Chapter 3
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"No wonder you insisted on X Egg hunting here, Yaya-chan" Amu said with a knowing sigh as she and the Guardians were strolling through the park.
"I heard that the new takoyaki stand here is really good, Amu-chi!" Yaya, ever the glutton, said happily, holding out the full carton of the little breaded balls.
"Well, we do need to keep our strength up," Tadase pointed out.
"But the line was so long," Rima said, obviously a little irked that Yaya forced the rest of the Guardians to wait with her.
"She's right. We've wasted a lot of valuable time," Kairi added.
"No worries, no worries! You'll see it was well worth it!" Yaya insisted, poking a toothpick into one of the takoyaki and ready to pop it into her mouth. She stopped for a moment when she regarded her Guardian Character floating in front of her, who appeared to be deep in thought.
"Pepe-chan, is there something wrong?"
"I'm not sure-dechu," the baby Character said, crossing her arms. The other Characters also in turn were concentrating hard.
"I'm not sure either, but I feel like there's something strange in the air," Musashi said gravely.
"Huh?" Tadase said, turning to own Character. "Kiseki, is this true? Is it an X Egg?"
The tiny king, wrapped in his cloak, furrowed his brow. "Like the rest of the commoners said, I'm not sure. It doesn't feel like an X Egg, but I can't exactly pinpoint it either…"
I hope it's nothing, Amu thought worriedly when El, the Guardian Character that somehow ended up with her when abandoned by Utau, snapped her head up.
"Could it be?" the angel Character said in shock before shooting off by herself.
"Hey, wait up!" Amu yelled out as she and the rest of the Guardians gave chase. "What did you sense?!"
El ignored them as she picked up speed and Amu realized that they were heading towards the same place where she had first seen Ikuto playing his violin…
There was Utau, as Dark Jewel. Everyone gasped at the sight of her, badly battered and bruised and barely able to stay standing. She was facing a bow-wielding X Character, who sent a wave of energy towards her as it sang out, "So weak, so weak!"
"Glittering Particles!" she shouted, sending her own attack to counter it. The Glittering Particles managed to hold back the other attack for only a moment before it was cut through, sending Utau sprawling to the ground. The X Character didn't even give her a chance to catch her breath as it launched another attack while she was still down, before she had a chance to prepare herself. It hit her dead on and she screamed out in pain.
"UTAU!" El cried out. Utau may have abandoned her, but El still loved her more than anything else…
Amu was horrified at the display of events. The idol singer may have been an employee of Easter and their enemy, but this was Utau. Proud, stubborn, powerful Utau, taken down like this…? Amu couldn't even move…
"My own heart, unlock!" she heard two voices shout out behind her. "Character Transformation: Platinum Royale/Clown Drop!"
"What are you waiting for?" Rima said angrily, already armed with her bowling pins. "Hurry up and transform already!"
Amu snapped out of her thoughts and nodded. "Ran!"
The pink cheerleader nodded affirmatively before disappearing into her Egg.
"My own heart, unlock!" Amu shouted, bringing Ran's Egg to her heart. However, just as the pink Egg was an inch away from her chest, a different pink Egg shot out and shoved it out of the way so that Amu accidentally absorbed that one instead.
"Hey!" Ran said indignantly.
"Eh?" A lacy pink dress appeared on Amu's body, as well as feathery white wings on her back and tiny white wing hair ties. "Character Transformation: Amulet Angel?!"
Amu never had a chance to protest the body-jacking as all she could hear in her head was El's roaring voice. PROTECT UTAU-CHAN!
Raw, emotional power flooded throughout her body; it was almost too much to handle. The once purely ornamental wings on her back suddenly shot out, growing five times in length, and Amu found herself thrusting forward, flying, towards Utau.
Utau looked up to see Amu in front on her, ready to face the X Character who was swiping its bow over and over, launching a barrage of energy waves heading straight on for both of them .
"HOW DARE YOU HURT UTAU-CHAN LIKE THAT?!" Amu screamed, completely under El's influence. El was so furious that she completely skipped over the obligatory Magical Girl introduction speech. "Angel Wand!"
Something that came straight out of a Magical Girl anime fell into Amu's hand. It was a white rod, a foot long, topped with a pink orb with a pair of tiny wings right underneath it. She held it out in front of her and it seemed to create a dome- like shield around her and Utau as the energy waves split and dissipated before her. With a might roar, Amu swung the Wand down, sending the waves back to the X Character. The X Character let out a squeak before being engulfed by its own attack.
"El…has this kind of power?" Utau breathed out.
"Go Amu-chi!" Yaya cheered on.
"I thought Joker said her Amulet Angel had no power," Kairi said in awe just as Amu's transformation suddenly and without warning came undone. She fell to her knees and used her arms for support, gasping heavily with sweat pouring down her cheeks.
What's going on? I've never felt this drained after a Transformation!
"Hey! Let me back in! We still have to fight!" El said angrily, completely ignoring the fact that Amu now was nearly in a bad as a shape as Utau, whom Amu could swear muttered something about being useless after all.
"Amu-chan, what's wrong?" Suu cried out.
"That power-up really must have made El's transformation with her even more tiring!" Miki said in shock.
"Guys, look!" Ran said, pointing to the clearing dust. The X Character was still standing, though now looking livid.
"Juggling Party/Holy Crown Special!" A barrage of bowling pins was followed by a burst of golden light, but they never reached their target as they was blasted away, which in turn also knocked the Guardians off their feet. (Not to mention knocking the carton of takoyaki out of Yaya's hands, causing her to shriek in dismay.)
"We've never faced an X Character this powerful!" Tadase said, staggering back to his feet.
"Doesn't this thing have a weak point?!" Rima said, still on the ground.
"Can't you Guardians do anything?!" a frustrated voice yelled at them. Everyone then noticed Utau's manager was there as well. Beside her was Il, Utau's other Character, and an older girl, tightly grasping at something that hung around her neck, whom Amu, now standing back up, didn't recognize.
Another employee of Easter? No, her eyes…could that X Character be hers?
"There's something on that X Character's forehead that's making it so powerful! Get it off!" Utau's manager demanded.
"Thanks for the tip!"
Without warning, Tsukiyomi Ikuto, Black Lynx, burst into the scene, leaping straight for the X Character. "Slash Claw!"
The X Character was thrown off by his entrance and Ikuto managed to land a hit. Something small and sparkling popped off of its head. He picked it up between two fingers; it looked like a shard of pinkish glass.
"What took you so long to get here?!" Utau's manager said angrily.
"It took awhile for the message to reach me," he said simply before glancing to his battered sister. He looked almost apologetic. "Sorry for not getting here sooner."
Utau's eyes drooped slightly. "Ikuto…"
"Whatever that thing is, there's still another one on it!" Kairi yelled out. Amu then noticed that something strange seemed to overcome the empty-eyed girl. She was staring at Ikuto with her glassy eyes, more specifically at his ears, and she clenched even tighter at whatever was around her neck. She looked pained with tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Amu had to strain her ears just to barely catch the word that fell from her lips.
"Inuyasha…"
What's an Inuyasha?
The X Character, too, was visibly agitated, partially from channeling its Bearer's emotions and partially from having just lost one of its power-ups. "It hurts, it hurts…"
It then drew the string on its bow instead of swiping it in the air like it had been doing before. A miniscule black arrow appeared, and it was fired.
Twang!
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Yaya was still bemoaning over the loss of her spilled takoyaki. The arrow didn't leave so much as a trail, and hardly anybody realized that Yaya was hit until after it happened.
Nothing seemed to happen.
"Why did it use such an ineffective attack?" Kairi wondered out loud. "Those energy blasts from before were much more-"
Pepe then doubled over in pain. "Somebody help me-dechu!"
Pepe's bunny-printed Egg appeared, encasing her, and it thrashed around violently before it was completely blacked over with a large X on it. Pepe's egg then flew over to the X Character, who promptly swallowed it whole.
Everyone was shocked still.
"No way…" Amu breathed out, horrified. "Pepe's egg…was X-ed and eaten?"
"Yaya, are you alright?!" Tadase yelled.
"Ace, speak to me!" Kairi said, shaking her shoulders. Yaya's eyes, too, were now empty, and spilling tears of sorrow, so very unlike the comical ones she often had when she had a babyish tantrum.
"I can't be a baby forever," she whispered through her tears. "I have to grow up and Mommy and Daddy won't love me so much anymore…"
"Oh no," was all Kairi could say in response.
Pepe got an X…just like Dia…Amu thought with sorrow.
"We have to stop that X Character," Rima said in a steely voice, though her knees were shaking. "Maybe there's still a chance to save Pepe and Yaya…"
That's right, maybe we can save Pepe…we can't leave Yaya like this for a moment.
Despite still being worn out, Amu was filled with resolve. I'm the Joker. I'll take off any X that comes my way. Both Pepe…and my Dia.
"Ran!" Amu called out again. "Let's transform!"
Ran shot towards her before going into her egg once more.
"My own heart, unlock!" A bright flash of light, the pink cheerleading clothes appearing on her body…"Character Transformation: Amulet Heart!"
"Let's save Pepe, everyone!" she shouted out. The rest of the Guardians nodded. The X Character fit another arrow on its bow.
"Let's go!"
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Ooh, a whole lot happened in this chapter. Don't worry, it's going to focus a lot more on Kagome next chapter.
For those who don't know, takoyaki are tiny fried breaded balls with octopus centers, usually topped off with fish shavings, mayo, and okonomiyaki sauce. A popular Japanese snack, especially in Osaka.
So yeah, Yaya and Kairi haven't gotten their Character Transformations yet in the Shugo Chara timeline.
Amulet's Angel's sudden upgrade (not to mention the Angel Wand) is totally my invention. The way I figure, there are two main reasons why Amulet Angel is pretty much a joke character, other than the obvious one that El isn't originally Amu's.
1. El, like Su, is more a support and defensive Character then a straight out offensive one. That's Il's job.
2. El doesn't want to hurt Utau. Who has the heart to bring out the big guns against someone you love? However, to protect that loved one, that's a different story. Look at Yaya. Dear Baby is a total weakling, but once Yaya finally (finally!) got her resolve at the final battle, she managed to fight effectively. (Rubber ducky shield, anyone?) Of course, since Amulet Angel takes up a whole lot of energy just by being useless, it would also mean that being useful might actually knock her into a coma.
Sorry for those who wanted an Ikuto/Kagome story, especially how bringing him in made the situation worse. Like I said before, this will be a short story, so no time to start and establish a new pairing, and it's easier to just follow canon behavior, especially for a more action oriented story like this. Besides, I'm quite fond of Amuto. Which is funny, 'cause if I saw a real-life version of them, I'd probably beat Ikuto over the head for being a freaking pedophile.^-^
So yeah, hoped you all like it and review!