Chapter Ten - A Fierce Battle! Pretty Cure's New Power!
"Daisy… ugh, I'm getting tired." Cure Flare was hopping from tree to tree with Daisy holding onto her back. Although they both knew that she would get weary at some point, the fact that not even five minutes had passed since the two's trek began had them suspicious.
"Already?" asked Daisy, her voice had a mixture of confusion and worry in it, "O-okay. Let me down, don't push yourself anymore."
Flare jumped down onto some open ground with the girl before letting her down. She sighed as Daisy got off her back,
"I'm sorry." Flare began, "I don't know why but, I just feel so drained."
Daisy looked at Flare, obviously worried,
"I can't explain it but I feel a little weird too."
The two looked around them,
Flare gasped, "Could it be…"
"The chaotic state is doing this?" finished Daisy, "Where are Mocchi and Neene?"
Flare looked around again,
"They told us that they'd catch up with us when they realized that we were moving faster than them…"
Daisy clasped her hands and put them on her chest,
"I hope they're alright… the others too."
The pink-haired girl gasped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning around, she sighed when she saw that it was just Flare.
"Relax!" she said with a smile, "I'm sure they're okay. Come on, let's go!"
"Precure! Autumn Festival!"
A barrage of leaves shot out of Cure Maple's hands and cleared a path amongst some tall trees.
"This is getting tiring." she said.
Snow walked ahead of the girl, not looking back towards her while she spoke,
"It must be one of the effects of this chaotic state."
"Ah!" Maple gasped as Snow threw out her theory, everything made a lot more sense now, "You're probably right!" she said.
"She is right, ji!"
Maple turned around to the voice, "Uji! And Purin too!"
The brown bird shook her head,
"If we caught up with you then that means that Cure Snow is slowing you down, rin!"
Uji growled and softly hit his sister with his top hat,
"Ouch!" cried Purin.
The small penguin then sighed before speaking,
"You two should be careful, ji! The enemy is using this power for a reason, ji!"
"Right, rin! It will be a tough fight, rin!"
Maple's faced dropped in sadness,
"I know…" she looked toward her new teammate, "Listen, we're not going to get anywhere if we don't cooperate."
Snow stopped walking as soon as Maple had finished speaking. Since the two had separated from Daisy and Flare, Snow had been rushing on and barely acknowledging that Maple was with her. Maple continued,
"Please…"
"I'm doing it again." Snow thought. She turned around to look at Maple, "What should I say?" she thought. She opened her mouth to speak,
"I… hurry up then." she said.
"Flare, wait." Daisy grabbed onto the back of Flare's outfit, pulling her back quickly. The two were so focused on making their way through the congested path that they hadn't even noticed just how close the tall pillar of light that the fragment was emitting had gotten. The fragment was just some mere feet away.
"Look!" whispered Daisy, "The light that the fragment is giving off is so close by. Thunder and Acid must be there already."
"Hmph. What are we going to do? We'll have to fight them anyway."
"No, chi!"
"Mocchi?" the two girls turned around and spotted their fairies behind them, they had finally caught up to them.
Neene rose up before the two girls and hovered there. He looked at Flare and immediately began scolding her,
"You should strategize ne! Don't just rush in without thinking, ne!"
Flare narrowed her eyes,
"What do you wanna do? It's not like any of us have any idea how to strategize."
While the Neene and Flare argued, Daisy was looking towards where the fragment must be,
"H-hey… there's an open area over there. That must be where the fragment… and Thunder and Acid must be?"
"Huh?" Flare and Neene fell quiet and looked towards where Daisy were looking,
"You're right!" Flare exclaimed.
"Be quiet, chi!" scolded Mocchi, "They're right there, chi!"
The others looked more closely,
Daisy gasped,
"You're right, Mocchi."
Flare looked towards the fairies,
"You two stay here."
"Wait, ne!"
The Cures looked toward Neene,
"They don't seem to know how to take the fragment, ne!"
Flare folded her arms, she was getting impatient and wanted to spring into action already,
"You're right. They would have taken it already."
The group looked back towards Thunder and Acid; the two stood in front of the fragment and seemed to be arguing over something.
Mocchi started to cry,
"Even if we fight them off, chi! Would we know how to get the fragment, chi?"
"Mocchi!" Daisy knelt down and rubbed the small bird, "Don't cry. We'll figure it out, okay?" the Cure looked towards Flare who nodded.
"Don't worry." Flare said, "I… uh, I'll do my best." the girl looked at everything but Mocchi as she finished her sentence.
Daisy rose up to her feet and looked towards Flare who shrugged and smiled,
"Come on." said Daisy, and the two Cures walked out into the open space, where Thunder, Acid and the Gaia Scepter fragment were.
Meanwhile, Cure Maple and Cure Snow had also spotted their enemies and the other fragment. Just like how the other fragment was located in an open area, so was this one. Maple and Purin quietly looked towards Hail and Nimby while Uji spoke to Snow,
"This is a now or never battle, ji!" the fairy said.
Snow simple nodded and looked towards Maple,
"He's right. Do you have any plans?"
Maple looked at the girl and smirked, as if she should know better,
"Of course I do. We have to give it our all. I want you to try and trap us. If they get the fragment first they'll try to run away. We'll need to stop them."
Snow looked down at her hands; she didn't want to say anything but she wasn't sure if she would be able to do that. She might have put on a confident persona but she was still very, very worried that they might lose. Her worst fear right now was that she would cause the others to lose. She was already the newest addition to the team and felt out of place, making the others lose would make her feel even worse. She shook her head and put all that out of her mind. She looked up at Maple, gave her a nod and answered with a simple, "Yes."
"Momoji, rin…" Purin suddenly spoke up, her usual snarky tone was gone, "Please be careful."
"Of course, I'll be." replied the Cure.
Uji looked towards Snow and while he didn't say anything, he was sure that Snow got the message because he could swear that for almost a split second, the young girl had smiled at him.
"We won't let you have this fragment!"
Cure Daisy and Cure Flare's voices echoed throughout the otherwise dead silent forest, they had appeared before Thunder and Acid. The four were in a wide, open area that was almost completely surrounded by what was basically a wall of trees. The tall pillar of light that the fragment was shooting, shot straight up into the sky and gave off a bright light that contrasted with the dark red hue that the area had.
"Heh." Thunder chuckled, "So you've arrived."
Acid turned back around to face the fragment,
"Don't think that we'll go easy on you this time." he said.
"Yep." said the taller man, "We have a mission to accomplish and we won't let you get in our way!"
The two, Thunder especially, seemed far more serious than when the Cures had first met them and though it worried Daisy and Flare, the two Cures stood their ground. Thunder looked at them and then started to laugh,
"Prepare to be crushed." he said.
Flare looked to her right at Daisy and though Daisy had expected the other girl to begin laughing at the man's cheesiness she instead gave her a light smile before rushing towards Acid,
"Precure! Summertime Carnivàle!" she shouted.
Flare's hands grew with a red light as she ran towards the boy. Acid's back was still facing the girl and she almost wanted to smile at how open the boy was making himself. Right before Flare's fists connected with the boy though, he quickly spun around and put his wrist up to block against the girl's attack.
"Bang!"
The impact was thunderous. Flare groaned in pain as the boy countered her attack.
"Do you like it?" Acid asked, the boy had a smug expression on his face. Flare gasped as she noticed what the boy was talking about. Acid's entire right arm was covered in what appeared to be metal.
The boy laughed at the girl's horrified expression,
"That's not all it can do." he continued. Right before the girl's eyes, the metal around Acid's arms changed shape, and what it changed to, resembled a gun. Before he could do anything else, Flare jumped high up into the air and just in time too, as the boy shot out a green liquid out of his arm.
"Flare!" screamed Daisy, "Be careful!"
The Cure was about to go to her friend's aid before Thunder decided to make his presence known,
"Ahem."
Daisy looked back towards the man, she was more concerned about Flare but she knew that she had to fight.
"You…" she said, "How can you willingly do these things? Don't you care about Earth at all?"
The man laughed,
"You don't know anything, do you?" he asked, "We're not from this planet."
Daisy gasped as the man smiled.
"Take this!" he yelled, "Thunder!" the man punched the air and a ball of lightning flew out at the girl and shocked her. Daisy screamed out in pain.
"Daisy!" the fairies' shouts of worry were totally drowned out by the Cure's screams. When the assault was over, Daisy fell down to the ground, gasping,
"I… I wish we didn't have to fight but… I'll fight… to protect everyone." she said. She looked up at the man with rage in her eyes and rushed forward.
"Spring's Leaves!" she shouted. A large leaf appeared on her right wrist.
"Thunder!" yelled the man again but Daisy used the leaf to deflect the attack.
"Thunder!" the man started to call his attack repeatedly, sending multiple balls of lightning at the girl, all of which she managed to deflect with her shield.
"Satsuki… everyone…" she thought, right at that moment she heard a scream come from Flare and tears started to well up in her eyes. As the girl approached the man, he attempted to jump up into the air but Daisy put her left hand into the air and vines grew out from underneath the man, reaching up and grabbing him.
"Precure! Springtime Surprise!" the leaf on Daisy's wrist disappeared as her hands started to glow with a pink light. Instead of shooting out the energy though, she kept it in-hand and transferred all of it to her right hand.
"Ugh, dammit!" Thunder struggled against his bonds, going as far as emitting electricity from his own body to try and destroy the vines.
"Take this!" yelled Daisy, the girl jumped up to reach the man and punched him. With the momentum that she had gained while running towards him and her special Cure attack, the punch was powerful enough to hit the man back down onto the ground with a loud crash. Daisy steadily landed onto the ground beside Thunder. She looked at the man's face and gasped; he was bleeding.
"I…"
Daisy was speechless, what was she supposed to do now? Thunder eyed the girl, a solemn expression on his face,
"You win…" he gasped out.
"Are you o-… ugh!" Daisy fell down onto the ground, with the chaotic state already affecting her stamina, her last attack had taken quite a toll on her body.
"Everyone…" whispered the Cure, she felt so weak that she could hardly move.
"Daisy!" yelled out Flare. "If she can defeat Thunder then I can defeat this little brat too." She thought.
Acid's mechanical arm had now transformed back into the shape of an arm which he was used to punch her, each blow hitting the girl with tremendous force.
"Flare!" Flare looked around to find where the voice was coming from, "It's metal, ne!"
The Cure then smiled, she knew what she had to do. She grabbed onto Acid and squeezed him.
"W-what are you doing? Get off!" he said, thrashing about.
"I never tried this before but you'll make an awesome test dummy!"
"That's it…" Acid grabbed onto Flare and squeezed her back. The metal arm would surely do her some damage, he thought.
"You're really stupid for a genius!" the girl teased.
Flare squeezed the boy as hard as she could, "Sunflare!" she yelled.
Instantly, Acid started to scream, the girl's suddenly emitted intense heat which burned him but most importantly, destroyed his mechanical arm. Flare grabbed hold of the boy's arm and spun him round and round,
"Remember this?" she asked, before slamming the boy down onto the ground next to Thunder.
As Acid hit the floor, Flare sighed, she was exhausted. The girl slowly hovered down onto the ground where she collapsed. As she lay on the ground panting, she could feel herself drifting into unconsciousness.
"D-Daisy… the fragment…" she moaned.
Some distance away, the fight between Cure Maple, Cure Snow and Hail and Nimby was already underway.
Maple was dashing towards Hail with razor-sharp leaves surrounding her.
"Oh no, you don't!" shouted Hail. The woman formed a large sheet of ice before her and threw it at Maple.
Maple panicked, the sheet of ice was large and would surely damage her.
"Jump!" came a voice. Maple looked to her right and spotted Snow who had frozen Nimby. Maple was shocked but happy, her comrade's fight was already over. She knew that Snow's battle wouldn't be too difficult with her opponent looking like something out of a children's cartoon but she was still relieved. Turning her attention back to the ice coming towards her, she jumped high into the air and successfully dodged Hail's attack.
"Why you!" Hail screamed out in anger and jumped up to attack Maple again.
Maple chuckled,
"Don't even try!" she said, before she shot the leaves that were surrounded her towards Hail. Hail however, simply covered her arms in ice and used them to hit away the leaves.
"Yah!"
Hail managed to hit Maple, knocking the girl back down onto the ground. Hail laughed as Maple hit the ground, causing a huge plume of dust to rise up.
"Precure! Winter Parade!"
"Ah!" Hail screamed as Cure Snow's attack hit her.
"Freeze." Snow motioned her hands and Hail gasped.
"W-why can't I move? Thunder! Acid! Nimby! Help!" the woman was panicking.
"Now, Maple…"
Maple stood up from the ground,
"Snow… thank you." she said, she put her hands towards Hail,
"Precure! Authmn Festival!" she shouted.
"Daisy!? Flare!?"
After settling things with Hail and Nimby, Maple and Snow managed to retrieve the fragment and were now looking for their comrades.
"Wait, rin!"
"They're over there, ji!"
Said Purin and Uji. The girls looked towards where their fairies were pointing to and spotted their teammates, collapsed on the ground.
"Mei! Hanabi!" shouted Maple, she ran towards them while Snow quietly followed.
"Mei, chi!" cried Mocchi. Neene was next to Flare, softly poking the girl. The fairies' attempts at waking the girls up were in vain.
"Ugh… Mocchi?" moaned Daisy.
"Mei, chi!" answered Mocchi.
Maple ran next to her comrade and kneeled down,
"Are you okay, Mei?" she asked.
The girl quietly nodded,
"I… I couldn't… I didn't know what to do to Thunder. I…"
Maple looked towards Thunder who was a few feet away. The man's body was in bad condition but he was still alive. Was Daisy afraid to kill him? Maple thought back to Hail and sighed.
"It's okay. I understand. Just rest for now." Maple's voice was soft and kind.
"Listen." came Snow's voice, "We should get the fragment and get out of here."
"Huh?" Maple turned around to face Snow, "You're right. Quickly, let's go."
"Guys?" a familiar voice spoke out, "Did we win?"
"Hanabi!" The fairies all gathered around the girl.
"We did!" they said.
"A-awesome…" she whispered, "Now… let me sleep." and closed her eyes.
Maple and Snow were unable to care for their teammates because for now, they had to worry about retrieving the fragment that was going haywire.
"Do it like we did." said Snow.
"I know." replied Maple.
The Cure activated her powers and her hands began to glow. She put her hands into the pillar of light that the fragment was emitting and she was unharmed. She slowly put her hands around the fragment and grabbed it and almost immediately, the pillar of light and wild forest around them disappeared. Maple looked down at the fragment which was in her hands and glowed with a faint, red light.
"That's the first Summer fragment!" said Uji.
"Summer fragment?" asked Cure Snow.
"Yes." a loud voice echoed through the mostly quiet area, "A Summer fragment."
The Cures gasped. Flare's eyes opened wide as she sat up. Daisy too, was shocked, as she struggled to rise up from the ground. The girls look towards the source of the voice and spotted the last person they wanted to see, Typhoon. The evil being had apparently taken over Nimby's body once more. The fairies all moved away from their Cures, knowing that a fight was imminent.
"There are twelve fragments, each season have three fragments in all." explained Typhoon, "Why don't you know this? Don't tell me that dear Lady Earthlight didn't explain this to you."
The Cures looked at Typhoon in silence, he wasn't wrong. Typhoon laughed,
"That's unbelievable." the being said. His red eyes appeared to glow brighter as he laughed, "With no support, do you really expect to defeat me?"
Typhoon put his hands out and they became sharp. The Cures gathered together and looked on, cautiously.
"You got your warning last time. Now, prepare to die!"
"Look out, chi!" cried out Mocchi.
The girls scattered as Typhoon rushed towards them.
"Vines! Help me!" yelled out Daisy. Vines grew up from the ground and surrounded Typhoon but he managed to cut them before they grabbed a hold of his body.
"Graaah!" Flare ran towards Typhoon and put her hands to his eyes, "Sunflare!" she yelled. Flare's hands flashed a bright light and she laughed as she took her hands off of Typhoon's face. She was hoping that she had blinded him but Typhoon gazed into her eyes with a dead, blank stare and slashed at her.
"Flare!" yelled Maple. Maple had quickly pulled Flare away from Typhoon. Typhoon's arm just barely missed Flare's body.
"Take this!" Maple shot out leaves at Typhoon who simply absorbed the leaves into his body. Snow attempted to sneak up behind Typhoon but before she could do anything, he turned around and hit her away; he had known what she was planning to do.
"This is bad, chi!" cried Mocchi.
"We need to do something, ne!"
"But what, rin?"
"We can help them, ji!" said Uji.
"How, rin?" asked Purin.
"That's right, ne!" exclaimed Neene.
"We have power too, chi!"
Purin gasped,
"The powers of the seasons!" they collectively said.
"We, like the Cures are bestowed with the powers of the seasons… if we combine that power…" explained Uji.
"We can help, chi!"
"We have to hurry, ne!"
"At this rate, rin! They might die, rin!"
"Pretty Cure!" the fairies called out, "Accept our power!"
The fairies glowed with the color of their respective Cure and became small balls of light.
"Uji?" asked Snow.
"What are they doing?" asked the other Cures.
The lights flew into the Cures' rings and into the symbols. The silver rings shone and became gold.
Daisy gasped, "This…"
"Is our new power?" the Cures said.
Typhoon looked at them and chuckled,
"With Lady Earthlight not by your side, you can't possibly defeat me."
"No, chi!"
"But we can get rid of you, ji!"
The rings spoke. The fairies were still there with the Cures.
"Everyone!" said Daisy, "Split up!"
The Cures nodded and all went separate directions.
"Let's do this!" shouted Flare, "Show me what you got, Neene!"
Flare threw her right hand up into the air,
"Summer!" her ring glowed with a bright, red light and a large circle appeared in front of her.
"Huh?" Flare examined the circle and realized that it was identical to the symbol of the sun that was on her Cure Ring. "Oh!"
Flare grabbed ahold of her new weapon which then shone with a red light and she spun around, "Rhapsody!" she yelled, and she threw the disc at Typhoon. The disc then became a ring of light which constricted him.
"My turn!" said Maple. Following Flare's example, she threw her right hand into the air and yelled out the season that she represented,
"Autumn!" she grabbed ahold of the leaf that appeared in front of her which shone with a gold gold light and she spun around, "Aria!" the leaf hit Typhoon and a ring of gold light surrounded him.
Cure Snow then followed, "Winter Sonata!" her snowflake-shaped disc hit Typhoon and a ring of white light surrounded him.
Typhoon tried to fight against his binds but no matter what he did, the light around him wouldn't let him move.
It was now Daisy's turn to attack. She took a deep breath,
"We're going to protect this planet and everyone on it… that's a promise." she threw her right hand into the air,
"Spring!" she grabbed a hold of the flower in front of her, "Ballad!" and launched the attack at Typhoon. The rings all hovered one over the other around Typhoon but as Daisy's ring hit, the rings slowly moved towards each other and when they did, there was a bright flash of light and sound of a loud explosion.
When the light diminished, the Cures looked around them and saw nothing. Typhoon and his minions were gone and everything was back to normal. Daisy looked at where Typhoon last stood and spotted the fragment which she picked up. She looked at the fragment, unlike the ones from before, this one was red.
"A Summer fragment…" she whispered. The fight wasn't over yet. The ring on Daisy's finger glowed and Mocchi appeared out of it,
"You did it, chi!"
Daisy nodded and smiled,
"We did." she corrected.
The chaotic state had finally disappeared.
"Satsuki!" Mei was smiling as she spotted her sister. She and her friends had won the fight and Satsuki was back to normal.
"Hm, huh?" Satsuki turned around and spotted her sister, "Mei!"
"Akito…" Momoji poked her friend from behind who jumped,
"Hey, stop! That tickles!" he said. The two hugged.
Hanabi looked towards her new teammate. She only knew the girl as Cure Snow and wasn't sure what to say. The girl hadn't introduced herself and was just staring into space as Hanabi looked at her.
"I'm so proud of you all!" said Satsuki.
"Yeah!" cheered Akito, "You guys won!"
"We did, chi!"
"That's right, ne!"
"We helped too, rin!"
The fairies too, were excited and happy.
"But…" the two looked towards Cure Snow and Uji.
"Who is this?" asked Satsuki.
Mei walked up to the blue-haired girl.
"Hi, I'm Mei Tarano and this is my sister Satsuki!" she motioned towards her sister as she spoke.
Hanabi realized what Mei was doing and introduced herself as well followed by Momoji and Akito. The girl had a blank face during each introduction and only spoke when everyone was finished. She bowed,
"My name is Yukino Matou. I look forward to working with you all."
Mei nodded and smiled,
"Me too!"
"The fight isn't over", Mei thought, "Typhoon ran away but I promise to continue trying my best to protect everyone!"
Next Chapter - The Team is Complete! Let's... Babysit!?
Yes, the attack was a total shout out to the ones in Suite and Fresh. School is open again so I'm sorry that things has/will slow things down. After this chapter is where the typical Precure formula will start and those will be a lot easier and fun to write so they might come out faster. I'm going to make these slice-of-life chapters as fun as possible!