2127/Grand Theft X-egg!

Grand Theft X-egg!
Date of Scene:	02 December 2024
Location:	Pikarigaoaka Ward
Synopsis:	Utau stole Hinoiri's Dream, and now she's using that X-Egg to cause trouble. Thankfully, Amy, Sayaka, and Madoka are on the scene and save her! Except... Norie did leave a calling card.
Cast of Characters:	Utau Hoshina, Sayaka Miki, Madoka Kaname, Amanda Faust, Hinoiri Kirara

---

Utau Hoshina has posed:
Utau Hoshina had an X-egg. This is nothing new for her. But this one was slightly personal. Hinoiri's dream. Corrupted. Also now, replete with tiny bat wings poking out from it's sides.

Utau Hoshina nuzzled it, as Lunatic Charm, flying high above the sky of Pikarigaoaka as she grasped the X-egg and stopped above the building of Pretty Holic, she tossed the X-egg forward, as it screeched through the air on tiny wings. "Useless...!" it called out as with this call, a sonic burst such as one from a bat squealed out from the X-egg, blowing down a group of girls as Lunatic Charm landed on top of the building.

"I'll be having your Dream Eggs, now...!" she said to the group of downed girls, who we're forced to look up at her due to their prone positions.

And Lunatic Charm began to sing...!

Who will save the girls!?

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Right after leaving Hinoiri in safe hands at the Radiant Heart infirmary and getting an explanation from her over the events, Sayaka had gone back to the alley she had found her friend in asking herself what was the terrible thing her friend had done to cause all of this, hoping to be able to follow Utau to wherever she had gone, but the trail had gone cold already, her scent mixed with others to the point of rendering the Dog PreCard useless.

If nothing else, it was a relief not having to go around in a dog costume anymore. Though, she didn't have any other option to find Hinoiri's Heart Egg other than going around blindly and hope for the best. She knew Utau from her songs, but she would have never expected this was why she'd be looking for her.

Several days later, she was passing by Pikarigaoka, looking to buy some stationery for school at this little shop called Pretty Holic. Weird combination, having stationery, sweets and makeup all in one place. "Is there anything you want, Ula?", Sayaka asks to her fairy companion, their destination finally in their sight.

"You know, why don't we...", the koi mermaid starts saying, before the feeling of dark energy mixes with a melodious voice and sends an alert to the two of them. The Veil stops them from recognising Lunatic Charm as Utau, so the bluenette says "Let's keep searching later!" while taking out her Pretty Change Mirror. "There is an X-Egg with her!", Ula warns the bluenette while she transforms.

"Time to change!", the Mirror 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!"

"That X-Egg you have is one X-Egg too many!", the Precure shouts to Lunatic Charm. "I will take it back, and won't let you steal these girls' precious dreams either!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    There's another tiny winged thing floating nearby. A pair of them, really. Each one looks like if a tiny bell had grown wings, surrounded by several concentric rings that spin and orbit around them. They've been searching, and hunting, and looking all over. When they sense the magic of X-Eggs, they begin to ring, flapping their wings wildly in the air almost in a panic as they make noise.

    A portal opens. A tiny divine Chara wearing a set of tiny divine pajamas and nightcap, grumpily says, "What is it this time?" Then she too feels it, and then she sees Sayaka jumping into combat, and suddenly she is very awake.

    Pulling out her Chara-scale smartphone, Kamiko squeaks hurriedly, "Brai-chan, we found her. She's on top of Pretty Holic and she has the egg! ... Right, I'm tracking her now. Sharpsong-chan is here too. ... Okay, I'll stay here. Hurry!"

    Then she hangs up and ducks behind the ledge of a different roof, peeking out to watch Cure Sharpsong come to the rescue. Elsewhere in the distance, Hope Blossom is rooftop hopping as fast as she can to get here.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Pikarigoaka sure does seem to attract a lot of youma activity. That's why Amy patrols there sometimes!

    And just as she's about to take a break, she feels it. Dark energy at work. She lets out a sigh before leaping from rooftop to rooftop this way...

    ...And Amy knows nothing about the stolen egg, and barely anything about the antagonists specializing in stealing them. And she's never seen Lunatic Charm before! So when she arrives on the scene she is surprised to see a completely unfamiliar girl in a sort of devil magical girl costume, and just stares in slight bewilderment for a couple of seconds. Who is this?! What is their deal?!

    That's long enough to glance over the outfit looking for clues as to this person's deal and conclude it's probably just as straightforward as demons/devils = evil, really.

    From a rooftop across the street, the red-and-white-clad Puella Magi points at her, cape billowing in the wind. "Not so fast! Whatever it is that you're trying to do... who are you and what is your deal, anyway? I am Magical Rocket Girl Red, an ally of justice! And--"

    Amy squints and leans forward slightly, then pulls binoculars out of her pouch and looks at Lunatic Charm again. "Are those crosses? You're a devil-girl wearing crosses? Is this kinda like, a the-church-is-evil statement, or...?"

    Amy has not talked to Hinoiri recently. She has no idea what's going on.

Utau Hoshina has posed:
Lunatic Charm is beset by two people. One is a Pretty Cure, who tells her to stop, and that she has one X-egg too many. The other... criticizes her manner of dress.

For some reason, she's more offeded by Rocket Girl Red than she is the Pretty Cure. She scoffs.

"You don't know what Goth wear is? Have you ever seen someone dress gothlike? Is this a new and exciting concept for you? Has my manner of dress rocked your tiny little world!?" Lunatic Charm calls out as she tosses her hand forward...!

And the X-egg spouts "USELESS!" at Rocket Girl Red as a wave of dark energy projects from the X-egg at her, dark and in a series of circular rings.

"Take this you badly dressed hack!"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Hey, Red!", Cure Sharpsong says as the Puella Magi makes her entrance. "You know Chara Eggs, right? That egg is like one that has never hatched, we have to get it back to its owner!", she looks at the screaming egg. Is there a chance that actually might be Hinoiri's? Why does Lunatic Charm has it then?

"That's someone's unhatched dream, and that devil singer is probably trying to steal those girls' too", she exclaims in a hurry, spinning inside newly forming water circles, raising the arm with the Love PreBrace above her, the shining water gathering there in a blue sphere. "Pretty Cure Sharpsong Legato!"

At the command, the sphere splits into thin water beams that rush towards the X-Egg, trying to wrap around it and hold it tight. Probably one of her favourite powers ever since she became a magical girl again. So useful when there is something you can't afford to harm.

"Hey, Red, how does it feel to wear goth too?", Sayaka smirks at her friend once she thinks she has the egg secure. If Lunatic Charm is goth, so is Red. And so is Kyouko, if she meets the spear girl again. Though she is not sure if she should tell her that.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The arrows arrive before Hope Blossom does. Pink bolts of magic arcing through the air, brightly shining as they swirl around in a circle overhead. One by one they drop from above, swooping close by the X-Egg but never quite hitting it.

    Hope Blossom lands on a nearby rooftop, close to where Kamiko is hiding, just in time to hear the conversation about goth wear. "I mean... pink goth and white goth exist, too. It's not just black."

    Hope keeps firing arrows at the X-Egg, just missing it on purpose, trying to corral it and restrict its movements. "Is that Hino-chan's dream egg? Kamiko-chan told me you took it. I'm here to take it back!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Goth wear? "YOU'RE BRIGHT RED!!!" Amy shouts, incredulous. Rocked her world? "It, it really hasn't! Like, I just figured, devil girl, evil, right? Is that what you're going for?"

    Rings of energy shoot at her, "Woah!" making the Puella leap to the side to dodge, repeatedly, as the series of rings fly past her. "Badly-dressed? Hey, sci-fi can be cool! What, you demand your opponents dress like this, instead?" And pink sparkles cover her outfit and fade to reveal it changed:

    Now it looks a fair bit more like a 'proper' magical girl outfit. Some here may recognize it as similar to what she was left in when they left Gretchen's labyrinth -- A red sleeveless magical girl dress, with pink decorations, a white cape, and matching red gloves and tall boots.

    There's a pink bow on the chest, with her red soul gem set in the middle, there are pink heart decorations attached to the dress on either side of the waist, offset to the front, and the hem of the dress is doing that flower petal thing over a pleated white skirt, each 'petal' having an abstract design of thin lines on it reminiscent of things like rocket, fire, soul gem; The gloves' cuffs do the petal thing too, there are little heart-shaped gems on pink rings around the top of the boots, and finally a couple of thin red lines along the bottom of the cape add color to that expanse of white.

    She perches on the corner of another building, as Sharpsong riffs on the declaration that red is goth. Amy holds out her hand and gives the gloves and boots a quick look. "Eh? I mean... If I was going for goth, I'd do something else..."

    And then looks honestly surprised at Madoka. "Eh?! They do?!" Maybe she could do red-and-white goth? Or any other color! Who knows! "Maybe... well, you can pitch outfit designs after we save these dreams!"

    And Amy conjures her signature launcher, the trusty recoilless rifle appearing on her shoulder as she takes aim and fires a (magical) anti-tank rocket at the devil-and-or-goth-girl!

    Then she double-takes back to Madoka. "Ehh!? Did you say that's Hinoiri's dream egg?! What happened?!"

Utau Hoshina has posed:
The X-egg starts dodging arrows, moving from left to right in the air hurriedly, if it could sweat while doing this, it would, astHope Blossom arrives.

This means Sharpsongs attempt to wrap it up succeeds, easily, as it never sees it coming. It squeals helplessly as it mutters "Useless..." in it's stereotypical manner.

"You have no idea what fashion or goth is, you literal peasent." she says.

"-and yes, good eye! This is that horse's dream!" she says as she summons a trident quickly and spins it. Recoiless rifle bullets get deflected at the spin, as she leaps into the air, pointing the trident down at Red!...

"Nightmare Lorelei!" she calls out, a wave of dark energy bats forming in the air around her and flying forward, trying to hit and explode into Red, Sharpsong and Hope Blossom! All Three of them!

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Do they?", Sayaka asks the newly arrived Hope Blossom at her comment on goth fashion. She has never been exactly focused on learning any of it. "What is it that makes her goth then? The crosses, or the devil attire?" she asks her friend. "I guess you can get in there to buy some makeup", Sayaka points to the Pretty Holic when Amy seems intent on exploring all the ways to be goth.

Kamiko told Madoka what? Why would she tell her that? "Hinoiri says Utau took it", Sayaka tells the pinkette confused. The goddess Chara is pretty reliable usually, why would she say something so off-base? Well, at least she knows it got stolen. Sayaka gives Madoka a smile at knowing the pinkette was working on that problem too.

Though, apparently it is Amy who didn't know. "Hinoiri won't tell me what it is, but she did something terrible as Sunbreaker, and so Utau stole her Heart Egg", Sayaka sighs, letting out a bit of the frustration over Hinoiri keeping her out of that. How can she really help her be better if she is left in the dark? Sure, chances are she is not going to like it, but Hinoiri turned off the sun and Sayaka is still here!

Losing her focus on the fight makes Sayaka an easy target for the Nightmare Lorelei, throwing her back against the ground, a pained groan escaping her mouth. Her fault for not paying attention, the Pretty Cure, getting on her feet as her healing factor rapidly takes care of the bruises.

"Why did Utau give you her Heart Egg?", Sayaka asks while already going back on the offensive, secure in the fact the Heart Egg isn't going anywhere, tied up as it is. She doesn't wait for an answer, spinning the dial on the Love PreBrace to surround herself in water. "Pretty Cure Sharpsong Accelerando!" she shouts, rapidly closing in the distance between them thanks to the water stream, a punch ready to hit her with the help of her momentum.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom glances helplessly between Lunatic Charm, Rocket Red and Sharpsong as they talk about goth fashion. Admittedly, she doesn't really know that much about goth fashion either. Does that mean she's a literal peasant?!

    Probably, yeah.

    Kamiko, sensing her Bearer's awkwardness, floats out from her hiding place and sticks her tongue at Utau and shouts back, "Yeah whatever! What is an idol to a goddess, anyways?!"

    Hope Blossom quietly says to her goddess Chara, "Kamiko sweetie, maybe you should go hide."

    Instead of listening to her Bearer, the little fairy turns to Sharpsong and says, "Nevermind who took it! All that matters is it's Hinoiri's egg."

    Hope Blossom sees the Nightmare Lorelei coming and yelps. Her first instinct is to shove Kamiko through a Chara-sized Labyrinth portal, then she holds up her arms to brace for the wave of exploding bats. Each one hits her, and the combined assault knocks her off her feet and onto her butt.

    "Tch... ow ow ow ow!" Madoka winces as she starts picking herself up off the rooftop. A wall of wooden branch bows suddenly appears in front of her, protecting her for the moment from further attacks.

    Kamiko stays within her Labyrinth, but her two bell Familiars start flying up to Utau and orbiting her head, trying very directly to swoop in front of her face before diving away away. The goddess fairy winces as she watches from another world. Her Bearer got hurt because of her. She'll have to apologize for that later.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    You can buy makeup right there, Sayaka observes! Red immediately looks embarassed, though certainly not repulsed, at the thought. "I, uh, wha?? I, I don't know anything about makeup!"

    Oh, Utau took the egg, that explains everything. "WHO the HECK is UTAU?!" Amy asks. "You literal peasant. "Are you making this about social class? ...Did you mean 'pedant'? I don't work the land under a feudal lord! So what, your thing is like, you see yourself as Hell's nobility?"

    "And so what if I don't know about fashion?!" Amy sets one fist against the side of her waist and leans forward slightly. "Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me, princess! I never got a chance to learn!" Well, she could, but... Where would I even start? , she thinks.

    The red Puella Magi stands up straight and hefts the launcher, but her shots are deflected, at least they airburst before blowing a hole in a building or something.

    And then Lunatic Charm shows them that they can't stay here, this is bat country!

    "WHO is LORELEI?!" Amy asks, as she's again forced to dodge frantically, running around on the roofs, throwing grenades in the air above her that explode into flames, smacking bats that get close with her launcher; some of which explode too close, Amy giving a pained grunt as the dark energy bursts hit her.

    "Gah! These are just as annoying as in videogames!" At least she's not having to dodge them while jumping across spiked pits! "Girls, are you okay?!"

Utau Hoshina has posed:
Lunatic Charm looks down at Amy. "This IS about social class. I am a queen and you are a peasant!" she calls out. Utau is empowered by El right now. So of course she's acting this way. She even gives a little oujo laugh. "Oh ho!"

She looks down at Cure Sharpsong and speaks. "Have you considered the fact that I am Utau Hoshina, and that you, are a bit---" before she can finish that statement, Cure Sharpsong's fist smacks into her chest and sends her spinning through the air. By the time she's regained her composure higher in the air, Bell Familiars are swooping in and causing her trouble.

By now, the bats have stopped, but she dives at Cure Sharpsong with the trident, trying to stab her with it as she swings it forward.

"Die in a fire!" she commands angrily at her.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara couldn't say why she was out. But she'd just... felt it. A need to go. To get out. To go riding. And so she had. She'd gotten on her motorcycle and driven. She wasn't...

Only... well. They said magical girl was build on coincidences. So it was only natural that she'd end up there. Near the situation that all of the girls found themselves in. So she'd ended up getting off her bike... and sneaking around a corner to watch. They were fighting... Utau?

Her Heart Egg. Her dream.

... Her dream to be a hero.

... And it was Sayaka. The knight of justice, a girl so devoted to doing good that she'd burn herself out in order to do it.

Madoka, Sayaka's equal in that regard. She'd always been a bit... jealous of the girl's single minded nature to do good. Both of them... were heroes. True heroes.

... And then there was Amy. The girl was a mess. But she was a good heart. She'd been given another chance and, rather than using it to give herself what she wanted... she used it to try and help, to protect others. To be a good, kind heart in the darkness. Of all of them, when she fought she had the most to lose, by the nature of being a Puella. And yet, despite herself, she always tried to fight. To be there in the fray...

Hinoiri leaned back against the wall and sighed. They... were true heroes. People who did good. Who helped. Who made the world better. People... she could never be like.

"Impossible..." she muttered.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
She is Utau Hoshina!? Well, that explains why Kamiko said that, Sayaka blushes a bit as her thoughts turned to the Veil with annoyance. "Makes sense you regard yourself so highly, your ego follows you around, picking up the junk you discard. Why did you take Hinoiri's Heart Egg?", Sayaka asks peeved, not giving as much thought to the surprise twist. Maybe she can cast some light on the situation, the bluenette thinks looking at the girl in the midst of regaining her composure.

"Some decently famous Idol, I have been trying to track her since Hinoiri's egg got stolen", Sayaka stalls a bit. Well, she did what had to be done even if it didn't come out useful. "Yes, but we had also dropped Hinoiri at the infirmary, so she should be ok enough", Ula chimes in for Amy's benefit.

"I just thought you should know about the makeup, I was going there for the stationery", the bluenette blurts out to Amy. She was the one talking about goth fashion like she was interested, Sayaka can't really help her. "I am ok, that Lorelei hurt, but I am back in the game!", she gives a thumbs up at her friend, keeping an eye out for their enemy.

Well enough for her to partially dodge that strike, the trident hitting her at the side of her left arm. "Hnnng", the Pretty Cure grimaces, turning around not to let Lunatic Charm out of her sight. "I think fire would just be spent", Sayaka quips back, staying close to Utau and now wielding a sword with which to hit back at the trident.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The Bell minions are little more than an annoyance, with their swooping and ringing and general fragility. They are a mascot's mascot in terms of power scaling, but they are also expendable and willing to throw themselves into danger. They can't keep up with Utau's movements though, and when she dives at Sayaka they cannot keep up.

    By this time, Hope Blossom has managed to get back up on her feet. Hiding behind the magical wooden wall gives her a moment to collect herself, and the wall of branches vanish into a cloud of pink sparkles. Her outfit is a bit worse for the wear, and she has a couple of cuts on her cheek, but she is standing tall and ready to fight.

    Seeing that Hinoiri's X-Egg is seemingly still locked down by Sharpsong's attack, she sees her chance to get it back. "Hinoiri-chan..." she says, speaking out loud while not knowing that the horse girl might actually be close enough to overhear. She's speaking to the X-Egg more than to the dream's owner, but she's saying it pretty loudly. "We may not always see eye to eye; but as long as I have this locket it's my job, my duty, to protect your dream along with everyone else's. I guess this is what you might call 'impartial aid'."

    She pulls the Humpty Lock out from beneath her collar, which sits next to a pearl. The pearlescent clover pattern on the lock shines as she places her hands in a heart shape over it. She glances towards Lunatic Charm. This might be too early, and she might get interrupted if she tries to purify it right now, but she may as well take the shot...!

    "Besides... if this is your dream, I'm sure you can become a hero in your own right some day! It's okay to have doubts, and having pride isn't always the same as believing in yourself, but even if you don't then I will!"

    "NEGATIVE HEART... LOCK ON!"

    A beam of heart shapes fires from the locket, through her hands, and flies towards Hinoiri's X-Egg. She hesitates, and doesn't start purifying right away. She wants to see if she can confirm the hit first.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    It is about social class. I am a queen and you are a peasant! So sayeth the devil girl.

    "Oh, okay." Red gives a little shrug. "To the guillotine you go, then! Sic semper tyrannis!" She takes aim again...

    ...But the next piece of information is also kind of shocking: "The idol?!"

    It's also a reminder that, aspirations to monarchy and extreme inequality aside, behind the henshin this is probably like, a spoiled rich kid who doesn't know any better.

    A spoiled rich kid who's charging Sharpsong with a trident, commanding her to die in a fire.

    Amy throws out her hand in that direction. "That is extremely unlikely! Did you not notice she has water powers?!"

    Dammit, now Utau (what is her villain name?!) is in melee, which is rather a problem for Amy. She changes her weapon to a gyrojet pistol and takes aim, but no, devil-girl can deflect bullets, she might hit Sharpsong!

Hersmy shifts her grip, holding the pistol like it's a much heavier melee weapon. "GRAND BLA--" Oh wait, a rocket-charge is going to be WAY hard to adjust where she hits with precision if they move before she gets there.

    Instead, she rocket-jumps off the side of the building towards them, "That's not the only way to use bats, you know!" Her outfit changes again, to...

    ...Is...is she trying to be goth? Over a sleeveless, midriff-baring navy school uniform is a black sleeveless duster with matching black fingerless almost-shoulder-length gloves, and matching boots and long black stockings. Maybe she's trying to annoy Utau with questionable fashion?

    Amy lands next to the two fighters, and spins to adjust her angle, thrusting out her arms together as the little pistol suddenly becomes her signature launcher again, moving at the same speed her hands were just swinging without the weight, and it weighs like thirty pounds to anyone else. WHAM!

    "THAT'S how you use a bat!" Amy smiles, very pleased with herself for fitting this pun into their banter!

Utau Hoshina has posed:
Lunatic Charm listens to the talk of fire and water. "Then she boils alive, oh hohoho!" she says, laughing like an oujo again.

She is beset by two melee opponents at once. One is a sharp instrument.. one is blunt. She frowns as she makes a choice in midair.

Her trident meets the sword head on and the two clash together in the air as she's unable to block the launcher smacking her in the side. Better to be hit with the blunt instrument, then be cut by the sharp one. She winces and tries to force the sword away, pushing against it hard.

"If my dumb brother was here... if he didn't run away the stupid cat...!"

Meanwhile the X-egg is indeed still tied up, and an easy target for Hope Blossom. Hearts impact it and it screams out "Impossible...!" as it's hit, easily, without it's ability to dodge easily right now!

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was touched. Really. She was so very touched.

It was great to know that Madoka likely, without even knowing she was here...

Saw protecting Hinoiri as a job. What the buck?! Did she really have to say it was her JOB and her DUTY? Like, two reasons she had to say 'I guess I'll protect you because I have to'. Rude! She had half a mind to go tell that girl what's...

No. No. Heroes did that. Protected people they didn't like, too. Ugh. And fine, sure, she had... pride. A bit too much, at times. BUT STILL!

OW!

But she bit her tongue, at least Madoka WAS trying to save her. They all were. They'd managed to trap her dream, at least. But it wasn't like... even if she had her dream back, it wasn't like she could just... magically figure all this out. She wasn't like them. They were all just... good people. In fact, now that she thought about it... the thing she had most different from them (aside from being a unicorn)... was she didn't think any of them were orphans. Well. In Amy's case, they hadn't been before... they got magic.

Which, frankly, was a terrible lesson to take from this but her talk with Kamiko over there hadn't gone the best....

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The heart shapes surround the X-Egg, trapping it within the beam. Hope Blossom smiles brightly, seeing her chance to get Hinoiri's dream back. No one is threatening her position or stopping her, so she goes ahead and finishes the job.

    Sadly, nothing she says actually makes things better on the Hinoiri front. Sincerity is a necessary part of how Madoka channels her magic, because magic is based upon feelings and emotions and she has to be realistic in order to be effective, but honesty isn't always polite. Or kind.

    "OPEN HEART!" she calls out, thrusting her hands forward, sending out a rainbow beam of purifying light towards Hinoiri's X-Egg.

    Sadly, focusing so much on the egg means that she can't really help Sharpsong and Red fight with Lunatic Charm. Those little flying Bell Familiars are also retreating, because it's not like there's anything they can actually do aside from be annoying. Utau seems annoyed enough as it is.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka would clap at Madoka's speech in any other situation (even better know that her wound has finished healing), agreeing with everything the pinkette believes. It would do well if Hinoiri were around to hear that, that she has others who believe in her too, and to keep trying. Maybe she can get Madoka to say that in front of her, or give her a summary of things? Things to consider once Hinoiri has gotten her dream back.

Meanwhile, the pinkette is moving in with her purification, the water binds still holding the X-Egg tightly, the darkened dream being surprisingly compliant with the restraints. It would be nice to think it's because it knowns it is being helped. "Let's keep Utau from interfering!", she tells Amy, her sword still locked in with the trident, a second sword joining in on that task.

"Give it up, Utau, you aren't corrupting any more dreams today, and we are getting Hinoiri's where it belongs, because even with her doubts and mistakes, she is still pursuing it and caring about it, and it's the best thing she could be doing. None of us are letting you take it away from her!", the Pretty Cure pushes back more against Lunatic Charm's weapon.

'Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Ugh!" Amy scoffs. "With magic water? The specific heat of water is so high, and she can dismiss it when it gets hot and summon fresh, cool water..."

    Wait, Amy wonders, can she do that?

    Amy was kind of banking on that strike knocking Lunatic Charm away so she could return to ranged attacks. Ugh...

    Amy keeps swinging, using the same trick -- although without coming in from a rocket jump she can't swing quite as fast, it's still a big 30-lb tube of metal -- the heavy version, anyway, she can make it lighter if she wants -- being swung around it's nothing.

    "You're taking peoples' dreams?" Amy asks, as she keeps swinging. They've got the devil-girl on the defensive now! "That's messed up! Everyone should get to have dreams! We could never have a better world if no one dreamed it!"

    Amy frowns. It's impossible to speak on this subject without thinking of her own situation. A dream of impossible change and that a happy, normal life would follow -- and now that she's here, she doesn't know how to live that life, and the Fade may replace her with someone else anyway.

    "And even impossible dreams... They may be our only comfort in a world with no other hope! And sometimes... What you thought was impossible becomes true!"

    Swing, swing!

    "Hinoiri may be mean sometimes but... She had some screwed-up teacher and despite that and being tossed out into a whole other world, she tries not to hurt people! That sounds like a low bar but a lot of humans can't pass it!"

    Amy glares at Lunatic Charm. "Like you, queen of stealing dreams!"

SWING!

Utau Hoshina has posed:
Lunatic Charm can only take so much. Indeed, powerful, she can't fight the two mahou shoujo attacking her at once. Another sword joins in the attack on her trident...

It cracks and smashes into two as she's swung at by both Cure Sharpsong and Rocket Red. She glows with a dark aura and bursts .... upwards. Away from the two as their next swings hit dead air. She looks down at Amy. "Dreams are stupid. Their only use is to be corrupted and used like this..." she says pointing to the X-egg.

She points at it just as Negative Heart Locks On, and purifies the X-egg, turning back into Hinoiri's dream egg. Except...

Something seems off. It looks normal, but it still has the bat wings. And with these wings, it quickly FLIES into Hinoiri, aiming to find it's place, back inside her. Where it belongs. Back in her heart. Well. Her magical concept of a heart.

"Excellent..." she says. "By the way, Lacrima says, 'Hello', Hinoiri." she says with a bated breath. "Don't worry. We're even now.", before turning away and quickly taking off. Her job is done. They have the egg back.

There is no reason for her to be here anymore besides to get more beat up and be called more names. Neither of these concepts seem interesting to her.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara did, at least, feel a little better when Sharpsong had some positive things to say about her! Yeah, she could be a hero! One day! Possibly! And Amy had some nice, supportive things to say! Maybe she was being a little hard on herself. She just...

Oh. And that did it. Her dream was repaired! And as it flew off it...

Veered right into her. Kind of outing her to everyone here. "H-hey, I..."

And then there was a wave of darkness. Her eyes went wide and she screamed, darkness rolling over her, wings of darkness flowing from her back. She could feel it. Was this what it was like to be Norie? Was this was Norie was? Was... was she...

The wings faded away after a few moments, her geode glowing bright, purging the little 'addition' that Norie had made to the dream... But oh... oh...

She would never, ever forget that. That feeling. That despair. That hollowness... She panted, sweat on her face, staring at the ground, trying to let the ripples of that... horrific... feeling... fade...

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom blinks as she notices the winged egg fly towards Hinoiri. "Do Chara Eggs usually have wings? I mean... mine have a wing pattern on them." She's not sure if she really understands what just happened, but she assumes on some level it's because Hinoiri is an alien or something. Before she really has time to think about that, she notices that Hinoiri herself is actually here and well...

    The next words out of Hope Blossom's mouth are, "A-ah... Hinoiri-chan! How long have you been... standing there?"

    Lunatic Charm leaving doesn't get any parting shots from Madoka. She is still Ikuto's sister, and it would serve little purpose other than pointless spite. Though she might have felt differently about that if she had known what Norie had done to the egg.

    "Hino-chan! Are you okay?!"

    She super jumps down from the rooftop she was standing on, rushing to the geode girl's side. "Oh geeze... what happened? Are you still with us? Do you remember your name? How many fingers am I holding up?" Hope holds up two fingers as she frets over the state of the girl they just rescued.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Damn, missed. Amy knew she couldn't keep this up...

    Dreams are stupid. Their only use is to be corrupted and used like this...

    Amy scowls. That, she can't abide. She points up at Lunatic Charm. "You've got it backwards. The dreams that are corrupted and twisted... They started as something good! If you think you can only be happy by hurting others, or by paying a terrible price...."

    Amy sweeps her left arm horizontally. "That's a dream of being happy, tainted! Instead of letting them get all twisted up, we need to, we need to... to purify that, to find the good, true thing that darkness is twisting! It's like I told Walpurgisnacht, if I'm the dream of millions, then-- hey! Hey! Come back here! I'm not done yet! Get back here!"

    But there's a scream, as Amy realizes that in the corner of her vision, the egg was purified and flew into-- wait, if it was Hinoiri's dream, then--

    And she beholds Hinoiri, with wings of darkness.

    "Hinoiri!" The other redhead shouts her name in concern, dismissing her weapon and approaching, holding a hand out. "What happened?! What did she do to you?!"

    She thinks better than to ask 'are you okay', right now. Hinoiri doesn't look okay, at all...

Sayaka Miki has posed:
It's all rather quick, in those brief instants. Hinoiri is there, since when and how?, the Heart Egg has gotten purified, it is still contaminated with dark energy!, it broke free of its binds!, it went into Hinoiri! A series of surprises one after another that takes Sayaka's attention away from Lunatic Charm, even as she reveals on whose account she has been doing this.

The swords fade as the Pretty Cure drops everything and rushes to Hinoiri's side, looking at where the Heart Egg entered and then at the other girl's eyes while that wave of darkness flows out of her.

She doesn't misses the glowing Geode, recalling that's what helped her after she turned into Sunbreaker again and was forcibly transforming into Sunset of Sora, the realisation accompanied by a sigh of relief. "Did all of it get out? How are you feeling?", Sayaka asks Hinoiri, looking at Hinoiri with worry still.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was panting, trying to regather herself. And they were checking on her. They were... yeah. Of course they were. They were good people. Like she was trying to be. And sure, she wasn't like them yet.... but she would be one day.

"I-I'm... fine..." she said slowly, before holding out a hand to... Sharpsong. Well, she liked Amy and she kind of liked Madoka... most of the time. But Sayaka was her best friend. And she needs a hand up. "A... little gift from Norie... I think..."

"It felt awful, like... I couldn't... feel... anything. Like all of my..." She shuddered, her other hand reaching up to grip her geode. "I... don't know. Maybe she was hoping that it would turn be Sunset again... or... maybe... that's... just how Norie feels... and..."

"... Buck I really was a monster then, wasn't I? If that... if that's how she felt... well... I really do need to find out how to make this right..."

"... Thanks for ummm, helping. For saving... my dream. and uhhhhh... errrrrr... o-out of... curiousity... uhhhhh..." And her cheeks were burning. "I didn't... see... all of that. I kind of arrived... late... errrrrr... my... dream... didn't... say or do anything... e-embarrassing... did it?" she asked, cheeks bright red. "Anything I'll need to like... flee to another country over?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka watches Hinoiri recover from... whatever it was that just hit her, and kind of gets out of the way when she reaches out for Sharpsong. When she hears what the little 'enhancement' actually did, Hope Blossom frowns and glances away.

    "Well, if I were to make a guess? I imagine she just wanted you to know how she felt. Sometimes when people lash out like that... I think it's because they want empathy but feel like they can't get it from someone who doesn't know their pain." She wrings her hands a little and glances away. "I'm just guessing at that, because I'm not close enough to Norie to really know her that well."

    Kamiko reappears from her portal, floating just outside of Hinoiri's reach. "Normally X-Eggs don't say a whole lot, so I'm pretty sure your secrets are safe for now. I was kind of an exception on that front." Then the tiny divine fairy shakes her head. "I'm not sure how you're going to make things better, though. Portals to other worlds aren't easy to reopen. Maybe there's some other way you can make a magic donut?"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Seems like it had been centuries since they were cleaning some guy's house, her, Madoka, Amy, and Norie, and they discussed Hinoiri bullying her, and it was in that occasion they had found out she was La Crima, wasn't she? The bad history between the two of them goes a long way back.

The bluenette takes Hinoiri's hand, helping her up and not letting go until she is sure the unicorn is steady enough on her own, or even with that, if she sees Hinoiri may need the comfort. "I think that is probably right", she agrees with Hinoiri and Madoka both.

She is not sure if this being unrelated from Obsidian's assassination attempts makes it easier or harder to solve, but at least Norie didn't try to kill her over that. "We will have to talk about what exactly you had done to Norie, then decide how to fix this", she tells her shaken friend. "But I am with you, we can still find a solution", Sayaka adds, giving Hinoiri a smile in reassurance.

"It didn't do much, just fly around saying "useless" and throwing out dark energy. It stopped doing both of those things after I bound it", she nods at the question. Not sure that would have been the time for it. "If you flee the country, do you imagine the trip we will have to make to go find you? You aren't going to be rid of us that easily", Sayaka grins.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy watches Hinoiri with concern. 'Fine', she says, but she's clearly rattled... And then Hinoiri says maybe she had to feel like Norie did, for a moment.

    It's that bad, she looks like that after a moment, and Norie's been like that for over a year?! Amy looks alarmed at that thought. But then, humans can get used to all kinds of things, huh... Poor Norie...

    At the question, she shakes her head. "No, it was just an egg, it didn't say anything but 'useless'. Why would your dream be embarassing?"

    Hey wouldn't it be interesting if I were turned into a girl? I just want to find out what it's like! And make friends, and maybe they'd take me along on some girl stuff, just to see, and--

    "Question rescinded." Amy tries, poorly, to stay stonefaced as she cringes at the thought of how just one of her own dreams would have sounded out loud and how absolutely mortified she would have been for anyone to find out before it came true, even when she was a teenager the first time.

    "...To be clear I don't doubt for a second that a, that a good and worthy dream can nonetheless sound... awkward... but, but yeah I get not wanting to hear it out loud."

    She kind of wants to go hide in a dark corner somewhere out of second-hand imagined shame just imagining her old self's reaction...

    She blinks at Sayaka, and nods, picking up the thread, "Hey, yeah, fleeing the country isn't gonna make anything better anyway but I get it, and like, we're your friends, e-even if we did--"

    She double-takes back at Madoka, "Wait, this was over the donuts?" Oof. Amy grimaces. "I mean... you were just trying to help her feel better, right? It's not like you thought through what'd happen if they turned out to only be a temporary cure... You were just trying to help!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a soft sigh. "If only it was that easy. The donuts weren't... really magical. They were just... Kira Kira Fantastica donuts and... the ingredients here don't have the same... native... impact, if that makes sense? They're... made with the magic of our world, but not magic themselves. So it's... not really something that can be made here."

"... But yeah. I guess it's safe to say... La Crima is still made..."

She cringed when Sayaka mentioned talking about what she'd done. "It's... uhhhh... it was not a good moment. I did something really nasty. I... uhhh..." Then her head whipped around to Amy. "Wait, how did YOU know about he donuts?!" she asked, before groaning. "She told you, didn't she? And... no. I didn't know they would cure her. For as hopped up on dark energy as I was, I wouldn't have done THAT... I just... wanted... you know..."

"To destroy the only thing in the world that made her happy, because I was angry at her for kidnapping me and I know it was cruel, evil and wrong and I wouldn't do it again and I, unfortunately, can't undo it. I ummmm... I'll try and come up with a solution, though..."

"... Find a way to get back to Kirakirafantastica, if I have to. And... yeah... I... admittedly... didn't want many people to know... because I know it was a monstrous thing to do. But I guess it's a bit late for that at this point. I... swear I wouldn't do it now, though... Sorry, Sharpsong..." Knowing this... would likely disappoint her? Oddly, it hurt the most.

Still, their did make her smile a bit. The idea that they would chase her down, even if she left the country. "Well... I guess... I've at least got, ummm... good friends to help me try and figure all of this out, right? Compared to other buck ups... at least this one is, maybe, fixable?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom, as much of a true hero she may be in the eyes of some, still finds herself failing at coming up with good things to say. She decides not to say much of anything rather than repeat Kamiko's mistake of saying the wrong things. Hopefully no one decides that attacking an orphanage is a way to prevent future villainy or something.

    Hope shakes her head and says, "I don't really know how to help with that. Kamiko-chan can distort space a bit, and as Hope Concept I can do strange things sometimes, but even then I wouldn't be confident in my ability to reopen a portal. Aside from that... if only there was a way to lift Norie's curse, none of this would even be an issue, would it?"

    At the mention of chasing Hinoiri if she fled to another country, Madoka chuckles. "That would be a pain, and wouldn't really solve anything."

    She glances the way that Utau left, before turning back to the group. "Well... I'm glad we got your Heart's Egg back! Thanks everyone for showing up and helping. I need to go. Let me know if there's something I can help with." She cups Kamiko into her hands and starts to walk away. No super jumping this time, since there's not really an emergency. She'll dehenshin at some later point, when she's confident that no one is around.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Uhm, well, uh. Hinoiri really is relentless when angry, isn't she? There really isn't much difference between giving Norie a temporary cure and destroying her happiness. Would Double Trouble help them out if it meant trying to keep Hinoiri away from any more dumb things? Not sure, but approaching them lightly is probably not a good idea. Better focus on what they can do instead.

"Yeah, I see", she confirms to Hinoiri. "Finding how to stop it from getting worse than this is urgent, but we can do it. Still, that will involve you learning to manage your anger too. If after you have gotten over the shock you are in right now, feel anything like that again, call me first, ok? It's important you do it for yourself too", Sharpsong stresses, staring at her.

"I can help you look for a way there, if that's what it takes, but promise me you won't do anything without telling one of us first. We can think through things together now, Hinoiri. Anyway, I have heard Pretty Holic has some sweets too. How about we grab some to unwind?" Sayaka suggests.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy has never looked so shocked and disappointed at Hinoiri as when she reveals what she did and why. Being a jerk who won't let would-be friends in due to trust issues? Understandable. Collecting dark energy in hopes of going home? Understandable. A dark-energy-based apotheosis making her burn people for power and almost end the world in order to go home? ...Well, she was whammied by dark energy, and, though the method was wrong, the goal was understandable.

    But to look at someone in the awful situation Norie's in, and want to hurt them more, in service of no goal but to inflict suffering...

    Amy can't understand that.

    But...

    Isn't one of the points of the speech being assembled in the back of her mind, that even people who dream of terrible and cruel things, still have some feelings that are relatable? And...

    Amy takes a breath and tries to steady herself mentally, and her voice and expression.

    "You... did a horrible thing, yes. Beyond words. But... that doesn't mean that... that you can't be better! And this was awhile ago, and you've been trying to be better! You keep trying, even though you haven't gotten some... you haven't gotten some reward of magic powers just for wanting to be good, powers some of us got for far less. You might... never get them. But you keep trying anyway, and..."

    She gives a somber smile. "...what you want them for is to help people anyway, right? That's... pretty selfless! You probably wouldn't get heroic powers anyway, if you thought it was just... pretending to be good just to pass a test, and then doing whatever you want. So..."

    "You can't change the past... but you can change tomorrow's past. You can't undo it, she probably won't forgive you, but..." Amy tries to put a hand on Hinoiri's shoulder for a moment, and if rebuffed, disappointment briefly flashes across her face, but either way, she smiles as she continues, "This present is already better, than others you could have made. Or you wouldn't have so many people who wanted to see you get your dream back, and who still want you to find happiness."

    Amy sighs, closes her eyes, and takes a step back again before looking at Hinoiri again. "There's one more thing I want to say. Before I forget, or miss the chance, or whatever: That dream... Whatever goodness is at the heart of it... Don't let... don't let yourself get all twisted up, by whatever's embarassing about it. I hope, uh..." Amy scratches the side of her head awkwardly, "You find whatever context can make it acceptable... but if you get twisted up? Tell yourself it's bad or wrong, or just weird?" Amy shakes her head. "I've seen where that goes. It'll just make things worse. It won't... I think, I hope some better outcome is possible."

    And then she sort of... waits, for a moment, to see what Hinoiri does. Not looking expectant, more... a bit embarassed herself, for having to... talk about dreams so seriously.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "I... I know. Getting back to my home... that's my problem. I possibly broke the portal, anyway. So... it's kind of my job to fix it."

Arms around herself. She nodded to Sharpsong. "Yeah. I uhhh... I definitely still have to work to get better..." Especially if she wanted to be like that. "And I won't like, try and do anything crazy without telling you guys. Especially not with La Crima. Or... when my anger gets a hold of me. I've... got a lot better people to look for advice to."

She then glanced to Amy and... nodded. She was right. About all of it. "And... I won't. Let my dream go to waste. I... still have a while to go, I know, to reach it. But... I think it is achievable. Once I figure it out? I'll... even share it with all of you. Maybe. It's still... kind of embarrassing. Let's... let's go get some sweets," she said quickly, turning to walk away, face burning.

... But her mind still drifted to Norie. There... had... to be a way to fix this, right? To fix... her?

... Maybe... one day.