Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“This is boring.”

Nagisa, Honoka, and their classmates were gathered in their class, doing a math worksheet while their teacher sat at the front of the class, grading last week’s test. Honoka chuckled. “Everyone has their own idea of fun, Nagisa. We can't all share your idea of it.”

“Yeah, well, this is not my idea.” Nagisa huffed, clonking her head down on her desk.

Honoka shook her head. “Let’s just finish up so we can have free time.”

The two worked together, and when they finished, they both cracked open a manga to read until class was over for the day. “What do you think I should make for dinner tonight, beef curry or hamburger patties?” Nagisa asked, looking up from her copy of Boruto. "I'm in the mood for beef, but how I make it is up for debate."

“Hamburger patties,” answered Honoka. “They’re less messy.”

"I agree," said Rina, turning around. "That way, you won't slop any sauce or broth on your uniform."

“Hey!” Mepple popped out of Nagisa’s pocket. “Are you saying I’m a messy eater, mepo?!”

"Oh, I've seen you on pasta night," Honoka chuckled behind the cover of Fruits Basket.

Before Mepple could fly into a rage, the school bell rang, followed by a boom outside. The two looked at each other, then heard another boom. Slinging their bags over their shoulders, Nagisa and Honoka rushed outside to see what was happening, and discovered a huge Zakenna outside the school! “Zakenna!”

“Yipe!” Nagisa jumped. “Who lost their bike?!”

“I don’t know, but we need to stop it!” Honoka shouted, taking hands with Nagisa, and Hikari, who had made it outside as well. “Shining Aurora Wave!”

The three of them were swept up in a giant rainbow stream to transform. Honoka’s white dress billowed around her, her hair swept up into a half-ponytail. Hikari’s hair grew nearly longer than she was, her clothes fluffing up with lace. But Nagisa did not change a bit; no matter what she did, her transformation did not start.

“Emissary of light, Cure White!"

"Shining Life, Shiny Luminous!

"Servant of the Dark Power, return to the abyss where you belong!”

“Nagisa!” Cure White snapped. “Why aren’t you ready?”

“I don’t know!” Nagisa was freaking out. “I tried to transform, but nothing worked!”

“Zakenna!” The Zakenna roared, getting closer to the school.

“No time to worry about that!” Shiny Luminous charged up an attack. “Let’s go!”

Shiny Luminous and Cure White leapt into the air to fight the Zakenna. Cure White kicked the handlebars right off the Zakenna’s head, while Shiny Luminous used her light powers to give Cure White extra strength. Down on the ground, her lack of transformation wasn’t stopping Nagisa from fighting; she whacked the Zakenna’s legs with her lacrosse stick.

“White Thunder!” Cure White raised an arm in the air.

“Shining Thunder!” Shiny Luminous took Cure White’s free hand.

The two aimed towards the Zakenna together. “Pretty Cure, Marble Screw!” They blasted a swirling white and gold towards it, blasting it into little pieces, and returning the stolen bike back to normal.

“What happened there?” Cure White asked, as she and Shiny Luminous returned to their civilian forms. “Why couldn’t you transform?”

“I don’t know.” Nagisa was very confused. “I tried, but the power just wasn’t there.”

“You don’t look sick,” mused Hikari. “There has to be some sort of reason.”

“Do you think anyone else is having this problem?” Honoka opened her phone and entered the Pretty Cure groupchat.

honoyuki44 sent: Hey, has anyone had problems using their powers today? (3:41 pm)

Chapter Text

elenasonrisa1 replied to honoyuki44’s message: Now that you mention it, I had some issues earlier today (3:42 pm)

Earlier in the day, Elena had been minding her own business, innocently playing with her siblings while on a picnic with her friends, when a  giant Nottorei had stomped into the field! “Nottorei!”

Of course, all of the Star Twinkle Cures leapt into action and transformed to defeat it; all except Elena, who couldn’t even get a flicker of her hero form. However, she certainly wasn’t one to stand idly by and be a damsel in distress while others took care of the problems for her; she rushed to get all of her siblings to safety while the Cures started their fight against the Nottorei.

“Pretty Cure, Star Punch!” Cure Star launched a star at the Nottorei’s face, which exploded into glitter on the ground. The light attracted Elena’s attention towards a tree, which had a big, rough stick laying on the ground next to it. Elena picked it up and hit the Nottorei’s legs with it.

“All together!” The four Cures took hands, and created a great glowing light. “Star Twinkle, Imagination!” A grand star emerged, and spun around and around, and with the power of the twelve star signs, blasted the Nottorei away, leaving only its victim behind.

“Regina!” Lala rushed to her side. “You’re alright, lun!”

“Hardly!” Regina winced as she was picked up off the ground. “That stick was hard on the rear!"

"Is the monster gone?" Reina poked her head out from behind the boulder she and her siblings were hiding behind. 

“I just don’t get it,” mused Elena, looking at her hands. “The spark just wasn’t there.”

“Well, where was it?” Yuni asked, her hands on her hips.

“I don’t know!” Elena shook her hands.

"You mean her powers are gone?" Touma asked, holding onto Anna's hand.

"I suppose so, lun," mused Lala. "But why?"

honoyuki44 sent: Okay, so this is not an isolated incident? (3:43 pm)

reirei512 sent: No, I’ve had trouble transforming as well (3:44 pm)

maidrawsstuff56 sent: So have I (3:45 pm)

lemonlemon3 sent: same (3:45 pm)

haruharuharu1 sent: Shall we all meet at the magic library? (3:46 pm)

fontainepen320 replied to haruharuharu1’s message: Sounds like a plan (3:47 pm)

manabanana1 replied to haruharuharu1’s message: See you there (3:47 pm)

Chapter Text

Ten different Cures all met each other in the Magic Library, each having lost a different power. Reika circled around everyone to assess the damage. “Let’s see here, I’ve lost ice, Nagisa’s lost strength, Elena’s lost fire, Mai’s lost wind, Urara’s lost light…”

“Sheesh, don’t choke on all that exposition,” snarked Nagisa.

“Let me finish,” scolded Reika. “Haruka’s lost nature, Chiyu’s lost water, Mana’s lost love, Love’s lost the sun, and Ran’s lost…” She paused. “Food, I suppose? That’s an odd power for someone to steal.”

“Hey!” Ran pouted. “My power is just as good as the rest of yours! If it weren't for powers like mine, everyone would starve to death!”

“Whoa, whoa, let's tone it down a little." Elena stepped in to calm Ran down. "But what makes you so certain that our powers were stolen?”

“Superpowers don’t just disappear for no reason.” Reika paced in a circle around the girls. “None of us are sick, injured, or in any other way dealing with a negative position, and we also know many different villains who would be vying for the powers we hold.”

Chiyu felt a shiver run down her spine. “Daruizen…if he’s gotten his hands on my water powers, he could easily use them against Nodoka. Using them to drown her…to return his infection to her body…”

"Or what if our baddies all figure out we lost our powers and gang up on us?" Elena asked. "Anna's already been kidnapped before...I bet my soul there's at least one monster out there who's willing to do it again."

“We can’t go around assuming the worst just yet,” said Ran, standing up. “What we need to do is build some sort of non-magic defense, then go and confront our baddies one by one. Does that sound like a plan?”

“Yeah!” All the girls agreed. 

Having only heard eight voices respond to her, Ran turned to her right. “Mana?”

Mana, looking dull and lifeless, lifted her head off the table to look at Ran. “Yes, I agree,” she mumbled in a monotone.

Haruka and Urara both jumped at the sight. “Yipe! Our baddie’s taken a lot more than just her power of love!”

Reika lifted Mana’s head up by her chin. “They stole all the love from her.” She picked her up and passed her off to Haruka and Urara. "Bring her to Ruru at once. She should be able to bring a spark of caring back into her."

Nagisa glanced over at Love. “You’ve been awfully quiet.” She circled around her. “Do you know something we don’t?”

“No,” insisted Love. “But I’m with Ran; I think it’s dumb to just assume our powers were stolen. There has to be other reasons to investigate before we go charging into fights unarmed. For all we know, this could just be some crazy magic accident.”

"We need to check up on the other Cures," said Reika. "Let's split up and talk to all the other teams, to be certain we didn't miss anyone."

Out in the park, there was a young girl hiding from the other kids at the park, too afraid to approach them. When she saw a boy looking in her direction, she yelped and caused the tree she was hiding behind to shoot up into the air, growing huge and flowery. Seeing the mess she’d just made, the girl began to run away from the park, before anyone could see her.

“How did that happen?” The kids in the park all surrounded the tree, marveling at its amazingly fast growth. But the girl didn’t turn around; she just kept running away, until she stumbled and caused a gush of water to slip her up. She scrunched up her face in frustration; these new powers were simply out of control!

Chapter Text

Upon leaving the library, Reika went out to speak with Cure teams she hadn’t yet heard from, to see if any of them had lost their powers. She knocked on Itsuki’s door, and Tsubaki answered. “Hello?”

“Good evening,” said Reika politely. “I need to speak to Itsuki.”

“Of course,” said Tsubaki, allowing her inside. “She’s upstairs.”

Reika passed her by to ascend the stairs and find Itsuki. She gently knocked on her door. “Come in,” said Itsuki from the other side.

Reika entered, and found Itsuki sitting at her desk, writing in a PreCure journal. “Weika!” Potpourri leapt off the bed and into Reika’s arms. 

“Yes, yes, hello, Potpourri,” chuckled Reika, petting the baby fairy’s head.

Itsuki turned around. “What brings you here?”

“Some of us Cures have been losing our powers and ability to transform,” explained Reika. “I found that my ice powers have disappeared. I’m going around to see if there are any other victims besides the ten I know of.”

Itsuki put a hand to her chin. “I haven’t heard any concern from Tsubomi or Yuri, nor any freak outs from Erika.” She crinkled her nose. “But I haven’t tried it for myself.”

The two of them went down the stairs. As they passed through the first floor, they caught the attention of Tsubaki, who was in the living room, helping Satsuki with his physical therapy. “Itsuki, I’m thinking of making lamb curry for dinner tonight. What do you think?”

“That sounds great, Mom,” said Itsuki. “We’re just going to the backyard for a minute.”

“My mother always makes her own rice mix to go with curry,” added Reika. “If you’d like, I can get her to send you the recipe.”

“That sounds lovely,” said Satsuki with a warm smile.

Satsuki returned to practicing walking without a cane, while Reika and Itsuki entered the backyard. Itsuki focused her energy to transform. “Pretty Cure, Open My Heart!”

She began to glow a bright golden yellow, and gained her long pigtails, flower skirt, and knee boots. “The flower that bathes in the sunlight, Cure Sunshine!”

“Alright,” said Reika, writing some notes in her book, “you and your team are clear. Thank you for your participation.”

Hearing a little fluttering by the fence, Cure Sunshine looked up to see Tsubasa perched on a spike. "Oh, hello. What brings you here?"

"I've been hearing about the Cures' powers disappearing," said Tsubasa. "Mashiro sent me to confirm to you that the remaining four of us are clear. Only Cure Starling's lost her powers."

"Thank you, Tsubasa," cooed Reika, petting the little bird's head.

Chapter Text

After Reika had texted out her confirmation that the HeartCatch Cures were clear, Urara went out to meet with the Suite Cures. She knocked on Ako’s door, where she and Ellen were brushing Hummy’s fur. Ako answered. “Hello?”

“Hi,” greeted Urara. “Some of us Cures have been losing our powers. I was sent to check up on your team to see if yours are still intact.”

“Losing your powers, nya?!” Hummy leapt onto the back end of the couch. “That’s terrible, nya!”

“Indeed.” Ellen put the brush down on the coffee table. “Come on, quick check up time.”

The three entered the backyard, with Urara holding Hummy, and Ellen and Ako went back to back. “Let’s play! Pretty Cure Modulation!”

Together, they created a stream of blue and yellow lights as they easily transformed into their Cure forms. “Strumming the soul’s tune, Cure Beat!”

“Playing the goddess’s tune, Cure Muse!” Cure Muse gently landed on the ground. “We’re clear!”

“Only the two of us are,” said Cure Beat. “We don’t know about Hibiki and Kanade.”

“Let’s go find them.” Urara turned tail to search for the two, with Cure Beat and Cure Muse quickly following behind her.

Out in the streets, Urara, Cure Beat, and Cure Muse searched for any sign of Hibiki or Kanade. Cure Beat heard a shout from the next block over, and rushed to find Cure Melody and Cure Rhythm fighting off a giant Negatone! “Whoa! Wait for us!” Cure Beat and Cure Muse leapt into action.

Upon seeing Cure Beat joining the battle, Cure Melody launched her into the Negatone’s face, where Cure Beat kicked it in the eye, making it stumble backwards.

“Suite Session Ensemble!” Cure Rhythm and Cure Beat, side by side, charged up an attack, and blasted away to fully launch the Negatone into the sky. Directing a light on her pocket mirror, Urara charred the Negaton to ash, making its music echo around the entire town.

"Perfect!" Cure Rhythm gently landed on the ground. "Another monster defeated!"

"Well, that certainly confirms that all four of you still have your powers," said Urara, noting it down.

"Yeah, I have no idea how your guys' powers disappeared," replied Cure Melody, as the four Suite Cures depowered into their civilian forms.

Urara opened the group chat to confirm the Suite Cures' power status, and found a series of messages that she hadn't read yet.

rosymilk556 sent: u still lost ur powers? (5:36 pm)

fontainepen320 sent: Happiness Charge team is clear (5:38 pm)

violetmacaron17 sent: i left for one weekend wtf did you all do? (5:42 pm)

Urara sighed. "I've got a lot more work to do..."

Chapter Text

Going to confront the Bad End Kingdom on their turf is already dangerous enough. Going without any sort of magic powers to back you up is an outright death wish. And still, that's exactly where Mai headed, for she had personal business she needed to deal with.

Forcing her way through the Bad Energy, Mai looked around her, searching for some form of life. Being surrounded by negativity and evil vibes put her on edge, but she pushed through anyway; she came here with an agenda, and she fully intended to complete it.

Seeing the castle in front of her, Mai decided to call into it. "Hello?"

Her voice echoed across the terrain. No answer came from the castle. Mai shouted again. "I know you're in there! Come out!"

A cold wind breezed behind her. "You don't know that at all. You're just some dumb Cure." 

Mai quickly turned around. Yamiko put a sharp fingernail under Mai's chin. "What do you want? You don't belong here."

"I'm not here to fight with you." Mai held her hands up. "I don't have my powers. A lot of us don't. We're looking for where they could have gone."

"Why would I want your powers?" Yamiko rolled her eyes. "Wind. Wow. So amazing, the best power in the world. Bite me, Mishou."

"Don't speak to me like that," said Mai firmly. "Like I said; I'm not coming here for aggression, Saki."

"I don't know who Saki is," snarled Yamiko, "but she doesn't live here."

A painful sting raced through Mai's heart. Did Yamiko forget about who she once was? Were those memories brainwashed out of her? Did she even still care? Mai knew she cared; she dreaded having to walk by the Hyuuga house every time she went to school, and spotted Saori in the window baking something, or Minori in the yard playing. They didn't know about the gap left in their life when their daughter and sister disappeared, but Mai knew. Mai remembered.

"Can you screw off now?" Yamiko huffed. "If you don't get outta here, I can easily get my dad to suck out your soul."

"Your dad?" Mai was confused for a moment, until she remembered; Joker. This pain was his fault. He was the one who tempted Saki over to his side and corrupted her into a monster. She furrowed her brow. "Fine; I'll go. The less time I have to spend thinking about your father, the better." She forced her way past Yamiko and pushed out of the Bad End Kingdom, landing in the park.

Now that she was back in her own dimension, the anger boiling in Mai's heart began to simmer down. She caught her breath and let her fingers be tickled by the grass. Okay, so the Bad End Kingdom had nothing to do with the powers disappearing. Where could they be, then?