Kokoro.
A beautiful, vibrant kingdom, filled with flowers and birdsong and love. Not a soul in Kokoro hated anybody, or even wished ill will. Everyone who lived there was as kind and warm as the usual weather.
So perhaps that was why it was such a shock to them all when it happened.
Several explosions rocked the great castle to its foundation, sending dust and stone falling from the ceilings to smash to the floor. Several holes were blasted in the walls of the long hallway the prince and his caretaker were fleeing down. But they couldn't afford to stop.
"Mommy, datchu!" Prince Ti wailed, reaching over Coffee's shoulder. The mouse fairy sobbed before adding another plaintive "Papa, datchu!"
"It's okay, Your Highness!" Coffee, a rat fairy, cried over the chaos. "They'll be alright!"
Ti didn't seem to believe it, sobbing brokenly against Coffee.
Coffee just smiled at him, or rather at the side of his head, hoping that it would put him at ease. Well, okay, she knew it wouldn't really, considering she'd just hoisted him up and ran as his parents were taken captive. Right before his eyes. Yelling at his caretaker to protect their son at all costs. And on his birthday, no less!
But...maybe he would have appreciated at least one smiling face.
She didn't have time to reflect on that much longer. Coffee turned a corner and was forced to halt, gaping in horror and shock at a crowd of shadowy monsters. "U-Usotsuki!" she cried without thinking.
Ti began wailing again, shaking like a leaf and crying for his parents to come save him.
"Pretty Cure...Lovely Arrow!"
The Usotsuki screeched as a golden, glowing arrow shot for the center of their number, many of them bursting apart after the magical arrow shot clear through them. Not all were down, but enough.
Someone leaped out of nowhere, scooped up both Ti and Coffee, and bolted down another corridor.
"C-Cure Ariel!" Coffee cried in joy at the sight of the Cure.
Cure Ariel, glad in teal and aqua, her long magenta hair in twintails, smiled at the fairies. "Don't worry. I'll keep you safe-"
Another explosion cut her off, and the stone wall directly in front of her blew apart. Ariel skidded to a halt just as a girl stood in the resulting hole, her form silhouetted as she held a playing card between her fingers.
"Found you~!" she giggled. The girl threw another card at Cure Ariel.
Ariel leaped aside just in time. The card struck the wall opposite her, and exploded shortly after impact. Ariel leaped through the hole to get to the next corridor over, ignoring her enemy's loud cry of irritation.
"Don't worry," she said, smiling down at the fairies in her cupped hands. "You'll be safe."
She halted again as there was another loud explosion up ahead, rocking the castle. But she didn't waver. Ariel pursed her lips, and rammed her shoulder against the wall...
...which easily opened up and revealed a hidden room. The room was barer than the lavishly-decorated, regal castle interior. It was pure white, sparkling clean, with a small depression in one of the walls, and a large mirror against the other side of it. Ariel shut the door behind her and ran for the mirror, snatching three rings from the depression as she ran past it. She stopped before the mirror long enough to kneel down, set down the fairies, and pull out a handkerchief.
"Ariel?" Prince Ti whimpered.
"Shh...It's alright, Your Highness." Cure Ariel tied the handkerchief in a knot, then loosely tied it around his neck. "I promise." She scooped them up again as she stood back up, back straight, a gentle smile on her lips. But Coffee could see the way her mouth twitched slightly, the tremor of her brow. "Listen to me. You're going to have to go to Earth. Find Pretty Cure, they can help you. Coffee, I'm entrusting you to take care of Prince Ti, just as you always have."
"Yes, Cure Ariel." Coffee bowed her head.
Ti looked dismayed. "B-But Cure Ariel!" he cried. "You're a Pretty Cure, datchu! You can stop them! You can save my mom and dad, datchu!" His frightened expression only grew when he saw Ariel tighten her lips and shake her head quietly, her eyes flickering closed, head bowed. "Cure Ariel! You have to stop them!"
"I..." she whispered.
The walls shook as a loud thudding resounded around them.
"I think..."
The door dented inwards as another boom sounded, shaking the room and rattling the mirror.
Cure Ariel lifted her head and smiled, tears in the corners of her closed eyes. "I think...this is it for me."
The door actually burst apart the third time, and shadowy monsters of indeterminable shape, with large, glowing yellow eyes swarmed in. Ariel had only a second to act. She leaned forward, slamming her hand against one of the decorative panels on the mirror that turned out not to be decorative after all. The glass glowed a blinding white, and Cure Ariel flung Ti and Coffee through the mirror.
Ti stared in horror and despair as Coffee grabbed him and held him close. "Cure Ariel!"
Ariel smiled faintly, her form rapidly disappearing as the fairies fell further and further into the abyss and the portal closed.
"Cure Ariel!"
Just before the portal closed for good, hiding his world from view, Ti saw the monsters swarm Ariel and submerge her. She'd never even had a chance to turn around, or fight.
She was just...gone.
Ti sobbed once before screaming. "CURE ARIEEEL!"
OP: "Love and Joy PreCure" - Entwined Hearts Duo
"Uwaaaaaah, I'll be late!"
A teenaged girl hurriedly went down the steps, tying her hair back as she went. Running down the hall, she grabbed her schoolbag from where it sat on a small table, nodding once at a framed photograph. Upon reaching the doorway, she hastily slipped into her shoes. "I'm going now!"
"Eh? Wait, Hiromi! What about breakfast?" A young woman ran out of the kitchen, spatula in hand. She wore a simple white dress over black leggings, her long and silky black hair in a straight ponytail secured at the base of her skull. Her large, black eyes watered fretfully as she watched Hiromi slip her shoes on. "You can't leave for school without a proper breakfast!"
"She's right, you know. You should listen to Emi." Three girls, all identical to the first, peered out from around the corner, tired and bored expressions on their faces.
"I'm sorry, sisters, but I really have to meet someone! I can't be late today!" Hiromi Satou turned around just to clap her hands together in apology, then bolted out the door. "I'm so sorryyyy!"
"Hiromi, wait!" Emi called out, a hand extended. Seeing the girl was already gone, she sighed, then turned an irritated look onto her sisters. "Girls, why didn't any of you stop her, if you agree with me?"
Hatsumi yawned, Harumi speared a sausage with her fork, and Kiyomi just muttered into her coffee. "It's too early for confrontation..."
Delicate pink cherry blossoms floated down on the students as they walked the wide, brick road to school. Dappled sunlight fell upon the road and teenagers below as the last of the morning fog was burned away, and a fresh, clean air invigorated them all. A small white butterfly flitted above the sea of heads. Truly, it was a fantastic morning to be alive.
But Hiromi Satou didn't have the time to appreciate it today.
Hiromi ran, panting heavily as she tried not to hit herself with her schoolbag. Her thick hair that charitable people would call "dirty blonde" (and less-charitable would call "dishwater") hair held in two sections with the ends in tiny pigtails with pink bobbles bounced heavily behind her, her large green eyes reflecting anxiety behind her large wire-rim glasses. The magenta and black plaid, ruffled skirt of her uniform flapped a bit, rather comically, but Hiromi had no time for embarrassment.
"I'm...so...very late!" she gasped as she raced for one particular tree.
TODAY'S EPISODE: Our Hearts Intertwined! We Are Pretty Cure!
Hiromi leaned against the large cherry blossom tree, palm flat on the bark, trying to catch her breath. Phew...she'd made it. She'd overslept and had to miss her breakfast, but she'd made it.
Pushing her bangs away from her face, she straightened up, trying to school her expression into a smile instead of a panicked gasp. All that was left was to wait for Aki.
...Hm, but she did oversleep. "I didn't sleep in too much, did I?" she murmured, rolling her sleeve back to check her watch. Aki should have been here when she arrived, come to think of it. Aki was always first here, ever since they'd decided to make this their spot, back at the beginning of their first year. Aki was always here first, she lived closer after all, but...if she was gone...
Hiromi checked her watch again, biting her lip harder. Hm, she could have sworn she'd made it at the appointed time...She gasped, hands flying over her mouth.
But what if Aki had been waiting this whole time and got mad and left? What if she thought Hiromi didn't care anymore? What if she thought this was a wordless break-up, or that she'd been betrayed?!
Hiromi suddenly imagined Aki towering over her, much taller than she was in real life, with a dark shadow over her face and a stormy background as thunder rumbled. "You betrayed me, Hiromi! I thought what we had was special! I never want to see you again!"
"It was an accideeeeent!" Hiromi wailed, gaining the attention of several students. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I love Aki, I didn't-!"
"Hiromi?"
Hiromi stopped, lowering her hands from where they'd pressed over her eyes, to look at the newcomer. A few feet away, schoolbag hanging over her shoulder, a perplexed but amused look on her face was a girl wearing the same uniform as Hiromi, but swapping out the white socks for black stockings. She had bright, ocean-blue eyes, and her blue-black hair was short and sleek, the ends curling at the nape of her neck. Two thin blue hair clips held her side-swept bangs in place, little hearts on the ends.
"Aki!" Hiromi ran over to her, hugging her tight. "Aki...!"
"Sorry I'm late!" Aki said, cheerfully oblivious. "I would have texted you but...you know, you don't have a phone. You weren't worried, were you?" Hiromi just sniffled and looked away, face red. Aki laughed. "You were, you silly~!"
"I-It's not funny!" Hiromi said over Aki's laughter. "I thought you were mad at me! Y-You're never late, I thought we were over, that you were furious with me and gone ahead and—"
"Hiromi, trust me," Aki said in a warm tone as they began the long trek up the stairs embedded in the hill, on their way to school properly now. "If we were over, I'd be honest one hundred percent, and not just ditch you. Oh, here." Aki reached into the pocket of her skirt and passed a small, shiny-papered box to Hiromi. "Granny made macarons for you."
"Macarons?" Hiromi stared at the box as she held it at waist-level.
"Yup! No real reason either, she just called me over like 'Aki! I made too many macarons this morning! Hiromi is very sweet, isn't she? You should give her the sweets, too!' Fff...silly Granny! You can't make too many macarons! I bet she did that on purpose, right, Hiromi?...Hiromi?" Aki, finally seeming to notice something was wrong, stopped smiling, tilting her head and staring at Hiromi.
Hiromi sniffled, eyes watering behind her glasses, mouth twitching. Her face slowly turned bright red.
"Hiromi?" Aki stopped walking, gingerly touching her shoulder. "Hey...hey, Hiromi, what's the matter? You don't like macarons? I'm sorry, I should've asked before I — whup!"
Hiromi had suddenly flung her arms around Aki's shoulders, wailing and blushing fiercely. "Akiiiiiiii! You're too unbelievable!"
"E-Eh?! Hiromi, what's that mean? Hiromi, c'mon...H-Hiromi, people are staring at uuuus!"
Far away, but quite near, there was a large and imposing cliff. It was dark, with many jagged rocks and crevices, and a steepness that told anyone who looked at it that scaling it was impossible. But please, feel free to try, the occupants of that mansion way up there would just love to watch you plummet to certain death, screaming all the way down! Of course one might wonder what a mansion was doing at the edge of a cliff this dangerous anyway.
Maybe it was the waterfall that rushed over the edge of a much higher cliff, behind and to the side of the mansion. The water roared past in a wide, frothy ribbon, vanishing into the dark purple clouds below, catching and reflecting the light from the full moon above. A beautiful sight, if one was into dark and dangerous things.
And of course, the occupants of the mansion were. At least, one was.
"Lovely, isn't it, my dear?" Leisurely seated on the dark purple cushions before the large bay window, a gentleman in a dark suit sipped at his tea and gazed out. The moonlight illuminated his face, his ice-blue hair that was graying in a way that only made him look more distinguished. He sipped again, expertly avoiding getting any tea on his thin mustache or goatee, and cast an appreciate glance at the woman above him. "I truly do appreciate quiet nights like this."
"Oh?" A woman with long, lilac hair that fell in curling tendrils down her back and framed her face, two long ringlets over the shoulders, tilted her head down at her husband. She didn't appear to actually look at him, as her eyes were serenely closed, but Riche knew she could see him anyway. She gathered her floor-length skirts and sat opposite him, setting the teapot between them. "And why would that be?"
Riche smiled, reaching up to caress his wife's face, an action that made her pale pink lips curl into a soft smile of her own. "Because, my love, it means-"
"Riiiiiiiiche! Laaaaadyyyyy!" The sheer volume of the shout seemed to shake dust from the high ceiling. A second later, the wide and ornate door burst open, bouncing off the wall with a bang. A girl bounced in, her violet and white skirts swishing about her, her white lace straps bouncing slightly where they sat around her shoulders, her wavy white ponytail behaving the same way. The moonlight caught her black heart-shaped brooch and hair-tie as she bowed slightly, one purple knee-length boot tapping excitedly. "Gooood evening to you~"
Riche groaned, retreating from Lady and trying not to slam the teacup back to its saucer. "Because it means Tamora isn't around the bother us..." he muttered.
Lady just smiled sweetly. "Good evening, Tamora. I thought you were guarding the prisoner tonight?"
"Huh? Well, I was, totally was, but then Shylock wanted to do it. Pffft, he's so weird about it~" Tamora straightened up, tongue poking out, and brushed her bangs aside. This gesture didn't do much good, since they fell back to cover one eye a moment later, but she didn't seem to care. "I dunno what his deal with the prisoner is anyway – every time it's my turn to guard, he comes in and asks to take over. Not that I mind, o' course but-"
"Tamora, was there a reason you interrupted Lady and I, or do you just live to ruin the moment?" Riche grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Lady covered her mouth with one hand.
"Huh? Oh, that's right~!" Tamora's smile became a bit more sinister then, her mouth stretching wider as her eyes narrowed, head bowing slightly. The moonlight shining through the window cast a ghoulish glow on her face as she steepled her fingers. "You see...the thing is, I recently discovered that the prince of Kokoro has finally landed. I came to see if you'd like me to...do something about that."
Riche lowered his hand, immediately sitting at attention. "Yes," he said simply, as Lady placed a hand on his shoulder. "You know the prince is not to escape us. Find him, bring him back to our home...whatever the cost may be."
"That's what I was hoping you'd say~" Tamora's lips pulled back to show her teeth. "Fufufufufu..."
At her desk, a girl with pink hair in large drill-style ponytails shuddered, eyes squinching closed. "Ah! A premonition!"
"Mirai, good morning!"
"Ah, Hiromi!" Mirai opened her eyes; one pink and one red, and smiled at her best friend. "You made it on time today."
"Eh?" Hiromi sat down in the desk next to Mirai's own, pushing up her glasses. "But I'm always on time..."
"Oh, I know that!" Mirai waved her hand. "It's just that today, I had the oddest feeling something was going to happen today. Something out of the ordinary about you!"
"About me? Anything in particular?" Hiromi adjusted her glasses again.
"Hmm...unfortunately not. All I knew was you'd do something unusual. So I thought, 'Hiromi's so punctual, I bet she'll be late today!'"
"That sounds so strange out of context..." Hiromi chuckled a bit despite herself, idly scratching one the side of her face. She faced forward then, gaze landing on Aki at the front of the room.
As if sensing her gaze, Aki straightened in her seat, looked over her shoulder, and waved at Hiromi, a broad smile on her face.
Hiromi turned bright red.
"Hm? Hiromi? Are you okay? Maybe the unusual occurrence is that you'll have a fever?"
The teacher strolled in just then, stopping Hiromi from answering. She set her stack of papers on her desk, smiling pleasantly. Mrs Matoko nodded to the class, issuing a "Good morning, everyone" in a slight sing-song. When they answered in kind, she smiled and tucked a dark blue strand of hair behind her ear and began to speak. "Well, I've got your tests from the other day, and I'm pleased to announce that most of you did a very fine jo-"
The door slid open just then, a young man standing in the doorway with a folder. The armband he wore showed that he was in the student council. "'scuse me, Mrs Matoko? I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm looking for a..." He glanced at the folder. "A Mister Akihiko Oshiro?"
Aki stiffened in her seat, just slightly.
Mrs Matoko frowned. "Hm? No, no, Yagami, you're mistaken. We don't have a Mister Oshiro."
"Really?" His own frown deepened. "Because it says here that-"
"We do not have a Mister Akihiko Oshiro." While her voice was friendly and pleasing when she'd first come in, now Mrs Matoko's voice was cool, hard-edged. She tucked her hair behind her ear again, the simple gesture looking more severe this time. "We do, however, have a Miss Aki Oshiro. You might be looking for her, but really, Yagami, you should get these things right."
"Huh?" Yagami only then seemed to notice that the overall temperature in the room seemed to have dropped, and the entire class was staring at him icily. He looked back and forth, from the class to the teacher, to Aki who sat smiling nervously at the surface of her desk. "Er...r-right then. Sorry. Uhm, can we get Mist - Miss Oshiro to the principal's office for a minute? Nothing big, he just wants to talk to-"
Aki wasn't fully listening.
Eyecatch 1: Hiromi and Aki lean over a small box, watching in anticipation as Ti and Coffee turn the handle. It appears to be a small jack-in-the-box, but when the lid suddenly pops open, it sends a spray of heart-shaped confetti all over them. The four of them laugh, and the Entwined Hearts logo appears in the corner.
Eyecatch 2: Cure Capulet and Cure Montague run at each other from opposite sides of the screen. The slide across the floor, intending on strike a pose together, but while Montague stops, Capulet keeps sliding. She briefly flails her arms in panic, and Montague grabs her around the waist to stop her. The momentum results in Capulet being held in a dip as she and Montague lock eyes. Montague laughs while Capulet blushes, and the Entwined Hearts logo appears in the corner.
"Hiromi, are you going to the library today?"
"Not just yet. I want to see the school rabbits first. And besides, the librarian said she didn't need me much this week."
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Bye!"
With those parting words to Mirai, Hiromi walked behind the school, towards the greener areas with flowers and forest. Past the rabbit hutch, not inside.
Instead, she leaned against one of the large trees, the sunlight filtering through the leaves and dappling her skin. She sighed, adjusting her glasses, and waited.
A few moments later, Aki appeared, smiling a bit tiredly. "Hey, Hiromi."
Hiromi smiled. "Aki."
There was a long stretch of silence as the two just stood there, in the shade of the green-leafed tree. Hiromi staring at the ground, Aki looking straight ahead. The only sound was the faint birdsong and some soft breathing. Finally, Hiromi broke the tranquil silence.
"It's rough, isn't it?" she asked softly.
"Eh?" Aki turned her head to look at Hiromi, the jeweled hearts on the end of her hair clips glinting in the light. "What, keeping this a secret? Not for me, really...Most people think we're just friends, but-"
"Not that." Hiromi bit her lower lip before going on. "I mean...earlier."
"...oh."
Another long stretch of silence ensued. Aki's face turned a bit pink, Hiromi's turned bright red. "I'm sorry," Hiromi hastily said. "I shouldn't have-"
"It's fine." Aki smiled ruefully. "It...really, it's fine. It doesn't bother me as much as it did before, when I was younger." She held her hands at waist-level, clasped together firmly. "I mean...yeah, it's a little rough, I guess, but seriously, it's okay. Usually. And besides, when stuff does happen, I have friends and the teacher and my family to help me out. Like earlier, in the classroom." She turned her head, to fix her smile at Hiromi. "So...So I'm okay. I do appreciate your concern though."
Her smile suddenly turned a bit cheeky. "As expected of my Hiromi~!"
"A-Aki!" Hiromi sputtered, turning red again.
"But really, I'm fine. Thanks for caring so much about me, Hiromi." She held her hand out to her. "C'mon, let's head out. There's a dance game at the arcade I wanna try!"
Mirai made her way to the large rabbit hutch. Hiromi had probably already left, after feeding them, but Mirai just wanted to see the bunnies herself. To just play and hug them all, get little bunny-kisses... And of course, she'd pay special attention to her favorite: the little brown baby bunny she'd affectionately, and some would say stupidly, dubbed "Usagi-chan."
A smile appeared on her face as she skipped to the hutch and opened the door. Usagi-chan would surely be glad to see he-
"Come out! Where are you?"
And Mirai stopped dead in her tracks, eyes slowly going wide. The bunnies were all gathered in the far corner, trembling and flinching away from the person inside. The person stood with her back to the door, bearing down on the bunnies, with...was that a playing card held between two fingers? Mirai watched in half shock, half growing horror as the girl threw the card just then and holy hell it sliced right through the wires around the hutch! The bunnies drew back, making distressed noises and looking at her as if she were a wolf.
"I know you're here! I saw you run in here!" The girl crouched down just then and grabbed one bunny - Usagi-chan! Mirai realized in terror – by the scruff and held it high. "You can't hide from Shitsuren forever!"
And then the bunny went flying.
"Usagi-chaaan!" Mirai darted forward, just barely managing to catch the little thing.
The new girl whirled around, attention focused on Mirai now. "A person?!" Her shocked expression slowly gave way to a pleased smirk. "Well, I wasn't planning on dealing with people so soon, but since you're here..."
From the pockets of her dress, she produced a marker, and uncapped it.
"Hyaaaaaah!"
Hiromi and Aki jumped, turned their heads towards the rabbit hutch. They'd been just walking past it when they'd heard-
"That was Mirai!" Hiromi yelled.
"She sounds in trouble! C'mon, Hiromi!" Aki gripped Hiromi's hand tightly, and they ran for the hutch, where the door was still open.
Mirai arched back briefly, a large, red glowing mark on her chest. The mark, which resembled a curling heart with a slash through it, pulsed slightly, covering Mirai in a purple aura as she fell to her knees.
Tamora, her arm flung out at her side as if she'd thrown a discus, grinned wickedly. "Your heartbreak over your precious Usagi-chan will fill the River Despair and flood the world!"
Far away, where the mansion stood, the water over the falls suddenly turned black, frothing and churning harder than ever before it continued over the edge of the cliffside, something like black lightning dancing over it for a moment.
The rabbits continued to squeal and whine in their corner, shifting around to avert their eyes to what was before them. Hidden among them were Coffee and Ti, the young prince whimpering helplessly as Coffee tried to soothe him. "It's okay, Ti," she whispered in a broken voice. "Someone will come, someone will come for us!"
"What's going on in here?!"
It was almost heroic, really. There, silhouetted in the door, were two girls, hand in hand and tensed as if ready for battle. The shorter-haired girl was wielding a water can, the one that always sat against the outside of the hutch. Not the best weapon, but it was a great gesture. "Mirai!" The longer-haired girl ran inside the hutch, placing her hands on her friend's shoulders and shaking her a little. "Mirai, what's wrong?"
Mirai didn't respond to her, just hung her head and sobbed bitterly as one hand clutched her chest.
"How dare you make such a sweet girl cry!" yelled the shorter-haired girl, marching inside the hutch and pointing accusingly at Tamora. "This is far enough!"
"What have you done to Mirai!?" the other demanded.
Tamora groaned, fingers in her ears. "Man, so annoying..." she grumbled. Then she smirked, lowering her hands and brandishing the marker again. "But this is okay too! You wanna see what I did to her? Here, I'll show you~!" The marker was uncapped again, and Tamora swiftly drew the strange symbol in the air before her, then flung her arm out. "Fall into heartbreaking despair!"
"Hiromi!" Aki flung herself at Hiromi, throwing the water can behind her, and shoved the other two girls out of the way. They all fell in a crumpled, tangled heap, and the mark smacked right onto the watering can instead, the momentum sending it through the chicken wire (which burst apart as if a man had ran through) and into the yard behind the hutch.
"Ooooh, this works better!" Tamora squealed in delight as the two girls pulled themselves apart. With a flourish, she raised her hand high over her head, which she tilted back to call skyward. "Come on out, Usotsuki!"
The mark on the watering can pulsed once, like a heartbeat, and then in a burst of darkness, the watering can changed.
"Usooo!" Where a harmless, cutesy watering can once sat, now there was a large and shadowy creature. It resembled the watering can, somewhat, but was much larger now and missing the colorful flowers that had once adorned it. The bright and cheerful colors were replaced by dusty dark purple and black, long arms and legs that ended in sharp claws and seemed to be made from darkness itself descended from its form, and a monstrous, fanged mouth and sinister eyes glared down at the hutch. The eyes and mouth glowed a horrible, vivid red. "U-sooootsukiii!" it roared.
"Wh-what the heck is that?!" Aki blurted out, staring through the hole in the wire.
"Usotsuki! Attack that school and plunge everyone into despair!" Tamora yelled.
"Uso-!"
"No!" Without thinking, both Aki and Hiromi climbed through the hole, ran for the Usotsuki as it turned its attention to the school building.
Unnoticed by Tamora, Coffee and Ti slowly stuck their head out from among the rabbits.
"Haaah? What's their problem?" Tamora mumbled, hands on her hips.
The Usotsuki lumbered towards the school, raising its arms –
– and two schoolbags, looking absolutely tiny in comparison to the monster, were thrown at its back. The Usotsuki actually stopped, turning to look at the two girls in confusion. "Uso?"
"We said no!" Hiromi yelled, arm still outstretched.
"I don't know what you are, and truth be told I don't even care!" Aki joined in. "But you've hurt one of my Hiromi's precious friends and now you're trying to destroy a school, to hurt other people! We can't let you do that to people or things we love!"
"Love? Wow, these two are weird..." Tamora muttered.
Ti had heard enough. He shoved away from the rabbits, and ran for the hole in the hutch, closely followed by Coffee. "Ti, wait!" she called.
"Huh? He-Hey!" Tamora yelled as the rat and mouse fairies darted between her feet. "I knew you were in here!"
"You may be a scary monster," Hiromi was saying as Ti drew closer to her. "But we'll still do our best to stop you from hurting others!"
"That's right! Both of us!" Aki yelled.
"Uso!" The Usotsuki didn't seem impressed by this at all. It turned itself bodily around, lifted one huge hand...
"You two, datchu!" Ti yelled, reaching into the bundle around his neck.
"H-Hu – What-?" Hiromi gasped, having precious little time to do anything else.
"Hurry! Take these, datchu!"
Two rings, one pink and red, the other blue, were thrown into the air above the duo. Without thinking, Aki and Hiromi reached out, each grabbing a ring in one hand.
-and the Usotsuki's hand came down.
It never made contact, however. From Hiromi and Aki's hands, between their fingers, came rays of golden light, briefly blinding them and making the Usotsuki draw back, roaring in pain. "Wh-what the...?" Aki gasped, blinking the dark spots out of her vision.
"Quick, datchu!" Ti called up in a panic as Coffee reached him. "Put the rings on and say 'Pretty Cure, Love's Song,' datchu!"
"Without the 'datchu!'" Coffee hastily added.
Aki glanced at Hiromi. "You know what's going on?"
Hiromi shook her head. "Huh uh..."
The Usotsuki seemed to recover then, roaring furiously and raising both fists to strike the girls again.
"But..."
"We'll do what you say!"
The rings were slid on.
Hiromi and Aki stood back to back, their ringed hands held in front of their chests, the other hands clasping with fingers intertwined. Both of them were glowing in light; pink on Hiromi, blue on Aki, with glowing hearts dancing about them. "Pretty Cure, Love's Song!"
The rings glowed and bursts of light appeared over them. Hiromi (now without her glasses) and Aki remained back to back, their hands clasped together and heads tilted against each other as the two spun around. Hiromi's ponytails came undone, and both girls' hair suddenly lengthened and changed. Hiromi's hair became a golden blonde, forming four large ringlets behind her; Aki's sleek hair tinted to a brighter blue and became fuller and feathered about her face, a long whip-like ponytail tied in a purple ribbon at the base of her skull. The light wrapped around both of them and then burst outward, revealing the tops to their new outfits. They smiled briefly, letting go of one hand to fly away at arm's length from each other. Each girl stuck out one leg as if they were dancers, and the light wrapped around both their legs and waists, then burst away in sparkling hearts to show the skirts and boots. Aki pulled Hiromi closer to her, each girl taking the other's hand again and raising it to her lips to kiss their fingers, gloves appearing on their hands right after. Their closed eyes opened, revealing that Hiromi's dark green eyes had become bright as emeralds and Aki's had turned a golden amber. They looked at each other, smiling widely, then bumped their foreheads together as light flashed on their ears and heads, revealing earrings and tiaras. They spun around once more, hands still clasped, and then stood back to back with one arm outstretched above them.
The girls smiled softly, her hand resting lightly on her chest. Hiromi wore a pink and gold uniform with slashed puffy sleeves, a pale pink corset with dark pink ribbon criss-crossing in the front, the skirt that flowed out from it was striped dark pink and light yellow and sat over pale pink petticoats. Pale yellow ribbons sat on either side of her waist, she wore pale pink elbow-length gloves with pale yellow ribbons around her wrists, a pale pink high collar and dark pink choker. Her pink boots reached her thighs, the toes, heels, and part of the front were pale pink and she wore pale yellow ribbon around her ankles and a bow at the tops. Her golden tiara was adorned with a bright pink heart-shamed jewel, and her chandelier earrings were dark pink ribbons with pink heart-shaped jewels.
"The innocent love in a maiden's heart, Cure Capulet!"
Aki smiled, clasping her hands in front of herself as if in prayer. Aki's outfit was similar, but her gloves reached her upper arm, her boots reached her knees instead of thighs, and instead of waist ribbons, she wore a large ribbon on her lower back. Where Hiromi's outfit was pink, Aki's was purple, and where Hiromi's was yellow Aki's was blue.
"The sincere love in a maiden's heart, Cure Montague!"
The two joined their hands together, fingers curling so together they formed a heart shape. "Our hearts connected! Pretty Cure Entwined Hearts!"
This all happened in the blink of an eye, and the Usotsuki's fists were just about to crash down on the two. But then it stopped.
Or rather, something stopped it.
"Uso?!"
"What the heck?" Tamora mumbled.
Cures Capulet and Montague stood with their arms over their heads, hands holding the Usotsuki's fists above them. Their heads were bowed at first, then snapped up to reveal the twin glares on their faces.
"We don't know what's going on..." Capulet began.
"But we won't let you hurt anyone!" Montague finished.
The two tightened their grasp on the Usotsuki's fists, pulled and leaned back, and the Usotsuki was pulled over their heads and sent crashing into the ground behind them. The ground shook upon impact, huge clouds of dust billowing up.
Capulet and Montague blinked, and then stared. The adrenaline rush had mostly worn off and now... "What...did we just do?" Montague mumbled.
"What did we say?" Capulet said, face tinting pink.
"Gaaaah, Usotsuki! Get back up and finish them!" yelled Tamora.
The Usotsuki grumbled under its breath as it pulled itself back to its feet.
"Quick, Pretty Cure!" Coffee poked her head over Montague's shoulder, surprising the blue and purple Cure. When had she...? "Join hands and summon the Rapier Wands! Finish it off before it does any more damage!"
"That rat is talking..." Capulet said.
"Rapier Wands?" Montague frowned lightly, then reached out and clasped Capulet's hand, their fingers intertwining.
From the pink and purple heart-shaped gems on their chests burst two lights, and two rapiers appeared before them. The rapiers were gold, with sparkling pink and gold, or purple and gold, handles; a heart-shaped gem sat atop the base of the hilt.
"Wh-whoa!" Capulet and Montague said together. As the Usotsuki finally pushed itself back up, they reached for their new weapons. Coffee leaped off Montague's shoulder and out of the way.
"Entwine! Our hearts are one!" The two Cures stood shoulder to shoulder, angled slightly and held in the en garde position. The Rapier Wands began to glow slightly as the girls turned and leaned forward, each of them tracing half a heart in the air, connecting to form one large, blue and gold heart of light. "Pretty Cure...Dual Heart..." They dug in their heels, thrust the Rapier Wands outward. "Shot!"
The heart shot a stream of gold and blue light, heading directly for the staring Usotsuki. It slammed into it, creating a white glowing heart in its center. "U-Usotsuki-!" it managed to screech before the glow spread outward, disintegrating it to nothing.
A harmless watering can fell back to earth.
"Ohhhh no," Tamora muttered. "This is bad, this is real bad!" And with that, she teleported out of sight.
Before their eyes, everything went back to normal. The hole in the rabbit hutch mended, the crater the Usotsuki had formed on impact vanished. Inside the hutch, the little rabbits tentatively hopped over to Mirai, who slowly sat up again, blinking tiredly. "Hmm...what was I...?" she mumbled, lifting a hand to her head.
Usagi-chan hopped onto her lap, pawing at her.
"Ah, Usagi-chan!" Mirai gasped, and she lifted the little bunny into her arms, giggling as he kissed her. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. "I-I'm not sure why, but I'm so glad you're all alright!"
Hiromi and Aki walked down the hill together, hands clasped, staring blankly.
"...that was a dream, right?" Hiromi asked.
"A vivid dream." Aki nodded.
Coffee popped up on Aki's shoulder, her eyes sparkling. "It wasn't a dream~!"
Ti appeared on Hiromi's shoulder, teary-eyed. "We found Pretty Cure, datchu! Someone to save Mommy and Papa, datchu!"
"Ehhhh..." Aki sighed, hanging her head. "I still don't get any of this...could you two give us an explanation?"
"Please? If I have to keep another secret, I wanna know just what we're doing!" Hiromi added.
The rings, worn on the hands that were clasping together, glinted brightly in the sun.
In a far-off place, a girl sat in the shadows, her features obscured by the darkness. She had a very nice-looking room, wide and spacious with elegant tapestries, a large four-poster bed, and a lovely tea-set with cookies on a saucer already. But she was clearly not enjoying her surroundings, instead staring at her hands in her lap.
The wide doors opened, causing her to lift her head and look at the newcomer.
A young man with shoulder-length black hair stood in the doorway, eyes closed. "...Cure Ariel," he said in a low, deep voice. His eyes opened, revealing them to be lime-green and expressionless. "It seems your two friends have had a stroke of luck."
ED: "Hummingbird" - Mana Ogawa
ON THE NEXT EPISODE:
Hiromi: "Wehhhh, I don't get what's going on here at all! Suddenly, Aki and I are transforming heroines, and we have to fight these horrible monsters!"
Coffee: "It's lucky our first Cures are so close to each other already!"
Hiromi: "Ah, well...the thing about that is... Next time on Pretty Cure Entwined Hearts: 'Double Hearts! How We Began.' Let love heal your heart!"