Pretty Cure All Stars Rise of the Cardivus Praecordia

by ultimate mayhem

The Pretty Cure from Japan find out about an ancient threat and are saved by a team of Pretty Cure who have been preparing to face this threat with some allies. What will happen? Read and find out.

7. Fall and Rise

Pretty Cure All Stars: Rise of the Cardivus Praecordia

Disclaimer

I do not own Pretty Cure or most of the concepts in this story. I only the OCs in this chapter.

Chapter 7 Fall and Rise

Manhattan

Early Morning

Before Dawn

An elderly man sat in a recliner holding a glass with a fourth of whiskey as he reminsced about his golden years. He then pulled out a photo album and began looking through it. As he looked through the old photographs of a forgotten time he heard a knock at the door.

"Oh hell. Who's out at two in the goddamn morning?" the man asked as he got up and walked to his front door. "Who is it?"

"Telegram for a Mr. Stanton." said a guy on the other side of the door.

"Telegram? What are we in the old west?" Stanton asked himself as he opened the door. However when he did he saw ten people in suits who wore masks. Realizing what was happening Stanton shut the door and jumped towards a small table that was behind him and next to some stairs. There he grabbed a key and opened some steel wristbands he wore as the door was blown off its hinges. After that the suits began entering so Stanton held out his hand and launched an orange blast from his hand which splattered the first two suits. Two of the others, however, took that chance and jumped to Stanton's left and right before each threw a ring that had a cable which caught onto his wrists causing the blast he was about to fire to disappear. He looked at his hands just before a current of electricity forced him to his knees. After another suit stepped in front of them.

"Mr. Daniel Stanton. Also known as Plasma Knight." said the suit.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" asked Daniel.

"I am just a faithful messenger of the Cardivus Praecordia who have a message for you." said the suit as he pulled out a syringe. After he got close to Daniel he put the syringe into his arm and drew blood. "We would like to thank you for you contribution to our cause." he said looking at the blood sample. "Finish him off." he said stepping out of the house. Not long after the rest of the suits stepped out just before the house exploded.

The Arc

"What's going on?" Ashley asked as she looked around in a dark open space.

"Hello there." said a voice. At that Ashley turned and looked around.

"Who's there?" asked Ashley.

"Don't your recognize me?" asked the voice as a large silhouette wiht wings, horns, talons, claws, and a tail appeared in front of Ashley who stepped back.

"What the hell are you?" asked Ashley.

"I am the one who will consume you!" yelled out the silhouette as it grabbed Ashley. She tried to struggle but to no avail. As she struggled the silhouette dropped her into its mouth. As she fell she felt herself be consumed.

Ashley awakened in cold sweat. She looked around to the hologram each room had for a clock and saw it was two thirty in the morning.

"Well I'm not gonna be able to sleep after that." said Ashley. "Not like I get more than five hours of sleep a night." she said as she got up. "Guess I'll have a drink." she said as she changed into a red tank top with some sweats that resemebled the pants of her uniform. After changing she stepped outside where she looked around to make sure not to awaken anyone before remembering all the rooms were soundproof. However when she turned she saw the two teams of Dark Cures stepping out of their rooms as well. Curious she went up to them. "Hey are you all alright?" The two teams turned to her and became surprised.

"We're fine." said Kyoko.

"We're just not used to sleeping." added Miyako.

"I get what you mean." said Ashley. "When my team and I were first brought here we would only sleep like three hours because were weren't used to sleeping."

"We were wondering what we could do but we don't know anything about this place." said Mayumi.

"Then why don't we head to my private hang out room for a drink?" suggested Ashley.

"You mean your room?" asked Miho.

"Not quite. Each of us has a private room that's both password and DNA protected." replied Ashley. "Come on. I'll show you mine." she said leading them to the Teleflasher. "ComEX 08936-01. Password: DX84514-DX10." she said.

"Password confirmed." said a mechanical voice. "Please confirm DNA." At that a flat piece of metal arose from the ground. When Ashley put her hand on it the device created five needles that went into her hand. "DNA confirmed." At that they were sent to a large room which had several posters of various rock bands along with a Watchmen poster of Rorschach, a six bean bag chairs, five recliners, a large tv with a PS3 plugged into it, what appeared to be a fridge against the wall, a table with different kinds of equipment, and a few hand guns on a wall. "What do you think?"

"You have interesting taste." said Mayumi.

"My original was the one who decorated this place back when he was around. I really didn't bother to change much other than I keep some equipment here in case of emergency." replied Ashley as she opened the fridge. "Anyone care for a drink?" she asked pulling out a can.

"What do you have to drink?" asked Haruka. Ashley then tossed a can to Haruka who caught it. "Bud Light? What is this?"

"Beer." replied Ashley.

"As in alcohol?" asked Manami.

"Exactly." said Ashley as she opened a can.

"Why do you drink alcohol?" asked Mayumi.

"Two reason." replied Ashley. "First off because in this line of work not doing something, like sometimes drinking, can blow your cover which can end up costing important information which could save lives. Once I got really important information by getting into a drinking contest with tequila shots."

"I might be mistaken but isn't it a little strong?" asked Mayumi.

"Yeah but the fact that we're Meta-Cures makes it easy to handle things like that. Especially since I regenerate by charging my body with solar energy." replied Ashley.

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Haruka.

"I'll explain in a sec but for now anyone want a drink?" asked Ashley.

"Is this gonna be part of future training?" asked Haruka.

"Yeah. Once their bodies are in base peak we'll start with this for them to get used to things." replied Ashley. It was then Haruka looked Kyoko who nodded.

"We'll take one." said Kyoko.

"Comin' up." said Ashley tossing both Kyoko and Haruka a can.

"I guess I'll have one too since we'll have to try them eventually." said Miyako. The others were also uncertain but then agreed that the sooner they'd get used to them the less trouble it'd be in the future. Once they all agreed Ashley tossed each of them a drink. Then all ten opened them and took a sip which caused them to make faces at the taste.

"Yeah. Probably should've warned you alcohol is an aquired taste." said Ashley before taking a drink.

"By the way there's something I've been wondering about." said Kyoko. "I assume that you've got fairies of your own here but why haven't we seen them?"

"Well..." began Ashley looking up. "Alright we do have fairies but at the same time we don't."

"Are you gonna always talk in riddles?" asked Haruka.

"It's not a riddle." replied Ashley. "Listen we each have a fairy but they all live within the mainframe of the Arc. You see they were created with a sample of our DNA that was digitalize and then kind of altered."

"So what you're saying..." began Etsuko.

"That your fairies are artificial?" finished Manami.

"Right." said Ashley. "They're digital beings that reside within the Arc but can join us when they want. Usually they prefer to stay here though."

"I see." said Mayumi. After that they stayed in the room mostly talking and asking about some of the things she'd already discussed with the others as well as explaining. They hung out for a few hours and Ashley explained a lot of different things including that in a given time they were going to be trained to use both firearms and melee weapons. Time seemed to fly for them as they hung out and after what felt like a few minutes became a few hours.

"Hey Phoenrae. What's the time?" asked Ashley.

"Six thirty." replied Phoenrae.

"Well I guess it's time for me to go start breakfast." said Ashley. "Good thing I put the steak stew on stasis."

"On stasis?" asked Kyoko.

"Yeah. I started the stew yesterday morning for dinner but after I decided that it'd be better to have pizza with the movie I had the kitchen put the stew in stasis just before it was fully cooked." replied Ashley. "Oh and here." she said taking a bag from the table and tossing each of the Dark Cures a little wrapped candy. "My original made these to cover up any kind of breath issues so they won't smell the alcohol in your breath. The ten then opened the wrappers and ate the candies. "Alright let's head to the cafeteria." the Dark Cures nodded and they all headed to the Teleflasher. Once they were at the cafeteria Ashley headed to kitchen and checked the stew which was in a violet barrier that surrounded it. When she got close to it Ashley placed a hand on the barrier causing it to dissipate allowing her to get the ladle and have a taste of it. "Could use a little paprika." she said as a container with a red powder dropped into her hand. After she sprinkled a little into the stew and tried it again. "Perfect."

"Hello!" she heard a voice call from the cafeteria. "What's for breakfast?"

"We're having the stew I put on stasis yesterday." replied Ashley as she went to the cafeteria where she saw most of the other Cures there. "Alright so right now we'll have breakfast and you can shower after. Once you do that we can start practice which I will explain after everyone showers. Now everyone form one line and I'll serve the food." The Cures obeyed and were served a bowl of stew each. Once everyone else had been served Ashley served herself a bowl. Nagisa was about to ask for more but noticed something.

"Something's weird."

"What's wrong Nagisa?" asked Honoka.

"I don't know if something's wrong but I'm not hungry any more." replied Nagisa.

"That's unusual." said Honoka.

"Not really." said Sylvia as she went up to them. "The vegetables are grown here and have a supplement that makes them very filling while still very healthy."

"Is it some kind of chemical?" asked Honoka concerned.

"No. It's just something that's in the soil here that our originals used." replied Sylvia. Tsubomi heard this and approached them.

"Excuse me but do you also grow other plants there?" asked Tsubomi.

"I actually don't know." replied Sylvia. "The only ones that go there are Sarah and Ashley since they both watch over what's grown but I'd hold off on asking them because Ashley doesn't like to be interupted while she eats and in the morning Sarah's completely out of it." Ashley wound up finishing a lot faster than the others and left to take a shower.

As she stood there with the water pouring over her Ashley had a strange feeling. A mix of dread with a level of fear and excitement.

"What is this feeling?" Ashley asked herself as she put her back to the wall and let herself fall on her butt. She then looked right into the shower as she placed a hand on the scar on her cheek. "Shawn. I wish you were around. I have no idea what I'm doing or how to deal with what's to come. I'm sorry for everything...Dad." she said to herself as she felt tears run down her face only for them to mix with the pouring water. Ashley heard the other Cures going into the shower stalls so she made sure to sob quiet enough to not be heard. As soon as she heard most of the stalls open and close she got out of the shower and went to her locker in order to change. After changing Ashley was about to leave but when she turned she stopped. In front of her stood Urara which surprised her.

"Hey. I thought you were in the shower." said Ashley. Urara looked down and then to Ashley.

"Marie-san told me about what happened with your original and how you blame yourself for what happened back then." said Urara. "She also told me about how you used to listen to Door of Courage a lot and thought it might help you to talk to me."

"Marie's got a big mouth." said Ashley. "Look you don't need to worry about me. I'm fine."

"You've been crying." said Urara noticing the white part of Ashley's eyes was red. "I know that we haven't known each other long and that you might not want to talk about something that causes you pain to a stranger but if you wanna talk just please remember that I'll be glad listen." Hearing this Ashley smiled as some new tears formed in her eyes.

"We can talk later. For now just shower and get ready for training." said Ashley. Urara smiled and nodded before heading off to the showers. "I gotta remember to fire Marie outta the cannon again." she said to herself as she walked while wiping some tears. Afterwards she headed into the training room where she started doing a little training on her own with a pair of tonfa. As she moved with the weapons she remembered back when she was first learning how to use them. Back when the man she saw as a father guided her. Back when she and her team were only learning about what life was. She continued to remember as she made different movement before she back flipped and landed on the ends of the tonfa in order to stand on them. After she turned over and landed on her feet. Once she finished she placed the tonfa back where they were and let herself fall on her back. As she layed there she closed her eyes and thought back.

'Always remember Ashley. Fighting the Cardivus is important but you also have to take time and enjoy life. Smell the flowers or you'll end up regretting it.' Shawn's voice said in Ashley's mind. 'Now don't tell Lilia I'm letting smoke around me.' Remembering when he told her this Ashley couldn't help but chuckle at the memory before looking down.

'It's been months since I last saw her but...' she thought to herself. It was then she noticed the Teleflasher activate and the other Cures appear. Just as they appeared Ashley made sure to have a straight face. Once they appeared Ashley looked at the group.

"Alright how's everyone feeling today?" asked Ashley. Most of them were feeling pretty good, especially after the shower. "Alright before we get started I'd like to discuss a bit of future training with all of you."

"What kind of future training?" asked Itsuki.

"For the sake of learning improvisational combat not too far from now we'll be going into dancing." replied Ashley.

"Then would you like us to assist?" asked Miki.

"It'd be pointless." said Ashley. "Listen carefully everyone. As I believe most of you know the four of them..." she said looking to Love, Miki, Inori, and Setsuna. "...were taught dance but what we'll be doing is less choreograph and way more street."

"You mean like those movies?" asked Miki.

"Kinda but we won't get into it until your bodies are able to handle different kinds of movements." replied Ashley. "Alex. Sylv. Would you care to demonstrate?" The two EPC nodded and then moved to stand next to each other. After the two began by backflipping. However before they hit the wall Sylvia stayed standing on her hands but with her legs bent pointing towards the others allowing Alex to backflip into the wall with her feet allowing her to jump over Sylvia. Afterwards Sylvia flipped again and landed on her feet. "Part of being in good shape here means having good mobility so once all of you are able to move with the proper flexibility we'll start working on the dancing." she explained. "So today we'll be starting with some stretches today which should be done with a partner preferably. Everyone partner up. By my count there's about forty four of you so we should have twenty two pairs. It makes no difference whether you partner up with someone from another team. In fact it is encouraged to partner up with someone from another team to build trust amongst the group as a whole." she instructed. Once everyone paired up Ashley called Sylvia to help her out. "Alright we'll start with a few simple stretches." she said as she sat with her legs stretched out. "First one goes like this. One of you sits with your legs stretched out like this."

"In the meantime the Cure you paired up with will stand behind you with their hands on your back like this." said Sylvia placing her hands on Ashley back as Ashley held out both her hands together in front of her. "The excercise is simple. The one sitting down stretches her hands out while the partner pushes her enough for her to try to reach the line between her feet." she added as she pushed the top of Ashley's back moving her forward until she reached the line between her feet. Once they finished the demonstration Sylvia let go of Ashley and she got up.

"Now remember that we're doing this to get you used to stretching so for now push your partner only until they saw so as not to cause them unnecessary pain." said Ashley. "You'll each do this fifteen times and then switch and vice versa. By the end of this each of you will have done this in four groups of fifteen. Now begin. The rest of us will be walking around inorder to make sure you're doing it right." The nine Elemental Pretty Cure were walking around as they watched each pair doing the excercise. While they were truthful about watching to make sure each pair was doing the excercise properly they were also amused at how some of the Cures struggled. An example of this was how Nozomi, who decided to pair up with Reika, was barely reaching three to four centimeters forward before letting out squeaks of pain. Something similar was happening to Miyuki who had teamed up Erika, a decision she wound up regretting almost immedietely. As they continued to observe they noticed a few interesting things. Things like how Miyuki was trying to get Erika to slow down or how Kyoko was trying to not hurt Hikari in the excercise. The excercise took a bit longer than Ashley had anticipated but they were able to finish with some ofthe Cures feeling a little sore because they weren't all that active. "Alright for the next excercise we'll do something that isn't typically done."

"How much of the excercises we do are typically done?" asked Sarah.

"Touché." said Ashley. "In any case the excercise if fairly simple. Remain with your partners. The excercise will be as follows. One of you will do a hand stand and your partner will hold up your ankles. Both of you will count to ten and then switch positions. You'll each do this five times. Now begin and count properly or you'll have to restart." The groups this time around had an easier time for the most part. The only exception was when Etsuko tried to hold Yuri since she was in fact a bit more than twice her size. Having noticed this Kara decided to help her. The excercise went smoothly but once they were done they felt tired so they were given a five minute break. Afterwards they did single excerices like the day before but doing more than the day before. When they finished Ashley stepped in front of them. "Good. Alright everyone now then..." she said as a part of the ground opened under Marie causing her to fall. "Phoenrae set target for the Sahara Desert."

"Set." replied Phoenrae.

"Fire." The other Cures looked confused.

"What happened?" asked Tsubomi confused.

"I just fired Marie out of one of the cannons to the Sahara Desert." replied Ashley.

"Why would you do that?!" asked Erika.

"That is something for another time. Either ways she'll end up back on the ship in about an hour." replied Ashley.

"How do you know?" asked Ako.

"Because she's done this to Marie before. Although only when Marie irritated her enough." replied Lauren. "So what'd she do?" she asked Ashley.

"I'll tell you later." replied Ashley. "Alright so everyone I'll leave Diana in charge of the next part of training while I get something." she said leaving.

"Alright everyone let's start off where we left off yesterday." said Diana. "First..."

"Hang on. Why is this training just punching and kicking?" asked Erika.

"Yeah. It feels pointless." agreed Akane.

"That's another thing you will have to understand before facing off against them. Patience." said Lauren. "It is both a virtue and a requirement."

"She right." said Diana. "Personally I'm not the most patient Cure in the team but I can tell you that being patient can help you find the best chance in battle. So let's get started." With that they start with basic stances for punches before following up with kicks and then began combining the two. It was a few more minutes before Ashley returned into the room with a briefcase.

"Why do you always move things in a briefcase?" asked Nataly.

"It's either that or juggle them." replied Ashley. "Alright everyone take a break. Kyoko, Haruka, Miyako, Kazuko, Manami, Momoko, Hotaru, Etsuko, Miho, and Mayumi front and center." The two teams of Dark Cures approached her as she put the briefcase down and opened it. "These are for you." she said turning to the briefcase towards the two teams allowing them to see ten objects. Five resembled dark versions of the Yes Pretty Cure 5 CureMos and the other five resemebled dark versions of the Smile Pretty Cure Smile Pacts.

"You made these?" asked Mayumi.

"No. My original experimented with recreating some of the tranformation devices in case of an emergency like if the devices of the others were taken or destroyed. He also altered some of them in case you were ever brought back." explained Ashley.

"Sounds like he thought very far ahead."said Miho.

"You have no idea." said Ashley. "Whenever I played Chess with him he was always like eight steps ahead of me and he had a hell of a poker face." The ten Cures each took a device and examined them. It was then they heard an alarm.

"What's going on?" asked Nagisa.

"We're getting a transmission." replied Ashley. "Let's head to the briefing room." After they left and got to the briefing room Ashley placed a hand on the screen. "Accept transmission." It was then the screen turned on showing Dante. "Dante. What's up?"

"Something's happened. Something you should know about." replied Dante. Then the screen where they saw Dante narrow as a news report was shown.

"Today we report on the death of an elderly man who seemed to have been attacked in his home." said a female reporter. "Daniel Stanton's home was destroyed by an explosion early this morning. Nothing is known about what happened but it is believed that someone set off a bomb in his home." Upon hearing this the Elemental Pretty Cure's eyes widened in shock as did Yayoi's which surprised the rest of her team. "Thanks Dante." she said as the screen turned off.

"Who is this Daniel Stanton?" asked Yuri.

"He's the Plasma Knight." said Yayoi causing everyone to turn to her.

"Plasma Knight?" asked Yuri.

"Believe it or not the world's full of heroes but most of them are retired and have been for the last several years." replied Ashley.

"You mean he used to be a guy who would dress up and fight crime?" asked Akane.

"Yeah." replied Ashley.

"He was one of the greatest!" declared Yayoi causing them to look at her again. "I've read every issue of Knight of Justice, LegenForce, and Plasma Knight and he was always willing to risk everything if it mean saving even a single life."

"What do you mean issue?" asked Miyuki confused.

"Most of the heroes from back then were interviewed and their stories made into comic books in the U.S." replied Ashley. "Most of these things happened way before most of the people who read it were born so they figure it's all fictional."

"What about their families?" asked Itsuki.

"Far as I know there were only like seven or eight of them who had families and that's because they married within the hero community." replied Ashley. "Those heroes who retired went off grid and very few people outside of former and current heroes knew about where they were."

"So you know them?" asked Yayoi.

"Not personally." replied Ashley. "Our originals, The Elementals, were part of the hero community and knew heroes both retired and in action but they didn't tell us much about who was in it." she explained. "By now they must have gotten the body to a Coroner to examine and the place is probably a crime scene." she said looking down. "We'll go in a small team to investigate. Honoka, Nagisa, Karen, Reika, Ako, Yuri, Yayoi, Etsuko, Sylvia, Manami, Kara, and Mayumi will come with me. We'll take some special equipment to check things out."

"Understood." said those who had been called.

"Let's head to my lab." said Ashley leading them to the Teleflasher.

"So what do we do while you're gone?" asked Diana.

"Another half hour of training then whatever you like." replied Ashley. "But I'd like Miki, Kaoru, Michiru, Tsubomi, and Itsuki to come back here. We'll send any suspicious data we can find so we'll need you to analyze it. Oh and Lauren. I think you should show them where the library is. For those who enjoy a good read."

"On it." said Diana as the group left on the Teleflasher. Once they got to Ashley's lab she placed a hand on a wall which caused the wall on the on the opposite side to turn over revealing several devices.

"Alright here's what we'll be taking." said Ashley as she took a watch like device off the wall. "I call this a MetaScanner. It can scan anything from radio frequencies to thermal prints." she said tossing it to Honoka who caught it. "These are sunglasses similar to the night vision used by black ops units but with a few twists. First off they're light weight. They're also able to link up to any kind of wireless console so you'll have them linked to your MetaScanners in order to transmit data back to the Arc for analysis. Any questions so far?"

"Yeah. Do the sunglasses have a name?" asked Nagisa.

"Spectral Scopes but we just call them SpecScopes for short." replied Ashley. "Now back to the equipment." she said looking back at the devices. "We will also be using these." she said tossing a wristband to Honoka. "Since we won't got to Seekers spells until Saturday we'll use these CamoBands. They refract light to keep us from being noticed." she explained.

"What?" asked Nagisa confused.

"They'll make us invisible." rephrased Honoka. It was then they heard someone enter. The group turned and saw Urara enter.

"I'd like to go as well." said Urara. "I know I may not be as smart as most of you or know a lot but..."

"Your in." said Ashley causing the others to turn to her. "If this is what I think they'll be expecting us to take the smartest members which is why I asked Michiru, Kaoru, and Miki to stay behind. Nagisa's a wild card in this but having a second could give us an edge if we're expected." she explained turning around. "Urara tell Miyako that she'll be coming too. I want to keep each Dark with the original until all of you become fully adjusted to how things work." Urara nodded and left. "Please give us extras of the equipment that's been picked." At that a table arose from under the ground with several more pieces of the same equipment. Everyone who didn't have their own equipment yet took the parts of the equipment they needed. Not long after Urara and Miyako entered. Ashley explained what they were gonna do and the two grabbed their own equipment. "Alright let's get going." she said as they began leaving.

"Hey Ashley." said Phoenrae's voice. "I thought you might wanna know the circuits for Phase 1 of Project DekaStraight are complete."

"Alright then get started on Phase 2. I'll start writing the Algorythm for the program tonight." said Ashley.

"On it." said Phoenrae.

"Let's go." said Ashley. On the way she noticed the others were staring at the back of her head. "Sorry but Project DekaStraight is a top secret project I've been working on."

"And why is it top secret?" asked Kara.

"Let's just say it's our DefCon2." replied Ashley.

"What's that?" asked Nagisa.

"It's a safety protocol in the American government." replied Honoka. "DefCon 2 is to prepare for an attack on the country by preparing available aircrafts for a preemptive or retaliatory attack." Hearing this confused Nagisa.

"She means it's a plan to attack before getting attacked or to counter an attack that's been received." said Yuri as they got to the TeleFlasher.

"To Huntik Foundation HQ in Manhattan please." said Ashley. After a flash of light they found themselves on the roof of a large building. "Alright everyone transform and we'll head to what's left of Dr. Stanton's place."

"Dr?" asked Honoka intrigued.

"After retiring he became a hemotologist." replied Ashley.

"A what?" asked Urara.

"A medical specialist who studies blood." replied Ashley as she, Kara, and Sylvia transformed shortly followed by the others. Lemonade and Aqua became surprised upon seeing the new uniforms their doubles wore. Dark Lemonade's outfit was yellow with a little dark tint to it. She also wore a top with a closed sleeveless vest which had a similar butterfly to the one Lemonade had but showed her midriff, her armbands were similar to the ones she had before but in yellow rather than black and with yellow gem on the back of her palms, something that looked like Black's skirt but in a more orangeish color and with a bit of a bow in the back, and her was in two spiral pigtails that were tied with ribbons that had roses on them. Dark Aqua's outfit was similar to Dark Lemonade's only rather than having a top she had what looked like an underdress with a navy blue vest that had extended shoulder sleeves, her armbands now extended just below her shoulder, she had a sash at her waist, her boots were a little longer than before, and her hair, while still in a pony tail, had most of her hair loose. Bad End Peace's new outfit looked almost of be a combination of her original suit and Peace's uniform with exceptions like that she didn't have frills on the chest of her outfit but still had the ones on her arms. She also had what looked like shorts that went just above her knees, rather than having sleeves she had armbands that stopped at the frills, and she retained the batwing ornament on the front part of her hair but at the sides she had white wing ornaments just above her ears "Alright I don't know if you've figured this out but to invoke the equipment you had in civilian form just focus on what item and it'll appear." she said as the Spectral Scope and CamoBands appeared at her, Imber's, and Rai's wrists. The others did the same and their's appeared as well. Then Ardeo, Imber, and Rai tapped the top of their CamoBands causing them to seemingly disappear. The other did the same but then found it hard to tell who was where which caused Black to bump into her partner. "Use your Spectral Scopes." At that each of them put them closer to their eyes and they were able to see the others around them. "Alright now follow me." she said jumping off the roof of the building followed by the others. They went from roof to roof with Ardeo until they arrived at a destroyed building which had a lot of safety tape around it. "Lemonade, Dark Lemonade, Black, and Bad End Peace I want two of you posted on the roofs there and there. Just make sure to stay invisible." she said pointing to two buildings across the street which had another building in between. The four nodded and then Lemonade and Dark Lemonade jumped to the building on the left while Black and Bad End Peace jumped to the building on the right. The Cures on the ground began looking around examining the debris. Peace got close to what she could tell used to be a table and then noticed something that was glittering. Curious she walked over and found two silver bracelets.

"I found something." said Peace. The group approached her and she showed them what she was holding.

"What are they?" asked Muse looking at the bracelets closely.

"Plasma's Restrictors." said Ardeo.

"Restrictors?" asked Moonlight.

"Plasma Knight's powers allowed him to blast things but the power output was too much so he asked The Alchemist to make something which would restrict his powers not so much that he couldn't use them but enough that his powers wouldn't kill." explained Peace.

"If his powers could kill when he fired why would some bracelets keep his powers from doing so?" asked Muse.

"I don't know the exact details other than it has in part to do with ThermoNuclear Astrophysics." said Ashley. "All I can say is that they caused the blasts to have less energy which made them more like getting hit by a blunt object." she said. "In any case for Plasma to have taken off his restrictors means that he knew what was gonna happen and wanted a chance to fight back for real."

"Can you tell if the attackers were able to do anything to him?" asked Peace looking at Ardeo.

"We can't tell anything unless we look at the body." replied Imber causing Peace to turn to her as she turned to Ardeo. "Hey. You alright?"

"Something definetely up." said Ardeo causing them to look at her.

"What do you mean?" asked White.

"I met Plasma Knight personally and I can tell you that even being in his early seventies the man was strong enough to punch through solid concrete. For him to feel that he'd need to use his full powers means that something serious was gonna go down." said Ardeo.

"Maybe they didn't know who he was." said Rai.

"The question isn't whether or not they did know him." said Ardeo. "A mugger won't usually know the people he mugs. All he actually needs to scare them into surrendering their what they have."

"I'm not sure I follow." said Aqua.

"What I'm getting at is that whoever showed up must have been in peak physical conditions and an extraordinary fight." clarified Ardeo.

"More than that they must have had something else to keep him from being able to attack." said Imber.

"It was more than one." said Dark Aqua causing them to turn to her. "I checked the entrance and under the debris on the actual floor I found a lot of blood along with several foot prints. Whoever came here didn't come alone."

"Seems like while we try to find answers it just leads us to more questions." said Ardeo.

"It takes patience and proper research to find answers to these kinds of questions." they heard a voice say. The group looked up to the remains of a wall and saw Master Swoop sitting on the top part of what remained of a wall.

"Master Swoop?" asked Ardeo.

"I was expecting you to investigate about this since this attack was a bit more viscious." said Master Swoop.

"This attack?" asked Imber.

"Hold on. Can you see us?" asked Aqua.

"Aqua he's blind so he doesn't need his eyes to know where we are." said Rai.

"Oh." said Aqua.

"Master what do you know?" asked Ardeo.

"Come with me and I'll tell you what we know." said Master Swoop. Ardeo nodded and the group followed Master Swoop. Noticing this Lemonade, Dark Lemonade, Black, and Bad End Peace followed. Within a few minutes they stopped on a roof about a block away from where they'd started. Once they stopped they deactivated their CamoBands.

"So what's going on Master Swoop?" asked Rai.

"We're not entirely sure." replied Master Swoop.

"So how long ago did this start?" asked Rai.

"Around two years ago." replied Master Swoop. "It was then when the first happened."

"The first what?" asked Dark Lemonade.

"Daniel Stanton isn't the first retired hero to be killed." replied Master Swoop. "So far there've been fourteen previous to him."

"So fifteen dead former heroes in two years." said Ardeo with a hand on her chin.

"Make that sixteen." said Master Swoop causing them to turn to him. "I was contacted by Master Phant and Stanton's brother Jacob was also killed in his home in Geneva."

"So sixteen dead ex heroes in two years." said Ardeo. "Were you able to find a cause?"

"None. Although we have the list of those who have fallen." replied Master Swoop.

"So I assume you're not just here to tell us about what you've been investigating." said Ardeo.

"You're right." said Master Swoop. "Each of us has been investigating in different places about what's been going on but we haven't been able to find a clear picture as to why these former heroes were attacked. I got a lead that led me here. To be more precise a some kind of warehouse."

"Why do they always go to warehouses?" asked Black.

"Large storage space for a cover and enough space underground for a base or research facility." replied Ardeo.

"So here is this warehouse?" asked Imber.

"I don't know." replied Master Swoop. "Whatever it is they have there seems to be very important so the only ones who can get in are those with some kind of key."

"I see." said Ardeo with a slight smirk.

"What are you thinking?" asked Imber. Instead of replying Ardeo placed a hand on her ear.

"Phoenrae do a city wide sweep for any energy signatures and report back any unique ones and their locations." said Ardeo.

"Understood." said Phoenrae.

"Sharxin you too." said Imber.

"On it." replied another voice. As the group waited Rai examined the bracelets curiously.

"Hey Peace. Did any of the comics explain how these worked?" asked Rai.

"If I remember they're supposed to be like leeches that would absorb a lot of the energy Plasma Knight would fire so that his blasts would still hurt but wouldn't kill." replied Peace. "Why do you ask?"

"I've seen this design before." replied Rai.

"What design?" asked Moonlight as she walked up to the two electric Cures.

"Rai's able to focus some electricity into something metallic in order see every detail of the object." replied Imber.

"That's amazing." said Peace. "I wonder if I can do it."

"You probably can but you have to learn to focus very small amounts of electricity before moving onto doing this with full buildings." replied Rai.

"Could you teach me?" asked Peace.

"If you're alright with extra training when we're off and others are on missions." replied Rai. It was then they heard Ardeo laugh lightly. "What's so funny?"

"You don't see it?" asked Ardeo. The group looked confused, even Master Swoop. "The nine of us are only like a year and a half old, most of them have fought battles and grown from them, and now we're teaching them things they probably would've never learned to fight something that's existed since before all the evils they've faced even wore diapers. Am I the only one that sees the irony in this?" Most of them thought of it for a minutes and then chuckled lightly. The only one who didn't get it was Black. White noticed and turned to her partner.

"She's talking about how even though all of us have been Pretty Cure and fought longer than they've even existed the evil they're were facing alone is a lot older than any of the villains anyone in the group of Japanese Pretty Cure fought." explained White. Black thought about it for a minute before finally understanding.

"We've got something." said Phoenrae. At that Ardeo, Imber, and Rai all placed a hand on their ears. "There's some kind of energy barrier about eight or nine blocks from your current locations but there's something strange about it."

"Phoenrae's right. There's some kind of spectral energy mixed into it." added Sharxin.

"What do you mean by Spectral energy? Like ectoplasmic?" asked Imber.

"Ectoplasmic? Are you talking about ghosts?" asked Black as she shivered slightly.

"Nagisa you know there's no such things as ghosts." said White.

"Just because some things can not be explained logically does not mean they are not real." said Master Swoop.

"And FYI ghosts and that kinda thing is real. You just need to open your minds a lot more." said Ardeo.

"What direction?" asked Rai.

"North East near the docks." replied Sharxin.

"Then let's go." said Black.

"Hang on." said Ardeo surprising her.

"What?" asked Black as Ardeo looked at the whole group.

"Aqua how well can you manipulate water?" asked Ardeo.

"I can move small amounts of water but I don't know if I'd be able to do anything from the ocean." replied Aqua.

"Imber. You, Aqua, and Dark Aqua find a good place to hide when we get there. That way if we end up in a fight you'll have a chance to break in. Peace and Bad End Peace should stay with you as well." said Ardeo as she looked to the side. "Imber, Rai. I need you two to come with me for a sec." she said walking to make some distance between them. The two looked at each other before turning towards the fire Cure and then following.

"Do you have some secret plan?" whispered Rai.

"No." replied Ardeo. "Listen I've been thinking about this for about two days and I think we should tell them about what'll happen once this whole thing ends." she whispered. Hearing this the other two Elemental's Cures' eyes widened. "I know it's something none of us want to talk about but I think we should explain what'll happen. I'll be willing to tell them everything."

"It's true that we don't like to think about it but she's probably right." said Rai. "Beating around the bush on something this important might make their resolve weaker if they end up having to push us through."

"I suppose it's true." said Imber. "While we're on look out I'll contact the others and see what they think."

"Alright. Thanks." said Ardeo with a smile before turning to the others. "Let's go." The group headed off in the direction they'd been instructed. Not long after they were stopped by Master Swoop.

"How come we're stopping?" asked Black.

"The barrier's across the street from here." replied Master Swoop.

"Oh, right." said Black sheepishly.

"So how do we get in?" asked Muse. Ardeo watched off the side of the roof they were on and saw as a group of what looked to be six security guards

"I've got this." said Ardeo as she jumped to a few roofs away and then snuck into an alley without being seen.

"What is she going to do?" asked Moonlight.

"Hard to say." replied Rai. "She sometimes tries a line from a movie. Other times she'll just do something random." she explained as they saw the guards enter the alley. After a few minutes Ardeo returned to the roof with six security guard uniforms and a smirk.

"So who's going with me?" asked Ardeo.

"It might just be me but aren't those some sizes off for any of us?" asked Muse.

"Rai?" asked Ardeo turning to her. Rai nodded and then placed her hands on the uniforms. Within seconds the uniforms began glowing. Ashley then put one on which caused it to change size.

"How did you do that?" asked Moonlight.

"You could call that my special ability." replied Rai. "It's a little spell I developed to make one thing adjust to whoever or whatever it's worn by."

"That's amazing." said Black.

"For now let's decide who else will go in." said Ardeo turing to the group. "I'm thinking we should definetely have White, Moonlight, and Master Swoop with us. That makes five so that leaves one more. How about Rai and Muse?"

"You think about things quite fast." said Moonlight.

"Not really." said Ardeo turning to the others. "Everyone else stay out here in case things start going south and we have to get out. Just find a place where you might have an edge."

"Right." said the others.

"Honoka, be careful." Black said in a concerned tone.

"Don't worry." said Ardeo. "I always watch out for team mates on missions. She'll be back safe and sound."

"Thanks." said Black causing White to look at the two.

"You know I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." said White.

"Perfection's an illusion of something which can never be achieved." said Ardeo as the others put on the uniforms.

"Even if we're able to get in we'll have sneak around a lot." said Muse.

"Just leave that to me." said Ardeo holding her hand out. "Thought Spectre." she said as a dark red began glowing on her hand. After those who were going to stay saw the others appearance change to match what looked like the pictures on the ID badges that were on the coats.

"That's amazing." said Black.

"Let's go." said Ardeo. After most of them jumped off the building and landed in an alleyway before heading into the building. They were all able to feel when they crossed the barrier all of them felt it but the Cures more than the others.

"What happened?" asked Ako.

"They have a barrier set so we can't become Pretty Cure here." whispered Sylvia as they entered the building.

"Do you two have the Jungle Shifters Master RJ made for us?" asked Ashley.

"I've got mine." said Kara.

"Same here." said Sylvia.

"Good." said Ashley as they walked up to two guards who were standing with weapons in hand.

"Hey. What are you guy doin' back here? Weren't you goin' to lunch?" asked the first guard.

"We were but we forgot somethin' in the locker rooms." said Ashley in a guy's voice. "Right?" she asked turning to the others. The other nodded in agreement.

"Alright then. Just don't be late for Jimmy's party." said the second guard.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." said Ashley as the wall behind the guards opened and they entered. Once it closed most of them looked around.

"This is a big elevator." said Sylvia.

"Sylv. I need you to scan the place." whispered Ashley.

"On it." said Sylvia as she placed a hand on the buttons for the floors with her eyes closed. After a few seconds she stepped back. "I've got what we need." she said with a smirk as the doors opened and they stepped out. As they walked they noticed several other security guards walking around.

"Master Swoop. Do you know what they do here?" asked Ashley.

"All I know is that they keep a lot of things they consider treasure here. Other than that this place seems to be the central database for everything they've got planned so far." replied Master Swoop.

"That'll be a great help then." said Ashley as they got to a hall. "Where to Sylv?" Sylvia looked in both directions and then turned left while the others followed. They continued following Sylvia from one turn to the next until she stopped in front of a pair of doors with a number pad next to it. Ashley then took the ID badge she had and slid it by a slit next to the numbers causing the doors to open. After they entered Ashley they saw a few computer consoles so Ashley pulled something out of her pocket which Sylvia noticed.

"What are those?"

"One's to copy their database and the other's to mess with them." said Ashley as she slid both Flash Drives into two of the slots. After she began typing quickly in order to not only copy the files but check some of them out. "That's weird."

"What is it?" asked Ako as she went up to Ashley.

"Some of the files on this are schematics for different parts and if I'm not mistaken they're trying to make something for interdimenstional or multiversal travel." replied Ashley.

"What's the difference?" asked Ako.

"Interdimensional would be traveling to the other fairy worlds and multiversal would be traveling to other universes." replied Sylvia. "Think of it like this. Let's say our universe in a single book in a library. That means our plane of existence is one page and the fairy worlds are the other pages. Which would mean each individual book is a different universe from our in which every possibility exists."

"What kind of possibilities?" asked Ako.

"Anything imaginable." replied Honoka. "For example maybe in one universe you were Cure Moonlight and Yuri is Cure Muse, maybe Nozomi and Miyuki are sisters, or maybe..."

"Instead of the teams having been Nagisa with Honoka and Saki with Mai the teams might've started crossed with Nagisa with Mai being Black and White and Saki with Honoka being Bloom and Egret or vice versa." added Ashley as she kept typing causing them to turn to her. "Yeah I've seen way more than I prefer to tell." she said with a slight laugh.

Back outside with the others.

"I hope she's okay." said Black.

"Just calm down." said Imber. "So long as some kind of vortex doesn't open anywhere near the building it'll all be fine."

"You said near the building, right?" asked Beauty.

"Yeah." replied Imber.

"What about above?" asked Bad End Beauty.

"What do you mean?" asked Imber turning to the two. They responded by pointing straight up. Imber and the others looked up and saw dark clouds in the sky which were swirling into what almost looked like the eye of a hurricane. "Oh this ain't gonna be good." she said.

"I think something's coming out of that thing." said Aqua as they saw something that was floating but couldn't tell what it was.

"Hey Ashley. I think we have a problem." said Imber with a hand on her ear. When she got no response she realized something. "The barrier must be blocking communications. Damn."

"So what do we do?" asked Lemonade.

"Can anyone here me? This is Imber."

"We hear you." replied Koaru.

"Alright. We need an analysis of something. I'm sending you footage now." said Imber as her Spectral Scopes appeared and she zoomed in on the vortex in the sky.

"What is that?" asked Miki.

"We don't know but I'd highly doubt it's good." replied Imber. "Tell the others to be on stand by in case we're not enough to fight them off."

"Alright." said Miki.

Back inside

"How much longer?" asked Yuri.

"Two minutes, fifteen seconds." replied Ashley as she looked through a few more files. "Looks like what they built was built a few floors down. Who's up for sabotaging it?"

"Is that necessary?" asked Yuri.

"Might be." replied Ashley. "According to this they're gonna test it by creating some kind of portal above Manhattan so it's best if we do this while we're here because it'll be rough getting back in." she said as the files finished being copied and she uploaded a few things into the database.

"Then let's go." said Honoka.

"Alright." said Ashley as she turned the computers off and then they left. After they headed down to the lowest level passing by guard after guard with none of them being the wiser. When they arrived they saw a large machine that looked very odd.

"This thing's huge." said Sylvia as they went up to a monitor. Ashley then got on the computer and began typing.

"That's not good." said Ashley.

"What's wrong?" asked Ako.

"The vortex just released several creatures. Take a look." replied Ashley as she moved away from the screen allowing the others to see as several creatures were coming out of the vortex in the sky. Some which looked like odd drills with long needles. Other seemed to be beings made of water and a few looked like cyborg creatures. Some even looked like large versions of animals and a few jet sized ships.

"Are those?" asked Sylvia.

"Yep. Bloodysquitos, a few Propeller Mutants, La Ura Gigas, Immortal Baron Vorgs, Brawler Zylers, Aqua Guards, Aqua Hulcus, Bronze Arm Tribes, and I think that's...oh crap." said Ashley as they saw what looked like a giant whale. "Legendary Binor." she said as they saw the others Cures attacking the creatures with little effect. "We'd better get back out but first." she said as she began typing rapidly.

"What are you doing?" asked Ako.

"Shutting the portal down or else they'll just keep coming." replied Ashley as the device began to short circuit.

"Hey! What are you guys doing?" asked a guard who entered.

"Bolt Flare!" called out Sylvia as she launched a blast from her hand which threw him back and their disguises faded off. "Let's go." As they ran some of the guards noticed them forcing them to hide.

"Master Swoop. Do you know how we can activate the Jungle Shifters Master RJ gave us?" asked Sylvia.

"I believe it's the same command the other devices had." said Master Swoop. At that the two EPC looked at each other and pulled out their Jungle Shifters and placed them on their wrists.

"What are you doing? I though we couldn't transform here." said Honoka.

"Those devices were created to allow them to transform using their animal spirits. They won't be using their powers as Pretty Cure." explained Master Swoop. The two took a deep breath before placing one hand in a fist to their sides and one above them.

"Jungle Beast! Spirit Unleashed!" called out the two motioning their hand in front of them and then having a hand above them. With a flash of light Ashley had a red bird like armor with a helmet which was a bird's head and Sylvia had a light blue armor with spots and a cheetah head for a helmet with the mouth wide open and what looked like glass in front of her face.

"Let's move." said Ashley. As they moved the untransformed Cures stayed some steps behind allowing Ashley and Sylvia fight the guards and knocking them out. This kept going until they made it back out. It was then something interesting happened. As soon as they stepped out of the barrier Honoka transformed into Cure White.

"What happened?" asked White.

"If I had to guess I'd say that since Nagisa's still in Cure form and both of their tranformations are connected which means that so long as one of you is transformed the other will automatically transform." said Ashley as she and Sylvia reverted back. It was then those who were in civilian form transformed.

"Wait." said Master Swoop as they got to main street. "If things become difficult do not hesitate to use your animal spirits."

"Understood." said Ardeo as the group began heading towards the center of the city where most of the creatures were.

"Frost Spear!" called out Imber as she launched a spike of ice through one of the ship like creatures causing it to shatter into yellow particles. Most of the others were having to jump from buildings when they attacked physically but mostly focused on attacking with projectiles like Beauty Blizzard Arrow, Peace Thunder, and Saphire Arrow. "Icicle Slam!" she called out punching one of the water creature causing spikes to form from the inside of it. "Look who finally joined the party." she said noticing the others.

"Looks like things aren't going well." said Ardeo.

"It's worse than we thought." said Dark Aqua.

"For some reason it takes at least two or three attacks with a lot of energy." added Aqua.

"Any ideas?" asked Imber.

"Yeah. We're gonna have to go big." replied Ardeo.

"You mean we're gonna use those?" asked Rai.

"What's that?" asked Peace curiously.

"We're gonna have to if we're gonna take these things out." replied Imber.

"What are you talking about?" asked Black becoming irritated as she landed. At that the three Elemental Pretty Cure closed their eyes causing auras to form around them.

"Call to the beast inside!" called out the three as the auras formed massive animals which looked mechanical. When the auras cleared they saw a large mechanical Phoenix, Shark, and Cheetah which the three jumped and went into.

"Amazing!" said Peace with starry glittering eyes as the three animals went up and began taking down the creatures.

"That was unexpected." said Beauty. "If they are able to call on their spirit animals to materialize in a mechanical form, will we be able to as well?"

"Once you learn how to channel your spirit animal properly." said Master Swoop seemingly appearing out of nowhere surprising them. "During their training they learned to use their spirits to fight and were able to learn how to materialize their spirits physically but are unable to use them together yet."

"Use them together?" asked Aqua.

"You mean they can combine their animal spirits?!" asked Peace loudly.

"If they learn to synchronize their minds and souls they will." replied Master Swoop.

"Amazing." said Peace.

"What's so amazing about it?" asked Bad End Peace.

"Their animal spirits become giant robots so if they combine they'll get a giant robot like Robotaa!" said Peace.

"Hopefully they'd have less trouble controlling it than we did with Robo-Happy."said Beauty as they saw the three animal spirits striking down a few of the other creatures.

"Yo Rai try to blast some of the Bloodysquitos out of the sky!" called out Ardeo from within her spirit animal.

"I'll try it." said Rai as her beasts shot a stream of electricity from its mouth and took out a few of the creatures that had needles threw them. However it was then the large whale creater fired some kind of sonic stream from its mouth. Noticing this Imber had her Shark move quickly and knock Rai to the side causing her to get hit and her mechanized animal spirit to disappear and her to crash into a parking lot.

"Kara's down!" called out Rai.

"Stay focused." said Ardeo as she took a deep breath. "Let's see if this does anything." she said holding out her device. "Fire Spark!" she called out changing forms into Cure Inferno which also caused her animals spirit to change by gaining a second pair of wings as well as slightly longer legs. "Let's go Jet Phoenix!" she called out as it flew on fire through some of the creatures.

In the parking lot.

Imber pushed off some cars that were on her.

"Great." said Imber as she moved but noticed her body felt very sore. "Now what?"

"I'd say you've proven yourself." said a voice. She turned and saw Master Finn.

"Proven myself? What do you mean?" asked Imber confused.

"Let me look at your device." said Master Finn. Imber didn't understand why he wanted to but held out her wrist. Then Master Finn pressed the part above and below the head causing it to open. After he dropped a blue sphere into it. Once inside the device began glowing as did Imber.

"This power feels amazing." said Imber.

"Go. I don't think Ashley will be able to hold out in that form." said Master Finn.

"Alright. Thanks." said Imber as she flew off still glowing. Once she was in front of most of the creatures she stopped.

"Imber! You're alright." said Rai.

"I've gotten something new that should help us." said Imber holding out her wrist. "Let's play! Pretty Cure, Aqua Spark!" she called out as the glow became brighter. When the glow vanished she was revealed now wearing a shorter skirt, a sleeveless top with a smaller bow and frills where the sleeves would be, her hair was now tied in a pony tail, her arm guards were smallers, her gloves had the shape of sharks teeth on the back of them, her shoes had a smaller heel, a navy blue choker, and a belt which went twice around her waist. "The Eternal Warrior of the Seas, Cure Aquatica!" she called out.

"It's great that she's powered up but there's a lot of creatures left." said Black.

"But there is one thing she might be able to do if she has the power." said Beauty as they watched Cure Aquatica holding out her hands which caused the temperature around her to start decreasing rapidly. Within seconds they all felt the decrease as it seemed to begin snowing.

"Glacial Storm!" called out Aquatica thousands of ice spikes formed around her. Noticing this both Inferno and Rai had their spirit animals disappear and they landed on a roof as they saw all the ice spikes skewer the creatures causing them to disappear as well. After the three landed with the others but both Inferno and Aquatica fell to their knees as they reverted to civilian form with Kara breathing heavily as all the damage that the creatures had done seemed to repair itself. The others reverted back to civilian as well and went up to the other two.

"Are you alright?" asked Sylvia.

"For a moment I felt unbeatable but now I feel like I weight a hundred tons." replied Kara.

"Kind of ironic." said Ashley with a smile. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it."

"Are you?" asked Sylvia.

"A little." replied Ashley.

"You all did a good job." said Master Swoop.

"Thanks." said the group.

"Master. Will you keep investigating them?" asked Ashley.

"That's right." said Master Swoop.

"Then take these." said Ashley handing him what looked like three small cell phones. "I made these for you and Masters Phant and Finn. They'll only work for each of you so only each of you will be able to contact us."

"Very well." said Master Swoop. "Until next we meet." he said stepping back.

"Until next time Master." said Ashley as she, Kara, and Sylvia bowed before they disappeared in a flash of light.

On the Arc

The group ported in and were greeted by Marie.

"Ashley I've told the others and they're all agreed for you to tell them." said Marie.

"Alright." said Ashley as Kara and Sylvia left along with Marie. "Everyone I'd like you to bring all the teams to the briefing room and I'll explain everything about what'll happen by the end of this." she said as she left to the briefing room. Ashley waited for a few minutes in which the other teams began arriving team by team. Once they were all there Ashley looked at them.

"So what's this about?" asked Hibiki.

"Out of all of you Hikari's the only one who knows this so I figured you all should know." said Ashley.

"Know what?" asked Honoka.

"Come with me." said Ashley going to the TeleFlasher. "Restrict Floor: 5507-AXI. Password: Billion Flame."

"Password Accepted. DNA and Retinal confirmation please." said a mechanical voice as what looked like a mask appeared. First Ashley pur her face in front of the mask allowing a pair of lasers to check her eyes. Then a small platform arose which she placed her hand onto causing several needles to go into her hand. With that the group was teleported into a new room which seemed a little small.

"What is this place?" asked Itsuki. Instead of answering Ashley walked followed by the others. As they walked they saw what to most of them looked like a temple. Everyone in the group was surprised but some did a better job of hiding it than others. Especially with Yayoi's expression. When they were in the front of the temple the door opened. The group kept following Ashley until they reached a large room with several lines on the floor which formed a nine circles, which had a few symbols within them, which were around a larger circle. A few of them noticed the marks within the smaller circles and realized they were symbols representing each element the EPC represented.

"What is this place?" asked Ellen.

"This will be the end." replied Ashley. "The Elements Nine Together Reform. To Forever Seal The Fallen Force. Their Lives Surrendered For Future Peace. The Guardians United In One Sacrifice." she said. The group turned to her with a few of them realizing what she was saying.

"I don't get it. What does that mean?" asked Love.

"Do you mean that...?" began Honoka.

"This is a spell they hid a long time ago." said Ashley. "A long time ago the when the Cardivus were first sealed away they didn't have the chance learn a better seal but with this one they'd be sealed for all eternity. However the spell is so strong that it can only be used by the combination of the powers of all nine Elementals at full strength."

"What do you mean?" asked Nagisa.

"In order for the spell to work they have to burn out their full power." replied Ashley. "Unfortunately they're all gone."

"Hold on. You said they have to burn out their full power." said Honoka. "If that's what has to be done by them and they're gone then..."

"Exactly." said Ashley. "With our originals gone the responsibility falls on us." she said as she felt tears form in her eyes.

"What are you saying?" asked Nozomi.

"I mean that to seal the Cardivus once and for all the nine of us will have to give our lives." replied Ashley.

"So you'll die?" asked Nozomi with a quiver in her voice.

"I'm afraid so." said Ashley.

"Isn't there another way?" asked Nozomi.

"If there were don't you think the plan would be using that instead of this?" asked Ashley sound irritated.

"So why tell us?" asked Yuri.

"Quite frankly because there's members in every one of your teams who would've tried to do something stupid like trying to stop us in the moment we do that and we can't have that." said Ashley. "Listen if any of you were to do something stupid like that then you'd be responsible for the death, and I really do mean DEATH, of everyone around the world." she said.

"How can you just accept this?" asked Nozomi.

"Because we love earth." said Ashley. "All nine of us hate the idea of giving up our lives after only being alive a year and a half but we realized a lot of things over time. They were going to be willing to give up their lives for the sake of everyone on earth and them saving us once is what caused them to fall so we owe them at least that much. None of us like to think about this which is why I told them I'd tell you myself."

"I can imagine it isn't easy thinking about ones own death." said Karen.

"It's not." said Ashley. "Part of the reason each of us seems a little...off is because we try to avoid thinking about this as much as possible and that's also the main reaspon Alex is distant around people in general. She knows when the end comes it won't be an easy farewell so she kinda tries not to get close to people. She's not always successful though."

"So what'll happen once you all...you know?" asked Saki.

"I'm not sure what you mean." said Ashley.

"She means will people forget you existed." clarified Saki.

"Oh. No. People will still remember us." replied Ashley. "We were created through magic and science so once we pass on it'll be just like if someone died."

"This is heavy." said Nagisa.

"I know." said Ashley. "However with that being in the open we ask that you still treat us the same as before. We don't like being reminded of what'll happen."

"It won't be easy but we'll try." said Rin. "Right Nozomi?" she asked her best friend with a nudge.

"Right." said Nozomi sounding a bit sad.

"I hope you understand that this is something that must be done." said Ashley as she placed both hands on Nozomi's shoulders.

"I understand but it's still really sad." replied Nozomi.

"I'm sure that in our position any of you would do the same thing." said Ashley.

"It's true but it doesn't make this feel better." said Rin.

"I didn't think it would." said Ashley. "In any case that's enough of the doom and gloom. Let's go. I've still got an algorythm to write."

"If you'd like I could help you. It'll save you time." suggested Honoka.

"I wouldn't want to impose." said Ashley.

"It's fine. After all you're all training us and taking care of everything we need." said Honoka.

"I could help as well." said Yuri.

"Me too." said Karen.

"Alright then let's go." said Ashley.

"Excuse me but where are the bathrooms? You never told us." said Akane.

"Just go to the TeleFlasher and say Bathroom." replied Ashley as they left the temple. "Just remember left is the girl's bathroom and right's for guys."

"Why?" asked Nao.

"Again four of our originals were guys." replied Ashley as they got on the TeleFlasher. After Ashley, Honoka, Karen, and Yuri headed to Ashley's workshop while everyone else headed to other places within the Arc.

To Be Continued...

Late Disclaimer

The creatures featured in this chapter were from Duel Masters.

Lights come on in a dark room.

Honoka: Hello and welcome to another installment of Meet the Cures. We're your hosts. I'm Yukishiro Honoka.

Yayoi: I'm Kise Yayoi.

Reika: And I'm Aoki Reika.

Honoka: Today we'll be talking about Sylvia and Cure Rai.

Reika: Cure Rai is the Elemental Pretty Cure's electricity based Cure.

Yayoi: So she's like me?

Honoka: In a way she is but in another she's completely different.

Yayoi: How?

Reika: She has projectile lightning attacks but she's able to do other things.

Honoka: That's right. An example would be her ability to charge the particles of her body in order to increase her speed which is different than Ardeo's ability to destabilize her body's particles to move faster.

Reika: That's correct. You see when Rai charges her body to move fast she is only able to move in long distances but is unable to move rapidly in place which mean that she's unable to phase through solid objects.

Yayoi: I see.

Honoka: Another ability she has is very unique. You see she can convert her entire body into pure electricity which not only allows her to move quickly but she also has the ability to travel through electric power lines by enter through light sockets.

Reika: Indeed. However this method of travel is quite dangerous because her body's voltage remains constant which means if she enters a building she could overload anything she travels into or through such as lamps which could hurt people.

Yayoi: I wonder if I can do that.

Honoka: You may be able to but you'd have a lot to learn.

Reika: Indeed.

Honoka: Another of Rai's abilities is healing. You see by putting a minor electric charge around a person's wound the gains the energy to close at a faster pace.

Reika: Unfortunately if she were to use too much she'd run the risk of hurting the person she is attempting to heal.

Yayoi: I never knew so much could be done.

Honoka: Well all of them have trained for most of their lives so it's understandable they'd figure out things like this.

Reika: That is true. Now let us take a look at her statistics.

Sylvia Cure Rai

Element: Electricity

Intelligence: 90/120 Intelligence: 235/300

Offensive: 100/120 Offensive: 250/300

Defense: 110/120 Defensive: 285/300

Elemental Energy: 110/120 Elemental Energy: 290/300

Speed: 110/120 Speed: 280/300

Mobility: 115/120 Mobility: 285/300

Physical Strength: 80/120 Physical Strength: 275/300

Total: 715/840 Total: 1900/2100

Yayoi: Hold on. How come her defense is higher than her offense?

Honoka: It's actually very simple. You see Rai's body, whether in human or Cure form, is always electrically charged so her which means that when she fight physically she doesn't need to attack because her adversary will automatically be hurt or stunned by the contact.

Reika: It also means that she is able to increase the electric charge in her body so that she is able to hurt the enemy without actually attacking but instead by just touching them.

Yayoi: Wow.

Honoka: Well for now that's all the time we've got for this installment of Meet the Cures.

Reika: We hope you've enjoyed and join us next time when we cover Nataly who is also known as Cure Anancites.

Yayoi: So until then...

Honoka, Yayoi, and Reika: Bye Bye.