Alexander facepalmed "wonderful...I just knew this was a mistake." Sighing, he walked into the building and quickly found Lily. Walking over to her, he lifted her to her feet "I just heard from the bird; negotiations went south. Come on, let's get you home." Looking at her face, even Alexander could tell she was deeply unsettled "I'll go to the store so that you can stuff yourself full of more strawberry ice-cream than your stomach should be able to hold." Putting an arm around her shoulder, he led her out of the building.
Watching the boy transform, he ended up basically as Alicia expected that one of his kind would look like. She had seen stranger monsters in her time as a magical girl, so the horns and the tail weren't particularly unusual. The shield was more problematic, but since he was keeping it at his side for the moment she wasn't worried. Besides, she had a way t deal with that sort of thing when it came down to it.
As he walked she followed, stepping to the side to maintain that distance even as she tracked his motion. The term with the Z that he used was strange, but from context it was not hard to guess what he meant. She enjoyed the occasional compliment as the next person, but this was in a direction that she wasn't really a fan of.
He did mention some things that she had not seen. It sounded like the fight had attracted more attention than she had thought, though she supposed she should have been worried to hear how many people were at the event, with how things were for Beacon at the moment. If it was to see which side was stronger, then she was not sure that they had mad a good showing of that, and if that had hurt Beacon then she would not forgive herself.
"Because I wanted to know," she explained. "And yes, I am. I just don't feel like wasting my time in a fight when it isn't needed." She wasn't like the more radical members of the organization, though that should have been clear by now. If she was going to fight then she would have already been shooting. Of course she was unaware of Penny's imminent attack, and so had no quick response prepared. It seemed fate had chosen to determine her the fool after all.
Mariette stared blankly, perhaps coldly-looking at Lily as she reacted to Violet’s words. Seemed like she had a few things to reconsider. Good, Mariette thought. She had a few things that she wanted to say, herself, about what Lily had told her before asking for help and claiming them to be friends. However, she was offered the piece of paper, with a number. … Hmpf.
Violet was writing it down. Mariette waited until she was done. In the meantime, Sue suddenly ran out of time, asked Lily a couple of things and then poofed back into a petrel and flew.
‘Oh! I’ll be seeing you later, then, Sue!’ Deni quickly acted to call out after her across the diner as Sue flew out, reaching up and waving with a big grin. Albeit the previous exchange did confound her, she still very much intended on having that meeting~
So, after Violet was done writing that down, Mariette lazily opened a portal directly from her hand to the note, reaching forward only the bare minimum in between to grab the note between two fingers and then return it, closing the portal as she did. Now, that said, she did have a reply to say to Lily. She turned to look at her, prepared to speak, and-
-Alexander appeared, grabbing Lily and intending on leading her off. Mariette lost what she saw as her moment to speak, and instead just stared to see what happened.
Lily hesitantly took Violet's hand and shook it, afraid she would mess a simple interaction like that as well after her massive blunder. This Violet girl acted exactly like one of the girls who used to bully her in school, and the current situation seemed to run the painful experience again. "I'm L-Lily...Lily Lightning." She immediately regretted the addition, and looked back at Sue, hoping she would give some kind of moral support...only to disappear. Lily was shocked, having forgotten that she could only keep her human form for a limited time. In her hesitation she reached out for her dress, but it was quickly stashed into her handbag by Violet herself. "Hey, Vio-well, never mind."
She took Sue's wallet and walked over to the counter to pay for their orders when she heard a familiar voice coming from the doorway. As if it was a movie moment, she spun around at Alexander touching her shoulder, her eyes turning wet from her sudden emotional shift. "Thank you. Hey, wait Alex. There's one more thing I need to say." Lily then sighed, and with her hands clasped, turned towards Mariette. "Mariette...I know I've messed up a lot, and that I asked you for something on baseless grounds. I'm sorry for that." She seemed to be holding back tears as she took the handbag. "I wish that...Our hearts connect, and our feelings reach other. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow either, but some day. And when that day comes, I wish I can be there as a friend for you whenever you need one." She turned towards the door. I hope...we meet again, under better terms." She sniffled a bit, and took a hold of Alex' arm, letting him escort her away.
Ordinarily Sakura would be reigning in her sister through this interaction. She tended to be the "voice of reason" if you would. But so far she hadn't really felt that she'd done anything wrong. Mariette was their friend after all and they wouldn't do anything to put her in any unnecessary danger. And the thing they were proposing sounded pretty crazy. Not sure I like how this plan sounds. She said mental to her sister.
Things started to break down after that and everyone else started leaving. First Sue mostly because she couldn't keep her disguise any longer and things were getting awkward. After turning back into a bird she flew away and left her things which Voilet took care of. Reaching out Sakura was handed the bag by her sister. The others were pretty much ready to leave but the girl didn't feel right about leaving things on such a sour note. Before parting ways though Lily made a wish, a couple wishes actually. Though surely she didn't know who they were talking to because people were usually more careful about that. So now they had two options, to grant them or leave them. To say that they weren't tempting to Sakura would be an understatement, especially considering that under her bright and cheerful attitude lurked the twisted humor of a Djinn.
"I'll be right back." Having excused herself she stood up and followed after the others. The wishes could be fun, but maybe if she could manage to nudge them ever so slightly away from Mariette. Connecting hearts and such was a hazardous venture and if she hadn't been friends with one of those involved she probably would have jumped at the chance to grant the wish and watch the fun. Sue, Lily and Alex having stepped out she held out the handbag that had Sue's things in it. "Don't forget this." She paused a moment before picking up her pace and getting ahead of them without getting in the way. "Sorry about my sister. She can be rough around the edges. Mariette is also a new friend of ours and we just want what's best for her you know?" She smiled before moving on to the real matter on her mind. "Did you really mean what you said at the end? That could be more than you bargain for. You got pretty angry that one night when you thought your boyfriend got hurt." Sakura wasn't afraid to reveal that she had been in the area when that happened. It was quite a show. She also couldn't help be tease about the two being a couple.
Sue didn't catch much of what Violet was saying, but she was sure the Djinn was just trying to be polite. No one would have to be bothered on Sue's behalf though. She knew Alexander was over reacting, but after disgracing herself so much, the familiar welcomed the magical boy's choice to take Lily and her away from it all. Well, Deni was a lot nicer than Sue expected at least. She'd have to eat those onion rings and tater tots for the both of them now. Once they were outside, she flew off of Alexander's shoulder and dove into her handbag. Once there, Sue pushed around her clothes until she found her phone. It was still on.
“Amber.” Sue was whispering. She was quite confident no one could hear her with all the focus being on the talking magical girls. “We're done.”
“Did Mariette show?”
“Of a fashion. She's pretty creative with those portals.” Sue sighed. “It went down pretty much like you said it would. Lily looks upset, so don't rub it in too much.”
“I would not rub something like that in!”
“You would if it was me.”
“True, but we're long standing friends.” Amber cleared her throat. “Were there any other developments?”
“Yea.” Sue looked out the top of the bag before turning back to the phone. “The magical girls who granted my wish are here.” Silence. Sue thought the line had gone silent. “Hello?”
“Just thinking to myself. Rest up Sue. Have Lily call me if she needs anything. See you soon.”
“Buh-bye!” Sue pecked the call button on her phone. Though she couldn't help but think that Shining Scale was up to something.
What was Elroy doing? The tar roof of the building wasn't exactly comfortable for Regina lay on. The plan was for Elroy to get as close as possible, then attack the bow-wielding woman when she was vulnerable. He wasn't gaining anything by drawing this out. Time was of the essence. Why was he waiting? Regina could only think of one thing: That he knew it would be a mistake to carry out her plan. Regina had stated previously that she had no interest in becoming a target of beacon, so why was she attacking them now? This anger she felt, was it more her mental mutation talking than herself? She didn't know anymore. The succubus placed a hand on the side of her head and closed her eyes. Maybe Elroy was dragging this out because he knew this. Yes, Elroy was always eager for a fight. The only time he hesitated was when he knew it would be a bad idea to do so. The only time he ever went against her wishes was when it was for her benefit, like during that fight with Caroline. Elroy had only just recently entered Regina's life, and she occasionally forgot how protective he was of her. Elroy was looking after her, and he knew this was a mistake. That had to be it.
But what was this? Penny's thought patterns were changing. She was moving towards Elroy's position. Did she think Regina was a fool? Beacon was nothing but a bunch of scheming opportunists! Regina waved her gun in the air and five black mortars appeared around her, concealed behind her veil of invisibility. Sound was unfortunately beyond the scope of her magic. Everyone was going to hear her first attack. She pulled back the bolt on her sniper staff and waited.
“Look.” Elroy turned to face Alicia. “I actually just came here to enjoy a meal with my friend. So Socks, we have people to impress, so maybe we can compromise.” He gestured towards the building with his hands, still making eye contact with Alicia. “Maybe we answer some questions, you bugger off, Regina and I eat, then we'll leave and never-”
...That was about when Elroy's ten seconds were up.
Penny was crouched low, just on the other side of the wall from Elroy. Her makeshift knife gripped tightly and ready to flash out and strike. It was difficult to hold herself back, to wait just a few moments longer but she figured she had back up on the way since she sent that text to Thalia. Every second she stalled was one more that help would be here.
A determined grimace adorned her face.
Nine
Penny wanted to take a deep breath to help calm down just a bit, she was full of nervous energy and her self-imposed time limit wasn’t helping. Resolutely she stayed still, poised to tear through the wall on her way to Elroy. It was going to be such a great way to start the fight.
A small smirk had started to form.
Eight
A downside of having lightning in ones veins is at times the world seems to move in slow motion, as the brain starts to reach speed that are abnormal. Being partially robotic meant Penny was better equipped to handle this sensation than most. It didn’t stop the soft parade of fantasized images that drifted through her mind, of all the ways she could batter and break her target. Of all the destruction she could inflict on to him and this pathetic little abandoned hovel.
A grin split her face.
Seven
The sounds of snapping wood and screeching metal were playing a melodious symphony with in Penny’s mind. She was tempted to drop her flimsy tool and just go about it with her bare hands; it would feel so much more satisfying if she did. Why was she waiting again?
A sadistic smile was plainly visible.
Six
Penny almost jumped the gun; she wanted to shatter the stifling silence she was drowning in, to replace the ceaseless quiet with the sound of cracking stone and protesting metal. But time has slowed to a crawl thus Penny had the chance to realize just where her thoughts had deviated to. She felt horrified, she felt sick. She felt elated.
Her eyes showed her panic as her smile became strained.
Five
Penny was frighteningly aware of where her mind was going, the need to destroy was never truly far from her mind. She always tried to keep an iron grip on it, to not give in, to retain that little piece of her humanity. Yet it had slipped away from her, and try as she might it wasn’t coming back, not before something bad happened.
Unshed tears glinted in her eyes at this realization.
Four
It was taking everything she could to not move, to not lash out and start destroying. The thoughts felt so tempting though. She wanted to warn Alicia, but insidious traitorous thoughts kept her silent. Of what everyone said about Beacon, about the warnings people would toss in her direction at every chance.
She wanted to warn the unsuspecting victim not even three feet from her, but her instincts wouldn’t let her. One does not warn prey, especially since it had strayed too close to her lair.
Resignation lit her eyes, the only part of her visibly pained by what was to come.
Three
Silently she warred with herself, and silently she cried because she could tell which side was going to win.
Despair reigned within her gaze.
Two
Metal is unyielding, unless treated correctly. It does not flinch in the face of over whelming odds, it either bends or it breaks. This property of metal is the reason Penny did not give up. The truth of her elements was infused in to her very nature. So when faced with the inhuman task of stopping her own decent in to madness, a rational part of her mind did not fall in to despair. Instead it bent, and flexed and found the best answer it could.
Lightning is power given form, uncontrollable but one can direct it suit their needs. Penny could not stop herself for attacking, could not stop herself from lashing out. She was built to destroy, she was built to rip and tear. The thing she could do however, was chose what to attack. What she tried to destroy. One can’t control Lightning, but one can redirect it.
Steely determination was shining clearly in her eyes.
One
Inside the garage an electronic hum could be heard as Penny spooled up for a Gauss discharge. Tearing through the wall was no longer what she was going to do. It was flimsy and weak; she could likely walk through it if she wanted. The one who stayed behind wouldn’t be going anywhere, but the one who had left was likely hiding around here somewhere nearby. She would attempt to draw them out with a round of cannon fire at the rooftops.
Hope was lit once again.
Zero
A simple peaceful solution had been moments away, as the more level headed among the gathered talked the situation down. The other two prepared for conflict and with a thunderous roar Penny fired the first shot, aiming for roof of one of the buildings across the street.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to hit them or miss them. Her smile hope for one outcome, her eyes wished for another.
Thalia smiled warmly as she promptly received a reply text from Penny. She sat upright, reading over the message. It wasn't of too much surprise that the stakeout had gone southbound. No Monster wished to come back to their hideout only to find Beacon Bailiff Officers at their door, requesting the prompt evacuation of the premises.
But more than that she was happy. A more malicious smirk had grown in place of her prior smile as she stood from her resting place, stretching as she went so. Oh, how she was glad to have been called upon, summoned to help relieve her boredom. Well, that wasn't why she had been summoned, but it may well have been. The games had been a somewhat welcome relief for a short while, but it was no doubt that the present excursion would assist to that end much greater.
From the rooftop, she walked to the edge, and looked across the city. She wasn't... Exactly sure where she was meant to be going, but that was simply a technically; she'd figure it out eventually. To that end she quickly leapt from the rooftop to the next, landing with a roll before she continued to run.
Whoever the enemy was, they must have been somehow powerful. Penny wouldn't have asked for assistance otherwise. Oh, the fun she would have. Any pretence of going there upon request simply dissolved as Thalia ran, wondering whom her prey would be and the multitudinous ways in which to hunt them.
She hadn't been running for particularly long before she saw it, but she noted it down as her high agility. Off to her right, her Third Eye identified the usage of magic, and she quickly zeroed in on it. The spell, or whatever it was, seemed powerful, and looked to be of a Darkness Specialisation. Even still, it was a ways off.
So, Thalia pulled her phone back out, and as she ran typed out another text.
Though she would admit to still feeling uncertainty about the monster boy that she was currently talking with, Alicia had to say that, to her surprise, having some patience and the diplomatic solution seemed to be working out for once. It could be that they knew they were close to Beacon territory, which meant rapid reinforcements, but the justification didn't matter as much as the outcome of their confrontation itself.
She glanced towards the building, considering the offer he had as he presented it. It didn't seem like it would be that bad, and she could always come back and check later to make sure that he had followed through on it. As long as they ended up leaving that was the important part. A couple hours wouldn't make that much of a difference.
Then the violence started.
The wall practically disintegrated as something discharged, aimed at the rooftop across the street. Said rooftop practically exploded in dust and debris, which Alicia watched with a stunned expression for a few moments before rounding on the one responsible. Much to her sadness she found that it was her ally, attacking without provocation, threat, or reason.
There was the hint of sadness glittering in her eyes as she spun and aimed at the other girl. "Penny, stand down!" she barked, bowstring drawn back and ready to launch an arrow. They had been so close, so damn close!
Silent frustration clawed at her heart as she confronted her ally. Had this, all of this, been a mistake after all? She wasn't sure anymore.
Lily had her head down, not daring to look back at the diner as he let Alex guide them away. She felt like a failure. "I wonder if they now start gossiping about me when I'm gone... She muttered to herself. Then, she heard an unfamiliar girl's voice. When the girl caught up with them she recognized her to have arrived together with Violet. Were they twins?
"Oh, thanks. I guess I forgot. No, I'm the one who should be apologizing. Violet was right about me being pushy. I should now leave..." She said, but then she blushed at her words. "W-What? How do you know about what happened to Alex?" She asked, and cluthed his arm even closer to her body. "Was there something wrong with what I said?"
Mariette kept her attention on Lily, watching her. Oh, she had one more thing to say. She listened, with a blank expression. Messed up a lot and apologized for it. Mariette didn’t react to the apology, but did find that she slightly appreciated it. She frowned slightly as the keyword wish was used… but she knew Lily didn’t mean to harm her. As rude and assuming as she’d been, Lily did not want to harm Mariette, so it was fine. …
Mariette watched Lily walk away, and soon thereafter lifted the note with numbers on it, inspecting it for herself. Sakura left them, heading after Lily, and Mariette wasn’t oblivious to that it might be because of the word “wish” had been said. … But fine. She could trust Violet and Sakura to not grant a wish that’d be troublesome for her. That was fine.
‘Welp, we’re terrible at making friends.’ Deni giggled as it seemed the other part had pretty much left. ‘But anyways! We can at least have dinner together!’ Deni smiled at Violet, remaining Djinn Sister. ‘As soon as Sakura returns and- Oh, I should go get Eli, too!’ Deni grinned a bit more.
Mariette, meanwhile, continued to slowly inspect the note, forward and backwards, reading the numbers on it… Then, she started speaking for herself, not really meant for anyone, but Violet could possibly overhear.
‘You wish my feelings would reach you, huh, Lily? I'm fairly sure what feelings I'd receive, but tell me, what exact feelings of mine… are you expecting in return?’ She mused about that one part of that wish, staring blankly at the note with a phone number… before sighing through her nose and placing the note back on the table.
‘… I have no phone.’ She then commented in a flat tone, staring straight opposite, where Sue once sat.
Sure, she said that she was sorry about what her sister said, but if that was really the case, then she would have spoken up sooner (which she didn't, by the sound of things). To him, this screamed Good Cop, Bad Cop. And to top it all off; they somehow knew about what happened at the hospital. That on it's own wouldn't be that big a deal, but with the implication that they were trying to play her...it suddenly meant a lot more. The question was; what was their game? What were they after? Right now, this girl was asking if Lily meant what she said before they left. What would happen if Lily said yes? His mind was filled with possibilities and what if's. Then Lily held his arm tighter, and all of that vanished. Right now, only one thing mattered; getting Lily to safety. Trying to figure out what their game was could come later. Taking a deep breath, he spoke "just try to forget whatever she said. Come on Lily, we're leaving" he started walking away with Lily still clinging to her. He wouldn't let her get caught in whatever trap those two were laying.
Elroy's attention was snatched away by the discharge of energy from Penny's cannon. There were three buildings side by side, and Penny was able to correctly guess which one Regina was positioned on. Everyone could hear the sound of a high powered rifle firing, but there was no indication that it hit anything. The incubus watched in horror as the roof top exploded. He was powerless to do more than watch what was left of the roof rain down in debris. What remained of the tar roof was covered in a cloud of dust, leaves, and whatever lingering energy remained after Penny's attack. Elroy groaned, eager to see what remained after the attack.
But it would not please him.
The cannon had cleared away a good portion of the roof, as well as part of the top floor. But Regina's body wasn't visible.
“Heh...” His voice trembled when he spoke. “I guess this-” Elroy inhaled sharply. “This is why-” He inhaled again. “Y-you don't-” but Elroy was unable to form complete sentences at this point. He didn't react when Alicia started to shout at Penny. It was like she wasn't even there. If Alicia wasn't so flustered, she might have noticed Elroy's eyes change in color. The incubus turned completely around and looked at Penny. There were rivers of tears running down his cheeks. But the monster girl wouldn't have much time to take in the sight. Elroy let out a howl of anger, and his aura of power grew more intense. The red mist swirled around Elroy's body, covering him in an intense red glow. What remained once the light seperated from him could only be described as a massive red ape with horns. Ivory colored spikes jetted out of his back, along with the longest links of chain either girl had ever seen. Alicia was no longer dealing with a monster girl and a monster boy, but a monster girl and a young monster. Elroy's chains wrapped completely around the building and locked around each other. The outer walls howled and immediately gave way to Elroy' crushing power. But the metal beams rooted into the concrete floor were presenting a little more resistance. The exit penny had created for herself was blocked by the monster's body. Elroy's shield had been absorbed into himself, and the red ape before her now sported a pair of bladed bracers. Even with the garage struggling to collapse on itself, Elroy was still fighting to get closer to Penny, struggling against the chains wrapped around the building. The structure had been compromised. It wouldn't last much longer under this level of strain.
Mmmm, noodles with a touch of soy sauce and chicken. Regina didn't eat Chinese enough to know what it was called, but it was delicious. Definitely one of her favorites. She would have to make sure to save a bite for Elroy. Regina folded the take out box closed and put it back in the plastic bag.
Who would have thought that Penny would have aimed for a target she couldn't even see over one that was right in front of her? Or maybe she could see Regina after all? After the vampire incident, Regina knew she was never truly invisible. Thankfully, the attack was far enough away that she could anticipate it. She just had to become incorporeal long enough for the shock wave to pass by her. Regina's fall into the hole left behind was a little less than graceful, but she was better covered this way. Though her greatest triumph during the whole attack was managing to shoot a psychic bullet at Elroy. With it, she was able to make him think that she was dead. Regina was sure Elroy would have come running back to the building to check and make sure she was alright, just like he did during the fake monster attack a bit ago. But with that bullet, Regina was able to ensure Elroy would turn into a monster and attack that woman on her behalf. Maybe it was mean and more than a little unfair to Elroy. But he had been getting disobedient lately. This would be a good lesson for him, and also net Regina a little revenge as well. She would very much enjoy whatever he did to that robot girl, and that look on Alicia's face was just delicious. Though not quite as good as that food she was sampling a few seconds ago. Maybe this was a bad idea, maybe it was just the monster part of her mind talking, but she felt very much in control. Regina was content that those who defied her would get their just deserts.
The real question was what to do now. With Elroy so blinded by rage, he likely wouldn't even notice Regina was still alive, assisting with the fight. So she could safely fight without causing Elroy to revert back. But did everyone else think she was dead? The succubus still had five mortars of dark energy floating behind her, a sniper staff with nigh-unlimited bullets, and enough Chinese food to satisfy two people. All cloaked of course. With so many options open to Regina it was difficult to decide what to do next. She rested her sniper staff on the edge of a broken wall and observed the fight.
Hard to believe this was going to be the "Queen of Penrose" some day.
Penny's attack wouldn't have landed anywhere near Regina, but again, Tonya had manipulated events to cause the monster boy to turn into a monster man. Sure, the shittyness that was pretending you were dead to your brother was all on Regina, but Penny had no way of knowing where Regina was, and so it was by Tonya's magic that the gauss shot was able to land true.
Instant metamorphosis, and they were none the wiser of Regina's location.
Now she just had to wait for the rest of the crew to show up. From a spot that wasn't going to come under fire. That was pretty hard in this fight.
Penny stood tall as she watched her attack decimate the rooftop across the way. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She was a mess inside, her thoughts were a chaotic storm and she could tell she was losing it. It wasn’t a stress induced breakdown, and for that she was grateful, she was just sooo hungry. She ignored Laat’s warning about trying to suppress her need to destroy, and it was coming back to haunt her.
She stayed still as Alicia turned on her, Penny didn’t blame her. She had single handedly wrecked the first good thing she had seen going Beacon’s way. That fact weighed painfully within the robotic girl. Her only hope was she would be given a chance to explain, though she wasn’t sure if it would do her any good but Alicia and the rest of the little group of Beacon members could at least use the understanding about why at least.
Her thoughts stalled as Elroy howled in rage. ‘Seems my luck is terrible’ she thought sadly. If she had missed then perhaps they could have still talked through this. She ignored the growing behemoth in front of her for just a moment as she looked at Alicia.
“I’m Sorry” Penny called out her regret plain in her voice. Her posture was one of pain; she knew full well what she had caused. But one of her eyes was turning blood red and she couldn’t bring herself to care for much longer. She opened her mouth to say more but whatever she said was lost as the outer walls of the garage were crushed.
Refocusing on the monster she had awoken, the training and instinct within her pushed all of her pain, terror, and regret to the background. They had no place on the battle ground. She dropped in to an offensive stance and tossed her flimsy knife to the side. There was an electric snap hiss as a blade of energy ignited from Penny arm reaching a good two feet past her clenched fist.
Finally she surrendered herself to the urges that had caused this ordeal. She was built to be unrelenting force; she wasn’t going to run away from Elroy, she was going to go out the way she made, through him if needed. With a wordless cry she launched herself at the Monster in front of her, intent on knocking him backwards or running him through if that failed. Her goal wasn’t his death; it was to destroy as much as she could, using him as her wreaking ball but that didn't mean she was going to hold back. She was hungry and it was time to feast, everything else was just static.
“I’ve got ya covered Mari” Violet said as she picked up the note “I added it to mine when she first offered it” she waved the note for a moment before she pocketed it. “And I would guess she thinks the world is all sugar and spice, and you just need a friend” She replied with a sigh “So most likely she thinks you’re depressed”
“Have to say. It is always interesting to hear people toss that word around carelessly though.” She mused as she picked up the menu and started to browse what was available here at the Pit Stop “And while Sakura obviously has something in mind, don’t worry about getting roped in to it, especially if my sister is the one granting it” She added with a knowing grin. Everyone thought that Violet would be the worst one to grant a wish with her icy demeanor, but in fact she couldn’t twist her magic in malicious way all that much. Sakura on the other had had a hidden sadistic streak when it came to granting wishes and the skill to back it up.
“Have you ever had a milkshake?” Violent asked having nothing further to add on the prior topic and had decided to move on to the much more enjoyable prospect of spending other people’s money
Penny's apology was overshadowed by Elroy's transformation, and she dodged out of the way as chains wrapped around the building. Her anger and frustration still held sway, yet it was distracted by the necessity of fighting the opponent right in front of her. Regardless of what she thought, the fact remained that he had become hostile and she had to act to protect the people who lived near here. That was just how things were now.
She resolved to talk to Penny when this was all over, where there would be harsh words. Yet for the moment she put that aside. It seemed the monster was focused on her and Penny was eager to meet the challenge. It made a nice distraction at least.
The reasonable approach said to do nothing, to stand back and let Elroy and Penny fight it out while she tried to keep the collateral damage to a minimum until it was over. But she couldn't just stand back. The sooner the fight ended the better, and she didn't know how good Penny's chances were at the moment. Her winning would be preferable after all, if only because they were allies.
Springing back, she nocked an arrow as she took aim at Elroy. She waited until he was distracted by Penny before firing, bolts of light streaking across the gap and slamming into his back in quick and successive blows. If this was the fight they had then she was not going to hold back.
The young monster-girl shook off the oil that was all that remained of her horrific opponent. So much for 'making a good pet,' that thing could never be house trained. she thought to herself. At least there was a bounty on the damn thing or her whole capture and contain mission would be for naught. Not that it wasn't already, considering the target was a puddle now. Returning Impact to their resting place within the local time-stream, she focused on the best anchor she could think of for her home world and warped the worlds around her to return. "Why the hell is there a childspike here!?" a young boy shouted at the two small creatures sitting on his shoulders as he ran toward the behemoth ahead of them. "It likely moved here in response to the strong magical potential to the north," The creature sitting on his left shoulder spoke in a disdainful voice. "Better hurry and save it or that'll be another debt to pay off. The loss of a potential magical girl would only be a drop in your bucket, but it's still a substantial price." The creature on his right shoulder remained silent but gave him a sympathetic look. The young boy made a sharp right turn into an alleyway, following the giant creature as it shambled along. "Don't take too long. Remember that we're only here to pick up supplies for the next step. That hotbed of magical activity is a perfect place to throw you into." The boy spoke into a small earpiece to a matching one on string around the neck of a raven flying above the pitch-black creature. "Morrigan, go ahead and keep it occupied and away from bystanders until I get there." He made another turn into another alleyway. "Time to get off, guys." The two small creatures jumped off his shoulders as he began chanting, "I am the bone of my sword. Steel is my body and silver is my blood. Through Aurichalcum I'll become a knight to protect the weak!" The boy was enveloped in a bright light as his magic was brought forth from within him. His body became leaner and taller as his clothes were replaced by an elegant black suit. A few moments later the light faded and the magical boy stood ready to fight. Metallic armor quickly materialized on him and a slab of metal standing to his shoulders appeared in his hands. Throwing it to the ground and stepping on it, he waited for the two Puchuu to get on-board before using his magic to rocket forward and up the alley wall, rushing towards the monster from the rooftop. Morrigan felt her partner's magic activate just as she reached a young adult, totally unaware of the monster moving towards her. Morrigan flew past her into the nearby trees and transformed to her human self. With a small spark of her partner's magic, she created several small knives and threw them at the childspike, turning its attention to her. "Run away, woman!" she shouted at the passerby. The girl in question looked up from her PDA to see a giant golem, seemingly made of darkness itself, shamble toward her. She could do nothing but stand there in shock as it approached. "Not so fast!" A male voice rang out from the rooftop to her side. She looked up just in time to see two small... creatures, slide down a growing metal slide that formed next to her. Still in shock, she turned her attention to the blackened monster as it let out a loud roar. Kain felt the thrill of a roller-coaster as he built a ramp facing the childspike. Using his magic to create a track system between it and the metal board he was on, he launched himself high into the air and onto the monster's head. A drill formed on the board's bottom just as he landed on it, piercing the monster and cutting through it. He shifted his weight so the board began sliding down its back, carving through it the whole while. The childspike roared and reached back to strike him, losing its balance and falling backwards as it did. Kain quickly jumped off and rolled to a stop on the ground to the monster's side. He looked towards the puchuu and the stunned woman with them just as Morrigan reached the three. That girl looks just like... his thought was cut short by the childspike's roar as it stood back up and shot a dark lance at his familiar. He had just enough time to create a strong dome of metal over her, the civilian, and the puchuu before the lance reached them, slightly denting the dome but otherwise bouncing off harmlessly. Kain retaliated with a spear of his own, pinning the monster's foot to the ground. "Come on, ya bastard! Focus on me!" Kain took out Aurichalcum and formed a sword onto it. The monster roared at him as he swung the sword, the blade detaching and turning into a whip connected to Aurichalcum by chains, turning into a bladed whip that decapitated the creature. It fell to its knees and Kain blinked in surprise. Cutting the head off didn't usually finish off monsters that looked like walking shadows. Sure enough, it stood back up, but more surprisingly the head began forming another childspike. Damn. Kain quickly made several knives connected with metal wire, throwing them at the walls behind the now two monsters. They began to cut through the original childspike until Kain grew them into stronger and less deadly steel cables. There was no point in cutting it to pieces if it would just make more. The monster struggled against them fruitlessly while the second one formed. The additional force would be enough to snap them if given some more time, so Kain prepared his killing blow to take them both out at once. "Anti-target mode, active." he began as he formed Aurichalcum into a large spear, standing taller than he himself did. The spear-point split and formed five blades in a star shape while the back of the spear began forming itself into a large drill. "Aurichalcum!" The spear swung through the air at his touch until it came to rest at his back. "Gáe-," he swung the spear around several times, building momentum, "Bulg!" Allowing the momentum to carry his spear, Kain threw it at the chest of the first childspike as the second finished standing behind it, facing the opposite direction. As it tore through the first and struck the second it exploded into metallic grain that spun outward as a sphere in seemingly random directions, obliterating everything within before scattering in the wind, falling to the ground. Morrigan had lifted part of the dome around her to watch as soon as she heard the name of her partner's killing blow be spoken. She and the others watched as the metal sand shredded the core of the first childspike hit into nothingness. To her surprise, however, the new monster revealed its core mere inches below the sphere of destruction's range. That... had never happened before. A particular squirrel-girl sat on a rooftop opposite the small metal dome. She observed the entire fight while she snacked on several acorns. Stereotypical, she knew, but they helped. The boy in battle was someone she had dealt with several times before, his pull on the outcomes of events were enough to make them close friends. As soon as his ultimate technique was used, she stood up, unable to believe her eyes. Did he just... miss!? She'd seen that move before, and watched it happen. That attack rewrites the present! she thought, How in the name of space-time did it MISS!? Kain fell to one knee as Aurichalcum reformed in his hand. "Well shit. So much for weaponized luck." He laughed lightly. "What a terrible ending to a story. The hero fell in noble battle against an enemy he'd defeated several times in the past, and all because he rolled a metaphysical double-zero on a D-one trillion." He simply laughed again as he fell backwards. He didn't have enough mana left to fight, a large drawback to using so much when he had only the minimum amount that a magi could have even at his peak. At least I got to see mom one last time. He paused. Man, I hope I'm not confusing someone else for her. That would be embarrassing as hell. "You remember what to do, right Morrigan?" he asked into his earpiece. The familiar didn't respond. The two had been over the possibility of a total loss many times. Make the final moments look cool, go to the Beacon and wait with them until he reincarnated, make sure to stay alive so she could greet him with a smile when he did. Those were his three demands. She hated it, but she'd do it. The raven woman watched alongside the two puchuu and the young human woman as the remaining childspike reformed. The cables and metal in the area began to disappear as Kain's mana lost its ability to maintain it all. Soon his armor followed and all that was left was a scattering of metal grain on the ground, remainders of what he'd made into permanent creations rather than simple magical constructs. The four watched as the boy stood up and leaned his back against the nearest tree. It was less than a second before the childspike fired another lance at him, missing by several yards. Great. Now is not the time for lucky misses. How am I supposed to be ready to die if my enemy keeps messing up? Another lance tore through the air and once again missed. Another followed, then another, then another. The monster seemed to think Kain was dodging, because it sent several tentacles to pierce the tree and ground around him, restricting his movement. Finally. It can't possibly miss me now. Two more lances of darkness were shot towards Kain. Several feet before reaching him, they careened off course and hit each other, knocking them off target and into the tentacles nearby, severing them. Damnit. It took several minutes until the monster finally managed to hit him, the lance grazing his cheek. At this point he just felt sorry for the thing. He placed one hand on a tentacle to give it exactly where he was some time ago, yet it still couldn't hit him. At this point he was ready to give up and just try fighting again. He closed his eyes out of exasperation just as the childspike roared, a dark lance finally piercing through Kain's chest and pinning him to the tree behind him. Morrigan watched the spectacle in her natural form and finally flew to him, resting on his shoulder as she watched the last of his life fade. Makoto strained against her own body in efforts to break through her patron's influence. "Let me go! Don't you get it, this is for your sake too! If he dies, do you think he'll be able to reincarnate without anything trying to fuck it up!? You know as well as I do that he's going to be a target for all sorts of things, including Fate! Why are you stopping me!?" All of her instincts tore through her again, all shouting at her to stay where she was. "I'm telling you you're going to regret it if you don't let me go! You're the one who sent me after him when his potential woke up, let me go, CC!" Her tail bent and smacked her in the face, essentially punching her with the way it moved. "Ow! What the hell!?" Her urges dulled as a new instinct rose up within her. "Whoa! H-hey, keep away from that one! Especially if you want me to stay out of this! Do you have any idea how that works!?" Another instinct took her over, followed quickly by several more. She knew there was a message she should be getting, but Makoto couldn't focus enough to find out what it was. She watched Kain fall backwards. "Seriously, what is wrong with you!?" Her eyes were forced towards the fading dome of metal. "What? What does that have to do with anything!?" Again, her instincts rose and fell within her in quick succession. Makoto forced herself to pay attention this time. Something about affection, and... alright, this made no sense. "What are you on about?" Again, her tail punched her. "Ow!" Kinship, loss, familial bond, happiness, sadness, run away, stay and fight, don't stop don't stop don't stop don't stop don't stop don't stop, obsess, obsess, obsess, run away, sadness, loss, kinship. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Her eyes were forced back to where the dome had stood, staring right at the civilian her friend was dying to protect. Familiarity, safety, calmness. She did look familiar, somehow. As she regained control of her eyes they shot back to Kain just as he was impaled. Her struggling against herself stopped. She was back in full control of herself and she couldn't hate that fact more. This was an interesting day. The white and green puchuu felt somewhat conflicted as he watched his employee die. On the one hand, he'd just lost a Rook. On the other, he'd lost it in a trade. Right in front of him was a woman with enough magical potential to make up for the loss. Time to see if he could remember the old speech. "Oh my, isn't it terrible?" he began by asking the woman. "Your little magical protector is dead and it's all your fault. I guess you'll just have to take over for him, won't you? Don't worry, you'll get some benefit out of it." The woman finally snapped out of her shock when she heard this. "What do you mean it's my fault?" The puchuu grinned inwardly. "That monster is only here because it was attracted to your potential. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't have had to come here and fight it, which means he wouldn't have just died. It's ironic, don't you think?" She had no response to that. She was reeling from what had just happened, from just watching someone die in front of her, and now this? She couldn't think straight enough to counter what the creature had said. "...Fine. How do I do that?" The small creature simply spoke to its partner, nearly identical if it weren't for the different coloring. "Ko, you know what to do, right? This is a 'death instance.' I'm sure you've learned the correct protocol?" This "Ko" creature spoke back in a much more feminine voice, "Yes." It turned to the woman and... apologized? "I'm so sorry." was all it said before it used one of its prehensile ears to put several strange coins into her hand and she was engulfed in a bright light. Shion opened her eyes to see herself in a room that seemed to be made out of mirrors. A strange voice echoed around her, "Oh? So they've made another. Under duress, no doubt. Poor thing. You don't have to follow those tiny little meddlers, you know. We could offer you so much more - power that could free you from their little schemes. We can be quite generous. We won't even force you to decide now. Take our gift and use it when you decide you need real power." A black coin joined the others in her hand before everything went white. She couldn't see anything, but she could feel. She could feel something inside her surging outward. She could no longer feel the coins in her hand, but she could feel what she could only describe as her soul being changed. Power flowed through her, following the path of least resistance, every once in a while suddenly changing course, almost violently. It seemed like days to her, but in only seconds the light around her faded and she stood holding a strange hairpin and a black coin. The green and white puchuu looked her over. She was shorter, clearly younger and leaner, but otherwise looked the same as she had. That was unusual. He turned back to his brown and pink student. "Give me her profile." he demanded. Ko sighed and complied, a small packet of paper appearing in her tiny hands that he quickly took and read through. Shion looked at herself in the window next to them, seeing herself as she was almost a decade ago and wearing what looked to be the uniform of a school she'd never seen before. She put the remaining coin in her pocket, noticing that she was wearing shorts under her skirt. Convenient. Shion felt confident, more confident than she'd ever felt. So much so that she took a moment to adjust her hair, putting on the silver and amethyst clip and brushing some behind her ear. She turned to the small creatures again, glancing at them before turning her attention to the monster. She could feel something around her. It was something she couldn't describe. A sharp tentacle speared towards her. It didn't take any effort for her to move aside and dodge it. Something about her body felt off. Another lance came from the monster and she again dodged with ease. "Heeeeeeeeeeeeyy!" a female voice sounded out. "Your body's a lot stronger than you think, just pretend you're an Olympic athlete and move like that! Your body will follow through!" Shion saw another lance fly towards her and jumped to the side. She flew several feet before landing. That's a bit of an understatement. But she's right. If I act like I can do something... She sprinted forwards easily clearing the distance between herself and the monster. Then I can.
The Time Betwixt
"Listen to me! Killing that furball isn't going to bring him back! All it'll do is leave some other girl out there without a patron, and that's not worth the satisfaction!" Makoto shouted at her. "You need to understand. He's dead for real now, but as far as the world is concerned, he died nearly a decade ago. He's already been mourned for and buried. Feeling shitty again isn't going to help anyone. Right now, you need to focus on adapting and learning how to move forward, not on mourning your little brother for a second time, got it? That's the only way you'll be able to stick around long enough to see him when he comes back." "Now that I've got your profile, we can start training you up for real. First thing is to test your mana reserves, so we'll be going to the nearest gym. Did you figure out your phrase yet?" "My 'phrase'?" "Yeah, magi have this trigger phrase they have to say to enter their magical forms. A saying, an incantation, something like that. It should come to you pretty naturally. It's like... a motto for your magic. Try to think one up, I'm sure you'll figure it out pretty easily." "Alright, I've decided." Makoto said as she turned towards Shion and smiled. "Not only am I gonna train you up to be better than your average bear, but I'mma give you my marking too." "Your... marking?" "Mhm! I can do this thing where I mark someone or something, and then I'll know whenever it's in danger. It's always preemptive, just enough in advance for me to get there and stop it before it happens. It's a nice benefit, especially with my kind of magic. Thirty years of Magical Girl-ing doesn't hurt either." "The only things you've really gotta know as a magi are how to use your magic and how to fight. I'm gonna be teaching you both as much as I can, and trust me that'll put you in a major advantage over other magi, but I'm also gonna teach you a little bit of the third and often overlooked part of being magical. People aren't wrong when they say all you've gotta know are your magic and your movement, 'cause everything else is politics. Only thing is, magical politics are an absolute bitch. You think normal politics are bad? You've got no idea what it's like for us." "What, do we have to vote on stuff or something?" "That's a lot rarer than you're going to hope it is."
Three days later
Makoto and Shion found themselves sitting in a restaurant, Makoto slowly explaining things in the place of a puchuu. "Okay, so here's what to do. First, take out your black coin." Makoto brought out a small pouch and pulled an identical black coin from it as Shion brought out her own. "Alright, so first, you need to know that black coins aren't like normal ones. The Ebon Mint gives them out because the coins aren't currency, they're debt. The Mint considers you to currently be in very deep debt with them now that you have that. Theoretically, you could someday pay that off, but the Mint does their best to make sure nobody can. Having that coin puts you in debt, and using would put you in more debt by a factor in the hundreds, if not the thousands. Obviously, the Mint can't rely on the coins being used, so they tend to put owners in more debt by collecting information on the magi in question and then blackmailing them into doing what the Mint wants. They also consider the potential to blackmail someone as debt. The only way to get out of debt with the Mint is if you keep all your personal information hidden from them and somehow pay off your coin. That's supposed to be impossible, but magi have pulled it off before. And you're about to join those legendary people." Makoto said with a smile. "First, take your coin and drop it on the ground." Shion followed her instructions and dropped the coin. "Now, your debt is considered 'in transit.' That means that whoever picks it up takes the debt of the coin, but you still have any debt beyond that. Now, pick the coin back up." Once again, Shion did as she was instructed. "You're now in possession of an 'in transit' coin. That means its owner willingly got rid of it and then you picked it up. Now, take this." Makoto placed her matching coin on the table and Shion picked it up. "You're now in control of a payed off coin and a non-payed off coin. This puts your overall debt at zero. Now, drop both of them and pick both back up." Shion did so. "Now hand them to me." Makoto took the coins from Shion. "Now I've got control of the debt, which is zero. Now, I'll give you this payed off one, and you need to drop it and pick it back up." Again, Shion did so. "Good. Now, drop it and I'll pick it up. Good. Now I'm the owner of this payed off coin again. So now I'm going to give you back your original coin, and you're going to sell it to me for my black coin." Makoto handed the coin to Shion, and Shion sold it back to her for the other coin. "Perfect. Now, I'm the one in debt to the Mint for this coin, but we're not quite done yet. Hand that one back to me." Shion handed it back. "Now we're ready to really bulletproof this." Makoto handed over a gold magical coin. "I'm going to put this payed off coin up for auction. The starting bid is one gold coin. Do I have any takers?" Makoto placed the black coin on the table and Shion put the gold coin down as well, saying she wanted to buy it. "Great. I hear one gold coin, does anyone have any higher bids? No? Going once, going twice, going three times... sold, to the young girl for one gold coin." Makoto put her fingers on the black coin. "Now you put your hand on this coin." Shion put her own finger on the black coin, and Makoto took the gold coin and removed her fingers from the black coin. "There. You are now the proud owner of a totally debt-free black coin from the Ebon Mint." "What was the point of all that?" Shion asked. Makoto put the other black coin into her coin-purse. "That was all to make sure that the Mint doesn't have any legal grounding to go after you anymore. And as a bonus, that's not a normal black coin. The Mint has people always watching and listening through their coins unless they're payed off. But there's nothing really stopping them from looking in on or tracking the coins that are payed off. But one of the biggest problems the Mint has is that they don't really have a good system in place to keep track of their coins from one world to another. Sure, they can track a coin they give out anywhere in the universe with no problem, but it tends to take them a while before they can correctly contact the Mint in the right worlds and sort everything out. That's why there are often bounties on people who take a black coin to another world. What you're in possession of now is referred to as a 'quasi-legal' coin. The general procedure is that people with quasi-legal coins have bounties put on them, and the hunter is supposed to take the quasi-legal coin and give them a coin from the world they're in that has equal debt left on it. The benefit for us, though, is that there's also usually a bonus to the person who's targeted based on how much trouble was caused to them and how much trouble was caused to the Mint by having the coin. The less trouble they go through and the more trouble you go through, usually due to the bounty hunter treating the target roughly or forgetting to give the coin they're supposed to, the more you'll get compensated in additional things or in a reduction in your debt. This system is an easy exploit for people who know about it and who know how to switch between worlds easily." "So there's going to be a bounty on me now?" Shion asked. "Maybe. Probably not. You got it from me so they'll probably leave you alone and try to get it out of me before I can pay it off. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Besides, I'm always carrying at least one quasi anyway. 'S how I got my third nickname." Makoto laughed. "... Okay, I'm curious, tell me what happened." "Hehe, well, since I've managed to keep my real name a secret, and they need a full name in order to put a name at all on a bounty ad, they had to leave the name place blank. That's always a red flag, since if the Mint doesn't know someone's name, then you know that someone is smart or tough enough to be a serious problem. They couldn't even use an alias since the only one I had at the time was the one I use when working for them. That's another thing that's a huge red flag. It's not totally uncommon for some worlds' Mints to put up fake bounties on their own workers, and then when someone collects it they're put in more debt than the reward was worth since they damaged a person on the Mint's payroll. So they had to put up my info with a totally blank name, and that's enough to deter most people, right? This guy, literally a guy, not even a magi just someone who knew some rune magic, came after me. I refused to give up the coin so he started a fight, and since he had a black coin to give me the Mint was watching the whole time. Knowing how the system works put me in the perfect place to take advantage of it, cause I knew that if they have an alias that isn't from them for someone, they've gotta put it on any bounties for that person 'cause if they don't, someone can file a complaint and get something out of the Mint for not being given all the info on their target that they 'needed.' So I made sure to not say anything about myself and just beat the guy up. He had the coin out and on the ground after I knocked him over, and I was about to put him out for a while. So when he said 'Please don't break my legs,' I looked right at the coin and said 'That's my name,' winked at it and knocked him out. So now every bounty they put on me has to say that's my alias." Makoto laughed again. "If three major red flags aren't enough to stop someone, then they're either really stupid or really rich, and the latter tends to not do their own hunting. Hell, one time after that someone tried to pay the Mint to send someone after my bounty 'cause she thought she was smart. Well the Mint's bounty system includes this little contract that basically says that the hunter made an attempt on the target's life. It's supposed to be used for when you're sent to kill someone but they give up, and when that happens you're supposed to change it to a capture and contain mission, right? Well when people are dumb enough to try what this chick did, the secret reason for it comes in. The Mint just sent someone to me and had me sign the contract, then I got a handful of silver coins as payment and they went back to the chick and charged her triple for 'damages to Ebon Mint operatives,' saying that we beat each other up and I ran away after signing it. So the poor girl had to pay a bunch of money for me to get payed to do nothing." "That's... really kind of evil of them." "Oh, yeah, totally. Like I said, you shouldn't mess with the Ebon Mint. At least not if I'm not there to help. They're not nice, even among magi." "You keep implying that magi are bad on the whole. Are they? Or... I guess, are we?" Makoto paused for a moment, and looked down at the table, refusing to make eye contact. "Magical Girls are savage and vicious creatures."
Present Day
Shit. Shion had just lost track of the girl she had been chasing for the past week. "There goes a black coin." she muttered to herself as she looked around. "At least I'm pretty sure this is the town Makoto was planning to go to." Shion changed back to her normal form as she jumped off the rooftop, landing just as she finished. Might as well stay awhile and look around. Just gotta find a place to stay. Unbeknownst to Shion, Makoto had just stepped out of a bath and sprawled herself on the king-sized bed of the best hotel in Penrose. She let out a content sigh. "Nothing better than a nice shower and a nap. Especially after such a long day." She tossed a small wooden coin with an acorn on one side and a crude carving of her face on the other onto the nightstand next to her bed. She stretched and curled up under the covers, hugging her tail and quickly feel asleep, not bothering to put any clothes on. It's always so much more comfortable without them when your tail is as big as hers.
A young woman drove down the road into Penrose, a white owl flying besides the motorcycle. Passerby would be supprised that she was no more than twelve years old if she didnt have a helmet on. Affirmative, Penrose has been the main attraction for monster sightings, a Beacon magical girl pulling the strings. The girl's patron, Maura Natalie, was communicating with her via telepathy. Wait, isn't Beacon the kind cat creatures? she asked, looking around the city.
Yes, but let's be honest here. Puchuus are annoying rodents,The Beacon are pitiful psuedo-manipulators, Horror are..well..self-explanitory,And The Ebon Mint is a shady pharmaceutical company set on creating the undead.
Wait what?
Uh, nothing..just focus on finding somewhere to stay.
Maura left the girl alone to search for the right apartment building when she overheard fighting within the area she was in. Slowing down, she drove to the source the battle, a nearby garage. Then, she saw it. A monster's aura. Hiding behind the space between two buildings, she was able to see the fight better. Maura, remember what you said about monsters? Welp, found one, and two magical girls are fightin' it!
Isn't that convenient. But don't jump in yet, Scout, only when they need help. Scout's patron told her, but it seemed she wasn't listening. Scout took her helmet off and grabed the sniper rifle from her back.
She took aim at the monster from her hiding spot, not changing to her magical girl form till she was noticed.
The waitress returned to the table with Sue's initial order. She placed the tater tots in front of Deni and, after seeing Sue wasn't present, placed the onion rings in front of Violet. After the cokes were put in their respective positions, the waitress smiled at Violet.
“Oh, I thought the tab had been closed on this table. That girl with green hair and glasses paid it with a credit card and left. Though I suppose you can open a new tab if you'd like. However...” The waitress's smile vanished. “You'd best have a way to pay for it. Because if you don't, you'd be in debt to us. And it won't be so easy to clear as just washing a few dishes.” She grinned before putting on a pair of sunglasses. “Anyway, shift change. I'll send your new waiter up in a second.” As soon as she left, no one could quite remember what her face looked like.
Mariette not causing a ruckus was bittersweet. Amber very much would have liked to have turned the tables on the portal witch, ambush her instead. But it made sense that she wouldn't show, or find some way to remain safe. But Amber would have traded an opportunity at vengeance for Sue, Lily, and Alexander's safety anyway.
Amber had chosen to leave the sewers through a back ally entrance. One of her exit strategies if things went south was having everyone pile onto her ship. She had carefully parked sky bastion between two billboards to avoid detection. It stuck out a bit. Erm, a lot actually. It probably wasn't the best hiding place, but it hadn't been destroyed so it must have been good enough.
Amber approached the mast of the ship, and sure enough Helga's soul gem was still there. The chain of the pendant was hung on two nails to give the necklace some stability, as Helga didn't seem to enjoy swinging like a pendulum.
“Seems my trap wasn't sprung.” She took Helga and looped her around her neck before tucking her inside her coat. “Anyway, I might have a surprise for you. But I need to walk around in public, so you need to be silent a bit longer.” Amber hoped of the bow of her ship and descended into the streets. She spread the sails on her back to slow her fall. Once she had her feet on the ground, she reverted back to her untransformed state in a flash of blue light. Amber knew she would have to hurry if she was going to meet the Djinn sisters at the Pit stop. They should be just a few blocks away...
The general rule with any magical girl is that size doesn't matter. There were plenty of magical girls that didn't look a day older than eight years. Despite their size, they were capable of lifting cars over their head, breaking land speed records, and surviving attacks that would ruin war machines. The only exception to this rule is when a magical girl, or boy, takes on the form of a monster. Their larger size is almost always a display of raw power.
The bolts of light that struck Elroy caused him to cease his push into the building. He stumbled away from Penny, winding up back outside the garage. It was evident that the attack had an effect, but it wasn't strong enough to get Elroy to disengage his current opponent. Penny continued to charge forward, crying out in fury as she prepared to make her exit, through Elroy if necessary. But Elroy crouched down like a frog and sprung up into the air, using his massive fists to push himself high above the incoming cyborg. He even flew above the roof of the building. This change of trajectory was just enough to fold the garage in on itself. The back of the metal pole barn was torn clean away from the crumbling garage and soared towards Elroy. As the air born scrap neared the red gorilla, he molded it into a metal ball with his magic. The metal glowed an intense red color as it was asked to bend against it's will. The scrap ball was not pretty or smooth by any means. It was just a giant, mostly round ball of scrap steel. He lifted his improvised metal bolder over his head and prepared to smash anything that was still under him when he landed. He might not hit penny, but he would hit the ground, and it would cause the earth to tremble.
It was fun to watch Elroy cause destruction in her memory. Not many people got the chance to see how a friend would react after they died. This was going to make it a lot easier for her to forgive Elroy for the huge pain in the butt he'd been recently. Now she could see exactly how much Elroy loved her. This told Regina things that no amount of mind reading ever could.
Her original goal was to have Elroy bring Alicia to her for some fun, but that clearly wasn't going to happen now. Regina had some things she wanted to try on a light specialist for a while. Umeko had told Regina about a light magical girl's ability to dispel magic and she was curious how potent it was. A restrained magical girl would have been preferable, but Regina was capable of lobbing curses at a distance. She pulled the lever back on her gun. This was a live magical bullet. Alicia would definitely feel this one if it hit, unlike the psychic bullet that painlessly struck Elroy. And the applied curse was extreme pain. This was the same type of curse she used on Elroy and Ilia during their sparing match, only in bullet form. Regina aimed at Alicia's legs. Her goal wasn't to kill the magical girl after all, just experiment and play with her magic. And of course, keeping Alicia off Elroy was a bonus. It wasn't really fair to let the Beacon girl get involved with Elroy's duel anyway. When Elroy was at his peak height, Regina fired at Alicia. Again the air was filled with the crack of high powered rile fire.
Regina also let her magic mortars fly over her head and descend into the battlefield. She didn't aim anywhere in particular, They would land and explode between the combatants in a hap hazard manner. They didn't carry any curses, but the black explosions stayed in place, creating light stopping domes. Only those who didn't need light to see could look through such magic.
Regina braced herself against one of the building's interior walls. She wasn't sure how hard elroy was going to hit the ground, but she didn't want to fall out the front of the building because of it.
It seemed that she'd struck a nerve with Alex as he made the effort to escort Lily away. Rolling her eyes slightly she called after them as they walked away. "Alright then, see you later!" She could have told them to be careful what they wish for, but that might ruin the fun in the future. If the wish involved anyone else but her new friend she might have granted it on the spot. But alas she didn't get the chance to lead the wish anywhere else. At the very least they could meet again and they might not know it. They were in their untransformed state after all so they probably wouldn't be recognized when transformed.
Sighing lightly the girl headed back to their table and sat down. It looked like things were winding down so they might not be there long. The twins didn't expect Mariette to stick around very long given how reclusive she behaved. "Shakes are really good. Maybe we can have one of those before we go. At least then we could come away with something from this disaster." She stuck her tongue out playfully. The waitress mentioned something about paying and the girl piped up. "I can pay." Now that the strangers were gone Sakura was feeling a lot more relaxed.
Mariette nodded to Violet when she picked the note from her and actually had a device that could call. Now, Mariette could have said she still had use of the note, with portals she could have stolen a phone basically whenever, but saying so used precious energy and Mariette could find Lily basically anytime seeing as her scouts had already examined her and so. …
‘Depressed, huh. … Heh.’ Mariette gave the slightest sign of amusement before it went away. Anyways. Not worry about Sakura, especially because it’s Sakura. Very well, then. Had a milkshake?
‘I have not.’ Mariette stated, otherwise having her own drink in a cup that she brought herself, on the other side of that portal, but eh.
So a waiter arrived. … Was it customary for a waitress to threaten with debt? Or to wear sunglasses? Eh, wasn’t necessarily important, and was quickly forgotten, apparently. Hm, did she know their status of broke, somehow?
Then Sakura came and gave her review of milkshakes. And then said she could pay.
‘You can!? Oh, that would be lovely! ‘Cause, here in Team Mariette we’re all flat broke!’ Deni grinned and shared this little piece of information with sheer happiness.
