2016-06-26 - Baseball, Interrupted
| Title: Baseball, Interrupted | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Karehaan of Dark Fall pursues Saki, Mai, their fairies, and the location of the Fountain of the Sun! He's completely willing to interrupt the viewing party of the 2014 Japan Series to do so. A villain, indeed. | |
| Who: Iona Hikawa, Setsuna Higashi, Inori Yamabuki, Takeo Akamizu, Saki Hyuuga, Mai Mishou, Hikaru Shidou, Fuu Hououji GM: Hotaru Tomoe | |
| Where: Juuban Public School Auditorium | |
| OOC - IC Date: 06-26-2016 - 11-01-2014 | |
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
Baseball fever has come to the Sister Schools. After a long and thrilling season, the final game of the championship -- the Japan Series -- has arrived. Tickets for this game are almost impossible to get; even the special shared budget of the schools couldn't have possibly gotten seats for everyone. So, instead, Juuban decided to throw a viewing party, so that everyone who wants to can join in celebration, awe, excitement and mourning, depending on which of the Hanshin Tigers or Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks wins the title this year.
It is an unspoken truth that if Infinity had hosted this event, they'd be using their IMAX screen that stretches across floors 18-24, and that if Ohtori had stepped up, they'd probably be projecting The Big Game on the surface of the Moon.
But they didn't; it's Juuban's warm community that thought of this opportunity to party in the first place, and so it's the Juuban Auditorium (at the high school, which has the biggest of the three) where enthusiastic students gather. And certainly the Shitamachi contingent has pulled out all the stops. The theatre gleams and sparkles from every surface, cleaner than it's ever been, and all primed to become dirtier than it's ever been once students have gotten into the seemingly unlimited supplies of popcorn, peanuts and other snacks assembled along one of the walls. There's a mix-your-own-sodas station, courtesy of the Cooking Club, with traditional offerings but also some very unusual syrups, a rainbow of them; some kids are making some pretty complex, layered creations!
The fans have sorted themselves into two groups -- Tigers fans on the right, Hawks fans on the left, kids who aren't feeling terribly invested in either team, intermingled amongst them both. The Tigers following is quite a bit larger (in part because their home is the much-aspired-to-by-student-baseball-teams, elementary/middle/high school championship stadium Koshien), and /much/ more fanatical; that fandom is famous for being the most dedicated in the nation, with accompanying traditions like releasing balloons after the seventh inning stretch, and singing the Tigers' theme song.
The Tigers lost last year in the finals. This is their year. It /has/ to be.
The Hawks have their own traditions, most notably an entire family of cute hawk mascots -- there's a boyfriend and a girlfriend, a dad and a mom, a baby hawk, and more, you name it. They have names like Harry Hawk and Honey Hawk and Homer Hawk and Herculy Hawk. Plushies of all members abound in the crowd today.
Apparently the Juuban Gardening Club has a strong Hawks contingent, because they've made a giant trellis stuffed with vines and flowers in the shape of Hock Hawk, the youngest of the Hawk Family, the mascot of the mascos, much-beloved by children everywhere. It's impressively sized, about three feet across and five feet high, and sits in pride-of-place on the corner of the stage, out of the way of the screen.
The screen! Proudly it projects the opening pitch of the 2014 Championship Game. The Hanshin Tigers play a long first inning but ultimately score no runs, then fight off the SoftBank Hawks with nine straight strikes thereafter, to the roars of the crowds, both at the game and in the cacophanous room.
It's easy to get swept up in all the excitement. It's like an aftertaste, a singing note above the butter on the popcorn, the fizz in the soda, the crackle of the party poppers, the boom of the organ's bass. From kindergardeners to seniors, from Tigers to Hawks, today everyone is united in their celebration of Japan's Favorite Game (that isn't sumo).
OOC: As sporting events go as a national, social phenomenon, the Japan Series is not very different to how the Super Bowl is in the United States; it's a much-beloved obsession (and/or excuse for a big party).
<Pose Tracker> Mai Mishou [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Being in Juuban Public School again takes Mai Mishou back. Five years ago, she attended their elementary program before her family moved away. She enrolled in Infinity Institute when she returned, but being in this auditorium takes her back, giving her pleasant memories... and a little bit of wistfulness, too. She remembers how she was; she remembers how few friends she had.
Today, though, Mai isn't without friends.
She wears her Infinity uniform, with her cellphone in a little case at her waist. She sits in one of the groups -- truly, Mai doesn't know which, save to know who is there with her.
Baseball isn't her specialty. Until earlier today, she didn't quite realize the game differs from softball. She looks up at the screen with bright eyes -- and then she looks sideways at the friend that she came with, her hand around a cup of soda. "It looks like it's an exciting game, so far, Saki!"
<Pose Tracker> Saki Hyuuga [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
The Infinity Middle School Girls' Softball Team has colonized a section of the floor on the Tigers side of the theater, with a nest of the players, and coach Shinohara-sensei, all clustered around each other. The team's pitcher, Saki Hyuuga, has brought bread from her family's bakery, and she's settled down in a Tigers jersey and baseball cap alongside catcher Yuuko Outa and another player, Hitomi Itou. It's the Tigers' year. It's gotta be. IT'S GOTTA BE. Saki usually keeps her white and pink cellphone case on one of her bags, but it wasn't much of a day for bags, so it's clipped to her side, much like Mai's. She has, by now, long since acquired and dispensed with about three servings of popcorn, a bowl of chips, and enough hot dogs that they're starting to think of cutting her off. She'll get Yuuko to get her another later, it's fine.
Also within Saki's nexus of friendship is Mai Mishou, who Saki favors with a big, wide grin as the inning winds down. "Yeah!" she chimes. "This is what it's all about, Mai! Two teams giving it everything they have. There's no draws in a championship!" She clenches her fist, completely fired up. "Everyone's going to be on top form!"
<Pose Tracker> Takeo Akamizu [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
The Hawks or the Tigers.
It's not really a question for Ohtori Junior and former Huuban student Takeo Akamizu. He is in full tiger's regalia, with hat, jersey, and two tripes of Orange and black paint on his face. While marveling at his former school's transformation and feeling a touch nostalgic, waving and greeting former classmates. Sitting next to him, and teasing mercilessly, is Juuban's Chia Asano, his sister's BFF, who is frankly marvelling at the sheer amount of popcorn, candy, and soda that the older boy has arrayed around him, and the whirlwind of destruction he exhibits while watching, cheering and greeting other Juubans. She arches an eyebrow. "It is amazing you don't have a Girlfriend Oni-Chan." She says primly, daintily taking a popcorn and placing it -just so- in her mouth for her consumption.
Takeo pauses mid handful of popcorn and raises an eyebrow. "Um. What brought THAT on Chia-Chan?"
Chia gestures extravagantly, "Just your ... Shall we say boyish charm." The words are dripping with sarcasm, as Takeo looks ... Very much a man on a mission to stuff as much popcorn and other sugary confections down his throat. The only thing he hasn't done, much to Chia's amazement, is get a single crumb or spill a single drop on his jeresy. "Have you visited your sister yet Oni-Chan?"
Takeo decides that the best answer to that is to slurp quickly and loudly from his giant mug of soda.
<Pose Tracker> Inori Yamabuki [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Inori isn't particularly invested in either team, but she's being swept up in the fervor of...
"Our dreams ride on your wings!"
"Show us your sharp swing!"
"You're the heroooooo~"
...one particular fan. A ferret fairy who proudly cheered for the Hanshin tigers during their first inning. Wearing a tiny jersey and cap displaying the tiger logos, he took popcorn, kernel by kernel from a large tub of popcorn that sat between the two girls. They're definitely seated on the Tigers side, near the back, where their companions are more likely to be mistaken as plushies.
'buki found herself smiling as she looked down at the other, much younger fan that sat on her lap, while Tarte wasn't crossing the popcorn line dividing her and Setsuna. "Are you having a good time Chiffon?" "Beis-ball!" Raising her arms with a happy cry, Inori's briefly tightened her hands around her in a hug with a smile on her lips. Her eyes drifting back up to the screen to check out the final play of the inning.
Tarte looked briefly miserable, but then balled up his little paw into a fist of determination, "It's alright! Our starter is gonna strike 'em all out!" "Oh the hawk family is so cute!" "INORI-HAN!? Which side are you even on!?" This scolding caused 'buki to grip Chiffon and briefly recoil and shake, "S-Sorry!"
From afar (to Hotaru Tomoe and Mai Mishou), Saki Hyuuga (Bloom) look to Mai. "I'm fine with it being pretty open, honestly. I don't think Splash Star gains anything or trades much on hiding it."
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
It may make Fuu somewhat unpopular in certain circles to declare herself a Hawks fan. It's not that she dislikes the Tigers - they're a good team with an impressive history, even if they choked last year - but Softbank ... well, she pays attention to what the telecommunications corporation does, and that attention spills over to the baseball team which they sponsor.
Also, HAWK MASCOTS. That speaks to Fuu on a level deeper than mere numbers.
She'd probably deny it to her dying day, though - and in the interest of something resembling fairness to both sides, Fuu's seat is somewhere along the fringe between the teams' respective fanbases. While she has a tub of popcorn balanced in her lap, Fuu's smartphone is clutched in her left hand, her right hand remaining free (most of the time; she occasionally picks up a handful of popcorn or retrieves her hot dog for a bite) so that she can tap or swipe the screen, updating numbers in one app, shuffling through live coverage in two others, and occasionally posting a new tweet to her own feed.
@phoenixwind tweeted: The Hawks aren't off to a great start either, are they? Hanshin's at least making them work hard.
Just because she favors one team doesn't mean she can't be fair in her ongoing, continually-adjusted assessment of the game.
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
As a student of Juuban, Hikaru shows her pride by wearing her usual school uniform to the ballgame. Of course just because she's in uniform doesn't necessarily mean that she's not going to show her support for the players. Which is why on her head is a baseball cap with the Hawks' team logo on it. And what's that in her ears? Why it looks like miniature earrings that resemble the Hawks' logo! Apparently Hikaru wants to show her support for her favorite team here today!
Alongside her is her younger nephew, who is also a baseball fan. He's dressed fairly casually, but with a cap on his head also. Both of them have snacks and sodas as well, almost as if to give the idea that they both think alike.
Both Hikaru and her nephew seem to into today's game, as they're carrying big smiles on their faces as they watch the ongoing game, even though the Hawks seem to be having some trouble. Hikaru and her nephew seem optimistic that they can turn things around. And, of course, there's the fact that Hikaru's with her buddy, Fuu-chan. That always makes things even more fun and interesting.
While Fuu-chan is busy using her phone to tweet out things, Hikaru simply looks to her nephew and says, "Enjoying yourself so far?" Her nephew nods. "Good, I'm glad! It's always good to have my little buddy with me!" She removes his cap to fuzzle his hair before looking at the game again.
<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
"Aah! Look!"
Setsuna isn't smiling, but only because she's staring up raptly at the big screen with a handful of popcorn she jus popped into her mouth. Sitting beside Buki, Setsuna has a Tigers hat, too. It's rather bigger than Tarte's, but the whole effect of the fairy in her lap makes her look like an extra-big fan. She cheers at all the right moments... for the Tigers, of course.
"Right! He can do it!" she agrees, nodding firmly with Tarte as he shows his determination, though she can't, since her other hand is full of soda.
Which is of course when Tarte scolds. "Be nice," Setsuna says, glancing down at him, and then pauses. She leans, slightly, to the side. "So, what happens next?" she asks Inori, completely guilelessly.
<Pose Tracker> Iona Hikawa [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Iona Hikawa likes baseball. She's not a huge fan by any strech of the imagination, but it's a sport, and she did like her sports. At least, that's what brings her here today. Iona did prefer combatative sports, like karate or Japan's Other Favorite Sport, over it though. Unlike most in this group, she's not very much into teams and team spirit, so she's mostly alone on her own.
She's also in the Hawks seating section. Though... she sits in one of the seats near the dividing line, so she may or may not have intended to do so. She has a small popcorn bin nearby, and it's still mostly full. She's also sitting up straight with her legs and arms neatly placed in front of her, except for the occasional arm snake towards the bin.
Slightly more into the game is her own fairy familiar, who is lounging on one of the armrests. Glassan has been a lot more quiet as opposed to some other faries in the room, but otherwise she has been getting into it, with the occasion arm pumping and arm raising. She's also been giving Iona looks of shame as she whispers to the Cure. "Iona, cheer a little! It's fun!"
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfbSDoXxcsI
The time just seems to fly by -- second inning, third, fourth, fifth. By the bottom of the sixth, the teams are tied 4-4; the Tigers ran up the score for a long time before the Hawks finally caught up with a crushingly good Grand Slam Home Run. Now it's like the score has been reset, and the pitchers' eyes are grim as they try to hold the opposing teams off.
Right now, the camera is zooming in tight on the Hawks' hero, who won't be back at bat for quite a while, and is accepting some well-deserved congratulations from his teammates. He seems relieved, but rather than buoyant, determined. The pan draws closer and closer, tighter and tighter.
His face is getting bigger and bigger... and bigger...
...no, the screen is stretching, pushed forward, bulging from pressure as something behind it strains to emerge. A moment later, it tears through with a ghastly noise, evocative of exactly the same despair as a prom dress getting caught in a car door right on exit at the curb, or a much fought-over comic book.
rrrrrRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!
BGM SWITCH! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6jjdJWSw4E
Through the massive hole pours a strange and ominous brown cloud; 'demonic locusts' is a good first impression. That's more than enough to cause both howls of complaint at the interruption, and perhaps somewhat more wisely, screams of alarm. A quick-thinking teacher pulls the fire alarm, and the students promptly and rapidly exit in an almost-orderly fashion. There are a lot of drills for this, if not under these exact circumstances.
While that's happening, the cloud takes a more single, more solid form: a man with an Olympic physique and an unearthly pallor to his skin. He has a purple leaf for a domino mask on the upper half of his face, and more above it as a headdress, and otherwise wears a tight suit of what looks to be greenish-brown, veiny root material. Oh, and he has fangs, pointy elf ears, and dirty blond hair with a few pencil-thin braids in it -- while the rest sticks straight up.
Oh, and the evil just pours off this guy in /waves/. In pokemon terms, he might be Dark/Plant.
In more immediate terms, he floats above the crowds and heads straight for the Tigers side, where reside Mai Mishou and Saki Hyuuga. "I am Karehaan," he announces to the room as a whole, because he likes people to know his name. Then he gets more specific, and a lot more serious. Behind his mask, his eyes narrow.
"Pretty Cure -- today will be your doom."
With one hand he points straight at the pair, while with the other, he sends out a pulse of dark power at the nearest plant... the Hock Hawk trellis! It immediately engorges in size, becoming almost as tall as the roof of the auditorium, which is considerable in height. The flowers it has for eyes and wing-feathers start oozing with a toxic-looking mist, while the ivy, which makes up most of its mass, curls in on itself and becomes quite solid.
Taking to the air, Evil Hock Hawk screams, "UZAINAAAAAAA!!"
It passes over the crowd low enough to ruffle hair and send loosely held items flying.
"Hand over the two spirits, and tell me where the Fountain of the Sun is! Now! Or face your end!"
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe transforms into Uzaina!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 8 opponents!
<Pose Tracker> Mai Mishou [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
"Ch-chopi...!"
The sound coming from Mai Mishou's belt might well be lost in the loud, vociferous complaining as the screen begins to bulge and distend. Her eyes are wide at first, when she she sees it -- and then she actually stands up, though she cannot take a step back, when the screen /rips/. The brown cloud that comes through...
"Oh no!" she cries out, with a flash of terror. She gasps, a hand rising over her heart, and she feels her insides threaten to turn into water. But, then she remembers Choppy's tiny voice over it all -- and the friend right next to her -- and the promise they made to the fairies, just earlier today.
SHe turns her head, looking straight at Saki, and nods her head!
<Pose Tracker> Saki Hyuuga [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Saki tips her head a little as the screen starts to bulge. But before it actually breaks, she hears something from her pouch - inaudible by her friends over the din. "Saki! I sense an evil power-lapi!!"
And then Karehaan appears, and Saki's already on her feet, shielding herself against the blast of his arrival. She looks to the side, where Yuuko and Hitomi have already been caught up in the rush to leave along with the rest of the softball team. Good. They shouldn't see this. She shoots to her feet, stance squared, and jabs a finger in Karehaan's direction. "Like we'd ever tell you, Curry Bun!" she shouts back. It doesn't...even sound like she's mocking him. It sounds like she just, actually thinks that's his name.
She looks around at the panic surrounding her, and her stance tightens. "Everyone was just trying to have a good time watching the game...we were gonna have a party afterward! It didn't matter who won or lost, because we'd all have fun! And you...!"
She jabs a finger. "I won't forgive you!"
"Saki! You need to transform-lapi!"
Saki reaches for the cellphone case on her bag, finding Mai looking at her. "Mai?" she asks, but the answer's already there. Saki nods back, and her eyes turn forward, to Karehaan.
Saki flips her cell phone open with her thumb, revealing an interior that is not especially phone like; a lower panel that doesn't have numbers but does have a creature's face on it, and an upper panel that looks like nothing so much as a rotary dial that doesn't actually dial anything.
Two cards fly out of Saki's cell phone case and slot into the dial. She spins it with her free hand's fingertips, and then swings that arm down, searching, blindly but with confidence, for Mai's. Mai clutches it, expression turning quite serious, as their joined hands point straight towards Karehan.
And when their hands join, they swing their arms around until they cross at the forearm, devices held slightly in front of the other, and their voices rise: "DUAL SPIRI TUAL POWER!"
Between the two devices, a shining golden light is born, pulsing once before roaring outward in a rainbow wave that consumes them both, whipping up gusts of wind and forcing anyone too close away before the ball of rainbow light shoots upward into the sky!
The two girls rise into the air, hands clasped, spinning as one. Light rushes around them, gold for Saki and silver for Mai, their bodies suffused in shining garments.
Saki throws her free arm out, and in a flash of golden light and a spray of shining golden petals, the light solidifies in a bright pink sleeve, falling short of her shoulder and extending over her hand in a flower-shaped flared cuff. The hand itself is covered in a deep grape-purple fingerless glove. "Bloom, flowers of the earth!" she cries out.
In distinct flashes of light, gloves and boots appear on them. Mai extends her free hand as she twirls, the white and sky blue dress forming around her.
"Soar, birds of the sky!" Mai cries, just before she finally lets go of her partner's hand, and flies twirling into the air. With another flash of gold and silver, their other gloves form amid the parting.
Mai's hair extends another good meter, long purple ponytail fluttering out behind her. The shoulder pieces form, too, with a faint feather pattern to them. Rings of light spiral out around Saki's head, her auburn hair turning a sharp orange and extending out, less down and more up, into a high formation like nothing so much as a pineapple. With more explosions of petals, golden earrings and the pink and yellow chest and shoulders of her outfit form, and with a final flash, a bright red ribbon.
Gravity retakes her and Saki forward flips once before landing firmly on the ground. Glittering sparkles of light splash upward, magic responding to her arrival. She holds one arm up in a ready fist, while the other hangs back. "The shining golden flower!" She throws her other hand forward, fingers splayed and the interior yellow of her petal-like cuff clearly visible. "Cure Bloom!"
Mai spins and then lands on the ground with a flourish. She swings a hand in front of her face, newly formed glove snug against her hand, while her fingers splay.
Following Saki, Mai says, "The sparkling silver wing! Cure Egret!" Then the two cross their wrists in front of each other, yelling as one: "We are Pretty Cure!" Then, both point at Karehan at the same time, while clasping hands.
"Those who would desecrate the Sacred Fountains..."
Cure Bloom throws her pointing hand open with nearly palpable force for her final admonition.
"Stop your cruel behavior!"
There is the brief moment of distraction that always follows, after transforming. Mai isn't quite used to the way the words simply come to her. But, she overcomes that quickly, and looks first at Karehaan. "How dare you interrupt a wonderful day like this! Everyone is giving their all for their teams! We won't let you dishonor that!" Then, she looks sideways at Saki -- no, at Cure Bloom. "Bloom! We need to handle this thing quickly! There's so many people here!"
"You can do it-chopi!"
The two move forward as one. Cure Bloom runs, while Cure Egret leaps. Her violet eyes track down, briefly, to her friend below. Then, she looks at Karehaan -- and then at the Hock Hawk -- and her jaw sets. Silvery light rushes around her legs, as she drops down into mighty spinning kick aimed at the top of the Uzaina. When the foot comes close, there is an elegant starburst of silvery specks of light.
Bloom stays low, bowling over rows of chairs as she rushes up. Cure Egret's flying kick gives her an opportunity of her own, and Cure Bloom's rushing charge bowls over a last few artifacts of the kids who were here only seconds ago, while a ball of golden light forms in her hand. She jumps, just enough to actually hit the Uzaina, and swings her arm forward to drive the bolt directly into the thing!
Just after Cure Bloom strikes, Egret drops down behind her. New, they might be, but there is something more than practice that guides them. Her hand clutches Bloom's, white glove in black, and their fingers squeeze, but it's more than a handhold. Silver and golden light erupt, as they kick off the ground, and deliver a mighty two-handed punch at the midsection of the Evil Hock Hawk Uzaina, wreathed in two auras!
COMBAT: Saki Hyuuga transforms into Cure Bloom!
COMBAT: Mai Mishou transforms into Cure Egret!
COMBAT: Cure Egret has started a combo targeting Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Cure Bloom has joined the combo started by Cure Egret!
COMBAT: COMBO! Cure Egret and Cure Bloom have used Double Pretty Cure Spirit Splash on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Egret has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cure Bloom has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Cure Egret and Cure Bloom's Combo: Double Pretty Cure Spirit Splash, taking 79 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Takeo Akamizu [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
As the Locusts come out, Takeo finishes his double handful of popcorn and just waits. Yup. There is the fire alarm. "Chia-Chan. Get out of here." To which he is responded to with a very enthusiastic nod and Chia gets the heck out of there. Moving in an orderly but enthusiastic fashion toward the exit.
Once Chia and most everybody are out of eyesight, Takeo takes out the sword amulet and holds it to the side. "I SWEAR TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT!"
In the absence of being outside, the amulet sparkles and lightning crackles and dances over Takeo. Each bolt of lightning fastening to him and solidifying into pieces of armor. One bolt of lightning shoots into the rafters, twists around a beam, and then shoots down toward Takeo, who catches the lightning bolt in his out stretched had.
The bolt of lightning solidiefies in a flash of light into the blindingly pure white blade of Arondight. Like that, Takeo Akamizu becomes the Cavalier Lancelot! He swirls the blade, sending a current of electricity arcing through the benches and rolls his shoulders. Then he leaps slashing with Arondight and cries outm "Lighting - SLASH!"
COMBAT: Takeo Akamizu transforms into Lancelot!
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Lightning Slash on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe perfectly dodges Lancelot's Lightning Slash, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!
<Pose Tracker> Inori Yamabuki [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"Ah well- the teams switch sides and eto... ano..." Inori is really searching for a way to put it into words. She's not such an expert on baseball that she can just conjure the it right out of the aether. "And then this continues for nine times... innings. And... sometimes there are breaks to stretch."
Chiffon suddenly looks a bit distant. But then her tiny nose starts to sniffle and she has this look of distress in her eyes. "Chiffon? What's wrong?" Inori starts to rub her back and try to comfort her to try to head it off before it could escalate.
Tarte isn't really listening, having tuned out a long time ago when the screen starts to distort and stretch, "What's going on with this reception!?" Cupping his tiny paws over his lips, heedless of the fact that people could turn and look at him he starts yelling at the top of his lungs, "HEYYYY JUUBAN AV CLUB! GET ON THAT! HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO ENJOY THE BIG GAME WITH ALL T-" "Locusts!?" "Right! With all those Locus-WHATTTTTTTT?"
Chiffon starts to cry in earnest as Karehaan makes his appearance. And announces their doom and... "Pine-han! Passion-han! You need to transform!" "R-Right. Tarte-kun look after Chiffon-chan please." "Of course!" The trellis grows and engorges and becomes takes flight as an agent of darkness, and in the meanwhile Inori ducks down behind a seat, inserts a key in her Linkrun and, "Change! Pretty Cure - Beat Up!"
A sparkling field of golden light transforms her and there's a Pretty Cure that emerges from concealment, putting her fingers together into a heart, "The yellow heart is the emblem of faith!" Clap, "Freshly harvested, Cure Pine!"
Pine-han, Passion-han. Could you make this quick? You know... the game is still going. Pine briefly looks at Tarte, who doesn't look too ashamed save a paw at the nape of his neck, "It's a big game you know and-whoa!"
As two Pretty Cure that none of them had ever seen enter into the fray, Chiffon's attitude takes a complete 180, from the throes of sadness to delight, Kyua! Kyua! Puri-Puu! But perhaps more strikingly is just after the pair call out Karehaan, is that she cheers for them specifically, "Bloom, Ee-get, Win!"
Pine on the other hand looks more subdued in her delight, a bright smile on her expression, "Passion. Let's back them up." She's not certain if they're new or not, if they're their kouhai or senpai, but they're certainly going to support them no matter what way.
With a hop, Pine finds herself on a chair back, and playing a sort of hop scotch from the back of one to the other she quickly makes it to the front. It's simple enough with most people already having scattered into the panic. On her final leap, she vaults higher into the air, rearing back her fist, and twisting to send it crashing into one of its dark wings with the explosive force that a Legendary Warrior Pretty Cure can muster.
COMBAT: Inori Yamabuki transforms into Cure Pine!
COMBAT: Cure Pine has used Pineapple Punch on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Pine has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Cure Pine's Pineapple Punch, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates! Exhausted applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
"Ohh, is that so?" Setsuna nods along curiously with Inori's explanation, still watching the movement on the screen as she does. "Stretching is important." She's certainly into it, regardless. ...To the point where she almost doesn't notice what's happening. She's listening more than Tarte, but...
"Chiffon?" Setsuna asks, as she hears Inori, and looks down to see something is indeed very wrong. Tarte's still yelling, and--"What--"
"Precure!?" Setsuna answers in surprise under her breath as the announcement of their doom is made, and Karehaan looms ahead of them. Or at least... She thought it was theirs. "Right! Be careful!"
She doesn't have to be asked twice. Setsuna ducks down beside 'Buki, setting her key into her Linkrun. "Change! Pretty Cure - Beat Up!"
Brilliant shining red transforms her, and from behind the seat rises another Cure, hands shaped into a heart. "The crimson heart is the proof of happiness! Freshly ripened, Cure Passion!"
Passion glances at Tarte, too. "..."
"...We'll do our best."
Passion has just a moment, herself, to stare down Karehaan, and then his awful monster. She can sense the awfulness rolling off of him. But Chiffon knows where they need to go.
Passsion nods. "Right! We're with them!"
Another Cure rushes over, close now to Egret and Bloom as she sails over chairs, fist reared back. "Haaah--!"
Passion hits the ground, swinging her fist straight for the center of the Uzaina right on the heels of Pine's attack.
COMBAT: Setsuna Higashi has fully healed herself.
COMBAT: Setsuna Higashi transforms into Cure Passion!
COMBAT: Cure Passion has used Passion Punch! on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Passion has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Iona Hikawa [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Iona continues to watch the baseball game. Though, despite Iona's lack of cheering, even she's concerned when the screen tears and distorts. She's just about to ask if they should shut it off when the screen rips apart, spewing locusts all around the auditorium, making Iona jump in her seat. "What?!"
When the cloud /then/ forms into a large wooden man, Iona slinks down to the ground, and Glassan does the same, the chairs blocking them not just from the root man, but also from the escaping students. This gives her the perfect opportunity to pull out a mirror. One purple light burst later, Cure Fortune pops back up just in time to watch two other Pretty Cure that she's never seen before perform a mighty combo, and this stops her in her tracks for just a brief moment, as she beholds more Pretty Cure doing their thing.
However, it lasts just a brief moment as Fortune's face settles into a serious look, and she leaps at the Hawk plant Uzaina trying to punch it not once, not twice, but three times.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe perfectly counters Cure Passion's Passion Punch!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Hotaru Tomoe's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe's counterattack, Swing For The Fences, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cure Passion!
COMBAT: Iona Hikawa transforms into Cure Fortune!
COMBAT: Cure Fortune has used Fortunate Punch on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Fortune has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Cure Fortune's Fortunate Punch, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The first instinct Hikaru has is to help get the others to safety, especially her nephew. She gets the others going towards a safe location, ensuring that they'll be safe while giving the impression that she'll be following along. "Go," She calls to her nephew. "I'll be right there. I just need to help the other kids evacuate!" At least that's what she says. In reality, while everyone's distracted with the chaos, Hikaru has ducked into the women's restroom and goes into a nearby stall. "Good thing I always come prepared!" Hikaru says as she reaches into her pocket and produces... what else? Her glove-jewel! She slips it onto her hand as she recites the magic words.
"Belief becomes power... Flames guide me!"
And then the magical flames appear around Hikaru, enveloping her as she changes from her usual schoolgirl self into the Magic Knight of Fire. Her sword is gripped tightly with her hands as she rushes out of the restroom and back into the area where the Uzaina happens to be. Only this time, she's not going to spectate, but is actually going to help the others take it down. And based on that determined look on her face, the Fire Knight isn't playing around anymore!
"You've got a lot of nerve ruining my day out with my nephew," Hikaru says as she casts a small spell of fire onto her sword. "But ruining the day for everyone else too? That's going way too far! Prepare to burn for what you've done!" Hikaru rushes in and swings her flame-engulfed sword at the Uzaira.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou transforms into Magic Knight of Fire!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Red Hot Blade on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly dodges Hikaru Shidou's Red Hot Blade, taking 14 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
And the game was going so well, only to be interrupted. Fuu has a (small) handful of popcorn halfway to her mouth when Karehaan tears his way out of the screen; the crunchy morsels are allowed to fall back into the paperboard bucket, and she sets it aside, rising to her feet and joining the evacuation. If her popcorn isn't still there when she gets back, it's a small loss compared to what COULD be lost here.
And it's those things which Fuu returns to protect - not in her own guise, but as the Magic Knight of Wind.
"Winds of Admonishment!!" are the Wind Knight's first words upon (re)entering the auditorium; and in response to her invocation, a whirlwind is ocnjured around the monstrously-transformed Hock Hawk. (She's trying not to strip too many leaves from it in the process, though. The Gardening Club put so much work into that tropiary ... or whatever the right word is.) Only then does the Wind Knight turn her bespectacled gaze to Karehaan, actually smiling politely at the villain. "I have to ask, did you have to bring Pretty Cure's doom into the midst of a Sister Schools' party? That seems terribly inconsiderate - not to mention horribly ill-advised."
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji transforms into Magic Knight!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has fully healed herself.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Admonishment on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Fuu Hououji's Winds of Admonishment, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates! Trap applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
The sheer size of the Uzaina makes for a cramped and claustrophobic fight -- most of the space above the seats is filled with evil, animated plant. The monster suffers for this too, of course -- it's all but impossible to dodge, and when Cure Bloom and Cure Egret deliver first a punch below and a kick above respectively, followed by a mighty, two-handed punch at its midsection, one that sends blindingly golden and silver sparkles everywhere.
The /only/ good part of this is that the force of the blow sends it flying directly upwards, above the path of Lancelot's blade.
That, and it crashes through the ceiling, which comes plunging down in chunks of concrete and insulation, and suddenly this space is a whole lot more open.
"'Curry Bun'?" repeats Karehaan, his eyes narrowing with rage. "You may call me Karecchi, but never that, Cure Bloom. Get these defiant fools, Uzaina!"
With an unholy shriek, the plant-bird comes soaring downward, back into the fray. It has roots for talons, and they bend and twist with far more agility than their more normal equivalent; with terrible grace, they try to scoop up Cures Bloom and Egret and smash them into each other!
More Pretty Cures join the fray a'seatback, and Karehaan stares at them, then, for longer, at Chiffon, as first Pine's fist impacts a wing -- at an angle, most of the force of the blow rolling off, and then Passion's is met with that same wing swinging downwards, perfectly dispersing her blow. Finally, Cure Fortune discovers that much of the torso is hollow; she sends leaves flying but does no serious damage, her fist popping in and out mostly harmlessly. Flowers, oozing with malice, come pouring downwards in the monster's wake, to impact with terrible speed and unnatural weight on Fresh Pretty Cure, Fortune, and the nearby Lancelot.
Finally, the Magic Knights of Rayearth apply complaints and elementalism in equal measure. There have been quite a few of the former from all around, and Karehaan shrugs, addressing them all at once: "Give me the spirits and the location of the Fountain of the Sun," he repeats firmly, as though talking to the slowest part of the classroom, "And I shall leave you unharmed, to watch the remainder of your strange little game. Resist... and be crushed."
As his fists come together, so do the roots of the Uzaina's talons, sweeping downwards on a second pass to grab at Hikaru and Fuu (getting a bit singed while dodging the former's sword, and simply too massive to be much affected by the latter's winds, other than to add still more toxic flowers to the air). Instead of flinging them into each other as it did Splash Star Pretty Cure, it instead tries to lift them straight off the ground... and squeeze with terrible force.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Double Play on Cure Bloom.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Double Play on Cure Egret.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fastball on Cure Passion.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fastball on Cure Pine.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fastball on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fastball on Cure Fortune.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Squeeze Play on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Squeeze Play on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cure Pine narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Fastball, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Cure Pine's Block ability activates! Cure Pine's Parry ability activates! Cripple and Stun applied to Cure Pine!
COMBAT: Cure Egret narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Double Play, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Cure Egret's Fade ability activates! Cure Egret's Flash ability activates! Stagger applied to Cure Egret!
COMBAT: Cure Fortune narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Fastball, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Cure Fortune's Fade ability activates! Cure Fortune's Flash ability activates! Cripple and Stun applied to Cure Fortune!
COMBAT: Cure Bloom narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Double Play, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Cure Bloom!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Squeeze Play, taking 34 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Cure Passion fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Fastball, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Stun applied to Cure Passion!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Squeeze Play, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Hikaru Shidou's Block ability activates! Hikaru Shidou's Parry ability activates! Tangle and Trap applied to Hikaru Shidou!
COMBAT: Lancelot perfectly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Fastball, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Lancelot's Block ability activates! Lancelot's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Egret [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Egret is grabbed out of the air. She yelps -- but she twists, and then she manages to break away from Cure Bloom before she slams into her. She twists around, and lands, but it's shaken -- her feet skid across the ground of the auditorium, and her eyes lift to glower up at Karehaan and the Uzaina. She only narrowly didn't crash into her friend.
"More Pretty Cure-chopi!" Choppy says, from Cure Egret's belt. "They're coming to help us-chopi!"
It takes Cure Egret by surprise when three Precures emerge -- ones that are entirely different than Cure Bloom. Her eyes widen, as she bounces back from their combined blow on the Uzaina. Her eyes whip to the side, staring at all of them.
"All of you...!" Egret says. Her violet eyes sparkle, with a mixture of feeling awed and overwhelmed with this new knowledge. "I didn't know there were others. We need to stop this Uzaina. It will be a danger to everyone here!"
But then Karehaan's threat comes in, familiar as ever, and worrying as ever. Those violet eyes narrow, as she spins to face the Uzaina. "We won't tell you that!"
Then, she leaps high into the air. Silvery light trails after, and she spins to the side, swinging back her left foot. Silver light swirls around--
--and shen she swings down at the Evil Hawk Hock's wing, her heeled boot crashing down at it with another burst of silver light!
COMBAT: Cure Egret has used Sky Dancer's Kick on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Egret has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Cure Egret's Sky Dancer's Kick, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Cure Egret is Psyched! Stun applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
With quick and practiced reflexes, Lancelot manages to get Arondight between him and the speeding attack headed his way. There is a shower of sparks and a burst of electricity from the blade from the impact. He pushes off against the attack and leaps back to land at the top of the bleachers. He holds the blade to the side and waits for a moent, taking in the situation
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
With quick and practiced reflexes, Lancelot manages to get Arondight between him and the speeding attack headed his way. There is a shower of sparks and a burst of electricity from the blade from the impact. He pushes off against the attack and leaps back to land at the top of the bleachers. He holds the blade to the side and waits for a moent, taking in the situation before him.
Taking quick strides, Lancelot moves form benchtop to benchtop at a dead run, his boots clacking and the sound of it like booming thunder as is the wont of school bleachers everywhere. Toward the end of the row of bleachers, he jumps off and strikes in quick succession. His balde striking low trying to disable the bad guy.
He lands in a roll and comes up twirling the blade, ready for the next attack or ready to deliver another himself.
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Disabling Strike on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Bloom [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Cure Bloom has never and probably will never be able to respond to Karehaan saying she can use his nickname. Sure, sic Hock Hawk topiary monsters on her all day, she can work that out, but saying she can call him 'Karecchi' is just weird. They're not even kind of friends! Fortunately her and Egret's power sends the Uzaina flying. Cure Bloom is about ready to follow it through the ceiling, but its return is too fast. "Egret!" she calls out, in warning, and then throws herself side ways, barely avoiding the attempt to slam her into her friend. The snatching roots come just short of her soles, and sparkles of golden light trail after her as she vaults over an entire row of chairs and lands neatly on both feet at the end of it. She sets her stance, preparing to rush back in, but...
Bloom briefly looks at Egret. "Did we bring a baby?" she wonders out loud, because she just noticed their cheering section. "I mean, wait, somebody left a baby!?"
Sort of! Cure Pine and Passion appear with their own attacks, and Cure Bloom's eyes go wide. "More Pretty Cure-lapi!" Flappy cheers. "There's this many!?" she gawps, inadvertently answering Pine's musing about seniority. "Amazing...!" Her eyes turn big and awe-struck as the magical girls pile on to the Uzaina. But she stammers as Mai recovers herself first. "Oh, uh, right! We have to stop the Uzaina!"
And she finally really gets her head back in the game as Karehaan issues his repeated challenge. "We won't let you have them!" Bloom snaps back, feet landing in a fighting stance. "And we don't know where it is-lapi!" Flappy asserts, again, from his pouch, as he does literally every time Karehaan asks. He never seems to believe them.
So she hops forward, bounding over one set of chairs, and then there's a brief moment as she draws power into herself, a faint golden aura surrounding her, golden sparkles falling off her like falling petals, before she surges forward in a quick, harsh charge, throwing out her right hand with another ball of energy in it to slam it directly into the flying Uzaina's belly.
COMBAT: Cure Bloom has used Petal Clash on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Bloom has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Lancelot's Disabling Strike, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates! Cripple and Stun applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to counter Cure Bloom's Petal Clash, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cure Bloom is Psyched!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe's counterattack, Swing For The Fences, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cure Bloom!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Fortune [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Cure Fortune grunts as her punches sweep the leaves, but do not much else. It's also not very great when flowers appear to attack her, some of them impacting her with incredible speed. On the bright side, only a few actually hit, and the blows aren't enough to knock her off balance as she lands back on the ground.
But they do hurt, and she rubs her suit where the strikes hit for a moment to try and ease off the pain, before she turns to the Uazina again, teeth clenched. This time, instead of punching, she tries kicking! One kick with her left foot, then a turn to kick with her right foot, as she attempts to find something more solid to kick.
COMBAT: Cure Fortune has used High Fiber Kick on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Fortune has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Cure Fortune's High Fiber Kick, taking 19 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Pine [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Blossoms of darkest malice are sent at her, as fast as any pitch thrown by anyone who can throw the legendary lightning ball, except far more massive, and far too many. Pine is dropping back to the floor when the first comes at her, and her foot rockets up barely in time to smash into it and send it away.
The weight of it twists her around in mid-air, and spinning like a top, her fists crash into the rest one by one, in a blur, striking them away in a motion that sends her end over end in the vertical. Until she reaches the ground... her hands touch down and... there's a muffled sound of pain from her throat as she hand stands, and flips backwards, before landing onto her feet.
Her hands are covered in spatterings of dark ooze and even beyond that the discoloration of bruises aside, punished simply for striking them all away. It's painful even to clinch them anymore, but her fists are her weapons, and so eventually she does so. One of them is asking if they brought a baby, "Ah- D-Don't worry! The baby is in good hands!"
That's a complicated situation to explain right now in battle, so the reassurance will simply have to do. "Yeah. Mine!" The baseball loving ferret briefly stands up proud and tall on his hind legs, arms crossed. "Noone's gonna come near Chiffon while the Hanshin Tiger's number one fan, Tarte is h-"... Until a dark flower becomes precariously close and with a sound of panic he quickly scampers back into cover. Chiffon on the other hand simply giggles, "Kyua!"
The duo of Pretty Cure are explaining, and Pine gives them a sharp nod in reply to their explanation, "Right." They know more on what's going on with this group, so even if they do seem new letting them take the lead, so she offers her words of support, "I believe - that we'll definitely manage to beat it together."
Fortunately her hands... they're not her only weapons. Her eyes get a glimpse of the sunlight pouring in from the shattered rooftop above. Then Passion and her look at each other at the same time. And in that glance a plan is shared. In synch, with the motions of practiced dancers the two run forward a few paces. A leap sends them rocketing the air like twin missiles of gold and red through the gaps. "DOUBLE PRETTY CURE KICK!" Is their battle cry as down they come, the inexorable force of gravity granting extra power to their legs, crashing down into the Uzaina heeled boots leading.
COMBAT: Cure Pine has started a combo targeting Hotaru Tomoe!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"You make two assumptions -" the Wind Knight begins, and then the flying foliage tries to grab her and the Fire Knight and start squeezing them. The Magic Knight of Wind tries to evade, but to little avail; the best she can do is make sure her arms are free - and that actually leaves her more vulnerable to crushing damage. "Nnngh ... we'll ... get back to that ..."
She may have her arms free, but she can't bring her sword to bear effectively, even though she CAN materialize it. She can't line up a shot with bow and arrow, either - mostly because the quiver would be obstructed even if it DID materialize properly, and she has no interest in doing on-the-spot research in magically-induced fermionic vector intersections. That basically leaves magic as her only option, and Winds of Admonishment has demonstrably done very little in terms of slowing the monster down.
For now, she focuses on the tropiary-bird that's holding her and Hikaru. They really do need to get down so the others can attack more freely, and there are only so many options ... "Winds of Healing!" the green-clad Magic Knight calls out, focusing the spell around her fire-wielding, red-garbed ally to try and break the foliage's grasp. Trying to free *herself* is a distant secondary concern; landing safely comes in a still-more-distant third on the list of worries.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Healing on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou accepts Fuu Hououji's Winds of Healing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Hikaru Shidou's debuffs are cleared!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Passion takes her arm back as she finds her strike blocked, ducking down as she prepares her next move against the Uzaina. At least, that's the idea; as her knees bend, she sees the attack coming--too late. Malicious blooms crash right for her, a trio striking Passion center-on and sending her crashing backward into a row of seats. She disappears within them a moment.
Her voic pops up first, "We didn't leave her!"
Her hand is next, as Passion drags herself right back up, still stiff from the onslaught. Passion listens too, to the explanation of the others, before she nods firmly at Egret. "Right! I'll do my very best to back you up!"
Even as they sparkle, to, she trades a look with Pine. It only takes tha long to share their plan; she moves in perfect time with Pine each pace, from beat to beat, and leaps upward.
"DOUBLE PRETTY CURE KICK!"
Two at once, heels out, crashing down fresh against their opponent.
COMBAT: Cure Passion has joined the combo started by Cure Pine!
COMBAT: COMBO! Cure Pine and Cure Passion have used Combo: DOUBLE PRETTY CURE KICK!, composed of Pretty Cure Fresh Kick, on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Pine has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cure Passion has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The Fire Knight watches and realizes that there's no escape, so she assumes a defensive stance in hopes that she can possibly tense herself up and then break free, but it's no use. She finds herself a bit tied up and in a bit of a squeeze too. In fact, the longer she's held on by this weird creature, the more she feels like the air is slowly leaving her lungs, and soon she might not be able to breathe unless she does something. Unfortunately, her arms are also stuck, and she can't move her sword at all. Plus, the lack of air means she can't call out any magical spells.
But when hope seems lost, the Wind Knight casts a spell on her that allows her to break free from the grasp. She lands on the ground with a bit of an oomph, but she recovers quickly, almost casually dusting herself off and then picking up her sword again. Only this time she holds it with one hand while her other hand is pointed at the Uzaina. "You had me good there for a moment, but an enemy is most dangerous when they're cornered. And I'm about to make you learn that lesson the hard way!" Her eyes narrow a little bit.
She steps towards the Uzaina again, but this time she raises her hand above her head and begins to focus her magic into an arrow-shaped projectile. "Fire arrow!" She calls out, shooting the projectile at the Uzaina. Her hope is that it will damage the creature and cause it to release the Wind Knight. If not, there's always her sword, but the Fire Knight wants to leave that as a backup option.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Fire Arrow on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly dodges Cure Pine and Cure Passion's Combo: DOUBLE PRETTY CURE KICK!, taking 59 Fatigue damage! Cure Pine and Cure Passion are Psyched!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Hikaru Shidou's Fire Arrow, taking 25 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
"Nnnngh!" growls Karehaan as he is thrice denied, twice by Pretty Cure and once by Flappi. "I'll wring the truth from you if I must!" He leaps into the air, using his Uzaina's wing as a trampoline, and lands on the edge of the shattered rooftop, high above. Landing neatly, he folds his arms and glares down at the battle below.
There's a fair amount of leaping all around. Egret leaps and comes down on Uzaina's left wing even as Pine and Passion jointly hit the right with their won heels. There's another ripping sound, like the movie screen, as the latter wing tears right off. It hits the seats with a brushy sound, petals and leaves flying everywhere, then falls limp.
...for a moment.
Then it's up and active once more, as its own little independent unit -- each of the feathery edges of the wing sprouts roots which in turn become little feet or hands (both are clawed), and now there is a gigantic ground-bound koosh ball of scratchy pain rolling its way along the aisles. The now-landing Egret, Passion and Pine will be its first victims.
Lance and Bloom charge from the opposite side, and meet the grounded bird with blade and fist-slammed golden power respectively. With Egret having stunned the wing and Lance having pinned it, Cure Bloom's explosion turns it into shreds of foliage and little else.
Hopefully it isn't about to reanimate, too-- yep, there it goes, floating up into the air at Karehaan's lazy gesture, becoming a mobile whirlwind of razor-sharp ivy leaves and some seriously smelly petals, to envelop and pressure the Knight of the Round Table and flower-powered Precure from all directions.
Cure Fortune discovers that the creature's /beak/, which, now that it's flightless, is in easy reach (for a jumpy and determined Pretty Cure, anyway) is a great target for her double kicks. It's functionally hardwood, a thousand strands of ivy twirled into brutal strength in the same way one can make stout rope from thin little threads, but she chips away at it a bit. Uzaina snarls, lunging forward, trying to catch that purple foot before she retreats, for crushing and chewing and general pain.
Hikaru couldn't ask for a better save on Fuu; her Fire Arrow scorches away the roots surrounding her friend into nothing but ash, stopping just short of burning the Magic Knight of Wind as well. It's their turn to face the heavy and terrible flowers, which hit with the force of fastballs, as they emerge from the now-wingless bird-Uzaina's torso at high speeds.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Quick Bunt on Cure Pine.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Quick Bunt on Cure Passion.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Quick Bunt on Cure Egret.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Screwball on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Screwball on Cure Bloom.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Squeeze Play on Cure Fortune.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fastball on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fastball on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Fastball, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cripple and Stun applied to Fuu Hououji!
COMBAT: Cure Fortune narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Squeeze Play, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Cure Fortune's Tactician ability activates! Tangle and Trap applied to Cure Fortune!
COMBAT: Cure Fortune's counterattack, Breaking the Beak, partially gets through, doing 8 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Cure Egret narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Quick Bunt, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Cure Egret's Reverse ability activates! Blind and Diversion applied to Cure Egret!
COMBAT: Cure Egret's counterattack, Light of Feathers, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Cure Pine narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Quick Bunt, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Blind applied to Cure Pine!
COMBAT: Cure Passion narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Quick Bunt, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cure Passion's Fade ability activates! Blind and Diversion applied to Cure Passion!
COMBAT: Cure Bloom perfectly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Screwball, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter! Cure Bloom's Reverse ability activates! Cure Bloom's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Cure Bloom's counterattack, Petal Flash, bursts all the way through, doing 9 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Lancelot fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Screwball, taking 22 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Egret [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
"Right! We can do this, if we work together!" Egret answers, as she kicks the Uzaina's wing off. She is pleased about that... for all of a few seconds. She lands, to discover the wing has grown roots that act as feet, and it comes rushing for her. Her eyes widen, and then she holds both hands up, and a barrier of silver light erupts before both hands.
The once-wing slams into the barrier, driving Cure Egret back, and she grits her teeth and grunts -- but she can't stop it, as she is driven back towards the wall, the claws scratching into the barrier.
"Bloom!" Egret calls out. "They usually don't do this...!"
Her eyes widen, as the Uzaina grabs for Cure Fortune. She gasps softly, before she shakes her head. "How--how dare you hurt them!" she calls out to Karehaan. "Everyone is trying their best to protect the school and let everyone watch the game!"
She does a twirl, with her foot, then looks up -- and launches straight into the air, over the wing that grew claws and feet. She comes crashing down towards it, landing with a spinning bicycle kick. Silver sparkles trail after, as she swings back a hand -- and then delivers a graceful elbow blow, alight with silver light.
Then, a graceful backhand punch up into the separated portion, trying to knock it onto its back.
COMBAT: Cure Egret has used White Wing Flurry on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Egret has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
One bird down, the rest of the Bird to go! Lancelot thinks to himself. Except when the salad becomes a swirling mass of razor sharp leaves intent on destroying him. "This is why I don't eat veggies!" He says to Cure Bloom as he leaps out of the way.
Leaping out of the way was the plan, however in actuality he gets tossed around and battered by sharp leafy bits and then slammed back to the ground by way of a few of those theatre seats. Smashing through them and rolling up the aisle only to roll back down to land sprawled at Cure Bloom's feet. He sits up and blinks a few times, and says to Bloom, "I do not recommend the salad. Salad is bad. Salad is veggies. I am now justified..."
With that profound wisdom shared with Cure Bloom, Lancelot launches from the ground, arondight flashing as he goes toward body of the dark vegetable bird power. The man charges and Lancelot cries out, "FURIOUS ASSAULT!" unleashing a flurry of blade strikes, each ending with a flash of lightning and accompanied by rolling thunder that is only magnified by the theatre, as every stroke of the sword is focused on removing the body of the veggie bird from existance.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Now that she's free of the Uzaina's grip, the Wind Knight can protect herself somewhat better from its attacks ... except for two things.
One of those is getting her ankle snagged on a chair after the Magic Knights got loose from said grip - not badly enough to break it, maybe not even a full-blown twist or sprain, but it's going to slow her down until it stops hurting.
The other is getting beaned in the face by a flower which shouldn't be REMOTELY as dense as it feels like. Somehow - for once - her glasses stay in their proper place, but her vision swims nonetheless.
"This ... 'Fountain' of which you speak," states the Wind Knight, "is something only the Pretty Cures know about. But if they don't ... don't consider it something to tell you of ... why should you expect the rest of us -"
Her bow and quiver materialize; her head clears enough with the effort of focusing to pull out an arrow, nock it, and draw the string back as she aims at the Uzaina.
"- to turn against them? It's this important ... important enough to protect with everything *they* have ..."
She hasn't loosed yet, but the wind is building up around the green-clad Magic Knight, ruffling her hair and sleeves and skirt.
"... why should we not believe it important enough ... to protect with all that *WE* have?" She sucks in a breath, willing her eyes to focus on the target, and she adjusts her aim upwards ...
"Gale Arrow!!"
The wind enfolds her shaft as her fingers release the string, and with the magical wind accelerating and stabilizing its flight, the arrow flies straight at the Uzaina. The wind is likely to tear through the foliage much more effectively than the arrow's own passage would, as well.
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Furious Assault on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Gale Arrow on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Fuu Hououji's Gale Arrow, taking 25 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Lancelot's Furious Assault, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Fastball, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Hikaru Shidou's Block ability activates! Hikaru Shidou's Parry ability activates! Cripple applied to Hikaru Shidou!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly counters Cure Egret's White Wing Flurry, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Reverse ability activates! Exhausted applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe's counterattack, Swing For The Fences, partially gets through, doing 13 Fatigue damage to Cure Egret!
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
You'd think that flowers are meant to be soft and enjoyed. Not these ones, though. These ones are fired with the speed of intense fastballs, and when you're hit by a baseball, it hurts like heck. Hence the reason it's not uncommon to see a brawl break out after a bean ball. But this is already a brawl as it is, so who cares?
The Fire Knight turns and ducks down, curling herself up as best as she can in hopes of absorbing these flower shots as best as she can. She turns so that her most armored spot is visible, and it does the trick. While the flowers do hit her, the armor absorbs most of them, so it's not as bad as it could have been. But it still hurts a little, which reminds the Fire Knight that this battle is still going on, and if she doesn't get her act together, she'll really be outta here!
"That was a new one on me," The Fire Knight comments as she readies her sword and goes at the enemy. "But no matter. I'll cut you down to size like the weed you are!" She rushes in fast, attempting to swing her sword and strike at the enemy while moving away afterward to give herself a little extra space.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Sword Slash on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Hikaru Shidou's Sword Slash, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Hikaru Shidou is Psyched! Stagger applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Bloom [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Bloom's explosive light detonates the thing to shreds, and Bloom swiftly retreats a hop. "It's not down yet!" she says, confident, although...usually they don't work like that. She looks to Egret. "But we haven't purified it yet, so it's got to be planning something, right?"
And she's borne out, as the thing reconfigures into a horrible leaf tornado. The ugly scents of Karehaan's corrupted floral Uzaina are slowly becoming familiar, but that doesn't stop her from recoiling a little as that is kicked up on the wind. She throws up her arms in response, and from her hands come streamers of golden sparkles that rapidly form up into a solid dome, the leaves and petals bouncing harmlessly off it, right up until Cure Bloom releases a loud "HAH!" of a kiai. The barrier erupts into golden light, sending the tornado scattering for long enough for Cure Bloom to jump clear, tossing a few more chairs out of her way as she does. She looks down as Lancelot lands flat at her feet. "It's not vegetables that's the problem, it's that guy!" Bloom asserts, pointing straight up at Karehaan.
Lancelot peaces out, in time for Cure Bloom to observe...a ferret. "...well, he's probably still better at it than Flappy..." "At least I wouldn't stand up in the middle of a tornado-lapi!"
Still, she favors Pine and Passion with a grateful smile. "Right..." And then, eyes up on the Uzaina, as golden light surrounds her. "Right! Hah!"
She surges forward again, jumping across the distance in two big strides while a ball of gold light forms in her hands. Egret has more fancy moves, but Bloom brings the power - she thrusts that bolt of light home into the biggest nexus of remaining Uzaina, less of a punch and more of a fistful of magic.
COMBAT: Cure Bloom has used Fistful of Flowers on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Bloom has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly counters Cure Bloom's Fistful of Flowers, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Cure Bloom is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe's counterattack, Swing For The Fences, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cure Bloom!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Pine [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
The two Pretty Cure crash against it. Pressing off, she takes a flip back and lands. The Uzaina is dismembered, but its scratchy, clawed wings act with a life of their own, crawling up the hall like horrid limbs from some horror movie. "Ah! It's still coming!"
Pine leaps up and to the side as it whooshes past, her heeled foot touching against the wall, then tapping off just as it takes another close swipe. But while in mid-air. She has to suddenly bob her head, as a blur of dark movement overtakes her vision. Gold hairs float to the ground in its wake, the girl's eyes wide.
When she touches down, her eyes are constantly wary for a threat. But the way Flappy is talking about Tarte, "W-Well he's... he's a very..." Her mind cuts to the one time a dog escaped from the kennels and chased Tarte in a panic down the block, "...c-c-courageous ferret." "Tarte to Pine-han. You could sound more confident when talking me up you know?"
"Well it's just... I'm..." She whimpers once, "...ferrets." "I still don't get what kind of Pretty Cure is scared of their fairy!" "I'm so s-sorry!" She blurts out very quickly. "Passion-han! Back me up here, it's silly for a Pretty Cure to be like that isn't it?"
"U-Uh, we'll talk about this after!" Coming at the Uzaina again, she's a blur of fists and feet. One blow after another, in a rhythm that quickly picks up to cover as much of its surface as her limbs will reach in her relentless advance.
However, every so often... she's looking out of the periphery of her vision, making certain those independent limbs aren't coming at her flanks or back... maybe her blows aren't as precise as they could be as a result.
COMBAT: Cure Pine has used Pineapple Express on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Pine has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Cure Pine's Pineapple Express, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Cure Pine is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Passion's expression turns to a smirk as their combined assault tears a wing straight off, spinning in mid-air as she orients her heels back towards the ground, her pink hair fluttering behind her. "And you thought--"
They don't usually do this. As her feet hit the ground, balls of her feet landing first as she starts to roll with it, Passion is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a ball of scratchy pain. "Ah--!?"
She dives, hard, wrenching her legin the process and rolling down the aisle with a loud set of 'thuds'. She hits a discarded bag of popcorn along the way, and bumps her head along the edge of a chair. So it is that her vision is still swimming and star-filled as she kips up with a leap. "That's--"
The talk with Flappy and Tarte draws her attention. "Tarte is very brave!" A pause. "...Is it weird? I never really paid attention before to how a Cure was supposed to interact with fairies."
They can talk about it after. Right. Passion tries to steady herself, and stares down--there it is, the large body of their foe. "Don't worry, Pine! Even if it's weird, I'm still with you!"
It's perhaps not the most encouraging set of /words/, but they seem genuine--heartfelt, sincere, and... following up a kick meant to spin into another to get Passion back up in the air, trying to use her foe as a springboard.
COMBAT: Cure Passion has used Sudden Step on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Passion has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly dodges Cure Passion's Sudden Step, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Cure Passion is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Fortune [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
As Cure Fortune's foot retracts from the kick, the Uzaina's beak suddenly closes shut, and squeezes its beaky teeth around her boot, causing Fortune to yelp in pain, which rewards the monster with a swift kick from another foot, that manages to get her released. Cure Fortune falls to the ground, sprawled among the seats in the auditorium.
Fortune slowly climbs back to her feet, and looks at the Uzaina for a brief second. It's a plant, the being controlling looks like a plant. For the first time since the fight began, a smile graces her face, as she pulls out her mirror. "Time to Change!" She takes out two PreCards, and slides them into her PreChanMirror -- cards of Persian dressing. With that done she holds the mirror in front of her. "Pine Arabian!"
A burst of light envelops Cure Fortune, and now she's dressed in that Arabian outfit. She dances, spinning around and swirling her arms, as she sweeps them back and forth below her. Sand, somehow, starts to flow on the ground, attempting to bury the monster in it as best she can.
COMBAT: Cure Fortune transforms into Pine Arabian!
COMBAT: Cure Fortune has used Fortune Desert Wave on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Fortune has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Cure Fortune's Fortune Desert Wave, taking 23 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
"Cure Egret," Karehaan observes archly, in a growl straight from the gut, "It is your defiance that has destroyed this party and endangered your... friends." Something about the way that he says 'friends' makes it sound a whole lot more like 'sewer.' He continues grimly, "I would be long gone, days ago, if you gave me what I need."
He shakes his head, as if to say, 'how selfish can you get?' Even as he's patronizing away, though, his Uzaina is busy being a big jerk -- starting by catching Egret's backhanded punch before she can finish off the koosh ball, and then swinging her through the air, hard; her landing trajectory is towards her partner, which forces some of the golden light to flinch away from them both.
Lancelot punishes the bird's inattention by rending and electrocuting great bits of its massive frame, at the same moment that Fuu's wind-buoyed arrow and Hikaru's mighty blade tears straight through it, sending leaves everywhere. Roots erupt from these wounds, to ensnare and grasp its assailants.
Cure Pine beats away as many of those roots as she can, but there are so many, and they slash against her viciously, while Cure Passion is safe from all but the flowers by the simple expedient of leaping entirely above the fray. The Uzaina's bulk sinks down into Pine Arabian's sand, slowing its movements, but the whirlwind of petals and sharp leaves comes up behind her, hoping to entrap her in turn.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Double Play on Cure Egret.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Double Play on Cure Bloom.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Squeeze Play on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Squeeze Play on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Squeeze Play on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Swing For The Fences on Cure Pine.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fastball on Cure Passion.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Pretty Cthonic Horror on Cure Fortune.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cure Pine fails to brace Hotaru Tomoe's Swing For The Fences, taking 23 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Cure Passion narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Fastball, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Cure Passion's Block ability activates! Cure Passion's Parry ability activates! Stun applied to Cure Passion!
COMBAT: Cure Egret fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Double Play, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Cure Egret!
COMBAT: Lancelot perfectly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Squeeze Play, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Lancelot's Reverse ability activates! Lancelot's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Lancelot's counterattack, Veil of Steel, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Cure Bloom fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Double Play, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Cure Bloom!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to counter Hotaru Tomoe's Squeeze Play, taking 32 Fatigue damage! Tangle applied to Fuu Hououji!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji's counterattack, To the Point, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Squeeze Play, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Tangle and Trap applied to Hikaru Shidou!
COMBAT: Cure Fortune fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Pretty Cthonic Horror, taking 22 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Vines lash out at Lancelot and attmept to grasp, slash and lash onto him. Arondight is brought up in a quick rapid succession as he calls out "VEIL OF STEEL!" The blade, flashing with white hot sparks of electricty at every stroke creates a perfectly impenetrable wall of steel.
He comes to a stop and kneels, closing his eyes. He opens them and surges forward, his blade singing and trailing lightning as moves. He brings the blade down in a series of strikes in rapid succession calling out "BLADEFURY!" as he does so. Once again bright, pulsing beating blasts of lightning and thunder explode and echo through the chamber. He leaps over the body of the bird and lands in another crouch, sword held to the side, Arondight tracing lightning along it's edge.
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Bladefury on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Egret [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
"That...!" Egret counters, with a frown, and Karehaan's words have hit home -- if not so deeply to make her stop fighting. "You would hurt a lot of people! We have to stop you, for the sake of the Land of Fountains!"
Then, she gets thrown the air, and sent flying towards Saki. She smashes into Cure Bloom, knocking her over, and hits the ground roughly. She falls onto her back and groans, before she pushes herself up. "Egret!" Choppy says. "Don't give up-chopi...!"
Egret shakes her head, as she glances around -- and then she sees that the Uzaina, despite the Magic Knights' best, has not yet stopped. She bites her lip, frowning, and then she looks at the other Pretty Cures. Tarte's words are, for the moment, lost on her. But, she can see the trouble that Pine Arabian is having.
"Bloom!" she says, looking sideways at her friend. Her eyes widen. "We have to stop this. The other Pretty Cure..."
She reaches her hand out. Her fingers tremble, curling in, before they reach out for her friend's hand.
"We have to do our best for them!"
COMBAT: FINISHER! Cure Egret has started a combo targeting Hotaru Tomoe!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Pine [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Viciously slashing roots come. One after the other, rending into her. Tears appear across her glorious ribbons and fabric of her dress. Eventually she's slapped away with a shriek as she's sent hurtling into one of the remaining walls of a theater.
She only stumbles once, getting up...
What Karehaan says, she's heard it before... from honeyed lips, "Don't even try to put the blame on her." Her breath is ragged, "She... is not responsible for your actions." The Uzaina is somewhere between having too little substance and too much. Everywhere and nowhere and everything in between... The last time she did this. It was disastrous. She'd hurt someone whom she'd been deceived into hurting.
She takes a deep breath, whispering something that only herself might hear, "Keep faith in myself." She closes her eyes, "And everything will turn out alright."
Her eyes turn skyward, to the heavens, to the autumn clouds high in the air. "Here I go."
This time, on a wing and a prayer she leaps, it sends her upward at incredible speed, as high as she imagines she can go. Perhaps her imagination is her actual limit there.
Rearing back her fist, she descends downward, faster and faster, fist drawn back. A pinprick bright spot of yellow in the sky, until she's almost there. Her fist crashes into the bulk of the plant's mass, entrapped by Fortune's sand. Or at least right where she imagines it to be. It sends out a shockwave that could very well turn part of the theater floor temporarily into a crater. ... And maybe it sets up the other Pretty Cure for something spectacular.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Cure Pine has used Leap of Faith on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Pine has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Karehaan's words to Cure Egret sting atleast as much as the flowers that sail at Passion, she finds, as she sails through the air. She crosses her forearms before her, blocking the worst of the strike even as some slash against her. But her mouth thins into a line.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Passion shouts back, angry in the face of too-familiar intonation, of the sort of sayings that she knows more well than she'd like to remember. She says it evn as Pine speaks up, but keeps going, "You did this! Not her! Just because you don't think what they're fighting for matters... Doesn't mean you have the right to do these things!"
She hits the ground, landing with a click of her heels. Bloom and Egret are working hard; many others here, too. But it's Pine's presence that catches Passion first, Pine's and Fortune's, in her new form.
A little tang of regret fills her, but she shakes her head. "...And I'm here," she murmurs. She takes a quick breath, before adopting a totally relaxed stance, as if she's done fighting altogether.
The image hangs there a moment after she's gone, a red blur of action crashing in on the heels of a yellow shockwave.
Her strikes are too quick to see, punches and kicks sending her beside and over the monster, until she appears behind it, visible again with a look over her shoulder at her foe--and at what else must be coming.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Cure Passion has used Fresh Moment on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Passion has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Fortune [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Cure Fortune sees the sand wash over the Uzaina, but the sudden appearance the whirlwind of leaves and petals buffet her, tearing at her clothes and hair. It even blows off the veil covering her face. When it finally ends, she stops for a moment and takes in some air that isn't rushing past her, hands on her knees.
When she gets her breath back, she stands back up and looks at the monster right in its beak. Taking one last deep breath, she dances yet again. A leap and a prance, and then Fortune sweeps her arms in the air, as if beckoning something.
That something is one of her trademark purple stars. This one has a tail like a comet, even! Shining high above near the ceiling, the light from the star shines down upon the Uzaina, like its heralding some sort of ill fortune.
With everyone else giving it their all, this prediction may come true a lot quicker than the monster wants it to.
COMBAT: Cure Fortune has used Fortune Comet Shimmering on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Fortune has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Bloom [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
"We promised them!" Saki yells, supporting Egret in response to Karehaan. "To protect the Land of Fountains and the Fountain of the Sun! So no matter what you throw at us, we absolutely won't give up!"
This is quickly put to the test when Egret gets hurled straight at Bloom, the force of it enough to overwhelm both of their protections and send them tumbling in a pile of limbs. They land separated, barely, Bloom dizy and Egret roughed up. Still, as Bloom staggers tiredly to her feet, a voice rises out of her pouch. "Bloom! I think it's time to finish it!"
She looks down briefly, then over to Egret, her eyes setting. "Yeah," she says, and reaches out for Egret's hand. She squeezes, gloves tightening audibly against each other as their hands join.
Hands clasped, Cure Bloom and Cure Egret stand facing the Uzaina. Their eyes close, however, as they do. Both hold hands into the air. "O Spirits of the earth..." The brief, spectral image of a field of sunflowers shoots out behind them, then a wave of golden particles of light rising upward. It's joined by a wave of silver-blue specks of light, falling down from a spectral cloudbank that appears over their heads. "O Spirits of the sky..."
The light swings and swirls around them in streams, whipping to and fro, until the golden streams of light rise together around Cure Bloom's hand and the silver around Cure Egret's. A brilliant flash emanates outward, bright and shining, as both pairs of eyes open.
"Now, together with Pretty Cure..."
"Release the power of miracles!"
The two girls clasp their hands together, holding them out behind them, as if to anchor them. Then, they put their other hands together as fists, two heart emblems on their gloves pointed outward, before they pull their hands back. They swirl them together, drawing a spiral of golden and silver sparkles, and then release their hands.
"Pretty Cure..."
Both thrust their hands out, moving as one, and the gathered energies seem to solidify as pools of water before rushing out in two huge torrents, white and golden sacred streams firing off their out stretched hands, as they cry out.
"Twin Stream..."
The streams of purifying water swirl together, not initially striking the Uzaina, but swirling around it instead. Then, they spin inward, connecting on the center of its mass, before they explode outward in a brilliant flash of light -- and a shower of white-tinged blue and gold-tinged red sparks!
"SPLASH!"
COMBAT: FINISHER! Cure Bloom has joined the combo started by Cure Egret!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
More of the ensnaring, entangling vines ... and more of the rib-crushing pressure that comes with them. If it weren't for her armor, the Wind Knight would find this even more unpleasant than she does - and it's quite painful enough as it is, thank you very much. But the Uzaina left her arms free again - and this time, the Magic Knight of Wind is at enough of a distance to cut loose.
So is her mood. Karehaan has done nothing to get on her good side, and the monster he conjured from the Gardening Club's painstaking work with the trellis has been ridiculously tenacious; even cut into pieces, the pieces keep fighting, sometimes weaving back together ... she's had enough. Not in the sense that would drive her to give up, though - quite the contrary, her determination not to let the bad guy or his monster win is simply burning bright in the back of her mind and her heart. Even as the tendrils strive to tighten around her, to crush the breath from her lungs, she clenches her fists and reaches deep inside of herself. "Pretty Cures ... I may not know all of you - but I know that we fight together - to protect this world and others! You have my full support ... and I shall fight your enemies ,,, as though they were my own!"
Despite her pain and the pressure on her lungs, she raises her voice - and she has to, to be sure she's heard over the rustling of leaves around her, leaves stirred up by the winds she's conjuring towards her next attack. She can't muster quite as much as she wants to - but she's managed with less, and she knows she has to keep this tight.
"EMERALD ... CYCLONE!!"
And she does so, gathering the force of the tempest and channeling the storm winds ahead of her, a rending gale racing up the Uzaina's roots to strip its branches *bare*.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Fuu Hououji has used Emerald Cyclone: Focused on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Bloom [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
"We promised them!" Saki yells, supporting Egret in response to Karehaan. "To protect the Land of Fountains and the Fountain of the Sun! So no matter what you throw at us, we absolutely won't give up!"
This is quickly put to the test when Egret gets hurled straight at Bloom, the force of it enough to overwhelm both of their protections and send them tumbling in a pile of limbs. They land separated, barely, Bloom dizy and Egret roughed up. Still, as Bloom staggers tiredly to her feet, a voice rises out of her pouch. "Bloom! I think it's time to finish it!"
She looks down briefly, then over to Egret, her eyes setting. "Yeah," she says, and reaches out for Egret's hand. She squeezes, gloves tightening audibly against each other as their hands join.
Hands clasped, Cure Bloom and Cure Egret stand facing the Uzaina. Their eyes close, however, as they do. Both hold hands into the air. "O Spirits of the earth..." The brief, spectral image of a field of sunflowers shoots out behind them, then a wave of golden particles of light rising upward. It's joined by a wave of silver-blue specks of light, falling down from a spectral cloudbank that appears over their heads. "O Spirits of the sky..."
The light swings and swirls around them in streams, whipping to and fro, until the golden streams of light rise together around Cure Bloom's hand and the silver around Cure Egret's. A brilliant flash emanates outward, bright and shining, as both pairs of eyes open.
"Now, together with Pretty Cure..."
"Release the power of miracles!"
The two girls clasp their hands together, holding them out behind them, as if to anchor them. Then, they put their other hands together as fists, two heart emblems on their gloves pointed outward, before they pull their hands back. They swirl them together, drawing a spiral of golden and silver sparkles, and then release their hands.
"Pretty Cure..."
Both thrust their hands out, moving as one, and the gathered energies seem to solidify as pools of water before rushing out in two huge torrents, white and golden sacred streams firing off their out stretched hands, as they cry out.
"Twin Stream..."
The streams of purifying water swirl together, not initially striking the Uzaina, but swirling around it instead. Then, they spin inward, connecting on the center of its mass, before they explode outward in a brilliant flash of light -- and a shower of white-tinged blue and gold-tinged red sparks!
"SPLASH!"
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
More vines, and this time the Fire Knight tries to get out of the way, but she doesn't quite make it in time. She trips and falls to the ground, letting out an oomph before the vines wrap around her again. Only this time, the Fire Knight refuses to go down that easily. She struggles and expands before she finally manages to let herself go limp and break free, apparently getting free quicker than the vines realize. She jumps back and grabs her sword before looking towards her friend, the Wind Knight, who seems to be interested in finishing the fight, and the Fire Knight feels the same way. "This fight must end sometime, and I think it should end now!" She raises her sword towards the sky.
"The flames shall burn those who oppose us!" She yells out, a large flaming apparition appearing over her head. "I'll burn you like I have many other creatures which have threatened the wellbeing of my friends, my family, and the other people! I will make you pay!" Then the flaming apparition grows bigger until it resembles a large object, like a sword perhaps. "Sword of Flame!" The Fire Knight calls out before swinging her sword, sending forth the flaming sword apparition at the enemy. Hopefully this should help do the trick and end the ballgame once and for all!
COMBAT: FINISHER! Hikaru Shidou has used Sword of Flame on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Hikaru Shidou's Finisher, Sword of Flame, taking 78 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Fuu Hououji's Finisher, Emerald Cyclone: Focused, taking 28 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Lancelot's Bladefury, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Lancelot is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Cure Pine's Finisher, Leap of Faith, taking 27 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Cure Passion's Finisher, Fresh Moment, taking 74 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Cure Fortune's Fortune Comet Shimmering, taking 17 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Cure Egret and Cure Bloom have used Pretty Cure Twin Stream Splash on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Cure Egret has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cure Bloom has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Cure Egret and Cure Bloom's Finisher, Combo: Pretty Cure Twin Stream Splash, taking 202 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: Cure Egret is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPc2aRepnMU
Karehaan stays well out of the way of the death coming to his Uzaina; he's not indifferent to it, but nor is he indifferent to his own survival. There's definitely no room down there for him, anyway, not with the area around the monster being thick beyond belief with Lancelot's sword strikes and Cure Passion's punches and kicks -- until Cure Pine's single punch impacts, the shockwave radiating out through the trashed theater, and creating a moment of silence.
Wind and fire fill the void from either side, and from the heavens above comes a violet comet -- be it wrath or justice or resignation or all of these things, Fuu and Hikaru and Cure Fortune triply visit destruction upon the Uzainaa, and what is left, afterwards, is a smouldering mess of branches and vines.
And yet it remains -- and with it, the terrible destruction of the Juuban auditorium, with the shattered ceiling, the splintered seats. The torn screen.
It must be the seventh inning stretch by now.
Rushing into this comes Egret's words, her blame; Bloom's promise. And, together, their shared feelings, which stream and splash in parallel, glorious blue and yellow, silver and gold. It pours over everything in a tide of light and love, a miracle released by spirits and girls acting in resonant harmony.
When the light fades, the Uzaina is just a trellis of a mascot; the seats are back, the mess cleared, the ceiling in tact. Organ music is starting to pump through the screen, a siren call for the mass of students waiting outside to return.
And Karehaan has faded downwards, into view, on the ceiling. He wants the last word, even if he won't have the Fountain of the Sun, not today. "You are the one who forces my hand; your promise to these little spirits may not be as strong as those you endanger with it. I won't forget, this, Pr--"
The music cues more loudly, and many students proudly begin to sing:
"Dashing swiftly through the wind blowin' from Rokko / like the big sun soaring in the clear blue sky / mighty spirit of the youth shows the victor's grace / the name that shines in glory: HANSHIN TIGERS!"
Even Karehaan can't stand against that. He vanishes without another word.
The score is now 6-6. The rest of the game is still to come. And like a spark on an oil puddle, the party explodes into full energy once again as the whole room, not just the orange half, joins into the song.
"OH! OH! OH! OH! HANSHIN TIGERS! HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY! Powerful hits and skillful pitch achieved a thousand times / Trained with every discipline here at Koshien / Crowned with constant glorious victory, a matchless feat / Always proud, invincible HANSHIN TIGERS! HOORAY! HOORAY! HOORAY!"
