It did indeed, especially as I used to take martial arts when I was younger.
Also Have most of a post put together, I'll try to finish it up and get it posted once my shift at work is over, also as you can tell I nabbed one of your title ideas
There were goblins in the sewers. Of course, there were always goblins in the sewers, but hey, when there were goblins in the sewers, who did you call?
A couple of magical girls who couldn’t fight in the big leagues, obviously.
Rain came down heavily, turning snow into slush as two magical girls stood before a manhole. Penrose had been struck by a wet spell recently, and the amount of rain that had fallen in the last couple of days turned any travel by foot through the city into an unpleasant slog. Down in the sewers, it was probably even worse; already, the two could hear the loud rushing of water through sewer canals.
But a job was a job, and there were gobs to be got, so they’d obv have to set off.
‘Fufufu…’ Ronin chuckled, where she stood in front of said manhole, her arms crossed as she prepared herself mentally. She grinned. ‘Obviously, when you’re new in town, you got to aim for the lowest of the low, and work your way upwards! And nobody is lower than the sewer-goblins! I bet you think by hiding in the disgusting darkness below the city you’re safe, hm? Well, you thought WRONG!’ Ronin told, as she held something above her head. ‘Behold! The grand weakness of your plan and that which guides the bringer of your doom! The FLASHLIGHT!’ she called dramatically, as she clicked a button and the decently strong but supremely common flashlight lit up.
‘… Alright, let’s go!’ Ronin called excitedly as she just up and leapt down the open manhole, one hand on her sheathed sword and the other holding the flashlight to brighten the way on her way down. She was also ready to create a barrier to block herself from dropping straight down into sewer-water. Believe it or not, but not even Ronin wanted to land in that.
Penny for her part was just amused by the smaller girl's actions and followed her down into the sewers at a much more sedate pace by using the ladder. Her Transformation Blade currently slung over her shoulder in the form of an advanced rifle of some description and her phone was set within her breastplate it’s flashlight feature turned on so that she wouldn’t be blinded by the dark herself.
She had signed up for this job for a few reasons. One her house was connected to the sewers so it was in her best interest to help keep them clear, and two she had gotten the same message her other half had gotten and wanted to know who this Ronin was. So far it was proving to be a good decision.
Underground, the chill and dampness was even more oppressive than it had been outside. The ceiling dripped constantly, while the canals were definitely overflowing. Each step was accompanied by a loud splash, and as Deni and Penny’s respective flashlights swept the area, the width of their beams were clearly visualized by all the water coming from every direction.
The sewer system that they were in looked to be old, porous and cracked concrete walls reinforcing the tunnels, while strips of reflective tape served as a guide to where the walls and the catwalks were, even in dim light conditions. It wasn’t hard to navigate the straight tunnels, but the discomfort remained. Rushing water formed a constant white noise that dulled their hearing, while the sloshing of water-logged shoes made stealth difficult too. An umbrella may have been nice, but a full-body raincoat would have been better...neither of which the magical girls were privy to.
The goblins within the sewers, however, appeared to have been populous enough that even without any particular way of tracking them, the girls could chance upon them, in just five minutes, in fact! As they neared another intersection, they heard the strange, pitched squealing of those dirty greenskins, communicating in their own rudimentary language. Five distinct voices sounded about in rapid-fire speech, but who knows if there were more? No one spoke Goblin, after all.
‘… Maaan, not what most would imagine about the adventures as a Magical Girl, huh, hah,’ Ronin said with a chuckle, as her drenched feet were forced to walk through the water in order to conserve magic. ‘So, Penny, you who’ve been here longer, do you know how it looks down here? Roughly how many goblins we’ll be dealing with? Anything like that?’ she then asked, looking to the other Magical Girl. Realizing something, she started putting Reinforcement spells on her flashlight. ‘Just to make sure no goblin breaks it, that’d be bad. I could do the same to yours?’ the samurai-girl offered, before she looked forward again. ‘Should I be quiet? Or perhaps it’s to our advantage that the goblins hear us because they’ll come attack us, or will they flee?’
Suffice to say, it wouldn’t be a very quiet trip with Ronin here.
Then they heard the goblins already, and Ronin smirked. ‘I’m thinking kill all but one and have the last guide us to the nest as it flees in panic? … Because there’s no such thing as redeemable goblins, right?’ Ronin asked, before quickly starting to dash ahead at the voices if allowed to.
“It’s hard to say, goblins always seem to sprout up no matter how thoroughly we clean the area out” Penny would reply with her weapon held at the ready. She was doing her best not to think about the slime and muck they were trudging through. She was glad her outfit came with tall boots otherwise this whole affair would be that much more nasty, that said she was still planning on taking a shower or three once she got out of here.
“But I’ll not say no to protecting my light source” She would agree to the protective spells on her phone. She could fix it if it broke but keeping it from doing that would definitely be a good option. Ronin happily leaned over and placed a hand on the phone to Reinforce it before returning her hand to the sword as Penny continued talking.
“Sound doesn’t matter too much from my experience, the gabo’s tend to assume that they have the advantage so long as they outnumber their enemies.” By the time Penny would explain that they would have found themselves at the first pack of goblins.
In lieu of answering Ronin’s inquiry about the qualities of a goblin. Penny simply leveled her towards the pack and let off an opening statement with a harsh crackle of static. As her rifle fired out a streak of brilliant blue as her laser round sought to end one of the goblins before her mini ally could make it to the front lines.
Because, after all, the only good full blooded goblin was the one that never left its hole.
Well, not like these goblins have left their holes yet.
As Ronin and Penny’s flashlights lit up the pack, they could see that the creatures were small, hunched-over little freaks, their skin taut against their bones and their dilated eyes milky in the brightness of the light. A pack of six goblins turned, but as Penny’s laser bolt seared through the fetid air, that number was already reduced by one. They gurgled, half surprised, their rotted fangs bared for just a moment.
But for goblins, even midgets like Ronin were terrifying; no magical girls were as small as a toddler, after all.
As the samurai charged them, they turned and fled, scrambling on all fours to get away.
‘Heeeey, come back! I’m not done with you!’ Ronin called so happily, but also kept her wits about as she ran, guiding her flashlight around and preparing to put up a barrier at any point. But so far, it was just to follow the goblins back to the horde! Besides, with Penny here, they surely couldn’t be in trouble!
Penny took off in a run herself, making sure that she didn’t lose sight of Ronin, she would take another shot or two at the fleeing pack as she ran as well. Losing sight of the monsters wasn’t as bad an outcome after all, Sound magic could be used to find them again if needed, but losing track of an ally is never a good idea regardless of what one was hunting.
Still, she conjured up a short steel club as she ran in case these goblins were leading them into an ambush.
The chase continued, the magical girls’ vigilance so far not pulling up any surprise ambush from the goblins. One minute passed. Five minutes. Ten minutes! And the first goblin flagged, his pace dropping as his emaciated stature could no longer sustain such a tense run. Tripping over his feet, he fell face-first into a dirty puddle with a cry of pain. His companions turned back for just a moment, before the biggest of them roared and they continued to run away, leaving him to his terrible fate.
Ronin skipped and landed right on the goblin’s back, just pressing him down into the water for a bit, and stopping there.
‘Think they’re misleading us? Trying to exhaust our batteries and stamina? Making us lose our way back out? If so, think we can use this guy for something productive?’ Ronin asked her running companion, also while keeping track if the goblin was about to attack her. Too bad Ronja wasn’t here right now…
Penny would have hurled her club at the lead goblin when he slowed to roar at the other goblins. Whether or not it landed a blow she would come to stop next to Ronin as her rifle flowed into itself returning to its original bladed nature. “Don’t know, I figured that they are just running because they are scared at this point” She would say as she watched the rest of the pack flee further into the distance.
“I could use some sound to try and locate where their lair is hidden away at, but that’s about it. Don’t know about that one, nothing I can do to pull any use out of him” She would explain with a shrug as she rolled the handle of her weapon in between her fingers.
Unfortunately, the big goblin wasn’t actually slowing down to roar at his buddies. Fortunately, Penny’s aim was true anyways; as he ran away, her club caved in the back of his skull and killed him instantly, which served to only encourage the goblins to run further away.
Ronin’s own goblin was busy flailing futilely too, practically choking and drowning in the shallow puddle that his nose was broken into. Red plumes blossomed underwater as the two magical girls casually discussed tactics while the goblin they waterboarded continued to squirm and twitch and spasm.
‘Hm, yeah, yeah! Let’s try that! These three individual goblins aren’t going to matter if we find the nest!’ Ronin said, specifically about trying to use sound to locate the nest, and then noted that the goblin she was standing on was getting drowned. That wasn’t a very nice way to go, so she’s going to jump off him for a second.
Penny called back her thrown club upon receiving the go ahead for her Sound idea. Once she got a hold of it a small application of magic would shift it into a large spiked pole, which she then proceeded to ram into the ground, through the one goblin they had ‘captured’.
She would take a moment to center herself before striking the pole with the flat of her blade. The result was a surprisingly potent wave of sound echoing out albeit at a, very, very low frequency.
Low frequency vibrations were much sturdier at long distances, and not very common, it would give Penny a decent snapshot map of things within a hopefully wide area. And since she also had the response frequency of a goblin, due to the fact that she had rammed the pole she was using as a focal point for this bit of magic though one, she should be able to tell what was and what wasn’t a goblin as well.
The goblin let out a wet gurgle as the pole impaled it, finally putting the miserable creature out of its misery. Penny’s attempts to scan further down the sewer, however, was disrupted by the sheer amount of white noise all around them. The rushing off flooded canals, the splashing of water seeping between the cracks. No longer a machine, the human girl wasn’t able to make any sense out of the low frequency wave that she sent out; her mind, reliant as it was on sight, lacked the mental faculties for interpreting the rebound of her sonic waves, while her magic, untrained as it was, could only give her a vague sense of the immediate area, which could already be visually observed. Certainly, there were no invisible goblins anywhere near.
In the distance, they could both hear the erratic splashing of the retreating goblins, but that was all.
“‘Tch that’s annoying” Penny would grumble as she tore out the spiked pole from the ground “To much ambient sound, can’t get a clear image” She would explain, even as she knew that it wasn’t entirely a true statement. “Nothing to it but just hunting them down the old fashion way I suppose” She would continue as she sheathed her blade and leveled off her makeshift spear in the direction of the remaining goblins they were aware of.
“Race ya!” She would call out moments before she went sprinting off at them, no longer caring about stumbling into an ambush. As at this point that would just make this hunt all the easier. Besides she now had two melee weapons, rather than a melee and a ranged weapon, and she was much more confident in her CQC then her marksmanship.
‘Hey, wait!’ Ronin told after, not having been prepared for (nor really having the means for) a sudden race with Penny. Still, she wouldn’t just hand over a victory! She shot a small amount of Reinforcement magic into herself before she took off after Penny, hand on her sword just in case she’d actually reach any living goblins at any point.
The chase continued through the frantic darkness. One goblin sprained their foot and was promptly skewered. Another one collapsed, exhausted, and was cut into half. The third, and the last one, took a wrong turn, ending up at a dead end. Whipping around at the sight of the magical girls, it tried to jump up to reach the ventilation grate, but couldn’t. The creature let out a cry of desperation and despair, before curling up against a corner, beady eyes closed and hands up in a final plea for mercy.
It received none.
Penny simply brought down the none spiked end on top of it’s skull with earth shattering force, crumpling the wretched goblin into a pile of gore. “Well that’s the last of this pack” She would say as she stood from her finishing blow.
“We could go hunting for more of them, but I’m kinda wanting to take a shower” Her conjured weapons would splinter and sublimate away as she turned to regard her small friend “So what says you to us getting out of here?” She would ask taking a look at the ventilation grate. They might be able to use it to get out of here, if not it wouldn’t be too hard to find a Manhole cover with Metal magic.
‘Aw, but I haven’t gotten to do anything!’ Ronin momentarily play-complained, but when she looked down further into the sewage… Yeah, she wasn’t all that confident she could find a way out on her own, and the last thing she wanted was drag Penny on a quest she didn’t want to go on. Was a bit much of an unnecessary risk. ‘Aw, okay,’ Ronin sighed a bit, but the outside world was a much more pleasant environment. Maybe she should try to go for a bounty that wasn’t actively avoiding her next…
“We can definitely come back later, just not a lot of time at the moment”
With no intent on diving deeper into the sewers and satisfied with slaying five, the two magical girls left, climbing out of the darkness and back onto the soaked streets of Penrose.
And in the unlit shadows that they left, slithering out of the torrential waters, something claimed the flesh they had left behind.
Kimble
&
Lamashtu
‘Kimble,’ Lea said her name from behind her once again, next time she could find her alone. ‘Are you ready to go see your mother?’
This time Kimble was wandering in a closed furniture store; she hopped from tables and chairs to beds and chandeliers, sometimes breaking stuff, though it did not seem intentional for her. She turned and smiled upon seeing Lea. “Hi, Frida!” She greeted the insect-attuned monster girl, and then nodded, flapping her fake ears. “I knew it, that’s why you came to see me.” She took in a deep breath. “Okay...I’m ready.”
‘Good. Then let us depart,’ Lea told, and with a start, the surrounding area was split from the world of Penrose. The area separated from Earth and arrived in the Overcity, placed upon the black-white checkered floor. Lea, unconcerned with the phenomenon, turned around. ‘Follow me.’
With Kimble following behind, Lea took off at considerable speed towards the decided coordinates. After the previous meeting with her, Lea had taken the time to find Lamashtu. She was not hard to find, the mother of monsters proudly welcomes any of her “children”, for as a monster girl Lea was apparently her child. A very infuriating woman, who would give and take help but also never consider anyone to owe the other, because they were family and that’s what families do. Utterly inconvenient for Lea, who wanted all the deities and lesser forces to owe her…
Still, it helped with planning this meeting. She’d started with asking if having this meeting was alright, and also asked if Lamashtu was aware of what had happened to Kimble. Having received her answers, they’d then decided to meet at neutral grounds…
There was a forest in the midst of the Overcity. It was a magical forest where both Lea and Lamashtu would hopefully find themselves decently comfortable. At the center of said forest was a clearing with a gazebo, a suitably neutral space where one could sit inside the gazebo and talk, assuming one is the right size for it. Lea had suggested this place as the meeting grounds…
And long before they would arrive they would be able to tell that Lamashtu was waiting for them. Because her presence filled the forest, it was a welcoming feeling, one that curled around them in a whisper of a loving embrace. For it was no mere avatar that Lamashtu had conjured for the meeting; it was The Mother herself, not an all too uncommon occurrence for her when it came to meeting her children out in the Overcity.
Still when they did make it to the clearing Lamashtu was sitting within the Gazebo cooing over a monstrously large spider, one that came up to her knee were she to be standing. She herself was much taller than any mortal would be but her size was still constrained as she stood just shy of eight feet tall. Their arrival was not unnoticed for long and when it was a warm smile spread across her features “Lea my dear how good to see you again. And Kimble, my adorable sweet Kimble, I’ve missed you.” She would call out as they approached “I’m delighted to hear that you wanted to come see me. Come sit it has been too long.”
Lea landed in the clearing ahead of Kimble, and when Lamashtu greeted them, she raised a single hand in return. After that… she simply stepped aside, her eyes looking back to Kimble. She was the real subject for this meeting, after all.
Kimble looked nervous, with shifty eyes and drooping artificial tails, as she slowly approached the gazebo, keeping her hands curled like an agitated cat. Her mouth opened in awe upon seeing her former Patron. “Mama…?” She whispered to herself. She looked back down at the seat, then at Lamashtu, and slowly sat down, keeping her eyes on the Deity. “Mama Lamashtu...Is it really you?”
“Ooh, kitten, of course it’s me” she would say softly before glancing down at the spider and giving it a small shooing motion causing it to crawl away, though not far. Lamashtu’s body would crack and contort as the ancient deity forced her body to shrink and compact so that she was no longer towering of her most recently lost child. “You made me so proud in your first fight, you used the winds as an extension of your claws and simply tore that meddlesome girl apart.” She would offer up as she looked over Kimble with fondness “I brought you the largest fish I could for dinner that night”
“But my little wind storm, look what they’ve done to you” She would say softly reaching out to touch the artificial ears, sadness evident in her features. “And your tails as well. I’m sorry that you had to go through that awful process” Sorrow laced her voice at the loss of her child's most defining characteristics, but that was alright. Kimble had come back to her on her own. They could get past this, she hadn’t lost her little windstorm just yet.
Kimble kept her head lowered, her eyes shaded by her hair. “So, you do remember me, nya...” She mumbled, and she gripped her knees. “But...If you do, then...Why...” She grit her teeth, as tears fell down her cheeks. She then looked up, her expression having turned to raging grief.
“Why did you abandon me, nya!? Why didn’t you come and save me? I was trapped for so long, waiting for you, but you never came!” Winds started picking up outside the gazebo, turning into an ominous breeze.
Lea had sat down at her own seat, and was a little startled by the winds. Still, she kept her attention on the conversation, a bit tense.
Lamashtu blinked a few times in apparent confusion at the sudden outburst, unconcerned with the growing winds “Abandon you?” She would ask incredulously “I never abandoned you. Justine and her sister were never a threat to you or anyone else” She would go one to say “They desired too much for their ritual to ever succeed, the panic that would have engulfed them had they not been marched on Beacon would have caused their grip on everyone to fail, then you and your siblings would have outnumbered them and would have simply torn them apart.” She spoke earnestly as if she truly believed what she had said. “There was no need to discipline Justine myself, though perhaps I should have done something. She was after all a bit rough with some of you”
“Not like Beacon” She would spit out the name with a surprising amount of venom, her countenance twisting into a hateful visage “Who has continued to inflict such horrors upon you. They took you tails from you, your adorable ears, your fury” She took a moment to set aside her wrath once becoming a seemingly kind woman “But we can easily fix that now that you’ve gotten away from them and I have you to thank for that Lea” She would say with honest relief.
“Is that Horror still treating you well dear?” She would ask the fey like Monster girl “He still seemed like a pushy old man, so my offer to break you away from him still stands.”
‘… He treats those who are useful to him well. As such, I have no complaints,’ Lea told, revising that perhaps letting Kimble overhear this could have negative consequences. No matter. She was… hopefully too focused on Lamashtu.
"Don't you badmouth Beacon!" Kimble stood up, pointing a finger. "Unlike you and your excuses, Mistress helped me when I was alone, nya! She saved me, gave me a new purpose, taught me how to love again. What Beacon took from me...Was nothing but a curse!"
She paused for a moment, breathing heavily, as Lamashtu addressed Lea. Kimble's eyes widened, and she turned to look at the monster girl. "You...You work for a Horror? I thought...You...Nh!" She lifted her hairband, holding it up in the air. "This...This is all that you wanted!" She audibly hissed.
"You wanted a cute cat to turn into a hunter of humankind! You never cared about how we felt, just how many you could litter and scatter into the world!" Now the winds have developed into a whirlwind, causing the gazebo at the center of it to slightly creak. "NO! No more! You're no Mama to me!" She threw the headband with all her strength on the floor, causing the band to snap in half. "My new family...Is with Mistress, and Beacon!"
Lamashtu didn’t move in reaction to Kimble’s outburst, her eyes didn’t narrow, her smile didn’t waiver, her posture didn’t tense up. Yet it was impossible to miss the shift in her mood. For the calm welcoming feel of her aura very suddenly turned violent and caustic, becoming a miasma of choking anger.
“Is that any way to talk to your Mother?” The Goddess would ask in a menacing hiss. “And listen to yourself, Beacon has done nothing but poison your mind against me and the rest of your family. Scouring away your best features, domesticating you, they don’t care about you” Her voice never raised but it still felt like it drowned out any other sound in the forest as her eyes bored into Kimble.
“But I am a forgiving mother, so I will give you a chance to… Rethink your callous words and cast aside this petty allegiance to Beacon. So that you can come back home” Her pretty words made it seem like it was an offer, a second chance, but the amount of menace laced into her words and the utter hate that glimmered in her eyes told a much different story. This was a demand, an order, and one that would not be tolerated to be disobeyed.
Kimble closed her eyes. “I’m done listening to you, Lamashtu.” When they opened, they glowed with green magic. “Next time we meet, I’ll banishy you from this world!” And then, she launched herself backwards, turning the whirlwind into a raging hurricane that ripped the gazebo off it’s foundations, likely tipping it right over. By the time the dust had settled and the winds had calmed down, Kimble was gone.
‘…’ Lea had, decently calmly, simply levitated herself and created a sphere of her own wind around herself that shielded herself from Kimble’s temper tantrum, placing herself by the side where she wouldn’t have to do anything additionally. She was sitting in mid-air, lightly rocking her crossed right leg, had her arms crossed lightly enough that one of her hands could be raised so that she could inspect her own nails with the most disinterested eyes on this side of the Overcity. That went about as badly as it could have.
When the hurricane had subsided Lamashtu was still exactly where it was she had been before Kimble’s spell tore the gazebo apart. The look on her face was anything but pleasant however, it was a baleful rictus of hate locked glaring off in the direction that Kimble had fled.
“Fine then” She would say venom and hate dripping off her words “If that is how you want it to be then that is how it shall be” Slowly she stood power billowing off of her as she did so. A gesture with one of her hands and the corpse of the spider that she had been petting would float back to her. The poor creature had the unfortunate luck to be with in the hurricane when it roared into existence.
With hardly any effort Lamashtu flooded the corpse with magic, causing it to sputter and spasm as she forced it into unlife. It would begin to grow larger stopping once it was standing six feet high at the eyes. After a minute it would stop spasming the gleam of intelligence once again visible within its many eyes and he stood in front of the Mother of Monsters slowly waiting, a fell energy could be seen coursing within it through the still present tears in it’s exoskeleton as it stretched and got acquainted with life.
“Seek out Kimble and her new found ‘Mistress’” The ancient deity would command her new child “Devour the Mistress first.” The now gargantuan, undead, tarantula would let out a screeching roar in acknowledgement as a swarm of even more spiders seemed to bleed into existence from the forest and crawl into the mostly empty husk before it skittered away at unnatural speeds. Turning away from the newly crafted nightmare Lamshtu refocused on Lea “Would you be willing to find someone for me? It seems that I need to move my plans forwards faster than I was originally planning on and have no way to contact my agent without drawing attention to myself.” She would explain calmly, even though the hate bleeding from her eyes never waivered.
‘I can do that,’ Lea said, as if unconcerned with the display of power that had been shown before her. ‘What message should I deliver?’
“The Metal one is beyond us for the moment, as vengeance must come first.” Lamashtu would say as she pulled out what looked to be an egg, save for the fact that it was blood red “Spread my gifts and lash out at the Light. Once that is said give her this as well, she will understand.” She would go on to say offering up the blood egg for Lea to take. “You are looking for a dark magical girl who’s been working on making it into the family, her name is Vivian, she will likely be found near Cindy’s territory.”
Lea listened, before reaching forward and taking the egg with both hands, accepting the blood red egg with a curious look. Eventually, Lea nodded. ‘Very well. Consider it done,’ she said. Normally, she’d have requested to be owed something in return, but Lea knew that wasn’t how Lamashtu operated. ‘I wish you luck with your vengeance,’ sounded brief and appropriate enough. For the moment, Lea had something else on her mind. She had to find Kimble, and fast. Perhaps it would be possible to prevent the complete collapse of their relationship. … But perhaps not see Kimble WHILE carrying the egg. Did Kimble even have the means to return to Penrose on her own? … Eh.
“Thank you my dear” Lamashtu would say kindly the image of a kindly mother reappearing for a moment before her rage returned “I must be off but it was good to see again, even if the circumstances weren’t as pleasant as I had hoped.”
Turning away a portal of hellfire would spring up in front of the goddess one in which she would walk through without any hesitation. It would vanish shortly after she walked through it, leaving Lea alone within the windswept clearing.
‘It was Kimble’s request to meet you, and I obliged, so I should apologize for the meeting turning out like this. Until next time,’ Lea nodded to Lamashtu’s words, keeping a careful hold on the egg so it didn’t slip through her hands which can happen, incorporeal, waiting for the goddess to vanish before taking off at considerable speed, hoping to catch up with Kimble. She spread out her minions in an attempt to cover as large an area as possible…
However, after a long search it’d turn out that Kimble had vanished out of her range, and with such Lea returned to Penrose. It was time to find Vivian, then.
Slade was dressed in much more normal clothes today, a pair of jeans and a light gray button up. His skill when it came to cooking wasn’t back, but it had never progressed past what could be considered basic. He hadn’t had much need to really polish up this particular skill either, today was different however, as now he had little Jin to take care of.
And it seemed that simply thinking about the girl was capable of summoning her, and he had to give her credit she was exceptionally quiet and he wondered if she had simply picked t up from her mom, or if there was some amount of training there.
“Good morning Jinyah” He would say simply “And what you do from here is a bit dependent on you. There are a lot of legal things that need to be taken care of, on my end before you can be considered my ward.” He would explain as he plated breakfast and brought it over the dining table. “But I could sign you up for school, never a bad option.”
He would head back into the kitchen to grab a couple of glasses and the milk “I could teach you how to defend yourself, so that you’d never need to fear anyone coming after you again, which also isn’t a bad idea considering you have an ability. AS well as a few other options and ideas I’m sure I could come up with if needed.”
He would help Jinny into her seat if she needed it before he also sat down “The most important thing is what it is that you want.” Many would scoff at the prospect of asking a five year old what it was they wanted to do, but after what she had went through Slade doubted that much of a child was still within her. There still would be something’s, but the loss of her parents would have stripped away a lot of the innocence that she had. Thus he felt it was only right that she be given the chance to plot out her own life, at least to some degree at any rate.
A pipe unwisely devoured a somewhat exceedingly strange occurance. At long last, the inhuman burden of the nonchalantly dreaded, fungoid Horror was revealed! It took no cryptic nightmare to make such creature knowingly nonchalantly transfigurate the surface of the waters, but the foreign splendor was hideous. When one sees an outer mark upon the transparent blasted sand, it means that the vestigial beast assimilates the chlorinated depths. A speech lectured at long length about the Amorphous living inside the drain. When the tepid library self-flagellates, some torch meditates. Oh, the so-called Necronomicon of it ALL! When a carelessly putrid splendor propagates, a gateway toward the trench draws itself up. When the polygon hesitates, a non-euclidian symbol sweeps the floor. A frantically horrible tape recorder avoided contact with the anomaly. Remembering the underhandedly memorable vista of a shadow from the insignificance, one can only prostrate themselves before the canyon of the dripping bargain that stood before me. At long last, the iridescent abstraction of the typical, nearest symmetry was revealed! The glory from a tentacled egg is blasphemous, the doorstep beneath the burden learned by the hardly false township. Oh, the vaporized abstraction of it ALL!
Sakura
.:⋮Horror Poop⋮:.
Penrose Northern Swimming Center was covered from head to toe in caution tape, and simply from looking at it from a distance, it became clear why. Pulsating meat bordered the windows and seeped beneath the cracks of the door, held in check only by a previous magical ritual meant to seal the Vestigial Horror’s advance while braver, hardier magical girls were called to deal with the root of the problem. The testimony of the late-night lifeguard had dissuaded many though, and it was only recently that Penrose received an influx of magical girls who were well-rested and ready to fight.
Still, from a distance, the two that had converged were, in a word, able to leave. If they entered, however, there was no knowing whether or not they could get out unless their grim task was done. A clocktower, non-existent, rang for thirteen o’clock, and the moon opened its eye, awaiting what lunatic fates laid for the foolhardy investigators.
Penny was the first to arrive on the scene, her arrival was nothing more than a minor spark of light. Hovering gently in the night air before drawing into itself it’s soft light pulsing to vastly greater intensity before expanding outward to become a great sphere of light. It would last only an instant before it would flicker out of existence to reveal the mechanized girl in all her glory.
She would take a moment to surverey her surroundings before focusing her attention on the twisted and corrupted building that stood before her. Her thoughts unreadable from the passive look on her face, but the sounds of metal covers sliding open from her right arm would cause any observers to notice the gleaming teeth of the chainsaws installed into her hand and arm were fully active.
An experimental revving of the exposed weapon and Penny was ready to venture forth into the horrific pool. “So, this is the place, huh. Looks… well, like the underside of my kitchen, to be fair.” Sakura raised an eyebrow upon gazing the broken door of the Penrose Swimming Center. She had been set up with Emily not long before, she had even convinced the girl to let her crash at her place.
She had to pay her back somehow. And that’s when the little rat chimed in. She had heard about… a suitable first job for her. She didn’t believe him for a single moment. But what choice did she have? She was a nice girl. And Sakura, change of shape aside, was an old and grown person who had to take responsibility for himself.
“Well, I am told that cleaning… these places is where most people start. You should do fine.” Umukamui said, as the damned thing scurried off to somewhere else.
“Yuck.” Sakura said, as she started to slip past the entrance. “I think i’ve seen worse in hentai films, but it’s fairly disgusting.” She talked to herself, trying to not think and smell too much of how gross it was. “Spark spark love of my heart.” She said, making sure nobody saw her transforming, and ventured in.
That rat had sent him into some really fucked up wetwork with the excuse of training, didn’t he? Well, strangling would come later. There was some burger quality mishap that had to be taken care of.
There was another figure that descended into a ball of light, and then decided to rev a chainsaw in her own arm? Were robo-magical girls a thing? Sakura tilted her head as she watched the other magical girl. “Oi, swiss knife-chan!” He called her attention with a loud expression. “You trying to hack up this mess with a chainsaw? Forget it, it’s gonna get clogged sooner or later.”
Penny would turn to face Sakura after being addressed, tilting her head slightly at the oddly appropriate nickname. “Salutations” She would reply before holding up her arm “Odds of it being clogged are low. Vibrational repulsion will keep any organic material from being dragged within my arm. In the case of such an event happening I am equipped with additional weapony” She would reply as she held up her other arm to reveal her hand morphing into a wickedly sharp set of claws as a blade grew out from her elbow and up the outside of her arm.
“Your concern is appreciated however.” She would go on to say as she let her arms return to her sides their weaponized states not reverting. “Inquiry. What is your designation? And am I correct in assuming that you are also here to clean the Horror’s taint from this building?” Her voice was even, if a bit emotionless, as she spoke and she would slowly approach the smaller girl as she asked her questions.
“Tall”, Sakura said. Well, it's not that she was that tall, it’s just that her own body had shrunk due to the Puuchu’s fault. Even after being transformed, the heels didn’t prop her that much up. “So, you have other things and even a self-cleaning feature. Could something about the part where you talk like an answering machine, though.” Sakura said as she folded her arms, closing one of her eyes. “Haaah? Did my handler make things difficult for me again? I think he was supposed to arrange coordination with other magical girls. Well, at least you don’t seem the greedy slimy type of bitch. I can work with that. So yes, I was told to clean this mess.”
She sighed. “It doesn’t look that good, probably that bastard is now thinking that a hentai film scenario is going to break my will, or something. Anyway I’m Sak… I mean Magical Girl Sparky Heart. Nice to meet ya.” She added. “We’re going to hack a lot of stuff, you’d probably want a heavy blade like an axe or machete.” She spoke. You didn’t use sophisticated tools to cut meat, as he had learnt in her past life. Just a heavy blade. “Swiss knife-chan.”
“Speech habits are a work in progress” Penny would reply simply, as she knew she had an odd way of speaking, granted it got easier the better she knew someone, but still work in progress. “Insufficient information on your handler, but if you are new to the community, odds indicated that they are a prick” She would offer up with a slight shrug.
Penny would give Sakura a look of confusion for a moment at her given name “You remind me of Aurelio” She would say after a moment before shaking her head “My name is Penny. I am a part of the local branch of Beacon.” She would introduce herself before moving back to the topic of tools “Simple blades will be most effective against inert flesh, agreed. Chainsaw is better at lasting damage and against being grappled. Additional utility in taking out walls if needed. Weight is inherent to my frame, current weight is in excess of 100 kilograms.”
Sakura smiled at Penny’s definition of Umukamui. Well she could still swear to an extent. She wasn’t a complete loss “The pigs, uh.” She added when she mentioned the Beacon. Maybe this Aurelio person was a colleague. Or a robosexual sugar daddy. No one knew with the weirdos these days…
“You’re heavy, swiss knife-chan”. Sakura raised an eyebrow at the mention of Penny’s weight. “Well, far from me stopping you from getting chainsaw crazy, I’m just saying. I would love to use my fists too, but taking this much of a pulsating mess of meat on with my dainty little hands will be… troublesome.” She added, as she immediately turned to face one of the emergency fire axes. She wrapped one of her fists in cloth, took a stance and…
“Hoi!” With a single strike she shattered the glass and retrieved the fire axe from within. “Now we’re talking.” She said, with a small hint of glee. “If you want, we can get a couple of other things to scrape off fleshy murk. This is a pool, there’s bound to be a couple of chems around too.” “Side effect of being composed mainly out of steel” Penny would say with a small smirk while Sakura retrieved a more suitable weapon for the task at hand. She would bring up the Beacon topic again later if needed but for the moment was content to let it pass. “Acquiring acid is not a poor idea, uncertain how much use it will have before the core has been taken care of however.”
“Magic might be a better alternative until then. My external magical capability is limited, but personal modification is possible.” She would say raising one of her arms again for emphasis “Which Specialization do you possess?”
Sakura tilted her head. Yes, robot rears were notoriously heavy. “Yeah… it’s not like we can just ask them to reveal themselves, show their weak point, pour some chem and go home, huh.” Sakura scratched her head. “Speciwho?” She thought for a second, straining her hazy memories… until something came to her mind. It was Emily’s face. Then the word Specialization.
“Oh i guess I am a loli shaped taser.” She added, conjuring some sparks on her hand. “Bzzt bzzt dirty sleazebag oniichan. Whatever.” She finished with no small amount of snark. “Guess I could wake this thing up?”
“No need to worry about friendly fire then” Penny would reply as she allowed a few arks of electricity to dance between her fingers as well. “Lightning doesn’t affect me” Turning once again towards the flesh filled building she contemplated the offer before nodding.
“You start and I’ll stick nearby. Odds dictate that getting separated isn’t a good idea.”
“Alright.” Sakura said, while she stuck the comically big for her size axe on her belt and rub her hands, creating a spark. She noticed the more thick and pulsating growth, and grinned with glee.
“WAKEY WAKEY BURGERFUCK!” She yelled as she sent a strong current through the pulsating flesh.
Lightning arced through tumorous flesh, and immediately, the meaty structure quivered. The area that Sakura had contacted with was left charred and blackened, but the neighbouring areas began to crackle and burst instead, like sausage that broke out of its own skin from the heat. A wave of pungent aromas hit the two magical girls like a wave, greenish-yellow vapors sifting through as puss, blood, and tainted water oozed out from various portions of the afflicted area. Though Penny, fully robotic, was unaffected, the stench was nauseating for Sakura; it was as if invisible horror ninjas were cutting onions over her eyes and nose.
Yet, the fleshy lobby that would lead to the showers and the change rooms did not respond in any other fashion. Beyond the horrifying stink caused by electrocuting the outer edges of this infestation, none of the abnormal flesh-clumps seemed to respond towards the appearance of the magical girls. It was patient, after all. It would wait until they were deeper in.
Sakura coughed ever so slightly, trying to contain the tears from her irritated eyes from the awful stench that came from electrocuting the flesh. “Did...it ...just...fart on my face?!” Sakura said with incredulity. While trying to regain her senses this kind of reminded her the smell of that cabin in the woods a long time ago.
Suffice to say seven dead was a mighty mess. This… well, horror flick knockoff was even worse. And that was irritating her. She hefted her axe, and looking at the corridor, she spat. “Bah, so much for the quick -n- easy way. That thing wants to sit on its ass all day.” She frowned.
“Just in case, swiss knife-chan, don’t you have some kind of big bang explosive at hand? I’m done being nice with this thing.” She added and began to trudge around in the stench, axe at hand and gritting her teeth.
“Negative” Penny would confirm “I possess no explosive weaponry and my Gauss system is insufficient to cause large enough scale damage to force a response” She would go on to say as she followed after Sakura.
As they entered the building a small drone would disconnect from Penny and begin floating a small distance above her shoulder. It would beep quietly a few times before turning on a flashlight to light their way.
The deeper they got, the more invasive the pinkish, veinous flesh became. Soon, the ground that they stepped on was soft, squelching and squirming underfoot, and behind them, there was a distinctive slurping sound, the entrance they took now sealed. Within the change rooms, the air was moist, a mixture of blood and sewage, accompanied, almost disconcertingly, by the floral accents of shampoo.
Their path remained unimpeded, until, in the distance, the two magical girls could hear a faint cry coming from their right side. A pillar of flesh stood, perhaps having assimilated with the building’s supporting pillar, and extending just a little bit out of it, was a small hand, adorned with a frilly, white glove. The hand grasped weakly, shakily, and a muffled voice sounded as well.
“Help...help me...mom…”
Penny hardly spared more than a glance at the way they came when the slurping echoed out from behind them. She had assumed that it would close behind them before she got here. Still she kept the saw in her right arm at a soft hum, using the sound it generated as an advanced sonar mapping the place out much further and faster then simply using her eyes.
That said the hand sticking out of the pillar still brought her to a stop, as did the whimpering cry coming from it as she would narrow her eyes at it. “Odds that this is a trap?” She would ask, raising her arms in preparation of an attack.
Sakura spent half of the trip frowning, to contain the disgust of the entire situation of an entire room made flesh. It was like painting a room with bodies. With the chunky bits. Her head throbbed like crazy, and then directed the sight at Penny. “The hell you doing, swiss knife-chan. My head hurts.” She said. It was like a nagging barely noticeable thrumming, but it felt as painful as a vuvuzela.
“Pretty high. Can’t let the girl stay stuck like that, if it’s a girl we’re talking about.” She looked at Penny and hefted the axe. “One extracts, one lookout, fair?”
Penny would simply point at her floating drone who would beep a few more times before projecting a hologram of the sonar map that Penny had been able to map so far with her magic. While that was happening the robotic girl would also walk forward to grasp the dainty hand coming out of the wall.
Assuming that nothing happened immediately she would use the blade on her right arm to start carving out the girl out of the pillar.
The task was a grisly affair, more blood and pus released into the air as Penny shaved away at the flesh. The pillar squirmed, tremored, squealed, but though errant shreds of flesh splattered against the mechanical magical girl’s countenance, she proceeded on unabated, until finally, they were able to tear out a humanoid lump from whence the hand originated.
Had it been assimilating her, or eating her?
No clothing remained beyond that lacy glove, no skin either. Veins traced over raw, pinkish flesh, while yellowed fat stuck out at places, accompanying sinew. Gone were the lips, nose, and ears, left only with gaping orifices leaking with fluid, and the crown of their head had been stripped away, until only the skull remained. Their eyes gaped open, milky white and blind, while they continued to expel words through instinct rather than rational intent. The constitution of a magical girl meant that she could survive even this, but if left alone, it wouldn’t be long before she was reclaimed by the Horror that surrounded them all.
Another wet, slurping sound. The exit of the changeroom too was closed off by walls of beating flesh.
Sakura had been attentive to her surroundings while Penny was extracting the little girl. The door apparently closed after they finished releasing the poor sap. How ...cute. Did it really think it would matter to close the exits? She had no intention of going out or turning tail. Not after seeing this. Even in the mind of a seasoned Yakuza, there were lines that should not be crossed. She jumped at the daintly disfigured form of the girl, and took her alongside Penny.
“This is easily the fourth most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.” Sakura admitted, her tone stern and neutral. It was like the calm before the storm. This thing had to go. Probably in the most excruciating way possible. She then remembered something out of the corner of her mind, and manifested an elaborate dress on her hand out of thin air.
That rat had duped him with this skill. Eternal Style was not a martial art, it was all about fashion and clothes. Even temporary, manifesting fancy clothes out of thin air would prove useful. She began ripping the dress earnestly, creating some sort of makeshift bandages for the girl. It would hurt beyond belief, but he was using one of the most fashionable silks for her bandages. Even if it was a couple of hours, she couldn’t bear herself to leave the victim alone.
“You’ll be okay, kid. You did good in clinging to life this much.” She said, in an uncharacteristical soothing voice.
It was when she noticed a couple of droplets of blood on the bandages. Searching for an external source, she soon realized. She was biting her own lip so hard, trying to contain the cauldron of rage.
“It will last two hours though. And it seems we’re trapped. But that’s it. No spikes in the ceiling. No monsters. What a pompous ass.” Sakura heckled. “I’m fed up. Let’s wreck this entire thing. I did notice these fleshy disgusting things aren’t very solid compared to you. If I lease you some of my lightning…”
Sakura said. “Think you could run through walls, Penny?”
When Sakura would turn her attention back towards Penny the girls eyes would be a blazing red. It had crept in while she had been saving this girl, as the robotic mahou had actually assumed that there was no one alive in this building other than her and Sakura.
To be proven wrong and in such a horrific fashion? Penny had long since past anger and was now lingering just past hate. If she was whole, this entire place would already be a mess of rubble, but logic dictated that this girl wouldn’t be the only one, so there was grim satisfaction in not having access to her full might at the moment.
“I am willing to find out” She would say her voice would come out smooth and cold as arctic ice. As she spoke her armor would shift for a moment allowing her Purification amulet to surface. It might not do much in such a place by itself but she had an idea that might get a result if she needed it.
With a glance at the map she had created she would turn herself towards the most direct line to closer to the center of this place. Once she did her legs would light up as she triggered her hover systems and at the same time her hidden spider like limbs would unfurl. She wasn’t going to be holding anything back against this abomination.
“Ready when you are, once this starts I’m expecting it to turn into a running battle” Penny would say never turning away from her goal “Your call if you want to protect her or if you want me to”
Mentally she was preparing a distress signal to send to The Beacon. Not for the assistance with clearing out this nest, but for the medical aid that his girl, and possibly others, would need once they were done here.
“Well, call me insane… but I guess extra weight will not hurt in this case…” Sakura grinned, as she made some makeshift straps to affix the wounded girl on her back, before moving with brisk steps and jumping on Penny’s back, making it a three people ride. “Let’s kick this fucker all the way up the Sanzu river.” She said while concentrating her lightning in her embrace, hopefully energizing the robotic magical girl even more.
Penny would curl her bottom two inhuman limbs around Sakura and their passenger acting both as a cradle and cage. She was going to be moving quickly and she didn’t want either of them to fall off, plus if any attacks came from behind it would offer some protection until Penny could reorient to get them out of the line of fire.
Her drone guide would land on her shoulder with a notable clang. Still projecting the map above itself.
Then she would focus on the Lightning being fed into her systems directing it to the systems that would need the boost the most. Her gauss system and her thrusters. Then without warning her gauss system would let out it’s roaring declaration as Penny blitzed forward fully intending to simply bulldoze her way through to the Pool propper.
Sakura’s attempt at first aid caused the magical girl to squirm in further displeasure; skinless as she was, any contact at all looked painful. But it was a necessary measure, if only so that she could be secured on Sakura’s back.
With a thrum of her engines and her passengers fully secured, Penny flew off, lightning crackling in her wake as she accelerated to the highest velocity she could before contact with the wall. Her drone, though its map constantly fluctuated due to the organic nature of their location, was still able to point the path to the most open area within the pool...which was the pool. The machine-girl crashed into the flesh-covered walls with bombastic ferocity, the crunch of shattering concrete and pavement muffled by the elasticity of the walls. With two passengers on her, her speed had taken a hit, but where velocity failed, brute force reigned.
Pushing, pushing, pushing through, Penny rammed through the flesh...only for it to then give way. The wall she ripped through parted in an instant, as the pool, infested and covered with meat and fat, stood before her. In the center, laid a bulbous construction, dark blue veins spiraling upwards to a fleshy sphere the size of a truck. It beat visibly, with the rippling intensity of a human heart, and the water of the pool had turned into a black mud now.
But that wasn’t what gave Penny pause.
Though near the walls, the vapors were thin, it was clear that there was something strange in the air. A thick smog, yellowish-green in color, pervaded the entirety of the pool area, the air heavy and moist like the breathing of an in-patient. They had made it now, but the question was: were they invaders, or were they guests?
“Good call.” Sakura said. “That fog stings my nose like crazy from here. Betcha it’s something, poisonous, corrosive or worse.” Sakura said, while taking a look at the other girl. “Maybe you can withstand it, but I probably wouldn’t like breathing in that stuff.” The petite girl looked at the pulsating pillar, and then the other magical girl besides her. Well, what was left of her, anyway.
An all out attack could work, but I distrust this fucker who has been sitting on its ass all this time Sakura thought, as she strained her mind. “There should be a way to vent this room and leave this fucker’s ass exposed. Once we do… we rain hell on it.” Sakura commented still gazing around to see where she could poke holes to vent the entire room.
“We need to act quickly” Penny would say softly as she too scanned the room for an easy way to vent the room “Something is triggering my Spark” She had two, possibly three, ideas as to what it was that was doing that. Yet at the end of the day killing the core of this nightmare would solve the issue regardless.
“Bringing down the roof might be our best option” She would offer keeping a vigilant eye out for any possible attacks. She had another few seconds before her Gauss system would be ready for another shot, which she was planning on using as her opening volly.
While she spoke she brought up a hand to her purification amulet, and clasped it gently before letting like call to like. When she let go of it a soft white glow encompassed the white gold star, the diamond in the center glowing with it’s own inner flame. Penny wasn’t sure if it would help, but it was better than nothing.
“Wrecking the place, huh? I feel bad for the lil’ girls losing their favorite splashing place, but in the other hand… I’d love to see how that rat deals with… collateral damage.” Sakura added, her face growing to a wide grin as she focused her lightning and started the bombardment on the upper side of the pool, with a twofold purpose. Create ventilation, and squash that phallic thing with the debris.
A crack of lightning, a surge of power, and…
Ignition.
As Sakura’s magic shot through the tainted air, her lightning, bright and burning, the pool caught flame, an explosion of light and heat surging out towards the magical girls. Penny’s mechanical fortitude prevented them from being tossed back by the blast, but that wasn’t the problem. The entirety of the pool was aflame now, the pulsating heart of the creation pounding ever faster. Every inch of aberrant flesh was burning with white fire, and the temperature within the large room was rising rapidly as a result. Worst was that the Horror’s flesh had an almost reciprocal relationship with the fire that consumed it: it regenerated fast enough that there was no lasting damage to it from the flames, and what visceral pus and gas that popped out from its veins from the superficial damage served only to stoke the flames further.
The same could not be said for Sakura, Penny, and their nameless charge. Caught inside, they were going to be cooked alive if nothing was done.
‘Shit’ That was the only extraneous thought that passed through Penny’s mind as the situation turned for the worse. The rest of her processing power was put towards finding out another avenue of Dealing with this thing. And in all honesty bringing the roof down still seemed like the best plan, as that would vent the noxious fumes as well as deal with the rapidly growing heat from the room effectively being on fire.
“System recalibrated”
A moment later Penny loud out a thunderous roar easily louder than any other gauss round to date. The reason would become very apparent as well, her round was fired with no lightning. Just a two foot steel spike and a visible wave of sound aimed directly at the heart beating within the center of the room.
She would then step back to the wall and place her chainsaw blade into the flesh before triggering it at the same time her thrusters ramped up to maximum. The result being that she was dragged upwards toward the ceiling. When she got there she would prace against the wall with her normal legs and against the ceiling with her spiderlegs, her plan? To start tearing down the roof and either open a vent hole for the fumes or to get out herself and continue this from the outside.
During this she wouldn’t stop unleashing her modified gauss round at the heart every time it came online.
Sakura for her part stood wide eyed for the briefest of moments, before muttering something under her breath. "Shit." She said solemnly as she clung to Penny in her rampage. Eyeing the situation, she saw the thing on fire and she gritted her teeth. They needed to finish it quickly. She took aim from behind the robotic girl. "Penny, brace for impact." She added before starting to channel her Killing Blow.
"Sparkly heart Justice Breaker Lance" she said, her aim at the center of the thing and the pool underneath. "Go to hell!" She added as she mentally prepared herself for the simultaneous detonation of all the flammable liquid of the pool at once, while hopefully piercing the target as well.
Penny ripped and tore through mounds of regenerating flesh, her metallic frame soon coated with gore that sizzled like grilled meat, seeping into her joints. Each breath Sakura took burnt her lungs, the caustic odors and the stinging smoke leaving marks on her skin. All the while, the flesh rebelled still, squirming against the assault as everything continued to burn. It was a mess, a bloody, gross, violent, ugly mess. Gauss rounds smashed into the euclidean sphere, over and over again, to no effect. Against adversity, the bulbous roots of the Sphere generated massive braids of fat and blood, bursting out of the tepid pool to deflect the electromagnetically propelled shots. Flesh too, obstructed Penny from breaking through the roof so easily. Her chainsaw roared constantly, teeth shredding into the bloody mess, but the going was, just as it had been to break through the wall, slow, and her attacks were ineffectual.
Sakura’s though, was not.
A killing blow. A bolt out of the blue. A lance of thunder and lightning, composed of the entirety of a magical girl’s energy. Coalescing between her hands, pink lightning shot out in an incandescent stream, blasting into the wall of flesh that protected the Sphere. What defenses it erected carbonized almost immediately, while the corrupted water beneath vaporized rather than ignited, the sheer heat of the Justice Breaker Lancer overwhelming. Sakura immediately felt her back pressed against Penny’s, the recoil of her magic giving the Magical Machine enough propulsion to dig deeper into the flesh barrier than ever before!
What she didn’t notice, however, was that the girl once secured on her back had slipped off, fat, grease, and the recoil from Sakura’s Killing Blow knocking her loose.
But Penny did.
Before their charge could plummet beyond their reach, one of Penny’s arms snatched out, the parallel minds of the magitech girl capable of focusing on all aspects of the chaos that surrounded them. With everyone secured, the machine redoubled her efforts, and right as Sakura’s lightning smashed into the Sphere, Penny’s chainsaw tore into steel and concrete, opening a hole into the night.
Even coated with blood, even soaked in gore, the magical girls could taste the sweetness of the night air...and so could the flames within. A draft of air, powerful and continuous, swept into the burning pool, reoxygenating the oven they were in, and for the second time, the hellish pool burnt red.
And rather than being on the side, the three girls were right above the surging fire.
“Oi, swiss knife-chan!” Sakura said, panting heavily after the strain of having no magical power remaining. “Got a hookshoot, by any chance?”
Time was a precious commodity at the moment, because of that Penny didn’t bother to reply to Sakura; she simply lifted her bladed arm towards the side and launched it off letting the long chain that trailed off after it answer the question on it’s own. At the same time as she was securing a way off the build before it blew up she was preparing to say her goodbye to the creature below.
“System recalibrated”
The moment he left arm caught hold of something sturdy was the same moment she fired off one last Gauss round, but this was once again different from any of her prior rounds as all it consisted of was a single large bolt of electricity, and with timing only possible due to being a machine the next instant a flare of light erupted from Penny as she pushed her Spark to its limits and focused the flare through her purification amulet, mixing the purified light with her lightning.
Not bothering to see if it had any real effect Penny allowed the winch mechanism to drag her and her passengers away from the rooftop redoubling her grip on them both to make sure they were secured for when this place blew its top.
Penny’s final shot streaked through the air, but whatever effect it had was obstructed by the plumes of flame that jetted out at them. The magical machine’s winch had guided them out from the hole Penny created, but it certainly hadn’t been what propelled them. A roar, an air-sucking flash, and they were cannonballed out of the exploding swimming pool, embers and smoke clinging to them all.
For a moment, as their ascent apexed, Penny and Sakura saw the infernal ruins that the building had become, concrete collapsing and flesh roasting, as the entire building was demolished.
And in the next, they crashed into cold water, bubbles of oxygen burbling all around them.
A penthouse pool.
They had been launched so high up that they ended up on the roof of an apartment building.
“Y’know… swiss-knife chan… normally i’d be thrilled when a good brawl ends up with a couple of chicks in a penthouse pool… but like this… Well, I'm glad it’s over and done with. That was fucked up.” She added as she allowed herself to float in the water, a calm moment of respite after a hard fought battle.
“We should get help for our friend tho.” Sakura said, her magic depleted and forcefully being stripped of her magical uniform. “Oi, Kamui… san”
Just as if some magical words had conjured a spirit, the Puuchu appeared besides the pool
“Yes?” His eyes were trying to discern something, no doubt why the change in why he was addressed.
“Can you fix her?” Sakura insisted, her eyes darting to the wounded girl.
“It’s possible, yes.”
“But not free, s’what you say.” Sakura added, scoffing.
“Yes.”
“Do it… please.” The once-gangster asked, no, pleaded to do so.
“Your speech has been altered. Is it perhaps due to a concussion?” The Puuchu answered.
“Maybe. But y’know, maybe this world of magical girls and sparkles ain’t so bad. Stupid fashion aside, it feels good to punch bastards, do justice… and save the girl.” She added, throwing a fist to the air, and then trying to grasp the sky.
“Don’t you think so, Swiss-knife chan? Being good, feels actually good, eh?”
“Indeed it does Sakura” Penny would reply as she smiled at a job well done. “I’ll contact Beacon to have them send over a group of girls to purify the place now that the core is gone.” She would add sending off the message she had prepared when they first found the girl trapped within the defiled pool.
“We’ve got medics as well,” Penny would add as she crawled out of the pool, “So you don’t need to pay for another good deed if you don’t want to.” It was an offer made out of companionship, as she felt that her original evaluation of the Puchuu was rather spot on so far.
“Won’t it put a lot of work on the Beacon to handle both cleanups?” Sakura said. “‘Sides, I don’t mind helping a lil’ girl.” Sakura added, although the last part drawled off, as if it was an uncomfortable truth.
“It shouldn’t” Penny would reply “I was sent in to tear the place down if needed after all, the hard part has been accomplished. I lack the capability to properly purge the corruption from the area however. Besides Beacon is founded on helping people, regardless of how the Ascendency goes about performing its duties. It would be antithetical to deny her help after what she went through.” Her explanation held a quiet conviction that was notable purely for the emotion that it injected into how she spoke.
“You have helped her, and countless others with your actions tonight. I would be remiss in my own sense to not extend just as much assistance to you as you have done to me.”
“Fine, you take the girl. Remember that these bandages are temporary and will disappear in a hour or so.” Sakura eyed the robotic girl, as she hauled herself out of the swimming pool, and with one last application of Eternal Style, dried herself prim and proper.
“Oi, rat bastard, start the bike.” She said to Umukamui, as the pink bike materialized in front of them, and both climbed up. “Good thing this stuff is magical. Let’s do some joyriding.” She said, trying to ignore the garish pink color as she started it up.
“See ya, Swiss-knife-chan. Get in touch, kay?” Sakura added.
“Understood” Penny would reply with a small nod, gently lifting the girl up as she did so. “And easily done” She would reply with a rare smug smirk, as Sakura’s phone would receive a text from the robot in question. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need assistance, or simply wish to meet up.” She would add, as several more flashes of light, much like the one that happened when Penny first teleported in could be seen in the parking lot of the now destroyed pool.
With one last wave, with her spider-like limb, Penny would step backwards off the roof, using the remaining boost she had received from Sakura to float gently to the ground with her thrusters before turning towards the support crew that Beacon had sent in, she had wounded that needed to be taken care of after all.
“Hm. It was too soon to poach someone, shifty rat.” Sakura added. “There’ll be more chances, I’m sure.” She nodded before driving off the building in a spectacular fashion.
Blerg, Overtime due to pandemic is eating all of my free time. I will get a reply up once I get some sleep however, so you'll not be kept waiting too much longer.
Penny once again found herself looking at the Red coin she held. It had been a couple days since she, both halves of her, had helped Thalia undergo a Rebirth with one of these coins, and since then the robotic girl found herself often contemplating her own pending Reforging. Quietly an idea occurred to her and after turning it over for a moment in her mind she slid the coin back into its hiding place and turned towards the labs.
The trip was uneventful, word seemed to have spread that the Ascendency no longer held any more animosity for Penny then any of the other members of the Penrose faction so the boys and girls were at last starting to become more comfortable with Penny’s presence.
Silently she would slip into the Lab where Binky, Jenna, and Janet were most often found working away at producing more White Coins. A quick survey told Penny that she was in luck and that currently Binky was the only member here.
She was examining a blubbery mass on top of a pedestal. The transparent, onyx ooze seemed to stare back at her. Binky kept eye contact with it as she reached her gloved hand for a lever. Then with a swift tug of the lever, a giant stamp fell onto the pedestal. It arced electricity and the entire pillar soon glowed a crimson red. A few seconds later the stamp lifted into the air, and the pedestal cooled. Binky picked up a pair of iron tongs and lifted the fruits of her labor into the air: a white coin.
She would knock on the door frame to garner Binky’s attention before speaking “Binky. I have an inquiry that requires-”
”Ga!”
Before Penny could get out another word, Binky threw a pair of iron tongs at Penny. When they harmlessly bounced off of her forehead, she pointed her fists at the automatron and rained streams of linguini on her. ”We’ve been breached!” Binky ran deeper into the lab screaming.
Penny would simply let out a sigh. She was a bit surprised at the fact that Binky hadn’t heard of her or didn’t recognize her. She would pick up the tongs and walk after the fleeing scientist. “Binky. I do believe you are operating under a misunderstanding. I am a member of Beacon, not an invading entity.” She would call out as she sought the startled girl.
Binky peaked out from behind the threshold of a door. She was cornered in a closet. Fear must have made her forget where the hallway was.
”This area is off limits.” She pulled back a bit. ”People only come in here to retrieve the coins, or talk with Jenna and Janet.” Binky pointed towards the pedestal. ”If you want something else, I’ll give it to you. J-just don’t hit meeeeeeeeeeee!”.
“I have no intention of striking you, or taking anything from you” Penny would say calmly keeping a healthy distance so that BInky could calm down “And I came here to talk with you. Janet and Jenna don’t know about Magical Coins as well as you and I have some questions about the Red Coin and questions about how difficult it would be to alter them.”
The scientist stepped out from behind her cover. ”Oh, so you want information.” She pressed her fingers together. The red coins may be my creation, in concept and founding. But it was another scientist that had the breakthrough to make the red coin what it is today.” Binky folded her arms behind her back and kicked the air. ”Modifying the coin is possible, but there’s only so much I can do without extensive research. Even with help, it took years to finally make the red coin. On short notice there’s only so much I can do.” She looked up at Penny. ”Why? What did you want me to do to it?”
Penny would lean back on to her heels for a moment before ”I am currently only one half of who I was. An Incident with magic required that we split otherwise our Soul would end up destroying itself. I knew that a Red coin would facilitate the remerger, but I was wanting to… Release my other half from the magical community.” She would explain carefully “They have never been comfortable here”
”Is that so?” Binky held her chin in thought. ”The red coin shuffles one’s magic, but you’d like something that shuffles away someone’s magic and leaves them human?” Her eyebrows flicked up for a moment. ”Oh! So you’re Penny? I heard about you, but I don’t get out much.” She looked up at the abominable robot. ”Is there a reason why you’re here by yourself? You chose to come talk to me at an interesting time. The other scientists are away for the moment, and my clones are deeper in the lab.” She folded her arms. ”Is this something you have the authority to be doing?”
“And I have heard about you as well Binky, from talks with Janet and Jenna. In essence you are correct, I would like to shuffle it away from them and into me.” Penny would clarify with a nod “And while my timing is due to luck, I will not deny that discretion on this matter is appreciated. That said so far as I am aware I am not violating any regulations in speaking to you and Paladin Alicia is aware of my possessing a Red Coin as well as my intention to use it to facilitate a remerger” She would explain as she allowed the Coin she owned to surface in her hand.
“This idea is a recent one, and at present only you and I are aware of it.”
Binky sighed and leaned against the coin press. ”I could make something. Maybe, probably.” Binky let out an exhausted sigh. ”They’d have to be willing though.” She nodded. ”A second coin would be necessary. One to make the other Penny release her magic, and another to pull it into yourself. Sort of like how a black coin lets you borrow magic from the mint.” Binky grabbed her knees. ”Do you think you could do a favor for me in return?”
“Delivery method will not be an issue” Penny would reply with a single nod “Additionally I am willing to perform a favor in exchange for this What is you you are requesting?” She would add before tilting her head to the side in contemplation.
“Secondary inquiry, would it be possible to limit the amount of intake? I am not wanting to become corrupted with this course of action. Simply wanting to help my other half gain freedom”
Binky placed a hand on the side of her head. ”I hope you don’t mind me saying you already look pretty corrupted. But in regards to getting corrupted, that’s a hard one. I mean, you won’t get corrupted due to a huge influx of magic. You might get corrupted by taking in the other Penny’s magic though.” Binky Pushed herself to her feet. ”As for me, there’s someone I need to go back to. I need to let them know I’m okay.”
“Your observation is noted, and understood, however my appearance is not indicative of any corruption oddly enough” Penny would explain with a small smile. It seemed weird to her but Rachel was the one to say that she had no corruption, and who was she to disagree.
“As for who you wish to contact. I can relay the message to them, who is it you are wanting to let know?”
Binky shook her head. ”No.” She took a step towards Penny. ”If you tell her I’m safe, she won’t believe you. Betty needs to see me with her own eyes.”
“Are you proposing that we both head out to find this Betty?” Penny would ask for clarification as “Where would we begin in trying to find her?” Not that Penny didn’t have a lot of resources at her disposal when it came to looking for a missing person. Both of her halfs had spent some time looking for Sammy after all. Still a place to start would be the best option.
”I can find her if you get me outside.” Binky got on her hands and knees before Penny. ”I won’t try and escape. You’ll need me to be around to make sure everything works for the transfer. Instead of bringing other Penny here, we can go to her!” She looked up from her spot on the ground. ”Then we can make a short detour and visit Betty. It’s a win-win for everyone really.”
“When would things be ready for the transfer?” Penny would ask after a few moments. Things had gotten a fair bit more complicated then she had hopped, but in all honesty she wasn’t surprised at that. Magic was a temperamental force at the best of times in her opinion and she was trying to do something rather unprecedented at that.
”I don’t think it would take long to prepare.” Binky nodded. ”I think we have everything here to make the coins.”
“And do you have any thoughts on possible side effects or consequences of this being done?”
”Eh.” Binky folded her arms. ”One complication that could arise is if the process was interrupted or aborted part way through. If your other half refused to release her magic you might merge again.” Binky lifted a hand to her chin. ”If she has a patron, they might interfere with you trying to claim their magic. I must stress I’ve never tried anything like this before. I’ve never heard of a magical girl going back to being a normal human again. There could be other complications that I have no way of predicting.” She folded her arms together. ”It’s important that you realise what you’re trying to do is highly experimental. There are a lot of variables to consider. Magical girls are made out of a lot of mana, and you want to take all of hers away.”
“Understood” Penny would reply absently as she ran through various potential scenarios leading up to the Coin being used. Once it was used she could only hope for the best so didn’t bother trying to determine what would happen afterwards. “I shall acquire a location that won’t be disterbed then. When would it need to be ready?” She would ask again, that would give her some time frame to work with.
”That depends on what the higher ups think.” Binky pointed up in the air. ”If I get a break, then it shouldn’t take more than a few hours to make the coin. Ideally I’d like to run some tests, but it doesn’t sound like your other half is going to be willing to show up here. So all I’ll be able to do is make some coins and arrive on sight with some equipment.” She exhaled. ”So figure on a few hours after I get permission.”
Penny couldn’t help the grimace that formed “No, she wouldn’t” she would agree, but that wasn’t the most difficult issue to get around. The two of them knew plenty of nooks that they could use for this process, no the most glaring issue was getting her other half to agree to show up in the first place. She knew that they wanted this, but outing that a possibility like this was on the table seemed like it would be dangerous.
“It is going to be a few days before I can get them to agree to meet up.” She would supply after a few moments of thought. “Last time we ran across each other we ended up arguing” The again was left unsaid. “We can seek Betty beforehand if you would prefer.”
”I’m not sure that would be a great idea.” Binky shivered. ”While I’m not keen on being a prisoner here, no one in Beacon wants to kill me. Yet.” She walked deeper into the lab. ”At the very least, I can find time to work on a side coin over the next few days. Take care Penny.”
Penny would stay a moment where she was playing over that last bit of information. As far as the android was aware Binky wasn’t considered a prisoner, but obviously the girl thought otherwise. The part about not wanting people in Beacon to want to kill her yet was what really worried her though.
Regardless, she would follow through on her offer to help Binky and Betty meet up again, if for no other reason than to find out why that was a danger to do early. Turning she moved to leave the lab, her reason for coming here complete. Before she left entirely she would turn back “Binky. Thank you. Even if it doesn’t work, Thank you for being willing to try on my behalf.” she would say softly into the room her voice enhanced by her magic so that Binky would be able to hear it regardless of where she was in the room and with that done she left.
She had a few tasks for Beacon to take care of before she could start trying to convince her other half to meet up.
Okay there we go. Later then I was meaning for it, but still is up.
I figure Morning is the next scene, Slade will be in the kitchen cooking some sort of egg dish when Jin wakes up. Feel free to describe the house however, it's a modern style fancy house. Would have done more description my self but I is sleepy now so I'm going to go get some sleep.
“Not quite” Slade would reply an amused look “Though I have met him before” He would add as he checked to make sure that Jin was belted in securely. He had zero worry about his driving skills, but it was never a bad idea to recheck when safety was a concern.
That thought was put on hold when she displayed her capability of telekinesis, however and he let his surprise show “Well it seems you have more than just your mothers eyes” he would remark with a smile as he snagged the keys out of the air. “But it is rather impressive to have learned about it so young” he would praise her before closing the door so that he could move up to the driver’s seat.
It wouldn’t be long after that they would start on the journey to Slade’s home, the sound system in the car quietly playing classical music as they went. It was not the first time that he was glad to have purchased a house in Jump city; he doubted it would be the last.
He wasn’t surprised to see that Jinayah had fallen asleep when he checked on her in the rear view mirror, but was glad to see it none the less. He hopped that it was a sign that she felt at least somewhat safe with him rather than finally being overwhelmed by the events of the day. ‘Likely a bit of both’ he would muse.
If he had wanted Slade could have made it to his house in fifteen minutes, but that would have required him to break just about all of the road laws. So instead it took him closer to an hour, the reason for this was the fact that his house was ensconced in the richer districts. It wasn’t the most expensive house in Jump, but it was in the neighborhood.
Once he parked the car Slade would quietly and gently, lift Jinny out of her seat and carry her inside and into the guest room closest to his room and tuck her in, making sure that she had her stuffed... He took another look at it in minor confusion… Cat, before heading to his own room to put all of his equipment away.
Afterwards he would head down to the kitchen and pour himself a glass of rum and gaze out the window reminiscing about Yumiko. He wouldn’t stay up much later though. He had plans to wake up early and make breakfast for both himself and Jinayah, but for the moment he allowed himself one last moment of remorse to the fact that he wasn’t quick enough to help his friend.
‘Sayonara kyūyū’ he would think quietly before draining his glass. Before he would at last retire for the night.
Chloe had decided to spend the rest of the day making a few final adjustments to Penny's soul. Smooth over those scars, fill in any gaps left behind by her splitting. It'd be bad if something else tried to work its way in. Reinforce it so it didn't get weakened. Eventually though, she'd simply spend the rest of the night with Penny. Chloe woke with a stretch, climbing out of the bed and glancing over to Penny. Really, she put far too much work into this and she needed it to pay off sooner rather than later. Splitting a soul would have drastic repercussions, especially since it wasn't done with the coin. Very likely she'd be weakened beyond what was normal for something. Well, as long as she could do what she asked, it didn't matter.
Penny last night had simply been happy. Pleased to simply be in Chloe presence, she was also much more tactile than usual. Always wanting to hold Chloe’s hand or cuddle up with her if possible. Thus it would likely be a small bit of a surprise to learn that Penny was already up and gone when Chloe woke up.
The question of where Penny was would be quickly answered as the apartment door would open shortly after this realization and Penny could be heard humming a random tune. Penny would stick her head into the bedroom and pout “Aww, I was hoping I would make it back before you woke up” She would say with a hint of disappointment “Have you been up long?” She would ask as she slipped fully into the room, dropping out of her transformation as she went, and she was obviously hiding something behind her back as well.
“Mmm, just woke up.” Chloe replied. She gave Penny a studious gaze. She seemed fine, for the most part still. That was good. “You seem to be in a good mood.” The dark magical girl took a few steps towards her girlfriend, leaning from side to side, obviously aware she was trying to hide something. “Eeeeh? Is my little Penny trying to hide something from me?~”
“Maaaybe?” Penny would reply playfully as she twisted in opposition to keep what it was she had behind her back hidden “I’m in a good mood. Just got back from the new store that opened up. Got myself a new weapon, since my other half walked away with my Fists” she would say with a childish grimace. Though it wouldn’t stay long before being replaced with a wide smile. “And I picked up a gift for you! Even got it at a discount” She would remark her smile turning into a smug smirk.
“Just got to say the magic words to get it” Penny would say in a slightly sing-song way.
“Eeeeh...” Chloe pouted for a moment before her mouth turned into a grin. Well, if Penny wanted to play. “Magic words, huh?” Chloe quickly closed the distance between her and Penny. She might have been technically smaller than the other girl, but she wasn't going to let herself be teased without a bit of payback. “Hmm, I can't think of any magic words. Such a shame...but maybe I should go ahead and give you a fun little reward for the present? Skip right to my thanking you?” One of her hands wrapped itself around Penny's waist.
Penny would have a delighted grin on her face for just a moment while Chloe closed the distance between them. It would be replaced by a sheepish one when the smaller girl slipped her hand around Penny’s waist “B-b-but how would you know how much a t-t-thank you want to give w-w-without knowing what it is?” the taller girl would stammer out due to the sudden proximity, blushing slightly.
She did not retreat however.
“And t-t-the magic words are easy. J-j-just have to think a-a-about how you ask for g-g-gifts” She would say trying to stand strong.
“Tsk, my dear little Penny.” Chloe giggled, she grabbed one side of Penny's face gently with a hand, gently rubbing her cheek. “A gift from you always deserves as much thanks as I can give...like this~” Penny would feel Chloe's lips on her other cheek, lingering for longer than just a simple show of affection...and then she'd feel Chloe's hand swipe the present from behind the other girls back before Chloe broke contact, jumping away with a teasing grin.
“Fufufu, thanks for the show, Penny.” She teased. “Glad to know your still as adorable despite what happened, hehe...and...oh wow.” Chloe blinked in surprise at what she had swiped from Penny. “It's...a doll...of...you?!” For a moment, Chloe seemed to try and process this before laughing brightly. “Oh, this is for me? I suppose even when you're not here I can have you all to myself now, huh?”
Penny was more or less putty in Chloe’s hand, stunned and completely swept up in the moment of teasing. Thus it took her a moment to come back to her senses when Chloe swiped the gift she had brought. [color=C76689][b]“Chloe” she would say with a pout even as she was still blushing.
The pout would clear away as she smiled softly. “Of course it’s for you” Penny would say as she gave Chloe as side hug “I’m glad you like it” She would say just enjoying the look of glee on her girlfriends face.
“Any plans for the day?” She would ask quietly hoping that they would be able to simply spend the day together. She could start her investigation later after all, or pass it off to her other half to deal with.
“Well,” Chloe's appearance turned more serious as she placed the doll on a nearby table. “As much as I'd like to be lazy today, I have things I need to do.” She said with a mild hint of annoyance. “And...I want to know how you are doing, Penny. You seem fine. Your soul is stable enough, but a split like that would likely make you weaker. You still have my token, don't you? You're probably a lot weaker than you were before and it concerns me.”
“Yeah I’ve still got it” Penny would reply pulling the pendant out from under her shirt and held it up so that it could be seen “And I can tell I’ve lost a bit of overall strength, but I don’t think it’s as bad as it could have been. I was boosting myself with my Coin reserve just before the Split.” She would explain letting the pendant drop.
“I can tell some things have changed, thinking is a bit slippery, but feeling has never been easier!” She would say with a large grin. “I don’t think I can call on the Earth Bastion however. I can still feel the connection, but it’s just out of reach. Wonder if it’s the same for my other half.” She would muse as she moved to sit on the bed. “My Powers still seem like they work, as I could feel my regen working as soon as we got back here last night. I lost my weapon, got a new one though so that’s not a big deal. And I’ve got a bit of magical ability now, which is nice”
“Hm...” Chloe nodded. Well, that was expected, but just how weakened was she? Well, time to test the waters at least. “...Penny, I know I said before I have a favor to ask, but I'm a little hesitant now.” She would say with a slight frown. “With you being as you are, now, but I wouldn't want to put you in danger, but you're the only one I know that wouldn't try to get something out of me if I asked for help.” Chloe sighed, visibly wrestling with asking a question.
“...do you think you could kill my patron?”
“Yes” Penny would reply almost before Chloe had finished asking and it would be easy to see Penny mentally step back and review the request more fully after she answered. “I should still have access to my Killing Blow, but I’ve likely only got one shot of it.” She would add on slowly as she turned over the various thoughts and possibilities in her head.
“Do you have any frame of reference for how durable his hide is?” Penny would ask as she started to run the numbers on the rather ridiculous task of killing a dragon. Yet she wasn’t retracting her affirmation, Just seeking a way to prove it beyond just a feeling.
“Mhm, likely harder than any metal you've dealt with but I'm not sure how to compare it.” Chloe said with a small frown. “But the crystalline growths on his hide are more fragile, so they would likely be your best bet at hurting him.” No need to mention the fact they were filled completely with corrupt energy and wouldn't likely be good to be around.
“Are any of these crystals located on his neck?” Penny would ask as she started to draw up a semblance of a plan on how to face the encounter “And is this going to be an ambush or an assault?” If she could get the drop on him she would only need one good hit and she should be able to drop him, but she wasn’t sure how likely that was going to be.
“There may be a few, but the majority are on his legs and sides.” Chloe replied thoughtfully. “Though I believe there may be one on the back of his head.” Getting a surprise attack off though? Chloe thought for a moment, placing a hand on her chin as she considered the available routes. “Unfortunately, I don't see how you'd get a surprise attack on him. There's only one real way into his lair, and he'd know the moment you'd open the door...unless you had someway to maybe teleport in, but he's very sensitive to magic even then, so you'd only get a few seconds at most.”
Penny grimaced at that, she wasn’t terribly surprised, but it still was going to make things much more difficult as the only Teleportation she knew of was the Beacon Teleporters and she doubted that they would be able to use them. “And is there going to be anyone other than just us tackling it?” She would ask, shifting her ideas towards a battle of attrition. More people would make it easier to nickel and dime the dragon down after all. “And when were you thinking of doing this?”
“I was going to have Divina help you take care of it.” Chloe replied. “She's not very suited to a long battle, but she should be able to help you. As for when,” The dark magical girl ended up taking a seat on a nearby couch. “During the night of the party. I'd rather not have the Ascendancy snooping around if they feel a large discharge of magical energy. If they're busy with that, it will at least give me time to cover things up.”
“Hmm” Penny mused over the information given but there wasn’t a whole lot else that could be done. “Might want to find a medic for afterwards but otherwise I think we should be able to take care of it.” She rolled the idea around in her head for a moment longer before shrugging it off. She had said she would do it for Chloe, no reason to back down now.
“I'd help myself, but considering things, I don't think it'd be a good idea.” She sighed. “I'll look into a medic. I have someone in mind, but at the moment I am hesitant to trust them. Assuming things go well though, I'd be more than happy to introduce the two of you.” “I get that” Penny would reply “Going against your Patron hurts, trust me” She would absently rub a hand across her chest before shaking herself to banish that memory. “Sounds like that’s all for that topic, but you mentioned you had other things to do today. Want my help?”
Chloe hummed, leaning her head slightly to the side before smiling.
“Mhm, no, that's fine. I have some Mint work I need to take care of before they start getting uppity...though, if you want, we could test that new weapon of yours. There's always some monster that needs beating, I'm sure.”
“Blech, Mint” Penny would make a disgusted face at the mention of the secretive organization “Once your done on that end I’d love to go play with some monsters and get used to my new weapon, it’s got quite the fancy trick to it”
“Well you'll have to show me then.” Chloe grinned, hopping up and giving Penny a quick hug. “I'll be back later. And don't eat weird metal this time, please.”
“No need to worry about that I think” Penny would deadpan as she returned the hug, holding it a moment longer to hide the uncomfortable look that flashed across her “I’ll see you later”
Penny would wait a few minutes after Chloe left and then she’d head out to the Sanctuary and see if she could help out with any of the reconstruction.
.:⋮Other side of the Coin⋮:.
It was a normal afternoon at the Beacon HQ. Various girls walked the halls talking about various things. Some were talking about the training they had planned, some were still talking about the trial that was near a week ago at this point, and yet others were quietly preparing for a confrontation.
All of them would quiet down as they walked by one member however. For they were a member that none of them really seemed to know what to do with. After all, how does one reconcile the fact that a Monster had a Spark?
The girl in question, was unfazed by this, she found that she was unfazed by a lot more than she used to be. Regardless Penny stood silently at the front desk waiting. She had sent in a formal request to meet with Rachel a couple of days ago, she had wanted to try and understand the fiercely driven girl for reasons Penny had difficulty putting into words.
So here she was, waiting.
After a few minutes of waiting a familiar face would emerge. ”Hey Penny,” Alicia said to the waiting girl with a small wave. She then glanced at a clipboard that rested on the desk before nodding to herself.
”It says here you wanted to meet with Rachel, and that the Ascendancy signed off on it. I can take you there,” she told her friend. Once Penny had joined her, she would proceed walking through the HQ to the part where Rachel likely would be at this time. She had a few spots she liked to frequent when she wasn’t out in the city hunting down monsters, as Alicia had learned since taking on her new position.
Glancing over at her friend as they walked, she patted Penny on the shoulder. ”Good luck. I’m pretty sure she only ever interacts with me for longer than a minute because she has to for the job, so you’ve got your work cut out for you.”
”Acknowledged” Penny would reply evenly as she followed after her friend before tilting her head to the side. It was obvious that the split had effected this half of Penny as at times she was much more robotic then she had ever been while whole, and no one was more aware of this then Penny herself “I am willing to simply listen if Rachel is willing to speak. I just seek to further my understanding.”
Sometimes it was easier to remember how Penny had divided herself, that the girl next to her was only one half of the person that Alicia knew to be Penny. She still felt bad about that and wished she could do more, but she was starting to accept it.
”Alright, just be careful. If she starts getting to you just remember that we’re all on the same side. I don’t want to say that she might try to provoke an incident, but it’s not impossible,” Alicia warned her. It never hurts to be careful.
A slight smile would appear on Penny’s face at that warning, Alicia was a far better friend then Penny had ever given her credit for. “Provoking me is going to be difficult, very difficult. But I shall keep that in mind.” After all, her other half seemed to be the one who walked away with most of their emotions. Though that was rather advantageous, made facing all of her old actions easier which was one of the reasons she had wanted to go through with the split.
Nodding, Alicia fell silent as they walked the rest of the way to where Rachel and the Ascendancy waited. “Good luck,” she added, just before leaving Penny for her meeting.
The Ascendancy was at the training hall, having set up a sparring session. Blades clashed and spells were cast as the girls went at each other, with Rachel yelling out commands like a drill sergeant.
“Focus! Aim to flank them more! And you, concentrate on keeping up defensive movement!” She then noticed Penny, and turned to face her. “Take a break,” she yelled to the sparring people, and examined the girl. She squinted, and made a quick hand signal to alert the other members; they summoned their weapons, but didn’t point them. “You do not match our profile for Penny. Identify yourself,” she ordered.
“My designation is Penny Asimov. Your profile was rendered inaccurate as of five days ago” Penny’s response was crisp, clean, and utterly lacking in emotion. She stood there faced with the entirety of the Ascendency ready to open hostilities at a moment’s notice, and all she could bring herself to feel was a few hints of annoyance.
She missed Alicia’s presence already.
“I have submitted the necessary forms to have it updated at the same time that I submitted a request for a personal meeting with Rachel” Penny would go on to say not shifting her stance in the slightest as she slowly drew her gaze across all of the assembled members. She had come to a stop already standing in optimal alignment to defend herself if needed. As the odds weren’t exactly in her favor after all.
Rachel’s gaze lingered for a couple of seconds more, until she spoke: “Colonel Cuddles. Requesting an update on Penny Asimov from Elora.” A Beckoner appeared, saluted, and about ten seconds later Elora came floating downstairs from the far side of the hall.
“Penny Asimov’s claims are confirmed, Inquisitor,” the cybermancer confirmed, her keyboard clacking away as she type, not looking in the direction she was moving, yet she stopped at the exact row the other members were. “Her submitted form matches her current state as well. Classification S,” she added, and Rachel nodded with a squint. “Very well. Penny, follow me. We will discuss this in private.”
She grabbed a note Elora held out as she passed by the girl, and began reading it as she moved to the private meeting room. She closed the door after Penny entered, and took a seat.
“According to this form, you have split yourself in two five days ago. Explain the circumstances surrounding this incident, including the cause for it as well as any people involved in it.” She demanded, sounding suspicious.
Penny for her part, quietly followed after Rachel, and simply took the seat across from the girl before replying “My soul was trying to destroy itself.” She would state simply, her eyes locking on to Rachel’s “An event occurred between myself and a Monstergirl under service of my prior patron, that was responsible for triggering the situation. The Split involved myself, Paladin Alicia, and a third party unaffiliated with Beacon. My other half is currently residing with said third party.”
She would tilt her head to the side before asking “Why do you want to know?”
Rachel placed her elbows on the table, her fingers interlocked together as she looked over them at the robotic girl. “Because you shouldn’t exist. Your soul was split? That is another unprecedented incident.” She took a quick glance at the notes. “The Seraph Paladin had reported that you retained your monstrous form after purification.” She stood up, and began walking around the table with her arms behind her, occasionally passing Penny. “From my understanding, the White Coin should have stopped any forceful attempts to inflict such on you. Did you corrupt yourself after the purification was done?” She stopped behind Penny. “Was your soul split because the ShineSpark could not tolerate the foul curses you have willingly embraced?”
Penny sat still and watched Rachel as she spoke, the entire time Penny ever took her eyes off of her, even when the other girl got up and began to circle her she simply rotated her head to follow. “I feel that you are trying to understand why it is I am how I am while also housing a Spark.” She would say when Rachel came to a stop. “If I give you my thoughts on that matter will you be willing to answer a question of mine?” She would ask calmly as she kept her gaze locked onto Rachel’s. She wasn’t intimidated or impressed with the Ascendency leader’s tactics and she had no problem letting that show.
Rachel grit her teeth, but continued walking with a thinking expression. When she reached her chair, she placed a hand on it. "I accept your terms," she answered, tapping her fingers in a tense rhythm against the back of it.
“You are likely aware of monsters, of how they can grow and adapt, I find it unlikely that you have ever been able to witness the progress personally with a insight into their thoughts.” Penny would begin simply “I have. My Monster has always been different from others that I have encountered. It is a mechanical creation, bound to its logic rather than its emotions. It never truly slept, it sat in the background of my mind and it watched, every time I encountered something new it would break it down as far as it could in an attempt to understand it.”
She spoke clearly and calmly even if what she spoke about was possibly heretical, she did make sure to blink on occasion so it didn’t seem like she was staring. “The reason it was as destructive as it was also has to do with the fact that it was a machine. My prior patron had installed priority directives into its code, ones that it could not refute while it was piloting. One thing that both me and my monster agreed upon was that no one enjoys being enslaved.”
“It is because of these traits, along with a fairly large portion of my prior chassis being donated to me by the Beacon, that I believe that when the White coin was used my Monster was able to rewrite itself to become synchronized with the blessed magic that pours forth from the Spark rather than anathema to it.” She was very certain that there was only one person alive that would be able to tell that she was speaking from the wrong perspective. After all everything she said was true, it was just that she was the Monster. The human half knew this just as well, but she hadn’t lived it like the machine half had.
“Is there any clarification you require before I speak my inquiry?”
Rachel’s stoic expression seemed to, for the first time, falter a bit, as she listened to Robo Penny’s explanation. At times she opened her mouth as if to say something during it, only to go back to hearing more of her bizarre tale. “I see...Never in the history of Beacon have I seen a monster who has successfully rebelled against their dark nature. Then again, I have never seen a robotic monster before.” She stopped rapping her fingers on the chair. “But what you have said matches the profile we were given by the Paladin Seraph, and you do not possess any corruption within you.” She walked up to Penny, her gaze unflinching. “I will need to first file a submission, but for now...Penny Asimov...” She held a hand out towards her. “...You may operate as a member of Beacon.” She then averted her eyes, as if she was pained to say the next sentence. “Report to Seraph Paladin Alicia.”
Penny would accept the hand offered to her “Thank you for your approval” And it was an earnest thank you, though Penny would have continued acting as a representative of Beacon regardless of such it was still nice to be given a more official welcome.
She would remain sitting however she had her own reasons for this meeting as well after all “Currently me and my other half are at a fundamental odds with each other. An Ideological difference. I possess the means to initiate a merger, yet without more information I fear that my other half will continue to fight against it, leading to either a broken merger, or the destruction of our soul.”
“Our first months within the magical world gave us a distorted perspective on the dark magicals. It is easy to sympathize with them, I wanted to ask you why it is you hate them with such zeal” She would ask her gaze turning from its simply passive observation to one of more focused curiosity. “Why do you feel that all those with any touch of corruption must be destroyed?” her voice held no hint of reprimand or anger,only simple curiosity.
Rachel had a look of utter contempt in her eyes as the conversation shifted. She sat down. "You have seen them, haven't you? The answer should be obvious." Her nails dug into the back of her hand. "They're freaks, abominations. I have seen them burn down cities, hunt down and slaughter innocents, play with the souls of the dead...And even worse." Her breathing turned a bit heavier as her nails now drew blood, and she looked down at them. "They're devils who will go to any lengths, no matter how deviant, just because they can. Even those who can be reasoned with will do so to stab you in the back." She then lifted her eyes up to look at Robo Penny. "But...You managed to resist. You escaped the dark side. Now, all we need to do is to fully purge the other you." She cast a spell, and her hand had healed. "Will you be ready for that?"
Penny would sit back as she listened to Rachel, watched as the depth of her hate played out in front of her. One of her eyes would flash as she pulled up countless incident reports that Beacon had on hand. It wasn’t hard to see what Penny was trying to do, she was trying to make the connection. Trying to place herself in Rachel's position and understand the fundamental reason behind that hate.
“No,” Penny would reply at length “I don’t think I will. As that would condemn me to a life with only half a soul” She would blink once and the myriad reports opened up would close. “I will seek to reconcile with my other half, as it is…Cold...To be without them,” She would say nodding slightly to herself “But I do not begrudge you for seeking to purge her. I can see where you come from, even if I have difficulty comprehending it.”
Rachel looked aside, her elbow on the table as she held her chin up with her hand. “As long as you understand that, it will have to suffice. Very well then; I will give you the right to recombine with your other half. But if I see the need for it, I will revoke that right.” She stood up, and turned to the door. “That is all. Dismissed.” She then walked out of the door at a brisk pace, already issuing commands to a Beckoner as soon as she turned the corner.
Penny would stay behind for a bit longer replaying the conversation in her mind. After a while she would shake her head and stand up. She hadn't quite gotten what she had wanted from the conversation but she got the feeling that she never would. She had tried however, and that felt like an accomplishment.
She left the meeting room in search of one of her friends. She would see if any of them needed any additional help before heading out on patrol.
Mistress Dizzy,
Majoraa,
Light the Dark,
Izurich,
LG,
twave,
pollo
