Chapter 2 Pendants and Crystals

Hikaru's body was numb, her eyelids extremely heavy. She couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't open her eyes. The only thing that she could do was feel; fear and bafflement. How exactly did she end up in this state?

Hikaru racked her brain for the last thing she could recall before getting knocked out. She remembered walking down the street of her hometown when a bright, multi-colored light appeared in the sky. Except light wasn't exactly the right word; it looked more like the portals that the rocket used when her Precure team went into space.

Hikaru, always fast to be astounded by supernatural occurrences like that, was completely astounded. She stood in the street, taking in the breathtaking anomaly. Unfortunately, this decision had proven to be a mistake. Before she knew it, Cure Star was off her feet and in the air, being drawn toward the portal. Hikaru struggled and wriggled, attempting to free herself from the suction, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

What happened next was a fuzzy blur. Hikaru could recall finding herself on a hard, black floor made out of what she guessed were linoleum tiles. She had looked up and seen a girl; a girl who looked to be about her age. She had light pink hair and was fighting a monster of some sort. She looked like a Precure, but that couldn't be right. Hikaru's team was the only existing Precure team, right?

"Are you alright?" the girl had called to Hikaru. Hikaru only nodded in response. The girl turned back toward the monster and took out a heart shaped device. She called out "Heart for You," and the monster she was fighting disintegrated under the blast of light escaping from the device. Yep, she was definitely a Precure. But how was that possible?

"Do you hurt?" the presumed Precure asked as she approached Hikaru. She helped Hikaru to her feet.

"No," Hikaru said. The girl smiled.

"Good. I am Cure Yell. Are you a Precure too?"

"Yes," Hikaru said. "My name is Cure Star, but you can call me Hikaru."

After that was when Hikaru got knocked out. What knocked her out exactly, she did not know. But now that she was coming around, that wasn't the only question she had on her mind. What happened to Cure Yell? Are there other precure besides her? Where was she?

Hikaru heard the sound of a door opening. It sounded distant and distorted, but there was no mistaking that she had heard it. Hikaru then heard people talking. It took some effort, but she was able to discern what was being said.

"Is she okay?" said a smooth, melodic voice.

"Her heart is beating at a steady rate of ninety five beats per minute," came another voice, a softer one. "Her breathing rate is also steady. Possibility of awakening: ninety eight percent."

Hikaru heard the owner of the smooth voice give a sigh of relief. She then heard another person, possibly two people enter the room.

"We have got to get her back home, I say!" came a younger voice. "She cannot stay here!"

"Don't worry Emiru, we will," said a stronger voice."We just have to wait until she is awake before we can deal with that."

Hikaru 's eyelids started to flutter. When she opened them, the only thing that she could see was blinding light. After her eyes adjusted, she was able to make out the appearances of the people in the room with her. There was a tall, golden haired girl with a boyish haircut, a younger girl whose dirty blonde hair was tied into pigtails, a girl with navy blue hair and a soft complexion, and a girl with lavender hair. The girl with the lavender hair was standing closest to the bed Hikaru was lying on and was staring at her intently. When Hikaru made eye contact with her, she gave a small smile.

"You're awake."

Hikaru tried to sit up, and an intense pain shot through her forehead. She groaned and placed her hand to the problem area.

"Thank goodness!" said the younger girl. "I was worried beyond belief! I say, I don't think I can deal with a dead Precure on my conscience!"

"Emiru," the golden haired girl sternly said as she elbowed her friend in the arm. The girl with navy blue hair walked forward, smiling sweetly.

"What is your name?" she asked. The sound of her voice was enough to make Hikaru forget about her headache, if only for a moment.

"I'm Hikaru. Hoshina Hikaru," Hikaru said nervously. She looked at the four girls. "Who...who are you? And how did you know I'm a Precure?"

"Because we're Precure too," said the navy haired girl. "I'm Yakushiji Saaya. Cure Ange."

"I'm Kagayaki Homare," said the golden haired girl. "Cure Etoile."

"Aisaki Emiru," said the youngest. "Cure Macherie."

"And Ruru Amour," said the girl with lavender hair. "Cure Amour."

"We are glad that you are okay," Saaya said. "When we found you unconscious in Criasu's headquarters, we all feared the worst."

"Especially me!" Emiru chimed in. "I couldn't bear to see you like that, I say! I carried you out of the building myself! With Ruru's help, of course."

Hikaru had no idea what or who Criasu was, but based on the way these girls spoke about it, it seemed to be bad. Hikaru immediately felt a wave of gratitude.

"Thank you." Suddenly, Hikaru noticed that her neck felt abnormally light. She put her hand to her chest, and panic filled her mind. Her pendant was gone.

"Where's my pendant?" Hikaru asked with a frightened gasped.

"What are you talking about?" Saaya asked with a look of concern.

"My Star Color Pendant!" Hikaru explained. "That's what I use to transform! I can't transform without the pendant; where is my pendant?"

All the girls looked worried, but their worry quickly transitioned into sadness.

"We were lucky enough to escape Criasu with our PreHearts," Homare said. "If we had known about your transformation device...I'm sorry, Hikaru."

Hikaru noticed that her bed was stationed right next to a window. The location outside didn't look like anywhere Hikaru recognized. Her panic began to increase.

"Where am I?" she yelled. She was practically hysterical now. Saaya and Ruru sat down on the edge of the bed.

"We'll tell you what we know," Ruru said.

"Man, these things are delicious!"

Madoka, Elena, Yuni, and Prunce stared at Hana as she dug her way into the space gummies Lala had offered her. She had devoured about thirty so far and didn't show any sign of stopping. Lala wasn't that worried at first, as she did have a generous supply of the stuff. Even considering that though, she was starting to get a little worried.

"Okay, Hana," she said gently. "I think it is time we put those away."

"You're right," Hana said with a nervous laugh. "I suppose I am going a little overboard."

Hana handed the container of space gummies back to Lala. Madoka put her hand to her head.

"Okay, let me see if I've got this straight," she said. "You're from another world?"

"And by another world," Yuni said, "you mean alternate universe?"

"And you are the leader of the Precure team in said universe?" asked Elena. Hana nodded.

"Yes, yes, and yes," she addressed each question without missing a beat. In all honesty, Lala found this to be completely fascinating, but she was also worried about Hikaru's whereabouts.

"Okay," Lala said. "But that doesn't explain how you got here. Or how our leader got into your universe lun."

Hana's countenance shifted completely. All excitement and curiosity vanished as she stared at a certain spot on the floor.

"Well," she began, "to explain that you need to know about what me and my team have to deal with. You see, we fight this company called Criasu. Their goal is to stop time, and in order to do that they need these things called Mirai Crystals." Hana reached into the bag at her side and pulled out the heart shaped crystal that Lala had seen her put into her device to transform. "We use Mirai Crystals to transform by putting them into our PreHearts."

Hana took out the transformation device and displayed it to everyone on the opposite side of table.

"Amazing," Prunce said. "You gain your power from a source that isn't the Star Princesses' prunce. I guess that makes sense since they aren't in your universe, but still!"

Hana smiled slightly and put the transformation tools back in her bag.

"Recently, the head of the company, George Kurai, discovered an alternate source of energy," Hana explained. "He realized that there were alternate universes where more Precure could be found. He figured that the power in their transformation devices could be just as effective as the type found in ours."

"But how did he get those Precure?" Madoka asked.

"By using Hugtan," Hana said. "Hugtan was a Precure from the future. She escaped into the past using the white mirai crystal. She is a baby now, but she is still pretty powerful. She has more powers than you can shake a stick at!"

"And one of those powers is opening interdimensional portals?" Yuni asked with wide eyes. Hana nodded. "That's insane!"

"George sent some of the Criasu employees to kidnap Hugtan," Hana continued. "He used her power to bring Cure Star into my world. My team and I were there, fighting Oshimaidas at the time. Before I could help her, she was knocked out by Listle. He was just about to take my mirai crystal, but before he could Hugtan used the last remaining power she had to send me here."

The Precure stared at Hana in shock. Hana looked at them and shrugged.

"That's all I know," she said.

Lala couldn't believe this. She herself felt uncomfortable staying on a planet that wasn't hers, but Hikaru was now in a completely different universe!

"Why didn't George take all of us, then?" Elena asked. "I think he would see more value in five transformation devices instead of just one."

"He probably does," Hana agreed. "But the problem is that while Hugtan is powerful, she isn't made of steel. Even opening a portal to bring one of you here left her severely weakened. I have a feeling that putting me here put her in a coma."

Suddenly, Hana's expression grew worried, as if finding out for the first time that that was the case.

"Mechokku!" she said. "If Hugtan is in a coma and being held by Criasu...I need to get back home!"

"But how are we going to do that?" Madoka asked. "It was Hugtan who sent you here."

"Yeah, and we are kinda running low on the supply of omnipotent infants in our universe," said Yuni.

"What about the Star Princesses?" Elena asked. "They can probably help us."

"That's a great idea!" Prunce proclaimed. "Lala, you fixed the rocket, right?"

Everyone redirected their eyes toward Lala. Lala now felt extremely small.

"Yes…" she began.

"It's settled then!" Prunce announced. "First thing tomorrow, we are all going to the Star Palace!"

"No," Yuni spoke up. "We can't. Not first thing tomorrow."

Prunce glared at Cure Cosmo. Yuni wasn't exactly on Prunce's good side to begin with, so this protest was enough to drive him up a wall.

"And why is that?" he growled lowly.

"Because those three have school tomorrow," Yuni said as she gestured to Lala, Elena, and Madoka. Prunce's face fell.

"Oh. That." he slowly floated his way into a chair.

"But don't worry, Prunce," Elena said. "We can all go once school's out."

"Right," Lala said seriously. She stood up straight and tall and made her eyes scan the group. "And not only can we go; we will go. I don't care how hard it is or how long it takes. We are going to rescue Hikaru and get Hana back home if it is the last thing I do lun."