Cure Dolly looked at her new teammate and watched as Cure Teddy ran up towards the Defective. Teddy was much more in control of her powers than Dolly expected and to her surprise,Teddy didn't even appear to be the slightest bit confused as to what she was supposed to do. However, Teddy's fighting skills were lacking. Despite understanding the situation, Teddy was clumsy in movement, which was expected of her since this was her first fight with a Defective.
Dolly's eyes widened as she remembered that Teddy was going to need her help.
Teddy dodged a set of punches from the Defective but was suddenly grabbed by it as soon as it lunged for her.
Teddy writhed around in the Defective's grasp restlessly as Cure Dolly came to her aid.
"Cure Teddy, I got you!" Dolly shouted as she ran to the scene.
The Defective then threw Teddy into Dolly and the two collided. Teddy's fall was broken by Dolly, who seemed out of it from having Teddy on her.
"Thanks." Teddy commented before she quickly got up and resumed her fight with the Defective.
"Don't mention it." Dolly responded weakly as she stood up," The girl's not breaking a sweat! She doesn't even seem scared."
Cure Teddy stood in front of the Defective and stared it down as she tried to devise a plan. She examined the structure and body of the Defective carefully. Would breaking off the needle from it's body have any effect? Maybe plugging up the speaker of the instrument would've done the trick. As all these plans started to circle through Teddy's mind, she felt a surge of adrenaline flow within her. Teddy had never really considered herself as someone who enjoyed creating strategies and deploying tactics in situations like this, but there's something about this whole experience that felt almost, uplifting to her.
"Hey, blondie." Cure Teddy called out, her back to Dolly as she continued to stare the Defective,"Are you gonna hop in on this?"
Dolly seemed a bit startled momentarily, not realizing that Teddy took notice of the fact that she hadn't been doing much since Teddy's arrival, and quickly gathered herself before she ran up to Teddy.
Dolly stood next to her fellow Cure then cleared her throat," That's a Defective, it's made from the negative energy of regular humans. In order to revert it back in a normal record player we need to deplete it of all it's energy so we can get a chance to purify it."
"In order words...?" Teddy responded, sounding unsure of what she needed to do before the Defective blared a sound wave in their direction. The two Cures jumped up high in opposite directions.
"We gotta fight it!" Dolly shouted to her teammate in mid-air.
Teddy grinned enthusiastically in response and she jumped towards the Defective while yelling," That's just what I wanted to hear!"
Dolly landed back on the ground as she watched Teddy jump up higher from a tree and down towards the Defective. She delivered a punch so strong it sent the Defective flying a few feet backwards, leaving Domino shocked and Dolly speechless. Dolly watched Teddy incredulously as the girl continued to fight as if she was thoroughly enjoying it. It made her appear as ruthless, but also a tad frightening.
"She fights recklessly and heedless of the danger she could bring to others and to herself." Domino commented, his eyes wide still being in surprise of what was happening right before him," Woman, have you gone mad?"
"I'm not mad!" Teddy shouted back to him as she drive a kick into the Defective's core," I'm having fun!"
"Having fun." Dolly repeated quietly, her tone filled with disbelief," If I had known she was going to enjoy this so much, I would've asked her sooner."
Dolly joined in on their battle moments after. At first, it seemed like Dolly was only being a hindrance to Teddy as she struggled to take part and work alongside her fellow Cure. Teddy was quick like Dolly but what Teddy seem to have in abundance was power. Dolly didn't really notice it until now, but for the majority of the battle, Teddy was delivering attacks with unrivaled strength. And it was apparent that Teddy wasn't giving it her all yet as she still had plenty of stamina left.
"How is she able to fight like that?" Dolly thought to herself just before a sound wave came whirling towards her. Dolly was already quite alert and held her hand in front of herself instinctively as she shouted,
"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!"
The gust of wind decimated the sound wave and started to seek out the Defective. Soon enough, it spotted the Defective and the gust of wind knocked the Defective off of it's feet. Teddy finally stood still briefly and looked down at the Defective before turning her attention to Dolly, asking her," How'd you do that?"
"I...It's kinda tough to explain..." Dolly confessed sheepishly. Dolly rushed over to Teddy and the Defective that was no longer moving. Teddy then walked closer to the Defective and removed the record from it. She then split the record over her knee.
Dolly stared at the broken record Teddy held in her hands, her eyes wide with astonishment as Teddy simply dropped the two halves on the ground.
"That oughta do the trick." Teddy declared with Dolly nodding vigorously in response.
"Now you need to purify it!" Dolly instructed," Or, perhaps I should do it instead."
"No, let me handle this. Just tell me how it's done." Teddy insisted as she put a hand in front of Dolly. Dolly tried to remember exactly what was needed in order to start a purification when Nova flew towards them.
"Concentrate on the flow of your magic and release all that concentrated power to the Defective!" Nova explained.
Teddy seemed skeptical, looking down at her hands as she replied with," The flow of my what? Are you this is what I gotta do?"
"It's not all about fighting you know..." Dolly said in an irritated voice, with Teddy shrugging off her response.
Teddy did as instructed and closed her eyes, trying to focussed as instructed. Dolly took note of the fact that Teddy seemed to have been having a harder time doing this then fighting with the Defective. Soon enough, she got the hang of it and the atmosphere around them became a very pale orange and gold colour.
"Pretty Cure, Hopeful Charm!" Teddy shouted. The Defective was purified and reverted back into it's regular form.
Dolly looked around for Domino, it appeared that he had taken his leave for the day without notice and the two Cures were left by themselves. Teddy finally got a chance to get a better look at her outfit now and she seemed to be somewhat unpleased with what she was wearing as she harrowed her eyes at her clothes.
"You don't like it?" Cure Dolly asked cautiously while Teddy was still inspecting her outfit.
"No, it's just not what I'm used to..." Teddy answered answered as she took a hold of the suspenders of her outfit," I like these things though."
Dolly reversed her transformation and Kiriko merely looked at her new teammate while deep in thought.
"I don't think I've ever seen anything like that, she just fought like she didn't have a care in the world and without reason. She didn't really understand what was going on, but she didn't seem to care, she just wanted to head straight into action. And she was good at it too, maybe better than me." Kiriko thought to herself.
Teddy reversed her transformation and Asuna finally directed her attention to Kiriko. Asuna looked her straight in the eyes and said,
"I better be getting an explanation to all this."
Kiriko nodded attentively and then Nova took over from there.
"I'd rather explain this all in a more secretive place, maybe Kiriko's house would be a good spot?" Nova suggested, though Kiriko seemed unreasonably alarmed at just the thought of it.
Kiriko then began ramble,"My parents might have come home already and I don't want them listening in on us and-"
"-Then let's just go to my place." Asuna suggested flatly, though Kiriko only seemed more alarmed in response,"What? Unicorn here says we gotta talk about this in secret."
"I know, I just didn't expect you to offer your house as a spot for us to talk about this..." Kiriko explained sheepishly," But if you're ok with it, then sure. Let's go to your place."
And so, the three of them walked to Asuna's house in silence. Asuna claimed that her house wasn't really that far from here so it only made sense to her that they should go to her place. However, it seemed that Asuna had a much different meaning of 'far from here' than Kiriko did. Kiriko only expected the group to have been walking for ten, fifteen at the very most minutes but it seemed their walk to Asuna's house wasn't going to come to an end very soon.
Finally, after about forty minutes or so, they made it to Asuna's house.
Asuna's house was average in appearance and size. When the three of them walked in, they found out that they weren't home alone. As Kiriko took in her surroundings, she almost didn't notice Asuna's mother in the kitchen making dinner.
The living room was was just like any other. The walls were painted a rich shade of brown and pictures of Asuna as a child and who appeared to be her older sibling could be found on one of the side tables. Kiriko felt as if she had seen the boy from somewhere, but didn't get a chance to get a better look at the photo.
Asuna's mom left the kitchen to greet the two of them. She looked a lot like Asuna with her red hair, tied up into a bun and green eyes. Asuna's mother seemed a lot more friendly than Asuna did though.
"Mom, this is my classmate Kiriko, we'll be upstairs in my room for a bit." Asuna introduced as she stiffly waved her hand in Kiriko's direction.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kiriko!" Asuna's mother said kindly, " Would you like to stay for dinner?"
"Ah, no thanks. I won't be able to stay too long anyways." Kiriko answered awkwardly as Asuna led her upstairs.
Asuna's room was admittedly quite the sight for Kiriko. For someone who had a room she called a Pastel Palace, one would've thought Kiriko wouldn't have had much interest in Asuna's room. The bedroom was painted a pastel orange and very large posters of various singers and bands were taped onto the walls. Sunlight was flowing in was from Asuna's windows that had been decorated with stickers of video game characters and mahogany curtains. Her room was also quite warm, which something Kiriko was quietly relishing it as she was actually the type get cold easily.
Kiriko carefully sat down on Asuna's computer desk chair and removed Nova from her bag. Nova seemed to quite like Asuna's room as she looked around interestedly from Kiriko's lap. Asuna took a seat on her bed and waited for Nova to start explaining.
Once Nova realized the two of them were waiting on her, she froze up for a second," Damn, Rani's a lot better at explaining the mission. It'd be much better if she was here."
Nova then cleared her throat before she said," Ok Asuna, here's the deal. We need you for our mission. Me and my friend Rani come from the Laruan Kingdom, don't ask where it is it's much farther than you'd think, and we need, you and Kiriko to help save our world from those goons from Asperity. Asperity's leader is Lilith, Lilith is a super-mean woman who just wants to watch the Laruan Kingdom come to an end. Lilith had attacked us before but back then, we had this other Pretty Cure named Cure Cheer who protected Laruan Kingdom for us. Cure Cheer was really strong but unfortunately, she just wasn't strong enough against Lilith and even though she did defeat her, she ended up losing her life in the process. And now, Lilith has made a return. She's been successful in stealing the Well of Wonder that gives our kingdom magic and she had taken who was supposed to be our next ruler, Princess Arabella, with her."
Kiriko seemed slightly unimpressed with Nova, scrutinizing the small unicorn as she thought to herself, "What the hell Nova? That explanation was so all over the place, there's no way she's going to understand all tha-!"
"-Ok, I get it." Asuna responded neutrally," But, how come me and Vice-pres over here were chosen to be Pretty Cures? Just what makes us so special?"
Kiriko still seemed surprised that Asuna understood all that, but then that last question from Asuna got stuck in her head. Kiriko never really thought about it like before.
"Most humans from your world suffer from a dreadful condition I call lack of magic. Lots of them only have maybe a fraction of what our weakest civilians at Laruan Kingdom have." Nova explained," You two however, have an abundance of magic flowing from within you."
"So then, why not recruit someone from your world?" Asuna suggested. By the tone of her voice, it didn't sound as if she was unhappy with being chosen as Pretty Cure, she only sounded curious.
"We figured nobody from Laruan Kingdom would want to take on such a task with morale being very low right now. And since Lilith was going to come for your world, we figured it'd be best if we looked for humans from earth as you'd feel more inclined to help." Nova answered, averting her gaze from the two of them, " And when I said you guys had a lot of magic, I was being serious. We weren't looking for humans with just as much magic as those from Laruan Kingdom, we knew we had to search for those who had magic that was much stronger than theirs. And sure, you guys might not have had a chance to practice using it or anything but, even so, it's actually...really hard to explain how strong your magic is from our perspective."
Kiriko and Asuna fell quiet for a few moments. The thought that they had magic stronger than people who used it more than them felt so strange. It made Kiriko feel almost guilty at the very thought of it, but it made Asuna feel important and needed.
"So how do those monsters get made? Vicey here said that they were made from negative energy, is that all it needs?" Asuna questioned.
"Vicey?" Kiriko thought to herself.
"True, in order to make a Defective, it seems that all that is needed is negative energy from humans. But, it's not...normal negative energy. It's energy made from a corrupted Patchwork Heart, created by those people from Asperity." Nova responded, a serious look now appearing on her face," What they're doing isn't right, they're just going to use all that energy to create a world of magic made from sorrow and grief."
"We can't let that happen." Kiriko chimed in, sounding just as serious as Nova," I know a lot of this sounds really unbelievable but, I don't think I'd be able to do this alone so, will you continue to fight with me?"
"Sure." Asuna answered, sounding way too nonchalant for Kiriko's liking.
"Really? You don't have any reservations, or prior obligations? You're not even the slightest bit scared?" Kiriko probed, to the point where she was starting to annoy Asuna.
"Yeah, I get it. We're strong and they want us to help. Why wouldn't I say yes?" Asuna asked as a large grin appeared on her face," Plus, all that fighting and stuff, it was really exciting!"
"She's missing the point but...at least she's interested in helping us." Kiriko thought to herself," I'm really glad to have you on the team Asuna!"
"Ah, by the way, I had one question I needed to ask you." Asuna informed her," Why did you come to talk to me at the library? I'm doubting it's because I actually left something at the cafe."
"Oh, well...inside the bag I was planning to give to you was my PlayPact." Kiriko answered uneasily.
That transformation box thingy? Why were you going to give me that?" Asuna interrogated.
Kiriko nearly forgot all about that ever since Asuna became Cure Teddy. Kiriko gave her an awkward smile and simply turned her gaze to her lap where Nova was sitting.
"I did it because the PlayPact had been set to tell you about the Pretty Cure. As soon as you were going to open it, the PlayPact was going to explain everything to you, so that I wouldn't have to in front of you and all of your friends." Kiriko explained bashfully. Looking back at the plan now, it did seem quite risky. Kiriko looked up and expected to see a disapproving look of on Asuna's face but instead, she saw only confusion.
"Why did you do that, knowing that something could've easily gone wrong?" Asuna questioned as she reached into her bag in front of her and took out her own PlayPact," This thing is important to you right? So how come you were so trusting of me, when we barely even know each other?"
"I felt like I had no other choice."Kiriko confessed," I wanted to believe that you were going to be the next Pretty Cure and, I was right."
Another awkward silence fell upon them.
"You know what? Let's change that." Kiriko declared as a smile appeared to her face," Do you want to go to the mall or something on the weekend? That way, we can hang out and you know, get to know each other."
Asuna's eyes widened, she really wasn't expecting Kiriko to be so willing to befriend her so soon. Still, she kept her composure and simply nodded in response.
"Sounds good to me, we can figure out the details later in the week." Asuna offered before she handed Kiriko her phone," Put your number in."
Kiriko did as instructed and put her number in Asuna's phone. When she gave Asuna her phone back, she checked the time and found out that it was getting late.
"I should probably get going, next time when we hang out I'll bring the other fairy, Rani for you to meet her." Kiriko declared as she started to gather her things. Once Kiriko was ready, Asuna led her downstairs. The lower level was a lot quieter now, Asuna's mom just left the house to go get some groceries. The only other person in the house was Asuna's older brother, sitting at the kitchen counter.
"Hey Kiriko," Asuna's older brother said to her as Kiriko and Asuna walked towards the door.
"Hey Tadashi," Kiriko said, before she stopped in her tracks for a moment and then looked at Tadashi in confusion," What are you doing here?"
"Uh, I live here?" Tadashi responded with a chuckle," I should be asking you that question."
Kiriko's eyes opened wide, realization hitting her hard," You two are siblings?"
Asuna seemed somewhat unimpressed with Kiriko, but said nothing and Tadashi just looked at her in disbelief. Kiriko and Tadashi were both members of the student council, Kiriko knew him pretty well, maybe not as well as she originally thought and would've gone as far as considering him one of her closest friends at school.
"I'm pretty sure I've already told you that." Tadashi replied, noticing how embarrassed Kiriko looked as she lowered her gaze to the floor," It's ok if you don't remember, it's not like we ever hang around each other at school."
Kiriko looked at the of them sheepishly and took note of how similar the two of them looked. Even though Asuna's hair was red and Tadashi was more of a brunette, they had the same face structure and same green eyes.
"That might also be why Asuna looked so familiar..." Kiriko thought to herself as she put on her shoes," I'll see you guys at school tomorrow ok?"
Asuna held the door open for her and the two siblings waved goodbye to her. Once Kiriko was gone, Asuna closed back the door and was met with a suspicious look from her brother. She seemed to have been caught off-guard as she looked at her brother.
"What is it?" Asuna asked, sounding a bit uncomfortable as she walked into the kitchen.
"Why did you bring Kiriko over?" Tadashi asked curiously," I thought you wanted nothing to do with my friends at school."
"She just had to give me something I left at the cafe she works at over the weekend. She won't be coming back here again." Asuna answered sternly as she grabbed a muffin from the counter top, keeping her gaze away from Tadashi.
"It's ok if she does! I think you and Kiriko would actually make good friends." Tadashi claimed defensively," You know I even think she could be a big help in getting you and-"
"-Shut up." Asuna interrupted impatiently as she left to go back upstairs. Tadashi simply shook his head in response.
During the week, Kiriko and Asuna went out their week as they usually did, and saw very little of each other. Their classes were on opposite ends of the school and the two of them made little effort to see each other during the week. For now, it felt like an unspoken rule between them that they weren't going to hang around each other at school so suspicions wouldn't arise amongst their classmates, as it did with Tadashi.
The girls made plans to hang at the mall on Saturday to get to know each other as planned. On Saturday morning, Kiriko arrived at Asuna's place and rung her doorbell. Today, Kiriko wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a black blouse and a grey cardigan. As she waited, Kiriko adjusted her ponytail secured by a lilac telephone cord elastic. Rani and Nova were tagging along today and the two of them flew out from her bag. Kiriko had gotten used to the pair flying out from her bag when no one was around, but today Kiriko didn't appear as lenient and signaled to them of them to go back inside her bag.
"That bag is way stuffier than your other ones!" Nova complained as Rani coughed behind her.
Kiriko gave the two of them a pitied look," Sorry guys, I just got this bag so I guess it still has that brand new smell to it. But I don't want to risk you guys being seen by regular people, what if Asuna's mom or Tadashi open that door and see you guys?"
The two of them saw Kiriko's concern as reasonable and sat on top of the shoulder bag.
"So what is Asuna like?" Rani asked inquisitively," You guys told me she was a good fighter, but you didn't tell about her personality. Is studious and reserved like Kiriko? And friendly too? Oh yeah and-"
Just then, the door swung open and Asuna stood in the doorway. Kiriko smiled to her nervously and Asuna examined her from head to toe with an unamused look on her face.
"You look like you're going to an office job." Asuna remarked. Kiriko could offer nothing more than a forced laugh.
"Good morning to you too." Kiriko responded awkwardly," By the way, this is Rani."
Rani then flew toward Asuna and said cheerfully," It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Back at ya." Asuna answered as she stared at Rani for a few moments,"So, are you ready?"
Kiriko nodded and the two of them walked to them bus stop. The two girls waited around in silence, waiting for the other to say something. Originally, Kiriko was glad to be going to the mall with only Asuna, but now she seemed to have been thinking differently.
"I really thought this was going to be much easier with just the two of us and no big group of friends involved, but now this just feels a bit more intimidating." Kiriko thought to herself while holding back on a sigh," I should've considered this before and maybe made some notes of conversation topics to use but no as usual I was too busy this week to think ahead. But I can't get discouraged now!"
"Kiriko," Asuna then said, snapping Kiriko right back to her senses.
"Yeah, what's up?" Kiriko asked as she turned to Asuna expectantly," Yes! She's going to start the conversation!"
"The bus is here." Asuna said tonelessly as she pointed in the direction the bus was coming from.
Kiriko seemed evidently disappointed as she wore a blank look on her face while saying," Ah, thanks."
The two of them got on the bus and sat next to each other. The both of them remained silent, with Kiriko staring down at her lap and Asuna staring out the window. While the two sat quietly, they were both lost in thought for different reasons.
"For Asuna, this is probably a normal outing to the mall, well almost normal. She probably doesn't know that I don't get to do this very often." Kiriko said in her head," It's exciting, yet nerve-wracking."
Kiriko continued to stare down at her lap, feeling disappointed in herself. Not only had she been gifted another teammate who knew a thing or about fighting but she also got the chance to make a new friend. But of course, her inept social skills just weren't going to let her make use of this chance. Kiriko was already feeling defeat and the day had barely even started. Maybe it would've helped to have been in a bigger group, or at the very least, bring at least one extra person. Kiriko was in disbelief of how useless she was feeling right now.
"I'm overthinking things, I can make this work." Kiriko thought to herself.
Asuna was looking out the window, with an abject look in her eye. She leaned against the window her arm pressing against the cold glass. While she had been in truth excited for this time together with Kiriko, something had been bothering her since yesterday. Late last night, while she was going to bed, she was thinking about how different her life would become if any of her friends found out about her secret alter-ego. The very thought of it made her uneasy as she could just imagine the look on their faces when they'd find out. The girls would probably act thrilled for her while the boys would make fun of her outfit but still, they'd all realize that their friend was hiding a secret life from them. And, they'd likely consider her an outsider because she had powers greater than they would've ever known.
It was frustrating to know that she'd had to continue living with this giant secret for awhile, it made her wonder if Kiriko was dealing with the same issues. Asuna wanted to ask her about it, but wanted to save it for later and just keep things casual for now.
"Um, is everything ok? You look like you got a lot on your mind." Kiriko asked her.
Asuna then responded in an unconvincing voice with," Don't worry about it. I think we're almost here."
Kiriko looked out the windows on the other side of the bus and nodded, though she was still concerned about Asuna. They got off the bus and walked to the mall's entrance.
Elsewhere at Asperity, Domino was overlooking a blueprint he made just for his teammate that was going to be sent out to defeat the Pretty Cure today. Ever since his own last encounter with the Pretty Cure, Domino had been feeling shameful and slighted, so to make it up to Lilith, he made the decision to create a new plan to end the Pretty Cure that included much more critical thinking, deeper analyzing and better strategies than before. He was expecting himself to feel proud in his plan, but he felt like it wasn't enough somehow. The blueprint was large and rolled up, and looked like newspaper.
Jack and a girl a whole head shorter than him then walked into the room. The girl appeared to be in her teens and had bright green hair that fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were amber and she dressed like a tomboy. She had on a pair of white shorts with a black spiral design on one of the pant legs, a neon green t-shirt with a ghost on it under a dark grey sleeveless hoodie, and black and green knee high socks. She wore a black beanie hat, spiked bracelets like Jack and black basketball shoes.
"Alright today's the day I finally get to meet these girls who been kicking your butts for the last couple of weeks!" The girl exclaimed, though Domino didn't seem to be following.
"You're going today? I thought Lilith was going to give Jack another chance?" Domino asked, as he turned his attention to Jack.
Jack shook his head before he said," Apparently I'm still not allowed to go fight because I 'disrespected her immensely'," Jack explained, punctuating his claim with bunny quotes.
"Serves you right! You had a whole two chances to defeat the Pretty Cure and you failed miserably." The girl reminded him, "I'm not going to let that happen though. These girls ain't going to last five minutes with me."
Jack rolled his eyes at the girl's ignorance, while Domino tried to have the girl understand just how strong the Pretty Cure were.
"Bounce, you know very well that me and Jack are strong, we're Lilith's vest so don't you think that if we've been getting continuously defeated by these Pretty Cure you should be at least somewhat apprehensive of these girls?" Domino asked in his special reasoning voice that worked amazingly on Lilith but appeared to have no effect on Bounce," Look I've even been putting extra work in My blueprints, would you like to use them today?"
"What do you think?" Bounce scoffed as she started to walk away from the two of them," I'll be the one to obliterate these Pretty Cure and I won't go easy on them."
As soon as Bounce disappeared from the room, Jack and Domino exchanged expressions.
"I appreciate the effort in trying to discourage her from going." Jack stated as he sat down cross-legged," Because heaven knows if something happens to her..."
"...We wouldn't hear the end of it from Lilith." Domino finished as he shook his head,"Maybe it'd be best to put our faith in her, even if she has no idea what she's up against."
Bounce then reappeared in front of the mall where Kiriko and Asuna were hanging out and looked around the area carefully. Bounce then stretched her arms out, it seemed that nothing here was piquing her interest.
"Today my main goal is to get rid of those Pretty Cures, so in order to that, I've gotta make a real strong Defective..." Bounce said to herself, before she heard a woman nearby crying.
Bounce then turned around in the direction that the crying was coming from and saw a woman on the phone doing her best to hold back on her tears.
"No, I don't know how it happened! She said as she wiped away the drying tears that already fell," My boss said we had to cut down on staff but, I just don't know."
"Perfect." Bounce said to herself as she took out a dark green vial from inside her sleeveless hoodie.
Inside the mall, Kiriko and Asuna were inside a pharmacy in the section where all the makeup was. Kiriko had found out that Asuna really liked makeup, but from Asuna told her, Kiriko could tell she was still a novice in cosmetics as she only listed the brands advertised on tv as her personal favourites also know as the ones that were over-hyped and known to have sub-par performance.
"Hey, I think I've heard of this brand before, do you like this one?" Asuna asked as she held up a tube of lip gloss.
The lip gloss read Kyx Cosmetics and Kiriko nodded her head as she said," This brand has some pretty good stuff. But all their lipsticks are warm-toned, so they don't look good on me."
"What does that mean?" Asuna asked blankly, surprising Kiriko greatly as a result.
"There's a giant purse monster outside!" One of the mall's visitors shouted all of sudden.
Kiriko and Asuna looked to the nearest window and saw the giant purse monster pillaging outside the mall. Inside the mall, nobody dared to leave and so the two Cures ran to the nearest exit as fast as they could.
The two of them had their backs to the building and surveyed the Defective from there. It didn't seem to be causing much harm, it didn't appear as if it could do much anyways because of what it was made from. Asuna didn't pay much attention to this, but Kiriko was already making an analysis.
"That thing is made from a simple object, plus it isn't doing much damage right now, and that isn't really Domino's style. Maybe this was Jack's doing?" Kiriko said to herself, while Asuna looked at her curiously.
"What's she going on about?" Asuna thought to herself, before Kiriko turned her gaze to Asuna with her PlayPact in hand. Asuna nodded to her.
"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" The two of them shouted in unison as a flash of pink, orange and white lights appeared from their PlayPacts.
"The Princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly introduced.
"The dame of hope, Cure Teddy!" Teddy introduced.
The two Cures immediately rushed to the scene and the Defective stared at them, unsure of what to do. The two of them appeared confused, trying to decide whether or not to take advantage of the moment or determine why the Defective wasn't attacking already.
"Is it broken?" Teddy whispered to Dolly, who was just as clueless as her.
"That's your enemy! Destroy those girls and don't hold back!" The girls heard a voice shout to the Defective. Standing on top of a bus shelter was Bounce, staring at her Defective expectantly.
"My Defective will bring you two down, and it's not gonna leave without a fight!" Bounce exclaimed.
The Defective than started to fight against the two of them relentlessly and not giving the Cures a moment to attack. Both of the Cures were struggling against this Defective, but it seemed Cure Dolly had a harder time to match the speed of the Defective. Dolly had to take a moment to catch her breath and as she did, she watched as Teddy fought the Defective on her own. Despite appearing large and sluggish, the Defective was awfully energetic and easily overpowered Dolly in speed. Currently, it seemed Teddy was doing ok, but from the look on her face, Dolly could tell that her teammate was going to reach her limit soon if she didn't land an attack.
"You're quicker than I expected." Bounce remarked as she watched Teddy fight against the Defective,"But it doesn't matter, 'cause all it'll take is one wrong move and you'll be finished!"
Cure Teddy than somehow landed a kick on the Defective so hard that it blew the Defective back a couple of feet. The Defective looked surprised that someone smaller than it was able to match it in speed, let alone land an attack like that. Bounce seemed just as surprised, her eyes wide with disbelief and her mouth agape for a few moments. She then shook her head and put on an overly-confident expression.
"One wrong move huh?" Teddy repeated, short of breath as she set her gaze on Bounce.
"Ok, so you could land one singular punch on my Defective. Big deal, I'd like to see you actually try to defeat it. Not like it'll happen though." Bounce claimed before she pointed to her Defective," Keep going! You're almost there!"
"If this girl is from Asperity, she's proof that the group doesn't have a distinct fighting style." Dolly examined as she watched the Defective charge for Teddy," But I don't really the time to focus on stuff like that, Teddy needs my help!"
Dolly then ran back into action and jumped up high onto a lamppost, trying to determine her next move. She knew well that she didn't have much time to think, but she didn't want to start fighting without a plan in mind.
"In a situation like this, would it really be best to start attacking at full strength like Cure Teddy? Maybe, she was the one to deliver the first blow to the Defective. But, there just has to be a better solution, there's gotta be a better strategy than that! I just need to think harder, there must be something..." Dolly said to herself quietly as she closed her eyes for a few moments.
"Just what can I do that she can't?" Dolly thought to herself. Dolly then thought of something and smiled a large smile as she retrieved her PlayPact from the side of her dress.
"That's it!" Dolly said to herself as she shut her eyes again and focused her energy into her PlayPact. Dolly then placed her free hand on the lamp post and felt an unsteady form of magic flow into her. Dolly paid no mind to how different it felt to the other times she used this attack and carelessly went in for the attack.
"This isn't getting anywhere." Teddy said to herself as she continued her fight with the Defective. She felt herself growing tired but she wasn't able to catch a break from the Defective, not even for a split-second. Teddy then caught sight of her teammate standing on top of the lamppost and looked at her in question.
"What's she up to?" Teddy said to herself under her breath.
"What's Blondie trying to do?" Bounce as she narrowed her eyes on Dolly, who now had a suspicious form of magic flowing around her.
Dolly opened up her eyes and positioned her PlayPact in front of the Defective, shouting," Let's play...Pretend!"
What Dolly was expecting to happen was a surge of electricity come out from her PlayPact and strike the Defective, leaving it unable to fight anymore, but instead, she was the one get hit with the attack. Dolly felt as if she had been electrocuted and fell from the lamp post, thankfully on her feet. She didn't have any major damage on her body, just some abrasions on her arms and legs. Dolly stared down at her PlayPact, unable to figure out just what happened as static came out from the PlayPact. Dolly was short of breath and at a loss of words, feeling humiliated by what just happened.
"I don't understand..." Dolly said quietly as Teddy rushed towards her.
"Are you ok?" Teddy asked as she knelt down next to her teammate. Dolly didn't want to look her in the eye and simply nodded.
"I'm fine, it was nothing that I couldn't handle." Dolly reassured, though Teddy didn't seem convinced as she took notice of the scrapes on her arms.
"If you want to let me take it from here, it's fine." Teddy offered in a somewhat hesitant voice. Dolly heard the uncertainty in Teddy's tone and simply shook her head.
"No, not happening." Dolly answered as she got back on her feet," I'm not letting you fight all on your own, from now on, we'll fight like team."
Teddy smiled to Dolly and nodded as the two of them returned to fighting against the Defective.
The two of them went in and fought to the best of their abilities, doing everything they could to wear down the Defective. It almost felt futile to keep on going as it appeared they weren't doing much damage to the Defective, only landing a few punches and kicks here and there. But little did they know, they actually were wearing down the Defective at a gradual rate. Having to constantly dodge and deliver attacks was rather taxing for the Defective, and it was only a matter of time now before the Defective was depleted of all it's energy.
"You two ain't giving up, are you?" Bounce questioned impatiently," It's so pointless to just keep fighting, you two oughta know that if you don't get defeated today, you could next time or the time after that. Your victory is as certain as mine."
"That's what you think!" Dolly shouted as she gave a powerful punch to the Defective. She then jumped up high but then suddenly, the Defective opened itself up and Dolly fell inside. The Defective closed itself up and Teddy stopped fighting, unsure if she would be able to continue without hurting Cure Dolly.
Inside the Defective, Dolly felt constricted in movement and tried to figure out what to do as she tried to break free.
"And now you can't fight 'cause your teammate is trapped inside." Bounce pointed out," So, what were you two going to say? That you won't give up because you believe in the power of magic and friendship and love and you wanna save the world? How are you gonna do that when you can't even save yourselves?"
Teddy balled her fists in frustration as she stood still, knowing there wasn't much she could do.
"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!" Dolly shouted from inside the bag. The attack was so strong that the zipper of the Defective broke open and Dolly was freed.
"We aren't going to win through the intangible alone..." Dolly began, just before the Defective fell over backwards in defeat.
"We're gonna get stronger and beat you to a pulp!" Teddy declared brashly.
Dolly was looking quite worn out so Teddy made the decision to purify the Defective.
"Pretty Cure, Hopeful Charm!" Teddy shouted as the area around her and the Defective turned orange and gold. The Defective was purified and restored to it's normal form.
Bounce stared at the Cures and stood there silently. The last thing she had expected was to get defeated today, she felt close to victory and yet, not close enough. Bounce sighed and simply yelled to the girls,
"You two just got lucky! Next time we see each other, I'm for for sure unleashing hell on you!"
The two of them detransformed and nervously Kiriko said what was on her mind.
Kiriko stated, "That was really impressive Asuna. I'm not sure how I would've fared by-"
"-I couldn't done this without you." Asuna interrupted, her gaze meeting Kiriko's," We're teammates right? So, let's do our best to help each other out."
Kiriko was surprised with Asuna's response and replied with," Sounds good to me!"