Shin Ghost Note

Recollections: The Compendium

FORGIVENESS
| Beacon of Compassion | "The shine of its blade offers solace to the afflicted and hope to the oppressed." ORIGINS & CREATIONS: | Crafted in response to the atrocities inflicted by the tyrant king's reign, | TYPE: | Healing Artifact | LOCATION: | Forgiveness's whereabouts have been obscured by legend and myth. | NOTABLE OWNERS: | Throughout history, Forgiveness has been wielded by noble and righteous individuals who champion the cause of justice and compassion. Its ownership often aligns with those who seek to heal the wounds inflicted by tyranny and bring solace to the suffering. | ABSTRACTION-GRANTING: | No. | .............................................................................	Forgiveness is considered the "sister artifact" to Punishment, symbolizing the duality of justice and mercy. It is a beacon of light and hope in a world of suffering and despair. In the wake of the tyrant king's reign of terror, Forgiveness emerged as a symbol of defiance against cruelty and a cornerstone of compassion. It was meant to counterbalance the pain caused by Punishment, the sister artifact, and to heal the wounds inflicted by the tyrant's reign. The blade is supernaturally durable and, unlike ordinary weapons, is prevented from causing harm - its touch brings relief and restoration. The primary power of Forgiveness lies in its ability to heal. A single swing can ease pain, mend wounds, cure diseases, and lift curses. Those who come into contact with the blade feel an immediate sense of peace and comfort, and their physical wounds begin to heal. The blade's presence radiates a soothing aura that calms the minds and hearts of those nearby, reducing fear and anxiety. In addition to its healing properties, Forgiveness can restore hope and resolve. Those who witness its light are filled with renewed purpose and determination. It has been said that entire armies have turned the tide of battle after seeing the blade's radiance, their spirits lifted by the promise of victory and justice. Forgiveness can also create Sanctuaries. By striking the ground with its blade, the wielder can make a protected area where no harm can come to those within - no one can be injured within a three-meter radius. These Sanctuaries are imbued with the blade's healing properties, providing a haven where wounds heal faster, diseases are repelled, and spirits are uplifted. These Sanctuaries can only remain active for about fifteen minutes, and only one can be created at a time - afterward, there is an hour cooldown before another can be made. However, the power of Forgiveness is not without its limits. The blade's healing properties require the wielder to have a pure heart and a strong will. Those with selfish or malicious intentions cannot wield their power effectively. Additionally, the blade's ability to create Sanctuaries is taxing on the wielder, requiring significant energy and concentration.

Recollections: The Compendium

PUNISHMENT
| The Symbol of Agony | "A grim reminder of the agony that power inflicts upon the powerless." ORIGINS & CREATIONS: | Punishment, known as the antithesis to the Tyrant Destroyer series of artifacts, was forged by a king consumed by his thirst for power and control. | TYPE: | Barbed Wire Spear of Tyranny | LOCATION: | After its creation, Punishment was wielded by brutal individuals in the All-Verse. However, it was ultimately thrown into The Pit, believed to be inaccessible for further malicious use. | NOTABLE OWNERS: | The king, only known as King Krule, who commissioned its creation, was the first wielder of Punishment. Subsequent wielders, driven by brutality and cruelty, used the spear to enforce their rule and inflict agony upon their enemies. | ABSTRACTION-GRANTING: | No. | .............................................................................	Known as the anthesis to the Tyrant Destroyer series of artifacts, as, in a way, it represents tyranny itself. It was wielded and created by a king who sought to forge a weapon capable of dishing out the worst agony to those who dared oppose him or defy his rule. The king's obsession with his power and control drove him to seek out Orange Adepts to craft the spear, infusing it with the agony of an empire. However, the first wielder of The Tyrant Destroyer V felled this king, but his legacy lived on with each person "punished" by the spear, and Punishment remains used by only the most brutal individuals in the All-Verse. Punishment's appearance emanates a chilling aura of oppression and fear to anyone who gazes upon it, a long-shafted spear coated with brutal barbed wire spikes with a razor-sharp point. True to its name, those unfortunate enough to face the wrath of Punishment were subjected to unimaginable agony. Upon impact, Punishment creates a searing pain that radiates through every nerve and fiber of the victim's being. Each victim receives extraordinary pain as the Spear magically detects the worst pain (burning, aching, piercing, etc) to that victim and inflicts it on them. It only lasts for a few seconds. However, the pain is so intense that it will live with the victim for years. However, Punishment has a secondary effect on the victim that is hit by it: it creates barbed wire that dances across the victim's skin as it forces itself through the victim's flesh. The longer the Punishment is against the victim, the more barbed wire will appear, and it could potentially kill the victim. Punishment is also supernaturally durable and can survive some of the most potent Paranormal attacks. Punishment is a legendary tool whose mere sight denotes some of the most morally depraved individuals in the All-Verse. However, Punishment was thrown into The Pit, where it was believed that nobody could ever use Punishment for malice ever again.

Recollections: The Compendium

THE.ALL-BLADE
| The Manifestation of Destiny | "Weapon forged from the dreams of countless souls, granting power beyond mortal comprehension." ORIGINS & CREATIONS: | Its origins remain mysterious - no one knows why or how this magnificent blade existed. According to legend, the All-Blade manifests humanity's deepest desire to shape their destiny. | TYPE: | All-Powerful Weapon | LOCATION: | The Pit | NOTABLE OWNERS: | Throughout history, the All-Blade has been sought after by warlords, tyrants, kings, queens, and individuals who seek to make a difference in the All-Verse. However, its current owner, if any, is a mystery. | ABSTRACTION-GRANTING: | No. | .............................................................................	The All-Blade, a relic of unparalleled power, echoes throughout the All-Verse This legendary weapon surpasses even the most potent Abstractions, its abilities rivaling even the might of the Ancients. The All-Blade’s wielder gains the power to manipulate the universe with a mere thought, bending and reshaping dimensions at will. The blade acts as a conduit, linking itself to its bearer’s soul and channeling its most profound desires to shape and create entire universes. A single slash from the All-Blade can dissolve the boundaries between worlds, merging them into one. The All-Blade’s power also extends to the emission of powerful energy forms. The wielder can launch beams, waves, or even balls capable of decimating foes or large areas, further emphasizing the blade's versatility in battle. These energy attacks carry the same universe-altering potency as the blade itself, able to destabilize matter and magic alike. Among its many abilities, one of the most coveted is its capacity to open portals to any location within the All-Verse. With a mere gesture, the wielder can tear open doorways between dimensions, enabling instantaneous travel across realms, no matter how inaccessible. It is also one of the few artifacts capable of granting access to the Pit and the Void - two realms feared by even the most daring souls. Beyond this, the All-Blade's edge is so supernaturally sharp that it can slice through anything, from the densest matter to the intangible barriers that separate realities. Additionally, anything struck by the All-Blade experiences a delayed regeneration, making it much harder for the victim or object to reform itself for a time, whether physically or magically. No substance, magical or otherwise, can withstand its strike. The blade can obliterate entire worlds with a focused slash, casting them into the Pit. This destruction erases the very existence of a realm, a power so immense that only a wielder deeply attuned to the All-Verse can wield it without causing catastrophic consequences. Merely grasping the All-Blade grants its wielder access to untold knowledge. They can peer into any dimension within the All-Verse, witnessing the birth and death of stars, wars, struggles, and the rise of new worlds. Yet, to unlock the blade’s full potential, the wielder must embark on a journey of self-discovery. They must open their mind to the All-Verse, learn to understand the interconnectedness of all life and confront the mysteries of their existence. This path requires them to face their deepest fears, desires, and doubts, discovering their true self before they can fully command the blade’s overwhelming power. Only those who can attune themselves to the subtle rhythms of the All-Verse can handle the God-like abilities the All-Blade bestows without being consumed by them. As one of the most sought-after and powerful artifacts in the All-Verse, the All-Blade has been pursued by warlords, tyrants, kings, queens, and those who strive to make a lasting impact. However, it was last used to seal away the catastrophic entity known as The Rampage in the Pit, where it remains to this day. Even the most power-hungry and reckless individuals are unwilling to face the dangers of the Pit in their quest for the blade's unimaginable power.

Recollections: The Compendium

.........................................	Welcome to the mysterious and enigmatic realm of The Compendium, a tome shrouded in secrets and whispered legends. Within its weathered pages lie the tales of artifacts—objects of unimaginable power and significance that have shaped the very fabric of existence in the All-Verse. The Compendium is more than just a book; it is a doorway to a world where reality intertwines with the arcane, where the mundane meets the extraordinary. As you leaf through its ancient parchment, you will journey through time and space, delving into these mystical relics' origins, histories, and fates. From the legendary All-Blade, whose very existence defies comprehension, to the fabled Starheart, a gem that holds the essence of a dying star, each artifact holds a story waiting to be unveiled. But beware, dear reader, for the secrets contained within The Compendium are not for the faint of heart. As you delve deeper into its pages, you will encounter tales of triumph and tragedy, heroes and villains, gods and mortals. Yet, amidst the darkness, there is always a glimmer of hope, a beacon of light that illuminates the path forward. So, gather close and heed the words within these hallowed pages, for The Compendium is more than just a book—it is a key to unlocking the mysteries of the All-Verse and the artifacts that shape its destiny.

INDEX

• THE ALL-BLADE
• PUNISHMENT
• FORGIVENESS
• STASIS HAMMER
• DOOMSAYER'S DECK
• CARMINE PEACEMAKER
• MAP OF THESEUS
• THE BLACK STAR
• THE APPARITION KILLER
• THE ABERRATION KILLER
• THE ELEMENTAL BANGLES
• THE GARDEN STONE
• THE TRINITY RINGS
• THE ALCHEMIST RING

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Entry Format

NAME.HERE
| Subtitle here | "Quote here." ORIGINS & CREATIONS: | Was this artifact created by a specific belief? Or was it created by a person?) | TYPE: | (Is it a book? Weapon? Etc) | LOCATION: | (What is its last known location) | NOTABLE OWNERS: | (Who of note has used the blade in the past) | ABSTRACTION-GRANTING: | (Is this Artifact Abstraction granting? | .............................................................................	Description here

Coding

[table][row][/row][row][cell][h3][b]NAME[color=2e2c2c].[/color]HERE[/b][/h3][/cell][cell][/cell][/row][row][cell][center][img]Image Here[/img][hr.][i][sub]| Subtitle here |[/sub]

"Quote here."[/i][hr.][sup][b]ORIGINS & CREATIONS:[/b]
| (Was this artifact created by a specific belief? Or was it created by a person?) |

[b]TYPE:[/b]
| (Is it a book? Weapon? Etc) |

[b]LOCATION:[/b]
| (What is its last known location) |

[b]NOTABLE OWNERS:[/b]
| (Who of note has used the blade in the past) |

[b]ABSTRACTION-GRANTING:[/b]
| (Is this Artifact Abstraction granting? |
[color=2e2c2c].............................................................................[/color][/sup][/center][/cell][cell]Description here[/cell][/row][/table]

Paragraphs: Agents of Death [FernStone & Shin Ghost Note]

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“... Where the fuck is my bra?!”

The sound of Lupe shouting stirred Lisa awake. She was on the bed, which was weird because she didn't remember getting on the bed. However, she coughed up what she learned was stomach acid.

“Actually, where the fuck is my shirt!” Lupe shouted.

Lisa knew she had snatched Lupe’s bra for her new collection the previous night. Her shirt? Who knows? Maybe Lisa also has it, but she didn’t give it up. Lisa pushed herself to a sitting position…

"Oh, whoops! I thought it was mine!" Ella shouted far too cheerfully. She was already sitting up in the bed next to Lisa, and Saskia was still sleeping next to her. The shirt she was wearing did look too small - and was more like a crop top. She quickly pulled it off… revealing the frilly pink bra she had underneath. "Here! You can borrow one of my bras too, we're roughly the same size- you certainly can't borrow Lisa or Saskia's!"

Not that Lisa had any.

“Mami, that’s nasty!” Lupe laughed. “I’m good, I’ll just let ‘im hang today!”

"How's it nasty?! I wash them!" Ella said. She jumped out of bed - well climbed over Saskia - and nearly fell over. "Owwww my head."

"My head," Saskia grumbled, cracking open one eye. "It's too early to be shouting."

"It's not that early- and we have things to do today! Up and at em, girls!"

”... Like what?” Lisa groggily said, rubbing her eyes. ”I wanted to stay in today…” She said, flopping back on the bed.

"Getting our channelers back! We’re at risk without them!" Ella said.

"Eh, I'm willing to take that risk," Saskia grumbled.

”... Can we wait until tomorrow?” Lisa rolled over onto her stomach, before coughing up some stomach acid. ”I’m dyyyyyyyyying here… and I also want to see if we can talk to Gretchen again…”

"Alright, you both stay here and I'll go get them!" Ella said. "Do you have any idea how precious that sailor moon wand is?! They stopped making them thirteen years ago! Do you know who I had to fight to get it?! But I'll be fine to go by myself."

“Maaaaami!” Lupe said as she put the shirt on, yet Lisa couldn't take her eyes off her. She was so gorgeous! “Ya’ll really going to let her wander off on her own? She’s your girl!”

Then Lupe turned to Ella, “... Do you, like, for real, know where your channelers are?”

"Well…" Ella shrugged. "The PRA office. We can just Google it, right?"

"I don't think you can Google a secret agency, Ella," Saskia rolled their eyes.

"Well, we'll find it! We've been there before… unless they moved since it was pretty destroyed then…"

“Look, mami,” Lupe said, “I know where their Headquarters is.”

”... Why didn't you tell us sooner?!” Lisa whined.

“... Because ya’ll were drunk, mami, and I don't mean like regular drunk, I mean DRUNK.” Lupe ended the sentence with a laugh.

"And who’s fault was that?" Saskia muttered under their breath.

"That's perfect, then! We can sneak into their Headquarters and grab our channelers, easy! So long as we avoid that asshole, we haven’t gone through our training arc yet."

Lisa cracked a grin as she sat up, as it was time to mess with Ella. ”... As if you could sneak anywhere, Ella. You’re too dummy thick!” She broke out laughing at her own joke.

"Lisaaaa, that’s mean!" Ella shouted, turning around and pouncing on Lisa playfully. "I can so sneak in places!"

"You can’t for multiple reasons-" Saskia started, before Ella shot out an arm and dragged her into the tussle pile. "Ella, let me go."

Lisa broke out laughing as she started tussling with them. ”... Tiiiiiiiickle fight!” She shouted, as she began trying to tickle Ella.
Lupe just laughed as she leaned against the door with her arms crossed. “You know, mamis,” She began. “There’s something adorable about the three of you.”

"I’m not adorable," Saskia grumbled as she tried her best to wriggle out.

Ella was full on laughing when Lisa got her, seeming to be really ticklish as she properly flailed about. She wasn’t even able to give a counterattack, laughing herself to breathlessness. "I surrender! I surrender! Lisa, you’re too strong!"

Lisa laughed as she let go of Ella.

Soon enough, Lupe pulled her keys out of her pockets and jingled them for a second as she said, “Come on, girls, let’s ride there in my car. Surely we can get them back, right?” As she spoke she moved towards the door, before poking her head through for a moment to ask,

“... Right?”

"Absolutely! They don’t call us the Magical Girls for nothing - we can do anything!" Ella shouted, jumping off the bed to follow Lupe… making sure to grab a shirt on the way (since she was still only in a bra).

"Literally only you call us that, Ella," Saskia pointed out.

Lisa looked at Saskia,

”... Should we start?”

---

A white Nissan Altima pulled into the PRA building’s parking lot… Which was in downtown St. Portwell. There were some construction vehicles posted out front, along with some yellow tape. The upper floors of the building still had activity.

Lupe looked at her passengers in the back seat.

“Now, mamis! I have an incredible plan! Are you ready to have your socks blown off?!” Lupe asked, Lisa jumped in her seat. “We’re going to go in there…”

Lupe paused for dramatic effect.

“... And ask for your channelers back.”

"That’s…" Ella trailed off. Even she seemed at a loss for what to say. "Just a normal plan. An incredible plan would be something like smashing in their window, kicking their asses and taking it back!"

"That would be the fun way," Saskia nodded. "But let’s try Lupe's way first."

Lisa raised an eye brow.

”... Didn't my boyfriend kick our ass, even when we used the Magical Mecha Spider?” She asked.

“Look mami, I don’t like a fed but- Magical Mecha What?” Lupe raised an eyebrow of her own.

"One, he's not your boyfriend," Ella huffed. "Two, we were exhausted after a fight! And he might not be there!"

She then grinned at Lupe. "It's super cool! We combine our magic and form a massive Mecha Spider which we all control! It's made out of metal and shoots light and has a blood shield! It's super cool, like right outta anime!"

Lupe was silent.

“... Cool!”

"It is! Alright, let's go girls!" Ella opened the car door and got out, immediately beginning to storm towards the PRA office, seeming to be looking for the entrance.

"... Let's follow her before she does something stupid," Saskia sighed.

”... It might be funny, you never know!” Lisa laughed.

As Ella walked inside, she was greeted to the lobby that they were in earlier. Still destroyed by the fight earlier but they made an attempt putting new drywall up in one of the rooms. Directly above them was the hole to the interrogation room, Lisa could see some caution tape around it. The room was empty but Lisa pointed to the hole above them.

”Ella, you should fall through that hole so we can sue them for our channelers back!” Lisa suggested.

"And enough money for another laptop," Saskia nodded.

"Oh, if it's for a new laptop!" Ella started looking around as if trying to find out how to get up there so she could fall through the hole. "How do we-"

"We were joking," Saskia rolled their eyes. "I think I saw people inside… there must be stairs somewhere."

Lisa tilted her head. ”... We were?” Before she shrugged, and looked to the door with the sign that said STAIRS., before she walked up to it, opened the door, and then walked up them.

“Hey, mamis!” Lupe ran up as she shouted, “Let’s not run around here, they’re Feds, y’know- fuck it.” Lupe rolled her eyes as she walked up.

Lisa just walked to the second floor and heard some chattering before she followed it. She saw a dim glow between a set of wooden double doors before she walked up, threw them open, and revealed the PRA’s meeting room. Clementine was standing before a projected screen of Morningstar Banking Co. with a wooden pointer stick in her hands. Vanessa was on the other side of the room, in front of a desk with a laptop. Around the room were various Agents, some of which they had met before, and two other - one was a redhaired girl with glasses that stood a little bit taller than average, and the other was ... floating clothes? weird.

They all stared at Lisa, and Lupe ran up in shock. Then she put on an awkward smile and waved at the Agents.

“... God damn, can anyone just walk right in here?” Clementine shouted as she looked at her agents.

“Note, there are only around ten of us, Acting Regional-Commander Washington,” Rush added. “We cannot both guard the entrance and attend the meeting.”

“I’m just wondering why they’re not in cuffs yet..” Jacob rolled his eyes.

"YOU!" Ella shouted, pointing a finger at Jacob, chest heaving up and down. "I bet you’d like that, you bastard, then you could touch me all you want! You creep, you-"

Jacob threw his hands up.

"Ella, please," Saskia sighed, cutting her off. They then looked at Clementine. "We came to get our channelers back. I can give you this in exchange-"

They rummaged in their pockets and pulled out a neatly folded bit of paper. Then they looked at Stauber, and put it away. "Not that one, actually."

"He’s going to ruin everything for you!" Ella yelled, looking at the projected screen. "You’re like- days behind! Anyway, give us our Channellers… and alos fire him!"

While that was happening, Lisa’s eyes locked with the biggest, hunkiest piece of man she had ever seen: Maximilian! He looked even better outside the armor. All his muscles, his chiseled face, Lisa just wished he wrapped his big arms around her and squeezed her to death! Or give her severe internal bleeding! She would gladly see the Hound again if that’s how she went out. An excited smile formed on her face as she shook her fists back and forth.

“Okay, okay, okay!” Clementine waved her hands from left to right. “Let’s all calm down here! If I get your damn Channelers, will you-”

”... BOYFRIEND!”

Lisa screamed as she ran towards Maximilian with her arms outstretched. However, a shimmering blue barrier appeared right before Lisa, and she ran right into it with a thud. She dramatically slid down by her face and stood there. Drats.

Cucked again.

Clementine sighed.

“Okay, as I was saying, if I get you your damn channelers, will you three go ahead?”

“The fuck?” Lupe asked with a face of confusion, “Three? Can’t you see me here, mami!?”

“I’m sorry,” Clementine said. “With them here I honestly didn’t notice you.”

"Not unless you let me kick his sorry ass!" Ella shouted, still pointing at Jacob.

"We three will go," Saskia gestured to herself, Lisa and Lupe. "You can keep Ella."

“... We don't want her either!” Clementine said, throwing her hands into the air.

“No woman left behind, mami!” Lupe shouted.

“Look, Field Medic Obott,” Vanessa said as she stood up, and the red-haired girl with the ponytail also stood up. “Go into evidence locker one-one-three and get the Death Note Bracelet, Spider Necklace, and that stupid toy wand. I’m going to help Clem keep things under control.”

“On it,” Obott ran out of the room.

"It's not a stupid wand, it's a Sailor Moon Moon Stick replica! Be careful with it!" Ella shouted after Obott, shooting a glare at Vanessa. ”Disrespecting my belongings and not firing the bastard who touched me…"

"It's alright, Ella," Saskia walked over to Ella and grabbed her hand, pulling her back. "We'll sort that out later."

“Look, mami,” Lupe put a hand on her shoulder. “Sometimes a guy cops a feel. It’s a part of life.”

“Why you gotta say it like that?” Jacob shrugged, throwing his hands up. “If anything you touched me!”

"You touched my hand first!" Ella yelled.

Lisa pushed herself to her feet.

Only to flip Jacob off.

“Really?” He said.

“Yeah, really?” Clementine said. “You’re making a mess of my morning brief!”

"You show him, Lisa!" Ella grinned.

"If you hadn't taken our channelers we wouldn't mess up anything," Saskia shrugged.

"Yeah," Ella agreed. "You made a mess of us dealing with Morningstar so we make a mess of your morning brief!"

Clementine was silent. Agent Obott ran back in with their channelers, and presented them to the trio. Clementine sighed.

“You three, get the hell out of here before I make a mess out of you!” Clementine shouted, before turning to Maximilian, “Agent Cornell! Escort them out of here!”

“On it!” Maximilian said as he stood up.

Ella narrowed her eyes at him, holding out a hand, snatching up her wand with the other. "We’ll leave peacefully, but can someone else escort us out?"

"Ella’s jealous that Lisa likes him," Saskia explained, slipping their bracelet on their wrist.

"Why would I be jealous?! I just don’t like him!"

Lisa smiled as she snatched her necklace and slid it around her neck. She would have liked it if Maximilian had handed it to her, but Ella probably would have exploded if that happened.

Clementine groaned, resting her hand on her face.

“... I’m getting the Mossberg,” She said as she dropped the shield and walked out of the room. “If you’re all still here by the time I get back; I’m blasting!” She shouted from down the hall

“Look, mami!” Lupe said as she grabbed Ella’s hand. “Let’s just get the fuck outta here! We got what we wanted, so who cares?!” She tried to yank Ella’s hand, as she tried to pull Ella out of the room.

”Oh! Lemme help!” Lisa shouted as she grabbed Ella’s other hand, but she simply caressed Ella’s hand instead of pulling.

Ella glared at Maximilian, but a light blush crossed her cheeks when Lisa started caressing her hand, her head finally turning away from him. "... fine, I guess we’ll get him later."

With one last glare at Maximilian, she started to shuffle her way out.

They made it out the door, and Lisa caressed Ella with one hand and kissed Maximilian with the other. However, the second they were outside, Maximilian disappeared in a burst of speed that only left behind a gust of wind, and Lisa got sad. However, that raised the question as Lisa shrugged.

”... What do we do now?” Lisa asked.

“Mami, mami!” Lupe laughed. “Do you know where you are right now?!”

”... The parking lot of some lame federal agency staring at the most gorgeous woman I ever saw?” Lisa raised an eyebrow.

“While the second part is true-”

”Isn’t the first part also true?” Lisa interrupted.

“Maaaaami! Let me finish!” Lupe shouted, “You’re all in Mirage fuckin’ Springs! It’s discount Vegas, but still! There’s soooooooooo much to do besides trying to beat up a demon-lord-guy-thing, mami!”

"We are already outside, may as well," Saskia said.

"Oh so like, clubs and gambling places? Oh oh can we play cards- wait. We don’t have IDs!" Ella wailed.

“EXCUSES, mami!” Lupe put her hands on her hips and smiled. “If security tries to stop you, just offer to give him a good ol’ mamada in the alley behind the building!” Lupe threw her hands in the air.

"A what?" Ella tilted her head, raising a finger to her chin.

"I think she’s saying to suck him off in the alley," Saskia intoned, lips twitching down just a tad.

Lupe broke out laughing.

"WHAT?! NO WAY! I’m a lesbian! I don’t want to touch a man’s- I don’t want to be near that! No way!"

"I’ll flirt a bit, if needed."

“Oh, dios mios, mami, you’re a trip, you know that?!” Lupe held her stomach.

Lisa put a determined look on her face, fists up, as she valiantly said, ”If she won’t do it, I will![ I’m not afraid of anything!”

Lupe laughed even harder, wiping away a tear, “See, Mami?! She's got the right idea!”

"Lisa, you can’t! It’d- it’d kill you! You’re so small!" Ella wailed.

”If THAT kills me,” Lisa began.”Then I go out with HONOR”

“Dios mios, mami!” Lupe said in between laughter. “You ain't tryna fuck; you tryna FUCK!”

"No, Lisa, you can’t die again!" Ella shouted, practically pouncing on her and wrapping her arms around Lisa tight. "I won’t let it happen!"

"It would be worth it to see the Hound’s reaction," Saskia said with a slight smile.

Lisa was silent, before she spoke.

”... You can’t stop me,” Lisa began. ”No one can.”

Ella was also silent. Her arms around Lisa tightened until they were a strong cage.

"Just try getting away."

”Then maybe my babies can join us!?” Lisa deviously laughed as a swarm of spiders came from all the cracks and under whatever was out of sight and pooled at their feet.

"Your life is more important than my fears!" Ella shouted, squeezing her eyes shut and still holding onto Lisa. "I won’t let you go no matter what!"

"... bet we’ll get into without the sexual favours after all this," Saskia muttered to Lupe.

Without a word, Lisa upped the ante by having the spiders climb up both of their legs.

“I was just teasing, mami!” Lupe laughed. “I didn't think it’d end up like this!”

Ella’s whole face scrunched up, her lips pressed tightly together, but she didn’t move.

"C’mon, guys, break it up," Saskia said without much emotion.

The sharp sound of a shotgun racking cut through the air. Clementine was hanging out outside the door with a Mossberg aimed directly at them.

“When I said get out of ‘here’…” Clementine began, “... The parking lot was included in ‘here’.”

"AHHHH, I DONT WANT SHOT!" Ella shouted. She suddenly picked up Lisa, running towards Lupe's car. Lisa got a titgrab in. "Let's gooooo."

Saskia raised a hand to wave lazily at Clementine as they slowly followed Ella.

“Holy shit, mami! Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Lupe shouted as she opened the passenger side door before running around to the other side and hopping in. When everyone was inside the car, Lupe sped off and left. Once Lupe went on the interstate, she sighed in relief and said,

“.... Who wants to hit up the maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall?!” She grinned.

Paragraphs: Agents of Death [FernStone & Shin Ghost Note]

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When the spider arrived at the Holiday Inn… it shrunk back to its original size. Then the three just walked back into their hotel room. Lisa beelined for the laptop and made sure to hold it with both arms in a death grip.

”... What do we do now?” Lisa asked. ”Jordan and Kim might be dead! Dead! How are we going to pay for the room other than that little trick I pulled… that very illegal trick...” She tugged at her collar before her hand wrapped around the laptop.

"I'm sure your boyfriend made sure they were safe, since he's so great!" Ella grumbled, letting out a very loud huff and flopping into her bed.

Saskia yawned, lying down on their own bed and rolling over to look at them both. "I'm sure they'll be fine… we can always turn to a life of crime. Maybe pick up some hot criminals."

”Oh! Speaking of hot!” Lisa said. ”How about we call Lupe?!”

"Ohhh good idea, just what we need after that," Saskia agreed. They held out their hand. "Ella, your phone."

"You have your own!" Ella grumbled, even as she handed her phone over to Saskia… who easily unlocked it. The password was Sailor Moon's birthday, obviously.

"It's in my pocket, too much effort," Saskia shrugged as they found Lupe's number (which Ella had saved, thankfully) and called her.

After a few rings, Lupe answered.

“... Hello, Mami, what the fuck?!” Lupe asked. “Going to the Morningstar mansion?! All those motherfuckers were heading there… are you three okay?”

"We're fine," Saskia said, switching the call to speaker mode so everyone could hear. "I killed three of the Endless Seven, so it was nothing…"

"Yeah, we had Morningstar! We were gonna kill him!" Ella shouted. "Then Mr Heart Stealer appeared and stole our thunder! And arrested us!!"

”... Ah, yes, he was so big and hunky! I could just give him a smooch!” Lisa swooned, grasping both sides of her cheeks (while keeping the laptop clutched against her chest).

There was an audible silence on Lupe’s end. Before she asked.

“... Are ya’ll in jail right now?”

"Yes, it's awful, they chained us up and are-"

"No! We got away using our smarts and strength!" Ella shouted.

“Aw, cooooooooool, mami! Sounds intense…” Lupe said, before pausing for a moment. “... Wanna hang out?”

"Yes please, I need another sane person around," Saskia said.

”Oh! Why don't you come to our place!! Then we can watch anime if-" Ella looked at Lisa with a wide grin. "Lisa stops hogging the laptop!"

”Never!” Lisa shouted.

“... Why don’t you bitches just buy another one?!” Lupe asked, confused. “Ya’ll flashed some serious cash at Shadynasty’s! Just buy a cheap one! Or two!”

Lupe laughed, “Send me the addy, and I’ll be there.”

"Oh, why didn't we think about that… Lisa, later let's go acquire some cash and buy new laptops!" Ella shouted.

"And headphones," Saskia muttered. "I'll text you that and the room number… see you soon."

Saskia hung up, and texted Lupe with what Holiday Inn they were at along with the exact room. They then flopped back on the bed with a yawn. Why did they feel so tired? Their blood should be replenishing just now-

Saskia shot up, in a speed shocking Ella enough she almost fell off the bed. ”Clem still has our Channelers!"

Lisa reached into her shirt, dropped the laptop, and grabbed her own tiddy in the process, and then put her hands on the side of her face in shock. ”OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Ella leapt forward, snatched up the laptop and did a barrel roll with it off the bed. "It's fine! We can just go get them back! We'll kick down Clem's door-"

”With what magic?"

"... I almost killed a guy without mine," Ella muttered, clutching the laptop close to her chest.

”... And where is Clem’s door again?” Lisa asked, scratching the side of her head. ”Actually, how did they find Morningstar’s lair? Ain’t it weird that they found it conveniently after we got there…?”

"Huh… that is convenient… oh Sailor Moon!" Ella shouted, suddenly dropping down and looking under the bed. "You don't think one of them is spying on us?! That's creepy."

Saskia frowned, looking at Ella being weird and stupid like normal, to Lisa. "... Maybe they snuck a tracking device on us when we slept at theirs."

Lisa shrugged.

”Maybe it’s just a coincidence!” She laughed. ”Saskia! How long before sexy gets here?!”

”Dunno, I'm not tracking her," Saskia shrugged, not even bothering to check Ella's phone… she just threw it onto the other bed. ”How long did it take us to get here from her place last time…"

"It wasn't that long!" Ella said cheerfully. She clambered back onto the bed, holding onto the laptop like her life depended on it. "I hope she brings more alcohol this time!"

Lisa shrugged.

”Who knows? Maybe we should use the laptop to pass time…” Lisa walked towards Ella with her hands out.

"Yeah, we can watch it to watch the latest episode of my anime," Ella said, backing away from Lisa.

”If you two start fighting I’m going to get kidnapped again…" Saskia sighed.

”... I need to, uh, ‘send an email,’” Lisa smiled, approaching Ella. ”Wait… actually, let me see the laptop! We gotta do something.”

"What do we gotta do?" Ella asked suspiciously, grip on the laptop loosening slightly.

Lisa grinned ear to ear.

”... You’ll see,”

There was a visible war across Ella’s face as she made her decision, before hesitantly handing over the laptop. Saskia roused from her lounging state to move onto their bed… they didn’t want to miss this, whatever it was.

"Alright, show us, it better be good!" Ella said.

Lisa hopped on the bed, and immediately googled Facebook, and opened the first page. She went through the process of making a Facebook account, and when she was finished, she turned to the two and said.

”... So, let’s play a game,” Lisa began. ”Give me a full name, and we’ll look ‘im up!”

"Oh, that’s easy! Kari Wil-" Ella caught herself, eyes widening and lower lip trembling. "Wait, Kari’s… Kari’s…"

”Alright, there, there," Saskia said monotonously, slinging an arm over Ella’s shoulders and patting her in an attempt at comforting. They ignored the pang they felt at that too. ”Look up…"

"Jade! I want to know how she’s doing!!" Ella interrupted before Saskia could even finish, bouncing back just like that.

Lisa raised an eyebrow.

”... Clem said that Jade got… you know….” She sighed. ”A shame. She was gorgeous.”

"... Oh yeah," Ella's expression fell. "I was too… distracted by Kari's…"

"Look up Drake then, I bet he's posting edgy memes about it," Saskia said.

"Saskia, that's not nice!"

"What? He got me killed."

”Drake it is, then!” Lisa shouted as she typed in Drake Blackmore’s name. ”You know his sister Amanda was pretty cute! So was Nikki! Victoria was…”

She awkwardly laughed before she hit enter. She found Drake’s Facebook page, and his icon was a picture of him and Jade hugging. The banner showed Jade posing like a model on the shore. Drake seemed just to post photos of Jade, or him and Jade, over and over again….

”Hmmmm…” Lisa scrolled through it all. ”He’s a cop in St. Portwell? Drake Blackmore?” She laughed.

"I bet he'd shoot us if he saw us again!" Ella said, shaking her head. "He was super trigger happy…"

”Maybe if we dig deeper we can gather some incriminating evidence and make him lose his job…" Saskia suggested ominously.

”Or we can put spiders in his boxers!” Lisa laughed.

"I like that plan," Saskia rubbed their hands together with a small, evil smile. "How easily can you do that?"

”Noooo, guys, the poor guy's lost his wife!" Ella shouted. "You know I dislike people like him but as long as he isn't actually shooting people! Let's look up someone more interesting!"

"Oh, look up Sloane…"

"I said someone interesting!"

”Oh! Sloane-y!” Lisa shouted, jumping in her chair as she looked up Sloane Faris… only for the results to turn out empty. ”Aw.”

"See, boring!" Ella shouted, before hitting Lisa's shoulder a couple of times. "Ooo, ooo, look up Luca! I want to know how the little guy is!"

Luca's Facebook page was quite… plain. His banner was a picture of St Portwell harbour at night, and his icon was a slightly blurry, further away photo of him laughing over something taken by someone else. He didn't actually seem to post - most of the posts were Olivia tagging him in things. There were pictures of both of them, always a distance away from each other, or what appeared to be their apartment a couple of years back. There was one weird post about destruction, but otherwise there wasn't much.

Upon seeing Olivia’s name, Lisa squinted.

”... Olivia,” She dramatically said. She quickly clicked her name, then DM’d her a picture of a spider. Nothing else.

A near immediate response came back, reading, ‘who are you?!’

Lisa didn't respond.

”... So who else can we look up?!” Lisa asked.

"Let's look up Britney and send her hate mail," Saskia said. "For what she did to Luca and the others…"

"Or- orrrrrr~" Ella sang, leaning towards Lisa with a grin. "We look up your future wife, Adora!"

Lisa dramatically gasped, holding both sides of her face.

”... Why didn't I think of that?!”

Lisa immediately typed in Adora’s name, middle name and everything… Only to find nothing.

”Huh? Weird…”

"Maybe you spelt her name wrong?!" Ella shouted, leaning in towards the laptop.

”She’s the love of my life!” Lisa shouted back. ”How could I get her name wrong?!”

"I bet if we look hard enough… we can still find something about her…" Saskia said, with a shrug. "Oh, maybe if we look through Vanessa or Clementine…"

Complying, Lisa looked up Clementine Washington. Though several names popped up, a few of the profiles were blank. Others were obviously not Clementine. Same with Vanessa.

”Drats…” Lisa said.

"I guess we'll have to get creative…" Saskia tilted their head, thinking about it. Someone who Adora had been close to… well, aside from Lisa, who had she been close to? Maybe they should just try someone smart. "Try Greta, she always knew everything."

"Oh yeah, I want to know how Greta's doing!"

”... Gretchen, you mean,” Lisa smugly said. ”Her name is Gretchen.”

Lisa immediately typed in Gretchen Faust… only to not find her and have to type in “Greta Faust.” Then, after some digging, because there are a lot of old ladies named Greta Faust, they found their Greta, and she looked different. She dyed her hair red and started rocking the punk aesthetic. There weren’t a lot of pictures of Greta, though, and some very awkward selfies. There was a period where Greta spammed a bunch of weird sex stuff, though (especially a sex tips for nerds), and incoherent rambling about how she loved potions.

”... Awwwwwww, she’s so cute!” Lisa moaned. ”I wonder if her butt’s still big as I remember it being… eh, I’ll have to find out after we get through this, right, gals?”

"She is super cute! I love the new hair colour!" Ella grinned.

"... I'm interested in the sex tips…" Saskia reached over to scroll back up to them, quickly reading them. Very interesting… "You know, we don't have to wait. Message her now and ask for a picture of her butt."

”Okay!” Lisa ecstatically said, before doing it. No remorse. No thought. Just asking for a booty pic off rip.

A few minutes passed, and Greta responded witha succinct: “who the hell is this?”

Lisa was silent.

”... What do I tell her?”

"I've got this, move aside!" Ella leaned right into Lisa so she could reach the laptop keyboard. Her tongue poked out slightly as she wrote.

'This is Ella! Do you remember me? ╰(⸝⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝⸝)╯ it's been a while!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧’

It took her so long because she was painstakingly typing out the emojis… Saskia watched and rolled her eyes. "That won't work."

They also pushed into Lisa's personal space and took control of the keyboard.

'Hello Greta. This is Saskia Otten, of Sycamore Tree. I'm here with Ella Brooks and Lisa Turner. We were wondering if your butt is as big as Lisa remembers. Please confirm. Thanks.’

There was a silence on Greta’s end.

A few moments later, she sent a request for a video call. Lisa looked to Saskia, then Ella, before hitting accept and the view on Greta’s end was a dimly lit desk. She was sitting in front of the camera with a white lab coat on. Greta stared at them for a moment.

“... I had to see it for myself,” Greta spoke in her usual nasally voice. “Now that I see your faces, there is no doubt about it….”

She paused for a moment, “But… Why? Why did you three come back now…?”

"Everyone keeps asking us that!" Ella said, slamming her hands on her thighs in exasperation. "We don’t know!"

"Someone called in a favour," Saskia explained. "We don’t know who or why, just that we get a second chance if we do a few things for the Hound."

“I mean…” Greta trailed off, “I do appreciate having you three back… And no one is as weird as you three, by the way.” Greta pushed her glasses up her nose.

Lisa was bouncing up and down in her seat. Ella grinned.

“What does the Hound want you to do?” Greta asked.

"He wants us to kill Morningstar!" Ella shouted.

"We’re in Mirage Springs right now to do that… We almost had him twice," Saskia’s voice lowered, and her hands twitched with the overwhelming urge to draw Morningstar dying. "We’ve killed most of his evil minions."

“Now… I have no clue about who Morningstar is,” Greta said. “But, I-”

”... GRETCHEN!”

Lisa loudly screeched, interrupting the conversation.

”How are you doing friend?! How’s life?! You look sooooooooooo cute! It’s so great to see you!”
“Lisa…” Greta said, a tear running down her eye, before she quickly tried to wipe it away before they noticed. “I am… so glad to have you back… I…” She couldn’t hold it anymore, and began crying profusely.

“... I missed you so much, Lisa!” Greta shouted. “I… I can’t put it into words!”

Lisa placed her hand against the laptop scene.

”I’m sorry I was away. I… I am glad to be back,” Lisa laughed. ”I think we all are! Right girls!?”

"Yeah! I’ve never been happier to be alive- do you have any idea how much anime’s been made in the last ten years?!" Ella grinned, before forming a heart with her hands towards the camera. "I missed you Greta!"

"It certainly beats dying… that sucked…" Saskia intoned, before looking straight on at the camera. "So, show us your ass, Greta. We need to judge if its improved."

Greta gave them a blank face. The tears stopped flowing.

She pressed a key and disconnected the call.

”... Aw, man.”

"Damn, I was getting excited," Saskia sighed, flopping back.

”Horny!” Lisa said.

Saskia discreetly turned her head to try and look at Ella’s ass instead.

It was made easier when Ella jumped up, yelling, "When’s Lupe getting here?! It’s been ages!"

”Oh, come on Ella, she's probably putting makeup on or-” Lisa said with a shrug before she was interrupted by an explosion of pink light and smoke.

“... Ya’ll ready to party, mami?!”

Lupe screamed as she held two large brown bags full of booze.

Ella screamed too, launching herself at Lupe with a foot outstretched. Midway through the jump kick she realised who it was and awkwardly twisted, falling on the bed.

"I’m always ready to party," Saskia said, very much sounding and looking like she was never ready to party.

"Lupe!" Ella shouted excitedly, jumping up off the bed and towards Lupe in a hug rather than an attack. "I’m so happy to see you! Oh, what drinks did you bring this time?!"

“You know, basic shit, mami!” Lupe said as she put the bags down on the counter. She dug through the bag as she said, “Vodka, rum, tequila…” She said with a purr, as she gave them a flirtatious look.

Lupe kept going through the bags until she grabbed a bottle, before she dramatically said, “... But it's time for you gals to enter the big leagues.”

"What’s that?" Ella gasped dramatically, getting in real close to the bottle.

Saskia narrowed their eyes. "... but Lisa almost died last time."

“That just means she gotta build a tolerance, mami!” Lupe said before she whipped a bottle of Everclear and presented it to the group. “I’m going to put a little bit of this in all your drinks! Just a little bit!” Lupe pinched her fingers together.

"I’m down! I want to get properly drunk this time!" Ella shouted, skipping away to pull out the little glasses they had in their room. "Let’s get started!"

“Oooh, you’re gonna get drunk alright, mami!” Lupe deviously laughed.

"Can we play spin the bottle again?" Saskia asked. "This time I’ll master kissing."

“Unfortunately, mami,” Lupe sympathetically said with a shrug as she prepared some drinks. “I didn't bring any empty bottles. So you know what that means, right, mami…?”

"We gotta drink a whole bottle!" Ella shouted, throwing her arms in the air.

"Ohh, perfect, I need you all drunk enough that you don't notice the biting…" Saskia said in a low voice.

A few moments later, Lupe had finished the first round of drinks. Which were sprite, vodka, and just a teeny bit of Everclear. She put them on the desk.

“Mami! Ya’ll got any speakers in here?!” Lupe curled a finger through her hair and put her weight on one hip. “How are we gonna party without some music?! Dios mios!”

"We can sing! Me and Lisa are great at it!" Ella shouted, grabbing a cup and taking a big gulp of it.

"Or we just play it out a phone…" Saskia said, more sensibly sipping the drink she'd picked up.

Lisa silently took a sip of her drink.

“Jesus, Mami!” Lupe said to Ella. Before she looked at the laptop. “Hand that to me, mami,”

Ella looked at the laptop, then at Lisa, then at Lupe again. She reluctantly handed it over.

"I need to ask…" Saskia said, drinking more… and it already started going to their head. Everything was slightly fuzzy. "Lupe, if a friend asked, would you show them your ass."

“I mean…” Lupe said as she prepared her own drink. “... Back in the day; no. But now, who gives a shit, mami? If it makes someone’s day, why not?”

"See," Saskia sighed, taking a long drink. "Greta was just being a bad friend… I would if anyone here asked…"

”Maybe she’s saving it for when we get back!" Ella shouted, finishing her first drink already, and holding it out to Lupe. "More, please!"

“Mami…” Lupe rolled her eyes. “If she don't want to show her ladybits, that don't make her a bad friend…”

"Oh," Saskia tilted their head, thinking about it. They guessed Lupe was right about that…

Lupe then shrugged as she quickly made another drink for Ella. Once it was done, she handed it to Ella and said, “... Slow down, mami! It’ll creep up on ya’!” Lupe stuck her tongue out, sat on the sofa with the laptop, and played with it for a moment.

”I want it to, last time the other two got wayyyy more drunk than me," Ella grinned. She then skipped over to Lisa, leaning in and whispering, ”do you still want to look at her tiddies?!"

”Of course!” Lisa estatically (and loudly) said.

Ella nodded in understanding. "Remember what she said… if you want something you gotta ask for it. You can do it!"

Saskia rolled their eyes at them both, sitting down on the sofa next to Lupe and leaning over to watch whatever she was doing on the laptop.

”I mean, I do want it!” Lisa shouted. ”But, what if she thinks I’m weird?!”

“... I already think you’re weird, mami!” Lupe noted as she typed away… scrolling through YouTube looking for music. “What’s a good song for your nerd asses… Ah-hah!” Lupe shouted as the laptop played some music at max volume. It wasn’t too loud, but sufficient.

---

Back to Life - Mystery Skulls

---

"Weird is good, embrace it, Lisaaaa!" Ella shouted, after another big swig of her drink.

Saskia closed her eyes for a moment, tilting her head to listen to the music. Not… her kind of music at all. Part style rarely was but the lyrics were apt. She could appreciate it. Thinking about the song made her miss writing her own. She hadn’t had time or the peace to do it. Maybe once this was all over.

"OHH I GET IT- Coming back to life!" Ella half sang, catching onto the chorus quickly. "It does feel good coming back to life!"

”Yes! We all get a second chance to live,” Lisa shouted.

“Now you get it, mami!” Lupe raised her drink in the air. “Let’s toast! Hopefully ya’ll keep slappin’ that bitch ass motherfucker Morningstar around!”

"Yeah, he’ll be regretting his evil once we’re done with him!" Ella shouted, raising her drink and splashing a little.

"Oh, he will," Saskia smirked, lazily raising their drink. "To murdering Morningstar, Lisa getting a hunky boyfriend, and Ella finding someone real."

”... That’s not her uncle!” Lisa shrieked, raising her drink.

Lupe tapped her drink with the others.

---

Some time later.

”WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Lisa shouted as she hung from the ceiling by her foot.

“Come down, mami!” Lupe shouted, as she danced, the music blaring. “You can’t dance on the ceiling... crazy.”

"Noooo, Lisa, you’ll hurt yourself!" Ella shouted, standing in the middle of the room waving her arms at Lisa… in just her bra and underwear. She’d said she was going to change out of the boring, black outfit she had on but seemed to forget halfway through. Saskia didn’t remind her. "Youuu’re too sexyyyyy to get huuurrttt!"

"She’s on the floor for me," Saskia said, giggling. She lay on the bed with her head upside down.

”I’m fine, watc-” Lisa disconnected from the ceiling, and loudly screamed as she fell from the ceiling and hit the floor. ”... Ouch.”

"LISA!!" Ella screamed, running over to Lisa and falling to her knees with a dramatic wail.

“Dios, mios, mami!” Lupe shouted as she ran over to Lisa. She put her hands on Lisa, and a wave of pink light overcame her. It began healing her, but Lupe noticed something on her feet. “... Oh, mami, you got burns!”

”... I was casting without mah’ channeler!” Lisa shouted.

“... Why would you go and do that, mami?” Lupe asked.

”... I wanted to look cool in front of my friends. That’s all…” Lisa moaned.

"You always look cool to me, Lisaaaa!" Ella sobbed, tears suddenly streaming down her cheeks as she grabbed Lisa’s hand. "You’re gonna make it through this!"

"Oh," Saskia sat up suddenly, falling off the bed with an off as their head suddenly spun. They had a brilliant idea. An idea so brilliant they deserved a… fancy smart person reward for it. "Let’s go get our channelers back."

“Hahaha! In the morning, you mean?” Lupe laughed, as she kept both hands on Lisa. “Ya’ll drunk as hell!”

Lisa raised a finger in the air.

”... I just want to see some titties,”

"Are mine not enough?!" Ella shouted, gesturing to her chest.

”... I need more!”

"Enough about titties," Saskia’s head popped back up over the bed. "We should do it tonight otherwise… Morningstar might get us…"

“If he was going to get ya’ll, he would have done so by now!” Lupe shouted. “C’mon, mami, I know ya’ll drunk. Do ya’ll even know where they are?”

"Yeah, our friends in the PRA have them!" Ella said, dramatically gesturing towards the window.

“One, mami,” Lupe raised a finger. “The feds ain’t your friends.”

Then she raised another finger, “Do you know where they are?”

”... Titty?” Lisa said.

"Yes," Saskia agreed, nodding with a look of sage wisdom they definitely didn’t have. "They are… at the… titty…"

Saskia completely lost their train of thought, trailing off while looking like they’d just given some kind of nobel peace prize worthy speech.

"They’re probably at their police headquarters! I bet that horrible man has them now," Ella ground her teeth. "He put his hands all over me! They’re all the same! Stauber, him- they just want to touch me!”

”... Something they have in common with your uncle!” Lisa shouted as Lupe took her hands off her.

“Mami, slow down,” Lupe got up, and she made another drink for the three. “Ya’ll fucked up right now! You’re only going to get in trouble!”

"Maybe I want to get in trouble," Saskia said, eyes narrowing. "Maybe I want to… be… tortured… why isn’t torture cool anymore…"

"Torture was never cool!” Ella shouted, grabbing the new drink Lupe had made them and knocking it back. "But you know what is cool?”

"Here we go again."

"The latest anime I’m watching, it’s about-”

“Look, mami,” Lupe said, interrupting Ella. “You don’t want to be tortured! Sounds like you want to get down with some freaky BDSM shit! Whips and chains and all that!”

"Yes, I want BDSM torture."

She finished the drinks… which had a lot more Everclear than before.

“Well, before you get tortured or something: come get your drinks!” Lupe announced. “Another toast!”

”... Yay!” Lisa shouted as she ran over and began drinking without a second thought - though she stopped to cough for a moment.

“Yeah, drink it up, mami!” Lupe shouted.

Saskia took hers and drank it a little slower than Lisa. The burning taste didn’t bother them, with a heavy haze over her mind stopping her from feeling much at all. It tasted pretty nice. Oh, yeah, the burn really added to it.. Saskia tilted her head back and finished the whole thing. "Let’s get… fucked!"

"Yeahhh!” Ella shouted, grimacing as she drank. ”Oh! Oh! We should play a game! A different game! Lupe, know any other games?”

“Mami! Stop acting like you don’t just want to make out with each other!” Lupe laughed, as she made them even more to drink (with more Everclear than ever before). “We’re going to be playing the drinking game! Where we keep drinking until one of us passes out! Last woman standing wins; you in?!”

”You know I am!” Lisa shouted.

"I'm going to win!" Ella shouted, finishing her current drink. "A magical girl never backs downnnnnnn!"

"Pass," Saskia mumbled. The drinks were too nice to stop but… they were so sleepy already. Maybe they could keep going if they replenished their blood… ooo… that was a good idea… They winced as a burn wound up their wrist and the rate at which their blood replenished sped up. Which didn't make them any less drunk, but they'd lost a lot earlier.

“You mean pass-out?” Lupe laughed as she walked over to Saskia with a drink in hand and a smile on her face… then she saw the burns on her arms. “Dios mios, can you three keep it in ya’ pants for a bit? You’re hurting yourselves.” She placed a gentle hand on the side of Saskia’s face as a pink light pulsed over their skin.

"I lost a lotta blood," Saskia mumbled, leaning her face into Lupe’s hand. "Gotta get it back with magic… so I don’t lose…"

"Oh yeah! Saskia went crazyyy today! Like, she killed three people alone then fought us. It was insane! Like- boom! Kapow!" Ella started acting out ‘the fight’ though it really just looked like flailing about… in her underwear. "Lisa had to melt her face off!"

”Yeah, I threw acid in Saskia’s face like I was an incel!” Lisa laughed.

“Jesus, mami,” Lupe laughed. “Yeah, and Morningstar sent everybody to his mansion… actually, how the fuck did you three find their lair?”

"Torture," Saskia said helpfully… which was almost true. Sort of. Not that they’d properly tortured her but she had been spun around a bunch.

"Saskia got kidnapped by these weirdos and they gave her the location!" Ella said, stopping her weird movements to explain. "The… something house. I don’t remember!"

“... Dollhouse, mami?” Lupe tilted her head as she kept her hand against Saskia’s face. “Um, shit, I wouldn’t trust them if I were you… They’re shady. The shadiest of the shady. Like everyone was scared of them back in Florida, mami. Everyone. They gotta be playin’ an angle here. You know, an ulterior motive?”

"Of course we don’t trust them, they gave Saskia a stone that made her go insane! And they kidnapped her!" Ella shouted indignantly.

"I was so powerful with it," Saskia said wistfully. It had been nice… the slight insanity aside. Really, wasn’t everyone a little insane? Didn’t everyone punch holes in walls every now and then and try to kill their friends? "Why did you throw it awayyyyyyyy?!"

”... Because it was dangerous and made you crazy!” Lisa shouted.

“... They’re gonna want it back, y’know, mami?” Lupe sighed. “They might torture you. They like the Cartels in Mexico!” Lupe awkwardly laughed.

“I heard a story about them, mami, through the Society. They had this business partner, and he tried to scam them, like uh… I’m not sure about the details, but they didn’t go after him,” After Saskia was fully healed, Lupe released their face. “Oh, no, mami, they went after his family. His wife and two kids? They went missing. Then like a month later, these little giftboxes appeared around his house, job, and places he frequented. And take a guess what was inside of them…?”
"Oh no," Ella gasped, eyes widening and a hand slapping over her mouth. "They didn’t-"

"How many pieces did his family come back in?" Saskia asked calmly.

“Liiiiiiiike, um, who knows,” Lupe shrugged. “They’d open the boxes and there would be a finger or a toe - or a hand without any fingers or toes - sometimes an ear or a nose. But, nothing like definite, you know. Nothing that’d make papi go ‘Yep, they’re dead’...”

"Noooooo I don’t want my family sent to me in little pieces!" Ella screamed, holding her face and collapsing to her knees.

"We’re more likely to be the ones sent in pieces," Saskia pointed out. "They kidnapped me real easily."

“Well,” Lupe shrugged. “After you take care of Morningstar, what are ya’ll going to do next? Skip town?”

I wish, I think we gotta go back to the Hound! He said he had two tasks for us… even after killing that bastard we’ll have more to do!" Ella wailed.

”I mean..” Lisa shrugged. ”We’re back to life, right? You can’t complain about that..”

“Hopefully, it’s somewhere else,” Lupe said, “Don’t fuck with Dollhouse, Mami. They built different!”

"Yeah, especially that shapeshifter," Saskia agreed. "She pointed a gun at me the whole time."

”Don’t worry, Lupe! After we’re done with Morningstar and our other task, we’ll go straight home to St Portwell, right, girls?!"

“... That’s where they’re located.” Lupe facepalmed.

”Whhhhatttt no way!" Ella shouted, looking very panicked. ”Then where do we go?! We gotta save our coven from a murderer- but we can’t if we’re chopped into pieces- ahhhhh!"

“Good grief, mami,” Lupe continued facepalming. “You know what? All of ya’ll are thoroughly fucked up - no position to think. So, let’s just keep drinking!” Lupe grabbed her drink and downed all of it.

"Ella’s never in a position to think," Saskia mumbled, finishing off her drink and leaning back against a bed. She was so sleepy, but she couldn’t sleep… then she’d lose.

”You guys just don’t understand meeee!" Ella wailed. She held out her empty cup to Lupe. ”Another! I need to drink to cope with how mean everyone is to me!!"

“That’s not what I meant- know what?” Lupe said as she went and made Ella another drink… same as before, but with a little less Everclear. Then she made the other two more drinks, too. “Drink up! We got a whole ass night ahead of us!” She laughed.

“Another toast! To whatever this time!” Lupe shouted as she raised her drinks, silent momentarily before saying. “Grab your drinks!”

---

Later on…

Vomiting.

Lisa was on her hands and knees, throwing up on the floor, literally expelling everything, including spiders. She huffed twice, ”... Ooooooooh my God! What… did you do to us!?”

“Mami, the fuck?!” Lupe shouted - now topless - before adding on, “Throw up in the toilet! Ya’ll gotta clean this up, hehehe!” She laughed.

”Saskia won't budge from the toilet!" Ella wailed. She lay in the door in between their room and the bathroom.

Saskia was slumped over the toilet, throwing up everything she had inside of her - mostly alcohol and bile, along with a little bit of blood. The more alcohol she threw up the more with it she felt, still seeing the others out of the corner of her eye… but she overall just felt fucking awful. "You can come… join me…"

“The fuck, mami!?” Lupe laughed, shouting out loud. “You tryna’ get freaky in the toilet?! Ya’ll got two beds! Two! Have some dignity!”

"No, I just mean we can both- blergh," Saskia was interrupted by another round of vomiting, shoving their head right in the toilet bowl. Once they were done they sat back up, swaying. "Puke together. Friends that puke together stay together…"

”No, Saskia, that’s gross!"

”I’m-” Lisa tried to say before she projectile vomited across the room. ”-in!” She shouted as she ran into the bathroom without a second thought.

“Dios mios!” Lupe shouted, shaking her head. “I shouldn’t have given you all that damn Everclear! I just didn’t want you crazy bitches to be a menace out in the streets! That’s all!”

”I’ll be a menace if I want to be a menace!" Ella shouted, flailing her arms and legs all over the place. She was like a child having some kind of weird temper tantrum. Unlike the other two she’d thrown up a couple of times and seemed to be ‘fine.’

“Look, we had a deal: if you three stay in, I would take my chichotas out!” Lupe pointed at her breasts.

"You’re hurting my head, Ella," Saskia groaned, shuffling over so there was room for Lisa beside them. They weren’t sure they had anymore to throw- oh, they did, there it went, right into the toilet, more vomit. "When will this end…"

“In the morning… maybe later, mami!” Lupe laughed. “I should have brought some water! Just drink some water out the si-”

The door clicked.

It opened.

Kimberly and Jordan walked in wearing an entirely new set of clothes (matching black leggings and T-shirts). Jordan’s jaw dropped as Kimberly put on an overdramatic expression of shock and horror.

“... The hell going on in here?!” Jordan shouted.

”Kimmmmmmm, Jordannnnnnnn!" Ella wailed, turning around and… flopping over to them on her stomach. ”We thought you were dead!!"

"Oh no," Saskia muttered, leaning back with a groan. "Mom and dad are here."

”I missed you!" Ella sobbed, having reached them and suddenly clinging to Kimberley’s legs.

“Awwwwwww… I missed you, too,” Kimberly smiled as she embraced Ella. “... But you’re crushing my foot!”

”Kim… Jordan…” Lisa tried to say before she spewed up more.

“Good grief!” Jordan shouted as she raised a hand in the air. The room was wrapped in a coral-pink hue, and time was reversed until it was spotless. The trio were still inebriated.“Well…” Jordan shrugged as she walked over to the rum, grabbed one of the plastic cups and poured herself some rum. Straight. No mixers.

“... Mom and dad need a fuckin’ drink.” She said as she took a sip.

“Well, help yourselves!” Lupe laughed.

”Oh, this is Lupe!" Ella shouted, moving off Kimberley’s foot but still clinging to her. She somehow seemed the… most sober of the three. Which wasn’t saying much. ”We told you about her!"

"She warned us that Morningstar's minions were coming for us," Saskia said, slumped against the bathroom wall. Finally she didn’t feel like throwing up anymore.

“Thanks,” Kimberly laughed, before extending a hand. “It’s great to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you, too, mami!” Lupe shook her hand. “We’re just partying to blow off some steam....”

Kimberly and Jordan looked at each other.

“... You know what?” Kimberly laughed.

“Let’s cut loose!” Jordan shouted, throwing a hand into the air.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Preeeeeeeeeeesenting the final draft for all the Joint-Casts (so far)!

Drake's Joint-Casts

THE PHALANX (Joint-Casts) ⫻ Not a discipline, or even Joint-Casts, but a testament to the trust and synergy among Drake Blackmore's closest friends and allies.

Phantom-Blade ⫻ A Joint-Cast between Drake and Stormy-Carson, infusing his electric weaponry with Drake's Voltblade. This Joint Cast creates a typical Voltblade (or alternately, Voltbuster), except the lightning is a wispy green color similar to Stormy's auras. This blade typically functions like Drake's electric weaponry (It's solid, shocks foes, etc.), except it cleaves through Apparitions, weakening their abstractions and causing them immense damage. Even the strongest Apparition falls before the Phantom-Blade, and it can damage Apparitions inside of Adjoined and Abscised.

Barrier-Storm ⫻ A joint-cast between Drake Blackmore and Stormy Carson that turns Stormy's shields into a force of raw destruction. Ultizing their Luxes, Drake and Stormy create a raw and destructive tornado out of razor-sharp, spinning barriers that travel a short distance before disappearing. In that short time, the Barrier Storm can ravage even the strongest of foes and can leave untold destruction on a battlefield; however, it must be used wisely.

Penetration ⫻ A potent Joint-Cast between Drake Blackmore, and Linqian Han... with a very amusing, yet fitting, name. Both of them stand side-by-side and stick their hands out, aiming them at the target, and using their Red-Lux, create a blast of burning-hot energy that is hot enough to burn through most metals instantly and penetrate most magical barriers.

Doomsday ⫻ A Joint-Cast between Kenshiro Murakin, and Drake, and their ultimate weapon if cast successfully. It is a potent orb of plasma that is several shades of blue and grows larger and larger as the Joint-Cast goes on. In addition, using both of their Purple-Lux, it telekinetically pulls anything towards it, bypassing Emotional-Fields, like the gravitational pull of a planet. It gets stronger the closer to it an object or person gets, to the point where it will be impossible for the fastest Paranormals to escape.

Thunder-Dragon ⫻ A Joint-Cast between Drake and Aislin Rose... a Spell that combines their Red-Lux, and utilizes Drake's Purple-Lux, and Aislin's Gold Lux. When cast, a powerful telekinetic effect hits the environment that yanks objects off the ground, from small objects to heavy ones like entire cars - it will even begin to pull objects apart if needed. This telekinesis builds a giant dragon out of anything, and once it is complete, it will electrify and become a massive floating dragon that the two will ride upon and fly around. Using their Red Lux, they can guide dangerous electrical attacks as they rain hell from above.

Portal of Bravery ⫻ A Joint-Cast between all four Blackmore siblings, personally taught to them by their father Adam. All four Blackmore siblings stand in a circle, aiming their hands at the center and channeling their Purple Lux to create a massive portal that looms over the environment. This portal leads to a realm of nothing but white and fires an incredibly massive and potent blast of white energy that is strong enough to make the Stygian Snake retreat after a lengthy encounter. The Portal to Bravery is one of the most potent Joint Cast in the Old Coven; however, it requires all four Blackmore siblings, and Charles lives in Miami, so the Blackmore siblings can't cast it.

Healing-Storm ⫻ A Joint-Cast between Drake and his now-deceased wife, Jade. It was created during the battle with the Stygian Snake, and the two joined hands together to alter the weather conditions to create a localized lightning storm. However, this isn't a regular lightning storm, but green-colored lightning will rain down on an area, healing everyone near the strike. This Joint-Cast is unpredictable but could heal the Old Coven during their longer engagements with the Stygian Snake. It requires Jade, who is currently... deceased.

LIMITS

THE PHALANX ⫻

Phantom-Blade ⫻ The blade is only helpful against Apparitions, and is utterly useless everything else. Drake has to remain within Stormy's ten-meter radius to keep the Phantomblade going. The creation of the Phantom-Blade drains both Drake and Stormy of a significant portion of their energy, leaving them exhausted and vulnerable after its use.

Barrier-Storm ⫻ The barrier Storm will travel only up to five-meters before it completely disappears, and it is tough to control once launched.

Penetration ⫻ The spell requires a few moments to charge, requires precise aiming, and synergy between Drake and Linqian to use effectively. The Penetration spell can only be cast once an hour.

Doomsday ⫻ This Joint-Cast takes a significant amount of time to charge and requires uninterrupted concentration from both Drake and Kenshiro, making them easy targets during the process. It can only be cast once an hour.

Thunder-Dragon ⫻ Building the Thunder-Dragon requires time and concentration, making its creation vulnerable to interruption. If either Drake or Aislin loses focus or concentration during the creation of the Thunder-Dragon, the spell may fail or backfire, potentially causing harm to themselves or others nearby. The dragon's control depends on the synergy between Drake and Aislin, which can be difficult under stress.

Portal of Bravery ⫻ The Portal of Bravery is a mighty Spell... however, it requires all four Blackmore siblings to be present in a location, and unfortunately one of them lives on the other side of the country. Thus, the joint cast cannot be used at all. Opening the Portal of Bravery requires a charge-up time of around twenty minutes, during which the Blackmores are stationary and entirely vulnerable.

Healing-Storm ⫻ The Healing-Storm is unpredictable, with lightning strikes healing randomly within the area, potentially missing some intended targets. It requires specific weather conditions to be most effective.

WEAKNESSES

THE PHALANX ⫻

Phantom-Blade ⫻ The Phantom-Blade is extra vulnerable to the magic used by Adepts and Aberrations, and can easily be destroyed by them.

Barrier-Storm ⫻ The spinning barriers within the storm can inadvertently harm allies or innocent bystanders caught within its path, making it challenging to use safely in crowded or chaotic environments. It cannot be controlled once unleashed, and it will randomly rampage around the area and can injure Stormy and Drake, as well as their allies.

Penetration ⫻ The charging time required for the Penetration spell leaves Drake and Linqian immobile, and exposed to enemy attacks. They cannot cast any other spells while charging Penetration.

Doomsday ⫻ The lengthy charging process for the Doomsday Joint-Cast renders Drake and Kenshiro immobile and defenseless, making them easy targets for enemy attacks during this time. If interrupted during the casting of Doomsday, Drake and Kenshiro risk a catastrophic backlash of energy, potentially causing severe harm to themselves and their surroundings. The immense gravitational pull created by Doomsday can inadvertently draw unintended objects or allies into its orbit, leading to unintended consequences or collateral damage.

Thunder-Dragon ⫻ Despite its formidable presence, the Thunder-Dragon is highly susceptible to water-based attacks or environments. Direct exposure to water can short-circuit its electrified form, causing it to lose cohesion and dissipate rapidly. The Thunder-Dragon has a glowing weak point on its chest that can cause the Thunder-Dragon to fall apart if damaged enough.

Portal of Bravery ⫻ The lengthy charge-up time required to open the Portal of Bravery renders the Blackmore siblings stationary and defenseless, making them easy targets. Suppose the casting of the Portal of Bravery is disrupted or interrupted. In that case, the energy buildup required for the spell may release uncontrollably and can severely injure or even kill the Blackmore siblings.

Healing-Storm ⫻ The unpredictable nature of the Healing-Storm's lightning strikes makes it difficult to control or direct the healing effects, potentially leaving allies untreated or causing unintended harm to nearby individuals.

Britney's Joint-Casts

MODE: MYCORRHIZAL NETWORK ⫻ Not quite a discipline like Mode: Earth or Mode: Sea, Mode: Mycorrhizal Network is a collection of Britney's Joint-Casting Spells.

The Pink Lotus Blossoms ⫻ A Joint-Cast between "Edict" Devola, and Britney, and a simple combination of their two affinities into one potent effect. The Pink Lotus Blossoms create several glowing pink plants in the environment, which blossom and release a soothing glow. However, anyone in the vicinity of these plants is affected by an Emotion-altering aura, amplified by the Joint Cast, which bypasses Emotional-Fields. For example, the flowers can exude an aura of intense fear to scare someone off, or they can create an aura of overwhelming. Britney and Edict must decide on what emotion these flowers exude and have to be in harmony when this is Joint-Casted or else the flowers will immediately wither and rot away. They are immune to the effects of the flower.

Forest Glyph ⫻ A Joint-Cast between Britney and Lynette Domínguez, where the two of them create a glowing Glyph on the ground in the shape of a tree... and in the radius of this Glyph, the two of them gain incredibly potent Floramancy, as Lynette's Orange-Lux gives it a potent boost. However, while the Glyph is active, they can only use Floramancy.

Moonflower ⫻ By joining their hands together, Jack and Britney can mix their forms of red and purple Lux together to create a flower that glows in the light. A Moonflower floats around one or both of them, making them experience low gravity. With the spell active, Jack or Britney can move twice as fast, carry twice as much, and jump twice as high. Moonflowers can be given to others, and will wilt after 30 minutes.

Saturnian Glow ⫻ Jack and Britney combine their Umbramancy and Lumomancy spells to form a swirling orb of energy. The surroundings grow dimmer as it practically eats the light away. When fired, this “Saturnian energy” eats away at physical matter and energy alike, as if matter and antimatter had collided.

Winds of Midnight ⫻ Jack charges Britney’s Hyetomancy with purple Lux, allowing them both to fly in any direction that Britney wishes. To maintain this, they must stay within 15 feet of one another. Britney’s wind magic is capable of telekinetically pulling objects and people as if she were a purple Adept, so long as she is with Jack.

LIMITS:

MODE: MYCORRHIZAL NETWORK ⫻

The Pink Lotus Blossoms ⫻ Britney and Edict must be in a state of harmony when casting this spell. Any conflict or disagreement between them will cause the flowers to wither instantly, and cause it to be a waste of energy/resources. The emotion emitted by the flowers cannot change once selected; if the situation changes and they require a different emotion, they must recast the spell from scratch. The emission of the emotional aura drains energy from both Britney and Edict, and they can only maintain the spell for a maximum of 10 minutes before fatigue makes it impossible to go further. The flower has a range of twenty-five meters.

Forest Glyph ⫻ While the Forest Glyph is active, Britney and Lynette are limited to Floramancy spells. This restriction means Britney cannot access any spells within Mode: Sea or Mode: Sky and Lynette cannot use any of her other glyphs while the Forest Glyph is active. The radius for the Forest Glyph is set within a 20-meter diameter, and they cannot use any magic outside of it. Due to the high energy output, this spell has a cooldown period of approximately 30 minutes after it ends before it can be cast again.

Moonflower ⫻ Using a Moonflower can be awkward if one isn't accustomed to it. Experiencing gravity less when you aren't expecting it can cause you to trip easily, or misjudge how fast you are moving. The antigravity sensation of a Moonflower also doesn't take into account added weight a person might take on after the first assigning of one. Meaning it won't let someone pick up an extra hundred pounds a few minutes after receiving one. Moonflowers cannot be given to people with an emotional field unless they accept it willingly.

Saturnian Glow ⫻ Due to the weakness of Britney's Lumomancy, the Saturnian Glow is inherently weak, and often best for destroying things that need to be destroyed in a controlled environment. It isn't ideal for a fight in any way unless Britney improves her spells.

Winds of Midnight ⫻ Winds of Midnight was invented to compensate for Britney's weak wind magic. Therefore, their mobility is entirely dependent on her, meaning it isn't very fast.

WEAKNESSES:

MODE: MYCORRHIZAL NETWORK ⫻

The Pink Lotus Blossoms ⫻ The emotions the Pink Lotus exudes are powerful, sometimes too powerful and can overwhelm people in radius. How is that a weakness? It can sometimes create unpredictable and erratic reactions, which can be detrimental to Edict and Britney.

Forest Glyph ⫻ The Forest Glyph requires a precise pattern to work, and if the glyph is damaged the spell will end, causing any generated flora to wither. In addition, fire, ice, and posions, can damage the glyph and cause it to fade away.

Moonflower ⫻ The lower gravity caused by the Moonflower can lead to disorientation and nausea, which make it difficult to navigate or coordinate movements effectively. Britney is not super accustomed to it, so sometimes it leads to hilarious failures when she messes it up.

Saturnian Glow ⫻ Jack and Britney are not immune to the "Saturnian energy", and it can eat away at them as well if they are not careful.

Winds of Midnight ⫻ The mobility provided by Winds of Midnight is not fast or agile, meaning its comically slow and cumbersome and leaves Britney vulnerable.

Lisa's Joint-Casts

END OF LONELINESS (Joint-Casts) ⫻ More than a discipline, more than a Joint-Cast, The End of Loneliness represents Lisa finally getting what she always wanted: acceptance, and people that love and care about her. A bond between the people Lisa is close to that is impossible to break.

The-Magical-Mecha-Spider! ⫻ A Joint-Cast between Lisa Turner, Ella Brooks, and Saskia Otten., creating a colossal metal spider that the three of them pilot like some type of weird Mecha. When the three of them get together, Lisa summons a notable swarm of metal spiders imbued with Ella's Orange Lux that build the Mecha's frame, and Saskia creates a massive armor made out of blood around it. When it's complete, the Mecha-Spider is enormous, thirty feet tall, and very odd yet menacing. Each girl operates a different function within the Mecha-Spider: Lisa controls the spider's movement and repairing it, Ella manages the offensive systems, allowing the Mecha-Spider to fire a powerful beam of light, and Saskia handles the defensive systems, controlling the Blood Armor and other projectiles. Saskia controls a cache of "blood missiles" in the spider's legs. These missiles are launched at enemies and explode into a mass of "Blood Bullets" that shoot in all directions. When the Spider is damaged, Lisa deploys a unique team of spiders that weave metal like silk. Despite The-Magical-Mecha-Spider!'s potential, it can only be maintained for thirty minutes before it falls apart, and the girls will not be able to use it for the rest of the day.

The-Discombobulate-Healing-Field! ⫻ Yet another Joint-Cast between Lisa Turner, Ella Brooks, and Saskia Otten, designed in the Old Coven to create a massive healing field in the fight against the Stygian Snake. The three girls stand in a triangle, aiming their hands at the center of the triangle, combining their unique Lux types to form a healing zone that is a testament to their diametric personalities. The field is a potent source of regenerative energy, but it also has a disturbing aspect. Still, all three combine their Green-Lux and insert a different aspect of their personality. Ella provides a bright, rainbow-colored light that illuminates the entire area with a vibrant glow and otherwise does nothing. Tiny spiders made of blood are automatically summoned throughout the field's radius and home in on anybody nearby. Once they reach their target, they burrow into their skin, releasing a healing compound that promotes speedy healing. The longer they remain in the field, the more these spiders will burrow into their skin, and the Trio can keep the healing field going as long as they stand in a triangle.

The All-Knowing Spider ⫻ The All-Knowing Spider is a Joint-Cast between Kari and Lisa that requires the two to hold hands, close their eyes, and focus - creating a gigantic glowing-white spider. Once the Spider is made, it establishes glowing white webs in its environment, which act as an information superhighway that absorbs the information in the surrounding area. As the spider expands its web, it gathers more and more information. Initially, it perceives immediate details such as recent events, notable objects, and any being present. As the spider's web expands, it gains deeper insights, such as hidden rooms, detect any recent usage of Abstractions, activity patterns (such as paths and routines of beings within its range), etc. After an extended period, the All-Knowing Spider reaches its full potential, gaining near-omniscient knowledge of the entire area, giving it near-infinite information about its location. By touching the Spider, Lisa and Kari establish a link between themselves and the spider and gain all the information it collects. However, they have to be very careful, or else they will face an information overload and have to absorb the information in short bursts. The All-Knowing Spider has plenty of useless information about their current that they must also process. This spider is the size of a small house, and the two can telepathically command it, but they have to work together to move it. However, the Spider is incredibly slow, and by leaving the area, it will lose all the information it has gathered as the webs will disappear. The All-Knowing Spider is also wholly defenseless.

Trillion-Eyes ⫻ A powerful observation tool that requires Kari and Lisa to Joint-Cast. To cast, the two must hold hands and touch foreheads, causing a white light to travel from Kari to Lisa... temporarily turning each of Lisa's spiders into a miniature observation point. Each spider minion gains a miniature observation point, enabling Kari to see and hear through them as Lisa commands them. Thus, this spell requires cohesion between Lisa and Kari, as the former has to position them carefully to maximize their effectiveness. Lisa's ability to summon thousands of spiders at a time allows them to create an expansive network. However, the more spiders used, the more strain it places on Kari's mind, potentially leading to information overload. To lessen this risk, Kari can focus on specific observation points at a time and filter the information she receives.

Prismatic Swarm ⫻ Or "Crack Spiders," as Lisa likes to call them, is a Joint-Cast between Lisa and Ella that imbues Lisa's spider minions with Ella's Prismatic lights. The Joint Cast begins with Lisa summoning her spiders, and Ella imbues them, making them glow with pulsating multi-colored waves of light. With this imbueing, the spiders are far faster, stronger, and tougher for a short period, which can make all the difference in confrontations.

Radiant Arachnia ⫻ A combination of Ella's Light Manipulation, and Lisa's mastery over spiders, this Joint-Cast begins with the two of them facing each other and then they join hands. Once activated, they are surrounded by a powerful weave of iridescent lights that form a web-light barrier around them, and they can form the barrier in any shape they can imagine - they have to be in unison with its shape, or else it will fall apart. This barrier is powerful enough to tank most physical attacks, but that's not all; anything solid that touches it will get stuck. The barrier takes shape, and the two of them can emit powerful flare-like projectiles that burst in a blinding light - and can be used to stun foes or illuminate areas.

Blood Rain ⫻ A potent and incredibly disturbing Joint-Cast between Lisa and Saskia. Lisa begins by summoning massive, pulsating spiders with blood-filled bloated sacks into the sky. Then Saskia channels her magic through the spiders, causing them to explode and rain blood down on the environment. These blood droplets are not ordinary; each carries a corrosive and binding property, capable of melting through armor and restraining enemies by forming blood webs upon contact, creating a hazardous zone.

The Death Blow ⫻ A Joint-Cast so brutal it tetters on being a full-on war crime. To execute this spell, Lisa conjures a massive, venomous spider while Saskia simultaneously forges a colossal bone spear. The two synchronize; Saskia loads it into the Spider's maw, and Lisa commands the spider to launch the spear with incredible force toward their target. Upon impact, the spear embeds into the foe and then explodes into thousands of acidic bone shards that rip the target to shreds and spread into the environment. This attack will brutally kill anything with no special durabilities and everything near it.

Laceration ⫻ When this spell is cast, Saskia creates two special blood blades infused with Green Lux and hands one to Lisa. The two must coordinate and attack their target simultaneously. If they strike the target immediately, their combined Green Lux penetrates the victim's Emotional-Field, forcibly tearing open a massive wound. This wound will spray copious amounts of blood into the air like a geyser, as the Green Lux generates extra blood for dramatic effect.

LIMITS

END OF LONELINESS ⫻

The-Magical-Mecha-Spider! ⫻ The creation and control of the Mecha-Spider drains a considerable amount of energy from Lisa, Ella, and Saskia, leaving them physically and mentally exhausted after its use. The Mecha-Spider can only be maintained for thirty minutes before it falls apart, leaving them vulnerable. The three can only cast this Joint-Cast once a day.

The-Discombobulate-Healing-Field! ⫻ The field has a radius of 40 meters, and drains significant energy from the three. Eventually, they will collapse due to exhaustion. The three can only cast this joint cast once a day.

The All-Knowing Spider ⫻ The All-Knowing-Spider doesn't instantly gain information, and needs to be in a single location for hours before it gains near-omniscience. If the All-Knowing Spider leaves its current location and moves to a new one, it will lose all the information it gathered from the previous location and have to start all over.

Trillion-Eyes ⫻ The more spiders used in the observation network, the greater the strain on Kari's mind, potentially leading to information overload or mental fatigue.

Prismatic Swarm ⫻ The enhanced abilities of Lisa's spiders granted by Ella's Prismatic lights only last for a short period around five minutes, and there's a cooldown of five more minutes before it can be cast again.

Radiant Arachnia ⫻ The Radiant Arachnia's barrier can only be maintained for a short duration before dissipating, leaving Lisa and Ella vulnerable to attacks once it collapses. Maintaining the barrier requires a significant physical and mental effort from Lisa and Ella, causing exhaustion and fatigue if sustained for too long. The barrier's effectiveness diminishes if Lisa and Ella lose line of sight with each other, making it essential for them to maintain visual contact to sustain it. It can be cast once an hour.

Blood Rain ⫻ The Blood Rain spell can be cast anywhere within a hundred-meter radius, and covers a twenty meter radius. Blood Rain requires a certain ambient moisture level in the atmosphere to function effectively. Its potency is reduced in arid environments, limiting its effectiveness in certain locations. It can be cast once every thirty minutes

The Death Blow ⫻ While the venomous bone shards of The Death Blow are devastating upon impact, their potency diminishes rapidly over time. After a short duration, the acid loses its lethality until it's completely harmless. The Spear can only travel up to forty meters, and once it goes outside that range, it will embed into the ground but will not explode. They can only cast this joint cast once an hour.

Laceration ⫻ The success of Laceration depends on Lisa and Saskia's ability to coordinate this attack perfectly. However, they only have a brief window of opportunity to synchronize their strikes, making precise timing crucial. If their timing is slightly off, they will fail to penetrate the target's Emotional-Field, rendering the spell useless.

WEAKNESSES

END OF LONELINESS ⫻

The-Magical-Mecha-Spider! ⫻ The The-Magical-Mecha-Spider! is incredibly large and slow, it has little mobility options to off-set this, so against a faster opponent it's useless. The Mecha-Spider's frame is not structurally sound, and its components are prone to malfunction or collapse under stress, posing a risk to the Magical Girls inside.

The-Discombobulate-Healing-Field! ⫻ The healing field can only be sustained as long as the three remain in a triangle formation, limiting their mobility options. If too many healing spiders burrow into a single target, it can lead to unintended consequences such as accelerated cell growth, causing mutations or uncontrollable regeneration. The Field will heal everyone within the field, friend and foe alike.

The All-Knowing Spider ⫻ Maintaining a telepathic link with the All-Knowing Spider places a significant mental strain on Lisa and Kari, potentially leading to mental fatigue, headaches, or temporary loss of consciousness. The All-Knowing Spider is also incredibly slow and defenseless, along with being fragile, it can be easily destroyed. Once destroyed, Kari and Lisa will experience significant metal shock and pass out.

Trillion-Eyes ⫻ The strain of processing information from multiple observation points simultaneously can overwhelm Kari's mind, leading to temporary loss of focus or cognitive impairment.

Prismatic Swarm ⫻ The enhancement granted by Ella's Prismatic lights is temporary and unstable, causing Lisa's spiders to undergo unpredictable changes in behavior or physiology during combat.

Blood Rain ⫻ Lisa and Saskia are not immune to the effects of the Blood Rain, and can be easily affected by it if they are not careful. Casting Blood Rain drains a significant amount of Lisa and Saskia's blood, leading to physical weakness and potential fainting if used excessively. The Spell can be considered socially unacceptable and alienate their allies due to its brutality.

The Death Blow ⫻ The two are vulnerable while casting it as they need a few minutes to prepare the spell, and if interrupted they will have to start over. Faster opponents can speed-blitz them, and dodge the bone spear. They are not immune to the toxic fragments and can easily kill themselves if they use this joint cast in close quarters. For a brief period after casting this Spell, all of their spells will be weaker for a brief period. The Spell can be considered socially unacceptable and alienate their allies due to its brutality.

Laceration ⫻ By penetrating someone's Emotional-Field, they will drop their own Emotional-Field for a short period and leave themselves vulnerable to external magic. For a brief period after casting this Spell, all of their spells will be weaker for a brief period. The Spell can be considered socially unacceptable and alienate their allies due to its brutality.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

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Auri Auclair.

Interactions: Luna (@Estylwen), Sloane (@Atrophy), & Anya (@FernStone).

Kari's House.

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“I listened to you, and you still tell me to get lost? Who attacked the fortress? Hm? I would have made more of a dent if Greta didn’t have her fuckin’ potions. And I swear, I would have conquered their damn fortress if I had more firepower. If you need to verify my words, Aislin and Layla were with me. I recused them from the worst of the brawl. How many more proofs do you need to see I’m on your side? Actually, fuck, don’t answer that. I know you hate it.”

Luna

Drake rolled his eyes.

Of course, Luna thought that running off and picking a fight with 8th Street would win him over. Nah. That shipped has sailed. Drake kept his finger leveled at Luna, hardly changing his positioning or facial expression. Maybe she pushed 8th Street away, but he looked at the facts here; she was spying on them for her little mafia. She's playing an angle, and they don't need her there making things more complicated.

”Yeah, if that's true; thanks,” Drake rolled his eyes. ”But, I'm looking at the fact that you were spying on us, and nothing else. So, get lost.”

"Look," Auri said as she got in between Drake and Luna, holding the staff in her hand. She faced Drake. "I understand how you feel, Drake, but we should leave. There is no way all of that went unnoticed!" She laughed before she got a text message: she dug into her purse and read it before putting it away and continuing.

"So, let's put the magic away, and let's just go," Auri sighed. "If anyone needs me, I'll be at my Flower Shop; just let me know if you're coming because I'll have a guest."

”Hmph,” Drake lowered his hand, and the electricity faded as he walked back over towards Sloane and Anya.

”Know what?” He said to them. ”Let's just scram.”

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

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Interactions: Linqian (@FernStone), Edict (@AtomicEmperor), & The Creepy Ass Kid aka. Clancy (@Zombiedude101).

Kari's Front Yard.

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”You guys are okay? Jesus Christ on a tall bike, I was so fucking worried…”

Greyson

”You know I'm too fabulous for anything bad to happen to me, Greyson,” Britney laughed, again trying to add fun to the situation... only for her to realize that now is not the time. ”Bad time? Bad time. I'm sorry.” Britney awkwardly laughed, shaking her head.

Nobody was in a good state right now; it seemed... whatever that pink shit did to them, it did a number. Thankfully, Britney resisted huffing it - at the cost of almost passing out - and now it seemed like it was a good time for everyone to go their separate ways until the next meeting. Unfortunately, they will have to go after 8th Street later, but that doesn't mean they must rush to the 8th Street Manor. Taking it slow right now was the best option.

And Britney wanted to go home and take a shower. Her sweater was soaked. Good thing she had a bra under this (today), or else that joke she made to Linqian before the mist is coming true.

”Either of you have plans for after this? I need to - I need to not be alone. Father Wolf is still around, y’know, and we don't all have a live-in ex boyfriend for protection.”

Linqian

Britney turned towards Linqian, and said, ”Not really, but...”

”Don’t worry about it, you probably have plans.”

Linqian

Britney smiled as she put her hands on Linqian's shoulders.

”... Come with us,” Britney then looked to Edict. ”... By 'us' I mean me and Greyson. We must stop by a store and get you some actual clothes first. On me.” She laughed.

”Actually, I'll see if Bean is available right now,” Britney mused. ”She loves making outfits for peo-”

"I can-.. keep an eye out. If you want. It's obvious... that Father Wolf can't hurt me I just need to deal with something on the way back. Would be easier if you know where that Prom Queen or any of her pets live."

Clancy

That strange kid pipped up, walking over to them. Britney knew that kid was more than likely not a kid. He was probably some Abscised or Abominable. Either way, if the rest of the Coven wanted him around, that was their choice, but she wanted nothing to do with Clancy.

”... She's good, right Linqian?” Britney smiled at Clancy and left it at that.

What made it worse was that Luna came out of the woodwork... she looked beaten up, but Britney knew that she was with the House of Cards Mafia, the same organization that tried to kill her. She knew Luna wasn't there to start, so where did she come from? Either 8th Street is working with the House of Cards, Luna is with 8th Street now and trying to worm her way in, or she's just there to kick them while they're down. Either way, Britney knew she wanted nothing to do with them and nothing to do with Luna. Blackmore immediately confronted Luna, whipping his lightning, which gave them the perfect opportunity to exit.

”Let's get out of here,” Britney whispered to the two of them. ”My car's a short walk away; I hope they didn't fuck with it.”

That was when she began walking down the road with Linqian and Edict, leaving the group behind. They had her number if they needed her either way - she knew Lila would hit her up later. Britney kept walking until she got a reasonable distance from the house and made it to a thick brush right off the side of the road. With a flick of her wrist, she retracted the bush, revealing her car: a GMC Yukon without the bullet holes from the fight with the Wolfpack.

Britney bowed, gesturing towards it, and said,

”... Aaaaaall aboard!”

---

Auri Auclair.

Interactions: Sloane/Sully (@Atrophy), Lila (@NoriWasHere), Anya (@FernStone), & Luna (@Estylwen).

Kari's House.

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”Thanks bro, you're the best,” Drake said.

Sully healed Sloane, and Drake kept holding her as instructed. He let out a sigh of relief; she was alive. Just barely. If they had been a second late, it would have been lights out for Sloane. However, he just remembered that he had left the flowers on Kari's porch, and his head had returned to her house, and it was eradicated. The only thing left behind was a frame, the charred remains of the house. Thankfully, the fire had gone out, but there wasn't much to save beyond there. The group should get the hell out of here expeditiously. There was no way all of that went unnoticed.

“What happened to my clothes? Wait, what the fuck happened to everyone’s clothes?”

Sloane

Though, Sloane slurred herself awake, and Drake smiled. He kept himself.

”From my understanding,” Drake began, running a hand through his soaking wet hair. ”Luca gave you a spicy hug.” He awkwardly chuckled. She was still out of it; clearly, she was a little shaken, but Anya came over, said some things to her, and then gave her the jacket she was wearing.

”How did you get here, Sloane? I brought my car, so I can take you home? Maybe… you can come with us, Drake?”

Anya

”I'm going to go find Tayla and Aislin, make sure they didn't get hurt,” Drake began as he pulled out a carton of cigarettes that was in his leather jacket. ”Afterwards, I can meet all of you there - but hold on.”

“Can someone fix me?”

Lila

Drake slid his leather jacket off.

”Can't fix you - but catch, bird homie!” Drake threw the leather jacket to Lila. ”Don't worry about giving it back. I got like three more!” He threw Lila the peace sigh before turning back to Anya and Sloane.

”Alright, you got my number, just let me know if you need anything...” Drake looked around, only to see Luna landing with Tayla. She looked a bit beaten up... he wasn't sure if that was from fighting Sycamore or 8th Street. However, Layla and Aislin popped their heads in, and they didn't look too hot either. Where in the world did they go? However, there was one thing on Drake's mind at the moment.

”Hold on to her for me...” Drake gently maneuvered Sloane over to Anya before he walked over toward Luna.

“Luna. Present.”

Luna

"Oh! Luna!" Auri looked surprised for a moment as she turned towards Luna. It's great to see you again... But I don't think you're part of this Coven..."

”... She isn't,” Drake noted as he walked past Auri. He approached Lna, and shook his head, ”I thought I told you to get lost. I caught you spying on us, and you refuse to tell us who you're working for. I'm not playing these games, Luna.”

His index, thumb, and middle fingers began crackling with electricity as he created a finger gun that he pointed at Luna. Before he said anything, an orb that grew in size appeared at the tip of his middle and index fingers.

”Go home, Luna. We don't want you here."

Paragraphs: Agents of Death [FernStone & Shin Ghost Note]

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Ebony Wings - Castlevania: Harmony of Dispair

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Boots hit the floor. All of them were covered in thick body armor and helmets—the armor they wore was reminiscent of a swat team. There were a good amount of them, each brandishing carbines… and one of them floated down, hovering a few feet above them

“I knew you three would get into a mess!” Clementine shouted, her voice muffled by the helmet.

”... How did you find us!?” Lisa shouted.

“Don’t worry about it!” Clementine ran over to the trio and raised her hand in the air. A blue bubble of wavy energy appeared above them all. Before she shouted at the floating man. “... Maximilian! Take him out!”

“On it!” Maximilian flew directly towards Morningstar, who raised a hand in the air and created a wall of brimstone. However, he broke through it and slammed into Morningstar, sending him sprawling across the floor. However, he came to a stop and landed on his feet. He barred teeth, and the skin on his face peeled off to reveal some type of creature with blueish-grey skin. He raised his hand at Maximilian and created a massive portal, and massive explosive fireballs came flying out of it. However, Maximilian intercepted each and every one of them, flying with blinding speeds.

”... He’s kind of hot,” Lisa awkwardly said, playing with her fingers. ”Could I get his number later…?”

“... He’s wearing a helmet, you don’t even know what- you know what? We need to get you three the hell out of here.” Clementine shouted.

"We’re fine! I had it!" Ella shouted. She jumped back, looking at the agent Lisa thought was ‘hot’ with a mixture of admiration and jealousy. It was cool that he could intercept all of those… but he was stealing their thunder! And Lisa’s eyes!

"I’m not fine," Saskia groaned. They were still lying on the floor, most of their skin back, their eyes mostly focusing but… they looked incredibly pale.

"We’ll just heal you more- oh! Some of our friends are down there too!" Ella pointed towards the corridor leading to the super secret sacrifice room that Kimberley and Jordan were still stuck in.

“We’ll secure the area, then we’ll push down there,” Clementine answered.

"Alllriiighhht," Ella groaned, looking around. "Can we help? Morningstar's ours to kill!"

"No thank you," Saskia mumbled, closing their eyes. Ella was tempted to kick them awake, especially after earlier… but no! She would be nice!

”... Stop being a baby! You’re embarrassing me in front of my future boyfriend!” Lisa shouted as she knelt down over Saskia. Tiny spiders came out of her pores, and they burrowed into their skin. Healing them in the process.

"You literally melted my eyes off," Saskia muttered.

“No can do!” Clementine said. “We need to get you three out of here.

”B-but my boyfriend!” Lisa whined.

"You don't need him!" Ella shouted. She then bent down to help Saskia up, getting bored of waiting and just straight up picking her up. "Fine, we'll leave… but don't you dare kill Morningstar!"

"Or torture him before us," Saskia added quietly.

"Or torture him before us!"

Morningstar opened a massive portal, and a gigantic, demonic, claw came out and grabbed Maximilian. It yanked him towards it, before he cracked a grin, and flew backward out of its grip - grabbed its hand, and pulled it off completely. It let out a defeated roar as the leftovers of its arm flew back inside, and the portal closed. Maximilian flew at Morningstar and they kept clashing.

“Look,” Clementine rolled her eyes, the backside of the barrier disappeared. “Just get out of here!”

"Alrighhhttt," Ella pouted. She threw Saskia over her shoulder like a limp bag and grabbed Lisa's hand. "We're getting out of here!"

She forcefully dragged Lisa out the backside of the barrier… away from the fight towards Morningstar. Honestly, she didn't know the actual way out, since they'd come in through a window! But that wasn't her aim anyway. Instead, she led (well dragged and carried) them towards the top secret corridor in the completely destroyed office.

"I can walk, Lisa healed me," Saskia complained. Ella nodded and awkwardly put her down while still holding Lisa's hand… and grabbed Saskia's as soon as their feet touched the ground.

"We're going to save Kimberley and Jordan," Ella whispered. ”I'm not running away when they're still in danger!"

”... Neither am I!” Lisa valiantly shouted, before she looked around. There was that giant hole in the ground, it would probably lead back into the basement. Lisa called one of the giant spiders over to them - still with the raptorial limbs of a praying mantis. ”Hop on!”

Saskia clambered on first, yawning as they did. Ella hopped right up after them, brandishing her Channeller forward. She still… didn’t like riding spiders that much, but they had to! To save their friends!

"Let’s go beat the rest of the evil bastards and save them!"

”... Let’s g-” Lisa raised both

“... Going somewhere?” Maximilian said, floating above them with his arms crossed.

”... Boyfriend!” Lisa excitedly said, before scratching the side of her head. ”... Weren’t you just fighting Morningstar?”

“He ran,” Maximilian answered. “And Clementine said to get out of here, why are you going deeper into the complex?”

”... To get your attention,” Lisa sheepishly said.

"That's not what we were doing!" Ella shouted, glaring at Lisa. "I don't want your attention at all! Or any man's attention! Ew."

"We got lost," Saskia said.

"Yeah! Wait, no, screw that! It's because we're not cowards who run away when our friends are in danger! We're going to beat the rest of Morningstars minions - we already defeated five!"

“Look…” Maximilian said, floating down to the floor, before taking a few steps towards them. “I understand you’re confident - I’m actually proud you are. However, Agent Washington wants you three safe above all else, and she wants you out of the area because this could get ugly. Or you could ruin our only shot at getting Morningstar.”

"Your only shot? That we set up?!" Ella was surprisingly agitated in response to what he was saying. They’d done all the hard work! And here was this man coming here, stealing their thunder and Lisa’s heart! "You think just cause you’re big and strong and can float that you can boss us around?!"

"Mm, for once I agree with Ella," Saskia said with a yawn - even though she really didn’t look all that tired or pale anymore. "Where were you when I had to kill three of his Endless Seven alone ^{and nearly lost my mind}? We cleared the path for you."

"Yeah!” Ella swung her legs around, hopping off the spider. Her body language was tense, but she didn’t make any moves. "We need to kill him or we won’t be safe anyway!"

Maximilian raised both hands. “Look, I’m not trying to boss anyone around…”

”... You can boss me around anytime, big boy!” Lisa said with a toothy grin.

“... Disregarding that, I understand that you all were fighting for your lives here, if we had information we would have been here sooner,” Maximilian said. “However, we will have everything under control from here on. And we can’t have three civilians running around getting in the way, and possibly being taken hostage.”

"Civilians? We’re not civilians, we’re-” Ella dramatically paused, thrusting her sailor moon up towards the sky (well, ceiling) and putting a fist on her hip. At the same time, her legs turning back to a glowing prismatic colour. "The Magical Girls- and the Agents of Death!”

"They never try take us hostage, anyway," Saskia sighed, rotating her wrist as she slid down the spider and onto the floor. They pulled out their knife and ran it across their hand, blood pooling across their skin and up their arm. "That would be exciting. Nobody’s into torture anymore these days."

"Stop with the torture!” Ella shouted, before pointing a finger at Maximilian. "If you continue to stand in our way, we’ll have to take you out!”

”Wait, wait, wait, Ella!” Lisa put her hands up. ”We can’t kill him! He’s hot!”

Maximilian facepalmed, before pressing his earpiece. “... Senior Agent Washington, they’re not complying. Uh-huh? Okay.”

He sighed.

“... Senior Agent Washington said that she will take you all to Dairy Queen if you just leave peacefully.”

Ella’s nose scrunched up, conflicted expression in her dark eyes. She did like Dairy Queen, and she hadn’t had it in… technically over ten years! But no way. She wouldn’t get distracted! She couldn’t trust these PRA- Clem and Nessa aside- to actually do anything! "I see what you’re doing! You can’t fool me! I won’t let you tempt us away from dishing out justice!”

She then turned to Lisa, saying, "don’t worry, we’ll leave his face alone!”

"No promises here," Saskia said, blood armour completely covering them and a short tendril coming out her back.

"Sasskiiaaa, c’mon- Alright, this is your last warning,” Ella once again pointed a finger at Maximilian. "Get out of our way.”

Maximilian sighed again, before pressing his earpiece, “They are still refusing to go? Okay. I promise I’ll hold back. I won’t hurt them.”

He moved his finger and said, “... Agent Washington said you three are under arrest. Get on your knees and-”

”... Ooooh!” Lisa moaned.

Maximilian blushed, “What is wrong with your friend - know what? Nevermind. Come peacefully, nobody has to get hurt.”

"Yeah, what is wrong with you Lisa, he’s not even that hot?!” Ella shouted. But there was no way she was getting arrested… again. This was unfair! They were wasting precious time when Kimberley and Jordan were in danger because this man was on a power trip… maybe he was like Stauber?! Oh god, did he just want to flirt with them?!

"Ella, maybe we should-"

Before Saskia could finish their sentence, Ella launched herself forward with a jump kick towards Maximilian’s abdomen. However, Maximilian caught it with a burst of speed.

“... Come on, let’s talk about this!” He asked, floating in mid-air holding Ella’s leg.

"You're trying to arrest us!" Ella shouted, swinging around with her other leg towards Maximilian's head. Which whacked him, knocking his helmet off… but he didn’t so much as flinch.

"... Should we help her?" Saskia asked, tilting their head towards Lisa.

Lisa clenched both sides of her own face.

”... I don’t know what to do!” She shouted. ”On one hand, he’s hot! On the other, Ella is one of the homies!”

She looked to the left and right, before she sighed, ”... Adora wouldn’t want me to turn my back on my homegirl]” She opened her mouth wide as she could, then spewed a current of spiders that hit Maximilian directly in the face and covered his face.

“... WHAT THE HELL?!” Maximilian shouted, as he dropped Ella, wiping the spiders off his face.

”... Forgive me booooooooooyfriend!”

"He’s not your boyfriend!"

”Not yet!” Lisa raised both of her hands in the air and summoned a wave of spiders that pooled at her feet. Five of them were wrapped in a glowing cocoon as they grew in size...

Ella twisted in the air so she didn’t fall on her ass, awkwardly landing on her feet and hopping backwards. Saskia sighed, blood tendril shooting forward towards Maximilian’s shoulder. At the same time Ella spun around with a kick towards his side. Both attacks hit, but did no visible damage, except knocking off Lisa’s spiders.

“Fine…” Maximilian rolled his eyes, as he flew into the ground faster than the girls could even perceive and caused a shockwave that rolled towards them. It threatened to knock them off their feet.

Ella straight up jumped over the shockwave. She grabbed a nearby, bright red book and pulled the colour out of it - it coated her fists scarlet. Then she swung a hard as steel punch at him…

Saskia took the shockwave, getting knocked back a bit as it hit against their blood armour. Their blood tendril pulled back, pushing them to the side as they attempted to get behind him.

The shockwave wiped out a majority of Lisa’s spider swarm, and she couldn’t take it as she was knocked over and sent rolling. Lisa looked back over her shoulder, to see her spider horde dead, and she bared teeth. ”... Don’t hurt my babies!”

Maximilian caught the fist like it was nothing. " Can you stop, please? You can’t win; this is a waste of everyone’s time!” he asked.

"You're wasting our time by getting in the way!" Ella shouted. She brought up a glowing knee right towards his crotch. Which he tanked like it was nothing, and flew backwards.

Saskia had gotten behind him, blood tendril lengthening and wrapping around his neck, applying pressure in the hopes of choking him enough to knock him out.

“Alright, I’ll go easy on you three for Agent Washington!” Maximilian reached behind himself and grabbed the tendril, before swinging it around towards Ella with Saskia still attached.

Meanwhile, Lisa’s remaining cocoon exploded, revealing a huntsman spider with dragonfly wings. She quickly ran over to it, spider legs erupting from her back as she launched herself through the air onto its back.

Ella threw her arms in front of her to catch Saskia, who cut off their tendril - but it threw them both backwards. Ella threw Saskia to the side and jumped back to her feet.

"Don't go easy on us, coward!" Ella shouted. She swung a leg at Maximilian, aiming to hit him then spin around with a punch.

Saskia rolled across the ground with a groan, raising a hand and shooting a blood bullet at him.

Maximilian shook his head, as he dodged both attacks in a burst of speed. “Fine, then. Here I come!” He shouted as he stuck a hand out and fired a golden beam out of his hand at Saskia that launched them across the room, smacking into a wall with a groan. Then he quickly flew over to Ella, and swung at her with a punch. Ella threw up her hands to block the punch, but it still knocked her back a couple of steps and almost made her fall over.

Lisa’s flying spider took flight as Lisa stood on top of it as it flew circles around Maximilian.

”Booooooooooyfriend!” Lisa shouted, turning around and giving her (very small) booty a few twirls at him. ”Looooooooooooooooooook at meeeeeeeeeeeee!”

Maximilian rolled his eyes.

"He's not your boyfriend!" Ella yelled, strange anger at that fueling her through the pain of what had been a very hard punch. She ran back a few steps, the brightest colours from nearby books being pulled towards her hands and forming a heavy, hard orb that she shot right at his face. Hopefully it would make him uglier! Maximilian pimp-slapped the orb away, before he marched towards Ella.

”Um, he seems a little bit stronger than all the other guys…” Lisa noted as she brought her behind to a freeze. ”Let’s see how tough he is against some acid!”

She opened her mouth, before she noted, ”... Take cover!”

Then she spewed another collum of spiders out of her mouth up towards the ceiling and they flew in all directions like a geyser. Once they passed her, she applied the acid-bust spell and it rained acid on everything below her. It hit Maximilian… only to harmlessly drop off his body. He shook his head in disgust as he wiped it off his clothes with his hand.

Lisa tilted her head, her eyes shot open.

Ella gaped as he just tanked the acid, popping up from the desk she’d used as shelter. The acid. "We should’ve kept the stone!"

"You don’t want that," Saskia muttered, pushing themselves back to their feet.

"Fine- Girls, do you remember the spell we developed?! The mech spider- let’s use it to beat his ass!"

Lisa flew down, and hopped off the spider, landing right next to Ella. She shot both of her hands up, ”Let’s do it! Maybe he’ll think it’s cool!”

"I don’t want him to… Fine! We’ll show him that we’re super strong! C’mon, Saskia!"

Saskia groaned, but dragged themselves over. "What do we do again?"

Ella grabbed both Lisa and Saskia’s hands… though she wasn’t sure if that was necessary. "Summon the spiders, Lisa!"

Lisa laughed like a maniac, metal spiders came out of the unseen crevices of the room.

”... LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET’S DO IT!”

Maximilian simply pulled out his cell phone and began playing some kind of phone game as Lisa created it… The Magical Mecha Spider. This colossal beast was made out of metal and coated in a thick layer of blood armor. It broke through the ceiling into the next floor. The three of them sat in a cockpit in the mecha’s head, each with their own seat.

Maximilian stared up at it, seemingly in awe, but probably actually out of confusion.

“... I don’t get paid enough for this shit,”

"MAGICAL GIRLS MAGICAL MECHA SPIDER, GO!"

Ella pointed a finger forward as she yelled, and the spider shot a powerful beam of light at Maximilian. He raised a hand in the air and seemingly blocked it as the beam went around him. The giant spider approached him as it fired the beam.

“... You three are crazy,” Maximilian groaned as he flew upwards out of the way of the beam.

"You’re telling me," Saskia muttered, as they adjusted the blood armour to be stronger wherever Maximilian went. A series of explosive blood missiles were shot at him while the light beam continued to try and burn him.

Maximilian flew around at speeds that looked like a blur, punching the blood missiles, as they didn’t seem to phase him to begin with.

“... Two can play at this game!” Maximilian shouted as he stuck both of his hands out, firing a golden beam of energy that clashed with their beam.

Maximilian’s beam of energy pushed back theirs further and further until it hit into the blood armour. It started tearing through it. Saskia swore, moving all of the blood from other parts of the mech to cover the section the beam was hitting. "He’s too strong."

"A magical girl never runs away!" Ella shouted, sweat dripping down her forehead. She channeled all of her orange and red lux to strengthen the mecha, and shot out another powerful beam of light! Which Maximilian flew out of the way of, before aiming his hands back at the mecha and firing another powerful beam. Saskia grimaced as they poured more blood into it, visibly paling.

Lisa bared teeth as she gave Saskia a sympathetic look, before turning to Ella.

”... Um, you know like how in some anime the main character fights someone they can’t beat?” Lisa began. ”Then they do a cool training arc and then come back and beat them later?”

Ella furrowed their brow, looking at Lisa. She was right… they weren’t even damaging him, and that’s what made this so frustrating! Ella felt she had to prove that she was the best- because she was a magical girl, not because Lisa thought he was hot or anything. But Lisa was right… this was the boss they couldn’t beat until they trained.

"You’re right, that always happens! And we’ve beaten everyone so far- of course, it’s always near the end of episode three that it happens!" Ella nodded, as Lisa finally got through to her in a language she understood. "... okay, then we need to get away and train! Then we’ll beat him!"

”Here’s what we’re going to do,” Lisa looked out, to see her flying spider just standing there on the sideline being derpy. ”I’m going to send this at him, and then we’re going to get on the flying spider then haul ass!”

"Alright, you got it! We can make it, easy!" Ella gave a thumbs up. Saskia just nodded.

With a mental command, the flying spider proceeded towards the mecha spider, and Lisa said, ”Everyone, hit him with everything you got! Just enough to keep him in the dark about our next move!”

"Yes- SUPER MECHA PRISMATIC BEAM!" Ella yelled, purposefully attention drawing as she tried to hit Maximillian with her strongest beam of light. At the same time, Saskia reduced the defences to shoot off a series of blood bullets at him. Lisa sent the spider careening towards Maximilian while opening a hatch for them all to jump out of.

The flying spider was right there, and Lisa landed right on top of it, with the other two following behind her. Without a second thought, Lisa commanded the spider to fly out of a broken window and they escaped into the night. She let out a sigh as they flew over the desert. Then her eyes shot open, and she looked over her shoulder.

”... We forgot about Kimberly and Jordan,”

"Well we weren’t going to get through him to them, were we?" Saskia said with a shrug. "Jordan can teleport."

"Noooo…" Ella moaned, holding her head, before dramatically shouting, "Don’t worry, Kimberley and Jordan, we’ll come back to rescue you from that horrible man when we’ve become stronger! I promise!"

”... Horribly hot, you mean!” Lisa laughed. ”I hope I didn’t gross him out with the spider vomit, y’know.” She smiled at Ella.

"I think the acid disturbed him more," Saskia said drily, rubbing their eyes and yawning.

"I wouldn't be grossed out by the spider vomit!" Ella shouted, scrunching up her nose just at the thought of it. "You don't need him, you have us!"

"Not the same thing, Ella," Saskia snorted. "You- yknow what, I can't be bothered. Can we go back to the hostel? I lost too much blood."

”Yeah, will you be able to satisfy my needs?!” Lisa shouted, throwing a hand in the air. Before smiling at Saskia. ”Don’t worry, friend! We’ll be back at the hotel in-”

Maximilian flew in front of them in a burst of speed with his arms crossed.

”... No time,” Lisa awkwardly laughed at him. ”Heeeeeeeey! Boyfriend! Sorry we had to go, you know! We got magical girl things to do!”

He was quiet.

”We’ll just be, uh, going around you…” Lisa commanded the spider to fly around Maximilian, only for him to appear in their way again.

“... Land. The. Spider.” He commanded.

"... No way!" Ella shouted, turning to Lisa. "Lisa, go a different way!!"

"... That's not going to work," Saskia sighed.

"It will!" Ella, very precariously, stood up slightly on the spider and pointed a finger at Maximilian. "You're not meant to come back until we have our training arc! This isn't very anime villain of you!"

Maximilian just floated there for a moment, before he placed a finger on the top of the flying Spiders head and descended - forcing it to land. Once it hit the ground, they heard a familiar voice.

“Alright, everyone! Off the spider!” Clementine shouted as she walked over. “Right now!”

"Noooooooooo!" Ella wailed, lying forward and clinging to the spider with all her might.

Saskia rolled their eyes at her, and slid off the spider, hands in the air. "Can you torture us this time?"

”Will we have enough room to cuddle in the jail cell?” Lisa asked, before pointing at Maximilian. ”Oh! Can he join us?!”

“No, no, and no,” Clementine said, before she said, “Channelers on the floor, now!”

Saskia sighed, pulling off her bracelet and placing it on the floor.
"Nooo, I don’t want to be stuck in a jail cell again, I need to watch tonight’s anime episode- I can’t bear ittttt!" Ella practically screamed, still clinging to the spider.

"Stop being so dramatic, it’s not like they’re torturing us," Saskia said, reaching up to grab Ella’s wrist and try drag her off.

"That is torture, Saskia! The Milky Holmes were just got expelled from school and I need to know what happens next!"

Clementine sighed, as she turned to Lisa…

“Shrink the spider,” She clenched the bridge of her nose.

Complying, the spider shrunk back to normal size and scurried off.

"Nooooo," Ella cried as she landed on the floor with a thud, face first. It hurt more than she expected… and that just made her more stubborn! "You won't take me-"

"Stop being a big baby," Saskia rolled their eyes, going over and kicking Ella in the side. She grunted and pouted in response. Saskia bent over and snatched her Channeler, shoving it a bit further away before looking at Clementine. "Happy?"

"I'm not!"

"I wasn't asking you."

“Yes…” Clementine then pointed at a nearby SUV - all black with the windows tinted. “Get in.”

"Nooooo…" Ella stayed lying facedown on the ground, arms and legs splayed out.

Saskia, on the other hand, got into the SUV without an arguments, murmuring "ooo, kidnapped again, how fun…"

“This isn’t kidnapping, this is arrest.” Clementine said as she collected everyone’s channelers.

”... Can he put cuffs on?” Lisa looked up at Maximilian. Who reached down, picked Ella up, and threw her over his shoulder.

“... He’s occupied,” Clementine said.

"I'll walk, I'll walk, put me down!" Ella shouted as soon as Maximilian picked her up, wriggling to try and get away. This was worse than missing her anime's new episode! She was… getting… held by a man! Ew! Ewwwww! "I'll get in the creepy van!"

“... Too late!” Clementine shouted, then Maximilian chucked Ella into the van.

Lida scoffed as she climbed in herself.

Ella landed on top of Saskia, who grunted and immediately shoved her off. With a pout Ella clambered as far away from the door as she could, curling into a ball, rocking backwards and forwards.

"This is why I hate-"

"Ella, stop being so dramatic, he threw you over his shoulder…" Saskia groaned, and looked at Lisa. "Help me out here…"

”... How did it feel? Was he strong? Did you notice any chest chair?!” Lisa asked.

The car started moving.

"Horrible," Ella sobbed, though there weren't actually any tears… "It was like being held by a hunk of meat- how would I see chest hair through the armour?!"

"X-ray vision," Saskia suggested.

”Maybe you felt it!” Lisa laughed. ”I don't know about you but being held by a big strong hunk of meat sounds like a dream…”

She paused, ”... It reminded you of your uncle, didn't it?”

”It did…" Ella said mournfully. Saskia reached over and patted her shoulder, though Ella didn't feel much sympathy from the motion.

"It's alright, just refuse to get out and I'm sure he'll carry you, Lisa," Saskia nodded.

”... Where is he?” Lisa looked at the front seat, and saw Vanessa was driving.

"Probably scared away by your spiders," Saskia shrugged.

"... But Lisa's spiders are cute!" Ella piped up, wanting to defend anything that that man might not like.

”They were cool!” Lisa protested. ”It was your blood, Saskia!”

"Wouldn't be a bit of a useless agent if he can't handle a little blood?" Saskia tilted their head.

”Same if he can’t handle a spider!” Lisa threw her hands into the air. ”Or my sexiness!”

"Yeah, I think he needs a career change…" Saskia nodded.

"He should get fired!" Ella shouted.

”Nooooooo!” Lisa shouted. ”Then how will he support our future Spider-children?!”

”He's not good enough for you!" Ella shouted back.

"I bet he'd make a good criminal…" Saskia mused.

”Nooooooooo, he’s like Superman! When has Superman been a criminal!? Also, I think he’s perfect for me!” Lisa answered.

"Criminals are way hotter, Lisa," Saskia replied expressionessly. "Supermen are boring."

”Speak for yourself!” Lisa shouted, shaking her head. ”You know what?! I made up my mind! It's my destiny to get plowed against the starry night sky!”

"Nooooo!" Ella screamed, slamming her hands over her ears. "I don't want to hear it!"

"I do," Saskia said, lips quirking up into the slightest smirk. "Hmm, if you get him… I wonder if Morningstar would let me have a go before we kill him?"

”You have no choice but to hear it, Ella!” Lisa screamed back. ”It’s my deeeeeeeeeeeeeeepest desire! And as my friend you should love and support me in all my endeavors! No matter how gross or frea-”

The car came to a screeching haul.

“You know what? Fuck this,” Vanessa said, before she pointed to the side. “All of you get the hell out! I can’t take this anymore!”

"... I thought we were under arrest?" Saskia tilted their head.

^{”... Shut up and get out,”} Lisa whispered as she pulled on Saskia’s arm.

Ella, on the other hand, didn't need to be told twice. She pulled open the door and jumped out, running away, screaming, "Nooooo I don't want to hear about your sexual desires Lisaaaaa ^{unless they're about women}!"

“Look, Clem was going to just hold you in the cell for a couple of days then let you out!“ Vanessa shouted as she reached forward and grabbed the rear, “But, you three… you three are so goddamn annoying!”

Vanessa slammed it, and then sped off.

”...Great, annoying my way out of jail was on my bucket list," Saskia said.

Lisa just shrugged. A spider appeared wrapped in a glowing cocoon before growing to immense size. Then a jumping spider with wings came, and Lisa gestured towards it.

”... All aboard?”

"Let's go, I want to sleep," Saskia nodded, climbing on.

Ella hesitantly made her way back over to them, from where she'd gotten a whole few steps away. She really didn't want to hear more about Lisa's interest in that guy but… she also wanted to watch the latest episode of her anime! "Let's go… but I get the laptop when we're back!"

Lisa turned her head towards Ella. A massive smile on her face.

”... Then you must want to walk, then!?”

Ella smiled back, considering for just a moment beating Lisa up… then deciding against it because she was her friend and Ella loved her too much to do that. "Fine… I'll watch it on my phone…"

Grumbling, she climbed on the spider behind Saskia.

Lisa then hopped on, and then thrusted a fist into the air.

”... AAAAAAAAAAWAY WE GO!]”

The spider took flight and went back to the hotel.