Chapter 2: Camping Trip
"Are you sure there is a Heart Fragment all the way out here?" Kousaka Yukiho quietly whispered at Matcha, who was currently in the form of a clamshell phone. Ayasa Arisa was holding on to a clamshell phone of her own, which is in fact Paka in disguise. They were both seated at the back of a train. Their sisters, Kousaka Honoka and Ayase Eri respectively, along with the other members of µ's, were seated further up front.
"Yes, definitely-chichi."
"I can feel it too-popo."
"Should we get off at the next stop?" Arisa looked at Yukiho for an answer.
"I guess so." Yukiho then turned to call out to her sister, but Honoka was fast asleep so she spoke to Eri instead. "Eri-san, we're going to head out at the next stop."
"All right, Yukiho. Take care of Arisa for me, alright? And don't work too hard on your school project, you two."
"Okay, sis," Arisa replied. The school project was made up, of course. The two groups going out on the same train together was such a coincidence that they had to make up some excuse to tell their sisters.
At the next stop, Yukiho and Arisa proceeded to get out of the train. They waved goodbye to their sisters and left. As the train started moving again, Yukiho cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted, "Remember to wake my sister up, okay?"
She wasn't sure if anyone in the train heard her, but she saw Eri waving back through the window.
"We've been walking for hours. Are you sure it's this way?" Yukiho slashed her way through some light underbrush using a machete while Arisa followed behind.
"I'm sure of it-chichi."
"Yukiho, I'm tired. Can we rest a bit?" Arisa sat down on the thick roots of a nearby tree and took a sip from her water bottle.
Yukiho took out her lunch box and sat beside Arisa. "Those two are hopeless. We're getting nowhere like this. In any case, let's eat."
"Mmmm, horosho!" Arisa's eyes lit up as soon as Yuhiko opened the lunch box. She had brought a two-person serving of spaghetti in tomato sauce and topped with onions, mushrooms, green peppers, sausages and bacon.
"You like it? I thought to try something a little different than usual for this trip."
Before they could enjoy a single bite, however, they felt a breeze. That breeze slowly built up into a gust of wind, and then a gale. The lunch box was swept off Yukiho's lap, landing several feet away, its contents unceremoniously strewn all over the ground.
The strong gale coalesced into the familiar figure that they had encountered the other night.
"Hello, little ladies," the Storm Apostle greeted.
Yukiho and Arisa looked at him, their mouths agape. Yukiho's expression quickly changed from shock to anger. "You… you ruined our lunch!"
"Oh my, who cares about such things? Besides, aren't you looking for… this?" The apostle held out a small pink glowing fragment.
"It's the Heart Fragment-chichi!"
"We must get it back-popo!"
"Not so fast!" The apostle clutched the fragment tightly in his hand. "For the humiliation that you two have caused, I, Windgeist, shall teach you a lesson!"
Using the power of the heart fragment, Windgeist channelled its energy into the contents of the girls' fallen lunchbox. The noodles animated on their own, growing in size and gathered into a floating mass of writhing tentacles.
"Quickly transform-chichi!"
"Hurry up and do it-popo!"
Yukiho and Arisa nodded at each other, and then held each other's hand. "Dual star halation!"
"Dashing forward, full of love and courage, Cure Brave!"
"Shining brightly with the light of hope and determination, Cure Star!"
"Servant of chaos, return from whence you came!"
"Nazuuma!" The creature took a swipe at the Precures with one of its appendages. They quickly flipped backwards to avoid the attack. The Nazuuma followed up by squirting a jet of thick and sticky tomato sauce at them. The Precures leapt into the air to avoid the sauce, which splashed onto the ground with a dull splat.
Brave propelled herself forward, her fist clenched and ready to deliver a punch. The Nazuuma responded by swinging another one of its long, noodle-like appendages in her direction. She quickly shielded her face as she was slapped aside and tumbled into a thick bush.
Star leapt onto a low tree branch and then launched herself towards the floating monster. She spun and delivered a roundhouse kick to its side, but her attack simply bounced off the soft noodle body. It responded by quickly spinning around, causing several loose noodle threads to lash out and hit her, sending her hurtling through the air.
"Star!" Brave cried out as she jumped after her. She quickly caught Star in her arms and the both of them landed safely.
Windgeist chuckled. "This is so much fun. Nazuuma, destroy everything in your path!"
As if given power by the apostle's words alone, the Nazuuma grew even more limbs. It started thrashing about, cracking bark and branch as it rampaged through the forest. More trees fell to the Nazuuma's wrath, and then it noticed something up in the nearby hills. It turned and thrashed its way towards the object of its attention.
Brave's eyes widened in fear as she realized the creature's new target. "Isn't that where Honoka and the others are having their training camp?"
"It's heading towards Eri-chan and her friends? No way!" Star shook her head after realizing the possible implications of the situation.
The two of them quickly rushed the Nazuuma, intent on stopping it in its tracks as quickly as possible. It fired another jet of tomato sauce at the pair, and in their reckless haste they failed to dodge. Now trapped under a sticky pile of red gunk, they struggled to free themselves but were unable to get out of the snare.
The Storm Apostle laughed. "It looks like your time's up, Precures. Nazuuma, finish them!"
"Nazuuma!" The creature combined several appendages into a single, large noodle tentacle and then slammed down onto the Precures. When it lifted its enormous limb to examine the result of its handiwork, it saw both Precures sprawled inside a crater.
"Well, that was easy." Windgeist shrugged as he hovered beside the Nazuuma to observe the results.
"It's… not… over… yet." Brave struggled to her feet, and then helped Star up.
"Why do you continue to fight?" The apostle stared at the Precures, amazed at their resolve and yet disappointed that he had not won yet. "Don't you see that your situation is futile?"
"We won't give up so easily!" Star clenched her fist and stood tall against the advancing Nazuuma.
"We're not going to let you hurt any of our friends!" Brave was now brimming with defiance.
The Precures could feel a surge in strength, as if their confidence and determination helped boost their powers. Instinctively, they held hands and then charged towards the raging monster together, their free hands curled into a fist.
The Nazuuma fired a more powerful stream of thick, tomato pasta sauce, but this time the Precures simply punched their way through. They rapidly closed in and then simultaneously delivered a double punch, sending the Nazuuma tumbling back and crashing into the forest bed.
"Now's your chance-chichi!"
"Quickly finish it-popo!"
The Precures nodded towards one another and continued to grip each other's hand tightly.
"I sing the song of Courage." Specks of golden yellow energy gathered around Brave's outstretched hand.
"I sing the song of Hope." Tiny particles of sparkling silver light danced around Star's open hand.
"Together, fill the void of chaos and darkness with our light… PRECURE STARLIGHT DASH!"
"Nazuuma!" Struck and engulfed by the silver-gold beam of light, the creature cried out in anguish, and then turned back into a pile of spaghetti. The small Heart Fragment fell at their feet.
"I won't forgive you for this!" Windgeist disappeared after that.
The weekend was soon going to be over. Yukiho rolled over in her bed, wondering how her sister is doing.
"Say Matcha… what are we going to do with these Heart Fragments?"
"Once we've collected them all, we can return to the Windy Lands and use the power of the Heart Fragments to restore our home-chichi."
"Right… you mentioned that before." Yukiho lay on her bed, staring dreamily at the ceiling. Then she heard a creak coming from outside. Her sister must be home!
She quickly got up, opened the door and greeted her sister. "How was your trip, sis?"
Honoka grinned and gave her the thumbs up. "We're ready for Love Live!"