165/Birth of the (Cure) Sun(ny)

Birth of the (Cure) Sun(ny)
Date of Scene:	28 July 2023
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	Lamya attacks the school with her Akanbe, and Akane Hino has something to say about it, alongside Rashmi, Yayoi, and Ikiko!
Cast of Characters:	Mie Kitamura, Akane Hino, Rashmi Terios, Yayoi Kise, Ikiko Hisakata

---

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    Just because school is out, it doesn't mean that after school clubs stop happening. A few volleyball nets have been set up in the yard of Radiant Heart Academy so the Volleyball Club can practice during the off-season. So far, there seems to be four teams practicing with rotating members. There isn't really a coach supervising, rather the older students seem to be in charge of keeping an eye on things.

    The dragon-girl Lamya had been trying to take a nap on the roof of the gym, and was being quite successful until the club started up. She pops an eye open at the noise and peers down from the roof. "What's this?" she mutters to herself. "Can't they find somewhere else to go?"

Akane Hino has posed:
    Akane is, naturally, one of the ones there practicing. She doesn't think of herself so much as an 'older student' but she kind of is, or at least on the upper end of the scale. So she's doing a little bit of practice herself, and a little bit of helping others. She has one of the other students set her up, starts running, leaps into the air and spikes the ball down hard onto the other side of the field, where two other club member's diving attempts to stop it don't get there in time.

    "Whew! Good hustle though. You almost had it." she says with a grin. "I'll have to keep improving too or you guys will catch up to me, with all this hard work." she adds, walking over to the sidelines to grab a towel. "You all keep at it for a little bit, I just need to grab a drink."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
While there might not be much to actively study during summer break, if one has... extracurricular... studies one needs to do, the school's library is still a great, quiet place to get that studying done. It was, however, well after break-time, and Rashmi is crossing the yard on her way home. Spotting the volleyball practice in progress, she pauses to watch for a bit.

After all, what could be so direly important, that one can't even waste time spectating a practice?

Yayoi Kise has posed:
Yayoi Kise...! is not in the volleyball club. A ball bounces off her head, she goes falling and this somehow counts as a legal hit and she gets swirly eyes and gets a whistle and asked to sit out as she 'mouuuuss' and goes to sit out. She's very unathletic.

Not like. Akane. Who's over there being the superstar of the entire Volleyball Club while she just got voluntold to help out by her mom. She'd been cooked up in her room too soon.

Hey what's that sheep-plush doing there by her bag, anyways.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Even the non-sports clubs have their own summer break activities. In the case of the Animal Care club, today was more of a 'schedule and plan' day for checking how things are going and what group activities are occurring when. And for Ikiko, this also meant giving a quick report about the stray dogs of Tokyo. On the one hand, having to improvise a presentation with almost zero warning is never fun; on the other hand, the club did give her hobby semi-official status as a result, so she's no longer having to supplement her resources by 'borrowing' from the club...

Net positive, I guess?

Speaking of nets, watching some volleyball practice after the club meeting was over sounds like a great idea! Standing in the shade of one of the trees, Ikiko cheered on a classmate or two who were in the youngest group, and she gives a nod to the girl she remembered seeing studying at the Korma Chameleon as Rashmi walks by. This is definitely a good way to relax...

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    "Hey!" Lamya shouts from the top of the roof down to the volleyball players and the assembled entourage. "Keep it down! Go play somewhere else! Some of us are trying to take a nap!"

Akane Hino has posed:
    Akane looks up from the field. "Why don't you go home and sleep then?" She asks. "The school rooftop isn't your bed. And the school grounds aren't a place for you to shout orders." she says.

    She turns to the assembled girls. "Ignore her, just I guess try not to send any balls up towards the rooftop?" she offers, shrugging.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The yelling from the gym roof *definitely* grabs Rashmi's attention, and for a moment she just stares up, puzzled. Blinking, she shakes her head, and settles down under the shade of another tree, and goes back to watching, privately agreeing with Akane.

Yayoi Kise has posed:
Yayoi Kise, meanwhile, looks up at the girl with a hint of recognition in her gaze and blinks! .oO(It's her, again!?) she mutters and looks around. She sweats. "Ah-aha-!" she raises her hands. "Um.. m..maybe don't. Sleep on top of the school... m-miss?" she says, raising a finger shyly about the whole affair!

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko frowns and looks quizzically up towards the roof. Why would someone sleep on the gym roof, instead of one of the roofs with a garden on it? Why would they be so cranky about noise when they're sleeping out in the open?

And why does the voice sound somewhat familiar?

Eh, probably just someone being a petulant eccentric. It's more enjoyable to not focus on the complainers, and instead cheer on the volleyball players.

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    When all she gets is talk back or otherwise ignored, Lamya simmers, growling out, "Well I'll show you that you can't ignore me!"

    Pulling out her Picture Book of Darkness, she lets it flip open to a blank page. "This world will be stained with the worst possible ending!" She shouts, holding aloft a tube of the Paint of Darkness. Squishing it so the black paint oozes from between her fingers she continues, "...A Bad End! I'll blot out the pages where your future will be written!" She smears the paint all over the pages and a dark miasma settles onto the field.

    Immediately the volleyball team falls to their knees and start to moan, the younger teammates who couldn't catch Akane's serve crying about how they don't have a future in volleyball. Already the Picture Book of Darkness is starting to swallow up all the Bad Energy. "Ohohoho!" Lamya laughs. "The Bad Energy from these humans is bringing back Emperor Pierrot!"

Akane Hino has posed:
    It's not just Akane's freidns, either. She's close enough to the sidelines, close enough to the center of the effect, of the gloomy change to the world, that she's just as affected as the other girls. "Why do I even bother. I'm just going to fail anyways. No matter how hard I try my future won't become bright..." she says, mostly to herself, but loud enough as she slumps down, too. Why would anyone stop to watch her and her team play? Wasted their time too, cheering them on, when she'll never be the best in Tokyo, let alone Japan, or the world. Just a future as some has-been, or so the black paint informs her.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
...Wait *those* words sound familiar. A yawning pit of dread forms in Rashmi's stomach, as the miasma settles into place and the students are overwhelmed by despair. "Can't even watch sports anymore," Rashmi murmurs, picking herself up to her feet and tugging the charm from its cord around her neck with a sigh. "Nicomachea! Set Up!"

*BONG!* << COMMAND EXECUTE AWAIT >>

A flash of strangely-geometric golden light encircles the redhead, dissolving into nothing to reveal a Magical Girl in a futuristic white, gold and green battle-dress, with some kind of armored book floating over her shoulder.

*BONG!* << FLIER FIN >>

Dragonfly-like wings of sunny light unfurl from her ankles, and she launches off the ground, turning a deeply annoyed stare upon the dragon lady. "All this power, and you're just getting petty revenge on people who *inconvenience* you? Leave them alone, you could be doing *so much better!*"

As Justice Speeches go, it's not the *best,* but let her have this okay.

Yayoi Kise has posed:
Oh no, not again! Maybe she should had kept her mouth shut! But this was gonna happen anyways, wasn't it? Oh no, Akane, her classmate is now down too. "Transform-kuru!" goes the voice from the now mobile 'plush'. "Right..!" she goes as she dives under the bench and---

"Pretty Cure, Smile Charge!" says Yayoi as she becomes Cure Peace out from under the comfort of the bench and then!

She hides there and places hands over her eyes and peeks out. If I close my eyes, no one can see me...

"Peaccce-kuru, we need to stop the Bad End Kingdom!" commands Candy.

"Someone else can do it!"

Candy pushes Peace over and she's visible and she sighs and stands on her heels with a click. "UM...."

"STOP HURTING PEOPLE JUST BECAUSE YOU NAP IN PUBLIC!" she commands. "I mean, please?" she asks, smaller voice.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Given the chaos at the beach at the start of the month, it's not surprising Ikiko doesn't recognize the words of Bad End, but the energy is familiar enough! "Gah!" she yelps, recoiling in a mixture of disgust and 'oh hey, there's a bush over here' scrambling.

A glow of silver from within the bushes -- at about the time Nicomachea is booting into combat mode -- and a moment later Cute Wolf Tsukiko leaps out! "The happiness of the present brings comfort to the future! Who are you to spit on their joy?" the wolfgirl snarls towards the figure on the roof.

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    "You again!" Lamya says pointing between Rashmi and Cure Peace. "And whoever you are," she says, pointing to Ikiko. "What do I have to do to get you out of my hair!? Tch." She spreads her emerald green dragon wings and takes to the air and holds out a red ball about the size of a softball. "Akanbe! Take them out!"

    She tosses the nose to one of the volleyball nets, turning it into a ten foot tall clown faced net! The face is in the center of the net, with the arms and hands coming out of the top of the poles, while the bottom are its feet. "Akanbe!" it shouts, and rushes towards Ikiko, trying to wrap her up in it's net.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi should have expected it. The clown ferris wheel was bad, but Clown Net Monster is just...

I mean, what?!

"I mean if you *stopped attacking people,*" Rashmi says, summoning a few weak Barrets and launching them toward the big ugly clown nose, "you wouldn't have to deal with *any* magical girls getting in your face! And you could just go get ice cream or something! But you're turning sports equipment into clown monsters SO HERE WE ARE."

Akane Hino has posed:
Yayoi dove under a bench that happened to be the one that Akane was facing as she knelt and repeated those negative emotional drives to herself. Which... may not have helped Peace given her own... clear self doubt. Or fear.

    But it meant that Akane saw Yayoi, saw her become Peace. Saw her stand up, shaking and afraid, but still deliver to the youma a speech. Even though Yayoi, the class crybaby, was afraid, she was standing up. Somewhere in Akane's misery-filled mind, that clicked something. Not enough on its own... but the first crack in the shell of despair.

    More cracks came as other girls also stood up against the crazy clown-net-monster-thing. Ones she didn't know. Not that she had heard of any of them. Not that most of them gave names at all. Actually, if she hadn't heard Peace call her name during her henshin she wouldn't know her, either... still... it was just as hopeless as her dreams, right? Maybe...

Yayoi Kise has posed:
"Yes, me, again! and I agree with.. with um... " she looks at Rashmi and squints. "Book Girl, Protector of Books!" she insists. Look Rashmi, this will keep happening until you pick a name. Still. "If you stopped doing this, we could get ice cream instead, but instead you made another Akanbe out of a net and and---"

"You know." she says to herself. "I wonder about the clown thing too. Is..is Emperor Pierrot a clown? I bet---"

"Now's not the time-Kuru!" yells Candy. Peace goes "Oh, right!" she says as she calls forth a burst of lightning at the net, trying to smack it before it can hit Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Tsukiko yelps and dives for the space under the onrushing net Akanbe, hoping to take advantage of its current shape before it can realize that it might not need to keep the net tense as a monster.

"I take it the two of you know her?" the wolfgirl asks the other magical girls present as she rolls to her feet and turns to face the Akanbe. The good news is, because of the net's previous rush, the volleyball team is not in the line of fire.

The bad news, of course, is that the Akanbe seems to have it out for her, and getting tangled up would severely limit what she can do.

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    "Akanbe!" the net shouts in frustration, having missed Cute Wolf Tsukiko, nearly tangling itself as it stumbles past.

    "Not that one!" shouts Lamya. "That one!" The Akanbe turns its attention to Cure Peace and rushes at her, sending a white gloved fist her way!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"A little?" Rashmi calls down. "She was at Dream Kingdom a while ba--AACK!"

While being up in the air keeps her out of immediate line of fire, she *is* fixating rather firmly on the Akanbe, apparently disregarding Lamya herself as a threat, and the change in target is *very obvious.*

"Catch it!" she calls down to Tsukiko, as a magic circle spreads out under her feet, giving her 'ground' to appear to be standing on.

*BONG!* << ACCEL -- BOOST UP >>

A wisp of golden energy flits rapidly down to Tsukiko, splitting in two and sinking into the wolfgirl's shoes. Time for a speed boost, magical quick-fighter!

Yayoi Kise has posed:
Cure Peace sputters. "What, me!?" she says as her eyes go wide and she starts running away from the net akanbe but only manages to get caught!. The net tangling around her as she 'gahs!' and wiggles into it's netly grasp. "I KNEW I ALWAYS DISLIKED VOLLEYBALL!" she cries out as she flails trying to break free.

But she can't!

"TRY HARDER-KURU!" yells Candy. "I'm trying!" yells back Peace!

Akane Hino has posed:
    Somewhere, lost in all of the chaos, is Akane. She's moved - ever so slightly - so that she's not facing the bench. So that she can watch the fight as it's coming together. She can see the... wolf girl... and the book-girl... working together. And she can see Peace... no, Yayoi... trying. Yes, she got wrapped up in that net. But Peace was trying, despite her being a scaredy-cat and a crier.

    Also wait was that the stuffed animal Yayoi had started bringing around school... talking? Akane blinked, a subtle thing that most of the others currently ensnared weren't capable of doing.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
A buffing spell? That's a new one to Tsukiko -- as is the sudden acceleration when it takes effect! "WHOA!" she yelps as the sudden burst of speed causes her to overshoot her dodge.

Good thing her braking seems to have also benefitted from this temporary upgrade, allowing the wolfgirl to corner sharply and relaunch, this time aiming to grab one of the limb-poles of the Akanbe and unwind the net like a scroll. Just need to... er, hold on--

    ...wait, how strong is this thing, anyway? Tsukiko realizes... right after she grabbed it.

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    Turns out, it's pretty strong. Instead of unwinding the net, Cute Wolf Tsukiko spins around the pole getting ensnared into the net as well. "Akanbe!" it bellows in triumph. That only leaves one left.

    It turns its great googly eyes up towards Rashmi and actually spits a net at her to bring her down to the ground! "Akanbe!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
*BONG!* << SOLAR SHIELD >>

Obligingly, a circular shield of hard light appears between Rashmi's outstretched hand and the oncoming net!

Reality check, Rashmi; shields are only good against attacks with *impact.* Something like a binding net would... do what's happening right this second. As the net wraps around both Rashmi *and* shield, tangling her up and fouling her concentration, the wings-of-light shatter into glassy, disintegrating shards of free mana. Which forces *another* problem.

Specifically, the problem of the oncoming ground. It's a survivable problem, but not a pleasant one to fail to solve!

Yayoi Kise has posed:
Cure Peace says. "Don't worry. I'll save the day!" she says, all tied up in the net. Candy yells from the bench. "HOW-KURU!?". Peace then says. "Uh. I haven't figured that part out let me..." and then she shocks herself trying to send a shockwave out. It hurts only herself. That. That didn't work. "That didn't work!" she cries out.

Akane Hino has posed:
    Akane watches as things are just going poorly for the gfirls. See? She was right. That dull, negative voice in her mind was right. It's all worthless and hopeless. The world will have a Bad End... just like this fight. Nobody else was coming, the girls were brave and strong but the work they put into it was worthless.

    Just like the work she put into her volleyball - all pointless unless she won, unless she was the best, anything less...

    Somewhere in her mind, the cracks began to widen. Why... why did it only matter if she was the best? Sure, she wanted to be the ace striker for her team, but the game itself was fun, too. The hard work she did wasn't for nothing. The bonds she forged with her teammates weren't for nothing.

    And these girls were standing up to a bully. To a monster - two monsters, the one on the ground and the one in the air above, too. Bullies and monsters, picking on poor little Yayoi - even if Yayoi apparently could now turn into a lightning rod.

    What was Akane doing, kicking her own butt like this? At least let the monster kick her butt, she told herself. Don't lose without even getting off the bench.

    Akane suddenly rose, to her feet, despite the Bad End Energy roaming all over the field. And she ran over and picked up a volleyball and yeeted it. At the net-monster. At the back of its head. "You... you big... bully! Let my friend go." she shouted. And shouted it from far away enough that she was probably unlikely to get wrapped up in the net directly - though it wouldn't mean much for the ranged spit. But she was less thinking and more doing. "Let them all go!" she said, despite some degree of obvious fear and 'what the hell am I doing', throwing another ball. But fine, if she was going to lose, she was at least going to play.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Being dizzy while tangled isn't a good position to be in. Getting secondhand shocked isn't any fun, either, but at least it solves the dizziness problem (even if it does make her hair -- and fur -- stand on end).

"It's a decent wake-up call, though," Tsukiko remarks to Peace with a groan. Well, wiggling free doesn't seem to be particularly effective, and energy apparently has its limits; perhaps a bit of... focused physical effort might do the trick?

Like, say, biting the cords?

The wolfgirl opens her mouth wide, her cute little fanglies gleaming silver as they lengthen right before she snaps her jaw shut on a nearby strand of the net with a fierce *chomp!*, severing that cord!

One down... several more to go. And most of them are out of reach of her mouth.

Darn.

Akane's defiance captures Tsukiko's attention. "Your friend has some definite willpower," the wolfgirl conversationally remarks to Cure Peace, a tone of impressed respect clear in her voice.

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    Lamya can't help but laugh at the plight of the magical girls. "Ohohohoho! Finally I have the upper hand. Soon, I will drain all the Bad Energy from the- what?!?" Akane's sheer determination and ability to shake off the Bad End miasma catches her off guard. "How did-- What the-- HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?"

    The volleyballs thrown at the Akanbe don't really do much other than catch its attention. "Akanbe?" It turns to look at the girl who threw the offensive ball and roars its indignation. "Akanbe!" Another intake of breath spits out another net at the girl.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Struggling against her bonds, Rashmi feels a *surge* of hope as Akane -- as far as she knows, another ordinary human, like Naru -- manages to slip loose the bonds of despair. More, to *stand up* to the Akanbe. If absolutely nothing else told her that continuing to fight was worth it, weary and battered by the ground as she is, Akane's bravery *must* be paid due honor.

"Watch out!" she calls as a net flies toward Akane, and she struggles yet more, then ceases as a thought comes to her.

<< Nicomachea? >>

<< COMMAND EXECUTE AWAIT, >> the book echoes in her mind.

<< You told me shields push back against sustained force when they break, right? >>

<< AFFIRMATIVE >>

<< Well... Can we break our own shield? >>

<< ... ..... ....... ..... ... CALCULATING. >>

Akane Hino has posed:
    "How am I doing this?" She replies. "What is any of this? What is going on? I don't know! But I can't just... do nothing! Not while other people are fighting you!"

    A net comes towards her and, thanks to Rashmi's cry, she is able to jump it - like she's going to spike a volleyball. Well, she ALMOST jumps it. The bottom of the projectile net clips her foot and she goes down hard, eating dirt and grass and skidding forward a little. And yet even after that she gets up and runs. She runs over and starts trying to pull the net that holds, Yayoi in particular, but she's trying - futiley, but desperately, to pull open the nets that have Peace and Tsukiko trapped. (The other girl, being caught somewhere else, is on the list somewhere further down.) "I don't know what's going on or what I'm doing or what any of this is but it's pissing me off!" she yells as she continues to try to tug the net apart. "And Peace-san...I'm not going to let you push her around, she has a bigger heart than anyone I know!"

    And in that moment, a burst of energy comes from the sky and does some of the unraveling work Akane couldn't do, leaving Akane suspended in the air and generally most people pretty confused... Akane most of all...

Yayoi Kise has posed:
Cure Peace is still thinking of ways to break free. "PEEACCCEEE BREAK-MYSELF-FREE-CUTTER!" she calls out. Nothing happens. Candy sweaydrops. Cure Powers do not work that way. You can't just call elements you don't command like that! Still, she coughs. "I uh-- Akane-san, don't do that!" she flails. "It'll attack you, too!" she calls out. How did Akane break free from the Bad End Energy. Then that beam of energy comes from the sky and---

Candy lands on her head. "Oh-kuru!" does Candy, as a strange pink compact and a strange pin appear.

This is lucky. "YOU MUST BE ONE OF THE PRECURE I'M LOOKING FOR! PUT THE DECOR IN THE COMPACT AND SAY 'Pretty Cure Smile Charge!'-Kuru!" she says as she starts tapping her tiny hands on Akane's head rapidly.

"Quickly!"

Akane Hino has posed:
    "WHY IS THE DOLL TALKING TO ME?!" is the first thing Akane says. "Also what the heck is this thing in my hand?!"

    But Candy... sort of explains. "Decor... compact... Oh whatever then!" she says. "I don't really understand any of this but..." She puts the strange bow shaped thing in the equally strange jeweled compact.

    "Pretty Cure, Smile Charge!"

    And in a blazing burst of fire, Akane has changed entirely, from the volleyball outfit she was previously wearing to an outfit that matches Peace's - generating boots, gloves, skirt and top from fire summoned with the snap of her fingers. Her hair is also a lot more orange, and there's a lot more of it.

    "Dazzling Sun! Hot-blooded POWER!! Cure Sunny!"

    "...wait, what the heck did I just say? Dazzling Sun? Cure Sunny? That... WHY DID I SAY THAT?!" she yells, gripping her newly long hair and pausing. "What's up with my HAIR?! AND WHAT ARE THESE CLOTHES?!"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Having someone find the courage to try to rescue you (even if it's as auxillary to them trying to rescue their friend) is a good boost for your spirits. Them awakening as another magical girl further revives the morale, as you now have backup to help turn the tide of battle.

Realizing that the process of awakening weakened the net you're entangled in with searing energy? That is an opening to take advantage of!

Using the lingering dregs of the Accel Boost for a brief surge of speed, Tsukiko tears the net off of herself, then pulls a sizable chunk of net off of Cure Peace before darting over to help the Device Mage upright.

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    Lamya's eyes bulge nearly out of their sockets and her jaw drops as wide as it can get (which is pretty wide if you ask me) at the sight of Akane becoming Cure Sunny. "Whaaaa.....?" is about all she's able to manage.

    She shakes her head to clear it, and points at the newly minted magical girl. "Akanbe! Spike her into the ground!" The Akanbe turns to look at Cure Sunny, with the other two magical girls in its giant net, and balls up a fist and takes a swing at her. "Akanbe!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Oh, >> Rashmi thinks, eyes widening as a beam of light drops from the sky, and Yayoi shouts instructions. << She's *not* a normal human, she's like her friend! *Even better.* >>

Because in the dark times of a fight, *everything* turns around when mahou can apply fire.

<< CALCULATIONS COMPLETE, MASTER, >> Nicomachea says into her mind. << SUPPLEMENTAL INCANTATION REQUIRED TO HOT-PATCH SPELL >>

Bouyed by the addition of a new light to their side, Rashmi nods to the instructions of her Device, and takes a deep breath.

"Solar Shield..."

*BONG!* << SOLAR SHIELD >>

The be-netted circle of light glows even brighter, as a new layer of shielding is applied to it; this one, tuned to apply *and* supply a burst of kinetic force, shattering the shield it envelops, and throwing the resulting kinetic impact outward into the net.

"..Red Shift!"

<< RED SHIFT >>

As designed, the circle of hardened light cracks like glass, then *explodes* outward, shearing away the cords of the net with sudden, brutal force. A moment's flailing later, and the remnants of rope are thrown off, and Rashmi accepts Ikiko's hand to help pull herself upright. "THanks," she says to the young wolfgirl, resurgent hope bringing the brightest of grins to her face, before she looks to the new challenger.

"Glad you could join us, Cure Sunny!" she laughs, another circle spreading out under her feet.

"Let's put an end to this!"

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

*Much less dramatic than the spell she used to free herself, this one summons a wisp of golden light that darts out toward Akane, flickering to and fro before splitting and enveloping the new mahou's fists. A punching powerup is *just the thing* to make a first victory, a *decisive* one.

Akane Hino has posed:
    No matter how brave you are, how hot blooded, how fired up you are - or how utterly confused you are at the situation and your new dress code and hair style - having a giant creature bearing down on you for the very first time is kind of... terrifying. Throwing stuff at it from far away was one thing. But having it trying to spike you into the ground with its massive fist is a whole other thing.

    "Waaaa!" is Sunny's not terribly brave cry as she sees the creature swing at her. She puts her hands up - and out - and the Akanbe's fist crashes into her hands. Sunny moves... but not very far. She's not bowled over. She is as surprised about this as Lamya, the Akanbe, and everyone else.

    "Is this... the power... of a Pretty Cure?" she asks, and then smiles. "Alright you big... stupid... jerk!" she says. And at the same time as she reaches up to grab the Akanbe's giant fingers back, she gets a flood of energy from Rashmi's Boost Up. "Oh yeah! Yeah! Well fine!" she says, using the combination of her own power and Rashmi's boost to lift the Akanbe off its feet and straight into the air. "YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST PUSH MY FRIENDS AROUND?! NOT WHILE I'M HERE!" she yells before throwing the giant youma across the field and into the stands.

    It's only after the Akanbe has left her grip that she rememberes Peace and Tuskiko were, at least earlier, also bound up. Uh oh. She really hopes they get out. She's gonna have to work on the whole 'act without thinking' thing isn't she.

Yayoi Kise has posed:
Candy has made it back to the bench and then blows the coaches whistles she picked up. "CURE SUNNY, YOU'RE IN-KURU!" she yelled, pointing to the fight.

Cure Peace, meanwhile, she feels the Akanbe lifted (and her along with it) and is thrown into the stands when this allows her to finally break free and land on her feet with a click of her heels- nevermind she landed on grass- and then 'whews!' and thinks. Help Akane...Run away. Help Akane... she thinks. Run away. She thinks. Ugh, help Akane-san. She follows up Cure Sunny's attack with a zap of lightning, like a giant taser towards the Akanbe and says.

"Cure Sunny, l--let me help!" she calls out.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Tsukiko gives Rashmi a grin in response, then turns to charge back into the fray... just in time to watch Cure Sunny tank the Akanbe's punch. "Wow," the wolfgirl gasps, eyes huge with surprise and her jaw barely not dropping.

And then Cure Sunny proceeds to yeet the monster.

That causes Tsukiko to drop her jaw. The crash of the youma snaps the wolfgirl out of her stunned surprise, and she darts towards it, circling the Akanbe to keep it distracted (and to keep herself -- and her still-frizzy hair -- out of the shock radius of Cure Peace's attacks).

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    Lamya is just as stunned as everybody else at Cure Sunny's pure strength, watching as the Akanbe goes flying into the bleachers, landing all in a tangle. "What are you doing Akanbe?" she shouts at it. "It's just one girl! How hard can it be? Get back in there!"

    The Akanbe lays there, tangled in its own net, eyes spinning around comically. "Akanbe..." it moans. With further encouragement from Lamya, it gets to its feet and faces the gaggle of magical girls. "Akanbe!" it shouts as it fires a large net trying to entrap all the girls at once!

Akane Hino has posed:
    "Well I'm not really gonna say no!" Sunny replies. "The whole reason I'm here is to help you anyways!" she adds.

    She pauses and sort of looks at her hands. "Did I really just do that. Did I fall asleep? Am I still dreaming? Heat stroke?" she asks. She clenches her fists and can feel the power, she can even kind of distinctly mark it out, from heer own enhanced new power and also from the strength on top of that from Rashmi's spell. "Well, even if it is a dream... I guess I should still go all-out, right?" she asks, nobody in particular, but gives one of her grins to Peace. "You can always help me, Cure Peace. And assuming I am still doing... this... when I wake up, I'll always help you too."

    She sees the net coming their way... and thinks about her friends, both her old friend Yayoi and these new girls fighting alongside her. Thinks about the power she has... she's going to vault the net again, only this time she's not going to eat dirt!

    Sunny leaps - and Sunny, it turns out, leaps a lot higher in the air than Akane Hino does. A *lot*. Especially with Rashmi's Boost. "Alright, you big stupid clown-thing!" she shouts, and as she does, a spiral of energy whirls into her compact at her belt. "Wha?" It surges out and creates a fireball, well below her. "Oh. Sure. Yeah. WHATEVER. I guess I just DO THIS NOW." she shrugs in mid air and adjusts her course to head for it.

    "Pretty Cure..." SUNNY FIRE! she yells as she comes down and smashes into the fireball with both fists overhead, slamming it downwards towards NetAkanbe with vicious and immolating force.

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    "Akanbe?" The thing never saw it coming. The fireball hits the Akanbe square in the face and it lights up like it was hit with a nuclear explosion, disintegrating it and the nose. In its wake, there's a glint of light that reflects off a decor shaped as a strawberry, floating down into Cure Sunny's waiting hands.

    "Tch." Lamya says, snapping the book shut, disappointed in yet another failure of the Akanbes. Really, Joker should come up with something better than this. "You may have defeated the Akanbe," she tells the magical girls, "but I've gotten enough Bad Energy to bring Emperor Pierrot one step closer to resurrection!" With a flare of her wings and a lash of her tail she blurs out of the sky to retreat to the Bad End Kingdom.

    When she leaves, the area returns to normal. The volleyball net is back where it should be and the volleyball club is beginning to get back to their feet, wondering about what happened, their memories of the fight all fuzzy.

Akane Hino has posed:
Cure Sunny says, "also thank you Tsukiko and Rashmi for coming along :D"