1984/Lessons in Falconry and Magic
From Radiant Heart MUSH
Lessons in Falconry and Magic | |
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Date of Scene: | 04 October 2024 |
Location: | Pikarigaoka's Falconry School |
Synopsis: | Sensing the happiness she so disdains, Hosshiwa attacks Pikarigaoka's Falconry School and turns one of the falconers into her Terribad! Hope Blossom, Equivalence, Puella Red and Sayaka come and reproach her about it, and thanks to the Love Crystal she got from Blue, the bluenette can transform again, into Cure Sharpsong! |
Cast of Characters: | Sayaka Miki, Madoka Kaname, Hinoiri Kirara, Amanda Faust |
- Sayaka Miki has posed:
It is a good day at Pikarigaoka's Falconry School and out in its training fields, beyond the years' worth of training are showing their fruits, proof of the bond and trust between many a falconers and their birds of prey.
The air is filled with the cries of many a falconer calling after their hawks and falcons, making the birds plow down fly down frown the sky at speed before landing onto their trainers' outscretched arms and being promptly rewarded with treats and pets before being left to fly free again. Some trainers make use of decoy preys, others trust in birds' responses to their past training.
One of the latter group, a man in his sixtes, whistles to the sky and a falcon lands perfectly onto his glove, the training gently ruffling the bird's head. "Sweet job, Astrid", he speaks warmly, an enthusiastic glow in his eyes. The falcon gently presses her head against his hand in response, squawking.
"Doesn't that look nice?", Ula asks, turning her gaze from the scene beyond the fence towards Sayaka. The bluenette nods, speaking in agreement. "Yeah, they are well coordinated." She takes a bite out of the baked sweet potato she had bought to warm herself up a little in the autumn air during her walk.
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Brai and Tia are hovering nearby, each being drawn to the falconry training for their own reasons. A tiny tea table is balanced over the fence between them, and they each have small teacups that they sip from as they watch the proceedings. Madoka isn't here yet, but she's close enough to show up in a hurry if needed.
"I wonder if we could convince our Bearer to learn this," muses Tia.
Brai sips before responding, "Why? So we could get another sister?"
The fancy fairy scoffs. "Hardly! Though I think you and I would be enough to cover an interest like this, yes?"
The competence Chara taps her chin with her free hand before saying, "So... how would that work? Would one of us play the falcon?"
Tia nearly spits out her tea before objecting. "Inconceivable! Forget I even brought this up."
The two fairies grow silent for a moment, though Brai has an amused smile on her face while Tia silently fumes.
- Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was totally, maybe, not at all (definitely not) jealous of the sparkles with mascots.
Nope.
Not at all.
Definitely not. That'd be ridiculous. I mean, sure, she'd given up her powers and whatnot and now had a kind of... DIY henshin device she'd cobbled together out of magical stuff she'd found, but it was fine, this was fine. Toooootally fine.
And so what if most of the magical people she knew had some kind of animal or magical companion of sorts? Daifuku had her hammer-razor cat, Fate had Arf, Sayaka had Ula, Madoka had her charas, Coco had her otters, Usagi... Usagi had a cat.
And she had, at one point, her familiar. It was...
... Actually it abandoned her.
... So she definitely wasn't jealous or feeling mascot-envy. That'd be ridiculous. And why would she get a pet? Pets were like. Furry. And needed petting all the time. And got hair everywhere. Nope. She needed nothing like that in her life.
Yet, for some reason, she'd felt the desire to come and check out the falconers and had brought a notebook. If anyone asked, she'd claim it was research. After all, people formed magical bonds via singing, right? And had mascots, so perhaps there was some magic to be found in birds like this.
... Totally NOT mascot-envy.
So she was sitting off to the side, drawing in her notebook, occasionally glancing up at the birds and the students, making little diagrams and charts and displays of the different moves the birds performed.
- Sayaka Miki has posed:
Above the school's building, Hosshiwa has been watching the same scene with clear distaste on her face. "What sweet job, that's just an advanced parlor trick", she smiles with superiority. "Such idiots. My snacks are the only sweet things I need. The happiness of others, that's something I can't stand! I, Hosshiwa, will destroy them all!"
She elegantly jumps down from the roof, almost as if gliding in the air. "Let the future reflected in the mirror turn terrible!", the general in pink screams, a coffin mirror forming to trap the man and Astrid.
"Welcome, Terribad!" she twirls around, the mirror releasing a pink light that gives shape to the youma, a Terribad with a falconer's getup and an avian face, the characteristic red glasses covering its eyes while a pink scarf flows from its neck. A pair of brown wings extend large from its back.
The falcon-youma immediately starts swinging its arms, sweets piling up everywhere, turning the training ground into a wonderland of gigantic delicacies as people start panicking and trying to recall their birds, even amidst the Kindabads that have been summoned too chasing after them.
"Good job, my Kindabads, spare no one, hahahaha", Hosshiwa looks at the situation with glee, having a setup just like that of Brai and Ren, sipping her tea from a cup without a care in the world while the table she is sitting in front of is chock full of sweets. She has not noticed the two Chara Guardians, nor Hinoiri or Sayaka.
"Her again", Sayaka snorts, glancing down at her back then moving around as she looks for an entrance. Not enough luck to have the Love Crystal start reacting now, she sighs. "Do you see a entrance, Ula?" Sayaka asks the fairy.
"It seems to be on the opposite side from us", the koi mermaid replies, pointing at it. "Nothing else to do then", Sayaka tosses the sweet potato into a nearby bin and grabs onto the fence and starting to climb it slowly. She can't just stand there watching, after all. "Be careful, Sayaka", Ula says concerned, floating up next to her.
- Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara glanced up from her drawing, held up the pencil, then went back to the drawing. Glance up, hold up pencil, draw. Down. Up. Down. Then, when she looks up, a terribad. "Oh for Sora's sake..." Hinoiri muttered.
Only for the kindabads to come out a few moments later. And the sweets... "HOSSHIWA! SERIOUSLY? BIRDS?" she yelled at the dark general. One of the kindabads charge at her and she... just... glares. "I am *not* running from a kindabad. Don't think I won't stab you with my pencil," she warned, before shaking her head and flipping the page on her notebook. "Oh, buck it. Hosshiwa, hold that pose."
And then she just started to draw Hosshiwa. Why? Because some magical who'sits would arrive soon enough, then she could try and sneak off. In the meantime, she'd just continue as she was. Even drawing some of the kindabads...
... She may regret this in the end, though. Which would win out? Hosshiwa's vanity at being drawn, or Hosshiwa's desire to destroy and ruin the days of everyone she meets?
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Brai and Tia watch in horror as an evil pink villainess starts putting one of the falconers, and their falcon, in a mirror. Tia suddenly starts tugging on Brai's sleeve saying, "Call her. Call her!"
Brai has her tiny smartphone out and has put the teacup down, saying, "Already on it. Hello. Doka-chan? An evil pink lady is turning the place into sweets." As she starts relating relevant data to Madoka, Tia notices Sayaka jump the fence.
"Are you really going to fight right now? Be careful!" she warns, knowing full well that she can't really stop someone as determined as Saya.
A few moments later, Madoka can be seen running breathlessly to where her Chara and the others are gathered, trailing a bit further behind than everyone else. "I'm here! Tia, henshin with me!"
The fancy fairy races to meet her Bearer half way, and with a shout of, "My Heart: UNLOCK!" Madoka becomes Hope Blossom and leaps over the fence; wavey hair, pink parasol and all.
Brai, meanwhile, peeks over Hinoiri's shoulder and says, "Well... no one can say you aren't brave."
- Amanda Faust has posed:
"We have a falconry school right here in Tokyo? Really?" Amy asks as they pass by it on their walk.
And then there's a falcon terribad dropping sweets everywhere, because of course there is.
Amy arrives right with Madoka, less breathless because she could transform first. She starts to aim her launcher at the terribad... but she spots Sayaka climbing the fence, and there's a kindabad charging Hinoiri, and she turns in alarm, suddenly holding a gyrojet pistol to shoot it, but hesitating.
Everyone knows that if the wizard is just standing there, they've got something up their sleeve. Hinoiri knows things about magic. "Uhhh... So, do either of you have weapons training? I can summon..." Amy shakes her head, "No, that's probably a bad idea..."
She will shoot the kindabad if it emerges that Hinoiri didn't have some sort of magical defense up and just assumed they'd take care of it, though!
- Sayaka Miki has posed:
Being addressed at by Tia, Sayaka nods at her while she continues her climb. "I am always careful", affirmation that earns her a side eye from Ula.
Hope Blossom's arrival earns her a look between the annoyed and imterested. Why do these magical girls always have to ruin her tea parties? She might consider letting them join in if they begged her to. However, she feels flattered when she notices Madoka's pink getup and pink parasol. Clearly she is an admirer.
"I like your style, you certainly know who to copy from", Hosshiwa smiles at her. "Come over here, I am inviting you to my tea party. How many teaspoons of sugar?"
Amy is very much not regarded as an admirer however, especially with her shooting the Kindabad advancing on Hinoiri. Hosshiwa gives her a nasty glare and points her umbrella at a group of Kindabads. "You over there, take that rude magical girl out", she says, at the group immediately complies, running all around Red.
Hosshiwa stares confused at Hinoiri as she is asked to stand still to be drawn. That's the first time she has been asked that and the desire to create further chaos and let her be drawn fight inside her. "You can draw me, makes sure you catch my good side", Hosshiwa asserts at Hinoiri.
If you would ask her now however, she would reply that a noble lady such as her doesn't have to settle for a simple option. "Terribad, make things harder for those birds", the dark general orders, pointing her umbrella at the youma.
"Terribad!" it screams, immediately flapping its large winds creating wind currents that send the avian creatures in disarray. Despite the tumultuous wind currents, one hawk is getting really close to return to her owner, as confused as she is by the current situation, moving in circles above her owner, who has her arms desperately stretched upwards.
Perhaps it is a lucky break, but the bird finds a slightly less harsh air current, managing to fly low enough for the owner to jump up at her and catch the hawk in her arms. "You are all right, Nova", the woman smiles, cradling her attentively in her arms, her eyes filled with relief.
Her relief is short lived as a swarm of Kindabads set upon her, screaming their names in a way that seem to be taunting the woman. "Stay away!", she asserts fearfully stepping back, her back soon meeting the fence.
The smaller youmas just point and laugh, clearly enjoying the look of fear the falconer has on her face. "Didn't you hear her? Stay away from her!" Sayaka jumps down just then, grabbing a giant candy cane and placing herself in between the Kindabads and the woman.
The clamor attracts Hosshiwa's attention, who looks and recognises Sayaka, a smirk appearing on her face. "That powerless girl from last time. What are you going to do now? There are no fire estinguishers to gas me with, and I will let no magical girl save you from me this time. You and that woman are done for", she snaps her fingers.
The Kindabads resume their advance at command, moving ever closer to the still stationary bluenette. "You won't touch her", she stubbornly declares. Responding to her grit, her bag starts glowing pink, the Love Crystal floating out of it, becoming pure energy, larger and splitting into a Pretty Change Mirror and three PreCards.
"Sayaka, the Crystal...!", Ula shouts with joy. "Let's do it for real then!" Sayaka exclaims with a wide grin at that realisation, grabbing extending the arm holding the Pretty Change Mirror in front of herself, surrounded by an expanse of infinite blue water.
Radiating yellow, green and blue light, the mirror says "Time to change!", opening to reveal Sayaka's face at the same time as the apparition of a pink silhouette looking like Madoka at the bluenette's side, one that Sayaka doesn't hesitate to high-five as if her appearance was expected.
- Sayaka Miki has posed:
Watery musical notes are released from the mirror and formless azure energy replaces her clothes. Sayaka's hair starts glowing, becoming much longer and reaching down to her hips, while she inserts the three PreCards overlaying each other into the mirror.
"Pretty Cure Spinny Mirror Change!", Sayaka declares, words flying out of her mouth by themselves. Pressing the button under the mirror, the form of Cure Sharpsong appears in its heart window while multicolour energy runs across the border and the whole shape glows blue.
A white apron cape appears on Sayaka and blue hearts, flow out of the mirror. The bluenette extends her arms forward as a few attach themselves to them forming gloves, while others form shoes, thigh high socks and Sayaka's own fortissimo hairpin on the left side of her hair.
Bouncing on a blue heart, she removes the apron cape and dons it as an actual cape, revealing the rest of her uniform underneath and then she spins around, the golden heart on her front gleaming while a blue butterfly attaches itself to her back and becomes a white ribbon.
Securing the Pretty Change Mirror on the left side of her skirt, a pink and white bag surrounds it suddenly and she grabs a blue heart above her, pushing into right wrist, giving it the shape of the Love PreBrace.
Jumping back, water splashes outwards all around Sayaka. "The melody of justice that rises from the sea depths", Sayaka says, the blue shape of an armored mermaid wearing a wide heart-shaped collar appearing in front of her before the figure dives into the bluenette and releases bubbles all around her. "Cure Sharpsong!"
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Hope Blossom gives Hosshiwa a confused wide eyed stare as she looks at the villainess, then down at herself, before making a confused, "Eheh..." noise.
Oh geeze. The villainess thinks she's a fan? Tia's parasol probably isn't helping matters, either. How does she break the news to this lady? While she's wringing her hands and trying to figure that out, the pink dark general makes a threat at Sayaka and suddenly Hope is furious. "Hey! Don't you dare threaten my friend!"
Madoka's parasol turns into a branch bow and she draws back a pink energy bolt, but before she can fire she notices the magic that Sayaka's determination is activating.
Her face goes from concerned to happy as she watches Sayaka's new henshin sequence. The pink figure's high five actually makes her giggle. As her friend's new henshin forms around her, a thought crosses Hope Blossom's mind.
This happened because of your power.
Suddenly in a moment her mind flashes back to all of the timelines where things went wrong for Sayaka. All the times she hurt and cried, when she pushed people away no matter how much they wanted to help, and even those times where she fell into darkness. Watching the appearance of Cure Sharpsong feels like a completion of a cycle, and while this moment is very much a victory for Sayaka first and foremost, Madoka can't help but think that this moment is going to change the way she sees herself and her place in the world.
Not that she has time to really follow that train of thought for very long. There are Kindabads and Terribads to fight, and Hope Blossom isn't going to let them have their way.
Hope Blossom fires her arrows into the air, and they split and fall down all over the battlefield, seeking out the Kindabads to harry and harm them as much as possible. "If you want to hurt these people, you'll have to go through us!"
- Amanda Faust has posed:
"Uhh, Hinoiri?" Amy warns as the kindabad approaches her, then shoots it when it's almost reached her friend. "What were you doing???"
The kindabads try to surround her, but she's already shot a few while they're getting into position.
"Wait, why do you care about separating pets from their owners? Are you collecting energy from anxious pets, now?" At least it seems she doesn't have to worry about Hinoiri after all...
And then another voice draws her attention and she looks in alarm. "SAYAKA!"
Amy's distraction allows the kindabads to tackle her, she shoots one but is struggling with them for a moment as.
Sayaka... transforms?
"Yeeeeeah! GO SHARPSONG!" Amy cheers, as she makes short work of the kindabads hanging onto her, small holes getting blown through them before they fade into smoke!
- Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara glanced to Brai and sighed. "I'm not running from a *kindabad*. They're like the drunk puppies of minions. I may not have any magic but even I haven't fallen *that* low." Besides, Hosshiwa seemed okay with it. And, sure enough... "Wait, does that mean Ma-- Hope Blossom is on the way?"
Sure enough, the pink mahou was! More to the point, Amy was here to cover for her. So why did she need to--
And then... Sayaka. Her eyes went wide and she felt her heart hammer. What in the world was Sayaka doing? Oh, for buck's sake! RIGHT! She wasn't a puella anymore, she couldn't-- "Go get your bearer," she snapped at Brai, lightly pushing the chara off. "I'm going to get out of everyone's way, make sure she doesn't get hurt," Hinoiri said, before closing up her notebook and taking a step back. As much as she WANTED to leap out and save Sayaka...
She couldn't. Not like this. If Obsidian knew she had powers... so the best she could do was get out of the way so the sparkles could protect her.
And then... then Sayaka was chosen. Hinoiri stopped, mid stride, and turned. And...
And Sayaka was a magical girl again. No, not just again. She was... She was a real magical girl. Not one of Kyubey's sick little...
... And it was, perhaps, either a sign of Hinoiri's growth, or the strong friendship she had with Sayaka... that she wasn't jealous or anything. She was just proud. Her best friend... had a henshin. Had magic. REAL magic. She turned and ran off, leaving the sparkles to deal with things.
Of course, the fact that Equivalence arrives a few minutes later is totally unreleated. "Huh. It looks like there's a new one of you today. Cure Sharpsong, was it? I'm Equivalence," Equivalence said as if she totally didn't know exactly who Sharpsong was. "Hosshiwa! You know... messing with birds like this is beneath you. They're quite smart, a lot smarter than your minions!"
She then started kicking the air, launching blasts of gray magic out from her shoes and launching them at the kindabads!
... And one that went off coarse to try and hit Hosshiwa's table of sweets. Yes, she was that petty.
- Sayaka Miki has posed:
The Kindabads in front of her are punched away before she can even realise it, the cape swaying alongside her newly long hair. "Are you all right, Say... Sharpsong?", Ula floats closer while the bluenette stares at her hands. "Yeah, this is a bit freaky. It's just like I was going on autopilot then", Sayaka replies confused. That was a bit disorientating.
But she doesn't have time to dwell on it now, as Hope Blossom's proclamation shakes her out of her confusion. "You will hurt nobody. Today, or any other day!", Cure Sharpsong asserts in agreement with her friend.
"Another Precure? Are you for real?" Hosshiwa frowns, now sounding definitely annoyed. Had she been just a bit faster, she could have avoided this one coming to be and report a resounding success to Queen Mirage. Now they are back to the usual fight.
"Silly girl", Hosshiwa smiles at Amy. "Happiness, joy, glee... Looking at people having the time of their life makes me want to puke. I, Hosshiwa, will spread sorrow and misfortune everywhere in the name of Queen Mirage and her Phantom Empire!"
"Terribad, show these magical girls what you got!" the dark general orders. "She is your friend, then?", Hosshiwa turns to Madoka. "I will be sure to put her mirror next to yours. Not that you will be able to notice", she smiles cruelly. "You should have stuck to being a fan", she adds after a pause, sounding disappointed for the scenario she had imagined from the ground up.
Sayaka prepares for the Hosshiwa's offense, obviously not agreeing with any of her plans for their future when there is a magical girl she hadn't met before. "Hi, Equivalence. This is kinda a return to form, but I am glad to be back in! Nice to team up with you!"
As Kindabads are being flung everywhere, the Terribad finally starts moving, beginning the fight in earnest. His wings fling three air blades at Madoka, while Equivalence gets several poles of dark energy thrown at her, each of them having a large and curvy top. Its beak then starts glowing with energy, a beam of red light being directed at Puella Red.
The Terribad then moves closer at Cure Sharpsong, delivering a giant punch that throws her back and gives her several bruises in the process.
Thrown against the fence, the new Pretty Cure groans while she pushes herself up, just before feeling the aches disappear and her healing power kicking in, causing a grin on her face. Good to know she still has that! Immediately after, she rushes at the Terribad, giving it a strong punch that pushes it back a while.
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Brai gets shoved aside by Hinoiri, which she honestly thinks is pretty unnecessary considering that she wasn't (in her mind) in the way at all. "I've already called her!" she objects, flailing. "She's on the way!"
Granted, now that Hope is on the scene and Hinoiri is safely out of harm's way, Brai is sitting on the sidelines and taking notes on Madoka's fighting style. Training never stops, and there's always an opportunity to learn.
Hope Blossom, meanwhile, notices Equivalence and calls out, "Oh hey, you again. Let's do our best, okay?" Her first meeting with this particular magical was a little rough, because Madoka wasn't in the best headspace at the time, but at least they seem to be fighting on the same team more often than not.
Of course, there's no time to waste on small talk. The Terribad is launching air blades at her and she yelps as she jumps over the first one, gets narrowly grazed by the second and then launched into a wall by the third. As she's twitching like a swatted fly, Brai tsks and jots something down. They'll have to train for that later.
Wincing and gritting her teeth, Hope peels herself off of the wall, dusts off her shoulders, and looks back at the crater she made. "Oops..." she says, before turning her attention back to the Terribad. "Well... you had every chance to back off."
Madoka leaps forward, firing a spread of arrows that surround the Terribad and explode into thick sparkly dust. She follows this up by turning her bow back into a parasol and charging at the youma, landing with one foot on a Kindabad's head before launching herself forward. She thrusts her parasol forward as she lunches at the Terribad, as her magical umbrella glows with pink piercing magic.
The item by itself would be little more than a costume piece on its own, but the magic she's using to enhance it is the same magic she makes arrows with.
- Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small, curt nod. "Well, welcome back then. Happy to have you with us."
Eeeee! Sayaka was BACK! And so she didn't have to burn herself out anymore! At least she knew enough about the Pretty Cure girls to know they wouldn't end up burning her out like a candle dropped into a cauldron!
Only for Equivalence's thoughts to be thrown off when poles of energy hit her! She holds up her arms in an X over her chest, skidding back as the blows knock her back, however they aren't enough to stop her... even if they do kind of hurt. She gave a hmph.
Then saw Sayaka get punched. OH! OH NOW IT WAS PERSONAL!
She was totally cool with Madoka getting stabbed, though. Girl slapped like a salmon, she could take it.
"Hey, bird brain!" Equivalence yelled before leaping into the air, lifting her foot up! "I'm going to knock the stuffing out of you!" she yelled, before trying to bring her foot down in a resounding axe kick on the youma's head!
- Amanda Faust has posed:
While Amy was distracted by Sharpsong and the Kindabads, Hinoiri got out of here and Equivalence showed up. Handy!
"Congratulations!" Amy sheers for Sharpsong, and then turns to Hosshiwa and the Terribad. "Then get ready to feel nauseous, because I'm having a pretty good time kicking your ass!"
The Terribad is ordered to attack. A glowing light in its beak, it turns its head--
And Amy's right there, braced, with her usual recoilless rifle on her shoulder. "That's iiit... Loook riiight into the camera and say--"
BEAM *KA-BOOM!*
Amy fires just as it opens its mouth and tries to dive out of the way of the beam, getting her hair and cloak singed! "GAAH! I'm okay." She's landed prone and is suddenly very grateful 1. to be fighting on grass and 2. for her costume design, which does a fair bit to make that less painful even if she'd hit pavement.
- Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Blossom!", Sayaka frowns when she notices just how hard that attack hit her, and she doesn't have regeneration like hers, too. "How are you feeling?", she almost rushes over before the fact the pinkette is firing back is both a reply she isn't badly hurt and a reminder they are still fighting.
Hosshiwa looks pretty satisfied with herself as all the attacks of her Terribads hits. Clearly, she was thinking too hard earlier. She can still have something productive to report. She just needs to show these girls who is the bird of prey here and who the... well, the prey.
Madoka's arrows fly down, and each of them feels like it delivering its own bruise to the Terribad, being pushed back a little more with each one, and then even more so when the parasol pierces right through it, pain reverberating through its whole body.
Thrown off-guard, the falcon-man youma is not ready to defend itself front Hinoiri's kick, the floor starting to crack and give way under the Terribad, a nasty disorentation filling it as a result of the wound to the head. "Terribad...?" it says uncertaintly.
Bringing its arm to its head to reel in the pain, strike of Red's rifle burns right through it, its body collapsing and crushing several of the giant food in the place. "My sweets paradise!" Hosshiwa shouts angrily.
The many attacks give Sayaka those seconds she needs to figure herself out, taking note at the Love PreBrace on her wrist. Let's try that then! "Sharpsong Accelerando!", she says, spinning the dial on her Love PreBrace. A stream of water surrounds her, and it surges towards the Terribad, bringing the bluenette with itself, letting Sayaka form a watery sword and slash it. The impact makes it crash to the ground, not even a lament coming out as it has been rendered immobile.
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Hope Blossom hears and sees Sayaka's concern and says with a thin smile, "It was a pretty solid hit but I'll be okay." She may not have her childhood friend's regeneration, but henshin armor is generally pretty solid. As long as she doesn't take too many hits like that.
The Terribad is starting to be overwhelmed, and the sweets are getting crushed in the conflict. Madoka watches Sayaka's water charge with a silent glee, her heart being made glad that her friend finally has a powerset that suits her. Then the youma is pinned down, and Hope Blossom shouts, "It's down. Let's go, everyone!"
Hope's parasol turns back into a bow and she nocks back another arrow, holding it and letting the magic charge up for a moment. Now's a good time for a finisher, but in the moment she reconsiders something. Is Cherry Blossom Blaze really the best use of her powers? Maybe for defeating a singular powerful foe, a more focused attack would be better.
Thinking up a name on the spot, Madoka shouts, "Heart Shattering Bloom!" and releases her bolt. It flies towards the Terribad and, if able to reach it, sticks to the youma for a moment before suddenly exploding. The blast is shaped in a cone aimed towards the youma, to maximize the damage dealt to the monster.
- Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence smirked down at the terribad before leaping away to land on Hosshiwa's table of sweets. She then pointed a finger at her. "Hosshiwa, you..." Then she trailed off. And sighed. "You know what? Just stop being such a jerk, okay? Like. Nobody likes you when you're like this and you really are far too vinegar, try being a little honey next time, okay? Otherwise you're just going to be an old, bitter hag who nobody likes because all your teeth rotted away from sweets, matching your heart."
She was not joining in on the big finishing attack, primarily because, well... she didn't have a purrifying attack. Also, she admittedly wanted to see what Sharpsong could do. And it was, likely, admittedly, despite what she'd want to say... likely better for Madoka and Sayaka to combo together than it was for her.
... Considering her device was cobbled together from stolen bits, it'd likely be weird for her to have a purifying attack, anyway.
- Amanda Faust has posed:
Amy gets back to her feet as the collapsing terribad flattens the giant sweets and cakes! Possibly as much as 40 of them (Amy didn't count), and that's terrible!
"Wait, were you actually going to eat all those giant sweets? Come to think of it, how'd you even make them?"
And then Sharpsong demonstrates a new finisher and Amy watches in awe and then smiles, clapping. "Water sword, nice!"
Although, Madoka follows it up, and the monster is still there... "Oh, wait, shit, that wasn't purifying? Well, I can do that too..." She looks at Hosshiwa and pointedly mimes yawning while firing a rocket into the air one-handed. It arcs down right at the youma and airbursts into several small pieces which all explode against the youma.
After a moment looks to Sharpsong and asks, with a hint of urgency, "Okay so can you do a purifying attack, though? I don't know if I've ever seen a Terribad finished off without one... What if you made a giant sword hilt that spewed out water at high pressure and swung it, like--" and she mimes swinging some ginormous sword at the youma. "WATER RISER SWORD!"
- Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Get up, Terribad, you can still fight!", Hosshiwa glares at it, the youma staggering a bit as it actually seems to have a bit of life left within herself. "No, it can't, this ends now, Hosshiwa!", Sharpsong denies her affirmation, preparing to charge her best attack.
Just as Madoka and Amy deny the youma trying to get back into the fight. The Heart Shattering Bloom surrounds it into a cone and gives it a very strong reason why it should have stayed down, feeling the strong explosion all around itself.
The small pieces the rocket has split into seems very adept at falling on all the places the Teeribad was already hit at, and it feels just that much worse. Suffice to say, he won't try to get up again.
"You are in no position to give me, Hosshiwa, lessons of etiquette!", the dark general glares at the grey magical girl. "I am a wealthy lady, and will stay beautiful and elegant forever. Certainly better than someone so grey looking", she points her umbrella at her for emphasis.
Sayaka nods at Amy, she does have something like that. "Symphony of Justice, turn into sacred power!", she says, raising her right arm and with the left spinning the dial on her wrist. "Love PreBrace!" At the callout, 10 train wheels made of water spawn into existence floating in the air.
"Pretty Cure Rondo con Toccata! Justice, return to the Heavens!" Cure Sharpsong says, all the wheels converging unto the Terribad at the same time, lingering in a circle of them dancing around the Terribad after the hits and purifying it.
"So relaaaxing", it finally says before fading away, the coffin mirror meeting the same end, freeing the man and his falcon from the prison of misfortune. "I was going to fill the whole world with sweets!" she frowns at Puella Red. "But fine, I will be on my way then! But I will be back!" Hosshiwa threatens before teleporting away. The giant sweets around the place fade and vanish, giving most of the place back its usual look.
Ula smiles at them finally achieving victory, but then she starts feeling weird, like she really has to sneeze, but can't. "Sharpsong, I feel weird, rub my nose, please!" She doesn't know why she is asking Sayaka that, but there is like a sensation of water magically flowing. She is not actually sure how to describe it.
"Ok?" Sayaka blinks perplexed, rubbing her nose and freeing the magic, making Ula sneeze loudly. For some reason, the bag in which she usually keeps her jewels releases two PreCards, and for the first and only time, a book to keep them in.
"I guess this is what Blue meant", Sayaka takes in the weird power he has granted Ula. "So odd, why sneeze?" she muses. "Sorry you will have to deal with this now", she bows her head at Ula. "Don't worry, it's really not that bad, and it is useful", the koi mermaid replies a bit embarassed.
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Madoka watches as the youma gets purified and realizes that she probably could've used her own Locket, but leaving the honors to Sayaka for her first fight as a Precure feels right somehow.
As Hoshhiwa leaves, Madoka frowns at where she was and then looks down at her own outfit. "I guess I'm not the only one running around in all pink."
Hope then looks over at Ula as the tiny mermaid feels the need to sneeze, and Sayaka helps her, which results in cards and a book? The pink heroine walks closer to get a look at it, saying, "Huh. So cards and a book?" Hope can't really help but be a bit curious about Sayaka's powerset, though a part of her is happy to see her collecting something other than Grief Seeds.
Giggling, Madoka says, "Wow, your first day as Cure Sharpsong! How does it feel, Sharp-chan?"
- Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence cocked an eye. "Nobody is beautiful and elegant forever, except on the inside. And you're far from that," Equivalence said before glancing back to the others. They'd won. Sayaka had POWERS! She was no longer HELPLESS! And... And Ula sneezed out magic... cards... now.
... Okay then. She hoped this wasn't going to lead into Sharpsong having to challenge a dark general to a card game.
Either way, they'd done it! And now? She... needed to ask Sayaka about this 'Blue' she mentioned. And Ula. But not now, not yet.
"It was great fighting alongside all of you. Sharpsong? You've got some real talent. I'm sure the two of us will be fighting together again soon. But I really need to go now. Red, Hope Blossom. It was nice fighting with you two again, for all the right reasons now."
She then turned and ran off, leaving them behind!
Once she was far away enough, she de-henshined and let out a little cheer. "Yes yes yes! She's a cure! Eeeee! Way to go Sayaka!" she said, unable to contain it. No more witches for her! YES!
- Amanda Faust has posed:
Amy watches Sayaka's new finish excitedly!
Hosshiwa, out! "Byyyyeeee~!" Amy waves, smiling!
And then... "Ula, did you just... sneeze a book??"
All pink? Amy shrugs. "We're magical girls, I'm surprised more of us aren't pink." As if to demonstrate, she dismisses her weapon and waves her arm as pink sparkles change her outfit into something more traditionally magical girl.
"Oh uhh, bye again!" She doesn't have time for more than that and the beginning of a wave before the enigmatic Equivalence has exited.
And then Amy looks to Sayaka, hands clenched excitedly just below her collar. "Yeah, yeah, how was it, Sharpsong?!" She's grinning excitedly!
- Sayaka Miki has posed:
"I think the book is only to hold them and the cards let you transform?", Sayaka replies to the questions on that power. "These two are... a patissier and a mermaid?" she looks at the figure before turning around to show them to Madoka and Amy. "Once the book is filled I get a wish apparently, but the limitation is the journey to get there, it's nothing like Kyubey's", she tries to make them avoid that thought.
For some sort of joke from fate, she can get why she has the second, but the first, it's like someone is wanting her to be an anti-Hosshiwa, and make sweets for good. Or maybe it's completely random, and she is reading too much into it. Yep, probably that.
"I feel great, this feels so much better than what I had with Kyubey! Especially not worrying about Grief Seeds anymore feels amazing!" she smiles happily. There are so many less worries like this.
"It was nice fighting with you too, Equivalence! Meet you soon!", Sharpsong waves at the grey magical girl.
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
As Equivalence leaves, Hope Blossom glances in her direction and waves. "See you around! Thanks for your help!" She still has no idea what Equivalence's story is, but magical girls suddenly appearing and wanting to help fight youma is something that she just takes in stride, and there's nothing that weird about wanting to maintain a secret identity.
As Madoka looks at the cards, she makes a 'huh' noise. At the mention of it being nothing like Kyubey, Hope winces slightly. "Eheh. If it was anything like Kyubey, we'd have some pretty serious questions for Blue."
The pink girl shakes her head, then turns to Sayaka with a smile. "More importantly, the fact that you can use your magic as much as you want, without worrying about budgeting it, is something I know you've wanted for a while. I'm glad you finally managed to find an answer that suits you."
Brai eventually rejoins them after realizing that it's safe now, and settles down on Hope Blossom's shoulder.
- Amanda Faust has posed:
Madoka mentions Blue before Amy gets around to it. "Speaking of, have you talked to him yet?"
Both of them talk about how great unlimited magic and not worrying about grief seeds is. :|
"It's fine." She preempts any comments someone might be about to direct her way. "I'll take being invincible and never having to worry about getting hurt as long as I have magic. Besides, I'm used to it now. Wouldn't it suck if I became another type of magical girl and forgot, and got myself killed or maimed?" She shrugs.
"Besides, the more of you there are to help me, the less I'll want for grief seeds."
Her true feelings are a little more mixed than that -- of course infinite magic would be nice, but it is true that she's gotten used to being a Puella Magi.
- Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka is still staring at the cards, mostly the Patissier. "Though, aren't these already as powerful as a wish, in a way? There are people that work a lot to be able to make great sweets and here I have a card that does that for nothing at all. This feels unfair, actually."
Sure, the Fade might be an issue for continuing to do it, but that's happenstance, not something the card has by itself. "I wonder what other cards I may get next."
"Eheh, right", Sayaka grins at Madoka with a bit of nervousness. And I also don't have to worry about my emotions limiting my magic, that's quite important too, even if I didn't realise it then."
Sayaka keeps shut when Amy mentions not having to worry about being maimed, since that's a power she hasn't lost. All she doesn't really have on that front is being able to block the pain as needed. "I don't need Grief Seeds anymore, so you can be sure I am going to give you any I get", she hastily promises.
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
While Madoka is happy for Sayaka, she hopes that she hasn't been too insensitive to Amy in saying so. Hope Blossom shakes her head and says, "I mean, I'm not that worried. Some people last years as Puella Magi without anything going too wrong. Especially if they're okay with their circumstances."
As for being killed or maimed, well... that's a danger that all magicals must face. The cost of war and all that.
"Also, yeah, whatever Grief Seeds we get are yours. After I rescue the people trapped inside of them, if there are any."
Hope Blossom decides not to bring up the possibility of Amy becoming a Witch herself, but even if that happens they have a answer for that too.
Going back to the cards, Madoka shrugs. "I mean, some of my Chara are like that sometimes. They can make me magically competent, but... even that kind of comes with a cost. They expect me to actually try to improve."
- Amanda Faust has posed:
Patissier Power OP? "Yeah, and Madoka can like, get medical skill and stuff with Chara Change, and I get immortality for free without even having to wish for it. I wasn't sure we'd see the technology to do that within my lifetime, let alone that I'd be able to afford it. That's magic for you."
Amy will get grief seeds from the non-Puella Magi. "Of course." She nods, never having doubted that. And nods at the clarification that Madokami must free the souls inside. "Of course."
Amy looks away. "As for emotions... well... It's not like a simple mood swing into despair kills me. Just... as long as I have friends... things can't get that bad, you know?"
- Sayaka Miki has posed:
Getting a skill is apparently not that uncommon, Madoka makes her realise. She is not sure she likes it still, but it's true that she often gets skills from her Chara. "I am not going to cheat with them in a contest, so that doesn't matter much in the end", she considers.
"Does that mean that Ren makes you a great scientist?", a note of curiosity appears in her voice. That's definitely very useful.
Amy brings up Madoka getting medical skills, and Sayaka realises that her regeneration may have stopped her from realising just how useful Madoka's Charas can be. "That's actually a great trick", she nods.
- Madoka Kaname has posed:
Madoka laughs a little awkwardly at the mention of Rens making her a scientist. "Well, I mean, it depends on the field. She doesn't really help out my grades that much, but she does help me to understand some of the more obscure parts of what I can do as Hope Concept. Also whenever I do feel like studying, she's the Chara to turn to."
Madoka scratches the back of her head and says, "Medo helps me out a little bit once in a while, but most of what I know about First Aid I knew before even getting magical powers. Either way, both Medo and Rens will get mad at me if I don't at least try to learn."
Brai floats closer to Madoka's ear and whispers something, and Hope Blossom says, "Oh! Ah... hm. I have to go now, but... congratulations on your new henshin, Sharpsong-chan!"
Hope smiles brightly and waves, then turns to walk away.
- Sayaka Miki has posed:
Cure Sharpsong watches curiously as Brai and Hope Blossom whisper to each other wondering what would be going on in Madoka's life that has to be kept hidden. Her first thoughts wander to Kamiko and her new powers, maybe things aren't as going as well as they could? She really hopes they aren't back to that phase in Madoka's life just when everything seems to be going well.
She can't help but be a little concerned about it, but she knows that if it is dangerous, Lydian will come to her for help. And if it is not, then she has no reason to worry about it, Madoka can take care of it herself. Whether it's Kamiko or something else.
"Bye, Blossom, see you soon!", the bluenette smiles happily at her friend leaving. She should probably go home, and I don't know, gives herself something for the occasion. She has powers again, and she can go back to helping people!
Oh, and she should check on Hinoiri, she was here earlier, make sure she got away safe, and probably tell her about this. Should she tell her about this, though? Loss of powers had been weighing on her too. Maybe try and see what she knows and then start talking maybe.
"We should go to the dorms ourselves, Ula", Sayaka says happily at her fairy. And she is now actually her fairy, isn't she? She isn't just someone who happens to live with her. "Bye, Red, take care!"
She spends a few seconds just standing there, wondering how is it she should fly, until she can feel the bow on back expand and become a pair of simil-wings. Flying, get! The new Pretty Cure then takes off, heading with Ula towards the dorms.