CHAPTER 9: Storms and Tides

-VERTEX THREE: 8.333882^1-

Wakabadai

Simultaneously

"Hikari!" shrieked Nagisa, tears rolling down her crimson cheeks. "Hikari and Hikaru Kujou! Your cousins! They're both good kids, they have blonde hair, they're your family and you love them!"

"Nagisa, you've gotta calm down-" said Akane, drawing back from her. She had seen Nagisa upset before, hell, it was a regular occurrence, but nothing like this...

"Calm down? How can I calm down?!" Now Nagisa stood, taking fistfuls of her orange hair. "It was supposed to be over! Dammit, I don't believe this!" With that, she scooped up her backpack and ran, making a beeline for a certain old forest southwest of Wakabadai.

"Nagisa, wait! Please excuse us, Akane-san!" said Honoka in a rush, bowing quickly and retrieving her shoulder bag, then hurrying after her friend. "Nagisa!"

Staring after them, Akane raised a hand in a feeble manner, then dropped it with a mournful sigh. Whatever was going on, she had to trust the girls to work it out. She could only hope that they found these kids they were looking for...

In the foliage of the trees surrounding the park, another figure grinned and disappeared without a sound.

It's not fair. Pouring on all speed, Nagisa ran with no regard for anyone or anything in her way, charging blindly ahead. It's not fair. Being Precure was always supposed to be a temporary thing, that was the deal. Defend the Garden of Light and fight Dusk Zone, then you can go back to your normal life... eating takoyaki in the park, arguing with Mepple, and pining over Fujipi. It was supposed to be over now. Light and darkness were in balance, the Dark King was dead three times over, everyone had a happy ending. It's not fair!

At least she could still take it out on those responsible. If there was one good thing about becoming Cure Black once again, it was that she could now beat the tar out of whoever or whatever had been stupid enough to yank her back into that world... stupid enough to take Hikari from them again.

If she had been thinking clearly, she would have noticed the absence of the usual squeaky voice from her backpack, chiding her for rushing in without thinking. If she had been thinking clearly, she would have realized that Hikari and Hikaru being taken again made no sense... Hikari's powers as Shiny Luminous aside, they were both just normal children now. Of course, thinking clearly was never Nagisa's strong suit at the best of times, and this was hardly one of those.

"Please, wait! Nagisa!" cried Honoka, threading her way through afternoon crowds as she followed that tangle of orange hair. "Nagisa, I can't run well in these shoes! Nagisa!" Normally the voice of reason, Honoka had no head for logic or planning at the moment... all that was on her mind was Nagisa. If she didn't stop, she would likely get herself hurt, or worse... She too failed to notice the unusual silence of her fairy companion.

The chase continued, and Nagisa didn't stop until she reached the clearing in the forest, sweaty and gasping for breath. The mansion, she thought, clenching her fists so hard that her nails dug into her palms. I'll go into the mansion and whale on whoever took away Hikari and Hikaru until they give them back, and then everything will go back to normal. That's gotta be it, right? Please, God...

Wearily, she raised her head, exhausted, but more than ready to tear that damned mansion down around-

Dusk Zone's mansion was still gone. Not so much as a splinter remained... it was a flat, square, bare patch of soil in the middle of the wilderness, just as she had seen it last time.

Nagisa's mind stopped working then, shorting out her thoughts. What does it mean? The mansion was still gone. No Dusk Zone commanders, no Zakenna, no nothing. They were the only ones with any interest in kidnapping the Kujou siblings (or whatever they had done), as far as Nagisa knew, but there was no mansion and no Dusk Zone. What does it mean?

Now, finally, Honoka caught up with her, woefully out of breath, her shoes clutched together in one hand and her socks a dirty, tattered mess on the verge of unraveling entirely. "Na... gi... sa..." she panted, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder for support as she clutched her aching stomach.

"It's still gone," said Nagisa, staring straight ahead at the empty plot of land. "No Dusk Zone. Nagisa, why aren't they here?"

"I... don't... know," wheezed Honoka. "Ohhh, my feet... m-maybe it's not Dusk Zone?"

Only then did Nagisa turn around. "But it's always Dusk Zone!" she sputtered, stamping her foot. "Whenever something weird happens to us, whenever a Prism Stone or whatever goes missing or a kingdom needs saving, Dusk Zone is always behind it! Honoka, that's what we do! We fight them, we use the Marble Screw, and then we go home! That's how it works!"

"N-Nagisa..." Trembling, Honoka turned her eyes upward. "Th-there's something you need to see." With that, she dug into her shoulder bag and retrieved Mipple...

Nagisa felt something drop in her stomach. It was Mipple, resting in her disguised state which inexplicably resembled a clamshell cell phone... but she hadn't taken on this particular shape in more than a year. Her "upgrade" from the beginning of the second conflict with Dusk Zone was gone, and she had reverted back to the Card Commune form that she had when they first met her.

"M-Mipple...?" Stunned, Nagisa took the little device in her hands and flipped it open. Inside, the fairy's face was ashen, and she appeared exhausted, breathing heavily as if she had spent the day outside in her normal form. But the fairies' disguise forms were to prevent them from getting tired in their world... "Mipple, are you okay?"

Mipple slowly opened her big brown eyes and attempted to smile. "I'll be... fine... in a few minutes..."

"What's wrong with her, is she sick? Why... why did she change back?" Handing her back to Honoka in a hurry, Nagisa ripped open her backpack and plunged a hand inside. "H-hang on, I know I've got Palp's card in here somewhere..." Her fingers flew through old food wrappers, a few issues of various manga, some small toys for Mepple, and-

"N... Nagisa...?" The small voice from inside was meek and subdued.

Forgetting the cards, Nagisa retrieved her Commune, and found it back in its original shape. With a sinking feeling, she opened the device's lid. Just like with his counterpart, the little fairy looked weary and haggard, like he had been drained of some of his color. "M-Mepple!" she said, giving him a gentle shake. "Come on, th-this isn't funny! Snap out of it!"

"Is..." His brow furrowed, as if he had to search for the words before speaking them. "... is... Mipple... okay?"

"I..." Honoka swallowed heavily. "I r-realized Mipple wasn't talking while I was f-following you, Nagisa." Clutching Mipple to her heart, she looked so helpless, so unlike her; Honoka always knew what to do... "I a-already tried using my Palp card. I-it didn't help..."

Everything began to spin, and Nagisa's knees threatened to buckle beneath her. "What does this mean...?"

"D-did you notice?" said Honoka, her lip trembling. "It... it wasn't just Hikari and Hikaru that disappeared when... when it happened. Pollun's gone... and I'm guessing Lulun is too."

"What does this mean?!" Nagisa repeated, staring off into space as if it contained the answers.

From a branch of one of the old pines that surrounded them, someone giggled. A new voice, an amused voice. "It means that this is the end~."

Both girls started and craned their heads backward, looking up.

There was a girl sitting on a high bough, merrily kicking her legs back and forth in the air as she smiled down at them, blue eyes sparkling. A long, dark brown ponytail trailed down over one shoulder, and there was a much smaller tuft, almost like a rabbit's tail, sprouting out from the point where it was tied. "Hi there!" she said, waving a hand.

Nagisa and Honoka stared in astonishment. Whoever this new arrival was, she certainly didn't look like a typical Dusk Zone commander. Or act like one, for that matter... they tended to attack on sight rather than give cheerful greetings.

"Did..." Honoka began, now completely lost. "Did you do all of this?"

"Me?" said the new girl. "Oh, no, it wasn't me."

Some of the tension unwound from Honoka's body. "Then, if you please-"

"But I'm working for the ones who did," the girl continued. "I'm here with a message for Cure Black and Cure White... that's you two, right?"

As quickly as the tension unwound, now it was back tenfold. "I-"

She didn't have a chance to get any further than that. "Spill it! What have you done to our friends?!" roared Nagisa, raising a fist.

"Me? Nothing. It's the Time Reaper you want to be mad at~," said the girl in singsong. "But you are Precure, right? In that case..." She dropped off the branch.

Nagisa went pale, and Honoka clapped her hands over her mouth, stifling a scream.

The strange new girl plummeted toward the forest floor, still wearing that smile... and as she fell, she drew something from her pocket. A white flash enveloped her, her body erupted in flames, and a blazing comet struck the ground a second later with a thunderous sound and a great cloud of black smoke. Dirt, debris, and flaming pine needles rained down on the pair.

"HONOKA!" In between hacking coughs, Nagisa reached blindly through the cloud, searching for her partner's hand. "Honoka, where are you?!"

After a few seconds of rising panic, Honoka's soot-blackened hand closed around hers. "I... I'm here, I'm all right! But that girl-"

A blast of wind blew away the smoke. In the center of a smoldering crater, the girl stood transformed, wearing a ruffled, flowing dress, pure white, like a medieval lady of the court. Above and to one side of her left breast, a strange red jewel seemed to be mounted directly to her skin. Another white flash, and a long, curved, single-edged sword materialized in her hand. A katana, at odds with her European-style costume... the blade rippled visibly, as if being viewed through a heat mirage. Still wearing that smile, the girl stepped forward brandishing her weapon. "I'm Ayase Souju, from Dead End," she said, a fawning giggle in her voice. "I'm here for your jewels... the Prism Stones. Hand them over, and I won't have to kill you~."

"The hell we will!" growled Nagisa, gripping Honoka's hand tight. "Mepple, Mipple, can you two still fight with us?"

Their voices came from the two Communes, weary and slow, but determined.

"You can c-count on us, ~mepo!"

"W-we'll support you, ~mipo!"

"Thanks, guys. I promise, we'll finish this quick, then you can rest." Despite their situation, despite the loss of Hikari, and despite the crazy swordswoman threatening them, Nagisa smirked as she turned to Honoka. "Ready, partner?"

Honoka nodded with a smile of her own. "Always."

The girl, Ayase, wasn't about to wait. Her feet left the ground as she charged, letting out a scream of laughter, her blade igniting with flames...

The two girls raised their free hands to the sky and called out as one. "Dual Aurora Wave...!"

"Shit!" Only instinct saved Ayase Souju's life. She abandoned her charge, just an instant before a massive column of iridescent light descended from the heavens and swallowed the two girls, a light with heat and power that could have melted her blade to slag ten times over. As she watched, the bodies of two were sheathed in something like liquid steel... They touched down gently as the light column faded, dressed in uniforms of opposite colors. With pride, they called out their new names...

"Emissary of Light, Cure Black!" shouted Nagisa, beginning the ritual...

"Emissary of Light, Cure White!" ... and Honoka answered in kind.

"The two of us are Precure!"

"Servant of the evil powers..."

"... go back to the darkness you came from!"

"Ooooh, fun~!" There was that unhinged giggle again, as Ayase clapped politely. "You guys looked so cool just now, all pretty and sparky... Now let us show you our special trick!"

There was no column of light, no ritual chant, just a bright flash... and now Ayase Souju stood next to a mirror image of herself, dressed all in red with a white gem, her lips pressed together in a smirk that was as cool as Ayase's grin was manic.

The two Cures stared in silent astonishment. Whatever they had been expecting, this wasn't it.

"Hey, Luca," said Ayase, moving to stand back-to-back with the new arrival. "Isn't this fun? They're almost like us! And they have such pretty jewels..."

"I heard." Luca's voice was calm, reserved... but there was madness trickling just underneath her tone. She was clearly no saner than her twin. "Jewels even brighter than Soul Gems, the rarest in existence. Those jewels contain all the light in this world, the Power of Creation itself... we'll take them."

"I can't wait~!"

Cure Black's gloves creaked as she clenched her fists. "That does it," she spat, "I don't care how many of you there are! You're asking for a pounding!" With ease born of two years of experience, she launched herself at the twins, ready to bury a fist in one of those smiles, she didn't care which one...

And Cure White waited, raising her hands and taking on a defensive stance. Charging ahead and making the first move was Black's style, not hers, and they knew each other well enough by now to let each other fight in their own styles until it was time to move as one.

The Soujus shocked them both by moving in perfect sync, splitting off at angles to avoid Black's forward strike. Luca drew her own sword, a cutlass of some kind, and the two blades flashed with magical power. Even their voices rang out in perfect harmony: "Picchi Gemellati!" A blazing fireball from one Souju, and a glittering ball of ice from the other...

"What the-" Black dug her heels into the ground, halting her advance. Instinctively, she raised both fists to deflect the-

The spells were not aimed at her, but at each other...

"Black, look out!"

They collided with a roar, superheated and supercooled air merging together. The resulting explosion ripped through the forest and tossed Black into a tree like a ragdoll, cratering its bark. Everything went silent, save for a high-pitched whine in her ears...

When she came to, White was by her side, helping her up. "Th-thanks..."

White mouthed something that Black couldn't hear in reply.

Scattered fragments of voices from White and the Soujus broke through the whine. Black shook her head and tried to make them out:

"... are you doing this?!" said White, batting aside a volley of flames.

"... nothing personal..." That was Ayase, clearly amused and barely containing her laughter. She paused her attack just long enough to drag her tongue along the blunt edge of her katana. "... not just you, after all~!"

"...ker is the one wants you, we just want your Prism Stones," said Luca as she drove White back with savage blows of her cutlass. "... not the only ones that are going to suffer... join the other Precure soon enough."

It was debatable before, but now Black was sure both twins were insane. As she reentered the fray, Luca's wording stuck in her mind.

Join the other Precure...? What the hell is she talking about?!

-VERTEX THREE: 8.333882^3-

Cinq Lumières

Simultaneously

As much as she loved fairy tales and fables, Nozomi Yumehara had never much cared for the story of Chicken Little as a child. She understood the point, that one shouldn't believe everything they heard, but the idea of the sky falling was so silly that it could never be scary. The sky stayed up, that was just what it did. There wasn't anything up there to fall in the first place, save for rain or snow, or birds, or occasionally parts from passing planes, or shooting stars on summer nights...

How wrong she was. Now the sky was breaking apart, huge pieces of it plummeting down from the heavens and slicing through buildings like knives through butter. The sky was doing things that were impossible, things that the sky simply should not do, and that filled her with a cold, creeping horror that she rarely felt outside of her most vicious battles as Cure Dream.

The sky was falling, in great, vicious, razor-sharp shards like broken glass. And from the dark, gaping, endless holes that the shards left behind, there came the monsters...

They shrieked down to earth like a rainstorm from hell, creatures unlike any that Nightmare or Eternal ever sent after them. Red, gelatinous figures in vaguely feminine shapes that looked horribly like they were made of blood, figures with piercing, unblinking yellow eyes and sharp teeth. They came down connected to the sky holes far above by impossibly long, wide strands that reminded Dream of stretched taffy... when each hit creature the ground, it snapped from its strand and moved immediately to join the others. There were thousands upon thousands of them, so many that their formless lower bodies merged together in one giant mass that flooded entire city blocks below.

Below... Dream shut her eyes tight. She couldn't bear to think about the people below. As they fled, they saw more than one poor civilian being cornered by the blood creatures and dragged down screaming into the oozing depths. Blasting the creatures to free their hostages did next to nothing; the mass simply regenerated their ranks to replace the ones lost, or moved forward to swallow its victims by itself.

Their families, their schoolmates, their homes... all gone, buried in clinging ooze. With the streets filling up by the second, they took the only option available: they fled to the sky. Now, the Precure 5, Milky Rose, and their companion fairies clung desperately to the floor of the carriage on Syrup's back as the penguin-like fairy flew for the city limits as fast as his wings could carry him, swerving and weaving in a dizzying fashion to stay out of the way of the blood creatures and sky shards raining down from the heavens.

Dream's stomach did another lurch as Syrup rolled onto his side, dodging a cluster of knife-like shards. "H-how much farther...?" Her voice was almost lost to the wind lashing her face, but somehow Syrup heard it.

"I can see the city limits, just hang on, ~ropu!" There was a collective groan as Syrup tucked in his wings and dived out of the reach of another dozen dripping hands from the strand nearest them.

From several places behind Dream came a disgusted scream as a hand stretched far from the undulating ribbon of red slime and made a grab for someone's hair. A flash of purple light accompanying the counterattack confirmed that the screamer was Milky Rose, alias Kurumi Mimino in her human form. "Get away from me! Gah, what are these things?! They're disgusting!"

"Rose, keep down! You'll fall if you keep moving like that!" said Cure Aqua, Karen Minazuki, putting an arm around her teammate's shoulder. Ordinarily, the Cure of Intelligence would have a plan, no matter how dire the situation. There was always a plan... but not this time. This time, it was a struggle just to keep moving, let alone think. Her home, and Sakamoto-san, and almost everyone and everything she treasured... it was all buried down below...

Sparks of light flew from two bright, glowing yellow chains, lashing through the hands reaching out to drag them down. "Dream," panted Cure Lemonade, Urara Kasugano, hauling her chains back for another strike. Sweat glistened on their smallest teammate's brow, and even her twin curled pigtails drooped with exhaustion, a far cry from her usual exuberant spirit. "I don't know... how long I can... keep this up..."

"I've got you!" A hand gripped her shoulder tight. "Natts, help me out!" That was Cure Rouge, Rin Natsuki, burning even hotter than usual at being relegated to a supporting role. There was no way she could position herself for a Fire Strike, not with Syrup weaving and swooping around underneath her. If she broke off from the others and used her wings, the blood creatures would be upon her in seconds. Sharing her power with Lemonade was the only way to make herself useful, and the helplessness of being unable to fight ate away at her from within.

Next to her, Natts gritted his teeth, concentrating all of his limited power into the hand that grasped Lemonade's other shoulder. There had been no warning, no time to prepare, no chance to seek refuge in the Cure Rose Garden... one moment, Cinq Lumières was calm and peaceful, and the next, the whole world went mad. All the havoc around them made keeping his human form a terrible strain, but he would hold on... for Rouge's sake. For everyone's sake.

Cure Mint said nothing. Komachi Akimoto, the calm in every storm, crouched low to the floor of the carriage on Syrup's back, storing every iota of her power. She knew with terrible certainty that they would need her shield at any second now, and when they did, she needed herself at one hundred percent.

Coco, the last of their number, had his arms wrapped securely around Dream's waist. As Natts did with Rouge, so he would do with Dream... he suspected that now, as ever, the Precure were the world's only hope. He felt her shift in his arms, and leaned out of the way of her blowing pink hair to shout a question. "Dream, what is it?"

"I think we're almost to the border!" Finally, the glimmer of hope in Dream's heart began to reignite into its usual warm glow. Almost out... they were almost out. Once they escaped this insanity, they could start working on a way to save everyone. There was still a chance... "Full speed ahead, Syrup!"

"You got it!" Syrup tucked in his wings and shot like a bullet for the city limits. Demonic bodies fell like giant, viscous drops of blood all around them, the sky buckled in its death throes as the last remaining loose pieces broke from the whole, but salvation was in sight. He had to make it, he was almost there... the wind screamed in his ears... just a few more meters, and-

A hard, smooth, inflexible wall of nothing at all stopped him dead. The penguin fairy collided with it with the force of an oncoming train, and the sickening sound of his contact reverberated through his body along with firestorms of pain. It was too much, and he was lost to blackness.

The group had no time to even exchange glances before Syrup reverted to his normal, stuffed toy size, leaving them grasping thin air, plummeting to the flooded streets miles below.

Wings! Dream poured all her energy into forming them, her hair blown every which way, Coco's arms slipping away from her waist as they both fell, seized by the wind. She thought she heard the others screaming, but it might have just been the air rushing past her. Wings! Her stomach lurched as G-forces tore at her, she felt Coco lose his grip entirely, leaving her cold without his touch... Wings! Wings wings wings wings! Come on, please...!

Translucent pink light took shape at her back, forming itself into ornate butterfly wings. Flapping with all her might, she managed to slow her fall just slightly. Her eyes streaming, she searched the empty air for Coco, groping blindly for his hand...

A small, furry paw touched hers. Dream reached out and seized it, pulling Coco's smaller fairy form in close to her heart and wrapping her arms around him. Her wings beat the air like mad, but she was still falling much too fast, they barely slowed her at all. If she hit the ground at this speed, Precure or not, it would all be over-

Around her, she faintly made out the shapes of the others, brightly colored meteors roaring toward earth at terminal velocity. Rouge's wings sprouted, then Aqua's, then Rose's, followed by Lemonade's... but Mint was still- "Mint!" Her voice was stolen, scattered in the frightening speed of her descent. "Mint, your wings! Your-"

Mint had no intention of summoning her wings. They were all counting on her, depending on her shield. This was what she had spent the last twenty minutes preparing herself for. She would be that shield, she would pour her whole being into it, to protect her precious friends... "Precure Emerald Saucer!"

Far below, an immense, concave field of cool green energy stretched itself, sweeping over the abandoned buildings, over the flooded streets, over entire city blocks. It flickered under the stress of maintaining itself at such an enormous size, but it held... They would hit the shield instead of the street or the bloody mass, they were saved. Mint smiled to herself, then back up at her friends, a mile above her and spreading their wings wide to catch more air. "I got it," she whispered. "Don't worry." She closed her eyes and demanded the shield to stay in place no matter what, even if she should lose consciousness. She was the team's shield, she couldn't-

"MINT! KOMACHI...!" Aqua howled, stretching her arm as if she could somehow catch hold of her friend so far below them, little more than a shrinking dark green speck of light amid the sea of lighter green energy she held in place for them.

Mint's gamble worked; when the four Cures, Rose, and the fairies slammed into the shield's surface seconds later, it flexed under their weight, its center coming dangerously close to touching the pulsing red ooze below it... but it snapped back into place as if it were made of rubber, and cushioned their fall enough that the sudden stop was hideously painful, but not fatal. The nine figures on its surface, battered but alive, slid safely into unconsciousness as Mint's shield extended itself, doming over them to keep them safe from the deadly rain.

Dream regained her senses to the sound of livid shrieking, of hundreds of clawed fingers sizzling as they scraped at the dome's edges. The small, warm shape nestled in her arms told her that Coco was still with her... passed out, but still all right, thank heaven. Everything was still blurry, but amid the cacophony of the crazed blood creatures, she made out the clashes and exhalations of her comrades in battle.

A dozen cerulean arrows soared past Dream's ears, plunging through Mint's shield and tearing through the mass of writhing shapes plastered against its protective walls. Aqua fought in grim silence, crouched like a sniper over Mint's bloodied body as she shaped streams of water into her next volley.

Komachi... A strange mix of pride and furious anger churned in Aqua's breast. They were all safe, yes, but Mint exerting herself like that could have easily killed her. The least she could do was to protect Mint while she couldn't protect herself... poor, brave, incredibly stupid Mint...

"Precure Fire Strike!" Now that she was back on solid ground, Rouge rejoined the fray with a vengeance. Her legs were a blur of constant motion, launching fireball after fireball into the hordes of monsters and watching eagerly as each one detonated and took a dozen of the awful monsters with it. Natts sat on her shoulder in fairy form, his presence giving strength to her to fire off another round, and another. "Take that, you slimy creeps! Lemonade, you still okay?"

A bright chain carving a swath through half a block of red ooze gave her an answer. "T-tired and s-still sore, but I'll live!" It wasn't exactly true... fighting with just one arm put even more pressure on her than before. But her other arm held the still-unconscious Syrup, whom she would keep safe until her dying breath. "These things... are everywhere!"

"Guys, we have another problem!" The warning shout came from Rose, saving her one attack allotted per transformation for when it really counted. Since she was not directly involved in the fight at the moment, she was in a unique position to see what was going on outside... "They're trying to collapse the dome!"

More and more of the blood creatures piled onto the shield every second. The ones destroyed by the Cures' attacks regenerated from the main mass in seconds, rushing back into place and pushing on the barrier ever harder. The effect was akin to applying slow pressure to an eggshell; little by little, the dome was succumbing to their weight.

Rose tossed off an entirely unladylike curse and rushed to Mint's side and shook her shoulders. "Mint! Wake up! Come on, Mint, we need you to fight with us! Wake up!"

"She can't!" shouted Aqua, falling back and fixing Rose with a deadly glare. "Mint nearly died pulling that stunt, you can't expect her to-"

"I-" Mint stirred, putting a shaky hand to her pale brow. Her fingertips came away painted red, but there was less blood that she thought. "I'm... all right..."

There was no way she could fight in this state, let alone keep her barrier maintained. Only one other option. Rose gripped her teammate's shoulders hard and fixed her with her gaze. "Mint, drop the shield!"

All traces of weakness fled from Mint as that command brought her fully out of her daze. "Wh-what...? You can't mean-"

"Drop the shield," Rose repeated slowly, her eyes boring into Mint's. "I need you to put everything you have left into clearing a path while I use my attack. We're fifty meters from the edge of the city, you can all make it out with one last big push..."

"Rose, no!" came a horrified shout from behind them. Dream heard the plan, and she would have none of it. They had already sacrificed far too much. "We're not leaving anyone behind!"

"You think Mint can hold this up forever?! She's hurt, the Kings need to be taken to safety, and I will not allow you to stay here where those horrible things can capture them!" Milky Rose drew herself up to her full height, stared Dream in the eye, and drew upon all of her famed stubbornness, daring her to argue further. "If Coco-sama or Natts-sama gets hurt while you're dawdling, I'll never forgive you for it!"

"But-"

"Rose, you-"

"Drop the shield, Mint!"

A pained cry bubbled up from inside the green Cure. Now the monsters' pressure on her shield felt like someone tightening a vise on her skull. In a few more seconds, it would come down whether she wanted it to or not. Her lip trembling, tears welling in her eyes, she let it go...

The shield popped like a soap bubble. Nine bodies plummeted once more, and the mass of ooze below sprouted hundreds of arms to catch them and drag them under...

"Let burst the shining rose, and envelop the evil power!" Rose's mirror appeared at her fingertips with her call, its centerpiece a spinning streak of color and light. "MILKY ROSE METAL BLIZZARD!" When a giant metallic rose blossom formed before the mirror, she pointed it not forward as usual, but straight above her head. The blossom split into a storm of a million whirling petals, petals that disintegrated the blood creatures about to fall upon them like living tidal waves, the mass in the street below, and every drop of red slime within a five block radius. "Go! Go, NOW!"

They had no other choice but to run, and run they did. The five Cures bolted for the street leading out of the city the moment their feet touched clear pavement. Rose's hurricane of petals passed through them harmlessly and held back their tormentors by the sheer force of her will.

Tears streamed freely down Lemonade's cheeks. She knew she was a blubbering mess, and she didn't care. Her insides contorted with guilt... how could they just run away while Rose stayed behind?! It wasn't fair, it didn't make sense. There was only one thing to do: save Rose whether she wanted to be saved or not. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she dropped behind the others and summoned her chain. Lemonade turned on her heel, facing the deserted intersection where Rose stood proud in the center of her dwindling storm. "Rose, hang on! I'm-"

She was the only one to see the entirety of what happened next.

When Rose's storm spent itself entirely, the mass of ooze came surging back with a vengeance, geysering from a hundred broken and open windows and forming a ten meter ring that surrounded her. High-pitched giggling burbled from its depths as three dozen of the blood creatures sprouted, bared their fangs, and pounced.

Defiant, Rose charged to meet them with both fists flying, sinking one arm elbow deep into the nearest blood creature before it had even finished solidifying, exploding it from within. A savage swipe of her heel tore the two closing in behind her in half, then she started work on a fourth... which flattened its body into a sheet, caught her arm, and wrapped itself around it, pinning her in place. The others were upon her in an instant, thinning themselves and constricting tight until Rose was little but a squirming mummy, her shape barely defined underneath endless ribbons of slime. Tendrils of it erupted from the main mass, attached to her bindings, hauled her backward, and slammed her hard into the unyielding steel surface of a transformer box, which dented from the blow. The tendrils anchored both her and themselves to the box, and arcs of crackling lightning raced through their lengths. For a split-second, there was a muffled scream of agony heard from Rose-

And the transformer exploded with a mighty, resounding roar, releasing a titanic gout of fire and flashes of electric current into the empty street.

The other Cures turned back, stopping their flight at the sound, but Lemonade stood motionless, shell-shocked and ghostly pale in the glow of the fire, her chain falling abandoned at her feet and vanishing into yellow sparkles as flaming shrapnel rained down around her. Her eyes were wide as saucers, her pupils shrunken. Aware of nothing but the fading heat of the blast and a ringing, high-pitched hum in her ears, she cradled Syrup's sleeping form to her chest without conscious awareness that she was doing so, just to feel his warmth... just to try to dispel the awful cold numbness seeping through her...

"Urara-chan!"

"Lemonade!"

"Come on, you've got to move! Please!"

A chorus of her teammates' voices called her name, but it was as if their voices fell behind an invisible wall just like the one that they slammed into in the sky, faint and indistinct. Her mind refused to accept the horrific reality of what she had just seen, and her body refused to move altogether. She remained perfectly still as the flood of red ooze regenerated itself, rushed forward to fill the street, and swallowed both her and Syrup whole.

"Lemon-" Rouge's voice cut off in a choked sob as her throat squeezed closed, her fists clenching on their own. This can't be happening, it can't it can't it can't be-

"P-PRECURE EMERALD SAUCER!" Ahead of the rest of the group, Mint's attack cry sounded, tremulous and distorted. The new shield that formed before her pulsed outward into a piercing beam of green light, carving a path through the remaining ooze that had consumed the street leading out of Cinq Lumières. The others passed by as she stayed in place, keeping the beam maintained, giving them a way out... a way out that Rose, Lemonade, and Syrup no longer had... Aqua met her gaze as she ran, those normally peaceful, quiet blue eyes awash in terror, grief, and confusion. She slowed, made as if to turn around-

"No! Karen, no! Not you too!" A nearly hysterical Dream hauled Aqua forward by the crook of her elbow. She hugged Coco tight, passed him into the other Cure's arms, and crossed her arms over her chest... "I'll stop it, I'll get them back! PRECURE..."

Rouge was almost to the city limit when she noticed that none of the others were following. "Guys, come on! You can't-"

And Natts spoke from her shoulder: "Rouge, look out!"

The street descended into chaos as a number of events happened at once.

Six demons leaped from a second tidal wave of ooze, coursing toward them from the left. Rouge put herself at full burn, fire erupting from every inch of her body. She met the monsters that had taken her friends with a scream of rage, Natts screaming along with her, and incinerated the first and second of them before the rest pressed themselves tight to her, smothered her flames, crushed Natts against her shoulder, muffled her cries of warning to her friends, and dragged her into the wake.

"... SHOOTING STAR!" Dream took off, transforming herself into a blazing pink comet. It blew past Mint and into the first wave, the one that had swallowed Urara and Syrup. Her charge was slowed by the viscous fluid, but she plowed through it regardless, releasing a spherical aurora of radiant purification energy into the heart of its being. Slowly at first, then faster and faster, the mass began to dissolve outward from where she hovered, a thousand points of starlight glittering in its depths as the effect spread.

Aqua ran desperately for Mint, taking her hand as the green Cure's beam thinned and faded. She stumbled forward, her consciousness fading in and out, barely able to stand, so Aqua tucked her fairy charge under her arm and hauled her friend onto her back, making for the border. Dream's doing it, she's doing it. She's purifying it, she's the strongest of all of us. We'll get Urara and Rin and Natts and Syrup back, and-

And Kurumi will still be-

Still be-

"Hmmm..." A high-pitched voice washed over them, faintly if politely amused. "A valiant effort against the Daimon, to be sure. I commend you, Precure."

The three remaining Cures froze. That voice... they knew that voice...

Cure Dream strained, pouring her energy into keeping the ripple effect of her attack spreading through the mass. She now stood in a circular clear patch amid the sea of Daimon ooze... a sea that now fought back, resisting her power, slowing its advance. "No... c-can't be..."

From the side of a tilting, ruined building that loomed over one side of the street, a shape emerged from the slime that blanketed it. A human shape, but not one of the gelatinous feminine creatures the voice called "Daimon"... it was the head and upper torso of a man in a business suit, with dark green hair slicked and parted meticulously to one side. His face was angular and sickly pale, his eyes were mere slits, and he wore a sick, smug, reptilian smile. The man jutted perfectly sideways out of the ooze, at odds with both the angle of the tilting building and gravity in general. He adjusted his tie, the picture of oily calm, and looked down upon the Precure, the corners of his mouth sliding upward.

"Kawarino," moaned Dream, her control of her power faltering at the impossible sight of Nightmare's most feared soldier. Her knees buckled in terror, a freezing sensation gripped her spine. "You... it can't be... y-you were-"

"Dead?" One of those slanted eyes opened very slightly, revealing a slitted, lizard-like pupil. "So is your friend Rose, but if you'll pardon my saying so, I at least bothered to come back."

Something snapped inside Aqua. An immense arrow formed itself from water, created purely from her righteous fury without even being invoked as an attack, and with a thought she hurled it up at Kawarino. The arrow plunged straight through his body and out the other side, leaving a gaping hole in his chest...

... which filled itself back in with the Daimon ooze that so horribly resembled blood, leaving him unmarred. Not so much as a thread of his suit was out of place. Adjusting his tie again, he tutted in her direction. "Temper, temper, Cure Aqua. We simply cannot have that. Really, and you called yourself the intelligent one. A misnomer, if I may be so bold..."

"Y-you..." Mint climbed off of Aqua's back and rose unsteadily to her feet. "You will return our precious friends! We'll stop you, and-"

Kawarino's smirk grew more smug than ever. "What an appalling lack of manners." He snapped his fingers-

Cure Mint only had time to gasp as four sheets of Daimon ooze rose up from the cracked pavement beneath her. Like flower petals closing for the night, they snapped shut, sealed themselves tight and seamless, and shrank back down, and she was gone.

Aqua made a sound then, a horrible sound of loss, as she sank down to the street, clawing at the asphalt as if she could peel it away and find her best friend waiting underneath.

"Aqua...!" Her vision blurred with tears, Dream stumbled forward, crossing her arms again. "Aqua, I'm coming... P-Precure..."

As the butterflies on Dream's gauntlets began to glow, the tide of Daimon mass that she had managed to hold back roared back to life. This time it fell upon her in a rush, all at once, enormous pressure bearing down on her from all sides, she couldn't breathe... Visible from the outside, the light of her power flickered and went out as the Daimon claimed her.

Now Aqua was alone, with only small, helpless Coco in her arms, staring up at her team's greatest enemy as the tide crept inexorably closer and closer to her. She stared up at her greatest enemy, weary from shock and unquestionably beaten, but unwilling to give him the satisfaction of her surrender. "Why...? N-Nightmare is gone, wh-why would you-"

"Nightmare is gone," said Kawarino, his voice as calm as the surface of a lake. "However, if you'll pardon the play on words... Dead End is eternal."

The words send a frisson through Aqua that she couldn't explain. "'Dead... End?'"

Both of Kawarino's slitted eyes opened. His stare fixed her to the spot. That horrible smile of his spread into a manic grin that was totally unlike him, and somehow even worse... "No need to worry," he said. "You shall join your friends... minus Rose, of course... on the Merry-Go-Round shortly." He snapped his fingers again.

Hundreds of Daimon burst from every window, every door, every storefront, every surface covered by the mass that had consumed the city. All converged on Aqua, and their greedy, dripping claws were the last things she saw of the world before they dragged her down, down, into endless swirling redness...

-VERTEX THREE: 8.333882^5-

Kibougahana

Simultaneously

Market Square was in shambles. Sand was everywhere, blowing in every direction and scouring every surface with countless minuscule grains. There seemed to be no set source for it all; the sandstorm simply was, a snarling presence that showed no signs of blowing out.

In the center of the storm, three Precure battled valiantly, one pink, one blue, one yellow. Back-to-back-to-back with each other, the blinding onslaught of the storm meant that they were reduced to waiting for their assailants to emerge from the shrieking winds, screeching and clawing for their throats.

Yet another of the dark, spindly creatures did just that, only to meet the heel of a blue and white boot. The first hit cracked what passed for its skull, right above the black, downward-pointing crescent moon mark on its forehead. The second reduced it to a lifeless pile of the sand from which it came, the grains blowing away and becoming lost in the maelstrom. Cure Marine snarled in frustration and rubbed sand out of her eyes yet again, not that it helped much. "This sucks!" shouted Erika Kurumi to no one in particular... she had to raise her voice to be heard over the combined racket of the storm and the howling of the monsters, but raising her voice came almost as naturally as breathing to her. In sharp contrast to the water that was her signature Cure element, Erika was prone to erupting into fits of screaming, blazing passion, whether it be in battle as Cure Marine or at a meeting of her school's beloved Fashion Club. Normally, she relished the chance to get out and bust the heads of a few monsters, but when the monsters kept coming and coming and coming, and with this blasted storm pinning her down... "At least the Sunakiis usually fought fair! What are these damned things, anyway?!"

"Trouble! Isn't that enough?!" Cure Sunshine grunted a kiai and performed an expert judo flip to the next attacker, sending it sailing into the dusty air. Her fist connected with it as it fell back down, disintegrating it and showering the group with yet more sand. Grimacing, Itsuki Myoudouin shook her twin blonde pigtails, settled back into her stance, and spat out a few more grains. "They're not cute like the Sunakiis were, either..."

Marine paused in her search through the whirlwind long enough to goggle at her teammate in bug-eyed disbelief. "You thought those things were cute?!"

"Well, not when they were trying to kill us, but-"

"Incoming!" The shout came from the team leader, Cure Blossom. The next one emerged a meter above them, in what was either an attempt to take them off guard or a suicide attack. Tsubomi Hanasaki intended to make it the latter. Raising her hand, she let out an attack cry: "Blossom Impact...!" Her long pink ponytail blew straight back with recoil as concentrated energy burst from her palm and pierced a hole through the monster, which screeched as its body crumbled to rejoin the storm. "Everyone, we must stay focused! If there's a new enemy controlling these things-"

"Yeah, yeah," Marine growled, slamming another foe into the pavement with an overhead strike. "We find it and kick its sorry butt!"

"What I don't get- hah!" Sunshine's double-palm thrust sent another one backwards into the next one fast approaching behind it. "- is why they're bothering at all! These things fall apart with one good hit, and the storm... it's annoying, but it's not really hurting us! All it's doing is keeping us pinned down..."

"You're the leader, Blossom," said Marine, taking a brief respite to clasp her friend's shoulder. "What's the plan? Wait for Moonlight?"

"We're all tired, and we can't keep doing this all night," said Blossom, shielding her eyes with one hand and searching the area above them. "As for Moonlight, either she can't reach us in here, or something's keeping her from coming... On the count of three, let's all jump as high as we can! We might be able to clear the storm and blow it away from the outside!"

"Roger!"

"Got it!"

"One... two... three! Go!" All three Cures crouched low to the ground. As if they were waiting for this moment, a dozen of the spindly creatures streamed out of the storm, folding their long, thin finger-claws into makeshift fists that rained hammer blows down on them... They fell like dominoes seconds later when the Heartcatch Cures sprung straight up with a force that cracked the pavement they stood on. Up, and up, and up, through the seemingly endless swirling sand, until... Blossom let out a joyous sound of relief. Just for a moment, there was a patch of night sky visible above them. "It's working! We're almost out!"

They burst from the storm in a cloud of fine grains, into blessedly clear night air. Now that she could see properly again, not to mention breathe, Blossom looked back down, blinking rapidly to clear her eyes of the remnants. As she suspected, the storm was hardly natural. It was concentrated in a tight ten-meter radius, and circling the outer rim of the sand cloud was-

Marine stared. "What the heck is that?!"

It was a lean, serpentine shape of solidified sand the thickness of a tree trunk, so long that it could almost catch its own tail with its feverish spinning. Beyond that, it was moving much too fast to make out any clear details. It didn't matter; as the height of her jump leveled off and she began to fall back down, Blossom watched it carefully, tracking its movements and watching it spin in place for a few seconds. When the thicker, pointed end that she surmised was the head next came into her sight, she cupped her hands together... "Blossom Tornado!"

The cloud below was met by a raging whirlwind of cherry petals. The hot, dry air of the sandstorm and the cool wind of her attack collided, resulting in a small but intense localized storm front. With nowhere else to go, the sandstorm tore itself apart, laying the serpent within it bare. Breaking out of its circuit, it let out an oddly human cry and streamed up to meet them, forming a pair of fanged jaws that opened wide enough that it could swallow them all whole.

"Nice tactic, Blossom!" Marine flashed a wink, a smile, and a thumbs-up. She then turned to her teammate in yellow and clasped her hand as they both fell toward the serpent's waiting mouth. "Sunshine, with me!"

"Right!" With that, Sunshine slapped the teal heart in the center of the brooch she wore on her chest. "Shiny Tambourine!" Her unique weapon leaped to her free hand in a golden flash, a sunflower-shaped disc.

Likewise, Marine pressed her palm to her own uniform's heart. "Marine Tact!" Her weapon, a wand-like instrument with a blue crystal tip, materialized with a spray of bubbles and clear water vapor.

Two voices harmonized as a mixed golden and blue glow shone from the falling Cures' bodies. "Precure Floral Power Fortissimo!" Together, they formed a heart-shaped meteor of light that dove straight down the throat of the serpent. Its body lit up like a fireworks display from within... and an instant later, it exploded into countless tiny particles.

The heart meteor came to a halt an inch above the pavement, and Marine and Sunshine split apart, touching down easily.

Exhilarated and riding high with the giddiness of victory, Marine offered her teammate an exuberant high-five, and their hands connected with an echoing slap. "That was awesome! Why don't we do that more often?"

"I guess there's not that much call for it these days," said Sunshine, smiling gently. "Um, Marine?"

"I got her, I got her!" She too had noticed the sound: an escalating wail, as someone dropped like a stone from far above them. Marine looked up, took a few steps to the side, and spread her arms... and Blossom fell neatly into her embrace, shaking like a leaf. "Still got that fear of heights, huh? I thought you'd be over that by now," she said, unable to suppress a grin.

"I haven't!" squawked Blossom as she held onto Marine for dear life, her face bright as a cherry... how appropriate. "Marine, you know you can't just leave me up there while you do a finisher! At least give me a little warning next time!"

"Sorry, sorry! Here, it's okay now... oof, you don't have to hug me so hard!"

"Guys?" said Itsuki next to them.

"Ow! Come on, Blossom, save that for later! You're crushing me!"

"Kya! I'm so sorry!"

"Silly, you don't need to bow to me, what are you doing?"

"Sorry!"

"Guys?" said Sunshine, more urgently this time. "Look up..."

They did, and all levity was swiftly forgotten.

The last vestiges of the sandstorm were gathering, coalescing at a particular spot on one of Market Square's rooftops. The swirls were drawn into a simple card, a little taller than the ones used for poker or Old Maid, colored pitch black. And holding onto that card, watching them impassively...

"No," moaned Blossom. Bands of fear gripped her heart like freezing iron, and squeezed...

Standing atop the roof and glaring down at them was Cure Moonlight, their missing teammate. Almost all the color was bleached from her hair, eyes, skin, and uniform, as if she were an old, faded photograph. Her shades of grey and sickly violet looked all the more ghastly in the glow of the half-moon high above... it was as if they were looking at their friend's exhumed corpse. But surely a corpse would lack eyes like hers, eyes alight with freezing, pale, malevolent fire, devoid of warmth or recognition...

Marine's knees buckled under that stare, threatening to give out altogether. Now it was her turn to cling to Blossom. "M-Moonlight...?" she whispered. "Yuri-san...?"

Next to them, Sunshine looked up in appalled silence.

Moonlight turned, dismissing the black card with a wave of her hand. It was only then that they saw the figure standing back-to-back with her... dressed in black and just as pale as her sister, but her eyes shone eerie gold, even in the darkness. Two tattered, bat-like wings extended from her back, shrouding Moonlight in shadow as she spoke.

"Onee-sama cannot hear you," said Dark Precure, "All she can hear now is the voice of Dead End. All Precure in every world shall either help our cause as my sister has... or suffer for eternity."

Four pairs of eyes stared at the two sisters in white and black, a living yin-yang... Three Cures watching in stupefied horror from below in the square, and one little girl on an adjacent rooftop, unseen by all.

The unseen little stranger regarded the scene not with shock or fear, but with deep, weary sadness in her beautiful red eyes. Here, too, as so many other worlds, it was all going wrong... An ominous, unnatural wind blew through the little girl's long curtain of blonde hair, ruffling the twin dark turquoise ribbons tied in it, and swirling the skirt of her simple green dress around her knees. Despite all her power, she had once again arrived too late... Too late to thwart Dead End, too late to save Cure Moonlight, and likely too late to save this place. All that she could do now was take the survivors to the Lighthouse... provided that there were survivors...

There will be, said a strong, guiding voice like a glimmer of steel in the little stranger's mind, refusing to contemplate otherwise. Gather whoever you can, and show them the way. I'm counting on you, little one.

The little stranger nodded. She would do her best... it was all she could do.

END OF CHAPTER 9