The true strength of their leader, Asa, the Shining Hero, gave them hope...

Kawada Asa shut her notebook and blushed. She wasn't quite sure why she wrote this stuff. Self-inserts were frowned upon, mostly because they tended to suck, and she knew hers weren't anything special. (Besides, her computer was fifteen years old and too slow to post them up for anyone to mock.) She just wanted to be a hero.

The thing, though, was that she was one. Just a handful of days ago, she, along with the intimidating Nakayama Yoko and the cute little creature Starry, had found the second of thirteen Moon Pieces. The Etherium, a hub of worlds reverted to empty voids, wanted them to complete the Moon Dial and control time so they could expand their emptiness. Asa and Yoko had fought one of them that day, a magician called Mekuramast. He'd refused to summon a monster that time, and he'd given up in the middle of the fight, but he still really seemed to want the Moon Pieces. Asa didn't get it. He should have been her father, though. If the man had to be gone for years, the least he could do, she reasoned, was make it plot-relevant.

Something had really bothered her teammate, though. Finding the Moon Piece in their own classroom had been too convenient, Nakayama-san had said (it had been fine with Asa, but if she said so). Someone, she concluded, must have known who they were. The question, then, was...

Futari wa Pretty Cure Blue Moon

Episode 6: Someone's Seen Us? But Who Is It?

Kondou Hoshi closed her notebook in the break between classes. "So, Asa, what's got you so deep in thought?"

Asa blushed and waved it off. "Just something you wouldn't care about."

Hoshi felt Asa's forehead. "You must be sick. You tell everyone what's on your mind, whether or not they care or even get it."

"Hey," Asa protested, though she knew it was true.

"Asa~." The other girl shook her messy brown hair and leaned back in her seat. "You're not in love with someone, are you? Come on, who is it?"

"No way!" Asa blushed. She couldn't say she was talking about being a transforming hero, but still, Hoshi was way off the mark. "Where did you get that from?"

"True, true." Hoshi took out her book for the next subject. "The only things I could see you in love with are 'truth, justice and friendship'."

"Did you just insult me?" Asa sweatdropped.

"Sorry, sorry!" Hoshi waved her hand. "Just don't show too much burning spirit, or the Ice Queen will melt into a puddle and you'll have to do your science project by yourself."

"Hoshi, you're mean." Despite herself, Asa couldn't help but giggle at the image of a Yoko-puddle.

It was true, though, that she had been thinking. If her partner was right, then they had to find out who knew their secret and why, right? Whoever it turned out to be, this person seemed to be helping them, if that Moon Piece really had been planted for them to find. It was just like on Super Ultra Special Team: Jungle, the fifth season of her absolute favourite franchise (although DaiFighter was doing great right now; she really hoped it would get another season). The only thing, though: who could it be?

"Morning again, class!" The one person who it probably could not be twirled into the room. By this, of course, we mean Ami-sensei. "I hope you've all been working hard on your science projects~!"

Asa raised her hand. "Nakata-sensei?"

Ami-sensei looked over. "Yes?"

Asa stood up. "Where did you get your paperweight?"

"Ah, this?" The teacher smiled and picked up a shiny, purple stone cat. It was actually a copy of her original paperweight, which Asa and Yoko had had to take when it turned out to be a Moon Piece. Looking at it, Ami-sensei almost sparkled.

"I'm glad that my students are taking an interest in good art! Usually, nobody cares about such things. It's such a tragically apathetic world! When I try to tell them that I found this beautiful paperweight while I was out in the shopping district, they ignore me just as when I ask for the raise I've deserved for the past five years! The local art of Kazahana City is so neglected by the outside world, but you, you students appreciate it! This is the first indicator of a brighter future for us all!"

She went on about love and hope and her latest invention to make the microwave go faster for a good fifteen minutes and finished off with five minutes of whining that she wanted a promotion before she actually got around to teaching class. Afterwards, the other girls all came over and thanked Asa.

"I didn't feel like learning today."

"You bought me time to finish the questions from last class!" (Hadn't they had the weekend for that?)

"How'd you know that purple paperweight would get her talking like that?"

Asa blushed. 'Is this what it's like to be popular?', she thought. 'Or... is this just what it's like to be normal?'

"The shopping district?" Yoko blinked. "Did she mean the Seiki Open Mall?"

"I think so," Asa said. "It's only been considered a 'mall' for ten years, when one family store decided that they should all affiliate with one another. Kind of like uniting their separate powers, you know? I don't remember when it was just called 'the shopping district', but my mom does."

"Then when would she have gotten it?" Yoko kept an eye on the door of the empty classroom. "I know some people keep calling things by the same name, but the trail would be cold if it were really 'the shopping district' when she found the Moon Piece."

Starry popped out of Asa's phone. "Don't worry ~susu. The Moon Pieces were only scattered here the day before I found you two ~susu."

Yoko rubbed her chin. "Even so, if they were scattered, there might not even be another one in the same place."

Asa frowned. She hadn't thought of that. "But then what do we do...?"

"Let's check it out anyway ~susu." Starry smiled up at them. "It's better to look than to pass it by, right ~susu?"

"I guess," Yoko began, when the door opened. Okamoto Yukari, hair in a black braid around the top of her head, walked into the Lily Class room.

"Ah, Yoko, did you want to go shopp...ing..." She blinked. "Kawada-san?"

Asa tensed up. "Okamoto-san! Hi!"

Yukari gave a slightly devious smile to Yoko. "Oh, so you are making more friends, Yoko! That's good to hear."

Yoko stood up. "We're just talking about the science project. That's all."

"Aww, don't be like that." Yukari walked over to them. "Why don't you come shopping with us, Kawada-san? More people always means more fun."

"Not always," Yoko said under her breath.

"Sure!" Asa backed up. "I mean, if it's all right for you."

Yukari smiled. "Well, of course it - oh!" She picked Starry up off the desk, where he had been trying his best not to move. "This is adorable! Is it yours, Kawada-san?"

"Uh... kind of." Asa's face turned a little pink. "Can I have him back now, please?"

"Oh, of course!" Yukari handed him back and Asa stuffed him into her bag, where he entered the phone.

"We're really going shopping together..." Yoko sweatdropped.

"Come on, it's bonding!" Yukari smiled. "Let's go!"

Kainatrol twirled her riding crop between her fingers. "So none of you have managed to find a single Moon Piece, and nobody has any clue if Pretty Cure has any, either?"

Everyone in the Etherium nodded. Mireyes looked down gravely at the crystal ball in her hands - at least, she tilted her head down, but, thanks to the veil she wore, no one could see her eyes to tell whether she was actually looking at anything. Binbeat looked around, obviously bored, until Kainatrol swatted him with the riding crop and he let out a cry of pain. Tachimany started to fidget as they fought the temptation to send one of their bodies behind Kainatrol and give her bunny ears. Mekuramast turned his head away.

"This is unacceptable." Kainatrol paced in front of them, occasionally smacking her open palm. "The Boss won't be happy if we don't get them soon. The pressure is there. Not only did the Garden of Days scatter the Moon Pieces in a different world, they've also awakened the legendary warriors, Pretty Cure. As in, the Pretty Cure who stole the Moon Dial from us in the first place twenty-five years ago!"

"Ah, but Kainatrol," Mekuramast interjected with a spin of his wand, "you were the one who said that they weren't the same people. They're just a pair of inexperienced girls, aren't they?"

Kainatrol's glare was worthy of her "Feared" title. "So were the last ones."

Mekuramast didn't flinch. "Then why don't you just see how strong they are? It'll be a good experience."

"I don't fight," Kainatrol said. "You'll have to find someone else for that, magician."

"If I may," Mireyes said, "they were drawn out once before with the appearance of a Hidoinaa in an area where they happened to be. Kazahana City is still quite small and, though a monster may not be visible from all over, news of its appearance is likely to reach the girls immediately if it is planted in a highly populated area."

The ripple of the Boss appeared again. "You may be right, Mireyes. Go try to see if you can't draw the two of them out."

The old woman bowed and vanished from the scene.

"This is fun, isn't it?" Yukari smiled at the two of them.

Asa looked around the shopping district and away from Yoko, who was sending shivers onto her skin again. "Yeah... Hey, look, what are they building over there?" She pointed at a half-done construction site.

"Oh, that?" Yukari looked up at it. Yoko's gaze followed along as her friend continued. "That's been there for a couple months. They're building a new jewelry store where the old bank was! You know, the one that got destroyed in a fire three years ago?"

It was hard to tell who felt more like she shouldn't be standing there with the other two. Yoko turned her head away from Asa. Her intrusion was changing things already. Yoko had no way of knowing about the old bank or the shopping district or anything like that. Kawada Asa, the girl everybody laughed at behind her back, looked like she was getting along better with Yoko's own friend than Yoko herself did on a regular basis. On the other hand, Asa still granted herself only the occasional glance at Yoko before she looked away and shuddered. Besides all these problems, there was still the matter of that one possibility. 'Someone must know who we are.'

Yukari stopped and extended her arms to the sides. Asa and Yoko bumped into them and stumbled back.

"Hold it!"

She turned around and stepped back to face the two. They both blinked at her.

"I don't know what's going on, but it's not healthy to just be avoiding each other, okay?"

Her audience of two stared. Yukari smiled.

"Come on! Let's do something fun. There's a purse shop right over there!"

Asa had no earthly idea why buying a new purse was supposed to be fun, and besides, those were way too expensive, especially from some specialty shop. She had her school suitcase on hand already, and, on holidays, her worn-out orange canvas bag with her name stitched on could last her for another ten years or so. Before she could protest, though, Yukari twirled over to the store without them.

"...Do we have to go there?"

Yoko blinked at her and slightly laughed to herself before she walked over to her friend. Asa sighed and followed along.

Mireyes materialized on top of a metal beam. She turned her head around to survey the construction site around her.

"Hmm..."

A worker approached behind her. "Um, lady, you're not supposed to be in here..."

She swirled around and struck her hand forward. A small magic circle drew itself and she hit it with her open palm. The worker, directly in front of it, was blasted back to the other end of the site. He crumpled when he hit the wire fence, leaving a noticeable dent.

The old woman swished back around and began to walk around the construction site as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, and look at this one! " Yukari held up a large, white leather bag with gold buckles and zippers all over. "There's space for everything in here! I could sneak a whole bag of fun-sized candy into the movie theatre!"

Asa picked up the price tag and made a face. "Does someone our age even have that kind of money?"

Yoko's hair stood on end. "Yukari! You're not allowed to sneak candy into the theatre! That's what the concession stand is for!"

"Aww, you two are no fun." Yukari giggled. "More people would buy from the concession stand if it weren't so expensive, Yoko!"

The grey-haired girl twitched. "The concession stand wouldn't be so expensive if more people bought food there instead of smuggling!"

"Hidoinaa!"

Yukari pouted. "You don't have to say it's awful, Yoko, I-" She blinked at the other two. "What's going on? Your faces are completely white!"

Asa and Yoko looked at each other and then ran to the display windows of the store. People were running through the paved walking street and screaming. Something came very close to crashing through the window from outside; Asa stumbled back, and Yoko inwardly raged.

"Something's going on, Yukari!" Yoko turned her head back. "You should run!" She burst through the front door. Asa nodded and ran after her.

Yukari shivered. She started out to follow, but something grabbed her wrist.

"Wha-!"

She looked up behind her. A woman with bright red hair shook her head.

"Who..."

"Run the other way, Okamoto Yukari-san." She began to lead the confused girl off in the direction that the crowd was running. "The other two know what they're doing."

Asa and Yoko had run against the grain of the crowd and tracked it to the construction site. Sure enough, a crane was dangling its hook this way and that and had grown a very scary-looking face. It shouted "hidoinaa, hidoinaa!" as it swung back and forth.

"That's a safety hazard!" Yoko glared and pulled out her phone.

"It's a monster," Asa reminded. The two of them ran behind a pile of barrels and slashed the Moon Cards.

"Dual Infinite Phase!"

Mireyes looked over at the noise. A large magic circle and a flash of light appeared over some barrels, and two girls in strange costumes jumped up on top of them.

"On behalf of the light..." Asa put one hand on her hip. "I am Cure Sunday!"

"In the name of the shadows..." Yoko put the opposite hand on her own hip. "I am Cure Night!"

They put their inside hands in the air, acting as perfect mirrors. "We are Pretty Cure!"

"We'll defend at all hours..." They pointed forward at her and the Hidoinaa.

"To ensure a peaceful era!"

Cure Night blinked and flailed. "What are we doing standing on these? This is completely unsafe! And shouldn't we have hard hats at a construction site? Neither of us has even had ladder training!"

Cure Sunday stared. "Uh, Night... don't we have powers? We won't just die if we fall."

Night crossed her arms and glared. "It's the principle of the thing."

"Fufufu..." The old woman in white and purple walked forward on a metal beam. "So you're the new Pretty Cure, are you?"

"Yeah!" Sunday nodded. "We are! And who are you? Some other Etherium person?"

"One could say that." She stepped off the beam and seemed to float down to the ground, her dress billowing out. "I am the Mystical Seer, Mireyes. It's not my original name, but it will do finely for now."

"What do you think you're doing?" Night wobbled and tried to get down from the barrel pyramid. "Is there a Moon Piece here, or are you just attacking at random?"

Mireyes shook her head. "You would know more than I did. Do you have anything for us?"

Night's eyes widened. 'The others don't know that we have two Moon Pieces?', she thought. 'The magician didn't tell them?'

"Hidoinaa!" The construction crane Hidoinaa, apparently angry at having been neglected, swung out and hooked Cure Night by the back of her dress. It reeled her up high in the air as she flailed and kicked around.

"Night!" Sunday jumped into the air and kicked the Hidoinaa. She sprang off of it and grabbed onto the cord, which swung in the other direction. With her other hand, she tugged her armwarmer down around her palm and switched hands to slide down. Rope burn was not fun. Sunday pulled her partner off of the hook and jumped down to the ground.

"Thanks," Night said.

"Of course!" Sunday let go and fixed her armwarmer.

"Hidoinaa!" The Hidoinaa sent out the hook again. Both girls dodged, and it smashed into the ground, scattering rocks and dirt clods everywhere. The hook reeled itself back in again as the face glared at them.

"Go!" Sunday leapt into the air and started pounding on the monster. It rumbled to start up its engine, but Night dashed along the ground and spin-kicked its tire off course. The Hidoinaa wobbled and turned away from the two before almost crashing into the construction. Sunday grabbed its hook and swung behind it to attach it to the fence first.

Night looked up at Sunday. "We have to stop this thing now!"

"Is this because it might wreck stuff again?" Sunday jumped down beside her. "It gets fixed!"

"People might not get fixed!" Night pointed at the swinging crane. "That thing is a safety hazard! You'll get civilians involved if this keeps up!"

"All right!" Sunday grabbed her partner's hand.

"Sun Limit!"

"Night Limit!"

"You've used up your days..."

"...and you're out of time!"

Mireyes looked amused. "Hmm, a new incantation for a new group." She phased out of the construction site, leaving her Hidoinaa.

"Pretty Cure Second Spin!"

The dark blue glow surrounded Sunday and Night, and they launched into the air, zipping this way and that before finally crashing head-on into and through the Hidoinaa. It burned up in blue fire, leaving only the unharmed, completely normal construction equipment.

Sunday pouted. "That was way too easy."

Starry popped out of the phone. "It must have been because of your wish to protect Night's friend and the city ~susu."

"I guess..." Night looked away for a moment.

Sunday gulped. "...Night?"

Night shook her head and looked at the other girl. "...So you hate purse shopping, too, huh?"

The orange Cure stared for a good minute before they both burst out laughing.

"Well?" Kainatrol adjusted her jeweled eye mask. "Did you manage to find anything?"

Mireyes glared behind her veil, but all that the younger woman could see was the bottom half of her face. That, she managed to keep emotionless. "They defeated a first-level Hidoinaa rather quickly. Their progression seems to be at a normal rate."

"And nothing about Moon Pieces?" She shrugged and walked away. "It's something, I suppose."

The old fortune teller turned away and teleported out.

"There you guys are!" Yukari ran up to Asa and Yoko in front of the shop they'd fled. The open mall had, for the most part, returned to normal, and people were walking around and talking like usual.

"Yukari!" Yoko waved. "Where did you go?"

"Some lady came and found me," she said. "She said the two of you would be fine... Yoko?" Yukari blinked. "Are you all right?"

Yoko shook her head. "Did this person have bright red hair? Was she a little younger than my mom?"

Yukari tilted her head. "Probably..."

Asa blinked. "What's going on? Nakayama-san? Okamoto-san?"

"I'll tell you later." Yoko closed her eyes. She thought of that woman who had confronted Kainatrol, the one who had resisted her power.

Dawn.