This place looks different under the sun. But Momo knows its darker side; she has been here at night before. The last time was the night after she met Gina. There was a promised meeting here, at the botanical gardens in Pikarigaoka, that never quite materialized. Instead, she found herself waiting alone, in the dark. The lights here tended to flicker dimmer and brighter as she passed beneath them. Motion sensors. Energy savings. Creepy. Trees cast long, shifting shadows in as the lights waxed and waned, and there was the occasional sound of tiny scampering amidst the bushes: little creatures living amidst the greenery here, hopefully. And that night, like this one, the moon was thin, providing only the sparest illumination from above.
When did she get here? She can't remember. She can't remember that this is a dream.
She's standing on a bridge. Beneath her, water flows quietly, though it's too dark to see the koi beneath the surface. Something is moving in the distance ahead and to her right; it's dark over there, and she can't tell what it is. From that direction, though, a familiar voice calls out to her. "Momo!" It sounds quieter and more distant than it should be. She can't quite make out who it is.
Momo looks about in confusion once she notices where she is, the questions still reverberating through her head. She certainly didn't remember coming here tonight. Well, aside from just now walking to this spot. She thinks she remembers that at least...
She starts at the voice from the patch of darkness. "Wh-who's there?".
The voice repeats itself. "Momo!" It's a girl's voice, around Momo's age, and it's tinged with fear and distress. In the distance, Momo can hear someone struggling to hold back sniffling tears. Who wouldn't cry in a situation like this?
The lights above Momo flicker, turning brighter for a moment. Halfway across the park, part of the outline of a person crouched against a tree becomes more prominent. She's faced away from Momo, though. Only her hair is visible: it's long, colored a very distinct viridian green. Momo might remember that color. Gina?
And then the lamps throughout the park go out, winking off, one by one, in rapid succession. Suddenly it's dark. Only the moon above provides light, but it's not enough to clearly see by. The colors of the world around Momo becomes desaturated. It's grey.
Momo had been about to try and get over to Gina, worried for the other girl and recognising crying for what it was. She didn't once think about the fact that Gina had told her to meet her here and hadn't been here, the other girl was distressed.
As Momo lifted her foot to start moving though, the lights fell and everything becomes grey. She blinks in the strange light. "G-gina? Are you okay?".
"Momo!" The wind starts to kick up. It's cold, suddenly. "They're here!" Momo can already sense it herself, though, by the time that warning comes. Something is here, a presence beyond just the two of them, or maybe more than one. It's not yet visible, but Momo can sense its feelings: it's angry and destructive. And then the shadows around her start to flow from their natural places, away from the trees and streetlights that are casting them, sliding silently toward Momo. "Momo! Run!" There's nowhere to go, though. The patches of black move faster and faster. A moment later, they're swirling around the pink-haired girl's feet, and the wooden bridge begins to give away to an empty, pitch black. Beneath Momo, the Earth starts to feel less solid, as her feet slowly begin to sink into the darkness. Something, slowly, is pulling her down.
At least until she wakes up.
The blackness takes her and her eyes flash open. Her breath is quick as she stares around and by the pink tinged light of her night light realises she's still in her own room.
With a roll she gets to the edge of her bed and peers hard at the pink cat clockwork clock on her night-stand, blinking a little more sleep from her eyes along with shock that she woke up so late in the night for herself. She'd been having a horrible, horrible nightmare... She remembered Gina though, where they'd been supposed to meet and something made her scramble for her cellphone and start trying to ring Sachiko, who she was quite certain was awake this time of night.
Sachiko hasn't been sleeping very well, since Anshi's disappearance. A cold bed is not very comfortable, when you've become over-used to sleeping with first your big sister (who runs hot). It's doubly bad when that bed is four times larger than anything you've ever had, covered in silk sheets, and terrifying four posts.
So she is, of course, awake when Momo calls her. Seated on her balcony, huddled up with a blanket over her nightgown, Sachiko answers, "Hullo?"
As the phone connects and the click that signals Sachiko has answered reaches Momo's ears. She doesn't hesitate and begins talking all one a few breathes. Something about Gina is in desperate trouble, they need to go to the park, to get ready she's about to be on her way on her bike.
Sachiko doesn't even hesitate. "Come get me," she says, then hangs up before Momo gets a chance to even interpret that as anything but the obvious. Soon, she flies into her room, puts on three petticoats, an undredress, and an overdress (with way too many bows), a pair of thin white tights, and her Heelys.
"Okay, Mister Bear," Sachiko says as she puts her teddybear in her bed. "You gotta convince them I'm still here sleeping. You didn't do very good at this at the last house, but this place is much nicer. Just be quiet," she whispers to him.
Then she grabs four spare bedsheets, ties them together, and heads for the balcony. Like Rappunzel, Sachiko lets down her ridiculous rope, tying it off at the top, then begins to shimmy down the three floors to the grass below. Soon, she meets up with Momo, and the pair are on their way.
The night winds on as two girls make their way across the city in the dead of night, taking the quieter back streets to avoid pesky questions from adults like, "What are you doing out at this hour?" and, "Are you completely insane?" Gripping the back of Momo's bike seat, Sachiko coasts on her Heely's, the sound of plastic wheels on concrete accompanying, in unison, the rolling of toothy-treaded single-speed bike wheels. In front of Momo, attached to handlebars ended with pink streamers, a large basket accomodates both of the girls' belongings. They make good time, or at the very least, a much faster time than their short legs would allow on foot.
But the wisdom of their journey starts to come into question with every block they travel. Above, the sky is grey, and storm clouds are gathering. The forecast said nothing, but it's going to rain and soon. That's an ill omen, though both girls don't yet know why. The situation only gets worse when they get there.
The cops are already waiting, the dark of the night illuminated by spinning police lights, though their sirens aren't on. Seven year-old minds might think of calamity first. Maybe Roy woke up. Maybe Sachiko's over-protective butler discovered her ruse. Maybe they called the police to look for them, and the jig is up . . . But with only a moment's glance, it becomes clear that it has nothing to do with them. The police don't seem to notice their presence. And something happened in the park only a few minutes prior, something bad. That bridge where Momo was standing? In the distance, both girls can see it has been shattered. And a few trees, mighty old wooden sages weighing in the hundreds or thousands of kilograms, have been unceremoniously partially uprooted, tilted to one side, the lot of them forming a wide path out of the park. They'll live with a tree doctor's help, but it's disturbing to think what kind of creature displaced them with seemingly little effort.
Where to now? Only Momo knows. Suddenly that familiar feeling returns to her. Maybe it's not nice to feel it in the real world, but there's a familiar, warm presence somewhere near by. And the not nice part? That same malice she sensed earlier also stalks the area. Across the street from the botanical gardens, there's the shopping center she visited earlier, the one where she met Hiroko. It's mostly empty, save for a single lit structure that draws her eye. Set a few stories above the rest of the development, a clock tower's ornate hands turn. Somehow, she knows. Whatever is happening, it's happening there.
And not far away, a few blocks to the east, another girl with a shared destiny flies through the air. Biv is accompanying Reiko on a trip they've been making every night: the search for Gigi. Roy, exhausted from searching during the day, is still at Momo's apartment. The mascots have done a lot for the Prism Keepers. With a child's life in the balance especially, how can they not repay the favor? But their search has been fruitless every night. Gigi almost seems to be hiding. Why? By all accounts from Roy and Biv, she's normally a good girl.
One thing is different about tonight for Reiko, though. That coming storm, which doesn't seem to have a mundane explanation; it's a sign she wells knows. It /could/ be someone or something else; magical weather is nothing new in this town. But maybe . . . hopefully not. Hopefully not tonight, with Gigi alone out there.
Momo pedalled her bike with Sachiko trailing behind her over towards the shopping centre, casting a few furtive glances at the policemen and women over at the park. She gets off her bike when they're out of sight around a corner into the center, eyeing towards the lights of the tower. She turns to Sachiko and smiles somewhat weakly at her. "Are you okay, Sachiko? Didn't get a bug in your eye or anything did you?".
Sachiko's Heelys are getting their workout tonight. As the storm begins to brew, Sachiko's eyes cast upwards not once but several times. It wasn't supposed to rain tonight. She's sure it wasn't supposed to rain tonight. This dress is going to be ruined. She's not going to be able to hide what she's been up to. She's going to get thrown out again. She's going to get thrown out, again!!
When Momo turns and gives her a smile as they come to a stop, Sachiko's eyes are cast worriedly to the heavens. She doesn't quite even hear her friend, until the third word or so. "Huh?" she asks, turning to regard Momo worriedly. "I'm okay," she mumbles. "But um. We should hurry. You think Gina-chan is here? Why is she so special, anyways? I didn't like her very much." Jealousy. "But if she's important to you, then she's important to me. So um. Let's do our best to find her quickly, okay?"
Prism Keeper Orange has aquired one (1) bluebird to help her search for GiGi. She's old enough to be out late and Grandpa learned to stop asking questions months back. It looked like rain earlier--- strange- the forecast didn't mention it, and at first- Reiko just thinks weathermen are wrong all the time.
So she has an umbrella, orange with a fish print of course. Biv is on her shoulder and she has a flashlight because you are not going out into the dark without a trusty flashlight!
A Koi is uncermoniously holding the flashlight up on her shoulder as she flies through the air with the umbrella. Though the closer she gets towards the center of this, the more uneasy she feels, and less this feels like a storm and more of a 'disturbance'. She frowns a bit. She can see flashing lights. Police! What's going on?
She doesn't investigate quite yet. She softly frowns.
"I wonder what's going on..." she says to herself. Oh right. She's supposed to be searching....
"GiiiiiGiiiiii!" she calls out. "Come on out birdy bird!" she calls out.
She hovers forward. She's high in the sky. That bird has gotta hear her, right!?
Ugh! She keeps that umbrella close. How she manages to hold it despite the weather?
Magic!
Biv's warm, maternal voice speaks to the Prism Keeper next to her. She has been good at hiding her pain, throughout this crisis. Roy has always been the brave one, willing to charge headlong into danger to do what needs to be done. But it's hard for him to sit still, with this pain in his chest; it has been hard for him not to crack a little under the terrible thoughts of what might have happened to his daughter. It's Biv who has been the rock, both to him and the PK's in this crisis. She's soft-spoken, but she has always been strong. She's the compassionate one, but that's not a passive or weak emotion for her. No, more than her "husband," she seems able to brave the storms of the world and carry everyone around her with her smile and loving wisdom.
But this? This is getting to her, and it shows in the hidden corners of her mind; it shows in her voice. "We should investigate. I remember Gigi liking this place, when we first arrived. It might be worth checking out, if we can avoid the attention of the local police. Can you be discreet, Orange?" Ninja Koi, it is.
Overhead, though, lightning flashes. And then the first roar of thunder sends reverberations through the air below. The storm is getting closer. Drops of rain begin to fall, both on the park and in the shopping center. If one is looking for clues amidst the greenery of the botanical gardens, they better hurry. As for the two young girls, they're going to need to find shelter if they don't want to get soaked.
Luckily, or scarily, a path has been cleared toward them. Whatever wrecked the gardens came this way. A few overturned trash cans have been strewn quite a distance from their normal spot, and one or two benches have been overturned. The path of chaos leads toward the clock tower. Conspicuously, the door is open. It'll be dry in there, at least, though safety is another question entirely.
Momo grasped at Sachiko's hand and tugged her swiftly along behind her, not caring that it looked like something big had went this way. The clocktower was clearly open and it was starting to rain. She couldn't leave her friend out in this, someone might realise she'd been out and she remembered that people Sachiko usually had in her life weren't quite as forgiving as Biv and Roy could be to Momo.
She dragged Sachiko through the door and stopped for a breath, looking her friend over. "Are you okay? Did your dress get wet? I hope not I don't want you to get in trouble.". She starts circling her friend as if making sure she's alright.
Sachiko runs along with Momo, plastic wheels going clack-clack-clack as she rushes to get out of the rain. Lolita fashion is so not weather appropriate, and even with their hasty pace, Sachiko's dress gets a bit west straight away.
She should have brought an umbrella.
Glancing down at her dress woriedly, Sachiko lets out a little whimper, brushes it away, then looks to Momo. "It'll be okay," she whimpers. "I'm with Momo-chan, so it'll be okay. I'll protect you from the storm, Momo-chan. Since you haven't become Princess Peach, yet, if anything bad happens, I'll become Princess Petal and save you from it. Okay?"
Prism Keeper Orange closes her umbrella and slips it behind herself. It dissapears, because magical pockets. She sighs a bit. "Okay. It's nighttime, and I am safety orange, but I will do my best." she says softly.
Ugh, Purple would had been better for this. Or Blue. She's like safety wear colors.
Regardless, she is doing her best to be quiet as she looks down. "We'll go down then. Quietly." she says. She dips down annnnnnd poof! She's in a tree. Because it's the best vector for approach. Also. Birds like trees. She begins peeking around--- and zips from tree to tree, keeping sneaky in the trees that are still standing. She tries to get a littttttle closer as Biv asks her to.
"Do you see anything Biv?" she asks quietly.
She's doing her best to not attract attention!
Something wicked this way came. Reiko can see the destruction more clearly from down here. A few of the lamps throughout the park are flickering brighter and dimmer. Damage to the wiring? Or maybe it's just an electrical disturbance caused by the storm above. And the half-uprooted trees are slanted away from each other to form a wide path, as if some massive creature, at least a few meters tall, stomped its way through the greenery in pursuit of some quarry. Was Gigi hiding here? Reiko can sense a faint trace of color energy, and knowing none of the other PK's have fought here recently, it's hard to draw any other conclusion.
Thankfully, the police don't seem to have noticed her yet. The footprints below indicate that they've already scoured the area for evidence. And with the rain about to come down hard, it looks like they're already packing up to leave. Maybe they don't think this is a crime scene. It's hard to blame them. In a world without magic, lacking any evidence to the contrary, it might be a more logical assumption that extreme winds were the culprit in this incident.
Inside the clock tower, the girls catch their breath. It looks like there's nowhere to go but up. A winding square stairwell leads to, presumably, the maintenance area for the clock itself. Before they can decide what to do, though, matters are complicated. Outside, lightning strikes again, the flash creeping in from under the door. But just as the thunder reaches them, the lights go out: in the park, in the plaza, in the tower. Transformer strike? Downed powerline? The emergency lighting turns on a moment later, bathing the interior of the tower in a dim orange glow. It's just enough to be able to navigate the stairs, but it's still very dark.
It's dark in the park too, only the scant moonlight above providing illumination. But with the departing cops now less able to see her, and that trace of color energy to go on, Reiko can search a little more closely. She floats to a nearby tree, to see where the sensation is coming from. At the foot of the tree, tiny drops of green are scattered on the dirt below. Blood? No, not with this pattern. Tears. Someone was huddled here, crying and afraid. And a moment later, it becomes clear why. That's useful evidence, but it's not the energy she was sensing; no, that sensation is stronger, drawing her eye in a different direction. Hanging from a branch about a dozen meters away, a tiny piece of fine fabric flutters. It's lace; this was once part of an expensive, delicate dress, torn off as someone stood there on that branch. And the fabric burns when Reiko touches it. She knows this feeling. It's grey energy.
There's little to doubt now. Gigi was here, somewhere. And so is /she/.
Inside the tower, Momo finds out where. It's barely audible, and Reiko can't hear it, but Momo and Sachiko hear a young girl crying somehere higher in the tower. It sounds far away, the noise distorted by the stairwell and humid air within.
Momo starts to run up the steps, hearing the cries from up. "Come on, Sachiko! Gina can't be far!". Her little legs go hard up the steps, nearly tripping a few times from the bottom of her pink Chucks being wet, but ultimately she makes good time and eventually she stands in front of the door the sound seems to be coming from behind. She glances back to see if Sachiko came with her, or kept up having momentarily forgotten to check in the mad rush.
Sachiko can hear the crying. She really can. Confused, she turns this way and that, but Momo is running, and Sachiko isn't about to argue. "Wait, wait," she says, then sits down at the base of the stairs and reaches down. Pulling the wheels out of her Heelys, she drops them into a hidden pocket in her dress, then turns and races up the stairs after her friend. Sneakers are so much easier to run on stairs in without wheels. Petticoats and dresses, on the other hand? Kind of a pain. So she's not very quick at running up those stairs. "Momo, is it Gina-chan? Are you sure?"
Prism Keeper Orange can sense color energy! "Woah..okay that's... something..." she squints. Doesn't feel like any Prism Keeper she knows... so that must mean....!
She zorts through the air as she comes across a piece of fabric. Elegant. Gray. She frowns heavily.
"Griselda!" she huffs.
She looks around. Something big trudged through here?...
So if she was here.....
She peeks up over the trees...
"Yeah this is prime 'I'm a jerk watching my jerks jerk spot...'" she mumbles to herself.
Up the girls race. Their shoes shed their water easily on the concrete, with its coating of rubberized stripes. Sometimes occupational safety regulations are nice, even for magical girls. But it's not exactly an easy trip. The steps are made for longer legs and adult bodies more used to the exertion of the civil maintenance occupation. But they push themselves anyway. Momo races toward the crying that she's sure is coming from Gina. Sachiko races to follow her friend. They're out of breath, by the time they reach the top. In front of them is a closed door; there's nowhere else to go. The handle turns easily enough, and sure enough, they've found the subject of their search.
This room isn't quite like any they've been in before. It's larger on the inside, or at least it seems like it. The center of the room is dominated by a massive geared shaft and drive system which slowly turns the hands of the clock. The mechanical rhythm of the clock's ticking is audible, even slightly loud, in here. And opposite the door is the reversed face of the clock they saw outside, along with several small step ladders granting access to various spots that might need cleaning or maintenance.
And Gina? She's huddled in a corner, still wearing her white Seishou elementary school uniform. But it has seen better days: the skirt bearing a few grass stains, the ends of the long sleeves dirty and ragged. Has she been wearing it since the day she met them? She scoots herself back into her corner when the door opens, fearful, even terrified, only to leap to her feet when Momo appears. "Momo!" She runs over, throwing her arms around the girl, hugging her. "Sachiko!" She remembers the other girl too, grabbing her hands for a moment. She's happy, for a moment, at least before something dawns on her. "You . . . you guys can't be here. It isn't safe!"
Outside in the park, Biv flutters over, landing next to Reiko. "Griselda . . . " Her usually warm voice drops, despair creeping in. "Orange, please tell me . . . " She wouldn't, right? She wouldn't go that far? That's hardly a safe assumption, though; Reiko's first fight with Griselda proved that the grey girl had no problem dispensing with her enemies.
Momo starts towards Gina, but the other girl's words stop her short. "G-gina, are you okay?! What's wrong?!". Her eyes are blazing hot pink as she looks upon her friend, and she sets them roving about the room that Gina is in. She wants to see why it isn't safe.
As Gina rushes towards Momo, Sachiko's expression darkens to one of irritation. But then she takes in the full scene: the dirty, stained clothes, the tattered sleeves. Oh this is a look she knows all too well. This is the same look she wore the day Anshi went missing. This is the look of desperation.
Maybe now is not the time to be jealous.
"It's okay," Sachiko says, standing up a little straighter as Gina grabs her hands. "It's okay," she repeats, happier all the sudden. "Because I'll protect you. I'm a magical girl," Sachiko explains to Gina. "And whatever isn't safe, I'll beat it up with the powers of Princess Petal!"
Prism Keeper Orange looks around the park and frowns heavily. "I'm sure Gigi has got to be okay... Griselda is a jerk... but Gigi is small and fast. I bet she's hiding!" she says softly. "But... Griselda.. nrg. I need help." she says.
"Yellow should be nearby still... unless she got chased by her...!" she frowns a little.
She removes that rainbow Virtue phone-- one that still works as a normal phone when she wants it too, and calls Yellow. "Yellow... I need you over here in the park. Signs of Griselda.. of Gigi too." she calls. She'll wait for a response before she lowers the phone and begins to hover forward over the trees...
"GIGIIIIII!" she calls out. "Birdy Birddddd!" she calls out.
Yeah she's still trying.
"Coming." Yellow was nearby, looking as well, when she gets Reiko's call. There's no more words coming from her before she ends the call. She immediately starts flying in that direction, still occassionally landing on rooftops to steady her movement, but it's less superjumps and more multiple brief periods of flight.
She lands next to Reiko and takes a look around, trying to figure out what's going on. She takes a good luck up at the clocktower and asks Reiko, "Okay I'm here. What's going on?"
The seconds pass audibly in the machine-filled room behind the clockwater's face, each moment marked by sharp mechanical clicks, as gears whirr quietly, steadily. There's a flash again, through the translucent yellow glass of the clock's face, followed by the reverberating roar of thunder. Gina pulls both Momo and Sachiko in closer, into something between a hug and a huddle. It's not clear whether this is a gesture of fear or of solidarity. Probably both, judging by the way she's shaking. However cute and friendly and eager she might have been only a few weeks ago, that particular honeymoon seems to be over. This version of Gina can't quite face the reality in front of her without trembling.
"The grey girl. She's been chasing me. Her monsters too." The orange emergency lights flicker dimmer in that room, almost on cue, though a rational mind might chalk that up to another power surge from this freshest lightning strike. When they come back on, something is different. Creeping in from beneath the closed door is something that shouldn't be. Almost like a seeping liquid, patches of ground that should be colored orange by the lighting are instead painted a flat, dull grey. Gina just shakes, stepping backward away from the other girls, back into her corner. "She's here."
Outside, amidst the treeline of the botanical gardens across the street from the clocktower, two girls hover on fairy wings, a blue bird perched in a branch next to them. "Orange! Yellow!" Biv cries, alarm clear in her voice. She doesn't need to say more, though. They can both sense it. A Shade. And if they can sense it too, it must be close, and very likely already active.
And then it's midnight. The first tone chimes. Then another. But then, somewhere within the tower, there's a crashing racket, and the painful whining of structural metal being twisted into some new shape. Orange and Yellow can hear it. But within that room? The clock suddenly stops, and the emergency lightning flickers off completely. It's almost pitch dark. Only the scant yellow light cast through the clock face illuminates the room. And it's silent, save for the clatter of something big coming up the stairs.
Momo gets close to Sachiko and Gina in the hugdle, looking about. Her eyes were searching even as she shuddered from the resonating boom of the thunder outside. She had to be the stable one here, right? Sachiko still thought she was magical and Gina was clearly deathly afraid.
That stability was shaken though at Gina's words, and she saw something beneath the door. It caused her to shudder still more, as she was still a small girl in dark, high place. She got further into the hugdle, shaking just a little against Gina and Sachiko.
When the lights go out completely inside, and the small light gives brighteness, she gives a small whimper of fear, but doesn't stop watching the spot. Something was coming.
"PETAL GLOW!" Sachiko declares loudly in the darkness. She's moving, reaching for something. A pocket? It unzips, and then she pulls out a trio of green and pink glowsticks. She snaps all three at once, shakes then throws them around the room. It's dim, but it's not nearly as dark as it was a moment ago.
Sachiko also has a long ribbon in her hand, now; wound up and weighted at one end. She's not standing in the tight hug with the other two girls; she's standing defensively in front of them, holding that ribbon like she's ready to throw it. "Come out, you monster! I'll beat you up! It's not okay to scare my friends!"
Prism Keeper Orange frowns and motions to the scrap of elegant fabric she'd picked off the tree, it might sort of feel wrong. "Grisleda was here..." she motions to the toppled trees and bridge off in the distance-- and the inclement weather in the area. "There was a Shade here... I felt color energy... for a moment." she says worriedly.
Then a blink.. "Wait, what!? It's still here!?" she calls out.
She can sense it, and she begins looking around frantically. "--darnit!" she calls out.
Then that clock begins striking twelve. She begins towards there.
"Come on Yellow!" she calls out as she darts downwards into a spiral. There's gotta be a way inside. Right? A window?
...can she crash through a clock face?
Is--is that an option?
She isn't exactly the Kool-Aid Man though.
"Yellow we need to find a way inside..." she mutters.
"We do." Yellow agrees, and she sends a pair of yellow stars flying towards the clock face, both of them carrying little pneumatic drills to weaken it as she just enters a ballistic trajectory. Another star, a big shielding one, appears in front of her to shield her from that impact.
It turns out, Yellow might be the Kool-Aid Man.
"Gris . . . " Yellow and Orange know that voice by now, and Yellow can feel the malicious aura nearby: gathering Grey energy for an attack. Griselda likes to strike from above; ambush predator might not be an unapt description. " . . . haille!" Gris-haille. Grisaille? An art term? That attack is one they haven't seen before. Hovering higher and off to the side, seemingly having arrived just in time, if she wasn't already watching, the Grey Girl's parasol swings in wide sweeps, as a charcoal drawing of a hailstorm materializes around her. Her spell finished, she points her parasol, and solid balls of ice become real and streak toward Yellow, zeroing in on the Prism Keeper. Her driller stars succeed in weakning the clock, but Yellow herself is knocked off course, sent careening shield-and-all in some other direction. But one of those balls of hail does fly a little wide and strike the compromised clock. It's enough to punch a small hole in the clock's face, but it's not quite big enough for a human to fit through.
"No, no! Don't worry about her, Prism Creepers. I'll put her color energy to good use," says that same smug voice. Griselda has been gone for a while. It's not clear what happened to her that night, when Hoshi awakened, but between her absence and the recent reinforcements in the form of Yellow, Purple, and Blue, the Prism Keepers' job has been a little easier lately. Tonight, though, it looks like that's about to end. She's back, and unfortunately, it looks like she's in full form. No attempt at half-hearted melee: something she previously had a distaste for. These are her full, usual abilities, including her typical cruel, superior smirk. "How do they say it? /I/ will be your opponent."
But there's hope from an unexpected source. Or maybe it's one that's all too expected, given recent events. "Biv, c'mon! Orange! Yellow! Hold her off! We'll take care of the rest." With impeccable timing, as always, it's Roy. Or maybe really awful timing, by parental standards, as Momo sneaked out quite a long time ago. It's midnight. Do you know where your children are? The red bird streaks toward the small opening that Hoshi secured, Biv following after him only a moment later.
Inside the clockroom, things are going a little crazy now. First a chunk of the clock's face shatters violently, sending shards spraying across the room. Luckily, there are no serious injuries. The girls can hear voices talking outside now, though it's hard to make out their words with the now audible sound of the rain. A few moments later, the even-more-impossible happens. Two birds, red and blue, streak through that opening. And keeping secrets is apparently no longer a priority for them. As they land, they immediately shift to their human forms, Roy and Biv.
"Mama!" "Gina" runs toward Biv, if her true identity wasn't yet obvious to Momo. And Roy? He races to the door and braces himself against it. "Don't worry, Momo!" he says. "Everything is going to be alright! Just stay back, alright?" Whatever is coming is still clattering up the stairs. It's almost here.
Momo would perhaps have fainted at this moment, if adrenaline wasn't pumping through her small veins. Instead she simply stared on, her mouth moving as several thoughts process themselves in her head. She now realises why when she has chicken nuggies, Roy and Biv never want any. She always figured it had to be something crazy, because who doesn't like chicken nuggets?
What really shocks her though is the realisation that Gina is in fact, GiGi. She stares at the green-haired girl, blinking rapidly. "Gi-gi-GiGi?!".
"Who's Gigi?" Sachiko asks confusedly. But that confusion is perhaps more because of the birds turning into people in front of her.
"Who are you?!" she asks them. They're adults, and adults are never a good thing to have around. "Stay away from Momo-chan and Gina-chan!" she says. "Don't hurt my friends!"
The sound grows, though, as the truth starts to dawn on Momo. Maybe Sachiko isn't surprised. Her world is already "magical." Whatever the case, it doesn't sound like any of those gathered in this room will have the luxury of long-winded explanations. Whatever is coming, it's almost here.
"Wait. Gigi?!" Roy sounds surprised too. Is this the first time he has seen her in this form? Biv has apparently already figured it out, though. Call it maternal intuition. Or maybe she's just better at spotting colors: who else would be that specific blue-green veridian shade of green? Gigi is losing it, though. "Mama," is all she manages to say, over and over. Now that her parents are here, she seems ready to do what she has likely wanted to do during this entire ordeal. She just buries herself in Biv's kneeling arms and cries.
Roy looks at Momo and Sachiko. "We're Momo's relatives, OK? We're here to rescue you. You just need to trust us, and we'll . . . " Get you out of this? Even just looking at his face, one can tell he doesn't even believe that himself. And reality confirms his suspicion a moment later.
Something slams against the metal door the room, the banging immediate and deafeningly loud. And then it happens again, but this time, the bolt crumbles. Roy braces himself against the door to keep it shut, leaving only Momo's red-haired "relative" between the girls and the creature. The third time, though, shows that mascot bravery doesn't quite cut it in magical battles. He's probably fit by human standards, but as the door is practically ripped from its hinges by the force of the next impact, he's sent flying into the far wall, slumping against the ground unconscious.
And into the room snakes . . . something. It's a creature of ornamental brasswork and massive gears and metal cabling, born apparently from the spare parts supply of this clocktower. Myriad giant gears, some nearly two feet in diameter, form the body of a "snake," bound together by muscles and sinew made of industrial-grade cabling. Massive, ornate brass clockhands have bent back completely at the edges, the points now serving as sharp fangs for the Shade's "mouth." It speaks, but it only utters a single inhuman, angry word. "Tock!" And then, from somewhere deeper in the tower, a snake's rattle is heard, echoing up the stairs until it reaches that room.
Who's going to save them now?
"Relatives?" Sachiko asks, confused by the word. It's almost as if it's not a term she knows. Or maybe not one she truly groks. "But you turned from birds!" she says.
But there's no time to debate that now! There is very suddenly a door ripped from its hinges, and Sachiko has to dodge aside to avoid being hit by it flying into the room. "Crap, I took my wheels off," she says, remembering suddenly.
"Doesn't matter! Momo-chan, stay behind me! The Clockwork Lord is here!" she calls, then rushes towards the monster. "STEM WHIP!" she yells, and throws her ribbon. Weighted down by a fishing weight, the throw flies fast and true, streaming green silk behind it. The ribbon clangs against the clockwork weirdness and bounces off. The ribbon flutters to the ground. "Hah, I've got you now! You can't move, because my Stem Whip disabled you!"
"POLLEN POWER!" Sachiko adds into the mix as she rushes towards the thing. It's as if she's really convinced she's a magical girl. But the real magic here is not the little cinnamon-haired girl rushing into battle.
A handful of dust scatters around Sachiko as she tosses it into the air. And then she leaps and tries to punch the clockwork right where her ribbon struck it.
Prism Keeper Orange is looking at the clockface when---- suddenly there's an attack!? Oh no... Griselda. She bites her lip as she clenches her fists. "G--griselda!" darnit-- again! They need to deal with this---- no need for pleasentries--- they've TRIED talking to Griselda before- so Orange raises her hand and fires off a burst of color energy toward's Griselda--- at the same time--
She sends a few koi out with the wave of her Chroma Wand- aiming to send some defensive koi options around Yellow, to support her! Yellow isn't alone out here after all!
"Yellow... keep your guard up... this isn't like the last time!" she says with a severe frown.
"You'll do nothing like that." Yellow says firmly, right she hits the ground, hard. She suppresses a pained scream, turning it into more of a grunt, and climbs up. This time, she sends her stars flying at the sky, towards Griselda. "Did they ever tell you rainy days are stupid and your theme is stupid?"
Griselda's wings flap, a quick aerial dodge that just barely gets her out of the way of Orange's basic color blast. "You're right, Orange," Griselda replies. "This won't be like the last time. Last time, I squandered an opportunity to destroy you both, because I was weak. Today, I'm not. It turns out that beating I took was a blessing in disguise. All I needed was a little push to let go of my weakness. I'm stronger now than I've ever been. You babies will see." And then the stars come streaking toward her. She bats away one with her parasol, and then another, but the third winds around her before striking her in the back, sending Griselda awkwardly tumbling forward midair before she catches herself.
She grimaces, angry now. "I have been told that, actually, Yellow. Luckily, I now know better than to care about the petulant opinions of children. I know what matters. Power. Lets see what you think of the rain now, Yellow . . . " Her parasol rises, and she again starts to draw. "Drain . . . " Far above her, massive clouds start to form, drawn in charcoal. " . . . Cloud!" And as those clouds become real, tiny droplets of Grey Energy start to fall, sapping away the color of whoever is touched.
Inside the tower, Sachiko mounts her final defense. "No!" Biv cries. "Get back!" But for a moment, it almost seems like it's working. The "Stem Whip" seems to freeze the Shade in place. And then the "Pollen Power" falls, leaving the Shade open for a strike . . . of a little girl's fast on a hard metal surface. The results might not be fortunate. And finally Tock starts to move again, its pause unfortunately only the result of its confusion at the nonmagical girl who seemed so eager to fight it. That confusion now satisfied, it tosses her aside with a single brusque wave of its head. And then its eyes settle on the prize it was apparently sent to secure: Gigi. Biv watches, shaking now herself. This is the first time Momo has seen her scared. But she finds strength even now, wrapping her arms tightly around the crying girl, using her body to shield her. It's all she can do. There's nobody else left to fight.
The situation seems increasingly dire. Tock's menacing metal form looms large in the room, its eyes of empty grey fixed on Gina, and on the blue-haired woman trying to shield her, to protect her daughter with her own life if necessary. Biv's tear-streaked face is stricken with fear, twisted in grief as her mind imagines the moment that seems like it will inevitably come next. Gina can't see that, with her face buried in the shoulder of the woman holding her tight. Maybe she's thinking something else entirely.
Pushing against her mother, Gina starts to pull away. Biv resists at first, only realizing a moment later that her daughter is trying to tell her something, to do something. She loosens her embrace, a bit of space opening up between the two. Their eyes lock as they try to understand each other. Biv smiles bittersweetly, her hands rising to cradle Gina's cheeks. And then her arms fall away; she nods approvingly as Gina steps away, the fear on the green-haired girl's face slowly blending into quiet determination.
As Gina steps back from her mother she reaches into her pocket, pulling out a glowing crystal that hightlights the determined glint in her eyes as a pink light on seafoam green eyes. Without hesitation, especially in this dire moment she shouts out, "AWAKEN, PRISM KEEPER PINK!" and sends the crystal hurtling towards Momo as the pink-haired girl stands in silent horror at her friend being attack and flung into unconciousness again the wall.
The crystal glows brighter as it gets closer to Momo until it's possible that if they weren't inside of a building it would seem as if a pin-point of bright light in the distance. Instead it's a brilliant eye-burning blaze of Pink with a whistling crystal chime as the air batters at it without stopping it once.
As it becomes extremely close something inside of Momo stirs and words race from her heart to her lips, "Chroma Prism Pink, Transform!". The glow envelopes her and she closes her eyes as the fear and hesitation she'd felt a moment before is stripped away and the hope that's always there, the bright flame that drives Momo day to day as she waits for her sister, as she dreams of a happier life for her best-friend, as she hopes her sister returns with her mother. Perhaps there's a trace of fear, but what is fear but a driving force for hope?
Light spins brighter inside the envelope, the shape of Momo Akatsuki painfully obvious in it as her clothes seem to fade away. This is only a momentary thing as light presses warmly against her flesh and starts to shape out a dress of white and pink. Trim sleeves, frilly cuffs of white with a pastel pink sleeve leading to a body that's constructed of white pearl-ish buttons and pastel pink all through. A skirt of layers, pastel pink with each inch layer ending in white lace down to petticoats at the bottom. Small white shoes decorated with a pastel pink bow appear over suddenly white-stockinged feet and then... Then a final bit is added. A white bow in her hair with a pink-camera in the center.
The glow fades, but Prism Keeper Pink isn't done yet. She claps her hands together and spreads them a foot apart, the Chroma Wand appearing there. Pink ends with a white center, one end rounded and the other a typical heart. Something has to be typical here, right?
There's fear at this new power, but there's something else now that drives what she does next. There's a burning rage kindled with the hope that she can do something now. She grasps the wand in her right hand and lifts it to aim at Tock. She doesn't say anything, but a camera manifests large and present with the first flow of Pink's powers and from it issues a beam of pure colour energy. Nobody messes with a friend of Prism Keeper Pink.
It's raining at the clocktower in Mitakihara. A subtle hole has opened up in the face of the clock, revealing a horrible nightmare within: a clockwork horror sends a cinnamon-haired little girl flying across the room. Sachiko hits the wall like a bag of flour, then collapses to the floor, not moving.
Biv and Roy are in there, too, trying to keep Momo, Gigi, and Sachiko safe from the clockwork, but their cries and calls have thus far not availed them of any hopeful outcomes.
But Gina stole something useful: a small pink crystal that she flung towards Momo. The closer it came to the pink-haired girl, the more brightly it glowed. And then, something wonderful (or horrible, depending on your perspective) happened: Momo caught the crystal in the air, and with it she awakened into Prism Keeper Pink!
Pink's energy manifests as a camera, from which flows a brilliant beam of pure colour energy. That energy strikes Tock, the Clockwork, driving the shade back. It clacks and whirrs its irritation, and the clock on its face ticks several seconds forward, far too fast. And as it ticks, the creature begins to move just as fast, racing towards Prism Keeper Pink with blinding speed as it attempts to punch her backwards into the wall.
Outside, Griselda has summoned up a drain cloud drawn from her coal, which is spreading out to engulf Yellow and Orange. Aloft on her grey feathered wings with her parasol in hand, the Grey Kingdom's queen floats aloft, expression smug as she watches Prism Keepers Orange and Yellow desperately try to get past her towards what's happening inside.
But as Momo awakens with the Pink Chroma Crystal, Griselda's eyes narrow just a little. "Hmm, now that just doesn't seem sporting, does it?" she asks the two near her. "Well, it's no matter. Two prism keepers or eight, I'm prepared for you, today."
Prism Keeper Orange can feel it. She can feel that resonate with her Chroma Prism. Another Prism Keeper has awakened.. and it's...
Pink...
For a moment she's as white as a ghost. Oh man, she thinks. Mei is going to kill her. She's going to kill her and they'll never find her adorable body. She shakes it off. Griselda is here that needs to come first. That needs to first more than anything because Griselda will kill them.
"Griselda...." she says lowly.
"...you won't touch my friends! or Pink! Or anyone! Not now! Not ever! Come on Yellow!" she calls out.
"Prism Aegis Power! Orange Chroma Overflow!" she calls out as she summons up a powerful wave of orange color energy from the tip of her wand- then throws it over head-- summoning a massive, orange koi shaped burst of energy shoots out from her wand as she worriedly tries to drive the Princess of Grey away--- hopefully, Yellow will join in with her own power.
That should be enough, enough to get Griselda to think this isn't worth her time.
She hopes.
Prism Keeper Yellow knows what this means to Orange. How much the awakening of other Prism Keepers bothers her sometimes, but she also knows that there's something more important here. "Let's go, Orange!" She calls out, and points her wand at Griselda.
"Prism Aegis Power! Yellow Chroma Starburst!" The girl sends a big star flying, a beam of colour energy feeding it, making it grow bigger, making it grow bloated. And, as these things go, the bigger a star gets, the shorter it lives. By the time it's close to Griselda, it explodes into a billion tiny starts, with a wave of colour energy pushing them outwards.
Prism Keeper Pink doesn't seem daunted by the serpent coming towards her. In fact, she just seems more angry. It attacked her friends, and it's going to get mad because she attacked it? REALLY?!
Pink stamps her foot hard against the floor of the tower, and the camera stops firing off it's beam of energy. Instead it grows bigger and rises high into the air before plummeting right towards the creatures head.
Fiery lit little pink eyes glare at it. "Don't be dumb, tick-tick snake.".
Tock may just be a dumb snake, but empowered by its own speed it's presently a very fast dumb snake. At incredible speed, it coils in on itself, transforming into a spring that tries to send Prism Keeper Pink's falling camera back into the sky.
But the camera isn't some physical thing; the coils of the clockwork compress down until it's nearly flat, and the whole thing begins to turn pink as her power overwhelms it. There is a crash as the shade falls to pieces, and Gigi cheers for her friend, calling, "Good job, Pink-chan!"
Roy and Biv aren't quite so quick to join the excitement. They can sense Griselda outside, and they point out, "Prism Keeper Pink, outside, Orange and Yellow need your help."
Griselda anticipated the attacks, but she didn't fully anticipate just how much power the Prism Keepers would put into them. The blasts are forced to pass through her Drain Cloud, which sucks energy out of the coming attacks, but when they reach her there's still enough force that it could do serious damage.
So she doesn't let it. Griselda raises her parasol and gives it a spin, ducking behind for cover. Although the chroma energy disperses around her, Griselda is knocked backwards into the clocktower, and she grimaces in pain and irritation. For a moment, she begins to fall, but with the energy dealt with, she's able to take wing once more, flying back into the air.
"Too late," Griselda calls back angrily, and raises her parasol towards the sky. "Anchroman," she begins to call, as she draws out a massive storm-filled sky above the battlefield, "Candle!" The sky suddenly fills with grey lightning, like a firework display of raw power. The clocktower loses all colour, save the people within, and so too do several trees and bushes nearby.
"Nngnha!" Griselda calls, and directs a bolt of lightning to strike at Reiko directly. The Orange Prism Keeper hastily ducks back, protected by her Koi fish, but Griselda's power comes from unexpected angles, and the girl's incredibly strong. Orange lets out a cry of pain as she's blasted backwards into the ground.
Griselda glances around the area uncertainly, then towards the clocktower. "You know," she says to Yellow, "Honestly, I don't think I need the little bird after all. Good luck saving the world with your leader missing and this joke of a substitute taking her place."
She smiles, then turns to fly away rapidly. But the thunderstorm is still there, draining color from the world. It needs to be stopped, and quickly!
Yellow doesn't dignify Griselda's taunts with a response, she looks towards Orange, but decides that can come later. Instead, she rushes towards Prism Keeper Pink. "Pink." She says rushedly, looking towards the sky worriedly. "Cross wands with me, and say with me."
Thus, Yellow raises her wand for Pink to cross with and yells out, "Chroma Pallete Cleanser!" She's worried about Orange, but knows where Orange's priorities are.
Pink has no idea what this is, but she crosses her wand with Yellow's and yells out "Chroma Palette Cleanser!", as well. But she doesn't hold still afterwards, glancing back at Yellow. "I have to get my friend!".
Pink and Yellow energy combine, flashing outwards in a brilliance of colour. The stormclouds are an impressive power, and the storm itself doesn't wash away. But most of the grey does. The tower regains its color, as do the nearby trees and bushes. It's still pouring rain, but there's no more lightning; no more hail. It's just a normal spring shower.
"I understand. We'll talk later. OK?" That said, Yellow rushes back towards Orange, picking up her friend. She wouldn't forgive herself if Orange got more hurt because she didn't help out her friend. Thus, the girl jumps, taking great wing-empowered leaps to bring the totally awesome and totally temporary leader of the Prism Keepers home.
Not dropping henshin at all, the thought slipping her mind, Pink runs to where Sachiko is and picks her up as she would a fragile doll, except with probably more love and care. She starts to trudge down the steps of the tower, one at a time with slow steps as she whispers words of concern to her friend in her arms.