Good news Naru, you get a story arc and where you're the leader of the Senshi!

Bad news, it involves you being one of the only Senshi not trapped, the Outers refusing to listen to you and going off on their own to free Usagi, and Minori and Setsuna having run away from home to play at magical girl!
 
At least one more.

I'm imagining a lot of the research is data and papers. You don't need a large facility to secure those in. I understand there is larger stuff that would be harder for them to move or secure, but without the notes and research explaining what was going on, stealing things like proto-types doesn't do much to help Ongoro learn anything.
I suppose.

The other big concern, mind you, is that MCAT only has at most about two days' advance notice of the impending attack and probably doesn't want to specifically alert Onogoro to the fact that MCAT knows they're coming.
 
[X] Plan Jujutsu Moonlight Goddess
-[x] Usagi, who was coming no matter what her
-[x] Not Ami; you didn't ask that.
-[x] Makoto
-[x] Not Rei
-[x] Minako
-[x] Neither Haruka nor Michiru
-[x] Setsuna on special non-combat duty.

The idea here is that we trigger the trap, but have the breakout team ready as soon as practical.
Setsuna is actually clutchnormal.

While Outers, Ami and Rei work to break Usagi out, Chibi-Pluto is interviewing the news media, explaining the the bad guys that enslave youkai and want to keep magic secret are trying to enshrined Sailor Moon as a goddess so they can bind her to a shrine. Chibi-Pluto asks the public to, just for today, pray to Sailor Moon, so that she can have the strength to escape, and turn back to nomal.

Chibi-Pluto is cute, and in a nation with out an idolatry sin, shure, I'll pray to the girl/woman saving Tokyo and Japan, if only because the cute girl asked earnestly with a straight face.

The Empire shuns technology and modernity, so let's use modern Japan's advantages to defeat the Empire.
 
The idea here is that we trigger the trap, but have the breakout team ready as soon as practical.
Setsuna is actually clutchnormal.

While Outers, Ami and Rei work to break Usagi out, Chibi-Pluto is interviewing the news media, explaining the the bad guys that enslave youkai and want to keep magic secret are trying to enshrined Sailor Moon as a goddess so they can bind her to a shrine. Chibi-Pluto asks the public to, just for today, pray to Sailor Moon, so that she can have the strength to escape, and turn back to nomal.

Chibi-Pluto is cute, and in a nation with out an idolatry sin, shure, I'll pray to the girl/woman saving Tokyo and Japan, if only because the cute girl asked earnestly with a straight face.

The Empire shuns technology and modernity, so let's use modern Japan's advantages to defeat the Empire.
This is happening at literally midnight. The battle will be long over before much of anything shows up on the news. If a situation arises on Friday morning where something like this is necessary, we should probably plan around resolving it then, not now.
 
Heartcatch Turn 2 The Noodle Incident
Heartcatch Turn 2
The Noodle Incident

Wednesday Afternoon, After School
On The Way Past Miura Ramen Shop


Tsubomi sighs with relief. "So anyway, I'm really glad Coupe keeps those shakeable sprays of… whatever magic vitamin or whatever it is that Chypre and Coffret need… in his fur. But it was a little funny, because when I got the bottle out, my hand sunk in until I was practically elbow-deep in fluffy."

You turn to her, suddenly raising your voice a little. Because that's silly! "That's impossible! We've both hugged him! He can't be fluff all the way through, can he?"

Tsubomi gestures, vaguely and apologetically. "Maybe he's got a secret… compartment… thing?"

"I guess it could be sort of like how we can keep the Tacts and Sprays out of the way except when we need them. Sort of."

And then a little squeaky voice calls out from just behind your ear- the invisible Coffret. "Of course he can do that-desu!"

"He's Lord Coupe-desuuuaaaaaAAAH!" Chypre's attempt to finish Coffret's sentence is cut off when Tsubomi, startled by realizing that Chypre had landed on her shoulder, jumps. You're guessing that knocked Chypre off, not that you can see her.

Tsubomi looks around… in vain. She crouches down, looking for the fairy on the ground. "Chypre, are you okay? AAACK!"

Tsubomi acks, because Chypre answers right in her ear. "That was scary-desu! But I'm okay-desu!"

"You, uh, surprised me…" Tsubomi sighs. "So, uh, this is going to sound pretty silly, but how good are you at shaking up sodas, Erika?"

Not a challenge you can back down from! "I'll do my best! Wait, HUH?" You are surprised by sudden invisible fluffy cuddling up against your cheeks as the fairies fly to you, making cooing noises.

Tsubomi smiles a little. "They said I wasn't shaking up the mixture enough… I guess they're hoping you'll give it a bigger whirl."

More cooing noises.

***An Hour Later***

The sullen boy, who to your surprise just put the flower back in the arrangement out front of his father's shop, stalks away, headed up the hill.

Tsubomi mutters to herself, "If Grandma says keep fighting, then…" and then she takes off after him. "Miura, WAIT!"

She's… she's taking off without you. At a pretty good clip.

You have absolutely no idea what to do in this violation of the natural order. It is as if raindrops were streaking up into the clouds, or birds were retreating back into their eggshells.

"What are you waiting for, go after her-desu!"

"Tsubomi, WAIT!"

You do not stop to wonder if this is how other people feel around you all the time.

***

She follows him, and you follow her, and she calls out to him and he starts running, and then she does, and she trips on the stairs and screams-

"AAAH!"

Oh no- the burns, and she's just scraped herself… You're at Tsubomi's side almost before you can think- "Tsubomi, are you okay?"

"It hurts…" Tsubomi clenches her teeth; her hand is on her leg and that's a bloody little scrape she's got there. And then Miura's there too, fishing a plastic bag with a zip-close out of his pocket- with bandaids, and a couple of tubes of something, and some other things-

He looks at you. "Do either of you have any water?"

Tsubomi's a bit lost in that- it must really hurt- so maybe that's why she doesn't say anything- but you reach back into your bag and fish out a bottle of water. "Here!"

You push Miura's hands away as he moves to pour water and wash the scrape, but he takes it well and hands you the Makiron when it's time for the antiseptic. You rub that on yourself, too, because there's no way a boy has a lighter touch than you and you don't want this to hurt any more than it has to.

Through it all, Tsubomi still hasn't said anything- her eyes are watering a little, and you're starting to worry by the time you get the big bandaid patch on. Only then does she finally take a deep breath and say something.

"Thank you very much, Miura- and Erika."

Miura doesn't really smile, but he nods a little. "I'm on the baseball team, after all. We carry this kind of stuff around all the time." He spins on his heel. "Goodbye."

And though she's still on the ground, Tsubomi cries out "Wait! Miura, what is it you want from your father?"

So that's why she took off chasing him… because he's been acting funny about the new shop opening! Now it all makes sense! She's worried about him!

You do not stop to wonder if this is how other people feel around you all the time.

But Miura is frozen, and Tsubomi blurts something out- "Do you want him to close his store?" And you wince a little-

And he shouts at her, "OF COURSE NOT!" And she flinches back and-

And he stops, again, turning away, only to stare… at a little boy playing catch in the park up here, with his dad.

Oh.

You think back, trying to remember. Tsubomi's new in town, she doesn't know him even a little, the way you do, so you can ask the question you think of now and she can't.

"Miura, your dad used to play catch with you too, didn't he?"

He slumps. "Used to. And… he came to all my games. But then…"

"Then what?"

He starts walking away. You shout after him.

"If you don't tell us, we won't understand!"

And he shrugs, answering back without so much as looking over his shoulder. "If you did, it wouldn't do any good..." He keeps walking away.

GRRRRRR! You don't quite actually yell at him for talking to you like that, but… that makes you angry. You're trying to help!

Then you turn back to Tsubomi, who's looking at Miura's receding back as if she's forgotten the painful scrape, and shaking her head softly. "Miura…"

Tsubomi's hair rustles, the way it does when Chypre's on her head invisibly. The fairy pipes up, sounding just as sad. "His heart flower looks pretty dreary..."

You sigh. You tried to talk to him but something went wrong. This is why Tsubomi's in charge wait Tsubomi's in charge? Well duh, it totally goes with the pink dress.

***About Another Hour Later***

It turns out that the fairies really like it when you shake up their… magic drink mix or whatever that stuff is, and Tsubomi's grandma's tea is always nice, but it's getting late, so you went home after a short visit with her. Except…

"MENNNN!"

The high-pitched, distorted, very amplified scream booms out and you look around because it reminds you of the ball-monster Desertrian and the giant scrub-robot Desertrian and-

"Look over there-desu!"

And that.

That is a noodle Desertrian.

Your eyes are wide from the sight of the giant across the wide boulevard. You've only ever seen Ichiro the purified Snackey, who's a little different, you gather, but the monster looks something like you imagine the Snackeys must. It looms as high as the storefronts, but it's surprisingly slender, with long gangly legs and a body that looks like black sackcloth filled with sand. But instead of a sandbag head, or any kind of normal head at all, it has a bowl of noodles for a head and huge branching noodly arms!


So of course you and Tsubomi look at each other, nod once, and-

"Pretty Cure, open my heart!"


It's different when you do the transformation together- this is only the fourth time you've done it, and one of the others were practice. You lose yourselves in the instinctive motion, and it's though you're in some entirely different place for a moment as the costume- regalia- of Cure Marine appears on your body, as that of Cure Blossom appears on Tsubomi's.

You're a little bit surprised to find yourself balanced on a railing in high heels, glaring at a Desert Apostle with really good hair- surprisingly much of it, too- and a perfectly color-coordinated outfit, besides! You're honestly a little jealous of his hair. Actually more than a little because you could get away with so many fun accessories if you had hair like that darn it!


But you don't quite get sucked into thinking about how you'd accessorize if you had hair like that, because you are, in point of fact, balanced on a park railing and a deep instinct wells up within you to challenge the malignant interloper! To arms! TO ARMS!

You'd say something yourself, but Tsubomi's got this. She really does. She points. She challenges.

"Cobraja! So you finally show your face!"

The Desert Apostle- Cobraja, apparently- bows elegantly. His voice is a languid, mocking tenor and urrgh!

"Ahh, you say so, when we've never met! But then, I suppose my face is unmistakable. Flattered to see it, aren't you? No, you are not mistaken. You are indeed graced by the presence of Cobraja, general of the Desert Apostles. I suppose that you are Cure Blossom, the one my oafish comrade half-broiled-" and then he turns that nasty little smirk at you and URRRGH!- "And you, darling, would be Cure Marine, who I am told prefers to spend her battles running around away from the field and chewing on the scenery! Haha! In case one of you gets away from your impending doom, have something to remember me by!"

He flicks his wrist elegantly. The two spinning projectiles are more than halfway to you by the time you notice them coming! Still, both of you catch them with a blurring motion of your hands and-


-Who the hell does this guy think he is?

Sasorina, you now know, turned you into a giant misery-monster. And Kumojacky came closer than you will ever want to think to killing your new best friend. And you still don't hate either of them as much as you already hate Cobraja. You've known him for less than a minute and you already want to strangle him! URRRRGH!

Tsubomi just looks up from the picture to glare at Cobraja. She turns and calls into the air, trusting that your fairy friends will be there- thankfully they've kept up their invisibility with the little pendants. "Please find the sphere! We'll handle the Desertrian!"

Cobraja shouts and makes a little flounce- "Wait, who are you- don't just walk away from me!" But you're already not paying much attention. Because you and Tsubomi have already noticed the Desertrian's posture shifting, and… oh, no, Miura's mom and dad have come out of the shop!

The two of you leap into position as the giant noodle-monster starts to shout. Slowly it turns towards them, step by step, centimeter by centimeter, screaming and raising one enormous whip-like arm.

"YOU ALWAYS USED TO COME CHEER FOR ME! BUT NOW IT'S JUST RAMEN, RAMEN, RAMEN! I DON'T MATTER ANYMORE!"

That… that's Miura in there, isn't it? Oh no…

But as the Desertrian's right arm rises to slash down on Miura's father, you two are already there- and it lowers its arm.

Tsubomi raises her voice without turning her head, obviously warning the grownups. "Run! Leave this to us!"
Little Things Count A Lot! Triggers!
Toujours L'Audace! triggers!

Team Heartcatch: d10 + (17+3) + (0.5*17) + 1 + 1 = 3 + 20 + 9 + 2 = 34
Vs
Ramen Desertrian: d10 + 28 = 3 + 28 = 31

Heartcatch Success!
You keep your eye on the monster. And that turns out to be a good idea, because it screams "MENNNNN!" one more time, and bounds over into the park, away from the store and from Mr. and Mrs. Miura. You're not sure why, you're just glad for the lucky break- but Tsubomi and you both you run after it, and trying to get close turns out to be a really good idea because it turns and lashes out at you. And it turns out those noodly appendages can go from being four meters long to forty really fast!

But Tsubomi's bouncing and whirling and dodging giant noodle-whips that must be almost a meter across, and then a bunch of them flash out horizontally in a fan and you get an idea-

"HAAAA!"

You leap up on to the super-noodle and skid forward, heels acting surprisingly like ice skates along the monster's relatively squishy limb. Closer, closer- NOW- you leap up and the magic gets behind you and-

*BOOM*

-You kick a big dent right in the Desertrian's gigantic bowl of a head! Broth sloshes out and the thing staggers back, crashing back against the branches of a large tree. You've landed and recovered from recoiling backwards after your kick, and Tsubomi's mostly scraped off the gooeyness from getting hit by giant flailing noodles, but before you're ready to charge in again, the monster whips up one arm and what it fishes out a pair of enormous narutomaki slices and what what launches them at you like coins from a slingshot!
Little Things Count A Lot! Triggers!

Team Heartcatch: d10 + (17) + (0.5*17) + 1 + 1 = 5 + 17 + 9 + 2 = 33
Vs
Ramen Desertrian: d10 + 28 = 7 + 28 = 35

Desert Apostles Success!
That attack was too weird even for you, and by the time you what what what realize you're actually under attack and need to dodge… you are already being hit by about a hundred kilos of flying fish paste. You barely have enough time to bring up your arms before-

*BOOM*

-the discs knock both of you down, skidding backwards across the grass. Thankfully, despite the costume leaving about half your back bare, it does a much better job of keeping grass clippings off than you'd been afraid it would. You think of Tsubomi but she's okay and the monster is already standing up, and it's started to shout again.

"He cares about work more than about me!"

Both of you sit up, then, on instinct, shouting "That's not true!" together, but the Desertrian ignores you.

"I hate ramen, and I hate him! The store should just DISAPPEAR! MENNNN!"

And then it reaches up into its bowl-head and pops out an entire giant boiled egg- about the size of a refrigerator- and lines up another of those noodle-slingshots, aiming right at-

You can't quite figure out how Tsubomi keeps stealing a march on you of all people at moments like this. After all, you're usually the fastest-acting, most decisive, most occasionally correct about things person you know, by far. But by the time you figure out the thing's point of aim, she's already sprinting forward, the words "Blossom Shower" on her lips, launching a spray of rosy fire-flecks that chew into the boiled egg. It comes apart in midair and splatters down on the grass in huge sizzling chunks. But the monster's already throwing more things that are landing… somewhere outside the park. In the general direction of the Miura family's new ramen shop.

You're not paying attention to that, though, because suddenly its other arm whips up faster and you were already running closer, but you don't get there before it grabs Tsubomi!

But before it can start trying to squash her or bury her in magic wheat noodle-stuff or something it just… stops. And drops her. And reaches up, grabbing its head.

"Stop it! You mustn't destroy the store! You mustn't destroy his dream!"

It's… it's crying…

You make it to Tsubomi and grab her and jump back to a safe-ish distance, still staring up at the Desertrian. Tsubomi grumbles.

"Ooof… ow ow ow…"

She's still okay, pretty much, it's not like Monday, so you're not so worried. You're kind of… confused, and you blurt out your confusion before you can stop yourself.

"It was trying to smash the place a little while ago. What happened?"

Voices from nowhere answer you.

"Both ideas are part of his true feelings-desu!"
"Struggles between conflicting feelings can mix a Desertrian up-desu!"
"Also we found the orb-desu!"

And then Chypre and Coffret reappear, visible once again. Chypre's tiny little paws clasp a crystal sphere that's bigger than he is… with a shivering tiny replica of Miura inside, still in his baseball uniform. Ugh, those orbs give you the creeps.

Tsubomi pushes herself up to her hands and knees, muttering. "I get it… he wanted so much for his father, who was working so hard, to succeed… He didn't feel like he could tell him that he wanted him there to cheer for him…"

That… That… makes sense.

You kind of wish you'd seen that one coming months ago. Maybe someone could have done something, or said something, that was left undone or unsaid. It would be nice to imagine so. You stare, for a moment, at the wailing Desertrian.

But then you hear the scoff, from the limb of one of the other trees, and- it's him. You grit your teeth as he calls out to you both, and to his monster.

"Oho, Pretty Cure! I see that you've gotten a stay of execution! Desertrian, bouffon, stop crying over all that pathetic nonsense and finish these two!"

You're still working through your sense of outrage and struggling to put together words when Tsubomi's leapt to her feet. She clenches her fists, screaming at Cobraja.

"It's not nonsense! You're taking someone's pain and turning it into a weapon, and then you call that same pain nonsense? I have had it up to HERE with this!"

She whirls to you and something flashes in your eyes as you nod fiercely to the wordless appeal she sends you.

See, THIS is why Tsubomi's in charge. Wait, Tsubomi's in charge? Duh! Goes with the pink dress and everything! Wait, what being the pink one have to do with anything? Look, it's not important.

You both know what to do.
Little Things Count A Lot! activates!
Pink+Blue Forte Waves activate!

Team Heartcatch: d10 + (17+8) + 0.5*(17+8) + 1 + 1 = 2 + 25 + 13 + 1 + 1 = 42
Desertrian: d10 + 28 = 7 + 28 = 35

Team Heartcatch success!
"Floral Power Fortissimo!"

Your magic merges and the two of you dash forward- you're not entirely sure that what you experience while casting this spell is even real, but it's a tremendously powerful sensation, a wonderful clarity and purity of intent, and something that is more than just you, something given to you by special grace, is singing within your heart, tied to your heart and allowing you to do more than mere magic.

When you return to a sense of the merely real, the bowl-monster's gone from being in front of you to behind you. You and Tsubomi turn to see it levitate into the air, letting out a strangely calming and gentle warbling sound. It bursts into a shower of light, leaving behind nothing but a large magic crystal about a meter long and, unsurprisingly, a bowl of noodles.

Cobraja beats a very, very hasty retreat, vanishing into a swirl of blue witchlight.

You go to get the crystal- Tsubomi is still standing there, gasping for deep breaths.

***A Few Hours Later***

It isn't until you get home that you realize that you never had a chance to do your shopping.

Cobraja is, on top of being vain and annoying and cruel and catty, interfering with your research!

Somehow, you cannot help but feel that this is a slight against the honor of all blue water-themed magical girls everywhere.

+1 Red Heart Seed gained!
Desertrian attack foiled with moderate property damage!
Ramen shop opening delayed due to moderate property damage!
 
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It's been a bit. Did Erika always have those color-coded thoughts?
I'm not sure about Erika, but Tsubomi has had them before:
Erika looks at you, suddenly frozen. You look back at her, in hesitation. Someone's going to have to say something, because this is in danger of turning from a schoolgirl thing into a Pretty Cure thing and you're the one in charge wait why are you the one in charge you do NOT feel in charge of this team yeah well it goes with the pink dress that cannot POSSIBLY be how it works that is literally the dumbest system ever that is totally how it works and that's final so how do we get out of this mess?
 
I'm not sure about Erika, but Tsubomi has had them before:
It seems like they're sharing an internal dialogue without realizing they're sharing an internal dialogue. Like instead of shoulder angels and devils, they've got mini Ericka(s?) and Tsubomi(s?) MST3K'ing their thoughts.
 
It seems like they're sharing an internal dialogue without realizing they're sharing an internal dialogue. Like instead of shoulder angels and devils, they've got mini Ericka(s?) and Tsubomi(s?) MST3K'ing their thoughts.
Such is the power of Pretty Cure!

It's not a recent phenomenon either; Tsubomi's been getting it since her first day.
 
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It seems like they're sharing an internal dialogue without realizing they're sharing an internal dialogue. Like instead of shoulder angels and devils, they've got mini Ericka(s?) and Tsubomi(s?) MST3K'ing their thoughts.
So this eventually becomes an internal Council of Pretty Cures.

Bonus to teamwork, Internal Erika knows what External Erika will do!

...sometimes!
 
So this eventually becomes an internal Council of Pretty Cures.

Bonus to teamwork, Internal Erika knows what External Erika will do!

...sometimes!
It's all the planning ability of the Mental Council of Bakarinas, with twice the membership, and twice the effectiveness!


...sometimes! 50% of the time it works every time!
 
He just told you his name, rank and faction affiliation. If you weren't paying attention that is entirely your own fault.
To be fair, neither his name, his rank, nor his factional affiliation properly answer the question "and what gives you the right to be all conceited and catty and so on while throwing around printed selfie-pictures like you were Tuxedo Mask with the roses?"

Separately and additional to the bit where he's gloatingly affiliated with the forces of an alien warlord out to destroy the Earth's biosphere, which to be clear Dune totally intends to do... Cobraja is kind of an asshole. It's part of his whole thing.

Sasorina's the smart-ish one, Kumojacky's the strong-ish one who wishes he were in shonen, and Cobraja's the one who carefully maintains an exquisitely punchable face.
 
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Lorena: We have Curas Bonitas down in Brazil as well!
Tsubomi: That's great! What colors do they have?
Lorena: Red, yellow, and blue; all the primary colors are represented-
Tsubomi: Wait, no pink?
Lorena: What? No, none of them are pink. Why?
Tsubomi: …Well, I'm sure they are doing the best that they can. (Pitying smile)
 
Lorena: We have Curas Bonitas down in Brazil as well!
Tsubomi: That's great! What colors do they have?
Lorena: Red, yellow, and blue; all the primary colors are represented-
Tsubomi: Wait, no pink?
Lorena: What? No, none of them are pink. Why?
Tsubomi: …Well, I'm sure they are doing the best that they can. (Pitying smile)
Well, we've seen what the magenta-cyan internal Pretty Cure dialogue about the whole color scheme thing looks like from Tsubomi's point of view:

Two TsubomiQuest Updates Ago said:
Erika looks at you, suddenly frozen. You look back at her, in hesitation. Someone's going to have to say something, because this is in danger of turning from a schoolgirl thing into a Pretty Cure thing and you're the one in charge wait why are you the one in charge you do NOT feel in charge of this team yeah well it goes with the pink dress that cannot POSSIBLY be how it works that is literally the dumbest system ever that is totally how it works and that's final so how do we get out of this mess?

And then today (a day or so later) we have Erika's perspective:

While Dodging Noodly Appendages said:
You sigh. You tried to talk to him but something went wrong. This is why Tsubomi's in charge wait Tsubomi's in charge? Well duh, it totally goes with the pink dress.

...

See, THIS is why Tsubomi's in charge. Wait, Tsubomi's in charge? Duh! Goes with the pink dress and everything! Wait, what being the pink one have to do with anything? Look, it's not important.
So make of this what you will.
 
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Usagi: "So this kami came by the other day and introduced herself as one of Polyhymnia's friends and she had this golden apple with "for the cutest" engraved on the side the other day and I handed it to Rei... I'm sure everything will be fine!"
Minori transforms into Black Lady in a fit of jealous rage, kidnaps Rei. Tuxedo Mask feels like he dodged a bullet but isn't sure why.
 
Heartcatch Turn 2 A Dress For A Princess? What Framed Thy Lovely Symmetry? Part Two
Heartcatch Turn 2
A Dress For A Princess? What Framed Thy Lovely Symmetry?
Part Two

It wasn't until you got home Wednesday evening that you realized that you never had a chance to do your shopping.

Cobraja is, on top of being vain and annoying and cruel and catty, interfering with your research!

Somehow, you cannot help but feel that this is a slight against the honor of all blue water-themed magical girls everywhere.


Thursday Afternoon
Kibougahana Botanical Gardens

But not even the power of the Desert Apostles can stop the march of science forever!
Study Pretty Cure Costume Fabric

d100: 57

Discoveries!
You, Erika Kurumi, have what you need after a quick run to the hardware store and some raiding of the supplies you keep at school for Fashion Club. You finish your trudge up the road to the Botanical Gardens, quietly thankful that it hasn't had many visitors this year. You hope that isn't going to give Tsubomi's grandma some kind of problem in the long run, but she never seems to worry, so you can only hope things will work out all right. The place seems… quietly peaceful, in a way that makes you want to maybe look at a couple of flowers but otherwise just keep moving. Only a real green thumb like Tsubomi- or her grandmother- seems to show much interest in the actual plants here.

You do not notice the reason this is happening. But you do notice that it's useful to have a place where you can be Cure Marine, and where it's unlikely that anyone will notice.

You enter the greenhouse, and find Mrs. Hanasaki carefully doing some kind of thing with a pot and putting a plant in it.

"Hi, Mrs. Hanasaki!" You wave at her very cheerfully and do not notice her jumping just a little bit, then very carefully placing her transplant into the new pot before turning to face you.

"Hello there, Erika dear. How are you doing?"

"Pretty good! Tsubomi has some stuff to catch up on-" you gather some of it's got more to do with the magic communicator the Sailor Senshi gave her than with her homework, but it's not your job to tell grownups that- "but I wanted to come up to try… Pretty Cure stuff."

It still feels a little strange just saying that you're doing that, even though you know that Mrs. Hanasaki was fighting the Desert Apostles as Cure Flower fifty years ago, before your parents and most of the adults you know were even born.

"I see." Mrs. Hanasaki smiles encouragingly, stepping closer to you. She moves with the deliberate pace of an old woman, though you get the feeling she's in better shape than she lets on. "And what do you have in mind? A new spell? Or, ah, if it's something to do with Mr. Oshima, he's still off in Tokyo on that business trip of his, I'm afraid, though he called me this morning and says he may be back tomorrow, and most likely by Saturday."

"No, nothing like that. I just wanted to take a look at this costume of mine. And see what makes it special."

Mrs. Hanasaki's smile is still kind and warm, but you can't help but sense an edge of smugness in there. "Well, I know you're quite the young seamstress, so I certainly wouldn't discourage you, but… hm. I don't know that there's anything to figure out. It is, after all, magic."

"So's what the Onogoro wizards do, but they have to learn to do it somehow, right?"

"I suppose… but nothing Mr. Oshima ever said made me think that our costumes' magic was that kind of thing. Some day I should tell you the story Coupe told me, about the Queen of the Heavenly Spheres and the Keeper of Time. According to him, the Great Heart Tree remembers that they were the ones who made the secrets of the Pretty Cures' power, ages ago. And I should think that they must have been quite a bit beyond what an Onogoro wizard- or Mr. Oshima, with all respect to him- can do. If you'd like, I could make you a snack and tell you the whole story."

Snack. Also, story. That… is an exciting offer!

But… but science!

You are a more or less properly brought up Japanese girl and Tsubomi's grandma is fifty-three years and two generations your senior, but still… SCIENCE! "That sounds really great, Mrs. Hanasaki! But I'd really like to try the things I have in mind first!"

You know that must sound a little rude, but Mrs. Hanasaki doesn't seem bothered. "Oh, I know how it is with children like you sometimes. This is probably something you've been waiting for a chance to do for days, isn't it?"

You glance at your feet for a moment. Not even your momentum is entirely immune to the widow Hanasaki's secret possibly-magical grandma powers.

"...Yeah."

"Well, that's all right, then. But do tell me if you get hungry." She pats you on the cheek and turns back to the plants she's working on.

***A Few Minutes Later***

You're outside, mostly screened off from the surrounding hills by tall hedges and thick, bushy trees. You can't help but wonder if Mrs. Hanasaki set this place up, years ago, knowing that some future Pretty Cure would want some nice secluded spots to transform where someone couldn't be sure it was her. Surely not. Cure Moonlight only began her battles about three years ago, and some of these trees must have taken much longer to plant…

Oh, well. Not important right now.

"Pretty Cure, open my heart!"


You whirl in the joyous exaltation of the change, as the blue-white gleam of your foundation gown resolves into the outfit- regalia- of Cure Marine. The world returns to you, just as you left it, and with an instinctive wariness you glance around. On some level this magic, the power of the flower swaying in the sea breeze is meant for fighting, and it always keys your nerves to a high pitch. Somehow, in those first moments, you always find yourself expecting enemies, danger, immediate crisis. But there's none of that now, of course. So you take a few deep breaths.

It's time for SCIENCE!

Okay. So. These are clearly magic clothes for so many reasons. How do you make magic clothes? Yes, there's the design at the fashion level, and there's the question of how to cast spells and all that. But how are they even put together? Where would you start? Hmmmm.

You poke yourself experimentally, running a fingertip along the fabric. And no, you weren't imagining what you remembered from before. There's definitely some kind of embroidered layer, or something much like it, underneath the white-and-blue fabric you can see. There's layers. Hmmm. You pause, tugging and glancing, and check with a fingertip. Then you stop to make very sure no one is watching except Coffret, who's invisible anyway. Because there is no dignified way to look at the underside of the fabric of any part of the dress you're wearing, not even the big puffed sleeve. You check- no, you can't see the embroidery from underneath either.

So. Three layers, at least. In a sandwich. The thought of sandwich- no, that would be making Tsubomi's grandma far too right, far too soon. Not sandwich time. SCIENCE time. There are at least three layers, probably only three. And they're very light. But so far, you've seen Pretty Cure costumes survive crashing into things at a couple of hundred kilometers an hour, being slapped around by giant umpty-meter flailing wheat noodles, getting zapped by a giant laser cannon that trashes buildings, and getting smeared by like two hundred kilos of fish paste.

Usually, those things are happening to Tsubomi, though you've had your share of being knocked through a window and a doorframe and you're pretty sure there was some drywall before you crashed head-first into a steel beam too.

All of these things have left your clothes, and at least as much to the point Tsubomi's clothes, nearly unmarked. Except for some singes from the laser beam that were honestly a lot less bad than the burns on Cure Blossom's skin that you try not to dwell on because they were gross and frightening and Tsubomi's okay now, thank any gods that are listening.

Even aside from the magic that keeps all these beatings from doing nearly as much to your actual skin as you'd expect, these clothes must be really, really tough. Probably tougher than any normal fabric could possibly be, natural or synthetic. Certainly tough enough to laugh at what you'd normally call "hard-wearing, durable" fabric. If this dress were made of something like cordura or duck canvas, and it obviously isn't, then one or both of you would probably have wound up wearing nothing but scraps of it by now, even if the magic kept you from getting hurt. You've never worked with things like spider silk or the kevlar in bulletproof vests, of course, but you suspect even those wouldn't be that tough, not on a dress this light.

Because the fabric does seem very light. Though… hm. Is it very light, or is it just that Pretty Cures are really strong? Could this stuff weigh as much as a suit of armor, and you just never noticed and Tsubomi didn't want to complain because she's like that? Hm. You prod your puffed sleeve again, this time in a slightly more dignified manner. No, it'd hang differently if it were that heavy. Probably. Of course, it's ridiculously strong stuff, but still. You have to start somewhere, even with magical fashion and costuming.

Hmm.

You poke and prod. You toy with the bow on your chest a bit.

Hmmmmm.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

"Erika-desu?"

You look up at Coffret. "Yes? What is it?"

"Why are you doing that?"

"Because clothes are interesting!"

"Awww, thanks!" Coffret smiles and waves his little paws cheerfully in the air. "I'm glad you think so!"

"So I'm going to be poking at the clothes and trying to take them apart a little to see how they're-"

"...Eeeek!"

"Hey, wait, come back!"

You don't really think of Coffret as a magic flying cape. Sure, you've flown together with him several times, for a total of several hours, within the past week. Despite that, you wouldn't normally think of Coffret that way to look at him. He's a little plushy fairy critter thingy. But he apparently has no trouble remembering that sometimes he's a cape.

You feel… well, misunderstood. People usually don't really understand what you're about, and now Coffret's scared of you.

You sigh. It must be Thursday. Something embarrassing always seems to happen on Thursdays.

***A Few Minutes Later***

You take off your shoe. If Tsubomi's burns didn't really stick to her, hopefully grass stains and squashed bugs won't stick to your feet either. You heft the shoe in your hand, lost in thought. Then you squeeze it hard enough that you're pretty sure a brick would crackle. The shoe feels very inflexible. More so than it did while you were taking it off, as if it somehow knows it's being squashed and is fighting back. Which… might actually explain some of the things you've seen and heard about how Pretty Cures and their costumes can avoid getting hurt by monsters, but still be light and flexible enough to move.

Hm.

Absently, you toss the shoe lightly into the air. It soars upwards, maybe five meters up, maybe ten. It slows towards a stop… and then vanishes in a puff of bright blue mist. Then the mist vanishes, too.

WELP.

You take a deep breath.

You will not start panicking. You will not, you will not, you will not. You try very hard to remember how to keep calm and not fly off the handle all the time, so you will not start running around and freaking out.

Besides, the question you suddenly very much want an answer to- am I now the permanently one-shoed guardian of the Heart Tree- that question probably has an answer not far away.

So you march back inside the Botanical Gardens, rather lopsidedly. Walking in one high heeled shoe ought to be very uncomfortable, but super strength has some advantages.

Coffret cannot be seen, and can only be heard by the happy squeaking cuddling noises embedded in Coupe's fur. Coupe looks a bit suspicious of you, but nowhere near as suspicious as you think he would if he actually believed for a minute what Coffret seemed to be afraid of. So that's a relief.

And… Tsubomi's grandmother is waiting for you, too. Waiting as though she has all the time in the world. She's got that peaceful, enigmatic, friendly, wrinkled smile on her face. A very settling smile.

"Coffret was afraid that you wanted to take him apart, dear. But Coupe's set him straight. We both know you would never do such a terrible thing."

Unsure how to reply to that, you settle for nodding firmly.

Mrs. Hanasaki just stands there. Smiling. Very conspicuously not looking at your foot. She is not looking at your foot so hard, you feel as though your foot is sort of tingling and burning from all the attention Mrs. Hanasaki is not paying to it.

You take another deep breath.

"Mrs. Hanasaki?"

"Yes?"

"I lost my shoe."

Mrs. Hanasaki nods. "I see. Inconvenient."

"I'm… kind of worried."

"That's understandable. Is the shoe 'lost' as in you can't find it, or 'lost' as in it dissolved into the mysterious mystical void from which it came?"

"How did you know!?"

"Five years with a transformation perfume bottle, Erika-chan."

"Uh, right. And. Um. The second one! So. Is… Is Cure Marine going to have only one shoe from now on?" You wince at the thought.

"No, dear. The shoe will come back the next time you transform. The same thing happened to me a couple of times, after a fashion."

"Can I ask a question, then?"

"Of course, Erika, anytime!"

"Well… would the same thing happen if I took off one of the cuffs?" You gesture at the stretchy, lace-fringed cuff on your left wrist. Come to think of it, it really is a mystery how something recognizable as lace connects to something stretchy without turning into a mess… but that kind of question is what you're here for!

And then you realize that it's been several seconds since Mrs. Hanasaki said something. By the time you look up, the old woman's gotten a strange, distant glint in her eye. The corner of her mouth twitches up in a smile that's a bit different from the soft, warm, welcoming one she usually has. "Oh, the cuffs? Thinking back… well, I wasn't in the habit of taking those cuffs off myself. But from what I do remember… I do believe it would reappear, child. Why do you ask?" She looks… suspicious, somehow.

You go ahead, forthright as usual. "I'd like to get a look at the stitching, and that means taking it off, and I'm worried I might… damage it if something goes wrong, so knowing it'll come back helps." You smile, feeling a little relieved now. You hadn't quite thought out in words that you're afraid of damaging the Pretty Cure costume by picking at it, but now that you think of the implications of everything, it is reassuring.

And Mrs. Hanasaki seems reassured too, for some reason. "Oh, is that it! Well… I don't think you'll have much luck getting the stitching apart, and it's probably just as well- if those things came apart easily, I wouldn't be alive and here to talk about it! But I hope you have a good time, at least."

She seems a little… smug. You nod politely and turn to head into the greenhouse's back rooms, resolved to show Mrs. Hanasaki that you can learn all kinds of amazing Pretty Cure stuff this way!

Maybe even something Mrs. Hanasaki doesn't know… though admittedly, right now, that doesn't seem as likely as you would have thought earlier today.

***A Few Minutes Later***

The cuff comes off with a little difficulty- the costume is still clothes, not some kind of prison or straitjacket. It's stretchy enough to slide over your wrist when you actually try to remove it. But a strange, subtle change passes over you as you do.

Even more than before, with only one shoe, you feel off-balance somehow, less graceful and more vulnerable. You can't help but wonder if the wrist thingy was a load-bearing magical accessory, actually important to the outfit and not just there to add a nice accent. The more you think about it, the more sure you are that it was.

Still, you've got it off, and you can look at it now.

…You squint. You pick up your magnifying glass and examine the piece closely. Your fingers move delicately as you trace the stitches that attach the lace and the fabric. Hmmm. The stitching is really tight. You can't really call it irregular, but the stitching angles like a machine-sewn garment wouldn't. You'd call it hand-sewn if you hadn't just conjured it up out of magical mist yourself ten or twenty minutes ago. And it's not a stitch that you would use to attach something to elastic. Though then again, this isn't any ordinary elastic. Or, you suppose, any ordinary thread.

Very carefully, you judge the angle and bring your second-favorite seam ripper to bear. Dad didn't even ask why you were trying to sharpen the seam ripper last night on the kitchen whetstone, thankfully.

It does not cross your mind that your parents may have learned a few lessons about which kinds of questions they shouldn't ask, for their sanity's sake.

Hmmm.

You're not sure this is going to work. You poke and prod at the stitches from different angles, frowning in deep concentration.

In the end, you get where you're going with this. After all, the fabric was flexible enough to slip off. It still stretches a bit under your hand. Enough that when you hold things just right, you can just get the tip of the hooked pick underneath one of the stitches. Then, carefully so as not to lose the ripper's purchase on the thread, you manage to slide it forward and hook back. You twist the tool gently, then harder, wriggling the point. You twist harder. And harder.

"GrrrRRR-"
*spang*

You look down and sigh at the sight of a tiny bright patch of jagged metal, the stump where the tip of the tool parted ways with the steel shaft.

Aaaand that would be why you used your second favorite seam ripper. Losing the pink-and-purple one would have been heartbreaking.

***A Little SCIENCE! Later***

You place the little lace cuff at the edge of the bench, folding it over the edge of a stone tile from a stack of them that was just lying around.

You really, really want a look at that middle layer, the embroidery sandwiched inside the garment. Maybe you can at least fray this thing a little? If you can fray the top layer, you may be able to get a better clue about the embroidery. Pick some threads apart. Something. Hm. You'll need a good angle and something to pin it in place and keep the degree of stretch consistent…

You reach into your bag, pulling out the hacksaw you bought at the hardware store yesterday afternoon. Not a usual sewing tool, but then, this is research sewing. Naturally, you need advanced scientific instruments for proper research sewing.

(-3 Funds)

You start working the saw back and forth slowly across a point on the fabric. Nothing happens.

"Grr!"

You really put your into it. Your superheroic back, because you're still transformed, even if you're a one-shoed, one-cuffed, grumpy little Pretty Cure at the moment..

"GrrrRRR!"

The hacksaw blurs back and forth and the sound of the teeth against the lace of the cuff rises to a sort of wobbling high-pitched whine.

"GrrrRRRRRR!"

Finally you stop to catch your breath. The blade of the hacksaw looks subtly different. Dulled, you think. And. It doesn't exactly… glow… but something tickles at your vision, something coming from it that usually isn't there, as though you're sensing something like, but not exactly the same as, what you normally see.

But where the hacksaw blade is hot and dulled and generally much the worse for wear… The cuff remains the same as it ever was. Defiantly blue, charmingly elegant, lace-decorated, unmarred, and certainly unfrayed.

It is also warm to the touch. So- ow!- is the sawblade, yeah, like you thought. The sawblade's working surface is very warm to the touch, downright hot, enough that you're noticing it even transformed. And the cuff feels funny against the tile… oh.

You lift the cuff. A trickle of rock dust pours out of the notch that you've ground into the tile underneath it.

You let out an enormous, slumping sigh.

So much for that idea.

***Some Thinking Later***

You know it. You're as certain of it as you are of any of your many daring schemes that occasionally work out approximately as planned. There is an art to this.

Whoever really makes the costumes of the Pretty Cure- the Celestial Empress or the Time Keeper or whoever- knows more about the arts of design, sewing, and weaving than you do. She's taken them in directions you hadn't begun to guess were even possible until now, based on principles you don't understand.

But you intend to learn.

For now, though… Tsubomi's grandma was right after all. About several things, but about one thing in particular.

You badly need a snack.



Erika spends 3 Funds for a hacksaw!
Erika blunts the hacksaw blade trying to saw open her own costume!
Rudimentary ideas about Pretty Cure costuming design architecture gained!
New actions unlocked!
 
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