Scene #9332: Star¤Twinkle Precure ~ Silver Mario Galaxy 2

Owner	Pose
Dimokratia	LAST TIME, The Star Twinkle Pretty Cures - and You! - had arrived at the Mushroom Kingdom following the general invitation to the Binary Star Doubles Tennis and 150cc Kart Race put on by Princess Peach Toadstool on the marvelous Rainbow Road and Castle Loop kart tracks and lovely Toaodstool Stadium and Country Club tennis greens and golf links. While not quite as prestigious as the Delfino Invitational, the sports promised to be well compensated and quite fun. . . If they would ever run. Instead, on the day of the race, a massive alien mothership of the Shroob people descended on the kingdoms attacked Professor Elvin Gadd's labs on the castle grounds, damaging an artifact known as the Cobalt Star and causing a disaster that caused a critical timeline problem. Because of the state of rewritten time, instead of a race there was a war (but not a race war (the similarities between Shroobs and Toads did not* constitute a race war (probably))) that happened across a week of the past. Arriving to this devastation, the multiversal heroes and responders - or racegoers! - were joined by the STAR TWINKLE PRETTY CURES, here to recover the 'true' Binary Star (actually the Gemini Stellar Note), as well as DIMO of the Silver, on the ground escorting the brave, noble, and altogether handsome and talented ELVIN GADD-- "Professor. You are narrating during a combat situation." Patiently explains Dimo at a warm but tense buzz, eight foot tall armored mechanical champion with long filiment-white hair and bright blue optics slightly narrowed at the far shorter gnome of a man she has on a chrome-metal leash. "Narrating? Narrating!" Gadd repeats, shocked and then incensed, towards Dimo, and then pauses, and repeats one more time now much more thoughtfully: "Narration..." And then he nods his head with a 'yabu' of acknowledgement. "Well as I was saying," He leads back in, as a tremendous burst of purifying magic charges up between the Pretty Cures and completely cuts the doctor's sound mixing as the canned footage reaches its loud climax, smashing against the belly of the titanic evil* (probably) purple mushroom. A dusty nebula waves in wings to left and right, and the loud wingdings of Shroobish blast out in protest, but the actual damage is . . . Minimal. Not only is the Mushroob Castle not actually a corrupted object, it's chock full of nearly one hundred Power Stars - the left-behind bounty of the Mushroom Kingdom that the invaders didn't take with them when they stole the castle itself. Now, powering the crater-lifting steps of the Musrhoob Castle, the energy is put to the purposes of defeating all of you! "It looks like NOW would be the happiest time to explain BADGES! Wow! I'm so excited to share this inform-" Stuffwell begins, opening up flat on the ground as papers with pictures and tutorial diagrams come out. "Hey!" Gadd gasps, now actually incensed at the luggage and walking away from Dimo again to bad-knees hop about the outside of the suitcase. "I'm doing the tutorial! Skip! Skip stop! Stop tutorial, x, x button, check box x button!" Fumes Gadd (with little angerpuffs coming off of his bald head somehow) before Stuffwell closes back up again, still rocking the perpetual big smile. "Okay Doctor! Back to ADVEN--"
Dimokratia	"As I was saying," Resumes Gadd, his text box simply sorting over top of the loud adventurization of the luggage. His self-affirmed 'mazuki-ukis' come with a brush down of the front of his labcoat. "The Cobalt Star was in my lab at the castle! And then, other people misplaced it, and that's most likely why there's such a terrible dilation in time - and why Mario is missing!" Dimo's gaze tracks the titan as it rises up, the first massive step of the behemoth falling on a bright red hat with a big M on it unmistakeable in all the purple. "I believe he fell in battle." She gently adds, but Gadd immediately scoffs and shakes his head. "Missing! Mario is never really defeated." He stands firm, and whether it's cope or not he really does think its true. The giant is not the only threat - more saucers also start buzzing the area, or chasing after Tamamo's motorcycle, and the ground forces which hadn't been reabsorbed by the Mushroob Castle's activation still lurk and threaten to pounce or call in airstrikes from the ground or menace with beamy blasters! It's chaos and mayhem on the ground but at least due to prior effort the local population has evacuated through the Warp(gate) Pipes near the entrance to the city, leaving few holdouts and a lot of effectively-empty city in danger. Stuffwell, who got told not to begin ILLICIT TUTORIALS, tries to begin some Helpful Loading Screen Tips: "If the enemy is strong against Flower Power, try Jumping or a Hammer Swing! Remember, timing is everything!"
Combaticon	The first of the two Cybertronians present to react when the Mushroob Castle starts moving is Onslaught. Already in his artillery truck vehicle mode, he swings the two-gun turret around and elevates the barrels, catching a brief glimmering sparkle off the sun as they lock into place. His voice sounds off on local radio, even and measured, "I am beginning artillery bombardment. Don't stay close for too long." The guns fire one after the other, just enough delay that the recoil rocks the truck on the suspension but not building enough to risk tipping over. Ostensibly bright purple laser bolts, the shots still behave like artillery-- they soar in parabolic arcs and come down on top of the Mushroob Castle itself to explode on impact. A pair of huge brass casings eject out of the back of Onslaught's turret-- the machinery makes a series of mechanical, metallic clicks-- then he fires again. A slow but steady barrage. In the air, Vortex jolts out of her frozen state with the sound of Onslaught's guns. She whirls about and contorts, emitting that distinctive noise as her body reshapes and expands into a jet black attack helicopter with red canopy glass. Ascending, the chopper circles beneath the Sundew airship armada, attempting to intercept at least some of what's coming up to meet them with bursts from the laser turret just under the vehicle's nose. "You honestly think that'll be enough? This is way more than just organic contamination..!"
Futaba Nuki	"Oh, come on! I wanted to hear about the badges." Futaba proclaims with an indignant little huff as she peeks at Stuffwell's little pile of sheets in that brief moment she even can. Crossing her arms with a brief inhale, the ninja lets out a dramatic sigh before casting a sideways glance at the man on the leash. "Besides, everyone knows it's the cross bu-" Accursed interrupting text boxes aside, Futaba does at least stop to listen to what he has to say about the Cobalt Star. "So it was time muck that yoinked the local hero guy out of here, eh? Can't say I've ever been through a time adventure before, so that could really be something..." Oh, wait. That's a hat as red as her scarf with a big obvious letter on it, maybe even redder. She inhales again, then wrinkles her nose slightly while planting her hands on the ground. "No, Miss Dimo's got a point there. A hero never loses their trademark accessory unless something real bad went down. Well, unles it's left somewhere for folks to find like..." That's kind of troubling, actually. Trying not to bring the mood down further, Futaba instead goes right to uttering a loud kiai and springing into the air, quite literally turning her arms into springs like some kind of freaky spring-limbed arm-havers. Her timing turns out to be both good and bad since it takes her right into the path of those flying saucers, putting both her and them in range of improvised stuntwork and funky lasers alike! "Timing, eh? Hearin' you loud and clear, Stuffs!" The ninja shouts as the blasts come right for her with little room to maneuver easily without enough time to sprout wings for maneuverability. What she can do, however, is utilize the power of Timing and bring her springy arms in for a well-Timed Defense! None the worse for wear, the ninja does exactly one front flip while extending her arms forward at the same time, clasping her hands together to bring them down on a saucer for a patented Space Adventures (7)'s hammer blow! "... Oh. Wait. Did they call that a hammer blow or an axe handle...?" She's a little distracted even while using the impact of her blow to launch herself higher into the sky, getting some more air time to keep practicing her Timed Defenses against more of those oncoming shots. It's a little spotty at times, but she's really trying to follow Stuffwell's advice, up to and including raining more of her big downward swings at more of those saucers. "Or was it pump handle...? No, no, that's something else."
Audrey Basque	When we last saw Audrey, she was attempting to control the flow of temporal (and otherwise) energy in and out of the (Mu)Shroob Castle! This did not go well, because now it's up and walking and stomping about and has eyes, which her limited knowledge of fauna and flora assures her is abnormal for mushrooms, even purple ones. Maybe it's because she didn't collect the requisite BADGES. If only she'd had the tutorial on them! The fact the fight is all but unavoidable means that Audrey has already resigned herself to it; space around her distorts, almost imperceptibly, a field that slows incoming attacks at the very least, and a bit more if she has her focus intact. Which she does, at the moment! She's still floating off the ground, but then-- Oh right all those saucers are still there. Blasts from their Shroobifying(tm) cannons pelt the area around the would-be-Princess (who is not actually one), and one in particular crashes into her field but stops short of harming or transforming her. What it does is knock her off-balance, sending her to the ground where she lands... safely, all things considered. For now, she's in control. "Uuuugh we can't even focus on that giant one! This was going so well too!" Was it? She feels it was. Or almost was, at least. The sight of the Precures' massive attack barely putting a dent into the aforementioned giant Shroob makes Audrey whine internally, wondering how much she can actually do about it herself. No, hang on, there's plenty of things to use here. They just need to soften it up a bit first. And to do that... Audrey reaches out with her hand, towards a few of the saucers. With a swipe, and a tug at unseen fabric, she removes the space between the saucers, attempting to cause a several-saucers pile up that results in a crash, straight for the Mushroob Castle. It's no artillery but it'll do.
Tamamo	"This was not quite as expected. With all of that stolen power, a swift conclusion will be..." But as Tamamo speaks, magical girls are already preparing to finish the episode. 'It didn't work at all...!' She would have preferred otherwise, but things have gotten rather bad in the week that happened just minutes ago. 'Narrating? Narrating! Narration...' "Ah-- Please do stand clear and away from danger, if possible! It is far more difficult to affect the fortunes of many people as they move about, compared to those of my own person." Dimo is helping Gadd, so that's probably fine, perhaps, so long as she isn't distracted. Tamamo turns her attention to the giant shroobcastle, only to be distracted by the incoming shroobsaucers. "Oh! No, you should be staying out--" She revs the engine, (figuratively) rocketing away and driving off a wall with a (literal) jump, trying to stay ahead of a descending horde. It's getting more and more difficult just to keep herself safe, and that's what she focuses on for the next several moments, in the narrowing incidental race course of the former castle environs. As she drives, she drops a few talismans that wouldn't have been useful earlier, forming small maze barriers, invisible walls that confuse perception and turn unauthorized intruders round in circles. If she could avoid being surrounded, that might be enough, but under these circumstances... "I may work out something soon, however, for the moment, please focus on safety. We face, after all, a surprising enemy." She doesn't mention the possibility of poison, but it is a mushroom... so far as she can tell.
Sarracenia	Sarracenia has not wandered far from Dimo after the heroic rescue from the kidnapping saucers. Futaba also received some hero points in Sarracenia's book for the attempted attempt, but being saved in such a flashy way by the impressive Silver being that gave her such a beautiful gift as the Metal Lotus and a friend like Emmy (how is that hamster-bot, anyway?) has Sarra somewhere between starstruck and smitten at the moment. So, instead of rushing headlong in as she might usually, Sarra feels compelled to show off her meager skills at Silversmithing! She reaches to touch the metal lotus that is in her hair and Silver flows over her upper arms to form into long gloves. "A hammer swing, you say? Why, I always try a hammer swing~" Sarra says toward Stuffwell. She claps her hands together and a long staff of Silver forms, then at one end a rather large hammer head forms. Sarra winds up and swings in a wide arc that hits nothing but air, then again, then a third time. With each swing Silver flechettes are sent spiraling in glittering volley, aiming to perforate the ground troops as well as the giant Shroob beyond. "It is lovely to finally meet you in person, Miss Dimo~ I have been meaning to ask about this marvelous Silver but it seemed garish to ask over public channels. And also...you know...there are those on those channels who would make very loud negative comments about it. Do you suppose we could arrange a time to discuss it?" Sarra asks with a cheerful smile despite being in the middle of a warzone. Only to blink in surprise as she notices that signature red hat. Her eyes widen after a moment, and she gasps loudly as it is stepped on. "M-mario..." she murmurs in disbelief. He doesn't go anywhere without that cap! Gadd speaks up, and Sarra hmphs before nodding in agreement. "Yes, indeed. Mario is never really defeated. Much like Bowser himself." she says with a confident nod. Overhead, the Sundew Navy is still at work. A few ships are smoking or have missing propellers, but by and large the fleet is holding down the fort so to speak against the saucers. Cannonballs, Bullet Bills, Bob-ombs, all are thrown at the invading ships. Then, Sarra pulls out her phone as lasers and such land around her. "Admiral, bring the fleet around for a Banzai Bill run!" she can be heard saying. The ships overhead move into a V formation and drive right down the middle of the Shroob lines. When they reach a point almost directly over Sarracenia, each car-sized cannon deployed from the underside of each ship lets out a thunderous 'KABOOM!' before arcing up and away and returning to the dogfighting. Seven Banzai Bills fly toward the Shroob Castle, while six are launched toward the Mothership. And Sarra is all grins as they close in. "Let us see how they handle the might of the Sundew Navy's Alpha Strike!" When the Banzai's eventually hit, they each unleash an expanding series of explosions with the final explosion leaving a mushroom cloud in its wake. As well as slightly maniacal laughs from a certain princess. "Aaah...it has been far too long since I was able to see such a lovely sight, what with having to worry about civilian casualties and collateral damage all the time." she says...then pauses. "...no, that was a large crater. There should not be any non-Shroob there....right?" she says quietly.
Star Twinkle	. . . on the ground escorting the brave, noble, and altogether handsome and talented ELVIN GADD-- --Who Yuma has decided that she likes! Or, at least, considers a secure and slow-moving mount to huddle away from this fight on top of, while cheering for the Precures' success. The Star Drop flops on top of Gadd's bald head like a limp cat, soundwave-visualizer waves rippling in her green facial light while she provides a sustained low synthesized note to add OP-skipping gravitas to Gadd's narration. Meanwhile, where her worried expression angles towards the Precures.... "Khhh--!" Cure Star's arm falls back to her side as the magic disperses ineffectually off of the Mushroob Castle. She clenches her fist and turns to Lala, and then the two of them have to jump apart when a flying saucer's laser fires into the ground between them. Hikaru lands on top of a building with the click-clack of her pink heels, overlooking where the little red hat is smooshed into a big mushroomy footprint. "Wherever Mario is, we'll find him and save him! And then, we'll save this whole twisted timeline, and everyone here who got hurt! Star Puuuunch!" Her spinning wind-up intercepts a Shroob laser before it hits one of the corrupted Toads, shielding it with a magical star barrier. She grits her teeth and leans into the punch, arm trembling against the beam, until overpowering it and launching the star-projectile spinning through the air to explode the saucer that fired it. Meanwhile, with a "Lun!!" of exertion, Lala channels several pillars of teal electricity to strike at all the Shroob surrounding her simultaneously. She lands with her legs spread wide nearby Audrey, while lingering electricity sparks from the defeated Shroob on the ground, as well as from her cosmic-ornamented antennae. She looks from them, to the magic that Audrey is working to gravitationally draw several UFOs together. "Hold on, I'll help you, lun! Precure ¤ Milky Shock!" Lala brings her antennae together in front of her, charging up a heavy blast of electricity that arcs through the air towards Audrey's improvised projectile. It collides with an explosion, but then the electricity gets absorbed into the metal, crackling along its surface as the UFO-clump hurtles through the air towards the Mushroob Castle, adding an extra explosion once Audrey's attack connects! <J-IC-Scene> Combaticon Onslaught says, "I am beginning artillery bombardment. Don't stay close for too long." Cure Star looks at the armaments raining down on the Mushroob Castle from the Combaticon and Sarracenia's attacks, shielding her face from the explosions. "'Jumping', Stuffwell said... but it's too hard for me to get closer! Unless...?"
Angela	Angela has opened up a book and started reading it. It's called House of Leaves but Angela is trying to skip to the part about the evil house in case something turns out to be relevant there. It won't, different kind of evil house. But this is also a bit silly for her which is why she has minions and why she's going to leave this to Roland and Love. Angela is also ignoring E. Gadd because she already hates him for being named E. Gadd and also because his tendency to narrate reminds her of her mother. He also reminds her of Flamel, even further, which is worsebetter to compliment Angela's general negativepositive feelings on Flamel but are a little more on the negative side lately due to explicitely telling a girl she definitely isn't thinking about that she should kill herself and that it's for the best and saying things like that makes Angela wonder if it was necessary, if it was always necessary, and whom she must strangle in the future. For all her ability to choose right now, sometimes she wonders if her chains have simply turned invisible. And that's not the fault or business of the Precures, so she's just going to read this book and try not to think about it. ''Mario is never really defeated.'' "Yeah, heroes usually aren't until they are--" Roland, who is unaccustomed to the genre, says. r"I'm sure Tuxedo Mario is fine! For now we must fight for love until he comes back or he beats whatever dark magic that has turned him into Dark Tuxedo Mario--" Roland's hammer is a secret, and he doesn't have jumping really, but he suspects Love does. "Hey! Try jumping!" Love startles briefly, even as Roland has to run around trying not to get consumed by shroobs. Instead, Love jumps up hi high and then tries to drop down on the flying saucers just like that. But she doesn't have as much jumping power as Roland expected so she's really just leap tackling the saucers. "Maybe I should try flowers... But I don't think I know any flower themed magical girls...!"
Dimokratia	Advancing upon, particularly, the Star Twinkles at the center of the damaged main street after their big flashy finisher that annoyed more than damaged, the Mushroob Castle's enormosity becomes an evident hamper to it actually directing aggression so specifically at them. It still tries, affecting a goofy giant cross-eye as it bears down on them, not quite humorous for the perilous rise of its fungal tower-stalk of an arm tipped in crushing claws, and the bringing down of that arm. 'I am beginning artillery bombardment. Don't stay close for too long.' 'Let us see how they handle the might of the Sundew Navy's Alpha Strike!' Onslaught's timely close range' artillery barrage barely has time to go parabolic before impact, walking shots up the cap and across the arm to halt the fall with a flinch from the titanic mushroom. His position is quickly zeroed for a counterfire from the mothership, large lances of pink-purple energy zorching out in hot crackles from overhead to explode a building near the Combaticon's position, threatening to eradicate him and the rest of his local area if he doesn't keep moving! The air is also fairly hot for Vortex, but the lighter laser cannon still makes quick work of the swooping alien craft, swiftly sweeping in to intercept the abduction craft and save several sailors from being plucked like their princess. With their blitz abduction attack thwarted, the heavier abduction saucers try coordinated team attacks and abuse of their vertical abilities to try to fire down on Vortex! Worse, when they're shot down, they aim to ditch their saucers into Vortex at speed! It's bad up there, but Sarracenia's navy is screened. In the clouds, the large Shroob ship takes an absolute pounding from the Koopa Cruiser and Sarracenia's skyships, being caught between the Banzai Bill broadsides and gouting flames before listing over and starting to sink. Secondary explosions occur as the ship begins breaking apart into a miserable collection of sub-vessels like a rotted stump being ripped open and releasing the glistening internals to spore into the air. Most of these drift towards the airspace over Toadstool ~~Castle~~ Crater, becoming a problem the navy might have to drop closer to deal with - or saturation bomb from above at expense, really. Banzai Bills, raining down as the artillery fire frustrates 'killing everyone in the street instantly'-type slam attacks, are joined by crunched balls of saucers and Shroobs being returned to the source fungus. Not quite artillery, or the smiling bombs of the Bills, it's still fairly effective and satisfyingly explosive after Lala's crackling electrical power-up, far more easier to aim than parabolic close range artillery and '''smart''' munitions and hammering like a swung fist at scale into the titan. Audrey absolutely has her work cut out for her gathering up the saucers together with her spatial magic as her initial hurlings run out of plain saucers and are instead blotted by angry falling crowds of Shroobs, some of which have their entire headcaps on fire and appear to be running frantically in midair, others of which wear labcoats or other 'professional' gear, and yet others are actually 'Shroids' - robotic Shroobs! This menagerie falls as a rain, and only some are really useful as ammo, while others will just shoot her for trying! While Tamamo races away from her following crowd, frustrating them the whole way, they stick on her because of the rather annoying use of phones by the enemy, any random stragglers spotting her immediately tattling, and more just calling out her position as something to do while they fall because the fungus grindset really is that bad. Some of her talismans lead her pursuit up and over or into the paths of fighters like Futaba, who can theatrically hammerblow the fighters into smithereens and clear up the fox-woman to work.
Dimokratia	"Hello, little one." Gadd meanwhile narrates, as a literal war goes on overhead and Dimo adjusts her grip on the flowforming length of a poleaxe she uses to de-cap several advancing Shroobs with. Like a hat was removed, the Shroob claw-touch their blank shelfs, exclaim angrily in wingdings, and charge at the champion anew. "There's nothing to be afraid of, because I'm sure Mario or his brother, um..." Gadd trails off. "Luigi! That's right, the one who kept shouting his brother's name, mmyes." The somber yabuing and an affirmative pat goes well in time to Dimo switching to a plasma channel tipped 'spear' and swings a blade of pure heat through the Shroobs, which both turns them into pure red hyperactive 'I'm dying of fire' Shroobs and also defeats them a moment after. "Those girls have a fantastic spirit. Do you know? It reminds me of Mario! Mario and Luigi, the Mario Brothers. They've saved the kingdom countless times, and I'm really quite surprised there's so many people here to look for him! Usually it's just Luigi! Ho ho!" Having quite a good time, Gadd leans forward while clasping his hands behind his back, and then is gently yanked at the end of his chrome leash across the ground before being repositioned by one of Dimo's trails as the champion looks up at the complete aerial chaos. "Doctor, please do not attempt jumping." Dimo asks, trail scooping up Gadd to one-hand him like a pet toy dog (and his pate-pal, Yuma). "Oh, I don't listen to Stuffwell's tutorials - I programmed them all, of course I know how to jump!" Says the person with the worst max jump height score in the entire city currently. 'Tuxeudo Mario' is properly respected by Love, as is the incredible power of BIG HOPS, but Roland keeps being in his own world. And, really, he's not wrong! There's no Mario here, his fallen hat is under the massive foot of the castle-sized Shroob, and he keeps getting jumped by vampire fungusoids. It's like life in the Backstreets! Life, and also a pair of hungry fangs, comes at you fast. However, they don't steal his color. Yet. Love falling down bounces off one Shroob saucer, and bounces, getting good air when she lands if her timing is good. The overhead tackle-attack is blissfully harmless to her, yet seems to tap into a force of the native world to deliver a stunning Timed Attack critical hit! And the potential for another, and another... There's whole gangs of jerks falling out of the sky due to the detonation of the mothership, and the Mushroob Castle shields its own face for several moments just to deflect the last of the artillery aimed at it, and then instead raising an arm, jumps itself. It doesn't get far, but it doesn't have to. Bearing the weight of 99 Power Stars pinned to chest by the points of the Cobalt Star buried like a belly button at the lower center of it, the castle comes down and unleashes a ground-rippling shockwave that pops homes and cobblestones up in a tidal wave and dealing awful damage to anyone still on the ground when the leading edges hit them. In the air, it's other sorts of bad, an entire monster manual of straight up bastards menacing even without their sky pants, trying to JUMP on YOU!!
Combaticon	Vortex is nimble as aircraft go, but a big weakness of helicopters is their inability to really do much about stuff above them. The Shroob take advantage of this, and in turn the aerial Decepticon makes herself quite suddenly a much smaller target. The fuselage opens up and folds back, resizing back to the human-shaped, human-sized robot from before. From under the wings alongside her spinning rotors, she lets loose a pair of missiles into the saucer formation firing from above. And then the one she hits tries to crash into her?! It actually hits, pinning her to the damaged hull for a moment. Scrabbling, Vortex climbs out over the Saucer's top, kicks off, and takes to the air again with a thin stream of her own damage-indicator smoke. In the streets, Onslaught rocks on his suspension when the building next to him explodes, hammering his exterior with debris. Immediately, inside the truck's cab, the clutch pedal shoves in-- the shifter moves on its own-- and the accelerator jams forward while the clutch releases. The meaty rumble of the truck's heavy diesel engine roars to full strength as Onslaught moves out. His guns fire one last time on the move before they swivel back and tuck down into a resting position. He needs more distance. MuShroob Castle jumps. Distinctly, the side mirror of the truck adjusts slightly, as if an invisible driver were trying to get a better look at what's going on back there. "Oh." The truck actually catches air going over a small hill in the road. Mid-jump, the vehicle splits open and folds away as Onslaught returns to his robot mode-- and stays in the air, well above the shockwave when it reaches him. He ascends, tapping the side of his head, "Vortex." "Yeah, I'm still here--" Vortex answers, slashing a pair of aerial Shroobs that were trying to jump on her. As they tumble away in a PG-13 fashion, she turns in midair to behold the Castle. "Enemy heavy has caused an impact wave. Prioritize defense operations until the ground units can recover." "Got it," She's already wheeling around and diving, tucking one sword away so she can wield a blaster pistol and a sword at the same time, "What about you?" "I will support the offensive. Join when you are certain the others are back on their feet." From his position in the air, Onslaught swings his back-mounted cannons forward over his shoulders, firing them simultaneously at the Mushroob Castle's visible eye. His forearm splits open, swinging his own distinctive laser sidearm into his waiting hand while he advances after his own shots. He wants the Castle's attention. Meanwhile, Vortex dives low over the earthquake-rattled castle town, taking quick shots at descending Shroob where she can. If nothing else, she should be able to knock some of them off their jump arc.
Star Twinkle	"Those girls have a fantastic spirit. Do you know? It reminds me of Mario!" Yuma, on top of Gadd's head, hums with reassured pride at his praise towards the Precures. Her weird gradiented tentacles wrap around his chin to latch onto his head like a bicycle helmet, to match with Dimo's guiding cane hooked around his neck. Her fluid-light face ripples with the impact of the Mushroob's step, and then the green bubbles spiral around each other and collapse into a blobby hat-shape. "-¯¯-_!" The synthesized slurring note that Yuma emits feels like it's mimicking human speech rather than song-- in fact, it feels like a MIDI replica of a woman calling out a three syllable name in distress, indistinguishable between 'Mario!' and 'Hikaru!'. "Maybe I should try flowers... But I don't think I know any flower themed magical girls...!" "But it's strong against Flower Power!" Hikaru explains this to Love as if she knows at all what category of attacks 'Flower Power' includes-- which she feels like she does!-- and just taking Stuffwell's helpful tip as self-evidently true and immediately applicable. "We'll have to jump; but only if we can find a way to get close...!" The giant castle's stomp blasts things much sturdier than Precures away from that tantalizing shiny blue weak point, but rather than jumping over it, Hikaru stances up in front of the Magical Girl of Love as if to take it head on! She pulls out an orange pen covered in stars and twirls it in her hand, plugging it into her pink and yellow pendant while orange light starts shining out. When she pulls it out, a magical symbol of Libra flashes in front of her, but unlike with her other pens, there's no accompanying transformation involved. "Get ready to charge up your attack, Love! Trust me!" "Libra Star Color Pen!" Cure Star reaches out and grabs the shining set of scales that materializes in front of her, and a magical barrier shwiiings into existance just before the shockwave hits. All of the energy gets absorbed into the barrier, passing around them and causing it to glow blindingly bright. And then, "--Love! Now!" "Precure ¤ Libra Reversal!" In tandem with Arcana Slave, Cure Star releases the energy of the barrier in a shockwave of her own, aimed towards the castle, that scatters the Shroob army detritus that was swarming around them. With the way cleared, Cure Star immediately begins leaping through the air towards the castle's 'belly button', propelling herself jump by jump with star platforms that form underneath her heels.
Tamamo	Buoyed by a confidence in things other than her driving experience, Tamamo still projects the image of the supra-professional in her racing suit as she takes tight switchback turns, strafes street obstacles in the invasion, dodges through opponents suddenly turning to join the pursuit, and follows the advice to jump(!) in her own way, by ramping off a conveniently placed loading bed, over a pile of wooden crates, bouncing off a street awning, and making it back up onto the roof-level course. The saucers, bothersome as they are, raise their own height to maintain relative distance and undiminished difficulty, but she's just in time to hit a roof slope such that she's airborne as the Shroobcastle's slam turns the terrain into a waveform, and the street jumps up beneath her. Maintaining speed but less distance, Tamamo shouts, "Stolen power is difficult to digest!" She doesn't really need to shout with her radio pickup being part of her choker, but the engine is loud and it's hard to hear herself. "If the stars can be found, they can be cut away. If they are deeply hidden, it must circulate that power all the farther." Most magecraft is not meant to be performed while driving, but with some talismans to help, Tamamo can make the necessary signs for a detection spell one-handed, and spy through her fingers the flow of power -- possibly. It had seemed visible, before. A clear target would be useful, but if she can't find a star to focus, the curses in her satchel will suffice to poison power channels as well as blood, instead.
Sarracenia	"...hmm..." Sarra quietly ponders as Dimo seems to take no notice of the use of Silver. "...perhaps it is considered rude to display that power in front of her...?" Sarra murmurs to herself. Sarra didn't get that impression from the few radio interactions they had, though. Maybe it is like that blunt demon lord magical girl said and...she needs better material? Sarra's cheeks puff in a pout at that idea. 'Maybe I should try flowers... But I don't think I know any flower themed magical girls...!' "Well, you could try -being- a flower-themed magical girl, Love!" Sarra calls out and waggles a bouquet of fire and ice flowers up at the magical girl before tying it to a Silver arrow and launching it up to her. ''Jumping', Stuffwell said... but it's too hard for me to get closer! Unless...?' "Unless...you could fly?" Sarra asks Hikaru before holding out a feather power-up. Further attempts by Sarra to empower her allies is interrupted by a castle-sized Shroob jumping! Sarra is busy digging through her purse to find a leaf for Roland when the shockwave comes through, and is summarily knocked backward into a building before upward with the debris. That hurt, but as she flies upward and the pain fades a bit Sarra sees what Love is doing and realizes she is in a prime spot! She uses the leaf she was going to give Roland for herself (one still floats down from Roland) and sprouts raccoon ears and a tail, and with a sky full of falling baddies she starts jumping on them as they fall while using the gliding power of the leaf to help ensure she can keep the combo going. As she jumps between enemies, Sarra starts throwing bob-ombs down at the Shroob still or newly on the ground. "Incoming~" she calls out in a sing-song voice to her allies below, though her aim is good enough that she shouldn't endanger any of them. Sarra's goal though...is to get on top of the giant mushroom cap of the Mushroob Castle! When she makes it, she intends to do some flight-powered, hammer-assisted, jumping!
Futaba Nuki	"Uuuugh we can't even focus on that giant one!" "That's just how it is, Audrey. We've got to clear out the swarm before we can get at the big boss!" Futaba calls out with a boisterous laugh as she springs off one of the saucers to get to another one, turning her legs into springs as well so she isn't just letting her arms do all the maneuvering work. "That's just how it goes, you know? You build up all your bars and ally morale clearing these guys out, and then you blow your whole llMETER on the boss and hope nobody else pushes 'em out of the way!" "please focus on safety." "That's right, folks! If it's gettin' too hot for ya, then get behind me!" The former/never tennis-playing ninja boasts as she's remains in the air, unlikely to actually behave as a proper meat shield should considering the distance alone. "It is lovely to finally meet you in person, Miss Dimo~ " "Wait, your whole look changed before you met her? Huh." Futaba taps her chin lightly with her tail as she peers way over at Sarracenia and the silver-manipulation she's using for her gloves. "Pretty dang good job you're doin' over there, then! You ever want to exchange tips on transformin', you know where to find me!" "And then, we'll save this whole twisted timeline, and everyone here who got hurt!" As much as Futaba's doubtful about Mario's present state sans hat, she also can't bring herself to contest Hikaru's determination about saving the same person, either. That'd just be unheroic of her to do, especially considering that Cure Star's a fellow hero! "Hoooh.. That's right, Star. We fix the timeline, and we'll get everyone back right where they're supposed to be, no matter what happened to them in this one!" "or he beats whatever dark magic that has turned him into Dark Tuxedo Mario--" "Not just Dark Mario, but Dark Tuxedo Mario... Dang, Love, you might be onto something there." Futaba purses her lips as she bounds off a smashed saucer, briefly shifting her clothes around until she's wearing the same exact tennis-player outfit, but in black with a sleek black suit jacket over it. <J-IC-Scene> Combaticon Onslaught says, "I am beginning artillery bombardment. Don't stay close for too long." "I'll be fine, don't worry. It'll take way more than some explosions from youy and the Princess to keep me out of this!" Indeed, the explosions only serve to motivate Futaba to stay right up front fighting the shroobs and the saucers. Having to avoid getting blown up as well as getting squashed by the entire castle and its passengers, however, is quite the difficult thing to do even with Futaba's agility. She transforms rapidly as she tries getting through that falling swarm, flattening herself into a snake-like shape one moment before becoming a 2D-still of herself the next. She still gets stepped on every now and then, but it's the shockwave of homes and cobblestones that isn't quite so easy to slip past. After getting flattened against the side of one of those homes, Futaba peels herself right off of it (figuratively, because she won't think about doing so literally until later) and lets out another shout towards the castle. "Gah... Alright, big guy! Quit littering, and take these guys back with ya!" Another attack, another transformation. Still getting partially buried under all those Shroobs, Futaba transforms herself into a giant squid, still donning her usual red scarf and a giant squid-sized baseball cap. She spreads all her appendages out to collect a whole bunch of those sky pantsless jumpers, then turns the cap around so her leaf can stick out from the little gap in the back. "Watch your eye!" She 'warns' before flinging the Shroobs back at the big Mushroob, grabbing more with her spare limbs to provide a steady stream of projectiles.
Audrey Basque	The sight of Cure Milky landing by Audrey, and then assisting her, definitely causes her to turn and stare a bit. Now that she can see her up close, Lala's eyes catch Audrey's attention. It'd be really hard for them not to, though she only gets the briefest look considering-- and then, she's got... antennae? And electricity! "T-Thank you!" she reiterates, like she hadn't already. It's kind of striking, how the Cures seem so comfortable despite... how old are they? They can't be that old. Is Audrey trying hard enough? Well she's about to have to at least try harder. The sky is full of FALLING SHROOMS of various types and natures, some of which have guns, and most of which have grabby claws! Some of which are ON FIRE, and some of which are robots?? Audrey panics, tightening her formation with Lala and trying to focus her distortions directionally above and up front, to shield her from incoming fire and falling Shroobs alike! It... almost works. Because then the Mushroob Castle STOMPS, and the mix of shockwave and tremor knocks Audrey onto her ass with a yelp and a tumble, and JUST ENOUGH grace to catch herself kneeling instead of falling flat down. "There's so many of them!" There's a Shroob! Next to her! It's got claws and it's reaching and... Audrey rips something out of one of her pockets, a page that sinks into her with a brief shimmer of light. She grips something, and it forms... An extremely long and large hammer, the end more like a large segmented metal ball than a hammer's head, that she cannot actually hold up and which crashes down onto the unfortunate Shroob, and pins Audrey next to Lala as she awkwardly tugs on it to try and lift it again. E.G.O. WEAPON: REGRET. "Angela!!" She regrets this, definitely. With a deep sigh, she focuses, reducing gravity's hold on the hammer, specifically, so she can actually lift it up. Downside: less gravity means it doesn't hit as hard. But she did promise Angela she'd try some of these, at least, until she found one she can use correctly. She swings the hammer back, awkwardly and like an amateur, but tears space as she does so. She's making a shortcut! The space in front of her, the space in front of the massive Shroob's left eye. She swings the hammer into the tear, enhancing instead of reducing its gravity at the last possible second, the Shroob attracting it rather than the ground, aaand-- She let go of it. She didn't mean to. She clutches her arm like she pulled something and groans. Thank god Petra wasn't there to see that.
Angela	Roland isn't wise enough to consider that other world heroes might actually work completely differently than what he's accustomed to. If he could bend his mind around that kind of thinking he'd probably never recover as alien knowledge corrupts his mind and soul. Roland isn't against hopping though, he just doesn't really have super jump potential unless Angela gives it to him and Angela's incredible power is limited by her pride not allowing her to copy a page from a giant mushroom castle or vampire mushroom aliens or Luigi. By not following the Mario vibe, though, Roland is struggling but he does manage to avoid any critical chomps to his body--one thing he IS well accustomed to, apparently, is fighting vampires. He dodges those fangs as if they were poisoned knives, erring on the side of defense than going in for killing blows. AT least he seems accustomed to being gangpiled on too but... Love on the other hand sees that Roland is in trouble but she figures the best way to save Roland is to WIN THE DAY before he gets overwhelmed! They can't keep fighting the Dark Kingdom horde forever, sometimes you need to strike something big and glowy to save the day...! Love's jump skill isn't super mario rpg jump on a single entity 99 times while the timing shifts slightly as you get more jumps, but she's doing her best because learning a little something each time you fight is key to being a magical girl. "Oh eheh..." Love bonks her own head lightly with her fist while sticking her tongue out to the side. "I must've misheard in all the fighting! But how do we get close?" ''Get ready to charge up your attack, Love! Trust me!'' "Hm? Eheheh.... Cure Star... I already trust you. I trust you AND Cure Mllky!" She smiles so brightly, openly, and honestly, that it must be true. Besides, Hikaru is asking her to do her favorite thing in the whole world...!!! "You can trust in my Arcana Slave...! Let's do it...!" This involves a long chant which Love begins immediately as power starts rippling around her, brighter and brighter as wind ripples around Love's body as she brings her staff forward. "ARCANA SLAVE!" Love shouts, a ginormous laser erupting out from her staff towards the barrier, right when Star called for it! Because she asked for her help, Love feels trusted too! ''Angela!!'' "Relax, any EGO should be useable by anyone." Angela says. "Provided you don't corrode, of course."
Sarracenia	'Wait, your whole look changed before you met her? Huh.' Sarra blinks, looks herself over, then looks back at Futaba. "Ah...well, I suppose technically. But, I had encountered Miss Dimo's power before and had spoken to her previously." Sarra smiles proudly though. "But, my look is all my own! Even when one is struck with age and grey hair one must make the most of one's fashion sense to maintain a proper image~" she says, then nods. "I was using a more rose gold coloration before I changed my primary colors to silver and black."
Star Twinkle	"T-Thank you!" In-costume, Cure Milky looks a fair bit older, with the heels adding to her height and the general poofiness of the outfit making her seem bigger, but Audrey saw her for a bit before she pulled out the pendant. At most, Lala looks like 'an underfed fourteen', but despite being effectively half of Audrey's age, she holds up in combat as if it's the most natural thing ever to her. When Audrey moves in closer to defend more efficiently, Milky's tactics shift too, more than accompanied to fighting in a pair. Big teal hearts blossom into existence to shield the pair from the Shroobs' attacks that slip through Audrey's gravity magic, but Milky's shield only holds up to the shockwave for a few seconds before shattering into translucent fragments and throwing her backwards. Scraped-up, Milky pushes herself to her feet just in time to see Audrey losing a hold on Regret with the Shroob next to her. "O-oyo... Audrey--!! Look out!" While Audrey is nursing her sore shoulder, Cure Milky runs up and jumps, spiraling through the air to strike out with one sharp heel and kick the Shroob away. She lands beside her, exerted herself and breathing heavily, but overall holding up fine despite being blasted away by the shockwave. One of her deelybopper bulbs gently taps on Audrey's injured shoulder, patting it like a hand. "Are you okay, lun?"
Dimokratia	The surrounds of Toad Town ripple up and tumble down, some clattering down in the same spot, some a little different, with rumples in the sod and stones. The shroobified 'statues' of Toads, stuck to the ground as they are, are largely okay - and more okay because of your efforts! Dimo, having jumped high herself on Stuffwell's suggestion sails down slowly, gliding for a moment to provide a perfect camera angle of a beautiful picturesque skybox with Dimo, Gadd in arm, Yuma-helmet tight about head that's wonderfully empty and thus very easy to animate. In people-talking bust, Gadd nods, hands clutching the top of Dimo's securing arm. "That's right, you're quite smart!" Professor Gadd insist-yabus. "That might be the most important trait we need. Faith!" His glasses begin to fall, and he lifts a palm up to the thick lenses to secure them. "Faith that things can be helped. And if we believe in a Mario-" 'A' Mario. He's a genius inventor, not an ignorant blowhard. He understands the voice of an enigma, at least broadly - especially because Yuma's song seeks to be understood. "Then we have to believe that they'll come. No matter what. The Mario Brothers will come." Gadd 'repeats', the same refrain of all the Toads but spoken with a real clarity. It wasn't just fanaticism - it was faith in Their Guy(s), the hometown Hero(es). A reciprocal arrangement, seeing how often they were saved. Then the pictureframe breaks, clumps of angry semi-static falling Shroobs translating down through the frame to enter scope as quickly as possible. Dimo trims her hover-floating trails and dives like hawk back down to the rooves, landing in a deep crouch and leaving a trail of fire (and burning-headed Shroobs) in her wake but without heating herself up personally with her precious cargo. The Mushroob Castle has so much lumbering mass that the power of its own Jump sends out squat building sized star-poufs, which linger in space and threaten for a good long moment after, but the close-in air corridor becomes the safe zone after the passage of the ground wave - or, in Cure Star's case, the Libra Scales' magical barrier creating a safe chop that spares an area completely. On that momentum, Hikaru goes in hard, covered by Vortex on the approach bouncing up and over in a shockingly well-budgeted 'everyone is HERE NOW' choreography moment. With a wide angle shot vertically up at the towering behemoth, they can get away looping Cure Star bouncing on Shroob heads and a suspiciously consistent bit of falling stuff and star platforms while everyone swings into frame except Dimo, Gadd, and Yuma. Tamamo daringly leaps the wave while engaging in advanced magecraft - while driving! - and sends out further talismans to paper the towering behemoth and drop back into stunt driving. Even if the magecraft is done at speed, her theory is bang on - the Power Stars have not been digested at all, and are merely frozen in place through time lensing of the Cobalt Star! Disrupting the energy flows of the stuck-in fragments causes the offense of the Mushroob Castle to halt up with a pantomimed stomachache and a frowny fangface, giving everyone room to maneuver, and more:
Dimokratia	The twinkling blue light that fielded and shielded the Mushroob Castle begins to critically fluctuate, warpings and fumes of time being thrown off by the bellybutton gemstone revealing no mushroom // a tiny baby mushroom // the massive castle sized Shroob, as presently // a withered husk that slowly turns to dust, all together in mirage-weaving. It can see, though, Cure Star's charge and Love's charged shot, and despite the awful fluctuations of its energy, begins charging up some sort of eye beam!!! Which would be very, incredibly dangerous if one eye wasn't point blank blasted by Onslaught's combo attack that nearly plunges out the fungal oculus whole while the heat burns into the space and disrupts the fungus especially! The Futaba-Kraken gathering up Shrooboids from the air and barraging them into the other eye cooks a lot of Shroob and discharges the energy, causing the beam attack to diffuse out as streams of random shots that Onslaught might even find a kind of 'classic battlefield rave chic' for a dangerous lightshow, saturating the low air and townscape in beams. There's not even time for it to smash anyone before Love's aerial Arcana Slave chains into the driving tandem attack of Cure Star and she goes right for that belly-button supported by all her friends and the power of Love and Magical Girls multiversally!! To deliver, of course, one heck of a Star Punch right to that practically patched-together weak point. The results are explosive, in all the best of ways for the heroes. Peeling open, the fresh living fungus mass of the shrooboid's body seams open and disgorges a tremendous amount of stars by the dozens in every direction. Most arc and bounce parabolically, some tumble and roll down streets, and several find each and every person helping particularly, swirling about them and disappearing with a sense of deeply affirming and empowering energy that lingers. One bounces in for Roland, even though he doesn't believe, and one certainly bounces in and peers at Angela, not quite understanding someone remoting in that they can't quite reach. But the Power Stars are an energy as much as they are partially alive. And that energy hits great. You recover 99 Flower Points! . . . But you can only hold 10. On the ground, Sarracenia's rain of more-or-less-precision bo(b-o)mbs swiftly renders the area more safe, since the rain of overwhelming forces that felt absolutely endless only for several agonizingly long moments, and then there wasn't any more to fall. Flame takes whole crowds of them, but some of the Shroobs aren't quite defeated yet. From the rubble and 'landed' Shroob, several science-Shroobs in yellow revive the SWIGGLER, a bio-mechanical Wiggler with a sucky mouth and a sucky attitude missing its support craft. Much slower moving and dragging itself just by its front half of legs, the manybooted battering ram tromps down the street to charge and step and menace Roland, Sarracenia, Lala, and Audrey! And there's only one thing to be done about it.
Dimokratia	"Happiness!!!" Shouts the heroically dive-sliding-opening appearance of Stuffwell, combat luggage'ing off a Shroob's head to skid in and fling out a set of bottlecap-like BADGES onto each of the ground warriors! "Because that enormous enemy is slowed, I have just enough time to tell you about BADGES!! By spending your Badge Points, or BP-" The Swiggler, angered by the sound of a tutorial, begins tromping faster and with intent. "-to equip incredible BADGES! Like those ones," The one Stuffwell has spun out and attached to people! Lala's sports an angry cloud (more SHOCK charge pips!), Audrey and Sarracenia have wooden mallets with action lines (easier Hammer control/crit range!), and Roland's has... a business shoe like he normally wears, but with vertical action lines (jumps have better physics!). "-each BADGE changes how your ABILITIES work and give totally BADGE-ular bonuses!" The Swiggler is almost on them. "BACK to ADVENTURE!!!" Stuffwell cries. The Mushroob castle, now having advanced completely to the fading-dried husk state, still has eyes, limbs, motion. With one tomb-like gasp it wingdings a challenge that rattles all the broken windows in Toad Town and it sweeps about with its limbs - faster for the change of mass but not quite as dangerous. The Shroob remnants are still present, but only their elite units even have hits left in them.
Audrey Basque	"Are you okay, lun?" "Y-Yeah, I think I just..." Audrey tries rotating her shoulder; there's no pop, it just stings a bit. This is why you don't let amateurs swing weapons! Especially not ones they're enhancing magically. She would've assuredly hurt herself trying to gravity-swing a regular-sized weapon too. So, lesson learned. "I'm okay! I wasn't expecting that one..." "Provided you don't corrode, of course." "Huh?! That shouldn't be happening from just swinging it once or twice, right?" Well, she flung it anyway. So that works out? "That's just how it is, Audrey." "I knoooooow, but maybe I was just hoping it'd be easier," Audrey whines in the general direction of Futaba, even though she's completely correct. POWER STARS!! BADGES!! The sight of the massive glut of glowing stars bursting out of the Mushroob Castle is a welcome one. And one Audrey didn't even have to life a finger to provoke, overmuch, and so can't have messed up. Sadly, the massive Shroob, dried as it is, is still up for a brawl. And there's the SWIGGLER, and the other troops, and... Is that star looking at her? Audrey blinks, once, twice and three times for good measure when she is both empowered by star or three, and then given a... hammer badge? Stuffwell either pities Audrey, or fails to understand there is no badge, or Badge, in this world or any other that can help Audrey effectively wield a large weapon. But she's going to try anyway, because she's curious, bristling with power, and accidentally throwing the hammer gave her an idea. She produces the page again, to reform the Regret EGO in her hands. She lets go of it, rather than try to lift it, and catches it in her literal orbit. The hammer begins spinning, faster, and faster, and faster, accelerating around her until it starts deforming. Just like she practiced with Petra, but with something sturdier than debris and tree chunks. "Cure Milky! I'll clear a path so you can hit it!" Chunks of the ground join the hammer as cracks spread under Audrey. The pull of her gravity, like she's made herself a star, should be tugging on Shroobs and allies alike, but she's spatially isolated herself for a moment. And once she judges the hammer is going fast enough, stretched and burning red, it flings itself out, her attraction cut off suddenly. It tears the ground along its route, headed through what's left of the Shroobs, the menacingly incoming Swiggler, and the dried, husked up castle if she can line up the perfect fling. Thanks to the Badge: she might!
Combaticon	"Vortex, to me. Get ready." "--Uh..? Right!" Vortex veers up and away suddenly from her coverage of those on the ground; it looks like the Precures and Audrey and the rest have things well in hand now-- the Combaticon Commander called for her and she's not about to let him down. 'Get ready', though-- the meaning of that command comes to light when Vortex' body shifts and unfolds and rearranges again with that telltale T-Cog noise. This time, though, she doesn't expand in size-- nor does she become a helicopter. The Mushroob Castle recoils from his shot. Onslaught remains where he floats, glaring at it with a slight downward angle, the brim of his hat casting his eyes in shadow and accentuating the bright Decepticon-red electronic glow of his optics. Super Stars spill out and bounce every which way. When one approaches him-- he holds out his hand for it to land on. One eyebrow lowers-- just slightly. It vanishes. In his visual HUD, all energy levels surge. "Ah." The slightly brighter points of red in his eyes shift back to the collapsing Mushroob Castle, "Then I will put this to good use." His posture shifts. The T-Cog transformation sound cycles as his right arm and shoulder transform and reorient into a larger, beefier shoulder. With a flash of light, Vortex collides with the exposed connection point; now in the shape of an enormous arm and fist easily as large as Onslaught's entire body. Huge fingers flex, then clench into a massive fist. Metallic grinding sounds out as the rotor blades unfold and spread out from the shoulder, then the entire mount slides forward to affix to the wrist while orienting the rotors into a quartet of wrist blades. - I want to help Lala and Hikaru! - "Then we are synchronized." Onslaught draws his Vortex-arm back, exposing a rocket in the elbow from Vortex's vehicle mode speed form. This promptly ignites, accelerating the combined Combaticons straight down at the thrashing, dying Humungous Fungus.
Tamamo	The power stars seem to appreciate being freed. Tamamo's not sure how they considered, to the extent they consider things, their prior stay in the Mushroom Kingdom, but the affirmation is a welcome one. It fills her with determination, but also the question of whether the stars wouldn't rather be in the sky. Tamamo has a harder time as things progress to what she dearly hopes is the final stage. It's simply that much more difficult to do everything at once, even with luck as good as hers. Though she says something into the radio about retrieving Mario's hat for the sake of psychometry, she certainly can't go over there and look at it, herself. So focused is she on trying to find a chance to make a more decisive blow against the faltering alien castle-shroom, that its waving limbs crash into her on a scissoring pass she couldn't find any way through in time. Smashed from both sides, there's a loud pop of air and electric sizzle-crackle as her shielding enchantments break, launching her and her motorbike up in the air from the redirected crushing force. She glances down to see two limbs momentarily stopped over her former position, and sucks in a breath as she lands atop one of them, re-engaging the motor to become less of a sitting and vulnerable target. Coincidentally, traveling up a limb also makes it easier for her to stunt drive over the top of the castle, looking for fortuitous places to drop sealing talismans. She's not sure how the time-shifted nature will impact more violent means, but nothing could be worsened by slapping a network of seals onto every joint and spire, then dropping to the courtyard and spinning a dust cloud to rapid-fire chanting and handseals to activate it, probably! It'd be nice if she isn't swiggled or otherwise bothered while getting this done, but these are risks she takes whenever her most trusted knight is absent. Maybe she shouldn't.
Futaba Nuki	"But, my look is all my own! "Struck with age, eh? Well, nothin' wrong with going 'oh natural'. Might even help ya get some new fans if you're aiming for that whole demographic." Futaba grins widely, or about as widely as a kraken can with a mouth pointed at the ground. "The Mario Brothers will come." As questionable as the specific Mario's status is to Futaba, she can't help but be inspired by Gadd's and the Toads' unwavering belief in their longtime savior. "... That, they will. We'll make sure to drag 'em back yippin' and yahooin' back here if we have to, and that all starts with takin' down this big lug!" <J-IC-Scene> Futaba Nuki says, "Yo, Cure Star! You wanna go on a ride right up to the big boss?" <J-IC-Scene> Hikaru Hoshina says to Futaba, "Yeah! I'll take whatever you've got!" <J-IC-Scene> Futaba Nuki says, "Hehe. Climb right aboard, then! I'll toss you wherever you want to go!" With a course of action decided on, it's time to help Cure Star get where she wants to go! Scuttling along the ground with all those elongated appendages, Futaba half-rolls over to the magical girl as she keeps flinging those Shroobs towards the castle. "Coming in hot, Cure Star! Keep all all hands and legs inside the ride until you've arrived at the station, because we need one more big hit to seal the deal!" Futaba's idea of getting Cure Star to the Mushroob, however, does not involve just flying up there or anything safe like that. Instead, she contorts her kraken-y self so that the arms holding Hikaru are dug into the ground behind her, visibly straining like they're being prevented from moving. The main body, meanwhile, is rod stiff as she Futaba straightens up and leans forward, not quite standing in a way that looks like she should be straining or building any power at all. She even grins wildly from her kraken-y mouth as she feels the power of the Power Stars coursing through her, only remembering to move that mouth right in front of her eyes when she realizes nobody can see her expression. It's important to make sure people can see her emoting, after all. The impact of the Mushroob Castle's last-ditch sweep isn't easy to withstand by any means, but it does exactly what Futaba wants: It gives her a release mechanism for all that building power. As it sweeps into her, the limbs holding Hikaru are finally released from the ground just as Futaba gets popped right into the air. The force of her limbs suddenly being released slingshots Cure Star right ver the tanuki-turned-squid's head, catapulting her straight at the Mushroob Castle like a magical girl-shaped bullet. Futaba isn't far behind Cure Star, either, as the momentum sends her flipping forwards rapidly and nigh-uncontrollably. As the ninja draws closer to the Castle, her kraken-y limbs start transforming back into oversized arms, and at the end of those arms are not hands, but a pair of medieval-style great hammers poised to smash directly into the Castle Futaba's really taking Stuffwell's hammer thing literally.
Sarracenia	'Might even help ya get some new fans if you're aiming for that whole demographic.' Sarra blushes at the implication and the grin, looking a bit frazzled. "Er...I...s-suppose..." She was not aiming for that demographic, but gift horses and all that. Rufus and Madeleine seemed to like her look, at least. 'The Mario Brothers will come.' "Of course they will! But, since they are either late or captured we will just given them a bit of a hand for now." Sarra says with a confident smile. The explosion from the giant Shroob causes Sarra to let out a cheer and a giggle. "Yeah! Hahahaha!" she exclaims, thrusting a fist into the air. Power stars approach them, and Sarra blinks in surprise. She reaches out carefully as if to touch them, only for them to disappear, leaving that feeling of empowerment. Sarra hasn't felt that sort of power since her hammer broke! 'Happiness!!!' Sarra also has little patience for tutorials. She didn't pay much attention to her tutors when she was young, why would she listen to tutorials? But, as someone who uses power-ups she at least pays enough attention to know how to use it. And a hammer power-up makes her smile devilishly. Her smile fades though as she sees Audrey has the same badge and a 'hmph' escapes her as the smile falls to a slight frown. "Let me show you how to use a hammer properly, Crown White. Petra is not the only one who can help you, you know." she says, saying the title with a similar tone but not quite as much venom as Audrey's use of Sarra's title. As she does, she invokes the star power, which surrounds her with a soft golden glow that causes her dress and hair to flow upward lightly. Sarra grips her Silver Hammer, then reaches into her purse and pulls out a Bullet Bill. She tosses it upward, then starts into a spin. Two more Bullet Bills are tossed up as Sarra gains speed, her black dress billowing out elegantly as she twirls skillfully. The Bullets come down, and each one is hit squarely on the flat. Three thunderous shots that sound like artillery and three person-sized projectiles lance through the air at the Swiggler to bombard and explode. Sarra doesn't stop there, though. She keeps up the spinning momentum, twirling on her tiptoes in proper ballerina fashion as she twirls her way toward the mechanical creature and leaning so that she is balanced with the hammer as the counter-weight. The hammer hits, and Sarra bounces back a bit from the impact only to come twirling her way back in like some kind of elegant black and silver battle top. Each hit is hard enough to produce a small shockwave on impact, and she does not intend to let up anytime soon. She bounces again and again, each return bounce getting faster until finally she leaps upward in proper anime fashion and goes into a somersault, once again becoming a blur of silver and black as she aims to hammer the Swiggler's head into the ground.
Star Twinkle	Flung by Futaba's kraken arm for a speed boost, starry-jump-stomping on enemies to keep up momentum, with Love clearing the way, Hikaru hurtles towards the Cobalt Star with her arm reared back, spinning for wind-up all the way until the colossal stellar impact. The constellation thrown off by Cure Star's fist hangs in the air for a second, but it's soon joined by a hundred more stars, yellow and sparkly just like hers, but a power resource rather than power expenditure! While nine other Power Stars pile into Cure Star to make her glow with a radiant golden light, she catches the tenth between her hands and holds it up, looking into its wide eyes. After making eye contact with a smile, she hugs it close to her chest to absorb it, completing the power-up with a flash. "Thanks for your help. I promise I'll use it well, to bring back the shine to your sky." Now enveloped with a fight-ending shine, Cure Star stretches her arms across her chest with a confident expression on her face. She looks up at the towering but crumbling Mushroob and cracks a knuckle, seeing it work up to swinging its arm down at her. "Alright, you mucked-up mycelium... this is as far as you go!" "Taurus Star Color Pen! Color Charge!" Unlike the Libra pen, the red Taurus pen does come with a form change. After the ribbons of light snap into place and morph into an updated outfit, Taurus Cure Star has long twin braids to match the bull horns that sprout out of her head, with cowprint on her skirt, to evoke an avatar of strength. Combined with the golden aura of the Power Stars, by the time its arm comes swinging towards Cure Star, she stands firm to catch it directly. Hikaru's hands and shoulder press into the arm, sliding her backwards through the street at the impact and digging troughs in the cobblestone with her heels, but as she grits her teeth, she slows the weakened giant enough to prevent any more damage to the Toads and Toad-homes in its path. Then her fingers tighten, digging into the fungal matter while she laboriously works up even more strength than what she used to stop it. A flare-up of pink magic swirls around her to coalesce into the vague translucent outline of a bull, and her grunt builds to a shout, lifting the arm above her head. "Hhhhhaaaaaaaaaah! Precure ¤ Taurus Slam!" Like a whip crack, Hikaru spikes the giant hand into the ground, and the wave motion ripples up through the arm and into the entire giant's body, enough to lift it off the ground and smack it down again.
Star Twinkle	"Y-Yeah, I think I just..." "I'm glad, lun!" On Lala's side of things, she watches the ground-shaking pink impact of Star's punch right into the weak spot from down on street level, breathing a sigh of relief when the Power Stars come pouring out. The constant blasting around of her lightning has made her bulbs crackle with vented electricity, surrounded by all the varied types of Shroob dispatched by it. "That must mean... it's almost done, right?" One last trial appears, though, with the Swiggler's resurrection! Cure Milky balls up her fists and listens to Stuffwell's long-awaited badge tutorial with more earnest studiousness than excitement, murmuring "Badge-tacular bonuses..." in echo to show how well she's paying attention. The badge comes spinning down and adheres right to the star of her shooting star hairband, sending a revitalizing jolt of electricity down both of her antennae. "L-lun! I've got it! Badge-tacular, lun!" Lala crouches down with one hand touching the street, and then leaps up high into the air, starting to flip several times at the apex. Combining the power of 'jump' and 'shock', Milky comes crashing down in a perfect sharp diagonal, heel raised and streaming teal electricity behind it, colliding with the Swiggler with a spiderwebbing explosion of shocking energy.
Angela	Roland has gained... the SHOE BADGE that lets him uh ... jump? He hops which means he jumps about half the length of a Roland this time--like not pressing the jump button all the way down. Because he wasn't really going for height. "Well da--" He catches a sudden vicious look from Angela. "--rn?" Angela still seems upset. "...Tootin'?" Angela seems satisfied that's rated for children and also the Precures. She sees a shroob bouncing in her direction. "..." Angela stares at the shroob for a moment before reaching over to a plate saying, 'Thank you, Chesed.' to someone off screen and then sets down the plate of mushrooms before her. She then draws a knife and stabs it through several mushrooms, leaving the knife stuck in their, hilt straight up. And then she silently runs a finger across her neck and points it at the shroob threateningly. "Yeah!" Love says with a proud fist pump into the air. "We did it...together!" But it seems that even with such a critical hit, the fight's not quite over yet though Love herself isn't quite sure what she should be doing now that she has thrown her ultimate attack. But Roland has now learned that he CAN jump higher now so he-- --jumps!--and he jumps right for that biomechanical wiggler! He might as well give it a shop now that he has... the power to jump good. And if that doesn't work he's still going to stab it with a sword after. He hasn't evolved THAT much unfortunately. But then she sees Hikaru going for that giant hand and slamming it into the ground repeatedly! So Love decides to also use the power of JUMP and she tries to leap into the air and jump down on the hand between Taurus power slams!
Sarracenia	Once the giant Shroob and the Swiggler are down, Sarra makes her way over to where she thinks the red cap with the big M on it was. "...should be somewhere around here..." she says quietly as she goes about searching. When it is found, she brings it to Tamamo.