Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Where’s Hugtan?”

Saaya looked up from her Fairy Drop magazine at Hana, who had come bustling into the treehouse, harried and out of breath. “She isn’t with you?”

“No!” Hana cried. “She’s not in her crib, her high chair, her playpen, anywhere!”

“She hasn’t been in here, either.” Saaya picked up the phone to call Homare as Hana turned the treehouse upside down looking for the missing baby. “Hi, Homare, it’s Saaya. Do you know where Hugtan is?”

“No?” Homare was confused. “Why would she be with me?”

“Hana can’t find her anywhere,” explained Saaya. 

“What?” Homare hopped up out of her seat. “Hang on, I’ll get Emiru and Ruru and we’ll be over there soon.”

With all five of the Hugtto Cures gathered together, Hana explained the situation in full. “When I woke up this morning, Hugtan wasn’t in her crib. I searched the house, asked all my family, but she wasn’t anywhere to be found.”

“I checked the treehouse as well,” added Saaya, “but she’s not there either.”

“She’s a baby,” mused Emiru, “she can’t have gone that far without anyone seeing her.”

“Unless…” Ruru suggested. “Someone picked her up.”

Hana’s face went white as a sheet. “No.”

“It’s possible,” said Homare. “Baby goes missing, isn’t in the house or with a big person? Highly suspicious.”

"Probability of Hugtan being picked up by a stranger..." Ruru ran some numbers through her motherboard. "Eighty five percent."

Hana and Saaya shared a look. “I’ll call the authorities.”

“I’ll call the Cures.” Both of them split off to assemble a search party. While Hana picked up the landline phone to alert the authorities about a missing child, Saaya opened up the Pretty Cure group chat.

langeparfait2 sent an urgent message: Has anyone seen Hugtan? She's disappeared and we can't find her. (10:12 am)

Several people are typing...

poiseandgrace replied to langeparfait2's message: Asumi has been looking for Latte all morning (10:13 am)

manabanana1 replied to langeparfait2's message: We can't find Ai-chan! (10:13 am)

honoyuki44 replied to langeparfait2's message: Hikari lost Hikaru (10:13 am)

langeparfait2 sent: It's worse than I thought (10:14 am)

Hugtan woke up from her night-night sleep in a metal cage, where the bars were too tight together to get out. She couldn't see her crib, her blankie, or her Noko plushie anywhere. She sat up and put her tiny hands on the bars, with a tiny whimper. Through the open spaces, she could see a few other cages, where other young people were trapped inside. Right next to her, there was Elle-chan, crying loudly. Hugtan reached her little hand out through the bars, trying to get to her.

A door slammed open, finally bringing some light to the room. In came a shadowy figure without a face, draped in a cloak. “Silence!” He bellowed into the room, even though hardly anyone had made a sound. “I don’t expect any sound from my bait.”

“I’m not bait!” Minori Hyuuga huffed indignantly. “I’m a human being!”

“Bait,” the shadowy man growled. “With you in my grasp, the Pretty Cure will come crawling out from the cracks, right into my claws. Then I’ll be able to wipe all of you out in one fell swoop.”

He scraped a long, sharp nail across the top of Futaba Hanasaki’s cage. “In the meantime, I expect all of you to be on your best behaviour, lest I be forced to punish you.”

“You locked us all up!” Hina Midorikawa whined. “That’s already punishment!”

"Are you talking back to me?" The shadowy man turned back, with a piercing evil glare. Everyone in the room instantly quieted down. “That’s what I thought.” And he disappeared.

Chapter Text

When all of the Cures met up at the Magical Library, they discussed all that was going on and what to do about it. “How many people have gone missing?” Saaya asked. 

“I counted it up,” said Kanade. “With all the disappeared babies, kids, and fairies…" She showed her the tally marks on her notepad. "Eighteen.”

“Eighteen?!” Erika nearly keeled over. “That’s a lot!”

“Hey, you’re lucky none of your relatives got stolen!” Rin snapped, pointing out Nao banging her head against the wall and scolding herself, Sora pacing in circles and chattering to herself in a panic, and Rosemary slumped down in a chair, sobbing his eyes out.

“Enough! No fighting!” Inori scolded the two, gently pushing them apart. “What we need to focus on is finding where they are.”

“We should split up into groups,” said Akira. “With teams, we’ll cover more ground in less time, and we’ll always have backup in case there’s some sort of attack.”

The Cures all agreed, and worked out three groups to begin the search party.

Team 1: The Twinkling Flowers - Shiny Luminous, Cure Bloom, Cure Rouge, Cure Fragrance, Cure Blossom, and Cure Marine

Team 2: The Musical Brawlers - Cure Rhythm, Cure March, Cure Sword, Cure Flora, Cure Chocolat, Cure Yell, and Cure Ange

Team 3: The Kind and Bright - Cure Etoile, Cure Macherie, Cure Amour, Cure Earth, Cure Pine, Cure Sky, and Cure Prism

After the teams had been decided, some of the Cures sat with others to calm them down about their missing family members. First, Kanade stopped Nao from hitting her head on the wall and giving herself a concussion. "That's enough," she insisted. "You'll give yourself brain damage."

"If I find who took my littles away, I'll give them brain damage!" Nao retorted.

Inori coached Sora to take deep breaths as she petted her back, while Ruru consoled Rosemary, assuring him that it was not his fault that his daughter was stolen. “We will get through this together,” said Ruru.

“I know,” said Sora softly. “It’s just that…I was supposed to protect Elle-chan.”

“As was I,” whimpered Rosemary. “Chiho is the light of my life. I can’t bear to be apart from her, or Hitomu.”

“Well, that’s why we’ve made teams and are heading out on this mission,” said Makoto. “To find them before they can get hurt.”

The Cures joined hands, and together created a mass transformation, one by one. By each other’s sides, they streamed out of the library, ready to find their missing friends and family, and bring whomever it was who hurt them to justice.

rhythmstar11 sent: Hey we're gonna go out looking for our missing friends so if you see them, text us (11:42 am)

luckymissfortuna replied to rhythmstar11's message: kk (11:43 am)

wonderalice3 replied to rhythmstar11's message: okay! :3 (11:43 am)

soulbrother03 replied to rhythmstar11's message: why did you say that like it was a completely normal sentence (11:44 am)

mintyfresh4 replied to rhythmstar11's message: No problem (11:44 am)

Hidden in the back amongst the cages, Momoka Haruno and Miku Kenjou chattered through the bars, planning a way to escape. “If we squeeze out through the bars, we can steal the keys and get everyone out of here.”

“Yeah, but where are the keys?” Miku asked.

“That shadow man probably has them either on his person or he left them laying around.” Momoka was very confident. “If we steal his coat, we might find them.”

“How are we going to steal his coat?” Miku asked again. “This plan isn’t very safe.” 

“I don’t care if it’s safe for me,” insisted Momoka. “I want to get the little babies out of here. They can’t defend themselves.”

And indeed, in the nearby cage, they could hear Ai-chan loudly crying, wanting to be fed. “You’re brave,” said Miku, “but not very wise.”

Chapter Text

With Cure March’s winds, the Musical Brawlers were whisked away to a park, where they began their investigation into the disappearance. “Over here!” Cure Flora called the girls to a certain patch of the field. “There are some marks in the ground, like someone dug their heels in right here. And all the flowers in this patch have had their blooms chopped off.”

“Hugtan likes flowers,” mused Cure Yell. “Maybe our baddie picked them to lure her into a trap!”

“You won’t find me…”

Cure Rhythm snapped her back up straight abd whipped her head around. Who said that? She didn’t see anyone in the park, except for her own teammates.

“Is it a pattern?” Cure March boosted herself up into the air, but the small patch right beneath her was the only patch with heel marks and snipped flowers.

“This first clue doesn’t lead us to anything,” griped Cure Sword. “We still don’t have any identification of our baddie, or any idea of where our friends are being held captive.”

“Good, good…”

Cure Rhythm’s spine went cold, and she looked around again. Who could be saying those strange things?

“Besides,” Cure Chocolat continued, “they all went missing during the night. None of them would have been in this park.”

“At the very least, it’s a possible clue about where our baddie has been.” Cure Ange snapped a picture of the markings.

“Right.” Cure March rounded all the girls up. “Let’s move on to somewhere else. We’re not getting anywhere here.”

“I’m bored.” Hina huffed from her cage. “I’d rather be in the park.”

“Wouldn’t we all,” groaned Minori.

In another part of the room, Ai-chan still hadn’t been fed, and as such was still crying very loudly. Chiho, trying to reach her through the bars, poofed into her fairy form and escaped her cage. She made it into Ai-chan’s cage, made a triangle shape to create a carrot, and poofed back into her regular form. Ai-chan took the carrot and happily gnawed on it.

“Hey, Chiho can get out of the bars!” Miku squealed.

“If we break that window up there,” said Momoka, pointing to the window high up near the ceiling, the only light source in the room, “she can escape through it and find help!”

“Okay, but what are we supposed to break the window with?” Minori asked.

“Hey, doesn’t Chiffon have moving things with her mind powers?” Hina asked. “Get her to lift that rock right there!”

Chiffon, hearing her name spoken, looked at the rock on the floor, and picked it up via telekinesis. Momoka plucked the rock out of the air and threw it at the window, shattering it on impact. She was surprised at her own strength. “I didn’t expect the whole thing to break.”

“Here, nya!” Hummy tossed Chiho a little bag of beads, which she had smuggled along with her after playing with it the previous night. “Use this to make a trail back here! If the Cures find it, they can follow it to save us, nya!”

Taking the beads, Chiho poofed back into Umai-chan, and flew out of the window, off to find her papa.

lemonlemon3 sent: anyone seen any of the kids yet? (12:45 pm)

maidrawsstuff56 replied to lemonlemon3's message: Urara the search started an hour ago and we have 18 people missing (12:46 pm)

msfruityparfait sent: Not a trace of them at the diner (12:46 pm)

happyhappy12 sent: none at the daycare either (12:47 pm)

starsabove19 sent: Can confirm Fuwa is in safe hands (12:48 pm)

aqualicious5 sent: We installed extra security at the Health Clinic to keep Choppy safe while we treat her ear infection. (12:48 pm)

Chapter Text

In the city, the Kind and Bright investigated various buildings, including the Pretty Holic Salon. “Hey there, Mashiro!” Manatsu greeted her with a smile. “What can we do for you today?”

“We’re looking for any clues about where our little friends have disappeared to,” explained Cure Prism. “Have you had anyone go missing?”

“No, no,” said Laura, shaking her head ‘no’. Her magenta locks bounced with every movement. “Kururun has been in here with us all day.”

“Kururun!” Kururun poked her head out of the water.

“Alright,” said Asuka, putting a hand to her chin. “Who have you lost track of?”

“For our group; Hugtan, Latte, Chiffon, and Princess Elle.” Cure Amour listed off. “Our two other teams are searching for more missing victims elsewhere.”

“Well, no wonder Hana never came in for her ten o’clock appointment today,” mused Sango.

“Minori, you’re not doing anything,” said Manatsu, “go do a quick sweep of the salon, see if any of them got in while we weren’t looking.”

“Of course.” Minori straightened her back. “Ruru, do you have a full list of who’s missing so I know who to look for?”

Cure Amour snapped into her memory banks, making her eyes glitch with lines of code. “Hikaru Kujou; Minori Hyuuga; Yu Natsuki; Ai Natsuki; Chiffon; Futaba Hanasaki; Hummy; Hina Midorikawa; Yuuta Midorikawa; Kouta Midorikawa; Yui Midorikawa; Ai Himaru; Momoka Haruno; Miku Kenjou; Hugtan; Latte; Chiho Nagomi; Princess Elle.”

“Oh. That’s…a lot,” mumbled Minori on her way out.

“It certainly is,” mused Cure Amour. “That’s why we have such a large search party organised.”

“I do not want to be out for too long,” said Cure Earth sadly. “I just want my Latte back.” Her eyes began to well up, and she covered her face with her hands.

“Don’t give up hope just yet,” said Cure Pine. “There’s so much ground to cover; eventually we’ll find some sort of clue.” She gently hugged the taller Cure to help her calm down.

Meanwhile, Umai-chan had made it all the way to a playground, where she made herself a bottle and poofed back into Chiho to get some energy back. As she nursed on her drink, she looked around to see if she could see her papa or daddy anywhere, but they were nowhere to be found.

Once she finished her bottle, she scooted herself across the empty playground, and fell forward onto her tummy. Not letting that stop her, she pulled herself forward by her arms, and eventually started crawling. Once she got out from the equipment and trees, she poofed into Umai-chan, and dropped some beads in the area so the big people could follow them and find her.

“Do you think Chiho’s found any help yet?” Momoka asked Miku.

“Doubt it.” Miku huffed. “We’re still here, and we haven’t heard anything from her since.”

Hearing the shadow man approaching, everyone in the room went very quiet. The shadow man entered, carrying in a little girl by the back of her nightdress. He dropped her into a cage and locked up the top. “You will stay here with the other children.”

As the shadow man left, the girl watched through the bars, looking lost and confused. Hummy tried to reach out a paw to her. “Who are you, nya?”

“I’m Chika,” the girl said softly. “What is this place?”

“We don’t know either,” said Momoka. “But we’ve got Chiho out trying to find us help.” 

“If she finds anyone, I hope it’s Nao,” mumbled Yuuta.

Chapter Text

Deep into the woods, the Twinkling Flowers investigated for any signs that their missing friends had been there. “This place looks completely inhabitable to any human,” mused Cure Rouge. “If they came here alone, they must have been out of their minds.”

Cure Marine whipped her arm away from a giant, hungry Venus flytrap. “Are you sure we’re not out of our minds for coming here ourselves?”

“Yeah. Around here, you don’t eat your veggies.” Cure Bloom hopped over a patch of poison mushrooms. “The veggies eat you!”

“Everything here is so dangerous.” Cure Fragrance felt shaky as he traversed the path. “If my Chiho got lost here…surrounded by all these risks…and I didn’t save her…” A hazy purple glow engulfed him as he stopped and slumped over onto the ground. “I’m a terrible father.”

“Nooo, don’t say that!” Cure Blossom dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around Cure Fragrance, as did Shiny Luminous. As the three hugged, the purple haze raised into the air, in a bubble shape, and began to float away. 

Why exactly was the haze behaving in that fashion? Well, you may have suspected that it was Bad Energy. And we all know what kind of people Bad Energy attracts…

“You!” Cure Marine hopped up and did a karate pose. “Don’t you get any closer, I’ll kick your ass!”

“Oh, hush, you annoying child,” sneered Joker, who was lounging on a tree branch with one leg swung over the other. He turned the Bad Energy into some duct tape to stick over her mouth.

“What do you want?” Cure Rouge asked. “We’re kinda busy right now.”

“That’s exactly why I sought you out. I never thought such a day as this would come, but I’ve been forced to…” Joker looked as if it was painful to continue the sentence. “Ask for your help.” He hopped down from the tree where he was sitting. “In the dark of the night; the time I trust this pathetic world the most… my daughter was stolen from me. Right under my nose.” He put a hand to his forehead. “When I awoke from my slumber, she had completely vanished. Neither I nor her mother have been able to find her.”

Cure Bloom looked sympathetic, and turned to her fellow Cures. “We’re looking for our families too…Maybe we should help each other.”

“Seriously?” Cure Rouge folded her arms. “He’s pure evil.” 

“But we’re both working towards the same goal,” persisted Cure Bloom. “Besides, he approached us first. He’s gotta mean it.”

Shiny Luminous stepped up. “If we’re gonna work together, then you can’t get up to any funny business, okay?”

“Very well,” Joker agreed. “If it gets my Maimiko found, I’ll behave myself.” He circled around Cure Fragrance. “She came to us through a moonlight ritual. As if the dark forces of the world willed her to us. Is there any more remarkable way to become a father?”

Cure Fragrance bluntly lifted the side of his shirt to reveal stretch marks underneath. “I gave birth to mine.”

That shut Joker up real fast. “...Fair enough. I’d say you win this time.”

“Does your Maimiko have any powers?” Cure Fragrance asked, curious. “My Chiho has an adorable fairy form, and she can create food that heals the sick.”

“My Maimiko can steal the voice right from your throat.” Joker bragged. “She’ll be quite the trickster, I know that much.”

“Great,” grumbled Cure Marine, easing the tape off her face. “Now we’ve got two anxious, bragging dads on our team.”

Chapter Text

When the night began to fall, all three teams were detransformed, called into a little pocket dimension of soft pink plush walls and pillows to rest for the night. “Not a sign of any of them,” sighed Saki. “We’ll have to keep looking tomorrow.”

All of the other Cures from the two remaining teams huddled together in fear. Saki looked at them, confused. “What?”

“Why is he here?” Nao pointed a shaky, accusatory finger at Joker.

“Oh.” Saki looked back at him for a moment. “It’s fine, he’s on our side. Whoever snatched all our friends, they took his daughter too.”

Seeing him huddle in the corner, away from everyone else, with a bottle of Bad Energy rum, the other Cures relaxed a bit. They all flumped down into the soft, feathery bedding to wind down for the night. “I hope the kids aren’t too afraid to be spending the night away, in some scary place,” mused Hikari.

“Yeah…” Rin sighed. “But Yu and Ai are tough little things; I don’t think they’ll be too scared.”

“Are they even being fed properly?” Hana was very anxious. “Hugtan still needs at least three bottles a day.”

Ruru patted Hana’s head. “Don’t worry yourself so much. You’ll just make yourself feel worse.”

“With my Chiho with them, they at least have some sort of food source,” mused Rosemary. Looking over at Joker, who was keeping to himself, he moved over to sit with him. “Are you alright?”

Joker glanced over at him for a moment, but said nothing, and continued to nurse on his rum bottle. Rosemary put a hand on his shoulder. “I understand this is difficult-”

“Don’t touch me.” Joker snapped. 

Rosemary moved a bit further away. “...Right. Still, our daughters will be found, even if we have to search the ends of the world for them.”

Joker turned his head away, but Rosemary continued to talk. “No matter what, we will always be looking, until our little girls are safely back in our arms. That is a promise.” He nudged his jester friend. “Right?”

“Leave me alone.” Joker took a long drink.

Deep in the back of the cage room, Maimiko stared at the other children and mascots as they tried to fall asleep. Minori rolled over to her back, and caught her eye. “What are you looking at?”

Maimiko squeezed her fist, and took Minori’s voice from her. “I know my papa will search for me, and put our kidnapper in his place.” She stared deeply into Minori’s eyes. “Will yours?”

Once with her voice back in her throat, Minori mulled on the question. “I don’t know…I know my sissy will.”

Maimiko turned away, and laid down to sleep. Creeped out, Minori was kept awake by her and her question.

Chapter Text

In the middle of the night, Rosemary was awakened when he felt a weight glom onto him. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. "There, there, sweet Hana...I know you’re worried-" 

When he finally had his eyes open, he saw that it was Joker, dazed and slurring from the rum, who had clung onto him. "Tha...tha' bastard stole m' kid."

Rosemary put a hand over his back. "I understand. I'm dreadfully worried about my own daughter. Locked up in some dingy cage, without her papa..."

"I..." Joker hiccupped and sat up, swaying dizzily. "I'm gonna...when I find that guy, I'm gonna do something to him that..." He groaned and laid his head down on Rosemary’s midsection. 

Rosemary sighed, and petted his hair. "Don't fret too much about it. You'll be able to plot your revenge much better in the morning, when you’ve sobered up."

Joker took interest of the stretch marks that were visible underneath Rosemary’s bunched up bed shirt. "You...Y' said you gave birth to your daughter, huh?"

"That's right." Rosemary thought it best to humour the jester while he was in this weakened, liquored up state.

"So she was in here?" Joker poked around at Rosemary’s stomach. 

"Mmhmm." Rosemary gently stroked Joker’s hair, trying to put him back to sleep. 

"If Maim'ko was like that, I..." Joker stopped mid-sentence and pulled a face; the rum was starting to catch up with him. "I don' feel good."

Rosemary gently rustled him up. "Why don't we go back to your own bed?" He brought him back to his dark corner, where he had made himself a little blanket cocoon. "There we are...nice and cozy."

"'M not a baby," muttered Joker, "I don' need someone watchin' me sleep."

"Shh-shh-shh..." Rosemary soothed. "It's just until you stop feeling sick."

He stayed by his side until he had drifted off to sleep off the drunken nausea. He heard some shuffling, and looked up to see Hikari standing by his side, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Is everything alright?"

"Fine," assured Rosemary. "Our, er, friend here is just having a bad night."

"Does he have a fever?" Hikari asked, pointing out the blush across Joker's face.

Rosemary felt his forehead. "I don't think so...he's just had a little too much to drink." He picked Hikari up, and seeing her anxious, pleading eyes, let her curl up in his bed, cozy by his side. "There, there, little one...soon we will be with our families again...where we are all safe."

Chapter Text

In the morning, all of the Cures had rested well, and were ready to continue the search. Hana tugged on Kanade’s arm. “Come on! We’re on a mission! We don’t have time to sleep in!”

Kanade yawned as she sat up. “Oh, alright, I’m coming. Sheesh, you’re as bad as Hibiki.”

“Can you blame her?” Nao pulled her jumper over herself. “I’m on edge too.”

Saki elbowed her. “Hey; I know what might help you feel a little better.” She nodded towards Joker, passed out in a heap in the corner of the room, snoring as he slept off his rum buzz. Saki offered up some markers, and the two of them giggled together, drawing immature doodles all over his face.

"Let me see, let me see!" Erika came over to the corner, and through some stealthy maneuvers, dressed him up in three braids, rainbow earrings, and a silky infinity scarf.

"I thought you were the one who convinced this clown to join our side." Akira cocked an eyebrow at Saki.

"Well, yeah," shrugged Saki, "but that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun with him."

Akira suppressed a smirk. "He's going to smite you when he wakes up."

"Come on, you girls, we must hurry," scolded Asumi. "We have to find our friends. There is no time to be messing around."

"That's right," insisted Makoto. "Let's go, before he wakes up and kicks all three of your asses."

Glowing under the sun, the Musical Brawlers arrived at a beach, and continued to search for their missing friends. “I don’t see any paw prints in the sand,” said Cure Rhythm. “Hummy couldn’t have been here.” 

“There aren’t any prints in the sand, period,” confirmed Cure Ange. “The beach is clear.”

“Clear, just like everywhere else…”

Cure Rhythm’s back snapped up, and her eyes went wide. This time, Cure Chocolat noticed. “Are you alright?”

“I’ve…been hearing this voice in my head when we search for our friends,” explained Cure Rhythm. “It’s a man’s voice, and he always mocks us for not being able to find them.”

Cure Sword patted Cure Rhythm’s back to calm her down. “It could be our baddie trying to discourage you…have you heard any other voices?”

“No.” Cure Rhythm shook her head. “Just the one.”

“That’s a clue,” mused Cure March. “If you keep hearing the voice, tell us about it, okay?”

Cure Flora looked at the ground, and a sparkling shell caught her eye. She picked it up and cupped it in her hands, and closing her eyes, she focused her energies on the little shell. Cure Yell looked over at her. “What are you doing?”

“Making a wish.” Cure Flora looked up. “I wished that we could find a solid clue to find our friends. Remember, if that voice in Kanade’s head is really our baddie, he could lead us astray.”

The shell began to glow, and created a bright light that whisked all of the Cures into the air and towards a new location. “I think you got your wish!!” Cure March shrieked!

In the cage room, the kids and mascots were trying their best to soothe the crying babies. Momoka and Miku made silly faces for Elle-chan, Minori attempted to play a clapping game with the bars for Hugtan, and Chiffon tried to push a bottle through the bars of Ai-chan’s cage.

The shadow man entered the room, quieting everyone in the room down. “Your silly Cure friends seem to be on their way to this place,” he snarled. “Which one of you told them?”

“None of us did,” squeaked Hikaru. “We haven’t been out of our cages.”

The shadow man narrowed his eyes. “I hope that none of you dare to lie to the Masked Shadow.” He opened the top of a cage, seemingly not noticing that it was once Chiho’s cage, and dumped Anna Amamiya inside, ignoring her cries and he turned to leave. “I’ll have to deal with them myself.”

Once he was gone, Hummy tried to reach through to Anna's cage. "Anya, Anya!"

Anna turned around. "Huh?"

"You don't have to be afraid of him, nya!" Hummy reassured her. "We are protected by the light of the Cures, nya! If he tries to hurt us, they'll find out exactly where we are, nya!"

"Really?" Hina was intrigued. "Too bad that only works if we're in trouble. We could have gotten out of here ages ago."

Chapter Text

The Kind and Bright arrived on a playground, where they scoured the area for any trace of the kids. “This might be hard,” called Cure Etoile. “There are fingerprints and stuff from all kinds of kids here.”

“We’ll need something specific,” agreed Cure Pine. “A lock of hair, a bit of clothing…”

“A line of beads?” Cure Earth knelt down on the ground, looking at a trail of little beads on the ground, left behind by Umai-chan.

“It goes on for a while,” said Cure Sky, looking back and forth to both sides of the line. “Which way do we follow?”

“We should alert the other girls and see if they’ve found this trail too.” Cure Prism took out her phone to alert the Pretty Cure group chat.

marshmalliro232 sent: Has anyone seen a trail of beads on the ground leading somewhere? (10:31 am)

“We should not move until we get some sort of answer,” insisted Cure Amour. “This trail could lead us anywhere. It may even be a trick.” 

“What’s that in the sky?” Cure Macherie directed everyone’s attention into the sky, where there was a tiny figure slowly flying around. 

Cure Etoile hopped onto a star platform and flew into the air to find the little figure. To her shock, it was Umai-chan, weakly fluttering her wings, with an empty pouch in her hands. Seeing Cure Etoile, she squealed, and poofed back into Chiho as she leapt into her arms. "Ee-twa!"

Cure Etoile held her closely. “Oh, I’m so happy you’re safe! Your papa has been so worried about you.”

“Etoile!” Cure Earth called to her. “What have you found?”

Cure Etoile landed her star on the ground. “It’s Chiho! She must have escaped from our baddie’s lair!”

All of the Cures fussed over Chiho, who cooed and babbled to them. “She must have left this trail of beads for us to follow to find the rest of our friends,” mused Cure Amour. 

“But why would she go back?” Cure Macherie asked.

Spying the little pouch in her hands, Cure Prism asked Chiho, “Did you run out of beads?”

“Uh huh,” nodded Chiho.

“Don’t you worry,” said Cure Sky. “We’ll call the rest of the Cures here, and we’ll all follow these beads to the lair.” She, Cure Yell, and Cure Pine all joined hands to create a beacon of light, which burst into the sky, glowing in waves of blue, yellow, and pink.

In the meantime, Chiho wanted to play with her big friends. "Wuwu!" She reached for Cure Amour.

"Aw, she calls you Wuwu!" Cure Etoile passed Chiho to Cure Amour.

"Yes, you are a sweet baby," cooed Cure Amour, patting Chiho's back.

During all the excitement, Cure Prism had forgotten about the message she sent in the group chat, and so never looked at the one response she got.

chocolatelover1 replied to marshmalliro232's message: are you high? (10:41 am)

Chapter Text

The Twinkling Flowers chose an elementary school as their next place to look. "Yu and Ai go to this school," said Cure Rouge. "He could have staked them out here."

Joker hopped up a tree and scaled the branches to get a higher view. Cure Marine climbed up after him, but when she tried to grab the same branch he was standing on, he hissed at her; he had a hunch she was behind the vandalism he had all over his face when he woke up that morning.

Searching the soccer field, they were unable to find any trace of the kids or the animals anywhere. “Nothing here.” Shiny Luminous shook her head. “We’ll have to move on.”

“How far did our baddie take them?” Cure Marine huffed. “We’re eventually going to run out of places in this country to look.”

“Surely they didn’t go that far.” Cure Fragrance attempted to bring her down a level. “I mean, that’s a lot of people to transport…”

A cold wind began to blow. Everyone’s vision went completely black for a moment, and when they opened back up, the colours had been drained from the area, and the Masked Shadow was hovering in the air above them. “So…you are the Cures my hostages speak of.”

“You!” Cure Rouge leapt to attention. “You’re the one who took them!”

“Indeed.” The Masked Shadow narrowed his eyes. “And if you do not call off this rescue mission of yours, I’m afraid we’re going to have a problem.”

Cure Blossom, overcome with a wave of rage upon seeing the man who kidnapped her baby sister, jumped forward to attack. She attempted to wedge her high heeled shoe into his guts, but instead, he grabbed her ankle and threw her back to the ground. “Oh, please.” He smirked, and created a mirror reflection of his lair. “If you try to hurt me, you’ll never find where your precious little friends are.”

However, rather than Futaba, it was Maimiko reflected in the mirror. Seeing her papa through the vision, she put her hands to the glass, but she was unable to cry for his help. Seeing his daughter in danger because of this man, Joker’s eyes began to glow bright blood red. Emitting an unholy shriek of rage, he pushed Cure Blossom out of the way and leapt at the Masked Shadow himself. The Masked Shadow simply created a shadow arm to grab Joker in a chokehold. After letting him dangle and sputter for a moment, he dropped him in the dirt, and with a flicker, he was gone.

“Are you alright?” Shiny Luminous looked over Cure Blossom.

“Fine,” nodded Cure Blossom, “just sore.”

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted that Joker!” Cure Marine raged. “He's a bully, a cheat, he's-"

"Crying."

Indeed, while on his hands and knees in the dirt, hot, angry tears were streaming down Joker’s face. He hiccupped, and wrapped his arms around himself. Cure Bloom shyly approached him with a hand out. Even though he hissed at her when he saw her coming, she still stood by his side and put a hand on his head. "It's okay."

"You foolish little girl; it is not okay." Joker growled through his tears. "That despicable monster has double-crossed me, and made off with my daughter once again."

Cure Bloom lowered herself down to her knees and put her arms around the skinny clown. “He can’t hide forever.”

Joker drew in a shaky breath. “I know that.” He grit his teeth. “Not with me on his case. I saw that look in Maimiko’s eyes; nothing in the world has ever scared her so deeply.”

Now, several moons ago, a combination of good energy poisoning and a heartfelt declaration from his followers had put a rare speck of light into Joker’s evil heart. And now here, having a Cure on his side, reassuring his victory? In a case where he would ordinarily throw her aside with some harsh words, he instead put an arm over her back. 

“Look! In the sky!” Cure Fragrance pointed the Cures’ attention towards the distance, where a great beacon of light glowed. “It must be the rest of the Cures!”

“We better see if they’re okay!” Cure Rouge corralled all of the Twinkling Flowers together to fly over to the area where the beacon came from.

Chapter Text

The beacon of light in the sky led the Twinkling Flowers and the Musical Brawlers right to the playground, where the Kind and Bright were waiting for them. Of course, Chiho shrieked with joy to see her papa again. “Papa!!”

“Chiho!!” Cure Fragrance scooped his baby daughter into his arms and held her close, tears beginning to waterfall down his face. “I feared I would never see you again!”

“She was very happy to see us all,” cooed Cure Etoile, petting Chiho’s head. “She must have been out flying for a long time.”

“And she left us a trail of beads to lead us all to our baddie’s lair!” Cure Yell pointed them in the right direction.

“Excellent!” Cure Ange chirped. 

“Well, come on everyone, let’s go!” Cure Bloom tugged on Shiny Luminous’ arm to get everyone moving.

As they trekked down the bead trail, searching for the lair, Cure Fragrance caught Joker’s eye, and noticed the pained, bitter look on his face. When Joker noticed he was looking, he turned his head and averted eye contact. Chiho reached out a tiny hand to him, but Cure Fragrance put it back down. “Maybe later…I don’t think he’s in the mood.”

“Mood? What kind of mood would that be?” Joker sneered. “The mood of knowing my daughter is still in some sort of danger, victimised by a brute who dares turn darkness against me, while seeing you not worry a thing, since your daughter was practically delivered to her with no effort?”

“Oh my.” Cure Fragrance put a hand to his chin. “Are you jealous?”

“Jealous?” Joker went red in the face. “No…even if I was, I wouldn’t admit it.”

“Umai!” Chiho reached both hands towards Joker. Joker plucked her from her papa’s arms, and after seeing the happy look on her face, held her tightly, secretly missing the time when Maimiko was that small.

When they reached a forest part of the trail, some bushes began to quake and tremble. Shiny Luminous, Cure Bloom, and Cure Marine all hopped into an attack stance, ready to fight whatever monster popped out of the bush. But there was no monster; it was just Elena, searching for Anna. “Elena! It’s you!”

“Yes, it’s me!” Elena stumbled out of the bush. “What are you all doing here?”

“We’re following this trail of beads to the lair where a monster is holding our friends hostage!” Cure Yell explained. “Are you missing someone too?”

“Yes, my youngest sister!” Elena yelped. “Please, take me with you!”

Once the gang made their way out of the forest, Cure Sword stopped them all when she saw a tall, shadowy castle, surrounded by smoke and storm clouds. “I think we found our place.”

Chapter Text

“Alright. We’ve got the location. All we need now is a way inside.” Cure Chocolat scanned the exterior of the castle, and spotted a drawbridge door. “There we are.”

The team made their way over to the drawbridge, and planned how they would get it open. “Maybe if Blossom and Flora work together, they can create a flower rope to open the door,” suggested Cure Pine.

Cure Blossom and Cure Flora took hands. “Pretty Cure, Flower Vine!” They created a long rope of rose petals, and swung it up to the drawbridge, knocking it down to the ground.

“Perfect.” Cure Sword stepped forward, beckoning her fellow Cures to follow. “Let’s roll.”

Once inside, and shutting the drawbridge behind themselves to cover their tracks, they began to wander the halls, searching for the room where their friends were being held hostage. “Every door in here looks the same,” whispered Cure Yell. “How do we know which one is the right one?”

“Umai!” Chiho waved a finger at a door at the end of the hallway.

“Is that where they are?” Cure Fragrance picked Chiho up.

“Uh huh!” Chiho bobbed her head up and down.

Cure Fragrance turned to the rest of the team. “We’ve got a lead.”

“You’re going to take the word of a baby as gospel?” Cure Marine cocked an eyebrow.

“Well, she was locked in there before,” mused Cure Rouge. “Besides, she’s his daughter. He thinks she can do no wrong.”

Pushing the giant wooden door open, the Cures discovered the rows of cages on the other side. “There they are!”

“It’s the Cures!” Momoka yelped, grabbing onto the bars.

“We’re saved!” Miku chirped.

However, just when the kids thought they were in the clear, a cold mist began to fill the room. “So, you’ve made it to my hideaway.” The Masked Shadow smirked. “You’re much more resilient than I expected.”

The Cures growled, and leapt up for an attack. The Masked Shadow expected that his shadow powers would keep him safe, but Shiny Luminous and Cure Etoile blasted right through them with their beams of bright light, both starting the assault with powerful kicks to the face.

Knocked off his roll, the Masked Shadow fumbled, leaving himself vulnerable to Cure Flora stuffing rose petals down his throat and Cure Marine digging her high heel directly into his back, drawing a bit of blood.

Cure Rouge’s fire blast burned the chains of the cages, freeing the children and mascots. "Come on, kids! Let's nail this guy down!" Momoka, Miku, Chika, and Anna all picked up rocks from the floor and began throwing them at the Masked Shadow.

Cure Bloom kicked the Masked Shadow in the face, injuring his eyes and temporarily blinding him. “Here! He’s all yours!” She left him for Joker to finish the job. Joker knocked the Masked Shadow out of the air and onto the ground. Roaring with anger, he drew the Bad Energy out from his soul. The Masked Shadow shrieked, before reducing to a gurgle, as his body withered away and eventually gave out, turning into nothing but dust.

“He’s gone!” The kids and mascots all rushed to the Cures. Cure Rouge took Yu and Ai on both sides of her, Momoka leapt into Cure Flora’s open arms, and all five Hugtto Cures passed Hugtan around.

Maimiko stepped over the rubble of the cages to get to her papa. Joker, on his knees, was trying to catch his breath after such a massive attack. Seeing his daughter safe and sound, he reached out an arm to her. “Darling.”

Cuddling Ai-chan close to herself, Cure Sword turned to the rest of her team. “We did a good job, everyone. Let’s go home.”

Chapter Text

“How long do you think they’re going to take?” Hitomu paced back and forth.

“I can’t say,” said Kokone, “but I haven’t heard from Rosemary since he went off to find Chiho.”

"I hope they're not hurt," mused Ran, sipping on a glass of apple juice.

Hitomu shook his head. “This is the longest I’ve ever been away from either of them. I just want some sort of sign that they’re okay.”

Ask and you shall receive; the door gently closed. Hitomu looked up, and there they were, looking alive and healthy as could be. “Da’y!!”

“Chiho!” Hitomu rushed to the entrance and scooped his little girl up, holding her to the sky. Setting her down on his hip, he tightly embraced Rosemary. “Babe, you’re alright!” The two nuzzled noses.

“Koko!” Chiho squealed as Kokone picked her up and hugged her.

"Scoot your boot, I want in on this too!" Ran squeezed her way in to hug Chiho as well.

“She’s here!” Mana came barreling out of Pig Tail. “She’s here!!”

Makoto was knocked right off her feet by Mana, Rikka, and Alice, who all tackled her with hugs. Ai-chan, fluttering her little wings, landed softly in Regina’s arms, who held her close. “I’m glad you’re home safe.”

“Ai!” Ai-chan squeaked.

"Yes," cooed Regina, "the Himura sisters are back together again."

Asumi entered her home and let Latte down to trot into Yasuko's arms. "Oh, you're such a good puppy!" Yasuko cuddled Latte.

"Arf!" Latte barked happily.

Nodoka came to hug her stepsister. "We were all really worried about you. Dad even cried about it."

Takeshi blushed. "Maybe I did...I just wanted you to come home safe."

“Is that…?” Love peeked out the window, then went running down the stairs. “It is!!” She threw open the front door and squeezed Inori into a giant hug that lifted her off the ground.

“Urf, I’m…glad to see you too,” wheezed Inori. “Can you put me down? You’re crushing my ribcage.”

“You did a really great job,” praised Miki, picking up Chiffon, who cooed happily.

“Nya!” Hummy hopped off Kanade’s shoulder as soon as Hibiki entered her line of vision. She padded down the sidewalk and into her arms.

“There you are!” Hibiki picked her up. “We’ve been so worried about you!”

“It doesn’t look like she’s too hurt,” said Ako, petting Hummy’s head. “I’d call that a successful mission.”

"It's so good to have you home," cooed Ellen, plucking Hummy from Hibiki's arms and nuzzling her face.

"They're home!" Ageha practically shot off the couch like a ball in a cannon when she saw Mashiro coming inside.

"Elle!!" Tsubasa scooped the little princess up into his arms. "Oh, I'm so happy you're safe! I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you!"

Ageha and Yoyo both held Mashiro tight, while Sora and Tsubasa fussed over Elle-chan.

Hidden in the Bad End Kingdom, Poisony swore she could feel a familiar presence in the air. Exiting the lair where she had been waiting, she was delighted at the sight of Joker coming to the door, with Maimiko trailing behind him. “Maimiko, my treasure,” she cooed, “how wonderful it is to have you back in my arms.” She picked her up and held her tight.

“I can assure you that ruffian will not be a problem in the future,” muttered Joker.

“Are you certain?” Poisony asked. 

“Oh, yes, I am,” said Joker, stifling a belch. “If you don’t mind, I need to lie down and sleep off this indigestion. When I awaken, I’d like to speak to you regarding a possible new ally.”