Usagi Quest (CK3/Princess Maker) (Sailor Moon) (2024)

Heartcatch Turn 2
The Noodle Incident​

Wednesday Afternoon, After School
On The Way Past Miura Ramen Shop

Tsubomi sighs with relief. "So anyway, I'm really glad Coupe keeps those shakeable sprays of… whatever magic vitamin or whatever it is that Chypre and Coffret need… in his fur. But it was a little funny, because when I got the bottle out, my hand sunk in until I was practically elbow-deep in fluffy."

You turn to her, suddenly raising your voice a little. Because that's silly! "That's impossible! We've both hugged him! He can't be fluff all the way through, can he?"

Tsubomi gestures, vaguely and apologetically. "Maybe he's got a secret… compartment… thing?"

"I guess it could be sort of like how we can keep the Tacts and Sprays out of the way except when we need them. Sort of."

And then a little squeaky voice calls out from just behind your ear- the invisible Coffret. "Of course he can do that-desu!"

"He's Lord Coupe-desuuuaaaaaAAAH!" Chypre's attempt to finish Coffret's sentence is cut off when Tsubomi, startled by realizing that Chypre had landed on her shoulder, jumps. You're guessing that knocked Chypre off, not that you can see her.

Tsubomi looks around… in vain. She crouches down, looking for the fairy on the ground. "Chypre, are you okay? AAACK!"

Tsubomi acks, because Chypre answers right in her ear. "That was scary-desu! But I'm okay-desu!"

"You, uh, surprised me…" Tsubomi sighs. "So, uh, this is going to sound pretty silly, but how good are you at shaking up sodas, Erika?"

Not a challenge you can back down from! "I'll do my best! Wait, HUH?" You are surprised by sudden invisible fluffy cuddling up against your cheeks as the fairies fly to you, making cooing noises.

Tsubomi smiles a little. "They said I wasn't shaking up the mixture enough… I guess they're hoping you'll give it a bigger whirl."

More cooing noises.

***An Hour Later***​

The sullen boy, who to your surprise just put the flower back in the arrangement out front of his father's shop, stalks away, headed up the hill.

Tsubomi mutters to herself, "If Grandma says keep fighting, then…" and then she takes off after him. "Miura, WAIT!"

She's… she's taking off without you. At a pretty good clip.

You have absolutely no idea what to do in this violation of the natural order. It is as if raindrops were streaking up into the clouds, or birds were retreating back into their eggshells.

"What are you waiting for, go after her-desu!"

"Tsubomi, WAIT!"

You do not stop to wonder if this is how other people feel around you all the time.

***​

She follows him, and you follow her, and she calls out to him and he starts running, and then she does, and she trips on the stairs and screams-

"AAAH!"

Oh no- the burns, and she's just scraped herself… You're at Tsubomi's side almost before you can think- "Tsubomi, are you okay?"

"It hurts…" Tsubomi clenches her teeth; her hand is on her leg and that's a bloody little scrape she's got there. And then Miura's there too, fishing a plastic bag with a zip-close out of his pocket- with bandaids, and a couple of tubes of something, and some other things-

He looks at you. "Do either of you have any water?"

Tsubomi's a bit lost in that- it must really hurt- so maybe that's why she doesn't say anything- but you reach back into your bag and fish out a bottle of water. "Here!"

You push Miura's hands away as he moves to pour water and wash the scrape, but he takes it well and hands you the Makiron when it's time for the antiseptic. You rub that on yourself, too, because there's no way a boy has a lighter touch than you and you don't want this to hurt any more than it has to.

Through it all, Tsubomi still hasn't said anything- her eyes are watering a little, and you're starting to worry by the time you get the big bandaid patch on. Only then does she finally take a deep breath and say something.

"Thank you very much, Miura- and Erika."

Miura doesn't really smile, but he nods a little. "I'm on the baseball team, after all. We carry this kind of stuff around all the time." He spins on his heel. "Goodbye."

And though she's still on the ground, Tsubomi cries out "Wait! Miura, what is it you want from your father?"

So that's why she took off chasing him… because he's been acting funny about the new shop opening! Now it all makes sense! She's worried about him!

You do not stop to wonder if this is how other people feel around you all the time.

But Miura is frozen, and Tsubomi blurts something out- "Do you want him to close his store?" And you wince a little-

And he shouts at her, "OF COURSE NOT!" And she flinches back and-

And he stops, again, turning away, only to stare… at a little boy playing catch in the park up here, with his dad.

Oh.

You think back, trying to remember. Tsubomi's new in town, she doesn't know him even a little, the way you do, so you can ask the question you think of now and she can't.

"Miura, your dad used to play catch with you too, didn't he?"

He slumps. "Used to. And… he came to all my games. But then…"

"Then what?"

He starts walking away. You shout after him.

"If you don't tell us, we won't understand!"

And he shrugs, answering back without so much as looking over his shoulder. "If you did, it wouldn't do any good..." He keeps walking away.

GRRRRRR! You don't quite actually yell at him for talking to you like that, but… that makes you angry. You're trying to help!

Then you turn back to Tsubomi, who's looking at Miura's receding back as if she's forgotten the painful scrape, and shaking her head softly. "Miura…"

Tsubomi's hair rustles, the way it does when Chypre's on her head invisibly. The fairy pipes up, sounding just as sad. "His heart flower looks pretty dreary..."

You sigh. You tried to talk to him but something went wrong. This is why Tsubomi's in charge wait Tsubomi's in charge? Well duh, it totally goes with the pink dress.

***About Another Hour Later***​

It turns out that the fairies really like it when you shake up their… magic drink mix or whatever that stuff is, and Tsubomi's grandma's tea is always nice, but it's getting late, so you went home after a short visit with her. Except…

"MENNNN!"

The high-pitched, distorted, very amplified scream booms out and you look around because it reminds you of the ball-monster Desertrian and the giant scrub-robot Desertrian and-

"Look over there-desu!"

And that.

That is a noodle Desertrian.

Your eyes are wide from the sight of the giant across the wide boulevard. You've only ever seen Ichiro the purified Snackey, who's a little different, you gather, but the monster looks something like you imagine the Snackeys must. It looms as high as the storefronts, but it's surprisingly slender, with long gangly legs and a body that looks like black sackcloth filled with sand. But instead of a sandbag head, or any kind of normal head at all, it has a bowl of noodles for a head and huge branching noodly arms!

​

So of course you and Tsubomi look at each other, nod once, and-

"Pretty Cure, open my heart!"

It's different when you do the transformation together- this is only the third time you've done it, and one of the others were practice. You lose yourselves in the instinctive motion, and it's though you're in some entirely different place for a moment as the costume- regalia- of Cure Marine appears on your body, as that of Cure Blossom appears on Tsubomi's.

You're a little bit surprised to find yourself balanced on a railing in high heels, glaring at a Desert Apostle with really good hair- surprisingly much of it, too- and a perfectly color-coordinated outfit, besides! You're honestly a little jealous of his hair. Actually more than a little because you could get away with so many fun accessories if you had hair like that darn it!

​

But you don't quite get sucked into thinking about how you'd accessorize if you had hair like that, because you are, in point of fact, balanced on a park railing and a deep instinct wells up within you to challenge the malignant interloper! To arms! TO ARMS!

You'd say something yourself, but Tsubomi's got this. She really does. She points. She challenges.

"Cobraja! So you finally show your face!"

The Desert Apostle- Cobraja, apparently- bows elegantly. His voice is a languid, mocking tenor and urrgh!

"Ahh, you say so, when we've never met! But then, I suppose my face is unmistakable. Flattered to see it, aren't you? No, you are not mistaken. You are indeed graced by the presence of Cobraja, general of the Desert Apostles. I suppose that you are Cure Blossom, the one my oafish comrade half-broiled-" and then he turns that nasty little smirk at you and URRRGH!- "And you, darling, would be Cure Marine, who I am told prefers to spend her battles running around away from the field and chewing on the scenery! Haha! In case one of you gets away from your impending doom, have something to remember me by!"

He flicks his wrist elegantly. The two spinning projectiles are more than halfway to you by the time you notice them coming! Still, both of you catch them with a blurring motion of your hands and-

​

-Who the hell does this guy think he is?

Sasorina, you now know, turned you into a giant misery-monster. And Kumojacky came closer than you will ever want to think to killing your new best friend. And you still don't hate either of them as much as you already hate Cobraja. You've known him for less than a minute and you already want to strangle him! URRRRGH!

Tsubomi just looks up from the picture to glare at Cobraja. She turns and calls into the air, trusting that your fairy friends will be there- thankfully they've kept up their invisibility with the little pendants. "Please find the sphere! We'll handle the Desertrian!"

Cobraja shouts and makes a little flounce- "Wait, who are you- don't just walk away from me!" But you're already not paying much attention. Because you and Tsubomi have already noticed the Desertrian's posture shifting, and… oh, no, Miura's mom and dad have come out of the shop!

The two of you leap into position as the giant noodle-monster starts to shout. Slowly it turns towards them, step by step, centimeter by centimeter, screaming and raising one enormous whip-like arm.

"YOU ALWAYS USED TO COME CHEER FOR ME! BUT NOW IT'S JUST RAMEN, RAMEN, RAMEN! I DON'T MATTER ANYMORE!"

That… that's Miura in there, isn't it? Oh no…

But as the Desertrian's right arm rises to slash down on Miura's father, you two are already there- and it lowers its arm.

Tsubomi raises her voice without turning her head, obviously warning the grownups. "Run! Leave this to us!"

You keep your eye on the monster. And that turns out to be a good idea, because it screams "MENNNNN!" one more time, and bounds over into the park, away from the store and from Mr. and Mrs. Miura. You're not sure why, you're just glad for the lucky break- but Tsubomi and you both you run after it, and trying to get close turns out to be a really good idea because it turns and lashes out at you. And it turns out those noodly appendages can go from being four meters long to forty really fast!

But Tsubomi's bouncing and whirling and dodging giant noodle-whips that must be almost a meter across, and then a bunch of them flash out horizontally in a fan and you get an idea-

"HAAAA!"

You leap up on to the super-noodle and skid forward, heels acting surprisingly like ice skates along the monster's relatively squishy limb. Closer, closer- NOW- you leap up and the magic gets behind you and-

*BOOM*​

-You kick a big dent right in the Desertrian's gigantic bowl of a head! Broth sloshes out and the thing staggers back, crashing back against the branches of a large tree. You've landed and recovered from recoiling backwards after your kick, and Tsubomi's mostly scraped off the gooeyness from getting hit by giant flailing noodles, but before you're ready to charge in again, the monster whips up one arm and what it fishes out a pair of enormous narutomaki slices and what what launches them at you like coins from a slingshot!

That attack was too weird even for you, and by the time you what what what realize you're actually under attack and need to dodge… you are already being hit by about a hundred kilos of flying fish paste. You barely have enough time to bring up your arms before-

*BOOM*​

-the discs knock both of you down, skidding backwards across the grass. Thankfully, despite the costume leaving about half your back bare, it does a much better job of keeping grass clippings off than you'd been afraid it would. You think of Tsubomi but she's okay and the monster is already standing up, and it's started to shout again.

"He cares about work more than about me!"

Both of you sit up, then, on instinct, shouting "That's not true!" together, but the Desertrian ignores you.

"I hate ramen, and I hate him! The store should just DISAPPEAR! MENNNN!"

And then it reaches up into its bowl-head and pops out an entire giant boiled egg- about the size of a refrigerator- and lines up another of those noodle-slingshots, aiming right at-

You can't quite figure out how Tsubomi keeps stealing a march on you of all people at moments like this. After all, you're usually the fastest-acting, most decisive, most occasionally correct about things person you know, by far. But by the time you figure out the thing's point of aim, she's already sprinting forward, the words "Blossom Shower" on her lips, launching a spray of rosy fire-flecks that chew into the boiled egg. It comes apart in midair and splatters down on the grass in huge sizzling chunks. But the monster's already throwing more things that are landing… somewhere outside the park. In the general direction of the Miura family's new ramen shop.

You're not paying attention to that, though, because suddenly its other arm whips up faster and you were already running closer, but you don't get there before it grabs Tsubomi!

But before it can start trying to squash her or bury her in magic wheat noodle-stuff or something it just… stops. And drops her. And reaches up, grabbing its head.

"Stop it! You mustn't destroy the store! You mustn't destroy his dream!"

It's… it's crying…

You make it to Tsubomi and grab her and jump back to a safe-ish distance, still staring up at the Desertrian. Tsubomi grumbles.

"Ooof… ow ow ow…"

She's still okay, pretty much, it's not like Monday, so you're not so worried. You're kind of… confused, and you blurt out your confusion before you can stop yourself.

"It was trying to smash the place a little while ago. What happened?"

Voices from nowhere answer you.

"Both ideas are part of his true feelings-desu!"
"Struggles between conflicting feelings can mix a Desertrian up-desu!"
"Also we found the orb-desu!"

And then Chypre and Coffret reappear, visible once again. Chypre's tiny little paws clasp a crystal sphere that's bigger than he is… with a shivering tiny replica of Miura inside, still in his baseball uniform. Ugh, those orbs give you the creeps.

Tsubomi pushes herself up to her hands and knees, muttering. "I get it… he wanted so much for his father, who was working so hard, to succeed… He didn't feel like he could tell him that he wanted him there to cheer for him…"

That… That… makes sense.

You kind of wish you'd seen that one coming months ago. Maybe someone could have done something, or said something, that was left undone or unsaid. It would be nice to imagine so. You stare, for a moment, at the wailing Desertrian.

But then you hear the scoff, from the limb of one of the other trees, and- it's him. You grit your teeth as he calls out to you both, and to his monster.

"Oho, Pretty Cure! I see that you've gotten a stay of execution! Desertrian, bouffon, stop crying over all that pathetic nonsense and finish these two!"

You're still working through your sense of outrage and struggling to put together words when Tsubomi's leapt to her feet. She clenches her fists, screaming at Cobraja.

"It's not nonsense! You're taking someone's pain and turning it into a weapon, and then you call that same pain nonsense? I have had it up to HERE with this!"

She whirls to you and something flashes in your eyes as you nod fiercely to the wordless appeal she sends you.

See, THIS is why Tsubomi's in charge. Wait, Tsubomi's in charge? Duh! Goes with the pink dress and everything! Wait, what being the pink one have to do with anything? Look, it's not important.

You both know what to do.

"Floral Power Fortissimo!"

Your magic merges and the two of you dash forward- you're not entirely sure that what you experience while casting this spell is even real, but it's a tremendously powerful sensation, a wonderful clarity and purity of intent, and something that is more than just you, something given to you by special grace, is singing within your heart, tied to your heart and allowing you to do more than mere magic.

When you return to a sense of the merely real, the bowl-monster's gone from being in front of you to behind you. You and Tsubomi turn to see it levitate into the air, letting out a strangely calming and gentle warbling sound. It bursts into a shower of light, leaving behind nothing but a large magic crystal about a meter long and, unsurprisingly, a bowl of noodles.

Cobraja beats a very, very hasty retreat, vanishing into a swirl of blue witchlight.

You go to get the crystal- Tsubomi is still standing there, gasping for deep breaths.

***A Few Hours Later***​

It isn't until you get home that you realize that you never had a chance to do your shopping.

Cobraja is, on top of being vain and annoying and cruel and catty, interfering with your research!

Somehow, you cannot help but feel that this is a slight against the honor of all blue water-themed magical girls everywhere.

+1 Red Heart Seed gained!
Desertrian attack foiled with moderate property damage!
Ramen shop opening delayed due to moderate property damage!