Connie and Mia continued to make their way through the crowded rave. The flashing lights and loud music, not to mention the sheer number of people, might have been a bit overwhelming for Connie, but having Mia by her side definitely helped. She also knew that she had to endure such things if she ever wanted to conquer her fears and become stronger. As it happened, she received some unexpected assistance with that in the form of a fiery blast of mystical energy. Instead of burning her and Gaia, it embraced both magical girls with a warm aura of comfort and contentment.

“Oh! Wow… umm… T-Thank you!” Connie called to their unknown benefactor, but her words were unsurprisingly drowned out by the pounding music of the rave.

Suddenly, someone crashed into her from behind. Giving voice to a sharp gasp, Connie whirled around to find that it was a highly animated girl with green hair. In what seemed like little more than two seconds, the girl hastily apologised, introduced herself as Lily, and complemented Connie on her...mask.

"Ah! Uh, t-that's o-okay," Connie replied shakily, while doing her best to ignore Lily's mention of the "M-Word"."I-I'm C-Connie, a-and this is my b-best f-friend, Mia. I-It's, umm, n-nice to m-meet y-you, L-Lily..."

"Likewise," Connie's companion said with an elegant curtsy. "You may call me Gaia, Daughter of Mother Earth. Or simply Gaia, for short," she added with a smile. "You must forgive my dearest Connie's nervousness."Gaia added as she gently placed her hands atop her friend's trembling shoulders. "She is very shy and is completely unaccustomed to crowded places such as this."

”Hi to you too, Gaia!”
Lily answered in exuberant fashion, her cheeks red from the earlier mishap. Her mouth rounded into a look of realization.
”Oh, that explains it! I totally understand how you feel, Connie!”
Though she had sat down, her knees still bounced excitedly.
”Before I became a magical girl, I was a complete mess. I felt anxious in social situations, didn't know what to say, gosh, I think I even had trouble voicing my own opinions. It’s a lot better now, but sometimes I do lapse back into that awkwardness. So, uh, if I blurt out something weird, please don’t mind it, tee hee~”
She decided to ask for a fruit blend from the bartender near them.
”Anyway, I found the best cure for shyness was to really mix it up and change your way of thinking. Instead of wondering what someone might think of, just ask them! And if you can’t follow up on a conversation, just ask about it! You’d be surprised how many people like to explain about the things that interest them!” It became quickly apparent to the two that once Lily began speaking, it was hard to stop. Fortunately she realized this herself, and sipped on the blended juice.
”Whoops, I got a bit taken away. How are you two doing? Are you from Penrose, or did you come from somewhere else?”

“W-We’re b-both from Penrose, b-but, I j-just became a m-magical girl a s-short time ago,” Connie told her hesitantly.

“I have been serving Mother Earth for quite a while,” Gaia explained, while gently massaging Connie’s shoulders in an attempt to help her friend relax. “But my tasks often take me far from Penrose, so I am not very familiar with the magical community here.”

Lily nodded, biting the corner of her lip.
”So you were here when Penrose got worse, with no idea why…That must have been hard on you.”
She gently took Connie’s hand, placing her palm on it.
”But basically, there’s now two groups of Beacon here; there’s the local girls, who have started to treat people better, and then there’s the meanies. They call themselves Ascendancy, but the only thing ascendant about them is how massive jerks they are, threatening others and stuff.”
She sighed.
”One of my friends with the local Beacon is trying so hard to reach out to girls just like you, but those bullies keep ruining it. I told her that she should run some public events or something, but it’s hard. Connie, what would you like to see an organization like Beacon do? Maybe some AMA’s? Or some training courses?” She asked, genuinely curious to hear a newbie magical girl’s opinion.

“U-Umm… I d-don’t r-really know…” Connie replied, somewhat unsure of what the other girl was talking about. “I-I’ve never heard of B-Beacon b-before… B-But training w-would probably be nice... S-So far, I’ve only t-trained with Mia, a-and also L-Lotus and Faith, s-so it might be n-nice to get help f-from others, too.”

“We live at a fair remove from Penrose proper,” Gaia explained, “so we were fortunate to not be considerably affected by the recent disasters. While I am not particularly familiar with Beacon, I have heard of them, and their sometimes fanatical behaviour is rather worrisome. While my dearest Connie may look the part, she is not a dark magical girl, and I am concerned that Beacon might jump to the wrong conclusions if they were to encounter her before they could be informed of such.”

Lily nodded enthusiastically, and took another sip.
"Yeah, there you go. Some basic braining's a good start! The Ascendancy’s likely going to shoot first and ask questions later. That's why you gotta learn to protect yourself. How about we spar together some time? I can give you tips on how to fight and stuff."

“O-Oh, um, sure!” Connie replied, more than a little unnerved by Lily’s thoughts on this “Ascendancy” group, but still happy that the other girl was willing to help her. “H-Here, I’ll g-give you my number,” she added, while her still slightly trembling hands retrieved her phone from the voluminous folds of her robe.

Lily squeed upon seeing connie’s phone.
"Oh gosh, your phone’s so pretty! Let me show you mine!”
She enthusiastically brought out hers; Connie would see that it was accessorized to weight triple it’s normal weight, with stickers and glitter covering the case, and heavy keychains hanging from a corner; they depicted cute anime characters like Sailor Moon among others.
"Ok, now here’s my number...And done! By the way, have you ever thought about accessorizing your phone? I think if you put a red heart sticker right here, it would cutify by a million percent!” She stated, pointing a finger at the phone.
"Or maybe you’d like something like a cute little bat sticker? The shop I frequent still has Halloween stickers on sale, so we could go there together? Would that sound fun?”

“Oh, wow! T-Thank you! ” Connie exclaimed upon hearing Lily complement her phone, before gasping as the other girl pulled out her own. “B-But it’s n-nothing compared to yours! It’s got so much adorable stuff on it! Oh, a heart sticker?” she asked after hearing the other girl’s suggestion. “Y-Yeah! T-That’s a great idea! Thank you!” she gushed, her mask displaying an adorably joyful expression. “A-And I’d love to go shopping with you! I-I’ve never had anyone t-to shop with b-before, s-since Mia’s my o-only friend, and she hates d-doing stuff like that, s-so this will be so much fun! B-But, I’d, um, r-rather not get a-any b-bat stickers, though…T-They k-kinda s-scare me…”

"Oh, that’s fine, don’t worry about it!” Lily scrambled a quick response.
"I also prefer cute stuff over the scary stuff. I just thought...You know...”
She bit her lip, having realized she made an assumption based on her appearance.
"I-I’m sorry. I went a bit too fast with all these plans, heh.“

“T-That’s okay!” Connie hastened to reassure the other girl. “I-I’m just glad s-such a nice person like y-you bumped into me. A-After all, I d-did kinda come here to m-make s-some new friends.” she added, her mask displaying a kind smile.

"That's great, because I want to make friends here too," Lily replied happily.
"So let's be friends!" She noticed that an android-like girl was looking in their direction. She stood up with an energetic hop.
"I'm gonna go back and dance some more. Wanna join me?" She asked.

“Oh, um, t-thanks for the o-offer, but, um, I’m r-really terrible at d-dancing... A-And, uh, M-Mia said she w-wanted to explore s-some of the r-rooms down that h-hallway,” Connie told her. “I-It was v-very nice meeting you,” Connie added. “M-Maybe we’ll r-run into each other l-later on!”

“Okay then! See you later, Connie and Mia!” Lily waved, and went back to the dance floor with abundant life; she bumped her behind with Helga’s as she shook her stuff, followed by breakdancing on the floor and spinning like a Beyblade top.
“WAHHOOO!”

---

“Hm?”
Justine turned with a pout to Shane; she then smiled, her peeking fangs reflecting the strobe lights of the rave.
”Oh, aren’t you a precious little boy. I suppose I made a lasting impression since last time...” She reached out to caress Shane’s face; one of her claws drew blood on his skin.
“Are you among them, then? Does my visage make your heart tremble? Does my countenance shake you to your very core?”
She giggled.
“But don’t worry, I won’t be staying long. I’m just here to take care of some unfinished...business...”
Justine had glanced toward the side, when her crimson eyes sharpened upon a single girl...Or rather, a lump of slime masquerading as one.
“Well now, what have we here...” She began walking slowly toward Eli with a refined style, a wicked smile on her lips.
“If it isn’t Mariette Pedersen’s disgusting little lackey. If you’re here...She must be close.”

---

Cindy gave the restrained giggle of a noble lady as Reaver continued using honeyed words and Ronin amused her with her antics, and took more sips of her battery acid. “My, you’re a charmer~” She spoke, only to lift her electric arcs serving as eyebrows when Reaver requested his drink. “Excuse me, but...Are you sure, young man? This drink is not meant for the average person.”
However, her curiosity took the best of her, and her gaze stayed on Reaver’s expression, carefully watching to see if he dared to go through with his foolishly-seeming act, oblivious to the missed phone call.

“Wait, surely you jest. Please don-Ah!”
She put a hand to her mouth as the acid was downed, shocked in ways more than one.
To her amazement, he had survived, and she clapped..
“Bravo, bravo! You have veritably shown to possess great vitality and endurance. Ronin, be a dear and fetch ser Reaver a handkerchief.”
She downed her glass of acid, and had developed a yellow tinge to her cheeks. “Ah, such a valiant man...” Cindy then began on another glass. “It has been ages since I have met one capable of enduring such hazards...I would like to see how far your regenerative magic stretches…” She reached out to touch his face, causing another small jolt. Her eyes had a subtle static in them, like television screens with interference; it was a look of desire. “In my private room hm hm~”

At that moment, Goblina stepped into the room. She had a small entourage of corrupted girls including a lamia monster girl, a magical girl with their face hidden under a heavy black cloak, a dark magical girl with a mohawk and studded leather gloves, and a centaur monster girl. “Your highness, we got trouble and we need your-Oh!”
She observed the scene, and blushed a bit. “Erm, I hope we didn’t interrupt anything, Queen Cindy.”
Cindy’s eye twitched, and her form rumbled for a brief moment. “This better be an issue of royal ramifications,” she responded with an annoyed tone. Goblina nodded, and stepped back towards the doorway, looking embarrassed that she had walked in. “Well, you see, one of our guards had reported seeing suspicious activity on the east exit, and-”
Suddenly, the hooded person brandished a dagger, and rushed towards Cindy. “Die, monster!”
She screamed, but the dark magical girl with the mohawk punched them in the back of the head, knocking them right out.

“An assassin!” Goblina screamed. “Jane, bring her in for interrogation!” She ordered, and the mohawk girl saluted. She was about to pick her up when Goblina stopped her. “Wait, let’s see who it is first...” She lifted the hood; she looked like a normal magical girl, brown hair in a ponytail. “Wait, could this be... ” She rolled up the sleeve on her cloak; everyone saw the Beacon insignia she was wearing. “Beacon!” Goblina growled, and next patted her down.

She found her phone, and opened it up; there were a bunch of messages made just a couple of hours ago. “All of them had come from a single sender: Cardinal Ishtar,” Goblina explained, showing the message logs to Cindy and the others while she offhandedly signalled for mohawk girl to carry the assassin to the back room; she saluted, and without another word disappeared beyond the corner, carrying the assailant. “She was planted in the party with the intent of killing you, and to return back to her boss at Penrose Park.” Cindy was seething.
“Those villains! But does this mean Isthar is at the park?” Cindy asked. Goblina looked unsure.
“I guess. Should we gather our forces and go there?”

Cindy shook her head. “No. That would only cause a panic, and ruin the morale-boosting event. I will personally go see her with Ronin using a secret passage; while the Beacon is distracted by the party, we can slip out without detection. It’s an opportunity to catch them unawares...” Her hands crackled with electric energy, her smile wide. “I will personally execute her for her treachery. Ser Reaver, I shall grant unto you a quest; join me in bringing Ishtar to justice, and I shall reward ye with the title of knight. Will you accept?”

---

“Got it”, Leena and FanFan both replied. They used their Disguise Artifacts given by Sylvia and transformed into party attire to better blend in. FanFan wore a punky black and red tutu-dress like something Harley Quinn wore in the Arkham series, and had every imaginable type of piercing visible on her body including multiple earrings, a belly piercing, and a nose ring. Her back arms had taken the look of a set of metallic skeleton wings. Leena dressed in an oversized ripped white t-shirt with ink splotches, a cap with “GET REKT” written on it, a pair of khaki booty shorts, and a bandana covering her mouth with a shark mouth insignia, resembling a certain K-pop star. FanFan quickly detached from Alicia to talk with others, while Leena stayed relatively safe, having simply taken a drink and sipping on it while keeping company to Alicia. But then, Trixy happened to speak up, and Leena flipped her brim up. "Oh, thanks. You don't look too bad yourself," she answered with a monotone, almost bored voice. FanFan also came over soon after, her metallic pieces making a jingling sound.
"Oh, this is just something I threw together last minute. You know how it is~" She answered in coquettish fashion, adding a little giggle afterwards. "Oh, I would love to dance. My favorite style is ballet," she spoke, lifting one leg high behind her. "I'm more about the hip-hop style," Leena said. "We're martial artists too. However, I have a feeling about half the people here are too, so I don't think it's that uncommon." FanFan's smile widened as Trixy showed off her flexibility. "Ah yes, you have the poise and form of a ballerina yourself."
She went over to the dance floor with a pirouette, followed by an uplifted jump. "Come, show me your moves!"
She challenged the eyepatch girl. "There can only be one swan princess!" Leena chuckled, taking a sip of her drink, followed by nudging Alicia's shoulder. "Don't mind FanFan; she loves her classical stuff."

---

“Affirmative” Rachel answered over comms to Robot Penny and Alicia, sounding irritated. “There’s an enormous magical signature blanketing the entire building; try to find the source for it. Penny, use the ventilation system with the drone; it should be small enough to pass through.” Rachel then held a hand forward, and a magic circle surrounded her; she began preparing a complex, powerful spell, using a long and complicated recital.

As she did this, she watched over to the distance, having adjusted her glasses. Wait...What is that…?

She saw, far in the distance, two blurs speeding into the distance. It was a high-speed parkour chase, with Dorothy running and leaping with extreme agility, and pursued by Kimble who relied on her Wind magic to propel herself, her bottom half in a miniature whirlwind. Sh used her sickle to launch slicing air projectiles, but Dorothy avoided each and every one, cutting cars and lamp posts in the process. Eventually the two reached the Penrose Gardens, a park separate from the Penrose Park. This park was unique in that the center of it had a sand court for playing various sports games, and was where Aurelio had waited for the two.
“Stop already, you rabbit monster!” Kimble screamed, and launched an air wave that curved like a boomerang, hitting Dorothy in her unlucky rabbit’s foot and causing her to trip on the park.
Kimble then pointed towards Aurelio. “Now, catch her!” She screamed, while she closed in from above with a sickle.

After Sakura walked away, Alexander was left alone with his thoughts 'Still, why have a party when the Inquisition is still in town? Hell, for all I know, they could take offense to the loud music and try to purge us because of it...or something. I mean, I get the need to keep moral up, but this just seems risky. I don't know, maybe I'm just being paranoid.' He sighed as he checked back up on Lily, who was now spinning like a top 'I still don't understand how she could have been nervous at all' He started to look around 'Now where's the food? I've got a serious case of the munchies.' And he wandered away, in search of something to munch on

With the extra workload that has been focused on making White Coins, the Binity Twins had been spending more time in the lab. It wasn't a fair shake to leave Binky to do all the work, especially given she rarely left the lab. Even outside of the usual work though the two were investigating ways they could potentially help Penny. There really was not a lot of information available to them about soul splitting. Another problem was being able to observe the details. Instruments could only help so much. Opting to take the penalty, Jenna used the Ruby Coin she'd received in order to take Third Eye as a second power. While the two wanted to get started right away the girl needed a little time to adjust to the new influx of sensory information. Once the new normal was established they got to work whenever they were not helping on coin production.

The first step was establishing a control. Janet and Jenna themselves should be a reasonable base line to compare against. Using that against observations of Penny they began noting down everything. Thankfully Jenna could psychically communicate everything to her sister so that saved a lot of time. There were many more differences than anticipated and it was hard to tell if that was because of the method of separation or some other factor. Their data was incomplete so they needed to collect more info. Bringing in more Twinned Soul girls to better set a baseline the two quickly realized that they themselves had something different going on. "What in the world? Janet look at this." The Twinned Soul part was fine but there was, for lack of a better explanation, two souls split between the two of them. "The hell..." How long has that been there? Had to have been before they used the Red Coin at minimum. It didn't appear to be a clean split like one would expect with a Twinned Soul, so it was probably pulled apart when Janet split herself. This was a rather perplexing discovery, but did present a unique opportunity. If they could manage to target the dormant fragments then they might be able to perform a real world test before presenting the option to Penny. That would be preferred as using their friends as guinea pigs was not a thing they wanted to do.

On to the next step then. They had a split soul, but nowhere to put it. A body was out of the question, Beacon would not take kindly to that option. Plus they only needed a proof of concept for putting a soul back together. Sourcing a sufficiently pure gem to act as a Soul Jar wasn't the hardest thing to do, though questions may come up later. Materials now acquired the hard part began, how to get the pieces over to the gem and merge them. This part took the most time to sort out and some assistance from Binky on ways to infuse magic. Some trial runs had to be done to isolate the additional soul over their own. Crafting, testing, and tweaking of tools over a few days they eventually fashioned an apparatus to transfer what they needed to the gem.

Moving the operation to the room that Janet originally used the Red Coin they set everything up within the space with the magical barrier. Locked down on a pedestal the gem sat between two orbs affixed with golden rings. Moving to either side of the base they lower a barrier around the gem. Janet placing a hand on one orb Jenna did so on the other. With a little effort they activated the focusing orbs which began to glow. Internally both felt a strong pull as their tests had prepared them for. The Spark made light work of the problem, but the other soul not having the same protection began to be drawn from them and into the gem. Whisps of magical energy flowed from the orbs into the gem. This first go around was deliberately slow to avoid any unexpected surprises, taking a whole half hour to complete. Having adjusted to carrying around the additional life it left both girls feeling drained despite not having lost much magic.

Removing their hands and waited for the gem to stop glowing indicating that it had stabilized. Releasing the gen from the pedestal Janet carefully picked up the Soul Jar with magic resistant tongs. Neither having ever done this they didn't want to take chances on touching it. Placing it down on another base Jenna looked at it under a scope.

"How does it look?" Janet asked as she impatiently leaned over her sister's shoulder. Now that the dangerous part of the experiment had passed both were much more relaxed.

Thanks to her Third Eye, Jenna was able to peer much deeper into the state of the Soul Jar. "Well, it appears to have worked. As we suspected though there isn't enough magic to revive them. Whoever it is will have to wait for reincarnation." Again, with the tongs, they picked up the object and placed it in a small sealed chamber for safe keeping.

It was a long shot that the individual would come back, but the news was still somewhat disappointing. "That sucks. Let's clean up and review the process again before presenting it to anyone." Her sister nodding in agreement they both cleared all the equipment and instruments.

---

Gathering all the information and stationing themselves in one of the forward rooms they began to pour over the results. It would probably take them days to fully go through everything, but the core of it looked promising. To say that the process was tedious would be an understatement. It wasn't exactly boring for them, however one can only focus for so long before one's brain starts turning to mush.

"Alright, I'm done staring at this. I think what we have works fine, we just need to modify the station to filter out the corrupted magic."

Janet, leaning back to take a break as well, folded her arms back behind her head and grunted. "Nngh, this is the most backward method of purification ever." Closing her eyes she just relaxed for a few minutes. "Pretty sure we could find a better way to do this now that we got it sorted. That'll have to wait for now. Hopefully Binki's method works because I would rather work out the kinks."

More silence followed, it didn't take much for the pair to figure out what the other was thinking. Done talking about work she broke the silence with something a little different. "Apparently several of the others are going to the rave that the corrupted girls are hosting." Her sister raised an eyebrow for a moment, curious where this was going. "What? We've never been to a rave, not like this anyway." She said, referring to them being a couple of lovely young girls.

Sighing a bit Janet rolled her eyes. "We're not going. There's too much to do right now. You know we were an old man right? It would be weird."

"Uh huh, if you keep holding onto that sure. But we're not going to stop being girls any time soon. You can't ignore it forever." Leaning over the table she smirked and narrowed her eyes. "Plus we're always in each others heads. I've noticed you sneaking glances at..." She trailed off as her Third Eye picked up something across the facility. In the distance they heard a small object be knocked over and the sound of wings flapping. Things were quiet for a moment before a crash and burst of air rushed out of the room down the hall. Janet and Jenna sprung into action, hurrying down and putting a barrier in the doorway so they could contain whatever was inside. Cautiously turning the corner they spotted the containment box burst open. With her pistol drawn, Jenna leveled her aim at the figure of a younger, scantily clad, yet vaguely familiar looking girl.

"Oh god." She coughed several times and brushed off some debris before looking up and spotting the twins poised to attack. "Ahh ah, w-wait a minute. I'm not... I just..." The words weren't coming so she reached down and grabbed her magical scepter off the ground. At the tip of the object was the gem the twins had used for the Soul Jar. Seeing the realization wash over the two standing outside she smirked. "Mhm, now you got it. So... eh." For a moment she wasn't sure how to proceed. There was a lot of information to take in having just popped into existence.

Studying the girl a bit more with her Third Eye she didn't fit the profile of anyone they'd met. Jenna listed things out in her head. Average body, Spirit specialization, Teleportation power, Enhanced wea... wait. "Who are you?"

Man, that should not be as hard of a question as it was. Taking a breath she glanced around for a second. "Me? I'm...nobody? No, my name is A... No that's somebody else. Erm." There was clearly a conflict going on in her head. Snapping her fingers she seemed to figure it out. "Raven. Raven Bianchi, at you're service." She bowed slightly and swung both arms out to her sides.

"Bianchi?" Janet and Jenna stare for a moment before glancing at one another.

_{@PlatinumSkink@ERodeThat was a very important edit!}

Nuncio breathed a sigh of relief, happy that no one noticed his momentary daydreaming. Or at the very least, weren’t going to question him about it.

”Stray cats ain’t nothin’ special. I’d think it was weird if one wasn’t livin’ in a warehouse.” He placed his hand over Fabio. The hair on the feline stood up. Nuncio was pumping all kinds of beastly magics into the arabian mau. What appeared to be a chubby kitten now had his blessing. Fabio sprung to his feet and bolted into the air, zipping around the roof like a cheetah. ”Relax Fabio! We need stealth!” Though oddly, the kitten didn’t make any sound. ”Anyway, short of gettin’ picked up by magical senses, Fabio is indistinguishable from a normal cat. Unless he’s, ya know?” He gestured towards Fabio, who was presently displaying speed and agility beyond some magical girls. ”Fabs, please.” The cat stopped and sat in the snow. ”You get a treat when we’re done here, kay?”

Nuncio looked towards Mariette when she mentioned that Sammy had been moved. ”Kinda curious how you know where she is moment to moment.” He squinted his eyes. ”You better not be a Mint agent.” With a snap of his fingers, Fabio was on the move. ”Might as well have Fabio approach the warehouse without any magical assistance. If he can’t find a way in, I’ll have him make his own li’l opening.” Nuncio chuckled and looked at the image displayed by his anatomy doll. ”Ready for a distraction.”

---

_{@PlatinumSkink@AtomicNut}

Tetrad’s smile diminished bit by bit as Ronin spoke. Body guards don’t get drunk? She’s not 18? Anti-drunk magic? Just say you don’t feel like a sip. Geeze, apparently fun sized people can be up tight too.

“Well, I’m 19. But the legal drinking age is 21 anyway.” Tetrad grinned. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it. “First rule of being an agent is that you don’t talk openly about objectives. But nah, she seems well guarded, so I’m just having a good time.”

Tetrad raised an eyebrow. Reaver had just downed a glass of acid. That was kind of a turn off. Well, to everyone but Cindy. To Tetrad it seemed kind of desperate. The kind of dedication you show when you want something bad. Tetrad was sure this guy wanted a little more than a hot piece of ass. Even with regeneration, that couldn’t have been a pleasant experience. “Might wanna watch him.”

Then the assassination attempt happened.

“Are you kidding me?” Tetrad said a bit louder than she should have. “Who goes to assassinate people wearing their clan’s logo? Who tries to kill a lightning queen with a metal frickin’ knife?”

It was time to investigate.

Tetrad looked at Goblina. The entire situation felt fishy. She came in, gave a half-assed report, was the first to declare it an assassination, and was the one who both found the Beacon themed jewelry AND the phone. She could have staged this entirely by herself. Goblina was likely a mint agent, or whoever was staging this. If there weren’t even more hiding among the party, that is. Though for obvious reasons, Pointing out that Goblina was a possible Mint plant was far more likely to backfire at this point. Now she needed to get more details. Where did this beacon girl come from. Was she even really beacon?

“I would not be too quick to run off, your majesty.” Tetrad kneeled beside the unconscious beacon (?) girl. ”This assassination attempt feels like it was intended to fail.” Tetrad was searching for a wallet, something that could be used to identify who the woman was. She was also going to try and divine her accessories to see if they changed hands in the past. If this girl was willingly setting up beacon to fall, then everything present could have been planted. ”A bracelet and phone are hardly conclusive evidence. Without a proper ID, we have no idea if the phone or bracelet even belongs to this girl. Furthermore, If this was Beacon, they might be trying to draw you into a trap.” She pinged Veronica to get her to read her memories. There was no way she could explain all of this in time, and she doubted the headstrong queen would wait for a proper investigation.



”!”

Lotus floated over, but by then everything had concluded.

”Mmmmm. Weakling, she was taken out with a single punch. It was a mercy she was dealt with before I could intervene.” She looked to Cindy. ”The Cardinal, on the other hand, sounds like a worthy opponent.”

Faith danced over. She nearly screamed at the sight of the downed body, but then realised she was just out cold. ”How ghastly! She looks rather peaceful now that she’s sleeping though~!” Faith placed her hands together. ”I suppose we’ll have to table our discussion for later then. Would you rather we remain here, or come with you?” She hugged her harp against her chest.

---

_{@Majoras End@FamishedPants@Shifter_Master@PlatinumSkink}

Veronica was not oblivious to the small round object hovering after her. Years of shady work had taught her to be aware of such details. With all of her magical facilities overpowered by the magical aura, it was impossible to tell what the drone did or even who it belonged to. It could possibly a bomb, possibly a camera, it didn’t matter. Veronica wasn’t bothered by its presence. So long as it stayed away from Cindy, she was happy.

Of course, someone was not happy about it.



Like most wind girls, Betty was attune to things moving around in open spaces. She popped into the air and roundhouse kicked the drone deep into the rave. It bounced off the far wall before landing in a minotaur girl’s bra. She jumped a bit, clearly unsure where this bit of debri came from.

“Betty.” Veronica looked at her bodyguard out of the corner of her eye. “Keep the violence to a minimum.”

”Of course!” Betty saluted. She was still dressed as the norm, but had her weapons hidden from sight. It kinda worked for a rave. ”Was that Amaryllis on the roof? I should say hello to her, it’s been a while.”

“We have more pressing matters to attend to.”

Of course things had to get more complicated. As soon as Tetrad notified Veronica of what was going on, She looked at Tetrad’s memories to get a glimpse of what just transpired. Everyone needed to be updated, Ronin included.

“It seems that Cindy is going to leave the rave to assassinate the cardinal. I had not anticipated Cindy would be so careless with her own safety, but here we are.” Veronica growled. “We are not done here though, I am not convinced the rave is more than it seems on the surface. Ronin, you will have to follow Cindy. I do not think we will be fortunate enough for her to take Cradle as a whole with her. But should the need arise, I can get everyone to your location barring any interference. I can only hope that Tetrad can uncover the assassin’s true allegiance before Cindy starts a war with Beacon.”

”No pressure.”

Veronica was able to pick up on Ronin’s emotional response to something happening in the rave. How bothersome sisterly love was. “I will protect your sister to the best of my ability. You need only concern yourself with stopping this war.”

It wasn’t too hard to find the small harpy. The sea of bodies was vast, but it was hard to not notice Justine approaching the poor girl. There was a magical boy with her, but he hardly mattered in the moment.

“Seems Justine is here. This just gets better every second.”

Veronica walked up behind Eli, looking straight over her head at Justine.

“I thought vampires preferred things that bled.” Veronica stepped through Eli so that she was in front of her. “I suppose that’s only real vampires, huh?”



Things would be turning into a shit show very quickly. Fortunately, the firepower in here was strong enough that Mac didn't really have to worry about it too much. She just needed to get Justine out and then catch up with Cindy and the others to manipulate things on that end. What a pain. What a waist of perfectly innocent lives.

But while she was thinking about it, she beefed up Viper's disguise, just so that it wouldn't fall apart too soon. Third eye people were a pain in the ass.

‘… Very well. I’ll be partly ready to send you elsewhere,’ Mariette said, opening a portal for Amaryllis that went to the east of Warehouse q. So Amaryllis had found documentation about the same warehouse. She looked to what Nuncio was saying, ignoring the threat in case she was a Mint agent. She was not, but it wasn’t as if she had the means to prove so.

‘It does strike me as likely that they may have magical protections in place, in which case a cat inside the warehouse could be an oddity. Regardless, I will stick around you, so that you may inform me where a portal might be opened safely,’ Mariette said, keeping close to Nuncio, and otherwise ready to portal wherever to get them closer.

This operation had the potential to get dicy. Still, let’s do this while everyone else was distracted. Mariette kept a close eye on everything she could.

@BrokenPromise@ERode

---

Dorothy dodged and weaved and spun, dodging Kimble’s attacks so swiftly that occasionally she was running on the walls of the buildings without any seeming repercussions. She dodged over cars, behind busses, past corners many, many times, trying to lose the wind-cat as this supernatural cat-and-bunny chase kept going further and further, leaving a trail of cut cars, streets, pieces of building and torn up asphalt along the way. All the while Dorothy was crying out in remote panic as she dodged wind-blasts and absolutely would not stop for Kimble.

‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah this was a mistaaaaaaaaake-!’ Dorothy cried out, yet still sought her way to Penrose Gardens, where she hoped to hide. She arrived towards the park… and found Aurelio seated at a bench at said park. Dorothy’s eyes widened and she momentarily froze up, mid-escape.

‘Wh-wha- how did you get here before--!?’

And that pause was what Kimble needed to catch Dorothy’s foot with the boomerang-wind, causing the still-in-mid-escape-speed rabbit-girl to stumble and cry out a bit of ‘nooooooooooooooo’ as she rolled and tumbled down in front of Aurelio, crashing down face-first.

Dorothy would as quickly as possibly try to get on her feet and try to jump away. As far as she knew, Kimble and Aurelio had simply tricked her and now surrounded her to take her out. Still, maybe Aurelio would be able to clear the situation up now. Maybe.

@Ariamis@Shifter_Master

---

‘Handkerchief-’ Ronin blinked in surprise. Partly because, woah, Cindy 100% just assumed command of her, huh. Other part because, where the heck would she even find a handkerchief here!? Aren’t those primarily for fancy dinners and stuff!? … She quickly stole some paper from behind the desk and placed them by Reaver before retreating back to Tetrad.

‘Guess there isn’t really drinking laws for Magical Girls, hahaha!’ Ronin was just gonna laugh at that little thing from Tetrad. ‘Noted. Still gonna stay around~!’ In reply to not discussing objectives openly. Then there was the thing about watching Reaver… ‘Already on it~!’

Then the, uh, “assassination attempt” happened. Ronin looked on with raised eyebrows. Yeah, all that which Tetrad said.

‘Did she really intend to kill you in the midst of a party, where you’re guarded by all your closest companions, and then intend to escape alive? Yeah, no, something feels off, here. Beacon doesn’t really use assassins, they use targeted strike forces that try to keep everyone alive while killing the foe. It’s the Puchuu _{and the Mint} that see their girls as expendable, not Beacon…’ Ronin said, perhaps using information from her former life rather than her current one.

That’s when it sort of clicked that Cindy wanted to head out… with Ronin. ‘Wait, huh? Me?’ What the heck had Ronin done to deserve to head out on a secret mission with Cindy!? … WELL, OKAY, THAT WAS CONVENIENT FOR THE JOB! … But that’s also when Deni suddenly felt that Eli was in danger. Ronin turned her head, looking out into the crowd at Eli’s exact position, and realized who was heading after her. Justine. That was bad. Deni heard all that which Veronica was saying, but there was no way she could prioritize the mission over Eli’s safety. Oooh, she was gonna piss off Cindy, Veronica AND Justine in one fell swoop. That was roughly the holy trifecta of people Deni didn’t want to piss off right now…

And that’s when Veronica said she’d protect Eli for her. The wave of relief within Deni was palpable.

V, you’re a godsend and I love you.

‘Alright! I’m ready to go if we’re going!’ Ronin said with a grin, putting one hand on her sword to show how ready and excited she was. … There was a side of her that wasn’t entirely happy that she’d have to go on a mission that’d DEFINITELY put her in Beacon’s bad books… but guess she wasn’t exactly in a position to say no, now, was she? At the very least this put her in the middle of things where she might be able to make a difference…!

@Ariamis@AtomicNut@BrokenPromise

---

Eli was already making her way away from Justine when Justine started moving towards her. Except, there really wasn’t all that easy to hide from someone moving towards you with such determination when at a party. She was panicking within. Eli was NOT outfitted to deal with the likes of Justine…!

She could scream. Yeah, that should get everyone’s attention. That’d make it hard for Justine to kill her. Yeah. She’d scream. She was gonna scream…!

And then, an unlikely heroine dropped in, showing up to look at Justine over Eli. Wait, this was… V-Veronica!? Honestly, Eli didn’t know all that much about her, just the reports that had been given through their observations across Penrose, but it was one of the people at the top of the list to be aware of and keep an eye on…!

‘…!’ Eli let Veronica step through her, sliding around to get behind the girl and let the supposed vampires face off. Still, she had to…! ‘Wh-what are you doing back in Penrose…!?’ Eli asked, her voice agitated, peeking out from behind Veronica. Not a shield she’d ever have thought she’d be using, but it was certainly one she was happy to have right about now…!

@Ariamis@BrokenPromise @twave?

---

The corpse-doll searched the step, and found that it was decently easily movable. It needed to be turned, pushed down, and then turned again, and then lifted up out of the step like a lever, then pulled with some extra force. With the step lifted, something sounded within the walls, and a piece of wall slid out of place to reveal a vent. It was in the top-right corner, looking like a regular vent, nothing even looked out of place or magical even with this wall moved out of the way. However, the spirits told that the way was through here. Myria would perhaps find that the entrance to the vent was loose, it was easy to detach and start climbing inside…

It was tight. Designed so that only children… or perhaps a person not consisting of flesh and blood would be able to press themselves through the vent. The vent went forward a bit, then dove straight downwards. After having gone down numerous meters, it turned left, and there it hit the room. A painting was placed over the entrance, so from the inside it had to look like the room had no exits. No exits except the mirror itself. Other than that, there was the carpet, other paintings, and of course the mirror itself standing at support.

The way in had been revealed. No traps had been seemingly sprung yet.

What would Myria do now?

@ERode

"Eh, that was so fast~!"

Seemingly unfazed by Dorothy's hasty retreat and the other girl's fierce pursuit, Hilaria watched as they disappeared from view with a smile. Maybe it was a bit cruel, but Hilaria figured the monster girl would react that way, which is exactly why she did what she had. It was only for a second or two, but Hilaria had enjoyed that interaction. Still, as quick as those two had disappeared, so too did her enjoyment. It was a momentary reprieve from the boredom and pondering she had been experiencing up until now, so she was thankful.

Hilaria was close to simply walking away when Aurelio III approached her. As if on cue, her stomach growled when she was asked about her night, and she saw no reason not to give an honest answer here. "No food yet, so Hilaria has to say it's not being very kind~" she explained. She was trying her best to hold on, despite the lack of energy she had from starving. Yet, even if it had been a whole two hours since she had ate something, she would not show weakness before others! "Hilaria wonders what you guys intend to do with that poor rabbit, she seems frightened~!" she acted as though worried despite being the one who escalated the situation. Truth be told, she probably couldn't care less about them, but she didn't particularly desire to be curt towards someone for no reason, either.

Her apathy would suddenly be placed on hold, however, as she suddenly had a strange feeling in her chest. Her eyes drifted off to the side and she placed a hand over her heart as if to check for a beat. For a moment, she remained silent. Unwarranted fear had stirred within her, but she wasn't sure why. Yet it too had left in but a blink of an eye. "Mmm, maybe Hilaria should hurry up and eat since she's feeling a bit light headed..." she gave a false smile as she finally spoke. "Unless you need anything, Hilaria's gonna leave~"

---

As she was led to the dance floor, Rina couldn't help but to make a few mental notes of people present. She had to keep her wits about her, and not let herself relax without looking like she was being too observant. She could pick out a few familiar faces in the crowd, but they weren't overly important. None she had to really worry about too much yet.

"...huh?" Rina's gaze briefly was drawn towards the fringe of the party while Mika was showing her the dance. No, that...Alicia wasn't that dumb. She quickly focused back on Mika.

"...pfft." Rina reached out, giving the other girl a friendly head rub. "I dunno why I expected anything different." She laughed as the girl in front of her 'danced'. It certainly wasn't your typical club friendly dance, but it fit Mika perfectly. Rina was perfectly fine with just doing something silly instead of trying to get too into whatever these other girls were doing. So Rina followed suit, placing her hands at the side of her head and proceeding to shake her hips.

---

Divina quietly observed Penny a moment.

"I am unsure how much help I will be. I am not very fond of the...fighting thing." She replied with a soft sigh. "I'd much rather solve things with as little bloodshed, but, there's not much we can do about it." Divina didn't blink once as she replied.

"Hmph, for what they're having me do I better get a raise, a personalized gift box and a goddamn vacation that doesn't involved being kidnapped by a dolphin." Chloe replied irritably. "Should be fine. I'll be back by the time you are. Stay safe, okay? I might be able to tell where you are, but...this job admittedly, is probably a bit dangerous and might take me a while."

"Don't worry, Chloe. I'll make sure things are taken care of." Divina replied.

"Good, then. I'll be off then. Ugh, I am not looking forward to this." Chloe said with a wave, exiting the apartment, leaving Divina and the other girl alone to decide what they were going to be doing. Once outside, the first thing Chloe did was head to Covington tower. She had to at least make a show of cooperation in this regard, but whether or not this information was going to actually be useful, remained entirely unseen. There was a good chance Veronica wasn't being truthful.

Upon reaching it, she quickly wrote a reply for the raven.

"Veronica may be leaving Penrose for some time. Information is likely accurate."

That was the best she could do on that front. Now all she had to do was kill a pretty little bird.

Just as she finished, there was a...call? From...Reaver? Well, that was interesting. She answered, almost expecting him to just be creepily breathing on the other end, but she was pleasantly surprised once she figured out what she was hearing. What was he doing with Cindy of all people? But the thought quickly turned to idle amusement as she heard the scuffle over the phone.

So Cindy was now coming to murder Ishtar, huh. She doubted the assassin was legit, but it worked in their favor. The only worry she had was whether nor not the Mint would accept it as -her- doing it or find some bullshit excuse that she failed.

Hm.

Well, no matter.

Chloe quickly texted back to Reaver.

"Perhaps you deserve a reward, hm? I'm going to go ahead and say hi to the Cardinal. Don't be late."

With that, she left the tower and headed for the park.

An eyebrow rose as Alicia observed Leena and FanFan change their outfits. It was a bit more extreme than what she had been expecting they would go for, and it left her feeling a bit self conscious with her own choices. Then again, maybe she was just overthinking things. It wasn't like everyone they had seen entering looked like a punk rocker. This would be fine.

Inside, Alicia saw many people she knew, and a few that she didn't. Honestly she could see why they had sprung for the warehouse. It seemed like a majority of the magical girls in the city were here for this rave. With the aura blanketing everything, it made it near impossible to tell what the threat might be, or any sort of trap. Sure, the power differences here meant that there were probably girls on their own who could be extremely dangerous, but that was not what was at play here.

Something told her that whatever it was probably was not sitting in the middle of the dance floor. If they wanted to find out what, they needed to look deeper.

But before she could get to any of that, they found themselves approached by a duo asking for a dance. One of them seemed familiar, though she was having a bit of trouble pinning down a face to the name. But she was the less talkative one anyway. Before Alicia could answer Leena and FanFan took the lead, the girl drawing in and challenging the eyepatch girl to a ballet competition in the middle of the rave. Now this would be an interesting sight to see.

"She just never stops," Alicia observed with a sigh and a shaking of her head. She got the message that Leena was going for, or at least she thought that she did. "I can't say I'm much of a dancer myself though. Hope that's alright." As fun as it would have been, their mission could not afford for them to get wrapped into dancing with random strangers. At least not yet. Maybe once the threat was gone.

Having said that much, it couldn't hurt delving in a little for information. "So, enjoying the party so far? We just got here, seems pretty chaotic doesn't it? Or is there other stuff going on that we've missed?' It was a decent probe that might give them a direction to look, at least in theory.

_{@Ariamis@BrokenPromise}

---

While unaware that the alcohol had been traded out for simple water, Ren was at least pleased to find that his effort had found some fertile ground. Liss had been distracted from her misery, though she did look like a mess. How long had she been here doing this? he wouldn't have been surprised if it had been since the party started.

Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out a handkerchief and handed it over for her to use. At the same time her question would be answered. "You looked like you were in a rough spot," he conceded with a shrug. "I'm mostly a tourist as is. Go around to various dimensions, watch interesting things. No blue police box, but that's overrated anyway. Made a lot of sense to stop by a massive magical girl party."

Taking a sip of his drink, he took a moment to enjoy the taste before adding to that. "So, not really trying for anything personal, just lending a helping hand along the way to a fellow traveler. Make sense?"

_@ERode

@Ariamis@Rune_Alchemist@PlatinumSkink@BrokenPromise

Well, this was getting good enough. Privacy meant less unknowns, and less security. It was a pity really, Cindy was also his kind of girl. Then the "assassin" had struck, creating chaos amidst the group, and sparking the flames of battle and discord. As if a staged script were, now it was Reaver´s turn.

Except someone butted in before. Well, no matter, such a thing was to be expected to a degree. But it concerned Reaver how truly rotten the magical girl society was to double doubt everything. Even the tiny samurai kid was having second thoughts about this. On second thought, who wouldn´t? The magical jamming, whoever was doing that, was pretty ludicruous.

He took the napkin, and cleaned himself from the acid, still getting a couple of stings.

"Yes, such a contrived coincidence. Half assed assasination attempt. During some magical blockage." Reaver said, looking at everyone. "Smells quite funny. Even the timely appearance of such a good samaritan telling you to hold your horses and start an investigation here... where the ambience could not be more chaotic. My mind wanders... and It makes me think that It might be a trap too to keep your Highness here, cooped up, numb and occupied, where torches and pitchforks pool outside." He gave some pause.

"Your Highness permit, I am confident that outdoors is a place suited for thine wrath to rain upon thy enemies." He then dropped to one knee. "I Reaver, shall follow your Highness no matter the decision you choose, into the din of battle if must be. After all... I am a berserker."

He then eyed the tiny samurai, who seemed to have gone through a set of incongruous expressions just now. Interesting, possible Cradle plant? Looked like some serious thought change there. "Is everything right, dame samurai? Surely we can speak with your highness of the brunt of the combat if you seem...so conflicted. It´s not like we're forcing you to participate against your will, is it?"

The message buzzed on his pocket, but he chose to ignore it for now. No need to raise more suspicion.

‘I am a burning, brimming pillar of excitement! My determination and eagerness are transcendent, and my motivation crystal-clear! Jealous Buddhists would erect monuments to the utter harmony and enlightenment of my resolute mind! I'm fired up, and ready to go!’ Ronin grinned so widely at Reaver as she started talking before he'd even finished that third statement. She was absolutely still riding the positive rush from Veronica's unexpected rescue.

@AtomicNut@Ariamis@BrokenPromise

Learning how to dance was not something that interested the glasses-wearing assassin, but Trixy seemed to be having fun. Aside from a nod and a small, "hey", she opted to remain quiet and observe the two who took to the floor for a bit. Samantha did believe that competition was healthy, but she did not like a certain comment. There can be only one Swan Princess? Was this some sort of fight to the death? These were strange, dark magical girls at a chaotic party, so she couldn't say she trusted any of them. If things got too hectic, then she may have to step in, but she hoped not.

Her battle tendency was encouraged by the report Veronica had given the agents. She wondered if Cindy was desperate to start some sort of conflict. The electrical girl's initial challenge to the entirety of Penrose when she first appeared led Samantha to believe this might be the truth.

Honestly, given the nature of some corrupted magical girls, she might even find some sort of twisted pleasure in the carnage that may ensue. Excitement as the adrenaline kicks in, a rush of blood as a ball of flame narrowly misses you, a tingle in a certain somewhere when your opponent reads your counter and you must respond in kind.

...All of these things were despicable and completely impossible for Samantha to relate to in the slightest. Totally! Even in a hypothetical scenario where she DID enjoy any of this (which she most obviously did not, definitely), starting a war over it? Preposterous! That would drag so many other innocent souls into a conflict they most likely did not desire. Samantha was by no means a good person, but the only time she became sadistic was when Mika's cheeks were in view. She had some standards, after all.

"...I'd like to get a drink real quick," Samantha told Trixy as the two prepared to clash, hoping it ease her down a bit. She'd been involved in a war before even if only for a short time and she could say with certainty that it was unpleasant. She took a few steps away and then, as if remembering something, turned back to Trixy. "What do you want?" Under the assumption that Trixy gave a reply, Samantha nodded. "I'll be a minute and nothing more, stay safe," she warned, eyeing the other two girls with a hint of suspicion before departing.

...

...

...

There were quite a few people at the bar, but the bartender tended to her order almost immediately. Samantha glanced over to the side to see an inebriated magical girl causing a small commotion for some girl with a mask and a smaller, vulgar bunny girl. There was probably a good story to tell there, but prying into whatever situation that was was probably not the best idea. Besides, she was relatively sure that the bartender had used her as an excuse to get away from that trio. Either way, Samantha succeeded in obtaining a hard drink for herself and whatever Trixy had asked for. This drink would be identified in Broken's next post unless Trixy would say not to bring anything. If that were the case, then obviously pretend like Sam didn't get a second drink. I was busy with DnD today and couldn't even start this post until after Broken went to sleep, Sue me.

Pun intended.

Arriving almost exactly a minute later, Samantha now wielded two (or one) drink(s) and drank from her own cup as she observed the showdown. "Do nothing less than your best," she told her partner. "I'm confident you can pull ahead." There could have been a bit more enthusiasm in her encouragement, but Trixy was sure Samantha was likely doing her best as well.

Being approached by Justine, Shane didn't react much. Having taken Friendship he could reasonably tell that she didn't have ill intent toward him, at least not at the moment. Even less so as Eli was spotted. "It does seem you have bigger fish to fry." As the vampire broke away the Regeneration kicked in and healed the puncture rather quickly. The matter surrounding the slime girl didn't much concern him either as Veronica stepped in the intercept. That got outside his scope pretty quickly. His connections with any three of the parties was pretty low. Hell, the ties with Beacon were much bigger. Helped that they've been around much longer.

Sadly part of the fun was sucked out of the room when someone almost comically attempted to attack Cindy. And like clockwork there was debate on the course of action. Cindy decided almost immediately that she was going to go after Beacon. The girl's decisions were as snappy as her magic. Not exactly what he would call wise. Some called for interrogation, others action. Reaver seemed content to goad Cindy to attack. Ugh. Rolling his eyes any harder might have caused them to fall out of his head. "Please excuse me. Seems we have the obligatory party crasher." He casually waved and headed over to the commotion.

Things didn't look like they were going to particularly went well. Sparking a war with Beacon did not sound like a good idea. He agreed with learning more before moving. Addressing Cindy, he pulled out his spell book. "With your permission, I would like to wake our guest and speak with her. I believe I can at least get a baring on her alignment without much trouble." A spark danced across the bindings of the book. He'd made a significant commitment not that long ago to prove himself to Cindy. He hoped it would hold more clout than a majority of the third parties currently present. "I just need to know how to get on her good side." He smiled curtly.

Nuncio was still paranoid, wasn't he? Amaryllis cast a side-eyed glance towards him, but said nothing. There was no need to question his suspicions. If Mariette betrayed them, Amaryllis will cut herself out of whatever scheme stood before her. If Mariette was true, then such conversation was meaningless.

Actions, not words, informed upon the heart of an individual.

As Mariette opened up a portal eastwards, Amaryllis channeled her own magic through it. Silvered buds manifested in the air around the eastern side of the warehouse, but neither bloomed nor grew. They stayed there, locked in place, no more than beads in the air, six in total. Amaryllis nodded at her handiwork, then settled back down. Now, they just waited, for what news Nuncio's cat could bring them.

She pulled a bag of shrimp-flavored chips from her Big Backpack, popping it open with a puff of shrimpy powder. Taking a couple of the puffy snack for herself, the Knight of Rose passed the bag around, offering it first to Nuncio, then Mariette.

"Some refreshment before our quest begins," she said. "I find it comforting to have something to chew on beyond one's thoughts."


Liss took it gratefully, even if her expression didn't show it. Slapping the handkerchief against her face, she scrubbed at it energetically, wiping away salt and makeup, or at least spreading it out. She'd need water to really get it out, but as the auburn-haired girl retracted the cloth from her face, the trails of mascara were gone now. Her face had strange dark smudges over it as well, and the corners of her eyes were still raw, but it was an improvement from her wretched, sob-fest state. Maybe.

She folded the dirtied handkerchief into a nice, neat square, and handed it back to the mysterious adult with a sigh. Taking another swig of what tasted like very, very, very watered-down alcohol, Liss blinked at him for a couple seconds. She swayed a bit, then just ended up flopping against the counter. "I'm a...I'm not a traveler," she said, massaging the bridge of her nose. "I'm just a dier. Ugh, I didn't want to live by missing out on the fight, y'know?"

Another drink of water. She belched.

"But you're like a...good guy, guy. Feel like you'd die, really fast and all, cause like, nice ones always do. Name? I'm Liss, so like, yeah. Name?"


Fine recognized that smile. It was the sorta smile that her colleagues had. That sort of 'well, can't be helped' attitude that girls with a propensity of dealing with massive amounts of bullshit develop. The desperation of a protector, or the desperation of someone making up for past mistakes. The woman didn't like it. A professional got the work done, but that didn't mean you couldn't enjoy yourself either.

"Can't imagine we'd get all that good a dinner here, unfortunately," Fine said. "Suppose we'll just have to meet after this, Eliza. For now though..."

With a firm, but gentle grip, the rubellite-eyed woman took Eliza by the hand and led her up onto her feet.

"An oath of protection is a noble ideal, but even an adorable sentinel like you deserves a break, no? If dinner's not a possibility, and drinks are off the table, would you grant me the pleasure of a dance instead?"


"Ja-jang~!"

With a vocalized victory chime, Myria watched as the gate to the vent slid away. That certainly was cool, wasn't it? Magical girls being magical girls, she was naturally inclined to believe that any system of entry and exit would ignore engineered mechanisms in exchange for arcane contraptions, so this sort of primitive stuff honestly jived with her quite a lot. She'd have to send this person a nice letter afterwards. For now though...

"Ok, Trump, back into the hidey-hole."

Slapping the girl-doll back into her Hammerspace, the dark magical girl called out her next fun little contraption. Whereas Trump's vessel was a girl of equal weight, Poly's vessel was a head with two feet sewn where the neck was, and one eloquent hand sticking out of its forehead. Not just any hand though. It was Myria's left hand, one of the dozen hands she purchased from a cool, creepy lich who was totally rocking the robed skeleton aesthetic. Cost her a pretty penny, but it was a fun little trick. Looking at her own left hand, she allowed her Spirit magic to 'sever' and 'transplant' that portion of her soul into the left hand attached to Poly's form. Immediately, her hand blackened, cursed magic woven into it, while a tingly numbness seeped in too, while the detached hand began to twitch, flex, fill with life. She tested the connection a couple times, and then grinned.

"My boy, Poly, let's see you go!"

Obediently, the ball-like corpse-doll hopped up into the vent and began to waddle away, cute as a penguin with a head for a body and a hand sticking out of it. Just through the vent, down the drop, turn left, and voila~!

After saying goodbye to Lily, Connie followed Gaia into a hallway branching off from the main dance hall. It was lined with doors to numerous smaller rooms, and it wasn’t long before Gaia decided to enter one of them. The room was filled with screens of various sizes, displaying games played on a variety of consoles, while other girls (and one or two boys) played on computers set up on several rows of long tables.

“How splendid! A game room!” Gaia noted eagerly. “And look, Connie,” she added, pointing to one of the larger screens. “They have Plants vs. Zombies!”

Connie was a little surprised by her friend’s enthusiasm. She knew that Mia was an avid gamer, but she also knew that when her friend was in her magical girl form, her actions were greatly restricted, and Connie had always assumed that included playing video games.

“Oh, uh, o-okay…” Connie said tentatively. “But, um, doesn’t your Patron hate video games? I mean, didn’t you tell me how angry she got about all those video game cartridges that were dumped in that one landfill?”

“Yes, that is true, but Mother approves of this game!” Gaia informed her excitedly. “It is all about the forces of life and renewal overcoming a dark tide of death and decay! And it has a co-op mode! Come, Connie! Let us lead the armies of nature to victory over the walking dead!”

Before she could say another word, Connie found herself being dragged over to the game in question, which just so happened to have two open seats. She really wasn’t much of a gamer, but Gaia really seemed to love this game, so Connie reluctantly sat down beside her nymph-like friend. After Gaia had explained the basics of the tower defense game, they began the first level, and Connie soon found that she was really enjoying herself. The game was fairly easy to learn, especially with her friend’s helpful advice, and the various plants were rather cute. Unfortunately, her enjoyment dimmed once they began the harder levels, and by the end of the tenth level, Connie was very stressed out.

“U-Umm, Mia? C-Can we stop now? T-This is getting a little too intense for me…”

“Of course,” Gaia replied warmly. “I certainly wouldn’t want you to have a panic attack. How about you just relax and watch me play solo for a bit, okay?” the verdant magical girl suggested.

“Umm, actually, I was thinking of getting a drink…”

“Oh, okay. I’ll accompany you, then.”

“No, you can k-keep playing, Mia. I-I s-should p-probably do this on my own…”

“Are you sure?” Gaia asked, clearly concerned for her friend’s safety. “There are a lot of people between here and there. And you still seem a little shaken up…”

“I know… B-But I have to do this if I want to overcome my fears! A-And also, Faith said her friends would look out for me in case anything bad happens.”

“All right… Well, good luck.” Gaia said with an encouraging smile. “I guess my little sister really is growing up,” she added, placing her hands over her heart.

“Thanks, Mia,” Connie replied softly, returning her friend’s smile with interest.

---

Although the distance wasn’t exactly far, the trip was still an arduous one for someone like Connie, and after making her way to the bar at the back of the dance hall, she slumped over the counter with a relieved sigh.

“I made it,” she exhaled happily.

“Goodness!” the girl next to her exclaimed. “Are you all right?”

“Y-Yeah… I’m just not really all that good with crowds… And loud noises… And dancing…”

“Then whatever are you doing in a place like this?” she asked, clearly perplexed.

“T-Trying to get better with them,” Connie replied with a nervous giggle as she turned to face the other girl. “Oh! Y-You’re that knight lady I saw earlier! Y-You look very pretty…” she added hesitantly, while looking down at the counter.

“Why, thank you,” the other girl said with a smile. “That is very kind of you to say. I am known as Magical Knight Scarlet Valor, but you may call me Scarlet for short.”

“I-It’s v-very nice to m-meet you, Scarlet,” Connie said, while she nervously twirled her hair around her finger. “M-My n-name’s Connie, b-by the way...”

“It is my pleasure to meet you as well, Connie,” Scarlet replied warmly, while giving an elegant curtsy. “And I am most impressed by your desire to conquer your weaknesses. Not many have such courage and dedication.”

“Oh, I-I’m n-not r-really that courageous…” Connie replied, a blush forming on the cheeks of her mask at the compliment. “But, umm… T-Thank you for s-saying that… Y-You’re really nice…”

“I merely spoke the truth. You should have more confidence in yourself.”

“I-I’ll t-try to…”

Scarlet giggled. “So, are you here alone, or did you come with some friends?”

“W-Well, my best friend, Mia, is in the game room, and s-some of my other friends are around here s-somewhere, but I d-don’t see them at the moment.”

“How wonderful! It is good to have friends to enjoy such activities with. I am actually here to keep an eye on one of my comrades in arms. She absolutely loves dancing, so she desperately wanted to come here, but she can get a bit… carried away sometimes. In fact, that’s her over yonder.”

“Oh, wow… She’s r-really good… I w-wish I was better at dancing,” Connie added glumly. “I-I’m just so clumsy…”

“It’s really nothing special,” a tall, somber girl on the other side of Scarlet noted in a tone of complete disinterest. “The ability to move your body to music, if one can even call this music, has absolutely zero bearing on your value as a magical girl.”

“Oh…!” Connie exclaimed, only just now noticing the somewhat imposing girl’s presence. “I, uh, I guess you’re right…”

“I am,” she said with a scowl. “If not for the fact that this ‘rave’ provides the potential opportunity to cross blades with the elitist zealots of Beacon, I would have never even considered setting foot in such a disgusting pit,” she added, casting a disdainful glare at the utterly intoxicated redhead bawling her eyes out a few seats down the bar.

“B-Beacon?” Connie asked nervously, remembering what Lily had said about the organization. “Y-You t-think they’re g-going to b-be here? A-Are they g-going t-to attack us?”

“I do not think it is anything to trouble yourself about,” Scarlet told her reassuringly. “This is simply a benign social gathering, nothing more. No one is doing anything harmful, so I doubt that Beacon would wish to cause trouble unnecessarily.”

“O-Okay…” Connie replied, accepting the other magical girl’s explanation without further question. Then, having remembered why she was at the bar in the first place, she called to the bartender in what she hoped was a relatively loud voice, “Umm, e-excuse me? M-May I h-have some lemonade, please? O-Or, i-if you don’t h-have t-that, then m-maybe s-some ice tea? O-Or, f-fruit punch?”



Connie would hear a light thump as another figure leaned over the counter of the bar on the other side of her. “Oh, do they have lemonade? I’ll get one too!” she waved at the bartender, who hopefully would listen to their request, as she threw one away. She wore a relatively simple dress alongside a warm smile, which she directed Connie’s way, and then to Scarlet. “Are you two having fun?” she asked, having presumably missed what another girl said about the party. “It’s fun to see so many people enjoying themselves, isn’t it?”

“Y-Yeah,” Connie agreed. “And...uhh… I guess so? I’m n-not really used to parties, especially not ones like this… Oh! I-I’m Connie, by the way, and t-this is Scarlet. W-We j-just met. S-She’s here with one of her friends, who’s, like, a really amazing dancer,” she rambled nervously. “D-Do you like dancing? I’m really terrible at it myself...”

“Connie and Scarlet?” she repeated to make sure she got them correctly. “I’m Emily,” she said, giving a soft wave at the two. “As for dancing… um, I haven’t actually gone to a party like this before. The closest thing was a concert, I think, but I wasn’t there to dance…” it almost felt to her like her arm began throbbing from the wounds she received from Lupa, but she didn’t let it get to her. “But I do think dancing is a beautiful thing, even if, um, I’m not exactly good at it.”

“Y-Yeah, I enjoy w-watching it too. A-And it’s r-really nice to m-meet you, Emily. I k-kinda came here to m-make s-some new friends, and get over my shyness, s-so I’m r-really glad I’m m-meeting so many nice people.”

“It is my pleasure to meet you as well, Emily,” Scarlet said with a smile. “My comrade and I are visiting from another city, so it is good to see that the magical girls of Penrose are so personable, and, dare I say, cute,” she added with a small giggle. “Ah! But, on the topic of dancing,” she added, casting a worried glance at the dance floor. “While it may indeed be pleasing to observe, sometimes the dancers in question might overestimate their abilities. For instance, I believe my colleague is trying just a little too hard in her attempts at flirting with someone who is clearly not interested. If you ladies will excuse me, I believe I shall take my leave and attempt to defuse the situation before it gets out of hand.”

“Oh! Umm… O-Okay…! G-Good luck!”

Emily’s features appeared to be slightly reddened, presumably because she was surprised at the sudden compliment, yet she remained calm as she listened to Scarlet speak, only breaking her silence after Scarlet’s departure. Emily turned to Connie and decided to pick up where they’d left off. “I hope to make as many friends with as many sisters as possible, so if you wouldn’t mind, I would love to be someone you can consider a friend too!” she told Connie right as the bartender would show up with the two’s drinks, setting them before the two. Emily gave her thanks to them before turning back to Connie, taking a sip from her lemonade. “So you’re new to Penrose?”

“N-No, just new to b-being a m-magical girl. Oh! A-And I’d love to be friends!” Connie exclaimed, almost squealing with delight as her mask formed a big smile. “Y-You seem r-really nice, Emily. I was s-so afraid that everyone here w-would just want t-to bully me… I-I know I p-probably shouldn’t be so p-pessimistic, but t-that’s the kind of thing t-that’s always h-happened to me b-before...”

Emily tried not to frown. “Oh, that’s so terrible to hear!” her eyes almost seemed to moisten for Connie. “People weren’t always great with me, either. But…” she couldn’t help but think of Luna and Amaryllis. “...There are plenty of good people in Penrose, too! I’m sure things will begin to look up for you like they did for me!” she assured Connie as she took another sip of lemonade.

“I r-really hope so,” Connie replied, taking hold of her glass with slightly trembling hands. “I-I mean, I’ve already met Faith and Lotus, a-and some of t-their friends, and t-then I met Lily, and n-now I just met you and Scarlet, so I t-think I’m off to a f-fairly good s-start!”

“Huh…” Connie mumbled to herself as she stared down at the glass of lemonade in front of her. “H-How do I even drink this when I’m wearing a… a… Mm… Mmm… M-Mas… O-One of those things...?”

“?”

Emily blinked as she took an awkwardly-long sip out of her lemonade, perplexed at the girl’s hesitance with the word ‘mask’, or at least that’s what it seemed like anyways.. “Um… can’t you take it off?” she asked.

“Oh!” Connie gasped as she realized she’d been thinking out loud. “Umm… N-Not r-really… It’s k-kinda attached to m-my f-face. Mia, t-that’s my best friend, s-said that it was m-my m-magical girl w-weapon, or s-something… I r-really d-don’t like t-talking about it, though…” she added, squeezing her glass as her hands began to tremble even more violently. “Or even t-thinking about it… Since, it’s, um, o-one of my p-phobias…”

"Oh... I see. Well, we don't have to talk about things you don't want to," Emily told the girl. Of course, she wasn't sure exactly how to remedy their initial problem if the mask was a part of her face, other than telling her to rip her face off, but then she imagined there'd be a slightly bigger problem left afterward. This wasn't some odd JRPG where doing so would help you obtain power.

Emily also thought to tell her to just transform back when she was drinking, but since that was so obvious, she imagined there was a problem there. As meek as this girl was, maybe she didn't want to be seen in human form? "Um, well, lets talk about something else, then..." she suggested, admitting defeat. This dilemma was beyond her. "Oh, I know! What are things you DO like? Like, um, I enjoy watching anime and playing games. How about you?"

“I like anime, too!” Connie said, a little excited that Emily shared one of her hobbies. “N-Not the s-scary ones though, m-mainly just the cute s-slice of life shows. I d-don’t really play m-many games, but I enjoy w-watching my f-friend Mia play them. S-She’s really good… She’s even w-won awards and s-stuff! I also like to paint. T-That’s my most favorite hobby. A-At l-least, it u-used t-to be… Ever since I became a m-magical girl, all my p-paintings end up b-being so c-creepy…” Connie explained, her tone filled with sadness. “I a-always try to m-make them c-cute, b-but all these a-awful t-things always s-start appearing in them… M-Mia says it’s b-because of my M-Magical S-Specialization...”

Emily went to move her hand, as if to rest her hand on the girl’s shoulder, before apparently discarding the idea. “Oh, that sounds so unfortunate…” she seemed concerned, going quiet for a few seconds.

Suddenly, her face reddened a bit, but she did her best to make eye contact with Connie’s mask. “U-um, so…” she seemed a bit hesitant. “...I always liked the fighting ones, and, um, the magical girl ones,” while it was clear that she considered this some sort of embarrassing secret, it was not clear why. “I even have a few figurines tucked away at home where my roommate can’t see… uh, but you can’t tell anyone!”

“Oh! O-okay, then,” Connie said, not quite sure why Emily would be embarrassed by something like that. “Y-Your secret’s s-safe with me!” she added with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “But, um, w-why don’t you w-want anyone to k-know you like magical girls? I m-mean, you actually are a m-magical girl, r-right?”

“Yes! I’m definitely one!” she confirmed maybe just a bit too loud. “So, the thing iss…” Emily’s expression became quite firm. Being the victim of this, it was impossible for Connie to not notice the severity of the subject she had brought up, and the importance of the answer she was about to receive. It was the kind that destroyed careers, that wiped away kingdoms, and the sort that one would be killed for. She had foolishly opened a can of worms, as was now gonna pay the price.

...or at least that’s what it could’ve looked like, had Emily’s face not also been flushed red. It was probably hard to take it too seriously because of this. And while her flushed features were influenced by her embarrassment, it also felt like there was some other reason...

Taking a small breath, the fire girl revealed the answer for Connie. “...if I tell people, they might find out all my stuff is named after annime!” she told her new friend in a dramatic way, slamming the rest of her lemonade and staring at a wall. “Even my transformation…!” she frowned. “I’ve got nooo creativity…”

“B-But, w-what’s so bad a-about that?” Connie asked. “I t-take inspiration from all s-sorts of s-stuff when I paint. I-It doesn't s-sound like what y-you’re doing is all t-that d-different.T-Then a-again…” she added in a more somber tone. “I-If you t-think you might g-get b-bullied for it, I t-totally understand w-why you w-wouldn’t want p-people finding out. B-Being bullied i-isn’t v-very fun…”

“You’rre probably right about it being nnothing,” she agreed. “I don’t know anyone I think would go so far as to bully me over it, thankfully. I just kinda rammble about anime when I speak about it, so I don’t want to bother people, is all.”

After she explained that, she placed her empty cup on the counter and sighed. The streak of red had yet to leave and, in fact, only seemed to darken. She looked at Connie and gave a skewed smile, tugging on her own dress. “Iss it gettingg hot in herre or what?”



It was then when a new challenger approached, her pink hair swaying and ear bunnies from the playboy costume that evidenced her pitiful figure hopping in unison. “Oh...gods, it's you...Emily.” She did a double take, not noticing the other girl as much as noticing the sorry state of Emily. “Are you drunk already??” She paused for a moment, and eyed the other girl. “Uh, hi.” She said curtly. She seemed a comely lass… but Emily looked … smashed now.

Upon noticing Sakura, Emily gave a small clap in approval of the girl's appearance. "Ohhh, Sakura, aren't you looking just adorabllle~!" she seemed delighted by it, oddly, and gave a playful tug to one of the ears. "I jussst made a new friend!" she motioned to Connie. "Connie, thiss iss Sakura, who has also recently become a magical girll," she began to introduce the two, but found it hard to ignore Sakura's comment, almost taking offense to it. "Drrunk?" she shook her head... a few times more than necessary. "I don't drink everrr!" she protested. "All I've had... iss lemonade! Oh, and some fruit juice that sssome girll gave me cus she couldn't finishhh it... but it didn't taste too good..."

“Oh! Um, h-hi there,” Connie said with a timid wave, after Emily introduced her pink-haired friend. “I-It’s, um, n-nice to m-meet you, Sakura.” she added, a little taken aback by the oddness of what she assumed was the girl’s magical girl outfit. And Mia thinks her outfit is embarrassing… she thought to herself. Mia had all that hair of hers to cover herself up with, and sometimes even a robe, like tonight, but this girl…

“Nonsense, you reek of booze. I can smell it in your breath. You can´t drink anything a stranger gives you, Emily. You might end up in one of the cages, dancing and not getting paid for it.” The bunny girl frowned, as she tried to help Emily maintain her verticality. She gave a piercing stare to the masked girl. “Haaah? You gonna kill me? “ She said, obviously mishearing Connie´s words. “Oh, wait. Yes, Nice to meet you, Mask-chan. Do you know the cocksucker bitch who spiked my Emily’s drink?”

“N-No… I c-can’t say t-that I do…” Connie repiled. “E-Emily a-already had it w-when we met. A-And… Ummm… C-Could y-you, u-um, p-please n-not c-call me t-that…? I-I’m k-k-kinda t-t-teriffied b-by t-that w-w-word…”

Emily placed a hand on Sakura’s shoulder. “Her name’sssss Connie, Sssakura!” It was a bit hard to take seriously given her speech, but Emily was apparently trying to scold Sakura. She looked over to Connie. “Pleasse forgive her, she doessn’t mean anything by ittt…” After saying such, she called back to the bartender and asked for another lemonade.

“Y’know, it would have been rrreally rrude to wassste it, ya?” she looked towards Connie as if asking her.

“Oh, um, I-I g-guess so?” Connie replied uncertainly, being rather unfamiliar with alcohol and its effects. “A-And, d-don’t worry,” she added reassuringly, “I-I k-know s-she w-wasn’t trying t-to be o-offensive… M-Most people r-react the same w-way, unfortunately… I-I g-guess it’s just s-s-somenting I have to t-try and d-deal with…”

Sakura raised an eyebrow, looking at Emily. "And you are supposed to be my senior, fucking god." The bunny girl shook her head in disappointment. "Oi, if she gonna be smashed gimme some sake." Sakura mentioned to the barman, who shook his head and offered him a juice too. "I said sake, dammit!" She grumbled as she eyed Connie, her eyes narrowing. "What, like mask? You are wearing one. Still kinda wimpy, Connie-chan. Coney. Oh i get it. Bun bun -chan it is. Coney is bunny, or something like that? " She paused.

Well maybe talking would help her calm down."So you new too, huh? Did you have a penis too but a little bastard took it, bunbun-chan? What were you before?"

“Y-Yeah… T-That “M” word r-really f-frightens m-me. I-It’s o-one of m-my p-phobias, and… W-What?!” Connie suddenly exclaimed in shocked confusion, the cheeks of her mask reddening. “N-No, I-I’ve always b-been a g-girl! J-Just a n-normal g-girl… W-Wait…” she added as horrific comprehension began to dawn. “Y-You mean t-that y-you weren’t a-always a g-girl?!”

“Oho~ Yer telling me dat yaaaaaa didn’t know?” Emily giggled, apparently getting even worse. “Y-yeah, not alllll magical girlsss were girlsss befo’! Ya got sssome guys’ n ya got some girlsss! Old an’ young, too! Dere’s little d’scrimnation ‘er anythin’...dey just want magical gals no mattuh what!”

“Emily, you´re losing your posture.” said Sakura before trying to avoid the intoxicated girl to slide down, vomit or both at the same time. “Yeh, I was a good ol 58 year old man, until some little fluffy jerk stole my manly jewels and told me to fry monsters with maaagic, Bunbun-chan.” Sakura paused. “Can´t see my buds, my wife, and have to spend my entire life being given headpats, saving half-digested girls from horrors, and watching Emily drown in her own puke. Still I guess, newbies should help each other.”

“O-Oh…! W-Wow…” Connie replied to Emily and Sakura’s revelations. “I-I’m s-so sorry t-to hear that… I-It s-sounds absolutely awful…” she told Sakura after hearing her tragic tale. “U-Ummm… S-Should we d-do something to h-help her?” she asked the pink-haired magical girl in regard to Emily’s plight.

Around this time was when the bartender returned with the drink Emily asked for. As he set the drink down on the counter, he couldn’t help but raise an eye. He only remembered serving her a lemonade, and it wasn’t spiked with anything. Why was this girl drunk? He, sadly, wasn’t being paid enough to bother asking, so he opted to remain quiet and resume taking orders from other people.

“H-helf? Iunno, I’m fine…! Justalittl’tipsyisall” she waved her hand horizontally in rejection to any such idea, but then hiccuped, sending a fleeting silhouette of flame in her shape out behind her. Despite its appearance, it was just warm, and didn’t really burn anything.

“Most of the time, we let people flush on their out on their own, but like this… It´s not like we can just wave our magical hands and wish for the alcohol to be gone, bunbun-chan.” She paused. “Or maybe…” The pink bunnygirl put on a pensative stance, before grabbing Emily and trying to lift her.

Only to fail.

“How much do you eat…” She wondered. “Come on, bunbun-chan, help me get Drunkmily get to one of those magical quacks. I think I at least know one” She added, thinking on Alexander.

“O-Okay!” Connie replied, gently putting one of Emily’s arms around her shoulders. “W-Where to, n-now?”

“What’re ya doin’, I’m not-I’m good! I’m… good!” Emily struggled against the two, but it was a rather pathetic attempt. “It was jussta littl’ juse izzall”

“We just need to find a good healer… I just know of one, bunbun… you?” Sakura said while trying to search for Alexander as she shouldered her weight too.

“W-Well, um, M-Mia can m-make some h-healing herbs, but s-she’s in the game room r-right now, s-so m-maybe w-we should try the p-person you know f-first,” Connie suggested as they began their search. It wasn’t the easiest thing, but it really didn’t bother Connie as much as it once might have.

A-At least I’m h-helping someone in n-need, Connie thought to herself. T-This feels a lot n-nicer than g-giving people n-nightmares… I c-can’t believe I’ve m-made so many f-friends in such a s-short time, she reflected, a small smile forming on her mask. I w-wonder if Mia is m-making any new friends, too...

---

“Perish, zombies! Fall before the fury of nature!” Gaia shouted as the final undead assault wave was repelled. “Yes! Gaia, Daughter of Mother Earth, is once again victorious!” the verdant magical girl exulted. “Now for the Endless Assault, where I shall not submit until I have attained at least fifty flags!”

“Pfft, fifty?” a contemptuous voice asked. Turning to face it, Gaia saw an average-looking girl with glasses. “I’ve easily gotten over a hundred!” the girl continued. “What’s your highest score? Seventy-five?”

“Ninety-seven,” Gaia replied pointedly. “And that is only because I was forced to stop playing and attend to more important matters.” She added indignantly. “If I had been permitted to continue, I am certain that I would have easily passed two hundred.”

“Lame,” the other girl said, while rolling her eyes. “But I guess that’s a valid excuse. My high score is one thousand and seven. Hey,” she added, seemingly having thought of something. “We’ve got plenty of time now, and I’m getting tired of beating the crap outta these losers,” she said, jerking her thumb at a collection of unhappy-looking girls gathered around one of the larger screens. “Why don’t we have ourselves a little challenge? You can see how a real pro does things, and I can laugh at your pathetic attempts to prove yourself. If you’re not chicken, of course.”

The girl then gave a smirk that was so smug and condescending, that it made the normally serene Gaia clench her hands into fists. For the other girl’s sake, she was thankful she was not in her human form, or she would have punched her lights out then and there. As it was, it took considerable effort to remain cordial to this little brat.

“Very well,” Gaia said as gracefully as she could manage, given her simmering fury. “Challenge accepted! May I be permitted to know the name of the one whom I have the honor of competing against?”

“I’m surprised you haven’t heard of me,” the other girl replied, placing her splayed fingers over her chest. “I’m only the number one best magical girl ever, but you can call me Angela, if that title’s too long for you.”

Best magical girl? Gaia thought to herself with contempt. Mother’s Mantel this girl has an ego… One that it shall be my great pleasure to crush, she added with a fierce smile.

“Oh my! The best magical girl!” Gaia exclaimed with mock awe. “It is such a great pleasure to make your acquaintance,” she added with a small bow, her voice dripping with false politeness.

“Wish I could say the same,” Angela replied dismissively. “Maybe I’ll show more interest in you if you actually do something to deserve it, but I sincerely doubt that will ever happen…”

With that, the contest began.

From the outset, it was easy to see that each player was employing their own, unique, strategy. Gaia began by planting as many Sunflowers as possible, and letting the Lawn Mowers and Pool Cleaners take care of the early zombies, only placing a defensive plant when absolutely necessary. After accumulating an impressive amount of sun, a defensive force composed primarily of Cob Cannons and Pumpkin-protected Gloom-Shrooms would take it from there.

Angela, by contrast, started out by placing Sunflowers in only the back two rows, while using Cattails and Wall-nuts to deal with early zombies, before creating a defensive force predominantly consisting of Gatling Peas. In another marked difference to Gaia, she would never build a single Cob Cannon. This was due to the next phase of her strategy, wherein she would then take advantage of game mechanics to use ladders dropped by ladder zombies to provide an extra level of protection for her plants.

Gaia was aware of this strategy, of course, and might have even employed it herself, had she been in her human form. As it was, however, she could not bear to see such a filthy object touch one of her precious plants any longer than necessary. What kind of a daughter of Mother Earth would she be if she did that?

“Y’know, I’ve roflstomped all the other idiots here so easily it nearly bored me to tears,” Angela commented. “I really do hope you can offer a bit more of a challenge.”

“I shall endeavor to not disappoint you,” Gaia replied, her pleasant tone concealing a bubbling caldron of rage.

“Wow, you’re using that strategy?” Angela observed. “I mean, it’s a good one, if you’re a total noob.”

Gaia clenched her teeth. This girl was seriously trying her patience. Did she actually want Gaia to attack her? Or, perhaps… Perhaps this was just another aspect of her strategy… Perhaps she was simply trying to distract her… After all, maintaining focus was a key skill for any gamer. Well, two could play that game…

“I am curious, Angela, do you hail from Penrose, or do you join us from abroad?”

“Oh, I’m just here for the rave,” the other girl explained. “When I heard how big a thing this was gonna be, I knew the Best Magical Girl just had to make an appearance.”

“Have you taken to the dance floor yet?” Gaia inquired. “I would imagine such a renowned magical girl as yourself would swiftly become the center of attention.”

“Oh, that comes later,” Angela replied. “I thought I should give all those tryhards out there a chance to have some fun, before I put them all to shame.”

“How magnanimous of you,” Gaia observed sardonically.

And so the contest continued. In contrast to Angela’s low maintenance build, Gaia’s Cob Cannon set up required constant focus and perfect coordination. This was because the Cob Cannons needed to be aimed manually, and had to be fired in a precise order, at just the right time, to attain maximum effectiveness. Although somewhat challenging, it was easy enough for Gaia to do this in her human form. With the sublime serenity and supernatural agility her magical girl form provided, she could literally do this all day. Or night, as the case may be. No, Gaia mused, she would not lose to this mouthy brat. Her honor as the Daughter of Mother Earth was on the line, and that was far more important to her than any mere video game. She only hoped no unforeseen distractions would bring an end to the contest before their flag counts reached the triple digits…

_@ERode

Seeing the girl’s ring helped Su relax. Since they were both in a relationship, she didn’t have to worry about getting hit on. Not that Su would normally be concerned about such things, but raves were strange places. Though Su did have to wonder how marriage worked with magical girls. Unless the shrine maiden’s spouse was a normal human, which had too many different implications to name. Though it was hard not to admire someone who respected their vows. She resisted the urge to point out Helga, if only because marriage could be a sensitive topic. Maybe once she felt her out a bit.

“Baijiu?” Her smile widened. Of course Su was familiar with the liquor. It was a product of China after all. “Thank you, but I’ll have to decline for the moment.” Baijiu could be anywhere between 80-120 proof. Not something she could handle on an empty stomach.

“Lei Zi? Ah, like the Chinese god of lightning, Leizi.” Su thought this magical girl was a little different than most. She seemed to be Chinese, just like her. Though she really hoped this one wasn’t another chuuni. “Well, you know how it is for us. Missionary, hotel manager, we’re doing it for our patrons.” She chuckled. “If Boteg felt safer in a shrine, I’m sure I’d be a missionary too.” The dragon lady folded her arms. “We use to travel a lot before he decided to settle down here. I do miss the changing scenery, but you can’t beat a home. Knowing you’ll have a place to sleep is great. Though I think I could have pick a better city.” Lei Zi wasn’t making much effort to maintain eye contact, and neither was Su. Her eyes were scanning the rave, keeping track of where her family was. “Does Tian Rong guides you to 'storms' because they want you to quell them?”



_{@Flamelord@FamishedPants}

When Trixy entered the rave, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to relax. Such a feat was impossible, given her very reason for going there was to carry out an operation. But Veronica’s most recent message over magicoms had her shaking with worry. She could handle operations. It was being forced to wait for things to unfold that upset her. Then there was Justine’s presence, the possibility of Katelynlying in wait, and Eliza confirming Maura’s grim prediction. But when she looked to Samantha, she appeared to be calm. It didn’t make Trixy’s worries go away, but it remind her that she was surrounded by the best of the best. If something happened, her fellow agents and her could handle it. Hopefully. With a sigh, she looked to the girls.

"Ehhhhhh heh!" Trixy used her sleeve to wipe some sweat off of her head. "A dance off? I don’t think that’s very beginner friendly." Though it seemed like Samantha was leaving for drinks. There was no getting out of this one. "Something to drink? Ah, how about a pizza?" Trixy was still a bit nervous. "I-I mean, something fruity! I don’t really know of many drinks. But yea! I think they were selling pizza slices too. Thanks Sam!" She watched Samantha vanished into the crowd.

That was when Alicia approached. "C-chaotic? Ha!" Trixy laughed and placed her hands on her hips. This was the girl she wanted to film, she just needed to be cool and she wouldn’t run off. "You must be new to these things. It’s normally so chaotic, why, you’d struggle to hear an assassination attempt. " Trixy placed a reassuring hand on Alicia’s shoulder. "This party is so lit, you might think that Justine was in attendance." Trixy chuckled to herself. "Why, I bet if Beacon showed up-" Oh, Samantha came back with a drink and pizza slice. Now the pizza slice that was not requested in the previous post. This has to do with the fact that Famished did not consider the possibility that Trixy would ask for such a thing. I mean who eats pizza before dancing? Trixy does, cause she hungry AF. If the Pizza was not purchased or prepared for any reason, just read through the rest of this post as Trixy being mildly upset. It’s a choose your own adventure now baby, you be the judge! Look I needed to sleep, you won’t make me feel bad about it.

"Ahhhh ~ <3" Trixy opted to enjoy her food without using her devour to consume it. The babe in blue seemed like she could freak out over watching her eat her meal in one go. So she just took a sip and a bite for now. Trixy nodded at Samantha before setting everything on a nearby table. "As you command, bringer of pizza and drink!"

Even in the fringes of the party, the floor was a bit crowded. There wasn’t a ton of room to do the jumps and spins that a normal ballerina could muster. But that hardly mattered to a magical girl. Trixy stretched one last time before getting a running start. She hopped, skipped, then leaped into the air. There were a lot of lights in the rave, and those lights had to be held up by sturdy brackets. While some were mounted directly to the ceiling, others needed plenty of clearance to function properly. It was on these brackets where Trixy had all the clearance she needed. After a dizzying array of spins and flips, she locked her legs around a vertical pole and hung upside down, grinning at her competitor below.



_{@Rune_Alchemist}

The caramel dance wasn’t difficult, but it was more complex than most people give it credit for. Sadly, rampant weebs who only watched the music video would have you believe the dance is far simpler than it actually is. Just a simple two step dance repeated for infinity. Mika was a weeb. Mika also bored easily.

“Mmmmm…”

This was stupid. Mika was aware of it. The main reason why she came here was because she knew it would get Su and Helga off her back. The fact of the matter was that neither Rina or Mika wanted to be here. They would have been just as happy doing something in the beach dimension. The music planet was at least a million times better than this dump, and she was sure Rina wouldn’t feel awkward about the whole thing. Heck, Rina offered to help clean her room, yet had reservations about coming to the rave. All Mika had gotten was a sympathetic head rub and a back handed comment about her dancing. If this was how the rest of the night was going to go, something had to change. That was when Mika sniffed the air a bit…

“That was fun!” She smiled at her dance partner, and her tag waived back and forth. “You know what would be really fun? If we played hide and seek!” She leaned forward and tapped Rina. “Boop! You’re it!” She didn’t even wait for a response before diving between some dancers. The cat girl shape shifted into whatever she needed in order to get through the heart of the rave. A panther, a snake, whatever shape squeezed through the easiest. In just a few seconds, Mika managed to blend into the rave. Though it was still possible to spot the occasional dancer looking at their feet. Something was moving around the rave, and it looked to be heading for Silhouette and the beacon girls.

At the far end of the warehouse a Minotaur girl extracted Penny’s drone from her cleavage, mainly to get out of her clothes, but also to get a better look at the thing that had fallen in her ‘shirt’. When she extracted the metal ball she gave it a curious look before shrugging and tossing it over her shoulder not seeing any reason to care about the metallic oddity.

She continued on her way to the bar before sitting down next to a towering horned girl who seemed to be knocking drinks back like they were water. “That’s two more already passed out” The Minotaur would say succinctly as she sat down “At this rate there’s not going to be any space in an hour” she complained as she sipped from a tumbler.

“Ya knew that this was going to be the case loooong before tonight” her drinking companion said briskly whipping her mouth with the back of her hand as she finished off another drink. “So why you complainin’ now? It’ll pay off once everything hits the fan and you know that”

“True” The smaller girl would let out a sigh “I would like the chance to enjoy my drink however”

“Drink faster”

Unseen to either of the girls now drinking at the bar, or most others within the rave, the metallic sphere that the Mino-girl had tossed over her shoulder never hit the ground. It stabilized itself midair before quickly rising to the ceiling before reopening the cover on its single lens. Penny had close it shut shortly after it came to rest within the sizable bust of the unnamed girl, figuring that if it would be open she would be much more likely to simply crush her drone before moving on.

Now that she was inside, and not being randomly assaulted, she ran a quick diagnostic while the drone floated over the crowd below.

“Eye is inside” Penny would relay to the Ascendency over the comms “Audio is a no go,” Which wasn’t much of a surprise, even if the real reason was more to do with the fact that the speaker on her drone had been damaged when it got kicked across the room “But I’ve got a good angle on the main room. Cindy is not present but I have visual on our girls” ‘And on Veronica’ she would confirm to herself, moments before noticing who it was that Veronica was talking too.

‘This just keeps building’ “Confirmation on Justine as well” She would add knowing that at this point there was very little that Penny could do to limit the damage for when this all kicked off. “I’m going to scout the rest of the premise, see if there are any more surprises in store for us.” She would inform them before she piloted the drone off towards the other rooms to try and get a full picture of where everyone was.

She had a bad feeling about all of this, and she was going to need an accurate layout of this place, and soon if she was going to be able to help when the all of this came to a head.

---

“No, don’t need anything” The solitary Aurelio clone in front of Hilaria would say giving the dark girl a measuring look. “Some advice, if you want it, is ignoring sudden and unexpected emotions like that tend not to be a good idea in the long run.” He would say before giving her a slight bow. “Have a nice night, and hopefully a good meal soon”
That clone would head back to his teammates, the ones who hadn’t run off, “Shall we continue ladies? I can catch up later after all” The Phone clone would wordlessly step back in line with the others, still tapping away at the phone.

Over at the park the real Aurelio was already moving to stand, as he could feel the panicked Dorothy barreling in his direction. It wouldn’t be long after he stood that he saw the two of them come racing across the rooftops. Another moment later and Dorothy was sprawled out in the dirt in front of him and it wouldn’t be a moment later then he would flow into action.

His can would be drawn and stabbed into the ground in one fluid motion. From the point of impact a large green shield would form from nothing blocking Kimble’s assault. At the same time behind the shield an area of Calm and Trust would settle as another Aurelio would fade into existence wearing a dark blue outfit.

Once Kimble came to a stop, even for a moment she would see the shield split open down the middle and Aurelio walk out of it wearing a rather annoyed look. “Alright, I think an Explanation is in order don’t you?” The magician would ask as he folded his arms across his chest. “How about you start with why your treating her like an enemy?

Behind the shield Dorothy would not see the shield open. She would instead just bear witness to two Aurelio’s talking with each other. “You think we are going to be able to calm Kimble?” asked the Blue clad one.

“I hope so. Shouldn’t be too much of an issue if it is the reason I’m thinking it is” The White one would say pivoting on his cane to face his blue clone.

“Odds on that being the case?”

“Longer then I would like them to be” He would answer with a sigh, before at last turning to face the, hopefully calmed, bunny girl. “Sorry about that. Not entirely sure why Kimble raced off after you like that, I’m hoping it’s just a holdover from her own purification. She used to a cat girl” he would explain with a warm smile as he sat down where he was.

“My name is Aurelio, as mentioned I’m in a position at Beacon where I can offer you purification without having to run it past anyone.” He would go on to say as he pulled a White Coin out of his jacket pocket “There are two options that we have at our disposal. The quicker route would be that you use this, though it does come with a catch, It will swap your patron over to Beacon” He would say holding the White Coin up so that Dorothy could see it “The other option is that we wait here for one of the purification team to reach us so that we can get a ritual set up. I’ve not called them, so right now it’s just you me and Kimble.”

“If you want to use the Coin I’ll pass it off to my clone” He would nod at the blue clad version of him “Who will carry it over to you. Then once you use it I’ll take you to HQ to help you go through the orientation. If you want to wait for the purification team I’ll sit with you and wait and once you’re turned back into a magical girl it’s your choice if you want to join Beacon to head you own way. No strings”

“So which option do you want to take?”

---

With a drink in one hand and her prize in the other Viva retreated back into one of the various side halls that dotted the building. She didn’t want to be interrupted, and she wasn’t sure if what she was going to do would spill out into the rest of the party, not that she would mind either way.

Once she was situated she reached into her Hammer space and pulled out the corpse of the lich she had helped take out a week ago. She would lay it out on the table, stopping for a moment to notice that there were sparks of a greenish magic flying off the body. A moment later she would simply shrug and turn her attention towards the red egg in her hand. It was such a simple looking thing, but Viva knew better then to assume that was all it had to offer.

In her hand was a gift, once she consumed it two things would happen for certain. One was the fact that Viva would no longer be without a Patron, the Second was that she would no longer be fully human, though it might take a bit of time for the energies of the egg to finalize her evolution to a Monster girl.

With one last moment of wonder Viva bit into the blood colored egg and drank freely of the blackened goo that was contained within it. At the first rush of corruption that swept through her she gave into her dark desires and began feasting on her prized meal. Any who had the misfortune of interrupting her would find themselves becoming her next meal if they weren’t lucky.

As luck would have it, the well spring of corruption would be contained within the room that Viva had chosen, locked in due to the overpowering Aura of the Monster Queen elsewhere within the building. Otherwise the corrupting influence could have caused who knows how much chaos.

"Not the name granted to me by my parents, mind you," Lei Zi responded with a half-smile. "Just a title passed down from my predecessors." It was dangerous, always, to share one's real name within the magical community, after all. Though the veterans may have outlived their loved ones by now, those of the blood always ran the risk of some monster or the other tracking down their mundane relatives and exacting unequal vengeance.

Boteg though. That was a name she hadn't heard in some time. One of the last of the Sunscorched Dragons of the West, no? Tian Rong, hidebound and serpentine as he was, still educated each previous maiden on the existence of other dragons within this plane of existence, and Lei Zi had been no exception here. To think that such a rare dragon would be housed within the same city...Penrose certainly lived up to its name. The woman hid her surprise with another sip of her cup, the sharp taste cutting through her moment of contemplation.

"A home is nice, but alas, if I linger too long without fulfilling my rites, my Patron will be keeping everyone up at night with his thunder. Considering the amount of corruption here though, your patron certainly could certainly find a better place to stake his claim. Unless that endling prefers to be caught up in everyday maelstroms?" The priestess laughed at that. She wasn't so drunk yet, but she was certainly a bit more relaxed, even as the tension in the room crackled like the rain before the first bolt.

"My role, unfortunately, is not nearly so benevolent. If this was the planting season, I would doubtlessly have much more genial duties to attend to, but for this rave, this convergence of opposing forces...I suspect he wishes me to partake, rather than to quell."


No response from Eden. No questions, no concerns. Dolly bowed once more to the silent girl, before disintegrating, leaving nothing behind. And from the absence of one, came the prescence of another.

Between Justine and Veronica, a form emerged from the ether, manifested within an instance of inattention. A pale girl with gleaming eyes, dressed in gothic attire that seemed to eat away at the myriad of lights within the rave. Her back faced the vampire; she hardly seemed aware of what scene she had intruded upon. Folding her hands over her abdomen, she bowed towards Veronica.

"Vermillion," Dolly spoke. Her tone was neutral, quiet, yet still carried beyond the raucous din of the rave. "The implements have been prepared. Shall we conclude our contract?"

While their “real” counterparts were enjoying a dance competition, Shade and Dusty were just taking in the sights. A rave wasn’t the most romantic place in the world, but there was a certain beauty to the way the place was lighted. This space would be just as interesting if it was just the two of them.

”Looks like Trixy’s loosening up a bit.” It was hard not to notice Trixy swinging along the ceiling mounts like an acrobat. ”We could dance, but you’d have to show me some moves. I never really got into the dance thing.”

Shade nodded with a smile. “Leave it to me! An idol has to know how to move her body to the music, just like any cutie should!” the silhouette struck a pose… and then deflated. “Oh, well now that I think about it… I only know idol routines,” she glanced at the crowd, of which a majority who were dancing were more or less just flailing about. It was somewhat unsightly. “Probably not practical to learn in this setting.”

”Really?” Dusty shrugged, but kept her smile up. ”Well, if you say so. Lets get something to eat and drink instead. I’m always up for eating!”

Dusty took Shade’s hand and walked towards the bar. They were nowhere near the center of the party, so it was easy to move about. A colored spot light occasionally crossed their path, but they largely walked in darkness.

”Come to think about it, I don’t know what you are, Shade.” Dusty tightened her grip on Shade’s hand. ”I mean you’re made from Samantha somehow, but you seem so different! I don’t think she knows anything about being an idol, and yet here you are.” She winked. ” What’s the secret?”

Shade chuckled in response to the inquiry. "You'd be surprised at what she knows!" she passed by a few partygoers as she spoke. "After all, she was Shade long before I ever was." It was hard to see in the sporadic lighting, but Shade wasn't smiling. She made sure this somberness did not show in her voice, however. "But, um, I'm just her shadow in both a literal and figurative sense, if you want an actual answer. Isn't it ironic since she's the dark one?"

Dusty stroked her chin. ”So you behave like a younger Sam then? There was a time she was all about fashion, looking cute, and all that stuff?” In contrast to Shade, Dusty was glowing, absolutely captured in a state of euphoria.

"Younger Sam?" Shade giggled at the thought. "Not in the least! If I acted like that, we wouldn't be talking at all! She was even less approachable if you can believe it!" the shadow explained to her clone date. "She was like a robot until recently, only caring about doing things that helped her survive and work. So, um... If I had to guess I would be a result of that changing?" Shade didn't seem too sure of it herself. "The spooky one is a lot more obvious than I am."

Dusty chuckled. ”So it was only recently that she grew interested in this stuff?” Dusty brushed her hair back. ”Well, there’s nothing wrong with being a shadow. At least it’s pretty easy to tell the two of you apart.” Dusty pointed at her eye patch. ”If I wasn’t wearing a different eye patch or using this voice, I doubt anyone could tell me apart from Trixy. You at least have an identity outside of Sam. You’re the cuter of the two, if I’m being honest.”

"I'd tell you not to say that in front of Sam, but I don't think she's at the level where she could get jealous over that. I'll just thank you for the compliment instead!" she gave Dusty a quick peck on the cheek, which made trixy’s double blush. Then she backed off. "But about that other thing... it's difficult to become an idol when you're not entirely your own person, you know? Do you really not mind that you're tied to a 'real' you?" she asked.

”Even if I was, I can’t change the facts, you know?” Dusty rubbed her cheek, and her smile got wider. ”I have all of Trixy’s memories and life experiences. It’s as if I lived them myself. I just happen to inherently know I’m the duplicate and she is the original.” She looked a bit more serious once she stopped rubbing her cheek. ” It feels more like there was a time divergence, and now there’s two of me walking around. Perhaps computer files feel this way when they get copied? I don’t really feel like a duplicate even if I know I am.” Dusty looked at her outstretched hand.

"It's different for me, though." she sighed. "Samantha and I are technically one person, but we're two individuals. I know all of her memories and all of her feelings, but they're hers and hers alone," she noticed the bar was coming up. "We're not the same. I understand how she thinks, but I don't think the same way as she does. Even with the same knowledge and abilities, we'd reach a different conclusion. So to me, all of these memories and feelings are foreign. They're not mine, and it makes me aware of how little I've seen or done by myself."

Shade cleared her throat awkwardly. "I didn't mean to get too serious there, sorry. We should be focusing on enjoying food, drinks, and the party! Besides, in essence, I just want to be able to make my own memories, so that's what we're gonna do, right?"

Dusty nodded with a smile. ”We’ll try! I need to fuse with Trixy in order to pass my memories onto her though. If I go poof, so do all of my experiences.” Dusty looked away and rubbed the back of her head. ”Which is a non-issue unless things get really crazy.”

"Speaking of crazy..."

Shade stopped when they reached the bar, her focus now on a drunk, teary-eyed girl and an older man. She willfully ignored the unpleasant implications that would typically arise from such a situation but had no context to go on. "Hey! Making girls cry is terrible!" she chided the older man, but looked at the girl he was with. "Is he bothering you?"

For a while, Vi simply stared at the message she received, trying to calculate the risk of relying on him. Was it safe to use a dolt like him? Or would it be better to ignore him? As her anxiety built up, she took a deep breath, and made her decision.

"To summarize, a lot of people are gonna gun for me when I make my appearance, so protect me until my show’s done, okay? If you’re a good boy, I’ll even let you come to the backstage, so I’m counting on you~"

After she sent the message, she programmed the sensors on the backstage door to permit Aurelio in after the show, and took one last look in the mirror. She might have come off as desperate, but when it was for the sake of her survival, it didn’t matter. She had planned for everything, even the PI. She would survive.

"It’s showtime."

---

Cindy made a step towards the back of the side hall when Tetrad spoke up, turning back with a quizzical look. “Intended to fail?” She asked, baffled by the girl’s logic. “How would you interpret that as nothing but an attempt on my life?” Cindy crossed her arms and tapped her foot, causing little sparks to bounce on the floor. Ronin seemed to agree as well based on her response, resulting in her thinking twice about it. “It is true that they tend to use death squads more than single soldiers...but they might change their tactics given a secluded location like this party.”

Her eyebrows furrowed upon hearing the suggestion Tetrad gave.
“A trap? I suppose it is not impossible...” She looked confused, unsure of what to believe. “Indeed,” she answered Lotus while Tetrad performed her divination, a hand holding her chin. “To assume the title of a papal power, they must consider themselves akin to the gods. But such false divinity will fall before the Thunderbird’s wrath.”
Then Reaver spoke, in turn casting doubt on Tetrad’s timing. “Such treachery around me...” She mumbled, her eyes having turned to blank blue as she was deep in thought. As she pondered,
she glanced at Shane, and then at Goblina. The monster girl nodded in turn. “Take a right and go to the end of the hallway,” she explained to Shane. “She was taken to the room on the left. Tell Jane that Cindy had sent you to interrogate the assassin.”

Meanwhile, Cindy smiled at both Ronin and Reaver’s enthusiasm to join her, and felt Faith’s eyes upon her. But still, the circumstances were strange. It was a real risk that it was a trap…

...But then, she heard Ronin’s voice, brimming with valor and courage. She was the very epitome of a warrior, her smile bright as she would charge into the thickest battle. Her example inspired Cindy.

Nobody would follow a cowardly queen.

“There’s no time for dallying!” Cindy bombastically announced, holding a finger up. “The enemy expects me to hide myself away, waiting for others to fight my battles for them. But they are wrong, for I shall lead the charge! For I am the queen of Penrose, protector of the people!” Goblina looked pumped up. “Your Highness!” Cindy went up to the back wall where the bar was, and pulled on one of the bottles; it was a disguised lever that caused a section of the wall to shift, revealing a secret passage. She turned to Faith. “You may accompany us on our quest as well; It is an opportune time for me to see how the Outer Alliance protects the people.Now, let us go, to banish the invaders! For Penrose!” She shouted, and like a flash of lightning, dashed into the passage, followed by Goblina riding on the centaur monster girl.

Tetrad gained an impression from her divination: the phone and bracelet were obtained by the girl from someone else, most likely within the day. Shane had entered the interrogation room, the door guarded by Jane. It was here where the Beacon assassin was locked up in one of the go-go-cages sitting on the floor. She had just woken up. “Uhh...Huh?” She mumbled, looking disoriented.

---

Kimble’s sickle bounced off the green shield, and the former catgirl nearly hissed before stopping herself. “Huh? What are you doing?” Kimble asked angrily, before the emotion magic pacified her, causing her to blink. “But she is a monster girl, and-” she attempted excusing herself, only to realize her folly. She floated down, looking apologetic. “I suppose Mistress would have let her go...” She still kept glancing cautiously towards Dorothy as she floated a few inches off the earth, letting Aurelio handle the talking. Maybe she was abandoned too...I got so mad, I didn’t think of that...Mistress will definitely scold me after.

---

Nuncio’s cat, using enhanced agility and stealth, approached warehouse q. It was surrounded by corrupted girls dressed in lback leather jackets and dusters, patrolling the perimeter with eagle eyes. The cat managed to sneak by them, and entered the warehouse. There, it would discover that there were numerous crates stacked, marked with all kinds of logos and writings you’d expect from shipping companies. However, the fact they were all in one place, seemingly sorted at random, hinted at something shady lurking underneath.
“Twerp’s still not talking?” One of the Mint agents asked another as they walked between shelves. “Yeah. We’ve given the standard procedure; a couple of punches and kicks, and shining a light at her,, but with no proper equipment or training it’s useless. A new interrogator’s coming tomorrow; then we might get shifted to new assignments.”
The other one sighed in relief. “Finally. We’ve been stuck here for who knows how long. Pay’s not terrible but I’m not getting any progress on my debt like this.”
“You’re not the only one-” Suddenly, the sound of an alarm began blaring out, as Nuncio’s cat stepped over a magical invisible trip wire.
“It’s a Beast spy! Kill it!”

---

Though she walked forward with charisma and grace, Justine’s bright red eyes stayed affixed on Eli’s quivering form with mad intensity, her smile wide and threatening.
However, just as her sharp claws were about to reach the slime girl, she was intercepted by an imposing figure, causing Justine to scoff.
“Vermillion Veronica. I had a feeling we would meet again,” she stated, examining her with her crimson orbs. She smiled at her quip.
“I am above such simple classifications, Veronica dear,” she answered in a sophisticated fashion, and tipped her tiny hat in a mocking fashion.
“I am much more than a mere vampire. An ex-Mint like you should know such basic facts~”
She glanced towards Eli, and she smirked.
“Oh, I decided to pay a little visit, for old times’ sake. See the sights, catch up with old friends...Like your mistress.” She giggled, and sipped on a fancy martini glass Sonia offered to her.
“So here’s my offer: lead me to where Mariette Pedersen is, and I will spare you from a fate worse than death. Very simple, isn’t it~?”

---

FanFan seemed to be an expert ballerina, tippy toeing across the floor with her arms raised in perfect posture, her single-legged spins and leaps in the air as graceful and light as they were balanced, enjoying the dancing competition she had with Trixy. “I must say, I have never felt such freedom before!” She shouted after she performed a perfect split. “To express myself without being judged by others: it is a dream come true!”

Lily had once again taken a break from dancing, and went over to see how Alex was doing.
”I thought that Connie girl was scary, but she and her friend Mia turned out to be really nice!”
She explained, sipping on a new juice.
”Want me to introduce you to them? They said they’d be at the game hall, so maybe-”

At that moment, the lights slowly dimmed, and the music’s volume lowered down. Lily blinked rapidly, and spastically looked around. Soon, someone screamed:

“Oh my god, it’s Vi-chan!”

All eyes were drawn to the stage, where a single spotlight now shone. A slender leg peeked out, causing the crowd to holler and whistle. The leg retreated, music began slowly building up and about ten seconds later, pyrotechnics brightened the hall and showy floor-crawling smoke began pouring out. Then, the curtains were pulled open, revealing Vi-chan: she wore a flashy idol costume, and flashed a peace sign with one hand as she stepped up to greet the roaring crowd.

"Welcome to my party, everyone! I’m so glad to see so many of my fans here tonight! Now, let’s rock out, and make some noise!’"

Then, she began singing and dancing. It was a mesmerizing performance, the crowd cheering at full volume as she twirled and stepped in perfect rhythm to the music. The music was even more intoxicating than before, rocking everyone listening to their very cores as it was delivered from loudspeakers in every corner of the building. The lyrics called to forget your inhibitions and morality, and to fully express who you are, no matter how ugly or nasty, to fully indulge in your every desire.
The song resonated the most with corrupted girls, causing their Mental Mutations to flare up, like an animal instinct that welled up from inside. Warrior girls found themselves punching the nearest face, and Devourers began chugging down bottles and breaking them.
The cages began swinging back and forth as the girls in them howled in madness, joining the chorus of the song. One of them fell down, crushing a dark magical girl underneath.

Nobody noticed, enraptured by the call of the Dark Rave.

Rachel continued channeling her spell outside as she noticed the clamor coming from her cameras. “Report status! What the hell is happening in there!” She saw a glimpse of Vi-chan on one of the cameras, and she adjusted her glasses.

“Target confirmed. Send in the purge squads. Nobody else goes in or out.”

Alexander was just about to tease Lily for being worried before, when all hell broke loose. Either raves were much crazier then he expected, or this 'Vchan' was doing causing a bunch of the guests to go nuts. As one magical girl that he had never seen before decked him in the face and then started strangling him, he decided to put it to the test. Grabbing her head, he started filling her with purifying magic, and soon the crazed look in her eyes vanished as she stopped strangling him "W-what was I doing!?"

"No time for questions! I don't know how long you have till that bitch takes control of you again, so you need to get out of here!"

She nodded "R-right!" Alexander gave her one last jolt of cleansing magic before she covered her ears and ran off

"Alright!" Alexander turned to Lily "So she's clearly evil, or insane, so we have to stop her. I don't think I can heal everyone in here while she's keeping that song up, so we need to take her down fast. If you have that ring I made for you then now is the time to give it a test run. Meanwhile, I'll supercharge you with my magic, and you can Alpha Strike that bitch, got it?"