Chapter 1: The Bouncy Bully

  The five Royal Elements are relaxing in their house. It is a Sunday, a day that all five get a day off of their work. Despite the relief of not having to stand around for several hours, the five princesses have nothing to do right now. Fiamma and Tierra are sitting on the couch at the TV. Currently, there's a random reality show running.

Aria is using her powers to sit on thin air. She slowly lies down, looking similar to a dead goldfish on the surface of a fishbowl. She looks toward Fiamma and Tierra and groans. "I'm so bored, guys. Shouldn't we do something special today?"

"Pssh, I don't know," Fiamma says, half paying attention to the show on TV. "I can't think of a place where we can eat or visit."

Celeste enters the living room. Her gray eyes glance across the area. "Hello, everyone. I'd just like to say that it's been a couple of weeks since we've ever gotten a call."

"That's good," Tierra replies.

Aria flips her head upside down. "Aww! I would've liked to do something today!"

"Well, remember that we don't want people to take over the world," Celeste tells Aria. "We're fighting to protect, not to entertain."

"I know..."

Fiamma lets out a long sigh. "Not gonna lie, I'm pretty sure there's nothing because our commercial didn't work."

Aria flips through the air, landing on the floor and standing next to Fiamma. "Aw, come on Fiamma! We got like a thousand views from that video! I'm sure at least one person will call us!" Aria says.

"Yeah, because one person is a lot to work with for us. It's not like we're gonna get a call from that one person right now!"

All of a sudden, Celeste's phone rings. The ringing alerts everyone, even Marina who peeks into the living room. Celeste picks up her phone. "Hello?"

A male voice comes out of the phone. "Are these the Royal Elements?"

"Uh, yes?"

"Please help! There's this crazy hare that's stomping on everybody!"

The group of royals hesitates. "...You're serious, right?" Celeste replies in a confused manner.

"Yes! He's a bipedal, talking hare with a bad attitude!"

Celeste huffs in frustration. She begins to speak sternly with a hint of anger. "Look, do not prank call us. We may not look like it, but this is a serious group where we deal with world-threatening forces."

"Huh?" The voice replies. "No, no, really, I'm being seri-"

Celeste hangs up on the person before he can finish talking. Marina fully enters the living room. "Was that a prank call?" Marina asks.

"Yeah, it's just a prank call," Celeste answers. "I mean, come on, a talking hare? What could he even do to take over the-"

CRACK!

The five women jolt from the sound of something hitting their house's roof as well as the snap of something else. "What the hell was that?!" Aria says.

On top of that, the reality show that was on the TV has gone blank. All the TV shows is 'No Signal'. "Oh, what the hell?!" Fiamma adds.

The other Royal Elements notice the cut-out television. That was enough evidence to show something took out their cable satellite. "...I'm gonna check outside," Tierra says.

The earthy queen gets up from her seat and heads outside. After a few seconds of anticipation, Tierra comes back inside, holding the TV antenna, which has been snapped off its base. "Yep, something broke our TV antenna."

Aria's eyes widen at the sight. "How?! Did a poor bird hit our house, or something?"

"Hmm..." Celeste murmurs to herself. She starts to think. Is there really a crazy rabbit out there?

"Uhhh... guys..." An anxious voice speaks out.

"Hm, yes, Alitoid?" Celeste asks as she snaps out of her mind.

A floating entity enters the living room. It is about a foot wide and resembles that of an asteroid in the shape of a flying saucer colored rose ebony. It has mauve, glowing dots for eyes within its large holes and a similarly colored pair of antennae. "Didn't you guys just see it?" Alitoid says."

"See what?" Celeste asks.

"The anthropomorphic hare that just went above our house! I heard he's been terrorizing Ayers City and keeps squashing everyone by bouncing on their heads!" Alitoid explains.

The Royal Elements look at each other. They heard of a hare from that strange call they just got. Alitoid looks panicked. "Well, we'll need to stop him!"

The five look back at the floating asteroid. "You gotta be fucking kidding me," Celeste says.

The Royal Elements take Alitoid's words as seriously as they can and head out to downtown Ayers City. If both a caller and Alitoid talked about an evil hare, then the likelihood of one invading the city must be high. Celeste isn't exactly happy about this and is dragging her heels to the downtown square

Once the five make it to the large, glassy skyscrapers in the heart of Ayers City, they notice a shocking lack of people. "Well, there's nothing out of the ordinary here, aside from the lack of people." Fiamma says.

"Where is everyone?" Aria asks.

Tierra chuckles a bit. "They're probably running away from the talking hare."

Celeste groans. "I swear to god, if we actually have to deal with an actual talking hare, then anything could try and take over the world. We'll probably have to face a random teddy bear next."

Tierra sighs. "I mean, if Alitoid said that there is an evil, talking hare, then it's probably legit."

Celeste scoffs. "I still don't believe it. I wouldn't even believe it if that hare hit me right in the-"

Something slams into Celeste, making her scream and fall onto the ground. The other Royal Elements gaze into the sky and see the blur of something blue and red fly ahead of them. The thing lands onto a nearby maroon car and stands over the group.

The creature seems to appear that of a human, but it's very clear that it's something else. The thing has white fur across its body and is wearing a loose, blue t-shirt with a yellow crescent on it that is partially tucked into its red shorts as well as yellow sneakers. The creature's face has a short snout, big buck teeth, sunglasses, a red and blue backwards baseball cap, and long, floppy ears flipped to the sides of its head.

    "Ah, some new competitors to trounce? Don't mind if I do!" The creature says.

The five royal elements freeze in surprise looking at the thing. They realize that what they are looking at is a humanoid hare; it's likely the one that they kept hearing about attacking the city. Celeste is still on the pavement, staring at the strange animal. "Yep, I'm actually facing a talking hare," She says in disbelief mixed with a tinge of anger.

"Uh, s-stop!" Aria stutters, pointing at the hare and trying to look as authoritative as possible. "Just what do you think you are doing?"

"Well, slick..." The hare replies, adjusting his shades before putting his fingers on his chest. "...I'll have ya know that I'm Hoppy Hare, the best jumper in the world!"

Celeste gets up from the ground. "Hoppy Hare? I swear, I feel like I'm in a cartoon right now." Celeste says.

"Well, I'll have ya know that I'm right in front of ya, slick!" Hoppy Hare replies with sass. "Now, about what I'm doin' since one of ya asked: I'm decidin' to assert my dominance and title of the best jumper in the world by jumpin' on everyone's heads!"

Some of the Royal Elements raise an eyebrow at Hoppy Hare's plan. "That sounds really stupid," Fiamma says.

"Well, I ain't stopin' until I've gotten everyone and dominated the entire planet with my mad hoppin' skills!" Hoppy Hare proclaims.

"As if we'll let you do that!" Celeste shouts. "Your bouncing days are numbered, as we, the Royal Elements, shall stop you!"

"You want a competition, eh?" The hare asks the five.  "Well, I'll have ya know that I've managed to win the most recent World Bunny Jumping Contest, slicks!"

"Bunny? Aren't you a hare?" Tierra questions.

Hoppy Hare looks around before whispering loudly. "Don't tell anyone, but I managed to sneak in despite bein' a hare by lying about bein' a bunny."

"What? I thought hares and bunnies were the same," Marina says.

"Hey! How dare ya assume that us hares are bunnies!" Hoppy Hare snaps at Marina.

"Yeah, Marina, hares are generally bigger than rabbits and behave differently." Tierra supports.

Marina blushes looks away in embarrassment. "I'm s-sorry, I didn't know."

Celeste breaks the current conversation "Ladies, are we going to just banter with the enemy or actually fight him?"

"Right," Hoppy Hare says. "Good luck, ya glorified ball guests!"

Within an instant, the hare leaps up into the sky like a cannonball. He manages to go so high into the air, he looks like a small dot to the Royal Elements. "Damn, he can jump high!" Fiamma comments in shock. "No wonder he-"

"Fiamma, watch out!" Tierra exclaims, noticing that Hoppy Hare is aiming right toward her. However, the warning is too late, as Fiamma doesn't dodge the hare in time and gets slammed down by his feet. Fiamma winces in her daze as Hoppy Hare immediately jumps again after stomping on her.

Celeste, looking at Hoppy Hare, attempts to blast an asteroid at him, but the hare dodges it with relative ease. Hoppy Hare crushes Celeste a second time before leaping yet again.

The other three Royal Elements attempt to fire their respective elements at Hoppy Hare, but the hare is simply too nimble for him while he's airborne. As Hoppy Hare aims for the rest of the Royal Elements, they could hear him counting. "Three... Four..."

"BINGO!" The hare exclaims as he squishes the last Royal Element, that being Aria. Despite this, the hare doesn't let down his guard and continues to hop into the sky.

"Man, his jumps are no joke," Tierra says as she rubs her head. "How are we gonna deal with that?"

The five magical girls don't have much time to think before their brains are caved in by Hoppy Hare again. Despite this, Aria manages to come up with something. "Oooh, I have one!" Aria answers, before shouting up into the sky where Hoppy Hare is at. "Hey Hare Man, come down here! I want a jumping contest!"

Hoppy lands on Marina, making her collapse onto the ground and scream in pain. "Eh, ya want a challenge, slick?" Hoppy Hare asks Aria. "I guess ya want a death wish!"

Aria and Hoppy both leap into the air. As the two go higher in the air, Hoppy Hare noticed that Aria didn't bend her knees when she jumped. Hoppy realized that Aria wasn't jumping up into the air, she was flying like a superhero. "Ay, flyin' is cheatin', ya scumbag!" Hoppy says.

"And I call you a hypocrite, 'Bunny'!" Aria bites back.

The moment Hoppy Hare reaches the peak of his jump, Aria shoots a lightning bolt from her hand, electrocuting the humanoid animal. The hare lets out a scream before dropping like a fly and plopping onto the ground lifelessly.

"Huh, that was easier than I thought," Celeste comments. "Clever thinking, Aria."

"Thanks!"

"I guess I'll just restrain him before he wakes up." Tierra says as she walks up to the knocked out, crispy hare. She rolls the hare onto his belly and puts his hands behind his back, tying them together using vines as makeshift handcuffs.

But, before Tierra could do anything else to the hare, he suddenly springs back to life and kicks her away. Tierra yelps in surprise as she lands on her rear.

Hoppy Hare stands up. "I ain't done yet, ya dirty celery butt! I may now be a cuffed hare, but I'm still a hoppy hare!" Hoppy quips.

"Don't worry, guys, I'll just zap him again!" Aria reassures the other Royal Elements

Aria tries to shoot at Hoppy Hare again, but he dodges this time. "Not this time, ya flyin' cauliflower!" Hoppy Hare says.

Hoppy jumps into the air and launches a kick straight into Aria's face. The kick stuns Aria and makes her plummet to the ground, landing with a loud thud. Marina looks at her fallen crewmate concerningly. "Uh, what now?" She asks.

Fiamma thinks for a moment. She comes up with something, intentionally going below Hoppy Hare. Marina is confused by this. "Er, Fiamma, what are you-"

Right before Hoppy Hare hits Fiamma a second time, Fiamma snaps her head to the side. This causes Hoppy to land his foot into one of the points on Fiamma's head. "YOW!" Hoppy Hare screams, lightly bouncing on his uninjured sole. "My lucky foot!"

"Heh, you made him hit your crown, not your crown." Tierra jokingly says.

Using this moment of distraction to her advantage, Fiamma fires a flame at the Hare. Hoppy shouts in pain again and bounces back the moment the fire hits him.

As Hoppy is stunned by the fire, Tierra throws a rock at him to add to the damage. Said stone hits the hare's gut, making him stammer backward. Hoppy Hare groans as he looks at the current situation.

While Hoppy Hare took out one of the Royal Elements, the others are still going strong. The constant string of hits are making his reflexes slower and his tiredness crawl up upon him. On top of that, his hands aren't usable thanks to the strong vines keeping them behind his back.

With his hands tied both literally and figuratively, Hoppy Hare picks the best thing he thinks he can do right now. "Screw this, I'm bouncin' outta here! See ya, ya rotten compost!" The hare says, turning around and hopping away with shorter leaps.

"Oh no you don't!" Celeste yells. She wasn't just going to let the cowardly hare just run away like that. Celeste fires a meteor straight towards Hoppy and manages to hit him this time. Hoppy trips thanks to the large, burning rock and falls onto his face.

The hare is finally taken out again. Celeste turns to Marina. "Royal Water, freeze him before he wakes up again."

"Uh, okay!" Marina replies. She rushes up to the knocked out hare and sprays a cloud of ice onto him. Ice builds up on Hoppy until he's frozen in a giant block.

Fiamma jumps with her fist up triumphantly. "Woo, we did it!" She exclaims.

"Uhhh, now what?" Marina asks.

"What do you mean 'Now what'?" Celeste questions Marina.

Marina turns to her leader. "What do we do to the bunny?" She clarifies. "Do we, like, turn him to the police?"

"Uhhh..." Celeste stammers. Marina's question was actually a pretty good one. Celsete begins to think. What do we do with a talking hare?

"....I guess so?" Celeste answers unconfidently.

"Hold on, should we really do that?" Tierra asks. "Let's be serious here: would the police take in a man-sized, taking hare? Would they even take it seriously, let alone well?"

Celeste sighs now that Marina's question has gotten more complicated. "...Right. If we can't turn him in, what do we do with the hare?"

The four Royal Elements aside from the fainted Aria stare at the frozen hare for a moment. "Let's take him home for now," Celeste says. "Marina, Fiamma, try to carry away the hare. Tierra, carry Aria since she's out cold."

The other Royal Elements notice that Aria is getting up. "Ugh, my back," She complains quietly, before talking to the others. "Hey guys, what did I miss?"

"...Never mind. Let's just take the hare away." Celeste speaks.

To take Hoppy Hare with them, Fiamma melts away some of the ice to detach Hoppy Hare from the concrete, making sure to not fully thaw him out. Then, Marina uses her cyrokinesis powers to haul Hoppy away without anyone physically carrying him.

Back at the Royal Elements' house, Hoppy is settled down in the basement by Marina. "Alright, now that we have him where he can't escape, what ideas do you ladies have so that this hare can serve his time?"

"Oooh, oooh!" Fiamma says, eagerly raising her hand and waving it around. "Let's turn our basement into a dungeon to keep him in! We are queens, after all!"

"Are we able to maintain such a thing, though?" Marina questions. "Won't we have to feed and keep watch of him?"

Fiamma thinks about Marina's comments. She realizes her idea wouldn't be sustainable in the long-term as more and more outlandish enemies are defeated. "...Fair point." Fiamma admits.

"How about we just... teach him to be good?" Marina suggests. "Like, tell him what's right and wrong."

Celeste sighs. "Marina, I'm pretty sure this thing knows exactly what he's doing. He apparently sneaked into a contest he wasn't allowed in, after all."

"I know what we can do!" Aria says. "Celeste, banish him to some alien planet!"

Tierra looks at Aria concerningly. "Do we seriously just want to abandon him on some random planet he might not even be able to survive on? That's kinda messed up, Aria."

Aria realizes what could happen to Hoppy. "...Oh. I guess that isn't the best idea, either."

Celeste hums as she stares at the frozen hare, tapping her finger on the ice that's encapsulating him. It was clear they didn't exactly have a clear plan on what to do with Hoppy Hare. But then, Celeste's mind figures out something simple. "Actually, I think I know what to do, ladies."

"Yeah?" Aria asks.

Celeste turns to her teammates. "We could just simply keep him in this ice cube. The block essentially acts as prison for him already, so we don't have to do much aside from keeping him cold."

"Eh, I guess that works." Fiamma says.

"That's perfect, Celeste!" Aria responds.

"That seems... horrifying." Marina murmurs.

"I agree with Marina. Keeping him in there is kinda immoral to do. Are you sure that's what we should do, Celeste?" Tierra objects.

"Well, we don't have any other working ideas, do we?" Celeste tells Tierra.

"...I guess you're right." Tierra admits. "Let's keep him in there."

"Then it's settled," Celeste confirms as she puts her hands together. "We'll keep him in the cube for the time being. I suppose we'll stuff him in our freezer?"

"What?! He's gonna take up so much room!" Fiamma loudly argues. "He'll waste a lot of space for food!"

"Well, I guess we'll just keep him out and have Marina freeze him if he thaws too much. We'll just find a more permanent place for him later on." Celeste answers. "Now, how about we celebrate our victory with a royal dinner, hm?"

Fiamma sighs at her leader. She wasn't sure if their plan of keeping Hoppy Hare like that was going to last. She ultimately rolls with it to not further complicate matters with the hare's punishment. "Fine, I guess we can do that. I'll go cook us some steaks now, I guess."

The five Royal Elements leave the basement, not realizing the now alone Hoppy Hare is still conscious and looking that them. Ah geez, looks like I'm gonna be stuck in here for a while. Hoppy Hare thinks to himself. I hope they at least play some good music.

After some time, a song begins to play throughout the house. It sounds that of a pop song with techno-like instruments mixed into it. A female, metallic-sounding voice comes from the music as it sings about being a digital girl with an amazing dream.

Hoppy Hare internally moans in frustration. He can recognize this as one of the works of Micah Phone, a cutesy music idol that has a humongous and loyal fanbase. Hoppy's thoughts on Micah, however, are an exception. Not this glittery techno garbage! Hoppy says in his mind.

Meanwhile, in the living room of the Royal Element's home, Aria is dancing to the music of Micah Phone coming from a speaker. Since the TV antenna is out for the time being, it's what she has to entertain herself.

Marina and Tierra are relaxing on the couch as Fiamma is cooking dinner in the kitchen. Celeste looks at the others, smiling. "We did great, team. That hare was surely a nuisance, but if he wasn't dealt with, he could have done a lot more damage," Celeste says.

"He wasn't that bad, to be honest," Fiamma mentions. "I guess we just got lucky with him so far."

"Yes, Fiamma, we could have fought something a lot more dangerous today. We have to remember that we'll have to be ready for whatever comes our way, whether it's something small like a human-like hare or something as big as an alien invasion." Celeste replies.

Aria, not paying attention and is just bobbing her head along the song, turns her head toward Celeste. "I'm sorry, what?" She asks.

Celeste sighs. "Let's just enjoy some dinner."

And so, that's what the Royal Elements did. They enjoy a steak dinner, happy to have protected their city but weary for what else could be in store for them. At least for now, the five can be at peace knowing things have calmed down and that Hoppy Hare is in his proper place.

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