Mari sat at the benches after her club session had ended and waited around for Kiriko to come. Today was going to be the day Kiriko returned her books, which was something Mari had secretly been excited about. Mari looked around and noticed that the front yard of the school was mostly empty of students. It was kinda relaxing to be sitting in a spot that was usually full of chattering people.
Mari then saw Kiriko walking out of the school with a club mate and waved to her. Kiriko waved back as she walked towards her.
"I'll see you later ok Shina?" Kiriko said, with Shina waving good-bye to her before she left. Kiriko then took a seat next to Mari and retrieved the two books from inside of her bag.
"Here are your books, thanks again for letting me borrow them." Kiriko said as she handed Mari the pair of books.
"No problem, did you like them?" Mari asked as she took a brief glance at the books, almost getting lost in the mesmerizing sparkly covers. Kiriko nodded casually and then looked both ways to make sure it was just the two of them around. Once Kiriko confirmed that it was only them, it was then she felt comfortable in voicing her thoughts about the book.
"It was amazing! The illustrations were all really, really pretty. But by the third book they looked sorta different. But anyways! I thought the books were great, I can see why you like them as much as you do." Kiriko replied, looking down at the books in Mari's hands. She missed them already, but maybe it wasn't that she was missing them but rather...feeling unsatisfied.
Despite all the work the girls put into finding the author, the girls had no leads at all on Satomi Miyazono. They decided they'd be better off quitting the search for the author since it wasn't getting anywhere. But it frustrated Kiriko knowing that this author was writing about the Kingdom and she probably had some information on Cure Cheer and Lilith.
"Is something wrong Kiriko?" Mari asked as she took notice of Kiriko staring at the books in her hands.
Kiriko was going to tell her everything was ok, but since Mari was a Pretty Cure now, it only made sense to tell her about their search for the author.
"Well, I guess I can tell you. So, part of the reason that I wanted to see these books is because..." Kiriko began before lowering her voice," They're about the kingdom and we figured the author had to have been from the kingdom and knew something Cure Cheer's era. You wouldn't happen to know the author, would you?"
Now Mari was feeling hesitant in responding, her gaze drifting to the side. She wasn't typically allowed to talk about this, but Kiriko was a Pretty Cure and so was she, so it seemed it would've been ok. Mari then took a deep breath and then said,
"My mom wrote these books."
What was supposed to be a simple statement to get out in the open somehow turned into a visit to Mari's house, accompanied by Asuna, Sophie and the fairies of course, days later. Mari knew she shouldn't have been surprised as she was when Kiriko asked if they could meet her mom to, in Kiriko's words, 'just pick her brain'. Mari had yet to even mention the whole Pretty Cure things to her parents, and she hadn't really been planning on doing that. All she did mention was that she had encountered the Pretty Cure. So exactly how was she going to get Kiriko and the others to ask her about Cure Cheer without looking suspicious? Mari sighed as she led the group to her house after school. There were definitely going to be a lot of questions asked today, and not just from Kiriko and the girls.
Mari then started to fidget unconsciously with the necklace chain she was wearing. She looked down at the chain where the pendant once resided and felt an uneasy feeling settle into her. Her mom didn't even know about what happened to the pendant and she didn't want to change that. She told herself that everything would be ok and continued leading the group.
"So, is your mom a professional writer?" Sophie asked curiously as she walked next to Mari.
Mari shook her head and responded with," Not exactly. She works at a charity service, and the only books she's ever published are The Kingdom of Toys picture books."
Mari's tone was curt, as if she wanted to save the questions for later. She looked foward and realized it wouldn't be long until they reached her house.
The two of them started to make small talk, it was Sophie's way of trying to put Mari at ease upon noticing how tense the bespecled girl appeared. But, Asuna and Kiriko felt as if they were missing something as they watched the two girls speak as if they known each other for a long time.
"Well, I guess compared to people like Asuna and I, Mari seems a lot more approachable..." Kiriko said in her head, reminding herself how she thought Asuna was too much of a 'popular girl' to give her the time of day, and how her own personality could've been misread as 'distant'.
When they reached Mari's house, they found that Mari's parents were already home. Mari greeted them in her usual friendly tone and introduced the girls to her parents.
"This is Kiriko, Asuna and Sophie," Mari introduced, gesturing to each girl, " They wanted to learn about the Kingdom of Toys."
Mari gave her mom a look, hoping her voice was enough to imply what she was really talking about.
Mari's mother, Satomi seemed a bit confused for a few moments, but it was clear when she finally caught on.
"It's a pleasure to meet you! Come into my office, and we can talk more in detail." Satomi said as she gestured the girls down the hall, leaving her husband behind.
The girls were ushered into a room that was painted lavender with silver stars. It was rather spacious, with the only things inside the room being a desk, three books piled up on said desk, and an empty bookshelf.
Satomi took a seat behind the desk and was silent for a few moments, trying to gather her thoughts as she ran a hand through her sandy brown hair.
"Ok, so first I just want to say thank you girls for all your hard work so far, you have no idea how much you accepting to help our nation means to us." Satomi began as she took the hold of the book on the top of the pile, "So, as Mari told you guys, I wrote the lost kingdom of toys years ago. I wrote mainly because I wanted have something tangible of the kingdom after taking my leave, even if it I made it myself. I would get homesick often and I thought that since those from the human world had never even heard of the kingdom, I thought it'd make a good story." Satomi said as she opened up the book to a page that had one large drawing of the Laruan Kingdom castle.
"I'm assuming you guys haven't even been to the kingdom yet, but you already know about how everything works with the Patchwork Hearts and so forth, correct?" Satomi asked, with the girls nodding in response.
"Alright, then I guess I'll just skip to the good part." Satomi said as she took the bottom book out of the pile and flipped to the page where the Cure Cheer illustration was," Then I'll speak about Cure Cheer. I didn't know her in person but, I documented as much as I could about her."
"Cure Cheer was as powerful as she was mysterious. Rumors spread around that she came from a family of individuals with exceptionally strong magic, we call them Mages. This would've explained why her magic was so strong, even for a Pretty Cure. However, once she awoke as Cure Cheer, we didn't see her very often in the kingdom. Not until her final battle with Lilith at least." Satomi explained as she flipped to the next page in the book," As you girls know, Cure Cheer met her demise with Lilith years ago. But, even if she succeeded in defeating Lilith, her victory didn't bring peace to all the members of the kingdom. Many inhabitants were devastated by this loss and still worried about their own safety. This resulted in many families migrating into the human world, even though Lilith had seemingly disappeared."
"But, by leaving the Kingdom, the citizens couldn't divide their Patchwork hearts and live being friends with their chosen toy right? Were there really citizens who were ok with that?" Kiriko questioned intently.
"Some families were ok with that, most weren't but they made the most of their move by keeping their chosen toy by side, even if the human world wasn't any place for them to live in." Satomi explained, her gaze fall towards the page opened out on the book.
"Because a normal human would probably freak out if they saw one of them right?" Sophie asked, picturing her little siblings encountering a walking, talking teddy bear or even Rani and Nova.
"That's part of it." Satomi responded hesitantly," But anyways, the loss of Cure Cheer really did affect the kingdom, but no one from the royal family wanted to admit or dwell on it."
"Could it be because Cure Cheer was possibly a member of the royal family?" Kiriko suggested in an inquisitive voice, but Satomi didn't seem on board with the thought.
"The royal family would've announced that if she was, and they don't actually have very strong magic to begin with." Satomi said bluntly," To be honest, I don't even think they knew Cure Cheer's identity."
The girls fell silent for a few moments as they thought about of this. Kiriko was feeling a bit disappointed in today's findings since they didn't even learn who Cure Cheer was and exactly what she did to defeat Lilith back then. She thought about how the fight between her and Lilith wasn't even mentioned in Satomi's books. Kiriko figured it was just because it was meant to be a story for little kids but it made sense that not even Satomi knew what happened that day. Just like the other citizens of the kingdom, she was only an admirer. Well, an admirer who went as far as writing a book about Cheer.
"So, what made you come to earth? Was it for the same reason as the other citizens you mentioned?" Asuna then asked her. Kiriko then flashed a very disapproving look and Asuna paid no mind to her, only further annoying Kiriko.
Satomi looked at her wide-eyed, and then tried to think of how to properly respond to the question.
"I didn't become I was overtaken by fear, I came on my accord." Satomi explained hesitantly," I acted like a free spirit back in the day, and I never really listened to anyone..."
A girl with long bright lilac hair stood before a portal that seemed to lead into a pink and blue hyperspace. She grinned a large grin at the sight of it and clutched the empty book in her hands as she stared into the hyperspace. Just then, she heard a voice shout for her loudly, causing her to sigh at the sound of it. She turned slightly and saw a rather tall boy with identical features to her running towards her and the void.
"Skylar! You step away from that thing right this instant!" The boy cried out as he held his hand out. Skylar rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue at him.
"If I didn't listen to you back at home, what makes you think I'll listen to you here? I'm not going to say this again, I'm leaving." Skylar said once the boy came close enough to her," Geez, River, you think you'd be busy now that you're a royal guard but instead you're just following your sister around like some massive creep!"
River rolled his eyes and then said after taking a deep breath," I can't let you leave the kingdom on a whim, royal guard or not."
"This is not a whim! I'm going to write and document my life in the human world for everyone! I'm doing this for the good of the kingdom, and I'm still going to do it even if you say no." Skylar said to him. She turned around and was ready to take her leave, but then she felt River take a hold of her wrist.
"I'm going whether you like it or not." Skylar said, jerking herself free from his grip," I won't get in too much trouble, ok? I'll just be minding my business, going on about my day while I study the lives of these boring earthlings, alright? Don't worry, I'll only be gone for a little bit and then I'll come right back home!"
"See you soon~!" Skylar said before she walked into the portal. She walked inside and found herself falling for a couple of moments, but she didn't feel any sense of fear, only excitement as she thought about what the human world would be like. Suddenly, she was expelled from the portal and fell into an alley. Skylar stood up and brushed herself off as she took in her surroundings. It was cloudy out and it felt humid, as if it was going to rain soon. It was also full of things she had never seen before. There were wire fences behind her and many strange contraptions of different that zoomed past the streets making the occasional noise for unknown reasons. It appeared that she didn't wind up in a very populated town, much to her displeasure. She then walked out of the alley and noticed that people were staring at her curiously. Skylar pretended she didn't notice their stares and simply looked down at her feet.
"I don't sense a lot of magic coming from this place." Skylar thought to herself," Could it be their sensing mine and they can tell I'm a foreigner?"
"That has to be it!" Skylar thought to herself as she hit her fist against her other hand," I know what I have to do."
"So basically, I came to write about how the lifestyles of humans on earth are very dull and wouldn't suit the tastes of those who lived in the Laruan kingdom." Satomi said to the girls in a candid tone as she closed up the book and pushed it away," My goal was persuade those from the kingdom to reconsider their choice in leaving for earth. I was in truth very against the idea of living on earth to the point that I told myself I'd do anything to convince people otherwise."
"So why did you reconsider?" Asuna questioned.
Satomi was about to answer but then her husband called for her.
"We have some visitors." He said as he peered his head through the doorway.
Satomi nodded and then stood up from her desk and said," How about you girls stay for dinner? I can continue the story then."
The girls nodded in response and then Satomi left the girl's alone in her office. They sat in silence for a few moments thought about Satomi's explanation.
Nobody seemed willing to voice their opinions, so Sophie was the one to break the ice and said, "Well, I mean it's a good thing we found our writer."
Mari nodded in agreement, but Kiriko and Asuna didn't appear as relieved. If anything, today had felt anticlimactic in a way.
Kiriko did nothing but mentally chide herself for thinking that uncovering these mysteries about Cure Cheer would be so easy. Asuna however, was still thinking about Satomi's story and trying to decide if there was more to her side of the story, maybe something she didn't want to say.
"Hey Mari, what else did you have planned for today?" Kiriko then asked.
"Um, for today?" Mari repeated hesitantly," All I really had planned was to have the girls talk to my mom, but that doesn't mean we can do something else!"
Mari then stood up from her seat as she suggested, "We could work on homework together, or I could put on a movie or maybe we could..."
"Could we go to the book-store?" Kiriko asked, sounding a bit forceful in her tone, but no one picked up on it," I wanted to see something there."
Mari nodded and responded with," There's a strip mall down the street from here with a pretty big book-store. We can go to that one if you'd like."
Kiriko nodded and the girls then stood up from their seats, gathering their bags and following Mari out of the room. Mari lead the girls out of the house and took notice that neither of her parents were in the living room. She figured they might have been in the kitchen or the backyard, so continued to lead they way. Though despite the fact that she was the one leading the way, Mari felt just as puzzled as the other girls in regards to them going to the book-store. Kiriko seemed quite intent on going, even though she seemed rather lost in her thoughts now.
The walk there was indeed a short one and before the girls knew it, they had already arrived at the book-store. Mari stood in front of the group with a rather pleased smile appearing onto her face. She hadn't been here in a couple of weeks, and yet that felt like ages to her. Mari looked up to the store-sign that read, ' Tsundoku' and exhaled a sigh at the sight of it.
As she opened the door, a set of younger girls who appeared to be no older than nine walked out of the store.
"I can't wait to finish these books!" One of the girls said while she scrambled to retrieve one of the books out of her bag," The covers are really sparkly too!"
The girls looked at the child suspiciously as she walked away, but none of them thought much of what she said and walked inside.
The bookstore was extremely big, it was almost an overwhelming sight for people like Sophie and Asuna, who didn't often step into book-stores. There were aisles and aisles overflowing with books and there were more people than the girls expecting inside the store. It was surprising to say the least, but it made Mari and Kiriko feel hopeful. Kiriko then took over and lead the girls over to the section farthest from the entrance.
As the girls were walking, Sophie noticed that Asuna was staring at countless books they walked across with a bewildered look on her face. Sophie was a bit more used to the sight since the library at her school was rather big, so she then started to wonder if this was Asuna's first time in a book-store.
Kiriko then stopped in front of a section that had more room between the aisles and had toys for purchase in it. The books in this aisles were much shorter in length and colourful in comparison to the rest of the other books in the store and there were many little kids around with their parents, picking out books to buy.
"We're in the kids section..." Asuna stated as she looked around the aisles.
Kiriko nodded and then walked up to a table that had a set of books sitting on it. There was a sign that read 'featured books' on it and so, Kiriko started to look for something as she scanned through the books on the table. Mari and Sophie exchanged glances before they followed Kiriko to the table. Kiriko's eyes then widened and she held up the book she had been looking for. The book was the first installment to the Lost Kingdom of Toys.
"There's only one left..." Kiriko remarked as she held the book up and opened it before looking over to the girls," Pretty impressive for a first release from a new author."
"Huh? I thought these books had been out for years." Sophie asked as she and Asuna turned to Mari in confusion.
Mari shook her head and then Kiriko closed the book saying," It only got released this year. It says on the first page of the book."
"Those books were originally for me to connect with the Kingdom. My mom had plans to release them for everyone to read but, when Cure Cheer was defeated, she didn't want to do it anymore. But then, once Lilith reappeared, my mom started feeling hopeless and so to fight that feeling... she went and finally released the books to the public." Mari explained briskly, lowering her gaze to the floor.
"That's why I couldn't find the two installments that came after. They just hadn't been released yet." Kiriko explained as she inspected the book cover," When you said you read the books as a child, I wanted to think you were mistaking it for another series. But then, when you gave me the next two books, I tried hard to figure out why you already had them."
"But Kiriko, why would you ask to borrow the books if you knew they weren't released yet?" Rani asked as she poked her head out of Kiriko's bag.
"I didn't actually know they hadn't been released yet." Kiriko admitted sheepishly," I saw their cover art on the back of this book and just assumed they were already out."
Just then, a little girl stood beside Kiriko, stretching her arm out as she said," Please don't buy that book! It's the last one and I came really far to get it!"
Kiriko was startled as the girl tugged on her blazer and so, Kiriko knelt down and gave the girl the book saying," I hope you enjoy it!"
The little girl looked excited as she held the book in her small hands, holding it up above her face and smiling at the cover. Kiriko smiled as she watched the girl run off in search of her mom before she noticed that she wasn't the only kid with a copy of The Lost Kingdom of Toys. Most of the little kids in the section were holding a copy, some of them were looking at the illustrations on the cover while others were crowding around it with their friends. They all seemed to be of different ages but they were united in how they looked at and read the book. They wore these ecstatic, awe-struck look on their faces as they held their copies of the book and the girls were at a loss of words as they watched what was happening before their eyes.
"Even though your mother felt hopeless when she was publishing these books, she's keeping the tale of the kingdom alive and bringing hope to everyone..." Kiriko exhaled as looked around," These books might have been written as if the kingdom was just supposed to be make-believe, but it's quite obvious it's real to them."
"I think your mom wanted to finally publish these books now so that in the case that her home would disappear, it would live on here on Earth..." Asuna stated as she looked at the empty spot where the stack of the 'Lost Kingdom of Toys' were.
"I think these books were really well-written and it shows how much your mom cared about the kingdom. You should be proud of her!" Sophie beamed as she put a hand on Mari's shoulder.
Mari was quiet for a few moments and then nodded in response.
Elsewhere at Asperity, Bounce had been caught housing the cat she rescued from park. Bounce stood with her cat, Katrina, in her arms as she watched Jack inspect Katrina. Bounce narrowed her eyes at him, though Jack paid no mind to her.
"Bounce why the heck do you have this critter with you?" Jack finally questioned as he knelt down to look the cat in the eyes.
Domino wasn't even fit to confront Bounce along with his brother as he kept sneezing every couple of seconds a few feet away from them.
"Why should it matter?" Bounce snapped as she held Kat tighter," She isn't taking up space and she's way better company than you two goons!"
"Well, whatever reason you got, it's gonna be the death of Domino so you gotta let it go." Jack stated firmly, though Domino didn't seem interested,"And I doubt Lilith is going to like your feline friend."
"Are you kidding me? She's probably been in a real good mood ever since she found that well." Bounce pointed out as she held on tighter to Katrina.
"Yeah right, something probably went wrong. Lilith hasn't left her room in days." Jack reminded her in a snide tone," We even heard her talking to herself about the well not working as it was supposed to. Isn't that right, Domino?"
Bounce and Jack then turned to see Domino and hear his response, but he had disappeared and left without a word. The two of them stared blankly at the spot Domino once vacated, with unimpressed looks on their faces.
"He ran away..." Bounce stated, though she didn't sound very surprised by this.
"You know it was probably because of your cat right?" Jack said, still looking at the vacant spot as the cat meowed.
Mari and Kiriko started looking through books in the kids section, with Kiriko having just about the same amount of enthusiasm as all the other kids in aisle. Initially, she felt worried that Mari would judge her for being invested in these books but when she noticed that Mari didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest, Kiriko let herself at the books without any regrets. She surveyed the aisles and stared at the selection of books before her while Mari just accompanied her in looking at the books.
Asuna and Sophie were sitting at a table with a pair of bags beside it in the coffee-shop inside of the book store as they watched the little kids from before run out of the store, holding their copies of the 'Lost Kingdom of Toys' up high in excitement.
"I've never seen kids get so excited because of some books." Asuna remarked as she took a sip from the cup of iced coffee in front of her.
"Yeah, I guess it's become an uncommon thing these days..." Sophie stated, keeping her gaze on the group of kids through the window," But, surely you must understand their excitement right? I mean, you did buy that graphic novel today."
Asuna looked down at the bag, and only felt embarrassment as she saw the cover through the transparent bag.
"Sorta..." Asuna replied awkwardly as she brought her gaze back to Sophie.
Suddenly, the two of them saw a giant rocking horse outside of the book-store glowering down at the group of kids. The kids backed away and began to run in the opposite direction, but the rocking horse didn't appear to be too happy with that though and so it rocked back and forth, which somehow caused the earth beneath them to quake. The kids fell to their feet and were unable to stand up again before Domino jumped in front of them with a set of black spheres in hand. Though he didn't appear to be in top shape with his nose red and runny and his eyes watering.
"You kids will be perfect sub-hosts for my Defective." Domino remarked before a loud sneeze erupted out from him," Good grief, I thought getting away from that horrendous cat would make my allergic reaction did down."
Domino then threw the set of black spheres towards the kids and they merged with them, causing them all lose consciousness.
Domino was quite pleased by his work but then he saw a set of familiar girls standing before him and his mood turned sour.
"Targeting kids who just want to sharpen their wits through reading is absolutely not ok!" Kiriko yelled as she and the girl's held up their Playpacts," Your fun ends now."
"Pretty Cure, its Playtime!" The four of them shouted in unison.
"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!"
"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!"
"The sailor of Justice, Cure Bubbly!"
"The creator of dreams, Cure Fantasy!"
The Pretty Cure then split themselves up into two teams, Dolly was with Teddy and Bubbly was with Fantasy. Bubbly and Fantasy darted towards the Defective at full speed and jumped up on top of the Defective. The Defective was infuriated that the Cures were standing on it, so it attempted to buck them off.
Bubbly and Fantasy then each took hold of the Defective's ears and looked towards each other.
"Ready?" Bubbly asked with Fantasy nodding in response. The two of them then grabbed an ear tightly and jumped off while attempting to flip the Defective. The Cures were successful and the Defective was now spiralling towards Dolly and Teddy. Teddy leapt up and Dolly sent it flying up to her with a very powerful kick.
Teddy was just about to send it into the ground but then the Defective charged towards her in midair. Teddy dodged through jumping up higher and took a hold of its ears. But unlike her fellow Cures, she wasn't able to withstand the Defective's attempts to throw her off.
"Pretty Cure, Bubbling impact!" Bubbly shouted, her newly made attack causing a giant bubble to appear underneath Teddy to break her fall.
Teddy marveled at the bubble that was formed under her and pressed her hand against it, clearly surprised that it didn't burst apart once she fell on it.
"I'm really sorry Teddy! I didn't expect it to do something like that!" Dolly clamored as she and the other Cures ran over to her.
"It's fine, but that was some quick thinking from you though. Did you have that plan in mind for a while or something?" Teddy asked as she jumped off the bubble.
Dolly shook her head and she said," A rocking horse is a pretty simple object, and it's movements seem rather…limited."
The Pretty Cure then looked at the Defective, to see exactly what Dolly was talking about. Dolly was right, it appeared the Defective could do nothing more than rock back and forth.
"So are you trying to say that this is going to be an easy match?" Teddy asked as she cracked her knuckles.
The Defective then rocked to and fro again, causing another tremor. The Cures jumped up high and took refuge on top of the book-store.
"If it keeps doing that, we won't get a chance to fight it on the ground!" Bubbly shouted as the Defective continued to create the tremors.
"Then let's fight somewhere else!" Fantasy suggested as leapt up off the book store, " How's about a giant cloud?"
Fantasy then clapped her hands and the area around changed from the book-store parking lot to a literal giant cloud. The Cures took in their surroundings and were shocked by what just happened. Teddy and Bubbly appeared confident that Fantasy's plan would work, but Dolly appeared to be thinking differently.
"Fantasy can only make things look different, so I don't know if her powers will work here. Plus creating something like this would have to tire her out quickly…" Dolly thought to herself as she looked around the cloud warily.
The Defective quickly took notice of this change in scenery and curiously stared down at the ground. It didn't seem likely that the Defective's powers would work here and so, the Defective had no clue on how it would be able to fight on this terrain.
Teddy then dashed towards the Defective excitedly as she set fire to her fists. The Defective was still trying to figure out how it was going to fight here and paid little attention to Teddy, which probably wasn't the best idea.
"Pretty Cure, flame of hope!" Teddy shouted, blasting a pair of flames towards the Defective. The Defective didn't dodge in time and was hit head on by the flames. Teddy seemed quite pleased with herself as she watched her attack hit the Defective. Bubbly then skipped over to it and jumped up cheerfully. The sound of her heeled rubber boots was quite audible and sounded as if she had jumped against the concrete. Dolly noticed and wondered if the Defective did as well. She looked up towards it and saw that the Defective had caught on, much to her displeasure.
"How about we cool you down?" Bubbly offered, holding her hands up high.
She was just about to attack, but the Defective looked ready to rock back and forth again. Dolly then charged in, holding her hands in front of herself as she shouted,
"Pretty Cure, wishful cyclone!"
A pair of violet and pink tornados circled out from her hands and trapped the Defective between. The Defective was blown up high and was thrown up in the air by the powerful winds. It was up in the air for quite awhile and it seemed unable to break free from the pair of tornados. The tornados were unrelenting and strong, so strong that even the Cures (aside from Dolly) had issues standing their ground against it. After a few moments, the Defective fell back on the ground. Teddy and Bubbly stared at the Defective that laid motionless in front of Dolly. Dolly took a few deep breaths and stared down at the Defective.
"That was close..." She said to herself, heaving in her breaths.
Teddy and Bubbly exchanged glances and just then, the atmosphere around them reverted to normal. Fantasy was found on her knees trying to catch her breath and Bubbly came rushing to her side to see if she was ok.
"Are you alright?" Bubbly asked as she placed a hand on Fantasy's shoulder. Fantasy nodded though Bubbly didn't seem convinced as she knelt down next to her.
"Don't overdo it next time ok?" Bubbly said in a lower voice as she looked over to Dolly and Teddy.
Teddy then walked over to Dolly, who was still trying to make sure that the Defective had been defeated as she said," Wanna purify it together?"
Dolly nodded and the two of them held their hands out in front of the Defective.
"Pretty Cure, Charming Enchant!" They shouted in unison, causing the atmosphere around them to turn purple and gold in mid-sentence. The Defective was cleansed and returned to it's original form.
Domino didn't seem too upset about his loss for once, it appeared he had long lost interest in the battle and was now finishing the picture book, the Lost Kingdom of Toys to be exact, he had found on the parking lot ground. He appeared to be rather unimpressed, narrowing his eyes at the book in question before he slammed it shut.
"An interesting work of fiction." Domino remarked flatly," I say fiction because I know it's supposed to be based off the Laruan Kingdom but some things are amiss in this book. I believe this is what you call a bad case of an unreliable narrator. I mean, no mention of Theo and nothing regarding- Nevermind, I won't waste my breath on you kids. Believe what you want, but just remember this is nothing more than a tale of make-believe. A story riddled with lies really."
Domino then disappeared and left the book behind.
The Cures were a bit unnerved by what Domino said, the group falling silent as they reversed their transformations. Kiriko could feel the air around her friends grow tense, so she tried her best to take their mind off things.
"Well, maybe he's onto something but I don't think that Mari's mom was deliberately hiding anything. She said herself that she didn't even know Cure Cheer in person so...we can't just assumed we've been lied to or anything like that." Kiriko stated, taking note of the fact that the girls appeared less on edge. Though Kiriko hadn't been convinced by her own words.
They all started walking back to Mari's house, chatting among themselves casually during their walk.
"By the way Mari, I've been meaning to ask you..." Kiriko said slowly,"...I noticed that the drawings from the first and second book are dramatically different from the third book. Did your mom pick a new illustrator for the third book?"
"Yeah, something happened between my mom and the original illustrator but I've never really asked her about it." Mari explained sheepishly," I think they had some creative disagreements."
Kiriko nodded in understanding and the girls continued to walk to Mari's house.
Lilith stood in front of a figure obscured by shadows, straightening up the shadow's clothes as she inspected them from head to toe. The figure was about the same height as her, maybe an inch or so taller. They weren't as petite as Lilith though and had a more hour-glass build to them. Lilith thought she would feel excited if she ever had a new addition to her team at Asperity, but something felt off right now. Perhaps it was because she had yet to see her new commander in action.
"Even though I might not look like it, I'm very, very happy you're a part of my team." Lilith said once she finished straightening the figure's clothes," Never did I ever expect to find someone like yourself and have you on my side, yet here you stand before me."
The figure then finally opened their eyes, revealing them to be a turquoise colour with their scleras the colour black.
"You represent new beginnings, a soldier of cataclysm. Your name is Rubix." Lilith declared to the figure.