World Tree MUSH

There's a celebration going on. The Royal Palace of Eternia is in full swing during one of their annual celebrations and festivities. There have been reports of various tremors and quakes over the past few weeks but there was no way that King Randor and Queen Marlena were going to allow those things to stop the gatherings that they had planned. There would be music, dancing, food and fun for everyone in attendance. Invitations were sent even to those outside of Eternia to let beings from all over the World Tree come forth and celebrate such a momentous occasion.

What occasion? Who knows. When there has been so much peace sometimes you just have to party.

King Randor and Queen Marlena are sitting on their thrones in the main banquet hall where a majority of the festivities are taking place. There's a band playing, there are drinks flowing and Eternians galore are basking in their blissfully unaware of anything potentially bad waiting on the horizon.

Elsewhere...

"You /fools/." A decidedly distinctive voice comes from the shadowed and hooded figure that stands higher than the collection of cronies that are assembled in front of the Mystic Wall. "You cannot bring the Mystic Wall down without the proper motivation." The blue skinned hand raises to show off a shimmering red crystal of Coridite. It gets tossed to Tri-Klops who puts the crystal into the machine.

"I told you we needed the Crystal."
"I'm not the one that tried to break the barrier down with a griffin!"
"My griffins are more useful than your useless techno-eye!"

"SILENCE!" The distinctive voice causes all of the foolish cronies to flinch and shut themselves up. "Bring this wall down. So that I may have my revenge."

Tri-Klops focuses on getting the machine activated. Clawful and Whiplash wheel it into place. Tri-Klops activates the machine and an incredibly large and drill-shaped beam of Coridite energy flows from the cannon and splinters the cracked Mystic Wall.

Back at the Royal Palace...

Prince Adam is sprawled out on a big pile of hay in the stables. All nice and comfy. Lazing about as if he haven't a care in the world. Spoiler Alert: He haven't. Cringer's curled up next to him and the big green tiger fast asleep as well. So calm. So serene. So lazy.

Oh yeah. One more thing.

ETERNAQUAKE!

    One would think that when the earth trembles, those who don't need to walk around on the ground wouldn't pay them much attention. ...they don't. Not until something on a high shelf takes a tumble, or in this case, the masonry starts to crack and threaten to drop on your head.

    "Yipes! Not again!" Orko yelps, his concentration shattering just like the glass on the previously floating tray of drinks that he'd been manipulating with his magic. For a moment he wonders that he's gone and botched something up again. The red-robed wizard cringes at the resulting, and then flails his arms as more than just the beverages begin to fall around them. "This is even worse than before! E-everyone take cover!" He glances up as a shadow falls over him, quickly darting out of the way as a chunk of the ceiling lands right where he'd been floating.

    A few hours ago, back in Tokyo, one Usagi Tsukino was pretty miffed!
    See, her father, an editor for a pretty popular magazine had been invited to a party off world.
    "It's no fair! How come dad gets to go to some party at a magical kingdom on another world?" She huffs, hugging her pillow to her chest and rolling around on her bed.
    "Well Usagi," Luna replies, "it's his job to go places like that. You should just wait for him to come home with the pictures."
    "No way! What if there's like a super handsome prince there? I can't just let this opportunity pass me by!"
    "Yes, well, there's not much you can actually do about it is there?" Luna says, blinking slowly as...
    "Nyeh heh heh~."
    Usagi holds up the Disguise Pen...
    "U-Usagi you can't just use the Disguise Pen for something so trivial!" The cat shouts, alarmed.
    "Waaaaatch meeeee~. DISGUISE PEN! MAKE ME A BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS!"
    One flash of light, a sneaky leap from her window, a ton of giggling, and using the last of her allowance to get a roundtrip ticket offworld later...
    "I'm the Princess of Ivanovich, my presence was personally requested!" A sneaky Usagi says as she WALKS RIGHT BY THE GUARDS into the palace, refusing to be stopped by anyone for any reason, clad in an ornate pink dress with frills and ruffles and bows. This princess will not be stopped as...
    "A-ah! Refreshment stand!" Her priorities shift toward all the fingerfoods and snacks and sweets just waiting for her. Her hunt for her handsome prince can wait.
    "U-Usagi this is a bad idea!" Luna says, the dark furred black cat doing her best to keep up with the 'princess' that is completely ignoring her and--
    The earth shakes. Just as Usagi reaches the refreshment table.
    "Wah! Wah! Awawawawawa!" She bleats, ducking under the table for safety in a panic.

    Lex was feeling fairly low on energy recently; she isn't entirely sure why. Presumably, her energy levels simply ebbed. So for a couple of weeks, she's been stuck on "desk duty." Now, though, she's on the upswing, and it's time to go back to the World Tree.

    The thing is, she isn't a party person; she sort of got pulled into the party's gravitational field while she was on her way to Hyrule.

    Her robotic left arm and leg are currently in their green and white form, and Lightshard 18 is on her back; she and Shard concluded that this world was more amenable to people wearing five-foot-long high-tech swords on their backs.

    The two have somehow wound up explaining Lex's job to a small group of Eternian courtiers. "Yeah, I mean, it's not exactly the most prestigious job," says Lex. "But, like, someone's gotta do it!"

    "Indeed," says Shard. "And I said --"

    Suddenly, earthquake! "-- hey!" exclaims Shard.

    "Yayayayaya!" Lex stumbles and nearly falls onto her backside. "What's goin' on!?"

    And where things are breaking? Josuke is going to be there to fix it!

    Actually no, the Speedwagon Foundation sent him here to look at the world, as they often do with worlds they haven't had any exposure to. Adam's birthday party -- and the 'Eternaquake' -- just happened to occur during his unrelated visit, as fate would have it.

    He's dressed in his brown outfit -- the chocolate brown corded sweater with the lime green turtleneck underneath it, dark brown slacks, and tan loafers (still Bally's, of course; gotta dress NICE).

    But yes! SPW told him to go check the place out, but they tend to give him a fair bit of leeway in how to do that. A royal birthday party seemed like a good way to scope out the local population, so Josuke went there, and tried to blend in.

    But then there are chunks falling from the ceiling! Josuke dives out of the way -- possibly pulling some hapless partygoer with him, who knows? -- but he doesn't stay 'out of the way' for long. As soon as there's no immediate danger though, he's back out. Why?

    "<Crazy Diamond!>" he calls out. It helps him focus, and when there's this many distractions -- including that BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS! -- he needs all the focus he can get! And so he goes to one of the larger chunks of ceiling, the Stand glowing orange-gold at his side.

    "DOURRRRA!"

    Crazy Diamond punches the large chunk of ceiling! But it doesn't demolish it. The chunk glows orange-gold, and then actually starts to... float back up to the ceiling? And then to merge back with the ceiling as if it had never cracked?

    "Whew," Josuke sighs. "Better go check and see if there are any more cracks, before that happens again."

Elsewhere...

The Mystic Wall tries to stay together but the combined efforts of the Coridite Crystal and the pounding that the Evil Warriors are giving it, eventually causes the crack to expand before eventually the entire thing shatters, the pieces of it falling to the ground before disappearing as the wall was nothing more than mystical energy.

"Ah, finally." The shadowed figure takes a single step across the threshold where the Mystic Wall once stood. A hand raises, the dreaded Havoc Staff pointing off in the direction of Eternos... and the Royal Palace upon the horizon. "The King is mine. Everyone else?" A pair of red eyes glow from within the figure's hood. "Kill them. Kill them all."

There is only a moment of hesitation before this legion of Evil Warriors take off in the direction of the Royal Palace.

Speaking of the Royal Palace...

The Royal Guard is in full effect as the Eternaquake is over. They have taken up residence around the banquet hall and are keeping a close eye on the King and Queen. Both of which have risen from their seats in all of the commotion.

"Is everyone alright?" King Randor inquires of his guests.

Man-at-Arms narrows his eyes and gives a nod to one of the other Defenders, who escapes out of a side door.

Queen Marlena does a double take as her ceiling is put back and a half-smirk crosses her lips. Interesting.

The Royal Guard spreads around to check on the guests, from the robot-armed to the beautiful princess and even some of the more normal looking Eternians. Priority is to make sure everyone is okay before the party continues.

Outside the Palace, that Eternian Defender that left the party extends his neck way up to peer over the wall. "Hmmmm." Mekaneck peers through his goggles to see, "... Uh oh." Through the goggles he can see the approaching squad of Evil Warriors. "Guys?! We got comp--"

SMACK! A huge club collides with Mekaneck's face, sending him sprawling backwards and into the wall of the Palace. Attached to the club, of course, is the hand (paw?) of Beast Man as he sits proudly on his flying griffin of terror.

A blast from Tri-Klops blows a massive hole in the Palace's defensive walls and here come the Evil Warriors. Flooding through the wall one after another: Tri-Klops, Trap Jaw, Mer-Man, Clawful and even Whiplash!

    Orko's followed his own advice and taken cover under a chair. What good that might do if another chunk of ceiling ended up falling on him, he will never know. At least, not today. Peering through blue fingers, he blinks and then stares as one of their guests does something downright magical, fixing the broken ceiling! And then he hits his head on the chair in his sudden move to get up. "Ow!"

    It looks like things have settled down at least, and as he sullenly rubs his hatted head, the little wizard floats back up and starts to go and check on people as well. "Hey, are you all right?" he asks as he peers under the table. "You can come out now, everything seems-"

    The sudden crash of the wall blowing inward has him jump in midair, and looking over towards the intruders, Orko gasps and then dives under the table to join the Princess and her cat. "A-actually hold that thought..!"

    That beautiful princess?
    Yeah she's still under the table. Hands over her head, and whimpering.
    "This was supposed to be a fancy party, I was supposed to meet a handsome prince, it wasn't supposed to be scary at all!"
    It takes her a second to rally, and she's shaky when she does as she peeks out from under the tablecloth, joined a second later by her cat peeking out with her, as the ceiling is repaired and all is well again.
    Huff...
    "I-is it safe to come out now?" Usagi asks while reeeeeaaching up and swiping a sandwich from the top of the table.
    A girl has to have priorities as seh tries to get her bearings and-- "Oh crud."
    There's Josuke and Lex. Though they likely won't recognize the BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS with her disguise field up, Usagi tries to keep a low profile anyway.
    Right up until the wall is blown in.
    "EEP!"
    There she goes. Right back under the table hiding, just as Orko leaps under there with her.
    "WAAAAAHHHH WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"
    "C-Calm down!" Luna blurts, "It's just the court wizard! ... I think."
    That's what Orko is, right? Right?

    Lex actually has fallen onto her backside by the time the Royal Guard gets to her, and she's looking shaken up. "I'm ... I'm okay! I'm okay. I'm okay." She shakes her head. "Jeez ..."

    "You should probably only say it once," says Shard. "Oh, Mr. Higashikata's here."

    "Huh?" Lex looks up just in time to see the golden light as the ceiling repairs itself. "Oh. Huh. Cool." She starts making her way over. "Hey Josuke!" She catches sight of Orko diving under the table with that mysteriously gorgeous princess, which, well, mood.

    "Also, I'm fairly certain I can detect combat outside," says Shard. "It appears that the palace is --"

    Crash!

    "-- under attack," Shard finishes smoothly.

    "Awwww, crud," says Lex. "Uhh." She looks between Josuke and the Royal Guard. "I'll, I'll be right back. An ... associate ... of mine was gonna come by here, I'll flag her down. If you see someone glowing mint-green, it's a friendly. So, uh ..." She starts skittering away. "Y-yeah, gimme a minute!" She full-on runs from the room in the direction of the stables.

    (She has no idea that Prince Adam is already there.)

>> SUMMARY[Lex Brando] >> Lex runs off to get changed.

    Josuke is just startign to relax, figuring he's got the damage under control...

    Before MORE damage happens! And there's someone behind it! "Man. Party-crashers are really rude here, aren't they?" he quips.

    Of course, Josuke's first concern is going to be civilians! Thought only because he didn't see Mekaneck get his face bashed in -- Mekaneck left the party. But here, at the party, there are civilians that need to be protected, so he summons his Stand once again.

    Notably, most of the civilians are probably not going to be able to see Josuke's Stand. But the more 'awakened' people here, both good and evil, will have no trouble seeing it. And Tri-Klops may find his displays going a bit weird (though sadly not enough to interfere with their function) and registering EMP, since Crazy Diamond's manifestation creates a particular kind of electromagnetic energy.

    He offers a nod to Lex's explanation. "Be careful out there," he cautions. As for himself? With the Stand summoned, Josuke directs it to punch a nearby wall! Lots of times!

    "DORARARARARARARARA!" the Stand drones, as its fists punch at the wall, at insane speeds. This time he's intending to break the wall, running counter to what he just did. But he also tries to put it back together... in such a way that it forms a wall between the entering Evil Warriors and the civilians, but still leaves a path for the civilians to get out!

Chaos. Ensues.

With the arrival of the Evil Warriors to the party, there are a few things that seem to happen. The Royal Guard, with their puny laser rifles, just start firing and attempting to protect the civilians that are here. They form up and just blast uselessly as though they weren't fodder for the flinging. Which becomes very evident as Beast Man soars towards them on his griffin for some clubbing action. "Like clubbing fish in a barrel!" Beast Man laughs!

"Hey!" Mer-Man doesn't like the sound of that but he's too busy blasting at the Royal Guard with his Laser Trident. If any civilians or innocents get in the way, then that's just going to be a couple of bonus points.

Trap Jaw steps forward and extends his arm which converts into a cannon quite quickly, which he uses to just start blasting away at tables and walls, generally making a mess of the place. Not to mention he's pretty sure these puny civilians are probably trying to hide. "Hey! Come on out and die like everyone else!" More blasting. Violently. It's coupled with laughter.

Tri-Klops spins his eyewear around, catching some weirdness on his sensors, before drawing his sword and letting loose a couple of Doomseekers. They fly up and zoom off towards the King and Queen. Y'know, to seek.

Cut to: The Royal Stables

"Come on, Cringer! We gotta' see what's going on!" Adam is up, looking as disheveled as ever and pulling on Cringer's tail. The scaredy cat is clawing at the hay and the ground to try and not go anywhere near the sounds of danger and chaos and violence. "I'm sure it's just fireworks! For me!" It's not fireworks. It can't be. "Come on!" Adam yanks hard on Tiger Tail, hands slip and he goes stumbling backward and out of the stables, very likely to crash into Lex... who is headed this direction!

Cut to: Royal Palace (UNDER ATTACK!)

As that Stand's Wall pops up, the Whiplash steps up and swings his mighty tail violently against it, smashing to send debris everywhere and show off just how strong he is. Oh and to also pave the way for the Evil Warriors to continue their assault! Clawful leaps through the falling debris and reaches out for some clamping action on the nearest Royal Guard or Defender. Tri-Klops aims a flurry of fireballs from his eye cannon in Josuke's direction.

As Man-at-Arms leaps into the fray, King Randor draws his sword and Queen Marlena draws her staff and the rulers press their backs to each other to defend themselves against the laser firing Doomseekers!

"Where's Adam?" Marlena.
"For once, I'm glad he's late." Randor.
"ORKO!" Randor & Marlena.

"Huh? Yeah! That's me!" Orko says, briefly distracted from the CHAOS(!!) happening topside as he (seems to) smile at the talking cat and the Princess that is Definitely Not Usagi Tsukino. He manages somehow, even with no mouth visible. Or anything, really, except for his eyes, the rest of his face being completely hidden within the shadows of his oversized hat.

"Uh- don't think you're wrong on the 'under attack' part though," he has to note as the sudden explosions and the scattering of debris that had formerly been tables goes flying not far from them. That doesn't look very good at all. He glances at the two beside him. "Um. Run?" 

At least he remembers he's under a table this time, saving him another bonk on the head, but he still jerks with a start at hearing the king and queen yell his name. "Right! Uuhhh-" Do something. Yes. Because he's definitely the court wizard and not the court jester. He flies up from beneath the table, rolling up his sleeves- which promptly fall back over his hands anyway as he gestures with maaaaagically wavy fingers. 

"Diggle-daggle, salad's lost, time to find new things to toss!" he casts, conjuring up....a giant salad fork and spoon to bat at Trap-Jaw. HELPING.

    Lex crashes into Prince Adam. For the second time in this evening, she falls onto her backside.

    She furrows her brow up at him, and fixes her glasses. "Um, hi," she says flatly, getting to her feet. "You sure you want to run right into the fighting and stuff, dude?"

    "Lex," says the five-foot-long sword on her back in a robotic girl's voice, "this is Prince Adam."

    Lex glances over her shoulder. "Oh, right." She clears her throat. "You sure you want to run right into the fighting and stuff, dude-Your Highness?" she says in the exact same tone.

    "SGDSGSGDSHSHDFDSD!"
    That... That is the sound of a Beautiful Princess panicking under the refreshment table. Sandwich promptly forgotten, Usagi is beside herself with terror. Running is something she would LOVE to do, Orko.
    "See? See he's the court wizard, now calm down!" The talking cat says, batting at Usagi's face to try and calm her down. It's not helping considering the party is REALLY UNDER ATTACK out there, with laser guns and blasting and battling afoot. But no sooner than Orko bails the table to go help, Luna's claws come out and--
    "YOW YOU SCRATCHED ME!" Usagi yelps.
    "Are you focused now?"
    "Y-yes..."
    "You have no choice! Transform into Sailor Moon and fend off those rapscallions!"
    "No way, I'll be killed!"
    SIGH. "You don't have much of a choice right now because we'll both be killed if we stay hiding under this table." Luna points out.
    "Mmmmf O-okay..."

    "Moon Prism Power... Make Up!"

    A flash of bright light and the princess is gone, and now, standing on top of the table, hand on her hip is the one, the only, SAILOR MOON.

    "How dare you interrupt the royal party where I was supposed to meet my prince charming! Not to mention threatening all these people! In the name of the moon... I'll punish you!" She declares, striking a pose.
    Before more lasers go flying and she squeals, dive rolling off the table and...
    Sailor Moon picks up a CHAIR.
    A chair that she promptly tries to bring down as hard as she can on top of Mer-Man's skull.

    The wall comes down, very easily -- Josuke can't make a new wall stronger than the old one. But it was a few moments, anyway, and it hopefully bought a little bit of time. Besides that, the castle guards, even if they aren't a match for the Evil Warriors, probably aren't going to let civilians die. So at least he's not doing this part alone!

    However, before he can go and try to reinforce his little impromptu barrier, fireballs! One smacks into his arm, setting his sleeve alight and drawing a pained, "Gah!" as he falls back. But his Stand moves forward to meet the others, seeking to literally PUNCH them away with its signature Cry of "DORARARARARARARA!"

    Suddenly -- Sailor Moon! Josuke looks up from putting out his sleeve. "Oh, hey! Sailor Moon!" Looking at the Evil Warriors, "Now you're really in trouble!" He's trying to psyche her up, make her more confident!

    And then she goes for the chair. And Josuke sighs.

Trap Jaw's in the middle of trying to find innocent people to blast when there's a couple of giant utensils swiping at him. "Hey! What?! What is this?!" And now Trap Jaw's distracted from blasting tables and blasting at this giant fork and spoon... which are reflective enough to send those blasts back at Trap Jaw and also in random directions! He's going to be busy for a moment.

Out at the Stables, Prince Adam's trying to collect himself and get off his own backside. "Fighting? There's /fighting/?" Adam confused a bit because uh there's supposed to be nothing but complete and utter peace right now. Especially on his birthday! "That's impossible. My father and the Defenders..." Something explodes in the Palace. "... Hey uh, keep an eye on my cat! I gotta' check on my parents!" And off Prince Adam runs towards one of the many holes in the Palace walls.

Mer-Man is in the middle of punishing some more of the Royal Guard. "They are nothing like fish, Beast Man!" Mer-Man exclaims before he gives his laser trident another twirl. His gloating is cut short by the arrival of a chair to his skull! Mer-Man goes down, his trident clattering to the floor and a burble follows as Mer-Man's lights go out.

"Hey!" Beast Man dips low on his wing-flapping griffin and charges at SAILOR MOON, club ready to swing!

Tri-Klops gives up on fireballing as they are swatted away and decides a more sword-swinging approach is in order. With a leaping somersault of dramatic flair, Tri-Klops lands near Josuke and proceeds to banter, "I spy with my third eye..." Annnnnd here comes the sword swipe! Either at Josuke, the Stand or BOTH.

King Randor and Queen Marlena make short work of the Doomseekers but end up facing off against Clawful and Whiplash. While they defend themselves against those big dumb lugs, the back wall of the Palace cracks under magical pressure. It explodes in a hail of debris and that shadowy figure stands proudly, fingers gripped tightly around his Havoc Staff. "Oh Randooooooor..." The King tenses and turns around at that voice.

Prince Adam skids to a halt at the edge of... the Palace of Royal Chaos. He looks inside, spots the battle ensuing and locks eyes with Man-at-Arms. He says nothing but those eyes definitely say: 'Run.' And though there's a moment of hesitation (where he sees his mother dropkick Whiplash's tail into Clawful's face), that is exactly what the Prince does. Back towards the stables.

    Boy is he glad that worked out right. Mostly. Orko ducks as one of those blasts go astray. Maybe it'd be safer under the table! But he has to help out, so no hiding for him! Hopefully that lady and her cat are safe.

    At least some of their guests seem right at home with a fight dropped on their doorstep. He has no idea where the lady with the long blond hair's come from, but she definitely knows how to make an entrance! He'd applaud but he's too busy wincing as he watches her brain Mer-Man with a chair. 

    The fancy guy looks like he's got his hands full with Tri-Klops. Orko glances from him to the King and Queen, trying to make up his mind where he should try helping next (run) when suddenly even more sounds of destruction rumble from the other end of the room. "Oh no...!" he gasps. That voice is terribly hard to mistake, and even though it was probably only a matter of time before he showed up considering his other goons were present, Orko rather wishes maybe the guy would have opted to sit this one out.

    The movement signaling Prince Adam's arrival catches his eye, and the floating wizard turns. "Prince A-!" he starts to shout, and then watches as the prince makes an about face and retreats, leaving Orko awkwardly stretching a hand out after him. "..dam..."

    WHAM!!!
    That is the sound of a chair being put to brutal effect before Mer-Man goes down for the count.
    "That... That worked? ... Ahahaha I mean of course that worked!" Sailor Moon titters at her success, shooting Josuke a wave.
    "O-oh! Hi Josuke! Fancy seeing you here huh? A-ah! Look out!" She says, pointing at the oncoming Tri-Klops bum-rushing the youth.
    Before she has problems of her own.
    Beast Man is big and ugly. That club is menacing and looks like it could break bones easily. That griffin is monstrous and scary.
    For a beat... Usagi Tsukino stares down Beast Man and his mount as though she were staring down death itself; eyes wide, jaw slack.
    "Ah..."
    Then it hits her.
    She's going to die.
    Tears well in her eyes. She bites her lip. She's too scared to move... Sailor Moon draws a shaky breath and...
    Immediately proceeds to cry. Full on, all out, bad, complete, ugly crying.
    "W-Waaaaaaah! I don't wanna die here, I haven't met my prince charming yet!" She squeals, the gems in her hair glinting faintly at first before they kick in, shifting the pitch and volume of her voice to disastrous levels.

    "I DON'T WANNA DO THIS ANYMORE I WANNA GO HOOOOOOOOME!"

    This shriek hits the whole room like a sonic boom, her voice turning into a concussive WAVE of force that shatters drink glasses and makes windows blow out in explosions of glass. But most importantly, it'll probably hit Beast Man and his monster bird like a mack truck.

    Lex shrugs. Up to him, she supposes.

    Lex would have made it clear to the royal guard and anyone who questioned her that her sword is called Lightshard 18. She's also somewhat more reticent about who she transforms in front of than she was in Usagi's world; after she'd done so in front of Robocop, she's gotten a bit ... nervous.

    She steps out of the stables, holds her sword out to the side one-handed, and strides forward with an exclamation of, A virya! ("Transform!") In a swirl of green pixels and Elvish computer code, she becomes a black-haired girl in a cyberpunk magical girl sort of costume with mint-green running lights and a stylized domino mask, covered with the iconography of the number 17.

    She turns, and finds herself looking at Prince Adam, who is heading right towards her. For a brief instant, an expression of panic crosses her face. But then she smiles, winks, and puts a finger to her lips.

    Before she winces at the sound of that sonic boom from Sailor Moon.

    She smiles, sighs theatrically, and then does a ten-foot vertical leap into the air as she glides into the room. And she has a nice target, too: that guy with the staff who just smashed in behind the King and Queen. Without even pausing to think about whether this is a good idea, she swings the sword, and a sliver of mint-green light shoots right towards the mysterious figure.

    She lands. "Shinewander Sky!" she announces herself, in an electronically-distorted voice which sounds sort of like Shard but not exactly. She gives the King and Queen a quick bow. "Sorry I'm late, Your Majesties," she says. "Miss Brando sends her regards." She looks over at the new figure. "And you are?"

    Well, the chair seemed to work for Sailor Moon, anyway... so there's that. One down, it seems. But Josuke has his own problems, in the form of one Tri-Klops and his superior swordsmanship! His attention on Sailor Moon, her cry of warning is met with widened eyes, and a turn to quickly look at the incoming sword slash.

    "Thanks!" Josuke calls out to the magical senshi. Yeah, Josuke is not about to test his body against a sword. Fortunately Stands don't obey typical rules of physics. So while Crazy Diamond phases through Josuke and any debris without issue, the fist aimed at the sword does not!

    It's also worth noting that despite the fist feeling like the sword is clashing off of another sword... Josuke winces. And if the fist makes contact with the edge of Tri-Klops's blade, the skin of Josuke's knuckles opens up with a trickle of blood. It's nowhere near as bas as if Josuke had tried that himself. But it seems like he does feel it when the strange, crystal blue-armored pink figure takes damage!

    And the suddenly Usagi's crying hits the room like a ton of bricks in sound form. "AGH!" Josuke covers his ears as the Stand shimmers and disappears into crystalline blue sparkles. Look, Tri-Klops, he's unprotected! Could it be that sound actually hurts this construct stopping Tri-Klops from hitting the teen?!

    He's a bit too preoccupied to notice that OTHER figure just yet. There's just so much chaos about, and he's very close to an enemy that means him harm.

~ Adam. Come. You are needed at Castle Grayskull. ~

Random words are in the Prince's head and that just makes him run even faster back towards the stables. He knows that voice, it belongs to the Sorceress, but also... why is it in his head?! What is even happening right now?! He really needs to stop having birthdays.

"Uhhhhhhhhh." That is the expression on Prince Adam's face as he watches Lex's transformation sequence and just kind of does a triple take. "Wow." She may be able to hear him say that before her leap of justice but then the Prince is running into the stables. "Cringer! We gotta' go! Now!" Cringer's hiding in the pile of hay. The one shaking like crazy. "... away from the Palace!" Cringer pops his head out.

"Huh?! Wha?!" Beast Man has exactly .2 seconds to realize he's made a hero cry. He's about to gloat when the SONIC FORCE OF THE CRYING OF SAILOR MOON explodes upon him, his griffin and the entire Palace! Glass shatters into all of the pieces ever. Beast Man and his griffin are knocked end over end and smash headfirst into each other, before smacking into the far wall and sliding down it... only to crash down on top of the recovering Mer-Man! And... they're all out like the lights and glass of this room.

Beast Man's club falls at Sailor Moon's feet.

Trap Jaw bites through that Fork and Spoon, snapping his way in Orko's direction. His arm cannon is raised up, aimed and explodes into way too many pieces. The shot came from Man-at-Arm's own arm cannon. "Orko. Go with Adam. Make sure he's safe." And then he's back into the fray.

At the arrival of Shinewander Sky, Marlena turns away from the wobbling bodies of Clawful and Whiplash, letting them both fall to the floor. Marlena dusts off her hands and moves to help Randor to his feet. There's a good chance that sonic boom of tears stumbled the King. Marlena gives Shinewander Sky a nod of impressed respect.

Tri-Klops sees everything from the trickle of blood to the Stand (maybe -- Tri-Klops eye is super weird) and he's grinning with some sort of victorious smirk as he advances on Josuke. "This will be easier than I thought." But then... the glass in Tri-Klops' spinning visor shatters (BECAUSE SAILOR MOON) and Tri-Klops stumbles backwards, "What?! NO!" His visor spins to find another 'eye' but that one shatters too! And then the third one!

The shadowy figure at the back of the Palace stands tall and proud. The light-sliver from Shinewander Sky's sword meets a blast from the Havoc Staff. This energy connection combined with the sonic booming creates enough explosive force to blow the hood off his face. The skinless skull now visible for everyone to see. "Oh? Are introductions in order?" The Havoc Staff is raised and collides with the ground beneath him, creating a surge of mystical energy to explode inside of the entire chaotic palace room with enough force to bring the ceiling down upon everyone and everything that has just been battling.

"I AM SKELETOR! OVERLORD OF EVIL!" Skeletor exclaims with maniacal glee. "NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

>> SUMMARY[Prince Adam] >> Skeletor's bringing this palace down. DEBRIS FOR EVERYBODY!

    "Whuh-oh," Orko squeaks as he sees his giganticized salad utensils get chomped. His eyes widen as Trap Jaw takes aim for him, throwing his hands up in front of his face- not in the face! Except when he hears the explosion, he's miraculously not in pain. Blinking, he looks from Trap Jaw's smoldering arm cannon to Man-At-Arm at the sound of his name. "R-right!" he says before straightening with a salute. And then he zips off in the direction he'd seen Adam run.

    He hears the horrible, thunderous wailing that catches him in a wave right out the gaping hole of the palace wall. "Oh man! Skeletor's got some -terrible- new weapon!!" he winces as he pulls out a pair of earmuffs and sticks them over his hat. "I sure hope the King and Queen and everyone will be all right..." There's a last glance over his shoulder before he hurries, catching sight of the prince and his green tiger friend as he nears the stables.

    Sniff sniff... Sniiiiiff...
    It takes Sailor Moon a good moment to gather herself back together when she doesn't get her skull bashed in by a club. In fact, as she rubs the tears from her eyes and sees the results of her handiwork, the twin-tailed blonde huffs.
    "That was too scary..." Muttered as she scrubs her face quickly.
    "Sailor Moon!" Luna chirrups from her feet. "Get yourself together, this isn't over yet!"
    "R-right." Usagi says as she...
    Picks up Beast Man's club and--
    She bum rushes Tri-Klops. "Josukeeeeeee look ouuuuuuut!" She wails, before bringing the club down as hard as she can at the blinded Tri-Klops.
    Just as SKELETOR is revealed.
    In an instant, Sailor Moon goes completely blue in the face.
    "L-laughing skullface man!?" She croaks, just as the roof comes down.
    "W-wah! Josuke do the thing!"

    Shinewander Sky raises her eyebrows, her smile not wavering -- until Skeletor tries to bring the house down. "Whoa!" She stumbles, and leaps backward. Which doesn't work, because all of the ground is shaking!

    ... In many ways, she isn't appreciably more experienced than Sailor Moon.

    'Keep it together, Lex,' says Shard's voice in her ear. 'We can do this.'

    Shinewander Sky hops back and forth on the shaking ground, and does another vertical leap. Not quite as high -- the ground is still shaking -- but she uses this opportunity to glide sideways, launching more sword-slashes at Skeletor. She looks up just in time to see a chunk of masonry falling towards her, and drops the rest of the way to the ground and throws herself out of the way, flopping awkwardly onto her side with her sword held aloft.

    On the bright side, now that Tri-klops is staggered, Josuke has an opportunty to attack. "Now it's time to put all three of your lights out!" Josuke quips. The Stand reappears and lunges at Tri-Klops alongside Sailor Moon...

    "DORARARARARARARARARARARA!"

    Whether Tri-Klops manages to evade or not, though, his teenage assailant isn't going to have much time to bask in that. Because suddenly the ceiling is coming down, thanks to this 'Skeletor' guy! Josuke tries to 'hold up' as much of that falling ceiling as he can, trying to use his Stand to fix the roof, to try to minimize the damage, but there's just too much happening at once. At best he'll be able to create a small 'safe zone' around him, but there's no way he'll be able to fix everything, all at once. Not in time to prevent everything.

    "I'm trying...!" Josuke calls out to Sailor Moon. He doesn't sound upset at her. But his voice is strained, because there's just so much he's trying to fix all at once, and it just doesn't work like that. He's also leaving himself TOTALLY open to attack now... and even if Sailor Moon and/or he managed to clobber Tri-Klops, the teen is making a big spectacle of himself fixing the roof.

Tri-Klops is having some serious issues with /SEEING/ right now because there's this whole glass shattering thing that has happened and now he has to try and fight while blinded. And he can! He's skilled in that regard! Or he would be if he didn't just get CLUBBED upside the head by USAGI MOON. Something cracks in Tri-Klops's skull and now he's wobbly.

If Tri-Klops could see, he'd probably freak out. But he can't right now so instead, he just catches an entire fight scene worth of fists to the face in rapid succession to the point that he's still reacting violently to them when there are none being thrown. In fact, he's still going even when the place is caving in on itself and everything.

While Josuke is trying to fix and repair some of it, there's just too much going on. This Hall of the Palace is coming down.

As the debris falls from all directions, one large piece drops towards King Randor. Queen Marlena shoves her husband out of the way, sending him tripping over more of the debris that all over the ground. Marlena takes the debris head on and goes down.

Skeletor tries to stand his ground but takes a sword-slash from Shinewander Sky to the shoulder! It sizzles his cloak and he ends up stumbling backward to just outside of the crumbling Palace hall. He's probably grinning at his new positioning but with a boneface that's likely hard to tell. "Panthor. Get what we came for." The large (no, Giant?) deep purple furred panther leaps into the room, growling and snarling as it rushes for King Randor, biting at his royal cape to drag him out. Skeletor provides a scattering spell from his Havoc Staff aimed to send a whirlwind of debris at the heroes within.... just to keep them away from Randor.

At the stables, Adam's on top of Cringer and they rush past Orko. "Orko! Come on!" Cringer's not slowing down for nobody. Not even their other best friend. "We gotta' get to Castle Grayskull!" Cringer skids to a halt. "... It's where we'll be safe!" Cringer starts running again.

    Orko puts on the air brakes as he sees the prince and tiger blur past him. "Wh- wait, where are you going your highness?!" He turns about and flies after them, and then very nearly bowls right into them when Cringer suddenly stops. "Wait a sec- Castle Grayskull?!" the little magician sputters. But they're on the move again, and so once again he starts after Adam and Cringer, putting on as much speed as he can manage. 

    Glancing back proves to be a mistake, as it's just in time to see the smoke rising from the palace. 

    "Oh no..."

    He's torn between wanting to go back to the palace to make sure everyone's all right and sticking to his duty. In the end it's duty that prevails. The Masters can take care of things, right? That's their job! And right now...keeping an eye on his friend is his.

    This is getting bad... Even with Josuke's valiant attempts to fix the ceiling before it can all fall... There's just too much. Sailor Moon winces as a piece of debris lands on the queen, staring in shock and horror for a long beat while Panthor steals the king.
    Usagi could care less right now if she's considered a coward, she grips the young Stand user by the shirt.
    "J-Josuke there's no fixing this, we have to run."
    "I hate to agree--" Luna says scampering around fallen debris, "but right now discretion may be the better part of valor!" The little black cat suggests as she and Sailor Moon start trying to make for the exit and pull Josuke with them if they can. They won't stop him if he wants to stay and try to do the fixy thing, but they can't be faulted for trying to tug him to safety with them can they?

    Shinewander Sky scrambles to her feet. Her eyes widen at the sight of what Skeletor is doing, and what happens to the queen. "Oh crud." She starts sending as many sword-slashes as she can towards that debris-whirlwind, trying to make her way towards the king. Still, she isn't getting them out that fast, and it's not enough to make much headway.

    She doesn't even notice what Sailor Moon is doing. "Nnhh ... Mr. Higashikata!" she calls out, giving precisely the opposite advice. "Get to the queen, she's hurt!" She swings her sword --

    There's a glassy crunch as the blade of her sword impacts against a piece of debris, and cracks form on the glowing edge. Shinewander Sky lets out a yelp of pain and sinks to her knees, grimacing, her free hand clutching the damaged part of the blade as if it was an injury.

    ... Looks like she'll need Josuke's attentions, too! ... And possibly someone to carry her out, if that becomes necessary before Josuke can get to her.

    Too much debris, and too much at once. Josuke can probably fix it... later, when he has time to concentrate. He has to abandon his attempt for now, though. And instead of trying to fix it, he starts just punching it away with his Stand. This does make a small, reasonably safe area around him, but how close does one want to go to a wildly swinging poltergeist? If one can see it, of course. But even if not, the feeling of the air rushing around him dangerously fast is unmistakeable.

    He nods to Sailor Moon and Luna's assessment. "Y-yeah, I think you're right!" he agrees, over the din. "Let's try to get everybody clear, and---"

    He really was about to retreat, really and honestly! But then he sees Marlena get hit! And his first reaction is to do basically exactly what Shinewander Sky calls out, and go towards the queen... through the rain of debris. And then Shinewander Sky herself cries out in pain and Josuke pauses to look back. "Dammit..." Too much going on.

    Reasoning that the debris that's fallen on the queen probably will, ironically, protect her from more of it -- and also realizing that he'll need help getting her free -- he heads back towards Shinewander, Stand at the ready to try and fix the cracks in that sword. "Come on, I need your help to get her out!"

While Heroes are doing things that actual heroes do, like save people and also help those that have fallen, the Evil Overlord himself has decided to put King Randor to sleep with a swirling smoke spell from his Havoc Staff. King Randor goes limp as he loses consciousness and Panthor flips the royalty up and onto his back.

"You've done incredibly poorly, Heroes. I'm looking forward to destroying you! Nyahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Skeletor climbs atop Panthor and the huge beast takes off into the horizon.

As for Queen Marlena, through the combined efforts of Josuke and Shinewander Sky, she is uncovered from the rubble!

Scurrying together in a manner of a bunch of idiots, the rest of the Evil Warriors pile onto Beast Man's lopsided and woozy griffin, which takes off, flying horribly to get them away from the Royal Palace.

Elsewhere...

Prince Adam, Cringer and Orko are slowly crossing the jawbridge of Castle Grayskull. Standing in the mouth of the castle's entrance is the Sorceress, her staff held straight up as she looks at Adam as he gets even closer.

"Adam. Skeletor has breached the Mystic Wall. Eternia is grave danger." The Sorceress alights the top of her staff. "It is time you learn of your destiny. Follow me."

Adam does a double take. "Destiny? What destiny? I'm just a kid!" But still, he follows.

To Be Continued...