"Lily?"
I heard the voice calling my name, but it sounded kind of far away. Before I could really put any thought into who was calling me, or even what the reason was for it, a firm hand shook my shoulder and abruptly pulled me away from my hazy inner thoughts.
"Lily!"
My eyes fluttered open as I lifted my face off of the desk. At first, all I could see was a blue layered skirt, and a feeling of fear washed over me pretty quickly. That skirt meant that Ms. Adams, my biology teacher, was standing in front of me – and her strained tone told me it wasn't for a good reason.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk… I'm surprised, Lily. You're not usually the one to fall asleep in my class," she said, her arms folded across her chest and her head shaking at me from above. "Now, I know this unit is pretty dry, but if you're going to fall asleep, as least don't make it so obvious." With my awful snoring habits… I could only assume that that was what she meant by "obvious".
"I-I'm so sorry, Ms.! It won't happen again…" I replied, half whispering out of my shame. She sighed as she turned and started in the direction of the Smartboard.
"Just try not to let it happen again, okay?"
I honestly hadn't realized that I had nodded off – and she's right, I'm not normally the one to do so – but my goodness, all I can feel right now is just really, overwhelmingly exhausted. And when I think about the crazy reason why? Hah, that makes me feel a lot more like my classmates who are usually the sleepers.
Today is only the second day of school, so realistically, I shouldn't be so tired already. I shouldn't be this tired until maybe midway through the semester. Why am I then? Well I know the first day of school is usually quite an… interesting day, but let me tell you just how interesting yesterday was.
To be fair, it started out pretty normal. Dressed up in my specially selected "first day" outfit, I came to school, hung out by myself in the courtyard for a bit, went to my new classes and panicked about seating arrangements, ate lunch by myself in the courtyard, and after lunch, went to the first assembly of the year. Up to that point, it was an ordinary day for a first day of the new year.
At the assembly though… oh boy. Ok, so, I just sat wherever there was somewhere to sit, as the bleachers aren't necessarily any better than the floor because they both are super duper uncomfortable. Miss Reilly, the principal, went up and did her whole "welcome back" speech, which was… well… she thinks she's funnier than she is, I'll put it that way. Anyways, the gym teacher, Mr. Calhoun – or Mr. C, as we call him – came out after her to do his "I'm going to make everyone get up and do a silly dance" routine, and I don't know what was different about it, but I actually felt like getting into it this time. It was kind of fun, y'know, when you're not the only one dancing around all silly like that.
About five or ten minutes before they probably would have let us go, that's when it got weird. Yes, even weirder than an eccentric middle aged woman laughing at her own jokes, or short muscular man in a really lame sweatband getting a bunch of teens to dance. This really strange noise suddenly came out of the PA speakers. It was kind of like mic feedback, but also kind of off-key – and it certainly hurt my ears, and everyone else's too. Not only did it hurt their ears though, it also seemed to put them to sleep. At the time, I wasn't really sure why I was still awake, but it sure gave me an unsettling feeling.
What happened next is a little fuzzy to me, but that's mostly because it happened really fast. First, there was this goth-looking kid who almost seemed as if they walked up out of the floor as they approached the center of the gym. I could tell they were holding something in their hand by their body language, and as they pressed the contents of their hand against the podium's microphone, it began to turn black – as if its own shadow consumed it.
The darkened microphone, podium and all, started changing shape, and pretty soon in the center of the gym, all I could see was a large robot-like thing standing there. It had wooden arms and legs, its body was a giant speaker, and it was holding a mic. On its… forehead, I guess… was a small sparkling diamond. Without a word, the kid who summoned the thing melted into their shadow on the ground, silently letting their creation loose. That's when it made its battle cry of that painful feedback noise again.
Until that point, I was pretty much paralyzed with fear, but then I got this Disney-like warm fuzzy feeling in my chest. It led me to stand up at the very least, and my immediate plan was to get the heck out of dodge as soon as possible, but then I felt something latch onto my leg.
I looked down, and there was this little pink creature attached to my calf – in hindsight, I think it was a rabbit. It looked up at me, and its large bunny eyes were filled with tears. I could feel its tiny body shaking against my leg, so I gently lifted it off of me and held it out to get a look at.
"You've gotta help me! Please, miss, you've gotta…" The pink rabbit spoke as it sat limp and dejected in my hands. The speech of the rabbit caused me to drop it to the hard gym floor – because, y'know, rabbits don't talk. Clearly the sound of the rabbit hitting the floor caught the attention of that robot-monster thing, because it turned its focus in our direction and began to stomp to the far side of the gym where I stood.
"Miss, you've gotta use my power and become a Pretty Cure! It's the only way to stop that thing from hurting all these people!" The rabbit whimpered, as it looked up at me once more. For some reason, that struck a chord. Let the entire student body get severely hurt? Sure, there's a lot of those people I don't really care for, and a lot of them I don't even know, but I knew in my heart I couldn't just let bad things happen to them.
The rabbit reached its paw into the fluffy fur on its chest and – somehow – pulled out a crystal that was shaped like a flower. It held the crystal tightly between its two front paws, and closed its eyes. Suddenly, it too changed shape, but this time it was into a small cellphone-like object, and not a giant monster. I bent down and picked it up, albeit with a fair bit of hesitation admittedly.
"Spin the flower, quickly!" The rabbits voice echoed out from the phone. Not wanting to wait for the monster to finish its trek towards me, I listened pretty eagerly. With a hasty flick of my finger, I gave the flower that was displayed on the screen a spin. The phone made a little chiming noise, and light blindingly burst out from the screen, causing me to shut my eyes and look away.
When I opened my eyes, I couldn't see the gym anymore, but instead, all I could see was an endless cascade of flowers twirling around me amidst a green glow. Instead of freaking out, like I feel like I should've reacted, I just… well, I wasn't standing, it was more like I floated there in awe.
"Pretty Cure Renaissance de Joie!"
I distinctly remember those words coming out of my mouth, and I'm not sure where I came up with them, but I guess they did the trick. The flowers honed in on my body, and I began to feel the gentle breeze of their spinning around me. Piece by piece, they wrapped around me and formed into a really pretty outfit. I didn't notice until it floated around in front of me, but my hair had also become pink and had arranged itself into a ponytail. If only getting dolled up was normally this easy.
As the light and flowers faded away, and I regained my footing on the gymnasium floor, I took a moment to appreciate my new outfit. I was wearing this neat green and pink dress with puffy sleeves and a skirt like a tulip, pink flats with ankle straps, and a pink choker. At my hip was a small pouch the size of that phone, so I guessed that that's where it had gone. As I reached up to feel my hair, I felt a crown of flowers sitting on my head like I'd normally wear a headband. The whole thing was pretty surreal, but at least I was dressed nice.
"Blossom!" I called out, as a tingling feeling washed over me and snapped me out of my fashion daze. "The fresh joy of spring, I am Cure…" I paused and looked down at my outfit again quickly for some sort of inspiration, "… uh… Cure… Tulip!"
"Great! Cure Tulip! You've transformed into a legendary warrior – a Pretty Cure!" The tiny rabbit voice called out from the small hip pouch. "Now, you need to go fight that monster and get back the treasure it has!"
"What do you me-" I began to question that statement, before a giant microphone speedily flying in my direction abruptly interrupted. My instinct was to leap out of the way, but the leap I took was… a little overshot, to say the least. Next thing I knew, I was in the air above the cloud of dirt and debris that rose from the crater the monster had created in the floor. As soon as I noticed, I panicked and began a quick descent towards that crater.
I landed on my behind, which really, really hurt. As I shakily tried to stand and regain my footing, the cloud of dust cleared and the monster engulfed my field of vision once more. Just to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and this thing was actually trying to hurt me, I gave myself a quick pinch. Nope, wasn't dreaming. Definitely wasn't dreaming.
Without a lot of time to conjure up some grand battle plan at my disposal, my first instinct, besides run away, was to run up and punch it. So that's what I did – I punched the monster in the wooden leg, and it was as great a plan as it sounds. All I accomplished with that punch was a sore hand and unwanted attention from my big new "friend". That last part, well, it got me kicked – and very forcefully so – into the brick wall.
Clearly there was some super-strength magic in that pretty dress, because realistically that should have killed me, but it didn't. Don't get me wrong, it still hurt though… a lot. Once I realized that, even with my life-saving endurance, I was still not strong enough to merely beat the monster up, I tried to think of a different plan as I slid down off the wall. When I was at a loss for any useful ideas, at the best possible timing, the rabbit spoke up again.
"You need to use your magic! The power of spring! Without it, you'll never really get rid of that thing," she said, as if I knew what that meant or even remotely how to do it.
"Um… how exactly do I do whatever it is you just said?" I asked, because I honestly had no clue. I heard a tiny sigh before it kept talking.
"Ok, well, you need to close your eyes, and think really hard about what you want to happen. Then, when the time feels right, open your heart up to the magic and it'll come out!" The rabbit explained. With an explanation that vague, that rabbit could be a teacher here.
"I don't exactly know what that's supposed to mean, but I'll give it a try. I mean, I've got no better ideas." I replied, and took a deep breath. It was kind of nerve wracking to close my eyes when there was a giant monster still very clearly in front of me, probably more than willing to play target practice with me any second now, but I did it anyways. I closed my eyes, and all I could picture was the cascade of flowers from when I first turned into whatever the heck I currently was. The flowers twirling around so carefree, falling everywhere yet still seemingly focused on me. In that moment I realized what the answer had to be – flowers. Flowers everywhere! What could go wrong with a bunch of flowers, right?
I slowly opened my eyes, and looked up at the monster, who was preparing to fling the microphone in my direction again, but this time I was prepared. This time, I had my head in the game, and was ready to take this thing on. It's amazing what a little focus can do.
As the microphone came flying my way, I rolled to the side and decided what I had to do. Once again, I pushed myself and leaped high into the air, but this time it was intentional. As I flew towards the ceiling, I began to propel myself into a spin. By the time I was high above the monster's towering head, I was nearly like some kind of human tornado. The monster tried once more to fling the microphone at me, but the momentum of my spin sent it speeding directly back in the direction it came – knocking the monster to the floor.
I felt a surge of confidence, or maybe that was the magic, the more I spun in place. With a deep breath, I let out a loud sort of battle cry that filled the gym with a booming echo.
"Pretty Cure…"
Tiny flower petals began to appear out of thin air and float to the ground, and patches of flowers quickly burst out between the thin planks of the glossy wooden floor around the toppled and dazed monster.
"… Floral Jubilee!"
With those words, the few petals turned into an absolute downpour of all sorts of flowers, and the little meadow under the monster rapidly grew over it. As I kept spinning faster and faster, the floating flowers gained speed and created a funnel of their own. I raised my arms towards the florescent lights, and held them for a moment until I felt it was the right time to direct the energy I felt swelling up inside me towards the pile of earthen overgrowth absolutely littered with flowers on the gym floor. I flung my arms in that direction, and both my revolving body and the storm of flowers set course at full speed for the buried monster. I collided with the monster as the flower storm did, and the whole deal exploded with a brilliant light.
Next thing I knew I was left standing amongst a quickly fading haze of sparkling light. I looked around to see if the monster was still, for some reason, there and ready to throw me against any more brick walls – but that wasn't the case. All I saw were my unconscious fellow students and the staff, and a small glass shard that caught my eye as it twinkled on the floor at my feet. I bent down to pick it up, and I noticed I was wearing my capris again. As I straightened back up, I felt my glasses shifting on the bridge of my nose, and I adjusted them as I gave myself a quick once over to confirm whether I was back to normal or not. I was, and so was the crater and bent floorboards of the gym floor, and the Lily-shaped– or I guess, Cure Tulip-shaped – dent in the wall. I quickly shoved the alluring piece of glass in my pocket, alongside the rabbit phone that had somehow placed itself in the pocket of my capris as well. I noticed that the unconscious crowd was starting to wake up, so I quickly ran and returned to my seat so I wouldn't seem out of place… y'know, just some unknown weirdo student randomly standing in the middle of the gym. I wouldn't mind having some more people pay attention to me, but not that way.
Anyways, crazy day, huh? Yeah, it really was, and I'm still feeling it. Hence the mid-biology nap. Bio is one of my favourite subjects, I've never fallen asleep in it before, but after the exertion from that strange fight yesterday, I can't blame myself. It's the same reason I passed out as soon as I got home yesterday afternoon. Jeez, I thought that my grandma going to bed at 7:30 sometimes was early. If this whole fighting evil monsters thing becomes a routine, I'll have to start like… exercising or something to keep up with it. Ew.
Oh! There goes the bell. I guess it's time to head home, but instead of counting sheep immediately, I'll be interrogating the rabbit sitting in my bag when I get home. I seriously need to know what's up with this whole "Pretty Cure" thing, and if I've suddenly been voluntold for the new part time job I never wanted. I really hope not – I have too much homework to be saving the world.
