Hoshi

It appears you may be starting patrol early.

Tendou's mental voice, while as calm and collected as ever, had gained an unmistakably serious edge as the girl rounded the final bend and the convenience store came into view.

It wasn't hard to see why.

"N-Negari!" Hoshi blurted in shock, her voice cracking slightly as her breath tried to hitch at the same time. To tell the honest truth, she had been extremely far from expecting to run into humanity's sworn enemy dressed up as Hedorah...

Time is of the essence.

"Right!"

But even a rookie, an honest to god neophyte of a magical girl understood that you couldn't freeze up when the unexpected happened to you. As quickly as the girl had stopped in her tracks, she started off again at a run, ducking into the nearest suitable alleyway. Her bag hit the floor moments later, and a golden glow sparked from the center of Hoshi's body.

"Ignite Heart..."

"Go!"

And out from the alleyway rocketed a red-and-gold streak moving at top speed, quick enough to register as little more than a blur to the naked eye. There was no time to waste, not when this thing had already managed to trap so many people within itself. Each second that passed was a second closer to them never escaping, and that wasn't happening!

You have reinforcements—and they could use help. Tendou noted even as the girl's churning feet devoured the distance between them and the battle. It appears the monster is able to split off smaller bits of itself that act on their own. Careful.

"Got it!"

She didn't need to hear anything after the first sentence. If one of her peers was in need of assistance, then the course of action was more than clear enough!

The smaller blob's tentacles had already begun lashing out at the other magical girl, streaking through the air with whiplike speed even as multiple eyes grew along their lengths. However if all of those eyes were focused upon—

—That appears to be Copenhagen Star.—

—Copenhagen Star, then if something just as quick attacked in a blindside...

While it was committed to an attack already...

"Gungnir..."

With a slight crunch of the pavement, Hoshi's feet planted for the tiniest of moments before she launched into the air, every bit of her considerable momentum carrying her across the remaining bit of distance at the same blinding speed.

You win battles by knowing an enemy's timing,

Except now, her legs were free to do something besides run.

Twisting midair, she chambered her near knee tight, almost up to her chest...

And by using a timing the enemy does not expect.

"Thrust!"

And stomped outward, stabbing her heel straight into the center mass of the mini-Negari in a flying side kick, like only the Shooting Star could pull off.

That is to say, at speeds most people only reached in a hypercar, and with every ounce of all that momentum behind it.

葛 馮虚 (コペンハーゲン・スター)

Her first test had successfully borne fruit. The abominable creature before her was definitely vulnerable to the torsion forces inflicted upon it by her twisting of space. However, it had also revealed an ability of the Negari that she had not foreseen: the 'chunk' that had been detached from the main mass was itself able to take action, much like how a video game Slime could split into two, smaller individuals upon defeat. The beast would not be so easily defeated like some beginner mob, unfortunately, but the comparison still remained apt. She would, of course, be taking the newly discovered ability into account before further testing.



A reinforcement had arrived, and at a particularly expedient moment as well. The lesser Negari that had taken life after her attack on the main mass would have been rather difficult to deal with without her weapon. Tentacles were not something that could be fought barehanded unless one was a wrangler, and Copenhagen Star was no Steve Irwin when it came to beasts, and even had she been a famed zookeeper, extranormal creatures would have been beyond her expertise until further experimentation had been conducted. Thus, the assistance of the Shooting Star was very much appreciated.

"You're a rather welcome sight, Star-kun," said the coat-wearing magical girl casually in greeting, even though her violet eyes were still focused on the form of the Negari. She could strike out the possibility that the creature possessed a membrane around a liquid, given the lack of leakage from it when part ofits mass had been torn off. Freeing the civilians trapped within the monster would be far more difficult than first expected if she were unable to successfully open a whole in its side. And until they were rescued, any direct attack on the body would only serve to hurt the trapped as well.

Noise from the road diverted her attentions. There was an unique-looking tentacle launching attacks upon an unfamiliar magical girl (another likelihood was a particularly skilled cosplayer, but given the physical abilities being displayed, Copenhagen Star was more fond of the 'mahou shoujo' hypothesis). A tentacle that appeared to have some vacuum-cleaner attachment on its end, which explained the method the Negari had used to trap those humans. An entrance into its mass, so to speak, and thus a possible weak point. It was a fortunate thing to notice, not only to avoid being swallowed in like the victims in the Blob, but because she knew exactly what her next test would involve.

"Shooting Star-kun, if you would not mind, please attempt to separate as much of the Negari's mass from its main body as possible," she continued, preparing her power once again. "I wish to fulfil a curiosity of mine."

What were the limits to the Negari's ability to divide itself? Would each new individual be weaker? If Shooting Star were to continuously break pieces of it off, would it weaken the original mass as well? That was something she could test.

With a polite smile to her fellow magical girl, space began to bend between the roof and the street, and in the span of a second, the sidewalk was next to the roof. Copenhagen Star took a single step back, and the fabric of space rebounded into its initial shape. Except, she was no longer on the elevated position of the convenience store rooftop, and instead on the street's sidewalk, next to an unwisely planted Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica or colloquially, the sugi (杉)). It was not a particularly large member of its species, but it possessed many branches, and was aging quite well. Unfortunately for it, and fortunately for the allergies of the Japanese population, it would age no longer.

Copenhagen Star gripped onto the trunk of the tree and with a single heave, ripped it from its roots. The plant was unwieldy and difficult to carry, but its mass was comparable to that of her large weapon. As long as she could carry the blade she had forgotten to bring along, she would be able to carry the tree.

Not for long, however.

"Beginning the second test," she murmured as space warped once more, allowing her to step directly before the vacuum tendril of the beast. The unknown magical girl was nearby too, but she didn't pay too much heed to her. She would abstain from distracting the other magic-user from the rescue of the civilian girl. "What is the size limit to objects that can be absorbed into the mass?"

Copenhagen Star heaved, shoving the tree leaves-and-branches-first into the gaping maw of the vacuum tentacle.

Hoshi (Shooting Star)

"Oh, er, can do, sure, Copenhagen Star-san!" She replied with a perplexed blink. Her expression only became even more baffled when she saw her compatriot smile kindly with everything around her... warping, and then step onto a sidewalk floating in the air next to the roof.

But there was also no air to float on, because everything on that sidewalk looked like it was on the ground...maybe?

As if it were the simplest thing in the world, and nothing was amiss, Copenhagen Star then... disappeared and took the sidewalk with her?

...

Uwahhh

Spatial Manipulation.

Uh...

Worry about it later. You have a job on your hands. Remember, 'Do nothing which is of no use'.

R-Right. Now then...

That was an oddly specific request her fellow Star-named Magical Girl... Was it strategy? It could have been, and her fellow magical girl had been here longer. She must have had a plan, and after her own arrival had just knocked the fragment into next week...

"Ah." came the sound of realization.

And without further ado, Shooting Star lived up to her name once more, sprinting off towards the main body of the Negari in a full-speed charge.

She could see where it had come together. As expected of the notoriously intelligent Copenhagen Star, she'd already come up with a primary plan of attack to deal with this thing's size in about the same amount of time it had taken Shooting Star to land a thunderous kick. The more of it she could break off, the more of it would be composed of those small ones.

And if her being able to smash that one into kingdom come was any indication, then a bunch of little weaklings would be way easier to deal with!

So if all she had to do was knock this thing's block off...

"HaaaAAAAAH!"

Her charge upon the beast was punctuated with a war cry a cracking right hand across the edge of its boundary, aiming to shear off whatever mass she could without harming those within.

Inside the convenience store, tentacles sprayed black mist as they were cut apart, hissing noises emanating from the blobby Negari as its tentacles were severed from its body, scattering to the ground as they were sliced to pieces. As Noriko came to rest upon one of the intact tendrils, the stumps she had severed raised towards her along with the intact tentacles. However... suddenly, the stumps swelled and warped, and from each erupted eight new tentacles, steadily flooding the shop with them.

It was only then that they lunged towards the magical girl.

Outside, the blob that Shooting Star kicked seemed to tremble from the impact as the opposite side of it swelled outwards... and all at once, erupted out, exploding into a shower of goo and black mist. The orange eyes across its surface faded and it fell limply towards the ground. dissipating more and more into black mist as it fell until it faded from view entirely. That segment of the Negari had been destroyed, the extreme force of impact too much for its regenerative and subdividing capabilities. It seemed as if, perhaps, the body was more vulnerable to attack then the tentacles as well.

A strange shrieking sound erupted from the creature as its body wobbled violently, jostling the unconscious people inside it as it did.

Akane was forced to jump out of the way once more, boots skidding on concrete as the vacuum tentacle launched for her again. But, as it did, suddenly another girl appeared in front of her. There was no mistaking that outfit for anything else... "Copenhagen Star-san?!"

The other girl shoved an entire tree into the waiting vaccuum, and for a moment the sucking stopped as it raised and shook. But then, the 'maw' widened, engulfing the tree steadily as the tentacle swelled to take it in.

Whatever Copenhagen Star was doing, it must have been helping! Akane couldn't help but notice, as well, the other girl that had appeared... It was Shooting Star! And she just... just...

The hunk of Negari she had punched was torn free from the rest of its mass with a kiss, orange eyes immediately opening all over its body as tendrils sprouted from it. However, another tendril sprouted from behind the other magical girl, this one twisting its tip into what looked more like a drill then anything else, which rose up to attack the distracted Shooting Star!

Akane took a step, eyes wide. It... it was going to hit the other magical girl! She didn't see Nadeshiko-sempai either, she had to help her, but someone else was in danger, and all those people... there was so much going on!

She had to do something, and... and...

"Try an attack! Hurry!" the voice of her fairy declared to her. An attack? Right? She had to say something, would it just come to her? Akane wasn't sure, but... but... breaking into a sprint, she took a running leap. Words rose in her mind, and she opened her mouth...!

"DRAGON HEAT!" cried the dragon-tailed, horned magical girl, swinging her sword down. As she swung it, red fire immediately flowed down the blade, engulfing it in flames as it did. It hissed through the Negari's flesh, cutting cleanly through it and sending the drill-tip tendril tumbling away, fading into black mist. Akane skidded along the ground as she landed, sparks flying up from her armored boots.

She really did it! She hurt it! The tentacle was retracting, black mist flowing from the tip, and it looked... burnt? The shadowy flesh was charred or something!

... And then a huge tentacle immediately swung down towards her.

Instead of a decrease in the danger from attacking the tentacles, Noriko was confronted with an explanation for how it had sent more in to start with and an unpleasant realisation that even buying time by distracting it wouldn't work. She'd thought that the initial increase in tentacles meant that the Negari was putting more effort into getting her and less on fighting the outside. Obviously this was a mistaken assumption.

Though to successfully escape and help, she should disable the tentacles somehow. Her knives were infinite until she transformed back and the tentacles were thin enough to stab through entirely, whilst the monster didn't seem too intelligent. There were too many to go through one by one, but if she attacked above the latest splits...

Taking advantage of the tentacles' apparent tendency to attack where she had just been, Noriko started throwing the knives for the thicker limbs, hoping to pierce them and pin it in place. Then she could get out the front uncontested.

葛 馮虚 (コペンハーゲン・スター)

The tentacle that sought to strike down the draconic magical girl failed to reach its target, as the space that contained the girl was pushed away, allowing Copenhagen Star to quickly grab her before the battlefield once more rebounded to its initial position. It was immediately clear that the girl she was now holding in her arms was a new contractee, which provided an explanation for the visible inexperience. A rather unfortunate time to have become a magical girl, but more assistance would definitely be appreciated against such a strange and fascinating beast; every test performed on it only served to reveal more interesting information.

"Are you well?" asked the greatcoat-clad magical girl, letting go of her younger colleague now that the immediate danger had successfully passed. It wouldn't do for them to be taken out so early in their career. However, that attack (Dragon Heat?) that had cut down the drill tentacle (another of the Negari's weapons to keep in mind) seemed to be rather effective, if the visible burns and reticence on the victimised tentacle was any indication. Was there a fire weakness to the creature? If so, then the new girl would be effective in dealing with it as quickly as possible.

Copenhagen Star quickly ran through the behaviours she had observed from the beast. While not particularly durable, any pieces of the Negari removed from the main mass would come to life and act separately of the body (or were possibly telepathically linked, but she lacked the tools to test that). It could also regenerate, if the lack of major wounds dealt to it by her initial application of torsion force was any indication. However, neither the division or regeneration had managed to take effect upon being struck by her fellow Star-themed magical girl, and the major difference between their two attacks appeared to be the intensity of the force applied to the body. It could be possible that powerful impacts were a weakness of its.

The vacuum tentacle was still occupied with the cedar she had pushed into its maw, and while it was facing difficulty working through the sheer size and prickly branches, it was quite clear that it could still take in such an object. Its progress was particularly slow, true, but it was still within its capabilities. The coat-wearing magical girl could not help but be impressed by the sheer flexibility of the beast. Much like so many of its brethren, it defied expectations time and time again.

She briefly entertained placing more into the vacuum, but the thought was immediately discarded as unnecessary. There was something else she wanted to test. If the monster was weak to fire as she had assumed, then how would it reach to being exposed to open flames beneath its outer layer? Was the inside of the vacuum tentacle equally as resistant as the outside, or was it more vulnerable?

"Miss, if it is not too difficult, could you please set the cedar on fire? The Negari appears to be weak to your flames."

If the tree was set on fire within the maw of the vacuum tentacle, how effective would it be? A constantly burning object in direct contact with the creature that was also difficult to dislodge, it would be akin to a human trying to swallow a large soup dumpling after unwisely choosing to try and eat it whole (without first drinking the hot soup content) and thus end up choking in pain and regret. She was truly curious to how much damage could be dealt to it, and the smoke could possibly have an effect as well.

Her violet eyes glanced up at the rooftop once more to check on her fellow Star-themed magical girl's progress. If the shrieking and jostling of the Negari was any indication, the direct blows to the central mass were especially painful for the abominable creature.

Hopefully her younger colleague would recognise that quickly.

The fairy probably would.

The girl walked on the side of the sidewalk closest to the buildings. Her phone vibrated in her hand. Not the steady vibration but the double beat meaning activity on one of Kuroe's accounts. She ignored it for the moment, not in any right state of mind to deal with anything but the situation at hand. Shizuri would rather be the only girl patroling in the whole district than in her current situation.

This thought was driven from her mind as she rounded one final corner. After a moments worth of standing in mild shock, she ducked back around the corner and scanned up and down the street. Shizuri pulled the marker from her pocket and bared her wrist, writing across it.

Let These Words Ignite

Black mist engulfed her for the briefest moment, stemming from those words and dissapating to leave her transformed into Kuroe, Magical Girl and writer. She rounded the corner, confident with her shoes tapping a cadence on the sidewalk. The girl paused next to a light pole and aimed with the marker before writing a single word.


She caught the pole with one hand as it fell, sliced clean across the base and wrote again.


It burned with a cool flame, changing shape into a long and slender blade over ten meters long. Sword in hand she continued the steady walk towards the ensuing battle, slow enough to give her a chance to observe before diving in.

There was a lot going on. Hana practically had to cross her eyes to absorb everything. The appearance of more magical girls only made her view that more interesting to watch. Hana was smiling. There was destruction, yes. There were lives at stake, yes. But there was also something oddly appealing about it all, and it drew Hana right in. The school girl hadn't had this much fun in a long time. Perhaps it was that same excitement, paired with everything else going on, that made her unable to notice the tentacles rushing towards her. It wasn't until one wrapped around her ankle that she took notice.

“Gah!”

Hana did not understand why the Negari had chosen to attack her. She wasn't the closest target, nor was she a threat. But trying to figure out what the Negari's motives were fell to the wayside as Hana focused on not becoming lunch. She held onto the fence with a white knuckle grip as the monster attempted to pull her off the roof. But that was just the first tendril of many. Several more slender appendages homed in on Hana's legs. They coiled around her knees and thighs, pulling in unison. Hana wasn't even able to see what was going on at this point. Her body was entirely horizontal and the only thing in her vision was a single galvanized pipe that belonged to the roof fencing. Hana was a strong woman, and even beat boys her own age at arm wrestling. But even she knew this was just buying herself time. More tentacles came for her, wrapping around her waist and shoulders. They took turns anchoring to her so that the other tendrils could get a better grip on the school girl. Hana could feel her grip weakening. All of her joints felt like they were on fire due to all the tugging incurred by the monster. She wanted to adjust her hands, but Hana knew the monster would take advantage of such an opening. The school girl was starting to sweat, and that only served to make her grip weaker still. But among the creeping sensations, the game of tug of war, and all the pain, Hana managed to see a bird. It did not look like a native bird. It looked a bit like a parrot. Perhaps it escaped a pet store, or did it escape its home with all the chaos going on? Hana didn't have long to wonder about the parrot. A few seconds later, she saw the bird moving away from her. Not because it was flying away, but because her hands had finally slipped off the fence.

She screamed.

Hana could feel the wind rushing past her as she plummeted. The school girl's decent slowed as more tentacles sprawled out to cocoon her body. It seemed like the creature needed its victims alive for some reason. Hana continued to resist the monster, but there was only so much you could accomplish by flailing in mid air. With her entire body covered, the tentacles started to work their way up her neck. Hana rolled her head around, but it didn't stop the hundreds of appendages from sliding all over her body. How humiliating, she thought. Not only was going to be eaten by a monster, but it was going to get captured on camera.

Karin sighed at her own predicament, as she watched the fairy still trying to devour her remaining lunch. Deciding to be more proactive, she wolfed down the remains of the battle, despite the meekly protests of her backpack stowaway. She felt somewhat comforted, after having let steam out and some food in her system, but she was still pretty much hungry.

And then some awfully racked was happening in the nearby districts. The containts of her backpack shuffled once more, the tiny chubby fairy trying to tell something.

"What NOW!?" She hissed at her own backpack, disregarding the oddity.

"Negari." Depardieu spoke. "Troublesome."

Karin gulped. It was going to be one of these shitty days, wasn't she? She quickly pieced together a excuse, marvelling herself at how ironic it was to put "spoiled food" as the case for her absence. She also gesticulated and acted out the part, quickly grabbing her utensils and then dashing to the bathroom, her other hand in her mouth as if she was going to unload the ill-filling food she had just eaten on the courtyard.

She sighed, as she pronounced the magical words.

"Ignite Heart...whatever." She sighed, making sure nobody looked. The toilette stall had also a window to exit, so she made short work of that, struggling slightly because her scarf got snagged. With deft jumps and a fat fairy on her shoulder, the 10-year old quickly navigated to where the menace was.

She reeled.

"Well, I no longer have appetite, it seems." She grimaced, the disgusting display of a Negari blob making her stomach freeze all of a sudden. Oh well, not like I can do much about it. She resigned herself. Depardieu had given her quite a lame power, had she? So, the ten year old cupped her hands around her mouth opening and hollered.

"Hey, listen up! If you touch me, I can make a bond with you and share senses and my magical energy, that oughta help!".

Now, this was the worst part. Waiting to see how the usual magical girl reacted. She hoped that they weren't too ego-conscious this time. Otherwise she could never fight the thing on her own... without resorting to THAT.

Hoshi (Shooting Star)

"That worked!" she breathed, fist snapping back to her cheek as quickly as it came, back in the guarding position. Just as she'd hoped, a nice, workable chunk had been ripped free by the impact, eyes and tendrils sprouting all over as the new mini-Negari had taken to life on its own. They could beat it like this!

Her eyes momentarily flickered between the two, wondering whether or not to bring them down one by one or to keep shearing more small fry off of the main body—

MOVE!

Tendou rarely, if ever, raised her voice. The fairy was a constant pool of calm in the back of Hoshi's often too breezy and rippling mind to draw upon.

That meant that when she yelled, Hoshi listened.

The girl immediately shot to the side, whirling as she did so to gauge the threat—

And her vision was promptly filled with fire, as a new comrade, one she hadn't seen before, cleaved through a drill-tipped tentacle that had been aimed directly for her heart. Wide eyes tracked the drill as it fell, dissipating, to the ground.

She had forgotten the cardinal second half of the maxim that everything martial arts boiled down to: Hit, but don't get hit.

Stupid.

Worry about it later, for now, your friend--

Right, the girl that had saved her. Shooting Star's head snapped to the right, just in time to see the warping of space once more as Copenhagen Star-san made a timely intervention to save her savior from another huge tentacle that careened down onto the roof, cracks spiderwebbing out from the impact.

As expected of Copenhagen Star-san, she grimly mused, an edge of dissatisfied self reflection creeping into her thoughts as she dashed forward and hammered the tentacle in question with a burst of high-speed punches. She can stay on top of everything no problem. I just stand around after I punch something—

'It may seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first.'

...She was right.

Tendou was always right about these things. Griping about not being good enough never got anybody anywhere. Keeping at it and improving yourself was key. And if a moment's indecision could mean a catastrophic mistake—

A scream rang out from nearby. A mass of tentacles had found one of the few survivors, and were intent on consuming her.

Then the Shooting Star would be indecisive no longer.

"Hang on!"

Rocketing over towards the source, she found the girl nearly engulfed by the writhing mass of tentacles and eyes, clearly struggling but incapable of outpowering the Negari intent on eating her alive. This was definitely a different method of absorption from the one they'd noticed earlier—

But also one she had a good idea of how to deal with.

Landing atop the mass and putting a few eyes of with her boots, she grit her teeth, grabbed two writing handfuls within her glowing gauntlets, and began to pull.

She may not have been the Jaws of Life, or as strong as Copenhagen Star-san, but the the kung-fu-grip-assisted power of any magical girl trying to literally rip a Negari apart was nothing to sneeze at.

"Keep... fighting!" she urged the girl within, reduced to a low growl through sheer exertion. "Don't... give... up!"

Inside the convenience store, the tentacles hissed, black smoke spewing from the points that the knives struck. Thrashing, the tendrils attempted to break free and regain their full range of movement, but they could not pull away from the blades keeping them stuck to the floor and walls. At least, they couldn't pull away yet, there was no telling how long it would take for the tentacles to manage to yank themselves free.

Still, it was likely there would be an ample opportunity for escape.

Akane barely had time to realize just how fast the tendril was coming for her when everything around her seemed to warp, somehow, and then she found herself in another girl's arms, eyes wide. It was Copenhagen Star, she'd intervened to keep the tentacle from hitting her! For a few moments, she could only sit there, wide-eyed, as she was in the arms one one of many girls she considered herself a fan of. Indeed, she found it difficult to speak.

"... H-H-Hi!" was all she managed for a few moments, until she realized that the other magical girl had asked if she was alright. "Oh, ah, ah-hah, um, I'm fine! Fine! It's just... I... er..."

Akane shook her head. No! There were people in danger. It wasn't think time to get too nervous about speaking to a magical girl! She was a magical girl now too, wasn't she?! Swiftly, she raised her sword, watching as the tentacle she had cut thrashed about. It soon enough fell limply to the side, black smoke pouring from the severed tip. The creature shrieked and hissed... So that meant that it had to be weak to fire! Before she could even voice this, however, it became clear that Copenhagen Star had already come to the same conclusion! Just as expected of her!

"R... Right!" Akane replied, nodding firmly. Right! Now... ranged attack, ranged attack... Something really direct, like...!

Thrust her sword forward, the fire still coursing up the blade seemed to build slightly.

"Dragon Flame!" she cried, unaware of how her tail was twitching as she did. Or, for that matter, that she even had a tail. The fire erupted from her blade and surged forward, immediately catching the tree in the vacuum-tentacle alight.

The reaction was almost instantaneous. Fire burst through the dark flesh of the Negari and ate away at it, the shrieking creature immediately raising its tentacle and dropping the burning tree to the concrete below. It had really hurt it!

The blob that had been sheared off of the rest of the creature scuttled down the wall. Akane thought she caught sight of it from the corner of her eye, but then, abruptly, it was gone as if it had never been there.

There wasn't much time to think on that, however, when another tentacle came sweeping towards both Copenhagen Star and herself. This time, she was quick on the draw, and her still-burning sword cut through the tentacle like butter. But then another rose to attack, and another... and another...

The tentacle that Shooting Star had pummeled exploded backwards from the impact, spraying goo across the rooftop before fading into black smoke.

The tentacles engulfing the civilian girl were proving harder to dislodge, however. Still, it seemed as if Shooting Star was making some small progress as she yanked at them, attempting to pull them apart... but it would have to be quick, as more tendrils were flowing up the mass to grasp at the magical girl, herself.

The main body sprouted a set of stubby legs, rising up as it did, beginning to move, attempt to retreat.

It couldn't be allowed to escape with all those people inside it! Someone would have to get them all out, cut into the Negari...

But how?!

Hana was not one to give up, but her situation was inescapable. With each passing moment, she was only getting more tired as her opponent grew in strength. Her limbs were burning, begging her to submit already. This feeling of helplessness wasn't alien to Hana, but in this moment she couldn't remember when she had encountered it before. Either way, it was looking like it was time to just accept the inevitable. In just a few more seconds, they would crawl over her eyes. Her eyelids fluttered shut as she prepared to accept her fate. But then something intervened. The tentacles were being pulled away from her body. Then she heard a voice.

"Keep... fighting!" A magical girl urged her, practically growling the words through her teeth. "Don't... give... up!"

Hana's eyes flew open. It was hard not to notice the magical girl in an oddly colored Prussian military uniform. Her trembling eyes scanned the girl's every feature, from her glowing gauntlets to her pain stricken face. Despite their predicament, there was something oddly glamorous about the magical girl. Hana would have been envious if she wasn't equally thankful for the girl's help. There was only one thing Hana could think of to repay her kindness.

“I'll keep fighting.” She whispered. “I won't give up.”

With the tentacles intertwined with each other so tightly, they almost behaved as a single wall. Hana's arms were just free enough to where she could slide her hands up by her shoulders. By herself she'd never be able to part the tentacles. But the magical girl's strength paired with her own herculean muscle made things move a lot easier. Hana wasn't sure where her extra stamina was coming from. Her body didn't ache any more. Perhaps all that food she ate earlier was starting to turn into energy? With one final shout, Hana was able to extend her arms all the way out, parting the tentacles down to her hips. With the magical girl holding the tentacles in place, Hana was able to lower her arms and push herself up. Her legs came free, but without her socks and shoes. A small price to pay for her freedom. At least her skirt stayed on. But this was not a time to celebrate. It was only a matter of time before the Negari summoned more reinforcements. Hana had put the magical girl in danger too long already. Without another thought, she dove between the tendrils and landed on the ground running. The ground felt strange on her bare feet, but it didn't slow her steps. Hana ran between two buildings before stopping. She was heaving, gasping for air. It probably wasn't very smart to exert all that energy after eating so much. Despite how her stomach felt, Hana couldn't help but smile a little bit. She had avoided winding up in that things belly. It was not by her own actions, but the rush from surviving a Negari attack was something Hana found to her liking. Yet at the same time, Hana had a new appreciation for magical girls. It didn't really matter if they were fame seekers or not, people who can go up against disgusting monsters like that really do deserve to be respected, boring or not. That was actually the one thing Hana felt a little bad about. She hadn't thanked the magical girl for saving her. But was it wise to go back out there? Would she just get ensnared again?

“Well now, aren't you an interesting girl?”

A voice. It sounded like it belonged to an older woman, but Hana couldn't see anyone around. The voice didn't even seem like it came from any particular direction, which made it difficult to isolate. The only living creature in the alleyway was a parrot. It looked like the same parrot she saw moments ago.

“Hello?”

The parrot looked away from Hana and flew off. Well, that was to be expected. It would be pretty strange if a parrot started to talk to her. But Hana had other concerns at the moment. She really didn't want to return home without her shoes. Maybe if the magical girls beat the Negari, her shoes would pop out like a drop in some role playing game? It also might be an opportunity to thank that magical girl who saved her. Regardless, it seemed like sticking round the monster battle was her best option. But the Negari seemed to be moving, so Hana would have to catch up to it. Without getting too close, of course...

葛 馮虚 (コペンハーゲン・スター)

The effectiveness of the newborn magical girl's flames in harming the Negari had exceeded her initial expectations. It had also served to confirm her hypothesis on what weaknesses were inherent to the abomination; it was very clear from her observations that the use of fire (both magical and mundane in nature, given that the burning tree was a source of harm as well) was a vulnerability of the creature, and would also retard its regenerative properties as well. However, there was still enough a degree of resistance that prevented them from consistently pushing their advantage, and even with knowledge of the Negari's weaknesses, the relentless assault it was engaging in was a major obstacle in its successful neutralisation.

She needed to deal with that immediately.

Space rent before her, and Copenhagen Star found the discarded cedar (still burning) shifting 'closer' (in that from her perception, the space which the fallen flora had occupied provided a larger visual image) so that she could successfully 'grab' it, removing it from its previous spot in reality which snapped back immediately the moment she released her powers. There was no time to breathe to alleviate the pain of the sudden, rapid exertion, as it was necessary to fight off the tentacle assault without fail. The tree would serve its purpose once more in deterring the tentacles, although this time rather than becoming trapped within a vacuum, it would instead become a different sort of weapon.

A burning club, to be precise.

"Pursue the main body," she said to the newborn magical girl beside her, even as she swung the burning tree at the mass of tentacles with greater force than a batter at Kōshien. "Your flames will be useful in neutralising it, and if necessary, accept Paperbag Mask's offer of assistance."

It was possibly a heavy burden to place upon a rookie to the magical girl world, but it was better off (and safer) for the younger girl to be active in striking at the main mass of the Negari rather than being reactive in protecting herself against the tentacles. If she were to lose concentration in the former, the only loss would be in the amount of damage being dealt to the creature, but for the latter, injury could actually come to the girl. Copenhagen Star would stall the tentacles herself, and after all, given the presence of Paperbag Mask (likely one of the younger girls in the local area, if her assumptions from images posted to Twitter were in any way correct), the newborn would not be alone.

And as Shooting Star was still occupied with rescuing the civilian girl (she wasn't sure if the rescue had been successful yet, her battlefield awareness tended to take a 'nosedive' when she was being attacked by tentac -whoosh - that was a close one, she needed to swing faster), there needed to be somebody there to pursue the Negari and prevent it from escaping with the captured civilians. The disappearance of the torn-off mass was something that also needed to be followed up upon, but that would need to wait for later, unfortunately.

"In any case, go, I'll handle this. And if you can, test to see if your sword can create a large enough incision in the flesh to remove the civilians."

Another experiment delegated to a colleague.

Now that she was free to escape, Magical Girl "the Reaper" did exactly that: dash over to the door and... wait awkwardly for the automatic glass to slide open. In a hectic fight against an enormous Negari, patiently waiting for something to open seemed to be a bad choice but... what else was she going to do? She was hardly equipped to break safely through glass, and anything else was full of monstrous tentacles.

Outside, other magical girls had already come to the rescue: at least one unfamiliar one and another she recognised from her magazines, and probably the one responsible for the inexplicably moving tree. It was good to know that she didn't have to take down something of this size and on her own, with nothing more than a supply of knives to use for it.

But maybe she could still be useful in another way? If its tentacles just split into more tentacles, then its body would have to have a weak point. And with more space to move in, she could keep dodging it whilst trying to identify where the others could strike that wasn't "the big part..."

Once again jumping off the very things aiming to ensnare her, Noriko bounced her way behind the front line and looked at the Negari. If it had a physical weakpoint...

"Two prowlers just over the crest, Anyone else want to clear them out? some heavy's plz..."
Risa spoke with clear crisp English with a slight accent as the fingers on her left hand danced around the left side of her keyboard, whilst her right hand traces short and deliberate motions with the mouse, each one barely moving a few centimeters across the hardwood tabletop... With her headphones clinging firmly on her head and ears, there's no wonder she has'nt noticed her iPhone beepin and flashin on the corner table...

"haah~"

Marza sighs as she took it upon herself to answer the phone... She fluttered over to the battleship grey device and using her bare feet, manipulated the touch screen display with grace as would a dancer on a glass dance floor.

"Yo~ Ris... Got a blob down 'ere literally on the store... It's probably already gobbled up all those chicken you so liked..."

Lisa's voice droned through the phone...

"It's Marza, So how is it looking down there? Buildings on fire? desiccated corpses everywhere?"

Well certainly not something one would expect from someone as adorable as she is but that's Marza for you...

"Wot... no! Nothing as serious as that... unfortunately... Though there's already like a dozen magical girls here already but the thing seems to be non the worse for wear cept for a few bits cut off..."

Lisa replied, the faint rattle of combat audible in the background to Marza's ears...

"Right... I'll get Risa of her arse or at least try to anyways... stay out of sight and observe what happens, Ya know Risa's gonna get upset if you off yourself without her to see it..."

"Yeah... yeah... ain't gonna be able to do much without any weapons anyways... Though better tell her to make it quick else we'd miss all the fightin..."
And with that the two ends their conversation with the fairy fluttering over towards Risa's gaming station... Luckily for the fairy it seems she had a very good timing with the assault Risa was ingame having wound down... The girl took a glance at the fairy...

"Sup!"

She says in greeting...

"Fight's a possibility..."

Marza says as she lands on the table top and taking a sit on the edge of the keyboard...

"Nice... So she's found some eh... how big a fight are we talkin?"

The girl asks in reply...

"Big enough that there's apparently already a dozen other girls in there fighting the thing..."

The fairy replies...

"Shit... that bad?"

"Yeah... and it's also apparently eaten all the chicken you wanted at the corner store..."

Marza adds with a smirk... She was getting to know Risa more and more and she knows this will get the girl fired up even hotter than she is right now...

"...Light me up..."

Risa says and Marza's smirk turns into a grin...

"Ignite Heart"

The fairy adds as the room is covered in magenta light, after which Risa drops down to stand on her house's floorboards as The Major...

"I burn..."

She says as a smile crosses her features. She blurs slightly and a split of her appears beside her... Both look at each other and nod... With the first one striding off out the room and eventually out the small house they called home...

"Seriously... You're leaving a primary split to continue playing?"

Marza sounds incredulous as she follows the one that strode out the house...

"Course I will... It's incredibly convenient and if worse comes to worse I could always default to her..."

Risa says as she blurs again to produce a piece of equipment... a bicycle...

"Oh come now... this mode of transport isn't exactly flattering..."

Marza commented as she settled herself onto Risa's hat as they started hurtling down the narrow streets to get to the battlefield...

"Well... Bicycles can be cute..."

Risa comments...

"Huh... I thought you didn't do cute..."

Marza jokes back with a grin plastered on her tiny face, visible to Risa on the bike's rear view mirror...

"Oh come on... I CAN still do cute"

Was the magical girl's reply...

After a few minutes of riding while also splitting herself into both primary's and secondaries they arrive at a corner a few buildings down from the site of the battle... Meeting the bicycle troops that The Major have requisitioned from the magical reserves was Lisa... A secondary split that have been detached from Risa for so long she's developed a subtle difference in thinking processes and thus slight changes in personality...

"Oi... what took you so long?"

Slight...

"Shut yer yap... We're here now aren't we?... So what're we dealing with?"

Risa said as she leads the troop off the bikes and on to their feet...

"Big blobby thing that looks like it's straight out of some hentai... tentacles and all... In fact the entire bloody scene with the girls and all looks like it's straight from an eroge or something..."

Lisa explains as she leads the now section sized group towards the fight...

"Seems like fire does some good to it and general smashing and hitting... Though the main body does contain a whole lotta people... alive or dead, I don't know... though everyone else in there seems optimistic... better play it safe..."

She adds as they finally turn round the corner and the battle comes into view to Risa and the rest of her section...

"Well... definitely not the battlefield I prefer... Oh look... it's moving towards us..."

And what IT is was a massive glop with stubby little legs trying to shuffle along away from the rest of the girls hacking at it... Risa stood forward, took a deep breath and then...

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS..."

she bellowed...

"Shit... now I want Gandalf's powers... Right, let's start with something simple and least likely to accidentally blow up the people inside... HOT LEGION!"

And with that last phrase spoken more as a command, the secondary and primary splits behind Risa's default were equipped with riot shields and blow torches...

"If it doesn't like heat... We'll make an oven..."

She uttered as her troops now formed a shield wall accented with high temperature spikes of torch fire... And then they advanced... they didn't run, they didn't jog... they walked, slowly and deliberately, the wall of girls, metal and fire moved forward, blocking the escape path of the beast, searing any stray tendril that came within torch range...

"Oi... any of you girls know how to get in this thing? We gotta get the townsfolk out somehow... And I'm seriously uncomfortable taking a blade to it with my hamfisted approach to things..."

Risa asked in general...

"Oh... that's awfully humble for you..."

Marza teased which caused Risa to roll her eyes...

"Shut it... go... flutter about and be annoying somewhere else... or keep a lookout..."

Risa says and much to her relief the fairy decides to bugger off to an elevated position on the roof of the nearest structure...

"Oh yeah, almost forgot..."

"The Battle has been joined"

---

Deployed:

Primaries: 3

• One as default commander on the field.
• Two to stay at home and generally keep it occupied.
• Three to be a backup commander on the field...

Secondaries: 8

• To form the preliminary engagement team...

Special: 1

• Lisa... a slightly different version of Risa basically

"R-right!" responded Akane, watching as Copenhagen Star used the burning tree to sweep away the assaulting tentacles. That's right... help the civilians escape, get them out of that huge, blobby thing's body... Taking a deep breath she broke into a sprint, trying to find a good angle of attack. If the could just cut open that thing's body, maybe the civilians could escape!

The blob's advance was halted by the wall of heat that had surrounded it, and its stubby legs suddenly rooting into the ground... and then tearing up through the concrete to form a wall of tentacles, a barrier to try and keep its main body from harm and slow down the attackers.

The tentacles that were burning away from Copenhagen Star's tree-based assault fell to the ground and dissipated into black smoke, but more kept joining them. The tips of the tentacles twisted into drills and began to rain down an assault on the magical girl.

The Ripper's move to try and spot weak points revealed something interesting. The blob's innards were straining to their limits to hold all the people inside, and a thin line of blue seemed to mark one of the most strained sections of the Negari's blobby form...

Interestingly, the blobby Negari did have a vulnerable point, but one that seemed altogether too large for her to easily access it with just knives. Her arms simply weren't long to get much of it in a single cut. If she could mark it out for the others then the fight would be over in a few more blows at worst...

Being behind the wall, there were no obstacles for Noriko when it came to selecting her target--only her own aim. Not that the lightly-armed magical girl wanted to stick around here for long before it got her from behind... so two quick throws later, as on target as they needed to be given that only she could see the seam itself, the knife-wielding girl was cutting through one of the tentacles in the wall and rolling through it.

Hopefully, not getting hit by friendly fire.

"This is The Ripper! The Negari has a weakpoint stretching between the two knives, cut it there!"

葛 馮虚 (コペンハーゲン・スター)

The newbie magical girl and the Ripper appeared to have the situation regarding the trapped civilians mostly handled on their end, and although the certainty of their success was unknown to Copenhagen Star, she hoped that the discovery of the weak point would turn the odds in their favour. Being able to cut into its body would also assist in satisfying her curiosity in regards to the composition of the monster; however, that was the duty of her fellow warriors, not hers. She needed to - whoosh - survive the assault of the tentacles first, and at the rate the drills were forming, she needed to attack with more than simply a burning tree.

Her arms heaved one last time, throwing the burning cedar straight into the mass of tentacles. Barely a second later, she was already moving back, space shifting to allow her to rapidly pull away from the tendrils. Ten metres was a good enough distance, she decided, allowing her breaths to settle down. Keeping up the current attack would only lead to her own downfall. She needed to get rid of them all without delay.

"Try your super move, boss."

It was a possibility that she could undertake. The high-power attack that she usually kept in reserve as a trump card was likely to deal heavy damage to the tentacles, but at the cost of draining her entirely. It was, unfortunately, a 'finisher', as others would have called it, meaning that it was best used if she knew it would bring an end to the fight. In the current situation, her use of it would be to take out the tentacles in one single blow, thus providing more time for the other magical girls to save the civilians.

She weighed the pros and cons in her mind.

She would do it.

Copenhagen Star stretched her arms out. A black ball, twisting violently as the very fabric of spacetime distorted around its shaking mass of darkness, coalesced in her hands. Gravitational disturbances fluctuated around as the amount of energy being condensed grew. She could feel herself drain away as she built up power. It was painful. Exhausting. But this was the most optimal decision that could be made.

Space would rend before her.

She fired. A choked gasp for air left her as she dropped to one knee.

The ball of darkness, reality distorting in its wake, flew towards the mass of tentacles.

All her energy was in there. In that beautiful manifestation of power.

Every tentacle gone in one blow.

Things around the convenience store looked like they were being taken care of, if barely. Things didn't appear to have gone well for the store, however and regardless of any outcome he would have to search elsewhere for food. Maybe a few of the other girls would want to go out to eat after, there was one or two that she didn't recognize.

Copenhagen Star gave her the opening that she needed. Kuroe wasn't a front line fighter, not unless she had to be. It might be helpful to hold the Negari in one place. She stuck the sword into the ground and picked up a luckily unbroken bottle of some sort of soft drink. The girl wrote a handful of words on it before throwing it at the base of the blob.



It shattered and encased it in a mass of brightly coloured ice. She snatched up the blade and struck a pose, shouting.

"Go for it!"

Shrieking tentacles burned and fell away, even as more came to try and take their place, the burning cedar eventually falling to the ground after many of the tendrils were left to dissipate into black smoke. And still they wound themselves into drills, preparing to strike at Copenhagen Star.... Until the magical girl made her response. That ball of twisting, warping darkness, distorting the world around it as it fired and tore towards the tentacles that were making to strike her once more... as it passed, they all twisted towards it and were ripped apart, billowing out into black smoke. In a single blow, every tentacle on that side of the Negari was destroyed.

The remaining tentacles immediately moved in a bit to compensate for so many losses, but were suddenly encased in ice. The blobby creature let out a shriek of what some could almost call frustration, if Negari were even capable of feeling such things.

Akane heard one of the girls, and she could see where the knives had hit. The Ripper had shown them a weakness, and now... Now she had to do everything she could to get there! The Negari was stunned, most of its tentacles lost and the rest frozen! This was her chance! Taking a deep breath and crouching low, the dragon knight magical girl tensed and then leapt, careening into the air. Her armored boots let out an unpleasant squishy sound as they hit the shrieking creature, but thankfully she didn't sink into it. Flames blazed across Dragon Edge once more as she sprinted to the first knife and drove the thick sword directly into the Negari's flesh!

The creature let out a piercing screech as the flaming blade hissed through it, Akane letting out a cry of her own as she sprinted across the monster's body and burned her way through its frame. By the time she had reached the other knife, she had cut the Negari entirely open across its back!

The Negari let out one final scream before a strange, starry, black-and-white fluid poured from it with the black smoke. With it came the humans trapped inside, flooding out, still unconscious as they rolled down the sides of the deflating creature. Akane lost her balance and tumbled off to the right with a yelp of surprise.

Soon enough, the Negari's insides had emptied, leaving a limp sack that was slowly dissipating into nothing but black smoke.