Well, this took way longer than it should've. But oh well, it's here now.
Please leave a review! It honestly helps a lot,
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Chapter 4 - Cure Mossy
She jolted awake, putting a hand to her sweaty forehead.
It was that dream. Again.
She laid back down with a sigh. She'd been having the same dream every night for the past week. The first time she'd had it, it hadn't really felt like a dream at all. But that was crazy, right? There's no way something like that could be anything but a fantasy.
She glanced around at her new room. It still felt so wrong to wake up here, like this was also some kind of dream, and that she'd wake up in her old room any minute now.
She missed it, with its light blue walls and the window above her bed, which looked out over their backyard. It was so different from this new room, which had boring tan walls and a window that only faced a wall.
And yeah, this new room was bigger, and the window didn't have the same annoying shade that made it hard to see through. But she still missed it. She missed it a lot.
And her old school had been just a few minutes away from her house, while the school here was halfway across town.
And now that she thought about it, wasn't today the first day at her new school? What time was it anyways?
She looked over at her clock. 7:40. It was 7:40 a.m.
And school started at 8:00.
And even if she sprinted, it'd take at least 15 minutes to get there.
Which meant…
Crap.
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She ran up the street, only stopping after reaching a crosswalk as she waited for it to turn. Her hair and uniform were messy, with loose hairs escaping her already messy low ponytail, none of the buttons on her jacket having been buttoned, and an untucked shirt. On top of that she was panting heavily, and sweating hard from the run.
Why'd she have to wake up late, today of all days? She was already worried about transferring in partway through the year, and now she was going to be late on her first day!
The best she could hope for would be that she'd meet someone nice to hang out with. Like that Alison girl from the other day. Maybe she'd be lucky, and they'd even be going to the same school.
When they met she'd been half-asleep, so she couldn't really remember the details of her face. She did remember that she had auburn hair though, and a tall nose, and magical fairy wings with something sparkly and pink-
Wait, that didn't sound right…
She didn't have time to think on it however, as the light changed. She quickly continued her sprint towards the school, the details of the girl's appearance being pushed to the back of her mind.
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She'd managed to reach the school. Late, very late, but she'd made it.
And now she had no idea what to do.
She obtusely stared out around the entryway, looking for something that would tell her where she was supposed to go. But she couldn't find anything. Looking around she also noticed that this place was big. Really big. What did they need all this space for?
She saw someone passing, a girl with dark hair in a bun who was going from one of the hallways on the second floor. She instantly bolted up the stairs, running straight towards her. The girl seemed surprised when she ran in front of her, nearly dropping the stack of books she was carrying.
"What do you need?" she asked with a twinge of distaste.
She took a minute to catch her breath, before speaking. "I was wondering where to find the 8th grade classrooms. I'm in-" she paused to pull a piece of paper out of her pocket, "cygnus class."
The girl pointed back to the direction she'd been coming from, "It should be straight back there. The door will be marked, so-"
She couldn't finish as the other girl was already running past her down the hallway, yelling back a quick thank you.
She looked slightly stunned, before turning back and continuing on her way. She huffed, mumbling, "Weirdo. Well, whatever."
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Alison absentmindedly flipped through her book, reading the words without really internalising them. Instead her thoughts lay with her bag, where the three familiars currently resided.
They'd insisted on coming with her today, which wouldn't have been much of a problem, they'd gone with her to school before, but today they wanted to actually stay in class with her instead of staying near the edge of the campus and out of sight until she got out of class.
Their explanation was that there was a chance Hannah would end up transferring into her school, but Alison thought that that was a bit far-fetched. She lived pretty far away from her school, and even if she did end up going, there was no guarantee she'd be in this class. So it'd be better for them to just stay outside so they could look around for her in multiple classrooms.
But they'd insisted, and were still going strong long after her arguments had run dry, so she'd been forced to just let them stay in her bag and hope that they wouldn't get exposed.
She closed her book as the bell began to toll, while the rest of the class began settling down. walked in, setting down a stack of papers on her desk. "Before we start class today, I'd like to say we have a new student that I'll be introducing," she turned towards the door, "Well, that's what I'd like to say, but they haven't arrived yet, so I suppose I'll just be continuing with the lesson until then."
As she began teaching, whispers ran throughout the class. A new student? Who would it be? Was it a boy or a girl? What would they be like?
Alison started thinking about it too. A new student? That could just be a coincidence. But maybe…
The door suddenly opened, and a blonde girl who was drenched in sweat walked in. Her hair was a mess, she was out of breath, and her uniform looked less like she'd put it on, and more like she'd somehow managed to jump into it.
It was unmistakably Hannah, looking just as tired and distressed as the last time Alison had seen her.
She could hardly believe it.
What were the chances? She couldn't help from smiling a bit, this would make everything so much easier!
And now that Hannah was here, she was actually glad that the familiars had tagged along. Alison glanced down at her bag, and saw them poking thier heads out. Alan was looking excitedly between her and Hannah, Biee was looking up at her with an 'I told you so', face, and Clin was stretching a bit, just thankful to finally be getting some air. .
She turned back to Hannah as she began her introduction. "Hello, I'm um, Hannah Scratc, and uh, n-nice to meet you." she said, short of breath.
put a hand on her back, signaling her to stop. "We're in the middle of a lesson right now, so I can't give you too much information at the moment." she told her, before turning back to the class. "For now we'll just find you a place to sit."
Instantly, half the class had thier hands up, all begging for her to sit next to them.
But despite the noise, Fleur's voice managed to cut through the crowd, "maybe she should sit next to Alison, she's the class representative after all!"
"That sounds like a great idea! Max," she said, addressing the boy who currently next to Alison, "Would you mind moving to the back?"
He shot a glare at her, but nevertheless complied, getting up and moving his stuff to the back of the room before Hannah sat down in the now-vacant seat.
"Now Alison," looked at her, "Will you be okay showing Hannah 'the ropes?'"
Alison quickly nodded, diverting the class' attention from her as she continued the lesson.
Hannah looked over at Alison, and scrunched her face in confusion, before her eyes widened in recognition, "Oh, you're that Alison!"
"Yeah! I'm glad you remember." she said.
"I wanted to thank you for helping me find my picture on Saturday. I never really got a chance to do it properly."
Alison nodded, before turning back to her notebook.
Hannah got out her own notebook, and stared intently towards the front of the room. After a few seconds however, her vision began to blur.
It was getting harder and harder to focus, and her eyes just didn't seem to want to stay open. Why was she suddenly getting so sleepy?
Well, she had stayed up really late last night, it'd been so hard to get to sleep then... and she'd just finished sprinting across town...
She tried desperately to stay awake, but as her adrenaline wore off, her head eventually hit the desk with a small thump, and her mind drifted off into sleep.
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Standing at the edge of a sage field, looking out into the grass. Rustling trees formed a border around the front and sides of the grove. She didn't know what was behind her. She didn't remember.
The moon hung high above, freezing the 'fore-morning dew that chilled the air. It was mystifying.
In the center of the field was a small emerald butterfly, drifting above a patch of wildflowers.
She was drawn to the creature, it's shifting crystalline body and glowing light-filled wings. It was alien, a strange presence unknown to her, yet it was so, familiar…
She walked forward, bare feet crunching against the verdure. Reaching out to touch it, her fingers moved forward. She grazed its wing, and felt a strange sensation flow through her. What was this?
It was like light, and darkness. Life, greenery, one with the earth. A foreign energy, magic…
Suddenly, she was pulled back, and the world distorted around her. No! She reached out towards it. She had to reach it, she had to catch it…
Her last finger barely touched the creature, before it dissolved in her fingertip. She helplessly looked on with shock, losing her grip on the ground beneath her. She went flying back, pulled in by the other force.
Darkness began to surround her, until she felt a sharp pain on her hand. With that, the world around her faded away…
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Stars flashed in her eyes as the slap of a ruler on her hand startled her awake. She bolted her head up and looked around in a daze. Where was she? What was happening?
Oh right, she was at school.
sighed as several students around her giggled, "I understand that you're new, but you shouldn't fall asleep in my class. I'll let you off with a warning this time, but next time understand that there will be consequences." she snapped, before walking back to her desk and continuing the lesson.
Hannah sunk into her desk. Oh god, she'd fallen asleep in class. And On her first day! She didn't think she'd been that tired.
She flipped through her notebook, and tuned back in to the lesson. So much for a decent first day…
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Selenium looked over at the coat rack. Then the floor. Then the bar. Literally anywhere other than where her coworker sat on another couch.
But dang it, she could feel the condescending smirk from here!
She clenched a fist to try and let out her anger, but it made her dig her fingernails into her palm and make her even more angry.
When she finally couldn't take it anymore, she whipped around to face him with a sickeningly sweet smirk on her face. "Is there something you wanted to say?"
His smirk only got bigger at her barely concealed rage. "Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about how you've failed twice now at beating the precures. That certainly isn't good, so should I tell someone now, or wait until you lose to them again? Third time's a charm after all."
She fought to keep from punching him in the gut. "Well, if you're saying all that, then I suppose you're confident in your abilities to beat them?"
He feigned mock interest, "Oh gosh, I'm sure that I could, but I have no idea what she looks like or where she is! I'm afraid that I can't."
"Oh, well you're lucky that I have such good eyes then, I can describe it to you." She smiled as he scowled, knowing that there was no way he could get out of this now.
"Fine." he said, "I'll go out and beat them for you, call it a favor."
She looked away. Oh, how revenge was sweet...
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The low gong of the lunch bell rung across the school, and just as it did half the class jumped out of their seats, walking over to their classmates or running out the door to see their friends in other classes.
Hannah pulled out her lunch bag, and took a sandwich out of it. It was peanut butter and jelly, but the jelly was too soggy and had soaked through the bread, the peanut butter was too thick and dry, and the bread was kinda stale. It was a very sad sandwich.
She took a bite of her sad sandwich. Today was just going swimmingly, wasn't it? But she stopped herself, remembering how it could be worse. She could be getting bullied, or not have a lunch, or not know anyone at all. She counted herself really lucky that she'd already met Alison.
She looked towards her desk, hoping to maybe talk about something, but noticed that she wasn't there. Looking around, she saw that she was over by the teacher's desk, discussing something with her.
She looked over at her. Hopefully they could become friends. She couldn't imagine anything more horrible than being alone without anyone to talk to.
"H-hi." she looked up, and realized that Alison was now standing beside her.
"Oh! Sorry, I didn't notice you there."
"It's no problem. But, um, Ms. SilverCap asked me to give you a tour of the school so you'd know your way around. So, would you mind coming with me?" She said with slight nervousness
"Sure!" Hannah said, relieved to have something to do other than eating this sad sandwich.
She followed Alison out of the classroom without hesitation to explore the rest of the school. Maybe this would turn this day around!
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"We should probably start with the entryway!" Alison said, turning around to face her, "Well, I guess you already saw it when you came in, but here it is again!"
Hannah gazed around the room. It was big, with high ceilings and lots of windows. It was so much more magnificent now that she was actually stopping to appreciate it.
There were two long staircases that curved up to the second floor, drawing attention to a large trophy case between them that was filled to the brim with cups and medals.
Golden star ornaments were scattered across the room, with some on the ends of the banister on the second floor landing, some hanging from the ceiling, and others being displayed above the windows and entrances to the different hallways.
It was mostly made of a warm brown wood, the aforementioned gold, and royal blues. A few students were walking about, all making their way to someplace or another.
She also noticed a window leading to an attendance office that was tucked off to the side near the entrance. Now that she thought about it, she really should've gone there first after coming in late. Oh well.
Alison began walking down the stairs towards one of the corridors, and Hannah quickly followed after, continuing to admire the room along the way. She took a bite of her sandwich before they continued on through the school.
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They walked down one of the hallways on the first floor. Looking around, Hannah noticed an assortment of more interesting rooms on either side of them. "Over here are most of the club rooms, and over there are the shops." Alison said, pointing to the other end of the hallway.
"This school has shops?" Hannah questioned.
"Yeah. There's a lunch shop, a cafe, a uniform store, and a supplies shop." she explained, "and not all the clubs are in this hallway. Some are in normal classrooms, and most of the sportyer ones are outside."
Hannah nodded, looking around. The hallway itself was fairly normal, but all of the doors and areas around them were decorated with things relating to that club, like bright fabrics and ruffles around the fashion club's door, pictures and paintings near the art club, posters and schematics next to the robotics club, and so on. To identify each club there was a sign right above the door, made of the same wood as the hallway.
It was a bit further away, but the area with the shops seemed to be a bit more open, with large openings, tables, and large windows facing the hallway. The food shop seemed to just be a kind of built-in stand though. She'd have to stop by and check it out some time. There were also quite a few students around here, getting food or hanging out with their club for lunch.
The same warm wood was present in this hallway, as well as the star decorations and royal blues.
Alison looked over at her. She had to approach her about being a precure, but with all the people around it seemed impossible. Doing it as soon as possible would be good, but she didn't want to seem too suspicious or give her a bad impression…
For now it'd be better to just go along with the tour, and see if she could steal a minute at some point.
"Come on," she said, turning to leave, "We should get going, there's still one more place I'm supposed to take you, and lunch is almost over." Hannah nodded, and they walked off down the hall.
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The two girls walked into a massive room, which had an open second floor and spiral staircases, homey wooden shelves covering every wall that were stuffed top to bottom with thousands upon thousands of books.
"This is the library." Alison said as they walked towards the middle of the room.
Hannah looked around in awe. This was the most amazing library she'd ever seen, never mind that it was in a school! "Why is it so big?"
"I, I'm not sure." Alison said, "I guess the school's just gathered a lot of books over time, and needs a place to put them? This also doubles as a study hall, so that might have something to do with it."
Hannah nodded as she continued to look around. It was huge! There were tables, desks, computers, and everything else that she could ever imagine being in a library present. The librarian's desk, which was being managed by two teachers with some student helpers, was circular and situated in the middle of the first floor, right under a large skylight.
She could easily imagine being able to find some private little place here, and hide all throughout the night, even with security! something like that seemed like it'd be fun!
"Hey, Alison?" she asked.
"Yeah?"
"Has anyone ever tried to stay here overnight?"
Alison tipped her head in thought, "I think there was a dare going around for something like that a couple years ago, But it disappeared after they installed security cameras."
"Huh." Hannah looked up, and saw one of the aforementioned cameras.
Alison looked over towards a clock on the wall. "Oh geez, class is about to start! We should get going." she said, and they began a quick walk back to the classroom.
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They rushed down the empty halls to thier classroom, hoping they'd make it in time.
Much to their dismay however, the bell signaling the end of lunch rang out, and they were still a ways away from thier classroom.
"Great, I'm going to be late twice on my first day!" Hannah moaned.
Alison tried a smile, "I-it's okay, Ms. SilverCap asked me to show you around, so I'm sure she won't mind if we're a few minutes late." she said, hoping that that would be the case.
Hannah looked over at her, "I hope so…"
They continued running down the hallways, when suddenly the lights around them began to flicker. They both stopped. What was going on?
They looked around, and as if out of thin air, a boy a few years older than them who was wearing the school's uniform stood before them.
The second Hannah laid eyes on him, she felt uneasy. Something wasn't right here. But nothing was out of place, was it? It was just a normal student, r-right?
Alison had the same uneasy feeling, only she easily recognised it. But, this boy, he didn't look like one, and they couldn't be here, right?
The boy looked at them, before examining a piece of paper he was holding.
Alison, who wanted to get out of the situation as soon as possible, addressed him, "Um, the bell already rung, so could you maybe move? We, um, have to get to class."
Upon hearing this he smirked, and looked straight at them. "Is that so?" he said, in a voice that seemed far too old for his body.
The lights began flickering again, and as they did, the boy's form shifted and changed, until where a boy was once standing now stood a young man, with shaggy black hair and sagging shoulders, a black coat that, for Alison, was all too familiar. "Well, I'm afraid I can't do that." he finished.
"W-what the hell?" Hannah stammered, stepping back as Alison took a defensive pose.
"You're a ghost, aren't you?" she yelled at him.
His smirk widened. "So it is you. I suppose I shouldn't have doubted her ability to describe what you look like. But anyways, Since you're already familiar with us, I'm assuming you're also familiar with this little trick of ours."
He began to form a sphere of darkness in his hand, and as he did, they heard heavy footsteps approaching from the opposite hall. The ghost tossed a backwards glance, and just as he did, a male student came running down the hall, desperate to get back to class.
"O soul of the weak, bounded to pathetic life, I summon thee, to take and do with as I please!"
The boy froze, and just as it had with Fleur, Alison watched his soul get sucked out, tumbling into the ghost's hand as his body went limp.
He incased the soul within the sphere of darkness, before throwing it towards the girls. They both desperately backed away, and Hannah accidentally dropped her sad sandwich as they did so. The sphere of darkness hit it, and upon collision the sandwich grew to the size of the hallway, becoming a soul demon that loomed over them.
Alison clutched her necklace, where she kept her Pencase. "You're going to pay for that, you monster!" she yelled.
"Now, I think you have things confused. The soul demon is the monster." the ghost nonchalantly responded.
Alison shook with anger. How could this person be so okay with what he'd just done? He hadn't even flinched!
She looked back at Hannah, who was frozen with fear, shaking as she looked up at the demon. It might not be safe for her to transform in front of her, and she really didn't want to reveal the precure to her like this, but it didn't look like she had much of a choice. Whatever. Hannah was going to be a precure anyways, so she could show it to her.
She held her Pencase to the sky, and called, "Precure, Shining Power!"
There was a flash of pink light, and when it faded she was transformed and ready to fight. "The Fairy of Royalty and Crystalline emotions, Cure Heiress!"
"Nice to meet you. I'm Manganese, lower general of Queen Dysprosium's army." he sarcastically responded.
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Meanwhile, in Alison's bag, Alan woke with a start as he felt the sudden pulse of dark magic.
They'd fallen asleep a while ago, which was quite a feat considering just how cramped it was inside the bag, but he'd been woken by the pulse of dark energy that came with summoning a soul demon.
"Biee, Clin!" he whispered, shaking his companions.
"I know, we felt the dark energy." Biee whispered, looking over at him.
"We need to get to Alison!" Clin said, a little louder than the other two were comfortable with.
Biee cautiously poked her head out of the bag and looked around. Class was in session and There were students everywhere, but they could probably avoid them if they tried. Escaping the castle had been much harder than this.
She cautiously flew out of the bag, darting under the desk before slithering against the wall, careful to not touch student's feet as she passed.
When she found a spot where she was pretty sure she'd be safe from wandering eyes, she looked bad to see Alan poking his head out of the bag. she signaled for him to follow her, and soon he and Clin had gotten out of the bag, and were copying her movements exactly.
It was harder for Clin, both being younger and with their long tail, but after they all got together they were able to sneak to the back of the classroom, going as low to the ground as possible to hope that nobody would spot them without the protection of the desks.
Once they were at the back of the room and it was a straight shot to the door, they began going as quickly as they could, and were across the room in seconds.
The door was open just enough for them to slip through, and once they were in the clear and had escaped to the hallways, they flew up to a more comfortable level.
In the desolate hallways, they were free to move around as quickly as they wanted without sneaking around. They flew through the school, the pulsating dark energy acting as their guide.
After a few minutes and several turns they finally came across Heiress, who was fighting a soul demon made from some kind of food in a losing battle.
She was barely dodging, taking almost all of the demon's attacks. She looked to be protecting Hannah, who had fallen over behind her, and was looking on in pure fear.
Floating behind the demon was a ghost, one of the ones that had been in pursuit of them back at the kingdom. He was looking down at his opponent smugly, as if daring her to make a move.
They rushed over to Hannah's side, "Are you okay?" Clin asked her.
"I- I think so, But- wait, what are you? Why did Alison transform, and what's that, thing? I don't even know what's going on right now!"
Biee put a paw on her hand, "We'll explain everything, but we don't have time for that right now." she turned back to Alan, "Do you still have it?"
He nodded, and handed her one of the Pencases. Biee then presented it to Hannah. "Here. You can help Alison, all you need to do is take this, and say, 'Precure Shining Power', alright?"
"What? Why? I-"
"Just do it, okay? Trust me, you'll be fine!"
Hannah swallowed the lump in her throat. She didn't trust these strange, flying creatures, and she didn't want to do what they said. But as she looked at the diamond-shaped object in her hand, she felt a strange warmth that made her rethink things.
Praying she wasn't making a huge mistake, she called out, "P-Precure, Shining Power!"
Instantly, she was enveloped in a bright green light that Illuminated the hallway and blinded her from sight.
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Hannah hesitantly opened her eyes, and found herself in a strange area filled with a greenish-blue sky and green stars. "W-where?" she asked, but got no reply. Was she alone here?
She looked around, before noticing that she was wearing a flowery emerald green dress, which glowed as if it was made from pure energy.
She confusedly looked at herself. What was she wearing? But suddenly, a bright glow began to emanate from her chest, before spilling out and solidifying into the shape of a small green and blue wing-shaped charm with a crystal center.
It looked so much like the butterfly from her dreams, had it been an omen to this moment?
The charm floated towards the Pencase, fitting snugly within its groove.
Instantaneously sparkles bended around her dress, transforming it into an ornate costume, much like Heiress', yet different in many ways.
She had on a dirt-brown vest from which a green skirt flowed, which was bucked on the side with a small flower pin.
A flower sat on one side of her hair, connected by a headband to where a gnome-like hat perched on the other side. Her blond ponytail had changed into half-pigtails, now tinted with green.
The pencase sat in the center of a green bow on her chest, a final detail to complete the outfit.
The remaining sparkles now gathered at the base of her back, forming two small, forked wings and a set of long, jagged floaters.
Once her transformation was complete, the lights around her cleared, and the hallway began coming back into clarity.
She did a dramatic twirl, flowers swirling around her, "The Fairy of Nature and Protective emotions," she posed, stretching her right arm far to the side, "Cure Mossy!"
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Heiress looked at her new teammate in awe. Cure Mossy. Wow. Hannah had awakened as a precure, and now She finally had a teammate. And it couldn't have come at a better time.
This soul demon had been giving her a particularly hard time, constantly firing globs of peanut butter and jelly at her which kept her from coming close. She might've been able to jump to the back and attack it from there, but she couldn't risk leaving Hannah unprotected.
That had forced her to remain stationary, taking all of the demon's attacks head-on. She'd even ended up summoning her wand and using 'crystal catcher' to see if that would do anything, but without anything to 'catch' it was useless.
But now Hannah was a precure, and they could work together to beat this thing!
Meanwhile, Hannah, or rather, Cure Mossy, was trying to figure out what had just happened.
"What am I wearing?! I-is this like what happened to Alison? Hey, is this permanent? Or-"
"Mossy." Heiress said, grabbing her attention. "I promise that everything's okay, and that I'll explain everything, but right now we need to work together to defeat this soul demon, okay?"
She looked at her with confusion, before her hesitation turned into an assured nod. "Okay."
They turned to face the soul demon and Manganese, who were just now recovering from the bright light. "Damn, there's two of them now? Well, at least this'll be interesting."
Heiress began running at the demon, and Mossy followed her lead. She turned to the right, and understanding her strategy, Mossy turned to the left. Coming at it from opposite sides, there was no way it could attack both of them!
Evidently it could, as it sent out a torrent of jelly at Heiress that she barely managed to dodge, and a similar blast of peanut butter at Mossy that caught her leg.
Despite its lack of eyes, the demon seemed to know that it had caught one of the cures, and turned to face Mossy.
Quickly noticing this, Heiress jumped over to her and pulled her out of the peanut butter just before the demon slammed one of the slices of bread down to where she'd just been standing.
"That was close."
"N-no kidding."
Heiress looked up towards the soul demon as the familiars flew over. "How are we supposed to beat this thing?"
"I'm not sure, but you have to hurry! If you take too long then someone might come by here and be hurt!" Biee warned them.
The demon then threw a kick at them, forcing them to jump up in order to dodge. Mossy was surprised at the amount of height she'd managed to gain with a single leap. Was this the sort of power she'd received?
Heiress moved through the air at the demon, kicking it on one of the pieces of bread. She then backflipped back, landing next to her. The kick left an indentation in the bread, but it quickly began glowing and evening back out.
Heiress grit her teeth. Mossy looked at her in confusion. What was happening?
She turned to her. "Come on. We need to-" she was abruptly cut off as a shot of jelly hit her in the side, knocking her back.
Mossy turned back towards the demon, ducking when another shot of jelly came her way. Following her instincts, she rounded behind it, jumping on top of it before it had a chance to turn around and face her.
She didn't know what she'd been expecting, but the top of the demon felt very much like an actual bread crust. She pushed it back, launching herself forward, but wasn't able to stick a landing and ended up falling on her decent.
"Oh wow, you pushed it back a little. I'm frankly surprised." Manganese said from a ways away. She couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
Heiress ran up to her, having recovered from the shot, and looked towards the demon. "Crap, what are we supposed to do to beat this thing?"
Mossy looked at it. What could they possibly use to beat it? The peanut butter seemed to make things stick, while the jelly did damage. But how could they possibly use that? She tried to think back to how she'd made it the previous night, to see if there was anything significant she could remember.
What had she done? She remembered spreading the condiments on with a butterknife, closing then sandwich, and then…
Wait, a knife...
A knife!
If they could just find something to cut the sandwich with, then they'd be able to beat it!
She looked at Heiress' wand. Earlier, she'd done a trick with it that had created some kind of jewel-shaped thing. If it was sharp enough…
"Alison? Can you do that trick you did earlier? With the jewel thing?"
"Cure Heiress- of course I can! Where should I aim it?"
Eyeing Manganese, who was still flying idly above, now sketching on a piece of paper, Mossy whispered the plan to her companions.
"But where should I aim it?" Heiress whispered.
"I noticed the soul was between the slices, right in the middle." Alan replied.
"Perfect."
All of them nodded in agreement, before the two cures once again faced their adversary.
"Hey! Demon! Look! Look at me!" Mossy yelled, flailing her arms around.
Manganese briefly looked up from his paper. What were they doing?
As the demon turned towards Mossy, Heiress readied her wand. "Precure, Crystal Catcher!" she yelled, sending the grapple towards her foe.
It collided with the demon, but only managed to create a line of damage, not cut through the bread.
"Is that honestly the best you can do?" Manganese laughed, "I thought legendary warriors would at least be able to make it past the test round. Demon, attack the pink one!"
It turned to face Heiress now, and slammed her into the ground, sticking her down with a glob of peanut butter.
It began readying a shot of jelly, and Mossy panicked. No! She had to save her, she couldn't let that monster take her friend!
Suddenly, she felt power flow into her hands, something living, like the earth, some primordial power that coursed all around, and begin to take shape. She imagined a wand much like Heiress', but with a blooming flower instead of a crown, and a shining gem of green…
Summoning her wand, she jumped in front of her comrade and by instinct, yelled, "Precure, Daffodil Disk!"
A small green-tinted shield that was shaped as its namesake appeared before her wand, blocking them from the attack.
"Thank you!" Heiress called, lifting herself up. "Maybe your shield will be able to cut through the bread!"
Mossy stepped towards the monster, "Well, Let's find out!" she yelled, before releasing the disk from her wand, sending it flying forward like a frisbee.
It cut clean through the demon before dissipating, revealing the soul, wedged right where Alan said it would be.
The familiars jumped at the chance, working together to retrieve the soul before the demon could regenerate.
Upon losing the soul its body unraveled, returning to its original state, much to the displease of Manganese. "Very interesting, I'll need to document this. I suppose those girls are strong after all." he mumbled to himself, before dissipating away.
Mossy collapsed onto the floor, her transformation undoing itself out of exhaustion. "Is it over?"
Heiress let out a sigh of relief, undoing her own transformation. "Yeah, it is."
The familiars delivered the soul back to the boy's body, looking over him to make sure he was okay.
"He'll be unconscious for a while, but other than that he's fine!" Alan said, flying over. "But you should really get going, you're late enough as it is and hanging around will probably only cause more problems for you." they glanced around at the beat up hallway.
"Wait!" Hannah said, jumping up, "Nobody has explained anything to me yet! I'm not leaving until someone tells me exactly what's going on!"
Alison put a hand on her shoulder, "I'm so, so sorry about not being able to tell you everything now, but we need to get back to class as soon as possible. If we stick around and someone comes by, they might think we did this, and, um." She gestured around.
"Ok, but the second we get out of class, you will tell me everything, ok?"
"Of course." she said, before they jogged off back to class, the familiars hot on thier heels.
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After arriving in class 30 minutes late, Alison and Hannah had, as expected, been given an extra hour's worth of homework. each.
Aside from that, Hannah was still conflicted about what had happened. What had happened? Was she expected to keep it a secret? And if she was, then just how long was she supposed to keep it?
But there was another thing, aside from all the magical craziness, that still bugged her.
She'd been so worried about not having friends here, but now that she and Alison were roped into some kind of magical destiny whatnot, she just had to know.
She tore a piece of scratch paper from her notebook, quickly writing down her question. She slipped it to Alison while the teacher wasn't looking, before returning to taking notes.
Alison grabbed the note, hiding it behind her book in order to read it. Her eyes widened a bit at what it said. Was she really asking-?
She got out her pencil and put it to the paper. She didn't want to sound presumptuous, but, well…
After a few minutes, Alison passed the note back. Hannah could barely contain her excitement as she opened it, and after reading it, her face broke out into a large grin.
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Are we friends now?
Yes!