[Freezair]

"STARBURSTS... EGG-SEMBLE!"

It had been... difficult persuading Mama to let her pack her cape in the pocket of her best dress, and Minty had been fidgeting all throughout brunch. She had been promised to go to the park for the egg hunt event, and she took every oppertunity to remind her parents and her older siblings of that fact. Minty had barely managed to eat half of her pancakes, though the half a chocolate Cuniflare sitting in her stomach might've had something to do with that.


Thankfully the others were there, just as they'd been invited. Best Friend hadn't been able to make it, sadly, and Papa had forbid her to bring Slippers, but even with only the main members of the team on hand, they were looking pretty good.

Pomona's basket hung by her side. "I wish they were using the eggs I made," she sighed. "I invented some great new dyes!"

"And I don't have to worry about keeping my powers under control," Jeremiah said perkily. A slight mist surrounded him. "April showers! April showers!" He said it over and over, as if he wasn't really considering what it meant.

Together, they waited for a signal to start.

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot ran over to Minty, Pomona and Jeremiah, the rest of the Starbursts trailing behind him. He had been just as excited for this event as Minty had, maybe even more so--in the process of rushing through Easter brunch with Snowy and Rena, he had spilled orange juice on his nice shirt. Luckily, neither had noticed, and he had managed to hide the light orange blotch near his stomach quite easily.

Woody smiled down at her bedazzled white cowboy boots Snowy had bought for her for the special day. They went well with her light blue gingham dress. She had even gotten Rena to tie a ribbon in her hair. But she felt the same excitement that had made Longshot dirty his good shirt as they approached the hunting area. She looked to Reverb, who was fiddling with her bracelet again. A touch screen had been added only a few days ago, and the little girl seemed to be shooting birds with a slingshot. "Reev!"

"Hmm, what?" The little girl looked up from her game, arching an eyebrow.

"Aren't you excited?!" Woody asked, shaking her basket. Reverb stared at the mint green one sitting on the ground next to her feet.

"Oh. Uh... yeah! Sure!" Reverb quickly turned off her bracelet and grabbed the basket off the ground, joining the group and getting ready for the hunt. This was going to be interesting.

[Freezair]

"Over here!" Minty waved to the others. Her white dress was picking up black smudges from the latex-robbed playground equipment. Pomona 's dress was green and springy, and Jeremiah was blue like the sky. It was fancy gear for hunting.

Pomona walked over to high-five Woody. "Great boots," she said. "Sparkles rule!"

"Over here!" Minty said again. She stood on the playground equipment. "We need a game plan for maximum  egg hunting efficiency!"

Jeremiah swung his cloth basket around.

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot ran over and threw his arms around Minty's shoulders, giving her a big hug. "Happy Easter!" he said cheerily, careful not to let his blue basket hit her back. He smiled as he saw the cape on her back. "Lucky! Snowy wouldn't let me take mine."

Woody slapped her palm against Pomona's. "I know, I love them! I think I'm going to wear them forever." she said, twisting them about so they'd catch the light some more.

Reverb smiled and hopped up onto one of the platforms, leaning against a pole. "Strategy! We should definitely work in pairs. That way we can split up and cover lots of ground. Unless you guys want to all go off alone, I think that the grown-ups can see us all from there." She shaded her eyes with her hand to look out to wear the adults sat and chatted at one of the park-provided picnic tables.

[Freezair]

"Buddy system," Minty agreed. "Let's do our usual. Me and Longshot!" She stuck out her hand to give him a high-five too. "Reverb an' Pomona, you two usually like working together, right?"

"I sort of want to work with Woody," Pomona said. "Then I get to keep staring at your boots," she teased. "Lucky. I wanted a pair of rhinestone lab goggles, but Mom said they were 'too much.' I don't know why she said that. They were really cheap..." Then she glanced at Reverb. "But you look really nice too! I just... love sparkles." She sighed dreamily.

"Me too," Jeremiah agreed. He pulled a glittery chick sticker out of his pants pocket and stuck it on the back of his hand. "Whether I work with Woody or Reverb, I'll be happy. I've been working on my rain. April showers!" And he did, indeed, point out a spot on the ground and send a tiny, damp cloud over it to rain. "I can make the wind rustle the grass so we can see inside!"

"Well, you can figure it out, right guys?" Minty said. "It doesn't matter who your buddy is so long as you have one!"

[Fallen_Snow]

"I'm fine with Pomona!" Woody said, moving her basket from one arm to the other so that she could hold out her hand to the girl. "And that's too bad about those goggles. They would have been real pretty. But we can totally do this! We just can't get distracted by the shininess!" the girl giggled, and took off, hoping that Pomona would keep up the same pace.

Longshot high-fived, his basket sliding up his arm as he did so. "Definitely!" he said, rolling up his sleeves. "Let's do this!"

Reverb looked to Jeremiah, who she smiled at nicely. "Hey Jerry, looks like I'm working with you!" She was a little sad that she wouldn't be working with Pomona, but those feelings were dashed away as she watched Jerry make little rainclouds. "That's so neat! You've gotta show me how you do that, so I can observe ya and stuff. Maybe I can get a new invention outta it!"

[Freezair]

"Alright! Me and Longshot will take this playground equipment and all the area around it." She gestured behind herself. "Pomona and Woody, you two take the big field and all the trees. And Jerry and Reverb, you go over by the pond and the snack area! Alright? STARBURSTS... DISMISSED!"

Minty leapt up on a psychic bubble immediately, putting her hand out for Longshot. "We gotta look from up high," she said. "I think I saw an orange egg on top of the slide!"

"Alright," Pomona said. "There's bound to be a lot of eggs hiding in the bushes. Hopefully no camoflaged ones," she said. "...Not like the way that cloaking potion turned out," she added sheepishly.

Jerry blushed and headed toward the pond. "Well... I don't need to tell you that the air is full of conde... comde... comdimsation. You know, it's water, but it's a gas. I can sort of... take all that water and make it into liquid again, or make it get together so it's bigger or smaller. An' I can do the same thing to make air move, so it's wind. But... I don't know what part of me makes it do that, if you know what I mean."

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot eyed the pink cloud that Minty was famous for with suspicion. He had been nervous to get on it again since his first time meeting her, seeing as they had crashed in the woods and all. But he took her hand and let her help him up, willing to risk it again. It had been fun, even though it was terrifying. "And I think I saw something pink by the swings, once we check the slide," he suggested.

Woody nodded, heading for the nearest bush and peering around it, getting on her knees to look under it. "Camo eggs? That would be cheating! They can't hide the eggs that good. It'd be unfair to the hunters." Woody said, sticking her hand into the roots of the bush and feeling around, her tongue poking out of her mouth in concentration.

Reverb turned her bracelet back on and touched the notepad function, writing as Jeremiah talked. It was a bit messy though, with many misspellings--an overload of s and l could be seen all over the screen in the child's wobbly scrawl, still unsure of her movements when it came to writing with her finger.

She stopped when he said that he didn't know what made it happen. "Hrm... this could take some time. But we have eggs to find and not lots of time!" she said, changing the focus. She tapped on her bracelet again, saving her notes and turning it off. "Where can you make your wind go?" she asked, looking around curiously, as if thinking the eggs would jump up to meet them.

[Freezair]

But Minty had nothing to show for herself if not practice, and the cloud rose easily. She smiled proudly. "See! I'm good at it now. Mama taught me," she said. "She says I have great apperations in my life an' she wants me to be a good psychic." Minty landed them in a tall "lookout point" on top of the jungle gym. They could have climbed, but this was faster.

"Yep! I did see an egg on the slide," she pointed out. "An' I think there's one there, too, hidden in the tic-tac-toe board!" Minty cast her eyes toward the giant wooden pirate ship next.

Pomona got down on her knees, negligent of her dress, to poke around next to Woody. And stare at those sparkly, sparkly boots. She was so wrapped up in them, it took her a moment to realize what was in the root right next to them. "Oooh! Look! A glittery egg! It matches you," Pomona said. It was covered in many different colors of glitter, and looked quite rainbowy.

"Hmmm," Jeremiah said. "Maybe you can run some tests on me. Like in the movies, where they stick little dots on you and make you run on treadmills," he said. "Treadmills are fun... Oh, the wind? Sure!" Jeremiah's little wind burst was actually reasonably powerful, and blew the grass around the pond aside. A few ducks and Wilsons went running from it. "I'll keep doing it," he said. "Tell me if you see something!"

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot smiled, patting the cloud. "You are a lot better than when we last rided on it--no offense," he added quickly, hoping that he didn't hurt her feelings. He spotted the egg she pointed out, scooping it up and tossing it into his basket. "The tic-tac-toe board? Alright, let's go! What do pirates say again...? Oh yeah! AHOY!" he shouted, pointing towards the ship. "Inward, Captain Minty!"

Woody squeaked in surprise as she followed Pomona's sight line to see the sparkly egg. "Oh! Goody!" she said excitedly, grabbing it and handing it to Pomona. "You spotted it, so you can have it." she said. She got up and brushed the dirt off her hands and knees. Looking about at the other bushes, she tried to pick another lucky one. Maybe there were more sparkly eggs! As she turned about, she noticed one bush with pretty pink flowers blooming on it. "Let's look around that one!" she said, pointing it out to Pomona.

Reverb nodded, reminding herself to look up the dots on the internet when she got home. Maybe Rena could help her buy some. Or figure out how to make them.

The little girl giggled at the ducks and Wilsons as they sought shelter from Jeremiah's gusts. "Alright!" she said over the wind to Jerry, squinting her eyes and looking hard as she trooped forward, enjoying the wind that kicked her black hair up around her face. "There!" she pointed one out that was as blue as Jerry's outfit, laying on it's side right near the pond's bank.

[Freezair]

"I know. I wouldn'ta let you come on with me if I thought you was gonna get scared again. 'Cuz friends don't put friends in trouble!" Minty helped them down, then started scooting them toward the pirate ship. "We can use the telescope to see too! 'An I bet there's something cool where... how do the pirates say it? Oh yeah! Belowdecks!" The pirate ship had two entrances: A lower one leading to a ground play area, and a ramp leading up to an elevated deck. Minty thought the darker lower deck was better for hiding, so looked down there.

Over in the trees, Woody said, "Speakin' of glitter, look!" She pointed up in the trees. Way up high, there was an egg covered in squares of tissue paper.

"I know what those are!" Pomona said excitedly. "They're hollow and filled with glitter an' confetti an' stuff. You smoosh 'em on people's heads and they get covered in confetti! ...But I can't reach that high..."

And Jeremiah agreed, "Cool! I like matching colors. ...Uh-oh."

He looked over toward the pond. He spotted another egg. This one was obviously decorated--it had stickers! His favorite!--but one of the ducks seemed to have gotten rather protective of it, as if it were one of her own eggs. Uh-oh.

[Fallen_Snow]

(Am I the only one hearing 'Part of Your World' as Minty and Longshot question pirate sayings? "What do they call them? Oh, feet!")

Longshot nodded enthusiatically. "That's right! We help keep each other safe!" he said. As Minty headed for the belowdeck, Longshot looked at the top deck. "Hey Minty, I'm gonna look up here, 'kay? But if you can't see the eggs in the dark..." Longshot fished in his pocket. He knew it was in there somewhere... aha! He pulled out a small blue oval attached to a little keychain. "Rena gave this to me for Christmas in my stocking. Innit neat?" he asked. He pinched the oval between his thumb and forefinger and a little white light shone from one end. Letting go, he tossed it to her. "Use that. It's a lot more bright than you think."

Woody looked up and stared at the tissued egg in wonder. How did someone get it up there in the first place? Looking at the tree it was in, Woody bit her lip. Her nice boots... she couldn't climb in them! Making a quick decision, she plopped down and began to pull at one, grunting at the strain. It finally popped off, and she went to work on the other one. "Are you any good at climbing trees, Pomona?" she asked.

Reverb frowned. "What?" she looked over to where Jeremiah was looking and spotted the mama duck, guarding her nest. "It's just some duck eg--oh." She saw the stickers, their neon colors standing out against the white of the duck eggs. Looking to Jerry, she shrugged. "So, you think we can get it?"

(Sorry if I'm a little slow now--Doctor Who is on! 40 more minutes and I'll be quicker.)

[Freezair]

"Cool!" Minty started squeezing it on and off quickly. She then pocketed it and headed under the ship. Light filtered in, but the shadows inside were cool and smelled like the wood the ship was made of. She nosed around in the climbing and sitting structures, and looked under the benches. There was one big barrel that she peeped into. "Ah-ha! There one is!" Appropriately enough, the egg was painted black with skulls. But she had a feeling there was still one more.

"Climbing trees?" Pomona bit her lip. "Not really... I'm a gadget type of superhero, not a powers type of superhero. Well, potions, anyway. Hmm... Well, there is my new highly esperimental Bouncy Potion. We might be able to jump up there..."

Jerry looked at the duck thoughtfully. "Hmm... Ducks like rain, right? Maybe if I make it rain over there, she'll go." He tried to direct his little raincloud. But it stayed stubbornly behind him. "Come on! Go out and make it so the duck goes and sees you! ...I wish you researched SUPER fast, Reverb, 'cuz then maybe you'd know enough to help with this. "He sighed.

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot watched her go until she disappeared under the ship. Once her dress floated out of sight, he quickly got onto the deck and tread carefully, being sure to scan every single nook and cranny he could see. He felt around under some of the seats, and he wasn't afraid to climb the rope web that was hooked up against the mast of the ship to get a better view of things. It was then that he spotted it--a bright red egg, pushed up into the corner of the starboard side of the ship. Longshot jumped down and ran over to it, scooping it up. In shiny gold someone had painted on a coin. "Dublooms! Cool!" Longshot said, dropping the egg into his basket. Now, to take a look through that telescope...

The boot came off easier than the first, but from what Pomona was saying, it sounded like Woody didn't have to take off her boots. "Bouncy Potion? Hrm... how esperimental is it?" Woody asked, reminded of what Reverb labelled as esperimental--her short-circuiting shoes that could make you float, her mechanical toothpick...

"I mean, I'm not scared, but I don't want boo-boos."

Reverb looked from Jeremiah to his raincloud. "Well... maybe you don't have to use the same one." Reverb suggested. She tapped her bracelet. "You said condimsation was water but gassy, right? Well... the pond has water in it... could you make a cloud from the pond water?" she asked, squinting at the shiny surface of the calm water.

[Freezair]

Minty was right! Deep in the hold (well, maybe a foot or two in), she spotted a treasure chest. It was covered in puzzles that you had to do to open it. But they were simple--fit the right-shaped keys in their holes. The box came open, and she peered around inside. Mostly, there was a painted-on gold surface, but a red dubloon egg--partner to the one on deck--was there, too. She climbed up the rope ladder down there through a trap door up to the surface. "I found two!" Minty shouted. "How about you?"

Pomona looked a little nervous. "Well... I tried it on some socks of mine. They seemed to bounce a lot better. And I poured some on a grasshopper! ...Then I realized that grasshoppers jump high anyway. But the grasshopper didn't get hurt!" she said perkily. She pulled a small bottle filled with something blue out of her pocket. "You don't mind if your hair gets a little blue, do you? It's the only food color we have left," she frowned.

Jerry looked at the lake and swallowed. "Um... Well, that's kinda the opposite, right? Normally, I make water vapor liquid, but I've never done in the other way..." He gulped. But he closed his eyes and held his hands toward the lake. His forehead folded, and his arms shook. A very thin mist started to form in one area of the lake, but did not go higher.