Pastel*Rangers

Chapter 27 - Interrogation Mode

"Sorry I didn't answer yesterday" Maya tells Lynn, who sits in front of her.

"Yesterday was weird" Lynn says. "I swear my flyer had you and... Eve, was it? Sorry, I'm still learning your names. Anyway, only you two were on the flyer and the other three- Aya, Hina, and... Chisato?- Anyway, they were replaced by three other girls."

"You noticed that too?" Maya asks, surprised.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna assume a Negative was involved somehow" Lynn guesses.

"That's half of it" Maya says. "But how did you know?"

"Not all Negative transformations are straight-forward" Lynn says. "I mean, most of them are, but sometimes someone's heart is so messed up before they get possessed that when they transform, really funky things start happening, yet nobody seems to think anything is wrong."

"Funky things? Like what?" Maya asks.

"Hm... Well, the weirdest one I've fought was a guy who changed the weather by turning into snow. Not like, a snowman, but more like the very weather itself. And everyone who wasn't aware of Negatives thought it was normal that it was snowing in LA."

"How'd you defeat that?" Maya asks, amazed.

"No matter how weird their transformation is, they always have a body somewhere. You Purify the body, they turn back to normal." Lynn explains.

"That's good to know for the future" Maya says. "So where did Negatives come from?"

"I'm not sure" Lynn answers. "According to boss, they first started showing up at least 10 years ago."

"And how long have you been fighting them?" Maya asks.

"About a year now" Lynn answers.

"How did you get your powers?" Maya asks.

"I was fighting a guy with a dark miasma. I didn't know it at the time, but he was possessed by a Negative. Anyway. I know some martial arts, and I was trying to defend my coworker from him. During the fight, my powers awakened and next thing you know, I'm holding a sword."

"I don't get it" Maya says. "If your life being in danger is what activates powers, then shouldn't more people have powers? And shouldn't Kanon have awakened to powers back at the aquarium?"

"There's more to it than that" Lynn says. "There's thing thing my boss calls The Potential. Only people with The Potential who's lives are in danger awaken to powers. But, uh, we don't know much else beyond that. Even the name, The Potential, that's just something boss came up with on the spot, which is why it sounds so generic. In fact. She's the one who came up with the name for Negatives. My coworker used to call them Shadow Creatures before that." Lynn rubs the temples of her forehead. "We need to hire people who are good with names."

"How common is this potential?" Maya asks.

"Incredibly rare. In fact. Only Boss, a coworker of mine, and myself are the only ones we've known who have it."

"If it's that rare, how do you know that's what gives people powers?" Maya asks.

"Long story short, there was an abandoned lab and boss learned most of what she knows about Negatives and powers from old research papers found there" Lynn answers. "There are other ways to get powers but I highly doubt any of them apply. One of them involves a machine found in that abandoned lab, but there's no way any of you used it, and the other involves a rock from the moon, which again, seems impossible for you."

 "So if we all got our powers through this potential, what were the odds that all of us in Pastel*Palettes had it?" Maya asks. "If it's really rare, the chances of all five of us having should have been almost zero."

"About that" Lynn says. "Powers can be... Let's say shared."

"Shared?" Maya asks.

"According to Boss, according to a paper she read at the lab, if someone is near someone with the Potential and their life also happens to be in danger, they might awaken to powers as well. But the thing is, the powers you get that way end up being similar to whoever you got them from. Also, they fade away over time if you don't stay in close proximity to someone with The Potential. Since you all have similar powers, it's possible only one of you has the Potential and then they spread it to the rest of you."

"So then why didn't Kanon awaken to powers back at the aquarium?" Maya asks again. "All six of us were near her at the time."

"Probably because her life wasn't in danger" Lynn says. "We were all there to protect her, and at no point did a Negative try attacking her. Not that I'm aware of at least. But if one had successfully attacked her, she might have awakened to powers. Maybe. There's a chance it would've possessed her and she would've transformed. Especially if she was feeling negative emotions."

"Hm..." Maya thinks hard about something. "Aya was the first to awaken to her powers. She remembers seeing you that night, but that wasn't until after she defeated the Negative. So she must be the one with the potential. Chisato and Eve were both around her when they awakened to theirs, so they must've gotten it from Aya. But then there's Hina and I..."

"...I think that was me" Lynn says.

"Huh?"

"Didn't we literally bump into each other that day?" Lynn says.

"Oh yeah!" Maya remembers. "My shoulder was glowing after that! What were you doing there, anyway? It seems too much like a coincidence."

"I was on my way to that live house, CiRCLE" Lynn answers. "I did some investigating and found out you and blue hair- I mean, Hina- were in a band called Pastel*Palettes, and you had a concert that night."

"So you were looking for us that whole time?" Maya asks.

"Yeah" Lynn answers. "I wanted to talk to pink hair- I mean, Aya. I saw her awaken to her powers. I wanted to teach her about her powers and make sure she would be ok."

"So that's why she wanted to talk to Aya-san" Ran whispers.

"I knew the story about Aya-san helping her find her way was fishy" Moca whispers.

"It looks like she didn't mean any harm, too" Tomoe whispers.

"But what's all this talk of Negatives, Potentials, and transformations?" Ran whisper asks.

"Sounds like something out of a manga" Tomoe whispers.

"My great detective instincts are telling me that this is the plot of their next movie" Moca whispers. "They came all this way so that nobody would find out, but we were spoiled on it."

"That doesn't seem right" Ran whispers. "The way they're talking, it's like everything they're saying is really happening."

"We must investigate further" Moca whispers.

"Or, you can ask us directly" Lynn's voice is heard from the other side of the partition.

"Oops. Busted~" Moca says.