It was an obviously snowy Christmas Eve in Oriyama. Everyone was doing whatever he/she/it could to get ready for Christmas. A lot of the citizens loved the holiday season and Christmas, mainly because it was the time of the year where the families would congregate, children would get excited about Santa Claus and everyone would be waiting for the new year.
At the shopping mall, a familiar little girl whom we haven't seen since episode 9, was trying to pull her mother towards the toy store, with little success.
"Mommy!" Caitlin cried, pulling on mrs. Hibike's dress, "Let's go to Green Bird's Toy Heavennn!"
"Not yet, Katy!" Mrs. Hibike groaned, walking into the jewelry shop, Houseki Jewels, with her daughter hanging onto her leg.
Houseki Jewels, being a jewelry shop, was a particularly shiny place, covered in jewels of any kind, shape and form. There were many accessories: necklaces, earrings, pendants, even some piercings. Some were plain, made from gold, silver or platinum, while others were decorated with many sparkling jewels.
However, Caitlin didn't find that interesting.
Until she saw something in front of her, gleaming intensely. It was a small pendant, made of white gold, shaped like a crescent moon. That is, if you can consider a little heart inside a circle one.
"Whoa…" her eyes shone as she looked at it in amazement. She then turned towards her mother with a smile.
"Mommy, I know what I want for Christmas."
----------------
(OP: "Do You Believe in Magic ~Mahou wo Shinjiteru~" - DivaCure 5)
----------------
At the perfume shop, our Five Man Band and the mascots were having a Christmas party and building their tree, with a little help from their classmates. In fact, some people were very excited about the idea of gathering together at such a place to celebrate such a holiday. Some… Not so much.
"I don't get it." asked Meguo raising an eyebrow, "Why do we celebrate Christmas this time of the year? If it's so good, why don't we celebrate it earlier?"
Sasaki tapped his shoulder as she said, "To be frank, I don't know either."
She then wrapped the white fur string thing around the tree, trying to make it look good. However, she quickly dropped it once she heard Meguo answer, "But your name isn't Frank! It's Sasaki!"
The bluenette simply slapped her forehead as she helped Ran and Arisa with the ribbons. On the other hand, Chloe leant against the balcony, staring at all the people helping out with the tree's decorations and flicking a strand of red hair behind her ear.
She would have stayed like that if it wasn't for Chiara interrupting her with a bell. "Why are you so dreamy, grand-soeur?" the blondie asked.
"Oh, it's nothing." Chloe giggled, staring towards her, "It's just that seeing all these people gathering here is reminding me of the previous Christmas we had back in France. I can still remember the buches de Nol maman used to make…"
Chiara nodded, licking her lips hungrily. "Oh yea, I remember! They used to be soooo délicieux~!" she chirped, "Too bad she isn't here anymore to make some for us this year."
Suddenly, Hanae spoke up, holding a tray with some vanilla ice cream decorated with cristalized fruits. "So, since we're in the Christmasy mood, anyone wants to try obaa-chan's special Santa Cream?" she asked sheepishly.
Luckily, she got very cheerful replies from some of the most excited people in the room. "I'M IN~!"
----------------
TODAY'S EPISODE:
A Christmas Full of Hope: Deliver Caitlin's Present!
Kibou ni Michi ta Kurisumasu: Keitorin no Purezento wo Todoke! (希望に満ちたクリスマス：ケイトリンのプレゼントを届け！)
----------------
Later, after they set up the Christmas tree and had a bunch of Yule-themed games, they gathered in groups just to talk about random stuff. And of course, Chiara's face was covered in vanilla ice cream, mainly because she just dove into Hanae's Santa Cream.
Keiji just sighed as he kept chewing on his turkey leg, sitting beside Chloe. "Something wrong?" she asked, sipping on her grape juice.
The pitch-black-haired boy nodded, adjusting his headphones and turning towards the cherry-redhead exhaustedly. "It's Caitlin… Today I saw her build a fireplace outside the building we live at and burn her list of gifts to a crisp." he explained, "And then I walked towards her and asked…"
----------------
"Why are you burning your list like that?"
Caitlin simply giggled at her brother's question. "Nii-chan, now I don't want any of the things I wrote for Christmas." she said cheerfully.
Keiji's jaw just dropped. "B-B-B-But you've been wanting that doll the entire year! And now that you can finally get what you want, you reject it?" he asked raising an eyebrow at his sister's sudden change of mind.
Ever since the beginning of the second semester, Caitlin was wanting a collectible action figure of Rumi Raspberry, a character from one of her favorite TV shows, "Isabella Ichigo", about a human-strawberry hybrid girl who lived in a sweet kingdom with her half-fruit friends. As she began watching the show, Caitlin began developing a crush on Rumi because of his headstrong attitude and good looks.
But now, she didn't care about him anymore. She wanted something else.
"I wrote a new letter to Santa Claus and mailed it to Laponia, asking for something else." she told her brother.
Keiji simply nodded, still weirded out. "And what do you want him to bring this time?" he asked her.
Caitlin's face was adorned with an adorable ear-to-ear smile. "I asked him to bring me the moon."
That was the last straw.
After hearing that, Keiji remained silent for a few seconds… before crashing to the ground with a faint of disbelief.
"Nii-chan?"
-----------------
After being explained of that, Chloe simply tried controlling herself not to spit and instead swallowed the juice she was drinking. What did she meant she wanted the moon? Was she nuts or something?
"She said she wanted what?" the cherry-redhead asked.
"The moon. And I mean the real moon, the one up in the sky at night." Keiji replied, holding onto her shoulders, "Seriously, how come she would want something as big as that?" Chloe simply took a deep breath as she leant against his shoulder, still confused about his sister's odd Christmas gift idea.
On the other hand, Ikuko took her coat and put it on as she began walking towards the door. "Iku-sempai!" Hanae called, "Where are you going?"
The greenette turned towards her with a grin. "It's just that I promised I'd come back home early for the Christmas party we are having. And I really don't wanna miss it, since my parents are showing up again."
A soft smile adorned Hanae's face as she watched her sempai leave the shop, carrying her bag and her CureBottle with her.
Merry Christmas to you too, Iku-sempai.
-----------------
"So the next child I should deliver something to is… Hibike Caitlin, from Oriyama."
A silver-haired boy in a red suit looked below his sleigh, to see that he was flying over said city. He chuckled, straightening his hat and smiling at the eight reindeers in front of him.
"Ah, I remember. The girl who wanted the Rumi Raspberry action figure." he said, "All we have to do is get to her house, give her what she wants, and leave for the over 25000 millions of children I have to--"
Suddenly, he heard sputtering noises and noticed the sleigh was out of fuel. And by 'fuel', I mean glitter. Glitter glue. Anyway, the boy cringed as his vehicle and the reindeers paused for very brief seconds…
Before falling to their apparent death with screams.
However, he didn't die or anything, since while the sleigh and reindeers bounced off a house's roof and landed on the snow, the boy fell through the chimney and landed on the living room, next to the Christmas tree.
Tap, tap, tap…
Footsteps could be heard approaching.
Ikuko yawned as she let her hair down, ready to fall asleep, when she tripped over something and fell to the ground. "Owww…" she groaned, standing up and dusting herself off, before noticing what -- or who -- she tripped over.
"No way. Could that be…?"
The boy groggily opened his cyan-blue eyes to look up at the older girl. "No, no cookies, I'm on a diet…" he moaned.
Ikuko blinked twice as she stroked the boy's face. "Sa-Sa-Santa Claus?!" she asked in disbelief, her tree-bark-brown eyes widening.
The boy just smiled at her. "Call me Nicola." he said with a wink.
----------------
(Eyecatch 1: At first, there are pink and black rosebuds. Then, they both bloom to reveal Cure Rosa and Leather Ashes standing on them, as Rosa hugs Ashes with a winkand a tiny PCPP logo appears on the left of the screen.)
(Eyecatch 2: Pittan hops in wearing a Cure Rosa outfit and does some weird poses before getting hit by Ayameko's paper fan. Then the other girls, Lavvie and Lotus laugh as Ayameko grins, Pittan rubs his head while he cries waterfalls, and a tiny PCPP logo appears on the left of the screen.)
----------------
After Ikuko was told of what happened by the bo-- er, Santa-- er, Nicola, she phoned her friends and the mascots telling them of such. When she least expected it, they were all gathered around the real Santa Claus discussing the matters.
"I always thought Santa was a fat old man." Chiara pointed out, staring at Nicola curiously.
Nicola just opened one eye and looked at her with a smile. "Well, the guy whom everybody thinks that is Santa is actually my grandpa. But I hate this name, it's so nonsensical, so people just call me Nicola." he explained weakly.
"Then if you've been working this much every year, why aren't you old, desu?" Lotus questioned.
Hanae then gave the young Santa a steak and put it on his black eye. "Thanks." Nicola smiled at her before turning to the skunk and continuing, "It's just that after I took the job, I stopped aging physically. I look like I'm 18, but in truth I'm very old. I can't remember what age I am at right now."
Chloe sighed, cuddling Nicola's forehead. "Poor little thing… I think he needs a hug." she said with a pout.
However, the peacefulness of that moment was interrupted by a very, VERY angry Pittan. "WHOA WHOA WHOA! STOP THE FLOATIE RIGHT THERE! Santa Claus is injured and weak, while the imaginations of a bunch of children are in risk! It's the end of Christmas~!" he shouted exasperatedly.
Ayameko then got an idea and nudged the bird teasingly. "Not yet, you drama king." she told him, before suggesting, "How about we take on Nikkun's job just for tonight? Then, when all presents are delivered, we'll come back and take him home."
"That sounds like a very nice idea." giggled Chiara, "But how are we gonna do it without being recognized?"
Nicola then stood up, smiling as he turned to Ikuko. "Do you know where my sleigh is?" he asked her.
"I remember seeing a big red wood thing on the backyard. Does that count?" Lavvie pointed out. Nicola simply smirked.
"And how."
----------------
Outside, the five Cures' henshin items were being fueled by the spare glitter paint, which Nicola kept inside a case on his sleigh and only used during emergencies. Nicola himself already knew about Pretty Cure, so he wanted to help.
"…And when you transform, you'll be instantly using all of the glitter paint that will be contained in the bottles, okay?" he instructed.
The five nodded as they closed the visors and looked at each other. After a few seconds, they were ready to transform, holding up their CureBottles and shouting, "Pretty Cure's Holiday Scent! Transmutation, Now!"
Instantly, red and white auras surrounded them, and Lavvie and Lotus watched in amazement as the sparklie stuff happened once again. However, Pittan understands my pain: how come you guys don't get tired of it?
Anyway, this time the girls had brand new Christmas outfits; the actual colors were replaced with red and green, and trimmed with white fur, and they had little bells in front of their ribbons and on their gloves and boots. Their hair and eyes changed too, for all of them; now they were, respectively, white and blue.
"Pinku no Bara no Namae wa, Watashi wa Jorii Rosa!"
"Kiiro no Banirahana no Namae wa, Watashi wa Jorii Banira!"
"Murasaki no Jazumin no Namae wa, Watashi wa Jorii Jazumin!"
"Orenji no Tanjerinhana no Namae wa, Watashi wa Jorii Tanjerin!"
"Midori no Karudamon no Namae wa, Watashi wa Jorii Karudamomo!"
"Purufyuumu Purepi!" the five Jolly Cures shouted, getting into their respective poses. Rosa then twirled and gave a wink with a smile as she completed, "Kurisumasu no yorokobi wa koko ni iru!"
The mascots' eyes shone once the Cures were done with their transformation. "Kawaii~!" they chirped.
Then, the eight of them then climbed onto the sleigh as the reindeers stood back up and adjusted themselves. On the other hand, Nicola fueled the vehicle with the remaining glitter paint from his case.
"We'll try our best to deliver all presents before the sun rises!" Tangerine told the white-haired boy.
"I hope you do so. Ganbatte Purikyua~!" Nicola told them, waving goodbye as the sleigh began raising and quickly flew away from there. The Santa boy then looked down to see he was carrying a small green present box under his arm.
"Good thing I kept Kiyo's gift with me, or else…"
----------------
And man, the Jolly Cures had a lot of work to do.
First, they arrived at the African jungle to deliver a gazelle carcass to a lion cub. However, they had to deal with the cub's parents first… and believe me, it wasn't a pretty sight. Pittan ended up badly bruised and Jasmine couldn't stop laughing at his face. Then, they went to Alaska; the next child was an eskimo girl. They gave her a blazing barbecue stick so that she could be warm.
Up next, they went to India, where a pair of twins was desperately tired of eating the same old hindu food and wanted to know how hamburgers tasted like. Wish granted, the Cures traveled to a small tropical island in the middle of nowhere, to give a native boy a toy cruise ship.
Time past like a blizzard. A good handful of presents was delivered, and the Jolly Cures were heading to their next stop, when Rosa noticed some very familiar buildings below them.
"Something wrong?" Tangerine asked, placing a hand on the leader's forehead.
Rosa took her hand away and nodded with a smile. "We're at the town where petite-soeur and I were born." she sighed.
Indeed, that was their next stop. They had to deliver a small statuette of the actress Jacqueline Beta-Smith to Garren, who was the younger brother of Rosa's old friend Jolie (you know, the one from the first episode).
The sleigh stopped as the Auriville sisters went down the house towards a window, since Jolie's house didn't have any chimneys. They slowly opened the window and tiptoed in, trying their best to pass unnnoticed.
Suddenly, a noise of a flashlight turning on startled them.
"Qui est là?!" a familiar voice, at least to both of them, called out.
Rosa cleared her throat before she answered nervously, "Je suis un des assistants du Père Noël. Est-ce la maison de la famille Archambaut?"
Suddenly, a clear-blue-haired girl walked into the room and smiled at them. "Oh, oui. Vous devez être à la recherche pour mon petit frère Garren. Il est là-bas." Jolie Archambaut told them, pointing towards the bedroom she shared with him.
Vanilla just giggled as she and her sister headed towards the room. "Merci. Vous êtes très gentil." she told Jolie. The three tiptoed inside the room as Rosa placed the Jacqueline Beta-Smith statuette on Garren's bedside.
----------------
Some more presents later, the Jolly Cures were reaching their last stop. And by 'last stop', I mean 'the same place they came from'. Yes, that night's last child was right from Oriyama. And it was…
"Caitlin was listed twice?"
Pittan then facepalmed himself before turning at Rosa. "Rosa-chan, you told us today that she wanted the moon as a gift! That is gonna take all night!" he complained.
"Hold on." Tangerine remembered something, "I remember going to the mall these days, and while I was shopping, I saw three beautiful moon-shaped pendants: one made of white gold, one made of silver, and one that was gold and studded with topazes and turquoises. Maybe…"
A wide smile adorned Rosa's lips as she heard such thing. "You are a genius. How come you didn't mention it before?!"
----------------
And Christmas day at last arrived.
Around the world, many children woke up and checked what Santa Claus, or at least his helpers, gave them. And most of them loved their presents.
In Oriyama, Keiji woke up with a start. After taking a long shower, he noticed that Caitlin was still sleeping. But she was also smiling. The pitch-black-haired boy looked down to see the moon pendant of white gold dangling from her neck, sparkling with the sunlight.
Dreams do come true after all.
----------------
(ED: "My Dear Friend" - Uchiyae Yuka)
----------------
NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW:
Pittan: I want butterscotch now…
Lotus: Pittan's gone, desu. We have to find him.
Ayameko: Too good that stupidhead's gone!
Chloe: Ayamii-chan! Don't waste your time bragging!
Pittan: Who-who-who are you?!
???: Simply a friend…
Chloe: Next time on Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy: "Lost in Oriyama! We Gotta Find Pittan!" Hanekaeshita anata wo uketomeru!