Merry X-mas everyone!!! X3
===============================================================================================
Chapter 11 (Part 2)The moment Haruppi arrived at the base, she explained to her teammates the situation that had befallen her friend.
“A sleeping curse?”
“Yes. Lapis said the curse can only be broken by someone who’s true of heart.”
“Well, this sounds like a pickle,” Mako crossed her arms.
“Why didn’t you fight him?” Yui asked.
“That’s another thing,” Haruppi showed her Gem, which was very dim. “I couldn’t transform…”
“It’s most likely because you’ve overused its power during battle,” Yuko explained. “We can just let it charge power here.”
“But what if Lapis attacks again?”
“We’ll just have to hold off with just the four of you until Haruppi can--”
“No…” Haruppi interrupted. “I.. I don’t think it’s like that…”
“Eh?”
Haruppi started crying. “Maybe… Maybe I’m just not fit to be a Prism Knight anymore… Maybe.. I don’t deserve to have this anymore!”
She ripped the Gem and threw it to the ground, only to be caught by Yuko.
“Haruppi, don’t do that! You’ll break it!” Yuko scolded. Haruppi ran crying to the portal. “Haruppi!”
Yuko reached out to grab her hand, but the girl had disappeared before she could succeed.
“Maybe we should let her be,” Sayanee said. “She needs some time to get straightened out.”
“Poor Haruppi… She’s really letting her insecurities getting to her.”
Just then, the alarm went off and the girls saw a certain pair appear on the radar.
“Not again!” Jurina complained, still tired from the last confrontation.
“Let’s just go!”
The four went to the portal and teleported to Lapis and Amethyst’s location. They didn’t seem to be causing any havoc, however. They were just standing there.
“What do you guys want now?!”
Lapis chuckled. “All according to plan.”
He took out the rose and threw it on the ground, in front of the girls. The vines grew and the girls started to become wrapped by the thorny vines.
The girls transformed, summoning their weapons and cutting the vines, but they kept growing.
“Uso!”
One of the vines got Yui’s leg and gripped tightly, the thorns piercing her.
“Argh!”
She tried to cut off the thorns again, but then she felt her leg grow numb and cause her to fall.
“What..?”
“Girls, be careful!” Yuko spoke through the communicators. “Those vines are cursed! Don’t touch them!”
“Trying our best,” Jurina said as she sliced more of the vines.
However, the girls were all being grabbed and had increasing difficulty cutting the vines. The vines started to wrap tightly around them and drained their energy, making them weak and dropping their weapons.
“No..! This can’t happen…!”
------------------------------
Haruppi arrived back at her school, running up the stairs to the infirmary to check on her dear friend.
However, when Haruppi was about to walk in, she heard the sound of someone crying.
“Who..?”She slowly walked in, making sure whoever was in there didn’t notice her.
When she came up to where Sakura was sleeping, she looked and saw there was someone beside her, holding her hand and crying.
“Is that…?”“Sakura… please wake up.”
Haruppi pursed her lips, not trying to speak.
“That voice...”She leaned forward and took a closer peek at who was inside with Sakura. A small gasp escaped her lips when she saw the girl’s face.
“Anna-chan..!”“Why..? How did this happen?” Anna spoke to her, trying to get an answer. “Why won’t you wake up?”
As Haruppi thought, she did remember how Anna and Sakura were considered to be the best of friends. They were both really close since grade school, and Sakura always had fun being around her.
“Could it be..?!”“Please, Sakura...” Anna started crying more, gripping Sakura’s hand tight. “You’re my best friend.”
A tear from Anna’s cheek fell onto Sakura’s face. Then, Haruppi saw something happen that Anna didn’t. The tear started to glow and shine like a star, shining brightly until it disappeared.
When it did, Sakura’s eyes opened and she looked at Anna. She woke up.
“Annya..?”
“Sakura!” Anna cried more and hugged her friend. “Thank goodness…!”
“Wh-what happened..?”
Haruppi’s eyes widened at the sight.
“True of heart… did that mean.. true friend?”She decided to let the two be and walked out. It was right around then she ran into her senpai, Sasshi.
“Haruppi, is everything okay?”
“Oh, yeah. Sakura woke up. She’s fine now.”
Sasshi smiled. “That’s good. I’m glad you don’t have anymore problems now.”
Haruppi frowned. “Actually, Sasshi… I’ve not been feeling so confident in myself lately. I’m so weak and can’t do anything… I’m just useless!”
“Who said such a thing?”
“No one did..! ..But, that’s just how I feel…”
“Haruppi,” Sasshi patted the girl’s head. “Don’t you ever doubt yourself. You’re strong. I know you are.”
“You’re just saying that…”
“No, I mean it,” the girl held Haruppi’s shoulders. “You can do anything. You just have to believe it yourself. Say that you can, and you will.”
“You really think so?”
Sasshi nodded.
“Say it, right now.”
“Eh?”
“Say you’re strong.”
“I-I’m strong…”
“No, say it like you mean it.”
“I’m strong.”
“Again! Louder!”
“I’m strong! I’m strong!” Haruppi felt a fire grow in her chest. “I’m strong and I can do anything! I’m not powerless!”
After having risen her voice, Haruppi blushed a bit, then looked up and saw Sasshi smile.
“Good job,” the older girl patted her head.
It was then that Haruppi’s watch started beeping.
“Eh?!” Sasshi jumped a bit.
“Oh, sorry! It’s, uh… one of those new high-tech watches with built-in phones.” Haruppi stepped away before talking to Yuko. “What’s the matter?”
“The girls are in trouble! Your Gem has also regained full power! We need you!”
“Okay, let me get somewhere no one can see me, then you take me to the battlefield.”
“Alright.”
Haruppi closed the watch and looked at her senpai.
“Sorry, Sasshi. There’s something I have to do.”
“Oh, alright.”
Haruppi ran back down the hall, not noticing Sasshi’s smile.
“Go be strong, Haruppi.”
-----------------------------
Haruppi was transported to the battlefield and saw her friends all weakly bound to the thorny vines. They looked like they were going to pass out at any second.
“Guys!”
“Well, look who’s here,” Amethyst glared. “The weakling.”
Haruppi stood her ground, staring at the two.
“I… I’m not afraid of you anymore!”
“Oh how cute,” Lapis scoffed sarcastically. “Let’s see then, if you really have the guts to fight against us alone.”
“Haruppi!” Yuko materialized her Gem. Haruppi grabbed it and stood in front of the two.
“Don’t you ever doubt yourself. You’re strong.”“I’m strong...” She held her Gem tight. “I can do this!”
She held it in front of them, the Gem shining bright.
“Rose Quartz Gem, energize!” she shouted, then was surrounded by pink light. “Summon, armor!”
When the light cleared, she was in her armor. She herself was surprised, feeling relieved she regained her powers.
“I transformed!”
“Don’t think you’ll win,” Amethyst said as she drew her weapon.
However, Lapis prevented her from stepping forward. He snapped his fingers and the vines moved forward, trying to grab Haruppi. She shot them down, hurrying to refill her shots before they could grab her.
The vines didn’t stop and kept growing. As she was refilling, a vine grabbed her wrist. She shot it, but the grip was still tight and she felt her hand become weak, making her drop one of her guns. She kept firing, but then the vines caught up to her and wrapped around her.
She dropped her other gun and struggled to break free. She felt herself growing weaker and tried her best to stay conscious.
She saw her weak teammates through her blurry vision, feeling tears form in her eyes.
“I can’t… I can’t lose now..! I have to be strong..! I’m strong..!”Suddenly, Haruppi’s Gem started to grow brightly. The pink knight became surrounded by a vibrant pink aura, which slowly started surrounding the vines wrapped around the girls. The vines suddenly changed from black to green, the thorns shrunk, and the roses became pink and filled with life. The girls felt the energy come back to them and were unraveled.
“My strength is coming back!” Mako exclaimed.
After having been released, the vines shrunk and became a single pink rose, which then turned into an orb of light and was absorbed into Haruppi’s Gem. Her armor then changed and gained a design that bared rose symbols on her scarf and her chest.
She picked up her guns and their design was immediately modified, gaining the same rose pattern. She shot at Lapis and Amethyst, both of them just nearly dodging, but were both grazed.
“Girls, let’s go!” Yui commanded, pointing her sword forward.
They started combatting the two with their weapons, now stronger than ever because of Haruppi’s energizing powerup.
Yui and Sayanee clashed their blades against Black Amethyst, now moving much quicker and keeping up with her attacks. Meanwhile, Jurina and Mako were back-to-back, completely in synch, fighting Lapis. Even their bare punches and kicks were more improved.And during all this, Haruppi was also showing lots of progress and was stronger and more confident than she had ever been. She shot her guns and both bullets hit them, one in Lapis’ shoulder, the other shooting Amethyst’s wrist.
“How did you get so strong?! You’re supposed to be weak!”
“No… I’m strong. And I won’t let you ever drag me down and make me feel weak ever again!”
Amethyst charged to slash Haruppi, but Yui stepped forward and protected her.
“Why do you even stand up for her?” she questioned. “Why do you protect those who are weak?”
“Sometimes, there are people most worth protecting, no matter what.”
Yui pushed Amethyst back with her sword and Haruppi shot her again, this time, hitting her shoulder.
The dark warrior looked up and saw the battle continuing. Lapis summoned a group of Geodites and had the girls subdue them, as he had took heavy damage.
“Throw us whatever you got! Geodites, dark warriors, cursed plants… we will ALWAYS be stronger!”
“And we will always protect this world from your evil!”
During the battle, as Amethyst was watching, she suddenly saw a vision of a blurred figure. She saw their mouth move, as if they were speaking to her, but all she heard was a ringing in her ears.
She held her head in pain as something penetrated her mind, falling to her knees as a million thoughts ran rapidly through her head.
She saw multiple visions that made no sense to her, the constant ringing only making her headache worse.
“What is this..?!”She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t even move…
“Argh..! It hurts.. my head..!”“...thyst! Amethyst!”
She broke away from her thoughts as she saw Lapis in front of her calling her name.
“Is something wrong, Black Amethyst?”
Amethyst shook her head and stood up. “No…”
However, Lapis was doubtful. He saw the girls still busy with the Geodites and decided now was the time to escape.
“Let’s go, Black Amethyst,” Lapis commanded.
“But--”
“We’ll deal with them another day. For now, we’re going back.”
The two vanished in black smoke.
The girls finally destroyed the last Geodite and subdued all the Black Gems, transporting them back to the base.
Exhausted from the battle, Haruppi transformed back to normal, collapsing to her knees. Yui held her shoulders and helped her back to her feet.
“Did I.. do good..?” Haruppi breathed out.
Yui nodded. “Un. You were very strong.”
The five started to head back to base, helping their now much stronger partner.
-------------------------------------------
Back in Hakata, Sasshi was gathering her things to go home after a long day. As she was walking down the empty hall, she felt a familiar presence and stopped.
“Sashihara…”
The girl turned and saw Lapis standing behind her, glaring at him.
“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”
“Yukito… back again? I see you’re still up to no good with Obsidian. I can’t believe it’s been three years since you changed sides, and you never saw the error of your ways.”
“I could say the same for you.”
Sasshi scolded. “My choice was different. I made the right choice!”
“Why did you leave, Sashihara? Won’t you come back? Don’t you miss being Opal, causing all sorts of havoc whenever you pleased?”
“I changed. All I want now is to make sure those girls are okay.”
Lapis simply scoffed. “Suit yourself.”
He turned to leave, but then Sasshi said, “It will be them who win in the end.”
Lapis simply brushed her off and disappeared.
She then took out her necklace, which had a round opal Gem in the center.
“Even if I don’t have power anymore… I will still watch over her,” she said as she grasped the necklace.
-----------------------------
Meanwhile, in the lair of the enemy, Lapis had returned from his short visit with their former ally, Opal, aka Sashihara Rino.
Yes, Sasshi was a former minion to Obsidian, but she had rebelled because she saw the beauty of it and wanted to protect the humans. As punishment for her rebellion, Obsidian stripped her of her powers, reducing her Gem to a useless stone.
“That poor fool… she’d rather be a weak human than serve Obsidian? Fine. Then she shall die with the rest of them.”
He entered the Black Prism room to see if Black Amethyst was restoring her energy. There, he found Amethyst standing alone with her back to him.
“I’ve returned.”
“I see that,” she said, not turning to face him.
“Have you restored your energy?”
“Yes.”
After some silence, Lapis stepped closer. He walked over to face her, seeing her still avoiding eye contact.
“You were in pain during battle, Black Amethyst. Something was bothering you.”
The dark warrior stood silent.
“You’ve been hiding it, but it hurts. The pain was unbearable.”
“No, it’s fine,” she insisted.
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m not--!” She tried to push Lapis away, but he grabbed her wrist, making her look at him.
“Are you really?” he asked, but Amethyst didn’t respond. “I saw you clearly. Something was wrong. Wasn’t there?”
After a brief pause, Amethyst silently nodded.
“Now tell me the truth, what’s the matter?”
She looked at him and made him let go of her wrist.
“It’s…these visions…”
“Visions?”
“I’m seeing things I don’t understand… it’s making my head hurt… I feel like I’m going crazy…”
He saw that this was serious. He could not allow Amethyst’s condition to stay like this, or else things will go downhill for them.
“Would you like me to relieve you of the pain?” he asked.
“What..?”
“I can erase the pain. I have the power.” He looked at her with serious eyes. “Do you want me to stop this pain.”
She nodded. “Yes… if you can, make it stop.”
The man smiled. “Very well.”
Lapis placed his palm on Amethyst’s head. A purple aura surrounded his hand and started to draw out a similar dark purple aura from Amethyst’s head, absorbing it into a ring on his finger. The energy entered a purple gemstone on the ring.
When the aura vanished, he removed his hand and Amethyst’s head dropped before it slowly rose up to look at Lapis.
“Feel better now?”
Through the visor, Lapis could see Amethyst’s eyes glow purple for a moment before it died back down to their previous black irises.
“Much better.”
---------------------------
To Be Continued===============================================================================================
Topic: {Sky and Ruka} PRISM - Chapter 16 (Part 3) *190223* (Read 89968 times)