2433/Ni Hao

Ni Hao
Date of Scene:	26 March 2025
Location:	Riverside Path
Synopsis:	Michel's team is starting to familiarise themselves with Tokyo, but just when Lanhua is being sent as their reconaissance unit, the Minidokas, Homura and Wuwu set out to ruin their plans, and Madoka, Cho, Coco and Amy recover one of Seira's heart fragments.
Cast of Characters:	Coco Kiumi, Madoka Kaname, Cho Konishi, Amanda Faust, Seira, NPC-Lanhua, NPC-Fuku

---

Coco Kiumi has posed:
In a corner of Pikarigaoka's walking path, gathered under the shadow of a cherry blossom tree, there are a bunch of small fairy creatures, with purple hair, red eyes and blue butterfly wings, all of them carrying a single musical instruments, all of them different besides two of the chibis holding flutes. Unusually enough for this side of Pikarigaoka, they are the only presence around, despite the bright sunny day.

The one holding an aulos clears her throat loudly, attracting the attention of the other fairies. Most of the other chibis, as one of them had started to draw a manga, and another one is plucking strands of grass absentmindedly. They don't seem to care much even when the aulos fairy glares at them.

With a sigh, she gives her attention to the ones that are in fact listening to her, all the more because they are showing signs of impatience. "Alright, everyone, we all know that we have been tasked with exploring Tokyo, and of course, Michel has granted us of the orange princess' heart fragments, but that is only for emergency, and most importantly, we are not to catch any attention. Any question now?"

The one with the harp raises her hand. "Yes, Sinhua?" the aulos fairy asks. "We have never worked separately before. How do we contact each other if we get into trouble?" The chief nods once. "Just try to pass off as a fairy, and if worse comes to worse, try to act scared and run for one of us", she replies.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka has a lot of Minidokas, and while there's usually always at least one or two of them around her at any given point, the rest of them tend to wander around town and get into trou-- er... adventures.

    This is one such event.

    Sio and Brai are sitting in a little 'boat' made out of a styrofoam fast food container, floating down the river. They don't strictly need a boat, and really such a tiny vessel is probably pretty inadvisable unless the river is very still, but at the same time the threat of drowning is pretty small when one can simply fly away.

    So the two Chara are floating by as the boat kinda spins in the current, when they see some musical-seeming chibis off in the distance. Brai points at them and asks, "Are those Chara?"

    Sio also looks. "Wanna go see?"

    The two of them float up and away. Brai grabs the styrofoam boat and carries it with her, dropping it in a trashcan as they fly overhead. Sio, meanwhile, races ahead. "Do you think Lydian wants to see them too?" she asks.

    "Umm... maybe!"

Cho Konishi has posed:
Wuwu never got into trouble.

Wuwu created trouble.

Which was why, while the charas could approach via boat... Wuwu... was on a nearby treebranch. Sleeping with one hand dangling over the edge, a snot bubble coming out of his nose and his snores loud enough that, if not for the veil... most would likely wonder where this monkey escaped from.

Cho, meanwhile, was sitting on a nearby bench, her notebook in her lap and doing homework. Why? Because it was a BEAUTIFUL day and she was relaxing... Things had been... tense lately. Very tense. Her best friend had been going through some, admittedly terrible, struggles and there had been little she could do.

So her 'homework' was more some side-research on angels and this 'Michel'. Unfortunately... she was finding little of actual work. But... but it was the attempt that mattered, right?

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is going out for a walk. A rooftop walk! Patrolling counts as exercise. While going by the park, she sees a familiar girl. "Oh hey!" Amy calls out from a tree branch, and shifts her clothes to a school uniform as she drops to the ground. "Konishi-san! Haven't really gotten to talk to you in ages, how's it going?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The group of chibis are about to scatter when they notice the two Chara Guardians that are approaching them. They all stop talking among themselves and focus their attention on those two fairies.

Have they been busted already? And why did they look like they split off of the same person just like they did? Are there really other people with this power? Should they expect a surprise attack from more of those chibi pinkettes, or is this the most of them around?

There were other people around, but at least they seem to be minding their own business, so they can get out of this easy enough. They just need to act normal and be on their way. The one with the aulos steps in front of the group, and looks at Lydian and Sio. "Ni hao, I am Puonhua. Are you two looking for something?"

There was also a monkey snoring somewhere, and as unusual as it was, they hadn't paid attention to him up to now, but maybe they can make a diversion from that. "Do you know if some zoo lost a monkey? There seems to be one in the branches here." At least they were assuming that wasn't normal.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Sio and Brai watch as Puonhua approaches them, and then they look at each other. Sio turns back to her and says, "Are you Chara Guardians like us?"

    Brai asks, "There aren't that many Chara who all look similar like we do. Did you all come from the same Chara Bearer?"

    Sio considers, "Or... maybe you're from identical twins who both ended up being Chara Bearers! Maybe even octuplets! That must be it."

    Brai shuts her eyes tight and raises her hands at Sio. "They can't be from octuplets! I bet there aren't even eight Chara Bearers in this part of town, let alone under the same roof!"

    Sio scratches her chin and says, "Are you sure?"

    A third Minidoka floats up to the other two, Rens, wearing her lab coat. "No, Brai-chan is right. It's highly statistically unlikely that they're from octuplets."

    Sio and Rens start arguing about that for a moment, chatting so quickly and in such squeaky voices that it's hard to keep up with them. Brai decides not to join in and takes a closer look at Puonhua. "So... you're all musical? Do you represent someone's dream of being a musician? Do you play in a band?"

    So many questions are being asked, and a lot of assumptions are being made, and the minidokas are getting more and more curious. Meanwhile, Rens has started getting on her tiny smartphone and is currently texting the other Minidokas to ask their opinion.

    More are likely to be coming soon.

Cho Konishi has posed:
From above, the snot bubble popped and Wuwu blinked, opening his eyes and looking down. "Mrg?" he asked, blinking blearily down at them. His tail reached out and grabbed a peach, before biting into it and dripping juices down on the gathered charas.

... The scary thing was there were no peach trees in this park.

There was a distant. 'Hey! Who took my peach?!' from further in the park.

He peered down at the gathered charas, but didn't really do much more than sloppily eat his peach and consider...

How much could he make playing poker with these chumps? He had lost too much to that otter and, frankly, playing with the otter and the tiny prince's chara only went so far...

Cho glanced up and... "Oh! Faust-san! Not much, I've just been busy a lot. I uhhhh, went home for a little bit, been thinking on a lot. Things have been crazy these days, haven't they?" she asked, grinning up at the other girl. "I'm doing some research on Michel. You?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Things have been crazy. "Whoo boy, yeah." Amy nods. And then looks surprised. "Doing research on him? How?" She tries to get a look over Cho's shoulder. "Did we find records of him in human language, or...?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The group starts whispering among themselves the monkey diversion doesn't work. A few comments are making fun of Puonhua, others are merely wondering what she will say next. The chief chibi can however feel the group's eyes on her back. They can try to contribute, she doesn't have to do all that herself, geeze.

She has bigger problems to deal with, because these fairies really are asking a ton of questions. Pros: some of them are discarded by the coming of an extra fairy now. Cons: there is one more of them.

Don't worry, Puonhua, you can do this. They are already convincing themselves of what you might be. It doesn't have to be too hard. Just run along with the assumptions they make and soon enough they should all be off your back.

"Yeah, that's right, all of us are musical Chara Guardians", she nods along with a smile. Whatever those things are. "Our girl is really really into music. People are really enthusiastic whenever she plays even. They all throw themselves into dance right away, and besides Kuanghua and Shihua, we all play different instruments, exactly like a band", she gestures at the two chibis holding flutes.

Though, the one holding a cross between a horn and a tiny organ is probably defying the definition of instrument.

Puonhua stares a bit nervously when Rens starts tapping on her smartphone, wondering if this is their cue to start going out of there fast, but before she can say anything more, a bit of that peach juice falls onto Sinhua, who proceeds to shout at Wuwu. "Hey, mr. monkey, watch it! There are people under you!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Puonhua's answer only brings more questions, which brings the three minidokas closer to her. Brai, Sio and Rens crowd around her and bombard her with even more questions.

    Brai asks, "So like are you their leader? Or are you just the outgoing one?"

    Sio asks, "So you all have eggs, right? Do your eggs all look alike or do you have different ones?"

    Rens asks, "Is your power tied to any strange time or interdimensional anomalies?"

    "What are you three cuddle-fairies doing?" asks a very firm, cold voice that suddenly seems to come out of nowhere. Briskly walking towards the group is a very beautiful (at least in Madoka's estimation) purple-eyed girl with long, flowing black hair. She's wearing a long black dress and is carrying in her arms a paper bag full to the brim with groceries. Those who have seen her once or twice before might remember Homura Akemi, though people are more likely to recognize the minidoka hovering over her shoulder: Tia.

    Tia says, "I told you they were doing something weird. Who ever heard of someone having as many fairies as Doka-chan?"

    Homura glares at the musical chibis for a moment, holding very still as she watches their interaction with the minidokas. One might suspect, from the cold and angry eyes, that she knows everything about them, all of their secrets, and all of their darkest sins.

    That's not true at all though. She doesn't know the Lanhua Chibis or anything about them. Her face is just naturally like that.

    Lydian shows up at around the same time, asking, "Hey! Are you the musical Chara? Do you like music? I like music! We should play sometime. What music do you like to play?"

    Now there are five minidokas in the area, and all of them are bugging Puonhua specifically. Homura, meanwhile, just wants to get home before the minidokas realize she's carrying snacks and start raiding her shopping bag.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Wuwu wondered if he should get involved, make them suffer...

... Nahhhh. The Minidokas likely have it suffered. He took another bite of his peach, only to realize... one of them were yelling at him? The embodiment of poise, grace, and gentle kindness and case? Truly? What had he ever done that could be construed as bad? Aside from all of the terrible things he'd done? He gave the little fairy a cheeky grin.

He then tossed the peace pit... And it would fly through the air juuuuuuust past Homura's cheek. Not actually hitting it, but cloooooose.

Even Wuwu knew better. But he'd always tempt fate.

Only a moment later to put any survival instinct he had out the window as... "Ohhhh, you got some neat stuff in here," Wuwu said, his head and front half of his torso inside Homura's bag, rummaging through it. "Sweeeet, is this chocolate? Cho ALWAYS hides the chocolate when she gets it! Got any chocolate covered bananas?"

Cho, meanwhile, shook her head. "No, not particularly. Research in this case has amounted to... basically nothing. But it helps me feel useful, is all. Angels and Michel are a... very lore intensive thing, so it's hard to say if anything in different mythologies will be useful. There's a Michael who, in some religions, is considered a patron saint, in others he's a great warrior, in some he's a form of god and in others, well... a great angel. It doesn't help that, because of the name's significence, there have been a lot of other mentions of the name Michael that might be important, or have nothing to do with it so... yeah, I've got nothing so far," Cho admitted grudgingly.

She then perked up and got to her feet. "Oh no... I can feel it... Wuwu's up to something. I'm going to go make sure he hasn't committed any war crimes or broken any treaties," she said before walking towards the park.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods at the explanation of research. So more... doing something because it seems like there's nothing you can do to help with it, that's a mood, but she doesn't say that out loud. Instead, she just says "It's a pretty common name, yeah. I think there were at least three Michaels in my grade back in America, and multiple online friends had the given name Michael but didn't actually go by it for one reason or anoth--"

    WUWU IS UP TO SOMETHING. Amy looks slightly surprised at the sudden declaration. "Really? Is it, like, a familiar link? Wait, you don't play D&D. I mean uh, can you like sense eachother's feelings?"

    She follows, sounding a bit worried at that last part. "War crimes? He wouldn't, right? I thought he was more about pranks... what war crimes is he even capable of? I mean, I do set monsters on fire sometimes, but..."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Puonhua's posture gets way more relaxed as she hears Brai's next question. She doesn't even mind that she is being given another question. Yeah, that one is easy. She doesn't even have to make up an answer. "That's right, I am the one that always takes charge when we go out."

The same cannot be said about the egg question, which has her stare blankly for a second or two. Not very long at all, but enough to be picked up. Why are they supposed to have eggs?

"Well, they are mostly the same, but some of us like having it a little different and paint it anew", she stares at the Lanhua Chibi still in the middle of drawing a manga. Would it kill her to pay attention?

"Are we supposed to be involved with strange time anomalies?", she finds herself asking, not sure if this was kinda the same thing as the egg, or something rare. She didn't ask which time anomaly this time.

Homura's arrival gets her to break her composure. Where did this goth girl comes from. Is she these fairies' master? Why is she looking at her like that. Is she a magical girl? Of course she is, she can see them. "What are you here for? Are you here to recover your Chara?", she stares back.

Then there is another Chara as well, and this one seems like she is going to drag her into a talk about music. "I like the aulos, but maybe some other time", she says, lifting her instrument.

To make matters worse, at Wuwu's cheeky green, Sinhua seems all intent to escalate into a fight. "This is really not nice! Get here and apologise already!"

Puonhua feels herself sinking internally. She wants to get back together already. Can she, whatever hell she gets from these magical girls is probably really better than the one she is right now. "What did I say about not catching attention?", she scoffs harshly at Sinhua.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura's eyes dart towards the peach pit that's heading right for her. She doesn't flinch. It doesn't hit her, but it knocks a lock of her hair back. She reaches up to flip her hair to the left, which somehow seems to set everything back in order. Homura has had a couple of years to get used to energetic mascot antics.

    What she isn't prepared for is a tiny monkey king plunging into and digging through your bag. "Hey!" complains Homura. "Those aren't for you!" The veteran Puella Magi reaches into the bag and tries to pull Wuwu out. All things considered this may be an exercise in futility if she's not willing to use her henshin.

    This is why she keeps the really good stuff, like ice cream and new toys, inside her shield.

    Tia hears the commotion behind her and spots Homura's struggles. "Unruly knave!" she yells, flying back to the shopping bag. "Unhand those nummies! Those are for our tea party!"

    Brai overhears this and tugs on Sio's arm. "Oh! Check it out! Homu-chan has candy!"

    Now it's Homura's turn to be swarmed with tiny mascots. "That's enough! Save some for Kamiko, Medo and Madoka! You'll spoil your appetite," she says, as if they don't all have bottomless stomachs.

    Lydian and Rens, however, are too caught up in their curiosity to ever leave Puonhua alone. Rens says, "Well if you could get involved in a time anomaly I would highly recommend it. Not very fun in the moment but it makes for a great story afterwards."

    Lydian crosses her arms and says, "Meeh, what's the fun of a story if you can't tell anyone... wait did you say you paint your eggs? Why didn't we think of that? I could paint my egg all sortsa colors! You gotta show me your egg sometime! What paint do you use? Watercolor? Acrylic?"

    Kamiko's portal opens, and the divine chara enters the fray. "I heard there were new Chara here. And also snacks."

    Brai notices that almost all the Dokas are in one place and excitedly says, "Oh! Oh! If Madoka and Medo show up too can we have our snacks now?!"

    Homura grows quiet as she gets overwhelmed. The only reason she tolerates these hyperenergetic small creatures is because she loves the hell out of them. When she hears a couple more voices approaching, she glances in Cho and Amy's direction. How much more chaotic can this get?

    Homura looks over at Puonhua and says, "Technically, they're my girlfriend's Chara, but I look after them sometimes." She says this, as if she doesn't feel helpless in the moment. "Well. Try to."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi paused for a moment at Amy's question and just... gave her... a haunted look...

"I do not know. Nor do I wish to discover the answer to that question. If there exists a way to do it, he will find said way. So, if you value your innocence and mental fortitude... never, ever, *ever* ask him..." and then she was off again.

Oh, oh yes. Reaching in and pulling him out was oddly very successful.

And Homura would be able to see the glint in his eyes and the grin on his face...

And then he scampered *around* her, like she was a tree to climb, darting from arm, to shoulder, to leg, to back... Now, it was annoying, and that would likely be the end of it, normally. He was fast, agile, and a brat.

Unfortunately, he was a little mascotty abomination who had mastered many, many skills. One of those skills? Was being as ticklish as possible when he used someone like a tree.

So now came the answer to a question that none, save the monkey king incarnation or the bearer of a full choir of charas, could even dream to ask... How ticklish was Homura?

Cho, meanwhile, was approaching and then... face palmed. "W-Wuwu... please... Don't-- huh?" she asked, looking down at the little charas. She blinked and knelt down. "Hello... are you little girls lost? Do you need help finding your dreamer?" Charas, huh? She didn't know any new chara bearers had joined the school! Interesting...

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Damn, Madoka's girlfriend looks incredibly cool doing a hairflick.

----Later----
    Amy looks in her dorm floor's bathroom mirror. She lifts her hand up by her face and does a hairflick and smiles eeeee it's actually something anyone can do! It just looks cool!

    She does it again a few more times, her reflection grinning back at her.

----Now----
    She's coming into earshot of minidokas talking about time anomalies. "I think what happened to Hinoiri actually sounds like a terrible nightmare to go through, but getting stuck in an echo of the past for ten days was kinda cool. ...I guess it depends on how long the anomaly lasts. Also who are your friends? Where's their bearer?"

    She smiles at the purple-haired fairies. "Hi, I'm Amy! It's nice to meet you!" She holds out her hand like she's offering a handshake but she extends her index finger so they can shake the fingertip instead.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
For a brief brief moment, Puonhua feels like dancing in joy when Wuwu takes Homura's attention off of her. This is perfect, now she just needs to deflect the Chara pinkettes and they are good to go.

She is admittedly taken aback by how chaotic that monkey is being. Good thing that Sinhua didn't seem to be able to provoke him. Less good that it seems she hasn't given up trying. "Stop!" Puonhua places a hand on her mouth. "Just let it go. There is no point in antagonising that monkey, and remember what I told you."

Rens gets a nod. She will keep in mind if she wants to get in a time anomaly. Even if she really doubts it. "Thank you. And you'd better ask Tonhua that", she says looking at the manga chibi. "Well, Tonhua, what is it?" Who just groans at her. "I don't know, I will think about it", she replies, uselessly.

The questioned chibi nods at Cho. "Yeah, but she got to be somewhere around here. We got everything under control", she smiles nervously at the pinkette.

"Puonhua", the aulos chibi slowly shakes Amy's finger, looking briefly at it with annoyance. "The others are Ryahua, Tonhua, Zanhua, Shahua, Nyanhua, Tinghua, Sinhua, Chuhua, Liehua, Kuanghua and Shihua", she lists all their names. Can they be all done?

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura isn't ticklish at all.

    Her face scrunches. The corner of her mouth twitches.

    She's not... ticklish. Not at all.

    She's gritting her teeth as she tries to find Wuwu and pull him off of her. Her right eye squints.

    Homura. Akemi. Is. Not. Ticklish.

    Eventually Wuwu tramples over just the right spot to get Homura to snort, then laugh out loud. Oh no! Her image! Her cool girl reputation! Homura is laughing out loud while Wuwu climbs all over her and things are steadily getting more ridiculous.

    "Behave!" comes one very calm and very firm feminine voice. Madoka Kaname has entered the arena, here to rescue her beloved like a dashing heroine (or at least, that's how Homura sees her) and as the Chara Bearer approaches the rest of the Minidokas calm down.

    Medo is draped across her shoulder, resting and watching. "Did you leave any snacks for me?" she asks, a little saddened by the idea that they might not have.

    Madoka takes the grocery bag off of Homura's hands and holds onto it, letting Homura focus her attention on trying to brush Wuwu off of her... not that it helps. The pink girl says, "Wuwu, come on, leave Homu-chan alone," before looking over to the Lanhua Chibis. "Are you the new Chara? Hi! My name's Madoka Kaname. Do you need help finding your Bearer?"

    Lydian summons her egg and starts trying to paint it. "Hmm. I wonder what goes with solid pink? Blue, maybe?"

    After hearing the names of the Lanhua Chibis, Kamiko zooms up to Puonhua and says, "Oh! I wanna do it! I wanna do the intros!"

    Homura gives a longsuffering sigh, but it's Madoka who cheerfully answers, "Okay, Kamiko-chan. You can do the introductions."

    "Okay okay okay!" says Kamiko while flailing her arms. "I'm Kamiko! That's Brai, Medo, Lydian, Sio, Tia, and Rens. We're the minidokas! We like cuddles and we like snacks. That's basically all there is to know about us."

    Homura comments, while still trying to keep track of Wuwu, "I think there's a bit more to it than that."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Wuwu was victorious! Homura Akemi may be a mountain, but HE was the monkey king, and he lifted mountains! Or... something like that. He didn't read his story too closely, that was for nerds, like Cho.

However, as Madoka arrived, he knew it was time to break free, and when she took the bag, Homura was finally freed of his presence... Only for him to land by Puonhua and take her flute.... And blow into it. "Hmmm? So, you all like to play, wanna give us a demonstration?" he asked...

... And he had just used and spit a bit into the poor chara's flute. WHO WOULD DO SUCH A THING?! WHY?!

"W-Wuwu, please, you're being rude," Cho said softly, before getting to her feet and bowing to Homura. "I... I'm so sorry. He's..." Pause. "He's evil. He's an evil hero." What else could you call him? "Wuwu! Please stop swiping thiiiiings..." she pleaded.

Nevermind that Wuwu was now going amongst the rest of the 'band', and fiddling with their instruments. He seemed INCREDIBLY rambunctious today... Odd, that...

Cho then looked to Lydian... "Well, Green, blue, red, silver and gold all go really well with pink," she said... before slowly her eyes glanced to Homura for a second. "But some people swear that black really brings out the warmth of the pink."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy cannot help smiling at the cuteness of a 'chara' shaking her finger. It's adorable! "Wow, eight? That's even more than--well, than I've ever seen before, what a lot of dreams! I'm not going to remember your names right away, sorry in advance."

    Wuwu is up to... monkey business. Amy turns to frown at him. "Hey." She, too, would be uncomfortable in Homura's situation. But fortunately, Madoka is here! And Kamiko introduces all of the minidokas! Amy thinks maybe she's even managed to learn all of their names now! There's Goddess, uhhhh... Magical Girl? Nurse, Artist, The Other One no wait um business person, right, refined lady and scientist! Amy tries, for a moment, to imagine herself as all of these things. How does Madoka maintain so many dreams?

    Maybe this new bearer with her eight dreams will shed some light on that!

    "Is there anyone that doesn't like cuddling?" Amy remembers Norie. "I guess not."

    She makes a face at Wuwu. "Eww, don't put your mouth on someone else's flute!"

    She nods to Cho though, "A lot of colors can go with pink. White too... and yellow if it's like, an easter theme maybe..."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The owner of those fairies finally shows up, and the girl is very clearly their source by appearance, alone. Puonhua is starting to understand why they got mistaken as Chara Guardians and drawn into all of this. To their bad luck.

"Well, you can all see what instrument we like, and a bit more than that, with the manga", Puonhua replies to the introduction, then she looks at the Chara Bearer.

"No, thank you", she gives Madoka her best smile, starting to withdraw. "We really should go right now. It's getting late for us." She really should have just said that from the start.

In the midst of all that chaos, none of the chibis noticed the approach of one more person, or should Puonhua say, fairy, the only actual one in her group, and possibly more annoying than anyone of the present company.

Wuwu is a serious contender though, and Puonhua is about to scream when he grabs her aulos and starts blowing it. She visibly shiver in disgust and grabs it back away from the monkey fairy, dunking her precious instrument in the river one, two, three times. "Are you trying to make fun of me? The Great One didn't bring me back to life just to be ridiculed!" she shouts.

Ah.

She can play it off, can she? "The Great One is how our girl likes to be called. She is a real piece of work sometimes", she lies so badly she realises that is not going to fly as soon as the words get out of her mouth.

The fairy that just came in is a bit weird looking, like somebody stylized a white bird, then said good enough, and drew a person's head above the neck instead, with a perennial blush on her cheek, a pink hair and black eyes.

"Oi, Lanhua, what are you doing here playing when you are supposed to be exploring? Michel will be very disappointed", she flies down, shaking her head. She hadn't actually paid much attention to the group.

The chief chibi grabs her head in frustration. That darn bird had to chime in as well! She can feel the last of her patience getting close to disappearing. "I wasn't playing, but it's about time we start getting serious. Sorry, Lady Fuku, no Tokyo exploration for today", she claps her hands, grabbing the attention of her group.

"Madoka-chan, Cho-chan, Amy-chan, what is going on here?", Coco comes in at just that moment, making Puonhua grin widely when she sees not one, but two pearls at her neck, and one of them is the orange one. Great, she can make this day fruitful still!

"Let's show these girls what happens when we play music, everyone. We are Lanhua, the Wings of Desire and Hedonism, at the service of Michel and the Great One. You will be defeated without any suffering", Puonhua smiles confidently.

Miraculously, Wuwu being so annoying gets all twelve of them to finally take a united front. They all want that monkey to stop before they become his next victim, and so there is a sound of drums, harps, flutes, sitars and more while a disembodied voice sings for her cute slaved to serve her, and grant her an embroidered sparkling angel's raiment. "In the elegant serenade, forget everything and dance!"

Those that don't resist will find themselves dancing along the music despite their own will, and that's the case for Coco, caught off guard and not in henshin. "What is going on here?", the mermaid grits her teeth while her body moves against her will.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    'He's evil! He's an evil hero.'

    Homura isn't going to question... whatever that was. She's just glad that it was over. She takes a moment to catch her breath, glances over to the paper grocery bag, and then to Madoka. Homura's eyes lock onto her and her expression gradually softens over time.

    Madoka, meanwhile, has no idea that Homura is getting distracted. The pinkette's attention turns to Cho and she waves at the fellow pinkette. "Hey, Cho-chan. How've you been? Have you met Homura-chan? She's the girlfriend I hint at having once in a while."

    Homura glances towards Cho and says in her usual cold voice. "Nice to meet you. Don't worry about the mascot. I've met worse." She also looks towards Amy and says, "Some like it more than others, and there's also a question of 'timing'."

    Neither Madoka nor Homura comment on the flute, but Lydian makes a face. "That's... that's too far, Wuwu..." When Cho starts giving feedback, Lydian experimentally produces a small palette and starts painting different colors on her pink egg. She paints one bit one way, then moves to a different part of the egg to paint it a different way, just to see how the different colors look next to each other. "Huh. You sure know a lot about pink! I wonder... maybe I should just go with all the above?"

    Homura glances at Cho, and then steps closer to Madoka. She clearly has opinions on how well pink and black go together.

    Puonhua mentions the Great One, and Madoka blinks. Then when the excuses come out, Kamiko laughs. "Yeah, our Bearer's like that too. She calls herself a goddess."

    Homura squints at Kamiko while Madoka gets awkward. Look who's talking? Neither of them have a chance to say anything before the weird bird with a human head shows up. Homura immediately does not like that creature, and as a result everyone gets to see what a real glare from her looks like.

    Then the word 'Michel' is dropped, and Madoka blinks. Her pink eyes get wide. "You... you're..."

    Coco is here, and they barely have time to even greet her properly before the song starts to play. Suddenly under the control of the music; Madoka, Homura, and the seven Minidokas all start dancing in synch. They literally could not be better coordinated if they had practiced, but it's clear from the looks in their eyes that they are very confused and not in control.

    Kamiko, however, is an expert in mind control herself, and while there's generally never a 'good' reason to override someone's agency, being an expert means that she can kinda resist it. Her Witch Stickers show up all over Madoka's forehead, cheek, arms and legs. Homura and Lydian get similar treatment, and as the divine Chara works her magic the three of her targets slowly stop dancing. "S-save us..." pleads the goddess dream.

    Homura immediately henshins, her Puella outfit appearing around her. She grabs the dancing Chara and shoves them into the back of her shield before pulling the grocery bag out of Madoka's arms and doing the same with it, putting everything into her own little expanded inventory space. From within her shield, Kamiko suddenly blurts out, "Hey, Homu-chan's been holding out on us! All the good snacks are in here! And she brought us presents!"

    "Wait until we get home!" insists the purple eyed Puella.

    Madoka, meanwhile, henshins with Lydian. "Homu-chan... take them home. We'll handle things here."

    Homura doesn't need to be told twice. Her shield turns, and she's suddenly gone.

    Now alone and covered in Witch Stickers, Madoka forms her branch bow in her hands. "I'm not that mad about pretending to be Chara, though I think mine are a little let down, but I absolutely can't let you play such wicked music."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi smiled at Homura, bowing politely. "Hello, I am Cho Konishi, a pleasure to meet you. Madoka-chan is pretty great, she's been incredibly helpful to those of us in the council." On account of her ability to use the locket and being a purifier.

Cho blinked a few times as the fairies started talking. Wait. "... Back to life?" she asked. Even she could catch onto that. "... Is it Riventon? Oh, wait, no. You said girl." ... Unless Riventon learned some things.

... Only for cthulu's bird to fly in. She gave a startled shriek, eyes wide. No. No no no no. THAT was horrifying! But... "Wait, Michel?!"

Oh, that was enough. Especially as Coco made her way towards them. Her device was out, and as the Lanhua were about to show them what happened when they played music, she pulled out her transformation device, a small journal/compact. She pulled out her pen and drew on it. "Historic Legacy, Pretty Cure!" she called out.

In a flash, the short girl with mildly long hair... was gone. In her place was a (very slightly taller) girl with a golden tiara with two massive feathers pointing up over her eyebrows and pink flowing hair that went so far down it practically touched the ground. Her boots were knee high and red, while her dress was pink with black tiger stripes across it. With a black undersuit over her legs and arms. Around her neck she had a yellow handkerchief tied, with a large pink one wrapped around her waist, over a... monkey's tail. Over her wrists she wore black armguards with pink metal plates over the front of her arms. "A thousand immortalities wouldn't be enough to make me ignore these crimes! Cure Wukong!"

Unfortunately... she made the mistake of underestimating what the music could do. In a moment of helplessness... She started to dance!

Wuwu, meanwhile, already had his fingers in his ear, and was rocking his head back and forth, being useless as ever. But don't worry, he'd totally be taking credit and pretending he knew all along that these were villains. Yup. All of his tomfoolery was just to unmask them! Totally!

Cure Wukong, however, was helplessly dancing, doing the monkey! Arms going up and down from side to side!

"Cure Wukong, try break dancing!" Wuwu yelled.

... Cho had absolutely NO idea how to break dance. However, she could understand the NAME, and then, well, did a spinning leap into the air... and tried to land amidst the muscians, before spinning! Close enough, right?

Wuwu, meanwhile... fortunately had his ears covered, so couldn't hear what goodies were hidden within Homura's shield. So she was saved... for now. Though he probably couldn't access the dimensional space... probably. Maybe? Better to not take any chances.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Manga? "Oh, do you wanna be a manga artist?" Amy tries to get a look at the manga one of the 'chara' is drawing. "I read a lot of manga..."

    Great one... bring her back to life? "Uh... what?" Oh, their Bearer is weird. Amy laughs when Kamiko 'jokes' about Madoka calling herself a goddess. "I guess I can see how that'd be awkward... although if you think it's weird... aren't you her dreams? Does she wish she was less weird?"

    Michel will be disappointed. Amy's head whips around. Her long hair might actually hit some of the chibis.

    At the service of Michel.

    Michel absorbed Seira. Amy doesn't bother with words. She just holds out her hand and there's suddenly what looks like a pistol in it and she shoots at one of the chibis.

    She is in henshin, and already in a battle mindset, so she mostly resists the dance, but she does start to shift her weight from one foot to the other with the beat, and bob her head slightly.

    Homura's out. Cho is transformed. Wuwu suggests trying braek dancing. "Can your clones like... battle dance, or something?" Amy doesn't dare take her eyes off the fairies right now, though...

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Did you really not think to just say you don't want to talk and just go away?", Fuku starts berating her further. Seriously, was it really so difficult? "We just didn't want them to start following us", Tinghua remarks in turn. Can't Fuku see that talking now is decidedly detrimental?

"We weren't even trying to do that!", Nyanhua speaks up. "We were minding our own business, and then your Chara butt in and start assuming!", she says while she shakes her tamburines around. They really weren't expecting for someone to counter her body control with mind control, and they start playing their instruments more frenetically, hoping to overtake it.

They didn't count for Cure Wukong to however start dancing onto them. "We aren't a dance floor!", the Lanhua chibis shouts when the Pretty Cure forces them to scatter and brings their music to an end. Seriously, who even thinks of doing that!?

"Get down!", Kuanghua lunges at Shihua, and Red's bullet whistles overhead, sparing the fellow chibi from being hit.

With the music over, Coco stops in a weird posture with her right leg raised and her arms about to move to the side when she suddenly gets back control over her limbs and she almost falls over as a result, barely avoiding that with the help of a nearby tree she grabs onto. "They are with Michel?", she stares angrily at the dark general assembly.

"Yellow Pearl Voice!" she doesn't waste time to start her transformation, and the pearl in her shell locket responds to her with a bright yellow radiance. A kaleidoscope of colours covers Coco's clothes and as it gradually recedes, she is in her idol uniform, while her pearl expands into her trusty E-Pitch microphone and its blue shape settles comfily into her hand.

"I hope you are ready after what you did to Seira! Star Jewel: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!"

I placed a wish upon a shooting star
To find the seven lights,
The jewel stars who were scattered.
I believe in the bond called fate.

When I realized what was important to me,
The season began to change.
Enveloped in a green rain,
I continue to sing this song for you.

"Owowowow, it hurts! Stop, somebody make her stop!", the Lanhuas and Fuku react in pain to the purification of Coco's song, running about while the songs quell their dark energy. "What is this unbearable music!? It's like I am feeling at peace with myself!" three of the Lanhuas chibis, wincing in pain at the positivity of the song.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom just gives the Chibis a flat look. She actually just does not care. "Honestly? That's not even the issue." She hops back on one foot, aims her bow up into the sky, and says, "Your master did something bad to Seira, and made Lydian cry."

    She releases her arrows, letting them split apart and spread all over the Chibis, targeting their instruments and trying to disrupt their playing. Destroying a magical instrument might not be that easy, but she doesn't really need to break them, just make it difficult for the chibis to play.

    Then she lowers her bow and holds it horizontally as she pulls back another bolt. "Whatever you're planning to do, we won't let it happen! Cherry Blossom Blaze!"

    She cries out her attack name while the tip of her bow bursts into pink flame. Aiming directly at Puonhua, she releases the projectile which seeks out the small chibi and then explodes upon impact.

    Elsewhere, meanwhile, Homura is back at the dorm room packing the food away. She still tells the Minidokas that no, they can't eat because Lydian and Madoka are still out. Wait your turn!

Cho Konishi has posed:
"I think they are!" Cure Wukong yells to Coco. "They know him, at least! He's hired little charas and some kind of demon birdman thing!" And oh thank heavens, dancing on them worked! Leave it to Wuwu to give her advice to help oppose a... well. Tormenting music. And now? Coco's music. She grinned, leaping back before she began to do her elemental katas.

"72 earthly transformations purification!"

A beam of pink, purifying light would erupt forth from her hands, helping to wash over the singing troupe of magically traumatizing villains!

"This Michel may be your master, but to us he's a thief! And until he returns the life he kidnapped, we'll never stop fighting him!" she yelled, firmly and resolutely.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Good work, Wuwu!" Amy praises him for disrupting the song.

    "You want us to stop? Give Seira back."

    Since her opponents are mostly small, Amy tries not to overkill it -- A missile rack appears on her shoulder and fires a salvo of tiny missiles, about the size of pens or pencils, which curve around to home in on the enemy fairies and explode -- perhaps less military weapons and more like bottle rockets an American might be familiar with from backyard celebrations of the Fourth of July, but still, magic and not something you want going off next to you when you're a tiny fairy!

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Wait, wait, wait!", Puonhua screams at Madoka while she is still reeling from the ongoing purification. She runs around in panic still holding her aulos, but the pink arrow tracks her to her destination nonetheless, knocking her out of the air with the explosion's great impact, and she just stays there immobile, not daring to try moving a muscle.

The other chibis are instead thrown about by Amy's pencil missiles, and they even start getting knocked into each other, accidentally hurting themselves with their own instruments in addition to the redhead's own attack.

The culmination of all of Wukong's tales washes over the chibis, and not only does the purification wreaks havoc on their dark energy, but they can feel themselves merge back together under its influence, into a woman that has a vivid resemblance to the chibis, only of a normal height.

"Why are you asking us that like we can do anything about it? I only have one of her heart fragments!", she yells in response to Amy's demand. Not that she is showing any intention of giving that one back either. "And that is all for the sake of Michel's future, so you can forget about it!" Fuku adds.

"Then we will be ready again and again, until we have forced you to give them all up!", Coco declares resolutely, and then she switches song.

Splash Dream!
When I come out of the aquarium,
Even the raging wind is a sprechchor of blessings.
Splash Dream!
I'd like to dive into this Splash Dream!
The shining love that embraces every hope.

Splash Dream!
Aiming for a paradise,
Kicking the waves barefoot, I leave my tears to the sea.
Splash Dream!
The Big Wave of pulsing love!
There's a song that resounds eternally; that's love.

At the apex of the song, purifying hearts fly out in all directions, the reach of a big circle of love that won't end. "Fine Heart Pitch!", she concludes the performance with a serene smile.

"Let's get away from here!", Fuku exclaims, and the two of them fade away, only leaving behind an orange dot of light that falls towards Seira's pearl. There is a small blur, and an orange glow in the air accompanies the one from the pearl.

"Seira!", Coco's face shines with joy at the sight. "How are you? Are you ok?" A smile is returned as the orange mermaid replies. "I am ok, I am just with Michel now. Today is the first time I have been able to return to my pearl. I could feel the heart fragment return, and the feelings of love in your song", she replies happily.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom is still angry at these little chibis. She wasn't sure if purification would be effective on them, but now she knows...

    Maybe that should have been her first recourse?

    Inside her mind, she hear Lydian recounting the details of today's excitement, and so she starts to get a clearer picture of what all went on. It all sounded pretty hectic.

    When she sees the orange mote moving from Lanhua to the orange pearl that Coco has, she gets a bit excited. "Lydian-chan... look! A piece of Seira is going back to her pearl!"

    After looking around to make sure that Fuku and Lanhua are gone, Madoka dehenshins, and Lydian splits from her to go take a closer look at the orange pearl. "Seira-chan! I was almost scared we wouldn't see you again," says the minidoka.

    The regular sized Doka is quick to follow, jogging over to Coco to look at the pearl. "So... that was only one part of her? Do we need to defeat more of them to get her back?"

Cho Konishi has posed:
"If you have one of them then we're going to take it back!" Cure Wukong yelled. "We refuse to let you hold our friend captive!"

And then... a piece of her is returned. And Cure Wukong is about to say something when.... Wuwu chuckles. "Ahhhh, I knew something was up with them," he lied. "You're lucky to have me here to help you figure out when something is causing trouble, aren't you?"

Cure Wukong blinked a few times before walking over, picking the monkey up... and just covering his face with one hand. "Stop monkeying around," Cure Wukong said. "You're going to ge me in so much trouble."

She then looked to Coco and grinned. "So... if we rescue all of her pieces of heart, we'll save her? Then we have a goal! We just need to find more of them and then, bam, we've saved the Mermaid! Easy peasy!" she said proudly, a big grin on her face.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"I am glad to see you all as well, I tried so much to get in contact with you", Seira replies to Lydian earnestly. "I think I will actually be able to talk with you now." Her voice is filled with the joy she feels at this development.

"Don't worry, Seira, we can get them all back, and soon enough you will be born for real", Coco looks at her warmly. The yellow mermaid then looks at Madoka and Cho. "I believe so. When we have finally gotten all of them, Seira will finally be free", she replies.

Cho is right. They now know what to do to bring things as they were. Even if they don't know much about Michel, one of their most important questions just got answered. And that fills her with so much relief for the future.