There are numerous kinds of threats to humanity scattered throughout existence. Many are physical. Many are psychological. Many are made by ourselves, knowingly or not. Many are alien made. Then there are the ones that lie in between. A physical threat that preys upon emotional instability. Entities that exist as metaphorical interpretations of our own darker impulses and could not take physical form without the help of another. Throughout time, throughout space, throughout reality these threats emerge time and time again. They are Empathic Vampires, Gray Guardians, Id Invaders and others besides. Each inhabited sentient world in each time, each reality has five guardians protecting it from incursion. This is the story of this world’s guardians. This is the story of how they met.
This is the story of the Cheer Champions!
<hr>
It was an ordinary school gym in the Roppongi area. Throughout the otherwise still air of the gym a rallying cry could be heard. “2 4 6 8, who do we appreciate? 7 5 3 1, don’t give up until we’ve won!”
There were six girls engaged in an invigorating cheerleading practise They ran through their routines, repeated their chants, danced to a rhythm only they could really hear, all in a well-described routine designed to draw excitement and participation from their home team’s audience. Such was their purpose at any given game. They had to lead those cheers, even if they had to be dragged out!
“Alright, girls, take five!” Sumiko Mizushima, the head of the team declared. They didn’t need much more telling than that, and all six strolled off to towel down after the intense exercise that necessarily came with being a member of this particular group.
Our attention must go towards two girls in particular, old friends that had joined the team together, laughed together, studied together, gossiped together. They knew each other every bit as well as they knew their own reflections, perhaps more so. One was considered by many to be a clumsy, beautiful, ditzy dreamer, and her luxurious, long pink hair certainly helped that image along quite adequately. Her name was Momo Nakahara, and she could rarely be found without a smile of some sort on her face. Her personal motto is “I love life!” and her sizes were… Aha, that would be telling! As for her friend, she had a shorter cut of hair that was black as night and her personality was a bit more serious than Momo’s. Her name was Ayako Moto and her personal motto is “Watch out for that lamp post, Momo! Yes, that one. That one you just walked into. No, I don’t think your thick skull hurt it.”
“Good practise today,” Ayako said moments before greedily guzzling a bottle of water to quench the inevitable all-consuming thirst that had been building over the last half hour.
“Hm, yes, I guess so!” Momo sang back. “Though I did keep on messing up that one bit with all the knee lifts and stuff, you know? I keep missing the timing by, like, a second.”
Ayako sighed, shook her weary head and gave her friend a reassuring pat on the back. “You’ll get it, Momo. It just takes practise. That’s all.”
“So true, Ayako!” Sumiko said, startling the two girls. “Hi, Momo, do you mind if Ayako and I totally had a little privacy? We just need to, like, catch up on a couple things real quick, thanks a bunch!”
The two blinked and shared a momentary look of confusion before Momo shrugged and wandered off to gossip with some of the others. Once she was out of sight, Sumiko began to chuckle to herself.
“So, there’s no easy way to say this, but… We’re thinking ’bout kicking you off the team.”
Had Ayako been standing on a rug at that particular moment in time, it would have been pulled out from under her. She would have tumbled for seemingly an eternity in an inexplicable void of bafflement, confusion and lost dreams.
“B-But why?” Ayako whispered. “I-I’ve always gotten the routines down perfectly! Heck! I could even tell you all of them by rote! I don’t understand! Why am I being considered for kicking off the team?!”
“Chill a bit, why doncha? It’s not definite yet or anything. We’re just, like, considering it. Listen. We know you’ve got the routines down fine, but… It’s like, you don’t really care, ya know? It’s sorta like watching a robot do it. Hm… What did Momo’s dorky little brother once call that sorta thing… Oh yeah! It’s like that ‘uncanny valley’ thingy. Y’know, where something looks almost human, but there’s something just not right and it creeps you out? That’s you. You’re getting it all perfect, but since you don’t care it doesn’t come off like you’re sincere.
“As for Momo? Sure, she messes up, like, all the time… But she does it in such a cute and endearing way, and she totally cares so much that it doesn’t really matter. So long as I don’t have her klutzy butt doing anything risky, it’s all good, y’know?”
“S-So what are you saying? I’m not sure I understand what you want from me!”
“Hm, you gotta figure out how to show the audience you want them to cheer. No. You need them to cheer. See ya later, ’kay?”
All Ayako could do was slowly nod her head as their team leader walked away. Momo returned moments later, giggling to herself about some piece of gossip or other, and while completely oblivious to what had just happened asked “So hey, what was all that about?”
“Nothing,” Ayako replied. “Nothing at all.”
<hr>
Ayako lay on her bed staring at the screen. It turned out that Sumiko had been keeping recordings of their practises for self-improvement purposes, and just before leaving had offered Ayako the opportunity to look them over. She’d taken it, particularly today’s practice session… And looking in from the outside she could see it clear as day. Oh, sure. She got the movements down. But it was indeed just like watching a robot do the same thing. It was as if someone had created the perfect physical robotic simulacrum of her, you couldn’t even tell, and then it was programmed to dance… With nowhere near the same elegance or perfection as its outer shell.
The truth was, she did enjoy cheerleading quite a bit. She enjoyed hanging out with the girls, she enjoyed learning the routines and she enjoyed performing them. So why was she coming across as so emotionless out there? Did she really not care at all? It took quite a bit of soul searching for her to find the answer. Sumiko was right. She didn’t really care whether they cheered or not. That wasn’t why she was doing this at all. She did it for her own sake, not to get the audience pumped… and it came across in her routines.
So what now? It wasn’t as if she could force herself to care. Could she?
“No. You can’t force yourself to care. But… if you really wanted to care as much as, no, more than those other girls I can certainly help out.”
Ayako turned rather anxiously towards the suddenly pooling shadow looming over her and opened her mouth to scream… But no sound was made.
<hr>
The next day, Momo skipped up to her room with a pleasant hum. No song in particular. She was just making it up as she went along. “What a great practice today!” she said to herself. “I think I’m finally getting the hang of that timing! Even if I did trip up once or twice. Maybe three times. Or four. Oh well! I’ll just have to work that out as well!”
She flopped down onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling with a whistful sigh. “Still, Sumiko did seem sorta drained today for some reason. And it was kinda weird seeing Ayako so… peppy… But hey, whatever!”
“I don’t think being so blase is a particularly wise idea at this point in time,” a teddy bear she hadn’t owned yesterday suddenly said. “From the sound of it, I have arrived just in time. Your friend is in mortal danger and it is up to you to save her.”
“Whoa… Talking teddy bear! So cool!” Momo yelled, scooping the bear up in eager arms and spinning it around the room. “Momma must have gotten me this as a gift! Or, no! I bet my dorky little brother tried making some sorta gag gift, right? Make me think I’m going nuts? In which case, pinhead, didn’t work! I’m keeping this thing, it’s adorable!”
“H-Hey, put me down!” the bear insisted. “I’m serious! I’m real! You have to listen to me before it’s too late!”
“Oh, fine. There, on the desk you go. Better?”
“Much, thank you!” the bear said. It then proceeded to stand up and dust itself down, causing Momo to flop back onto her bed, and stare at it unblinkingly. “Now, as I was saying. I am a representative of the Emotional Spectrum Alliance. It is my solemn duty to inform you that this general location at this general time within this reality has acquired the undue attention of certain unsavory malevolent entities. As this area is under Alliance protection I have been sent to recruit five young, emotionally inclined warriors to protect this area, its people, and their feelings from undue menace.”
Momo squinted a little, held up a hand and placed her index finger slightly apart from her thumb. “Smaller words this time?” she said.
“I make you a superhero. You fight baddies. Simple enough?”
Momo nodded rather excitedly. “A superhero? Me? Wow, that’s so cool! I guess? I can’t wait to tell -”
The bear jumped from the desk and clasped its fuzzy paw over Momo’s mouth. “I cannot stress this enough, but you <i>really</i> can’t tell anyone about this. Anyone that is not a member of your team could fall under the influence of the enemy. Therefore - I mean, so keep your trap shut or you might doom us all.
“Now, in a moment I will give you what you might call a watch. It can be used to tell the time, but it has a much more impressive function.”
The bear hopped back to the desk, reached inside itself - oh, gross - and pulled out a watch from among its stuffing. It was tossed over to Momo, who caught it easily enough. Looked kinda pretty, so she slipped it on without a second thought. It felt almost right to wear it like that. Like it belonged on her wrist.
“I want you to empty your mind,” the bear said.
“Done.”
“I didn’t think that would take long…” the bear mumbled to itself. “Good. Now, in a moment certain words will occur to you. I want you to say them out loud. They will transform you into your superhero form. Got it?”
Just as the bear said, in the blackness before her now closed eyes words did indeed begin to form. These words were important. Words she could never forget, even if she hit her head a thousand times. Words that would stay with her to the grave and maybe even beyond that. Words she could not stop herself from saying aloud. “Pink Cheer Champion! Loving life power up!”
“A bit unorthodox, but I suppose it will have to do,” the bear said once the transformation was complete. “Now that any doubts you have should be erased, let’s go save your friend.”
<hr>
It was kind of strange for her to be going to the gym at this time of the evening, but for some reason Sumiko just couldn’t find it in her to care to ask why. It was weird. Like a buzzing in her head. She sort of cared about the fact that she felt so listless today, but the feeling was so light she had to seize hold with both hands and plant her feet in the dirt just to keep it from floating off into space. All she knew was something had happened in the gym earlier in the day, and that’s when she’d started feeling so blase.
Sumiko also knew she really shouldn’t be here at all right now, but eh, screw it.
“You were so right! I’ve never felt so alive!” a strangely echoey voice said from within the gym. Sumiko stopped for a moment in her tracks and listened. “Of course I was right,” the voice said. “Feasting upon their pep was exactly what the doctor ordered. I know! But it’s incredible! I’ve never felt so alive! Oh, but it gets better. Find another victim, and the feeling will intensify further still!”
By this point Sumiko had weighed the options. Creepy spooky voice coming from a gym that nobody should be in apparently talking to itself. Seemed pretty dangerous. But eh. Whatever. Apathy won out. She threw the door open, and blinked in minor confusion at the sight before her. “Oh, Ayako,” she said to her teammate, who was wearing a jet black version of their cheerleader uniform. “If you were going to another school, you should have said.”
“I’m not going to another school, you bimbo!” Ayako’s dual voice screeched. “Easy now, don’t lose that pep,” her shadow replied in much the same voice. “Finish what you started earlier, and leave her unable to care about anything at all! Just kiss her on the lips as you did earlier, and all her pep will be yours!”
Ayako licked her lips, and for a moment Sumiko thought she should probably run, but… Eh, screw it. She probably wouldn’t get very far anyway. Ayako seized her by the arm and tossed her onto some conveniently placed gym mats, and stared down at her with a ravenous expression. “1 2 3 4, give me pep and give me more. 5 6 7 8, don’t be shy and don’t be late!”
Suddenly the door burst open and Ayako recoiled from the surprisingly bright light shining in from outside. After a moment Sumiko’s vision adjusted, and she saw a figure standing in the doorway with hands firmly entrenched on her hips. The light eventually did fully fade, and she could see the girl in all her splendour and glory. Her face was familiar for some reason, but she couldn’t even begin to try and place it. Her long pink hair flowed like a river down her back, and was so vibrant, so full of life that it stood out even though it was only a little bit lighter than the generally pink colour of her uniform.
And oh! What a uniform it was! The material glittered and shone, creating an appearance of softness and lightness that refilled Sumiko’s ability to care just a little bit. She couldn’t do anything but stare in wonder at the one-piece outfit. The cute little pink heart emblem across the chest surrounded by white stole her breath away. The frilly skirt that went just down to her thighs seemed so seductive and yet so innocent at the same time.
“Who dares!” Ayako hissed at the intruder. “Who dares interrupt my feeding!”
The mysterious pink cheerleader cleared her throat and rose a small pink baton emblazoned with hearts into the air, and twirled it around while speaking in a clear voice that echoed throughout the gym. “I am the Pink Cheer! Champion of love! Protector of this realm! Warrior of the Emotional Spectrum! And I am here to cutely capture criminals! Give me an L! Give me an O! Give me a V! Give me an E!”
“I’ll give you something, alright!” Ayako screamed, and dove towards Pink Cheer with the grace of a stampeding bull, but all the same kind of power. For a moment it didn’t seem as though Pink Cheer would do anything at all, but then at the last possible moment she leaped into the air a fraction of a moment sooner than she probably should have… But then performed the splits right where she leaped, using the doorframe to remain in place long enough for Ayako to dash underneath her. That done, she collapsed forward and landed on her hands, apparently not particularly caring that this handstand position meant that she was causing her cute pink skirt to flip down and bearing her heart print underwear to the world at large.
Ayako spun around and immediately thereafter found her head trapped between Pink Cheer’s powerful thighs. Not giving up so easily, Ayako spun Pink Cheer in place, clearly intending to cause her to collide with the wall Except that Pink Cheer released her own grip and used this momentum to grab hold of nearby gym equipment, where she almost casually tossed her baton into the air - a gesture unseen by Ayako from her position, but Sumiko saw it all. Pink Cheer winked at her, and Sumiko felt her heart flutter for a fraction of a moment. Stop that! Stop feeling that way for a girl!
“You stupid bitch! Stay still for a moment so I can deal with you!”
Another overzealous attack by the possessed Ayako went approximately nowhere when Pink Cheer suddenly spun around, catching the baton in a twirling motion right in front of Ayako’s face. After a moment of staring at the now glowing baton, Ayako slumped to the ground.
Even so, the noise was deafening. For a fraction of a moment, Ayako stood stock still in place… Then she collapsed to the ground right at Pink Cheer’s feet. The beautiful hero looked over her fallen foe for a moment and took a deep breath before chanting while twirling her baton expertly. “Demon inside Ayako does not belong so it should go! She's always sweet and extra kind so now I'll purify her mind!"
… Wait. What was she doing in this gym at this time? If she got caught here, by either staff or her parents… Oh hell!
“Um, like, thanks a bunch I guess, but I gotta go! Thanksbyeseeyalater!”
Pink Cheer waved goodbye, then glanced down at Ayako’s now unconscious body. Her uniform was back to its normal colours again. Thank goodness. Her entire posture relaxed and Pink Cheer dropped down to her knees. “Wow! That was soooo super scary!”
And so a legend began….
<hr>
It was not easy having an IQ of 250. Everyone around you is just so -
“Show that silly has-been that you can easily take his Queen!”
Stupid. Like the people that decided to have cheerleaders attending an inter-school chess tournament. On balance, Aoi Kawaguchi had to consider that possibly the stupidest idea she’d ever personally experienced being on the end of. Not that she could complain. It wasn’t her style to complain. Nope. She just could not handle confrontation in that manner. She’d get up there, explain to them the intricate workings that go on within the mind of a truly world-class chess player, and then… She’d stammer. She’d trip over her carefully considered words.
She was the very model of a modern student genius. Her test scores were the best around, they surely must be envious. She knew pi to three hundred places, of that there could be no doubt. Just don't ask her to prove it you'd be here all day throughout. She could recite some fascinating facts about your cells and blood, then bring the evening to an end by talking about gaming HUDs. And while their heads are spinning from her data on biology, she’d dazzle them with facts about some complex space anomalies. So by now there was one thing that no-one could be oblivious: She was the very model of a modern student genius.
And she’d be the one that wound up looking like an idiot. Yeah, life sucked when you were constantly the smartest person in the room.
Which she didn’t expect to be true today at all, come to it. No sign of Mizuno, which was a rare thing. The rumour going was that her mother had to seal her in her room because she’d caught something nasty. Whatever. This wasn’t a real tournament without that tough a challenge to overcome.
… The weird thing was that a lot of the players almost seemed to be falling asleep where they sat. Serious players, too. People she’d known and played against in tournaments just like this for years. Just up and falling asleep for no apparently good reason. They’d all seemed perfectly awake earlier on, and then just as their game would finish up… Down they went.
Some of the audience members were affected by this malady too. Weird that. Was there something in the air? Whatever it was, she must’ve had the antidote. And so must that pink-haired cheerleader. Her teammates were looking pretty bleary eyed, but on she trucked. Huh. Almost have to admire that kind of spirit, if it wasn’t likely propelled forward by blind stupid optimism…
“And *yawn* do excuse me, it would appear that Miss Kawaguchi wins this game! Congratulations Miss Kawaguchi… You go… On… To… *yawn* the finals.”
She shot the announcer a rather meaner look than she’d thought herself capable of. Well, it looked like a dark horse had managed to reach the finals at least… If only he didn’t look like he was about to drop dead where he stood! Maybe then he might make things interesting. Aoi sighed to herself. If only there were some sort of challenge for her to deal with today. Something really worth pitting her intellect against.
<hr>
The finals didn’t complete. It was kind of difficult to do so when her opponent collapsed in the middle of making a move. Not that anyone seemed shocked by this. Not that any of them could have. They were all asleep as well. What the hell was going on around here?
“My, my!” said the only other awake person in the room. One of the judges. “All asleep except for you. How very... unfortunate for you, my dear. I wonder why you are unaffected?”
The elderly man stood up and balled his fist. Suddenly, each of his fingers turned into a chess piece. Sharp and heavy-looking chess pieces. “But I suppose a little dissection would reveal that, no? Stay still a moment, my dear, and you’ll be asleep like all the rest!”
“Not so fast!” a voice yelled from the entrance. It was… That same pink-haired girl from earlier, wearing an entirely different uniform. Huh? “I am Pink Cheer, and I’m here to capture criminals!” Whatever! This distraction was just what Aoi needed! She ran across the room and dove underneath a table, and just in the nick of time too! To her amazement, the chess pieces around the room began to levitate menacingly towards Pink Cheer. Didn’t seem like much of a threat, until one of them happened to move over the chair Aoi had previously been sitting on, gliding across the surface. The chair was sliced in two. A little while later Pink Cheer was trapped in a corner, surrounded by enemy pieces with nowhere at all to go… And worse yet, there were chess pieces guarding the door! They were trapped! They were going to get killed!
Aoi’s foot nudged something. It was… a blue watch and some weird-looking teddy bear she hadn’t noticed before. The watch certainly looked pretty fancy. Not like anything she’d ever seen before. She felt compelled to pick it up, and when she did, she felt compelled to put it on… “Blue Cheer Champion! Calm intelligence power up!”
It was like she’d been struck by lightning. Her entire body just seemed to light up with power and energy. She was dimly aware of a strange blue light beginning to emanate from within her body, changing her clothes, changing her body, making her feel a strange sort of calm confidence. All her panic and fear simply vanished like it was never there to begin with. And somehow she knew why, she knew what she was, she knew she was -
“Blue Cheer, ready for battle!” she yelled through a blue megaphone that appeared in her hand as if from nowhere. “Remain calm, Pink Cheer! Each piece only moves in the same way that any chess piece can move! Therefore, if we assume the grid on the floor is like a chess board, you can follow my instructions to reach safety!”
A smile returned to Pink Cheer’s face, and she began to twirl her baton around herself in expert motion. Blue Cheer felt her heart skip a little at the sight, then scolded herself. It was only natural she’d have that sort of effect. She was Champion of Love for a reason. “Oh-kay! Nice to have you on the team, Blue Cheer! Let’s kick his butt!”
“Bold assumptions, girls,” the transformed judge growled. “But still just assumptions! You have no idea what I can really do!”
“Mate in three,” Blue Cheer said. Actually, depending on how stupid he was it could very well be two. No point in telling him that, though.
“I didn’t know you’re that kind of girl!” Pink Cheer quipped.
“Only for a guy that knows all the moons in the solar system by heart,” Blue Cheer joked back. A small part of her stared in slack-jawed amazement that she could say something like that, but right now she didn’t really care at all. Blue Cheer was calm. In control. Confident. Intelligent. And it felt so good!
<hr>
Her name was Akane Himura and she had a knack. That was her name for it, at least. Others were not quite so polite. They thought she was a little bit nuts. They thought she was weird. They thought that she believed in the supernatural. No. Not at all. Not one bit of it. She didn’t believe in the supernatural.
Because you don’t believe in what you know for a fact. Oh yes. Akane knew all about the supernatural. She’d been seeing ghosts and spirits since she could walk. Clear as day. Walking through walls, lamenting what they’d lost, wailing about how unnoticed they were. Try proving it to other people, though. Try showing other people something they couldn’t see. They didn’t see what she could see. They didn’t see the little auras or spectral effects left by things that were not quite normal.
Which explained her fascination with the occult. Only came naturally, right? She had to prove it. Had to show them all that she wasn’t mad! Figure out ways to make spirits visible, or maybe even capture someone in the act of doing something supernatural. Something irrefutable. Something she could use to change the world! Sure. Her attempt to create a supernatural studies club at school had gone down… badly. As in she was the only member of that theoretical club. Fine. So be it. She’d look into this stuff herself and even had two cases to work on.
“Momo, you really should study harder next time. It’s all there in the notes I gave you. Didn’t you read them?”
“Sure did, Aoi! They were super helpful! Got me sleeping nice and early the night before the test!”
Case #1: The school’s genius suddenly hanging out with one of the worst-graded, ditziest students in her year. Weird by itself, but that alone wouldn’t normally draw Akane’s attention. What caught her eye were the great big auras radiating from the two of them like beacons she could see from space. They were so damned big it had taken her weeks to narrow down the source. Weeks of careful measurements and calculations of something only she could see. Yeah, that went down a treat. But it was definitely those two.
“You really must take your studies more seriously!” Aoi admonished. The genius shook her head and sighed. “Never mind that for now, I suppose. You have heard the rumours about the people going missing at that new haunted house, yes?”
Case #2: The disappearances at the haunted house. Oh, yes. At first it sounded like a ploy to make the building seem scary. Pretty interesting advertising campaign, right? Make people think there’s something mysterious about it. They come to investigate, get a good scare out of it, maybe recommend the place to their friends if it was any good. Naturally, Akane didn’t particularly think too much of overhearing the subjects of one case discussing the other, since it was pretty popular gossip right now. Everyone was talking about it. Only she had noticed that the rumours were at least partly true.
“Yeah, sounds kinda interesting, huh? Ayako said she wants to pay it a visit. Sounds like fun! We should all head there together, right?”
“I don’t usually enjoy deliberate self-infliction of an intense controlled stimulation of my flight reflex, but… I suppose on this occasion a little experimentation could do wonders. In addition, I am curious about these rumours. Do you think there’s anything to them?”
And right about now was when Akane’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. Paying a visit to the haunted house, were they? Akane smelled opportunity, ripe in the air! Perhaps she could learn a little something from both cases at the same time? Perhaps she -
“Hi there!” a pink-haired smiling face suddenly rose into view. “Is there, like, something we can help you with?”
“Begone, demon!” Akane yelled, brandishing no less than three holy symbols right in Momo’s face. No reaction beyond an expected puzzled expression. How thoroughly embarrassing. “S-sorry about that. You startled me a little bit. I couldn’t help overhearing you saying that you were going to visit that haunted house later on. The one where all the disappearances have been happening, right? What do you think of that?”
“I dunno!” Momo giggled, rocking slightly on her heels. No sign of Aoi, which was a bad sign… No, wait. Her aura was retreating further and further away. They must have separated for now. Very well. “I mean, it sure sounds kinda scary, huh? I don’t usually like scary things, but doesn’t it sound super interesting? Wanna come with? We can make it a foursome!”
The perfect opportunity to spy upon her prey from close range! And perhaps with their unknowing assistance. Yes, yes! This was it! The perfect opportunity to gather the evidence she needed!
<hr>
Well, on the positive side she now had all the evidence she could ever ask for regarding the supernatural existing. Anyone would be convinced by this plethora of proof. Even the most cynical person would have to admit this was real.
Trick was, she was hardly in a position to tell anyone. Or speak, or call for help, or even move at all for that matter. It was kind of difficult when wrapped head to toe in bandages, it kind of inhibits exactly where you can go and what you can do. It had been eerie enough watching Ayako go through it. The poor girl struggled against the monster at first, but seemed overcome with indifference as time went on. She just sort of watched with passive interest as she was wrapped up just like a mummy. Almost as though all her fear was being sucked right out of her.
“Hold it right there, creep!” Momo yelled, Akane easily recognising her peppy voice even though she couldn’t see her through the bandages. No, Momo, go get help! Before this thing grabs you, too! “Sucking out the fear of innocent young girls is a crime I cannot abide!”
“To be honest, we should be grateful they’re being so historically inaccurate,” Aoi observed, sounding as intellectual as ever yet, somehow, calmer than she should be. “Otherwise there’d be nobody left alive here to even save.”
“Well, well! So you’re the girls responsible for our previous plans failing? Well! We’re ready for you this time! Attack, my spider minions! Ensnare these pests in your strength-sapping silk!”
“Oh, gross!” Momo yelled. “Get this thing off me!”
“Hey, wait a minute! Those aren’t spiders, they only have six- Mph!”
“Hold on just a moment,” a voice behind her whispered. “I’ll get you out of this in a second. While Count Dracula is distracted, I should be able to release you. I just need to free your hand like so... And put this on your wrist...”
Akane took in a deep breath through her nose as something clamped around her wrist, just as the mystery voice had said. It felt... Weird. Her now free hand flew towards the bindings around her mouth, and she tore just enough of a gap away to yell out of, and yell she did. “Red Cheer! Passionate about paranormal power up!”
The bandages vanished in the blink of an eye, torn to shreds by the supernatural energies that were now swirling all around her body. A bright vivid red began to settle upon her clothes and body, absorbed itself into them, and then both began to change in ways that excited her for reasons she could not quite comprehend. Her jeans flickered out of existence, becoming a tiny, frilly, red-striped skirt, the type she usually hated… But now, it felt so very right on her, it filled her with confidence and made her feel impossibly alive. The sleeves on her shirt receded, and on looking down at herself she realised it had transformed into a mostly red and white tight shirt that bared her midriff. In addition, her hands were now adorned with long red gloves that felt important for some reason…
And then her vision fell upon the scene in front of her. A would-be vampire count surrounded by spiders and bats, standing in front of two mummified figures with a now not nearly as distracting supernatural aura emanating from them. Akane clenched her fists and felt her anger building up inside of her.
“Get her!” the vampire yelled, and as one his minions descended in a swarm. Akane yelled and planted her hands firmly on the ground, then did approximately twenty perfect front flips around the room in the time it took to read those very same words. By the end of which she was standing right next to the shocked vampire, in prime position to give him a great big red glowy open hand strike that would’ve knocked the wind out of a hurricane.
She stepped over the toppled body and stood in the middle of the two mummies, not particularly surprised when the vampire turned out to not actually need breath in his lungs to operate. “Who are you?!” he hissed.
“I am Red Cheer, Warrior of Passion! Tell me, mister vampire. Do you know what passion means? I doubt you do, being an undead monster detached enough from humanity to feast upon them.”
“Silly girl! I am an emotional vampire, not the bloodsucking kind! Passion is a strong, barely controllable emotion or state or an outburst of same!”
With an unrestrainable cocky grin, Red Cheer lay a single hand on the shoulder of the two figures next to her. Her hands began to very obviously glow red and just as the bandages began to wither away, revealing both Pink and Blue Cheer ready for battle, all Red Cheer felt she needed to say before the beatdown began was “Exactly.”
<hr>
A tall, thin girl was leaning against a wall, her eyes half lidded, a baseball bat slung over her shoulder and a lollipop rolling around in her mouth. Her name was Midori Mori, and she didn’t need nobody for nothin’. Got it? Good! Her hair was the kind that looked like it couldn’t be made neat with a team of specialists and a trillion yen reward. She kept it kind of short, ’cause she got in a lot of fights and hair was one of the first things any dirty fighter goes for. Anything to hold on to was a liability, right? Midori figured she was otherwise pretty enough, had a great figure and in her estimation a rocking pair of tits, but not one time in her entire life had she ever met a guy worth showing off for. So she didn’t. Kept ’em nice and bound up, made sure her clothes were just loose and baggy enough to hide her hotness but not so much anyone could just grab hold and flip her over or whatever.
“Sorry guys, I can’t hang out tonight,” said an obnoxiously familiar voice. Oh yeah, that brainy chick from the next class over. The one that made everyone else in their year look bad. Midori very carefully made the attempt to ignore them, but the conversation did quite insist on intruding on her concentration. “I have a tutor job tonight. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, alright?”
“Sure thing!” an even more obnoxious voice said, dripping with pep and oozing what had to be fake friendliness. Midori’s curiosity got the better of her, and she couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow. Huh! A nerd like that, hanging out with a ditzy cheerleader like her? Guess friendship really could happen between anyone at anytime. “Akane and I were, like, thinking of checking out that new arcade. We’ll tell you what it’s like tomorrow, ’kay?”
“I’m pretty sure there’s something ominous about that place,” the third girl (presumably Akane) said, nodding her head with closed eyes in what Midori supposed was meant to be some sorta wise and contemplative gesture, but really just made her look kinda goofy. “It has a most suspicious aura.”
Midori rolled her eyes and was barely aware of the three friends splitting up, one going one way, the other two another. She simply closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of the wind blowing across her face while she waited for -
“’Scuse me!” a peppy voice said in front of her. “Um, like, hello?” Midori’s eyes opened into a half-lidded scowl down at the irritating cheerleader, who was staring up at her with an expression of absolute innocence. “I think you dropped this. It was starting to blow off down the street, and I figured you wouldn’t wanna lose it.”
Midori stared down at the girl’s hands. It was… a ticket to that concert being held this weekend. She’d been saving for that for months now. And had almost lost it if not for this airheaded little ditz. The notion stuck in her craw, but she took the ticket back and for the first time in a long time said the word “Thanks” without a trace of sarcasm. She stuck it back in her pocket, checked it for holes, then zipped it up to prevent a repeat performance while the two girls walked off down the street.
Five minutes passed by, and she suddenly caught sight of a member of her gang. He was a bit of a runt. Useless in a fight, but that didn’t make him a useless member by any means. His nickname was “Gopher”, on account of his ability to dig his way outta trouble faster than you could blink. He could get anywhere you needed him to be quicker than a phone call, and the look on his face was enough to make Midori’s muscles tense.
“Where and who?” she asked, testing the weight of her bat in her hand.
“The new arcade, and… And it’s the Black Wolves! They went nuts for no good reason! They called you out, and I ran off ta find you!”
The new arcade? Wasn’t that where…? “I think you dropped this.” Midori shook her head to get rid of the cutesy smiley face. Her tough teeth unconsciously bit clean through the lollipop she’d been chewing on, and she looked back down at Gopher with a straight back and a bat ready to bash some Black Wolf skulls. The next moment, the two of them were running down the street at full pelt. This situation had to be put down before it escalated!
<hr>
The arcade itself was a complete mess. No sign of cops, which was a bit odd all things considered. Midori strode in through the front door, then immediately spun on her wheel and knocked aside the creep trying to ambush her upon entry.
“One down, five ta go! Come on, guys! Ya called me out! I’m here and I’m waiting to fight!”
A sarcastic applause broke out, and the man himself stepped out of the back room. Leader of the Black Wolves. Some kinda nutso luchador fan, always wore a mask with a wolf shape and a tight black jumpsuit. Nobody knew who the hell he was, only that he enjoyed causing trouble and picking fights. He was every bad kid gang stereotype made manifest, and lousy news for the ones that just wanna be left alone.
“Strong as ever, Miss Midori! Stronger than the rest of your group, of course. But why should you fight us, when we could raise hell together? We could own this city inside a year. You and me. How ’bout it?”
“Not a chance, pal!” Midori yelled, pointing her baseball bat at him for emphasis. “How many times I gotta tell you? I only fight to protect those that can’t!”
“How very strange,” the wolf said, his narrowed eyes the only feature she could see. “Your aggression should be through the roof… But no matter. If you will not join me, then you shall have to learn your place.”
And then they stood up. All of them at once. All the people she’d thought were hostages, tied up to keep them out of the way, all sorta stood up as one, shrugged off their ropes, and advanced towards her in a giant circle. Midori was tough, but…
“I toldja it was a left!”
“Shut up, Momo!”
“I mean, you were just sooo totally insistent it was that right.”
“Shut up, Momo!”
“I just didn’t realise you had, like, such a lousy sense of direction is all.”
“No, really. Shut up, Momo!”
“Aw, come on. It’s nothing to be ashamed of! We all have… our… Uh…”
“Yeah, I was gonna say. Big mob of people looking pretty pissed off. Might be worth our attention.”
Midori gave the two girls that had just strode in a slightly irate glance, and just for a moment things were still inside the arcade.
“Uh, terribly sorry we didn’t realise this was, like, a closed set!” Momo said rather rapidly while backing up towards the door. “We’ll just let you get on with it, ’kay? Sorry for interrupting, buh bye!”
The two of them couldn’t dart off fast enough. Fine then! Midori never needed anyone or anything. The first opponent dove like a rabid dog and found himself being clocked right back where he came from, knocking down at least two or three others that were right behind him. Midori spun the bat right around and performed a backwards underarm strike that caught the breath right out of another one that must’ve thought he was real smart sneaking up on her like that. She then she caught another clear on the jaw with a kick in a clear reminder to the swarming mob that, oh yes, she had more than one set of weapons on hand!
But alas, that was about where her fury ended. Her standing leg was seized while the other remained in the air, and then her arms were pulled behind her back. Individually they were all much weaker than her, even though they were all aggressive as hell, but collectively she couldn’t hope to fight so many.
“Now, as I was saying. It’s time to teach you a lesson!”
The masked wolf stepped in front of her while the others all seemed to hold her back at the same time. Midori spit in his eye, and was rewarded with an almost amused tilt of the head and a blow to the guts that felt like iron.
“Did you really think a puny girl could match up to my superior might? It is time to teach you a valuable lesson about respecting those stronger than yourself!”
“Not so fast, you wild brute!” a familiar voice yelled from the entrance. “Leave her alone! We are your opponents today! I am Pink Cheer, Champion of love!”
“And I am Red Cheer, Champion of Passion! It sickens me to see you so overcome with my chosen emotion that you would so gladly take it out on the innocent!”
Midori was mildly aware of “Pink Cheer” throwing something towards the crowd, and an odd pinkish haze rising up from behind her. The strong hands let go, and she crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath. Now that she could turn to see, her suspicions were confirmed. It was indeed those same two girls, except dressed up in goofy-looking cheerleader uniforms. Midori’s arm trembled as she tried to crawl towards a safer place. God, that guy hit like a truck! She’d never taken a hit like that before! Since when was he so strong? Since when could he hit like that? It was like taking ten or twenty all at once!
Luckily the mob seemed more interested in the two intruders for now, and so she was able to get the start of catching her breath. Unfortunately this meant they were surrounded before too long. What did they think would happen here? That two silly cheerleaders could take on this many people all at once? How the hell had the Black Wolves’ membership risen so high in the first place? Where were the police already?!
But then her hand brushed up against something. She picked it up for a better look and saw… some sort of green watch, which had been lying on the ground next to a discarded teddy bear. She could swear the damn thing winked at her, but… For some reason the watch seemed to be the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen in her entire life. The watch slipped onto her wrist so easily, and then -
“Green Cheer! Peaceful harmony power up!”
Where Midori had once sat Green Cheer stood up with a smile that she had not felt in a long, long time. She felt so… rested. So restored, so refreshed! Green Cheer stretched out her arms and gave an experimental wiggle of her hips, relishing the peculiar sensation of a tiny skirt brushing against her bottom. It felt kinda nice.
At this point Green Cheer scratched the back of her head and noticed that she was gripping something kinda fuzzy. Looked kinda like a pom pom, come to think of it. She gave it an experimental shake, as well as the one on her other hand. It was oddly kinda fun.
Her head snapped up towards the sound of a fight raging. Her two allies, Pink and Red were surrounded on all sides! Pink was stoic in her baton twirling, and Red was courageously fighting on. And yet it was not enough. There were so many of them! Green’s first impulse was to dive in to help out, but… No! That was the wrong approach to take. She was the Champion of Peace and Harmony, which meant she should at least start acting like it.
Green Cheer concentrated on the mob. They were ignoring her for the time being… She began to shake her bright green pom poms in a rhythmic manner, cleared her throat and started to speak in the same rhythm.
“Hey, you simple minded jerks, beating them won’t be much work! Why don’t you take on the Green Cheer, who’s standing merely over here!”
That seemed to work. The controlled masses turned their attention towards her, one by one, and she kept on shaking her pom poms around, even adding a little bounce to her step as she went. That’s right, get away from those two! Green Cheer is the more interesting target by far! One of them got a little too close for her liking, so Green Cheer decided now would be the perfect time to add a few high kicks to her developing routine. Another came too close, so she lashed out and struck them in the face with her pom pom’s sturdy handle.
“One by one and down you go, I’m too fast and you’re too slow!”
She rolled backwards, pushed off the ground with her hands and was on top of one of the machines in a split second. The mob began to snarl in irritation, but Green Cheer continued her still developing routine, enjoying every single moment of their attention.
“No matter how many, its seems that none of you can capture Green!”
A few stamps on hands trying to climb up dissuaded a few for a little while, but before long she had to retreat atop the machines one by one as the half-mad mob scrambled after her. Before long she’d run out of them to run on top of, but that was perfectly fine by her! She had a plan! She hooked her two pom pom handles together, and wrapped them around a light in the middle of the room then sent it spinning around in place while she dashed off elsewhere. Just as she’d expected, the crowd mindlessly snarled and gathered underneath them while she cartwheeled over to her real target with a baseball bat in hand.
At which point she was greeted with sarcastic applause by the figure towering over her tall body. “And just what do you intend to do with that?” the wolf-masked villain asked, casually taking the bat out of her reach and snapping it over his knee. “While your antics were entertaining, it’s time we put an end to this.”
“I couldn’t agree more! Go, girls, go!”
“Red and Pink double team blast!” the other two Cheer Champions yelled. “Passionate Love Baton Whirl!”
The form of the attack was simple enough. Using her Red Gloves, Red Cheer could power up the passions of anyone she grabbed, and since the Pink Baton was powered by its owner’s love of - anything at all, really - the two of them made a terrifying combination. With enough time and enough preparation, the two of them could easily purify just about anything they set their sights on… But during their charge up they were both utterly defenseless. Not that Green knew any of this quite yet. As far as she had been concerned, she was causing a distraction to afford them the opportunity to regroup. Anything beyond that, well, that was up to them.
Green giggled as she took her place beside two of her new teammates. Yes. It would be good to have friends like these by her sides. Perhaps, after all, she did need someone for something….
<hr>
“Hello! My name is Hikari Nakano!” the blonde-haired girl standing at the front of the class said with cheery courtesy. “I’ve been living in America for the last five years, because my father is part American and we had to go there for his work. I hope to become great friends with you all!” At which point Momo could have sworn Hikari’s line of vision flashed over towards her for a brief second. Kinda weird, but whatever. The teacher asked her to take a seat, and Hikari skipped off down the row towards the one right next to Momo.
“Hi there,” Hikari said. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Momo said. “What club were you thinking of joining?”
“Oh, I was thinking of trying out as a cheerleader. What do you think?”
<hr>
“I think she’s suspicious, that’s what! Want me to sort her out?”
Midori cracked her knuckles while the others shook their heads rather emphatically. Champion of Peace and Balance, ladies and gentlemen!
“W-While her behaviour is perhaps more on the unusual side than otherwise, th-that is no reason to jump in without looking first,” Aoi said, trying to adopt a more reassuring tone only marred by her stammering voice.
“I getcha,” Akane said. “You think we should check her out a little before trying anything? I’m all for that. If there’s anything odd about her, she’ll probably be sporting some sort of aura.”
Momo just sighed, shook her head and tapped her foot impatiently. Hikari an enemy spy? It seemed too difficult to believe. But then again, those monsters had been getting smarter and stronger recently… Maybe there was something to it? Well, they wouldn’t be able to find that out until after lunch at the very least… Or maybe after school.
<hr>
Unfortunately, they never did quite get the opportunity to investigate Hikari, who disappeared almost as soon as school ended and was nowhere to be found during lunch. Midori had taken this as more evidence that she was suspicious, but Momo still wasn’t quite so sure.
“It’s circumstantial at best. We shouldn’t assume anything until we have more evidence,” Aoi advised. Seemed sensible enough, whatever circumstantial meant.
Regardless! They had other matters to deal with right now, like the obviously fake Cheer Champion breaking into banks and running off with their loot across the rooftops. An attempt by the enemy to ruin their reputation in the public eye, no doubt, because no way could an ordinary human manage such a feat! No way!
“Green, watch out for those fireballs!”
“On it!”
Besides which, she was tossing out fire like it was going out of season. No sign of a gas tank or anything to ignite flame, so… probably magic was a fair assumption. Even if it was just a trick, this was someone too dangerous to leave to the police anyway. Given how athletic they were, coupled with the fire… Some poor human would probably be burned alive!
The culprit ducked into an old abandoned warehouse, and the Champions stopped just outside it. “What do you girls think? Hideout, maybe?”
“That does seem likely,” Blue admitted. “It’s honestly got a good chance of being some sort of trap.”
“I’ll be damned if I let that phoney get away with besmirching our good name!” Red declared, her voice terse and her fist pounding into an open palm. “Come on, if we jump at every shadow, we’ll never catch anyone!”
“She’s right, you know,” Green said. “If we leave now, it’ll only make things worse for ourselves in the long run.”
“In which case, I suggest we stick together… but not too closely! Space out so it’s less likely we all fall into the same trap. Okay?”
All four girls nodded, and cautiously entered the building one by one. The entrance itself seemed pretty dark, hard to see anything at all. Blue and Pink hung back while Green and Red snuck forward towards a nearby door frame. Both peered inside. No sign of anything dangerous. They both stepped forwards, and then -
“Ow! Hey, wait a minute… A forcefield?”
“That’s right, you foolish little pests!” a voice cackled from above them. “Spreading out might well have saved you from my forcefield trap, had I not activated it once you were all inside and made it cover the entire floor! Why don’t I shrink it a bit for you, so you’re all a bit cosier, hm?”
Both Green and Red pressed their hands against the invisible force only to skid backwards along the floor. Before long all four of them were huddled together pounding their fists or weapons against the very air in front of them to no avail.
“You four have been a thorn in our side for too long!” the monster cackled in the dark. “It will give me the most tremendous satisfaction watching you all suffocate where you stand!”
Oh god, suffocation! The air already tasted a little bit stale now that he mentioned it… This was a pretty enclosed space, barely enough room to move at all! It wouldn’t take long before they’d used up all the oxygen, and then -
“Yellow Cheer! Hope prevails power up!”
The darkened building lit up like the sun. For a moment, Momo had to shield her eyes, but they rapidly adjusted. Suddenly she could see a figure standing in front of them. Whoever she was, she flicked her wrist and something long and thin snaked out, crashing into the forcefield like a thunderbolt. A blast of refreshing air rushed at them out of nowhere.
“Quickly, get out of there while you still can!” Yellow Cheer whispered, reaching in to take Pink Cheer’s hand. “He won’t be blinded long! This is the perfect chance to strike back!”
The Champions needed little further instruction, and by the time that impossibly bright light had finished being blinding all five of them had gathered around the confused monster, who had defensively cast a forcefield around himself.
“Why, you… You think you little girls can win? We learn from every encounter! Whoever comes after you next will be far stronger than myself!”
“Maybe that will be true,” Green said, twirling her pom poms around each other in a circle, each time faster than the last.
“But in the end it won’t matter,” Red declared, holding her open palms against each other in a motion similar to a prayer.
“You’ll all come, and you’ll all fall!” Blue announced through her megaphone.
“Because even in the darkest times, hope will always shine all the brighter!” Yellow said, casually flicking a long yellow ribbon around herself.
“We are the Cheer Champions! Bring on your worst!” Pink yelled with her trademark smile and twirling baton.
The fake Champion monster at least had the courtesy to wince and close his eyes before all five unleashed upon him the likes of multicoloured hell that only exists within the fevered nightmares of an incurable iridophobe.
<hr>
With the team firmly established, none of them could have even dared to imagine an encounter that would transpire just a few weeks later… When they would cross over from one area to another and encounter the Sailor Scouts! But how did this meeting go down?
- The two groups meet while pursuing the same villain, and they work together to take it down!
- Same as above, except they mistakenly believe the other is working with the enemy. Fight it out!
- The Sailor Scouts “kill steal” one of the Cheer Champions’ enemies.
- Other way around of the above.
- Something else
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