Shifter_Master

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

&

-During the first week-
_{-Dealing in the Dark-}

Penny checked the time on her phone again before she snapped it shut and sighed. She was currently at Penrose park, sealed up and sitting on a bench that overlooked the pond closer to the center of the Park. Nervously awaiting the meeting she had set up with Olympia. It hadn't seemed like it would be this nerve wracking a few days ago, when she set it up during a lax patrol she had filled in for the Beacon.

She opened her phone again to check the time, again, noting that it had only been a minute since she last checked, thus she was still a few minutes early to the meeting. Once again she snapped it shut and shoved in her pocket. She tried taking a few deep breaths to try and calm her nerves and it would work until she remembered why she was here.

Hunting Thalia. The runaway fox girls name still tore her up inside, but she was moving past it. Penny couldn't tell why, exactly, she was looking for Thalia. Closure perhaps, revenge maybe, she just felt she needed too, even though she had no idea how she would react to meeting her old friend again.

Phone check again, another minuet had passed, and it away it would go again.

After a couple more minutes passed, emerged into the lamplight of the park, originally obscured by the mantle of night. She was short, wearing what appeared to be the school uniform of a local establishment, over the top of which was a red jumper, flanked by a pinkish red backpack. Shoulder length, brown hair fell across her face as she approached the bench Penny sat on, her eyes casually, and somewhat purposefully, flicking across the darkness, scanning the park around them.

As she approached, she pulled out a pocket watch from the jumper, and pushed in the button on the top, allowing the metal casing to flip up and reveal the clockface. For a second she watched it tick, when, seemingly satisfied, she closed it again, and pocketed it.
"You're Penny?" she questioned, almost monosyllabically. Waiting for the response, she pulled her sleeves down over her hands, seemingly cold.

Considering Penny's nerves it was hard for her not to notice the other girl when she stepped in to the light, the girl’s appearance finally forcing Penny to calm down as she watched and took stock of the girl as she approached. She knew very little about the newspaper but had read over a few of their articles thus was more than a little curious about the types of girls that worked for them.

"Yeah, that's me" She would answer, moving so that there was room on the bench incase the other girl wanted to sit. "That should make you Olympia. Thanks for agreeing to meet." she would go on leaning back in to the bench as she spoke.

"You work with Beacon..." she responded, seemingly ignoring her comment, while looking Penny up and down, "And you're a Monster Girl. You're a Monster Girl, working with Beacon." their eyes locked as Olympia repeated her words, carefully selecting and speaking them, as though testing them out in some fashion, "You're a very strong Magical Girl, who was involved in both the Justine Incident, and, just a few days ago, the Stadium Assault."

Olympia's eyes flittered to the space on the bench, and she moved to sit - removing the backpack and gingerly smoothing out her jumper and skirt before she sat.
"You're one of the strongest girls I've seen." she said, simply, unfurling the top of the backpack, exposing a large amount of documents. Some appeared to be school books, while others were kept in various binders, kept neatly stacked and organised, "You must get tired, being connected with so many threads in Penrose." Even with a joke, the girls face remained neutral, almost weirdly so, "You want to to talk about the Vixen... do you have information, or do you want it?"

Penny wasn't surprised that Olympia knew about her, she had been talked about in one of the P.I. articles after all, but she was bemused at the oddly specific way the other girl was talking. That didn't stop her from snorting at the attempted joke though, as she did seem to be wrapped up in everyone else’s business.

Everything else was noted, but didn't seem to stand out to the monstergirl.

"I'm looking for information..." Penny would reply after a moment "And I might have a little bit of information about them, but no proof if I'm right" She would add shrugging away the odd way that Olympia talked, figuring it had something to to with the girls magic, something that Penny was never going to understand. "I'm trying to... Hunt her down. Anything that will help is apprecated."

"Hunt..?" Olympia asked, tilting her head slightly to the side as she said it, looking at Penny offhandedly in her peripherals, "You want to hunt the Vixen?" she reached into her bag, lifting one of the smaller binders out from its flap. With it removed, she shifted to keep the documents inside hidden, and flipped through a couple pages.

"I have..." she reached into her sweaters left pocket and removed a small recording device, and switched it on, "...some information regarding it. I have permission from the Boss to give it to you." Olympia briefly scanned a page she has stopped at, then flicked her eyes towards Penny, "But... Only if you can give her something as useful. I want to know what you know first."

"Yeah, she's been killing Beacon members and they are my allies" Penny would explain at the obvious questioning lilt to the reporters statements. "Plus if I'm right, I have unfinished business with her" And If Vixen was Thalia it was going to be a messy affair, but it was going to be that way if Penny met up with Thalia at any point from here on anyway.

The fact she had to offer up something in advance a shake of her head and a shrug of her shoulders. It was seeming like no one actually used money in the magical world except for the Mint. Never the less "Not much admittedly, at least not of who she is now, And as I said I might be wrong, but I might know who she was before she became a pyscho." Pausing a moment Penny shifted her attention to the lake before continuing "She started off as a Monstergirl, and she's not from Penrose originally. She was Patroned under a Deity, a Goddess of the Hunt by the name of Lothreen, and back then her drive was combat. I know she used to have a healing artifact and a purification one. Healing is in the shape of a flute, Purification is in the shape of a whistle, and she has a pair of dagger that were telescopic and I think the amulet she has was magical but I never asked but her magic is Beast and Fire."

She had tried to keep the hurt from her voice as she spoke, but wasn't too sure how succsseful she was. As the longer she went on about Thalia the more memories that would float to the surface. She stayed silent after she was done speaking for a few moments just focusing on breathing. "That's most of what I know about who she used to be. It going to be enough?" she would ask once she was sure she had pushed down the hurt again.

Olympia lifted one of the pages to look at the next, leaving the conversation in an uncomfortable silence for a half minute as Penny concluded her recount, seemingly oblivios to her discordance. She then tore both pages out of the binder, and placed it on the floor, to take out a flip phone.
"Lothreen... Goddess of the Hunt..." she repeated idly, whilst typing up a series of messages with rapid speed, "I have engaged with her once. She's faster than me, possesses Fire magic, and wields a pair of clawed guantlets."

With the final word she closed the lid of the phone, and turned back to Penny.
"The trackers haven't detailed anything regarding a Deity Patron, a flute, a whistle, daggers, nor Beast magic. Though..." for the first time since the meeting had begun, Olympia displayed some kind of emotion - hesitation, "The same day as the Stadium attack she forced her way into the Overcity, and we lost track of her for a number of hours." her hesitation seemed to turn to anxiety as she looked down at the phone in her hand, "I... I... I've..."

The anxiety tunred to fear, and, suddenly, Olympia stood up, and walked a short distance away from the bench, breathing rapidly. With her arms wrapped around herself, she attempted to bring the anxiety under the control, still constantly glancing at the phone.
"I-I... need the Boss to confirm if any of that is useful..." awkwardly she turned back, still hugged into herself, "How did... you know this person? Describe her."

"The gauntlet's are new" Penny would comment as she watched Olympia have a minor freak out "So is the Shift, sounds like she might have changed Patron's."

"Back when I knew her, If it is her, she was my friend, one of my closest ones. She looked to be young, she had a bundle of tails, whiskers and a pair of fox ears." As she spoke Penny would stand and surveying the surroundings, it would be just her luck for them to get attacked right about now "She was a Kitsune. Her fur tended to be black or at least dark. We used to go hunting together, even split a lair for a bit."

"She's got a full transformation as well, only saw it once, It's a massive canine covered in flames, though with her beast magic I wouldn't be surprised if she can change it." It was hard for Penny not to recall Thalia's Demon, considering what it told Penny about her friend, shortly before her heart was broken.

Shaking her head to clear it of old thoughts she took a step towards Olympia still clearly watching out for whatever might be in the darkness "Also, feel free to transform if it will help you feel better" Penny offered to the other girl, feeling tempted to drop her disguise as well "We can also have this conversation on the move if you want."

Olympia eyed her informant warily. Her gaze flickered between Penny and the lake, then back to the phone, and back again to Penny a number of times before she dropped her arms to her sides with a shaky, seemingly rattled sigh. After a cautionary moment, watching for Penny's sincerity, she dropped the disguise. There was no transformation sequence - no catchphrase, or glittering lights - as she did so, and before even a second had passed, standing there was a hooded, tanned skinned girl. The shoulder length brown hair shifted to white, and a metal tail extended from her back, but most notable was her arms. Halfway down her upper arm on both sides, they widened utf into a series of metal connectors, leaving the rest and her hands replaced with giant metal fists. This was a Monster Girl.

"I can't confirm if the person you knew, and the Vixen, are one in the same." Olympia replied, with slightly more emotion in her words than before; her fight or flight response appeared to be wearing off, though a slight reddening to her face remained, "What was her name? If the trackers get caught up in a fight with her it may help to calm her, or drive her away."

Penny would tilt her head to the side upon the reveal "Huh..." she would say before following suit and shedding her disguise as well with her traditional flash of lightning and screech of torn metal. "Can honestly say I didn't see that coming" Rocking back on her heels she would take another moment to once again look over Olympia gauging her again with this new piece of information, before shrugging.

"And I'm not sure I want to give her name away." Penny would answer after thinking over the question "I'm hunting Vixen down to try and confirm if they are the same person, I don't want her to get a blamed for Vixen's actions if they are different people. I can give you my number though" Penny would offer crossing her arms over stomach as she spoke "To pass off to the trackers. In case they want to call for back up, or if they have a potential sighting."

Between the sound of Penny dropping her disguise, and her reply, the phone in Olympia's hand buzzed, and released a small ringtone. The bleeps ran in sequence, filling the empty space of the park. When before she was racked with anxiety at the phone, this time she casually opened her giant hand, and let her tail flick out and open the lid.
"'The Metamorphosis is interesting, as is the possible secondary magic type and Deity Patron. But we have no interest in engaging The Vixen in direct combat. I need more than this.'"

The metal tail quickly flipped the lid closed, and then wrapped around it to keep it out of the way.
"The Boss doesn't normally ask for favours in kind. She... believes in the truth being available for free; that's why she published the Janet Howell Trial so soon after its conclusion. Which means... She thinks this information is valuable somehow..." as she spoke, a kind of confusion washed over her as she reread the two documents in her hand, "I can give you this now, but... She will call upon a favour from you in the future. Do you accept these terms?"

Penny's gaze was drawn to the metal tail, and she openly watched how it moved while Olympia used it to manipulate her phone.

The robotic girl also had no surprise at all when she was offered a deal, it would make the Independant the fifth group Penny now had ties to "Sure" she would reply with a shrug "So long as it doesn't go against my established allies."

Without an emotional tick or response, Olympia took a step forward, with her gauntlet outstretched, for Penny to take the documents. Taking things at face value might have been the sign of foolishness in some circles, but for the Independant, one's word was all anyone had. When Penny had taken it, she took a step back.
"We don't have much. Her lair location's are unknown, since she tends to relocate within a week, if not a couple of days."

While Penny read, Olympia went about setting up to leave. She put her disguise back up, sorted her documents back into her backpack, sent a quick text message, and picked up the recorder from the bench.
"The notes also have the locations of her different attacks, most of which have been cleaned up, but there are a few more recent that our team has kept near enough pristine. And..." she quickly glanced up at Penny's robotic form, which stood vastly taller than her, "I've... Seen her first hand, so... What you described? I... Can't speak for much, but that's what she looks like. Lots of tails, with burnt black fur."

Not only did Penny skim over the documents as Olympia packed up to leave, she also took silent photocopies of the documents. She knew it would take a bit of time to fully scour the information she had been handed, but hopefully it would give her a lead.

"I'll admit I hope they aren’t the same person" Penny would reply as she looked back at Olympia "If they are, you'll likely hear about the aftermath on the news, as she's not the only one with a Metamorph" shaking her head Penny pocketed the documents.

"Regardless, thanks for the info" she would wave before turning to leave "Catch ya round"

"Uh... Penny?" Olympia said as she turned to leave, "If... if she really is your friend, then..." she shifted uncomfortably on the spot, finding the words awkward and painful to say, "Th-then... I'm sorry..." and as she finished, she turned and scurried off into the darkness.

"Same here" Penny would whisper to herself as she started her trek home, she had a computer to finish and things to read.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{.:Setting the Stage:.}

Aurelio stood calmly as The Bates made their appearance. His cane was in front of him a soft blue light pulsing off of it as his hands rested on top. “A pleasure to meet you two” He would say bowing as he did. On the surface he was the very picture of relaxed, internally he was ready for anything that might be thrown at him.

A somewhat meandering story was not what he first expected, but the emotions that were being projected by Regina told a story of their own, Surprise, Nervousness, Anger, and a warped Desire. He was sure there was some truth to the tale that Regina had spun for him, but he was no light mage he could only tell that something was off not what exactly it was.

“To be fair to Alicia, she got a promotion for helping take down the lair of a Dark Magical Girl by the name of Justine. Not evicting you, and as far as I am aware no one has asked Penny about that whole affair” Aurelio would reason gesturing with his right hand as he did drawing attention away from his cane as the vibrant yellow strip would slowly drain away in to the ground below them “Not saying her attack was a good thing, not even saying it was the right thing, but I know that sometimes the desires of monsters can get away from them.”

“As for sleepovers…” Aurelio let out an internal sigh, the other beacon members were deeply wrapped up in these two sway if they didn’t react to the bleak description of their allies and the rather blatant hostility being displayed. He might be able to take one of them with him when he revealed his trump card, but he didn’t have enough Wonder for more than three people with what he was planning.

He was just glad he was able to get some of that precious emotion before this confrontation.

“I’d have to ask my mom for permission first, and she’d want to meet you and your parents before she said yes” He would try and talk his way out of this, his vow demanded nothing less, but he was fully expecting negotiations to fail any moment.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{-food and friends -}

Throughout most of Amaryllis’ introduction Penny had a baffled look on her face due to the absurdity of it, as the swordswoman proved to be the most eccentric magical girl that Penny had met so far. That confusion instantly turned in to discomfort, however, once the Knight pinned a metal rose in her hair however before bounding off to who knows where.

“Glad to know I was understanding that correctly” The cyborg replied to Rina as she removed the hair ornament and rolled it in-between her fingers as she looked at it fair amount of uncertainly and a minor grimace. Shaking her head Penny just let out a sigh and started to roll the metal flower in to a ball. “Breakfast sounds nice, and if we are where I think we are there should be a Denny’s a few blocks from here”

“Just got to park the car and send a text to my allies and we can head out” Penny explained reached out to the Earth Bastion and started to recall it back to Laat’s domain. It was immediately apparent that something was happening to the tank-ship, as it started to rapidly sublimate away and ten seconds later both The Cyborg and The Hunter were standing on the baseball pitch with the Bastion nowhere to be seen.

“There we go” Penny said after making sure her ride was safely tucked away “So, mind if I ask for you name since I got your partners already?” Penny would ask as she started to lead the way to the diner she had mentioned earlier, pocketing the balled up flower as she did so. She would wait till they were closer to pull on her disguise.

On the way she would send a quick text to Beacon, as she had no idea where any of her allies had ventured off too.

To Beacon Updates

Lost track of Sally and the rest of the crew I was assigned to, currently getting some food in the area with another magical that assisted in the defense of the stadium. Ping me if assistance is needed.

Penny

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{-Sisterhood of Steel -}

@Rune_Alchemist@ERode

By the time Penny ran out of ammo to fire, the horror that she had opposed was nothing more than dust. So determined was she to eradicate her enemy she didn’t even notice Aurelio’s clone flare up and disperse due to her onslaught as she had poured everything, all the anger, hate, and fear she had felt in to the assault. Yet it was not until the innocent civilian’s tentatively came out to survey the carnage and began cheering out their thanks to the heavens that she was able to let her focus wavier.

From the towering point of the Bastions command deck Penny’s perception watched those that had been impacted by the tragedy that had befallen them. It felt like so long ago that Penny was like many of them, but right now she could be thankful that she no longer was fully human. As if she was the monster would have been a nightmare to take care of.

She watched the people for a few moments longer, trying to forever etch in to her memory that despite being forged into an instrument of destruction that she was still capable of helping, of being good.

Finally she turned her attention to the two girls that were upon her deck. “I might be able to get some Whiskey or Rum if you really want.” Penny’s disembodied voice echoed out from the deck plating near Katarina and Amaryllis, shortly before a spot a few feet away from them started to twist and warp as Penny started to emerge from the ship before seamlessly disconnecting from the Earth bastion.

“One of the few perks of having a god on speed dial” She continued as she stepped closer to the other metal users. Her stance was relaxed and her eyes were glowing a bright blue. “I’m Penny, by the way” she added as she offered a hand to the two.

---

_{.:Back Together:.}

@BrokenPromise@Ariamis

“Nah,” Came Aurelio’s reply to Abigail’s teasing remark “It’s all the bad boy vibes that Frustration gives off. I mean just look at him he’s got the brooding look down perfectly, very hard to resist” he explained with a knowing air.

The clone in question just tossed his hands in the air ”Nope” the Brown clad clone called out “Not dealing with this” he said before stepping over to the original and went to smack him on the head, but the moment they touched the clone vanished in a puff of smoke. The white clad boy’s attitude took a noticeable down turn immediately afterward as well. As he gave Sally a much closer look the worry on his face not hard to see.

The indigo and green copies of Aurelio both stepped up next to the original a moment later “No going off on only a third of the story chief” The blue clone said before he too reintegrated with the original.

”Not much I can add, but I saw what happened to Rage” chimed in the green clone before it too returned to Aurelio.

Shaking his head to clear it from the info dump he just got “Well that answers those questions.” He said his good mood already returned “Penny and a few others took down the Monster; Dog boy and Brave were able to help out those we missed. So it looks like the fighting is done, and as Abigail has mentioned we’ve been invited to meet the Bates. Who are the friends that these girls have been staying with recently if I am correct in my guess?” he half asked half stated as he glanced towards Abigail.

“Regardless I already mentioned that I wanted to meet the two of them, But I can get you a quick lift back to HQ if you want to rest up instead.” If asked Aurelio would prefer if Sally went back to HQ,as he had an ace up his sleeve encase things went south in the meeting with the Bates. After all he had a small amount of Wonder at his disposal, and it was one of the three great emotions in his opinion.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{-Firing Squad-}

The horrid feeling of disintegration staggered Penny long enough that she missed her chance for a guaranteed hit form the Bastion’s main gun, but she was still delighted to see the monster topple. But as she readied herself for another charge hoping to crush the aberrant thing with the Bastion’s weight, it released a great miasma and started to flee.

The mechanical girl chose not to race off after it, seeing as if she did she would tear down a fair amount of the stadium to do so. Plus Penny could tell that the inky smoke was more than just a screen with the way that Amaryllis fell on to her deck. Instead she started lining up a shot, as she would likely only get the one.

That didn’t mean the Knight’s call for assistance went unheeded, far from it in fact for while Penny could calim to have much power when it came to magic she did have plenty of Mana to toss around if she needed to. Thus when she felt the great chains being passed over to her control she fused them the Earth Bastion where ever they made contact and once Katarina’s greatsword dropped from the sky the monster lost any hop of being able to avoid Penny’s next attack. As now that she was connected to it by metal she knew exactly where to aim in the miasma, and it wouldn’t be able to dodge anymore with the building sized blade lodged in it.

All the while Red Aurelio quietly worked away adding his own two cents to this mess, as he had more than enough rage to work with, both due to his starting mote and the amount of it pouring off his robotic ally.

The main cannon had been boosted for its next shot, as Penny’s intention wasn’t hard to guess. The chains had been augmented as well, super-heated to inflict more damage and boosted to be harder to break. Most of Red’s magic went in to damage control however, as he tried to isolate the area around the monster. So that any damage that didn’t directly harm the monster would be directed to him. As a clone he had little reason to care about his own well-being, and due to his vow he couldn’t ignore the possibility of there being innocents out there.

Finally Penny’s voice could be heard projecting from the intercom system of the Earth Bastion “Brace!” And with that warning the Bastion opened fire on the hapless monstrosity.

_{.:Clone saga:.}

While the original Aurelio was off with Abigail and with Red currently assisting Penny, the other three duplicates found their tasks intersecting in a very unfortunate location.

Brown was the first to find his mark and the moment he did Brown immediately moved to at Sally’s side as a dull brown light started to emanate from his hand “Don’t even think of falling asleep on me” he ordered roughly as he passed his glowing hand over the wound before muttering a string of curses under his breath. He needed to find Indigo and fast, as his emotional range couldn’t heal this wound.

Grinding his teeth together he focused upon the wound as he passed his hand over the wound again this time causing a substance like wet clay to flow from his hand and start covering the wound binding it shut, some of the arcane mud would flow in to the wound to staunch the blood loss internally as well. All the while a feeling of Frustrated determination would bubble up with Sally bolstering her fortitude.

The spell wouldn’t be a gentle feeling but it would keep Sally as she was right now and hopefully buoy her until Indigo could be found, as that took just about all of Brown’s reserve to pull off. “We need to move, as much as I trust the Tank-girl it wouldn’t take much to get flattened by accident out here.” Brown Aurelio said as he picked Sally up in a bridal carry before heading off in the opposite direction of both Penny and the Horror, towards one of the team locker rooms.

Green and Indigo conversely had a rather easy task at the start, it wasn’t hard to round up people and start shepherding them to Brown, and their first batch of civvies took them hardly anytime at all.

“Comp!” Brown nearly shouted when he caught sight of the calm looking copy walked in at the back of the first group. “Sally needs you. Now!” This time the order was shouted and Indigo was not found wanting as he was by the lucky girls side instantly.

“Hey there” Indigo said softly as a comforting blue glow started to suffuse his hands “Sorry about him, he’s a bit frustrated, but I promise you’re going to be okay” Indigo stated as he calmly started working towards healing the devastating cut that Sally had been inflicted with.

This time the magic would be gentle and would feel like a Compassionate embrace.

Back near the entrance Brown and Green were talking “Too close?” asked Green as he gestured to Sally

“We’ll see” Brown replied with a huff “you keep up the train of people going, I’m nearly tapped, wasn’t built with a lot of charge so I’m only good for point defense at the moment.”

“Fair enough, doubt many people would react well to your grumpy mug out there anyway” Green replied with a cheeky grin.

“I will toss you out of here if I need to” Brown threatened as he leaned up against the wall to the entrance. Green just chuckled and went off in search of more people who might need rescue.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{-Road Rage-}

There is something to be said about the human capability to overcome emotion, for Penny it had become a warped and twisted thing. Her monstrous wrath, her human fears, all had been left at the wayside, ignored in as she became the calm in the eye of the storm. For there was nothing that could focus or sooth the Cyborg like destruction. Regardless if was her or another’s.

That’s not to say Penny would ever forgive the towering monster that had struck her, it was still her enemy and was deserving of being rent asunder. Just that it’s actions had perhaps the worst outcome for it and the best for Penny. Everything unnecessary to this moment was left ignored as Penny forced all of beings attention at the Giant horror.

For these next few moments, she would step beyond herself and fall completely in to her role as Laat’AlOfan’s chosen. Thus she would bring the word of her God to this blighted amalgam.

The Earth Bastion housed over a hundred cannons; forty on each side that could be used in full scale broadsides. An additional thirty were mounted on gun turrets that could rotate to face near any direction there were numerous smaller cannons on fixed locations around the Tankship so that there was no blind spots in its firing arcs. Of all these cannons the tri-barreled cannon that sat on the front half of the ship was by far the largest and most dangerous weapon on the Earth Bastion.

The moment Amaryllis lept off it Penny roared in to motion, letting her actions answer the Knights call to arms. The Bastion spun in place as it realigned to its foe as Penny floored it aiming to ram in to the creature, her main gun poised to act as the spear of her charge. She already knew that the monster’s touch was destructive, and while she was currently part of the mighty ship, it was beyond her to transfer the entirety of her Regeneration to it. That was a skill that lies solely in the hands of the Engine of Destruction.

Still if she could bury the main gun in the things stomach, it would be able to avoid the round of cannon fire that would come moments later, as Penny couldn’t be reckless with her cannons, for one every missed shot would spread the destruction further from this fight, and the focus it would take to reload them wasn’t something she could spare at the moment.
After all it was her first becoming a tank.

_{.:Preparing for Trouble:.
:-By making his Doubles-:}

“Geez what is with today and the nonstop crazy?” Aurelio would exclaim after the Earth Bastion made its appearance. Day one in Penrose was teaching the magician that this city’s problems were on a level of its own when compared to the other places he had been. Still this was not the time to be slacking off.

Tossing his can in to the air Aurelio brought his hands together in a great clap before focusing, and when he pulled his hands apart in a dramatic flourish a flashes of Indigo, Green, Red and Brown accompanied it. ”Gent’s” he would say in a chipper tune as he turned around to face the four clones of himself that he had just made, catching his cane as it fell back to him absently while he spoke “glad you could make it”

Despite being his clones it was immediately apparent that there was something different about these clones, none of them matched Aurelio’s color scheme. Where the original wore a brilliant white, his clones were each dominated by a different color. One wore a vibrant Red and had a slight scowl on his face, another was covered in a bright Green and had a cocky grin, the one wearing a deep Indigo had a compassionate smile, while the one in flat Brown had a look of focused annoyance.

“Red you’re with Penny” he would command pointing at the colored clone as he spoke “Hold nothing back I want that thing gone.” Said clone tsked before nodding and taking off towards Earth Bastion. “Brown, find Sally she spiked a moment ago and I want you to make sure she’s fine. If she is you’re her shadows, if she isn’t take her to Indigo” That clone just ran a hand down its face before giving a thumbs up in acknowledgement as it too ran off to fulfill its task. “Green and Indigo” He continued turning to face the last two clones “I want to find and cover the normies who got caught up in this, Green you’re the tank while Indigo your on white mage got it?”

“Got it chief!” they replied, giving mock salutes before heading out themselves.

“And Abi” He would say turning to face the girl after he was done with his clones “I’m at your service, lead the way” giving a slight bow as he did. The monsters Elroy and Regina were Aurelio’s immediate concern, now that it seemed that the resident cyborg had the Kaiju under control. That meant sticking close to Abigail, both to try and keep her save and to be able to meet them.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{-Mobile Fortress-}

Penny knew better to stick near the portal once it started acting weird and stopped letting things in, for all of her lack of magical skill she had a healthy paranoia of anything that could casually ignore grounded reality. Thus she was already speeding away from the dugout by way of her thrusters when the monstrous roar erupted from the portal.

The force of the roar nearly toppled Penny due to her proximity to it and she tossed a glance over her shoulder just in time to witness the massive horror emerging from the now equally as massive portal. The cyborgs first instinct was fear, for as vicious as a fighter as she was and as often as her durability had been tested, this thing towered over the city and at the end of the day Penny still considered herself quite human. That near blind fear was quickly over written by wrath a moment later, as her monstrous instincts raged at the threat to her home.

With an act of will she tore her gaze back to in front of her as she forced herself to asses her options. During this frantic reevaluation she snapped of a gauss round at Elroy, more out of reflex then active intent and was vindictively pleased to see the attack hit home. That moment of clarity that came in the wake of that surprise reminded Penny that she had something that would even the battle field against the Kaiju sized threat they now faced.

Flipping around as she skated away she came to a stop near the middle of the baseball field and focused inward. Her trump card in this circumstance wasn’t one she had used before, after all she had only recently acquired it but instinct told her it would fit, if only barely, but it had the fire power to help tip the scales.

“Coordinates uploaded and LZ is clear. She called out mechanically as sparks of electricity arced off her frame and scored the ground near her “Target is locked and weapons are free” She continued opening her eyes as she focused on the Giant horror as a massive storm cloud appeared above the stadium. With a yell to the heavens Penny called down her stolen treasure “Earth Bastion!” And the heavens replied with a bolt of lightning of tremendous proportions that struck Penny where she stood.

As the flash faded and the thunder quieted, it would be revealed that the baseball field was filled, near completely, with yet another colossal entity. This time it was a tank of truly epic size now sat in center of the stadium, summoned by Penny from Laat's realm, and every gun that it had was turned to face towards the giant monster in a blatant show of hostility and not even a moment later one of the cannons roared out as the tank fired at the monster.

Penny as a creature of Metal had summoned the titanic war machine on top of her, thus she was currently fused with it. This gave her rudimentary control of the Earth Bastion, she could drive it and fire most of the cannons as well as remold parts of the ship if needed, but she was not as capable as her Monstrous half when it came to this, thus she could not turn it in to a golem to fight one on one with the Kaiju But as the Earth Bastion she would draw the creature’s attention and keep it focused on her, letting everyone else act freely.

From somewhere in the ship an announcement would ring out from an intercom system. “Yellow alert, D̷͞҉͏̡è̛͘҉̕s҉̶̛̛҉t́̀͘͢͜r̡ứ̧ć̸t̶̡̨͟į̛ơ̶͜͡͝n͏̡̛ ̴̵̛͞E͏̨ņ͏ģ́̕͠҉i̡͞͏̸͠n̴̢͠͝e͏̧̀ ̶̵̨̛ has reached 50%, caution advised”

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

&

_{.:back stage:.}

Abigail's cheeks flushed pink when Aurelio took her hand in his and placed a kiss on it. ”H-heh.” She was grinning ear to ear, but the corners of her lips were twitching. Still, she managed to hear everything Aurelio had to say. ”Well, I don't think Beacon HQ is a very safe place for Annabelle. And I don't really think it's fair if we kill her, is it?” She gestured towards Annabelle. ”She's harmless! She's just a normal girl who happens to be serving a horror, likely not of her own will. If we can give a pass to that monstrous bucket of bolts, why not to people like her? That's why we're going to stash her in Divina's interdenominational home.”

A portal opened up behind Divina. It looked like the mouth of a cave, with moss covered stones framing the gateway. Once it opened, Divina picked up Annabelle and walked towards the opening. ”Same thing with Elroy and Regina. Us Beacon girls forced them out of their home. It's not really fair to hold any sort of malice against them. Besides, they're a lovely group of monsters. I trust them more than my fellow Beacon girls!”

Abigail giggled. ”Regina is really nice. After we get Annabelle secured, I'll take you back to the stadium so that we can meet her.”Abigail closed her hand around Aurelio's. Their gloves kept them from actually touching each other. ”I think she's ready to recruit someone else to the cause.”

The carefree grin on Aurelio’s face was quickly removed as he watched the horrific event of Annabelle’s arm being reformed ”I see what you mean” he agreed softly even as he drew in the few motes of wonder that flew from the downed girl. “You’re fellows at HQ aren’t the most forgiving of people” He truly felt for the harmed girl, she was in a bad situation and he just didn’t have the right emotions to help her much at the moment.

Still something was off here, and it was Abigail’s defense of Elroy and Regina that proved it. That she and likely her other friends he had seen trusted a pair of monsters over her peers at Beacon was damning, especially since this HQ had only just started to move away from a hard kill them all stance. The only things that would make sense were manipulation or brain washing. After all there were ways to work around the spark rather than face it head on.

These thoughts never showed on Aurelio’s face however. Instead his smile made a small return as he gave Abigail’s hand a light squeeze “Any friend of yours is a friend of mine” True words as he wasn’t sure if anyone here was a light user “I would love to meet her” More truth, as the best way to mislead a Light user is by speaking nothing but truth, even if strung together it became a great lie.

“Before you go and get her situated mind if I place a tag on you two?” He would ask gesturing to Abigail and Divina “I would also like to heal her a little while I’m at it, but the tag isn’t much just a way to keep track of you girls, so long as we are on the same plane that is.”

Abigail was noticeably happier with Aurelio's apparent understanding of the situation. ”Healing her won't be necessary, I lent Divina my healing artifact.” She nodded at Aurelio. ”Besides, we have to get back to the battlefield. If you want to tag me though, that's fine.” She cast out her arms. ”Hold onto your butt! We're going back! Gheahahahahahahaha!”

---

When the two returned to the stadium, they could see the addition of a very large monster. ”Oh boy, maybe we'll have to evacuate Regina and Elroy too...” She looked around at all of her allies. ”Oh!” Her head poked up. ”Everyone's going to be right here soon!”

Aurelio gave a low whistle as he craned his neck to look up at the towering monster “Evacuating everyone might not be a bad Idea, as that’s going to make quite the splat when toppled” He supplied as he started working on how to even go about tackling the giant foe. He also did a quick scan of his marks from earlier to make sure his own allies were still doing alright.

“And before I forget: Trickster’s Tag” he said tapping Abigail on the shoulder before snapping his fingers. A moment later a grinning mask appeared on the girl’s shoulder “That way I’ll be able to find you in case we get split up” It would also allow his magic to track after her or be cast from the glyph its self. It wouldn’t give him any indication of how she was doing however, as the purpose of this glyph was subterfuge not support.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{.:Ground work:.}

Aurelio hadn’t gotten very far before things started to go haywire, he had been trailing after Sally, albeit at a considerable distance, launching simple blasts of magic from his cane at various monsters that seemed to be unnoticed or over looked. His goal was simple at this point as he was mainly a support unit thus he was following and planning on supplying support to his allies if they needed it.

Then someone got thrown at him.

“Seems we’ve lost normality faster than usual” He remarked to no one in particular as a girl was thrown his way. With a flourish he pointed his cane at the living projectile sent his way, for while he might have taken the chain wielding swords-woman's warning with a grain of salt, hearing Sally confirm it was enough for him.

However, before he could unleash his spell he found himself transported to who knows where via an overcity shift. “I’m just hopping all over the place today” he once again said to no one as he tucked his cane under his arm the vibrant yellow ban still in place as a dull red one started to swirled down next to it.

“And you have it in one, just got popped in the other day." Aurelio would reply as he turned his attention back to Abigail, while not letting the winged girl or the chained girl out of his vision “And not sure I would call her useless, she’s been more than willing to help us out from what I’ve heard, that’s got to count for something.” He defended Penny, as while he hadn’t seen much of the Monstergirl in question, his Vow would accept nothing less for an ally of Beacon.

”Still pleasure to make your acquaintance Abigail, please call me Aurelio.” The magician would answer bowing low and giving the back of the offer hand a light kiss on the knuckles. “And if I might be so bold as to ask what you are doing?” He would ask after standing back up pointing over at Annabelle as he did “After all Sally did mention that this one here is a Dark Magical Girl”

Something was wrong here, he could tell, but he wasn’t sure what it was. So for the moment he would watch, he was good at that after all. Still he wouldn’t hesitate to lash out and try to incapacitate everyone here if this was going the way he feared and it turned out that these two were working for the forces of darkness. He just hoped that they were doing it against their will.

Quietly he siphoned off the excess excitement from Abigail in preparation for whatever might be coming “In addition, Abi, if you need a safe place to do it, I could get us back to HQ in a snap. I’ve got teleporter privileges after all.”

---

_{-Opening volley-}

Penny wasn’t surprised in the slightest that her shot missed, it was more of a way to announce herself then anything. Thus it was no surprise that she started moving just as Elroy started moving, the difference was that Penny wasn’t moving to intercept. She knew he had back up somewhere and would prefer to keep to the open as much as possible to dodge the incoming attacks.

Thus Penny had rushed to one of the dugouts, bulldozing through anyone who got in her way and started throwing everything she could lift. Which with her inhuman strength was everything but the dugout itself, and even that was getting chunks of stone torn out of it to be thrown. While nothing she was throwing was magical in nature, getting hit with something moving upwards of 300kph was going to hurt or at least distract long enough for a Gauss round to land.

Most of her thrown barrage was aimed at Elroy, but every now and again she would take aim at one of the mummies dotting the arena. All of her projectiles were aimed at center of mass, but the mix of balls, bat and other miscellaneous rubble she was making for use as projectiles mad it hard to tell if she was going to be hitting with blunt impacts or sharp ones.

It was while she was dismantling the dugout that she noticed the flickering portal in here with her as well as a handful of grunt monsters. The grunts got a face full of close range projectile barrage, while Penny just kept eyeing the portal speculatively in between volleys she threw out. She did alter her tactics a bit to keep anyone else from getting close to portal.

An electric whine for told of another Gauss round ready to fire, and this one she wan't planning on missing with.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Veronica

_{-Phone tag-}

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop Penny took a steadying breath as she pulled one of her lest favorite contact numbers at the moment and sent the call.

It rang once before the booming voice of Laat echoed out from her ear piece. “You Seek My Counsel?“

“You could say that My Lord” Penny replied unsurprised at the quick pick up, Laat was always watching her and what was going on around her, unsurprising considering she was near literally a walking alter to him and his goal. “I wished to ask about the accusations lain towards your name, the genocide of the Gold Dragons.”

“A Misunderstanding, Though Perhaps An Understandable One, I Did Not End The Golds But They Did Suffer The Beast and It’s Wrath. If The Survivor Who Seeks Your Death Faced It I Have Little Surprise That It Would Imagine Being The Last One Left.” Laat answered his tone conveying his lack of care for his actions “Once It Learns You Have Stolen from Its Hoard, It Will Likely Wish You Dead Regardless, They Are Vain and Greedy Creatures”

“Wait, what? When did I steal from a Dragon?” She asked nearly stumbling at that fact

"With The Acquisition Of The Earth Bastion And The Salvaging Of The Sky Bastion, Both Held the Magic Of A Gold Dragon. Likely The Very One Who Now seeks Your Demise." The god replied with the same disinterested tone of voice.

“Fantastic.” Penny ground out as she continued her track to the Beacon HQ. “Would you be capable of getting me some supplies?”

"The Funds I Send To You Will Be Required For Your Digital Equipment, But I can Restock The Tools You Lost on Your Assault Of The Castle"

"Add in an EMP if you can." Penny replied "Not going to go hunting after This dragon and his girls but I’m sure as hell going to be ready to retaliate if it comes down to it."

"You Shall Have Your Things In A Few Days Time." Laat agreed before the line went silent.

Penny spent a block or two, coming to terms with the fact that she now had a Dragon hunting her down and she was at least partly to blame for it. She knew that Amber was dead, that bit of information had filtered back to Beacon through the various channels that they had. Yet there was something that Penny was missing, she didn’t know what just a feeling she had.

Setting that thought off to the side for a bit Penny pulled up another one of her lesser liked contacts and gave them a call as well “Veronica, What can you tell me about gold dragons in Penrose that won’t add to my Debt?”

“Contrary to popular belief, I'm not constantly trying to add to your debt.” Veronica's tone was clearly agitated. “There is only a single golden dragon left, and his name is Boteg. He's hiding in Penrose somewhere, and he has a vendetta with an unknown entity. I do not know much about that, as my previous agent who was working for them was slain.”

“Don’t really care” Penny grumbled under her breath before speaking up “Well he found his target, Me apparently. Mika attempted to attack me because of it when I went to talk to her yesterday” She explained as she dropped down in to an ally way as there was no more good buildings to jump too “Can you tell me anything about who Mika hangs out with? I’d rather not get jumped without a bit of warning next time.”

There was a brief pause on Veronica's end. “She is a relatively new magical girl, and I know very little about her. But if she's working for Boteg, that makes her a person of interest. I might have more for you later, but I don't know who she could be in contact with. I would assume not too many people.”

“Well this is shaping up to be just peachy, call me if you find anything out." Penny said shaking her head at her luck "Two more questions before I have to go, anything you can tell me about the Independent and a girl by the name of Olympia? It was the only lead I got out of Mika before she tried to jump me.”

“Just some magical girl reporters. I've been reading their news articles but I haven't paid too much attention to the names. They haven't done anything to warrant my interest yet.” Veronica groaned. “I'd talk to Olympia though. But be cautious, this information came from a hostile target. But it's the only lead you have.”

"Why do you think I checked with you first?" Penny asked “Still thanks for what did have. Beacon’s on the other line so I’m going to let you go”

After hanging up with that call Penny thought about giving the independent a call as well, but opted not to. Having no idea how long that call would take, she didn’t want to have to drop it in the middle of a conversation if she made it to HQ before she got the information she was looking for. After all she was only a few minutes away by this point.

---

_{.:Opening act:.}

Last night had been quite a bit of fun for Kyle, and while it he had lost many more hands then he won that had been intentional. People in good moods tended to be more talkative, so by the time he had called it a night he had made a few new friends and had gotten a better feel for this slice of Beacon.

Now it was early in the morning and he was about to get another chance to see how this group operated. Monster attacks had a way of showing people for who they were. Already transformed and ready to go Aurelio stood next to Sally and Cherry while they waited for the last member of their squad to show up.

Seraph and her Squad had already taken off to deal with the attack at the cathedral and once Penny arrived Aurelio would initiate the teleport to get them to the stadium. Unlike most of Beacon, Aurelio’s Spark functioned as an express pass for the system so he didn’t need to head to the Pads, so long as he was at one of their HQ’s he could be teleported to anywhere they had the location locked in. Plus always being able to teleport back to HQ was handy.

Turning to look around for the oddest member of Beacon Aurelio was aware he looked over at the door just as Penny came rushing through it. “Sorry about that, I live out near the industrial zone” The cyborg said as she came to a stop near the three waiting on her.

“Nonsense” Aurelio replied with a wide grin “You’re just in time”

“Cool, so what’s the plan?” She asked, not phased at all form her nonstop run to get here.

“We pop over to the stadium really quick, save everyone we can and strike out and the ruffians who are causing this ruckus while we do it” he exclaimed happily already starting the teleportation sequence as he did.

Penny just looked at Aurelio oddly for a moment before shrugging her shoulders “You leave to striking to me and I’ll leave the saving to you.” She said before turning to look at Sally “When do we leave?

“Right now” Aurelio replied as a great flash of light encompassed the four of them before snapping down to a single point of light that winked out with an audible pop.

Moments later at the stadium a large complex spell circle would appear in the center of the baseball field and with the same audible pop the four of them reappeared nearly back to back as they appeared just a few feet behind Alex.

“A bit more warning next time would be appreciated” Penny nearly yelled as she surveyed the insanity of the situation she had just dropped in too. There wasn’t much she could really pick out over the general madness that seemed to be going on everywhere but there was one person she recognized in all of this as an enemy.

The moment she was sure that it was Elroy she fired off a Gauss round at him, the cacophonous boom letting all who didn’t see know that even more people had joined in to the mess that was happening here.

At the same time that Penny was letting loose the first round of Beacon’s counter offensive Aurelio was already weaving his magic. ”Magician’s Mark!” he intoned as a simple glyph appeared on his allies, that looked like a pair of cards. These glyphs acted as an IFF for Aurelio’s magic so he wouldn’t them with any of his offensive or debilitating spells. As in a mess like this he might not have the time to aim correctly, plus it would let him monitor their status from a distance.

“Now then!” He called out as he strode towards the hordes of mummies and minions ”Let the show begin!”