Chapter 6: Calming the Storm

It has been a typical day in the life of Pretty Cures Kousaka Yukiho and Ayase Arisa. By morning and midday they go to school and participate in extracurricular activities. By evening they search for Heart Fragments with the aid of their fairy companions Matcha and Paka, respectively. Life has more or less settled down to a routine ever since the defeat of the Storm Apostle, Windgeist.

"Halloween is coming. I wonder what everyone is doing this year?" Arisa thought out loud. The four of them were seated around the table in Yukiho's room, as always. The place has turned into their unofficial secret headquarters ever since the girls met their fairy companions and became the legendary warriors Pretty Cure.

"I remember sis mentioning something about another performance," Yukiho guessed while handing the Heart Fragment that they had found today over to Matcha. "I'm looking forward to see what they come up with."

"I'm sure it will be very exciting-chichi." Matcha didn't sound as enthusiastic as his words implied. He casually picked fragment out of Yukiho's hand and placed it in a crystalline jar along with the rest of the fragments have been collected so far.

"Is there anything wrong, Matcha?" Yukiho asked, noticing her fairy companion's odd behaviour.

"It's nothing-chichi."

Arisa's fairy companion, Paka, leaned over gave Matcha a good, lengthy look. "Are you feeling sad-popo?"

"Wh-what-chichi? Not at all-chichi!"

Now Matcha could feel the intense, but cute and smiling, faces of Yukiho and Arisa gazing directly at him. "Come on, you can tell us what's going on," Arisa encouraged.

"It-it's nothing really-chichi!" Matcha quickly hopped off the table and climbed into Yukiho's bed. "I'm just tired, that's all."

The girls decided not to press any further and spent the rest of the night making small talk and snacking on sweet things. Later that night, Yukiho noticed that her fairy companion was staring out the window for a good long while. He hadn't noticed her being awake, and she decided to close her eyes and go back to sleep.

The following morning, Matcha awoke to find that the others had already arrived in Yukiho's room and were in some sort of hushed conference. Paka was the first to notice Matcha and hopped over to the bed.

"You're awake-popo!"

"Yes, I am-chichi!"

"Good morning-popo!"

"Yes, good morning-chichi!"

"Let's all go to the Windy Lands-popo!"

"Yes, let's all go to… wait, what-chichi?"

Matcha stared at the three of them in surprise while they giggled at his reaction. "Are you serious-chichi?"

"Of course we are," Yukiho replied. "We noticed you were a bit down recently, and Paka thought that perhaps you might be a little home sick."

"Besides, we've collected a lot of Heart Fragments already," Arisa said while gesturing to the crystalline jar of fragments on the table. "I also think it's about time to go and see what these can do."

Matcha stared at the two girls, then to the smiling and nodding face of Paka, and then back at the girls again. "But… but the Windy Lands has become a terrible place-chichi. The Storm Apostles have turned it into a dangerous land of storms and other horrible disasters-chichi."

"We're going to use the Heart Fragments to purify the land-popo."

"But we haven't collected enough-chichi."

"It's alright, Matcha." Yukiho had sauntered over and gave her fairy companion a gentle and reassuring pat on the head. "Paka explained it to us already. Even if we cannot fully restore the Windy Lands, we can at least calm down the storms and prevent them from causing further destruction to your beloved homeland."

"But it's dangerous-chichi. There could be Nazuumas, or maybe even other Storm Apostles there-chichi!"

"We made a promise, didn't we?" Arisa gently held Matcha's hand in her own. "We're the legendary warriors Pretty Cure, after all. The danger is already implied, and we promised to help you restore your home."

"Yukiho… Arisa… Paka… thank you so much-chichi!"

The journey to the Windy Lands was unexpectedly plain and simple. Yukiho had imagined they would walk through some sort of magical portal, fall through a tunnel of magic and appear on the other side with some kind of magical-y puff or other. Instead, her world – or rather, her room – suddenly just changed as if someone switched the TV channel, and the four of them were suddenly standing in the middle of a torrential rain storm.

The four of them were still holding each other's hands in a circle with the jar of Heart Fragments placed standing upright in the middle, but strong winds and bitingly cold rain made it difficult to maintain their formation. A crack of thunder and a bright flash of lightning startled the girls as they tried to maintain composure and gain their bearings.

"It's worse than I thought!" Yukiho had to yell at the top of her lungs to overcome the howling wind that dominated the landscape.

"Let's get to work right away!" Arisa yelled back.

"Focus on the fragments-chichi!"

"Pour all your love and your hopes and your dreams into them-popo!"

"Err… in other words, think happy thoughts?" Yukiho's eyes darted between Matcha and Paka alternately, looking for signs of confirmation from either one of them.

They both smiled and nodded. And so the purification of the Windy Lands began. The heart fragments began to glow brightly as they received all the positive thoughts and emotions from the girls, while the fairies harnessed this gathered power and focused their energies on their beloved homeland. It wasn't a very long process, but it was arduous and taxing and by the time they had finished their ritual, all four of them slumped onto the ground in exhaustion.

"Did it work?" Yukiho asked while lying on her back, staring straight up into the black swirling vortex that is the sky.

"The rain stopped," Arisa observed. After a moment of rest, she sat up and looked around. Yukiho soon followed suite.

For the first time, they could see the world that they were in clearly. Long, rolling plains of green grasslands surrounded them, broken up by distant mountain ranges that rose up to the clouds. Some parts of the sky were still dark with swirling vortexes maliciously hovering over great distances, but for the most part the skies were clear and beautiful orange light penetrated the dark clouds, bathing the land in warm brilliance.

"So this is the Windy Lands," Yukiho commented in awe.

A gentle breeze rolled up to the girls, blowing up their hair. Arisa let the cool and invigorating air dance around her. "Horosho!"

"Are there any other worlds like this?" Yukiho curiously asked.

"There are many worlds out there-chichi."

"Some are beautiful and filled with fairies and friendly people, like the Palmier Kingdom, the Kingdom of Sweets and the Blue Sky Kingdom-popo."

"But there are also malignant places like Dark Zone, Dark Fall, or Dark Maelstrom where the Storm Apostles come from-chichi."

"Why do the bad guys all come from a place with the word 'dark' in it?" Arisa wondered.

"Isn't it obvious?" Yukiho giggled teasingly at her friend.

A distant crack of thunder was heard, reminding them that the purification was not complete. They had to find and gather the last remaining Heart Fragments in order to truly restore Matcha and Paka's homeland to its original glory.

"What do we have here?"

The four of them were startled by the arrival of a stranger. Hovering in the air a short distance away was a woman with pale blue skin and dressed in long, flowing robes of blue and white. Her shoulder length hair was as white as snow.

"Who are you?" Yukiho called out, standing in front of the rest of the group.

"Be careful-chichi!"

"It's the ice mistress-popo!"

"Another Storm Apostle?" Arisa asked.

"You must be the legendary Pretty Cure that I have heard about." The ice mistress stared down the two girls with a hateful look. "If you're here to retake the Windy Lands, I will have to disappoint you. I won't be as easy-going as Windgeist."

As the ice mistress raised her hand and gathered a mini maelstrom of ice, the two fairies turned into their mobile phone form and leapt into the hands of their respective partners.

"Transform-chichi!"

"Hurry up-popo!"

Both Yukiho and Arisa stared at their fairy partners and hesitated. "You look… different," Yukiho commented.

"Paka, you too," Arisa exclaimed. The phone forms of both fairies had become sleeker, as if more modern and advanced. It was like comparing an old Motorola 8088 to a Razr, in terms of clamshell flip phone designs.

"Now's not the time-chichi!"

"Hurry up and transform-popo!"

Yukiho and Arisa looked at each other and nodded. "Dual star halation!"

Engulfed in a ball of golden-silver light, the two girls transformed into Pretty Cure within.

"The everlasting light of love and courage, Cure Valiant!" Yukiho emerged from the magical glow sporting an upgraded form. Supplementing her black and pink dress was a gold jacket with a large red ribbon on her chest. She wore a pair of golden bracers with a large, heart-shaped ruby jewel on each hand.

"The unmoving shield of hope and determination, Cure Starlight!" Arisa wore a magnificent white and blue blazer, and she had a longer dress with blue flowery trims. She wore a silver headband with a diamond-shaped turquoise jewel on her forehead.

"We've changed…" Yukiho commented as the two of them admired their new forms.

"Precure!" the ice mistress screamed as she unleashed a vortex of sleet and hail at the girls. They quickly dodged aside as the chilling blast froze the ground, leaving behind a trail of sharp ice in its wake.

"I'm not done yet!" This time the Storm Apostle conjured up a terrifying array of razor sharp ice shards in a field behind her, all hovering and awaiting her order to strike. Then, with a wave of her hand, the frozen stilettos accelerated forward.

"Precure starlight shield!"

Starlight interposed herself between Valiant and the deadly area attack, conjuring a tower of silver energy before her. The storm of razor sharp projectiles shattered upon striking the shield like rain drops on an umbrella.

"Precure valiant dash!"

In a blur of movement that could be barely registered by the naked eye, Valiant blinked right beside the ice mistress and delivered a roundhouse kick. Her opponent attempted to parry, but Valiant moved too quickly and her strike sent the ice mistress flying a good distance away.

"Now's your chance-chichi!"

"Finish her now-popo!"

The girls held hands as the ice mistress recovered from Valiant's blow. Seeing what was about to come, she prepared to unleash an attack of her own to counter the Precure's finisher.

"I sing the songs of the Courageous and of Unyielding Bravery!" Valiant held out her open hand, gathering a massive amount of golden energy that danced and spiralled around her.

"I sing the songs of Resolve, and of the pillars of Hope!" Starlight raised her open hand, pulling a flood of silver particles into her outstretched palm.

Together, they spoke. "As one, overflowing with the radiance of our light… PRECURE SUPERNOVA DASH!"

A massive flood of both gold and silver particles rushed towards the ice mistress, spiralling around each other like a corkscrew. The ice mistress responded with a dark energy blast of her own. The dark purple wave of energy collided with the Precure's attack, splashing against each other in a magical tug-of-war as both sides poured all their strength and energies into their respective attacks.

It didn't take long before the Precures began to edge out a win. Their attack slowly gained ground as they continued pouring their energies into the beam.

"Impossible… how… can you be… so strong?"

"We have the hopes and dreams of Matcha and Paka and all their fairy folk on our side," Valiant answered.

"They are all counting on us, so we cannot lose to you!" Arisa replied.

As the Precures' attack continued to gain more ground, the ice mistress relented. "You win today, but I'll be back and next time, you'll be the ones to regret this!" With that exchange, she disappeared, leaving the Precure's blast to strike out at thin air.

The girls and their fairy companions spent a bit more time enjoying the scenery before deciding to return home. Matcha and Paka were a little reluctant to leave, this being their home after all, but they still had a job to do.

"We'll find the remaining Heart Fragments, and then we can fully restore your home," Yukiho said encouragingly.

Arisa patted the head of her fairy companion reassuringly. "You can count on us, so please believe in us."

The two fairies nodded happily and then returned everyone to Yukiho's room.

"Oh, look at the time," Yukiho commented.

Arisa hurriedly checked the calendar. "Tomorrow's Halloween. I can't wait to see what µ's is doing."

"Me too!" Yukiho replied enthusiastically.

Author's Note: As this chapter occurs during the Halloween episode, readers may be curious as to why the scene where Yukiho discovers a certain important "letter" was omitted from the story. The answer is simple. In the show, it's a setup for the next episode. Here, on the other hand, there's no point in making it a cliffhanger that shall be resolved later. I might as well just handle the whole thing in the next chapter altogether.