BrokenPromise

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

Meet the Waifu/Husbando

The days following the raid on Bolorton were interesting for Cradle. Beyond the attack that was no doubt coming from Wonderland, Finn had managed to get some of his trials under his belt, and Mac had sought out some new contacts. It was time for a meeting.

After taking a shower, Mac was ready. But this meeting was going to be a little more awkward than her last one.

Mac was standing in one of the hallways in Maura’s mansion with Finn and Oliver in front of her.

"...And after the raid, there wasn’t time to tell anyone. So I decided to wait until now to spill the beans.” Mac tipped her hat. "So yea! Iron Mouse doesn’t exist, and I was her the entire time. In hindsight, it was extremely reckless to not tell you guys this at first, but given my past interactions with Oliver, I felt it was best to keep the charade up for one more mission. So…” She extended her hand. "Tonya Murphy, but everyone calls me Mac. Well, the few people who know I exist. I’m not quite as annoying as Iron Mouse, nor am I as small, but I have the same dedication to the mission.” She extended a hand to both magical boys.

The duo had to take a moment to process the information given, moreso for Oliver, who had a look of sheer dumbfoundment on his face. Finn was the first to snap out of it and shake Mac's hand.

"Quite an impressive use of illusions! Admittedly I hadn't expected a new agent so suddenly, but you sure as hell showed promise back there!" And not cause her impersonating a member of Beacon was hilarious to think about.

"I’m glad you’re taking my deception in stride. I don’t think just anyone would do that.” She breathed a sigh of relief. "In other news, post Bolteron I was able to speak with Beacon and pick their brain about a few things. Seems they’re not nearly as rigid with their old policies as I thought they were, and it may be possible to forge an alliance with the darker side of penrose. I also put on a show for Mayra. Remember how she said she thought we were a cult?” Mac grinned. "I may have pretended to be an entire cult for her and initiated her into the ‘Sisterhood of the Black Behemoth.’ I think we can count on her to help us out in the future. If she was willing to help you on a whim, she’s going to be stoked to do so next time. Hahaha, I really need to be more straightforward with people.” She set a hand on her hip. "How about you guys? Do anything crazy I need to know about?”

"Other than getting our heads cleaved off in a pointless battle?" Oliver blurted out. Once he realized what he said could've come off as harsh, he glanced aside with a downcast frown. "Sorry. Still angry about that."

At the mention of that incident, Finn ghosted a hand over his neck. A thin band of reinforcement magic was the only thing keeping it from falling off. He didn't know how long he'd be stuck like this, if this could be fixed. He wasn't even aware of the haunted look in his eye, thinking back.

...He shook the thought out of his head. "Frankly, not much besides some personal 'errands' I've been running. It's hard to explain..." Finn trailed off. "But really? A whole cult?" He curiously tilted his head.

Mac adjusted her cap so that neither of them could see her eyes. "It would have been a lot harder if Mayra was interested in the cultists themselves. But I only had to speak for their leader and Iron Mouse. It wasn’t like I had to pretend to be each individual member of the cult.I’d have been screwed if she tried to do something weird.” She pushed the brim of her hat up. "Actually, I never thought about the role you would play in this cult. Maybe we should brainstorm that. It’s the sisterhood, so maybe you could be Korone’s brother?” Her grin was getting wider. "We can get Oliver in on the fun too!”

Brother?

Finn's brows rose. He did have an older sister before he became a magical boy, but he didn't doubt the fact that she's been dead for years. He was bound to get a headache trying to think about what his family tree probably looked like now. "Maybe. But how would we incorporate Oliver?" The spirit in question comically squinted his eyes in response to his friend's curiosity. Were they really going to drag him into it?

Mac closed her eyes. "That’s easy! He doesn’t have a real connection to you other than being a friend, right? So maybe he and Iron mouse could-”

Mac’s eyes opened as a pair of feet walked their way. The rug muffled the sound, robbing her shoes of the dynamic sound they might have had on a hardwood floor. But the girl’s purple outfit was loud enough to make up for that.

”Relax, everyone.” Aria raised her hand. ”Maura knows I’m here.” She looked at Finn. ”Refresh my memory. Have we spoken? Do you know who I am?” Finn simply shook his head.This seemed to please Aria more than it should have. ”I’m Aria Rizzo, owner of Monarch Artificing! I’ve recently moved to the Golden Trove in Penrose, and I’ve heard that you’ve been, oh, let’s call it training.” She giggled. ”I think I can help you out, but I’m going to need some help.”

Oh.

While Oliver was reasonably tense at the presence of the unfamiliar woman talking to Finn, the latter quickly understood what Aria was refering to. "I'm listening."

”I know you are.” Aria stared at Finn for a few seconds. ”What I’m saying is that I’m going to need someone else to help me help you.” She looked over at Oliver and Mac. ”And while I do like the idea of working with Oliver, I think Mac is a bit more ideal for what I have in mind. I’m one of your oldest friends here, aren’t I?” Mac didn’t respond. ”Well! Do come see me later. I’ll be waiting at the Golden Trove when you’re ready.” And with that, Aria turned around to leave.

The two watched as the strange woman left.

"You know, Maura should really amp up securi-"

"What. The hell. Was that?" Oliver interrupted Finn, turning his attention from glaring at Aria while her back was turned back to him.

"Look, Oli, I'll explain everything I can at another time, just trust me when I say everything's going to be okay. Alright? Mac's good people." Finn tried to reassure the ghost. Oliver's mental mutation must've been affecting him.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

To the North: Vestiges of the Family

^{No colored letters because someone wanted to use their banners instead.}

"You. All. Accepted?"

Bonnie occasionally took more than two people on a hunt, but it had been a while she had four different magical girls headed to one destination. Mariette, Ronin, Miko, and Sakura were all lined up next to each other. Sakura. She had her tail coiled around the other three and was running her hand through Ronin’s hair.

“What’s the quest, Maneki-neko?”

Bonnie resisted the urge to correct Sakura. "I do not believe this hunt calls for such a large hunting party. Each of you better be here for the right reasons. Your only reward is that people you care about will be spared a twisted fate. Just because there are more of you doesn’t mean this is going to be easy." There were, of course, no objections. "I’m going to assume you all read the bounty. I’ll drop you off in a ruined city in Ethiopia. Dilla was flattened a while ago, and there’s a travel ban. Aside from the two hostage magical girls, there shouldn’t be any other friendlies to worry about." Bonnie paced back and forth in front of the girls. "We’re light on additional details, but if you have any other questions, I will do my best to answer them."

‘It was a request for help. Of course I accepted!’ Ronin answered to that first question with a grin, looking very happy with herself, and not minding Sakura playing with her hair. ‘Besides, it’s an excellent opportunity to adventure with my sister and Sensei. Right, Sensei?’ Ronin asked with a smirk.

“Of course!”

‘Well, if my sister goes, I go too to keep her out of trouble if I can. I apologize if it’s an inconvenience,’ Miko said, bowing a bit to Bonnie. ‘Should there be any other hostiles other than the two parts of Su Daji, as far as we know?’ she followed up.

"To my knowledge, no." Bonny hardly moved at all. She wasn’t nearly as animated as the other girls aboard her ship. "But this is Su Daji we’re dealing with. Even by Kitsune standards, she is a cunning foe. I would not put it past her to have other fragments of herself wandering around. But I would not expect them to be as strong."

‘I… was simply surprised why you’d come to me, at such a hectic moment. I’m here because I was curious. My question is, how did you pick your candidates, and why specifically us from halfway across the planet?’ Mariette asked. The portal witch wasn’t as comfortable as Ronin with having Sakura’s tail like this…

It was also awkward for Mariette, Ronin and Miko to be like this. In front of others, they had to pretend they didn’t know each other. None of them knew how to do that.

"I have a quota to meet. That was just the best time to reach out to you all. As for how I select hunters…” Bonnie rolled her shoulders. "That information is confidential, even to me. My superior supplies me with the candidates, and I perform my own research to determine which are going based on her short list.” Bonnie turned to look out one of the windows.

‘Hey, Mariette! Sorry for, uh, accompanying and aiding an invasion force attacking your mansion and making an attempt on your life. But you’re okay, right?’ Ronin asked with a somewhat awkward cheery voice.

‘…’ Mariette gave Ronin a stare. ‘It is fine. Don’t make it a habit,’ was her eventual reply.

‘I’ll avoid it…!’ Ronin giggled a bit while Miko looked concerned.

Bonnie squinted her eyes. "If you are ready, so are we." The doorway turned into a portal overlooking the African plains. ”The Dilla ruins are only a short walk in. Don’t let the heat surprise you. It’s far more humid out there than it is in Penrose. Bonnie pointed at a giant rock formation. ”Just on the other side of this formation is the behemoth. Tread carefully.

“That overgrown Kitsune had better watch out for me!” Sakura charged through the portal, dragging everyone with her. As soon as they had fully left the portal, the cloud stone zoomed away, leaving them in the african heat. “Did anyone bring a soda?”

Miko, being who she is, absolutely would have researched beforehand and packed a backpack full of default necessities. As such…

‘I didn’t bring soda, but I did bring water. I wasn’t sure if the mission would drag on or not, so. Would you like one?’ she asked Sakura, pulling the backpack she’d brought to extract one of the water-bottles.

‘Phew. Heat, haha. Alright! Let’s get to our goal!’ Ronin called, ready to march.

Mariette, meanwhile, had a trick she’d used in the past for hot environments. If she got too warm, she could open a portal to quite a bit up into the air, and since there’s more wind the higher you go she’d just let it blow past her and cool her down. She could adjust the altitude for temperature. The issue would be if it’s windier on the ground than above her, but. Regardless, she was likely ready to move. She could also use small portals directed from her eye behind the eyepatch to above her to scan around the area, to avoid getting ambushed. Something that Sakura would surely need if she was going to survive.

Mariette would notice quite a few interesting things on the other side of the rock they were hiding behind. There was of course the behemoth kitsune Su Daji. Just like Bonnie said, she was massive. Not the tallest behemoth she had ever seen, but vulpine creatures were always longer than they were tall. The cluster of nine tails made her look even larger. Daji’s fur was bright white with red stripes around the face and limbs. Then there were the balls of magical energy floating above the tips of her tails. Just behind her was what looked like a black spec. It was floating around erratically, causing the ruined surroundings to swirl together. Piles of stones were quickly turned into makeshift buildings. They were crude, but it looked like a small town was starting to form. Mariette was able to spot an inn off in the distance, or at least, what might have been one. It was a tall building that didn’t look too different from the Golden Trove.

But more interesting to Mariette were all the large boulders leading up to the behemoth. It would be a simple matter to create a portal behind one to get everyone closer. Then when they were ready, they could unleash a surprise attack by-

“Hey, kitsune bitch!” Sakura drew back her hands and charged her killing blow. “I’ve got an attack with your name on it, and it’s called-”

A ball of magical energy slammed into the earth right in front of Sakura. She tumbled backwards into Ronin and Miko, piling up just a few feet away from Mariette’s position. A second ball slammed into the rock formation she was hiding behind, scattering it to the four winds. They had most certainly been exposed.

That was when the black dot in the distance stopped moving. It only waited a moment before flying towards the group. It was moving fast, and it wasn’t long before the black dot started to look more like a magical girl. Or more precisely, a magical woman. Soon other details came into focus. Her ornate chinese dress, the golden accents, her long hair, it all looked so familiar. She dropped to the earth like a meteor, but stopped her descent just before touching the ground. A burst of wind magic nearly knocked Mariette off her feet. But soon the dust settled… And Su Fang stood before her.

“Mariette?” She scoffed. “Why am I not surprised?”

Ronin and Miko had to grab Sakura in a panic as she tumbled back, raising small reinforcement barriers just in case as they assessed their situation. Mariette, meanwhile, was utterly shook by how her cover broke apart, and of all places to be, in the place the opponent was heading straight for was not one of them. She was about to drop herself through a portal… when she recognized the person headed for her. Then she stopped that, instead looking towards her with a touch of surprise, and another of relief.

‘Su. I’m happy to see you,’ she said. ‘Okay, that changes things. There was a hunt for “Su Daji”, and I was thinking…’ She dismissed the thought. ‘How have you been faring?’ she instead asked, with a small smile on her lips.

‘Su!’ Ronin, a few feet away, scrambled to get up to her legs with a big smile. ‘Well, isn’t that- Sensei! This is a friend of ours!’ Ronin called, just in case Sakura was going to continue with the attack. ‘I mean, you were there during that invasion and fought alongside her too, right? I think? Anyway! She’s a friend!’

Sakura just looked on with a look of bewilderment. After cursing up a storm that is.

‘Su… So this is where you went?’ Miko asked, her expression happy but with a touch of concern. ‘I have questions, but… I’m glad to see you, too.’ In addition to the others, that is.

With a growl, Su bit her lower lip. In a matter of seconds, a droplet of blood had run down her chin. Even though this was Su standing in front of them, she did not have kind eyes. “I am Su Daji! I’ve always been.” Su kept her posture straight and looked down on Mariette. Almost like she was looking at an insect. “Familiars are a collection of memories and a soul merged together. That’s what makes us so knowledgeable about magic. My soul is Su Daji’s, among many others.” Su spread her dread wings, and the dark tendrils waved in the air behind her back. Or had they been dread tails this entire time? “But the people I was three thousand years ago doesn’t matter. Not like the history books got it right anyway. What matters to me is why you’ve decided to follow me out here.” She bent her hips until her face was level with Mariette’s. Mariette was a tall girl, but Su was a taller woman. “Was it not enough, Mariette? You helped Justine complete the ritual that got Amber killed, and then when Helga and I broke your brainwashing, you still chose to serve that horror.” With mock laughter, she turned to look at the Japanese twins. “And I guess the two of you will only ever be her underlings? Unable to think for yourselves?” She stood up again. Her fists trembled. “I thought I’d be left alone if I stayed out of Penrose, but you’ve come to harass me here too?”

Mariette winced and took a step back as Su stared at her. Clearly, she’d made a miscalculation somewhere. ‘I… didn’t follow you…’ she muttered, perhaps too quietly. When the part came about her still serving the horror, she averted her gaze, unable to look at Su anymore. ‘I’m not… done yet…’

Ronin and Miko looked equally surprised, Miko a bit horrified. Though, Ronin lifted a finger.

‘Er, it was by complete coincidence we and Mariette happened to come here together today. We just accepted the same hunt, it’s the first time since, really,’ Ronin objected.

‘Was it really a coincidence, however?’ Miko asked.

‘… Or, at least, powers other than our own made us go together, at any rate,’ Ronin corrected.

”...And you just went along with these ‘other powers’?”

Still, the question remained. Mariette steeled herself and turned to look at Su again. ‘I’m sorry, for all the pain I’ve caused,’ Mariette said, turning to open a portal to leave. … “Leave” actually meant “portal around the compound to try to rescue the captives from behind”, but she’d start with seeing if she was allowed to leave or not.

”If you’re sorry, then why are you even here?!” Su’s face was getting more red by the second. ”Do you know why I even came back here? While Boteg was off running around, trying to find his lost brothers and sisters, I came to a realization. Nothing good came out of Amber and I visiting Penrose. Amber died, Justine continues to live to this day, you’re still fucking around with horrors. We weren’t even able to slay Penny like Boteg originally wanted.” She grinned at Mariette before extending her arms. ”Oh, I guess Helga and I became a thing. You and Justine killed Amber, so we had to make due. I almost cheated on her and she didn’t even care. That’s how I knew it wasn’t real. But you know who showed both of us real love? Mika did!” While Su didn’t take her eyes off Mariette, she pointed behind herself at all the structures in the distance. ”I’d have gone back to Penrose to retrieve her, and I’m not going to back away just because she’s in a fucking sandtrap half way across the world. What I will do is kill every last one of you if you try to take her or Katarina away from me.”

Suddenly, Sakura’s head poked up. “Katarina?” She looked at Ronin. “Katarina… Nekrasova?”

‘Er, hold on, Katarina? Why her?’ Ronin spoke up to Su, simply wanting some explanation on that.

‘And, uh, are the two of them here willingly? Mika and Katarina?’ Miko asked, more than a little concerned.

Mariette had stopped, not walked through the portal she was about to walk through because Su continued talking to her. She waited for a bit to see if Su would answer Ronin and Miko’s questions.

Su scoffed. ”They go everywhere together, they’re in love.” She looked to Miko. ”They’re investigating the event that-”

Su suddenly grit her teeth even harder and swung her head backwards. A bolt of lightning flew past her cheek and disappeared in the clouds. At the other end of the lightning bolt was Sakura’s finger, sizzling with arcane energy.

“As nice as her oppai look, Su Daji is a treacherous snake.” Sakura grinned. “Do not listen to her lies. Katarina does not deserve to be held by such a vile woman. I doubt Mika does either.”

”So this was just an elaborate distraction?” With a swing of her arm, Mariette’s portal caved in on itself. ”I’m not even surprised at this point.”

The kitsune flung more energy balls at their location, and the ground around them erupted into debris and smoke. Sakura coiled her tail around her friends to shield them from the attack.

“See how quickly she resorts to hostility? I’m just glad I used a normal spell instead of my killing blow. Now I can assist you in the fight.” She looked at Ronin. “I will not humiliate myself like I did with the tiny scientist!”

When she uncoiled, the surroundings had changed a bit. Su had taken the stone to erect buildings on either side of them. They were effectively inside a giant alleyway. At one end Sakura, Miko, Ronin, and Mariette. Su and the behemoth were at the other. Behind them were the various buildings where Mika and Katarina had to be.

”A fitting arena, isn’t it?” Su’s eyes surged with power. Their neon red glow was visible even in daylight. ”You brought this on yourselves. I’ll bury you here!” Su raised her hand and filled the alleyway with wind. Not only was it almost impossible to stand, but bits of stone debris were breaking off of the walls and tumbling towards them. The behemoth jumped into the sky. It was difficult to tell what it was doing, but it seemed to be spinning like a top. It did look like the kitsune was going to land behind them, in the direction they were being blown in.

‘Woah! Okay! Ronin shouted out as Sakura shot. Meanwhile, Miko cried out in alarm because she was more invested in what Su was saying.

Mariette grunted a very annoyed grunt when Sakura shot.

Ronin looked to Sakura as she talked about fighting together. ‘Okay! Something’s clearly off, so let’s do this!’

Though, that’s when Mariette opened a portal directly to Sakura and threw a quick spell of very bright light in her face. Mini flashbang or whatever. Not actually harmful, not unless it caused Su to hit her, at any rate.

‘Wait, Mariette!?’ Ronin called in surprise at that as she and Miko had to set up shields to protect against the wind and rocks for Sakura.

‘She is not vile. She is the one who saved my life,’ Mariette explained, though probably while using portals going directly to the walls to the left and right to defend against energy balls. A shield on her back would also prevent her from falling over in the wind, albeit it was not comfortable.

‘I’m eternally grateful for what you did for me… but I will rescue those girls from you. If only to make sure nobody comes after me with the intention of killing you, like the hunt suggested!’ Mariette called, and then a flurry of light-blasts surged from around her at rocks and at Su, with the intention of putting her more on the defensive. Ronin and Miko could stand at the defensive with reinforcement shields. That said, Mariette knew they couldn’t stay here, not with the behemoth coming around. So she was also going to attempt to open a portal in the ground to drop into the adjacent buildings to escape this alley that wasn’t exactly ideal for Mariette.

“Son of a, where did she go!?” Sakura flailed her tail around before slamming it into the ground, triggering a lightning nova. “That outa get Oppai Daji!”

While Su was much, much, much too far away to get hit by the surge of electricity, the momentarily blinded Sakura did manage to shock both of her friends. While not powerful, it was enough to stun the twins, causing their shields to drop. They and Sakura rolled away like tumbleweeds in the wind.

Mariette no longer had her shield backing, but she could keep herself from getting smashed to bits by incoming boulders. The light rays turned the debris to ash before they could touch her. Su wasn’t having much difficulty evading her shots however. She was among the swiftest girls in Penrose, and she had gotten nothing but faster since her departure. It was almost like she could see the light rays before they hit her.

Mariette was used to falling through her portals to safety, but that wasn’t what happened here. Su pulled back her arm and the wind instantly changed direction. A burst of air was pulled through her portal, and she was shoved out of it. She was suspended in the air as Su dove in her direction. Judging by the scowl on her face, it seemed that her words hadn’t been able to break through to her.

Things weren’t much better for the others. Sakura, Miko, and Ronin could get back up now that the wind had stopped blowing them. But the kitsune had made landfall, and was charging towards them. The back of the ally was the open maw of a giant fox. Rows and rows of teeth as well as a cavernous throat was there to greet the slow.

Mariette winced as the wind lifted her from her portal. Hm, that was less than ideal. Fighting someone who knows your tricks is a pain, huh? She looked up with a focused gaze to where Su was speeding in at her.

The hand-mirror that was Mariette’s weapon manifested in her hand and she swung in empty space in front of her. All at once, multiple portals opened in front of her, intending to obscure her from view. Then, tentacles of darkness shot out from her, intending to grab onto the portal to pull her through. Knowing Su could wipe out the portals, she also prepared a light-blast, and also mapped a path through portals; the moment she saw Su again, be it by her breaking the portals or simply going around them, Mariette intended on shooting and also opening a portal to where the light-blast was going make the shot come back after missing, coming in from diagonally above. Tentacles were ready to otherwise defend her. Also, because Ronin/Miko wouldn’t be able to stop the fox, she also had to prepare to just fling herself out of the way with tentacles.

‘R-right, Sensei! Su is, er, was our friend, we’d like to avoid killing her!’ Ronin called, but then spun around and saw the behemoth fox. ‘You’re new, though,’ she observed. ‘Right, hang on!’

She didn’t know if Sakura was still stunned, but she grabbed her anyway and leapt. Ronin and Miko had their own wind magic to at least somewhat counteract the wind if it came again, but for now their reinforcement speciality allowed them to create tiny barriers under their feet, essentially allowing them to jump in mid-air indefinitely, and in any direction. While Ronin leapt up to avoid the charging fox, she then turned to jump down at it again and try to slice with her blade from above, to see how tough the beast was.

‘I-I need to figure out if…’ Miko, meanwhile, decided to take a look around with her Third Eye. She leapt just as Ronin did, and made sure to throw a glance at both Su, the big kitsune and all in-between, while also mentally preparing to leap to either Ronin or Mariette’s aid if so needed. Reinforcement specialist or all that.

The scene was frantic, but Miko was able to gleam quite a bit out of the scene with just a glance. The Kitsune was indeed a massive magical anomaly. It was impossible to separate its magics into individual specializations, but it was a Kitsune. They were among the most powerful arcane tricksters in Japanese mythology, and Su Daji was said to be the strongest among them. In addition to balls of “fox fire,” they could expect it to teleport and use other forms of trickery.

As for Su, it became very apparent why she was so difficult for Mariette to oppose. Su was always the most potent wind girl in Penrose, but it seemed that she now also possessed time magic. In addition to her swift movements, she was overclocking her mind to give her perfect reaction speeds. In addition to this, she had her own third eye up and could likely tell exactly what Mariette was doing as she was doing it. She knew where every single portal lead, what spells Mariette was preparing, and was swift enough in body and mind to react.

Su soared right over the top of the portals and did a barrel roll to avoid the incoming light blast. But there would be no redirect, as a sudden collapsing vacuum would shatter any of the portals that could have landed a blow on her. While she spun, her blade-like dread tails sliced through Mariette’s tentacles. They were about to slice through her flesh when one of her tails gently bat Mariette off to the side.

Had Mariette broken through? Had she finally been able to talk some sense into Su? Had she-

*ZAP*

Mariette was suddenly hit from behind with a potent lightning bolt.

“Fucking hell!” Sakura cursed. “Hold me steady, Ronin!And stop trying to defend such an evil woman! There are other girls with bigger oppai!”

The kitsune eyed its prey as they seemed to walk through the air. While its mouth was shut, the arcane orbs that hovered over its tail crackled with arcane energy. It wasn’t long before it flicked a salvo of giant projectiles at the sky fairing asians.

‘Oh dear,’ Miko said after properly processing what she was seeing.

Mariette had a moment of alarm when her tentacles and all seemed unable to stop the assailant. They’d usually always been enough to at least allow her time to escape, but this time… and she was just hit a bit aside. Mariette did not have much time to figure out why before being shocked, after which she gasped and fell over on the spot.

‘Ack! I didn’t know you were going to shoot…!’ Ronin shouted, and also stopped her attack at the fox-beast as it started firing at them. ‘HOLY…!’

‘I’m going to Mariette! Beware of tricks and teleportation from the fox!’ Miko remarked to Ronin, before turning her legs to jump downwards. Both Ronin and Miko threw shields to block the pieces of salvo that were about to hit them, while Miko tried to also shield Mariette if necessary and Ronin Sakura.

‘Right, Sensei! If you tell me what you’re gonna do next, I’ll do my best to support you!’ Ronin said, because if Sakura was going to do whatever anyway, might as well do her best to make sure it’s a success!

“As I would expect you to do for your sensei.” Sakura puffed out her chest in a display of pride before pointing her finger at Su once more. “We kill Su Daji and rescue those girls!”

Miko, meanwhile, landed by Mariette and immediately started applying healing to the shocked girl. ‘She has time-magic. She reacts instantly to what you’re doing,’ Miko said, if she had time to, I can imagine Su pressing her advantage.

‘I see…’ Mariette tried to pull herself up, the eyepatched girl frowning at the painful experience. ‘It appears it’s my turn to be stuck in an alley fighting an oppressor…’ That said, Mariette had a plan. Her portals have way greater range, after all.

Ronin’s reinforcement magic could protect her friends and herself, but asking them to stand up to magical artillery was a big ask. The arcane sphere ruptured against the shield, but the ensuing burst of magic cut the shield in half and threw both Ronin and Sakura through the air.

“Fucking hell!” Sakura’s serpentine body spun through the air like a bolo.

And that was just one projectile. The kitsune had nine tails, each of which were capable of flinging projectiles. It didn’t wait for its prey to hit the ground and attempted to strike them mid-air.

As Mariette had predicted, Su was going to keep up the pressure. Miko got her shield up just in time to deflect Su’s dread tails, but it wasn’t going to hold forever. A single spin of her torso flung her nine bladed tendrils into the shield. She had become a saw blade, cutting through the shield before mincing the targets inside. Mariette had mere seconds to enact a plan.

Okay. So her plan on how to actually win would take too long for immediate survival. That said, there was a hailstorm of projectiles in the air. It was time for some portalling 101.

A portal opened from directly in front of a projectile some distance away from Su to Mariette’s hand-mirror. The projectile picked would preferably be one that was heading their direction so that it would be stopped, but not so close that Su could just immediately close it herself. The projectile inside would be aimed, not at Su herself as she could dodge too easily, but at the back of the shield Su was currently assailing. The hope was that the impact would create a burst she couldn’t escape entirely unscathed from and hopefully either force a retreat or actually knock her away.

Miko, with her Third Eye, saw the portal and could guess what was happening. Albeit it was a split-second thing, she’d attempt to raise a new barrier behind the previous one when the projectile came through to shield them from the explosion. If Su were to just go sideways to avoid the burst, Mariette could simply move where she pointed the hand-mirror and Miko could attempt to create a barrier at the new location. There were a lot more projectiles to pick up if the first one failed.

Ronin, meanwhile, as the one who can manifest barriers in the air, tried to manifest one to just immediately break the flight of her and her Sensei. They were MGs, they could handle it. Then she’d just hold onto her Sensei and try to leap to the ground, and…

‘I prefer “drive away”, but I’ll support your shot!’ On the ground, it should be easier for Sakura to fire, and otherwise Ronin could protect them from projectiles. Not with barriers too close to them, but rather by manifesting shields as discs in her hands and throwing them at the projectiles from a distance.

“You need to be more of a man, Ronin!” Sakura was a bit shaken up with all the slamming and falling, but was coherent enough to point his finger at Su. The shields Ronin was throwing into the air also seemed to be enough to stop the incoming bombardment.

Of course, no matter how many “if” statements her plan contained, Mariette could not plan for complications that she couldn’t foresee. Because magic could be pretty bullshit sometimes, and never with as much frequency as enemy magical girls.

Mariette had timed and angled everything perfectly. She had seen Su move and could approximate how long it would take for her to avoid a magical burst. The issue was that Mariette assumed that Su’s only avenue for avoiding attacks was to move out of the way. She looked over her shoulder at the incoming ball of energy and vanished right on the spot. The attack detonated just as Mariette predicted, and Miko’s second shield blocked most of the impact.

But Miko was also aware of what Su had done. Girls like Su had unique abilities they could use with their magic. She could create vacuums with her wind magic. But she could see that with her time magic, she was capable of sending things into the future. In this case, she simply sent herself ahead just in time to avoid the exploding projectile. This also meant that Sakura’s shot would miss its mark and connect with Miko’s head.

“Fucking hell!” Sakura balled her hands into fists. “Come on Ronin,! We’re engaging in CQC!” The wannabe dragon slithered towards his target.

Su appeared right where she had vanished from once the gambit failed. But rather than pressing the attack, she turned around and charged towards Sakura. Though Mariette and Miko weren’t quite out of trouble yet. The behemoth briefly turned into a puff of white smoke and reformed directly above Mariette. It lifted up one of its paws with the clear intent of crushing Mariette and Miko.

They had yet to land a single hit on Su or the kitsune. Were they in over their head, or could they still turn this around?

Mariette was not going to stay around to find out.

She could use the brief disappearance of Su to get out of here. First and foremost, she opened a portal from the ground to in-the-way of the giant paw, so that it’d smack into the ground earlier than intended, because if that part failed then all else is void anyway. Second, she opened a larger portal beneath her, simply meant to displace herself and Miko away from the current situation and about a mile east from there.

‘E- MIKO!’ Ronin cried out seeing her sister get hit, and is going to launch herself in that direction as quickly as she can, however that might compare to Sakura’s speed. Now, distances are a little vague, but if she sees Mariette portal away with Miko she might halt, as there’s nothing left to head towards.

Distances may be vague, but times most certainly are not. The brief duration Su had vanished was barely enough time for Mariette and Miko to escape. The portal closed just before Su could drag the duo back through, but she had plenty of time to turn and face the other duo that was charging her. She stomped the ground, with her legs in a half-horse stance.

“She thinks she’d got more martial prowess than me? We’ll show that evil woman who’s the master of hand to hand!”

---

Mariette and Miko appeared a mile deep into the city. It was more crudely erected buildings, with the sound of fighting in the distance. Even from here, Mariette could feel the air shake with every vacuum Su collapsed.

She barely had a chance to speak with Miko before a plume of smoke erupted out of nowhere. And there before them was the behemoth kitsune, baring its fangs. While Miko was aware of its ability to teleport, she had not been aware of how far it could move.

The ground trembled when it growled, daring the duo to make their next move.

‘I-it can teleport…’ Miko mumbled, while holding a hand to her own head and healing herself, very much shaken by the thunderbolt headshot. Mariette grunted as annoyed reply, but pulled her hand-mirror again. Leaving Bunny at home today was the right choice.

‘Fine. You want to fight? Of the two of you, you’re easier to shoot,’ Mariette claimed, and then a dozen portals opened around Mariette, each connected to her hand-mirror, and from that a dozen blasts of light launched at the foe with some spread to try to intercept potential dodging. Knowing it could teleport, she also opened her tiny portals close to her to look in multiple directions. Close to her because she was wary of Su knowing about her sky-eye portals and would use it against her. At the same time, she was amassing her power and spreading her influence over the area, prepared to open more and larger portals…

… And a small part of her tried to also used Absolute Direction to see if she could figure out where Mika was. If this battle was as hopeless as it had felt, then perhaps trying to save the hostages and then retreat would be an option. But if this thing could just teleport after… it needed to be dealt with.

Miko would simply try to hang on, scout with Third Eye and prepare to try to block if Mariette missed anything.

As Mariette had deduced with her superior intellect, the giant fox was indeed easier to hit than a nimble magical girl. The trade off was that it was more durable. But that just meant that Mariette and Miko had to avoid being crushed by one of its attacks before it succumbed to its wounds.

Mariette could feel Mika’s presence. She couldn’t have been more than maybe ten blocks down the road. Sure enough, there was something representing a hotel further down the street.

Though the behemoth’s position did not allow for the maximum amount of firepower to be aimed at it. The nearby structures made shots past them impossible, and moving them closer would just allow the Vulpine creature to destroy them. Light poured onto the creature from above. It didn’t stay put for long.

The behemoth lunged for Mariette. Its chin scraped across the ruined road as it closed in on the pair.

Mariette frowned. So, you need something with a bit more punch to it, huh?

She saw a nearby structure with a long slender beam protruding from the top of it . Good enough. Then, she summoned her power, and swung her hand-mirror. With enough focus, Mariette can move her portals…

And what she did right now was create a portal the fox had to move over to get to her and then ram the other side of the portal down to swallow the piece of ruin, essentially causing a piece of building to strike out of nowhere from underneath the fox. Now, the bigger the portal, the more effort there was, so the size of the possible uppercut was limited by the circumference of the debris.

Even if she missed she could just make a different portal to where the monster jumped to next.

The kitsune would not stop its advance. Even as the metal beam was thrust into its chest, it continued to surge forth. The iron bent as it pressed forward. Partially due to the size of the creature, but also because of the heat from having all that light magic directed at it. Crimson spilled from its chest, but was it wise for Mariette to put all of her focus into her attack?

The moment the creature came too close Miko grabbed Mariette and leaped to get out of the way, being faster on her feet than Mariette. Mariette, meanwhile, would burst out a flurry of dark tentacles to try to hold off the attack. This did delay the behemoth, but it was evident that the jaws were going to keep closing, slowly, until the duo were trapped between its teeth. Mariette had no intention of letting that happen and instead created portals for the teeth to sink into. While she positioned them so that the frames of her mirrors would slip between its teeth, this was just delaying the inevitable. At the moment Miko and Mariette were being squished between her tentacles, but the fox’s gums would eventually break the portals. They needed a real solution.

Why not more offense?

Mariette shoot some lasers straight down its throat, which caused the vulpine beast to cough out the duo. Such a beating might have ended a lesser creature, but the kitsune was still persevering. It growled at the duo before disappearing from sight. But this was but a light reprieve before the assault continued.

The kitsune appeared in the sky and pressed all of its tails together. Then it performed a summersault that flung a single massive spell straight down on top of Mariette and Miko. It was too big to portal away, and asking one of Miko’s shields to block it would have been asking a lot from her magic. But it would be some time before it landed.

Time the kitsune used to teleport again.

It placed itself between Mariette and the direction Mika should have been in. The lazers of light bombarded it all over, but so too did it fling its smaller spells at Mariette and Miko. The weakening behemoth was going to fight tooth and nail until the bitter end.

Okay, so Mariette was panting now, having managed to make the giant fox release her, and it appeared again. Could it somehow sense that she used Absolute Direction. However, there was a different issue. Mariette did not want to kill this fox. It was somehow linked to Su, and almost regardless of the nature of the connection, Mariette didn’t want to do that to one she considered her friend.

Still, right now, she had to dodge a giant energy-ball.

‘Miko,’ Mariette asked as she opened a portal. Miko nodded, grabbed Mariette and leapt. Out of the two of them, Miko was the faster, with faster reaction-time and wind-magic to give her emergency boosts, and as such Miko leapt with Mariette through the portals. From now on, they were on double duty. Miko was dodging and leaping to avoid attacks, while Mariette pulled offense shooting at their foe and creating portals to redirect smaller spells back at their sender. Eventually, Mariette intended on trying to bypass the kitsune to portal directly to the place of the captives…

Mariette and Miko managed to escape through the portal just as the next salvo of projectiles came in. The portal was obliterated as they tumbled inside a room. They were surrounded by repurposed debris, but Mariette was still able to see the Kitsune by way of the portal over her eye. It looked like it was really hurting, but it refused to yield to its wounds. She decided to suspend her bombardment in fear of killing it. But she understood that she didn’t have a lot of time to dawdle. Ronin was holding up against Su, and Sakura wasn’t exactly a reliable partner. Mariette tried to catch her breath as the duo moved into the next room.

This room looked a lot more cozy. An ornamental rug was in the center of the floor, as well as two couches positioned on either side of a coffee table. Sitting on either couch were two transformed magical girls.

"I don’t know if I like this." Rina had made herself a metal lamp that lit the windowless room up. Her feet were up on the table with one leg over the other. "We haven’t learned much since Su showed up. I don’t know what kind of evidence she’s destroying while she tries to, um, rebuild the town."

”It’s fine!” Mika was playing on some hand held device. It was blaring crunchy 8-bit sounds as her thumbs jumped across the controller. ”I knew she’d come see me eventually!”

"I don’t like how…" Rina turned her head to look at the newly arrived.

‘Okay, so…’ Miko panted out as she looked around with Third Eye, simply because. Mariette, meanwhile, turned directly to the two girls.

‘Little time. I’ve been sent to save you. Summarize quickly. What’s going on? What’s with Su?’ Mariette requested, speaking very quickly, wanting to get a new perspective on the situation. All the while, starting to scout the area with portals to try to see if there were any threats incoming as she was currently located in the very place Su wanted to protect.

”Mommy’s building a town for us!” Mika didn’t look up from her game.

Rina opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated to speak. But just for a moment. "That’s the short version. I wouldn’t say we need to be rescued, but I doubt she’d let us go."

‘Building a…’ Mariette frowned. ‘I was sent by a girl named Bonnie to save two kidnapped girls, you two, and drive off or kill the kidnapper. I won’t kill Su, but she was not acting like usually. What can you tell me?’ she said, very wary of just-in-case.

Mika looked up from her game, absolutely beaming with joy. ”Mommy came to look for us! But while we were out here, Rina and I found a tail just laying out in the open. When Mommy touched it, it grew into the big fox.” Mika tipped her head. ”She has been acting a little strange recently.”

"I’ll say." Rina stood up. "It’s too early to tell, but I think the tail unlocked some of her memories or brainwashed her. I hesitate to believe it’s the latter since she doesn’t seem to be doing anything productive. Why build a town out of trash in the middle of nowhere?" She groaned. "I would have left already, but I’m worried she’ll come look for us. That kitsune she’s got with her is no joke. If it followed her into a city… As for the C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N.’s involvement, I was the one to request help from them, but it seems they embellished the request a bit."

‘We need to go check on Ronin…’ Miko said, worry in her voice, because Ronin would be hard-pressed holding back the enemy they just faced. Mariette nodded and prepared to portal.

Mika closed up her game and approached Mariette. ”If this row-nin is with mom, I’d like to come with you.”

Rina created a metal arrow in her hand. "I might as well join you. I would never hurt Su, but that fox is another story."

Mariette breathed out, somewhat in relief. So Su was being affected by something. She nodded to their desire to come along, and then made the preparations…

---

Mariette and Miko’s departure did get the kitsune to leave the area. But Su was still a deadly opponent, one that Ronin and Sakura had yet to land a hit on. Su remained in a horse stance as the duo charged towards her.

“Okay, so here’s the deal.” Sakura was able to speak while slithering up to her target. “She can dodge my attacks because you’re giving away my position, so if we flank her, one of us should be able to deal the killing blow.”

‘I don’t know if-’ Ronin tried.

“I can hear you.” Su called over with a growl.

“She’s just trying to intimidate us. If we get on either side of her, then I can-”

Su’s body erupted with magical energy, and the surrounding area was caught in a time dilation spell. Everything outside the dome seemed to move in slow motion, or was everyone inside moving really fast?

Debris swirled around Su’s arms as she lunged for Ronin. But more concerning was that Sakura looked like she was aiming lightning at Su. Given her previous attempts and Su’s close proximity to Ronin…

‘Ooooo-’ Ronin didn’t have much of a choice other than to try to avoid. In a combination of all her abilities, she manifested a barrier under her feet to launch herself off with a jump, used her wind to try to give herself a boost in that direction, but also tried to manifest a barrier between herself, Su AND Sakura, just in case.

Ronin’s barriers would keep her safe for the moment, but she was just delaying the inevitable. A single swing from Su’s arms was enough to shatter the barrier. The one thing that made her stop was the barrier blowing up behind her head. Sakura’s shot was another near-miss on Su, but the barrier stopped it from slamming into Ronin.

“She has barrier magic too!” Sakura went into a crane stance, minus the leg arrangement. “You may be able to see my magic, but my fists are too fast for you!” Sakura pounced towards Su, but was struck in the face by an uppercut. “Blast, I need a faster face!”

The uppercut was assisted by a sudden wind tunnel that carried Sakura into the air. But Su was guiding the dragon woman into the air and straight down on Ronin’s head.

‘Oh,’ Ronin blinked and tried to spearhead her own weaker wind-magic to break through to the right to avoid Sakura. However, she did want to counter somehow. ‘Su, I, I really appreciate your help back then…!’ She attempted to grab Sakura’s arm and then use reinforced strength to spin around and throw the dragon at Su…!

“Good thinking, Ronin! I’ll get her for sure this time!”

Even with enhanced reaction times and the ability to see magic, surely throwing her own ally at Su had to be a surprise. Sakura extended her fist as she glided towards her target, but Su just caught her in a wind tunnel and redirected her away.

But it wouldn’t be the clean break she wanted.

Sakura super charged her body and erupted with a nova of electricity. Even though Su was only on the outer fringes of the attack, it was enough to knock her out of the air. The wind tunnel broke around Sakura and they tumbled to the ground.

“Back then, huh?” Su stood up and glared at Ronin. Sakura;s lightning managed to scorch her arm and burned a hole in her dress over her rib cage. “You and Mariette have used me too many times, you’re going to need to be more specific.”

An invisible force picked up Ronin and hoisted her between Su and Sakura. The latter was charging Su with her eyes closed and surging with electricity.

Ronin yelped a little as she was picked up by what felt like nothing, but she had to assume it was focused wind-magic. She knew Su’s wind-magic was way superior to her own, so all she really had was lift her legs, manifest a barrier under her legs, and then try to jump with as much force as she could.

‘I’m grateful for all of them! … But the one I meant was the very last one!’ Ronin panted, probably trying to jump multiple times if it didn’t work. ‘Y-you helped save my sister… she’s free now, partly thanks to you…! Thank you!’ she called, and in case it didn’t work she’d have to raise a barrier and hope Sakura didn’t hurt her.

Ronin’s jump did get her a bit of height. As strong as Su’s magic was, air was never going to be the optimal way to hold someone down. But Ronin could feel her hair stand up as Sakura rushed underneath her. This was a potent payload that Sakura was carrying. Superior reflexes wouldn’t Save Su this time, but she was preparing an attack of her own.

Sakura and Su blasted each other with their magic. The field of electricity burned and threw Su backwards, and a wind burst sent Sakura hurtling through the air. But Ronin had been hit by both attacks. While she was behind Sakura, the wind burst was strong enough to reach her. Ronin flew through the air with her sensei before tumbling across the clay earth. Seconds later, Sakura fell on top of her.

“Fuck…Ing…Hell…” Sakura panted. “At least, you slowed, my fall, Ronin.” she rolled over onto her side so that Ronin could get up.

Su was crumpled up and had electricity burns all over her body. She trembled as she attempted to stand.

‘H-happy to be of service, Sensei…’ Ronin panted out as she also staggered up after the multiple blows she’d taken, and also been zapped a bit. She placed some healing on herself before turning over towards Su, a bit concerned about how injured she might be. Ronin started to walk over, hoping everyone’s shared injuries would give her time to talk.

‘I… I’m really happy to see you, you know. You disappeared for some time, again. I remember you fondly, I’m very sad you don’t see it the same way. Why, I still remember when you asked me out…’ Ronin grinned a bit, and transformed, as she could. She took the time to become as she had looked at the time in that restaurant.

How she looked back then

‘And you know what? I would have said yes. If it wasn’t for being devoured by a vampire and that. Not necessarily because I was in love, mind, but because it’d be a new adventure. And who knows? Maybe love could have blossomed…’ With the assumption she hadn’t been interrupted by Sensei or Su by now, she continued.

‘I don’t believe this is you, Su. I don’t believe you’re a kidnapper, like the hunt claimed. Let’s talk this out, okay?’

Su was still trying to push herself to her feet. Be it a lack of strength or will, she fell back onto one knee. “Deni.” She held herself up with her knuckles. “That was, such, a long time ago. I haven’t been that naive in a long time. Why are you tormenting me with this now?” Her left arm had been cooked through and through, and was just black char. “Who did I kidnap? Mika and Katarina are here willingly! Whoever said otherwise-”

But Ronin had to move to place herself between Su and her sensei, who had slithered into position. While doing so she lost the transformed shape, as when transformed in that way she has zero combat capability, so she’s back to little samurai Ronin.

“I see my pupil has much to learn about old flames.” Sakura’s stance was a lot more aggressive than before. She wasn’t pointing at Su with her finger now, her arm was cocked like she was going to throw a punch. “Did I ever tell you I use to be yakuza, Ronin? Because I was, and I used people all the time. It’s easy to do when they think you love them, when you shower them with gifts.” She sighed. “I know Katarina. She’s one of my daughters, created by a false love that I made with someone. I doubt she knows, but she’s a good kid. She was a police officer last I heard.” Sakura allowed herself to chuckle, but remained serious. “If she’s here, it’s to stop something bad from happening. I can’t say Su Daji is making much sense. But she is historically a seductress, so I wouldn’t listen to her.” Sakura inched closer. “I understand if you can’t kill her yourself, but then let me do it. Let this bitter old man carry the sin of murder so that you don’t have to.”

‘Woa, woa, Sensei! This is NOT a “it’s painful but it must be done” moment!’ Ronin objected. ‘I don’t know who “Su Daji” is, but that over there is Su, my friend. She was the Familiar of a Magical Girl, and then managed to become a Magical Girl herself. And she’s NOT a bad guy! Something’s up, and we should put this on hold until we can talk this out! Okay!?’ she asked, now seriously scared that her Sensei wouldn’t listen to her.

“Actions speak louder than words, Ronin. What use is talking to a temptress that’s already shown her hand?” Sakura shook her head. “I see that there will be no reasoning with you. I can only hope that you forgive me for what I’m about to do…” Sakura reached her hands over her head. While it had been a cloudless day, Ronin could see that the weather was rapidly changing. Clouds started rolling in from every direction, and they were gathering directly over the trio. “I had hoped that I could show this move to Emily, but maybe she will read about it in the news.”

Ronin might not have had third eye, but he could feel the immense amount of mana rolling in. Most magical girls could enact a single killing blow that left them weak and vulnerable. But sakura had been gifted by higher powers. Not only did she have four different killing blows, but she could even keep fighting after enacting one. This was something she had experienced herself on their last hunt together. But Sakura wasn’t leaving anything in the tank this time. This attack really was going to take all of her mana to pull off.

A killing blow in the form of a hurricane.

It would have landed already, but the dime dilation spell Su put up was still in effect. It would be a bit before the hurricane touched down.

“Deni.” Su was looking off into the distance. “I don’t know why you’re trying to protect me, but I feel like the kindness you’re trying to show me is genuine.” She looked over her shoulder at Ronin. “Make sure Mika is taken care of. I only want the best for her.”

“This isn’t easy for me, Ronin! But it must be done.” Sakura still held her arms over her head. “Get away from her, or I’ll take you both out with-

H U R R I C A N E E M I L Y !

‘NO! It does-’ Ronin called, spinning around to jump to grab and save Su… when she came face-to-face with the sheer magnitude of Hurricane Emily. There was absolutely no way she could jump in, grab Su and then escape. The only reason it wasn’t too late already was because of the time-dilation.

On instinct, feeling that she was in over her head, Ronin used her Twin Soul power. She sent a magic signal that told Miko her exact position. This was a signal for “I’m in trouble” and should cause Miko to alert Mariette… except Miko and Mariette were both outside the time-dilation effect, and the time for Miko to tell Mariette and then for Mariette to open a portal was too long.

Her only option, then, was to actually force Sakura to stop.

‘SENSEI STOP!’ she called, spinning around and punching Sakura in the face, hoping the shock would stop the whole thing from going down.

“Gah!”

It likely wouldn’t, considering how experienced Sakura is with punches.

‘STOP! STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP-’ she cried out, punching again and again, but with no effect on the actual hurricane.

“Hit me as many times as you must, Ronin.” Sakura sneered. Even as her soft underbelly bruised, she maintained her concentration. “I carry many deaths on my shoulders, the tears of wives and children. What’s a few more?”

Feeling it grow stronger, Deni spun around again, seeing in horror that the Killing Blow was descending towards her friend. A hellish thought crossed her mind, and all of a sudden, she had to weigh them in her mind.

Su was her friend and helped save Mariette. Sakura was her friend, and ALSO helped save Mariette, kind of. No, she couldn’t weigh them like that. Who was right in this situation? Su HAD attacked them with intention to kill, but-

No. Su had put down her arms, metaphorically. She had surrendered. Executing her now was wrong. Sakura was wrong. But that… meant Deni had to…

She didn’t want to. If she just let it happen and then let Sakura suffer the consequences of murder-

No. The moment she started thinking like that, it was over. She could not become a person of inaction.

‘GOD

FUCKING

DAMN IT

Deni screamed as she grabbed her sword, spun around, and sliced.

If you looked at Sakura and Ronin’s stat blocks side by side, it would be clear who the stronger magical girl was. Sakura's weakest attribute was as strong as Ronin’s greatest. But something that wouldn’t show up in the numbers, the list of perks and abilities, was Ronin’s determination. When she set her mind to something, she could fell anything with a decisive cut from her blade. Nykannis discovered this not long ago, but Sakura hadn’t been paying attention.

She did now.

Deni didn’t need to look at her sensei’s body to know the type of damage she inflicted. She didn’t want to. All she had to do was look at the sky and see the clouds lighting up. The sun fell on Deni’s face, and her tears glistened.

“Oh no… No…” Sakura whispered from behind Deni. “Are you crying because of me? Did I do that?” Her voice cracked. “How foolish I’ve been. I wanted to be respected by just one person. I overlooked them and drove them to kill me. I’m so sorry, Ronin. Things would have turned out better if you were my sensei.”

But when Deni looked over her shoulder, there was just her teacher’s unmoving body.

Su looked on wide eyed and slack jawed. With a gunt, she forced herself to her feet and limped over to Deni’s position. Once she was close enough to the tiny ronin, she kneeled in front of Deni before pulling her into a hug. She said nothing as she held onto her old friend, and the time dilation field dissipated.

Deni had stood frozen, tears running down her cheeks with a despairing expression, before Su hugged her. When she did, she spun around and hugged Su in turn, as she also vented her feelings straight into a scream.

‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH’

Shortly after, a portal opened. Mariette had been told by Miko that Ronin was in trouble, and as such a couple tentacles reached through intending to grab her and pull her to safety… but then they loosened up, as Mariette read the situation, and instead the tentacles retreated and Mariette walked in, stopping to look on with a somewhat perplexed expression.

‘Oh, no…’ Eli muttered and put her hands over her mouth as she saw what had happened with Sakura, and albeit she didn’t know the whole situation, she knew Deni and Sakura were friends. ‘Dear sister…’ she came jogging to be at her sister’s side, albeit looking a little hesitant towards Su, seeing what the situation had been earlier.

Su mostly just averted her eyes. Even as Deni was yanked away from her, she remained stationary.

Mika came through the portal with the others, but her smile vanished as soon as she saw Su. She ran up to her mother and hugged her. ”Are you okay?” She wouldn’t get an answer.

Rina was also there, looking out for the kitsune. Her diligence would be rewarded when it suddenly appeared in front of everyone. Yet the beast seemed weaker somehow. It had been hammered with lots of Mariette’s magic, but it looked even more feeble than it had a moment ago. With a groan, the fox fell forward. Its body dissolved into red smoke before slamming into the ground. But when the dust cleared out, there was a cluster of fox tails wired together. It almost looked like the head of a broom. "That fox monster turned into a bunch of tails?" Rina looked at Su.

“That was the artifact I found out here.” Su glanced at it. “When I picked it up, that was when it started to speak to me. It told me who I used to be, who I was, who I would be in the future. But I don’t trust it anymore. It lied to me.”

”Even if it isn’t you, it’s still a part of you, right mommy?” Mika left Su’s side to pick up the artifact. Su had started to protest, but it was already in her hands before she could say anything. ”If you don’t like what she says or does to you, maybe you need to give her a time out? I’m sure someone can seal her away.”

Su placed a hand on her hip. “And who around here has the power to seal away rouge spirits?”

Mariette sighed, and pulled a book out of her hammerspace handbag. ‘I can. What is it weak to?’ she asked, while already extending the reach of her portals to see what she could retrieve.

Su was taken back by how fast Mariette had responded. “She has many vices. I imagine anything of that nature would do.”

When it comes to vices, fewer people had more of those than a yakuza. Mariette was able to plunder cigarettes and a canteen filled with booze off of the former mobster. ‘Is there anything you prefer I seal it into?’

Su reached around her neck and pulled off her dragon pendant. It had cracked previously when it sacrificed itself to save her. Now it would serve to hold Su Daji.

Eli hugged around her sister, who was crying profusely into her shoulder.

‘She was going to… I had to… if I didn’t… god fucking damn it, Sensei, why did you…!?’ Deni cursed in anger and sorrow into Eli’s shoulder, who could do nothing but receive it.

The ritual itself was simply keeping the pendant to be sealed in the center of the circle, before Mariette muttered a couple specific magical words causing the circle to activate, then forcing the spirit into the vessel of her choice with a strike of her palm.

Once the magic circle faded and the spectacle came to a close, there was no sign anything was amiss. Mika scooped up the pendant and approached Su. She almost stepped away from Mika, but allowed her daughter to place the necklace on her without fuss. The seal held, and nothing ill happened when she came in contact with the pendant. Mariette’s ritual had worked.

That was when one of the C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N.’s many cloud stones fell beside the gathering. Bonnie herself stepped out of the portal and looked over those that were gathered. ”The conditions of your contract have been satisfied. Su Daji has been sealed away, and the hostages are in good health.” She looked at Sakura’s corpse. ”Unfortunately, Sakura did not survive. I was concerned that there might be a disagreement between you all, but I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.” She turned back to the others. ”But a bonus for the survivors.” Bonnie opened her hand, and there were three thin purple gemstones in her hand. Only they were more flexible and had an eerie glow. Just looking at them caused them to feel a distinct sense of dread. ”I’ve always considered a successful mission its own reward, but upper management wanted you three to have these grief seeds. Aside from the name, I don’t know that much about them.” Bonnie looked over her shoulder at the cloud stone. ”I can take you back to Penrose when you are ready.”

Mariette momentarily turned to Su, now, unconcerned with the mission being accomplished.

‘Are you alright? Is there anything I can help with?’ Mariette asked.

Su nodded. “No, this was enough. The three of you saved me at a huge cost to yourselves. I couldn’t possibly ask for more.”

‘Um… You want us to accept something you don’t even know what it is?’ Eli asked, turning on her Third Eye, inspecting the Grief Seeds while still hugging the grieving Deni. ‘I apologize for being very cautious, but the whole scene here happened because Su picked up something she shouldn’t have. Who are these “upper management” that wants us to have these?’

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, but lowered it before speaking. ”Understandable, though I think your nerves may be getting to you. You accepted C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N.’s summons and participated in the mission. We were commissioned by a third party to arrange this hunt, and were paid before I was even dispatched. It would tarnish our reputation if you were to come into harm's way because we gave you a bonus.” Her eyes drifted to the seeds in question. ”My superior’s identity is classified. The C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N. prides itself on its neutrality and part of that is that no one knows who runs it barring captains like myself. Though it may comfort you to know that this reward is handed out to everyone who does work for us. They are effectively magical coins, and will have no effect unless you crush them in your hand. I’m told that most simply hold onto them as a memento rather than using them.”

Eli’s eye could not fully pierce the grief seed. But as the name implied, it was a crystallization of some form of empath magic. A despair so deep it turned the heart of the crystal black. The hopelessness clouded the purpose of the crystal like a fog. Yet at the crystal’s heart was something else. It just wouldn’t show up in the miasma of grief.

‘I… okay. I suppose I’ll take ours…’ Eli wasn’t exactly convinced, but she did reach to take hers and Deni’s seeds, and immediately put a barrier around them just in case as she deposited them.

‘We must… we must find Sensei’s loved ones… or… whatever she has left… Tell them what happened…’ Deni said, still crying into Eli’s shoulder. Eli patted her shoulder in turn, and nodded about the sentiment.

Mariette, meanwhile, grabbed the Grief Seed that she was given with a tentacle and promptly dropped it into her portal Hammerspace Handbag. She could have them examined by her allies later. Still, she turned to Su again…

‘There’s something I feel I owe you to tell you, in private, if that’s alright. Something you said earlier, even if it was under influence… I want to tell you about it,’ Mariette said, looking at Su earnestly.

The former familiar took a deep breath and nodded. “There should be an ample number of places we can speak.”

With Bonnie’s hand empty, she surveyed the magical girls one last time. ”There is no rush. Collect yourselves before coming to see me.” While everyone shuffled around and continued to converse, Bonnie distanced herself and cast her gaze off in the distance.

Deni released Eli and walked over to Sakura. She bent down, applying her healing to the wounds. It absolutely wouldn’t bring her back to life, but since Deni intended on carrying Sakura back it would be better if she at least didn’t bleed everything down on the way. Eli, of course, helped as soon as she figured out what was happening. After lifting her up together, Eli turned to Bonnie.

‘We’re ready to return,’ Eli said.

‘Go ahead. I can get back on my own,’ Mariette said. With portals plus Absolute Direction, she definitely could.

With that, the twins were escorted home, and Mariette stayed to speak with Su… but that is the story of another post. This hunt is over.

The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

*J̷̨͉͔͉̬̄͌̌̐̈́͠â̵̭̳͙̜͕̹͛̓̄̆͋̑̂͠z̴̡̹̜̮̻̗̖̃̆́̕͝ź̶̙͇̞͐̿̀ ̷̧̈͊̓̾̐̏͒Ḣ̸̨̨̪͇̼̯̐͑̉͐̍̽̚a̷̭͗̈́̏̿͋̿͘n̸̢̠͕̠̮̲͔͚͗̅̐̆̌̋͘͜͝͠d̴̠̉́̓̌s̸̢̹̙̹̻̘̯̑̍̐͒̆͒͜ ̶͖̭͑I̴̢͔͎͓͖̼̱̓̈́́̈́̈͌̇̾͝ṉ̷̹͈͍̫̈́̿͑ţ̸̨͖̯̮̼̫̳͕͂̍͌̈́̈̐͠e̴̫̖̅ń̴̢̢͕̤̩͇̪͙̖̉̐̽̀̀̑͝s̷̢͉̻͕̞͕͗̐̂͗́̀̈́͘͝ͅi̴̦̳̺͓̙͖̖̓̔̔͆́f̴̢̫͎͖̣̤̻͉͇̎̑̀̏͠i̷̜̟̜̩͉͙͂̽͋͒͗͗̓͛̑̕͜ͅe̷̮̙̙͇͈̮̬͊͘͠s̶̬͔̲̬̫̹̙̀͛̇́͐̓*

— Luana Roycroft

@Rune_Alchemist@Crimson Paladin@Guy0fV4lor

This would not be the first time Luana was smacked around by a large creature. It wasn't the first time she rolled across the ground, end over end, untill she came to a stop. It also wasn't the first time she cracked a rib. The important part was that it wasn't the last time.

"This is getting to be a regular occurrence, eh?"

She grunted before standing upright. By that time there was little to be done. The dragon monologued again before scurrying off.

"Too soon?" Luana ran up beside Ethelred. She held out her hand to help him up, but then remembered his curse and retracted her hand. "Did you hear that? Too soon? Wasn't that tree monster saying something like that?" She eyed his armor. "That thing put its claws on you and tried to gore you. I guess your armor is impervious to it then?" He was still on his back. "Can I help you up? Do you like, have control over what gets frozen?"

And then Sorcha showed up. Or at least she was always here, but chose to do nothing until just now. She couldn't even pretend to be surprised with her at this point. She was eccentric and picked unusual ways to phrases things. Which was par the course for royalty. They could call Luana a knight if they so chose, but she was always going to be a peasant. At any rate, there was no need to concern herself with Reinhardt and Sorcha. They were both kind of annoying, and tracking down a lizard was something she could do herself. But if it attacked her, she was sure Ethelred could do something about it. He might not have a title like "invincible" but he seemed pretty reliable.

She scooped up her spear and pushed an acorn into its neck. Not long afterwards a new handle sprouted out of the bottom of it. "Ready when you are, Ethelred."

Nomadic Odyssey: Find Your Heart

"When you say dick, I say head! …Head!... Head!”

— Daniel Castro

_{@Punished GN}

Dan hopped backwards when an African American man suddenly poofed into existence. It took him a moment to realize that this was Jaden, the guy who had been blaring that music out of all the speakers. The situation didn’t look great for Daniel. He didn’t like fighting almost as much as getting falsely accused of things. If he thought there was a rational explanation that would appease Jaden, he’d have spit that out right now.

"Ah, yes, you were performing.”

Sadly, the truth here sounded like an excuse to not own up to something he did. It wasn’t like Daniel had the full story either. He didn’t know if that girl was trying to set him up, or if she was an inexperienced member of the maintenance crew. It wouldn’t be right to dump all of this on her. Which really just left Dan with one option.

"And it was a great performance! You really looked alive up there. But there was something off about your sound. B-but I knew it had to be an issue with the speakers!” He reached down and picked up the wire again. "So I tried to fix it, and I seem to have made everything worse! I think there was something wrong with that speaker anyway. Otherwise, I’m sure everyone would have been dancing along.” He started to move his feet. "When you say Nin, I say ja! …Ja!... Ja!”

---

"Someone needs to brush up on their social studies.”

— Oriko Ishii

_{@CaliforniaState}

When asked where she was from, Oriko shot the woman a sideways glance. Partially because she wasn’t expecting a question, but also because the answer to said question seemed so apparent. Oriko was wearing a new year kimono, had two katanas, a kitsune mask positioned on the side of her head, marked scrolls adorning her back, and was drinking out of a sake cup. Her attire and accessories all screamed, very loudly, the place of her birth. Sure, the number of native Japanese with green eyes and blond hair were almost nonexistent. But it wasn’t like miss drinks-a-lot here had any business taking her hair color into account. Hell, her hair made her look like a lemming with a boob job, but that didn’t mean you could judge people based on appearances.

…

Regardless, it was a stupid question and Oriko wouldn’t dignify it with an answer. At least she could confirm that she wasn’t Japanese, since obviously a Japanese person would recognize a sake cup. Especially if they were into drinking as much as this one did.

Wait no, she had something for this.

"Well, if you looked closely at my outfit, you’d see that I’m wearing a festive kimono.” She grabbed her sleeve and pulled it tight. "If you really think about it, the only logical conclusion is that I’m a Brazilian native.”

When she was asked why she was drinking, Oriko scoffed. "I doubt there’s enough alcohol to-” She paused and looked between the woman’s money and the empty cups on her side of the table. "We have to pay for this?” It seemed absurd. The entry fee wasn’t cheap, and then they had to pay for the booze on top of it all. There’s a saying in Japan that bitter medicine works best, but this was something else. She doubted anything that smelled so foul would be able to cure anything. "What are they even charging for this? Well, whatever. I’m good for it.” She filled her sake cup again. "I joined a fighting tournament to test my fighting skills. I will not drink in place of a fight. But it seems like everyone is expecting a show, so let’s give them one.”

It was, admittedly, an interesting idea. Fighting people by out drinking them. While waking up from a drunken stupor was no less awful than waking up from a traditional knock out, it was at least more fun to go into. At least, she figured that was the thought process the last few men had.

"Oros the Swift is my magical girl title.” Geez this lady asked a lot of questions. It was preferable to the trash talking she was expecting. Slightly. "Would you like me to catch up to you?” She was already filling her sake cup for the third time.

Nomadic Odyssey: Find Your Heart

"Remember to love with your heart, and use your head for everything else!”

— Daniel Castro

Two adorable twins were camping in the woods. Their tent was pitched, the rain deflector was up, and they had a table set up with all of their other camping gear on it. Compass, whistles, lanterns, canteens, even a water purifier and a generator was part of their load out. To the uninitiated, it might seem like they had prepared for everything. Though a seasoned camper would find fault with the teenager’s outfits. Their black and white colors were horrible for visibility in the wilderness, and did little to let them spot ticks that might be crawling over their clothes. They were stylish though, and cool. Something that a younger viewer might emulate or respect. They had just finished stacking wood under a small camping pot. It was suspended over the wood from a short cable, which was held by a metal tripod. The boy adjusted one of the sticks under the pot before standing up.

”I guess we light it now.”

”Should we?” The girl used her oversized sleeve to wipe her head, which was dry. ”Dad’s not back from work yet, and mom went to see Auntie May”

”But we’ve got to surprise them!”

With a shrug, the girl walked over to the table and grabbed a big red Jerry can with the words “GAS” written on the side. It was so big in fact, that the girl had difficulty holding onto it. She took three steps before tripping up. ”Oh no!”

The Jerry can flew through the air in a perfect arc and struck the boy in the back. In an incredible display of bad luck, he was trying to light a micro torch and dropped it as soon as he got it lit. The torch flew from his hands and landed in the dry leaves. ”Come on!”

The leaves didn’t catch fire, they instantly ignited. The area around the teenagers were set aflame, trapping the kids in a ring of fire. ”What do we do?” The girl asked, but the boy remained silent. They were way out of their element, and the flames were only getting closer. And the Jerry can was right at their feet...

But when all hope seemed lost, a soccer ball made out of pure ki flew through the flames. Then another, and another. Each time a ball flew past them, more of the flames disappeared. When there was only a single flame left, their savior stomped it out. The savior in question was Daniel Castro. Better known by his fans as…

”Captain Superstar!” The teenagers said at the same time. They immediately ran to either side of him.

"Hey guys! I thought I smelled something cooking, but I wasn’t expecting this!” He looked between the two teenagers.

The teenager’s joy immediately turned sour. The boy pointed at his sister. ”She shoved the torch out of my hands!”

The girl placed her hands on her hips . ”Only because you didn’t help me move it! I knew we should have waited!”

Dan, still smiling, raised both of his hands. "Hey! Fire safety is everyone’s responsibility! You’re a team, and everyone wins if everyone’s safe!”

”You’re right.” The boy looked at his sister and lowered his head. ”I’m sorry, we should have waited.”

”I’m sorry too. I should have asked for help.” With a sigh, she looked back at Dan ”Can you coach us on fire safety?”

"Of course! First, it should go without saying that you should always have adult supervision when starting fires. Beyond that, the best way to stop a fire is to prevent it.” He grabbed a rake that just happened to be within arms reach and started to go around the campfire. "There’s lots of flammable stuff in the wilderness! Fallen branches, dead leaves, and trash can all catch fire. It’s a good idea to make sure that there’s nothing flammable around your camp fire.” He passed off the rake to the boy, and then he reached for a broad metal ring that had a “Fire Poof” logo stamped on the side. "It also helps to have a fire ring around anything you want to burn. Just be careful, as most of them will be hot after a fire has burnt out!”

The sister’s sleeve lit up when she reached for the torch. ”Oh no! I’m on fire!”

"You need to stop, drop, and roll to smother the flames!” While the girl rolled on the ground, Daniel removed his cape and dunked it in a “Fire Poof” marked bucket before throwing it over her. "Then you or a friend should throw a wet blanket or coat over you to finish extinguishing the flames! You should always have a bucket of water on hand to put out fires, but Fire Poof does make some fire blankets when water isn’t available.” After smoothing his cape over the girl, he reached behind his back and handed the boy a fire extinguisher. "Fire extinguishers are also good to have on hand, but you should only spray burning people with them as a last resort. They are best for putting out every other type of fire. Just get one with the proper letter rating!” While the boy blasted the camp fire with the extinguisher, Daniel looked down at the girl. "Are you alright?”

Her eyes were half closed, and a grin spread across her face. ”I’m still a little hot.”

"That’s… Normal.” He stood up, suddenly holding a Fire Poof brand smoke detector in one hand and a smaller extinguisher in the other. "Fires can happen at home, too! Make sure your parents have a smoke detector in every bedroom. Hallways and in front of sleeping quarters are all great places to put smoke detectors. It’s also a good idea to have an extinguisher on every floor, and an extra one in the kitchen. Fire Poof makes an all white extinguisher with a sleek design that looks great on any counter top!”

The boy leaned on the rake and smiled at Daniel. ”Thanks Captain Superstar! I feel a lot safer now!” His sister was hugging Dan’s cape without saying anything.

"Well guys, I’m off to check on the rest of the park. Just remember, when the team wins, everyone wins! And nothing makes a fire poof out faster than Fire Poof!”

…

…

…

Daniel, much like anyone from SHINING, wasn’t going to show up at a fighting tournament without getting a microphone shoved in his face. And if no microphone was involved, an interview would be recorded while a doll faced reporter got the scoop. Complete with cameras flashing and a whirlwind of notes flying off the reporter’s notepad. Dan was dealing with the latter today.

”Alright-my-boy-all-right!” The reporter paced her words like an auctioneer. ”Now-let’s-see-here-Captain-Superstar-let’s-see. You’ve-got-one-hell-of-a-competition-coming-up. It-looks-stiff-it-looks-mean. I-hear-it's-your-first-tourney-Superstar-is-that-true?”

Daniel chuckled. Thankful that it was quiet enough to get covered up by the loud background music. "I haven’t attended something like this before.” Dan kept grinning while looking at the reporter. "It’s not like I haven’t trained with other Nomads though. SHINING is filled with talented nomads and I’ve been able to spar with a few of them. But there’s a lot of talented people here, and I’m just happy to be a part of it all.”

”And-the-stone-my-boy-you’ve-got-to-have-a-plan-for-the-stone!”

"You can’t expect to win the first time you do anything, but!” Dan’s grin got just a bit bigger. "I’ve already decided that whatever I win is going to charity, so if I get the stone, I'll auction it off and donate the proceedings.”

”Alright-boy-fair-is-fair. Just-one-last-question-if-you-please-you-mentioned-SHINING-you-think-you-and-the-Justice-Riders-are-going-to-fight? You-gunna-whoop-them-boy-or-do-they-intimidate-you?”

Dan shook his head. "I haven’t sparred with them before, but I respect them as heroes of justice. I’d be honored to face them in an arena like this.”

”Thanks-boy!Thanks!” She gave his hand a vigorous shake before blending into the crowd like a ninja. But Dan could only exhale once they left him alone.

The room felt alien to Dan. He lived in Mexico, America, and even Brazil for just the past week, but this didn’t feel like any of them. People from all over the world had come together taking their culture and beliefs with them. There were no two people who were alike, and the only thing they shared were that they were all nomads. Without cameras to pose in front of or a reporter to impress, he felt lost. There were no familiar faces that he could see, and he figured the ones he did know were still getting interviews of their own. He was attending a costume party where he didn’t know most of the guests. Dan’s manager was right: There was nothing quite like the atmosphere at the fighting carnival.

A testament to this was the fact that there was a blond girl, decked out with a crazy number of swords and scrolls, climbing under a table cloth with a chicken wing in her hand. He didn’t know what to make of that, but it wasn’t like it was the weirdest thing he had seen today.

_{@Punished GN}

He found himself approaching a garbage can. A small part of Dan just wanted to climb inside it and hide. It looked to be empty, but there was something small at the bottom. His curiosity got the better of him and pulled up the object in question.

"A drumstick?”

A chicken drumstick to be precise. He couldn’t understand why someone would throw away good food after taking a single bite. The soccer player looked over his shoulders to see if anyone was eyeing him before taking a bite himself. And… Yea, it was a little ‘meh’ when compared to how it looked. A bit too much breading, and it was dry. But it wasn’t the worst thing he had to eat, and it was wasteful to throw away. It didn’t seem like its former owner was going to finish it, so Dan did before dropping the bones back into the garbage.

Hopefully no one saw that.

And it was likely that nobody did, as someone had invited themselves up on stage and was singing to everyone who could hear them. That was pretty much everyone. Dan couldn’t even say if he enjoyed it or not because of how loud it was. He found himself holding his hands over his ears as the deep base of Number One Ninja felt like it was reverberating inside his rib cage.

A tap on the shoulder brought him to his senses, and a girl in a baseball cap stood in front of him. She waved him to come closer and walked to the edge of the stage.

"Huh? What do you need?” But the girl didn’t say anything. She stepped behind one of the speakers and held out a black cable. Dan hadn’t gotten any verbal cues from the woman, but felt like she wanted him to hold the cable. As soon as it was in his hand, she ducked behind the massive speaker and was out of sight. Just a few seconds later…

Static.

Every speaker in the room hissed for a few seconds before going silent. There were some sparks and smoke coming from the back of the speaker, and Daniel looked to make sure the woman was okay. But in looking behind the speaker, he could see that she must have swapped one of the power wires and one of the sound wires to blow out the speaker system. But the woman herself was nowhere to be found. Aside from a single chicken wing, there was no evidence anyone had been back here.

When Dan pulled his head out from behind the speaker, there were a few concerned people looking at him. He met their gazes, then looked to the speaker, and finally at the cable he held in his hand. The power wire that was used to fry the speaker system.

"Uh…” He forced a smile before dropping the cable. "How about that, huh?”

---

"Are drinkers or rappers worse?”

— Oriko Ishii

Oriko, or Oros the Swift as she was known in costume, lifted the table cloth. She crawled out, stood up, and dusted herself off, and adjusted her scrolls. If there was one thing she didn’t like about her current setup, it was that all the artifacts she carried around made it hard to crawl through narrow spaces. Though to be fair, crawling wasn’t something she wanted to be doing.

In such a loud and crowded room, the speakers burning out didn’t concern a lot of people. This was a group of nomads, and if some speakers were going to scare them off, they didn’t belong in a competition like this. Not that Oriko had any love for this venue. It was a bit like a Wal-mart in that it seemed to attract weirdos regardless of its location.

_{@CaliforniaState}

And speaking of weird, you couldn’t get much stranger than a drinking competition taking place among a group of nomads. Oriko was baffled why so many people would spend money to get here, only to then drop out of an annual contest because they got hammered before a fight. Or maybe they thought they could win drunk off their ass? It was deplorable. Moreover, did no one find it weird that the skinny bitch had somehow managed to out drink everyone? But that was nomads in a nutshell. Every single one of them had their reputation to uphold, and yielding to anything but the bell or a knockout was out of the question. Despite how Oriko might have felt about the event, it did intrigue her. Especially since the current “champion” was oriental like herself. Technically Oriko was only half oriental, but who cared where her blood came from?

Oriko didn’t ask how much she had to bet or even who was next in line. She shoved her way through the crowd until she came to the wood table. At one side was the champion, at the other, a pile of defeated bodies. She used her foot to shove the last bastard off of his chair before looking at her seating arrangement. She stripped one of the men of their shirts and used it to wipe down her side of the table before casting it off to the side. Then Oriko turned her seat backwards and sat in it. It was an undignified way for a lady to sit, but the giant scrolls on her back made it impossible to seat herself any other way.

There were some annoyed murmurs from the guys that wanted to go next, but there was also a lot of interest in how long this other girl would last before she joined the pile of sleeping bodies. She reached into one of her sleeves and pulled out a ceramic sake cup. It was only a little taller than a shot glass, but it was considerably wider. She had to pour three shot glasses into it just to get it full. Once she was done, Oriko cupped her hands around the cup and lifted it to her lips. The positioning was weird. The back of the chair was between her arms, and she was so short she had to rest her chin on the backrest. But after a few seconds, she wiped her mouth on her sleeve and turned her cup upside down. Not a single drop came out.

After setting her sake cup beside three empty glasses, she reached into her sleeve again. "Where I come from, we don’t sip our swill from a glass chalice.” She pulled a second sake cup out of her sleeve and shoved it across the table. It came to rest just a few inches away from the edge of Rui’s side of the table.

Nomadic Odyssey: Find Your Heart

@CaliforniaState Yooooooooo so it's not really clear (to me) where Rui is right now. I would assume she's at the fight carnival but it's also possible she's at a bar instead. So which is it? Asking because she might get a visitor.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

"Pffft, like you’d do anything but serve Mariette anyway!”

— Tonya “Knows you’re only interested in the Slime Bunny cult” Murphy



‘Hey, as long as you just don’t ask me to leave the others, I can work something out!’

— Mayra “This is too fun to turn down” McCullough

After that totally pointless clusterfuck, Mac was ready to call it a day. She wasn’t up for continued sexual harassment from Nefer, nor did she want to bother Oliver. He probably needed some time to process what had happened. Hell, Mac needed time to process it. But that could happen later. She actually liked this Iron Mouse persona, and figured she could hold it up a bit longer and have some fun too.

"Okay Mayra, this is it!” Iron Mouse had Nefer drop her and Mayra off in the old abandoned warehouse district. Penrose was recovering, but there were still many areas that hadn’t recovered post Ascendency. Iron Mouse guided Mayra to a pair of double doors that were covered in graffiti. There was nothing artistic here. Just some random tags that had been covered by gang signs, then expletives, and then more gang signs. "This cult business isn’t for the faint of heart. Are you sure you know what you’re getting yourself into? Are you sure you wish to join the Sisterhood of the Black Behemoth?”

‘Ooooooh! Wall paintings!’ Mayra called with excitement as they came up to the doors of the supposed cult. She listened with full attention to Iron Mouse, and looked so excited as she heard the name of the place. ‘The Black Behemoth… Yeah! I wanna see what’s up! I’ve already confronted my nightmares’ _{and lost} ‘, I can handle whatever this throws at me! Just let me-’

Mayra went up to the doors, superheated her fingers, and started drawing with them.
‘I wanna add some fire dragons!’ Mayra said excitedly as she started burning the door over the drawings of whoever else had drawn first in order to draw a crude drawing of a big and pretty ugly dragon, done by burning parts of the door instead of actually drawing with any kind of paint.

"That’s the spirit!” Iron Mouse pumped her fist in the air. "Once you’re done there, I’ll-”

The door swung inward while Mayra was drawing. It appeared that a young cultist girl had opened the door. Alternatively, maybe some gravity magic was used to open the door while an illusion was placed behind it. Who could say? Regardless, she looked very cult like. She was wearing ropes, she held a golden mask that had to be of a behemoth, and an alluring beauty that only a cultist could possibly possess. She had to have bathed in the blood of some virgins at least once.

”Mouse?” The cultist looked at the rodent magical girl with a raised brow.

"Finn and I ran into a snag, But Mayra here got us out of it. She’s one bad bitch, and I think we need her on the team!”

”Really now?” The cultist looked Mayra up and down.

‘Yepp! Finn got his head cut off, but I saved him from it!’ Mayra replied with zero hesitation, holding her superheated fingers that she’d been using to draw on the door up in salute. ‘´Sooo, what do you do here? Do you feed the Behemoth? Is it a big Behemoth? Would it win against a fire dragon? Is it like a deity or a horror? Does one need to wear robes? ‘Cause, you know, I am pretty sure I would light them on fire, hahahaha!’ Mayra laughed as she finished what she was saying.

‘Anyway! In here?’ Mayra asked and is already about to walk in. She had potentially already forgotten the questions she’d previously asked.

But before Mayra could get much further, the cultist placed her hand on Mayra’s stomach and pushed her back. ”I’m sorry, but what makes you think you can just waltz in here?!” She looked at Iron Mouse. ”Did you tell her about the trials?”

"Woops! Slipped my mind!” Iron Mouse chuckled. "Sorry about that Mayra. You did good helping Finn out, but Korone here is really serious about the trials.” She scooched over to Korone and patted her shoulder. "Mayra is interested, so just give her the spiel.”

Korone cleared her throat. ”The Black Behemoth will only be served by those untethered by human morality. To this end, we have created several trials for you. The trials are Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride, Acedia, and Vainglory. Only after you have displayed these dark virtues may you walk past these doors. Iron Mouse may act as a witness to your trials.”

Iron Mouse placed her hands on her hips. "In that case, consider Acedia and Vainglory as good as done. She rescued Finn from a very dangerous magical girl and her plan worked without a hitch. Can’t get more vainglorious than that. And for Acedia, well, it’s kind of built into her personality isn’t it? She’s the embodiment of ‘a lack of care’ wouldn’t you say?”

”Two down, then.” Korone’s eyes didn’t move from Mayra.

‘Trials? Oh, oooh! Like challenges!?’ Mayra suddenly looked quite excited. She did like challenges. She listened to the rest of that, and…

‘Huh. Okay, so the trials are created, it’s not just that I have to go around proving I’m, er, all of those things? I don’t even know what “acedia” and “vainglory” is, but I kinda want to see the trials for them, haha,’ Mayra said, then clutched both fists, lizard-tail swinging a little as she took a prepared stance.

‘Alright! Lead me to the trials, or tell me how I otherwise accomplish them! I got a few ideas, already…!’

Iron Mouse chuckled "I’ll let Korone tell you the details, but as for the ones you completed, Vainglory is characterized as an excessive belief in one’s own abilities. So to clear that trial you just need to prove that you can do something extraordinary without any screw ups. That’s why rescuing Finn worked. Acedia is just a latin word that means ‘without care.’ This is shown by having a willingness to do something dangerous. It was good that we got those out of the way first, because they are easily the hardest.”

"Quite.” Korone agreed. "The nine dark virtues aren’t created. Iron mouse was just being coy when she said you embodied Acedia. You’re a very, hmmmm, carefree sort is all. The trials have nebulous clear conditions, but that’s mostly to let the one joining demonstrate their creativity when displaying their virtues. As for the trials themselves, the first one is Lust, which-”

"We’re going to do Lust last, so just skip that one for now.” Iron Mouse winked.

Korone had been fairly stern so far, but this made her crack a face wide grin that curled all the way under her cheek bones. "If you insist, very well.” In the next instant, she went back to normal and looked at Mayra. "Gluttony is consumption in excess. Greed is taking more than you need, Sloth is completing a task with little effort, Wrath is based in revenge, Envy requires you to mimic or take from someone you admire, and Pride requires you to demonstrate that you are the best at something. ”

Iron mouse approached Mayra. "So! Got any ideas?”

‘Er. Gluttony. Eating a lot, right? Greed. Taking more than I need. I mean, I don’t really need a lot, but. Hm. Revenge…’ Mayra had to think back if there was anyone in particular she wanted to take revenge on… ‘Oh, yeah…’ An idea clearly occurred to her, as Mayra started smiling again, as she thought of it.
‘I got something. We’re gonna need to jump dimensions to get there, but…’

~~~ Later ~~~

After a brief shaking down of some people in the Overcity…

The two arrived in a new dimension. It was one devoid of human civilization, one where monstrous lifeforms ran plenty, gigantic creatures were a relatively common sight and so on. After all, as Mayra might have told, it was the dimension she was from.

Within the crater of a mountain Mayra excitedly climbed was a lake. A still, beautiful and shimmering lake beneath an open sky, and standing atop the mountain looking out across that lake Mayra stopped her trek.

‘Here we are!’ Mayra announced happily, as she rolled her shoulders and smiled with anticipation, then kneeled to stretch her legs as well.

Iron Mouse stretched once she got to the top. "Fun hike, but why are we all the way up here?”

‘Okay… so… to achieve one of my trials…’ Mayra looked over, and located a giant boulder. ‘That one will do!’ she said, and leaped up on the giant boulder. Kneeling down on the boulder, she slowly, surely superheated the thing, the entire boulder starting to glow and smoke as it grew hotter and hotter, Mayra smiling as she did… Then she leapt backwards, blasting out with her feet as she did, and the entire giant superheated boulder flew down towards the lake…!

‘HERE’S FOR ALMOST DROWNING ME, YOU ROTTEN MERMAIDS!’ Mayra screamed at them as the smoldering rock hit the waters and immediately caused a cloud of steam and shaking… not just where the rock hit, but all over the lake. It was as if the whole lake came alive at once, creatures splashing out of the surface. Creatures that only kinda looked like what came to mind when the general public thought of a “mermaid”.

Like this.

"Oh wow! They have so much personality!”

‘Brace yourself, they’re gonna start shooting water,’ Mayra said, and just then she had to dodge aside because a shower of water-projectiles came shooting at her from the clearly agitated lake of mermaids…!

"Please, Mayra! I’ve been to my share of parties.” Iron Mouse twisted her body side to side as some streams of water flew past her. Of course, they would only be able to fight back for so long. The water that they relied on to live was boiling all over. That didn’t stop Iron Mouse from drawing her machine gun and firing a few rounds. "It’s too bad they aren’t crabs, they might have tasted good boiled!”

A couple of them definitely fell from Iron Mouse shooting at them, albeit they’re also strong enough to dodge relatively well, mid-power-level creatures and such. Mayra wasn’t shooting at them, however.

‘Well, they’re not gonna be our meal, anyway,’ Mayra shrugged. ‘See, they survive pretty well on land, too, just only for a limited time,’ she continued, and as she said, the mermaids were leaping out of the water, gathering as a decently huge army on the shores and also turning to look very angrily at Mayra and Iron Mouse…

‘Hey, can I do more than one of the trials at once? Because, sure, I could fight these guys in a probably pretty cool fight, but that would be a ton of effort. Instead, I could just…’ Mayra breathed in… and then roared. A very inhuman monster-like roar. A roar… that made the mermaids panic, and a couple of them even decided they’d rather jump back into the boiling water.

Mayra turned around and put her arms behind her head. ‘Aaaaaaaand now they’re not long for this world. Let’s go~’ Mayra said with a smirk as she started casually walking away, while the skies in the opposite direction were starting to darken with the wide wingspans of airborne creatures…

Iron mouse skipped beside Mayra. "So that was definitely a very ‘wrath,’ but what was the scream for? What trial were you trying to clear with that one?”

‘Sloth. I could have fought them all myself, but why do that when I can just summon the denizens of this world to do the job for me?’ Mayra asked, then chuckled a little. ‘Man, I wish I could do that in any world, hahaha.’

Iron mouse hesitated, but she eventually raised her eyebrows. "Yea! I see it now! That is a fitting one for sloth!” She drew a small list from her jacket and crossed something off. "Gluttony, greed, envy, and pride are the only ones you need to do before we report back.” she ignored the sounds of winged creatures diving into the pool behind herself, as well as the final cries of the mermaids. "Where are we going next?”

‘Hmmm, lesse…’ Mayra thought about it. ‘Greed and gluttony… I just need to take a lot, right? Huh, how would I do that…’ she tilted her head and thought about it. ‘Envy, take from or mimic someone I admire. Who do I admire?’ She thought about it a little. ‘The Matriarch, kinda. That is, the leader of the tribe I was in. Oooh, there’s also old man Dronach, the biggest and toughest of all of dragonkind, hahaha. Messing with him is kinda dangerous, though. Otherwise, hm…’ She thought a little more. ‘Penny. Sanngridr, a little. As for pride…’ Mayra grinned a bit. ‘I just need to win a contest of some kind, right?’

"That’s the easiest way to prove you’re the best at something. Though getting recorded in Guinness would also qualify. That’s just, you know, above and beyond what we expect from our followers.” Iron Mouse stepped in front of Mayra. "Whatcha got?”

Mayra thought some more… then her eyes lit up. ‘Oh. Ooooh! Wait, that works!’ She then spun around and grabbed Iron Mouse’s arm. ‘C’mon, let’s go!’ she requested, and then pulled hard to break into a run…

~~~ Later ~~~

As was often the case whenever she had some free time, Connie was in her room, working on yet another tranquil landscape painting. Such work was quite soothing for the nervous girl, and she hoped it would help her relax after the distressing battle and follow up interrogation she had just returned from. This particular painting was a springtime scene with lots of colorful flowers. She was just putting the finishing touches on a vibrant lilac, when she heard someone call her name…

‘CONNIE!’ … And not in a calm way, or anything, it was Mayra, suddenly having inserted her dragon-self through the window, beaming excitedly at her.

“Eeep!” Connie yelped, before calming slightly upon realizing it was just her friend. “O-Oh! H-H-Hi, M-Mayra,” the nervous girl replied once she’d caught her breath. “D-Did you, um, w-want to c-come in?” she asked with an awkward smile.

‘I did!’ Mayra called happily and slipped inside. ‘So, I came here because- ooooh, painting!’ Aaand she's distracted. ‘I draw, too! Though, mostly by burning images into walls, hahaha!’ she said, then wandered over to inspect. ‘Oooh. Really good! But, hm,’ she made a thinking expression.

‘Needs more dragons,’ she said, grabbed a spare brush, dipped in black color, and then started happily drawing a badly drawn black dragon in the top right.

At first, Connie was taken aback by the suddenness of it all, but she was only too happy to allow Mayra to contribute to her painting. After all, she had always wanted to work on a painting together with a friend, and now she was finally getting the chance!

“O-Oh! U-Umm, I-I n-never would h-have g-guessed y-you l-liked artistic t-things, M-Mayra,” she replied as she watched her friend paint an admittedly crude dragon in her peaceful painting’s sky. “I-It’s r-really c-cool to k-know I h-have a f-friend who l-likes t-that s-stuff, t-too! A-And, uh, t-that’s a v-very n-nice d-dragon y-you’re w-working on,” she added as encouragingly as she could, even as a small sweat drop appeared on her forehead. “U-Umm, t-that is a d-dragon, r-right?”

‘Yepp!’ Mayra said, finishing her not-really-matching-the-rest-of-the-painting dragon. She took a step back, admired her handiwork, and then nodded. ‘I like it. Good job!’ she said, unclear if she meant to herself for her dragon or Connie for the rest of it.

‘ANYWAY!’ Mayra now spun around to face Connie. ‘You're awesome, you know that, right? You command those powers that can best even me, yet you're also so nice to me! I've realized I admire you!’ Mayra said with a grin.

“O-Oh, g-gosh! U-Umm, t-thanks, Mayra…” Connie replied, her face reddening considerably in response to Mayra’s praise. “T-That r-really m-means a l-lot…” she added with a smile, while nervously playing with her hair.

‘Good! Now, with that said,’ Mayra said, grinning as she lifted the brush in her hand, ‘I'm keeping this!’

So she said, before turning around and promptly leaping out the open window. With the brush.

“O-Okay…” Connie replied even as Mayra darted out the window. “U-Umm… S-See you later…” she added as she hesitantly waved to the draconic girl’s departing form. Connie was more than a little confused by everything that had just happened, but if her friend was in need of a paintbrush, she was only too happy to provide one. She also very much hoped that they could paint together again sometime. Smiling at the sight of Mayra’s slightly deformed dragon, she got back to work on her painting.

Outside, Mayra did a combat roll and then landed right next to Iron Mouse, and then triumphantly held up the brush she’d taken. ‘Envy!’ she said with a happy grin. Not that she’d taken it while particularly representing said sin.

Iron Mouse let out a deep, nearly infinite sigh. "That just barely qualifies. But you saved Finn’s life, so I’ll count it. Not everyone can school these trials as hard as I did.” Her smile returned. "Just three left, then we return to the meeting place. Where did you want to go next?”

‘Huh? Barely? But I did what the challenge told. I took something from someone I admire,’ Mayra asked, but then just grinned. ‘But, eh! If it counts, it counts! Alright, then, from here…’

~~~ Later ~~~

It was a separate dimension again. One that harkened back to Earth one or two thousands years ago. There was an arena, surrounded by a city, inside of which the audience were cheering loudly. Numerous tough-looking men in armor and with shields and weapons of varying kinds were bashing against one another until either one surrendered or died. Certainly a barbaric practice that the audience was being entertained by…

‘So, for Pride, I just have to prove I’m the very best, right?’ Mayra asked with a grin in the staging area as she pulled a halberd from the array of weapons prepared on the wall, spun with it a bit with her arms before it ended up behind her head as she held the pole between her neck and two lazily raised hands as she turned and smiled towards Iron Mouse… in her human disguise, without her regular dragon-boosts. Wearing something that had been provided by the arena staff as appropriate wearing for fighting in the arena.

‘I’ve been practicing doing stuff without all my fancy powers. It’s pretty fun, it means I can face epic challenges that would normally have been trivial! Like, for instance, fighting a bunch of big men…’ Mayra chuckled. ‘I’d like to see Penny pull this off.’ She took a very brief break. ‘No, really. I am super-confident Penny could do it and look super-cool while doing it. I’d like to see it.’

Iron Mouse didn’t bother giving herself a disguise because, obviously, she was a magical girl and not a monster girl. "You know, I thought that we were going to just go down to a bar somewhere and have a few drinks, maybe arm wrestle a few guys, play some pool… But this works!” She leaned against one of the walls. "Even if Penny could, it doesn’t really count for pride. I take it you plan on fighting the reigning champion?”

‘Of course! The idea is that I’m gonna show I’m the best magical monster girl at fighting without my powers, and since nobody like me has tried beating this arena this way before, doing so will prove I’m the best!’ Mayra nodded at her fool-proof logic.

"It’s certainly the most out there way of tackling pride.” Iron mouse folded her hands behind her back. "Guess I’ll head up to the grand stands so that I can cheer for you!”

‘Great! Thanks! Now, I’m off!’ Mayra grabbed one of the nets on the side (because I seem to remember there being nets in gladiator arenas) and then ran off up the stairs towards the arena…

‘Hold on, it is not your turn yet,’ said the guard standing in the way of the stairs, looking like a typical legionnaire with shield and sword frowning somewhat at the strange contestant that had entered herself into the game.

‘Even better!’ Mayra said, and promptly attempted to jump above the guard. However, due to her complete lack of dragon powers, her jump was entirely insufficient and she jumped just straight into his shield instead.

‘H-hey! Stop!’ the guard said, but Mayra would not be opposed. If she could not jump over him, she would simply climb over him instead. Still with net in one hand and halberd in the other, she swung one arm up and got it over the top of the shield, heaved herself upwards so she could get the other hand over his helmet, pulled herself over him and raised her leg so she accidentally kicked him in the face trying to climb over him, causing him to fall backwards as human-Mayra jumped from his falling armored figure and dashed on into the arena upon landing…!

Once Mayra left the staging area, a massive wooden gate fell behind her. It shook the earth when it closed, but the spectators hardly cared. All one-hundred-thousand of them had been shaking the coliseum with their cheers. As distinct as Iron Mouse should have been, she was impossible to pick out of the crowd. She might as well have been a single speck of sand in the arena itself.

Things looked a lot different now that she was standing there. The sand looked pure and clean at a distance, but constant battle had stained it a shade of red. It shifted under her feet and spilled into her sandals. It was a lot easier to pick out the bones of slain beasts nestled among the dead sands.

But the previous fight had not concluded, but it looked like the champion was just finishing up.

Now, there was a part of Mayra that wanted to allow a duel to conclude. She knew that, if she fought someone, she wanted to be let to finish on her own. That said, she had a couple sins to knock off. Mayra grinned and hoped the following would count for Greed, seeing how she had forgotten the actual requirements.

‘HEY, LET ME HAVE SOME!’ she shouted out and dashed to join the fray… against the champion’s opponents. Because they needed picking off, first.

Mayra might as well have been whispering amongst a group of protesters, as her shout didn’t carry very far with all the cheering. The champion wouldn’t need any help either, as he knocked down his last opponent with a swing of his trident. He was a big guy. He had to be at least eight feet tall and clad in gladiator armor. The only thing more impressive than his size was that there were those that were willing to fight him. But at least they had numbers on their side, who was this thin girl charging at him from across the arena?

The crowd’s cheers changed from excitement to outrage, or was it concern? It was impossible to tell from inside the arena, and the champion didn’t seem to care. After you fell a hundred men, killing becomes natural, and after a thousand, it’s as natural as breathing. He had a new opponent, and so he would charge.

Mayra let out a little noise of disappointment when the champion finished off all the enemies without her help. She totally wanted to co-op the last few before they had to contend with each other. Oh, well!

‘Well, okay!’ Mayra said and threw the net aside for the moment (because honestly it was kinda heavy) ‘Let’s tumble!’

With that, she dashed at her opponent… somewhat sideways, because there was a bunch of downed guys in that direction, and forcing him to walk over those sounded amusing. Still, it was the champion, so she expected him to handle that pretty well. She bent down quickly and fished up a dropped shield, probably good to have. Still, she couldn’t let this end without a straight clash at least once, even if she probably had a severe disadvantage~! So she swung the halberd in his direction at least once, diagonally, ready to probably need to dodge a counter!

As Mayra suspected, the giant had little difficulty walking over the slain. He easily pressed them into the sand as he stepped on them. Though it wasn’t like the champion got this far being a mindless brute. If he could hop over them, he did.

But before long, they would be in striking range of each other. Mayra prepared to strike, and so did he. They seemed to be going for the exact same move. Both warriors timed their swings and attacked at the same time. Though reflex, they both anticipated getting hit and leaped backwards. The heads of their weapons collided, and the halberd and trident became intertwined. At the moment, it was like they were holding either end of an unusual nunchuck.

Both fighters were strong, but the champion was taller than Mayra was. He was able to lift her into the air and start spinning. The centrifugal force lifted her into the air as he continued to spin and spin.

‘Woh…!’ As fun as being flung around could possibly have been, Mayra had better plans. As soon as she realized what the champion was doing, she let go of her halberd before gaining enough speed to break bones upon landing. Instead, she ducked down among the bodies of fallen challengers and fished up a sword and shield!

‘Hey, big guy! What does fighting mean to you!?’ Mayra asked excitedly, as she bounced forward to clash one more time, probably aiming to avoid taking a direct attack and do some quick stabs if possible.

While Mayra was as bubbly as ever, the champion did not share her sentiment. He remained mute as he twirled his trident in his hand. Her halberd was cast aside as he attempted to bather sword off course. Most of her thrusts missed, while the rest grazed his thighs. Even if the wounds were superficial, she had drawn first blood.

He stopped spinning his trident and thrust it into the ground, trapping Mayra’s sword in the sand. She had just enough time to stop him from stepping on her by raising her shield. Her arm was strong, but there was a lot of pressure under his heel. The shield was starting to buckle and splinter.

Mayra blinked a bit as her sword got stuck to the ground, and her arm hurt as his muscular leg broke into her shield. Without being transformed, Mayra was at a strength disadvantage. She let go of the sword so that she could leap back and let his boot back to the ground before it broke through her arm/shield.

‘Stoic dude, eh? Well, I admire that, too!’ Mayra shouted as she rolled back and fished up another sword from a fallen gladiator. Now, then. How to end this.

However it was going to end, the gladiator wasn’t going to give her much time to think. It didn’t take much effort for the champion to wrench his trident out of the sand and lunge for Mayra. This time she could hear a beastial roar as he closed in.

‘Woa-!’ Of course, in her untransformed body, her body wasn’t quite as fast as her normal self. Mayra felt forced to simply lift her shield-arm… and the trident basically broke through it and pierced her arm. The untransformed dragon-girl gasped in the pain, and also had to restrain herself from just accidentally releasing the transformation then and there. That said… Mayra might have met the champion’s eyes… and her eyes grew momentarily beastly before she grinned.

‘CHA-!’ Mayra kicked up with one of her feet. Her leg wasn’t long enough to hit anything, but her intentionally loose metal boot sure flew straight off and into his face. She tore her arm off the trident to just charge straight into him, trying to knock him just the slightest diagonally back and right… because that’s where she’d thrown the net earlier. He’d never step into it and get trapped on his own, but now Mayra planted both her feet on him and kicked off!

It wasn’t possible to see the champion’s face, but his unsteady footing had to be a result of iron boot enacted vertigo. He fell backwards into the net, and Mayra wasted no time pulling it around him. But a mere net wasn’t going to hold him for long. Every muscle in his body flexed as he attempted to tear out of his confines. The champion was not going to surrender. His body would give out before he did.

So Mayra did the only sensible thing and swung a shield at his head.

The massive object slammed into the side of his helmet. It cracked so loud that even the spectators could hear it. Not long after, the champion’s body went limp. As soft as sand is, Mayra had little difficulty hearing her opponent fall over. That wasn’t because it was loud, but because the spectators had gone silent.

It was almost eerie. Mayra couldn’t even hear herself think just seconds earlier, and now she could hear the sand under her feet.

‘… Phew!’ Mayra stumbled back from her accomplishment, panting, still feeling the pain in her arm. ‘How’s that, Mousy!? I don’t need no… ow…’ With mere human endurance, that wound to her shield-arm was pretty serious, and she went down on one knee to balance herself and clutch the wound a bit. Still, she grinned, looking to where the champion lay. ‘Good fight! You make me proud to have this human form! Now, I’m… ow,’ she shuddered, but chuckled.

‘Heeey, isn’t this where you’re supposed to cheer for your new champion!?’ Mayra grinned as she looked up at the audience.

The colosseum came alive with noise, but it wasn’t happy. Mayra’s ears were assaulted from all sides with outrage. She was called a cheater among other much more harsh things. Some of the onlookers threw their half eaten chicken legs into the arena in protest. It wasn’t long before the guards had made their way into the arena.

"Well! That more than made up for the last one!” Iron Mouse phased into existence beside Mayra. "Just gluttony and greed now. Oh! And maybe some way to escape!”

‘… Huh,’ Mayra made a curious noise as she looked at the audience being really angry. It wasn’t the reaction she was expecting, neither did she really understand it. Did she break some rule she hadn’t realized existed? Still, just escaping and all that…

‘… Hey, saaaay…’ Mayra asked, smirking a little. ‘If I were to transform right now and play a bit with these guards for just a bit and enjoy playing with my food, would that count for gluttony? It’s certainly not something I NEED to do, but I sure could. Or maybe it’d be greedy of me, to fight on when I just don’t have to?’

"That’s…really something you want to do?” Iron mouse looked over her notes. "Let’s see…” While she looked things over the guards got closer and closer. "It could qualify for both! Really depends on how you go about it.” The guards had started to slow down, and were drawing their weapons. "Whatever you do, I’m sure it will be entertaining!”

‘Hehehehehe… Alright…’ Mayra grinned, and then bent down. She placed one hand on the ground, holding herself up and bending her knees, looking significantly more animalistic already with just this pose.

‘Don’t you worry, normies, later on your minds will come up with some explanation for what you actually saw, or something, point is, as long as I don’t kill ya I will be a-okay!’

Somehow, that doubled as Mayra’s magical incantation as a flash of fire and darkness enveloped her form, and then scales popped up from underneath her human disguise. The human guards staggered, unable to believe what they were seeing, before Mayra suddenly blasted forward.

She kicked a guard’s sword clean out of his hand with an upward kick. The same upward kick sent her up slightly into the air. A blast of fire spun her around so she could deliver a light kick (from Mayra’s perspective) into the same guard, sending him flying into one of his allies.

A spear was thrust at her, and Mayra caught the tip with her teeth. She grinned at the wielder, melted the tip in her mouth, and then spit it at the guard’s shield. The guard screamed in terror before a sudden punch knocked him out. The molten spear-tip didn’t hurt him physically. Maybe mentally.

A couple more like that and the remaining guards started retreating or fleeing, clearly not geared to take on a monster of this caliber. But when they spun around… a burst of fire delivered Mayra straight past them, where she rolled twice before getting back up on her dragon-feet. She turned and smirked at them.

‘Just so you know, I used none of this strength against the champion. That was aaaallll human-level strength. No cheating. So I won fair and square, alright?’ With that and a friendly grin, she then dashed at them and continued playing with her food…

Later, but in the same world…

‘Aaaah, that was fun. Sure, I prefer fighting worthy enemies, but playing with weak ones is also fun sometimes,’ Mayra sat in a tree outside the city in a nearby forest and laughed, as they had escaped that dimension earlier and left quite a mess behind them in that dimension. She’d avoided killing the guards, though. They weren’t ready to die. Not to a monster dragon, anyway.

‘So, what’s next? Did I get them?’ Mayra asked, grinning towards her companion.

Iron Mouse was checking things off in her notes. ”Alllll but one. Let’s get out of here.”

---

Once they had returned to the temple of the “Black Behemoth” Korone went over the trials with Iron Mouse.

”It sounds like you went on quite the adventure.” Korone nodded. ”You have a creative and wild mind. If you pass the final test, I’m sure you will be among our most prestigious members in no time.” She turned around and gestured for Iron Mouse and Mayra to follow. The path ahead was dark, and the flames from Mayra’s tail and the torches weren’t throwing a lot of light. ”Before we begin the final test, I have a question to ask you. I would say it is personal, but as a sisterhood we share information freely between each other. Have you been in many… romantic, relationships? And if not, have you ever wanted to?”

‘Oh, yeah, one!’ Mayra said, walking along with them with her hands behind her head, elbows in the air and tail swinging excitedly behind her. And yes, she was acting very much like a living torch, with that hair and glowing lines so. ‘My current one, in fact! I have a boyfriend!’ she said, in a happy tone that implied pride in the fact (and not the way one usually imagines that phrase being said). ‘I’m keeping him a secret, for his sake, buuuut since you asked, I guess it’s fine!’

Iron mouse elbowed Mayra’s arm. ”A boyfriend huh? You must really like him. Given how impulsive you are, I’m surprised you only have one! Have you been together long?”

Korone placed a finger over Iron Mouse’s lips. ”She said that she was keeping him a secret. Which, for the moment, is probably for the best.” She turned to look at Mayra. ”Because she’s probably going to want to keep us a secret from them, too.”

‘Hehe, maybe. But nope, only one. Because he’s the best, most handsome, and he’s mine, hehehe,’ Mayra replied anyway, looking very happy as she did. Still, moving on.

By the time they had stopped, they were in the center of a square chamber. One by one, more robed girls surfaced out of the darkness and looked to Mayra. They were all different shapes and sizes, ranging from quite short to very tall. They also had nearly every hair style imaginable and in every hue. Their cloaks were the only things that made them look the same.

”Unless he’s into stuff like this?” Iron Mouse scratched the back of her head.

But Iron Mouse went ignored as the droves of cultist magical girls closed in around Mayra. Dozens of hands clung to her as she was embraced on all sides. Even Korone moved in to wrap her arms around Mayra’s neck, which pressed a shorter girl’s head into Mayra’s stomach. ”You’re practically one of us now Mayra.” Korone pulled herself closer to Mayra. ”I trust you find the situation, agreeable?”

‘Huh, this is kinda your initiation, I suppose?’ Mayra asked, looking a bit confused with the cultists that had wrapped themselves around her. ‘Eh, sure!’ With them hugging her like this, Mayra did her best to wrap some arms around them in turn, albeit they were a bit too numerous to manage that.

Even more girls clung to Mayra, and then girls clung to the girls clinging to Mayra. But before Mayra could become three layers deep in girls, the uneven weight distribution of the girls caused Mayra to topple backwards. But she didn’t fall, but rather sunk deeper into what seemed like a giant harem.

---

‘Humans are weird,’ Mayra said, standing and scratching her cheek. If she could blush she probably would. Now, Mayra's always open for trying new things, but that one was out there.

”You are officially one of us.” Korone adjusted her robe. ”As you likely guessed, we’ve infiltrated Cradle, who we have vested interest in both protecting and learning more about. Helping them is helping our cause. That’s why Iron Mouse here is among their ranks.”

The aforementioned mouse was cleaning her ears. ”Sorry, all I can think about is that huge girl ball Mayra was a part of.”

”You could have been a part of it too. Though there’s only so much Mayra to go around, isn’t there?” Korone folded her arms together. ”You are presently an acolyte. Once you reach the rank of black apostle, I’ll show you the black behemoth itself.”

‘Oh, I can’t see it yet? Huh,’ Mayra commented. ‘What’s needed to become one of those?’

”Just continue to serve us. If you continue to perform well, you will get promoted eventually.” She nodded to Iron Mouse. ”If you have any other questions, just speak with the mouse.” Korone departed with the other girls.

Mayra kind of lost interest there, when it wasn’t really defined what she needed to do for the next step.

”I did warn you this cult stuff could get weird.” Iron Mouse patted Mayra on the shoulder. ”I know you had chicken wings already, but did you wanna have some pizza? Though I won’t stop you if you have something else to do or want to snuggle with the cultists some more.”

‘Oh, yeah, pizza, sure!’ Mayra shone up. ‘Jelena introduced me to pizza! It’s really good! Let’s go get some!’ she called, grinning and jumping up.

---

‘Hehehehehe,’ Mayra chuckled as she approached the warehouse “temple” once more, this time without any companionship because she’d made sure to come alone. ‘Gotta reach the rank of black apostle, eh? That, or I just sneak in myself and skip all the hassle,’ the dragon-girl chuckled, hidden by her darkness magic. She sought up the entrance that she knew was there…

And found nothing. Not even an entrance. You know, into those rooms she remembered walking just yesterday.

‘… Uh.’

She searched around, but all she could find was old normal warehouses. It was like the place she’d been to had just gone up in smoke. Confused, she jumped up on a roof and surveyed the area once more in a crouched position.

‘… Whelp, guess they have pretty good security. Oh, well. Guess it’s not the end of the world if I can’t find it. It’s a bit disappointing, though…’

But, with that, Mayra shrugged and jumped off somewhere else. Plenty of other things to hold her attention.

Nomadic Odyssey: Find Your Heart

~

The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

*Jazz Hands Intensifies*

— Luana Roycroft

@Rune_Alchemist@Crimson Paladin@Guy0fV4lor

"No, but we can stop it."

Pinning the dragon's rear legs had been a tactic to slow it down so that one of other knights could finish it off. But the queen was taking her time to approach, and Lonan and Ethelred had frozen it in place. It was time to deliver a decisive blow.

Luana gripped her spear with both arms and charged towards the dragon. She didn't belt out a war cry, because hunters were quiet. She didn't hesitate, because she was trained well. She didn't grin, because she wasn't sure if this was going to work.

She came at the dragon from the side and thrust her spear at its head. The wooden shaft grew longer while she thrust, guiding Endless Eclipse's tip towards the creature's eye. To assist with her aim, the shaft sprouted branches to hold onto the dragon's head. An unnecessary precaution, but it did ensure that her spear would hit its mark regardless of how much her prey thrashed about. Which, given the state it was in, hopefully wouldn't be much.

If the dragon survived that, Luana wasn't done.

As long as Luana held onto the shaft of her spear, it would keep growing. Endless Eclipse would get pushed deeper and deeper inside the dragon's flesh. If it penetrated the eye, she was going to go straight into its brain. Luana had never fought a dragon before, but she had never faced prey that could survive having its skull penetrated.

It was a vile attack to end a vile creature.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Someone referenced Alex Jones. It's an Alex Jones thing.

"Literal vampire potbelly goblins are hobbling around coming after us"

It's almost poetic.

Political Warning, Alex Jones is sometimes quasi-political
Although this is just a funny song turning his rants into a folk song.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KGAAhzreGWw&pp=ygUPQWxleCBqb25lcyBmb2xr

@BangoSkank

Next time, just mention the gay frogs. He's better known for that one.