[Tokusatsu Themes]

Darkness. Pure darkness. Only broken up by the faintest rays of light that managed to pierce through the blinds that covered up the window. Just as she liked it. Not that she really liked it, but at least like this she wouldn't be forced to suffer through the world looking down at her.

"Another day..." A young girl muttered as her eyes fluttered open. She had managed to wake up again. A shame. She hoped she would've stayed in her dreams this time. But at least she could still try again. Until she could escape this futile world and just live life inside an endless and wonderous dream.

The girl's name was Kido Mana. Her long green hair stuck out in every direction as her somber jade eyes were kept nice and hidden in the dark of her room. Truth be told, she wasn't anybody special. She was hardly even worth thinking about for more than a few minutes. But whenever people did talk about her, they were whispering amongst themselves.

They talked about her horrid personality. Her tendency to get under other people's skin. Her lack of smarts despite acting like she knew everything. Her overall bratty nature. A nature that had gotten her far when she was younger. But now that she was amongst those that could fight back and avoid getting teased by her and feel smothered by her fake superiority...

Eventually, Mana had enough. Since she couldn't live like she wanted, she retreated and became a shell of her former self. She didn't want to interact directly with the world. She just wanted to watch from afar and laugh at them. Laugh at them because they knew they didn't need to be like this. Because they knew they were better than her.

"Can't I just... Can't I just drift away forever..?" Mana muttered as she slowly buried her face in her pillow. She didn't even want to get up and turn on her PC. What was the point? She was just going to end up getting flamed for her earlier actions in one of her games. She wouldn't get anything fun out of it. Just pure pain and misery. Like every other day.

As she slowly laid there, unable to fall asleep, she slowly but surely started picking up on a faint noise. Something like a snake slithering across... the... ceiling? Hold on, that didn't make any sense.

Mana rolled onto her back only to freeze as she laid her eyes on something that shouldn't exist. She knew that from how much she had scrolled through the websites that bordered on the illegal side of things. They had documented incidents like this. Where people came face to face with something so unbelievable that they were twisted into monsters...

"Hellooooo. How are you, Mana?"

And this thing that was slowly dripping from the ceiling, this humanoid figure who seemed to be merged with the shadow stuck on her ceiling.. It fit all the descriptions she had heard. Though it was all the more unsettling to see in person, especially as it started to reach out towards her and stroke at her cheeks.

"H-How do you know my name? W-What are you!?" Mana shouted as she quickly pulled herself away from the monster, leaping off her bed as she reached for anything that might serve to protect her. Unfortunately the only thing she could grab was the dull and plain knife that she had been using to eat the night before. "G-Get away. I know how to use this!"

The creature laughed from the depths of its twisted heart was it slowly took a seat on the bed, the shadow disappearing as it reappeared on the bed itself, like the creature had rooted itself to the furniture...

Looking at her now that she was sitting rather comfortably down on the bed, she really did look human. Her long black hair reached all the way down to her ankles, while the front most bangs reached onto her bosom. Though they seemed to merge with her body at a certain point, turning into ribbons that were wrapped tightly enough around her body to keep her from showing off a bit too much of her sexy form.

"I know a genius like you've heard all about me, Mana. Doesn't the name Tenebris ring a bell?" The feminine creature from the dark said, giggling like this was all just some sort of game. Which it truly was to her, a game that she was taking great interest in so she could keep outplaying that silly Light.

Mana swallowed her spit and fear as she looked at the creature, nay, at Tenebris. She had heard about that name. According to the maniacs that made all sorts of strange predictions about Equilibre and the happenings within, the city was split between her and the Light, Lumiere. So if the Darkness was real, and if the Darkness wanted to see her... Then she was so screwed it wasn't even funny.

"I wish it didn't." The green-haired girl said as she slowly backed away a bit more. Still keeping her knife close to her, before trembling a bit as she turned it towards herself. "B-But if you try anything, I-I'll... I-I'll..!"

Mana's body was trembling. No, it was quaking. She couldn't carry out her threat, and it was incredibly obvious. But did that stop her from trying to act like she was going to make it come true? Of course not. She just hoped that the act was going to pay off. So that she could make this thing disappear. She didn't want to get involved in all of this..!

That moment of hesitation was all that Tenebris needed, the shadow that rooted her to the bed creeping along the frame down onto the ground and then right up the girl's body to make her toss the knife away, all while the woman grinned at the girl's feeble attempts to defend herself came crashing down. "Now now, Mana... I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm here to give you something that you've been wanting for a long time."

"T-There's nothing that you could give me that would be worth it..!" Mana cried out, struggling to get her hands free from the shadow's binds. Not just her hands, her body too. It felt like it was clenching so hard down on her that she couldn't really breathe much less move around. So much so that the natural need to resist somebody like that creature in front of her was dying down rapidly, all while Tenebris came closer and closer. "...W-What... What do you want to give me..?"

Tenebris smiled from ear to ear as she cupped the girl's cheeks. "I want to give you that knowledge that you crave, Mana. You want to be smart, don't you? You want to act like you're better than everyone, so you want to actually feel smart. Like you know exactly what you need to do at any moment. I can make that true. I can make you one with your beliefs... And unleash you upon the city, so that you can cause so much trouble that everyone'll be forced to look at you and listen to what you have to say."

"I don't... I don't want to cause trouble..." Mana muttered as she tried to struggle a bit more. But it was too little, too late. She couldn't do much against something like this. All she could do was listen and look at the black-haired creature until it finished trying to sway her to its side...

"Your heart does." Tenebris said, gently prodding at the girl's flat chest. "It's been neglected. Bruised, even. You've had a lot of trouble with the people at your school. Bullies too. I'm sure that if you just accepted my power, you could make them all pay. Maybe even make them into cute airheads that need to depend on you!"

The thought... It did sound enticing. But at the same time, Mana had enough of a moral compass to know that if she started doing something like that, it wouldn't be long before she ended up being just as bad a bully as the ones that had bullied her. "Why me..?" Instead, she pivoted. Because there had to be a reason why somebody like that creature had decided to target her. She was useless, after all.

"Why you? It's easy. A girl like you, filled with so much doubt that you're about to burst from it... That's exactly the kind of girl that's perfect for my plan." The living Darkness said, adding a giggle as she made a map of Equilibre materialize. One split down the middle with two Queen pieces on the opposite ends. And endless uncolored Pawns dotted throughout the city. "We all have our potential picks. Whenever I claim too many, Lumiere sends a couple of hers to try and stop me from going further. But who's to say that I couldn't end up stealing one of her pieces, before she ends up making it hers?"

The gears turned inside the young girl's head. Not only was she being targeted because of her circumstances...  But because the Light also wanted her? Then... What was she even here for? If they both wanted her, then there was no way that she'd get to pick and choose what she wanted to do in life. She wouldn't get to just lie down and waste it all away. Which was a good thing and a bad thing because she idealized autonomy above anything else.

Slowly but surely, Mana let herself fall to the ground. She didn't like any of this. She really didn't. She just wanted to pass back out and return to her dreams. Worlds where she wasn't quite able to control anything, yet still able to experience it all without somebody trying to ignore her. She just wanted that experience. To be part of worlds beyond her imagination, that weren't going to try and steer her in one way.

As she tried to close her eyes, the darkness around her grabbed hold of her face and forced her to open them, making her look at a hand being reached out towards her. A hand belonging to that creature. Brimming with dark energies, to the point where the girl's eyes were rapidly dimming...

"Join me, Mana. And let your brilliant mind be unleashed upon this sea of data..."

Mana... Mana reached out, and put her hand on the living Darkness' palm, as her eyes dimmed ever slightly until they turned completely bl-

"WHIRLBLEU!"

The wall with the window leading outside was blasted open as two swords spun through the air and wrapped themselves around the Darkness, tugging it into the light and making the sun shine in through the hole they made. Light that immediately made Mana recoil as she couldn't really understand what just happened. What was going on? Who just broke her wall? Were they going to pay for it? She really hoped they would, walls like those weren't cheap. Then again neither was her rent and she was actually rather behind...

"Aaaahhh... Natura! Glad to have you, been a while since I've fought somebody like you!" Tenebris giggled as the light was cast upon her, causing her hair and her body to bubble as the light was being swallowed up. It wasn't good for her, but she could endure this sensation. At least until she was done planting her seed inside the green-haired girl.

The one that had come to stop her was the cool-hearted and level-headed Natura Bleu, who simply swung her swords as they retracted, causing the blades to tear the Darkness apart and leave her segmented, without as much as a fight due to the way she had landed her hits. And with that Darkness banished...

"Kido Mana. Are you in there?" Bleu asked as she stepped into the building, letting the rays of the sun shine down on her back as her body cast a shadow deeper into the room. "I'm Natura Bleu. I've come to protect you from the Darkness, and extend a branch of generosity from Lady Lumiere."

Mana looked at the blue-suited girl in front of her. The blue-suited thing that claimed to be here to protect her. But all she saw was somebody that deserved to be destroyed. Somebody that deserved to be smothered. Somebody that deserved to be buried in the dark... And all those thoughts definitely weren't her own, as a simple look at her hand would make clear. The Darkness had taken root in the palm, causing her eyes to remain dim as it was trying to dig into her...

But it wasn't wrong. She didn't trust the Natura in front of her. Because she was an agent of that Light that wanted to take away her choice. So she started to crawl away, keeping that Darkness close to her. Not to protect her. But to act as a counterbalance. "G-Go away. Leave me. I don't want any part in any of this. I don't want to be part of the Light, or part of the Dark..!"

Bleu shook her head as she walked closer, reaching out to the young girl who she couldn't help but pity. She saw herself in her. A girl who wanted to act according to her own desires. But there was more to life than acting on your impulses. You needed to learn when you could put all of that to the side to act for the greater good. And this was one such time. "Take my hand, Mana. You'll be free from the Darkness. And Lady Lumiere's grace will flow through you."

Just looking at that hand was enough to send a wave of pure bliss through the girl. She didn't want to lean into it and accept the warmth, because she knew it was bad. But at the same time, what was she supposed to do? She wasn't good at anything. She wasn't even close to smart, she was an outright idiot. Was this truly going to make her better? Was Lumiere able to do something like that..?

With her darkened eyes slowly lighting back up until her eyes were bright and empty, Mana used her darkened hand to grab Bleu's, hoping that her words and promises would come true. Hoping that she could make it all go away. And make her... make her...

A shock of pure darkness and light rushed through Mana as she struggled to move. It was like the two forces were trying to tear into her and claim supremacy. Whether it was the Darkness telling her to try and kill the girl in front of her, or the Light trying to wash away all of her worries and make her a good agent of Lumiere. It was all... It was all so much. How was somebody supposed to deal with this..? How was... How? HOW!? COULDN'T ANYBODY JUST TELL HER HOW?!

Mana's eyes widened as they turned a solid shade of jade, all while her body trembled and sparked, to the point where Bleu was forced to step away to not get caught inside the spiral of pure emotional energy. It was unlike anything she had ever seen or experienced before. Neither Rouge, nor Lady Lumiere, had prepared her for this. And all she could do was just watch.

The furious winds of her heart were spiraling around the green-haired girl as she reached into the air, a dial forming on her wrist just as if she had been properly inducted by Lady Lumiere's powers. She was definitely chosen to be a Natura. So why did her current state bring such a sense of worry to the blue-haired girl's heart..?

"NATURALIZE!"

Mana shouted from the depth of her heart as she clawed through the air, the winds erupting from the dial as they synergized with the winds inside her. Her skin seemed to be blown away and replaced with a solid layer of stretchy green material. The whites and blacks that were characteristic of the Natura armor soon followed, though much like Bleu's unique skirt-cape, she was given an accessory of her own. A cape that covered up her shoulders and reached down to her waist, the cape briefly fluttering thanks to the powerful winds that were helping her transform.

She felt... She felt powerful. Not only that, but the two influences inside her had come to an agreement after they felt her voice shouting at them. The light that tied her to Lumiere ended up winning out. But the Darkness had eroded its influence just enough that she didn't feel any burning drive to follow orders. No, it gave her that freedom that she craved. That freedom of choice that would allow her to do anything...

Not only that, but looking ahead gave her a better understanding of everything around her. The way that she had shut herself away. The ways she could use a room like hers to her advantage. The fact that the Darkness was in the middle of stitching itself back together while they were both busy, and that she had gained the level of intellect that she craved. Not just that, it was a sense of pure ingenuity. She knew exactly how she could use her powers. She knew it all... And she knew that the thing in front of her wasn't worth her time, now that she had control of it all.

"Winds of Ingenuity! Natura Vert!" Even if she wasn't going to follow along to Lumiere's exact orders, she did want to deal with the Darkness. Just because it had tried to use her. So just this once, she'd fight alongside Natura Bleu.

Bleu smiled as she felt the supportive winds of her new ally, even if she felt a bit odd about her. Still, she looked towards Tenebris, both blades pointed directly at it. "Stand back up, Tenebris. We know you're not done. You would never be done after something as simple as a hit like that." The heroine filled with Conviction spoke as her blades quickly started to extend and lay flat on the ground, waiting for their prey to get back up.

Tenebris sighed as she put herself back together with a quick shove, standing back up with a disappointed pout. "Now you've gone and done it. I had been so careful, and I tried to make sure that you guys couldn't stop me. But here you are. Getting in my way. When I almost had Mana's heart in my grasp." The Darkness whined as her arms slowly started to lengthen until they sharpened into blacker blades, all while the rest of her arms turned the same black shade as her hair. "Guess I'll just have to carve it out and feed it to one of my monsters instead!"

"In your dreams, Tenebris!" Vert shouted as she drew her hands through the air, the winds coalescing around her palms as two bronzed daggers appeared in her hands. "Bleu! Follow my mark, I can disable her and set her up for your attacks!" If they were going to fight together, she wouldn't tolerate failure. She'd steer this down the path she wanted!

Bleu nodded as she dashed towards the blade-armed enemy, hoping to bring her ally a bit of breathing room so she could analyze the situation. To that end, she swung with one of her extended blades and retracted the other, so she could try and land a cheeky blow on Tenebris when she was busy trying to block one impending strike. However, that didn't really work as the Darkness just spread her arms out and blocked both blows at the same time, all while laughing from the depths of her heart.

"Ahahaha! That's more like it! Just like old times when I fought against the girl who came before you!" Tenebris was feeling the beat of her heart. The tense sensation inside her cold twisted muscle. It was the best kind of feeling. She hadn't expeirenced it in a while, because that girl had decided to disappear. But here were two good replacements! She'd love to corrupt them, just like she had tried to corrupt her!

"Like she before us, we'll fight to make sure that you won't harm another soul!" Bleu cried out as she pushed back against those blades. Anything to give her ally that little moment to breathe. She knew that she'd figure out a strategy. She just needed to give her that solitary moment!

Tenebris just laughed in the face of this resistance as she suddenly swapped her arms to two pronged blades, catching both of those swords between them. "Oh, I'll harm as many as I want! How else am I going to spread my Darkness!?" She shouted, as she tried to twist her arms until those blades snapped off. That way, the water-wielding heroine would be a much easier threat to handl-

A knife flew at her. No, a dagger. And the Darkness was too occupied by her attempt to break those blades that the dagger went straight into her cheek. Not that it hurt too much, it just jutted out of her like it nothing bad had really happened. Not even a droplet of blood poured down her cheek. It was just sitting in her cheek.

"So, you want to play dirty, Mana? Oh, don't you worry. I can play dirty too. Here, why don't I give that dagger back?" Tenebris laughed a bit more as the dagger sank into her, all while the pointed end of that same dagger started to multiply across her skin, each of the blades pointing towards one of the Naturas as they were about to taste something much worse than a single blade slashing through them.

Vert clenched her fist and then swung it. "Vert Vibration!" She shouted, as the winds that formed the dagger started to spin and spin harder and harder, causing the dagger to vibrate more and more. A result that was replicated across the Darkness' skin with every second that passed, sending all of the daggers into disarray in the process..!

Tenebris laughed as she felt all of those blades vibrating inside her. It was a painful sensation. Much more than when the dagger made impact with her face. Oh yes. Now she was really feeling it. The way that a girl's winds of change were forcing her to accept her. It was being transformed into violent energy that was tearing her apart at the seams... But that was all the more reason for her to launch her assault before it was too late!

"HAVE IT ALL BACK, MANA!" The Darkness erupted as her body repeatedly exploded in every spot that had a dagger that jutted out. These explosions were the propulsion that they needed, though due to the disarray they were now aimed improperly. A good amount of them were aimed at the two Natura, for sure, but not all of them. Most of them were just aimed at the floors or the ground below, and those that did manage to try and make impact...

"Bleu Splash!" Bleu shouted as she dropped her blades in the span between the daggers being launched from Tenebris' body and the daggers lodging themselves into her body. In that moment, her body suddenly turned into liquid, barely standing up thanks to the powers rushing through her, as every single one of those daggers went flying straight through her without doing any damage to her. And once the last one had left her body, her body went back to normal, the girl forced to fall onto her knees to try and recover the breath that she had held to make all of this possible.

Vert, meanwhile, had begun to spin around using her other dagger as a point of emphasis. A wind was blowing thanks to the guide from her tip, the current catching the daggers that flew towards her as they joined into one long stream that almost made them look like one terribly jagged and enormous dagger instead of many smaller ones. It would certainly feel like whoever got hit by this stream had been torn apart by a massive blade instead of enduring a thousand smaller cuts.

"Here! I'll return them back to you! They were my gift, after all!" Vert shouted as she came to an abrupt stop, the tip of her remaining dagger pointed towards the enemy. And like the blades were following its command, they all flew in one straight line towards the Darkness. Ready to give her a taste of the cuts she would've inflicted upon the heroes.

Tenebris just spread her arms, ready to take them all in. She'd toss them back out multiplied by the size of her body. They wouldn't be able to dodge so many different enormous blades headed their way. Not without some form of casualty. It was perfect. The perfect rebound from the Darkness!

Which was exactly what Vert had planned. With a single snap from her fingers, each of those daggers that had gathered in the stream turned into a shorter version of her. They were still riding the wind, but they were now a lot more dangerous. Because was a dagger able to do that a girl couldn't?

"Take this, Tenebris! VERT VISAGE!" The newly minted Natura cried out as each of the Vert clones drew started to somersault, before their heels pointed towards the Darkness. This was a strike that she could not absorb, and one that she had no time to deflect. She would endure the potency of her winds, and how they carried these young girls all the way to the end!

Tenebris laughed as the heels smashed against her body with such rapid intensity that she was blown back, each of the kicks landing within fractions of a second between one another. She could still feel the heels digging in too, even once she had gone flying. And what, pray tell, was her reaction to being hit by something akin to a horde of tiny cuties that wanted nothing more than to see her defeated?

It made her laugh as she slowly started to sink into the ground, the sun casting a shadow for her to escape through. "Well done, well done! I'll be back again, but you've certainly earned by respect, Natura Vert! Ahahahaha!" And with those last few words, she disappeared...

Leaving just Vert and Bleu standing there, with Bleu feeling a bit of sweat pouring down her face. "...I thought you said you were going to give me an opening, Vert." She was honestly surprised she didn't get one. She had expected it, almost prepared herself for it. So to be rejected like this...

"I wanted to teach her a lesson. Besides, we ended up winning, didn't we?" A bratty smile forced its way onto Vert's face. "Now... How about you show me where you hang out? I wanna see who else has been protecting this city. And if they're as gullible as you are."

Bleu could almost feel a bit of regret filling her. But at the same time, she just smiled and nodded, patting the shorter girl on the head as she started leading her away. All while Vert huffed and puffed like the brat that she was.

Lady Lumiere must've had a reason for wanting to induct such a brat into their ranks...

---

Lumiere bit her nail as she watched from the comfort of her Light. Because this wasn't in the plan. Did Tenebris figure out what she had planned?

No matter. She would just have to accelerate. And she had the perfect pair in mind for her next Natura. And with the Strength and Kindness filling their bodies... They would be the strongest pair of Natura at her command.

Soon enough, Equilibre would be protected for all eternity... Just as she always wanted.