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Dissonance
Event V
Astray
"People on both sides are exhausted. They cope pretty well, but I want them to rest." Moonlight stood close to the barrier, intrigued by the Cure on the other side. She was pretty tall and seemed not in the least surprised about her proposal.
"I agree. We need to let people rest. Shower." Berry smiled. "Of course we can't ignore the need for favor." Her expression was serious again. "But for the next battle I propose it to be in six hours. Enough time for an Exile to rest, eat and shower."
"Six hours sounds reasonable. I agree. What should we do about the number of combatants?" Moonlight didn't expect the other side to have such a realistic and levelheaded Cure.
"I'd like to have a one to one." Berry knew about the rule that no strategic info about the teams composition or tactics could be revealed. However, even such rules could be bend. She was going to fight. And she hoped that other Cure was clever enough to get her message.
"That way eleven others are able to fight in the next battle. Let me think." Moonlight stepped back, put her hand on her chin and walked up and down the room, thinking of the pro and cons of the argument.
Berry remained on the spot, following Moonlight with her eyes. There was something captivating about that woman. She wasn't particularly curvy or extremely beautiful but there was an almost otherworldly gracefulness about her. Something that caught her attention.
The lavender colored, long hair just like her own. The graceful but confident walk. Her costume. Everything about her was elegant and high class. In a way, it fit her to not have her figure disturbed by large breasts. Her whole form spelled efficiency.
"What is your name?" Berry needed to know. It didn't matter if it was just Love's brainwashing that did this to her, but that Cure piqued her interest more than she was willing to admit. She was interested in that woman.
"Moonlight. Yours?" Moonlight didn't stop to look at Berry yet she knew that the other Cure was eying her intently. There wasn't much she missed and certainly nothing as obvious as a grown woman starring at her.
"Berry. What about the participants?"
"It's a fair choice. I agree with your proposal." Moonlight walked back to the barrier, closer than before, looking at Berry. The woman was still following her every movement with her eyes.
"Time. In six hours." Berry said and waited for Moonlight to confirm it. "Time, in six hours."
"Combatants. One." Again. "Combatants, one."
Moonlight was about to turn around and leave when Berry changed into her human form. There were few things that surprised Moonlight as much as what she saw. The girl had a striking resemblance to Momoka. The color of her hair a little different, the color of her eyes different. But the woman seemed almost like a double of her girlfriend.
"I'll see you." Miki smiled and turned around, walking away, seeing that her human form had left quite the impression for some reason. Raising her hand, Miki waved Moonlight goodbye for now.
The second she stepped through the connecting door, Miki felt a headache creep up to her. Just staring at Moonlight like that, what was she doing? There had been quite a few people she had been intrigued by but she didn't stare at any of them like that. That damn Love and all her talk about relationships. Now she was acting all funny because of it.
And there was even more headache worthy stuff coming up. They had to select someone to switch over. And there would only be so many volunteers. Miki found Honoka, Karen, Komachi and Nagisa in what they would call the public room. They were playing a game of cards.
"Nobody seemed to mind ten favor, so we got us a set of cards to pass the time." Nagisa said when she saw Miki, keeping her hand closely hidden.
"The next fight is in six hours, one versus one." Miki sat down at the lower end of the table, eager to go and take a shower. But there was something they would have to do before that. "We need to take care of the exchange, now that the negotiations have finished."
"I know. I have already taken votes. Dream has received ten out of eleven possible votes. It doesn't surprise me. She refuses to fight or accept the situation. She's an emotional mess. None of us like this, but at least we have the guts to accept the situation." White wasn't one to beat around the bush. Her words hit home and Miki felt a little bad for Dream.
"Has anyone told her yet?" Miki didn't want to be the one to do it but she needed to know.
"Rouge told her. Dream was pretty upset but seems to have calmed down now." Karen said and put her cards on the table. "Flush."
The other three threw their cards down, not even bothering to bring them up. "Are the showers free?" Miki was a clean freak and couldn't stand not showering for a whole day. Her job didn't allow behavior like that anyway.
"I doubt it. Erika and Tsubomi went in a while ago and a few minutes before you came back, Peach and Pine went in. I heard someone shriek and then shouting to stop groping so if I were you I'd wait until they're done." Karen looked at Komachi after telling Miki about it. The two of them were at the table for that exact reason. Nagisa and Honoka seemed to share that notion.
"Where are the others?" Even counting the five of them at the table and four in the showers, that left three of them missing.
"Dream is in her room, Rouge and Lemonade went back to bed." Karen explained briefly before she gathered the cards and started shuffling them. "Playing?" She looked at Miki.
"I'm just waiting till the molester comes out of the showers. I can't stand being sweaty for even one more hour." Miki stretched on the chair. Usually, she didn't have the leisure to just sit around and wait to take a shower.
"If it's an one versus one, we should chose someone who doesn't rely on support or isn't support." Karen looked at Komachi. "I'd be most comfortable if either Miki or Honoka would fight." She had seen Miki's ability in action. It was guaranteed to let her land a fatal attack. Honoka was one of the few Cures who could use her ability repeatedly and she was quite skilled in close combat too.
"I'll fight." Miki said on a whim. She just had a feeling that Moonlight would be the one fighting and she wanted to see her in action. She did have confidence in her ability and her skills. Using "My World", Berry could force absolute attention from her opponents. It ate up quite a bit of her energy and she needed at least a few hours of rest before she could do it again.
"I am used to fighting with Nagisa at my side, but I could do it. Are you sure you're okay with fighting? You were in the second fight yesterday." Honoka got her cards dealt and looked at them. They were total crap.
"We were fighting too Honok-" Nagisa pulled a painful expression when Honoka stepped on her foot. Nagisa bent over, her face distorted. A single "Never mind." Escaped her lips.
"I'm fine. Let's just say I have an interest in taking this match." Miki said and showed a smile that lasted for all of five seconds. At that moment, slick, wet hair touched her neck and her shoulders.
"What's this, Miki found someone she's interested in? Who's the lucky girl?" Love was hugging Miki from behind, wrapped only in a thick, white towel, her hair loosely hanging over her face. The others could see Inori walk past the room, also in just a towel, quickly escaping to her room. She wasn't quite as shameless as Love.
"Ah, get away from me Love!" Miki jumped up, disgusted by the slick, wet hair of her friend. "God, why do you always do this Love?" Miki raised her hands to her shoulders, a shiver running through her whole body.
"I'm just curious about you Miki." Love stood there, smiling at her friend.
"Judging by the situation, her towel is going to slip any mom-" Honoka covered Nagisa's mouth with her hand, smiling herself. She wanted to see the situation unfold.
"I have my own private life Love. If I wanna tell you, I'll tell you." Miki liked Love, she was one of her best friends, but sometimes she could be really annoying. "And please, change into some clothes!"
Love looked down on herself, over her shoulder and transformed. Even as Cure, her hair was still silky slick and wet, hanging down over her back. She was about to continue asking Miki when Pine showed up in a hurry and dragged a moaning and complaining Peach away.
"You're so close. I'm jealous." Komachi said and sighed. They were the exact antithesis to how the six of them had separated from each other.
"Sometimes she's a bit nosy but Inori is pretty quick to drag her away, thankfully. It's not a problem if Setsuna is around but without her..." Miki sighed. "Back on topic. If you're okay with this, I'll take the fight." Miki was eager to get the discussion done and take a shower.
"Go ahead." Honoka smiled. Karen and Komachi gave their approval as well. "Flush." Honoka put open her cards and baffled the other three. It was easy to improve her hand a little while everyone else was distracted by towels and boobs.
=== Dissonance ===
Yuri was walking through the hallway, absentmindedly. There had been so much of a resemblance that she was caught completely off-guard. She looked so much like Momoka, Yuri couldn't get it out of her mind.
Mai, Kaoru and Kanade were already waiting for her in the public room. They just looked at her, waiting for her to spill the news. But nothing came. Yuri just sat down, put her arms on the table and rested her head on it.
"She's completely spaced out. Did the negotiations fails?" Kaoru was worried.
Mai stood up, walked over to Yuri and tapped her on the shoulder. The tall woman came back to reality and looked at the other women in surprise. "You were spacing out." Mai had a gentle smile on her face. "How did the negotiation go?"
"There will be a one versus one in six hours. The others did have the exact same idea." Yuri didn't want to elaborate on why she was spacing out and thankfully, they all had the decency to not ask her. "Where are the others?"
"Most of them went to play volleyball. They wished for a ball and a net We were just waiting for you to come back. We're going to join them. Want to come?" Kanade was not the athletic type, but she would be on the same team as Hibiki and it was always fun to play with her.
"We haven't decided yet who is going to switch and who will fight." Yuri was surprised at how relaxed people were despite their situation. It didn't help to be all hung up over being imprisoned after all. And they needed to pass the time with something.
"Hikari wants to switch and there are no objections. Setsuna decided to stay for the time being. She was talking with Ellen the whole time you were gone." Mai sensed a spark between the two.
"I would be relieved if you fought. You're the oldest of us. I saw you in action. You're quick, strong and most of all you seem to think through what to do before you do it." Kaoru thought of her friend Saki when she said that.
"I see no reason to decline. I should be fine in a one versus one." Yuri had experience fighting alone and she was confident in her skills.
"Then it's settled." Mai nodded and found herself relieved as well. Kanade said nothing but agreed with the other two. Yuri seemed extremely dependable. "We're going to the others now, want to join?"
"I'm fine. I'll take a shower and maybe join up with you girls later." Yuri needed to get a clear head. She couldn't lose that next fight. It would be poison for the moral of the team if they lost three times in a row. It was not that there was an unfair mix of powers spread over the two teams. From what Yuri could tell and heard, the fights had been close.
While she was left behind, Yuri walked into the shower room, She didn't quite know where hot water came from but it was not something she was too intrigued by. Not quite sure what to do with her clothes, Yuri simply left them in a pile next to the cabin she used.
There was someone else using the showers at the time, she could hear the water. The walls between each cabin prevented her from looking. Taking off her glasses and leaving them on top of her clothes, she entered the cabin and turned on the hot water.
That girl that looked like Momoka would most likely be her opponent. The way she talked, she looked at her. Yuri figured that they were both intrigued by each other. The more Yuri thought about it, the more she realized which subtle and less subtle differences between that girl and Momoka existed.
The way they talked. Momoka was less reserved when with Yuri and bold. She said what was on her mind, she didn't hide things. The way she acted. Momoka was not one to just stare and be silent. In a way, she was simply more energetic than Berry.
"Berry... a coincidence that she shows up now? Or something else..." Yuri's eyes, to distracted herself, analyzed the cabin she was in. Tiled floor, smooth and gray. The walls were a distinct white, made of a different material at first glance. The shower head was at two meters height and big, spraying water over anyone in the cabin. The cabin itself was three meters wide and four meters long, quite spacious. There was nothing else in the cabin.
The hot water ran over her skin, washing away exhaustion and anxiety. The sound of water hitting the ground, the wall, herself, calmed her. Rain was superior in terms of what it did for her mind but a shower worked just fine. She grabbed her long hair that stuck to her bare back and went through it with her fingers, trying to stop it from felting. No shampoo or hair care made the whole thing rather pointless but it served to further distract herself.
Her thoughts shifted to Momoka and the primary issue she had with being her lover. Her identify as Cure. Momoka would say she understands. Would just accept it as part of being with her. But Yuri couldn't do that. She couldn't stand knowing that an enemy might eventually appear and take her. And now that they were actively working to restore balance, the times of no enemies being around would soon end.
"You're sighing a lot. Depressed?" Someone talked to her. A voice she recognized but couldn't quite put on a person right away.
Yuri turned around and looked at the door of the cabin. She couldn't see who was outside and whoever was outside couldn't see who was inside. "Am I not allowed to?" Yuri's tone was sarcastic. She was clearly not in the mood to tell others about her problems.
"Nobody said that. But it is a problem for the team if you're depressed. They look up to you as their leader. Most of them anyway. If something bothers you, talk to someone. I know that not talking about your problems leads to disappointment. Then pain. Anguish."
The voice seemed very mature but Yuri could still not put it to a face. "They shouldn't depend on me. The way this system works, I won't be on this team forever. You talk like you know better than to just follow whatever I say."
"I fought on my own a long time. I made many mistakes. Learned what suffering is because of my own incompetence. I do know better than to just ignore someone I could help. If you feel like talking, I'll be in my room. In case you forgot, it's the last room before the public room." Several steps, sounding like high heels hitting the ground, filled the room and Yuri was left with her thoughts.
"Muse... she seems pretty mature for her age." Yuri hadn't even realized that she had sighed that much, far too absorbed into her thoughts. Turning the hot water up even further, steam rose from the ground and her skin. Looking down on herself, Yuri suddenly remembered the many times people had made snide remarks about her figure when she was with Momoka. It never bothered her much, but she never understood why Momoka was so attracted to her physically.
It was not that their love was solely based on physical attracting. That couldn't have been more wrong. But there was rarely a night when they were not tired that they skipped on sex. Momoka was not particularly horny by herself. Yuri had asked her once and the answer had been a vague one. Momoka claimed that it was her, as she called it, graceful look that did her in.
Her mind was a mess. Unable to focus on anything for more than five minutes, her thoughts shifted from Berry to Muse to Momoka to other things. Turning off the water and leaning against the wall, Yuri realized that every little thing needed to be specified in wishes. There was no towel. Putting on her old clothes was kind of gross, even if she had a towel to dry herself up.
Another sigh later, Moonlight stepped out of the cabin, her hair still wet and slick. Even Cure powers didn't mystically dry hair. Picking up her clothes, Moonlight returned to her room, still thinking about Muse's offer.
=== Dissonance ===
Hibiki let out a battle cry, jumped up into the air and slammed her right hand into the ball. The match had turned into a four versus four, with Hikari and Setsuna playing referee. One one side were the four fiends, Saki, Mai, Michiru and Kaoru. On the other, Hibiki, Kanade, Ellen and Itsuki.
"Saki!" Mai took position and waited for her partner to take the powerful serve from the other teams ace.
The ball came flying right at the brunette who took the ball, the impact hurting her wrists, and lifted it up into the air. Mai was right where she was supposed to be and hit the ball back towards the other side.
But they had been too slow. Itsuki was taller than her and could jump higher, blocking the ball with ease, scoring another hit. Setsuna put two fingers to her lips and a piercing whistle echoed through the big hall. "Match point, 24 to 26!"
Kanade and Ellen sat down on the ground, exhausted. "No more. End of the line." Kanade fell flat on her back, breathing hard. Sports heavy on stamina were not really her thing. Ellen didn't even talk and was just laying there, Setsuna kneeling next to her and smiling.
On the other side, the situation was similar, with only Saki still standing and coming up to the cheap net to shake Hibiki's hand. "You guys were awesome. Mai and I play this sometimes against Kaoru and Michiru and you still beat us four."
"Ah, that was nothing." Hibiki smiled wide and got a scolding look from Itsuki. "It was really close. That last one could have gone either way."
"I don't think we'll have a rematch." Saki looked at the three exhausted women behind her. Hibiki and Itsuki didn't even need to look to know what condition Ellen and Kanade were in.
"Not anytime soon. I don't think I could handle another bout either." Itsuki had a lot of stamina but that last match had been particularly taxing on the front people, namely Hibiki and herself. Saki and Mai were excellent players and had driven them to their limits.
"Just a tip from me, hit the showers before the others get up. I don't mind, I'll shower with Mai, but you'll have to wait if the others get ahead of you." Saki started to stretch, knowing that she'd feel sore later if she didn't.
Saki was not exactly a master of the subtle though, so everyone around her heard about her so-called tip. Setsuna was already gone when Itsuki realized and so was Ellen. They would have to race to the shower or they would have to wait until someone was done, sweaty and smelly.
Hibiki didn't have the energy left to really run. Walking quickly was the best she and Itsuki could bring to the battle of who could take a shower first. Saki was not a threat, despite being easily able to outrun them. Without Mai, she wasn't going anywhere.
The Kiryuu sisters were left behind as well but Itsuki and Hibiki found themselves still locked out of three of the four cabins. They couldn't exactly see who was inside but water was rushing out of the shower head in three cabins, leaving only one free. A quick glance.
"Rock-Paper-Scissors!" Itsuki won with Rock beating Scissors. Hibiki made a terrible face, as if she was forced to endure something horrible. Itsuki couldn't just go and leave her like that but she didn't want to remain sweaty either. Going to the door and looking out, nobody was in direct sight. The women in the shower would likely not notice if they kept quiet.
Itsuki grabbed Hibiki, covered her mouth with one hand and grabbed her shoulder with the other, dragging her into the last free cabin and closing the door. Itsuki leaned forward and lowered her voice. "Don't make a sound. Don't talk. It's one thing to sleep in the same bed, but we won't be able to talk our way out of this." Itsuki didn't point to any specific location and Hibiki was left a little confused.
"I never showered with someone else before." Hibiki was making big eyes when Itsuki took off her Gi, dropping it on the ground. She didn't seem the least ashamed to show herself naked to Hibiki. "I wonder what I'll have to eat to get them that big..." Hibiki could barely restrain herself from just reaching out and groping Itsuki.
"You're funny. Erika asked me the exact same thing." Turning on the water, Itsuki realized quickly that it'd be pretty hard to just be absolutely quiet. Neither of them was the silent type. At least the noise of the water masked their voices.
"Erika is the one that felt you up at the pool?" A story that had come up in conversation before.
"She does that to almost anyone. I already foresee a lot of problems if she does this to someone in a relationship." Itsuki liked Erika but not in a romantic way. Erika always seemed more interested in just having fun than any serious relationships.
Hibiki was still wearing her Gi and stood at the door, unsure if she was really fine showering with Itsuki. Her doubts were literally washed away when Itsuki let out a huge sigh of relief, standing in the refreshing wet.
Throwing her own Gi on top of Itsuki's, Hibiki took the space that Itsuki left free. For just about half a second. "Kyah!" Hibiki jumped out of the water, shivering and shocked. The water was ice cold.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I usually shower cold after a work out. I just sort of automatically..." Itsuki turned down the cold water and the hot water up. Hibiki quickly stepped below the now warming up water and recovered.
"But... Kyah? Did you really just go Kyah?" Itsuki grinned wide at Hibiki. She didn't expect her to make a girly sound like that. Not that she was unfeminine but she kind of left a tougher impression on people.
"It's not like I'm doing it on purpose." Hibiki pouted and averted her eyes. The conversation died for a few seconds during which the girl and the woman just sort of enjoyed washing away the sweat and dirt from fight and play.
"You didn't bring towels, did you?" Hibiki looked back at the door and the two Gi's on the ground. They had to be washed before they could be worn again. Which left them a little restricted in terms of what they had left to wear. Cure costumes didn't stay dirty or smelly so they would never run completely out of clothes but it was sort of tiring to be constantly in Cure form.
"I guess we have to wish for those separately... They're next on my list. Maybe after some clothes. I should have volunteered for that next battle." Itsuki sighed and tried to at least get her hair somewhat clean.
"I wish I had half as much style as you do." Hibiki nibbled on her thumb, looking jealously at the beautiful brunette.
"I think you're exaggerating too much Hibiki. You look really nice. It's just sort of hidden under that Gi. Your Cure costume does show off your figure quite a bit. You have a smaller waist than Kanade and Ellen, pretty sure." Itsuki was a good judge of those things. The sad part about that ability was that it came from being around Erika too much.
"Kanade would be angry if she heard that." Hibiki smiled as wide as the sun. "She's always angry that I don't gain any weight despite eating so many of her cupcakes."
"You two are really close friends, aren't you? Wow, you got a ball print on your back Hibiki." Itsuki looked over the shoulder of the orange haired girl.
"What, where? Dammit I can't see!" Hibiki tried to turn and look over her own shoulder but with abysmal results. Nobody was that flexible. After giving up on seeing the ball print, Hibiki turned the conversation around. "Kanade and I go everywhere together. Ellen is with us most of the time. Ako sometimes does her own thing and she has her duties as princess too."
"Tsubomi and Erika are like that too. I'm shriveling up. Want to get out?" Itsuki turned to the door and being as tall as she was, she could see just a tiny bit over it. Taking a few steps back, Itsuki crashed into Hibiki, covered her mouth, grabbed and picked her up, carrying her princess style. "Quiet!"
Itsuki made sure that if someone looked through the gap between door and ground, they could only see her feet. Kanade was out there and she had the distinct feeling that it was better to hide them showering together.
Standing there in the hot shower, Hibiki was starting to feel a little weird, getting carried around like that. She was the strong one, the wild one, the impulsive one. But Itsuki seemed to be all of that too and then even more so than her.
A whole minute passed, both of them awfully quiet, Itsuki clearly focused on something. Hibiki just couldn't take it anymore then. "What are we doing?" She was pretty confused as to what was happening.
The brunette was whispering, making sure nobody but Hibiki could hear her. "Kanade was out there. Kanade, Mai and Saki. I didn't want them to catch on to the funny idea that we're showering together. They might get the wrong idea."
"About what?" Hibiki was hitting the limit of how dense a person could be before they started having their own orbit and moons.
"Never... mind I guess." Itsuki didn't think she'd get anywhere trying to explain the exact implications of them showering together. Naked.
"Can you let me down? This is mega embarrassing." Hibiki's face was a deep crimson when Itsuki finally let her down. "Thanks. I'm feeling like a dried plum... well, actually the opposite now. But... what do we do about towels and clothes?"
"Honestly, I'm not that eager to run around in my Cure outfit the entire day and night. But we don't exactly have a lot of choice right now." Turning the water off and a brief yellow flash later, Sunshine took off her boots, her gloves and let her hair down. "This isn't exactly super comfortable but a lot better than that." Sunshine pointed at the dirty Gi. With a quick change of concentration, the parts of her costume she took off simply disappeared. A little trick she had come up with before the volleyball game.
Hibiki copied the older Cure. Both in transforming and in taking off most of her costume. It served protective purposes, mostly, enhanced her reactions and combat abilities but none of that mattered outside a battle. Comfort was far more important.
Sunshine peeked out the door, trying to determine if the air was clear. "Good. You go, I'll come after you in five minutes." Sunshine let out a short laugh. "This is sort of amusing."
"I'll see what the others are up to in the main room." Melody quickly left, leaving Sunshine behind in the showers. She was barely two steps out the door when she slipped and hit the ground hard enough to make the other girls taking a shower take a peek.
Sunshine slowly closed her door, putting her hand over her eyes. "That girl..."
=== Dissonance ===
Rouge was breathing hard and glaring at everyone. "Where is she? Where is that little walking molesting monster?" Rouge was wearing her claws of fire and looked angry enough to literally burst into flames herself any second. The four sitting on the main table were all quiet, shaking their heads.
With a grunt, Rouge took off, screaming top of her lungs for Marine. "Come on out!"
"What did you do?" Nagisa looked at Marine as she came out of hiding from under a chair.
"I just closely estimated the exact measurements of her upper torso area." Marine said without a hint of shame. Nagisa looked at her slightly confused and then pleadingly at her partner.
"She groped her. In the showers." Honoka sighed and gave Marine a warning glare. "Don't try that with Nagisa or me. I can guarantee you that you'll regret that." Honoka had a fake smile on her face, with murderous intent leaking through so clearly that Marine unintentionally took a step back, hastily nodding.
"Maaaariiiiinnneeee!" They could hear Rouge screaming from far away. Honoka, and now even Karen and Komachi, looked at Marine.
"Okay, maybe I fondled them a little bit." After five more seconds of continuous glaring from the three women, she added. "A lot? Maybe?"
"Just avoid her until her rage has gone down. And stay away from the showers. Where is Tsubomi any... way...?" Karen stopped talking when Marine suddenly dashed off like lightning.
The room was entirely silent for a minute before they saw Marine carrying out a blissfully passed out Tsubomi out of the shower room. "Poor girl." "She never had a chance." "Scarred for life." "Erika must have some amazing technique." The women commented among themselves, Nagisa getting a glare from Honoka for the last comment.
The showers were much more popular than the four assumed. The main issue with them were the initially limited amount of towels. As soon as Miki noticed there were no more towels after the first four women had showered, she promptly solved the issue by spending forty favor on eight more towels.
"Think it's safe to go and shower?" Karen looked at Honoka who thought about it for a second.
"Marine knows she'll be roast if Rouge finds her and is gonna stay away from the showers so I guess it's safe. Who's in there right now anyway?"
"Erika and Tsubomi came out just now, Rouge a few minutes ago. Love, Inori and Miki are all done. Lemonade should be the only one in there." Komachi quickly went over the people that had gone in and come out.
"We'll wait until everyone else is done." Honoka had restrained herself from sleeping with Nagisa earlier but couldn't go on much longer.
"I see." Karen got the hint and blushed a little. Well, they were adults and living together. As far as unofficial things went, they were pretty much married. Still, she was a little jealous of their relationship.
"Honoka, what do you suppose we do about clothes?" Karen had already realized the issue that normal clothes got dirty, smelly and washing them in the showers with just water was kind of impossible.
"I think it's best if we save up a little and invest in further expanding the bathroom. A washing machine would at least solve the problem we have now. Just getting more clothes would only results in the same problem over and over." The scientist had already thought about that problem.
"Sounds reasonable. It's bad that the next battle is one versus one in that regard, but we can all use a break." Karen nodded while saying so and watched Rouge step into the room, completely out of breath and sweating heavily. "You can just go back into the showers like that Rin..."
"I'll get her back for this..." Rin turned around and walked towards the showers, taking a sharp turn and going to her room. Each of them had their own towel and they had to take care of it.
"We'll go before someone else decides to go on a wild chase and take another shower." Karen took Komachi's hand and put down her cards. "I'll see you two later."
"They're cute together, aren't they?" Nagisa leaned on the table as soon as the blue-green combo had left.
"I was thinking Karen had something going on with Milky Rose but I guess that's no longer relevant. She did seem a bit down though." Honoka was always quick to notice such things.
"Wonder what happened to them." Nagisa was often curious about other people but rarely pried too deep.
"If you really want to know, you can ask them. I'm more worried about Marine actually. Sure, she might think it's just fun and fooling around but what if someone takes her seriously? That girl should keep that in mind. Just basing this on my theory, but everyone here is probably interested in girls."
"Are you serious Honoka? Every Cure here a lesbian?"
"Doesn't it seem likely? There's us, Saki and Mai, Love and Setsuna, Karen and Komachi or Milky Rose. There's probably more on the other team. With that many of us already in relationships with each other, doesn't it seem likely that it's just sort of a Cure thing? The whole interested in girls part." Honoka made a short break. "That's actually quite a scary thought. What if it's not our personal preference but rather something subconscious that's taken hold in us because of who we are."
"Honoka, stop." Nagisa grabbed her lovers right shoulder. "You're over thinking things. Way too much. So what if we're all interested in girls? We fight together, we survive together and go through all kinds of situations. Sounds like more than one reason to become interested in our partners."
"Ha, look at you, beating me in my own game." Honoka smiled with her eyes closed. "I supposed you're right. It's not worth fretting over anyway. Even if it was true, it wouldn't mean my love for you was fake." Honoka watched Nagisa fidget a little. The athlete was bad at dealing with comments like that.
A few rooms away, someone else was dealing with something they were quite bad at.
"I can see why you'd want to grope others. You're a bit lacking, aren't you?" Marine was tied up by golden chains, hanging slightly above the ground, unable to move even a finger. Not only that but Lemonade was standing behind her, fondling her breasts. Marine gasped and moaned when Lemonade put some strength into it. "But really, you should watch who you sneak up to."
It wasn't that the chains were pulling or hurting her. She was supported by at least a dozen chains, wrapped around her arms, legs and waist. "Ah, I'm sorry, let me go. Please?" Marine's plead was answered by Lemonade slipping both her hands under Marine's costume from behind. Having the backside cut like that was a deadly error in that situation.
"You're my toy now. No escape. And this is just me paying you back for earlier." Lemonade licked over her lips. Sliding her fingers over Marine's soft skin, she could feel the blue haired Cure tense up when she got closer to her breasts. "So you're bad at taking punishment, huh?"
Lemonade stepped closer, pressing her own breasts against Marine's back. She wasn't as big as Karen or Komachi, maybe a little bigger than Marine herself. "Feel good?" The blond Cure's hands moved further to the front under the tight cloth of the outfit. Erika couldn't undo the transformation. She'd be completely naked.
Blowing air behind Erika's ear, Urara got the girl to moan again. She had slept with several of her fans on occasion, she knew some tricks. And Marine didn't seem to be very experienced at all. Cupping her breasts and fondling them, Lemonade startled nibbling on Marine's ear. She wasn't usually in bondage stuff like tying her partner up, but Marine really deserved it.
"Please... lemme go... ah..." Marine almost lost it when the older woman pinched her nipples. She was getting incredibly horny and couldn't tell how much longer she would be able to resist. Lemonade wasn't bad looking, and she wasn't particularly picky about her first time.
But luck was on Marine's side. "Wh-wh-wh-wh-what are you doing?!" It was Tsubomi's voice, who had come looking for her friend. She was a few meters behind Lemonade and was rather shocked at what she saw.
"Your friend went a little astray after she had fun with you in the shower. I'm just doing some payback." Lemonade didn't even look behind her. Golden chains erupted from the ground and the ceiling, taking Blossom the same way as Marine. "Relax, I won't do anything to you." Looking over her shoulder. "Or would you like me to continue where she left off earlier?" Lemonade had a lustful grin on her lips.
"I don't really mind if you do this to me but if you touch Blossom against her will, I will blast you to kingdom come." Marine tensed up, pulling on the chains.
"I said I won't do anything to her. But you got what you had coming." Lemonade made her chains turn and pull Marine around, facing her now. "But I guess we're about done. I don't like having an audience."
Lemonade leaned in close but stopped, barely centimeters away from Marine's lips. "Kiss me and I'll chew your tongue off." Marine took really badly to people who did bad things to Blossom.
"Aren't you a feisty one." Lemonade's expression went hard and cold. "Don't pull this on me again. The next time, you'll spend a whole night like this. In my room. Naked."
With a click of her fingers, the chains vanished and let the two Cures down. "Nice body by the way. Too bad I didn't get to find out what your kissing technique is like." Lemonade walked away pretty quickly, wearing an annoyed expression. That was not over yet.
=== Dissonance ===
Dream was staggering when she stood in front of the portal. That her own team had betrayed her and voted her out hurt. She only wanted to protect them! Fighting each other was insane, why couldn't they see that?
White and Black were with her, ensuring that she left. Neither of them seemed particularly sad that she was going to switch teams. Nobody understood her. They had all already given in to the crazy idea that just going through with this was the right course of action. Did they have no empathy at all for each other?
The gate opened and the cold, white light greeted her. Neither of the two with her said anything. They didn't like her. They didn't agree with her views. They were so calm about fighting each other, she couldn't understand them at all. Were they really Cures?
Dream stepped through the gate after looking back to the hallway in dire hope that some of her team members came to see her off. There had been nobody there.
The gate closed and Dream found herself on top of a tower and many more of those before her. There were no hallways, no corridors, no bridges. Just towers and ground, hundreds of meters below them.
Jumping to the next tower, the pink Cure had no idea where to go. Every tower looked different. She had heard the rules but didn't quite remember them.
The other two participants were not quite as helpless. Luminous was jumping hastily from tower to tower, using her powers to boost her own speed and power. There were three of them out there and only two could join a team. She didn't want to end up all alone.
The blond woman was quick but not quick enough. With almost lightning speed, something hit her so hard that she had trouble breathing, losing her balance and falling, barely getting a grip on one of the tower edges.
Luminous looked down, then up. She had to pull herself together. But what paralyzed her was not the pain but fear. Fear of what she was seeing.
A purple Cure stood above her, with an insane look in her eyes. One, she had not seen in a human being ever before. Luminous was looking straight into her eyes and it terrified her. Something horrible had to have happened to that woman to make her like that.
"I'm going to get out of here.. out of here.. out of this god forsaken place.. and you won't stop me... won't stop me..." Her voice was coarse and low, like she was talking to herself. "Fall." Milky Rose stepped on Luminous hand, trying to make her fall down.
"Kurumi, stop!" The purple Cure stopped for a second, looking at the source of the voice. A pink Cure was coming closer at high speed, jumping from tower to tower. It had been pure coincidence that she noticed her.
"Stay out of this Dream! Get lost! You don't know what it's like to be out here all alone!" Milky Rose yelled and stomped on Luminous hand, who was barely able to hang on.
"I said stop it!" The leader of the six Cures jumped right at Milky Rose grabbed her, holding her. "Are you crazy? What do you think you're doing?!"
But there was no answer. The exile forcefully broke free from Dream and kicked her in the face with the end of her boot, sending her flying into the ground a few meters away. "Don't stand in my way Dream. I don't care who I have to beat to get out of here. I will demolish you if you don't leave right now."
"I can't just let you hurt other Cures. What happened to you?" Dream got on her legs, a large red mark on her right cheek. She couldn't believe Kurumi would actually attack her.
"Are you really this oblivious and naive Dream? Look around you! We're fighting to not be the one that's left behind out here. Do you know what it's like to be all alone in this hell? No, how could you. You're always the one that relies on their friends and tries to find away around painful things. But that's not going to work here." Milky Rose shook her head and laughed. "I can almost hear you thinking. This is wrong! We can't do this! We shouldn't fight! We should all work together to find a way out!" Her eyes were cold as ice when she looked at her team mate. "But guess what, that won't work this time. There is no way out. There is no great solution to make everyone happy. Life doesn't work like that. And now, step out of my way Dream. If you don't I will beat you and step over you like it's nothing. Because that's how much of a hell it is to be out here. Maybe you'll get it if you stay a night or two out here."
Dream could barely believe her ears. Was that really Kurumi? She was like a completely different person. True, she hadn't seen her much in the last two or so years, but still, for a person to change that much...
"What would you do if it was Karen standing here? Would you still fight her?"
Dream got her answer delivered to her stomach the next second. Jumping forward and rushing at her former team mate, Milky Rose sent Dream flying away. "Talk's over."
Luminous could see the impact Dream made on another building even from the distance. Falling down and traveling from wall to wall, even though it was difficult to do, it allowed her to escape and bring quite the distance between her and the two crazy women. One of them was clearly crazy from being the exile, the other one for being in enough denial to still think that not fighting was an option.
Dream coughed up blood and spit it out, shocked at what happened and scared how much it hurt. Fighting monsters was one thing but she couldn't fight her friend. She still hadn't stood up when Milky Rose lunged at her again, almost smashing the ground they stood on with her heel-drop, barely missing Dream's head.
"Stop! Kurumi, stop this! We don't need to fight each other!" Her words bounced off Milky Rose. She was not going to listen. Dream barely escaped the next heel-drop and jumped back, starting to run from her friend. She couldn't fight her. She just couldn't!
Dream fled, panicking, not knowing what to do. Jumping from tower to tower, the crazed Milky Rose was hot on her track. "Abbadon!" An aimed blast of metal shards literally obliterated the tower left of Dream.
There were no words she could say that would get through to her at this point. She was completely taken over by the madness that had also taken a hold of the others. She had to do something. It was crazy to fight each other.
Dream landed on a dead end. A single tower at the very edge, the only other routes behind her. Milky Rose stood on the next tower and looked at Dream like a beast eyes it's prey. But luck was not on her side. Milky Rose's eyes widened in terror when walls appeared around Dream, locking her in. It couldn't be!
She looked to the other side and there was a spark of golden in the distance. No! That meek woman had made it all the way to the exit? Impossible! She would not stay another day as the exile. She wouldn't last. Even if she was risking killing Dream... "Abbadon!" Milky Rose destroyed the box of stone on top of the tower but there was nobody inside. "No... damn you... damn you... Dream!"
=== Dissonance ===
Miki had showered and taken a nap before her battle. And it was finally time. Despite the complete lack of clocks or alarms, she just knew when it was time for the next battle. There was no real explanation for it. Maybe the place itself told them when it was time to wake and leave.
Love, Inori as well as Komachi and Karen were there to wish her luck. Honoka and Nagisa were busy looking after their friend that had reportedly shown up after the exile run.
"I expected you." Berry could feel the influence of the red light, driving her aggression levels in the sky. She wanted to punch, kick, smash, grab, throw, beat the other Cure. Berry stood about twenty meters across Moonlight, the two of them barely resisting their urges to jump at each others throat right away.
"So did I. Let's see what you're capable of." Moonlight didn't know what kind of ability Berry had. Passion didn't know and even if she did, it would be awkward for her to rat her friend out.
They each took a step left. Another step. They closely eyed each other, waiting for an opening, a drop in concentration. Two more steps. Slowly circling through the room, they both had flawless defense. They were evenly matched in just their position and concentration. "Spade...!" Berry would attack first, raising her hand above her head and a huge blue spade symbol appearing. Moonlight rushed in to beat her down before the attack finished.
Berry dropped flat to the ground, barely dodging Moonlight's horizontal kick aimed for her sides. "...Lariat!" Three dozen magically created spades connected to each other, like tiny parts of a sword-whip.
"Crescent Cut!" Moonlight, still on one leg from her kick, dropped to the ground, using her hand as pillar to support herself and used her right leg, the same she used to try and kick Berry, to create a powerful magic burst in the shape of a crescent moon. The attacks collided, both of them evaporating, equal in power.
Berry, still on the ground, attempted to grab Moonlight but missed barely, the older Cure putting some strength in her arm and pushing herself off the ground. Using her trained legs to pull even with Moonlight, the blue Cure catapulted herself into the air, both of them face to face.
A single kick from Berry forced Moonlight to block with both of her arms. But Berry had too much strength in her legs. The purple Cure got pushed back and landed on the ground, sliding away. Berry landed a second later, both of them back to facing off.
A lightning fast skirmish to test the waters. Berry knew now she had the advantage in power. But she didn't let it go to her head. Moonlight was a formidable foe, avoiding all her attacks. Her skill was superb and so was her technique.
Moonlight took a few steps back, Berry moving the same amount of steps forward. She didn't anticipate that Berry would have so much strength behind her kicks. And there was no doubt that her special ability was still hidden from her. Her own special was very powerful but hard to use against a single opponent.
Two steps to the right, Moonlight used her agility to jump right up to a balcony, not waiting for Berry to catch up. Up another balcony and another, Moonlight saw Berry on the other side from the corner of her eyes. As expected, she had no problem following her up there.
Both of them having their eyes fixated on their enemy, they stood completely still. The huge gap of space between them meant that any attack would result in a mid-air battle. Moonlight was more than confident in her aerial skills. Taking one step forward, they both jumped at the same time. Abandoning all defense, Berry rushed in and hit Moonlight with a punch right in the face. But that hit came not without payback. Moonlight grabbed Berry's arm with her own, pulling her in closer, ramming her knee up right into the stomach of the blue Cure with full force three times, twisting Berry's arm behind her own back and wrapping her other arm around Berry's throat, almost suffocating her.
Moonlight was using Berry as a shield and cushion. "Heaven Spade..." Berry unleashed one of her most powerful attacks with herself at the center. Five dozen spades spawned spherically around her and Moonlight. "...Crush!" Moonlight avoided the attack in the last moment by letting go, stepping on Berry's back and using her to jump out of the way. The spades converged below Moonlight and above Berry.
Moonlight could feel she was not out of danger yet. The magic spades were not exceptionally sharp but would definitely cause heavy damage if they hit. Berry clapped her hands together. "Fall!" The spades changed direction and pointed up, right at Moonlight.
"Crescent Reflection!" Moonlight used all of her power to create a huge crescent shaped silver energy mass right between herself and the spades. Both of the energy attacks colliding, they shared the same fate as the previous attacks.
Moonlight could feel something hit her hard in the back. Pain ran through her body like she'd been hit by an electric current. Berry was right above her, a thin trickle of blood running from her mouth. A kick straight against her backbone, Moonlight tried to turn away from Berry to recover from the pain, but it was not that easy.
Grabbing Moonlight's long hair to disrupt her concentration, Berry landed another brutal kick right into Moonlight's stomach. Letting go to avoid being pulled with her, the two of them hit the ground hard, both of them barely able to stand.
They were closely matched. Berry saw no better chance to use her ability than now. Standing straight up, masking her pain, Berry clicked with her fingers, pointed at Moonlight. "It's Showtime!"
Slowly walking up to the unresponsive Moonlight, she had difficulty keeping up the appearance. Concentrating was everything for that technique and if she messed it up, her chance to land a finishing hit were gone.
Standing right in front of Moonlight, Berry did a quick spin as if she was turning at the end of a catwalk, aiming for Moonlight's stomach, and kicked with all of her power. But it didn't go through. Moonlight had barely managed to put her own leg in-between, raising her knee just high enough to deflect Berry's blow.
How could someone have such an iron will? Berry jumped back, mortified at Moonlight's endurance and willpower. Nobody, ever, had resisted her special ability "My World" before. Coughing up blood, Berry could clearly feel the damage Moonlight had done to her. The muscles in her left arm hurt like they were on fire and she couldn't move her fingers quite as well as before. Her stomach was in a whole different league of pain compared to her arms.
Moonlight was not faring much better. If she had taken that blow right then, that would've been it for her. Was a terrifying ability Berry had. She could only watch her, almost in trance and hypnotized, and not do anything. Her years of combat experience and natural gift for fighting had saved her. Her body, moving almost on it's own, Moonlight had barely resisted total bedazzlement by the blue Cure.
But not without taking still possibly fatal damage. She lost most of her feel in her left leg from blocking Berry's attack with it. Using her own ability like that had moved from improbable to impossible. Regardless of that, her opponent looked quite exhausted. They fight had only lasted a couple minutes so far but they had went at each other with all of their power.
Moonlight took a few steps back, Berry closely matching her. They eyed each other, trying to determine how much more their opponent could take. Four more steps, Moonlight stood exactly on the spot Berry had stood in the beginning. She was surprised to find someone that could keep up with her that well.
Without any warning, the two of them simultaneously decided to end the fight and rushed at each other. Berry attacked first, a vertical kick, barely dodged by Moonlight, followed by a heel-drop which bruised Moonlight's left shoulder. The older Cure counter attacked by aiming for Berry's whole support of balance, her left leg and tried to knock her off her feet with a low kick, using both her arms to support herself.
Berry jumped over the low kick, followed by a back flip to bring some distance between herself and Moonlight. But the purple Cure didn't give her that much space. Berry had barely landed on the ground when Moonlight was right next to her, smashing her left arm into Berry's throat, lifting the younger Cure off her feet. Grabbing the blue Cure on the lower end of her boots, Moonlight whirled her around, moving her further up until she literally whirled the enemy above her head, jumped and smashed Berry into the ground.
Moonlight jumped away from her enemy and tried to catch her breath. The battle dragged on because they could both take quite a beating. Berry stood up, breathing hard and looking quite devastated. Moonlight was not in a much better condition.
Moonlight took a peculiar stance. Both of her legs spread, to increase support from the ground, Moonlight put her hands together and closed her eyes, as if she was praying. One way or another, that attack would decide the battle. If she hit, it would knock Berry out. If she missed, Berry would knock her out.
"Dark Savior Crescent..." Moonlight started to glow in a dark silver light. It was an attack created in honor of her 'little sister' that had died years ago. Dark Precure.
Moonlight's concentrating was disrupted by a strange sound. Opening her eyes, Moonlight saw Berry had hit the ground face first. She had gotten up only to lose consciousness.
The scenery around them changed rapidly and Moonlight found herself back in her bed. Her whole body was aching and she had a couple of blue spots but that was the worst she had endured. Now that the influence of the red light was gone, Moonlight went back to being Yuri, thinking about the battle.
An even match. Yuri was amazed by how strong Berry had been, despite the fact that she lost consciousness at the end. As Moonlight, she was the strongest of her team and also one of the most experienced Cures all around. For Berry to give her such trouble... outstanding.
Leaving her room, Yuri was passed by Melody, who was running as fast as she could. A second passed and Sunshine passed by as well, her hair turned into one long braid, giving her a ridiculous look.
Finding Mai and Kaoru in the living room but without a trace of Michiru and Saki. "How did it go?" Mai was the first one to ask.
"We won. It was a close fight, I would be lying if I said it was easy." Yuri sat down and felt her left leg act up. It hurt like it was on fire.
"Oh, Yuri you're back." Setsuna and Ellen joined the group of three. "How did it go?"
"We won. I believe I fought someone from your team Setsuna. Cure Berry." Yuri smiled when she told the other two that she won the battle.
"I can imagine Miki giving anyone a hard time. She's pretty good." Setsuna hadn't seen her friend in action for almost a year but she held no doubt that Miki had improved even beyond what she knew.
Ellen seemed amazed that Yuri was still walking around and talking like that even after a match. After her own match, she had been completely exhausted.
"Yuri, we need to talk to you about Dream. The Cure who joined us after the exile race. She's been holed up in her room the whole time. I don't think she'll be much use. There is nobody from her team on this side, so that must mean her own team voted her out." Mai was as sharp as ever. She had discussed the matter with Kaoru during Yuri's absence.
"There was bound to be one or more people like that. Leave her alone. She'll eventually have to accept this. I fought Berry but I don't hold a grudge against her for fighting with everything she got. People like her don't see that this is not a fight we want or like because we hate each other but because we need to do it. It's our mission." Yuri had grown to be quite a dutiful woman.
"Who is gonna do the next set of negotiations?" Setsuna was curious. It was pretty obvious that one of three women on the table would do it. They were just the type to do that kind of work.
"I will. I'll try to get a large scale battle going the next day. We only need to have one battle a day, and with today's battle over, we're done. After everyone has rested up, we should focus on collecting more favor quickly." Kaoru looked at Yuri and Mai, the two of them giving an approving nod.
"I think we should call everyone for dinner. I am starving and we should at least eat together." Setsuna's argument was emphasized by Ellen's stomach, who started to growl just at the right moment, making the black haired girl look away, embarrassed to the point where her face was a deep crimson red.
=== Dissonance ===
"I can't believe Miki lost. What kind of monster did they send?" Love was stuffing her face with omelet rice.
"Would you stop exaggerating Love? I told you twice already, I fought Moonlight. Blossom, you're on her team, aren't you?" Miki sighed deep and looked at Tsubomi.
"Yuri is really strong and experienced. If I had to say, she's easily the strongest of our team. But she's also a gentle and careful person." Tsubomi sat next to Erika and Inori. Erika was at the lower end of the table while Rin was sitting at the upper end. Honoka and Nagisa figured as safety switch between the two.
The other side of the table, from north to south, was Urara, Hikari, Komachi, Karen, Miki and Love. Tsubomi was only half done with talking about Moonlight when Erika interrupted her. "She's also really strict, studies too much, is overprotective and-" Erika was stopped by Tsubomi, who covered the mouth of the blue haired woman with her hand.
"We won the last two battles, so maybe this was for the best all things considered." Honoka was not too fond of omelet rice so she gave her leftovers to Nagisa, who happily devoured it as one of her favorite foods.
"You might be right. In the end, even if we lose, we still get favor for participating. While we're on the topic, who should take the next negotiations? I am not really looking forward to doing it again." Miki felt tired. She was going to take another shower and go to bed after having eaten.
"I will. I haven't decided what the best course of action is from here on, so I'll see what the others offer us." Karen interrupted her meal and looked at Honoka for approval. The scientist still acted as leader of sorts for the team.
"I was going to volunteer myself but you can go first if you'd like." Honoka leaned back and watched her partner obliterate the last of the omelet rice she had left.
"Thanks." Karen went back to her food while Komachi had already finished hers and enjoyed watching Tsubomi and Erika quarrel over what was left of Tsubomi's food. Erika seemed to be quite the glutton.
With the shared meal over with, the group broke up into smaller parts of three, two or less. Quite a few went to bed early, namely Hikari, Rin and Inori. Honoka and Nagisa retreated to their own room for some private time. Erika found herself kidnapped by Tsubomi and locked down in her own room as Miki was taking another shower and she was not going to let Erika get murdered.
Love found herself interested in Urara's work and even managed to make Karen and Komachi join the two. Karen was aware that she would simply 'know' when it was time to start negotiations. It seemed to be a subconscious process limited to whoever was decided upon as the one taking the next set.
Their stay had only just begun.
End of Event V
