A Brighter Day (Opening)
I'm ready with my back to the wind
And I will fly higher than I ever have been
I'll follow all my dreams, my destiny is waiting for me
I am on my way, heading for a sunny blue sky
And all my past worries, I will leave them behind
Now it is time for the beginning of the Zodiac
Pretty Cure Zodiac!
There was a time when I was lost and alone
I couldn't find what I was wanting the most
Looking around for anybody else to show the way
I wondered how the light could ever break through
When I had built the highest wall around me
Then I soon realized it was up to my heart...
To spread my wings and fly again.
So here I go!
I have got my back to the wind
And I will fly higher than I ever have been
I'll follow all my dreams, my destiny is waiting for me
I am on my way, heading for a sunny blue sky
And all my past worries, I will leave them behind
Now it is time for the beginning of the Zodiac
Pretty Cure Zodiac!
The Kuroihoshi unleashed a torrent of fire from its beak aimed right at the mansion that both Sagittarius and Capricorn live in. The roof and the west side of the house quickly caught fire as the sun rose higher and higher into the sky. It then quickly switched tactics and started flying by all the nearby trees, setting them on fire from its wings as well.
As this was happening, David pulled Anna along, running towards his jeep with Comet and Luna following close behind.
"David, we have to stay and-"
"There's nothing we can do, Anna," David told her. "This is way out of our league. It's best if we get out of here." He opened up the driver side door and hopped inside. Anna moaned in frustration, but complied and hopped into the other side.
"We'll stay behind, David, col!" Luna told him.
"Someone needs to get the Phoenix power and make sure it gets back to Queen Starcy, umi," Comet added. David nodded and then backed the jeep out of the burning area and started driving as fast as he could down the road to safety.
"Well, I believe our work here is done," Hercules told the three that were with him, most of the Cures distracted by the group's former ally becoming a Kuroihoshi. "Let's let Phoenix take care of those Cures."
"Agreed," Lyra seconded, turning away from the monster that she helped cultivate.
"Well, if those girlies can't take on this weakling, then they can't take on me," Draco bragged, smirking all the while. He, Lyra, and Hercules suddenly disappeared from view.
Ophiuchus remained behind.
She sighed and then screamed as she launched herself at the Kuroihoshi. She punched it right in its stomach. It groaned and fell out of the air and onto the ground. More trees were set ablaze when the Kuroihoshi came into contact with them.
"Cure Ophiuchus," Aquarius pointed out to everyone else. Everyone took a tense stance against her as she walked away from the downed fire bird and towards the group.
"I am no longer here to fight you," she told them all. She pointed at the monster. "I am now here to stop the Phoenix power from going out of control."
"Ophiuchus…" Cancer trailed off. "Okay, but I'm keeping an eye on you."
"I wouldn't have it any other way, Cancer," Ophiuchus slightly smirked at the vampire.
Ophiuchus was the first one to launch herself at the out-of-control Kuroihoshi with Virgo following shortly behind. Ophiuchus went below and Virgo flew above it and, despite the simmering flames, managed to kick it in the stomach and back respectively. More of the Cures swarmed all sides of the Kuroihoshi as it started falling to the ground.
However, before most of them could even try to get close to it, the bird relit it flames, pushing everyone away from it and giving most of them burns on their bodies while yelling "KUROIHOSHI PHOENIX!" All except Scorpio fell to the ground with the exception landing on her feet. She laughed as she flew higher and higher into the air.
"You're fun to play with," she told the Kuroihoshi. She went to kick the bird from above, her right leg suddenly being surrounded by black flames.
"KUROIHOSHI PHOENIX!" it said again as regular colored flames pooled into its mouth. It then released the stream of flames.
Taurus was the first to recover from the onslaught of flames. "SCORPIO!" she yelled, seeing the attack coming right towards her half-demon friend. She placed both hands over her badge, quickly removing them. Red light shone from the badge. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. Red light started forming around her body. "Taurus Teleport!" She then disappeared and reappeared besides Scorpio in a brief flash of red light. She grabbed onto her friend and the two disappeared, materializing on the ground in the same flash of light.
"Aw, come on, party pooper," Scorpio pouted at Taurus. "I was going to get him good." Her tail whipped back and forth as she started giggling again. Taurus sighed before disappearing in a flash of red light again.
Everyone else got up, watching as the Kuroihoshi went back to destroying the forest around them. Pisces wiped the sweat off her brow.
"It's getting really hot here, col," the pink dove flew over towards the other Cures. She was panting heavily. Comet nodded on the ground, not being able to speak his agreement.
"We need to hurry and stop Len," Sagittarius told the others. All the Cures minus Ophiuchus nodded and started running towards the monstrous bird, some of them closer to the Kuroihoshi than others.
Aquarius managed to land on one of the tails alongside Libra. "Come on!" the deceivingly looking older woman told the vase-turned-human.
"我們會做什麼?" Aquarius asked her.
"We're going to try to take this big birdy out of the air!" Libra told him.
"我想我可以這樣做," he replied. Both Cures flipped over and kicked the giant bird in the back, making it stumble in the air. Both kicked away from it and Aquarius clapped his hands on his badge. Blue light shone off of it. Water started swirling around him, forming into many balls floating in midair. He then brought the balls in front of him. "Aquarius Balloons!" The balls were launched one at a time at the falling bird.
The water hit the Kuroihoshi's wing. It screeched in pain as its wing sizzled out. Ophiuchus came from below and punched the fiery bird's stomach again. She was joined shortly after by Virgo, Leo, and Scorpio with the final Cure's arm being covered in black flames, the punches so powerful that it sent it back up in the air slightly. The six Cures then landed on the ground near each other. As they turned around to face the Kuroihoshi again, it unleashed another massive torrent of flames.
Taurus suddenly appeared in front of them with Aries in tow. The later placed both of her hands on her badge and removed them, a sky blue light shining out from it. She placed her hands above her head, blue glitter being drawn to them. "Aries Barrier!"
Instead of torching all the Cures alive, Aries held her hands out in front of her, a somewhat see-through, sparkly, sky blue barrier appearing just in front of them and the flames it that instead.
"Just in time," Aries sighed in relief. The others sighed, too. Scorpio, however, groaned in frustration. Leo ran towards the Kuroihoshi, leaped into the air, performed multiple front flips, and axe kicked its wing before landing on all fours back on the ground. The torrent of fire stopped and the giant fiery monster struggled to stay upright in the air.
Gemini quickly followed up on Leo's attack. Blue Gemini smirked as she went high while Pink Gemini wore a face of concentration as she went low. Pink Gemini punched the wing that Leo had just kicked from below while Blue Gemini punched the top side of the opposite wing at the exact same time. The resulting blows flipped the Kuroihoshi over itself multiple times as Gemini glided away from it.
"Sagittarius, Capricorn, Cancer, now's your chance!" Blue Gemini yelled to them. "Bring Len back, you hear?!" The three Cures nodded from where they stood on the ground. All three of them placed their hands on their badges and then removed them, pink light shining off of Sagittarius's badge while orange light shone off of Cancer's and the light coming from Capricorn's badge was yellow.
Sagittarius lifted up her right hand. Light that was all different kinds of colors came to her hand to form a sphere as the cloth hanging from her wrist was glowing rainbow."Sagittarius Burst!" She brought down her hand. Her index and middle finger were pointing at the monster while her thumb was pointing at the sky. She brought her thumb down and a beam of rainbow-colored light came out of her two fingers heading straight for the Kuroihoshi.
Cancer kicked the ground. Lava started pouring out of it. However, instead of covering her like it did before, it formed a ball in front of her. She then threw it up into the air. "Cancer Eruption!" She then spiked it as hard as she could. The ball of lava turned into a barrage of smaller balls all aimed at the Kuroihoshi.
Capricorn crossed his hands above his head. His two pistols appeared in his hands. He aimed both of them at his brother-turned-Kuroihoshi. Lightning surged from his hands and into the barrels of the guns. "Capricorn Bullet!" He pulled the trigger too many times to count in a second, many shots of little lightning bolts heading towards the Kuroihoshi.
All three attacks hit the Kuroihoshi at the same time. It screamed "KUROIHOSHI PHOENIX!" in pain. It lost even more of its stability in the air and crashed into the ground again. The flames on its body started dying out. The bird started pushing off the ground with its wings, struggling to get up and continue fighting.
Pisces took this chance and placed her hands on her badge. An aqua green light shone off of it. She held her hands together, a mini snowstorm brewing in her palms. "Pisces Blizzard!" She started spinning around and around in a circle. Absurd amounts of snow started swirling all around her and towards everywhere else.
Her fellow Cures braced themselves against the raging snow as did Comet and Luna. However, the giant fire bird's flames slowly ebbed away as did the surrounding fires as it became more and more buried in the snow.
Just as the Cures were starting to relax, the giant bird spontaneously combusted, causing an explosion that threw all of the Cures and the two fairies that were trying to stay out of the fight back, all of them landing near each other prone on the ground. All the Cures but Scorpio and Aries started sporting second degree burns on their bodies. The nearby trees reignited with a renewed passion. The snow on the ground, the vegetation, and the Kuroihoshi melted so fast that it skipped the liquid stage and went straight to gas.
"What… just happened?" Pisces asked the others. Confusion was written all over her face. "I thought I had him."
"While both Scorpio and Phoenix control flames, the type of flames they control are entirely different," Libra explained. "Scorpio controls the black flames which are meant to destroy. Phoenix controls the orange flames which are meant to bring life."
"So no matter how many times you bring it down, it will just keep rising, col?" Luna asked with a worry looked on her face.
"Not necessarily," Ophiuchus answered the pink dove as she struggled to her feet. "If everyone was to use the Sparkling Starlight, everyone might be able to separate the power from Len." She then stood up and placed her hands over her badge. When she removed them, a silver light radiated from it.
She spun around a couple of times. Ophiuchus then knelt down to the ground and poised to strike it. "Ophiuchus Grasp!" She then stuck the ground with an open palm.
The ground burst open from where the Kuroihoshi was about to get back up into the air. Silver ribbons came out and started wrapping around its talons. It yelled out "KUROIHOSHI PHOENIX!" as it tried to fly away. The ribbons kept pulling it down, keeping it from flying away.
"Hurry! Do it now!" Ophiuchus ordered the other Cures. The monstrous bird screeched "KUROIHOSHI PHOENIX!" as it increased the fire on its body. The flames started burning away at the silver ribbons that were holding it. "I don't know how long I can hold the Kuroihoshi down!"
"Everyone, follow our lead," Virgo told the other Cures – referencing herself, Libra, Cancer, and Aries – as they stood up one by one. "We start by standing in a circle and we have to stand in order." When everyone was up on their feet, they followed Virgo's directions and stood to form a circle.
"Alright everyone, let's do this," Sagittarius told them. They all nodded in agreement.
All the Cures clapped their hands on their badges three times. They held their hands out in front of them with the two Gemini doing so with their outside hands, the opposite hand grasping the other. The Z on the badges came off and floated to their upturned palms. They turned into the power that they held inside of them, all of the powers hovering slightly above their palms.
"Sagittarius Colors!" A small sphere that was colored in rainbow flew away from her and floated in the middle of the air.
"Capricorn Lightning!" A lightning bolt with sparks flying off of it hovered up next to the other.
"Aquarius Waters!" His ball of water joined the other two powers.
"Pisces Ice!" An ice crystal floated away from her.
"Aries Light!" A ball of sky blue sparkles flew away from her.
"Taurus Space!" A small, red spiral galaxy flew to float next to it.
"Gemini Wind!" Green wind hovered away from them to join the forming circle.
"Cancer Magma!" A small sphere of magma joined the others.
"Leo Flora!" A daisy flew up to the others.
"Virgo Music!" A small, white music note joined the others in the almost complete circle.
"Libra Justice!" A golden scale balancing two tiny balls of light and darkness flew away.
"Scorpio Flames!" Black flames were the last to join the rest of the powers, completing the circle of all the different powers they wielded.
"Assemble, Zodiac Ring!" The powers started spinning in a circle. Light burst off of it, revealing a giant, golden ring with everyone's symbols carved around the outside of it with two slightly smaller rings inside of it. Sagittarius turned around along with Scorpio and Capricorn. All of the other Cures walked alongside them, lining up to form one line. The Zodiac Ring tilted upwards and pointed at the trapped Kuroihoshi.
"Let all of our powers combine into one!" Sagittarius said out loud, raising her hands up into the air. The symbols on the outside started to glow with different colored lights and the inner rings started spinning around in a circle opposite of each other, a golden light started to build in the center.
"Let it shine through the blackest of the darkness!" the other Cures followed up, raising their hands into the air as well. The rings spun faster and faster and the light grew more and more intense.
"Pretty Cure Zodiac Sparkling Starlight!" they all yelled out at the same time. The glow of the golden light became very intense. Suddenly, the light turned into a golden beam. The beam struck the Kuroihoshi with such intensity that it started glowing gold as well.
"KUROIHOSHI PHOENIX!" it cried out in pain. The resulting explosion was bigger than usual.
However, as the smoke cleared, Len was shown to be where the giant explosion took place with a glowing power right next to him. The fires that plagued both the mansion and the surrounding forest slowly dissipated, showing no signs of any damage to anything. Anything that had already been damage was slowly rebuilding itself. The ribbons that were trapping the Kuroihoshi went back into the ground as the Cure in charge of them stood up.
"Gotta hurry, umi," Comet whispered to himself as he and Luna ran and flew respectively towards the power. The small, yellow panda took out one of the crystals and held it up next to the power. It went inside of it and then quickly disappeared.
"Len!" Sagittarius cried out as she ran over to her unconscious brother. Capricorn ran after her. Sagittarius knelt down next to him and started shaking his shoulders lightly. "Len, wake up! Len!"
He groaned and started stirring. He slowly blinked his eyes opened. "R-Rose? Axl?" Tears started welling up in his eyes. "I'm... I'm so sorry..." Sagittarius lifted him up into a sitting position and hugged him tight. Capricorn came up to the side and wrapped his arms around them both. While Len started all out crying, all three had tears coming out of their eyes.
Blue Gemini wrapped an arm around Pink Gemini's shoulder, tears threatening to fall from the former's eyes. Pink Gemini wrapped her arm around Blue Gemini's back. Libra grabbed Virgo's hand and squeezed it tightly which was the angel quickly replied to, neither looking at each other. Scorpio's demonic features faded away. Everyone else stared on at the family, watching them reconcile without words.
Ophiuchus was the first one to look away. She pulled her key ring and three keys off of her hip and looked at them. She took the gold one off and started walking towards the siblings.
"Sagittarius," she spoke. All of the siblings looked up to her. "You are the current leader of the Zodiac; this now belongs to you." She held out the golden key. The pink Cure wiped her eyes before slowly reaching out towards the key and taking it from the silver Cure.
"Len, this now yours," she continued, holding her other keys and her key ring out to him.
"B-but I can't!" Len told her, grabbing at his disheveled hair. "Y-you saw what happened with the Phoenix power!"
"That power was not meant for you, not like how the Sagittarius power is meant for your sister or the Capricorn power chose you older brother a long time ago," she explained. "This power is meant for you, even if you do not believe so now." She carefully took one of Len's hands and handed him her remaining keys. "Trust in it and you'll have nothing to fear..."
She fell to the ground.
"Ophiuchus!" Cancer shouted. She, Virgo, Libra, and Aries ran over to her, the other Cures and fairies staying close by, and Sagittarius helping Len to his feet. Cancer scooped Ophiuchus up into her arms.
"My time is about up," Ophiuchus whispered, a sad smile on her face. "You, Virgo, and Libra knew that I was using the Ophiuchus power to extend my own lifespan afterall."
"How... long have you been alive?" Taurus worked up the courage to ask.
"Too long," Ophiuchus replied with a small smirk. She then turned towards the others. "The Ophiuchus power is cursed with a terrible fate; those chosen must stay alive until the next chosen one can be given the power. That way no Kuroihoshis can result from mismanagement of the power from outside forces.
"That's why I joined them," she continued. A few eyes widened in understanding, but most were still confused. "I had tracked down Len to Japan at a high school and was about to confront him, but Camerina beat me to it. She threatened him with his twin sister's death if he didn't take the power, destroy Cure Sagittarius, and help her reach her goals. The only way I could save him was if I got close enough to make sure he didn't do anything he would regret without Camerina realizing what I wanted to do." She looked over towards Len. "I'm sorry I didn't do a better job of protecting you, Len."
Len looked speechless.
Ophiuchus then turned to Virgo and Libra. "Gabriella, you've already seen so many of us come and go already. I'm sorry that you have to see me pass on as well."
"Don't be sorry for that," Virgo grabbed her hand, tears threatening to fall. "It's my privilege as a friend to be there at your side in every major step of life you take. If I can help put even a little more happiness into your life, then I've been a good friend."
Ophiuchus looked shocked, and then a genuine smile appeared. "Thank you, Gabriella. You did bring fun and happy times into my life. I could never repay you back for all of that." She then looked at Libra.
"Joanna, it's almost time-"
"I know," Libra replied. "And I've accepted what is going to happen."
"Then you and Gabriella should really get everything finalized very soon," she smirked before turning towards Aries.
"You, Zi-Zi, you must protect everyone's powers from falling into unworthy hands." She took her hand out of Virgo's and grabbed onto one of Aries's. "I know you can do it; I would trust no one else to be able to do so." Aries just nodded.
"Iris, no, Axl," Ophiuchus looked at Capricorn. "I know you don't remember me, and that's okay, but I'm glad I got to see you again, even if it was in these circumstances."
"Ophiuchus," Capricorn trailed off. "I'm… I'm glad I got to see you, too." He grinned as big as he could.
It was at that point that David's jeep pulled up. Both he and Anna got out of it and ran over to where all of the Cures and fairies were gathered only to see what was happening. Neither said anything.
"Hey, Lana," Ophiuchus got her attention. "Remember the time when we were being chased by that French town?"
"That was because Loup had everyone believing that werewolves existed," Cancer chuckled back. "Stupid wolf couldn't even tell when he was being followed."
"We had a lot of fun running away from them, though," Ophiuchus smiled as her outfit changed back into regular street clothes, her hair turned white and shortened drastically, and her grey eyes started becoming dull. "I just want you to know that throughout all this time, you are my best friend."
"Same here, Naga," Cancer told her, holding her a little tighter.
"I'm... so... tired… and… happy..." she replied, closing her eyes with a smile on her face.
She started glowing, her form changing. When the glow disappeared, Naga had become a giant, white and sliver boa constrictor. Her body then started turning into silver sparkles, starting at the tail and working its way up to her head.
When she fully disappeared, Cancer started crying openly, her hands covering her eyes. Tears started running down some of the other faces in the group. Virgo gathered Libra into her arms and hugged her tightly, tears falling onto the later's shoulder. Libra hugged back tightly, her own tears falling onto the angel's shoulder.
I'll be next soon, Libra thought to herself. I don't…
I don't want to leave Gabe alone.
"Aw…" Camerina complained. She was sitting on her throne, watching the scene between the Cures take place despite there not being any projection whatsoever. She looked very disappointed to the three that served her.
"Is something the matter, Camerina?" Hercules asked with a calm tone of voice. Despite his voice, he face and stance clearly showed that he was getting sick and tired of Camerina's looking disappointed.
"It's Cure Libra," she answered. "I was really expecting her to kick the bucket in that battle."
"Camerina, I know that Libra is actually an old lady, but that doesn't mean that she's just going to drop dead the next time she fights," Lyra argued.
"But you don't even know how old she is," Camerina countered. "She is a lot older than she looks." She then stood up. "Oh well, she'll go ahead and kick the thing soon enough."
You Are a Star (1st Ending)
It's 5AM, now it's time to get out of bed
Another day is ready to start again
The shower's running, the coffee is burning
Gotta get out the door in time for the train
Cell phone is ringing, the message is coming in
The traffic's jammed, now let's see who's gonna win
Yeah, the game is on, if you are strong and you wanna play...
No one said the race would be just a piece of cake
Work your way to the top
You've got to put in the time, pay your dues
The corner office is there, waiting for you
You, yeah, you are a star
There's no mistaking you will make it to the end
I know you've got what it takes to believe in yourself
You will never give in
You're a star
No one else in the world could replace the way you smile The way you look when you're inspired
I know you will shine no matter what you will face
Cause you are a star
Axl sighed in relief. Everyone had called, asking about if everything was okay. Since Rose and Len were reconciling, it had been up to him to answer everyone's questions.
Suddenly, the phone rang one more time. Axl groaned before answering it.
"Hello, Stevens residence."
"Hey, Axl!"
"Sam!" Axl was surprised. He hadn't told his youngest sister anything since she was over in Germany with their great uncle. "How are you doing?"
"I just had a huge adventure – one you would not believe," Sam told him. "I need to tell you about it."
"Funny you should say that, little sis," Axl leaned on the entrance way, looking into the living room. He saw that the twins had fallen asleep on the couch while playing Super Smash Brothers. "We have one heck of an adventure to tell you, too."