1403/The Final Mermaid Rescue

The Final Mermaid Rescue
Date of Scene:	01 April 2024
Location:	Palace of the Panthalassa
Synopsis:	Caren, aka Purple Pearl Voice, and Sunbreaker meet while both are on the way to free Noel. Things start out tense, but the two of them eventually cooperate. Happens after Scene 1395: Voice in the Dark
Thanks to:	Hinoiri for making it possible
Cast of Characters:	Coco Kiumi, Hinoiri Kirara
Tinyplot:	Usagi's Abyssal Nightmare

---

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The group of mahous that had set out to break through all the hurdles to Gaito's throne room hadn't been as unobserved as they thought. Because there was actually someone else who was trying to enter Gaito's castle, yet did not have the luck to have been given the Sealing Key. That someone had kept herself out of sight when Coco used the Sealing Key to force the impenetrable gates to open.

That someone had taken a different direction after the Black Beauty Sisters teleported away following their defeat and there she was in the room holding the despicable tanks meant to hold them captive. "Noel...", the mermaid princess of the Antarctic says in frigid anger when she sees her twin inside there motionless, in that magical coma. "Purple Pearl Voice! Don't worry, Noel, I will get you out and then we can take your pearl back."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Not to mention there was somebody... else... here. Who wasn't supposed to be here.

Sunbreaker.

The Dark Unicorn of Obsidian's Eclipse zones was walking through the halls of Gaito's palace, a smirk on her face. She... had to give it to them. She'd seen the people of Obsidian do some really silly things...

But just LEAVING a magical relic, like the pearl, out? HA! The moment she'd realized that the key was being used... welllll...

They'd finally made their move on Moon's nightmares. So now it was time for her to enact her plan.

She had come incredibly, terribly, awfully close to not doing this. Considering her... recent... encounter with Beryl? The idea of turning on another one of the executives and risking being found out... terrified her. She'd almost not done it...

But then she'd remembered how it felt to be trapped. To be confined. To be held prisoner. And while she'd paced a lot for it, she'd made her move.

Sure, she'd been slow about it, making sure all of Gaito's soldiers were focused on the sparkles before she tried, but, wellllll...

Now she had Noel's pearl. So all she had to do was head to the sealing room and--

And then she stepped in through the door.

And saw Purple Pearl Voice.

And just froze. Noel's pearl held in her hand. "Uhhhhhh..." CRAP IT WAS SARA, SHE WAS SO BUCKED! Wait, was this Sara? She'd... never seen Sara's henshin form. "S-Sara?" she asked, gulping.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Caren was about to start singing when she hears Sara's name, and thinking that unknown bystander is calling Sara on her, she turns around, ready to put up a fierce fight against that traitorous princess. Only to find that interloper is instead looking at her with concern. Is she really being mistaken for Sara!?

"Do I look anything like an orange mermaid?" she says with very little patience before her eyes fall on something much more important than this case of mistaken identity: the indigo pearl in Sunbreaker's hand. "What are you doing with my sister's pearl!?", Caren exclaims, her first instinct to assume this is a new water demon. After all everyone of Coco's menagerie was accounted for, and they didn't look anything like her anyway.

As a result, she immediately assumes the worst and she runs over to Sunbreaker, the E-Pitch microphone on a trajectory towards the fire-haired girl's head while Caren's free hand tries to grab the pearl out of the unicorn's hand.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker stared at the girl. Well... possibly? After all, the veil kind of made it so everyone looked alike. So it was really hard for her to say, one way or another, if the girl looked like any kind of mermaid. Even if she wasn't orange.

"Wait, your sister?" she asked.

Bit by bit an idea began to form. Slowly, a smile formed on her mouth.

But, frankly, she shouldn't have spent so much time plotting and patting herself on the back. Because she was distracted and bonk. Sunbreaker yelped and stumbled backwards, holding her face and pulling the pearl up, over her head! "GAH! Ow! Hey! Knock it off! I'm here to HELP YOU!" she snapped, clutching her nose with her free hand, looking up at the other girl and--

OH CRUD THIS GIRL WAS A FIGHTY ONE! SHOOT SHOOT TOO USED TO YELLOW PEARL! She yelped and scrambled away as quickly as she could, barely avoiding getting snagged and trying to pivot so one of the prisons were between her and the other girl. "If you'll just listen for a second! You're here to get the mermaid out of here, aren't you? Are you part of that other group attacking right now?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Yes, my sister, my twin!", she snorts haughtily. "Gaito isn't really doing that good a job if he doesn't even tell you anything about who you are facing. How new are you at this, anyway? You look rather good for someone who has been around Eril", she analyses her appearance like one would trying to determine if a mushroom is poisonous.

Caren raises an eyebrow when she hears Sunbreaker say she is on her side. "Keeping Noel's pearl away from me is a funny way to to prove that. But fine, you have a little bit to convince me on why I should hear you out", she says, the Live Stage appearing around her, ready to bring this to a fight if she doesn't get a good explanation as to why she is keeping Noel's pearl to herself.

"I am not part of Coco's group. I just snuck in behind them to get her out of there. They really aren't thinking this through if they think they can defeat Gaito. Once Noel is free, the two of us are out of here. Unless Coco gets herself caught again, then I will think of a way to get her out of there."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker let out a sigh of relief when the other girl explained her own plans.

And then she, slowly, smiled. She glanced around... Four glass containers, each one to hold a mermaid. One broken.

She lifted a hand to her chin, thinking. "I've done some work for Gaito, but... these?" she said, pointing towards the fishbowls as she so often called them. "I find them... offensive. Putting someone in an eternal sleep like this, making them drift through their life? I... well. Not a fan."

... Especially after what she'd been through.

"So... if you're not a part of their group, that means when you leave you won't come in contact with them? So... how about this. I'll make you a deal. I'll help you shatter all five of these little glass prisons and even give you back your twins pearl."

"In return, you take all the credit. I'm... only on Gaito's side in the most technical sense, our goals don't align at all. But, if he knew I'd helped you free that girl, it'd cause me a lot of trouble."

She sloooooowly slid out from behind the glass case and held her hand out, palm up, the pearl offered.

"But I do mean it. You take *all* the credit. Gaito never knows I was here, neither does Coco. As far as anyone else knows? You came in, broke these things yourself and found the pearl on a table in one of the rooms." Pause. "And I'm serious about that. Gaito must be distracted by this attack, because it was just left out in the open and everything."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
That does surprise Caren, especially since the other girl doesn't look like she is lying. The last thing she thought she would have met in Gaito's palace is someone who isn't heartless enough to just gloss over the barbarity of that method. The arm with the E-Pitch gets slightly lower even if it doesn't do so all the way, while Caren is clearly considering Sunbreaker's proposal.

The thing is while what Sunbreaker says absolutely makes sense, it's also a bit too good to be true and Sunbreaker's side of the deal, while understandable, favours Caren too, since it literally only gives a lot less to explain too. And besides, she does want to get Noel back, so if she gets someone else to aid her on this, all the better. It has been far too long since she last could talk with her.

And the pearl being offered back to her does destroy the last shred of doubt she was having. "Ok, sure, I accept your deal. You have never been here, and in return you can help me", Caren says, even if she is only interested in the tank holding her sister, getting the pearl from Sunbreaker. Turning to look at the orderly line, she starts singing, a line of ice stalagmites erupting from in front of her and rushing forward towards the tanks.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker lets out a sigh of relief when the offer is taken. She gives a small smile and nods. "Good."

Admittedly... there were pieces of this that Sunbreaker wasn't mentioning. Namely that she had originally intended to break the prisons and then leave. She might have even kept the pearl. You never know, it might have been useful. But... giving the pearl up and making sure there would be no consequences to her?

Oh yes, that was a fair trade to her. Slowly she grinned and gave a light hum before she began to sing along.

Using her own magic to amplify the other girl's icy assault, amplifying their power and amount.

After all, it did her a lot of good to just let Caren do all the destruction. And magical singing, at least, was something she of all people knew how to amplify.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Suffice to say Caren wasn't expecting her own magic to be amplified. She figured Sunbreaker was going to use some sort of destructive attack akin to hers, and their combination would have made short work of the tanks. Not to mention she was still getting used to these powers after they had inexplicably shown up out of nowhere.

It takes Noel starting to slowly float down towards the glass fragments to snap the purple mermaid out of her stupor at the bigger impact that came out of her song, rushing to her twin and holding her in time between her arms. "Noel, wake up, Noel", Caren exclaims at the indigo mermaid when she begins to move. "Caren...?", she groggily asks as she opens her eyes.

"Yes, it's me, Noel!", the other girl confirms, squeezing her in a tight hug, and starting to have tears of joy come out of her eyes. "We are finally together!"

She have practically completely forgotten about Sunbreaker with this long awaited family reunion.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker let out a soft sigh of relief. They'd done it. All the tanks were broken and now? Now they'd get out of here and...

She gave a small nod, before erupting in a flurry of flames. Leaving the two to their reunion. She hoped that they'd be able to get out of here on their own...

More importantly, though, she hoped that Caren would keep her promise... and nobody would ever know she was here.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
It's not long after that the two of them undo their hug and Noel starts looking around. "You destroyed them all", she states, the previously orderly room now a complete mess with glass shards all over the floor.

"Yes, let's see what Gaito has to say now about capturing us", Caren smiles smugly before giving Noel her Pearl with a gentler expression. "Take it back, I found it not too far from here."

"Thanks, Caren", the indigo mermaid smiles, the shell locket now housing it once more. "We should get out now, right?" With a nod, the Antarctic princess confirms, reverting to her mermaid form. "Yes, who knows how long it is before the Dark Lovers or those Sisters find us."

She doesn't mention anything about the group seeking to challenge Gaito. Why would she? To get Noel involved in a hopeless fight? No, it's better to leave them to it and try another day.