Chapter 342

Seventy-Third Chapter – Men Fight

“Doctor Shabak ordered me to follow the new spirits and find and destroy the Heart Tree, which is connected to the human heart. Based on this reasoning.”

“So you targeted the Pretty Cure based on their traces? Yes, today is the successful moment for Wuki, probably when she first transformed, causing the fluctuation that led you to the location of the Heart Tree. That’s smart!”

Ash nodded, couldn’t help but praise her, after all, Small Dark seemed to be uninterested in anything (dazed), but when she really focused on a task, there was no arguing.

But if that’s the case, wasn’t she watching all along? Hiss—hopefully, she didn’t see my embarrassing moments, I do need some face… probably.

Noticing Ash’s facial expression changing under his mask, unaware of it himself, Small Dark suddenly sneered at the man beside her.

“This is the person you chose? Timons, your judgement isn’t great.”

“Don’t say that, her performance has been good!”

At least one’s own chosen character deserves defense, so Ash naturally stood up for Wuki.

“Is that so? Then can I defeat her instead?”

“Yes~yes~ then I’ll cheer you on,” Ash understood that competitive spirit is normal. It seems not just men but women want to fight against strong enemies in battles too.

However, by coincidence, the voices of the two fell directly into the ears of Wuki, who was chasing them from behind, with her hearing greatly enhanced after the transformation.

“Are you okay, Wuki? Your breathing just got really fast.”

“Oh, I’m fine, Popuri. I feel great right now.”

Taking a deep breath, Wuki was struggling to maintain her sunny smile.

Though she had trained martial arts since childhood and disguised herself as a man, she had also gotten used to interacting like a boy with girls, prompting many senior and junior female classmates to confess to her.

But how to say it, despite all of this, Mingtangyuan Wuki remains a pure female, and I have no desire to become a man.

Looking up at the black and red shadows overhead, energy surged through her body and into her cape, increasing her speed another level.

As a woman, she felt underestimated!

Furthermore, with CureSunshine looking like this, I have confidence that my charm won’t fall short of anyone!

“Wuki—wait, you’re flying too fast!”

In response to her companion’s calls from behind, Wuki increased her speed, chasing the two already on the floating island in the clouds before her.

“To the highest layer of the world—oh, it’s another cloud-floating island, reminding me of the Flare Beasts’ floating islands!” Stepping onto the soft grass and looking at the giant tree standing tall behind the protective shield, Ash couldn’t help but sigh.

But a floating island is a sky turtle, and who knows how many Flare Beasts live above. Back then, when I snuck up alone, I almost got eaten by a large lion, ha ha.

“Cough, cough, a hero doesn’t brag about past bravery.” A couple of coughs later, Ash removed his helmet, feeling rather laid-back as he addressed the “Heart Tree” standing before him.

“Domo, nice to meet you, Kamen Rider Timmons.”

“Now we have to cut you down like Gallus did before, hmm. Although we aren’t exactly angry at this tree, please forgive me.”

“Rattle rattles.” To Ash’s surprise, as he spoke, the branches of the Heart Tree moved without wind, and buds on the branches started to emit dazzling light.

Eyes widened, Ash absorbed the light emanating from the Heart Tree and froze momentarily, unable to hear any other sounds.

“Timons?”

What’s happening? This tree seems to be communicating with me?

“Timons!”

And…even though I said I would cut it down, and I’m in a body imbued with the echo of darkness, why don’t you resist?

His eyes widened, he found it hard to believe that a tree might be friendly towards him.

[Ash, the world shows its kindness to you…]

Such a rare situation made the system appear involuntarily, but Ash, now distracted by the tree, couldn’t see the system’s subtitles anymore.

“Grooooaaan…”

A black light bullet grazed Timmons, striking the protective shield around the Heart Tree with a deafening sound, only pulling Ash back to reality when the shockwave reached his mind.

“What happened, Timmons?!”

“No, nothing, I just zoned out for a bit…cough, cough.”

To cover up his embarrassment of being enchanted by a tree, he casually coughed twice. Meanwhile, the Pretty Cure girls chasing behind joined him on the island.

“The here…” Looking at the magical floating island above and the giant tree glowing brightly, Wuki widened her eyes.

She recalled seeing this tree in her dreams, when Moonlight Angel was defeated by the Dark Pretty Cure…

“Wow, flying high like this!”

“Mwhaaah! Finally!”

Not everyone was as excited as Erika or as calm as Wuki; Lei, very afraid of heights, kept her eyes closed the entire time. During flight, she trembled from the wind howling in her ears, and Cifrey had to fly while acting as her cloak until they landed.

“Wuki, for a Pretty Cure to be afraid of heights…”

“But fear is a fear…”

Even after becoming a Pretty Cure, Lei is still the flower lover she always was.

Lei, like Erika, was experiencing her first real-life encounter with the Heart Tree, the source of Pretty Cure power, and the collective human heart. Lei was especially fond, watching the flower buds on the tree, remembering how much she loved flowers.

After all, she was seeing branches full of differently colored flowers for the first time. Oh no, almost forgot the enemy is here!

“What do you plan to do to the Heart Tree?!”

“It’s none of your business what we want to do?” Replacing her helmet, Timmons and the Dark Pretty Cure acted like longtime villainous partners. “Clear off if you don’t want trouble.”

There was no need for a response. The three girls naturally stood opposite the two, declaring their combo names simultaneously.

“HeartCatch Pretty Cure!”

The advantage lies with us in this three-on-two battle!

While Erika thought this, a dark figure collided with a golden silhouette among the cries of her companions.

“CureSunshine!”

“You—”

Feet instantly sinking into the soft earth, the force threw Wuki forward, digging two long grooves on the island with her heels, extending further with forceful pushes from her opponent!

Fingers interlocked tightly, their faces gradually approaching, but this wasn’t a joyous embrace between maidens. Their faces reflected sheer combat intent!

“Snapped-snapped-snapped…”

Uninterrupted cracks from the pressure between fingers accompanied by pain, Wuki fought back with every bit of strength.

“CureSunshine, I will utterly defeat you in front of him, proving that he’s just playing games with you.”

“Is that so? Sorry, I’m not used to letting people down!”

Their gazes clashed fiercely, nearly igniting sparks. Wuki shouted loudly, swiveled around using her waist, powered the kick with all her might and threw the Dark Pretty Cure off with a technique from the Mingtangyuan style.

“Next, it’s not just for the Heart Tree!”

After spinning midair and landing on one foot, she slid backward a dozen meters upon impact, the high heels dragging across the ground. The Dark Pretty Cure looked up, completing the sentence.

“There’s also personal scores to settle.”

The confrontation between golden sunlight and black shadow—will the sun burn away the darkness or will the twilight engulf the sunset?