258/Hoist The Colors

Hoist The Colors
Date of Scene:	18 August 2023
Location:	Yumegahama Aquarium and Marine Center
Synopsis:	A Giant Enemy Crab youma attacks the aquarium. A pirate, a mermaid, an oni, and a monkey king put a stop to it, while La Crima reflects morosely on the way magical girls treat monsters.
Cast of Characters:	Erika Shimizu, Norie Okana, Kureha Senkenzan, Coco Kiumi, Cho Konishi

---

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    Day turns to dusk in Yumegahama ward, and it's getting a little late, but the Aquarium seems to be open still. They're holding a special event, in fact; themed around pirates and their adventures. It's a nice little attraction and has gathered something of a flock of people on opening night, with children of all ages and their parents milling about the Marine Center, taking in the sights of pretty fish and sharks and aquatic sea-life.
    It's almost closing time for the evening, in fact, as the sun starts to vanish and the sky turns from orange and yellow stains to pale and dark blue and purple. Everyone is gearing up to go home in not too long, but it's all in all been a nice little day at the Marine Center for everyone, right?
    Right?

Norie Okana has posed:
Noire Okana was...hesitant...to go back to the Marine Center after the jellyfish incident. She still came along, as she still got a replacement ticket as she walked along and stared into the tanks, maybe hoping she'd see another 'Starfield Jellyfish'. There we're none. There had only been the one.

Still, she sighed and watched a big shark in one of the big reef tanks, looking at it...

"Do people hate you for needing to eat other fishys, mister shark...?" she asks quietly.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    As it turns out, Norie isn't the only person hesitant to return to the site of the Jellyfish Incident(tm). Kureha Senkenzan is here, and she is uncomfortable. She can remember the entire thing, from Chisa's peril to the feel of punching a jellyfish. But she has little choice; she is the subject of her father's latest power play, as usual.

    "I very strongly recommend you let us speak with a member of upper management. The Chikafuji Group is extremely upset by the misfortune that has befallen the young miss, and we would very much like to speak with someone who can address our concerns."

    The attendant of the day is Yozakura; of Kureha's three minders, she's the one most likely to toe the family line, to obey her father's edicts to both the spirt and the letter. And she is currently trying to play the 'Rich, Well-Connected Family' card for all it's worth in regards to the young lady's previous visit to the aquarium - which ended in what the news refers to as a 'gas leak and a riot'.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco asked Cho if she wanted to visit the aquarium with her and her roommate accepted. The mermaid smiled happily at the thought of having another hangout with her friend. She kept singing as the prepared for the hangout, and the verses that most stuck to her that day were as cheery as her mood. Ok, it hadn't been long since the fireworks festival and Cho especially was a few steps away, but Coco kept latching on her friends a lot and was looking forward to increasingly more occasions to have fun with them.

"Clouds slowly float away, vanishing away as they aim for the rainbow's end
And then the stars, like pearls
can start releasing a powerful, wondrous light."

'I can't wait to be there, there are so many things I can talk with her', she thinks as she walks to the aquarium alongside Cho.

At the aquarium, Coco starts saying "Hey, did you know there was a demon attack right here? A monster masked itself as "Starfield Jellyfishes" and smashed out of its tank when other magical girls and I wisened up and started stopping its energy drain from affecting people."

As they walk around, Coco notices Kureha and smiles at the other girl despite the cold tone she had reserved for her the last time. "Hello, Kureha! Nice to see you again. Are you here for another visit too?" she asks cheerfully before doing some presentations. "This is my roommate Cho", she tells out loud before whispering privately to Cho. "Kureha knows I have magical powers, but not that I am a mermaid." Coco doesn't tell her roommate Kureha has magical powers too because she doesn't want to be unfair to her, despite feeling bad for omitting it.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi was, honestly, finding this whole 'mermaid princess roommate' thing to be AWESOME. Her friend got her nice things, showed her cool magic stuff, sang pretty songs, had occasional adorable otters that she could ask to hug. It was pretty great, all things considered. And getting latched onto by her best friend (and Coco was certainly her best friend now) wasn't the worst, either.

She'd seen girls like this before, when she had been wrong. Girls hanging out, having fun, getting to be, well... girls. And now? She got to do it too. IT WAS AWESOME!

And sure, she'd heard the aquarium had had some issues lately, but she wasn't concerned. After all, she was with a PRINCESS!

Of course, then she heard what happened and the smile faded. "Starfield jellyfishes? That... sounds awful," Cho said softly. "But you were able to deal with it? That's great! Good job, Coco," she said proudly. The trip through the aquarium had been pretty cool. Seeing the different animals, getting to ask Coco different things about the animals that only someone who could talk to them could answer.

And now... there was another girl. Kureha. She gave a light, nervous chuckle and glanced towards the attendant of hers. Oh. Great. Then turned back to Kureha. "Nice to meet you, Kureha-chan. I'm Cho Konishi. A pleasure to meet you," she said quickly, before bowing politely.

The place would be closing soon, though, so she doubted they could stay long. But... she didn't want to just abandon the other girl, either. When it looked like she was going through some... challenges... of the caretaker variety.

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    The unfortunate clerk saddled with the duty of speaking to Kureha's attendant, Yozakura, is a bit at a loss for words, nervously hemming and hawing, and doing just about everything they can to keep from having to call their manager as the aquarium is gearing up to close for the evening. Eventually though they end up looking somewhere between defeated and resigned to do it, as they start to tug on their radio to call for someone, anyone, above their paygrade.
    The sharks swim around their tanks, oblivious to poor Norie's question and plight; they are beautiful albeit misunderstood creatures. And it's as the mermaid princess introduces her roommate to Kureha that... A bubble floats by.
    Then another. And another. Gradually the bubbles grow in size until... Uh.
    They're big enough to envelop people.
    The children find this incredible, at first, before they're engulfed- and their parents end up swallowed by bigger bubbles. It's all fun and games until the yawning starts. Then people start to collapse!
    That's bad. And what's worse is... The absolutely gigantic CRAB that comes scuttling into the marine center, blowing bubbles from its mouth as it clacks claws that could rip apart a tank.

    Somewhere, someone sighs.
    "Ahhh that's no good, huh." Erika Shimizu murmurs to herself as she twirls a single golden coin between her fingers.
    "Aight, better hoist the colors." She decides to herself before she flips the coin up into the air with her thumb.
    "Under a black flag we sail and the sea shall be our empire! Take what you can. Give nothing back!" She declares as she catches the coin.
    And when she does, her clothes are instantly replaced by a naval greatcoat, and she spends a beat adjusting her hat.
    Hats are important...

    And then. Leaping down on a rope from SOMEWHERE up above, there's a diminutive pirate swinging into action.
    "Har har! Scuttlin' scallywag, stand and deliver!" She declares, twirling off the rope and drawing a pair of flintlock pistols from her coat. The krak-BOOM of two guns go off as her shots pelt the crab.
    So that just happened. Yeah.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    Kureha's response to Coco amounts to more than a deep and irritable scowl. "I'm sorry, but you must have me confused with someone else." There's something in the glare that seems to say 'leave me the hell alone', but she doesn't say anything further. There is, at least, a cautious, appraising stare at Cho, as if trying to discern where she knows the girl from. "...Kureha Senkenzan," she finally offers, in the most perfunctory sort of politeness. She's deeply wary, if for no other reason than Coco knows who she is, and this is a friend of Coco's.

    She looks like she might be about to say something else... when a bubble floats by.

    For a few seconds, Kureha quietly stares.

    When the second floats by, Kureha reaches up and tugs at Yozakura's sleeve. "Yozakura. We need to leave." The attendant turns to glance at her, seeming slightly annoyed by this. "Not now, my lady, we're-" But Kureha doesn't wait to hear what her minder for the night has to say. "We need to leave now. Something strange is going on." The woman finally looks around, and blinks at the floating bubbles. "W-what in the-" She whirls on the poor clerk in a mighty huff. "You can't even keep the public areas clean?! This facility is an absolute embarrassment and you can rest assured that you'll be hearing from our lawyers very soon."

    As they're starting to leave, though, Kureha turns... and sees some of the children being ensnared by large bubbles. And people collapsing.

    Her grip tenses on Yozakura's sleeve a bit.

Norie Okana has posed:
Of course the sharks don't answer. She wasn't expecting an answer. But she still... struggled as she wished something, anyone, could answer her questions. 'What made her so different from this shark? That Jellyfish? Anything." she then eyed... bubbles? In the reflection of the tank she's looking at.

She turns around and blinks with a 'huh'? Before there's a giant crab and then there's.. there's a pirate?

She sighs a little. "Another creature feeding..." she says as she walks to a pillar and slides behind it, coming off the other end as La Crima, the purplette softly floating into the air and sitting on the edge of another nearby tank to watch.

"I wonder if they'll just kill it again." she says bluntly to herself.

'Of course they will' says the voice in her head.

'Maybe... they won't this time...?' she asks back at the voice in her head.

'Kahahaha...!' goes the voice, mockingly.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco isn't really surprised at Kureha's behaviour. She is about to go on the defensive when Kureha gives Cho that appraising stare, but she relaxes when nothing bad comes of it. 'Be nice to Cho' says the gaze Coco gives back to Kureha, though she regrets at this moment that Kureha isn't a marine creature so she can tell her telepathically to avoid unsettling her friend with her behaviour.

She is about to ask Cho if she wants to continue going around when she feels a bubble push against her arm and pop. This causes her to anxiously jump to the side, crashing into her roommate and almost sending them both to the floor. "Sorry", she looks apologetically to Cho. "I got startled when I felt a wet sensation. I thought my pendant was about to be doused in water", she whispers an explanation to her.

"Where are these bubbles even coming from?", she says out loud to noone in particular. She looks around and notices just now the people dozing off and the crab generating the bubbles.

"Oh, not again", Coco exclaims, already activating the power of her pearl since only Kureha and Cho were currently paying attention to her. "Yellow Pearl Voice!", she exclaims, the usual kaleidoscope of colours transforming her clothes into the usual yellow gloves and boots with flowy extensions, as well as a yellow blouse with a yellow skirt. Her pearl expands into her trusty E-Pitch microphone, its blue shape settling comfily into her hand, the jewel nestled safely in the head's center.

She is about to start singing at the crab when someone yells ""Har har! Scuttlin' scallywag, stand and deliver!" and the noise of gunshots reaches her ears as the crab is struck. "Well, that was fast", she says, looking around for the responsible person.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi glanced over at the bubbles. Huh. They... really needed to clean that up. It didn't sound good. Why--

Suddenly, her roommate! Her eyes narrowed and she was ready to YELL from the rooftops that 'Coco was a mermaid!' to spare her the experience of being... foamed. But, whew, fortunately it wasn't that. She grinned down at her roommate. "It's fine. Any time that happens, feel free to use me as a shield." Better she get wet than her friend die, after all.

Oh. Oh those were big bubbles. She gave a groan before leaning in to whisper to Coco's ear. "I think you guys missed one last time you were here," she said in a teasing tone. Then... Craaaaab monster. She groaned and let Coco's hand go, glancing towards the bubbles. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her scroll and device. Then stopped. Was.... was that a PIRATE? Oh. Yes. That was absolutely a pirate. Okay. She took it back. This just got MORE awesome! And there were civilians, too. Had to deal with that. But PIRATE! Obviously the pirate was... on... their... side? Okay. Cool. That... was cool.

... Cho was hoping she'd be able to go toe to toe with a pirate, though. She'd never done that before.

She glanced towards Kureha... then shrugged. She looked around to make sure nobody else was watching... Then sighed, and ran off to hide in a bathroom before henshining. Yeah, she was the responsible one.

Moments later Cure Wukong, a totally DIFFERENT girl with pink hair, totally, came running out. Leaping up, into the air, and... passing the pirate. SHOOT!

"Hey, are you on the protecting innocent people side or draining them of energy side? I'm guessing the former!" she yelled, before looking to the kidnapping crab. She had to--

Bonk. She should always pay attention to where she leaped. Because she managed to crash head first into the roof. Ow. Right. Focus. She fell back down a moment later... landing directly on the crab's back. Yeah. She... she was going to just... wait... here a moment. "O-ow..."

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    So there's a nasty crab monster scuttling about the aquarium now. That's bad.
    But there's a pirate fighting it now. That's... Not bad?
    While Cho goes to the conveniently nearby restroom to henshin and Coco changes out in the open to Yellow Pearl Voice, there is still the problem of the people around. The crab is blowing enough bubbles to knock out most of the civilians, so they're quickly taken out of the fight before there can be much of a panic or chaos to ensue.
    So that's not too bad. Except for the fact that they are still very much being drained and very much in danger- a fact that Kureha does not seem to keen on.
    Jolly Roger, the pirate, is already drawing another pair of pistols from her belt.
    Krak-BOOM! Krak-BOOM! The smoothbore guns go as she tosses them aside, causing them to fade into sparkles and seafoam as she draws a cutlass.
    "Har! I be on the side that pays the most! And there's plenty of booty to be had in scuppering monsters." She replies as Cure Wukong lands atop the crab-- which goes rushing.
    "Oh, sink me." our dashing pirate heroine declares as she takes a tumbling leap aside to avoid being trampled as the crab rushes the nearby tank that just so happens to have La Crima atop it, claws gnashing at everyone and everything in its path while the pirate picks herself up with a chuckle, taking a second to dust herself off as she clashes cutlass to claw with the crab.

    o/` ~ "Come all you young magic girls, listen to me,
    I'll sing you a song of the fish in the sea:
    And it's windy weather, girls, stormy weather, girls!
    When the wind blows, we're all together, girls.
    Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds, blow!
    Jolly sou'wester, girls, steady she goes.
    Up jumps the eel with his slippery tail.
    Climbs up aloft and reefs the topsail~." ~ o/`

    That's. Uh. That sure is a sea shanty she's singing even as the crab puts her on the back foot.

Kureha Senkenzan has posed:
    There's a crab monster. There's people fighting it. Yozakura is... panicked, to say the least. Very confused, her mind refusing to accept what she's seeing, and utterly panicked. "L-Lady Kureha! Lady Kureha, we should- we need to be going!" She's tugging at Kureha's sleeve; the yukata-clad girl tugs her arm free with an irritated, "That's what I said, just go, you're going to pull me off my feet at this rate-" They're both trying to leave, as hastily as they can. But Kureha... keeps glancing back. Back, at the civilians in danger, at the crab draining them of life. Hapless people, completely unconnected. Unaware of what's happening to them. Unable to fight back.

    As Yozakura rounds a corner, her young charge comes to a halt, gridding her teeth.

    From the corridor down which the two ran, there is a rush of heat, a brief flare of flames. A few moments, followed by the sound of wrenching metal, as if something that had been bolted down were simply ripped from its mooring.

    There is another, greater rush of heat, the air from that corridor rippling and distorting as the temperature rises.

    And then a huge, flaming bench comes hurtling out of it. The wood is blazing with fire, the metal is red hot, and the whole thing hurtles towards the crab as if thrown by someone of absolutely tremendous strength.

    It will probably take a minute or two before Kureha rejoins Yozakura. The woman almost certainly doesn't even notice.

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima can see the crab charge towards the tank she was at and she quickly hops to a bigger, taller tank not wanting to get involved with the fight beyond the watching of it, frowning as a bench flies at the crab. She...

She was invested in seeing how this fight played out. She needed to see how things like her we're handled. She...

She shifts a bit on the top of the tank as she softly frowns. "You are singing while hurting that creature... how...crass." she glowers.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco forms the Live Stage around her, the sphere of white light making her over away from the crab's range as the monster goes around attacking people with its claws. She is unsurprised when she sees Cho run away to come back as Cure Wukong, since she didn't tell her about Kureha having magic too. She waves at her roommate from her elevated position as she comes back, setting her thought to singing before the presence of the pirate magical girl distracts her.

"Oh, a pirate", Coco says, a sudden layer of unfriendliness in her voice as she notices Jolly Roger, remembering all the stories she got told about the violent seagoers that filled the seas with ruin and wrecks. Her opinion of the magical girl doesn't really improve when she mentions doing it for money.

"Typical of you people: you should care a bit more how you impact those around you", she says, the earlier unfriendliness turned into scorn. She turns her attention back to the exhausted people and the crab still attacking the others: 'I should deal with those problems first', she thinks, giving up on her scowl and going back to smiling.

"Well, how about I show you the true splendor of the seven seas. Legend of Mermaid: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yzeNWQAGVY

The melody of the oceans fills every corner of the room, narrating about the nostalgic song of a faraway world, and a promise to always be connected as long as the paradise of the seven seas is remembered, the fantasy of a night where stars like pearls release a wondrous light and give everyone a shining future.

The magical melody starts filling people again with the vitality they lost and corroding the dark energy of the monstrous crab to hurt it, the threat unwelcome under the banner of the kind mother's wishes.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cure Wukong groaned while she laid on the crab. Welp. This hurt. She was--

Ack, wait, no, the crab was off to the races! She shrieked, latching onto it and trying to not fall off the back. NO NO BAD BAD CRAB! And now it was fighting a pirate. With cutlass. "That doesn't answer the question! I don't think any of us get paid for this!" she shrieked.

And then FIRE and WOOD were being hurtled at her. She shrieked when it crashed into them, finally toppling off the crab and crashing to the ground behind it. "O-ow..." she said. "R-right. M-mister crab... don't suppose you'd be willing to like... go away nicely and stop attacking people? Yeah... didn't... ow... think so," she said before crawling to her feet. Normally she wouldn't ask but, well... she had a mermaid. Sea creature. All of that. Welp. That was one, possibly two lives. Ow. She reached behind her ear and grabbed the toothpick, which lengthened into a staff... then ran forward.

Diving UNDER the crab, she dug the staff into the ground. "You'll really FLIP for this one!" she yelled. Before... it grew! Going taller and thicker, intending to *flip* the crab onto its back so they could strike it full force. You know. With her NOT on it this time.

And hey, she was already feeling better, at least. Gotta love that song of recovery. Not a LOT better, but better.

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    o/` ~ "An' then up jumps the shark with his nine rows of teeth,
    Saying, "You eat the dough girls, and I'll eat the beef!"
    And it's windy weather, girls, stormy weather, girls,
    When the wind blows, we're all together, girls!
    Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds, blow,
    Jolly sou'wester, girls, steady she goes!
    Up jumps the whale, the largest of all!
    "If you want any wind, well, I'll blow ye's a squall!" ~ o/`

    A lot happens. Like Onihime's wrath. And what wrath it is as a bench is wrenched from the ground where it's bolted in and launched. The crab does not take that well, the wood and metal impacting it with the force of a cannon, the crab's claws come right off as it takes the hit dead solid.
    "Huh? I ain't the only one singin'!" Jolly Roger points out to La Crima. "And who be ye to call me crass?" She demands. "Ain't no harm in a little sport while makin' a day's pay." Pause.
    Green eyes slowwwwly turn to regard Yellow Pearl Voice as the captain lowers her cutlass. "What's all this then? Here I am *helpin'* and ye-- ye know what no, I need not defend myself to the likes of ye!" She ultimately decides, as Cure Wukong goes under the Giant Enemy Crab.
    It flips alright, as the Monkey King topples the monster.
    "Ha ha! That's what for!" Jolly Roger cheers as she tugs open her naval greatcoat and...
    A cannon drops out as though fallen from an inner pocket. An honest to goodness, full-sized, ship's cannon.
    "FIRE!" She says, planting her boot atop the cannon and it goes off with a tremendous explosion.
    What's left of the crab-- there's not much-- fades to seafoam and something that glints in the dying light of the sunset.
    A stamp of her boot causes the single gold doubloon that the crab left behind to flip upwards and Jolly Roger snatches it out of the air.
    "And ye think we don't get paid fer this. Heh. I'll be takin' that." She says.
    As the clouds part and a ray of moonlight shines through. Right onto the pirate.
    For an instant... Before the clouds shift back into place, she looks... Worn. Ragged clothes, tattered greatcoat with ratty holes in it, her skin a shade of grey like the color was sucked right out of it, with dark black bags under her eyes. Blink and it's gone and she's back to normal though.
    "Heh... It'll always be a pirate's life for me."

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima frowns a little and covers her ears. "Singing while killing something that's...that's just feeding." she says angrily. "You are all awful." she says as she frowns hard.

'Can't I ever be right.......?' she asks mentally to herself.

'......Kyahahaha!' goes the voice in her head again as she just glowers and frowns at the group.

"...nevermind. Why would I even try to reason with these people...." she says curtly.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco lowers down her Live Stage once the crab is defeated, looking at the people who are already recovering with relief. Once her feet are safely on the ground, she goes to Cure Wukong to check if her friend is all right, asking her that. She checks for Onihime too, but try as she might, Coco can't see her anywhere. 'She Is quick at making her exits, she notes curiously.

Once she is assured the Precure isn't hurt, she looks with annoyance at the pirate magical girl. "Do you really think saving everyone's lives solely because you are getting paid to help is right? I don't really know how you expected people to react at a declaration like that", she says, not really appreciating that particular revelation, if all the stories she had been told about pirates didn't help her opinion.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cure Wukong squeaked and covered her head when CANNON FIRE! Eep! Still, pretty cool. Like, really cool. And.... there was a coin. The heck? Since when do youma drop money? "Is... is that a thing now? Do some of them drop gold? Are there pinata youma? Or is this like the puella magi girls?" she asked. "Do your powers need coins? Are you a gacha-themed pirate magical girl?" she asked, yelling after the... girl... and wait. Did she... look like a zombie for a moment there? Well. That just got... weirder.

She rolled to her feet and gave Yellow Pearl a nod. "Right as rain! Kind of achy, but good. And... hey. Heyyyy. Yellow Pearl, calm down! I'm sure that's not the truth of it!" she called after her. "I'm sure it's just like Cherryspear and the like. So uhhh... don't... don't worry too much. I'm sure she's fine," Wukong said with a grin, before glancing around. "We uhhh... should... probably go, though. Before, uhhhh... yeah. This was fun, though!" she said. Offering Yellow Pearl her hand. After all, she was henshined. That meant she could give her a lift!

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Ok, you could be right", Coco admits unwillingly before accepting Cure Wukong's offer to bring her back to the dorm, despite the apprehension that method still gives her: ah, the trust she has in Cho.

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    "It ain't just feedin' it's doin' worse than that. It's stealing my bloody treasure." Jolly Roger grouses. But then...
    For a moment. For JUST a beat, she stares at Cure Wukong.
    A gacha-themed magical girl?
    "L-lass, I may be greedy, but I'm not *evil.*" She says, incredulous.
    "Oh, aye, some of 'em drop gold, but ye'll not be wantin' to take it, trust me. There be a curse on it."
    But then she sets a hand on her hip. "So what if my means be a bit more mercenary than yer likin'? The job's done ain't it?" She replies to Coco as she turns on her heel and starts swaggering off into the night.