Scene #2002: Pitch Dark Pearl Voice

Owner	Pose
Coco Kiumi	In Radiant Heart Academy's music room, a man in his early twenties, the piano virtuoso and teacher known as Mitsuki Taro, is playing music. In the back of the room, Sara, the mermaid princess of the Indian Ocean keeps herself concealed, watching that happy expression on his face with disdain. "You have always been the world's best pianist", she steps out of the shadows, the professor turning in recognition of the voice. "Sara..." he starts saying. "Nice to see you again, Mitsuki. Come with me. Last time we have been interrupted, but we have a lot to talk about", she interrupts him, coming ever closer, in a tone that gives no space to rebuttal. "I... Ok..." he says torn, but unable to turn down this chance to reconnect with her. The two of them move out of the school, and at Sara's directions, towards the Yumegahama Ward. Out of nowhere, Mitsuki gives Sara a soft smile that only makes her more rigid. "I have never stopped thinking about you, Sara", he breaks the silence first, taking out of his jacket's pocket the part of the orange seashell they split in half between them. "And yet I see you living happily" she retorts bitterly, bringing out the other half, but as if to stress her feelings blatantly keeping it away. "For years I have felt destroyed by the pain, by your selfishness. Just because of my duties as a mermaid princess you left me behind." The black-haired woman grasps her head, all those feelings coming back to her. "Due to my despair, my powers have escaped my control and destroyed my kingdom, do you understand that?" she glares at him with a pained fury, her darkened hair lightly swaying behind her in a nonexistent breeze. "Sara?", asks a voice then, coming from their opposite directions. The two turn towards its source, looking at Coco, staring back at them with worried eyes. "What are you doing here with Mitsuki?" A cruel sneer appears on princess of the Indian Ocean. "Great, there is all three of us here now. What a pleasant reunion. How are you enjoying your freedom?" she says without a hint of friendliness, transforming and taking hold of E-Pitch mic. "Bringing him with you won't make you happier, Sara", Coco imitates her, changing form herself. "Ever since he left me, I have lost what was really important for me, and there is nothing you can do to console me!", anger flows into her voice unrestrained.
Hawkmoth	Another day, another search. Hawkmoth had been ''stewing'' in furious disappointment from the moment he'd come so close to his goal, only to lose it all at the last moment. Ladybug had ''lost her Miraculous'', only for it still to be out of his hands! He's been keeping an eye on the girl - on Usagi Tsukino - because more than likely she is the holder, now, but there's every possibility she could have given it back! It's been impossible to akumatize her again, a fact he loathes. If only Sailor Jupiter hadn't brought literal lightning down to bear upon his poor akuma! What was the ''matter'' with that girl - where did they even find a near literal Amazon in Tokyo?! And most annoying of all, the times he's sent exploratory butterflies after her, hoping to take advantage of any dip in mood, her ''cat'' of all things keeps ''eating them''. Which is cat-like behavior, admittedly, but still. They were ''magical butterflies'', shouldn't that overcome the hunting skills of a house cat? He could confront her directly - but there's something unsavory about going after a her himself, no akuma to make impersonal. He's a grown man, supervillain and all, and she's a clearly-not-that-competent teenaged student, for all that she's lucked out into getting her hands on half of his greatest desire. And that low moral threshold may well have allowed the girl to ''return'' the Miraculous to its previous holder. Which means one thing: it's become clear that his current strategies aren't working. There are too many children, too many risks, and time is not on his side. Every day that passes is another that Adrien grows older, is another that Emilie misses, and Tokyo is - well, it's not nearly as scandalous as Paris, but it's more dangerous by far! The mere fact that he's allowed his son to go to school, to live in a dormitory... He's got to try something else. And while sending out another akuma might not seem like trying something else... Hawkmoth scowls, watching through the Butterflies eyes as it flew towards Sara, the mermaid princess who skulked about near his fellow Director. She was already transformed, which would mean the akuma could make her yet still more powerful. <<Sara, Princess of the Indian Ocean. This girl would stand in your way - and worse, she would summon her friends to stop you as well. You can defeat ''her'', but do you think you can carry away your traitorous love with them on hand? Accept my akuma and grow stronger still. All I want in return is Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous.>>
Cure Wing	Tsubasa Yunnagi strolled on the beach of Yumegahama Ward, the afternoon sun warming his face as he absentmindedly bit into the taiyaki in his hand. The sweet red bean filling melted on his tongue, a comforting treat after the long day. The sky was the perfect shade of blue, with just enough of a breeze to make flying exhilarating, but he resisted the temptation. "No time for that," he murmured to himself, taking another bite. He had a test to study for, and even though the skies called to him, the responsible student knew his priorities. Still, he couldn't help but glance upwards, his eyes flicking to the horizon as if imagining what it would feel like to soar through the clouds. Just a short flight wouldn't hurt... right? He shook his head, laughing softly to himself. "Focus, Tsubasa, focus." The taiyaki in his hand reminded him there were simple pleasures on the ground too, and for now, he'd stay grounded. Plus, this taiyaki is sooooo good.
Cho Konishi	Cho Konishi shuffled the deck, humming softly as the cards blurred in her hands. She was getting faster all the time. One. Two. Three. And... "Okay, pick one?" she asked Wuwu. The mascot didn't even open his eyes, he just poked it with his tail. "This one?" he asked. "... You're not even looking," Cho said, annoyance in her voice. "Fiiiiiine," he said, opening one eye and... sure enough... "Nope." "Oh... well... how about..." And then she reached behind his ear. "Is this it?" she asked, grinning from ear to ear. "Nope," Wuwu said. "But still, getting even the wrong card behind my ear is definite improvement." Cho gave a sigh. She was never going to get it, was she? She held out her hand. "Come on, let's go. We can't lounge around on the beach all day." Cho had gotten a new bathing suit and, admittedly, while it was too cold to go into the water right now she had wanted to try it out and make sure it was okay before she showed it to her friends. Her first NON-school-specific swim suit. It was pink and yellow... Okay, it was cold so she was actually wearing pants and a tank top over it but it was the THOUGHT that counted, right? Wuwu ran up her arm and onto her back, only to pause. "Huh... hey... kiddo. Trouble," Wuwu said before motioning his tail towards a weird, black butterfly flying through the air in the distance... Uh oh. Cho ran after it, Wuwu hanging onto her shoulders.
Marinette	"And I am never letting you out of my sight again," the little bug says as it clings to the bluenette's hair. "You get into no end of trouble without me, and I worried!" They're just boarding a bus at the Academy, Marinette stepping in. "I always try to keep things in control, you know that," she says as her foot hits the metal floor of the bus, and she gets inside, allowing others to board behind her. She hasn't seen anything wrong, but she does get a window seat which is nice. Looking out, she and Tikki admire the lovely land around them. Tokyo is gorgeous in this season. But she's got a lovely view of what else is happening too. And the door is about to close. Gee, I hope something gets her off the bus before it drives away. Hint hint. :)
Amy Faust	Amanda Faust is on dinner break from her new job at the Pearl Pier. Although she would happily just go down to the restaurant part, grab some food, and return to her desk, maybe... maybe it wouldn't hurt to go outside? This is, like. A place tourists come to to see the outside of, right? And these days, being out in public doesn't seem nearly so awful. Just because she's working IT doesn't mean she has to be a stereotypical nerd! So now she's sitting somewhere by the beach there's a bit of shade and reading on her phone while she eats her dinner. It is peaceful and uneventful until-- "Hold up, Elder Scrolls has FOX PEOPLE?!" Look, it's really surprising, okay? Realizing she said that ''out loud'', Amy's focus is yanked from her phone to looking around to see if anyone is looking at her for her outburst. Fortunately, she's in a fairly deserted spot, it's not prime beach hours and it's a bit past beach season. Which makes it easy for her to spot Cho and Wuwu running by. Uh-oh. She downs a gulp of her soda and stuffs a last bite of food in her mouth before running after them. "Hehho, uhhup?!" She asks, waving as she approaches. After a bit more running and chewing, she tries again: "Hey, Cho! What's up?!"
Coco Kiumi	Sara scoffs when she hears Hawkmoth's voice in her head. She remembers the villainous French: he was there at the meeting to tackle Sunbreaker, when most other Directors had their feathers ruffled. As if there weren't many interlopers on the scene. Still, the man's arrival may set an opportunity for her. If he wants to use the darkness of her heart, he may do that, and all she needs to do is try a bit for him, make people focus on the Akuma. As for the possibility of her accomplishing his goal, that's hardly so bad she is actually going to get the Miraculous, then Hawkmoth can have them. She really doubts making him owe them a favour is going to be a problem, especially with Gaito so close to his goal. "Fine, I will get your Miraculous", she accepts his deal, the butterfly settling into the half of the seashell Mitsuki is carrying and it flying over to her. Holding the previously fond memory, a second layer of darkness spreads over her heart, and over her, sending her deeper in, and transforming her further, the E-Pitch becoming a dark copy of Aqua Regina's scepter, and her dress a cross between that of the Panthalassa Royal family and that of Aqua Regina. "Pitch Dark Pearl Voice!", she declares, residual dark energy falling off of her. "Sara..." Coco stares, shocked at the transformation. "Is this how little everyone's safety means to you now? You are better than this, I know you are! Try to set aside the pain. If you keep dwelling on it, those wounds are always going to ache!" The Akumatized Mermaid Princess smiles sadistically. "That has had no meaning for me ever since I have destroyed my own Kingdom. Stop trying, it is all futile now. There is no reason for you to insist so much. You couldn't stand against me before, and you cannot now." "Sara, please", Mitsuki chimes in, touching her shoulder. "Is it really worth it to go to all these extremes for me? I didn't want to cause you that pain, Sara. I would have just held you back from your duties." "Are you done now? I am not sure what you hope to achieve, repeating the same thing", she smirks at him, and looks around surprised that nobody has come to her yet. Well, this was a waste of time then. She will probably just drag Mitsuki to Gaito's palace, and come back to look for those trinkets. "Sara, you know me. I still believe in you, you are my best friend", Coco moves in front of her, Live Stage and all, when the Akumatized princess grabs Mitsuki roughly and starts walking away. "If you aren't going to stop, let me remind you of the song that unites us. Legend of Mermaid: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!", Coco declares before starting to sing a purifying melody that tries to make a breach into Sara's heart. The melody of the oceans starts narrating about the nostalgic song of a faraway world, and a promise to always be connected as long as the paradise of the seven seas is remembered, the fantasy of a night where stars like pearls release a wondrous light and give everyone a shining future. The music however has no effect on Sara, and she just grins malevolenty. "Return to the Sea: Concert of the Deepest Dark!" The black-haired woman sings of the lies of constellations and fairy tales, denouncing the falsity of destined love, and a huge surge of dark energy spreads in response, causing Coco to kneel in pain as she holds her head and Mitsuki to become less conscious, his gaze more absent.
Cure Wing	Watching the scene unfold with growing unease, Tsubasa's fists clenched at his sides. The dark power Sara now wielded felt suffocating, like a storm pulling everything into its vortex. The fish cake he was eaten has been forgotten about as the young knight realizes that he needs to rise to action! Grabbing the Mirage pen as he ran into one of the bathing suit changing booths, Tsubasa presses a small button on it, announcing, "Sky Mirage!" The crystal of the pen splits in half, opening into a small orb. In the meantime, he grabs a small disk with three small wings and clicks a button on the side of it, announcing, "Tone Connect!" As the orb starts to spin and light up, Tsubasa calls out, "Hirogaru Change!" And a moment later, "WING!" One transformation later, and Cure Wing is launching into the sky, rolling over as he rockets skywards in a twist to make his way back towards Coco and the others. As the malevolent energy of Sara's song surged, Tsubasa's eyes narrowed. He couldn't stand by any longer. Sara's transformation, her descent into this shadowed state, was heartbreaking, but Tsubasa refused to believe she was truly lost. There had to be a way to reach her, to bring her back from the brink. His determination flared. As he came in close to the fight, he calls out, "I don't know who you are, but obviously people care for you!" He took a deep breath, his resolve strengthening. "I'm not just going to stand by while you destroy everyone that cares about you. I'll fight for you, even if you won't fight for yourself!" Now he just needs to figure out how to do that for himself.
Cho Konishi	Cho Konishi glanced over towards the red haired girl as she passed. "Amy? Oh! Ummm, I think I saw trouble!" Pause. "That wasn't Wuwu! It went that way." Of course, she was far too slow and she was a bit away when she heard the live start. "Oh yeah, that's trou--" And then the dark music. She shrieked, covering her ears and hunching down. "O-okay. That's... that's a huge no." On the upside, Amy was magic and knew her identity, so she didn't need to hide from her! All she had to do was run to hide just out of side and... "Historic legacy, Pretty Cure!" she called out before pulling out her compact and pen, drawing on it! A moment later, Cure Wukong was there! She put her fingers to her mouth and then whistled, her pink cloud coming from the heavens a moment later. She hopped on, sitting with her legs crossed and then held out a hand to Amy. "Want a lift?" she asked, grinning down at her. Assuming the offer was accepted, the cloud would take off, flying through the city, pass a bus holding a certain ladybug and girl, towards the dark singing!
Marinette	The bus starts leaving, doors closed. Then it screeches to a stop, and the door opens summarily, ejecting a young lady with blonde hair. She pauses, then looks back in and goes "Not ME, lame brain! I'm from the wrong series even!" She gets back in, and... THEN Marinette gets out of the bus, apologizing to the driver. "I'm sorry, it's an emergency! So sorry, gomen gomen!" She learned that word. She did! She also fistbumps the blonde on the way by and nods, then dashes toward the ongoing kerfuffle as the bus closes up, and starts to drive away again. Eyes within stare back, so clearly Marinette can not yet change. "Tikki, SPOTS ON!" Okay well never mind that then. Miraculous Ladybug runs toward the ongoing thing that she's late for and tries to get involved! Yaaay! (I have no idea what I just typed but it was fun.)
Amy Faust	"Trouble? What did you see??" And then Amy ''hears'' the music, and transforms with Cho! A ride? Amy looks at the kintoun. Pokes it, grabs it to make sure she can, then climbs on. "Sure!" As the cloud approaches, she shouts, "What is it ''this'' time, Sara? Yellow Pearl Voice, what's going on??"
Coco Kiumi	Coco struggles and forces herself to get up despite the pain of the dark energy song, walking after Sara. "You are not going anywhere?", she grimaces. "I am not letting you go, Sara!", the resolute princess of the South Pacific yells, taking a hold of Sara's arm and clinging to it. The villainess just sneers. "You are just chasing after a spectre, Coco. Nothing you can get back, no pain you are able to heal. Time to let go of your fantasies", she throws Coco off of her, an encore forcing even more pain into her ears, pushing her down. Sara tilts her head when Cure Wing arrives. She doesn't remember someone like him. But whether you are new or not, the response they are going to get is the same. At least they have started coming here. Makes accepting this state actually good for something. Now if only these Miraculous holders showed up. "Who even are you? Do you have a Miraculous? No? Then you can join Coco on the ground", she smiles cruelly, the pain in her song still creating a choking effect in the atmosphere. A dark energy beam is fired rapidly at the Precure. "I remember you", the dark mermaid princess muses at Red's arrival. "You, the pink archer and the time girl were at the Christmas Concert. What I want is the same thing from back then. To leave with Mitsuki. And getting these Miraculous for Hawkmoth, I guess. Are you going to try talking me down too?", she addresses the Puella before using her song to create a watersprout in mid-air and sending it crash right onto her. "Be careful, Red", Coco forces the words out, despite the pain she is feeling. "She has gotten an Akuma from Hawkmoth now." Beads of sweat start decorating her forehead.
Cho Konishi	Cure Wukong rode her cloud into battle and... "Hey, Yellow Pearl Voice!" she called out. However, her eyes locked onto her friend, clutching onto Sara and... well... She pulled her staff out from behind her ear. An Akuma. She remembered getting one of those. Becoming a monkey who turned people into bananas. Not... her finest hour. But if it was affecting this girl... "Really?" she asked. "Your friend is literally holding onto you, trying to rescue you, and all you can think about is kidnapping some guy? The love of a close friend is so, so much more than stolen love can ever be! Because she actually loves you! I get that it hurts, and that sucks, but locking your heart away when people are here actively reaching out to take your hand isn't going to do anything but hurt you more! Yellow Pearl Voice, did you see where the butterfly went?" she asked, before running towards Sara and... tossing her stick up in the air? And then tried to grab Sara's OTHER arm! ... What? She knew how important Sara was to Coco and she didn't want to hurt her. The stick instead landed behind Sara and just... stood straight up. Unmoving. Not really doing anything. Ominously.
Amy Faust	Magical Rocket Girl Red winces as Sara says there's no going back. Unfortunately it might be true, after all, people can change, and no matter how badly you want, you can't change them. Then Sara addresses her: "Oh geeze, you've been akumatized?! Look, I get the sense talking doesn't ''work'' when you're high on dark energy, so--" She looks around frantically for something to rocket-jump off of, and forgets for a critical second that Cho is immortal, the waterspout slamming her down to the sand! Ohhhh f--- oh f--- oh f--- Amy glances at her hands to check she even ''has'' hands or if she's been turned into a fish or what... but she seems to be okay!? She stands up with a sigh of relief. "The butterfly is on one of her possessions! We need to find that item and destroy it!" And Amy attempts to begin this process by conjuring her rocket launcher and firing. When the projectile has gone about as far in a straight line away from Amy as Sara is, it bursts into a fireball, not quite as big around as a human is tall. It's ''really'' hot, though. In her experience, magic people are pretty tough, and their possessions seem to also be shielded, but maybe the akuma-focus ''won't'' be? Who knows! They're finding out! Also hopefully she fired before Cho got over there but if not, uh, well, Wukong's immortal, right?
Marinette	Sliding into the area, the Lady in Spots arrives, yo-yo swirling. She pauses, uncertain what to do or where to attack. She normally has the ability to ...nevermind. "Ah, it'll let me know. LUCKY CHARM!" She flings her yo-yo into the air and the implosion of magic drops something into her hands, giving her what she needs. Right now. To fix things. It's a shell. Whole, unbroken. Sigh. Her eyes stsrt looking around, trying to figure out what THIS is supposed to mean, when she spots the broken shell being held by the pair. "Okay, that...sorta works," she says, waving to the other girls. She waves the shell over her head, then points to the broken one. Then she leaps into the air, heading for the pair, almost flying!
Coco Kiumi	Sara stares nonplussed at Wukong trying to appeal to her, sighing when the enhanced Precure grabs onto her arm, the seashell flying off of it at just about the same time. Before she can move to recover it, the attacks by Puella Red and Ladybug converge onto it, breaking it apart and letting the Akuma free, ready to be purified. Well, just about time, Sara nods, throwing Wukong off of her. Now they will all focus on that butterfly and she will be able to leave without making much more noise than that. Coco meanwhile just hesitantly gets up, the ache of the dark song still in her head and starts singing again, even if she knows it won't breach into anything. At least the Akuma is out.
Marinette	"Sorry about this," Ladybug says as she passes over the replacement shell. It's identical to the original, pausing to hold it out. Before she shifts, and her yo-yo is ready. "No more evildoing for you, little Akuma," she says in her customary way. The string swirls, faster and faster, and she can almost see into Hawkmoth's eyes as she does so. I know you're there. I'm coming for you, someday. The yo-yo and the butterfly intersect, and then purify. And then Ladybug releases the white butterfly into the sky, to be free and happy. "Bye-bye little butterfly," she says, her heart lighter every time she does this. "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" The butterfly explosion goes out, to fix everything...that's physical. It doesn't fix the heart. That will still need to be talked out, between the ones hurt here. She can only do so much, and she seems to know it from her awkward stance afterward. Akuma, gone. But the problem? Probably still hurts.
Cho Konishi	Cure Wukong lets out a shriek as she is just yeeted across the street by Sara, flailing a bit before hitting the wall and dropping down to the ground with a low, groaning whine, tail still sticking up while she lays there for a moment. "O-ow... Yellow Pearl Voice... your friend throws hard," she said with a groan. "Singing is nasty, though..." Slowly, she rolled back to her feet and took a step forward and... fell flat on her face again, with a groan. "Akuma... done. Mermaid girl! Your friend is here for you! Just... just accept that. Understand that. I get that you're hurting and... and stuff... but hurting others will only make you... hurt yourself more in the end... let... let your friend help you... okay?" Was it going to help? Likely not. But... well... she'd have to try. Coco was her friend, darn it. And Sara was her friend. So if ever there was someone she wasn't going to just let go...
Amy Faust	"Wukong!" Amy hurries over to her. "Are you alright? Oh right, immortal... I'm just glad we didn't end up turned into her minions and mind-controlled or something, when I heard it was another Akuma..." She remembers Sailor Eclipse leading those toys out of the building. She turns back to Sara and gives her a sad look. "You say that Yellow Pearl Voice's hopes can't come true, because she wants you to be someone you aren't anymore, or perhaps never were." Amy's expression hardens. "''Why do you think your desire is any different?'' The man said ''no.'' If there's a happy future still possible for you two, then kidnapping him isn't the way there, any more than us kidnapping /you/ to stop you from serving Gaito would change who you've become." Amy points. "Once, there was a maiden... who wanted the Prince of Earth's heart. She put a demon in people's heads, she destroyed the world, she kidnapped, she forced, she ate the demon, she almost destroyed the world, and now she's dead, and she never got to be happy." "If you want happiness... you'll have to find it another way, than hoping you can force him." Amy lowers her arm and watches Sara, assuming she'll either leave or attack.
Coco Kiumi	Still holding onto Mitsuki, Sara disappears, just after addressing what Wukong has said. "I have already found someone who is able to lessen my pain. It has not been Coco, and it won't be any of you. It doesn't matter how much she, or you, try. You are all wasting your breath." "I don't care what fixation Beryl may have had", Sara tells Amy in a cold tone. "But the two of us were in love. We thought we were going to be happy together, and despite everything we had, he suddenly ends it. Because of my duties. Not even because he has stopped loving me. He just... put my being a princess over our love. Don't you dare compare what we had to Beryl's sick mind", she glares, not letting her hold go. Coco gets up achingly, watching Sara disappear with Mitsuki, and turns towards Wukong. "We will probably have to try again at Gaito's palace somehow. They are tied together too strongly. Thank you for having tried, Wukong, you are a great friend. Thanks to both of you for having helped today", Coco looks at the other two mahous left. This is going to be so complex.
Cho Konishi	Cure Wukong blinked a few times, opening her mouth to object, only to pause. She then glanced towards the guy, then towards her. "... Well, then he was dumb. But obviously he cared about you. But... if you let that hurt destroy your life, then..." But, well... she was already gone. She, instead, nodded to Yellow Pearl Voice and, awkwardly, got to her feet. "It's... going to be okay. We'll get her eventually, okay?" Wukong said before walking forward and giving Yellow Pearl Voice a hug. "One day, somehow, we'll make her see and you'll get your friend back. Cause that's what friends do!" After all, they'd manage to stop so many bad things, right? So how could this possibly be any different?
Amy Faust	Amy blinks. "She totally just kidnapped him anyway. I guess we shouldn't have assumed the worst was over just because we got the Akuma..." She sighs, and goes to give Yellow Pearl Voice a hug as well.