Earth lept first, his cane pointed at Zephyr's head. She
inwardly cheered. She pulled out her bokken and met him in the air.
They began to fence.
    Mars turned to face Venus and Jupiter, who were back to back.
She dredged up her new found memories and discovered she had
powerful attacks. But she didn't want to hurt them, so she used her
original attack. "Mars Fire Ignite!"
    Venus and Jupiter leapt apart. Zephyr turned her head in
Venus's direction. She flicked a finger casually. "Zephyr
Petrification."

Tux should be able to score a hit on her in that moment of distraction.

Vis-a-vis the vote about Zephyr's problem, it might work better if the
council hold-outs were actually opposed to giving Zephyr military 
assistance because they wanted to try to resolve the situation by 
diplomatic means, and/or possibly wanted to build up their forces to a 
stronger level before retaliating.