Part 2: Survival
Sparkle had been running through the forest without a moment to rest. She had to find Grace. When Fontaine had caught Earth after she had fallen from the treetop, they had looked for her. But she hadn't been anywhere on the hill. They had heard her scream like she had fallen below it, which was where the forest - the one they had come through - was. Since Sparkle blamed herself for causing Earth to fall in the first place, she had offered to go find their friend. Earth and Fontaine had agreed with that, since they had to stay with the gigabyogen to stop the infection from spreading.
Sparkle knew that if Grace hadn't come back, she must be in trouble. She was mostly frightened by Daruizen's return because she worried that he would go after her friend. The thought of Grace being alone with that monster chilled her to the bone.
After calling her name again, she heard a thump from somewhere deeper in the forest, as if a tree had fallen down. Sparkle halted for a second, then started rushing to where the sound had come from.
Finally, a cue! Well, now she and Nyatoran knew for sure that a fight was going down in the forest. But Sparkle will help Grace, and they'll be fine! She had been telling herself that this whole time. Until...
'HELP!'
Her heart almost dropped into her stomach when she heard Grace's voice. She was close, and she was in danger! The yellow cure broke into a wild sprint, dodging the trees and jumping like a deer. Then there was Rabirin's scream combined with Nodoka crying for her, which sent Sparkle's fears spiraling.
She soon saw a fallen birch tree on the forest ground, and when her eyes followed it...
A loud gasp left her lips. At the end of the broken log, there was a girl lying beneath it, with a cloud of black smoke above her.
'Nodoka!' Sparkle cried out, and her feet moved on their own. The girl was motionless while the smoke was flowing into her chest.
'Nonostop!' Sparkle blurted out when her mind realized what was happening. In her final steps, she stretched out her hand toward Nodoka, but as she tried to grasp the smoke, the last whiff of it disappeared.
Sparkle stopped at her friend's side in horror. Her heart was racing as she immediately lifted the broken tree off her and threw it to the side. It didn't look like it had injured her. Maybe it fell on her while she was still transformed, at least Sparkle hoped so.
'Nodoka! Wake up!' she shouted, squatting down to her and shaking her shoulders. The girl's chest was heaving, but she didn't react.
Sparkle wasn't mentally prepared for this. How was she supposed to help her friend now? Panting, she shut her eyes in frustration and her fist trembled. She must have been only seconds away from stopping Daruizen!
'Sparkle!' a squeaky voice called out from afar.
'Rabirin!' Nyatoran remembered.
The girl in yellow told him to wait. She placed Nodoka's arm under her head and put her into the recovery position like she had learned it in school. Then she went to look for Rabirin but she soon saw the small pink rabbit hopping through the moss.
'Rabirin!' Nyatoran and Sparkle exclaimed, and Sparkle crouched down to the animal.
'Guys, d-did you save Nodoka~rabi?' Rabirin blurted out, tears rolling down her face.
'I-I took the log off of her,' Sparkle stammered nervously.
Rabirin's eyes started welling up again, but she hopped onto Sparkle's shoulder and urged her to go back.
When they returned to Nodoka, she hadn't moved an inch. Rabirin jumped onto her partner's white blouse, but she didn't respond to her cries either.
'I-I'm sorry...' Sparkle uttered meekly and couldn't stop herself from tearing up. 'I was too late.'
Rabirin already knew what happened; even Nodoka's skin was sickly pale. 'H-he infected her, right?' she said in a weeping voice to which Sparkle couldn't respond.
This was like that time Daruizen had infected Nodoka with a megapart. Except worse because Nodoka had told them she had been sick with Daruizen for years!
'Can't you do something~nya?' Nyatoran asked, handling the stress the best, it seemed.
Rabirin was paralyzed by worry but she pulled herself together and said: 'I'll try~rabi.'
She hopped down from her partner's chest to her left hand, and squeezed her index finger in her paws. She closed her eyes, and soon, the pads of her paws started glowing pink. Sparkle and Nyatoran stood in suspense and could barely breathe.
Rabirin concentrated her power on Nodoka and shouted: 'Sickness, go away~rabi!'
Silence reigned.
Rabirin imagined the sickness leaving Nodoka's body like last time and shouted louder: 'Leave her body~rabi!'
But Nodoka just lay there and no black smoke came out of her. The rabbit's paws stopped glowing, and she opened her eyes.
'I-It's not working,' she sniffled. 'The Pretty Cure's power is fighting but... W-we can't connect~rabi!' she broke into tears again.
Sparkle was struck dumb, then gave into desperation. 'Nodoka, come on!' She begged and pat her cheeks.
'Can I help~nya?' Nyatoran tried.
Rabirin wiped away her tears and shook her head. 'You're not bound with Nodoka~rabi. Only Lady Late might help~rabi...'
'But Lady Latte is sick right now~nya!' the cat argued.
In this chaos, Sparkle had no one to put the blame on but herself. She was the one who volunteered to look for Grace, she was supposed to bring her back safely!
'If only I had been faster!' The girl punched the ground with her fist.
Nyatoran should have thought about how his partner felt. This situation was hard for all of them but Sparkle was the one with responsibility. She needed someone to tell her that she did nothing wrong.
'Sparkle, it's not your fault! Just stay focused~nya!'
This woke the girl from her convicting thoughts, and she locked eyes with him. Finding assurance in his gaze, she realized Nyatoran was right. This was no time for moping, she had to do something!
She pat her cheeks to get it together and decided: 'We have to get her to the hospital!'
'B-but that's on the other side of town~rabi,' Rabirin said with glossy eyes.
Sparkle was aware of this; they were out of Sukoyaka and even with her Pretty Cure powers, it would take a while to get there.
'Wait! Earth can create a portal, right?'
Rabirin hadn't considered that. 'If she has enough energy,' she sniffed.
Then it was worth a shot! Sparkle took Nodoka into her arms, still holding her wand, and told Rabirin to jump onto her shoulder. She turned on her heel and dashed in the direction where the ground was tilting slightly up, straight back to the hill's foot.
…
Silence.
There was utter silence as Grace gazed into a bright blue void of a sky. Despite it being daytime, the sun was replaced by visible star clusters and purple auroras. She watched them swirl as if they were alive and felt a breeze playing with her pink locks. It was so calming. The only thing creating a horizon in this vast space was a narrow glass-like platform, which she found herself standing on. Bending down, she saw her reflection, but it didn't look like Grace; it was Nodoka in a floral skirt and a white blouse. Grace touched her face to make sure it was really hers.
'You're so full of life.'
Her heart skipped when a voice broke the silence. She swiveled around to find a familiar purple creature standing not far from her. The sky behind it had a dark turquoise ombre on the horizon. The sneer on its face turned into a glower. 'I hate it.'
Grace tensed up when she recognized Daruizen. Her eyes darted around as she became more aware of her surroundings. The tranquility she had felt here before was replaced by disorientation.
'Daruizen, what is this place?'
The byogen bent his elbows and lifted his palms, smirking. 'Why it's You, Grace.'
The girl stared at him in bewilderment, processing what he just said. 'What do you mean "it's me"?' Was this some kind of trick?
Daruizen let his arms flop and shrugged apathetically. 'Well, your mind sees it a little differently. The point is...'
He began to stride toward her with a piercing gaze. Grace noticed now that his reflection was different, too. It looked like him when she had first met him; pale skin, crimson coat and a tail instead of wings. She suddenly felt an overwhelming surge of nostalgia.
'You're stuck here.'
Before Grace knew it, Daruizen teleported behind her and spoke over her shoulder: 'With me.'
The girl shrieked, pushed her enemy away and jumped backwards to a safe distance. That was when she realized something; her Healing Stick was gone, and so was Rabirin.
'Rabirin? Rabirin!' she called, glancing around to see if she had dropped her wand somewhere. This had to be a bad dream. She couldn't stay here! She has to wake up!
'She's not here,' Daruizen's cold remark interrupted her frantic thoughts.
When she looked at him, he fired three purple spheres from his hand into the sky. They made a sound like fireworks exploding and left clouds of smoke which colored the sky dark turquoise. Grace stared at the sight in shock.
'W-What are you doing? Stop!'
Daruizen turned around, and shot her a spiteful glare like she had never seen from him. 'I'm taking it all, Cure Grace. You know what that means.'
Grace covered her mouth with her hand. Of course she knew. Daruizen was the one who took her childhood away. The one behind all those hospital stays. Behind all the pain, infirmity, and the waiting. The unbearable waiting for it to get better. She can't go through that again... She refuses to! She won't let all the progress she made go to waste!
She bent her knees in a fighting stance and said resolutely: 'No. I won't let you hurt me again!'
Daruizen expected nothing less from her but her confidence amused him. 'Please, you couldn't even protect yourself!'
Grace had no idea how she got here, but she that knew she had to fight for herself. If Daruizen wouldn't leave, she had to make him. She couldn't let him gain control, no matter what.
With that resolve, the girl propelled herself and charged at the byogen. She did a high jump on him but he quickly slid to the side, and her foot hit the ground. Grace stood up and threw another kick, but Daruizen ducked and tripped her other leg. She fell down and barely rolled out of the way before he could punch her. As she got up, Daruizen started attacking her. She was diligent at blocking his punches but he suddenly spun around and blew a kick into her stomach. She flew backwards, and as her feet grazed the ground, she fell over. While she was getting up, she noticed her body started to emit a pink glow.
Magic? She recognized the energy, but she didn't feel any different. Like someone was offering her strength but they were out of reach.
'Rabirin, are you there?' Grace thought of calling to the sky for some reason. If Daruizen was right, and this was her mind, then her physical body was somewhere else, sleeping. But someone from the outside could wake her up! Right?
While she was distracted, a ball of dark energy struck her side. She dropped to her knees and the glow disappeared.
'No magic can help you now,' Daruizen said firmly.
Grace huffed and stood up again. She wanted to attack with an element bottle but then she remembered she didn't have her Healing Stick. She couldn't fight Daruizen from a distance. But he could. More purple spheres were flying toward her, and Grace could only run.
…
Sparkle rushed out of the forest with Nodoka in her arms. She had to get to Earth as soon as possible. When she stepped into the sunlight and looked up the hill, she gasped. Since she had been gone, the infection had spread further from the pinnacle where the monstrous tree stood. Fontaine was still holding on; dealing and dodging blows to keep the gigabyogen in check. But Earth wasn't up there. She was at the foot of the hill, picking herself up like she had just tumbled down there. When Sparkle spotted her, she hurried over to her, despite getting tired from all the running.
'Earth! Are you okay?' she squatted down to her so the monster wouldn't notice them.
'Sparkle!' earth exclaimed. As she got to her knees, she saw who the girl was holding. 'You found Nodoka?'
'Yes!' Sparkle blurted out and added urgently: 'She needs help!' She carefully laid Nodoka down next to Earth who's brow scrunched with apprehension.
'W-What happened?' She sensed Nodoka's life force weakening.
Sparkle lowered her gaze and replied bitterly: 'Daruizen got her.'
Earth's face turned pale while she interpreted what "got her" meant from looking at her unconscious friend. Meanwhile, Sparkle had Nyatoran come out of her Healing Stick which reverted her transformation. When she turned back into Hinata, she pulled her cellphone out of her jean shorts' pocket.
'Could you make a portal to the hospital?' she asked Earth.
The woman had a dozen more questions but there wasn't time to answer them. Hinata's request caught her off guard, though.
'I... I shall try,' she said hesitantly. She didn't want to let her friend down, but opening portals required a lot of energy, and she had just wasted it on Healing Hurricane. It had had the same effect as Healing Oasis so she couldn't finish it. Regardless, she had to try for Nodoka's sake.
'Here,' Hinata handed her the cellphone. It showed a picture of a white rectangular building of the Sukoyaka hospital with greenery in the background. Asumi had been there when Nodoka had been sick a few months ago.
'Imagine this place and take her there, please!' Hinata pleaded out of panic.
The woman shakily took the phone, and Hinata asked Nyatoran to summon the Healing Stick again. From Earth's point of view, she was just enveloped in yellow light for a second before Cure Sparkle took her place.
'I'll go help Fontaine!' she announced and headed up the hill to face the monster.
Earth remained with Nodoka and Rabirin. She took a deep breath and encouraged herself to muster every bit of strength. She didn't know how much time Nodoka had, and this the fastest way to get help for her. She scanned the image on the cellphone and once she memorized it, she gave it to Rabirin and stood up. She closed her eyes and stretched out her hands. As her fingers shivered, a small spark of magic flickered in front of them. The more Earth focused, the more sparks burst out from the spot.
But no matter how hard she tried, her worry about Nodoka was clouding her mind, preventing her from fully concentrating. Eventually, she exhausted herself to the point her knees gave under her and the sparks disappeared again. As soon as that happened, her magical energy ran out too and her costume dispersed in a flash.
'Oh no!' Asumi gasped when she saw herself in her casual robe. Rabirin, who was watching over Nodoka, only shivered with worry.
Asumi looked at her hands in distress. How could she fail like this? Now she can't even take Nodoka to the hospital on foot! She looked up the hill where Sparkle and Fontaine were battling the giant tree. If one of them took Nodoka there instead, the other couldn't hold out against the gigabyogen by herself.
'I'm... so sorry,' Asumi said and covered her eyes with her hand. She needed to think because right now, she had no idea what to do.
Rabirin flinched when she saw the woman become slightly faded and transparent. She wanted to say something to her when suddenly, the two heard high-pitched barking. They noticed Latte coming up to them from the forest, carrying the magical stethoscope in her teeth.
'Lady Latte, no! It's dangerous here!' Asumi warned the beige puppy and hurried over to her. But Latte had a determined look on her face.
'Wind element~latte!' she spoke.
This surprised Asumi but when she felt the breeze blow around her, she nodded. She reached for the stethoscope and put it on. As she held the chest-piece into the air, the wind element appeared before her.
'Cure Earth? Is that really you?' The wing-shaped spirit gaped.
'Um, yes?' Asumi said in surprise.
The wind element couldn't believe its eyes. 'But how? It's been so long!'
'What?' the woman was confused but then it clicked with her. 'Oh, have you met my predecessor?'
'Predecessor?' The spirit didn't understand.
Asumi put her hands together and explained. 'You see, I am not actually the human. I am a spirit sent to replace her.'
'Oh,' the wind element saddened and reminisced. 'Cure Earth saved me here from a megabyogen once.'
This intrigued Asumi. She had learned more about her human counterpart after she had seen the statue in the Healing Garden. How she had helped the humans, animals, plants and spirits alike. She could never understand how past Cure Earth had been able to defeat King Byogen by herself. Saving a friend was just as worrying as saving the world. But if human Earth was in her place, she wouldn't worry about the future, she would fight for it. So if Asumi was anything like her, then she should do just that!
'Don't worry,' she assured the wind spirit and held her head up. 'Me and my friends will heal this place again.' She looked at Nodoka with a newfound resolve, and her body became tangible again. 'But right now, I need to save my friend.'
She asked Rabirin for the phone. When she was given it, she fixed her eyes on the image again, burning the shapes into her mind. Once she was ready, she rose to her feet and spread out her hands again.
'You can do it~rabi,' Rabirin gave her support her this time.
As Asumi let go of her fear, the picture of the hospital painted itself in her mind. Her magic started gathering in front of her until a spark showed itself. Drops of sweat formed on her brow but she dug even deeper. More and brighter sparks were bursting out before they finally became one light. That light abruptly expanded and formed a heart-shaped rainbow portal. When Asumi opened her eyes, she felt a gust of wind in her back. The wind flew into the portal and stretched it out enough for a person to pass through. Asumi almost collapsed to her knees again but she resisted. She saw the wind element floating next to her, smiling.
'I'll keep it open for you,' it promised.
Asumi bowed her head with thanks and put the stethoscope on her neck. With some struggle, she took Nodoka into her arms. Then, with Rabirin on her shoulder, she crouched down and stepped into the portal.
…
A whole third of the blue sky had turned dark turquoise since the fight had begun. Grace may have gotten burned by Daruizen's energy blasts, but she was staying strong. Every time she was knocked down, she got back up again. She couldn't rest in order to survive, and she had to defeat Daruizen to live. But he was moving with such ease, like he knew exactly where her weak spots were.
As the byogen charged at her again, she propelled herself and jumped over him. When she landed, she turned around in time to block his punch. He assaulted her with more punches, and it was getting harder to block them all. When Daruizen aimed a kick at her, she countered it with her leg. They pushed against each other for a few seconds before Daruizen overpowered her and brought her leg down. As soon as he did, he ran a fist into her chest and sent her flying.
The girl tumbled down but she started pulling herself up immediately. She expected Daruizen to attack her but he was nowhere to be seen. He had played this teleportation trick on her before. It felt like the silence was squeezing her as Grace looked around alarmed, wondering where the byogen would appear.
Turns out she needed to look up.
Before she knew it, Daruizen's foot landed on her head and toppled her over. She fell on her back with a yelp, and the byogen sat down on her stomach. There was no Paw Shield, so Grace quickly crossed her arms in front of her face.
'Living is fighting, huh?' Daruizen said mockingly. 'What if you're losing?'
Grace blinked in surprise. 'How did you know I said that?'
She was pinned to the ground, and Daruizen was surely prepared if she tried to punch him. So she had to let him attack her first. She was covering her face to provoke him.
The byogen rolled his eyes as Grace could never understand what he had gone through. 'Look, I know I was a part of King Byogen because I have his memories. But they aren't my memories! It's like I didn't exist at that time!' he grabbed the part where Grace's arms crossed and tried to push them down with his right hand.
'Only my hatred for you did!'
Grace let her arms drop but as Daruizen's other fist neared her face, she raised one hand, caught his fist and twisted it against the joint. Daruizen groaned in pain, giving Grace the opportunity to shove him back and break free. She did a backwards somersault and jumped away from him.
Daruizen stood up and glowered at her like an angry lion, clenching his fists.
'Daruizen, I didn't do this to you!' Grace shouted with her hand on her chest.
She had been inside of King Byogen too, but it wasn't like she had stopped existing. Somehow, she did feel bad for Daruizen, knowing that he had lost sense of himself and could never go back to the way he was. It was frightening to imagine, she understood why he was so angry. But she had the right to defend herself too.
'When you were weak, I didn't take advantage of it. I didn't take revenge for everything you did!'
'But you didn't help me either, you hypocrite!' Daruizen shot back and hurled a ball of energy at her.
Grace swiftly dodged it but this argument turned her pity into anger. 'Me? You think hurting others is fine but you don't like being hurt either!'
'Us panthogerms don't feel sympathy but you should!' Daruizen retorted and threw himself at the girl.
Grace wanted to say something but she had to dodge his kick instead. Then the combat continued. Daruizen was bent on taking her down now, and she was trying her best to keep up. But even worse was the fact that he was getting to her. His actions weren't justified but there was a reason behind them. She did refuse to heal him. But she had a reason for that too! Even so, her fear had caused Daruizen to lose control, and it ultimately lead her here...
With these thoughts eating her, she could hardly manage to do more than constantly defend herself.