Pastel*Rangers

Chapter 76 - Black Roses

"Which way do we go?"

Maya and Eve stop and close their eyes.

"I sense one ahead and one that way" Maya says, pointing to their left.

"Shall we split up?" Eve asks.

"That's too dangerous with all these Negatives around" Maya answers. "We need to hurry and meet up with everyone." Several Negatives appear around them.

"We do not have time to think" Eve says, running to her left.

"H-hey, wait up!" Maya shoots at some Negatives ahead of Eve, clearing a path.

"Ah! They're around me!"

Hagumi finds herself surrounded by Negatives. Hina quickly rushes towards her, spear in hand. Meanwhile, Sayo holds her Light infused bow close, ready to bonk any Negatives that try to attack her.

"I won't make it in time! Unless..." Hina stabs her spear on the floor and uses it to pole vault her way to Hagumi. The wings on her outfit begin to glow, lifting her higher that what is humanly possible.

"H-Hina!?" Sayo watches in disbelief as her sister calls her spear back to her while still rising.

"Pastel*Shockwave!" Hina shouts as she descends forcefully next to Hagumi, stabbing the floor with her spear. A shockwave of Light spreads from the impact point, disintegrating every Negative around them as it passes by.

"That was SO COOL!" Hagumi cheers.

"We need to keep going!" Sayo says, running to catch up with them. "We're almost at CiRCLE. Let's go!"

"Right!" Hina nods as all three continue running.

"Haneoka?"

Aya and Chisato arrive in front of Haneoka Academy. Chisato closes her eyes and focuses.

"Yes" she says. "It's coming from in here."

"How do we get inside?" Aya asks, noticing that the gates are locked.

"Maybe we can jump over the fence?" Chisato thinks out loud. "No, we shouldn't..." As she ponders, Negatives appear around them.

"W-we should hurry!" Aya says, preparing to hop.

"Aya, what are you doing?" Chisato asks, concerned.

"We need to get out of here!" Aya grabs Chisato's arm and hops over the fence with her.

"Hold on" Chisato says as they land. "That feeling I'm getting... It's getting weaker!"

"Let's hurry!" Aya says. Chisato nods and they head towards the gymnasium.

Yep. Just like back in November.

Lynn catches her breath after having sliced through a wave of Negatives. She closes her eyes and focuses.

This way.

Lynn heads upstairs towards a clothing shop. She hears a yell as she approaches.

Crap. Better hurry!

Lynn enters the store and sees a large cluster of Negatives surrounding a display.

"Photon Zoom-Spin!"

Lynn seemingly teleports towards the girls and spins around with her sword. A whirlwind of light energy emanates from the spin, disintegrating most Negatives. Three Negatives remain, but they're larger than the others.

Must be possessed.

Lynn gets into a battle stance while the three big Negatives prepare to pounce.

"The three Lights... They're gone!" Maya says while she and Eve stand at the entrance to the shopping mall.

"There is still one in there!" Eve says, focusing. "We need to hurry!" Maya nods and they both go inside the mall.

"What happened here?" Maya asks, noticing a mess of knocked over displays and fallen decorations.

"It appears there was a fight here" Eve guesses. As they stand, they hear the sound of glass breaking. They look up and see a big Negative flying down from the second floor. It lands, but does not disintegrate.

"Ack! That was close!" Maya says, startled. She and Eve look up towards where the Negative came in from. Lynn comes flying down from up there, but manages to do a superhero landing back on the first floor. The other two big Negatives jump down towards her. The first Negative that had landed stands up and jumps towards Lynn.

"Look out!" Maya yells as Eve approaches Lynn. "Pastel*Barrage!" Maya fires off several shots at the Negative pouncing from behind while Lynn and Eve use their swords to block the two coming from above. They then both push forward to get some distance and slash at them.

"Photon Slash!"

"Pastel*Slash!"

Lynn seemingly teleports at one multiple times, slashing it each time she does. Eve attempts to copy Lynn, and is successful at it. Both attacks end with them stabbing downwards towards their targets. All three Negatives begin to glow.

"Did we do it?" Maya asks. Before anyone can answer, all three Negatives shrink down to human size. Their lights dissipate, revealing three humans, one from each Negative.

"Rinko-san!" Eve says, running towards her.

"Lisa-san and Minato-san, too?" Maya says, worried.

"Thanks" Lynn says. "Wait, why are you two here?"

"We got a message from Aoba-san telling us to gather at CiRCLE" Maya answers. "We were on our way there but we sensed something coming from the mall."

"What about you?" Eve asks. "Why are you here as well?"

"The suits sent me to investigate some Light signals around the city" Lynn answers. "They're looking for... What was her name? Heart in Japanese... Kokoro! That was her name. Anyway. They think one of those three signals is her."

"Tatsumi-san. Both of those signals are fading. What's going on?"

"We found three of their friends at the shopping mall" Lynn speaks into her earpiece. "I've also met up with Maya and Eve."

"Have them bring their three friends. Hurry and head south before the signal fades."

"Who were you speaking with?" Eve asks.

"The suits" Lynn answers. "Hey, so, two of the signals they detected are fading. Can I count on you to take them to CiRCLE?"

"Can't we go check out the signals?" Maya asks.

"We cannot leave them here" Eve says, gesturing at Lisa, Yukina, and Rinko.

"We can't carry them on our own either" Maya points out.

"We can walk on our own" Yukina says, waking up.

"I'm a little tired, but I can walk too" Lisa adds.

"I... Will be fine..." Rinko says, standing up.

"That solves that" Lynn says. "I'm heading out now. I'll see you all at CiRCLE later!" She runs out of the mall and heads south.

"We should get going too" Maya says.

"We shall protect you from Negatives!" Eve says.

"I hope Ako... Is safe..." Rinko says as they all start heading out.