…I have decided. This will be the last chapter of Book 25. After this, I will be starting Book 26, "Hearts, Tones, Smiles", which will have many of the plot ideas originally meant for this Book, modified to take in new characters, along with a few wholly new ideas. If you have time, try to watch through (or at least read plot & character synopses of) HeartCatch PreCure, Suite PreCure, and Smile PreCure, so you can understand characters and references.

On another note, I'm thinking of maybe going back and changing some characters' given heights, mainly the kids. It's a 'maybe', though.

SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

-CHAPTER START-

Same Day As Last Chapter – 8:30 PM

A group of the girls (namely Teana & Subaru, Marie & Sarah, Ahsoka, Kaede K., Madoka, Homura, Madoka, & Mami, Team RWBY, and Pyrrha & Nora) had gathered to pass the time in a unique way, taking turns telling little secrets about each other. So far they'd all learned that Ruby used to have a pet rock, prim & proper 'elegant young girl' Mami was a big fan of 'guns, shouting, and explosions' action movies, Teana and Homura both got really turned on by being Bind-spelled and/or blindfolded during sex (Subaru and Madoka had confirmed this; Tia & Homu still had faint blushes from residual embarrassment even now, 10 minutes after the 'reveal'), Blake found Yang attractive (the busty blonde had given the catgirl a reassuring smile and then scooted closer to her), Ahsoka had a mild phobia of (in her words, was badly 'creeped out by') puppets (not dolls, just puppets), and Marie and Weiss still sometimes slept with stuffed toys. Now, having been given a good 'spin', the holographic cursor came to a stop pointing at Teana again.

"Okay, Tia," Sarah said with a grin, "what else ya got for us?"

Teana blushed as she began to explain something she'd come up with. Meanwhile, a little ways away, another group – Professor Ozpin, Col. Holland (via vid-screen), the two Links, Sunset, and Agent Washington & Nanoha Takamachi, the latter two also via vid-screen connection – tried to come up with the DDF's next moves.

"So we have no idea where Abaddia might be exactly?" Holland asked.

"She sent monsters at three different locations a significant distance from each other," Sunset replied, "but all in areas surrounding the Academy's borders. She's around here somewhere."

"Unless someone else, like Checker or The Meta's Heartless or Ruin, sent them…" Wash suggested.

"Don't be like that; we can't have hit a dead end already."

"Right" Twilight-Link said. "We'll either find her, or we'll find out where she's gone to."

"How's Shepard's 'pet project' going?" Sunset asked.

Nanoha smiled. "So far, so good. It's being spread amongst the Quarians and other races that the Geth don't want a fight, and the two races have called a formal armistice for the time being; Legion, Tali, and Zaal'Koris are working to hopefully make something deeper happen." Her smile faded. "Though I think a vocal minority of the Quarians are only going along with it because they know the Reapers are coming, and some have made it clear they won't be happy with peace when all is said and done. …We're going to have to keep a close eye on Han'Gerrel and Daro'Xen, I think."

"Yeah," Wash chimed in, "Gerrel may be polite, but he's an anti-synthetic warmonger. And Xen is…"

"…A mad scientist and a sociopath" Ozpin finished for him. "I've heard the reports."

"So," Col. Holland said, "we've got: keeping an eye out for Amon's next move; dealing with Xehanort's group, including Malia; getting ready for the Reapers; trying to iron out old issues between races; and hunting for Jul Mdama and his extremists, who – along with Eve T'Lesh working independently – are trying to find and free a Forerunner general-turned-war-criminal. …Kinda makes me miss the days when the Covenant were the only hostile force we had to worry about."

"At least the Brutes seemed to have settled down, more or less" Wash said. "Hell, from what I hear, a few tribes are actually considering peace talks with the Arbiter – if not for formal alliances, than at least promises for both sides to leave each other alone. And the Prophets seem to have dropped off the grid; either they've gone into hiding, or High Charity's fall hit their population harder than we thought. Either way, that's one less potential headache. The Flood are down for the count, too, and we've got trade set up with some of the Kig-Yar clans."

"Let's just hope nothing big pops up before the Hybrids or the Reapers show up in force…" Sunset said. "We're going to need all the time and people we can to get everyone ready for them, and having to divert resources and soldiers to deal with other things could hurt us in the long run."

"We'll have to wait and see…" Nanoha mused.

Back over at the other group, Teana's face was rather red as she finished describing her 'creation', and the other girls had little blushes of varying levels as well.

"…A six-point scale for rating orgasms, based on length, intensity, and other factors…" Sarah summed up. "…You know what, Tia? I'm gonna adopt your scale. It's actually really well-thought-out."

"Same here" Ahsoka said. "I'll keep who made it a secret, if you want, but I'll run it by the rest of Negi's girls, see what they think. I think it's pretty well-put-together."

"I still don't think the 'Level 6' you described can even happen…" Weiss murmured.

"Neither did I, until I was actually given one" Teana replied. "As soon as I could think coherently again – and let me tell you, it was a while – I right away changed the five-point scale into a six-point one."

"Was that the one where…" Subaru whispered into Teana's ear, inaudible to the others.

"…No, that was a 'Five'" Teana replied. "The first Six was…" she whispered the rest to the girl. Subaru's eyes widened as she grinned.

"Oh, I remember that one now! Heheh…"

"How did you even know what the higher ones were like when you made the scale if you admitted you'd never had anything higher than a Three before your 'first time' with Subaru?" Nora thought aloud, curious.

"I put it together using stuff I'd heard from other, older girls in school and training who were more… experienced. They actually helped me put it together and refine it once they found out. This one girl a couple years older than me, a friend of mine there, volunteered to… help me in a more 'direct' way, too, but I… I chickened out and declined her offer. She took it well, though, she understood and she wasn't upset or anything; heck, we still write and vid-chat each other. She lives on the far-east side of the capital now."

"Hmm, maybe we can 'invite' her sometime…" Subaru murmured.

"Okay!" Ruby clapped her hands to get attention, trying to fight off her blush. "Let's spin again! …Maybe a less 'racy' secret this time?"

-SCENE BREAK-

Next Day – 10:00 AM

Malia had been spotted.

Immediately everyone had scrambled to intercept, making a beeline for the spot near the edge of Emerald Forest where she'd been seen; by chance, it happened to be the place where Teams RWBY and JNPR had proved their worth against two giant Grimm back after they'd joined the Academy, on the far side of the (now-repaired) stone bridge. When they arrived, they found three black-cloaked figures present. The shortest of them stepped forward, pulling her hood back to reveal a young girl with long, black hair and cruel gold eyes. The gang drew their weapons as they recognized her.

"Ruin…" Teana scowled at the pure-Darkness abomination shaped like a little girl.

"My, my, fancy seeing you all here…" Ruin said. "My two 'friends' and I were just about to set out for a trio of closely-linked Realms we recently discovered; we weren't expecting anyone to show up to see us off."

The two figures flanking Ruin removed their hoods. Kaede Kanade glared at the figure on Ruin's left, her mirror image but for the black hair, gold eyes, and dark-grey horns – Karidé. On Ruin's right stood Malia, now a whole being once more; gold eyes situated over a small frown stared out at the group, particularly the Puellae Magi, who in turn saw that Malia's 'rebirth' had erased her Heartless' facial scarring and loss of left arm and eye. …What confused Madoka was that she could somehow (possibly due to her Keyblade) sense that this whole Malia's sadistic bloodlust was not quite as high as her initial incarnation's; perhaps becoming a Heartless had amplified it. The Darkness in her Heart was still very strong, though, and the desire to kill and destroy was still very much present, if muted and better-controlled than her Heartless' had been. And there was something else, much deeper down, that she couldn't quite place…

"I suppose you could follow us if you really wanted to…" Ruin continued. "It might give me a chance to use the technique I recently learned. And maybe you'll get the chance to meet Master Xehanort's newest partner, too…"

"You think we'll just let you leave, just like that?" Ruby asked, pointing Crescent Rose at Ruin's center of mass.

Ruin snapped her fingers. A Dark Portal appeared behind her, Karidé, & Malia, and at the same time two large, white-armored figures leapt in from atop the surrounding stone pillars, landing side by side between the evil trio and the DDF group, facing the latter.

"As if you have a choice…" Ruin replied, waving goodbye as she and her fellows stepped through. "Have fun with them, Maine~."

The two halves of The Meta snarled softly; his Heartless carried a Brute Shot, while his Nobody hefted a Gravity Hammer. The dark duo charged toward the heroes' group, and a few – Yang, Young-Link, Nora, and Sunset – rushed to meet them. As the two groups closed in, however, a Dark Barrier sprang up, keeping the others from interfering.

"We could probably smash through this barrier if we all combined our full power" Subaru said. "I mean, with Fenris' power, Tia's Susanō or Kamui, Erika & Lai-chan's Keyblades, the Master Swords… I don't think a Dark Barrier of this level could take being hit by all that at once."

"Eh, let's see how they do" Teana replied. "If they get into serious trouble, we'll bust in. But let's give 'em a chance first."

The Meta's Heartless (M-H) fired three Brute-Shot grenades, only for Yang to intercept them with three fire bursts, followed by two more aimed at him, which were deflected by a well-placed swing of The Meta's Nobody's (M-N) hammer. M-N then charged at Young-Link only to be intercepted halfway by Nora, who tried to smash him in the head with her own hammer. He ducked under the swing and lashed out with a punch that would've shattered every bone in her face, only for Sunset to land a rising kick to M-N's wrist while Nora ducked, leaving the blow to sail clear over the girl's head. Sunset then countered with a fist shrouded in (magical) fire, knocking M-N back, making his armor's shields flare and leaving a tiny scorch-mark on his chestplate.

M-H leapt in, going for a falling punch at the two girls attacking his other half. Nora and Sunset leapt away to dodge, and Yang & Young-Link charged in. M-H used the blade of his Brute Shot to block a flurry of swings of the boy's Master Sword, until one got past and slashed across the armor over his stomach, the Light-magic-enchanted sword leaving a shallow cut; M-H snarled as he lashed out with a crushing punch, which Link blocked with his shield, sending him staggering back a few meters but unhurt. Meanwhile Yang and M-N had entered a punching duel of sorts, Yang not giving M-N the chance to use his gravity hammer, while M-N narrowly dodged or slapped aside her blows that would've blasted him with fire-bursts. Yang tried to kick him in the crotch, but then winced in pain as the only thing hurt was her shin, thanks to an armored codpiece; M-N tried to use the opportunity to draw his hammer and crush her into paste, but a flying kick from Nora knocked him away while Sunset used what basic healing magic she knew to alleviate Yang's leg pain.

Focusing his magic through his ocarina, Young-Link played the Song of Double Time. M-H fired a few Brute-Shot grenades at him, but Link blurred into motion, running to the side with twice the speed of before; through manipulation of the flow of time, he had essentially 'sped up' time for himself, enabling him to – from an observer's standpoint – move and react far faster than before. He could only keep this up for a handful of seconds at a time, though. He used the time he had to blitz in and land a few slashes to M-H's sides and back, before using the last instants to charge and fire a Light Arrow at M-N's head; the Light-magic attack blew a chunk out of the human-form Nobody's visor, exposing a single eye – iris gold with Darkness corruption – surrounded by skin paled from lack of sun exposure. M-N tried to rush at Link as the boy caught his breath, only to be forced back by shots from Nora's grenade launcher.

The chainsaw-blade at one end of Sunset's staff 'growled' as she swung at M-H's arm, only for it to meet the blade of M-H's Brute Shot, the magically-enhanced construction of both weapons preventing either from giving way. M-H slowly outmuscled Sunset, and was about to overpower her completely until a Light Arrow from Young-Link to hit him from behind, knocking him off-balance and allowing Sunset to get back and then go for a swing at his neck that he ducked under. As M-H then leapt back, Sunset swung her staff in his direction while triggering the sections to separate, the chain-linked end section carrying the chainsaw-blade lashing out and slicing across M-H's chestplate, cutting into it slightly.

Yang fired a few shots at M-H, then ducked under a kick from M-N and countered with a rising point-blank shot to his torso that downed his shields and left him open to a hammer blow from Nora that sent him stumbling. M-N growled as he hefted his gravity hammer and rushed at Nora, trying to either smash her skull or chop her face off with the tungsten-carbide blade on the other side of the weapon's head, but the energetic and agile girl was able to dodge his swings. Then, however, he managed to use a hand to catch her by the throat, Nora's legs kicking in the air as he lifted her off the ground. Yang and Young-Link broke off from M-H (after Yang disoriented him with a shot to the face) and rushed in, Yang firing a burst at M-H's forearm that forced him to let go of Nora, and Y-Link landing a full-force Spin Attack that slashed deep into his armor and stunned him. M-N groaned as he tried to shake it off… and, as he brought his head back up and opened his eyes, he found himself staring down the barrel of one of Yang's wrist-blasters, pointed right at the exposed portion of his face. His lone visible eye widened just before she fired.

The burst of Fire magic and explosive energy tore through The Meta's Nobody's skull and blasted out the back of his helmet. The armored giant toppled backward, hitting the ground with a thud, unmoving. Soon, his body began to rapidly fade away into Darkness. The Meta's Heartless let out a positively inhuman roar as he charged at the group, firing Brute-Shot rounds like mad. They scattered, and he ran in and grabbed his other half's dropped gravity hammer without breaking stride. He then formed a Dark Doorway and, firing a few last parting shots to keep the quartet off him, ran through as the last of his Nobody's body faded away into nothingness. As the Dark Doorway closed, the Dark Barrier surrounding the battlefield vanished.

"I can hardly believe it…" Marie said as she walked up. "You guys actually killed half of The Meta!"

"There's still his Heartless to deal with" Teana replied. "And, like Malia and Xehanort, once that one's dealt with the original Meta will come back. Still… Good job, guys. Good job."

"Now what?" Pyrrha asked.

"We need to find a way to figure out where Malia, Ruin, and Karidé went," Sunset replied, "so we can chase them down."

"We can't let her get away like this again…" Kyōko growled. "No way…"

"We won't" Teana put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "No matter what or where, we'll hunt her down. Let's report back to Ozpin and Holland, let 'em know what's happened."

"What the heck did Ruin mean by Xehanort having a new partner?" Subaru wondered.

-SCENE BREAK-

Unknown Location (Demon Realm)

Two figures squared off, the area showing the signs of their fairly intense battle. One stood seven-and-a-half feet tall, with brownish-green skin and red-orange hair & beard, clad in black with dull-gold lining, armored gloves and boots and a long, dark-red cape completing the ensemble, a large, ornate broadsword that wavered with Darkness power held in his right hand; the other, more demonic-looking one was slightly shorter, with half-foot-long horns curving up from his head, hands tipped with claws, a sunken face with four large fangs sticking out from his mouth, wearing black armor of raw Darkness. The taller yet more human-like of the two was barely breathing hard, while the demon looked to be barely on his feet, covered in wounds and surrounded by the pieces of his two right-hand men.

"Had enough yet?" the first said, resting his hands on the pommel of his sword.

The other snarled as he picked himself up. "This is not happening…" he growled. "This is ridiculous! I have conquered and slain thousands of beings over my millennia of existence! I have brought continent-spanning kingdoms down by my own hands alone! I will not lose to a human germ!"

The first chuckled. "You still know not the true nature of what you face… Your little 'kingdom' is mine now, as are what precious little of your subordinates I have not yet slain. They will make fine cannon fodder. And the Hearts of those I have already killed… well, my new partner will make use of them as well."

"I am the most powerful being in 10 realms!" the demon roared. "I am the mighty Calidor!-!"

With a roar, the demon charged. Ganondorf's vile grin grew.

"You're a big fish from a small pond, 'Calidor'…" he hissed. "But now you're in the ocean, and I'm the shark!"

The 'King of Evil' drew his fist back, and as the demon Calidor got close enough he struck, his punch blasting through the meager magical defenses surrounding the entity and then straight through Calidor's chest. The demon gasped feebly for air, eyes wide in pain and horror.

"You foolish worm…" Ganondorf chuckled, his eyes glowing red. "You believed you would triumph over the living hatred of the Daemon Lord Demise? You thought you could stand against Power Itself?-! BEGONE, INSECT!-!"

Ganondorf laughed evilly and roared out as the Triforce of Power on his left fist glowed within Calidor's torso cavity, and a second later a large beam of destructive energy punched out the demon's back, blasting a two-foot-wide hole clean through his torso. The demon, eyes still wide with horror, went flying back, landing several meters away and going still.

"Go back to oblivion, weakling" Ganondorf remarked as he shook his hand off.

As Ganondorf turned and walked away, he did not notice as the dying Calidor was visited by another daemon that stealthily emerged from the shadows. The last thing that the demon saw was a faceless face looking down at him, as his weakened life-force and his very essence were absorbed and consumed by the new interloper.

-SCENE BREAK-

Same Day - 1:15 PM

Beacon Academy Staff Room

Everyone waited anxiously for any news on the attempt to track Malia, Ruin, and Karidé through the trans-dimensional pathways. Finally, two members of the TSAB's specialists on such matter emerged into the room, where the entirety of the present DDF group was gathered, along with Teams RWBY & JNPR and Ozpin, Glinda, Porter, & Oobleck.

"We've found them" the male specialist said. "We've been able to identify the three Realms that they escaped to."

Everyone paid close attention.

"These three Realms, all of them centered on Earths, are close together in interdimensional-coordinate terms" the female specialist said. "They may actually have dormant 'links' between them. In addition, at least two of them have active connections to other 'satellite' realms."

"What can you tell us about them?" Teana asked.

"Each of these three Realms has its own set of magically-adept defenders" the male specialist replied. "What's interesting is that all three 'teams' call their type of magical warrior the same thing, despite having no contact with each other. Also, all three Earths and their defenders recently fought off separate invasions by Darkness-aligned forces; supposedly they were led by entities called Dune, Noise, and Pierrot, respectively."

Erika's eyes widened. "F-Familiar…" she murmured. "U-Um… Sir? Do you have a-any images of these worlds defenders o-or their recent enemies?"

The man nodded, and projected from his Device a few screens, showing three teams of stereotypical-ish magical girls.

"Frilly…" Sarah remarked. "But if these measurements of their power levels are correct, they're forces to be reckoned with."

Sarah's attention was then drawn to her baby sister and her little friend. Erika and Mariko were staring at the screens, wide-eyed and jaws dropped.

"P…" Mariko started.

"P-Pre…" Erika whispered.

They looked to each other… and then pressed hands together as their eyes lit up, big excited grins forming on their faces, as they squealed in fangirlish glee:

"PreCure!-!"

"Holy crap, it is them!" Kyōsuke said. "No way! Too cool!"

"Uh… Could we have some exposition, please?" Teana asked.

"It's a franchise on some Earths" Sayaka replied. "Picture the frills and formula and whatnot of Sailor Moon and its ilk on the surface, but with deep plotlines, kickass music, and fight-scenes worthy of Dragon-Ball Z!"

"Especially these three seasons" Kyōsuke said. "HeartCatch, Suite, and Smile PreCure…"

The female TSAB specialist grinned. "Let's see… According to statistics from the Puellae Magi's Earth, the main demographics of PreCure, or Pretty Cure, are girls ages 6 to 12, and boys ages 16 to 35; 'fight scenes, comedy, and complex plotlines are praised', it says."

"Jack Rakan has admitted to being a fan" the male specialist added. "That should tell you something."

"If that, and these power-level readings are any indication," Teana said, now with a confident smile, "we may be getting a boatload of strong new allies soon. Nice!"

"The big bad of HeartCatch, Dune, wanted to change the entire Earth into a giant, lifeless desert," Kyōsuke said, "with every person's Heart lost, and the 'Heart Tree' – basically what the Keybladers would call the Heart of a World – consumed by Darkness. And in the end, Dune super-sized himself enough to start literally punching the planet. The girls beat him. Suite's villain was a birdlike daemon who wanted to use a Darkness-type song-spell to petrify all living things and remove all sound from the world, and he actually succeeded in doing so to all but the main quartet of heroines. …They beat him."

"…Okay, very nice! I like the sound of that!"

Erika and Mariko zipped over to the others.

"When can we go? When can we go?-!"

"I wanna meet them! Please! Let's go!"

"I haven't seen someone fangirl this hard since Marie met the Blood-Gulch crew" Sarah said with an amused grin.

Teana nodded. "Let's tell Colonel Holland we need to get underway, before 'Team Ruin' can escape again."

"Let's hope the enemy doesn't get to the locals before we do…" Sunset said.

"Aw, please…" Mariko replied. "They're the PreCure! They've beaten things on par with Tailed Beasts!"

"Still, I d-don't think they'll mind our help" Erika said, now calming herself down. "W-Who knows that Ruin or Malia might h-have up their sleeves? It m-might turn out to be more than the Cures c-can handle alone, for all we know…"

"U-Um…" Jaune spoke up. "Everyone? Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, & I halve talked it over, and… we're gonna stay here on Beacon for this one. We're just… not quite ready to get involved in something this big. Not yet. Maybe next time, y'know?"

Teana nodded. "That's fine, Arc. No sense getting yourselves seriously hurt or killed by jumping into something you're not 100% ready for. I for one think you guys are ready, but if you'd rather stay and continue your training, that's fine too. …Team RWBY, what about you girls?"

"We're coming with" Yang replied, as Ruby, Blake, and Weiss nodded.

"We wanna help you guys finish this" Ruby said.

"You do remember that traversing between Realms will dramatically slow your rate of physical and mental aging, right?" the male TSAB specialist said.

"We do" Weiss replied. "And we're prepared to face that."

"Count us in" Blake chimed in. "We'll face what comes together."

Teana smiled warmly. "You four are a good team. …Alright, pack what you wanna bring and be ready to leave on a moment's notice. The pursuit of Abaddia continues!"

As the others talked, Madoka and Homura sat side by side on a small couch, the former's arm around the latter's shoulder.

"Ready for another trip, HomuHomu?" Madoka asked, giggling at the little blush this nickname earned from her girlfriend as she snuggled her; Homura may have been calm and stoic on the battlefield and among strangers, but she was very softhearted and sweet, and – as Madoka and Mami had discovered – very submissive and bashful when it came to romantic or sexual things, such that they had to be a little careful not to 'scare her off' sometimes.

"Do you… know anything about these worlds we're going to?" Homura asked.

"A little bit" Madoka replied. "I haven't watched the show, but I've read about it, seen fanart, that sort of thing. It's looked really good, though; I've been thinking about watching it. I should probably do that soon if I wanna better understand the people we'll likely be working with." After a few seconds, Madoka's smile slowly faded as her thoughts drifted elsewhere.

"What's wrong, Madoka?" Homura asked, noticing her partner's expression.

"I've just been thinking about something, Homura…" Madoka replied. "When we encountered Malia's whole self, I sensed something in her Heart, something besides Darkness and rage and a want for destruction. It was deep inside, so deep I almost didn't catch it, and I think she doesn't quite notice it's there."

"What was it?"

"…Pain. It was pain. And now that I know it's there, I feel the need to know why…"

"…Guess we'll find out soon enough…"

-BOOK 25 END-

And that's it for 25. The gang has a new trio of Realms to head for, half of The Meta is gone, and there may be more than just Darkness, fury, and lust for power in Malia's blackened Heart. Now, I have recently finished watching Suite, and now I'm going to watch through the entirety if Smile before I post the start of the next Book. So, within 2-3 weeks, keep an eye out for Book 26: Hearts, Tones, Smiles in the Lyrical Nanoha / Pretty Cure x-over section.

See you all then.