---

“What? Has someone been harassing my Penny?” Chloe replied, frowning lightly, releasing Penny from the hug. “You should have come and found me. I’d have fed their souls to Iesud.” Before she could continue her reunion however, the other girl decided to be a rude little bitch-face and interrupt. Ah, if she wasn’t both cute and a member of the mint...Deciding not to dwell on it, the dark magical girl sighed, running a hand along the table slowly as she replied.

“Tsk, so pushy. You should relax more. That distant expression of yours is lovely but your attitude seems like it could use some work.” Walking over to a small counter where a top of the line coffee maker was, grabbing some coffee grounds and making some. “Yes, yes, business then. We’ll have to catch up later, as soon as I finish dealing with the Mint.” Taking a seat at the coffee table, Chloe put her elbows on the surface, supporting her chin with her hands as she gave Sam a smile.

“While we wait for the coffee to finish...perhaps you could introduce yourself?~” She asked playfully.

Sil’s momentary lapse of control didn’t go unnoticed by the sealed monster girl, though she didn’t react to it outside of a short lived glance of curiosity. Internally she was already planning how a fight would go if one broke out as well as clamping down on her volatile emotions. While also deciding to keep an close eye on the new girl at least until she knew her a bit better.

That decision was immediately reinforced upon hearing about the girls connection to the Mint, Penny wondered just how many people in the organization knew that she was now technically a part of it but brushed the thought to the side. “Harassment I can handle, I get plenty from the girls in Beacon” Penny shook her head as she sat back down on the couch “No I got run out on and then ghosted. Tell ya the details later”

“And are you making her the same type of coffee that you used to make for Isana? ‘Cause I still say that stuff tastes like motor oil” She asked upon seeing that Chloe was making coffee rather then more tea. “Don’t get me wrong” Penny would add turning to Sil “It packs a punch I just don’t get how people can stand the taste”

To say it was irritating to see this little girl waste time would be an understatement. Samantha wanted her to make haste with spilling this information that might've been of interest to the Mint, so each second Chloe spent fawning over Penny was a second of Sam's life she could never get back. And, as a Time-user, Sam did count them. So of course when Chloe suggested Sam introduce herself, she was anything but happy.

"You want an introduction?" she asked, giving a small sigh. She had no intentions of interacting friendly with either of these two in the future (not that they were special in that regard) so she found the idea of giving her name rather pointless. Yet, the fact that she was even being asked to do this meant that it was probably better to just go along with it. "I am known as Silhouette, and, as you already know, I am an agent of the Ebon Mint. I enjoy a good cup of coffee." she stated rather plainly. Given her occupation, one couldn't expect the dramatic, flamboyant introductions her alter ego, Shade, gave. Sam herself preferred to be of few words when she could.

"I don't know either," Chloe sighed, making a mental note to ask Penny all the details of what she had been up to. She was allied with the Beacon now? Either her little Penny had gotten quite deceptive and infiltrated them…or someone had been feeding her precious innocent head lies. "Isana always liked those absolutely tasteless things. Coffee and those disgusting energy drinks. I'm surprised she was always so lethargic around here." Turning her attention back to Sil however, Chloe smirked. So that's how it was going to be, hmm? Here she was, trying to be as friendly as possible and this girl was just being utterly rude. Tsk~

"And here I was hoping we were going to be besties." Chloe smirked, eyebrow twitching lightly. She was being perfectly accommodating, and here she was being rude. "Yet here you are giving me a cover name instead, but fine, fine. If you insist on being that way..."

Taking a moment to sit up, Chloe placed a hand on her lips before reaching into her mouth with a hand as if trying to grab something. Seconds later, she pulled something forcefully from her mouth before tossing it in Sil's direction. It was a small green gem she had apparently been keeping in her mouth for whatever reason, no bigger than a small pebble and could easily fit in someones hand.

Chloe gave no immediate explanation as the coffee maker finished and she stood to go get it, but anyone with any magical talent could tell easily that this gem was deeply malevolent simply.

“Geez, your the first Mint I’ve meet that takes their work so seriously”" Penny quipped as she tried to get a better look odd gem Chloe had tossed at Sil. Having little skill in magic, she wasn’t sure of anything outside of the malignant energy it gave off, but figured it would have to be something of importance if Issued had sent her after it.

“Is your Broker riding you or are you always this distant?”" The bluenette would asked as she watched Sil from the her seat on the couch. Quietly sipping at her tea occasionally as played the outsider. There was something familiar to the Penny about the intensity of this unremarkable girl’s gaze, she just wasn’t sure what or why.

Samantha’s eyes turned a deep crimson as she inspected the green orb she held in her gloved hand, and she ignored the girl speaking to her for a moment as she did so. It did not seem immediately dangerous to her, otherwise she’d have avoided it. But she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Hopefully, Chloe would explain it when she got back. Samantha did not have limitless patience when it came to fooling around. But for now, she turned to Penny and spoke.

“Is it not common sense to be cautious around individuals who can casually slaughter innocent humans?” she asked Penny. She then sighed. “If you really must know, a person like myself finds it both difficult and pointless to bother with formalities unless I am sure we’ll have contact in the future. But any sort of name is much more than I give most people, so please respect the effort I am putting into this.”

"Hup, here we are." Chloe walked back over, placing a mug of coffee in front of Sil. "Do enjoy. I might get upset if you tell me it’s bad." Chloe smirked, taking her seat back. "Last person who did that met an unfortunate end so let's try to avoid that." Chloe paused, taking a drink of her own tea. Ah, she had no idea how much she should reveal here…but she might as well play with Sil a bit.

"By the way, don't stare at that too long. Might have some adverse side effects if you haven't used it before." She leaned back on the table. "So…what was I doing…any idea what that is? No? Of course not. Your tiny little pretty head can't comprehend it." She was almost purposefully trying to antagonize Sil at this point, it seemed. "Think of that jewel as something that can help any magical girl with their job. A…boost to their powers if you will. Iesud has had me…making those for the past few months. And now there's so many beautiful ones growing…ones that perhaps we'd be willing to let the Mint have for suitable compensation. In fact…" She smiled. "I'm feeling generous, you should be grateful. I'll let the Mint have that one for free."

Sam looked longingly at the cup of coffee, before looking back up to Chloe. “I will try my best to enjoy it, but if threats are the best part about your blend, then I feel we’ll have an unfortunate situation on our hands.” she commented, her red orbs eying the drink closely before she took a sip.

She closed her eyes. From the Dark Magical Girl, not a sound could be heard. But even those ignorant to magical influence could feel the pressure she was exerting, the kind of which very few things could compare, and the kind that was likely to put both other girls on the defensive. However, this lasted merely a moment, and with an exhale, Samantha set the mug down. She opened her eyes, now brown, and glanced back at the gem Chloe had passed her and spoke as if nothing had just occurred. “How generous of you. I take it all the commotion you’ve been causing has something to do with the creation of these… magical steroids, for a lack of a better term?”

"Short answer? Yes." Chloe replied, seemingly unconcerned with the very brief pressure from Sil. Someone took their coffee far too seriously. "With a little help from the angry old dragon, I can turn spirits of the recently deceased into these." Leaning back, Chloe sighed boredly. "Are we done here? Or can I get back to pampering my Penny?"

Penny stalled out a bit at Sil’s response, a bit of it was the concern of innocents after all it’s not often that a Mint seemed to care about the non magicals. Most of it was Penny recognizing Sil eyes, after all it’s not like she would forget the fight she had on top of the Sky Bastion easily. Thankfully Chloe came back with the coffee, letting Penny fade in to the background for a bit as she just observed.

The pressure exerted did little to set Penny more on edge, though it did cement that Sil was the same person that Penny had fought before the ship was taken out. And Penny was moderately disturbed at the thought of eating someone’s soul, thought a small part was curious if the process of making these steroids broke the soul of those used.

Didn’t help Penny from choking on her tea at Chloe’s question about being able to go back to pampering her.

As Chloe was speaking, Samantha had been drinking her coffee. Though not as intense as the first, every time she took a sip, she inadvertently pressured the area around here. Her expression, however, remained a stone wall. Her cup of joe was finished right around the time Chloe had asked her about their business. “This is acceptable.” Sam said, holding onto the green orb.

“Thank you for your compliance.” she told Chloe, starting for the door of the “apartment”.”And for the coffee, too.”

Assuming nothing impeded her, Samantha would take her leave.

Upon hearing the front door swing shut behind Sam, and having made sure she was no longer in danger of choking on her tea Penny couldn’t help but remark sarcastically ”Cheery that one. Figures she would be Mint” Shaking her head she drained the rest of her tea “Wonder if she recognized me as well”

"You know her?" Chloe asked curiously. "She could certainly stand to be less rude. At least she accepted my coffee without a complaint. Hmph. I had half a mind to smack her, but as generous and merciful as I am I overlooked her bratty behavior." Chloe stood, taking the mug and placing it back on the countertop.

"That aside though..." Quickly, Chloe took a seat next to Penny. Her body was pressed gently against the other girl's arm as she continued. "Who's been messing with my adorable little Penny? And what's this about you joining beacon?"

“Wouldn’t say that I know her, we tried to kill each other about a month ago” Penny leaned back in to the couch as she spoke, her exhaustion starting to come to the forefront due to feeling safe here in this apartment. “They were trying to destroy a flying pirate ship for some reason, I needed the ship intact to help assault a Dark Magicals castle in the Overcity. I was something of a mess at the time.” her eyes had a distant quality as Penny pulled up the memories that felt like they had happened so long ago, but in truth was only a month and a half ago.

“There was this girl, Thalia” Her voice cracked slightly at saying the girls name and a slight shine could be seen in her eyes. Penny forced herself to swallow before continuing “She’s a Foxgirl, I keep running into her. Have since I got dragged in to this crazy world. Kinda like you and Laat and Alicia, the only solid points of reference I have anymore.” her voice wavered at that declaration “I ran in to her at a fight at a hospital, and we just stuck around each other for the next couple weeks. I didn’t know where you had vanished off too and the key wasn’t working so I welcomed the company” Penny just shrugged helplessly, she knew how it sounded, but that didn’t make it any less true.

“Then the day prior to the ship fight I had been out doing some patrols, Laat had made a deal with the Beckoners so I’ve been working alongside the Beacon since a day or two after the meeting in the park.” She gave a soft, wistful chuckle at remembering that deal being forged. Not much good had really come from it, outside of meeting Alicia, granted nothing all that bad had come from it either.

“A fight broke out and I got winged by a few makeshift metal lances right after someone cursed me to compromise my durability.” Faded anger and frustration colored her tone as she continued her tale and for the moment her sadness seemed to be forgotten “Thalia Redlined and hauled me out of there and back to my Lair, ‘cause I guess I looked like hell. I was in the process of rewriting my regen to incorporate the lances into my chassis, which always takes an annoying amount of time, but I had back up and the fight was pretty much done with so I was going to be alright.”

“Guess I shut down at some point, so my regen could do its thing, because the next thing I remember is waking up next to a sleeping Thalia. She had just Redlined to get me to safety in full view of Beacon members and the only goal she had was to get me to safe. What can I say, I fell hard right then.” Penny’s voice had a touch of awe as she recalled that moment, but the hurt of what came next was unmistakable “Only to have her bolt when she woke up.” she curled in to herself as she finished her voice straining to not waver as she kept herself from crying over it again “I tried to chase after her, but every time I thought I was getting closer she seemed to freak out and would get faster. I tried calling her for hours afterwards. Voicemail every time. I’ve yet to see or hear from her since”

“To make my situation even worse I had been approached by a Coin Broker while Thalia was still sleeping. Felt like such an idiot, still do.” she finished weakly rocking softly as she did. It still felt raw to think about it, still hurt to remember. But she was feeling better, and now that she had been able to tell someone she felt a weight lift from her. She had wanted to tell Alicia, but fear had kept her silent, she always felt she was on shaky ground due to being a Monstergirl, a Black coin would have been too much.

As Penny recounted the past few months of her absence, Chloe could only frown. It was painful to hear it, really. Penny had a rough time of it, it seemed. Ditched by someone who was involved with her. Twice if she included herself in that that. Being alone without someone to care for you was always a difficult thing. At least now though, she had been caught up and she was never going to leave her little Penny again.

"Ah…I should never have left." Chloe replied quietly when Penny finished. "My dear little Penny has had a rough time of it, and for that I apologize. I should have told that crotchety old dragon to stuff it, but it's difficult to ignore direct orders. I also was busy ensuring that should he be killed, we have an insurance policy for that." Chloe continued, releasing Penny from the hug. Leaning back on the couch, she sighed. "And the Beacon! I'm surprised they even tolerate your presence. Humph, perhaps they're not entirely bad…best not to tell them about the black coin or the fact I'm your best friend. I doubt they'd take kindly to such things." Smiling over to Penny in a friendly, if mildly suggestive manner.

"But enough of that. You look tired, Penny. If you're not busy…take a rest? I have missed you quite a bit, you know." She pointed to her open lap, her suggestion of a lap pillow fairly obvious.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I can ignore direct orders from Laat when he gives them, so I get it.” Penny said with a weak smile, truth of it was she was just glad to have her friend back regardless of the reason. Checking her phone Penny set a quick alarm for twenty minutes from now “I’ve got a bit before I need to head out and some rest sounds great” she answered before indulging in the offered ‘pillow’ not caring about what it could mean, just glad for comfort that was offered.

“Most of Beacon are more or less how the stories portray them, rigidly adhering to their rules and ignore me on principle even though It was one of their Beckoners who sought me and Laat out, but there are a few who aren't so bad.” Penny explained as she got comfortable, yawning softly as she did “Even made a friends with one, her name is Alicia, she wouldn’t get on my case for being your friend I think she knew about me hanging out with the fox, but you're probably right about the coin, only you and Laat don’t care about me having it.”

Closing her eyes Penny just set aside everything and just enjoyed the comforting presence of the apartment, something that had been lacking in her lair since Thalia had left. “Feel free to wake me if I start drifting too far, not sure how much I weigh when I’m unsealed but I’m doubt it will be comfortable”

"Heh, don't worry my pretty little Penny." Chloe replied with a chuckle. "Just rest your head."

Quietly time would pass. Penny would never reach a point where she was fully asleep but would fade in and out always hovering just near the edge of sleep. Then the soft quiet would be broken by the loud rumbling of thunder that was Penny’s phone alarm. At which point the tattooed teen would sigh and open her eyes once again “Thanks” she would say with a smile before sitting back up “But I’ve got to get going before they wonder where I wondered off too and start looking for me”

With a sigh Penny stood and stepped away from the couch she didn’t go too far before the sound of an engine started to hum out from the girl. A few moments later there was a brilliant flash of light accompanied with the sound of tearing metal and once again Penny stood in her true form. Turning to face Chloe Penny fished a small piece of paper from one of her compartments “Here, it’s my number since I actually have one now” she explained handing it over as she did.

Chloe mostly had contented herself with just making sure Penny got some rest, as well as painting her fingernails a lovely shade of purple. For the most part, she was happy to assist her so-called friend in getting some much needed rest. When she finally awoke, Chloe sighed, seemingly a little disappointed.

"Tsk, I was hoping to get you to stay longer, but fine." Chloe grumbled lightly as the mecha girl handed over her phone number. "I'll try not to bother you too much - oh, and, one thing from me." Reaching into her dress, Chloe pulled out a small necklace. The silver colored pendant was beautifully designed in the shape of several interlocking diamond shapes. In the center of it was a small amethyst. "If you ever get into trouble, I'll come running, okay?"

“I’ll likely spend the night here so I’ll be back” Penny replied “And feel free to call anytime, not much going on at the moment”

At the gift of a rather elegant looking necklace Penny was momentarily stunned and openly confused until she took a closer look at it and could feel the simmering magic just below the surface running her thumb over the gem in the center Penny gave a heartfelt smile to Chloe her eyes glowing a soft indigo “Thank you” she said earnestly as she slipped the gift on her plating shifting around it so that it would not get damaged but it could still be seen.

Reaching back for one last hug Penny turned and walked out the apartment door and back to Beacon HQ.

Dark days have been plaguing our city as of late. Penrose may have been a strange city prior to these past months, but it can't be said that such occurrences have any lessened throughout them. The city has seen its fair share of hardship, if not more so, and nothing seems to be alleviating any time soon. The world is indeed dangerous, but Penrose feels to be a beacon for those kinds of issues.

One of these dangers are the serial killings in recent times. Horrific acts of violence against innocent people, both in the middle of the night and broad daylight. Without witness reports, there is no evidence for what kind of culprit could be behind them, but something terrible is going on in regards to them. Even in a city such as this, plagued with oddities and abnormal events, innocent civilians should feel safe to wander the streets, no matter the time of day, and yet they are robbed of the right to do so.

The Police recently released the details of the latest murder. From their analysis, it would appear to match the MO of its predecessors. According to their report, the victim was seventeen year old Elisabeth Lockwood, who was found dead in an alleyway on the East Side of Penrose by passersby. Much like the past victims, her corpse was mangled and torn, seemingly flayed from the inside, and left against the wall surrounded by blood.

This killing is one in a long line of similar violent crimes that have occurred within the past two months. At least fifteen victims have been found and identified by authorities, though there have been rumours that a number of even more vicious murders have been kept from the public. Each victim shares a similar circumstance - their bodies torn to scraps by their attacker. Bite and claw marks have been found, suggesting some kind of wild animal, but some wounds found suggest contrary due to their precise nature. Due to their repeated occurrences, the Police are treating these attacks as serial killings, rather than accidental deaths at the hands of wild animals.

Despite previous attempts, it would appear no one has come forth with evidence to suggest any culprit. With this newfound attack, Police have made a direct video recorded statement addressing the killer, requesting them to turn themselves (Below), and have once again pleaded for any eye witnesses to come forward with their accounts and evidence. The kind of person who could commit such violent and depraved acts, more closely resembling an attack by a wild animal, is an unthinkable one, and so it is unknown whether the statement will have any effect, however the people of Penrose are hopeful.

At The Penrose Independant, we urge anyone to come forward with any information regarding the crimes, or someone who could be in any way connected. If anyone is uncomfortable reporting it directly to the authorities themselves, we will send an anonymous tip on your behalf. Similarly, your identity and the identities of anyone named in your report will be kept anonymous until publicly announced in either a public or court statement by the authorities.





At the top of a building, looking down upon the world, was a girl. She had blond hair, sharp, intent green eyes, and a set of casual, relatively mundane clothes. At the top of the building she sat, wielding a pair of relatively mundane binoculars. They were far some anything special, and much closer to a modified pair of bird watching goggles than anything truly practical for her job. That said, they were indeed modified; a larger focus, better lenses, a sturdier case. In reality, it was just something minor she had requested some days back, on the hopes of staying out of the firing line. Despite the eyesight she possessed in monstrous form, it was better to stay disguised for the time being. So the saying went. She was watching. And others might have been watching too.

Below on the street, a scene of chaos had unfolded, and the girl had quickly taken up a vantage point to better take in the ensuing events. She had purpose, yes, but at least a modicum of her being as intrigued by the others that would show up, and what they would do amidst the running and screaming humans. The fact that such a scene had erupted in both the middle of the day and in the middle of the street, at least on some levels, baffled her. Of course, it wasn't her first time witnessing a girl destroying the street and buildings in front of civilians, but the fact that it continued to happen left her with the question: is there some kind of benefit to fighting in the day?



Adjusting her own body a small degree, she positioned her gaze away from the scrambling magical beings over towards another person. A Monster Girl, so it seemed.
"It'll be better to deal with the monster first." she said aloud, no nobody in particular, not that there was anybody in the vicinity to hear it. Her finger rolled across a dial to the side, steadily increasing the focus to properly observe the scene. Information wasn't necessarily the most important in the moment, but with three people in her vision, she'd need to watch and isolate where they moved to.



"The Ebon Vampire will be too difficult to track. Have the web follow the other one, and see if they have a base of operations we can exploit." the presence addressing her in her own head dissipated, seemingly, like a fine mist vanishing. Her gaze shifted across the street towards the others, as they scurried among the wreckage's and rubble to find the bodies of survivors. She knew little of The Beacon, nor their methods, but such a task seemed like something they would undertake. Saving the lives of innocents and such. With how many girls had shown up in such a short time, she was surprised. Penrose truly was bustling.

Finished taking in the rescue forces, she once again turned to her quarry, only to find them alone by the accident. What company she had had already left, it seemed, leaving her vulnerable and open. Perhaps it wasn't the perfect chance to interfere, but they were nearing it. There were too many girls around to reliably strike. Of course, they were preoccupied saving lives, but there were many of them; a one versus five or so fight was far from her best interests. Instead, she continued watching, waiting for the girl to leave, move, or do something.

A simple buzzing drew her attention, forcing her hand into her clothes for the source. From out within she drew a simple, disposable flip phone, ringing with a withheld number.
"The Web has failed to locate Target Two."
"She was just here, how could she have disappeared so quickly?" she replied, the slightest note of annoyance creeping its way into the comment,
"Her method of escape is unknown."



"Understood." as the voice crept its way back into her skull, she turned her attention back to the binoculars. Ending the call, she set the phone down against the concrete roof she sat upon, before adjusting her own sitting position for a better view. This was far from the kinds of missions she usually took on for The Lady, but it was a necessary one. The city was bloated with girls of all walks and kinds, and she had a bone to pick with a certain organisation.

But it wasn't a job for her to run in and attack its members at random. There was a certain finesse and delicacy that she needed to take to ensure the completion of the job in a satisfactory way. She could remember it - the things she was taught, the ways that they taught it, and the punishments for failure. The Ebon Mint was an organisation of shadows and ghosts, after all. Shadows would be the only way to deal with it from the outside.

And so she sat at the top of a building, watching. Waiting. And prepared to move at the first moment her target began to as well.

With her classmate traded off, Amaryllis managed a smile towards the masked magical boy and his infirmary of clones. Another debt to remember then. Turning on her heel, the buxom fencer was about to head off for some more rescue operations before that particularly surly, serious sword-throwing girl approached her, asking questions that couldn’t be answered. Amaryllis narrowed her eyes slightly in thought, before shaking her head.

“Though destiny decreed that I be within the crowd that those wayward souls attacked, my mortal eyes were unable to catch a glimpse of the true perpetrator of this bloody banquet. Perchance another set of eyes have, however. Moments after my own arrival, a maiden of mystic darkness arrived as well, clad in robes of red, with scarlet eyes and pale hair. Though she disappeared during my bout with the scavenger, perhaps her own eyes have caught what mine have not.”

Perhaps that void mage will be the first for her to hunt down then.

“If that be your quarry though, allow me to assist you. A knight and an archer forms two-thirds of the holy trinity, does it not? And it appears that enough help has arrived that the assistance of us weapon-wielders are no longer so necessary.”

Indeed, with Aurora taken care of and the scavenger gone, Amaryllis had no intention of sticking around with what seemed to be an ever-growing collection of magical girls. Her Patron was hungering, after all, and her own act was wearing down on her now.
@Rune_Alchemist

Find the cloning chick they said, it'll be easy they said.

When Veronica had arrived much sooner than she expected, Eliza silently hoped that the Shion she found was the right one. Lo and behold, it was not. So not only did the witch have the pain of knowing she messed up on her first try, she felt the literal pain of her boss' presence. And it only got worse to where when Eliza collapsed onto the group in pain, loosing feeling in her legs after Veronica touched her, and keeping herself elevated by her upper arms. But now she knows where the real Shion is located. She wasn't gonna mess up again.

Her eye twitching, once the pain had subsided, Eliza ditched her disguised form, and her silver wings formed upon her back. The witch quickly flew up into the air to look for the tent on the rooftops as fast as she could.

"Don't fuck this up, don't fuck this up..." she repeated to herself till she spotted the tent. "Gotcha." she said, before thinking to herself. Maura, I'm gonna need your help. Eliza told her patron, while two glyphs of light appeared beside her, readying an attack.

Say no more, I will arrive as soon as possible.

Eliza grinned a bit when Maura replied, then fired a myriad of star shaped bullets at the tent. "Game on, rule-breaker."

Several moments ago:

Shion watched from the phone of her clone as she was taken to a blonde magical girl. Shortly after, the stream went dark, and she noticed that a small amount of mana she was using was returned to her. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to learn much more than the faces of the two who were searching for her, and the voice of the one that seemed to be the underling in their dynamic. Nonetheless, she felt that extra caution would be necessary, so she called back all of her clones to meet at a specific location. She packed up everything she had into a backpack, forming a clone beside her with an empty backpack to carry the rest of her things, barring the tent. Lastly, she made a clone to stay there and record what happened, also setting another phone on the nearby top of the nearby door. She then took her copy in her arms and jumped from the building, using her magic on the metal structuring supports to slow her descent to a manageable speed.

---

Summer was greatly disappointed as she saw the posters on the walls, but the idea of playing poker perked her back up.

"You're on!" She sat down and prepared herself for the game when she heard the commotion at the entrance. She quickly ran towards the noise to see what was happening, totally forgetting about the girls she was leaving at the rec room.

---

Now:
Shion finally met with her clones just inside the city limits where she had first entered town and reabsorbed them, getting their memories and some experience from what little they did as if she had done it herself. She waited in a nearby store as she watched the streams from the rooftop.

@Majoras End@Flamelord@Ariamis

”Ooh, fancy Rec Room is fancy” was the impressed response Kyle gave as he took in the room that they had been lead too. He spent a small bit of time taking a look at the various games and posters that were scattered around the room getting a feeling for how it was this division of Beacon operated.

”I am always up for a game of poker” He answered as he turned back to face Sally. As he did he caught a commotion happening out in the hall and could tell form the voices it wasn’t a good one.

Heaving a sigh Kyle snapped his fingers and in a grand puff of smoke…



He had transformed, and could much more easily tell the feeling of the crowd. “Sorry ladies, card game is going to have to wait. Trouble is afoot.” He stated as he rushed off to get a better vantage point to assess what was going on.

---

Meanwhile Penny was already at a perfect vantage point to witness the events happening outside. Rather than go down in to the HQ, she had been planning on hopping off the roof and walking inside through the front door.

She put a stop to that plan when she looked over the edge and saw Alicia already transformed confronting the girls guarding the front doors, along side Janet who was tied by a golden rope.

Currently she was just waiting, but the red in her eyes and the cracked railing in her hands made it easy to tell it was a near thing and she would be down there the moment Alicia was attacked.

@ERode

---

This girl certainly had a flamboyant way of speaking, didn't she? Katarina frowned lightly as she responded as though she should have been in some Shakespearean play or something. Well, no matter. The girl didn't seem to have seen whoever caused this chaos, but she did seem to have a lead. Another girl that was at the site but seemed to have left before she had arrived. Tch, late to the party. She should be more vigilant.

"Normally I'd decline working with someone." Katarina replied with a sigh. "But you seem decently competent and our objectives seem to be the same." Folding her arms against her chest, Kat's expression softened only slightly. "...Hunter, if you must. Or Rina. Now lets get moving before we loose any more time. Did you see which way this 'maiden of mystic darkness' left?"

Hopefully working with her wouldn't be a mistake. She had no intention of letting this target slip through her fingers.

---

Watching Penny leave, Chloe flopped back on her couch, sighing tiredly. Ah, coming back to Penrose was turning out to be quite eventful. Well, at least she had successfully dealt with the Mint for now, and managed to learn how Penny was doing. All was turning out well, save for her own plans which had been slightly slowed by her own Patron. Understandable, when your ultimate goal was their undoing in favor of something much, much, more beautiful.

"Do you always make a point of making friends with those creatures? Laat's chosen or not, I care little for trivialities. They will only be a temporary ally at best."

"Ah, Lord Iesud." Chloe chuckled, sitting up. "So short sighted as always." The dragon growled lightly at this, a small headache forming. "Or perhaps you don't trust your own servant? You wound me."

"I trust a scheming wretch like yourself less than I trust the Mint."

"So cruel..." Chloe chuckled. "You want me to break such a useful tool, then?" She continued, smiling as she walked a slow circle about her apartment. "Lord Iesud, to get the most out of your tools you need to care for them. Making a diamond shine takes a bit of effort, you know. No one likes a dirty uncut gem."

"Don't speak to me of such things, whelp. I understand that better than anyone." He loudly replied, small sparks of static forming in the air as Chloe reached the door to her apartment. "I'm merely questioning your methods. Our goal is destruction. Enslavement of these pathetic creatures. She will turn on us sooner or later."

"And Such a thing is quite difficult, no? If you were so confident you wouldn't have hired me in the first place. Patience, lord. Penny is a valuable tool. As soon as the Mint confirms this deal we'll have quite a few allies on our hands...but in the mean time, I suppose I should add a few more to our ranks." Opening the door to her apartment and leaving it behind, Chloe walked out. "And if dear little Penny decides to turn on me...well. I can be very persuasive."

walking out, Chloe turned and left her apartment and the alley. Maybe she'd be contacted by the Mint soon once more? Either way, she needed to find suitable candidates soon.

Proving yet again to be a wealth of wishes, the Djinn Sisters found themselves witnessing the chaos in downtown. More and more magical boys and girls were showing up. Watching from afar the two deliberated. "That's a lot of people. So many with wishes to grant." The urge to just jump in and start granting was strong. But the twins had learned better about flaunting their magic in big groups. Better to single out a target. Keeps some of the attention down and allows to more wishes later. "I can go and talk to one of them. Who looks good to you?" Sakura surveyed all present with her Third Eye, all the information from which Violet recieved thanks to thei mental link.

"They all look tempting" Violet would reply as she also surveyed the sizable congregation of magicals down below "But the ones who I'm more tempted towards are the clone kid playing medic or the girl with the motorcycle who drove him here as I think we've meet them before, when we were out of costume"

"Hm... I agree. I think maybe the boy. We don't run into as many of then do we?" Stepping off the side of the building she twisted and caught hold of the edge. Parkour was something that the sisters did well. Thier excess of luck made the task easy even if they didn't have the skill, though they thankfully did. Walking over to the group she watched Alex work for a moment. Her attention wandered to the rune scralled chunks of pavement. Picking one up she hurried off to another wounded individual to keep them alive. Having demonstrated the use of the healing magic the Djinn girl held it up and spoke to Shannon. "Alright rock girl, take care of the rest." Gesturing toward the remaining healing stones.

Satified that Sakura got her point across she went back over to Alex. "There, your job just got a whole lot easier." With a confident smile the pink haired girl watched as Shannon cast a spell to charge the runes and send them flying in all directions to sustain the remaining injured.

Violet took a moment to watch her 'Sister's' plan before also making her way down the building. She however was making sure to stay out of sight and sticking to shadows as she went. There was plenty of opertunity to get a wish from someone here but it required subtlety.

With Sakura off helping out in plain sight, Violet was skulking around getting as close to Alex as she could while remaining out of sight. Not that distance was much of a issue when it came to their magic, it simply made things easier on everyone involved.

---

What.

Was going.

On.

Regina had only been doing this magical girl thing for two or three months now, and she had learned to leave things like expectations at the door. Regardless of how simple something might have seemed, there was always something there to complicate it. The “squatter” turning out to be a magical girl was one of the more normal things to happen during her time as a magical girl. What was putting her on edge was how casually she announced she was into girls. Regina could hardly fathom why anyone would do that, even as a joke. Perhaps what was really irritating her was that Elroy had just been talking to her about hooking her up with a magical girl, and this one was not only into girls. Or was Regina simply reading too far into a taunt? Well, if she had thick skin, maybe they’d be able to get through this without a fight. While elroy didn’t mind being in danger, he was the least diplomatic of the two.

---

"You’re under arrest for disturbing the peace with that gaudy outfit!" Elroy was holding an invisible megaphone up to his mouth. "But your fashion woes can be left behind, because you now stand before Elroy Bates, the master of snazzy dressing! And apparently I have a cute tail too!" He extended a hand towards the dark woman. "And what do they call you in these parts?"

”Oh! Don’t taze me, officer! I swear i didn’t know i was wearing white after Labor Day!” Annabelle said in response, dramatically acting as if shot for a second, before looking back at the tailed boy, giving him a small wink, and letting out a giggle before speaking again, ”Haha, i’m Annabelle, Herald of Lord Soth. Just cute lustful, trustful, little magical girl looking to have some fun~ What you doin’ around these parts here? Looking to find some patron paying around here?”

Annabelle held out her hand to shake with Elroy, though being within Soth’s territory still it was a failsafe on her part. The boy was interesting, very much so~ But she wasn’t into guys, and didn’t mind saying things like that aloud. Her lord had told her something like “other magical girls might not react well to that”. Meh. She couldn’t really bother to care at that point. She was, as it were, herself, and nothing more or less as she was now. Couldn’t remember the old stuff before all this if she tried to anyways!

Though as she stood there and talked, the inky black orb of darkness began to look about the surroundings, as if….someone was using it to peer into the shadows, the buildings, the places about in case of another intruder. Or perhaps it was just Soth being curious. One could never know, really.

"I’m glad you asked, eyeball." Elroy’s grip definitely bordered on “too firm” for a handshake, and he continued to vigorously shake her hand as he explained things. "I’ve come out this way to scavenge for food for myself and the rest of my harem." He released Annabelle’s hand and folded his arms. "And that’s when I came across this place. I do find it interesting that you smell like hamburgers. This could be a good sign."

”Oh my, don’t you look like you are in the need of some tasty meat. You said you have a harem to feed? Oooh, there could perhaps be an arrangement for that, if you are willing~” Annabelle said, reaching out as she spoke, lips pursed as her fingers trailed under the boy’s chin, before pulling back and looking to the orb next to her, ”Mmm, Lord Soth, do you have use for some more hands? I promise i’ll be nice, especially if they have any cute girls~”

The orb by this point seemed to eventually land its unwavering, alien gaze on the location of Regina, as if it was starting into her very soul. The orb being a portal to Soth, the horror’s infinite gaze, a deep and eternal as the void to which all returned eventually, piercing as much as its was as cold as space itself. Most would get frightening chills down the back from such a direct and intense gaze from the horror, normal humans would flee as their instincts kicked in, but in Regina’s case Soth had no idea how she would react. Regardless, the orb turned toward Annabelle and Elroy, with the same cold, piercing, state being aimed at Elroy now from behind the inky black darkness of the orb and its portal to Soth in this case.

”Arrangements…..could be made for a group...for a price. What are you both willing to pay for food and housing here within my domain in this part of the city?” the voice of Soth called out of the portal, deep, booming, horrific and guttural, yet in the minds of others it seemed to translate into the language they most easily understood upon perceiving it. In a sense it was almost like an echo, a reverberation from the void itself and the thum of indescribable power that had been “restrained” so very much to not affect the world itself in its wake.

Such was the nature of Lord Soth, Lord of the Eternal Abyss, it who was Void incarnate, the destroyer of worlds and horrors and gods and all things, that which returned all eventually to the void it once came from.

Elroy had been mostly unmoving while sloth scoped out the area. "Hmmm?" He raised an eyebrow. "I don’t believe I’ve said anything about paying, eyeball’s eyeball. My pockets are a bit empty anyway." He shrugged his shoulders with a toothy grin. "Honestly, there’s nothing really stopping me and my mega harem from rolling in here and taking what I want. So maybe the real question is-" Everyone could hear a strange pulsating sound as something flew through the air. Someone gifted with the ability to see magic would be able to see it was one of Regina’s Psychic bullets for the faintest of seconds before it hit Elroy in the side of the head. His head didn’t jerk from the impact, but he did stand there for a few seconds with his mouth hanging open, unable to finish his sentence. He closed his mouth "We’re mercenaries that don’t have a patron of our own. So maybe we can pay you through services. Besides, you guys are clearly new in town, and we’re aware of just about everything that goes down in Penrose. " He placed his hands on his hips. "I’m not sure how you feel about Beacon, but I don’t think they’d approve of your existence. You’re going to want some muscle if they show up."



A smile crept onto Annabelle's face after Elroy spoke. It was eeries, creepy…...no, utterly and purely sadistic, twisted, and bearing the innate nature of being “abnormal” and “not right” in such a distinct way that any normal human would recognize without having to think twice on the matter. It was a smile normally hidden behind the twisted psyche of one who had been mentally broken by a true horror, their power thrumming in her veins like lifeblood.

”Ah…...one of those, i see. Belief that an army, even of magical girls or other forces, could dare bring down my dominion. Or perhaps, you merely to stab a Patron in the back for benefit after getting pay? Haha, how foolish mortals never cease to amuse me!“

The inky black orb now seemed to expand into a large portal, even as an array of small tentacles beginning to emerge from within it, their physical space and air distorting greatly around them as if bent by natural forces far beyond this world’s comprehension. They slowly moved and crawled about in the air, surrounding Elroy like a snake coiling up about its prey. But they did not make contact with the magical boy. Rather, they sat there, hanging in the air, making the air stifling to even breathe even for Annabelle. Power beyond magical girls coursed about and through them, power beyond comprehension.

”Listen well, young one here, and the one who sits in the shadows as well for this. You who have only seen naught but a tiny fraction of what exists among the stars and underneath the darkness of all worlds. Even armies are naught in my wake, i have erased patrons and deities and worlds, armies and fleets, and even here my power is such that your ‘threats’ are naught but child’s play amidst the annals of eternity...”“

However, after these words he tentacles, extensions of a true cosmic horror that defied knowledge and reason, yet whose nature took place amongst the natural forces of the world, retracted back into the portal again as slowly as they had emerged. The portal then shrunk back into an inky black orb once more, as if nothing had happened, and Annabelle’s smile went back to a pleasant and rather friendly normal one. The horror’s voice then began to emanate from the orb once more, without pause as if nothing had happened.

…..This being said, your compatriot seems of a smarter sort, and has managed to get your lives spared. For this i shall reward them with the lodging you seek.

I am willing to indulge your group’s need for work and a base of operations here, as i have need of supplies and such things for my ends. The building to the right of this ‘school’, you may move into it with your companion and ‘mega harem’ and live there for the time being. I have claimed that territory now, however, and there i shall keep watch on you and protect you from threats that enter my territory. Similarly you shall help defend my territory from threats that attack it.

However, do not think to betray my trust, or sabotage me here. This is my one warning. My eyes are everywhere, my void all-consuming if i feel the need to unleash it upon traitors.

Your pay for lodging, some concealment here, food and water even, and some protection shall be your services as i request them, whether it be for supplies or other things. Secondly, part of your payment shall be all the information about this city and area and Beacon that you and your group currently know of, which my minions shall record for my use as you ‘move in’ to your new lodging. Thirdly you shall communicate all such knowledge you gain in the future to me through my servants as soon as possible.

And finally, i shall forgive those ill-spoke words of yours, boy, should you and your companion accept my deal...

...What say you both to my offer?“

Elroy nodded along to the entity as it spoke, attempted to startle him, and did everything in it's power to appear intimidating and get its point across. But Elroy didn't flinch. Once it was all done, the incubus raised a hand and pointed at it."You said world twice. That's bad grammar."

The inky orb seemed to float there in place, silently, calmly. The comment did not really seem to phase the horror on the other end of the line. After a moment, Annabelle coughed and decided to speak up.

”Eh, he’s not one for human speak. Really, i think the boss just wants ya’ know your response to the offer right now, haha~” the magical girl said, rubbing the back of her head with one hand and giving a casual shrug.

"You're kidding me! Someone who can devour worlds is going to let me decide how this goes down?" He smacked his forehead. "Well! My mommy always told me that it wasn't a good idea to do sleepovers with people who could eat you. And since your eyeball here can eat worlds, I don't think we'll be lodging here anytime soon. I think Regina agrees with me." He looked over his shoulder. "What do you say, girl?" Another pulse struck Elroy, and he turned back to face Annabelle. "Yea, she says that's a no go to the mass sleep over. Maybe we can be friends? Meet each other halfway even?" He took a knee and extended a hand towards Annabelle.

”Fufufu~ I wouldn’t mind being friends. I don’t think the boss would mind, and maybe i could meet your ‘Regina’ friend, hmm? Sounds like a cute name~” Annabelle said, a small, more casual smirk on her face as she took the demon-looking boy’s hand daintily, giving a small wink as well.

"Oh, you want to meet her?" With Annabelle reaching for Elroy's hand, and the two of them having relatively normal reflexes, it was a simple matter for Elroy for Elroy to close his hand around hers. "Then let's gooooooooooo!" Regina had already charged up a few magical mortars, which bombarded the area between Elroy and the building Regina was standing in. The magical projectiles exploded into domes of darkness, obscuring a trail directly to Regina. But the idea of doing this was to enable Elroy to quickly shadow step with Anabelle to the window Regina was at. Most magical girls would need to wait for the domes to fade away to be able to see, but Annabelle was of the sort that she could see in virtually any darkness. By the time Elroy and her arrived, Regina was leaning up against a wall with her arms folded. Her eyes darted between Anabelle and a cracked tile on the floor.

"Oh, hello Annabelle." She looked at the new magical girl. "So, here I am."

”Oooh, so you are Regina! I like you! Cute horns, glowing eyes, cuter tail, nice chest,,…..and a cute butt~” Annabelle said observing the other girl without stepping closer, a glint in the darkness girl’s eyes that hinted at genuine admiration, ”Ah! My bad for getting a bit excited there. Been a while since i’ve seen a cute girl like you, so i kinda jumped the gun a bit. Haha, my bad!

Ah, but i did mean it when i said i wanted to be friends with you two. Elly’ here’s gotta tongue on him’, not something the boss likes best, but i don’t mind dealing with it. But you, i gotta say you impressed me trying to keep him in line, haha! Not sure many woulda’ noticed those bullets, but i like your style. Cool head, pretty smart.

I could always grab us some burgers from the base, or we could just nab something somewhere else. I have the cash for it even. We could always binge on some of the good stuff if you wanted.”

The void magical girl felt a bit infatuated upon seeing Regina, really. Sure there was the cute features, a thing Annabelle normally always enjoyed, but the cool look and such on her face and smart moves and such to her showed a bit of character. Intelligent, smart character. She quite liked that, and Regina seemed to cause her heart to skip a few beats. It was find funny, but even her usual persona had tightened up a little bit more due to those feelings in Regina’s presence.

Regina reached up for her neckline, as if to pull on her shirt collar out of nervousness. But since she wasn't wearing a shirt, so her fingers just curled over her collar bones. Her face was noticeably deepening in color. "I see you're one to say what's on your mind." She folded her arms."I don't really want to be a bother. I wouldn't say no to some burgers. Eating out might not be the best thing to do right now." She glanced at Elroy momentarily. "We're laying low at the moment, and we ate not long ago. It's really just everyone else that we're getting food for."

"Regina! You have a girlfriend now!" He pointed at Anabelle. "When someone call you cute, you can get them to do anything you want!"

"Burgers." Regina repeated without looking at anyone. "And then maybe we can make some arrangements that are beneficial to you and your patron." She pushed herself off of the wall and looked at Anabelle. "He said he needed resources? Information? We can provide it."

”Yeah, ol’ Soth likes having all his ducks in a row, resources and such things. Even if you two aren’t staying around on his turf, he’ll be willing to negotiate something mutually beneficial. So don’t worry about it too hard, at least.”

Annabelle gave a small wink to Regina before continuing.

”But ya know, i can make the food situation a bit easier, to make ya’ more comfortable. I can have our three burgers delivered here, eh? Throw in a thousand dollars to feed ya’ army while i’m at it, after we eat and talk about things.

Besides, i’d like to talk to you more too, Regina. Whadda’ you say?”

The smile that came to the void-touched girl’s face was rather genuine, actually, more genuine than she’d been able to put out in a while. Caring a bit, even, based on the feelings she was reading from Regina personally. Regardless, after speaking she held out a hand towards Regina, not walking a step closer but instead trying to make a sincere offering. She didn’t want to offend the cute girl, just...get to know her more, genuinely. Not how Elly’ there, as she called Elroy, might phrase it based on his own banter...but still.

Regina's eyes locked onto Anabelle's hand, and took a step back. She held out a hand in front of herself, not to shake, but almost like she was trying to protect herself from the hand. But then Elroy took hold of her wrist.

"Come on Regina! We've been through this before." He took hold of Anabelle's hand as well. "Now shake."

Elroy extended his pinky and pulled their hands together, causing Regina to stumble slightly. Regina's handshake wasn't very firm, and trembled as it brushed against Anabelle's. Though she soon gripped the new magical girl's hand and gave one of the meekest handshakes Annabelle had ever experienced. As soon as Elroy loosened his grip on their wrists, Regina pulled her hand away and rubbed it with her opposing hand. "Um." Regina snorted. "I guess we'll just wait up here for you to return then." She looked away from Annabelle. "Thank you."

Annabelle gave a soft smile, having in the end gently shook Regina’s hand despite Elroy’s attempts to help. Such soft skin, and yet she could feel the social tension a mile away as well as the tremble under her skin. Ah. Perhaps this girl had...been through some things, if the behavior hadn’t already been a dead giveaway. She had seen in her travels magical girls who had been “odd” due to past traumas. As much as she herself was very casual, without the worry of her past life ever being able to be recalled…..well…..it was an odd topic to think on.

”Ah, not so good on physical contact? Haha, that’s no problem. We’ll have plenty of time to talk, at least. I’ll make sure to bring good burgers, a few sides, if ya got a favorite drink i can go back for it. I know a good chef back at the school!

But….you don’t have to worry. No physical contact unless you want it, ok? I promise.”

Regina looked away with a groan.

Her last words to Regina in mind, and leaving the other girl with a tender smile, Annabelle decided to make a hasty exit so she could get the food soon. The sooner they got comfortable to talk and such, the better it would be. And, hopefully….she could get to better know Regina. The sky flower with a tremble in her touch. Ah.

Half-thinking, Annabelle jumped out of the nearby window as she cast a spell, her magic catching her and carrying her towards the school again-

...Wait, THE WINDOW?!

---

Will things go woefully wrong?

Tune in next time figure out, during the next exciting episode of-

Dragon Ball ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Lily gasped when Shannon suddenly arrived, and nearly dropped the two small children around her arms. Fortunately she had the dexterity of a tightrope dancer, and expertly caught the two, balancing on one foot. While she desperately wanted to stay and talk with her, and catch up on lost time, she knew better than anyone else they had priorities.
"There's injured all around." She managed to point in her precarious position.
"Bring them to Alex over there, he can heal them. Catch you later." Then she ran off to deliver the kids.

When she came back to check around a corner, she saw what looked like a bear carrying a man.
Now, any normal girl might have made the wrong assumption that it was a wild bear out on a rampage. But Lily knew that the incident would bring in magically inclined people over, good or bad. She also knew bears don't carry their meals in their paws.
"Thank you for helping, Mister Bear!" She smiled brightly, and continued on her way.
"I'll give you a pot of honey as a reward for your hard work!"
When she returned back with the bear, carrying another wounded civilian, she heard the last bits of the conversation between Amaryllis and Katarina. She frowned a bit as she set the old woman down for Alex to treat, not liking the fact that Katarina seemed to concentrate more on chasing down the bat girl than sticking around to help.

"Umm...Hey Rina, uhh..." She tried to speak up, but to no avail; she was also really cool...And made her feel inferior as she looked down her front.
...These two are so tall and beautiful, with magazine bodies...And me...I'm hopeless... She realized she had gotten Katarina's attention.
"Uh, never mind! I have some...People to carry here." She saw as Alex lifted his head to look up at Amaryllis, who offered her a girl to heal. Before she knew it, she puffed her cheeks red, feeling jealous.
I gotta do something, before it's too late!

As if on cue, she saw how a girl wearing a belly dancer's outfit fumbled as she dropped down the side of a building; it looked like it was going to hurt, but she made a lucky save just in time, impressing Lily.
As she was distracted by Sakura, and Alex by healing the injured, neither of them noticed Violet sneaking behind them.
"Wow!" She exclaimed.
"Thank you for the help. You look so cute and pretty, too...I wish I could wear clothes just as exotic as you do," she once again spoke her mind, and then blushed a bit.
"Kiyaaah, what am I saying! That would show my navel! Oh wait, my current one does too.
She furrowed her brow.
But...Maybe then Alex would look at me like he looked at miss top-heavy...
She thought as she went off to deliver the last few remaining victims, also having forgotten she couldn't see where he was looking.
Thanks to the efforts of everyone involved including her, Alex, Amaryllis, Shannon Mika and Sakura, most of the victims survived the attack; once they were healed by Alex, they soon started to wake up, looking confused by what happened. Those who passed away were set down on a row, with a white sheet placed over them. Lily looked sad as she looked down at it.
"Great job, everyone. We saved a ton of lives today," she thanked the other girls, and hugged Shannon's neck.
"And sorry for everything, Shanny!"

---

The two Beacon guards were surprised by Alicia's transformation, and the one holding the hammer had her jaw drop. "Whoah! Wait, what are you-" Suddenly, the other girl was smacked, forcing her to drop the rope that bound Janet, and she stumbled back with a savage scowl. "Hey, what's the big idea, " she squeaked, her posture readied for combat, one hand reaching down for her holstered revolver as if in a western. The first guard held her hammer with both arms, her teeth grit as she heard Alicia's demand. "She is a terrorist!" She pointed at Janet in accusatory fashion. "She is a traitor who killed her sworn sisters in cold blood! Why do you protect someone like her?" The squeaky girl spat at the ground. "If you side with her, you're a traitor too, Seraph or not!"

"SILENCE!" Sylvia's voice boomed from the entrance hall as she ran to the scene, followed by six Beacon girls, and Summer and Kyle who joined the retinue on their way there.
"We will settle this in the Hall of Judgement. Save your accusations until then, Elizabeth." She looked angry, at both the guards, and Alicia.
She helped lift Janet up from the ground. By this point, Sally and the rest of the Rec Room crew had arrived to witness the volatile scene.
"Did you hurt this prisoner, Cherry?" Sylvia asked sternly. Cherry nodded weakly, biting her lip in clear regret. "B-But...She killed my friend-" Sylvia's Beckoner suddenly appeared, and spoke in an angry tone:
"We do not assault a helpless non-combatant, no matter how they have wronged against us! That is not the new Beacon's path." Sylvia nodded. The Beckoner then gave a stern look at Alicia.
"Also, we do not assault each other, even in revenge. That is one of our holy commandments. I expected better of you, Seraph."
Sylvia sighed, looking clearly exhausted, and took hold of the golden rope, lifting it gently.
She turned to look at Janet. "If you need medical attention we can provide an examination for you before the trial. Now, if you could come with us, we can resolve this issue peacefully in the Hall. Isn't that right?"
She looked at the Beckoner, and it nodded. "Yes. We shall shed light on this incident, and deem if Janet is to be saved, or cast to damnation."

"Finally done with this shit" Alexander sighed in relief as he got to his feet "Can't believe all we could do was clean up duty." He groaned as he began stretching out "Now then, maybe we should leave before the people here wake up fully, or someone else wanders over here, because I sure as hell don't have the social prowess or patience to explain all of this." He wanted to leave here as soon as possible 'I really don't like this place; it sends my 'creeper' senses off'

"From what I gathered you couldn't help missing the meeting. You were kidnapped after all. I'm just glad we could get you back safely." While Lily just tried to hake her hand, Shannon pulled the lightning girl closer and hugged her tightly. You can't just get away with some little gesture like that when a girl has the power of Friendship around. While embracing Lily she eyed Sakura for a second who was fidgeting slightly.

The Djinn girl had heard what Lily had said on approach and ideas were racing through her head. There were still too many people around to do anything though, so she was going to bide her time. Doing so was annoying because she knew they could grant such a simple wish. To Sakura's relief one of the party suggested leaving. "I agree with your friend. We've done all we can here." Shannon nodding in agreement the Earth and Djinn girl made a B-line for cover around a building, Shannon leading Lily along with her.

Once out of of sight Sakura took the opportunity to bow slightly. "Sorry for just barging in on the situation. You looked like you could use some help. But now that that's out of the way I should probably introduce myself. My name is Sakura. I've been around a little while but been trying to stay out of the whole mess that went down. Too much craziness for me." Smiling outwardly her internal voice was barking at her to get a wish granted. But Violet was going to take one first, which meant Sakura needed to coax another wish out of someone. Though she did want to get a little more info from Lily about what she'd unwittingly wished for.

Turning toward Lily the pink haired girl twirled around a couple times, dancing briefly to show off her outfit she whirled close to her target and whispered. "Thanks for the complement earlier. I wouldn't sell yourself short though. I bet you could pull off this look if you really wanted to." She waited for a response, though she expected the girl to be a little nervous.


Picking herself up, Janet made no move on way or another to the girls attacking her. She knew doing so would only make things harder. The blow she took wasn't that bad but it took her a moment to catch her breath. "I-I came here on my own. I know what happened but I'm innocent." Groaning slightly she was still recovering from being hit.

Offered medical assistance, Janet shook her head. "I'll be fine. Thank you though. But I'm here to clear my name. And I accept any precautions you wish to make for the proceedings." Incarceration was nothing new to Janet. What a different life, he had spent many years behind bars and knew what to expect for others to feel safe. At least this time it wasn't actually her fault. It was everyone else that needed convincing on that.

Alicia kept her glare on the duo, ready to fight on this point if she had to. She didn't care what these girls thought Janet had done, they hadn't been there, they hadn't heard her, and she would not accept them mistreating her for something that wasn't her fault.

Fortunately for all involved the conflict was defused as Sylvia arrived, yelling at the girls for their actions and then at her for what she had done. Truth be told she didn't feel too bad about it. It may have been a bit of an overreaction but it had worked, and it wasn't like she had seriously hurt her either. So there was some serious overreaction going on.

"Right, let's go," she agreed with a nod. Her wings withdrew as she sent her bow away, but she did not transform back to her civilian garb just yet as she followed along to the Hall. She didn't feel comfort doing so just yet, and she was too worked up to relax to the point where she'd calm down enough to do so. She might need to act again.

Glancing over at the new arrivals she shrugged, as if to indicate that this wasn't the sort of thin that normally happened around here. Now all she could do was prepare to present her case, and hope that it was over quickly. But knowing her luck, somehow she doubted that it would be the case

@t2wave@Shifter_Master@DarkwolfX37@Ariamis

With the conflict resolved, Tonya was able to safely depart the scene with fate's vision realized.



Veronica had reverted back to her normal form and vanished from sight. Being in the business, she was nigh impossible to be found unless she wished it.

---

Su few around just long enough to see what was happening around the apartment complex before deciding to return. There was too much fighting going on, and she'd have to call off her search early if the fight went to the hotel. Not only that, but Mika seemed like the sort that would try to find her if she was missing. But the time spent flying around outside did give Su time to clear her head. She returned to her room and sat at her desk. Seconds later, she had a pen and paper in her hand.

Alicia, Helga, Scout, Alexander, Silhouette, Penny, Ayana, Makoto, Eli, Mariette, Suwako, and herself. That was the team that stormed Justine's castle. Barring any of Justine's girls, it had to be one of them. From what she could recall, none of Justine's girls made it.

It wasn't Sillhouette, Helga, Alexander, Ayanna, or Scout. Most of them were with her in the castle, and even if Ayanna and Scout weren't, they were no where near the ship when she went after Amber.

It wasn't Makoto either. She, Alexander, and Helga went under the castle before the fight around the ship even broke out. Makoto also seemed to be very eager to explore as much of the castle as possible, and that didn't seem like something that would leave her near the ship.

It wasn't Suwako, Eli, or Mariette either. Or at least that was what Su had originally suspected. Since they were on the beach, they couldn't have been in the middle of the lake. But Mariette's portal magic made it possible to be anywhere. But she doubted she would risk using her portals to put Suwako anywhere near a falling ship. So it made sense to at least cross her off.

Su was left with a list that looked something like this:



It was evident looking at the list that it could have been one of these four people. One of them were near earth bastion, and Boteg had recognized their energy as the terrible one's champion. It was either Mariette and Eli, or a beacon girl. Su hated the idea of thinking it was any of them. But on the up side, she wouldn't have to do too much running around to figure out who it was.

---

With everyone saved, there wasn't really much reason for Mika to stick around. That girl from earlier was nowhere to be seen, and everything seemed to be okay. ”Mister bear?” Mika stood up on her hind legs, unsure of where this mister bear was. She was a miss bear, so it wasn't her. As soon as the Djinn sisters revealed themselves, Mika reverted out of her bear form into a magical girl again. ”Hey! We sort of have the same outfit! ” She tugged lightly on her own uniform. ”I'm mostly Indian, but I found it kind of interesting that I have a Persian performer's uniform. But my grandma on my mom's side was Persian, so I wonder if that has something to do with it.” Before Mika could continue her banter though, she suddenly remembered what she was suppose to be doing. ”Oh right, I gotta scoot! Maybe we can all meet up later?” Mika didn't stick around for a response and ran back into the ally where she left Su's breakfast. ”Please don't smell like garbage!” She repeated like a mantra while picking up the bag again. After transforming back into a human, she started to walk back to the Golden Trove apartment complex. Hopefully there wouldn't be any more spirit attacks for a while.

Kyle, or as he referred to himself while in costume, Aurelio was just a bit out of his depths. This Beacon group seemed to be having some internal strife if this scene was anything to go by, but he couldn’t in good conciseness stay out of it. Mainly because he was a nosy person by nature, but also because of the emotions floating around, frustration from those denied, resignation from the one bound, conviction of all for their actions.

It was bound to get messy with such an emotional cocktail floating around but with a bit of luck he might be able to keep everyone’s heads on mostly straight. With that thought Aurelio fell in step with Alicia “Need any help? Granted I’ve got little to no cluse what’s going on but I’ve got the feeling your friend is getting the short end here” He asked softly as they walked, hardly noticing his habit of spinning his cane as he did such.

If he wasn’t in the middle of so many flowing emotions he might have noticed the vibrant anger of the other witness to the encounter at the front doors.

---

Penny stayed right where she was as she took deep breaths and quietly pushed aside her anger, while it was true that she tended to have a short fuse It was always a bit more frayed right after she transformed. She wanted to be right there helping out Janet and Alicia she knew she was going to be more harm than help at the moment and knowing that just made her angry again.

After a few more moents to calm down Penny shot off a text to Alicia and Janet

Hey. Happened to get a bird’s eye view of what happened at the entrance. Got to say that Slyvia was a bit quick to jump down your throat for smacking them, though to be fair I’m not sure I would have been as kind as you were. I’d like to be there to help you two out but I’m more likely to cause a indecent of my own at the moment, so I’m off to do some renovating. Keep me in the loop.

Letting out a sigh Penny resisted the urge to punch the railing and instead took off towards the park. She had another appointment to get to, and unfortunately no longer had an excuse to avoid it.

Silhouette was not one to idle around near a hot zone unless there was value in doing so. So the moment Samantha had reached the outside, she quickly transformed and deftly made her way through the streets, actively avoiding any magical girls that may have been lurking around the area. Eventually, she ducked into an alleyway and produced the magical item her employer lent her a month back. Concealing herself and her presence as best she could, she contacted Vermillion Veronica, her trained eye still scanning the area in case anybody showed.

"This is Sil." she began softly, something a bit 'off' with her tone, but perhaps only just barely noticeable to the person on the other side of the 'call'. The truth was that Silhouette had finally started to wonder if introducing herself each time was redundant. Did Veronica have more than one of these devices? If not, then that would mean she had to know who was calling her, so explaining such was wasted breath. Was there magical gem caller ID? But not wanting to do something embarrassing like asking for clarification, Sil quietly cleared her throat and then continued, "I made contact with Chloe Irving, and she was... 'cooperative'. She seems to have been working on a task given to her by her patron.”

Sil could hear the sound of wind on Veronica's side. She had to be in an open area somewhere.”And what was that task, beyond drawing every available magical girl to her location?”

Sil rubbed her breast, or more accurately, the spot where the gem was currently resting in a breast pocket on the inside of her coat. The gem was currently in Stasis, so she wasn't particularly worried about it suddenly exploding or otherwise activating, were there some unseen trick behind it. So, she thought for a moment, and then replied. "It may be best to meet in person for further discussion on this matter," she told Veronica.

Veronica didn't show much emotion over coms, so it was difficult to tell why it was taking her so long to respond. ”Very well, meet me in the park.” And with that, the com went dead.

---

The park had been rebuilt since the last attack several months ago. It wasn't exactly a private place, but that made it that much more difficult for spies or the like to set up. Sometimes the best place to tell a secret was right out where everyone could hear it. ”Sam?” Veronica was sitting on a park bench with a suitcase beside her.

"..."

Samantha seemed to be lost in thought, but this lasted only a moment. Her attention to the real world returned, and so to did the conversation. "Ah, excuse me." she placed her hand into her breast pocket and retrieved the gem from earlier, setting it in Veronica’s outstretched hand. "According to Chloe Irving, this is what her patron has had her developing while she was away." she told her employer in a lower voice. "From what I see and what I was told, it is some sort of steroid that enhances a magical girl's abilities."

”Is that so?” Veronica's gloved fingers coiled around the stone. She drew it closer to her face and looked into the stone's surface. ”Interesting. I can feel something radiating out of it.” She turned the stone over in her hand. ”But what does this have to do with the mint?”

Samantha looked Veronica in the eye. “That stone is a gift, she said. Under the assumption she wasn’t deceiving me, it would appear these gems are made through a process that requires sacrifice, hence the commotion she caused.” Sam explained as she stifled a sigh. “So presumably, that means these stones are her excuse for her absence, and that stone is to excuse it, but whether or not they are an acceptable one is, of course, not up to me. I might have been able to get more out of her, but the robotic magical girl that impeded me aboard the Sky Bastion, Penny, is apparently a friend of hers and was there at the time.” she explained while her gaze drifted elsewhere upon the mention of Penny.

After no more than a second, she returned to looking at Veronica. “Perhaps this is no more than my own excuse, but I did not wish to trigger any sort of violence. I apologize if the results are not to your satisfaction.”

Veronica listened to everything Samantha said, though she avoided making eye contact with her the entire time. It was hard to say if Veronica was disinterested or not, as she would also break eye contact when she wanted to think intently on something. ”At this time, it is difficult to say what her game plan is.” Veronica took hold of Samantha's breast. That was to say her breast pocket, so that she could slide the crystal back inside. ”If she's making something like this, she could be doing anything with it. I am disturbed by the fact that this is the first I'm hearing about it.” She gave a nod to Sil. ”It would be wise to keep an eye on her. I may ask you to have her meet me sometime, but I will give you the order over coms if that is what I wish. Exchanging this information with me in person was wise.” She stared at Sil a bit before speaking again. ”I should note that Penny is an operative of ours now. In fact, we should be meeting up soon. I am not completely sure we can trust her yet, but I would like you to get along with her in the future.”

"Kyaa!"

Despite the stoic, unmovable expression on her face, a much too feminine yelp escaped Silhouette's lips upon the return of the gem, or rather, the moment when Veronica's hand touched her breast... pocket. She looked at Veronica. There was not a single word from her, nor any other movements for a minute. And then, as if to pretend that it never happened, "If that is your wish. I will do my best to work alongside her." she replied nonchalantly.

”For now, you are dismissed.” she reclined in her seat. ”If I need you again, I'll contact you.”

With a nod, the young Assassin got up and left the park. She had completed her assignment and was not given any real new orders, aside from an implied "protect the gem" on account of Veronica giving it back to her. That was easy enough to do since it was on her person. So, as of right now, she was not in a hurry. But one could not tell that with the haste in which she escaped the park. And once she had? She returned to her magical girl form, if only because the town was particularly active today, and kept her eyes open. But in the back of her mind, something nagged at her.

How embarrassing...!

"That's true..." Lily responded solemnly to Alex, and followed it up with a smile.
"But next time we'll prevent the attack. I'm sure of it!" She looked at all the nursing clones.
"You were like a real doctor...But doctors wear masks over their mouths, not their whole faces. Also, you lack a medical degree. But you saved more than a doctor would have."

When Lily was embraced by Shannon, she yelped with a blush on her cheeks.
"Ah-!"
Despite being social and extroverted, in truth Lily was a bit taken aback by Shannon's warm gesture, and she hesitantly hugged the magical girl back, managing to calm down.
"I'm really happy, Shanny...That I could see you again..." She spoke softly, but then removed herself with a quizzical look.
"Wait, 'We'? So you were there after all!"
She smiled brightly.
"Shanny, you're such a good friend. Alex is right, let's continue talking over there."

She followed Shannon and the exotic girl out of the public eye, and then waved her hand before her face with an awkward giggle.
"No, you didn't barge in at all. In fact, I'm really happy so many magical girls came over to help." She nodded, and made a curtsy, holding her short skirt delicately; she didn't know what kind of greeting to use with the foreign-looking girl, so she stuck to the very basics, even if it looked silly with her getup.
"I'm Lily Lightning, but my friends just call me Lily. Nice to meet you, Sakura!"
She legitimately gasped in awe at Sakura's dextrous dance, mesmerized by her grace and charm.
"Woooow! You're such a good dancer. How did you learn to be so flexible?"
When she was complimented in return, she blushed heavily, glancing briefly at Alex; she felt really happy, but since he was listening, she also felt embarrassed.
"D-Do you really think so?" She asked with her hands bundled together against her chest.
"B-But, I don't even know where to start looking. No clothing store I've ever gone to has sold outfits as beautiful as yours. Where did you get yours? Was it granted to you by your Patron?"

The ploy worked, and Lily asked a few questions. This was good bcause the djinn girl could start talking more casually about the subject without sounding like she was pushing the matter. Taking a step back she bowed again. "Thank you. I used to be a cheer leader before being a magical girl. But I think part of the skill came from my patron." Nodding to herself she pulled to each side of the baggy harem pants she wore. "These were from my patron. There aren't many places you can find something like this here." Sakura had noticed that Lily had glanced at Alex.

She didn't make any move to indicate that she had seen the glance at first, but stepped closer so they could be a little quieter. "But I might know someone that could get you a set. Maybe try it out and see what you think. Anything special you would like? Don't hold back, I have a great source." By this point she'd moved over so Lily was facing away from the others. Not seeing people tended to help with them opening up. Something the sisters didn't entirely understand but had learned over time.

Lily was a bit intimidated by Sakura moving closer, but when she realized she wanted to speak more privately the green-haired girl actually felt slight relief. She then silenced her reaction by putting her hand over her mouth.
"You r-really do?" She whispered. Once again, her stutter came back when her deeply-ingrained anxiety surfaced. "Well..."
She was so engrossed in the conversation that she didn't notice how Sakura made her turn away from Alex, and it made her relax. She leaned over to Sakura's side, and cupped her hands around her ear as she whispered:
"I could try...Something very colorful, and flowing..." Her imagination went full charge in coming up with the fabulous costume she wanted.
"I'd like to look like a pretty Arabian p-princess. What is your source?"

Lily's description wasn't super full of detail, but it should suffice with the twins filling in the gaps. Though they weren't really known for being subtle with the things they granted. Sakura took a step back, eyed the green haired girl up and down a few times whilst muttering to herself. "Mhmm, mhmm... The dancer appeared to be sizing the girl up rather intently. It took a moment but she snapped back into reality. Invisioning a wish coming together was almost euphoric for the two and when left to dream too long they could almost stare and drool at times. "Uh.. I-I'm sorry, what were you saying?" A grin had formed across her face. It wasn't a malicious look, more pleased than anything.

Lily bit her lower lip, unsure what Sakura was thinking about as she looked at her.
She probably thinks how dumb my request was...I should never have asked in the first place... She sighed.
"I...Uh...Well, I was just wondering about your source. Are they a famous fashion designer or something? Maybe I shouldn't bother someone so important..." She poked her forefingers together, looking very close to calling off the deal as her nervousness started to get to her.

---

'Girls...' Alexander moaned internally 'I will never understand their strange obsession with clothes and shit.' He lightly shook his head 'I mean, we just got finished helping a bunch of people not die! And now they're talking fashion!?' he sighed 'Why do girls make no fucking sense?'

Shannon looked at Alex for a moment trying to read him. She would have stepped in to get Sakura away but the conversation seemed innocent enough. Facing the boy she shrugged a bit. "Nice work out there. Good use of your magic too. I haven't seen anyone make artifacts out of a road before." She leaned casually against her staff.

Alexander shrugged "I've had a bit of practice with runic magic lately. I made something for Lily, to help her keep herself alive."

Raising and eyebrow curiously, Shannon tried to figure out what that meant. She stood up on her own two feet again and glanced over to Lily with slight concern. "Keep her alive? Is she sick or something?"

Alexander snorted "I wish. If it was just that, then I could fix it no problem. No, Lily's problem is something much worse. I'm quite sure how to put it, but between her getting kidnapped to be a sacrifice, and her bubbly naive nature, she's bound to attract all sorts of trouble in the future." He shook his head "I am not going to let that shit be a recurring thing here, so I'm taking preventive measures to make sure that this does not become a thing."

"sounds like a tricky postion to be in" Violet called out as she danced her way down from her hidden perch above the allyway. Originally she had been planning on just staying out of sight to work thier magic if all the right words came together, but then Alex went and had to say a few of them himself.

"Though I must ask, if you are planning on being proactive have you thought about a way to keep track of her?" she inquired as she leaned up against the wall one eyebrow raised curiously.

When Violet dropped down, Shannon rolled her eyes. Of course she would be nearby. Her showing up just after Alex said wish though meant one thing. "Alex, I'd be careful with how you word things around these two." Shannon had had a run in or two with the Djinn Sisters. Both were pleasent mind you, but they had a reputation of being fickle. And their true power was not entirely known. "They're good girls. But their magic is a little tough to pin down."

"Oh please Shannon, I was just looking for some honest conversation while my sister is busy hoping to enthrall another person with her skills as a fashionista," Violet lied glibly smirking a little as she did.

Alexander rose an eyebrow (although no one was able to see that) "'Tough to pin down'? Just what kind of magic do they have, and why does what I say have anything to do with it?"

"We can grant wishes, but it's not like we are the Genie from Aladdin so we have to be a bit more peculiar about how we go about it. I think Shannon is just weary because you said the magic words." Violet explained with a shrug. "We've kept a pretty tight lid on what all we can do so lots of rumours tend to spread around about us. But as I said I'm just looking for some conversation.

Alexander facepalmed "Wish granting magic. Of course, why the fuck not? Sometimes this crap gets too ridiculous. I mean, if you can just magic whatever you want up, then that has to make life a lot easier. Hell, that could have proboably solved the whole crazy anti-love thing a few weeks ago."

"Not quite how it works sadly, we can't use our magic ourselves. Someone has to say the magic words for it to work. Plus couple of girls from Beacon did ask us for some help with that whole mess, we did what we could but we can't get directly involved most of the time as our patron is rather dead set on staying neutral"

Alexander stood there in silence for a few moments before speaking up "You...can't even use your own magic when you want? You have to wait for someone else to ask for something" He put his hand over where his mouth was "...Fuck. I thought my magic sucked, but I can at least boost my physical strength enough to punch people's teeth out. But you...you don't have shit" He took a few deep breathes to calm himself "I wish that both you and your sister could freely grant not only your own wishes, but each others wishes as well."

Violet couldn't help but let out a light hearted bout of laughter upon hearing Alex's wish "I like you" she said as she got her laughing under control."But that's not a wish that will do anything, we already burned our three wishes, that's one of our limits and it's how we ended up being us. Still, thanks for thinking of us cutie." she explained giggling a little as she did before adding with a wistful sigh "Your girlfriend is a lucky one."

Alexander felt disapointed that his wish wasn't going to work, but without any idea what else to do, he chose to simply address the last thing she said "She's not my girlfriend. She...well..I'm not sure what she is besides my roommate, but I know she's something." He shrugged "I'm still learning the ins and outs of interpersonal relationships. That's not a subject every orphan get's to study in depth."

Violet just nodded in understanding, although she and Sakura hadn't come from such a background they had meet people from all walks of life since they started roaming around granting wishes. After a moment an idea came to Violet and after thinking it over again a mischievous gleam entered her eyes.

"Ya know, I could help you out a bit with the problems your facing" Violet would reply with a smirk. "Both with the keeping an eye on Lily and getting to know her better, if you wanted to that is". She pushed off the wall and took a few slow steps towards Alex as she did.

Alexander folded his arms in thought "I mean, I'm more worried about trying to put a name to what Lily is to me. I think we're friends, but I've never had a friend before, so maybe I'm just misreading this. And 'keeping an eye on her' kind of feels like stalking. I might be an asshole, but I'm not a creep. No, I'd much rather she be able to protect herself." Suddenly, he had an idea "...hey, could I wish she had a new type of magic? Like Fire or Wind?"

Violet's sholders slumped slightly at Alex's response, but her smirk just grew to a smile. She could tell she wasn't going to get a selfish wish out of Alex, he was too focused on helping out Lily. "It wouldn't be as strong as her primary magic, but you could wish for that. Got some thing in mind?" She would ask tiliting her head to the side in curiosity.

Alexander nodded "Yeah. Now that I've put a little more thought into it, I'm thinking Time would be a good fit. It would help her ability to not get hit and or caught. Also, could I get a better result if I used my magic to boost your magic? I'm pretty good at the strengthening part of Reinforcment magic, and I can focus it all on your magical power."

Violet rolled her head side to side as she thought about it, before nodding. "Yeah that would work. Not sure how it will effect the wish in the end, but it won't hurt to boost it." Violet explained before bouncing lightly on her toes."Now all you have to do is say the magic words and I can get to work".

"Just one thing before I do; what's your angle here? What do you get out of this" Alexander asked. This whole thing seemed too good to be true to him, and if there's one thing that his past life taught him, it was to always be suspicious of generous people, since it was more likely than not a trap.

"We get to avoid bad things happening to us" was the blunt reply "Partly our Patron, partly our magic, but in the end we need to grant wishes other wise bad things start to happen".Violet stared off to the side for a moment before shainking her head to clear the memories. "We also get a massive sugar rush from granting them so it tends to be fun regardless".

And just like that, Alexander's worries faded; this wasn't a selfless act on her part, she was just a druggie looking for her next high, and giving it to her would help him in the long run. "Good enough for me". He reached out at the girl with his magic, and used it to supercharge her own. "I wish that Lily also had Time magic!"

Violet Smile just spread as Alex made his wish. "Your wish is my command," she replied as her eyes turned white and Alex would feel a tremendous draw on his magic for a moment as Violet took the offered power and merged it with her own. "Enjoy the show~" Violet said as she skipped to the side and nearly danced over to Lily.

---

While Violet had Alex and Shannon occupied, Sakura took the liberty of stepping away a bit. Since her wish would probably disrupt what Violet was doing she would have to bide her time. This little detour would give Violet enough time to grant her own wish first."Don't worry about that. Because I'm the source." She waved for Lily to follow. "I have to careful about my magic though. It is really powerful so I don't want everyone just knowing about it, you know? She smiled softly and motioned to lean closed to she could whisper. "Truth is though, I have to use my magic or I'll be punished. So helping you out is my pleasure."

Lily silenced her gasp, her eyes now bright with a faint shine; it was difficult to tell whether it was because of her amazement, or her innate lightning magic.
"You're the famous fashion designer? I'm not worthy!" She whispered in a voice louder than a whisper would be, defeating the purpose.
Having fully taken the bait, she followed after the tricky Djinn girl up a nearby building to the rooftop. She nodded, so excited her legs shook. She blushed a bit when Sakura leaned over, causing her to take a sniff of her exotically perfumed hair; it caused her head to lighten a bit.
"Punished?" she responded, a bit shocked to hear about her motivation.
"So how does the magic work? Do I just have to request it?" She asked, and looked down to make sure the coast is clear.
I might not get another chance like this...

Wow, Lily really was naive. And she seemed to really want the look, which kind of took some of the fun out of granting the wish for Sakura. Though maybe the girl didn't quite understand what the djinn had in mind. "I'm not..." She trailed off, there was no need to explain everything. Waving it off she smiled and her right hand began to glow. "No need to worry about that. You've already given me everything I need."

Throwing her arm out Sakura released a whispy, pink smoke from her hand. Rolling along the roof of the building toward Lily, when it reached the girl it began to swirl up and around her. In seconds visibility for the green haired girl was completely obscured. Attempting to escape would just result in wandering through more smoke. Though she couldn't see, Lily would notice the sensation that her clothes were moving and contorting. The touch of cold metal cralled across her skin.before settling.

The smoke began to clear and revealed Lily in a very different garb. Gone were the coat, skirt, and leggings. Actually, gone were most of her clothes in general. In place was a bedlah. The coat was now a fitting black and yellow bra, adorned with many gold onaments; her skirt was little more than a black thong; and her leggings had risen up and become a pair of flowing translucent yellow haram pants and a gold belt with black hearts. Lily's green hair was a bit shorter now, straight and clean cut. On her head was a golden headdress with another heart as its center, gold bracelets on her arms, and a pair of bracers. The bracers were ornate and massive, far too big to actually stay on Lily's arms, and yet they floated in place undoubtedly by magic. Yellow scarves hung from the bracers with gold rings inset with pink stars tied to the ends. Save for her hair and eyes she could be mistaken for aonther person.



As her subject emerged from the smoke Sakura had her hands pressed together and up to her lips in anticipation. Seeing the result she gasped and clapped her hands, pleased with herself and giddy with excitement. "Yes! I told you you! Absolutely beautiful!" After a brief celebritory dance Sakura tried to control herself. "Ahem, sorry." Bowing as she spoke. "Lily Lightning, your wish has been granted."

Lily coughed in the smoke, in a slight panic as she didn't expect Sakura to do that. When it was over, she had her face covered by her arms, and she slowly lowered them, followed by opening her eyes. She looked down at herself, and her jaw dropped.
"What is this..." She spoke with wide eyes, looking shocked.

"It's...It's...SO PRETTY!" She screamed from joy at the top of her lungs; Alex and Violet could hear her despite their distance. She twirled around with a giggle, elated to see how the sash tied around her waist flowed behind her as she moved.
"It's everything I ever dreamed of, and more!" Lily snatched Sakura's hands in her own, and shook them.
"Thank you thank you thank you! It's like a wish come true!"

Given the personality of the djinn girl in question, when Lily didn't react with shock or panic it disappointed Sakura slightly. I should have left this one to Violet. Straightening up when Lily came at her she did smile and return the shake. A positive response was better than a violent at least. Plus it was a good job done if she did say so herself. "Glad you like it. It isn't often I get to do a makeover. I can't wait to see what everyone else thinks.

Lily nodded, and took a few dancing steps off in a random direction.
"Ah, now I'm finally the prettiest princess in town! No back-painer will defeat me now!" She then stopped, having realized something with a blink of her eyes.
"Wait, what happened to my old clothes? Did they turn into these?"

Ah, here came the response wanted. "Mhm. But Princess Lily has no need for those old rags."

"Oh..." Lily took another look at herself, and then furrowed her eyebrows.
"Y-Yeah, you're right...You're super right!"
She lifted her fists up before her, and nodded with a determined look on her face.
"I'll dazzle them all with my new clothes! Then...He too..."
She trailed off as she heard Alex coming, and turned to face him with a twirl of her leg.
"Hey Alex! So, what do you think? Don't I look totally fabulous?" She winked with a smile, hoping her immense nervousness didn't show.

'Why is she asking me!? I don't know a damn thing about fashion' Alexander panicked internally 'Fuck...what do I say!?' He was once more very greatful that his outfit came with a helmet "...yes?" He tried, hoping it would work 'Why the hell did she change anyway? Her old clothes looked much more pratical in a fight. Girls just make no fucking sense.'

Following with the others, Shannon wasn't entirely convinced about how this wish would go. But it had already been made, and from experience stopping the twins was a task. Seeing Lily in her new outfit was a surprise. Alex's response to Lily's question though left something to be desired. "We need to work on your social skills. I'd be more than welcome to teach you." She said with a genuine smile. "You look amazing Lily!

Lily nodded her head in response, and her smile seemed to widen.
"Yes! Victorious!" She jumped around a bit, making a circle around Sakura before facing her one final time.
"I owe you one, Sakura. Hey, I'd like to talk to you more, so here's my phon-Ah!" She reached down to her pocket on reflex, and realized her phone was missing.
She quickly checked her loose harem pants; there were no pockets.
"Where's my phone? I need it, for lots of reasons!" She pouted as she looked at the djinn girl.

Phone? Sakura hadn't really thought about the things Lily had been carrying. Glancing at the rooftop though she spotted the belongings. When the pockets disappeared everything just fell out. "Your stuff is right over there." She pointed.

Lily followed her finger, and clasped her hands together.
"Oh, what a relief! I'm always worried about losing my stuff, ehe. I'll just pick these up and-Uhh..." She stood up with her phone and childish green wallet in her hands, and looked at the new arrival; Violet.

"...Hello?"

As Sakura and Lily turned to face the dropped phone Violet would dance in to view her eyes gleaming brightly from the magic that she was holding on too. She would take a moment to look over Lily's new outfit before whistling appreciatively. "Nice work sis."

"Hi again, I'm Violet, Sakura's my sister". Violet would reply to Lily as she moved closer to the girl. "And this is from your boyfriend." she continued as she stepped next to Lily and cupped her face lightly. "Hope you enjoy it," she would say softly before leaning in and kissing Lily deeply.

During the kiss time would seem to slow, if not stop for the two involved as Lily felt power pour in to her from the kiss and with power would come understanding that Time would now listen to her as Lightning would. Violet would continue the kiss until the feeling of time returned to normal and then she would step back and smile before sauntering over to Sakura.

"That was fun."

Lily's eyes shot wide open as Violet closed in for the kill, or in this case, kiss, and froze from the intimate situation she inadvertently happened to be in. She struggled a bit at first, but then closed her eyes as well. The powerful magic that surged through her caused her to see a vision of the future; she saw Penrose covered in dark crystals and shadowy monsters. And up in the sky, she saw a portal to a complete reflection of Penrose. It was closing in...And for but a blink, she saw Mariette's cold gaze.
Lily gasped as her vision ended with the kiss, and she stumbled back, her eyes rolling in her head from the temporal trip.

"Wh-Whoaaahooohhh..."

Alexander blinked in confusion "Was...that it? I kind of expected more flashing lights and stuff. Oh well, not a big deal. How are you feeling Lily, can you make time your bitch now?"

"I don't know about you, but I can't see time."

"Well yeah, but magic is supposed to be flashy and stuff. Your sister had glowing eyes after I made my wish, and that was just her holding onto the magic before using it." he responded

"Just because you didn't see much, didn't mean that someone's world wasn't rocked" Violet would say in a sing song voice looking like the cat that caught the cannary at Lily's response.

Lily smacked her cheeks, and shook her head as she snapped back to reality. She saw how Alex was looking at him, and she blushed.
"I-I'm fine, Alex. I just...I need to sit down."
She went over to the edge of the rooftop, and let her feet hang off into the air, facing away from Alex; she didn't want him to see how mortified she was.

I...I kissed a girl! And Alex saw it! Oh geez, this is a disaster!

She thought, holding her head with her hands. She took a breather, and resolved herself to accepting that and moving on, as she was also concerned with the new magic she felt.
"I do feel different...Different," she finally answered, and with a big sigh stood up, her arms at her sides.
"Okay...Let's try it!" And with that, she jumped off the roof. Now, even as a magical girl who wouldn't get too harmed, jumping into a street crowded with traffic would result in serious problems. But Lily, in her usual impulsive way, decided to let the the danger guide her magical instinct. And so she cast her first time spell: her body slowed down, until she was floating. With her acceleration gone, she met the walkway with little incident.
"Wow, it actually worked!" She jumped up to the roof.
"I can slow myself down with Time magic! How cool is that?"

Alexander resisted the urge to faceplam. not even a miniute after getting new powers, she decided to test them my jumping off the roof. "Maybe try to learn how to slow other people down, or make yourself faster? That's kind of why I wished for it."

Lily blinked, and then giggled while scratching her head.
"Uuuhh...That's a work in progress, ehe. I'll figure it out."
She noticed how the sun was starting to set, and decided they were done for the day; she showed her phone number to Sakura, like she intended to earlier, before waving goodbye to the Djinn Sisters.
"Call me anytime, okay? Byeee!"
And with that, she summoned her motorbike and drove off the roof with Alex. Her life as a magical girl took yet another crazy turn; from that day forth, she had a new look, and a new power.

"Don't forget! you have all the time you need with you boyfirend now!" Violet called out after Lily and Alex as the drove away

Left with the Djinn Sisters, Shannon pointed at them. "You're lucky I made a promise. But thank you for not doing anything bad to Lily."

Shrugging slightly the one with pink hair laughed a bit while they made there way to the edge of the building. "They caught us in a good mood. See you around Shan." Goodbye said the twins vanished over the side of the building leaving Shannon to go back to her own goals.

“A pleasure meeting you then, Hunter Rina,” Amaryllis said, bowing slightly, “May our partnership be fruitful, however fleeting it may be. As for that unholy maiden, however…”

She closed her eyes, breathing deeply before extending one hand. This wasn’t magic, nor was this any skill that the knight herself possessed. No, it was simply the same painful communion with her Patron, whose alien senses remained unimpeded by whatever shadows the magecraft of maidens called forth. A soft exhale, a mental question towards her unsated sword, and…there it was. The spark of spiralling pain, digging deep into her palms and then clawing outwards to her extremities, an agonizing finger pointed out in the direction of her mark.

…but fuck, that always hurt way too much. Was the Sword being extra mad today, having only slain the meatless and transient?

Opening her eyes once more with the faintest grimace in her expression, Amaryllis rubbed the back of her hand softly, as if caresses could remove phantom pain, before nodding in the general direction that the Sword had directed her.

“The direction has been set, Rina. As far as landmarks are concerned, there is an abandoned school along that way, but to be blind to other avenues is the folly of an inexperienced tracker. You’ve no other commitments this day, yes?”

A pause. Shit, she wasn’t going to make it to class, huh.

“If so, let’s be off. My work here is done.”
@Rune_Alchemist