It was getting warmer these days as summer was creeping up. At last, the school term was coming to a close but for Gogo and Rumi, they had a feeling they wouldn't be able to unwind and enjoy their summer the way they usually did. It was lunchtime and the courtyard of the school was packed with students who chose to take advantage of the nice and have their lunch outside. Gogo was convinced to have lunch with her fellow members from her track-club while Rumi and Ms. Hightower had lunch in Rumi's usual spot.
Today, Rumi was surprised to find that her beloved spot hadn't been stolen from her on this lovely day, as it had happened to her to her before on days like this. Perhaps now, people just knew better than to take the spot that she always sat at everyday. Rumi and Ms. Hightower ate their lunches in silence, the only sound filling the air around them being the distant voices of students in the courtyard.
After the two of them finished their lunches, Ms. Hightower was the one to break the silence saying," So, another Endopath showed up at the amusement park?"
Rumi nodded, which led to Ms. Hightower commenting," That must have a big mess. Guessing it wasn't the easiest thing to fight with either"
"That's what I said!" Rumi responded,"At least Gogo had a plan though. Otherwise things really could have gotten out of hand that day."
nodded slowly and stared at the ground for a few moments. Rumi looked at her with a somewhat pained expression on her face. She could tell that Ms. Hightower must've been feeling guilty for not being there.
"But, it's not like the day was all bad! You missed out, Gogo and I had so fun at the amusement park! Maybe, we could all go together next year!" Rumi suggested brightly. Ms. Hightower smiled a small smile at Rumi's offer but then a thought came to her.
"Takai, I assume you have some ideas on what your going to do after high-school right?" Ms. Hightower asked casually.
Rumi bit her lip and slowly she said," I've been considering a bunch of stuff; I could go into Fashion Design, or Interior Design or maybe even Esthetics...I dunno, there's a lot things I'm interested in, so I guess I'll go with whatever I feel works best for me."
Ms. Hightower nodded in agreement and the silence formed again.
A few moments later, the wind began to pick up and the two of them heard a voice shouting. The voice grew louder as a girl appeared running after some scattered sheets of paper. The sheets were caught by Ms. Hightower's face. Irritated, Ms. Hightower removed the pages away from her faces, giving Rumi and herself a better view of them. On the pages were very detailed drawings of lush landscapes with many girls dressed like princesses on them.
"Just what the heck is this?" Ms. Hightower said as she squinted at the pages, while Rumi admired the rendering of the drawings.
The girl chasing the papers stopped in front of Rumi and Ms. Hightower, eyes wide with fear as she realized the two of them were looking at the pages.
"Could I have those back?" The girl asked nervously, her voice soft but shaky as she watched Ms. Hightower and Rumi look at the drawings.
"These are beautiful! Did you draw these yourself?" Rumi asked as she gathered the drawings and gave them back to the girl.
The girl seemed a bit confused, like she wasn't expecting Rumi to react like that.
"Would you...like to know more about them?" The girl cautiously asked.
"Sure!" Rumi answered cheerfully.
"She calls herself the Storybook Princess?" Gogo asked as she sprawled out on the bench where Rumi had lunch at. It was after-school now, and Rumi just couldn't wait to tell Gogo about what happened earlier to her and Ms. Hightower.
"Yup! Her real name is Yua Akagami, she's a second-year, and her art is so pretty and colourful and you just had to see it Gogo! Everything she drew looked so sparkly and girly and full of life! None of her princesses look the same and they all wear pretty dresses and have really nice crowns and Yua even asked if she could model a princess after me!" Rumi explained in glee.
"So you're ok with being a princess, but being an alien doesn't work for you?" Gogo questioned sarcastically.
"Who wouldn't want to be a princess though?" Rumi asked, imaging how Yua would draw her princess persona.
"Hm, my brothers, probably your brother, myself..." Gogo listed while Rumi was still picturing the kind of princess Yua would portray her as.
"Maybe she gets locked up in a tower for fifteen years and learns to pick locks and then she becomes a thief who steals from the rich and gives to the poor! Or maybe, she's a princess who likes to leave her castle and does odd jobs for the people of her kingdom! I hope she draws her really really pretty, with makeup that goes with the dress- Or! She has different dresses and her makeup is always coordinated with her outfits!
"Rumi? You got a visitor..." Gogo said in a mildly agitated, deadpan tone that snapped Rumi back to Earth. Standing by the opposite edge of the bench was Yua, with a rather large sketchbook in hand, so large it obscured her body from her chin to her her waist. She looked worried, and wondered if now was a good time to see Rumi as she seemed...busy.
"Oh Yua, you're already here!" Rumi said in an awfully loud tone, making Gogo roll her eyes. Yua giggled and held her pencil in front of Rumi while staring at her intently.
Rumi stood still patiently as Yua continued to study her. A silence grew around them and the only one who seemed confused by what was going on was Gogo as she darted her gaze from Rumi to Yua.
"Why are you doing that?" Gogo asked, sounding more impatient than she realized as she watched Yua watch Rumi.
"I'm checking proportions." Yua answered as she started to make sketches in her book," During my study period, I kinda got carried away and started to come up with ideas for what my princess version of Rumi would look like."
Yua flipped to a page in the back of her sketchbook and showed off a very colourful page filled with girls that looked like Rumi wearing elegant ball gowns. The girls looked at the sketches carefully in awe of them. Each girl had on a dress completely different from the other; Some dresses were elegant and embedded with a bunch of little rhinestones and pearls, other were more playful in style with vibrant colours and weren't as ornate. But both the girls had to admit that Yua had an eye for design.
"The best thing about these sketches was that I felt like a had bunch of different choices for Rumi's dress!" Yua beamed as the girls continued to look at her sketches," Nothing felt too unusual or out of character but...I think that's only because I don't know you all that well yet."
"Well you guys did only meet during lunch," Gogo reminded them sheepishly.
"I know, maybe I rushed into this a bit. Maybe I should get to know you first," Yua suggested, with Rumi seeming interested in the idea.
"Oh, it'd be like a little interview, wait, it feels as if I'm getting an audition!" Rumi stated eagerly.
Gogo then yawned loudly before she said," Whatever you guys are doing, could go somewhere that has air-conditioning to do it?"
"Point taken." Yua said as she only just noticed that she could sweat forming at her forehead," Do either of you guys live near the school? We'd have to take two buses to get to my place."
"I do! We can all go to my place." Rumi suggested.
So the three of them starting walking to Rumi's house. During the walk there, Yua wasted no time in telling the girls about her previous experiences in drawing the girls around her as princesses, making Gogo surprised and Rumi feeling a bit disappointed in knowing that she wasn't the only one that Yua wanted to make a princess.
"I think every girl is a princess! But, I only capture the lives of the bravest, most interesting and most ambitious princesses out there!" Yua explained," When we get to Rumi's house, I could show you guys the other princesses I've drawn."
When the girls got to Rumi's house, Rumi led the girls to the living room where Yua laid out another sketchbook, smaller than the one she used for her sketches, to show to the girls. Rumi went to the kitchen to get snacks for her guests leaving Gogo and Yua to look through the second sketchbook at the living room's table.
"This girl volunteered at a charity center every Tuesday and Friday and on the weekends. She was really outgoing and her laugh was really infectious too." Yua said as she pointed to a princess with medium brown hair that went to her shoulders and wore a peach and pink dress. Yua flipped the page.
"This girl's in Rumi's grade and she tutored the kids in my class after school. Last semester half of my class, myself included, was failing math and so she spent like a month trying her hardest to help us all out." Yua said, as Gogo stared at the princess on this page. She had very dark hair that went to her waist and wore an silver and lilac dress.
Rumi returned to the table with snacks and Yua took out a notepad from her bag while Gogo continued to flip through the pages.
"Ok so, Ms. Takai. For the "audition" I want you to be completely honest with each question I ask. I'll try my best not to ask you anything too personal but if I happen to, you can tell me if I do ok?" Yua debriefed.
"Sounds good, ask away~" Rumi said as she sat back into single-seat chair behind her.
"Alright, what's your zodiac sign?" Yua asked in a clipped voice, sounding as if she just wanted to get the question out of the way.
Gogo took a pause from looking through Yua's sketchbook and gave her a questionable look while muttering," Why is that important for this?"
"I'm a Cancer." Rumi answered with Yua scribbling this and some other notes into her notepad, "Ooh, Yua what's your zodiac sign?"
"Ah, Rumi this is an interview remember? You're not supposed to ask me any questions." Yua reminded her awkwardly.
"You're right, my apologies, I'll stop asking questions from now on." Rumi resolved as she took a deep breath," Just so we're clear though, you aren't a Libra right?"
"This might take awhile." Gogo advised Yua, who simply chose not to answer the question and move on from there.
"Right, so my next question for you is what do you think are your top three best qualities?" Yua questioned.
Rumi took a few moments to think about this one, and the longer she took, the more interested Yua appeared to be in her response.
Finally, Rumi was able to come up with an answer and responded with," I think my top three qualities are that I'm creative, I'm patient and I'm always willing to try out new things."
Yua wrote all of this down quickly while Rumi waited to be asked another question. Meanwhile, Gogo continued looking through Yua's book of princesses as it proved itself to be a bit more entertaining than the "audition". Each princess had looked really different from the other and each had a story that admittedly inspiring. The girl Gogo was currently looking at was a girl who's goal in life was to help others. She was unsure how she would do this however and she claimed that the two professions that she was torn between was a doctor or a teacher. As all the other girls, she was drawn in a very ornate dress with a large amount of decorations. Her dress was aquamarine and green and it was strapless with a mermaid style skirt. Her curly dark brown hair flowed down to her waist and portion of it was braided and wrapped around her head. But, the part of her outfit that Gogo was most intrigued in was the necklace she was wearing. The necklace was a simple white pendant that featured a smiling face on it, looking very similar to the ones Gogo and Rumi had.
Gogo then directed her attention to Yua, who was now asking Rumi questions like what her favourite colours were. It was definitely a possibility that Yua had just imagined up the accessory for the girl to wear, but...it seemed too unlikely for that to happen. So that could've only meant that the girl that was drawn really had that necklace, or Yua knew someone else who did.
"Do you mind if I go put my phone to charge really quickly?" Rumi asked after Yua asked a set of the most basic questions she had that she wanted to get out of the way. Yua let Rumi go to put her phone to charge and as soon as Rumi left, Gogo called Yua over to investigate.
"She's got a nice necklace, did she have it on or did you just see it somewhere else?" Gogo asked as casually as she possibly could.
"Oh, I think I just that saw online," Yua answered with a wave of dismissal," But this girl is really cool! She's my latest princess, the Princess of Compassion. She has big dreams, but she's a little indecisive right now, she didn't have to tell me this but I already knew after meeting her that she had a longing to help others. She was a bit nervous when I asked to draw her as a princess, but she warmed up to the idea pretty quickly."
Gogo nodded as she listened and then asked," She seems cool, does she go to our school?"
"Yeah, I'm actually surprised that you didn't recognize her," Yua stated," It's the student body vice-president, Kaigara Hamazuki."
"Oh." Gogo said as she double-blinked, her gaze still on the picture," I think I've already met her then...At least I should've if she supposedly hangs out with Yukina."
"Alright Yua, I'm ready for your questions again!" Rumi declared as she reentered the room. Gogo took one last look at the latest illustrated princess before she decided watch Yua interview Rumi again.
"This is probably my favourite question to ask..." Yua began as she glanced through some of notes she had written down earlier," So Rumi, what are some of your hobbies?"
"My hobby is creating makeup tutorial videos. I just love anything that has to do with makeup, I find makeup to be an empowering and expressive device. It makes me feel confident and some day I hope I'll be able to help others tap into their confident sides through cosmetics."
"I see, Yua commented as she wrote Rumi's response into notepad," What other hobbies do you have?"
Now Gogo seemed a bit more interested than before, as Rumi never really talked about her other interests. Rumi seemed to have been caught off-guard though, she was so sure that her somewhat long-winded answered would've been enough for Yua. Rumi pretended she was deep in thought for a few moments but soon she felt like this act was working against so she finally decided to tell truth.
"I guess I don't have many other interests... I mean, I've always liked taking pictures and reading but, I never really considered those hobbies." Rumi answered sheepishly.
Yua then responded with,"Interesting, um, I wasn't prying or anything was I?"
"No, not at all!" Rumi reassured awkwardly," Did you have any other questions left?"
Yua shook her head, as she said," I think I've got a good idea for what your story shall be about anyways, I'll work on a rough copy of it tonight and show it tomorrow, does that sound ok?"
Rumi nodded in approval and Yua began to gather her things. The three of them walked to the front door and Yua said,
"It was fun interviewing you, I can't wait to show what I have planned for your princess tomorrow!"
When Yua left, Gogo wondered whether or not she should tell Rumi about the necklace she saw on Yua. It still seemed suspicious to her, but for now Gogo decided not to tell Rumi in case that Yua was telling her the truth about seeing the necklace online.
"Gogo would you like to stay for dinner?" Rumi offered as she walked into the kitchen," I'm cooking tonight since my dad won't reach home for another hour and Kei might get home around eight."
"No, it's ok, I wouldn't want to overstay a visit." Gogo answered bashfully, as she picked up her bag and started to head to the door.
"No, I insist! I'm trying out a new recipe tonight and it'd be nice to get some feedback on it." Rumi stated as she began to take things out from the cupboards.
Gogo snickered at the Rumi using the word feedback in this instance before she said, "Well, I guess I could stay for a bit."
While Rumi prepared dinner, Gogo worked on some of her homework in the meanwhile. She was evidently a lot more tense now that it was just her and Rumi, not to mention she was going to stay at her place and have dinner with her. Whatever Rumi was cooking, it smelt really good, so good that it was distracting Gogo from her work. As Gogo tapped her pencil against her notebook, she realized she had altogether stopped trying to read the history question on her worksheet and was trying to remember when last she had dinner at a friend's place. It had been at Taeko's house three years ago, the thought of it being so long ago making Gogo cringe.
"I would've never thought that I'd ever be having dinner at a third-year's place..." Gogo mused to herself as she watched Rumi work in the kitchen. She then noticed a sketchbook that looked like Yua's sitting on the floor beside the one-seater in Rumi's living room. Curiously, she picked it up.
"Gogo I'm almost finished, would you be able to set the table for me?" Rumi asked. Gogo nodded attentively and stood up, walking towards towards the kitchen, where Rumi was still stirring away at the pot that was on top on the stove.
"Just take those placemats and some plates inside that cupboard, I'll take care of the utensils," Rumi instructed as she pointed to the cupboard above Gogo. Gogo nodded and took four plates and placemats to the table. As Gogo finished arranging the plates and placemats on the table, Rumi arrived with the steaming pot plus a large spoon in her hands. Gogo took a seat and Rumi walked over to her.
"Just take as much as you want," Rumi said as she handed Gogo the pot," What would you like to drink though?"
"I'll just have water," Gogo answered as she began to put the food on her plate. It looked like some kinda of pasta mixed with peppers and chicken with really thick sauce.
Rumi returned with two glasses in her hand, and took the bowl from Gogo after she set the glasses onto the table. Rumi filled her plate up and then kept the leftovers in a bowl inside the microwave. The two of them ate in silence but soon, Rumi attempted to break the ice and stiffly asked,
"How does it taste?"
"It's great!" Gogo replied in a surprisingly enthusiastic voice," What is it though?"
"Chicken fajita pasta." Rumi replied after taking a spoonful from her bowl," I saw the recipe online and I just had to make it!"
Gogo smiled at Rumi's enthusiastic comment before the room fell quiet. Just sitting and having dinner with Rumi at her place was unlike anything Gogo ever experienced. It still felt weird just being at Rumi's place,it made Gogo much more inquisitive as she looked around the dining room. One could say that the style of the room was "minimalist" another person however would easily say that the room, as well as the living was painfully empty with nothing but the essentials vacating it. It looked like the exact opposite of Gogo's living room, where if the room was organized with her brothers out of the vicinity, there'd be small little ornaments her mom would collect along with a bunch of family photos placed on the walls. Rumi's place didn't feature any ornaments, or paintings, not even a single family photo. It was clutter-free and pristine to Rumi, but Gogo still seemed unused to it.
"So Gogo, do you have any plans for the summer?" Rumi asked casually as the two of them ate.
"Nothing really planned, no." Gogo answered keeping her gaze down," So it's just your dad and your brother living with you here?"
"Yeah, my mom passed away when I was younger. These days the house is really quiet in the afternoon, so having company today was quite nice." Rumi answered curtly as she continued to eat.
"Sorry for asking, I was just curious!" Gogo apologized worriedly, before realizing that Rumi wasn't as uneasy as she thought, so she continued to speak," I can't really remember the last time there was any quiet in my house. When it's just me and my bros all hell breaks loose. My parents finally got switched to the morning shift permanently a couple weeks ago, so at least now they're home to watch over them, so it's a bit more tolerable at my place. But now I got some time to myself, and I have no clue what to do with it."
"Sounds like someone needs a hobby," Rumi commented with a smirk, with Gogo shrugging in response.
"Maybe so." Gogo replied tonelessly as she stared at her glass of water.
Later that night, Yua worked away furiously at the desk in her room as she drew a reference sheet for the princess persona of Rumi. She had been working on the reference sheet, along with the manuscript for her story all night and she couldn't recall feeling this inspired in a long time. She was almost finished with the manuscript and decided to take a break from it to start working on the reference sheet. As Yua began to look at formal gowns online, she felt more and more unsure of what kinda dress would look best on her. It was a task that proved itself to be much more difficult than Yua imagined because almost everything Yua pictured on princess Rumi looked good on her.
Yua took a deep breath and looked through some more dresses. One of them eventually caught her eye and not only was it ridiculously pretty, it looked perfect for Rumi's princess! It wasn't too showy or drab, and had this breeze of elegance to it. It was the perfect blend of modern and fairytale. The dress went to the floor and was a shade of pink that was pale and calming to look at. The skirt seemed plain at first glance but once Yua zoomed in on the picture she noticed there were floral details laced into it. The bodice was probably her favourite part however, with it's sheer panel above the chest and beaded floral pattern in the center. Sure, some things could been altered like the open-back and neck line, but this for sure was the one for Rumi's princess.
"It's gorgeous..." Yua said in awe as she gazed the zoomed-in, higher quality pictures of the dress. As she looked at it though, she came to a realization and a frown appeared on her face. But, she shook her head and began to draw the dress.
"So Takai's going to be a princess?" Ms. Hightower asked curiously as she organized a stack of papers on her desk before class started. It was early morning and it was just her and Gogo in the classroom. It was a tad suspicious for Gogo to have shown up at the school this early to tell her something like this, but she let her continue with story.
"Well, drawn as a princess. Gosh, the kid was asking her so many dumb questions like 'what's your sign?' and stuff but that's not as important." Gogo explained," Anyways, she let me look through this book she had of previous princesses she's drawn and while I was looking through her book, I saw a girl who had the same necklace as me and Rumi!"
"Well, did she tell you who the girl was?" Ms. Hightower questioned, sounding a bit impatient now.
Gogo was surprised to see that Hightower wasn't even the slightest bit shocked to have heard this but Gogo said nothing of it," The vice-president. Yua tried telling me that she saw the necklace online but, I couldn't find the thing when I tried searching it up."
"Hamazuki could be a Pretty Cure, huh?" Ms. Hightower commented quietly as she took a seat at her desk.
"Should we tell her about Pretty Cure?" Gogo asked.
"Not yet, Yua could've been telling you the truth." Ms. Hightower pointed out, sounding unsure of her own statement" Just...keep an eye on her for now."
Yua walked to school early that morning, feeling a bit more tired than usual. Last night she finished the manuscript and the reference sheet for Rumi's princess, but she was feeling out of place after finishing those two things. She had looked through the book of previous princesses and came to the realization that she was surrounded by remarkable girls and she, was just Yua. All she was able to do was draw some pictures. She wasn't able to tutor her whole class and never made an effort to take on the role of a leader. Even Rumi, who might not have seemed like much at first glance, proved herself worthy of the title princess to Yua. Yua then stopped walking for a brief moment and stared at her reflection in the puddle she arrived in front of.
"I'm not amazing like all the other girls I've illustrated. I'm plain and kinda boring, but somehow...that doesn't even surprise me." Yua said quietly as she looked down at her reflection in the puddle.
The wind picked up for a moment and suddenly, Yua could hear a girl shout in dismay nearby. She walked over to a nearby set of benches and found the vice-president Kaigara at her knees in front of a larger puddle, attempting to pull out some papers that had fallen in.
"Please be ok, please be ok, please be ok..." Kaigara pleaded as she gingerly pulled them out from the puddle, horrified to see how the papers looked now," I could've have just typed this thing up and printed it out twice or even take a stupid picture of it."
"Hamazuki, is everything ok?" Yua asked as she walked over to Kaigara and knelt down next to her.
"No, this was a list of events planned for next semester and they were supposed to be presented today. But I can't let Yukina show these to the rest of the student council now!" Kaigara shouted as she tried waving the page to emphasize her point with some success.
"Doesn't Yukina have a copy though?" Yua inquired as Kaigara tried to dry off the page.
"I have the master copy, the most Yukina has is some notes of key dates." Kaigara explained before she exhaled a large sigh," Now I'll have to start from scratch and I gotta finish it before lunch time."
"Um, is there anything I can do to help?" Yua asked as she and Kaigara both stood up.
"No, it's fine. Thanks for offering though, I think I'll be able to remake this in time anyways, I was probably just overthinking things..." Kaigara said dismissively," I'll see you around, Yua."
Yua and Kaigara went in opposite directions as Yua planned to meet with Rumi before class to show her the drawings.
Thinking about what happened earlier at Melancholy made Storm smile as he glowered down at Kaigara.
"You little brat! Once again, you try and take Storm's turn and despite failing three times in defeating you still show your face here." Nijoux hissed as Onyx was just about to leave.
"I could say the same thing to you." Onyx remarked," They keep multiplying and we keep upsetting Castra with each and every failed mission. I don't care for turns but if Storm wants to go see the Pretty Cure so badly, then fine he can tag along, no one's stopping him."
Onyx and Nijoux both looked towards Storm, who starting walking towards Onyx.
"Yeah I'll go..." He said quietly, uninterestedly, his voice quiet. He then turned around a flicked a small, transparent orb that when launched into the air turned into a force field between him, Onyx and Nijoux.
"...But not with you." Storm finished as he vanished.
"A strange gift from Nijoux who claims she got it from Castra...strange, indeed." Storm reminisced before he returned his gaze to Kaigara," She looks like a fine target..."
"But what do you mean I have to tell Rumi?" Gogo groaned as Ms. Hightower led her to Rumi and Yua's meeting spot.
"You're the one who saw the locket on the drawing, so obviously you have to tell her." Ms. Hightower answered as walked quickly towards the spot," Come on, we gotta get there before Yua."
"What good will it do telling her right now though?" Gogo asked before the two heard what sounded like a girl screaming.
"You don't think that was Yua, do you?" Gogo asked nervously before she and Ms. Hightower bolted outside.
Rumi, who just arrived at the school, also heard the scream and assumed it was Yua as she ran towards the front yard of the school.
"Yua! Where are you-?" Rumi stopped in her tracks as she saw an Endopath made from Kaigara's pencil case. The Endopath made eye contact with Rumi and without a second thought, Rumi pulled out her locket and shouted out,
"Pretty Cure, turn that frown upside down!"
"A soothing sensation to bring you at peace, Cure Delight!" Delight introduced.
Delight then directed her attention to the Endopath. The Endopath was halfway unzipped and an army of tall pencils started to run towards her. The Endopath pencils surrounded her and she had no other option but to fight all of them simultaneously. Delight was quick with her attacks, sending precise, powerful kicks to each Endopath that tried to land a hit on her. But, the Endopaths individually gave a better fight than she expected. They were getting weaker, only multiplying in numbers without her even realizing it and before she was outmatched, she could see a flicker of light from the corner of her eye.
"Cure Delight, heads up!" Cure Joy shouted from atop of a tree. Cure Delight seemed confused but just then Storm shouted to the Endopath army.
"Jump!"
Joy directed her attack towards the crowd around Delight and once the Endopaths did as told, Joy's attack suddenly changed direction and hit the mass of Endopaths in midair.
"She had her attack follow the Endopaths?" Storm commented incredulously to himself.
"How did you do that?" Delight asked Joy after she jumped out of the tree and near to her.
"Oh, I just...willed it to I guess? It's hard to explain, I was kinda thinking like, 'Attack, go to the Endopaths!', you know?" Joy explained, though Delight wasn't quite following," Anyways, don't you think this match-up's looking pretty unfair?"
Delight began, "These Endopaths aren't really as weak as I was anticipating, usually in scenarios like this-"
"The Endopaths would've been weak one on one and worked better as a team. I'm guessing even when these guys are on they're own, they're still putting up a good fight." Joy estimated as she looked around the area. The Endopaths were marching up towards them again, only a little battered from Joy's attack and still abundant in numbers. Not a single one had been defeated from the attack, it seemed like even more had appeared before them. Delight then noticed that pencil Endopaths were still coming out of the pencil case Endopath a couple feet away from them.
"I think our best bet right now would be to zip up the mouth of the pencil case Endopath so we won't have to worry about their numbers increase." Delight suggested, with Joy nodding in response.
"Sounds good, I can distract the rest of them, you zip up the Endopath." Joy instructed, though it seemed like Delight wasn't willing to comply," Don't worry, I can handle them."
Delight didn't argue, leaping up and leaving Joy to battle against the rest of the Endopath army. Delight faced some difficulty getting towards the pencil case though, as once she landed back onto the ground, she was met with a crowd of Endopaths anticipating her appearance. She was almost surrounded, and one of the immediately charged towards her and she barely evaded the attack.
"I really don't have time for this." Delight said to herself, rolling her eyes as she held her hands in front of herself while shouting," Pretty Cure, Jovial Twinkle!"
She cleared herself a way through the mass of Endopaths and ran as fast as she possibly could towards the pencil case Endopath. Delight stared at the pencil case Endopath for a few moments ago, noticing that the arms of the pencil case Endopath didn't reach the zippers, which would make it impossible to zip itself up. But, something seemed odd about the pencil case Endopath.
"It's not paying any attention to me, it's just staring straight ahead." Delight said quietly," Why is that?"
Meanwhile Joy was still fighting against the Endopath army, having little to no avail in depleting them of their numbers. Just going against one probably wouldn't have been much of a problem but with the amount of opponents only getting higher, Joy was soon at wit's end.
"Damn it, one wrong move and it's over for me!" Joy thought to herself as she threw one of the pencil Endopaths into the group right in front of her.
Delight hung on top of the pencil case Endopath, lunging for the zipper. The fact that the Endopath didn't even notice that Delight was right there was bothering immensely and left her on edge as she tried to retrieve the zipper. Endopaths continued to exit from the pencil case and Delight suddenly realized why the pencil case wasn't paying attention to her.
"Could it be that this Endopath isn't the one controlling the others?" Delight asked,"It still wouldn't hurt to finally close this thing up. But, if this isn't the leader, it must be somewhere in this crowd. Where would it be though-?"
Behind Joy, Delight saw a pencil Endopath with a black star on it's eraser getting ready to put Joy in a choke hold.
"No!" Delight shouted out, as she reached out her hand, sending a bright white and blue beam towards the Endopath. The beam blasted the Endopath towards into a tree and basically cleared out the swarm of Endopaths behind Joy. Joy spun around and stared at the spot where the mass of Endopaths was behind her and saw them all on the ground a few feet away. She then looked towards her teammate in question while Delight quickly zipped up the pencil case Endopath and ran towards Joy to aid her in battle.
The two Cures were back to back, the group of Endopaths a bit smaller now. The lead Endopath rose up and went back to fighting with the Cures while the other Endopaths that had been caught in the crossfire stayed on the ground.
"I think if we get the Endopath with the black star on it's eraser head, we won't have to worry about the rest of them!" Delight said with Joy nodding in response," This time though, we should both fight against the main Endopath."
"Say no more." Joy replied as she threw a multitude of kicks towards the Endopaths before her. Somehow, the Endopaths seemed weaker than before. It was getting easier and easier to cut through them now and they seemed less to get back on their feet after they had been knocked down once. It helped that the girls were actually working together on the same task this time too. As the Cures fought relentlessly, both of them were becoming suspicious of the fact that they yet to come in contact with the main Endopath for awhile now.
"What do you think happened to the lead guy?" Joy asked Delight quietly, before she saw the exact Endopath she was talking about dashing towards the pencil case Endopath.
"Ah! Not so fast!" Joy shouted, running towards the pair of Endopaths and unintentionally leaving her fellow Cure behind.
"Pretty Cure, Vivacious Spark!" Joy shouted as she ran towards the Endopath.
The Endopath dodged her attack and leapt on top of the pencil case Endopath.
Joy sighed and leapt on top of the pencil case Endopath and attempted to knock the main Endopath off on to the ground. The Endopath evaded her punch and grabbed her by the leg and dangled her from the top of the pencil case Endopath.
"Thank god for these shorts but you gotta let go!" Joy yelled as she tried to break free from the Endopath's clutch. The Endopath did as Joy said and dropped her without hesitation.
"Pretty Cure, Effervescent Beam!" Delight shouted. Her attack hit the Endopath square in the face and it fell off from the pencil case Endopath. Delight ran towards the Endopath to make sure that the job was finished while Joy was still on the ground.
"That's gonna leave a bruise..." Joy griped as she slowly stood up.
Delight found the Endopath stuck inside a bush, taking note of the fact that the black star was still in tact. So, she walked over to it and drove her heel into the black star. The black star was cracked and Delight then conjured up her scepter.
"Pretty Cure, Jovial Twinkle!" Delight shouted as the atmosphere turned a pale pink and blue in mid-sentence. The Endopath was cleansed reverted back into it's original form, leaving behind a white pearlescent charm.
Delight then rushed over to her fellow Cure as she shouted," Joy, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, but...who was the victim?" Joy asked.
The girls then noticed Kaigara on a bench waking and detransformed to see if she was ok.
"That was insane!" Yua said to herself quietly from behind a pillar near an entrance to the school," I guess the larger one was acting like a generator for the team of them and the girls mistook it for the leader. But, since those two came here so quickly, does that mean they go here? But perhaps a better question be..."
Yua then retrieved a pendant slung onto her necklace that was underneath her shirt. The pendant was white and glossy with a smiling face carved onto it
Yua then shook her head and put the necklace back into her shirt as she walked into the school building.
Gogo and Rumi walked with Kaigara into the school, who was talking a mile a minute about the incident though she had been unconscious for all it.
"And then these two girls came from literally nowhere and started beating up this group of pencils and I was thinking 'Why the heck are they doing that?' before the pencils starting attacking them!" Kaigara explained.
"Yeah, dreams are weird like that, huh?" Gogo said awkwardly," Well, you wouldn't want to be late for class so-"
"You're right! I'll see you some other time" Kaigara exclaimed as she zipped past the other students crowding the halls and left the two of them behind.
"She wouldn't let us get a word in..." Gogo said sheepishly," Well, we'll just have to find some other way of telling her."
"Um, Gogo? How were you able to figure out that stuff as quickly as you did? You know, with commanding your attack to follow the Endopath? I'll admit, I didn't think we could do that up until now." Rumi confessed.
"I've been doing some reading..." Gogo answered nonchalantly.
Rumi narrowed her eyes at her as she said," Reading? Reading what?"
Gogo then revealed a sketchbook that looked identical to the one Yua had all her princesses drawn in," Yua's got a side-project."
Rumi then took the sketchbook from Gogo with an incredulous look on her face as she opened it up," Spectacular Sumi? Is this supposed to be some kind of comic book?"
"Despite the cheesy names and questionable anatomy, the writing's pretty good and Yua seems to have a better grasp of the whole superhero business than we do." Gogo stated as Rumi flipped through the book.
"You know, perhaps Yua wouldn't be a bad teammate..." Rumi said as she looked through the comic book before she gave it back to Gogo," Maybe if we can find the gachapon machine, we could recruit her!"
"Sounds like a plan." Gogo said as she closed the comic book.