"The sweet taste of spring, Cure Taffy!"` Miyabi Ouka - now a Precure - announced as she struck a pose. That weird feeling of euphoria disappeared as the interior of the Heart-shaped Hearts cakeshop came into view. She felt like a different person - no, she's still her same old self, but her confidence and inner resolve has increased tenfold. It's like eating five slices of strawberry shortcake and being more determined to eat more.
Anise looked at the newly-transformed girl incredulously. "What did she just say? Cure Taffy? Could it be that she's- A P-Precure?" she sputtered. "You mean there's more of you?!"
"Cure Taffy!" Mocha cheered, his dark eyes sparkling in awe. "You did it, Miyabi ~momo! You're one of the chosen - Look out, ~momo!"
Cure Taffy looked up and saw the Kigiki come at her, this time the wicks of its candle-arms lit. Ah! I did not see that coming-!
OP 1 - Sweet Start! Precure
Episode 2 - I Can Do This! Miyabi's Super Training!
But Cure Taffy cleanly dodged it as she recovered with a backflip. H-How did I do that...? she wondered to herself, doing a fighting stance. Is this really all me?
"Attack it, Cure Taffy!" Mocha yelled. "Come on! Weaken it first before you use your special attack!"
Cure Taffy nodded, flashing a cocky grin as she lunged forward and threw a flurry of tremendous punches on the monster, sending it flying through the wall. She evaded its lit-up hands and jumped up to the sky. "Aah! This is too muuuuuuch!" she yelled, flaying her arms and legs around as she went up, up, up into the air.
"Just do it, Cure Taffy! I believe in you!" Mocha yelled from below, and Taffy instantly forgot that she was afraid. This is no time to be shocked about her new powers, after all!"Pretty Cure..." She cupped her hands together, gathering bits of pink and purple energy. "...Taffy Swirl!" She then held her palms out and the pink and purple light shot out of them, spiraling around each other until it hits the monster's black heart.
"Gikiiiiiiii!" the Kigiki yelled as it evaporated, leaving behind the unscathed birthday cake. Cure Taffy lands on her feet, just as an orange candy heart popped out of the cake and floated towards her open hand.
Anise gritted her teeth. "Cure Taffy..." she growled. "Wait till Bittersweet hears about this, Precure!" And with that, she zoomed away on her broomstick and disappeared into the orange sky.
"What is this..." Cure Taffy remembered the pastel green heart that also appeared when Cure Cinnamon had defeated the Kigiki years ago.
"It's a Sugar Heart, ~momo!" Mocha ambled towards her, carrying the Candy Box. "Give it to me, ~momo!"
Cure Taffy handed him the candy heart. Mocha then opened the lid of the Candy Box and placed the heart on the engraved spot on the middle. As Mocha turned the little crank on the side of the box, Cure Taffy watched the orange heart slowly dissipate into shimmering sparks.
"That heart belongs to Shuu-chan, right?" Cure Taffy said, returning back to her normal self in a flash of pink light. "What will happen to him, then?"
"Oh he'll be fine ~momo," Mocha says, putting the Candy Box away in some kind of hammerspace by simply stashing it behind his back. "Sugar Hearts are created by any positive emotion, and humans can generate as many Sugar Hearts as they want. You should check on your Shuu-chan for the meantime, ~momo. I'll explain everything in a little while!"
"But what about-" Miyabi looked around, but it seemed that everything went back to normal as well. The hole in the wall that she created by punching the Kigiki to the front yard had been restored, and the birthday cake looked untouched too. She then ran back inside the shop.
"Shuu-chan!" Miyabi called out, finding Syuusuke's unconscious body on the floor. She quickly went up to him and crouched beside him. "Wake up, Shuu-chan!" she said, gently shaking him.
Syuusuke's eyes fluttered open, staring up at Miyabi. "M-Miyabi..." he said weakly. "What happened... here.."
Miyabi released a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're okay," she said. "Do you remember anything at all?"
"Not really..." Syuusuke slowly sat up. "I just remembered being hungry for your birthday cake but that's basically it."
Miyabi gritted her teeth and hit the brunette upside the head. "That's all you can remember?! Well in that case, no cake for you!"
"E-Eh? But that's all I can remember, I promise!"
"Yeah right! You just wanted to eat the cake first before me!"
Meanwhile Mocha was standing by the door, sweatdropping. "So this is... the new Precure.." he muttered, watching the new Legendary Warrior and her friend bicker as if the earlier events didn't happen at all.
"New Precure?" Vanilla gasped.
Anise had made it back to the Anzentou, relaying new information regarding the sighted Precure. Vanilla was pacing back and forth on the tiled monochrome floor, currently in deep thoughts.
"Well this certainly is an unfortunate turn of events," Sorell said, smirking while pouring himself a glass of grape juice. "But at least we now know where the Candy Box is. Are you sure you heard it right, Anise?"
"I know what I heard, you uneducated paperclip!" Anise retorted, banging her hand on her table. "One of Chocolat's knights had it with him! For fifteen years!"
"It's amazing how we could not locate the stupid Box for fifteen years," mused the androgynous person in pajamas, sipping a mug of coffee. "Unless the Box itself has passive magical abilities, like some sort of an untraceable spell..."
"That's exactly what Queen Chocolat did, I bet!" Anise said, snapping a candy cane in half and munching angrily on the curved end.
"Thyme is spot-on," Vanilla said, snapping herself out of her thoughts and sitting back on her chintz chair. "My perfect sister had mastered all kinds of defensive magic and probably cast an untraceable spell on the Box. For all we know, the spell has already weakened, and that's when this new Precure appeared."
"You got defeated by a greenhorn Cure?" Sorell asked Anise. "Interesting..."
"I-I was caught off-guard, okay?!" Anise replied hotly. "But don't worry! I'll get her next time!" She gripped the candy cane in her hand so tightly it broke into two again.
Vanilla glanced at Anise and closed her eyes. Precure...
Thyme stared at the others and shrugged before taking another nap on the table again.
"Today has been... rather hectic, isn't it?" Miyabi said, brushing her long pink hair in front of a mirror. "I'm just glad everyone was all right after what happened... Mom and Dad decided to hold the party in the house instead, and everyone barely remembered what happened too! It's almost as if-" She turned around to find Mocha devouring the last slices of the birthday cake, almost biting into the very last one.
"MOCHAAAAAA!"
Miyabi grabbed the platter of cake as she chewed on the last slice, while Mocha lies on the floor with a big bump on his head. "Seriously, now I have to deal with two guys who always eat my stuff?!" she said.
"I'm sorry, Miyabi ~momo..." Mocha sighed. "I just couldn't resist..."
Miyabi swallowed. "Now tell me more about these Heart thingies!"
"Hmmm..." Mocha sat up. "You see, Sugarland gets its energy by Sugar Hearts, ~momo! The more people are happy, the more Sugarland will prosper with life!"
"But what about those dark heart things..."
"Oh, Tainted Hearts? They darken over a Sugar Heart whenever a person is feeling down and everything. But really, it's normal ~momo! It turns back to normal if the person feels happy again!" Mocha looked down at the floor. "However..."
"Hm?"
"You know that girl who made that monster, ~momo?" Mocha said somberly. "She's one of the Bittersweet. They have the power to make the effects of the Tainted Heart permanent, ~momo. And from it, they can create a Kigiki out of any object."
Miyabi gasped. She's now curious about the downfall of Sugarland more than ever. "Mocha... what really happened in Sugarland?"
Mocha blinked up at her. "Oh, that? I'll tell you soon. Just not now."
"Eh? But why not now?"
"There are more important matters, ~momo!" Mocha said. "First off, you have to find another Precure!"
"Another Precure?" Well there IS one more Cure, but she's not around anymore... I wonder if Mocha knows? Miyabi thought. "Hey Mocha, do you know someone called Cure Cinnamon? Maybe she's-"
Mocha's ears perked up in interest. "You mean there's another Cure like you, ~momo? Who is it?"
"It's just that it's been a long time since I saw her... Her name's Cure Cinnamon. Do you know anything about her?"
"Cinnamon?!" Mocha stood up on his little feet and starting pacing to and fro in deep thought. "Cinnamon, Cinnamon... Ah! I-It can't be!"
"What? What can't be?" Miyabi held the plush bear's shoulders and shook him vigorously. "Tell me now, Mocha! Or else no more takoyaki for you!"
"Uwaaaa! Don't do that, it's making me dizzy!" Mocha leaped out of the pink-haired girl's grasp and shook his head. "Everything's all topsy-turvy now... Anyways, do you mean the missing Princess Cinnamon?"
"She's a missing princess from your land?" Miyabi asked, sitting down on her bed.
"Yes!" Mocha jumped onto the bed with her. "She's been missing for so long, ~momo! And it's my job to locate her as soon as possible, ~momo!"
"But she's been gone for so long too!" Miyabi pointed out. "I haven't seen her for seven years now..."
"That's why... a-ha!" Mocha glanced up at Miyabi with a determined glint in his eye. "You have to get stronger, ~momo!"
Miyabi can only blink. "Stronger...?"
"Huh? You want me to train you, Miyabi?" Syuusuke asked.
Miyabi was standing on the doorstep of the Saito dojo next door. "You gotta help me, Shuu-chan! I want to be strong just like you!" she said.
"What's this all of a sudden?" Syuusuke leaned on the doorframe. "Are you going to fight someone, or...?"
Miyabi froze for a second and flailed her arms around. "No way! It's just that... well, I woke up this morning and the first thing that I thought of was, 'Hey! Maybe I should get physically stronger today!' Don't you have thoughts like that, Shuu-chan?"
"I don't have the same mindset as you, you know," Syuusuke said, crossing his arms on his chest. "Well, what makes you think I'll train you?"
Miyabi brought out her phone and pressed a few buttons to call someone. "Hey, Kei? Shuu-chan won't let me train - oh, you want to talk to him? Sure!" she handed the phone to Syuusuke, who's now looking nervous for some reason. "It's Kei-chan. She wants to speak with you!" Miyabi said with an evil grin.
Syuusuke gulped. "D-Do I have to-"
"SAITO SYUUSUKE!" Miyabi had already put her phone on loudspeaker and Syuusuke was cringing from the sound of their childhood friend's irritated yell. "YOU BETTER TRAIN THIS WIMP RIGHT NOW OR ELSE I'LL PERSONALLY FLY FROM AMERICA TO -"
"Hey, who are you calling a wimp, you nerd?" Miyabi snapped back.
"But Kei-" Syuusuke started, but Kei promptly cut him off again with a "JUST DO IT SHUU-CHAN! MAKE MIYABI GROW A SPINE!"
"Keiiiiii!" Miyabi whined while Syuusuke giggled. "Fine fine, I'll train the little brat for ya," he said into the phone.
"Thank you Shuu-chan," Kei said, and Miyabi could've sworn she heard her best friend winking from the phone. "I owe you one!"
"You owe me a lot of things but you never repay them..." Syuusuke said with a sigh. "Later then! We miss you!"
"See ya! I miss you too," Kei said. "And the nerd too." And with that, she hung up.
"I am not a nerd..." Miyabi pouted. "Kei-chan can be so mean sometimes..."
"That's Chinatsu Kei for you," Syuusuke said. "Now then! How about my payment? I'm not gonna do this for free, y'know."
Miyabi opened her backpack and brought out a roll of bread wrapped in tin foil. "I knew you were gonna say that, so here you go."
Syuusuke took the bread and inspected it at all corners. "Yakisoba bread! For real? I don't have to pay for it?"
"Hey I never charge you for food, you know!" Miyabi stared at him. "So do we have a deal or not?"
The dark-haired boy paused for a bit as he thought, already taking a bite out of the bread. "Hmmm... Fine. But only light training, okay? You're still a beginner, so -"
"No. I want the real deal, Saito Syuusuke," Miyabi said sternly. "Pleaaaase? Just for today?"
"All right, all right!" Syuusuke sighed. "We're going to train at the backyard then, The dojo is under renovations, so we couldn't get in there for now." He stepped aside as Miyabi let herself in the Saito household.
Eyecatch 1: Miyabi decorates a cake with pink icing, drawing chibified versions of her, Kei, and Mocha. Kei then sneakily grabs a tiny piece of the cake and eats it, while Miyabi sighs and smiles. Kei grins, and the Pretty Cure Season's Delight logo shows up at the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Eyecatch 2: Miyabi and Kei ogle curiously at the Candy Box as Mocha turns the knob over and over. Suddenly the Candy Box opens and out comes a myriad of Sugar Hearts, burying the two girls in them! Miyabi and Kei's heads pop up from among the hearts and laughs. The Pretty Cure Season's Delight logo then shows up at the bottom left corner of the screen.
The backyard is actually an open field, the forest not too far from here. Miyabi and Syuusuke used to play near the forest when they were little. Miyabi stood stiffly with a serious look on her face, actually wearing a war headband around her forehead as Syuusuke paced in front of her in deep thought.
"Right! So let's do some basic workouts! First, you have to run laps," he began.
"All right!" Miyabi cheered.
"I've already put signs on where to turn. So all you gotta do is just run fifty laps and -"
"Hold on!" Miyabi interjected him. "Fifty laps? Just fifty laps? Are you underestimating me, Shuu-chan?"
"N-No, it's just that-"
"I'm not a kid anymore, okay? Just give me a hundred laps instead! I can take it!" Miyabi tried flexing her nonexistent muscles on her arms. It didn't exactly impress the guy. "You can count on me!"
Syuusuke sighed. "Fine fine. Just don't say I didn't warn you! Aaaaaaaaand... go!"
Miyabi got startled as she stumbled through her first lap, but snapped out of it and breezed through the next few laps at a fast pace. Hah! This is easy as pie! I can't believe Shuu-chan underestimated me!
"Wow, Miyabi! You've been through your fifteenth lap already!" Syuusuke called out, pressing his stopwatch from time to time.
I didn't notice that, Miyabi thought as she ran more. Is this a side effect of being a Precure? Oh man, this is so neat!
But after a while, after she got through her thirtieth lap, her legs began to slow down and she's starting to pant. I-I guess... this new-found endurance doesn't last long...
"Tired already?" Syuusuke sighed. "I told you so. You can't even get to the fiftieth lap."
Miyabi shot death glares at him, which made him cringe in fright. "I... am NOT giving up, Saito Syuusuke!" She picked up the pace once more. "Not... ever..." She burst through the next few laps, her legs practically screaming in exhaustion as she ran more.
"You're almost there, Miyabi! Come on!" Syuusuke cheered.
Miyabi gritted her teeth, internally cheering herself on as she sped through the fiftieth lap before collapsing on the ground. "Uuuuughh.."
Syuusuke pressed his stopwatch. "Well... at least you ran through fifty-one laps.."
Miyabi was wheezing. "F-fifty-one... laps... That's close enough, I guess..."
"You okay, ~momo?"
"Y-Yeah... just a bit winded, is all.." Miyabi told Mocha. She's seated on an abandoned water fountain by the forest, digging her tired feet into the moist ground as she took a breather. "Ahhhh, that feels good," she sighed dreamily, feeling the cold earth with her toes.
"That's disgusting, ~momo," Mocha said, fishing out a bottle of water from the backpack and handing it to her. "Your boyfriend is being really harsh to you, too..."
Miyabi laughed as she received the water bottle from her teddy-bear friend. "He's not my boyfriend, Mocha. He's being himself, as usual. He's really spirited when it comes to exercise, so..." She took a swig of water and put it down beside her. "But maaaaan, I wish he coulda taken it easier with me. We did a lot of pushups, sit-ups, crunches, splits... everything under the sun!
"Miyabi! Just one more! You can do it!" Syuusuke was yelling at her, using a megaphone made out of a rolled-up newspaper.
"Shuu... chan.." Miyabi was panting right now, her arms wobbling as she did her sixty-ninth pushup. "How much.. m-more-"
"DO YOU WANT KEI TO CALL YOU A NERD AGAIN?!"
That sentence sparked something inside Miyabi, her purple eyes sparkling as she lifted her arms once more, slowly. "S-SEVEN... SEVENTY!" she shouted before collapsing onto the ground, catching her breath again.
"All right, Miyabi! Good job!" Syuusuke said, bringing out a stick and two buckets of water. "Now jog around the block while carrying these! Just twenty laps!"
"EHHHHHH?!"
"But..."
"Hm? But what, ~momo?" Mocha looked up at the pink-haired girl.
"Thanks a lot for suggesting this, Mocha," Miyabi said. "I should get stronger so that I can save your land... and find Cinnamon soon." I hope she's okay out there... Somewhere...
"Oi, Miyabi!" Syuusuke called out from the back door of his house. "We're still not done yet, okay? Your rest period's almost up!"
"Yeah yeah, just hold on!" Miyabi yelled back as she hopped off the fountain. She held up Mocha by the scruff of his neck and attempted to put him into her backpack.
"H-Hey! I can't breathe in here, ~momo! You can't keep me in here!" he protested.
"I can't risk you being seen by Shuu-chan so just wait a little longer, why don't you?!" Miyabi managed to stash the talking bear into her bag and zipped it shut before slinging it over her shoulder. Ignoring Mocha's muffled complaints and her shaking bag, she bent down to put on her shoes and-
Whoosh.
The wind blew louder than it should be, scaring the birds away from the treetops.
"Well look who it is! If it isn't the new Precure~"
Miyabi turned around at the sound of that sickeningly childish voice. It was that white-haired girl who unleashed that monster during her birthday yesterday! "You-!"
"Ohohohohoho~ Surprised to see me? I really did miss our fun time yesterday, you know?" Anise said with a smile.
"I never knew being defeated by a new Precure was fun, but sure why not," Miyabi shrugged.
"H-Hey! I wasn't talking about that, you dense cupcake!" Anise said indignantly.
"Dense... cupcake?"
"You shut your mouth!" Anise pointed at the pink-haired girl. "I know your little bear friend there has the Candy Box, so hand it over!"
The backpack shook, and out comes Mocha, backflipping through the air and landing in front of Miyabi. "You'll never take the Candy Box from me, ~momo! Never!"
"And if you're gonna take Mocha away, you have to go through me first!" Miyabi said, moving in front of Mocha.
Anise sighed. "Fiiiine. I guess I'll do it by force, then!" She then brought out a sparkling Tainted Heart from out of nowhere and tossed it into the abandoned water fountain. Miyabi moved out of the way as Anise aimed her wand at the fountain, summoning yet another Kigiri which grew legs, a face on its spout part, and the black heart-shaped gem on its 'forehead'.
"Kigiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
"Miyabi!" Mocha said, and Miyabi nodded as she thrust her hands out forward. "Okay! Pretty Cure... Sweet Shining!"
"The sweet taste of spring, Cure Taffy!"
"Kigiki, attack!" Anise commanded. The fountain Kigiki roared out its name once more before charging at the pink Cure at full speed, but Taffy deftly leaped into the air and then hitting it with her signature "Precure Taffy Kick!" as her boot connected to the monster's cement body and sent it flying into the foliage.
"Did she just... name her kick.." Mocha commented with a sweatdrop, watching from the safety on a tree branch.
"Hah! I did it! I totally did it- aaaahhh!" But Taffy had no time to cheer because the Kigiki just spouted a large stream of water at her, slamming her onto a tree. "Oof! H-Hey! That was uncalled for!"
"Just finish her already, Kigiki!" Anise said. "It's useless trying to train yourself for this, greenhorn Cure! All your hard work will be for naught when the Bittersweet takes over these useless two worlds! Ohohohohoho~"
"Wh-Who said this all for nau- Aaaahhhh!" The Kigiki attacked the poor Cure with more water before she could even continue speaking.
"I mean come on, your precious Cure-senpai is gone for who knows how many years!" Anise said, yawning. "You're all alone in this, and that's pretty sad actually. And besiiiiiides, you're too exhausted from your measly human training, you big goof!"
Sh-she's right about one thing, and that I'm getting really tired from Shuu-chan's training earlier. Cure Taffy could barely move her arms and legs due to the incoming muscle strain. She jumped into the air again for another Taffy Kick, but gets blasted away yet again by the fountain Kigiki's water spout. "Ah!" She tumbled on the ground before bumping into the tree trunk for the third time. Her eyes could be swirling with dizziness by now.
"Ooohohohohoho! Is this really the power of the Precure?" Anise gloated. "How pathetic. Kigiki, just one more-"
"No. Stop. I've had... enough."
Anise looked over to see the battered Cure Taffy struggling to stand up on her two feet. "Oooh? What did you just say? You're actually pleading for me to stop~? Well then, I'll just-"
And then Cure Taffy's boot met Anise's face, kicking her into a tree.
"I never said ANYTHING about pleading, you old witch!" Taffy said.
"O-Old witch?!" Anise flared. "Why I oughta-" I didn't see her just now! How did she...
"No! YOU listen up!" Taffy fumed. "Shuu-chan never gave up on me! Even though he has trained me until my legs screamed, I am NOT going to throw away his training like it was nothing! And also, the reason why I trained today is because I am going to find Cure Cinnamon! Because I'm sure..."
"Kiiiiii!"
She backflipped into the air again as soon as she sensed the Kigiki coming at her from behind, and kicked it right onto Anise. "I'm confident... that I'm not alone in this," she said as calmly as she could, but she's boiling mad on the inside. "I may be a greenhorn Cure, but as soon as I find Cure Cinnamon I am going to ask her everything I should about being a Precure!"
She landed softly on the ground. "And what you just said... is totally UNFORGIVABLE!" she screamed, readying her hands for her attack. "Pretty Cure... Taffy Swirl!" Pink and purple bits of light shot out from her hand and hit the Kigiki and Anise, who yelled in agony at the purifying attack aimed at her.
The fountain Kigiki reverted back to its normal form in a puff of smoke, and out came a purified purple Sugar Heart from its spout. Anise propped herself on the treetrunk as she staggered to get up, her clothes tattered and her cheek marked with the sole of Taffy's boot.
"You're gonna... pay for this, Precure..." Anise coughed as she snapped her fingers, and her broomstick appeared out of nowhere to sweep her off her feet and off she flew.
Mocha took out the Candy Box and began absorbing the Sugar Heart into it immediately. "Good work, Cure Taffy ~momo!" he cheered while turning the crank. "With that attitude, I'm sure we can find the Cinnamon that we've been looking for all this time..."
He turned around and saw Cure Taffy, changed back into Miyabi, collapse onto the ground.
"Momo! W-Wake up, ~momo!" He shook Miyabi's shoulder's hysterically, urging her to wake. "Momoooooo!"
When Miyabi came to, she found herself on the couch of the Saito household.
"Welcome back, Miyabi," Syuusuke said, who was seated beside her all this time. "I was really worried! When I came back to get you, you've already fainted! Was I too harsh on you? I'm really sorry, I promise to take it easy for you nex-"
"Shuu-chan..." Miyabi said with a weak smile. "It was nothing, really. Just got tired, is all." She looked at the backpack placed by her feet and could feel Mocha snoring soundly inside it. "We should... do this again sometime."
The brunette returned the smile. "Whenever you're free then! Also, something very weird happened when I found you in the forest..."
Miyabi felt her sweat grow cold. W-Wait, did he see the damage that I left there...?
"Remember the old rickety fountain in there?" Syuusuke went on. "It's flowing with water and everything now! And the water's kinda sparkly, like magic!"
"R-Really?"
"Yeah, it's so bizarre," Syuusuke scratched the back of his head. "It's like... a sign or something. A sign of good things to come."
Miyabi's smile curved into a grin. "Yep, you could definitely say that!"
ED 1 - Dream Of You
On the next episode!
Miyabi: Back to school? That means back to cooking class! I'm so hyped to be back, Mocha~!
Mocha: I can't believe a human girl like you likes things such as school... Wait a minute, who's that, ~momo?
Miyabi: Ehhh? Kei-chan?! What are you doing here?
Kei: Miyaaaaa! Surprised you, didn't I?
Miyabi: Ehhhhhh?
Mocha: Next time on Pretty Cure Season's Delight - Kei's Determination! A Fiery Cooking Battle!
Miyabi: What is she... doing here...?
