Mari's Sunday morning would've been just like any other today, a morning devoted to rest until noon where she wouldn't have to worry about homework since she'd finish it the day before, a day free of any form of over-exertion. But, because today was the last Sunday of the month, Mari had prior obligations.

The brunette rolled out of bed a little earlier than she wanted to, but she didn't mind since today was filled with plans she wouldn't dare miss out on, not even for a second. Mari got out of bed quickly, pulling out all the clothes she planned to wear today. Mari looked down at the light blue dress she decided on last night, smiling as she held it in front of herself while looking into her vanity mirror. Mari seldom wore dresses but today was a somewhat special occasion, so she thought it best to make an exception for today.

Since it was the last Sunday of the month, that meant the charity her mother worked at would have their monthly event where the fundraisers of the charity would visit local hospitals and spend the day hanging out with the kids there. Mari wasn't a fundraiser herself, but she was close with some of them because of her mom and the group was more than happy to have Mari tag along. Plus, the kids liked being around Mari too so the fundraisers thought it didn't hurt to bring one extra person.

Mari got ready quickly, taking a shower and getting dressed in less time than her parents who were coming with. When Mari was done getting ready, she sat downstairs with her bag beside her and made sure that everything she planned to carry with her was here.

Mari thought of everything that she could possibly need for today and it showed with how heavy her bag was, though luckily it didn't look it's weight, otherwise her parents might've told her to leave out some items so she wouldn't lose anything. A sketchbook with a pencil case, a tin of cookies, a knitting needle and some yarn, a clear box with jewelery making supplies plus a Polaroid made her bag feel as if Mari was transporting a ton of bricks, but she didn't seem to mind.

As Mari was making sure that she had everything in her bag, she then felt her PlayPact inside and was reminded of a little something that she failed to tell her parents about. Mari took the PlayPact out of her bag and then looked over to the staircase to see if her parents were nearby. With no sign of them, Mari sighed and gripped the PlayPact tightly. A lot of time had passed since Mari made the decision to tell her parents, and since then, she felt herself waver and was beginning to reconsider having them know about her Pretty Cure duties, especially since they were inching closer towards their final battle. Mari's mother was well-aware of what happened to Cure Cheer so obviously, she probably wouldn't have been able to bear the thought of her daughter sharing Cure Cheer's fate. So perhaps keeping it a secret would've been best.

"If she does find out and reacts just how I expected...I wouldn't blame her." Mari said to herself quietly as she trailed her fingers against the PlayPact's surface," She'd have every right to worry about me, so for that very reason, it's better off that this stays a secret from her."

"Mari, are you done getting ready? We'll be leaving soon, ok?!" Mari's dad shouted as he banged his fists against the door to Mari's bedroom. Mari narrowed her eyes at the sight of her dad at her bedroom door, not even the slightest bit surprised that he didn't realize she finished getting ready before them.

"Dad, I'm down here!" Mari shouted to him, startling him slightly.

The three of them were ready to leave soon enough and about an hour later, Mari could be found sitting in a circle with kids from the hospital doing activities like making bracelets and drawing. Mari watched the kids hard at work with a smile on her face, feeling more than glad that she brought both the sketchbooks and the jewelery making supplies with her today. Just then, her train of thought came to a halt when she heard the sound of a symphonica in the room. Mari looked over to the corner of the room and found one of the fundraisers, Rie, playing in front of a little crowd of children. The children seemed to be enjoying her playing, but many them wore an awe-struck look on their face. Mari noticed some new faces among Rie's audience so she assumed this was likely their first time hearing a symphonica.

When Rie took a break from playing, Mari approached her.

"Every time we come, the kids always get excited to see you play." Mari remarked as she sat down next to Rie, who smiled in response.

"I guess so, but it's not surprising." Rie said as she watched some of the smaller kids run past her and Mari," They don't get to do much when they spend their most of their time here anyways. You noticed most of them were in low spirits before we came in today, right?"

"Of course," Mari said with a pained smile on her face before two children, one Mari recognized as Kiriko's little friend Kagari and the other being a new face, came up to her and Rie. The two of them had their gaze set only on Rie's symphonica, but Mari noticed something in the nameless child's hands that piqued her interest. The little girl held on to a plush toy of a cat that was very well made and wore an intricate pink and red collar with a pale gold bell.

"Will you teach us how to play the symphonica?" Kagari asked Rie excitedly, with the girl beside her nodding vigorously in agreement.

"Sure! It might be a bit frustrating though, so you guys will need to have a lot of patience. Do you think you'll be able to manage that?" Rie asked the two, who nodded in response.

Mari then awkwardly interjected, her attention solely on the child's plush cat as she said," Your toy is very cute, is it ok if I take a closer look at it?"

The child nodded and held it out to Mari who inspected it carefully in her hands. Rie took notice of how closely Mari was looking at the plush and joined her in looking at it.

"What's so special about it?" Rie asked as she leaned towards Mari to get a better look at the plush.

"No doubt about it, this plush was made by that person. The mystery toy-maker..." Mari said as she touched the bell on the cat's collar," I haven't seen plush toys made from them in a couple of years, so I thought they quit, guess I was wrong though."

Mari then turned to Rie to further explain as she held out the plush for Rie to hold.

"For years, there's been a person who makes toys for the children in the hospital to play with, all of them made super-well but it's obvious that each plush is a one of a kind. The toymaker's trademark is a collar that has just as much detail as the plush along with..."

Mari flicked the bell of the plush, but no sound could be heard.

"...A bell without a ball inside. Probably to make sure the toy wouldn't be hard for a child to sleep with. Anyways, the kids always love them, but nobody knows who makes these toys, they just show up and nobody asks any questions about where they came from.

"Except you." Rie pointed out as she gave the plush back to the child," It looks like you've been curious about this toymaker's identity for a while."

Mari's face flushed red and she then stammered out," Well, it's a really nice thing of that person to do, and I just want to thank them properly for all their hard work over the past few years."

Rie nodded in understanding and Mari started to think more about the mysterious toymaker.

"The thought of it never occurred to me, but with everything that's been going on around me lately, it wouldn't be surprising if the toymaker was from the Kingdom." Mari thought to herself," Normally, it wouldn't really matter to me if they were. Well, if they were from the kingdom I'd probably just wanna know what life in the Kingdom was like since my mom won't tell me that much but right now...maybe it's about time I learn who this toymaker is. For the sake of the team and our mission."

Mari then thought about the last meeting held amongst the Toychest Pretty Cure, where the team learned that Rani and Nova had yet to figure out all the components inside the corrupted shards that Asperity was using. The two of them had apparently been reaching dead-ends with their limited knowledge, and going back to the kingdom didn't seem like something they were keen on doing. Chances are, going back to the kingdom would've been dangerous, so they were really only left to rely on their own knowledge. Plus, they were having issues making contact with the kingdom and likely weren't ready to venture back into the kingdom after their last visit. They fairies had proven themselves to be smarter than expected quite a few times, but it couldn't be helped if they had no idea of what elements the shards were compiled of.

"It would be such a long shot, but...it's worth a try." Mari thought to herself as she watched the child play with the toy," Time is of the essence and if there's a chance that this person knows the elements in the kingdom well enough, we can find a way to end things peacefully."

Mari then stepped out of the room to text her fellow Pretty Cure about the toymaker, not leaving out a single detail so they'd better understand the significance of this search for the toymaker. Once Mari hit send, she took matters into her own hands and got a head start on the search, quietly slipping out of the hospital room to see if any of the nurses had any leads.

About twenty minutes later, Mari was in front of the reception desk at the hospital with three nurses gathered behind the desk. Mari asked the seated nurse about whether or not she knew where the mysterious toys came from, but she didn't even know of their existence until now. Mari wasn't all that surprised, though hearing that the nurse hadn't heard of these toys until now was a bit disheartening. Surely, the nurse hadn't been at this location for long, the other nurses had to know. Mari did find it a tad jarring though, since sitting behind the desk on a shelf of files was a red and white reindeer plush with a collar on it, proof that it was made by the mysterious toymaker. Thankfully, the pair of nurses that came to the desk moments later were aware of the mysterious plushes, but again, nobody knew where they came from.

"I think the tradition of us accepting the box of toys happened way back in the day, before any of us started." One of the nurses said as she retrieved a set of photocopies from the printer behind the desk," I don't think any of us nurses ever met the toymaker, but we've always accepted the boxes."

"Isn't that a bit thoughtless of us to do though?" The seated nurse asked with a frown.

The other nurse then shook his head and said," Nurse Aya allowed us to accept the boxes. She said the first time they appeared, a letter was taped to it speaking of the reason why the toymaker was giving away all these toys. I'm certain Nurse Aya had met the toymaker at least once or twice, but she's retired now."

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind one visitor though, or even a call?" Mari suggested as she leaned against the desk.

"She moved to Uragizawa a few years back, but I think her daughter Rina's still in town. Maybe we can try setting up a time for you to speak with her?" One of the nurses offered with Mari nodding vigorously in response.

"Aya's daughter is a nurse too, she's worked here on occasion but her usual location is on the other side of town." The male nurse said as he pointed on the directory on the computer to the seated nurse before looking up to Mari saying," It should be easy to at least get in contact with her."

"Thank you so much!" Mari exclaimed as the nurses looked for Nurse Rina's daughter in the directory.

Nurse Rina's number was found eventually, but apparently she was busy, not having much time today to allow even a few minutes with Mari to speak, but Mari was insistent on talking to her.

"Well, Rina said she had a little bit of time between when she drops off her kids at the daycare and from when she has work tomorrow. Do you think you'll be able to meet her some time in the morning?" The male nurse asked Mari, who nodded in response. She hadn't even been thinking about whether or not the other girls could make it, but lucky for them, tomorrow was an extra day-off from school. This was too important for her to even consider if she had prior obligations.

The male nurse told Rina that Mari would be willing to meet her tomorrow and again, Mari thanked the trio of nurses and returned to the room where the rest of the fundraisers were.

The next day, the Pretty Cure team, plus the fairies, were all gathered at a daycare in a part of town none of them were familiar with. Even Kiriko, who had explored a good amount of the city from doll-hunting back in her day had never been here. It was definitely a quieter part of town, since it was near the outskirts and didn't really have many well-known establishments of its own here, mostly a bunch of chain restaurants and such populated the streets here.

The four of them stood outside of the daycare waiting for Nurse Rina to arrive. It was a bit colder than usual today, so their patience was quickly wearing thin as they kept an eye out for Rina. The daycare attendant offered to let them wait inside but none of them (except Mari) wanted to, finding it too awkward to vacate a daycare full of kids they didn't know.

"This place is boring." Asuna stated as she kicked a rock near her feet," Do you have any idea how long it's gonna take for her to come?"

Mari shook her head and said," She only told her to meet her this morning. We probably won't have a lot of time to talk to her, so we need to get all the important details in without mentioning the kingdom."

"That shouldn't be too hard." Kiriko declared, leaning against the door to the daycare," If we word it properly, we can make it look like we're simply curious about the toymaker's identity."

"But...to come all this way to see her, are you sure that doesn't seem suspicious?" Sophie pointed out.

"I thought about that, so..." Mari began as she took something out from her bag,"... I'm going to tell her I received a toy from the toymaker years ago and I wanted to thank them for it."

Mari held the red and white reindeer from the nurse's office in her hands and explained to the girls how she was able to borrow from the nurses to jog Rina's memory in the case she forgot about the toymaker.

Just then, a dark red car pulled up and out came a woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties with fair skin and short black hair. The back door swung open and two kids, a girl and a boy who looked just like her, ran out of the car to the daycare. The woman then saw the girls and waved to them as she walked over to the daycare behind her kids. Mari stood in front of the group and waved to her stiffly, hoping that this was Rina.

"You're Mari, right?" The woman asked as she got closer," It's nice to meet you, I'm Rina."

Mari drew out a sigh in relief and smiled to Rina saying," I'm really glad I got to see you this morning, I promise I'll make this quick."

Rina nodded and led the girls into the daycare. The four of them exchanged looks of questions but ended up following after Rina. Inside the daycare, kids could be seen running around, playing in groups and doing other things like colouring or playing dress-up. The kids were also quite loud, but the group wasn't surprised considering how many of them were in the daycare.

Asuna pressed her ears shut, muttering to Kiriko," Don't they have too much energy for a Monday morning?"

"Well they're kids. It's not like they spent their weekend partying and trying to recover from a lousy hangover." Kiriko pointed out to her plainly, with Asuna's face flushing red in response," I'm sure there was a time you were just like them anyways."

Sophie noticed Mari's eyes were all over the place, looking at each and every corner in disbelief. Sophie then tapped Mari lightly on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Is everything ok?" Sophie asked her quietly.

"This place feels familiar, but...something feels off." Mari stated as she looked around the daycare, but then her train of thought came crashing as she saw a kid running around with a plush bee with a familiar collar around its neck.

"Look, that kid's got a plush from the toymaker!" Mari whispered to Sophie as she grabbed hold of her arm before another kid ran past them with a collared plush," And that one too!"

"It seems this place also received a visit from the toymaker..." Kiriko remarked as the group found a box of plush toys marked as "the toys from Miss R" .

The girls gathered around the box, inspecting the toys inside of it to make sure they were just like the ones from the hospital. Mari inspected them thoroughly, while the others just held them gingerly, unsure of how to tell whether or not the plushes were made by the toymaker. After a few moments, Mari looked at her teammates and nodded.

"So, the toymaker goes by Miss R." Mari said as she held up a pair of plushes in her hands.

Rina then walked towards the group, chuckling awkwardly," So I see you've found the box. The toymaker stopped by this place once, but I missed her the day she delivered all these toys. But...something tells me this isn't her first time giving toys to this daycare."

Rina then knelt next to Mari, pulling out a plush that looked much older than the others in the box, and smiled as she held it in her hands.

Mari then spoke up, saying," The toymaker, though secretive, is a kind person making these toys for the kids. I wish I knew her personally. If we're lucky, she'll make the time to see us."

Rina nodded slowly in response, before she handed the plush to Mari. It was a white, pink and blue plush dog that may've looked like it was just washed, but judging from the piling of its fabric and the soft grey colour it's presumably original white body had, it had been living in the daycare for many years now.

"I'm guessing there were kids who took some of the original plushies home with them huh?" Mari asked with a chuckle as she held the plush tight," The plushes are quite nice, so I can't blame them. I'm glad that the toymaker was willing to make so many of these plushes. Toys can be like a child's best friend, the keeper of all their secrets and a lifetime companion."

Domino was sitting on a bench in an empty park near the daycare, his thoughts scattered as he watched clouds overcast the sun above his head. Their goal at Asperity was as good as complete, but for whatever reason, he didn't expect to be feeling the way that he did. A mixture of unsatisfaction and guilt left him wondering if this was what he truly wanted all along but he wasn't sure if he was ready to know the answer. Most likely because he was simply avoiding it. Domino slowly found himself spending more and more time away from Asperity, something he originally chided Bounce for doing but now understanding how relaxing to take a short leave. If only it wasn't just a short leave.

"Perhaps if I get to work, I can take my mind off things." Domino said to himself as he removed a blueprint roll from his inner pocket and looked at it carefully, though there wasn't much to look at. A few loose sketches were placed in the bottom left corner along with some vague notes, nothing substantial to put into use for an actual plan. As of lately, all of his blueprints had been looking like this, devoid of any innovation or devotion. Domino took a deep breath and hesitated for a moment before he crumpled up the blueprint and tossed it to the side, standing up as he said,

"Well, if Bounce and Rubix can strike heedlessly without a plan, who's to say that I can't?"

The girls were just about ready to take their leave from the daycare after Rina and Mari exchanged numbers, both of them in hopes that Rina's mother would hear back from the toymaker soon when suddenly, a shroud of black smoke emerged from inside of the daycare.

Rina was more than alarmed, running straight towards the daycare, heedless of the danger that may have come to her if she entered as she said," There must be some kind of fire inside!"

"But...this doesn't smell like regular smoke..." Sophie pointed out quietly while Rina tried to pull open the door to no avail.

Rina seemed to caught up in trying to open the door to notice Domino standing on top of the daycare building, glowering towards the group with a collection of black shards in hand.

"Miss Rina, get back!" Kiriko shouted to her, but Rina didn't listen. One she was finally able to open the door, all the smoke from outside poured out into the front yard. It was awfully dense and the girls all standing next to each could barely see anything around them.

Domino then shouted from on top of the building," Ah look, a strong Patchwork Heart to lead my brand-new army of Defectives, or...perhaps I should call them Defectlings. "

Suddenly, the door to the daycare bursted open and out came a group of Defectives that weren't as big as the regular sized ones the Cures were used to. The Defectives were all clearly made the plushes that the toymaker gave to the daycare and the sight of it made Mari's blood boil.

The rest of the team looked disgusted to see these plushes made with love to be used in such a heinous way but the only person to voice their thoughts was none other than Mari.

" I seriously wish I could understand what goes on in your head, what you need to tell yourself to justify your actions, because I can't seem to understand why you continue to do this. We shouldn't have to be the ones telling you you're doing the wrong thing, not after all this time." Mari said as she held her PlayPact, with her teammates following suite.

"Pretty Cure, it's 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!"

"When evil is near, playtime is here! Together we are..." The girls said in unison," Toychest Pretty Cure!"

The four of them were able to emerge from the smoke, but they were soon found by the team of Defectlings that ran out of the daycare.

Domino leapt down from the building and stood in front of Rina, who was still conscious inside the smoke. Rina was far from pleased, narrowing her eyes at Domino as she coughed from the smoke filling her lungs.

"I don't know who, or what, you are but I can tell you for certain that Mari was right. No matter your matter, these children haven't done anything to deserve." Rina said between coughs,"These actions will catch up to you."

"That's where you're wrong." Domino said with a deep breath as he pressed a set of sequences on his control panel," I'm only doing what my family needs me to do. What happens to anyone else isn't any of my business."

"Your family? If your family is so important to you, shouldn't you be the one to advise them that they're doing the wrong thing?" Rina said to him as she covered her mouth and nose to keep the smoke out," Do you really think your family has anything to gain from this?"

Domino kept silent and only launched out a black shard from the opening in his palm, watching Rina writhe in pain before she fell to the ground unconscious.

Domino then retrieved the red and white reindeer plush he found inside the daycare and merged Rina's corrupted Patchwork heart with it.

"Do your worst, Defective!" Domino called out.

The reindeer plush turned into a full-size Defective and emerged from out of the smoke in search of the Pretty Cure.

The Cures were easily outnumbered by the mass of Defectlings around them, all of them glowering towards the four Cures as they formed around the team. The Cures stood backs against each others as they studied the group of Defectlings in front of them.

Teddy was the first to speak up, pointing out," Well, there's a lot of them so chances are, they only have strength in numbers!"

"That may be so, but with so many of them, I could only imagine that about four of them would equal the strength of one regular sized Defective." Dolly stated plainly as she kept her gaze away from the Defectlings' glare," If we were to have one of us take on four of them, it could work but that bigger Defective will give us a hard time, especially if it happens to have control over the Defectlings."

"Maybe one of us could handle the Defective while the others chip away at the Defectlings?" Bubbly suggested, with Teddy shaking her head in response.

"That means the rest of us will need to do the fighting against like six or seven Defectlings, it'll be too much." Teddy pointed out to her.

Fantasy stayed silent, looking at her team and then the Defectlings in deep thought.

"I'm sure some kind of illusion would be able to work on them, but the question is...what kind?" Fantasy thought to herself.

Teddy then broke Fantasy's train of thought, rushing straight into battle as she hollered," If we can't think of anything better, then we'll just have to have a full-on showdown!"

"Are you an idiot? You literally just said we shouldn't fight so many of them by ourselves!" Dolly yell-whispered, certain that Teddy wasn't going to pay attention to her regardless as she dashed towards her.

Teddy jumped up as high as she could and shouted out," Pretty Cure, Embers of Hell!"

A giant set of flames created from Teddy's palms and she shot them down to the ground where the Defectlings all stood.

"That's definitely not her attack's name." Bubbly pointed out flatly as she ran alongside Dolly," Do you suppose she forgot it?"

The flames were much larger than usual and once Teddy got back on the ground, she admired the array of flames she had the pleasure of making.

"No, it was probably to sound cool for once." Dolly explained in a deadpan tone as she watched the Defectlings run away from the flames in pure fear.

The Defectlings were much more scared of the fire than any of the Cures expected, going as far as pushing other Defectlings out of the way to dodge the fire. But, these actions weren't taken lightly by the pushed Defectives and soon enough, some of the Defectlings actually started engaging in battle with each other. What started out as a little bit of pushing evolved into full-on fights against each other and the Cures were at a loss of words as they watched the Defectlings fight.

"Wow, it's like they're doing all the work for us." Bubbly remarked before a pair of Defectlings came behind the team, only to fight with other.

The Defectlings had been so angered by each other that they completely forgot about their issue at hand, leaving the Cures to really do nothing but sit and watch.

"Remember, they're much stronger as a unit so let's make use of this opportunity!" Dolly shouted as she took the lead and jumped up to deliver a set of kicks into the Defectling before her. The Cures nodded in agreement and each tried to take on a Defectling, though none of them appeared to be interested in a fight with them.

"Are you kidding? This is absolutely ridiculous!" Domino shouted in disbelief as his gaze turned to the reindeer Defective," Go set them straight right this instant!"

The reindeer nodded and darted towards the group of Defectlings. Once it got close enough to the little Defectling group, it let out a loud cry that forced the Cures to press their ears shut in fear of going deaf.

"What is it doing?!" Bubbly shouted to the team as they looked over to the group of Defectlings.

The Defectlings weren't recoiling back from the loud noise and instead were as still as a statue, all of them with a look so fearful in their eye that they appeared unresponsive. Once the reindeer Defective ended their cry, the Defectlings returned to the matter at hand, though something appeared to be off with them.

The Defectlings were moving more efficiently as a team and didn't act as immature as before, it was as if they experienced a complete reprogramming from the Defective's cry.

"Damn it, just when we got the upper hand!" Teddy griped as she dodged a Defectling trying to lunge for her.

Fantasy nodded upon hearing Teddy's comment, but then an idea struck her moments later. She looked around at the set of Defectlings surrounding them and narrowly dodged getting hit by a Defectling before she jumped up high on a nearby lamppost and balled her fists.

She then shouted out," Pretty Cure, Play-!"

The reindeer Defective went and knocked Fantasy off of the lamppost, launching her into a set of trees far from their battleground.

"Now we're down one Cure? Things can't get any worse huh?" Teddy said as she ducked and led two of the Defectlings to bash heads with each other.

"Shouldn't we go see if Fantasy's ok?" Bubbly asked as she shot a stream of bubbles towards the trio of Defectlings before her.

Dolly barely dodged a punch from the Defectling she was fighting against as she said," If you wanna try getting through all these Defectlings to check on Fantasy, be my guest!"

Bubbly narrowed her eyes at Dolly, unimpressed by the sarcastic undertone lying in her statement as she continued to fight the Defectlings.

Fantasy was located by a set of shrubs in front of the trees she slammed into, stretching out her arms carefully before inspecting them for any bruises. To her surprise, there was no sign that she had just been slammed into a set of trees and hit by a ten-foot tall reindeer-like Defective.

"Amazing...maybe the real monster here is me." Fantasy mused with a weak chuckled as she opened and closed her fist," I always had a feeling that my defense would be stronger than the others, but this is unreal. Agh, focus Cure Fantasy! We have other things to tend to!"

"Watching those Defectlings fight one another after Teddy's attack gave me a good idea, but with this many opponents, I need full concentration!" Fantasy said to herself as she pressed her eyes shut and held her hands out," I won't let these innocent people suffer any longer!"

Once Fantasy cleared her mind and thought of nothing but the Defectlings a few feet away, her plan was set into motion. Her first step was to get into their head, to see what they were seeing and "modify" what was in their line of sight.

"You won't be fighting with my team any longer. From here on out, you'll go forth to battle each other!" Fantasy declared, raising her voice slightly.

Each of the Defectlings saw the trio of Cures ganging up on them, so they fought back. But, it wasn't actually the Cures they were fighting. Once again, the Defectlings were fighting each other, but this time, they saw the Pretty Cure instead of the other Defectlings.

Bubbly was the first to notice that the Defectlings were beginning to fight each other again and looked at them in question before coming to the realization of what happened.

"Did something happened between the Defectlings again? There's too many of them to keep track of what's going on." Dolly said as she took a step away from the Defectling she had been fighting who was now fighting another Defectling.

The fighting among the Defectlings was much more intense than before and the Cures returned to watching from the sidelines, having a faint idea of what could've caused this.

"With Fantasy keeping the Defectlings occupied, now's our best chance to deal with the main Defective." Dolly stated in a low voice, with her teammates nodding in response.

The three of them ran towards the main Defective, who appeared unpleased at the sight of them and tried to make another cry to get the Defectlings attention.

"Oh no you don't!" Bubbly shouted as she shot a set of water tendrils towards the Defective, pushing it back a few feet.

The Defective was now too upset to even pay attention to its Defectling subordinates and began to fight the trio of Cures. Surprising no one, the main Defective was much stronger than the Defectlings and managed to fight against them with ease despite being outnumbered. But since the Defective was so caught up in the battle, it failed to notice the Defectlings wearing each other down.

Fantasy was rubbing her temples, eyes pressed shut as she continued to keep up the illusion she created in the Defectlings' minds.

"Keep going...just a bit more please..." Fantasy said, her breathing getting quicker without her realizing it. This had likely been the longest Fantasy had kept an illusion going, and never had she felt herself under so much stress both physically and mentally during battle. She had gotten so used to relying on illusions that lasted a couple of seconds that it was near unthinkable to create one that would last as long as this. Fantasy felt hopeless as she continued her illusion, desperately reassuring herself that it wouldn't take much longer for the Defectlings to tire themselves out. Just when she felt like she had control of the situation again, she felt a sharp pain in her head and impulsively opened her eyes, breaking the illusion. Something appeared in her mind, something very ominous and overwhelming but she wasn't quite sure what it was. All she saw was a bright flash of violet lights that came from seemingly nowhere. Fantasy felt her heart sink for a moment, disappointed that she couldn't keep her illusion together but instead of feeling sorry for herself, she ran back to the field to help the others.

The Defectlings had exerted most, if not all of their energy fighting each other, so at this point they weren't any match for the Cures. But the team was still fighting against the reindeer Defective who didn't even seem the slightest bit depleted of its strengths.

Teddy leapt in front of the Defective and shouted, "Pretty Cure, Flaming- agh!"

The Defective was too quick and didn't even give Teddy a chance to execute her attack, knocking her off balance. Teddy lost her footing and fell on the ground, glaring at the Defective while Dolly took a turn in fighting against the Defective.

Fantasy rushed towards Teddy and helped her to her feet, while Teddy grumbled," This'll never work! That Defective doesn't want to listen to any of us! Not even Dolly!"

Fantasy said nothing in response and only stared down the Defective, trying to think of how she could be of any help. If Dolly couldn't get through to it, did they stand a chance? Fantasy took a deep breath and looked at her hands for a moment.

"Using an illusion on this Defective might be mean, I don't want to try messing with them like that. Especially since the last few Defectives have been somewhat emotional. But, if I don't do something to help out, things will only get worse!" Fantasy thought to herself as she darted up to the Defective.

"Bubbly, put up a barrier around me and the Defective!" Fantasy requested as she ran past Bubbly.

"Um, ok!" Bubbly responded and did just as ordered as soon as Fantasy got close enough to the Defective.

The Defective looked at the barrier and immediately tried to break through it, rather than fight against Cure Fantasy.

"Really? You'd rather bust out to fight the other Cures than fight me?" Fantasy asked sarcastically," That's fine, I'm not much of a fighter anyways."

Fantasy then joined her hands and closed her eyes for a brief moment and declared," I won't be fighting you, instead I'll be showing you how this isn't the real you."

Fantasy then opened one eye, revealing her sclera to be black and her iris pink as she met the gaze of the Defective.

Once the Defective locked eyes with Fantasy, it no longer saw her but the group of kids from before that were inside the daycare, now crying as they cast away the plushes from the toymaker.

"Wait no, you're suppose to cherish those toys, not throw them around like that!" The Defective shouted as it reached its arm out, though it was aware they wouldn't be able to reach them," How could I let this happen?"

"Its ok, it wasn't your fault." Fantasy reassured in a gentle voice as she came close to the Defective," However you're in control of what happens next. You could either continue to let these kids hate these toys or set things right and help us bring them back to normal. I hope you'd be willing to trust me and my team."

The Defective looked at the defeated group of Defectlings and nodded in agreement. Fantasy smiled and gave her teammates a thumbs-up to purify the Defective.

The rest of the team conjured up their scepters and pushed their toy toppers into their respective scepters, leading them to transform into their upgraded forms.

"Playtime begins! Patchwork Form!" The four of them called out.

They held out their scepters up high and shouted in unison," Pretty Cure, Playtime Paradise!"

The Defective and Defectlings were met with a swarm of bright shimmering lights and reverted to their original forms.

"Fantasy that was so cool! You're like the team's hidden ace!" Bubbly exclaimed as she threw her arms around Fantasy. Fantasy smiled, though her thoughts were still fixated on the violet lights she saw before her illusion.

"Was that Rubix? Or...maybe even Lilith. It was a strange sense of magic, but it almost felt as if it belonged to one of the girls, why is that?" Fantasy thought to herself before the Cures reversed their transformations.

Mari received a text hours earlier, just before the group left the daycare, from Rina who claimed she just got in contact with the toymaker. Mari was beyond excited, finally all her hard work and searching was about to pay off.

She arrived at the quiet coffee-shop Rina told them to meet at in a somewhat unfamiliar part of town. Mari looked around expectantly and saw Rina sitting at a booth by herself. Mari wore a somewhat disappointed look on her face and took a seat in front of Rina, who giggled at the sight of an unpleased Mari.

"I'm guessing the toymaker hasn't arrived yet?" Mari asked with an awkward chuckle.

"Mari, why did you want to meet the toymaker so badly?" Rina asked as she took a long sip from the cup in her hands," Did you think that she was special, from some kind of magical kingdom, like a lost kingdom of toys?"

Mari's eyes opened up wide and she only sat there speechless, trying to remain calm as she looked awkwardly at the table.

"Nurse Aya is my mother-in-law. Years ago, I came here because a dear friend of mine left home to live on Earth. I was upset and confused. I didn't understand how she could fall in love with such a boring place, a place nothing like home. I thought she was brainwashed. But...my friend Skylar had never been happier. I could see it in her face, but I hadn't approached her once, not since I cut her off in the kingdom. A lot of people treated her like an outcast once she took her leave and I wasn't any exception. I wanted to bring Skylar back but...I couldn't take her away from this human world she had grown to love. Earth meant everything to her, and so did her family. And before I knew it, I found myself growing fond of earth too." Rina explained.

"Despite the lack of magic, the worlds share some similarities. It's comforting, but...because of the fact I get reminded of home so often, I've grown worried that I won't get a chance to go back one last time." Rina confessed as she pushed her cup away," For years I've stayed away from the kingdom, I was too embarrassed to show my face since I was one of the people who hated Skylar's decision the most. I want to make things right, so I made the plush toys for her charity, but I didn't want her knowing. But now, I've found myself making more of them, in fear that a tradition as old as time is about to die out soon."

"We're not letting that happen!" Mari blurted out, slamming her hands onto the table, startling the two of them," I mean, well...my team is doing everything we can to get the upper hand. As of right now, we need someone with a great amount of knowledge on the elements in kingdom. We were hoping that person would be you."

"Unfortunately, that isn't my expertise." Rina responded with a pitied expression," But...if I'm not mistaken, all the knights in the kingdom are required to have the table of elements in the kingdom memorized. The head knight, Knight River would probably know them best, and who better than to get in contact with him than his own niece?"

"I feel like he would be ashamed to see that I'm not as strong as he believes, but its worth a shot." Mari declared with a nod.

"No...I think he'll find you to be much stronger than expected, Mari." Rina replied, smiling to Mari.