Amber and her feathered friend didn't talk on the street. There were people around, so naturally they had to keep up appearances. Amber managed to get a map of Highbrook from a nearby visitor's center. The magical girl really needed to buy a phone, but it would have to wait until next month. They were doing a lot of traveling, and three-thousand dollars didn't go that far. Things would be better in Penrose, that's what Amber kept telling herself.
“There will be a lot more opportunities in Penrose.” even though Sue couldn't respond in public, Amber could pretend to talk to herself as a way of communicating with her familiar in public. “Let's see, where's the nearest hotel? I'll sleep anywhere so long as it has at least two stars.” Amber ran her finger over the pamphlet map. She was still keeping pace with the crowd she was walking in. “Oh! Looks like there's a hotel a few blocks over. But I'd have to find a back ally.” That was Sue's cue to check the nearest back ally. When she flew into the distance and disappeared between two buildings, Amber knew she had discovered something. When the magical girl caught up to her familiar, they moved side by side down the back ally until they emerged on the adjacent street. It was much quieter here. Too quiet in fact.
“Where is everybody?” Sue would typically never speak out in the open like this. However, she had very acute senses and could tell no one was nearby. At least, that's what Amber assumed. Sue never broke rules that the magical girl put on her pet, and speaking in front of people was one of them.
“It is a little quiet, isn't it?”
“How much further is the hotel?”
“A few blocks, maybe a street or two over.” Amber looked at both ends of the street. “I forgot how eerie these urban neighborhoods were at night.”
“Let's just go. I should be able to turn into a human again just long enough to get us a room.”
“...And you ARE going to carry some of this crap upstairs. This is pretty heavy out of costume.”
“S-sorry!”
The duo walked across the street to the next back ally. They just needed to do this a few more times before getting to sleep in a warm bed. That was when Amber saw a blue spark in the air, several feet up in the air. As soon as Amber looked directly into it, the spark expanded into a large disk. The girl only had enough time to call what was coming out of the portal.
“Tentacles?!”
They were pretty far in now. If everything went according to plan, no one would even hear them scream. It looked like this would be another routine abduction.
Mariette sat against the wall in a dark kitchen, clutching her stuffed bunny. Right on the other side of that wall was alley where the abduction would take place. Proximity amplified her power, and this time she had to catch a familiar too so the greater flexibility was a boon. She had her tentacles ready to reach down into a yet non yet existing hole in the floor when her portal was created, her large mirror placed right next to where she was sitting, leaned against the wall.
Deni and Eli were both ready, in case something went wrong. This time, both had the mission to catch the familiar if she flew, but they knew the possibility existed that they'd be tasked with something different. They were both in sprint-stance looking at nothing, because a portal could appear in front of them at any point and then they'd jump. Deni was grinning and Eli had a frowning serious look. Nothing new there. Mariette kept her attention on the tiny portals open inside her eyepatch, so she could see everything in the alley and the girl walking into it.
There were a few factors that coincided when it came to Amber Bianchi, the Shining Scale. One, she seemingly had no other allies other than her familiar. Two, she had acceptably long hair. And three, nobody would miss a traveler.
A portal sprung open right above Amber, slightly in the direction she was walking to ensure she was in the perfect place when it attacked. She probably sensed the magic use just before it sprung open, enough time to react had she been transformed. She wasn't.
Without any particular sound, multiple large, dark tentacles swung down, spinning clock-wise to grip around Amber and her familiar, intent on quickly snatching them both and pulling them back inside if possible. Assuming she was a regular untransformed Magical Girl, there wasn't anything she could do.
“Tentacles?!” That was about all Amber had the time to say before the tentacles enveloped her. Sue was a bit more able to avoid the incoming tendrils. Her small size and speed were to thank for that, but it was definitely not wise to stay around Amber for much longer. Not with so much going on.
“It's over!” Sue screeched. Or was it?
A large bubble encompassed Amber and her familiar. It was made of rushing water, a stream powerful enough to sever the appendages that sought to pull her into the abyss. It sounded like the crashing waves of a waterfall. Not long after it appeared, the bubble exploded, revealing the magical girl Shining Scale. She wore a proud smile, and already had her cannon at the ready. With a soft pop that sounded like a potato launcher, she fired a cluster of small metal bearings. They ripped apart what remained of the tentacles.
“That's certainly the most interesting pick up line I've ever seen.” The pirate let out a relaxed sigh, but was still in stance, holding onto her weapon. “I don't suppose you have anything else you want to tell me?” The pirate proceeded to walk deeper into the ally, shrugging the bags of goods off her arms as she did so. Sue had perched herself on Amber's hat, but was looking behind the pirate towards her blind spot.
After the tentacles were dissolved by the water, Mariette closed the portal they had come from and looked annoyed.
‘Enhanced Transformation.’ Eli immediately confirmed. At least in here, Mariette could let them look through some portals to watch the situation.
‘We're fighting, eh.’ Deni grinned with a giggle in her tone. Mariette, however, was feeling more annoyed that this was going to become riskier and more troublesome than it needed to be just because another girl was hiding an ace.
‘Deni, charge. Eli, shoot.’ Mariette commanded, and so it was. Eli deformed her arms into a rifle, aiming through the dark room at the door out of the kitchen, while Deni dashed in a direction that would have just carried her straight into a refrigerator.
Two portals opened, one at Amber's right and the other further behind her. Deni quickly charged slightly behind her from the one on the right, crouching mid-dash and deforming her wing into a blade attacking at Amber's legs with intention to injure while the portal closed behind her. Through the other, Eli fired a magical blast to hit Amber while she was distracted by Deni, using her Third Eye to attempt predicting where Amber would go. Mariette was already preparing her next move, watching the scene where she sat with utmost focus as she tried to manipulate all the little things.
“Oh-my-god-they-are-everywhere!”
Sue freaking out wouldn't have been much help to most, but Amber seemed to realize what she was trying to say. Shining Scale pointed her cannon at the earth and fired.
The stream of water as so strong that it actually lifted the small pirate off the ground. Sue had to bite onto Amber's hat with her beak just to hold on. The pirate's sails opened up once again, just like her battle with Martha. Only this time Amber was gliding upwards instead of to the earth. Deni jumped away from the stream of water, placing herself aside and ready for more action while looking up with a smile at where the pirate sailed off. It was about then Amber noticed Eli's projectile, a bit too late to properly dodge it. Instead, Amber fired at it with her cannon, propelling her through the air backwards as she continued to fill the back ally with water. It was already up to Deni's ankles. Amber didn't stop grinning, not even once.
Mariette had to close one of her eyes in the sky because Amber was flying into it, but opened it again at a higher altitude. But, she was already working out her next move.
The shot from Eli's rifle was naturally weaker than the blast from Amber's cannon. Eli's portal, having been behind the shot, quickly closed as Eli would have been hit otherwise. Instead, Mariette opened a new portal, which went from right behind Amber to meet the end of her blast. If simply carrying on, Amber would carry herself through the portal and end up right inside her own blast on the other side of the alley, where the portal would close.
“Amber, I think we're going too fa-”
"What do you mea-"
Mariette's plan seemed to be going without a hitch. Amber noticed far too late that there was a portal behind her, and ended up gliding directly into her own shot. She was fortunate it wasn't one of her cannon balls, because that blast knocked the wind out of her. She was still firing her cannon as the stream rolled her across the drenched alley floor. But that wasn't all to Mariette's insidious combo. She had whispered her next command through a small portal directly to Deni's ear. The harpy grinned and deformed her arms into a sledgehammer, lifted her arms and then dropped down through the ground. A portal right under Deni led right above where Mariette predicted Amber would be at that time, and Deni intended to drop straight down and slam at her with the hammer while she was still hopefully occupied with having been hit by her own blast.
But that was when Amber revealed her second ace.
Her ability to control water was not limited to just firing it out of her gun. As Shining Scale tumbled through the water, she wrapped it around herself like a bubble. It wasn't just the water from the blast she was getting hit with, but the ankle deep “swamp” that the back alley had become. Had this been an open area, most of the water would have drained away. But the back alley wasn't much wider than a passenger car. Her bubble was easily twice as tall as she was, and it got bigger as she fed it with her cannon. As soon as the portal opened up over Amber, she had stopped rolling. Amber's bubble swirled into a maelstrom, The swirl grew narrow, but taller, and threatened to ensnare the descending harpy. Anyone caught inside Amber's trap was likely going on a wild ride.
"I'm partial to swimming myself." The pirate girl winked. "Care to join me?"
Deni slammed down at Amber with the sledgehammer, but found herself striking water and the liquid harpy's eyes went wide with surprise as she yelped when gripped by the current. To counter, she used Darkness-magic to make herself temporarily intangible, which with the speed she got from the current sent her sprawling down the alley and diagonally into a wall, but a portal quickly opened and rescued along with an amount of water. The portal above Amber as well as the one she flew through to come here closed, leaving no remaining portals.
And then... nothing.
‘...’ Mariette sat silent, staring at the alley and the pirate Magical Girl surrounded with a barrier of water through her tiny portals while clutching her bunny. Despite Amber's predicament, she looked very much at home underwater. The pirate didn't even look like she was holding her breath, or struggling to fight the waves. This was thanks to a thin pocket of air going all around her body. It extended to Sue as well, who was still perched on her hat.
‘W-wo, that scared me...’ A significantly wetter Deni gasped out beside Mariette, smiling anyway as she had been brought back. They were back in the kitchen again.
‘... So, what now?’ Eli asked. The majority of the floor was now fairly wet, because water had flown in from the portal that had rescued Deni.
‘...’ Mariette did not answer Eli's question, because... none of them had any high-power attacks, and Amber was now inside a very potent defensive shield. She could but stare and think for now. There would be silence on Amber's end.
The barrier of water Amber erected slowed down when the threat had disappeared. However, she still held it in place.
“Arrr!” Amber growled as menacingly as she could. Which was actually a bit on the cute side. “I hate being ambushed. But if you're going to ambush me, at least leave me some booty before running off!”
“I think they're still here.” Sue was shaking. “We should get a move on.”
Amber plucked sue off of her hat and shook her. “That's all the more reason to stay! If they're still lurking around here...” Amber slowly stopped shaking her feathered friend, who wormed out of the pirate's grasp. But Shining Scale was still looking at her now empty hand with a look of mild shock.
“W-what is it Amber?”
The pirate flexed her fingers. Some of the water in the kitchen started to move. Even the water on Deni shifted around her gel-like body. The pirate turned to look at the wall where the trio were hiding. She said nothing, but a smile crept across her face.
“Amber?” The pirate approached the wall to the kitchen and gave it a quick examination. Then she lifted the muzzle of her cannon up and smacked it against the side of the building. Not hard enough to break the bricks, but hard enough for Mariette to feel the impact through her back. “Amber! What the heck are you doing!?” But the pirate didn't respond.
‘Wa-wa...!’ On the other side of the wall, Deni suddenly made a noise as the water on her started to move.
‘The water's...!’ Eli noted the water on the floor, blinking at it and then looking to Mariette.
‘...’ Mariette, of course, didn't need the confirmation, she saw on both sides. So, then she felt the smack of the cannon against the side of the building. It was a faint echo that went through her body where she sat clutching the bunny. Mariette frowned. That was... uncomfortable.
At this range, she didn't even need a portal. Darkness suddenly stirred in both the ground right under and wall that Amber was striking, before tentacles of darkness lashed out at her to grip her cannon, limbs and body, while some tendrils just struck out to just physically injure her, all of them using the fairly strong force of the tentacles to attempt breaching the water-barrier. Just in case, Mariette leaned forward and created a portal behind her leading to the second floor, though she didn't go through it. Deni was trying to scrape off all water from her body while Eli was backing off a bit, glancing between Mariette and the wall in worry.
Mariette still just sat there, watching Amber's actions through tiny portals.
Amber didn't seem too startled by the sudden attack. She was able to propel herself away from the tentacles by firing water out of her cannon. Then when Amber was far enough away, she fired another cluster of bearings. While it ripped apart the nearby tentacles, the water barrier slowed down the projectiles. They harmlessly bounced off the side of the brick building.
“I knew it!” Amber smiled triumphantly to herself. Sue didn't say anything, and just hid in the pirate's hat. The water around Amber started to move again. Nothing like before, but it was clear she was winding up for something. “Alright bird brains!” Amber didn't look so happy anymore. Shining scale fret her brow and pointed her cannon at the wall. “I've had a pretty disappointing day. I'm sure you had a pretty bad day too if you're doing this. However, it’s just going to get worse from here on out.” The pirate flexed her fingers. “Here's how this works. You give me the boo-” She groaned. “You give me some form of treasure, and I'll pretend this never happened.” Amber waited a bit before going on. “I know all about ambushes. You lost your surprise, and now you're losing ground by the second. Let's have some dialog here and see if we can work something out.”
There was a momentary silence after Amber's announcement, Deni deforming parts of her body to get rid of water while Eli just looked at her mistress in worry. But then... Mariette smirked.
‘... Heh... Hahahaha...’ Mariette let out a little giggle, which she very intentionally allowed Amber to hear through a couple of small portals that opened around her, in a triangle so that she couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from. Mariette was also freaking her underlings out.
‘I'm not sure you're aware of who you're dealing with... but alright.’ So, treasure? ... Mariette didn't actually have anything of monetary value, other than this magically infused mirror she got from Asengav to do rituals with, but Amber's not getting that. Speaking of, she quickly opened a portal and sent that into an adjacent room so there was no chance of it being cracked. That done, she thought of something amusing and spoke.
‘As a reward for surviving my ambush, I'll let you make a request. From someone with supreme control of space and location, what would you want?’ Now, she could just have used portals to remove herself far from this location... but Amber shutting up about this actually held value to her. So she played along.
Mariette toyed with the idea of trapping Amber within the vault of a bank. In fact, she was sending some magical power to open a line of small portals towards the local bank, to prepare for such an action. It stretched her magical capability with portals to do it, but she prepared for it, using Absolute Direction to find her way towards the vault... but even if she decided to try to go through with that, it'd take time to make that ready, so Amber had some time to make her request.
After the laugh, Sue had all but retreated entirely inside Amber's hat. The pirate however was not as easily shaken, but she was definitely in some serious thought right now. One of Amber's fingers bounced off the tip of her chin as the seconds rolled by.
“As tempting as it would be to make use of your powers, that wouldn't be fair to the next guy.” Amber took hold of her cannon again. “I don't thieve, I plunder. All I want is something from you. It can be anything. From an artifact or a decoration, its value sentimental or monetary. I don't care. Though things that are more useful make me more forgetful.” Amber's grip on her weapon became visibly tighter. “And you also have to leave Highbrook. You can't be here tonight.”
Mariette dropped her smile, staring at Amber in silence. So, that's how it was going to be. In that case, Mariette had nothing she could give. Then... Mariette stood up, taking a couple of heavier breaths, clutching her stuffed bunny as she prepared herself. Deni likely had gotten herself relatively dry now, while Eli still was staring at her unsure what she was doing. Mariette stood silent as she considered her options, and... her gaze trailed and stopped on Deni, staring thoughtfully.
‘Eh?’ Deni made a surprised noise and likely felt a cold chill from the weight of her mistress' stare...
‘WAH!’ The next moment Deni came tumbling out of a portal that swiftly closed in front of Amber, just stumbling out of thin air with a shocked expression on her face and falling uncontrollably down onto her bottom, left staring in shock up at Amber, the liquid harpy's whole expression screaming of her current distress at the current arrangement.
But, as Mariette assumed Amber's focus was on Deni...
A portal opened inside Amber's barrier behind the pirate. Mariette came through, intentionally plunging herself into the water of the barrier while gripping her stuffed bunny, and it then closed. Then, almost at the same time, she opened a new portal in-between her and Amber, she took direct control from the closest possible proximity and pushed it forward with her Portal magic to take Amber into it, accounting for potential turmoil in the water by aiming at the middle. It took a moment before she got that control of it as Mariette had to get through first, but Mariette attempted using the entrapment of the water to her advantage, using her Awareness and Absolute Direction to know her bearings rather than eyes. Her tentacles also stirred directly from her body, to grip and defend the portal from the edges, in case Amber attacked, as well as ensure Mariette didn't flow out of position. Mariette was ready to potentially create more tentacles as needed. But like this she couldn't breathe, so she was aiming on this being a quick and decisive move, hopefully.
Amber was a bit shocked when Deni was dropped in front of her so suddenly. She didn't even notice the portals open behind herself right away. But the waters were in motion, and Amber noticed the bubble was starting to shrink as the water poured into the portals. Thankfully for Amber, she was a quick swimmer and was able to turn around in time to see what was causing the bubble to shrink so rapidly. By this point, the portal was already in motion. Unlike with the brick wall, Amber's cannon would just push all of the water out of the portal approaching her. So she swam away from it as fast as she could. To assist with this, she opened up her sales and pushed herself along by manipulating the water's current. Sue however was done running from portals.
“Oh don't you dare! Don't you dare you little hussie!” And it was then Amber's third ace came into play: Sue. Petrels are one of the only birds that are as good at swimming as they are at flying. Their prey is not safe above or below sea level. And this seemingly timid bird was now ready to go on the offensive. As quick as she could, Sue flew over the portal and towards the source of her scorn while screaming “Husiiiieeeeeeee!” before soaring between Mariette and her tentacles.
Mariette heard the familiar flying in more than saw it, which was extremely disconcerting considering Mariette's currently exposed location. When she felt Sue approaching her, she ruled the danger to be provenly unacceptable. She created a portal in front of herself that lead back into the kitchen, which she drove into. But just as Mariette entered the kitchen, Sue flew in behind her and transformed into a human. At this point Sue managed to wrap her arm around Mariette's neck. The grip was... uncomfortable. Mariette closed the portal behind her, leaving a load of water splashing over the surface of the floor and locked Sue in with her. That didn't stop the familiar from trying to choke Mariette into submission from behind, pulling on her wrist with all of her might. "Teach you to mess with my Amber!"
Mariette's basic defensive mechanism for threats that close was "throw tentacles at it until it stops". Sue’s headlock wasn’t enough to neutralize Mariette, so she'd quickly find herself assaulted by blunt tentacles striking to free their mistress from basically everywhere. But on the plus side for Amber, while that happened Mariette most certainly wouldn't be focusing on the portals. She hadn't counted on the actions of the familiar in this situation. Sue was howling, but refused to let go of Mariette. She buried her head in her opponent's shoulder to protect her face, but each sharp whip of the tentacle sapped Sue of her strength.
Meanwhile, Amber had emerged from the other side of her bubble, which had collapsed into the street again. The water had been divided too many different ways and could no longer act as a shield or weapon. The happy pirate looked especially cross right now. It was only at this point Amber realized Sue wasn't with her anymore. But she could hear Sue's screaming on the other side of the wall. “Darn it!” She aimed her cannon briefly at Deni. “You there, don't move a muscle.” She commanded.
‘Oh, don't worry, I'm just sitting here, haha.’ Deni grinned now that she understood that she was not being sacrificed to another mistress, lifting her liquid wing to wave at Amber in greeting.
The pirate quickly switched targets. Her gun was pointed at the corner of the kitchen. This time she fired a real cannonball. It wasn't nearly as loud as one fired by a gunpowder cannon, but it was just as destructive. The kitchen was filled with small brick fragments, which rained into the water and pelted it's inhabitants. The cannonball itself slowly rolled back into the street.
‘IIP...!’ Inside Eli had to deform herself to dodge sudden flying brick-fragments, throwing herself under a sink to avoid damage in the now water-flooded kitchen. She may have suffered some kind of hit but her liquid body could largely deform to take the damage. Mariette, though, had manifested a bit aside and wasn't hit by the debris.
‘Although...’ Deni said, her mind reconsidering after having heard Eli’s shout, and with that her wing quickly deformed into a rather large hand-gun, pointing at Amber.
‘I'm largely not composed of muscles~’ She held the gun there, intending it to be a threat to the pirate not to move.
Amber gnashed her teeth. Clearly agitated with Deni's choice to resume fighting. “Not too many muscles huh?” Just enough water had run out of the kitchen and into the street to start floating around the cannon ball. This enabled amber to throw it at Deni. The harpy blinked in surprise as the cannon ball came flying, and she rolled out of the way to dodge it. but then wasn't fast enough to dodge the harpoon that came flying out of Amber's cannon. It struck her unmorphed wing and dragged her across the ground into the brick wall, her expression a bit discontent with this. While for Deni it was a simple matter to just deform her wing off the harpoon, it was still a moment longer for her to actually get back into the fight. Amber seemed to know that and quickly rushed into the kitchen.
The pirate immediately fired her cannon at Eli, who was still under the sink. Just a quick blast of water to ensure she couldn't retaliate right away. Eli had just been crawling to try to get back out when she noted that a cannon was aimed at her. She had to yelp and jump back in under the sink to avoid getting soaked. She wouldn't be moving for a little while longer.
All of the obstacles appeared to have been cleared. The water in the small kitchen was already starting to surge towards Amber's cannon, where she proceeded to build her bubble again. It wasn't as big as last time, but the brick debris floating inside helped offset the lower volume of water.
Mariette was concluding that this had taken an unacceptable turn and was pretty much about to make a portal that'd take her, and anyone too close to her, half a kilometer away from the scene of the battle just to bring herself to safety, but she was distracted by the water striking her as the bubble reformed.
“Stop, STOP!” Amber kept shouting. She charged forth and took hold of Mariette once she was close enough. Through Amber's touch, she was able to breath and talk under water as Amber was. The tentacles halted their painful assault on Sue and Mariette blinked up at Amber with the eye not wearing an eyepatch. The pirate still had one hand on her cannon, which was pointed at the portal girl. The adrenaline was still dumping into Amber's system. Her eyes flicked down to the bunny in Mariette's hands, then back up at Mariette herself. “You dragged this on longer...” Amber said between breaths. “To avoid handing over a stuffed toy!?”
Mariette blinked at her, looking astoundingly surprised. She didn't understand.
Then she looked down to see what Amber had been looking at. Oh, yeah. The bunny.
Mariette looked back at Amber, expression still confused. It took another second.
Her visible eye went unspeakably wide and her expression took a sudden turn towards shock, fear, and extreme reluctance as her arms flared to take an extra heavy grip on the bunny and turn her body away from Amber to shield the bunny she was gripping.
‘YOU CAN'T HAVE BUNNY!’ Mariette called out, with the extreme stubbornness of a four-year old. She didn't make any attacks, just called that out in a fearful, stubborn tone that was to an extreme contrast to the calm, sinister voice she had previously used. So, there they were, Mariette glaring back at her after that. She hadn't even considered that the bunny was something she could have handed over earlier.
Amber continued to hold onto Mariette, not lowering her cannon for a moment. The pirate grate her teeth, and it was audible. Sue was just barely on the verge of consciousness. The tentacle beating along with all the transformations she did today had worn her out. Her back was visibly bruised and bloodied through her gown, and her eyes were only half open. “Let's just... All go to the inn... And talk it out in the morning...”
The bubble stayed in place, but it expanded so that the water was below everyone's waist level. Amber then released Mariette to catch Sue as she fell. The familiar immediately reverted back into her bird form. From there, Amber placed Sue in her hat. “Okay, new deal.” Amber was still a little winded from moments prior, but she was regaining her stamina quickly. “You don't have to give me any treasure. It's okay. However, I'm definitely never going to forget you.” The blood vessels in her eyes became visible. Her brow twitched with each flick of her tongue. “You are going to leave this city. You are not going to return. You are not going to cross my path, and if you do, you had better make sure you are not in costume. You had better make doubly sure I don't see your gelatinous harpies ever again.” Amber took advantage of the fact that she was floating in a bubble of trapped water and made herself as tall as the lanky portal controlling magical girl. “And if you're so brazen as to try ambushing me again, all I can tell you is the NEXT time we meet, I'll show you how to do it
properly.” The pirate's words dripped with venom. The water she surrounded herself with sloshed away from Mariette and carried Amber with them. The bubble promptly raised over her head once more as she just stared at Mariette.
‘...’ Mariette glared back, but, this was frankly terrible. Nothing in this encounter had gone according to plan. And now, the opponent had gotten unacceptably close. That last attack was a mistake, she should just have used portals to remove herself, but it would have been so much more satisfying to at least rub a little success in the pirate-girl's face...
‘Fine.’ Mariette said. Not as if she was going to actually leave the city, she just had to make sure never to run into Amber again. Which should be fairly easy, considering portals, interdimensional homes and darkness magic in case of the underlings. Also, never attempt ambushing Amber again unless she has a bit more force on her side. This was very annoying, anyway.
The adrenaline was still coursing through the pirate's body, but she seemed to accept the response. “Good.” The pirate continued to walk backwards, always keeping Mariette in front of her cannon. When she reached the hole in the wall, Amber stopped. She looked like she might have wanted to say something, but quickly resumed walking backwards again until she backed out of her makeshift doorway. Mariette stared right back as Amber walked backwards, frowning and clutching her beloved bunny. Mariette's clothing was thoroughly wet from having spent time in the barrier, and it was feeling uncomfortable. She kept looking until Amber was out of view, Eli daring to peek out from under the mostly ruined sink to just look on.
But then Amber's head, and only her head, popped back into the damp space. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. “Must be nice to have breasts!” She yelled before backing up entirely into the street. Mariette didn't really react, just kept staring. Having breasts or not never made any difference to her. At that point, the water barrier around Amber started to dissipate. She kept her weapon focused on Deni the entire time she was outside. Deni had stood up with one wing formed into a gun still after she had freed herself of the harpoon, but had halted upon seeing how close Amber had been to blowing Mariette's head off. Now, though, she stood with a little frown. “G-go run to mommy!” She stuttered.
Deni raised her eyebrows at the stutter, though, and smirked.
‘Why, I think I will.’ She walked and deformed the gun back into a gelatinous wing, as she headed back to the hole.
‘And I admit, having breasts is really nice~!’ Said the grinning visibly seven-year-old fluid harpy while gesturing to her fake chest that she had made by deforming her liquid body. ... She then quickly slipped inside and out of Amber's view just in case that'd make the pirate-girl fire.
Amber only growled at Deni as she slipped out of view. The pirate said something under her breath, but there were no portals open to hear exactly what she was going on about. Then she spoke up, a bit louder than she needed to. “I'm serious about leaving!” Amber started to walk sideways like a crab, keeping her gun focused on the kitchen.
Deni stuck her head out again.
‘What, do you want us to stop you?’ She grinned before quickly pulling her head in again.
Amber bit her lower lip “I was talking about YOU!” Her hands trembled on her cannon.
Deni replied by simply giggling, but then wandered in again to join with her mistress.
Mariette sat down where she was, clutching her bunny, still annoyed and wet, staying in place. Now Eli had dared crawl out from under the sink and Deni was coming over with a silly smile on her lips, despite all that had happened. Eli fished out her now fairly drenched note-book, leaving through it.
‘So, to summarize...’ Eli started.
‘Complete failure?’ Deni grinned and said.
‘... Pretty much.’ Eli sighed at the reply and let the hand with the notes uselessly drop down out of her view.
‘We probably will need to revise our strategies, and...’ ‘...’ Mariette was still watching Amber. She wasn’t listening to her minions. Through her tiny little portals hanging overhead, she was just watching, waiting...
With trembling hands, Amber started picking up the shopping bags she had dumped off earlier, one at a time sliding them up her arm. She used the pool of water they were resting in to assist with this process. A bubble on her arm floated the bags closer to her shoulder so that she could pick up new ones. Once this was done, the water leaped off of her arm and landed on the alleyway floor. Once that was done. Amber cautiously made her way out the other end of the ally. Her eyes were moving in all directions, clearly anticipating another attack.
... And then all of a sudden a portal shoved open right under where she was about to place her next foot. Without water to float in, there was no way the pirate could turn around in time to fire her cannon. She had stepped backwards directly into a portal. She fell into a tight space numerous meters down to the floor. Amber did manage to fire her cannon in time, but she was just slowing her descent at this point. The inevitable happened, and she ended up falling flat on her back in a puddle of water. This happened just in time for Amber to watch the portal close above her head.
“Son of a scurvy Dog!”
Amber took a moment to examine her surroundings from her spot on the floor. Inside here, there were white walls, lines upon lines of small closets with tags on them needing keys to open, several larger metal objects that had more complicated locks, and some huge, metal doors that-
Mariette had dropped Amber into the vault of the local bank, and then swiftly closed the portal behind. Of course, said vault was closed, locked with all manners of security, and in here the rest of the goods were inside additional safes. Quite secure.
Amber wore a blank expression. There was no anger, shock, or any other type of emotion on her face. She had become entirely empathetic. but only in appearance.
"I'm going to put a cannon ball through that sea witch's head next time." Amber said flatly. She then turned over to look at Sue, who had just stumbled out of her hat. "How are you doing? Did the tentacle whipping hurt very much."
"Initially yes." Sue rolled over onto her back and spread her wings. "But... Then I started to like it."
‘...’ Mariette looked on what happened, and then gave a tiny smirk. She had felt terrible earlier because of how thoroughly she had felt like she had been defeated, and wanted to play one last trick just to feel like she was the last one on top. So she had connected the magic she had prepared to open the portal to the vault and opened it. She couldn't have used this tactic to send Amber to her prison, because she needs more powerful magic and proximity for that which Amber would have been able to counter, but for just for a trick... just for a trick in the same dimension it'd do.
‘... Ti-hi...’ She giggled for herself. Sent the pirate directly to the place of treasure, except it was basically a prison of its own… Mariette found it hilarious.
‘... Mistress is naughty...’ Eli stated, looking along the magic-lines with her Third Eye as she could clearly tell what Mariette was doing.
‘Wait, huh?’ Deni asked, suddenly outside the know.
‘Wait, what did she do!?’ Deni asked, suddenly excited and looking back and forth like Eli but unable to see. Then, Mariette stood up, without catch, wet and with tarnished pride, yet still somewhat satisfied.
‘... Deni, Eli. We're moving.’ Mariette stated, opening a portal to who knows where.
‘Make sure the next target is of considerable ease.’ She said as an afterthought. She needed to unwind.
‘Yes, mistress.’ Eli nodded, obediently, while Deni just grinned. And so, they were on their way, walking through the portal.
After this encounter... Mariette had a burning desire never to need to see Amber again, at least for a while. And so, she continued her quest to collect Magical Girls, while both harpies had definite commands to avoid any sort of contact with the Shining Scale. And so they continued.
