PLEASE SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES
-CHAPTER START-
Realm PC-7
After Leva & Gula's final defeat, things were calm for a few days, until preparations for the school's culture festival led to Mana collapsing with a fever and exhaustion from overworking herself. On the day of the festival, when Mana tried to come in and help regardless, the other girls made her rest, while Aguri chewed out Mana's subordinates and the other students for relying too much on Mana and not trying to solve any of their problems themselves. Fortunately, the lecture worked, the students managing to find ways to take care of the issues that cropped up.
Then, however, Mammo had shown up and summoned a new kind of Jikochuu; apparently, Bel had executed Leva for his failures and made his essence into a 'Blood Ring' that allowed Mammo to conjure Jikochuu of great power and durability. Of course, Cure Shade destroying Gula meant there was only one Blood Ring, and with Ira having defected and stepped out of the war altogether, there was no-one to give a second ring to anyway. (In addition, Ira stepping out meant Bel had to do more work, leaving him in a fouler mood than usual, just as Ira had hoped).
The powered-up Jikochuu proved to be stronger, faster, tougher, and angrier than ones before, giving the Cure Sextet trouble even with Mana's schoolmates cheering the Cures on (Regina/Shade was somewhat peeved that the Jikochuu's flight kept its shadow too small and mobile for her to 'grab', limiting her offensive options to standard melee strikes and mana blasts). However, the girls managed to rally, Cure Ace debuting a new Lovely Pad-imbued attack, "Ace Mirror Flash", that stunned and entrapped the Jikochuu long enough for the five Pad-bearers to finish the monster off with Lovely Straight Flush. The girls had then made their dramatic exit before the cheering crowd, and the culture festival had proceeded as planned without any further incident.
Soon after, however, it was discovered that Ai-chan was entering her 'impulsive' stage, and the heroines learned (the hard way) that whenever she cried, the Cures' powers were weakened, while Jikochuu forces got a power-up. At the park, Bel unleashed a motorcycle-themed Jikochuu at the girls, using Ai's fear of it to trigger her Darkness-empowering crying, but Cure Diamond managed to calm it enough for the group to bring it down. Then, right when they discovered that Ai-chan had grown her first teeth, it was revealed that Makoto had her first cavity… and she was so terrified by the dentist that she ran out of the office like Hell itself was chasing her. This fed Ai's fear, giving the next, cavity-themed Jikochuu a boost, but Cure Sword managed to get over herself long enough to help calm Ai and vanquish the monster. …And then, once Makoto was actually in the dentist's chair again, her fear got the best of her to the point that she revealed her powers to the dentist and his assistant by knocking herself unconscious with them, choosing that exposure and the risk of a 'magic concussion' over being awake & aware for the drilling & filling ("I've… never seen fear of the dentist this bad before…" the doctor had admitted. Though, fearing she'd KO herself again if they waited or roused her, they had to go ahead and do her filling while she was out cold, and then gave her the number for a psychiatrist who could hopefully help her get over her crippling fear of dentistry).
After that came a 'minor' incident where Rikka's fairy partner Raquel fell in love with one of their classmates, a girl named Yashima. He went so far as to try and take on a Blood Ring-empowered Jikochuu by himself for her sake (though, the beast had already been weakened after Ryūko and her Vulpix taught it the hard way that the toxic sludge it was spewing out was flammable), managing to stun it enough for a Lovely Straight Flush to finish it off. Unfortunately, the revelation that Yashima already had a boyfriend left Raquel heartbroken; the sight of him turning away from her with tears in his eyes and then fleeing the scene left the girl confused and worried, until Ryūko spelled the situation out to her, leaving Yashima feeling quite a bit of guilt at accidentally leading the poor boy on…
Then came the discovery that Ai-chan didn't like carrots… and neither did Aguri. And when Regina tried a bit of carrots to convince them it 'wasn't so bad', she hated it so much she actually threw up from the taste (as for Ryūko, for her carrots were "meh"; she didn't hate them, but wasn't about to go out of her way for them). Aguri's grandmother and Mana's grandfather orchestrated a trip to carrot farm, where they all planned to convince Ai and Aguri to actually try to like carrots (and where Ryūko's casual admittance that Regina actually vomited from the taste of carrot got the mortified blonde numerous incredulous looks from the carrot farmers).
Bel showed up, summoning a sizable gingerbread-house Jikochuu, trapping Cure Ace and Ai-chan within it, where Ai's crying powered it up. Ace managed to break out by conquering her fear/dislike of carrots, convincing Ai to do the same, allowing the heroines to vanquish the monster. …But Regina's sickness-level hatred of the taste of carrot was deemed a lost cause, especially when trying any during the after-fight 'feast' resulted in the same outcome; "we'll have to be content with two-out-of-three, I guess…" Mana had sighed.
Not long after that, Bel & Mammo's next plot was stopped before it could start; they had planned to try infiltrating Mana's house and corrupting Ai-chan, but never even got the chance. Regina had some elementary skills with barriers and bounded fields (in fact, she actually owned a book from the Trump Kingdom called "Beginners' Guide to Seals & Barriers" that she'd started studying recently), and with Senketsu's help they had set up a detection rune around the building that woke the two of them (and, through Senketsu, Ryūko) up and let them head the evil twosome off and chase them away. In the ensuing fight, Cure Shade had hit Mammo with a focused, shrunken and concentrated Moonless Night that didn't do much damage to Mammo… because it wasn't meant to; instead, it had overloaded her Blood-Ring and blown it to bits, robbing the Selfish Leaders of that asset.
Now, the gang was on an unexpected journey into the heart of enemy territory. Jonathan Klondike had returned, claiming that one thing might be able to break Princess Marie-Ange's seal and free her: the Miracle Dragon Glaive, which rested in the basement level of the royal castle of the Trump Kingdom. He teleported them there (where did he learn that?), and with the Lovely Pad's help they navigated the old city's expansive underground tunnel network, until finally they reached a massive chamber where the 'spear of light' sat with its tip buried in the stone floor. Their guide watched as the girls approached the weapon... and then stopped, and turned to face him.
Ryūko folded her arms. "You can drop the act now, Bel."
"Wha?!" 'Jonathan' stepped back in shock. "W-What do you…?"
"Lemme let you in on a little secret, and explain that crimson chakra you saw me use when I fought the corrupted Regina: I'm a Jinchūriki, and I'm in perfect harmony with my Tailed Beast partner. Among other things, that gives me & him the ability to sense ill intent in others. We knew it was you the second you showed up!"
'A… A Jinchūriki? Here?! Helping the PreCures all along?!'
"Of course, you didn't exactly help your case" Alice explained. "Referring to her as 'the Princess' when the real Jonathan always called her by her name with love in his voice; that sudden teleportation bit and how you got so nervous when we called you on it; making takoyaki without any octopus in it… Even without Ryūko-san's help, you wouldn't have fooled us!"
'Joe' fell to his hands & knees with a snarl, Bel's disguise evaporating into black wisps, his sunglass-covered eyes glaring at the girls.
"Thanks for leading us here~" Mana said cheerfully. "We wouldn't have been able to come and get the spear without your 'help'!"
"You've lost your edge since I saw the Light and Ira quit, old man" Regina said with a teasing grin.
Bel snarled. "Jikochuu! Plan B! Get down here!"
"You called~?!" the Jikochuu – a huge red muscled biped with an octopus-thing for a head – dropped down from the ceiling. "Time to make sushi out of you girls!"
"Ugh, I hate octopus…" Regina grumbled.
"Let's go, girls!" Mana announced.
Seven sparkling lights enveloped the girls, who soon emerged in their combat forms:
"Overflowing love! Cure Heart!"
"Light of wisdom! Cure Diamond!"
"Warmth of the sun! Cure Rosetta!"
"Blade of courage! Cure Sword!"
"Trump card of love! Cure Ace!"
"Sheltering shadows! Cure Shade!"
"Jin'i Ittai! Kamui Senketsu!"
"Resonate, heartbeat of love! DokiDoki PreCure!-!"
The Jikochuu smashes its huge fist down at the girls, but Ace & Shade managed to catch the blow. "Go for the spear!" Ace shouted to the original quartet. "We'll handle him!"
Heart, Diamond, Rosetta, and Sword hurried over to the stuck Miracle Dragon Glaive, and Cure Heart tried to pull it free. …It didn't budge, not even when the other three tried to help her. As he traded blows with Ryūko, Bel frowned as he caught sight of the girls; his whole plan had hinged on stealing the Glaive once the girls pulled it free, but if they couldn't… The Jikochuu upped its game, firing a black blast of evil energy at the girls, forcing them to forget the spear and focus on fighting it for now.
A barrage of darkness-power 'bullets' from the Jikochuu had the girls jumping, flipping, and twisting around to dodge. Cure Sword returned fire with a Sparkling Sword barrage, forcing the Jikochuu to shield its 'face', and Cure Heart blasted it with a 'My Sweetheart' that shoved it back, doing respectable damage but not a decisive blow. Cure Shade then grabbed hold of the Jikochuu's shadow with her own, holding the monster in place for Rosetta and Ace to hammer it with a rapid barrage of punishing physical blows. However, Bel shoved Ryūko back for a moment with a directed shockwave and then immediately quick-fired an energy blast at the floor to disrupt the shadow-capture link. Before Cure Shade could reestablish to link or get away, the Jikochuu grabbed her, slammed her around a couple times, and then flung her away.
A shield battering-ram from Cure Rosetta smashed the Jikochuu in the face, and Cures Heart & Diamond double-teamed it with a melee assault, pushing the monster back. As Sword & Ace moved to attack next, however, the Jikochuu recovered and beat them back. Then, it exhaled a powerful stream of highly corrosive ink at the girls. Rosetta quickly formed a shield that the others hunkered behind, struggling as the liquid pressure tried to shove her back. The glowing clover-shaped shield began to warp and crack, being eaten away by the corrosive assault…
"Hey, Tentacles!"
At Cure Shade's shout, everyone turned to look… and gaped in shock as they saw her grinning and holding the Miracle Dragon Glaive, its tip glowing with brilliant golden light and pointed right at the Jikochuu.
"Open wide!"
Regina fired, and a roaring wave of golden energy surged out, slamming into the Jikochuu like a freight train. The beast cried out as it was blasted back, away from the other girls and clear into the far wall. It fell to the floor with a thud, groaning, its form wavering as Light energy crackled around it.
"Cure Shade… pulled the Glaive out?!" Cure Sword gasped.
"Impossible…" Bel growled out. "This can't be happening…"
"WELL DONE, PRECURE…"
A familiar booming voice suddenly rang out in a mocking tone. Cure Shade paled, hurrying over to the other girls, as a 'small' projection of King Jikochuu appeared, towering over everyone.
"REGINA… TO THINK THAT YOU WOULD NOT ONLY BECOME A PRETTY CURE, BUT BE ABLE TO PULL THE MIRACLE DRAGON GLAIVE FROM ITS RESTING PLACE… I TRULY AM SURPRISED… AND MORE THAN A LITTLE UPSET! PRECURES… IN MY CURRENT STATE, I MAY NOT HAVE ACCESS TO MORE THAN A SMALL PORTION OF MY POWER, BUT I STILL HAVE ENOUGH TO DO THIS!-!"
The dark king's avatar flashed, and a red & black lightning bolt shot down from above and struck the fallen Jikochuu. The octopus-themed monster roared out as it got to its feet, a dark purple aura surging around it as it bulked up and increased in height. As King Jikochuu's projection vanished, Ryūko moved over to join the girls, even though this gave Bel the chance he needed to escape.
"What are the odds that fancy spear will be able to take that thing down?" she asked.
"Judging by how much power papa just poured into it?" Cure Shade replied. "Not very good. This is gonna be painful…"
The supercharged Jikochuu fired a huge beam of dark power, carving a trench along the stone floor as the seven heroines barely leapt out of the way in time. Ryūko and Cure Ace moved in and struck with a flurry of rapid high-power blows, but failed to break through the monster's guard, and it countered with a swinging strike that sent them both flying. It then tried to stomp on Cure Sword, who flipped out of the way and fired a Sparkling Sword at its torso, but got barely any reaction. Even a Heart Shoot to the gut and a slicing wave of Light magic from Cure Shade's new glaive barely got more than a flinch.
With a roar, the charged-up Jikochuu slammed its fists onto the ground, releasing a damaging shockwave that blasted the girls back. Ryūko charged fire chakra into her blade and swung, releasing a slicing wave of fire at the monster's legs, but it did only superficial damage. The beast then charged and fired an extra-large blast of Darkness power, and Cure Rosetta put her all into a Rosetta Reflection barrier, with Cure Shade layering a Shadow Barrier on top of it. The defense held for a brief moment, but then cracked and shattered, and the partially-deflected blast blew the septet away.
The heroines groaned as they got to their feet. Then, the Jikochuu quickly charged up another extra-strength blast, and fired before they could react. Suddenly, Cure Heart's Magical Lovely Pad floated up and emitted a brilliant light, nullifying the incoming Darkness. A glittering Lovead emerged in a flash of light, floating down to Cure Heart. She fought through her surprise and took hold of it, slotting it into Sharyl's commune form, and Ai-chan released a burst of light that enveloped the Pad, changing it into a new form: a pink & white harp with dark screen in the middle that showed an etched heart and bead design along the top under a white band, with three pink hearts set beneath a gold band toward the bottom, along with golden hearts at the four corners and five colored strings down the center.
"What… is this?" Cure Heart asked.
"This light…" Cure Ace gazed in awe at the object. "Such power… Is this the Lovely Pad's true power?"
Shaking off her shock, Cure Heart gained a determined expression. She grabbed the 'Lovely Harp' and strummed it, and brilliant power flowed through the six Cures. In bursts of light, each Cure gained a set of large, glistening white angelic wings, while their bodies and the hearts on their outfits' chests glowed with their respective magic colors. They all flew/floated up, taking position in front of a large, magic rune-circle – Diamond, Rosetta, Sword, Ace, and Shade formed the five points of a star, with Heart in the center. Heart strummed the harp again, and the circle glowed near-blinding bright with power as they called out:
"PreCure: Royal Lovely Straight Flush!-!"
White light shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow surged and coalesced into a point in front of the girls, and then fired as a surging wave of power. The Jikochuu tried to run, but Ryūko briefly went to Tailed-Beast Cloak Stage 1, flash-stepped over to cut its retreat off, and struck it with a blow that knocked it right into the incoming purifier attack's path. It was struck and engulfed, glistening pink light engulfing it, and with a burst of Light and Darkness the monster was vanquished, its captured Heart purified and sent on its way back to its owner. As the girls floated back down, their wings dispelling, they were left feeling tired but victorious.
"Well, that was pretty impressive" Ryūko said. "Had even more power packed into it than anything I could throw out without tapping into a big chunk of Senketsu's Bijū power."
"We've got the Dragon Glaive and the Lovely Pad, we've got a new ultimate finisher attack…" Cure Diamond remarked. "Now, we just need two more things!"
"What?" Cure Ace asked.
"The third ancient legendary treasure… and a way out of here and back home…"
"…Crap" Ryūko said. "We only got here by tricking Bel…"
Suddenly, Ai-chan produced another new Lovead, which was slotted into the Magical Lovely Pad. A picture of a mirror appeared on its screen, and when Ai rubbed at it the 'picture' grew and glowed. As the girls gathered around, an image of their hometown appeared, and a flash of light suddenly enveloped them, teleporting them through the new gateway and back home…
-Break-
After that escapade, Bel and Mammo made a couple more token efforts to harass the team. Bel tried using an orbiting Tree Jikochuu to ruin Alice's attempt to sell flowers at a flea market (but inadvertently repaired the long-broken friendship between her and Reina), but after the Yotsuba family's satellite detected it and pinpointed its location, the girls used the Lovely Harp's wings to fly up and take it out. Then, when it was discovered that Aguri was actually adopted and didn't know her birthday, the girls decided to throw a party for her, with help from Mana's family. Mammo turned a giant-ant Jikochuu on them, but only for Ryūko and her Vulpix to show it what happens when high-power Fire-type attacks are used against a giant bug; the monster was left burnt to a crisp and barely holding itself together, such that Regina/Shade using the glowing tip of her glaive to casually jab it in the chest was enough to finish it off and purify it.
Then, something caught everyone by surprise: during the tail end of a battle against one of Mammo's Jikochuu, Aguri's grandmother Mari caught her de-transforming. That night, the others were making plans to talk to the woman tomorrow, only for Aguri to show up at Mami's doorstep, shivering from the cold rain and with tears streaming down her face. Then, once Aguri had calmed down, she revealed that not only had her grandmother known she was Cure Ace all along, but… the memories she thought were real were now in doubt.
Apparently, she had fallen from the sky as a baby, and when Mari had found her a Jikochuu had attacked, only for the infant Aguri to release a pulse of light and transform into her current 10-year-old self, followed by a mysterious voice telling Mari to watch over her. She also confessed as to how recently she'd been having a recurring dream of Princess Marie-Ange fighting against King Jikochuu… and, shocked, Regina confessed that she'd been having the same dream.
The next day was Parents' Day at Aguri's school, and despite the girl's fears her grandmother had shown up. Now, as Aguri prepared to explain just who her favorite person was, holding a picture she had painstakingly drawn, there was a sudden thud and crash from outside. Spurred on by Mammo, an eraser-themed Jikochuu blasted down the school's front doors and began rampaging through the halls, erasing every picture, drawing, and image it could find. Aguri slipped out into the halls, soon joined by the other five Cures and Ryūko, and the septet transformed.
Suddenly, a group of kids trying to figure out where to go to find safety instead stumbled right into the hallway. Thinking fast, Ryūko sent out her Vulpix and Pancham, to the children's astonishment.
"Long story short," she hurriedly told the kids, "I'm part of a group of heroes from other universes who've teamed up to help people. We went the Pokémon universe recently. You two, get these kids outta here and keep 'em safe!"
The little fox and fighting panda nodded, and began escorting the children out. Meanwhile, the eraser-Jikochuu fired a barrage of eraser projectiles at the team, only for Ryūko to move her Scissor Blade in a blur of motion, chopping them all to bits in midair. Cure Sword stunned it with Sword Hurricane, and then Cure Shade fired a concussive blast from her glaive that blew the monster clear out the 'door' it had made and out into the school's front courtyard. The monster growled as it staggered to its… well, it didn't exactly have feet, per se, or even legs for that matter…
The kids being escorted by Ryūko's Pokémon again found themselves too close for comfort, and huddled against the building's outside wall as the Cures and Ryūko came out to re-engage the monster. As the attacks started flying, a stray shot from the Jikochuu slammed into the side of the building's third story, sending a huge chunk of rubble plummeting down… right towards the children. The Cures noticed and tried to move, but the Jikochuu and Mammo kept them too busy, foiling their attempts to help. For Ryūko's Pancham, time seemed to move in slow motion as he saw the rubble coming down, too big and hard for his Brick Break to safely destroy; he and Vulpix would survive without major injuries, but these children would be crushed. The need to do something, anything to protect them welled up inside him…
There was a flash of brilliant white light, and the rubble was effortlessly smashed away. Everyone looked in shock as the one who'd saved the children stood tall, much taller than before, letting out a low growl. Then, with a roar, Pangoro charged at the Jikochuu. The large and powerful Fighting/Dark type leapt over the monster's 'eraser machinegun' barrage and came down on it with a full-strength Hammer Arm, hitting with such force that the monster was slammed face-first down into the dirt with enough force to rattle the school building's windows over a dozen meters away. He followed up with a Comet Punch barrage, beating the Jikochuu back. The monster roared as it regained its balance and 'punched' out with its eraser hands, only for Pangoro to catch them, snarling as he strained and pushed, actually starting to shove the Jikochuu back.
Mammo tried to intervene, and barely avoided being scorched by Vulpix's Flamethrower when the little fox came to her teammate's defense. Then, Ryūko made her own move, a flying kick that sent Mammo careening across the battlefield. Meanwhile, Pangoro grabbed hold of the Jikochuu's arm, and with a roar he flipped the monster over his shoulder and slammed it down into the ground, stunning it. He then turned and gave a look and a nod to Cure Ace, who nodded in return and produced her weapon, charging and firing her signature Ace Shot. The Jikochuu was engulfed by the red purifying energy, a blast of smoke and light fading to reveal a purified Heart fluttering its way up and back into the building, seeking its owner. As usual, all the damage the Jikochuu had caused was magically undone by a light shining down from the sky. Growling as she picked herself up, Mammo teleported out.
"Well done, big guy!" Ryūko said with a grin as she came up to Pangoro, holding out her fist for a bump. "I can't believe you evolved! And man, you beat the living hell outta that thing!"
Pangoro let out a sheepish little chuckle, embarrassed by the praise, as he returned the fist-bump with his Trainer. Meanwhile, Aguri/Ace and her grandmother were having their own little moment, one that ended with Ace de-transforming and hurrying into her grandma's welcoming arms as the other Cures looked on.
-Break-
A few days later, Jonathan Klondike finally returned, and he brought a very special something with him: the Eternal Golden Crown, last of the three legendary treasures. He hoped that one of them could maybe awaken its power of "ultimate knowledge". Mana tried it on first, but nothing happened. Aguri scolded her for not treating a 10,000-year-old magical relic with more respect and care, plucked it off the pinkette's head… and the crown glowed brightly as knowledge poured into Aguri's head, leading her to collapse.
As they all fretted over the fallen Aguri, Ryūko waved them back and then laid her hand on Aguri's forehead, closing her eyes and letting Senketsu try and sort through the girl's mind. After a couple minutes, the girl stirred, slowly sitting up.
"…I know now" she said quietly. "Everything…" She looked over at the giant blue crystal that showed Princess Marie-Ange sleeping within. Getting up, she walked over to it, lay her hand on the crystal… and the Princess' image vanished, to the group's shock.
"Marie-Ange was never here" she explained. "It was just an illusion, to fool the Selfish Kingdom and buy time."
"Then… Where is she?" Mana asked.
Aguri sighed. "The Queen's pregnancy with Princess Marie-Ange was a difficult one. She didn't survive giving birth to her daughter. The Princess' father, Trump Kingdom's King, swore to honor his beloved wife's final wish: to raise their daughter to be a bright, shining beacon of hope, shining upon the kingdom like the sun. She grew up strong, and happy, a beautiful and kind woman.
"But… One day, not long before the Kingdom's fall… A tiny piece of Darkness escaped the three Legendary PreCures' seal, found its way to Marie-Ange, and afflicted her. The black magic poisoned her, eating away at her life-force. Desperate to save his daughter, the King… gave into the selfish desire to protect her, and broke the ancient seal in order to retrieve the Golden Crown that had sustained it, using its knowledge to heal Marie-Ange.
"It worked – the knowledge from the Crown enabled the King and the castle attendants to reverse the damage, and save the Princess' life. …And then, right in front of them all, the primordial Darkness that the Legendary Cures of 10 millennia ago had defeated appeared… and poured itself into the King. His body and Heart and mind were twisted and consumed by the Darkness… and he became King Jikochuu."
Everyone gasped, with Makoto and Regina visibly trembling.
"You all know most of what happened next. But… After the Princess sent Makoto through to the human world… she was confronted by Bel. He verbally dissected her, pointed out how she had refused to kill the Dark King even though in her hands the Miracle Dragon Glaive had the power to do that. By choosing family over her people, she was being 'selfish'… and 'Selfish' is exactly what he then tried to turn her into. The Princess… did what nobody could have expected, in response to that:
"She ripped out her own Heart."
"S-She… She what…?" Makoto whispered/whimpered, hands over her mouth.
"She took her own partially-corrupted Heart, and split it into two new Hearts – one composed of her love for her father, already partially twisted, and the other of her love for her kingdom and its people. She sent them away, and they each found their way to different places, and reincarnated into two new people: Regina, and myself. Meanwhile, her empty shell of a body, rather than becoming a 'Nobody', reverted into an egg…"
"An… egg…" Mana mumbled. "…Ai… Ai-chan is the Princess' body reincarnated?"
Aguri nodded. "When she sent the two halves of her Heart away… the Princess decreed that which of her two loves was truly stronger, more 'important', would be decided in a final clash between whoever they became. That was what she foresaw, the 'fate' she knew would come to be…"
The group was utterly silent, too shocked for words by one mind-blowing revelation after another.
"…I won't do it"
Startled, they turned to Regina, who was trembling, holding herself.
"I… I won't do it. To hell with 'fate'; after everything we've been through… I'm not fighting my teammate!"
Aguri gasped softly.
"Remember what the people onée-chan is with have done!" Regina continued. "They've gone up against one cruel 'preordained' fate after another, and each one they've kept from coming to pass. Every time anybody they got involved with said something was set in stone and unavoidable, they've proven them wrong! Fate isn't written; it's something we make, something we choose, and I choose not to follow what the Princess thought would happen! I will not raise my hand against my… my sister!"
As Aguri trembled from that proclamation, Ryūko punched her own palm.
"That's right" she said. "To hell with 'fate'! I say we make our own destiny, one that ends up with all of us alive and happy!"
"Exactly!" Mana stood up. "We'll find a different solution, one that doesn't require two of our team-members trying to kill each other!"
"There's another thing to consider" Rikka spoke up. "Now that we know the truth about King Jikochuu… what do we do about him?"
"…We… have to fight him…" Regina said quietly, her head hanging low. "Papa… was willing to sacrifice everything for me… That makes me… h-happier than I'd ever expected… But…"
"You'll fight him even though you love him?" Jonathan asked.
"…I'll fight him because I love him. The papa who loved his daughter and his kingdom… would be horrified by what his current self has done. For the sake of who he was… we have to stop what he's become."
Alice sighed as she leaned back in her seat. "So… We need to start brainstorming. And we need to be ready for-"
Suddenly, there was a low, deep shudder in the air. The eyes of Senketsu's clothing-avatar widened, while Regina let out a strangled gasp, doubling over and starting to shake.
"W-What's wrong?" Mana asked.
"There is… a great and terrible Darkness approaching" Senketsu announced. "Twisted and wicked, and terribly powerful…"
"H-He…" Regina whimpered, terror in her voice. "H-He's free… Papa… King Jikochuu is free… He… My God… H-He's coming… He's coming here!-!"
"Milady!" Sebastian ran in, hurrying to Alice's side. "We have a very grave situation, milady. Our cameras watching the coastline just transmitted this."
He pulled out a laptop, keying in a few commands, and the screen showed a real-time image from the top of the city's tower, looking out at the ocean… where, backlit by a glowing crack/rift in reality, an enormous red & black horned figure was slowly striding through the waves, approaching the city.
"K… King…" Mana whispered, quivering, "Jikochuu…"
-CHAPTER END-
Next Time: The final battles of Part 1 of this fic.