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Dissonance
Event I
Entry
Some say that light can only exist because of darkness. That the day can only be appreciated because of the night. That the rest in the shadows is only pleasant because of long walks in the hot sunlight.
All those things are true. And it is also true that those things were gradually disappearing. The Universe was changing. The balance of light and darkness was completely destroyed. Good, justice, heroes, saviors: those people were responsible. Blind in their quest for the triumph of good, they ignored the delicate balance of light and darkness and destroyed even the tiniest and most trivial evil in their path.
But the world, even the Universe, cannot exist if light dominates all. Without a night, one will never truly rest. Without shadows, all walks become endless marches through the sun. Without evil, where is truly the difference between people? If all are good, then being good itself loses all meaning.
Beyond the disputes of there being a god or not, none could deny that there were forces of nature, basic laws governing the Universe itself: gravity, time, space, light and darkness, and one of those had been diminished beyond what should be. Even the force of light had become cautious, wary of what would happen if darkness was to vanish completely.
Not all darkness equated to evil. Not all evil equated to darkness. But most evil prefers the guard of darkness and as such, the situation at hand arrived.
Unwilling to let the Universe come to ruin, a decision was made. One so grave and yet so trivial, that none but the most wise would understand. To interfere; it was unthinkable. Forces of nature existed to govern what was and ensure that it would not change. To make sure that birds did not fly backwards, that day and night were a cycle, and that time continued to pass
Those forces decided to interfere before the damage became irreversible.
=== Dissonance ===
Nagisa hit the ground hard, confused and with a slip of panic on her mind. One second she was walking back home from working out at the gym, the next second she found herself face down on hard stone ground. It was cold. The temperature and humidity were completely different from the street she had been walking down moments ago.
Was it the ploy of some new evil enemy? There had been silence for over half a decade since the big battle against Valdez. Nagisa had never stopped training, never stopped thinking about being a Cure, a warrior of justice. Nor had Honoka or Hikari.
Getting up, Nagisa found herself to be in a minimally decorated room. A plain bed was the only piece of furniture present, not counting the equally plain door. The ground and walls were all of the same material: unadorned plain stone. The ground was cold; Nagisa had been made sure of that quite intently.
Not sure what to do, the only thing to do was to go outside and see what was happening. She regretted leaving Mepple behind now. But without Honoka, it would be impossible to transform anyway. Thinking about it, Nagisa suddenly felt a little insecure about being in a completely alien area with no way to defend herself against possible enemies.
Opening the door, a hallway greeted her, empty and every bit as plain as the room she had just vacated. There were more doors to her left and right, and at the very end of the hallway the way parted. Nagisa thought for a second about where she could be, and finished this contemplation none the wiser.
Nagisa looked for something she could use to defend herself, but there was simply nothing. The place was completely barren. At least for now, there was no sign of any hostile entities anyway, so Nagisa proceeded to investigate her surroundings.
She quickly stopped when a loud noise came from beyond the door that led to the room east of hers. Sneaking up to the door, not wanting to make any noise, Nagisa pressed her ear against the wall but could hear nothing. She was sure she'd heard something, but couldn't quite rule out the possibility that she was imagining things.
Another sound: it was the voice of a girl. A voice Nagisa had heard somewhere before. Ready to jump and fight with just teeth and fists, Nagisa pulled open the door and stepped through. What she found was far beyond her expectations.
"You're..." Before her stood a well dressed woman with long purple hair, blue eyes, and a face Nagisa did indeed remember. The woman was at least a meter and three quarters tall, which was enormous for a Japanese woman. Nagisa hadn't seen her in years.
"Aono Miki. I remember you. Your name was... Nagisa. Misumi Nagisa. That's right, isn't it?" The girl had really grown. She was only a little smaller than her but looked still very athletic. While she had grown her hair out, it was bound in a ponytail on the back, giving her the same appearance from the front she had all those years ago.
"Not to be rude, but where are we? I was just ready to start giving a lesson when I found myself on the ground all of a sudden." Miki occasionally agreed to give a dancing lesson at a friend's shop.
"I'd like to know the same thing. I was walking back from the gym when I landed here out of the blue. It's unbelievable how these things keep happening to me." Nagisa frowned for a few seconds. "We should check the other doors. I don't want to really believe it but..."
"Yeah. There might be more of us here. Is your partner with you?" Miki didn't want to be rude and show that she did remember the names of Nagisa's partners: Yukishiro Honoka and Kujo Hikari.
"You mean Honoka? No. I landed here alone. Are the other three not with you?" Nagisa knew about Miki as well, but had trouble remembering their names. She didn't mention it, but she would've never remembered Miki's name on her own.
"I haven't seen Love and Setsuna in weeks. They're off somewhere on an adventure. I really have to call it that. I can't believe they just decided to go on a trip without any money. And Inori is so busy these days, I'm lucky if I see her twice a week for dinner." Miki rarely had anyone to talk to about these things so it flowed out all on its own.
Nagisa opened the next door and found someone actually sleeping on the cold ground. She knew the girl; it was impossible to forget someone like that. Her blue hair was longer than before though and seemingly still refused to be tamed. "Marine." Nagisa only knew her Cure name but didn't want to admit that in front of someone that wasn't Honoka or Hikari.
"Erika Kurumi. I can't believe she hasn't woken up." Miki knelt down next to the girl with the ever so dark blue hair and poked her cheek.
"Tsubomi... stand still... I can't take... measures..." Erika was talking in her sleep, earning a suppressed laugh from both of the two looking at her. "Itsuki... have your boobs grown again...? I need to redo the measurements..."
"I wonder if we're supposed to be hearing this." Miki had turned around, trying to hide her wide smile over the girl's sleep talk. She had often heard Love talk in her sleep when they went camping together but that Erika girl was on a whole different level.
Nagisa knelt down and shook the girl a little. Erika awoke and sat up so suddenly that her head collided with Nagisa's sending both back to the ground. "What? I am not doing anymore unpaid overtime!" Erika looked around, quite stunned to not find herself passed out in her room, re-doing the final measurements for Itsuki's dress for the eighth time. "The heck? Where am I? Who are you? Oh god I got kidnapped because I am so successful and beautiful!"
"We don't know... and you know us. At least, we know you. We met a few years ago. Don't you remember? Cure Black? Cure Berry? Ring any bells?" Nagisa rubbed her forehead with her hand and stood up, looking down at Erika.
"Oh come on, who do you take me for? You're Misumi Nagisa and that's Aono Miki. I sure remember. Don't you have any sense of humor? But really, why did you two kidnap me? I mean I am a looker, but come on~."
"We're both not sure where we are. You're Kurumi Erika, aren't you? Cure Marine. You partner with Cure Blossom, Hanasaki Tsubomi. That Itsuki you mentioned in your sleep is Myoudouin Itsuki, right?" Miki remembered them because she had seen some of Erika's clothes in an article in a fashion magazine.
"You've got some good memory there, amazing! You know all their names just like that." Erika got up and saw that she was stuck between two giants. Nagisa was at least a hundred and sixty eight centimeters tall, and Miki was even taller than that. She felt a little tiny at eight centimeters shorter than the redhead. At least in the breast department was she not lagging behind. Nagisa was the athletic type. Erika the busty type. They were both around a C cup. Miki was hard to guess and Erika stared a little too intently trying to figure it out.
"D. Your manners could use some work, Kurumi." Miki was a little put off by the girl's behavior but it was nothing special to Nagisa. She was in a relationship with Honoka, so one girl staring at another girl's breasts was commonplace for her.
"I'm sorry, I can't get my curiosity to back down sometimes." Scratching the back of her head, Erika smiled wide and displayed part of her unique charm. It was hard to be really upset with her.
"There must be others. Let's split up and look for them." Miki suggested the most efficient way to find out who else had been brought to the place. "I'll take the doors the floor up from your room, Misumi."
"Nagisa is fine. We all fought together; it's okay to use my first name. To be honest, it feels weird if you call me by my last name. It's like we're not even friends." Nagisa was often bothered if people acted too distant towards her.
"Erika is fine. I don't like using last names." Erika joined with Nagisa. "We will check the doors the floor down then."
"If that's so, you can call me Miki." Having learned that being polite could go a long way to get what one wanted, it was sometimes almost a burden to act that way.
"Before I forget. Can either of you transform?" Miki didn't feel very safe leaving the other two women alone unless at least one of them could defend themselves. She always kept her device with her, regardless of where she went.
Erika pulled her own device from her pocket, showing it to Miki. "What about you Nagisa?" Erika completely forgot about the little issue of not having Coffret with her.
"At the very least I'd need Honoka and even then... I didn't bring Mepple with me." Nagisa was far more restricted than Miki.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of her!" Erika showed Miki a thumbs up and laughed, much to embarrassment of Nagisa. She was the senior one; that should be her job.
"We'll meet back here later. If you find anyone else, stick with them. We don't know what could be lurking in this place." Miki gave a few instructions, acting as a temporary leader of the three.
"Wow. She's really responsible. Was she the leader of her group?" Erika's memory was still asleep.
"No, I think Cure Peach was. The girl called Love. What about your group?"
"Hm, that's a good question actually. I think it'd either be Tsubomi or Yuri. Eh, Blossom or Moonlight." Erika added their Cure names when seeing Nagisa's expression. Both of them weren't any good with remembering names.
"Shall we go?" Erika took the lead and Nagisa followed closely, feeling very awkward being the only one of the three that couldn't transform.
Looking over her shoulder, Miki was gone, most certainly having vanished into one of the many rooms. Erika casually pulled open the next door down their part of the hallway and hit the jackpot right away.
A green-haired woman in a long flowing black dress was sitting on the floor of the room. The woman was really beautiful; Nagisa had to admit it, even if she was completely not her type. Her hair appeared relatively short because most of it was bound in a very long ponytail on her back. It was twice the length of Nagisa's. The woman also had wonderful curves. Nagisa was jealous. Erika had to be too, judging by the way she was staring at her.
"You two are?"
"Kurumi Erika." Erika answered and couldn't keep herself from staring, making the woman uncomfortable.
"I'm Misumi Nagisa. Or if you want our Cure names, she's Marine and I'm Black." Nagisa found it always easier to remember those compared to long Japanese names.
"Akimoto Komachi. Cure Mint." Komachi introduced herself. "Where are we? I was just giving an interview and suddenly..."
"We don't know either. Cure Berry is also here and looking for any others. Can you stand?" Nagisa felt an instinctive desire to help and protect the woman. It was just... she was beautiful and felt kinda weak. Holding out her hand to Komachi, Nagisa wanted to help her up.
"I'm fine, thank you." Komachi accepted the help graciously and got up. She was just a little shorter than Nagisa, standing up. Komachi patted some dust off her dress that looked pretty much ruined. There were multiple rips and tears in it. A matter of time before the dress would fall apart or become very revealing. "This won't do..." Komachi pulled out her device from between her voluptuous breasts, transforming on the spot.
"You can just call me Mint or Komachi. I understand you're looking for more of us in this place? Should we go? Kurumi seems to have taken off already."
They could hear Erika's voice from the room next to them. "Mint, I found a friend of yours!" Her voice was so loud that Nagisa felt a little amused. She really must have had a lot of energy, or she was simply fearless.
Erika had tried to transform and finally noticed the lack of Coffret. To her own surprise, the transformation worked nevertheless. She was trying to defuse the situation at hand by showing off that she was a Cure as well. She was facing a red-haired woman, a very athletic type similar to Nagisa but with apparently a lot more temperament and much shorter patience. Wearing gym clothes, just like Nagisa, Erika had tried to be a little too friendly.
"Mint‽ You're here too? Hey you, Marine. Explain to me what's going on! Where are we? And what are we doing here? Who is that?" Rouge was not one to be very patient when it came to situations where she was potentially in danger. The term "hot-headed" applied to her in more ways than one.
"Calm down Rouge. That's Cure Black. As for why we're here or how we got to be here, your guess is as good as ours." Mint answered for Marine. Nagisa excused herself with an awkward smile, leaving the three to argue. She set about checking on the next door.
The room was empty, and so was the next one. Nagisa was about to give up and assume that there was nobody else down that way when the last door swung open and a whole group of people came out, lead on by her own partner. Nagisa's heart jumped. She hadn't felt that happy to see Honoka in a long time.
"Honoka!" Nagisa shouted, instantaneously getting the attention of the group at the lower western end of the hallway. They were a group of four but Nagisa recognized none of them. A woman with long blonde hair, wearing it down. She looked pretty roughed up and wore a thick white coat and a Russian-looking cap completed by two high, black boots. Minus the hat, she was maybe about as tall as Mint.
The other two were quite a bit smaller. A young-looking woman with wild, slightly curly hair that barely fell to her shoulders. She was wearing something resembling a lab coat, sneakers, shorts and t-shirt; her outfit unremarkable apart from the white coat. She was over a head shorter than Nagisa, even smaller than Komachi, at best marginally taller than Marine.
The last of the group seemed to be still a minor. Her hair was a kind of bright brown. Even though quite a bit of was confined into a ponytail, she had hair almost as long as Marine, if much more well kept. None of them were transformed.
"Nagisa‽ You're here too!" Nagisa watched her partner run towards her, with the other three following her. At the same time, the three women that had been with Nagisa had finally finished arguing and came out of the room Rouge had been in.
Honoka was still wearing her lab coat, working in a private research institute in Tokyo. A black skirt and black shirt were barely visible beneath the lab coat. Her legs mostly free, Honoka wore a pair of simple black pumps that Nagisa had given to her as a present last Christmas. Standing next to each other, only few could tell that Honoka was actually three centimeters taller than Nagisa because she wore her hair down, distracting from her height.
"It seems you found others too. There are at least eight of us here; that's a lot. I wonder if something sinister is plotting against us. If they wanted to hurt us, it's not very smart to put us all together." Honoka's analytical thinking was great. It was what got her into the job at the research institute.
"I see you have Mint, Rouge and Marine with you. This is Love, Kanade and Inori." Honoka introduced the three women behind herself. They all remembered each other, so they were already pretty friendly.
"Miki will be happy that you two are here too." Nagisa looked at Love and Inori who didn't seem very surprised that Miki had already met someone else.
Speaking of the devil, Miki returned as Berry together with three others. That brought their total number to twelve Cures. That many assembling in one place was a rare occurrence.
"We checked every door. There was exactly one of us for every room. That can't be a coincidence." Honoka concluded while Love and Inori transformed and greeted Berry. Peach hadn't seen either of them in a while but she was worried about Passion.
The three with Berry were all women Nagisa didn't recognize. One of them had pink hair divided up into long twin-tails. She was about as tall as the girl called Kanade and wore a waitress uniform that looked a lot like it was straight out of some kind of late night anime. She seemed oddly comfortable wearing it in public.
The tallest of the four was without a doubt the blue-haired beauty. If Mint was beautiful, then so was that woman. Deep, almost black, blue hair that shone even in the dimly lit corridor. She was a few centimeters taller than Miki and had very nice, smooth looking, long legs ending in a pair of high heels. The beauty wore a simple black dress that had difficulty concealing her curves. Not anywhere as busty as Mint, Nagisa guessed her though at least a C cup.
The last of the four was rather eccentric looking. Long blonde hair split into four tails, each of them the exact same length. She was only about as tall as Marine, which was very short compared to the blue haired woman next to her. Her outfit was every bit as eccentric as her hairstyle. What could only be termed a flashy costume, her attire was obviously intended to be worn on some kind of stage.
"This is Kasugano Urara on the right, Yumehara Nozomi in the middle and Minazuki Karen to the left." Berry was getting a little tired of the polite business and dispensed with the formal introduction process.
They belonged to the group same group as Mint and Rouge. Soon, it was only Nagisa, Honoka and Kanade who had not transformed yet.
After the initial happiness of getting back together, the Cures became worried. There was still no explanation as to where they were and how they came to be there. "I will go and check. Lemonade, help me out." Rouge was by far the fastest of the group, both in terms of speed at which she moved and that with which she lost her temper.
"I'll go with her." Marine offered herself, unable to just sit around while there was no sign of Tsubomi, Itsuki or Yuri. She was not very strong but made up for this with speed, which she believed was all that was important.
Lemonade created a single golden chain from her hand which extended seemingly without limit, piling up on the ground. "How many meters do you need Rouge?"
"Just keep it going. Marine, you ready?" Rouge waited for a nod from the blue haired Cure and as if someone had given them a starting signal, they sprinted away.
The rest of the group was more level-headed, if only because Aqua, Berry and Honoka had them under control. "Nagisa, give me your hand. We should just try to force a transformation." Honoka was amazed by the material from which the place was constructed. She couldn't say without closer examination, but it didn't resemble anything known to modern Science. She had a hunch that they were no longer on Earth.
"Dual Aurora Wave!" Nagisa was not one to refuse something Honoka asked her to do. It was always more trouble than it was worth as Honoka always won their arguments.
To their surprise, the transformation went through fine. They stood there, as Cure Black and Cure White, amazed at themselves. "I had a hunch we were no longer on Earth. This confirms it. Under normal circumstances we wouldn't be able to transform without Mepple and Mipple"
The clattering sound of Lemonade's chain was becoming constant background noise. Kanade looked at her device. Without fairy tones and her partner, she should not be able to transform either, but judging by the conversation of Black and White it was worth a try.
"Let's play! Precure Modulation!" Kanade found that even her transformation worked fine. White had lifted her transformation already and seemed to be thinking about something on her own.
"Aqua, what do you think?" Honoka was trying to establish a few basic facts about the place they were in. For now, there were no enemies at all, not even sign of any life, hostile or not.
"Based on the fact that you three could transform without the proper triggers being present..." Aqua returned to Karen and thought about it for a few seconds. Without a word, Karen stepped back and Honoka watched her transform into Aqua without a word or motion. "As I thought. This space, whose location I hypothesise to be extraterrestrial, ignores the rules of our transformation. It seems to be entirely based on willpower."
"But why would we be brought to a place like this?" Honoka changed back to White and started thinking about it. In the end, it was Rhythm who came up with an idea first.
"Whoever brought us here is not after us. They're not hostile. They had the power to bring so many of us to this place all at the same time. There must be some purpose to us being here. What worries me is where the others are. We are twelve. I am missing three of my group: Melody, Beat, and Muse. Who else is missing?"
"One of us: Cure Passion." Peach was the first to respond.
"Milky Rose is missing as well." Aqua answered. Nagisa could see that Mint was shooting a weird glare at Aqua when she mentioned that name.
"If I remember correctly, Marine's team was composed of four. That makes three missing ones from there as well." White added. "If we assume all the Cures are here, then Saki and Mai would likely be here too." For the sake of easier understanding, White added their Cure names. "Cure Bloom and Cure Egret. Friends of Nagisa and me."
"Marine's team is composed of Blossom, Marine, Sunshine, and Moonlight. I remember meeting Tsukikage Yuri when I worked with Kurumi Momoka." Berry added.
"Shiny Luminous is also missing. She's part of our group." Black knew that White had not forgotten about her, but sometimes the scientist was a little caught up in her complicated thinking.
"That brings us to eleven missing, almost as many as we are." Aqua brought the number to a total.
"What about those two that were with Bloom and Egret?" Berry had an excellent memory and proved that once again. Even White had forgotten about them.
"Bright and Windy, if I remember rightly." White had only met them once before. Saki and Mai apparently did quite a bit of stuff together with them, but they never really came along when those two visited her and Black.
"That's thirteen Cures missing. I didn't realize there were twenty-five of us." Aqua thought about it. "Maybe there is a specific reason we were split up like this."
"If they wanted to separate us, they would have split us up more. Not just into two parties. There is also only one out of your team missing, while five are here. It makes no sense to do this." Rhythm had a feeling that wasn't the reason they were split.
"For now we don't know if the others are even together." Berry interjected. It was bad to throw assumptions around in a situation like that. "Rouge and Marine have been gone for a while. They should have found something."
"I'll ask them." Aqua went back to her group, who had mostly sat down on the ground, Lemonade still extending the single chain from her hand. It was being used up at amazing speed, as expected of Rouge.
"Are they still going?" Aqua seemed perplexed. "Just how big is this place? Are you sure they will find the way back?"
"Don't mock my chain, Aqua. Rouge and I have done this before." Lemonade had changed quite a bit from when they had fought Nightmare and Eternal. "We'll just have to wait."
Going back to what the other Cures would later call the Leader Summit, Aqua told White, Berry and Rhythm the news. "We will have to wait. There really is nothing to do but wait." Aqua looked around and figured that it was a bad idea for people to just wander off. There was no telling if this structure was safe and if it even maintained it's shape permanently.
"We should tell everyone to stay here for the time being. Each of us has a room in case they want to sleep." White, as the oldest present Cure, took over leadership over the group. There were no objections. White had the most experience of all of them and was really smart on top of it.
And so they waited.
=== Dissonance ===
Peach, Pine, and Berry had retreated into Peach's room. They were both curious as to what Peach and Passion had been up to together.
"It was about time you two got that out of the way. I've been thinking that you two looked nice together since years ago." Berry sat on her bed, next to Peach, while Pine sat on the ground, listening.
"Really? I mean, maybe I always had a little thing for her. I'm shocked you're not shocked. Isn't it pretty bad to like another woman?"
"If I cared about everything people say about me, I'd not have time to do anything else, Peach. I don't really think it matters one way or the other. If I met the right person, I don't think I'd care about gender. You and Setsuna always had this mood when you were together."
"Berry's right, you know. I thought the same thing. I mean, if not for you, she would've been Eas for all her life. Honestly, I... uh... sorta thought you were secretly dating and doing it under our noses. Seems I was wrong. That it took you this long to get together surprises me much more than the fact that you did get together." Pine cracked an awfully forced smile and earned a few seconds of Peach letting her head hang down.
"What about your love life Miki?" Peach turned the conversation around. She was also very inconsistent about using their real names and their Cure names.
"I wish we could skip that topic. I'm so busy with my two jobs that I have barely any free time."
"I'm always asking you this Miki but why do you work two jobs? You make a fortune just as a dancing instructor! People book your studio months in advance. And you model, too. For what do you need all that money?" With Peach using their real names and them just being among their own group, Pine also switched to real names.
"I don't know, really. It's just that I really want to succeed at both of those things. I don't want to give up either even if I could easily live from just one of those jobs."
"You're the complete opposite of Love." Inori laughed, earning a pout from Love.
"What about you Bukki? You've surely met the odd nice guy at the clinic, haven't you?"
Inori worked full-time in a pet clinic as vet, and she was really good at her job, which meant a lot of patients.
"I never really think about it. I went out to dinner with a few guys and even two women but neither clicked with me. I just haven't met the right person. Sometimes I wish we were still fourteen and could enjoy school together. I feel a bit lonely. You and Setsuna are overseas, Miki is working so much that I barely get to see her. I hate to admit it, but I miss the times when we were fighting Labyrinth. At least we were all together then." Averting her eyes and lowering her head, Love and Miki saw Inori's face form a rare and very sad expression.
Pine was surprised when Love hugged her all of a sudden. "I didn't know you were this lonely. I didn't really think about it and just went away with Setsuna. I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I know you didn't mean to hurt anyone, Love. We all like you just how you are. That will never change. But we're all grown up now. Look at us. Miki is going to be nineteen next month, I will be in half a year. Miki already has her own dance studio and works as model. I work as a veterinarian. People change. We're still Cures, but we're not the same people anymore."
"You're so exaggerating Bukki. You're just like you used to be. A bit moody right now, but still the same nice girl." Love patted Pine's head and grinned.
"Nothing is ever gonna change Love, I guess." Miki smiled wide.
Letting go of Inori, Love sat back on the bed. "Anyone among the others that catch your fancy? I think Mint is really... sexy." Love made a meaningful pause and demonstrated just what she meant, forming large circles in front of her chest. She was a C cup, smaller than Miki and about the same size as Inori, but that all paled in comparison to Cure Mint.
"I am so gonna tell Setsuna that you said that." Inori had a mischievous grin on her face, causing Love to let her head hang. "There are nine of them. Come on, there must be someone your type. Or is she with the other group?" Love was a relentless matchmaker.
"Why do you assume we both lust after one of these women? We might not even be interested in women." Miki tried to change the topic but accidentally dug her own grave.
"Oh? Who was it that said 'Gender doesn't matter', just five minutes ago? And who was it that went out with two women for dinner?" Love looked first at Berry, then at Inori.
"Fine." Miki sighed and let herself be beaten by Love's tenacity. "If I really had to say... I guess White isn't bad. She's smart, has good looks and is levelheaded." Berry had only thought about it for a few seconds and the first one of the Cures to come to mind was White.
"Isn't she openly dating Black?" Love had gotten that impression from those two.
"Pretty sure she is. Tough luck Miki." Inori grinned, though only for a few seconds.
"What about you Bukki? Who catches your fancy?" Love was merciless but Inori was prepared.
"Aqua is nice. She is smart and really nice curves. Rouge isn't bad either but I'd prefer Marine to her. She seems like a lot of fun. There is also Rhythm. She has... this air about her that makes her interesting." Inori grinned and watched Love's painful expression.
"You're horrible, Bukki." Miki laughed at that onslaught and Love gave up. Those two really didn't have a shred of romance to them.
=== Dissonance ===
"Aren't you bored, out here alone?" Rhythm kept Lemonade company. The chain was still clattering and they were starting to wonder if Rouge and Marine had simply fallen into a bottomless hole or something.
"I'm fine. Are you sure you want to be here? Everyone else left." Lemonade wasn't able to go anywhere as long as the chain kept going.
"I'm the only one of my team here." Rhythm felt a little lonely without Melody, Beat or Muse around. "Aren't the others your friends? I think it's weird that they would leave you out here alone."
"I haven't really talked to any of them except Rouge in a long time." Lemonade had very bad memories of that particular day. "I used to be a pop idol but... people change when they grow up, you know? The business is hard and it just wasn't really me after I turned sixteen, so I changed careers. I joined a punk rock band and became their vocalist. We got really popular all of a sudden but the others didn't think it was the right thing to do. We had a big fight. That was over a year ago. I haven't talked to any of them except Rouge. She started coming to our concerts and we became friends again. I don't even know why I am telling you this. Maybe I'm just really bored." To Rhythm, Lemonade looked very depressed.
"I'm Minamino Kanade. I wish I could be something great like the vocalist of a popular band. A few years ago I was really excited about taking over the business of my parents, a bakery called Lucky Spoon, but when it stopped being just baking and the actual deal of running a business became my responsibility, it became a lot less fun. I guess we both found out that growing up is not as easy for some as for others."
"A bakery, huh. That sounds like hard work. Just how far are they going to go? I must have spawned at least ten kilometers of chain by now!" Lemonade looked at her hand, which was starting to fall asleep.
"I used to fight a lot with my partner, you know. We didn't even talk for a few years. It was because of a stupid misunderstanding, but we only found that out much later. That was before we became Cures, still."
"And you made up just like that?" Lemonade leaned against the wall across the doors.
"We fought a lot until we finally made up. We still sometimes fight but not like back then. I partner with Melody, Beat and Muse, although I think my main partner is really just Melody."
"What is she like? I think I saw her once, but I can hardly remember what she looked like."
"She's a bit of an airhead I guess. She's really energetic, does a lot of sports. I think she'd be angry if I called her the hyper type..." Rhythm made a short break. "Beside that, she's really cute. Lately she has been keeping her hair in a ponytail. It looks awesome. Her dad tried to get her into a job in the music business but Hibiki, that's her name, wanted to do something else. Right now she works part-time in a gym as instructor and as a tutor in a dojo hall."
"Are you two dating?" Lemonade casually asked Rhythm, making the younger Cure blush ferociously.
"Wh-what? N-No! I mean..." Kanade wasn't sure what exactly she should say.
"I see. You're not dating but you have a crush on her. She knows nothing about it, am I right?" Lemonade was very sharp when it came to relationship drama.
"How did you-" Kanade was speechless at how accurately she guessed it.
"Mint has had a crush on Aqua for years now. She got successful and cares for her looks a lot to get her attention. Aqua is going out with Milky Rose though. Mint knows that. But she can't give up. It's a little pitiful, really. We all know about it but we don't meddle with those two."
"Sounds pretty bad."
"It is. Or was. Mint was really shocked and depressed when Aqua and Milky Rose started going out secretly and she found out. It's a shame really. Mint is gorgeous. I'd kill to have her body. I didn't mean that literally, just for the record."
"What about you? No love triangle with Beat or Muse?" Lemonade was just being sarcastic but hit the proverbial bull's eye, judging by Rhythm's depressed face. "Seriously? Which one? And with who?"
"I'm not sure... but at least I think Beat has a crush on Melody. And well, Melody isn't exactly the sharpest person in the world when it comes to such things. I usually have to spell it out to her. I'm not sure what I should do. It's been like this for a few months. I would hate to ruin our friendship by confessing and being turned down."
"Your friendship will eventually go down the drain if you keep burying your feelings. I only need to look at Mint and Aqua to know that. After they graduated, Mint was basically a shut-in for a few weeks until Dream dragged her out. I know Milky Rose was not out to do that to Mint, but she really has a thing for Aqua. The cruel part is, I'm not even sure that Aqua has no feelings for Mint. I think if Mint had gotten her stuff together and confessed..."
"Things were easier when we were younger."
"You can say that again. How old are you, Rhythm?"
"I turned seventeen just two months ago. What about you? You don't look any older than me."
"Ha, thanks. But I'm a year and a half older than you. Aqua is the oldest in our group."
"Coincidentally, I'm the oldest in my group. And I'm apparently still the youngest out of everyone here."
"I don't think it really matters. White is the oldest of us and has the most experience. She sort of took charge earlier and everyone seemed to be okay with that."
"You seem really nice. Are you sure you're in a punk rock band?" Rhythm never liked that kind of music, but talking to Lemonade made her curious. Maybe not all of it was bad.
"Thanks, I appreciate you saying that. There are a lot of different people in the business. I can be a lot meaner on stage, but... I don't know. I was forced to act really cute most of my teenage years and I think that just made me sick of acting all goody two shoes."
"Beat is like that too. She was really socially awkward when she first joined with us and got better. At some point she just grew out of being afraid of people disliking her and acted more like her former self. She's an absolutely terrible liar anyway."
"Sounds like an interesting person. A bit like Rouge, although Rouge is more... hardcore. She's really into music and she's aiming to be a pro soccer player. She plays for a big club right now and hopes to get into the national team before the next World Cup."
"It looks like you have a thing for her. Is that right?" Kanade was just going by her feelings.
"Maybe. I'm not sure to be honest. She was the only one to accept my change and be nice to me. We hang out together and do stuff, but I can't tell if she has any interest in any kind of romance." Lemonade left out a few saucy details. She wasn't comfortable talking to Rhythm about those.
"I always thought fighting as a Cure was difficult. That was before I tried to have an actual relationship with someone else. I admire Black and White. They seem like the perfect match for each other."
"Those two? They're almost too perfect for each other. It's a little boring, don't you think?"
"I would like to have a relationship like that to be quite honest..." Kanade looked on the ground.
=== Dissonance ===
"I'm worried about Hikari." Black and White were in what they had declared 'their' room, formerly being White's room.
"She's not that little girl from back then anymore, Honoka." Nagisa was sprawled out on the bed while Honoka sat on the upper end, looking down on Nagisa's face. It was surprisingly relaxing to be free from research worries and papers.
"Do you think we're the only gay couple here?" It wasn't really unusual for Nagisa to blurt things like that. Honoka was similar when it came to being open about the nature of her relationship with Nagisa, but she was far more delicate in bringing it up.
"I don't know most of the others that well. It wouldn't surprise me if we weren't. Saki and Mai started going out officially even before us. They weren't even sixteen when they came out with it. I was really surprised when I heard about that. We started going out shortly after your sixteenth birthday party. I remember how nervous you were when you asked me out Nagisa." Honoka grinned and caressed her partner's cheek.
"I was about to faint when you didn't say anything for like five minutes. It was unbelievable. I totally expected you to turn me down."
"I had fun making you squirm back then. I didn't expect you to actually ask me out. I always thought about you that way, ever since we became Cures. I just never acted on it, thinking you'd be disgusted."
"How many times have you told me this now? And each and every time it's like I'm hearing a different story. You always thought about me like that? Back then we were fourteen! You're one shrewd girl, Honoka."
"Oh come on, you had that crush on that guy and whatever else. That wasn't any better."
"The first time I saw you, I would've never expected you to grow up looking like this. I bet you made most of the others out there jealous. I need to guard you so none of the others steal you away."
"You're such an oddball sometimes Nagisa. I don't even have a shred of interest in anyone but you. You know that. But I'll let you go ahead and play my knight in shining armor. I know you love doing that."
"...must you crush my dreams so? Oh woe is me!" Nagisa's line came off badly and Honoka broke out in laughter. "Oh come on! I practiced that line so much!"
"Ha, ha, ha. Oh Nagisa, you always remind me what I love so much about you." Honoka cleared a single tear from her eyes, held back her hair and leaned down, giving her partner a passionate kiss.
Nagisa never tired of these. Honoka was an amazing kisser, always leading Nagisa on, often the one to start a sinful tongue play between the two. Supporting herself on the bed, Black moved up and intensified the kiss. She was usually horny when she came back home after a nice workout but Honoka was rarely in the mood after having had a long day in the laboratory.
Kneeling on the bed, Nagisa was slowly taking over the dominant part of their little make out. Her left hand moved over Honoka's skirt, up her sides to her breasts. White was quite a bit bigger than Nagisa, depending on how overworked she was swinging between a D and E cup, more often a D.
Stopping the kiss briefly, Honoka warned her partner. "If they hear us, it's all your fault. You can never keep your voice in check." But that was nothing Nagisa was especially concerned with. There was nobody in the rooms to the right and left of theirs and Lemonade was further down the hall.
The roles were reversed instantly, White pushing down Black on her back. Their Cure outfits were hard to take off, so they both switched back to their normal clothes. Honoka moved her hand up Nagisa's stomach, her fingernails leaving minuscule scratch marks. Nagisa had just a tiny bit of a thing for rough play.
Honoka moved her hand further up and below Nagisa's black top, firmly grabbing her left breast, making Nagisa moan in pleasure. Alternating between a firm and a soft grab, Honoka kept making Nagisa hornier, occasionally pinching her nipple.
Honoka's lips were as busy as her fingers, kissing Nagisa, playing with her tongue, licking her neck, nibbling on her ears. An overwhelming assault. "You're cruel..." Nagisa was always on the receiving end when they had sex.
Grabbing Honoka's breasts, Nagisa was really careful not to feel Honoka up too hard. While she liked rough play, Honoka was really sensitive, especially at and around her breasts. Nagisa pulled up Honoka's shirt and opened her front hook bra with one hand. Honoka shivered for a few seconds when she felt Nagisa's hands right on her skin.
Sitting up, Honoka moved on top of Nagisa, sitting on her stomach. The trained woman could easily support her without even blinking. "It's risky to do anymore. We can't shower here. There's no change of clothes beside our Cure outfits." Honoka didn't like stopping but she was the reasonable of the two.
"You really wanna stop now?" Nagisa moved her hands down to Honoka's skirt and lifted it up. Honoka was every bit as horny as her partner was, Nagisa could see that.
"I don't want to. But I think we have to." Honoka's breathing was irregular and she couldn't suppress a moan when Nagisa put a finger on her panties and moved it in circles.
Honoka was about to just give in and let lust take over when they someone yelling in the hallway. It was an instant mood killer. There was clearly someone having a fight.
=== Dissonance ===
"See if I care." Mint walked out of the room, fed up with Aqua. It was always the same. Kurumi this, Kurumi that. Did that woman have any tact? She was so smart, so how could she be so ignorant of the feelings of others?
Dream went after her for a few steps, but Aqua called her back. Being torn between two of her friends fighting, Dream was all but happy. Mint walked straight past Lemonade and Rhythm who seemed to have a pretty good time just sitting in the hallway.
Marching down the floor all the way past the last room and going around the corner, Mint finally stopped and sunk down to the ground, feeling like she was about to cry. Why was Aqua like that?
She loved her so much and all Karen ever talked about was that thieving cat Kurumi. She had known Karen for so much longer and then that stupid... thing just came around and stole her away. Sure, she was not completely without fault either, having not confessed to her, but Kurumi didn't even care if anyone else had a crush on her.
"Mint?"
Komachi didn't recognize the voice, but that had to be Rhythm.
"I'm sorry, I know it's none of my business but... I heard from Lemonade what's going on with you." Ever the tactful one, Rhythm stood around the corner on purpose, in case Mint was actually crying. She knew that nothing sucked as much as someone else seeing one cry. Especially if it was crying over a lost love.
"I... think you can't just sit around and do nothing. Lemonade said the same thing to me. I have a crush on my partner and I think I have a chance but she might also like someone else. I think Aqua is just... really bad with feelings and stuff. I know I am."
Trying not to cry, Mint just sat there, listening to Rhythm. Her words were oddly comforting.
"If I don't confess to the girl I like, I won't ever have a chance. Some people just... need to have you spell it out for them. I know it sounds really cheap if someone just tells you to do it. I know how hard it is. I thought about it a hundred times: where and when I would do it and how I would say it. And what if she rejects me?"
Kanade wasn't sure she could ever muster the courage to confess to Hibiki. "If... if you can do it, if you feel you can do it, please try. I don't feel like I can... I would hate to see someone else lose the person they like because they won't try. That's... all I wanted to say."
"I can tell you're in love with that girl you talk about. Want to sit?" Mint knew how incredibly nonsensical it was to offer someone a seat when there was really just the ground, but she wanted to see who she was talking to: the person who comforted her.
Rhythm walked around the corner and sat next to Mint. She felt like a child next to the sexy woman. "You have a really nice body... I'm so jealous."
"Thank you. But I think you look stunning too. Not everyone likes sexy curves. Aqua is a beauty but completely different from me."
"This girl you like... She is your partner?" Mint was a little curious. None of them knew much about Rhythm and the other three.
"Cure Melody. I used to fight a lot with her and we hadn't even talked much before we became Cures. Things got better after that, and then Beat joined, and Muse shortly after. We all get along really well but... I feel like Melody and Beat have a crush on each other. They're just a little on the dense side of things, I guess."
"Why would she turn you down? You seem smart and you have a really nice personality from what I can tell. I'm shy and a little introverted so I have a hard time getting across what I mean in person... It's so much easier in books."
"You write?"
"I don't think you've read it, but I wrote Afterglow Summer and Night of Only Two." Mint had received prizes for both works, and especially Night of Only Two was a very strong seller.
"What? You're Akimoto Komachi? I never would've thought! Your books are written so powerfully... I have read both of them, multiple times. I love your work! I tried to get Hibiki to read them too, but she's not the type to read, sadly." Kanade was surprised to meet one of her favorite authors like that.
"Thank you. I didn't think you would've read them. They're adult books after all. You're not eighteen yet, are you?" Mint had a good eye for such things.
"I just turned seventeen." Rhythm was suddenly embarrassed, like a child who had been caught secretly eating candy.
"You're really easy to talk to. I'm jealous of the girls in your team. Lemonade and I haven't talked in ages. Rouge is... well, you saw how she is. And Aqua... I can't stand it if she is with Kurumi and they're always together. I only occasionally talk with Nozomi."
"That's horrible..." Kanade was afraid that that would happen to herself too at some point.
"We all have our lives now after all. Nozomi works at three different places as a waitress. I have no idea how she manages to keep those jobs. She's really clumsy. Rin... I am surprised Rin does what she does now, really. She used to be really interested in jewelry working back then, and her family runs a flower shop, but at some point she started pursuing a professional soccer career. I'm sure you heard from Lemonade what she is doing. I always thought it was the wrong step for her to take but I saw an interview of her on TV a while ago and she seemed really happy." Mint stopped talking about their lives, knowing that it would be her and Karen's turn next.
"I work in a bakery called Lucky Spoon. Melody works two jobs, part-time at a gym and in a dojo, teaching people. I wouldn't have expected her to be actually serious about her work but she puts a lot of effort into it. Beat works in a band, like Lemonade. They're not as famous, but she gets by. She does the vocals and the lead guitar. She used to be incredibly socially awkward, so it was a real surprise for Melody and me to see her working a job like that."
"What about the last one, Muse?" Mint was curious about the people Rhythm lived with.
"Muse is really young. She's barely thirteen now. She still goes to school. Melody does too, and so do I. We all work part-time. Beat sometimes skips school for her band, but we're technically all still students."
"I wish I was still a student. Things were so much easier back then."
A moment of silence came and went as soon as they heard Lemonade shout. "They've stopped, they stopped!"
=== Dissonance ===
Everyone was surrounding Lemonade who was about to call back the two runners. They had been gone for almost two hours. "Golden Gate!" Lemonade created a dozen chains that sprung out of the ground and extended up to the ceiling. The stone seemed to melt inbetween the chains.
"They're so far... how big is this place?"
"What is she doing?" White asked Aqua, who seemed the most intelligent on the same team as Lemonade.
"Using her ability. She can summon whoever holds her chain, no matter how far away they are." Aqua explained briefly, not knowing the very specifics of the skill either.
"It's not just that. I see the entire path they took. They went on for miles... ...up and down... ...this place is bigger than a town. Even than a metropolis. It's a gigantic labyrinth of hallways, rooms, and small & big and passages. Found them." Lemonade closed her eyes. The distance was so great that she feared it would be too difficult to pull both of them through. Failure would leave one lost forever in the labyrinth.
The chains that connected the ground and the ceiling started to move up and down at insane speeds, too fast for the naked eye to follow, appearing like beams of light. The chains had to travel the distance the extended chain was away to complete the skill. It was not something that could be used in combat.
"Call!" The chains stopped moving and Rouge fell straight through the ceiling, shortly followed by Marine. They both landed uncomfortably on the ground, the chains vanishing and Lemonade taking a break. "I'm never going to call two people at once again."
"I almost feel like I'm home. This place is so goddamn huge and empty; it's no joke. We must have went on for twenty kilometers before we hit a dead end. I am never gonna do this again. I'm beat." Rouge was still flat on her back with Marine right next to her, laying face down on the ground.
"I'm so tired... I wanna eat something sweet... and a shower. I hate this place..." Marine complained about a few things before she rolled over, absolutely positively, completely and truthfully only accidentally without any intent, looking straight up Pine's skirt.
"Oh, sorry." Marine casually rolled over again and was back to her initial position.
"So there is absolutely nothing in this place?" White knelt next to Lemonade, who seemed to be very tired.
"Nothing at all. I saw everything, the whole thing. At least where they went through. Which might as well be the whole thing. Twenty kilometers. I would like to have a word with whoever built this." Lemonade was not happy at all that things turned out like that.
"You two didn't notice anything unusual?" Berry stood next to Rouge and Marine.
"This place is as barren as a desert. It's just all stairs, corridors, rooms, and more stairs, hallways and rooms. I guess the most unusual thing was a huge room that might have been over fifty meters high and as long as a soccer pitch." Rouge reported.
"What do we do now?" White looked to Aqua and Berry. The three got together, followed by Rhythm, who felt that she at least somewhat belonged to that conversation.
"If this place is indeed this barren, it's almost like a prison. There is no food here and no water. Aqua, can you take care of the latter issue?" White suggested. Using Cure powers for that was not really something they should be doing but need made way.
"That should be easy enough if we have something to store the water in." Aqua responded quickly.
"That won't be hard. We can let one of us blast a hole in the ground and then let Rouge work the hole with fire. It will be like a big bowl. It's primitive, but effective." Berry remained level-headed.
"That solves our water issue, but even with that off our mind, none of us can create food." Aqua and White looked at Berry who just shook her head.
"We might have namesakes, but none of us three can create anything edible."
"I think we have a bigger problem on our hands right now. Look!" Rhythm pointed at something that was slowly coming closer from the end of the hallway.
It was nothing that would warrant an detailed explanation of its looks. It was a simple orb that shone with a golden light. There was nothing else to it. It seemed almost surreal.
"Offensive fighters, take the front, defensive fighters the sides, support behind the offensive!" White issued orders as fast as she could and the Cures took position. Nobody bothered to argue whether it was her job to give orders or not.
"Fear not for we are not your enemy." The orb seemed to talk. It wasn't so much that they could hear a voice but rather they just understood something intangible. A message sent to them which they comprehended on a level far beyond simple logic and reasoning.
"This is far beyond your world. We have brought you here to avoid the extermination of darkness. You, embodiments of light, have created an imbalance between the forces of light and darkness."
While they felt like someone talked to them in their mind, there was no talking, no voice they heard inside their head. They just 'knew' what was happening, slowly understanding. Step by step, they learned of things no human knew.
"Not just the planet you live on, but the Universe has come to face the threat of darkness being exterminated. To you, darkness might be evil, an existence despised. Yet without darkness, you too could not be."
"To be here is to fix what was broken. You will serve as avatars, envoys of balance, rectifying the imbalance you have created. You shall remain here until your work is done. It may take a year or ten centuries. It all depends on your will."
"You shall know if you read. You shall read and understand. You will understand and act. You will act and protect."
The orb vanished on the spot and a large thud made the Cures come back to reality. They all suffered a heavy headache and felt sick to their stomachs. Something had just intruded into their minds and left a mark.
White was the first to get it together and take the book. It was thin, only a few pages to it. The pages were filled with text that looked just like her own handwriting, like a memo to herself. It didn't seem safe to just read it, and she wanted the others to have a look at it.
Berry was the next one to join White. "Take it and tell me what you see." Handing the book to Berry, White noticed that the text did not change. It was still her own handwriting even when Berry held the book.
"It's filled with my own handwriting. Was it different when you held it?" They were joined by Aqua and then slowly everyone else. The book was passed around slowly, every single one reading the few pages at a time. There was not much meaning to one of them reading the text out loud. It was more of a set of rules than anything else.
The last one to get the book was Rhythm, who gave the book back to White after she had finished. None of them looked pleased, or even relaxed, anymore. What they had just read was horrible. Not in all the time they had fought had they came across something that terrified them that much.
Not because there was an enemy that would destroy the world. Not because one of them had died. Something far more fundamental. They themselves, in their fight for good, had caused something that was now threatening to swallow them all.
This time, there was no enemy to beat or fairy land to save. No mystic artifact to recover. This time, there was only a battle they couldn't win. They were not supposed to win. A battle they were to fight over and over again. A stalemate, designed after the very clash of the forces of light and darkness.
A fight to restore the balance they had slowly shredded to pieces. They all thought the same thing.
'I don't want to fight my friends.'
'Is there no other solution?'
'Why is this happening?'
Yet the answer to their questions was clear inside their mind.
There was no other way. No alternative. They were already on the very edge of a catastrophe.
The first battle was to begin shortly.
=== End of Event I ===