The three of them went to Kiriko's house, since Kiriko decided it'd be a much better plan to have them finish their story in privacy.
"So what's really going on?" Kiriko asked, cross-legged on her bed, sitting opposite of Rani and Nova. The two of them seemed to be preoccupied as they took in their surroundings. Somehow, Kiriko's room felt just like home to them. The lavender walls reminded them of the buildings in the kingdom, her cozy pastel rainbow quilt reminded them of their home's sky and all of Kiriko's plushies arranged neatly on her bed made them think of all of the toys that lived in the Laruan Kingdom. Kiriko had taken off her uniform and switched into something she considered more comfortable. Her hair was tied up into a small, messy bun, and she wore a white shirt with pastel pink and blue hearts on it with blue shorts.
Rani and Nova definitely weren't expecting this, but they were pleasantly surprised to see all of this.
Kiriko gave them a peculiar look, and then Nova said," We were just caught off-guard. I guess we thought you'd have a much different type of bedroom."
"Do all human dormitories look like this? It feels just like home!" Rani remarked in delight as she continued to look around Kiriko's room.
"Doubtful." Kiriko answered sheepishly," So, as you guys were saying back there, you're from a far away kingdom. It's nothing like Earth and...?"
"It all started a very long time ago." Rani explained," The Laruan Kingdom was under the protection of a great Pretty Cure named Cure Cheer. Cheer was powerful both physically and magically, virtually no one stood a chance against her. She was said to be very mysterious though, no one in the kingdom knew her personally. She had never once lost a battle until Lilith appeared. Lilith was a pure evil woman with a heart of stone who tried to claim the Kingdom as her own and force all of the civilians out in the human world. Cure Cheer defeated her, but winning against Lilith cost Cure Cheer her life. Lilith was not heard of for many years, until recently."
"It began on the day of Princess Arabella's coronation." Nova began slowly," Everyone in the Kingdom was invited to celebrate the event. That was day where Lilith had returned to try and claim the Kingdom. This time though, instead of fighting the members of the kingdom head on, she went for the Well of Wonder. The Well was the main supplier of magic throughout our kingdom. It gave life to our land, it rejuvenated the people without anyone even realizing it and just as soon as Lilith got her hands on it, she took it away along with Princess Arabella."
"We need to bring an end to Lilith, reclaim the Well and find Princess Arabella." Rani stated firmly, awaiting a response from Kiriko.
The two fairies looked at her expectantly and Kiriko replied hesitantly, avoiding their implied question with," So you believe Princess Arabella has been kidnaped by Lilith?"
"We think so, yes. Arabella's magic was strong, but no one ever knew this until Lilith pointed it out. Most of us in the kingdom believe that Lilith must have abducted Princess Arabella in order to use her powers for her own evil purposes."
"What else makes your home different from mine?" Kiriko questioned idly.
Nova's patience was wearing thin, but she kept herself from saying so while Rani answered for the both of them.
"The Laruan Kingdom is overflowing with magic. Everyone has very strong and energetic Patchwork Hearts," Rani said, receiving a questionable look from Kiriko," The Patchwork Heart is the heart where you feel desires from, the heart that you make wishes and dream with. The Patchwork Heart is where our magic resides, and we can achieve many things with them. One of the most significant things being that everyone in the kingdom is able to divide their Patchwork Heart in two; holding onto to one half for themselves and the other will be given to the original holder's most favourite toy."
The sound of that really enticed Kiriko, she made this evident as her eyes widened greatly but, she didn't make any comment on this. Instead, she continued to interrogate the fairies.
"So, only people from your world have these Patchwork Hearts?" Kiriko asked in a curious voice.
"No, everyone has one! Even those of you who live in this world, it's just that...you guys have no idea they exist." Rani explained," We were told that in the human world, you guys live in ignorance of the Patchwork Heart's existence. And that your magic is relatively low, is that true?"
Kiriko's eyes widened, somewhat unsure of exactly how to respond," I guess, I mean...I don't think I know anyone here who can use magic freely."
"Except for yourself." Nova reminded her curtly.
"Oh yeah, I guess I count now..." Kiriko commented awkwardly," I can use magic freely? It's weird, I figured I would've felt differently or something but no. I don't really feel a thing. Does this mean my magic is just that weak?"
"So Kiriko, we have explained ourselves to you, and now all that's left is for you to make the choice; Will you continue to fight as a Pretty Cure to defeat Asperity?" Rani offered expectantly.
"This is like some kind of long-term task, right? Meaning, this will inevitably change my life. I...I'm not sure if I should." Kiriko confessed with a sigh as she shook her head.
Rani was looking quite distressed now and Nova just appeared to be even more impatient.
"But Kiriko, I don't understand! Rani clamored in a frantic tone," You have been chosen to fight in order to protect our kingdom! Where we're from this is considered a great honor!"
"So they why did you ask me then? You said make a choice." Kiriko pointed out sternly.
"Well, I didn't expect you to say no!" Rani replied," Please Kiriko, as of right now, you're our only hope! Why don't you want to be a Pretty Cure?"
"It's not that I don't want to," Kiriko began quietly," It's just that, well...I've got prior obligations."
"Like what?" Nova questioned in agitation.
"I've got school, and then cram school on Monday through Wednesday after class, student council meetings on Thursday and then I work weekends." Kiriko listed off in an oddly nonchalant tone, while the two fairies seemed overwhelmed from just hearing Kiriko's schedule." What, I'm a busy girl."
Nova noticed that Kiriko sounded a bit bitter as she said that, but said nothing of it.
Rani then sighed a rather large sigh and stated," We understand that you're busy, but...is there anyway that you can still help us? I really don't want to beg, but when I said you're our only hope, I really meant it. We don't get to choose who becomes a Pretty Cure."
Kiriko stayed quiet for a little while and thought to herself," They don't have any intention of leaving me alone at this point. It's endearing, but it's unfair. I could easily just refuse them again, but...I don't want to."
"Wait, so I'm just supposed to fight all by myself?" Kiriko wondered aloud.
"Of course not!" Rani answered," You'll have teammates you'll fight alongside, and you'll be their leader!"
"Rani, you're being too loud." Kiriko stated in a deadpan tone as she clasped Rani's mouth shut," But, if I do get to have teammates then..."
A shiver crawled down Kiriko's spine all of a sudden and she felt her heart begin to race," Why do I feel so anxious all of a sudden?"
"...I might join you guys, ok?"
Kiriko then spent the rest of her night doing what she wanted to do and curled under in her blankets reading the graphic novel she checked out from the library. Rani and Nova stayed in her room, they fell fast asleep on a pair of pillows she had laid out on her ottoman. Kiriko took a short break from her reading and reached for the cup of hot chocolate laying on her side table. The hot chocolate was quite rich and just one taste of it brought a big smile to Kiriko's face.
"This is heaven~" Kiriko exhaled as she hugged her softest plushy.
"I'm glad I got to spend tonight as planned." Kiriko said quietly to herself, her eyes growing heavy," I'm not really unable to unwind like this anymore. I was only lucky this week because not much homework had been assigned."
Kiriko then thought about those kids that she saw earlier today in the library, who seemed to have been enjoying themselves not because they were at the library but because they were in each other's company.
"I could only wish to spend my Friday afternoons like that. Sure, spending the night in with a good book is fun and all but...whenever I get free time, that's all I do." Kiriko said to herself," The worst part of it all is that I pretend to be ok with it. I act like I'm someone I'm not because I get worried that everyone will judge me. Everyone likes to see me as mature and reserved, maybe even mysterious but the truth is..."
Kiriko looked at her bedroom, her so-called "Pastel Palace" and sighed," I'm not like that at all."
"I'm childish, sleep with a dozen plushies and would probably wear my hair in pigtails with a really cute pastel outfit every single day if I could." Kiriko confessed aloud," But because I'm always acting like how people expect me to, I feel as if I've locked myself into a personality. I feel like everyone has expectations of me."
Kiriko finished her cup of hot chocolate and laid down in her bed," It's better like this though, I'm ok with people seeing me as mature and mysterious. I guess I just wish it didn't always have to be like this."
The next morning, Kiriko had to wake up at six am. As soon as her alarm went off, Kiriko extended her hand towards the clock and turned it off in an instant. She rose out of bed in seconds and only then just noticed that her alarm had greatly startled Rani and Nova.
"T-t-there was a loud ringing sound coming from that device, Kiriko!" Rani stammered,"It woke Nova and I up!"
"That's what it's supposed to do." Kiriko informed them neutrally as she picked up the clothes of her uniform and headed straight to the showers.
After Kiriko came out from the shower, she put on an ivory shirt with tan and green stripes on it with tan slacks on. Her hair was gathered into a tiny ponytail and she wore a nametag. She then took her backpack and put a change of casual clothes inside.
"Kiriko, where are you going at this hour in the morning?" Nova asked with a yawn.
"Work, I thought I told you two I work weekends." Kiriko answered as she zipped up her bag," Do you guys want to come with me?"
"Only if we're going to search for more Pretty Cure!" Rani declared firmly.
"If I leave the two of them here, my parents might find them. So, it'd probably be best to bring them along." Kiriko thought to herself," Uh, yeah sure."
Kiriko then stuffed the two of them in her bag and headed out the door for work.
Hours later, Kiriko could be found behind a cash register waiting around. She was at a reasonably large cafe that was populated with a decent amount of . Many people here were having breakfast with friends, family, business associates. It had been busier earlier but the cafe had fallen quiet for now. The cafe's name was Echo and it was a fairly popular cafe. It was home to some of the best sandwiches in town and their coffee was very rich in flavour. At the front of the cafe was Kiriko and the cash register for take-out, next to her was a bell and a sign that read 'Please wait to be seated'. The guests seemed to have been enjoying themselves at the cafe today as they chatted amongst each other and with some of the waiters and waitresses.
Kiriko looked behind her and watched her fellow associates take the orders of guests who just came in.
Kiriko paid close attention to one waitress talking to a family at one of the tables. The guests seemed to really liked being served by her, not because she was pretty or anything (though her tall slender figure, long blonde hair and bright brown eyes did make her quite attractive) but rather because she seemed to be having a good time taking their order.
"Yuna's only been working here a couple of weeks, but she's gotten good at this job." Kiriko remarked quietly.
One of the associates came to relieve Kiriko so she could go on break.
Kiriko went to get her lunch from the cafe's backroom and found Rani and Nova looking at her very impatiently in her backpack. Kiriko looked both ways to ensure that no one was around. No one else was in the vicinity except for the three of them.
Kiriko then said quietly," I'm sorry."
" You should be!" Nova responded, louder than Kiriko expected, which led Kiriko to hush her. Nova then lowered her voice, " Keeping us cooped up in your backpack for hours when we could've been using this time to look for the next Pretty Cure."
Kiriko then drew out a deep breath and said, " I guess I should've mentioned this first but work is important to me. I can help you guys out after but you really need to understand I've got prior obligations, so I'm not always available to help you guys out."
Rani then interjected with, " But-!"
"Fine, then can we at least start searching on our own?" Nova suggested.
Kiriko didn't seem too fond of the idea, leading Nova to continue with, " You already said you're busy and we want to help you out by searching for the next Pretty Cure, your future teammate. We don't feel so pleased sitting around being unproductive like this, knowing that we could be putting good use of our time."
Kiriko appeared to be reconsidering the idea now. Nova was making a good point, Kiriko hadn't really thought about how their Pretty Cure mission was an obligation to them.
"The thing is, I'm just worried you guys might get lost while looking." Kiriko explained.
"We'll be ok! And if we do start to feel like we're going to get lost, We'll just come back here! We won't go too far, promise!" Nova reassured excitedly.
"Alright, just don't be gone for too long! And be discreet, pretend to be a stuffed animal or something if someone comes too close. Also, try not to be seen by little kids, they might wanna try and take you home. And when you want to come back, please don't let any of my coworkers see you!" Kiriko instructed in a near frantic voice, hoping she had listed every warning possible.
Rani and Nova then left Kiriko's bag in an instant and Kiriko held open the back door for them.
"We'll be back soon!" Nova called out, while Kiriko silently hoped no one had heard her.
"I've got such a bad feeling about this." Kiriko said to herself.
Rani and Nova started to search around the tiny neighborhood near the cafe. It was quiet enough that Rani and Nova could walk about freely on the grass next to the pavement.
"Nova, that was amazing what you did back there!" Rani remarked in admiration, "Where did you learn to do such a thing?"
"it's called the art of persuasion." Nova answered smugly," All I had to do was show Kiriko our side of the situation and as soon as I did she couldn't say no. Kiriko might seem strict right now but I think she can be an easy target to convince."
Rani nodded in agreement and then said," You know, I really do like Kiriko, but her schedule doesn't give her a break. She might really have a rough time trying to juggle her activities and being a Pretty Cure. Why does she need even to work anyways? Isn't she just a high-school student?"
"Maybe she's in debt. She could be making excuses though." Nova suggested, receiving a look of question from Rani," I'm not talking about work or school but all of those extra-curriculars she mentioned to us. There's no way she was already that busy."
"I don't know, I think Kiriko appears to be an honest girl." Rani claimed, though even she unsure of her own statement," I don't really think Kiriko doesn't want to help us, it's just that she really isn't in a position to. But then that does beg the question, why does she even have such a busy schedule? Surely not every person her age here has that many obligations. I think I'd feel really bad for her if she would have to add Pretty Cure into her routine.
"I guess it is a bit unfair." Nova replied, " But it doesn't matter, soon enough, she'll have to make a choice. If Cure Cheer had to, then so will she."
Kiriko was in the backroom at the cafe, munching away at the sandwich she brought for lunch. Earlier she had been worrying about Rani and Nova, but she decided to put that thought away for now and think about more pressing issues.
Kiriko scrolled through her phone absent-mindedly as she thought to herself.
"If I'm lucky, those two will have stayed out of trouble. If I'm extremely, lottery-winning lucky then they will have found my new partner so I won't have to hear them gripe about it after my shift. I may have told them that I'd help them search later, but I forgot all about that Science group project I was supposed to get started on this weekend. Maybe I could put it off until tomorrow?"
In the window of the backroom door, Kiriko saw Yuna walked by. Kiriko then resumed her phone-scrolling, only now she seemed to have a more uneasy look in her eye.
"Yuna has only been working here for about two weeks here and all the guests love her. But she's aloof and somewhat cold to those of us who work here." Kiriko surveyed in her head," Maybe she's just shy? That wouldn't really explain why she can talk to the guests the way she does."
"She must be a very good actress or something." Kiriko concluded while eating her sandwich.
"Tenoh, are you back from break yet?" Kiriko's supervisor asked as he entered the backroom.
"I've got five minutes left." Kiriko answered. Her supervisor then made a call in the backroom and Kiriko then continued to eat her lunch.
She started to eat some chocolate chip cookies she put in her lunch bag. Her face lit up at the sight of them and she wasted no time in eating them. Kiriko then started to think about what Nova said to herself when she bargained for her and Rani to go and search for the next Pretty Cure.
'Your future teammate', the words both excited and frightened Kiriko. The idea of turning into a magical girl with platinum blonde hair was strange enough, bur to know that there would be others who would share the same fate as her? Somehow, that was even stranger. It still all felt like a wild dream to her, but every time she saw Rani and Nova again, and every time she came across the PlayPact in her bag, she was instantly brought back to reality, reminding herself that this was no dream.
"I wonder when that guy Jack from Asperity will appear again..." Kiriko said aloud, her voice sounding somewhat anxious.
Rani and Nova were on their way back to the cafe. Having had a rather uneventful and fruitless adventure in search of the second Pretty Cure, they felt as if they had enough excitement for the day. After nearly being 'abducted' by a pair of twins, being chased around by a giant golden retriever and almost getting hit by a bicycle, the two fairies surmised that the human world was way more dangerous than they had realized and if they really wanted to remain unharmed in this place, they'd stopped looking around these areas with such hazards.
"I wanna take a nap..." Rani groaned in an exhausted voice as she and Nova struggled to walk towards the cafe.
"I second that..." Nova declared, sounding just as tired as Rani.
Rani then bumped into someone, but was way too tired to even feel panicked and just stepped backwards clumsily, not even looking up to see who she had bumped into.
"Funny bumping into you two here." An awfully familiar voice said to Rani.
Rani really hoped her ears were playing tricks on her as she heard this voice and looked up cautiously only to find Jack towering over her and Nova.
Kiriko was leaning against the counter where the cash register was, the cafe had gotten quiet again. Kiriko looked outside the cafe's windows, taking note of the fact that it had gotten rather windy today.
"I hope those two have already came back, the last thing I'd want is for them to get literally blown too far away from the cafe." Kiriko said to herself quietly while she organized the debit rolls underneath the counter.
"Whoa take a look at that fan over there, it's bigger than our house!" A little girl sitting at one of the tables remarked in astonishment.
"It's probably not that big dear-" The little girl's father reassured before he saw the fan,"-Wow, that fan really is huge! Wouldn't mind having one of those at our place during the summer."
Kiriko then saw the fan the two of them were talking about, only to find out that it was a Defective walking about with a long cord dragging behind it, blowing strong gusts of wind with every step it took.
"Oh great, I gotta go do something to stop this Defective, but I can't just walk out of the cafe and start fighting!" Kiriko lamented to herself. Kiriko then caught a glimpse of a guest talking on their phone at their table.
"Hey there's an idea!" Kiriko thought to herself. Kiriko then took out her phone and pretended to be on a call.
"Why are you calling me at this hour, you know I had work today!" Kiriko said in a voice that was quiet, but not too quiet to go unnoticed by her fellow coworkers," What, he fell down the stairs and he might have lost his memory? And he just got over his pneumonia, this is the worst! Ok, I'll see if I'm able to come now, but I can't guarantee I can get off work so easily."
As Kiriko pretended to hang up, one of Kiriko's associates walked up to her asking, "Is everything ok Kiriko?"
"Hey Ayaru and unfortunately no. My grandfather fell down the stairs and now the doctors just diagnosed him with amnesia. My parents say I should go see him before his mind starts falling into retrograde." Kiriko explained in the most dismal voice she could achieve," I don't know if Takeo will let me leave my shift early."
"You know what? This sounds crazy urgent so you can go now and I'll take over for you." The associate offered in sympathy," If Takeo's got a problem, he'll just have to deal with it."
"Thanks Ayaru, you're the best!" Kiriko said as she ran to the backroom, her heart racing now.
"I can't believe he fell for that! I honest to god thought that I was going to get caught, I'm never doing anything like that again!" Kiriko griped to herself as she ripped her bag out from her locker and grabbed the PlayPact in her bag. She exited the cafe through the back door and made sure no one was around.
Kiriko then held out her PlayPact and shouted," Pretty Cure, it's playtime!"
An array of lilac and white lights appeared from the PlayPact and surrounded Kiriko, leaving Cure Dolly in her place.
"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly introduced.
Dolly ran around to the front and found the giant fan Defective standing there blowing winds so strong that people had to hold on to benches and posts to not get blown away.
"And so you've arrived Cure Dolly." Jack said from on top of a short building, sitting cross-legged as he held Rani and Nova tightly in his arms.
"Rani, Nova!" Cure Dolly shouted," Where did you find those two?"
"The little runts were walking around the neighborhood and I just happened to bump into them." Jack explained in false innocence," Unfortunately for you though, I have zero intention of giving them back to you. They're going to become my underlings at Asperity and as for you?"
The Defective let out a gust of wind so strong it swept Cure Dolly off her feet as Jack shouted," You'll be history!"
Cure Dolly fell into a flowerbed nearby and sighed in frustration as she brushed off her dress, saying to herself," Good grief, I can't even hope to land an attack on this thing if it's just going to keep blowing wind in my face. Not to mention it's way too crowded around here. I don't even want to attack knowing I'm going to risk a bystander getting hurt."
"I doubt this thing is even plugged in, this is dangerous you know!" Dolly shouted as she tried to fight back the wind gusting," If you want a fight, then we're going to have to do it somewhere else!"
"I don't actually want to fight though, I just want to make my Defective stronger. So if you have an issue with the battle grounds, then it's not my problem." Jack asked plainly.
Dolly groaned, leapt up high enough so that the Defective's wind wouldn't reach her and shouted," You really are an inconsiderate jerk!"
"So what am I supposed to do now? Run away hoping that he'll follow me?" Dolly thought to herself," I have no choice but to fight here."
Dolly then stood her ground, standing in front of a lamp post and studied the Defective. Running around it to attack it from behind would've likely been too risky, Jack would catch onto a plan that simple and have it backfire on her. From where she was standing though, she wasn't getting hit with as hard by the wind. Dolly stared at the base of the Defective for a few moments, and then a thought came to her.
She started to run towards the Defective at full speed. The Defective looked at her curiously, but then started to blow wind towards her to keep her away. The Defective seemed rather confident in it's attack as Dolly started to have difficulty inching near to it. Dolly didn't give in and resisted getting blown away. As soon as she got close enough to the Defective, she grabbed the cord behind it and elaborately tied it up around a nearby lamp post.
"Well, now it'll cause less trouble." Dolly remarked, as the Defective tried to rip itself free from the post.
Dolly finally then took notice of the fact that Jack was staring at her with his eyes wide, as if he was in shock," Impressed?"
By the way that Dolly was running towards the Defective, he only assumed that she was going to pull something reckless like trying to knock the fan down from the bottom, which Jack believed was the only method that Dolly would've found. While knocking the fan down might have done some considerable damage to the Defective, it would also caused a lot of damaged to their surroundings. Broken cars, cracked sidewalks, the whole lot of it would've happened if Dolly knocked down the Defective. But instead, Dolly was being considerate of her surroundings, even at a time like this.
"Do you really think you've won?" Jack snickered," I'll just come right down their and untie him so he can blast you off into oblivion. Ooh, alternatively you know what I can do? Defective! Full power."
The Defective then did as told and blew a gust of wind stronger than the ones before towards Dolly. She felt tears stream out from her eyes and held on for dear life to the post beside her.
"I feel like I'm about to get blown away to the other side of town!" Dolly thought to herself fretfully," Just what am I left to do now?"
Jack started to laugh at Dolly trying not to get blown away while Rani whispered to Nova," I think we should tell her about the Playpact Pretend function."
"Are you kidding me?" Nova whispered back," She's not ready for that, and if she doesn't get the technique right at a time like this, it'll spell trouble for her."
"She's gonna be in trouble anyways if she just stands there trying to fight back the wind!" Rani pointed out hastily before yelling to Dolly," Cure Dolly! You need to channel all of your magic into your PlayPact!"
"What do I do after that?" Dolly shouted back.
"Think about the Defective blowing wind at you! Imagine it's the other way around!" Rani shouted back.
"Like that'll happen." Jack scoffed with a roll of his eyes.
"I'll try my best!" Dolly yelled, as she squeezed her eyes shut and attempted to clear her mind. She did everything she could, she slowed her breathing, tried tuning out all of the noise polluting her ears and did just as Rani told her to. Soon enough, she felt the winds from the Defective getting weaker and she then held her PlayPact in front of herself. She figured that some form of barrier had been created as she focused her magic, but she was only half right. When opened her eyes, she saw the winds from the Defective getting sucked into her PlayPact.
"Now shout out, Let's Play Pretend!" Rani instructed.
Dolly nodded and shouted," Let's play...Pretend!"
A whirlwind emerged out from Dolly's PlayPact as straight towards the Defective. The Defective defended itself as it kept blowing wind towards Dolly, but it had difficulty fighting back.
"Did the Defective's wind get weaker?" Dolly wondered as she watched the Defective struggle to keep up with her," No, my wind is just stronger."
"Hey Defective! I didn't create you just watch you get beaten up by a person a quarter your size! Come on, show her who's boss!" Jack insisted impatiently.
The Defective tried to put up a better fight and mustered up as much strength as it could to blow down Dolly, and while it seemed it's attack was working for a few moments, it looked like it wouldn't last long.
Cure Dolly then held her PlayPact up high and yelled," Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!"
The Defective was hit with a wind so strong that it got separated from it's cord and fell to it's feet.
Dolly walked up to it slowly in a cautious manner. As she grew closer, she inspected the Defective to make sure it wasn't going to attack again. Appearing unable to move at all, Dolly drew out a deep breath and closed her eyes as their surroundings turned lilac and pink.
"Pretty Cure, Wishing Enchant!" Dolly cried out. The Defective was purified and returned to it's original form.
Dolly seemed quite impressed with herself, as she held the PlayPact in her hands and stared at it in awe. She was so zoned in on her compact, she didn't even realize Jack was still there.
"Hey, you haven't won just yet!" Jack hollered as he grip on Rani and Nova got tighter," Remember what I have?"
Dolly glowered at Jack and shouted," Don't you dare hurt them!"
She leapt up to the building Jack was sitting at and stood her ground for a few moments, deciding what she should do next.
Jack then began to ignore Dolly, getting bored of her as she just stood there," Hm, I think I shall call you Minion One and you Minion Blue since you've got one horn and you are blue."
"That's a horrendous naming convention." Nova grumbled while Dolly tried to determine what her next move should be.
"I really shouldn't attack him head on with him holding them, but he's not giving me any other openings." Dolly thought to herself in dismay,"It would be nice to use that new whirlwind technique on him, but I can't risk getting those two caught up in the attack. Maybe there's another way to use it though..."
"What do you want Rani and Nova so much? How will they be of use to you?" Dolly asked in a forcefully calm voice.
"Can't you tell? These two have magic running rampantly in their veins. Despite the fact that they're a pair of half-pints, their magic is exceptionally strong." Jack explained as he stared down at the two fairies in his hands, his excitement brimming up in him at the very thought of extracting their magic," Why else would Queen Imogen cast these two off into the human world? I sure can't wait to sap them of their magic and make it my own."
Dolly felt that rush of adrenaline, that questionable surge of passion overcome her again as she yelled," You'll do no such thing!"
She then dashed towards Jack as quick as she could, and Jack just looked at her with a bored expression on his face.
"Honestly, could she be anymore predi-" Jack began in mid-sentence, before he remembered a certain incident that happened earlier,"The last time she ran up to her opponent, she had an ace up her sleeve. I can't be so careless at a time like this."
Jack then jumped up high and turn around to face Dolly, only to find that Dolly was up in the air just like him. Jack looked pale, and eyed Dolly worriedly.
"She couldn't jump that high given that much time, so how did she-?" Jack questioned in his head, before he noticed a small whirlwind blowing under her," She created a tornado in the spot where she wanted to jump from!"
"I'm not wasting another second with you!" Cure Dolly shouted, just a few inches away from Jack as she punched him in the stomach, causing him to let go of the fairies.
Cure Dolly caught the two fairies and Jack staggered a few feet backwards. Realizing he was empty-handed, Jack took his leave impatiently.
"Dolly, you did it!" Rani exclaimed as Dolly detransformed. Kiriko then laid down on the building top, feeling quite exhausted.
"So that's why...that's why I felt so driven out of nowhere back then at my first encounter with Asperity." Kiriko said absently as she stared up at the sky," It wasn't because I enjoyed the fighting, it was because I was able to protect you two."
Kiriko sat up straight and looked at the two fairies apprehensively saying," I lucked out today in saving you guys. Had you not have told me about the Pretend function on my PlayPact, we all would've been goners. It was too close for comfort today, I'm sorry about that."
Nova and Rani exchanged looks with each other. They just witnessed Kiriko give her all in order to save the two of them and now they beginning to feel somewhat guilty about doubting Kiriko and her interest in being a Pretty Cure. Despite the fact that she may have had a bunch of other activities that ate up most of her time, Kiriko was indeed talented, and deserved to be a Pretty Cure.
"It's fine, all that matters is that we're all safe!" Nova stated, giving Kiriko a thumbs-up.
"You're right!" Kiriko exclaimed with a small smile on her face.