"Ah? Er..."

The other girl had suddenly gotten very close, and Akane couldn't help but feel a little startled over it. She hesitated for a few moments before quickly tapping out a message in response to the tweet, asking the person who had sent it(an individual who had decided to call themselves 'AmeAmeAme' and used an avatar depicting a character from a recent anime) just where the Negari was. It only took a moment for the response to come in.

"yamashita's it's by yamashita's there's magical girls too"

Yamashita's?! That wasn't even that far... there was a Negari that close by? It was hard to say that there hadn't been more of the creatures appearing recently but still... If there were magical girls there already they'd stop anyone from getting hurt, right?! That had to be the case. It had to be. Right?

@Raineh Daze

---

"After I got..." Mitsuko narrowed her eyes slightly. She hated admitting to losing, that much was well-known, as was her typical distance from her fairy. "...After we stopped fighting, the Negari showed up and wouldn't leave me alone. Happy?"

The magical girl folded her arms across her chest. She looked like she hadn't gotten to sleep, either... wait, had she been fighting Negari for the whole night? It was certainly a possibility, given how exhausted she had seemed and how beaten up she looked. On top of getting in a fight with another magical girl, had she also been fighting for a whole night? That seemed ridiculous, even for an established magical girl... but it was hard to say such a thing wasn't a possibility when the stubborn existence known as Shadowrender Mitsuko was involved.

@NightinGem@Mercurial

"Ah, thank you for the information," Noriko said, brightly stepping backwards. There might already be girls on the scene, but if someone was able to comment about both the Negari and the magical girls there was no sense in taking risks. After all, anything that stuck around for long enough to get noticed was obviously going to put up a pretty strong fight; she'd read about enough encounters like that and fought in a few of her own to work out the problem, "Now, ah, if you would keep this a secret..."

With nobody else in the street focusing on the two, the traditional girl stepped back and raised one hand to her chest. In normal circumstances Noriko would have been the first to shout out the phrase at the top of her lungs... but with no Negari actually here that would cause an unreasonable panic. She would just have to stick to conversation volume. "Ignite Heart."

The transformation was near instantaneous: one second, a long-girl dressed in a kimono; the next a barefoot girl with a tight outfit and short hair. A brief second was spent adjusting the ribbon tied to her wrist--"Hawthorne, refrain from antagonising the other fairies again"--and then she was eyeing up the nearby rooftops.

Quite unlike Kyoka's maiden voyage, there was no fancy ability involved in her ascent, simply enhanced abilities and honed reflexes. It wasn't brute force that got the Ripper to the nearby roofs; she made her way up by kicking off the opposing wall and catching the desired lip, then hauling herself up as if it was nothing. She might have been one of the physically weakest magical girls, but it wasn't good to forget the comparison. Then she was off--heading straight towards the diner that she had been to a handful of times in the past year.

Indeed, there were other magical girls there, including the new one from earlier, and an oversized Negari as she had been expecting--and was already examining for structural defects. It looked like her knives might not be enough to cut this apart... well, not quickly. She could at least tell everyone else where to aim.

"Oh my, this is a large one," Noriko noted, feet swinging from the diner's edge, "Once I have a good look at it, I can tell you where it will be weak."

@Duoya@Feyblue@Shagranoz

---

The ground was beginning to shake. Kyōka could hear something loudly scraping across the pavement, like a blade against concrete. There were several loud crashes, and a car alarm rang in the distance. Then, suddenly, out from a side street, an enormous creature covered in pincer-like claws rushed forth, skidding to a stop as it turned its giant head to face them. Kyōka's blood froze in her veins as the beast let out a mighty roar, and she barely even heard her pink Senpai telling her to stay back - not as if that was necessary. She'd just steeled herself to fight, but... but... what even was there that she could do against THAT?! It was the size of a bus! No, maybe even bigger than a bus! It looked like its skin was made of solid stone, and it could probably crush her with a flick of its giant pincer-arm, even with her body's reinforcement!

"Aegis, calm down!" Ariel bellowed in her ear, and she jumped, momentarily in her surprise forgetting that she should have been afraid. "Nobody's expecting you to bring that thing down head on. But there are things you can do. Those powers I gave you aren't useless. If you use your head, you can definitely find a way to help!"

She took a deep breath. Ariel was right, of course. If she lost her head here, then she'd only slow the others down. She had to think... how could she help them? Just as she was thinking about this, though, somebody suddenly shouted from behind her. Another Magical Girl? She said she'd be able to find the creature's weaknesses... Then that meant that it had weaknesses, right?

The Negari began to scuttle forward, and in an instant, Kyōka had her answer. Its movements were bug-like in nature, with its long, carapace-covered body being impelled forward by several thin, spiky back legs. None of its back limbs looked particularly sturdy, though - at least, not in comparison to the weight they had to support. Plus, weren't the joints of most arthropods exposed underneath their outward shells? She distinctly remembered pulling some cooked crab legs out of their sockets without much difficulty when she'd gone to a seafood restaurant...

"I... I think I have an idea! Try to keep it busy!" She called out to the others, before bracing herself against her right leg, feeling the power within it surging up to the level it had been at before. As the Negari drew closer, she leaped, trying to angle herself to the side as much as possible.

A blast of purple light formed under her foot, and she rocketed to the side of the approaching creature, flipping completely head-over-heels in mid air. Crap, she'd used way too much energy! She was pretty sure she'd crash through a building at any second now! She had to jump again! Bracing herself on thin air, she leaped with whatever power she could charge, immediately halting and reversing her previous momentum sending her shooting straight back towards... Towards...

...She hit the ground running, landing only a few feet away from the Negari. Its back set of eyes immediately refocused, staring straight at her. She gulped, seeing a long, bladed leg rising directly up to intercept her. Frantically raising her right hand, she did the first thing that came to mind. The mental image of a crab's leg being tugged from its body blinked back into her mind.

A symbol of a violet palm formed in front of her, and all at once, the air around her suddenly came rushing inward. She ducked, and one of the Negari's legs came flying right past her head, only narrowly missing decapitating her. But, even if it was stretched upward, she hadn't quite managed to knock it out of its socket... She just needed a little more force!

...She raised her left hand, pointing her palm upward as her eyes caught a glimpse of a slightly different hue of black in the joint between the Negari's hard shell and its rock-like leg. Another purple sigil appeared, and then-

An explosion of force ripped outward from her, slamming into the joint. There was a sickening, fleshy squelch, and the Negari's limb tore partially from its body, snapping back around and slamming into its own back before flopping back down, hanging by a tendril of something that looked somewhere between blood and flesh, a nondescript and disgusting black ooze that trailed behind it as it staggered. It howled and swept out one of its front claws, forcing Kyōka to hastily jump back to avoid being splattered herself. She resisted the urge to vomit at the disgusting spectacle she'd created, while the Negari stumbled for a moment before re-balancing itself on its remaining limbs.

"Nicely done! A little more like that, and we might be able to bring it down!" Ariel cheered encouragingly in her ear, but Kyōka was too busy trying to come to terms with the fact that she'd just done something incredibly stupid.

"That... That thing almost pasted me! Why did I think that was a good idea? I think I'm gonna be sick... Even if it worked, that was still so gross!" She squeaked.

Okay, that's... bigger than I expected. Midori looked around as the Negari charged out. She'd been expecting something the size of a bear, maybe a rhinoceros, tops. This thing was large enough that "large" simply didn't compute. It took Megumi basically bellowing in her ear to get her attention.

"Midori, you have to move! Get out of there!"

Midori rolled to the side just in time to avoid being crushed under a massive claw. Bless her dumb little heart, her fairy had gotten her head in the game. She took stock of the situation. That armor looks pretty thick. I don't think I can penetrate it, at least on the first try. I'm going to have to make my own weak spot. She dug her heels in, took careful aim, and cried out, "Thunder Cannon!"

The Negari took the blast in the flank, but its armor absorbed some of the hit. A decent amount of black goop oozed from the wound, and Midori flashed a fierce smile. She'd hurt it. A few more shots like that, and it would be down for the count.

Shizuri slouched in her hammock tracing characters on the screen of her tablet with her finger. Then her stomach rumbled. She reached out towards the pizza box and barely managed to nudge the lid open before it tumbled, empty, to the floor.

"FID!"

There was an undignified squeek from the top of one of the bookcases and a small head emerged with spots of pizza sauce on the chin.

"Ummm... hey. I think you're out of food here and... uhhh... You're late for your patrol anyway."

Shizuri craned her neck to look at the clock on the wall before climbing down from the hammock and tossing her tablet onto the desk. She strode to the window and pulled it open. With a black marker pulled from her pocket, she wrote the word transform on her hand.



Still wreathed in the inky black tendrils and holding the marker, Kuroe stepped through the window onto the balcony. With the marker, she wrote a poem onto the air.

Featherlight footsteps
Dancing through the empty sky
A walkway of stars

Then the magical girl stepped out into the sky, moving through the air in leaps and bounds over the rooftops.

Shiina stood poised, ready to strike the second the Negari showed it's deformed physique around the corner, preparing to tie it in ribbons while Midori shocked the monstrosity. Seconds dragged on, trickling by like the sweat that dripped off her skin. Ribbons were hanging loosely, already at their maximum length, and Shiina was already about to launch them when she saw the hulking Negari (Who looked far larger when it was so close) tumble around the corner, flinging a car into a building with only slight discomfort. Shiina was just about to send the contorting around the muscular exoskeleton or negative emotion, when she heard a voice ring out behind her.

"Oh my, this is a large one. Once I have a good look at it, I can tell you where it will be weak."

Snapping her head, Shiina could see the form of The Ripper behind her, wielding two knives and addressing the small group. Shiina would have squealed in delight that her hero was there, speaking to her, if there wasn't a massive monster seconds away from smashing her to pieces. However, her voice inadvertently distracted Shiina, and by time she turned her head back to the Negari, it was already halfway across the block! ...But it wasn't moving? Straining her eyes slightly, Shiina manages to see Aegis barely dodge one of the Negari's legs fly past her head. Shiina prepared to use her ribbons to shield Aegis, but before she managed to fling her ribbons to surround her, Aegis thrust her right hand towards one of the Negari's legs, and in a flash of brilliant purple light, the limb she was targeting erupted out of it's socket, hanging on by a thread of starry-black ooze and dark meat. Shiina sighed slightly, happy that her new friend was safe and still had her head. To her side, Shiina heard Midori cry out "Thunder Cannon!", as a ball of blue light, so bright it hurt to look at, flew from her hand straight into the Neagri's side, more of the starry liquid pouring out of the fresh wound.

Shiina smiled sadistically as the monster cried out in an amalgamation of pain and rage. Midori and Aegis were incredibly powerful if they managed to take such large chunks out of the Negari. Shiina quickly lowered herself down from the building, deciding to play the support role. Just as she made it in range, she sent one of her ribbons into the wound that Midori had created, twisting the cloth inside of the creatures flesh before strengthening it and flailing it around inside the creature. The resulting wail turned Shiina's smile into a sneer, and she sent the two remaining ribbons to restrain the monstrosities primary claw, clenching like a vice. She had hoped to crack the creature's exoskeleton, but it seemed that she couldn't leave a mark. Shiina began to pant heavily as she poured mana into the restraining ribbons, whispering into the air the name of her most used technique.

"Gleipnir Crush..."

Ogata clutched the side of her head at the sudden drain of mana, swearing under her breath.

"Whenever you fight a Negari, I always feel like I should sign you up for an anger management class or something. Warn me next time you use one of your moves!"

"Not a good time, Ogata!"

Shiina knew that the ribbons wouldn't last long, especially after the Negari managed to flip cars with little strain. However, it only took a few minutes for her ribbons to regenerate, and they would heal even faster if she poured mana into them. The main point of restraining the Negari was to distract it long enough that the others could land a few hits in, and Ripper could find it's weakness. Eyes glaring, Shiina focused entirely on keeping the Negari restrained, only absentmindedly swinging the ribbon inside of the creature around. She turned her head slightly, watching Ripper in her peripheral vision. If her fan sites had anything to say, she had quite the reputation and a number of fans (including Shiina). You couldn't get that kind of fame easily, and Shiina wanted to see her in person - after all, you can only feel a shred of how strong someone is from video, and Shiina was excited to see what an experienced magical girl could do!

@shagranoz@Feyblue@Raineh Daze

"... Haaaah?!"

Akane was rendered speechless when the girl standing before her suddenly transformed and became... That was The Ripper! It was definitely Magical Girl The Ripper! there was no mistaking her when she saw that outfit and jumped away. That was... that was incredible! That was almost impossibly incredible! The redhead felt her heart hammering in her chest with excitement, her hands trembling... Was that real? Was that really real? She wasn't dreaming, right? Akane pinched herself and confirmed the fact as she did. She wasn't dreaming at all. This was real. This was actually happening to her.

She took a deep breath, trembling, and then shook her head. What could she do now after that? What could she... what could she...

... Maybe... If there were people in trouble... if it was a large Negari, would the magical girls be able to keep an eye on everyone? And... and she knew where the fight was... if she could see it...

... Against all her instincts, Akane took a deep breath and ran straight for danger, kicking herself for her own stupidity the whole time.

@Raineh Daze@shagranoz@Feyblue@Duoya

---

Something seemed a little strange, even as the Negari was clearly injured. Perhaps the fairies would feel that the atmosphere felt a little... dark? As if there was, perhaps, not only one Negari...

---

Saki wasn't fond of cram school. It left it her more exhausted than regular school did. Her body had all this pent up energy to spare, but her brain felt numb. A nice jog around the campus sounded nice, even if they would reprimand her for breaking curfew.

The commute back to the dorms always felt like an eternity. The aisle seat next to her was stained with what she assumed with cherry soda. Anytime someone passed by a sweet aroma wafted into the air. She rested her head against the window, which was cool and refreshing. She could feel the faint rush of wind against her skin as it filtered through the loose window seals. She tried to just focus on the rumble of the bus, they subtle changes in how it shook the seats. Almost like meditating, it eased her mind.

An automatic diesel is still a diesel. No amount of padding could mask the intense power that resonates along the vehicles frame like a tuning fork. The bus seat thrummed in tune with the engine, but the vibrations felt off. She had been riding this bus home for the past weeks since she enrolled in East Umitori. She liked to think she knew it well.

There! It did it again

About a week ago the engine began to shift gears more roughly. The lurch is sent through the bus was becoming stronger. Despite her best efforts to giver her brain some rest, her mind wandered and old habits resurfaced.

A bad gasket or seal maybe?

A little fairy rustled inside the pouch of Saki's backpack and yawned, derailing her train of thought.

"Did you have a nice nap?" Though small and meek, Saki's voice was clear. Her lisp was still obvious but smoother. She had been practicing. Her hands still reflexively gestured a few signs out of habit.

Shia rubbed her eyes and looked up at her partner. "Oh yes! I needed that," she said with an earnest smile.
"I can't imagine anything more boring than watching you read and study silently for two hours." Her matter-of-fact way of speaking left no hints of mockery or sarcasm. Shia's tired expression said it all; she didn't even need to speak. She stretched, then let her arms hang over the lip of the pouch. "I don't know how you put up with it."

"Begrudgingly." Saki returned with a smirk. Such small lips were harder to read, but Shia always spoke with the same even rhythm, so it wasn't hard to follow along once Saki got used to it.

"Wanting to become a public speaker is admirable, but you need to be able to talk louder than whisper, if you want people to hear you. Your lisp is getting better at least. Would you like me to praise you for it?"

Saki might have taken offense and glowered if it had been anyone else, but she knew Shia was trying to be encouraging in her own way, no matter how patronizing she seemed. Shia was sincere about nearly everything she did or said. It was refreshing in a way, if a bit grating sometimes.

"We're going on patrol tonight. It's been a week since we last went out, and you need to practice your magic as much as you do your trigonometry."

A long sigh heaved from Saki's chest. It's hard enough to keep up with schoolwork by default. How do those other magical girls keep up with it all?

With a lurch, the bus slowed to a stop. Sake could feel the frame start to lower slightly as the air brakes engaged Saki offered her fairy an ambivalent, pensive look, the uncertainty plain on her face, but eventually gave a meek nodded.

"We'll do it together!"

---

Yesterday...
It was a serene and peaceful afternoon. The atmosphere was warm and comfortable, and and birds chirped in unison. Yuu would be found sitting along the banks of a small river in an ecological park within the busy Umitori City. During the past few days, she had to deal with loads of homework and tons of monstrous Negari that each wanted to claim the town as their own. Recently, these creatures had been loitering around more often, as a result of who-knows-what.

She definitely needed a break. The weather was perfect for fishing, anyway. Curious, Alex peered at the river as Yuu cast the bait. The two of them had been thoroughly watching the river's surface for ripples ever since.

"Yuu, do you think that we are going to reel something in?"

"I do hope so, Alex. My luck's been rotten for the past few days!"

Just then, the line began to shake violently.

"Look, Alex! I got a fish!"

Suddenly, the line began to shake even more violently. Ripples in the water began to become more and more common. The hook then rose, having been impaled into a strange squid-like creature. The only difference was that it had large and emotive crimson eyes. The creature seemed to be giving Yuu an angry glare.

"N-now that seems like a big fish!"

The creature began to rise, revealing more features of its body. It possessed a muscled humanoid body and long claws. As it rose, water was displaced in liters over its body. As soon as all the water had disappeared, the abomination had been fully revealed. It had a height that matched the vast length of the river, and its mere shadow engulfed Yuu in uncomfortable darkness. The punitive fishing rod was entirely yanked away from the young girl's hands.



Yuu had just reeled in a giant Spanish-speaking squid-person. Great job, girl!



The colossal Squidward then brought his arms down to smash the small girl that had interrupted his slumber. However, his hands would not get to grind human flesh. They simply descended upon the rocks and grasses lining the river's shore, creating a large gust of dust and debris. The titan would then be greeted by a hooded figure who was levitating in the air. Her eyes did not lock with the giant's, but she did mean business.

"Hey, we could settle for a peaceful resolution, righ-"



The giant obviously wanted to settle things by force. Furthermore, the issue wasn't about somebody's afternoon slumber getting disrupted anymore. The menace would then attempt to grab the girl, but she flew right through his muscular arm. The girl's miniature companion followed after her frantically.

"That's right, Yuu. Take advantage of your size!"

As soon as the titan's attack was finished, the girl had managed to widen the distance between the two combatants. When the monster had turned around, the girl would have prepared for a counter-attack. A multitude of air discs began to cut into the large creature's body. Despite him having such a menacing figure, it wasn't too hard to cleave through his body. The girl attacked relentlessly, and the giant's vital points were hacked at rapidly. Eventually, the giant would begin to succumb to the pain.



The titan's final scream would be heard throughout the city.

---

The following day had been uneventful so far.

Yuu walked home, coming from a nearby convenience store. She had bought some maki for her own enjoyment. The events of yesterday were still very clear in her mind, and she had become increasingly stressed. She definitely needed something to savor. The street was unusually empty, so Alex was keeping Yuu company on her walk home.

"Wow, you did great yesterday!"

"I know, Alex. All that brute really did was throw his weight around. I didn't even want to kill him, to be honest..."

"Come on Yuu, it's your duty! The world is counting on talented people like you! Besides, if a weaker magical girl were to try to fight him, things would end up badly!"

"I know that I'm talented. Killing just isn't my thing."

Their conversation was interrupted by a cacophony of garbled screams and ferocious roars.

"Did you hear that? There's another rampa-"

"Yes, there's another rampaging monster that is seeking to enslave humanity or do something much worse, Alex. The maki will have to wait."

Yuu then proceeded to dash around the streets, following the location of the howling and shouting. She was right, for the maki did have to wait.

---

Yes, the first Negari I conceived was a giant Spanish-speaking squid person. What is wrong with me?

It didn't matter that she'd been doing this for months now, there was still something so enthralling about watching other girls throw immense amounts of power around... even though she could scarcely conceive a more inefficient way to bring down the Negari than throwing everything you had at it until it complied with your desires to stop moving. Not that she'd been watching the girls over finding the weak point or anything!

The white-haired girl slipped from her roof, eyeing up the beast. Its carapace was definitely too thick for her to cut down in a single blow, so she'd just let the others supply the force once she'd marked the point out. The only trouble was getting to it. Noriko could clearly see the fault line, it ran straight down the thing's chest, like the keystone in an arch, but to land the blow she'd have to get in and get out without anything hitting her.

Then she put on speed.

First, bait out an attack. Deliberately move slower than you can, wait for the swing...

Second, move as fast as you can, faster than any other girl present and jump over its blow...

Third, materialise a knife, slashing at the hard shell and leaving an oozing line down the centre...

Finally, kick off the negari's bulk before anything hits you. That the beast cracked its own torso further trying to swat at the irritant getting too close to it was just icing on the cake.

"It's weakest along that line!"

---

As Aegis watched the others fight the beast, looking for an opening to dart back in and attack, something unexpected happened. Suddenly, a blur of silver tore past her so quickly she couldn't even see it clearly, slamming into the Negari and striking cleanly across its chest and underbelly with a single stroke. The purple-haired magical girl gaped as black ooze began spewing out of the breach, and the new arrival shouted to them something about how that was its weak spot. Well, then, that information was all she needed. She'd just close in and then-

...Oh, right. The last time she'd tried a directional leap, she'd nearly crashed into a building a whole block away. Using that trick would be the only way to close the distance fast enough to avoid being crushed under its many stamping legs, but if she did that, she'd probably just slam into its chest as a human projectile. Even with her increased durability, she wasn't sure she'd survive that, and even if she did, she still didn't want to end up embedded head-first in an Negari's gut. Still, some of the other girls might be able to... Yes! Come to think of it, Midori had displayed some kind of high-energy projectile move. Then, if they could just give her the time to set that up again...

"Umm, Pink-senpai, please keep holding it in place! I'm going to try to take out more of its legs!" Shouting this to the ribbon-wielding girl as she ran past her, Aegis reached out her hand, placing it against a particularly large bit of concrete uprooted and sent flying when the beast had first shambled onto the scene. A faint glow of violet shone for just a moment, and a nearly invisible symbol of a hand inscribed itself onto the debris. Then, drawing back her right leg, she brought it forward like a football player going for a field goal, releasing a "Push" right as she did so. The tremendous force sent the concrete shard flying straight towards the Negari, slamming into the side of its head. The creature reeled, black ooze trickling from where a couple of its entirely-too-many eyes had just been. However, in the same movement, a second sigil had appeared on the side of the stone.

She drew back her left hand. Even if she couldn't push herself forward with a jump, maybe if she just... A burst of force erupted from her palm, and a backlash slammed into her, picking her up bodily and sending her flying towards the Negari, but a bit slower than she had before. This gave her time to extend her left leg, a "pull" rune forming that caught hold of the beast's already crippled leg from her earlier attack and ripped it completely free of its socket. Landing on this in mid air, Aegis jumped backward on instinct as the enraged Negari flailed its restrained pincer in her direction, but wasn't quite able to reach her. Flipping head-over-heels, she only barely managed to right herself and land standing up, now in a freshly opened gap between two of the Negari's legs. Reaching around with her right hand, she tapped the inside of one, then delivered a rather unimpressive spinning kick to the other which didn't seem to do anything. Seemingly satisfied with her attack, however, Aegis hopped back, releasing a barely-charged push to send her flying away just as the beast stomped, bringing down its foot where she'd just been standing.

"Link established! Chains, activate! One, two!"

The phantasmal spectre of a chain formed between the rock embedded in the side of the Negari's head and the back of its leg, and in an instant, the giant shard of rubble tore out from where it had embedded itself, shooting downwards and slamming into the back of the creature's joint. The limb caved outward, breaking in half as a second chain formed, dragging the stone clear through the beast's leg and slamming it into the next in line, which broke apart in the same fashion. The Negari howled, and staggered, barely able to keep from falling to the ground with more than half of the legs on the left side of its body torn out. Ugh... just looking at what she'd done made her feel sick, but she had bigger things to worry about right now! If there was ever a chance to end this, it would be now!

"Now, senpai! Pull it to the other side so that it falls!" She searched the area, and found her eyes settling upon the lightning-wielding girl from before. "Midori-san! Now's your chance! Hit that weak point on its chest!"

In the frenzy of battle, Aegis Violet had almost forgotten to be scared. And so it was that she didn't even realize that, just like that, when her mind started working, she'd found the perfect way to give the others a shot at victory, in a battle she'd first assumed was hopeless for her.

(If you wanna make it go all according to plan, feel free, or, if you want the attack to fail miserably, that's fine by me too. Just remember there may or may not be a second Negari waiting to screw us over.~)

@Raineh Daze@ChickenTeriyaki@VitaVitaAR@Duoya@shagranoz

"Thanks for that!" Midori saw the weak spot, plain as day. The trick of it was exploiting that fact. Last she checked, it was a lot easier to get lightning to go from cloud to ground than the other way around. Then, an idea started to form in her head.

With a move so daring she'd later question her sanity at the time, she ran towards the Negari and slid under it, jamming her metal staff into the crab-thing's vulnerable underside. This didn't do much more than annoy it, but it set the stage for the kill shot.

Popping up on the other side, she raised her hands. Electric Pillar! A large lightning bolt shot up from the ground, searching as electricity always does for the path of least resistance. In this particular instance, it was up through Midori's staff, and thence into the Negari, which was fried from the inside out. The coup de grace came as the lightning ripped through the crab's back, after which it twitched once before going still.

"Whew..." Midori swayed unsteadily on her feet. It was tough just to stay transformed and standing, but she'd dealt with the threat. Then, Megumi chimed in. "Midori! There's another concentration of magic! Could be a second Negari, but I'm not sure!"

"And you didn't tell me this because...?"

"You didn't ask."

All Midori could do was bury her head in her hands. "Why me?"

@Crimmy

Hoshi Nakajima

"Oh, it'd be no trouble..." Hoshi began reassuringly, but it seemed that Hyoukyo-senpai was adamant about extending the courtesy of not cutting in line, despite how likely it was things'd end up quicker on her end if she accepted.

Such a cool senpai...

As expected of someone with such reputation for wisdom, no?

It'd be terrible if such kindness were to be spurned or ill-placed. Even though she wasn't troubled one way or another with Hyoukyo taking the lead, Hoshi wouldn't force her to compromise on it. To press the issue would actually be pretty rude, right?

Likely. Just remember that to accept kindness means you should return kindness.

Of course!

"Alright! I'll speed on through, then!" she vowed, somehow managing to snap off a salute without dropping anything. "I won't let you down, Senpai!"

Meanwhile, ahead, the line had opened up.

No time to waste!

Masako Imagawa

Masako had hoped that after wrangling out their latest detail that the little girl and her fairy would be willing to give this half-baked interrogation a rest, but they still seemed intent on poking at every detail. "Alright, that's it." Masako spoke up, interrupting the conversation. "I'll have no part of this any longer. Get off my horse." She nudged the little girl off of Chantilly's mane with the blunt end of her spear. At any other time, she probably would not have been so forceful, but she had lost her patience with this situation and wanted to exit quickly.

"Madame Shadowrender, I apologise for this shameful display. I shall leave you to your business. Au revoir." With her final words of farewell, she spurred Chantilly onwards and galloped off and out of the alley. Whatever Shadowrender chose to do now was her business. Once Masako was safely out of earshot, she decided to follow up on things with Lutin.

"Did you have to be so brusque with her just now?" She asked, referring to the moment she had chosen to accuse Mitsuko of hiding something.

"If she had been keeping mention of a powerful Negari under wraps simply because she didn't want her defeat to be known, then yes, it was necessary to try and elicit the truth by any means. I'm still doubtful as to whether she told us the truth." Lutin's lack of care for the girl's feelings was painfully evident. "Of course, I'll admit there was little point in questioning her further, given her stubbornness. We'll just have to hope no dire threats emerge that we could have dealt with sooner if we'd heard about them from a certain someone."

Shaking her head, Masako resolved to simply get on with her patrolling. There had to be something to encounter in this city that would lead to more than an interrogation.

@VitaVitaAR

Straining with every fiber in her ribbons, Shiina did her best to restrain the Negari's claw, holding the massive monstrosity still for the others to act. The Negari hadn't broken out of her restraint yet, but Shiina believed that was due to the third ribbon flailing madly inside of the beast. While this level of brutality would cause any normal creature on earth to almost immediately keel over and die, it only provided a mild pain and big distraction to the Negari. Shiina's prayers for assistance were answered quickly, however, as the woman with white hair, The Ripper, began to run up to the behemoth, far faster than Shiina could... But it was too slow! The Negari's claw, one of the smaller one's she hadn't restrained, was flying straight towards her! Shiina was seconds away from trying to swat the claw off course, but before she could, a blur of silver and white appeared where The Ripper was running, jumping over the claw so fast that Shiina could barely see it. As the Ripper did so, she ran up the Negari's torso, a line of black starry liquid following her. She then kicked off of the beast, as the same claw that tried to crush her barely a few seconds ago immediately slammed into it's chest, cracking the exoskeleton with ease and spraying the liquid in almost every direction. The cry that the Negari released was quickly followed by the girl's own voice

"It's weakest along that line!"

Shiina nearly quivered as she saw the display of skill and precision, but she was busy holding back the Negari - it was violently flailing, and seemed in extreme pain because of the claw that had struck it's chest. It was at this moment, Shiina heard another exclamation, calling out shortly after The Ripper finished speaking.

"Umm, Pink-senpai, please keep holding it in place! I'm going to try to take out more of its legs!"

Shiina nearly turned to look at Aegis as she said this, but a particularly violent spasm from the Negari quickly regained her attention. Whatever Aegis' plan was, she would have to just have to prey that her only part in it was holding down this monster... Just as the thought finished crossing her mind, however, a large fragment of what appeared to be concrete slammed into the Negari's skull, coating the pavement and a couple of the Negari's eyes in black liquid. As the fragment shot by, embedding itself in the monster's cranium, a strange symbol appeared next to the leg that was previously damaged, which immediately broke off of the small string of tendons and flesh and flew out of Shiina's view. As it did so, Shiina pulled her ribbon out of the leg hole, noticing the Negari's newfound instability and fearing it was going to fall on top of the cloth. Aegis flew across Shiina's vision, and it took everything in her power to keep the restrained claw from reaching her. Thankfully, with the third ribbon free of it's leg confinement, it quickly joined it's comrades in restraining the claw, making the task significantly easier. Aegis seemed to slide in between the Negari's legs and do a cool spin kick, and while the kick pushed her to safety, the duck underneath the legs seemed to be pointless. That was until, Aegis said something Shiina couldn't here over the sound of concrete being smashed thanks to the Negari's leg crashing down.

The fragment in the Negari's skull came back with a vengeance, slamming through the beasts torso and into the back of it's leg joint, with a cascade of starry liquid escaping out of it's body, and in it's confused and pained rage, Shiina couldn't hear Aegis call out, only barely seeing Midori run forwards, running straight for the crablike monster. The massive amount of mana spent left the next few moments hazy, but Shiina could see a bright flash of light, jolting her back to her senses. She was gripping to hard and using to much mana - The claw on the Negari had hundreds of cracks, and it probably only took slightly more pressure to break it... Not that it was needed, as the creature had just stopped moving.

"Holy Crap... THAT WAS AWESOME GUYS!"

Shiina immediately pumped her arms into the air, before flashing a V-sign and winking, the three ribbons snaking their way into the head wound that the concrete fragment had created.

"I guess you could call that performance Crab-tivating. Haha...ha"

The ribbons had wormed inside and around the Negari's skull, and Shiina quickly pushed the ribbons outwards, rupturing the Negari's head from the inside and coating her ribbons in black liquid. Shiina was careful to make sure that her ribbons encased the skull, in order to not accidentally coat her new friends in starry Negari fluids. Absentmindedly cleaning her ribbons against the ground, Shiina spoke out again, directing her voice towards Aegis.

"Seriously though, that was great technique. Little risky for my taste, but you did amazing for someone who just got their powers!"

Noticing the disgusted look on her face, Shiina looked over to the mess that she had made of the Negari's head, before waving her hand dismissively.

"Oh, and don't worry about that. It looks pretty brutal, but you can never be sure when these things are dead. By the way, Midori-chan, you seriously pack a punch! I could barely see it, but you made a huge hole in this thing and it smells like burned garbage."

The hole was very large, or at least far larger than Shiina could make one her own. Maybe carrying a weapon would be beneficial... Looking in the corner of her eye, Shiina saw The Ripper, and seized up slightly.

"Y-you were awesome to, Ripper-sama. I can't believe you're here... I would ask for an autograph, but my dress doesn't have any pockets..."

While Shiina was being a fangirl over the white-haired magical girl, Ogata was taking the mana shock slightly harder than Shiina. She was still slightly woozy, and that combined with funneling most of her power into Shiina's magical girl form left her completely oblivious to the ominous presence rapidly approaching.

@shagranoz@Feyblue@Raineh Daze@ChickenTeriyaki@VitaVitaAR

@HereComesTheSnow

葛 馮虚 (コペンハーゲン・スター)

Like a Maglev train pulling out of the station, Hoshi was able to follow up her vow, speeding through her shopping with great rapidity and allowing the line to move forward without any major detriment to those behind her. Indeed, Hyoukyo found that the pace at which her underclasswoman moved was far greater than the average one would expect from a convenience store customer, and as a result, was able to make her own purchases soon after the young Nakajima left.

She stepped lightly out of the convenience store, the automatic doors closing shut behind her with a farewell beep. The cool air of the evening hit her immediately, a sudden source of discomfort that caused her to pull her jacket in closer to contain her body heat, but as a result, also squeeze her fairy companion tighter against her body with an inaudible "hurk".

Boss, watch the - blurgle - merchandise! This is too warm for me!

I'll endeavour to reduce your warmth in the future.

Held in one hand was a plastic bag containing her purchases, but she would only open it up when she returned home. There was no need to be impatient simply because Kanaria was hungry. Katsura Hyoukyo, class representative of Class 3-G, purposefully began to make her way down the concrete sidewalk, heading in the direction of her family's house.

However, a vibration from her phone stopped her.

Ooh, it's one of your alert thingies!

The violet-haired teenager removed her smartphone from her pocket, immediately opening it up to find the source of the alert: a list of known Negari sightings that she had missed since she last checked. There was one that was interestingly close, lying within Yamashita merely a street away. Yet the warning had been given a decent time ago; it was likely that magical girls had already engaged and defeated it. There was no need for her to follow up on it.

Let's just go home and eat!

However, Hyoukyo was a curious sort.

She changed direction, and began to walk in direction they had specified.

---

"Huff..huff...."
"Are we any closer yet?"
"I.....don't think so!"

The site of action was further then expected. Earlier, Yuu had estimated that the noise would have come from a street away or so. She had grossly miscalculated. The voices kept growing louder and louder, but the path to the scene was not linear. Yuu had to pass through several alleys and streets, following only what happened to be her not-so-keen sense of hearing. As a result, she had found herself lost. Sure, she did know her way around her hometown, but constructing an entire pathway based on the faint sounds that she heard was another matter in its entirety.

Just then, her cellphone began to ring. She fished it out of her pocket and was presented with the exact coordinates of the last Negari sighting, which happened to be not far away. She didn't make it on time, and the situation had already been taken care of. That would have been more than enough to completely demotivate her.

"That's it! I'm going home."

She began trudging her way home. She had already deduced the way home from a couple of street signs, for her intelligence was still something not to be messed with. All of a sudden, she spotted someone familiar. This familiar person was a female teenager with long purple hair and a respectable build. When Yuu got a closer view, she spotted the lady's purple eyes.

Who else would it be aside from Katsura Hyoukyo?

Katsura was Yuu's classmate in school. In fact, she was the class representative. She and Yuu would often be in the top ranks of the class. They would overtake each other in ranking frequently, and whenever that happened, they would exchange glares with each other. Yuu would always feel loathed by her. She really had no idea what Katsura's opinion of her was, but, to put things straight, she was scared of her. She would tremble whenever Katsura got close, and she never failed to greet her respectfully. Katsura would probably see pure respect from her, but she probably wouldn't spot her innate nervousness. Well, she probably could, but Yuu had no idea if she actually did. Anxiously, Yuu approached the lady and began to greet her. After getting in the lady's way and bowing slightly, she spoke:

"Good afternoon, Kat-san. W-where are you going?"

Seriously, what kind of nickname is Kat? I should've went for something more formal!

Unknown to her, Alex had already taken refuge in the plastic bag that held the maki.

@Crimmy

Indeed, as the Negari's body fell sideways, it began to break apart into that strange, black, starry fluid. Any magical girl with much experience would be able to recognize this, certainly. A Negari's destruction meant that it was no longer able to hold any kind of form. The fluid that had stuck to the girls seemed to recede, almost as it it was fading away. This, too, was something any magical girl who had beaten a Negari would be familiar with. Once it was destroyed, it started to fade away into nothingness. But something here... something was wrong. The Negari wasn't fading.

Suddenly, a series of black holes seemed to open across the street, dozens upon dozens of them. From them emerged... More Negari!? Weak ones, small, shaped vaguely humanoid in some cases, spiderlike in others, and still others looking almost like some sort of cross between a dinosaur and a drill, with the head simply being one large spike. All of them were black, with orange eyes across their bodies. They were no larger then a grown man, but there were many of them. Even if they were weak, there was still such a sudden influx of the creatures...

And the dark goo the first Negari had melted into was starting to rise, spindly limbs covered in orange eyes jutting from the pool of starry liquid to drag its new form out. This wasn't unheard of, some Negari possessed multiple forms, but..!

It looked like the fight had gotten much more intense in an instant.

It was at around that moment that Akane arrived, eyes wide as she stumbled back. Inwardly she was kicking herself. What help would she be?! She'd just get in the way, and... and all these Negari! But... but... She... had to do something, right?

Right?

She noticed that several of the Negari were being diverted towards a building nearby, and then her eyes fell upon the reason that they'd been going there. A little girl, with brunette pigtails and a pink shirt with a cat's face on it, had fallen to the ground nearby. Akane didn't know why she was there, but it wasn't important. Perhaps she'd gotten away from her parents and seen the magical girls fighting? Whatever the case, with so many Negari...

What if the magical girls didn't get there in time?!

Akane ran as fast as she could and grabbed the girl's wrist, just as the Negari were closing in.

"A-ah?"

The redhead would just get here away from the fight, right?! Then... then...

There were so many Negari swiftly surrounding her...

This one had multiple forms? That was unfair... pretty exciting, to be the first time she had fought such a negari, but still incredibly unfair. She wanted to get something to eat and the fight was just dragging on... but at least the plethora of smaller enemies made her knives suddenly a much more viable proposition. Without a reach and size advantage, she could just dash in close and slice them to pieces before they got her.

"I shall focus on the little ones!" Noriko shouted, jumping back from the main opposition and slicing the legs from one of the spider-like entities, only to finish it off with a knife tossed into the head; her hand was fully again but a moment later. They weren't focusing on her as much as they should have been, which meant...

A flash of red caught her eye, and she turned to watch. The girl from earlier? Here? It was suicidal to run at the negari, what was she even thinking! But then she caught on to what the schoolgirl had seen: a child, caught out in the open where she had no protection from the monsters. Of course, it wasn't like she was going to be able to help any more on her own...

As the first Negari was about to close in, it came to a jerking halt--then its head exploded, knife passing clean through and embedding into the building behind. Its void was replaced by the white-haired girl, blades in hand and striking out to injure those getting too close; she really wasn't cut out for defending people who were backed into a corner.

"I know that you want to help but..." she started, then a thought occurred to her, "Hawthorne, could you attract any contract-less fairies?"

The subdued fairy looked over at her partner, "You wish to recruit another for this battle? Very well, beacon established."

All it looked like she had done was raise her hand, but the faintest ripple could be felt by the girls--let alone the fairies. Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones who could sense it... on the plus side, the negari were already all here.

---

All things considered, Aegis had thought that she'd done rather well. After all, it was only her first fight, but she'd gone toe to toe with a powerful Negari and managed to hold her own, even if she hadn't been the one to land the final blow. Ariel and Pink were praising her creativity and precision, everyone was celebrating...

...And then it started getting back up, and this time, it wasn't alone.

"Aegis! From below!" Ariel's warning snapped her to attention only just in time as a smaller Negari burst out of the pavement beneath her, aiming to skewer her with its giant horn. She reacted on instinct, raising her left hand and releasing a push that smashed the flimsy creature back down into the ground, splattering it over the pavement, but found herself gasping for breath. Huh? Why? Hadn't she only been using a small part of her power each time?

Then it hit her. Forming a tether was a lot more taxing than just releasing a push or pull, and she'd just performed two in a row. Between all of her jumps, pushes, and pulls, she suddenly realized that she'd already exerted about 75% of her maximum power. And now, she was going to have to fight this many enemies? There was no way!

...Unfortunately, it didn't seem like she had a choice. There were bystanders in danger, it seemed, and although the speedy white-haired magical girl was doing her best to defend them, her powers clearly weren't geared for dealing with attacks from all sides. She was darting to and fro, striking at each enemy individually, but she was beginning to slip. Some would definitely get past her, which would mean-!

Aegis braced herself and leaped over the fray, landing behind the Ripper, hoping she wasn't too late. Two more of the dinosaur-like creatures burst out of the ground on either side of her and jumped past, aiming for the two girls she was protecting. Their flight, however, was stopped in mid-air by Aegis, who once more raised her left hand and-

...She wasn't fast enough. Both of them slammed into her head on and sent her tumbling to the ground. She screamed, feeling fanglike teeth sinking into her left shoulder. The first one had her pinned, while the second one drew back, raising its pointed horn and preparing to bring it down on her head. Desperate now, she reached out with her right hand, pulling on the first thing she could. Another large chunk of debris flew towards her, and she flicked her wrist upward at the last second, sending it slamming headlong into the creature on top of her, splattering it over a nearby wall. Struggling just to turn her palm down as blood flowed down her wounded arm, she released a push directly into the ground beneath her, launching both herself and the creature still clinging to her into the air. Sure enough, the sudden shock of their launch wrenched the beast's teeth out of her arm, and the moment she found herself able to bring up her hand, she did so, grabbing it by the horn and flinging it into the ground below with another push, where it, too, broke to pieces.

She barely managed to right herself enough to land on her feet, stumbling a bit as dizziness suddenly overcame her. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, and a sudden surge of pain ripped through her arm. She looked down to see-

...The left sleeve of her coat was entirely shredded, and the once-pristine white fabric was stained an ugly shade of crimson red. Something warm was dripping rapidly down her arm, and her fingers suddenly felt incredibly numb and cold. Her left glove flickered into and out of existence, before vanishing entirely. She wanted to throw up, wanted to scream, wanted to cry... She'd been scared before, but as another Negari leaped towards her, it suddenly hit her that she hadn't been afraid enough. She'd been worried she'd simply get hurt... but wasn't it entirely possible that she'd die here?

She panicked. On instinct, she brought up her foot and kicked the fourth Negari as far away as she could, sending it slamming into several of its comrades who all landed in an indistinct, broken heap. Suddenly, she felt the concrete touching her bare right foot, and realized that her right boot had just disappeared too. She'd used up all her pushes, and now, when she most desperately needed to keep enemies away from her, all she could do was pull them closer! They were beginning to close in all around her, all around the two girls she was trying to protect.

The cowardly girl's courage gave way as Negari closed in all around her. Ariel was screaming something in her ear, telling her to retreat, or fight, or do SOMETHING, but she couldn't make out the words. She was so dizzy... The pain was so much... She couldn't see through her tears. Her legs wouldn't move. She wanted to run, but her knees were shaking. It was all she could do to stay on her feet.

I don't... I don't want to die!