You know… had you asked me from any point from December 2018 to about… uh… some point in 2021, I forget when exactly, I would not have had nice things to say about Pretty Cure for fairly stupid reasons. But, thanks to Tropical, I've become a fan of the series.

Anyway… concept that I've had in mind since late February of this year. The idea sort of just randomly came to mind at work some day while just watching some videos and listening to music to keep myself from being too bored. And then there was also this tweet from my buddy XDProtag on Twitter who once made a comment after seeing a concept about "take two things you recently watched/played and mix them" and his response was "Demon Friend Pretty Cure" because of, obviously, Pretty Cure, and recently having played Shin Megami Tensei V.

Oh, and before I'm at all asked about this, I'm going to try to keep as much influence from Persona 5 out of this story as I possibly can. There may be some tiny bits of influence from it here and there, but I'm going to be doing my best to keep them out.

In thinking about this concept, part of me was wondering "What would Toei do if they actually did a phantom thief Pretty Cure season?", and, in the unlikely chance they actually did it, how would they handle the thief stuff? I've got ideas about how that could be done while still making it appeal to children, but… we'll see how successful I can make this.

I hope that you're going to enjoy this. I'm going to be taking my time with this story, so hope you won't mind it being a bit slowly done.

I will admit that the names were kind of hard to think up and I'll admit that I had been going back and forth on "Phantom Girls", but… I'm sticking with it.

Also, this happens to be the first major fanfic coming from me on the new laptop. That's fun.

Disclaimers: I don't own Pretty Cure. It belongs to Toei, Bandai, etc. I really only own the original concepts shown within this story. Special thanks to KKD and XDProtag for the motivation for this work.


The sun had begun to rise over a rather calm and peaceful looking city. The sun's light rose over the welcome sign for the location, Lupinia City, and the text below it read "crime free for over a decade". A surefire sign that this town would be peaceful and safe, and that no harm would come to it…


The focus, after the sun had finished going up, went over to a small public high school, Jukeisha High, and the various students who were coming and going through their day. Some people were chatting to their friends, some were simply walking by with relaxed faces, while others were walking along almost like they were robots that weren't stopping to do anything.

One young girl in particular, a first year student, simply had a relaxed grin on her face as she walked along her way towards the building. She took in some of the looks her classmates were giving in her general direction, her gray eyes taking in how some of them were just doing their best to ignore her, some were looking at her in irritation, and others didn't even bother to look her way. She saw there was a long crowd of students that were blocking the gate and watching something, which made her quickly glance around the area. Her blonde hair flowed a bit as she shifted around in thought.

"There we go," she muttered, seeing a tall tree that had a branch that would lead inside of the school grounds. She took a few steps backwards, leaned forward a little, then dashed forward. She jumped up, grabbed onto the branch like it was an uneven bar, did a short spin, and then landed within the grounds. She gave off a small pose, grinning a little, "Subarashii!"

This display got her some applause from some of her fellow schoolmates, but others either just rolled their eyes or flat out ignored what they just saw.

"Show off," one student spoke.

"Stupid rebel girl.." another added.

The so-called 'rebel girl' just gave her own eye roll upon overhearing some other comments that some people who seemed to lack a filter said about her. She simply just walked along, tuning out the world around her, just seeming to march along to the beat of her own drum.


"Hey, let go!"

She then stopped in her tracks upon hearing that. The blonde turned around to see another girl, who looked to be a little bit older than her, and a handful of male students who were fairly tall and looked rather tough.

"Give it back!" the girl yelled, trying to get an envelope away from the group of male students, "My mom gave me that!"

The male students just chuckled a little at her protesting as the blonde approached.

"I am the student council president!" she yelled.

"Oo~h, so scary…" one of the boys proclaimed.

"What are you gonna do? Give us detention? Make us clean after school?" another boy taunted.

"You hold no power here," the third remarked.

The girl just fumed a little, her cheeks puffed up, before tearing up a little. The male students just laughed at her, as the blonde walked over. The male students started to walk away, only for the blonde to bump into them.

"Watch where you're going!" one of the male students shouted.

"Gomen, gomen," the blonde said, getting a little closer to the three, "Just got something I need to do real quick."

"Go jump over the fence and get kicked out already, rebel girl," one of the male students said.

"You bring shame to this school."

This made the blonde turn around and get closer to them, "And bullying our student council president doesn't do the same thing how exactly?"

The male students just glared at her while the blonde just kept a calm and sly smile on her face. The male students eventually just left without another word, not above a mumble at the very least, saying something that made the blonde scoff a little.

"The nerve of some people…" the blonde spoke to herself, walking over to the other student, "Hey."

The student council president turned towards the blonde, a little surprised to see her.

"You wanna see a little magic trick?" she offered.

"...eh?"

"Just trust me a little," the blonde said with a relaxed smile.

"...okay…?"

This made the blonde's smile grow a bit before she took a few steps back, then held out her hands, "Nothing in my hands…"

She then moved around and adjusted her sleeves, "Nothing in my sleeves…"

The student council president looked a little confused before the blonde got a little closer to her, reached behind her ear, and then pulled out the envelope. The student council president's eyes went wide at this.

"Here you are," the blonde smiled, handing the item back to the rightful owner.

"...how did you…?" the girl began to speak.

"A magician never reveals her secrets," the blonde teased with a smile, making the other girl blush a bit. With that, she walked off from the other girl, leaving her to stew in what just occurred.


The students had, soon enough, all gone into their homeroom for the day. The teachers were going through the rollcall, then…

"Okuru Toukai?"

"Here I am," the blonde, Toukai, spoke. At the moment, she was leaning back into her seat and her legs were propped up on her desk.

"Okuru-san, can you please sit normally?" the student-teacher that was doing the rollcall asked.

"Nah," Toukai responded, holding her arms behind her head with a relaxed smile on her face.

"Okuru-san…"

"Don't bother. The rebel girl is far too much of a headache to reason with…" the teacher bluntly said.

This just made the student-teacher just exhale before continuing the roll call. Other students just murmured about Toukai, the 'rebel girl', in various amounts of irritation. Toukai, however, just relaxed a bit, a content smile on her face, as she kept her position up. Meanwhile, the student council president turned towards her and watched her a little bit.

'Okuru… Toukai-san…'


Chapter 001: The Rebellious Heroine Awakens, Cure Phantom!


The school day kept on going, with Toukai simply doing her best to endure the jeers and insults that came her way. It was clear that she was beyond used to them and was trying to give an air that she didn't care about what others were saying about her.

Eventually, the school day ended and Toukai made a beeline for the exit as fast as she could possibly move. She happily exhaled upon getting outside and stretched a tiny bit.

"Uh…"

Toukai stopped and turned to see the student council president was standing there, "Oh."

"...arigatou…" she managed to speak, a bit of a blush on her face.

"Oh, for earlier? No biggie," Toukai smiled, "Just know that I'm out there… and know my mind is too fast for eyes…"

The student council president kept blushing before Toukai headed away from the school. She tried to speak up, but Toukai was already long gone. She exhaled and then started on her own way home.


As the sun had started to set, the three boys that had been harassing the student council president were now out by a wall that was near the school and spraying various cans of spray paint over it.

"That stupid rebel girl is going to get kicked out for sure!" the leader of the three said with an evil smile, working on spraying a symbol that looked to be some sort of a balance beam with a magician's cap.

"Boss, you sure this is gonna work?"

"Shut up and keep spraying!"

"Yes sir!"

As they kept up the graffiti, the area around them seemed to suddenly change from sunset to night, as if the sun had quickly been covered up for an eclipse. They looked around in confusion, but saw the sky had seemed to become night almost instantaneously.

"We need to get home if it's already night…" one of the boys said.

"Just need a finishing touch…" the leader of the trio smugly spoke, quickly shaking up a can of yellow spray paint, then began to write out 'rebel girl', "This'll get her expelled… I just know it…"

Suddenly, there was a siren sound that made the boys turn to see a police car. A cop came out of it and shook their head at this display.

"Cheese it!" one of the boys yelled.

"No. Let me handle this," the leader of the trio said.

"They caught us red handed…"

The leader of the trio scoffed and approached, "Hello, good sir. I can expl-"

He then felt a hand on his shoulder and screamed out in pain. A trail of light came out of his shoulder, which faded quickly and condensed down into some sort of a key. The leader of the trio's eyes then went hazy and he seemed to collapse.

The two goons then screamed in panic before they saw the cop wasn't human. While the being did have a standard uniform along his body, the body was a shadowy blob that only seemed to vaguely mimic the shape of a human. Both the goons tried to run, but were soon flanked by what looked to be patrol officers that were also the weird blob monsters.

The monsters effortlessly did the same thing to the two goons, with the mysterious keys seeming to float in front of them. Some of these grunts then carried the goons to the back of the squad car, tossing them in like ragdolls.

"Sir, all offenders have been detained, sir," one grunt proceeded to report.

"Excellent. Now get to cleaning up this unsightly mess," the other monster responded.

The grunts saluted before three of them absorbed the keys and transformed into the three boys they had just captured, now in painting uniforms. Paint seemed to materialize out of thin air, and they got to work covering up the spray paint while the squad car vanished into thin air, with the environment reverting back to normal…


Elsewhere in Lupinia, Toukai was at a crossroad and just waiting for the stoplight to change. She heard a few people whispering about her and did her best to tune them out, brushing her blonde hair out of her face. She let out a sigh before the pressed a button near the stoplight and waited for the light to change.

'Dumb cars…' she thought, gently drumming her fingers against her arms. She heard an annoyed car honking, which made her shudder a little bit.


"You'll be okay, Toukai…"

A younger Toukai saw her mom's body and saw her trying to smile, while the young girl had tears in her eyes.

"Don't give up on your dreams… and never forget… you have… a…"


'I have… what….? Why can't I remember what she said…?'

She then heard horns blaring again, which made her look up to see that the light had changed. Toukai just exhaled and hurried along the crosswalk, doing a few flips and twirls to keep herself focused and grounded in reality.

"Obnoxious show off!" one driver yelled out, blaring their horn.

Toukai managed to keep herself in the zone and finished crossing the street. She just exhaled a little bit, rubbing her forehead, and then just continued along.

'Mom… why did you have to leave me and dad so soon…? We're stuck with that stupid hag…'


Toukai soon reached her home, which was built next to a performance arena, and she effortlessly did some flips to get in through her opened window. The teen wiped her forehead and tossed her bag to the floor before unlocking her door and heading downstairs.

"Tadaima," Toukai loudly said.

"Okaeri," a man's voice responded.

Without another word, Toukai headed off into the bathroom and got a shower going. The blonde was mostly quiet as she went through this, just letting the steam go through the upper part of the house as she went along with it.


Soon enough, Toukai was in her room and just trying to relax. Her eyes wandered to the balance beam she had in there, then towards some of the magic trick books she had on her desk, making her sit up and start to walk over…

Suddenly, there was a rapid and loud banging at her room's door. She heard the knob jostle a bit, then just smirked, 'I am so glad I figured out how to replace the lock on there…'

"Okuru Toukai, you will let me in right now!"

"...nah, I don't think I will," Toukai responded, glancing down to her nails as if she cared about them.

"OKURU TOUKAI!"

"What do you want, hag?"

"YOU WILL CALL ME YOUR MOTHER, YOU BRAT! YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

"...you are not my mom, and you never will be. Tell me what you want or get the heck away from my room," Toukai declared, folding her arms.

There was a sharp exhale from outside the door, "You skipped class today."

"No, I was there."

"Don't lie to me! I got a call from your second teacher that you weren't there!"

"...because I went to the bathroom and missed the rollcall. Homeroom teacher said it was fine…"

"You brat! You know you're running the risk of getting kicked out because of your attendance!"

"Hai hai hai…" Toukai responded, a clear hint of irritation in her voice.

"You will respect me when I am talking to you, young lady!"

"Hai hai hai hai hai…"

There was a yell and then a loud slam against Toukai's door before the noise left. Toukai exhaled and rubbed her ears a little bit, "...dumb hag…"

After a few moments of waiting, Toukai then walked over to the balance beam and started to do a little bit of gymnastics practice, starting with a simple balancing act before going into a handstand and some other more complicated moves. The blonde was clearly in her element, tuning out most of the world around her, and simply focusing on her craft.

She kept the pace up before she heard a gentle knock at the door and broke her focus.

"Toukai-chan? It's me… can I come in?"

"Give me a moment," she responded, doing one final backflip to the ground. She grabbed a towel, then unlocked the door to her room. An older gentleman in some casual clothes that had paler blonde hair and green eyes walked over. Toukai then quickly closed the door and locked it back up, "Don't want that hag bothering us."

Her dad couldn't help but chuckle a little before he reached out into thin air and then made a water bottle seemingly magically appear.

"Thanks," Toukai smiled, wiping away the sweat from her forehead and then sipping on the water, "You always know just what I need."

"A dad has a responsibility to take care of his daughter, even if nobody else will," he assured her.

Toukai simply gave a sincere smile towards her dad, "Thanks."

There was a little bit of silence before Toukai then exhaled a bit, "What did the hag want?"

"All she was trying to convey is that she was worried about you running risks with the minimum attendance policy. I believe you that you weren't skipping class and that the teacher was lying, let me assure you, but… the school is clearly trying to find an excuse to kick you out…"

"She doesn't care about me and you know that…" Toukai bitterly remarked.

"...touche, but… I care about you. Just… try to be more careful?"

Toukai took another sip of her water before she gave her dad a smile, "I'll try."

"That's all I can ask of you. Good night," he told her.

"Night," Toukai smiled.


Meanwhile, within what looked to be an area that was purely shrouded in night, the mysterious police car that vanished earlier pulled up into a rather high tech looking prison that looked to be ten stories tall, had huge searchlights, several of the monster grunts on patrol, and had a logo that read 'Keisatsu Kingdom' on the entrance.

The police car pulled in and soon tossed the three boys into a cell that was one of thousands, if not millions, that all kinds of people were locked inside of. The boys seemed to finally regain consciousness after what had happened, and looked on in fear.

"You three shouldn't have broken the rules. Enjoy the rest of your lifetime in there while our agents clean up your acts…" the monster remarked, walking away without another word.


Up in a meeting room were several shadowy figures that were clearly modeled after various positions in jails and police.

"Is our lady, the Warden, able to appear in person today?" one general of the monsters proceeded to ask.

"Alas, our lady must remain in her special location, but she can conference with us."

There were some sighs before a monitor came on and the Warden appeared in shadows.

-Report in.-

"Ma'am, we have captured another three hoodlums that were vandalizing something and attempting to pin it on someone else."

-Humanity… they are a doomed species without guides like us…-

An alarm suddenly began to blare loudly, making one of the generals quickly go to the security cameras and check them. However, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"Truancy Copture, what is the meaning behind the alarm?!"

-Sir, a Kaitopian prisoner has managed to escape!"

"How did a Kaitopian manage to escape?!" one monster yelled.

-It was one of those stupid Kaitopian animals!"- another yelled.

This made the voice of the warden sigh before pressing a button from the monitor she had, -All Coptures in Lupinia City, be on the lookout for a Kaitopian animal! We cannot let a single Kaitopian sully another world ever again!-

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!"


Back over in Lupinia City, the escapee had managed to get out via a small portal and then lay low in some grass. They looked to be some sort of red fox, but was instead mainly a black, white, and light blue colored fox instead. They had large eyes that were a baby blue shade, and clearly was injured.

"...I can't believe… I managed… to escape… the Keidom…" the fox muttered to himself, retracting their tail to try to keep himself in low cover, "Need… rest…"

The fox then seemed to collapse in exhaustion, but remained in a bush and as covered as they possibly could.


Morning eventually arrived in Lupinia City. Toukai ended up slipping out of the front door and headed on her way to school, doing her best to keep a low profile for the moment.

'Minimum attendance policy. Bah. Stupid school systems…' she thought as she walked along, 'But… it is what it is… gotta get to school like a good girl…'

Toukai then heard something that made her stop in her tracks and look around a little bit. She heard what almost sounded like someone calling out for help, which made her start to look around the area. Eventually, after a few minutes of searching, she managed to locate the source of the noise from a bush.

She slowly reached forward into the bush and then pulled out the escaped Kaitopian fox.

"A… fox…?" she whispered, picking up the animal, "So cute…"

"Help… me…" the fox spoke.

Without even thinking about it for another moment, Toukai hurried off in another direction, carrying the injured animal alongside her.


About an hour or so later, Toukai had arrived at a vet and was alongside the injured fox as it was being taken care of, doing her best to make sure the animal was happy.

"Well, I don't know how exactly this fox got so hurt, but he'll make a full recovery. None of the injuries were fatal, but he did get a bad beating…" the vet proceeded to inform Toukai, "He is going to need to eat a lot to get his strength back."

"That's good to hear. Thank you," Toukai smiled, quickly giving a respectful bow. She then turned to the fox, "So, you're a boy, huh?"

"Of course I'm male. What did you think?" the fox responded.

Toukai didn't respond to that, taking a quick glance to the vet to see that he didn't react to the fox seeming to speak.

"...shouldn't you be in school right now…?" the vet soon asked.

Toukai's eyes glanced to her uniform, the unmistakable vertical black and white lines that were well known of Jukeisha High leaving no room for doubt, and then just exhaled, "Look, I-"

"I'm not going to report you or anything. But you should be on your way…"

Toukai just exhaled a little and then picked up the fox before heading back outside.


"Okay, so, I certainly heard you talking a little while ago, but that guy didn't seem to hear you when he was treating you…" Toukai proceeded to remark to the fox as she was walking.

"It is… really complicated. The fact you can understand me is frankly a miracle right now…" the fox told the blonde.

Toukai just nodded her head a little bit as she kept on walking, not really thinking about where it was she was going at the moment.


Nearby, the disguised monsters had been patrolling around the area in search for the fox. The one monster that was labeled the 'Truancy Copture' let out a sigh as it kept on looking before seeming to spot something. Within the monster's gaze was Toukai and the monster was also able to see the fox.

"Truancy Copture reporting, over."

-Go for it.-

"I have located the Kaitopian, as well as the so-called 'rebel girl'. She appears to be aiding the criminal. What should I do?"

-Describe this 'rebel girl' to me.-

The monster kept the car parked for a moment to analyze Toukai a little bit, then checked the time, "Blonde hair, gray eyes, is clearly not at school when she should be. She's got Jukeisha's uniform on."

-Bring her in. Truancy and clearly trying to be a rebel with that blonde hairdye. Plus, aiding and abetting a known criminal.-

The monster grinned a little and started the car up…


Toukai glanced around, soon seeing the slowly approaching squad car, which made her sigh, "Oh joy… truancy cop…"

The fox blinked a bit and then tensed up, "Girl, you need to listen to me right now. You are in extreme danger."

"...I am…?" Toukai spoke.

"Yes. You need to run and run now. I'll explain once we can find somewhere safe to hide, but you need to run!"

Toukai nodded and started to pick up the pace a little. She glanced backwards and saw the car was picking up speed and clearly chasing her. This quickly made the blonde pick up the pace, recognizing the danger she was in, as the monster kept the chase up.

The blonde glanced around her, then smiled a bit upon seeing an option. She darted away from the sidewalk, quickly hurrying downhill, before she started to run through a park that put a great bit of distance between herself and the chasing cop.

"Just keep going!" the fox encouraged.

"Gotcha," Toukai responded.


After a bit more running, Toukai and the fox had managed to find a tunnel that was a fair distance wide that allowed her a moment to stop to catch her breath.

"Okay… you better start explaining some things to me…" Toukai said.

"Right…" the fox nodded.

However, before the fox could keep speaking, the sky around them suddenly went from a bright and sunny day to late night.

"A Capture Area already?!" the fox gasped, "Man, you must really have some sort of rap if the Copture is this serious about catching you…"

"...you just said a lot of words that I know, but not in any way that makes sense…" Toukai responded.

"Doesn't matter…" the fox told her before he heard a car door close, "Okay, we need to part ways here. You need to run and run like your life depends on it, because it does, and then you need to find somewhere safe to hide."

"But… what about you…?" Toukai questioned.

"I have a mission that I need to accomplish. You're someone who needs to stay safe. …good luck."

Toukai started to back away, but then she heard a growling that made her stop in her tracks. The monster still looked like a shadowy blob that was dressed in the outfit of a truancy officer, it had a white mask that covered up its entire face, gazing red eyes, and what looked to be a police baton.

"Copture… this world is no more your play area than Kaitopia was!" the fox yelled.

"Kaitopian… you should've remained in your cell where you belonged!" the monster, a Copture, declared, "But you lead me towards another obnoxious rebellious trouble maker that needs to be punished!"

"RUN ALREADY!" the fox yelled to Toukai before it leaped up to strike at the Truancy Copture.

Toukai nodded and started to run a bit, but she heard the fox getting hurt and struck at and it made her stop.

"Run if you'd like, girl! But I will chase you until the end of your life! There is no place safe for you from the Keisatsu Kingdom!"

"You Keidom fools… should never have had any kind of power!" the fox shouted.

This just made the Copture scoff before it smacked the fox with the baton right in the gut. The fox went tumbling and landed right in Toukai's arms.

"Why are you… here…?" the fox asked, 'You… need to run…"

"No. You need to run…" Toukai responded, putting the fox down to the ground, "I may be in danger… but I won't let you be alone. If you're staying… then I won't leave."

"Girl…"

"Gotcha!" the Truancy Copture yelled, managing to get a hand on Toukai's shoulder, gripping onto it as tightly as the monster was able to.

Toukai let out a scream in pain, but before the Copture could move further away from her, the light that emerged from Toukai began to shine brighter and brighter. It kept on gaining more and more brightness, the pain from the strike starting to leave Toukai as she felt a strange energy surge through herself. While something did seem to emerge from Toukai's body, it just continued to glow brighter and brighter.

The Truancy Copture recoiled from the bright light, letting go of Toukai in the process, which gave Toukai a moment to kick the monster away from her. The light soon floated down closer to her and she held out her hands as it landed. With the light disappearing, the item was revealed to be a token that was about the size of a medal, it had a hot pink center color, a black rim, and had a stylish top hat and a ribbon twirler depicted on it.

"What… the…?" Toukai said to herself as she looked over the token for a moment.

"That… shouldn't be possible…" the fox spoke, "A human girl manifesting the legendary power?!"

The Copture then growled as it got back up. The monster was quite clearly angry as it looked towards Toukai and the fox.

"Don't have time to be in shock…" the fox realized. He then turned towards Toukai, jumped up in the air, spun, and generated an item, "Hey, girl!"

The generated item floated over towards Toukai and landed in her right left hand. It turned out to be a compact of some sort, primarily light blue, with various pink, purple, and yellow highlights around it. The most notable thing about it apart from that was a button on the side, which Toukai felt compelled to press, which popped the compact open. The center had an insertion slot that fit the shape of the token that was in her other hand, with a ring around the insertion slot.

"Subarashi…" Toukai said in amazement, "It's a… Pretty Cure item…"

"You have to transform! Open the Thief Pact up and let your instincts guide you! I'll buy you the time you need!" the fox yelled out, leaping towards the Copture.

"Girl, if you know what's good for you, you're going to drop those and then surrender!" the Copture yelled out.

Toukai blinked a bit, then gave off a mischievous grin, "Heh."

"What?!"

"You clearly do not know the first thing about me if you think I'm going to surrender," Toukai confidently said. She then flipped the token in her hand and stood ready. The fox kept up the distraction against the monster as Toukai let her instincts guide her.

Pink energy surrounded Toukai's body, her outfit flashing into a kind of holographic glow, and she spoke.

"Kaitoken, set!" Toukai declared, loading the token into the center of the Thief Pact.

=PHANTOM!=

The compact flashed to life, gaining a hot pink glow in the ring around the token's insertion slot. Toukai then closed the top up and held her arms up in an x style, the energy from the compact flowing through her, "Pretty Cure, Masquerade!"

With the phrase echoed, Toukai pressed the button on the side of the compact. Pink energy trailed into her other hand, which ended up forming into a card. The card briefly flashed with flaming energy, forming out into katakana that read out 'Phantom'.

Toukai then flung the card out into the air, the card sailing up towards the left, pink energy trailing behind it as it soared around her. She pressed on the button on the compact, which made the card dash towards her arms and encircle them with energy. The energy then condensed down into long gloves that were black and reached up to about her elbows in length.

She gave off a grin and then pressed the button again, causing the card to surround her legs with energy. It formed into a pair of heels and long leggings that were a mixture of pink and black in color. With another press of a button, the card soared down towards her. This time, Toukai jumped up into the air and twirled a little, the card circling her body to form a sailor fuku that was a mixture of hot pinks and blacks.

She landed against the ground, pressing the button again, which then generated a top hat that would look like one used by either a magician or a thief. Toukai flicked her wrist and set it atop her head, which then transformed her messy and unkempt blonde hair into a black color with a few pink accents. Another press of the button on the compact had the card dash across her face, forming into a rather wide hot pink colored domino mask that covered up a majority of her face.

Toukai then leaped up back into the air, the card dashing from the left to add the finishing touches with a rather fancy cape that was short enough to not impede fighting, but still there for style. The card seemed to transform into the cape as the energy from the transformation faded from around her.

The newly born magical girl landed against the ground, her now green eyes looking forward towards the world around her. She then went through a few energetic poses, and spoke, "Seishin no hangyaku-sha! (Rebel of Spirits!)"

She then made one final pose, grinning, "Cure Phantom!"

Both the Copture and the fox stared at Cure Phantom for a little bit as she took in how she looked.

"I… turned into a Pretty Cure…" she gawked, taking in her design a bit. She seemed to be squeeing a bit at the fact that was in front of her.

"Pretty… Cure…?" the fox questioned.

"The legendary power of Kaitopia? Oh, you're in for it now, girl!"

Cure Phantom just grinned, jumping forward, and managing to punch the Truancy Copture back a fair distance.

"Looks like it's my moment…" Cure Phantom smiled. She then leaped forward and delivered a few punches and kicks at the Copture, sending it back out of the tunnel and out into the field nearby. The artificial night sky kept shining, which the Cure simply smiled a little at. She then did a few flips and managed to kick the Copture upside the head.

The Copture let out an angered growl, but Cure Phantom managed to effortlessly sneak up behind it and kick it in the back. She gave off a little 'fufu' giggle at the skill she now had and managed to land another punch.

"It doesn't matter what you are, girl… you will not stop any Copture or the Keisatsu Kingdom!" the Copture yelled, managing to strike at her with the baton, which knocked the magical girl back a little.

Cure Phantom managed to bounce back and land another few punches, but the Copture's use of the baton in its hand to hand managed to knock her back at least a little bit, causing the Thief Pact to slip out. The Copture then struck at Cure Phantom's chest, sending her towards the ground, causing the Thief Pact's button to be activated in her tumble.

=PHANTOM POWER!=

Cure Phantom's body collided against the ground… only to seem to vanish into the shadows.

"Nani?! Where did you go?!"

Cure Phantom's shadow vanished amongst the other shadows in the area, only for her to then suddenly emerge from the shadows of the wall and strike at the monster's head.

"Oh, this is awesome," Cure Phantom said with a wide smile.

The Copture growled in anger and tried to strike at her again, but the Cure quickly retreated into the shadows to evade it. She quickly emerged again, landing another strike. She kept up this retreat and then strike manuver for several more hits against the monster before she kicked it upside the head.

"Go for the finisher! Press that button on the Thief Pact twice!" the fox yelled.

"Gotcha," Cure Phantom nodded, proceeding to quickly jump back into the shadows in order to get herself a good angle for the attack.

"You…"

"It's time for your last surprise!" the Cure declared.

=PHANTOM FINISH!=

Cure Phantom then leaped out of the shadows, dark shadowy energy glowing at her fists as she soared forward.

"Pretty Cure… Phantom Finale!" Cure Phantom shouted out, punching clean through the Copture, grinning as she did so. The Copture recoiled in pain as the Cure flew past it and came to a stop behind it, with some smoke coming from her heels as she skidded to a stop.

"Subara-steal!" Cure Phantom proclaimed, clenching her fist as she posed, before the Copture finally exploded into sparkles and energy.

The Copture's squad car vanished alongside the explosion, leaving only the Cure and the fox in the shadowy area.

"That was… amazing!" Cure Phantom cheered, "I'm a Pretty Cure! I can't believe it!"

She then felt something in her hand, which made her look to it to see a shattered key in it, "What the…?"

"You can even shatter a Key to the Soul. I wasn't expecting that from a human…" the fox admitted as he walked over to Cure Phantom, "You may just be what both Kaitopia and this world need."

"Yeah… uh… I got a lot of questions for you. So… uh…"

"We'll get somewhere safe and I'll answer whatever you want to know," the fox spoke.

"Fair enough," Cure Phantom smiled.

With that, the fox climbed into her arms and the two went through the tunnel. The Capture Area soon shattered and Cure Phantom reverted back into Toukai. She took in the sunlight as she exited the tunnel, a smile on her face…


Omake Scene

"Hey! Thank you for supporting us over this past year!" Cure Friendly happily spoke towards the camera.

"You were all such wan-derful friends!" Cure Wonderful said with a smile, getting close to the camera, "I'm gonna miss you all!"

Suddenly, Cure Wonderful reverted back down into her dog form, quickly being caught by Cure Friendly.

"Nani?!"

"Huh. So this is the power of the Wonderful Cures…" a new voice spoke. Cure Friendly and the dog then turned towards the source of the noise, seeing a new Cure gently tossing up and down the Friendly Tact.

"Oh, there you are!" Cure Friendly smiled.

Koumugi then growled a little before the other Cure handed the Friendly Tact back over to the two, then took a moment to gently pet Iroha. Koumugi then calmed down a little bit, but still looked on guard.

"This is our new friend," Cure Friendly introduced.

"Konichiwa. I'm Cure Phantom," the Cure said with a smile, waving towards the audience, "I may be a phantom thief, but don't let that stop us from getting to know each-other over this next year."

"I don't know if I trust her…" Koumugi admitted.

"Okay, I'm sorry for taking your wand. Had to show off a little," Cure Phantom apologized.

Cure Friendly and Koumugi then gave a small bow out of respect and backed off, allowing Cure Phantom to grin a little bit.

"Subara-steal!" Cure Phantom proclaimed, taking out a calling card, "Let's get along."

With a quick flick of her wrist, the calling card dashed forward and then took up the screen. The text on it was clearly clipped out from various sources and arranged in a stylized way to reveal the title of the incoming series…

Phantom Girls Pretty Cure

ファントムガールズプリキュア

"Let's meet again real soon!" Cure Phantom's voice said before the calling card disappeared and revealed she was nowhere to be found, with fading smoke to indicate a smoke bomb masked her departure…


Well, that was honestly pretty fun to write. Sure, I cut my deadline for the first chapter a little closer than I was hoping, but… it happens. I ended up losing a day of production on this because of emotional exhaustion and a lot of food making me just sleep through Friday after I got back from work.

Regardless, I know I'm probably going to get some comments comparing this to Persona 5. I will assure you all of this, I will be trying to keep references to it to a minimum. There will be some, like Toukai saying "it's time for your last surprise", and I will admit that a tiny bit of Toukai's Cure form took inspiration from Joker, but it was just a little bit.

The only other major influence right now that I can note is Toukai's last name being 'Okuru'. It came from 'Okumura' and 'Kurusu'. I was struggling to think of a last name for her. …honestly, my biggest struggle with this project was the names. While I am proud of 'Toukai', a lot of the other names were difficult to come up with.

I'll admit that, when it came to coming up with Toukai, I sort of wanted to have her zig where other Pink/protagonist Cures zagged. She has blonde hair in her civilian identity, more normal looking hair while as Cure Phantom, she's actually rather smart and quick witted, and while clearly a trickster and a bit of a manipulator, she's got a very clear moral compass that'll guide her. Additionally, one of her big flaws that I hope came through is that she doesn't tend to think before she acts.

While she won't be a solo act for very long, I will say I do want to let her act a little bit without the next major Cure to support her. You'll learn of her in due time.

I bet that you will have a lot of questions along with Toukai, but most of the answers will be in the next chapter. …I will admit that the second chapter has had some production changes, but we'll get more into that next time.

As for why Toukai is a first year high school student… it's admittedly because of the student council president character. I don't know if middle schools have those in Japan, so I figured a high school lead would be a good way to do it. She's still young enough that I think it's something Toei could do, but that's just me.

Now for that omake scene. I'll admit that I did want to have a scene that would be the hypothetical baton pass between Wonderful and Phantom Girls, because I'm sort of trying to imagine this as if Toei was actually making it, and I had fun with it. …I will admit that I did forget Cure Wonderful's actual name and needed to double check it… but… hey, my memory is bad. Let me know if you do want more omake scenes in the future.

If I had to name a favorite scene… honestly, it's the transformation sequence. I was so scared about writing that, but I'm so happy with how it turned out. It gives me a nice blueprint for the other Cures that'll be in this story and, for someone who struggles with descriptions, it's nicely done in my opinion.

Sincerely, thank you for checking this out. I hope that you enjoyed it.

Just Live More.