961/Star Search Concert

Star Search Concert
Date of Scene:	03 January 2024
Location:	Indoor Amphitheatre
Synopsis:	Easter's plan to pull Heart Eggs and Energy from an entire concert comes up against Sailor Moon, Yellow Pearl Voice, Hope Blossom... and Ikuto?!
Cast of Characters:	Utau Hoshina, Hinoiri Kirara, Usagi Tsukino, Madoka Kaname, Coco Kiumi, Ikuto Tsukiyomi
Tinyplot:	The Project

---

Utau Hoshina has posed:
    It's far too cold for an outdoor concert, but Tokyo of course has plenty of indoor spaces for the arts. Today, all of those who earned a ticket from participating in Easter's Star Search Series of talent-seeking interactions - and those who didn't go but managed to get a ticket or come with someone who did, since each ticket is really for two seats. Judging by the fact that the locale in question is -jam packed- with mostly junior-high and highschool age girls, the Star Search had a huge turnout.

    DARTS performed first - the boy band was alright, but to put it in mild terms, they were 'heavily produced' with a lot of stage effects and audiovisual clutter. And probably at least one of them lipsynching. Still, the high pitched noises that some of the girls emitted was a testament, if not to their ability, than to the power of Easter's (and Obsidian's) powerful marketing machine, given how much advertising and entertainment spaces they controlled.

    But the real star of the show is Japan's current #1 idol, Utau Hoshina. The three-colored boy band leaves the stage, to be replaced by a blonde girl with long twintails, wearing a black dress, microphone in hand. Utau took a breath. This is for her brother. And... it was fun, right? Being a bad guy. If she didn't want to cause mayhem, disorder, destruction, why would she have a chara that reveled in it? Of course that discounted the other character, but El was always easy to discount, being meek and weak. She was pretty sure Il had beaten her other Chara up as she walks on stage.

    The magic-aligned there will be able to see the little devil chara sitting on her shoulder as she begins to sing.

    And it's the opposite of the DARTs performance - if anything, Easter's production and technical ability can only take away from Utau's vocal talent, her voice hitting the notes as she wraps her hands around the microphone and sings with real, true passion and capability.

    She's only putting a light bit of magical energy into the song, as she implores the audience to dream big, to hope big, to chase the unattainable. But there is magic. Not Dark Energy. If it wasn't for the Chara, it might be hard to tell if that magic was even intentional, or just an effect of the emotional power she puts into the words.

    As Utau sings and comes to the close of her first song, several Easter employees backstage begin to smile wickedly, however, particularly one Yukari Sanjo. The second song would take advantage of the foundation the first song built, soon, as Utau stands almost awkwardly on stage as the crowd cheers loud enough to rock the venue.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker was backstage, in her suit. She adjusted the tie for a moment, before gently swirling a finger around. One of her towers were there, although this time it wasn't expelling anything. Instead, it was tied in with some of the machines, the dark gem glowing with dark energy.

"Sanjo-san, prep work is done," Sunbreaker said. "If my calculations are correct, and when are they not, her song should be amplified by at least 14.7."

She had to give it to Gaito and the Dark Lovers. Yami No Baroque had helped set the foundation for this, between their song, her own music, KKF orchestral magic and now Utau's Meikyuu Butterfly? She was well on her way. More importantly, they'd help set the precedent for Project Eclipse. More importantly, this little assist was going to help her get Easter to help back her project. Everything was going according to plan.

She snapped her fingers and the gem began to spin in its field. "Whenever she's ready."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
DARTS might be an overproduced boyband, but Usagi Tsukino is in the 9th grade and that means she's a hopping, yelling, cheering mess of a person, excitedly singing along with the crowd. She might not have been the Star that they were searching for, but she's delighted to be here.

It's when Utau comes out - the number one idol - that things get a little interesting.

After all, there's a fairy with her, and Usagi's seen those a few times now. That means - the biggest teen idol in Japan is a magical girl?!?!

"No one's going to believe this," she mutters, but shares the message over her communicator anyway.

SAILOR MOON to EVERYONE: Utau's a magical girl!!!! Can you believe that?! We really are everywhere!! Even on the idol charts!!!

LUNA to SAILOR MOON: This is hardly news to send out over the communicators, Sailor Moon!

Huff! Dumb Luna, what did she know?!

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    How Madoka Kaname managed to get a ticket here is anybody's guess. She hasn't played an instrument in a very long time, and she was beyond rusty, but Lydian's insistence and magic probably helped her along the way. Or maybe someone noticed her Chara and wanted a closer look.

    Of course, Madoka knows by now what Easter is really all about, and so her guard is up. She's here, and Lydian is here, and Sio is here. Who is Sio? Another minidoka Chara, clearly, but this one with a short bobcut wearing a tiny pink suit.

    Madoka side-eyes her little fairies. Their outfits are getting slightly more outlandish as time goes on.

    The DARTS performance was... interesting. There was so much loudness from the crowd and so many flashing lights that Madoka thought for a moment she might have stumbled into a Labyrinth. She didn't really have strong feelings about the boyband itself, and was almost quietly happy when they left the stage.

    "I'm surprised Gretchen-chan hasn't shown up," says Madoka, looking around at the crowd."

    "I can feel her somewhere nearby," mentions Lydian, "but she's not getting any closer. She might not want to approach Easter so directly."

    "Of course. She's our lookout!" says Sio. "In case the baddies show up!"

    Madoka whispers low, "Sio-chan, I'm pretty sure the baddies are already here..." The Bearer is also sure that Sio is making that up, because coordination is not something her Chara are particularly skilled at.

    Their conversation is cut off as Utau's song starts to play, and none of them are unaware of the magic weaved into the notes. The effects don't really seem all that bad. Dreaming big is a good thing, right? Madoka ponders for a moment if 'dreaming big' has different connotations for Easter or Obsidian than it does for her. Then again, probably not really, since aspirations for godhood are probably even more common among them.

    Utau's fairy does not go unnoticed by Madoka and the two minidokas. Nor are Lydian or Sio particularly hiding from anyone aside from being invisible to non-magicals.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Concerts are fun, regardless of the side you happen to be part of, and it's no wonder Coco would want to join an event that's all about singing. She certainly would be looking forward to it, and have quite the enthusiasm towards it. If it weren't for one detail, at least.

Namely, the Easter Company managing the event being affiliated with Obsidian. Of course, not all Obsidian does actually ends up being magically nefarious (she doesn't know enough about the nefarious of the regular variety: that would defeat the point of having a front.

Nonetheless, that's enough to make her cautious when approaching the event. She isn't letting her guard down, and she is all the more worried when the devil Chara pops up. Not because of its appearance, but because she would figure Utau would get involved and she doesn't know how Coco ought to behave on that front.

At least other magical girls are also here, so she isn't the only one to have to remedy things if the event turns out for the worse. But for now, she is here to sing.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto was here for his sister first and foremost, but had some curiosity to sate as well. Why was Utau working for Easter? Was she being blackmailed like he had been? He was lurking about backstage playing the role of a loyal Easter employee despite having not answered a single call from the Director's office in quite some time. Yoru was sitting around near the stage eating a snack of some sort, likely stolen from a vendor, while Ikuto did his "boring detective work".

Ikuto kept a calm demeanor as he moved around the backstage area, ears open for any hint of nefarious activity on Easter's part when another employee called out to him. "Tsukiyomi-san? I didn't know you still worked here!" Ikuto shrugged in response, not wanting to get caught up in a conversation.

Utau was already going to be annoyed that he wasn't watching at the start of her performance; he needed to find something he could work with and get back to the stage so he could watch his little sister sing, or there'd be hell to pay.

Utau Hoshina has posed:
Utau steels herself. Big breath. Big breath. She can do this. She's being backed up by the wierd fire-headed girl, and by her manager, and it's not like she can back out now, is it? Il floats up to her ear and whispers. "Come on, look out at them. They're weak, and if you don't do this Easter will think you're weak too." the little devil chara says.

    "And if you're weak... how can you help Ikuto? He probably didn't tell you about his problem because he thinks you're not able to help." Il knows where to kick her Bearer where it hurts, and Utau's grip on the microphone grows tighter. She looks to Sanjou and nods. Sanjou looks back to Sunbreaker and the Easter Technicians and nods. The stage dims and in a flash of purple, devil wings appear on her back. Easy enough for the common fans to write off as a special effect. But much harder for the magically aware. That's magic.

    And this time, when she begins to sing, there's absolutely Dark Energy woven into the song. The song is melancholy.

    As you fall asleep, are you somewhere also
    Having a happy dream?
    Kiss the starry sky. It's time for good children to go to sleep.
    Don't look at me, don't catch me.
    I'm a butterfly who got lost.
    I sing freely with these wings no one can see.
    They're hiding in your heart.
    The memories in the mirror
    Of when I was a cry-baby.
    But I'm not a child anymore.
    I untied my long hair.
    Don't look at me, don't catch me.
    I'm a butterfly who got lost.
    It's too dear, it's too precious.
    It's going to break, the key to my heart.

    And as Utau sings the song that flows through the room, empowered by the machinations of both Easter and Sunbreaker... small, ovalish black semi-spheres begin to rise out of many of the children there, glowing with black-purple energy before becoming ebony-black with white X's visible on them. As they do, as Utau's song begins to magically urge them that the dreams they had are unattainable, that they should give up such childish pursuits, a slow energy drain causes them to appear lethargic while their eyes are looking without seeing, shattered dreams and stolen energy taking a toll.

    A couple of Easter Technicans poorly sneak onto stage with a shop vac, turning it on and pointing it towards the eggs, aiming to collect them.

    Utau continues to sing, eyes closed, not watching.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker couldn't help but sideeye when they went onto stage... with shop vacs. Seriously? Just... wow.

Wow.

WOW.

She was about to sing a song about how Easter needs to get into the modern era. Why not just use some net cannons? Geez. SOME people needed to up their game, people!

Okay so she really wasn't the right person to judge. However, as the air filled with eggs... her role finished. The gem in the tower twirled a few times then let out a low chirp. "Perfect," she said. "Thank you very much for your assistance, Sanjo-san, I'll have your copy on your desk by this evening." The tower then disappeared in a small flurry of black sparks. Her analyzing job was done. Now?

She snapped her fingers and was enveloped in flames. A moment later she was out of the suit, instead in a middrift exposing black sweeter, red baggy pants that only went halfway down her leg on the right side, and lots of buckles and tags that looked like a mismatch 'backup singer don't look too close because not the main feature' outfit.

She might have felt bad about this. But you know what? Dreams were *stupid*. She'd had them once, and they'd been snatched from her. It wasn't like it would hurt these kids to realize all of their hopes and dreams meant nothing in the end. They should give up on them now and just focus on reality.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The next song is melancholy and sad, the kind of music that draws wistful tears to the eye, that sees the recollection of sad, bad memories. Usagi's always been a soft at heart, quick to cry, and remembering her life as Princess Serenity has, surprise surprise, not made her any tougher. The song isn't out of the first verse before she's tearing up -

And by the second verse the Silver Crystal is faintly glowing beneath her shirt, combatting the effects of Dark Energy in the music. All around her, fellow contest-goers start staring up, up, and off into the distance, eggs rising up above them, and the staff with their shop-vacs - really?! - start coming out...

And Usagi Tsukino drops down around the senseless concert-goers, compact in hand.

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

From a wash of light comes Sailor Moon, who rises to her tiptoes, straining to be seen amidst the crowd. "Evil doers who take advantage of the love of music! This concert was a reward and a surprise for everyone who participated in the search for stars! I, Sailor Moon, will not forgive you for taking advantage of these music-loving hearts! In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

And then she launches her tiara at one of the shop vacs.

"Moon Tiara Action!"

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Yoru's mouth was hanging open, and a piece of candy fell out as he watched the scene unfolding before him. In a flash he was dashing away as fast as his tiny paws could carry him, yelling as loud as he could. This was quite loud. "IKUTO! IKUUUUUUUTOOOOOOOOO!! HURRY, HURRY HELP THEY'RE DOING EVIL STUFF!!"

Ikuto nearly tripped over himself when he heard what could only be his Chara practically shrieking for his assistance. This was NOT the signal they'd agreed for Yoru to give if something bad went down while he was away, and it was going to draw unnecessary attention to both of them if there happened to be anyone else with magical tendencies anywhere within a good 100 meters. Maybe 200 with how loud the cat was screaming. Still, it must be serious, so Ikuto dropped the calm, determined walk of someone who belonged backstage and turned back towards the stage area, running as fast as he could. A pair of technicians were moving a spotlight and not wanting to slow down, he leapt over them.

Nearing the stage he could see more staff wheeling around...vacuum cleaners? Then Yoru was on his shoulder, shouting very loudly. "THEY'RE STEALING HEART EGGS WITH THE VACUUMS!!!"

Ikuto thought for a moment about if he should interfere. Utau wouldn't be helping Easter without a good reason, right..? But he had made his choice already. He picked a side. He couldn't just let Easter have its way. "Damnit..." he grumbled as he ran at the nearest person with a vacuum cleaner, jumping into the air and delivering a flying kick to his head. "Drop it!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    At first, Madoka was vibing with this concert. Another Chara Bearer, she thought. Maybe they could be friends at some point. Not that it'd be easy to be friends with an idol, but if they were both magical girls they'd have at least one thing in common, right?

    Then the dark energy comes, and the black eggs start floating. Madoka's eyes go wide as she mutters. "Those... look just like Gretchen's..."

    The despair hits her from two ways, one part from the song itself, and another part from the thought that other Chara might get hurt the same way that Gretchen was.

    Suddenly shouting, Madoka calls out, "That's enough!" Pointing her finger at Utau, she demands, "Put them back, right now!"

    The shop vac does not escape the pinkette's notice, and without hesitation Madoka decides to henshin right here, in front of everyone. Well, everyone who isn't dazed or zoned out at least. "My Heart: Unlock!"

    Lydian's egg merges with Madoka's heart, and her henshin armor washes over her. Hope Blossom leaps over the crowd in the way that only a magical girl can, and she has a pink arrow drawn and pointed directly at one of the Easter employees.

    "I'm giving you five seconds to turn that off and back away."

    It's then that she notices the tiara headed for one of the shop vacs and says, "Wait! You might break the eggs!"

    Madoka fires at the shop vac's power cable, and then kicks the vac itself to get it out of the way.

    Sio, meanwhile, is hanging back and looking at things from a distance. Notably, she's keeping an eye on Utau, who has already revealed herself as magic, to see what the dark magical girl is going to do.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
And, right on cue, sparkle skirts. Righ--

Crud, it's the po-po! Err, the Moon girl! Sailor Moon! There was a small gnawing of guilt. Crud. She still... kind... of owed Sailor Moon for saving her life that one time. But she couldn't just--

OH LOOK, ANOTHER ONE! Arrows, moon tiara at one of the shop vacs.

And someone else causing issues? She heard someone yelling about 'they're doing evil things'? Who in the...

Stealing heart eggs with vacuums. Ah. Perfect. Her eyes focused on the boy running at one of the vacuum wielders. She darted out in a blast. To most, it would look like one of the background dancers was covering for a stage tech. But her arm reached out, catching the kick with her hand...

Except it was actually with telekinetic magic because she didn't... really... do hand to hand. Instead, she held him there for a moment. Do a little spin and--

"Ikuto?!" she asked, her eyes going wide. She dropped him, then reached out, to shove his chest with her palm.

Daaaaaance battle!

"What are you doing interrupting your little sister's work? You know, maybe showing her a little support might be nice." Wow, there was just a hint of bitterness in that voice.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The bad thing about songs laced with dark energy is that mermaid princesses are particularly sensitive about it for better or for worse, and Coco can certainly feel its effects when Utau begins singing, as the talk of broken dreams seeps into her mind.

Yet, the song doesn't quite have the torturing impact she is familiar with from the Black Beauty Sisters. Instead it's a more of an insidious venom that wants her to surrender, trying to undermine her will. The mermaid has to push back against the honey-coated assault of Utau's voice as she reaches for the intimacy of her being, the blessing that defines her existence.

The Yellow Pearl shines from the secluded place she is at when she was supposed to be waiting for her turn, the turn of events she feared would happen requiring a bit of skipping to the queue. "Yellow Pearl Voice!" she declares, the pearl in her shell locket responding to her will and starting to shine with a yellow light. A kaleidoscope of colours covers Coco's clothes as those change into her yellow gloves and boots with flowy extensions, as well as a yellow blouse with a yellow skirt, while her pearl expands into her trusty E-Pitch microphone, its blue shape settling comfily into her hand, the jewel nestled safely in the head's center.

When she turns up, dear friends are already there, and the speech in the defense of music from one of them and the care the other is showing for the eggs is enough to give her motivation an extra boost to bring purity and splendour back to the stage. Inside the shine of her Live Stage, Yellow Pearl Voice smiles at Sailor Moon and Hope Blossom. "I am so happy seeing you here. Let's bring positivity back to the concert." And she begins singing under the aegis of the Seven Seas in her heart.

"Birth of Love: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!"

Love and dreams will become one

Because I"ll turn the sad "now" into stardust for you,
Believe in yourself..

Hold pride to the fact that you were born.
Don"t cloud up the strongly shining, angelic gaze towards you.

For the sake of this dream, if you can lend me your strength, I want to be born.
I want to become love...

I'm always gazing at you from your side.
Don"t fear journeys. You can go forth in them with your blinding courage...

Utau Hoshina has posed:
The Tiara only misses because of Madoka's intervention - it's not like the employees were gonna get in the way. They take advantage of Madoka's five seconds... In fact, given that soon Sunbreaker is interposing herself between the employees and a kicking catboy - they didn't sign up to fight any of this. They just immediately turn and run. Sanjou-san doesn't, though. She only frowns and keeps an eye on things with her clipboard in hand. The shopvac is at least off now, severed by Madoka's arrow, though you can hear the squeaky, high-pitched sound of trapped X-eggs as the shopvac rattles around on stage now.

    "Utau, deal with this." the manager-looking lady says. "You can't get what you want if they interfere." she says.

    Utau frowns as she is cut off by Yellow Pearl Voice's interference. "This is my concert. They're my fans." she says, perhaps urged on more by Il than normal. "Look out there at them. All they are is future nobodies. I'm doing them a favor, and at least getting something out of their dreams." she says. She has to talk big. She has to act big. She can't be weak - especially not now that Ikuto's here. But he's... attacking Sunbreaker? This ends her concentration, and most of her magic - and lets the Yellow Pearl Voice's music start to counteract her music, turning the X eggs back to white - slower than Utau turned them to black, more of a one at a time in a series thing - but reducing the amount of X-eggs in the room.

    "You came to MY concert to try to outshine me? In that outfit?!" Utau half-yells, half frustrated screams. "Nobody UPSTAGES ME!"

    "Nightmare Loreli!" Utau yells while extending her hand, causing a storm of Dark Energy black bats to surge forward and towards the other singer, towards that voice - who, frankly, is most of who Utau is focusing on.

    Sanjou-san looks over to Ikuto and Sunbreaker and raises an eyebrow. "Hmmm." is all she says from behind her glasses and clipboard.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
At 'you might hurt the eggs' Sailor Moon squeaks and jerks, causing the tiara to fly away from the shop vac and the eggs it could have damage, while the goons run off. However, that still leaves cosmic tiara flying around, so whistles back to her hand.

"Good point," she squeaks, "It's good to see you, Yellow-chan! Arrows-chan, nice to meet you!"

When Utau transforms, her jaw drops, and she grabs at her communicator. SAILOR MOON to EVERYONE: Utau's a bad guy! There's a people taking like, eggs from everyone! And Utau's got devil wings! I'm pretty sure those are a bad sign!!!

Message taken care of and Utau's secret identity totally blown, Sailor Moon then focuses on the fight - or well, on... Sunbreaker? Fighting - Some Guy?! And hey, wait - some of the black eggs are turning white...

Is this a corruption thing? In that case - the Moon Stick comes to her hand, Silver Crystal shining brightly in the crescent moon and Sailor Moon sweeps it up and into the air, carving a golden circle in the air from which beams of light burst free.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

Taste the purification, X-Eggs!

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom winces at Sailor Moon for a moment and says, "Sorry..."

    As for the Easter Employees, she just lets the minor mooks flee. She's not feeling any magic from them, and if she actually made good on her threats she'd probably just end up with one more reason to not sleep well at night. With Sunbreaker fighting Ikuto and Yellow facing Utau, Hope focuses more on figuring out how to open up the shop vac.

    "It's Hope Blossom," she responds to Sailor Moon, "and we've actually met a couple times I think, though last time we didn't really have time to talk. I should actually say thanks, since you helped save me a long time ago." To Yellow, she smiles, "I'm glad you're here, too. Let's do our best, okay?"

    This shop vac not a model she's used to, but she's not sure she feels any magic other than the tiny black eggs inside. She circles around the thing as she muses and ponders. Eventually she starts pushing random buttons and tugging on random things, looking for a hatch. Sio eventually floats over to her Bearer and stage whispers. "It comes off here, see? It's not like a normal vacuum that your papa would use."

    "Oh!" Blossom looks closer at the handles, and then attempts to take the whole top off. It takes her a second because she's really not used to messing with shop vacs in particular.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto flops backwards, not at all expecting the telekinetic attack. This girl getting in his way...someone else working with Easter? How did she do that without even touching him? His cat ears and tail appear as the annoyance he feels sparks a Chara Change. "Oh, is that how this is gonna go? Who are you, even; another person tricked into helping Easter with their dirty work?"

Yoru shouts out "DO THE THING IKUTO!" and the catboy nods. "I don't want to hurt you, but now I'm pretty annoyed. Here's something I've been saving for a bad day! PHANTOM PAW! Er...PHANTOM CLAW!"

Accompanied by the loud sound of a cat growling, a giant ghostly cat's paw appears above Ikuto's head, then flies out towards Sunbreaker.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Sunbreaker is here too, but she isn't joining with the Baroque of Darkness Coco knows she has. Instead she is fighting some guy over there. Please, hang in there, whoever you are.

Utau takes particular offense to having to share the spotlight and her fans possibly being stolen from her. The degrading opinion she has of them, frankly, is an affront to all that music should be, and were Aqua Regina here, she would look on at Utau with heart-wrenching sadness. She is not a demon, is she? She is an actual human that is acting as an agent of despair. Turn back, she would ask, this way isn't for you, dear child.

But Coco is the one that's here, and it falls to her to defend the light that music is supposed to be spreading. "No, music is something special, a balance of your heart with those that listen to you. It's an uplifting experience that reaches to chords deep in your soul. You are taking the wrong path, and I can't just stand on the side as you walk down through it happily! You can do much better than this."

And dark energy bats come after her, and Coco has to react quickly before she is hit. Another Live Stage is summoned and by Coco's song it flies towards the bats with the intent to intercept them and have them estinguish each other. Meanwhile the mermaid princess keeps singing her purifying melody, trying to keep up the pace.

To shine a light in the dark galaxy,
the meaning of the light of life with which I was born.
I will pass it to you.

For the sake of love,
If you are going to use that power
the map of the future written out for you can be changed.

For the sake of this dream, I want to be born...
I want to become love...

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker glanced towards the other girls. Damn it. She had to help Utau. She held up her right hand, a microphone headset appearing on her head and started to sing. Adding her song to Utau's... The purification began to slow and--

PHANTOM CLAW!

And claw from the front seats! CRUD! Sunbreaker spun back around, narrowly avoiding, her song ceasing. The support fading. "I thought you were supposed to be on her side?" Sunbreaker snapped. "Fine, then." She snapped her finger and the headset disappeared. A gem appeared on her right arm and a long, shadowy eel flowed out from it, disappearing into the shadows... then rising up from Utau's a moment later. It dove forward into Utau's microphone, amplifying it! Well, she had to deal with the other girls while she dealt... well...

Ugh. "Sunbreaker, by the way. One of your little sister's friends. You know, she really hoped you'd come and see her. But I didn't think you'd try and ruin her performance."

Then she was there, darting towards him, whipping a hand out, and like... to most people? It wouldn't look like she'd even hit him. But those with magic could see the dark energy lashing off her hand, a magical claw of her own designed to bat him away and, hopefully, off the stage.

Utau Hoshina has posed:
"Well, this is just fantastic." Yukari Sanjou says, from her position leaned against a wall. Ikuto's not been taking calls and now? Now he's trading blows with Sunbreaker. With the magic muscle they had to bring onboard BECAUSE THE CAT WASN'T AROUND. And now Utau was standing alone against the three other girls. At least Sunbreaker has the presence of mind to help.

    "Don't try to fight them, just keep singing." Yukari calls. And then, Yukari sneaks past the ongoing fight (bettter than the previous Easter employees did.) - over to that shop-vac.

    Utau heeds her manager's instructions and sings back - since it's clear the stages will be able to intercept the bats - her song is not sad, though. It's is about a bitter anger, a promise that she has to keep, a fight she has to have. The power from Sunbreaker's familiar aids it, causing black energy to wave through the room, a visible representation of her song and Yellow Pearl Voice's.

    Back at the shop-vac, Hope Blossom and Just A Manager Really Yukari Sanjou are looking at each other as Madoka goes to open the hatch. She leans down on it. "No! You can't! These are mine!"

    Moon Healing Escalation sweeps through the room, and changes the balance of power - wheras before Utau's song, enhanced by Sunbreaker's familiar in the microphone, was starting to win, the Escalation is like a surge of pure energy that aids the song. And starts to cure more of the X-Eggs.

    Including, apparently, the ones trapped in the shop-vac, as they start to thud against the lid, before breaking out, causing the lid to hit Sanjou-san in the face a few times as the white eggs escape and more keep going back to their owners.

    "OW!" Yukari cries, part of her face turning red as she backs up. Well, now she's injured, the eggs are getting purified, and she can hardly hear Utau's song over the bright yellow girl's. "Utau! Forget this!" she calls. "Come on." she adds, trying to get the girl to come back.

    "I can beat her!" Utau yells back. "I won't lose to someone like her!"

    "You're gonna lose to three of them, though." Yukari responds, and Utau's eyes narrow. "FINE. THIS ISN'T OVER!" she says before hurling the microphone, burning through the air with Dark Energy, at Yellow Pearl Voice in magically-enhanced anger before stomping backstage with Yukari - literally leaving Dark Energy footprints.

    "Sunbreaker! Cover us!" Yukari calls as Utau and her manager attempt to escape into the cavernous concert backstage.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Hope Blossom! Perfect! I'm pretty good at names, so I'll remember for sure - I remember, we ran into each other, but I didn't really remember a name, hahahaha..."

Sweatdrop. There's a person running over to the Shop Vac, and as Moon Healing Escalation sweeps through to purify the eggs, Sailor Moon rushes over to help - just in time to see that lady yelling at Hope Blossom. Wow, rude! "These aren't yours - they belong to everyone here, who came to see a concert you ruined!"

And the eggs seem to agree, as they bounce, bounce, bounce out. With Utau fleeing, Sailor Moon calls to her back, "I've always been a big fan of yours!! Be nicer to the rest of your fans!!"

But otherwise, she's not going to attack fleeing enemies. Instead, she turns to look at Sunbreaker - the last time they'd seen each other, she'd helped her. And now...

"Want to call this quits? We didn't beat you, it's just not worth your time?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco barely has the time to call up a Live Stage to once again block the attack, now not by estinguishing each other, you can't exactly do that with a physical objected that has just been enhanced by dark energy, but by trying to trap it within its confines. It's hard, and it's still trying to crack the repelling effect as Coco's purifying tries to get it to hold out.

"Don't give up, my mermaid princess", a soft voice says as a blindingly white light from the winged scepter a woman with extremely long blond hair wearing a white dress is holding as she shows up. "Dear children, you are doing well, safeguarding people's dreams so perfectly. The world couldn't ask for better guardians."

'Aqua Regina', Coco thinks, the comforting figure of the mother all mermaid princesses hold dear a renewed source of determination. Her heart sings louder than ever, the beautiful melody overcoming the darkness and purifying energy becoming visible through the stage.

Aqua Regina turns to Madoka, a serene smile towards her. "We meet again, pure Blossom of Hope. I thank you for fighting alongside Coco with your valiant spirit. Please, don't surrender. There is nothing you can't overcome as long as your heart holds. Accepts this gift, a promise of the bond between land and sea."

Light exits from Aqua Regina's scepter and floats down to Madoka in the form of a pure white pearl.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka only just barely notices the totally mundane Yukari's approach, focused as she is on the shop vac. As the lid pops open, and pops the manager in the face, Madoka at first winces emphatically... only for her to finally register what she just said.

    "So you're in on this, too? Don't go assuming that people's dreams are up for grabs! These belong to the children you stole them from! W-wait... don't just leave while during my justice speech!"

    Despite her complaints, they are totally leaving during her justice speech. She stands there with her mouth agape, mildly offended despite the fact that a smarter, wiser corner of her brain is telling her to shut up and let this happen.

    Sailor Moon snaps her out of it, and she says, "Well, I'm not sure we really had time to talk, actually. It was pretty hectic."

    Hope hears Moon talking to Sunbreaker, and the pinkette's eyes go towards the last remaining villain. She kindof fidgets with her branch bow while glancing between the two, silently hoping that Sunbreaker actually will just decide it's not worth her time.

    Sio, actually, is the one who speaks to Sunbreaker. Her arms are crossed and she wears a look of restrained annoyance. "I mean, really, no one would blame you for walking out on this. Your coworkers have been really unprofessional about this whole thing. It's totally not your fault how this all happened."

    Madoka's head turns towards the Mermaid Queen as she once again appears. "Aqua Regina..." she says, remembering her name from the other day. As the pearl floats towards her, Madoka holds out a hand to accept it. She looks down at the small jewel, and holds it between her fingers. Whatever this is, it's clearly magic.

    "You're... giving this to me?" The pinkette blinks, and then smiles, holding it up to catch the light. "What is it?"

    Madoka doesn't have too much time to admire it, since Sunbreaker is still technically here. She keeps an eye out on the last remaining member of Team Evil, just in case she decides to stay and keep causing trouble.

    "I don't think that dreams are stupid," calls out Hope Blossom. "Even futile dreams have value if they give you a brighter future to strive for."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
"Is her last name Smith..?" goes through Ikuto's slap-rattled head as he gets swatted off the stage like a mosquito in the summer heat. He crashes down onto a group of concertgoers, and Yoru floats over and pouts as the catboy slowly gets up.

"O-ow...give me a moment, Yoru. Ugh, my head..." Ikuto crawls away from the crash site, trying to clear his head. That hurt a lot more than he expected it to. And...was that Madoka he'd seen on the stage? There was someone else singing too, and another girl using magic of some sort.

"Damnit, get it together Ikuto!" He shakes his head, looking to Yoru. "Let's go. Black Lynx!" Yoru flies at him, the pair combining in a flash of navy blue light as Black Lynx takes the stage, glaring at Sunbreaker with his tail flicking back and forth. He looks around and sees that there are indeed three others dealing with this situation in addition to him, and calls out. "Hey uh...Madoka, and other two girls! Well I guess Madoka already knows who I am, but I'm Ikuto! That was my little sister who just ran off with that red-faced lady. And you..." He turns back to Sunbreaker. "Sunbreaker. You can walk now, but if you don't I'm not holding back."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker glanced back to Yukari. Gosh darn USELESS FLANK WEREWO-- MANAGER! But, you know what? Sunbreaker was being paid for this either way. And you know what? Sure, she almost ate a paw trying to help, but supposedly this boy was SUPPOSED to be Utau's muscle/protector/big brother. And even he turned on her.

Rude.

Still, she covered them! And... And... "Wait... what?" she asked, narrowing her eyes on Sailor Moon. "... Whatever. I don't really wanna fight you or your upgraded can opener anyway." Especially when a... white robed lady came down and gave... Hope... a pearl? Oh great NOW THERE WAS MORE OF THEM! Well, time to defeat Hope with the TRUTH! "And futile dreams are a waste of TIME!" she yelled at Hope Blossom. Ugh. UGH!

She snapped her fingers and fire erupted around her, covering her in her normal getup. Spiked jacket and all. She was getting ready to leave...

And then she saw Ikuto. Become Black Lynx. And... Then paused. Looked to Hope. "Madoka?" she asked, confusion on her face. Wait. WHAT?! "Since when did you get an upgrade? UGH! Whatever! I did my part anyway. Fine. FINE. I'm leaving. But before I do..." Her fists clenched and she stormed over to Black Lynx. And just...

"This is your little sister's hard work *for you*. The least you could do is support her, you selfish prick. Not come and ruin it over a silly thing like impossible dreams. And another thing. Next time you decide to fight some..." And then she just full on slapped him. HARD. If he weren't henshined, that likely would have left an imprint on his cheek. "Do a PROPER henshin! Do you have ANY idea how upset she would have been if I had accidentally KILLED you because you were too stupid to PUT UP SOME BUCKING DEFENSES?!" she snapped at him, the fury paramount in her voice. "You! Moon! Teach this jerk some stupid SURVIVAL instinct! Sunbreaker OUT!" She then disappeared in a flurry of flame!

... A minute later she came walking out from the backstage...

... "Hurry up you obnoxious pet."

Her familiar slided out of the microphone... and sheepishly came back to her. "Okay, NOW Sunbreaker out."

Flame on! Poof.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Now that Sunbreaker has left the premises, things are much more relaxed and Coco can undo her Live Stage, as well as the Live Stage still trapping the microphone, which falls to the ground. Except Sunbreaker comes back" to call at something, and the familiar comes out of to join its owner, who then actually goes away. Is it for real this time...? Talk about having unfinished business.

It seems like things have finally calmed down though, and Coco looks at Aqua Regina, still relieved by her presence. "You are here again", the mermaid princess comments with joy, as if they hadn't seen each other just recently. "Yes, and I am glad I did. My heart is at ease knowing you aren't alone defending the land, rather your allies are numerous, and you have close friends like Hope Blossom and Sailor Moon."

To Madoka she says "It's the precious bond you have nurtured with my friend. Don't let it wither, it's precious and it's something you will need in your journey."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka watches as Sunbreaker leaves, then comes back for her familiar, and then leaves again. She frowns at Sunbreaker's back, being at an info disadvantage. Slap-chan knows who she is, but she doesn't know who Slap-chan is.

    Hiding your identity as a Chara Bearer is often a fruitless exercise, but that doesn't stop her from quietly wondering how long it will be before this bites her in the butt.

    Turning her attention back to happier things, she looks at the pearl in her hands, and then at Coco. "A precious bond? So this is like a sign of our friendship?" It's not something that Madoka fully understands yet, but maybe she will soon. With a bright smile and a respectful nod, she says, "Thank you, Queen. I'll keep it safe and close!" After all, she already has ways of keeping Chara eggs safe, so a pearl shouldn't be too much of a complication.

    She smiles at Yellow, Moon, and Lynx before saying, "It looks like we managed to save the day at least. This wasn't the way I expected this day to go, but that's magical life I guess."

    Blossom starts looking around for an exit, since they might want to scatter pretty soon.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
A slap, and two exits. Yeah, that girl was definitely one of Utau's friends. What was all this about her doing this work for him, though? How was Utau helping Easter steal heart eggs going to help him? What sort of lies was Easter feeding his sister? And...had he just quit? Ikuto was pretty sure he'd just quit, and that meant he had some business to take care of within a few days before Hoshina or Nikaidou got any ideas with regards to his father's violin. He could probably handle it alone, but the days of having to do everything on his own were over. He had friends he could rely on. He would need to drop in on Tadase and see if he knew anyone else who felt like busting into Easter headquarters to take back what was rightfully his.

Much as he wanted to stick around and introduce himself properly to the two girls he hadn't yet met, there was going to be media attention because of the sudden end of the concert.

He nodded to Madoka and smiled. "That was all you three. All I did was get slapped...twice. You did good, though." He glances at the other two. "Uh...yeah. I'm getting out of here before it gets busy. Thanks for working with Madoka and saving these kids, both of you. Hopefully we'll see each other around again soon."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"So... what were all those egg things?" Sailor Moon asks sheepishly, having watched with wide eyes as Aqua Regina appeared. That was - that was something, alright. Was that what it was like when she first turned into Princess Serenity? Because - that was pretty incredible.

But now that it's over, she has questions. Like: why did everyone have eggs. Will everyone get their eggs back?

They do need to leave, but she has to know if everyone has eggs...

The cat boy gets a nod and then a - oh wait another cat boy look, of surprise and appreciation.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto shrugs to Sailor Moon. "Think of the eggs like...the manifestation of childhood hopes and dreams. Kids have them, but adulthood tends to ah...well you either achieve your dreams or give up on them. It's a little above my head beyond that. An egg can hatch to reveal a Chara under the right circumstances, but if it breaks from despair...yeah we don't want that.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"...well then those definitely aren't worthless!!! I can't believe they tried to steal all those children's dreams!!" What the heck...

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom adds her two cents to what Blank Lynx says, "That's right. They're also where my Chara come from. Guardian Chara tend to have more elaborate eggs, though."

    Madoka pulls one of her Chara's eggs out of seemingly nowhere to show Sailor Moon. It's like a painted Easter egg if the paint was magic and the egg was the size of one's hand. It has a design like white frilly lace and a pair of wings behind a pink teardrop emblem that totally does not in any way resemble a Soul Gem.

    "Most of mine look like this, but I think others are more varied."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Aqua Regina giving out white pearls is quite unusual, and if the one she gave Madoka is similar to the one she holds, then its significance can't be understated. "That's pretty much it, Madoka", Coco happily confirms. If she has a pearl, then there is also a very good possibility there may be some positive feedback for their powers with their own unity.

"It seems like Aqua Regina has recognised you to be as one of us. That's a very happy occasion, and we need to celebrate it. Is there something you want to do? We could visit my home, if you would like, and there would be lots of things to see and do there", she suggests with a surge of energy.

"Thank you for the help", she says as she turns to everyone else, including that weird cat boy that appeared. That is feline familiar after all. Cat Noir was also a black cat. "I am glad we could help with protecting their dreams, and I hope we meet again. We won't ever let their dreams be broken."

Aqua Regina has to say something too. "I have stayed here too much, but this is not over. We shall meet again, blessed children of the land." And with that she disappears.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Oh, that's so pretty!" Sailor Moon fawns over the eggs a bit, looking at them appreciably. "So, these are where your little fairy friends - Chara - come from?"

That's so cool. She just had a cat!

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Blossom headtilts at Coco's explanation. "One of us? So you mean like..." She decides not to speculate too much out loud about what that means, but the prospect of seeing Coco's home does brighten up her face a bit. "Your home?" She's imagining some magical place under the sea, filled with mermaids or other sea folk. That actually sounds cool. "I'd love to! School's out for now so it would be a problem to go on a trip."

    To the rest she nods and smiles. "Right, we'll protect everyone's dreams. We wont fail!" she says with way too much bravado for someone who is uniquely aware of her own surprisingly frail mortality.

    Turning back to Sailor Moon, Blossom nods and giggles. "That's right! A lot of these eggs have Chara sleeping in them, but not all of them can become Guardian Chara. A dream of our future self."

    Granted, Madoka would think that a talking cat is pretty cool, too. As long as it's Luna and not Kyubey.