---

For the shortest of seconds, Acid Drop wondered if she was bad at explaining things. But that went away when she saw Oros begin rolling sandballs across the beach. Her plan was good, that would certainly attract attention, though that meant the boss would probably get mad at them all later. Or worse, more magical girls would show up to town. But that was an issue for their future selves. For now, Nyxia wanted her to get to work, so she did. As the shape in front of the crowd formed and unformed, she began to pour some of her magic into the blood and the sand. It wouldn't be as good as being ingested, but the presumable coming contact would be better than nothing.

Acid Drop glanced at Earthshaker, wondering what she was going to do. Well, it didn't really matter as long as it was something to keep the crowd from running too far. It didn't take a long time before the sculpture was full of magic and primed with fear, panic, and anxiety. She didn't quite think that panic was a good idea, but hey, that's what her club-mate had requested. Just to be safe, she also went around the crowd to the other side, ready to try to stop any runners, or make contact to up the emotional tension should the need arise. She waved at Nyxia and gave a thumbs up.

---

The trip was an disaster in regards to Roche's self esteem, respect, and any feeling she had authority over the club. She might have felt better just laying under a mound of toads with Suki up on the mountain. But from adversity comes opportunity, and while they didn't respect, the group did at least make an attempt to make her slipshod plan come together.

Suki's use of blood filled sand balls was an inspired application of her powers, and Roche could already imagine what kind of damage she could do if she got into the habit of using her blood to integrate debris and other objects into her attacks. But more than that was watching the most self destructive girl she'd ever met actually work on a piece of art.

It was like seeing a delinquent biker stop to work on flower arrangements. A surreal experience that had Earthshaker watch enraptured. Of course there was no real artistic vision, but as an absurd expressionist rendition of Suki's spontaneous imagining it captured hearts and minds with startling speed. A crowd was forming, drawn by the inexplicable sight before them, and over their heads Earthshaker could see Tsubomi charging the blood of the statue with her magic. The blood might serve a better medium then salt water, so it was a better call over all.

What was more shocking was that none of them ever thought to empower Suki's blood with those emotion powers....though then again, no wanted Suki to have an easier time molesting them if the mood struck her.

Nyxia made her presence known with an angled laser from above, sending the statue gushing outwards like a popped zit, blood splashing over the crowd. The immediate reaction to run away would take only seconds to kick in, but even without Tsubomi prepared in a odd display of initiative that warmed Roche's heart, the track captain was ready.

Back in magical attire she stood before the crowd as they turned and lifted her foot. A might slam downwards sent ground shaking force downwards, followed swiftly by the other foot. Stamping her feet in an irregular beat, discharging all her stored energy to simulate a localized earthquake. Terrified bystanders fell to the sand, unable to rise and flee while finding a whole new reason to fear for their lives.

Of course, even if it was her name, she couldn't keep it up forever as her tattoos dimmed with energy thrust into the ground, but it would keep them concentrated together and heighten the effect of the drug with a tangible threat.

The harebrained plan that Roche had laid out was starting to shape up. But much like the mass of sand Suki was "sculpting," it was unclear if the new additions were building up to something good, or more disappointment.

Nyx's requests were a little on the questionable side. Suki never thought very much about how exactly any of the other girl's magics worked, and the it was clear that nobody really knew the nuances of how it all worked. Suki couldn't make "tons of blood" as Nyxia had requested, as every drop had to come out of her own body. She could certainly bleed a lot more than most people, but there was a reason why, even when significantly harmed, she had never tried to turn her blood into a tank or anything much larger than her tendrils. Blood, hers specifically, was the medium that her weapon allowed her to manipulate. Her magic was touch-based emotion manipulation. Though onlookers would be forgiven for thinking that her blood tendrils were a form of magic that she employed. The best thing she could do to meet Nyxia's demands was to continue building a large sculpture and place herself inside it. Once Suki gathered enough sand, she moved to the top of her creation and started to wall herself inside of it.

Then Acid Drop added her emotion magic to her blood. Suki was a resilient magical girl, so she didn't fly into a panic. This was another situation where Suki didn't fully understand how Acid Drop functioned. She didn't want to use her stored up emotions, but apparently she could still use her magic to change emotions. Was it like two separate systems, with one running on collected emotions and the other using her mana? Resistant as Suki might be, the dread and panic of Acid Drop's magic worked its way into her mind, making her worry about the success of the plan.

At first, Nyxia was pleased to see that her ostensible teammates were following her instructions, but the Neon Tempest’s eyes widened a moment later as she watched Oros place herself at the center of the sand sculpture and begin piling even more damp sand around where she was standing. Ever a highly anti-social individual who would always work alone if given the choice, Nyxia didn’t have even the slightest idea of the specifics of how her fellow dark magical girls’ abilities functioned, so it should have come as no surprise that the Neon Tempest didn’t realize that this was the only way Suki could generate anywhere near the amount of blood she had demanded.

Still, despite how unexpected the move was, it did little to change Nyxia’s plans. If anything, the blood witch’s presence at ground zero of her impending lance of incandescent devastation was an added bonus, and Nyxia doubted the perverted pinkette would be seriously hurt by the blast in any case. After all, she couldn’t make her attack too strong, or else most of the blood would be vaporized before it could rain down on the hapless masses of beachgoers, and they certainly couldn’t have that…

Look out below, bitch.

With a savage smirk, the airborne Neon Tempest sent her teal death ray streaking down right onto Suki’s head…

When the lazer struck its target, blood was launched in all directions. Suki’s body soared among the flying droplets and rolled across the beach. All of the bystanders, which was most of the beach, was splattered with blood. Once the first few pedestrians recovered from the lazer shot, the air was filled with screams as the victims ran for their lives. That was before Acid Drop’s magic kicked in, which raised the level of fear to a point of utter hysteria. Sand wasn’t an amazing medium for an earthquake, but Roche’s stomps did cause most of those nearby to stumble as they were blasted with shifting sands.

In the coming days, the news would report on a freak storm that ruined a sand sculpture exhibit. The shaky ground and “lightning bolt” would be attributed to a freak storm, and the bloodstains would be explained away as little more than copper stained water For now though, everyone was living inside a nightmare where sculptures could explode into fountains of blood. Parents searched for their children, children cried for their parents, the young ran and some of the old passed out due to fright. Even those that hadn’t gathered were driven to fear as the cries of the masses brought about their animalistic urges to flee.

Maybe some of the dark magical girls delighted in this display of panic, but what of their reward?

For all the effort that had gone into it, there were no large changes. No darkening sky, no change in the waves, not even a stir of dark energy. The cries of panic continued, but that was all.

Suki was a full octopus now. She had eight bloody tentacles that dragged her across the beach. Being hit by two high powered attacks back to back didn’t make for the most pleasant beach going experience. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was some blood. There were burns that went from the back of Suki’s head to the base of her back, and she was half bald from the effects of the death ray. Everything hurt, and the sand only agitated her wounds as it worked its way into her charred flesh.

Then it happened. In broad daylight, miseria started to crawl out of the sea. Not super mega ultra miseria, but the regular variety that they had encountered so many times by now. But there were a lot of them. Was this all of them, or merely the first wave of something much stronger? The entire beach was lined with them, and more were coming out. None of the hunts in Hibusa town had been nearly this big, but how often did dark magical girls go to the beach to hunt negative emotions?

Not only were they more numerous, but they were more focused as well. The black swarms barrelled towards the beach goers, their black bodies tumbling through the sand like bags of garbage rolling down a hill.

---

It turned out that Acid Drop wouldn't have to do the running around she had expected. She probably wouldn't have been able to anyway, with Earthshaker taking her name literally right nearby. The girl with the rainbow hair found herself stumbling around for a few moments as what could only generously be called a "plan" worked itself out. Nyxia, perhaps predictably, chose to injure her club-mate in her attempt to summon enemies that would require her victim to help fight. Watching as her magic made things even less under control than they would be anyway, Acid Drop couldn't help but wonder if acquiescing to Roche was the right decision. People were running, at least those that weren't falling over from the ground shaking, and it looked like there wasn't going to be a payoff other than that, after all.

By the time Earthshaker stopped doing what she was best at, Tsubomi could already see that her partner was in pretty rough shape. If there was going to be any Miseria showing up, the chance of the four of them stopping everyone on the beach from getting hurt was minuscule. So instead she chose to go to Oros and pick her up. She was just about to position her piggyback when the Miseria did start to show. No boss monster, yet at least, but way more than she felt would be beatable with the now only three dark magical girls who could fight.

Still, she carried Oros over to the remaining beach-goers, and made a quick request. "... Is there any chance you can restrain everyone, so they don't get in the way?" She hadn't looked away from the coming waves of the black masses, but she knew that if it were possible, then Oros would make it happen. Maybe not in the most efficient or effective way, maybe somehow that would end up being more trouble, but that didn't matter right now anyway. Oros wouldn't be able to fight, and as far as Acid Drop knew nobody there could heal her.

Pulling her weapon from her sleeve, and still staring at the approaching enemies, Acid Drop directed her next words toward Earthshaker and Nyxia. "Next time, let's think for, I don't know, maybe five seconds instead of two."

This place could go fuck itself.

No, seriously. Initially, Ember thought that they could uncover some local magic or perhaps that the source of weird rumours in this town would turn out to be one of their own Dark girls. Then, she could have proceeded to sink her claws into said girl’s skull and convince her to join the Detention club. After all, they were in need of new members with the recent encroaching of the Light girls onto their territory. Unfortunately, countless days of investigations turned up worse than nothing.

They only found mere urban legends or whispers with no power. There was not enough fear for Ember to seize, nor were there enough Miseria on the streets, the little buggers almost completely absent. The four could barely sustain themselves on the energies here, never mind gain power. And so it was time to move back to Hibusa city with nothing to show for their search; they had already expended too much effort in pursuit of nothing.

Schrade would not likely not be happy about it.

“At least we stretched our legs,” commented Hotaru while as Sylvia collected their belongings. “Won’t you reconsider the beach?” She tried her best to colour her voice as though she were asking the rest of them with puppy-dog eyes. Fortunately, she had an ally on her side.

“Hotaru has a lovely idea,” added Ember with a smile bordering on the indulgent. “I think you girls deserve some time in the sun. You have earned it.”

“And I could go diving!” Hotaru all but vibrated in excitement as she spoke, the feeling transmitting to Sylvia as well, who could only arrest her fingers after they clenched – but before they could raise into the air as Hotaru commanded.

“Only through an Oss, Hotaru,” warned Sylvia while she picked up her towel. She was the only one who remained neutral, her tone even. “We don’t have the equipment and we shouldn’t be losing bodies out here.”

“I am sure that Hotaru will do just fine.” Ember’s smile continued unabated. “We could get some ice cream and forget about this whole thing, too!”

“Ice cream would be bad for our health... if I weren't a magical girl who likes ice cream!” Hotaru’s smirk was palpable as she spoke and the three laughed at the joke. Even Sylvia smiled as she finished packing her bag. Running through her mental list one last time to see if she had everything in order, she borrowed a bit of Hotaru’s strength to lift her luggage. They were ready to go; they only had to lock the door.

However, as Sylvia stepped into the hallway, she sensed something in the distance. More specifically, towards the beach. It almost felt as though it were a pinch of magic, used in a familiar way. Surely, though, her sisters-in-arms could not be here, could they? They had their own things to do, or if they were just here on a vacation – oh how Ember envied that thought! – they would not have used their magic like this.

A small frown made its way onto Sylvia’s face. She tried to put one foot in front of another, but she kept trying to listen to the murmurs of magic with the help of the others. Indeed, as they paid close attention, they could make out a rough individual pattern of something big in the making. It almost felt as though it were some sort of ritual gaining in strength, the emotions of passerbies joining in one by one. Something had to have caught the attention of several hundreds of people at least for this to be plausible.

But what was it? Sylvia leaned even closer so she could try to make it out.

It erupted into a maelstrom of malice and panic.

Head ringing from the sudden surge, Sylvia felt herself collapse onto her knees. Only the quick reflexes of Hotaru saved her from sliding down the stairs as the shockwave hit her head on. Like the buzzing of rotting, swarming flies, it towered over her; thousands of voices shouting over each other in panic, trying to find something – anything, really – to hold onto, but only finding more terror in each corner. And of course, what followed was an all too familiar feeling of pitch sliding down her throat.

“I’ll take over,” said Hotaru, suddenly all business.

“No,” replied Sylvia, her voice barely above a whisper even in the mindscape they shared. “This… this is too big for one of us.”

“Looks like vacation’s cancelled,” sighed Ember as she conveyed pinching her nose in frustration, her teeth braced in a grimace. “I really wanted you girls to relax a little…”

“Is… is that really wise?”

“You’ve sensed it too, Sylvia. We’re not alone.”

“That’s right. None of us are ever alone,” Ember reached out towards the shuddering Sylvia, trying her best to convey warmth through the space. She lifted Sylvia’s hands to have them embrace the girl, with a motherly frown on Ember’s face. “We’ve left that behind. And even if it’s just the three of us, this is an opportunity.”

“You are… you are right. I… I don’t know if I can be with you but… good hunting,” said Sylvia as she used the last of her strength to become one with the others, allowing Takae Shuuko to step forth once her consciousness ceased.

Nyxia paid little mind to the charred and battered husk of Oros as the blood witch pitifully crawled away, nor did she bother to acknowledge Acid Drop’s surprisingly snide comment about not thinking. Maybe this result wasn’t exactly what she’d been hoping for, but the Neon Tempest wanted Miseria to slaughter, and now she had them, so as far as the teal-haired terror was concerned, their plan had been a success.

“Hahahahaaaa!” Nyxia laughed in psychotic glee as she aimed the Omega Obliterator to fire a flanking shot along the advancing line of Miseria. “See that, baby?! It’s a fucking feast! So EAT UP!!!”

Squeezing the trigger of her massive weapon and pumping her magic into it at a prodigious rate, the Neon Tempest unleashed a writhing, crackling torrent of glowing teal annihilation, the death ray’s quartet of newly formed supplementary barrels sending ancillary streams to pour into and further engorge the already sizable primary cylinder of ruinous energies as it cut a swath of devastation along the beach. Indeed, the tubular technomantic tendril served as a barrier in its own right, remaining in place to vaporize each successive wave of the seemingly endless tide of Miseria emerging from the sea after completely disintegrating the first with contemptuous ease. Simultaneously, any Miseria that might have somehow managed to get past this kill zone would find themselves subjected to a hail of lesser, yet still potent energy beams disgorged by a pair of hovering weapon drones that resembled larger versions of the Neon Tempest’s octahedral hair decorations.

“That’s right you fucking shit stains!” Nyxia cried as dozens of Miseria burst apart into clouds of swiftly dissipating mist in rapid succession. “Die for me! Die! Die! DIEEEE!!!”

---

Seeing the plan....well, seeing the vaguely coordinated efforts of everyone come together and produce a tangible result was almost enough to make Roche forget that they now had to protect all the terrified beach goers they'd gathered up. Her heart beat with elation to see such a bounty of Miseria but it would really go beyond the pale if things turned into a bloodbath after all their efforts.

And judging by the smell of burnt pork and vaporized blood, Earthshaker was going to have to do something really nice for Suki as well.

There were two saving graces to the whole assault by the Miseria. Firstly, the approached from one direction and with great focus towards their gathering of emotionally unstable civilians. It was as best as they could hope for in setting the terrain to their advantage without terraforming the land itself.

Second, Nyxia didn't have to restrain herself in the least when shooting out towards the open ocean, and she was all too happy to reap a bloody harvest of the encroaching Miseria.

But they were a single minded wave, and even her lasers couldn't exist as a single wall to hold back the sea of tumbling monsters. Earthshaker's reserves were low, but with so many approaching she'd be bursting with energy shortly.

"Time to do what we do best!" With an energized shout she leapt over Oros and Acid Drop, her shield materializing on her arm as she slammed herself bodily into the nearest encroaching flank of the swarm. Light blazed across her skin as forms were flattened to a pulp against her hide bound shield, caught between Earthshaker in front and the creatures at their back. The light then winked out as she released the energy into a blast forwards, Miseria reduced to smudges against the sands directly before her while those further back were broken and sent tumbling like bowling pins.

This was what a Magical Girl excelled at, and Roche felt her confidence building as she pivoted and blasted off, hurling herself into the next encroaching sweep of Miseria that circumnavigated the fanning lasers battering the horde.

Oros hardly reacted when Acid Drop lifted her up and placed her with the traumatized beach goers. It wasn't until she asked if Oros could keep them restrained that her head twitched and met Acid's gaze. She said no words but gave a slight nod. Her tendrils coiled around as many of them as she could manage. Despite their clear distress, Suki didn't react to any of it. They hollered and collapsed to their knees in despair, but Oros kept her eyes pointed at the approaching mob.

Miseria were dumb, but they weren't complete fools. Even with the erratic curving and swaying of Nyxia's lazer, some miseria would find a way through. They would jump over her beams, roll past her drones, or simply be too numerous to be fully contained. That allowed Roache to act as a second line of defense, catching anything that slipped by and mashing it into the ground. Despite the miseria being no different than what they usually fought, annihilating them felt different. With each one that was destroyed, each dark magical girl on the beach would feel just a little bit stronger for it. It didn't matter who killed them either. Even as Oros laid there with the beach goers, the bags under her eyes were getting noticeably lighter. What made these miseria different than the ones back home?

But even Nyxia and Roache couldn't deal with all of them. Eventually some would slip by and Acid Drop would have to deal with them. And while she was capable of defeating a few of them, some would inevitably find a way past her and to the last line of defense. That was Oros.

Oros clasped her hands around the first one's head. Its many eyed mask swirled inside its inky body, and she couldn't help but be captivated. She didn't know much about miseria, nobody really did. Apparently they were made of dark emotions, which was why dark magical girls could get stronger by defeating them. But Oros felt a strange kinship with the creatures. How could anyone possibly love such disgusting creatures? Even now, it was oozing all over her hands and lacked any traits that made them attractive. Not exactly hot date material. But Suki wasn't exactly a hot date either. If she was even below a talking dog, than maybe she sat evenly with a miseria.

Her eyelids fluttered shut and she kissed the miseria. her face sunk into its inky blackness, and tendrils shot out of it in all directions. They curled and bent in unnatural, perfect ninety degree angles as Oros ebbed its energy away. Many of the approaching miseria also exuded some similar symptoms of having a few erratic tentacles. Once oros was done with that one, she moved onto the next one. They weren't exactly whispering sweet nothings, but they seemed to enjoy the proccess? At least until they sunk into an unloving puddle. But Oros didn't stop, her strength was returning, she was protecting the beach goers, but she was oblivious to the symptoms the miseria she hadn't even touched yet were showing. Their tendrils continued to become more eratic, until...

Each miseria howled. First the ones closest to Acid Drop, but the desire to scream flowed through the waves of black creatures like a ripple in the ocean. The furthest wave of miseria rolled back into the ocean, and then it emerged...

A white flying Dutchmen rose out of the sea with a splash. It was massive and appeared to be constructed out of jagged bone. Though Roache and Nyxia may have noticed it was the same size as the destroyed ship they were exploring. But this ship was very antiquated. It had masts with torn sails and cannons that seemed to be made out of pure bone. But a closer look at what was riding on the ship would reveal some pirate miseria.

Oros didn't usually kiss miseria unless she was on the brink of death, but it was something Rei had always cautioned against. The miseria were made of dark emotions, and while Oros could use them to restore her health, there was always the chance the negative emotions attributed to her magic would have a reaction with the miseria mobs and cause a mutation. The flying dutchman was a result of such a mutation.

The captain (designated by the feathered plume in his hat) pointed at the beach, and the cannons started firing. Instead of cannon balls, somersaulting pirate miseria flew out of the barrels and struck the beach with enough force to create sand craters. The air was soon a foc of sand, and the magical girls would find themselves besieged on all sides. Some of the pirates had swords, other had guns, and a few even had swords and guns! And their intended target was not the worrying pedestrians, but the dark magical girls themselves.

Visibility was decreasing. There was a risk of a direct hit from a cannon. They came from all sides. Would anyone change their tactics?

To Nyxia’s great delight, the Miseria were perishing in droves. Indeed, the Neon Tempest was so fixated on her little slaughter fest, that Oros’s own Miseria make out session went blissfuly unnoticed. However, its resulting effect on said Miseria soon made itself unmistakably apparent…

“What tha fuck?!” Nyxia exclaimed, her wild eyes widening in disbelief. “Is that a fuckin’ pirate ship?!”

Yes, it did, indeed, seem to be just that, crewed, appropriately enough, by pirate Miseria. Though somewhat comical in appearance, the shadowy swashbucklers wasted no time in joining the fray, firing themselves out of their ship’s cannons to impact the beach with considerable force. Perhaps predictably, Nyxia didn’t really change her single-minded tactics in response to this latest development, merely her target.

Satisfied that Roche and the others could handle the incoming pirates, along with what few Miseria had survived her initial deluge of devastation, Nyxia swung the barrel of her massive energy cannon to face the skeletal galleon. “Looks like that was just the appetizer, baby,” she told her beloved weapon as an even more psychotic grin spread across her face. “TIME FOR THE MAIN COURSE!!! HAHAHAHAHAAA!!!”

Once more, the ruinous cylinder of glowing, teal-tinted annihilation vomited forth, vaporizing any sand thrown up in its path, along with any unfortunate Misiera that happened to get in the way. Since it was not only quite sizable, but also hovering above the waves, the buccaneers’ bone ship was an easy target, despite the beach’s steadily worsening visibility. Plus, besides being the most imposing enemy to target, if this worked at all like any of the video games she’d played with her brother, then destroying the pirates’ ship would deal a fatal blow to the remaining Miseria. As her sadistic laughter continued to ring out, the Neon Tempest kept her finger pressed tight against the Omega Obliterator’s trigger, sending any Miseria that dared to approach her flying away with a powerful kick (at least the ones who got past her hovering point defense drones) and using that same superhuman leg strength to simply leap out of the way of any of the bone galleon’s incoming cannon fire.

“IS THAT REALLY ALL YOU GOT?!!” she sneered at her foe. “AND HERE I THOUGHT THIS WAS GONNA BE A CHALLENGE!!! HAHAHAHAAA!!!”

---

Pirates. Pirates? Pirates. Great. At least there was good news in that the heartless anthropomorphic ants Miseria were targeting the girls instead of the bystanders. It would be incredibly unfortunate if they were going after the people that the group needed to keep alive. But since they weren't...

As the sand began blotting out the sun, Acid Drop decided it was time to spend that precious emotion she'd been storing. She began bouncing on her toes, standing on them and then flat again, then back to standing, over and over. As she did, she quickly began to pick up speed. While she had started as if she was stretching her hamstrings, in a matter of seconds she had doubled, tripled, quadrupled that speed, until her body was a blur and another cloud of sand had formed around her, bubbling out in inconsistent waves. For the length of one "jump," if they could be called that, she wondered if Nyxia had seen this or not. But that thought was squashed by remembering that she hadn't done this since well before the laser-girl had joined the club. She hadn't had need to, but this seemed like a great time to spend those months of buildup.

While all the club members knew of Tsubomi as a slow thinking, apathetic slacker, and of her magical girl state as a relatively normal, even somewhat emotive (or at least decent at pretending to be) person, they might have forgotten over the past year or so what happened when she used the part of her magic that helped in combat. By now Acid Drop was running at full speed, her magic turning her stock of emotions into what could best be analogized as adrenaline. A magical girl was pretty fast and strong normally, but even so there were normal people who might be able to almost keep up with one for as long as that chemical lasted in their body, rare though such specimens may be. She knew that even with several months worth of stockpiling, this wouldn't last as long as she might like, so she resolved to do as much as she could during her limited time. Luckily, this took less than a second to get through her with how slow the world around her seemed, so she didn't waste much of her time with something as silly as "thinking."

Another blast-cloud of sand appeared where she had just been standing as she leaped across Oros and the bystanders towards one of the piraterias. She had chosen one with a gun, driving her former scalpel through what appeared to be its eye as she landed crouched on her feet, sliding sideways from her momentum and dragging the gunman with her as she did. And then she was off again, another cloud in her place as she surged upwards and repeated the process, this time with a sword wielder. Three jumps later and the area nearest Oros was clear, at least for a moment. Though now it seemed that visibility was even worse than when she began. Maybe that would stop her. Maybe it would stop the Miseria. Maybe it would stop the pirates from knowing where Acid Drop was, but being entities of pure emotion, it was unlikely to stop her from knowing where they landed.

Still, in spite of her new speed and her time limit, she chose not to press the advance. If she got too far away, it wouldn't matter how fast she was. If the pirates got close enough and changed their targets, she would be in way more trouble than she felt the three other club members and herself were in right now.

---

Try as she might, Roche struggled to really make a difference when a target wasn't targeting her. It was hard to counter a blow if it wasn't thrown till it came upon someone else, and that left Roche confronted with reserves that were diminishing far more then she could recover just from smashing herself against their bodies and leeching the little force generated from it. If the Miseria hoard hadn't reached a critical mass and changed in a dramatic way, she might have found herself as lacking as Suki was for dealing with the horde.

In so far that the gold standard was Nyxia and her laser holocaust, of course.

But Sink Queen had not steered them wrong with her words of a nautical nightmares, and upon creeping past an unspoken point of density, the tide of shapeless trash bags merged and swelled, coalescing into a grand pirate galleon of bone upon the waves. It was perhaps the largest Miseria she'd seen, the city dwelling sorts never lasting long enough to truly bulk up, especially when speed and stealth was their keys to success in a concrete jungle.

It's broadsides opened up and made to shell the beach, clumps of miseria striking and tumbling out to rise as pirate themed fiends with guns and blades to match. Their presence seemed to tip Tsubomi over the edge, burning her long stored reserves for a display of speed and brutality that had Roche flush with second hand excitement. Even Suki seemed to be shrugging off her immolation and was....violently kissing a lot of monsters.

"Detention Club, bring them down!" Earthshaker crowed her excitement and bounded into the air as another blast of cannon fire rang out. Her cloak billowed wildly behind her as she clutched her shield in both hands, teeth bared in savage anticipation as she met the cannonball with a swing that saw the air displaced around them with a crack and a flash. Other clumps of miseria wobbled, breaking apart and tumbling gracelessly into the sand and waters while the struck cannon ball turned to paste. Her energy reserves swelled, light blazing across her skin as she came down, using her shield as a raft to land upon. She'd ensure the reinforcements would be pitiful and scattered, sweeping aside the broadsides with every leap.

Oros the Joyful was starting to live up to her namesake. With every new victim for her harem she found, she recovered some of her strength. But before long, there were no more targets that she could reach. Her tentacles had her bound to the other beach goers, and Acid Drop was making sure nobody got close to them. At least Oros thought it was Acid Drop. Between the sand and the people behind her freaking out, she might have just been imagining Acid Drop when she looked into the exploding beach. She kept her eyes closed and bright her arm in front of her face.

Roche had an easier time dealing with miseria that were coming for her specifically, especially ones with powerful attacks that she could steal energy from. In no time at all her stores of energy had cranked back up as the intensity of the fighting escalated. Though while she was able to do some impressive things with her powers, these pirate miseria weren’t the frail, stupid creatures that happily waltzed to their death. These ones could take a beating before going down. When Roche took on the cannonballs head on, sometimes a sword miseria would use its sword to partially absorb the attack. And after they fell into the water around Roche, they rallied and distracted her from all sides so others could make it onto the beach. Oros and Acid Drop would have no shortage of pests to deal with, despite Roche’s efforts.

Perhaps the fighting would come to its end when Nyxia’s beam of death struck the dutchman. The miseria certainly seemed intimidated by it. A few of those still on board went wide eyed as the beam closed in on the ship..The captain, however, stared the beam down with his unblinking gaze. He placed one foot up on the railing and had a hand on his sheathed katana. Then, when the time was that, he raced down the side of the ship without a care for the laws of gravity. He placed himself between the ship and the death beam and drew his sword at the last possible moment. Nyxia’s beam of destruction collided with the sword, but could press no further. The captain’s sword arm quivered, Nyxia pumped more energy into her attack, but this stalemate didn’t seem to change. Then with a swing of his blade, the lazer was sent reeling and squiggling through the sky back towards the beach, like a rope cast off before a voyage. The captain kept an eye on Nyxia as the ship started to move, but they remained firmly planted on the side of the ship.

But for those that weren’t presently in Acid Drop’s sand cloud, they could make out silhouettes in the sky. It seemed like the dutchman had released a few extra miseria while everyone was momentarily blinded. But this was an unusual fourth type of pirate miseria. Ones with guns… And propeller backpacks! They fired down on the dark magical girls from above as their companions on the ground pushed further up the beach. Just how many more surprises did these pirates have?

Nyxia’s deranged laughter slowly subsided as she realized her target still hadn’t been destroyed, despite all the destructive power unleashed upon it. In fact, the bone ship hadn’t even been touched, the Omega Obliterator’s blinding beam having somehow been blocked by the captain’s cutlass katana.

“THA FUCK?!!” Nyxia swore, her eyes widening in utter incredulity.

An instant later, the Neon Tempest was forced to leap out of the way as the crackling cylinder of destruction was redirected back towards the beach.

Maybe these shit stains’ll be more of a challenge than I thought… she grudgingly conceded, before a sadistic grin returned to her face. “Nice trick,” she commended her piratical foe. “But let’s see how ya handle THIS!!!”

Once more, a crackling torrent of teal energy shot forth from Nyxia’s oversized weapon, but this time, the ruinous cylinder split into a quartet of slightly smaller beams, each zeroing in on a different part of the dutchman. Simultaneously, from the Neon Tempest’s now glowing eyes lanced out an even smaller, but no less potent, pair of beams, which streaked towards where the captain was currently standing. If it wished to block any of the other death rays from striking its ship, then it would need to leave its current spot at the mercy of being pierced by Nyxia’s eye beams. Needless to say, the Neon Tempest was eager to see how it chose to respond…

---

They fly now, apparently. She couldn't quite see them, but she could feel them, hovering in the air above. Jumping around to hit them might work, but it would be extremely inefficient, and Acid Drop was on a timer here. So she opted to stop spreading sand and pick up the gun from one of the pirates. But they were disappearing with them, so... She went to the nearest one and grabbed it by the neck to take its firearm away.

As she aimed it towards the aerial foes, a thought occurred. This was just like that one game, didn't Suki want to play that with her a while ago? But they never did. There was another thought nagging at her, trying to reach its way into her mind, but she couldn't quite reach it to know what it was. Instead she simply pulled the trigger, knocking down one of the fliers. When she tried to pull the trigger again, though, nothing happened. She stood in confusion for a few seconds before she realized why; the gun was a flintlock pistol, it would have to be reloaded.

Shaking the Miseria upside down didn't lead to any ammunition falling to the ground, so she shrugged and put it out of its misery. By now Nyxia was trying to blast the ship with multiple lasers, and Earthshaker was fighting further pirates on the beach. The sand had died down enough to see relatively clearly, if only for a moment, so she took stock of the fight.

... If only. Acid Drop knew that the Neon Tempest wouldn't listen, but she had to do something, and soon, or she'd be out of the battle regardless. She raised her voice to perhaps the loudest that Nyxia would have ever heard her be.

"Nyx, leave the ship alone! Get the fliers and stragglers! Earthshaker, get the boat!" Sure, the club was full of selfish and/or stupid girls, but maybe, maybe, they'd have enough battle sense to realize that they weren't going to win like this. Not waiting for the other rainbow girl, Acid Drop bolted towards the waterline, ready to jump to it and try to fight the apparent captain.

After all, if they focused on fights they were suited for, they might actually be able to clean up their mess.

Shatterscape blitzed through the streets, catching the occasional stray Miseria that went berserk, cleaving them in twain with a swipe of her hand. Her gauntlets cut through their flesh like knife through butter, the resistance barely slowing her down. Such was to be expected, though, for these were weak creatures, serving only as landmarks on her way towards the beach. It seemed that the clump of negative emotions came from there.

Or at least she thought so at first, but the closer she got, the clearer the buzzing became. Like annoying flies stuck in a cauldron of boiling pitch, it was the Miseria which whispered into her skull with their tinny voices. It was the very same cacophony that Sylvia took on the brunt of so that the rest may function. Shatterscape gave the young one her heartfelt thanks as she finished off yet another pathetic straggler, then looked up.

She almost paused at the sheer swarm of creatures showing up on her horizon, emerging from the depths, having never seen such numbers before. Sure, Hibusa had plenty of them to spare, but this was almost a tidal wave that threatened to bury the city and so she increased her pace further. The weight of her gauntlets turned into terrible momentum, her gait almost causing the concrete to creak beneath her steps.

There was also another thing that bothered Shatterscape as she scanned the skylines: those beams that showed up occasionally were familiar… so what exactly was the one twisted by fury doing here? Was she not supposed to be back in Hibusa, guarding their headquarters so to speak? But then again, it was a holiday and so they were not beholden to the Detention Club or their school right now.

Perhaps she would get to hold her help over Nyxia’s head if she arrived in time. She could not handle such a swarm alone… nor could she handle the pirate ship that eventually emerged from the depths. Fortunately, there was only a couple of dozen metres from her position till the beach now, so Shatterscape dove into the stragglers with all her strength, while her companions watched out for anyone else.

The ground trembled as Shatterscape impacted the Miseria, her gauntlets slicing the stragglers into ribbons and - was that the one who upheld rules? The one who swallowed and breathed emotions? The one who played with lust as though it were hers to command?

Shatterscape smiled.

“It appears,” she ripped a creature apart, “that the high priestess,” her boots slammed into another one as she advanced, the sea of attackers spreading before her like a broken tide, “must be the one to rescue her beloved comrades.” She grabbed one of her opponents, then tossed it into another, dealing two killing blows with one movement. Like always, her attention split between their team-mates, catching the exact moment she needed to splatter one of the human-looking Miseria between her and Earthshaker.

“This priestess does her utmost to inquire,” spoke Shatterscape as she raised her gauntlet to block a blow from a pirate, then closed her fingers to yank them into the ground, “If she is permitted to join the purification of this hallowed ground.” Then she beheaded it. Unfortunately, this sort of fight did not exactly favour her with her heavy gauntlets, but still, Shatterscape made an excellent effort of stemming the tide.

---

In their confidence they had thought with concrete numbers of enemies they could crush them as they had the lot in Miso City. Roche would have chided herself for letting the lure of hope seduce her into foolhardy action when such vanity had brought them all onto this tragic adventure. The pirate Miseria proved a hardier fare, and coordinated as well given her effort to smash them into smears was foiled by sword obstructing the swing prematurely.

They'd fumbled to the water and while she'd met it on her shield she quickly found herself assaulted by pirate's flailing in the water around her. Earthshaker growled her frustration, feet and fists lashing out but finding poor footing was more then concussive force could entirely make up for. She distantly noted the flash of a laser directed heavenward but couldn't spare more then a glance when she had lash out to turn a pistol aside from firing up at her.

It was proving a poor match up all around, but as though by a stroke of providence another member of their dissonant club arrived. Like a hero from an age old samurai story she appeared at her back, perched upon her shield with nary a flicker of unease as claws rent into the Miseria with a greater ease then her fists could manage.

"Am I ever glad to see you, Shatter!" Roche crowed, finally able to wind up a blow to disperse the mass of water logged pirates. Her ear turned back, Roche's lips spread wide hearing Tsubomi make yet another poignant suggestion. Who knew she was the wise one of the group?

While Nyxia was still making an attempt on the ship with a scattered array of lasers she didn't doubt that either the ship itself or the Captain would have some response. And Roche had already had her fill of cannonball smacking.

"Enjoy the feast, High Priestess. There is more than enough for all of us, but I want a bite of the big ship!" Shatterscape would need to find new footing as Earthshaker bounded towards the ship, her shield held before her as she reared her fist back. As she streaked forwards the hide shield would mask from the pirates as all the light along her tattoos shifted and flowed, pooling into her fist. Condensing the dispersed energy into a single point, a spear of energy rather then a radiating blast.

She'd thought of this as an answer to that dragon themed girl, but the ship would make a good test target.

A cutlass? No, that was not correct. The sword that the Miseria captain held was unquestionably a katana. A japanese native would identify it as no other weapon. This might have seemed like a strange thing for a pirates hold, however, it may have been a reference to William Adams. The GM is really enjoying Shogun by James Clavell if it wasn’t obvious.

The Captain kept his eyes on Nyxiaa as she launched her salvo of death beams. He sheathed his katana and hovered his hand over the hilt, much like ronin tended to do in movies before a speed draw. The initial beams hit their mark with ease, and as time passed, they would eat deeper and deeper into the bone dutchman’s hull. The eye beans closed in on the captain, he drew his blade…

…And used its edge like a mirror.

While it took the captain effort to reflect the full brunt of Nyxia’s power, the weaker beams were far easier for him to intercept. They were deftly reflected right back at Nyxia, striking not her, but her precious baby. This was all the dutchman needed to escape the incoming lasers, which had only done superficial damage to her hull. Before Nyxia could resume her attack, five flying gunmen over her head had started firing on her position. Each shot of their gun fired a cluster of metal pellets, not unlike a blunderbuss or grape shot.

After giving one of the fliers a taste of their own medicine, Acid Drop decided to take the fight to the captain. It wasn’t hard given her speed, but she could feel herself slowing down. Acid drop had peaked and her speed was going to gradually decline until her power was all spent up. Until then, steel met steel, and the hyperspeed combatants fought above the ocean. Maybe she could keep the captain busy until the ship could be destroyed, but maybe not.

It started to look like Oros was going to get overwhelmed. While the normal miseria were easy enough to dispatch, these pirates were not the kissing kind. They struggled far too much, and they actually fought back. "Uh, guys? A little um, help?” She bit her lip as a few pirates drew closer, and prepared for the worst.

Then an unexpected friend showed up.

Shatterscape took to the beach swinging. Those without weapons were quickly turned into a fine black mist, but those armed with swords were able to deflect her blows as she rampaged past them. These were not ordinary miseria. In fact, one would be forgiven for not thinking they were anything like the shapeless, dumb, cowardly, weak creatures that dark magical girls only hunted for power. The pirates had an ounce of self preservation and understood pack tactics. Moreover, they had proven that they could change and adapt their strategies to deal with new threats. When it became clear that Shatterscape couldn’t instantly kill the sword pirates, the unarmed ones started to wait behind them. Then, when she was in mid swing, they would envelope her.

But such tactics did not allow them to impede Earthshaker, who was able to jump at the rising ship and deliver her stored up energy into a single, precise, penetrating blow. And sure enough, the blast was enough to punch a hole through the hull and even a few floors inside the ship. Some pirates looked outside of the newly made hole and descended on top of Roche. They didn’t attack so much as they climbed around her shield and arms. They attempted to lock her limbs in place while another one scaled her back and attempted to choke her out.

But at least it seemed like the tide was shifting…

…

…

…



Morganite never retreated, she only advanced in different directions.

A 1v4 wan’t impossible odds for Morganite, but if you’re going to tank that much firepower, might as well just make it a 2v4 so that you can achieve victory against such scrubs. And so, Morganite brought a charming little white witch back to the beach so that she could launch her counter attack. She could already see the detention club’s defeat playing out in her mind as she said something snide to each and every one of them before knocking them out and scribbling all over their faces.

But it didn’t involve a fifth member showing up, or pirate miseria, or a ship of bone. Hell, the hostage situation was something she felt was a little below them. Figures they’d try to force the entire beach into being their harem. Looked like one of them had tentacles of blood wrapped around them, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out where things were going next.

”Eh…” She shrugged her shoulders, totally nonplussed by the chaos. ”Lez free da harem from these weirdos!”

The witch nodded, winked, made a peace sign with one hand, and used her other to fire a lance of light down the beach. Oros was able to avoid it by tipping her head, but it harpooned ten pirates before vanishing into the sea. Then the duo ran down the beach towards Oros’s position.

"...Guys?”

Nyxia’s sadistic grin broadened as she watched several of the Omega Obliterator’s beams slam into the bone ship and gouge huge chunks out of its skeletal form. However, that grin abruptly faded a moment later, when the captain used its katana to reflect her eye beams back at her. Or rather, at her beloved weapon…

“FUCK!!!” the Neon Tempest snarled as a molten scar was seared into the side of the massive energy cannon. “I’m sorry, baby! I’m sorry!” she rapidly apologized, while gently caressing the wounded weapon, before turning a hate-filled glare at the Miseria captain. “You fucking cock sucking piece of…” Nyxia’s profanity-filled tirade cut off mid-stream as hail of metal pellets rained down on her. The attack wasn’t strong enough to inflict any serious harm, but it was enough of an annoyance to cause the already enraged Neon Tempest to turn the full force of her ire upon its source. “Tha fuck?!” she swore, her head snapping up to see the squadron of airborne Miseria. “You asswipes can fly now?! Well, ya won’t be fuckin’ around up there for long!”

Even as Tsubomi’s shouted instructions to attack the fliers dimly registered in Nyxia’s rage-filled mind, the Neon Tempest charged up the Omega Obliterator, the mystic power restoring the death ray to its former, undamaged condition, before disgorging another writhing torrent of glowing destruction. The crackling, teal-tinted tube swept across the sky, vaporizing any Miseria in its path as it wildly flailed about. This onslaught was joined by two smaller beams, emanating from Nyxia’s twin point defense drones, which picked off any of the flying pirates that might have managed to escape the main attack.

“Tha fuck ya think I’m doin’?!” Nyxia snapped at Acid Drop (who was probably too far away by now to hear her). “And don’t you dare give me orders!”