BrokenPromise

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

"It’s all fun and games until an eldritch avatar has a glow up."

— LoC

While Rose and Iris started to come to terms with their predicament, the innermost part of the seed had only just started to dissolve. Its primary effect had been triggered, and the two of them were subjected to its effects. They could feel themselves drifting off, de-tethering from their bodies. They bat their eyes, but before they could get them closed, their consciousness were flung into the far reaches of the omniverse, flying past worlds like a wayward comet. But they did not experience the wonders of interdimensional travel. It was over in an instant, and they had been separated from all of their memories.

They had effectively been reborn in another world.

But first, a detour.

…

…

…

Rose and Iris awoke. They did not know their names, nor that they were a single entity again. But that was of little concern with the world ending.

Fenrir had opened his mouth wide. his lower jaw cleaved a canyon through the earth. He smashed through mountains, drained oceans, and set the world alight with volcanic eruptions. The upper half of his jaw ripped through the clouds and ethereal blue sky, leaving a black tear in its wake. Black ooze seeped out of the wound and burned as it fell to earth as meteors. Hundreds of magical girls rushed to Odin’s defense, but it was in vain. This battle had been foretold, and Fenrir would not die before it ended humanity and took Odin’s life.

Ragnarok had begun.

There was nothing they could do. They, no, she was naught but a lone girl in a torn dress, powerless to do more than observe the incoming apocalypse. She stood before the vast ocean, watching ants try to stop an impossibly large wolf. There was no safety here.

She ran for the hills. A wicker basket hung from her arm, with berries and vegetables threatening to leap out with every step. Perhaps it was futile to look for safety, but in her mind she could survive if she outlasted the fires. Maybe in the forest she could find a cave and just hide there while the world burned. She looked over her shoulder. The ocean was draining, and rising lava was starting to take the waters place. The view of the distant battle was obscured by all the boiling steam. Even the world devouring wolf was invisible behind so much smoke. The grass was drying out. By the time Raven got to the forest, it was catching fire.

The air in the forest was getting warmer, but gradually. The thick canopy would keep things cool until the sky bled burning rocks on her. Then the forest would turn into a bonfire. There had to be a cave system somewhere. Some place that ran deep into the earth where she could be safe. The world was ending, many of the people in the world were ending, but they could rebuild if enough of them survived survive. But the world would never be what it once was.

In her frantic run for safety, she spotted something in the corner of her eye. A flash of red. She turned around and saw a poppy, pulled out of the ground like a weed and snapped in half. She sank to her knees and examined the flower.

As little as she could remember, she understood this flower had been important to her. It was a gift she had received during a chance encounter, and planted it with the help of her mother and sister. She had tended to it for years, protecting it from pests and the elements. It always grew right here, and it never spread. Now it was snapped in half, never to be whole again.

She bit her lower lip. A sadness she didn’t understand overtook her. Maybe it was the approaching calamity, but her tears couldn’t be held back. She grieved for the flower, thinking herself stupid for being upset over a plant that would die anyway. This was life, and plants come and left the world just like people do. But this did not put her at rest. She was paralyzed, unable to move past her grief, unable to understand it. Even as the air continued to warm, and the canopy leaves browned and burned up, she remained in place.

A hand reached for her shoulder. She lifted her head and looked to the stranger. A tall man with the face of a boy stood over her. His body flicked in and out of existence, like moving smoke or screen static. And when he spoke, it sounded like ten other voices were speaking with him.

"You’re not sad because the flower is dead. You’re sad because there’s nothing left but the memories."

The detour was complete, and their minds moved again.

…

…

…

Pax Septimus, better known as the city of blood, had a lot of problems. That should have been evident to anyone who heard the city’s moniker, but the civilians were unaware of what was ruining their lives. Everything from the criminal underbelly to the most lucrative businesses and possibly the local government body were being controlled by monsters. Though the monster problem was somewhat nuanced. They were horrible, good for nothing crooks and murderers, but they were also planner entities that ate ambient mana. Human emotions release ambient mana into the atmosphere, and it never really went away. If monsters are allowed to eat the mana, then the level of ambient mana goes down. But if the monsters aren't allowed to feed, then that ensures stronger monsters show up for the growing feast, creating a vicious cycle. It wasn’t really a choice for her though. If monsters were harming innocent people, she’d kill as many as she had to, even if her adversaries would get stronger over time. Anyone from G.E.M.I.N.I (Government Esper and Monster Intelligence and Neutralization Initiative) would agree with her.

She walked down a long, metallic corridor. While most humans tended to rationalize away the supernatural, there was still a need to operate out of sight. The monsters would love nothing more than to strike while they were weak. G.E.M.I.N.I. HQ was hidden under a police station, which limited the number of people who had access to it. Give the right passphrase to the right clerk and you’re given free entry. After walking past a pair of double doors, she was greeted by an adorkable young woman who was just standing there with her arms crossed.

”You must be the new girl! I’m sorry but I don’t think anyone told me your name. It wouldn’t happen to be Hildie by any chance would it? You kind of look like a Hildie.”

That was, somehow, correct. "Uh, everyone calls me Raven." Hilde didn’t feel like sharing her name with this strange woman just yet, especially since she already knew it. "Is everyone on a first name basis around here?"

”Yup!You can call me Faith!” She extended her hand. ”We’re entrusting our lives to each other, so it makes sense to be as familiar as we can with our peers. You wouldn’t happen to be into anime, would you? Because if you ever watched One Piece, Luffy says 'nakama' a lot, which has a very special meaning to him. It’s usually used to title a friend or peer, but to him it goes beyond normal friendship. It’s like a true comrade who you can trust your back to no matter what! And I think all of us being on a first name basis creates a similar level of trust for each other, you know?”

"...Right." She shook Faith’s hand. "Is Fritzi or Ashley around?"

”Fritzi is around, but she told me that it would be a moment before she could see you. Very important business. Ashley was suppose to greet you but um, you’re here really early!”

Hildie snorted. "I’m just supposed to wait here then?"

”Not at all!” Faith chirped. ”She instructed me to take you to the training room so that we can evaluate your performance! It’s something Fritzi does for all, erm, most of the new hires. It’s like in One Punch man where all the heroes need to go through a test to get ranked so that-”

With a snap, a swirl of feathers blew around Raven’s body. Her outfit changed, as did her hair and stature. She was in her esper form now. Her look could best be described as a japanese school girl posing as a secret agent. Though her outfit was all black, save for her stockings and some of the effects she wore.

"I’m ready."

Faith looked over the esper. ”Oh wow! You look really stylish! Ashley also has a colored visor like that when she transforms. If there were a bunch of you then maybe you could be like power rangers!”

Hildie maintained her composure, but she did enjoy the complement, and that Faith didn’t feel the need to explain what the power rangers-

”Like they’re this group of people with different colored outfits, so you have a red ranger, a blue ranger, a black ranger, and a yellow and pink ranger. But then there’s also an extra ranger sometimes, like the green ranger, or the silver ranger. They do lots of martial arts and have these big machines that combined to form a-”

…

…

…

”...But even if we can’t get a squad like that, I think it’s nice that everyone is different anyway. It lets everyone be their own unique selves.”

"...Agreed."

”Your outfit says ‘paradise’ on it in several spots, what’s that about?”

Maybe Hilde was starting to open up to Faith, maybe she felt like talking after listening so much, but she took the opportunity to elaborate on her outfit. "Well, my name is Raven, but my cal-sign is ‘Bird of Paradise’. It often gets shortened to Paradise."

”That’s such a pretty name!”

"Thank you, b-but I’d really like to prove my worth in the doctor’s trial."

”It’s still being set up. That said, I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

"I have no doubt."

During their exchange, Mika walked up to them and waited for a break in their conversation. "Bird of Paradise? Like the Greater loppery-nah from the Superb Bird of Paradise family?"

Hilde was a little surprised that a teenage girl recognized such an obscure animal reference. "Why, yes, you are correct about that. The ones that do the silly dance?"

"Yes, the silly dance…" Something that Hilde found off putting about Mika was how dower she seemed. She felt like she was being looked down on like an insect, and that only intensified after she confirmed Mika’s suspicion. "They do the silly dance when they want to mate. It’s hard to do because there are a lot more guys than girls. They need to work extra hard to win the girl’s heart." She pointed at Hilde’s outfit. "Those colors? That’s what the guys wear."

"Oh, well, you know, is that a problem? Because us espers don’t really-" But Mika was already walking away before Hilde could get another word in. "...get to choose how we look."

”But they are rumored to represent our ideal self and innermost desires!” Faith added, like it was the most helpful thing anyone could have said.

"How about, you just show me the training room? I think it would be better if I waited there."

…

…

…

And then, Raven was pulled out of that foreign yet familiar mind. Her soul screamed as it was split into Rose and Iris once again, and they found themselves in the unfamiliar bodies they had recently inherited.

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

”I’m smiling, but only on the outside!”

— Mac Ashley

Mac was content to just sit back and let the discussions sort themselves out. As far as she was concerned, she was here to help with the mission and get out. She had been pretending to be other people for years, and it was too late to turn around and make friends now. So when Melisa waved to her, she gave only the slightest hint of a smile and nodded back to her. Polite enough to not be rude, but not so polite as to invite a conversation. It was clear she was here to talk to others anyway.

There wasn’t much to be done about Penny. Of course the iron queen was going to be her paranoid self, but it wasn’t like Mac had anything to fear. She had good intentions for being here, and she really had helped Alicia as MDP attested. Perhaps in the past they might have exchanged blows, as Mac did not like her monopolistic hold on Penrose. But there was too much on the line for there to be infighting. Even so, there were plenty of nonviolent routes to deal with that particular can of worms.

Nefer was also here, and while Mac had some doubts about her choice of disguise, she was glad she wasn’t Iron Mouse right now. In fact, the comment about throwing whipped cream on a literal child was probably more cringe inducing than anything MDP could do. Yes, MDP had finally met her match. She did feel a little sorry for Melisa though. Nefer’s sexual harassment and having to deal with Lily’s mile high energy simultaneously was not something she could do for long stretches of time.

Alicia was also here. Was that a concern? Not really. She had spoken with Alicia in the past as Suwako, and she was sure that even if Alicia saw through her illusions, she would understand it was the monster girl she made peace with that day after wonderland attacked.

Unfortunately, no good deed went unpunished. While many of those present conversed among themselves, many more had chosen to acknowledge her. It was to be expected. The group was small, and most were unfamiliar with Ashley.

”Of course!” She had responded to the excitable MDP before she was taken aside by her girlfriend, which only gave Connie and Mia a chance to speak with her. ”I figured you could use an extra pair of hands!” She was going to introduce herself when MDP came in front of her again with Penny. This was going to get awkward if she was forced to talk with Penny. Fortunately, one great thing about MDP is that if you’re quiet long enough, she’ll just fill the silence with her babbling. And just like that, an awkward interaction was intercepted when MDP demanded more of the queen’s attention. She stepped a bit closer to Connie and Mia while Penny was distracted. With Nefar, Lily, and MDP present, their part of the group seemed to be the more relaxed part of the group. ”Seems like everyone knows each other!” She said while looking at the two, pleading with her eyes for them to keep her in their conversation.

She hadn’t received any orders on her coms yet, but hopefully someone would speak up soon. It was kind of nice to have people not in her immediate surroundings who could keep an eye on things.

Symphony on High

The doors to the great escape swung open, and Raphael the Righteous Hearted filled the door frame. This was only his third visit, but he was already accustomed to bowing his head to get in the door. When he traveled abroad, he found that few doors were as large as that of a cathedral or church. That was to say he got a lot of practice not hitting his head on things. If anything, he was happy that the doors were so wide. Smaller doorways necessitated that he step through them sideways.

Once inside he found most of the usual suspects. It seemed like Regina was arguing with someone every time he came in. The little detective was giving another girl an interview, and there were a few other familiar faces he couldn’t quite name. But Marrie Knight was absent. They had spoken previously, but he had hoped to encounter her again. No matter. She was keeping him updated as requested. He trusted if it was important she would have told him. His main reason for being here today was to speak with Elroy, who was exactly where they met last time. He was seated in front of a giant table with a half finished cup of orange juice.

”Hey Ralph.“

”Please do not call me that.“ Raphael did not wait for Elroy to give him permission. He took the seat directly across from him and placed his massive hands on the table. ”Did any of the freelancers get back to you?“

”About what?“ After thinking a bit, he knew what. ”The Gemini operation? Just a little bit. Apparently it was pretty classified. So long as everyone got paid and a vampire didn’t get anyone, I’m not going to pry into anyone’s affairs too much.“

”You’re already joking about Patricia’s abduction?“

”She’s fine now.“ Elroy drank the rest of his OJ. ”Without a sense of humor, a freelancer won’t last long in this profession.“

”Then maybe you can find humor in the fact that a group of nuns attacked the freelancers. From what I understand they managed to kill one of the GEMINI espers.“

Elroy groaned. ”I know it wasn’t you, but that does sound like an Inquisition hit squad, doesn't it?“

”I wanted to tell you in person I had nothing to do with that.“ He folded his arms. ”I am curious about them though. To my knowledge, we haven’t had any rouge actors recently. Certainly not that many. From my understanding, at least one of them was in Pax Septimus before my arrival.“

Elroy leaned in. ”Old rogue actors?“

”Unlikely.“ Raphael shook his head. ”We do not take defectors lightly, for the very reason that they tarnish our reputation. It’s not all that common an occurrence really.“

”Don’t you have a database or something you can look through? I mean, you’re Raphael the Righteous Hearted. You’re pretty much the big cheese, right?“

”Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. The Holy See has a large influence, but our reach is limited. It might surprise you to know that many of the Inquisition’s Espers are freelancers. Vatican City is small when compared to the world, and we can’t spread our espers that thin.“

”So if these nuns were just temporary volunteers, it would be hard to tell if they ever worked with you?“

”I am good with faces. If they worked with me in the past I would instantly recognise them. But I am not the only missionary for the inquisition.“ He sighed. ”And on that topic, I was wondering what you thought about working alongside me.“

Elroy sat up a bit straighter. ”You want to hire me?“

”I would like to hire a great deal of you.“ He placed his hands flat against the table. ”There are reports of two behemoths headed straight for Pax Septimus. GEMINI has designated them ‘Crazy Train’ and ‘Peace Train’ respectively, and it sounds like they want to destroy them. From my understanding, these behemoths are not as destructive as others. It sounds like Maverick Alternative may wish to pacify them.“

”And you want something different.“

Raphael nodded. ”The Inquisition believes that Peace Train is an angel, and more importantly, a former ally of the church. We give our own designations to behemoths, and believe they might be ‘Holy Roller.’ Crazy Train however is a demon. As such, we would like to pacify Peace Train and bring them back to the Vatican. Crazy Train should be destroyed.“

Elroy exhaled. ”That’s not going to make GEMINI or Maverick happy.“

”It’s more than either of them deserve. In a way, they both get part of what they want.“ He balled his hands into fists. ”I’m not asking freelancers to fight other espers. I just wish for a certain outcome. “

”Tell you what?“ Elroy tapped the table. ”Regina isn’t much for letting stuff live, I’m more of a lover myself. If you put up a hunt on Shimr, you’ll get both of us. That said, I’m not going to personally advocate anyone join the inquisition over the other factions. If they want to join us, it’s going to be their own decision.“

”I suppose that is the best I could hope for.“ He opened up his phone and started typing up a hunt. ”It will be nice to see Patricia again.“

”It’ll be just like old times.“

”Only this time she’s going steady with you.“

”I guess some things change with time.“

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"I just wish they hit me lower…”

— Suki Oyama

Oros dropped her face into the dirt when Acid Drop arrived. Not because she had anything against her, or was feeling second hand embarrassment from her earlier actions, but because it was the only thing she could do to dull the excruciating pain. That wasn’t to say it wasn’t super awkward to have someone you bullied come to save you. Was she really not aware of who smacked her? But maybe it didn’t matter. Tsubomi was all about her duties, so having everyone in fighting shape was more important than any emotional baggage that she should have. Nothing had really changed.

"I’m a little out of breath. I think they were trying to drown me.” She pulled her face out of the sand. It had stuck all over her forehead and cheeks. "If I turn back, I can’t regain my strength. But if we’re really talking, then I’m probably awake enough to- Hurk!”

Suki had decided she was going to ignore Roche when she got back, but she hadn’t expected to get man handled by Rei’s number two. As soon as she was on her feet, she threw the cloak back at Roche, briefly causing it to float in front of her face.

”We’re dark magical girls, for crying out loud!” Suki found it difficult to stand upright. She was hunched over like a hunchback or a terminally online person with horrible posture. Her tendrils flicked in the air. ”If we can’t inspire some terror, then we aren’t trying. I’m sure if we trap everyone we can get them to have a ‘primal reaction’ or whatever.”

For the months that Tsubomi had been dormant, she had gathered a lot of emotions. If she put her mind to it, she could probably cause quite the panic if she so chose. But if she chose to bank that for later, the magical girls would have to explore other avenues for creating mass panic.

Symphony on High

It was easy for an esper in Pax Septimus to find themselves down in the dumps. With a few exceptions, most espers were regular people that weren’t accustomed to dealing with daily life or death situations. Their situations were often complicated, and they took the line of work they did out of necessity or obligation rather than a love for killing monsters or other humans. It involved a lot of complicated feelings, and seldom did an esper leave the operation feeling fully satisfied with the outcome. Often, what gave them the strength to keep going were the people who they surrounded themselves with. Maybe it was family, friends, or even a fellow esper who could understand everything the job entailed. A pillar for a weary soul to lean on. Trixy understood the importance of such a pillar, and tried to be that for as many people as possible.

Though Trixy might have wanted to be that for everyone, many people found her irritating to be around. Most humans at least. Perhaps her rampant flirting was just a bit too desperate. Maybe she had too many daddy issues, and was too ugly to be worth the hassle. Perhaps that was why she ended up joining Maverick alternative in the end. Monsters just understood her better than people did.

That seemed to be the case with the Bastion’s newest additions. Boteg was a golden dragon that seemed like he was scared of most paranormal entities, yet was fiercely protective of Amanda, another new addition. It wasn’t confirmed yet, but she was the offspring of two relatively strong monsters.Neither of them were fit for combat, but in time that would change. But Trixie wasn’t here to train them, nor did she really care about how strong they may become. She was going to be Amanda and Boteg’s friends. So far, she had been knocking it out of the park.

She felt, anyway.

Boteg, Amanda, and Trixy were all gathered around a plastic folding table. They were playing Uno, which was a game neither of them were very familiar with, but Tetrad had played it with Trixy a few times. What made this game special was that it was the first time Amanda had offered to play with her, rather than wait for Trixy to invite her to play.

”You didn’t say Uno!” Amanda tapped the draw pile while giving Boteg a firm stare.

The dragon, who was presently human up to his neck, folded his arms. ”Me thinks thou rule is most strange. Little scare heard me say ‘last’ did thou not?“

”But that’s not the rules!” She poked the pile again. ”Maybe you said something, but it wasn’t Uno, and it has to be Uno!”

Boteg gave Trixy a pleading stare, but he wasn’t going to find much help there. She gave the dragon a pained smile. ”You know Boteg, I think the way you sound is really cool, but you do have a habit of taking what people say and distorting it. We’re not picking on you, but it might be worth trying to say the right word as an exercise.“ The dragon only groaned in response before taking a few cards. He had yet to win a single game.

”Me thinks you made up that rule to prevent me from winning!“

Amanda laughed. ”No! It really is in the official rules!”

It was nice to see that Amanda was able to laugh. Unfortunately, living vicariously through other people was all she could do to feel happy at the moment. With a sigh, she played a card. ”You’re up, Amanda.“

”Are you okay?”

”Yes?“

”But you sighed.”

Trixy held out her hand. ”I’ve got seven cards, I don’t think I’m winning.“ she said before playing one. Not that six was any better.

”You sighed before I came to get you too.”

”I finished working out.“

”You don’t work out.”

”I just started.“

”Trixy…” Amanda lowered her cards. ”I wanted to play with you today because you seemed a little… Agitated? I don’t know, but I was hoping you could tell me. Boteg agrees with me.”

”Grinning scare is not grinning today.“ the dragon noted.

Trixy sighed, again. She had been cornered. This card game had been a way to get Amanda to open up to her, and it seemed like Amanda was using it to get to know Trixy better. She didn’t mind that, but of all the things to ask about…

”You sure you want to know?“ Amanda nodded. ”Alright, well to start, I’m not exactly lucky with my love life. None of my dates ever go anywhere.“

”I remember you coming to Dante’s a few times.” Amanda answered. ”We never met, but I was always in the back room. You came often enough that I remembered you.”

”Okay.“ Trixy decided not to bring up the fact that her waitress had been kidnapping her dates, many of which were still MIA. She also decided not to get into how the waitress was dealt with by Finn and… ”I met this girl though. Woman, I guess. Really cool person, super chill, and a total super cutie.“ Even now, thinking about Klava’s beauty brought warmth to every part of Trixy’s being. ”But she’s been MIA for a while. I think she might not be of this world anymore.“

Amanda froze, taking far too long to consider her next words. ”This wasn’t Klava, was it?”

Trixy knew that Amanda was aware of who Klava was, or more importantly, that she had assisted gear boy on a job. Denying the woman’s identity would have been the best for keeping the peace, but she cursed her weakness. ”Yes. That is her name.“

”She’s alive.”

Trixy blinked. ”Excuse me?“

”She’s alive.” Amanda repeated. ”At least, she was as of last week. My father placed a curse on both Klava and Time Keeper. I was in her dreams about seven days ago, so she might be missing, but she’s alive.”

”You didn’t get any hints to her whereabouts, did you?“

”Sorry, not really. But isn’t there a detective esper in Pax now?”

Trixy nodded a few times as a smile spread across her face. ”Well, I’m glad I decided to talk to you about that! Thanks Amanda! I’ll have to look into that detective later.“

”Don’t mention it. We’re friends, right?” Amanda played a card.

Boteg eyed the card for a moment, and then a devilish smile crossed his face. ”Thou hath forgotten to say ’Uno!’“

A Question About Tabletop IntChecks

@Cleveraptor I don't think you're going to have a lot of luck with your endeavor. Generally GMs have a particular game world in their mind that they wish to tell their story in, and they won't accept a character as-is that was made without knowledge of the setting. Certainly, it's a huge ask to expect a group or GM to base their world around the ideal character you want to play. It smacks of "I want to play an RP my way, but I'm too rigid to bend to anyone else's desires."

That said, There's no rule forbidding an interest check like that. So... Try it?

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Laser propulsion doesn’t work like that though!"

— Sink Queen

"Take care lovelies! And don’t worry about me, I’ve seen a few monsters in my time."

Before Felix could respond to Nyxia’s surprise apology, she blasted off. The laser was there one moment, and faded the next. Sink Queen squinted her eyes until the light faded out completely.

How curious. She should make a call.

Among all of her effects, there was a waterproof phone in a pressure resistant case designed for diving. She fished it out of her bag and speed dialed someone.

"Hello, it’s me. Just calling to let you know… Yes, I know you told me they would be here. I just thought you’d like to know I made contact… I was surprised. I don’t know many magical girls that would go to the beach to hunt miseria, let alone the ocean. Interesting folk this lot… Yes, I put them on the right path. Time will tell if they get anywhere with my advice. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you know they would be here?... I didn’t think you two were on speaking terms. Haven’t spoken to her myself in years… Of course I’m going to keep watch. I need to see how this all plays out… Alright, I’ll let you know if there’s any developments. I’ll talk to you later, Ashley. Cheers." She turned to Felix and smiled. "You might want to sit this one out, rascal."

---

”Three of yas against one o’ me? Dis almost ah fah fight!”

— The Magnificent Morganite

Morganite was pretending to look at her wrist watch when Acid Drop came out of the waters. By the time she registered what had happened, Acid Drop’s fingers were already around her neck. Touch based magic was always potent, but Morganite refused to let this girl fully take over her emotions a second time.

Size was never a good metric for determining a magical girl’s strength. She peeled Acid Drop’s fingers off of her neck. Then she spun, and the centrifugal force caused Acid drop’s limbs to extend before she was released, and soared through the air like an out of control flying squirrel. She hit the water soon afterward.

And then blasting across the water were the other two magical girls, uniting them all together. Maybe it was the diffidence coursing through her head, the fact that they were all together, or both, but Morganite recovered her shields and began to speed back to shore.

This didn’t stop the duo, who were determined to ram into Morganite at full speed. Roche called for more power, the distance between them closed.

But then…

"TF2_FRYINGPAN.MP4”

— Suki Oyama

Oros bobbed out of the water, gasping for air just before Roche and Nyx rammed into her back. The front of the shield was pivoted downward. Roche took Oros underwater again, and Nyxia was launched into the air. Since she was creating thrust, she shot herself into Roche’s back, causing them to tumble underwater. By the time they climbed out of the water, Morganite had made herself scarce.

The blood witch was delirious. Between oxygen deprivation and blood loss, her body collapsed as soon as she pulled herself out of the ocean. "Am I unconscious? Does someone need to give me mouth to mouth?” The fresh wound in her back had spawned four tentacles, which she used to create a sort of parasol.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Look! Tsubomi’s awake!”

— Suki Oyama

”Noice try but dat ain’t workin’ again!”

— The Magnificent Morganite

Tsubomi, or rather Acid Drop, would not have much difficulty finding the scarlet harlot or the pink pounder. Oros had made herself a surfboard. She propelled herself along with spinning tendrils that behaved like a thruster. Morgan was using one of her shields as a surfboard, while the other was spinning behind her like a water wheel. A very fast water wheel that didn’t appear to be attached to anything, but was still propelling the magical girl forwards. Fascinating…

On land, Suki was an exceptionally fast magical girl. But her current setup couldn’t match her skates on land. She turned to face her pursuer with a sneer. Morgan was still smiling. They both swung their hands at each other. Each one managed to catch an incoming fist with their off hand. Their propulsion device lashed out next, with Oros’s tendril coiling around Morganite’s shield. It may have seemed like they were evenly matched, but Oros the Joyful was straining to hold Morgan in place, while the light magical girl looked less interested in pushing through and was instead assessing her target. Her eyes moved all over Oros before her smile vanished.

”Oi! Ya look a a tad familiar doncha laddie?” She raised an eyebrow. ”Have we met before?”

"Hell of a pickup line!”

With a roll of her eyes, Morganite’s shield spun. It severed Oros’s tendril and flew into her stomach. High enough to miss her emblem but still hitting hard enough to throw her. Morgan hopped off of her shield, and it swiftly flew behind the airborne magical girl, catching her before she flew too far away. Before Oros could even start to fall, the shield surged forward, forcing her to belly flop against the water before she disappeared under the waves. Before Morganite fell into the water, her other shield replaced the one under her feet. She gazed into the depths, but all that Tsubomi could see from where she stood were some bubbles floating to the surface where Oros had gone under.

Morganite kept her posture straight, her gaze downcast at her struggling foe. Light girls were a valiant and honorable bunch, but there were few people they despised more than dark magical girls. You never knew how far they were going to take things once the fighting started.

Symphony on High

"I want the car fax."

— Mika Fang

Mika probably should have been back at HQ. But after completing her reviews of the freelancers and porting them over to Binky, her superior accidentally spilled the beans. Binky had mentioned that Ashley’s team had run into some trouble, and that Fritzi was thinking about promoting the high tech heroine. But Mika was no fool. She knew the doctor had wanted to promote Ashley for a while. On paper it made sense. She was the most senior member and did exactly what Fritzi wanted. But it was too early and unearned. A rank bestowed out of necessity rather than Ashley’s ability. Oh how Mika seethed when hearing her name. She knew she couldn’t keep her cool if such a thing came to pass. But as bad as returning to HQ would be, she also didn’t want to go home to an empty house with her thoughts. So she volunteered to join the clean up crew that Ashley had dispatched. Mika hadn’t been harmed during her last operation, and she had a bit of mana left if something happened. It was a hard offer for HQ to turn down. They still needed to recover cry baby Finn, and the other espers weren’t in the same fighting condition she was. Having an esper around to deal with stray monsters would be a boon. Her wish was granted, so long as she didn’t get into trouble.

But Mika wasn’t just trying to skip out on witnessing Ashley’s promotion. After her outing with Estelle, she figured it might be wise to visit the operation area before some monsters came and leveled the place. She had gotten a chance to look around the church, but she was sure that the agents at Dante’s hadn’t been the most thorough. Prior to her talk with Estelle, she wouldn’t have been either.

The non-esper agents immediately went to work surveying the diner for damage. Not just structural damage, but PR damage as well. Two men were talking about possible vantage points and one had mentioned a nearby orphanage that might have heard the battle. But none of that mattered to Mika. She was a slayer of monsters, and she was only here because there might be some clues that lead to bigger, more important things to kill.

Mika was cautioned not to disturb the scene, but there was nothing to disturb. It looked like a bomb went off. There were bodies everywhere. Along with blackened furniture that had all been overturned. Even the church didn’t look this bad, and that had been the home of a mad cultist before nuns fired smoke and fire everywhere. She wouldn’t find anything here, and she knew it.

But the back room…

The back room split off two ways, both of which seemed to be untouched by the skirmish out front. One door, oddly, led into a boy’s bedroom. Or at least it looked like a boy’s bedroom at a glance. There were posters for retro video games as well as some punk rock bands. But the longer she looked at the room, she noticed that the musicians were all from boy bands, and many of the games had cuter aesthetics that most boys wouldn’t be into. There wasn’t a lot of furniture, and the only appliance in the room was a giant flat screen TV that was wired to a game system. In truth, Mika was a little envious. Su never let her decorate her room the way she wanted to. Probably because it would look like a kid’s sticker covered lunchbox if she did, but that was beside the point. Though Mika did notice there was no computer, which gave her a strange sense of pride. Su had wanted to teach Mika about computers, and even went as far as building her one so that she could get acquainted with all of their parts. She wasn’t sure if she could build one by herself, but the one she had would be good for years to come.

The other path lead to an office, which also housed the security equipment. There was also a door leading out back, but there wouldn’t be anything out there. Mika went to look through the surveillance footage, but there was nothing interesting. There was no sound, it was all black and white, and the cameras inside the building were inoperable or of such poor resolution that she couldn’t see what was going on. Alls she really knew was that everyone was talking and then Finn entered the front of the building. Mika audibly groaned. Why had Ashley decided to send Finn through the front? It didn’t make any sense, and was just one more reason that this promotion was poorly timed. Why not go through the back? Of course as Mika asked herself this, she realized that the security system was pretty well set up for the back entrance. She didn’t feel this invalidated her question.

The only other interesting thing in the office was the fax machine, as there was no computer. Fax machines were really weird, weren’t they? Digital information was so malleable and easy to share, and with a fax machine you could take that digital content and print it on a physical piece of paper, at which point it lost its ability to be easily moved across cyberspace. That seemed like a negative in almost every way.

There was no paper shredder, but there was a waste paper basket, which Mika dug through. Something that had bothered Mika about her operation was that the nuns were able to prepare for her arrival. She didn’t know about her mission until just a day ago, so how were they able to prepare so fast? And if Mika’s operation had been leaked, then had Ashley’s operation been leaked too?

Mika found a crumpled up piece of paper in the waste paper basket buried under a half-eaten lunch. When she unfolded it, she could see a picture of Finn and Timekeeper printed at the top of the page, followed by a brief description of his abilities.

Yes. Yes it had.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"You might not like it, Nyxia, but this is what peak aquatic performance looks like."

— Sink Queen

The squid girl surfaced as soon as it looked like the others were going to do so as well. She did so with little flair, simply gliding through the water until she reached the surface. There was no bombastic splash, nor a ripple that wouldn't instantly vanish in the torrent of surfacing bubbles that Roche had created. Only her head and shoulders rose out of the water.

"Cheerio! I hope Felix didn't startle either of you. The bloke likes to wander off and explore, but he's harmless."

"I just wanted to clean myself in peace..."

"Anywho! Name's Sink Queen around these parts. Wasn't expecting to get any visitors out here. Don't suppose you were searching for buried treasure were you? The bones of that ol' ship have been picked clean years ago."

The dark magical girls informed the squid girl that they were here hunting for miseria.

"Terribly sorry loves, but there's no miseria out this time of day. Not usually. While the little rascals like sites of tragedy and the sort, what they really feed on negative human emotions. The reason why miseria come out at night is because humans are so much more susceptible to negative emotions before they sleep. All the bad that happened throughout the day is confronted when they go to sleep. That's not to say they can't be summoned though. Doing so in a place like this is sure to guarantee a strong one shows up. The people on the beach are having a good ol' time. If something were to strike terror in them all simultaneously, you'd be sure to have one hell of a miseria on your hands!"