Futari wa Pretty Cure Blue Moon: Ending and Epilogue
Okay, so the length of the final episode of Blue Moon broke LJ. The best solution thus far was to take the ending of the story and attach it to the epilogue I'd already written for precurefanworks, and then post that all there. ...but then it turned out that that community had a moderation queue now! Since there's still a limit on fic posts on precure, I did the only thing I could do, which would be to post it on my own journal instead. Please remember to read episode 24 on precure first!
Information: Fanseries wiki and fanseries ad comm
Episodes: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Bonus 16 17 18 19 20 Bonus 21 22 23 24 Ending & Epilogue
-
Silence. She looked down. Cure Night was pushing up with the strength she had no business still having, forcing herself up to her feet, looking from the ground at Kainatrol. "You're wrong," Night repeated.
"What?" Kainatrol felt a chill.
"When you said we didn't have any hope." Night looked down at Sunday, then back up. "We do. Even without our Moon Pieces. Even beaten, and even trapped here with you. We've always got hope!" Sunday smiled up at her.
Kainatrol twitched and started to fly down closer. "What do you know!?"
Night stood her ground. "I know that, even if life is painful, life is also good. The world may have hurt me, it may have hurt all of us, but there are reasons in that same world for me to hold on!"
Sunday pulled herself up and stood beside Night. She smiled at her before looking up at Kainatrol. "She's right. There's something for everyone to live for!"
"That's impossible!" Kainatrol let go of the Moon Dial and flexed her riding crop tightly. "There's nothing for you to live for. Everything will cease to exist soon!"
"But that's exactly why we won't let that happen!" Sunday called up at her. "There's still hope. After all, I still have the next episode of DaiFighter to watch!"
"...What?"
"Yeah!" She pumped her fist. "The finale is coming up really soon, and I have to know what happens!"
"What is DaiFighter anyway ~muu?" Moonla popped her head out of Ami's transformation cassette player. "Is it important ~muu?"
"Of course ~susu!" Starry emerged from the phone. "Mama, DaiFighter is the story of a person who does great things and fights for justice ~susu! I watch it every week with Asa or Yoko ~susu!"
Night sweatdropped, but Sunday looked encouragingly at her. Night took a deep breath. "Sunday's right, we all still have things to live for! Like I have to finish all my schoolwork because the semester's almost over, so then I can have more fun with my friends!"
Dawn and Dusk smiled at each other and got to their feet.
"I have some explaining to do to my child," Dawn said, watching Kainatrol turn to look down at her. "Both of them. When Karei gets back from her school out of town, I'll tell her everything, too."
Dusk twirled around despite her injuries. "I have a duty to the world to spread happiness and instruct my class in the ways of being kind to one another and filling the world with positive change!" She coughed. "Maybe I will finally get a promotion, too."
The rest of the assorted group started to stand up.
"I have so many things in the Land of Legends that I still haven't seen yet!"
"I still have friends I want to go out and have fun with!"
"I have a title to win!"
"I have to support my parents' store!"
Mia hesitated. "I want to meet all of the members of the boy bands on the covers of Kira-Kira Monthly from the past year!"
Hoshi boggled at Mia. "Ogata?"
Mia wrung her hands. "It was the first thing I could think of..."
Dawn smiled. "Nothing is too small or too implausible. All of our dreams are worth living for."
"That's right ~sasa!" Sunbi's head emerged from Dawn's transformation player. "I dream of a lifetime supply of donuts ~sasa!"
Dawn laughed. "Still?"
"Absolutely ~sasa! I will not give up on that dream ~sasa!"
Mia blinked. "This sounds like a long story..."
Kainatrol nearly snapped her riding crop in half. She started to descend toward the other side in her shield bubble. "What is wrong with all of you people? None of these things matter! Do you even realize that that world you're talking about is about to end?"
"We know where you're coming from, all right." Dawn stepped forward. "We're saying that you will never win."
Dusk stood beside her. "We're saying that everything has its value, and so we'll never let the world die without letting everyone find and keep their happiness!"
"Happiness?" Kainatrol threw her riding crop down and it landed on the air in the shield level to her feet. "I would have thought by now that you would be less ridiculously naive. You don't deserve happy lives." She flickered in and out again. "Nobody does."
"You said something earlier today," Dawn said, sizing up Kainatrol. "About what we said to your old boss, which you twisted to help yourself. When we said 'you must believe there's something good about life, because you're still alive', you know that we didn't mean he should erase himself. What we meant was that life has value. Ours and yours."
Millusion watched the scene from the back. Her eyes moved from side to side, taking in every detail.
Devance stood on the other side of Dawn. "Will you even be happy if everything else goes away, Kainatrol?"
Kainatrol seethed. "I can't be happy if it's still here."
Behind her, Mekuramast rose to his feet. He was still shaking as she turned around to look at him, but he looked up at her in response.
"So what you did was make it so that nobody could be happy if you were still around," he said. "All these years, you've just spreaded misery to make others follow you and then wipe them out."
Kainatrol gave a mocking laugh. "Oh, don't talk about it like you didn't have anything to do with it, Kairos. White or black, an eye mask is still what it is. You've done the same damage as any of us. Wasn't it you who said the Garden of Rings wasn't worth living in when I asked you to join the Etherium?"
"Maybe I was wrong about that." Mekuramast didn't move. "And believe me, I'm well aware of the things I and everybody else did, both following our previous employer and, for those less fortunate, following you. None of that changes the fact that you need to be stopped, Thera. More than anything else, I'll work for that, even if I'll never bring Kore and our world back!"
Kainatrol blazed with rage and red light. "You--! Why? Why won't you stop! Even when I break you, you get back up! Kore doesn't exist anymore! Thera doesn't exist anymore! Thera was a caged trained animal! Kainatrol is the one who is spreading Thera's hopelessness!"
She restructured her shield to open a gap between her and Mekuramast and aimed a light from the Moon Dial at him. Cure Sunday rushed forward to kick her, and Kainatrol quickly put the shield back to normal and stopped charging power. Sunday bounced off the shield.
"So if you can't be happy, nobody can!?" Sunday kept attacking the shield. "What is wrong with you?"
Hoshi watched the fight and gestured to Night. "That enemy of yours? She's mad. Get her to let her guard down again. As long as she's paying attention and remembering to keep the shield up and rebuild it whenever it breaks, she'll just keep putting it back up until she gets bored and erases everyone."
Night kept her eyes on the fight. "Or," she whispered, "once she feels we've suffered enough." She ran in after Sunday and threw a punch at the other side of the shield.
"You really are children!" Kainatrol laughed. "You keep trying something that won't work. I have more than enough power to take you now."
Dawn, Dusk, and Devance stood ready to join in at one side of the fight, Mekuramast at the other. Hoshi and Yukari looked ready to get back in the van, and Mia stood on the sidelines. Millusion was still by Mia, watching. Watching everything.
Sunday shot her palm forward at the shield. "You aren't going to win. It doesn't matter if you could erase us all right now. Even if you did, you still wouldn't be happy that way!"
Night gave the shield an uppercut from the other side. "Being alone because the world might not accept you isn't the answer!" She kicked it. "Those people you erased or even killed-- any one of them, as unlikely as it wounds, could have become someone important to you!"
Kainatrol threw off her shield. Before anyone could do anything, she held the Moon Dial and a wave of energy spread through the room. Everyone but her was now suspended in place, feeling an odd tingling everywhere, unable to move but able to see and hear. Kainatrol looked at the Moon Dial with a brief smile and turned her attention back to the assorted room.
"If you say I'll never win, I have to question you. Or maybe I'll just erase you all now and get to work on your worlds." She let go of the Moon Dial, started to walk down the air to the ground, and leaned down to look into Night's frozen face. "You don't know a thing." Kainatrol then stood up and made a sweeping gesture to address the whole room. "None of you do, though it's not too surprising. You can't do a thing about it. Everyone I got rid of, by erasure or otherwise? They deserved it! In fact, they deserved worse."
Kainatrol and her assortment of victims heard a crack. An explosion.
She spun around, only to have ten or twenty small bombs go off around her, knocking her down. Her spell undid itself and everybody else in the room stumbled back to life. They turned in unison to the new hole in the wall and the organ music coming out of it. Binbeat slammed the keys of the organ, scattering more explosions around Kainatrol and knocking her out of range to reach the suspended Moon Dial. He turned his head and threw his mask into the abyss, looking straight at her.
"Did not."
"Brat-- you're alive?" Kainatrol scrambled up to lunge for the Moon Dial. She stopped. Instantly, where Kainatrol had been, there was an orb of dark teal light.
Heads turned to the only possible source. Millusion was holding out her silver-plated pendulum, swinging it back and forth and glowing blue-green.
"All right," she told herself. "Make the Moon Dial. Make all the people. Make everything perfect. It has to be perfect or she'll notice."
Mia gasped. "Are you -- are you making this room, Omemi-san?"
"I've made it!" Millusion didn't look aside. "I'll keep this up for as long as I can. Kawada! Nakayama! Everyone, do it!"
Sunday and Night nodded. They stood to hold hands. Dawn and Dusk walked up to the other side of the Trance Lock orb and also held their inside hands. They reached out their outside hands to the younger Cures, who hesitated, looked at each other, and then took their seniors' hands so the four Cures were standing in a linked circle. Sunbi, Moonla, and Starry popped out and activated the right cards in all four phones.
"Dawn Phasing!"
"Sun Limit!"
"Dusk Phasing!"
"Night Limit!"
A giant four-coloured magic circle formed under them, spinning in pink and orange and purple and black.
"Everyone, give them energy!" Hoshi started to glow as she dragged an also-glowing Yukari into the DaiVan, standing at attention to backup. The light flew off of them, and everybody else in the room followed suit, filling the Cures' magic circle.
"Time goes on," said Cure Dawn, and the pink quarter of the circle lit up.
"Things are found and lost," said Cure Dusk, and the purple quarter of the circle lit up.
The other two looked at each other again before letting the words they felt compelled to say come out.
"All of our hearts...", began Cure Sunday, with the orange quarter shining in response.
"...will remain united!" Cure Night finished the circle, with the black quarter giving off its own aura. The circle spun faster and energy flowed in from all directions, surrounding the four. They took a deep breath and shouted in unison.
"Pretty Cure Neverending Eclipse!"
They sent forward a flurry of spinning power all focused on the centre where Kainatrol was. Millusion threw open the orb. A Kainatrol who had been gleefully attacking fake enemies with a fake Moon Dial barely blinked before it hit her. From thousands of different directions all at once, she was pierced with a shining, multicoloured light and a warm feeling. Her eyes widened, her mouth dropped open as she trembled and wrapped her head around it.
"It's not..." She barely managed to get that out before she was completely swallowed up by the light. When it faded, she was gone.
Cure Night bowed her head, and Cure Sunday followed suit. Slowly, Dawn and Dusk did as well, and then the rest started to follow. Mekuramast held off for a minute or so before shaking his head, sighing, and slightly inclining it. The Moon Dial lowered to the floor, and the four Pretty Cures walked to it.
Night took a deep breath. "Are you ready?"
"Of course." Sunday smiled.
The two of them touched the Moon Dial.
-
After that happened, the next few years were pretty different. Not bad. Actually, mostly better.
Six o'clock in the morning. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Nakayama Yoko groaned and rolled over in the bed, covering her head with the pillow. When that didn't drown out the noise, she reached out her arm and patted the nightstand until she found the alarm and felt the buttons for the right one to shut it off. Once the incessant racket was over, she lay there stirring with her head still under the pillow.
"Yoko, get up ~susu!" Starry hopped onto the bed and started to try and shake her, though he couldn't do much with his stubby arms. "It's a school day ~susu!"
Yoko mumbled something and dragged herself to a sitting position. She rubbed her eyes and yawned before stumbling out of bed.
I'm in high school now. I ended up leaving town for it, like Mia's older sister did. I still come back to Kazahana City on breaks, of course. All of us do. Oh, that's right -- all five of us got into the same school! It took a lot of work to help Asa study when she wasn't getting enough sleep, but miraculously enough, it worked.
Getting ready for the morning while still half-asleep was an art Yoko had mastered by now. She shuffled to the small bathroom attached to her dorm room, tugged the brush through her hair, showered at record speed, cleaned out the shower, brushed her teeth, and blow-dried her hair before shuffling right back out of the bathroom in her school uniform with her pajamas in her arms. She stuffed those under her pillow and looked over at her phone. The light was blinking, so she picked it up and swiped it open. One message. She read it and shook her head.
"Asa," she laughed. "Starry, can you get in the other phone? It's her turn to keep you."
"Okay ~susu!" Starry opened up Yoko's school bag and dived into the transformation phone in the water bottle compartment.
We haven't had enemies in a while, but we always keep our phones on us just in case. Asa says it's tempting fate otherwise, and that second seasons and movies always start out with the heroes having their transformation devices with them after their normal lives. I thought it was ridiculous, but then we actually did have a few more battles with different people. A lot more now that we're in the city. It turns out that there really are a lot of other magical girls hanging around here, and after we made the news, they started to appear, too. Strange, but what isn't these days?
Yoko put on some lip gloss in the mirror, straightened her uniform tie, and picked up her bag. She started out the front doorof her dowm room, locking it behind her, and waved to other students in the halls.
As far as what Asa asked me on that day? I did end up accepting. She still goes on about us defying that rule in movies where the person who confesses their love before a battle dies. Some of the other students know about us, some don't because it's none of their business. This school is usually pretty good about those things, though. It's one of those international schools with a lot of foreign students, so they tend to be laid-back -- there are even days where we don't have to wear our uniforms. I used to lend Asa something of mine, or someone else does, on those days -- even though we're not exactly the same size. Then Yukari got hold of her and took her on a shopping spree when we were home for spring break. At least she has more clothes now and she isn't embarrassed about it.
"Yoko!"
As she was opening the door to the second floor where the dorms ended and the classrooms began, another girl ran up to her from the same dorm staircase. She had short black hair with a small, thin braid at the side, and her dark eyes were sparkling about as much as the non-regulation jewelry she was blatantly wearing over top of her uniform.
"Yukari?" Yoko waved back and held the door open for her. "Another new hairstyle? You had the last one for two months!"
"I know, I've been changing it up more often lately." Yukari played with the little braid just like she used to do with her long braid when they were younger. "But there was an idol on TV last week with the cutest hairstyle, and I had to try it out for myself!"
Yoko smiled, and they walked through the school together. "Asa said everybody else is waiting for us at the fountain. Do you want to stop there before class?"
"Only as long as we're not late!" Yukari gave a smile saying that, to be completely honest, she didn't care one bit if they were late to class.
I did end up telling my parents eventually. I knew they wouldn't take it well, and they didn't, but they've been getting better. At least I've stayed with Asa. Takashi and Mitsuishi-san have been on again and off again for the past three years and everybody is sick of it. I know it's probably not fair -- I mean, me and Asa aside, and Mia's parents aside too, not many people actually stay with a person they were with when they were in middle school. Everyone's different, after all. I moved in with Ami-sensei after I told my parents about myself, and I still live there when we all go back home. It's pretty different, but I got used to it. It's been better since the principal got his head on straight and gave her that promotion. It doesn't matter that she's not a guy, she still did more for Clair Academy than anyone. The town's starting to recognize that, too.
Yoko and Yukari walked out the side door of the school to the courtyard and looked up. Three girls waved at them from the fountain. Hoshi had cut her hair too, and the sun had lightened it a bit; it looked more boyish and a lot cleaner. Mia didn't wear a pink hair bow anymore, but she had dark blue heart barrettes on either side of her head. Asa and her tiny side ponytail were the same as always; she ran over to Yoko and hugged her, while the other three looked on, amused.
"A-Asa, we're in public--" Yoko turned red.
"It doesn't count as public if there's no one here." Asa let go anyway and pouted. Yoko laughed a little.
"Asa figured we should all meet up before class and talk about some stuff," Hoshi said. "The end of the year's coming up soon, and that means spring break. What did you guys want to do?"
"Well, it's a little late for the cultural festival at our old middle school, so we can't do that," Yukari said. "Yoko, didn't you say Ami-sensei had something planned?"
"Just that she's going to Gessou Village to check out the guest lodge and see if it's still good to take her students next year," Yoko said. "You can all come if you want. I know we got a little derailed when we went."
Hoshi eyed her suspiciously. "We don't have to babysit Allegro again, do we?"
"He's twelve now. He isn't that bad." Yoko paused. "Okay, so maybe he tried to go on another panty-thieving spree last summer break, but he stopped playing the organ at three in the morning."
The rest of the girls laughed, even Hoshi. Yoko smiled.
Honestly, I actually think she's fine with him, even if he gets on everybody's nerves. Binbeat didn't have anywhere else to go after the Etherium -- kind of like me. Ami-sensei took him in, too, and he calls himself Allegro now. It's been a little hard to get used to and there wasn't as much money as when I lived with my family, but that's all right. It seems like Ogata-san knows a lot about creating identities for people when they come in from other worlds. Besides, Mitsuishi-san and her whole group are happy to babysit. Even Omemi-san does on occasion!
Starry looked around and jumped out of the phone into Mia's arms. "We contacted the Garden of Days last night ~susu! The Elder said that she's sending Mama and Papa here in the spring, too ~susu!"
"Really?" Mia smiled down at him. "Did they restore the next world, then?"
Starry nodded. "Putting worlds back to normal is a lot of work ~susu... We should go help them out ~susu!"
Asa grinned. "Sounds like an adventure to me! Mekuramast might be happy to see us, too. At least it will be a change of pace, right? He's been working with the Elder for a while now to bring back everything the Etherium erased."
Yoko shook her head with a smile. "Did you just agree to two adventures at once?"
Asa crossed her arms. "Geez, Yoko, it's not like Gessou Village will take up the whole time."
"All right, all right." Yoko smiled.
"Stop flirting, you two." Hoshi rolled her eyes, but her face didn't look nearly as annoyed.
Asa had some good ideas when she told the Elder to listen to what she had to say back then. The way it used to be when Ogata-san and Ami-sensei got their powers wasn't really the best way to do things, even if it seemed like the easiest. This whole magical girl thing doesn't stop when you defeat the last enemy or when the world is saved. It's about protecting the world and caring about everyone. Like anyone else should, right?
Yukari looked up at the clock tower. "I think we should be getting to class now."
"Okay ~susu!" Starry climbed out of Mia's arms and went into Asa's phone. "I'll be quiet ~susu!"
"Let's get going," Hoshi said. "Before we get stuck with cleaning duty again."
The five girls walked away, laughing and talking, back into the school. Asa and Yoko looked at each other as they opened the doors.
-
Yoko: Welcome to the final...
Everyone: Asa and Yoko's Comment Corner! (All mascots add their respective sentence enders.)
Kirei: We're finally finished. It's nearly been four years, but we are.
Ami: If you're in the southern hemisphere, November 13th is a solar eclipse! The author chose this date for the release of the last episode, even though she lives in the northern hemisphere.
Starry: The final chapter was so long, LJ wouldn't let it be its own post ~susu...
Yukari: So the rest was put into the final bonus episode, right here!
Hoshi: The author originally planned for only the epilogue, with Yoko at school three years later, to be posted separately, but hey...
Mekuramast: Not all of us had happy endings, but we all need to keep going.
Mia: The author is really glad that you were able to read all of this, and that she was able to finish it.
Emiru: Kawada, the story is over, so this time you won't be able to say "see you all next time", will you?
Asa: Well, then I'll just say... "see you later"!
-
The End
Information: Fanseries wiki and fanseries ad comm
Episodes: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Bonus 16 17 18 19 20 Bonus 21 22 23 24 Ending & Epilogue
-
Silence. She looked down. Cure Night was pushing up with the strength she had no business still having, forcing herself up to her feet, looking from the ground at Kainatrol. "You're wrong," Night repeated.
"What?" Kainatrol felt a chill.
"When you said we didn't have any hope." Night looked down at Sunday, then back up. "We do. Even without our Moon Pieces. Even beaten, and even trapped here with you. We've always got hope!" Sunday smiled up at her.
Kainatrol twitched and started to fly down closer. "What do you know!?"
Night stood her ground. "I know that, even if life is painful, life is also good. The world may have hurt me, it may have hurt all of us, but there are reasons in that same world for me to hold on!"
Sunday pulled herself up and stood beside Night. She smiled at her before looking up at Kainatrol. "She's right. There's something for everyone to live for!"
"That's impossible!" Kainatrol let go of the Moon Dial and flexed her riding crop tightly. "There's nothing for you to live for. Everything will cease to exist soon!"
"But that's exactly why we won't let that happen!" Sunday called up at her. "There's still hope. After all, I still have the next episode of DaiFighter to watch!"
"...What?"
"Yeah!" She pumped her fist. "The finale is coming up really soon, and I have to know what happens!"
"What is DaiFighter anyway ~muu?" Moonla popped her head out of Ami's transformation cassette player. "Is it important ~muu?"
"Of course ~susu!" Starry emerged from the phone. "Mama, DaiFighter is the story of a person who does great things and fights for justice ~susu! I watch it every week with Asa or Yoko ~susu!"
Night sweatdropped, but Sunday looked encouragingly at her. Night took a deep breath. "Sunday's right, we all still have things to live for! Like I have to finish all my schoolwork because the semester's almost over, so then I can have more fun with my friends!"
Dawn and Dusk smiled at each other and got to their feet.
"I have some explaining to do to my child," Dawn said, watching Kainatrol turn to look down at her. "Both of them. When Karei gets back from her school out of town, I'll tell her everything, too."
Dusk twirled around despite her injuries. "I have a duty to the world to spread happiness and instruct my class in the ways of being kind to one another and filling the world with positive change!" She coughed. "Maybe I will finally get a promotion, too."
The rest of the assorted group started to stand up.
"I have so many things in the Land of Legends that I still haven't seen yet!"
"I still have friends I want to go out and have fun with!"
"I have a title to win!"
"I have to support my parents' store!"
Mia hesitated. "I want to meet all of the members of the boy bands on the covers of Kira-Kira Monthly from the past year!"
Hoshi boggled at Mia. "Ogata?"
Mia wrung her hands. "It was the first thing I could think of..."
Dawn smiled. "Nothing is too small or too implausible. All of our dreams are worth living for."
"That's right ~sasa!" Sunbi's head emerged from Dawn's transformation player. "I dream of a lifetime supply of donuts ~sasa!"
Dawn laughed. "Still?"
"Absolutely ~sasa! I will not give up on that dream ~sasa!"
Mia blinked. "This sounds like a long story..."
Kainatrol nearly snapped her riding crop in half. She started to descend toward the other side in her shield bubble. "What is wrong with all of you people? None of these things matter! Do you even realize that that world you're talking about is about to end?"
"We know where you're coming from, all right." Dawn stepped forward. "We're saying that you will never win."
Dusk stood beside her. "We're saying that everything has its value, and so we'll never let the world die without letting everyone find and keep their happiness!"
"Happiness?" Kainatrol threw her riding crop down and it landed on the air in the shield level to her feet. "I would have thought by now that you would be less ridiculously naive. You don't deserve happy lives." She flickered in and out again. "Nobody does."
"You said something earlier today," Dawn said, sizing up Kainatrol. "About what we said to your old boss, which you twisted to help yourself. When we said 'you must believe there's something good about life, because you're still alive', you know that we didn't mean he should erase himself. What we meant was that life has value. Ours and yours."
Millusion watched the scene from the back. Her eyes moved from side to side, taking in every detail.
Devance stood on the other side of Dawn. "Will you even be happy if everything else goes away, Kainatrol?"
Kainatrol seethed. "I can't be happy if it's still here."
Behind her, Mekuramast rose to his feet. He was still shaking as she turned around to look at him, but he looked up at her in response.
"So what you did was make it so that nobody could be happy if you were still around," he said. "All these years, you've just spreaded misery to make others follow you and then wipe them out."
Kainatrol gave a mocking laugh. "Oh, don't talk about it like you didn't have anything to do with it, Kairos. White or black, an eye mask is still what it is. You've done the same damage as any of us. Wasn't it you who said the Garden of Rings wasn't worth living in when I asked you to join the Etherium?"
"Maybe I was wrong about that." Mekuramast didn't move. "And believe me, I'm well aware of the things I and everybody else did, both following our previous employer and, for those less fortunate, following you. None of that changes the fact that you need to be stopped, Thera. More than anything else, I'll work for that, even if I'll never bring Kore and our world back!"
Kainatrol blazed with rage and red light. "You--! Why? Why won't you stop! Even when I break you, you get back up! Kore doesn't exist anymore! Thera doesn't exist anymore! Thera was a caged trained animal! Kainatrol is the one who is spreading Thera's hopelessness!"
She restructured her shield to open a gap between her and Mekuramast and aimed a light from the Moon Dial at him. Cure Sunday rushed forward to kick her, and Kainatrol quickly put the shield back to normal and stopped charging power. Sunday bounced off the shield.
"So if you can't be happy, nobody can!?" Sunday kept attacking the shield. "What is wrong with you?"
Hoshi watched the fight and gestured to Night. "That enemy of yours? She's mad. Get her to let her guard down again. As long as she's paying attention and remembering to keep the shield up and rebuild it whenever it breaks, she'll just keep putting it back up until she gets bored and erases everyone."
Night kept her eyes on the fight. "Or," she whispered, "once she feels we've suffered enough." She ran in after Sunday and threw a punch at the other side of the shield.
"You really are children!" Kainatrol laughed. "You keep trying something that won't work. I have more than enough power to take you now."
Dawn, Dusk, and Devance stood ready to join in at one side of the fight, Mekuramast at the other. Hoshi and Yukari looked ready to get back in the van, and Mia stood on the sidelines. Millusion was still by Mia, watching. Watching everything.
Sunday shot her palm forward at the shield. "You aren't going to win. It doesn't matter if you could erase us all right now. Even if you did, you still wouldn't be happy that way!"
Night gave the shield an uppercut from the other side. "Being alone because the world might not accept you isn't the answer!" She kicked it. "Those people you erased or even killed-- any one of them, as unlikely as it wounds, could have become someone important to you!"
Kainatrol threw off her shield. Before anyone could do anything, she held the Moon Dial and a wave of energy spread through the room. Everyone but her was now suspended in place, feeling an odd tingling everywhere, unable to move but able to see and hear. Kainatrol looked at the Moon Dial with a brief smile and turned her attention back to the assorted room.
"If you say I'll never win, I have to question you. Or maybe I'll just erase you all now and get to work on your worlds." She let go of the Moon Dial, started to walk down the air to the ground, and leaned down to look into Night's frozen face. "You don't know a thing." Kainatrol then stood up and made a sweeping gesture to address the whole room. "None of you do, though it's not too surprising. You can't do a thing about it. Everyone I got rid of, by erasure or otherwise? They deserved it! In fact, they deserved worse."
Kainatrol and her assortment of victims heard a crack. An explosion.
She spun around, only to have ten or twenty small bombs go off around her, knocking her down. Her spell undid itself and everybody else in the room stumbled back to life. They turned in unison to the new hole in the wall and the organ music coming out of it. Binbeat slammed the keys of the organ, scattering more explosions around Kainatrol and knocking her out of range to reach the suspended Moon Dial. He turned his head and threw his mask into the abyss, looking straight at her.
"Did not."
"Brat-- you're alive?" Kainatrol scrambled up to lunge for the Moon Dial. She stopped. Instantly, where Kainatrol had been, there was an orb of dark teal light.
Heads turned to the only possible source. Millusion was holding out her silver-plated pendulum, swinging it back and forth and glowing blue-green.
"All right," she told herself. "Make the Moon Dial. Make all the people. Make everything perfect. It has to be perfect or she'll notice."
Mia gasped. "Are you -- are you making this room, Omemi-san?"
"I've made it!" Millusion didn't look aside. "I'll keep this up for as long as I can. Kawada! Nakayama! Everyone, do it!"
Sunday and Night nodded. They stood to hold hands. Dawn and Dusk walked up to the other side of the Trance Lock orb and also held their inside hands. They reached out their outside hands to the younger Cures, who hesitated, looked at each other, and then took their seniors' hands so the four Cures were standing in a linked circle. Sunbi, Moonla, and Starry popped out and activated the right cards in all four phones.
"Dawn Phasing!"
"Sun Limit!"
"Dusk Phasing!"
"Night Limit!"
A giant four-coloured magic circle formed under them, spinning in pink and orange and purple and black.
"Everyone, give them energy!" Hoshi started to glow as she dragged an also-glowing Yukari into the DaiVan, standing at attention to backup. The light flew off of them, and everybody else in the room followed suit, filling the Cures' magic circle.
"Time goes on," said Cure Dawn, and the pink quarter of the circle lit up.
"Things are found and lost," said Cure Dusk, and the purple quarter of the circle lit up.
The other two looked at each other again before letting the words they felt compelled to say come out.
"All of our hearts...", began Cure Sunday, with the orange quarter shining in response.
"...will remain united!" Cure Night finished the circle, with the black quarter giving off its own aura. The circle spun faster and energy flowed in from all directions, surrounding the four. They took a deep breath and shouted in unison.
"Pretty Cure Neverending Eclipse!"
They sent forward a flurry of spinning power all focused on the centre where Kainatrol was. Millusion threw open the orb. A Kainatrol who had been gleefully attacking fake enemies with a fake Moon Dial barely blinked before it hit her. From thousands of different directions all at once, she was pierced with a shining, multicoloured light and a warm feeling. Her eyes widened, her mouth dropped open as she trembled and wrapped her head around it.
"It's not..." She barely managed to get that out before she was completely swallowed up by the light. When it faded, she was gone.
Cure Night bowed her head, and Cure Sunday followed suit. Slowly, Dawn and Dusk did as well, and then the rest started to follow. Mekuramast held off for a minute or so before shaking his head, sighing, and slightly inclining it. The Moon Dial lowered to the floor, and the four Pretty Cures walked to it.
Night took a deep breath. "Are you ready?"
"Of course." Sunday smiled.
The two of them touched the Moon Dial.
-
After that happened, the next few years were pretty different. Not bad. Actually, mostly better.
Six o'clock in the morning. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Nakayama Yoko groaned and rolled over in the bed, covering her head with the pillow. When that didn't drown out the noise, she reached out her arm and patted the nightstand until she found the alarm and felt the buttons for the right one to shut it off. Once the incessant racket was over, she lay there stirring with her head still under the pillow.
"Yoko, get up ~susu!" Starry hopped onto the bed and started to try and shake her, though he couldn't do much with his stubby arms. "It's a school day ~susu!"
Yoko mumbled something and dragged herself to a sitting position. She rubbed her eyes and yawned before stumbling out of bed.
I'm in high school now. I ended up leaving town for it, like Mia's older sister did. I still come back to Kazahana City on breaks, of course. All of us do. Oh, that's right -- all five of us got into the same school! It took a lot of work to help Asa study when she wasn't getting enough sleep, but miraculously enough, it worked.
Getting ready for the morning while still half-asleep was an art Yoko had mastered by now. She shuffled to the small bathroom attached to her dorm room, tugged the brush through her hair, showered at record speed, cleaned out the shower, brushed her teeth, and blow-dried her hair before shuffling right back out of the bathroom in her school uniform with her pajamas in her arms. She stuffed those under her pillow and looked over at her phone. The light was blinking, so she picked it up and swiped it open. One message. She read it and shook her head.
"Asa," she laughed. "Starry, can you get in the other phone? It's her turn to keep you."
"Okay ~susu!" Starry opened up Yoko's school bag and dived into the transformation phone in the water bottle compartment.
We haven't had enemies in a while, but we always keep our phones on us just in case. Asa says it's tempting fate otherwise, and that second seasons and movies always start out with the heroes having their transformation devices with them after their normal lives. I thought it was ridiculous, but then we actually did have a few more battles with different people. A lot more now that we're in the city. It turns out that there really are a lot of other magical girls hanging around here, and after we made the news, they started to appear, too. Strange, but what isn't these days?
Yoko put on some lip gloss in the mirror, straightened her uniform tie, and picked up her bag. She started out the front doorof her dowm room, locking it behind her, and waved to other students in the halls.
As far as what Asa asked me on that day? I did end up accepting. She still goes on about us defying that rule in movies where the person who confesses their love before a battle dies. Some of the other students know about us, some don't because it's none of their business. This school is usually pretty good about those things, though. It's one of those international schools with a lot of foreign students, so they tend to be laid-back -- there are even days where we don't have to wear our uniforms. I used to lend Asa something of mine, or someone else does, on those days -- even though we're not exactly the same size. Then Yukari got hold of her and took her on a shopping spree when we were home for spring break. At least she has more clothes now and she isn't embarrassed about it.
"Yoko!"
As she was opening the door to the second floor where the dorms ended and the classrooms began, another girl ran up to her from the same dorm staircase. She had short black hair with a small, thin braid at the side, and her dark eyes were sparkling about as much as the non-regulation jewelry she was blatantly wearing over top of her uniform.
"Yukari?" Yoko waved back and held the door open for her. "Another new hairstyle? You had the last one for two months!"
"I know, I've been changing it up more often lately." Yukari played with the little braid just like she used to do with her long braid when they were younger. "But there was an idol on TV last week with the cutest hairstyle, and I had to try it out for myself!"
Yoko smiled, and they walked through the school together. "Asa said everybody else is waiting for us at the fountain. Do you want to stop there before class?"
"Only as long as we're not late!" Yukari gave a smile saying that, to be completely honest, she didn't care one bit if they were late to class.
I did end up telling my parents eventually. I knew they wouldn't take it well, and they didn't, but they've been getting better. At least I've stayed with Asa. Takashi and Mitsuishi-san have been on again and off again for the past three years and everybody is sick of it. I know it's probably not fair -- I mean, me and Asa aside, and Mia's parents aside too, not many people actually stay with a person they were with when they were in middle school. Everyone's different, after all. I moved in with Ami-sensei after I told my parents about myself, and I still live there when we all go back home. It's pretty different, but I got used to it. It's been better since the principal got his head on straight and gave her that promotion. It doesn't matter that she's not a guy, she still did more for Clair Academy than anyone. The town's starting to recognize that, too.
Yoko and Yukari walked out the side door of the school to the courtyard and looked up. Three girls waved at them from the fountain. Hoshi had cut her hair too, and the sun had lightened it a bit; it looked more boyish and a lot cleaner. Mia didn't wear a pink hair bow anymore, but she had dark blue heart barrettes on either side of her head. Asa and her tiny side ponytail were the same as always; she ran over to Yoko and hugged her, while the other three looked on, amused.
"A-Asa, we're in public--" Yoko turned red.
"It doesn't count as public if there's no one here." Asa let go anyway and pouted. Yoko laughed a little.
"Asa figured we should all meet up before class and talk about some stuff," Hoshi said. "The end of the year's coming up soon, and that means spring break. What did you guys want to do?"
"Well, it's a little late for the cultural festival at our old middle school, so we can't do that," Yukari said. "Yoko, didn't you say Ami-sensei had something planned?"
"Just that she's going to Gessou Village to check out the guest lodge and see if it's still good to take her students next year," Yoko said. "You can all come if you want. I know we got a little derailed when we went."
Hoshi eyed her suspiciously. "We don't have to babysit Allegro again, do we?"
"He's twelve now. He isn't that bad." Yoko paused. "Okay, so maybe he tried to go on another panty-thieving spree last summer break, but he stopped playing the organ at three in the morning."
The rest of the girls laughed, even Hoshi. Yoko smiled.
Honestly, I actually think she's fine with him, even if he gets on everybody's nerves. Binbeat didn't have anywhere else to go after the Etherium -- kind of like me. Ami-sensei took him in, too, and he calls himself Allegro now. It's been a little hard to get used to and there wasn't as much money as when I lived with my family, but that's all right. It seems like Ogata-san knows a lot about creating identities for people when they come in from other worlds. Besides, Mitsuishi-san and her whole group are happy to babysit. Even Omemi-san does on occasion!
Starry looked around and jumped out of the phone into Mia's arms. "We contacted the Garden of Days last night ~susu! The Elder said that she's sending Mama and Papa here in the spring, too ~susu!"
"Really?" Mia smiled down at him. "Did they restore the next world, then?"
Starry nodded. "Putting worlds back to normal is a lot of work ~susu... We should go help them out ~susu!"
Asa grinned. "Sounds like an adventure to me! Mekuramast might be happy to see us, too. At least it will be a change of pace, right? He's been working with the Elder for a while now to bring back everything the Etherium erased."
Yoko shook her head with a smile. "Did you just agree to two adventures at once?"
Asa crossed her arms. "Geez, Yoko, it's not like Gessou Village will take up the whole time."
"All right, all right." Yoko smiled.
"Stop flirting, you two." Hoshi rolled her eyes, but her face didn't look nearly as annoyed.
Asa had some good ideas when she told the Elder to listen to what she had to say back then. The way it used to be when Ogata-san and Ami-sensei got their powers wasn't really the best way to do things, even if it seemed like the easiest. This whole magical girl thing doesn't stop when you defeat the last enemy or when the world is saved. It's about protecting the world and caring about everyone. Like anyone else should, right?
Yukari looked up at the clock tower. "I think we should be getting to class now."
"Okay ~susu!" Starry climbed out of Mia's arms and went into Asa's phone. "I'll be quiet ~susu!"
"Let's get going," Hoshi said. "Before we get stuck with cleaning duty again."
The five girls walked away, laughing and talking, back into the school. Asa and Yoko looked at each other as they opened the doors.
-
Yoko: Welcome to the final...
Everyone: Asa and Yoko's Comment Corner! (All mascots add their respective sentence enders.)
Kirei: We're finally finished. It's nearly been four years, but we are.
Ami: If you're in the southern hemisphere, November 13th is a solar eclipse! The author chose this date for the release of the last episode, even though she lives in the northern hemisphere.
Starry: The final chapter was so long, LJ wouldn't let it be its own post ~susu...
Yukari: So the rest was put into the final bonus episode, right here!
Hoshi: The author originally planned for only the epilogue, with Yoko at school three years later, to be posted separately, but hey...
Mekuramast: Not all of us had happy endings, but we all need to keep going.
Mia: The author is really glad that you were able to read all of this, and that she was able to finish it.
Emiru: Kawada, the story is over, so this time you won't be able to say "see you all next time", will you?
Asa: Well, then I'll just say... "see you later"!
-
The End