Chapter Text
"Behold!" She said when she was a child, no older than six in her class, "My new creation!"
She could care less about the dull colors of the room, as she only wished to show her painting with her little world. It was a blue painting of a deep sky, several splatters on the paper of thick green grasses, a green blob attacked to an orange line, with pink blobs in the corner with a yellow one in the sky, and two purple lines connecting in the corner.
Sakura Keiko, even back then, had a youthful colorful mind, even as a child with a messy blond bun. She kept the smile on her face, mauve eyes widened wildly, hoping, and wishing, for the children to see her work and praise it, be in awe.
"Hey, cherries aren't pink!" Someone in the back shouted, causing the whole room to burst in laughter at her painting instead. She tried to keep her smile, but the laughter kept rising as everyone pointed at the painting as if she made a joke "Why is the banana flying?!" "Why is the tree a different color?!" "Birds aren't purple like that!" "She thinks that's creative, but that's a mess!"
Keiko was left standing there with the dull pale green colors of her room darkening as all the fingers and sounds cracked her heart in two. She kept her grin, but it wavered, and as tears filled her eyes, she ran out the door with her trash in her hand.
She still gazed at her work, tears falling on it as she sat on the stone steps, asking if the trees, the grass, and the skies were what she saw. She had a different style from the rest of them, a style that had only been looked down on. She'd ask herself if she was even an artist.
That would be when a pale hand held up her chin, forcing her to hold back her tears. It was all a blur from there, as a woman's shadow asked the kid, "Maybe they just won't accept you, little cherry... maybe you're better off not making these sort of messes."
Keiko didn't know what she meant from that, but all she could see was the woman shadow standing in front of her, saying, "It's a nice creative effort you have though, I want to look at that."
The last thing she could see was everything in her version turning grey, her chest burning as if something was being ripped out of her, and all she could see was darkness, unable to move...
"Stop!!!" An orange light suddenly flashed. Keiko couldn't make anything out, but she could see a bright orange light, with a shadow of someone in front of her. "I'm not letting you take this one!" A boy pleaded, with the woman taunting, "And why do you pose I'd do something so pointless when we already have ink to last us years?!"
The orange light glowed brighter, with the boy seeming shocked of her statement. "You'll be left in this world alone," She taunted, "And no one will care for someone like you, not in your new form."
Keiko couldn't help but believe those words, as everyone already laughed at her drawing, why would anyone care about her work?
"Even if I am..." The boy exclaimed back, his voice shaking, "You can't ever take the creativity of a soul... it's a fascinating blessing, and these kids... these children... they'll pursue their passions even after I'm gone... and they won't ever give up on what they love."
A blue light crowded the shadow, and a vague scream was heard.
Keiko's eyes were opened. She tumbled to the grass as she gazed around. She didn't know what happened, if it was just a dream. Nobody was there in front of her anymore, it was just her left staring at a blue sky in awe, with an orange bird flying past.
She wiped away her tears in acceptance, for she knew this voice was right. She picked up her painting again with a proud smile on her face. She couldn't care how many people laughed at her, she was going to pursue her passion. And somehow, someway, she was going to become a great artist.
💚💙💗Sketched Artistry Pretty Cure! 💗💛💖
*8 Years Later*
"Are we there yet?" She exclaims, unable to sit still in the back car seat. Keiko had been ready for this ever since she heard about it, a great chance to own her craft and become an artist. It was a rare day where she got up early and willingly put on a uniform, and the whole thing with the white and purple sailor blouse, purple skirt, and the pink bow... okay, she still painted pink dots on her stockings, but she did that all the time.
"50," Fumiko, her little sister, says in front of Keiko while playing on a tablet. She counted every time Keiko repeated the phrase. "You said it wasn't that far!" Keiko replies back with a smile, smacking her face on the window next to her and muttering, "I want to see it..."
"We're letting you attend this school so you can get more invested in work," Her mom says, with Keiko still having a smile on her flattened face as she looked up, asking, "Aren't I already a hard worker? Look at this pile!" There was a massive cardboard box next to her in the back seat, that was filled with used up sketchbooks, almost all of them painted over on the covers with uneven paints.
"I'm talking about your graduation slips," Her mom clarifies, adding, "You spend all your time coloring filler, and absolutely zero time studying for exams. They're not looking for artwork, they're looking for the encyclopedia." "You said it yourself," Keiko states as she picks up her purple paper origami bird, a good luck charm for herself, "I don't like any of that stuff, I like overly complicated fantasies, colorful images, cheesy quips, and paintings of original content!"
That's when Keiko's eyes lighten at the sight outside the windows, gazing upon the silver art museum in the front of the campus of Sketching Crafts Academy. The streets were filled with pink and purple cobblestone, with several flowers planted around the colorful rooved buildings. The museum itself was a stairway to a marble porch, with some owl statues on the sides, and glass walls in the front that shed a glimpse of what was inside.
Without hesitation, Keiko steps out of her families car and nearly trips over the step before catching herself and gazing out from outside in the fresh air. Students are around at the open house talking away, looking like they're dancing around the courtyards. Keiko has her hands holding her head, unable to remove the smile on her face as she squeals with full excitement.
"Aaaaaaannnd that's Keiko-Chan I hear," Sora Ayano, a girl in a light blue sweater waiting by the owl statue with her arms crossed.
They see Keiko hug her parents, telling them she'll see them at the end of the day before they leave. The energetic blonde skips her way up the stairs to meet up with her closest friends, and frankly her only friends. A girl named Ayano Sora, and a purple haired boy named Yatsuhiro Jiro who's reading a textbook in his hands.
"Hey, Keiko-Chan!" He looks up and smiles at her, straightening his glasses. Keiko nearly jumps on top of them to wrap them both in her arms, an imaginary heart fluttering over her head.
Once they part, Sora fixes her own red glasses and stares down at Keiko with her deep blue eyes, admitting, "Can't believe they let you come here."
"I uh..." Keiko steps back and scratches her back, a sheepish grin as she points out, "I begged. I can't believe you actually decided to come."
"You begged," Sora replies back.
"Well come on guys!" Keiko exclaims in excitement as she skips over to the front doors. "I want to see the place!"
She begins to pace to the doors, with Sora and Jiro looking at each other with nervous smiles before calmly following her.
Keiko throws open the doors and stands in front with an ecstatic smile on her face. It's a whole open space with blue carpeting, having stairs to a second floor and a red stone paintbrush and canvas statue on the center.
"Oh gosh, wow..." Jiro mutters as he and Sora step in. "I didn't think it would be this accurate to the brochures."
Keiko's bun in her hair jolts up as she runs over to the statue, staring at it with stars in her eyes as she states, "This thing was made by a student here. A STUDENT, made THIS!"
"It is..." Sora tries to put it, "Impressive."
"It is choppy," Jiro straightens his glasses to get a closer look. "But it is a neat color. Great accuracy."
"Students!" A woman states from around the statue. "For those coming in, welcome to Sketching Crafts Academy, the school campus where we look for the aspiring artist of every student! So if you wish to show the school your craft and introduce herself, we'd like for you to present a piece of artwork on the stage by the time our assembly comes by the end of the day. For now though, enjoy the tours!"
"A-a piece?" Keiko didn't think this is something they can do for a project.
"Wow, already?" Jiro wonders as well, looking back at his book to state, "They really are demanding."
"Well, it is optional," Sora tells them, trying to be the sincere one. "You don't have to do it if you're shy or anything-"
"I have to do this!!" Keiko exclaims, interrupting Sora as she and Jiro both agree with each other. "This is going to be a great first impression!" Keiko hopes as she joins Jiro through one of the museum hallways to find something to paint about.
"Uh..." Sora has no idea what's going on, as she only holds back and stutters, "O-okay! I'll... I'll meet you there, I guess."
Keiko keeps her starry eyes when walking around the halls with Jiro, who stays his quiet self. There is a lot of sculptures and paintings from past students left on display for every student to see and be inspired. Keiko checks out the stuff on display, such as a dog sculpture, a beach mural, a painting of wild street art, and a weird squid statue Keiko doesn't get.
"Keiko, I think we're in the wrong hall..." Jiro says when he looks up to check around. Just as he says that, a bunch of students walk in to join other sophomores.
Two of the students Keiko make out are a short green haired tomboy girl with a light green vest over her uniform, and a dark skinned girl with long red hair and wearing a light red blouse. Based on the others reactions, they're popular.
The hall leads to booths that the crowd ends up walking to in a more open area. The green haired girl heads for the culinary booth, and the redhead goes for the drama tables. Keiko looks around at the other booths to see how many more aspirations there are in her school, such as sculpting, improv, house designing, fashion designing, animating, writing, and of course, painting.
"Well uh," Jiro doesn't know what to say. "I am going to check out some animator tutorials for awhile. If you want to do a presentation as well, I think it's best to go outside."
"Alright," Keiko agrees, shaking off her stars to have a more sheepish face. "I just can't believe we are actually here! Like, we both wanted to come here, and here we are!"
"I know!" Jiro smiles before parting with Keiko and waving goodbye to her.
"What am I supposed to paint?" Keiko wonders as she sits on the stone steps out on the courtyard. She always had a passion for the arts, but she also wants to make a good first impression. Sure, she had no problem in show and tell, but that was preschool. This is middle school. There are much bigger expectations.
Her bun jolts up when she hears the sound of a squawking bird. She looks up to see some younger kids on the courtyard by the end of the stairs, chasing an orange bird of sorts around the place. Keiko begins to stand up in curiosity, confused until the kid starts to grab the bird by the tail feathers.
"Hey!!" Keiko jumps up with her fists in the air, not about to let a bird get hurt like that. She trips on the steps and barely catches herself in front of the kids, playing it off as she gives them a mean monster face to make them let go of the bird and run off in fear.
The bird tries to catch himself with his wings, but he fails, and it leaves Keiko to catch him in her arms. "Are-are you alright?!" Keiko asks it as it stands up on her arm. She gazes at it for a good minute, and soon the bird gazes back.
Keiko is unfamiliar with the birds colors, as it's a bright orange bird with some brighter orange trims, with a light brown beak and some purple tips on its feathers peaking out. Keiko isn't sure if the bird is staring back at her with its deep blue eyes... almost human looking eyes.
The bird finally spread its wings and flies away. Out into the sky further up the school.
Keiko's foot then hit something on the ground, where she looks down to see a shiny pink pen dropped on the ground, with a little cherry on the cap.
She doesn't know if someone dropped it or what, but it still seems to have ink in it. Keiko continues to stare up, finding the bird fascinating. "What bird is...?" Keiko mutters, with a finger on her chin as she tries to make out what she saw. Then it clicks on a lightbulb in her head, with her clapping and exclaiming, "I got it!"
She could paint that bird to present to everyone.
"Keiko-Chan?!" Sora's voice is heard, prompting Keiko to turn around and see her and Jiro finding her. Sora drags her friend back up the stairs and proclaiming, "What are you doing out here?"
"You can't be wildly running around these public areas like that!" Sora scolds once they're back inside. "What are you going to get from being outside?" "I-I gave her the idea," Jiro admits, raising his hand, "Sorry." Sora's face goes blank with a single tear over her head, but she sighs it away and accepts that. "Okay fine," Sora clasps her hands together to calm down. "Okay, okay."
"You okay?" Keiko asks her, with Sora expressing, "No!! You two are in your element. I've never been to these places before, especially not under... my circumstance." "So you're not doing a presentation?" Jiro asks her, with Sora whipping her head back at him to say, "Of course I'm not! I'm just thankful my dad had work and couldn't show up to this."
"You guys doing something?" Sora asks them, with Keiko clapping to exclaim her idea. "I'm painting a bird I saw outside!"
Both Sora and Jiro gaze at her confused.
"That's... original?" Jiro wonders, with Keiko trying to explain "No, no, you don't get it! It was a rare bird! A bird I don't think anyone has seen!" "Uh huh," Sora states, not paying full attention given Keiko almost always has insane ideas. "It was orange!" "Sure," "A bright, saturated range color..." "Yeah, I'm sure," "It had blue eyes that stared right at me!" "Must be sentient," "And it had purple on it!"
"And then it rained its magic dust on me and abducted me to Neverland," Sora says sarcastically.
Keiko imagines a snow cloud above her head that snows on top of her to give her body chills. Of course she doesn't believe me, Keiko thinks based on her friends reaction.
"Look, if you want to paint a bird, paint a bird, I'm not one to judge what you do," Sora accepts, "Just don't crash into someone and drive them crazy."
"No problem!" Keiko salutes as she runs off to get some paint from the booths she saw earlier.
"She's going to crash into someone..." Jiro points out, with Sora commenting "Yeah. I know."
Keiko has a canvas set up alongside a wall for students, where she pencil lines her bird sketch in a back pose with its wings spread out. Keiko takes a deep breath as she puts the pencil down, trying to make this the best image she could. But at least, she can now start with grabbing some paint for it, suddenly feeling something on her bow.
She unpinned it from her uniform to realize she kept the pen that she found on the ground, the pink shiny one with the cherry pin on it. She begins to walk and keeps her eye on it. From the looks of it, it seems like its some sort of gel pen, but she couldn't tell what kind of ink was in it or even how it was usable given there was nothing in its container.
Keiko barely looks up in time to notice someone is right in front of her, and she ends up smacking the girl right in the face.
Several books drop on the floor, and Keiko is left kneeling on the ground gasping in pain and holding her nose. "What the-?!!" the girl exclaimed, who had caught herself from crashing on the ground, "Watch where you're going!" Keiko opens her eyes to nearly scream, with lightning bolts around her head to exclaim for her.
The girl she bumped into has her teeth grit, with green eyes staring furiously at her. Her chestnut colored hair is choppy at the ends and barely touching her shoulders, where her uniform sleeves are rolled up and she wore brown fingerless gloves.
"I am so sorry!!" Keiko tries to apologize, crawling around to try and help her pick up her books. When she grabbed one however, the girl snatches it from her hands and scolded "Don't touch my stuff!" She hid the book under her arms, actively trying to hide it from Keiko. "I'm sorry!" Keiko says again, standing up to watch as the girl picked up her books herself.
"A-at least let me help you up," Keiko offers, holding out her hand much to the girls shock, her fierce eyes weakening. "You..." she doesn't get it "You don't know who I am..." "I don't see how that matters," Keiko says, unsure what she was getting at, introducing herself "Sakura Keiko, if you're wondering."
"Takeo Rei
"Takeo Rei..." she greets back, taking Keiko's hand. Once they were both standing again, they both look away from each other awkwardly laughing, unsure of their situation. "I'll uh..." Keiko tries to end the encounter, "I'll leave you alone."
"Is that yours?" Rei asks, pointing at the bird sketch behind Keiko. "Huh?" Keiko looks back to see what she's pointing at to confirm "Yeah, that's... that's mine." "Your wings are small," Rei states as she takes the pencil on the canvas to trace new wing outlines "They need to be the main focus of your paper, so you really want to maximize every edge and every line."
"Uh..." Keiko stands there confused, but thankful, saying "Thanks." "Don't mention it," Rei smirks before walking away and disappearing in the crowd.
Keiko looks back at her painting in confidence, knowing she can do this. She quickly grabs some paint bottles and put them on her canvas. It's time to get to work.
With flicks of her paintbrush, the colors dance across the pages, having minds of their own as they fill in the paper and covers the sound and background around her
With flicks of her paintbrush, the colors dance across the pages, having minds of their own as they fill in the paper and covers the sound and background around her. All Keiko can hear is vague music as everything else became pink and purple, with some orange and yellow streaks of paint zipping then and there. It is a delicate process to line out all the edges without messing it up, making sure to color all the spots with the bright, warm, vibrant oranges. Combine this with some cool, ominous, tragic shade of purple, edging the bird as if something was slowly starting to corrupt it. Then when the colors come together to form a bird, with some lighter shades in the process of detailing it, it creates something artistic, something beautiful, something that touches the heart of its creator and fills them with its mixture. In these moments, nothing else matters besides an artist being in their element, pouring their passion onto a simple piece of paper. Keiko presses some pink and yellow in the background to make it look like the bird was flying around fruits. Without realizing it, she takes out the gel pen she finds, and she tips them onto the eyes of the bird, brightening them, and soon tracing them on the wings to make the whole thing seem like its glowing with white lighting.
In a way, it's a shame that the artistic zone has to end, but the end result is always worth it.
"Hey, Keiko-Chan!" Keiko looks back to see the sun is setting from the windows, where Jiro is standing there with a sketchbook in his hands. "Hey, Jiro-San!" Keiko greets back, with Jiro's light blue eyes widening at her painting, muttering "Oh wow... I didn't think it would come out that good." "You doubting me?!" Keiko asks playfully with a sinister look on her face. "No! No, I didn't," Jiro takes it seriously, "Uh, I just wondered if you wanted to see my animation before we present."
He keeps the tip of his finger on the top of the sketchbook, barely tipping the edge to have the pages fall and reveal several drawings animating a story. A pencil drawn girl is holding a book until a cat shows up from the page to jump on the girls shoulder, where it ends with her hugging the kitten.
"Kittens, huh?" Keiko teases, with Jiro's face turning red as he stutters "I uh-I-I was just in the mood for something cute." "It's fine, Jiro," Keiko assures him, putting a hand on his shoulder to assure "Its great!" "Really?" Jiro looks up from his glasses, nervously folding his hands. "You came to this place to become an animator," Keiko reminds him, "We're kind of in the same league."
"I-I mean I guess, but..." Jiro has his insecurities scattered "You know, what if... what if no one cares?" Keiko laughs at that, unsure what he's getting at "Jiro, of course people are going to care! Everyone watches movies over reading a book these days anyway." "You even know the process of these animators?!" Jiro wonders, "These-these people have to do so many drawings that connect so precisely, taking so much longer just to make a frame of a creative colorful scene to life! Making its own story!"
"Jiro, we got this," Keiko says, taking a deep breath herself to assure both of them "We got this, they're going to love it." "And if they laugh at us?" Jiro asks, which strikes Keiko.
That statement brought her back to kindergarten, with all the fingers pointing at her drawing and the sound of laughter, breaking her heart... what if they didn't like her painting?
"Well..." Jiro's small voice brought Keiko back to reality, as he requests "They already started presentations, you should probably get in line, Sora's already downstairs, I'm going to stay here and quadruple check my work to see if I still have errors." "O-okay," Keiko simply says as he left with a thumbs up to give her, prompting Keiko to take her painting and exit the door to go downstairs.
Keiko stands in line backstage double checking her painting again and again, as well as the growing view of the auditorium. The room is dark with some spotlights in the front of the stage, where there are so many eyes glancing at her, seeming like they are getting bigger and more threatening. Keiko gulps, unsure if she can do this, looking back at her painting again, asking over and over again if they are even going to like it.
One more person, then she is up next.
A guy is presenting a squid clay figure, which looked highly detailed and small. Everyone begins to clap for the guy, applauding his hard work and effort.
Then a slower clapping is heard very close to the stage.
"Oh yeah, a sculpture of a squid is so impressive..." from the other side of the stage, a short boy steps into the spotlight. He is a pale boy, his skin almost grey, with black hair spiked in the back and silver color eyes, wearing a very pale blue shirt with a collar and almost colorless slate pants. His ears are pointed, which confuses Keiko as she watches.
"Who are you?" the students asks, where the boy only grins and mocks him, saying "That sculpture is meaningless, everyone's going to forget about it after they move onto the next one."
"What?" the student asks again confused, where the mysterious boy simply raises his hand, with a black aura that looks like pencil shavings coming off.
"Maybe they'll remember this instead..."
Keiko watches in horror as the student begins gripping his chest, as if he's trying to fight back whatever this boy is doing to him
Keiko watches in horror as the student begins gripping his chest, as if he's trying to fight back whatever this boy is doing to him.
A black shard flies out of the student's body, where all the color drained on his body, leaving him simply a grey figure, not even moving. Keiko gasps along with everyone else as the boy is now holding a black origami bird in his hand, something he pulled out of the student.
"You all came here to see color?!" he announces to the audience, where he grins even further and says "Well it will be the last time you see it."
"Behold! Inkling!"
The origami flies out of his hand and into the squid sculpture, and in a flash, a massive squid appears on the stage, red eyed and grey of color with the exception of a few dark red trims
The origami flies out of his hand and into the squid sculpture, and in a flash, a massive squid appears on the stage, red eyed and grey of color with the exception of a few dark red trims.
Immediately, as the lights come back on in the room, the creature begins to slam its tentacles onto the walls, turning a once pale blue spot of the wall a colorless grey. Everyone springs out of their seats to evacuate, screaming as they do so. Keiko, who is on the stage, runs over to the victim, exclaiming "Sir!! Sir, are you okay?!! Sir?!!" She tries to talk to him, but he doesn't answer. Keiko tries to touch his shoulder, only to have her eyes widen as she realizes he's... stone?!
"What did you do?!!" Keiko exclaims to the boy, who turns over to her and only grins, asking back "What matters to you kid?!"
The boy suddenly begins flying, hovering in the air as he notions his new monster, "Come Inkling! We got a whole building to cover, I say we start from the top!" "Inkling!!" the monster repeats as it stops erasing the colors of the walls and follows its master, busting through the doorway to upstairs...
Upstairs!
"I'm going to stay here and quadruple check my work to see if I still have errors."
Jiro!! Keiko realizes. Her friend is up there in danger!
"Keiko!!" Sora is running up to her friend to try and pull her out, "Keiko-Chan, come on! We have to get out of here, that thing is going to tear this place apart!"
"But-" Keiko can't get her words out as she yanks her hand out of Sora's grip "Jiro!"
"Jiro??" Sora wonders, her eyes widening to realize what she's talking about. Before Sora can say anything else though, Keiko is running through the broken wall and sprinting up the stairs, Sora calling out to her in fear.
The squid Inkling is up in the hallways with the windows, attempting to smash everything it sees and turn the blue carpets grey. Everyone in the hall is beginning to run away and evacuate.
The orange bird is just outside the building, eyes widening in horror over the situation.
Jiro is in the back of the crowd trying to run away from the Inkling. However, with his speed, he already knows he isn't going to make it, as the Inkling saw him. It springs a tentacle out at him, with Jiro looking back and his eyes widening in horror.
That is when Keiko busts through the door and tackles her friend out of the way.
"Keiko-Chan-?!" Jiro exclaims once they're both on the floor, with Keiko already screaming at him "Go! Go, get out of here! I'm right behind you!" He obeys, and they both start running to the exit door, Jiro storming out first and Keiko holding the door open... and she hesitates.
Keiko caught something at the corner of her eye, Jiro's sketchbook is on the floor, pierced beyond repair. Keiko's painting is near the door, but she can't help but stare at the sights of the other canvases getting destroyed by this creature so carelessly.
People work so hard on these things, poured their passions into them, it's not fair!
She suddenly feels something zip past her, where she pulls back her hair to see something flying at the Inkling. The bird! The orange bird she saved earlier in the day! Why is it here?!
It flies directly at the squid, trying to pierce its feathers into it. It manages to fly around the tentacles, but it can't find a way to pierce the creature with anything he has. Keiko has no idea what is going on and why a bird is trying to fight back, but she becomes so confused that she steps away from the door to get a closer look. The bird is zipping around the squid and the hovering boy, confusing them as he tries everything to fight back the Inkling with no prevail.
That is when it catches the eye of Keiko standing in the open, where they all come after her, with the Inkling aiming a tentacle at Keiko. Keiko lets out a scream, thinking she is about to get hit. That is when the bird comes from the side to shove her into the wall.
"What?!" Keikos hair frizzles up while she's leaning on a wall, looking down to realize she's holding the bird in her arms. She looks down at the bird in shock, where it tries to get up on its own. It suddenly gasps at her touch, eyes widening at her in disbelief, a very human sounding gasp.
That is when a pale arm busts a hole in the wall and grasps the bird, making Keiko scream again and fall back. Another one of those people, with smoother black hair, a white vest overtop a black sleeveless top, and pale grey pants, is flying as well through the hole, holding the bird by the wing. "Nice try birdie," he taunts, throwing the bird in a small bird cage he makes appear right on the spot. "Wait-"Keiko tries to say, but the guy slaps her to the pillar behind her, sending her to the floor.
The guy flies up to his partner, looking taller than the first boy. "Mono!!" the short boy calls him, annoyed "What are you doing here?!" "What does it look I'm doing here Noir?!" Mono scolds back, "You were about to get defeated by a random bird!" "I was not!!" Noir exclaims, pointing at him in frustration "No one invited you!" "I didn't invite me neither," Mono replies back with a smirk.
The bird begins to try and fly through the cage, crashing into it over and over again. Mono can't help but laugh at the sight, taunting it "Aw, what's wrong birdie? Can't do anything anymore?" It still tries to bust out, leaving Noir to join in on the taunting "Yeah, try all you want! There's no Pretty Cure left to help you!"
"Pre...Cure...?" Keiko gets up, wondering what he means by that.
The generals keep laughing, with the squid coming up with its tentacles ready. "So what do you say?" Mono asks the bird, hanging the cage over the beast "You ready to become bird bait?"
"...never..."
The generals and Keiko all have their eyes widen at the sudden, shaky, raspy voice snarl back at them. Did the bird just... talk?!
The bird is clearly trying to remember his words, with his shrill, raspy, human sounding voice shaking as if he is remembering how to talk. "I don't care... if you dispose of me..." he tells the generals, "You said it... yourself... I'm, I'm no use in this form... but... the art that these kids share... that's something you'll never be able to dispose of. Ever..."
Keikos eyes widen at his statement, remembering the words of the mysterious figure that saved her.
You can't ever take the creativity of a soul... it's a fascinating blessing, and these kids... these children... they'll pursue their passions even after I'm gone... and they won't ever give up on what they love.
Keiko feels her fist clutch on the floor, her other hand picking up her painting of this same bird. She knows she has to do something, even if she doesn't know what's going on at all, she can't let this place of art get destroyed.
"So a fairy got away?" Noir wonders, smirking at this, "No matter. This just makes our situation so much better!"
"Hey!!" Keiko shouts, standing in front of them and holding up her painting, "You want to erase something, I got something for you!" "Excuse me?!" Mono scoffs, gazing at Keiko in disgust. "You're helping this brat over here?" Noir asks in confusion, "Why risk it, kid?"
"I..." Keiko isn't sure how to put it "I don't know, but... seeing something so colorful and so optimistic being trapped by people like you, of course I'd want to help it!" Keiko continues to show the painting to the generals, not sure how it would help, but at least it would show them that she cares.
"Well, I guess our Inkling can get an appetizer first," Mono states, "Thanks for volunteering." The squid begins to charge at Keiko, who strangely stands in place. She doesn't know where this new confidence came from, but she stutters with her words in place of her fear "I... I won't run from these creations... I won't!"
"What's your passion?!!!" the bird suddenly shouts, as if he is begging her to answer the question before its too late, "What's making you stand here right now?!!!"
Keiko has no idea why he's asking that, but something's telling her to answer it if she wants to live. If she couldn't say it in front of other people, she's saying it now, pouring all her passion into it as she shouts at the top of her lungs.
"I want to paint for this world!!!"
Suddenly, a pink flash comes from her painting, blinding everyone. The squid falls back, and the generals are blinded where the cage gets disintegrated, leaving the bird to fly out of it.
"What?!" Keiko exclaims, as the light begins to fade as her painting hovers out of her hands, changing shape, where suddenly she has some sort of device in her hand. It was a white palette case of some sort, with pink outlining and several different colored buttons on it, with an empty paint holder in the center.
"Your PreCure Palette!" the bird exclaims at her, instructing as he's flying up to her "Quick! Before they get up!" "What do I do with it?!" Keiko asks back, with the bird instructing "That pen you found from me, the pink one!" "This?" Keiko holds...
"Your PreCure Palette!" the bird exclaims at her, instructing as he's flying up to her "Quick! Before they get up!" "What do I do with it?!" Keiko asks back, with the bird instructing "That pen you found from me, the pink one!" "This?" Keiko holds it up after taking it off her uniform. "That's a Neon Pen!" the bird explains, "Tap three colors on the palette of your choice, mix them in the empty space, shout 'Pretty Cure Artistry Charge!' then let your creativity guide you to the rest!"
Keiko hesitates, unsure what this is going to do to her. "Trust me!" the bird begs. Keiko thinks about it for a second, since the bird saved her before, he must be trying to help her again.
With a quick nod, she gives it a shot.
"PRETTY CURE!" Keiko shouts, clicking the pen to have her uniform vanish in replacement of a glowing pink dress.
"ARTISTRY CHARGE!" She taps the pink, red, and green space on the palette, dipping her pen in the empty square where new bright pink paint appeared. That same paint filled up in her pen, leading her to draw her new form with it.
She begins to wildly dance with the pen, tracing its ink all around her and making wild waves of paint behind her. She traces the pen over herself, on her hands, her legs, and her body to have it be covered in magenta paint, where she clicks the pen again to have it turn a brighter pink. She spins the pen around her wrists, making the paint become replaced with circular white arm bands, again on her feet, spreading them out to have white rounded boots appear with magenta tops, and again around her body to have a pink frilled skirt appear attached to a thick red belt, along with a pink loose jacket with lime green trims and rounded white sleeves. She quickly dabs the pen on her chest, ears, belt, and wristbands, making a giant red bow appear on her chest with a lime brooch, along with red cherry earrings, a pale pink back bow with thick fabric in the back, and loose red ribbons appearing attached to her wristbands, dangling freely. She traces the pen over her head, making a lime headband appear on her head with cherries on the side, with her once blond hair being covered in magenta paint. She holds up a bun in her hair, then wildly releases it to have her hair grown into several back length strands and a massive top bun, now the color of bright magenta. She jumps in the air wildly, landing to have the wild paint around her fizzle out and fall in the form of red cherries, both her Palette and her Neon Pen attaching themselves to her belt.
She jumps in the air wildly, landing to have the wild paint around her fizzle out and fall in the form of red cherries, both her Palette and her Neon Pen attaching themselves to her belt
"THE PINK PAINTER CURE! CURE CHERRY!"
"What is...?" Noir slowly gets up along with Mono, both of them staring at the pink light in front of them. Without warning, and without explanation as to why this is happening, Mono can only mutter "That's... impossible..."
"Pretty Cure...?" the bird is in between them hovering in the air, a tear filling in his eye as he smiled in utter joy. "At long last!!!!!" he cheers, beginning to fly towards and around his new savior "The Pretty Cure have returned!!!"
The figure is standing in the hall with pink shining all over her body, turning the carpet around her the same color and the windows shining sunlight upon her. That is when the light faded, and the heroine opened her bright magenta eyes.
"What?!!! Wha-what did this do to me?!!" Cherry exclaimed in shock, gazing upon her new outfit and pulling a strand of her loose hair to see, "Why is my hair a saturated color now?!!!"
The bird flies right into Cherry's arms, still cheering in utter joy. "What am I?!" she asks him, where he gets out and hovers to her side, telling her "Cure Cherry! Please, take out the Inkling, it's the only way to save this place!" "What?!!" Cherry steps back with pink bolts appearing on the sides of her head in her shock, "I-I can't fight that thing!!!"
"Don't just stand there!" Noir demands, clenching his fist and pointing his other hand at Cherry, "Get rid of her before she becomes competent!"
"Inkling!!" The squid repeats as it begins to shoot out its tentacles at Cherry, who screams in terror as she barely ducks from a strike. She runs from another strike by a window, and she tries to run towards the creature without getting caught. "Stop!" Mono shouts as both he and Noir charge at her, only for Cherry to barely react in time and slip under them. It forces them both to crash into each other and fall on the floor, beginning to yell at each other.
I'm so fast... Cherry observes as she barely misses another tentacle strike on the floor. "No no no no no, I'm good!! I'm good!!" she exclaims in response. "You have to stop running and fight the thing!" The bird shouts from the other side of the hall, making Cherry turn back and barely stop her speed.
Cherry becomes ready for the next tentacle to try and strike her, where she jumps out of the way. Her eyes widen as she realizes how high she actually jumped, her feet landing on the wall behind her as she accepted it and tries to work with it, jumping off of that to punch the tentacle.
Unfortunately her target moved out of the way, leaving her to have jumped far enough that she hears shattering glass. Before she realizes it, she's outside in the air, just having to look down at the massive height she was at and scream in fear. She barely catches herself from falling by grabbing a broken piece of debris hanging off from the window she broke.
"Help!!!" Cherry screams at the bird, so shocked that her head is replacing the height with her screaming words "Help me!!! Help me!!!! Help me!!!!"
"I can't help you as a bird!" he shouts back, just as the tentacle shot out the window. "Jump!" the bird shouts, with Cherry obeying as she jumps off the debris piece and has the tentacle be shot behind her, giving her the open space to slide off it and kick the Inkling and herself back inside.
Cherry rolls off the floor, barely catching herself and ending up kneeling on the floor to watch the Inkling get back up. "And its still up..." Cherry mutters as the bird flies to her side, nearly poking her in the nose with his wing. "I know it's a lot to ask right now, but you got to pull yourself together!" he orders, "You have a target on your back now, and you gotta fire it back at them!"
"I don't know how this cosplay power works!" Cherry replies, chuckling nervously as the bird adds "I can see that."
"Inkling!" the monster gave away its tentacle shot to have Cherry jump out of the way, a little better this time. "Play it like a painting!" he suggests, "You have the agility and strength to paint the Inklings and weaken them, just with punching and kicking instead of using a paintbrush." "I don't think that's how it works," Cherry comments as she leans down in a running position, where he suggests again "Then just make it up as you go, like you do with a painting!"
Cherry does so, beginning to sprint forward.
The Inkling begins to shoot out many tentacles wildly at her, where Cherry rolls under one, and dodges another from the other side. She jumps and spin kicks the squid in the face, using a tentacle swung at her to jump off of and kick again. She jumps up and around it, expecting the tentacle to come at her and try to wrap around her. She barely holds it before she gets tied up, and manages to dive down below it in time to stomp on the creatures head. It went on where some tentacles hit, but Cherry again and again dodged around it and used her flips out of the way for kick opportunities, barely blocking one strike with her arm. She manages to punch another tentacle trying to pierce her, and duck under it to have two more tentacles get stuck in knots. Unfortunately a third one does hit her from below, slapping her onto the ceiling. Cherry however used this and pushed back with all her limbs, having it slam into one pillar below her that begins to crack.
Cherry jumps back, breathing hard as she observes the pillar, deciding, Yeah, that'll work.
The Inkling comes at her again slamming at all sides, where Cherry manages to double punch the body and flip back after such. Tentacles try to stop her from behind, but Cherry kicks them back multiple times out of the way before they could. Keiko jumps back over the head to kick the top repeatedly, barely punching back tentacles that try to get her off.
Soon a tentacle did slam her into the wall, right into the cracked pillar. That is what Cherry wants as she gives a smirk at the creature, jumping over the tentacle and kicking the pillar on purpose. She uses her legs to push off the massive stone pillar, having it break and collapse right on the Inklings head, stunning it.
Both the bird and the generals have their eyes widened in disbelief, as Cherry falls back and lands near the bird. "Like that?" Cherry asks him, where he only says in response "Just... why?" He is talking about the pillar she broke to stun it, an idea that was not in his mind, to which Cherry replies "Why not?"
Cherry prepares herself in a combat position, where he instructs "Now you just gotta shoot paint at it and finish it off."
Cherry stops and looks at him as if he's crazy, the expression of her face leaving as she asks "Excuse me?"
"I was not ready to mentor this..." he mutters to himself with a face palm with his wing. "Your Neon Pen, take your Palette, press the pen on the pink button again, and paint your Sketched Preparation."
"What?" Cherry asks, where the bird exclaims "It's your designer cloak! It boosts your power and you can throw massive amounts of paint at an Inkling in any attack form you want!"
"Okay..." Cherry steps back when seeing the squid break out of her pillar trap. Quickly, Cherry pulls out her pen and palette from her belt, prepared to do what the bird told her to do.
"CREATE!" Cherry clicks her pen, exclaiming "SKETCHED PREPARATION!"
She pressed the pen on the pink button on the palette, making pink paint appear in the center space for her to use. Quickly, she used the pen to wildly spread the paint around her, cheerfully dancing as she does so until her jacket vanishes in response to the paint appearing around her chest.
In a flash of pink light, her jacket is replaced with a glowing pale pink cloak around her dress, with loose short sleeves and a hoodie, where the extra strands of her hair are in a down ponytail and a red cherry brooch connecting the cloak on her.
In a flash of pink light, her jacket is replaced with a glowing pale pink cloak around her dress, with loose short sleeves and a hoodie, where the extra strands of her hair are in a down ponytail and a red cherry brooch connecting the cloak on her
"It's..." Cherry is unable to comment any further, only in confusion as she attempts an attack she can made on the spot.
Cherry clasps her hands together, releasing them to make a red sphere appear in them. "GO WILD! O' CHERRIES" She cries as the sphere separates into several little ones around her. "Pretty Cure," she commands, sending one massive paint bomb in her hand as she draws back, "CHERRY..."
"...SPLATTER!!!"
She throws the bomb at the Inkling, where it splits into several cherries made of paint and splashes onto the colorless creature, the spheres sticking onto it.
She throws the bomb at the Inkling, where it splits into several cherries made of paint and splashes onto the colorless creature, the spheres sticking onto it
Cherry turns around with extra paint in her hand, where she chants as she jumps in the air, "Behold! A brand new creation!"
The light pink paint around her wrists separates as well as vanishing her cloak, allowing the paint bombs to go off behind her and release massive explosions of pink paint that completely covers the creature.
"Colorful..." The Inkling mutters as its body is completely covered in paint that stains it, making it glow and eventually vanish. All it leaves behind is the origami, now purified into a white paper hovering object.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Mono replies, where both he and Noir watched in shock. They didn't plan for a Pretty Cure to ever show up again, but now this is going to change everything. "I have a feeling Master Shokyo is not going to like hearing this..." Noir mutters, where Mono smiles and decides "That's fine, I'll just tell him it's your fault."
Mono vanishes through the air, with Noir's eyes widening at what he says, exclaiming "Hey, wait a minute-!" before he vanishes as well.
Cherry looks behind her with her pupils vanished from her eyes. "Did I get it...?" She asks, "Is it over...?" She kneeled to the floor exhausted, letting out a relieved sigh. "Hey, you're alive," the bird compliments "I say this is an absolute win." "If you say so..." Cherry replies, giving a soft smile at the bird that saved her.
The bird also sighs, gazing at the shattered windows and the broken pillar, explaining "That boy you helped should be okay now, but the authorities of this place are going to have a field day after that one." The colors the Inkling erased are being returned, as well as the paper origami flying off to return to its host. "Can't we just magic the damage back or something?" Cherry asks, with the bird asking back "What do you think?" "No."
"Okay," the bird begins to fly again and instruct her one last time "If you want your natural hair back, just put the lid on the pen, and I'll meet you outside where you saved me from those kids."
"Wait-!" Cherry calls out, but the bird is already flying out the window. She begins to hear people come up the stairs, forcing Keiko to quickly close her pen and de-transform in a flash, back in her school uniform and with her short blond curls once more. "The palette stays...?" Keiko observes, realizing it didn't vanish along with her Cure form.
"Keiko-Chan!!!!" The door busts open, where Sora and Jiro, along with several security guards, were coming in to see the damage. Jiro immediately wraps his arms around the kneeling Keiko, unable to stop stuttering "Oh my gosh! I-I don't what happened to you! You-you said you were right behind me, but I didn't see you when I got downstairs, so I got the FBI with Sora thinking you were trapped, and-and then on the way here that guy who got turned to stone suddenly got revived when this paper bird went into his body, it was so weird-"
"We are just glad you're okay," Sora puts it simply, offering a hand to help Keiko up on her feet. "They stopped the presentations, they're closing the museum early after what happened. Sorry you can't show your painting now." "Eh, I showed it anyway," Keiko replies with a smile, putting the palette in her pocket as she tells them "I think I'll be okay with these sort of things happening, cause hey, I want to paint for this world, and I don't want some stage fright to mess me up in the process."
"Just don't scare me like that again!" Sora points out, "We thought that thing got you!" "Yeah no promises," Keiko laughs, where that ends up fazing as she realizes the book in the floor. "Jiro..." she realizes as she picks it up to hand it back to him, where it is now beaten in pieces "I'm... I am so sorry, I know you worked hard on that."
"Hey, not the first time these things got busted," Jiro simply puts it, placing his hand on her shoulder to assure her "But I can't replace a friend as easily."
Keiko accepts that, staring at the sunset. She may not have been able to save her friend's artwork, but she'll do her best to not let this happen again. She's Cure Cherry now, whatever that means, she can protect art all over the world from those guys that started this.
Just as he said, the bird is waiting just outside the courtyard, where Keiko meets him. "I'll take the job," Keiko tells him, holding out her Neon Pen, "Like I said, I want to paint for this world, and if that means saving it, so be it."
The bird smiles, as if he's relieved as ever to see her join. "You know, I haven't seen someone like you in a long time, and that's saying something given my years of searching for Pretty Cure. So I really have to thank you, for all of this."
He flies up to Keiko's shoulder, where Keiko smiles back as he introduces himself more properly "You can call me Orenji, Cure Cherry. And your actual name...?"
"Sakura Keiko."