Futari wa Pretty Cure: A New Legend

by Ashbel Longhart

Ichi Dai had a somewhat good life. Working at his uncle's orphanage, taking care of the kids, and so on. But on his birthday, he was suddenly transported to PreCure no Sekai. After a year of living in this new world, he later finds out that Grongi are here, causing chaos and death wherever they go. As the new Kamen Rider Kuuga, he must protect this world's smile. "Chou Henshin!"

19. Ride 19: To Learn From Loss

Hello Fanfiction Readers! Ashbel Longhart back to bring you another chapter of A New Legend! I'm glad to see that the last chapter got some positive feedback which always makes me happy. So here I am with the next chapter a week after the last one. Sorry I couldn't get this out sooner, but I was going back and forth with this one so it took some time. But I finished it so cue disclaimer!

(Disclaimer: I do not own Kamen Rider Kuuga or Futari wa Pretty Cure. They both belong to their respective owners. I just own this story and my OC's.)

Alright, last time, Dai and the girls lost their first fight and boy did they lose badly. Granted their opponents were Ilkubo and Daguva, more so the latter than the former, so it's to be expected. But they can't dwell on their loss forever for Poisony is making her last stand today. Let's hope the gang can bounce back before they experience a second loss! Let's ride! Chou Henshin!

---

Ride 19: To Learn From Loss. Poisony's Desperate Last Stand!

---

(One Year Ago)

The setting sun over the horizon casts the sky in an orange color. People were walking out of the stadium, heading to their cars to head back home, or simply deciding to walk the way. With the game now over, people had no reason to stick around any longer. Yet back in the stadium, one Misumi Nagisa stood at the field, looking up at the scoring board bitterly.

"Hey." Hearing a voice behind her, Nagisa turned around and saw Dai standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"Oh, hey Dai-kun." Nagisa said, having started using his first name ever since the car incident a few days ago.

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see what you were doing." Dai answered before looking up at the score board Nagisa had been looking at before he arrived. "Thinking about the game?"

Nagisa turned back to the score board. The difference in scores had been one point, showing how close the game was.

"It was a close game." Dai commented.

"Yeah...but we lost." Nagisa said, sighing as she hung her head down.

"You sad that you lost?" Dai asked.

"I'm more mad than I am sad." Nagisa said, turning around to face Dai. "We were so close! I had the ball, I threw it, and I missed! I costed us the game!"

"Hey, you win some, you lose some. There's always next year."

"But what if I mess up next year like I did today?" Nagisa hung her had, doubt clouding her mind. She then heard Dai move up to her and looked up when he placed his hands on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't think like that." Dai said, looking straight into her eyes. "If you're afraid of messing up again, then just keep practicing until you're confident that you won't mess up again. Use today as motivation to try harder next time. After all, people always learn from their mistakes. Because if they don't they're doomed to repeat them."

Nagisa looked at the boy, eyes wide with amazement at his words. Soon after, she began to smile and nodded.

"You're right. We may have lost this year, but we'll just have to try harder next year!"

"That's the spirit!" Dai smiled as he took his hands off of Nagisa's shoulder and ran off. "Come on, your mom is making your favorite today as a way to cheer you up."

"Why didn't you say that sooner!" Now excited, Nagisa ran after Dai, feeling much better than before.

---

(One Year Later)

"Aaaaand...there. It's done." Mizore said, removing the last of Nagisa's stitches before sitting down in her chair.

Nagisa rubbed her stomach, right over the scar that was the stab wound Daguva had given to her. The feeling of getting her stitches removed had been a weird, almost uncomfortable feeling, but it didn't hurt, much to her relief.

"I was quite surprised, you know." Mizore said as she threw away Nagisa's removed stitches and pulled out a lollipop from her coat as per usual. "I felt my heart nearly stop when I saw you three being wheeled in and covered in blood."

"I'm sorry to have worried you." Nagisa apologized, hanging her head down a little.

"Hey, don't do that." Mizore placed a finger under Nagisa's chin and lifted the girl's head back up. "As a doctor, I'm sort of used to this. It's my job to heal my patients as best I can. Your wounds may have closed, bu the scars are still there." At that did Nagisa unconsciously rub over her shoulder, feeling where her biggest scar was.

"I may not have been able to get rid of the scars, but I think that's fine as well. Use your scars as a reminder to be more careful from now on."

"I will." Nagisa nodded.

"Good." Mizore said before pulling out another lollipop and offering it to Nagisa. Unlike the last times, the girl decided to take it. The doctor then brought up another topic.

"So, how's the kid?" Mizore asked, removing the wrapper around the candy in her hand before popping it into her mouth.

"Dai-kun?" Nagisa asked and Mizore nodded. At that did Nagisa look down sadly. "He's, well...he's alright, I guess. But he barely talks now and tries to avoid talking to me and Honoka."

"Well, from the reports I got from the three of you, it's obvious the boy blames himself for what happened." Mizore said, crossing her legs.

"That's absurd! Dai-kun isn't to blame for this!"

"That's true, but the fact that he had a part in giving Yukishiro-san her burn scar cannot be denied."

"But he wasn't in control of himself!" Nagisa argued, having been told by Honoka what had happened after she passed out.

"That's also true, which is why when you get the chance, try and talk to him. He's been depressed ever since he woke up and it's honestly hard to see him like that. I'm more used to him being more cheerful." Mizore said, removing the lollipop from her mouth and pointing it at Nagisa. "I may be his personal doctor, but you and your friend are the closest to him. If there's anyone who can help him right now, it's you two."

"...right." Nagisa nodded.

---

(Later, Night)

It was a quiet night tonight in the woods. In the Nagano Prefecture near Komagane, a police car patrolled through the quiet night with the illumination of the full moon hanging above. Then there was a *beep* sound from the radio.

{Nagano 05, please respond}

One of the policemen grabbed the built-in mic while his partner drove the car.

"This is Nagano 05. Everything's quiet over here."

{Well there have been sightings of those new-type Unidentified Lifeforms. We are still waiting for confirmation. Over.}

"It's been quiet so far out here, so we can't confirm anything."

{Understood. You can come back after finishing patrols over there.}

"Roger." And with that, the call ended. The policeman turned to his partner and said, "Well, I'm ready to turn in for the night. Let's finish this up and head home."

"I second that. Just being out here is making me nervous."

"What? Scared that something might pop out like in those horror mov-?"

*Bang!*

Suddenly, something landed right on the car, jump scaring the policemen as the one behind the wheels stepped on the brakes. As the car came to a sudden stop, the men looked up to see nothing in front of them. Parking the car and unbuckling their seat belts, the two officers got out with their pistols drawn and looked around.

"What the heck was that?" One of them asked.

"I don't know." The other one said, cautiously looking around.

*flap-flap-flap*

"Hm?" Hearing something akin to the flapping of wings, one of the policemen looked up and gasped.

"Look! Up there!" Looking up, the other policemen saw what his partner was looking at.

Up in the sky, the figure of what is, or rather was, Zu-Gooma-Gu, is seen flying through the night sky.

---

(Insert STRIKE BACK by BACK-ON)

(Instrumental) The song starts as the camera rises up to show the legs of Kuuga before we get a sudden screen shot of Cure Black and Cure White before go back to Kuuga. Just as the camera is at the Arcle, we get a sudden shot of Mepple and Mipple before the camera gets to his chest. We then get another sudden shot of The PreCure cards surrounding Gouram before we go back to Kuuga whose back was facing the camera. He then suddenly turns around and punches the screen, cracking it as the title appears.

(Kidou sura kaerarenai kurai no kakuritsu da to shite mo) We now see Nagisa playing lacrosse with her team, catching a ball as Mepple is seen sleeping from Nagisa's bag.

(IPAASENTO demo areba mochiron teikou desho?) We then see Honoka with the members of the science club, doing an experiment that ended in an explosion as Mipple just giggles at the scene.

(Shosen, "unmei" to nagetsukerareta tte, No I won't!) We go to the city where police are examining a dead body. Ryō looks at the body before he walks away and gets out his phone, calling Dai.

(Hikkuri kaeshite, Because datte kimi to mirai wo miretara saikou janai?) Dai, riding on the TryChaser 2000, gets the call from his radio and speeds up, passing both Nagisa and Honoka as he races to meet up with Ryō.

(Bring it on! 'Cuz I'm just gonna grow up in the battle HEY! buchinuku donten!) Suddenly, the sky turns dark before the Dark King and his subordinates appears as well as an army of Zakenna appeared. Appearing with him was a shadow figure of N-Daguva-Zeba along with an army of Grongi.

(Still burning my fire ten wo kirsaku raimei I gotta kakikesu Nightmare tada mirai ga mitakute!) Nagisa and Honoka step in fear before Dai suddenly appeared behind them and gave them his signature smile and a thumbs up.

(Kako, mirai, soshite ikiteru ima, I ain't scared of my past and now for takusareta asu) Seeing his smile seemed to steel the girl's resolve as they took out the Queen PreCure and Dai summoned the Arcle belt.

(Screaming out for my pride!) A light then suddenly appears and appearing from it was Kamen Rider Kuuga along with Cure Black and Cure White, ready for battle.

(Namida mitakunai kara, sakebi tsudzukeru yo! Zutto...) Cure Black and Cure White engage a battle with some Zakenna before taking on Pisard, IIkubo, Poisony, Kiriya, and Gekidrago.

(I'm never falling down! oi kaze wo se ni fukitobasu Destiny!) Both sides trade blows for a bit before both girls held hands and fired their signature Marble Screw.

(Kono senaka ni aru, egao mamoritai kara! Zutto...) We see Kuuga kicking way a few Grongi, bashes them with the Dragon Rod while in his Dragon form, shoots a flying Grongi with his Pegasus Bowgun in his Pegasus form, slash a few more Grongi with his Titan Sword in his Titan form.

(I gotta blast off your pain for you and me! kanashimi nante Rest in peace!) Dai and the girls meet regroup as they face both the Dark King and N-Daguva-Zeba. Dai charges up a Mighty Kick before he jumps.

(Nando demo...) The girl then threw another Marble Screw as Dai kicks towards the two beings of darkness with the Marble Screw following close behind him before a light overtakes everything and we see a quick look at the blue sky before the song ends.

---

(The Next Day, Verone Academy)

"Ah! I messed up!"

"Ooh, what a nice feeling..."

"Isn't a strange smell?"

In the science room, the girls of the science club were talking amongst themselves as they were experimenting. What are they experimenting, you ask? Perfume is what they are experimenting. To be specific, they were trying to make their own kind of perfume with each girl trying to make their own kind of scent.

"Alright, the color changed."

"Mine too."

"Did you do it?"

"Take a look."

"Let me see..." One of the girls went and sniffed a friends finished product. The results...

"Ugh! That's not perfume, it just stinks!"

"What are you saying? What's yours like then?"

"Here, see for yourself."

"*sniff...sniff...* Ugh! What is this? It smells like incense!"

"Now, now, calm down you two." Yuriko said, calming down her fellow club mates. "I guess making perfume isn't that easy after all."

"I'm finished." Just as Yuriko finished saying that did Honoka inform the others of her finished product, getting everyone's attention. Honoka held her's up for everyone to see.

"Ah! You put it in a bottle?" Yuriko pointed out.

"This is a spray bottle for experiments. Since we're making perfume, I thought it'd make sense to use it." Honoka explained.

"It smells so refined..."

"Here." Honoka sprayed some on her hand before offering it to Yuriko to smell.

"Let's see here..." Yuriko muttered as she and the other members gathered around the hand, surprising Honoka.

"It smells nice."

"It really does."

"Just like Honoka, she's such a genius."

"Hehehe..." Honoka can only giggle at her friends.

"Hey," Yuriko then spoke up with a concerned look on her face. "Is it alright?"

"What is?" Honoka blinked at her friend, confused.

"Well..." Uncomfortable saying it, Yuriko grabbed Honoka's hand and turned it over. The sleeve of the lab coat may have hidden most of it, but it could not completely hide the bandages that cover her right arm and most of her hand, hiding what is most definitely a nasty burn scar.

Honoka understands what her friend is asking and simply smiles. "It's fine. I just need to wear bandages for another week and then I can stop wearing them."

"I can hardly believe you actually survived an Unidentified Lifeform attack." Yuriko said as she and the others moved back to give Honoka some space. "You gave everyone a heart attack when you came to school with your arm in a sling."

"I'm sorry for worrying you all." Honoka apologized before looking out the window where Nagisa was no doubt out on the field practicing.

---

True to Honoka's thoughts, Nagisa was currently with her club, practicing lacrosse with her friends. As she practiced, Nagisa began to get lost in her thoughts as per usual.

'It's been a week since that day. Facing that dangerous guy and meeting the leader of the Grongi clan, Daguva. Honoka and I couldn't even touch that unexpected guy, and Dai-kun got totally beat up by Daguva. I know Dai-kun said he was strong, but I never expected him to have the kind of power he just displayed and to think that wasn't even his full power. If those two were to appear again, what in world should we do? We're only still alive thanks to pure luck.'

Unconsciously, Nagisa placed a hand over her stomach, right where her scar would be.

'We need to hurry up and collect the seven Prism Stones so we can revive Mepple and Mipple's world, the Garden of Light. But then what about the Grongi? What can be done about them?' As she and Honoka fight against the Dark Zone, Dai continued to fight the good fight against the Grongi clan. But eventually, he'll have to face Daguva again. That alone scares Nagisa to no end. Just thinking back to that fight in the rain, Dai's back against the wall with his shoulder bleeding and Daguva standing over him with his sword...

Nagisa felt the scars on her stomach and back ache a little at the thought of the sword Daguva had used. Just the memory of her getting stabbed and slashed across the back sent phantom pains through her.

"nagisa...Nagisa!" Said girl snapped her head up, hearing her name and looking up to see her friends and teammates looking at her in worry.

"Nagisa, daijōbu(are you okay)?" Rina asked, having seen Nagisa deep in thought with a hand over her stomach.

"Y-Yeah, daijōbu desu(I'm fine)." Nagisa insisted, quickly removing her hand from her stomach placing it back on her lacrosse stick.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, really." Nagisa insisted again, jumping up and trying to look energetic. "See? No problems. Now let's get back to practicing."

"Okay..." Still unsure, the girls decided to comply with Nagisa's wish and went back to practicing.

Nagisa sighed, feeling ashamed in worrying her friends like that, not that she could blame them. Showing up to school covered in bandages makes people ask after all. The same thing happened with Honoka and Dai.

'Speaking of Dai-kun...' Nagisa turned to her left where the boy's sports field would be at. There, practicing soccer with his friends, was Ichi Dai, looking completely healed. Compared to the girls, Dai had healed much faster as he had only worn bandages a day after he woke up before getting them removed. It honestly surprised her and Honoka just how fast Dai had healed considering he was the most injured out of the three of them.

'It probably has something to do with that belt inside him.' Nagisa thought, thinking back to Dai's x-ray scans months ago.

'Of course, just because he's fine outside, doesn't mean he's fine inside.' Nagisa stared sadly towards Dai. Ever since the fight with Daguva, Dai had refused to talk to her and Honoka and she could guess why. No doubt, the boy was blaming himself for what happened.

'I need to talk to him as soon as possible.' Nagisa thought, resolved to make sure that Dai understood that what happened that day wasn't his fault.

---

(Investigation HQ, Conference Room)

In the conference room of the newly rebuilt Investigation HQ, detectives and officers alike were seated as a worker passed reports for everyone attending.

Among the men seated around the room was Ryō, looking over the reported handed to him. Flipping through the papers, he eventually came upon pictures of the Grongi-Zakenna hybrid that the Investigation Team have decided to call Grakenngi.

"One of those Grakenngi's appeared in Nagano." A voice spoke up next to him, and Ryō looked up to see his fellow detective and friend, Rai.

"Still a weird name to call those things if you ask me." Rai commented.

"Do you think you can come up with a better name for them?" Ryō asked.

"Heh, maybe." With a small laugh, Rai slapped Ryō's back before going over to his seat.

Ryō allowed a small smile to form on his face before he looked up at a map clipped to the white board. The map was marked, marking the areas where either Grakenngi or regular Grongi have been sighted. Amongst the markings were the ones marking the revived Gooma, marking his every location and drawing a line between them. For the past few weeks, the team has noticed that Gooma has been flying between here and Nagano, visiting the ruins where the Grongi had been revived from.

'But why would it visit the ruins?' Ryō thought to himself before Chief Hiwagawa walked into the room. Soon after, the meeting commenced.

"As you all may know already, when an explosion wrecked half of the building, it was in fact due to an infiltration. While we do not know the suspect's face, we do know it is a woman and she is a part of a secret organization that wishes harm for this city. When she infiltrated this base, she stole the remains of defeated Unidentified Lifeforms and somehow managed to revive them. Due to the nature of their resurrection, we have taken to calling them Grakenngi."

"Kind of a mouthful, don't you think?" Sitting next to Ryō, Hiroshi whispered into his ears. Ryō kind of agreed, but didn't have much a problem with the name.

"While a large majority of them has been defeated by the duo called Pretty Cure, a few managed to survive and are now somewhere out there. So far, we have managed to track one of these stragglers down, the Grakenngi that used to be Unidentified Lifeform No. 2. For the past few weeks, it has been going back between Tokyo and Nagano. We haven't been able to catch it this time, but there's a possibility we can manage next time. So we have a plan for when that time comes."

"But why is it going back and forth between Tokyo and Nagano?" Rai thought out loud to pass the question along.

"And why has it been visiting those ruins? It doesn't kill anyone, right?" Hiroshi added.

"Those ruins were where the Unidentified Lifeforms came from. They might have secrets underneath that still have yet to be discovered." Ryō said, throwing in his thoughts. "In any case, it shouldn't have any reason to go back to Nagano. It must be plotting something then, so we should all stay alert."

"A new plot huh? We still don't know why they're targeting people." Rai said, sighing.

"Actually..." Ryō spoke up, going into his bag and pulling put papers. "I have information on that."

"Is it from No. 4?" Chief Hiwagawa asked, having heard that Ryō would get new info about the Unidentified Lifeform from No. 4, Dai aka Kuuga.

"Yes." Ryō nodded before reading the papers sent to him by Dai. "According to No. 4, the Unidentified Lifeform's reasons for targeting people is all a game."

"A game?" Hiroshi repeated in disbelief.

"I know it's hard to believe, but whenever a new Unidentified Lifeform attacks, they attack a certain number of people in a certain way. They do this in order to achieve a much greater purpose."

"You gotta be fucking kidding me!" Rai slammed a fist down in anger. "You mean to tell me that this entire time, those bastards have been using people as playthings!?"

"Again, I know is hard to believe. I feel the exact same way as you do." Ryō said, having been angry as well when he read the papers earlier.

"All the more reason we must stop them from killing any more people." Chief Hiwagawa said, getting nods of agreement from around the room.

---

(With Dai)

"Uh huh...I see...so Gooma has reappeared..."

{We've been trying to find gaps in the sonic waves it emits, but we haven't been able to find any. We fear that since the sun rose, while it was returning from Tokyo to Nagano, that it may have changed into human form.}

"But can those Grakenngi really take a human form like they used to?"

{We can only assume since it's been difficult tracking them down. }

"I guess so. Well I'll make sure to let you know if I see anything."

{That'll be a great help. Also...}

"Hm?"

{How are you doing? I heard No. 0 appeared before you and you were sent to the hospital along with those girls. Are you three alright?}

Dai didn't say anything for about a minute before he answered Ryō back.

"I'm...We're fine, yes. Nagisa-chan just recently got her stitches removed and Honoka only has another week until she can stop wearing bandages. I've also made a complete recovery so you have nothing to worry about."

{Is that so? That's good to hear. Then I'll contact you if anything comes up.}

"Likewise." Dai said before ending the call and putting his phone back in his bag.

"Oi! Dai! You're up!" Hearing his name, Dai saw that he was being called up.

"Hai~!" Taking a quick drink from his water bottle, Dai tossed the bottle back into his bag before going up to the field where Shugo and Kimata were waiting for him.

"Hey, is everything alright?" Shugo suddenly asked.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Dai asked, confused.

"Well, lately, you seem kinda down lately. Like, you're not as cheerful as you usually are." Kimata explained.

For a quick second, a frown appeared on Dai before it was quickly replaced with a slightly forced smile.

"What are you talking about? I'm fine!"

"If you say so..." Still unsure, they nevertheless continued practice. As Kimata went and blew the whistle, Dai took a glance over to the girls sports field, where Nagisa was no doubt practicing right now like he was.

A look of shame appeared on Dai before he shook his head to rid himself of negative thoughts and focus on the game right now.

---

(Dark Zone)

"Ugh..."

"Wow, you're not sounding so hot there, Dark King."

"Grrr..."

"Oh, now you sound mad. Are you mad? You're mad, aren't you? Are you mad at me? You mad that someone as strong as me get's to freely go out and do whatever he wants? You mad-?"

"Daguva, stop antagonizing Dark King-sama!" Poisony shouted angirly at the Grongi.

Said Grongi simply smiled and shrugged.

"The Light is drawing near." Dark King said, getting Poisony to turn back to him. "The light to complete our immortality, we must consume it. We must consume it all!"

"Dark King-sama..."

"Go!"

"Y-Yes!" At her lords loud shout, Poisony dismissed herself, leaving Daguva and the Dark King alone.

...

...

...

"So are you still mad at me?" The growl he got from the Dark King made Daguva smile.

As Daguva continued to pester the Dark King, Poisony was with her brother and Ilkubo.

"Dark King-sama is getting quite irritated." Ilkubo stated the obvious.

"I know. Don't worry, I'll get the stones from those girls this time." Poisony said, assured.

"I wouldn't underestimate them if I were you." Kiriya said.

"Are you making fun of me, my dear brother? This time's the real deal, I won't hold anything back."

"That's good to hear." Ilkubo said. "If we leave things as they are, the Dark Zone, even Dark King-sama himself will be completely consumed. In other words, in order to complete Dark King-sama, by any means..."

"I know. If we just capture those two creatures, the stones Pisard and Gekidrago had with them, and the two stones which disappeared..." Poisony slammed a fist into her palm. "We can find them all."

"Exactly. But it won't be easy. There's also that friend of their's, the one known as Kuuga. He is a strong one, and keeps getting stronger with each Grongi he defeats. If you face him, be very careful."

"This time I'll bring back the Prism Stones." Poisony said, looking up at Kiriya and Ilkubo with determined eyes. For too long has she suffered losses against those girls. But no more!

"I'll get those stones, even if it costs me my life!"

---

(With Nagisa)

"Whew!" Nagisa breathed out, a bit exhausted from practice as she used her towel to wipe off the sweat on her.

"Nagisa!" Hearing her name, Nagisa looked and smiled when she saw Honoka waving at her.

"Honoka!"

"Are you done with practice?" Honoka asked as Nagisa ran up to her.

"Yeah, let's go home together." Nagisa said, walking together with Honoka.

"Is Ichi-kun not taking you home?" Honoka asked as Nagisa always went with Dai to return home since he has his motorbike and they live in the same apartment complex.

"Well, he's...you know." Nagisa said, looking down sadly.

"So you still haven't found a chance to talk to him?" Honoka asked.

"I'm trying, but whenever I try to get close to him, he either finds a way to avoid me, or just straight up runs away!" Nagisa said, annoyed at her friend's behavior.

"Well, just give it time. I'm sure he'll come around."

"It's been nearly a week and he's still blaming himself. He needs to know that what happened with Daguva wasn't his fault." Nagisa said, gripping her towel in frustration. "That guy will help anybody if they so much as ask, but the minute something bad happens, he goes and blames himself even if something isn't entirely his fault!"

"That's just the kind of person Ichi-kun is." Honoka said, having come to accept the way Dai is.

"I swear, when I finally get my hands on him, I'm going to give him the biggest talk of his life!" Nagisa said, determined.

"Got room for one more? I'd like to say my piece to him too." Honoka said before rubbing her right arm. "He probably feels responsible for this, but I want him to know that I don't blame him for what happened. When he fought Daguva and he changed forms, that wasn't...that wasn't him."

All that rage and the wisps of darkness spewing out of him. Honoka had a hard time believing that that was the same Dai she was friends with. To be honest, she had been quite scared of Dai when he had changed.

Meanwhile, Nagisa stared at Honoka's right arm. Despite the season being summer, Honoka had switched back to the winter uniform in an attempt to hide her bandaged arm. Despite the whole school knowing, Honoka didn't want people staring.

Nagisa wanted to change topics, anything to get away from the depressing air that had begun to form. Lucky for her, one came to Nagisa in the form of Honoka's scent.

"Are you wearing perfume?"

"Huh?" Honoka blinked at Nagisa's sudden question, but quickly answered. "Yes. The girls and I were doing a perfume experiment. What you're smelling right now is what I made myself. What do you think?"

"It smells really nice." Nagisa said, sniffing her friend a few times. "It kind of has an European fragrance."

"Europe? Have you been there?" Honoka asked.

"Hehe..." Instead of answering, Nagisa simply laughed.

"No way! Where did you go?"

"Let me see...frankfurter."

"Germany? When were you there?" (A/N: When Nagisa said frankfurter, it was pronounced as "furankufuruto" which sounds like Frankfurt, a city in Germany which is why Honoka mentioned Germany. Just thought I should mentioned this in case anybody didn't know. Back to the story)

"After that, French bread."

"Huh?"

"Belgian waffles."

At this point did Honoka realize that Nagisa was playing with her.

"Aren't those all foods?"

"You didn't actually believe I've been to Europe, did you?" Nagisa teasingly smiled at her friend before asking, "Anyway, wanna get some of Akane-san's takoyaki?"

"Sorry, no can do."

"Eh? Why not?"

"Well, after I came home with this," Honoka held up her right arm. "Obāchama(grandma) wants me home after school right away from now on, or at least until I no longer need bandages."

"Ah, I guess that make sense. Can't blame her for worrying." Nagisa said, understanding Honoka's situation. "It's the same for me. Once I got out of the hospital, my parents want me to go straight home once after school practice is over. Maybe next time then?"

"Yeah, definitely."

"Alright, then I'll see you later." Nagisa said, going into the school gym to change.

"Yeah." Honoka said before taking her leave as well.

As she left school campus grounds, she eventually passed by the entrance to the boy's part of the school and stopped to see if Dai was still around.

"Kon'nichiwa(Good afternoon)."

"Huh?" Jumping a little at the sudden greeting, Honoka turned to see Kiriya smiling at her.

"Oh, Kiriya-kun."

"What brings you over to the boy's side of the school?" Kiriya asked as he walked up to her.

"Oh, nothing. I just thought I could catch Ichi-kun. Is he still around?" Honoka asked.

"Ichi-senpai left as soon as practices were over, so no. Sorry."

"No, that's okay." Honoka said, though she was slightly disappointed, to be honest.

"Hm?" Suddenly, Kiriya sniffed the air around Honoka. "Did you put on perfume?"

"Yes I did. Everyone in the science club made one for an experiment." Honoka said while unconsciously hiding her right arm from Kiriya.

"Did you perhaps, mix in the essence of lilies?" Kiriya pointed out.

"As a matter of fact, I did." Honoka said, surprised. "The base for the perfume is a rose, but I used a hint of lily as a highlight."

"So I was right."

"Yes. I'm surprised, no one in the science club noticed it."

Kiriya smiled, feeling a bit proud for being the only one to notice.

"Well, even if you weren't wearing perfume..."

"Huh?"

"Um, nothing." Kiriya quickly said, clearing his voice before bowing to Honoka. "Well, I better get going. See you."

"Uh, yeah." Honoka said, a bit confused as she watched Kiriya walk away.

'What was he trying to say earlier?' Honoka thought before she continued to walk home, but not before taking one last glance back at the school.

'It's not your fault, Ichi-kun...' Honoka thought. Once she got the chance, she was going to say these words to the Rider. He couldn't avoid her, or Nagisa forever.

---

(Meanwhile, Unknown Location)

"So, this is where you've been hiding."

Hearing the ancient language of his kind, the Grakenngi that used to be Zu-Gooma-Gu turned his head so quickly he might as well have snapped it. From the shadows came Ra-Baruba-De, dressed in a pure white dress with long gloves of the same color. Her hair was done in a ponytail as a hair clip with a lily flower decoration held the tied hair together.

"Ra...Baruba...De..."Gooma said slowly, as if he was having trouble speaking.

"Hmph, you've certainly gotten more repulsive since the last time I saw you." Baruba insulted the Grakenngi as she took in Gooma's appearance.

By some miracle, Gooma was able to take a human disguise, but compared to her and the other Grongi that were still alive, Gooma's disguise looked like it was ready to fall off. Parts of his body were a sickly pale, to the point it looked like dead skin one could easily tear off. The only things that hid these hideous features was the black tench coat and hat Gooma wore as tucked under his arm was a black umbrella, no doubt used to block the sun's rays from hitting him.

After taking in Gooma's appearance did Baruba turn to the other person in the room, a middle-aged man dressed in black and wearing sunglasses who was brushing away something Gooma had brought him. This 'man' was in fact the last of the Nu Group grongi, Nu-Zajio-Re.

"Zajio, is that a piece of Daguva I see in your hands?" Baruba asked the Nu survivor.

"Why yes it is. Gooma here was the one who brought it to me." Zajio said, holding up the piece in his hand.

"That...is...mi-!" Gooma began to say, going as if to attack Baruba, but the Rose Grongi in disguise stopped him by grabbing his head and squeezing, making him cry out in pain as he was forced to his knees.

"Now Gooma, I do hope you weren't thinking about using a piece of Lord Daguva for your own purposes, were you?" Baruba menacingly asked the Grongi in her hands, loosening her grip enough for the Grongi to speak.

"N-No...of...course not...!"

"Good." Baruba said, suddenly speaking Japanese as she released Gooma. "Be lucky I wasn't a Go, otherwise I wouldn't have been so lenient. Know your place."

Gooma could say nothing, only able to grind his teeth in frustration and glare at the Grongi judge looking down at him. He'll get his chance, he just needs to keep biding his time until the right moment presented itself. He was brought back from the dead, and he would not waste this chance!

---

(Somewhere in the City)

A sigh is heard as a pair of friends walk out of a convenient store.

"You know what Sayuki, nowadays there's nowhere to go at night. It's boring."

"And there are no parties to go to either."

"Well yeah, people are afraid of the Unidentified Lifeforms. I understand that, but still."

"I know what you mean. Can't even go to convenience stores at night either."

"That's true. I guess all we can do at night is study and sleep."

"Yeah...Ah! Give me a sec." The one known as Sayuki kneels down to tie his shoes.

"But it's really boring, just doing nothing." Sayuki said, but got no response. Finish tying his shoes, Sayuki looked up, but saw no sign of his friend with him.

"Senpai? Senpai?" Confused, Sayuki looks around until he spots his friend and senior standing by a stone wall.

"Senpai, what are you doing over-?" As Sayuki makes his way to his senior, before he could finish speaking, his friend suddenly falls down, his face red as if his face was slammed into the wall.

"Senpai!" Alarmed, Sayuki runs over to his friend and kneels down. "Senpai! What happened! Are you hurt!?" Shaking him, but getting no response, Sayuki checks his pulse...but finds none. His friend is dead.

"I'll kill the next one at Komazawa Square."

"Eh?" Hearing a voice, Sayuki looks around, but finds nobody. Fearing for his life, Sayuki runs screaming.

---

(Investigation HQ)

Sirens are heard in the distance, getting everyone's attention in the room. Soon after, a woman runs into the room to inform everyone.

"An Unidentified Lifeform has committed a crime in Meguro! We've been asked for back-up!"

"Was it No. 2?" Rai asked.

"No. It appears to be another new Unidentified Lifeform.

"So No. 31?"

"According to the report, all the victims died from wounds to the face and asphyxiation. No one has seen the culprit."

"Let's move!" Rai said, hurrying out the door with everyone following after him.

"Wait!" The woman spoke up, stopping all the men from leaving.

"What is it?" Hiroshi asked.

"It's mysterious, but everyone in the area heard noises."

"Noises?" Ryō repeated and the woman nodded.

"It sounded like a voice was announcing the location of the next murder."

"A murder announcement."

---

(With Dai)

"Hai! Here are you go! You get an extra serving, just for you." Akane said as she handed Dai his order.

"Arigato, Akane-san." Dai thanked the woman and dug into his takoyaki. "Mmm, delicious as always!"

"Why thank you!" Akane smiled, happy to hear the compliment. "Still, it's pretty rare of you to come alone like this. You're usually either with that police friend of yours, or the girls."

"Oh, well...I just felt like coming alone. That's all." Dai said as he ate.

"Is that so?" Akane raised an eyebrow, but didn't go further. Instead, a concerned face was formed as Akane asked, "Hey, how are Nagisa and Honoka doing? I heard you three were attacked by an Unidentified Lifeform."

At the mention of his friends made Dai look down sadly, picking away at his takoyaki. Akane naturally saw this and spoke up.

"Dai?"

Hearing his name, Dai snapped out of his stupor and quickly answered.

"Uh, they're fine. Nagisa-chan just got her stitches removed and his playing lacrosse just fine. Honoka-chan still has to wear bandages for another week, but is fine nonetheless."

"That's good to hear." Akane breathed out a sigh of relief before she narrowed her eyes at Dai. "Now, what about you?"

"Me?" Dai pointed to himself and Akane nodded. "What do you mean? I'm fine. All my injuries have already healed."

"I'm not talking about if you're still injured or not. I'm asking if you're okay. You seem...down. As in you're not your usual cheery self."

Dai opened his mouth, wanting to say something against that. But just as soon as he opened it, he closed his mouth and looked down, knowing what Akane had said was true. So he decided to silently eat his takoyaki.

Seeing as Dai wasn't going to speak, Akane tried asking another question.

"Did something happen when you three were attacked?" Dai froze at that question, making Akane know that she hit bullseye.

"Hey, come on, you can talk to me. We've known each other for about a year now."

Dai looked back up at Akane, contemplating whether he should talk or not. Akane was someone he rarely talked to. But she was an adult, and a mature, responsible one at that. She wouldn't have left her company and set up this tako stand if she wasn't responsible.

"...it's my fault." Dai began to speak, deciding to speak to the woman. "The wounds Nagisa-chan and Honoka-chan received were my fault."

"Now that's not true-"

"It is!" Dai interrupted the woman, surprised at Dai's sudden out burst. "You weren't there, Akane-san. You weren't there..."

"Dai..."

"I was on the ground, bleeding. My back was against the wall, and Dagu-the Unidentified Lifeform was about to finish me off. That's when Nagisa-chan suddenly jumped in to save me, only to get stabbed and slashed across the back." Dai retold the events by memory, holding up his right hand and imagining the blood, Nagisa's blood, on them. "Nagisa bled in my arms, and I got so mad that I charged at that monster only to get knocked out. Before I passed out, I saw that Honoka-chan had been injured, her right arm badly burned." Dai then closed his hand into a fist and clenched it as it shook with frustration. "There was...nothing I could do. I was completely useless!"

"Dai..." Never before as Akane seen Dai so frustrated before. Despite knowing Dai for about a year, this was a side of Dai she's never seen before, and she doubted anyone else as seen this side of Dai before either except really close friends.

"Because of me, Nagisa-chan and Honoka-chan now have scars that can never go away. All because of me..."

...

...

...

*flick!*

"Ow!" Dai flinched at the sudden flick to the head and looked up at Akane in confusion.

"Baka(Idiot). You make it sound like the girls blame you for what happened to them. You three were attacked by an Unidentified Lifeform. If anyone's to blame for hurting those girls. it's that guy, not you." Akane said before sighing. "I swear, you're always like this, blaming yourself first whenever something bad happens."

"But-!"

*ring-ring-ring!*

Before Dai could finish speaking, his phone started ringing. Reaching into his pocket, Dai pulled out his phone and answered the call.

"Hello?"

{Dai, come over quickly! An Unidentified Lifeform has appeared!} The voice of Ryō was heard through the phone.

"Where?"

{According to the announcement, the killing will occur at Komazawa.}

"Announcement?"

{Even though is was an Unidentified Lifeform, that announcement was in Japanese. But they could only hear his voice and couldn't see his body. We think this Unidentified Lifeform can turn invisible.}

"A Grongi that can turn invisible..." In just a second, Dai already knew which Grongi Ryō was talking about. "Garume."

Dai went to explain until he remembered that he was with Akane right now. Throwing the last remaining takoyaki into his mouth, Dai gave a muffled thanks to the woman before running over to his bike. Once there and swallowing his food did Dai explain.

"Me-Garume-Re, a Chameleon Grongi who used to be a part of the Zu Group, but later got promoted into the Me Group. He can turn invisible and kills by using his tongue to hang his victims while slamming their faces against a surface."

{So that's why all the victims had wounds to the face.}

"He always makes an announcement on where he's going to kill next, and because of his invisibility, he's a tough one to catch. But his invisibility does have a weakness."

{A weakness?}

"His chromatic cellular makeup, that is his ability to turn invisible, will get disrupted if a bright light from something like a flash grenade is used. But you'll only have a small window of five minutes before he can turn invisible again."

{Flash grenade, got it. Just hurry on over.}

"Roger." With that, the call ended. Putting his phone back in his pocket, Dai grabbed his helmet, put it on, and got on his TryChaser 2000.

"Dai!" Before Dai could drive off, Akane suddenly run up to him.

"Sorry Akane-san, but I have to go!" Dai said, in a hurry to leave. Lives were at stake!

"Dai, wait." Akane said, making the Rider turn to her. "Listen, blame yourself all you want, but know that Nagisa and Honoka do not, and will never blame you for what happened to them. Got it?"

Akane waited for Dai to answer back, but all she got was silence. Not satisfied yet, she continued. "Look. Just, when you get the chance, talk to those two. You'll see what I mean."

Dai looked down, contemplating Akane's words before the memories of the battle with Daguva flashed through his mind.

"...no." Looking up, Dai revved the engine of his bike. "I can't get them involved anymore." And with those words, Dai took off, leaving Akane alone to watch.

As she watched the boy drive off, she could only shake her head and sigh.

"That kid..."

---

(Komazawa Square)

"Kachou(Boss)!" A woman cries out in alarm, running forward to pick up a fallen bag before continuing forward to find her boss. Only a few steps forward and she found him, dead on the ground with wounds on his face.

"Kachou..."

"Next, I will kill at Central Tower." A voice announces, scaring the woman as she ran away screaming. As soon as she left did another woman appear over the dead man's body.

"You gave a warning." The woman said as appearing right next to her was Me-Garume-Re, the Chameleon Grongi. Turning to her fellow Grongi, she asks, "What are you planning?"

"Wouldn't this be a better way to enjoy the game?" Garuma said as he turned into his human form before moving a bead on his bracelet to mark his kill. "Also, this is the way to become a Go, right? Playing the Gegeru with more than just strength."

An amused smile appeared on the woman's face before she spoke. "Baruba is calling us. It seems Badaa is coming."

"If he's here, then the other Go's must be coming." Garume said.

"That's right. Let's live long enough to enjoy what's to come."

---

(Later, With Dai)

Driving as fast and safe as possible, Dai sped down the road, passing by cars in the blink of an eye as he hurried over to Komazawa Square.

*Beep!*

Suddenly, there was a beep form his radio and Ryō's voice came through.

{Dai, he's no longer at Komazawa.}

'Which means someone was already killed.' Dai gripped the handles of his bike hard, his anger rising as Ryō continued speaking.

{He's announced that he's going to Central Tower next.}

"Got it. I'll head over there as soon as possible!" Dai said as he sped up and blitzed down the road, not caring if he was defying the speed limit.

---

(Meanwhile, with Nagisa)

The ticking of the clock seemed to echo as Nagisa sat at the dining table, looking at the door from where she was at. She had just finished having dinner with the family and was now simply waiting for a certain Rider to come through the door.

Nagisa's mother, Rie, watched her daughter in worry as the girl had been sitting and staring at the door for a good hour or so. Finally, she spoke.

"Nagisa, I don't think Dai is going to show up anytime soon." Rie said, but Nagisa didn't respond back. So she spoke up again. "Nagisa, you have to get up for school tomorrow. Run up stairs and go take a bath before the water gets cold."

"...fine." Giving up on the tiny hope that Dai might burst through the door, Nagisa got up and made her way up stairs. Doing as told, it only took her a couple of minutes to finish washing up as she walked into her room wiping her head with a towel.

"He hasn't come back yet-mepo." Exiting the balcony, Mepple in his true form stepped into Nagisa's room, jumped onto the table, before turning back into his Card Commune form.

"If he hasn't come home yet, then that means another Grongi probably appeared." Nagisa said as she sat down at her bed, wiping her hair dry.

"...hey," Mepple spoke up, getting Nagisa to look at him. "How are you now-mepo? Feeling any better?"

Nagisa blinked at the fairy before figuring out what he was asking. Lifting up the shirt of her pajama, she showed off the stab scar on her stomach.

"It kind of aches from time to time, but it doesn't hurt anymore compared to a week ago." She said before pushing her shirt back down.

"I see. That's good-mepo." Mepple said before going quiet.

Seeing Mepple suddenly go quiet made Nagisa feel a bit awkward. In attempt to change this, she grabbed her Pretty Cure Cards.

"That's right, you must be hungry, right? Just give me a second here."

"I'm not really hungry right now-mepo."

At that did Nagisa stop even though she just took out the needed card. Seeing the sadden look on the fairy's face, Nagisa went and knelt to him.

"Hey, what's wrong? You're not one to skip a meal which means something's on your mind." Nagisa said, picking up Mepple.

Mepple remains quiet for a while before he goes and sighs. "Some legendary hero I am-mepo."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"I mean, I was completely useless-mepo." Mepple said. "In that fight against that guy from the Dark Zone and that Dogu-what's-his-name, there wasn't anything I could do-mepo. When your powers got taken, I relied on Dai because whenever he shows up, things always work out in the end-mepo. But this time, it didn't-mepo. When you got hurt and bleeding, and when Dai got knocked out despite his transformation, and when Honoka was badly hurt, there wasn't a single thing I could do-mepo. And when I tried to do something, that Doguba-guy stopped me so easily, and could have easily killed me like I was nothing-mepo."

Soon, tears were starting to fall down Mepple's face as he continued to spill out his thoughts he's been keeping for the past week.

"I call myself a legendary hero, but when it really comes down to it, I'm nothing-mepo."

"Hey, don't say that." Nagisa said, speaking as gently as she possibly could.

"But it's true-mepo! That Doguba guy said it himself. That I'm small and weak-mepo. When you all couldn't fight anymore, I couldn't do anything at all-mepo."

"Mepple..." Nagisa has never seen the fairy like this before. The battle with Daguva must have been more scaring for Mepple to experience than Nagisa thought.

"Hey, come on, don't cry. You're not useless." Nagisa said, trying to think of what to say. "I mean, without you or Mipple, Honoka and I wouldn't be able to fight like we can now."

"But that's all I can do-mepo." Mepple pointed out. Besides lending Nagisa the ability to transform into Cure Black, he can't do much else.

"That may be true, but it doesn't have to stay true." Nagisa said. "Listen Mepple. Do you remember the reason why Honoka and I asked Dai-kun for training?"

Sniffing as to not let snot run down his nose form crying, Mepple took a moment to remember why Nagisa and Honoka sought out Dai for training.

"Um, it was because...you didn't want to rely on him all the time?"

Nagisa nodded. "That's right. In the beginning, when Honoka and were still new to this Pretty Cure business, it seemed like every time we were about to lose, Dai-kun would show up and then everything would turn out fine. But after the incident at the lake, Honoka and I knew that we can't always rely on Dai-kun to bust us out of trouble. We had to change, so that in case something happens to Dai-kun, we can be there for him just like he was there for us."

"It's the same for you. If you're feeling so useless right now, then find a way to change that. That way, when the time comes, you can really call yourself a legendary hero."

Mepple stared wide eyed at Nagisa, shaken by the words the girl had spoken to him.

"...who are you and what have you done with Nagisa-mepo?"

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean!?" Nagisa exclaimed angirly. "Geez, here I am trying to be helpful, and then you go and be rude. Also, it's 'Daguva', not Doguba."

"Sorry, it's just that you were so...encouraging-mepo." Mepple said.

"And just what does that mean?" Nagisa glared down at the fairy in her hands.

At this point, Mepple was starting to sweat. "Well, um, it's just that, the words you spoke were so encouraging and helpful that I found it hard to believe that they came from your mouth-mepo."

"Hey, I can be encouraging and helpful when I want to." Nagisa said. "I'll have you know, I am a great help to my friends."

"Oh yeah? Then maybe you can think of a way to be helpful with Dai-mepo." Mepple said.

"You don't think I'm trying? You've seen the way he's been acting for the past week. He never gives me the chance to talk to him." Nagisa said as she laid down on her bed, looking up at the ceiling. "He doesn't answer my calls, doesn't come over for dinner like he usually does, and he's always trying to avoid me!"

With the way things are right now, Nagisa wouldn't be able to say a single word to the Rider.

"If only there was a way I can get him to listen." Nagisa thought out loud.

Mepple let out a "Hmm" sound, showing that he was thinking too. Then, his eyes landed on Nagisa's work desk.

"Why not use the Pretty Cure Planner-mepo?"

"Huh?" Nagisa got up and looked at the Fairy in confusion.

"I mean, when you and Honoka were fighting that one time, it was thanks to you putting down your feelings and then accidentally switching planners that allowed you two to become the friends you are today-mepo. So, why not write down what you want to say to Dai, and then, since he's not talking to you, place it in his room for him to find and read-mepo?"

"Mepple...that's genius!" Nagisa said before setting down Mepple and going to her desk, pulling out from her drawer the Pretty Cure Planner. "Since I can't get Dai-kun to talk to me, I'll just use another way to talk to him."

"You're welcome, by the way-mepo." Mepple said, looking proud of himself.

"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome." Nagisa said as she sat down and began to write in her planner before suddenly stopping.

"I should probably let Honoka know. That way we both can say what we want to say." With that plan in mind, Nagisa went to her phone to call Honoka.

---

(Hours Later, Oota District-Central Tower)

The time was night as police cars gathered around Central Tower. Having arrived at the announced crime setting, the men were looking for any signs of the Unidentified Lifeform that is due to show up.

"All civilians have been evacuated." A policeman reported through his radio as the only ones left were policemen and detectives alike.

All was quiet around the area, with only small chatter and voices coming from radios echoing all around. Every men around took in their surroundings, trying to spot any sign of the Unidentified Lifeform. The tension in the air combined with the quietness of the area was making everyone nervous, but more cautious.

*Whip!*

Suddenly, the sound of something akin to a whip was heard before u suddenly, an officer was sudden lifted off the ground, surprising everyone. As the man was carried up, something was wrapped around his neck, crushing it before the officer's face was slammed hard against a stone wall. The body then dropped back down to the ground, dead. Everyone here could not help, but gasp in horror.

Then, there was a voice.

"So, who's next?"

---

(Meanwhile)

"Sorry I called out out here so late at night." Nagisa said, standing in front of Dai's apartment room door.

"It's no problem. This is important for both of us." Honoka, having snuck out of her house, handed Nagisa her Pretty Cure Planner. "I did what you told me and wrote down everything I wanted to say to Ichi-kun."

"Thanks, hopefully this will get Dai-kun to finally talk to us." Nagisa said as she took Honoka's planner.

"So, this is where you and Ichi-kun live." Honoka said, looking around at the apartment complex.

"Yeah." Nagisa said as she knelt down, lifted up the welcoming mat and picked up a key.

"Ichi-kun keeps a spare key under his mat?"

"Yeah. The trick is old, but because it is, no one really expects it." Nagisa said as she uses the key to unlock Dai's door. "Do you want to come in?"

"As much as I want to, I have to get back before my obāchama realizes I'm gone." Honoka said as she took her leave. "Oyasuminasai(Good Night)."

"Oyasumi." Nagisa said back before entering Dai's room.

"Still as plain as ever." Nagisa commented, looking around room as she made her way to Dai's desk. On his desks were previous notes for the exams and notes about the Grongi and Kuuga.

Nagisa took a moment as she stared down at hand drawn pictures of Kuuga's many different forms. Out of all of them, the forms that had Kuuga colored black caught her eyes and she stared at them anxiously.

'Honoka told me that Dai-kun changed into a black form after I passed out.' Nagisa thought as she picked up a drawing of Kuuga's Ultimate form.

'Ultimate form...Ultimate Darkness...' Suddenly, two dots seemed to be connected, but Nagisa shook her head, refusing to believe her crazy idea.

'No, that can't be. It's probably just a coincidence.' Nagisa told herself before she set the picture down and did what she came here to do.

"Let's hope this works." Nagisa mutters as she places both the Pretty Cure Planners on Dai's desk before taking her leave. Hopefully, Dai would finally be willing to talk to them tomorrow.

---

(Back at Central Tower)

More cars pulled over and getting out were more men. Among them were Hiroshi, Rai, and Ryō, each armed with their own guns. But the minute they stepped forth, they gasped at what was before them.

Dead men, all on the ground, with wounds to their faces. There was no blood to add to the horror, but the number alone was horrifying enough.

"This is horrible." Hiroshi stated, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"That bastard." Rai said before shouting out in anger. "Come out, monster! Show yourself!"

"I'm over here." A voice called out, getting everyone's attention as appearing above them was Garume.

Being a chameleon, his skin was swampy green and leathery. Dirty bronze greaves protected his legs as a metal collar of the same color was situated around the base of his neck. Also, his head resembled, of course, a chameleon.

"Ute(Fire)!" Rai shouted before he along with everyone else unloaded bullets at the Grongi only for it to suddenly turn invisible again. "What?"

"You're not very smart." Garume taunted, letting the men know that he had not moved away yet.

"Ute!" Rai shouted again and the men started shooting again. Some bullets missed their mark while others found their mark. But the ones that did, did not effect Garume in the slightest as seconds later, those bullets were ejected out of him and fell to the ground. Seeing this caused everyone to pause shooting.

"Next one is going to be at 10 AM. The place will be Central Square."

"Tch! Fire again!" Rai shouted before everyone started shooting again, this time only stopping when everyone ran out o bullets to fire. But as it turns out, none of the bullets hit their mark as Garume had long since fled.

"He's gone." Hiroshi said as everyone lowered their guns.

"That guy...I'm sure he talked." Rai said.

"They're learning to speak our language." Ryō said grimly. This did not bode well.

"In any case, we need to call an ambulance." Hiroshi said as he and some men went over and checked the bodies. They were all likely dead, but perhaps they could learn something.

Following Hiroshi's suggestion, Rai took out his phone to call for an ambulance while Ryō went back to his car only to find something beeping. Looking, he saw that the device Sayuru had given him back when dealing with No. 15, Badjisu, was going off. Something was flying through the air and Ryō had a pretty good guess as to what it was.

"It's No. 2." Ryō said before he went and picked up his mic, connecting to the channel that connected to Dai. "Dai, can you hear me?"

{Ichijo-san? Sorry, I'm...kind of...busy right now-whoa!} On the other side came Dai's voice, but there was also something else. In the background, Ryō could hear commotion and what he thought was the flapping of wings.

"Dai? What's going on? Is something wrong?" Ryō spoke through the radio, but he didn't get a reply. Looking back at the device that showed what was currently flying, he had a thought.

"Is he..." With no time to waste, Ryō closed the door of his car and quickly drove off.

---

(With Dai)

"Shit!" Dai cursed as he quickly ducked his head, narrowly avoiding a diving attack from the Grakenngi. Looking up, it was obvious as to who was attacking him.

"Gooma! Come to get revenge, have you?"

"Kuuga!" Gooma screeched angirly as it dived towards Dai again only for the Rider to duck once again.

"Well, I guess that answers that." Dai said before he revved up the engine and sped up. He had been driving to get to Central Tower when Gooma had suddenly appeared and attacked him. With no other choice, but to fight, Dai led Gooma to the port and entered a warehouse. He drove to a stop and took off his helmet just as Gooma and landed not too far from him. No longer chasing him, Dai got a good look at his appearance.

Like other Grongi that got revived through the use of a Zakenna, parts of the Grongi were missing and filling in those spots were Zakenna parts. It was like pieces of darkness were stuck to the flesh like jigsaw puzzles. It was the same for Gooma, though for the most part, a lot of the darkness that made up a Zakenna went to reforming his wings. Also, as with everything when fused with a Zakenna, there was a big tick mark on the forehead.

"Kuuga...you will pay...for what you did!"

"I defeated you once, and I'll do it again!" Dai said before he summoned the Arcle. Going through the hand motions, he then shouted, "Henshin!" and soon, he donned his armor, assuming Mighty form.

"You will pay...for what you did...to my wings!"

Taking a stance, Dai and Gooma stared at one another before they both charged at the same time. Once close enough, Dai went and threw a punch, only for Gooma to suddenly jump and flip over Dai. Once landing right behind the Rider, Gooma went and grabbed him, attempting to choke him. Dai moved around with Gooma in order to shake him off, but the Grakenngi had a strong hold on him. Seeing as Gooma wasn't letting go anytime soon, Dai went and elbowed behind him, striking Gooma's ribs and making him loosen his hold on Dai who then used that chance to judo flip Gooma off of him as the Grakenngi crashed into a pile of barrels. Gooma angirly got up and leaped forward, spreading his wings out to fly towards Dai only for the Rider to suddenly rush up to him and deliver a leaping knee strike to the face, causing Gooma to flip over and land back down on his back, holding his face in pain.

Dai didn't let Gooma catch a break as he quickly went over to Gooma, grabbed him, and picked him up before throwing him into another pile of barrels and crates. He ran after Gooma and went to stomp down, but the Grakenngi rolled out of the way and got back up to his feet before attacking the Rider. He threw an overhead swing which Dai blocked easily with one arm before using the other arm to stop an attack aimed for his gut. There was a struggle of power as Dai and Gooma fought to over power the other, until Dai went and headbutted Gooma across the face, making the Grekenngi stumble back while holding his face. Because it was so busy trying to nurse its face, Gooma was unprepared for the spinning heel kick to the head that sent Gooma down to the ground. Gooma's vision swam as in his dizzy vision, he was only able to make out the sight of Dai running up to him before kicking him so hard he flew up, spun around, before landing back down on the ground, more dizzy and hurt than before as it struggled to get back up.

"It's over." Dai declared, taking this chance to get into a stance, ready to execute a Mighty Kick to finish Gooma. But as he went to generate power into his right foot, the sound of electricity was heard, making Dai look down to see sparks of yellow electricity around his right foot.

"This is-!"

*VROOM!*

Before Dai could even have a minute to realize what was going on with his foot, the sound of a motorcycle made him look up and see, from behind the Grekenngi, someone burst into the warehouse, riding a motorcycle at high speed. Gooma quickly and wisely jumped out of the way, but the rider did not stop as he continued to drive towards Dai. Reacting quickly, Dai jumped into the air, barely avoiding the Rider as he flipped over and landed down safely just as the rider finally stopped his bike.

"What the...?" Confused, Dai stood up and looked at the rider who had interrupted the fight.

The rider was a man wearing a green blazer over a black shirt and ripped jeans. A pair of black combat boots covered his feet and the helmet he was wearing hid away what he looked like. But the only noticeable thing that stood out was the red scar around the man's neck.

The man then lifts up the visor of his helmet and when Dai saw his eyes looking at him, gauging him, he suddenly felt himself tense up as he took a stance.

"You..." Dai mutters, having a feeling as to who the rider before him was.

The rider himself continues to look at Dai from head to toe before he goes and moves his visor back down, but not before he said his first words to Dai.

"See ya, Kuuga."

"Matte(Wait)!" Dai said, but the rider revved up his bike and soon drove away. Dai knew he could not give chase. By the time he back to his TryChaser 2000, the rider would be long gone.

"That guy was..." Dai mutters as he unconsciously clenches his fist in anxiety. He knew that they were coming. After fighting against Jiino, he knew that it was only a matter of time until they came to the city. The Go Group. He thought he was ready for them, but as Dai looked at his shaking fists, he knew that was not the case.

That was when Dai remembers why he was here in the first place.

"Gooma!" Looking around, Dai found no sign of the Grakenngi. Gooma had escaped.

"...dammit!" Frustrated, Dai went and punched one of the pillars supporting the structure of the warehouse, leaving a fist-sized dent. Removing his hand, Dai canceled his transformation as he made his way back to the TryChaser only to find his radio beeping.

---

(Later)

"And that's what happened." Dai said, he and Ryō standing outside the apartment complex Dai lived at as the Rider told the detective what had happened earlier.

"I see. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. But Gooma got away. Sorry." Dai apologized, but Ryō waved it off.

"That's okay. With his speed, No. 2 is probably long gone. He's probably on his way to Nagano as we speak." Ryō said before asking, "By any chance, you wouldn't happen to know why No. 2 keeps flying between Tokyo and Nagano, would you?"

"He's visiting the ruins in Nagano, right?" Dai asked and the man nodded. "Then he's probably flying over there in search of pieces of Daguva."

"Daguva? You mean No. 0?" Ryō asked and Dai nodded.

"I don't know what may have happened in the ancient past, but I'm guessing that the fight between Daguva and the last Kuuga was so intense it left Daguva incomplete before he as well as the other Grongi were sealed away. Pieces of Daguva are probably buried somewhere in those ruins and Gooma is trying to find those pieces."

"I see. I remember you telling me that No. 0 has different forms and that he's currently not at full power yet." Ryō said before asking, "How are you, by the way? You and those girls? You told me before that you fought him a week ago."

At that did Dai go silent. Ryō was starting to worry that he may have said something wrong until Dai finally spoke up.

"I'm fine, me and the girls." Dai said before he looked straight up at the older man. "Ichijo-san, can you do me a favor?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"I know that your department has decided to lend their aid to Nagisa-chan and Honoka-chan...but can you make it so those two don't get involved?" Dai looked up to the moon, fists clenched. "I...don't want those two to get any more involved than they already are."

Ryō was about to ask why until he saw Dai's face. It was one of shame and guilt.

"...I'll see what I can do." Ryō finally said.

"Thank you." Dai said before asking, "So, what's Garume's next move?"

"It's at 10 AM tomorrow, Central Plaza in the Shinagawa District."

"That's faster than the last one, right? And I'll be in school at that time so I can't help." Dai wanted to skip, but after doing just that so many times, the staff would not allow him to do that. If he did, then the school would call Nagisa's parents. Despite living on his own, Mr. and Mrs. Misumi were his active guardians as they are the ones who pay for his school tuition.

"Nothing we can do about that, I guess." Ryō said, knowing that Dai would not be able to help him when the time would hit 10 AM. "At least we have a clue to his next move. I'll try and think of something to lessen the causalities until then. What has me more concerned is how he spoke our language so well."

"You're worried that can now slip into our daily lives, right?" Dai guessed and Ryō nodded.

"If these Unidentified Lifeforms, Grongi's, can talk like us, then it'll make finding them much harder." Ryō said. "Anyway, I need to report this to Rai. After that, I'm going to use No. 2's flight patterns to see if I can find their lair."

"Alone? You can't do that. Let me come with you." Dai insisted.

"I'm sorry, Dai, but you can't. You need to sleep. You have school tomorrow." Ryō said as he went to his car. "Don't worry. I'm just going to check if No. 31's with them. I won't engage them if I do find them."

"But..."

"Dai, trust me. I can't always rely on you, you know." Ryō said before getting in his car and driving away.

As much Dai wanted to follow Ryō, he knew the man was right. Reluctantly, Dai headed inside to turn in for the night.

...

...

...

"Yeah right!" Dai said out loud as he got on his TryChaser and drove after Ryō.

---

(With Ryō)

{Flash grenades?}

"Yes. Apparently, when exposed to a sudden bright light, No. 31's invisibility will be negated for about 5 minutes." Ryō said, speaking through the radio to talk to Rai.

{Five minutes...that's not a lot of time.}

"It's all Dai told me over the phone. He won't be able to help us since he'll be in school at the time, so we either have to find a way to capture him, or drive him away."

{I see. I'll make sure I tell the guys in the science lab what you told me. Though they'll probably want a confirmation, I'll be sending them some residue I found on the bullets.}

"Please do." Ryō said as there was a beep and another line was connected.

{Ichijo-san, we've searched all the buildings nearby and narrowed down two possible places.}

"I see. What can you tell me?"

{The first one is an old building located in the Oota District. The other one is a factory in Toshima.}

"Arigato(Thank you). Please contact me if anything happens."

{Will do. Please be careful out there.}

Placing down his mic, Ryō debated which place was the most likely to be the lair of the Grongi. Looking at Gooma's flight data, Ryō decided to check out the old building first. The drive only took him about half an hour. Getting out of his car, Ryō started searching for an entrance.

As he was scouting the area, he came upon a set of stairs that led into the building. Ryō was about to climb up when he noticed something on the ground.

"A rose petal?" Ryō thought out loud quietly. As far as he knew, roses don't grow around here. That's when he remembered. That woman he ran into accidentally a few months back. The one with a rose tattoo on her forehead.

Feeling like he was on to something, Ryō took out his gun, adjusted his glasses, and ascended the stairs.

Entering the building, Ryō walked in slowly, making sure not make a sound and that nothing was on the ground that could make a sound. All was dark as the only light was the light of the moon from outside. Ryō climbed up two floors until he stopped. Around the corner, Ryō saw movement in a room. Keeping his gun close to him, he slowly crept on over to the room and peeked inside.

"Gooma has done a good job, even in the state he's now in. Garima, here is the weapon you requested."

Inside the room, Ryō saw a man hand Garima a weapon, a two ended bladed weapon to be precise. With her was Garume who looked at it, unimpressed.

"With this, I'm practically a Go already." Garima said.

Garume scoffed at her. "Just because you have a weapon doesn't mean you can call yourself a Go."

"That may be true, but I don't see you becoming a Go anytime soon."

"Do you want to die?"

"Enough." Before the two could fight, a third voice spoke up. To Ryō's surprise, it was that woman he had ran into months ago.

"If you two want to become a Go so badly, then just win the Gegeru. That is how others before you have done it."

Seeing enough, Ryō decided now was a good time to leave. Quiet as a mouse, Ryō was able to make it back outside and was about to head back to his car when from his right appeared the woman, Baruba. Alarmed, but refusing to panic, Ryō quickly raised his gun, but did not fire. Doing so would only alert the other Grongi inside the building.

So the two just stood there, staring at each other. The difference being that while Ryō's was blazing with caution, yet bravery, Baruba's was cold and analyzing. Then, she spoke.

"The Linto have changed, it seems." Baruba said, speaking Japanese which surprised Ryō, but he didn't let it show. She then turned around and walked away.

"Hold it!" Ryō said, using both hands to steady his aim when Baruba suddenly turned and held out her hand. A flurry of rose petals suddenly assaulted Ryō, surprising the man as he held up an arm to cover himself. But then, he suddenly felt his strength leaving him as he fell down. Looking up at Baruba, he suddenly found his vision blurry before he passed out.

---

(Morning)

The sound of an airplane flying in the sky overshadowed the chirping of birds as the rays of the sun struck Ryō's face. Slowly, the man opened his eyes and found himself in his car.

"Ah, you're finally awake." Hearing a familiar voice, Ryō turned to his left and found a smiling Dai facing him.

"Dai? What are you...?"

"I'm sorry, but I really couldn't just leave you alone." Dai said as he explained. "I followed after you and found you passed out. You really scared me."

"I see. Sorry." Ryō apologized.

"What happened?" Dai asked.

"It was No. B1. The woman with the rose tattoo got me."

"A rose tattoo...Baruba."

"You know her?" Ryō turned to the Grongi expert.

"All I know is that she's part of the Ra Group. They act as judges for the Gegeru game and are Daguva's right hand men." Dai explained.

"I see. A judge, huh..." Ryō said, digesting that new info. "Anyway, let's focus on No. 31 for now. What time is it?"

"It's five hours until the next killing." Dai informed as Ryō checked his watch.

"I see. Do you have a plan to fight No. 31?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Dai said confidently. "Even if he turn invisible, I'll just use Pegasus form to track him down."

"That's right, that form enhances your senses." Ryō said. "But what about the buildings? I'd imagine that they it'll be tough to get around those, and you can't stay in green for too long."

"I already have a plan for that." Dai said. "Also, you do remember that I need a gun to use Pegasus, right? So..."

"You're asking for my gun." Ryō said and Dai nodded with an awkward smile. He was asking a detective to give him his gun.

"That's fine. As a policeman, I can't give back-up, but if it's just that then it's fine."

"Arigato, Ichijo-san." Dai said, smiling before he got out of the car. "Well, I better head out. Schools' pretty far from here after all."

"Right." Ryō nodded, watching Dai close the door and heading over to his TryChaser. As he watched the kid get on his bike and drive off, a thought came to Ryō.

'Wait, did he watch over me all night?' Ryō thought before frowning. 'He's pushing himself.'

---

(With the girls)

"Eh? He didn't come home last night?" Honoka said and Nagisa shook her head.

"Usually I'd catch him before he leaves for school, but this morning, there was no sign of him." Nagisa said before sighing. "So much for our plan."

"Hey, there's still a chance that it can work. We just need to wait for him to read them." Honoka said.

"...You know what? No."

"Pardon?"

"No, I am not waiting any longer." Nagisa said. "I have had it up to here! During lunch, I am marching over to his class and confronting him once and for all!"

"Don't you think that's a bit drastic?" Honoka said.

"If we wait any longer, nothing's going to change." Nagisa countered. "If we don't talk to him now, he'll keep blaming himself and pushing us away. Heck, I bet the reason why he's avoiding us is because he doesn't want us to get involved anymore. Well guess what? I'm going to remind him just why we are involved! Come on!"

"Ah! Wait!" Before Honoka could protest, Nagisa had grabbed her and began dragging her along.

As the two girls were rushing towards school, they passed by a girl who watched as they passed by her. Unknown to anyone, this girl was actually Poisony in disguise. She planned for today to be the day she would get the Prism Stones. But not right now. She'll wait for her chance to strike. That was the strategic thing to do.

---

(Later, Shinagawa District-Central Plaza)

The time read 9:47 AM, 13 minutes left until Garume was scheduled to appear. Rai along with the rest of the men here have already evacuated the people in the area and were now waiting for the Grongi to appear as more back-up arrived.

"Will he really appear on time, No. 31?" Rai looked to his right and faced the young officer he was tasked with training, Shirou.

"What's wrong, nervous kid?"

"If I may be honest, yes." Shirou admitted. "The only type of Unidentified Lifeforms I've faced were those Grakenngi. This is my first time actually seeing a proper Unidentified Lifeform."

"Heh, well, if you managed to face down those Grakenngi's back then, then you'll be able to face down this guy." Rai said, patting the young officer's back. "You've got guts, kid. As long as you keep your wits about you, you'll be fine."

"Hai." Shirou nodded as another car pulled over to the stop before parking. Coming out of said car was Ryō who jogged over to them.

"In a moment, Sakurai-san will bring the flash bangs that the Special Assault Team uses. According to Enokida-san, it's skin will change when exposed to strong light. It will become visible and it won't be able to turn invisible for some time."

"So what the kid said was right after all." Rai said. "And you said that we only have a small window of five minutes, right?"

"That's right." Ryō nodded. "Enokida-san confirmed this himself."

"Then I guess in that time, we pump the bastard full of special bullets, and hold him off long enough for the kid to arrive." Rai said before checking his wristwatch. It read 9:50 AM. Not much time left until Garume appears and Hiroshi has yet to arrive.

And so the time ticked away. 9:50 turned into 9:55 which then later turned into 9:58.

"That Sakurai's late." Rai said as on his watch, it just turned to 9:59. Only one minute remaining and all was still quiet. The halls were empty, not a person in sight. Just the brave men of the Special Investigation Team ready to fight for their lives.

-9:59:55-

-9:59:56-

-9:59:57-

-9:59:58-

-9:59:59-

-10:00:00-

*Whip!*

The second the time reached 10 o'clock, something invisible grabbed a policeman by the neck and dragged him away from the others, choking him and killing him by the time his face was slammed into a wall. The second the body was released and fell to the ground did the others began shooting only to hit nothing.

"With so many of you here, you're easy prey." Garume's voice echoed throughout the area. "Very suitable for a game."

"Game?" Rai repeated, confused.

"Killing Linto according to the rules. It's the best game ever."

"The Gegeru." Ryō said, realizing what Garume was talking.

Rai realized it too, remembering what Ryō had said in the meeting the other day, but still could not believe it.

"Stop fucking with us! Tell us the truth!" Rai shouted out.

"Like I told you, it's just a game." Garume spoke again as he suddenly appeared before the men, standing on top of one of the police cars, surprising everyone as they pointed their guns at him. The Grongi didn't feel the least bit threatened as he continued speaking.

"It's a game in which we chase down prey. There's no other meaning than that." Garume said as he held his bracelets for all to see, shaking it.

"You're killing people for that kind of reason? Just for that!?" Shirou exclaimed angirly, his trigger finger shaking with anger.

"You son of a bitch! We're not your fucking play toys!" Rai said, also shaking with anger.

Garume just smiled mockingly at them. "Let's continue the game. Make this interesting for me." Garume then jumped up and turned invisible again. There was no sound of him landing anywhere, giving no clue as to where he was now.

"Looks like that Gegeru thing you told us about was true after all." Rai said as he and Ryō stood back to back. "Remind me to treat you to Date-san's ramen after this."

"I'll hold you to that." Ryō said, adjusting his glasses as he kept his eyes peeled for anything that might hint where Garume was right now.

*Whip!*

Suddenly, the sound of something whipping out was heard before an officer was snagged and pulled away. His face was slammed against a wall before dropping down, dead. Soon after, the men all started shooting again as in the back, another car arrived and coming out was Hiroshi, carrying a briefcase as he ran over to Ryō and Rai.

"Ichijo-san! Kuzaragi-san!" Hearing their names, the two men ran over to Hiroshi who set down the case on top of one of the cars and opened it to reveal the requested flash grenades.

"You sure took your sweet time getting here!" Rai said as he and Hiroshi both took a grenade, pulled the pin, before throwing it towards where a man was just recently killed.

A few seconds later, the grenades went off, and everyone covered their eyes to block the blinding shine. Once it died down, everyone looked to see a now visible Garume, surprised at what just happened.

"He's visible now! Ute(Fire)!" Rai shouted as everyone began shooting at Garume.

Garume held up an arm, blocking any bullets that might hit his face as he growled.

"Clever bastards." Garume said, speaking his native language before he ran.

"After him!" Rai said as half of the men chased after the Grongi on foot while the other half went to the cars and drove around, planning to cut off any exits Garume might take to escape.

Garume, despite no longer being able to turn invisible, showed that invisibility wasn't the only thing he had. He was a Grongi, a being stronger than a normal human. He easily outran the men chasing after him. Getting to an exit, he saw cars lined up to block him, but he simply jumped up and over them, landing with no problem as he continued running. But if there's one thing Garume didn't factor in, it was the unpredictability of humans.

*SCEEEEEEEEE!*

The sound of tires of burning against the pavement was heard as Garume turned and stared wide eyed as a car was driving straight towards him. So surprised, Garume was unable to move out of the way in time as the car rammed right into him, carrying him until the car crashed through a building, stopping the car and throwing Garume off.

Ryō and the others saw all of this and wondered what who was crazy enough to ram the var through a building. As they ran over, they saw exiting the car was none other than Shirou.

"Kid!" Rai shouted in alarm as he and the others went over to the young officer's side.

"Did I get him?" Shirou asked, a bit wobbly as Rai helped him up to his feet.

"Geez, kid. I said you were gutsy, but maybe you're a bit too gutsy." Rai said. "But yeah, you got that bastard."

"He's gone!" Hiroshi shouted, making everyone look to see no sign of Garume.

"What?" Looking at his watch, Rai and everyone saw that five minutes have passed already.

"I'll admit, that was pretty gutsy of you." Garume's voice echoed out, causing everyone to look around alarmed as they held their guns close. "You Linto are definitely much more interesting then the ones years ago. Next one's at 12:30 PM, at Wakabadai Station. Until then, see ya." And with that, Garume was gone.

"Shit! He got away." Rai said as he and everyone looked around to check if Garume was still here, but the Grongi had actually left.

"At least we know the flash grenades worked." Hiroshi said, putting away his gun as did everyone else.

"12:30...He should be having lunch around that time." Ryō said, thinking to himself. It was a small window of a chance, but the time could not be anymore perfect.

"I'm going to contact Dai. He might be able to make it this time." Ryō informed Rai.

"Sounds good." Rai said before he and Hiroshi helped Shirou up. "Come on, kid. Let's get you patched up."

While the two men helped Shirou walk, Ryō took out his phone to make a call.

---

(Verone Academy, Lunchtime)

Like Nagisa had said earlier, once lunch period had begun, Nagisa marched down the halls of the boy's school side. Accompany her was Honoka who still wasn't sure they should be doing this. Her last visit here had not been a pleasant one. But Honoka knew what Nagisa said was right. The longer they waited, the longer Dai will continue to blame himself. So as reluctant as she may be, she continued to follow Nagisa down to Dai's classroom.

"So, how should we do this?" Honoka asked her friend.

Instead of answering, Nagisa grabbed the door handle and boldly slammed the door open, surprising everyone in the classroom and then surprising them again when everyone saw them.

"Or you can just open the door like that, sure." Honoka said, sweat dropping at her friend's action.

Ignoring all the surprised looks she was getting, Nagisa looked around the room until she spotted Dai who was just as surprised as the rest of his classmates.

"Dai!" Nagisa shouted, not using honorifics when addressing the Rider. She then pointed at him and said, "We need to talk!"

Dai blinked once, twice, then three times before he set down his lunch, a yakisoba sandwich, got up...and bolted out the other classroom door.

"After him!" Nagisa said before she ran after Dai.

"Ah! Wait for me!" Honoka said before chasing after her friend, leaving everyone in the classroom to wonder what the heck just happened.

With speed not belonging to one his age, Dai sped down the halls, running as if the grim reaper was chasing after him. Normally, any would-be chasers would have lost him by now, but thanks to the training Dai had given to them, Nagisa and Honoka were able to keep Dai in their sights, Nagisa more than Honoka. But even then, the boy was fast.

"We'll never catch him at this rate!" Honoka said as Dai was getting farther and farther away the more they all ran.

"In that case!" Nagisa began as she took out of her pocket Mepple and then threw him at Dai. "Go get'em!"

"What are you doing-mepo!?" Mepple exclaimed loudly as he flew through the air.

Hearing Meppel's cry, Dai looked back only to see Mepple transformed into his true form before slamming right into his face.

"Got you-mepo!" Mepple said victoriously, only to see that Dai was about to fall down some stairs he had attempted to jump down before Mepple slammed right into him.

"Uh oh." Was all Mepple could say before he and Dai tumble down the stairs.

It was a rough tumble down, but Dai received most of the pain as he instinctively grabbed Mepple and held him close as Dai to the full brunt of the fall. By the time Dai stopped falling did Nagisa and Honoka made it to the stairs to see what had happened.

"Are you two okay!?" Honoka asked worriedly as she and Nagisa hurried down the stairs.

"We're fine." Dai said, rubbing his head to ease the aches before looking down at Mepple in his arms. "How about you?"

"I'm fine, thanks to you-mepo." Mepple said before he jumped back to Nagisa, transforming back into the Card Commune.

"That's good to hear." Dai said with a small smile until he remembered why he had been running in the first place. Unfortunately, by the time he remembered, Nagisa and Honoka had already blocked off his exits.

"Now that we have you where we want you, we can talk now." Nagisa said, smiling victoriously.

"You do know doing this could get you two in trouble, right?" Dai pointed out.

"We can handle it...I think." Nagisa said unconfidently before clearing her voice. "A-Anyway, that doesn't matter right now! You, Ichi Dai, have been avoiding us for the past week!" Instead of answering back, Dai looked away from the girls. "Don't look away from us!"

"Nagisa." Honoka spoke up, trying to calm down her friend before facing Dai, talking more gently than her partner. "Ichi-kun, we know why you've been avoiding Nagisa and I. You're blaming yourself for what happened with Daguva."

Again, Dai did not say a word as he continued to look away from the girls, as if ashamed to even look at them.

"Ichi-kun," Seeing the way the boy was acting, Honoka went and knelt down to him. "What happened when you fought Daguva was not your fault."

"...how can you say that?" Finally, Dai spoke up as he turned to face Honoka properly. "You saw what happened. That fire pillar that came when Daguva and I fought, that came from me. I created those fires. I'm responsible for giving you the burn on your arm."

"That wasn't you, Ichi-kun." Honoka said, holding her right arm as she spoke. "You were angry. It's only natural after what happened to Nagisa. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

"Honoka's right." Nagisa said, stepping in. "Honoka explained to me what happened after I passed out. I may not have seen in personally, but I know you would never try to hurt Honoka personally. It was all an accident."

"Accident or not, that still doesn't erase the scars I gave her." Dai said before turning to Nagisa. "And you! Do you know how...how angry I am at you?"

"Angry?" Naiga leaned back in surprise. "Why are you angry at me?"

"I'm angry at you for jumping in like that!" Dai nearly shouted, talking about when Nagisa had jumped into to prevent Daguva from delivering the finishing blow. "I never asked you to do that!"

"Excuse me? I saved you!" Nagisa shot back. "If I didn't jump in when I did, you'd be dead!"

"And because of that, you were almost killed!" Dai shouted. "Do you know how...how scared I was when I saw you like that?"

Nagisa was about to shout back, but stopped when she heard the word 'scared' come out of Dai's mouth. For the year that's she's known Dai, not once has she heard him admit to being scared of anything.

Dai's bangs covered his eyes as he continued speaking.

"When I saw Daguva stab you before slashing you across the back, my heart nearly stopped. When I held you in my arms, not moving with your blood all over my hands, I was scared. Scared of losing you...and scared of Daguva."

Nobody spoke a word. Not Nagisa, not Honoka, not even the fairies. They all stared and listened as the Rider kept speaking.

"I know all about the Grongi. I knew about Daguva for a long time. I knew that he was strong. As I fought him, I thought to myself, 'If I can kill him, then I save so many future lives.' But as I kept fighting him, and when I lost to him, I feared him. I feared for the amount of lives he could take, full power or not, if he were to attack again. Even then, I stood my ground, because I knew that if I fell, there would no one left who could fight him. But when he struck you down, I became scared. Scared of what could happen the next time he showed up and you two are with me."

"Dai..."

"You two are the first friends I made when I came to this world. The thought of losing you two scares me to no end." Dai admitted, head lowered as he closed his eyes to stop tears from flowing out. "So please, from now on, don't get involved with me anymore."

'So that's why he's been avoiding us.' Nagisa thought as Honoka had the same idea.

'It's not just became he blames himself for what happened. He's worried for what might happen if we stick with him. He's worried about us.' Honoka thought.

...

...

...

"You idiot."

"Huh?" Dai looked up, confused when suddenly, Nagisa grabbed him by the color of his uniform.

"You idiot!" Nagisa shouted, feeling like punching Dai across the face. "There you go again, talking like that. You're always like this, worrying about others instead of yourself. That's exactly why I jumped in to save you."

"H-Huh? What do you mean?" Dai asked, confused.

"Honoka and I couldn't move after that guy took our powers. But when I saw you about to get killed by that creep, I found myself able to move and jumped in." Nagisa explained. "You're scared of losing us? Well it's the same for us! When Daguva showed up, never before have I ever been scared of anything until then. But when I saw him about to finish you off, I jumped in, because I was more scared of losing you!"

"She's right, Ichi-kun." Honoka said, sniffing as she wiped away a few tears that had formed when listening to Dai earlier. "You may not want us to get involved anymore, but you don't get to decide that. Push us away all you want, we'll never stop trying to help you. We'll keep getting involved, because knowing you, you'll do something reckless the next time a tough fight happens."

"That's right-mepo!/We'll keep getting involved-mipo!" Both the fairies said. They may not have known the Rider for as long as the girls have, but Dai had gained their respect through the actions he's done. He was an irreplaceable friend to them.

Dai stared at all of them, wide eyed with surprise.

"But...aren't you all scared?" He asked.

"Of course we are." Nagisa said, releasing her hold on Dai before standing up. "But we're more worried about you than we are scared. Right, Honoka?"

"That's right." She nodded, getting up as well as she and Nagisa lent a hand to Dai. "No matter how bad things may get, we'll be there for you through thick and thin."

"Nagisa-chan...Honoka-chan..." Dai looked up at the two. A warm feeling inside of him spread through his body. As he took the hands of the girls, he felt like crying as the girls helped him up to his feet.

*ring-ring-ring!*

Everyone could not help, but jump at the sudden sound. Everyone, but Dai looked at said boy who took out his phone.

"Geez, talk about interrupting the mood." Nagisa said.

"But we got our message across, right?" Honoka said, looking at Dai.

The Rider could only smile as he thought to himself, 'I wonder what I did to get friends like these two.' Looking down at his phone, he saw who was calling before answering.

"Hello?"

{Dai, it's me, Ryō.}

"Oh, Ichijo-san. Is everything alright? How did the situation with Garume go?"

"Garume?" Nagisa said as she and Honoka raised an eyebrow at Dai who motioned for them to wait.

{The flash grenades worked, though we suffered a few casualties and he escaped. His next target is Wakabadai Station at 12:30.}

"Wakabadai Station..." Dai mutters. It was a 10 minute drive from here to the station. Checking the time on a nearby clock, he saw it was 12:19 right now. He then speaks back into the phone.

"I think I can make it on time if I leave now."

{Really? Then please hurry. There's not much time left, and we don't have that many flash grenades with us.}

"I'll be on my way." Dai said, ending the call. He was about to run off when he remembered who he was with currently.

"Let me guess, another Grongi?" Nagisa guessed and Dai silently nodded.

"We're coming with you." Honoka said firmly.

"And you can't stop us." Nagisa added.

"But...there's not enough room on my TryChaser." Dai pointed out, still hesitant to get the girls involved despite the talk from earlier.

"I can help you with that." Suddenly, a voice spoke up, coming from up the stairs which Dai tumbled down from.

Looking up, the three saw a girl staring down at them.

"A girl?" Nagisa said, confused.

"That's no girl-mepo!" Mepple said from inside his carrier.

"Wait, that voice." Honoka said, recognizing the voice form everywhere.

The girl smirked before she snapped her fingers. Suddenly, everything got darker around them as outside, a swirl of dark clouds hung over the entire school. Back inside, the girl had revealed herself to be none other than Poisony.

"I was waiting for a perfect chance to strike when I realized attacking you now would be better than waiting for you three to separate." Poisony said, waving an arm behind her. "You thee have been yelling for quite a while, but have you noticed that no one has come out of their classrooms yet?"

True to Poisony's room, despite the fact the three had been shouting at each other for a while, no one had come out of their classrooms to check.

"What did you do?" Dai said as he and the girls each took different stances.

"Oh nothing, I just made so nobody uninvited peeks their head out where it doesn't belong. Though that could change if our battles get's too out of hand."

The three widen their eyes in realization. Poisony was planning fighting them here, in the school.

"You dirty coward!" Nagisa exclaimed angirly.

"Call me whatever you want. In order to get the Prism Stones, I will to use any measure possible." Poisony said, a fierce look on her face. "I hope you three are ready. Because today, I'm serious!" Opening her mouth wide open, Poisony then let out a fierce battle cry. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Shit!" Dai, seeing what Poisony was doing, summoned his Arcle. "Henshin!"

*BOOM!*

From Poisony's cry came a powerful shockwave that struck the three and sent crashing through the wall behind them outside. The girls let out cries of surprise as they began to fall, but they soon stopped when Dai, now Kuuga, grabbed them and safely brought them down to the ground.

"Is it me, or does she seem a lot more desperate than the last time I saw her?" Dai asked.

"Prepare yourselves!" Poisony practically screamed when she said that.

"Kowai(Scary)..." Nagisa said.

"I think you two should transform now." Dai said as he took a stance.

"Right. Nagisa!" Honoka turned to Nagisa.

"But, your arm..."

"It's fine." Honoka insisted as she took out Mipple. "Come on!"

"R-Right!" Nagisa said, taking out Mepple before the two slashed their respective Queen cards.

"Duel Aurora Wave!"

If it wasn't for what Poisony had done, the bright light that erupted from the girls would have instantly caught the attention of the entire school as a moment later, standing in the girl's places were...

"Hikari no shisha, Cure Black!"

"Hikari no shisha, Cure White!"

"Futari wa PreCure!"

"Yami no chikara no shimobetachi yo…"

"…Tottoto ouchi ni kaerinasai!"

"Oh, so you two are still doing that?" Dai couldn't help, but comment.

"Please don't comment." Nagisa said as she wondered why were they still doing this. No, a better question, why haven't their enemies attacked them while they did this? Every Grongi they've met did it.

"Ha!" While Nagisa was busy musing, Poisony attacked, thrusting her hand forward to send out a shockwave that sent all three of them flying back, skidding across the ground.

"It's too bad, but I can't afford to lose anymore to you three." Poisony said as she walked over to them. "There's no holding back this time. This time, I'll destroy you!"

Before the three could get back up, Poisony suddenly appeared right in front of them and thrusts her hand forward. Another shockwave occurred, but this time, the three were able to dodge out of the way in time. Back on their feet, the girls went and attacked first, but as they got close to Poisony, the woman sent them flying over the entire school with more shockwaves.

"Nagisa-chan! Honoka-chan!" Dai cried out in worried as he watched the girl fly over the school. He then turned and glared at the Dark General. "Why you!"

Clenching his fists in anger, Dai rushed up to Poisony, aiming to punch her face, but Poisony thrusts her hand forward and sends out another shockwave again, only this time, Dai held against it, only skidding back as his punch was mere inches away from Poisony's face.

"What?" Surprised, Poisony quickly reacts before Dai could attack again and thrusts both her hands out this time, sending Dai flying this time as he flew over the school.

As he flew over the school, Dai looks behind him and sees the ground approaching fast. Gritting his teeth, Dai flips in mid air so that he lands feet first and does just that as he lands and skids across the ground, his feet literally digging into the ground as he skids to a stop right next to Nagisa and Honoka who were getting back up from their own flight.

"Damn, she's a lot more intense than the last time too." Dai said before turning to the girls. "What did you two do to piss off so much?"

"I don't know!/I think it may have been the kick I gave her last time." Both the girls said at the same time, answering differently which caused them to look at one another.

"Back into a corner already?" Hearing Poisony's voice, the three looked up to see the woman looking down at them from the roof. "This just goes to show the difference between us."

"Damn, I don't have time for this." Dai mutters. He had to leave to meet up with Ryō, but the woman before them also had to be dealt with.

"Dai-kun, go." Nagisa suddenly said as she and Honoka stepped forth.

"Huh?"

"You have to go meet up wit Ichijo-san, right?" Honoka said. "Then go! We can take care of this ourselves."

"Are you sure? This woman seems serious." Dai couldn't help, but ask.

"Trusts us, we'll be fine. And we'll win." Nagisa said confidently.

It took a moment for Dai to decide before he nodded. "Alright. Just be careful you two."

The girls nodded before Dai turned and ran...right into an invisible wall.

"Ow! What the!?" Confused, Dai placed his hands forward and touched something solid.

"What's wrong?" Honoka asked, having heard Dai's cry.

"There's some sort of invisible wall here." Dai said as he banged against the wall.

"Surprised?" Poisony spoke up. "I heard your phone call earlier. So I put an energy dome around this entire school. Now no one can leave or get in. Now you can't go and support those humans fighting the Grongi."

"No way." Nagisa said.

"That's dirty!" Honoka said. Without Dai, the police had no chance against the Grongi.

"It's called payback. Don't think you're the only one who can hold a grudge." Poisony said. She still hasn't forgotten how those men shot her and have her the scar on her hand.

Meanwhile, instead of panicking, Dai simply tapped his knuckles against the barrier blocking him before saying, "No problem."

"Huh?" Both girls turned to him in surprise, having heard what he said.

Stepping away from the barrier, Dai took a stance. The girls recognized it as the one Dai took when he was about to execute his Mighty Kick. Soon enough, the girls were right as flames appeared under Dai's kicking foot.

"Hmph! That won't work." Poisony said with confidence. "I've seen how powerful your kick is. There's no way you can break though my-"

*crackle!*

"Hm?" Poisony paused speaking, having heard the sound of electricity. Looking down closely, sparks of electricity appeared around Dai's kicking foot. The girls saw this too.

"Dai-kun!"

"Your foot!"

Dai too noticed the sparks on his foot, but paid them no mind as he lifted up his foot and kicked the barrier in front of him. The result...

*BOOM!*

A small explosion occurred before the dust cleared to reveal a newly made hole, big enough for Dai and the girls to run through.

"Yosh(Alright)!" Dai cheered, lowing his foot before he motioned the girls to follow him. "Come on!"

"Eh?" Confused, the girls followed the Rider anyway, leaving behind a flabbergasted Posiony.

"Wha? How? The barrier should have been able to withstand that kick!" Poisony said, unable to comprehend how Dai was able to break through her barrier. That's when she remembered what Ilkubo told her the day before yesterday.

"It can't be. That boy...he's getting stronger!?"

With Dai and the girls, the three ran out to the parking lot and ran all the way over to Dai's bike, the TryChaser 2000.

"Come on, we have to get away from the school." Dai said as he got on his bike.

"But there's not enough room on your bike!" Nagisa pointed out.

"Don't worry, I have that covered." Dai said before pointing up.

*zzzzzzzzZZZZZZZ!*

From the sky, a static hum was heard, making the girls look up to see approaching from the sky was none other than the Armor Machine Gouram.

"Grab on!" Dai said as he revved the engine of his bike.

"Eh?" Both the girls looked at Dai in confusion.

"Grab on!" Dai repeated as Gouram hovered above the girls. Above them, Gouram's arms moved under it to form sideways hooks before lowering itself down to the girls enough for them to reach up and grab its arms.

Now seeing what Dai meant, both girls grabbed an arm each before crying out in surprise when Gouram floated up. Seeing the girls grab onto Gouram, Dai wasted no time spinning his bike around before driving out of campus grounds and towards Wakabadai Station. Behind him, Gouram flew after him as the girls hung on for dear life.

"We're flying!" Nagisa cried out, a bit panicked as she used both hands to hold onto the arm she was grabbing.

"This is incredible!" Completely opposite of Nagisa, Honoka was quite excited as she enjoyed the feeling of the wind hitting her face as everything below her almost became a blur to her eyes.

"Gotta get to the station." Dai mutters to himself, planning on getting there as fast as possible while also leading Poisony over there. Ryō and the others should have the place evacuated so it was the perfect place to fight her at. Two birds with one, as the saying goes.

---

(Wakabadai Station)

*BANG-BANG-BANG!*

All around the train station, gun shots rang out. Before it was even 12:30, the place had been evacuated with the only people left being the Investigation Team. As he promised, at the struck of 12:30, Garume had reappeared and started killing officers one by one. But unlike last time where he slowly picked them off, he was killing them much faster, killing one officer before quickly moving onto the next.

"Dammit! Where is he!?" Hiroshi cursed as he looked all around, trying to find any clue as to where Garume was.

"He's moving around too fast! We can't use the flash grenades like this!" Ryō said, one hand holding his gun while in the other was the last flash grenade they had. They had started with five this morning, used two at the plaza, and had used two more here. The first time, they had caught Garume off guard. Now cautious, the second time they used the grenades, they had completely missed.

"Shit! At this rate..." Rai began as all around them were dead men, and the numbers just kept increasing by the minute.

"What's wrong, Lintos? Having trouble finding me?" Garume's voice echoed out, taunting them.

"Dammit, if only we knew where he was, we could use the grenade." Hiroshi said, firing a shot when he heard something, only to hit nothing.

"Bastards moving around too much. If only we could stop him for just a second." Rai said, reloading his gun quickly.

"Or maybe..." Ryō looked at the flash grenade in his hand, a crazy and perhaps downright suicidal plan forming in his mind. Considering the situation, it was the only plan he could think of.

With no other choice, Ryō ran out and shouted out.

"Unidentified Lifeform! Come out and face us, you coward!"

"Oi! Ryō, what are you doing? Take cover!" Rai said, alarmed at what Ryō was doing.

"Sorry, but I gotta follow the rules here." Garume's voice echoed out. "But if you're looking to die so badly..."

*Whip!*

The was the sound of something whipping out before Ryō felt something wrap around his neck and nearly crushed it. He was then dragged away at high speeds, dropping his gun in the process as well as seeing how the men before him have died so quickly. Ahead of him, he was approaching a wall fast, but quickly, he pulled the pin of the grenade in his hand and threw it ahead of him.

*BOOM!*

The grenade went off seconds later. Ryō felt whatever was choking him release him as he fell to the ground, coughing as a bit of blood spilled out. Looking up while holding his neck, Ryō saw a now visible Garume in front of him. His planned had worked.

"Ryō! Move!" Rai shouted over and the man did just that before the others began shooting the now visible Grongi.

"Tch! How clever..." Garume said in his native language before running. He knew from last time that if he waited five minutes, he could turn invisible again. He had just to get away from the fire and wait it out.

Jumping over cars, Garume attempted to flew the station only to be stopped when a motorcycle skidded to a stop in front of him. And on top of the bike was...

"Kuuga!" Garume said in surprise as Dai got off his bike and turned to face him. But he wasn't alone.

"Toriya!" From up above, Garume heard a battle cry and looked up to see Nagisa and Honoka falling down towards him, having let go of Gouram. So surprised, he was unable to dodge the double kick to the face as the girls sent Garume flying back and crashing against one of the police cars.

"W-Whoa..." Nagisa mutters as she and Honoka landed back on the ground, a bit wobbly, but safe and sound as they straightened up.

Nagisa sighed in relief. "Safe~!"

"That was quite fun." Honoka couldn't help, but comment as Gouram flew around the entire station, waiting for another command from Dai.

"It's those girls!" Hiroshi said, recognizing Nagisa and Honoka.

"So they're joining the fight." Rai said, not sure how to feel.

"So, you finally show up, Kuuga." Garume said, removing himself from the car.

"Me-Garume-Re, you've taken your last life!" Dai said as he got into a stance.

"It's one thing after another." Nagisa contemplated as she stood to the right of Dai, getting into a stance.

"But we've gotta do it." Honoka said, standing on the other side of Dai, also getting into a stance.

There the three stood against the killer monster, ready to do battle against it. But before anyone could make a move, something appeared form the sky and crashed right in-between both sides. With a wave, the dust was cleared to reveal Poisony.

"Step aside, Grongi. These brats are mine." Poisony said.

"It's that woman." Ryō said, getting up with his gun back in his hand.

Rai heard him and looked over towards Poisony. "So, that's the woman who blew up our headquarters."

Ryō checked his watch. A minute has passed since the flash grenade has been used. He quickly informed Dai of this.

"Dai! Only four minutes left until No. 31 can turn invisible again!"

Dai nodded towards him, hearing him loud and clear as he turned his attention to the Grongi.

Glancing over at Poisony, he asked the girls, "Can you handle her?"

"Leave her to us." Nagisa said, turning her attention to the Dark General.

"Do what you have to do." Honoka said, also turning her attention to the female Dark General.

"Alright, be careful you two." Dai said before he and Garume ran off to a different part of the station.

Poisony watched the two leave form the corner of her eyes before turning back to the girls.

"You know, I'll admit, I'm jealous. You two can run that fast just from your spirit." Poisony said mockingly.

"Says the woman who keeps using tricks to get close to us." Nagisa shot back.

"It's contemptible!" Honoka added.

"We'll never forgive you!" Nagisa said.

"I acknowledge your luck and bravery." Poisony said. "But I will teach you something. In this world, you need more than that to survive!"

In a flash, Poisony had covered the distance between them and thrusts her hand towards them. Knowing what she was going to do, the girls jumped up and out of the way of the incoming shockwave. They flipped in mid air as they rose up, but Poisony suddenly appeared above them and with both hands, sent the girls back down crashing through the structure of the station. Ryō and the other men watching could only gasp in surprise and horror.

"Oh my god!" Hiroshi exclaimed as the dust cleared to show the girls fine, but in pain.

From up above, standing on top of the building, Poisony laughed at the girls.

"Look at that, I'm too much for you two. But that's not all. The real show starts now!" As soon as she declares that did something happen. Poisony's hair started to move and grow, as if it had a mind of its own.

"Uh, is it me, or is her hair growing?" An officer asked.

Indeed, Poisony's hair was growing to unbelievable lengths as it surged down towards the girls. Alarmed, the girls went to move, but a stand of hair managed to catch Nagisa in its grasp and lifted her up.

"Black!" Honoka cried out in worry as her partner was lifted up. Her worries only grew when Nagisa was then spun around.

"Mepple!" Mipple cried out in worry for her lover.

"Oh god, I'm getting dizzy-mepo!" Mepple screamed out from inside his carrier.

Finally, with enough momentum built, Poisony finally released Nagisa, throwing her down towards a train where she was practically speared through it, punching through the metal frame and crashing to a stop.

"Black!" Honoka cried out as she ran over to her friend. Behind her, Poisony walked towards them menacingly, her hair dancing like snakes.

"There are things that are important in this world: intelligence, physical strength, and most of all experience. The experience of battle is the first step in becoming an adult. With just luck and courage, you'll never become an adult." Poisony said as she approached them, preaching. "In other words, you two don't even have the basica foundation for defeating me."

"Don't talk so big!" Nagisa said, placing a hand over her back

"You're just taking your selfish reasons and forcing them on others!" Honoka said, helping Nagisa up.

"Your powers that you don't deserve, they will lose to evil!" Poisony said before sending her hair forward, grabbing the two and lifting them up in the air for all to see. They were then thrown towards the ground brutally, crashing and skipping across the ground like pebbles before crashing to a stop against police cars.

"Sweet gods, are you two alright!?" Rai exclaimed as he and Hiroshi went over to the girls and helped them up.

"More or less..." Nagisa groaned as Poisony appeared before everyone.

"Now then, let's finish this, young ladies!" Poisony exclaimed.

In pain and exhausted, the girls got up, stepping in front of the Investigation Team.

"Oi! Don't push yourselves!" Ryō said, worried.

"Stay back." Nagisa said, not wanting to the men behind them to get involved.

"If it's like this..." Honoka said as she and Nagisa nodded to each other before grasping hands.

"Black Thunder!"

"White Thunder!"

*BOOM!*

From the skies, a pair of black and white colored thunderbolts appeared before surging down towards the girls, striking them as they were soon surrounded by light and filled with power.

"Purikyua no utsukushiki tamashī ga…"

"... Jaaku na kokoro wo uchikudaku!"

Tightly gripping their hands together, the girls thrusts their hands towards Poisony and shout.

"Pretty Cure Marble Screw!"

Twin energy blasts of black and white erupt from the girls' palms, spiraling around one another as it flew straight at Poisony. But just as the blast was about to hit her, she teleported away, dodging the blast as the finisher continued going into the air, hitting nothing.

"Arienai(I can't believe this)..."

"This can't be..." Both Nagisa and Honoka said in disbelief.

The men, while impressed, thought differently.

"What, did you expect her to just stand there and take that?" Rai asked, looking at the girls in disbelief.

"Well, I mean..." Nagisa said, scratching her cheek.

"That's what usually happens..." Honoka said, copying Nagisa. Now that they thought about it, their enemies do just stand there and take their attack when they could have simply dodged.

"Unbelievable." Ryō said, giving the girls looks that made them feel embarrassed now.

"Ahahahaha!" All around the station, Poisony's laugh echoed. "You're little flashy attack is useless if it doesn't hit anything." A moment later, she reappeared right behind the girls. "I told you, did I? In this world, the only one who survives is the one who learns from experience and doesn't make the same mistakes."

"I'll admit, there is some truth to your words." Poisony blinked once, finding the barrel of a gun pointing straight at her.

*BANG!*

The gun went off and a bullet flew. Poisony jumped back, completely fine, or so she thought. There was something wet on her cheeks as it stung a little. Raising a hand to check, she found that there was a cut made by the bullet missing her. Looking to see who had shot her, she found none other than Ryō with smoke coming out of the barrel of his magnum.

"But before you go preaching about adults, try not forgetting the adults that are here right now." Ryō said.

"Ichijo-san..." The girls looked at the man in surprise.

"You...!" Poisony clenched her hand into a fist and shook with rage. She recognized Ryō as the man who gave her the scar on her hand.

"Ichijo-san, please step back! It's dangerous!" Honoka insisted.

"I thank you for your concern, but it is not needed." Ryō said, adjusting his glasses as Rai, Hiroshi, and the rest of the men that were still alive stepped forth. "As adults, we can't let kids like you do all the fighting."

"He's right. We've all got our prides at stake here." Rai said, reloading his gun before aiming it at Poisony.

"Also, we've been tasked to help you two whenever possible." Hiroshi said, aiming his own gun at the Dark General.

"Minna(Everyone)..." Nagisa and Honoka looked at the men around them before the former looked at the latter. "I think we can do this!"

"Yeah!"

"Hmph! Don't get so cocky just because you have the number advantage." Poisony said as her hair grew. "If you all want to die that badly then I'll kill you along with those girls!"

"Look alive, men!" Ryō shouted to the others.

"Someone call my barber, tell him he's a rich man!" Rai said before firing his gun.

---

(Meanwhile, with Dai)

Moving away from the group and going inside the station building, both Dai and Garume soon stopped moving and faced one another.

"Killing you will surely promote me into a Go." Garume said.

"You won't get the chance to become a Go, because your life ends here!" Dai said before he leaped over towards Garume and came down with a downward elbow strike.

Garume moved his head out of the way, letting his shoulder to the brunt of the attack before punching Dai's exposed side, getting a pained grunt from the Rider as he was forced back. Garume the kicked the Rider back, getting some distance between them before he opened his mouth and his tongue, the source of what has been chocking and killing his victims, whipped out towards Dai. The tongue neared Dai's neck, but at the last second, Dai held up his arm and the tongue was forced to wrap around it. Before Garume could pull back his tongue, Dai went and grabbed it, getting Garume to gag every time he pulled on the tongue.

Garume let out gagged words which Dai was able to translates to "Let go of my tongue!" Unfortunately for the Grongi, Dai was not about to do that as he pulled on the tongue, forcing Garume to come closer as Dai then delivered a punch to his face before kicking him, making Garume bend down as Dai got behind him, wrapped the Grongi's own tongue around his neck, and proceeded to strangle said Grongi.

Garume let out gagged cries of anger as he tried to shake Dai off of him while trying to untie his own tongue around his neck, but Dai was resilient. Seeing no other choice left, Garume did the only thing he could to escape. He grabbed his own tongue and, with steeled resolve, pulled and ripped it out of his mouth!

"What!?" Dai exclaimed in surprise, shocked at what Garume had done.

With his tongue not gone form his mouth, blood spilled form his mouth like a fountain. But he also felt the hold around his neck loosening so he grabbed Dai from behind him and flipped him over before backing away, holding his mouth. Ripping his on tongue out was a gutsy move, and it hurt like hell, but he was a Grongi, He would grow it back, eventually. But first, he had to punish the one who made him rip out his own tongue in the first place.

As Dai was getting up to his feet, Garume let out a gagged cry of rage as he charged straight at Dai. He swung a fist at Dai, but he ducked under it and punched him int he chest, pushing him back. Dai then began to wail at him. He swung and punched Garume across the face, swung his other fist at his chest, delivered an uppercut to the gut which made Garume bend down to hold his stomach, and then punched his face again. Disoriented, Garume was unable to block Dai as he spun around and kicked him back, sending him flying as he flew over and landed down at the train rails. Dai ran after him, but when he got to where Garume had fallen, there was no sign of him.

"Shit, five minutes must have already passed." Dai said, looking around in case Garume might attack.

*BOOM!*

The sound of something something booming made Dai turn to see a pillar of dust rising at where Nagisa and Honoka were at.

"Nagisa-chan...Honoka-chan..." Looking around himself one last time, Dai said to himself, "Well I do need Ichijo-san's gun." And with that, he ran to where the girls were at.

---

(Back with the girls)

"Ha!"

"Wah!" The men screamed as shockwaves sent by Poisony sent men flying.

"Kuzaragi-san!" Hiroshi, holding his injured arm, cried out as the mentioned man was grabbed by Poisony's hair and later thrown away.

"Oh shit~!" Rai cred out as he was going to crash into one of the cars when suddenly, Honoka suddenly appeared to grab him and turned so that she took the full brunt of the crash.

"Ah!"

"Shit! Kid, are you alright?" Rai quickly said, getting off the girl and checking to see if she was alright.

"I'm fine, how about you?" Honoka asked despite the pain she was in.

"I'm okay. I'm more worried about you instead." Rai said before he noticed it. The bandages around Honoka's right arm.

Honoka saw this and said, "Don't mind these. I've had these for a while."

"You're fighting despite being hurt yourself. You're pretty reckless, kid." Rai said as he helped Honoka up.

"White!" Nagisa called out as she ran over to her friend. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. But..." Honoka looked back at the situation and it was not looking good.

Cuts from missed bullets were all over Poisony's body as the woman was holding her shoulder, a bullet having found it's way and was now bleeding. This only made Poisony madder than before as she was now bombarding the policemen with shockwaves that sent them flying all over the place.

"At this rate, everyone might die."

"Then one more time." Nagisa said, holding her hand out to Honoka. "Let's try another Marble Screw again and try to hit her!"

"Abunai(Watch out)!" Rai suddenly said, shoving the two girls aside before a stand of hair struck the man across the face and sent him flying.

"Keiji-san(Mr. Detective)!" oth the girls cried out in worry for the man before crying out in surprise when more stands of hair appeared and grabbed them, lifting them up into the air.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you two!" Poisony said. "You fools who know no fear, I will torture your bodies, see you struggle, suffering. Eventually, you will serve at our pleasure!"

"Let them go!" Down below, Ryō shouted as he fired at Poisony, being careful not to hit the girls.

Using her cape, Poisony blocked the bullets from hitting her before glaring down at Ryō.

"You! Don't think I've forgotten about you!" Using her hair, she went and grabbed the man who struggled to get free as he was lifted up.

"Ichijo-san!" Nagisa cried out in worry for the man.

"You leave him alone!" Honoka shouted.

Poisony ignored the girls as she brought Ryō over to her. She then removed one of her gloves and showed him the bullet scar he had given her.

"Remember this? You gave this to me back then." Poisony said, glaring hatefully at Ryō before turning to the girls. "Look closely, young ladies. Watch how powerless you are in the face of those that are more experienced that you!"

"Why you...! Don't get so cocky!" Nagisa said as she struggled against her binds.

"We haven't lost yet!" Honoka said as she too struggled against her binds. "You may be right in that you outrank us in experience. But you're wrong about us having no fear."

"Oh?" That last part caught Poisony's attention, enough to make her turn to them.

"We have things that we fear. But, we also have things that we must protect!" Honoka said as she slowly was able to reach her hand out to Nagisa.

"She's right! There's a reason we can't lose!" Nagisa said, her hand inching closer towards Honoka's. "Therefore...!"

Seeing what the girls were trying to do, Poisony manipulated her hair to separate the two before slamming them both against things like the station building, the railway, and the police cars surrounding said station before lifting the girls back up in the air this time even higher.

"So what will you do?" Poisony said. "You don't think ahead, just saying it won't make you win. You don't seem to understand!" Poisony then rushed down, bringing the girl with her as she slammed both of them through the station building in brutal fashion. The men watching this could only look on in horror, wondering if the girls were alright.

"It doesn't matter if we don't think ahead." Placing a hand on the ruined wall, Nagisa dragged herself out, covered in dirt and bruises. "All that matters is this one moment, this one battle! White!"

Poisony's eyes widen. From her hair, she felt Honoka emerge from the building, leaping up into the air. Nagisa too jumped up as she and Honoka met and clasped hands with one another.

"All we need is a bowl full of spirit!" Nagisa declared proudly.

"It's useless, you can't hit me!" Poisony said confidently.

"Don't look down at us!" Nagisa said.

"We're learning too!" Honoka said as the two thought as one.

'If we can't hit her directly...' Honoka thought.

'Then we need to find some other way to hit her!' Nagisa thought as she thought back to a training lesson with Dai.

---

(Flashback)

"Oof!" Nagisa let out a pained grunt as she was slammed into the ground, landing on her back.

"Come on, Nagisa-chan. You have to do better than that." Dai said as he backed away.

"I'm trying!" Nagisa said, getting up as to the side, Honoka watched with a bottle of water in her hands.

"You know, that's you're problem. You just charge straight in without thinking." Dai said, pointing out Nagisa's flaw.

"Well sorry if I can't think ahead." Nagisa said, getting into a stance.

Dai sighs a little before speaking. "Look, you'll never hit me if you just keep charging in."

"Well then, what am I supposed to do?"

"Easy. Just think outside the box." Dai explained. "FInd another way to hit your opponent, something that they won't expect."

"Something they won't expect..."

(Flashback End)

---

Both the girls raised their hands to the sky. They have the answer. Now they just need to execute it!

"Black Thunder!"

"White Thunder!"

*BOOM!*

Once again for the second time today, twin thunderbolts of black and white rained down and struck the girls, filling them with power.

"Purikyua no utsukushiki tamashī ga…"

"... Jaaku na kokoro wo uchikudaku!"

Everyone watching expected the girls to aim their hands and fire at Poisony like they did last time. But to everyone's surprise, the girls stuck their hands into Poisony's hair.

"Pretty Cure Marble Screw!" With a combined shout, both girls each shot out their own energy blast as it traveled through Poisony's hair towards the female Dark General.

Seeing the attacks coming towards her through her hair, Poisony quickly teleported away, cutting the hair that connected with the girls as well as the one holding Ryō.

"Oof!" Ryō let out a grunt as he landed on the ground while the girls landed perfectly on their feet, huffing with exhaustion.

"Did you get her?" Ryō asked, sitting up.

"We don't know." Honoka said.

"Minna(Everyone)!" Suddenly, to their lefts, the three saw Dai running towards them.

"Dai-kun!"

"Are you alright? What happened? Did you win?" Dai asked, bombarding them with questions when suddenly...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The sound of Poisony's scream made everyone jump as a bright light erupted in the sky. Soon after, an orange crystal fell down at the girls' feet.

"This is..." Nagisa bent down to pick up the crystal and once in her hands, it turned into a heart shaped jewel. It was another Prism Stone.

"Another Prism Stone." Dai said.

"...why?" Nagisa said, somehow not feeling like a winner. "Why did she have to go that far for these Prism Stones?"

"Yeah..." Honoka said, agreeing and feeling the same as Nagisa.

"But I won't hand these over, ever!" Nagisa said assuredly.

"That's good to hear." Dai said before his stance shifted. There was one last thing that needed to be done.

"Ichijo-san." The mentioned man looked up to Dai who lowered his hand to him. "Garume's turned invisible again and is getting away as we speak. I need your gun."

Understanding what Dai needed, Ryō nodded before handing Dai his magnum. Nodding thanks, Dai stepped away as he shouted, "Chou Henshin!"

With the humming from his belt, Dai soon assumed his Pegasus form right in front of everybody as the gun in Dai's hand transformed into the Pegasus Bowgun. Dai then pulled back the hammer of his bowgun before from the sky, Gouram flew down and hovered right above Dai. Grabbing one of Gouram's hands, the living horse armor lifted Dai into the sky, rising higher and higher until he was taller than the biggest building in the city.

"That's high." Nagisa couldn't help but comment as everyone watched what Dai was going to do.

Up in the sky, Dai looked over the entire city. Through his ears, he could hear everything from the voices of people, to to the cries of animals. Through his eyes, he could everyone down below clearly despite being up so high. Utilizing both, Dai searched for his target.

...

...

...

...

...

...*step-step-step*...

The sound of running footsteps got Dai's attention as he turned and looked down below. There, as if shimmering like a ghost, was the figure of Garume.

"Found you." Dai declared as he aimed his weapon. Sparks of electricity came from his bracer and danced around his bowgun, but Dai ignored it as he took aim and fired.

Faster than even a sniper bullet, the Blast Pegasus struck an unaware Garume who gave out a pained cry of surprise. Holding his chest, Garume became visible again as cracks soon appeared on body. They soon traveled down to his belt and when they reached it...

*BOOM!*

The Grongi exploded. Down below, everyone heard the explosion as they turned to where it happened.

"He did it." Honoka said, smiling as Nagisa cheered.

Slowly, Gouram brought Dai back to the ground. Once his feet touched the ground, Dai turned to everyone, more specifically the girls, and gave them a thumbs up. Smiling, the girls returned it with one of their own.

"Those kids..." Limping over to Ryō, Rai stood over him as he looked over at the three. "They're something else."

"Indeed that are." Ryō said, adjusting his glasses as he smiled at the three.

---

(Later)

With the Grongi threat over and with Poisony defeated, Dai and the girls soon returned home. After saying goodbye to Honoka, Dai drove Nagisa home and helped her to her room.

"Come on, there we go." Dai said as he gently set down Nagisa on her bed.

"Geez, that woman really held nothing back." Nagisa said, groaning in pain a little.

"Yeah, but at least we won." Dai said, opening the door to her balcony to leave. "Try and get some rest, okay? We've got school tomorrow."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Nagisa groaned, getting a laugh from Dai before he left.

Once the Rider left, Mepple popped up and asked, "So, do you think everything's fixed with Dai now?"

"Yeah, I think so." Nagisa said before getting up. "Well, I better take a shower. God knows I need it after a fight like that."

Limping all the way to her bathroom, Nagisa finished her shower minutes later and entered her room to find Dai there waiting for her.

"Oh, Dai-kun. Did you forget something?" Nagisa asked.

To answer her, Dai held up both her's and Honoka's Pretty Cure Planners.

"Oh, those. Forgot we left those in your room." Nagisa said, rubbing her head as she took both planners back and made a mental note to give Honoka's back tomorrow. "Thanks for running them-!"

Before Nagisa could even finished, she found herself embraced in Dai's arms. Nagisa's eyes widen in surprise, dropping both planners as Dai continued to hug her for what seemed like an hour, but was only a few minutes before he separated.

"...arigato(Thank you)." Dai smiled. It wasn't bright like it usually was, but there was something about it that made Nagisa just stare at it as Dai soon took his leave via the balcony again.

Mepple watched Dai go before turning to Nagisa who had frozen up.

"Nagisa? Oi~! Earth to Nagisa."

On the ground, both planners were opened as the special light needed to see the words showed just what the girls had wrote down.

Honoka's Planner: Dear Ichi-kun, If you are reading this, know that what happened with Daguva was not your fault. You were angry after what happened to Nagisa. I was too. But when you turned into that black form against Daguva, I was honestly scared. I was even more scared the more you two fought each other. I wondered if you were still even 'you' back then. I find it hard to believe, to be honest. But even if that was you, even if you may have had some part in giving me this burn on my arm, know that I will never blame you. You are a kind person who would never try to hurt his friends. Which is why I believe that the next time we face Daguva, we'll both be stronger to defeat him. Please don't let that incident make you push us away. We're friends, and we'll always be there to help you out, both Nagisa and I. So please, don't blame yourself for what happened. Instead, learn from it. That's something my grandpa would always say to me, and it's never failed. Let's learn from out loss and do better next time.

Nagisa's Planner: Dai-kun, if you're reading this, then you're probably still blaming yourself for what happened. Well, let me tell you to it straight. It's not your fault! That fight with Daguva, with him almost killing me, none of that is your fault. The reason I jumped in back then was to save you. Dai-kun, you're someone every important to me. You're great at everything you try to do. Cooking, cleaning, sports, how you treat your friends, the list goes on. But the best thing about you, out of all the skills you've shown me over the years, is your bright smile. Seeing it always makes me want to smile too. Which is why whenever I don't see you smile, it makes me sad. I hate that. I like you better when you're smiling. It's so full of life that it honestly makes me think it could brighten up the whole world. So when Daguva was about to finish you, I felt scared. Scared that he was gonna take away your smile. Scared that he was gonna take away your life. Scared that he was gonna take you away from all of us. That guy made me scared for my own life, but when he was about to kill you, I was scared for you even more. I don't regret jumping in like I did. In fact, if you ask me, I'll do it again in a heart beat. So don't blame yourself for the scars I have now. Instead, let's learn from our loss, and get stronger so that the next time Daguva appears, we'll be ready for him!

When Dai got back into his room, the feelings of shame and guilt were no more. Instead, all that was left was the resolve to do better. He may have lost to Daguva, but it won't happen a second time. He's gonna learn from his loss, and do better next time. For the sake of protecting lives, and the especially for the sake of those girls supporting him.

---

And...done! *Falls down face first* Shit! Why! Why did this turn out to be so long!? It doesn't help that I'm adding to the word count by doing this, but I gotta let it out!

Sigh, okay, my feelings about this chapter is so-so. I did not intend for this chapter to be so long. In fact, I think this is the longest chapter I've done for this story. But really, I kept going back and forth with ideas on what I wanted to do for this chapter. Next thing I knew, I'm adding in so much stuff that it felt like I was writing two chapters in one. Like, really. I feel like I could break this chapter into two and it'd be fine. But I decided not too and the results is this long chapter.

Ugh, anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. My feelings are still so-so about this chapter, and I feel how I handled Dai and the girls situation with Dai blaming himself was a bit cliche. I really need to improve my character development skills. But how do you people think? Was it good or bad?

Hopefully next chapter isn't as long as this one, because my god! Anyway, this has been Ashbel Longhart here, signing out. And unlike last chapter, here's everyone's favorite segment...

---

Pretty Cure: Rider Fun Facts

"Hello minna-san! Mepple here along with everyone here, here to bring you another new Pretty Cure: Rider Fun Facts-mepo!" Mepple said as he, Mipple, and their respective partners showed up on stage.

"Been a while since we've done one of these." Nagisa commented.

"Yeah, author's finding it hard to keep this up as of late, but we should be fine once we get past the halfway mark-mepo." Mepple said before nervously asking the girls, "So, how are the new scars-mepo?"

"Oh, these?" Nagisa said, patting her stomach and back.

"They're fine. It's just gonna take some getting used to." Honoka said, rubbing her bandaged arm.

"That battle with Daguva was really hectic-mipo." Mipple said.

"But we're not here to talk about that guy. We're here to talk about a different Grongi, specifically the one Dai just defeated today-mepo." Meppls said as a picture of Me-Garume-Re appeared on screen.

"This here is Me-Garume-Re, a Chameleon Grongi that is known by the police as Unidentified Lifeform #31-mipo." Mipple said. "He used his cloaking ability to hide at high areas before dragging his victims with his tongue to hang them while smashing their faces against a surface. He then announces the location of his next kill-mipo."

"So he was using his tongue to kill people." Nagisa said.

"He can be quite the tricky opponent-mepo. But, lucky for Dai and everyone, he has a weakness-mepo." Mepple said as Mipple explained.

"When exposed to bright light, Garune's chromatic cellular makeup will bee disrupted, making him unable to turn invisible for five minutes-mipo."

"And even if he didn't have that weakness, Dai still would have found him thanks to his Pegasus form-mepo." Mepple said. "Fun fact: Garume used to a part of the Zu Group, so he was previously called Zu-Garume-Re-mepo."

"Nothing get's pasted Dai-kun, huh." Nagisa said.

"Yes, the opponent today was quite tricky, everything worked out in the end." Honoka said.

"Well, that's all the time we have today-mepo." Mepple said. "Next time, the gang face off against Kiriya-mepo."

"Eh? We're fighting Kirya-kun?" Honoka asked.

"Well, you two did just kill his sister today-mepo."

"That was his sister!?" Both girls exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh, you two didn't know-mepo?"

As Mepple talked with the girls, Mipple turned and waved at the audience.

"Until next time-mipo!" Mipple waved goodbye as the next episode title was shown.

Next Time: A Shocking Date! Kiriya's True Identity and Dai's Rising Power