"Jasper, Ruby, get up already!"

A very angry ball of blue dragon-shaped fluff kicked at his brothers again, but to no avail; they were out cold. He flapped his head-wings in irritation as he glared at the pair of green and red dragon puffs sleeping soundly below him in a haphazard bed made of colorful sheets balled up in the center of the floor. The room they were in seemed to be carved out of a giant crystal, sparkling gently in the soft light given out by the glowing rocks inserted in the ceiling. The beauty was contrasted by the mess on the ground: toys made of crystal, vague food crumbs, shed fur, crystal plates, and more were sprawled out in every direction, except a curious patch of cleanliness on the far left side of the room, only marred by a simple cushion and a stack of books.

"Seriously, only you two would rather sleep in than go see the Queen!"

Huffing, the blue dragon puff stared at the books by the cushion, and the triangle shaped aquamarine embedded in his forehead started to glow. A faint blue light appeared around the books, and with a small pop, they vanished, only to reappear floating a few inches above the sleeping dragon puffs. And then they dropped. Needless to say they woke up that time.

"Ugh…did someone punch me when I was asleep again?" The green one, Jasper, groggily complained, slowly rising up and shaking his sore head.

"I feel like I got hit by a buncha rocks," Ruby, the red one, said, rolling off of his back and onto his feet. He was smaller than the blue dragon puff, and much smaller than Jasper.

"Books, actually, and you better hope they didn't get dented hitting your thick skulls." His aquamarine glowed again as he teleported his books back into their neat pile in what can be safely assumed was his side of the room.

"Didn't Aqua use rocks that one time, though?" Jasper asked Ruby.

"Okay, one: we don't have time for this inane conversation you're trying to start, and two: I told you that was an accident a hundred times now," Aqua fumed, cheeks staining red in anger. Ruby giggled.

"ANYWAY, dear brothers, now that you two have finally decided to grace the waking world with your presence, may I remind you that we have an audience with Queen Dia today?"

That got their attention.

"What, what, what?! That was today?! Oh no, we're so late, are we gonna get exiled or something?!"

"Ugh, stupid Aqua! Why didn't you wake us up earlier?"

Aqua let out a long suffering sigh and rubbed his temples.

Hinata Tsuyoshi wondered what it was like being able to go to the bathroom anytime she wanted.

Hinata had a huge family: two parents plus four siblings plus two bathrooms equaled having to wait in a queue in front of the bathroom door. Finally, the door opened and her perfectly coifed older brother Yoshiyuki came out, with her older sister Asame loudly complaining about the amount of time he spends on his hair before rushing into the bathroom. Yoshiyuki just hummed absently while smoothing out his already wrinkle-free dress shirt. He passed by Hinata before starting like he just realized something, and turned around and gave her a quick good morning before walking back down the hallway.

Asame bust out of the bathroom with a much better attitude than before.

"Hinata-chan?" she called, looking around. Hinata was right next to her, sitting on the floor.

"Um…" Hinata said, reaching up to tug at Asame's skirt.

"Oh! There you are. Yeah, I was wondering if I could borrow those pink and beige shoes of yours? They go with this outfit I got the other day and I forgot to get shoes to go with it."

Hinata nodded. Asame said thanks and ruffled her black hair up and skipped back to their shared room. Finally, Hinata got to go brush her teeth and fix her hair into her signature twin pigtails, and listen to the chaos surrounding her. Her little brother Touma apparently spilled juice on her little sister Moka's uniform, and she was wailing about that. Yoshi couldn't find his camera and was for some reason accusing the dog of taking it. Asame jumped on the animal blame train and said that the cat ran off with her phone charger (which was probably true; Tama was a sucker for long dangly things.)

Her father already left for work, and her mother cooked breakfast with her mp3 player on full blast every morning, always.

To anyone else, this would have been a nightmare to deal with on a daily basis, but for Hinata, it was Zen. She always found a weird peace in having a bunch of commotion going on around her, as long as she wasn't directly involved. That was probably just because she was so used to it, but it made her mornings easily the least stressful of all the Tsuyoshi.

Hair and teeth brushed, Hinata put on her blue school uniform: a simple blue blazer with a blue gingham patterned skirt. Her red glasses and shoes contrasted with the blues of her uniforms. She grabbed her school bag and gave a weak goodbye to her family before leaving. She doubted anyone heard it but she said it every day anyway.

Hinata made her walk to Wataishi's train station. Its' only train station, actually-a little coastal town like Wataishi didn't need a million trains zipping in and out every day. Hinata's head was slightly bent down and staring at the sidewalk, absent-mindedly counting the cracks in the pavement. It was a dangerous way to walk, but she thought she mastered it by now. 'Thought' being the key word as she crashed spectacularly into a girl with a bike turning a corner.

"Ow ow ouch!" The other girl moaned. Her butt landed on her bike. Hinata paled. Oh, she did it now. Now she was going to have to apologize to this girl. Apologizing meant talking. To a stranger. Talking. Maybe she could run away? Did that count as a hit and run, or was that only with cars? Would the police come after her? Was she too young to go to jail? She needed to find out more about the Japanese judicial system-

"Hello? I said, are you okay?"

The other girl's voice brought Hinata out of her internal panicking, and she finally looked at her. She was a very tall girl, even bent down and peering at Hinata, she could tell. Her eyes were a bluish green, framed by her brown hair, part of which formed a big bow on the side of her head, tied with a green ribbon. She was wearing the same uniform Hinata was, except for a light pastel green sweater instead of the blazer, so she guessed this girl went to her school.

Hinata thought she was very pretty, but that just made it harder to apologize for running into her. However, through sheer force of will, she managed to mumble, "U-um…I'm, um…sorry…"

The girl dropped her worried look when Hinata finally spoke, and grinned brightly.

"Aw, no big deal! My butt is totally okay! Well, except for the crack."

Crack? Oh no, so she DID hurt this girl? Should she call an ambulance? Oh wait, she left her phone at home…

The girl looked amused at Hinata's panicked expression.

"It was a joke. I'm fine, really. Here." She held out her hand. Hinata stared at it for a moment before grabbing it, and she lifted her up.

"You go to Seiwa High, right? Better get going, you're gonna miss your train!" The girl gave Hinata another grin and a wave before picking her bike up and walking away. Hinata was just confused. Did that girl really bike all the way to Seiwa…?

However, she really had more important things to worry about, like running to her train before the doors closed.

Today's Episode: A resolute flame protects everyone! Cure Garnet is born!

"Aquaaaa, my feet hurt and I'm tired and hungry and this bag is heavy and I wanna go hoooooome…" Ruby whined, slumping along behind his older brothers. Jasper tuned him out a long time ago, but Aqua's motherly nature prevented him from such blessings.

"Ruby, please, I'm sure we'll find the Pretty Cure soon."

Jasper stared. "The Pretty-wha?"

"…Weren't you listening to Queen Dia at all?"

"…Define 'all'."

Aqua bonked him on the nose.

"Jasper Gemmi, Aqua Gemmi, Ruby Gemmi, her Majesty requested your presence half an hour ago." The castle guard was not very happy.

"Er, well, you see, my brothers were, um….very tired and-"

The guard held up a paw. He was not the type of guard to want to hear excuses. The weekend guard was much more relaxed about these kinds of things. He did not like the weekend guard.

With a thump of his spear the ornate crystal gates to Treasure Castle opened, and the three brothers walked carefully inside, to the Queen's chambers.

They entered a room filled with color and light, with a throne made of diamond in the center. There sat the ruler of the Treasure Kingdom, Queen Dia, the largest and fluffiest dragon fluff of all the fairies of Treasure Kingdom.

The brothers bowed immediately, but Queen Dia softly said, "There is no need for that. Jasper. Aqua. Ruby. I called you here seeking your aid."

Ruby looked confused. "Don't you have like a whole army? What are we s'pposed to do? Uh, your majesty?"

Queen Dia smiled. "You three are the best teleporters in the kingdom. Especially you, Ruby." She gave a pointed look at the tiny dragon.

Ruby quickly looked away. Aqua looked like he just remembered something extremely unpleasant.

"You three have the power to traverse the stars themselves, and that is what I need for this mission. I need you three to find the Pretty Cure, on Earth."

"What are the Pretty Cure, your Majesty?" Aqua asked.

"They are legendary warriors, said to be able to defeat any evil that rises up. I fear that we may need that power very soon." Queen Dia looked to each of the brothers.

"Will you accept this task?"

"Oh yeah, that did happen, huh," Jasper said, disinterested.

Aqua sighed. "I wish you would act like the older brother sometimes."

"Wha-hey, I so do act like-WHAT IS THAT."

Aqua and Ruby crashed into Jasper, who suddenly stopped. They were walking in a neighborhood, and came to a halt near a gated house. On the other side of the gate a big (to them) dog was staring at them. When they stopped, it started to growl.

"That doesn't sound even remotely friendly. We should go." Aqua said, terror making his voice tremble. The dog barked, and the three of them jumped and ran away like frightened cats.

"Alright everyone, take out your textbooks and turn to page 45…"

Hinata's history teacher had kind of a droning voice, but that made it really soothing to listen to. She's been known to fall asleep once or ten times during her lecture, but as long as she kept getting top scores, it didn't seem that important. Today though, she didn't feel much like sleeping, or paying attention either. She was still pretty mortified at today's little incident (even more so when she finally got that girl's joke, hours later). She sighed softly and gazed out the window, trying to forget about it. Her thoughts turned to other things, like wondering if she'd finally drop off her application for the Shogi Club, or if she should go to the bookstore to see if they have that new manga, or staring at little multicolored rabbits with wings and bags running around outside- Wait a minute.

She sat up straight and adjusted her glasses as she peered out the glass. There seemed to be three rabbits, one green, one blue, one red, running across the field outside of the school. Two of them were wearing bags. They had wings and horns between them. The bag the little red one was holding looked like it was glowing, and suddenly all three of them turned and looked like they were staring right at her. Hinata fell out of her seat with a sharp gasp, and every pair of eyes in that room was on her in an instant. Her cheeks quickly turned the same color as her glasses.

"Are you alright, Tsuyoshi-san?" the teacher asked.

Hinata thought it would be a really good day for the ground to open up and make her fall to the center of the earth. But of course, that didn't happen, so Hinata just gathered her things and said that she "reallyreallyreallyneededtogotothenurse" and booked it out of there. After she regained some of her composure, she walked towards the nurse's office.

'Those were just ordinary rabbits and I've just been reading too many of Nee-chan's fantasy novels and that's why I imagined dragon rabbit…things,' Hinata thought, nodding once to herself. 'I'll just go take a nap and this day will be better when I wake up.'

"You're sure it was that girl with the glasses?" Aqua asked Ruby as he and Jasper helped him up into the opened window of the school.

"Yeah! It was kinda pointing at her through the bag, like it was trying to come out," Ruby answered, shrugging off his brown sack and taking out what looked like a charm bracelet. There was only one charm on it, a small, sparkling garnet. After a moment it livened up again like before, glowing and tugging against Ruby's paw, trying to escape.

"See! It can lead us to that girl!" Ruby said excitedly. And he accidently let it go and it started to float away.

"Oh no, get it!" Aqua cried, running after it with his brothers quickly following behind.

"Alright dear, I need to step out for a moment. Feel free to rest all you like."

Hinata nodded at the nurse as she left the office, closing the door behind her. She listened to her heels clacking away and closed her eyes. She was almost on the edge of sleep when she heard a thump on the door. Thinking it was someone trying to get in -maybe the nurse locked the door or something?- she got up and opened the door, and got smacked in the face with a bracelet.

"Ow…What…?" She said, gingerly peeling the bracelet off of her face. The bracelet stopped glowing once she had it in her hand.

"It went that way-Oh! I found her!"

Hinata stared in horror as those dragon rabbit things from earlier came running into the nurse's office. She ran back to the bed. Jasper followed.

"Hey, you must be one of the Pretty Cure! That was easier than-OOPH."

Hinata smacked him with her pillow.

"Hey, what the heck! I get hit enough by Aqua!" Jasper complained.

Aqua rolled his eyes and flew onto the bed.

"You don't have to be scared. We came to find you because-"

"You're a legendary warrior! How cool is that?" Ruby said with glee as he leaped onto the bed.

Hinata thought she must be going into shock, or having one of those weird dreams where you think you're awake but you're really sleeping.

"Are…you dreams?" She finally said, after an uncomfortable silence.

Jasper looked oddly at her. "No, we're fairies. From the Treasure Kingdom. I'm Jasper, and these are my little brothers, Aqua, and Ruby." He pointed to each of them.

"Pleasure to meet you." Aqua did a little bow.

"Do you have magic powers? Can you make somebody's head blow up with your MIND?!" Ruby jumped up and down excitedly.

"I'm…not dreaming?" Hinata tilted her head as she thought. A dream or not a dream… If she ignored how freaky this all was, she guessed…it was kind of cool. These fairies were cute, and the red one said she was a "legendary warrior". Yeah, right, her? It was an interesting delusion, if anything else.

"Heck no! If you're dreaming then I'm dreaming and I know I'm not dreaming because this dream is way too cool for the kinda dumb dreams I have!" Ruby said.

"…Ok then. I'm willing to listen." Somehow, it was much easier to talk to these little furballs than to people. "Sorry, I didn't introduce myself…I'm Tsuyoshi Hinata."

Ruby fluffed himself up and said, "Nice to meet you, Hinata! We'll tell you everything ya need to know!...Aqua, tell her everything she needs to know."

"Gladly." Aqua cleared his throat. "Our majesty of the Treasure Kingdom, Queen Dia, tasked us three to find you, and five other girls on this planet who are the Pretty Cure. Pretty Cure are warriors of legend who fight evil. You are one of them, apparently. And that-" he pointed to the charm bracelet still in Hinata's hand. "Is a Kira Kira Charmy. It allows you to transform into your Cure alter ego to fight."

"…You mean that charm bracelet?"

"What's a 'charm bracelet'? That's definitely a Kira Kira Charmy."

Aqua and Hinata both looked completely lost. Before she could ask any more questions, the sound of the nurse's high heels came closer and closer the door.

"Quick, hide!" Aqua said to his brothers, and they scurried away somewhere. Hinata shoved the Kira Kira Charmy into her blazer pocket.

"Feeling better?" The nurse asked.

"U-um, yes, I'll go back to, um, class now, thank you," Hinata said, gathering up her bag.

She thought she heard an 'oomph' sound when she picked it up, but ignored it.

"Aw, Neon, are you sure you want to go first?" Krylie asked with a pout, her two round pigtails bobbing along with every movement of her head.

"I still think it would be best to send out the strongest of us first," her twin, Florine, added, her one ponytail staying primly in place.

The young man they were talking to, Neon, just shook his head once. His thin form drowned in the huge grey and blue cloak he wore, covering him almost completely, his large blue boots covering what was left. A long, long blue scarf around his neck hung down to his stomach, with four closed eyes on the end, and four oval shapes dangling from the tip.

"I'm sure I will be fine. Please don't worry yourselves over it," he said in his soft, soothing voice. The three were sitting at a wooden table, in a plain, unfurnished house that was long abandoned, but very clean. Neon saw to that as soon as they all moved in. It was nestled in an abandoned lot surrounded by a sea of similar old houses and trees and weeds and trash.

Neon stood up from his chair, bid the two girls goodbye, and left the house.

He didn't bother changing into his civilian form, there weren't any people around and he didn't think this would last long enough to bother anyway. He kept walking through the lot until something caught his eye: an abandoned toy train lying in one of the many piles of garbage. Neon walked over and picked it up, and his scarf's eyes opened up one by one. The eyes were an angry red, and the oval's morphed into sharp teeth-like points. The scarf moved of its own accord and sank its fangs into the train, and Neon stepped back as it started thrashing around wildly, growing larger and larger in size. A dark face with blue eyes and spiked mouth formed at the front of the train, and tree trunk sized limbs burst out of its underside. Rearing up on its hind legs, it bellowed in a baritone, "MOGU MOGUNNAAAA" , and started its stomping steps out of the lot and towards the city, Neon following behind with a carefully blank face.

The teacher announced that classes were over for today, and Hinata was so, so happy. She just wanted to go home and sleep for a thousand years. She took one step outside the school and Ruby poked his head out of her bag.

"Finally! I've been waiting FOR EVER. Whatcha got to eat?"

Hinata just stared. "You…you were in my bag this whole time?"

Aqua and Jasper popped up too.

"Ruby, manners."

"Ugh, fine. Whatcha got to eat, please."

Hinata just sighed and continued to walk; thanking her ability to blend into crowds effortlessly so no one noticed the rabbit-things sticking out of her bag.

As she got closer to the train station, she noticed there was a mass of people off in the distance looking really freaked out and running away from something.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Jasper asked, a little worried. He got his question answered when a demonic-looking train monster came into view. It opened its huge mouth and seemed to be absorbing tiny white lights from the bodies of the people who were crying or yelling in terror. When the light left them, they just slumped over, as if asleep.

The brothers jumped up and out of Hinata's bag at the scene, all looking very tense.

"That monster took their Crystal Hearts!" Aqua cried in shock.

"Then…is that the evil Queen Dia was talkin' about? The Helminth?" Ruby asked with a shaking voice.

"What are you guys talking about?!" Hinata cried, quite sure this was the loudest she ever spoke in her life. "What's going on? What is that thing? What did it do to those people?"

"It's evil! It's the evil monster the Pretty Cure has to beat up!"

Hinata stared at Ruby, and shook her head.

"You guys…expect me to fight that? I can't! It's huge!" She started to tear up. All she wanted to do was go home and sleep.

The monster absorbed another batch of Crystal Hearts, and more and more people fell.

That just made Hinata cry more. Jasper looked up at her.

"You know what those lights are? They're Crystal Hearts. I don't know all the details, but I know everyone has them and if they get taken away, something really bad happens to you.

"Something…bad?" Her mind ran at a million miles a minute trying to figure out what that 'something bad' was. She clenched her hands together as she watched the terrified people run away, the people that had their Crystal Hearts stolen laying all over the ground, the chaos the monster was leaving in its wake. She hated this. She wanted to make things better. She wanted to defeat the monster and save everyone, even if she was just a weak little kid.

The Kira Kira Charmy in her pocket started glowing.

"Hinata! Hinata, get the Kira Kira Charmy so you can transform!" Ruby urged.

She just accepted it; there wasn't time anymore to question all this weirdness going on today. She took out the bracelet as she was told and, as if moving on instinct, slipped it on her wrist and shouted, "Pretty Cure, Shining Heart!"

That's when the weirdness level for today reached its peak. Gone was the city around her, replaced with a red void filled with sparkles. The Kira Kira Charmy enveloped her in a red diamond shaped flame, and she closed her eyes, her mouth slightly opened, a peaceful expression on her face. An orange-red knee length dress with a wide-brimmed bottom appeared with a flash on her body, trimmed with pale yellow ruffles and ribbons set with garnets around the waist and chest, a red undershirt with short, pointed sleeves resembling wings. Red gloves with a pale yellow ribbon on the right appeared on her hands, and with another flash knee-length boots formed, matching the color scheme of her dress. Her glasses transformed into red goggles, and her hair turned red-violet, the longer bangs on either side of her face turning into long thin spirals, her pigtails lengthening down to her knees and split into three diamond shaped sections, each held with a pale yellow ribbon. Garnet earrings flashed onto her ears, and to complete it, a simple red-orange choker formed on her neck.

She sank into a fetal position as the fire around her solidified into a real garnet. When it closed her in completely, her eyes shot open and she sprang up, fists breaking through the gemstone, causing it to explode into a thousand glittering pieces. Apparently, it was holding her up, as she started to fall to the ground. She stumbled lightly when she reached the bottom, but quickly righted herself. She reached towards the sky with both hands, Kira Kira Charmy on her wrist glinting, and made fists, bringing them both down in a determined pose.

"A resolute flame will protect everyone! The red crystal, Cure Garnet!"

Her transformation complete, Cure Garnet was back in the real world.

"What, what, what?! When did you change your clothes? How did you do that in two seconds?!" Jasper gaped at Garnet.

Ruby hopped on Jasper head and said, "Who cares about all that boring stuff! All that matters is that she's Garnet now and she can kick that monster's butt!"

Garnet nodded.

"I won't…I won't let that thing hurt these people!" she said determinedly before she leapt into action. And promptly freaked out.

"HOW DID I JUMP SO HIGH GET ME DOWN!"

Both Neon and the Mogunna turned to look at the source of the screaming. Neon grimaced when he saw her.

"I didn't know we would be fighting children," he said under his breath. He gave a soft sigh, and steeled himself.

"Mogunna, get her!"

"MOGUNNNNAAA!"

The Mogunna aimed for Garnet with a massive arm, and gave her a punch that set her flying into a train below, leaving a huge dent in it. The brothers ran over to her immediately.

"Garnet, are you alright?" Aqua asked worriedly.

"Well, I'm not dead, so I'm pretty good." Garnet got up and shook herself off. The pain at least reinforced in her mind that this definitely wasn't a dream. The Mogunna was on her on an instant, launching a flurry of punches that Garnet just managed to dodge.

"Ya gotta attack too, Garnet!" Ruby called.

'Attack, attack…like a punch?'

When Garnet evaded another punch, instead of moving away again she launched herself at the Mogunna's chest, punching it right in the center. The force caused it to fall on its back, crushing a train in the impact.

"W-wow…When did I get buff?" Garnet mumbled, inspecting her arm.

"Hurry and finish it off!" Jasper, Aqua, and Ruby all yelled in unison.

"Ah, r-right!" Garnet's Kira Kira Charmy glowed and enveloped her hands in a red light. She threw her hands forward, palms up, and cried,

"Pretty Cure, Fiery Valor!"

Fiery diamond shaped light flew out of her hands, surrounding the fallen Mogunna, until it was completely enveloped in it.

"Mogu….Mogunna…" it cried weakly, before exploding in a flash white light, and disappearing. A child's toy train lay in its wake. The Crystal Hearts it absorbed floated out of it, back into the still bodies of their owners. One by one they stirred awake, looking around in confusion.

Neon glanced at the train, then to the girl who beat it, who was currently staring at her hands at shock. This wasn't right. Why were they fighting children? He shook his head. No. Children or not, no one could get in their way. He snuck away into the shadows, the confusion of the scene distracting anyone from noticing him.

"Garnet! YOU WERE SO COOL!" Ruby yelled, jumping into Garnet's lap.

"You were really amazing," Aqua agreed, smiling up at her.

The people around them started to smile and cheer, happy that the monster was defeated. A strange glittering powder wafted from their chests, from their hearts, into the air. Seeing this, Aqua nudged Jasper.

"Get out the Glitter Jar, please."

"The what-oh yeah, that stupid heavy thing," Jasper nodded and shrugged off the bag he had on his back. He pulled out a small white ceramic jar, plain except for the golden diamond shapes inset along the sides and one big on at the tip that served as the handle. When he popped the top open, the powder started filing inside of the jar.

"So, I'm sure you're wondering what this is, and-" Aqua started, turning to Garnet. She already transformed back into Hinata, and was sprawled on the ground, deep asleep and snoring away.

"Wha-hey, you can't fall asleep here! Hinata? Hinata!"

Next time on Crystal Hearts Pretty Cure!

Hinata: Being a super hero is exhausting…

Jasper: Come on, you're going to have to fight way more than that, you can't get tired already!

Hinata: Th-there's going to be even more?!

Aqua: Don't worry, Hinata, we'll find your teammates soon so you don't have to worry about falling asleep in the middle of the street anymore!

Ruby: Do you always drool when you're sleepin'?

Hinata:…I can never go outside again.

Hinata: Next time on Crystal Hearts Pretty Cure: "A Kind Breeze Makes Everyone Smile! Cure Peridot is Born!"