BEEP! BEEP! BE-click.
A hand rested on the clock for just a second before retreating into green, ruffled covers. A few seconds later, the covers were pulled back as Madoka sat upright in her bed, arms above her head as she stretched. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes with balled fists, yawned, and swung her legs over the side of her bed as she stood. She never wore extravagant pajamas to bed. Just a tank top and a pair of short shorts were comfortable enough for Madoka.
She yawned once more, her foot brushing against a small, blue, five-pound dumbbell. Bending over, Madoka picked the dumbbell up with her right hand and began to lift it as she walked through the upper floor of her house. Her parents and younger siblings were still asleep, as it was Sunday. Keroro had woken shortly after Madoka had and floated all the way downstairs with her, before falling asleep on the kitchen counter once more.
Bright yellow bananas were resting in a brown, wicker fruit basket. Madoka plucked a banana off, peeled it, and absentmindedly ate it while she resumed lifting the dumbbell.
"Madoka~roro." Keroro said, rubbing his huge dark green eyes.
"Why do you get up s'early on Sundays? 'S your only day off from school~roro." He asked sleepily.
"Fitness only has two rest days a week, Keroro. And Sunday is not one of them."
Madoka said, finishing her banana and dropping it into a trashcan.
By now Madoka had transferred the dumbbell to her left hand, her arm going up and down, up and down still.
"You're more than welcome to join my on my jog, Keroro." Madoka said, making her way back to the staircase to change out of her bedclothes. When she disappeared from the room, Keroro found himself fully awake.
"…Fitness?"
Episode 9: "Get Healthy! Madoka's Train-All-Day Session!"
The throne room was silent. Pacing in front of the empty throne, the Gambling King turned over the orange gem he created. Dark, greedy power filled him every time he looked at it. He wasn't entirely sure why he had created it, but the words that created the stone rang in his mind.
"I hate you! I hate Pretty Cure!"
The King had to admit; he was beginning to get annoyed with them himself. His lips, normally seen in a straight line, had fallen downward, turning into a now permanent scowl. His red eyes, usually half open, were now open wide, irritation flashing in them occasionally.
His fingertips grew white as he clutched the gem in his hand tighter.
"Pretty Cure…" His voice was soft, but his tone was angry. He walked back and sat down on the red and black throne. "CAS!" He shouted.
A few moments later, Cas's hulking figure walked into the throne room.
"Make use of those muscles and take care of Pretty Cure."
The King's free hand swirled around, black energy appearing in the palm of his hand. The Avari card appeared, and in one swift flick, the card flew towards Cas.
The large man caught the card in his big hands.
"Don' worry about it boss. I'll take care of da Pretty Cure."
Hands on the clock read "10:14," and the door opened, revealing Madoka, her hair clinging to her face because of the sweat, Keroro perched on her shoulder. Madoka's eyes went right to the clock.
"Not bad!" She said, smiling.
"Two minutes shorter than last week."
"Two minutes shorter than last week~roro?" Keroro asked, floating off of her shoulder.
"Every Sunday, after my warm up, I like to take a jog around the town. Last week it took me an hour and sixteen minutes. This week it only took an hour and fourteen minutes!"
"Ah! Madoka! You're back."
"Good morning, mom!" Madoka said, throwing open the refrigerator door. Her eyes searched the contents, finally resting on a liter of water. Screwing the top off, and throwing her head back, Madoka gulped down the water.
"Aaah. That tastes really good."
"Madoka?" Madoka's mother asked.
"Where you talking to someone when you came in this morning?"
Madoka froze, suddenly aware of Keroro floating above her head.
Madoka's mother had her back to her, thankfully. Madoka snatched Keroro and shoved him into the pocket of her tracksuit jacket.
"N-no mom. I was just telling myself I had beat last week's run around town by two minutes." She said. She wasn't lying, exactly. Luckily for Madoka, her mother didn't say anything.
"Oh, by the way, Kichi-chan called while you were out. She said she wanted to see if you were busy today."
Wiping water that had dribbled down from her bottle, Madoka paused for a moment, thinking about her plans.
"I'll call her back and talk to her. Thanks mom!" Madoka said, pecking her mother on the cheek before running upstairs.
"Mmmmmmm. Chula-san these cookies are sooo good!" Kichi said, taking a bite out of a vibrant purple, star shaped cookie.
"Thank you!" Chula said, in her human form, setting more sweets on the table.
"Try this crepe I just learned how to make. If you three like it, I'll sell it at the shop!"
"It looks amazing, Chula!" Yui said, taking a bite of the triangular pastry.
"Mmm. Chocolate sauce." She said.
"And extra whipped cream!" Audrey said, taking a swipe of the white foam on top of the plate.
The bell on the door rang as it opened. Madoka walked into the shop.
"Chula, I wish you could make this kind of food for me all the time." Kichi said, leaning back in her chair.
"You'll get fat if you eat nothing but sweets, Kichi." Madoka said, pulling a chair up to the table.
"Ah! Madoka! You finally came!" Kichi said, sitting upright.
"How did your Sunday morning jog go?" Audrey asked, nibbling at a cookie.
"Madoka shaved two minutes off her goal~roro!" Keroro said excitedly.
"It must be nice to have goals like that." Kichi said, taking a big bite of the crepe.
"How often do you work out, Madoka?" Yui asked, Chula leaning next to her to pour a cup of tea for the four girls.
"I like to work out at most five days a week. But sometimes it's good to just work out two or three days a week. Even though I'm on the basketball team, but sometimes I like to give myself a bit extra." Madoka answered, taking a swig from her water bottle.
"Madoka works really hard~roro."
"By the way," Madoka said, eyeing the cookies and the crepe on the table. "Have you all been eating nothing but cookies this morning?"
"Yup! It was the best Sunday breakfast." Kichi said, reaching for another cookie.
"Ah!" Madoka said, snatching the plate.
"If that's all you've been eating all morning, then it's time to stop! It's not healthy to have all those cookies for breakfast, Kichi!" Madoka scolded. She handed the plate to Chula
"But they taste so gooooodddduuuhhh!" Kichi complained.
"Well… we have been eating them all morning. Madoka has a point." Audrey said, shoving the plate with the crepe to the middle of the table.
"Yeah… I think it's time we did something else." Yui agreed.
"I've got just the thing in mind!" Madoka said.
An hour later, Yui, Audrey and Kichi had all changed into work out wear. They all stood in the park as Madoka stood in front of them.
"Is… Is this all really necessary?" Kichi asked nervously.
"It is." Madoka said simply.
Kichi, Audrey and Yui all looked at one another before shrugging in defeat.
"But not only that," Madoka said, crossing her arms. "I feel like we need to get stronger."
There was a tense pause. There was more to what Madoka meant.
"That Avari we last fought? Niijima-senpai? There was something different about that monster." Madoka's voice was stern.
"Oh yeah… Her greed was that she wanted more funding for the tennis club," Kichi started.
"But then she said something about getting what was deserved." Audrey said.
"It must have been something subconscious that she didn't know she was wanting." Yui offered.
"Anyway," Madoka said. "The point is Avaris are going to get stronger. I think we all knew that. Plus,"
Madoka paused, eyeing her friends, Kichi particularly.
"One needs to work off the dozen cookies she ate for breakfast."
"Hehehe…" Kichi laughed weakly.
Cas walked around the town in a disguise Swindla told him to put on. It made him blend in with the crowd, but he didn't care what he looked like, or what people thought of him. His shirt was tight, revealing curved muscles and almost looked like the shirt was painted on him. People were purposefully moving out of his way; his expression brooding and a frown on his face.
"This place is so boring." He mumbled to himself.
But he kept walking down the street. He stopped when the smell of food hit his nose.
"Oooh. Dat smells so good."
Cas turned his Mohawk'd head in the direction of the smell.
It was coming from a small street vendor set up. The sign above the shop read "takoyaki" both in romanji and traditional Japanese characters.
"Hey, yo, Mista Vendor. Gimme some a dem takoyakis."
"An order of takoyaki coming right up! That'll be six hundred yen."
"Yen…?"
"Yeah, yen. You gotta pay up, mister, or no foo-hey! Where are you going?" The vendor called out.
Cas had turned away at the notion of money. Despite living in a casino, he and he Card Shark Quartet didn't play with money. They played with souls they had captured from Avari cards. Money was below him.
Cas pulled out the card from his pocket. It didn't seem to be attracted to anyone. Sharp had told him the story of how his Avari card practically made itself into a monster from the last time. Cas wondered if his card would do the same.
"This place sucks." He muttered, shoving the card back into his pocket and walking down the street.
"…Four…Three…Two…One. And release!" Madoka said.
Kichi, Audrey and Yui all let go of their legs and fell back on their hands. The fairies all were doing variations of Madoka's stretches in a tree near the four girls.
"Stretching hurts." Kichi complained, rubbing the backs of her thighs and legs.
"But I feel good, actually." Audrey said, standing up.
"Now that we're warmed up, what next, Madoka?" Yui asked, Audrey offering a hand to help her up.
Madoka stood up, brushing dirt and grass of her clothing.
"We're not completely warmed up yet! The last thing in my warm up is jumping jacks."
"Jumping jacks?!" Kichi complained, letting herself fall on her back.
"Kichi, come on, stand up. Madoka is doing this because we need to be fit and ready for the Card Shark Quartet!" Yui said, offering Kichi a hand.
"But I'm so tired from just stretching."
"Kichi! Stand up!" Audrey said sharply.
"Fine…" Kichi said begrudgingly.
"You can do it Kichi~lingu!" Darling encouraged.
The girls did twenty jumping jacks. Kichi stopped after ten, only to be met with yelling from the other three.
"I just want to eat cookies for the rest of the day, is that so much to ask for?"
"Why are you so against working out, Kichi?" Yui asked.
"Because I don't like sweating and I feel like people will judge me!"
"Judge you for working out?" Madoka asked.
"Yeah… I'd rather work out in the privacy of my room." Kichi said.
"Well that's not what we're doing today! I promise I'll make it fun, Kichi! Besides, you're an actress; a performer! There's no way you could be embarrassed by exercising!" Madoka said, patting Kichi on the back.
The girls did various other things after that. They did push ups, sit ups, and lunges to name a few. All of which, however, Kichi told Madoka were not fun. Kichi, Yui and Audrey were all breathing hard after the lengthy set of lunges they did. Like they did with stretching, the fairies joined in on doing the exercises with the girls.
"Okay, get some water. We'll start back up in ten minutes." Madoka said, needing some water herself.
The sun shone brightly on them all, and sweat glistened as the girls knocked their heads back to gulp down water.
"Can we do something fun now, Madoka?" Kichi asked.
She had gotten better about complaining as they trained. But still, the fact that Kichi was constantly telling her to make it fun was annoying Madoka. Madoka folded her arms in thought. Kichi was an actress.
'What could I do with that?' Madoka thought.
After rejecting all answers she thought up of, Madoka decided it was time to change her mindset. What else would get Kichi excited about working out? She was just about done with having them train for the day. The last thing on her list was a few laps around the park. Which Kichi would no doubt find boring.
"You said we're also training for Pretty Cure~roro." Keroro said, softly placing himself on Madoka's head.
The light bulb finally went off. She drank a few sips of water and turned her attention to her comrades.
"Okay, the final section in Madoka's Training Session is a jog around the park!"
"Jogging?!" Kichi shouted.
"But! This is no ordinary jog." Madoka said.
"What kind of jog is it?" Yui asked.
"For this jog, you have to make sure that me, the Madoka Avari does not finish 5 laps around the park before you do!" Madoka said trying her best to sound excited.
Kichi's blond head jerked to face Madoka.
"The Madoka Avari?"
"Yes! I've been turned into an Avari! And I want to beat Pretty Cure in a race!" Madoka said, her looking into Kichi's brown eyes. Kichi's eyes narrowed, and Madoka did the same.
"Well," Kichi started. "We can't let that happen! Yui! Audrey! Let's run!"
"Run away from the Keroro Avari too~roro!
Kichi turned around and broke out into a sprint, running away from Madoka.
Cas soon realized that humans used money for everything in their life. As he made his way around the town, he realized people constantly had a varying level of greed. But none of them satisfied him enough to create an Avari. He turned a corner and saw that there was a park across the street from him. There was something in the park that piqued his interest.
"Finally. I get some action in dis place." He said to himself, entering the park.
He soon recognized it as the park that he fought the Pretty Cure warriors not too long ago.
"Darn Pretty Cures." He muttered.
There were plenty of people in the park. He scanned the park, searching for what it was that drew him here in the first place. There was a small group of people that were exercising underneath a big tree. About twelve people were doing the same thing with dumbbells as they watched an instructor.
Cas narrowed in on the greed coming from one of the participants. He was able to hear what the greed was saying.
"I will become buff! I'm going to get all of the dates when I lose all this weight." The greed whispered.
Cas smirked and threw off his disguise, revealing his card shark outfit.
He threw the card towards the man.
"AVARI! TAKE YOUR GREED AND FULFILL YOUR DESIRES!" He shouted.
The card latched on to the man and instantly he transformed into a large dumbbell monster.
"AVARI!" It cried.
The monster stomped around, sending the exercise group, and any other people that were in the park, running off away from it.
"I'M GOING TO GET SO BUFF! AND THEN I'LL GET ALL THE DATES! NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO RESIST ME! I'LL BE SO POPULAR!"
The girls were just about to finish their last lap when they heard the Avari roaring and stomping around in the park.
"Everyone! Stop! There's a real avari~roro!" Keroro cried.
The four girls stopped running and saw the dumbbell monster not too far away from them.
"Girls! Let's transform!" Kichi said, the fairies poofing into their cellphone forms.
"Pretty Cure! Card Play!"
"The Ultimate Winning Move! Cure Trump!"
"The Elegant Finishing Move! Cure Royal!"
"The Defeating Ending Move! Cure Straight!"
"The Risky Beginning Move! Cure Poker!"
"Playing for everyone's hearts! Pretty Cure Shuffle!"
The girls raced towards the Avari. Huge dumbbell fists crashed into the earth, sending clots of dirt flying and spraying shards of grass everywhere.
"I'M GONNA GET SO BUFF!" The monster roared once again.
The Avari glowed with a red light as its figure began to grow and get bigger.
"So da Pretty Cures decided to show up, huh? Well, I gotta say, I'm not too happy about the last time I saw yous girls. Avari! Crush 'em like bugs!"
The dumbbell monster swung its arms around, trying to swat the girls away.
"Like that's going to work!" Straight said.
One of the dumbbell's fists slammed into her, but Straight managed to grab a hold of it. She wrapped her arms around the monster's cold metal skin as best she could. Her boots began to dig into the dirt as she steadied herself. Even though she had managed to capture the monster's fist, pain flared up in her chest where it initially hit her. The Avari's fist grew as a result, pushing Straight's arms off of it.
"Girls! Be careful! When it hits something it's going to grow bigger!"
"Dat's right! Because da bigger da monster, da sooner I can crush you girls!" Cas mocked.
Straight's arms strained as she tried to keep her hold on the monster. But the bigger it got, the harder it was for her to hold on to it. Realizing that she wouldn't be able to, Straight let go and punched the monster's arm away. It didn't seem to do much, but she was able to sprint away from it and head for Cas.
"You guys just won't stop trying to take over this world, will you?" Straight said, punching at Cas.
The large man dodged Straight's advances with surprising speed.
"O'course not! The Gambling King was to rule everything! And we hafta make sure da Boss gets what he wants!" Cas said, punching Straight square in the stomach.
Straight flew backwards, landing on her back. Cas had punched the wind out of her. She took short, shallow breaths, trying to regain her composure.
"We can't…let you…do that." Straight said between gasps.
Meanwhile, Trump, Poker and Royal all were trying their best to keep the Avari from rampaging too much.
"I'M GONNA BE SO BUFF! I HAVE TO GET SO BUFF!"
The Avari was slamming its fists into the ground, again causing the earth to break and fly off in different directions.
"There's got to be some way to immobilize it!" Royal shouted.
The Avari didn't move around very fast, but it's growing figure made it hard for the girls to make effective attacks at it. Its hands had become much bigger than the rest of its body, and the Avari was getting smart and using its big hands to block most of what the girls tried to throw its way.
"But how?!" Trump shouted.
"We just have to get past those big hands! If we do that, its hands will be too big to get us if we're that close to it!" Poker responded.
"I'm going to try something!" Royal said.
She pulled Razor from her waist, his track pad lighting up. She drew their attack cross on the screen and blue wind surrounded her.
"Witness my sparkling strategy! Royal Breeze!"
Royal said, spinning around, collecting the wind in her hands. She flung her arms outward and the blue wind flew towards the monster. The Avari blocked it with one of its hands, but Royal had an idea as soon as the wind split in half. She swung her arms around, directing the wind towards the Avari's small lower half.
The powerful wind managed to knock the Avari on its back.
"Yes!" Royal said.
"Now just to finish you off!" Trump exclaimed.
She was about to draw a cross herself when Cas came and knocked the three other girls backwards in a flurry of fists.
"Nuh uh. You're not gonna get dis one today." He said.
His punches were strong, leaving Trump, Royal and Poker just as breathless as Straight.
Straight had managed to get herself up. Her stomach was still in pain, and her chest ached from the Avari's initial punch.
"Straight. Don't push yourself~roro." Keroro said from Madoka's waist.
Chest rising and falling heavily, Straight took a few steps forward while Cas was boasting to the other three. He was distracted. She could use that.
"I know, Keroro," Straight said, placing a hand on her waist.
"But he is taking advantage of a person's will to get fit and healthy. That's something I can't forgive." Straight said.
"I DESERVE TO HAVE FRIENDS!" The Avari's roar was almost deafening. "IF I'M BUFF, I WON'T BE LONELY ANYMORE."
The Avari was beginning to cry the true feelings of the man it once was.
Straight began to run as Trump, Royal and Poker all charged for the monster. They had to put a stop to this before it got any worse.
"You three distract Cas!" Straight yelled. "I think I've got a way to take care of the Avari!"
The other three warriors all changed course and headed for Cas. The Card Shark had a look of shock on his face when the girls suddenly appeared. Straight charged towards the Avari.
It still hadn't found its way back up, but it was still smashing things with its fists. The Avari finally realized that it wasn't using its legs at all and began kicking the ground beneath it. Its legs began to grow, but Straight was ready. The Avari stood straight up, ready to fight, but when it saw no one was around, it hesitated.
Straight had run right up under the Avari. It turned around, searching. Straight looked up. Now was the time.
"Keroro, you ready?"
"Ready~roro!"
Straight traced a cross on Keroro's track pad, green flames dancing around her fists afterwards.
"Experience my crushing hand! Straight Blaze!"
Straight thrust her fists upward with the green flames.
Fire spiraled around straight and the Avari. The Avari was soon engulfed in fire, and turned a shade of green.
With an explosion of green smoke, the man from the exercise group lay on the ground and the Avari card burned to ashes when it touched the grass.
"Darn it!" Cas cursed, disappearing in a flash of orangey brown light.
Any craters the Avari left were miraculously restored to the vibrant green grass it was before the ordeal started. Kichi, Audrey, Madoka and Yui all sat underneath the cherry blossom tree right outside the cookie shop. Madoka took in a deep breath.
"Good work today, you three." She said, throwing her arms around the three of them as best she could.
"I'd say we trained enough for today."
"Yes!" Kichi said, thrusting her fist in the air.
"Don't act too excited now, Kichi." Madoka said, giving her a light nudge to the shoulder with her fist.
"I know you wanted to eat cookies all day-"
"I really did."
"But I think you put in a good work out, Kichi. You too, Audrey and Yui." Madoka said, a small, but happy smile on her face.
"And us too~roro!"
"Yeah! We worked out too~de chu!"
"It was fun~rayray!"
"Yeah, you four did good too." Madoka said, grabbing Keroro.
"How about we all go celebrate another Avari defeat with some protein bars?!" Madoka said.
"No! I want some cookies!" Kichi said.
"I could go for some ice cream right now." Audrey added.
"I want another of Chula's crepes, actually." Yui said.
"Wai-wait! You'll undo all the work we did today!" Madoka said.
"So we'll just work out again next week!" Kichi teased.
"You have to do it more often than that!" Madoka huffed.
The three girls entered the cookie shop, leaving Madoka alone outside.
"Wait! I'd like to have a cookie too! Let me in! Kiiichiii!"
Preview:
Kichi: Oh wow! Look!
Madoka: At what? That work out set? It looks really nice!
Kichi: No, not that!
Yui: That chess set! I could definitely use my own.
Kichi: No, not that! The hot guy!
Audrey: The…hot guy? Oh… Wow, he is hot.
Kichi, Madoka & Yui: He's so hoooottt! Let's go talk to him!
Audrey: Wait, I want to talk to him, too!
Next time on Pretty Cure Shuffle!: Have Courage, Audrey! The Flirtatious Beautiful Guy!
