Everything that had happened within the past few hours was a lot to take in for Sora and the others. How was it possible that so much could change in an instant? Not too long ago, everyone was having a normal day only for things to go crazy no thanks to Ivy and Tide coming out of nowhere to capture Ami and take her to Pollution. Now was the time for a final battle to begin. Whatever happened from here on out would seal the fate of Ami's home, Pollution, and possibly, the world. A lot was at stake here and Lightning was terrified by the weight of it all. She couldn't afford to fail here. As Storm had said, it was do or die.

The Cures had arrived in an area unfamiliar to most of them. Lightning looked around, seeing nothing but filthy air, dirty water, no sense of life anywhere. This was Pollution, there was no mistaking it. And while she hadn't seen it for herself, she knew it was the exact opposite of what Nature Kingdom probably looked like before it was attacked. How was it possible for anyone to live in a place like this? It seemed so inhabitable.

"This is it. We're here..." Thunder said, her voice slightly shaking. Lightning understood immediately that it probably brought Thunder a lot of pain to come back to the place where she had spent a huge chunk of her life.

"Where do we go? How are we going to find Ami?" Ginger asked.

"I'm not sure but I imagine she has to be guarded somewhere. Wherever there's a lot of people, Ami is probably there." Storm said.

"I think you're right about that. We need to start looking around now. It might be good to remain quiet, we don't want them to know we're here just yet." Lightning said.

"Good thinking. If you need me to, I can point out what certain areas are." Thunder suggested.

"That'll help a lot!" Lightning said. "Alright, let's go."

And with her order, the four girls were off to search for Ami.

~⚡️⚡️⚡️~

Elsewhere in Pollution, Ami had been locked up. She could barely move due to the chains used to keep her from attempting to escape, and she was still weak from attempting to break free from the grasp of Tide and Ivy. When she first saw them, she only dismissed them as incompetent villains. But she had underestimated them. They actually proved to be quite threatening and scary, they knew how to get into people's heads and break them. They also knew how to trick people pretty well. Ami had experienced that firsthand.

"When are you going to let me go?" Ami asked.

"Depends. Maybe we'll let you out and maybe we won't." Ivy responded.

"What do you even want from me?! I didn't do anything to become a target!" Ami said.

"Ah but you're wrong about that! You're a princess! You're part of the royal family, that makes you an important target! Taking you as a prisoner is simply our way of luring the Precure here and also getting us what we want..." Tide explained.

"And what do you want?" Ami dreaded hearing what the two of them would have to say.

"Well... we want to be here to help carry out the final stages of Pollution's plan! We didn't have to capture you but it happened to become convenient so we did it anyway." Ivy said.

"Final stages? You mean, you planned to attack more than my home?" Ami asked.

"Yes! That was always the plan. At least according to our boss and our ruler. You see, attacking Nature Kingdom and stealing the keys was only the beginning. Did you ever think of why we needed those keys?" Tide was clearly in his interrogating mode, Ami could tell since he kept getting in her face.

"No... I don't know." Ami said.

"Just you wait. Once we manage to get the Precure here, we can find a way to get our hands on all the keys they stole back from us and bring them to our king! Once he has them, he can use his powers to fully destroy the Nature Kingdom and also the world! Everything will look just like Pollution, and everyone will get to live the same way we do!" Tide declared.

Hearing this absolutely broke Ami. This was their ultimate plan? To turn the entire world into a polluted state? To fully destroy her home? She was so focused on just trying to restore the kingdom that she never stopped to think if there was a bigger plan than that. But to be fair, the couple of people she knew who had ties with Pollution didn't even know that this was the plan so how was she supposed to consider that?

"NO! You can't do that!! People are going to die!! We aren't meant to live that way!" Ami screamed. She started trying to pull on the chains that trapped her, hoping to attempt and escape. But it was no use, she was basically useless for the time being.

"Well we've managed to do just fine living the way we do. People will adjust to it." Ivy said.

"Doesn't mean that everyone has to live like this! Just you wait! My friends are going to come and stop you!" Ami declared.

"Oh is that so? I'd like to see them try! They couldn't stop us before taking you away so how could they stop us now?" Tide laughed.

Ami didn't know what to do. She felt so hopeless at the moment. All she could do was sit and wait for the Precure to rescue her and not lose hope that things would end in a good way. She wished she wasn't trapped, she wished she could fight but her time wasn't now. She had to learn that she couldn't protect herself on her own, not with the way she was now. She had to become stronger before she could truly protect herself. She fought every part of herself to keep herself from crying, she didn't need to be taunted by Tide for shedding tears. However, it didn't matter now. Tide and Ivy had left her behind to sit in the darkness. She could cry as much as she needed to. Maybe it could've been her way of getting the attention of her friends once they arrive to save her? As she cried, Ami's resolve to remain hopeful became stronger than before. She couldn't give up on her friends, just like they weren't going to give up on her.

Please get here soon! Precure!

~⚡️⚡️⚡️~

The Cures continued to wander through what felt like an empty void of nothing. It was hard to figure out what the layout of Pollution truly was. It wasn't exactly a kingdom, if anything, it felt like a giant wasteland with its main structure being a large and desolate fortress. The so-called fortress was where Pollution's king and the entire Pollution army lived. It was also where the soldiers were trained, tortured, and even executed. They'd also hold meetings and make plans here. It was truly the place where everything happened.

As they wandered, the very sight of the training rooms and punishment rooms made Thunder feel very uneasy. She hadn't been back here since the day she escaped and now having to face the traumatic memories of this place wasn't something she thought she would have to do. As she passed by the rooms, she would have flashbacks to some of her worst memories, being reminded of everything that made her life a hellish nightmare.

"Lightning... I'm scared." Thunder said. Lightning was quick to notice the pain on her friend's face: she looked like she was on the verge of tears, or even a panic attack. Lightning knew she had to be of support right now, she couldn't imagine how scary it was to come back to an area where you were repeatedly abused. She stood close to Thunder and grabbed her by the hand.

"It's okay Thunder. We're with you. I'll make sure everything is okay." Lightning promised. She gave Thunder the best reassuring smile she had. Thunder didn't say anything but she managed to smile back at Lightning. She had to acknowledge her somehow and that was the best she could do for now.

"I can't believe we haven't seen anything yet. This place feels like a maze, and it's making me crazy already." Storm complained. "How are we supposed to find Ami?"

"We have to be patient! We need to listen out for her and also look for any heavily populated rooms." Ginger said. "I think that's the best we can do to try and find her. I doubt anyone here would make it that easy..."

"Oh they definitely wouldn't make it easy. They probably know that we can't all be easily fooled." Storm said.

"You're right about that. I bet they suspected that we would try to follow them, but they haven't found out we're here yet." Thunder said, managing to speak up. It seemed she had managed to remain calm for now.

"Do you think it would be good for us to split up? It could make it easier to find her. And I think we can use our Communes to talk if we need to." Ginger suggested.

"I think it's worth a try. And maybe if they figure out we're here, they'll be confused if they're only fighting two of us!" Lightning said.

"It'll probably take more than that to confuse them... do you think we could even beat anyone in a fight if there's only two of us?" Storm asked.

"Have a little bit of hope Storm! We're strong, we can do this." Lightning said. "Okay so I'm thinking me and Ginger should go together. And then Storm, you and Thunder go together. Any opposed?"

Everyone seemed to agree to Lightning's pair assignments, and also her plan to split up to make the search just a little bit faster. With everything set up and some part of a plan in place, the group went their separate ways, promising to regroup later.

Lightning and Ginger continued moving in the same direction they were going initially. Now that they were alone, Ginger finally had a chance to maybe share some of her doubts.

"Hey Lightning? Do you think this is going to end the way we want it?"

"What do you mean?" Lightning was confused by Ginger's question.

"I mean... we still don't know for ourselves what Pollution is really planning. If there's some kind of ultimate plan, we don't know what it is and that scares me... There's so much we don't know and so much is at stake at the same time. I don't want to give up hope or anything, but everything feels so uncertain right now..." Ginger explained.

"No, I get that. I know I keep trying to sound hopeful for the sake of everyone else as leader and all, but I'm really scared to be honest. Like you said, we don't know what they're planning and there's a lot of uncertainty right now. And I still feel really terrible about failing to keep Ami safe. She was taken right in front of us and we couldn't do anything. I can only imagine how her parents would feel right now if they knew what happened. I bet they'd be so disappointed..." Lightning confessed.

She didn't think she would be pouring her heart out right now but yet, here she was doing it. It felt good though, letting all those feelings out to someone who meant a lot to you. Seeing that Lightning was looking rather upset, Ginger held her hands in hers. She looked and gave her a reassuring smile.

"You're putting a lot of pressure on yourself Lightning. I know you are afraid to fail and are also afraid of looking like a bad leader. But trust me, you've got this. You were made leader for a reason, and there's no one I'd trust to lead us in this moment than you. I'm sure Thunder and Storm feel the same way. And not only that, but Ami believes in you too. I just know it." Ginger said.

As she listened to Ginger, Lightning's face managed to lighten up just a little bit. Hopefully it relieved at least a few of her worries.

"Thank you, Ginger. Thank you for believing in me~" Lightning said.

The nice moment between the two was then interrupted by some sudden movements. This was it. They were found. And unsurprisingly, Tide and Ivy had appeared.

"So you finally decided to show up!" Tide said.

"What did you do to Ami? Where is she?" Lightning shouted.

"As if we'd tell you! By the way, I'm actually shocked that the four of you aren't all together!" Ivy taunted. "Oh well, it makes ending you a lot easier!"

This was it. The two-on-two fight they were waiting for. Lightning could only hope that she could find out where Ami was once she and Ginger defeated these two.

"Okay Ginger, I don't have time to make a good plan... let's just defeat these two, sound good?" Lightning said.

"Yep!" Ginger nodded.

And with that, the battle began. Lightning and Ginger both jumped into action, relying on the use of their powers and the weapons which enhanced them. Tide and Ivy would counter with their powers. With both sets of duos taking the same approach, it made it very difficult to take advantage in this fight. The only way it would be possible to get the upper hand was to be the first ones to change their approach. Lightning and Ginger had to be smart about this.

The fight dragged on without much of anything happening. There were a couple hits landed here and there, but not really any success. Ginger reached a point where she decided to start closely observing Tide and Ivy to spot a potential weakness. However, she got a little too caught up in her thinking and was soon knocked out by Tide. She fell to the ground, taking a moment to recover.

"Ginger!" Lightning yelled, looking to see Ginger struggling to get back up. She was also knocked to the ground, but by Ivy. Turns out losing focus for just a moment would have its consequences.

"Lightning, are you okay?" Ginger asked. She got up and hurried over to her partner. Lightning seemed okay, but was also visibly frustrated.

"Yeah I'm fine... I wasn't expecting that though. Ugh. We need to think of a better plan..." Lightning said.

"You're right, we do. I'm trying to spot weaknesses but I haven't seen anything yet. I know we didn't have time to plan, but I want to try and think of something we can do." Ginger said.

"Well, we fought them not too long ago didn't we? I think we just need to take this as an endurance test! I think it'll be good if we just try our best to wear them out so we can see those weaknesses for ourselves and come back and win!" Lightning explained.

"I like that plan! Let's try it out!" Ginger said. The two then helped each other get up off the ground, finding the strength to stand up again and keep fighting. They were not about to give up this fight. Not yet.

"Awww how cute, you think you're gonna win now." Ivy teased. She decided to make the first move, trapping the two Cures in her vines. Lightning and Ginger were now immobilized, stuck trying to find a way to break free.

"Good thinking Ivy!" Tide laughed. "You know, I wonder if we could take them to the king so he knows that they're here. And once we find the other two and capture them, we'll all get to sit back and watch as the four of you are defeated for good. And we can bring out Ami to watch! And once the four of you are gone, we can get rid of her too." The look on Tide's face as he talked about his idea went to show just how twisted this guy really was. He was so desperate to do anything that he would actually allow the Cures to be defeated in such a way. That certainly wasn't something Lightning expected from someone like him. But then again, he liked to taunt others and get into their heads. Surely he was just trying to get into hers too.

"No... you're not going to do that... we wouldn't give up so easily. And we won't allow you to get away with capturing Ami!" Lightning could feel her anger rising, and with it, her powers surged.

"And besides, what makes you think that doing this will do anything good for you? Are you expecting some kind of reward? Some recognition? What are you doing this for?!"

"Why does it matter to you? We just want to do what it takes to stay alive. Our job was to defeat you or else we get punished and executed. Every other person tasked with defeating you has failed to do that. By ending you guys, we get to live and also help to carry out the ultimate plan!" Ivy explained.

"Ultimate plan?" Ginger asked.

"You haven't heard? We're going to take the keys back so the Nature Kingdom is fully destroyed. And then, we're going to pollute the entire world! Everywhere will look like this place!" Tide said.

Lightning and Ginger were both shocked and horrified by what they were hearing. All this time, that was the plan. They were going to destroy the entire world. None of them knew it, none of them suspected it, this was all new information.

"NO! That's not going to happen! We won't let you get away with this!" Ginger shouted. Her powers had begun to increase too, just like Lightning's did. Lightning noticed this and suddenly got an idea.

"Ginger, take my hand." Lightning whispered.

"What? Why?" Ginger was confused.

"You feel your powers increasing right? Mine are doing the same. If we hold hands, it could combine our powers and get us out of here!" Lightning said, trying to explain as quickly as she could.

"Well it's worth a try." Ginger said.

The duo worked very hard to reach out and hold each other's hands without Tide and Ivy noticing. It seemed to work since Tide and Ivy were still gloating about how brilliant their plan was. Listening to them so eager to watch the death of a bunch of teenagers was sickening. There was no way they were about to let that happen, not without a fight anyway.

"Think that's just the start? Just wait until you find out who's still alive!" Ivy said.

"Who?"

"Take a wild guess." Tide said. "You've fought him before, you should know."

It didn't take long for Ginger to put two and two together. The realization of who they were talking about only filled her with more anger.

"HURRICANE?! NO! HOW?" Ginger had never been so furious in her life. The very person who had brought so much pain to her friends was still here. They hadn't defeated him for good yet. And now there was a chance they'd have to face him too. Lightning managed to catch on and soon understood why Ginger was so angry. Naturally, she became angry too. She knew what Hurricane had done to her friends, she couldn't just allow him to continue living.

"Took you long enough to both figure that out... maybe he'll also get to watch you die!" Ivy cackled.

"LIKE HELL THAT'LL HAPPEN!" Lightning screamed. The sudden outburst allowed her and Ginger's powers to practically explode. The explosion of power broke the girls free from the vines and knocked Tide and Ivy onto the ground.

The fight was about to take a crazy turn from here. Lightning and Ginger were about to use their enhanced powers to make their comeback. Lightning sprinted forward, pulling out her sword and throwing all sorts of electrical attacks against Tide and Ivy. Ginger followed close behind, using her powers to trap Tide and Ivy in a large mist bubble. It took a few tries but she finally managed to make one big enough to trap the both of them. She didn't know how long she could hold onto it, but hopefully long enough so Lightning could make the strike needed to weaken them just enough to launch a final attack.

"Lightning! Now!" Ginger ordered.

"On it!" Lightning leaped into the air, held out her sword, and let out a powerful, electric attack which managed to leave Tide and Ivy paralyzed. The paralyzing was only temporary, but the two of them had enough time to make their final move.

Lightning and Ginger held hands again, now combining their powers for an attack. It had seemed like ages since the last time they did this, but it still came so naturally to them. Their bond was still as strong as ever, even after all this time.

"With force and sweetness together! Cleanse the World! Precure Nature Slicer!"

The powered up version of their attack wasted no time in defeating the villainous duo. They were unable to do anything but sit there and give up. Once the effects of the girls' powers wore off, they were gone. No trace of them anywhere. Was it possible that their attack was powerful enough to disintegrate them or something?

"Whoa. They're completely gone..." Lightning was stunned.

"Did we defeat them for good? No other villain we've faced disappeared like that..." Ginger said.

"I'm pretty sure. I don't see them. And even if they did survive that, they would've been executed anyway. We spared them the pain of being killed so brutally if you think about it." Lightning said.

"Yeah... I guess so. But still, I can't believe we managed to do all that. That's crazy." Ginger said.

"I know... I don't know what to do now. I think I need a minute to take it all in." Lightning said.

"Me too. Hey, what do you think of Hurricane being alive? We haven't heard from Thunder and Storm. Do you think they know yet?" Ginger had quite a lot of questions. Unfortunately, Lightning didn't really have any answers.

"I don't know. It feels so surreal to even think that he's alive. I hope Thunder and Storm don't find out, I would hate for them to learn that someone who has caused them so much pain is still alive. Maybe we should go find them and meet up with them in case they end up running into him or something. They could probably use some help." Lightning suggested.

"Okay. Let's go try and find them then!" Ginger said. They both headed forward into the darkness. They had no idea where they were going but hoped that they would be able to unite with the rest of the team soon. No matter what would be in their way, the four of them were going to fight like their lives depended on it. Nature Kingdom needed them, Ami needed them, and most of all, the world needed them.

~⚡️⚡️⚡️~

to be continued...