In the heat of summer, villains do not rest. Magic does not become secondary. And heroes do not become unneeded. It's just past noon, and the day is only getting hotter, the humidity more sticky, and the screaming more loud.
Wait, screaming? Indeed, it seems all is not well in Pikarigaoka. Near the shops and the banks and the food shops, a maniquin-like creature, with glowing red eyes draped in a shadowy web of a dress, and carrying a wand, calls out, "Dark Heart Draining!"
A swath of dark energy shoots forward from the creature's wand, and everywhere it touches, people collapse into unconsciousness. Others begin to scream in terror and run away, crying out, "It's too hot! Get inside, you'll suffer heat stroke!"
But it isn't heat stroke, and getting inside won't save anyone from the youma's dark power.
That task falls, instead, to magical girls, one of whom is already nearby. Ami Mizuno ducks back away from the attack and reaches up for her earing, then grimaces. "No, I shouldn't," she says, and instead touches the device at her wrist. "Eiszapfen, can we take this thing?" she asks.
"Auswertung," the device replies. "Bedrohungsstufe ist klein. Eingreifen wenn fertig."
"Right," Ami replies, then ducks into an alleyway and tugs the device from her wrist. "Eiszapfen, set up."
"Bereithalten. Bereit. Verwandeln."
The device flashes with brilliant light and comes apart, expanding outward into subspace. It dematerializes Ami's outfit, leaving her in only a plain white leotard with capped sleeves. A breastplate materializes over her chest, lined with blue steel and gold. It straps into place, followed by matching pauldrons at her shoulders.
As the device begins to grow, it gains a long haft, and then two wicked sharp blades curl around it like a trident or some sort of double-headed axe (or both!).
A belt forms at Ami's hips, then flares outwards into a leather layered skirt. Strong boots form on her feet, the same metal as her breastplate, and form up to her knees. A tiara on her forehead completes the outfit, as Frost Knight Mercury reaches out to grip her trident.
"Well, let's go deal with this, then," she says, as she emerges from the alley once more.
Haruka is trying very hard not to itch at the clumsy bandage on her right arm, sticky with sweat and itching thanks to the fun experience of scabs forming on her arm. Dangling pathetically from her purse is a sad-looking plush pink dog, and an equally sad-looking purple hookbill bird- or what appears to be that, anyway. At the screaming, Haruka flinches, looking around for the source of the yelling. It's a monster. It's not a zetsuborg- no cages of despair or evident locks- but it's still a monster. And it's attacking people. Aroma perks slightly to look at Haruka as her left hand goes in the purse for her Princess Perfume and Dress-Up Key.
"Do you really think you should be getting yourself involved in stuff like this-roma? Look at what happened to your arm-roma!" The bird speaks! ...Wait, a talking bird isn't all that unusual, but a bird this *eloquently-spoken* is. Even the most intelligent parrots rarely use lengthy sentences the way Aroma is.
"Plus, look! There's someone else-pafu!" A talking dog is just straight-up unusual, but Puff's soft, sweet voice joins her brother's in agreement anyway. Haruka shakes her head, hissing as she looks for a place to duck out of sight. The alleyway the other, blue-themed magical girl came out of looks promising.
"If I had practice at any of this, I wouldn't have gotten hurt." Spending another awkward night with the fairy-and-bandage show on her arm would be a small price to pay for getting *better* at being Cure Flora. That in mind, Haruka skips into a run, as if she were heading the same way as the panicky civilians. She veers off at the last minute, putting Key and Perfume together.
"Pretty Cure, Princess Engage!" can be heard from the alley, if one was paying enough attention. Haruka's normal clothes burst into pink energy, temporarily replaced by a strapless pink-glowing energy dress. The pieces of Cure Flora's dress appear on her, as if summoned by spritzes of the Princess Perfume. As the last, crowning glory, Haruka sprays the air above her head, a small tiara of gold appearing in the wake of the purfume's spray. She grabs it from the air and places it on her head, hot pink streaks of energy spreading out from it along with a wash of gold. Cure Flora's pale gold and pink hair replace Haruka's plain auburn, and the Pretty Cure bounces out of the alleyway, first going up and then jumping from a nearby building. "At least you won't be dealing with it alone?" Flora suggests to the Frost Knight. She's trailed by the faeries leaving the alleyway somewhat normally, perching near the impending fight, but well enough away to not risk being hurt.
The manequin dances like a balerina towards its targets. Its mouth doesn't move as it speaks, yet it seems to be humming a creepy tune to itself nonetheless. It leans down on point, one leg extended behind it for balance, as it toucehes its wand to one of the fallen figures, then giggles as energy begins to flow through the wand into the manequin's body.
Mercury glances over her shoulder at the voice addressing her, then arches her brows. "Well I sure won't turn down the help," she agrees as she turns back to watch the creature. She eyes the injuries on Cure Flora's arm, but doesn't comment on them. They can be addressed later, if needed. Right now, it's freezing time.
Inexperienced with her present henshin, Mercury nevertheless plants the staff in the ground, sending out a sudden slick of ice along the ground. "I'll keep it distracted," she offers to Cure Flora, then races along the ice like she's skating, picking up sudden impressive speeds.
The youma looks upa s Mercury approaches, and its glowing red eyes seem to darken, but without a mouth it has only limited expressions. This one seems to be irritation.
"You dare interfeeeeeeere?" it asks of Mercury. "DANCE OF FEATHERS!" it declares, whirling its wand around itself. The Youma sends a flurry of feathers outwards in every direction; sharp and cutting and painful.
But Mercury is used to this kind of attack. She immediately alters trajectory, skating parallel to the creature as she puts her hand out beside her.
"Eiswand," proclaims her device, as a short wall of frost forms at her fingertips, catching the feathers before harmlessly melting into the ground.
As soon as the barrage dissipates, Mercury rushes towards the youma, raising her weapon high. The weapon gleams with a chill, as it declares, "Kaltenschlag." Mercury brings the weapon down, and it leaves behind a visible trail of frost as she strikes at the youma.
She misses, but only beause the creature has had to dance out of the way, and only by a narrow margin.
Cure Flora nods at Mercury, crouching before launching at the youma from the other side- essentially, trying to trap it between herself and the other magical girl. She tries to launch herself at the youma- only to find her leg sliced by a feather. She lands with a hiss- thankfully the cut is shallower than the one on her arm, but it's like the biggest papercut *ever*, and the cursed thing burns. Flora takes a step or two back, testing out her injured leg before redoubling her efforts. If anything, the additional injury just makes her *more* determined to take the youma out.
Flora's left arm snakes out for a vicious, amplified left hook. It's clear that Flora's fighting style involves getting and maintaing close range, but anyone with eyes can see that her style is unrefined, relying on base instinct rather than a learned martial arts style. For all of that, she's *incredibly* fast, though limited by keeping her right arm out of the action. Instead, she uses her legs to make up for it, though there's a moment-
Cure Flora has forgotten something- namely, the ice. She brings a leg up, to kick, and falls flat royally and ingloriously on her behind. "Ow-- ow ow." New at this? Yeah, and there's the obvious sign.
The graceful manequin dodges Mercury's frost strike, and pirouettes away from Flora's rapid attacks, although one or two get through, knocking the manequin back, before the Pretty Cure falls on her butt.
Mercury's attacks are not nearly so quick. She reaches out with her halberd for another swipe, but 'power' is not her strong suit, and it is what's required with this weapon. She slashes at the manequin again, but it misses.
"Such disappointing performances," the Youma declares to them both. "Take a bow. The show's over. Curtain's closed, and neither of you will be getting a call back!"
It cackles a little, then spins away into the air once again, waving its wand as it declares its next attack, "Happy Dagger!" A massive black knife races towards Cure Flora, where she's fallen on the ground.
Mercury lets out a noise of surprise and disapproval, and rushes into the way. She makes a fist and grips at the air, then pulls upwards: and the ground responds. A wall of ice grows with her pull, interposing itself between Mercury and the manequin. The shadowy blade is intercepted, embedding itself so deeply that it still manages to cut Mercury through the ice wall, but only barely.
She hisses in pain, then glances back at Flora. "You okay?" she asks. "With your speed, you actually can probably distract it better than me. Focus on getting its attention to open it up for one of my heavier attacks. The longer you can keep it from noticing me, the better."
Flora nods, getting to her feet and bouncing to the balance on the top of the wall of ice. There's a certain force behind her voice as she addresses the youma, and if nothing else, the would-be princess has a good instinctive flair for the dramatic. "You, who locked the dream of an enjoyable summer in a cruel cage, do prepare yourself!" Flora gestures, holding a hand out, before launching herself at the youma with a blinding burst of speed. She's made the mistake of sliding on the ice once, and if nothing else, she's a quick study for fighting. She lands at the base of the wall, and then kicks off from it- *hard*. She skids past, with her slow-bleeding leg up, and drives her knee at the mannequin. She's even faster now, and when her momentum brings her to a pause, it's clear her hands aren't idle.
"Exchange, Mode Elegant!" The key turning in the Perfume heralds a secondary transformation- a massive ballgown with daisy decorations on it. This takes only a moment to appear, but it's followed by Flora bringing her arms close to her chest, hands spread out. "Do you want to dance? Then, dance, o flowers! Pretty Cure Floral Tourbillon!" She brings her arms out, flinging the storm of flower petals out at the youma. She doesn't expect the attack to *hit*, but it will certainly be a distraction. The additional skirt vanishes after Flora curtseys briefly, determination in her bluegreen eyes. "Gokigen'yo."
Mercury nods as well, then rushes away to get some distance while Flora begins her distraction. "Where are you going?" calls their attacker. "It's not time for the exhaunt!"
As Flora leaps into view, however, the manequin turns its expresisonless face towards her, then tilts its head. "I have studied hard! I am always prepared! I will be the prima ballerina!"
And then: flowers. The ballerina manequin is completely overwhelmed, turning this way and that in confusion as it tries to regain its bearings in the flurry of flower petals. "No! No! Which way is stage left?"
"Right here," comes Mercury's reply, as she leaps onto the thing with her halberd raised high. "Eiszapfen," she calls.
"Kaltenschlag," the device chimes in for the second time. And this time, the frost-rimed blade strikes true. There is a flash of immense cold as Mercury's weapon connects with the manequin, and its joints all freeze over, holding it in place.
"Finish it, now!" Mercury calls to the pretty cure as she skates by on her frosty path, turning back with her halberd still in hand.
Flora slams the Key into the Perfume again, ready for her encore. She focuses more of the purity of her dream into it, this time- the idea that ballet is a pure expression of one's heart, an art for a princesses and those who would share their dreams with others. As Haruka, Flora has -seen- children dream to be ballerinas, stand demipointe and try to re-create the graceful leaps and motions of a primadonna. "Floral Tourbillon!" The explosion of flowers this time is more concentrated, less diffuse, and centers entirely on the youma. Flora curtseys again, her Mode Elegant gown remaining for longer this time. "I said -good day-." There is the stern authority of a princess in her tone, dismissing a subject who has displeased her. In fact, Flora is angled so that she isn't even -looking- at the youma, and all at once she is regal and elegant and -beautiful-, a small projection of what she one day wishes to be.
This time, the overwhelming surge of purifying flower energy is directed straight at the frozen, immobile maniquin. It doesn't stand a chance. "Nooooo!" it shrieks out. "I've been upstaged!" And with that, the thing turns to a pile of feathers, which slowly drift towards the ground.
Mercury slides to a stop next to Flora, then glances towards her. "Nice job," she says, then looks towards the people who are starting to stir. "We should probably get out of here before they wake up and start asking questions," she notes, then skates away at high speed until she reaches a building. Then, she starts to skate right up the side towards the roof, before turning around at the top and skating backwards, watching to see if Flora's following her.
Flora's ballgown vanishes in a brief flare of pink energy, resuming the battle mode. She bounces after the Frost Knight, Puff and Aroma followng. Though he's keeping his voice down, it's clear that Aroma is scolding Flora, trying to be strict about how she shouldn't have gotten involved, and how she was further injured. Flora set down, looking at her leg and sighing. "I -know-, Aroma. You can stop nagging, you know." Flora sighs, shaking her head.
Up on the rooftop, out of sight of most people, Mercury leans on her halberd a moment, then eyes Flora. "Hi," she says, tilting her head. "I'm Sailor Mercury. Err. Frost Knight Mercury?" she tries out, then frowns. "Mmm, either one will do I suppose. Thanks for your help," she says, eyeing the fairies askance. Then, she adds, just for good measure, "I don't think I could have taken him alone." It's probably a lie, but mascots can be so annoying sometimes.
Flora curtseys slightly. "I'm Cure Flora. This is Aroma, and this is Puff. They're the Royal Faeries of the Hope Kingdom." Flora looks emotionally exhausted- and a bit like the ache of her wounds is catching up with her. She sits down, somewhat ungracefully, as Aroma flaps around her head, still grumbling about her involvement with things other than pursuing a group he calls DysDark. Flora waves him off with a gloved hand, massaging at the small place where her eyebrows are knotted together. "I'm still not used to fighting like this... this is only my third time fighting. Maybe Aroma is right." She certainly doesn't sound pleased by that prospect- if anything, she sounds down-hearted.
"Thank you, Mercury."
Mercury's eyes widen only a tiny bit at the admission, then she sinks down to a seat near Flora. "Ah," she says. "I remember my first time," she says with a smile. "Just a little more than a year and a half ago, I wound up falling into this confusing trap with my studies. They were draining me for energy, and then this cat shows up out of nowhere, drops a pen in my hand, and tells me what to say to activate the power."
The bluenette smiles a little, then admits, "I was never more scared in my life. But I did it, and froze the youma in place long enough for Sailor Moon to come along and destroy it with her tiara. It was ... weird," she says. "And now ..." she trails off, then sighs. "Now I've fought hard to save the world from complete anihilation--twice. Sometimes it's hard to remember that I've only been doing this a year and a half. It feels like a lifetime already. But someone has to do it, right?"
Flora nods, smiling at Mercury. "It must be nice to have teammates... there are supposed to be other Princess Precure, but I haven't found them yet..." Though she has the two other Perfumes in her purse, as if carrying those around will summon Cure Mermaid and Cure Twinkle. "Their Keys are supposed to be drawn to them, but I wonder about that." She sounds -miserable, and curls up with her head on her knees. "Plus... with other magical girls who are better at it than I am, here in Tokyo, doesn't that make me redundant?" Puff makes a noise of distress at this question, and even Aroma looks upset.
"You're still starting-pafu!" Puff admonishes. "And you wouldn't be feeling this bad if niisan weren't nagging you all the time-pafu!" The bird-fairy looks pathetic, almost -sick- with guilt to anyone who knows avian body language. He's drooping perceptibly.
"Oh, you're a pretty cure?" Mercury asks, arching her brows uncertainly. "I actually know ... one or two of them. I don't know if the 'princess' part is important or not to that, though, but honestly I have a lot more teammates than just the other Senshi. There's a whole organization of magical girls and boys who work together known as Virtue. ANd believe me, with as much stuff as goes on here in Tokyo, none of us are redundant."
Flora lifts her head from her knees, nodding. "I met another one... Cure Gull... but she's from a different group than me. There are only three Princess Pretty Cure- Cure Flora, Cure Mermaid, and Cure Twinkle, and I think we may be the only ones who can save the Hope Kingdom that Puff and Aroma are from." She still has her chin resting on her knees, but she lifts her head a little at the mention of Virtue. "...I've never heard of Virtue, but I guess that's not a surprise since I'm so new to everything." She smiles crookedly at the statement that none of them are redundant- as emotionally exhausted as she is, with Aroma's nagging tailing that, she's not -quite- in a state to believe it fully- but she'll definitely give it a chance, when she isn't so drained. Puff climbs up to Flora's shoulder, nuzzling the Cure's cheek.
"mmm, Gull's one of the ones I know, too," Mercury agrees with a nod. "Actually we're friends--or were, anyways. I don't know what we are anymore. Not enemies," she accepts. "One thing you learn in Virtue, though, is that you're never alone. You may be a part of the efforts to save the uh ... Hope kingdom? But you don't have to do it alone. There are a lot of us who would help you fight off evil, no matter where it is or what form it takes. That's Virtue."
Flora smiles a little. "That sounds nice. I've been a bit adrift since I got to Tokyo-- I'm originally from out of town, and I came here for school..." But living in Tokyo after spending her whole life with her family is a culture shock, and then becoming a magical girl, learning that there are ones that are better at it than her- and getting injured? It's all a little much for her. "...Ah-- thank you for listening. I didn't mean to start whining at you, or anything like that."
Mercury shrugs just a little. "It's alright," she replies. "I mean, we all need someone to cry to when we've got troubles, or we just wind up bottling it up, and then the negative emotions take over our powers, and ..." she trails off, then sighs. "Sorry, getting a bit personal. Anyways," she pulls out a small phone: it's cerulean in hue, and decorated with the golden symbol for the planet Mercury. "Do you have a phone number? I'll give you mine so you can contact me if you need help, or have questions, or just ... need a shoulder."
Flora nods, digging her phone out of her pocket. She taps a bit through the screens; her phone is fairly plain by comparison, but she quickly taps to her number and offers the phone over, wincing as the motion pulls on her arm. "I only just got a cell phone, because of moving into Tokyo and all..." That smile is -definitely- forced.
Mercury glances at the number, then taps it into her own phone. A moment later, Cure Flora's phone bleeps with an incoming text identifying itself as from Sailor Mercury. "So," Mercury says, "Do you want me to take a look at your arm and leg? I mean they should heal on their own pretty quickly, but I can grab a first aid kit and patch them up for you if you want."
Cure Flora turns red at the offer, about to refuse, but then thinks back to the absolute -mess- that was trying to get the faeries to help her do that. "...Could you? My arm is pretty deep, and since I got it doing magical girl things, I wasn't sure if it was smart to go to a doctor or not..." The one on her leg is definitely superficial, and feels like it might be scabbing already. It's the one on her arm that worries her, even if she did clean it out with soapy water and rinse it. "...Thank you."
Mercury glances at Flora's arm, then arches a brow. "Hnh," she murmurs quietly. "Wait here," she says. "It won't take me long." Then she grabs the lip and hops off the side of the building, vanishing into the crowds below.
Half way down, Mercury transforms back into Ami, and she touches down gently before emerging from the alleyways back onto the streets. Ami rushes towards the nearest convenience store and purchases a simple first aid kit, then heads back to the rooftop where she left Flora behind.
All told, it takes her nearly ten minutes, but eventually Frost Knight Mercury arrives on the roof again carrying the kit. "Sorry that took so long," she says, as she kneels down beside Cure Flora. Opening up the case, she starts hunting through it, pulling out disinfectant wipes, large gauze pads, bandaging tape. "Do you need stitches?" she asks curiously. "If you do, I should recommend you go to a hospital, but I can do it if you refuse to go see a professional."
Flora waits patiently for Mercury's return, though by the time the Frost Knight has returned, Flora has faded into Haruka, who is cuddling Puff close to her chest. Aroma flaps over to Mercury, hovering near her. "If you need me to hold anything-roma..." he offers, sounding contrite. He may not have apologized to Flora, but he does want to help, at least. "I'll make her go to a doctor if she needs it-roma!"
Haruka offers her arm out. "I don't know... I've never been hurt bad enough to need stitches before. It was falling debris that did it- part of a roof cut my arm." The wound definitely seems deep enough, and it runs along most of the back of her right arm. Puff sticks her head up from where she was cuddled to Haruka's chest.
"Is it bad-pafu?"
Mercury looks briefly taken aback at seeing the girl out of henshin, but she doesn't argue it. Instead, she just starts pulling things out of her kit, mind clearly working, as she offers things to the little bird. "Hold this," she says, handing him the medical tape.
Then, Mercury kneels beside Haruka and inspects her arm carefully. "This is pretty deep," she notes quietly. "Deep enough that even I might ask Tuxedo Mask to heal it, if I were given the choice. This might sting a little," she notes, as she pulls open the disinfectant wipes, and then starts to wipe the injury down.
"I'm going to apply some butterfly sutures to it," Ami explains. "Not real stitches; just stickers to hold it closed. If your powers work like every other magical girl I've met, it should repair itself within a few days at most. If it doesn't, I'd actually really like to know so I can study it. Understanding magic is part one of my specialties, and I'd be very surprised if this takes longer to heal."
Glancing at the little dog-thing, Mercury says, "It's not bad. It's just deep. It could be worse," she explains with a sigh. "Can you grab the box of butterfly bandages out of the box?" she asks the little dog, then goes back to cleaning up the injury.
Aroma takes the tape, making a slightly startled noise at the weight. He flutters along behind Mercury with the tape in his claws. "Who's Tuxedo Mask-roma?" he asks. Haruka makes a face at the comment about the depth of the cut. She hisses at the wipes, but it hurts less than when she doused it with soapy water, and even less still than when she had the initial injury. Puff makes a noise of agreement and bounces off to grab the butterfly bandages.
"If it doesn't, I'll call you and let you know." Though she privately wonders if it not healing doesn't mean she isn't a worse magical girl than she thought. "Is there anything special I'll need to do other than keeping the bandage clean and dry?"
"Nope," Mercury replies. "It should just happen as a result of being a magical girl," she explains as she finishes cleaning the wound. Dropping the dirty swabs aside, Mercury grabs the butterfly bandages from Puff, then pulls it open and starts using the tape-sutures to hold Haruka's sliced arm closed.
"What's most important," Mercury tells Haruka, "is to believe in yourself, and in your power. These two certainly believe in you," she says, looking to Puff and Aroma almost scoldingly, as if daring them to disagree. "And you've clearly got the power. But our powers universally run in hope, faith, and good thoughts. You even mentioned the Hope Kingdom as the source of your powers."
Once the sutures are in place, Ami grabs some gauze and begins carefully wrapping Haruka's arm to help keep the injury clean. "So believe in yourself," she says as she draws the gauze round and round. "And it should be fine. And don't be upset if I'm wrong. I'm a scientist; being wrong is usually more exciting than being right. It means there's something new to learn. I've seen all kinds of magical girls who work all kinds of different ways."
"Hold this," she says to Puff, indicating the little dog should hold the bandage in place. Then, Mercury reaches behind her to grab the tape from Aroma, and starts applying short strips to hold the bandage in place.
Haruka nods, smiling weakly. "Well, it's where the Dress Up Key and Princess Perfume came from," Haruka murmurs. "Prince Kanata gave me the Key when I was little..." Her cheeks turn ever so slightly red as she mentions him. Puff goes along with what she's told to willingly, wagging her tail at Mercury.
"Haruka's going to be a grand princess someday-pafu!" It's clear that if nothing else, -Puff- believes in Haruka and her dream. Aroma lands on Haruka's free shoulder, preening at her faintly. He murmurs something that sounds *distinctly* like an apology, and Haruka sets her phone down for a moment to scratch at him. "Mercury-san is amazing at this kind of thing-pafu..."
"Thank you. Is this something that you could teach me? I think it'd be a good thing to learn, even if I -do- heal faster than normal."
"... teach?" Mercury asks, once she's done securing the bandage in place. She inspects her work, then leans away and looks up at Haruka. "You want me to teach you basic first aid?" she asks, confused not at what Haruka wants to know, but at the idea of actually teaching the subject. "I guess I could do that."
Haruka nods, seeming to brighten a bit. "Yeah! I never learned more than using band-aids and stuff, because my little sister and I never got seriously injured, and our parents would take care of anything like a sprained ankle. You're really good at it, too, so..." Haruka's cheeks turn red as she realizes that she's rambling, and she picks up her phone, tucking it away in her purse next to the Princess Perfumes and her Dress Up Key.
"I don't ..." Mercury starts to protest, then frowns a little. For a moment she doesn't say anything at all. Then, she reaches for her halberd. "I'll think about it," she replies, as she straightens from her crouch, and starts putting the first aid kit back together. "I should get going," she notes, apparently uncomfortable now. "I've got a few things I still need to do. You should take it easy as you can, but I know that's hard to do when evil happens. Just try not to get hurt again," she expresses.
Haruka nods. "You take care, too. And thank you." Haruka stands up carefully, smiling. "Um... if you see little things like these-" Haruka holds up the dress up key, both with the key extended and then using the button to retract the key. "--will you let me know? I'm supposed to be looking for them, and if anyone else has something like it, she's probably one of the two other Princess Precure and needs one of the Perfumes, too." She bows a little. "I'll probably see you around, won't I?"
Mercury glances at the key, then nods. "If I see it," she agrees quietly. Of the second question, she hesitates. "I'm ... sure you will," she notes. "I may look different, but I'll still be Mercury, either way. And um. You've got my number, if you need me." Then she hops over the ledge and skates down the side of the building, hastily rushing away.