2814/It's Pumpkin Time!

It's Pumpkin Time!
Date of Scene:	29 October 2025
Location:	Penguin Park
Synopsis:	Scorn attacks a 'Pumpkin patch' being held at Penguin Park! Heroes come to stop it. Sayaka tries to reach out to Scorn... can she succeed?
Cast of Characters:	Scorn, Sayaka Miki, Rei Hino, Chrono Harlaown, Rashmi Terios, Amanda Faust

---

Scorn has posed:
A 'Pumpkin Patch' was being held in Penguin Park, that is, vendors have brought pumpkins to sell for jack o' lanterns. For pies. For .. Pumpkin Spice!? And various other fall festivities. This includes readymade treats, pies and decorations and costumes and cosplay. Halloween may not be a huge holiday in Japan but enough people are curious for it to be lucrative.

It's so...

Awful. Thinks, Scorn. People want to be scared!? People wanna be frightened!? LET THEM BE FRIGHTENED! She eyes the pumpkin vendor and screams out, amongst the crowd. "LET THE FUTURE IN THE MIRROR TURN TERRIBLE!"

A mirror appears around the vendor, shaped like a coffin. Is this part of the festitivies!? No Not it is not. "Come out, Come out, my Terribad!" calls out Scorn as a bright purple light in the shape of a pair of sharp shades appears and bursts out, leaving a giant Terribad with a pumpkin head in its wake.

"Terribad!" screams the youma!

Kindabads, smaller youma, with sheets over them with eyeholes appear and start screaming 'Boooooo!' before kicking over decorations, smashing pumpkins and devouring pies! Is Halloween ruined as people run or get drained by the youma causing black feathers to fall from the sky!?

Meanwhile a blue streak fills the sky, Cure Tide is on the way, clutching to her is a seagull! This'll be a minute.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
You'd think buying a pumpkin two days before Halloween is a little late, and that's what Sayaka thought too. Her eyebrows rose so high at being told her parents forgot to buy one until now that they practically ended up leaving her face.

And that's how the bluenette reassured her mom she would take care of it, and her and Ula are now paying a visit to the market in Pikarigaoka trying to find a pumpkin suitable for carving. Ula has lined her eyes with black makeup and has even gotten to wear the same colour pattern as her tail.

Then Scorn arrives, and Sayans dives out of sight with a jump, and takes the Pretty Change Mirror. The mirror starts radiating yellow, green and blue light.

"", it exclaims, opening to reveal Sayaka's face and releasing watery musical notes, surrounding the Precure.

"The melody of justice that rises from the sea depths", Sayaka recites, 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 spreads bubbles all around her. "Cure Sharpsong!"

"Haruna-san!", Sayaka exclaims, divided between reprimanding Scorn about the state of the market, or asking about her situation. Meanwhile any Kindabad that gets in the way, inevitably gets punched so they aren't a problem anyway.

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei Hino is not really... here for any of the halloween things. Penguin Park just happens to be relatively local to her shrine. The fact that the miko in her trademark white robe and long red dress is moving through the stalls is just because she happened to be on the way. And the pumpkin spice drink in her hand is because she happened to be in the mood for a drink. It's all coincidence, surely.

    It does taste good, though, and maybe she's a little bit curious about this holiday dedicated to spirits and spooky.

    She actually feels it slightly before it happens. Her precognition, her psychic sense isn't always the most direct, but it does give her a little bit of a warning. Enough that she is able to take a long drink from the frozen drink in her hand and let out a long sigh as she puts it down. The chances of it not making through what's coming is rather high. Dissapointing.

    Especially given the chaos the smaller youma start causing almost immediately! People (not her) were just having fun and being silly! How dare. She reaches into her robe and draws out her red henshin pen, ducking behind a stall while it still exists. Her last thought? That 'prime' youma over there is actually *really big* and she might need to call for backup.

    A lone Kindabad moves over to near where Rei Hino had put her drink down moments before - but before it can throw it to the ground or otherwise demolish it, a ruby-red high heel attached to a teenage girl in a Sailor Soldier Suit comes down at an angle and absolutely slams into it. Landing nearby, Sailor Mars points her finger dramatically at the (honestly quite large) youma and what she can only assume is the bird-themed Dark General directing it. "How dare you ruin the fun of people celebrating a holiday devoted to making the scary fun!" she calls. "And how dare you besmirch the reputation of noble dark-feathered birds!" Oh, she noticed that too. "I am the Pretty Guardian who fights for Love and for Passion! I am Sailor Mars! In the name of Mars, I'll chastise you!" she says, standing tall. And thankfully, a blue Pretty Cure drops in at about that time too.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown had been, admittedly, enjoying the crisp, cool autumn air. It had been a hectic time as of late. Having found the rest of the crew and re-uniting with those who had been missing was a... admittedly... calming effect on him. Although, the recent excursions with Riventon had left their mental marks on him. Not to mention the dealings with the fade. The fact that he was no longer at the point where he could truly hold back anymore... well...

It made his much earlier choices to focus on taking a backrow position, supporting the sparkles, rather than attempting to handle their problems for them, become one he was far, far happier with.

The potential of this world's defenders outshown him every day and it allowed him these brief moments where he could walk, hand in hand with Rashmi, safe and secure...

For he had managed to avoid a fate even more dangerous and dreaded than that of even Riventon, now. A fate that Fenyx had nobly, valiantly sacrificed herself to, in order to allow him and Rashmi to have this gentle, relaxing stroll through the park this evening...

As it was Fenyx who was, somewhere far away... dressed as a great pumpkin with his mother for some office party. And he, here and now, having to pause as he heard the sound of 'Let the future in the mirror...'

He glanced over and... "Scorn?" he asked. He sighed, glancing towards Rashmi... only to pause in mid sentence when he saw the look she gave him.

Ack. His heart. "... Very well, if you insist," he said, giving her a smile, before flicking his hair back and drawing his device's card. With a flash... He was in uniform. Even if he had the most over dramatic card draw... his henshin... was anything but. He held out his hand to her, palm up. "Shall we?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
October has been... *a lot,* as months go. The entire *year* so far has been a lot, but, October has featured no small amount of surprises, annoyances, and difficult, difficult fights.

So when she and Chrono were taking an actual *walk in the Park,* just a moment to themselves, and the call of 'Let the future in the mirror turn terrible!' rang out over the pandscape...

Rashmi was *delighted.*

A simple, straightforward fight! A *Terribad,* even! And Kindabads for a warm-up! The look she turns upon Chrono is bright and hopeful, a silent 'Can we please, pretty please?'

The 'shall we?' that was his answer turned up the wattage on her smile, and with a flash of golden light she joined him in henshin, and took his hand. "Let's do~!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    It reminds Amy of long ago, when every year they'd go to a local farm and pick out pumpkins, and Amanda would try to come up with something weird like a jack-o-lantern with one and a half faces, and Mom would make a costume of whatever videogame character she'd picked this year...

    Halloween has always been special, and she's just heartened to see people getting into it, especially from another culture!

    Deciding what to dress up as this time, though. Sure, she could cosplay a character no one will get. Easily, with costume magic. But... no one would get it.

    Maybe she should do something a little more basic? She does think the majokko look is cute, but... can she really portray a traditional witch? What's the mindset there? Mad scientist is easy to RP but has a bit of an ick feeling to it after fighting Riventon and Yuyami. Maybe she should do a non-horror recognizable archetype? Magical girl is just every day... although, it's not every day she can atually interact with civilians as one.

    In the end, she makes use of costume magic to keep switching when she's out of sight. When Scorn shows up, she's in an elaborate blue dress with lines drawn on her body to indicate 'living doll' and someone rolled with it and asked her questions to see where this goes and she's improvising a backstory of being a magical doll no one can remember that only takes human form near Halloween, and she's relating what it's like to be walking around as something everyone sees as super weird and then forgets, when

LET THE FUTURE IN THE MIRROR TURN TERRIBLE!
    While everyone looks at what's going on or starts running, Amy ducks under a covered table to henshin...

    "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! These people are trying to enjoy Halloween!" Red, cosplaying some anime character, punches a kindabad that's going for pies and sends it flying into one about to smash a pumpkin.

    Backup appears, magical girls giving their justice speeches, and Amy looks around in confusion. "Ah... everyone has intros now?! Uh..." She reverts to her normal costume and strikes a battle pose.

    "Magical Girl Rocket Red's the name, protector of the freedom to be your true self..." She points accusingly at Scorn, "And Halloween's a rare chance for people to embrace and enjoy the weird, which is an important freedom to figure things out!"

    Well, not as snappy as she'd like but she was on the spot!

    "Leave the best holiday alone!"

Scorn has posed:
Water is wet. The sky is blue. Kindabads... get dunked on. What else is new. Scorn isn't backing up the smaller youma. Instead, she's laughing as chaos unfurls and then hears that name that causes her to eye Cure Sharpsong. "Who?" she asks.

Cure Mars gets a look as she makes her introduction and she frowns. "I am the crow witch, Scorn, Court Witch of Queen Mirage, you're just jealous!" she says with a foot stamp.

Amy gets a look and a hard frown. "Oh, it's you. Aren't you always weird?" she asks.

Chrono and Rashmi transform and ready and this is taken note of, but they're not sassing her yet so she turns over to her Terribad and says "PUMPKIN TIME!" she calls out.

"TERRIBAD!" calls the youma as it ... picks up it's own head and throws it at the current one angering Scorn the most, Cure Sharpsong. It may be big enough to splash and catch others with goopy dark energy pumpkin seeds upon impact! It's a big pumpkin bomb!

"HARUNA!" calls from the sky as Cure Tide, another blue Pretty Cure, arrives from the sky and bodies the Terribad in it's now headless torso with a kick from the sky, sending it back a few feet, but not managing to stagger it much.

"STOP THIS!" calls out Cure Tide. She looks to Sharpsong and purses her lips. "Sharpsong! Are you gonna be okay!?" she calls out after seeing that attack.

Scorn looks ready to burst. "WHO THE HELL IS HARUNA!" she calls out in frustration!

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown pulled up his reports on this one. Scorn. Scorn. Right. She was... one of the missing girls. Seemingly kidnapped by one of their enemies and... hmm. Troublesome.

Well, they'd rescued Molly, they'd rescue her, as well, before long. But for now... They needed to finish off this terribad before it turned terrible. His device twirled and he let out a single incantation.

            <<Stinger Snipe!>>

Three light blue orbs appeared before they started rocketing across the battlefield, tearing through ranks of the kindabads before they converged on the terribad, attempting to knock its left foot out from under it, or at least throw it off balance while Cure Tide battled it.

"I know you've heard this before, Scorn... But I am Time Space Administrative Bureau Enforcer Chrono Harlaown, please cease this hostility and throw down your device. All further acts of aggression will be considered as resisting arrest and all necessary steps to ensure the safety of civilians involved shall be taken."

<< And communications establisted. Rashmi, if you would setup the barrier? >> What could he say? she was better at it than he was. And he liked hers more.

"... Oh, right. Happy Halloween," Chrono said. "... This isn't from me, it's from my mother." He paused for a moment, pulled out a small packet from the storage of his device and... tossed it at scorn.

... ... ... Lindy made cookies. *They were going to have so much sugar in them.*

Lindy said to give them to his 'rival cosplayers'. He just... didn't argue at this point.

Rei Hino has posed:
    "Crows are brilliant and noble creatures, who among other things, know better than to associate with Obsidian." Sailor Mars spits out. Right before she jumps back away from the area-of-effect of that pumpkin bomb.

    There's a few Kindabads around, and Sailor Mars has no problem kicking, chopping, and in one case judo-throwing an attacking Kindabad into a bunch of its brethren, but right now her primary goal is in trying to deal with the Headless Badman. "And pumpkins are delicious food that shouldn't be used for evil." she adds. Usagi would probably appreciate that one, she thinks. She's not sure if that makes the line good or bad, really.

    She raises her hands together with her pointer fingers extended like she's made two merged finger guns, though a flare of very real fire erupts at the tip as she points it forward. "FIRE... SOUL!" she calls as the small flame turns into a massive comet of scorching fire that moves for the headless staggered Terribad.

    "Somebody want to clue me in on what's up with the bird-girl?" she calls. If she was present for more than just kicking her butt at the time, she may not remember it.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Roger~! >> Rashmi chirped, launching into the air as flickering wings unfurled from her ankles, and once she gets a few handfuls of meters up off the ground, a spell-seal spreads out beneath her feet.

    << *BONG!* >> << TIME-SPACE BARRIER >>

The yellow-black bubble of staticky magic that spreads out to cover the bulk of the park *does* make everything feel a bit more Halloweeny, casting the world into warm golden-orange light. And with the comms net set up, Rashmi's voice is heard at the back of her allies' minds. << Hello, everyone! Cure Tide-san, could you help Mars-san out with a summary real quick? Oh, also... >>

    << *BONG!* >> << BETA STRIKE -- BOOST UP >>

A pair of wispy golden foxfires appear on either side of her, streaking out to give Sharpsong and Tide a brief, but absolutely effective, melee power-up.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"I thought you had talismans, and fire", Sayaka comments slightly confused when Sailor Mars defends the honour of birds like it's personal. She does have the hair of someone themed after ravens, still.

"As Red said!", Sayaka ends up commenting to the crow witch, and pointing to the witch-themed mermaid resting on her shoulder. "You really should try it yourself. You would probably have fun", she comments with a light nod to the crow dark general.

"A Duh...la-ham?", Sayaka mutters when she sees the detachment and toss of the pumpkin head, trying to remember what the myth was actually named. At the same time a sword made of water manifests in her hand with but a twist of the PreBrace's dial.

The sword cuts the pumpkin in two, and Sayaka waves at Cure Tide. "Hi, Tide. I got this!", she shouts after an almost perfectly parallel cut. And yet the content still explode, throwing Sayaka back with a pained grunt.

"... I got this", she repeats annoyed, stumbling to her feet and clearing her head with a shake. Picking up her sword, the bluenette tosses it at the Terribad with a glare.

Amanda Faust has posed:
Aren't you always weird?
    That... it's something that once would have been a deep cut, and the look on her face shows that it holds some significance, but... "That's right! Because..." she smiles,

    "I am me!"

    "I am here."

    "I love the person I am now!"

    Amy stays clear of the pumpkin head, assuming Sharpsong can handle herself, as she runs towards the terribad and leaps over the tables and booths and uses some kindabads' heads as stepping stones.

    "Because my friends keep showing me that bring weird doesn't mean I have to be hated! And only those like you, who want to fill the world with despair, want people to see it as a bad thing..."

    She flying-leaps at the terribad, conjuring her launcher to fire point-blank at it center of mass, blasting it with an explosion to try and keep it off-balance after Cure Tide hit it and propelling herself back away from it.

    "The future in the mirror... we'll face the terrible parts with our friends, and then the rest can shine bright!"




    After she lands, feeling pretty pleased at the improvised and only half-borrowed speech, she explains to Mars, "This is Scorn, I used to fight her and foil her plans all the time! She does that thing with the feathers, and she works for someone who wants everyone else to be sad I guess. Don't let her trap you in a mirror!"

Scorn has posed:
Scorn frowns as Cure Tide appears and that dumb seagull. Wait that's her crow. "HEY GIVE HIM BACK!" she screams at the Seagull on Cure Tide's shoulder. "Stay away, Haruna, it's for your own good!" squawks back Gully the Seagull.

The Kindabads try to rally and get in the way but are just blown away by attacks and punches and really... a stiff breeze.

Chrono's attack trips up the Terribad after Cure Tide's plow into it from above, and this allows Sailor Mars to light the Jack O Lantern ablaze and cause the Terribad to flail headlessly around trying to put itself out. It damages the youma heavily and eventually it's put out, in time for a sword to cut into the Terribad sticking out of it like a big toothpick before Amy throws it onto it's back. It has to crawl up, holding it's head.... oh right that doesn't exist right now.

The Terribad pulls up a new head from behind itself as Scorn tsks.

"Ugh with the speeches. Always." she says.

"Terribad scare them silly!" she calls out, and the Terribad cackles like a bad halloween decoration from a dollar store. "Terribaddd!" before a bunch of phantom ghosts ghosts fly from it's hands, dark energy projections aiming to pass through them and sap energy!

"This is. Scorn. She is my sister. Don't go easy on that Terribad but..." she frowns.

"I'M NO ONE'S SISTER!" screams Scorn.

"Her real name is Haruna..." "IT IS NOT!" screams Scorn. "-and she's brainwashed." "NO YOU'RE BRAINWASHED BY LOVE AND HOPE AND ALL THIS GARBAGE!" yells Scorn as she motions to all the magical girls.

Rei Hino has posed:
    "A proper lady should be multifaceted. I can have talismans, fire, and an appreciation for my feathered allies." Sailor Mars responds to Sharpsong simply. "And you don't have to 'have' this. You have teammates. *We* have this. Together." she says as she moves over to stand near Sharpsong in a moment of solidarity.

    And then she looks to Amy who gives her kind of a bit of explanation and nods. "Oh, and you were at the game-thing too." she notes to her. "Don't let any of these jerks steal your passion." That advice isn't just limited to Dark Energy Jerks, either.

    Mars nods at the explanation from Scorn, and her frenzied yelling on top of that. "Yeah, that seems about right." she says, shaking her head. "Obsidian can't keep its claws off anything. And do you know how ridiculous you sound?" She asks Scorn as she starts dodging left and right to avoid the Dark Energy ghosts. "We're not brainwashed by love and hope. It drives us. And doesn't it sound better, to be driven by hope and love and passion than by trying to give other people despair and sadness? Listen to yourself, gi-" and she gets cut off by a failed dodge as one of the ghosts flows through her and saps her energy. "Ngh. Also, these aren't even real spirits, but I bet..."

    She jumps up into the air, an ofuda in her grip. She spins and creates a long trail of those paper talismans behind her. "EVIL SPIRITS BEGONE!" She calls as she sprays a storm of the talismans down to (hopefully) banish the 'spirits' before they can cause any more trouble, and (in an ideal world) stun the Terribad momentarily for the others.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Oh, I see, they are your fairies!", Sharpsong grins awkwardly. "That's clear!", she gives her a more relaxed smile. "I am not proper or a lady, but I get it. I go with water, wheels, and swords", she nods sagely, with a slightly embarassed tinge. "Gull is Tide's and Haruna's fairy, so they are a lot closer to you there."

She looks at Scorn still trying to get Gull back. "You want him back, you can have him back anytime", Sharpsong exclaims to the crow witch. "You just need to realise this isn't you. It's what the Phantom Empire wants you to be."

Two Kindabads jumps at her, but Sayaka sidesteps them, and calls on another watery cutlass. Its form flows in the air after them, sending the two minions k.o.

"Let me tell you something, Haruna. I remember how much you and your sister love each other, when I worked with you at Gullwing Coffee. Your parents love you too, and still want you back", Sayaka tries to bolster Tide's attempts to get through to her.

A thorough spin lets her cut a group of Kindabads circling her. "You have to remember, right? Gullwing Coffee, by the beach at Yumegahama. They are still there waiting for you. If they could know about magic, I'm sure they would be here too."

Sharpsong's arm stretches higher, and the other goes to spin the dial on the Love Prebrace. Water starts gathering in mass amounts at the outstretched hand, forming a huge cutlass three times the usual size. "Pretty Cure Sharpsong Bar!", she shouts, tossing the giant sword at the Terribad incredibly fast, panting slightly at the effort.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown sighs as Scorn, once again, decides to ignore sound advice. After all, if she'd just surrender and let them purify her... But no, none of them ever do. If they did, then he supposed Riventon would be ou of a job.

... Wait, where did that Terribad pull that head from? Did it just... No. Wasn't going to think about it.

He'd watched girls literally stop time to *cook* at this point, and there were linker cores outside their bodies. A youma that could pull a new head out of thin air was... not the strangest thing by this point. Freaking lost logia planet. Like rain off a duck's back.

            <<Subzero Blade!>>

Five blades of ice would form around him, before twirling and then launching themselves down, striking the ground surrounding the youma... And turning the floor under it to ice! Hope it was good at ice skating!

Actually, Chrono hoped it was a *terrible* ice skater. Just in time for the phantom ghost to fly towards him! He holds up his left hand, forming a barrier and--

... The ghost goes through it. Of course it does. He wasn't attuned for *specters*. Why would he be? Because he operated in a realm of make believe now, apparently. So-- Gahhhh.

He hated these lost logia. So. Dang. Much. Sometimes. He swore they worked the way they did half the time because they *thought* they did...

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< ...So yeah it's a whole thing, >> Rashmi's mental voice comes in after the back-and-forth. << Anywa-- CHRONO! >>

As the Dark Energy specters tear through Chrono, and others head her way, Rashmi marks the inevvectiveness of her fellow Devicer's shield, curls up, and heads groundward. While she's definitely no ace, she *can* swoop to one side, then the other, to dodge the spectral attacks -- and hiss as the final one catches her foot anyway, sending a truly painful chill up her leg -- and come to rest inches off the ground, standing between Chrono and Scorn, a dozen balls of golden energy lazily orbiting her.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRET -- BLAZE SHIFT >>

As she makes a sweeping gesture, one Barret after another bursts into crackling golden fire, and all twelve launch straight upwards. The attacks revolve around each other on the way up, then arc over and streak *straight.* *Down.* on the Terribad's head. The Barrets themselves aren't terribly damaging, definitely not a patch on a Cure's kick. But what *is* a problem is that the fire they're loaded with *sticks,* and *burns,* and with luck the Spirit Halloween Spirit will be entirely immolated.

Scorn has posed:
The Terribad's ghosts are easily dispelled by the EVIL SPIRITS BE GONE callout, well the ones targeted by it anyways, and indeed, the talismans pass on to the Terribad to stagger it in place. "T..Terribad!?" it calls out in confusion.

Before sliding around on ice and smacking the ground, Cure Sharpshong's giant water sword smacks paydirt and causes it squeal horribly like wind whipping through the craggy trees of a dark forest... oh it's a sound effect again from it. Like a cheap dollar store toy.

Then it's lit on fire with a Blaze Shift from Rashmi, it jumps up and starts cackling and running around trying to put itself out again.

Scorn looks down at her cookies and with a crush crushes them in her hand, Lindy's cookies.... pure sugar, leaking out.

"Enough of this! TERRIBAD!" Terribad! "End these cretins!" she yells, as the Terribad launches barrages of Candy Corn Rockets!

Scorn then angrily looks at Cure Sharpsong. "Who the hell are you!? How do you even think you know this. I mean it's wrong but now you've ANGERED ME!" she yells as she throws a bolt of energy at Cure Sharpsong, a dark energy burst of wind flying out, tinted with black feathers and then Cure Tide's eyes go wide. "SHARPSONG!" she goes and Cure Tide.... jumps in the way.

Cure Tide takes the brunt of a Dark General's attack. Being flung upwards and against a tree with a powerful thud, before sliding down to the front and going momentarily.. unconscious....

This suddenly causes Scorn to pause....and suddenly. That hand is shaking....

"A-aki?" she whispers softly, a strange glazed look in her eyes.

Now's a good time to end the Terribad! And Now may be a good time to try to reach out to Scorn! Or at least the girl she used to be.

Rei Hino has posed:
    Candy rockets. The worst kind of candy at that. Candy Corn. Sailor Mars continues to dodge, though she's grazed by a couple since she's slowed down from the prior energy drain. She winces when Tide takes the attack for Sharpsong; the girl will probably need some help after that. But right now pragmatic Rei-as-Sailor-Mars knows the best way to get her that help is to finish the fight asap.

    Mars focuses for a moment on the telepathic link via Rashmi's Device. <<Looks like something got through to her. Keep that up.>> she says, as she pulls her hands back and begins to generate a truly impressive flare of flame between her open palms, and then throws it forward.

    "YOUMA, DISPERSE!" she calls, putting her all into the attack, to the point where the veritable magic flamethrower that roars out of her hands seems to leave her a little bit exhausted midway through, her body staggering a bit.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blinks at Mars. The advice that Mars gives gets a slightly surprised look from Amy. "Uhhh... yeah, I'm not letting any monster steal attribute from me, don't worry." And then she has to frantically dodge ghosts, which keeps her busy for a few seconds.

    <<Chrono! Shit is he okay?! >> Amy lands clear from the spirits and glares at Scorn. "Guh! You have a point, in how can you tell which side is brainwashed..." Amy points at her again. "But! Are you really happy like this? Or at least satisfied with what you'e giving up happiness for? Or does your heart cry out for something different, but Queen Mirage keeps telling you spreading despair is the only way?!"

    Unfortunately, she keeps talking as rockets rain down around her, mouth and body kind of running partially on autopilot as she suns and dives and leaps and counters candy-corn rockets with her own. "You say we're brainwashed by actually enjoying our lives and that hope is garbage? Think, Scorn!" Amy taps the side of her head as she lands before leaping away from an incoming rocket, "What are you fighting for?! If you really believe hope is meaningless... then why are you fighting, why do you care what happens, unless you hope to spread despair for Queen Mirage!"

    "Doesn't the nonsensicalness of that show that you're the one brainwashed

    Cure Tide is hit... Amy's not a healer. They have to end this quickly. Amy raises her arm and fires something from a large launch tube suddenly braced to it!

    AURA PILLAR!

    A missile streaks into the sky, and then when it arcs back down it's split into a dozen little ones, airbursting over the Terribad to rain down thin piercing beams of orange light!

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Right, of course, Scorn can't understand her through the Veil. Sayaka hesitates for a second, but then speaks up. "I am Sayaka Miki. I normally have short blue hair, not like this. I worked with you during summer", she specifies.

"Wait, Tide!" Sayaka's eyes open wide at the sight of the other Pretty Cure taking the attack for her, and her outstretched arm tries and fail to pull her away. "Can you recognise her now, Scorn?", she asks the Dark General.

"Let's take care of her after this fight, ok?"

"Symphony of Justice, turn into sacred power!", she says, determiney raising her right arm and with her left hand spinning the dial on her wrist. Currents of waters start floating in the air all around Sayaka, momentarily obscuring her body.

"Love PreBrace!" Her voice resounds distorted from within the currents, and they start parting into 10 spheres, gradually becoming more and more defined with each passing moment.

"Pretty Cure Rondo con Toccata! Justice, return to the Heavens!" 10 airborne wheels rotate now in place of the spheres, and Cure Sharpsong points at the Terribad.

Obeying the unsposken order, the wheels speed up, crashing into the youma, and then separating again, forming a circle around It that releases purifying energy.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
HEY! Those were his mother's cookies! There were hummingbirds that could survive off those for a full winter!

<< I'm fine, more shocked than hurt. >> Chrono said, his uniform slightly torn and burnt, but holding. << Forgot sometimes that magic on this planet doesn't like to... it just doesn't. >> Magic just doesn't here. It doesn't.

... Candy corn? Really? Had they not suffered enough? His eyes widened, however, when Cure Tide was launched back. Okay, time to put an end to this.

            <<Stinger Blade!>>

Five swords appeared around him, before spinning and then launching at the youma itself, intending to pierce and pin it down to the ground. He... admittedly... was NOT the best at this talking point. << Rashmi? Sharpsong? I think this is your department. I'll go check on Tide and focus on triage. Sharpsong, I think you're our only purifier here. >>

            <<Stinger Move!>>

He disappeared in a blue arrow, said arrow dashing across the battlefield to appear besides Tide, kneeling besides her and checking her wounds, and readying to grab her and move if need be.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Roger! >> Rashmi calls out, pushing back into the air just in time for Amy to airburst-laser the poor be-flamethrowered Terribad... after which Sharpsong hurls a purifying wheel circle.

Mentally, Rashmi shrugs. One does not become a Devicer without coming to understand the virtue of overkill, after all.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRAGE >>

Barret after Barret after Barret is launched in a rapid-fire stream into the purifying circle, but the bulk of Rashmi's attention is on Scorn herself.

"Haruna-san! You had a life *before* Obsidian, didn't you? Try to think! Try to *remember!* There are *so many people* waiting for you, if you'd just *reach out!* We'll help you, but we need you to *ask!*"

Scorn has posed:
The Terribad gets purified from two sources, that'd be enough for it's self usually, to end it. But then there's missiles and blades that rain down upon it. Followed by barrets. There's just so many attacks raining down on the poor, purified thing as it yells out. "So Relaxing...." before it dissipates into nothing, freeing the pumpkin vendor who is sound asleep on the ground. Drained.

As for Scorn? She just pauses. "I..." she says shaking. "I.. look..."

"Look..."

"LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!" she suddenly screeches, a dark energy aura suddenly forming, powerfully, around her as she points at Cure Sharpsong. "Sayaka Miki. Cure. Sharpsong. You are going to regret this!" she says angrily as she stamps her foot.

"TERRIBAD!" she calls out. "END THIS CURE!" she points. "ALL ATTENTION AT HER!..."

Crickets.

"Oh..." she says, looking to where her Terribad was moments ago. She looks around. "DARNIT!" she yells as she duskports away.. well. That went poorly.

Aki seems fine, and suddenly stirs, holding her head. "OOooowww." she goes.

Rei Hino has posed:
    Sailor Mars takes a staggering step, but remains upright even in her heels. She watches Scorn leave, and exhales. She's out of practice for these fights, apparently.

    After taking a moment to gather herself, she's rushing over to Aki/Cure Tide. "Hey, you alright? Can you walk? How hurt are you?" The stern and ladylike persona vanishes in a moment when someone is hurt and might need help.

    "I think we were getting through to her for a moment, at least..."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
<< I will go right ahead!>> Sharpsong told Chrono when his comment reached her, ready to execute Rondo con Toccata.

After the Terribad is purified and Scorn has duskported away, Sayaka winces at Haruna blaming her for it all, but her thoughts are stopped by Ula asking her to rub her nose. The bluenette obliges, quite used to it by now, and watches magic get sneezed out and form the Florist and Yukata PreCards.

"Are you allergic to flowers?", Sayaka jokes. "No, of course not", Ula predictably replies, and leaves Sayaka to putting her new PreCards in place.

"So your ravens, what do they look like?", Ula asks approaching Mars. She remembers Sayaka talking about how the Sailor Senshi of the Red Planet had saved her where she hadn't even been a Puella Magi, and maybe she could gift her some earrings based on the ravens.

"Take it slow, you took a nasty blow", Sayaka comments, placing a hand on Aki's shoulder.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yeah," Rashmi says, alighting next to Chrono, and giving his own wounds a once-over. "And we'll dig a little further next time, until we break through whatever hold they've got on her." He *says* he's more shocked than hurt, but Dark Energy should never just be left to fester. And since they all seem to have taken some dings...

"Everyone gather round? I'm definitely no Tuxedo Kamen, or even a Saturn, but we all need at least a little pick-me-up."

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR HEAL >>

When everyone who was going to close in does, a yellow Midchildan seal spreads out under all of them, shining up a warm, soothing light that eases aches, soothes Dark-scorched skin, and -- perhaps most importantly -- delivers a shot of energy like finding one's second wind.

"You gonna be all right, Tide-san?"

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
pose blinked a few times when his scans told him something else today.

After defeating youma, apparently the smaller mermaid, something that his device software had helpfully classified as mermaid-m (for minor or mascot he wasn't sure and hadn't really cared to check) could gather the residual magic, once purified, and convert it into a magical card.

He did not know what this card did.

He did know that this card was distributed... Via... Sneezing.

His eye... twitched. Slightly. He had questions. But most of them were to the universe. And reality. And he'd long since given up on getting any answers at this point.

"Doesn't seem to be anything too serious," Chrono said. And fortunately, Rashmi had kept up on that spell. Her efficiency with it truly was impressing even him.

Amanda Faust has posed:
LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!
    "Ugh, you still won't listen..."

TERRIBAD! END THIS CURE!
    Amy sweatdrops. "...or pay attention to what's happening around you, apparently..."

    Aaand she's gone. Amy starts walking over to Cure Tide, but looks over when she hears Ula sound like she's about to sneeze -- and stares as she sneezes out PreCard.

    Amy dimly recalls seeing this happen before, but... "...How does that work? How does that even... why does she... you purified the... it didn't leave anything behind, but instead Ula sneezes? What happens if two Cures are there, do they--"

    She looks at the seagull expectantly, waiting to see if it also sneezes a PreCard, or hacks up a PreCard, or something.

    When it doesn't, she looks over to Aki, "Um, you OK?" And also looks down at her own soul gem. Just a little corruption from that, not even a sixth... but it's best to keep topped off. She purifies her soul gem, and

    There's a tiny sliver of darkness still left in it. She sighs and puts the full grief seed away. Hopefully this Halloween she doesn't have to put down another ancient and powerful Witch or anything...