Chapter Text
As poisoned tea's effects were passing away, Makopi and Rikka awakened and found themselves in a stone cold jail cell. Their hands and legs were trapped by wooden stocks and pillows. Even though they were still in pretty cure costumes, those restraints were too powerful that even their super strength was not enough to break them. They tried to break free each other but failed.
'Makopi-chan, what are we gonna do now?' Rikka asked.
'Don't you worry Rikka-chan, my love' Makopi tried to emotionally help her girlfriend, but she too was out of options.
Suddenly, the jail cell's door opens unexpectedly. Two blonde girls in red and black entered, they were none other than Mana and Regina.
'CURE HEART!' Makopi called the traitor out, threateningly. 'LET US GO FREE! OR ELSE, in the name of Princess, I WILL KILL YOU!'
'I'm Cure Heart no longer, don't you remember?' Mana said in a mocking manner, 'Now you can call me Cure Heartless!'
'Cure Heartless, huh? A fitting name for someone so heartless!' Rikka said disparagingly, and then stared into her old master's face with icy cold eyes. If stares could kill, it would kill Mana right there.
'You can call me Cure Joker' Regina said.
'Ah, Rikka-chan, my little songbird, that girl brainwashed you against me, didn't she? Don't you worry, as soon as my package arrives, I will make you mine again. Wait and see, wait and see……
'NEVER' Rikka said adamantly, 'Cure Ace will save us!'
'She'll never find you till it's too late! Soon my package from Mermaid Kingdom will arrive, and then I'll fix you for good!' with that they left the building. Rikka was crying, because she knew what Mana was talking about.
'Mermaid Kingdom? What is she planning to do?'
'I've read about it in a book' Rikka's face was white as snow, her eyes were dead and lacking the usual sparkles. 'In a kingdom undersea inhabited by mermaids and water fairies, there is a machine that is said to remove humans' memories. Mana is planning to use it on me, to make me forget my love for you!' Rikka was crying now. It was bad enough to return to being Mana's servant, but forgetting Makopi, her one and true love? It was more than she could bear!
Makopi wiped out Rikka's tears with her hand. 'Don't worry Rikka-chan, Ace will surely find us, we must put our belief in her! And if she can't come soon enough...then I'll protect you! I will protect you and your memories, precious proofs of our love! Even if it means my death, I will stand right beside you.' With that, they kissed. They kissed as if the rest of the world was nothing to them anymore.
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Clara was drinking her tea in front of her mansion's flower garden. Ever since her father's mysterious death, her family lost much of their wealth to other wealthy families like Kaidos, Tategamis and Aisakis. Only thing left to her was this old mansion. Even her servant Sebastian left her when she no longer had any money to pay him. Now her only source of entertainment was her tea collection and her award winning garden of yellow roses. Suddenly a wall of fire appeared right before her, burning her garden and ruining her tea collection. Amongst the flames appeared a woman in her 30s, hair red as fire, coat white as snow, dress scarlet as blood: It was none other than Cure Ace, Princess Ange's resurrection.
'CURE ACE!' Clara yelled, 'How dare you enter my property without my permission. Not to mention you just ruined my garden!'
'Gardens can wait, flowers will grow again, bigger, healthier, but human life is a precious thing, if we don't protect it, we would lose it, forever. There are lives at stake here, crying over flowers is not the Pretty Cure way, please understand.'
Clara knows that Ace is right, but her pride as a rich girl wouldn't allow her to be advised by someone below her social status.
'Why are you here, Ace? I deserve some explanation, at least, right?'
'Makopi and Rikka are missing. According to camera records, the last thing they were doing was drinking a special kind of tea sent by you. I suspect you're somehow connected to this event.'
Clara's face stiffens suddenly. She wasn't expecting Ace to link her to Mana's plan that easily. She must act cool and not let Ace to suspect her, or else everything would fail.
'It's true that I sent them some of my tea, but why does it imply that I'm responsible for what happened to them.' Clara tells.
'Clara, no, Cure Rosetta, as a member of Doki Doki Pretty Cure you should care and worry about your comrades' well-being, yet here you are, I just said that two of them were missing, and the only thing you did was trying to save your own skin! You weren't even shocked or surprised that they were missing, proving that you already know that they were kidnapped by Mana Aida, and you helped her by poisoning their tea!' Ace was now pointing her finger right into Clara's face. Clara was sweating heavily, trying to think of some excuse.
'So what?' Clara flat out said so, 'those are still just your suspicions. No one would believe that someone like me, a heiress of an old aristocratic family, would help to kidnap two of her old friends.' On Clara's face was a defiant expression. 'Go on and say to the police, no one will believe you, and since I'm no longer Cure Rosettta, you have no power over me anymore to make me tell you.' Clara now has an impious smile on her face, making fun of Cure Ace.
Cure Ace was silent now. If they were in Card Kingdom, her domain, it would be an easy job to arrest and interrogate her till she talks, but here she was out of her jurisdiction. She might use brute force to make her talk, but according to the sacred rules of Pretty Cure she was not allowed to use violence or torture. As Ace was thinking what to do, her eyes lowered below the table. Suddenly her eyes noticed something shiny. It was Clara's flat lady shoes adoring her small feet, still clad in yellow silk stockings. It was a risky move, but still worth the risk. Suddenly Ace attacked Clara's legs and caught her from her left ankle. Clara tried to free her leg from Ace's grip, but she was too strong for her, and there was no one to help her.
'W-what are you doing! Unhand me immediately!' Clara demanded.
'Silk stockings are fashionable to wear, but the bad thing about them is...' she removed Clara's flat shoe, 'they make your feet very, very ticklish. Tell me, Clara-chan: are your feet ticklish?'
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'Manaaa!' Regina was flying over Cure Heartless' head, trying to get her attention. 'Do we really need to remove Rikka's memories? I thought we were planning to get revenge on them, not make her one of your friends again! Aren't I enough?' She was making a sad face.
'It's not about making Rikka one of my friends. Don't you see, it's the perfect revenge. They won't remember each other, but a very small part of their soul will still feel that something is missing. Something they can't remember but still miss. Just like what my dog did.'
'Marshmallow, right? You told me about him before.'
'Yes. He was the only person that was loyal to me till the very end.'
'Hey! I'm loyal too!' Regina puffed her cheeks.
'Loyal to me, yes, but you're also loyal to your dad. An ideal servant should serve only one master. That's grandma's teaching to me.'
Suddenly, the whole building shakes as if there is an earthquake. Iron doors crash down with flames hot as sun. From the fiery carnage appeared a line figure, Cure Ace, and her eyes were full with fiery anger. She pointed her finger accusingly:
'MANA AIDA! You're under arrest for kidnapping, lese majeste, crimes against Card Kingdom and even humanity!'
'Damn it!' Mana cursed, 'how did you find this place?'
'Let's just say that a ticklish little bird told me.'
'God, I hate birds!' Regina muttered, too stupid to understand irony.
'She's talking about Clara, Regina, not actual birds...'
'Oh…Well then. BYE!' With a slicing movement of her scythe, she magically teleported away, disappearing without trace.
'Well, too much for loyalty!' Mana commented sarcastically.
'It is the end, Mana Aida, no, so called Cure Heartless! Makopi and Rikka, where are they? Let them go free, or face the consequences!'
'Sadly you're too late, my sweet Aguri-chan. Girls! Come here!'
Door in the back opened and two female figures came out of it. They were none other than Makopi and Rikka herself!
'M-mana-chan, what is going on? Who's this person?' She was looking to Cure Ace, her leader, with scared eyes.
'Where am I? What is this place? Where is the Princess?' Makopi desperately asked, unaware that her princess was already dead.
'No, what have you done to them!' Ace asked, desperately.
'A little gift from the mermaid kingdom, thanks to my old friend Clara's money. Let's just say that I removed their memories, memories of everything that happened before their becoming Pretty Cures!'
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