The day is rather nice. Not too cold but not really warm either. The sun is moving towards the west as the shortening day wanes. Most people who are just getting out of school are on their way home. People are just really enjoying themselves. Some are even making their to a little stand for hot cocoa.
Airi Nakahara is out and about. She's had Easter Breathing down her neck. Threatening her that if she doesn't start working to draw out the Embryo, she will be thrown out and they will rip away any chance at her dream. She can't allow that. Vidya is with her. The little chara looks around. "Ooo! I think I found one!! Come on!" The Chara cheers.
Airi smirks, "Lets do it!" She quickly moves out to an unsuspecting little boy. "Hello there. I'm a game developer and I am looking for an Alpha tester for this new game. Would you be willing to step this way and try this game?" The little boy follows with a big grin. Moments later she has the little boy hooked up to her very special Virtual Reality set. Instantly the boy is swept away to a world of his own dreams.
For him, the world shifts to that of the open ocean, Pirate ships, Buried treasure, and looting, pillaging, and all sorts of fun piraty things. Meanwhile Airi smirks to Vidya. Quickly in a blast of electric blue light Airi begins transforming. Vidya smirks and returns to her egg and is brought into Airi's heart. Suddenly Airi's visage changes to look like she is almost part of a computer! Then the show ends leaving Random Encounter standing there in front of the kid.
"I hope you like it. I like to call it, Virtual Vacuum!" Magic errupts around her as the childs heart's egg is pulled out. It quickly bturns black with a nice big X on it.
"Hopeless Hopeless." The words are echoed between the boy and the egg as the egg goes flying off to cause mischief.
Amu Hinamori was out today, eating some nice delicious ramen at the local shop as she gazed longingly at her phone. Soon the time would be right and she could go and meet with her boy friend, who was sick at home and oh my gosh he looks SO CUTE when he's all flushed and tired and eeeeeee~
Not that her cool and spicy demeanor would show that. She was just about finished when she looked up. Her charas gasped a moment later. "Amu! An x-egg!"
She nodded. "Right. Ran, come on." She finished the last of her soup then ran outside, dipped into an alleyway and "Character transform!" A few moments later, Amulet heart leaped from the alley, onto a nearby roof, before hauling butt towards where she sensed the x-egg being.
Prism Keeper Blue was swimming at the school swimming pool. Yes, school's on break but she has to practice - and the pool's heated - then she senses something. Frowning, she rises up, heading to change, trying to figure out what it is, pulling out a prism. "Chroma Prism Blue - Transform!" The locker room flashes blue as the ten-year-old in the swim dress with the froggy hat starts jumping towards that disturbance - those little wings somehow magically aiding her flight as she can jump a long ways - but she has no idea waht she's aiming for...
By some form of laws regarding fate, surely anyone of note to anyone else nearby has to be involved with this whole mess, too, right?
Truthfully, that might not always be the case. At least not initially so. If anything else, it is certainly true that not everyone around is aware of what's going on, much less capable of sensing it happening.
One of these people is Alexis Raskoph.
"Uh... Arigatou," a tall, teenaged boy of clearly european descent offers to the person behind the stall offering hot chocoa as he grasps onto the takeaway-cup -- and winces lightly. "...Ow, ow, this is... scalding hot, man..." The boy grumbles in japanese littered by an obvious foreign accent, wrinkling his bandaid-laden nose briefly. "...No, it's fine, I'll just... wait for it to cool off. Thanks anyway..." That being said, he cradles the cup within two leather gloved hands anyway, after tugging the jacket of brown leather and the red scarf covering him to be bundled all the more tightly against himself. And he turns on after one last farewell, to step on off down the street.
This is Alex. He is aware of the existence of magic, and is even friends with various superpowered people. But otherwise? He's a mostly normal kid. Mostly. He has no superpowers of his own, no sense for magic beyond the fact that he can still perceive and acknowledge it when it takes place before his eyes. And he has no idea of what is going on with Airi, right at this moment. He definitely has no way of sensing it.
The only thing he has is to be, by a twist of fate alone, mulling through the streets awfully close by at the wrong time.
Random Encounter just watches for a few moments. What happens to the X-egg? She doesn't really care. She hates that fact. She doesn't want to be like this but what choice does she have. Her eyes are on the sky. Nothing. "Damn. No sign of it." She quickly powers down and takes the headset off the kid, leaving him to his fate.
Down the road a ways, the X-egg is flying around, When it spies Amulet Heart and the Blue Prism Keeper coming its way, It takes off flying the other direction. "MURRIII!!!" It exclaims As it keeeps going trying to get away. It quickly moves into a wooded area of the park.
A close look at the egg though shows a few cracks...
Amulet Heart frowned, leaping from roof to roof after it. Darn it! Her heart rod formed in her right hand and she tossed it once, trying to get it tto fly after and ahead of the egg, to cut it off! "Hold still!" she yelled after it.
She leaped after it, landing on a tree. The tree branch snapped, making her crash down through three or four more branches and land on her butt. "Owwwwww," she whined, before jumping up and running after it again. "Wait!" she yelled.
Prism Keeper Blue is jumping from rooftop to rooftop, a glowing blue blur that chases the magical... thingie. She then stops as she gets a good view - staring. "What is that? An egg?" She frowns, confused, a few glowing blue frogs apparating around her and ribbiting.
From the stall selling hot chocolate, Alex had made his way over to where he'd left his bike within the edges of the park there. He sure as well can't really drive the thing with the cup in his hands, so he makes at least an effort of drinking the heated beverage...
And then the sound of a cracking branch, a falling body and a whine of pain catches his attention, jolted enough that some of the hot chocolate spills from the cup onto his lips and chin. It's hot. "OW! Ow, ow... What?" In spite of that, though, his attention goes on to look at Amu from afar.
And he just blinks his eyes rapidly in confusion, first.
He stares at her there on the ground, stares at her leaping back up to the trees above. And he blinks.
"...Well OKAY then."
It's at this point that he decides to abandon the cup of chocolate, and vault himself up onto the motorcycle, bringing it's engine roaring up to life right after. "...This is gonna be incredibly stupid," he mutters over his newly-made decision. And not just because the Suzuki wasn't really designed for offroading either.
Suddenly the X-egg stops and turns. That white X facing Amulet Heart and PK Blue. *Crack. Crack CRACK!* The egg splits opening up. There for all to see, A little creature with glowing white eyes and a wicked smile appears. It has a Tricorner hat on its head with a big glowing red X on it.
It grins darkly. "Avast ye Scurvy Seadogs!" It would almost be adorable if it wasn't for that menacing look on it's face. It draws a cutlass which looks like a part of itself. "FIRE!" A barrage of large balls of nasty dark energy... Almost like cannon balls!!!
Meanwhile, Airi is curious to see what is going on with that X-egg. After all, She doesn't really want it to be broken. So Quietly she walks along, sticking to the more shaded areas. It takes her a short time to actually locate the egg. She hides watching something she's never seen before. The result of an X-egg being close to hatching.
Amulet Heart blinked a few times. "A... pirate?" she said. Wait, what is it--"ACK!" she shrieked, jumping up and over the x-balls. "Careful!" she yelled, before landing on the tree. She eyed it, trying to determine what it was that had triggered it.
"Sailing? Fishing? Maybe upset it can't be a pirate?" She took a slow, deep breath. Time for amu, the motivational speaker! "Listen, I don't know what has you upset, why you've given up on your dreams, but you can't! Dreams are sometimes hard, sometimes they even feel impossible to achieve, but they aren't!" Pom poms formed in her hand for the next barrage, using them to shield from the blast. "Even if you can't be a pirate, you can still be a sailor or so many other choices out on the sea! you just can't give up!"
It is possibly not immediately easy to hear the rumble of an engine over all the sounds of cannon fire and such.
But, perhaps, it is much more easy to notice it once a loud "WHOA!" echoes out, in time with Alex's yelp.
The yelp itself comes from the realization of CANNONBALLS flying around, which in turn happens just half a second before he makes a sudden turn with his bike to send it skidding along the soil of the park and nearly falling over -- and just NARROWLY avoiding a cannonball that sails barely a few inches over his head. Alex does have to kick his foot against the ground to bring his bike upright again, too, and he doesn't even really use the engine to get himself carried over behind a tree, into... probably only temporary cover.
So yes. This was probably not very smart on his part at all.
The X-chara glares at Amulet Heart. "I can't be a Sailor So I'll be a Pirate!! AVAST!" the little thing again points its tiny sword at Amu, PK Blue and now Alexis too! More of those cannon balls go flying again. Trying to take them down. One of the cannonballs hits Prism Keeper Blue, knocking her for a loop.
The X-chara has clearly been shaken by Amulet Heart's Words and is getting more desperate. It wants to fight for it's dream. It continues attacking, Fighting for all it is.
Meanwhile Airi watches. It pains her to see this. Quickly she rushes out. "Vidya Chara-change!" Her bow rapidly changes to a little video controller. She accelerates and moves to picks up The Froggy Magical girl. It takes her a moment to get the girl to safety.
Amulet Heart took another step back, using the pom poms to hold back the assault. "No! you can! Being a sailor is hard work, but if you work at it and try, if you never give up, you can be a sailor!" She then leaped to the side, her heart rod forming in her right hand.
"It's not a bad dream, the thrill of the open sea is exciting for plenty of people and no matter what you can't just give up on your dreams! If you want to be a sailor, then you can be the world's greatest! There are so many ways to achieve this dream of yours! You could join the military, or take on an apprentice ship! Even as a child you can learn about ships and learn the terminology to achieve what you desire!"
"OH FOR THE LOVE OF *bleeeeeeeep*!"
Dirt and hints of snow are sent flying up into the air from underneath the skidding of Alex's motorcycle's wheels before it launches into rapid motion again, past another set of trees -- there's not a lot of control that can be provided with this platform in this particular environment, but ultimately Alex's priority at the moment is to GET AWAY FROM CANNONBALLS.
Maybe he should consider himself lucky that the girl with pom poms up there is more of a target for the pirate than he i--
Ooooor he can just ride right up to the tree she's perched on after this round of cannonballs, where, after stopping, he proceeds to yell, "HEY, WHAT *bleeeep* IS THAT *bleep* AND WHAT *bleep* ARE YOU DOING?!"
... Aaaaaaaaaaand Alex has a potty mouth, it turns out.
That did it. That shook up the X-Chara. That thing is definitely ready to be purified now. It looks at Amu and just frowns. "I can be a Sailor..." It whispers.
Airi watches, poking her head out and trys to see what is going on. Turns out she's very interested. She hate what she had to do but, maybe... She could play both sides?
Amulet Heart yelped as she almost fell out of the tree. Then looked back and down and... "W-what? I, err, ummmm..." But it was time. She was wavering. What could she do? She couldn't let him know, but the x-egg was... No. She fell down from the tree, landing on the ground. What would one of the other girls do? They'd deal with the important thing, first. Then the civilian. "Negative heart, lock on," she yelled, forming a heart with her fingers.
"Open heart!" Heart lazer beams shot out, enveloping and purifying the x-egg, cleansing the egg to a nice, sparkly white.
"I SAID--" Alex starts-- but then the girl is off to firing LAZER BEAMS! and Alex instinctively brings his arm up to shield his eyes and shifts himself into motion like he's just about ready to GTFO out of the way.
Well, right before he realizes the beams are directed at the pirate, anyway.
And this is where more staring ensues on the part of the german. A loooooooooong stare, around and past the tree.
And he thought he was done with considering things weird at this point.
The X-chara rapidly changes. Its a cute little sailor. Dressed in a white outfit with blue stripes. "Thank you! Its not really time for me to be out here but soon!" With that it slips into its white egg and goes flying off.
A few moments later the little boy will come to his senses. Now with an egg in his heart again. He gets up and walks away curious as to what the heck happened.
Airi pops out and looks at people. "Whats umm, going on?"
Amulet Heart blinked a few times and then turned back to Alex. She then took a deep breath, before crossing her arms and glaring at him. "YOU need to watch your foul mouth," she snapped, moving in front of him and glaring up at him. Oddly managing to appear and extra two feet taller.
"This is a public park and there are things you just shouldn't say where children can hear." Her cheeks were a little red because her outfit looked rediculous and silly and it was embarrassing to be outed here. And then Airi arrived. She yelped, her eyes going wide and looking to Airi. "Errrr..." yeah, there was no way to make this not look silly. "Well, I ummm... this is... transformation."
"Eeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh?" Alex sounds out in a long, rumbling bit of his voice while he leans over forward closer to Amulet Heart, neck arching at the last few inches to keep his eyes set on the girl. "Because me saying what comes to my tongue first in the middle of a *bleep* magical girl fight that is *incredibly* dangerous to people nearby is such a huge thing to worry about while that's going on, huh? What you gonna do, shove soap into my mouth while laser beams and cannon balls or whatever are flying around?" ... Well. He has a little bit of attitude too, perhaps. At least this particular sentence also points out that he is painfully aware of magical things, good and bad.
"Ah, geez..." He groans out then, after Airi's voice comes over, and he kicks his foot back to sweep out the support for his bike. "I might as well at least listen to the explanation, eh?"
Airi smiles and looks over Amu. "Oh Wow! You look amazing Amu-chan! You look a little like Ran and that is really cool!" She smiles. Part of her is just trying to cover up the whole fact that she knows very well what Chara Transformation is and how to do it. That she was the one responsible for the X-egg. "That is so cool. I wonder what it would be like to do that." She looks at Vidya just sorta telling her to play along with her eyes.
She looks at Alex and blinks, "Hey! Language! I'm too young to be hearing such naughty words!" She covers her ears in a playful manner. Is she teasing Amu or just being Sarcastic to Alex? Its really impossible to tell.
Amulet Heart turned even redder as she was outed. Ran left her, leaving the guardian there who just... glared up at alex. "You better not tell anyone," she snapped, before glancing to Airi. "And yes, it is. We deal with the bad guys. And it was just a little kid. Even if the cannon balls had hit anyone it wouldn't have done much damage. It's not like the x-eggs are that destructive. And why did you run into a tree?" she finally asked, before looking to Airi.
"And yes, it is." Her face is so red. "It's not that cool. If you want, I can... try to teach you and--" Then blinked. Ran moved in front of Alexis' face. Could he see them?
Alex's face twists up in faint irritation when Ran comes floating right in front of his face. "Oi," he grunts out with a twitch of his brow, and then brings one hand up to wave it in front of his face -- just to chase the little thing off rather than trying to slap it or anything. "Get outta there. That's annoyin'! Even more so because I know little runts like you were probably doing junk to me back when I didn't know better. BAH."
So the answer is apparently, "yes, he can see them". As bizarre as that might be.
"What am I gonna say to anyone anyway, huh?" He scoffs out then, and then makes a vague, dismissive-like waving of his hand besides him. "Hey guys, some lil' runt of a girl bounced around on trees and fought off a pirate spirit or something with the power of CHEERLEADING! I'd get put into a room with padded walls."
"Oh I was worried you know. I wanted to help but I can't transform or anything so I pulled you friend out of the way and I took cover." Airi speaks hoping that her voice isn't giving her away. "Oh my. That is terrible. At least you were able to keep it from being damaged and sent it back to the little kid. Now he can have his dream right?" She smiles nervously. Yeah she knows whats at stake.
She looks at Alex and her own chara flies over beside Ran. "Hey Be nice!" Vidya looks like she's wired into a VR set complete with cute cyber wings even if she doesn't need them.
Amulet Heart nodded, letting out a sigh. "Ah. You can see them. That means you're magic, somewhat. So not really a worry then." She glanced back to Airi as her charas regathered around her.
"Of course. That's what I do, I purify the eggs back to being, well, their dreams." She shuddered. "Damaged? If it had broken that... would have been horrible. A broken egg can't be replaced. It's... gone for good. The kid loses their very motivations, their goals. The thing that, sometimes, keeps them going. It's horrible."
"I was being nice! I was just seeing if he could see me!" ran objected.
"I very severely doubt that," Alex points out with a quiet, but otherwise sharp grunt. The motorcycle engine has been turned off by now, so no one needs to yell, either. "Probably just because I hang around so many people who actually *are* magic. I don't think I've seen anything like you lot though."
And his hand waves towards the two Charas again, too, as if though to wordlessly say "shoo".
"I don't know nuttin' about any eggs or whatever. You said... something about going back to a kid, though? Do..." He looks down at himself. "... Do I have something like that in me too?"
When Amu says all that, Airi jus frowns. Its not for the same reasons as Amu. Its because of her own guilty conscience. How she hates this. She wants to be honest. To tell her the truth but its just killing her inside. "I will do my best to not let anyone break any eggs. I hate the idea of a kid not being able to have their dreams." Especially herself.
She looks at Alex and snickers, "Probably. Most kids do. At least until they get to old to attain their dream. Its weird. I have Vidya." She states. Gods if there was ever an opening for her to work it was right there. Two eggs in one day? That could have made Easter happy but... no. Nothing will make them happy. Nothing short of the Embryo. "Did you ever get into something that you wish you could get out of?" She whispers.
Amulet Heart blinked and then nodded. "Yes. Everyone has an egg in their heart. It's the embodiment of their hopes and dreams. Just... for most people, it never becomes physical. But yes, you do have it." She then smiled to Airi and shook herh ead.
"Don't worry about it, Airi-chan. You're still new and you can't even chara-transform. None of this is your responsibility. It's mine and the others, our job to make sure they get out there okay, safe and sound. Just let us know if you see any, okay?"
She blinked then, thought... and her cheeks turned a little red. "Ummmm, a few things. I, errr, I need to go. Actually. I have somewhere to be. I'll see you around, okay?" she said before quickly walking off.
"That right?" Alex murmurs with a look sent afterwards the away-walking Amu/Amulet Heart.
"And if someone's lost their dream, huh?" he murmurs in a slightly quieter tone then, just before he revvs up the engine of hte motorcycle back to life once more.
"Either of you two need a ride anywhere?"
Airi Nakahara looks at Alex. "If someone's dream is lost, They lose hope. They will see that dream and feel completely hopeless." She frowns. Boy does this make her feel crappy. She looks at Amu and nods. "Be safe Amu-san."
Airi Shakes her head. Her phone begins playing a catchy tune from an old video game. "I'm alright. I've gotta take this call." She picks up her phone and answers.
The voice on the other end is that of a man, "Answer yes or no. Did you do as we told you too."
Airi closes her eyes, "Yes."
The voice goes again. "Did the embryo appear?"
"No."
"Get back to it Nakahara-san. You're beginning to be more trouble then you're worth." There is a pause. "Also, you are not there to be a little hero or whatever it is you are trying to do. Do your job and leave the X-eggs to their fate." *Click*
Airi flops down on a log and just begins crying.