"You'll never understand, all the things that have happened to me, and all the things I've done... they hurt me!"

The last thing Suzuko said to Sora and Emiri repeated in her mind. They could never truly understand after all. After running for several minutes, Suzuko saw that neither of them were behind her and she stopped to breathe. It was getting dark out again, and Suzuko had nowhere to go. She saw a small playground nearby and decided to check it out.

To her relief, there was a tunnel that Suzuko could sleep in for the night. It wasn't the most comfortable but it was manageable. At least it was better than sleeping on the bare ground. She had done enough of that as a child. Suzuko laid down, struggling to settle down. As she tried to fall asleep, a forgotten memory started to come back to her.

~⚡️⚡️⚡️~

"Onee-chan! Help!"

A little girl and little boy were off exploring in a little park where they ran into a grown man who was a bit overdressed for walking around in a park. He took interest in the children and used his powers to trap them both in electricity, shocking them so he could take them to his world and train them to become powerful fighters for Pollution.

Another girl appeared, she was much older than the other two children but the look of her face could only be described in pure terror. These kids were her siblings, and they were being taken away right in front of her.

"SUZUKO! SHO! STOP IT! GIVE THEM BACK!" The girl's eyes filled with tears as the man walked up to her with a creepy smile on his face. He kneeled to the ground so he was at eye level with the girl.

"Oh, are they your brother and sister? That's too bad... but maybe I'll come back for you. You're next, little girl."

Suzuko and Sho continued screaming for help but to no success. The man grabbed them both, and left without a single trace. The girl stood there, completely numb. She dropped to her knees and began to scream and cry, wondering where her siblings went.

~⚡️⚡️⚡️~

Suzuko woke up with a gasp. She sat up, trying her best to catch her breath. That final scream echoed in the back of her mind. That memory meant something... she and her brother, Sho were kidnapped. That other girl had to be her sister. One that wasn't taken away, one who was spared from the horrible fate she and her brother faced.

"I was kidnapped... that's how I ended up in Pollution... there had to be other kids too. I remember there being a lot of children when I began my training... by the time I was older, most of those children were gone. Do I tell Sora and Emiri about this? I don't know if they'll understand..." Suzuko remained up for the rest of the night, trying to piece together her forgotten memories and contemplate if she should reveal what happened to her to her friends.

~⚡️⚡️⚡️~

"Where could she have gone? Suzuko! Where are you?!" Sora and Emiri were calling her name throughout Shizen Town, searching for their friend. The entire morning had gone unsuccessfully so far. All Sora knew was that Suzuko ran off after she asked her about her childhood. Feeling exhausted, Sora collapsed on a bench and sighed.

"Why can't we find her? She couldn't have gone that far!"

"I don't know Sora... but I'm really worried about her." Emiri responded, feeling just as worn out as Sora. While the two took a break, Skyla saw someone walking who caught her attention.

"I found her ~Sky!" Skyla pointed over to the playground, where Suzuko was now sitting alone on a swing.

"Suzuko!! Thank you Skyla!" Sora got up and ran over to Suzuko with Emiri trailing behind. "We were so worried about you? Are you okay?"

"Sora... Emiri... Skyla. How'd you find me?" Suzuko was clearly exhausted, she had bags under her eyes making it clear she didn't sleep very well the night before.

"Skyla saw you walking around here! We've been looking for you all morning. We wanted to talk to you." Emiri explained.

Suzuko's eyes slightly lit up when she remembered what Emiri wanted to talk about.

"Oh... that's right. You wanted to talk yesterday and I ran off. I'm sorry..." she looked away from Emiri and Sora.

"No, it's okay! I know that it might be hard for you to talk about. You look tired, did you sleep okay?" Sora asked, staring directly at Suzuko. Something about Sora's bright green eyes starting into her soul made Suzuko feel like she had no choice but to tell her the truth. It was hard to say no to someone like Sora.

"No, I didn't sleep well. I remembered something. And it's important. It has to do with my family, or at least I think it does."

Emiri's expression became surprised by Suzuko's response. "Well, tell us everything you remember, as long as you're comfortable sharing it."

Suzuko got up off the swing and walked back to the normal path. The other two followed her, a bit confused but willing to follow her anyway. Suzuko stopped in an area that was empty and had no other people nearby.

"Sorry, I just wanted this to be private. This is personal stuff. I think I trust you guys enough to tell you what happened to me growing up." A slight breeze filled the air, blowing Suzuko's hair into her face. Sora noticed that Suzuko's bangs covered her face again. That always happened when there was wind or when she was in some kind of distress. Sora recalled the moment where she had briefly paralyzed Naru during their fight and how unraveled her hair was when she was fighting the pain. It was just like back then.

"No, it's okay. I understand." Sora said. She, Emiri and Skyla stood around Suzuko, waiting for her to explain what happened.

"When I was four, me and my brother were kidnapped by someone who worked for Pollution. He, along with several other people kidnapped a lot of young children around the country. They kidnapped children so they could train to become the next generation of Pollution soldiers. But... a lot of these kids couldn't handle the conditions... many of them died. And others were barely able to survive. I was lucky enough to survive, but... to those who did survive, they were probably better off dead."

Sora and Emiri looked horrified by what they were hearing. Kids were being taken away only to die?! How was someone so capable of doing that?

"That's awful... Why would anyone do that to innocent children?! That's unforgivable!" Sora shouted angrily.

"I think I remember hearing about that. My mom wouldn't let me go outside alone for a few weeks when it happened." Emiri explained.

"Yeah, me too. Suzuko, what did you mean by those who survived might be better off dead?" Sora asked.

This time, Suzuko hesitated to answer. She started to shake, as she did whenever she had to remember the times she was punished.

"Well... of those who survived, we often were punished if we even did the slightest thing wrong. You could mess up one defensive move, and be punished. You could pass out from exhaustion and be punished. I was fortunate enough to never receive the worst punishment at all but... well, you'll see." Suzuko lifted up her shirt sleeve, revealing the scar on her shoulder. Sora and Emiri knew it was there but never knew what Suzuko did to receive such an injury like that.

"What did they do?!" Sora asked.

"I made one mistake that I didn't think was a big deal. But my superiors thought otherwise. Because I wouldn't stop crying, they cut my shoulder as punishment instead. It could've been much worse. Normally, they'd cut someone's fingers off if they continued to react like that. So many people had to go to a nurse for some kind of treatment after punishment. I think I experienced worse when I ran into Cure Nature..."

Sora's eyes widened. She had heard about Cure Nature before. Skyla had mentioned her in the past, and Hurricane also mentioned her during their last battle. What happened between Suzuko and Cure Nature?

"Did Cure Nature hurt you in some way? I didn't think she would hurt a child..." Emiri asked.

Suzuko started having flashbacks again. This time, she recalled herself covered in blood and Cure Nature looking at her in horror as if she had just killed someone. Her hands began to tremble while she continued to remember her encounter with Cure Nature.

~⚡️⚡️⚡️~

"I... hurt... I hurt a child..."

A child aged Naru sat on the ground with her hand over her face, covering the blood that dripped down her cheek and onto her clothes. She looked as Cure Nature stared at her in absolute horror. She dropped to her knees screaming.

"WHAT HAVE I DONE?! IT'S ALL MY FAULT!"

Naru didn't know how to feel, she was in pain but she was also sad that someone who was supposed to be her enemy felt guilty about hurting her. She also couldn't understand why she thought it was a good idea to fight a teenage girl, all to prove a point. Cure Nature walked to Naru and picked her up.

"I'm so sorry..."

Cure Nature was her enemy, why was she apologizing? Naru couldn't believe what was going on. As she walked away, Cure Nature transformed back to her civilian form and took Naru home to take care of her.

~⚡️⚡️⚡️~

Suzuko turned back around to face the group. She was crying, but Sora noticed something was off. Suzuko was only shedding tears from one of her eyes instead of both of them. She hadn't noticed this before, was her eye injured or something? Sora could've sworn one time that she threw an attack that hit Naru in the face, maybe it came from that?

"I don't want to talk about it... not now anyway... I'm sorry. So many people made fun of me for what happened, and it wasn't even my fault. It was all an accident!" Suzuko said, wiping away her tears again.

"Why would anyone make fun of a little kid who got hurt? That's unforgivable..." Emiri's hand started shaking at the thought of whatever happened to Suzuko when she faced off against Cure Nature.

"Yeah... the only one who didn't make fun of me was my brother. But everyone else has held it against me for years, thinking that I couldn't face off against any Precure. It was my fault for thinking me, a six year old, could fight a girl who was about 14." Suzuko looked down again, her eyes were filled with regret and sorrow.

"Hey, Suzuko? I hope you don't mind me asking... but..." Sora began and she took Suzuko's hand. "I just noticed that something's wrong with your eye, was that because of that time I hit you with my lightning? I remember you covering it up with your hand. Was that because of me?"

Suzuko looked at Sora with surprise. She never thought anyone would have noticed something as minor as that before, and she was even more surprised that neither girl had noticed until now.

"No, it wasn't your fault. I've been having that problem for a long time. I'd tell you what happened but it's a long story..." Suzuko paused for a moment, recollecting her train of thought. "I should probably stop talking now, I think I've explained enough, and I think I'd just feel worse if I continued. My life has been the same since I was a kid. I'd train, face punishment, and then I was chosen to help destroy Nature Kingdom and try and stop you. And now, I'm here." Suzuko looked like she was about to cry again, but that feeling faded after she was squeezed into a group hug.

"Suzuko, I'm so sorry for everything that happened to you." Emiri said quietly.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. You didn't deserve to have all that happen to you." Sora continued. Suzuko looked at both her friends, and she began to smile. It wasn't a big smile, but it was better than seeing her sad.

"It's okay. It's not like either of you could change what happened to me." Suzuko responded. "All that matters is now I'm turning my life around and trying not to let it all affect me."

"Yeah! But... don't you regret all the things you did? You know, fighting us? Possibly hurting us?" Sora asked.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't. I'm just trying to think of how I was able to snap out of it because of you and Emiri. There were so many times where I didn't even know what side I should be on. Fighting you was when I realized what I was doing was wrong," Suzuko smiled again and held her hands up, making them fists. She then faced forward and looked at the sky. "Besides, I think I'll be making up for it now by fighting to save Nature Kingdom instead of destroying it."

"I'd say you are, I'm just glad I was able to save you!" Sora said happily. She smiled and looked up at the sky next to Suzuko. Emiri joined them as well.

Suddenly, the sky went from blue to grey. That could only mean one thing, Hurricane was here. He was probably furious about his last fight, or at least that's what Suzuko sensed.

"He's here... I can feel it. He's going to summon a KuzuBug any minute now, stay alert you two." Suzuko warned, pulling her Nature Commune out of her pocket.

"Well well, look who's already prepared to fight me..." a voice interrupted, sure enough, it was Hurricane. "Too bad you're going to lose today." Without another word, Hurricane snapped his fingers and a KuzuBug appeared. It began trying to destroy the surrounding area the moment it came to life.

"This park... it's getting damaged!" Suzuko looked around as the KuzuBug stepped on a picnic table, completely destroying it. Seeing the destruction around her for herself was horrifying. She knew exactly what to do.

"I won't allow you to destroy any more of this park!" She held up her Nature Commune.

"Precure Nature Flash!"

Next thing she knew, Suzuko had become Cure Thunder once again. She leaped into the air and kicked the KuzuBug's back, causing it to fall to the ground. It still amazed Sora how powerful Cure Thunder really was. But she knew Thunder wasn't powerful enough to fight alone. She and Emiri looked at each other and transformed as well. After the lights surrounding them disappeared, Lightning and Ginger joined the fight, helping Thunder to retain the KuzuBug.

It only took a couple attacks but the KuzuBug was weakened enough to where they wouldn't have to worry about it. Hurricane was now their main concern. He couldn't believe how quickly the trio slowed down his monster. Normally, he'd try and power up the KuzuBug but there was no point. He wanted to fight the Precure on his own this time.

"I'm impressed, you defeated my KuzuBug so quickly. Too bad you'll be in for a struggle fighting me." Hurricane lunged for Lightning but she was too quick, she jumped up, just barely missing his hand. He then tried to grab Ginger but she also missed him.

"So fast..." he said, catching his breath. Thunder stood in front of him, preparing a counterattack. He tried to punch her, while she countered with a kick. It was going well until Thunder missed and Hurricane was able to grab a hold of her. Thunder began to struggle, trying her best to break free of his grip.

"Let go! Let go of me!" Thunder yelled, failing to ignore the pain.

"Now why would I do that? You know how badly I want to stop you, especially now that you're with the Precure now." Hurricane looked at Thunder with a creepy smile on his face.

"What are you trying to say? I don't care if you want to try and stop me, just know I'm doing everything I can to stop you!" Thunder shouted back, becoming more angry.

"You think you're gonna stop me? Are you sure? What if your friends don't even forgive you? Surely they know everything you've gone through at this point. They could just be pretending to be your friend and accept you." As Hurricane taunted Thunder, she began to have more flashbacks. They were mostly of her when she fought against the Precure. But remembering them still made her tear up.

"No! That's not true!! I don't need you putting thoughts into my head! I know who my friends are and I know they care about me! My life hasn't been easy but they were the first people I've met in a long time who I was able to open up to about my past. No matter how much you try to tear me down..." Thunder then managed to break free by kicking Hurricane in the chest and jumping onto a tree branch.

"I'll have people to bring me back up!" Thunder declared while Lightning and Ginger landed next to her. The three stood together, looking confident. Thunder smiled as she stared at both her friends, they had her back no matter what.

"Exactly! We're a team and we're here to help Thunder! She's not alone anymore!" Lightning announced.

"Yes! The three of us will stop you together! And when anyone else joins, they'll stop you too!" Ginger said. Hurricane looked at the trio, speechless. One by one, the girls introduced themselves.

"Striking in the Great Forces of Nature! Cure Lightning!"
"Bringing Nature's Sweet Scent! Cure Ginger!"
"The Earth's Strength Coming Together! Cure Thunder!"

The trio came together, joining hands before posing again one final time.

"Guardians of Nature Protecting the Earth! Sweet Nature Precure!"

With a new resolve, the Cures started working together to distract Hurricane and completely defeat the KuzuBug. Lightning and Ginger combined their powers and did their Nature Slicer attack, which weakened the KuzuBug a lot more. Now it was Thunder's turn.

"Thunder!" They shouted.

Cure Thunder got into her pre attack stance, letting clouds form around her. She clapped her hands and recited the incantation.

"Clouds come together and rain down on the earth! Precure Thunder Cloud!"

Clouds came down on the KuzuBug, defeating it. A few clouds even landed on Hurricane, obscuring his sight.

"Unbelievable... I've been defeated again." Hurricane sighed, he then left to report back to Pollution.

Everything around the girls returned to normal and they soon reverted back to their civilian forms. Sora let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness that's over!! But hey, we're a team now! For real!" Sora looked at Suzuko with a big smile on her face. She even held up a peace sign. Suzuko smiled back at Sora, feeling a lot better about being a team than she was the day before.

"Yeah, a team. I like that." Suzuko said quietly. Even if she thought she was quiet, Emiri and Sora still heard her.

"Well team, why don't we go celebrate together?" Emiri suggested.

"Yes! With ice cream!" Sora put her fist in the air passionately, she could never say no to ice cream after all.

"Uhh Sora, maybe we should let Suzuko decide. Is there anything you want to eat Suzuko?" Emiri asked Suzuko.

Suzuko blankly stared at Emiri for a moment. She never was a big food lover. As she wondered what she wanted, another long forgotten memory came back to her.

~⚡️⚡️⚡️~

Suzuko was in someone's backyard. She was very young, this must've been before she was taken away. She looked up and saw two adults and her older siblings. They were all smiling at her. One of the adults then came over to her, holding a plate with a slice of strawberry cake.

"Here Suzuko, happy birthday." The woman said, smiling. There was no question, that was Suzuko's mom.

She then took the plate and began eating the cake feeling nothing but pure joy.

"It's delicious! I wish I could have this every day!" Suzuko said, enjoying her piece of cake.

And just like that, the memory faded again, bringing Suzuko back to reality.

~⚡️⚡️⚡️~

"You know what sounds good? Some strawberry cake." Suzuko said, looking at her friends. This was the first time Sora saw Suzuko deep in thought recalling something happy. It made Sora feel glad that Suzuko did have positive memories after all.

"Strawberry cake sounds great!" Emiri said.

"Yeah, let's go! I know the perfect cafe!" Sora took her friend's hands and they ran over to the local cafe.

The girls sat down and shortly after, were given pieces of strawberry cake. Suzuko's eyes lit up as soon as she saw the cake. She took a bite of it, and her reaction made it seem like she was in heaven. Suzuko was practically on cloud nine eating strawberry cake.

"This tastes amazing!" Suzuko said with the biggest smile on her face. Once she finished her first bite, she knew she had to tell the others about what she just recalled. "When I was thinking about what I wanted, I remembered something!"

"You did? What was it?" Sora asked.

"It was something about strawberry cake. It was my birthday and my family handed me a piece of strawberry cake! That's why I wanted to eat it so much. And I saw my home, I remember where it is. It happens to be here, in this town!" Suzuko seemed so happy recollecting things that didn't bring her pain. She talked about remembering her family with so much hope, she knew that they were still out there waiting for her to come home. Suzuko then looked at the girls. She put her fingers together, nervously moving them as she asked. "After this, can you come with me? I want to see them, it's been a long time."

"Yes, yes of course!" Emiri replied. Sora nodded in agreement. The three of them finished their cake as quickly as they could and then left the cafe with Suzuko leading the way to a nearby neighborhood.

~⚡️⚡️⚡️~

They walked halfway down the street before Suzuko stopped in front of one house. She looked at the name on the plaque. Sure enough, it said "Morino" on it. Her surname. She never realized that was her real surname this entire time. She looked as if she was going to walk to the front door, but she hesitated. Her legs were shaking, her entire body was shaking.

"Sora, what if they don't remember me? What if it's been too long?" She asked, even her voice sounded shaky.

Sora put an arm around Suzuko and Emiri walked up to her taking a hold of her hand.

"They'll remember you. No one can forget their own children right?" Sora said.

Suzuko started to feel more at ease. Sora and Emiri stepped back as she rang the doorbell, her fingers shaking while she did.

A few moments later, three people opened the door. A woman, a man, and a college aged girl stood there. The three of them looked at Suzuko in shock.

"Suzuko... is that you?" The woman asked, her voice shaking like Suzuko's.

"Mom? Dad? Hitomi-nee?" Suzuko questioned, looking at the people in front of her.

They were all silent for another brief period. Next  thing Suzuko knew, she was pulled into a group hug. She looked at her mom, and then her dad, and her sister. They were all crying, but they were tears of joy, not sadness. Seeing her family accept her with open arms made Suzuko begin to cry too. Sora and Emiri watched from afar, they admittedly shed a few tears as well.

"We knew you were still out there." Her dad said, wiping his tears that Suzuko could barely see under his glasses.

"So did I," Hitomi said, "I missed you so much."

Suzuko smiled at what her sister said, she just silently wished her brother could be here to experience this moment too.

"Me too, I'm home!" Suzuko cried out. She wanted this hug to last forever, it felt so amazing.

"Welcome back, Suzuko."

To be continued...