View source for 2825/Lights, Camera, X-Chara

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2017/07/23
|Location=Pikarigaoka - Clover Street - North
|Synopsis=A talent competition goes badly wrong...
|Cast of Characters=62,85,75,143,36
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:62|Tadase Hotori| (62)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>There was, for a time, a fair amount of comotion on this otherwise sleepy little street in Pikarigoaka, as a casting call's gone up for talent for a show that sees broadcast nationwide in Japan! So with a little temporary stage, many hopefuls sang, danced, and cheered their heart out - but as is true with this things, not everyone can succeed. And now as dusk begins to fall and the stage is coming down, one lone boy sits against a tree, crestfallen.<br /><br />However, he is being watched for a talent - but not by the talent scouts themselves. By a tall man with red hair and glasses. "Just needs a little... nudge." the man says as he reaches out his hand and it glows with purple energy.<br /><br />"I don't know why I even came out here." The boy says to nobody. "It was a waste of time. I'm not good enough. Useless. I'm useless. It's all USELESS."<br /><br />And at that point the boy's heart egg, the holder of his dreams, turns black, and a surge of dark energy radiates out, not a major event but enough to alert anyone who might've been convinently nearby.

:'''{{#var:85|Amu Hinamori| (85)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Amu Hinamori had her fingers interlocked with Tadase's, a smile on her lips. Why? Because today they were on a date!<br /><br /> Sorta. Okay, actually they were here because guardians. They always got dragged into things like this, usually to supervise. Because everyone knew them as the calm, mature, adult ones, who never ever panicked or suffered under pressure(if they only knew...) They were playing escort to a couple of kids, keeping them out of trouble and what not. <br /><br /> But it was Amu and Tadase and that was kinda like a date and Amu had spent about two hours trying to pick out the perfect outfit, before deciding on something oddly... well, softer for herself. A yellow and light blue skirt with a white blouse. She was wearing the cute little choker with a heart on the front that Tadase had given her, as well. Of course, she'd tried to play it off as no big deal, but... well... <br /><br /> "She spent HOURS trying to find the right outfit." Ran said.<br /><br /> "This one she tried on eight times before she settled on it," Miki added. <br /><br /> "She looks absolutely adorable though, doesn't she?" Su finished. <br /><br /> Of course Amu had been horrified and just squeaked and denied all of it, trying to brush it off by walking briskly. <br /><br /> Of course, once the egg came out, she froze. "Wait, do you feel a--" <br /><br /> "An x-egg!" her charas said in unison, looking around as she joined with them, worry on her eyes.

:'''{{#var:75|Ikiko Hisakata| (75)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Even with a noteworthy event like the audition, there are those who have other reasons to be in the neighborhood. Reasons such as visiting friends...<br /><br />...and in Ikiko's case, visiting ''four-footed'' friends.<br /><br />She's starting to walk home, having fed some of the neighborhood strays while the audition was going on. They were glad to have someone to talk to, as well as getting pettings when someone on the microphone tried using volume and enthusiasm to overcome being off-key.<br /><br />Ikiko's nostrils flare as she senses the burst of dark energy. "That's not good," she mutters to herself, ducking into a nearby alleyway.<br /><br />A moment later, there's a flash of silver light, then Cute Wolf Tsukiko leaps onto a rooftop to get a better view. While the X-egg hasn't fully revealed itself yet, she does spot a pair of familiar faces.<br /><br />"Tadase! Amu! Did you two feel that?" the wolfgirl calls as she leaps over to the older pair.

:'''{{#var:143|Hoshi Kogane| (143)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Hoshi notices the pulse of dark energy, and though she knows it's not a shade, it's still important. As such, a moment later a yellow-clad princess comes flying with her butterflies and approaches Tsukiko and the others, "What's going on?" She asks as she lands next to the latter.

:'''{{#var:62|Tadase Hotori| (62)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Tadase has been... allowing himself to relax. That's the right word, really. Letting himself focus on fun, and on Amu, for today. Sure, they were here on a supervision issue, but most of the kids were well behaved and they'd all had fun, and it had generally been a relaxing experience. He couldn't help but laugh at the Charas 'helping' Amu by letting her thoughts air.<br /><br />He'd opened his mouth to say something, his grip tightening around Amu's hand when the surge of energy clicked. Tadase froze too - and Kiseki piped up with the same commentary as Amu's charas, and he began to lead the way.<br /><br />Tadase begins to pull Amu towards it - duty before fun. "Are you ready, Amu?" he asks as they begin to round the corner, and Tsukiko lands next to them. "Yeah, we felt it." he says to her, letting go of Amu's hand for the first time in a while. "It's an X-Egg or worse. Can we count on your help?" And the yellow Prism Keeper is also met with a smile and sparkle. "It's an X-egg. A youma, but also a corrupted dream. We need to keep it from doing harm, but we also can't destroy it or it'll have horrible effects. Just... keep it under control. Don't let it get away."

:'''{{#var:36|Seijuro Ginga| (36)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The surge of energy beats again, and dark power swirls around the boy - his eyes go black and he falls over, but floating where he once was is a simple black egg. With a white X on it.<br /><br />And then there's a crack in the shell, and it opens to reveal a strange little homonoculous-like humanoid, clad in shadow, with a twisted voice. Though it's not very big, it radiates Dark Energy.<br /><br />"Useless. Worthless. Dreams are useless." it says in a high-pitched voice. And then, suddenly, like a child going through a temper tantrum, it begins to hurl orbs of black energy in every direction! "USELESS!" Thankfully, the civlians have cleared the area, long since convinced to be somewhere else as the dark energy grew.

:'''{{#var:85|Amu Hinamori| (85)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Amu Hinamori nodded. Ocne they were out of sight, she let her hand slip from his. Giving a bit of a sad look. Could they not have just one nice, romantic date? They'd both been so busy! She'd been taking on a lot of extra duties to help Na-chan, and between his work as the king, this was happening more and more. Finally they get a chance to...<br /><br /> Agh! She tapped her cheek. Not now, later! "My heart! Unlock!" she said. Miki dove down and, after a a moment, Amulet Spade stood in her place. "It's simple. If we can capture it, I can purify it and return it to the child it belongs to. But Tadase-kun is right. Do not let it get damage, if it's destroyed, the child's dream is destroyed with it and that's a horrible, horrible thing." She spun the paint brush before she ran off towards the x-egg. Time to deal with the problem!

:'''{{#var:75|Ikiko Hisakata| (75)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Cute Wolf Tsukiko waves to Yellow as the Prism Keeper arrives, then nods in acknowledgement to Tadase and Amu. "Keep it herded? I think I can manage that!" she beams, diving away from a bombardment of dark orbs.<br /><br />The wolfgirl dashes around, making lunging feints whenever the X-Chara tries to wander off, and generally tries to be enough of a distraction to split the X-Chara's attacks. Her wolf-motes, currently numbering about 1-3 due to the phase of the moon, dart at any orbs that happen to come a bit too close to Tsukiko, adding a bit of deflection to foul the aim.

:'''{{#var:143|Hoshi Kogane| (143)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Is purifying magic fine?" Yellow asks straight away, twirling the galaxy she has in her hands. She tries to dodge one of the incoming orbs of dark energy and is thrown back by the force, landing on both of her feet but looking just a little worse for the wear. She flings the galaxy and a handful of stars fly towards the X-Egg, blinking with purifying light and whizzing around the general location of the X-Egg, trying to draw its attention.

:'''{{#var:62|Tadase Hotori| (62)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Tadase nods at Amu and follows her lead - Kiseki returns to his egg, and with his hands over his heart, calls out. "My heart! Unlock!" - Kiseki's egg is absorbed into Tadase, and with a brilliant flash of silver and gold light, Tadase becomes Platinum Royale, drawing a golden scepter from nowhere and heading towards the fray. "Arigato, Tsukiko-san!" he says with a grin as he moves to keep near Amu for the moment.<br /><br />"Should be!" Tadase calls out, then winces a little as the Prism Princess' takes the hit - but there's relief on his face when she doesn't go down. "We've got this!" he notes just before he has to duck away from another orb himself, and he sets up next to Amu - and starts using a combination small shields and scepter swings to keep her clear of as much of the threat as possible.

:'''{{#var:36|Seijuro Ginga| (36)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Tsukiko's fangs keep the little creature herded quite well, but he's still trying to nail the wolf with haphazardly thrown dark orbs - before one of the purifying stars gets its attention instead! And the little creature stares at it, trying to reach out and grab it as it spins around - succeeding only at getting dizzy.<br /><br />Then with an angry shout, a burst of dark energy erupts again, and suddenly hanging in the air is an array of stage lights (made of Dark energy). "I HATE THE STAGE!" It calls out in English before suddenly those oversized lights begin to crash down, trying to crunch the four heroes under them!

:'''{{#var:85|Amu Hinamori| (85)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Amulet Spade eyed her comrads, before turning to the child. She spun her paint brush once, before painting on the air. "Colorful Canvas!" she called out, before sending out a tidal wave of colorful energy to, while not stop the assault, slow it down at least. <br /><br /> She then turned towards the chara, and smiled. "No, you don't!" she called out, before holding out her hand towards it. "You don't hate it. You love it, don't you? And that's okay! You may not have made it today, but that doesn't mean you won't in the future! As long as you keep working and never give up, your dreams will never be out of reach! It's never easy to end up on that stage, to become the person everyone else cheers for! But if you truly want it, you can't give up just because of one failure! You have to keep trying, to keep reaching for the stars and never give up and never surrender, no matter how hard it gets!" she called out towards the chara.

:'''{{#var:75|Ikiko Hisakata| (75)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Cute Wolf Tsukiko dives one way, while her scant handful of wolf-motes clump together. The dark stage light lands where she had been standing, landing like a crumpled cup over the motes. There's a brief glow of tan as the motes burrow out of the cracks, then they regroup with the wolfgirl.<br /><br />As Tsukiko watches the X-Chara for any additional attacks, she listens to what Amulet Spade is saying. A smile crosses her face -- while her Soulful Howl is better suited for highlighting the good in things than it is for this kind of encouragement, she might still be able to lend a bit of vocal assistance.<br /><br />And so the wolfgirl begins to <span style="color:#cd853f">hum</span> a wordless little melody, trying to harmonize its feelings with Amulet Spade's words. By itself, the hum might not do much, but it adds a bit of power to the persuasion being directed to the X-Chara.

:'''{{#var:143|Hoshi Kogane| (143)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The first attack had pushed Yellow back and so she wasn't quite at much at risk this time, flying backwards even more and shaking her head. "If you hated the stage, you wouldn't care this much." She points out, with a worried but kind and gentle tone, and this time she sends a basic beam of yellow flying at the x-egg, "You'll get another shot, just keep trying. You won't succeed at anything if you give up after your first failure. You just got to get back up and resolve to do better next time!"

:'''{{#var:62|Tadase Hotori| (62)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"HOLY CROWN!" Platinum Royale calls, putting his scepter up into the air, and a golden crown explodes forth, absorbing the falling 'lights' which detonate into black and gold sparkles, leaving Amu free to do her side of the work.<br /><br />And as everyone begins to encourage the boy, Tadase chimes in too. "All of the people you respect and look up to, they've all failed too. The difference is they didn't let that stop them. And I know you won't let this stop you. You have to let go of that sadness and dust yourself off." He smiles at the Prism Princess, the Cute Wolf, and of course, his own closest girl. There's a reason he wouldn't want to do this alone - they know what to say.

:'''{{#var:36|Seijuro Ginga| (36)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The mulicolored canvass melts outward and catches some more of the falling debris, and also carries the X-Chara back a small distance. It's Tsukiko's hum that breaks the situation first, though - causing the boy himself, still slumped against the tree, to open his eyes and open his heart, even if he fully wasn't here. "I tried my best, though. I always try my best. But nobody sees it." The boy and the X-chara say in unison. The chara isn't attacking now, though.<br /><br />"I don't want to give up but it's so hard to throw your heart into something and get nothing..."

:'''{{#var:85|Amu Hinamori| (85)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Amulet Spade shakes her head. "That happens sometimes. Sometimes you work your hardest and it feels like nobody sees. It feels like things will never happen. That no one will ever care. But it's not true!" She stepped closer to the chara, a smile on her lips. "You can't give up. Even if they don't see you now, eventually they will. Then all the hard work, every moment of dedication will be worth it. It may start off small, just one person at first. Then two, then three. But then, before you know it. You'll have dozens. Hundreds! All watching you! Spurred on by a never ending determination." <br /><br /> She held out her hand. "But you can't give up on your dreams. You have to keep striving towards them, even though it's hard now. I can't say it'll ever be easy. But it will be worth it, so long as you never, ever give up on what's important to you!" Then, she formed the heart with her fingers and thrust it towards the chara. "Girls! Now! Open! Heart!" Pink hearts would shoot out to the chara.

:'''{{#var:75|Ikiko Hisakata| (75)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Cute Wolf Tsukiko nods, raising her volume from a hum to a <span style="color:#cd853f">howl</span>. Her wolf-motes join in, circling around her face like a focusing dish as they add their soft tones to hers. The feeling sent by her Soulful Howl reflects the sensation of being cheered on by a crowd that is happy to see you perform, the applause and reciprocated happiness that comes from when you successfully entertain someone.

:'''{{#var:143|Hoshi Kogane| (143)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Yellow is trying to be careful not to destroy the X-Chara here, and so is avoiding the usage of her most powerful attacks, instead she simply throws a variant on one, a big star that gets pumped full of yellow energy like usual. But rather than grow massive and burst, it merely stretches outs its stubby star arms, "<span class="fg_228">Prism Aegis Power! Yellow Chroma Starhug!</span>" Yellow calls out, as the star tries to smother the X-Chara in purifying yellow kindness.

:'''{{#var:62|Tadase Hotori| (62)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>In a way, Tadase had quickly become mostly a spectator, a knight, someone watching to defend the girls from any new threats - but there were some things Amu and the other two girls were better at - Tadase could rally the troops, speak to groups, but when it came to connecting personally, Amu was superior, and backed up by Tsukiko's song and the Yellow Prism Princess' heartfelt might - despair didn't stand a chance.<br /><br />"You have to let go of your hate and despair. You don't want to be upset, to be angry. Just listen to them, and more importantly, listen to your heart."

:'''{{#var:36|Seijuro Ginga| (36)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The Chara looks down for a moment, and it nods as the boy it sprung forth from nods as well. "I want to keep trying. I'm not ready to give up. My dreams are... too important!" And with that, the red X on the Chara's head began to crack, then shatter, the howl of the wolf and the brightness of yellow holding it still as Amu's heartblast cleansed it the rest of the way.<br /><br />And then where the X-chara once was, a small suited chara with a book reading "SCRIPT" floats with a huge smile on his face. "Thank you all. I'll do better to make sure he keeps his dream alive. One day we'll be on the big screen!" Then he returns to his egg, the egg returns to the boy, and he slowly starts to stir as though from a long sleep.<br /><br />There's a sudden second, MUCH smaller burst of Dark Energy as the red-haired man with the wicked grin opens a rooftop door - and it doesn't open to a stairwell, but to the worming hallways of some office space. "Tch. Not the Embryo anyways." he says to nobody before he vanishes and leaves the area completly clear of the feeling of any Dark Energy.

:'''{{#var:85|Amu Hinamori| (85)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Amulet Spade blinked and then glanced off. Did she feel another... nah, probably her imagination. She smiled at the child, he'd be okay now. The threat was dealt with and they were good to go! Sorta. Mostly. She looked around, then took Tadase's hand before letting her henshin drop. "We should get back to the class, right?" she said.<br /><br /> "Amu just wants to get back to the date!" Ran offered. <br /><br /> "She's really hoping that the others won't notice if you two slip away for a bit," Miki added. <br /><br /> "She also thinks the king looks dashing in his Royal Platinum outfit, it's been so long since she's seen him in it." <br /><br /> Amu was now frozen, her face beet red as she gave a weak little squeak.

:'''{{#var:75|Ikiko Hisakata| (75)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Cute Wolf Tsukiko drops her henshin as well, giving Amu a '''huge''' grin. "C'mon, Hoshi, I think we need to leave these two lovebirds alone," Ikiko says cheerfully to Yellow, waving to Tadase and Amu before pointedly heading off to recover her bags and continue on her way.

:'''{{#var:143|Hoshi Kogane| (143)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Yeah." Yellow nods to Tsukiko, and then leaves, dropping Henshin only once she's sufficiently far away. The job's done, she's fine, but going back to being a kid from being a teen is awkward to her, so she does that in private.

:'''{{#var:62|Tadase Hotori| (62)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Platinum Royale giggles a bit as Amu gives off that little squeak - then there's a sparkly 'pop' as he shifts back to Tadase. Being where he is has generally meant keeping his identity safe from the other magical types isn't an issue.<br /><br />"Thank you both for helping." he says with a grin as he puts an arm around the blushing Amu. "Amu appreciates it too, she just can't find her words." He laughs a bit again. "Feel free to come and talk to me anytime. But we do need to keep an eye on the class, she's right."<br /><br />The young boy wakes up, as the group goes their various ways, and rubs his eyes. "What a bad dream. I'd never give up." he says to himself, clutching a fist and standing up, going home - likely to practice.
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