White Rabbit Bowl: Dragon Queen

Sporting Event / Competition

The chance Queen Alice awaited was not to come. On Ooawagaeri’s orders, the liquid cat jumped onto the hapless queen and dissolved, dousing her in water. The fox then attempted to freeze that water, but Queen Alice resisted it with sheer will, melting the ice even as it formed. Alice of Clubs, thus far unseen, leapt from the bushes to strike at the chains holding her Queen in place. They shattered under Clubs’ bastard sword, but immediately reformed themselves as Mikazuki Munechika took the initiative. Striking twice, Munechika shattered Queen Alice’s shield, sent her tumbling to the ground, and then finished her off with a final blow.

Team Fox’s victory was short-lived, however. An ancient enchantment, woven by Yoshitakatomo ages ago in preparation for a moment just like this, was activated with her death. Not overcome by death, but embracing it, Queen Alice rose once again as a lich. Seizing the opportunity, she cast Fuse on the fallen Jabberwock, adding its power to her own. Now secure in her own power, Dragon Queen Alice struck twice at Munechika, but was taken aback when she was unable to pierce the sheele’s defense. With a glance into Kagami’s mirror, Aotsuki determined the true nature of Dragon Queen Alice’s fused existence just before her departure. Flying upward on midnight black wings, she hovered fifty feet above the battle.   Meanwhile, Ooawagaeri had activated the Jorōgumo’s Stump, replacing himself and his compatriots with an unpierceable illusion. Thus it was that when an illusory Alice of Diamonds struck the fleeing Dragon Queen with the Vorpal Sword, she suffered no ill consequences from the blow. Less fortunately, when she ascended all the way to the zenith of her flight, Dragon Queen Alice was set upon by the illusory Jabberwocks that still fluttered there. One struck at her fruitlessly, but the other managed to catch her in its claws. When she was unable to escape with her formidable brute strength alone, she had no choice but to teleport herself away once again.   In the center of the maze, while all this was happening, Ryūzaki Sanosuke plotted his next move. Alice of Fools still needed more time to work her mental powers, so he bid his farewell to the Queen of Hearts and ordered Card Soldiers Gabrien and Williame to keep a close watch on Alice of Spades until he returned. As he made to leave, however, Spades enacted a plan of her own. Casting Undo Time, she reversed events in a very limited area, including the beheading of her partner, Maxim. Unfortunately, this came with the loss of his memory, as well as the King of Hearts’, but she quickly brought him back up to speed.   Miffed by this development, and already sensing what must have happened, Sanosuke chose not to follow up on it but instead retreat further into the maze and await his opportunity. Alice of Fools volunteered that she was building up to something big, so he bided his time.   Out in the courtyard, the Fox and his riders flew up the fifty feet and hundred across to re-engage with Dragon Queen Alice. After a series of attacks from his passengers, notably Alice of Diamonds and Kagami, proved fruitless, he reversed his strategy. Casting a great gust of wind, he pushed himself back several hundred feet into the maze and landed, disengaging entirely from the Dragon Queen.   Where they landed, Ooawagaeri, Aotsuki, and partners encountered the notorious Walrus. While together they were able to figure out what it was, entreaties for its help proved fruitless. Eventually, Aotsuki was able to determine with little doubt that the creature was, bizarrely, nothing more than a mundane animal sunning itself in the maze.   Elsewhere, Maxim had set out again on his own adventure. It wasn’t long before he encountered the King of Hearts, the little man blissfully unaware of everything that had just happened. With him was Card Soldier Wymark, who greeted Maxim respectfully but refrained from any action on the King’s orders.   At this point, Sanosuke’s partner activated her trump card. Casting an enormous mental matrix across the entirety of the playing field, Alice of Fools snagged more than one mind under her complete control. Alice of Spades, the King of Hearts, Card Soldiers Wymark and Geffrei, Alice of Diamonds, and the Walrus were all compromised. Others were able to defend themselves against the assault, but few understood what had happened, and none grasped the enormity of it.   < Previous: White Rabbit Bowl: Jabberwock