ALLSTARS:THEGREATBATTLEOFTHELIGHT

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Part7:
PreludetotheBattle

It was past six when Yuri finally made it back to her district. She was mentally exhausted after such intense moment and not even the familiar sight of home made her feel any better. There were many things that didn't seem to fit in that dangerous situation but she couldn't focus on them at the moment, the news of the death of the magical beings... it was something she just couldn't accept.

She didn't believe those words and not even the handkerchief in her hands was enough to convince her. But it was the Messenger's handkerchief. She considered the possibility of deception, but the little piece of fabric was soaked in a very unique essence that was easy to distinguish for a Pretty Cure. Without wanting or trying, the memory of Cologne came to her mind and she felt her chest heavier with the anguish.

She didn't have the heart to tell the girls that their magical partners were no longer alive with the exception of Chiffon. She was sure Karen wouldn't take long to contact her and ask about any information she had managed to gather. The truth was that she had gotten nothing but bad news. All the girls held to the hope of rescuing their friends, that was the one thing keeping them under control.

The news would cause shock with unforeseeable results and she didn't know if they would be able to remain under control. In fact, she feared that the anger would take control over them and they would go after their opponents without a second thought. Although, that seemed to be just what Black and White were after, seeing how Yukishiro Honoka had been able to taunt her to the point where she had been about to transform was a clear sign of that. She didn't know if she should be thankful or not for Misumi Nagisa showing up when she did, bringing that source of energy to...

"Wait a moment..."

There was something that she had almost overlooked completely. The presence and energy of Honoka had upset her, put her on edge and made her lose control to the point of transforming and attacking without considering the consequences. But when Nagisa showed up with her presence and energy, one so different but just as powerful as that of her battle partner, Yuri noticed that her initial anger had diminished to the point she could think properly and avoid fighting them both on her own.

Had it not been because of that, she was sure they would have easily defeated her. She was thankful she hadn't tested the warning of the lone heroine against her tragic luck.

"I have to calm down, I need to think this some more," she muttered to herself while she kept on walking aimlessly.

Lifting her eyes, just a few steps ahead of her, she noticed the facade of the FairyDrop. She was surprised for a moment and immediately turned around. If she wanted to avoid getting the girls into a panic, especially with Tsubomi and her grandmother, she had to think how to break the news on them. She hadn't managed to take five steps towards her house when she bumped against Momoka.

"Yuri!" the model exclaimed in relieved happiness and captured the taller girl in a hug.

"Momoka..."

Feeling the desperate hug and the broken whispers Yuri replied with to the gesture, Momoka guessed immediately something had gone wrong, something related to the business with Black and White. She sighed and pulled away just enough to look at Yuri in the eye. The bespectacled girl looked back at her with cold and seemingly emotionless eyes, but for Momoka Yuri was an open book with bold letters.

"Do you wanna talk?" she asked her without releasing her from the hug.

"It's okay, don't worry about it," she said with a supposedly neutral tone that couldn't have fooled anybody, but it all crumbled in front of the model's little smile. "You must be tired and you probably need some rest to... recover...," her voice finally betrayed her, falling into silence.

Seeing the playful look and that expression that said "I'm not believing a single word", Yuri sighed and surrendered. She returned a gentle and sad smile and accepted the quiet invitation to go to Momoka's house. The shop was already closed, but surprisingly nobody of the family was there. Erika surely was still with Tsubomi and Itsuki, and their parents probably had gone out to town; the dinner ready to be warmed up in the microwave was proof enough of that.

Momoka prepared the food, served some tea and then took Yuri to her bedroom. Momoka ate in silence, hope to give Yuri time to calm down a little; she knew in cases like this she had to let Yuri move at her own pace and let her start the conversation. The bespectacled girl had barely taken a few sips to her tea and she let the silence stretch for several long minutes before she broke the quietude.

"I went to the district of Cure Black and Cure White," Yuri murmured, looking her reflection on the teacup.

Momoka had finished eating by the time her girlfriend finally decided to talk, luckily as she knew she would have choked in her own food at the surprise. Momoka looked expectantly at Yuri, urging her to continue.

"We didn't fight, bu-."

The sudden sound from one of Yuri's pockets made both girls start in surprise. The bespectacled girl paled immediately. It was probably Karen waiting for news of her mission. She swallowed and looked at Momoka. The silent request of moral support was more than clear. The model sat next to her partner while Yuri took out her communicator and, after taking a deep breath, turned it on.

"Yuri-san!" Karen exclaimed once she appeared on the screen, relieved to see her safe and sound. "I wasn't sure to call you before, but the girls forced me to do it and..."

"The girls?" asked Yuri, feeling her blood draining to her feet.

"Yes, I'm very sorry, I know your mission to Wakabadai was a secret, but they were eavesdropping and now they want to know what happened."

Yuri took one of Momoka's hands and gave her a little squeeze, inhaling deeply.

"Nothing interesting," Yuri said immediately, putting on a neutral and serious face. "I could only discover that Black and White are as popular as the rumors paint them to be, and their close friendships seem to treat them as if nothing were out of the ordinary. Nobody has noticed any odd behavior about them. It seem they are kinder to these close friendships than with us."

"That could be proof that they are being controlled," Komachi guessed. "It could be controlling them at times, it is a possibility..."

"It will be better if we don't go to their district again. Luckily I didn't find them as they were busy with their club's activities, it could have been dangerous if they had seen me," Yuri interrupted her. "We don't want anybody else going there," saying this she tightened her grip on Momoka's hand, something the other girl made of point of pretending to not notice and remain quiet. "Let's continue following their game for a litlte while longer. What we can do is find the location of the place for the fight."

"You're right, Yuri-san, it will be better to avoid any step in false," Karen replied with a smile. "I'll research the location and then I'll contact Setsuna-san so we can scout the place."

"That's a good idea," Yuri murmured, feeling her conviction crumbling with each minute that went by.

"Then we can rescue the guys and return Black and White to normal!" Nozomi exclaimed with enthusiasm. "It's decided!"

Yuri was feeling ready to break down when Momoka came to her rescue, taking the communicator and gracing the girls with her loveliest smile.

"You have to win this fight, girls. It seems our agency is taking care of the contracts and we will be making a concert with Urara-chan and Miki-chan and the rest of the girls," she said jovially.

"That's great!" said Urara in happiness.

"Well, we have to say goodbye for now, we have a ton of homework to do and Yuri is kind enough to help me with that," the model hummed, "G'night, girls."

"Bye!" the girls said their farewells and Yuri immediately turned off the communicator.

Momoka could only watch as Yuri paled and collapsed to the floor while furtive and silent tears flowed down her cheeks. Alarmed she immediately knelt down and hugged Yuri tightly. In that moment Yuri didn't need to be interrogated, she needed some comfort. The model closed her eyes and gently caressed Yuri's back.

Yuri cried in silence for a while, unable to say a single workd about what Yukishiro Honoka had told her. She couldn't shatter the girls' hopes, she knew that news like that would be enough to crush the moral of her younger partners. She had gone through this once already and she didn't want the other girls having to go through the same, not yet, not now. She knew they would inevitably find out the truth about what had happened, but she still didn't want to be the bringer of that pain.

"Yuri..."

"I lied, I found them, and they told me something horrible..." Yuri whispered loud enough for Momoka to hear. "I don't want to tell them yet, I don't want them to live through that pain, I don't want crush their hopes and fill their hearts with that pain... I don't want to..."

Momoka couldn't understand what Yuri was trying to say, at least not at first. She remained in silence while Yuri clung desperately to Momoka, almost begging to be allowed some peace. Momoka replayed her girlfriend's words in her mind trying to puzzle what Yuri was trying to say. If Black and White had done something horrible, something even worst than taken some of the magical beings, then it could...

Her eyes opened wide like saucers when the posibility of that terrible thing crossed her mind.

"Are they...?" she couldn't even finish the question when Yuri nodded mutely between bitter tears. "Impossible..."

They remained quiet for a long time. Yuri had calmed down enough thanks to Momoka's caresses. Momoka asked no more and Yuri said no more either. The model knew it must have been very painful for her; the only thing she could do for Yuri was stay at her say and give her her strength. She sometimes regretted she couldn't do more, even if they were happy with her acting as their secret keeper.

"Can we stay like this a little longer?" Yuri asked in a subdued voice.

"As long as you want to," Momoka replied kindly. "That's why I'm here. I may not fight like my sister or the other girls, but I can at least give help you like this."

"Having you at my side is more than enough," Yuri whispered, moving closer to her and enjoying the warmth and the gentle perfume of her girlfriend. "You can't be there when the fight breaks out again, but thinking about you will be enough to give me strengths for the battle... especially when the girls have to find out the truth."

"I understand."

Without any other word, Momoka embraced her and showered Yuri with little kisses until she had to leave to her home, deep into the night.

- Meanwhile, in the bakery of the Hyuuga family-

Michiru and Kaoru were helping Saki to close the shop. As usual, the bakery was filled to the brim with costumers, but that didn't keep the twins from noticing the strange moods on her friends and battle partners. They still were in the dark about what had happened the last weekend.

They hadn't had the chance to have a good talk during school hours to get an idea of what had happened to the couple. Even though Kaoru was part of the Art club, she decided to stay back that weekend to help in the bakery along with Michiru to fill in Saki's and Mai's absence during those days.

It had been quite a surprise to see them so depressed the next morning and very tightlipped during class, not to mention of how gloomy and miserable they got. The sisters just had to know what had happened.

As soon as they finished closing the twins took the girls and almost literally dragged them towards the Great Sky Tree. Saki and Mai knew they had to come clean whether they wanted to or not, the twins had the right to know. Flappy and Choppy were equally worried and had barely poked out their heads out of their cases. Moop and Foop, who had been living for quite a while with Michiru and Kaoru, were worried too for the girls and their friends.

"We haven't seen you in four days and then you come back like this, what happened?" Asked Michiru as soon as they sat the other girls at the root of the tree. "If it is something wrong, you know you can trust in us."

"Moop and Foop are saying you transformed while you were gone," Kaoru said, something that surprised Saki and Mai, "Since they are spirits they react to your powers too. So it is a new fight, then you can count on us."

"It's not as simple as just another fight," said maid with a diminished smile. "It's a little different situation, we don't know for sure what is really going on."

"To tell you the truth, we aren't the only Pretty Cure, there are many other groups and they all protect different and important things. But a pair of them are being controlled, they attacked us and kidnapped several magical beings, and now they want a formal fight against all of us this weekend," Saki summed up as best as she could.

"Are they strong?" Kaouru inquired, obviously referring to the controlled girls.

"We don't really know what their full powers are, they only use very basic attacks and in theory should be very week, but the are actually formidable opponents. The real problems is an instinct that every Pretty Cure has to keep us from attacking each other with our full potential," Mai continued. "We don't know if they are under that effect or their instinct is no longer active; we have fought, but nobody's been hurt so far."

"We have this fight against them, we have to rescue the other fairies as soon as possible. Not only them, but also the grandma of one of our friends, she used to be a Pretty Cure too," Saki finished.

Michiru and Kaoru exchanged a look at these revelations. Their friends were very worried about the kidnaped people, not so much for the fight in itself. They knew they also were fighting to get back the controlled warriors, but at the moment their first priority was the prisioners.

"And the plan is...?" Michiru inquired, urging them to keep on talking.

"At the moment, wait until the fight, this weekend at Wakabadai district, in a forest in the surrounding area," Saki replied, now calmer than to their chat with the twins.

"And why don't you go after them now?" Kaoru asked, consued as to why they hadn't done so already.

"Many reasons. Not only are the spirits and the grandmother, but they have also become progresively more aggressive; unless we follow their rules they can decide to stop to make things truly dangerous. They can kill us, I know they have enough power to do so, and they have managed to catch us by surprise several times in just a few days, had been able to tank several focused and combined attacks, and they have shown up all over the place. We decided to wait for the fight and agree to their conditions," Mai explained grimly.

The sisters exchanged another look, realizing it was a very complicated situation indeed, but it appeared the worry had blinded the girls from something very important.

"When do you say the fight is going to take place?" asked Michiru with a confident smile.

"This next Saturday, first day of summer vacations," Mai replied automatically.

"That sounds good," Kaoru murmured. "Now, how about if tomorrow, after class, we go to one of you two's house, study for the exams and talk a little about your new friends and those Pretty Cure you're going to fight?"

"You have a plan?" Saki asked them with a relieved smile.

The twins nodded, happy to see their friend's mood improving. Everything would go find if they worked together and if Saki and Mai agreed with the plan they were thinking of.

At least for the guardians of the Land of Fountains the rest of the week went by in relative calm, especially once they found out about their friends' plan and realized it could work. It was a fortune that neither Saki or Mai had told much to the other girls about their own fights, the short time they had of knowing each other hadn't let them know about all their fights and adventures.

-Meanwhile in Clover Town-

It took the girls a couple days to properly calm down. Love was still crushed by the absence of Chiffon, Tart and Azukina, but she did her best to put on a strong front for her close friends; Setsuna had decided to take upon herself to be the pillar that Love could hold onto, doing it as best as she could. Miki, as it was her wont to do, kept a tranquil and serene, almost strict attitude by constantly reminding Love that she had to fight with everything if she wanted to save her friends and everybody else. Inori for her part, was still saddened but she kept her hopes up, constantly following Miki around looking for the feeling of security and comfort the other girl radiated. She sought after the model and she never refused to have her at her side, quite the contrary, she appeared happy to have Inori seeking her out. The mutual support was important.

It was Wednesday after class, while the girls were eating donuts at Kaoru's, that the communicator activated. It was Karen and Komachi.

"Girls, we are going to scout the place for the duel with Black and White. It'll be better to get a combat strategy ready to prevent any surprise," Karen said immediately. "Yuri-san said if we remain from going into Wakabadai everything should be okay, so we should stick to looking to the forest, look the site and think of what we can plan from there."

"Good idea, Karen-san!" Love exclaimed with her usual energy.

"It's not necessary for all of us to go, at the moment we only require of Setsuna-san's help," Komachi said calmly, "and we can have some volunteers to photograph the area; Erika-chan said she can provide us with some digital cameras her father doesn't use. The better we use the terrain the better."

"Can we go too?" Love asked in enthusiasm. "We can help with taking photos."

"Of course," Karen replied. "We will be waiting for you at my house, but stop by for Erika first, she should be at the greenhouse Hanasaki."

"Understood!" Setsuna said. "I'll take care, come on girls."

They said goodbye to Kaoru and immediately took off.

-Meanwhile, in Kibougahana-

Erika was checking the cameras, snapping random pics of the flowers in the area. She was trying to distract herself as much as possible, although it was still obvious she was nervous and not exactly because of their task of scouting the fight's area. Yuri's serious presence helped her calm down and avoid thinking about Tsubomi. She was very worried about her. Several times she wished it was her who was at her side to provide moral support, like it had been when it was just the two of them.

Without meaning to, she remembered that doujin of the Pretty Cure drawn by Ban, where Blossom and her were the protagonists and in the end they decided to stay with each other instead of looking for love. It was at times like these that she wished her history was like that. It was close enough, except she wasn't in love with Itsuki, but it gave them courage enough to Tsubomi to take the risk of asking out her friend.

She shook her head, trying to clear it from these thoughts. It wasn't the time nor the place to be thinking about these things, she had to focus on the mission and their important fight. There was no time to worry about other things when the fairies and Kaoruko were in grave danger. Thinking about Black and White helped her put her priorities back in order.

On her side, Yuri was checking the text messages on her cellphone. There were so many from Momoka that she couldn't help smiling. The majority of these messages was encrypted and short text of moral support and devote love, in that order.

Momoka was very sorry for not being able to be at her side during these tense moment. The job was eating all her free time and at night it wasn't the best moment to seek out for Yuri. The brief phone conversations was everything they had managed to enjoy these days. Details and attention was enough to keep the calm and courage for Yuri, but it was obvious it wasn't enough to calm down Momoka's unrest.

A couple hours earlier Momoka had called Yuri, knowing she would still be at home before going to the greenhouse to wait along with the rest of the girls and her sister. If the young model was aware of all their movements it was because Yuri confided everything on her, even the little details.

"Be careful, Yuri," one among the many gentle words from Momoka.

"I will, don't worry. I have to prevent the other girls from putting themselves under unnecessary danger, or keep them from trying to look for the other girls," was Yuri's calm reply. "We will scout the area as I told you, I don't think we will run into anything dangerous."

"Okay, take care of Erika and the rest," said the model. "And when you return, call me, even if nothing happened..." there was a brief moment of silence, "I want to know you're okay."

"I will, I promise..."

"Thanks..."

At these words, Yuri could only sigh with a little smile.

"Thanks for everything, Momoka...," she said immediately. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"Well, I would like to do more, so much more for you than just watching you go to fight," Momoka whispered with a touch of bitterness in her voice, almost sad. "Sometimes I feel so useless being unable to do anything more for you, Yuri. I feel all my messages and calls bother you, but I don't know what else I can do to help you..."

"Momoka..."

"I can't fight like my sister or like Miki-chan and the other girls, I don't have that power or any other to do something more important for you," Momoka interrupted her, obviously troubled as she listed all the things she couldn't do.

"Momoka, no...," Yuri hadn't had the chance to think of a reply to calm down her girlfriend before she continued.

"But I'll do anything I can for you, anything I can do with these hands," she continued, recovering her strength.

Yuri knew that conversation couldn't continue by the phone. She thought that the best thing to do would be talk with her in person as soon as possible. She wanted to show Momoka how important it was for her to have her at her side.

"I don't think we will come back too late, could I go with you later on, Momoka?" Yuri inquired with a gentle smile.

"Yes, okay," sighed the girl.

"We will talk more calmly later. For now go back to work and focus, everybody has to see how beautiful you are, no matter how that idea annoys me," she joked, eliciting a giggle from Momoka at Yuri's attempt of a serious and jealous tone.

"Nobody is forcing you to have a girlfriend as pretty as me, isn't it?" she replied in a playful voice, "Be careful, Yuri."

"We will."

Remembering that conversation filled Yuri with a brilliant joy.

Both Erika and her were waiting for the other girls to arrive so they could get to work. Luckily they didn't have to wait for long. A red light shone in the greenhouse before it blinked out, leaving Love, Miki, Inori and Setsuna in its place.

Without wasting any time the group of now six went to Karen's house and immediately went looking for the place Black and White had indicated.

Komachi had been researching and found some air photos and some random information, but there was nothing like seeing the place in person. Now in the future combat zone, the first thing they noticed was a huge shadow at their feet that looked like a lion's head. There was a clearing at the feet of the stone formation, and a short distance away there was a lake that created the illusion of the sun melting within the water and the hundreds of trees all around. It was a beautiful place. Coffret transformed into a cape and took Erika to the peak of the mountain.

"Incredible!" Erika shouted from the peak and started to snap photos of the valley.

"Erika, be careful!" Yuri shouted from bellow.

The other girls chuckled when they saw Erika only being able to reply with some signals, and they continued looking around the area. It was a place too beautiful to become the stage of their battle, but it was obvious Black and White had chosen that place for a reason.

"It's sad that we have to fight in such beautiful place," Inori said with a sad smile. "There are many animals around, the air is fresh and the lake is beautiful. I bet we could swim and fish in there."

"Don't worry, Bukki, once we win this fight we can come back with everybody, right Karen-san?"

"That's the plan, Love," smiled the other girl.

Yuri remained quiet at these words. Thanks to Momoka's support she had managed to recover her cool, but she couldn't help feeling like the lowest every time she heard the other girls animatedly talking about the idea of winning and get their friends back. It was painful, but she had to endure a little while longer if she wanted her friends to keep up their spirits.

A little while later Erika came down from the lion's head and showed the photos she had taken from the top. She appeared as animated as usual, although it was obvious she missed that Itsuki and especially missed Tsubomi weren't there. According to what Yuri mentioned, the girls had remained behind in the greenhouse, Tsubomi was still alterated and the last thing the girl needed was to break down completely.

"You can see the city that way," Erika pointed out, "That's where Black and White live, right?"

"Yes, they live there, I think that's why they picked this area..." Karen murmured.

"It's not just that," Coffret said, catching the girl's attention. "I can feel a lot of energy in the area, it's not evil, but spirit, light and many other natural energies are focusing here. That's why you all feel so energetic. This is a powerful zone."

"Could that give them more power during the fight?" Karen inquired, interested in the little bit of information.

"Only if they were like you. Only magical attacks will be boosted with this power, but not physical strength," Coffret replied.

"It's almost as if they were trying to give us any advantage they can," Komachi commented.

They all were left thinking about the possibility, not just that they were being taunted, not just to make them succumb to their anger as Yuri knew so well, but to the idea of being given so many advantages for the fight. It was all too strange.

After a while the girls decided to go back home and planned to stay with Karen that Friday's night. The next day they would go to the fight as it had been planned, confident that their plans would go without a hitch and would recover their magical friends, Kaoruko and the two lost warriors.

Only Yuri knew the story wouldn't have a happy ending.

During the night they all talked through their devices to iron the general details for the plan for the weekend. Everything had to go according to the plan, everybody would come back safe.

-Verone middle school-

It was Thursday and the school was holding a friendly Lacrosse match with the recently formed Aria middle-school's team from Kanon City. Nagisa was present to cheer on her former team but she managed to discover something very interesting: in the visiting team there was a very interesting girl, and not only that, among the students from Aria showing their support for their team there was a girl with the same familiar presence Nagisa knew so well. It wasn't long before she found out the name of the girl in the team that, she knew already, was a pretty Cure:

Hibiki Houjou.

After the game, that the visiting team lost by a single score, the home team took the rest of the girls to the Tako Café to celebrate their game. Nagisa went looking for Honoka to the library, thinking about adding two more opponents to their great battle.

"The more the merrier, right?" excitedly Nagisa said.

"As far as I know, only the teams we have visited are capable of fighting at our level," said Honoka in worry, "If these new warriors are, well, new, then they aren't ready to face us. It could be very dangerous for them. If they are just starting their own battles, then..."

"We lose nothing with just testing them, come on!" exclaimed the other girl, taking her partner by the hand and dragging her running to the Tako Café.

They remained hidden behind some tress, looking at the teams eating takoyaki as if it were the last food in the planet, especially the girl Nagisa had been looking for: Hibiki. She had a formidable appetite and Honoka laughed gently when she pointed out that appetite was more than familiar. While they waited for Verone's team to leave the area they noticed movement from the nearby bush. Paying attention they rubbed their eyes when they recognized what was causing the commotion: a colorful musical note.

Nagisa smiled and stretched out a hand.

"Come, little one, you're safe," called out the girl and the note posed itself on her hand.

Suddenly a third voice interrupted them, scaring the little note.

"That note is mine!" shouted a black cat and immediately pounced after the note that tried to fly deeper into the forest.

"Leave it-nya! I'll get that note back-nya!" shouted a little white cat, running after the other kitty.

To finish the scene, three men ran after the two cats. Nagisa and Honoka exchanged a look, smiled and followed at the peculiar characters. In the way they transformed, it could be a good chance to try the new warriors. In a clearing the note tried to hide in a rock but it was immediately transformed into a monster that constantly screamed "Negatone". The white kitty was terrified as the black kitty seemed to have the monster under her control. It seemed a good moment to enter the scene.

"Go and make everybody unhappy, Negatone!" the black cat ordered.

"You're in the wrong place, we don't tolerate this kind of troubles here!" Black shouted, appearing on the side of the clearing.

"Your battle is somewhere else, so fight where it corresponds you!" White exclaimed.

"Who are you?" Seiren asked, surprised and slightly scared of the power the other two were bleeding off.

"They are Pretty Cure-nya!" Hummy said with happiness.

"Emissary of the Light, Cure Black!"

"Emissary of the Light, Cure White!"

Seiren back away and jumped on the shoulders of one of her henchmen, who, by the way, were just as scared of the girls' power.

"Negatone, attack them!" Seiren ordered and the monster obeyed.

Black moved away, leaving White to fight the Negatone alone, something that caught everybody by surprise.

"Stop right now!" White ordered the monster and the giant not only stopped, but it knelt down in front of her. "Good boy, don't worry, everything will be okay and you will be your old self soon, I promise," she continued, petting the Negatone's arm as if it were her dog.

Seiren and the rest noticed Cure White's eyes brimming with shadows, Black remained next to Hummy who looked on the scene disconcerted.

"We will borrow your Negatone, you can beat it before we get mad," crossing her arms, Black said with easy calmness.

"We d-don't have to listen to you!" Seiren stuttered, her fur standing on end.

"LEAVE!" White shouted in a deep tone, terrifying and dark, accompanied by a shockwave of energy that none of the visitors had ever felt before.

Without thinking it twice the trio and cat ran away without looking back. That energy was too much, so much that Hummy was left shivering like a leaf against a tree. Black picked her up and cradled her in her arms; the little kitty calmed down immediately. Unlike White's presence, Black's energy was clear and full of light and life.

"There's no problem if we test your girls a little, right?" Black asked. "I promise nothing wrong will happen to them... and White only use that trick when it is necessary, don't worry about it."

"Okay-nya," replied Hummy with happiness, enjoying the contact with Black.

"Let's go, White, if they can help it will be great!"

"Let's," she replied and then looked at the Negatone. "Wait until everybody falls sleep and then attack, okay?" White ordered and the monster nodded.

Back at the Tako Café both teams were eating and enjoying the festive atmosphere. Hibiki was showing off her great appetite, something Akane laughed at talking about somebody she knew with a similar appetite. Hikari on her side knew that that girl, and her friend who was scowling her bad manners, were Pretty Cure. She was sure of what was about to happen, so she prepared to protect the rest of the people present. Feeling her friends' energy nearby she got in the van and soon felt that everybody present, even Akane, feel asleep. Hibiki and Kanade immediately got on guard.

Seeing the Negatone slumbering from among the trees they took their brooch and, thanks to the fact everybody had fallen sleep, immediately transformed. Black and White took an extra precaution in case they hadn't mature enough as warriors: They were riding on the Negatone's back, using dark capes to pass as just another part of the monster.

"Playing the wild rhythm, Cure Melody!" Hibiki introduced herself, now transformed in an eye catching, pink warrior.

"Playing the tranquil melody, Cure Rhythm!" Kanade followed suit, now as a blond warrior clad in white.

Without wasting any time both girls launched themselves with everything after the Negatone. This one moved clumsily around due to the extra weight at its back. The duo was good, but Black and White could tell they still had a long ways to go. They were strong, but not strong enough, they were fast, but they could be even faster.

The girls prepared their magical attacks, pulling out their artifacts.

"MUSIC RONDO!"

Black and White jumped off the Negatone before it succumbed to the warriors' attack and the little Note were rescued by Hummy. Without giving them time to recover, Black and White jumped after Melody and Rhythm ready to do battle.

"But what the hel-?" Melody could say nothing more before a fist impacted her face.

"Melody!" Rhythm shouted just before a knee buried itself in her stomach.

It was time to see if they could use these new warriors or not.