Shion woke from a nightmare in a jolt, sitting upright in her beach chair quickly. She rubbed the sand from her eyes only to see much more around her, an entire beach spread out before her eyes, populated by many girls she didn't recognize, and a few she did. There was the lightning girl from the train station a while back, and there were several P.I. members, most notably Christine. She quickly went over to her to see what was going on, but stopped upon seeing a sign which she quickly went over to read. A prize? Maybe... Yes, she'd have to succeed in this task, there was no option to simply skip it. As she was thinking of what to do next, she noticed that she felt far fewer clothes than normal on, in fact she was wearing a rather cute swimsuit. Finally she went over to Christine to figure out a plan.

---

Summer awoke to the sun beating down on her. Unfortunately, she had not been granted the luxury of an umbrella to keep it away. The last thing she remembered was doing homework for her school. She must have fallen asleep during it. She looked around as she sat up only to see several other Beaconites in... swimsuits? Indeed, it appeared that even she herself was wearing one. It was a simple child's school swimsuit that would look right at home in Japan. Honestly, it was a bit embarrassing, until she realized something.

"BEACH EPISODE!"

Someone having accepted the hand shake Shannon smiled brightly. "Nice to meet you." Emily mentioning the challenge the girl crossed her arms and looked in the direction of the main island. She didn't have her staff but her magical senses still seemed to be working in its absence. Stamping one foot on the ground sent a brief shockwave into the ground and light ripple across the water that was quickly overtaken by the ocean waves. Still it was what lay beneath that she wanted to know. After a bit of assessment Shannon determined she could manage a bridge across without too much trouble. "I think I have..."

Stopping she spotted something hurdling from the sky toward another of the islands. The impact could only just be heard over the roar of the wind and waves. The light rumble was clear to Shannon though. Whatever had hit was solid and likely left a decent creator. From this distance though there was no telling what it was though. "...huh. Well as I was saying, I think I can form a bridge for all of us to cross. Unless someone else has a better way. While I would love to relax I'd like to know a little more about what's going on first." The scenery was most definitely inviting. Hopefully getting to the help desk would clear things up.

Most of the magical girls present would wake up on the beach feeling rested, but confused. This would not be the case for Mac, who remembered exactly where she had fallen asleep last.

In fact, the time between her meeting with Veronica and her resurgence here would seem like it had passed in a flash. As soon as Mac had been submerged in a bitter cold chill, she emerged on a hot sandy beach near Veronica's position. The sensation was like getting dunked in an ice bath before being thrown into a sauna. She was still masked in illusion magic, so her presence would be hidden to all. Even him.

But even if he couldn't see her, the magic permeating the place had changed her magical girl outfit. With her hands in the sand, Mac could see that she was no longer wearing her biker gloves, jacket, or any of her other accessories. She was wearing a bikini with a sheer fabric jacket to replace her old one. Not really her style, and it actually covered her curves better than her regular magical girl outfit did. Not that it mattered, as no one was going to see it. Aside from maybe Veronica, but that wasn't too reassuring.

How boring. At least swimming and bathing was a lot like taking a good shower.

---

It became apparent to Tetrad what type of person Alexander was. She had dealt with his type a lot. The perceptual gruff types that saw the negative in virtually everything. Their lack of charisma often kept most people at bay. But Tetrad always found these sorts of people endearing in their own right. Their bark was usually worse than their bite, and were often harmless so long as you didn’t give them any reason to be aggressive. This was nothing groundbreaking given the information she had on him already, but nothing was quite the same as a face-to-face meeting with someone.

”I could tell you we weren’t in another dimension, but that wouldn’t be the truth! At the very least, I don’t know of a single place on earth that has skies like this.” She briefly looked in Chloe’s direction. She could have said something, but it looked like Silhouette had already pounced at the opportunity to romp around with her. It looked like Sil was choking up, so Tetrad gave her a thumbs up to help enforce her courage before turning back to Alexander. ”As for this being a ‘bad thing,’ I doubt we’re in any sort of real trouble. I mean, a real evil mastermind would probably lock us up in a dungeon, shackled to the walls with adamantium bonds. They would watch us squirm and plead in the darkness, offering our dark overlords anything for our freedom.” She looked to her hand, and a knife appeared in it. ”I mean I can still summon my weapon.” She flipped it into the air, which caused it to disappear again.



Things were going good for Binky. The bathroom was stocked with toilet paper, there was enough detergent to do her wash, and her clones had gone a full week without abusing her. The twins were finishing up the rest of the white coins, which let Binky continue to work on red coins. There wasn’t a whole lot to worry about either. If Faith and her group came after Binky, she was surrounded by people who could protect her. There was Janet, Jenna, and several other beacon girls at this outpost. None of them treated her poorly, and she even considered some of them friends.

Binky lifted her goggles onto her head and looked at the crafting table. There were all manner of devices aimed at a single red coin, which she just made not a moment ago. When Binky made her first few red coins, she found herself imagining what the coin’s next user would become. A disposable grunt becoming a leader, a deformed child becoming a voluptuous beauty, a dream becoming reality. Now it was hard for her to picture the coins as anything more than just something else to fight over.

"Hello Binky." Jenna walked over to Binky and slid a mug of coffee towards her. It had become a routine for her to get Binky something to drink every morning, since the red coin maker tended to not take care of herself. "How are you?" Janet said nothing, but watched the two from the distance. She was standing at a like table making white coins.

”Uh.” Binky looked at the mug of coffee. It was still really hot, as evident by the steam dissipating into the air. Binky wasn’t a big coffee drinker, but it smelled good. She found the aroma relaxing. She found herself getting lost in it and almost forgot to respond. ”I’m okay.”

Jenna looked at Janet, who stepped away from her table and examined Binky. She knew she wasn’t entirely content working at Beacon, and could even understand why to a certain extent. But all they could do was continue to show her compassion. "Are you sure, you don’t look okay." She stood on the other side of Binky. "If you have any problems, we’d like to help."

Binky looked at her hands. ”I mean, I just miss having freedom, you know?” Binky turned to face Janet. ” I’m treated well here, I’m safe, but Beacon craves obedience.” She folded her arms. ”I’m restricted. In my old Lab, I could leave whenever I wanted. It wasn’t wise to do so, and it wasn’t as nice as this place is, but I could make choices.” Binky let out a nervous chuckle before leaning across her work table. ”Like when we started making white coins, I didn’t mind doing it because it helped people. But these red coins are my dream. I didn’t really feel like I was in control in that moment.”

"I understand." Janet observed Binky’s form. "I think you’ll find that most of the people who are a part of Beacon aren’t as strict with the rules as you think. If you want to go outside, I’m sure something can be arranged."

Jenna leaned over Binky. "Want me to ask for you? We really don’t want you to feel like a prisoner, but we also don’t want you to get kidnapped. "

Binky felt a little insecure with Jenna so close to him. Mostly because he was planning on doing something as soon as he got his hand on that red coin, and Jenna’s placement made it kind of difficult to do anything once she got a hold of the coin. Binky was also reminded that the beacon twins could read minds if they wanted to. ”Y-yea!” Binky forced a chuckle before reaching for the coin. ”Well, maybe later we ca-” In her haste to grab the coin, her foot kicked a lever, performing the coin production procedure directly on her hand. Binky’s body was enveloped by a red cloud. She didn’t even have time to scream before it happened.

"Binky!"

"Don’t panic!" The twins were fast to act. Jenna tried to pull back on the lever that Binky had kicked while Janet cut the power to the machine. She located an emergency stop button on the side and hammered it with her fist.

With their combined efforts, the machine was turned off quickly, but even a second subjected to magic was enough to do some strange things. Her sickly thin frame now full and whole. Her faded green hair now a vivid red.Her outfit looked like it belonged in a vintage 70’s fashion magazine. It was a simple blouse with blue and white vertical stripes. Binky had a striking resemblance to a certain fast food mascot, grinning most smugly from her spot on the table.



"Binky?" Janet and Jenna didn’t want to startle Binky too much, and they were somewhat bothered by the transformation. They were relieved that her mind still appeared to be intact, and wasn’t showing any signs of corruption. It looked like all that happened was that she had essentially used a red coin. "How do you feel?"

Binky kept her eyes focused on Jenna as she pushed herself off of the table. ”I feel pretty good. About as good as you look.”

"O-oh." Jenna averted her eyes and blushed. "Are you sure you feel okay? We thought that might have hurt you."

”Oh, I guess I feel a little different, if that’s what you mean.” Binky waved her hand in front of herself, and a deep fryer materialized out of thin air. There was a pair of beer battered fish cooking in one of the baskets. ”The red coin sure is amazing. I think it reversed my magic.”

"Reversed?" Janet raised an eyebrow. "You still seem to have the ability to make fast food. What do you mean by reversed?"

”The opposite of being rich is poor, right?” Binky took the basket and dumped the fish on the crafting table. Only the fish had transformed into two fish dinners before they landed. The fish was accented by some spinach, and were slathered with tarter sauce. There were numerous sides from fries to onion rings. ”My fast food magic has become 「Food Empire」 magic. I was once weak, and now I’m strong. I was once a prisoner, I am now free.” Binky turned to Janet. ”You got that?”



Before either of them could react, the fish dinners Binky prepared rocketing towards the twins. It would have been easy for Binky to strike them down with this attack, but these girls had been kind to her, so she would show them mercy. The meals stopped inches away from their faces, allowing them a moment to take in the dinner’s wonderful aroma. ”Forks are on the bottom shelf. Don’t try to stop me.” Binky moved out of the lab while they ate. But waiting in the hall for her was Betty, who held her sword with a trembling hands. ”Hey Betty! Come to rescue me?” Binky placed her hands on her hips. ”Thanks, but it’s not really necessary. Like my new look?”

But Binky’s words didn’t cause her any measure of comfort. If anything, they made Betty’s eyes wetter. ”T-that’s really you Binky?” Shelooked to the ground. ”You used a red coin, didn’t you? You did the one thing I hoped you never would.”

That wasn’t exactly what had happened, but Binky was thinking about it. She was going to use the red coin and escape. Though getting zapped seemed to have the same effect. ”That is correct.”

Betty collapsed to the floor, holding her face in her hands. ”I-” There was a whine in her voice, ”You were perfect just the way you were.” Her head weaved side to side, but she refused to look up. ”I signed my life away just so that I could remember our time together. Did that mean nothing to you?”

”Um.” Binky placed her hand over her mouth. ”Betty. Betty?” She took a step closer. ”I had no idea you were coming. I’m better like this anyway right?”

Betty lowered her head all the way to the ground. ”Binky wouldn’t lie to me.” She folded her arms around her head. ”I’m going to wait as long as it takes. I’ll siege beacon headquarters myself if I have to get her back.” She stood up and wiped away her tears. ”Even if…” She her sword floated back into her hand. ”…It costs me my life!” She turned around and bolted down the hall.

”Wait!” Binky reached for Betty’s shoulder, but even with her new power, catching Betty was something she couldn’t do. 「Food Empire」 had strong offensive potential. But when it came to chasing after someone she wanted to protect, Binky had nothing to work with. Betty would only get further and further away as Binky attempted to chase after her.

…

…

…

…

…



Binky woke up.

Her first thoughts were not about the heat, where she had fallen asleep last, or any of the things most people would think upon waking up. Her first thoughts were about her dream. She couldn’t remember much of it. Just being really powerful and chasing Betty towards beacon Headquarters. It was surreal, and far more vivid than anything she dreamed before. But she knew that had to wait for the time being.

Binky had an island to explore, which she was able to finish just by turning 360 degrees. The island was small, just a heap of sand about twenty feet across. There was a single palm tree, and a sign mentioning a “no wet” challenge. It was a challenge she would have no problem beating, so long as there weren’t other dangers. Maybe there were depth charges hiding under the water’s surface? Maybe there was a sniper on the giant island. Maybe there was a mermaid that was going to drag her underwater, tie her up with kelp, and use her as a living boogie board.

Maybe she just had an overactive imagination.

With a sigh, Binky found her thoughts returning to the dream she had. She wouldn’t be so tempted to use a red coin if there were other avenues to a better life for her. Heck, she didn’t even need to be strong if she was going to be surrounded by guards all the time. But being pretty was just something she couldn’t do. That was when she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the water. The Binky in the reflection had vivid green hair with a stylish red flower in it. She also wore a tight bikini that might have been too small for her frame. There were no bags under her eyes, and her skin was a porcelain white. Except her face, which was turning redder with each second she examined her reflection.



Binky started to doubt the likely hood of there being explosives in the water. Anyone who spent this much time making her look pretty wasn’t going to blow up their hard work. She would definitely need to keep an eye out for those mermaids though…

Alexander shrugged "Okay yeah, that makes sense." He sighed "We still have access to our magic and aren't restrained, which is a good sign. But the fact that something was able to bring us all here and alter our costumes like this, without us knowing...it rubs me the wrong way. For all we know; this could just be some sicko's recreation of Battle Royale. I've certainly seen weirder since coming to Penrose." He shook his head "I don't know, maybe I'm completely wrong here, and this is just supposed to be a fun day at the beach, hell, I hope it is. I'd just rather be paranoid than caught off guard." He turned away to look at Lily with a small smile on his face "But...I really want this to be on the level. After all the shit we've been through, some fun on the beach sounds wonderful. Hell, this is actually my first time at a beach."

@BrokenPromise

Glancing over at the others as they approached, Alicia chose to address Penny first as she gestured to the sign. "Well they want us to make it there without getting any water on us. Having a boat would let us move the entire group easy." If they could summon Earth Bastion in the first place. Otherwise the point was a bit moot.

But it seemed that a lot of familiar faces had gathered so far. At least there wasn't anyone she didn't recognize yet, or anyone who wasn't a Beckoner. Was that by design? It had to be, right? What were the odds that out of a random selection, only Beckoners would land in one place? Surely there was more going on here than what they could see.

"Still, if the central island has answers for us then I guess we'll just have to go there. We can enjoy the 'beach episode' once we figure out if this is some kind of trap or test, or whatever."

“Whoa!”

Joanna squirmed underneath of some catgirl she’d never met before, accomplishing little more than rubbing their bare flesh together.

Oh. Oh dear. Speaking of bare flesh, Joanna was certainly not wearing the pajamas she had on when she fell asleep last night. Or the underwear, for that matter. Did she even own this outfit?


Look on the bright side. If this catgirl intended anything, ah, balmier than what was happening, chances are she wouldn’t let any skin go un-bared unless she was into that sort of thing, which there is nothing wrong with whatsoever. Joanna was… reasonably sure this girl wasn’t the one who undressed her? Or redressed her, at least.

Where the hell was she, anyways? Some kind of… beach. Certainly one she didn’t recognize. Last thing she remembered was binge-watching Stargate SG1 late at night, curled up under the blankets next to…

Joanna’s eyes widened. Oh God. She was here, but where was she? She’d probably be worried sick the second she woke up. Joanna, getting up as much as this catgirl’s weight would let her, turned her head around as she started scanning this strange beach for–

“Speedwagon?”

“Miss Jo-star!”


There she was. What a relief! Sure, she had also been changed out of her nightclothes and left snoozing on another beach towel, but she was here and she was okay. And a little further away was… Nina? And Alice? Why were all of them SHIT

…ahem. That is to say. The sudden, explosive arrival of yet another magical girl startled Joanna.

Not… implying that she thought that any of her friends were…

…it’s high tide time for a change of perspective.

@BrokenPromise

---

Lily made a cute little yelp as Betty suddenly cut between her and Veronica, having been successfully intimidated. Similarly, she looked spooked as Alex' ears suddenly appeared, not having expected such a reaction from him.
"I-It's okay Alex! I'm sure we can talk this out." She frantically spoke to her in her bout of misunderstanding, only to sigh in relief as Veronica defused the initial hostility completely. She managed to smile a little.
"I always did have a knack for remembering people. For reasons." She held her arm cautiously as she said it, and nodded to both of them.
"Anyway, nice to meet you, Mrs. Veronica and Betty. I hope we get along." She happened to notice the sign close to them, and audibly read the contents.
"I love prizes! This should be a piece of cake, too."

She then turned her head upon hearing another girl approach Alex, and gasped in shock upon seeing her; her eyes had the same look of the popular girls she had to endure in her previous life. But she was even worse, with her seductive sleeves and supermodel look with big bumpers.
"A-Alex doesn't need any help getting up!" She defensively spread her arm before him.
"He can do so every morning, all on his own! Well, one time I did help him, but-" Her words were cut off as her brain caught up with her speech, and like a boiling thermometer, her face cartoonishly flushed a bright red.
"N-Never mind that!" Having embarrassed herself into silence, she listened as the femme fatale spoke, clutching Alex' hand for comfort. She seemed a bit relieved as she showcased her summoned weapon; she also felt that she could summon her Ramuh at any time.
"At least we can defend ourselves if we need to. But I really hope we don't have to; fighting in a swimsuit is way too embarrassing," she would state matter-of-factually, unaware of the contradiction in her words.

She then noticed the next two girls come to, and Lily's eyes shone brightly.
"AHHH! SO CUTE AND COOL!" She went over to Chloe and Samantha, and leaned over at them with a coy pose, smiling sweetly.
"Hi there! I'm Lily! Your swimsuit looks super pretty! You're like a flower!" She complimented Chloe first. Then, she turned to Samantha, eyeing her up with admiration.
"And yours is so daring and badass! Not to mention Betty's amazing bikini, Tetrad's slick gloves, and Veronica's elegance!" She pouted, and hooked one finger in her shorts with a disappointed look.
"Everyone's so stylish except me; these shorts aren't cute at all. Whoever put me in this has real lame fashion sense, right?" She would laugh a bit as she looked down at herself, hoping they would laugh with her, and not at her. Then, she leaned her head to the side as she looked at Samantha.
"You're look familiar. Have we met somewhere? Oh, speaking of meeting-!"
She went back to Alex and hugged his arm, holding him close as she brought him over to present to the girls.
"This is my new boyfriend Alex~" She would glance back at Tetrad with a confident smirk before resuming her attention on the girls...For about ten seconds, before she noticed something falling down on another island.
"Whoah, a shooting star! Hey, why don't we start exploring? Maybe there's other magical girls just like us stranded somewhere? In that case we gotta help. Especially if it's another dimension. Alex, can you use your clones to carry the sleeping girls? I don't think we need to go far from here."

---

Helga jumped down from the tree, and peered at the sign she saw earlier, stifling a giggle as Su complimented her looks.
"Thanks, Su. You also look great." Her eyes darted down, and she grinned mischievously.
"Nice strap gap, heh. But looking at you, I was reminded..." She leaned over to take a better look at her.
"You really should let your hair down more; it suits you better. Even Mika looks a lot cuter without the buns."
When asked about the swimsuit, she shrugged. "Beats me. This one is also totally new to me," she said as she lifted the side bow on her bikini bottoms. "But hey, free clothes are free."

She then went over to Lupa, and helped her stand up, and watched as Mika succeeded in waking up some of the other girls, grinning from the entertaining sight. She didn't recognise them, though she did find the braid-haired girl very cute. "Hey there," she went over to greet her, a confident smile on her lips.
"I'm Helga. What's your name? Are you from Penrose too? If you don't mind, we could hang out, and-"
It was at that moment that she felt a certain vibration in the air; thanks to her Sound Specialisation, she could hear the coming far before the others. Without any hesitation, she grabbed Lupa by her waist and threw the both of them into the sand, using her own body to shield her. "Duck and cover!"

The boogie board hit with explosive impact, causing the entire island to slightly quake, as if a volcano was erupting. But soon enough, a magical girl stepped forward, greeting them. Helga was stunned: both by the display the new arrival had made, as well as the lack of gravity that her body somehow possessed.
"Wow..." She muttered as she climbed back up, sweeping sand off of her. "We could ask you the same thing; we also don't know who brought us here." She approached her, and offered her hand. "Anyway, glad to meet ya, Hilaria. Name's Helga. That chick over there's Lupa, and the bombshell over there's Su," she spoke, winking at the long-haired girl. "And Mika is there, attempting to wake some other girls."

Though Helga was quite small, especially in comparison to the silver-haired girl, she still proudly puffed her chest, a complete opposite to a certain green-haired girl. "I love both! I like to spend my time climbing skyscrapers." She noticed the boogie board Hilaria was carrying, and crouched down to look at it. "Is that your magical girl weapon? Is it a surfing board? HEY!" She jumped up. "Maybe we can use that! Lupa, take those girls with us, and follow me!" Lupa nodded, and lifted the sleeping girls, hoisting them over her shoulders as easily as a a pair of towels. Helga ran over to the ghost twins too, closing the parasol before continuing to run forward.
"You two as well, Julia and Jillian!" The twins groaned as they covered their eyes from the light, and slowly floated up from their beach chairs.

"Meanie..."

"I was having a really nice dream, you know! Well, whatever. I guess we should take a look."
She then noticed her bikini, and looked confused.
"Whoah, wait? Swimsuits? We're on a beach? What is happening here?"

She made a twirl in the air while checking herself out, and then floated around Julia.

" Well, we're still like this, so it's not that big of a deal. You look super adorable, Julia~"

"Thanks. You're cute too, Jillian," Julia would answer with a barely noticeable smile. She then saw something that made her frown.

"But..."

She floated before Hilaria; the young-looking girl pouted as she squinted at the big boobs.

"..."

She lifted her hands up to her own chest, before she crossed them with a scoff.

"...Cow."

Jillian grit her teeth, her eyes having shot open in shock.

"That's rude, Julia!" She bowed before Hilaria.
"I'm really sorry, Hilaria! Julia here gets grumpy whenever her nap gets interrupted. She didn't mean it. She's sorry too, right Julia?" She grabbed her sister by the hand, preventing her from floating away, and she continued scowling.

"..._Sorry."

"What are you guys waiting for!" Helga shouted from some distance away. "We got a challenge to wreck!"

---

Kimble's eyes widened as Alicia stood up before her, and her little fang poked out from her lip as her mouth hung open in awe at her looks, blushing profusely.
"Mistress is beautiful! Mnnnhhh!" She purred in utter delight as the taller girl's hand brushed against her locks of hair, slightly pressing against the palm as her tails whisked around in circles.
Once Sylvia was done reading the sign, she nodded.
"You're right, Alicia. If we all work together, we will surely prevail." She then greeted the other Beacon girls who arrived including the twins.
"We are currently in unknown, possibly enemy territory, Janet. For that reason, we must stay cautious. As for the Earth Bastion, that may come in handy. Be prepared to summon it, Penny." She noticed Summer jumping around, and waggled her finger.
"It's not one until I say so, Summer," she would remind the blue-haired girl.
"First we need to go to the central island for reconnaissance; supposedly this 'help desk' can provide us with some, though I suspect it's a trap."

"OHHH, SUMMER!" Sally's eyes sparkled, her pupils having turned into four-leaf clovers, and she picked her up in her enveloping embrace.
"You're so adorable, I can't handle it! IIIH!" Summer would find her respiratory actions momentarily halted as her face ended up trapped in Sally's enormous pair.
Tabitha slowly woke up, rubbing her face from the nosebleed she had, and blinked as she saw Sally's overtly friendly gesture...followed by fainting again. Kimble stood up, staying close to Alicia, her ears having twitched from seeing what looked like a comet crashing down on an island.
"Nyah, something fell over there." She pointed with a curious expression. "Maybe it's other girls."

Sylvia facepalmed, distracted by the shenanigans around her, and sighed. "Alright, enough. You can play with Summer later." she dragged Sally off of the blue-faced girl, and both of them turned to see Aurelio and his clones arrive. Sally nodded approvingly as she leaned to the side to look at the cooler, a wide smule on her lips. "Well now, aren't you such a gentleman~"
Sylvia also smiled, looking genuinely happy at his arrival.
"Great job procuring supplies, Aurelio. Penny, take Tabitha and Serenity with us." She took a step, pointing forward.
"We will show this perverted being that Beacon doesn't falter in the face of circumstances even as unusual as this, and will beat any challenge before it with the strength of our bonds."
"Whoo, island adventure!" Sally pumped her fist into the air with a hop, before she went over and grabbed Aurelio and one of his clones, an arm wrapped around each of their shoulders.
"Now this is what I call a date!"

---

It didn't take long before Lily's group had reached the shore facing the central island. It was just barely beyond the reach of any jump, roiling waves between them and their goal.
"Hmm...Without getting wet...If I had Ixion with me, I might be able to launch off a ramp and cross it, but he's gone fishin'."
Then, her breath hitched as inspiration hit her. She shook Alex' shoulders while jumping up and down, barely containing her excitement.
"Alex Alex ALEX! You can do that trick again! When we returned back to Penrose! You remember, right? Show these girls how cool you are!"

---

Helga paced back and forth on the beach as she looked at the central island, trying her hardest to think as she looked at the group. "How many can you launch with your boogie board, Hilaria? If you use the same amount of force as last time, I think that's one way to get over there. But it's risky, too.." She stuck her tongue out in thought.
"Su can fly with Air magic, Mika can fly with wings, twins can fly because they're weird undead things...I could Metamorphose and also fly, but I would need to get really angry first..." She went over to the ghost twins. "Punch me." Jillian lifted an eyebrow in utter befuddlement.

"Uhh, maybe we shouldn't-" Suddenly, a fist struck right through Helga's face.
"AAAGHHH!" Jillian screamed. It turned out to be Julia, who slowly retreated her hand with a sigh.
"Useless."
"Geez Julia, don't spook me like that!" Jillian would retort...Only to freeze, puff her cheeks, and burst out laughing. "Hah-hah...Spook."
Helga was not amused.
"Ok, that only tickled me, so dumb idea. Gonna boogie with the board." She gave a thumbs-up to Hilaria.
"Time for a take-off, sistah!"

---

The Beacon group had also arrived before the sea leading to the central island, and Sylvia put her hands to her hips, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Hmm...Alicia, do you think you can fly using the updraft here?" She pointed upwards, where ocean winds picked up the scent of salt. "Kimble has Air magic, correct? Can you lift us all over?" Kimble bit her bottom lip, her ears drooping down.
"I cannyah try, but...It's a lot of people. I can take one, maybe two if they're not too heavy..." She glanced in Penny's direction, and went to take cover behind Alicia's leg.
"I see. Well, with my Metal magic, I could build us a boat. But without any natural resources to utilize, it would drain me considerably: it would be risky if we need to engage hostiles at our destination."
She turned to Penny. "You have the Earth Bastion, right? Can you summon it?"
Sally sighed, and leaned her head back, causing both Aurelios she had her arms wrapped around to lurch as the top-heavy girl's weight fell on them.
"Maan, this is tough. Hey Summer, you use that funny magic, right?" She released the poor boy and his clone, opened the cooler carried by other clones, and uncorked a soda can, taking a sip with one hand on her hip.
"Can you help us here? Or...How about we make an Aurelio-bridge? Just joking~" She would add with a swipe of her hand and a giggle.

”M-missus?!” Betty turned to Veronica, who didn’t bat an eye at Lily’s choice to add a title to her name.

“I’m sure we’ll get along.”

Much like Alexander, Lily was not a difficult person to read. She was everything that Alex was not. Lily had charisma, a desire to open up to everyone around her, and was a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. one might think that if Tetrad preferred to be around people like Alex, that she would not like to be around characters like Lily as much. And there was certainly an element of truth to that. High energy types like Lily were exhausting to keep up with. Before Tetrad could comment on how “rad” it would be to fight in swimsuits, she was already checking out the other girls, commenting on their swimwear. ”The hell did she eat for breakfast?”

Betty blushed and folded her hands behind her back ”Oh um, thank you! It’s not like I picked it out or anything. I do like that it matches the colors of my uniform.”

The only time Lily paused was when she took hold of Alexander to show him off to everyone. To which Tetrad shrugged her shoulders and grinned. ”That’s nice.” Tetrad examined her own gloves, still unsure why that particular detail about her outfit was what Lily decided to comment on. ”Well, if you have a B-F, you don’t really need a snazzy bikini. He should love you regardless of what you wear. Besides, given our predicament, getting fancy increases your chances of getting stalked by turbo lesbians.” She winked at Chloe, or was that Sil she winked at?

When Lily suggested they start exploring, Veronica placed her fingers against the side of her head. “Hmmm.” She pulled her hand away from her temple. “There is no reason to assume others are in more danger than we are. I would be willing to see how big this island is regardless.” The shadow under her chair grew crab legs before standing up off the ground. “We might as well stay together.” The shadow behind her chair expanded, and more beach chairs floated out of it. It started to look more like a centipede instead of a crab. “Betty, lets help Alexander carry the P.I. Agents.”

”Any reason why I can’t help?”

“You can.” Veronica squinted her eyes. “But you’re not getting paid for it.”

Tetrad placed a hand on her chest. ”You wound me Veronica! I just want to maintain the sanctity of Lily and Alexander’s relationship! I don’t think it’s good for a new boyfriend’s clones to be carrying around all these babes.”

Veronica did not comment.

---

Giving and receiving comments on how you looked was an art form. People are usually very sensitive about their bodies, and one needs to chose their words carefully to avoid upsetting the other party. What makes looks difficult to comment on is how subjective beauty is. When Su commented on Helga’s attire, she kept her comments focused on her swimsuit for that reason. Steering clear of mentioning anything that might make Helga feel self conscious about herself. Naturally, Helga felt compelled to remark on Su’s outfit after she did this. She did not stick to using Su’s strategy however.

Su had no idea what a strap gap was, and was too embarrassed to ask. The only hint she got was Helga’s grin. She was able to recall that same grin from two weeks ago when she tried to squeeze into one of Helga’s blouses. It also dawned on Su that this was the first time they had seen each other in so little. Even when they showered together that one time, Helga’s shirt covered a lot more of her body than her bikini did. And Helga wasn’t actively trying to observe Su back then either. ”Um.” When Helga leaned in to examine her, Su found herself pulling back slightly. She prided herself on her ability to remain strong and confident in all situations, but she hadn’t prepared herself for this. Fortunately, Helga’s next comment was on her hair, which was far less awkward to talk about than her outfit. ”Oh, yea.” She smiled before looking away from Helga. ”I thought that too actually. I don’t really experiment with my hair very much, but I’ll have to start wearing it down once we get back.” She nodded to Helga’s statement about the swimsuits. But before she could say anything else, she had run over to Lupa. ”I should be happy she was able to stand still for that long, I suppose.”

Lupa accepted Helga’s hand and was pulled up. “Not gunna let me lounge with a Popsicle huh?” Lupa chuckled.

Mika remained on Joanna’s stomach, sitting there like a cat. “I’m Mika!” She said while puffing out her chest. From there, she just let Helga talk. That was until she heard the thing falling out of the sky. “Whoa! Cool!” She didn’t move from her spot.

“My popsica-!” Was as far as Lupa got before her entire body was buried under Helga and sand.

Su flew in front of Mika and the others and raised her hands. A wind barrier cut through the space between herself and the incoming sand. It was enough to prevent any flying debris from hitting anyone, but the trembling earth rocked Mika off of Joanna. She let Helga do the honors of introducing everyone, and did her best to not react when she called Su a bombshell. But controlling the color of her skin was not something she had mastered yet. Later she needed to talk to Helga about what was appropriate to tell strangers. Like, Su was fine being called these things, and didn’t mind it at all. It just didn’t feel appropriate in the moment. But it also felt good to have someone proudly state you were a bombshell in front of people. Well, she’d let Helga off the hook this time. But next time, she’d have to take her aside and talk to her about it. Maybe.

Mika’s eyes didn’t leave the site of the crash. She watched with awe as Hillaria stepped out of the crater and walked towards her. Mika’s mouth remained agape through her entire monologue. The level of infatuation Mika was displaying was a bit worry some to Su, but there was little reason to interfere. ”I love challenges!” Mika hugged Joanna from behind. ”And I love high places! If anything, it’s calming to be able to look down at everything and see how far away it all is.” She let go of Joanna and stood up. ”What are we going to do? Are we going to explore space?”

Fortunately, before anything could happen, Helga interjected with her own idea. ”I’m not sure if the challenge is all that important, but we should probably get to that island anyway.” She landed on the ground. ”But we shouldn’t forget this place, we might want to come back here later.”

When Lily wrapped herself around his arm, Alexander felt like that very same arm was caught in a massive electrical current...but in a good way. 'Is...is she using magic on me? Or is this just what girls feel like?'

"-ex, can you use your clones to carry the sleeping girls? I don't think we need to go far from here."

"Huh?" he blinked dumbly before his mind caught up. "R-right, yeah sure. Clones" He summoned his wand and made a few clones to lug around the still sleeping girls. When they reached them, they tentatively leaned down to pick them up with grimaces on their faces. Alexander looked at them, then at Lily, and then back at his clones 'Ah, right. I get it; that sensation would be rather distracting.' Finally, one of the clones reach the arm of a girl...and touched it

"...Huh?" The clone then gripped said arm in his hands

"What the hell are you doing?" Asked another clone

"...nothing..."

"What do you mean 'nothing'?"

"I mean I didn't feel anything"

"Seriously?" The other clone reach out to touch the arm of another girl with the palm on his hands "Huh...you're right." He then looked over at Alexander, who was staring at them in confusion, and Lily "But how?"

"Man, I don't even care anymore" And with that, soon the clones picked up the girls in a fireman's carry and started following the others.

"What the hell?" The real Alexander mumbled to himself "Is it because they're clones?" However, his musings were interrupted when Lily began bouncing around.

"Alex Alex ALEX! You can do that trick again! When we returned back to Penrose! You remember, right? Show these girls how cool you are!"

"Buwah!?" The sudden movement caught him off guard 'What trick?' He then glanced over at the ocean 'Oh, right.' He held out his wand, and formed a bridge of magic across the water "It's not quite complete, but I'll be able to fill in the rest when we get closer."

This was definitely a new experience, but not the first time she'd been suddenly pulled into another world without warning at least. Headphones, game device in hand, swimsuit on, and no attempted murder in sight or about her. Whew. All in all a good experience so far, and she wasn't alone. That Amaryllis lass was here too! Cute and sexy as she looked...was nice to have a friend or ally of sorts here and around her. Very good to have a friend or such at all, really. But aside from her own current thoughts on the place, the pirate herself got a wide grin on her face. Water, sand, sea, it was all a pirate could want in this day and age!

Sophia ran over and swiftly hugged Amaryllis from behind, before poking her head around to look at the other girl's face with a grin.

"Good tae' see ya' again, Amaryllis! Twas' wonderin' if ah' was bein' kidnapped n' almost murdered again for a second there!" the pirate said, letting go of the more buxom girl and stepping around to face her and Rina, "N' if we ah'll need ah' ride, ah' can provide at' without problem!"

Perhaps she was too excited to be on a random island, right next to the sand and surf, so out of the blue. It at least killed boredom, though.

Sophia raised a hand, focusing for a moment with her magic...until something happened. The large ship she'd flown about on after her kidnapping shimmered into existence just above the water, before plopping into it with a loud CRASH and SPLASH as it sat upon the waves. Flying ship as it was, it was still very much seaworthy if her patron had anything to say about it. And it did, just not with...any form of proper language. After all, it was just a ghost ship, albeit a lonely and talkative one.

"All aboard tha' Dreadnaught, if yer' heading where ahm' goin'!" the pirate shouted aloud, a mirthful sense of glee ringing in her voice.

@t2wave@ERode@FamishedPants@Rune_Alchemist

---

Beach Episode?

Well, that one girl seemed to know what was going on at least. Made sense. Such a phenomenon she'd seen in her former life many times over. One of those cosmic mysteries that could just pop up out of the blue, and seize the means of production fun for all involved. A magical event that occurred once in a long while, which had warranted some observations until it became boring. Not like a horror proper could understand that kind of thing anyways...even so, it was a welcome thing perhaps. Not as crowded as Beacon HQ by far, and no onw was trying to kill her or her new charge Sophia (for all she knew). Maybe this would be....fun???

It was still rather awkward, however, to be around so many people at once though. Not that Alicia was as awkward to her now, in fact she felt a bit more comfortable around the girl about this point.

"Agreed, A-Alicia...," Serenity said, having edged herself quietly over to be closer to Alicia to try to avoid awkwardly bumping into anyone else, "Um...I-I can probably help people get over if they want. My magic is suitable enough to make it work, though we'd have to walk as a group over t-t-there."

@Flamelord@DarkwolfX37@Card Captor@Ariamis@Shifter_Master

---

---

Nina merely watched on, sucking on a sizable popsicle she had found herself with, as stoic-faced as ever as she watched the ensuing hijinks. It wasn't the first time she'd had a strange experience while sleeping at night, though this was the first time it hadn't been some kind of dream or reliving of the dead's experiences. That was for sure. But it also didn't seem too bad, swimsuit and popsicle and all. Mysterious as it was, though, it was at least a break from the normal wear and tear of magical girl life....and clearing a horror out of a school alongside Joanna and co and some strange group called the Timberwolves. That had been its own piece of work.

"Yare yare...I agree with the 'bombshell' there, getting to that central island might be interesting. Though getting back here could be nice if it gets too stifling over there," the magical girl said, holding the melting popsicle in one hand as she briefly pulled it away from her mouth to actually speak to the others, glancing at Su as she spoke before putting the popsicle back in her mouth once more.

Besides, that catgirl was off of Joanna now, right? She didn't have to life a finger for that on what she assumed was as much of a vacation as she was going to get here. Not that she didn't care about them, but she didn't want to get in the middle of all the mess with a wet popsicle either. Would be a waste to get sand all over it.

"I can maybe take one or two with me, given I use the right spirit. Joanna? Speedwagon?"

Alice, on the other hand, rolled her eyes at Nina's behavior, though at the same time the swimsuit-clad sniper felt a sense of relief. At least this strange place didn't seem to be immediately hostile, and they were ready for the sun and sand it seemed. In fact, not only were their allies here, but also other magical girls of a seemingly comic relief peaceful enough nature. Seeing another wind user around who freed Joanna from the clutches of a waifu-able catgirl, though, was also an interesting little note.

Despite this, the redhead walked over to Joanna and offered a hand up. Nina could probably get a couple across the water, she herself could fly if nothing else.

"Are you ok, Joanna? Speedwagon?"

@BrokenPromise@Ariamis@MadManMoon

It really didn't seem like they were on earth, did they? The magical girl turned her own eyes to the sky. Were they abducted by some horror? Dark Magical girl? Or something else entirely? Something like this was beyond the scope of most patrons...plus, why them, specifically?

...she was probably thinking about this a bit too hard. Her attention turned to her swimsuit.

"...jeez, I can't remember the last time I wore a swimsuit." Rina stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. At least it was decent and surprisingly airy. Shoes were pretty comfortable too, but why did a swimsuit even need shoes? Would probably make some pretty good footing for some beach sports perhaps. It was still a bit too revealing for her tastes though, but at least she had a jacket she could zip up at her convenience.

"A-anyways. Y-yea. It would probably be best to head to that central island. I dunno about this competition thing, but it's probably the best place to find information if it even-Wuh?!" Before Rina could finish her thought, one of the other unconscious girls seemed to have woken up and grabbed Amaryllis from behind. Rina was a bit to surprised to really say anything, but it looked like the two girls new each other, so she wasn't hostile at least.

That wasn't even the end of it! Out of the blue, a ship formed seemingly out of nowhere. It slammed into the ocean, a wave of sea water splashing onto the beach, nearly drenching her in the process. Many things were going through Rina's head, most notably once more, 'what the hell'. Of course, that would be totally uncool to say that and she really was used to this sort of thing by now.

"A ship, huh?" Rina whistled at the ships appearance before glancing towards Sophia with a mildly annoyed expression. "Guess that'll make getting around easier. Who the hell are you though? Friend of Amaryllis?"


A smug, cat like smirk grew on Chloe's lips as Sam began speaking. By the time the other magical girl had finished, she had to hold back her laughter.

"I'm sorry, what was that? Did I hear you right?" She took a few steps closer to Sil. "Did you say I need to be more aggressive?" Another step closer. "Is my cute little friend into being on the receiving end?" Thankfully for Sil, before Chloe could do anything else aside from teasing, she was interrupted by one of the other girls that had washed up with them. Another girl she didn't recognize but was...oddly cheery. Almost too much. Her swimsuit was a bit old style too. Well, there was something to be said about a modest girl. She immediately began complimenting the both of them, and if there was one thing that got Chloe in a good mood, it was compliments.

"Ahahaha, well it's only natural!" Chloe replied with a giggle. "I am the most adorable creature in existence you know." This girl - Lily, was it? She was actually kind of adorable. "I'm Chloe. You can tell me how pretty I am whenever you want, heh~" But, the girl, Lily, bounded off before she could say anything else or even make an attempt at flirting. Someone had a lot of energy, heh.

"Well," Chloe sighed, glancing over to Sil. "I'd tease you more, buuuut I'd rather not break that adorable face of yours just yet." With a giggle and a smirk, Chloe's crystalline wings formed behind her, now a bright aqua blue to match the rest of her outfit. Blowing a playful kiss in Sil's direction, Chloe took off after the others.

Chloe lazily floated in the air by Veronica, hovering just above the sand as they reached the shoreline. The boy did some trick that made a bridge across the water? Hmph, well, somewhat useful she supposed. For the most part she wasn't too interested in him. Such a shame he was in a relationship with Lily. She had half a mind to see if she could meddle in it...hm, maybe...maybe later. Watching their relationship crumble would be quite amusing.

"So, who are you?" Chloe landed next to Veronica, smiling in her usually confident manner. "You seem like you think pretty highly of yourself. What, with that swimsuit and the way you carry yourself, you almost make me feel intimidated if I wasn't too busy enjoying the view."

"Uh..."

Amaryllis was about to take Shannon's hand and introduce herself, before Emily suddenly popped up out of nowhere as well, shaking hands and all, shooting a compliment in the midst of it. Was it really good? Probably from a subjective point of view, but from an objective point of view, it was simply scandalous. At least her transformed costume gave her extra agility. This...

Before her thoughts could get too derailed in one direction, it got derailed in a whole other direction. Letting out a yelp as someone actually managed to take her from behind (where was her Sword and why wasn't it warning her about that?!), Amaryllis practically jumped up at the vaguely-familiar but still largely unfamiliar voice, turning to see...who? No, that wasn't a who. That was Sophia, just with a new...haircut as well? Thank god for speech patterns, really. The accent was certainly easy enough to pin down.

Rina's question, at least, was something that could ground her to reality.

"Um, yeah...Sophia's a new magical girl who, uh, I think was at the whole Soth throwdown?" Amaryllis spoke, hesitantly, unable to fully immerse herself in her knightly persona, "And, uh, this is Emily as well. I also know her, I guess, from a soup kitchen, so...oh, but I totally don't know Shannon or those three people over there, so..."

A vague, helpless shrug. This really was weird. By now, her Sword should have been punching her in the armpits or whatever to get her to kill something nearby.

"I'm actually not to sure what all this is...but a boat is nice, and it'll save you some mana too, right, Shannon? So...all aboard?" Tentatively, Amaryllis swung her sword around a couple of times as she kicked off the ground and landed on the railings of the grand ship. Still no response. "By the way, anyone able to hear their Patrons or whatnot?"

"Thanks Kimble," Alicia replied with a warm smile at the compliment offered. "That swimsuit is cute on you." With the frills and the white/red color scheme, it went well with her 'cat' thing. There were only certain styles that could pull this sort of thing off, and in this case being too skimpy would have been a detriment.

Listening to Sylvia, Alicia nodded in agreement. The course of action made as much sense as any other option right now. But she was distracted from that as Kimble pointed off into the distance. Squinting, the Seraph tried to pick anything out from the bright blue sky, but it appeared to be too late for that. "Huh. Well, if we're not alone then I hope whoever else here is friendly," she observed. The last thing they needed was a fight in these outfits.

Her distraction left her open to surprise, and she jumped a bit as Serenity spoke up from next to her. It seemed the magical girl had some things she just couldn't escape, as evidenced by the maid's hat she wore. "That's good to know. I suppose we'll see once we find where this big island is." For now it was time to do a bit of investigation, to see what they could find.

Following the beach soon found them facing an island in the distance, one that seemed like it might be larger than the one they were on now. Though that was hard to judge given the distances involved. Alicia examined it, a hand lifted to shade her face from the sun, the other resting on her hip at the same time.

After a moment of thought and listening to Sylvia, she let out a small shrug. "Like Kimble said. Especially if she helps out. But weight is definitely going to be a problem. We may want to use a different method if we can. Having given her opinion, she looked over at Serenity next. "I know you offered, but do you think you can keep your time magic going for that long? It's not exactly a short hop." It might make more sense to let Penny or Summer have a shot at it, if they could do so. For now, Alicia would wait to see what their opinion was.

The first thing Scribe Xi saw when she woke up was Collector Delta, sleeping next to her. She was lying on a beach chair, much like the one Xi found herself on, and wearing a swimsuit that she didn’t recognize as hers.


With those black and white frills, it almost reminded her of a maid uniform.

…she was wearing one too, wasn’t she? Xi looked down at herself and saw…


It didn’t look bad on her by any means, but she was definitely going to have words with whoever changed their clothes while they were sleeping. Like ‘Which hand do you like more?’ and ‘Why yes, this billhook is very sharp. Nice of you to notice.’

She was keeping the free beachball, though.

When she looked up, Xi noticed Delta was awake, and staring right at her boobs. Very, very intently.

“Um…” Why no, Xi certainly wasn’t blushing, inwardly or otherwise. Where would you get that idea?

“The swimsuit is your uniform, but changed,” Delta said after a moment. “It’s the work of some very powerful magic. The kind that no normal magical girl could possess.” She frowned. “Its magic doesn’t share the same aura with you, either, meaning that our Patron wasn’t directly involved.” Her expression drifted over to ‘puzzled.’ “I can’t tell who or what is the source of this magic. Not with my Third Eye, at this point.”

Huh. Now that was fascinating.

…hold on. Wasn’t there something off with that?

“…these swimsuits replaced our uniforms, but we had them on while we were unconscious. Doesn’t unconsciousness cause a transformation to drop?”

“Good question.”

“Personally, my money’s on ‘wish shenanigans,’” said an all-too familiar voice. Delta rolled over onto her back, revealing her familiar in human form, who was lounging on his own beach chair.


“If someone wanted to make a beach getaway for themselves and a few other people, crafted their wish so that no one could just leave prematurely...” Lee took a sip from a much fancier glass than usual. “Well, the first thing most Magical Girls would do upon waking would be to transform anyways. Might as well cut to the chase and give them their uniforms from the get-go, especially if you’ve disabled any skills that could let them escape.” Lee swirled his drink around. “I already tried opening the usual way. No dice.”

Of course it couldn’t be that easy. “We need to get to that center island. Whoever’s giving out that prize is probably either the person who brought us here or working for them.”

“…seems the others came to that conclusion as well,” Delta said, as Sophia summoned a pirate ship from the ether. “We might as well conserve our strength.”

Xi looked around the beach for a moment, doing an internal headcount. “…where’s Beat?”

Lee sipped from his drink. “My guess is, she’s probably on the main island already.”

“What makes you say that?”

Lee simply indicated behind him with his thumb. A good distance away from Lee’s beach chair, there was a decent sized groove in the sand leading towards the shoreline. Towards the end of it, it started glinting suspiciously like glass.

“…in that case, we might as well get on that ship. Though I don’t think we’ve got that girl’s ups,” Xi noted. “Ahoy there,” she called out to Sophia. “Could you send over a longboat? We can’t exactly jump aboard.”

“To answer your question,” Delta called over to Amaryllis. “We can’t contact our Patron either. In every sense but the literal one, we seem to be in the same boat.”

As everyone was getting acquainted Shannon noticed that everyone finally seemed to be waking. Excellent. There was still the matter of how to get to the middle island. From the probe with her magic she could indeed make a land bridge. Getting beyond a suggestion seemed unnecessary though as the pirate girl unsurprisingly was already equipped for just an occasion. Summoning a ghost ship it crashed into the water with a splash. Stepping back she moved Emily slightly to avoid getting either of them wet. There was no way to know what the prize was but no sense in losing the chance at it from something so silly. "Well that works. Haven't been on a ship in ages. I'll handle the boarding." Shannon said in response to the archive girls request for a longboat. Raising the sand below she created a walkway to board.

Stepping foot on a ghost ship was a little strange. Not something she ever thought would happen. Given Shannon really should take her expectations and throw them out a window. You think you've seen it all and then the rug gets pulled out from under you. "This is something else. I love it."

A challenge to cross the sea without getting wet?

It would be easy to just float across using her gravity magic. Though really, successful completion of the challenge wasn't going to ensure she got a reward due to her hidden nature. So unlike the others, Mac wasn't going to be tempted to cross in a way that ensured she would get a reward, since she was forfeiting that anyway. Which meant that she was free to cross in the way she found most fun.

Which was a swim, of course!

Some may be surprised that Mac could swim so well, but real wolves also had an affinity for the water. While they do the bulk of their hunting on land, they can swim quite well. They have even been known to "fish" in rivers and the like. The longest observed wolf swim was 7.5 miles and some can swim as fast as five miles per hour. Being that the fastest human swimmer is just a mile more than that, it's safe to say they're pretty adept at it. But Mac always enjoyed the water. This wasn't something that accompanied her magical transformation. She had always enjoyed swimming, even if the closest she got to the sport was a shower most of the time.

Once she got to the other side, she waited for the rest to arrive.

---

Tetrad was going to help move the sleeping girls around, but got caught up in the mystery that Alexander’s clones weren’t feeling. ”They don’t feel like anything?” She took one of the clones hands in her own. ”Do you feel anything now? ” She lifted his hand up to her face and nuzzled it with her cheek. ”Now? You feel great by the way.” Tetrad released the clone when Lily had Alexander pull out his rod and erect a bridge. She immediately started laughing. ”There are too many innuendos to pick from.” With a sigh, she pulled out her cards. ”Hope you guys don’t mind, I kind of want to get a head start exploring the island.” Tetrad drew a yellow card and hovered into the air. ”But you guys are a load of fun. After we find a few more people we should consider having a beach side party.” With a wave, she began to swim towards the beach, only she was about ten feet in the air instead of underwater.



Who was talking to her?

Veronica turned her head to face Chloe. It took her a moment for the former coin broker to recognize her. This was the first time she had seen Chloe physically. “Chloe Irving.” She eyed her crystal wings. “I see you are a connoisseur of flesh. Most who know who I am would be intimidated, but you have no reason to be.” She gave Chloe a slow nod. “I am Vermilion Veronica.” She stroked her chin. ”I’m transporting cargo at the moment. But once we get to the main island I’d like to meet with you in private. I think we can help each other out. Would that be acceptable?” Veronica’s shadow crab-thing fired some blobs of darkness into the water. It spread like oil, but was capable of keeping her mount out of the depths. Veronica looked over her shoulder at Betty. ”You’re dismissed for now.”

”Okay!” Betty turned away from Veronica and marched up to Shion. ”Hello!” she waved. ”I feel like I’ve seen you around Penrose before. I guess we’re all magical girls from there huh?” She smiled and extended her hand. ”I’m Betty Barton. I’m relatively new to the area. P-penrose I mean! I’m pretty sure we’re all new to wherever this is.”

---

“Where did my Popsicle go?” Lupa turned to Nina. “Hey, how did you get that?” She ran up to Nina and pulled on the Popsicle stick, only for it to slide out of the bottom of the Popsicle. “Well I’m not giving up that easily, thief!” She bit onto the exposed part of the frozen treat and tried to pull it free.

”I think you’re forgetting something Helga.” Su folded her arms. ”First of all, you have a tendency to get really, um, single minded when you’re angry. If you got angry, you just chase these ghost girls around until you got tired or calmed down. I don’t think angering you is a good idea for that reason.” She pointed at Mika. ”Also, Mika can’t hold her transformations for more than a few seconds at a time. Though I think her nimbus still works. I know it can carry at least three people, so maybe Mika and you cou-”

Mika was hopping up and down in front of Hilaria “Give me a ride! Give me a ride!” She chanted with her hands above her head. “I wanna see outer space! I wanna ride a comet, I wanna touch the staaaaaaars~!”

---

"My text got brighter, yay!"



Regina woke up.

After reading about 20 different wake up scenes, you probably understand that Regina was genuinely confused, and why. But she didn’t think that this was a horrible predicament to find herself in.

She had been a part of beacon for just a few days, and was enjoying time with her new family. “Mr and Mrs Bates” were the perfect parents, and she’d been getting acclimated to life with them. That was her first mission from Beacon. Regina didn’t think she was going to like her new parents. Largely because her old ones were wonderful people, and then when her mother got sick, her father transformed into a destructive alcoholic. But they explained to her that things like that weren’t possible with her new parents. It was kind of strange, and she didn’t fully understand it, but Regina grew to accept these new parents in a short span of time. The only thing that made home life strenuous was how the other beacon girls treated her. There wasn’t any outright aggression, but they were wary of her. She was that monster girl who brainwashed their sisters and almost summoned a horror into the world. One night a group of girls egged the side of her house, and another time someone spray painted “monster whore” right under her window. The higher ups assured her that something would be done about this, but they would need time. She decided that this must have been what they had in mind: A surprise beach vacation. she would surely bond with her fellow beacon sisters.

The swimsuit was cute enough. A little weird that she never remembered putting it on, but she put that out of her mind.



Regina wasn’t alone on this island either. Before she could get up, someone rolled onto her arm and smacked their lips.



”Bro…” Abigail hugged Regina’s arm. ”Bro, you’re too hot. You’re way too hot. Turn down the oven, or you’ll burn the pizza rolls again.” Regina gently shook her arm, but it wouldn’t come free. ”I said use the microwave, low heat.”

The last thing Regina wanted to do was wake up Abigail. But if this was suppose to be a friendship exercise, It was probably best to confront her sooner rather than later. "Big sis." she whispered. "Big sis, you’re on my arm."

Abigail slowly opened her eyes. ”Hm?” As soon as she saw Regina she fret her brow. ”What?” She hopped to her feet and looked around. ”Where did you take me?”

"I thought a beaconer had you take me here." Regina was starting to feel less sure about her choice to wake up Abigail. Of all the girls, she was one of the hardest to capture, "Isn’t this the overcity? You can shift in and out of the overcity can’t you?"

”Well not anymore!” Abigail clapped her hands together several times, but nothing happened. ”You’re not playing dumb right? You really have nothing to do with this?”

Regina hugged her knees. "Big sis-"

"C-can you not call me that!" She stomped her feet. "I only put up with Elroy calling me that because I was brainwashed."

"Little sisters?"

"Little sis-" She grit her teeth. ”No! That’s horrible! You call me something else right now!"

Regina winced. "Abby?"

"Abby?" She lifted a finger to her lip and blushed. ”It’s just the short version of my name, but it sounds really cute. I wonder if I can get Aurelio to call me that."

"Ample Abby?!"

"No!" She threw her face into her hands. ”You ruined it!"

"Abby?"

"Just stop…" Her voice cracked, and she leaned up against a tree.

Regina sighed. She stood up and looked at a sign. "There’s a challenge to get to shore without getting wet." She looked at Abigail. "Wanna try that?"

"I can just float over."

"If we worked together, we might learn to trust each other more."

"Last time we worked together, we almost summoned a horror into this world. How’s that for trust?"

This whole befriending beacon thing was going to be a lot harder than she thought. "Alright Abigail, that’s fair." She walked towards the edge of the beach. Perhaps it would be best to just leave her alone for now.

Regina didn’t have any magical abilities that would help her cross the ocean. The only one that might help her by proxy was her hammer space. For the most part, it was filled with all kinds of army grade weapons and tech. But she was feeling a bit childish one day and cleaned out her parent’s basement. Among the items taken was a giant surfboard, skis, and a pair of fishing boots. Typically these weren’t things you’d use together, but the surfboard was bound to sink into the water a little bit, and the boots would keep her feet dry. Regina summoned a ski to use as a paddle. It wasn’t the most glamorous way to cross over, but without Abigail’s help, it was the best shot she had.

Alexander turned to the clone that had touched Tetrad "Feel anything?"

"Nope, just skin" He answered

"This is so weird. Hey, one of you touch Lily."

One of the clones came by and put their hand on her forehead before jerking pack in shock "Yeah, definitely felt that."

"Okay, so it's not because you're clones." Alexander shook his head "Anyway, who was that girl? She was pretty weird."

“Makes sense” Penny would reply turning a critical eye out towards the space she had to work with, Glad to focus her attention elsewhere lest she fell to the same fate as Tabitha. Sally had a figure that was hard to ignore on the best of days, her overly affection gesture did nothing but exacerbate that issue.

Regardless Earthbastion could fit, that much was for sure. Plenty of open water for it to sit but the summoning of it would be tricky. Tapping on the link to her unique possession she saw the ghostly outline of the battleship fade in too view as she took stock of all the places she could summon it, which had a rather limited range due to her magical capacity.

“Earthbastion’s not…” She had been turning back to let people know about the downside of summoning her tank-ship when she saw the little by play between Alicia and Kimble. It was a little thing, nearly unremarkable, but it stung the monster in hiding all the same. “…Going to be a good idea if we all want to pass the challenge.” She continued, her pause not lasting more than a moment “Limited range when I pull it over, so one of us is going to get splashed.” She would explain before moving to pick up Tabitha, wrapping the passed out girl in a towel as she did so.

Penny hung near the back of the pack as they walked closer to their destination, her mind doing what it does best and fighting with itself. She knew what she told Chloe was true; she could fall for the spirit mage. But that didn’t remove the fact that she was still crushing on Alicia at the moment.
‘Gods I’m a mess…’
She had spent hours dealing with the left over emotions from what happened with Thalia, and Penny would like to think she was over the Fox girl. She wanted to be able to return Chloe’s feelings, but she had to tear down some of the pedestal she had put the Dark magical girl on to do such. Then there was Alicia, a near literal angel, that had swept in and illuminated the path to getting cleansed of her corruption.

It was a messy internal snarl of emotions and thoughts that deep down Penny knew was going to end with someone hurt. Sill they would reach the point closest to the center island in good time causing Penny would shelve her thoughts for another time, knowing that she hadn’t made any headway.

“Don’t worry about it Kimble” Penny would say with a chuckle as the cat girl hid at the thought of trying to carry the mechanical girl’s bulk. “I might have my own way over” She would add as she glanced down at her legs for as light started to pouring out from them as her tattoos reappear, shortly after she lifted off the ground just a bit. “Still got my hover systems” she would announce “So I can carry someone, maybe two, to easy the load distribution”

“So we got four people across easily, six if we push it” She would muse aloud “Janet and Jenna could make a platform for them to walk across. Similar idea with Serenity and stopping the water, so that bumps us up to ten if everyone helps one other person. So someone’s got to carry an extra, unless someone else has another persona route over.”

---

“I aim to please” the magician would reply with a mock bow before allowing himself to get dragged away by Sally along with one of his clones. “I hope you won’t hold it against me, if I’m not able to top this one?” He asked “As I’ll take the opportunity, but you have to admit this is setting the bar rather high.”

As the main Aurelio got dragged away one of his clones stepped into his place. “Still I’m not sure if the people who brought us here are planning a trap. There are some huts a bit into the forest, that’s where I woke up and found the drinks.” He would explain to Sylvia easily able to tell that most everyone else had been lost to the appeal of a Beach holiday already. “We’ll be playing in to this beach vacation narrative, but our eyes and ears will be open.” The clone explained before moving to pick up the cooler again.

And though they didn’t openly react all of the Aurelio’s noticed the spike of Jealousy and Hurt that came from Penny, as well as the absolute mess of emotions that played over her during their short walk to a different Beach. Many of them shared a look with each other, wondering what had caused all of that.

Though two of them had to drop that line of thought rather quickly as they suddenly had to support Sally.

“Much too far to make a bridge of me’s” One of the Aurelio’s would pipe up as he peered across to the central island.

“Yeah that would whipe us out before we made it more than half way, besides I don’t want to get walked on.” Added another as he grabbed another drink from the cooler.

“Might have a way to get some of us over, would take our Wonder though.” Chimed in the main man “Summer, got anything fancy you can pull?”

The silver-haired magical girl eagerly returned the handshake. She was positively beaming, a clear indicator she was delighted to meet more people on the island. Because the more people there were, the more chances she might have to be useful, after all. In any case, she appreciated being introduced to others, and had no problem allowing Helga to give her surfboard a brief glance. "Yes~ Yes~ Mars is my cute defender of those in need of saving~! He's just dressed for the occasion right now~" she giggled, glancing sideways at her shield now currently disguised as a board.

Hilaria then eyed the girls the others were waking up. They were obviously not the kind of people who woke up early without a good motivator, but she'd met more than enough people like that for it to not bother her. All she hoped was that they'd begin to enjoy themselves the more this event went on, whatever it may be. The confusing nature of this situation was not entirely lost on Hilaria, even if she might've given the impression otherwise. The boogie board incident that introduced her was a test to see if she was still as capable as she was before she woke up.

That, thankfully, was the case.

The worry about what could have sent her and the others there was in the back of her mind as the two girls were successfully roused from their slumber. One of the girls seemed especially concerned with Hilaria herself, showing jealousy at... her breasts? Hilaria looked down at her own chest, a brief lapse in her cheery demeanor, but she didn't seem upset at Julia's comment. When she looked up at Julia, she was frowning.

"You don't have to apologize, but they're not all they're cracked up to be, you know~" she sighed. "When I'm not transformed, they're such a pain to deal with~ It's horrendous~!" she sighed, but then as if remembering something, shot Julia the most determined, powerful expression she could muster and squeezed her arms towards her chest, to emphasize her assets. "Oh, but they're not all bad I suppose~! Sometimes, when I wear and do stuff like this, boys buy me lots of food and that's good~! Hilaria loves food~!"

Having said this without a shred of awareness, one could only imagine Hilaria was fairly ignorant on certain matters. She decided to listen and watch as the others tried to figure out what they would do, and after violence was proven not to be the answer they needed, she looked towards Mika with a smile as the girl hopped in front of her. "Hilaria could never deny someone who's this excited to be a star~!" she nodded just as eagerly as Mika was jumping.

She laid her board down on the sand. "Hmm~?" she took a second to think it over, then spoke. "Three~! We can hold~ three if we really try~!"



Where had all of her confidence gone in this dire moment? Silhouette couldn't answer that question. She was a violent assassin who cared little about trifle matters such as public opinion and embarrassment. But if that was the case, why, then, was she unable to speak properly or even at all? Her voice had all but left her, as well as any hope of salvaging this mess. Everyone present could see she was vulnerable! It goes without saying the thumbs up Tetrad had given her did nothing positive to her situation.

A-alright, clearly there's some empathetic girl trying to cause disorder... yeah, that has to be it, I just need to calm down!

_{"I'm not an m-m-m-m-masoc....!"}

...damnit.

Silhouette had come to understand that in this state, it was physically impossible for her deal with Chloe's teasing. Or even hold a conversation. She lamented the fact she was looking so pathetic in front of Veronica, and decided she must do something about this unfortunate turn of events.

...Um... but how can I... when I'm basically a shadow of my former self right now...? Wait! That's gotta be it!

She now knew what she had to do: she had to stop all the ghosts that were coming through use 'that' technique. It was one she had yet to perfect, and it could potentially backfire on her. But if there was even a 1% chance it would work, then her only choice was to try it!

With the plan in her mind, she patiently awaited her chance to escape. She stubbornly still attempted to speak when Lily complimented her, but it turned out no different than the other two times. But eventually, Chloe left Sil alone and that provided her the opportunity to vanish from sight.

She immediately separated herself from the rest of the group, and found a secluded space on their island. This was the best she could do to minimize the damage were things to get out of control.

"Alright... then lets begin..."

Silhouette focused as hard as she could on working her magic, and soon her own shadow moved from beneath her feet to a space in front of her. It momentarily paused as she gathered more and more mana, and then finally it began to take shape. Though drawn out, the process was similar to making a normal schatten, because she was desperately trying to get this right. The shadow took Sil's shape and became a tangible person standing before her... but then it changed drastically.

The silhouette of Silhouette slowly began to become colored. Skin, eyes, hair... it soon became nearly indistinguishable from a normal person. But instead appearing as an exact copy of Silhouette, it resembled her human form much more closely. The oddest thing about it, physically speaking, was that in a very small area around her, the air darkened, as if she was absorbing the light around her. This formed a small, dim outline of her that one could notice if they looked closely. There was also the fact that this thing was not wearing the same swimsuit as her.

It wore a bikini that left little to the imagination, colored mostly a gradient of black and pink. The top was tied at the front, where it formed a pink bow. A long black scarf accompanied this.





"Hello, world!" the schatten spoke in a very cheerful voice, excited at its newfound life.

Silhouette sighed in relief. Last time she attempted this, her schatten adopted the personality that had a fascination with blood, carnage, and war. Needless to say, its introduction was a lot more violent and a lot less acceptable. For the purpose of dealing with other girls, this particular schatten should suffice. She'd implanted the persona she made up when traveling to the Overcity last, which would hopefully mean it had no problem being in a swimsuit.

"Hey, you aren't feeling weird, are you?" Sil asked the schatten. "Like you want to start a fight or something?"

The schatten looked at her, then smiled. "Of course not, Sil-ly! I'm a cute idol, why would I want to do that?"

Silhouette ignored the pun she made and yet again sighed. "That's one good thing, then. Since you're not violent, I'll be using you to... well... speak, as I can't be bothered to do so with the other girls." she explained.

With a nod, the schatten giggled. "It's no use trying to make excuses! I'm a part of you, after all! Just admit to your cute shadow idol that you're embarrassed and she'll be glad to help you~!" she gave a smug smirk as she waited for Sil to answer.

Clearly, she had made a mistake. Why was her own shadow giving her lip? This was absurd, she should obediently do what was asked of her without question, or so Sil thought. But the fact of the matter was that she couldn't think up a persona on the spot right now and she wasn't confident she'd get this trick right twice in a row. For now, she would have to deal with this smug little shadow.

"I-I need your help because I seem to be incapable of wearing a swimsuit without freezing up. Yes, I'm embarrassed. Is that suitable? Can you help me now?"

"My my, no need to get all grumpy. I'm just playing with you~" she laughed. "I'll always be willing to help my... err, self, I suppose. But first, there's an important matter we need to discuss!"

"What is this important matter?"

"I don't have a name, duh!"

Silhouette shook her head. "It's Shade. How do you not know your own name? I had a name for that guise."

"I don't know." she shrugged. "I'm not the one who made me. Or, well, I mean I am but... ah, this is too confusing! An idol like me should focus on shining brilliantly, not dealing with this kind of stuff. But... there's still one more thing!"

The exasperated sigh Sil gave before asking yet again "What" was a loud as one could get.

"The thing is... we both have the same font color right now, and that simply won't do!" Shade pouted.

Silhouette scratched her head. "What... are you talking about?" there was a short pause. "Do you have something against 'red'? I think it fits, don't you?"

"Yeah. It fits YOU! Not me, I'm a cute idol. Besides, I'm pretty sure others have the same color. I am special, so I need my own color!"

"...okay. I don't really understand but what do you want me to do about it?"

Shade frowned. "I want you to help me decide, Sil-ly! There's so many, I can't just decide which one is for me without a second opinion!"

Samantha was seriously beginning to question whether or not the murderous schatten was preferable to this one. But she'd already come so far, so she may as well try to speed things up. "I don't think I'm the best person for this sort of task but I guess throw some at me and I'll see which one fits?"

"Alright! How about... blue?"

"...no. Why would you even think about that one?"

"Um, yeah it's dumb but I really just wanted to separate myself from you, is all!"

Sil narrowed her eyes. "I'll just pretend I didn't hear that. Lets get on with it and throw me another."

Shade raised a finger to her lip and thought. "Um, what about... pink? Does it look cute?"

"It's not a horrible choice like the last one, but Hilaria's text is too similar."

"Yeah, you're right. Then what about blac---" Shade was immediately cut of by Silhouette.

"I will forcibly have all memory of Shade erased from my mind if you mention that color."

Shade shuttered, knowing full well that Silhouette was being serious. "O-okay. Then how about turquoise?"

"...why do you keep asking about blue colors when I already told you it won't work? And besides, that's literally Emily's color. Can you take this seriously or not? This post has run on for long enough."

"...Mmm, okay. Then for realsies this time! I'll give this one my all!" Shade tried her best to make a serious facial expression but failed to do so, the result being rather cute. "Okay, I got it!" she clenched her fist, then stared Sil straight in the eyes. With an exhale, she spoke with gusto.

"Two colors! How about this? Pretty impressive, huh?"

Silhouette was genuinely surprised. "H-how did you do that...?!"

"...a lot of coding for a disappointing result, if we're being serious. It might not be worth it to do this every time."

"Well, I've grown tired of this whole thing so you're sticking with that. Now come on, lets go." Silhouette allowed no time for debate, and took off towards the group of girls she'd arrived with. As a member of the Crimson Cradle, finding Tetrad and Veronica was no issue at all.

Of course, when she did approach the others, she allowed Shade to lead the way. Her demeanor becoming timid once again. But Shade had no problems whatsoever speaking aloud and drawing attention to herself, as Sil ironically became her shadow. "Heya~! Seems we made it just in the nick of time! A neat yellow bridge to get us to the other side? I'd prefer a red carpet but I guess that just means I have to earn it~!" Shade quickly took off towards the construct, with Silhouette following closely behind her in a manner similar to a nervous child. If Shade had sleeves, Sil would surely be holding onto one.