It was just supposed to be another typical weekday morning for the Nomi household, which, for the daughter of the family, Madoka, would lead to another normal day at South Ridge Middle School.
Except it didn't turn out that way, because things never turn out normal when you expect them to.
Madoka had been up in her room with her headphones on, listening to one of her hundreds of favorite songs before she had to go to school, when she heard her mother and father knock on her door, opening it slowly. "Madoka? Are you in here?"
"Yeah mom? Wait, why do you look so sad all of a sudden? What's wrong?"
Her mother's eyes and face were bright red and soaked with tears. "Madoka...your Uncle Daichi's gone."
Madoka knew exactly what this meant, but she still froze in shock. "What? No, this wasn't supposed to happen!"
Madoka's father reached over to hug her. "He's in a better place now, sweetheart."
The doctors had said that even though the cancer had been spreading quickly, he should have anywhere from months to years left to live. Fate gave him two days; However they were two days that Madoka would never forget. Seeing her lying on a spare mattress on the floor, writhing in pain and coughing his lungs out each time her mother had attempted to spoon-feed her uncle his cocktail of medications.
Her mother had told her that he had died in his sleep, but he died in so much pain, that was it even really fair to call his death peaceful?
"Do you still want to go to school today, sweetheart? You don't have to if you don't want to."
Madoka wiped the small tears from her eyes and shook her head. "I'll go...it's only the third day, after all. Wouldn't want my teachers to think I'm slacking off already, would I?" Madoka managed a small smile. After one last awkward silence, she grabbed her backpack and proceeded to walk out of her house and down the street, head down all the way to the bus stop. Today wasn't going to be easy, that much was for sure.
As the Nomi family grieved their loss on earth, there was a far away palace that was undergoing another kind of crisis. Bright starlight glimmered through the palace's stained glass windows, though Queen Harmonia ignored it as she paced around the room in distress. She needed to free Desire, that much was for certain. Still, there was no way she could do it herself -only the 5 Pretty Cure warriors had enough strength to defeat the Negative, and considering one of them was being corrupted as she was sitting here, thinking, the plan didn't have much time to go into action, whatever she decided it was going to be. "I need to find someone who can help gather up the Pretty Cure. Whoever that may be, I will send them to Earth." The high-pitched squeaking of her throne room doors opening was enough to make her lose her train of thought. One of her trusted advisors, Bobble, bounced through the room, floating until he was right in front of her. "Queen Harmonia, I have urgent news-bo! One of the Friendship Kingdom's Pretty Cure, Cure Desire, is going to be taken over by the Negative soon-bo! This is urgent-bo!"
A concerned look reappeared on the queen's face, and she pressed her fingertips to her forehead. "I know, I can see it all unfolding from here, but I'm afraid it looks like the Negative's capturing of Desire is too close for anyone other than the Pretty Cure to handle." She sat in the anxious silence of the throne room and gathered her thoughts for a moment, pondering her options carefully before she finally settled on her best bet. "Bobble, If you're up for the task, I want you to go down to Earth and support the Pretty Cure, so we can protect Cure Desire from the Negative. Can you do that for me?" She speaks slowly, her smooth yet serious tone filling Bobble's ears as he played the information back in his mind. If one of the Pretty Cure of friendship had ever been taken from them by Negative, the power of harmony that the Friendship Kingdom controls would be weakened severely, and the Negative, would be able to overthrow her no problem.
"Yes, your majesty-bo! It would be my honor to be able to assist the Pretty Cure-bo! Anything to defend the throne, your majesty-bo!"
"It's more than defending my throne, Bobble. No matter what, we cannot let Desire fall victim to their corruption."
Bobble nodded and, without saying another word, a light appeared in the fairy's eyes, which grew into a bright flash as he disappeared from the throne room and teleported himself down to Earth in a beam of light. He knew that this task was going to be one of the most difficult things he'd ever have to do, but if it was for the safety of his homeland and the happiness of his queen, then it was more than worth it.
A teenage girl with long honey blonde hair and bright blue eyes was humming a joyful, upbeat tune while on her morning walk to school. Fitting perfectly with her mood, the sky that day was completely cloudless, the last of the summer heat keeping the girl warm as the leaves around her began to change their colors for the year. It was hard not to be optimistic when everything around you was so picture perfect, and Alana knew that she was lucky to live the life that she did.
Her two younger twin sisters were not too far behind her, with their chatter and footsteps being Alana's only reminder that they were there in the first place; Every other sense that she had was focused on how beautiful the morning scenery in front of her was. Alana only stopped and turned to look at her sisters when she had noticed that they had stopped following her, both of them staring down at something on the ground.
"This plush doll is so cute!"
"Yeah! I like the rainbow polka dots on it!"
The two girls caught up and showed the doll to their sister, the toy itself appearing to be some sort of fluffy white alien. As Eri had said before, it was decorated with rows and rows of brightly-colored polka dots along its stomach, the rest of it appearing to be white fuzz with beady black eyes.
"I want to keep it!"
A slight glare appeared across Chihaya's face as soon as her sister had said that. "No, it's mine!"
"Hey! I saw it first, Chihaya, so that means I get to keep it!"
Before Alana could even get a word in, Alana's younger sisters were fighting back and forth over the doll, both of them tugging on it by its arms. Alana couldn't tell if she was seeing things, but it had almost looked like the doll's expression had changed, almost as if though it was actually being hurt by her sisters' rough pulling. "Cut it out you two, or we're gonna be late for school!" Alana sighed, quickly thinking of a solution to their disagreement. "Here, how about I carry the doll with me in my backpack for now, and when you two are both calmer, and then you can decide who gets to keep the doll, okay?"
"Okay." The twins rolled their eyes. Neither of them really liked the decision that their older sister made, but it was better than them being late for school. With no other objections, Alana put the toy in her backpack and continued walking up the street, wanting to return to her perfect day without anymore interruptions.
"Hey Alana!" Takara waved, motioning for Alana to take the seat next to her. Takara had been a newer friend of Alana's, the two being especially close due to making it into the statewide choir together.
"Hi Takara! Ready to start another year of choir?"
"I'm ready if you are, but watch out, 'cause I'm ready to take over your position as section leader anytime now!"
Alana smiled, striking back with more of their friendly rival banter. "Hah! Only in your dreams, maybe! That is, if we even end up in the same section again at all."
"Then I hope we do."
After the bus had arrived at school that morning, Alana had been the first person in her homeroom class, so the sound of faint talking and rustling coming from her backpack was a surprise. She stayed completely still for a moment, hoping to catch them in the act, but the rustling continued as if nothing had changed. Annoyed, she turned around with a start, ready to give the pesky trickster a good talking to. "Alright can whoever's doing that please cut it out?"
The doll from earlier had floated out of her backpack out of surprise from the noise, and was currently levitating in mid air. "Heh heh. Sorry for all the noise-bo. I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out earlier-bo!"
Alana blinked, as if to confirm what she was seeing once more before nearly screaming in disbelief. "Bu-but you're just a doll...How are you doing that? Dolls aren't even supposed to talk, let alone float! Are you one of those creepy horror movie ghost dolls?" She paused for a moment to try and calm herself down. "What am I getting so worked up over, you're just a doll... but if you really were just a doll, then how are you talking to me?"
"I'll have you know that I am not just a doll! I am Bobble, ambassador to the Friendship Kingdom and the one that Queen Harmonia made responsible for searching for our legendary warriors, the Friendly Pretty Cure-bo!"
Alana blinked, as if she had to adjust her eyes to what she had just heard. "Pretty Cure?"
"That's right! Pretty Cure are magical warriors, who can do all sorts of amazing things! I came to you because I sensed that you're one of the Pretty Cure who can help save my homeland, the Friendship Kingdom!"
"Honestly, do you really think that I'm a magical warrior?"
Bobble wore his most confident smile "I know so-bo! After all, I can sense things like this-bo."
"I mean, I'm all up for helping people," She hesitated describing Bobble, "Or magical alien creature things, but to save an entire kingdom when I'm just your average eighth grader…"
"Alana, I know it's a lot to take in, but I believe in you-bo! And I know that the queen and the entire kingdom believe in you too!
"Alright, then, knowing that I have an entire kingdom behind me is a little more comforting."
"And you won't even be fighting by yourself either! You have four other teammates who are all fighting with you, so you'll never be alone-bo."
"Do you know who they are?"
Bobble rubbed the back of his head with his white stub of a hand, letting out a nervous laugh. "Well, I just got to Earth, so to tell you the truth only the queen knows."
"Wait, so the queen sent you here to find people, but you don't even know who your supposed to be looking for?"
"The queen works in mysterious ways-bo."
"Madoka! It's been so long! I missed you so much!" Alana says, reaching out to hug her friend, a wide smile on her face and a fake one on Madoka's. "I'm so happy we're in the same choir class again, y'know?"
"Yeah, you too, Alana. I missed you too." Madoka had spaced out, but had been trying her best to fake a smile for the whole day; She'd always been rather good at that skill, acting like nothing was wrong all because she didn't want to trouble Alana or anyone else who was forced to be around her true self.
If Madoka was forced to be honest with herself, though, she was in much more pain than usual today, and feared that she wouldn't be able to keep herself together for much longer. Her uncle had passed away suddenly in his sleep the night before. Every time she thought of what had happened before she came to school that morning, she denied its existence, as if though it had all just been some crazy dream and she'd just woken up in the middle of her school building.
The bell then rang, separating Madoka from her thoughts as she walked into the classroom, which was more like a second home to her than anything. The room was arranged just like she had remembered it, with three rows of about ten black chairs all placed in the center of the room. After her teacher had given his obligatory introduction to all of the students who hadn't been in the school's choir as second years, they finally got on to what they were there for; singing. "Alright, so I'm just going to listen to you sing a scale, just on ah, and then split you up into one of four voice types; Girls will be sopranos or altos, and boys will be tenors or basses. Takara, Madoka and Alana, you'll go first, okay?"
Madoka took a deep breath in anticipation. Despite her confidence in her singing voice, she knew that there must have been something going on with her that morning; For a reason that she couldn't explain, her voice felt stuck in the back of her throat. It was a feeling that she couldn't explain, but she knew that this was not going to make her day any better. As the line moved person-by-person to the other side of her teacher's piano, her heart began to become heavier and heavier, like she was going to burst into tears without any reason. Her mind, however was far on the other end of the spectrum; That is, rushing so fast through so much that she could almost feel a panic attack or a meltdown coming on. She definitely couldn't explain how her body was feeling, but the one thing that she could determine was that she did not enjoy it.
Her teacher played the scale, and she had heard him. They both expected to hear her voice after that, but there was only silence. "Ah, let's try that again, Madoka." He played the scale one more time, but still, there was nothing but the sound of silence from the girl. He shot her a quick worried glance, which she could see from the corner of her eye. "Are you okay, Madoka?"
"I'm alright sir, I must have gotten a little distracted." A third time, her teacher played the scale, but all she could do was shake slightly in place. She hadn't been this terrified of singing in front of other people in a long time, and she was beginning to question her sanity because of it.
"How about we have Alana go in front of you so that you can have a few more seconds, okay?" With that request, she and Alana shifted places in the small line, with Alana, surprisingly being placed as an alto instead of a soprano like she had for all of those years before. Alana's voice test, of course, went perfectly, as was usual for the things she did. Once more, Madoka's teacher played up the scale, and finally, with a lot of energy and effort, she was able to push the notes out through her throat. "Soprano."
"Thank you, sir." Madoka put on her fake smile once more and walked away from the piano and her teacher at an even shakier pace than was usual for her, relieved to have gotten that terrifying experience over with, even though it had given her brain yet another thing to never let Madoka live down. On the bright side though, she hadn't broken down and cried for two straight classes now, if that was anything for her to celebrate.
As much as Alana had been looking forward to something exciting, The rest of the class passed by smoothly and uneventfully, and the two of them were left to twiddle their thumbs while everyone else finished their voice placements and was put into their new seating formation. As more and more people finished, that gave Alana more and more people to reunite with, and soon she was smiling all over again.
The bell releasing the class to lunch was just about to ring when the room went dark and time froze in most of the room, being covered from wall to wall in shadows and the nearby piano began to morph into some kind of strange monster. Bobble knew at that point that it was the time for him to make his grand entrance. He had only spent half the day with Alana, but the way she carried herself had let him know all he needed; Without a doubt, she was the first Pretty Cure. A pink bracelet materialized in his hand and he floated over to Alana. "Alana, I know that this is sudden and I know that it may seem weird, but I need you to put on this bracelet and then say the phrase "Pretty Cure! Light of Friends!"
Luckily for Bobble, Alana was the kind to happily take advice from anyone who seemed to be more of an expert than she was, and if the little alien creature in front of her was an expert on fighting magical piano monsters, than that was who she was taking her advice from."Alright, I'll try!" She smiled with confidence, slipping the small pink bracelet onto her wrist. "Pretty Cure! Light of Friends!" A strange pink light then enveloped her body, which felt like it was slowly lifting her off of the ground, even if only by a couple of inches. Things began to happen after that. She could feel herself getting a couple inches taller, her hair getting slightly longer and twisting into a braid, and new clothes beginning to form around her body until she noticed that they were forming a mainly pink outfit. "The bonds formed by love and kindness! Cure Sweet!"
"Alright Bobble, so what am I supposed to do with all of this?"
"Try to tire the Kiraino out, and then try attacking it -bo! But don't try to force it, and just let it come naturally to you-bo!" Alana nodded back at Bobble, lunging towards the keyboard with a leap, then jumping off of it once she had landed. "That's Good, Cure Sweet-bo! Now, try to purify it -that is- try to come up with a special magic attack of your own!
"Open to the kindness! Sweetness Shower!" Cure Sweet yelled as if it didn't come from the top of her head at that moment. As a spray of pink hearts fell over the keyboard, the room seemed to go back to normal, including her clothes. The bracelet was still on her wrist and in one piece, Bobble having shrunken himself down to fall asleep on the center of it. Nobody else seemed to have any memories of what had just happened to them, as if Alana had just drifted off into a fantasy. Then again, transforming into a legendary magical warrior and fighting giant monsters with the help of a tiny talking alien wasn't exactly a daily activity for her, so for all she knew, that had just been a dream.
The rest of the school day went by smoothly and painlessly for Alana, although whenever she looked down towards her wrist for the day she felt a pang of unrealness. If this kept up, she knew that this year was certainly going to be something special.
Before she knew it, Alana was walking back home from the bus stop. Alana and her little sisters had all made it home safely, her younger siblings giggling as they rushed into their room and her mother walking into the kitchen with near perfect timing not to miss the oldest of the three. "Hey Alana, how was your day at school?"
"Well, it was kinda crazy." She'd admit that much out loud, even though she would hate if her mother ever found out the details what happened.
"Did you see any of your friends?"
"Yeah, I was in choir again so I got to talk to all of my choir friends! I saw Madoka too, and she's in my choir class again this year! But still, she looked kind of sad. I hope everything's alright." Alana said as she walked into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her in order to get some privacy. Soon, Bobble popped out of the bracelet, having rested, fully refreshed to take on his fuller form again.
"You did great Alana-bo! Thank you so much for your help-bo! But please, you have to help me and the Friendship Kingdom by fighting for us some more-bo. I'll repay you by telling you our story if you do-bo."
"Well, I may not be that good at the whole magical legendary warrior gig at first, but I know I'll be doing my best!" She gave Bobble a gung-ho grin and a thumbs up. As long as she had Bobble by her side, she at least knew there was a chance of her having the upper hand, or at least learning more about her powers along the way.
"That's the spirit-bo! Anyway, now it's time for me to hold up my side of the bargain. The story of how I got to Earth goes like this. The queen of the realm I'm from, Queen Harmonia, sent me here because one of the Pretty Cure of Friendship was in danger of eventually being controlled by our enemies. Their goal is to sabotage the entirety of the kingdom-bo! And that's a really bad thing, because, if the kingdom gets taken over, all of the friendship on Earth and in the kingdom will be destroyed! You don't want that, do you-bo?"
She only had to think for a second, but those quick thoughts were also deep. Certainly, the fate of everyone's friendships in the entire world was worth fighting some evil monsters for, right?
"At least I'll hopefully have other Pretty Cure to help me out soon, so fighting won't be so strange." She gave him a moment to correct her, just in case she was getting her hopes up about having some partners "I will have my friends with me, right?"
Bobble smiled. "Of course! Having you fight alone to defend friendship would kind of make it go against the whole point, wouldn't it?"
Alana was relieved in knowing that there would eventually be someone she could talk to about her crazy experiences. "Do you know any of the other Pretty Cure girls? Like when they're just regular people, I mean?"
"I think that would be better to keep as a secret, but you should find out soon-bo. After all, I wouldn't want to give you so much information that you'd get overwhelmed, which would lead you to quit being a Pretty Cure on me, and let our whole kingdom be destroyed-bo."
"That's...an oddly specific plan to your kingdom's downfall, but I can see your point."
"Good-bo. Now, you need to make sure to always wear this bracelet wherever you go, because you never know when the next baddie is going to show up and you'll need to transform into Cure Sweet again-bo!"
"I promise. Besides, it's such a cute bracelet that I'm sure I could easily pick out some outfits that go with it, right? Well, anyways, I have to go to school again tomorrow morning, so I better get ready to hit the hay for the night. Goodnight, Bobble."
"Goodnight, Alana-bo." Alana flicked the light switch off, but Bobble's mind couldn't stop racing, thinking about his duty to protect his queen and her kingdom. It was only his first day on Earth and he'd already found one of the Cures, so at least he had that going for him. Still, he focused on the negative. "This isn't good. We might not have much time left to save Desire, and if we don't save her in time...I don't want to think about what will happen then."