🏎️💨 Lap V - Save the Girl(s); Save the World(s)

Pira chooses to take the hit and make a full attack!!

The Princess’ beautiful trilling is replaced by a shrill scream as Masher Hand finally shatters the dome! It draws back to crush Princess Diamond under its thumb, but Pira punts the hand away!

It changes course, jetting toward the cannon arm with such force, it’s clearly aiming for penetration!


Vera
•

"Cass—!"

The shot is fired! It’s a hit. It’s not enough to break the hand. But… her shot forced the hand off course. And it’s only after the two slide past each other, Cass sees the real target:

The Reset Button.

The hand soars just to one side of it, crashing through a glass case that says "In case of emergency, break…"

And inside the case, there’s also a Reset Button.

Pegatron is weak. Masher Hand could fire a shot, except the head and shield arm are hardly scratched. It’s impossible to shut all of the heroines down.

Masher Hand makes the only move it can without the possibility of being stopped: it presses the button in the case.

---

You feel… different? Not that anything happens to your bodies or your memories. Gravity feels stronger, you probably can’t jump ten feet off the ground without a running start. Even with a running start, maybe five feet?

The smoke around you clears. There is fire on all sides, and several columns with screens and little sticks. Most are on fire except for five machines. They have signs on top:
• Barbaric Commando
• Cel Damsel
• Feet of Rage
• Star Vixen
• Super Fairy Godmothers

The screens on these machines are off right now. And standing between you and the machines is a dumpy looking guy, balding, grayish brown goatee, pot belly, and over his shirt pocket, a sticker:

"Hello My Name Is T.J."

The area where you all stand is somehow safe from the flames.

"I know you don’t want to start over. It’s me who wanted to go back… but I can’t reset my world at any point before this moment that sealed my fate.

"I was jealous of you all. So many times, you all died, and it didn’t matter. You all got to start over. I saw it all on those machines."

The machines turn on. All five display the scene of nine heroines and a dumpy arcade owner. On the Cel Damsel machine, it looks cartoonish. You can also see (only on the machines) a portal hidden in the flames. It’s located by the door to the arcade.

You know it’s your way out.

"I won’t reset your worlds. I know it’s kinda wrong, and… I know it’s kinda weird—you don’t know me, I know you, kinda—like, as a fan?" He makes an awkward face. "Some things are probably better left unexplained."

Vera looks ready to speak at the man, but Cass’ silence is the perfect response as far as she’s concerned. The vixen doesn’t even grace TJ’s words with an eye-roll.


Vera
Once aboard Pinky—after a warm welcome from Kurumi and the Mini-K’s, and able to get a moment alone with Cass—Vera says to her, "I don’t know how that dumpy dad-joke of a man obtained godlike power over our galaxy. But one thing’s for sure now. Whatever our future is from here, it’s for real, so… while leading Star Vixen was kinda cool…" She trails off for a moment. For all the flirting she’d done in the past, this is different. It lacks the overconfidence, that playfulness that can easily pass off as ‘just trying to get a rise.’

Maybe Vera is self-aware enough to realize the pause, albeit a fraction of a second, has the potential to be eternal. Whatever she has to say, it needs to come out now.

"—I want to be your co-pilot!"

It’s the safe way to put it. Her eyes fall to Cass’ hand holding hers.

"Okay, I mean—you mean so much more than that to me. But if we’re on the same ship, Star Command can’t send us on separate missions. So ummm, permission to board, Captain?"

When Luna steps through, she is welcomed by Morumi, Larumi and Kurlumi. As the three Mini-K’s giddily greet their fellow fairy, she notices on Pinky’s screen (one of many, actually—but only one in particular catches the fairy’s eye) a map of the warp pipes.

It’s not a complete map. (A complete map? Impossible!) But Luna has an innate comprehension. It’s like reading a Chaos Theory diagram, but knowing at a glance how to get from the Butterfly Fart to the Apocalypse, and at which node you instead veer safely to Utopia.

Will Luna remain aboard Pinky for a while? Will she flit off into a pipe to the destiny of her choice? Or does she prefer to warp somewhere off the map, not knowing what kind of world may be out there.

The choice is hers…!


"Savannah," the artist, calls this piece "Luna the Galaxy Fairy"

Valerie"Even the strongest of us has a soft side," Valerie quips with a look of approval.

TJ just silently accepts Thundra’s forgiveness, waving as she steps through the portal.

---

Somewhere between worlds, a winged woman appears. Only Thundra and Valerie can see her.

"Hey! Did you two ladies also just complete a mission?"



"I had to escort a soul just now, and the guy kept telling me about his wife and kid. I really need a break. But… wow! You two look like you need a vacation more than I do!"

She hands Thundra a brochure and vanishes in a beam of light.

Valerie turns to Thundra. "We were practically unscathed. Do we really appear in dire need of recreation and relaxation?" she asks incredulously.

[ +- ] The Brochure given to Thundra

Need a break? Come to the best vacation spot off the coast of Southeast Valhalla! Ladies only!*

*Men will be skewered on sight.

TJ seems a bit embarrassed. He mumbles, "Or maybe I’m the game in your… uh… hello?"

But Pira is already off to her world to spread mischief!

---

In the end, TJ is able to come to peace with his tragic fate. But what of the people in the game world?

Valerie and Thundra are on vacation. Violet is now leading a team of her own, while Vera is back in the P2 position (P for Pilot) on Cass’ ship. Luna has become a Navigator Fairy! It’s not as esteemed a title as a Super Fairy Godmother, but hey! Listen, a navigator can travel literally anywhere.

Having been gently set free to her world, sans bodyguard, Princess Diamond invited Princess Vivian for tea and the pair lived cartoonishly ever after. The Mini-K’s are DJ’ing with Kurumi. They’re trying out a new sound.



You can’t dance to it, but it’s perfect for ending credits…


QRALLOQ AS LUNA

YSOLDE AS PRINCESS DISMOND

ALEPOUS AS KURUMI

FLYING SUCCULENT AS PIRA

TICKETTBROR AS S.C. CASANOVA

BRAINIAC AS THUNDRA

SIDEQIX LTD. ALL STAFF





THANK YOU FOR PLAYING