Sakagami Ayumi (Prism Hearts)

Sakagami Ayumi (坂上 あゆみ Sakagami Ayumi) is one of the main characters from Prism Hearts Precure. She serves as the mentor to the Prism Hearts team. She made her first appearance in Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage: Mirai no Tomodachi. Her alter ego is Cure Echo (キュアエコー Kyua Ekō) and she is the Singing Prism.

Appearance
As a civilian, Ayumi has brown hair done up in a pair of pigtails, and brown eyes. Her casual wear is a light yellow long sleeved shirt with a light blue jacket overlapping. her bottom features is a short blue skirt, brown ankle length boots, and short-length socks.

As Cure Echo, her hair grows much longer and shifts into a blonde color. Her eyes are also changed to yellow. Her outfit is a mixture of the outfits worn by the Smile Precure and the Suite Precure, consisting of a white and pink dress with matching arm warmers and boots, a honeydew layer underneath her skirt, and her bow which initially had the symbol of the Smile Precure, but after gaining her Prism Changer would be switched into the Prism Hearts symbol.

Personality
Initially a shy person upon moving into Yokohama, her interactions with the Precure have made her more brave and fearless than others. After Darkest Day, she felt like she alone was more than enough to restore the Prism Flower and the power of her friends. However, after agreeing to mentor the Prism Hearts Cures, she began to open up and act more like a mentor to the girls.

Relationships

 * EnEn and Gureru - As her initial fairy partners, Ayumi has grown close to them through her initial tenure as Cure Echo. They are normally the ones who help her with training Aya's team


 * Kyuseishu Aya - She was first against the idea of Aya joining the battle and wanted her to stay out of the fight for her own safety. However, after Nagisa and Honoka reassured her fears, she then decided to serve as her mentor
 * Mizumi Sakura - Much like Aya, Ayumi initially didn't want Sakura to join the fight due to the dangers being a Precure entailed. But thankfully, after some convincing, she accepted her help and became her mentor
 * Kogo Jou - Knowing Jou for quite some time, Ayumi often comes to her for advice when it comes to being a leader and the two would often have some conversations about their future
 * Sukui Hikari - As recent transfers, both Hikari and Ayumi shared the same classroom and the two created a friendship not to dissimilar to that of Hibiki and Kanade.
 * Sanagi Maya - Seeing a bit of her old self inside Maya, Ayumi decided to try and reach out to her and help her open up. Through repeated interactions with her and the others Maya gradually began to overcome her past trauma.
 * Sakeba Mio - Mio knew who Ayumi was from Darkest Day and treated her coldly. After her identity as Cure Hunter was revealed Mio would often mock Ayumi to her face about her powerlessness. However, Ayumi reached out to her after she became Cure Shadow, falling upon her knees and apologizing for not being able to save Mio’s mother. The two gradually began to warm up to each other after that.

Etymology
Sakagami (坂上?): Saka (坂) means "slope/hill", Gami (上) means "up"

Ayumi (あゆみ?): Ayumi (あゆみ) means "walking" or "progressing".

Together, Ayumi's name has the meaning of "walking uphill". This could be a reference to gradually overcoming a problem, like restoring the Prism Flower for example.

In audio signal processing and acoustics, an Echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. This also ties into her connection to Suite Precure.

Darkest Day
Ayumi was one of the participants of the Darkest Day incident, where a reborn Black Hole attacked the world in full force. It took all the power the Precure had just to seal away Black Hole’s and as a result the Prism Flower was shattered, its pieces and, along with the powers of the Precure, scattered off to parts unknown. Though her Smile Decor was broken beyond repair and her power lost, as the only Precure not connected to a group Ayumi took it upon herself to regain the lost strength of her friends and restore the Prism Flower once and for all.

However unbeknownst Black Hole survived their initial attack and began to attack the world once again in a smaller and more mobile form.

Becoming a Mentor
Having gotten separated from her fairy partners during a search for a bunch of Prism Cards, Ayumi happened to stumble upon Aya’s debut as Cure Light. The appearance of Cure Hunter also worried her so she decided to observe the situation for a while.

However, when she saw Sakura also become a Precure along with the girls suddenly calling upon the powers of Cure Black and Cure White she decided to take direct action and convinced her mother to allow her to enroll at Millennium Academy.

Ayumi confronted Aya directly and ordered her to give her the Prism Cards and to stay out of this for her own safety. EnEn vouched for her but Ayumi was still unconvinced. However, they were suddenly approached by Fusion who appeared to have lost all his memories except for an intense hatred for the Precure. Ayumi called out to him and Fusion suddenly attacked in a blind rage.

Aya and Sakura quickly transformed and managed to fight him off. During the battle Ayumi was approached by Nagisa and Honoka who happened to still be in town. They personally vouched for the duo saying their power was in good hands and Ayumi would need all the help she could get in order to accomplish her goal.

Ayumi came around after that and decided to personally mold Aya and Sakura into the best Precure she can be, much like her predecessors had done for her. They set up a base of operations in Ayumi’s basement and she would later join the Precure Fan Club with the others.

Ayumi wound up getting a job as a waitress at the Tako Cafe and would later become something of a babysitter for Saya after she joined the team, reprimanding her more than once for misusing her powers.

Obtaining the DokiDoki Miracle Petal
During a simple trip to the store,, Ayumi happened to stumble upon Mana Aida and Regina, who were looking for Aya's team. Being her usual self, Mana immediately wanted to help the Prism Hearts group out and hand over the DokiDoki Miracle Petal. Regina, however, thought that was too easy and since Mana was going to be busy with something Ayumi would be her “friend” for the day. Ayumi then proceeded to spend the day being lead around by the nose by the former princess and catering to her every whim. Just when she’d had enough, Fusion showed up again and called upon a Selfish themed Dark Matter monster. With Ayumi’s team not currently nearby Regina wound up defending Ayumi from the monster. Expecting her to pull her weight, Regina then tossed Ayumi the Cure Heart card and a makeshift Lovely Commune.

With the Prism Card powering the Commune Ayumi was able to temporarily become Cure Heart and hold off the monster until the others arrived. The team received the DokiDoki Miracle Petal which granted them the Miracle Prism Lights, which when combined with a Prism Card could transform into a personal weapon for each Cure.

The Commune broke after the fight, much to Aya's dissapointment. But Ayumi ressured her that when they regain her Prism Card, she would join her pupils in battle once more.

Becoming Cure Echo Once Again
After some searching, Dark Onibi is able to get his hands on Cure Echo’s Prism Card and created a Minikan, sending it down along with Fusion in order to cause havoc and to bait out the Prism Hearts Cures. Backed into a corner and separated from the others, Ayumi still refused to give up.

This determination suddenly forcibly ejects the card from the monster’s body, forcing it to take on the form of a Akanbe themed Dark Matter instead. Cure Echo is reborn complete with a new weapon and a Prism Changer of her own. With her new power, she easily defeats the monster with her new Echo Voice attack. This also causes Fusion to begin to recover his memories but he was quickly recalled by Black Hole before he could do anything. Now officially part of the team Ayumi rededicated herself to training up the group. The team also learned about the Miracle Cards, the final key to restoring the Prism Flower but at the time it was unclear how to find them.

Final Confrontation with Fusion
After multiple attacks on the human world,, the seal on Black Hole’s power had weakened just enough for him to sent his armies to launch a full scale assault on the Earth in order to gather one final dose of despair from the populace.

Ayumi’s house is suddenly attacked by a squad of Asteroids who had discovered the Precure’s hiding spot. She transforms in front of her mother and fights off the grunts with a little help from Emiru, who was using the Cure MaCherie Prism Card despite the lack of Ruru, who happened to be nearby helping evacuate the town. Ayumi tells her mother she loved her and would explain everything when she got back, leaving to go find her friends.

She wound up running into Fusion once again, who was under even stronger brainwashing than before and was now just a mindless beast. During an intense battle Ayumi wound up awakening the final Miracle Card and using her new Precure Echo Rhapsody attack was finally able to break Black Hole’s hold on him. He’d used up too much power unfortunately and was briefly turned back into Fuu-Chan, calling Ayumi by name before fading away.

Defeating Fusion
During the final battle with Black Hole Ayumi became worried that history was about to repeat itself and was prepared to sacrifice her powers once again. Mio however had a different plan in mind, saying that if he wants power so badly then they should just feed him until he bursts. Using the 8 Miracle Cards in conjunction with their entire deck of Prism Cards, the Prism Hearts Cures fused together into a single entity known as Cure Mother. With their combined power they were able to banish Black Hole once and for all. Before he disappeared though he left the group with a promise to return as long as there is light in the world.

After the battle, the Prism Hearts team returned the cards to their rightful owners and everything went back to normal. However, even though she accomplished her mission for some reason Ayumi still felt empty.

Timeskip
Several years later, Ayumi suddenly vanished without a trace shortly after graduating high school. Her friends and family say she left to find herself and Aya believed she’d come back to them one day. However, it was revealed that she left her a letter that said that Ayumi was sad to leave them so suddenly, but she felt like the power of a Precure was both a blessing and a curse. she promises that should the darkness return, she'll be the light that echoes it.

In a desert, an older Ayumi is standing alone as she fought against several unknown monsters with EnEn and Gureru by her side.

Cure Echo
"Deliver my feelings! The Singing Prism! Cure Echo!"

思いよとどけ! 歌うプリズム！

''Omoi yo todoke! Utau purizumu! Kyua Ekō!''

Cure Echo is Ayumi's alter ego, which she gained from her true feelings for Fuu-chan, then later EnEn and Gureru, and finally through her own power after re-obtaining her Prism Card. She is the lone veteren Cure of the Prism Hearts Precure.

Transformation Sequence
A bright light soon shines as Ayumi's Prism Changer manifests onto her arm. Ayumi then catches the flying Cure Echo Prism Card and swipes it across the device, shouting "Prism Change! Cure Echo!" Being encased in light, she then summons the Prism Hearts symbol as she shouts "Precure! Prism Reflection!" A musical score then appears as she grabs each note on the score and applied them to parts of her body. After transforming, she flies down from the sky and introduces herself before striking a final pose.

Prism Changes
As she was drawing on a slightly different power source form the others, Cure Echo was unable to use any other Prism Cards besides her own. She did however become Cure Heart via a make shift Lovely Commune which broke after one fight.

Attacks

 * Heartful Echo (ハートフルエコー Hātofuru Ekō) - Her solo attack, which requires the Echo Voice. This can be upraged into the Echo Rhapsody (エコーラプソディEkō Rapusodi)


 * Mirror Burst (ミラーバースト  Mirā Bāsuto) - Her combination attack alongside any of her fellow Cures and the Miracle Petal of the Happiness Charge Precure, where they mix together their normal attacks into a powerful blast of energy.
 * Prism Finale (プリキュアプリズムフィナーレ ) - The second group attack and the Miracle Petal of the Prism Hearts Precure, in which they focus their power into one point. This causes a barrage of rainbow beams to burst forth and hit the enemy.

Trivia
TBA