Penrose was not the bastion Amber hoped it was going to be. The larger population meant more magical girls to deal with, largely because Boten insisted on living in a sweet in the heart of the city. It was a shame her boss insisted on living in such densely populated areas. But that was what kept her employed.
Once again, Amber found herself looking into a window of a clothing store. Again, there was a poster of a drop dead gorgeous blond modeling clothes. It was still a bit difficult to get around town during school hours. That was really the biggest drawback of looking so young. She couldn't go anywhere without Sue taking on a human form to act as a parent. It made getting around during the day difficult.
“Alright Sue, ready to go shopping?”
“Yep, got our list and everything!” Sue was in human form, ready to take Amber's hand and walk her around town. They had a pretty basic strategy. They had to be careful with Sue's human form, as she could hold it for about a half hour, and then she needed to rest for an hour or so to get her strength back, depending on how much she exerted herself. What they would do is go to a super store. Then Amber would do the shopping while Sue hid in a bathroom in her normal form to recharge. Once Amber was done, Sue would turn into a human again just long enough to pay and go to the next store and repeat. Or they would go home.
Lily and Alexander were also at the super store, untransformed; since Alex suggested they go to places where girls hang out, and she felt like getting some cute clothes for once, the green-haired girl decided to go shopping.
"Doesn't this look cute?" She asked him while holding up a frilly skirt up to her waist.
"Actually, it's kind of-Hmm." Her eyes latched on a certain blonde girl who was also shopping, and her brows furrowed. For some reason, she felt as if she was fated to talk with this girl
"Oh hey, sorry to interrupt!" She blurted out, and walked towards the girl.
"But you were about to make a big mistake with that dress, hehe. I think yellow suits you better." She had an awkward smile on her.
“Oh, really?” Amber had her hand on a dress. Its color was very similar to Shining Scale's uniform. “Yellow is a fun color, but I was going for something more... Mature?” As a former hardware store manager, so she had no difficulty talking to people. However, it wasn't often she was approached by someone in a store. Amber got the feeling this one wasn't going to go away. “Amber Bianchi.” She extended her hand with a smile. “How do you do, ma'am?"
"Lily Hanson. Oh, nothing big, just checking out the latest trends, since I feel like I've been out of the loop." She started to turn more comfortable when she talked with the girl; she seemed wiser than her young age would suggest.
"Did you hear about the hospital bombing on the news? Sheesh, that's scary. I even heard some people make rumors that it wasn't made by terrorists, but magical girls! Sounds crazy, right?"“What?!” Ambers eyes widened like saucers. “No, I didn't hear anything about that! Magical girls? You mean cosplayers right?” She chuckled, but it was a nervous one. “But yea, wow. Um, I actually just moved here a little less than a week ago. I had no idea that kind of stuff was going on.”
Alexander sighed internally '
I really hope Lilly knows what she's doing. No one here looks like a magical girl. Huh, that might be a problem; how are we supposed to find a magical girl if we're looking in places where they wouldn't be transformed?' He was only paying a little attention to the girls talking, as he had chosen insteed to leaf through the articals of clothing out of boardom '
why do I get the feeling that Lilly just wanted to buy some clothes. She could have just asked me to come with her, without the pretense of looking for other magical girls. I wouldn't have be able to say no to her. Actually, why would she bother asking me to come along in the first place? I don't know anything about clothes, and I'm sure she could carry whatever she bought. Meh, I'm probably thinking about this too much.'
"That's what I thought too, but the rumors paint a different story, like it was a big fight with explosions and stuff. Well, not that it matters. Was fun talking to you. Maybe i'll find one of them some of these days. I'd really like to know one, actually being one myself! Just kidding, hehe~" With that said, she then left the store with Alex, sighing in disappointment that she didn't find what she sought. At least the girl was nice to converse with.
“Uh...” Amber turned back towards the blue dress. “Heh, kids.”
Sue leaned around the corner. She was in human form. “Amber!”
“I'm not done shopping! Why are you here?”
“That girl you were just talking to.” The familiar's eyes darted back and forth. “She's a magical girl.”
The pirate sighed before holding the blue dress over herself. “She was just joking.”
“She wasn't!” Sue pointed out the door. “And the boy she was with was a magical one too!”
Amber froze in place for a few seconds before looking over her shoulder at Sue. “You sure?”
Sue nodded quickly. “I could see their magical aura. If they head towards our apartment...”
Boteg would spot them, and they would be forced to deal with them. Amber quickly hung up the blue dress and took off towards the end of the shop. “She wants to see a magical girl huh? I guess it's my turn to grant a wish.”
When Alexander was sure that they were out of ear shot, he asked Lilly "
I probably should have asked this before; but how were you planning on finding a magical girl here? After all, unless they're transformed, they won't look any different from normal people. Hell, for all we know, that girl you were just talking to could be a magical girl."
"Well, I kinda figured we might catch someone jumping around or something, but we had no luck. Oh well, we just gotta try and keep an out. It's not like there's Facebook for magical girls. That would be cool." Alexander and Lily's chatter died down when they could hear someone yelling. “Spirit of Adventurrrrrre!” Shortly after hearing the shout, a pirate with a ship cannon slung over her shoulder appeared. She walked out from an alley, a puddle of water following her every step. “Oh my goodness!” The pirate said. “It isn't often I'm spotted by commoners! You must be lucky!” Sue landed on Amber's shoulder right on cue. “For you have just scored a meeting with Magical girl: Shining Scale!” Amber struck her most pirate-like pose and held it for as long as she could, ignoring the pedestrians momentary, confused glares.
"Whoa...That's so cool!" Lily responded her eyes wide open and shining from the spectacle.
"Haha, it actually worked, I can't believe it, Alex!"She then saw the weird looks she got, and then had an idea.
"Hey, why don't we continue talking in that alley? You see, I'm also a magical girl. Cover me Al." She ran to the secluded alley, and made her chant:
"Let my spirit gallop across the field of clouds, and strike my foes down with thunderous applause!" In a flashy and overtly detailed phase that surely left Alex with his jaw open, able to see a lot more of her than she would deem modest, she came out fully transformed as a sparkling cute fighter.
"Now was THAT cool or what?" She asked smugly, her hands on her hips.
Alexander sighed at the lack of discretion the two girls had, but as luck would have it, all of the bystanders had quickly left. This left no one but him and the other girl to watch Lilly's transformation. Within seconds of it, Alexander understood why she hadn't transformed in front of him before. While he didn't find the sight unpleasant, some small part of his brain yelled at him to avert his eyes, so he did just that. He turned his gaze to the ground, his face suddenly feeling a lot warmer. When she finished, he spoke "
That...that was....I don't even know what to say. I mean wow! Uh, hey Lilly; does your transformation raise the temperature at all, because I'm starting to feel a little hot."
Lily scowled.
"Hey, that was supposed to be cool, not hot! It's like the complete opposite! Man, I gotta work on it or something; make it even flashier. But at least I got a wow out of you, so that's good~"“I've gotcha sir!” By the time Alexander turned to face Amber again, her cannon was already pointed at him. She immidiatly hosed him down with her cannon. She didn't use much pressure. It wasn't much more intense than a pressurized water hose. After Alexander was thoroughly soaked, the pirate turned her cannon away from him and nodded. “There we go!” Amber said with a genuine smile. “Do you feel better now?”
Once Alexander recovered from the shock, he responded "
...actually, I do. Well, I'm soaking wet now, and that's not plesent. But other than that I feel great. Thanks."
“Oh alright, let's see if I can do something about that.” Amber reached into the air and waved her hand in a brushing motion. Alexander could feel his uniform dry as the water ran to the ends of his uniform and pooled on the sidewalk. Amber wasn't able to completely dry his uniform, but it started to feel like it might air dry at this point. “Better?”
Alexander nodded "
yeah, thanks."
Amber gave Alexander a thumbs up before looking back at Lily. “You're not too bashful about showing off you real identity huh?” She shrugged her shoulders. “You do have a pretty transformation. Mine's just some water and sea creatures.”
Lily waved her hand dismissively.
"Ehh, I don't have a reason to hide it, to be honest; I drive around from city to city, so I have no attachments anywhere. It's great to be free and do what you want, you know? As a pirate, you must know how good it feels too~""Heh, well, one can never be too careful..." Shining Scale tipped her hat down.
She smiled.
"Sea creatures are awesome! Especially jellyfish, since they can glow and are transparent. Well, anyway, I think I can get to the point now."She dusted off her heel, and cleared her throat.
"Penrose is in trouble. We don't know who's behind it yet, but someone or some group was behind the park tragedy. I have a bad feeling that it's only gonna get worse if the attack on the hospitall tells me anything. I think we'll soon have a war between Beacon and monster girls, and we gotta stop that! I know it's a lot to ask, but we need your help."Sue started to shake. “A-a war?” She turned to look at Amber. “This is bad! Really bad! I can't believe Boteg actually chose to move into a potential war zone.”
“At the same time, that's so him to move to a place that's so inconvenient to defend.” The pirate girl set her cannon on the sidewalk and used it as a seat. To better ponder the situation. “Yes, there are very few upsides to a war. That would make things very inconvenient for my boss and myself.” She placed her hands on her knees and looked up at lily. “But you're in luck! Because Shining Scale is an excellent diplomat! If someone can talk those two out of a war, it's me!”
"
That's a relief" Alexander said "
I don't think we could have talked them out if it ourselves. I suck at diplomacy, and Lilly has a berserker mode that makes her look like a monster girl, so Beacon might not like her at all." He shrugged "
Then again, I'm still not convinced we can just talk this out. The little interaction I've had with Beacon tells me that they might actually want this. But hey, I'd love to be proven wrong."
Amber giggled. “Monster girls and the Beacon, I don't really see a huge difference between them myself. Some are bloodthirsty, others are not.” Amber started to twirl her finger in the air. “I was once ambushed by monster girl that looked like a praying mantis, and was rescued by a Beacon. She even gave me her pendant after I held her at gun- I mean helped her up.” Shining scale started swaying her head left and right. “She didn't seem too keen on hurting the poor mantis. But it's her duty. How did she word it?” Amber looked up. “A cat may wish to be friends with a mouse, but its nature is to hunt them.” The pirate girl nodded. “Something like that.”
"Yeah, but Alex is right; just talking to Beacon or the monster girls isn't enough," Lily said with a concerned look.
"As long as people think Beacon murdered the Puchuu girl at thge park, we won't have any end to the hatred and violence between them and any other magical girls. We have to find proof it wasn't them, and that means finding the people actually responsible." She then stopped to think.
"Hey Alex, do you remember what that Helga-named girl said? Something about orders? Maybe there's a clue we can find there that leads us to the true mastermind. Oh, almost forgot!" She suddenly turned towards Amber, and caught her in a gentle embrace.
"Thanks for believing in us, and helping. You don't know how many hostile mahous we have had to get through by now. One was a snake boy, for crying out loud!Shining Scale put her hands on Lily's shoulders. “Too, close, too, much, flesh!” Amber gave Lily a shove, but it caused the pirate to fall backwards off of her cannon instead of pushing away the magical girl. Sue managed to fly off of Shining Scale before she fell flat on her back, her legs still over the barrel of the cannon. “Ahem.” Amber threw her feet over to the side, causing her to cartwheel back to her feet. “Your appreciation is well received, but in moderation.”
"
Therein lies the problem" Alexander began "
where do we look and what do we look for? We both saw that Beacon girl go nuts and kill the Puchuu girl. So what would explain Beacon being innocent, despite what we saw? Shapeshifting, mind control, some other third thing? The only possible lead we might have is that girl's body, and I'm sure that Beacon still has it. Even if we somehow got our hands, how are we supposed to get a clue from it? I doubt any of us have any kind of skill at magical forensics"
Alexander rubbed his chin "
I think that for the time being, we're better off looking into the crazy Beacon girl. As things stand right now, Helga sounds like a dead end. She claimed to be under orders or something, but we don't know where to start looking to find anything about those orders. Unlike crazy Beacon girl, she was vaporized, so we don't have a body to examine."
"Maybe there is a clue with the crazy Beacon girl, but to investigate that we would need to get ihnto the Beacon's Penrose community headquarters, and that's harder than finding the Illuminati, heh. But maybe...We should check out the hospital, just in case we missed something."“I have no idea what you're going on about sir, but I'll admit I'm no detective.” Shining scale folded her arms. “But it sounds like you're going to need a lot more people for whatever you're doing. I might be able to accommodate you with a... mobile base of sorts?”
Lily's eyes shone again.
"A mobile base! Do you mean that...No way, it can't be! A flying pirate ship!" She squeed, and then shook Amber's hand eagerly.
"Let's go!" “N-now!?” Amber gave a worried chuckle. “I can't keep up with you!”
Alexander rose an eyebrow "
won't something that big kind of stand out? Don't get me wrong, a mobile base sounds awesome. But if it's obviously magic and really easy to find, it'll just paint a target on us."
“Well, it's not necessarily easy to find. I mean yea, when it's close it's pretty obvious it's a pirate ship. But off in the distance most people think it's a blimp.” When amber was able to free her hand from Lily's eager grasp, she folded her arms. “Night and cloud cover make it virtually impossible to spot however. “ Amber reached for her cannon and picked it up. “It also has a few cannons. They're down in storage, but bringing them top side shouldn't be hard. Not that there are many threats in the sky anyway. I think a mobile air ship is a lot safer than a non-mobile, earth bound base.” Shining scale looked around herself. There wasn't anyone else present. “If you don't have any other objections, Alex was it? You can take a closer look at it.”
"
Alexander" he corrected "
and yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I assume you have a way to get on it without bringing it down to the ground?"
“Uh.” Shining scale looked over and saw a fire escape. “Well, we do need to board it. It would be easier from a roof top. So I guess this building would do.” Amber pointed her cannon at the ground, preparing to “water jet” her way to the roof. “Meet you guys at the top!”
Once everyone regrouped (Lily was waiting on everyone) Amber reached into her uniform and pulled out a flair gun. “Typically I can fly aboard, but for those of you not gifted with flight or a way to propel yourselves, we do have a rope ladder available. So I'll throw that out for you guys in just a second.” She fired the flair into the sky. It didn't look different than any other flair, but after a few seconds a flying ship of considerable size came out of the sky. It was a flying pirate ship, just as Lily had guessed. Aside from two large turbines located at the back of the ship, it looked indistinguishable from a normal fantasy pirate ship. It certainly shouldn't have been able to fly.
“Behold! The Sky Bastion!” Amber looked over her shoulder at Sue. “Get the rope ladder.” The bird nodded before flying up to the ship. “So anyway, yea.” Shining scale turned towards the duo. “What do you think? Could you see a squad of peace keepers floating around on this?”
"Amazing! You're like a sailor fighting by moonlight!" Lily screamed as she grabbed the rope ladder and climbed on board.
"Yeah, we should totally form the Justice League of Avengers!" She then frowned.
"Well, the name's still in development. But the idea's great! What do you think, Alex?"Alexander began climbing up after Lilly "
A group sounds good. But I'm thinking that maybe someone else should name it" as he moved up the rope ladder, he stared down at the ground, watching as it got further and further away '
man, this is nuts. I'm climbing up a really long rope ladder to a flying pirate ship. I'm not sure if magic wil; ever stop suprising me' He looked up to see how much farther it was, and quickly saw something he wasn't supposed to. He then put his eyes back on the ground '
fuck that's right; Lilly's right above me. Dammit, why couldn't her outfit come with pants!?'
Amber giggled. “Call us whatever you want, but I'm not repainting the ship!”
Eventually the airship reached the hospital, and Lily dropped down.
"Now let's see...I remember fighting Helga somewhere around here. Hmmm...Yes!" She was knelt down next to the ash pile, and then exclaimed as she lifted something out of it; it was a pendant, with a
strange marking on it.
"I found something, but...what's with the symbol? It looks like the logo for a band or something."Shining Scale scratched her head. “Not one that plays very happy songs I'll add.” Amber stared at the pendent, really squinting her eyes. “Uh.” She looked at her shoulder. “Maybe you can see something, Sue? Is there anything off about it?”
“Let's take a look!” Amber held out her hand for Sue to perch on. “Hmmm, I don't recognize this symbol. But it does have a tinge of magic to it. I'd be careful with it.”
"
Going to be honest; I'm surprised this is still here. I mean, if she was was working for someone, then wouldn't they come to take care of her remains, or at least this pendent. I'm not sure what it does, but since it's the only part of her that wasn't turned to ash by Lilly's death beam, I'd say that it's pretty durable an important." Alexander looked around "
now that I think about it, why hasn't anyone cleaned this up? I mean yeah, it's a roof, but wouldn't a janitor have come up here by now? The ashes haven't even been blow away by a strong breeze. Either her ashes still have some magic left in them that somehow did that...or it was the pendent."
"Magic, huh...We better be careful, guys. Maybe the pendant can-" At that moment, the pendant started to shake, and Lily dropped it out of surprise back to the ash pile. "...You...bastards..." A voice faintly came out of the pile, and Lily shrieked; it was Helga's voice.
"OH CRAP!" She immediately hugged Alex out of fear, clinging to him like a little girl. "...Still want a go, you horse?" The voice again called out, and Lily bared her teeth.
"What is this? How are you still alive? Is it the pendant?""Yeah...As long as the pendant's whole, I come back. Gonna take me a while thanks to you frying me, but I will return, hehee..."
"
Huh. Well this explains why your ashes were still here" Alexander was trying to ignore the strange feeling that Lilly holding onto him produced "
that sounds like a pretty cool power; no mater how much damage is done to your body, you'll eventually recover...as long as your pendent is okay. Since you're not really in a position to defend it, what's stopping us from just smashing it right now?"
"Yeah. What he said." Lily said with a pout after removing herself from Alex, and put on a defiant face, even though only a moment ago she was clearly afraid.
"Because...I have something you want. And if you destroy me, you won't get it."
Lily blinked.
"Huh? What could you possibly have, let alone something we want?""Hehee...Now, before I continue, there's something you should know: I can hear voices. And not just any voices, but those in your head. So, I know what you're looking for."
"You mean. who's behind all of this?" Lily asked eagerly, and the pendant laughed back. "Maybe. But you have to promise not to destroy me, or I'm taking this information to my grave. Do we have a deal?" Lily scratched her head.
"Uhhh, I don't know. What should we do?" "
Starting to think I should transform now. Give me a second" Alexander walked a few steps away from the girls, and began his transformation by mumbling his incantation as quietly as he could "
Let the sun shelter my allies and smite my foes!" He quickly became envolped in a small golden sun. After a few seconds, it shrank to fit his body shape, changing into his outfit "
alright, starting to feel safer now" he quickly applied a force-field to himself, Lilly, Amber, and Sue. He then made a clone which walked over to the ash pile "
Alright. Whoever is behind this is a bigger threat then you, so I have no problem letting you go just this once for the information we need. However! If I think you're lying, or if you try and pull something, my clone will smash you" The clone stomped it's foot "
And remember; this is a disposable clone. So if it get's destroied in some kind of trap you've placed, or the backlash of destroying your pendent...well that's just fine."
"Hahahaa, careful as always, pretty boy?" The voice mocked him, but then let out an anguished grunt as the clone's foot dropped close to the pendant. "Okay, enough joking around. So here's the deal; this pendant was given to me by my Lady, who is...pause for dramatic effect...Justine von Visceral! Hahaa!" After a moment of silence, she grumbled. "Blegh, not like any of you know someone as grand as her. Anyway, she was the one behind the park incident, with some good old mind control magic. But, you'll never get to her!"
"And why not? Fess up, you ugly jewel!" Lily shouted, and summoned her staff, lifting it up to mimic an attempt of smashing the pendant. "Hold up now, I'm not going to skimp out at this point. She lives in a castle in the Overcity, a dimension different from ours. So you either need someone who can shift there, or some kind of dimension-hopping magic. And that's all! Now, you gonna let me go or what?"
Amber had been silent during the entire display. “What did I get dragged into?”
“What did we get dragged into?” Sue corrected.
Shining Scale shook her head. “If this person is dangerous or maleficent at all, we might want to take precautions to ensure they can't hurt anyone again. Maybe put them in a prison or something?”
Alexander snapped his fingers, and his clone vanished "
I really should, but we had a deal. You're free to go this time. " He turned around and started walking back to the airship "
That being said; if someone else comes along and decides to smash you...well, we can't be held responsible for that. A pile of ash on a rooftop where a magical battle took place kind of stands out...you know?" Once more, Alexander was thankful for his mask, since it covered up his large shit eating grin.
"Okay, thanks for sharing. And hey, no hard feelings about the giant thunderbolt of death? I was kinda not myself." "Oh, sure, sure. Once I'm recovered I'm leaving this crazy city!"
"Alright, goodbye!" She turned and started leaving.
"Shining Scale, you coming?"“Yea! Just need to check something first.” Once the others were at the air ship. Amber cautiously approached the necklace. She looked over her shoulder to make sure the others weren't looking at her. “Alright so.” Amber rubbed her hands together. “I don't really believe in littering, so something has to be done about you.” Amber rubbed her hands together. “So your boss, or bosses... are they wealthy? And if so, would you know where their coffers are located?”
"Oh, my Lady's loaded! Justine's so rich she could buy this whole city to herself! Or well, at least all the important things. And it's all stashed in that castle of hers. Why are you asking?"
“Well...” Amber looked over her shoulder again. “I think gaudy necklaces should be properly disposed of. Compacted to take up less space in the garbage of course. But a necklace that could act as a treasure map?” Her eye glinted. “That's something I'd protect with my life.”
"Well, why don't you let me lead you to it? I've been to the castle, so I know my way around it. You just figure out how to get to the Overcity. Deal?"
Shining scale picked up the necklace. “Deal. So long as we're of the understanding that you're not going to talk at inappropriate times.” Amber slid the necklace over her neck and tucked it under her shirt.
“Amber!” Sue whispered.' “Is that a good idea?”
“Sue, we never get any treasure. Not like this” Shining scale started to walk back towards the ship. “Now we're going to get our just reward!” The pirate used her cannon to propel herself back up to the ship, where she rejoined everyone.
At the deck of the airship, Lily looked down at the city.
"The Overcity...We need a magical girl who's really powerful to help us....really powerful. Oh, I know!" Her eyes widened.
"We should find Mariette Pedersen! She has dimension-travelling magic! She can take us to the Overcity!"
That girl with the eye patch and portal magic? Yeah, she probably could help us, but I'm not sure if she would."
Amber stood in silence for a bit. “What?”
“So that's her name...” Sue immediately flew off of Amber's shoulder and hid in the depths of the ship.
“Okay...NO!” Amber Took hold of Alex's shirt and hoisted him into the air. “We are not going to contact that sleazy, tentacle whipping, portal creating, harpy commanding, hentai queen!” She pointed her cannon at Alexander. “You take that back! She will end us if she sees us again! She locked me in a bank vault, I should have taken her out when I had the chance!” Amber continued to yell unintelligibly at Alexander.
"Hey, calm down!" Lily grabbed Amber by her shoulders and pulled her off of Alex.
"Now, I'll admit I don't know anything about her, so she might be an, umm, hentai queen. but we still need her help! We'll never reach Justine's castle without her help. When I met her, she didn't seem like that bad of a person. I promise I'll talk to her, and sort things out between you guys, ok?"Amber's breathing was ragged. “You think there can be... Peace?” Shining scale trudged away from Alexander. “There can be no peace.”
"Of course, that's what we fight for! Anyway, I think we should be leaving now. Oh, almost forgot!" She brought out a piece of paper from her pocket alongside a pencil, and started writing.
"Now, I just met you. And this is crazy." She handed the paper to Amber.
"But here's my number. So call me...maybe? Hehe~ Lily Lightning, signing out!" And with that, she leapt off the deck of the airship, making a free dive.
Alexander faceplamed "
...this is my life now." Taking a deep breath in and out, he turned to Scales and said "
well, see you later" He then walked over to the edge, created a circle shaped barrier in mid air, stepped on the barrier, and lowered it to the ground '
I'm really glad that worked. I'd be looking pretty stupid if it didn't.Lily summoned Ixion in the middle of the air, and as she landed on the motorcycle, she exerted her magic power in order to give small wings to the vehicle; not enough to fly, but to let her glide, letting her land on a highway like an airplane. She skid to a stop at the side of the road, and swept off her sweat.
"I had no idea I could do that. Guess I should have looked before I leapt, hehe~"
Lildear18