2051/A Star's Secret Unveiled

A Star's Secret Unveiled
Date of Scene:	08 November 2024
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	Radiant Heart Academy's Music Department has rented out a venue for their seasonal recital, and tickets have sold out. But disaster strikes when Tellu decides to take a go at snatching a heart crystal during the performance! With Dianora shot and Double Trobule's true form is revealed! Bow, Amy, and Sayaka are on the scene to save Double Trouble and Tomoko, but when Hinoiri makes the potentially disastrous choice to go Sunbreaker again, can they stop Tellu, the youma, *and* keep Hinoiri on the side of light?
Cast of Characters:	280, Hinoiri Kirara, Amanda Faust, Bow, Tomoko Watanabe, Hinote Kagari, Double Trouble, Sayaka Miki

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Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
Another day, another demand from Kaolinite that someone get out there and keep up the hunt for Heart Crystals, Vessels, and resonance signatures. As if Tellu didn't have other projects to worry about! This was Eudial's job!

Then again, a chance to show up Eudial and have the good word sent back to Pharoah 90 was always useful. And she had gotten plenty of useful data out of that last fight - so many of those precious little Device Mages running around, like Testarossa, Agera, and that little blond bruiser Testarossa only just barely acknowledged as a daughter. Tellu might not have gotten away with the Heart Crystal, but she had gotten away with data, and the more of these teenage brats she scored data off of, the greater the chance that she, Tellu, would be the one to find the great power they were seeking.

Firing on one of the enemy had been a great strategy, last time. This time, she's testing out the theory that youth would shine brighter - and so where else to target, than a school's music recital?

That is, after all, where everyone has gathered: inside a medium-sized performing arts center in Juuban Ward, watching the Radiant Heart Academy Music Department's performance recital. So far, students from the wind and string instrument sections have completed their group and solo performances, and now it's time for those students especially proficient on the keys.

Dianora Lagorio's name is called, and the audience offers polite applause. Tellu, perched high in the rafters of the stage with her rifle (and her youma, PlAnteater, here to be her muscle and to drain energy, since that was important for some reason), is waiting for just the right moment to fire...

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara had come, because of course she had. Her roommate was performing, even if it was music and not the theater arts, she knew the girl had worked hard. And she'd even invited her best friend, Sayaka, to attend.

Which made sense, both of them were great musicians on the piano, so how could she not invite her?

When Dianora came out, Hinoiri had applauded loudly, giving a low whistle as well, likely earning a few glares. "Err, gomen, gomen," she said sheepishly, before grinning up at the performance. "She's been working really hard on all of this," she said to Sayaka. "You'll love it."

Of course, the fact that Dianora was secretly her theyfriend made Hinoiri maybe a bit more biased... but nobody here but her knew that. So as it was? She was just an enthusiastic roommate. Dianora's put out and put upon 'Onee-chan'.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Music! Amy is in chorus, but chorus and instrument classes gotta support eachother, right? Plus, the music *is* nice to listen to.

    So she's sitting in the audience, just... taking in the music and the music choices, which are probably exposing her to a lot of japanese music she wouldn't normally be exposed to, which is neat!

Bow has posed:
Bow sits amidst the crowd in the school's recital hall, his posture relaxed, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his lips. His gaze remains steady on the stage, where Dianora is preparing to perform, and there's a quiet, supportive energy radiating from him. He taps his fingers lightly on his knee in rhythm with the soft murmurs of tuning instruments and last-minute adjustments.

Bow's dressed for a recital, wearing a suit in black, with a red bowtie, and of course, the abs are exposed. Spit and polished to a shine, he hums softly to himself as every now and then, he nods encouragingly toward the stage. Musicians have that unspoken vow to back each other up, even in the quieter moments.

Tomoko Watanabe has posed:
    Recitals were so much fun! It was one of the very few times when Tomoko felt like she got to be a part of something wonderful with a large group of other people. She loved music and playing her oboe was one of the few things she had a high self esteem in, and she felt right at home sitting in a group of her fellow woodwinds. While skilled for her age she always chose to be distinctly middle of the road. No attempts at attaining a top chair position or solos were ever attempted; that would mean standing out, which is the last thing Tomoko wants! No, it was being able to blend in so well and happily join in with others who shared a passion that made her the happiest.

    Blending in meant a fairly tame outfit, with a brown blouse with a white collar, a simple black skirt with white polka dots, and in a small concession to prettying up for an important recital, a white bow settled on the top of her head; she wouldn't want to detract by looking slovenly when she knew some where dressing their very best for the event.

    Everything had been very exciting when it was time for the wind instruments to play. In her opinion she did a very good job, as did everyone else, so she was now sitting and smiling happily while listening to the other sections play, oboe held neatly in her lap with her hands folded over them while her foot taps along to the music.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari is part of the drama club. Which works with other clubs of a similar nature. Specfically. They needed his help operating the lights so that's what he's been doing, standing at a control panel, looking at the switches. Nothing new. He's been a stage monkey before. (All first year drama club students have to do it once, oh, so he was told.) and he's getting ready to focus the lights.

Tracy is floating next to his right shoulder, just over it, examining the panel with Hinote.

"Ohh are there sandbags up there. Can you drop them on people!?" asks Tracy.

"Stop that!" says Hinote under his breath.

Double Trouble has posed:
Anybody who knows Dianora knows one thing: one day she's going to be a star! She makes sure everyone knows it, every time she introduces herself. But, until recently, she'd only really been engaging with her theatrical roots. This was her first piano recital since arriving in Tokyo, and when she walks out on the stage she looks just a little bit nervous.

But she's Dianora Lagorio, and stage fright is just fuel for a better performance. Dressed in a pink dress with a pink ribbon holding up her ink-black hair and pink shoes, Dianora makes her way across the stage and sits down on the bench. She scoots in just a little and stretches out her feet. She can just reach the pedals. Barely. Dianora is not quite to her next growth spurt.

She reaches up to set her sheet music down and spread it out along the rack above the keyboard. It's only several pages. It just barely fits edge to edge. At least she won't have to reach up to turn pages while stretching down to push pedals.

She looks out into the crowd. It's hard to see any of the faces with the lights shining on the stage, but she can hear Hinoiri and that makes her smile. There's a glance toward the emcee, and then she nods, turns down to the keys and starts to play.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka likewise applauds when she sees Hinoiri's roommate come up on stage, having wholeheartedly accepted Hinoiri's invitation. By how Hinoiri had talked about the event, it was practically unmissable how important the event was.

With the piano being an instrument she has extensively practiced herself, she was quite keen in seeing all the hard work Dianora had invested in it. "No doubt, I know you would be able to tell", Sayaka grins at Hinoiri's declaration. Regardless of her lack of awareness of Hinoiri's bias, the bluenette knows how good the redhead's musical ear is.

If Hinoiri's musical tests didn't involve mainly singing, maybe they could have met before now. "This is actually my first time seeing someone else from our school play the piano", she confesses, before turning to silence once Dianora starts playing the piano.

Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
Ah, what a lovely piece - or so Tellu thinks, at least. She's a botanist, not a musician! But the sound is lovely and from her perch up in the rafters, she can see all the hand flairs and complex little maneuvers the little human girl is doing, and it really does seem like she's doing such a wonderful job.

That's why Tellu allows her to get an entire three minutes into the piece, before she aims her rifle, focuses carefully on her shot, and then, right there in front of an entire audience, shoots her in the back.

A black beam fires from the rifle, giving away Tellu's position only when it's entirely too late to do anything about it. When it strikes, a black glow will appear in front of Dianora's chest, small and then expanding, becoming the size of her head by the time the Heart Crystal successfully emerges from her body.

The thing Tellu isn't expecting? Is the way Dianora's body... changes, once the crystal has emerged.

The PlAnteager makes a noise of surprise, one Tellu echoes.

"I agree, dear thing, that... is not what I was expecting to see!"

As soon as the crystal emerges, most of the audience will begin panicking, the sight of the girl shot right there before their eyes terrifying, and then what comes next? Utterly bewildering for their magic-unaware mind! Tellu drops from the rafters with the PlAnteater, causing the stage to buckle under the youmna's weight - it's an enormous bougainvillea bush in the shape of a giant anteater, a thorny branch making up the snaking tongue, and it rears back on it's hind legs, pink-and-green tail thrashing about behind it. As it does so, it begins to drain energy from the spectators, even as Tellu moves towards Dianora and the Heart Crystal.

Double Trouble has posed:
Dianora's fingers fly across the keys. This is her first recital here, but surely it is not her first recital. The piece is quite challenging, and she seems to struggle with it just a little, but the girl is determined to give it her all. She gets through her favorite part with the really fast really high notes, and then just as she's going into the next dramatic crescendo, the beam hits her in the back.

Her hands hit the keys striking a discordant chord as her shoulders fall back and her chest presses forward and the Heart Crystal emerges from her body. And that's when things get weird.

Without their Heart Crystal, Double Trouble doesn't have the magic to keep a form at all. It doesn't matter that they're wearing a dehenshining necklace to keep them locked into Dianora. As soon as the Heart Crystal leaves Dianora's chest, she shimmers into an inky black pool of possibility and coalesces into Double Trouble in their usual black mesh body suit, with a necklace around their neck.

And then they slump over forward into the keyboard pressing half the keys all at once. They're wedged in there pretty good between the bench and the piano, their long tail draped over the back of the bench. Immobile. Unconscious.

Bow has posed:
One moment, Bow is enjoying Dianora's music... though it seems hauntingly familiar for some reason that the young Etherian can't quite put his finger on. Some of the notes and the way they are string together seem to trigger a wisp of a memory, but nothing that he can put two and two togetgher. And the music liveliness keeps him from grasping a full hold of it as his finger drums along with the tune, already mapping out in his mind what notes on the violin would pair with the piano piece.

Which is why his eyes were closed with the crack of a rifle hits his eardrums and Bow's eyes snap open, wide, as Dianora collapses on stage. The crystal floating in front of her - he had read the briefings in the shed on the Heartstealer rifle, but to see it in action...

No time to think. Just have to act. First things first, clear the area! With panic setting in with the normal, Bow moves to rise. "This way! To the exits, remain calm and orderly, don't trample on each other!" he calls out as he helps to clear his little section of the audiotorium. There's a glance around to see if anyone is in his immediate area. Once he finds it clear, as Tellu drops in with their leafy friend, Bow ducks down for a moment behind the seats, pulling out a small device and crystal.

"By the Honor of Brightmoon!"

One henshin later, Bow is coming up from his hiding place, snapping his bow open and preparing an arrow. "I thought plants liked to grow with music!" he calls out to the creature, just as his eyes fall to... wait, what. What's Double Trouble doing here!? Was she impersonating Dianora?! Where's the real Dianora?! He can ask that later, when Double Trouble is conscious.

Pulling back and arrow, he holds it for a moment to call out, "Slicer arrow!"

A small saw blade appears on the tip of the arrow, and when he fires, it starts spinning rapidly to collide wih and cut into the plant youma!

Tomoko Watanabe has posed:
    A strange light. People running and screaming in every direction. Tomoko's wide eyes blink twice in confusion, taking a little longer than some to react to the sudden calamity. Her head hurts as it tries to make sense of the glowing crystal. There's no way this is a part of the act, right? This is a musical recital, not theater!

    Somehow she maintains her wits by sheer confusion until the stage cracks and buckles as the PlAnteater hits it, but now she screams, clutching her oboe to her chest. The bits of flying stage is just enough to remind her of a recent event she was present for. With a shaking hand she adjusts her glasses, "Another explosion!? Was there a gas line under the building? We're not close to that car lot are we!?" As things continue to get even stranger the headache is joined by dizziness as the youma begins draining. "Ahh," she half moans, half sighs while starting to slump over, "I-I'm getting tired. Is there a carbon monoxide leak..?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
"Really?" Hinoiri asked. "I thought there'd be a few more piano players like that. I wonder how you both ended up around me, then? Maybe I give off a piano-impression." It was a bad joke, but it was a joke.

Then she sat in rapt attention, listening as her roommate played. Beautiful. She was *so* biased. It was--

... And then... then Dianora was shot. Hinoiri's breath stopped. And she stared. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Her theyfriend... they... they...

And then Tellu. Oh. It... it was a mistake. It had to be. It--

WHY THE BUCK WAS TELLU GOING TOWARDS THE CRYSTAL?! She should be BUCKING OFF AFTER THAT! Hinoiri felt the rage boiling inside her. She could almost feel it bubbling, like a boiling kettle. Her hands shaking.

In the back of her mind, a voice told her 'Oh no, Double Trouble was just outted! Everyone is going to know you've been covering for them!'

But that voice was almost NOTHING compared to the rage within her right then.

And she reached up, gripping the geode, clutching it... then finally tugging it off and dropping it onto Sayaka's lap. "Hold onto this."

Oh, that was not a good sign.

And then she got to her feet... and electricity enveloped her. A moment later, Sunbreaker was there. Then dark energy enveloped her a moment later and she was on the stage, appearing over Tellu.

"Get the BUCK away from my marefriend!" Sunbreaker roared before shards of ice formed over her hands and she launched them forward at Tellu, her aim wild and furious, but with how many she was sending it was likely to hit something... and tearing through the stage.

"Bad enough you keep attacking me, but now you're going after the person I care most about?!" Sunbreaker roared.

There was something different about her, though. Bits of fire, electricity and ice kept popping off her and her eyes were almost fully black, little red pinpricks within them. She was just barely in control, the dark energy enveloping her almost fully. Just a smidge short of going full Sunset.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    A black beam. Oh no, is that--

    The heart crystal comes out, and... Hinoiri's roommate Dianora is also Hinoiri's shapeshifting themfriend?!

    She... did not expect this, but can only briefly wonder if not realizing this was influenced by whatever magic protects secret identities before she has more urgent, pressing problems.

    Also no eyes are on her as she ducks, is engulfed in the flames of her henshin, and starts leaping chairback to chairback trying to back up and keep distance between the stage and herself, before turning and firing flaming, non-explosive tiny rockets -- the size of a high-caliber bullet or so -- from some firearm-looking thing, as she tries to lodge incendiaries in the plant youma.... And then stops and stares as Sunbreaker returns, and... well, obviously she has a more pressing target. There's no reason to question even for a second if Amy can trust Hinoiri, today.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari operates the lights expertly and is a credit to his Drama Club! Amazing. Nothing bad is going to happen today. Why would it. He can work on a casefile la---was that the sound of sci-fii gunfire just now!?

Hinote Kagari watches the girl on stage, someone he doesn't know, fall over and turn into... some sort of lizard girl? What?

Hinote draws the curtain closed around him and Teracy--

Throwing it aside, Tracy has vanished and Pulp Noir is there, who quickly raises a realisitc-looking Colt .45 looking-ish gun from his coat and aims it at Tellu. "Drop those and reach for the clouds...!" the masked detective yells.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka lets Dianora's excellent musical performance fill her ears and reach to her soul, her mind serene up until the familiar feeling of dark energy radiates as soon as Dianora is shot, if the emergence of her Heart Crystal weren't a fairly obvious tell(u) already. Again with those things!? Was it too much to hope they had been phased out?

"Hinoiri, get to cover!", she exclaims, just as Ula pokes out of her bag with her Pretty Change Mirror, assuming that she would do the same thing as the other times.

The fairy tenses as she sees the return of the guns, being so far back in time that Sayaka was but a novice in magic then. "Quick!" she says rapidly giving Sayaka her mirror. A nod of the bluenette, and then the mirror starts radiating yellow, green and blue light.

"Time to change!", it exclaims, opening to reveal Sayaka's face and releasing watery musical notes, surrounding the Precure. "The melody of justice that rises from the sea depths"", Sayaka recites, the blue shape of an armored mermaid wearing a wide heart-shaped collar appearing in front of her before the figure dives into the bluenette and spreads bubbles all around her. "Cure Sharpsong!"

Just in time for her being given the geode and seeing who Dianora has turned into. "Eh?", the Pretty Cure murmurs out of her depth, and her face becomes pale as she sees just what Hinoiri is doing.

Her mind racing between Dianora being Double Trouble, the threat of the Heart Crystal being taken and Hinoiri knowing and going Sunbreaker over it, she doesn't have any words coming up. "Sharpsong, Tellu!", Ula shakes her out of her daze, pushing against her arm. The how, the why and the what later, there is a Heart to save now.

"I think you took the sentence budding musician too literally!", she says, using the Love PreBrace to form a sword to swing at the youma.

Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
Tellu is within inches of the Heart Crystal, kneeling to grasp it, when there's a shift in the air behind her, the appearance of a presence, and she has to dodge - there's a lot of attacks though, is the thing, and she gets clipped on the side by a few smaller pieces of ice before she gets a hand up, and petals twist and twirl into a large ring - and then every attack Sunbreaker is furiously launching is just stopped, held back by the power of that defensive blow.

A hand goes to her side, where bruises will be developing, and Tellu pouts, the green-haired, green-eyes botanist huffing. "Coming after you? What are you even talking about, blazing girl - oh, are you that traitor who went all stupid and tried to blow up the sun?"

That's the only thing she can think of. She certainly hasn't been trying to kill anyone (besides this not-so-human pianist, anyway)!

"I haven't even picked it up yet," she complains to the boy in a trenchcoat. "I'm certainly not getting away from it, not before I've even checked if it has what I need."

The PlAnteater isn't paying attention to the discussion - Bow has managed to slice a leg off with his Slicer Arrow, and though another quickly grows to replace it, the youma is furious at the audacity, rearing up again and slamming down, causing more of the stage to rock and pitch around them. The civilians, drained and weakening, slide around like knocked over bowling pins.

Incendiary charges lodge in it's thick tail, igniting and creating spots of flame, and the youma quickly begins thrashing about, dropping burning branches onto the damaged stage, the oiled and polished wood beginning to catch. Soon, this music hall could be going up in flames!

And then there's Cure Sharpsong, rushing in with her sword, and PlAnteater offers a scratchy yowl as it's flaming tail is cut off by her swing. It begins to grow a new one, but given that a tail is larger on an anteater than a limb, it's taking a bit longer to grow, spiny thorns expanding from it's rear end.

Bow has posed:
When Bow sees Sayaka transform, he's frozen for just a moment. It's the first time he's seen her shift to her Pretty Cure form and while he has so many questions, again, shelved aside for now. "That's sooooo coool." does escape him, however, before the PlAnteater regrows it's leg. "Worse than a weed." he comments, about to prepare another arrow... until he spies Tomoko starting to falter.

The bow is put to a different use. "Grapple arrow!" he calls, and fires a line into the rafters. Sweeping towards the stage as it rocks and shakes, Bow hits it and slides along on his knees ending up arriving at Tomoko as she falls and catches her in his arms. As he catches the girl, he gives a quick grin. "Hello. My name's Bow, and I'll be rescuing you this evening."

Pushing himself from his knees to his feet, he holds the bow tightly beneath the girl and adds. "Hold on tight if you can!"

And with that, he uses the grapple to pull himself and Tomoko upwards and he swings them towards the seating area as he tries to get her out of the drain area and someplace safe so she can recover.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker was furious, all she could see was Tellu and Double Trouble. The world just a sea of anger, rage and her fallen themfriend. "You're leaving here with NOTHING you pathetic second rate STREET MAGICIAN!"

The electricity around her began to turn to flames before she put her palms together. As she pulled them apart, electricity arched between them before she thrust them at Tellu.

Before she lifts a foot up and then brings it crashing down on the stage. An explosion would tear from her foot, before the chunks of wood ripped free were wrapped in a red light, then launched at Tellu, sharp edges out.

"I'll tear you apart you glorified floramancer!"

Sunbreaker's lungs burned as dark energy, long kept at bay, flooded in where it once took hold. Fueled by her ever growing rage at the attack on the person she cared about most.

Double Trouble has posed:
Later, when recalling this event, the part that Double Trouble will be the most dramatically disappointed with is how they missed all the drama. Their girlfriend abandoning her newfound goodness to embrace her dark energy and rage henshin to save them? Pure poetry, and they weren't even aware of it. They would at least rest assured that, even though their body laid there motionless, still wedged between the piano and the bench, that they were the center of attention.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir watches Tellu not drop a damn thing so he follows through with his threat- he fires his gun at Tellu. What comes out isn't a bullet, but a POWERFUL jet of water, probably aiming to throw the woman away from the crystal and across the stage, if possible.

"Your day is about to become horribly difficult then!" he says as he moves to try to get closer and race after Tellu.

"-and I'm all about that." he says with a smug grin. "Shooting girls with laser guns and thinking you can get away with it!" he says.

He doesn't have the full picture here, yet. Later.

Tomoko Watanabe has posed:
    Things are getting out of control quickly and Tomoko certainly can't keep up with it all, especially not with the Veil thrown so heavily over her eyes. The stage started breaking, and a tree somehow fell onto it (wasn't that nasty storm supposed to be over now?), only for it to catch fire. She's just about to get tossed around into a pile of other passed out civilians when Bow slides in and catches her. Light brown eyes briefly peek open while her hands instinctively clutch at her musical instrument, seemingly refusing to let it go amidst this not-so-natural disaster.

    "Bow?" she asks, clearly out of it and words coming out a bit mushy, "is the recital over already?" Her eyes then squeeze tightly shut at the strange sensation of the leap, like being thrown into the air and then falling, unable to make heads or tails of it in her confused, drained state.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Now would be such a good time to still have fire attacks, Sayaka frowns at the regrowing bush-youma. A pity that she doesn't have any now. Could she expect a Cure Euterpe to have found a way back here to use that flaming sword of hers? No?

"Not like you are supposed to get it either!", Sayaka exclaims, jumping back away from the Pianteater to change course of action. The irony of her having trouble with an enemy's regeneration is not lost on her.

Good thing there are ways around that, and she now has the means to that. Sharpsong raises the arm with the Love PreBrace above her, a blue sphere of shining water forming there. "Pretty Cure Sharpsong Legato!" At the command, the sphere splits into thin water beams that rush towards the living bush, trying to wrap around it and hold it tight.

That should leave her a bit of time to breathe and make sure, Hinoiri is all good over there. Though, a look makes her shudder as Hinoiri doesn't leave much to hoping good things with how she is acting. Hopefully, she will go back to normal once Tellu is dealt with, but the geode that Hinoiri has given her was supposed to keep the dark energy from burning her, no? Please, let her be fine after this.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Drop those and reach for the clouds...!

    "I shot her with artillery and she's fine!" Amy warns Pulp Noir. "Don't threaten, just kill!"

    Oops her anti-plant incendiaries are setting the stage on fire. Uhhhhhhh... ._.;;;;

    "I don't suppose you could put that out...?"

    "Sunbreaker!" she calls. "My powers are at your disposal if you've got any ideas!" She doesn't know what special tactics a trained mage with access to dark energy might have that would use Amy's magic to most effectively fight Tellu, but that's kind of the point.

    Landing near Sunbreaker, she calls up her 105mm artillery cannon and... fudge, balanced on chairbacks and without flight active, she can't aim it steady. In a puff of pink sparkles it's replaced by her usual over-the-shoulder recoilless launcher, which isn't very heavy for her at least, and fires an anti-tank round right at Tellu without shouting any alerts or threats. Every millisecond longer it takes Tellu to notice and block it puts the enemy in a worse situation, after all.

Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
"Mmm, no thank you," Tellu says disdainfully, and the electricity is held back as thoroughly as the ice was, the ring of petals holding the attack back, and then it spirals, condensing on itself, before being swallowed up by the ring of petals, which swirl faster and faster for the fresh infusion. "I'm not going down to some tantruming child."

The stage is further destroyed by the explosion that rips from Sunbreaker's foot, and honestly, what a shame for this poor Performing Arts Center - thoroughly destroyed as it is, it will be months, if not years, before it reopens.

Tellu flips backwards to avoid the spears of wood wrapped in red-light, and as she does, she snatches the Heart Crystal from the ground, inspecting it as her ring of petals keeps her defenses up for a moment - from the front. Pulp Noir's jet of water catches her by surprise, and she's launched off her feet and towards the audience chairs, ending up comedically upside down in a chair, having maintained her grip on the crystal.

Ironically, this means Amy's carefully launched shot punches through the stage, instead of Tellu, not that the Witch notices to be grateful!

"Hey, hey, that was uncalled for," she calls irritably. "Don't you know that I'm doing science here, studying these things? If you want to interrupt the process, I'll be forced to remove you from the scene!"

The stage is in flames in various patches, and smoke is beginning to fill the air. PlAnteater snarls, thorny-tongue lashing out. Tomoko is far enough now that she's not being drained anymore, but the other civilians still trapped - most of them having run away, but two other players were stuck, and are woozily trying to escape the stage.

Smoke is starting to build in the air, not a threat now, but a sign of problems to come if nothing's done.

And then? Then, water begins rushing around the youma, snatching at it like wriggly wet binds and thankfully, dousing it's flames. PlAnteater wriggles about in apparent relief, because goodness, no plant likes to be on fire, even evil energy draining ones! However, with that solved, it promptly begins trying to return to the offensive, and with it's limbs captured, that regrowing tail is put to work - the short end jabs into the stage, and bougainvillea vines begin growing into the stage, only to burst out and grab at Sunbreaker, attempting to launch her towards the back of stage.

Bow has posed:
Finding a safe place to set Tomoko down, Bow nods soberly. "Yeah. It looks like the recital is over. I'll let someone know you're here to get you to the nurse's office." the Etherian archer offers, taking out his phone to send a quick message to one of his many allies. If they don't come for Tomoko by the time the fight ends? He'll take her to the nurse himself. "I need to get back in there. Take care of yourself and that oboe, okay?" A warm smile offered as he pushes himself back to his feet to head back into the auditorium and the fight.

Opening the door, Bow moves into the room again, assessing the situation and considering his options. Flipping back open his bow, he glances at the water ropes holding the PlAnteater into place. "Those yours, Sharpsong?" he calls over to the Pretty Cure. "I'm gonna borrow one of them!"

Pulling an arrow, "Ice Arrow!" he announces as he draws it back, aiming it towards one of the water ropes holding the youma in place and fires. If successful, the arrow will freeze the water line to hopefully help tether it into place.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker felt her ire grow as her attacks were deflected, more and more. HOW DARE THIS GIRL--

And then she had the crystal.

How.

Dare.

She.

Vines wrapped around her and she growled. "Begone."

Fire erupted around her, enveloping her. She lifted her left hand to the sky. A spear of red fire formed and... well... those who had fought Sunbreaker in the past likely knew how dangerous those were. Scales had started to appear on Sunbreaker's skin, as well.

Then she lifted her right hand and a second spear appeared. Before she launched the first at Tellu... the second past Tellu? However, once it went past her it would swerve back around, the two attempting to strike her at the same time, from different directions.

Her hands had started to become clawlike, her breathing only getting more belleagered with each moment.

Tomoko Watanabe has posed:
    Though wobbly on her feet when set down Tomoko manages to keep her balance enough to remain standing. "Thank you," she replies, looking around in minor confusion and then seeming to get the first actual good look at Bow for the first time. He looks... like nobody she's ever seen before! Again, the Veil takes it's toll, though his identity will remain very safe. "Okay! Um... good luck." As he moves back into the fray the brown haired girl tilts her head and asks herself, "Why was that nice firefighter wearing a cosplay outfit?"

    Thick black smoke now pours through several doorways, prompting her to start actually getting scared for the first time since the stage started collapsing. Luckily she hears her name called, which snaps her out of her reverie. It's the voice of her music teacher! Turning around she jogs from the Lobby and out onto the sidewalk where already headcounts are being taken and parents are being contacted.

    Someone has made sure at least some of the teachers at Radiant Heart are prepared to take charge should disaster strike off campus.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir does as Amy suggests and fires powerful jets of water at fire she created. Fire is put out! The day is saved!....so says the absolutely wrecked stage. He ...ehs. Good enough. When suggested he shoots to kill he shoots Amy a GLARE. K-kill!? That's a human being!..

A jerkish one, but still a human being..!

Well. Tellu looks, acts, walks like one so like. Yeah. Human. But he still watches her tank artillery so at least he knows she can take it. He switches out the tiny pistol for a huge magnum looking revolve and aims down the sights... firing a powerful single magical blast at Tellu, followed by another.

What's going on with Hiniori there anyways. Wasn't she done with the Sunbreaker thing!? What's going on!?

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "I MISSED?!" Amy was expecting her shot to be blocked!

    Well there goes a chunk of the stage. At least it's Radiant Heart, so maybe magic can help out with the rebuilding? At any rate, Dianora's life is more important than the already-damaged stage.

    Oh well, no time. Her launcher disappears in a shower of pink sparkles as she leaps for the vines grabbing Hinoiri, stuffing high explosive grenades in them and then leaping away just before they explode.

    Hopefully that will buy them a moment without the vines...!

    She does shout back at Tellu over the noise of battle, "We won't let you kill them, for science or not! If you think you can take us, you're welcome to try!"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka gives Bow a nod as he explains his intention to tighten the hold on the youma with his arrows, her attention split between the fight and the unsettling changes that are occurring to Hinoiri. She is tempted to immediately strike at her with purification, but how much would she be in danger with Tellu still here? Not to mention Double Trouble's condition. Even when they would come back, she knows by experience it's not a thing that you bounce back from in a second.

Worries about Hinoiri are definitely warranted right now, but just as much of a worry is the damage her unbound flames are causing to the place. They really should do something about that. Thinking about all the things she is supposedly capable of right now, she remembers the dance forms she has gained, to her mixed feelings. She is not a bad dancer, and magic would probably help, but she can't still shake the feeling that doing that in a fight is way too weird.

"Pretty Cure Spinny Mirror Change!", she exclaims, causing another transformation with the appropriate PreCards, changing into a dress with decorations styled after small red berries. The bluenette starts jumping and spinning around the place, her "partners" 5 watersprouts that move around the stage, passing over all the burning spots and each crashing into the Pianteater.

Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
The Ice Arrow hits - and the water instantly freezes over, turning a flexible tie into an immutable one, and spreading ice over all the water that clung to the youma. Bougainvillea's do not appreciate the cold - flowers and leaves begin to fall off the youma in droves, leaving the poor thing as naked as a tree in the dead of winter, and looking decidedly more frail.

Trees were a lot more vulnerable during winter, after all.

Which is why when Sunbreaker incinerates the vines it summed? It flails about, branches creaking, as the fire spreads until it hits the ice and is put out, steam rising up and water dripping down. The poor youma is on it's last legs after all that.

Tellu on the other hand, still has fight in her. Swirling her hand, she lifts her petals up and blocks the first spear with a grunt of effort, squirming about to try and get back to her feet -

And is struck square in the back by the second, and the back of her black dress begins to burn, her skin mottling, and she loses her grip on the crystal, leaving to skitter down the audience rows.

Then Hinote hits her with two magic blasts, rapid fire, and her eye twitches as her frustration builds. What was it with all these kids firing from so many angles?!

"Well, I tried," she says grimly, and then vines shoot from the ground, growing from the wood of the flooring. They cover her like a straightjacket, binding her limbs and completely covering her skin -

And then she bursts out of them. Her dress is now made of many, ragged-edged, long leaves, and a thorned vine wraps loosely around each limb. Her skin has taken on a grey-ish cast, her teeth sharp fangs and her nails clawed edges, ears pointed and her hair is thicker, wilder.

Sunbreaker is becoming like Sunset. Tellu has become her proper Daimon self, and she launches herself at Sunbreaker, and punches her square in the face with a thorn-wreathed fist.

"Looks like you can't hold your dark energy anymore," Tellu croons viciously. "How are you going to protect those you love when one fight is enough to get you on the verge?"

Meanwhile, Cure Sharpsong begins to dance across the stage with her partners - five waterspouts, which put out the flames by flooding the stage - and smashing into the shriveled PlAnteater. Between that and the grenades Amy's thrown out, exploding and launching the PlAnteater about, making it pingpong into the waterspouts -

The poor youma keels over, dark energy wafting from it into the air. Most of the energy it collected dissipates, heading back to its original owners.

Bow has posed:
Sharpsong is not the only one paying attention to Hinori. Bow has been watching, seeing her fall further and further into the abyss of her own making. "Fuck." he grumbles to himself. Pulling out an arrow, he mutters, "Blunted Arrow." Instead of a sharp arrowhead, it's attached to a heavy ball. He pulls it back in to a draw aiming for the back of Hinori's head, when he notices the waterspouts, the flooding of the stage and Double-Trouble... in the midsts of it all.

An argument breaks out in his brain meat.

Chibi-Glimmer: After everything they did to us, let them soak!
Chibi-Adora, who looks like she's from Canada in South Park: You should save them! They'll owe you one!
CG: They never pays her debts!
CA: There's always a first time.
CG: Pfft! You just think they're like Catra!
CA: They can be redeemed!

.... this is all Glimmer's fault for going to Obsidian with her mom.

Throwing the arrow to the side. "Grapple Arrow!" He draws and fires it at Double Trouble, wrapping around them, and starts to yank them out of the flood zone and closer to him. "...ugh. Lay off the cakes." he grumbles as he heaves to get them clear.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker did not expect Tellu to have a second form. Granted, right now she was so mentally not-all-there that her expecting anything was... not realllllllly in the cards.

However, the punch did hit home. Crashing into Sunbreaker's flaming face.

And new instinct, crafted through prior training with Obsidian's HR lady, kicked in. Her head moved with the punch and she twisted back, her hands reaching out to try and grab Tellu's arm and yank it forward, continuing her momentum, before yanking it down and over, to try and slam Tellu into the ground, well, the stage.

She held onto the woman's arm with her right hand, her left hand pointed down at her, repeated, violent blasts of fire erupting out, again and again.

"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!"

Tellu was right, Hinoiri could not handle her dark energy anymore. She should have gone after the crystal, but she didn't. Instead, all she could focus on was Tellu. Even though her face now had a big gash across the side where Tellu's thorny fist had hit, all she could focus on was destruction.

A long, scaled tail had formed from her back, as well.

As dust and smoke filled the air, she finally let Tellu's arm go and stumbled back, rasping for air. Her eyes having gone off Tellu...

And now focused on Bow. Double Trouble. Why was he touching them? What gave him the right to touch what was HERS?! THEY WERE HERS!

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you were), it did make her attention go away from Tellu. This would end well.

Double Trouble has posed:
Really the trouble with Double Trouble was their tail. It comprised a substantial amount of mass and also made them awkward to carry. Especially when they were just limp and couldn't even help or--more likely--be dramatic about their helplessness. The real tragedy here was that Double Trouble's performance was such a passive role.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy crashes into the seats from her wild leap. Ooooh that would SO hurt if she weren't magic. Well, it probably still did. Ow.

    She's standing, now holding another looks-like-a-firearm firing homing, rocket-propelled bullets at Tellu wildly as she deals with the lag from canceling pain. She's afraid to launch anything bigger while Tellu is right next to--

    "SUNSET!" Amy's eyes widen as she screeches in alarm. "You have to calm down! For Dianora!"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
The dance over, the watersprouts disappear, as does the Rowan Strathspey form, dissolving back into Cure Sharpsong, a concerned look on her face directed not at Tellu having intensified her efforts - even if that problem is decidedly unwelcome - but at how much closer Hinoiri is moving towards a Sunset of Sora state.

After this she is going to make Hinoiri promise to never do that again, even if she had her reasons. And they really need to find a new transformation so she isn't forced to make such drastic decisions.

She takes a deep breath, a bit anxious at what she is about to do. She has never used a purifying move on a friend before now (not that she had had any such attack), but there is little choice in the matter.

"Symphony of Justice, turn into sacred power!", she declares, raising her right arm and with the left spinning the dial on her wrist. "Love PreBrace!" At the callout, 10 train wheels made of water spawn into existence floating in the air.

"Pretty Cure Rondo con Toccata! Justice, return to the Heavens!" Cure Sharpsong says, all the watery train wheels converging on Sunbreaker at the same time, lingering in a circle of them around Hinoiri after the hits, trying to get all around her and purifying it.

Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
Tellu's punch lands home.

...Sunbreakerset's throw lands too, though. And so do her fiery bursts, pounding down, down, down -

Tellu does scream, in rage, in pain, as she burns in ways that will heal but absolutely hurt, and will continue to do so for a while -

And then Sunbreakerset is distracted, and Tellu surges up, grabs her by the throat, and squeezes, hard.

"I might not know you, traitor girl, but I get the feeling your problem is that you can't focus on what's important. You want to splash back into the darkness for ~love~ or whatever, but look at you, so busy trying to kill little old me you didn't even notice I dropped the damnable crystal."

And her face is dark, her fangs sharp, and she's still squeezing Sunbreakerset's throat, belaying her fury.

"I could have broken it and you were so busy thinking you could kill me that you didn't think to go check. I wonder if you're really in love or if you just like collecting possessions?"

And then the water wheels hit, converging on Sunbreakerset, but splashing through Tellu enough to sting and burn, and she snarls with rage once the attack is done and hurls Sunbreakerset at Double Trouble (and thusly, at Bow).

"Fine," she sniffs, wet, injured, and irritated. With a wave of her hand, she returns to her normal appearance, looking put together aside from the damage to her uniform and the singes on her neck and face. "I was able to get a good enough reading off that crystal and it isn't what I need, so you can go ahead and have it back."

And then she Duskports out, head held high, absolutely refusing to admit she was beaten.

The heroes are left with an unconscious Double Trouble, a heart crystal somewhere in the audience seating, an utterly destroyed stage, a flooded building, and Sunbreaker.

Victory fanfare?

Bow has posed:
Ah crap.

Bow was just getting Double Trouble to safety - just as .... whatever Hinori has become is flung towards him. He's not going to have the time to dodge. He realizes this as he's so focused on the chameleon that well... he's at the mercy of Sunbreaker and everything. Not even time to draw an arrow.

Today sucks.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker growled and reached out, to grip the wrist. Vicious red pupils stared at Tellu, as her rage just continues to overtake her. Those words...

Oh, they just made her angrier. Because they were true. She hadn't even thought about it. She thought she could handle this, could protect Double Trouble... But as strong as she was?

The darkness had taken her once and now it was oh too easy for it to take her a second time. And it was clear, because all she could think of was how to destroy Tellu for daring to think she could talk like this to her, to Sunset of Sora, a Sovereign of--

And then purifying water washed over her and she hissed angrily, the flames on her getting dispelled, slightly, as the tail disappeared. And she tried to take control again. Tried to regain just enough to--

And then she was thrown. Luckily for Bow? The flames disappeared before she actually hit him, slamming into his chest.

And she groaned. Tellu was gone. But Sunbreaker was still her. Rasping. The purification had helped her regain enough control. But she still had scales. Her eyes were still black. The stage was still wrecked. "S-Starfish... m-my g-geode..." she rasped, gasping for breath. She couldn't control it. But Sayaka had bought her some control. Some time. Where she wasn't trying to destroy everything. "D-Dee... is Dee... o-okay?" she asked. The threat was gone, right? So Dee had to be okay...

... Wait... had... had Tellu said she'd broken the crystal? No. That couldn't be it. Could it? She'd... said something else. She had to.

A small flicker of panic rose in her.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy also stared at Sayaka. She gets alternate forms!? But right now, Sunset -- no, Hinoiri -- is more pressing. "Hey! Hey! Hinoiri! Calm down! She's trying to get a rise out of--" the sentence strangles in Amy's throat as she hears the echo of every adult who's ever told her not to react to bullies. "She's trying to trick you!" Amy fires more gyrojets near Tellu as warning shots.

    "The crystal's somewhere in here, we need to find it!" Amy looks around, despairing over how... how to spot that tiny object in this huge room! "Please tell me someone can sense them...?!"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Not even wasting time for a sigh of relief once she hears Hinoiri speak, Sayaka takes the geode out of the tiny bag that normally only keeps the Pretty Change Mirror, rushing over to her, trying to avoid the flooded spots that she sent the watersprouts to. The fatigued tone is a clear indication it's not over yet, one stressed all the more by Hinoiri's own words.

"Double Trouble will be fine. Exhausted, probably, but nothing long lasting", Sayaka reassures Hinoiri, giving her the geode. "The Heart Crystal landed somewhere in the audience seats", she looks in that direction. "Tellu tossed it that way after trying to leverage how she could have broken it if she wanted."

This may have been a much less relaxing time than they had imagined, but at least Tellu is gone now, and the building itself is safe still, if not the stage. That was stupidly reckless, but now is not the time to discuss it. Even more so because she has no issue understanding how strong the whiplash from the change in circumstances must have been.

Bow has posed:
Slammed into by Hinori, Bow bounces backwards, sliding along the ground and falls over. "Whoompf." he groans as he pushes himself to his feet.

As it seems that the girls have the whole thing handled, he stows his bow and breaks henshin to head over to where his violin was. Tossing a wave over his shoulder to the trio, he makes his way out into the hallway, telling anyone who asks that he bumped his head and doesn't remember anything.

Double Trouble has posed:
Hinoiri comes flying into Double Trouble and Bow, and they all go tumbling down. They are unconscious. They are unable to move their body at all. The way they fall to the floor is determined entirely by the various forces at play upon them. And yet they manage to perfectly shablam on the floor beyond Bow. Not even the Heartstealer rifle can take the show out of Double Trouble.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker took the geode and nodded. "Y-yes. T-thank you. Please... please... f-find it..." she whispered. Wearing the geode again... her eyes became their normal color, and she reverted to normal.

Except she had a bunch of burns and her face was all scratched up. And then they crawl over to Double Trouble and pull them close. "I'm... sorry. I couldn't out Double Trouble's identity, the same way I can't give out anyone's identity," she said sheepishly. She trusted Sayaka would understand that. But...

But now? Now all of her ached. And the stage was a mess. And she... she couldn't handle it. Ugh. She'd made a mess of everything.

"Thank you, Cure Sharpsong. For... ummm... everything," she said softly, giving a small smile. She then glanced over towards the seats, still clutching her theyfriend. "Is, ummm... everyone else okay?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Now that Sayaka's pointed it out, Amy searches that area for the heart crystal. "It's fine. They have understandable reasons to not want people to know they're a shapeshifter. I only found out because-- Well, I happened to meet them at the right time. I'm..." Amy stretches, and regenerates the damage of her bad fall. It's minor, as battle wounds go, just painful. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Hey, it's all fine", Sayaka remarks, emphasizing it with a nod. There was hardly anything she could be reprimanded for in seeing Double Trouble hurt like that in any situation, besides how reckless it had been. Going from a moment of peace and serenity to fighting for their life must have been extremely unsettling.

"Everyone else is ok, I think. Tellu didn't hurt anybody, and no friendly fire coming from you either. You were charging briefly, but you got control of yourself back just in time. You really really need better powers, though", Sayaka adds while taking off for the audience seats, quite literally so, her wings expanded again from the bow on her back, taking an aerial look at the place.

A quick finding-and-retrieval, Sayaka is back to Hinoiri giving her Double Trouble's Heart Crystal. "It's intact, see?", she lets Hinoiri grab it from her, letting the fiery girl put it back.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara took the crystal and, with a relieved smile, she put it to Double Trouble's chest...

And when Double Trouble came to, the first thing she'd see is Hinoiri smiling down at her, burned, cut up in the face a bit, and... smiling. "You... are such a drama chameleon," Hinoiri said with a sigh. "And I think you got outted... and I don't know *how* you manage to even faint in the most over dramatic way. You're so much trouble."

And then she'd kiss them. Because they were a trouble maker... but they were HER trouble maker.

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble's eyes shot open and they drew in a deep dramatic breath as soon as Hinoiri pushed their Heart Crystal back into their chest. And then, with their magic back, the dehenshin device went back into action. Right there in Hinoiri's arms they changed shape, their green body melting to blackness and reforming as Dianora in her pink dress and pink bow and pink shoes.

Hinoiri's talking to her and she's listening, mostly. She hears the words being said but she's also looking around the auditorium, orienting herself. She's not anywhere near the piano, and it looks like a small war broke out.

And then Hinoiri kisses her. On the cheek, surely. This is Dianora, after all. "Onee-chan," she says quietly, "I didn't make any of this trouble."