Author's note: After finally learning how to use Fanfiction dot Net's Doc Manager, I have edited episode 1 to finally fit the correct format of my later episodes. My only regret is that it took me so long for this to happen. School and life got in the way. And I know that's not much of an excuse, but life happens. I apologize for this first episode being so confusing to probably most (if not all) of you that have read it. I plan to do so with episodes 2 through 6 as well. Please bare with me while I try to correct the problems in these early chapters.

Thank you,
-MrAntonio


It had all happened so quickly. One moment, Cure Poker was standing in the meadow, admiring the gorgeous reds, blues, greens and yellows of the Queen's Garden. The next, the sky had turned a murky shade of gray, and the roar of monsters could be heard from every direction. The White Warrior acted quickly. The Gambling King and his minions were here. She knew this day was coming, but she was still surprised, now that it was actually happening. The Gambling King had issued a warning to the King of Cards two years prior: Surrender the kingdom or suffer the consequences. Naturally, the King had refused. What surprised Cure Poker, however, was that it took the King this long to attack. The Land of Cards had changed monarchs in the two years it took him to ready his attack.

He had issued the warning over two years ago. Cure Poker had just received her powers of being a Pretty Cure warrior. The warriors before her had been retired. Cure Poker didn't know them, but she did look up to them when she was younger. And it was the first time that a citizen of the Land of Cards had been selected to become a Pretty Cure Warrior. The Land of Cards entered a time of peace. She was still necessary to protecting the Queen, but Poker didn't do much in those two years.

It should have been Poker's time to shine. However, the monsters unleashed their fire, and stormed the small towns in the kingdom. In a flash of white and pale pink, Cure Poker raced her way to the Battle Tower of the Queen's castle. She found the Lieutenant of the Card Army there, but the Queen was gone.

"Where is she?! Where's the Queen?!" Poker ordered.
"She's already made her way to the front line!"

Poker's eyes widened; her stomach dropped. The very person that was at the highest on her list of people to protect was fighting? She bust through the door and raced down the staircase, cursing under her breath. She had to make it to the front line of the battle. It was bad enough that she hadn't been prepared for the Gambling King's army, but she would never forgive herself if something happened to the Queen.

She made her way through the courtyard. It was large and circular, with a round concrete wall running all around it. There were five doors in the wall, one behind Poker where she had just come from, and four others lining the wall. The courtyard was empty, and quiet, save for the occasional roar from a monster or scream from a citizen.

Those screams caused Poker's skin to crawl. She should be out there protecting her people. She started to run again, set on preventing her people from suffering.

THWUMP!

Cure Poker felt something hit her back. Whatever it was had hit her with a force that caused her to fly into the wall of the courtyard. Dazed, she slid down to her knees, her cheek being scratched as gravity worked on her. The White Warrior used all her now fading strength to turn around and face what ever it was that had attacked her. Her vision blurred, and all she could make out was the figure of a tall young man, his hair an electric blue color. He was advancing on her, but she had no way to fight. Her strength was gone. Whatever had hit her made sure of that as she felt her power drain out of her through the spot on her back. Cure Poker readied herself to be taken by this monster and enslaved.
"I'll… stop… you…" She said weakly.

Just before the young man could reach her, something else had drawn his attention. Maybe it was someone attacking him. Maybe it was the Gambling King needing him for something else. Cure Poker couldn't tell. Her strength and energy were all but gone now. Cure Poker let her eyes close, and the sounds of battle faded away.


Episode 1: "The Land of Cards in Danger! The Mysterious Transfer Student!"


The morning began like any other. Student's piled into Yugaki Middle School's courtyard at 7:15 AM sharp. They still had about fifteen or so minutes before class started, but took their time getting to class once they made it through the front gate. The students were starting their third week of school back from the winter break. But for others, they had been working all winter long for the spring activities. Audrey made her way through the halls of the second floor of the school, her thick, gray-blue hair piled on the top of her head, twisted into a loose bun that bobbed as she walked. She said her good mornings to some of her friends outside of her group of best friends.

After another minute or so of walking, she finally made it to the theatre room.
"...but I cannot choose but weep to think they would lay him i' th' cold ground.
My brother shall know of it; and so I thank you for your good
counsel. Come, my coach! Good night, ladies. Good night, sweet
ladies. Good night, good night!"

A natural smile spread across Audrey's face as she slid the door open to the theatre room. A girl with blonde hair and a pair of red-framed glasses on her face was walking into the hall.

Kichi liked to keep her exits simple, but effective.
"Oh! Audrey! You're here! Did you hear that just now? How was it? Did you like it? Do I need to add anything?" Kichi asked excitedly.
"Perfect as always, Kichi!"
Kichi ran back into the room, said her goodbyes to the rest of the theatre club, and ran back out to Audrey.


The two were lucky to be in the same class again. After having known each other since they were in diapers, it was hard to imagine the two girls without one another. Kichi rambled on to Audrey about some parts of the break that Audrey wasn't present for. The two girls made their way down to their classroom, not really paying attention to much around them. The two girls weren't exactly popular, but they were well liked by anyone that they met.

They made it to the classroom just in time for the bell. Kichi power walked to her seat behind a tall girl with cropped, green hair.
"How perfect is it to sit behind you, Madoka? You're so tall, I can get away with not reading!" Kichi joked.
Madoka gave a small giggle, but said nothing, the teacher walking in.
"Stand!"
The students went through their morning routine before the lesson officially started, though Kawata-sensei amended the situation by adding one piece of information.

"Before we begin class, I'd like to introduce to you our new transfer student. Come in!" Kawata-sensei gestured, and the door slid open. A normal looking girl of fourteen or fifteen stepped quietly through the door, her dark tresses lay straight, and flat. The only spectacle about the girl was a glittering, white diamond hairpiece that held her bangs back.
"This is-"
"Oshiro Yui." The girl, now named Yui, cut off the teacher.
"Hehe! She's more bold than you are, Madoka!" Kichi whispered.
"Hush, Kichi. Listen to the girl's self introduction."

But Oshiro Yui made no self-introduction. Kichi kept her eyes on the girl, it didn't seem like it was because she simply didn't want to. No, it seemed like she couldn't. Kichi kept her eyes on the girl's face, noticing how expressionless it was. No, it wasn't completely expressionless. Kichi had trained herself to read people's faces, being a theatre junkie. The girl had an air of confusion, a look of being lost on her face.


Sharp, a young boy with green-black hair stood in the middle of a black and white casino room. It was small, though it could have been bigger. Everything was cloaked in shadows. However three lights were shining in the room. One light was directly above a casino table, where two people sat, one woman and one man. The other two lights were shining over two empty areas.

One more person, a young man, was standing in the small half circle of a hole, dealing out a hand of black jack.
"Man, you guys are playing another game of blackjack? Doesn't that get old?" He asked.
The three other people said nothing. The woman brushed her fingers through her magenta hair and shot the boy a cold glare with her startling blue eyes.
"Oh, calm down Sharp. It's the only thing we can do at the moment. The Gambling King hasn't given us orders to go searching for minions yet."
The woman's voice was cold, indifferent and velvety smooth. Sharp almost wanted to listen to her, her voice was so coxing. He shook his dirty green haired head.
"No! I'm tired of waiting! I just-"

The boy would have said more, but a black, red and grey playing card slapped his mouth shut. He peeled the card from his mouth, and smirked. As it turned out, he had his orders.
"Well... I'll see you suckers later. Let's go stir up some mayhem."


"We have to find Cure Poker~lingu!" Darling, a small pink deer, said.
"But she could be anywhere~rayray!" Razor, a small blue bird, responded.
"But we have coordinates! How could we not be able to find her! We're close, I know that much~roro!" Keroro, a green frog, said.

The three fairies flew high above the countryside. They didn't know it, but they were flying over rice fields, far outside the city of Kōunchi. The city was the last known location of a message the three received from their superior, Chula. Chula was the fairy partner to the Land of Card's legendary Cure Poker. Darling, Razor and Keroro were partners in training; hopeful fairies to one day partner with a powerful Pretty Cure Warrior. Darling, the only female of the three, was determined to make it to Kōunchi. They had to. The Gambling King was moving his forces to this place called Earth. And she knew that once Chula took Cure Poker to this place, she would have no way of knowing what was going on back home.
"We can't give up! We have to tell Chula that this place is in danger~lingu!"


As it is in the human nature, when the lunch bell rang, all the students flocked to Oshiro Yui. They bombarded her with questions, and the girl only looked at them. Kichi observed the situation from a small distance. Well, as big of a distance as one can get in a middle school classroom. Audrey and Madoka were making small talk next to Kichi. Audrey was talking about a new poem she wanted to write, and Madoka was saying that she should make it about basketball. Audrey was the first to notice Kichi's intense glare at the mob of people.
"Kichi?"

Audrey followed Kichi's glare to Yui's desk. She could hear the chatter, but she took note that the girl wasn't answering.
"Why do they keep asking her all these questions? Don't they notice that she's not answering?" Kichi asked. Her voice had a slight harshness to it.
"Who knows? They're all crazy. I don't know why everyone wants to be the new kid's friend. I feel for Oshiro-san. I remember what she's feeling right now. But I at least made an effort to answer some of the questions you all asked me." Madoka mused.
Kichi made no answer; she was nibbling fiercely on an octopus hot dog, a fire building up in her eyes.
"I'm actually surprised you haven't said anyth-" Audrey started.

"HEY! Guys! Can't you see you're overwhelming her?!"
Kichi finally let her thoughts fly. She forced herself up and out of her desk and walked over to the mob of students around Yui.
"All right, all right. Break it up."
"It seems I spoke too soon…" Audrey said, a weak smile on her face as Kichi shooed the student's back to their desks, remarking about how eating was more important than harassing the new girl. The students grumbled at Kichi ruining their fun, but walked back to their cliques and ate regardless. Kichi turned her attention to Yui.
"Why don't you come sit with us?" Kichi asked.

"Why would I do that?"

Kichi's smile faltered for a second, taken aback by Yui's blunt remark.
"Well... because me and the other two won't bombard you with questions! We want to get to know you!"

Yui's brows furrowed, trying to understand the request made to her. Nevertheless, the black haired girl stood and walked the short steps over to the window that Kichi, Audrey and Madoka were sitting at. She stood, not understanding that she had an open invitation. Part of her felt like she should know that an invitation had been extended to her, but at the same time, it felt foreign to her. The whole world felt foreign.


The day soon ended, and the students filed out of the school. Sharp floated high above the crowd of students, surveying them for potential minions. The Gambling King always wanted more lives to risk, more lives to add to his collection, more lives to gamble away to enemies. But not any old person could become a loyal subject to the King.

Sharp's eyes flashed a dark green, scanning the students for any signs of greed. Greed is what Sharp's group, the Card Shark Quartet, needed to exploit for the Gambling King. The students had varying levels of greed. But none of them stood out to him. He then turned his attention to those that were still inside the school building. No outrageous levels there either.

Sharp stared at the black, grey and red card in his hand, a large "A" was on the face side of the card.
"What's the point of even having this if no one in this town has any greed? There's no way these people can be humans? After what I've heard about them?"
Sharp continued to scan the crowd in his altered gaze. A student finally filed out of the front door, a bright red in Sharp's vision.

"Perfect."
Sharp turned himself invisible and floated over to the student. The student was a young boy, apparently in a class with a girl named Kichi. Sharp listened to the boy's thoughts. He wanted Kichi gone, and for him to have all the attention of his classmates. The young boy wanted everyone to be his friend. He wanted to be the one that the new student looked up to.

'You can have that, you know that right?' The boy, startled, jerked his head in every direction, trying to find out where the voice had come from. Sharp spoke again.

'I can make your dreams a reality. Just place all your greed and desire on this card.'
The card appeared in the boy's hands, and Sharp disappeared. The Avari would appear in due time. All he had to do was sit and watch.


The three faires floated through the sky, finally having made it to the city. The citizens of the town looked like small ants from their height. They were warned that humans weren't used to seeing things other than other humans speak, so they had to be careful. By now, each fairy could sense Chula's presence down in the city. They flew to it like a beacon. They flew to a hill in an otherwise deserted park, a single tree sat at the top of the hill.

A young woman in white, puffy clothing stood underneath in the shade. She had fair skin, startling white hair that was brought up into two buns, one on each side of her head. One bun had a golden ribbon holding it together. The girl looked to be about twenty or so years old, for a human that is.
"Chula-sama! We've finally found you~lingu!" Darling exclaimed. The young woman, looked up with eyes so grey, they almost blended in with the whites of her eyes.
"So it seems. But I'm rather confused. Why are three fairies-in-training here on earth?" Chula asked.

She had felt the three fairies make their way to the planet. She gave them her location, but their presence had raised many questions.
"The Queen surrendered the Land of Cards to the Gambling King~rayray!"
"But apparently it wasn't enough~roro! He wants more minions~roro." Razor and Keroro chimed in.

Chula gave no response, but she noticed Yui walking up to the hill. She told the fairies to hide themselves. Cure Poker's transition to the human world had given her a new persona. One that knew nothing about her origins.
"Nice to see you again, partner." Yui said nothing. She looked around, looking for an answer, a way out... whatever it was, Chula didn't know.
The girl was on the verge of saying something when she suddenly doubled forward. She clenched her chest; her breathing became labored. Chula, in a panic, froze. This was the first time something like this had happened. Yui fell to her hands and knees, and soon became a figure of glowing white light.

"There's an Avari awakening."


Audrey and Madoka had gone to their respective club meetings. Audrey had to present a new poem, while Madoka said that the first game of the season was just around the corner, and practice was all she had time for until then. Kichi didn't mind. She had other things to worry about herself. She made her way to the theatre room. There wasn't a meeting today, but Kichi went to the theatre room everyday to work on the play the club was working on at the time. This semester, the club was working on an adaptation of Hamlet. Kichi wasn't in the room for long before a one of the students in her class burst through the room.

"Huh? Kenta-kun?" The boy didn't say anything. He just stood in the doorframe, giving Kichi a grim look. Kenta kept his gaze on Kichi for what seemed like forever. Kichi looked around the room. She knew no one else was here, but she often came into the room like it was her second home, often ignoring anyone else that might be there.

When Kichi brought her eyes back to the door, Kenta was gone.
"Well that was weird..." Kichi went back to her preparations, when about half an hour after Kenta left, she heard screams from outside.

The card that Sharp had given the boy appeared in his hands. The "A" on the face was normally white on the grey face. But now it was black. Sharp smirked.
"AVARI! TAKE YOUR GREED AND FULFILL YOUR DESIRES!" He yelled, throwing the card in front of him.

The card flew about five or so feet in front of the Card Shark before stopping, still spinning in place. The card turned completely black and began to change its shape; smoky black tendrils spread outwards from the black mass. A monster, with the card as its body, thin black limbs protruded at the four corners, the hands ending in red gloves, the feet in red clown shoes appeared. The monster had a black circle for a head, and two red, angry looking eyes struck fear into anyone that looked at them.

"AVARRIII!" It shouted.
The monster began shooting red beams of energy from its eyes. Sharp floated near the monster, shouting encouragement left and right. No way a Pretty Cure Warrior was going to get in his way.


Kichi ran down the steps as fast as she could, trying to get out of the building and to somewhere safe. When she made it to the courtyard, she saw the large card monster stomping around the school, shooting laser beams from its eyes.
"What the heck is that?!"

Kichi didn't expect an answer, but she couldn't help but stare at the monster. The monster turned and set its gaze on Kichi. She froze as she noticed the monster charging up its eyes. No doubt she would have been burnt to a crisp, but a young woman, a girl about the same age as Kichi, slammed into her. Kichi fell to the ground about four or five feet from where she was originally standing. A girl clad in white and pale pink stood before her.
"Whoa... Hey, thanks for saving... my... butt..."

Kichi's words trailed off as the White Warrior ran off. Kichi watched the girl in pure amazement. How awesome was it that a super hero appearing out of nowhere and just saving her. Three small figures floated down to Kichi. One was a small pink deer, one a small blue eagle, and the last a green and white frog. They looked like animals out of an anime. Kichi saw that they were cheering for a Cure Poker. Kichi's shifted her gaze to the White Warrior. She could only assume that the girl's name was Cure Poker.

"Is... Is she like some sort of Magical Girl?!"
Kichi also read and watched a lot of anime. She was familiar with the concept of super heroines like the one before her. But the monster was a bit stronger than Cure Poker appeared to have expected. Kichi saw that the girl was faltering. Something was throwing her off.

"Hey! Monster! This way, ya creep!"
The Avari turned once more to Kichi. It looked confused, but it jumped at the chance to stomp around in a different direction. Kichi ran towards a small empty parking lot not far from the school. The monster followed. She was determined to help the girl. The three flying animals caught up to her. They were asking her questions about what it was she was doing. Kichi didn't answer, but she stood her ground.

"If you want someone to fight, then I'm your enemy!"
And in that moment, a flash of pink light appeared in front of Kichi. The light faded, and in front of Kichi, there was a two toned pink card in front of her. The actual card was a pale pink, and it had a hot pink heart in the middle.

"Whaaaaaa! That means... That means you're a Pretty Cure~lingu!"

Kichi looked at the pink deer that spoke. A what? Kichi thought. The deer was suddenly surrounded by a puff of pink smoke, and was now a cellphone... Or at least, she looked like a cellphone. She shouted directions at Kichi. Pretty Cure... Card Play? Was that what she said? She took the card, and the speaking cellphone.

"Pretty Cure! Card Play!"
Kichi slid the card through a small opening at the top of the phone. Then, the touch pad lit up with a box with four lines all intersecting in the center of the box. Kichi made a "T" shape, and soon she was surrounded with pink light. Her blond hair glowed with this pink light and shot out of her head, and split into two twin tails. Two ribbons appeared with hearts in the center at the base of these twin tails, sitting right on top of her head. She brought her hands together to make a heart snap. More pink light glowed, and a pale pink ribbon with a hot pink heart jewel pinged into existence on her chest. Strands of darker pink light flew around Kichi's body, and pinged into a top torso part, exposing her stomach. A second set of dark pink strands circled around her waist and hips, and pinged into a short skirt with compression shorts underneath. Two wrist length gloves pinged on her hands, two red-pink hearts sitting on top of her hands. Then she danced around on her feet, and leaned back on her heels as two pink boots appeared around her legs.

She spun around one final time, the small cellphone attaching itself to her waist, and a dark pink bow pinged on the back of her skirt. When all was said and done, Kichi struck a pose and heard herself say something completely strange, but it sounded right to her.

"The Ultimate Winning Move! Cure Trump!"


Preview:

Kichi: Whoa! What just happened to me?
Darling: You're a Pretty Cure Warrior~lingu!
Kichi: Pretty… Cure? You mean like that girl in the white outfit? Is she a Pretty Cure Warrior, too?
Darling: She is a Pretty Cure Warrior! But now's not the time to talk about this~lingu!
Kichi: Oh! Right! I gotta take care of this monster thing!

Next time on Pretty Cure Shuffle!: "The Warrior of Hearts! Cure Trump is Born!"