2861/Anglerfish at Four

Anglerfish at Four
Date of Scene:	02 December 2025
Location:	Beach
Synopsis:	The Black Beauty Sisters interrupy a hangout at the tea party with an attack on Rihito. Homura, Madoka, Hotaru, Niji and Amy help her repel them, but in the end, Coco has to do something grave to keep Rihito alive.
Cast of Characters:	Coco Kiumi, Niji Dasshu, Madoka Kaname, Amanda Faust, Hotaru Tomoe

---

Coco Kiumi has posed:
After Gaito struck them down, the Black Beauty Sisters, reduced to anglerfish, immediately fled the area, fearing to stumble into someone harboring a vendetta against them. Someone from Radiant Heart, from Obsidian... They just didn't care, they wanted out before they could be found.

For the first month, they sank to truly abyssal depths, seeking survival in the sea's deepest dark that had always provided comfort to them. While they wouldn't really call themselves thriving without their powers, they knew how to move around these places better than almost anyone, and they still had each other.

As long as that was true, they could live on.

Their minds had filled with glee when they noticed Gaito's palace sink back down with them. If they couldn't realise his dreams, why should he get to, after throwing his purpose away for a senseless rage?

That small sense of vengeance had lasted them for months, but eventually even that was no longer enough, and they started setting their sights on the surface world again, to achieve what Gaito had once promised them.

Nothing much changed. The brighter light made it harder for their current forms, but even so, they didn't have much trouble feeding and living through. They are demons, they wouldn't lose to your average fish, no matter the form. But magical energy was a much rarer resource, and they were not sure what kind would suffice.

Things had once again regressed to a stalemate for the two anglerfish, and one that wouldn't change for many more months still.

When Autumn had turned to winter, and boats had become much rarer in number, a very familiar energy trace spilled out of a boat gently floating away from Yumegahama Beach, one that made the Black Beauty Sisters' eyes glow voraciously. What stroke of luck, that someone bearing the power of the Panthalassa would just give themselves up like this!

<< Do you feel that, Sister Mimi? >> the red anglerfish asks the slightly smaller one, her mouth open to reveal the entirety of her teeth. << Of course, Sister Sheshe, and it's faint enough I am sure they are unawoken.>> she replies, rapidly twisting her fins towards her target, matching the red fish.

<< And thus, an easy prey! >> they say in unison, bursting out of the sea with teeth ready to sink into unprepared flesh.

Their target shouts and falls on the floor of the boat at sight of the gaping maws sinking into his arm, but their grip is solid, and a numbness fills him through the bite.

Magical energy immediately starts flowing into the anglerfish from an arm growing cold, and the two drink it up avariciously, deaf to the crashing noise and squeal that has accompanied their attack, two meters from the boat.

Fast as it can, the otter responsible pushes herself to the Beach, leaping and running towards the nearby Pearl Pier. Not even minding itself, the otter headbutts the door open, and rushes towards Coco's familiar smell, squealing and panicking at the mermaid.

<< Big trouble, Princess! Anglerfish attacked Rihito, out from the beach!>> the otter squeals at her. The blonde girl drops the fork she was holding with a clang, and her face loses much of her colour.

<< Anglerfish? This far up? Are... there two? >> She can't help but ask the otter, her skin becoming slightly less rosy. << Yes, there are! >> the otter replies, and Coco's chair scrapes against the floor.

"Let's go, please. Rihito got attacked near here", Coco asks her friends, and without any other words, the yellow mermaid starts running out of the hotel, followed by a struggling Cora. One step follows the other, and in a few minutes she is where the land meets the sea.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Her senses are assailed by growing dark energy and with a crash, Coco lets the waters receive her. Faster and faster, she is kicking her tail to where she can see the shapes of red and blue anglerfish currently biting into Rihito's arm, casting a shadow that extends upwards.

Very familiar shadows to Coco. Curving her hands in a vague x-shape around her shell locket, yellow light radiates in around Coco, and a kaleidoscope of colour flourishes over her form. "Yellow Pearl Voice!" Soft light spreads from her, and her tail splits into two human legs, taking a solid stance on the ground.

The rainbow energy glimmers and clings, warping into pale yellow boots that flow into overlapping fabric. Rising up, a golden yellow dress and a short yellow pleated skirt blossom onto her and her pearl gleams and expands, settling comfily into her hand as her trusty E-Pitch microphone, with the yellow jewel nestled safely in the head's center.

The Live Stage surrounds her as she stares down the Black Beauty Sisters, and another one appears in front of her, brought on by her song. The twin sphere picks up speed and snowballs the anglerfish away from Rihito, hurling them out of the boat. A trail of them forms on the path Coco has taken, to let her friends come closer.

Darkness starts boiling where they fall, and their lures wink out, completely subsumed by the darkness. So too do their bodies fade away, and the shadows rise once more, this time knitting into legs, torsos, arms, faces: a dark facsimile of life shaped by living darkness.

"Rihito" Coco murmurs as she comes closer, focusing more on him than the transforming beasts, while her stomach pulls tighter in her than their hunger. Hoisting her boyfriend on the Live Stage, she waits for him to stir, clamping his hand with hers.

Glowing red eyes form on the Black Beauty Sisters' shadows, one pair emitting red light, the other blue. "Look who it is, Sister Sheshe. And she got herself a little boyfriend", the shorter shadow starts talking with a suppressed laugh. "Indeed, it has been so long, Mermaid Princess. Aren't you one of those Gaito lost?" Sheshe remarks, putting a hand on Mimi's shadowy shoulder and bringing her closer.

A sludgy feeling moves inside her as she takes a better look at Rihito's lack of colour. "Stop it, just stop it", Coco tells them with a grimace. The two demons laugh.

"Come, sing with us, for a new deathly showtime!" they exclaim in unison, grabbing dark impressions of microphones.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    Niji Dasshu had stopped in to say hello to Coco, a friend she'd met through her 'work' as a magical girl. Niji also did not need a lot of excuses to be near a beach, even in the colder times. But what should have been a checkup and quick chat and glass of water discussion turned into something very different when an otter burst through the door.

    And while for just a moment Niji considered that her life now included the reality of 'an otter burst through the door and told my mermaid friend bad things were going down' and how wild that was, a moment later she was reaching for her geode and finding a place to get behind - as much to spare anyone around the brilliant cacophony of color that was her henshin as it was to keep her identity secret.

    Slowing down to run alongside Coco (since she knew where to go, it's not like Niji speaks Otter) she arrives alongside her friend, and quickly moves to get between her and the two shadows.

    She can see the concern written all over Coco's face, and that's all the Element of Loyalty needs to see. A quick chant and an outstretched hand - and she's holding her traditional spraypainted, dented aluminum baseball bat. No failed summons of other things this time. When her friend is hurting, Geode Girl Loyalty is on.

    "I'm not so good at the speeches, so back off from my friend and her friend, or I'm going to bash your faces." the rainbow-haired warrior warns, pointing the bat at them like she's calling an impending Home Run on the field.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka, Medo and Homura are at the Pearl Pier, chatting with Coco, as the otter comes up to deliver the news. Medo covers her mouth with concern. Madoka's eyes widen while Homura's narrow. Coco's question confirms Homura's first suspicion, and her slight smile turns to a tight frown.

    As the yellow mermaid leaves, Madoka and Homura run along the beach, with Medo clinging to her Bearer's shoulder. The moment they see the boat and the darkness rising from it, Madoka merges with Medo and Homura activates her own henshin. The pair start jumping from Live Stage to Live Stage, following the trail that was left for them, until they land on the boat. Hope Blossom kneels over Rihito and looks at his wound. "Oh geeze... They bit him!"

    Homura... isn't as experienced as Madoka when it comes to medical stuff. The pinkette has no healing magic, but she knows some basic first aid, and so Homura pulls a kit out of her shield and hands it to Madoka. "Look after him. Leave the angling to me."

    The Hope Blossom looks up to Homura with a thankful smile, then sets to start applying disinfectant to the bite. "It's... it's gonna be fine! Oh geeze. Are we gonna have to purify this, too?"

    Homura spares one more glance to Madoka, before focusing her steely gaze on the Black Beauty Sisters. "You know... we were having a good day," she says, as she flips her hair. "I guess some people just can't let others be happy."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    A tea party? Amy is more pleased than she thought she'd be at such an invite! She wasn't sure what to wear, and eventually went with the black-dress-with-red-ribbon she's used as a costume sometimes.

    She's sipping tea when the most panicked-looking otter she's ever seen runs up and starts squeaking at Coco. She sets the tea down and her eyes go between Coco and the otter as they squeak at eachother. And then.

    "Rihito?!" Amy pushes her chair back and stands, "Attacked by who?!"

    She runs after Coco, henshining just before they leave the hotel to make all the running easier.

    Swimming, though... Coco just dives in and Amy hesitates, then dives in after her, switching to what she's come to think of as her (untested) amphibous combat costume, a white-with-black-at-the-top-and-bottom one piece with her soul gem on the chest, and her hair in twintails so it won't get in her face as badly.

    After a few seconds she stops and treads water, yeah, she's not catching a mermaid and can she really fight in water? Fortunately, Live Stages appear, and Amy climbs onto the nearest one and platform-hops her way to the fight.

    And then she's faced with villains she thought she'd never see again. "You two?! I thought you were just normal fish now, how is this possible!? Did... did Gaito find you and send you?! ...Are you even the same fish...?"

    Rihito is pale. Amy's first aid kit is in... wherever her stuff goes, but that's for preventing blood loss, not treating it. And oh Madoka's on it. "I can donate blood if you need it, I'm O-. After the fight..." She doesn't know if Madoka's chara change comes with the skill and equipment needed for a transfusion, but she figures it's worth noting.

Come, sing with us, for a new deathly showtime!

    Bang bang! "No." Amy replies, pistol in hand after firing non-explosive rocket-bullets at the microphones.

    She doesn't think that'd actually work, but maybe the mahoujin can start the fight off on the offensive.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe had been feeling, for the most part, handling the not being almost dead rather well. Her brief stay in the hospital had been...

Well, it had sucked. She had not liked it at all.

But she was out, now, and she felt a lot better. And now that Pharaoh 90 was gone, she didn't feel that impending sense of dread that the other half of her might wake up at any time and decide 'Huh, you know what needs to be wiped out? ALL OF HUMAN EXISTANCE!'

So on the whole? Pretty good.

So she had been out and about, in muffins and a rather oversized coat, enjoying life when she'd felt that sense of impending doom and gloom, and... well... One henshin sequence later and....

"Listen here, evil doers!" Sailor Saturn yelled as she flew in towards the beach. "Today is--" And then she hit the water and SHRIEKED!

"COLD COLD COLD COLD COLD!" she flailed, racing OUT of the water, paddling back out with the glaive rapidly and then panting on the beach, gasping. "W-why is the water so *cold?!* O-oh, right. Winter."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Beads of sweat form on Coco's neck, and she draws out her E-Pitch mic, and tries to suppress the acid sensations rising at the back of her throat. 'Thank you', she mouths wordlessly at Madoka and Homura. Taking a deep breath, she calls on the songs given to her by Aqua Regina, and starts her Live.

The rainbow wind blows at a far off coast
Before dawn, there was a melody I heard
It's a very nostalgic song

The birds that fly towards the eastern sky
now escape to the treasure island using this shortcut.

The dark energy falling out of Rihito's wound falters and turns to grey in places, but the wound still lies open. At least Hope Blossom won't have negative consequences from her application of disinfectant.

Coco gives a quivering smile at Amy during the song, but she doesn't think a transfusion would work with what they have. Her voice is dedicated to keeping the melody, and the thread of Rihito's life, going, and that's all it's doing. The Black Beauty Sisters certainly don't seem affected by it.

The Black Beauty Sisters taps their mikes, leaving behind a wisp of shadow... And then stop, staring at the colourful warrior that is pointing a bat at them. "Hey, Sister Sheshe, wasn't she at Gaito's palace too?", Mimi asks the other water demon, squinting at Geode Girl Loyalty. It's a testament to how much time has passed that they don't remember too precisely.

"I think I remember these two too", Sheshe says at Homura and Madoka's arrival, and her shadow opens in a smile contoured by deeper darkness. Somehow. But it's indeed possible to tell that Sheshe is smiling. "This is turning into an old reunion quite quickly. I didn't think you would miss us so much. It's indeed us", Sheshe comments, tilting her head slightly, and addressing Red's question.

"It's a shame we can't give you a proper welcome, it's not quite us in the flesh yet", she adds, flexing her shadowy fingers. "You did good coming here. Your magic may be the missing piece."

Mimi places her right hand on her hips. "Seems we have a newcomer, Sister Sheshe", she says, looking at Saturn's approach. "We are always up to make new enemies, even if we don't think you people will last long."

Voice of the dark,
black magic, ignite,
we call upon you, always guide us,
in the wind runs your power
that commands all of us.

I hang my dreams
on the trust you give me,
and I will find
the star that
life once gifted me.

Precious star that
someone tore from me one day,
adorned with
jewels that
sparkle.

Darkness flares at the Black Beauty Sisters' song, and different molds appear in the air. A trombone thunders at the shots Red has made, and the air pressure breaks them apart, then chases the redhead magical girl.

Dark flutes release quivering notes of darkness at Sailor Saturn, trying to cling to her weapon and cover it in darkness.

Ten violin bows appear in the air around Homura, but they aren't aimed at her. Instead they fly at Madoka and Coco, completely ignoring the dark-haired girl, and lastly, two guitars take shape in front of Niji, taking an example from her bat and swinging at her.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "Sorry, a blood transfusion is a bit beyond me..." admits Madoka to Amy. "Too many things can go wrong, and I don't think a First Aid kit is gonna help much with that. Maybe if one of us was a registered nurse..."

    Homura glances at Amy, and then at Coco. "Does your ability to talk to sea creatures extend to fish? If so, you might want to warn them to stay away from here. The shockwaves from our explosives are especially harmful when travelling through water. Blast fishing is banned for a reason."

    Dark magic is being flung everywhere, and Coco's song is combatting it a bit, but Madoka is still concerned about the darkness around Rihito's wound. Is it better to bandage the wound first, or purify? The girl hesitates for a moment as she frets over Rihito, then makes a choice. Purifying doesn't usually require an open wound or a surgical cut, so applying a bandage and gauze first wont hurt. She starts wrapping it up while saying, "I'm gonna use Open Heart on it in a moment. Cover me, Homu-chan."

    Homura notices the violin bows appearing in the air. It occurs to her, randomly, that she hasn't actually gotten into that many fights with Sayaka in the past. Despite being often at odds with her in other timelines. They fly at her, but oh... oh that's not allowed. She jumps into the air with a semi-automatic handgun in her hand and, in the flash of an instant she's fired 10 bursts of three bullets each, trying to shoot the bows out of the air. An empty magazine falls onto the deck a second before her feet does. Those who are counting might realize that she's fired more bullets than the mag would even contain, but who has time to track that?

    "Don't assume that this shield is for nothing," she warns. "I said I'd protect Madoka and I meant it!"

    She turns her gun on Mimi and fires a few more short bursts, not wanting to get stuck on the back foot. Meanwhile, Madoka stays behind her, tending to Rihito, trusting full well that her girlfriend is looking out for her.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    At least her bat is as the ready when the Black Beauty Sisters attack - when two dark energy guitars appear. That's... a new one. Loyalty, though, focused as she is, on the fight and on her friend's suffering and concern - she notices ONE of them. Which she parries by striking it with the bat.

    "Hah, yo- OW" and she's cut off and sent spiraling by the second smash hit attempt. Before she can hit the cold water she somewhat rights herself with her wings, flapping behind her, before rolling into a corkscrew with a rainbow trail behind her, barrel rolling through the pain, teeth gritted, to try to swing at the shadows, specifically, at microphone level.

    She wants to say something pithy, she feels like she should, but the pain of the impact and the pain she feels from her friends too has her mind busy, and so instead she just lets out a frustrated roar as she tries to connect with... something... there. She needs to clear the space of these enemies so they can tend to Coco's friend!

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods to Madoka, and points a thumb at Homura, nodding to Coco; when Coco gives her that worried smile, Amy returns a worried look. But the immediate threat must be dealt with first. At the sisters' banter, she shouts back, "If I never saw you again it'd be too soon!"

    Her opening shots are stopped by... a trombone? Which... chases her?

    Amy leaps into the air, towards the black beauty sisters. "It doesn't have to be like this! Your star doesn't have to be Gaito!" she shouts, firing a high-explosive rocket at each of them, set to airburst at their current locations if they dodge.

    And then she realizes that there's no Live Stage where she jumped... "[Oh no! Water!]"

    She uses an explosion to stop her fall, but the trombone is chasing fast -- a pillar of fire quickly transforms her outfit to flight mode, and she focuses on Coco's music -- and evading the flying instrument -- as she flies back towards the Live Stages.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Saturn was at least out of the cold, icy water. And-- Wait. That boy was hurting. What--

However, she had move important things to worry about. Notes of darkness. "Silence Wall!"

She slashed her glaive out and a wall of impenatrable silence formed in front of her, catching the notes of darkness within them, causing the two to clash for a few moments before they exploded, sending her stumbling back a bit. She was standing... but she didn't like that at all. Hotaru did, at least, appreciate the battle between silence and music, at least.

More importantly, though, there were people in danger. Worse, someone wounded. She took a leap, this time looking where she was leaping, landing near Madoka and grinning. "Hey, I hear you could use my help?" Saturn said, grinning. Kneeling down, she placed her palm against him. "I'm not the best at first aid, but I am the senshi of Rebirth."

There was a glow over the boy of white light and...

Nothing happened.

...

"Uhhhh..." She put her palm on him again, and there was another glow. Another light. And... nothing happened. Another glow. Another light. MORE LIGHT! MORE GLOW. "Why isn't it working?! I-I can't heal him! My healing abilities! They aren't working!" Sailor Saturn said. "S-something is interfering with them!"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco glances at Rihito and Homura, and beads of sweat form at the back of her neck. She doesn't really want to stop singing, because it's all they have to keep Rihito's situation from worsening. Her words trip and tumble together as she rushes from one verse to the next, hoping for any sign of colour to reappear on his skin.

She thinks that the fish might have fled anyway when the confrontation started, but Homura has a point: however many are left, she really should be doing it. It's 20 seconds at most, and Madoka is here keeping at bay the open wound.

"I will tell them", Coco replies, and thoughts reach out to the surrounding, transmitting it to anyone around. << Go away, it's dangerous here! >> She interrupts her song to focus her telepathy outwards. She watches with hopeful eyes Hotaru try to heal while she warns the sea residents, but the queasy sensation intensifies when the darkness stops.

There is movement here and there under the water surface, sign that the warning has indeed been area, and they have cleared it all, at least. "You did your best, thank you", the yellow idol tells the Sailor Senshi.

For as much as they are doing anything here. The darkness still rises copiously, freezing the wound with a complete lack of change. Even Coco's return to the song doesn't do what things should have been like, what her hope keeps calling out for, and the Black Beauty Sisters laugh together.

"If only you had come when we still had yet to take it all", Sheshe mocks with a grin. "If only you were faster, and you had been at his side", the red demon adds, and Mimi presses against Sheshe on cue with her words. "Maybe you would have been able to do something. Maybe you would have witnessed our rise a bit later", the blue demon lies out the hypotheticals repeatedly.

The Black Beauty Sisters dodge as Red has predicted, and the explosion reaches them in turn, throwing the two to the sides, leaving them to glance up furiously on top of the seas.

The place where they have been hit is a bit less dark, but the two instantly get to their feet, teteering. "We don't care about Gaito! We are blasting open our own path!" And the trombone lets deep notes into the air, sending more displaced air at Amy.

They have little time to come up with a counter-measure for Homura's own shots, and they send out in a hurry the second guitar in the way, and the darkness explodes harmlessly, raining down all over the place.

"This isn't going well, Sister Sheshe. They are being quite stubborn", Mimi observes, biting her shadowy lips. "Let's not stop here. We just need to keep them on the defensive."

The flutes' quivering notes turn at the Live Stage with Coco and Madoka in, and wobble through the air with more speed than one would presume at their appearance. The Black Beauty Sisters are still set on ignoring Homura, no matter her declaration of protection.

A harpsichord forms and jumps in small, froglike leaps toward Loyalty, and tries to fall on top of her unless stopped.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka smiles when Hotaru lands near her. Finally an actual magic healer! Then that smile gets turned upside down when she realizes that something is interfering with Hotaru's healing. "Okay. I don't know if this is going to do the trick but..." Hope Blossom makes sure that the bandage is in place and the gauze is the right tightness. Then she sits upright, makes the heart shape with her hands over her locket. "Negative Heart, Lock on!" The heart-beam locks onto Rihito's wound. "OPEN HEART!"

    She blasts the darkness of the wound with purifying pearlescent light. Will it be enough?

    The corners of Homura's eyes get more tense as she hears Hope Blossom's worry. Her teeth gnash as she takes a step towards the two demons. "What did you do to him?"

    Of course, if she was angry before, she is furious once she hears the mocking tones of their voices and the cruel words they say. "Are you sure those are words you want to say to us right now? Are you sure you won't be regretting them?"

    The notes of the flute are attacking Coco's Live Stage, which means that Madoka is also in trouble. Madoka, who is only trying her best to help someone. Someone they harmed. Unforgivable, Homura decides, sliding her handgun back into her shield. She stands in front of the light bubble of Coco's Live Stage and raises her buckler as a flare of purple magic creates a hemispherical shell in front of her, adding to the Live Stage's defenses.

    "Monsters. Not only do you threaten his life, but you mock his loved ones. Despicable!" shouts Homura.

    Meanwhile, Madoka glances up at her friends and girlfriend who are protecting her, but she really only has a moment. Stabilizing Rihito is taking her full focus.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    "Well, maybe if you weren't cowards who attacked civilians without warning, we could have beaten your butts before you did, but instead..." Loyalty says, before she's suddenly accosted by what looks like a small angry piano. "Ugh, I hate music class." she says, swinging back at the thing and trading a few blows with it with her baseball bat.

    She actually succeeds more in getting it away from her, than dispelling it, but at least it doesn't crush her.

    "Alright, that's it, all I've heard you do is say different forms of 'bash us until we make it stop." she says. "You want to talk about being *faster*? To me?!" she says, bat over her shoulder for a moment before she rushes forward in a rainbow-blur, enough to send shockwaves of water out to either side of her. "You just give back whatever you took!" she yells before the rainbow-blur soars into the air and she tries to come down on whichever sister is closest to her with an arcing twohanded slam with her bat.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    If only she'd been faster? "Shut up!" Amy fires a couple of rocket-bullets at them, but the air blasts from that trombone keep hounding her. "You did this, you really think we're dumb enough to blame ourselves?"

    "Enough of this!" She fires a homing rocket at the trombone, and then again -- instantly re-conjuring the launcher, she has no need to reload -- at each of the specter sisters, and it's a good thing they can home because she has to focus on avoiding those air-blasts, burning magic to fly, barely able to focus on the rest of the fight.

    Of all things, she hears Dash's words. "I used to love music class! Then my music teacher turned out to be someone who betrayed us to Gaito! I didn't even take music this year because of that! Quit messing up our lives!"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Saturn let out a sigh of relief when Madoka's purifying magic washed over the wound. Surely that would--

Unfortunately... that didn't do it either. When she touched the boy, still the wound didn't go away. She looked grim, shaking her head.

"Nothing. It's like... whatever it is, it's... it's like whatever I'm trying to heal isn't there or... or can't be healed, or is blocking it, or, or," Saturn said, the panic clear in her voice.

"I-I'm sorry, I usually just... touch people and they get better. I don't know all the inner workings on *how* it works! It just does!" It had failed before, but well... Just because it HAD failed in the past didn't mean it SHOULD. It meant it COULD, theoretically, fail.

But now it was, quite clearly, failing. Before her eyes. And she didn't know why. She didn't know how to fix it. And she was scared.

They were taunting and blasting at them and... "W-we need to hit them. We need to defeat them. If... if we beat them up... it'll fix this. It has to. T-that's what happens, right? It has to be magic. They have to be using magic to... to seal him or... or something," Saturn said.

And then? She got to her feet, gripping the glaive... But then paused... She couldn't aim against them that well, not like this. And...

"Silence Wall!"

A wall of silence formed over her, Madoka and Rihito. "Focus everything you have on defeating them, Yellow Pearl Voice! I'll shield him!" she called out to her. Her silence glaive surprise wasn't the best for this battlefield, but she could at least make her shields well enough.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Sheshe shrugs at Homura's harsh demands for answers, and sends the trombone at the homing attacks, with every increasing air blasts that make dark sweat(?) crease her forehead. "Don't worry your pretty little head. We just weren't going to let Gaito's retaliation stop us forever. How could we? We just took all we needed to return, and we will take even more." Her shadowy form flickers. It's obvious it wasn't enough.

Her bravado turns to sustain when Loyalty bears down on Mimi at impossibly fast speed. Something like this has happened once before, and she was able to take it in her place then, but now-

Now, she gets to see Mimi tossed back and back, falling repeatedly on the surface of the sea. "Mimi!", she shouts, disappearing and reappearing at her side. "Are you ok?", she asks, holding her up. The shorter shadow nods, and brings a hand up to her forehead. "It hurt a lot, but I think I am fine. Or will be", she replies.

Taking Mimi's hand, Sheshe lifts her on her feet. "Just a little bit more." She stares at the double shield the magical girls are hiding behind. All of the instruments still around - the flutes, the harpsichord, the trombone - increase in size, with an effort that sends weird static across Sheshe's shadowy form, and they all send explosive musical notes in a dark harmony at the shield, trying to take it down.

It's clear they don't intend to let them go, and she doesn't know how much time they still have before his unresponsiveness turns into something even worse. Everyone is doing their part, but the Black Beauty Sisters won't let it be enough.

Hope Blossom's Open Heart has thinned the darkness festering over her wound, and a bit of rosiness has asserted itself despite the deep-reaching pollution of the darkness after both her and Sailor Saturn's healing efforts.

She can't stop doing her part either, and her song still rises and falls with her breaths, almost in tandem with the irregular rising and falling of Rihito's chest. Wrapping Rihito towards her, the yellow idol sings directly into his ear, forcing what warmth she can into his chest.

In the E-Pitch, the Yellow Pearl glows against his shoulders, and his breath steadies. The pallor the anglerfish left still persists though, what little traces of rosiness that try to assert itself.

Her thumb skims the Yellow Pearl, and a single, small memory surfaces, a warning never really forgotten. Never give up on your Pearl, Coco. It will only bring you misfortune. The voice in her memory is clear, but she can't remember which attendant had said that.

She is not here anyway, and Rihito is. There is really no doubt on what she has to do. Coco cups her boyfriend's face in her hands, holding him near, and presses her forehead against his, letting go of her magic.

Her silhouette falters for a second, and both her henshin and the Live Stage fade; she is just Coco again, and she turns on her back, letting Rihito rest on her. Her hand brushes against the yellow shell locket, but it's the orange necklace that glows, projecting Seira's spirit. "Coco, what are you doing? Why did you detransform?"

Coco looks up at her, and smiles. "I am ok. I know something that can help", she replies. "Something that can help? What do you mean?" Seira repeats, but Coco simply opens the locket and lifts the warm Yellow Pearl.

A spasm jerks her arm, and Coco clutches the jewel tightly, worried to lose it to the waves; delicately, she nudges it inside his breastpocket, and caresses Rihito's hand again, ignoring the shiver that has started creeping up her arms.

She doesn't know if it's supposed to rest directly on him. But out here she doesn't have the stability of the beach or the reclining chairs on her balcony, where she and Rihito used to lie together and watch the sunlight filtering through the waves. That will have to be enough.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Breathing deeply, she closes her eyes, and pulls on her most precious memory with him, that open-air musical performance with the sheet they had worked together on, and his little bright reactions to her teases.

A smile appears on her face when she feels warmth return to his palm. Warmth rises behind her ribs, and the Yellow Pearl ignites, spilling sunlight over him in a slow, steady wave. The shiver starts spreading down her spine and tail, but Coco feels warm as she watches Rihito's wound close and colour return to his body.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Saturn focused on holding the silence wall up, the glaive vibrating slightly in her hand. No sound made its way through it, but... dang. It *hurt.* It was taking so much more than she thought imaginable. As the stage went down, she let out a sigh. Good. Time for the comeback, right?

She focused, holding the line, glancing back and...

...Why was Coco unhenshined? What was she *doing*?!

Ohmygawditwaslove.

She was gonna love him back to better. Sqwee. Saturn couldn't help it, it was adorable and just seeing that upped her strength by like, three times.

But seriously there was a lot pounding on the silence barrier and she was getting knocked back, bit by bit. Driven down to one knee, she couldn't hold this up for much longer. "G-guys? I-I can't hold this for much longer! Whatever you're going to do, do it quick!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy frowns at the pair. What are they saying? "You... you're not with Gaito? Then who brought you ba-- You weren't just fishes after all?!"

    Coco has dehenshined to... try something, Amy trusts her, but also there's no more Live Stages... They have to hurry. Amy starts firing homing missiles at the instruments and doesn't stop. "Just go already! Why did you have to bother us, just live your own lives!"

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    There's a lot going on, so much so that Loyalty can't even fully appreciate the distance she got on the opponent with that bat smack. (She does a little still - just not fully.)

    But there's two things that stand out to her. Coco's sacrifice - she assumes that's what it is, she doesn't know, but it feels so intense, and the girl dropped her henshin, and she could see the way the girl - now, the mermaid - looked at that boy.

    And secondly, and far less importantly, but much more annoyingly, the enemy's comment about 'if she were faster'.

    "You two have caused enough trouble today - and I know that's not the only trouble you've caused!" Loyalty says, and her bat vanishes. And that does not mean she is going to be any less of a threat. Far, far from it. They're trying to break the shield - hurt her friends - and Loyalty just... can't let that happen. And she said she wasn't fast enough, and she took that personally too.

    She suddenly shoots forward, acting on impulse, on instinct, and starts to circle the Sisters - faster and faster, a blur, some of the musical notes impacting not Loyalty, but the energetic trail she leaves. It's a good thing all of the fish have been warned, because... as Geode Girl Loyalty's speed increases to hger maximum, as she thinks about her friends fighting asnd Coco's sacrifice and the looks on her faces, the callout comes naturally.

    "LOYALTY....SONIC RAINBOOM!"

    The eruption of a torrent of multicolored purifying energy that rockets outwards in all directions is bright and brilliant, and centered right on the Sisters.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "You've taken more than enough!" bites back Homura, holding her shield up and refusing to allow the two anglerfish demon girls to get any closer. Her eyes flicker towards Sailor Saturn when she raises her Silence Wall, adding to her own defense.

    Meanwhile, Madoka realizes that her purifying blast wasn't quite enough, and for a moment wonders if it would be different if Kamiko was here... Saturn still can't heal it. What's wrong? This isn't right!

    Coco's henshin just dropped. Oh no! What's happening? Madoka scoots back as Coco approaches Rihito. Homura glances back but only for a moment, because she can't take her eyes off the enemy for long. Hope Blossom watches Coco give the pearl to her boyfriend and says, "Coco-chan..."

    The pearl seems to be working, but... why does Madoka have a bad feeling about this?

    Homura's eyes go wide, and she turns towards Mimi and Sheshe. Her voice is cold and a little shaky as she says, "How dare you?" To Saturn she says, "Be strong just a little longer. Thank you."

    Then Homura vanishes.

    No, it's like she's everywhere at once, and not in the way that Hope Concept is. Teleporting faster than what can easily be tracked, attacking the two demons from every angle, each time with a different weapon. An assault rifle, a rocket launcher, a golf club. The trombones get fragmentary grenades stuffed down their pipes.

    When she stops, she's standing in between Madoka (and therefore Rihito and Coco) and the Black Beauty Sisters. "Get out. Now. I'm done playing games with you."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The giant rainboom grows brighter and brighter with each dash Loyalty makes, and the Black Beauty Sisters can barely understand what the Geode Girl is doing, and not for lack of trying. Even as shadows, their eyes still can't keep up with Loyalty's unparalleled speed.

When the rainboom finally explodes, the dark instruments get washed away like chalk scrubbed off of a blackboard, and screams of pain and frustration in equal measure come out of the two anglerfish demons. A flimsy barrier stands in the way of the combined barrage of missiles Homura and Amy sends the way of the two demons, and each single one of them forms a hole to the point it has more holes than swiss cheese.

The resulting impact makes another big explosion, and despite the lack of purification, the shadows of the Black Beauty Sisters falter even more, and the two grip each other's shoulder, using themselves as support.

"Let's fall back for now", Sheshe tells Mimi, and the two give one last glare to the group, as if that could hurt them in the face of Saturn's shield that stood despite every single one of their efforts.

Rihito's eyes flutter behind his closed eyelids, and his breathing gets a lot more even. Coco clings to him and holds him up, even as the cold sea washes over them. She can tell something has changed - she is supposed to be able to easily withstand the cold temperatures of the sea in her true form - but she doesn't care about that. Rihito looks healed and well. Everything else can come later.

"Sorry for the Live Stages, and the little time I gave you before they disappeared. And thank you. For helping save Rihito", she smiles gladly at her friends, and starts swimming to shore. Once there, she recovers the Pearl, and assumes her human guise.

She stumbles slightly when she takes steps on the beach with the weight of Rihito in her arms, and grips him tighter to avoid making him fall. "I think he needs rest now, but he will be fine", she comments to everyone, looking a little flushed in the face.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura's cold deathglare stays on the Black Beauty Sisters until they finally leave. Then, her shoulders sag as she cautiously looks behind her. Coco is a mermaid now, and she's clearly lost a little vitality compared to what Homura is used to seeing from her. She keeps her concerns to herself, but she does have them.

    Madoka, meanwhile, is both relieved that Rihito's wound healed up but also now worried about Coco. "Don't push yourself," she warns. When Coco swims back to shore, Madoka reassures herself that a tired mermaid swimming isn't nearly as worrisome as a tired human swimming.

    Homura looks at the boat's controls, and walks around behind them. "Madoka-chan, I'll find a place to put the boat. Don't worry about me for now."

    Sensing what her partner means, Madoka nods and says, "Right... I need to make sure Coco and Rihito are okay." So saying, Hope Blossom jumps into the water and then swims the rest of the way to shore, following behind Coco (who is still a faster swimmer than her) and meeting her on the beach. She wrings a little bit of ocean water out of her pink hair before running to the other side of Rihito, taking his arm over her shoulder and saying, "Coco-chan, I'll help you take him back. You don't have to carry him by yourself."

    Homura, meanwhile, pilots the boat a little closer to shore so people can jump off more easily, before calling out, "Hey, any idea where I should dock this?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy lands in the boat. "And don't come back!" she shouts after the anglerfish demons, but she knows they won't stay away... For now, though... they can rest and recover.

    "It's fine, Yellow Pearl Voice. You did what you had to to save him."

    Where to park the boat... "I think there's a marina around here somewhere... I guess we can ask Rihito where he took out it from, once he's conscious..."

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    "And stay out!" Loyalty yells, panting, exhausted, but triumphant as the Sisters leave.

    Her wings flap... slowly, as she slowly makes her way to shore after everything. Her first instinct is to reach out to steady Coco, tired as she might be, even as her henshin flickers from the amount of energy she put into helping evict the double trouble duo. "Is he going to be okay? Are you?" she asks the mermaid. The concern in her eyes is as clear as the exhaustion.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Saturn lifted her glaive into the air. "Woooooo..." she called at the blinding, colorful explosions. Rainbows, heavy grade munitions, a golf club, that had it all!

And when she looked back, it looked like it was all okay! They'd made it out! It looked like Rihito was going to be okay! But... The mermaid seemed... tired. Like, extra, extra tired. That was... concerning. Very concerning. She eyed Coco and then glanced down at the boat.

"... Uhhhhhh..." She looked around. Blinking. And just... "There's... a dock... somewhere. On the ocean. I think," Saturn said. Less than helpfully. Truly. Truly she held the wisdom of the ages.

"Maybe we can go tie it up somewhere... if someone gives us trouble, I know how to cry and look sad on cue, so they'll stop," she said. "And then he can get the boat later? I think they have more important things to worry about now, anyway..."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco glances tiredly at Madoka when she offers to share Rihito's weight for the trip back. "Thank you, I think we only need to bring him to a bed in the Pearl Pier", she explains to Madoka. She isn't sure if they actually have a free room, but they should, if she remembers right.

Shifting Rihito so they are both holding him is probably a tricky maneuver, but she isn't sure she would have made it all the way there by herself. She could already feel her arms starting to burn as is, so Madoka's offer could only be described as timely. When they share him, Coco briefly brings a hand to her forehead, wincing a little at a pulse.

She had completely forgotten about the boat in her haste to take Rihito away from the cold winter waters. She could have probably recovered it later if the current brought it too far, but it looks like that won't be a problem.

"That sounds like an useful skill", Coco comments with a quiet laugh at Saturn's ability to cry on cue. Her? She is so bad at hiding things that her expression finishes telling the tale long before Coco has opened her mouth.

And is the case for Loyalty's question too, and the mermaid's mouth stretches a bit far, forming deeper lines. "He is probably fine, he just needs a bit of rest. No need to worry about me either", she replies hesitantingly.

Once at a free room in the hotel, Coco and Madoka can lower Rihito in a bed. "He looks really peaceful now", she comments, fixing his messy hair a bit. "I think... we should probably tell everyone what happened."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura listens to people's response regarding the boat, but without a clear answer... eh, she'll figure it out. There are only so many places it could have come from, and a few places where she knows she could tie up regardless. It wont take long to figure out who the boat belongs to, if it's a private boat or a rental, based upon its markings. The one best qualified to answer her questions is knocked out and there's no helping that for now, so she's left to her own devices.

    Madoka, at least, isn't terribly worried about her girlfriend's resourcefulness or thoughtfulness. Instead, she's more concerned about Coco and Rihito. She'll be supportive the whole way back. It's good that they wont have to take him very far.

    Hope Blossom decides not to voice her concerns about potentially having to carry Coco back as well.