Futari wa Pretty Cure: A New Legend Chapter 27: Ride 27: Never Give Up!, a Kamen Rider + Pretty Cure Crossover fanfic

Hello Fanfiction readers! After an absence of 8 months, I Ashbel Longhart have returned to bring you an all-new chapter for my Kuuga story! Sorrt for the late update, but what else is new at this point? At the very least I was able to find time to write up this chapter so to all Rider and Pretty Cure fans, here you go! And before I forget, 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.)

Now then, time for a recap: last time, Dai and the girls were told about the Seeds of Darkness, pieces of the Dark King which he had split from himself just before his defeat a few chapters back. Not only that but Pollun has officially joined our heroes in their fight against evil. Honestly, sending a kid into a war against good and evil seems pretty irresponsible of the Queen, especially considering he later ran into one of the first Seeds, Juna, but as we all know by now, anything goes in anime. But besides that was the debut of Dai's Rising Pegasus form which he showcased to the girls in his fight against the monster of the week.

And I think that's everything. Now in today's episode, the gang will run into the second Seed of Darkness. How will they deal with this new threat? Well, simply read to find out. Now, let's ride. Chou Henshin!

Ride 27: Regine Appears! No Matter What, Never Give Up!

(One Year Ago)

When it came to cemeteries, there always seemed to be this air of melancholy that hung around like a ghost haunting a mansion. Dai couldn't help but notice that even with the sounds of the city not too far off in the distance silence seemed to reign in the area as if there was this certain stillness that persisted.

Standing next to the now 14-year-old Honoka, Dai glanced over to the girl before looking down at the grave before them.

Yukishiro Kengo

1909-1994

A Brave Man and A Brave Hero

"...Do you come here every year?" Dai asked the girl next to him. When he had come over to celebrate Honoka's birthday, the last thing he thought he'd be doing was visiting a cemetery.

Honoka nodded her head as a melancholy air hung over her, a first for Dai since he first met her.

"What was he like?" Dai asked, trying to do anything that would lessen the sadness that was currently hanging over his friend.

"Oji-chan was...very kind," Honoka began, recalling fond memories of her childhood. "He and Obāchama took care of me whenever my parents were away on work. He was a bit goofy at times despite his age, yet there were also times where he seemed wiser than even Obāchama."

"He sounds like a great person."

"He was the greatest," Honoka said with absolute certainty before frowning. "It was never really explained how he died. The people that called said there had been an accident, but at the time I didn't really care. All I could think about was: 'Why? Why did he die? Why did this world take Oji-chan away? He did nothing wrong.' That was all I could think about back then."

"...The world can be pretty cruel sometimes," Dai said, speaking as if he really knew what Honoka was talking about.

"Ichi-san?" Honoka turned to her friend, noticing his tone.

"I...lost my parents when I was really young. For a while, I hated the world that took my Mom and Dad away from me. But my uncle, who raised me while managing the orphanage, taught me that the world can be just as generous as it is cruel. If I let the bad things weigh me down, I'll never know about the good things that can happen."

"Ichi-san..."

"No matter how many times one trips and falls, all they need to do is just get back up and keep going. Those that can smile through any trouble...are the strongest people on earth."

"...hehe." To Dai's confusion, Honoka suddenly giggled at him as the girl tried to fight it down.

"What? Was it something I said?" Dai asked, wondering if what he said was weird.

"No, no, it's nothing," Honoka said, calming down and wiping a tear that was forming from the corner of her eyes. "It's just, for a moment there, you sounded just like Oji-chan. He used to say a lot of things like that sometimes."

"Really?"

Honoka nodded. "I'm sure you two would have gotten along quite well."

"Honoka-chan~! Ichi-san~!" Over at the cemetery entrance, Honoka's parents called over to the two.

"Looks like your parents are getting impatient," Dai said. "Come on, I think we've spent enough time here."

"Yeah," Honoka nodded in agreement as she and Dai left her grandfather's grave. "Hey...Ichi-kun?"

"Hm?" Dai turned to Honoka, noticing instantly how she switched honorifics when addressing him.

With a smile on her face, Honoka turned to the boy and thanked him.

"Thank you...for what you said earlier. It was very encouraging."

"Well, it is your birthday." To Dai, birthdays are always better spent with a smile.

(One Year Later)

*BEEP!*

{This is Officer Morimichi! I am currently giving chase to a woman who I believe to be ULF #38. Requesting backup!}

*BEEP!*

{Dai! Did you get that? Where are you right now?}

"I'm a bit...preoccupied," Dai said as he nervously stared in front of him.

*VROOM!*

Blocking Dai's path was a motorcyclist. His green blazer, ripped jeans, black boots, and red flowing scarf helped Dai to instantly recognize the rider, having run into him back during the case involving Garume (No. 31).

"You..."

Reaching up to his helmet, the rider removed it, allowing Dai to finally see his face. A young man with above-average looks sporting an afro and black lipstick which seemed to be a common thing, Dai noted, whenever Grongi took on a human form.

"You're...Go-Bada-Ba."

"Hoh? So Baruba wasn't kidding when she said you already know about us. Still, allow me to introduce myself, Kuuga of this time. I am the deadly rider, Go-Bada-Ba!"

"And what does a Grongi from the Go want with me?" Dai asked while gripping the handles of his bike nervously. "Isn't another one of your members currently in the middle of their turn?"

"Hmph!" Scoffing at Dai, Bada assumes a stance that is quite similar to Dai's whenever he was about to transform. "What other reason does a Grongi need when faced with another warrior?"

"Tch!" Seeing where this was going, Dai quickly summons the Arcle around his waist and goes through the hand motions with Bada doing the same, though Dai couldn't help but notice how Bada's hand motions were similar to the transformation sequence of Ichigo.

"Henshin!"

At the exact same time, both bikers changed their forms. While Dai assumed his Mighty Form, Bada's Grongi form was very similar to that of a previously defeated Grongi, Badzu. However, the difference was that Bada's form was colored mostly black and sported more armor over the breasts and shoulders, as well as gauntlets wrapped around both forearms. In short, compared to his younger brother, Bada truly looked like an elite warrior in Dai's eyes.

*VROOM!*

Once Dai was finished transforming did his TryChaser change as well, adapting to the colors of its rider as Kuuga's logo appeared on both sides. In contrast, Bada's bike remained unchanged...until the Grongi removed some sort of knife-sized needle from one of his gauntlets and placed it upon the bike he was riding. Then, right before Dai's eyes, the bike underwent a transformation, sporting a more reptilian look to it now. And when the engine roared, it almost sounded like the roar of a beast instead of a normal bike engine.

*VROOM!*

In the old warehouse, they were in, both Dai and Bada faced one another on their respective bikes, revving their engines as if to try and intimidate the other. Had there been an onlooker, this scene before them would have looked something akin to two knights on horseback getting ready to joust.

*VROOOOOOOOOM!*

Dai was the first to take off and Bada followed suit a second later. Both bikers lifted their bikes up, performing a wheelie as the two riders met with the front wheels of both their bikes clashing against one another. The force of the impact caused both bikes to be pushed back slightly and fall back down. The two riders quickly separated from each other as they both spun their bikes around until they rebalanced themselves.

Dai was the first to recover and drove off trying to escape. However, Bada's bike, the Bagibusan, was fast and caught up with Dai's TryChaser in a matter of seconds. Grinding his teeth under his helmet, Dai turned a corner with Bada doing the same and the two sped past each other, sparks flying as their bikes grind against one another. The two sped off once again until they turned and clashed again; the TryChaser's "horns" scratching against the surface of the Bagibusan's "face."

Driving off until the two riders had quite a bit of distance between them, they both turned their rides around and sped forward for another joust. However, just when they were almost about to meet, Dai leaped off his bike, seemingly trying to perform a Mighty Kick. However, Bada reacted fast and he leaped off his bike to meet with Dai up in the air. The black grasshopper Grongi threw a punch in order to intercept Dai's kick which worked as the Rider was forced to block Bada's punch and retaliate by throwing a quick punch to the Grongi's ribs.

Flipping over, Dai landed back on his TryChaser with no problem and turned his bike around to face Bada once again. However, to his surprise, neither Bada nor his Bagibusan was anywhere to be seen.

"Where—?"

*CRASH!*

Dai gasped as to his right, Bada reappeared crashing through a wall of stacked cardboard boxes. The Grongi came in too fast for the Rider to react and Dai cried out as Bada's Bagibusan struck the side of the TryChaster, knocking Dai off and crashing into a pile of metal containers that spilled out a clear-looking liquid. Dai guessed it to be nitroglycerin or something similar because a wire which had come loose from the Rider's crash spewed out sparks which then landed on the spilled contents and combusted.

*BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!*

Dai cried out in both surprise and pain as multiple explosions happened all around him and engulfed him in flames.

(Insert RISE by MADKID)

(Instrumental) The song starts as the sun begins to rise over the horizon, casting its light over the city. Over on top of the tallest building in the city, three figures can be seen standing, looking towards the sunrise.

(Oh oh oh oh oh oh~! Oh oh oh oh oh oh~!) As the sun rises higher and higher over the city, we soon see that the three figures were none other than Dai, Nagisa, and Honoka, all transformed as they looked over the city protectively.

(Hikari mitsuketa kuuhaku no jikan) We first see scenes of Nagisa playing lacrosse with her friends on the lacrosse team. Sweat drops fly off of her as she catches the ball with her lacrosse stick before throwing it. Off to the side, Mepple is seen sleeping inside of Nagisa's bag, dreaming about eating various foods.

(Mayoikonda chuuzuri no sekai) Honoka is seen in the lab with her friends in the science club. The girl mixes a vial of chemicals in her hands while the others watch with anticipation. A puff of smoke erupts from the vile, and the girls sigh in relief when that's all that happened. In the corner, Mipple watched nearby from within her carrier, looking on with interest.

(Shinjirareru kotae sagashimotomete) The scene transitions to Dai playing soccer with the rest of the soccer team. After scoring a goal, Dai switches with someone else and goes over to the bench, grabbing a water bottle. However, just as he's about to take a sip, he gets a phone call from Ryō. Answering the call, Dai's expression turns serious.

(Tada samayotteru) [Yeah] Nodding his head, Dai ends the call and runs off, running towards his TryChaser 2000. Getting on the bike, he revs up the engines and drives off. This doesn't go unnoticed by both Nagisa and Honoka as they stop whatever they were doing and race off to follow after the Rider.

(Yubi no sukima nigeru light, Yosomi shiteru hima mo nai) The scene changes again to show Ryō along with the other men of the Special Investigation team, all running around as they all armed themselves and got into their respective cars, racing down the road to the scene of the crime.

(Uketa kizuna ato sae kate ni, Seijaku kirisaiteku) Darkness overtakes the scene as the Seeds of Darkness, Juna, Regine, and Belzei Gertrude all appear, glaring menacingly at the screen before all three of them get sucked into a portal and a shadowy form appears to replace them.

(Dare mo kare mo Dead or alive, Mamoru dake ja Can't survive) In an abandoned warehouse with flickering lights, the Grongi consisting of mostly the Go Tribe appear, their forms flickering between their human and Monsters forms in tandem with the lights.

(I don't wanna lie to myself) With Baruba and Dorudo at his sides, Daguva walks up, smiling as always as he raises his hand and sends out a blast of fire that momentarily blocks the screen.

(Keep on the fight, get right, I'll never lose and cry) Skidding the bike to a stop, Dai quickly takes off his helmet and gets off his ride as he faces off against the Go Tribe which were accompanied by the Seeds of Darkness and a small army of Zakenna.

(Keep run up day and night, Time to rewrite) Just as Dai was about to summon the Arcle, both Nagisa and Honoka finally catch up with the Rider, appearing by his side with their Lovely Communes in their hands. Behind them were the Special Investigation Team as Ryō and the others all aim their guns at the Dark Zone and Grongi.

(No matter what anyone say I find my way) Dai looks at both the girls who give him encouraging smiles before the three nod at one another and ready their respective transformations.

(Yeah, never go away) In a bright flash of light, Kuuga followed by Cures Black and White all leap out of the light and towards their enemies.

(Never go away) Both sides charge at one another and at the same tie Dai throws the first punch, Ryō fires his gun and the fight begins.

(Now, nobody can't stop me no way) With both his hands and feet covered in flames, Dai throws a barrage of punches and kicks at any Grongi and Zakenna that get to close to him before coming to deadlock with the leader of the Go Tribe, Go-Gadoru-Ba, whose eyes briefly flash gold.

(Wasurete shimau koto no nai you ni) With their backs to one another, both Nagisa and Honoka punch, kick, block, and throwback any Grongi and Zakenna that attacked them before coming face to face with the Seeds of Darkness.

(Nakushita mono subete torimodosu tame) Over with the Investigation Team, Ryō and the others fought with their guns and bravery, not backing down against such overwhelming odds until Ryō comes face to face with Baruba. The two have a staredown as Ryō aims his gun at Baruba who simply stares back, her expression unreadable.

(Rise suddenly in this world) [I don't look back yeah] In a flash of golden lightning, Dai assumes his Rising Mighty form while the girls equip their Rainbow Bracelets. Now ready, the trio stands up against Daguva in his Imperfect form.

(Kurikaesu tabi no hate) Taking the lead, Dai charges at the Grongi leader, throwing lightning-fast punches which Daguva simply guards against before punches Dai back.

(Nouri ni nokotta shippai nante) The girls jump in this time to try their luck, they both attack in perfect sync as Nagisa's right eye and Honoka's left eye briefly flash gold.

(Zenbu torikaese ima Turn over) In a show of strength, Daguva pushes the girls away before a tornado envelops his entire form. With a swing of his arm that disperses the tornado, it reveals Daguva now in his Perfect form as the entire area is suddenly enveloped in flames.

(Rise suddenly in this world) [I don't look back yeah] Seeing the sight of Daguva at his full strength, anger seems to ignite from Dai as with a roar, darkness soon envelops the Rider as he transforms into Kuuga's Ultimate form.

(Oh oh oh oh oh oh~! Oh oh oh oh oh oh~!) The scene changes to a bright morning day, the sky bright blue with few clouds in the sky. Dai stands on top of a small hill looking up at the sky as Nagisa down below looks up at the Rider with worry. Turning around, Dai gives Nagisa a smile, but this only seems to worry the girl even more as she quickly runs up to the Rider and grabs him by the arm in desperation. As soon as she does this, the scene returns back to the battle as Nagisa tries to grab Dai's arm, but fails as the Rider charges forth, both he and Daguva meeting in the middle as they both throw a flaming punch at one another and just as both attacks connect, a bright flash of light blinds the screen and the song comes to an end.

(Hours Earlier, Yukishiro Residence)

It was another bright, summer day in the city of Wakaba except it was much hotter than normal as a heatwave was passing through the city. As a result, multiple water parks and local pools found themselves flooded with visitors attempting to fight off this increased heat.

The same could not be said for our heroes.

"So hot~!" Nagisa, dressed in military green cargo pants and sleeveless black shirt, groaned as she laid down on the floor of Honoka's room, trying to cool down by hiding in the shade.

"Come on now, it's unladylike to lay down like that," Dai, dressed in beige cargo pants and a sleeveless white shirt which sported Kuuga's symbol in black (made by Dai himself), fanned the girl with a paper fan he made while also trying to get Nagisa to sit up. "Besides, the fan's on."

"The fan doesn't cut it," Nagisa groaned out as the portable fan in Honoka's room blew out air, but it did little to lessen the heat both heroes were feeling right now. Dai seemed to be faring better than Nagisa which did not escape her attention.

"How are you okay while I'm over here dying?"

"I don't know. Maybe the Amadam Stone is helping me adapt to the heat?" Dai guessed, shrugging his shoulders. He did lit his right foot on fire constantly whenever he was executing his signature Rider Kick. And considering the other stuff the Amadam Stone has been able to do, it didn't sound that far-fetched that it was helping Dai cope with the heat.

"Zuirui(No fair)~!" Nagisa groaned out at the unfairness between them. Was there nothing that magical stone can't do?

"I'm back! Sorry for the wait." Walking into the room and holding a tray carrying three iced teas was Honoka dressed in a light pink skirt and a white sleeveless shirt.

"Finally!" Nagisa exclaimed as she sat up and grabbed herself a glass the second Honoka placed the tray on the table, all the while trying not to stare at Honoka's burn scar. Having grown somewhat used to seeing her friend in long-sleeved clothes, to see the young lady in a sleeveless outfit made the scar on her right arm that more noticeable. If it wasn't for the heat right now, she probably would have worn something different.

"Puwah! I can feel myself returning to life," Nagisa said after downing nearly half of her glass in two gulps.

"Now you're just being dramatic," Dai said, grabbing his own glass while Honoka giggled at her friend's antics.

"If you're feeling so hot, then try not to let your skin touch itself," Honoka said while handing out straws to everyone. "That will make the surface area of your body larger, which will help the heat dissipate. You might feel cooler."

"So..." Laying down on her back, Nagisa stretched both her arms and legs away from her body while also making sure her fingers and toes didn't touch one another. "Something like this?"

"That's right."

Dai couldn't help but laugh at how Nagisa looked. "You look like you're trying to imitate a frog."

"I almost feel like a frog doing this," Nagisa said as she got back up and took another gulp from her ice tea.

"I guess a cold drink is the best way to fight off the heat," Dai said, taking a sip from his own glass. "That and ice cream."

"It would've been better if we could have gone to a water park or a pool," Nagisa said as she laid her head down on the table looking irritated.

"I'm sorry your plans got canceled," Honoka said, looking sorry for her friend. The Misumi family had planned to visit a nearby water park in response to this heatwave, but a sudden call from Nagisa's father's workplace had forced those plans to be canceled. Seeing that Nagisa and Dai had no plans to go anywhere now, Mepple asked(read: whined) to go see his lover which is why the two were currently here, much to Nagisa's discomfort due to how hot it was in the house.

"And I was really looking forward to it," Nagisa complained whilst twirling her straw around.

"Yeah, it sucks...but maybe it was for the better," Dai said, looking down at his drink and at his blurry reflection.

"How so?" Honoka asked, curious as to why the Rider thought that way.

"It's the Grongi," The mention of the ancient clan got both the girl's attention as he looked up at the both of them. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but people are afraid to go out as much."

"Ah..." Both girls made concerned faces. True to the Rider's words, there were fewer people walking about during the day and even fewer during the night. Unless it had to do with something like work, the streets of the city were noticeably less crowded than usual.

"With all the Grongi attacks, I suppose it only natural," Honoka said, frowning.

"Those Grongi, ruining things for everybody..." Nagisa took a sip from her drink as if it would somehow cool down her head. It's been a few days since Buuro's attack on the city. While things have calmed down a bit, tensions were still high as evident by the growing number of police cars patrolling the city. Even her parents were affected though they tried not to show it as to not worry her and Ryota.

'Not only that, but there's also that other guy,' Nagisa thought, thinking back to the man she and Honoka had fought when Pollun went missing. The person born from the 'Seeds of Darkness', what was he thinking? What are his intentions? To revive the Dark King? And if so, what happens then? Will they have to fight the Dark King again, only without assistance from the Queen of Light?

'There are so many things happening all around us, my brain hurts just trying to keep track of it,' Nagisa thought to herself as she groaned in annoyance.

And as if trying to add to the girl's growing annoyance...

"Mipo-mipo-mipo-mipo!"

"Popo-popo-popo-popo!"

Suddenly running into the room were both Mipple and Pollun, the former looked a little scared while the latter was all smiles, looking to be having fun. The two ran through the room and towards the door that led indoors, but opening it revealed Mepple who had been waiting for them. Mipple quickly ran away, but Pollun wasn't quick enough as Mepple ran past the young prince while hitting him in the back of the head crying out, "Tag-mepo!"

Landing on his face, Pollun slowly picked himself up as he looked to be on the verge of crying. With tears in his eyes, Pollun ran over to Mipple, jumping into her arms crying.

"Mepple slammed me-popo!"

"What? All I did was touch you-mepo!" Mepple cried out in denial. "And besides, when did you learn such a word? In any case, this time, Pollun's It-mepo."

"Eh? Why-popo?"

"That's the rules of tag-mepo."

"I don't wanna be it-popo."

"Then why are we playing tag-mepo!?"

"Mipple, Mepple is bullying me-popo..."

"Oh, why did it have to be like this...-mepo?"

"Now now, you two. Why not play a different game-mipo."

"Mipple, you're too easy on him-mepo."

"I'm tired of Tag-popo. I wanna play Daruma-san ga koronda(red-light green-light) next-popo!"

"You already know that game-mepo? We should just continue playing Tag-mepo."

"Daruma-san ga koronda-popo!"

"Continue playing Tag-mepo!"

"Daruma-san koronda-popo!"

"Tag-mepo!"

"Daruma-san-popo!"

"Tag-mepo!"

"Popo!"

"Mepo!"

"URUSAI(SHUT UP)!" Finally snapping at the constant back and forth, Nagisa stood up and yelled at the top of her lungs. "We're talking about something serious here so be QUIET!"

"...You're the one's who being the loudest-mepo."

"I'll hurt you," Nagisa threatened, glaring down at her fairy partner. Between the fairies bickering and the blazing heat, Nagisa looked like she might just hurt the fairy if pushed to her limit again.

"You shouldn't be making threats like that-popo," Pollun said. "You are Pretty Cura-popo."

"It's 'Cure', not 'Cura'."

"That's what I said, Pretty Cura."

"...I'm done," Reaching her limit once again, instead of exploding Nagisa simply sat back down while slapping Dai on the shoulder. "Dai-kun, switch. They're your problem now."

"Oi." What does his friend think this is, a game?

(Unknown Location)

In a dark place that seemed to be bathed in both light and shadow, Baruba accompanied by a heavily clothed Gooma strides through the darkness before arriving at the meeting place, looking to be some sort of underground cellar.

"It's impressive that Kuuga was able to kill Buro." Suddenly, appearing from another entrance was a man standing tall and muscular and dressed in military garb.

"He truly adds an air of danger to the game," Baruba commented, sounding almost pleased. "Lord Daguva is most pleased with Kuuga's growing strength."

"As am I," The man seemed to crack a smile under the shadows that covered his form.

"Are you interested to fight the Kuuga of this time?"

"Quite, but I shall patiently wait for my turn. On that note, will Bemiu be participating next?"

"She has already been sent out," Baruba answered. "She will strike as soon as she meets up with Dorudo."

"Then there is nothing else to do then watch." The man said before glancing over to Gooma who seemed to be fiddling with something under his coat. Noticing that the man was staring over at him, the Grakenngi took his hand out and avoided eye contact. Whether Baruba noticed this too or not was unknown as she motioned for the revived Grongi to follow her.

"Until next time, Gadoru."

The leader of the Go didn't reply back as the two high-ranking Grongi separated and left.

(Meanwhile, Shinagawa Ward: Dolphin Pool)

Under the blazing heat of the sun, friends and families entered and exited the pool, having enjoyed a nice dip into the cool waters. But amongst the people leaving, one person stood out, a black-haired woman dressed in a black cheongsam. Besides that, she was also carrying sheets of music in her hands with the notes showing them to be Chopin's revolutionary étude

"In your hands, that whip is an instrument of death." Suddenly appearing behind the woman was Dorudo who moved sixteen beads from his abacus.

"By all means, enjoy the melody," The woman responded back as she took her leave just as there was a commotion coming from inside the public pool.

The woman, whose true form was Go-Bemiu-Gi, cared not for the Linto, both past, and present. However, if there was one thing she liked about this new era, it's that the Lintos of this time knew how to make some good music.

"Hm?" As Dorudo was about to take his own leave and head towards the next destination Bemiu would target, he spotted from across the street a young teenage girl with reddish-orange hair and red eyes. Beyond wearing short, ripped pants, red shoes, and a green sleeveless coat worn over a yellow shirt, she appeared to be a regular girl albeit a bit shy due to her demeanor. However, to the eyes of a Grongi, Dorudo saw the girl's true nature.

'So another one has awakened,' The Grongi judge thought to himself before continuing on his way. Under instructions from Daguva himself, he would leave alone the 'seed' for his lord to handle. Already Dorudo could feel nature itself bend to Daguva's will and it seemed the girl noticed it herself. Why his lord was so interested in these 'seeds' he could not fathom. A judge he may be, the only one he could not question was Daguva himself.

(Yukishiro Residence)

"Da-ru-ma-san-ga...koronda-mepo!"

Quickly both Mipple and Pollun froze in place as Mepple quickly turned around to see if either of them were moving. Of the two it seemed Pollun was the one who had trouble staying frozen. Tunring back around Mepple began again.

"Daruma-san ga koronda-mepo!"

Doing it faster this time, Mepple turned around again and saw that while Mipple was frozen completely, Pollun was the one shaking in place, having been surprised by how fast Mepple had been. And of course, Mepple did not miss this.

"Pollun, out-mepo!"

"Why-popo!?"

"You were moving just now-mepo."

"I didn't move-popo!"

"You so totally moved-mepo!" Mepple said before turning over to Dai and the girls who have been watching the game. "Judges?"

The three looked at one another, wondering who to side with before they came to a decision.

"Sorry, Pollun," Dai said with an apologetic smile.

"But I didn't move-popo! I didn't-popo! I didn't-popo! I didn't-popo!"

"Here we go again-mepo..." Mepple sighed in exasperation as Pollun flailed around on the ground whining.

"Once he starts crying he won't stop," Nagisa said, looking exasperated herself.

"Well, he is still sort of a child," Honoka said, starting to feel bad for the young fairy prince.

"Perhaps we can let it slide this time-mipo?" Mipple suggested.

"We wouldn't be playing Daruma-san ga koronda then-mepo!"

"It's not really Daruma-san ga koronda since Mepple keeps adding '-mepo' at the end," Nagisa said, bringing up how Mepple was technically speaking 12 syllables instead of 10.

"Well, sorry for the way I talk-mepo," Mepple said, crossing his arms. "We fairies all talk like this-mepo. Besides, in the Garden of Light, we use base twelve-mepo."

"Really?"

"Just kidding-mepo."

"I'll hit you. I really will!"

"Now, now..." Dai intervened before things escalated further, bringing his half-filled glass over to Nagisa who didn't hesitate to take a sip from the straw, having finished her glass a second ago. Honoka raised an eyebrow seeing this, wondering if her friend knew just what she was doing right now drinking from Dai's straw.

"It's awakening-popo..."

"Huh?" Blinking in confusion, everyone turned to see Pollun had suddenly stopped crying and was now absentmindedly staring up towards the sky.

"It's awakening-popo...Red...Watch out for the pillar of red-popo..."

"Pillar of red?" Nagisa repeated in confusion. She and the others all looked at one another before they all realized what the fairy was talking about.

"Awakening...it can't be!"

Driving down the streets on patrol, Ryō was on the lookout for anything suspicious no matter how mundane. Having circled this part of the city two times already, the man turned his car and was about to move onto a different neighborhood when his radio beeped.

*BE~EP!*

[Calling all units.] From the other side came Nodoka's voice. [There's been a murder of what we believe is a ULF (Unidentified Lifeform) at Dolphin Pool in Shinagawa. No confirmed sightings of the killer at this point.]

'So it's begun again...' Ryō grimly thought as he turned on the sirens of his car and was about to race down the road when...

*CRASH!*

Ryō gasped before he quickly slammed down on the brakes, stopping just in time before his car crashed into another ahead of him. Almost hitting his head on the wheel due to the harsh stop, Ryō looked up to see there had been a car accident. However, from there things got strange. The cause of the accident wasn't due to two cars colliding with one another, but a group of what appeared to be mannequins all dressed in coats and fedoras standing in front of the cars with their hands stretched out as if creating a wall which the cars had crashed into. If that wasn't strange enough, Ryō spotted a red-headed girl walking across the street completely ignoring her surroundings and seemingly in a trance.

"What the hell?" Understandably confused about this, Ryō placed a hand over his holster and was about to step out of his car when in the literal blink of an eye, everything was...normal. The mannequins were gone and the cars that had crashed were now good as new as if they hadn't crashed in the first place.

"What...in the world...?" Ryō blinked his eyes, utterly confused and a bit unnerved by what had just occurred. However, after everything he's been through, he had a feeling what had just happened must be related to the Dark Zone.

'I need to contact Dai,' Ryō thought as he honked his horn, snapping the drivers up ahead out of the stupor and resuming traffic.

"Another Seed of Darkness has sprouted?"

"I think so," Dai said as the girls grew concerned at this news. "This happened before, remember? Pollun was in a trance and we later met that guy the other day."

"The Queen said that Pollun had some sort of special power-mipo," Mipple brought up.

"The power of foresight..." Honoka said, identifying just what Pollun's special powers may be.

"Wait, if that's true, then does that mean we're gonna meet someone like that strange guy?" Nagisa said, looking concerned.

"It's possible..." Honoka said before looking down. "But...I don't really want to think about it."

"Honoka-chan?" Dai turned to the girl in surprise, growing concerned at the anxiety on the girl's face.

"Will we be okay, I wonder?" Nagisa suddenly said, getting Dai to turn towards her this time as her face was marred with anxiety. "I mean, those guys will probably keep on appearing from now on, don't you think? Will we really be okay with just our power?"

"Nagisa-chan, what are you saying?" Dai said as both he and the fairies looked at both girls in worry.

"Just how long will it continue like this? Dealing with these people who we don't understand at all. Fighting against the Grongi. Protecting Mepple, Mipple, and Pollun. Protecting the Prism Stones. Protecting the Garden of Light. Protecting this Garden of Rainbows; our world. When will it end? Even then, will it really be okay with our current power?"

"Nagisa, what are you saying?" Dai, dropping the honorifics, grabbed the girl by her shoulders and turned her towards him. "It sounds to me like you're giving up. Get a hold of yourself! You can't give up yet, not when this city is still in danger from both the Dark Zone and the Grongi. We have to keep fighting!"

"That's easy for you to say!" Nagisa exclaimed, slapping Dai's hands off of her before she grabbed her shirt and lifted it up to allow everyone to see the scar on her stomach. "Look at us! You barely have a scratch from all the fights you've been through, meanwhile, Honoka and I have got these ugly scars! I bet you barely have to worry about a thing since you can just heal from whatever injuries you get!"

"It's not like that!" Dai exclaimed as he tried to get Nagisa to push down her shirt. "You know full well how dangerous it is fighting against the Grongi!"

"I do and I hate it!" Nagisa shouted, almost screaming as she struggled against the Rider. "Do you know how many times my heart nearly stopped whenever I got a call saying you ended up in the hospital? And every time that Daguva guy appears, you nearly died! Despite your powers, the Grongi are getting stronger and stronger! How long until someone as strong as Daguva appears? What if you're forced to use that Ultimate Form again?"

"I..." Dai had no way of answering that. After what happened in the Garden of Light, he now fully knew just how dangerous using Kuuga's Ultimate Form was. And despite his training, he wasn't confident enough to say that he could remain sane should he be forced to use that form.

Dai's lack of response just made Nagisa's anxiety grow as she stopped struggling and was now shaking in the Rider's hands.

"Every time a Grongi appears, someone dies. No matter how hard we try, one day, this world will be—!"

"Stop It!" Honoka cried out, snapping Nagisa and Dai out of their stupor before turning to see Honoka gripping her scarred right arm and on the verge of crying.

"Please...just stop...I don't want to hear it..."

"...sorry," Nagisa apologized, looking down in shame as Mepple and Mipple looked worriedly at their respective partners.

"It's fine," Honoka said, trying to put on a brave face. "I'm just as uneasy as you are. If you two weren't here, I'd have probably fallen apart. But...it's okay. The Garden of Light, this world...They'll surely continue on like this."

"That's right," Dai, regaining his bearings, placed a hand on both the girls' shoulders. "No matter how hard things get, as long as we don't give up, times like these where we're just hanging with each other will continue. I know they will!"

"Dai-kun..." Nagisa and Honoka looked up at the Rider who gave them both his signature smile. However, the girls didn't smile back as they noticed how Dai's hands shook. He was just as uneasy as they were and that just made them feel ashamed. Compared to the two of them, Dai was the only one who was getting stronger. While it certainly helped considering the growing strength of the Grongi, the girls couldn't help but see it as them being incompetent. To them, Dai's growing strength was him trying to pick up their slack.

'Is there nothing we can do?' Both girls thought to themselves, frowning. Should a time where Dai himself needs help, what could they do?

*creak*

Suddenly, the floorboards creaked, signaling that someone was coming. Quickly, both Mepple and Mipple returned to their Lovely Commune forms just in time as Honoka's grandmother, Sanae, stepped into the room.

"I heard shouting. Is everything all right?"

"Everything's fine, Sanae-san," Dai insisted. "The girls and I were...just having an argument."

"Really? That's rare. You three usually get along so well, but I guess friends do have to fight sometimes" Sanae said but did not yet leave. "You all seem a bit down. Are you sure everything's all right?"

"It's nothing, really," Nagisa insisted. "We're sorry if we were too loud."

"Oh don't worry about me, dear. A little noise doesn't bother me that much," Sanae said as she turned to leave. "Well, if there's nothing wrong then this old lady will leave you three be."

"...it's no use anyway..." Nagisa muttered under her breath, her thoughts spilling out without her meaning to.

"As we are now, there's nothing we can do..." Honoka muttered quietly as well, once again getting concerned looks from Dai as he looked at the two.

"...Sometimes," Sanae spoke up, having actually heard the girls' mutters. "If you think you can't do anything about something, then you won't be able to do anything at all. And so things happen which you can't deal with, don't you think? So your worries alone grow more and more."

"Obāchama..." Honoka and the others looked up at the old woman in surprise who turned around and smiled at them. "Then, have you been through a time when you thought there was nothing you could do?"

"Of course I have, many times," Sanae said, not the least bit ashamed to admit it.

"Like, for example...?" Nagisa asked, wanting to know from the old woman.

"Well, when I fell down during a race, and when I got a bad grade on a test, and...the time when this city was gone."

"Eh?" The trio all looked up in surprise at what Sanae had just said.

"This city..."

"...was gone?"

"Yes. It was when I was about your age...no, maybe a little older than that," Sanae said, head raised up as she recalled a memory from long ago. "Only about half this house and the storage shed survived unburnt."

"Unburnt?" Nagisa repeated, finding it hard to imagine that half of this entire house had been once destroyed.

"When was this?" Dai asked, curious.

"It was during the Second World War," Sanae answered, getting wide-eyed reactions from all three heroes.

"The second...Obāchama, you lived through World War II?" Honoka asked, having never known this about her grandmother.

"I did. I thought my age would have made that quite obvious," Sanae said, gesturing to herself.

"Well, I..." Honoka blushed a little, scratching her cheek in embarrassment. Indeed, if she took her grandmother's age into account, one could make the assumption that the old lady must have lived during the time of the Second World War.

"It's fine. I guess I never did tell you, did I?" Sanae said.

"It...must have been very tough," Dai said awkwardly, unable to imagine what it must have been like to live during the time of the war. He and the girls had only knowledge from history books, and yet here was a person who lived through those times and survived to tell the tale.

"It was indeed. Even after the war ended, it took all the effort we had to survive after the Americans dropped those bombs on us," Sanae said, looking past the three and towards the shed a distance away. "It was especially tough for Kengo since he was a soldier in the army."

"Oji-chan was a soldier!?" Honoka exclaimed, having not known that about her grandfather.

"He was. If you look through the shed you may find some of his old war photos," Sanae said. "Kengo had his grievances about the war and initially wanted to cover it as a photojournalist, but circumstances forced him to enlist in the army. My father was also a soldier himself, but he died in combat. My mother took the news of his death hard and so she had us move away in order to escape the worst of the war. It was only after I grew old enough to travel by myself did I return here.

(Many Years Ago)

Yukishiro Sanae, Age: 25, stepped over the burnt remains of what used to be half of her old home as she scanned the land that her family owned. Dressed in nothing but the clothes of her time and a single purse that hung across her body, the young woman made her way to the storage shed and pried the doors open, waving away dust that had accumulated over the years of neglect. Besides the dust and the cobwebs that covered the entirety of the interior, the shed had remained mostly untouched.

"To be honest, my father's death hit me just as hard as it did my mother. It was probably the reason why I visited our old home once the war settled down, to see if I could find a 'piece' of him left."

Sanae waved away any webs that got too close to her, but she wasn't able to stop some from sticking to her medium-length hair. Looking around, she soon found what she was looking for; a photo depicting her and her parents back when she was still a kid. A wave of nostalgia washed over her as she looked at the smiling face of her younger self being hugged by her parents, but the current her did not mirror the expression.

"Seeing the house the way it was made me pretty down...until I remembered something. Back when I was still a child, my father used to take me to the top of Keyaki tree hill to look at the view from the summit. The first time he took me there, I was amazed by how beautiful it was. And considering how everything was at the time, I thought that revisiting that sight might cheer me up...and that's what I did."

Setting the photo down, Sanae left the shed and out to the ruined streets of what used to be her hometown. Much like the condition of her own house, residences were all toppled down due to the war. Scattered stones and splitters littered the ground as surrounding trees were either knocked down or uprooted completely. Despite the wasteland, the young woman kept on trekking towards her destination.

"So there I was, trekking through the ruins that used to be my old neighborhood. Somewhere in my heart, I was probably trying to encourage myself. But as I was walking, the most peculiar thing happened."

Sanae blinked, hearing footsteps coming from behind her. Turning around, she saw...

"A young girl no older than 5 had been following me. I told her to go home, but she just kept on following me. Or perhaps she didn't have any place to go home to. I still don't really know. I tried asking her, but she didn't say anything."

Crouching down to the girl, Sanae waited for her to speak, but the girl simply looked down, her eyes sad and a bit hollow. Seeing those sad eyes, Sanae couldn't help but sigh before she stood up and took the girl's hand.

"I'm not sure what came over me, but I was probably just lonely. In the end, I took her with me."

"Rokkon shoujo...rokkon shoujo..." Walking as slow as she could so the girl could keep up, Sanae repeated this phrase as she climbed up the hill. However, as she walked, one by one, more kids of varying ages joined her and the girl. She couldn't help but make a funny face due to how many kids were accompanying her now.

"It was somewhat strange. I don't know what interested them, but afterward, the kids increased one after another. Soon it was like some kind of hiking trip and I, the only adult there, was the chaperone."

"Rokkon shoujo...rokkon shoujo..." Having gathered a small group, Sanae and the kids and started chanting the phrase as they climbed up the kill. And as they grew closer and closer to the top, the excitement started bubbling up inside Sanae's chest. And then, for the first time since coming here, Sanae smiled as she spotted a familiar-looking tree up on top of the peak.

"And then we finally saw it. There remained a single branch that still sprouted green leaves. The Keyaki tree on top of the hill was still there. The sight of it alone brought a smile to my face and in my excitement, I ran up to the top of the hill. I wasn't expecting anything, but the city view you could see from the summit..."

Sanae's wide smile slowly turned upside down as she gazed at what laid before her: an endless plain of ruin. What used to be a bright, bustling city that would turn beautiful during the night had been turned into a wasteland. It was like the end of the world had just passed and considering the damage the country had sustained from the atomic bombs dropped by America, the comparison was not unfounded.

"It was gone...A never-ending plain of destruction."

She was completely frozen as she stared at the desolate land before her. Any sign of life was nowhere to be found as a hollow wind blew through the ruins of the city below, echoing all the way up to where Sanae and the kids were at. As she stared down at this horrifying view before her, Sanae remembered her father's words when he first took her here.

"'No matter how hard the mountain road is, you'll get a great view once you reach the other side.' That's what he told me."

"...liar..." Sanae muttered her breath as she started tearing up, falling to her knees as grief washed over her. "Otou-san...you liar..."

"There I was, a grown woman crying her eyes out surrounded by children. Just thinking about it is quite embarrassing. But at that moment, I didn't know what to do. All I could do was cry out my grief, sadness, and frustrations out on the world...but then, I heard it..."

'You mustn't give up hope-mipo.'

Blinking through the tears in her eyes, Sanae looked down in confusion towards her purse where the source of the voice had come from. Opening it up, she reached inside and pulled out...a Lovely Commune. Of course, at the time, there was no way Sanae would know of this. To her, it was just some cute, but strange-looking item her father had gotten her for her fourth birthday. She had thought about throwing it away since she was too old for such things now, but with the passing of her father, it was one of the few things she had left of him.

She didn't quite know if the words she just heard had come from this...but for some strange reason, they had a strange power to them, and soon the tears had stopped flowing.

"...You're right. I can't...give up yet," Sanae muttered, wiping away her tears as she stood up and laughed. Seeing this, the children around her couldn't help, but finally smile, as if spurred on by the woman cheering up.

(Flashback End)

"Yes, no matter what, you mustn't lose hope. Even if it's very tedious, or very hard, you mustn't lose hope. Because if you do, then that's when things are truly over."

"Obāchama..." Honoka looked up at her grandmother before looking down at Mipple in her hands. Could it be, perhaps...?

"If you don't lose hope, tomorrow will surely be a good day," Sanae said as she looked up towards the sky and sun. "Hope and despair go back to back."

"Hope and despair go back to back?" Nagisa repeated, confused yet also understanding what the old woman was trying to say.

"That's the first time I've heard of this," Honoka said. "Why haven't you told me until now?"

"Well, until now there was no need to talk about it," Sanae said before turning to her granddaughter and smiled. "And you never asked me."

"Even if you say that..."

*ring-ring-ring!*

Everyone but Sanae all jumped in surprise at the sudden ringing coming from Dai's pocket, breaking the current mood.

"Ehehe, sorry," Dai awkwardly apologized as he took out his phone and answered it. "Hello? ...Ichijo-san?"

Both the girls sat straight up at the mention of the police inspector, knowing that him calling Dai usually meant one thing.

"...Got it. I'll be right there."

"Going somewhere?" Sanae asked as Dai ended the call.

"Yeah. Something's come up. Sorry for leaving so suddenly."

"Oh no, it's fine. Whatever it is must be very important."

"We'll come too!" Nagisa exclaimed, quickly standing up along with Honoka.

"Girls..." Dai looked at the two, contemplating whether he should bring them or not before eventually nodding. "Morimichi-san is coming over to pick us up so one of you will have to ride with him."

"Understood," Honoka nodded before turning to her grandmother. "Um, Obāchama..."

"It's okay."

"Eh?"

"Whatever this is must be very important. Just...do be careful, okay? You wouldn't want to worry your parents further than you have now."

"Mm." Honoka nodded. "I'll be careful."

"Then get going. But do try to be back before dinner, okay?"

"I will," Honoka said before she and Nagisa quickly ran out of the room with Mepple and Mipple in hand.

Dai went over and picked up Pollun before he followed after the girls, but soon stopped at the door.

"...Sanae-san."

"Yes?"

"That story you just told us...there's more to it, isn't there?"

"..." Sanae simply stood there and smiled as she thought back to the moment that changed her life forever.

*BOOM!*

"Kya!" Sanae couldn't help but let out a scream as she used her body to protect the child in her arms from the shockwave. Behind her were the other kids who all stared fearfully at the...monster in front of them.

"Hehehe..." The monster that seemed to be half man and half scorpion laughed sinisterly as he slowly walked up to Sanae and the kids.

"D-D-Don't come any closer!" Sanae shouted, grabbed a nearby broken piece of plank wood, and held it in front of her as a makeshift weapon while standing protectively in front of the kids who were all on the verge of years.

"Ho? You would willingly stand and protect those kids instead of fleeing for your own life? You are brave, woman. Tell you what, if you hand over those kids, I promise to make you an elite just like me."

"I said get back!"

"Hehehe, don't worry. Once you are a part of SHOCKER, all the bad things this war has caused will go away. Now..."

*VROOM!*

"What!?" Turning in surprise, the scorpion monster found his face kissing the front wheel of a motorcycle which soon sent him flying away from Sanae and the kids. The woman blinked in surprise at this before turning to the one who had just rescued them.

Riding on top of a red and white motorcycle was a man wearing a mask themed after a grasshopper.

"Are you all right?" The masked man asked.

Sanae nodded dumbly, still trying to process just what the hell was going on.

"Then take the kids and get away from here," The masked man said as he got off his bike and faced the scorpion monster who was picking himself up.

"Grrrr...! Hopper #1, you traitor! You still interfere in the plans of SHOCKER?"

"So long as I draw breath, SHOCKER will never have its way with the world!"

"You are but one man facing an army! You have no hope of stopping us!"

"Even still, I'll never give up! Not until I've destroyed every last one of you monsters!"

"Grrrr! Onore(Curse you), KAMEN RIDER!"

"Kamen...Rider?" Sanae repeated as she looked towards the masked man protecting them. With his red scarf blowing in the wind, he looked like a superhero.

"Let's go! Toh!"

"...Ichi-san," Sanae addressed the young man before her who paid attention to her every word. "You have a tough road ahead of you for someone so young. And you have quite the legacy to live up to."

"Sanae-san?"

"Go, Ichi-san. Protect those smiles that you hold so dearly. But always remember to take care of yourself. There are quite a lot of people who care about you, you know."

"...right!" Dai nodded before he ran after the girls. Soon enough, the roaring of engines grew quieter as the minutes ticked by. Soon enough, Sanae was left all alone.

"Those three have quite the trials ahead of them," Sanae said to herself as she walked over to the shed and placed a hand on the double doors that separated her and the outside world from what laid inside. "You'll watch over them for me, won't you, Kengo?"

(Dolphine Pool)

At the public pool, police cars and ambulances were gathered at the entrance. By then, all civilians have been evacuated, leaving only policemen and investigators left to analyze the place.

Parking his car and getting out, Ryō quickly made his way inside, putting on gloves as he passed by men carrying away dead bodies on gurneys. Entering the pool area, Ryō spotted Rai overlooking multiple bodies who he guessed were the victims while policemen were questioning the workers here.

"Sorry I took so long," Ryō apologized as he joined Rai's side.

"Look at this mess," Rai said, frowning down at the bodies before them. "Sixteen dead. What bugs me is why it's only sixteen considering how crowded the pool was."

"Have you found out anything?"

"Yeah. They all something like a burn mark on their chest. The cause of death hasn't been confirmed yet, though."

"I'll have Tsubaki look into it," Ryō said, about to take out his phone when it suddenly rang. He quickly answered. "Ichijo here."

{This is Sakurai. I just got word of a murder happening at Rexus Swimming School in Ota.}

'Another pool?' Ryō thought in surprise.

"Understood," Ryō said before hanging up and turning back to Rai. "Another pool got hit."

"You go on ahead. I'm gonna keep going over the scene here for a bit."

"Got it. Let me know what you find," said Ryō before running off.

(With Dai and the others)

With the siren alerting civilian drivers to move, Shiro was able to cut a path for Dai to follow. Riding with him was Nagisa, arms wrapped around the Rider's waist so as to not fall off, while Honoka rode with the hot-blooded policeman.

"This is not how I wanted to visit the pool today!" Nagisa shouted over the sounds of the siren and the engine of the Trychaser. Dai could only laugh awkwardly, understanding his friend's feelings.

*BEEP!*

The radio of Dai's bike beeped loudly, getting his attention as the voice of Nodoka came through.

{Attention all units. There has been an incident at Rexus Swimming School in Ota. I repeat: there has been an incident at Rexus Swimming School.}

"Another pool!?" Nagisa exclaimed.

"Targetting pools like this...it must be..."

*BEEP!*

Just then, another beep came before Ryō's voice came through.

{Dai. Did you get that?}

"Hai(Yes)," Dai said as Shiro changed directions and he followed suit.

{There's also something Misumi-san and Yukishiro-san need to hear.}

"We're right here," Nagisa spoke up so the investigator could hear her.

{What is it, Ichijo-san?} Honoka's voice came through. Turning his head, Dai saw Honoka using Shiro's radio to speak.

{It's about those 'Seeds' you told me about. I think I ran into one earlier.}

"You did!?" Nagisa shouted in surprise.

"So Pollun was right," Dai said, gripping the handles of his bike. It was one problem after another.

{I'll tell you more at Rexus. Just come quickly.}

"We're on our way," Dai said as the transmission ended and he sped up.

As the Rider raced down the road, he didn't notice that a pair of eyes were watching him. The owner of these eyes watched Dai drive off before taking out a coin and flicked it into the air. Catching it a second later, the coin had landed on heads.

"Heh." Laughing to himself, the man put on his helmet and raced off after Dai, his red scarf flapping in the winds.

(Later, Rexus Swimming School)

Coming to a skidding stop, Dai and the others found that the place was already surrounded by police cars with police tape set up to prevent civilians from getting too close.

"Thank you for the ride," Honoka thanked Shiro as she got out of the car.

"Don't mention it. It's the least I can do for all the fighting you're doing for everyone," Shiro said before he drove off.

"Now to find Ichijo-san," Dai said before he and the girls shoved their way through the crowd in order to get closer.

"Over there!" Nagisa spoke up, pointing over to Ryō who was on the phone with someone. "Oi~! Ichijo-san!"

Hearing his name, Ryō turned and saw the trio waving at him. Quickly ending his call, he made his way over to the group before they all walked back over to Dai's bike so they could talk more privately.

"How bad is it?" Dai asked, wanting to know the situation so far.

"Twenty-four dead...sixteen of them were children."

"No!" Honoka gasped in horror with the fairies doing the same from their carriers.

"Those damn monsters!" Nagisa growled, gritting her teeth in anger at the info. Just how low were these Grongi willing to go for their sick game?

"We're contacting the city's pools and having them close up temporarily, but that still leaves the problem of who and where's our assailant," Ryō said before asking Dai, "Do you have any idea who might be attacking?"

"If they're attacking pools like this, then the only one who I can think of is a Grongi by the name of Go-Bemiu-Gi."

"Another Go..." Nagisa pointed out, the worry clear in her voice.

Dai sent the ginger-haired girl a reassuring look before turning to Ryō and asked, "Are there any public pools or water parks that begin with 'Mi-'?"

"'Mi-'? Hmm...there's the Mizusawa Water Park. Why do you ask?"

"Call it a hunch, but I think that's where Bemiu might strike next."

"If that's where that monster's going to, then what are we are waiting around here for? Let's go!" Nagisa said.

"Hold on, Ichijo-san still hasn't told us about the 'Seed' yet," Honoka said, stopping her friend before turning to the investigator. "Ichijo-san."

"It was when I was on patrol this morning when I got the call about Dolphin Pool. Just as I was turning my car, there was an accident but it wasn't caused by cars crashing into each other. Rather, it was this red-headed girl who was walking across the street. The strangest thing was that there were these mannequins blocking the road as if providing her a safe passage. Even stranger was that the minute I blinked, she was gone and the cars up ahead were okay as if they never crashed."

"That does sound strange," Honoka said before asking, "Do you have an idea of where she might have gone."

"As I said, she was gone the minute I blinked. But I've got a team patrolling the city so they'll let me know if they find her."

"I guess that's all we can do," Dai said, not liking that all they could do was wait to hear more news. It was just like waiting for another Grongi to attack.

"For now, we should focus our attention on ULF #38," Ryō said, and just right after he said that Dai's radio beeped.

{Calling all units. ULF #38 is believed to have appeared at Mizusawa Water Park in Bunkyo.}

"So she did go there!" Dai said.

"Damn! We need to move!" Nagisa said, grabbing the spare helmet Dai had given her.

"Wait!" Dai stopped the girl. "If Bemiu's already struck Mizusawa then she's probably already long gone. We need to go to where she'll strike next."

"Do you have any ideas?" Honoka asked, she and everyone knowing full well that Dai was the expert here concerning the Grongi.

"If she's already struck Mizusawa, then next is..." Dai muttered to himself, thinking quickly before looking up at Ryō. "Ichijo-san, I need you to contact the station and have all pools and waterparks in Tokyo that begin with 'mi-' and 'so-' evacuated quickly. If I'm right about this then that should stop Bemiu in her tracks."

"What do you mean-mipo?" Mipple asked, popping her head out from her carrier with Mepple and Pollun doing the same.

"It's Bemiu's M.O., her method of killing," Dai explained as Ryō was already on the phone contacting the station. "She's using musical scale and notes to decide where she's attacking and how many people she's going to kill."

"Wait. This Grongi is using music to kill-mepo?" Mepple said in disbelief and he wasn't the only one. Seeing this, Dai explained further.

"Dolphone Pool is 'do-', Rexus is 're-', and just now Mizusawa is 'mi-'. And the number of victims represents types of notes while the lines in a pool represent bars on a music sheet. With Rexus here, the eight adults and sixteen children represent an eighth note added to a sixteenth note, a dotted quaver in other words."

"How inhumane..." Honoka said, disgusted by how Grongi was conducting her kills. Was this how low the Grongi tribe viewed people in their sick game?

"They really have abandoned their humanity," Nagisa said, remembering what Dai had told them about the Grongi.

"Done," Ryō spoke up, having finished relaying Dai's instructions to the station. "Now what?"

"Since we've stopped her from targeting pools, Bemiu will probably be forced to go to beaches in order to find more targets," Dai said. As powerful as the Go Group are, their weaknesses were the rules they were bound to in the Gegeru. By simply knowing what their methods were can they limit their actions greatly like this.

*BEEP!*

Suddenly, Dai's radio beeped again, causing everyone to slightly panic at the thought that Bemiu must have struck again. But instead...

{Attention all units of Special Investigation. The 'Seed' has been found. I repeat: The 'Seed' has been found.}

"The Seed!"

"They found it!" Both the girls looked at one another as Ryō went and answered the radio.

"This is Ichijo here with both No. 4 and the Pretty Cure. Where is the 'Seed' located."

{According to patrols, the 'Seed' was seen heading towards the Keyaki Tree Hill.}

"The Keyaki Tree Hill!?" The girls exclaimed in surprise, recognizing the place from Sane's story.

"So now we have the Seed to deal with alongside Bemiu," Dai said. "We'll have to split up."

"Not much else we can do," Ryō said. "I'll have a team comb the nearby beaches in search of No. 38. I can take the girls to the 'Seed.'"

"Thanks," Nagisa said, nodding her head at the man.

"Good luck you two," Dai said to the girls.

"You too." They responded back as Dai nodded in reply before getting on his bike and driving off to join the search for Bemiu.

"Come on. Who knows what that Seed might be up to," Ryō said as he motioned the girls over to his car.

"I hope he'll be okay-popo," Pollun said from his carrier, worried for Dai.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine," Honoka said, reassuring the fairy as she and Nagisa got into Ryō's car. Once everyone was inside, the man turned on his sirens and drove off towards the hills.

"Yeah. Dai-kun's been fighting the Grongi for a while now, not to mention he's got those golden powers of his," Nagisa said, half trying to reassure the fairy while the other half was to reassure herself. "He's only lost once and it was against that Daguva guy. Besides him, there's nothing Dai can't lose to."

(Meanwhile, Minato Ward: Mirage Hotel)

"All right, everyone out. Come on!" Shiro, along with other officers like him, directed everyone out of the building. Under orders from the station, police were having everyone evacuate any public pools that began with either 'mi-' or 'so-'. It wasn't hard really. Just mentioning that there was a chance of a ULF attack and everyone had nearly run out in a panic, showing just how frightened the people of the city had gotten towards the ancient tribe.

"Everyone, please remain calm. You all can collect your belongings once we...hm?" As Shiro was speaking, he suddenly noticed something, or rather someone, amongst the crowd. A black-haired woman dressed in a cheongsam. What stood out to Shiro wasn't the woman's state of dress, but rather how calm she appeared in contrast to the panic and worry besetting the people here.

"Um, excuse me?" Shiro approached the woman, noticing that she was carrying a sheet of music in her hands which she was currently crushing under her grip. "Ma'am? If you left something inside, you can come back later to pick it up. For now, it's too dangerous to be..."

*whoosh!*

By chance a small wind blew by, lifting the woman's hair slightly. Shiro trailed on from there as he spotted something on the nape of the woman's neck, a black tattoo depicting a snake with its mouth open.

"You!" Seeing the man's alert, the woman quickly tried to leave but Shiro stopped her by grabbing her wrist. "Hold it! That tattoo..."

*bam!*

"Guh!" Shiro let out a grunt as he felt the woman's plan strike his stomach, making him let go. The woman quickly realized what she had done and cursed.

"Tch! Damn Lintos!"

"M-Matte(Hold it)!" Shiro cried out as Bemiu quickly took off running. Recovering from the strike, Shiro quickly gave chase but soon realized that the distance between him and the woman was growing the longer he ran after her. "That speed's not normal. It has to be...!" Realizing that he wasn't going to catch her on feet, Shiro ran back to his car.

(With Dai)

Revving his bike in order to increase his speed, Dai raced down the road about to reach the coastlines. No news of Bemiu had shown up yet so he kept his eyes peeled for any signs of suspicious activity.

*Vroom!*

From behind Dai, he heard the sound of a bike engine. Thinking it to be passing by biker wanting to pass him, he allowed the biker to do so...until he caught the red scarf wrapped around the biker's neck.

"You!"

"Hmph!" Smirking under his helmet, Bada sped up until he was ahead of Dai. He then started moving left and right, preventing Dai from going forward.

Dai kept an eye on Bada's movements, trying to look for an opening. Seeing one, he sped up his bike to its full 300 km/h speed and quickly passed Bada. The Grongi in disguise smiled under his helmet and quickly gave chase, using quick bursts of speed in order to force Dai off his desired path and onto a different one.

'Dammit! I don't have time for this!' Dai thought to himself but quickly saw that he wouldn't be able to shake the Grongi rider off his trail. With no other choice left, Dai led Bada towards an abandoned warehouse where the two of them could fight.

(With Ryō and the girls)

*BEEP!*

{This is Officer Morimichi! I am currently giving chase to a woman who I believe to be ULF #38. Requesting backup!}

"They found her," Honoka said as Ryō grabbed the mic of his radio and connected it to the private line that led to Dai.

"Dai! Did you get that? Where are you right now?"

*BEEP!*

{I'm a bit...preoccupied.}

"Preoccupied? What do you mean?"

*VROOM!*

Ryō and the girls nearly winced at the sound of engine noises coming through the radio. What followed after that were sounds of fighting accompanied by the roaring of two engines.

"Dai? Dai! Come on, what's happening?"

"Dai-kun?" Nagisa spoke up, practically shouting into the radio as worry started building up inside of her. It only grew worse when the sound of a crash was clearly heard. And then...

*BOOOOOOOOM!*

{GWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH—!} Dai's screams were heard before the radio went dead with static.

"Dai/Ichi-kun!" Both girls as well as the fairies all cried out in worry.

"Shit!" Ryō cursed, unable to keep it down even when in front of the girls. Even as he hung up his mic, the man still kept on driving.

"What are you doing? We need to go help Dai-kun!" Nagisa said.

"We don't know where he is right now, and we're almost at Keyaki Tree Hill," Ryō said, keeping his eyes on the road.

"But he's in trouble-mepo!" Mepple exclaimed from his carrier.

"He's always in trouble when fighting against the ULF."

"But—!"

"That's enough!"

*SCREEEEEEEEEEECH!*

Slamming down on the brakes, Ryō skidded to a hard stop, throwing everyone inside forward and back due to the whiplash. By the time the girls and fairies got their bearings back, they found Ryō giving them a hard stare.

"You two need to calm down. I know you're worried, but this isn't the first time Dai's been in a tough situation."

"We know, but..." Nagisa began, looking down.

"Things haven't been getting any easier," Honoka finished, holding her right arm.

"Well...that is true," Ryō admitted. "With the threat of the ULF getting worse, some of the men at HQ are starting to grow worried. And to tell you the truth, I feel the same way."

"Even you, Ichijo-san?" Nagisa said, looking up at the man in surprise who nodded in response.

"Despite our success so far, all we've really been doing is relying on Dai for help. A lot of us are wondering just how long we can last like this, not helped by the fact that those of the Science Division still haven't made much progress in developing anti-ULF countermeasures. Quite honestly, I fear the day when something not even Dai can handle shows up and we can't do anything to help."

"Ichijo-san..."

"...Even still, I'm not giving up. Not by a long shot." Gripping the car wheel tightly, determination flashed under Ryō's bespeckled eyes. "The day I joined the police force, I swore an oath: to protect the people from harm, no matter what form it takes. And Dai...he's the same."

A hand shot out from under the smoking rubble. The hand clenched into a tight fist before the rubble all fell apart, revealing a still alive Dai as he got back up to his feet.

"At first, I thought he was just some dumb, reckless kid who was in over his head."

With his armored body covered in soot and dust, Dai stumbled forward until he reached his knocked down Trychaser and picked it back up before looking up to see up ahead Bada who seemed pleased that he was alive.

"But I was proven wrong. Despite his inexperience, he knew exactly what to use his powers for; to protect the smiles of others."

*VROOM!*

Revving his engine, Bada charged forward towards Dai. The Rider in response quickly hopped back onto his bike and raced forward to meet the black grasshopper Grongi. The two were seconds away from crashing when...

"That's what he swore when he told me to watch his transformation. And...I believed him."

"HYAH!" With a loud Kiai, Dai lifted his lower body up, balancing on his bike's handles as he swung his body around, surprising Bada as Dai's legs struck under the Grongi's chin and the two riders were knocked off their respective bikes.

"Yeah, that sounds like him all right," Nagisa said, smiling before she slapped both her cheeks, pumping herself up. "All right, no more being gloomy! Dai-kun will be all right because hope and despair go back to back!"

"So long as we don't lose hope, tomorrow will surely be a good day," Honoka said, quoting her grandmother.

"Seems you two are feeling better now," Ryō said with a pleased smile.

"Yeah. Sorry for the trouble," Honoka apologized.

"We're ready to take on that Seed now!" said Nagisa while flashing a smile.

"Good to hear, because we're already here," Ryō said before pointing outside to reveal that they had arrived at their destination when the investigator had stopped the car earlier.

"Oh! So we are," Both girls blinked in surprise before they all got out of the car and walked around until they were at the road which led to the top of the hill. A few police cars were parked at the entrance and a policeman upon seeing them waved over.

"Ichijo-san! And these two must be..."

"What's the situation?" Ryō asked, getting the man to turn back to him.

"We currently have some officers tailing the girl. So far no suspicious activity from the 'Seed.' We can move in at any time to apprehend her."

"Girls?" Ryō turned to the girls, or rather more specifically, to the fairies to get their input.

Mepple and Mipple said nothing, feeling nothing except for a strange air in the area. As for Pollun...

"Awakening-popo..." Pollun spoke up, looking spooked. "It's close to awakening-popo. We have to stop it-popo!"

"I guess that's our confirmation," Ryō said before he took out his gun and held it up as the other policemen mimicked his action. "Let's move in!"

The group ran up the road, joining up with other men which had been tailing the target. Despite the heat of the sun and the sweat forming on everyone, they all kept on moving up until they spotted their target, the red-haired girl.

"Freeze!" Ryō shouted, causing the girl to jump up in surprise and turn around, gasping at the men pointing guns at her. "Put your hands in the air and don't move!"

"That's the 'Seed'?" Nagisa said, have expected someone like the man they faced last time.

"She looks like a normal girl," Honoka said, noting how scared the red-head looked, though considering that men were pointing guns at her, her fright made sense.

Young, scared, and a bit skinny looking, the person before them didn't look like anything that threatened the world. However, both girls noticed that the redhead's eyes widened and her breath seemed to hitch when she laid eyes on them.

And then, suddenly...

*RUMBLE!*

Out of nowhere, everything started shaking, causing everyone to lose their balance and stumble around.

"Wh-What's going on!?" Nagisa exclaimed, waving her arms around as she tried to rebalance herself.

"An earthquake!?" Honoka said until she and everyone saw that the road underneath them had flashed red. "What in the...?"

Unknown to everyone, quite a distance away, standing on top of a building was Daguva who was watching everything from where he currently was. Smiling to himself as always, the Grongi in white raised his hands into the air.

"Time for another one to bloom."

(With Dai)

"Ugh..." Dai groaned as he pushed himself up from the ground. Getting up to his feet, the Rider quickly took a fighting stance when he saw that Bada was already up on his feet.

"Not bad at all, Kuuga," Bada said, rubbing his chin.

"Damn!" Dai muttered as he thought about what to do. Knowing full well just how strong this Grongi was, he contemplated using his Golden Powers since the start of this fight, but he was saving it for when he found and faced Bemiu.

*RUMBLE!*

"Whoa!" Suddenly, the ground started to shake, surprising both bikers as the entire area shook. And briefly, for a split second, the ground beneath Dai lit up red before vanishing quickly.

"What's going on!? An earthquake!?"

"Tch! Guess playtime's over," Bada said before he suddenly leaped into the air and backflipped over to his Bagibusan which roared before getting up on its own as if it were alive. Once the Grongi landed in the seat, he reassumed his human disguise which caused the Bagibusan to transform back into a normal motorbike.

"Until next time, Kuuga of this time," Bada said before driving away.

"Wait!" Dai cried out but Bada was already long gone. At the same time, the shaking stopped, allowing the Rider to rebalance himself.

Clicking his tongue under his helmet, Dai went over and picked his Trychaser back up. Pushing down the urge to chase after the Grongi rider, Dai drove his bike out of the warehouse and resumed his search for Bemiu. And despite it being so sudden, Dai had a gut feeling that the earlier quake had something to do with the girls.

'Nagisa-chan. Honoka-chan. Stay safe,' Dai thought before speeding up. Right now, he had a job to do.

(Back with the girls)

Once the rumbling stopped did everyone calm down a little. As if taking this chance, the redhead chose to make a break for it, feeling like something was calling her. This did not escape the notice of the others.

"Hold it!" Ryō cried out, being the first one to chase after the girl.

*WHOOSH!*

But suddenly, appearing from the trees were shadowed figures all wearing a coat and a fedora. Ryō recognized these figures as the mannequins he saw earlier today just before one of them backhanded him across the face, sending him back to the others.

"Ichijo-san!" Nagisa and Honoka both cried out as they quickly went to the man's side.

"Be careful, you two-mepo!" Mepple spoke up. "These guys are Zakenna-mepo!"

"Then that girl really is the Seed!" Nagisa said as she and Honoka helped Ryō to his feet.

"Everyone, please get back!" Honoka told the other officers before turning to Nagisa. "Nagisa."

"Right!" Nagisa nodded her head as the two took out their Lovely Communes.

"Duel Aurora Wave!"

In an explosion of light that forced Ryō and the officers to quickly shield their eyes, the girls quickly transformed into...

"Hikari no shisha, Cure Black!"

"Hikari no shisha, Cure White!"

"Futari wa PreCure!"

"Yami no chikara no shimobetachi yo…"

"…Tottoto ouchi ni kaerinasai!"

"Holy shit, they actually transformed!" One officer couldn't help but comment, this being the first time he and the others have laid eyes on the so-called Pretty Cure.

"So the reports were true!"

"ZAKENNA!" As if the mere sight of the transformed girls were a trigger, all five of the mannequin Zakennas charged straight at the girls, their clothes ripping to shreds as their bodies grew. But the new height of the Zakennas did little to intimidate the girls as they leaped forth to face the threat before them.

With a cry, Honoka was the first to meet the Zakenna, throwing a kick to counter an incoming punch. Using the Zakenna as leverage, she spun around the Zakenna to face another one, throwing another kick only for the Zakenna to raise its knee and block it. That Zakenna threw a punch at the white Cure, but Honoka quickly flipped over the attack and rolled over the Zakenna's arm before jumping off and kicking a third Zakenna right in the face. She then used that Zakenna to jump back towards the previous Zakenna, kicking the back of its head which sent it kissing the ground.

With Nagisa, she roared as she sent a barrage of punches which the Zakenna she was facing guarded against by crossing its arms. A second one moved in to aid its fellow kind, swinging its arm down as if to hammer the black Cure. But Nagisa saw this and quickly leaped towards the Zakenna, dodging the swing while at the same time tackling into the Dark Zone monster shoulder-first which sent it flying back. The Zakenna from before appeared from behind Nagisa, attacking with its clawed hands. The black Cure narrowly dodged the swipe by ducking and rolling away before quickly getting up to her feet and leaping towards the monster, burying her fist right into its gut which sent it flying back coughing up saliva.

Seeing as the girls were busy dealing with the Zakenna, Ryō turned to the officers. "Come on, while they deal with those things, we need to stop the Seed!"

Nodding, the men all ran up the hill in order to chase after the Seed. However, seeing this, the Zakenna all ceased their fighting with the girls and jumped away, landing right in front of Ryō and the men, blocking them from advancing.

"What!?" Ryō exclaimed in surprise before quickly ducking and rolling away under a swing from a Zakenna. The other men weren't so lucky as they were swatted away like flies, crashing into the nearby bushes and trees.

"Oh no!" Both the girls cried out as Honoka ran over to the men to check on them while Nagisa ran over to Ryō in order to protect him.

"These Zakenna, they're different," Nagisa said, noticing how quickly they acted when Ryō and the officers tried to advance upwards. Looking past the Zakenna, Nagisa spotted the redhead who had reached the summit and was simply standing there. Looking back at the Zakenna, she quickly realized, as did Honoka, that they were trying to prevent them from getting closer to the girl.

"They're protecting her," Ryō said, speaking what they were all thinking.

Suddenly, the ground beneath everyone flashed red again which seemed to cause some sort of reaction from the girl as she slowly turned around and stared down towards them, more specifically, at the Cures. Then, in the girl's head, memories that weren't hers, yet at the same time were, flashed in her mind. Memories of a light enveloping a great darkness. And accompanying those memories was a wave of intense anger, anger that was directed towards the Cures.

"Grrr...!" Slowly, the girl started growling, gritting her teeth, and clenching her fists as if her whole body was about to explode from the anger inside of her. Her hair and clothes were blown back as if she were in the center of a storm. Soon after, her voice began to rise until the girl was screaming into the air.

"Wh-what's happening?" Nagisa said, growing nervous.

"Something not good," Ryō said, wishing he had brought his rifle with him.

"GRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

*BOOM!*

It was like a bomb had exploded inside of her as the girl's entire form, from her clothes, her hair, and even her skin burned away, leaving a new figure in the girl's place.

In place of the girl stood a pale-skinned woman with long white hair curled up which would have made her look silly if it weren't for her blank white eyes which were shaded with a soft pink hue and outlined by her eyelashes and purple eyeliner. Her ears were pointed and had diamond-shaped ruby earrings. Her body was garbed into a blood-red bodysuit with only her shoulders and upper breasts left open.

"She transformed!" Nagisa exclaimed in surprise.

"That look..." Honoka said, how the Seed bore some similarities to the man they fought last time; pale skin and dark bodysuit and everything.

"Pretty Cure..." The woman muttered, stepping forward which made everyone raise their guard, thinking she was about to attack.

*WHOOSH!*

Suddenly, however, appearing from the sky was the man the girls had fought before, the first Seed. Landing on the ground, the male Seed quickly rushed forward, grabbed the female Seed from across the waist, and quickly flew off towards the horizon.

"Huh? That person..."

"From before..." Both the girls blinked in surprise at the first Seed's appearance.

With the two Seeds, the woman struggled under the man's hold, reaching towards the Cures growling.

"I know how you must feel, but you have something to do before this," The male Seed said as he continued flying. Even still, the woman continued struggling until she gave up and screamed.

"PRETTY CURE!" And it was with that echoing scream that both seeds disappeared over the horizon as did the Zakenna who all disappeared over the hill.

"Wait!" The girls and Ryō all raced up the hill chasing after the two Seeds only to skid to a stop.

"No way..." Honoka breathed out in disbelief.

"Arienai(Unbelievable)..." Nagisa said, sweating at the sight before them.

Down below the hill was a great view of the city. Or rather, it would have been a great view if it weren't for the staggering number of Zakenna waiting for them down at the bottom of the hill.

"Well..." Ryō spoke up, his words summing up their situation. "Shit."

(Meanwhile, Miura: Mitohama Beach)

On the beach of Mitohama, a group of friends was enjoying themselves, either by sunbathing or playing in the water which most were doing right now. Two tents had been set up, a radio stereo was blasting random music, and a barbeque stand being managed by one person.

"Oi! Taichi!" Hearing his name, one of the people who had been managing the barbeque stand turned to see one of his friends waving and pointing over to him. "Pass us the ball!"

Turning his head, the man saw the beachball those in the water had been playing with had been knocked over to the radio. With a grumble, he picked up the ball and threw it back into the water.

"Thanks!" His friend said as he swam over to the ball only to suddenly gasp in pain. But no one noticed this, caught up in their own fun.

"Food's ready!" The man known as Taichi called out to everyone and those in the water soon exited, having worked up an appetite. Yet just as they made it back to land, they noticed that one of them was missing. Turning around, they saw the beachball they had all been using and the body of their friend unmoving in the water. Confusion and worry soon washed over the group as those that had been playing in the water dived back in, swimming over to their friend to see what was wrong.

*SPLASH!*

Suddenly, appearing up from under the water was a face mixed with the characteristics of a snake.

"A ULF!" Those back on land screamed before they took off running, recognizing the monster in the water. Those in the water too recognized the monster and quickly swam away, screaming in fright. The Grongi, Bemiu, in contrast slowly chased after the running humans, slightly enjoying their screams of fright as she exited the waters, revealing her entire form.

As the sea snake Grongi, Bemiu bore those characteristics as her skin was purple and scale-like. Her hair was still black and long as most of it was tied up into braids and over her head, she wore an armored cap-like headwear. Various Grongi accessories decorated her body as old rags were wrapped around her ankles, wrists, and breast with the lower body being covered by a ragged skirt.

Laughing at the running humans again, Bemiu raised up a whip in her hands, ready to fill her quota before moving onto her next target.

*BANG!*

But before the Grongi had a chance to take a swing, something shot her shoulder, causing her to drop her whip into the water. Anger rose up inside of Bemiu at being interrupted again before looking to see who had gotten in her way.

"Found you, you monster!" Shiro shouted, running past the group of friends accompanied by other officers. A few took the group of civilians to safety while Shiro and the rest faced Bemiu, aiming their guns at her.

"You again," Bemiu growled, recognizing the Linto who had been chasing her. She had thought she had escaped him, but it seems this Linto was quite stubborn.

"Your reign of terror ends here!" Shiro declared as he and the others fired their guns at the snake Grongi who raised an arm in order to cover her eyes. But beyond that, she did nothing else as the bullets struck her but did no lasting damage.

"Our bullets are doing nothing!" One of the officers noted, having run out of ammo.

"Dammit! Then..." Throwing away his current sidearm, Shiro reached back and pulled out a colt python loaded with special rounds. Firing a round, the shot struck Bemiu's ribs and actually made the Grongi stagger back. Shiro smiled at this...until he noticed the look of anger on Bemiu.

"All right, that's it!" Reaching down, Bemiu grabbed and tore off one of her anklets before holding it up. Then, right before everyone's eyes, the anklet transformed into a whip identical to the one she had before. "I'll complete my quota with you!"

*WHIP!*

Faster than anyone could react, Bemiu swung and her whip struck the gun in Shiro's hands, causing him to drop.

"Gyah! Cold!" Shiro exclaimed as he looked down to see some of his fingers burning in frost. Looking down, Shiro also saw that his gun had completely frozen up and had broken upon hitting the sandy ground.

'So that's the murder weapon,' Shiro thought as he looked up at the whip in Bemiu's hands. Said hands moved to swing again and Shiro quickly reacted, ducking under the swing which unfortunately caused the whip to strike another officer across the chest. He gasped in pain, holding his chest before falling back to the ground, dead.

"No!" Shiro cried at seeing one of his fellow officers dying. With a yell, he got back up to his feet and charged at the Grongi, grappling Bemiu across the waist. This caused problems for the other officers as Shiro was too close to the Grongi and thus made them unable to shoot in fear of friendly fire.

"Tch! Stubborn fool!" Bemiu clicked her tongue in annoyance as she elbowed Shiro to the ground before kicking him away. With him out of the way, the other officers began shooting at Bemiu again, but the Grongi expertly swung her whip around and stopped the bullets from hitting her, knocking them out of the air before they could even reach her.

Bemiu scoffed at the Lintos attempts to hurt her before turning her attention back to Shiro who was being helped up by some of the other officers. She raised her whip up to strike until she saw the body of the officer she had struck earlier. She clicked her tongue, realizing that she had filled her quota for this area.

"You got lucky," Bemiu said to Shiro before she took off running. As much as she wanted to kill Shiro for constantly annoying her, she had a game to finish.

*VROOM!*

However, just as she was about to escape the beach, leaping over the parked police cars was the Trychaser and its rider who jumped off and shouted.

"Chou Henshin!"

Going from red to blue in a matter of seconds, Dai flipped in the air before landing on the sandy ground of the beach. Running over towards Bemiu who reacted to his appearance by swinging her whip at him, the Rider quickly ducked and rolled forward, grabbing a nearby stick that Dai guessed had washed ashore before reaching Bemiu and swinging the stick at her. Just before the stick struck the Grongi's stomach, it quickly morphed into the Dragon Rod, causing more damage than what Bemiu had expected, causing her to stumble back as Dai rose up to his feet and twirled the staff in his hands, letting it extend to its full height.

"Ichi-san!" Shiro exclaimed, happy to see the Rider.

"Is everyone okay?" The Rider asked while keeping an eye on Bemiu.

"We've suffered one casualty, but we're mostly fine."

"I see," Dai said, seeing the dead officer from the corner of his eyes before focusing back on the snake Grongi. "You all get back. I'll deal with her."

"She's all yours," Shiro said as he and the other officers ran back to their cars with him and another officer grabbing and dragging away the body of their dead ally.

"Kuuga," Bemiu spoke up addressing the Rider. "I was only supposed to kill two people here, but I'll make an exception for you."

"Geez, I'm flattered," Dai sarcastically replied. "You little game of song and dance ends here, Go-Bemiu-Gi!"

"On the contrary, my orchestra of death has only just begun!"

With a swing of her arm, Bemiu swung her whip at Dai who raised his staff up in defense. However, Dai forgot that a whip was not a solid weapon, and thus when Bemiu's struck his staff, it bent and struck the Rider across his shoulder. His shoulder pad protected him for the most part, but Dai still cried out in pain when his shoulder was struck by a burning coldness. Looking, his shoulder pad which had been struck was icy white and cracked, looking ready to fall off.

'Shit! I knew her whip had freezing properties, but this is more than I expected!' Dai thought as he dodged another incoming whip attack before moving forward.

Dai swung his Dragon Rod at Bemiu who blocked it by holding her whip out and straightening it. Bemiu then kicked the staff away and swung at the Rider, but Dai ducked under it before jumping back. Dai was about to move forward but quickly leaned back, narrowly dodging another swing from Bemiu's whip as his feet splashed on the waters of the beach. Knowing full well that he would be at a disadvantage in the water, Dai jumped high into the air, flipping over Bemiu who snapped her whip at the airborne Rider only to narrowly miss. Landing back on the ground, Dai turned around only to cry out in surprise when Bemiu's whip neared his face like a snake baring its fangs at prey. Dai quickly dodged by leaning his head away, but the whip had struck one of Dai's horns and froze it. Dai barely noticed it as he rolled over to the spot the group of friends had set up previously and used the Dragon Rod to knock the barbeque stand over to Bemiu who rolled away from the incoming makeshift projectile.

As Bemiu was picking herself up, Dai jumped over to her, staff raised over his head before he swung it down at her. The Grongi stepped to the side in order to dodge before kicking the Rider once he landed. She then swung her whip at him only for him to ducked under it and struck a hit with a quick swing to the stomach. Staggering back, Dai seized this chance and twirled his staff around before thrusting it forward, performing a Dragon Splash that he hoped would finish the Grongi off. However, to Dai's surprise, Bemiu recovered quicker than he expected and turned her body around in order to dodge the finisher. She then wrapped her whip around the staff, freezing the upper portion of it before breaking it with a quick tug. Dai stumbled back, looking at his broken weapon in surprise. That moment of stunned surprise costed him as Bemiu rushed up to him and delivered a rushing knee strike to his chest which sent him down on the ground.

Dai grunted painfully both from the knee strike and from landing roughly on the ground. He quickly rolled away from a downward swing from Bemiu and quickly got up only for the Grongi's whip to come snapping towards him again, this time scoring a hit across his chest which sent the Rider reeling back. Bemiu ran up to him and swung again and like many times before, Dai ducked under it and rolled away. Getting up quickly, Dai flipped his broken Dragon Rod around and swung it Bemiu like a makeshift bat only for the Grongi to catch the swung staff with her free hand. She then kicked the Rider away, making him let go of his weapon which then morphed back into a regular stick now that it was out of the Rider's grasp. Throwing away the useless stick, Bemiu snaped her weapon forward at Dai which wrapped around his neck. Feeling his neck squeezed and slowly frozen at the same time, Dai tried to rip the whip off of him only to get pulled in towards Bemiu who in a surprising showcase of strength swung Dai around and slammed him down on the ground, hard. Dai felt his breath leave his mouth as he was slammed down on the ground before he was picked up again by Bemiu who swung him around again before slamming him down on the ground again.

"And now..." Bemiu began as he lifted Dai up and swung him around in the air a few times, gathering up momentum. "I believe the Lintos call this: Fortissimo!"

With a hard swing, Bemiu threw Dai into the ocean where his body upon hitting the water caused an explosion-like splash.

"Ichi-san!" Shiro shouted as worry grew in him and the other officers when Dai didn't resurface.

"Hmph! Is that all? I expected more from the new Kuuga," Bemiu said, whipping her hair back thinking she's won.

*SPLASH!*

But no sooner did she think that did Dai resurface from the water, jumping out and landing back onshore. While Shiro and the others were glad that the Rider was alive, their worry didn't completely vanish as Dai's body was covered in icy injuries, making him look battered and scarred.

"So you're still alive. But how long do you think that'll last?" Bemiu said, snapping her whip down on the ground as an act of intimidation.

Dai didn't respond as he took a moment to gather his breath back, a bit harder than normal due to how cold his neck felt right now. Exhausted from both his fight with Bada and now Bemiu, all seemed bleak for the Rider.

(Back with the girls)

"What should we do now?" Nagisa asked, not knowing what to do against this many numbers.

"It'll be tough with this many opponents," Honoka said, honestly stumped on what they should do.

"We might have to retreat," Ryō suggested.

"But if we leave this many of them, who knows what they'll do!" Honoka exclaimed.

"Do you really think you can win against those numbers!?" Ryō shouted, causing Honoka to flinch in response. Ryō soon turned apologetic. "Sorry, but as an adult, I can't just let you fight against these numbers all on your own. I don't like it myself, but it's better to regroup and think of a plan to deal with this."

"I...suppose you're right," Honoka said, shoulders slumping as she nothing to argue against Ryō's reasoning.

"...Weren't you supposed to get a nice view when you get to the other side of the hill?" Nagisa spoke up, recalling Sane's story. "It's impossible, it's just impossible. Just leave us alone...I just don't have the time to deal with you. Just let me have a more normal summer vacation."

"Black..." Honoka and Ryō both turned to Nagisa.

"I actually don't have much time. If I don't hurry...Izumi-ya-san's Chocolate Parfaits will be sold out."

"...eh?" Both Honoka and Ryō blinked at that.

"It's a limited-time item."

"Wait, that's what you're talking about?" Honoka said, staring at her friend in disbelief.

"I was really looking forward to it since Dai-kun promised me we would go out and get some together later."

"Uh, doesn't that sound like a date?" Honoka couldn't help but point out.

"It's not a date! It's just two friends going out to enjoy some Chocolate Parfaits!" Nagisa exclaimed, speaking as if this wasn't the first time people have pointed that out.

"Sure sounds like a date-mepo," Mepple commented from his carrier.

"Urusai(Shut up)!" Nagisa shouted and just kept going from there. "Ah mou! I'm sick of this! I'm hot! I'm hungry! And I've had it up to here with you people from the Dark Zone! Just got back to the darkness, will ya!?"

"A full recovery!?" Ryō commented, his glasses nearly falling off due to Nagisa's quick recovery.

"Let's go, White!"

"R-Right!"

"Wait! You're still outnumbered—!"

"Fuck that! I don't care anymore! If I don't hurry I won't get to enjoy my parfait with Dai-kun!"

"That still sounds like a date-mepo."

"Be quiet!"

"Go for it, Pretty Cura-popo!"

"It's 'Cure' GODAMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT~!" With that anger-filled scream, Nagisa leaped off the hill and down towards the army of Zakenna.

"...well, I guess it's safe to say she's lost it," Honoka said before she bent down and picked up Pollun before handing him over to Ryō. "Ichijo-san, could you please look after him for us?"

"Huh? Uh, sure," Ryō awkwardly said as he held Pollun in his arm.

"Thank you. Now then, I better go help my friend." And with that, Honoka raced down to aid her partner as Zakenna were seen being thrown into the air from where Ryō was at.

"...glad they're on our side," Pollun nodded in agreement at Ryō's comment as the two watched the scene before them.

"Ichi-san!"

Hearing his name, Dai turned and saw Shiro holding up the end of a beach umbrella which must have come from the spot the group of friends had used earlier.

"Use this!" Shiro yelled before throwing the polearm over to the Rider.

Realizing what the Lintos was trying to do, Bemiu quickly snapped her whip towards Dai in order to stop him, but the Rider had already jumped away, leaping high into the air and grabbing the thrown polearm. Golden sparks were then seen as Dai flipped around in the air before land back down. And when he did, his form had changed.

For the most part, he remained mostly unchanged. Besides the Arcle turning gold, his lower body remained unchanged and his gauntlets too albeit if a bit longer. It was the upper body portion that had changed the most. His shoulder pads which were black and noticeable had turned blue and were outline in gold. The chest armor, from the collar area to the waist and to the openings around the arms were now also gold as the ancient Lynt symbol for 'power' appeared on the back of Dai's hands.

Twirling the pole in his hands, Dai held it out as it morphed into the Dragon Rod except both sides were now replaced with spearheads, making the weapon a double-sided spear.

"Bemiu!" Rising Dragon Dai shouted, pointing the Rising Dragon Rod at the Grongi. "It's curtains for you."

(BGM: RISE by MADKID)

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!"

*POW!*

With a punch across the jaw, Nagisa sent the Zakenna she just punched flying into a group of other Zakenna before she spun around and caught an incoming fist from another Zakenna. Red-faced and with gritted teeth, Nagisa not only overpowered the Dark Zone Monster but also lifted it up by its hand and swung him around, using him to bash the other Zakennas around her before slamming him down on an unlucky Zakenna. Nagisa then turned to see a Zakenna jumping towards her, attempting to grab her, but the black Cure jumped up, dodging the grab, and then proceeded to plant her feet into the Zakenna's face, throwing rapid kicks which sent the Zakenna stumbling back.

"ZAKENNA!"

Before Nagisa could leap off the Zakenna she was kicking, another one came in and swatted her off, throwing her down to the ground where she bounced like a pebble through the water. Other Zakenna soon rushed in, one kicking her up in the air before another punched her, sending her crashing into a nearby shed.

*CRASH!*

"I'm not done!" Practically exploding out of the shed, Nagisa came out roaring as she charged at the Zakenna, not noticing that her eyes briefly flashed gold.

"Tah!"

*KICK!*

Kicking a Zakenna right in the face, Honoka used it as leverage to jump and spin kick another Zakenna attempting to grab her. Landing back on the ground, Honoka saw two Zakenna charging at her trying to double-team her. Just as they were about to sandwich her, she leaped into the air, causing both Zakenna to crash into another before they found themselves used as leverage as Honoka landed and jumped off of them, throwing a punch at another Zakenna who managed to block her attack by crossing its arms. The Zakenna then threw Honoka back who skidded across the ground before it and another Zakenna came at her from the front and back. Instead of leaping away like with the previous two Zakenna, she ran towards the one ahead of her and ducked under a swipe. She then jumped up and kicked the Zakenna right under its chin. She didn't stop there as she continued her flip and planted her foot into the face of the Zakenna behind her, performing a bicycle kick.

"ZAKENNA!"

"Kyah!" Honoka screamed in surprise when a Zakenna suddenly rushed in and shoulder tackled her, knocking her back where another Zakenna was waiting as it slapped its hands together, catching the white Cure in its grasp. Honoka struggled to break free until a Zakenna came up and punched her in the face. The Cure could feel blood gathering in her mouth as the Zakenna continued to use her face like a sandbag.

Fighting through the pain and dizziness, as the Zakenna punching winded up for another one, Honoka lifted her legs up before kicking down, throwing her entire weight down which caused the Zakenna holding her to drop down enough for it to be the one who received the other Zakenna's punch, throwing it back as it released its hold on Honoka who jumped out and kicked the punch-happy Zakenna as payback, not noticing her eyes briefly flashing gold.

Surging forth like water, Dai dashed towards Bemiu who snapped her whip at him. The Rider merely turned his head to the side, letting the whip fly past him as he closed the distance between him and the Grongi, surprising her with his speed. She tried to kick him, but Dai pushed it back with a kick of his own before delivering a palm strike to Bemiu's chest, sending her staggering back as he then swung and twirled his Rising Dragon Rod up, slashing the Grongi across the chest two times, leaving a noticeable X mark. Angered by this, Bemiu swung her whip at him, aiming to swipe his head, but the Rider ducked and swept the Grongi off her feet with a sweeping kick. Standing up, Dai aimed his weapon stabbed down at Bemiu who quickly rolled out of the way. Standing back up, Bemiu snapped her whip forward again only to gasp in surprise when not only did Dai duck under the attack again but swung his spear, slicing the whip and reducing its length by half. Before Bemiu could even express her anger, Dai rolled forward and dropped kicked the snake Grongi, knocking her down.

"ZAKENNA!"

Multiple Zakenna's roared as they all piled upon Nagisa who tried to lift up their combined weight. As more and more gathered on top of Nagisa and were about to crush her...

"Black...Thunder!"

*BOOM!*

From the sky, a bolt of black lightning rained down and struck the Zakennas piling up on top of Nagisa, destroying them as the power continued down into Nagisa's hands and through her body. With black sparks around her, and a glowing golden right eye that she didn't even notice, Nagisa charged forth towards more Zakenna, blasting them with fists full of lightning.

"White Thunder!"

*BOOM!*

Raining down from the sky, a white lightning bolt came down and struck Honoka, blowing back the Zakenna that had surrounded her. With white sparks around her and a glowing golden left eye she didn't notice, Honoka followed her friend's actions and charged at more Zakenna, sending them flying with lightning-filled kicks.

"Hah!"

*BOOM!*

"Tah!"

*BOOM!*

"Doriyah!"

*BOOM!*

"Hyah!"

*BOOM!*

Explosions of black and white covered the bottom of the hills as Zakennas found themselves destroyed one after another. In a desperate, last-ditch effort, the remaining Zakenna all gathered up and charged straight at the Cures, coming down upon them like a tidal wave. And yet, the girls were not the least bit intimidated as they simply grasped hands.

"Purikyua no utsukushiki tamashī ga…"

"... Jaaku na kokoro wo uchikudaku!"

Throwing away her now useless whip, Bemiu threw a punch at Dai only to get kicked back as Dai turned his back towards her. Seeing this, Bemiu went for his back only to gasp in pain as she found the Rising Dragon Rod stabbed into her gut.

Gripping the polearm with both hands, Dai spun around, carrying Bemiu who hung onto the Rising Dragon Rod. Spinning around in a full circle, Dai then threw Bemiu off his weapon and into the air. Not done yet though, Dai leaped into the air, higher than he's evener done before, and raised the Rising Dragon Rod up. Flexing his muscles to the point the veins could be seen from under the suit, Dai threw his spear down, stabbing the airborne Bemiu and sending her crashing into the ocean. As Dai landed back ashore, a bright light could be seen from within the waters.

"Pretty Cure Marble Screw!"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

(BGM End)

Multiple explosions occurred from the waters, all but confirming Bemiu's death as Dai dropped his transformation. He was battered and bruised with the most noticeable injury being on his neck from Bemiu's whip. Despite his current state, Dai was fine as he could feel the pain he was in growing less by the minute, no doubt his healing factor kicking in.

"Ichi-san!" Hearing his name, Dai turned to see Shiro running over to him.

"Morimichi-san. Is everyone all right?"

"We're fine for the most part. We've already sent those civilians home."

"That's good," Dai said before looking down. "And...I'm sorry for arriving late. Had I gotten here sooner the officer—"

"—would be happy to know that you stopped that monster," Shiro interjected. "It's frustrating losing one of our own, but we can't keep dwelling on those that have passed doing their duty. At least, that's what Kuzuragi-senpai said to me."

"I...you're right," Dai said. "All we can do is keep fighting until we've returned peace to the city."

"That's the spirit!" Shiro said, smiling. "Anyone, let's get you patched up. You're a wreck."

"Oh, there's no need. I'm fine, really," Dai insisted as he ran past the officer and over to his Trychaser. "Thanks for your help earlier, Morimichi-san!"

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"To get chocolate parfait."

"Huh?"

"They're a limited-time item, and I promised a friend I would go get some with her. Sorry, but I gotta run!" And with that, Dai revved up his engine before driving off, leaving Shiro and the rest with clean-up.

Seeing the young man drive off for such a reason, Shiro couldn't help but smile. "I guess even with all that power, kids will be kids."

Unknown to anyone in the area, two pairs of eyes were watching Dai begin his long trip home. One pair belonged to Dorudo who reset his abacus now that Bemiu was dead. The other belonged to a well-dressed man in a suit and fedora, making him look like a mafia gang boss.

"So that's Kuuga's new power," The well-dressed man spoke in the Grongi language, all but confirming him to be another Grongi. "Still, he's no match for a real Go. Certainly not me."

"What do you plan to do?" Dorudo asked. Having witnessed all of Dai's fights so far, he quickly took notice of how the Rider seemed to know a lot about them, even going as far as to predict their moves.

"When my turn comes up, I plan to leave things up to Lady Luck, the one thing no one can predict."

*boom!*

Just as the two Grongi were about to leave, they stopped as in the distance, what looked to be a red pillar shot up into the air.

"That's..." All the fighting stopped as everyone in the area turned and looked towards the red pillar in the distance.

"A pillar of red..."

"Just like Pollun said..."

In their bruised and battered state, the girls stared over at the pillar of red until a minute later, it slowly vanished. Once it did the area was returned to normal, a clear sign that the influence of the Dark Zone had vanished.

"Just what is going on?" Nagisa wondered out loud as she looked over towards where the red pillar was.

In actuality, the pillar of red everyone had been seeing was actually a volcano erupting violently. And in the center of that pillar of fire and lava, the female Seed roared as she sucked in all of it into her body as of fueling herself much like how the male Seed had absorbed the storm that had struck the city days ago.

"You've finally awakened," The male Seed spoke once his female counterpart finished absorbing the volcano's energy.

"You're...Juna."

"That's right," The now named Juna smiled and nodded. "Good morning...Regine."

The female Seed, now named Regine, smiled in return.

"What's going to happen now-mipo? What are we going to from now on-mipo?" Mipple asked as she and all of the fairies stood in their true forms, facing the girls and Ryō.

"I'll be fine," said Honoka as they all stood on top of the hill.

"How will it be fine-mepo?" Mepple asked. The red pillar from earlier could have only meant one thing, they failed to stop the second Seed of Darkness from blooming.

"No matter how hard things may be now..." Nagisa began.

"Hope and despair go back to back," Honoka finished as she and Nagisa looked up at the Keyaki Tree standing right next to them.

"So long as we try hard and don't give up..."

"Tomorrow will surely be..."

"A good day." Nagisa finished as everyone looked down at the great view of the city. This was what they were all fighting to protect.

"Sounds like you two have straightened out your feelings," Ryō said, adjusting his glasses as he enjoyed the view before him.

"Yeah. You won't hear any more complaints from us," Nagisa said with her hands on her hips and her chest puffed out. Of course, this was an act in order to hide how much pain her body was in.

"That's good to hear. Cause us adults will be relying more and on you and Dai for future endeavors," Ryō said, extending a hand out to the two.

"You can count on us," Honoka said as she and Nagisa took the offered hand and shook it.

"Now then, come along now," Ryō said as he started walking down.

"Eh?" Everyone blinked in confusion, wondering what the man was talking about.

"What? Didn't you say that chocolate parfait was a limited-time item? Come on, I'll give you a lift."

"Really!?" Nagisa exclaimed.

"Yeah. Considering how hot it is today, I could sure go for some ice cream myself."

"You're the best, Ichijo-san! No wonder Dai-kun likes you so much...oh my god, Dai-kun!" Nagisa shouted, quickly remembering when they last heard from him.

Quickly taking out her phone, she dialed the Rider's number at record speed while racing down the hill, forcing the others to follow after her. When Dai didn't answer, panic began to rose up inside of her until she heard the radio from Ryō's car beeping. Quickly racing over, she picked up the call.

"Hello?"

{Eh? Nagisa-chan?} From the other line came Dai's voice, calming Nagisa down as she quickly spoke into it.

"Dai-kun! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did you beat the Grongi? Where are you right now? Can you still make it to Izumi-ya's?"

{I'm fine, just a bit beaten up. Yeah, I did win. And I'm currently on the road on my way to Izumi-ya's though it's going to take another half hour. You'll have to go on ahead without me.}

"Are you really okay?"

{I said I was fine, didn't I?}

"Okay, that's enough," Stepping in and grabbing the mic from Nagisa, Ryō then spoke into it. "Report. Were you able to successfully defeat No. 38?"

{Yes. I was able to thanks to the help of Morimichi-san and others.}

"Good to hear. I'll inform the station to tell them the news and have the pools and waterparks reopen. And don't worry," Ryō adjusted his glasses before saying this. "We'll make sure to get you one of those parfaits."

{Really? Arigato, Ichijo-san!}

"Heh. See you there." And with that, he hung up.

"I'm glad Ichi-kun's all right," Honoka said, breathing a sigh of relief as did the fairies.

"Yeah," Ryō nodded in agreement before turning to everyone. "Well, what say we all go get that ice cream Misumi-san wants so much."

"Let's go!" Nagisa cried out as she jumped into the car, cheered up by the knowledge of Dai being all right and really looking forward to getting her sweet treat.

The other simply laughed at the girl's behavior before they joined in the car and drove away, not knowing that they were being watched.

"Well," Daguva said to himself, locking his eyes down on the Pretty Cures, sensing the power within them. "It looks like this Gegeru will be even more fun than I first thought. Heh heh heh heh..."

And...done! Whew! That was a lot of work! More than I expected actually, but I'm not one to nitpick, especially since everything came out all right. I hope everyone enjoyed today's chapter, I certainly did when I got to the fight scenes. My only complaint was Ryō's involvement with the girls or lack thereof. I wanted to do more with him, but he just ended being there for the most part. Didn't even get a chance to shoot Regine like he did Poisony. But besides that, everything else was satisfactory, especially the debut of Rising Dragon.

As for the next episode of this story, it's going to be a bit more on the Pretty Cure side as I couldn't find a Grongi to fit in it. So for those expecting Rising Mighty next chapter, sorry to say but you're going to have to wait a bit longer. Plus, I think it's better for the form to debut alongside the girls getting the Rainbow Bracelets. I can already see how epic the future's going to be. But until then, this has been Ashbel Longhart here, signing out. And like always, here's...

Pretty Cure: Rider Fun Facts

"Hello, minna-san! Good morning or afternoon, depending on when you're reading this-mepo!" Mepple greeted the audience alongside his lover, Pollun, and the girls. "Welcome back for another fun segment of Pretty Cure, Rider Funt Facts-mepo!"

"I would say the author is late with this update, but at this point, that's nothing new," Nagisa said.

"Come now, we all know that author-san has a lot on his plate and the covid situation certainly isn't helping," Honoka said.

"I guess."

"What are we talking about today-popo?" Pollun asked.

"Glad you asked, Pollun! Today we're talking about Dai's newest form, the Rising Dragon form-mepo," Mepple said as the said form appeared on the screen.

"So blue and shiny-popo!" Pollun commented, liking the colors of the form.

"It really is," Honoka commented as well, thinking that the added gold colors made the blue pop out more.

"The forms more than just shiny-mipo," Mipple said as she began explaining. "Compared to Dai's base Dragon form, the Rising Dragon form is much stronger, having a punching power equivalent to 1.7 tons of force and a kicking force of 5.8 tons-mipo. Not only that, but while Dai's speed hasn't changed much, his jumping abilities have greatly increased, increasing to a record of 50 meters-mipo."

"Incredible! With that kind of jumping ability, Ichi-kun could leap up and over the Arc de Triomphe in Paris!" Honoka exclaimed, amazed.

"And that's not all-mepo!" Mepple spoke up, taking over as the screen flashed, showcasing the Dragon Rod's new form. "Much like with the other Rising forms, the Rising Dragon comes with a new signature weapon, the Rising Dragon Rod-mepo! Once a regular-looking staff, the Dragon Rod has been upgraded into a double-sided spear, allowing Dai to now slash and stab his enemies if he wants, such as when he's performing his new finisher, the Rising Dragon Splash-mepo."

"What about when Dai-kun threw his spear to finish off Bemiu?" Nagisa asked as the screen changed to showcase that moment.

"Well, that's something the author added to change things up-mepo," Mepple said, taking out a note. "According to this, he calls it the Rising Dragon Geyser-mepo. Kinda fitting considering how big the explosion was-mepo."

"You can say that again," Nagisa said, watching the destruction of Bemiu which took the form of a huge explosion in the water. "In fact, aren't those explosions getting bigger?"

"I'm sure it's just your imagination-mepo," Mepple said, throwing away the note before turning to the audience. "Welp, that's all the time we have folks-mepo. Tune in next time as Dai and the girls near the end of their summer vacation and where the third and last Seed of Darkness emerges-mepo. Until then—"

"Bye-bye-popo!" Pollun suddenly interjected, wrapping things up.

"Hey! I'm supposed to be the one who closes us off-mepo!"

"You always do it-popo."

"Because it's my job-mepo!"

"Since when-popo?"

"Mepo!"

"And there they go," Nagisa said as Mepple started chasing after Pollun.

"Well, I guess we better wrap things up," Honoka said as she, Nagisa, and Mipple turned and waved goodbye to the audience. "Until next time everyone, and happy Spring!"

Next Time: Stormy Summer Festival! A Flashy Battle Against the Thunder God!?