Mari sat on the edge of Fumie's bunk, poking her side. She couldn't see her blonde roomie, except for a mess of damp blonde curls peering out from under the blankets. "Fumie-tan, shouldn't you be getting up soon?" she asked.

Fumie only moaned in response.

"Oh, come on now, Fumie!" Hisa snapped, slithering forward on the girl's pillow. She started to nudge the blankets down, away from her face. "A legendary warrior shouldn't spend her day sleep-whoa!"

The blankets slid down to reveal Fumie's face; her very pale face. Fumie stared blankly ahead, her eyes a bit dull, shadows and lines under them, her lips parted faintly. She inhaled a rattling breath, licking her cracked lips and smiling faintly. "H-heh...'m sick, Hisa..."

OP: "Purikyua Club" - Bukatsudo Four

Fumie sat upright now, several pillows supporting her back, the blankets wrapped snugly around her. She held a box of tissues in her lap, several tissues crumpled up on the floor. The blonde sneezed loudly, the fifth time in a few short minutes, and blew her nose again. Then she smiled sadly at the girls gathered in her room, standing a safe distance away. "S-shoree guish..."

"Fumie...y-you can't be sick!" Kurako snapped, stomping her foot childishly. "What about the Dream Charm? We have to get it back!"

"I know, I know...ah-ker-tchoo!" Fumie sneezed again, and Kurako immediately flinched back. "But...but I dun think I kin make it today...'d jusht drag ush all down..."

"Don't say that, Fumie," Aoi offered, stepping forward to place a hand on Fumie's shoulder. "You would never...not that you should come with us anyway, we don't need you getting sicker!" she hastily added.

"Or giving us your snot-bombs," Kotone deadpanned.

"Kotone!"

"What? 'm just sayin'!"

"But we have to get the Charm back! Or find the shards or-" Hisa demanded from her position on Fumie's blankets.

Mari, who'd been sitting at the edge of the bed this entire time, saying nothing, suddenly stood up. She beamed at everyone, hands planted on her hips. "Well, never fear, any of you!" she announced, then winked. "because while Fumie-tan rests and recovers, I, her awesome and cute bestest friend forever, shall fill in her spot!"

For a long time, no one said anything. They all just stared blankly; one could almost hear a whistle of wind. Finally, Hisa broke the silence. "What."

Mari just grinned obliviously.

TODAY'S EPISODE: Substitute-Fumie? We Are Not Amused!

Kemuri dropped to her knees, hands clutching at her chest as she hissed through gritted teeth. "G-Gachan, do you have to wave it around?" she groaned, cracking one eye open and glaring up at him.

Gachan stood in the center of the room, holding the Dream Charm up as if to catch the light, watching as it swiveled on its chain. His free hand covered his own chest, though he hid his pain better than Kemuri did. "I am not waving it around...someone has to hold onto it for safe-keeping until Lady Nocturna is well enough to see."

Standing behind him, her arms folded over her voluptuous chest, Chuusha snorted. "Yeah, real nice of her...sleeping when we finally get the Charm..."

"Chuusha." Gachan's one visible eye was cold and steely. "You know full well..."

"Yeah, yeah," the white-blonde woman muttered, instantly placated. A sudden, slight noise caught her her attention, and she suddenly whirled around, flinging one of her arms out, sending a spray of hair-thin needles into the darkness.

A familiar voice cried out, and the figure was suddenly illuminated. Fureyaa stood there, awkwardly and comically posed on one foot, his arms wrapped around himself, eyes wide as he saw his cape pinned to the floor by several needles. "G-Geez, Chuusha, it's only me!" he laughed nervously, trying to free his cape.

Chuusha merely glared. "And where have you been lately?" she snarled.

"I was uhm...out and about. Looking around for Dream Shards, you know-"

"Then why haven't you found any?"

"Uhm...bad luck?" Fureyaa was rewarded by a sharp slap upside the head. "Ow!"

"You've been disappearing a lot lately, and you never come back with anything!" Chuusha snapped, lifting her hand again and punching Fureyaa on the same spot as last time. "Not to mention your stupid refusal to use the cranes, and you just-arrrrgh, I'm starting to wonder if you're even with us anymore!"

"I am, I am!" Fureyaa hastily cried, ducking his head and covering it with his arms. "Honest, Chuusha-I wanna find more Dream Shards to aid Nocturna, I really do! 's'just...well, I'm just..." I'm not like the rest of you, he wanted to say. But, knowing it would only earn him another punch, he kept his mouth shut. "I'll do...better," he promised, not daring to say what he had in mind.

Please, forgive me.

"So..." Kurako deadpanned, shifting her purse from one shoulder to the other. "Why are we at an amusement park?"

And indeed, they were. Three of the four Pretty Cure, plus Hisa and Mari, stood in a line in the center of the busy park. Pretty Cure and Hisa wore looks that ranged from confusion to irritation, while Mari stood there with wide, sparkling eyes and an open smile. She was wearing, curiously enough, a long trench-coat held shut with a heart-shaped pin. "Well," she began, smiling cheerfully at the others. "Monsters on TV like to show up where people are! And the bad guys on TV like to attack places where there are lots of people! And an amusement park has tons of people!"

"And you think there's a Dream Shard here?" Hisa muttered.

"Oh, sure! And if not, then the bad guys might attack here anyway and we can all kick their butts!"

There was an odd, thick silence just then as everyone stared blankly at the redhead. Aoi finally tilted her head, putting a hand to her mouth. "'We?'" she murmured.

"'All?'" Kotone muttered herself, eyebrows high.

Mari, seemingly oblivious to her little blunder and everyone else's reactions to it, just thrust a fist into the air, giving a few excited hops. "Alright! Let's all look around the amusement park for a Dream Shard, Pretty Cures!" she cheered, rushing into the crowds.

"She just wants to play, that's all it is," Hisa muttered darkly from Kotone's shoulder as everyone followed after Mari.

Kaana sat on Fumie's pillow, watching the blonde sleep. She leaned over, nudging her face a bit and giving her cheek a little lick. "Fumie?" she whispered.

No answer. Of course.

Kaana sighed. "I hope everyone finds the Charm soon...Himemiya probably doesn't like being a stuffy. And you guys are gonna be good Pretty Cure, I know it, but..." Her face fell, eyes clouding over sadly. "But...but if you're not enough..."

Unseen by both, a transparent figure passed through Fumie's room, regarding them silently as her bangs parted slightly, revealing one violet eye. She paused for just a moment, then continued on her way. Pret-ty Cure...

Mari dragged the girls everywhere, cheerfully pointing out various rides she wanted to go on, games she wanted to play, a clown she wanted to stop and watch, food she wanted to eat...all under the pretense of "There might be a Dream Shard there!"

None of the others looked very pleased with her. Kurako had an ever-growing frown and twitchy eye, Kotone looked like she wanted to enjoy herself but had her mind elsewhere, Aoi just looked plain confused, and as for Hisa...Well, if looks could kill, Mari would have her entire back covered in tiny daggers by now.

Kurako covered her face with one hand as an excited Mari led them all towards a bench, still babbling on about how "awesome" this little adventure was. "Phwah!" she exhaled, flopping into the bench and tilting her head back. She put her hands on her knees, swinging her feet as she smiled. "This is such an awesome adventure!"

Adventure? Kurako thought, frowning. A quick glance around at the others told her they were thinking along those lines as well. She cleared her throat discreetly. "Say, uh...Mari? Are you sure you should be doing this?"

"Doing what?" Mari asked, cheerfully oblivious.

Hisa ground her teeth as Kurako awkwardly went on. "Well...this. You know...Leading us around this place...saying we will fight off any mosnters."

"But we will!" Mari insisted, opening her eyes and smiling round the group. "Because we're all super-strong and have good hearts! A Bakuko won't stand a chance against us!"

This 'us' stuff again? Hisa snarled internally. "Mari, you're not-"

"Hey, speaking of Bakuko-what kinda Bakuko d'you think would show up here? maybe a hot-dog one, that'd be cool! We can beat a hot-dog monster easy-"

"Enough!" Hisa snapped, throwing herself from Kurako's shoulder and landing on Mari's chest. She crawled upwards, raising herself up a bit to glare into Mari's now-confused eyes. "We, we, we-that's enough of that! You're not in this group, you're not even in the same league as Pretty Cure! You can't be a legendary warrior, so stop talking like you are! You can't do anything to help Pretty Cure-you being around them is only dragging them down, okay?! And furthermore, you think that dragging them all over here is helping any? You're not taking any of this seriously, you just want to play and ignore the fact that Pretty Cure have a serious issue to deal with-but you don't get it, do you? Why don't you leave them alone and let them do their job?!"

There was a thick, heavy silence. It felt uncomfortable. Hisa tore her gaze away from Mari, grumbling and fully intending to go back to Kurako and leave the redhead to go play on her own. But then she noticed how the three Pretty Cure were looking at her, mouths open, eyes wide. Aoi had covered her mouth, glasses slipping down her nose. "What?" Hisa grumbled, the fire dying a little. She turned back around, and finally registered the look on Mari's face.

The redhead's eyes were shining with unshed tears, mouth twitching as she tried not to cry. Though Hisa couldn't see it, her hands were clenched into trembling fists in her lap. "I...I j-just..." she whimpered. "I didn't m-mean..." She shut her eyes, covering her face with one hand as she threw Hisa off her chest with the other. (Aoi squealed and hid behind Kotone so she wouldn't be the one the snake landed on.) "'m sorry!" Mari sobbed, jumping off the bench and running away.

"Mari!" Kotone shouted. "Mari, come back!"

But Mari had already disappeared into the crowd.

Kurako sighed, frowning down at Hisa. "Now look what you did," she grumbled. "There were nicer ways to say that, you know."

Hisa opened her mouth to retort something back, but then noticed how upset everyone looked. With her, not Mari. She looked around the group again, anger finally dissipating and turning into confusion. "What'd...I do?" she asked.

Eyecatch 1: Fumie stands at an easel, tongue poking out slightly as she carefully dabs some paint onto the canvas. Satisfied, she steps back and spins the easel around to reveal a watercolor of Cure Ink, the PCBE logo where a signature should be.
Eyecatch 2: Kurako, Aoi, Kotone, Mari, Uta, Kaana and Hisa all sit down on the floor, watching Fumie. Fumie stands at a podium and bangs a rubber gavel, calling the club meeting to order. The PCBE logo appears in the corner.

"Mari!" Kotone shouted, hands cupped around her mouth. "Mari, come back!"

"It's okay, Mari! No one's mad at you!" Aoi offered, shouting in another direction.

The girls were walking through the crowds now. Kotone and Aoi were walking ahead, while Kurako hung back, Hisa riding on her shoulder. She wasn't calling for Mari, instead walking with her arms folded, glaring sideways at Hisa. "You shouldn't have said all that," she grumbled.

Hisa looked affronted, rearing back a little. "I just told her the truth! She needed to hear that-she can't go around acting like she's in the same league as you girls; even Fumie is better than she is, and-"

Stop it." Kurako's voice was cold. She glared down at the snake, trembling slightly. "Mari...Mari wasn't doing anything horrible, okay? yeah, it was a little annoying that we were dragged everywhere and found no Dream Shard, no Bakuko, no nothing. Yes, it's awful the Dream Charm is gone. yes, it was irritating that Mari used 'we' like she was pretty Cure, too. But she doesn't mean any harm. And...and no matter what your feelings on her are, you've no right to make her cry."

"Kurako's right," Kotone added, nodding as she walked back to join them. Having had no luck in finding Mari, she'd gone back and had managed to overhear the last part of Kurako's dialogue. "I mean-it wasn't totally awful though...I kinda liked seeing the amusement park. And Mari doesn't get to hang around us too often these days..."

"That's probably why she said 'we' so much," Aoi offered, coming back herself. Her hands were clasped in front of her as she looked at the ground. "We...Well, it was a bit off-putting, but only because she could get hurt. Pretty Cure is tough business, and Mari doesn't have any powers...I don't think she could take much from a Bakuko. But the fact she wanted to put herself in the group at all just means..."

Mari sat on the ground, hiding behind a few food carts, her head bowed. She wiped at her tears as she cried quietly, shoulders shaking. "I j-just..." she sobbed, speaking to no one in particular. "I just...I just w-wanted to b-be friends..."

"I bet it's hard," Aoi murmured. "Your best friend gets a bunch of new friends, but you can't spend much time with them at all. And when they have to fight monsters, you just sit on the sidelines..."

"I o-only...w-wanna help..." Mari sobbed.

"Poor Mari..." Kotone muttered, eyes downcast. "I know we should tell her something, but...not what you said, Hisa."

"That's your problem, by the way," Kurako added. "You just keep losing your temper on everyone. You yelled at Fumie before, you don't want us to have any fun-we're just kids, Hisa! We're all trying our best-even Mari! Why can't you just...?" Kurako sighed, not sure how to even finish that. "Just...cut it out. And apologize."

Hisa stared, all the fight leaving her. Slowly, she lowered her head, eyes staring at nothing in particular. She thought back to when this whole mess had started...she had yelled at Fumie a few times, hadn't she? And she'd definitely insulted her...she'd yelled at Fumie, Mari, her little sister... "You're right," she said, quietly. She drew in a shuddering breath. "You're right," she repeated, louder. "I..."

"Kyaaaaah!"

Everyone's heads snapped up at the sound, and they saw the crowd around them running past in terror, dropping ice-creams and hot-dogs, balloons trailing behind them, parents picking up children... "What's going on now?" Kotone snapped.

Aoi frowned, the light catching her glasses and obscuring her eyes. "I bet I know." She looked in the opposite direction of the runners, the others following her gaze.

Sure enough, there was Kemuri, standing atop a ticket-booth Bakuko. The ticket-booth had massively increased in size, as all of the Bakuko did, the same angry eyes and keyhole mark on the center of its front. Giant rolls of tickets were inside of it, snaking out like four long, wavy arms. "Ohohoho!" she laughed dramatically, tossing er head back. "There's sure to be a Dream Shard here!"

"Wait a-" Kurako muttered before stomping her foot and yelling up at Kemuri. Luckily she didn't have to yell too loudly, for most of the people were gone by now. "You mean to say you don't even know if one's here, and you're still attacking?"

Kemuri grinned and shrugged her shoulders, hands coming up. "Hey, lots of people, right~! There's gotta be one floating around somewhere!"

"You know, it's kinda scary how she and Mari seem to have the same logic about this," Kotone muttered. Without further comment, she whipped out her PreCure PC.

"Pretty Cure! Show my future!"
"Spinning with grace and strength, Cure Twirl!"
"Adding flavor and zest to life, Cure Spice!"
"Drumming a new life's rhythm, Cure Beat!"
"Protecting everyone's dreams, Pretty Cure Bukatsudo Energetic!"

There was a brief silence. Then "You know, it feels kinda weird to do this without Fumie here," Twirl admitted.

"Yeah..." the other two sighed.

"G-Girls, heads up!" Hisa shouted, snapping them out of their brief funk.

Twirl looked up in time to see one of the ticket-line arms zipping towards her. Realizing she still had Hisa on her shoulder, she leaped out of the way, landing on top of a nearby popcorn-stand. She only had enough time to carefully deposit the snake on the roof before the ticket-line changed course and headed for her again. She let out a yelp as it suddenly snaked around her several times, snapping tight and securing her arms to her sides. "G-Girls!" she screamed as she was lifted into the air.

"Twirl!" Spice shouted, running forward. Leaping into the air, she readied her own attack. "Pretty Cure...Flavo-Gyaaah!" Another ticket-arm snapped her up in the same manner as Twirl. She grit her teeth, struggling to free herself, to move her arms and break the tickets, but it was no good. "B-Beat!"

"I got this!" Beat shouted. But just then, even she was snapped up, lifted into the air with the others before she could even move. "Or...or not..." she feebly mumbled, as the others looked at her in dismay.

"Wow, this is...really easy," Kemuri laughed, covering her mouth with the back of one hand. "Oh, man, I shoulda used a ticket-booth Bakuko ages ago! Well," her smile suddenly turned murderous. "No sense wasting any more time talking. With you outta the way..."

The Bakuko's grip on the girls began to tighten, making them cry out in pain.

"Nocturna will be unbeatable! All the dreams in the world will belong to Mora!" Kemuri laughed again. "Bakuko, finish them-"

"Hold it right there!"

Even the Bakuko turned at that, momentarily pausing in its tightening-grip on the girls. Mari stood on the ground a few feet in front of them, her still-tearstained face a grim mask of determination, trench-coat billowing rather dramatically in the breeze. She wiped at her eyes, steeling herself as she glared up at the monster. "Stop right there, monster!" she yelled. "I won't let you hurt Pretty Cure!"

"M-mari!" Hisa shouted from the top of the booth. "Get out of here! You're not-you don't have powers! Run away!"

"Eh, if she wants to get pummeled so badly, I say let her..." Kemuri muttered, eye twitching a bit.

"I won't run!" Mari continued. "I'll protect my friends..." In one swift movement, she undid the heart clasp on her front and flung her trench-coat high into the air, revealing what she wore underneath for the first time that day. Hisa suppressed a groan; Mari was wearing a modified version of her cheerleader outfit, a pink felt heart and white lam ribbon sewn to the chest, and bright pink thigh-high socks. Another lam ribbon was sewn to the back of her skirt, and a few more dotted the edge of her shirt-bottom. From nowhere, she produced a headband with a bright pink ribbon on it, secured it in her hair. "As Cure Cheer, I'll protect Pretty Cure!" she announced dramatically, light reflecting off of her ribbons.

Kemuri just stared blankly. "You...have got to be kidding me," she muttered.

"Mari, we appreciate the sentiment!" Beat called down. "But you're not-"

"Oh, forget this!" Kemuri shook her head. "Why'm I even bothering to- Bakuko, get her!"

"Bakuuuu!" The creature lashed out with another ticket-line arm, and Mari evaded with a side-roll.

"You won't best me so easily!" she boasted, throwing herself from a hand-stand into the balloon popping game. Grabbing several darts in one hand, she flung them at the arm snaking towards her. The Bakuko made a loud whining sound as it drew the arm back, pierced with several sharp darts.

Kemuri blinked in shock. "Wh-what the-?!"

Mari wasn't finished yet. She ran from the balloon game to the water-gun game, grabbing one of the water-guns and turning it away it its target. She aimed it at the Bakuko-or rather, one of the arms holding a Cure helpless. "Pretty Cure Cheer Water Gun!" she shouted, squeezing the trigger. A powerful jet of water shot out at the ticket-arm, soaking the paper holding Twirl in seconds. Twirl froze for a moment-then a look of realization dawned on her face.

Grinning triumphantly, she grit her teeth and struggled to move her arms outward. With a loud cry of victory, she quickly managed to rip her arms through the soaked, weakened, paper. "Ha! Not so strong now, are you?" she taunted.

"B-Baku-?!" the Bakuko cringed.

"My thoughts exactly..." Kemuri whimpered. "Uhm...see ya!" she cried, disappearing into the dark vortex before she could get into anymore trouble.

The Bakuko looked up, as if silently pleading with her not to go as Mari shot water at its remaining arms, freeing the other two Cures as she had Twirl. It looked back down at Pretty Cure, the look in its eyes only being able to be summed up as Oh. Crap.

"Finish it off, Pretty Cure!" Mari shouted, standing behind her improvised-weapon and pointing at the Bakuko.

Twirl flashed her a cocky grin over her shoulder before turning her attention back to the Bakuko, leaping skyward. "Alright! Pretty Cure Grace Hurricane!"

The attack hit the Bakuko directly on the keyhole mark. "B-bakuko! Baku..." it murmured, sounding sleepy before it slumped over, the keyhole vanishing. In a flash of light, the Bakuko had returned to being a ticket-booth once more.

Mari shyly approached the girls, holding Hisa in her arms. The snake, having crawled down when things started to look up for Pretty Cure, glanced upward at Mari nervously. But Mari wasn't focused on her. "U-uhm...h-hey guys, I'm sorry for-Wah!" Mari yelped as the girls suddenly surrounded her, pulling her into a group-hug!

"Oh, Mari, that was so awesome!"

"You saved us! Thanks so much!"

"You're amazing, Mari!"

Mari could only laugh, blushing faintly.

A few hours later, at sunset, the patrons were slowly enjoying the carnival again, though fewer of them were around than before. Mari walked with the girls around the food-booth section, happily munching some cotton candy. Hisa rode alone on her shoulder, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Say...Mari?" she ventured at last.

"Mari!" Mari beamed, turning to look at her. "Okay, no, really, yeah?"

"I just...I want to say...I mean, I guess I shouldn't be so hard on people...especially you...I m-mean, you rescued Pretty Cure without any powers of your own, and I never thought...I mean to say I-"

Mari held up a hand, still grinning. "Apology accepted!" she chirped, much to Hisa's relief. "And uhm...I guess I should say sorry, too...But I really wanted to hang out with you guys. I mean, more often than I get to, and for stuff other than fighting. Because it's no fun to do that all the time, and...Well, I'm sorry for not putting your business first," she finally said, looking down at her feet.

Unseen by all, Uta wandered past them, but suddenly caught sight of the group. Momentarily panicking, she glanced around wildly before grabbing the wrist of the orange-haired boy with her and dragging him back in the direction she'd come from.

No one noticed.

"It's okay, Mari...and actually, the Dream Charm is still missing pieces...it won't do Mora any good as it is now, and I'm sure we can find more shards before they can, and get it back..." Hisa admitted. Although it sounded very forced, like she didn't really believe that.

"You sure?" Mari asked, doubt clouding her eyes.

"...p-pretty sure?"

Mari suddenly beamed. "Great!" she cheered. She ripped a chunk of cotton candy off, shoving it into Hisa's mouth before the snake could say anything. "Cotton candy to celebrate our new friendship!"

Kurako chuckled, sneaking forward and helping herself. "And a little to celebrate your being an Honorary Cure?"

"Wow, you mean that?!"

"K-Kurako, what are you saying?"

"To Mari!" Aoi raised a shred of pink fluff high. "Our honorary teammate!"

"Hoorah!" the others chorused, tearing pieces of cotton candy and mimicking Aoi.

Hisa looked around nervously. "Girls, you don't-it's too soon for that kind of thing!" She was ignored.

ED: "Lead Me There" - YUME featuring Mari

ON THE NEXT EPISODE:
Fumie: "Oh my God, oh my God! The ghost has shown up!
Kotone: "I thought it was just a school legend!"
Fumie: "Waaagh, she wants to eat meeee!"
Aoi: "Nonsense, girls...ghosts are only here because of unfinished business. So the right thing to do is..."
Kurako: "Next time on Pretty Cure Bukatsudo Energetic: Haunted School! Free the Lonely Ghost! Don't be late for next meeting!"