(a bit back in time)
On a beach away from everything else, two blonde girls were hugging one another while a spider-girl was watching them with satisfaction.
‘Right, it’s about time she goes home,’ Ronja said, nodding towards Suzette and the other girl. Suzette turned and nodded, looking then towards the girl.
‘Yeah, things will become unsafe around here soon. I’ll get you back home before then. It’s the responsible thing for me to do,’ Suzette said.
‘This has been… really weird,’ the girl Suzette had been hugging said…
‘… but thank you for showing me part of your world. It’s a great weight that has been lifted from my shoulder… mom. You never… you never actually did mean to leave dad and me. You had no choice. I am… so happy to know that,’ the girl said, raising a hand to dry some tears.
‘Of course I wouldn’t…’ Suzette said, raising a hand to dry her daughter’s tears.
‘No matter if I look older or younger than you, I’m still your mother. I come by to look at you both occasionally, okay. … But I won’t be contacting you because it could put you in danger. Do you understand?’‘I… I understand. I understand you put me in danger just to speak to me. Thank you… so much for speaking to me anyway. I’m so happy you did,’ the daughter said.
‘Heh. Right, let’s get you home before your father starts missing you,’ Suzette said, walking forward to put an arm around her daughter to start leading her off.
‘Ronja, you’ll cover for me, won’t you?’ ‘Of course I will,’ Ronja said with a nod. Suzette gave a thumbs up as she and her daughter wandered off to return the girl home…
‘Why don’t you tell dad, too? He’d be so happy.’
‘Nah, he wouldn’t be as understanding as you, I’m afraid.’
‘… Are you sure? Maybe he’d really like to interact with a younger version of his wife. It’d be like a blast from the past, or a…’
‘Aw, shush, you.’ ‘Hah,’ Ronja shook her head at the silly mother and daughter pair that definitely looked more like sisters due to the mother having become significantly younger. With that, Suzette was escorting her daughter home and Ronja was left on her own. She turned to start wandering back to the Keijo stadium in order to witness the continuation of the games.… but then stopped, because.…
Someone was approaching her.
Not far away from the beach side was an island filled with cat girls in cat swimsuits. Most of them were covered in bruises and were either tending to their wounds or grooming each other for some comfort. None of them were paying attention to Ronja, but someone had left the island and was moving straight towards her position.
They were approaching from behind, maintaining distance behind her. If she stopped, they stopped, when she walked, they walked. If Ronja had eyes in the back of her head, she might have been able to see the tan skinned girl with a feathered headband trailing behind her, but she would not look familiar. She wasn’t even able to recognize the mind with her psychic magic. But she could tell that it was at least a dark magical girl that was following her.
Ronja momentarily stopped when she realized someone was following her. When they also stopped, she continued walking on her many spider-legs. They followed, and she stopped again, and so too did they stop. Ronja started to chuckle, for the experience of being followed was not one unbeknown to her. In fact, she knew it all too well. It reminded her of her past, and as such…
‘Welcome, welcome!’ Ronja called, spinning around in place and also spinning a couple balls of web in her hands.
‘Come to see the show of Ronja Koskela, have you? I am honored, truly!’ she said, chuckling as she lobbed her balls of web into the air and started to rather deftly juggle them.
‘Alas, I’m afraid that while I would have loved to show you a magic trick like my audience of old, my magic tricks were actually magic through my affinity for sorcery, and they would not be impressive to you. Alas,’ Ronja sighed as she caught all three webbed balls in one of her hands.
‘Mancini didn’t send you, did he? Or was it Romano? I rather assumed I’d be safe from the likes of them the moment I became a magical girl, hah. For their information, I scammed them fair and square!’ she called, and chuckled a bit privately.
The girl flinched when she was noticed, but otherwise remained impassive to Ronja’s questions. She just stared at the dryder with what most would call morbid curiosity. But curiosity implied that the stranger didn’t know what she was looking at.
The tan skinned girl stepped closer, no longer feeling the need to hide. Even if the girl didn’t speak, Ronja could clearly see that her mind was not showing any hostile intentions. She was calm and relaxed, and even the sight of a juggling dryder didn’t seem to throw her off any. She walked closer, her eyes locked on the web balls as they were tossed between Ronja’s deaft hands. She was just outside of her personal space and was still walking closer.
‘Oh? What have we here?’ Ronja asked, tilting her head a little at the approaching girl. It was a bit odd, her walking forward like that, but supposedly Ronja was entirely safe inside this dimension. Still, maybe she was about to be Overcity Shifted or something. Even then, no hostile intentions.
‘Is this a volunteer for my magic trick?’ she asked, still partially in performer-more. She stayed still and let the girl approach.
The nameless girl continued to approach, not saying anything as she did so. Once she got close enough, she hopped the rest of the rest of the distance between them and coiled her arms around the dryder’s torso. She rested her head on Ronja’s shoulder and gasped, only to let her breath go as a sigh. There were no attempts to use magic, no bone crunching squeeze that could kill a man, just a hug. Ronja couldn’t confirm, but she might have felt tears falling onto her naked shoulder.
Ronja was initially startled by the girl’s jump and embrace, not sure what to make of it, but then felt what could have been tears…
‘Oh, dearie, what’s the matter…?’ Ronja asked, confused by the girl’s actions and instinctively hugged the girl back after the feeling. Was this someone she knew? She couldn’t imagine there’d be anyone so happy to see her that she’d break out in tears…
The girl pulled back her head. She looked at Ronja square in the eyes, prepared to speak-
*Yoink*
”The hell is going on here?!” Oros, still wearing a not-so-very-temperature-appropriate yakuza jacket, grabbed the nameless girl and flung her off of Ronja.
”Listen here!” She pointed at the Indian.
”I gave you an island filled with bodacious cat girls to play with. There’s no reason to play with this, eh, thiiiiiiing!” With a dismissive wave, the the girl stood back up and walked towards the cat island. She glanced over her shoulder once, but immediately looked away when Oros noticed.
”Bzzzzz! Bzzzzz!” With that taken care of, she turned to face Ronja.
”Surely you have better things to do than flaunt your balls? Kids her age are very impressionable, and they don’t need some blind, blue, big-breasted bitch bopping balls between this babe’s bye-balls!”Ronja turned her face to Oros as she appeared. This was all a modestly confusing turn of events for the spider-girl. Still, she looked after the quiet girl as long as she could, listening to Oros on the while. That last part made her react.
‘Oooh. That’s some decent alliteration. Did you come up with that on the spot? I’m impressed,’ Ronja said, clapping a little abscently.
”Yea, but it took my player like thirty seconds to think of the words. He’s getting slow in his old age!”‘You wouldn’t happen to be so kind and able to explain what just happened to me, would you?’ she then asked, modestly curious.
”Nope! i can't say I would be!” She reached into her pockets and turned them inside out.
”Fresh out of kindness, patience too! I don’t have a single Damn to give, not a hoot, not even-” She shoved her hands deep into her pockets.
”Oh! Ahhh!” When Oros pulled her hands out of her pockets, she flipped off Ronja with both hands.
”Looks like I’ve got exactly two fucks to give, but after this, I’m spent!” She snarled before turning away from Ronja.
”Don’t you belong to an army of magical girls anyway? If you’re feeling lonely, go to them! Mariette has tentacles, you’re a spider, Esther is a tree, Mayra is a lizard...” She looked over her shoulder.
”Your entire trope is a hentai dojin waiting to happen! Go poach your own chick...” With a growl, Oros continued to saunter away.
Then the collab abruptly ended with one of the players leaving the roleplay so instead of investigating Ronja decided to cut her losses and head back to the stadium. The girl hugging her was Mika from this world and was crying because she realized she’d made Ronja blind (but she can still see with Psychic spec) in their encounter and felt sad about it, even though she’d done it because Ronja emptied Lupa’s mind, but that had turned out to be a non-issue apparently so okay, that done.
________________________
Mariette was a bit in a state of panic. This situation should never have happened. Yet, there was still a chance everything could work out for her. A lot of it relied on Penny. That was why Mariette had to contact her. She initially wanted to just portal in, but she'd gathered Penny was hurt and doing so could step on a couple toes. A call it was.
Mariette had removed herself from the stadium and was sitting on a rock on an empty beach as she dialled the number. She brought it to her ear and nervously waited.
The call would connect rather quickly. Though at first there would, not exactly silence but the soft static in the background of the call wouldn’t seem all that important.
“Mariette” Penny would say after a few moments.
“This is unexpected. What’s the occasion?”‘The mirror. Why are you playing for it? What's your… what are you going to do with it?’ Mariette asked, voice sharp but nervous.
Penny would raise an eyebrow at the question, even though she knew that no one would see it.
“I’m more playing for the Beach than the mirror if I am to be completely honest. But keeping a Horror’s artifact away from the Horror is also an acceptable goal now that I am in this.” She would reply, her own tone cool and slightly bored. She recalled how Mariette discarded her phone last time they talked after all.
“Either way, handing it to Beacon for disposal is the short term idea.”Mariette took a moment to respond. Because this was by phone, Mariette was more or less convinced
she was listening in. Nothing else to it.
‘… Could I convince you to give it to me should you win? I’m… willing to negotiate,’ Mariette said, voice strained.
“I don’t trust you” Penny would lie, her tone not shifting in the slightest
“But seeing as I’m not going anywhere for the moment I am willing to hear you out. What possible benefits could there be to me giving you the Mirror?”Mariette was a bit taken aback by that statement, particularly the fact it was a lie. It was a lie for the one that might be listening… wasn’t it? The portal girl had to take a moment to consider her next words.
‘... That… that’s cold, I came to your aid when the sanctuary was under attack. I did this despite that my own mansion had just been under attack and I needed to recover and regroup, and I asked for nothing in return. But, I suppose that’s what I get for being Asengav’s champion,’ she said and sighed.
‘I could give you an army. Asengav’s forces have monsters under their command and weaker Magical Girls. They can stand as sentries around the Sanctuary, and follow your every command. I can promise that, even should I for some reason I attack, they would defend the Sanctuary against me. I also offer artifacts of power, as I have the means to develop them. Perhaps you’d like one especially ordered? If you want a very specific effect, name it, and I shall ask if it is possible to develop,’ Mariette said. However, this was just to divert attention from what she was about to offer next.
There would be a momentary pause after Mariette gave her first pitch before what sounded like a disappointed sigh could be heard.
“You realize that you’ve offered me all of that before right?” Penny would ask.
“Back when I first took the reins of the Sanctuary. I didn’t accept your offer then, when I had little to offer, what makes you think that I would be willing to accept it now, when if I do win I get something that is a notable prize if the amount of people you’ve arrayed for it is anything to go by.”“I’ll admit you did earn some points with helping out with the clean up, but treading the same ground now isn’t enough to cover the heat I would bring down on my head for handing it over to you. Not when the Ascendency Inquisitor had gotten her interest peaked by it.”‘I see. That is unfortunate,’ Mariette said, and then considered her next set of words. There was something that she wanted to convey to Penny, but to mention it in a business deal was stupid. Yet, she had to say it.
‘… Then consider this. I want to work with you. I want to be allied with the people of Penrose. I want to play nice and not cause too much mayhem. However, should I not be able to recover that mirror, you may find that my replacement to be… far less agreeable.’ With all likelihood, Lea would take command, and Lea doesn’t care about Penrose or its inhabitants, even the slightest. … Anyway. It was time for the idea she’d been brewing to be mentioned.
‘Okay, then how about the following? Win the Black Mirror, and hand it back to me… and I will free the Magical Girls I once kidnapped,’ she offered.
‘If it is in exchange for recovering my master’s artifact, even he will agree it is an acceptable loss. I cannot return them all, because the attack on my manor killed over half of them, and one cannot be returned because a role has been given to her to play…’ Olivia, that is.
‘but the rest of them I can return safely, with their memories of the events cleared. You must understand, no regular deal would be adequate for just handing over such a valuable fighting force. This is a special offer. What do you say?’ Mariette asked.
This was… a little plan of Mariette’s. A way to, without Lea or her master questioning it, return the girls she had previously kidnapped. To make amends without making amends. If this deal went through, then Mariette would actually want Penny to win. She hoped the queen would pick up on that.
There would be another silence a more calculating one as Penny processed these new bits of information.
“That” Would say slowly
“Might be workable.” Rescuing the captured girls was definitely a high priority for Penny, especially since it seemed that Mariette wasn’t aware that Aurelio had managed to save some of the girls who had gone down in the assault. Not all of them, but some. Beacon could likely also pin down the one that wasn’t released to try and cut off Asengav’s next plan of action, assuming they had information on the one.
There was also keeping Mariette alive, or at least in charge. Though the Queen wasn’t sure why the girl was choosing to stay under the Horror’s shadow right now. Sabotage seemed like the name of the game so far, which could be useful, but Penny got the sense it was more than just simple sabotage, though how that was, she wasn’t fully sure of.
“Have a small request that could make it an easy deal for me.” She would go on, though the likelihood of her taking this deal was already high at the moment, even though it also meant she would have to go talk with Rachel again.
“You helped pass along a few Coins to me a while back. But you did something to them, they are lesser compared to the genuine ones.” It was something she had discovered while inspecting the coins in question after the near riot at the Sanctuary. She hadn’t been able to fully comprehend what had been done to them, but she could still tell that something had been.
“Care to share? Or return what was taken?” The last bit was a shot in the dark, though it made sense.
Mariette resisted a breath of elation at Penny's statement. If that worked, then…!
That part first. Oh, yeah. She did something to those. There was a slight bit of regret, doing that felt so pointless now.
‘I didn't "lessen" them, they still purify as intended. I just removed the part of them that forced the user to tie themselves to Beacon. I didn't like that the one option for someone who didn't want to be a monster anymore was to become a pawn of Beacon, so I removed that aspect of the coins. If they want to join Beacon, they can do that out of their own free will afterwards. That was all there was to it,’ Mariette explained. Then she sighed.
‘At the time, the coin was the only way to be purified. Since then, more options have appeared, making this gesture of defiance meaningless. Yeah, you can have them back. They are useless to me.’ So she said.
“Trust me, looking at them side by side the ones you altered do feel ‘lesser’.” Penny would say. Though she supposed that would make sense if Mariette removed whatever it was that linked the user to Beacon. Penny wasn’t even sure how that was possible, but those thoughts were for another time.
“Regardless, as soon as you can get those parts back to me the better” She would go on
“Those should be able to buy me the freedom needed to get you the Mirror. Though I warn you, It’s not likely I’ll be able to simply hand it to you if I win. I’ll need some time, but no more than a day.”Mariette gave no reply to the coins feeling lesser. It did seem she was getting away with that act of sabotage relatively harmlessly. So, for the next part…
‘So I will simply have to trust you not to lose my mirror in the meantime. Very well. I would like your word that you will not allow anyone to tamper with the mirror, somehow sabotaging it or adding anything that would be to my detriment or your advantage later on. If you can promise that, then I will promise to free the girls upon recovering the mirror without any tampering to them other than removing their memories of their time with me, and then we will have a deal,’ Mariette said, adding her own requirement.
“I wasn’t going to mess with it” Penny would mutter with a sigh.
“But I’ll promise you that I won’t let anyone add to, or take anything from, the Mirror to the best of my abilities.” Both statements were honest.
“I suppose that’s everything” She would say, since it seemed that their bartering had gone rather smoothly.
“But I do have one other Question. What if I get the Mirror without winning?”Mariette’s eyebrows twitched. That… was a curious, and perhaps ominous, statement.
‘… The deal will be the same. Should you be in possession of the mirror at any point, then the deal is the same. The captured girls for the Black Mirror,’ she said simply.
“Good to hear, and I’m just checking my options really.” Penny would say with a chuckle.
“Not expecting that I’m going to need to fall back onto a plan B, but I like to make sure that I’ve got them as an option anyway.” Would be the explanation.
‘I, uh. I see,’ Mariette replied, not entirely sure how to take that. Anyway…
‘So, we have a deal, then?’“I’ll keep my word so long as you keep yours” Penny would agree.
‘Then, for a final bit, allow me to give you a word of warning. I’ve significantly powered up your next opponent,’ she told very frankly.
‘You must understand, I had to prepare for every possible circumstance. No matter who wins, I have to be on their side.’ No matter who won, Mariette needed to obtain that mirror.
‘What I’m saying is, underestimate her at your own peril. Good luck.’“Hah… Sounds like I’m not the only one who is looking to stack the deck and get back up plans in order.” Penny would remark.
“Any other bits of insight you're willing to give me in regards to Tenebra? or am I just going to have to find out in the ring?”Hm. Perhaps she did. Tenebra hadn’t explicitly promised Mariette to give her the mirror, after all, and deep inside she wanted to give the captured girls back, so she wanted Penny to win. Very well. Sorry about this, Tenebra.
‘She’s a warper. She can create a path between two spaces in existence. It’s similar to my power, but it’s far more unstable and unpredictable, and it can be used on your current position with impunity. As for what more she’s capable of now when she’s powered up? It may turn out to be really dangerous. After all, she will only need to hit you once.’“So I was going up against Time, and now I’m against Space. And here I thought I’d be able to catch a break in all of this.” Penny would remark a touch sarcastically.
“I’m assuming she’s more of a caster, much like you as well?” She’d ask, more to be certain than anything else. Either way it would prove to be an annoying bout. Especially with her mimicry systems on the fritz.
‘I would claim so, albeit I haven't seen her physical output truly tested,’ Mariette replied. It was a bit amusing that she was up against a master of space directly after one of time, the portal girl agreed.
“Welp, that just means I have to find a way to hit her I suppose.” Penny would say, though her tone conveyed her annoyance.
“Why is it that Magical skill is proving to be the ace in a physical sport?” She would complain to herself.
“That does cover everything, unless you’ve got another topic you’d like to bring up.”‘I wish you good luck.’Mariette then hung up.
________________________
It was a bit later. Matches were already ongoing, and Mariette was using a moment’s reprive to ensure that the mirror would not be stolen. Jelena was near the mirror, just sitting as an additional guard, watching it with her Third Eyes because then nobody should be able to use magic and be able to get away with the mirror, and of course there were more people watching the scene. In any case, Sally distracted Dan… which spared them the effort of distracting him themselves. Of course they had plans for how they could do that themselves, but this let them save their own plots.
‘Now,’ told the voice in Mariette’s ear, and Mariette nodded.
Hidden away she opened a portal directly to the portal inside the present, and Lea, with her outrageous agility, quickly slipped in.
They’d had an argument. Lea was of the opinion that they should steal the mirror and get the heck out of there immediately. Mariette wanted them to earn back the mirror by the rules of the game, and only steal it if they absolutely had to, because then they wouldn’t lose the trust of other members of Penrose and make more enemies.
As Mariette was in charge, they went with Mariette’s plan, but it did come with an important caveat. They had to ensure the mirror wouldn’t be stolen by anyone else. Hence why Lea now placed their non-magic tracker on the mirror frame, and then swiftly darted back, only Jelena with her Third Eye watching the present seeing the portal-magic that had appeared within the box for the briefest of moments.
The portal closed, their unnamed member confirmed that the tracker was indeed attached, and the mission was done. Now it was just to let Jelena constantly watch the scene with her Third Eye and they’d be alright.
Or so they had figured.
It vanished.
‘It’s gone,’ a voice reported in Mariette’s and Lea’s ears. Mariette raised her gaze and met Lea’s furious one, and there was no time to waste. All at once, multiple portals opened to every available magical girl in Mariette’s team.
‘Freya, Jelena, Tullia, with me,’ Lea immediately told, gathering the fastest among them, Freya grunting a bit while Jelena looked excited and Tullia confused. Lea immediately grabbed around them and Overcity Shifted. The most likely scenario was that somebody had taken the mirror and Overcity Shifted, which would place the party with the mirror in the Overcity, and then Lea would find and intercept them instantly by proximity, potentially. It was a possibility that was so strong they didn’t even wait for confirmation before going to go look. If it was incorrect, Mariette could retrieve them more or less instantly.
Jelena was with the Overcity crew basically exclusively to throw a look around herself with Third Eye. If she didn’t see anything immediately, she’d be back in this dimension within ten seconds.
‘Suzette, distract Dan. Taihei, give her an illusion,’ Mariette commanded, and Taihei shrugged before casting a specific gem over to Suzette with a raised eyebrow, but then smirked and acknowledged. Mariette deposited Suzette with a portal. She let Suzette head to work, and then turned to a new trio.
‘Mayra, Ronja, Josefin. Pursue, and if possible, obtain Sally,’ she commanded. Sally was, from all possible evidence, intrinsic to whatever had happened. The trio were ideal for hunting down someone lucky. Mayra, to hide them with darkness magic. Ronja, to restrain and obtain info from someone. Josefin, to just hopefully equalize the luck disparity between them. Mayra grinned and acknowledged, Ronja nodded and Josefin was a bit startled but otherwise ready to move. They departed, stalking Sally for now and looking for an opportunity. With this being Dan’s dimension, kidnapping her may be out of their reach, but she was very likely involved and they couldn’t let her get away.
A second or so later Jelena would be back, having done her immediate overview of the area in the Overcity. Then it was time for the next part.
________________________
So, there was Guardsman Dan, with his sunglasses and overall coolness, watching over the present… when something came around the corner. Someone that was sure to draw his attention. Totally.
‘Hey, big guy. Are you free?’ asked the resplendent image of a beautiful female dolphin, similarly humanized like Dan was, with definitive curves and assets, leaning at the corner and looking over at the dolphin guard.
This was actually Suzette in an illusion, and soon enough she’d slip away or laugh saying it was just a harmless prank if she was actually caught for what she was.
If there was even a single moment when Dan was distracted, Mariette broke open the portal into the box again, to check if the mirror was still within it or not. It was possible it was just the tracker that had somehow malfunctioned, after all. If so, this would be a little embarrassing. If it wasn’t, then Jelena would be there to look with her Third Eyes for whatever kind of magic trace might still be there for what had been done.
If the mirror was not there, and there wasn’t any immediate trace of where it had gone, then Mariette would lean back, focus her power, and then
break the dimensional rift as she opened multiple portals into different dimensions. With their tracker expert right beside her, the hope was that the tracker would reappear if a straight path to the right dimension appeared. The obvious places to check was their own world of Penrose, the Overcity, and any other immediately adjacent dimensions. It didn’t matter if it was straining right now, they had to find that mirror.
Of course, with Freya suddenly recruited for this, it meant she couldn’t face Victoria, who was already waiting in the ring, in battle. Not to worry, Mariette had prepared for that, too… (battle added to fight-club-links for commentating)
Xaltwind
Pirouette
Crimson Flame
Danyel
Mage
Noctis
Izurich
Damycles
jimapple
Zapdos
