Episode 15: "First Step of Puchi Puri! A New Theme"
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"Wow..." Yuushi admires her new pendant.
(Actually, they're the same pendants they've always had; but they changed shape after the
candidates passed the "Power of Light" test.) The others catch her staring at it. Erumina and
Kokoru act fine (Erumina's the one talking here, of course--who else?) but Grenda, of
course, has to sneer at her. "A heh heh heh." Embarrassed, Yuushi giggles. Adoring fangirls! Looks like the candidates have
attracted a bit of a crowd. Vogue! Grenda and Yuushi "give the fans what
they want." "No autographs, sorry." I bet she's waited her
whole life to be able to say that. "So, you guys are fans too?" say the girls. FANS?!
That's right--the three girls have replica Platina Princess candidate pendants,
and think Grenda and Yuushi's pendants are just replicas, too. Hey...! WHAT DID YOU SAY?! Grenda, of course, flips her
lid at this. Not that I can say I blame her, actually, in this case... "I don't look like a Platina Princess Candidate?"
says Yuushi, downcast, as Kokoru tries desperately to keep Grenda from actually
mauling the three fans. No matter WHAT the challenge is, I won't back down! vows
Yuushi. And the first Platina curriculum is... DAY-CARE?! Yes, that's right, the girls will be working
at the Day Care center (or kindergarten, as it's called during the episode.) A
staple of the Princess Maker games. Grenda reacts predictably...SO predictably, in fact,
that Yuushi put her fingers in her ears ahead of time. :P Why you little BRAT! And isn't he a bit _young_ to be into
this kind of prank just yet...? "OUCH!! Gee, _this_ brings back memories...(I almost always
have my hair long, and back when my little brother was a toddler, he would go around
grabbing/pulling on ANY thing that dangled down at him. Naturally, my hair was a frequent
target.) Now what do we say...? The teacher FORCES an apology out
of the brat who flipped Yuushi's skirt...Puck. (For some reason, I find it interesting
that a _Japanese_ author would name the "trickster" character "Puck"...) Don't I know you from somewhere...? Yuushi gets a flashback of
what the teacher used to look like, back when they were childhood friends. GLOMP! She has such a _subtle_ way of showing her affection,
doesn't she...? Grrr... Meanwhile, Puck--watching from behind a tree--is NOT
happy. The Babysitters Club! A nice shot of the four girls in their
day-care-worker or assistant kindergarten teacher or whatever their job is, exactly,
uniforms. Comply. I swear, Erumina talks like a Vulcan or a _Borg_
or something...(Can't you just see, say, Seven of Nine, or T'Pol, talking this way if _they_
found themselves with a bunch of bratty kids? Can't you just _see_ it? :P) "Screaming
is futile. Snacks are irrelevant. You will nap NOW. . Comply." Then there's Grenda's method... Just cut loose and SCREAM at
'em! "Bonk bonk on the head!" Oh, wait, wrong show. (The way the kids
started _chanting_ "BRATS! BRATS! BRATS! BRATS!" like that just reminded me of it, a bit...)
The kids don't very much like being ordered around by _other_ kids barely bigger than them, and
rebel! WE DEMAND SHORTER NAP-TIMES! MORE SNACKS FOR ALL! MORE TOYS IN THE TOYBOX! (giggle) "You're about to die!" The kid isn't terribly scared of her,
though. Group hug! That's like, Rena's answer to EVERYthing... Puck's got a GIIIRRL-friend! Yuushi teases the kid about his
crush on the teacher. And he gets her back. Of _course_ he instantly knows the ONE
insult that'll bug her more than any other. "See what GREAT friends we are?" Yuushi and Puck fake
being "best friends" in order to keep from getting in trouble with Rena. WHAT did we just get ourselves into?! Oh, what a tangled web we
weave... For me? Thank you! Puck's acting _nice_? Something must be
up... And sure enough... She's been framed! Rotten little so-and-so... "No, no, really, it's not like that..." Not only do all the kids
honestly _believe_ she stole Puck's friends, but so do her friends. Oh, dear... Heh heh heh... Once his back is turned, the "sobs" quickly turn to
evil snickers. Who needs to forgive WHOM?! Yuushi goes out of her way--literally
to get Puck to "forgive" her. POOF! But it turns out that this kind of fruit explodes when
you grab it. What, are they cherry bombs...(that is to say, exploding cherries, not _small_
bombs.) Sheesh...transport hoops...rock doves that are made out of real rock...cherry
bombs...this place IS Xanth! :P Get me out of here! Yuushi falls into a hole, victim of yet ANOTHER one
of Puck's little tricks. And not only that, but it turns out this area is a playground for
baby dragons, too... "Ergh." I know how she feels. Kids in pond may be closer than they appear. Puck attempts to sneak
up behind Yuushi. "A-HA!" But he's foiled by the fact that she could see him in the
reflection, doy. Friends? Yuushi tries to offer Puck a truce. His response? Trick/scare
her so she'll fall in the water after all. Aiyaa... "Everything's going wrong!" A dejected Yuushi talks to Rena about her
problems with this job. Even Grenda can get along with them... Yuushi watches how her friends
are doing with their charges. Thank you for flying Angel Airlines, please extinguish all smoking materials
and return your seat to an upright position. It figures that Erumina'd be popular, don'tit? "I made this for you." Yuushi gives Puck a crown of flowers that she
made. He seems sad about this... Yuushi explains that this is the last time she and
Puck will see each other, so she wants it to end on a happy note. "We can NEVER be friends!" Oh, geez... "I really HATE you!" Oh, now you've gone and _really_ hurt her feelings... This just keeps getting worse... And Puck is crying for real, this time. By the
way, as a side-note (yes, I know I keep doing those, shutup :P)--this exact same situation happened to ME
once. I mean, I was babysitting these kids for a weekend--four of them--and three of them but one especially
were total BRATS. I mean _monsters_. They didn't keep doing things to _me_, but they kept fighting, hitting
each other, knocking stuff over, and I couldn't get them to bed until two freaking HOURS after their
actual bedtime, try as hard as I could..._but_, when it came time for me to leave, the very brattiest one was
like, "NOOOOO!! DON'T GO!!" and flung himself on my legs and sobbed. I'm totally not kidding. It was _exactly_
like this. I wonder...are little kids just like that all the time, or...? At any rate, let me tell ya, it was
more than a bit _freaky_, seeing a scene from my own _real life_ show up in a fantasy anime... Wha? Yuushi looks up, startled, as a new flower crown is thrown and lands on her
head. It's from Puck! Evidently he's forgiven her. Awwww... And he's put what's left of the crown she made for him, back on.
Awww... Now let's all be friends! A nice shot of the three of them together. Meanwhile, back in the castle... Queen Erisel watches as the tiara glows
suddenly--which we are led to _assume_ means that they passed the first Platina Curriculum correctly. But who
knows...?
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