"Well," Cubia quietly laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. "Let's see how you two fare against my Hanjir, shall we?"

"She says 'well' a lot, I think," Edel whispered from faer hiding spot behind Cure Cipher's leg. When Cubia looked over, Edel jumped and scrambled behind the building and out of sight.

The Hanjir lashed out again. Cipher and Jigsaw jumped up to avoid it. The ribbon slapped the ground and kicked up snow and dirt. Cipher turned forward in the air and brought her leg down hard. The Hanjir roared in pain and whipped up, but not before Cipher rolled off and landed on her feet.

She looked up. Jigsaw was far above the street now, flailing about in the air.

"How did I jump this high!?"

Of course. This was her first transformation. Rei clenched her fist and called up. "Just drop down! You don't have to worry about getting hurt too badly. Control it!"

Up in the air, Cure Jigsaw breathed deep. Safe? To drop from this high up? Right, if Rei had been the one who fell from that height this morning- Her thoughts were hijacked by the scream she found ripping out of her as she plummeted down towards the giant killer Fences puzzle. Giant killer Fences puzzle. That was the least of the strange things in the street. Emi's capacity for thought fought to the forefront enough that she decided that, if she was going to land on something, she should land on it.

And thus she plunged to the ground and landed splayed out on the rising whip of the Hanjir, taking it down with her and sending a deep crack down the street. Cure Jigsaw twitched a few times and slowly peeled herself to a sitting position with a groan.

"Jigsaw?" Cipher hopped over to her and offered a hand. "You can stand, right?"

Cure Jigsaw took it and let Cipher pull her up. "Thank you. I-" Cipher tugged her off of the Hanjir and she stumbled, off just before the ribbon came to its senses and pulled back into the air to hover around them. "Whoa!"

"That didn't beat it," Cipher explained. "A Hanjir needs to be solved, remember? Precure where I come from are always in teams. I'll hold it off up front. You figure out how to solve it. Okay?"


Puzzle Hunt Precure

Episode 2: "My New Partner! Rei and Emi!"


Jigsaw hesitated. She looked at Cipher and then at the Hanjir's looming line whip. The school bell rang in the distance. She froze.

"Cure Jigsaw?"

The Hanjir whipped at snapped up to catch the ribbon around her forearm.

Cubia raised her eyebrows from her perch. "Hmm?"

"Hideko-chan is knocked out. Cipher is hurt." Jigsaw defiantly held up her head. She grabbed the ribbon with her other hand and wrenched her arm from the end. "I might not know what to do, but I can't sit back or run away!"

Cipher took in a deep breath, her smile widening. "Let's go!"

She ran up to the Hanjir and started to dart around, hitting the poles. The Hanjir's faces roared and the ribbon whip began to chase her. Jigsaw nodded and leapt atop the cafe roof. She scanned the layout of the puzzle and nodded to herself.

"Cipher!" Jigsaw called down. "Do you see the numbers on the ground?"

"Yes!" Cipher called back before jumping out of the way of the ribbon. "What are they? You said you knew this puzzle!"

"I do! It's Fences!" Jigsaw explained. "The posts represent dots on the paper, and four dots make a square. Inside some of these squares are numbers that show how many lines the pencil makes around that square. You solve Fences by making a complete loop with your pencil, start to finish, taking all of that into account!"

"And you said the ribbon is probably the pencil line, right?" Cipher looked up at said ribbon bearing down on her and rolled out of the way just in time. "I think I've got it! So I need to make it chase me until it loops itself in the right pattern!"

"Right!" Jigsaw pointed down. "Stay away from that one with a zero on it. Run a line underneath the 'one' under it so it isn't touching the zero! Then go down to that 'three' and I'll tell you what to do from there!"

Cubia straightened up. "Well, well. You've got that figured out." She summoned another murky portal in the air. "I've got somewhere to be, but I wonder if you can beat my Hanjir?"

"Hey, wait-!" Jigsaw called out, but Cubia had already stepped off her pole and dropped into the portal, with it closing after her.

Cipher bit back what she wanted to say and scowled. "Gone again-! We'll see her later. Just tell me where to go next!"

"Ah! Right." Jigsaw took in a deep breath and looked over the puzzle. "Go left, then down in between the other 'three' next to i- watch out!"

Cipher turned up to guard from the ribbon. The pain from her bruises kicked in and she cringed just long enough to get smacked down by the Hanjir and skid across the puzzle.

"Cipher!" Jigsaw called out. She hesitated and looked down at the array, breathed in and out and trembled.

"Ngh… I'm fi-!"Cipher cut off and feebly raised her arm to block when she saw the Hanjir raising up again.

"No!"

Jigsaw took a deep breath and leapt down into the fray. This time she landed on her feet, kicking with both right where the ribbon was meant to turn. The Hanjir roared and turned the tip of its ribbon back. Cure Jigsaw backflipped off the ribbon and down to the next pole. She held up her hands and looked at them, her jaw dropping slightly.

"I can do this?"

Cure Cipher forced herself to her feet with a groan. She smiled. "Jigsaw!"

"W-whoa!" Jigsaw ducked to the left and got the Hanjir to chase her down. "Are you okay? Can you still move?"

"Precure are tough!" Cipher climbed onto one of the poles, taking a second to kick it in its face. "Sorry to throw you into the fray like this! I'll cover you if you can run to the next part!"

"Wait, how?" Jigsaw gasped and started to run from the ribbon whip. "Please hurry!"

Cipher thrust her hands out together in the direction of the whip and watched as circles of glowing ancient code appeared around them. "Precure Cipher Encrypt!" Blue lights shot at the Hanjir, both the poles and the whip, the latter of which dropped to the ground. Cipher hopped from pole to pole over to Jigsaw and the whip started to creep toward them again.

"Wow!" Jigsaw's eyes lit up. "This is what Precure can do…"

"Let's go!" Cipher grabbed Jigsaw's arm. "We have to get back to where the loop started, right?"

Jigsaw took in a quick breath. "Right!" She pointed and they started to run the way she indicated.

Past a one. Around a two. They'd almost gotten to the end when they stopped. Tangled around the poles, the ribbon's reach was shorter, but while it whipped at them, it wasn't really moving. Not forward.

"It's not chasing us now?" Jigsaw asked, standing back cautiously.

"It's got enough reach, but…" Cipher tensed.

It did indeed, just enough, but it was moving side to side, slowing. Then backing up. Cure Jigsaw's eyes followed its path and then the roundabout way they'd taken it.

"It's trying to get off the poles," she whispered. "It's noticed we've looped it! What do we do?"

Cipher was already running at it. She tackled it to the ground with a cry of pain from both her and the Hanjir. It growled and shook her off, and she tumbled and hit a pole.

"Cure Cipher!" Jigsaw stepped forward, kicking up dust that was sparkling with ice crystals. Her pink curls blew back in the wind. "That's enough!"

Something glowed within her. She reached her arm out and a light gathered in her hand.

"Precure… Jigsaw Rainbow!"

Out show a pink light that turned into a rainbow-coloured chain. Cure Jigsaw grabbed the end at her hand and snapped it towards the ribbon. It wrapped around the edge and the ribbon grabbed it right back. Cure Jigsaw dug her feet into the concrete and tugged; the Hanjir tugged right back.

Cure Cipher pulled herself back up. She looked at the Hanjir and Jigsaw's chain, equally matched. Cipher bolted to Jigsaw's side and put her hands around hers.

"Eh?" Jigsaw blinked.

"Let me help you with that." Cipher gave a small smile.

One Precure can punch down a small building. Two are stronger. Jigsaw and Cipher pulled together and brought the Hanjir's ribbon line crashing to the ground. They reeled it in to the pole where its other end was, just close enough to touch. Jigsaw's rainbow whip flashed away, no longer needed. The Hanjir immediately froze, glowed brightly, and started to fluctuate this way and that, before shrinking to a pin's size and popping. The sticks on the ground reappeared. The road and buildings restored themselves to normal.

"You did it again, I think!" Edel jumped out from behind the edge of the building and cheered. "Go, Precure!"

A gleaming black key appeared and floated down. Cipher reached out her hand and grabbed it.

"Good… we got the Clue Key…"

With one last look at the new pink Precure beside her, she dropped to her knees and collapsed face first to the ground.


Cubia landed with a clack on the polished floor. She surveyed the maze of doors and hallways that was the Metamasters' castle and brushed her hair out of her face.

"You went easy on them, you know."

She looked down. There stood a girl - younger, about the age of the Precure - with the hood of her short green cape up, only letting the spiral curl on the right side of her hair out. The girl snickered and played with it.

"Are you going soft now, Cubia?"

"Of course I went easy on them, Tetya." Cubia swept out her opera cape. "I had to act like they were going to die, but if I flat-out killed those Precure now, that would defeat the entire point. You know that."

"I have to agree," Stile said, walking down another hallway towards them. He stretched out his arms above his head. "Still, we move into a new world and the Precure show up? Lady Cryptalla should probably know about this."

"If she doesn't already," Cubia mused. "Well, let's go report it."


Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Mm…?" Rei opened her eyes slowly, blinking back the light of the white ceiling. She carefully looked around at the sterile room, shifting under the itchy blanket. A bed? To her left was a figure she blinked a few times to recognize.

"You're awake!" the pink-haired girl let out a small breath of relief and hugged the fairy on her lap. Edel. Right, the fairy from before. And that was the girl who… Rei turned her head the other way and saw the other girl, the civilian who'd been knocked out, sleeping in the bed next to hers.

"I called the hospital to get you both here after the fight," Emi explained. "Then I called the school to apologize for not coming back while waiting. Hotaru-sensei was very lenient, actually. I suppose it's because I've never skipped before."

"You called?" Rei looked over. "I didn't see any transmitter stations on the street corners in this world…"

"Is that your world's version of payphones?" Emi scratched her head. "We don't really have that sort of thing now. I used my phone." She dug into her bag and pulled a small metal square out. With a brush of a button, she brought up a holographic display with a number of tiles, some updating in the corners. Rei's eyes went wide.

"I've never seen anything like that," she whispered. "Our phones are a lot bigger, and you can't use them in a hospital. Is this world's technology really that high?"

Emi looked back from texting her family on the holographic keyboard. "Well, we don't have fairies here, so I guess a lot of things are different. Oh, I had the tube mail send some of my clothes from home, since we look about the same size. I didn't think you'd want to wear a hospital gown or that fancy dress around when they let you out. The hospital said you and Hideko-chan would be fine to get out later today, Takaraike-san."

Rei relaxed a little. "I guess you're taking care of me again. I'm sorry. I just need to find my sister and get back to the Eight Queens' Lands. Those Pre-Cubes were supposed to be presented to Queen Shyama, and she and Queen Bianca are probably in a lot of danger right now."

Emi smiled. "It's okay. I'm always worried when I don't have a clear direction. I might not understand being a Precure right now, but I think you're a good one."

Edel nodded and clapped faer tiny paws. "You and Cure Lock are great Precure, and Cure Jigsaw too, I think!"

Emi hugged Edel again and smiled at Rei. "Takaraike-san, I'd like to help. I'd like to listen to what you have to say. Can you tell me everything? About your world and what we can do to help."

Rei thought back to their fight with Cubia's Hanjir. Miu's face flashed in her mind, then Nono's, and then Queen Bianca and the castle and their home."

"All right."


The walk to Emi's house was a lot more comfortable, or at least warmer. Rei was wearing Emi's spare powder blue shirt and jeans with a puffy jacket over top, walking in between Emi and Hideko in their uniforms. The fact that some of the commute had been by train, instead of just walking everywhere, also helped.

"That's definitely a story!" Hideko clasped her hands and sparkled at Rei. "Who knew there was more than just this world? Don't worry, we'll only tell if you want us to. Although it's the perfect mystery…"

Rei cocked her head and blinked. "Ah, thank you. If telling everyone would complicate things, maybe we shouldn't right now. After we figure out why the Metamasters are in this world and find my sister, it'll be easier."

"Deal!" Hideko gave a V sign. "Hey, Emi, can we stay over at your place tonight? I want to help Takaraike-san out too, and we should work out a plan."

Emi bit her lip and pulled out her phone. After a short exchange of holographic texts, she nodded. "Okay! My parents say it's alright. What do you think, Takaraike-san?"

Rei shivered under the jacket. "I do need a place to stay the night."

"Settled, then!" Hideko pulled out her own phone and sent a pre-saved message. "Mom will let me, but I'm asking just in case. Oh, hey, here we are!" In front of them was the Shinobu Bookshop with its glowing sign.

Emi waved inside and gave Rei an encouraging smile. "This is my family's store. We live on the floor above it. You can come in!"

"I see," Rei nodded. "Miu and I actually lived above our family's business, too, before we became Precure and started living in a special compound. Maybe this world isn't all that different…"

Edel poked out from inside Rei's coat. "It is and it isn't, I think!"

"Well?" Hideko asked, laughing despite the large bandage wrapped around her head. "What do you think of your first day here, Takaraike-san?"

"...I'm hopeful," she replied. "You two. You can just call me 'Rei', if that's okay."

Emi's smile slowly grew. "Rei-chan!"

They walked into the warm glow of the Shinobu Bookshop, waving and greeting Emi's parents and brother.


Emi: And now it's time for…

Everyone: Puzzle Hunt Comment Corner! (Edel: I think!)

Hideko: Not too bad a time frame, huh?

Edel: Now we're settled, but there are two more Pre-Cubes, and that's two more Precure to find, I think!

Rei: Plus we need to find Miu, who's still missing.

Cubia: Today's featured puzzle is Fences. It's also known as Slitherlink, Ouroboros, and by its Japanese name, Takegaki. Played on a rectangle of dots with some numbers in between, the object is to make a loop around the numbers.

Rei: Like Cure Jigsaw said, the number in a square shows how many lines touch that square. Most of the squares don't have any numbers at all, but the ones that do should be paid attention to.

Tetya: This episode introduced me, too! That's all three of Lady Cryptalla's agents. I'm a lot more fun than they are.

Emi: See you all next time!