p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"It was very early morning, the time of morning when it's still dark out and most sane people would be sleeping, considering it to still be night. No one was awake yet, the streetlights were just beginning to turn off, only a few at a time, and a light wind blew some stray pieces of litter around. They'd be picked up in a few hours./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Because, obviously, people were still sleeping and couldn't do it right now./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Which meant that no one saw what happened a few seconds later./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The sky was suddenly lit up by dozens of bright silver lights which streaked across the sky, falling to the ground at high speeds and fading away wherever they landed. The tiny pinpricks landed in trees, water, on rooftops...and one in particular fell through an open skylight in Atama Academy./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"As if they were following only that particular light, two more lights, these ones pastels green and blue, crashed down to rest in the school gardens. The lightshow ended as quickly as it started, and there were no witnesses./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"In a rosebush in the school garden, a pastel-green snake slowly unwound herself from the branch she'd been clinging to. "Oh...ow..." she groaned, wincing and shaking her head. Opening her eyes, she looked up at the sky, then looked around where she'd landed. No one had followed them. Good. "Kaana? Kaana, where'd you fall?" she whisper-called./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""O-Over here, Big Sister...But you're gonna be mad at me..." came a small voice from the next shrub over./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Hisa slithered over, easily spotting the pastel-blue snake. Kaana stood over a small plushie of a female human, its eyes closed and hands joined together over its stomach. The plushie was dressed in purples and pinks, sparkles and jewels, a transparent sash wrapped around her arms. And for some reason, the sight of it made Kaana sniffle pathetically. "I dunno what happened, Big Sister!" she wailed. "She was holding my hand one minute, and then I felt something go CRUNCH and there were lights everywhere, and then-!" She sobbed, shivering a bit as Hisa rested her head on top of her own./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Shhh...it's okay...I'm not mad, we can fix this...The Dream Charm probably broke during transit, that's all," she said soothingly. "We can just piece it back together, let's see now." She inclined her head towards the silvery pouch around Kaana's neck. Kaana pressed herself to the ground to pull it off, and then she and Hisa both pushed the fabric apart to open it-/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"-too easily./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Wait..." Hisa murmured, staring inside the pouch. All that was in it was a tiny shard of diamond, attached to a thin gold chain. There was nothing else in there./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Which meant that the light show was.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Uwaaaah! Big Sister, please don't be angry!"/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"strongOP: "Purikyua Club" - Bukatsudo Four/strong/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Fu-mi-e-taaaan...Fu-mi-e-tan..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie Motou groaned, burrowing deeper into the covers and pulling her sheet over her head. The sheet fell back down a little bit, exposing her messy blonde curls. "Hmmmff..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Her roommate, a girl with red-orange hair arranged in braided "donuts" on either side of her head and long ponytails, sat cross-legged at the foot of Fumie's bunk. She was already dressed in her cheerleader uniform, pompoms held in her lap as she grinned at Fumie's head. "Fumie-tan, wake up!" she cried, giving the pompoms a little shake./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie just groaned again and rolled over./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Mari giggled quietly to herself, tongue poking out from between her lips as she decided to use Plan B. Forgive me, Fumie-tan! Then she took a deep breath and, still smiling broadly, leaned forward and shouted. "Fumie-tan, wake up! You're gonna be late for school!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Hah?!" The blonde suddenly bolted upright, blankets flying up as she looked around in a panic, dark blue eyes wide. With another loud cry, Fumie rolled over, falling off the bed and onto the floor. (Luckily, she slept on the bottom bunk.) Scrambling back to her feet, Fumie raced around the tiny room, combing her curly hair with her fingers, trying to hop out of her pajama bottoms and locate her uniform all at the same time. "Mari, why didn't you wake me earlier?!" she wailed, flinging the closet open and pulling out her shoes./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Mari just continued smiling as Fumie struggled to put her shoes on, then realized too late that she hadn't even taken off her pajama-pants and then tried to pull them off over her shoes, still making flustered "Fwah!"s every two seconds. "I mean, we share a room-wait, why aren't you in class, you never miss class or practice and don't you better things to do than sit there and laugh-?! Eh..." Suddenly stopping in her panicked word-vomiting, Fumie straightened up, a puzzled look on her face. "Wait..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"As Mari fell backwards, unable to contain her laughter anymore, Fumie stared in shock at the kitten-shaped clock on the wall. 5:30. Fumie's pale face returned to its usual color, then went to pink, then red.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""MA-RIIIIIII!"/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"strongTODAY'S EPISODE: Paint a Perfect Picture! I Am Cure Ink!/strong/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""That was terrible..." Fumie pouted, sitting at the edge of her bed, a comb going through her hair. She was considerably calmer now that she knew she wasn't late after all, and was now wearing her school uniform instead of pajamas and shoes. "You could've picked a nicer way to wake me up, Mari."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Ah, come on," Mari said, lying on her stomach with her chin in her hands. "That's the best way to wake someone up! See, no matter how sleepy you are, whenever you look at a clock and notice you're late for something or other, don't you just get this jolt?" She mock-spasmed, as if being electrocuted, for a second. "And then you're wide awake, energized and ready to face the day! It was the perfect way to get you up for school."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie eyed her roommate from the corners of her eyes, still pouting a bit as she lowered the comb. "But at such an early time, Mari? None of the clubs are awake at this hour..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Well I wanted to give you ample time to prepare for your day! And there was the off-chance the charge didn't work," Mari mumbled the last bit, putting a hand to her mouth. Then she fell silent, no doubt pondering what she would have done if that had indeed been the case. "Hm...that'd be a bit of a problem." Then in an instant, her beaming smile was back as she turned back to Fumie. "So you see, it's totally okay waking you up at five AM!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Five-thirty, actually...you let me sleep in, Fumie couldn't help but think to herself, sighing and rising to her feet. "Remind me to do something horrible to you someday," she half-teased, walking over to the nightstand and opening the drawer. Pulling out her pocket-computer, she hit a few buttons, checking her email. There wasn't anything of interest this morning-no new homework assignments, no last-minute announcements, no newsletter (it was the wrong day for it, Fumie reminded herself). Absolutely nothi-huh?/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie's eyes widened a little bit as a blinking icon of a smiling envelope appeared onscreen just then. New E-Mail! The icon blinked a few more times, then faded away to reveal the inbox. That's weird... Fumie thought, frowning a bit./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The subject line simply read Pretty Cure. And in the space where a sender's name and email would be listed, there was nothing. It couldn't be spam, the blonde reasoned to herself, lips puckering a bit as she stared hard at the subject line. The school's personal computers were special so no spam could get in-the only emails that anyone could get on these little things were from people actually at the school; teachers, other staff, other students.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The point was, it really couldn't be spam./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"emI...guess I should see what it is?/em Fumie thought to herself, thumb hovering over one of the buttons. Shouldn't be too bad...besides, "Pretty Cure" sounds cute-if anything, maybe it's an ad for a deal at a Sweet Lolita shop or something. Or there's a new purikura booth coming to town./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"No longer hesitating, Fumie selected the email and clicked it./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Thank you and congratulations./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Eh?" Fumie stared, confusion and disappointment clearly written on her face. That was it? Really? Well what did that even mean? And the subject line and the actual message had nothing to do with each other at all! "Someone's playing a mean trick on me..." she grumbled, puffing her cheeks out and narrowing her eyes. Whoever it was must be a computer whiz if they were able to send her a funny email with no sender./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Or maybe they weren't. I dunno, I'm terrible at computers! Fumie shook her head. Either way, I ought to go out there and give them a piece of my mind, yup!/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Mari!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The redhead, who had decided to just go ahead and do morning exercises (since she was already up and dressed, too wide awake after her little joke to go back to sleep now), jumped, turning towards Fumie. "Yeah?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Someone gave me a funny email!" Fumie stomped her foot as she held up her pocket computer. "And I'm going to the computer lab to give 'em a piece of my mind, right now!" With that, she stormed across the room, yanking the door open with purpose and stepped out into the hall. "Oh..." Suddenly she smiled cheerfully, looking at Mari over her shoulder. "And have fun with your exercises."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Watch out for the ghost!" Mari shouted, bending over to touch her toes as the door clicked shut./p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"In a darkened room, in a dimly-lit place that was both far from the school and yet close, sat a very strange-looking throne. At least, the person approaching it considered it a throne./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"It was a simply-shaped, egg-like chair, like something one would see in a sci-fi movie. The chair was black in color, mysteriously hovering a good two feet off the black, mirror-like floor. And around the chair was a clear gel substance, unmoving except for the occasional pulse and shudder. It completely covered the chair in one thick layer, except for where one's head would be. There was just a hole, just wide enough to fit comfortably yet firmly around one's neck./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"A moment later, a tall figure was placing an unconscious girl in it./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The girl, who looked to be about sixteen, moaned quietly as she was placed in the chair, carefully, as if the other person thought she was made of glass. She had long blue hair that went to her calfs, a dark red leotard with a dark blue collar, and light purple leggings on underneath it. Over the leotard was an oddly-cut dark blue dress that split into coattails with dark purple lace. Her knee-high boots where a red-black with red jewels over the knee, and she had red and blue gloves that went to her elbows. On her head was a white headband with a black, circular jewel in the center with a triangular one dangling from it-making the overall shape resemble a keyhole./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"And that outfit was currently ripped in some areas, exposing nasty red marks and cuts, bruises and burns./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Gachan brushed some hair away from her eyes, face unreadable behind his harlequin mask. He had no reason to worry. The gel would heal her in time. Then they could try again./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Gachan..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The blond's head lifted slightly. "Hm?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The girl, Nocturna, was still mostly unconscious, only awake enough to ask this one thing. "The...Dream Charm...?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""No."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Nocturna made a disappointed noise before slipping back into unconsciousness./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Gachan, a seventeen-year-old young man wearing a conventional butler's uniform that was muted-blue and black on his left side but grey and muted-red on his right, turned to leave. emThe proper response, however/em, he thought to himself, emis "No, not /emstrongemyet."/em/strong/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"em"Watch out for the ghost!"/em Mari's farewell-words echoed in Fumie's mind as she walked down the dimly-lit hallway by herself, the only light coming from beginnings of the sunrise filtering in through the windows. Everyone was still asleep, and Fumie's footsteps echoed slightly on the wooden floor./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Wow, and the end of the hallway sure looked dark.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"And she was going to have to climb the stairs up a few floors in that darkness.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"...and all the images from those horror movies she'd seen in her lifetime came back to her full-force.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"...and the rumors that had been floating around Atama Academy about the ghost./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"em"Michiko saw it last night, really! It walked across the hallway, looked right at her, and its eyes glowed before it disappeared!"/embr /em"Whoa, freaky!"/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie walked faster./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"em"Oh my gah-Toki was on his way to the bathroom last night, and he ran into the ghost right outside his door!"/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie began to jog./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"em"I heard that she used to be a student here, and now she wants to possess someone to continue being a proper student! And you'll never get your body back if you let her take it!"/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie began running full-speed./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"And then a door opened right in front of her./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""AGAH!" Fumie cried, face smacking into the door. She fell on her rear hand, hands over her nose as tears sprang to her eyes. "Owwwww..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Meanwhile on the other side of the door, a black-haired girl wearing a red leotard poked her head out into the hallway, frowning slightly. "Did I hit something?" she mumbled to herself. She looked down, spotting Fumie. "Ohhh...oops."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Kurako?" a voice called from inside./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Kurako looked over her shoulder at her roommate sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes. "Kurako, is there a problem?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Everything's fine, Aoi-go back to sleep," Kurako answered, stepping into the hall and quietly shutting the door. Then she looked down at Fumie, adjusting her grip on the water bottle in hand. "Uhm...You okay?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""F-fine, fine-my nose'll spring back into shape in a few hours, I think," Fumie said, pulling her hands away and crossing her eyes in attempt to see her nose./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Before Kurako could offer her any assistance-maybe a bit of water for that red mark on her nose, or a drink, or maybe an escort to the nurse's office-Fumie suddenly gasped and jumped back to her feet. Kurako held her water bottle and towel closer to herself, eyes widening a bit. "Uhm..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Oh God, I can't stop now! That hacker-pranker is still in the Lab! Sorry about your door, bye!" Fumie cried out, running around Kurako and bolting down the hallway-moving so fast that Kurako swore she saw a dust-trail and she felt her hair blow in the breeze./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""...no problem?"/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"strongEyecatch 1:/strong Fumie stands at an easel, tongue poking out slightly as she carefully dabs some paint onto the canvas. Satisfied, she steps back and spins the easel around to reveal a watercolor of Cure Ink, the PCBE logo where a signature should /strongEyecatch 2:/strong Kurako, Aoi, Kotone, Mari, Uta, Kaana and Hisa all sit down on the floor, watching Fumie. Fumie stands at a podium and bangs a rubber gavel, calling the club meeting to order. The PCBE logo appears in the corner./p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Big sister?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""What?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""May I come out now?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Are you sorry about what you did?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Very sorry..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Alright then."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Sighing, Kaana slithered out of the corner and over to the computer her big sister was sitting in front of. She came up next to her and stared at the steadily-growing pink bar on the screen. "Are all of them sent out yet?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""No...two messages were received, but the other three are going to take a little while," Hisa murmured, narrowing her eyes a bit. "Ugh, how irritating..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""I said I was sorry!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""I wasn't talking about-! Oh, never mind."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"And then door burst open./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie skidded to a halt outside the door to the Computer Labs, panting heavily. Moving closer to the door, she stood up on tiptoe, nose to the glass as she looked in the window. One light was flickering in the corner-big enough to be a computer moniter. A-ha! Found you! Fumie smirked, taking a few steps back.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"...and then running up and kicking the door open./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""HAH!" she cried, standing in the doorframe, shoulders hunched as she tried (and failed spectacularly) to look menacing. Striding over to the corner with the light in it, she pulled out her pocket-computer. "Caught 'cha! You think it's so funny to just send people fake messages-well it's not! The computer's for school-related stuff, not purikura advertisements! Also-I-wanna-know-how-you-managed-to-send-this-wit h-no-sender-info-and-" She stopped. And stared./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"There wasn't a student at the computer. There wasn't even a person at the computer. Rather, there were two animals at the computer./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Two snakes, to be precise./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"For a few moments, Fumie and the two snakes just stared at each other, Kaana hiding behind Hisa as best she could, and Fumie's breathing slowly evening out, posture returning to normal. The only sound was the faint hum of the computer. A marching band could have decided to take a shortcut through the lab for some weird reason and the three wouldn't have noticed./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Then Fumie spoke./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Snakes...are on the computer...sending emails...typing..." she mumbled. Suddenly feeling a little weak in the knees, she reached behind her, groping the air awkwardly for a few moments until she found a chair, then collapsed in it. "Snakes...typing..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""I think she's taking it well!" Kaana said cheerfully./p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Down the hallway, a tanned boy about Fumie's own age strolled along, arms swinging at his sides, a big grin on his face. "Okay..." he was saying to himself. "It's a piece of cake, no obstacles...Just a very simple, very long scavenger hunt. And all the tiems are just in town, so it's all good. Yup!" Fureyaa suddenly laughed, hands going to his hips. "Lady Nocturna will get better in no time, and everyone'll be so proud of me!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"But where to start looking...it wasn't like he had any sort of Shard Detector or the like. (Hmmm...shard detector...he'd have to ask Kemuri about making one of those. Certinly make their job a lot easier.) And this was a big school, in a big town...Fureyaa suddenly winced, a hand brushing over the tiny keyhole-shaped charm in the center of the cord that went over his chest. "Owww...Why now?" he whined./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Wait... Gritting his teeth past the dull ache, Fureyaa looked towards the one open door in the hallway. If he was in pain now...then that must mean.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Alright!" he grinned. "Playtime!"/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""You got the email?" Hisa was asking, one eye narrowed in an imitation of someone who had one eyebrow lowered./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie nodded, holding Kaana to her chest to try and soothe herself, petting the younger snake idly. "Uh-huh."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""And it did say 'Thank you and congratulations?'"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Uh-huh..." Fumie frowned. "And since I suppose I'll buy your story of needing transforming heroines-only because talking snakes are definitely not normal and you're too lifelike to be animatronic, I must say it's very inconsiderate of you to just type a message and not explain in the email-"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""We were pressed for time!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Or even send along a transformation device." Fumie glared at Hisa, making Kaana giggle a little bit. "That's kinda lame."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"There was a pause as what Fumie had said sank into Hisa's mind. Didn't send a- She snapped at the blonde "Didn't you download the attachment?!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Attachment?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""There was an attachment right there! That was going to let you transform, you-oh my god, you just charged down to yell at someone without checking everything that was in the email?!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Well, maybe you attached a virus..." Fumie mumbled, blushing in embarrassment. The threat of virus had nothing to do with why she didn't download the application-she just didn't see it. "How terrible..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Kaana saw her sister seething, and slithered out of Fumie's hands. "Well, it's okay," she said, approaching the pocket computer sitting on the table. Using her tail to push the buttons, she maneuvered the little arrow over the attachment and clicked "Download." "All we have to do is download it right now, and then we can explain things much better to Miss Fumie, and she can transform. Is that okay?" she asked, looking up at Hisa for praise./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Before Hisa could answer, Fumie leaned forward, patting Kaana on the head with a soft smile. "Yeah, I like your idea better, Kaana...When it's done downloading I can see how I look, then you can explain why you're lugging a plushie around!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""It's not a plushie, it's Princess Himemiya," Hisa muttered./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Just then, Fumie fell forward as someone tackle-hugged her, a loud "GWAAAAH!" ringing in her ear./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""H-Hyah?!" she cried out, falling and smacking her chin on the table. The deadweight on her back suddenly vanished, and she was aware of someone standing directly behind her. "What the-? Mari, you didn't have to follow me-Eh, you're not Mari..." she mumbled, turning around and getting a look at her attacker./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"To his credit, the shirtless boy at least looked sorry. "Whoop, didn't mean to hurt you already," he laughed, one hand behind his head. "It's not fair to attack someone in civilian form, so foul on me! Tell you what, I'll let you go first blow, 'k?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""...what? Hisa, Kaana, who is that guy?!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""We don't..." Hisa and Kaana said at the same time, Hisa staring at Fureyaa with a puzzled frown, Kaana barely glancing at him as she checked the downloading progress./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fureyaa didn't seem to care that he was so unknown. Probably because he wasn't going to be for long. "Name's Fureyaa!" he smiled, holding up his index and middle finger to give Fumie the V-sign. "I'm with Mora, you see, and that means we're enemies, and that means..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"A little pi! came from Fumie's computer just then: download completed. All the apps she had prior to that, her emails, IM-systems, folders for schoolwork, all faded away into pink light. The light faded a second later to reveal a simple screen lay-out: a dark blue text-box with two buttons beneath it: Okay and Cancel. Fureyaa snatched it from Kaana (who cried out "Hey!") and threw it to Fumie. "Which means I get to beat you up!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Wait, what?!" Fumie cried, fumbling the computer-or as it was now, Pretty Cure PC./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""I said I get to beat you up," Fureyaa repeated cheerfully, taking a few steps back. "Go ahead and transform! I'll wait!" he smiled./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"And you're not gonna attack me while I'm in the process of it? Fumie couldn't help but think as she glanced between him and the text-box on the screen. Or kill me before I can do anything? ...well, isn't this a gentlemanly first opponent? "Okay, how do I do thi-Oh, wait!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"emIt's henshin-time~/em she thought to herself, grinning as she deftly moved her thumbs over the keypad. strongC. U. R. E. Okay!/strong/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"strong"Pretty Cure~ Show my future!"/strongbr /Suddenly she was no longer in the computer lab, but in a midnight-blue void with bright blue sparkles and streams of light flying around her. Fumie grinned with her teeth showing, holding the PC at waist-level as her uniform dissolved into ribbons of dark blue light. The ribbons snapped tight around her, bursting away in "splashes" to reveal a black, long-sleeved minidress with black lace along the bottom of the skirt. The PC glowed bright blue for just a second before ribbons of the same color emitted from the left and right sides, wrapping around Fumie's waist to form a bright blue belt with a midnight-blue skirt that looked just like the black one, but a little shorter. She lifted her arms up, clasping them above her head and spinning around as dark blue light splashed onto her chest, falling away to reveal a midnight-blue, frilly vest. As she spun back to face the same direction she'd faced a moment ago, the top corners of the chest joined together, a dark blue heart-shaped charm with a light blue circle in it appeared to keep them together. Two bright blue bows sprang from the charm. Fumie did a few small hops before leaping into the air, legs bent at the knees beneath her, and more light splashed onto her legs and revealed bright blue capri-pants, black ribbon around the leg-bottoms. Black socks with frilled tops appeared over her feet, and as she stuck her landing, bright lights flashed over them and dark blue Mary-Janes materialized, circular, blue gems on the center of each strap. Eyes shut now, Fumie brought her hands up to her head, grabbing and pulling at thin air-then with a burst of light, a large, dark blue beret appeared on her head, lace of the same color appeared around her collar and at her wrists. At the moment the beret touched her head, her blonde hair suddenly turned a lot brighter and a little more voluminous, and she opened her eyes to reveal that the dark blue had turned /She grinned wider, one foot behind the other as she moved her left arm in sweeping motions as if painting on a very large canvas./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Painting the world with new tints, Cure Ink!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The lights and sparkles faded, Cure Ink staring at Fureyaa, hands on her hips. For a few moments, she glared mildly, back straight and head held high, perfect vision of a super-hero. But then she giggled and looked down at her outfit, lifting the skirt slightly as she held a foot out to see the shoe. "Oh my gah, I look so cute~!" she squealed./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""You seriously do!" Fureyaa laughed. "Makes me feel sorry I gotta ruin that outfit of yours!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Hisa stared, eyes half-shut as she tried to tell herself that no, Hisa, this most certainly not was happening, their first hero was not giggling and squealing over her clothes, and no, she was not making friendly conversation with an enemy. "We're gonna die," she deadpanned./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Give her time, Big Sister, give her time..." Kaana laughed nervously. "And just enjoy the show, okay?"/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"strongED: "Lead Me There" - YUME featuring Mari/strong/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"strongON THE NEXT EPISODE:/strongbr /Fumie: "Hyaaaah, this still doesn't make any sense! I barely know what I'm supposed to do!"br /Hisa: "Don't worry, Fumie, another girl got the email. And this one actually downloaded the attachment."br /Fumie: "Will you quit reminding me of that?! Oh, and who is the girl anyway?"br /Mari: "Kyaaah! Fumie-tan, you're a magical girl?!"br /Fumie: "M-MARI?!"br /Kaana: "Next time on Pretty Cure Bukatsudo Energetic: Noisy Interrupters! Cure Twirl Debuts! Ooh, that name sounds pretty..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Because, obviously, people were still sleeping and couldn't do it right now./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Which meant that no one saw what happened a few seconds later./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The sky was suddenly lit up by dozens of bright silver lights which streaked across the sky, falling to the ground at high speeds and fading away wherever they landed. The tiny pinpricks landed in trees, water, on rooftops...and one in particular fell through an open skylight in Atama Academy./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"As if they were following only that particular light, two more lights, these ones pastels green and blue, crashed down to rest in the school gardens. The lightshow ended as quickly as it started, and there were no witnesses./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"In a rosebush in the school garden, a pastel-green snake slowly unwound herself from the branch she'd been clinging to. "Oh...ow..." she groaned, wincing and shaking her head. Opening her eyes, she looked up at the sky, then looked around where she'd landed. No one had followed them. Good. "Kaana? Kaana, where'd you fall?" she whisper-called./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""O-Over here, Big Sister...But you're gonna be mad at me..." came a small voice from the next shrub over./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Hisa slithered over, easily spotting the pastel-blue snake. Kaana stood over a small plushie of a female human, its eyes closed and hands joined together over its stomach. The plushie was dressed in purples and pinks, sparkles and jewels, a transparent sash wrapped around her arms. And for some reason, the sight of it made Kaana sniffle pathetically. "I dunno what happened, Big Sister!" she wailed. "She was holding my hand one minute, and then I felt something go CRUNCH and there were lights everywhere, and then-!" She sobbed, shivering a bit as Hisa rested her head on top of her own./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Shhh...it's okay...I'm not mad, we can fix this...The Dream Charm probably broke during transit, that's all," she said soothingly. "We can just piece it back together, let's see now." She inclined her head towards the silvery pouch around Kaana's neck. Kaana pressed herself to the ground to pull it off, and then she and Hisa both pushed the fabric apart to open it-/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"-too easily./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Wait..." Hisa murmured, staring inside the pouch. All that was in it was a tiny shard of diamond, attached to a thin gold chain. There was nothing else in there./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Which meant that the light show was.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Uwaaaah! Big Sister, please don't be angry!"/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"strongOP: "Purikyua Club" - Bukatsudo Four/strong/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Fu-mi-e-taaaan...Fu-mi-e-tan..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie Motou groaned, burrowing deeper into the covers and pulling her sheet over her head. The sheet fell back down a little bit, exposing her messy blonde curls. "Hmmmff..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Her roommate, a girl with red-orange hair arranged in braided "donuts" on either side of her head and long ponytails, sat cross-legged at the foot of Fumie's bunk. She was already dressed in her cheerleader uniform, pompoms held in her lap as she grinned at Fumie's head. "Fumie-tan, wake up!" she cried, giving the pompoms a little shake./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie just groaned again and rolled over./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Mari giggled quietly to herself, tongue poking out from between her lips as she decided to use Plan B. Forgive me, Fumie-tan! Then she took a deep breath and, still smiling broadly, leaned forward and shouted. "Fumie-tan, wake up! You're gonna be late for school!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Hah?!" The blonde suddenly bolted upright, blankets flying up as she looked around in a panic, dark blue eyes wide. With another loud cry, Fumie rolled over, falling off the bed and onto the floor. (Luckily, she slept on the bottom bunk.) Scrambling back to her feet, Fumie raced around the tiny room, combing her curly hair with her fingers, trying to hop out of her pajama bottoms and locate her uniform all at the same time. "Mari, why didn't you wake me earlier?!" she wailed, flinging the closet open and pulling out her shoes./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Mari just continued smiling as Fumie struggled to put her shoes on, then realized too late that she hadn't even taken off her pajama-pants and then tried to pull them off over her shoes, still making flustered "Fwah!"s every two seconds. "I mean, we share a room-wait, why aren't you in class, you never miss class or practice and don't you better things to do than sit there and laugh-?! Eh..." Suddenly stopping in her panicked word-vomiting, Fumie straightened up, a puzzled look on her face. "Wait..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"As Mari fell backwards, unable to contain her laughter anymore, Fumie stared in shock at the kitten-shaped clock on the wall. 5:30. Fumie's pale face returned to its usual color, then went to pink, then red.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""MA-RIIIIIII!"/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"strongTODAY'S EPISODE: Paint a Perfect Picture! I Am Cure Ink!/strong/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""That was terrible..." Fumie pouted, sitting at the edge of her bed, a comb going through her hair. She was considerably calmer now that she knew she wasn't late after all, and was now wearing her school uniform instead of pajamas and shoes. "You could've picked a nicer way to wake me up, Mari."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Ah, come on," Mari said, lying on her stomach with her chin in her hands. "That's the best way to wake someone up! See, no matter how sleepy you are, whenever you look at a clock and notice you're late for something or other, don't you just get this jolt?" She mock-spasmed, as if being electrocuted, for a second. "And then you're wide awake, energized and ready to face the day! It was the perfect way to get you up for school."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie eyed her roommate from the corners of her eyes, still pouting a bit as she lowered the comb. "But at such an early time, Mari? None of the clubs are awake at this hour..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Well I wanted to give you ample time to prepare for your day! And there was the off-chance the charge didn't work," Mari mumbled the last bit, putting a hand to her mouth. Then she fell silent, no doubt pondering what she would have done if that had indeed been the case. "Hm...that'd be a bit of a problem." Then in an instant, her beaming smile was back as she turned back to Fumie. "So you see, it's totally okay waking you up at five AM!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Five-thirty, actually...you let me sleep in, Fumie couldn't help but think to herself, sighing and rising to her feet. "Remind me to do something horrible to you someday," she half-teased, walking over to the nightstand and opening the drawer. Pulling out her pocket-computer, she hit a few buttons, checking her email. There wasn't anything of interest this morning-no new homework assignments, no last-minute announcements, no newsletter (it was the wrong day for it, Fumie reminded herself). Absolutely nothi-huh?/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie's eyes widened a little bit as a blinking icon of a smiling envelope appeared onscreen just then. New E-Mail! The icon blinked a few more times, then faded away to reveal the inbox. That's weird... Fumie thought, frowning a bit./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The subject line simply read Pretty Cure. And in the space where a sender's name and email would be listed, there was nothing. It couldn't be spam, the blonde reasoned to herself, lips puckering a bit as she stared hard at the subject line. The school's personal computers were special so no spam could get in-the only emails that anyone could get on these little things were from people actually at the school; teachers, other staff, other students.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The point was, it really couldn't be spam./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"emI...guess I should see what it is?/em Fumie thought to herself, thumb hovering over one of the buttons. Shouldn't be too bad...besides, "Pretty Cure" sounds cute-if anything, maybe it's an ad for a deal at a Sweet Lolita shop or something. Or there's a new purikura booth coming to town./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"No longer hesitating, Fumie selected the email and clicked it./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Thank you and congratulations./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Eh?" Fumie stared, confusion and disappointment clearly written on her face. That was it? Really? Well what did that even mean? And the subject line and the actual message had nothing to do with each other at all! "Someone's playing a mean trick on me..." she grumbled, puffing her cheeks out and narrowing her eyes. Whoever it was must be a computer whiz if they were able to send her a funny email with no sender./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Or maybe they weren't. I dunno, I'm terrible at computers! Fumie shook her head. Either way, I ought to go out there and give them a piece of my mind, yup!/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Mari!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The redhead, who had decided to just go ahead and do morning exercises (since she was already up and dressed, too wide awake after her little joke to go back to sleep now), jumped, turning towards Fumie. "Yeah?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Someone gave me a funny email!" Fumie stomped her foot as she held up her pocket computer. "And I'm going to the computer lab to give 'em a piece of my mind, right now!" With that, she stormed across the room, yanking the door open with purpose and stepped out into the hall. "Oh..." Suddenly she smiled cheerfully, looking at Mari over her shoulder. "And have fun with your exercises."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Watch out for the ghost!" Mari shouted, bending over to touch her toes as the door clicked shut./p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"In a darkened room, in a dimly-lit place that was both far from the school and yet close, sat a very strange-looking throne. At least, the person approaching it considered it a throne./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"It was a simply-shaped, egg-like chair, like something one would see in a sci-fi movie. The chair was black in color, mysteriously hovering a good two feet off the black, mirror-like floor. And around the chair was a clear gel substance, unmoving except for the occasional pulse and shudder. It completely covered the chair in one thick layer, except for where one's head would be. There was just a hole, just wide enough to fit comfortably yet firmly around one's neck./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"A moment later, a tall figure was placing an unconscious girl in it./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The girl, who looked to be about sixteen, moaned quietly as she was placed in the chair, carefully, as if the other person thought she was made of glass. She had long blue hair that went to her calfs, a dark red leotard with a dark blue collar, and light purple leggings on underneath it. Over the leotard was an oddly-cut dark blue dress that split into coattails with dark purple lace. Her knee-high boots where a red-black with red jewels over the knee, and she had red and blue gloves that went to her elbows. On her head was a white headband with a black, circular jewel in the center with a triangular one dangling from it-making the overall shape resemble a keyhole./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"And that outfit was currently ripped in some areas, exposing nasty red marks and cuts, bruises and burns./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Gachan brushed some hair away from her eyes, face unreadable behind his harlequin mask. He had no reason to worry. The gel would heal her in time. Then they could try again./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Gachan..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The blond's head lifted slightly. "Hm?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The girl, Nocturna, was still mostly unconscious, only awake enough to ask this one thing. "The...Dream Charm...?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""No."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Nocturna made a disappointed noise before slipping back into unconsciousness./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Gachan, a seventeen-year-old young man wearing a conventional butler's uniform that was muted-blue and black on his left side but grey and muted-red on his right, turned to leave. emThe proper response, however/em, he thought to himself, emis "No, not /emstrongemyet."/em/strong/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"em"Watch out for the ghost!"/em Mari's farewell-words echoed in Fumie's mind as she walked down the dimly-lit hallway by herself, the only light coming from beginnings of the sunrise filtering in through the windows. Everyone was still asleep, and Fumie's footsteps echoed slightly on the wooden floor./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Wow, and the end of the hallway sure looked dark.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"And she was going to have to climb the stairs up a few floors in that darkness.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"...and all the images from those horror movies she'd seen in her lifetime came back to her full-force.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"...and the rumors that had been floating around Atama Academy about the ghost./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"em"Michiko saw it last night, really! It walked across the hallway, looked right at her, and its eyes glowed before it disappeared!"/embr /em"Whoa, freaky!"/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie walked faster./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"em"Oh my gah-Toki was on his way to the bathroom last night, and he ran into the ghost right outside his door!"/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie began to jog./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"em"I heard that she used to be a student here, and now she wants to possess someone to continue being a proper student! And you'll never get your body back if you let her take it!"/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie began running full-speed./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"And then a door opened right in front of her./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""AGAH!" Fumie cried, face smacking into the door. She fell on her rear hand, hands over her nose as tears sprang to her eyes. "Owwwww..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Meanwhile on the other side of the door, a black-haired girl wearing a red leotard poked her head out into the hallway, frowning slightly. "Did I hit something?" she mumbled to herself. She looked down, spotting Fumie. "Ohhh...oops."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Kurako?" a voice called from inside./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Kurako looked over her shoulder at her roommate sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes. "Kurako, is there a problem?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Everything's fine, Aoi-go back to sleep," Kurako answered, stepping into the hall and quietly shutting the door. Then she looked down at Fumie, adjusting her grip on the water bottle in hand. "Uhm...You okay?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""F-fine, fine-my nose'll spring back into shape in a few hours, I think," Fumie said, pulling her hands away and crossing her eyes in attempt to see her nose./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Before Kurako could offer her any assistance-maybe a bit of water for that red mark on her nose, or a drink, or maybe an escort to the nurse's office-Fumie suddenly gasped and jumped back to her feet. Kurako held her water bottle and towel closer to herself, eyes widening a bit. "Uhm..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Oh God, I can't stop now! That hacker-pranker is still in the Lab! Sorry about your door, bye!" Fumie cried out, running around Kurako and bolting down the hallway-moving so fast that Kurako swore she saw a dust-trail and she felt her hair blow in the breeze./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""...no problem?"/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"strongEyecatch 1:/strong Fumie stands at an easel, tongue poking out slightly as she carefully dabs some paint onto the canvas. Satisfied, she steps back and spins the easel around to reveal a watercolor of Cure Ink, the PCBE logo where a signature should /strongEyecatch 2:/strong Kurako, Aoi, Kotone, Mari, Uta, Kaana and Hisa all sit down on the floor, watching Fumie. Fumie stands at a podium and bangs a rubber gavel, calling the club meeting to order. The PCBE logo appears in the corner./p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Big sister?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""What?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""May I come out now?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Are you sorry about what you did?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Very sorry..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Alright then."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Sighing, Kaana slithered out of the corner and over to the computer her big sister was sitting in front of. She came up next to her and stared at the steadily-growing pink bar on the screen. "Are all of them sent out yet?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""No...two messages were received, but the other three are going to take a little while," Hisa murmured, narrowing her eyes a bit. "Ugh, how irritating..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""I said I was sorry!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""I wasn't talking about-! Oh, never mind."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"And then door burst open./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie skidded to a halt outside the door to the Computer Labs, panting heavily. Moving closer to the door, she stood up on tiptoe, nose to the glass as she looked in the window. One light was flickering in the corner-big enough to be a computer moniter. A-ha! Found you! Fumie smirked, taking a few steps back.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"...and then running up and kicking the door open./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""HAH!" she cried, standing in the doorframe, shoulders hunched as she tried (and failed spectacularly) to look menacing. Striding over to the corner with the light in it, she pulled out her pocket-computer. "Caught 'cha! You think it's so funny to just send people fake messages-well it's not! The computer's for school-related stuff, not purikura advertisements! Also-I-wanna-know-how-you-managed-to-send-this-wit h-no-sender-info-and-" She stopped. And stared./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"There wasn't a student at the computer. There wasn't even a person at the computer. Rather, there were two animals at the computer./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Two snakes, to be precise./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"For a few moments, Fumie and the two snakes just stared at each other, Kaana hiding behind Hisa as best she could, and Fumie's breathing slowly evening out, posture returning to normal. The only sound was the faint hum of the computer. A marching band could have decided to take a shortcut through the lab for some weird reason and the three wouldn't have noticed./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Then Fumie spoke./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Snakes...are on the computer...sending emails...typing..." she mumbled. Suddenly feeling a little weak in the knees, she reached behind her, groping the air awkwardly for a few moments until she found a chair, then collapsed in it. "Snakes...typing..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""I think she's taking it well!" Kaana said cheerfully./p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Down the hallway, a tanned boy about Fumie's own age strolled along, arms swinging at his sides, a big grin on his face. "Okay..." he was saying to himself. "It's a piece of cake, no obstacles...Just a very simple, very long scavenger hunt. And all the tiems are just in town, so it's all good. Yup!" Fureyaa suddenly laughed, hands going to his hips. "Lady Nocturna will get better in no time, and everyone'll be so proud of me!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"But where to start looking...it wasn't like he had any sort of Shard Detector or the like. (Hmmm...shard detector...he'd have to ask Kemuri about making one of those. Certinly make their job a lot easier.) And this was a big school, in a big town...Fureyaa suddenly winced, a hand brushing over the tiny keyhole-shaped charm in the center of the cord that went over his chest. "Owww...Why now?" he whined./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Wait... Gritting his teeth past the dull ache, Fureyaa looked towards the one open door in the hallway. If he was in pain now...then that must mean.../p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Alright!" he grinned. "Playtime!"/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""You got the email?" Hisa was asking, one eye narrowed in an imitation of someone who had one eyebrow lowered./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fumie nodded, holding Kaana to her chest to try and soothe herself, petting the younger snake idly. "Uh-huh."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""And it did say 'Thank you and congratulations?'"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Uh-huh..." Fumie frowned. "And since I suppose I'll buy your story of needing transforming heroines-only because talking snakes are definitely not normal and you're too lifelike to be animatronic, I must say it's very inconsiderate of you to just type a message and not explain in the email-"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""We were pressed for time!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Or even send along a transformation device." Fumie glared at Hisa, making Kaana giggle a little bit. "That's kinda lame."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"There was a pause as what Fumie had said sank into Hisa's mind. Didn't send a- She snapped at the blonde "Didn't you download the attachment?!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Attachment?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""There was an attachment right there! That was going to let you transform, you-oh my god, you just charged down to yell at someone without checking everything that was in the email?!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Well, maybe you attached a virus..." Fumie mumbled, blushing in embarrassment. The threat of virus had nothing to do with why she didn't download the application-she just didn't see it. "How terrible..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Kaana saw her sister seething, and slithered out of Fumie's hands. "Well, it's okay," she said, approaching the pocket computer sitting on the table. Using her tail to push the buttons, she maneuvered the little arrow over the attachment and clicked "Download." "All we have to do is download it right now, and then we can explain things much better to Miss Fumie, and she can transform. Is that okay?" she asked, looking up at Hisa for praise./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Before Hisa could answer, Fumie leaned forward, patting Kaana on the head with a soft smile. "Yeah, I like your idea better, Kaana...When it's done downloading I can see how I look, then you can explain why you're lugging a plushie around!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""It's not a plushie, it's Princess Himemiya," Hisa muttered./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Just then, Fumie fell forward as someone tackle-hugged her, a loud "GWAAAAH!" ringing in her ear./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""H-Hyah?!" she cried out, falling and smacking her chin on the table. The deadweight on her back suddenly vanished, and she was aware of someone standing directly behind her. "What the-? Mari, you didn't have to follow me-Eh, you're not Mari..." she mumbled, turning around and getting a look at her attacker./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"To his credit, the shirtless boy at least looked sorry. "Whoop, didn't mean to hurt you already," he laughed, one hand behind his head. "It's not fair to attack someone in civilian form, so foul on me! Tell you what, I'll let you go first blow, 'k?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""...what? Hisa, Kaana, who is that guy?!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""We don't..." Hisa and Kaana said at the same time, Hisa staring at Fureyaa with a puzzled frown, Kaana barely glancing at him as she checked the downloading progress./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Fureyaa didn't seem to care that he was so unknown. Probably because he wasn't going to be for long. "Name's Fureyaa!" he smiled, holding up his index and middle finger to give Fumie the V-sign. "I'm with Mora, you see, and that means we're enemies, and that means..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"A little pi! came from Fumie's computer just then: download completed. All the apps she had prior to that, her emails, IM-systems, folders for schoolwork, all faded away into pink light. The light faded a second later to reveal a simple screen lay-out: a dark blue text-box with two buttons beneath it: Okay and Cancel. Fureyaa snatched it from Kaana (who cried out "Hey!") and threw it to Fumie. "Which means I get to beat you up!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Wait, what?!" Fumie cried, fumbling the computer-or as it was now, Pretty Cure PC./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""I said I get to beat you up," Fureyaa repeated cheerfully, taking a few steps back. "Go ahead and transform! I'll wait!" he smiled./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"And you're not gonna attack me while I'm in the process of it? Fumie couldn't help but think as she glanced between him and the text-box on the screen. Or kill me before I can do anything? ...well, isn't this a gentlemanly first opponent? "Okay, how do I do thi-Oh, wait!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"emIt's henshin-time~/em she thought to herself, grinning as she deftly moved her thumbs over the keypad. strongC. U. R. E. Okay!/strong/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"strong"Pretty Cure~ Show my future!"/strongbr /Suddenly she was no longer in the computer lab, but in a midnight-blue void with bright blue sparkles and streams of light flying around her. Fumie grinned with her teeth showing, holding the PC at waist-level as her uniform dissolved into ribbons of dark blue light. The ribbons snapped tight around her, bursting away in "splashes" to reveal a black, long-sleeved minidress with black lace along the bottom of the skirt. The PC glowed bright blue for just a second before ribbons of the same color emitted from the left and right sides, wrapping around Fumie's waist to form a bright blue belt with a midnight-blue skirt that looked just like the black one, but a little shorter. She lifted her arms up, clasping them above her head and spinning around as dark blue light splashed onto her chest, falling away to reveal a midnight-blue, frilly vest. As she spun back to face the same direction she'd faced a moment ago, the top corners of the chest joined together, a dark blue heart-shaped charm with a light blue circle in it appeared to keep them together. Two bright blue bows sprang from the charm. Fumie did a few small hops before leaping into the air, legs bent at the knees beneath her, and more light splashed onto her legs and revealed bright blue capri-pants, black ribbon around the leg-bottoms. Black socks with frilled tops appeared over her feet, and as she stuck her landing, bright lights flashed over them and dark blue Mary-Janes materialized, circular, blue gems on the center of each strap. Eyes shut now, Fumie brought her hands up to her head, grabbing and pulling at thin air-then with a burst of light, a large, dark blue beret appeared on her head, lace of the same color appeared around her collar and at her wrists. At the moment the beret touched her head, her blonde hair suddenly turned a lot brighter and a little more voluminous, and she opened her eyes to reveal that the dark blue had turned /She grinned wider, one foot behind the other as she moved her left arm in sweeping motions as if painting on a very large canvas./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Painting the world with new tints, Cure Ink!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"The lights and sparkles faded, Cure Ink staring at Fureyaa, hands on her hips. For a few moments, she glared mildly, back straight and head held high, perfect vision of a super-hero. But then she giggled and looked down at her outfit, lifting the skirt slightly as she held a foot out to see the shoe. "Oh my gah, I look so cute~!" she squealed./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""You seriously do!" Fureyaa laughed. "Makes me feel sorry I gotta ruin that outfit of yours!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"Hisa stared, eyes half-shut as she tried to tell herself that no, Hisa, this most certainly not was happening, their first hero was not giggling and squealing over her clothes, and no, she was not making friendly conversation with an enemy. "We're gonna die," she deadpanned./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;""Give her time, Big Sister, give her time..." Kaana laughed nervously. "And just enjoy the show, okay?"/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"strongED: "Lead Me There" - YUME featuring Mari/strong/p
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.08px;"strongON THE NEXT EPISODE:/strongbr /Fumie: "Hyaaaah, this still doesn't make any sense! I barely know what I'm supposed to do!"br /Hisa: "Don't worry, Fumie, another girl got the email. And this one actually downloaded the attachment."br /Fumie: "Will you quit reminding me of that?! Oh, and who is the girl anyway?"br /Mari: "Kyaaah! Fumie-tan, you're a magical girl?!"br /Fumie: "M-MARI?!"br /Kaana: "Next time on Pretty Cure Bukatsudo Energetic: Noisy Interrupters! Cure Twirl Debuts! Ooh, that name sounds pretty..."/p