It was a Friday afternoon and Gogo could be seeing running as fast as she possibly could towards her brothers' school, panting madly as she did. The way towards the school had little to no people crowding around the elementary school and that was likely because school had ended about an hour ago for them. It reminded Gogo of when she was younger and would have to wait for her parents to come pick her and her older sister up when class long over. The sky was tinted a faint orange as the sun started to set and a few clouds were starting to appear. Gogo was more than ready to catch her breath, but she was already very late now since she had club today.

When she got to the school doors, she leaned against the door for a few seconds before making a mad dash into the school. When she got to the classroom where they boys were supposed to be, she found her three brothers playing with action figures that belonged to the classroom and the student-teacher who'd usually wait behind with them when Gogo's parents couldn't pick them up on time.

"Gogo, you look beat." The student-teacher remarked as she removed her gaze from the newspaper she was reading. The student-teacher was a tall girl with ivory skin who appeared to be in her early twenties. Her light caramel brown hairs cascaded to her shoulders and she wore a pale pink button shirt with a grey pencil skirt.

"I really didn't want to keep you waiting." Gogo said in between pants as she rested her head against the doorway," Alright, tell Ms. Nishino good night and wish her luck on her shift at the cafe today."

The trio complied without hesitation, saying goodbye in a polite manner that Gogo found a little strange since they seldom did what she said immediately. Was it because they weren't at home? No, it must've been because they didn't want to be seen as little brats to the pretty Ms. Nishino.

"Is that why you rushed here?" Hinari asked as she collected her things," I actually took the day off, sorry I didn't tell you."

Gogo just shook her head and replied with," You know what? It's alright. I could always use the extra exercise."

"You're all sweaty though." Reo pointed out as the four of them walked towards the doorway, causing Gogo to stick her tongue out at him. The five of them walked out together as soon as Hinari collected her things. As they exited the school, Gogo and Hinari began to talk with each other about casual topics like the weather and school.

"Any plans for the weekend Gogo?" Hinari asked as they left the school building.

"Um, head to the gym." Gogo answered bashfully, knowing what kind of response she was going to receive from the group.

"What?!" Her trio of brothers guffawed as Gogo instantly dropped her gaze to her feet in a somewhat timid fashion.

"But you're in track club and you just ran all the way here, I think that's plenty of exercise already." Hinari pointed out thoughtfully, though Gogo was just as quick to defend herself.

"On average, a kid my age needs an hour of exercise everyday." Gogo countered," Not to mention, this is more for me get stronger."

"Oh I see, well, try not to pull any muscles." Hinari pleaded just before the two groups were about to split paths," Have a good weekend!"

The four of them waved goodbye to Hinari and during their walk back home the three boys chatted about the new video game they just got while Gogo was thinking about her plans of going to the gym tomorrow.

While she was well-aware that heading off to the gym was much needed for both her and Rumi, her mind still quareled against the thought, listening maybe a dozen reasons as to why this wouldn't go well. There might be too many people, she'll see someone she knew from school and have to string together a reason aside that excluded the whole Pretty Cure thing as to why she was there, or worse, she'll wake up late and miss going to the gym with Rumi altogether.

Gogo stretched her arms out, enjoying the thought of not going to the gym after a long day at the track, maybe Hinari did have a good point. But then, her mind then went back to when Rumi showed off the gash she received during one of the Pretty Cure fights, alarming her greatly as her eyes widened. Gogo shook her head as if it trying to rid of herself of the image that seemed to be burned into her brain.

"I can't just pick and choose what I want to do in regards to this whole Pretty Cure thing now, it's a commitment not some kind of hobby." Gogo reminded herself, a near anxious expression appearing on her face as her mind once again was projecting that image of Rumi's giant, unsightly gash.

When the four of them came home, they initially assumed they were home alone but then, they all saw a pair of shoes, a beige pair of flats to be exact, sitting on the shoe rack.

"Saori's home!" The three boys exclaimed just before they were about to rush upstairs, though Gogo stood in front of the stairway to prevent them from doing so.

Gogo shook her head as she said," You're not going to be bothering her when she just got home for the weekend, she's probably sleeping or something so just give her an hour and then you can talk with her as much as you want."

The three boys seemed mildly upset by Gogo's demand but agreed as they went to play their video game. Gogo went up to her room, wondering if she had been a little too harsh when she said that.

"I'm only looking out for Saori. These last few weeks she's been caught sleeping on the couch or in her room the minute she gets home. I guess university's really been draining for her lately." Gogo thought to herself as she headed up to her room.

When Gogo swung open the door, she seemed greatly unimpressed, eyes narrowed onto none other than her sister fast asleep on her bed with her face down onto Gogo's pillow. A few moments later, Saori woke up, her glasses tangled into her burgundy hair having been pushed onto her forehead and stretched before acknowledging Gogo's presence. After she finished stretching she rubbed her eyes and smeared whatever makeup had been around her eyes and looked around the room, trying to remember why she was in here.

"Have you seen my jean jacket? I couldn't find it in my dorm this week so I was wondering if you borrowed it and I kinda started looking around when I couldn't find it in my room..." Saori said sheepishly with a yawn before she adjusted her glasses back on her face.

Gogo walked over to her computer chair, not even willing to comment on how Saori managed to doze off in Gogo's room just by looking for her jacket and tossed a coat that had been laying there towards Saori.

"Thanks." Saori said as she scratched her head and stood up, just about to leave before she looked at the calendar on Gogo's door and checked out her plans for the weekend," You're going to the gym? Can I come?"

"I don't know, aren't you even the slightest bit tired after this week? Plus, I thought you'd much rather to anything that had to do with the gym considering-"

"-But I haven't gone to the gym in a few days because of all my homework so my body is begging for the exercise." Saori claimed," Plus, I could help you work out! Whatever you want to gain from your gym session, I can help tailor just the right exercise for you!"

"She's got a good point, but how I do tell her I'm trying to get stronger to fight better as a magical girl?" Gogo thought to herself," Ok, fine, but...don't hold back and try and make this exercise easy for me. I'm trying to achieve a certain something in possibly short amount of time."

"So who's the lucky one?" Saori jeered as Gogo turned beet red.

"It's not like that! I'm trying to...to...improve my gym mark! It's dropped and I wanna build up my endurance too." Gogo improvised, with Saori nodding in understanding.

"So, are you going by yourself?" Saori asked just before she was about to leave the room.

"No, one of my classmates will be there." Gogo answered, worried of what Saori's reaction might've and hoping it wasn't going to be over-the-top.

Saori did appeared to be quite surprised, thrilled even, that Gogo was going to do something with a friend, let alone at the gym. It almost made her want to congratulate Gogo but she didn't in favour of suggesting something else to her.

"If you really want, you could invite some other classmates. I find going to the gym more fun when I'm going with a small group." Saori stated," Me and my group buy smoothies together after the gym."

Gogo nodded and Saori left the room and went into her own bedroom.

Her bedroom was of course a gigantic mess after she had started looking for her jacket but she didn't seemed to mind. As long as she could stow away all the other clothes under her bed or something she'd be good. She then laid on her bed and started looking through her phone and thought about how Gogo mentioned her classmate coming with her tomorrow.

"She's seems a bit different today." Saori commented aloud with her eyes glued to her phone," Maybe it's because of that classmate."

The next day, Gogo was standing outside of the gym, clad in the gym clothes she opted for instead of her school gym uniform. She wore a pale orange form-fitting t shirt with a baggy pair of navy shorts that reached her knees. She always found the shorts she wore for school to be a little, short so getting a chance to work out in her own clothes crossed off one of the potential issues that could've arose had she worn her uniform.

Gogo was on lookout for Rumi and a few other girls she managed to convince to come with her to the gym today. Though, the 'journey' to get them here was quite a treacherous one as Gogo looked back on it.

Last night, she messaged the only three people she could name off the top of her head to come with her and of course, each invite took maybe about twenty minutes or so for Gogo to send due to her questioning whether this was a good idea. Each sent message was the result of her finger slipping against the screen and lucky for her, the three she messaged did respond back quickly, expressing interest and declaring they'd come with.

"So, aside from Rumi, I ended up inviting Yukina, Masumi and Hanami, who said she'd bring Michi and Chitose." Gogo reminded herself as she kept an eye out for the girls," Strangely enough, Yukina and Hanami seemed over-joyed at the thought of the gym, I think."

The first to appear was Yukina, then Hanami along with Michi and Masumi. The girls arrived in their normal street clothes with gym bags slung over their shoulders.

"So, is there anyone left?" Masumi asked, somewhat surprised that Gogo was able to bring this many people together.

"Um, just one." Gogo responded, her eyes on a car that had just pulled up. The car door opened and Rumi came out from the car, wearing capri length yoga pants and a pale pink tank top. Her hair was tied into a very small ponytail and she wore a pair of navy blue high-top shoes. Even today, she decided to wear makeup, but kept it as a bare minimum with her lips painted a peach colour and her eye shadow a pale brown.

Gogo didn't appear to be all that shocked that Rumi wore makeup to the gym but she was quite surprised to see Hanami, Chitose and Masumi's reaction to Rumi's arrival.

"So pretty~" Hanami swooned as Rumi took off her sunglasses.

Masumi and Chitose scrutinized Rumi, appearing to be almost envious of Rumi and her cute outfit as they stared down to their clothes.

"I just brought my stupid school uniform!" The two of them to themselves.

"Text me when you're done." The boy in the driver's seat said tonelessly. He appeared maybe a year or two old than Rumi. He also did resemble her greatly with his ink black hair and pale skin though he was bespectacled and had grey eyes instead of green.

"Ok, see you later!" Rumi said as she closed the car door. The boy drove off and Gogo stepped in front of Rumi as if to introduce her to the group.

"This is Takai Rumi, she's a third year." Gogo said as Rumi waved to the girls. Rumi smiled to the girls confidently, though she was quite the fretful mess on the inside right now. There were a lot of Gogo's acquaintances here and it seemed they all knew each other, so it left her wondering if they would include her or not. But, even if they didn't like, she told herself it was fine. She didn't need their approval to just work out.

"Do you really go to Nakagawa?" Chitose questioned, in marvel of Rumi appearance. Chitose, Hanami and Masumi were treating Rumi as if she was a celebrity rather than an acquaintance, much to her surprise.

"Was that your boyfriend?" Hanami asked.

"Are you seriously friends with Mitsugi?" Masumi interrogated, receiving a glare from Gogo.

"Yeah I am and that was just my brother Kei." Rumi said sheepishly before Yukina spoke up.

"Since everyone is here, shall we head in?" Yukina suggested, with the rest of the group nodding in response.

The gym was indeed full of people, but it wasn't as crowded as Gogo originally imagined. Luckily, the gym was quite spacious as well, with treadmills and bikes on one end of the gym and weights on the other. The girls also noticed that there was a stairway leading to the lower level of the gym too.

"There's even a pool here too!" Chitose exclaimed as she dashed up towards a sign next to the stairway.

"Sounds nice, but I don't think any of us even brought our swim suits." Yukina pointed out sheepishly, before Chitose unbuttoned two buttons on her shirt.

"Or so you thought!" Chitose retorted as she revealed to the group she was wearing her swimsuit underneath with Yukina and Rumi looking at her in bewilderment while the rest of the group gawked at her incredulously before she bolted down the stairwell.

After watch Chitose make her exit, the rest of the group looked towards Gogo, who didn't seem to catch on as to why.

Finally Gogo caught on and said," You guys can just do whatever you want here, or work out with me I guess..." as Saori walked over to the girls, clad in her gym clothes.

"Uh by the way, my sister Saori will be here today to help us. She's in college studying to be a personal trainer, or something like that..." Gogo introduced shakily as she held her hands in Saori's direction.

The group offered Saori a mass of friendly expressions and Saori smiled back to them. The group then began to decide on what to do at the gym finally, with the group splitting up as it appeared they all had certain things they were more willing to do then others. Three groups had emerged from the large groups that were consisted of Hanami and Michi working out on the treadmills, Masumi and Yukina using the pull down machines and Gogo and Rumi just lifting weights for the moment. Saori just worked out on her own for now while keeping an eye on the rest of the group, making sure nobody was doing anything unsafe.

As the girls continued their workout, Gogo noticed more and more people flooding into the gym, and she couldn't help but take note of the fact that some people were eyeing her suspiciously as they walked past. She narrowed her eyes at them, well aware of why they met her with looks like those.

"They think a noodle like me is out of place here in a gym full of meatheads..." Gogo thought to herself as she lifted the eight-pound weight in her hand thoughtlessly," Wait, I can't let their staring get to me! I'm not here for their judgment. Who knows, I may even be saving their lives one day!"

Just then, as Gogo got all fired up by her thoughts, she started to lifted the weights very quickly, worrying Rumi.

"Gogo, you're gonna hurt yourself like that." Rumi warned before Gogo realized that she was lifting quicker than before. Gogo reddened a bit and resumed her weight lifting at normal speed. She then took a moment to look around the room to see what the rest of her classmates were doing. They were still working out and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Still, the fact that most of her classmates came today really did surprise Gogo as she originally intended to have just herself, Rumi and Ms. Hightower here. Gogo was also quite surprised by the fact that Saori really had been right about how bringing friends to the gym made things feel less intimidating.

"Say, wasn't Ms. Hightower supposed to come with us too?" Gogo reminded Rumi as she continued to lift the weights, though it seemed Rumi wasn't listening to her with her eyes fixated on the glass doors to the buildings.

Having not received a response from Rumi, Gogo looked over to her where her teammate's focus was presently and her eyes widened at the sight.

Sitting right in front of the glass doors was Ms. Hightower in her fairy form, just waiting to be seen by the girls. Luckily for her, it appeared no one else in the gym had taken notice of her yet as most were too busy working out anyways. Gogo shook her head and sighed as she stood up and looked both ways, making sure no one was looking at her and motioned Rumi to follow her out of the gym.

When the two of them exited the gym, Gogo knelt to Lulu seeming quite unimpressed as Lulu waved a friendly wave to her.

" "Morning ladies!" Lulu greeted happily, with Gogo continuing to glare at her.

"Why are you in that form?" Gogo asked in displeasure with her eyes narrowed at Lulu.

Lulu didn't even seemed the slightest bit offended nor phased by Gogo's question and simply answered with," I was going to help train with you in my other form but, I see you brought others from school today and didn't want to have you construct some tall tale for them that would only risk getting your cover blown. It'd be easier saying you found a plush bunny on the street rather than saying you invited your teacher just because, wouldn't you agree? Not to mention, it is easier for me like this if I supervise you girls in this form."

"Why is that?" Rumi questioned.

"On weekends I usually take this form as constantly taking on my other form can get tiring. Think of it like, wearing contacts for me being that form. It's practical and helps me in it's own way, but prolonged hours can either drain me of my energy faster or make me revert into this form unexpectedly. Normally, I don't go longer than twelve hours in this form." Lulu explained.

"I see, well it's shame since you won't be able to exercise like that." Rumi pointed out as she took Lulu into her arms as the two of them stood up.

"Was that her plan all along?" Gogo thought as they walked back into the gym.

Gogo and Rumi resumed their workout and this time, they switched to the treadmills while Hanami and Michi went to the pull down machines. Gogo took out her aiPod and put in her headphones, knowing that trying to engage in conversation with Rumi on these machines would get quite exhausting soon enough. As the two worked on the treadmills, Gogo stared at Saori who had began designing a workout for two women who appear to be middle-aged. Saori seemed to be enjoying herself as she instructed the two women on what stretches would've been best for them. Gogo also took note of how attentive the women seemed and it appeared to be either because they were serious about getting in shape or they really were drawn in by what Saori had to say.

"Maybe Saori should get a job here after college, she'd be a really good fit here." Gogo thought as she continued to jog on the machine," Soon, I'll have to figure out what to do with myself too..."

Saori then walked up to Gogo and gestured her to take off her earphones. Gogo did as told and Saori said to her,

"It's almost lunch time, how about you get your friends something to eat?" Saori said as she held out a twenty dollar bill in front of her. Gogo nodded and turned off the treadmill, looking over her shoulder to see if Rumi was interested in coming with her.

"Coming?" Gogo asked, before she started to wonder if that sounded too casual for Rumi. Rumi nodded as she turned off her treadmill and followed Gogo to get their bags before they left the gym.

As they started walking to the convenience store down the road, Gogo started to freeze up again as she found herself stuck with just Rumi at her side. Gogo had a feeling that Rumi may have gotten the impression that she didn't like her so fretfully, she tried to start a conversation.

"The gym's really packed today huh?" Gogo stated as she stretched out her arms," I'd never expect so many people there today!"

Rumi smiled and responded politely with," Yeah, me too." as they continued to walk in yet more silence.

Rumi seemed to enjoy just looking at the scenery around though there wasn't actually much to see here except a strip of stores, so maybe Rumi wasn't really enjoying herself but rather, trying to not initiate any form of conversation right now. However, Gogo didn't seem ready to throw in the towel just yet.

"Don't let that discourage you, if you really want to be her friend, than you really have to try harder!" Gogo reminded herself as she stared at Rumi who's gaze had been set on a mural," So, how's that bruise of your's doing?"

"Oh, well..." Rumi began as she lifted up her arm and showed Gogo the spot where the bruise from a few days ago was," It's cleared up quite a bit, but it's mostly scabbing off now. You haven't had any bad gashes too right?"

"Me? Uh, nothing too major. It's just been sore muscle here to scraped knee and so forth. Nothing like what you had. That looked...well it was hard to look at to be honest." Gogo confessed sheepishly, with Rumi laughing a little in response.

"Yeah, I agree with you but to be honest...I bruise pretty easily, so I guess you could say I was just try to help prove your claim." Rumi explained as her gaze dropped to her feet for a split second before she offered Gogo a somewhat forced smile," Hey, do you wanna get the girls smoothies?"

"Maybe, why do you ask?" Gogo interrogated as the two of them stopped walking for a moment.

"Well, there is a smoothie place here." Rumi informed her as she pointed to the smoothie parlour right in front of them. Gogo seemed a bit surprised that she didn't noticed it until Rumi literally pointed it out to her.

"It does sound like a good idea, but I don't know what flavours they're going to want so it might just be a waste." Gogo pointed out, though the idea of getting a smoothie did seem to entice her greatly, to the point of her stomach rumbling all of a sudden. Gogo crimsoned and glowered to her stomach while Rumi giggled.

"We could just get smoothies for ourselves and hide the evidence when we get back." Rumi suggested, with Gogo narrowing her eyes at her in response.

"Where are we suppose to hide the- Oh, never mind I got it." Gogo said as she walked up to the smoothie parlour and swung the doors open, Rumi following after her.

Once they got their smoothies the two of them sat outside at the table in front of the parlour, in a silence that Gogo considered comfortable since they were preoccupied with drinking their smoothies right now. Gogo sighed a breath of relief after one large sip, this time of quiet gave her a chance to think of something, anything to say to Rumi so that she wouldn't have to let another awkward silence form between the two of them.

"So far, I got plans for summer, a potential teammate for our team and maybe even just telling her about Onyx. If I can just think of some kind of seg way for each topic I should be-"

"You know Gogo, I'm very surprised that you brought so many girls from school to our gym meet today." Rumi voiced, catching Gogo off-guard as she hastily gulped down yet another huge sip.

"Yeah, me too. I didn't even think I could convince one person to come, let alone a whole group." Gogo sputtered before considering what else Rumi could've been implying," Was it too many people? I didn't really think it'd be an issue, Saori just said that it'd be easier with a group and so I went with what she said and-"

"It's ok! I don't mind at all." Rumi reassured as she waved a hand of dismissal," If anything, it makes me a bit jealous of you."

Rumi started looking down at her smoothie, hoping her words didn't sound as bitter as she intended them to be, though Gogo appeared to be dumb-founded by the thought.

"Jealous of me? Why?" Gogo asked in pure confusion.

"A lot of people were open to the idea of hanging out with you, as if you were a magnetic force pulling them in. I wish I was like that. I've always kept to myself, I just repel others. I'm sure if anyone were to give me the time of day, I'd just make a bad impression of myself. I always thought that if I actually did make an effort, I could make friends with anyone I wanted to but, I wonder if those words ring true in reality." Rumi thought aloud absently.

"I've been wondering why despite having been around the others less than Rumi, I still have a harder time speaking with her. I get it now, it's because she's in her own league. Her thoughts are deep, it's like she's drowning in them. And it's goes unnoticed by most." Gogo said in her head.

Rumi chuckled as if to dispel the mood between the two of them she created and said," I'm in truth kinda shy if you couldn't tell and conversations aren't really my strong suit. So, I hope I didn't seem like I was uninterested in talking to you, you're actually very interesting Gogo!"

"Um, good to know." Gogo responded blankly before Lulu popped her head out of Rumi's bag.

Lulu seemed oddly tranquil, and unaware of her surroundings as if she had been asleep the entire time as she asked," When did we get here?"

"And she said was going to supervise us!" Gogo thought to herself incredulously as she stared at Lulu, while Rumi looked down at the bunny with sympathy in her eyes.

"I guess it must've been boring to just be watching us, or perhaps you were up late last night." Rumi wondered, with Lulu nodding in response as a result.

"I had a whole stack of papers to grade, and I knew I couldn't just leave them all for today since we had plans." Lulu explained after drawing out a large sigh with her eyes shut.

Gogo watched both Rumi and Lulu for a short period of time, saying absolutely nothing before Rumi stood up to signal that it was time to leave. Gogo hastily got up after her and the pair started to walk to the convenience store. Gogo and Rumi ended up buying granola bars for the group, having no other choice since everything else seemed either too unhealthy or too expensive for them.

Rumi seemed interested in the sour candy cups, but Gogo insisted against it as they went to the cash register. When they got to the register, Gogo thought about the look in Rumi's eye as she stared at the sour candy cup. It wasn't exactly a look of desire she held in her eyes, but rather curiosity, as if she hadn't seen it before.

Once they left the convenience store, Gogo then questioned," Have you ever had a sour candy cup before?"

"Not that I can recall. I never really eat candy all that much." Rumi explained as she tried to think of a time where she did have sour candy, but nothing came up.

"Oh I see, your parents don't allow you to eat sweets or something right?" Gogo asked nonchalantly, trying to veil her surprise in the fact that Rumi hadn't had sour candy before.

"Something like that I guess, but my brother's more into that kind of candy. I'm more of a chocolate person if anything." Rumi answered," I used to be really obsessed with that hazelnut spread, I forget what it's called now, but I couldn't go a meal without it."

"Is she talking about...Nutella?" Gogo wondered before she started laughing, causing Rumi to look at her in suspicion.

"You don't strike me as someone who would've suffered from the Nutella addiction." Gogo admitted sheepishly, with Rumi laughing with her now.

"Something tells me that Mitsugi also had an addiction to Nutella too~" Lulu stated from inside the bag in a singsong voice.

Irritated, Gogo claimed," It's perfectly normal to have a Nutella phase!"

"Then why were you so surprised to see that Takai had one too?" Lulu pointed out, only making Gogo angrier.

"That's only because-! Hey, are you feeling ok?" Gogo asked all of a sudden as Lulu's expression shifted greatly. She wore an expression of distress once the three of them neared the gym. Gogo and Rumi looked up and found that the gym looked normal, just as they left it, but Lulu's expression was making them wary.

"Is there an Endopath somewhere in the gym?" Rumi questioned as she and Gogo stood at the entrance.

"There's some kind of energy, like a whole group of Endopaths radiating out from here..." Lulu warned, the bad feeling she was getting from the gym only becoming stronger with each passing second.

Inside the gym, everyone had had gone missing and many of the machines had been turned into Endopaths. In the center of it all stood a man who appeared to be in his young adult years and had very pale skin with short powder blue hair. He wore a sleeveless navy blue shirt with white and blue arm-warmers along with slate grey pants. The man stared at the room, appearing to be waiting for someone as he glanced over towards the doors.

"After all this time, my chance to meet the Pretty Cure finally arrives." He mused to himself," But I wonder if they'll be able to put up a fight against this many Endopaths."

"I'm telling if we waste anymore time on this brat, Castra won't be happy." Onyx warned her teammates as she paced around in deep thought in a cold dark room. Nijoux and the man sat down on a lounge chair in front of her, the former not seeming motivated after Onyx's little speech.

"But it's not like she's ever happy. She's always fussy and keeps saying we aren't trying hard enough." Nijoux lamented as she examined her nails," We do what she says and every time, no matter what, she starts lecturing us on how we're a total disgrace to her. Speaking of attacks, who's going today?"

Onyx replied without a trace of uncertainty voice saying," It's going to be me."

Nijoux narrowed her eyes at Onyx and pointed out to her in a somewhat agitated tone," You know, Storm hasn't gone yet."

"And what's stopping him? I only volunteered because he hadn't spoken up." Onyx said as she set her gaze on Storm," Perhaps he's afraid of meeting the Pretty Cure."

Storm's gaze shifted to the side as he said," They can't be that frightening if you've yet to defeat them, despite already encountering only one of them a whole two times. I've heard they've multiplied in your 'absence'. So maybe I should go today and finish what you could call 'your job'."

Onyx seemed quite upset, but she didn't said anything and turned on her heel in an instant as she left the room.

Nijoux smiled a near gallant smile while turning her body towards Storm as Onyx came out of eyesight saying," Now you've done it. But it's ok dear. Once those Pretty Cure encounter us together, they won't have any of choice but to surrender."

Storm smiled bashfully and said to Nijoux," I was actually considering going by myself today though, since you've already gone twice now. But don't worry, I'll be fine in my own."

Nijoux was genuinely surprised and only said," Alright then, good luck."

"Now then let's see what these Pretty Cure are like..." Storm said as the door finally bursted open, revealing Gogo and Rumi in the doorway.

"Ah, a new guy." Gogo commented in surprise," Anyways, you don't have the right to do things like this to innocent people!"

"Draining them of their happiness for your own selfish reasons is unforgivable!" Rumi shouted before the two them held their lockets up high.

"Pretty Cure, Turn that frown upside down!" The two of them cried out.

"A warm ray of sunshine to brighten up your day, Cure Joy!" Joy announced.

"A soothing sensation to bring you at peace, Cure Delight!" Delight announced.

Storm smirked and said in a quiet voice," You don't honestly think you two stand a chance against an army of Endopaths this big, do you?"

Joy and Delight looked around themselves, not realizing just how many Endopaths were surrounding them until now. Their backs were against each other as they stared down their opponents. Treadmills, weights, pull down machines, near every machine in the gym had been transformed into an Endopath in a short amount of time. The feat was impressive but of course, it still seemed intimidating, and thinking about how this guy might've even made Endopaths from their friends made Joy's heart feel ready to sink.

"Come on, this was what we were training for all day wasn't it?" Delight called out as she leapt up high in front of a group of Endopaths," Pretty Cure,Effervescent Beam!"

Her attack was enough to blind the group of Endopaths momentarily and Delight did a backwards flip, landing on one of the few unaffected treadmills in the gym.

"Guess it's my turn then," Joy declared as she darted up to the other group of Endopaths and jumped up high," Pretty Cure, Vivacious spark!"

One half of the group she was aiming for dodged, much to her surprise, and the other half shielded themselves from her attack. The group of Endopaths that dodged charged towards her in an instant while Joy was still in midair.

"That can't be..." Joy griped as she gritted her teeth, trying to figure out what her next move should be.

Storm watched the battle, not the slightest bit impressed by the fight the girls were putting up as he kept quiet.

"So these were the girls that the brat and kitten couldn't defeat, after going against twice." Storm thought to himself, eyebrows raised as he watched Delight get throw into a window while Joy was in the hands of an Endopath," Pathetic."

Joy writhed around in the grasp of the Endopath, kicking her legs around as much as possible while she tried to push herself out from the Endopath's grip with her arms. Her attempts felt futile and she was clearly lack in upper body strength, her arms wobbling about as she tried to push herself free. Joy looked over to Delight, and felt useless as she watched the white-clad Cure dust herself off and pay no mind to a scrape that appeared on her knee.

"Is this all happening because we're just using our magic again?" Joy questioned quietly as she watched Delight plunge back into battle. Joy shook her head and decided enough was enough. No more relying on magic for real, now was the time to really fight back.

"Let me go right now!" Joy shouted as she banged her fists repeatedly on the Endopath's hand. The Endopath actually did let go of her after a few moments and drew it's hurt hand back instantly. Joy was astonished to see that just a few punches were enough to make it recoil and as she landed back on her feet, she got an idea.

"Maybe this won't be as hard as we thought..." Joy said to herself quietly.

Joy sprinted over towards one the Endopaths standing in front of a larger group, as if it was leading them and Joy slid down, grabbed a hold of it's leg and knocked it off it's feet. The fall of that lead Endopath caused the rest of the team to fall as well and as Joy stood up, she brushed her hands and looked down at the group in bewilderment.

"They're just like bowling pins..." Joy remarked before swiftly turning her head towards Delight to inform her," Delight, they're weaker when separated!"

Delight nodded having got the message and tested out Joy's logic by delivering a kick to the nearest Endopath's face and sent it to the other side of the gym. Delight was just as surprised as Joy and even a bit excited now knowing that this gave them a major advantage if they acted quickly.

Joy and Delight kept delivering punches towards as many Endopaths as they could and each time one got was knocked down, another came in it's place to impose a fight. The Cures didn't entirely mind though since these one-on-one fights were literally lasting for only seconds and it appeared their numbers were dropping faster than their stamina was.

Just then, one of the last standing Endopaths grabbed a hold of Delight's leg and dangled her in front of itself, making it harder for Joy to attack.

"If I just swing down and grab it by the leg again, there's no guarantee that Delight can escape with that many Endopaths around." Joy reminded herself," Hey, I wonder if that would work."

Joy made eye contact with Delight and discreetly pointed upwards. Delight looked in the direction where Joy pointed and caught on to the plan that Joy had in mind. Joy started running towards the Endopath that had got a hold of Delight and just before she sled down to grab it's leg, she put one of her hands up in the air and shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Vivacious Spark!"

"What is she trying to do, attack her teammate?" Storm scoffed with his eyes narrowed at Joy.

Joy's attack had bounce off of one of the suspended strip lights in the gym and just before the attack was sent to the rest of the Endopaths, Delight leapt up and grabbed on the strip light beside the one that Joy's attack bounced off of. Joy was able to dodge her own attack in time and the collision from her attack along with the Endopaths falling down like dominoes against each other was enough to tire them out for good. Not only did it tire them out, the reflected attack managed to do it's job and was cracked the black star embedded onto each Endopath.

"Now, Delight!" Joy shouted.

"With pleasure," Delight responded as she leapt down from the strip light," However, with this many Endopaths, maybe it'd be best if we purified them all together."

"Uh, yeah, that's what I meant." Joy chuckled stiffly as the two of them positioned a hand in front of the Endopath army.

"Pretty Cure, Jovial Elation!" The two of them shouted in unison, turning the area around them a pale yellow and white in mid-sentence. An array of yellow, orange, white and blue lights then appeared and erased the black starts completely on each and every one of the Endopaths.

Though they were restored to regular gym equipment, only one glossy white charm was left in the gym.

"No wonder they were so damn weak, I bet they were all formed by just one black star!" Joy lamented as she held the charm up to the light, quite unimpressed with amount of charms received today.

"So would you say that all of the Endopath's strength from today was equal to the one from last time?" Delight questioned.

"Probably." Joy muttered as she and Delight de-transformed, with Lulu hopping towards them.

"Good job today girls, it seems your efforts really did pay off." Lulu praised, though Gogo wasn't buying it.

"These Endopaths were just weaker. " Gogo reminded her," We'll just stronger from here though, I hope."

"So that guy from today...he's new? Are there are more members aside from him and Nijoux?" Rumi questioned as Gogo started walking towards the gym's lower level stairway in search of the people who were in the gym.

"Yeah one more, a stuck-up chick named Onyx. You'll meet her soon enough." Gogo assured just as the two of the went to the pool and found everyone who was at the gym before huddled around Chitose in a circle.

"What happened to her?" Gogo asked as one man started wrapping a bandaged around her ankle.

"She's got a slight sprain, might've been from running...but she's been keeping a tight lip about it for the last ten minutes." The man explained as he shot her a look.

"Well...I may've got a little too excited and made a mad dash towards the pool when I saw it. I also may or may not have just shrugged it off and started swimming..." Chitose confessed sheepishly.

"You probably made it worse." The man deadpanned her.

"So you all came here to her aid?" Rumi said in surprise as she looked around the group.

"We didn't know what to do so we asked everyone at the gym here and told them it was urgent." Hanami explained.

"But I'm fine now, thanks to Mr. Doctor over here!" Chitose reassured cheerfully, while the man bandaging her looked at her in irritation," Plus I had fun today, it'd be cool to do it again, you know, once my leg gets better."

"Yeah, I'd like to as well." Yukina agreed, with Hanami and Masumi nodding with her.

"Well Gogo, looks like you've got yourself a gym group." Saori remarked as she put a firm hand on Gogo's shoulder," So when shall we hang out next?"

Gogo reddened a bit, annoyed that she had been put on the spot like that as she stammered out," Uh, um...soon I guess, whenever you guys would like or whenever we're all available..."

"Sounds good to me!" Saori responded brightly with the group nodding with her.

"G-great..." Gogo replied, an awkward looking, but genuine smile appearing on her face as she looked at the group before her.