HCPC23

Super Nervous! Iona and Hime's First Shopping Trip Together! (超キンチョー！いおなとひめ、はじめてのおつかい！) is the 23rd episode of the season Happiness Charge Pretty Cure! and is also the 509th episode of the Pretty Cure franchise overall.

Synopsis
Picking up from the previous episode, Queen Mirage appears before a defeated Phantom and the Cures. She fires a powerful blast of dark energy from her staff when Blue intervenes. He and Megumi speak of love, happiness and courage to get her to stop, but she was clearly agitated from hearing of such emotions. She attacks again, causing the mirror to crack, but Blue teleports everybody to the Cross Mirror Room before the attack made a connection. Back at the Phantom Empire, Mirage slaps Phantom and scolds him for battling the Cures without her permission, but she spares his life for the time being.

Back at the embassy, the group talks about Maria, and Glasan regrets not telling Blue about her sooner. With Iona joining the Happiness Charge Pretty Cure, the group decided it would be a good idea to throw a small house party to celebrate the team being completed. Megumi and Yuko use the PreCards to turn into Patissieres, but there were not enough ingredients to make a cake, so Hime and Iona were sent to the market to get the remaining ingredients.

As they were making their way to the market, Iona starts talking about Maria and about how strong she was as Cure Tender and how popular and smart she was. Hime announced that she really wanted to meet her, which struck a chord with Iona, and they continued on their way.

While they were there, Hime wanted to buy some Pretty Cure merchandise, though Iona, who wanted to be frugal, said they should not waste money on something like that. Hime calls her a cheapskate in response, which causes them to get into a short argument. Eventually, Iona allows Hime to buy just one package, and she finds a rare Bomber Girls Pretty Cure card in it. As they finished their shopping, Hime revealed that the reason she opened Axia was because she overheard a saddening voice wanting to be released, meaning she was lured into doing so. Upon hearing that, Iona walks to a nearby tree and begins feeling regretful for being so angry at Hime. She thought she was the only one suffering, but Hime had to deal with the destruction of her homeland and having to save it. Glasan tells her that admitting her faults was a courageous move.

All the while, Hosshiwa creates a Mother Saiark to attack the city. Iona transforms into Cure Fortune and all is going well until a second Saiark, a speedy Son Saiark, caught her off guard. She was surrounded by them and the Choiarks until Princess arrived in time and the duo work together to fight using Macadamia Hula Dance and Pine Arabian respectively before Fortune purified the Saiarks with Starlight Ascension. The two agreed on a partnership. Soon after, Lovely and Honey arrived and introduced themselves, but they were too late.

After the battle, Megumi gives Iona a Cure Line and she calls everyone by their names. They then have the party, with a cake that had figurines of the four Cures and their mascots.

Major Events

 * Queen Mirage attacks the Cures for the first time, but Blue shows up and teleports them away before anything serious happened.
 * Iona and Hime start to form a friendship.
 * Hime reveals that the reason she opened Axia was because of a voice coming from it pleading to be released.
 * Cure Fortune changes into her Pine Arabian form and uses Oriental Dream for the first time.
 * Iona officially joins the group.

Pretty Cures

 * Aino Megumi/Cure Lovely
 * Shirayuki Hime/Cure Princess
 * Omori Yuko/Cure Honey
 * Hikawa Iona/Cure Fortune
 * Cure Bloom (in the opening only)
 * Cure Tender (flashback)

Mascots

 * Ribbon
 * Glasan

Villains

 * Phantom
 * Saiarks
 * Choiarks
 * Queen Mirage
 * Hosshiwa

Secondary Characters

 * Blue
 * International Pretty Cures (on The Package in The Store)

Trivia

 * Cure Bloom gives the congratulatory message for this episode.
 * Cure Fortune joins the title screen, but she is seen with a PreChanMirror.
 * PreCards debuted: Patissiere and Pine Arabian cards.
 * When Hime looks at the Pretty Cure bag, the orange Wonderful Net Pretty Cure has one sleeve missing.
 * Like YPC525, the Cures go shopping.