're taking you down anyway!" And then she's off! Very... Very slowly. She's still managing a brisk run as she starts going forward with those shields, at least!

Phantom has posed:
Phantom indeed, Cure Victory felt a glimmer of something. Something that once was a long time ago. But this is today. And all that's in Phantom's heart right now, is the utter despair he's looking to inflict here. He speaks again. "I have a better question for you, Cure Victory." he says. "If love is so powerful. If love isn't an illusion? If love exists...." he says. "Then why has every, single, one of these Cures, who claimed to fight with the power of love, fall so easily. What makes you /special/?" As the shot hit's Victory's raquet... it just outright shatters through it, continuing into her. What hits feels hot. Unpleasent, as if Phantom was weaponizing despair itself, as it latches onto her arm. He then tugs the 'line' back, flinging Victory into the air towards him. He draws his sword. He waits for Victory to fly into swing distance and he swipes the sword downward, trying to cut downwards across the Cure. The raquet itself may or may not be damaged.

Cure Boost flies into the scene and makes a speech. He finds it uncompelling. Everyone trapped here has one. You get tired after the 800th time of the same template of 'blah blah love, blah blah justice'- at least, that's how it reads in his corrupted heart.

The Storm Knight fires lightining. But not at him. He leaps backward and stands on top of one of those coffin like mirrors. Even more of concern? Victory is coming with him, still attached to that orb of darkness. He doesn't seem to be using her as a hostage. He begins putting distance between him and Boost and Drive-- and the knight. They'll have to either Mirror Coffin hop, or run towards in a furious zig zag through the Cure Containing Mirror forest he's putting between them.

Mari Katsu has posed:
    Cure Victory doesn't expect that... She was certain she caught that attack head on, and even more certain that she had a strong grip on the attack when it shattered through her raquet and hit her hard enough that both she and her fairy go sailing into the distance under the force. The impact with the ground aids in dulling Phantom's question and the rest barely even registers during that impact, the hot, unpleasant feeling of all that despair being directed at her being honestly one of the /worst/ things she's ever felt.. Right up until she feels that sudden wrenching pain as her fore arm is suddenly used to snatch her back towards Phantom.

    What made her special, though? That question rang in Cure Victory's ears a she brings her raquet around, using the already weakened tool to try and block that downswing from Phantom's sword.

"I don't know what makes me special..! Maybe nothing makes me special... But that doesn't mean I'll just stand around and let you have your way! I am Cure Victory!" Using her own energy to bolster her raquet's durability, she catches the edge of Phantom's blade along it's spine, resulting in an explosion of color as her aura collides with his own. "They may have lost to you... But each and every one of them... All of us! We're still stronger than you'll ever be! Mark my words, Phantom! All of these people you've captured... You'll see them go free some day!"

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     Oh good! Cure Boost was there too! The shield girl who saved her before! That was good to know. A tank and 3 DPS was better than just 3 DPS! ...Not that this was an MMORPG of course. Still, Storm Knight gave a small nod towards her. Her gaze shifts towards Phantom though... he leapt back to evade her lightning bolts, and it seemed that they just... didn't make it in time.

     What was worse, is that he was putting distance between them rapidly, and Cure Victory was caught by some red... thing! She was beginning to realize the mistake they'd made. They followed him into his domain! This was probably where he was strongest, and they'd just taken that open door! Crap! "...We need to get out of here somehow. We need to get Cure Victory and get out." Storm Knight says, shifting slightly. It was a running pose. "Verdrehen Sturm!" She takes a breath, focusing on synchronising. Come on. She had to work in unison with Verdrehen Sturm!

                "Blitz Schritt!"
                <BLITZ SCHRITT.>

    And Storm Knight is consumed in a lightning bolt, dashing ahead. She might need to work on that teamwork thing... because its' quite possible that she might be leaving the other two behind. Though she couldn't carry them to begin with. Time was of the essence though! She had to help Cure Victory! ... If she could, at any rate.

     Soon, Storm Knight was zipping through the mirrors, zigzagging through them and likely leaving an easily-follow-able trail of light in her wake in case they got out of sight of the others.

     Good. Cure Victory was still trying to fight, it seemed... that might slow Phantom down, and he probably couldn't defend or evade as well while caught by Cure Victory. Still, this wasn't ideal. She didn't like the thought that they might be able to fight him better because he was holding onto Cure Victory.

Amaya Naga (53) has posed:
    Cure Drive takes in a deep breath, and nods to Storm Knight. She notices Boost, but then suddenly starts to dash forward. Her speed, and agility allowing her to move atop of the mirrors with rapid speed, allowing her to close the gap between her and Phantom.

    Drive holds her staff off to her left, with her hand placed in the middle of it, and her right arm slightly out in front of her to prepare for anything that might come her way, preparing to dodge anything that might come at her as she attempts to close in on Phantom. "Hold tight, Victory!" She growls lightly under her breath as she closes in on Storm, because well... Drive is taking the quicker path atop of the coffin mirrors.

    Drive does spare a quick glance back at the slower Boost, but doesn't think anything of it at the moment, considering she has already committed to charging on in at Phantom with Storm Knight.

Yuko Minami has posed:
     Cure Boost's eyes widen as Cure Victory is snatched up next, gritting her teeth in an angry scowl. "Victory! Keh... You fiendish ass!" She sounds as irritated as she looks, having some trouble navigating through all those mirrors in the way. Sure, she didn't really have anything prepared in the way of a speech, but... Still!

     He could've at least acknowledged it or something. Also, all those other Cures trapped in the mirrors. That isn't all that pleasant to look at either. The green-haired girl doesn't have much of a choice, though, since breaking them open could just cause even more problems. She even has to dematerialize those shields of hers for the time being just to keep moving through the Mirror forest safely!

     "Get back here and fight us properly! If you really want to make us despair, then you'll have to do it in a real fight!" Even with all her bluster, however, she does realize the truth in Storm Knight's words. Trying to actually fight that guy in his territory probably wouldn't work all that well if everything else she'd watched was any indication.

     Of course, there's still the issue of getting Victory back! Storm Knight and Cure Drive seem to have the right idea in going over those mirrors, and Cure Boost even climbs onto a mirror before starting to hop across them. She's not fast, she's not graceful, and even jumping without those shields around is still proving difficult, but she's moving forward at a steady pace. "Victory's right! Just like her namesake, the four of us will grasp it and her from you!"

     She'll get over there eventually. Tanks aren't known for their speed, after all.

Phantom has posed:
Phantom is able to leap from edge to edge with percison of a surgical instrument. As he gets an answer to his question. "If this was true. You wouldn't be here. I'd be defeated. And they would not be forever slumbering where the light won't reach." he says coldly as can be. The two weapons hit, exploding colors fill the air. He leaps into the air and aims his palm downwards-- the same one where his dark tether is connected to----and he sends Victory flying downwards straight into one of these Crystal Growths. He releases the tether when he sees the connection. There's a giant explosion at the impact. Mirrors get flung through the air. They all land, undamaged around the crater created by the impact. This is going to hurt Victory a lot.

He turns back to the other matters finally now that he's not actually holding onto Cure Victory. The Storm Knight will probably want to get Victory rather than fight Phantom. Besides. Phantom's target is now on Boost.

He rockets through the air in a leap, flies through the air past Cure Drive, and throws all the force of his mirroed edge blade into her incoming shields, aiming to try to throw her off balance or try to cut through her defenses. He'll probably get one of those effects if Boost isn't ready to tank that hit.

Suddenly, turning around, he holds up his hand and fires a red ball of energy, trying to smack Drive from behind after the crash against boost.

Mari Katsu has posed:
    The impact of her raquet with Phantom's sword is enough that shemanages to deflect his blow.. but only just, as the raquet gives way under the force, shattering at the handle and beign reduced to motes of light as Phantom whips her downwards out of the air and cries out in pain as she impacts with the crystal and lies there trying to catch her breath - at least until she sees Phantom fire off that blast of energy down at her... She remembers what comes next from the other day, and braces herself a sthe crystal beneath her explodes, sending her flying into the air again before she impacts with the ground and skids to a stop near Storm Knight.

    A few moments pass, before she digs her fingers into the 'dirt' below her, slowly beginning to push herself back to her knees.

"I'm not... Done yet..." She hisses through her teeth, displaying that passionate fire even despite all of this. "Don't focus on them when I'm still a threat..." She states, getting back to her feet even with shards of those purple crystals stickign out of her armor from the explosion. It's frankly a credit she can even stand after all of that.

"Victory-chan.. We have to retreat! We can't keep fighting him here.. You shouldn't have come after me to begin with...!" Raquel calls out, somehow managing to have held on and remain almost completely unharmed, save a few cuts and bruises of her own. "Fighting here is only going to put our friends in more danger..." She pauses, glancing towards Storm Knight. "Storm Knight, coordinate a retreat with the others!"

    Narrowing her eyes, Cure Victory nods. "We need to leave..." She finally states, in agreement with the consensus everyone else seems to be already coming to on their own. "I don't know how much more I have left in me after that explosion..."

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     Cure Drive was following after. Okay, that's good! The quicker path was for the best, even if Storm Knight was literally dashing along as a bolt of lightning, she had to do a lot of turns, and those brief pauses were enough to allow Drive to keep up. Storm Knight even dashes in a couple of times to allow Cure Drive to land on the haft of her Device when there's no convenient mirrors for the Precure to leap to. Teamwork! Kinda!

     Better teamwork would be to have helped Cure Boost, but she couldn't /really/ carry anyone with her. And she wasn't /that/ strong, since Cure Boost was a more defensive magical girl who frequently was carrying shiel-- wait why didn't she have her shields out? That was dangerous!

     And then Phantom threw Victory into that crystal! Crap! Too many people to help and try to protect! That explosion though... Storm Knight zips straight towards it, lifting her hands. "Panzergeist!" She calls out as she dashes.

     Right into that explosion. Her body began to glow brightly, consumed in a protective aura to keep her safe from crystal shards and heat! Soon, she's standing next to Cure Victory. Cure Victory was ... not really fine. Suzuki shifts slightly, lifting her Device towards her. "...Verdrehen Sturm."

                <JAWOHL.>

     A small mote of green energy is transferred from the Device, floating towards Cure Victory. Intent on giving her a small 'recharge'. "...That should hopefully be enough for you to get out of here." Storm Knight lifts her device. "I'm not sure how we can get back out, the best we can do is hope that portal is still open." She murmurs softly, beginning to draw energy into her Naginata, the blade of it beginning to extend. It was a slow crackle though. Phew. She smiles towards Raquel. "It's alright. We'll get out. I'm sure of it. I'm the fastest. I'll try to keep him distracted while the rest of you make for the portal, then I'll follow with Blitz Schritt." She murmurs.

                <EXPLOSION.>

     The base of her naginata's blade lifts briefly, revealing a shotgunshell-like cartridge, which it rapidly falls back down on, emitting a mechanical 'kah-chunk', with a small explosion of energy around it. "I still have this." She places both hands on her Device, taking a deep breath. She wasn't alone, she had friends, something to fight for, something to protect!

                 "STURM BLITZ!"
                <STURM BLITZ.>

     "I won't... let you hurt my friends!" Storm Knight calls out, as the lightning of Storm Blitz consumes her. A flash of movement later, and she's dashing for Phantom. Once she's close to him, she's doing quick, rapid stabs towards him. She didn't have really any illusions that she was likely to even hit him with this... just that she would hopefully be able to keep him somewhat busy! "This... isn't an illusion!" Stab. "Fighting to protect each other and escape together!" Slash, stab! "How can you say any of this is an illusion!?" Lightning crackles and flashes around her. That burst of energy for the fortification-Assault Cartridge compensating for the fact she was losing a lot of energy to poor control over her own magic. But... hopefully it would be enough to delay so that the others could get /out/! Assuming that they let Storm Knight be potentially self-sacrificing that is.

Amaya Naga (53) has posed:
    Cure Drive lets out a growl as Phantom shoots past her towards Boos.. "... Not good.." She halts her movement, and is thankful for Storm Knight's help, but the mirror she stops on, and bends her knees seems to not take her weight too well and lurches over. She was going to bound off of it to instantly regain her momentum, but now she has to start over again.

    "Hold on! I'm coming, and stay with..." She sees Storm going right back after Phantom, which probably wasn't the best idea at this point. She screeches to a halt next to Victory, "I haven't got a good chance to get to know you yet, Victory, but go on, and get out of here. The three of us should be fine to get out of here." She gives Victory a thumbs up..

    Drive pushes from the ground, and launches herself into the air, kind of surprised at herself about how high she just jumped... Now to stay upright as she descends towards Phantom with her staff held over her head!

Yuko Minami has posed:
     Jumping from mirror to mirror (and moving in general) is much easier without the shields, but Cure Boost's survival instinct kicks in once Phantom sets his sights on her. With as little time as she has to react, however, she's only able to get one of those shields back out. She's not about to catch up with the thrown Victory, but the girl and the fairy do seem to be relatively safe all things considered.

     That's some small relief even as Phantom's blade slams right into one of those shields, the magical metal creaking from the sudden pressure driving right into it. Even with the magic augmenting her strength to inhuman levels, she can still feel the shock going right through the shields and into her body.

     "Tch... You three get out of here! I can... I can hold him off until we get out of here!" Apparently, she's got something of the same idea as Storm Knight: Hold Phantom off until the others can get out! Of course, that plan would probably work better if only one of them was trying to do that, but she's not about to back down after barely doing anything of note!

     Then again, it's not as if she can really catch up with Phantom reliably. Instead, she just tosses one of the shields up and rears back with a fist, the piston in the back of her elbow whirring loudly. Once the shield's back down, she slams her fist into it with the force of the piston aiding her, launching that shield straight at Phantom!

Phantom has posed:
'You shouldn't have come after me to begin with...!'

Phantom hears it. It's in a different voice in his head. Her voice. Luckily, he learned from the last encounter----and he shunts that feeling out immediatly. The moment does give a chance for the Storm Knight to get /incredibly close/ to catching Phantom off guard completely- but she does not. He raises that arm with the red bracer and begins blocking hits.

Boost's shield slams into him and he's flung to the side. He however, recovers very quickly. Has he even broken a sweat this entire conflict? It's like he's not trying.

Drive comes down and he jumps backwards away from the hit, probably causing Drive to hit bare ground as he turns into a blur of motion.

He aims at The Storm Knight---- who might be the only one even a little capable of catching up to him in this fight, his palm open. Terrible feeling, dark red energy builds up his palm...

"ETERNAL GAUGE!" he roars out as a lighting bolt of pure red energy rockets through the air. If Storm Knight doesn't block or dodge this--- she's going to end in a mirror.

Mari Katsu has posed:
    The stare on Raquel's face pretty much sums up everything going on.. She wants to coordinate an organized retreat... But the three of the still combat-worthy heroes are all too busy wanting to protect the others.. Meanwhile, Victory is still barely able to stand on her feet... Even after that energy that Storm Knight gifted to her.. Everyone wants her to retreat... and everyone is still throwing themselves at Phantom to buy her an opening.. that in itself makes Cure Victory grit her teeth, that her friends are being put into this situation because of her.

    In the chaos.. The only thing Victory manages to catch is that sudden exclaimation from Phantom, and her eyes widden - he tried that on her before!
        Shaking her head, Victory leaps, her wings flickering in before she launches at Storm Knight, arms spread to grab hold of the girl and use her own momentum to slam the ohter woman out of the way and into the nearest mirror portal with her... She had no idea where the heck they would end up.. But even being stranded on a deserted island for a few days would be preferable to losing one of her new friends!

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     Sturm Blitz was still working, still stabbing quickly, doing her best to continue at keeping Phantom busy! Aaaand then Cure Drive leapt above them to try to hit Phantom over the head with her staff! That was... that was just not ideal! Storm Knight changes her aim, aiming lower and more away from Cure Drive to avoid hitting her with the high speed stabs! "...H-hey what are you doing?! That's not getting out of here!"

     And then it's just compounded on by Cure Boost launching a shield at Phantom as well! ... That /also/ wasn't getting out of here. What the heck?! She was the fastest one, which meant that she could delay for longer without risking herself! ... And now Phantom was dodging away! At least the shield hit, her strikes were just hitting that buckler, which even her armor piercing Sturm Blitz didn't seem capable of penetrating, and seemed to absorb the lightning that coursed through her strikes as a side-effect. It was getting hard to keep her passion up. The despair was beginning to overwhelm her, and it only was made worse since her friends /weren't trying to get out of there/. Then there was that roared out yell.

     A lightning bolt sent flying towards her. She lifts her hand, calling out a simple spell! "Panzerschild!" Almost instantly, a triangle magical circle appears in front of her, ready to defend her against the oncoming attack!

     Aaaaand then suddenly Cure Victory was there. Grabbing her. Dragging her towards one of the red mirror portals. She couldn't even stop herself from going through it either, she wasn't that heavy, or anything of the sort! And the shield had been pointed forward. "Wh--?!" ... Vwoop. Whelp. Now they were ... somewhere else. This has just not been her past few days. First she had to save the person who was her biggest rival and threat to her safety, now she's ended up ... in some random place by going through a portal. And worse. The other two were left behind to boot!

     ... But she was also exhausted. She'd went in at maybe about half energy, and had been relying on that Cartridge for most of her actual strength and power after what she'd given to Cure Victory. "...I was going to distract him so the rest of you could escape. I'm the fastest, I could have followed after the rest of you and instead now the two of us are who knows where. ... I just... I don't even..." She mumbles under her breath, just letting herself lay wherever they fell, staring up at the sky. Or ... whatever was above them. They could have ended up in a cave or something, after all. Hopefully Phantom didn't follow them. Because she wasn't sure her adrenaline could keep her going much longer.

Amaya Naga (53) has posed:
     Drive's staff put her nowhere in range of Storm's attacks actually, given the length of the staff itself. On the other hand, Drive isn't too happy she missed, and hit the ground instead. There is a nice indention where her staff is at in the ground, which she just wills it away. Drive turns, and hears the yelling, and then sees the red bolt of lightning, something she might need to watch out for the next time she encounters Phantom.

    Drive turns her head to see Cure Victory grabbing Storm and making away with her through one of the red mirrors. She then turns to glance to Boost, and doesn't hesitate dashing towards the other Cure, and sweeping her off of her feet to princess carry her as for what it seems to be called...

     With Cure Boost in her arms, Drive seems to be dashing towards the red mirror that Cure Victory and the Storm Knight just vanished through, which doesn't take too long with her continuous dashing at high speeds.

     Once on the other side of the portal, she glances to the other two that had gotten there before her and Cure Boost, then lets out a sigh of relief..

Yuko Minami has posed:
     Were any of them going to actually leave? It didn't look like it. Part of that does make Cure Boost feel somewhat better about her sorta-choice of allies here, but it does make their collective plan significantly less possible to complete at all. Or at least until Victory tackles Storm Knight into a mirror just as Phantom's firing one of those red bolts at her.

     Wait. What? Blinking slowly in confusion, Cure Boost doesn't even register that she's getting swept off her feet by Drive until their heading right into the next portal! If this was any other situation, she'd probably be blushing like a character in her shows!

     At least she's not that heavy now. Relatively, but the shields aren't around to keep her weighed down. She's still thoroughly confused about what had just happened, though.

Phantom has posed:
Victory and Storm Knight fly through a random red mirror portal. Phantom tries to fire off a ball of bright red energy at them as they flee. This fails.

They land on the opposite side onto small grass in a park. It's green and cushy, it seems to be the afternoon. Just overheard from thier laying down postion in the park is the Brandenburg Gate. Welcome to Germany.

Luckily, getting back home will be as easy as Victory or Boost or Drive finding a mirror in a private place and knocking on it three times. That shouldn't take long. Maybe Suzu can use Verdrehen Sturm as a translator to ask around. Belkan and German seem to be very close. Right?

Right...?

Regardless, asking Blue to take them home once they find an accessible mirror big enough for them to at least crawl through is easy enough that they're back in Tokyo within an hour at the most.

Mari Katsu has posed:
    Victory just falls over on her side off of Storm Knight, panting heavily as she flops onto her side and closes her eyes tightly to try and stop her head from spinning as her armor fades out to just a glowing violet undergown to protect her modesty. That last ditch tackle was literally everything she had left.. It wasn't the most rational maneuver, either, but at least it ensured Storm Knight was safe.. Boost and Drive would be along soon - she was certain of that.

    Hovering next to the two as Drive and Boost do indeed find their way through, Raquel just sighs heavily before she plunks down on Victory's forehead and shakes her head silently, not really sure what to say about the situation at the time being.

    Glancing to Storm Knight, Victory quietly grins before she waves her hand dismissively.

"....Once we can stand up, we need to find a mirror... Or Boost or Drive can go look for one now... ...Either that or the precure opperating here will have detected our arival and come to investigate..." She mumbles to herself before she tries to lift herself up to no avail. "...This was not my smartest plan, but it worked..." She adds.

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     "...It would have been easier if everyone had just followed my plan, I'm fast enough I could have been fine... keeping him busy while the rest of you escaped through a mirror... and then I'd have used Blitz Schritt to escape..." Storm Knight mumbles, slowly beginning to push herself back up to a sitting position. Ugh. It hurt. Using that Cartridge... it was so rough on her body.

     She takes a small breath, looking between them. "...Still, we survived, and we're a bunch of strangers... so I suppose that's as much teamwork as could have been expected." She mumbles. She looks up towards Raquel. "...I knew something was special about you." She mumbles. Meanwhile, there are probably people staring at them. Because there were four random girls in strange outfits now in the park. Storm Knight slowly began to stand, moving to help Cure Victory up. It was a slow, careful movement. She was exhausted... but she could still go for a little while longer. "...Verdrehen Sturm, a map of where we are, please." Storm Knight murmurs.

                 <JAWOHL.>

     The map appears, simple and a small 'screen' in front of them. "...Uhm... nearest place that probably has a mirror?" ... A small 'google maps' style of marking appears. "...Okay... we should go this way..." She mumbles. The fact that she's speaking japanese probably only gets them even /more/ looks. That and that map.

Amaya Naga (53) has posed:
    Cure drive smiles a little bit, "What? Your plan was to have your little umm..." She looks to Raquel for a few moments, "Was to have that little plushy stolen by that Phantom guy?" She shakes her head, "I find that hard to believe. So far the only plan you had was for us to go jogging, and Phantom rudely interrupted." She sighs a bit, and finally sets Cure Boost down on her feet.

    "The good news is, we are alive, and that is all that matters at the moment. Also, we saved your plushy. When we get back, I am going to treat us all to some ice cream, and you can not decline the offer!"

    "Victory, would you like me to carry you while we head that way? You're not quite in a shape to be walking." She looks at the people staring at them that are in the park, "Hey, I feel more at home here... I don't feel so tall.." She grins and looks back to the others, trying to make a small joke.

    Drive looks to bost for a moment, looking the other Cure over, curiously wondering why she couldn't move all that fast, even without all those shields as she was light enough.. In fact, she was lighter than Drive herself.

Mari Katsu has posed:
    Glancing up at Drive, Victory just... grins a bit before she waves her hand dismissively.

"Raquel isn't a plush toy.. she just acts that way around mundanes..." She states before she frowns silently. "...Though at this point there might not be any need in that anymore... If Phantom knows her, there's a good chance he can track me down if I keep her with me." She states before she shakes her head slowly. "....As for walking, someone's going to have to help me.. and probabl Storm Knight too... she doesn't want to admit it, but she's pushing the end of her rope... Once we get to a mirror, Blue-sama can get us to my dorm with relative secrecy... It might be a bit cramped, but the four of us can stay the night there as long as we don't cause enough trouble for the staff to investigate..." She states in a slowly increasing tired voice.

    A few moments pass.. and Victory winces a bit visibly, the impacts and explosions she took finally starting to catch up to her, as well as some of the injuries she sustained from the shards of crystal shrapnel showering her when the crystal exploded - infact it's fairly visible now that her energy is reaching it's limit and the most severe wounds are actually starting to bleed to a degree.

Yuko Minami has posed:
     Keeping mostly still as Cure Drive brought her to safety, Cure Boost still has a blank expression on her face even as she's set down to stand on her own once again. "That... Uh. That could have gone better, but it could have gone a lot worse." She actually manages a tired laugh after a moment, looking between each eprson before looking Victory and Storm Knight over.

     "Long plans usually don't work, anyway. Not without something getting stuck into it somewhere. But we're alive!" Giggling lightly to herself, her attention does shift briefly to whomever might actually be staring at them.

     Thankfully, she doesn't say anything dumb. All she does is lift her hand in a brief wave before turning to Drive with a determine grin. "You should buy it from my-er... The market by the harbor, then. They... Have some good stuff for sale!"

     How subtle. She didn't seem to notice Drive looking her over, however, her attention instead diverted to Victory at the sight of the bleeding. "Ah, crap. We can worry about that later, though. Better get back soon so we can get you taken care of." She scoots over to offer the fellow Precure her shoulder.

Suzuki Natsume has posed:
     "...Ice cream sounds good to me." Storm Knight responds to Cure Drive, giving a small nod towards her as she stands carefully, keeping her balance. It was ... good enough. She watches as Drive offers to carry Victory. Good. Victory would be fine. "...Eheh. You make even me feel short... so I can't blame you for liking a place that you don't feel tall in." Storm Knight says with a soft chuckle.

     She gives a Look towards Cure Victory, her lips twitching into a slight frown. "I have the energy to walk. Besides, we can't risk relaxing. I'll be able to keep going if I use my other Cartridge." Storm Knight says, walking slowly towards where the mirror was suposed to be. "Let's hurry. We need to get Cure Victory some form of medical attention."

     Cure Boost is given a slight smile. "It was a simple plan, though chaotically attacking him all at once ... probably the ideal would have been Cure Drive carrying Cure Victory off, while you helped me delay Phantom. ... Probably. Or we could have just all made a mad dash, perhaps." She mumbles sleepily, trying to examine the situation over and over as a method of keeping her focus and her consciousness. "There should be a mirror in this store, come on. Let's go." She murmurs, reaching to open the door. Greeted in german, she gives an awkward smile. "Wo ist die toilette?" She says with an absolutely terrible accent. Soon enough, they were likely in the bathroom... and could summon Blue to get back home.