Sylvia was worried. They were in a situation unlike anything she had ever experienced in the magical world, and was at a complete loss for what she should do. She knew better than to trust a strange dolphin advocating about friendship and fun; there was always an ulterior motive. Of course, she could try to forcibly take over in an attempt to stage an escape, but then she would risk the wellbeing of not only her Beacon sisters, but everyone else at the island. She sighed, and happened to glance at a green field. There seemed to be a minigolf range built here, with various courses. “I guess I should fulfill my promise,” she mumbled, and went over to Alicia. “Hey, I happened to find a place where we can play minigolf. If you’re not busy, we could play a few rounds.” She realized she sounded a bit too tense for normal conversation, but attempted to smile a bit regardless.

Well, this definitely rated up there as one of the strangest things to happen since Alicia became a magical girl. World ending threats, monster girls, and now here she was on a tropical island with a magic dolphin of some kind telling them that they were supposed to relax, get to know each other, and hang out. If she didn’t know better she would swear she was on an acid trip.

Looking around, Alicia gently bit her lip in thought. Keijo didn’t really seem like her thing, but singing might be worth it. Even if she was fairly certain she would humiliate herself in the process. So maybe she should try something else first.

As it so happened someone else had the same idea, and she turned as she approached by the boss. ”Sure, I’m not sure I can really be busy at a place like this,” she agreed, ready to follow Sylvia to wherever this golf course was.

“Well, that would be a first for me in a while,” Sylvia responded, and led Alicia to the golf course. As they arrived, Dan was there; he was now wearing a blazer and a monocle instead of the sombrero, and held out a bag of golf clubs. “I am Davish Degroot. If you need any help with playing minigolf, I can-” Sylvia interrupted him. “We’re fine, thanks.” She snatched the bag, and held it out for Alicia. “Have you ever played minigolf before, Alicia? I’ve tried it a couple of times with my father.”

Somehow Alicia wasn’t surprised that the magic dolphin was waiting for them when they arrived at their destination. She had the feeling that this was going to happen a lot here. Perhaps whomever had set this up should have shelled out a bit more for a more varied staff. But she did her best to ignore it, taking the bag when offered.

”I’ve done it a couple times as well, but not recently. Still, I’m confident in my hand eye coordination to not be god awful at it,” Alicia replied as they headed out to the course proper.

Sylvia followed, and set the bag down on a bench after she took her choice of golf club. “I don’t think that’s a problem; we magical girls are more dexterous than normal, after all.” She took out a golf ball, and set it down. Then, she made the first move, putting the ball around a corner and nearly into the hole at the end. “Ugh...Shouldn’t have spoken so soon.” The two began playing the course, which seemed to have a theme of stars to it, if the five-starred spinning obstacle was any indication. “So, Alicia, how have you been?” She finally asked, trying to think of the most delicate way to approach her. “A lot has happened in the last two weeks, ever since the Graveyard thing.”

Watching as Sylvia made the first shot at the course, Alicia had the good grace to not make any sort of commentary about either of their performances. But she had selected her club as well as a ball, and responded as she went to take a shot. ”Busy. Mostly. Some good, some bad, some…frustrating.” She finished with a sigh as she hit the ball, this one ending at roughly the same distance as Sylvia’s ball, if on the opposite side of the hole.

”Eh, that’s fine. It’s still a warm up,”she decided, letting Sylvia take the next shot since she was a bit closer to the hole.

Sylvia easily putted the ball into the hole, and she picked it back out. ‘Davish’ marked into the scoring sheet he was carrying with him. “Yeah, the club handling is fine, but I still need to get used to the ball’s movements.” She set the ball down on the next part, and soon enough Alicia had also joined her after putting her own into the first hole. She looked on for a brief moment in silence, before she spoke again. “So...Regina, huh? I’ve done this job for long enough to tell what bothers my comrades. You still haven’t forgiven her, right?”

Sinking the ball with her next hit, Alicia followed as they moved on to the next course. This one was a bit more difficult of course, and she remained off to the side as she let Sylvia take the first shot again. ”Yeah,” she confirmed with a slow nod. It was no surprise that it had been picked up so quickly, it wasn’t the most hidden secret of hers. ”I know we’re supposed to be one big happy family and all that, but I had the most interaction with her of all of us before she became...what she is now. I gave her a second chance and she slapped it away, brainwashed my sisters into dying for an evil cause, and then nearly destroyed the world.

She shook her head, face written with a scowl. ”Then she shows up one day with that Shannon, who I’m not really all that much of a fan of either, and that’s where we are. So no, I haven’t forgiven her. Has she even said how she pulled off that brainwashing trick anyway?”

“She did,” Sylvia answered, and tapped the end of the club against the course before making her put. “As I suspected, while the Spark can protect against single attacks on one’s mind, like a psionic blast or hypnotic ray...It has a limit. She apparently spent weeks applying her magic on the kidnapped girls.” She frowned. “I must admit, the Beckoners had been aware of this flaw for a while, ever since the Justine incident. The reason they didn’t tell anyone except me was to not incite a panic in the organization.” She putted the ball off the course, and bit her lower lip. “Sorry, got a bit distracted. But, things are going to change. I’ve now seen the White Coin work on multiple girls, and the results are consistent. So something like that won’t happen again.”

”Ah, I see.” Both of them frowned now, Alicia left disturbed that the method was so simple. If all it required was a protracted effort, the fact that nobody had managed it before now was miraculous.

Taking her spot at the beginning of the course, her focus was split and her ball did not get as close to the hole as before, leaving her roughly midway through the course. ”After everything I wish I could be so confident. But they’re just going to keep trying to subvert us or attack us and...I wish we could go hit them first, rather than having to wait for them to hit us. You know?”

Sylvia, facing a windmill obstacle shaped like a spinning star, launched the ball over the obstacle entirely, having decided to not risk the timing. Her subsequent putt sent the ball right into the hole. She seemed to think about Alicia’s words with a furrowed brow, before she finally nodded. “You’re right, Alicia. Right now we are only reacting to the enemy, often too late to stop whatever crime was committed against Penrose or its people.”

She grit her teeth and hit the ball a bit too hard, causing the club to make a scrape against the course. “Patrols are not enough. We need to start covering more ground with our reconnaissance network, make infiltrations and raids, strike at where they are weakest. But to do that, we need resources: new members, and new artifacts designed for intelligence gathering and spying.” She leaned her club down, and turned to look at Alicia. “I think I know a way how we can do that...We could ask the central government for help.”

An eyebrow rose as Sylvia went and outright hit the golf ball over the windmill obstacle rather than risk messing up going through it. ”That’s some lift,” she acknowledged before lining up to take her own shot. She didn’t try replicating it, instead going through and winding up in what would not be the most optimal angle.

Letting Sylvia take her second shot while voicing her concerns, the Seraph nodded in agreement. ”Doesn’t hurt to try,” she replied before wincing with a rueful smile. ”Sorry, we’re supposed to be relaxing, not talking shop. But thanks for putting up with me.”

“Oh, it’s my fault too: I tend to obsess over Beacon. It’s a bad habit.” Sylvia attempted a curve with her swing, and it ended up caught in a corner, causing a roll of her eyes. “Anyway, how’s your non-magical life going? You haven’t skipped school, right?” She asked, attempting to switch the topic of discussion. “Kimble has asked me about starting school, specifically the one you’re going to. She really looks up to you.” She spoke with a knowing smile.

Alicia appreciated the effort to switch topic, about as much as she appreciated her boss sticking the ball in a corner and allowing her to sink her own shot with ease. ”It’s going alright,” she assured Sylvia. ”After school time is stretched a bit thin for obvious reasons, but I try to keep it from being all work.” The mention of Kimble caught her off guard, leaving her looking surprised again. ”Really? Huh. Is she going to be using the White Coin too, or does she have a human disguise? It’s going to be weird seeing her without the ears and tail.”

“I do try to cycle through our members for assignments but sometimes there is unfortunately overtime,” Sylvia spoke, and with a steady jab pulled the ball out of the corner. “Kimble has a human disguise, but she claims she can’t control it. However, she did claim that she can wear a hat and wide jacket to hide her cat parts. I’m happy for her, but also a bit worried.” She putted the ball into a hole on top of a small mound. She looked at Alicia firmly. “You need to talk with her, Alicia. Don’t give her any wrong ideas.”

Alicia nodded, fully understanding the difficulties. The influx of people meant more needed to work, to make sure patrols were kept up and new recruits were trained to acceptable standards. Especially given the eclectic assortment and how they might be used to doing things previously.

”Ah, really? That makes sense,” she replied upon hearing of Kimble’s dilemma and the measures she was willing to go to to hide her monster bits. Mirroring what Sylvia did, Alicia then shot her a somewhat confused look. ”What do you mean?” Wrong ideas? Wrong ideas about what?

Sylvia sighed, and made a calm, controlled swing, letting the ball gently roll down the course. “Well, it’s not my concern to be honest,” she finally answered, having averted her eyes from Alicia. “However, as your boss, I would like to remind you to be responsible when it comes to anyone working under you, be they Kimble or anyone else.” The ball dropped down into the hole, and Davish marked her as the winner of the minigolf. “Anyway, that was a good game, Alicia,” she said, and reached out for a handshake. “I’m really glad we were able to talk like this. You are a dependable girl. Maybe one day you could even-” She caught herself, and smiled a bit. “Nevermind. I think I’ll go dip in a jacuzzi. See you later.” Sylvia began walking away, having dropped the golf bag to Davish and waving goodbye to Alicia.

Alicia let out a small huff, both at her loss and at Sylvia’s almost cryptic non-answer. ”Of course,” she agreed, sinking her own ball before shaking her hand in turn. ”Enjoy the jacuzzi. I’ll probably see you around.”

With that she handed off her own golf club to Davish, before heading on her way. Maybe she’d stop at the boutique, pick up that sunscreen and the other stuff they had won from their first challenge.

Rina walked into the boutique, having decided she wanted to try organizing an event of her own. Something exciting, competitive, and something to make this vacation just a bit more high stakes. Some jet skis, buoys, a judge of some sort? Would Dan do that? She still didn't trust the dolphin, but he'd probably be the most unbiased. How would she even go about organizing everything? Posters? Handouts? Shouting it from the top of her lungs? Hm, maybe she should do something a bit more relaxing to start with. Maybe something like – ah

Frisbee, huh?

Rina reached for the circular item on the boutique shelf. Perhaps this could be a good start. She did need to relax a bit anyways, and maybe this would be a good starting point.

There was another person in the boutique, with much the same goal in mind. Alicia had had some fun with minogolf, and at this point she was browsing to see what other options there were available in this place. Once she knew that, then she could decide if she wanted to make a competition out of it or not.

”Lot of stuff here.” she muttered to herself. Kites, water guns, cricket bats, the variety was quite impressive. Well, it would have been disappointing for a supposed vacation if that had not been the case.

One item did catch her eye, and she reached towards the orange item only to find someone else doing the same. ”Oh, sorry,” she began, only to fall short as she realized just who it was. ”Katarina, nice to see you again. You can have that one.” She conceded swiftly, pulling back her hand so the other girl could have first pick at what the store had when it came to frisbees.

“Eh? Oh, hey it's just you. Alicia.” Rina returned the greeting with a small, almost relieved sounding sigh. “You're here too. Nice uh, swimsuit.” Jeez, she really was way too on edge being in some place out of her element. The magical girl picked up the Frisbee, quickly glancing over to Alicia. Hm...maybe?

“Uh, so you wanted this too, right?” She asked, just to confirm. “I was looking for something to maybe help relax a bit, so uh...”
”Thank you,” Alicia replied to the compliment. ”You look very….I guess ‘beach casual’ would be how I’d describe it”. She wasn’t sure how Katarina had ended up with a jacket when the rest of them were in swimsuits, but it was probably the magic dolphin’s fault.

Her small tangent was interrupted by the question, and she nodded to confirm what was being asked. ”Well, I was just browsing but I wouldn’t mind doing some frisbee with you. Actually, I think I saw a good spot for that nearby.” They were supposed to be hanging out and getting to know people after all.

“Pfft, nah this thing is...well, I guess not too bad.” Rina scoffed.“At least it's not a bikini. Ugh, I think I might actually might have killed that dolphin if he did.” There were a lot of assumptions there, but with nothing else to blame the situation on, Rina really wasn't fond of that stuffed dolphin. “But, uh, awesome. Lead the way then.”

Needless to say, Alicia wasn’t the fondest fan of Dan either. ”Can’t say I’d blame you for that. Who knows where he came from.” Maybe someone’s patron? It wasn’t the craziest explanation.

She would let Katarina check out the equipment or whatever they needed to do there, before taking the lead as they departed the boutique. They walked past scenic views, beautiful structures, and others who were busy enjoying themselves on this enforced tropical vacation. Not much chatter for now, but it meant that she could better focus and remember where she was going.

They soon arrived at an open stretch of beachside park. There was a fountain, some benches, flowerbeds and a couple statues. The grass shifted to sand at some point, where one could find lawn chairs and the ocean waves. Surveying the site, Alicia nodded before turning to face Katarina. ”Alright, you get the first throw,” she said before backing up a good distance. That should be acceptable for however good her throwing arm was, right?

“Alright.” Rina turned the Frisbee over in her hands. Hm, she had never actually seriously played with a Frisbee before. How did a competition like this work? Was it even a competition? Eh, might as well just take it easy and relax. Yep, relax. 100% relax. Casual conversation? Hm...what to talk about, though?

“Hey, so,” Rina extended her hand behind the opposite shoulder, Frisbee in hand. With one swift, powerful motion, she launched the disk towards Alicia. “Got any plans for any other stuff? I'm thinking about seeing if I can't do something with those jet skis.” The Frisbee cut through the air, sailing just out of arms reach over Alicia’s head.

Alicia’s eyes widened as the disc was launched her way, and it was just out of arms reach from where she was standing. ”Oh shoot,” she huffed, turning and practically sprinting after it. Fortunately she managed to grab it with a leap before it could hit the ground, but who knew if she would be that lucky next time.

”That’s an arm. Lot easier to throw a frisbee than a sword eh? she asked while closing to a more reasonable distance. Once she had done so she reared back, sending a toss of her own that certainly had a lot of speed behind it. ”Hadn’t decided really,” she said, at last addressing the original question. ”Swimming, some hiking, maybe get some ice cream. Might sit in for one of those stage shows. I hear Aurelio is going to be performing a show.

Prepared, Rina could easily catch up with the Frisbee. Speed and agility were her strong points after all, if nothing else. Leaping towards it, the dark skinned magical girl caught it with a single motion, landing back on the ground gracefully.

“Right?” Rina chuckled once she landed. “Sometimes I have to make them so big it's stupid.” Whatever idiot patron thought making swords into projectiles was a good idea, needed to try it themselves for a week. Turning the Frisbee over, Rina lined up her second throw. “Stage show?” With another throw, she sent it a bit to Alicia's left this time. “Not my thing, but if you wanna hit me up for a hike, or any other sport, I'll tag along. Kinda wanna get a pizza too.”

More prepared for the throw this time, Alicia was able to nag the frisbee with less distance traveled. That gave her more time to converse with Karatina in the process. ”Well, I don’t really know what that problem is like,” she admitted with a shrug. ”Then again, at least you don’t have to worry about the intricacies of hand to hand combat with a bow.

Readying herself for the throw, this time it went significantly higher than the previous. Of course that did mean less distance to some extent, so it would fall short of Katarina. Not her best toss, to put it lightly. ”Yeah, I heard something about a zipline on one of the other islands, so why not kill two birds with one stone and hike there too? That and I want to see how different the other islands are from this one.

Seeing the throw being short, Rina ran forward, with another acrobatic leap, she caught it with a single hand. She hit the ground, skillfully spinning the Frisbee on her finger.

“Zipline, huh?” grabbing the disk once more, this time she decided to do something a bit simple this time. “Sounds fun. Although...uh, how exactly do you plan to hike to the other islands? Did I miss some bridges or something?” Winding up her throw, Rina low balled the disc so it was about chest height, right towards Alicia.

Wincing in slight embarrassment, Alicia shook her head. ”Oh, I wouldn’t be hiking to the island. Just once I’m on it” She hadn’t thought that needed to be explained, but clearly she was wrong.

The frisbee shot towards her like a bullet, and she braced herself before slapping it between her hands with a loud strike. ”So, how have you been doing? I’ve been a bit preoccupied with this whole White Coin business and everything that came from that to really keep tabs on our arrangement. There hasn’t been any trouble has there?” While not having the same sort of flourish as Katarina, she did not hold back as she sent the frisbee on a long arc, one that would end up behind the other magical girl at the end of its looping trajectory.

Well now she felt slightly silly for having to make her clarify. Oh well.

Rina ran backwards as the frisbee sailed past her, nearly tripping over her own feet as she caught it and having to catch herself before throwing it again.

”Ah, yea...It's fine, I guess?” Rina echoed uncertainly. ”Uh, still not really used to working with others, but no one's been giving me a hard time or anything.” She heard about the White Coin, obviously. Her opinion on it was mixed, but she didn't think it was a bad thing in the long run. Wasn't like it could be used against someones will, and if more girls could easily accept a painless method of purification it'd be nice.

“...I usually stick with my whole silent hunter thing, so most girls don't really make too much of a fuss.” Rina chuckled nervously, deciding to give Alicia a bit of a challenge this time, she wound up her pitch, sending the projectile sailing right past the other magical girls head at high speed.

Alicia could feel the wind as the frisbee shot by where her head currently was. If it had hit it probably would have left a good bruise, not that she wanted to imagine what that would be like. Instead she turned and pursued, though she was not fast enough to grab it until it hit the ground. ”First point to you,” she announced.

Readying herself for the next round, she shot her opposite a warm smile. “But that’s good. Considering the nonsense we have to deal with in Penrose, the help is appreciated.” Preparing, Alicia almost looked like a pitcher as she eyed her target. ”That is, assuming you don’t regret coming to town yet. Then she threw, this one a bit tricky as it ricocheted off of the fountain in an angled descent.

“R-Richochet?!” Rina watched as the frisbee slammed into the fountain, bouncing off at an almost perfect angle so that it didn't lose its momentum. Unable to keep up, Rina could only let it fall to the ground with a mildly surprised huff as it clattered to the ground. “Point for you.”

Well, if someone wanted to get tricky...

“I've lived in Penrose before I was even a magical girl, hah.” She chuckled, stretching her arms. A good stretch always loosened up the muscles. “Used to be a cop, but well...things happened and now here I am, so I ain't going anywhere even if I'm the last magical girl in Penrose.” Picking up the frisbee, Rina threw the disc in a straight line, making it look like it was going downwards, as though it was going to bounce off the ground – but about an inch from the ground, the frisbee suddenly began climbing high enough to take it over Alicia's head before losing speed and falling.

Alicia gracefully accepted her point, and prepared for the next round. They were evenly matched, and while she wasn’t sure how high they were going she did doubt that the next time would be as simple as that had been. But one could hope.

”I’d like to think the same, but I’ll go wherever Beacon sends me,” she answered as Katarina voiced her desire to remain here until the end. She could understand it, but it wasn’t entirely up to her. That was one of the aspects of being in Beacon. ”Still, it sounds rough. Being on your own with only your wits and skill to keep you in one piece.” While the sudden shot upwards wasn’t expected, she was able to snag it before it could hit the ground. Her retaliation was quick as she spun and sent it flying out roughly at chest height, though the quick turnaround meant that aiming was a bit low on her priorities.

“Ugh, tell me about it.” The Frisbee flew off to the side, making Rina have to dive to catch it. She could understand having orders from higher ups. It was never fun when they conflicted with what you wanted to do, but that's just how it was in an organization. “One wrong move and I end up with a monster nibbling on my arm for dinner.” Rina aimed the Frisbee at one of the statues this time, ricocheting it off the top of it, causing the disc to bounce off at an odd angle before swiftly falling to the ground.

”Sounds like you’re speaking from experience,” Alicia observed before the frisbee came in. Despite her best efforts it hit the ground, earning another point for Katarina, giving her the lead.

She took a moment to plan out what to do, even as they continued conversing. ”On the plus side, it might be more dangerous but you’ve got less of a target on your back. People probably tend to underestimate solo girls, especially compared to an organization as big as Beacon.” then she struck, replicating the same sort of ‘straight line towards the head’ technique that had been used on her previously. It might not be as effective this time around, but that was fine.

Undeterred by the quick throw, Rina still only barely managed to catch the frisbee as it nearly grazed her head.

“Fair, but on the other hand when we get in trouble, we don't usually have reliable help.” Rina sighed, shaking her head as she turned the frisbee over. “...though that might have just been a me problem, heh.” She had made a few more reliable sources of help recently. Alicia, Amaryllis and...could she count Mika in that? She felt like Mika may cause more problems than not.

“Here ya go!” Winding up her throw, Rina launched it towards Alicia with a curve ball like trajectory, and just as fast.

The Seraph accepted her failed throw with due grace, taking a moment to stretch her arms and get rid of the building tension there. ”Guess you’re right. Though now I’m just thinking about that whole Lily and Justine thing. That was an eclectic coalition if I’ve ever seen one.” One that had worked out better for some than others, but who would have anticipated so many rallying around to rescue a single individual like that?

Darting out to the side, she caught the throw easily enough. Her next few tosses wouldn’t be anything too tricky, merely returning to some semblance of consistency before they got all creative on each other again.

“I heard about that,” Rina caught the simple throw with ease. “I feel kinda bad I couldn't help with Justine.” She returned the simple throw, giving Alicia a chance to try and one up her if she wanted too.

Alicia shrugged, snagging the easy throw in turn. ”Don’t feel too bad. It worked out in the end. And you avoided having to deal with stuff like stupid porrtal using magical girls.” That last part was said with a grumble. If Alicia ever found Mariette, she was going to make her pay for all of that.

Shaking her head, she finally got tot that throw as she tossed the frisbee. This one would pull up short though, rising and looping for an abrupt end to its flight.

A little surprised by the Frisbee unexpectedly stopping short, Rina barely had time to catch it at stomach height.

“Heh, sounds like someone's got a grudge.” She chuckled. Portal using magical girls? Wasn't someone she was familiar with. Still...all this talk about work wasn't really helping to take her mind off the fact this was seriously still a weird situation. Frowning lightly, Rina decided to try and make things a little more exciting.

“Hey, not to be a spoilsport, but uh, this the best you got?”

”Of course not. I’m luring you into a state of overconfidence,” the Seraph responded with a grin. Not that it was an all that effective plan if she was saying what the plan was out loud.

Snagging the frisbee, she prepared her next trick. ”But yeah, I have a grudge. Considering how much she got out of our ‘partnership’, anyone would be annoyed.” When she struck, she tossed a fastball, swinging low and quick. But as it moved it seemed to shimmer in the light, afterimages appearing due to her magic as she used the trick that she had pulled back at the graveyard.

All’s fair in love and war.

“H-hey!” Rina shouted as the Frisbee seemed to shimmer like a mirage, her eyes were good, but not that good! She desperately tried to pick out the real one among the illusions, but alas, it was futile. The frisbee clattered to the ground.

“Son of a-” Rina picked up the disc. “That was dirty, Alicia.” Rina sighed, rubbing the back of her head. Damn, if that's how this was gonna go, she'd need a trick herself, but what the hell could she do? If she had wind magic this would be an equal match, but all she had was swords and metal. The archer was at a loss for what to do.

Anything she could potentially do would be kind of dangerous.

“Alright, if that's how you wanna play...” Rina tossed the frisbee into the air, before letting it fall and slamming her foot into the side of it. The Disc sailed right past Alicia in slight curving trajectory.

Alicia shrugged as Katarina huffed at her. ”You wanted to see the best I had. You can only blame yourself,” she pointed out in turn. She knew Katarina did things sword themed, so her ability to turn the tables was fairly limited.

An eyebrow rose, the kick not really expected as it was sent flying at her. Well, she was still clever at least, so this wouldn’t be a snap even with her magic. And she wasn’t going to do anything that just handed her a win, like shining a light in Katarina’s eyes. That would sap all the fun out of it.

Swinging to the side, her wings manifested in a blaze of light before hurling her forwards. The additional burst of speed allowed her to snag the frisbee before it could hit the ground, and she landed gracefully in turn. ”So, what do you usually do when you’re not busy stabbing monsters?” Winding up for the next throw, her wings would give it additional lift as they flapped, allowing the disc to rise a bit higher while still maintaining its same relative speed.

Not to be outdone, Rina put her impressive agility and speed to use. Leaping into the air, Rina caught it mid ascent with a twirl. When she was facing Alicia once more, she had already launched the frisbee back towards her, on a rapid upwards trajectory far above the other girls head.

“Hah,” Still got it. She landed lightly on the ground, already preparing to catch the frisbee again. She might not have fancy magic, so she'd just have to make Alicia work for it physically. “A lot of sports, when I'm not busy. Some exercising. Uh, I spend most of my time just watching the city though.”

Going high was all well and good, and in turn Alicia moved along the ground to predict where it would fall and snag it that way. They were really going at it now, as the final point lay in the balance. At least, she was pretty confident that it was the final point.

Listening to Katarina, well, it seemed her life was pretty simplistic. If not boring. ”Ah, okay. Is that just a magical girl thing, or a leftover from your old life as a jaded beat cop struggling against an uncaring system?” She couldn’t help but grin a bit, especially with the theatrics in play. In turn Alicia launched the frisbee, altering the color of the frisbee so it was not as vibrant as it had been before. If she was lucky Katarina would be tripped up by it, though she would be shocked if it actually worked.

“Hah, maybe. You don't get a lot of free time working for any government.” Truthfully, she preferred it that way. If ever a day came when she could just sit in her house, eat cheap junk food and fast food every day without having to save the world, that'd be her idea of a good life, but such a thing would never happen.

It was easy enough to spot the camouflaged frisbee, it'd take more than a bit of a light trick to get past her now that she was expecting it. She caught the frisbee with ease.

“What about you? When beacon's not bossing you around, what do you get up to?”

Alicia folded her arms, waiting patiently for the next toss whenever it came. ”School, a couple clubs. Hanging out with the family or my friends, magical or otherwise,” she replied. ”It can get hectic at times, but I still enjoy it. Better than all work and no play anyway.”

“Eeeh, right I think you mentioned that at the pizza place.” Might as well see if she could end this. “So uh, how fast are you at flying?” Rina asked casually, tossing the frisbee high into the air. In the next swift moment, her bow manifested, along with a blunt edged sword. With a swift motion, she launched the sword towards the frisbee, hitting it at just the angle to send the Frisbee speeding off into the distance.

”I like to think I’m pretty fast. Why?” Needless to say, Alicia was not expecting what happened next, and she swiveled in place with a hand covering her eye to cut down on the glare.

Giving a low whistle, she resumed facing Katarina. ”I, uh, think that’s a lost cause. That’s match point, congratulations.” she conceded after a moment. Man, first losing to Sylvia and now to Katarina. She had to find some contest she could win at sooner or later.

“Yes!” Doing a little victory jump complete with a fist pump, Rina did feel a bit bad that she just basically gave her a no win situation, but heck, they both had fun with it.

“Hey,” Rina walked over to Alicia, feeling a lot more relaxed now that she had a moment to take her mind off things. She probably wouldn't let her guard entirely down, but heck, she could try to enjoy this at least. “Wanna go do somethin' else? Got some surf boards in the boutique and some jetskis if you'd be up for a race or two.”

While she was somewhat frustrated, Alicia wasn’t all that bitter about the whole thing. It helped that Katarina was quick to propose another activity, one that was perhaps a bit more fair for the both of them to sate their competitive edge on. “Sure, that sounds like fun. Maybe we’ll find someone along the way to join in too,” Alicia agreed as she joined Katarina in returning to the boutique. It was going to be fun to see who came out on top this time.

“Dancing?” Helga repeated the word to herself, and bit her lip as she held her hips, slowly shifting them from side to side in thought. “Never done it, but sure. Fighting is a kind of dance, right? I’m sure that would be fun to do as well.” The two walked outside the Arena. “But maybe I should get some practice moving around. I happened to hear some of the girls mention volleyball, and I kinda wanna check that out.”

”Oh! I’d also like to play Volleyball.” Su nodded and smiled. ”I didn’t realize you had such a competitive spirit. But I guess that’s why you’re so good at your Hotel responsibilities. You’re constantly challenging yourself.” She placed a hand on her chin. ”I should renovate the upper floors of the hotel. There are a lot of rooms made for those sorts of activities.”

“Upper floors? If anything, I think the ground floor could use a gym,” Helga commented, nudging Su playfully on her shoulder.

Su only had time to blush before a bottle of lotion flew into Helga and Su’s hands.

“Hi Helga, Hi su!” It was Mika, still loaded up with way too many lotion bottles.

Helga waved to Mika. “Yo, Mika! Thanks for the lotion: I think I’m burning up something fierce here, heh.” She opened up the bottle, and began coating her arm.

“And before I forget: Big news! You know how Penny was the terrible one’s champion, and we had to do everything in our power to stop her for Boteg?” She pranced over to the two of them. “She abandoned him! So she’s not his champion anymore! We can be friends and play together!”

When she heard Mika speak; she accidentally crushed the lotion bottle in her hand, spraying herself in the face. “Pfff-What?” She wiped her face with a towel Dan graciously happened to offer. “No way, really! Is she a Solo now? Or is it because of those White Coins?” She looked at Su. “I’m going to that game: I need to see for myself.” She then began running as fast as she can, leaving only dust behind her. “See you girls later!”

Su was still absorbing the information when Helga sped off. ”I hope she remembers to ask about Amber’s boat.” She turned to Mika. ”Where did you hear this?” 

“She told me herself!” Mika ran towards the beach. “Gotta get these to Lupa and Hilaria!”And just like that, Su was alone again.

”Curious.” No point worrying about it now. ”Guess I might as well find something to do too.”

But Su would not have to wait very long for that. With so many girls around, it was only a matter of time before someone else aproched her.



"Hi Su!" Regina ran up to Su "Did someone say Volleyball? I freaking love Volleyball!" She reached for Su’s arm, but she pulled away sharply.

”Weren’t you going to do a Keijo match or something?”

"They left without saying a word! Boo! No fun!" Regina reached for Su’s other arm, this time successfully grabbing onto it. "We should play some Volleyball! I can tell you’re feeling stressed out, and a physical sport like that would be good for you!"

Su fret her brow. ”Are you the one who dug up Amber’s body, dragged it to a graveyard, and used it in a ritual?”

Regina’s smile broadened. "I learned my lesson, and I’ll never do it again." Su groaned and was about to pull away when Regina kept talking. ”I would sincerely like to anthologize for the atrocities I’ve committed against you and everyone around me. I feel horrible about what I’ve done, and I would do anything to change the past. But I’ve taken something from you that can never be replaced. No amount of good deeds can ever erase what I’ve done, and I’m not going to try. So instead, I’d like to enrich the lives of those around me.” Regina hugged Su’s arm against her chest. "It won’t be just you and I, promise. More people will show up to play. We can play on opposing teams if that makes you feel more comfortable."

Su looked at Regina with scorn. It was evident the beacon girl was nervous. She was shifting her weight from foot to foot, avoiding making direct eye contact with Su. ”One game.” Su wanted to just throw Regina to the ground and be on her way, but she was making an effort to put her anger behind herself. Helga was a decent person and she had done things on par with what Regina had done. If Regina wanted a chance, she would give it to her. Just one though.

"You are an angel from heaven!" Regina held onto Su’s arm and walked towards the beach. "You won’t regret this at all Su! Not one bit!"

Being glomped by her friend, Shannon returned the affection with a hug. ”Lily!” Glad to find that one of her best friends was here as well: that helped lighten the mood even more. Not that the situation was really stressful per se, but it was somewhat mysterious. Breaking away as her call was answered and a tiny dolphin named Dan appeared. Unsurprisingly accusations were thrown out almost immediately of the creature’s intentions. ”Alright girls, let’s hear him out at least.” The words may have fallen on deaf ears but at least everyone was being civil.

Speaking of apparently Dan was also there to make sure people weren’t fighting. That would be nice because from what Shannon could make of the gathering group there were quite a few that would be considered enemies. For the moment she would let the magical creature explain as others were touching on questions she had anyway. Getting a tour was also not quite expected, there were a ton of things to do, even some very... strange activities. Keijo? Yeah that was weird.

So with the tour wrapped up they were let loose to explore and enjoy the resort. Rubbing her chin briefly she glanced around as everyone mulled over what to do. Well, she was dressed for the water already. ”Alright, well I think I’m going to just go for a swim first.” Turning herself in the direction of one of the pools not too far off she started walking that way. She just wanted to relax even for a minute if fighting wasn’t going to be a thing.

Shannon happened to run into Sylvia, who was checking out the pools. “Hmm...They do look safe...Oh, Shannon. Nice to see you here..” She turned to greet Shannon with a raise of her hand. “Thanks again for helping resolve the situation with Regina. It was such a rush handling the media buzz and all, so sorry for not calling you back on it. Want to join me in this jacuzzi?” She pressed a button, and bubbles began popping up on the pool’s surface.

The invite for a simple soak in the jacuzzi was welcome. Smiling she nodded. ”Gladly.” Stepping into the water she sat down in the shallower end where the churning water wouldn’t cover her head. ”Aah yeah. Gotta say I really hope all the stuff Dan said is true. Because a vacation for magical girls is practically unheard of.” After a moment she relaxed and just floated for a bit before responding to the initial piece that Sylvia said. ”Also, you’re welcome. That whole thing didn’t turn out how I thought it would. Not that it was bad I suppose. I haven’t really had the chance to talk to her a whole lot since that.”

Sylvia was up to her shoulders in the pool, having closed her eyes as she sighed in relaxation. “Mm...This is nice...” She then opened her eyes to look at Shannon. “I’ll make sure to send your regards to Regina; she is also glad for your help.” She leaned her head back. ”Hey Shannon, how much do you know about Beacon? Before we met for the first time, I mean.”

Taking a moment to think about it the Earth girl considered what she knew. "I would say I still don't know all that much even now. I kind of work alone most of the time and get help when needed. My patron is the one that brought in some Beacon girls when things got too hairy taking out a den of monsters. A majority of my experience comes from situations like that. But I've learned a bit. From what I can tell Beacon operates in chapters defending territory from evil forces. The Beckoners act like a sort of council for decision making. Not really sure how the different chapters are governed beyond that. As far as principle goes, monsters, dark magical girls, and monster girls are not really tolerated or to be associated with. Penrose has probably been the most interesting chapter I've come across though because you are doing things very unexpected like working with monster girls and making new coins."

Even though Sylvia seemed too distracted by the bubble bath to hear Shannon’s answer, she had listened very intently, as the Puchuu girl could tell by her immediate followup. “Yeah, the Beckoners in charge of Penrose decided to tolerate non-hostile monster girls. At first I was apprehensive of the idea: up until that point they were on the same list as Ebon Mint and dark magical girls, and suddenly no more. I...I’m the type of person that wants everything to be logical, you know?” She looked away. “Don’t tell anyone this, but..that decision didn’t feel like it was made with a rational mind. We have done a lot of good thanks to that change, though, so it’s not like I disapprove, but…We might get into trouble. Big trouble.” She sighed, and leaned against the edge of the pool. “It’s complicated.”

Listening to the Beacon girl's perspective, Shannon nodded a few times. Most of what was said she knew better than to repeat. Given that their patrons were out of touch there was the opportunity to speak more freely without the worry that their leaders would bring down judgment. That little detail only had just occurred to the girl. Not that it really mattered in her case. Puchuu only really needed their charges to get the job done and to hell with everything else. "I can understand that. I've worked with boys and girls from pretty much every kind of patron. I've been screwed over more than once by that, but it isn't a universal thing. There's been a lot of friendships from that too though. I wish I could give better advice other than to be careful, but people are difficult to read even for a Friendship girl like me. Maybe… See about taking things slowly with taking new people in. With as long as Beacon has done things I can only assume not everyone is on board with the new movement." Leaning back she sunk down where the water was above her shoulders but she could still see and hear. With as hard line as Beacon had been in the past she didn't want to see them rebound because of some lapse in judgment.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sylvia responded with a nod. “We do have the White Coins now as leverage in case of a future conflict. Thanks for the pep talk , Shannon. You’re the kind of friend I could share my worries with.” She then seemed to remember something. “How are things on your end? Your Patron was a Puchuu, if I remember correctly.”

”I can’t really complain. Paree is what you expect from a Puchuu but I get to enjoy things and meet lots of people. I don’t usually stay in one place so long so being in Penrose has been a good change of pace. Sometimes a bit more than I bargained for though.” Glancing around she could see that some of the others were beginning to head out to other events. She would catch up with some of the others later.

“This town might be cursed with how much it gets caught up in dark magic, hah,” Sylvia spoke. “But I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. I guess you’ve got enough monsters to hunt here?”

”In between the apocalypses. Haven’t been so busy as of late. Cindy and her group has been taking care of some of that.” Floating from the bubbles for a moment she just relaxed. It would probably be a bit before she entirely let her guard down but at least a little relaxation was in order.
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“Yeah...” Sylvia didn’t respond much, and joined her in a moment of respite. “I still can’t believe we got our hands on Binky when we did. Those Red Coins have been a real miracle,” she would offhandedly mention. “They are a bit too chaotic to really use. But thanks to them, we developed the White Coins using them as the base.”

The name didn't ring a bell with Shannon, but the mention of the Red Coin did given her friend had used one along with the White Coin. Guessing this Binky person had something to do with how they were made. Why was Sylvia mentioning this to her? Oh well. Not like she planned to get involved with Beacon's business. Exclusivity like that made meeting other people too hard. Still she would comment. "I'm just glad people have other options if they don't want to be a monster girl. Haven't really been many ways of coming back from that."

Without warning, the Jacuzzi erupted like a volcano, splashing both girls in the face with white waves. Once the dew and mist subsided, they could see someone else had joined them in the hot tub.

“Oh damn! Sorry about that. I thought this pool looked a little weird, It’s a Jacuzzi!” Lupa laughed while settling in. Most would say she looked far too amused to be sorry. “You look and sound like that Sylvia chick from the PI article about the white coin. That was you right? Thought I heard you say white coin. Wanna talk to you about something.” She turned to look at Shannon. “Oh! You’ve got a visitor. Heh.” Lupa looked back at Sylvia. “Is this a Beacon only party? I can come back later if this is a problem.”

Sputtering a bit from the sudden wash of water Shannon backed up to sit again rather than be submerged. It became clear pretty quickly that someone else had jumped in. Wiping the water off her face she looked to see who had joined them. It wasn’t anyone she’d met before. She wouldn’t let that get in the way though since the girl didn’t appear aggressive in any way. Waving off the concern she smiled. ”No no, it isn’t Beacon only. My patron is a Puchuu so no worries there. Right?” She glanced over to Sylvia.

Sylvia used an arm to block her face from the splash of water, and afterwards blinked in surprise at the monster girl who greeted her. “That’s right, I’m Sylvia. And indeed, this is a faction-free meeting on neutral ground, so you should not worry.” She couldn’t help but smile a bit at the carefree cheeriness that this new girl showed. “Did you want to ask about the White Coins, miss…?”

“Rieka Blakesley, but everyone just calls me Lupa. Heh.” She placed her arms on the edge of the Jacuzzi.

“Nice to meet you, Lupa,” Sylvia answered to the greeting, and afterwards laid her hands on her knees.

“Uh, yes, I guess I do have a question though.” She hesitated in responding. The wolf girl’s eyes rolled to the side. “Uh…” a seagull cawed overhead, causing Lupa to blink. “So, these coins work just fine for Beacon right? I was curious how they worked if you were working for another patron. Say, one that really wanted you to be a monster and had deep seeded separation anxiety. What do you think would happen?”

“There have been multiple cases where a monster girl working for a non-Beacon Patron lost her bond with the Patron, and gained a new one in Beacon, after they have used the White Coin. In other words, the White Coin upon use transforms the Patron’s magic into one Beacon-based.” Sylvia leaned her head just slightly, causing her side ponytail to dip a bit into the water. “Are you considering to join our organization, by any chance? I would be more than happy to tell you more about us and our work.”

Lupa placed a hand on her chin. “I don’t know what I want actually.” She looked around to make sure they were alone. “Let me explain the situation to you. This isn’t something I’ve told my closest friends because I didn’t want to worry them.” She looked at one of her hands. “I’m working for a group that I like, but my true patron is this greedy, pushy ‘thing’ that’s more or less taken hold of my body. I call it Feral.” She lowered her gaze. “It wants me to kill and eat magical entities. It doesn’t matter what they are, so long as I sate myself. Monsters, magical girls, it doesn’t care. I guess I’ve been dealing with it for so long that I forgot what it was like to not have those desires. I’ve been trying to alienate myself from people, but then I came to Penrose. Met some nice people, but Feral wants me to eat them.” She lifted her eyes up. “It’s not an easy thing to resist. I’ve been trying to keep myself immersed in monster hunting, but I just have to slip up once. Now that we’re here, I can’t feel him anymore.” Lupa sighed. “This freedom is something I want to keep. But once we leave, it’ll be there again.” She leaned back. “I want to stop Feral. If joining Beacon does that, so be it. But this thing didn’t start off inside of me. I don’t want to do all this and have Feral decide to take one of my friends as its new host. I want to corner and kill it.”

Sylvia’s smile disappeared as she realized the seriousness of Lupa’s dilemma. “I understand. You are not the first one who wants to be rid of a destructive drive. Isn’t that right, Shannon?” She turned to the Puchuu girl. “However, unlike Regina, this time there is a violent Patron involved. There have been cases where Beacon has banished Patrons out of this world; Horrors are the most common, but Lesser Forces and even Gods have been dealt with. However, it would be a major undertaking in any case, and not one we would like to do lightly.” She offered a hand to Lupa. “But rest assured, we will help you the best we can. In return, I would like you to help us track down Feral, as you have the closest connection.”

Lupa extended her hand and placed it in Sylvia’s “That’s cool! It’s not present now, so there’s not much we can do about it here, but I’ll remember what you said when we get back.” She turned to look at Shannon. “And that’s awesome! I watched the video where Regina name dropped you. That already sounds like a story worthy of a book. You overcame your own dark drives, and then you helped someone else do the same. Absolutely wild!” She released Sylvia’s hand and slid closer to Shannon. The difference in their stature became evident as the hulking wolf woman came closer. “Ya gotta tell me what it’s like being on the other side of something like that.”

Content with letting the other two talk for a moment the Puchuu girl waited patiently. Not expecting to be recognized she was a little taken back by the praise. One part being that the video hadn't really seemed all that big a deal to Shannon, but also something else said confused her slightly. Having come to terms with her small size the larger girl moving closer didn't particularly bother her. Looking up she had a quizzical expression. "Maybe I'm misunderstanding something. I've always just been a regular Puchuu girl."

Sylvia let out a slight giggle. “Oh, pardon me: Regina was the one who needed help, not Shannon. In fact, if it weren’t for her efforts, she would still be out there as a monster.” She smirked as Lupa sat right next to Shannon, finding the disparity in their sizes very amusing to see. Then she moved to sit closer to them, resulting in Shannon being flanked by two taller girls as she was sitting closer to Shannon before. “I’m glad you agree. Here, you can have this.” She gave a token to Lupa. “As long as you hold on to that, we will come help you at your darkest hour.”

“Oh shoot! I guess I did jump the gun a bit there.” She chuckled before turning the token over in her hand. “And uh, thanks! ” she slid it into her swimsuit. “So uh.” She scratched the side of her head. “You know I could never just sit and relax in one of these things. But hey! Thanks for listening to me.” She patted Shannon on the shoulder. “I’ll catch up with you guys later. Thanks a lot.”Lupa launched herself out of the Jacuzzi and ran off, disappearing just as fast as she came.

Sylvia waved goodbye as Lupa left, and then sighed heavily. “Great, even more work. I’m really glad I have this vacation though.” She leaned her head back, and slowly sank into the water until her shoulders dipped. “Is there anything you might also need, Shannon? It looks like you’re pretty well off.”

”Mmm, I can’t really think of anything. I’m more about the people than the stuff. I might try talking to Lupa again to try and get more information on her situation.” She was thinking on it for a bit before putting that off to the side. ”Probably have quite a few people to talk to. Need to meet new people and patch things up with Cindy.” She smiled not really daunted by the task.

“That’s good to hear...” Sylvia slowly responded, having closed her eyes as she relaxed in the bath. After a couple of minutes, she then stood up, and stepped out of the jacuzzi. “Ah, that was nice. I think I’ll be going for a walk now. See you later, Shannon.”

Waving to Sylvia, Shannon bid her friend adu. ”Thanks for the talk. Have a good run!” As she was left alone Shannon relaxed for a bit longer. For as social she was even she needed a little break now and then. After soaking for a few more minutes she climbed out of the jacuzzi. Several were going off to play volleyball it seemed or go shopping. Spotting that Cindy’s group was off on their own she figured now would be a good time to talk with her before they too got busy with some activity.

Chloe received possibly the closest thing to an expression of fear Silhouette had ever expressed, at least publicly. As if Silhouette’s very life was in danger, even she could not mask the terror she experienced at the moment. Naturally, this was all in response to Chloe’s threat to not have her over for coffee again. It truly was a frightening thought. At least to Sil.

Shade, however, shook her head in apparent disgust. “Really? It’s coffee! COFFEE! How are you so obsessed with tar-tasting muck?! It’s nast-EEEEEEE!” Another strong, sharp pinch let Shade know she was saying something Silhouette did not like. “Anyways, if we were to set up a date, I’d much rather chat over something a lot more befitting of cute girls like us. Like tea, or juice, or anything that isn’t coffee~!”

Like Chloe, the twins naturally took notice of the dolphin who explained their situation to a degree. They, too, were unsure what the deal with it was, but at least they had some form of idea of what they were doing here. Sil did not look pleased, in contrast to Shade, whose eager looked betrayed she loved the outcome.

SIl worked up the courage to finally speak in a proper tone as she began to answer Chloe. “...actually, it would be best if I met with Vero---” obviously, before she could finish her sentence, Shade answered for her.

“Of course we do, right Sil?” clearly uninterested in actually listening to what her ‘sister’ had to say, Shade continued. “I wonder what sort of stuff they have in there? Hmm~ Hmm~ There’s so much stuff to do, and so many cuties to do it with~ Hey, so are you interested in any event in particular, Chloe?” she asked as they began walking towards the boutique.

“Hmm, does bothering beacon count as an event?” Chloe asked with a giggle. “Since we're not supposed to be fighting, I feel like I could almost get away with murdering them...with my cuteness, of course, eheh!” Chloe walked after Shade, making sure to make sure Sil hadn't decided to make a break for it.

“Hmhm, aside from that though...eeeh, maybe Keijo?” She frowned. “Ah, definitely gonna do a stage show later. I have just the thing in mind.” She grinned at Sil. “Can't really think of much else that interests me. Stuff like surfing, jet skis, aren't really my thing, so I'll probably be socializing, mostly.” Reaching the Boutique, Chloe stepped inside...now, she just needed to wait and find something to surprise Sil with, heh. “What about you, huh? Can't imagine a cute girl like you is gonna pass up on a stage show. Shame we can't do it together.”

Shade laughed as they entered the boutique. “Of course not! I’m not so cruel as to deny everyone here a chance to watch me shine!” Sil rolled her eyes from behind the idol, but Shade did not notice. She was clearly too focused on the thought of performing. “But was there a rule against duets, or possibly groups? I don’t mind sharing a stage with other cuties.” she placed a digit to her lips. “Well, even if that’s the case, there’s other things we could do together too! That Keijo thing sounds fun! And maybe some volleyball, too. Mmm, but sunbathing also would be nice~ Ah, there’s so much to do, I wonder how much time we have to do it all? I hope I can at least get acquainted with a majority of the girls here. It’s hard to do it in Penrose…” Shade’s expression momentarily darkened, but only for a second. She then turned to the girl behind her. “What about you, ‘Sis’?”

Not expecting to be dragged into what she probably believed to be a pointless conversation, she couldn’t answer immediately. She took a moment or two, then forced out an answer. “Umm, well… I’ll just rest and maybe…_{do the water gun fight.”}

“Come again? You gotta speak up! When an idol speaks, the whole world needs to hear it!”

_{“...water gun.”}

“Water gun?” Shade couldn’t hide the shock. Silhouette and her were technically one and the same, but clearly she was unable to predict that answer. It was so… “Childish! What kind of taste do you have? Pfffffffft! Ahaha, how old are you? Thr--EEEEEEE!”

Silhouette pouted after pinching Shade. “...shut it.”

The idol was still laughing. “Thinking about it, that does suit you. Wouldn’t you agree, Chloe?”

“It does!” Chloe laughed brightly in response. “I bet she'd imagine herself as some super secret spy agent trying to take out targets like in those cheesy action films.”

“Haha, yeah, that’d be funny, wouldn’t?” Shade grinned as she gave Sil a nudge with her elbow discreetly. Silhouette almost narrowed her eyes at the idol, but realized the act would serve no purpose, so she remained quiet.

Now in the boutique, Chloe took a quick look around. It had some pretty great stuff here. Pool noodles, sunblock, rentals for surfboards. Maybe she could join the two of them in volleyball or something? Wasn't her thing, but hey, she wasn't one to not meddle where she could.

...was that one of those photo booths?

She flashed the clone a grin. “Hey Shade.” She tilted her head in the direction of it. “You said something about a photo earlier?”

Shade’s elation was evident when her pupils turned into stars. “Yes, yes I did! We should all take some pictures together~!” she immediately pulled Silhouette towards the photo booth, uninterested in anything else the shop may have offered at the present moment. “Hmm, I’d love us all to be in a few, but…” she looked towards Chloe, smiling devilishly. “How about a couple with just the two of us? And Sil can do the same, too~!”

“I nev--”

“Ptooie, you don’t get a say, grouch.”

“...”

Though Silhouette was obviously plotting a way to pay this ‘sister’ of hers back judging by her unpleasant expression, she did remain silent as asked.

“That's a wonderful idea!” Chloe gave Sil a friendly nudge. “Come on, it'll be fun.” Deciding that was temptation enough. Chloe grinned, grabbing the other DMG by the arm. “I call dibs on going with Sil first! We can do ours last after we get Sil, so she doesn't have a chance to run, hehe~”

“W-wait, I--” Silhouette’s protest was cut short by the light shove her ‘sister’ gave her into the photo booth.

“No excuses~!” Shade snapped. “Taking pictures with fans is part of an idol’s job, y’know!”

“But I’m not…” Sil, perhaps realizing that explaining herself was clearly not going to work, sighed. “But why do you even want to take pictures with me? I don’t understand…”

“Tsk, Sil, if you haven't figured it out yet then you're really not as clever as you should be.” Now inside the Photo booth, Chloe looked over a few of the options presented to them. “Mostly because it's fun to bother you.” She giggled. “You do this most adorable blushing thing.”

Of course saying such things caused Sil to redden before she could (and she definitely intended to) fervently deny the claim that she ‘adorably blushed’. “...I don’t see the app--” Silhouette was cut off not by Shade this time, but herself. She couldn’t bring herself to finish that sentence, remembering how she felt when she watched Mika back at the graveyard. No, she most certainly could see the appeal. But she couldn’t say she enjoyed being the “Mika” right now. “...Well, if that’s your thing, I suppose it’s alright…” she could do nothing but resign herself to her fate of taking pictures.

That was all Chloe needed as an excuse to bother Sil further. “Eeeh? So you do like this sort of thing?” A rather concerning giggle left her lips as she fiddled with the settings on the booth. “I'm kind of curious as to how red I can make your face, heh.” Before Sil could do anything, Chloe had already pressed the button for the pictures. “Smile and all that!” Just before the first picture would be taken, Chloe would reach over, pull Sil down so their faces were level and smoosh their cheeks together.

The strained, awkward attempt at a smile Silhouette was performing was replaced with a beet-red, embarrassed one as she made skin contact with Chloe. “H-hey, you’re way too close…!” a couple of pictures were taken before she could separate the two of them. “W-what are you thinking? Don’t… invade my space like that…”

“Hey, don’t have all the fun without me~!” Shade chimed from outside the booth.

“Ahaha, personal space is a myth you know.” Chloe laughed. She wasn't about to let Sil get away so easily though. She latched onto Sil's arm, tiptoeing so she could whisper right into her ear. “Aha, besides, we both know you like it, don't you?” She took a quick step back, giggling brightly. “Ah, right. Here I am being too selfish. Have some fun, Shade!~”

Chloe didn’t hear an outright rejection from Silhouette before she suddenly found herself being pulled back into the booth. “The one I want to spend some alone time with is you, silly~” she gave Chloe a look over before grinning. “You are definitely a cute one too. I wouldn’t mind having you in a group with me and a few others, you know. Can you dance?”

“H-huh?” Chloe hadn't expected that. “I thought we were here to bully Sil.” She giggled. Dance, huh? Well she most certainly could...but she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to. She had something she really wanted to do with someone else....but hm. “I can certainly dance. Got an idea for the stage show, huh?”

“We are, we are. She needs to be humbled, that arrogant little devil. But,” Shade’s smile widened. “You’re cute, so I won’t waste an opportunity when it presents itself. An idol like myself needs to strike while the iron’s hot~!” she playfully poked Chloe’s side, then glanced at the options for the booth while Chloe continued speaking. She hadn’t settled on any particular one before Chloe brought up the stage show, but Shade was obviously waiting for that. “Yes, yes~! Naturally, I would love to put on a performance for everyone here. And considering how easy that dolphin...thing, whatever it was, made it sound, it should be easy to set up. That’s why I want to do a group thing while I have the chance. And I’d love for you to be a part of it!” Shade glanced outwards, towards Silhouette. “You and I won’t be the only ones going up on stage, either~”

Heh, so that was her goal. Smirking devilishly, Chloe returned her attention to Shade.“Heh, that sounds great! Sign me up then. A pair of cuties like us need to shine where we can.” Chloe cozyed up next to Shade, grinning brightly. Hm, she'd have to finagle things so she could do two, but that should be fine. She'd just have to put her own plans for later. “...We should totally put Sil as the front girl, too. And give her a solo or whatever.”

Shade lit up, ecstatic at Chloe’s eagerness. “That’s right! The greatest stars shine brightest, after all.” Now knowing what filters she wanted to use, she chose the one that had cute stars on the border of the picture. She and Chloe would have to get close to both fit in the middle of it, but she wasn’t worried about that in the least. “I suppose I could step down just this once, since I’m sure it’d be such a delight to see how she reacts~” she looked at the center of the camera, pulling Chlole as close as physically possible, raising two fingers in a peace sign, clearly expecting Chloe to do something similar. “Stardom, here we come~”

“Aha, yea.” Chloe giggled. “I just wanna see how she reacts to being the center of attention.” She was curious as if to Sil could actually pull it off. It'd be legitimately wonderful if she could, but hilarious if she couldn't. Did she care about either result though? Nah. Once Shade had picked the filter, Chloe wrapped an arm around the other girl, mimicking her own pose with a playful grin, wink to the camera and a peace sign. “For the lovely fans!~”

The booth flashed as they had their pictures taken, and right after, Sil poked her head into it. “...aren’t you guys do---!” she suddenly found herself being pulled into the booth by the mischievous Shade. “H-hey!” the idol yet again ignored Sil’s complaints, quickly taking another picture before Sil could get away, striking a similar pose but with the addition of Sil caught under one of her arms, looking rather confused.

“That makes all of us~!” Shade cheered. “This should for now! But our performance will have a bunch more cute pictures of all of us, I’m sure!”

Silhouette pried herself from Shade’s clutches, eyebrow raised. “W-what are you talking about?”

“We’re gonna do a live show later, Sil-ly! And you’ll be the center! Aren’t you excited?”

Contrary to Shade’s belief, Silhouette was certainly not excited at the prospect. Sil glanced over to Chloe with pleading eyes, perhaps hopeful that Chloe would tell her this was nothing more than a joke Shade was playing.

“Aahaha, don't give me that look, you little starlet. You're gonna finally get your chance to be an idol! And we have just the thing in mind for you.” Chloe grinned deviously. “I do hope you don't mind showing off that adorable body of yours.”

All the light left Silhouette’s eyes when she realized her last spot of hope had been taken from her. “I-I don’t think anyone would want to see that…”

“Nonsense!” Shade interjected. “You’re a cutie, like us! Of course people would want to see that! To be praised, to be acknowledged, to be remembered… you don’t want any of that?”

“N-not particular--”

“Bah, you’re doing it and that’s that! Consider it an order, agent!”

“But you’re-”

“Done listening to you! You’ll take your stardom and you’ll like it! Chloe here is nice and cute enough to jump on the stage with you, and you’re going to let her down? What will we do with you? What will Veronica do with you, hmm?”

Sil became docile at the mention of a certain person. “...Well, if you aren’t going to give it up, I suppose I can…”

“Excellent~! Hear that, Chloe? We’ve got ourselves a center!”

“Wonderful!~” Chloe giggled. “Come on, don't be so dejected. You'll be a star after this! The number one Idol in all of Penrose!” The dark magical girl playfully grinned. “I bet Veronica will be head over heels for you, hehe.” Chloe laughed impishly. “I bet she might even fall for you. I know I would, hehe!” Coughing slightly, Chloe glanced out the boutique door.

“...speaking of Veronica, I got a date with her so if you two cuties don't mind, I think I've kept her waiting long enough.”

Shade giggled. “If you get Chloe to fall for you, then you have no reason to think you’re not a looker~!” she tried to tease Sil, but the other girl was focused entirely on a different point.

Sil eyed Chloe with suspicion. “What do you need with Veronic--”

“You can’t be rude like that, Sil-ly!” she pouted. “Especially with a fellow member of the group!”

“Geh..” like a child being scolded by their mother, Silhouette shrunk back. “...fine, whatever.”

Shade watched over Sil for a moment to make sure her point had gotten across, before properly addressing Chloe’s intended departure. “Mm-mm~! It was fun to hang for a bit, we look forward to working with you in the performance later!!” Shade stepped out of the booth and hooked her arm with Sil’s. “Both of us did, right?”

“I’m no---EEE” This time, it was Sil yelping. Shade had given her a rather firm pinch on her arm that startled her.

“Right, Sil?” she asked again in a firm tone.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...I didn’t mind it…”

Shade narrowed her eyes at Silhouette, but eventually sighed and looked back to Chloe with an apologetic face. “That’s the best we’ll get out of her, I guess. Well, see you then~”

The downsides to being evicted from penrose were easy for anyone to see. You had no idea what was going on, and any other type of magical threat was likely running around unchecked. By the same token, you’re free to personally visit anyone you wish without the fear of being attacked. Most magical girls would look at this as the perfect vacation. A space where everyone is free to relax. But Veronica saw this as an opportunity. One that she wasn’t going to let slip through her fingers. Only a fool wouldn’t make the most of this unique situation. But in order to do that, Veronica had to prepare. She planned on meeting with several people. Chloe was one of them, but there would be more. Each of them had different expectations, and Veronica would need to arm her with the tools to meet all of them.

To that end, she went to the boutique.

Veronica saw Chloe leave, so she knew she didn’t have a lot of time to look around. When Veronica approached the front counter, she could see that the inside of the boutique had two main sections. First, the center, loaded with all manners of common items found in any normal shop, with ice cream, sun lotion, all that which Dan had promised that was free for everyone except the two that had actually failed to get to the island without getting wet, and then there were more special items outlined along the walls, each with a small description of what it was and did and a price-tag in magical currency to match. And, of course, to the immediate left was a bouncy little witch behind a cash-register and the widest of smiles, as well as an archetypical crystal ball for divination…



‘Welcome to Brittany’s Bewitched Beach Boutique! How may I be of service~?’ Brittany happily called out as Veronica entered the shop, placing her hands together and smiling.

Veronica took a moment to eye the girl up and down before speaking. “Greetings.” She gave Brittany a nod. “I did not expect to see another magical girl behind the counter.” Veronica approached the girl. “Were you kidnapped like everyone else?”

‘Keh-heh! I didn’t expect to be selling stuff here, either. I was planning on having my grand opening in actual Penrose, but this works too! So, yeah, I woke up here and a big dolphin told me I’d be selling stuff! And I’m in a swimsuit! Without Agatha! Really strange stuff, but I’ll make do~!’ So Brittany excitedly told. ‘So, what’ll it be~? Do you want me to recommend something~?’ Brittany asked, hands together and smiling widely.

Veronica blinked a few times. It was clear to her that Brittany was just your average retailer. Her exterior was plastered with a smile, only to hide a hollow core that could only be filled with money. Her overly personalised account of how she wound up here was also telling of a lonely or narcissistic individual. But none of that mattered if Brittany could do her job. Not to Veronica anyway. “I would be willing to hear your recommendations.” She turned away from her and looked at the magical items for sale.

‘Oooh, then, how about the Eternal Ice Cream? It’s ice cream, but it’ll never run out! Or how about the Parasol of Cool, under which there’ll always be comfortably-’

“What’s this?” Veronica pulled a rolled up swimsuit off of the shelf. It was sealed inside a bag, and was labeled “quick change” with a short description of the contents.

‘Oh, that!’ Brittany exclaimed, smiling brightly as she skipped beside the swimsuit. ‘This is the Quick Change swimsuit! Are you unhappy with the swimsuit you've been provided? Never fear, for this swimsuit will change your default look! Simply get somewhere safe to take off your current swimsuit and put this on, and it’ll transform into your new swimsuit! Keep an image of the swimsuit you want it to become in mind, and it’ll at the very least take inspiration from it! Your old swimsuit will vanish and be gone forever, though, so keep that in mind! Since it’ll only work in this particular dimension, I’m selling it for the low-low price of just 2 bronze coins! I have multiple in stock, so feel free to buy as many as you like~!’ Brittany explained excitedly.

“So your old one just vanishes?” Veronica scratched her chin. “I suppose you can’t expect much for two copper these days.”

‘Yeah, sorry, what you're really doing is changing the magic attire attached to your transformed state, and that sees no reason to remember past shapes~!’ Brittany commented with a bright smile.

All the same, this sounded like exactly what she needed. It would certainly be useful for her dealing with Chloe. She pulled out a few more. “It doesn’t look like you’re in danger of running out, so I can always come back for more.” Veronica placed them on the counter. “So let’s start with six.”

Brittany’s eyes widened. ‘Righto! That'll be twelve bronze coins! Would you like anything else?’ Brittany asked excitedly.

“This should suffice for now.” With a wave of her hand, twelve bronze coins spilled out of her hand and landed on the table. Veronica was about to leave when she turned around again. “Actually, I do have one question before I leave, who are you?” Never hurt to know your supplier.

Brittany grinned, closed one eye and raised one peace-sign hand. ‘I am Brittany Todd, Psychic-specialized Magical Girl of Lesser Force Agatha, diviner and treasure hunter using my own divinations to find magical artifacts which to sell in my shop! With a bit of support from Cindy Ford my Magical Market is minutes from opening! I look forward to your patronage! Keh-heh~!’

That had to be one of the most long winded and pretentious titles Veronica had ever heard. But this lined up with her previous assertion of the witch girl. “I will have to take a better look around in time. Until next time.” With a nod, Veronica walked out of the boutique.

‘Sure! See you next time! Oh, and if you find any magic artifacts you don’t need, I’d be interested~!’ Brittany said with a smile, waving after her as she left. She then looked down on the bronze coins on her counter, her fingers wandering over them. ‘My first customer… hahahaha…’ She scooped them up and beamed so happily. ‘Sorry, Agatha, that you couldn’t be here to see this~!’

Not long after Veronica left, someone else entered the establishment. This was a boy with soft red hair who was just wearing a pair of swimming trunks and a red shirt. The front was wide open, showing his bare chest. He wasn’t overly muscular, but few magical boys were.



”How we doin’, Miss Todd?” His thick bronx accent would have caught most off guard, but it was nothing new to Brittany.

‘Nuncio! You’re here, too!?’ Brittany called out, happily. ‘Listen, listen! I just had my first customer! Sure, the location isn’t what I’d thought it’d be, but my shop’s now officially a shop~! I’m so happy~!’ Brittany said, smiling and leaning forward on the counter so she could kick with her legs up behind her excitedly.

Nuncio chuckled before stepping up to the counter. There was something in his hand. ”If people are doin’ business with ya, that’s good. Means you can buy more of my stuff.” He leaned across the counter. ”Afraid the news im goin’ to share ain’t quite as happy. Not for me anyway, It’s good if ya like those plushies though.”

‘Oh? What’s the matter? Want a Dan plushie? The description says they spread joy!’ Brittany asked, lifting up a plushie of the Dan the dolphin Nuncio definitely didn’t make. ‘… It’s one of the extra things the dolphin put in my store, probably inspired by the plushies I got from you, heh~! Anyways! I like when you have plushies for me, so yes! What’s up?’ Brittany asked, leaning forward and looking at Nuncio with interest.

”Take a look for yaself.” Nuncio held out his hand and opened it for Brittany. Resting in his palm was a plush of Penny. ”Seems she changed her style on me. She ain’t look nothin’ like that now, so this one’s not so collectable, ya get me?” He lowered the plush into Brittany’s hands. ”I’ll letcha have this one cheap, unless ya wanna trade me that ugly dolphin for it.” Nuncio grinned.

‘Keh-heh, I’m gonna get so many questions about why I have plushies of locals. What would you like me to tell them?’

”I unno, you never ask me why I make ‘em, heh.”

Brittany inspected the Penny plushie… ‘I love it! … And I’ll totally trade you Dan plushies for it if you want it~! I actually have quite a few of them, though. Dan ensured I’d have multiple in stock,’ Brittany admitted.

”That was a joke, but if ya gunna take it seriously...” Nuncio took a few dolphin plushies in his hand and gave one a squeeze. ”My girl would love snugglin’ a few things like this.” His smile widened, if only barely. ”Guess I’d better get outa here before more customers show up.” With a nod, he turned to leave. ”Take care, ma’am!”

Brittany happily provided him a few Dan plushies in exchange for the Penny one. ‘Yepp! Thank you, Nuncio, and come again!’ Then her eyes widened a little and… ‘Oh, and if you some day could make me an Agatha plushie, I'd be super happy and could give you a whole lot in return~!’ … So Brittany called after him as he left.

After Chloe and Veronica were done at the boutique, they headed towards the cottages. Nearby there was a giant outdoor pool area, and beside it a smaller, closed off “adult” swimming area. It was on an elevated platform that was accessed by a flight of stairs. Once they ascended the stairs, the two were greeted by a view of the seaside, and a pool surrounded by lots of reclining chairs. There was almost no room to move around the pool itself, which was actually more shallow than the deep end of the larger pool. The adult pool was more for people who didn’t want to swim, it appeared.

“Perfect.” Veronica said before stepping to the edge of the pool. “Now, let’s see how this ‘quick change’ works.” Veronica jumped into the water and was consumed by a dark shadow, which sunk into the water. Not long after she submerged, Veronicastepped out of the pool sporting a new swimsuit. It was just a red and white bikini, but it covered less than her last swimsuit did.



“I’d say that works rather well.”

“Well,” Chloe whistled as she watched Veronica emerge from the pool. “You look good in just about everything, don't you?” She mused, taking a seat in one of the reclining chairs. A good view indeed. “Other girls might get jealous, heh.” This whole meeting had peaked her curiosity. Veronica herself had. She could tell the other magical girl was strong, but how strong exactly was up in the air. Which begged multiple questions to be answered, but hopefully this meeting would be somewhat enlightening.“I, however, am above such negative thoughts.”

Veronica nodded before seating herself in one of the chairs. Her hair was still wet. “You wanted a drink right? Do you have any preferences?”

She offered a small smile to Veronica. “Lately I've been favoring the black and green teas, but might as well have something appropriately festive since we’re at the beach.”

“Then I would suggest a long beach ice tea.” Veronica extended her hand and a shadow stretched out until it arrived beside Chloe. From there, a table emerged while several shadowy hands poured out the cocktail in two shakers. “Vodka, gin, tequila, triple sec, white rum, and lemon juice come together over a bed of ice.” After the drinks were mixed together and poured into two glasses with ice, the rest of the glasses were filled with a red liquid. “And then the rest of the glass is filled with cranberry juice, because it would be a long island ice tea if we used cola, and that’s not festive.” One of the hands placed a sliced lime on the glass and inserted a straw before sliding it towards Chloe. “It’s a stealth cocktail, it doesn’t taste as strong as it really is. Keep that in mind if you’re going to ask for seconds. I think you’ll like it though. It’s tart, but refreshing.” A hand appeared beside Veronica and handed her the other drink.

Well this answered a few things. Chloe took the drink offered to her with a smile, bringing it to her lips as Veronica spoke.

“Ah-” Chloe coughed lightly. She was right, it was definitely a tart, but there was a refreshing coolness to the drink that she certainly didn't dislike.

“The real reason why I wanted to talk to you in private is in regards to what I believe is a more secret part of your life.” She sipped the drink. “I am a former Ebon coin broker. Emphasis on former broker.” She set her drink down on a table and folded her hands in her lap. “I know a bit about you. I no longer have access to your file, but I was under the impression that you weren’t very loyal to Mint. Partially given how you treat your current patron, and you just don’t seem to like being bossed around. In the past, that might have been a problem, but now?” She paused. “It might be possible for us to work together against a common enemy.”

A former mint broker, huh? Her loyalty to the Mint was only so long as she got paid. Or at least, it used to. As for her current patron...that depended.

“Right to business, huh? No time for a bit of leisure?” Chloe sighed, pouting a bit before turning more serious. “A common enemy...” Chloe mused, twirling the drink lightly in her hand. “I assume you mean the Mint. I was loyal to them so long as I got paid. They gave me some very fun things to do, heh.” Truthfully, while Chloe didn't like being under their thumb, she mostly considered them utterly inconsequential even if she would like to either crush or rule them, watch as everything they built either fell into her hands or just crumbled into nothing. Smiling, Chloe took another drink. “...but recently, after a brief leave from Penrose I'm a bit, shall we say, impatient and a little fed up with the status quo.” She cast a glance over to Veronica. “You know me fairly well, it seems, but I know nothing about you...which makes it kind of difficult to consider doing anything with you.”

Veronica sloshed the ice in her glass around. “That is correct, you know little of me. Though that is not because I’m trying to hide anything. If you remained in Penrose for the entirety of the past two months, you’d probably have encountered me sooner.” She set down her glass and folded her hands together. “If you’d like to get to know me better, that’s fine. I have little to hide and much I can tell you. We’re on vacation after all.” The shadow under the table stretched across the floor and shaped itself into the Cradle’s insignia. “I call my faction Crimson Cradle. Most of its members are former Mint agents or long standing allies of mine. I know you’ve met Sil. She’s one of my top agents. You may have seen Tetrad. She was in the suburbs before I called her into Penrose. Betty is my personal bodyguard, but I’ve given her the day off. I have a few more agents, but none of them appear to be present. But I sense they are in this dimension with us. Maybe I’ll introduce you some day.” The shadow went back to its original shape under the table. “It’s reasonable at this point to wonder why I broke off from the Mint. I was simply tired of the secrets. Completing their objectives was becoming harder, and I even got some misinformation that had two of my own agents working against each other. It nearly doomed Penrose and the plan to stop Justine. I started to distrust them, and saw more benefits to working against them to with them, and now?” She spread her arms. “I’m their greatest obstacle, or at least they act like it. They prioritized stopping me over a world ending horror like Soth. We are hard enemies. Next time you see your broker, tell him I encountered you. Especially if it’s Al, I bet he’d have something interesting to say.” She chuckled darkly. “I’m kidding, don’t do that. They’ll suspect I’m trying to turn you and might try to eliminate you. But we are not friends, the Mint and I.”

“Ah, so that's what had Al irritated.” Chloe chuckled. This was all very useful information. Honestly, it sounded just like the Mint to prioritize a grudge over stopping something like Soth so she wasn't surprised. What was surprising though, was Veronica's honesty. She sounded honest, as easy as that was for some people anyways. She knew only a little of the events that went on during the whole Justine thing, having been away from Penrose, but the series of events seemed to match.

Veronica took a swig of her drink. “I don’t know if it’s this drink or you, but saying all that was very satisfying. Did I mix in something extra?” She examined the glass before taking it in both hands. “You know what? I agree Chloe. Let’s just keep it leisure for now. I would like to get more familiar with you anyway.” She took another sip. “Speaking of Soth, you were present at the graveyard. That wasn’t a development I expected. Furthermore, Sil told me that you save Penny’s life. Rather heroic feat given what you were going up against.” Veronica placed a hand under her chin. “Do you typically put yourself in danger like that?”

“Is it odd for a Dark Magical girl to be heroic?” Chloe giggled. “We can be, if people simply give us the chance. But no, Beacon goes around spouting purification nonsense and act like we do nothing but bring chaos.” Chloe took a relaxing sip of the beverage. Hm, maybe she did put something in it. “I will agree, some impulses of mine are less than nice, but that is human nature, isn't it?” Chloe smiled. “I don't normally stick my head out into every problem, but If I can save a fledgling magical girl from being offed by a monster, then that is simply what a person should do, yes? And I certainly don't mind risking a little injury making sure one of mine doesn't die.” Her hand gripped the glass tighter. “...and Penny happens to be one of mine.” Was there a certain tinge of uncertainty in her voice?

Veronica had finished her drink and was already mixing two more. This one used less cranberry juice than the last one, which made for a much stronger drink. One of them was placed beside Chloe. “You might have picked up on the fact that I’m a dark magical girl too. Your behavior was unusual for the profile the Mint gave you rather than your inability to fling shooting stars and rainbows at monsters.” She chuckled. Her cheeks were noticeably redder than normal. Veronica took a sip of her new drink before continuing. “Mmm, where was I? Yes! Penny.” She slid down in her seat slightly. “You view her as an ally. I did for a time as well. The Mint was interested in her first, so naturally I got her signed up. I think she was laying beside Thalia at the time. Do you know who that is? Recently found some evidence that identifies her as the Vixen of Penrose.” She chuckled. “That’s right, I offered to help her if she needed anything, so I located that evidence with her. Even when the Mint turned their backs on me, I still tried to help her.. Can you imagine? Me helping someone who’s still involved with an organization that’s trying to kill them?” Veronica continued to move down her seat until she was looking directly up in the air.

“That sounds incredibly foolish.” Veronica's words did little to assuage Chloe of her own misgivings, but she was pretty sure there was definitely something else in these drinks now and she didn't care at all. “I'd probably just let them burn.” Chloe downed the last of her first drink, grabbing the second one that had been placed next to her.“Ahh, little Penny told me all about Thalia when I returned to Penrose. If I ever see that floozy, I'll deal with her personally. Maybe let Lucy eat her, heh. He deserves a treat after being such a good little pet.”

“Lucy, I think I know what that is.” Veronica continued to move down her seat until she was looking directly up in the air. “Anyway, I get the impression that Penny has little use for me now. It’s a little unclear now that the Mint cut me off, but I think she joined Beacon. And Beacon has it out for me, she knew this. There’s also nothing to suggest she’s stopped working for the Mint. Two organizations that want me dead, and she’s still working for them.” Veronica arched her back and sat upright, like a zombie rising from its grave. Her wet hair hung in front of her face. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little betrayed. But if you still see her as one of yours, than maybe she hasn’t set out to double cross everyone. I suppose I have no one to blame but myself. I wasn’t useful to her anymore.” She put her straw in her mouth and slurped.

Chloe sat upright in her own seat, glancing over to Veronica. Sliding her legs over the edge of the chair, she positioned herself so she was facing the other girl. “Penny is a good girl, you know? Ah, that's why I love her.” Chloe sighed, holding a hand to the side of her face. “She'd never intentionally betray anyone. Let alone me, heh. I practically showed her how to do the whole magical girling thing. Sometimes I just want too...heh.” She took another drink, her own face suitably red now. “I wouldn't feel too bad about it, though. My Penny is rather skittish. Doesn't trust easily...I suppose that's why she did join beacon while I was gone.” Taking another drink of the cocktail, she balanced the glass precariously on her chest, quickly pulling out a camera and snapping a selfie. “Heh, I'll send that one to her later.”

“I’ll have to give her another chance then, on your recommendation.” Veronica stood up, wobbling side to side. “I can’t say love is something I see as being that desirable. Not for me anyway. I prefer relationships with a more flexible dynamics than love offers. Or, maybe I just haven’t found the right person yet.” She stumbled towards Chloe. “Is that the no hands drinking challenge?” Veronica scoffed before drinking from her glass. “Doing that from a recliner is cheating. Besides, two powerful dark magical girls like ourselves are above just beating such a challenge.” She extended her hand towards Chloe. “We can annihilate all opposition, but we need to work together.” She extended her hand. Her face was very red, and there wasn’t much drink left in her glass. “Take my hand, and we will absolutely destroy this challenge, beyond what anyone has ever been able to do before. Make them rue the day they attempted it.”

“Pfft, I'm just sending this to Penny.” Chloe giggled. “It'll be fun seeing what she thinks of it.” Sitting up, Chloe considered Veronica's offer. Hmm, it may just be the summer heat and the alcohol, hmm, but what the hell. “You know what, fine. You've put me in a good mood.” She took Veronica's hand. “We'll crush this challenge, and everyone will fear even attempting to best us!”

“Yes!” Veronica pulled Chloe to her feet. “First, we need a few more drinks.” The room was filled with the sound cocktails being mixed. Drinks being poured, drinks being shaken, it was hard to tell how many hands were moving about the room. “And now we need to make, a landing pad.” A stool appeared in front of Veronica, and she helped Chloe up onto it. This leveled the shorter magical girl with her taller counterpart. “Oh yes, this is going to be perfect. Now we just need to, hug. Not too tightly.” Veronica wrapped her arms around Chloe’s hips and eased their bodies together. Their chests touched, but it didn’t create a platform you could stack drinks on. “Okay, maybe just a bit tighter.” Veronica was still holding onto her glass when she hugged Chloe against herself. As their breasts pressed together, it made for a base you could more easily stack drinks on. “That’s less room then I thought we were going to have, but it doesn’t matter.” She locked eyes with Chloe. “These drinks are going to be cold, so be ready for it. And breath carefully.” One at a time, the shadowy hands started to stack glasses of long beach ice tea between them. The first level had nine glasses, with the level above it containing four, and the final level had a single glass with two straws in it. “Now just… easily go for your phone. Or maybe I’ll get it.” A dark hand reached for Chloe’s phone before hesitating. “Unless, can we make this better?”

“We're already messing with perfection.” Chloe exhaled carefully, holding onto Veronica. “But hm, there needs to be something more. Something sure to dazzle the competition from trying to beat us.” But what? They were already playing a dangerous game, and at any second the drinks could topple over. “...a throne of cocktails. We must show everyone who the queens are, Veronica!”

“A throne?” Veronica blinked before steeling herself. “A throne!” The shadowy hands continued to mix drink after drink. It was hard to tell if even the right things were going into the glasses, or even if the quantities were right, but that hardly mattered. A throne was a bit trickier than a simple pyramid. There were a lot of vertical surfaces that didn’t lend themselves to being created by staggering glasses. Veronica needed to cheat to get the throne to look right. The hands hid a small amount of clay on the bottom of every glass to prevent them from slipping. On a cellphone, you’d never be able to see it. Especially if you used the right angle. “It’s done!” Veronica grinned, but her expression soon turned grave.. “Now, how do we sit in it?”

“Like this!~” Chloe grinned, before pulling Veronica into the glass throne a bit roughly. It should hold, right? Veronica flinched, but had little time to do much else before Chloe positioned herself so she was sitting in Veronica's lap, still pressing their bodies together so their chests touched, with Chloe holding onto one of Veronica's shoulders. A spirit wandered over, balancing a cocktail on their chests where they touched with two straws. “Do the honors, Veronica?”

The former coin broker hesitated before answering. “Of course!” One of the dark hands took Chloe’s phone before retreating at an appropriate distance to capture the entire throne. A second hand showed up with Veronica’s phone. “Get into position!” As soon as they started to drink, some of the clay gave way. Veronica, Chloe, and a hundred or so cocktails were dumped. into the swimming pool. Chloe gave a rather girly, startled yelp as she hit the cold water of the pool. The pool had red clouds of cranberry juice floating in it, and the alcohol content was considerably higher to boot. The two girls managed to float to the surface, if not by virtue of their anatomy, then because they were laying on top of glass cups. They swam to the edge of the pool and pulled themselves up, mindful of any broken glass that might have been present. “Good thing I never dried off.” she rang out her hair before looking at Chloe. “I think.” She took a deep breath. “I might have gotten a picture in time.” The hands returned with their phones and handed them over.

Well that was certainly the expected outcome. At least she was somewhat sober now, heh. The dark magical girl sat on the edge of the pool, taking the phone from Veronica and flipping through the pictures.

“Pfft, haahahah.” Yep, that was a keeper. The picture had been taken in just enough time to get them drinking from the glass, whilst in the background you could totally see some of the glasses from the throne falling and breaking under them. “Well, that was fun.” Chloe stretched, slipping her phone back into wherever things magically disappeared too when wearing a swimsuit. Before Veronica could say anything, Chloe delivered a quick kiss to the other girls cheek. The only reaction Veronica made to the kiss was freezing in place. It didn’t seem like falling into the water had sobered Veronica much, as her face was still red. “Take that as me agreeing to your earlier offer, heh. We can work out the details later when we're both feeling a bit less drunk.” Standing up, Chloe began making a swift exit. She really wanted to see Penny before the alcohol wore completely off. “Bye, darling, see you later, and if you ever want love, I think there's room enough in my heart for you~.”

Veronica nodded, She caressed the side of her face. “I'll catch up with you later then.” She turned towards the pool and used the shadows to collect the glass cups that had fallen into the pool. “Sam was right, coffee is the superior drink.”

Penny was wondering near the pools looking for at the various jacuzzi that were littered around. She had learned that she was unfortunately unable to swim, not due to lack of skill, but due to her weight in her true form.

She suspected that if she donned her disguise she could go for a swim, but that would open up various questions about things that she didn’t want to have to explain. The fact that it would leave her vulnerable when surrounded by in-costume magicals also had a lot to do with her reluctance.

So Instead she was looking for a hot tub to lounge around in for a bit. She eventually found one that was a fair bit more secluded then most of them, but still gave a decent view of the beach front.

“Ah, Hey Penny watch-oof.” Penny would suddenly feel something slam into her, not hard, but just enough to possibly knock her off balance. Chloe had successfully managed to prevent herself from knocking over Penny, instead giving her an impromptu hug. She'd be vaguely aware of Chloe's chest smooshing into hers before the dark magical girl managed to pull herself away.

“Whew, friendly piece of advice? Don't drink and fly, heh.” She grinned, cheeks a bit red from the alcohol still.

Her current luck of people running into her had Penny ready to react to the moment she heard her name called out. Still the pseudo-dive bombing hadn’t been what she had been expecting, so she stumbled a bit regardless. A part of her relished the contact and was sad that it ended once they detangled from each other.

“Not sure I’d have to worry about that” Penny would say with a smile at the realization for the collision “Found out recently that normal alcohol has basically zero effect on me.” She continued as she sat down on the edge of the hot tub and dangled her legs in the warmer waters.

“Mind if I ask the reason for the drinking?”

“Oh you know, summer time and the festivities, heh.” Chloe giggled, climbing into the hot tub next to Penny. “Had a date with a new friend. She made some drinks and I wasn't about to say no.” She swam to the other side of the hot tub, leaning against the edge and letting her arms rest on the ground as she lounged. “After getting dunked in the pool and covered in alcohol, this hot tub feels great. How's the beach treating you?”

Penny just rolled her eyes at Chloe but still had an indulgent smile, in all likelihood Penny knew who it was Chloe had made friends with, she knew most of the people on the island after all. “Poorly” Came her reply as she slid more fully into the water “Whoever dragged us all here put a dual layered illusion on me so it feels like I’m not in my true form and people keep running into me. It’s the reason I chose this tub, It’s out of the way. Also learned that I can’t swim I just end up sinking” She explained with a shrug. The last bit sucked, but the upside to it was that she could just walk along the ocean floor if she wanted to go exploring, or the bottom of the pool if she wanted to freak someone out.

“I’m hoping the activities are more enjoyable. Got an idea for who I could team up with for the sporting events and I’m planning on going solo for the squirt gun fight, but I’m not sure yet about anything else.” Penny went on, as not all was all bad as there was still hope on the horizon.

“You have any plans for later?” She would ask wading over to the same side as Chloe as she did.

“Sporting events, huh?” Chloe tilted her head to the side. She wasn't really into sports herself, so honestly she wasn't sure what else she would do here. Well, aside from Keijo. “Ah, not much. I'm just gonna socialize, mostly. Might go say hi to Beacon later. Gonna go give Keijo a try, though.” She giggled. “You should join, too. It'll be great!”

“Hah. I doubt that” Penny shuddered slightly at the thought of playing Keijo turning a sharp look at Chloe “I don’t like people touching me as it is, why would I want to enter something that is solely that?” She shook her head again at the thought “No, only reason I can think of joining would be to get the Gold and then taking a dive”

“Well, that's about what I expected.” Chloe pouted a bit. “Guess I'll just have to join so you can watch me sweep the competition.” She cast an impish smirk over to Penny. “You will come watch me at least, hmm? Cheer me on from the sidelines?”

“Of.. course I will” Penny narrowed her eyes for a moment. She had been expecting Chloe to try harder to convince her to join Keijo and was a bit caught out that hadn’t happened. With an internal shrug she put it out of her mind, assuming it was because the other girl was tipsy, and turned her attention towards the ocean view.

She wondered briefly what the others were doing, but just generally just let herself relax and enjoy the moment. A thought slowly emerged as she sat and she acted on it before she could think differently “You look really cute in that by the way”

“Heh, thanks. You look good in yours, too.” Chloe giggled, cozying up next to Penny. Cute, was she? Penny was right to wonder why Chloe hadn't tried harder to get her into Keijo. Its because there was a very specific other reason she was about to ask about. “...but am I cute enough to do a small teensy tiny favor for me?~”

“What’s the Favor?” Came the quick reply. Penny knew better then to agree outright to anything. Not that there was a whole lot that Chloe could ask that Penny wouldn’t help out with, but it was always better to know what one was agreeing to before they agreed to it.

“Hmm...hows your dancing?” Chloe asked innocently. “How about your singing?”

“I’m… Not sure” Penny would reply as she stopped to actually think about the questions. Neither of those were things that she had done since she had joined the community. “My dancing should be pretty decent. I’ve got the physicality for it but I don’t know any steps.” She would answer cautiously after a moment “As for singing…” she just shrugged, “I’ve got no idea, never done much before or after my introduction to the community, though I should be at least passible. Why?”

“Oh you know,” Chloe grinned, coyly toying with a strand of her hair as she leaned on Penny. “I was thinking about putting on a stage show.”

“And you wanted me to join in I take it?” Penny would preempt, resisting the urge to wrap an arm over Chloe's shoulders. “Wouldn’t that out us to Beacon?”

“Haa, you're seriously concerned about that?” Chloe shrugged dismissively. Did she care? Not one bit. Eventually, Penny would need to make a choice anyways.

“Look,” Chloe huffed, folding her arms. “You moved in with me, but I hardly ever see you. You're always off doing things with Beacon, aren't you? Or doing whatever it is you've been working on with your lair. We hardly ever do anything together.” Chloe frowned, waving a hand. “If you want, just tell them I forced you to or whatever. They'd probably believe it.”

“Hey you’re the one who said I should keep it a secret” Penny said defensively before she let out a sigh as Chloe had a point. They did hardly see much of each other, and It was only because Penny moved in that they had seen each other at all.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so busy. Rebuilding a Lair from the ground up wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be and I’m still not the most well received at Beacon, so I’ve been obsessing a bit over making sure those are taken care of.” She explained, this time acting on her impulse to give Chloe a side hug “But if you want me up there with you. I’ll be there. Promise. Not sure how I’ll explain it to Alicia or the rest of Beacon, as lying won’t work, but I can deal with that later. You just let me know when I need to show up kay?”

“Aha, really!?” Chloe grinned, latching onto Penny, aggressively hugging the other girl. Did she feel slightly bad about using the best friend card? Nope, not one little bit. “Excellent! I still gotta talk to some other girls, but I'll make sure you're there!” Maybe Xi or Delta once she found them would be willing to help. 'Chloe and the Archive girls' had an excellent ring to it.

“Well, now that that's out of the way.” Chloe released Penny from the hug, but decided to instead lean on the other girl. “Hey...” She began quietly, looking up at Penny. “...we're pretty alone right now.” She giggled quietly “...wanna...do something?~”

“Looking forward to it” Penny returned the hug, though not with as much enthusiasm as it was being given. She wondered what kind of song Chloe was wanting to put on and how she would explain it to Beacon, but in the end she was just glad to have made Chloe happy.

She also recognized the look in the petite spirit mages eye. Which caused the thoughts she had forced away earlier to start creeping back in, leading to a light blush forming. “Wha.. What kind of something?” Penny would ask, failing at her attempt of nonchalance.

“Oh, I think you know my pretty little Penny.” Chloe teased, smirking playfully. “Something involving something hot, maybe a bit rough and that could make quite a bit of a mess.”

Penny resembled a deer in the headlights as she struggled to keep her thoughts from racing away from her. Her blush growing a few shades darker proving that she hadn't been completely successful. With a forced breath she pried her thoughts back and forced herself to think. Chloe couldn’t be talking about what she thought she was right? Not when who knows could show up, right?

“I.. I’m not sure.” She swallowed nervously “Not sure. That I do know what you mean” Penny stammered out, her eyes darting everywhere but Chloe as she fought to contain her nerves.

“Hahaha, why so nervous?” Chloe giggled, climbing onto Penny's lap. “Afraid of who'd see us? Wouldn't that be the entire point? We'd have to make it noticeable otherwise it'd just be the two of us all by our lonesome. A little showing off never hurts anyone.”

Penny eyes snapped back to Chloe and she found herself unable to tear her gaze away from the girl in her lap. Her thoughts and emotions had become a giant conflicting jumble of contradictory wants and feelings. Slowly panic would start to rise up with her bringing with it a sense of focus. “Chloe” Penny would say softly a warning as much as a plea.

“So you don't want to help me build a sand castle?” She pouted.

There was a long pause as Penny processed what it was Chloe had said, and for what that had meant for the past few moments. In that time the first emotion to surface from the confusion was relief. It was quickly supplanted by annoyance.

“God damn it Chloe!” With a huff Penny would shove Chloe into the hot tub, none too gently, but also nowhere near full power. She ran a hand down her face and tried to maintain her annoyance with… With Chloe but she couldn’t help but chuckle at it, she had been played, very well at that.

“I’ll help, but no complaining if I randomly decide to knock it down”

Chloe did nothing but laugh as she was shoved off of Penny, getting thoroughly soaked once more. Surfacing from the hot tub.

“Pssh, knocking it down is the best part.” Chloe stepped out of the hot tub. “Come on then, move your butt! We'll make the best sand castle anyone's ever seen!”

Penny was strolling along the beach at a leisurely pace, her mood having been significantly buoyed due to playing around in the sand, making sand castles with Chloe and then tearing them down. Even if she didn’t need it anymore there was still something about breaking things apart that was incredibly satisfying.

She was heading towards the growing commotion on the Beach, she had overheard people talking about the volleyball areas finally getting set up and was interested in joining in on one of the games, but wasn’t in any rush to get there.

“Hey! You there!” Penny heard a voice, and turned to see nobody. Then, when she turned back, she was face to face with Helga; she looked serious, with hands on her hips. “So you’re Penny, right? I’ve heard a lot of things about you, like that you were some horrible metal monster.” She circled around he, examining her carefully before stopping in front of her again, nodding to herself with a hand holding her chin. “You’re far too pretty to be that, though. However, another rumor I heard is that you have a ship. Is that rumor true?”

Penny took a step back at suddenly finding herself face to face with another person and it took her a moment to understand what was being said to her. “The first depends a lot on who’s talking” Penny would reply cautiously. Something about the girl seemed familiar to Penny, she was just having issues placing why.

Regardless she didn’t have any reason to obscure the fact she had Earth Bastion, the PI likely had photos of it from the Stadium incident so it wasn’t much of a secret. “The part about having a ship is true though.” Penny would confirm folding her arms as she examined Helga closely “Why do you ask?”

Helga pursed her lips, having crossed her arms. “I need to see it,” she answered. “I need to see the ship...That belonged to Amber. The ship that you stole.”

Penny just tilted her head to the side as realization sunk in.“I remember you now, Helga right?” she asked as she turned to face the ocean “You were there when The SkyBastion was reforged.” The ghostly silhouette of the titanic ship flickered into Penny’s view resting not more then ten feet away from the two of them.

“Kinda annoyed that everyone keeps saying I stole it. As I have no idea why it became mine, but it is mine. It carried across abandoning one Patron and gaining another.” She would explain casting one a glance over at the other Monstergirl. “But I’m guessing that Amber meant a lot to you.” She would add as thunderheads appeared in the sky above them “So I hope this helps bring you some measure of peace.” There was a roar of thunder as the sky split open and a massive bolt of lightning struck the waters edge, and in the wake of that lightning strike appeared EarthBastion in all her glory.

Helga held herself, and bit her lip. “I was...The Sky Bastion was Amber’s pride and joy. It was what made her the great pirate she was.” She averted her eyes, looking down to the ocean. “She...did mean a lot to me. It was only later that I heard that it was taken by somebody; ever since that day, I’ve been searching for it, hoping to find the thief. It was the least I could do, to honor her memory.”

When Penny ended her last sentence, she waited, only to gasp as the mighty vessel landed, splashing the two girls with water. “I...I can’t believe it.” She applied a tiny rumble of Sound magic to air-dry herself, and put her hands to her cheeks as she came to terms with seeing the ship; two tears began to form in her eyes.

“It’s Amber’s ship...And..." She slowly turned to Penny.

"...It looks so cool.” Tears were flowing down her cheeks, and she took her hand. “I thought I should kill the thief who took it, but now I understand...Thank you for taking care of her all this time.”

Penny would smile softly as she looked up at her ship “Of course I’d take care of her,” she’d explain walking up to the hull and laying a hand on it. “She’s saved me twice now. It’s only fair I return the favor where I can.” A rumble would emanate from deep within the massive vehicle and soon after rampways would unfurl from the deck far above and come crashing down on the beach not far from the two of them. “You want to take a look around inside as well?”

Helga smiled, and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I would love that.” She walked aboard, and looked around with a nostalgic euphoria; she reminisced about the times she has sailed on this vessel with the pirate girl she used to know. “Could we...Go on a short trip around the islands?” She finally asked. “One last voyage...In memory of Amber.”

“Sure” Penny would answer as she walked also climbed aboard, “Would give me a chance to actually see how fast she can go” a short look of concentration later and Earth bastion would smoothly slip backwards into the ocean waters, the loading ramps having already retracted.

“Anywhere in particular you want to go or we just making a circuit?” Penny would ask gently while Earth bastion started to sail towards the nearest island that could be seen.

“Anywhere you want to,” Helga answered, having leaned against the railing as she saw the waves pass by. “The sea isn’t a path; you can go anywhere you want to. That’s what Amber told me.” She closed her eyes, feeling the salty wind tousling her hair. “You know, I think Amber would have wanted someone like you to inherit her ship; she had a knack for recognizing what other people were like. And…” She hesitated. “Amber would have seen your conviction.” She turned around, and noticed how her feet had melded with the ship. Still, she went closer, and placed a hand on her shoulder, giving a bittersweet smile. “I’m sure she will be at peace...Now that you’re the one to carry on her will for adventure, Penny.” And for the rest of the trip, she simply enjoyed the cruise. All the ties that bound her to the past have been severed, and her heart was finally ready for the future.

---

Sally was excited to go shopping with Aurelio. Now holding the magical boy’s hand, she boisterously stepped through the front entrance, her eyes shining upon seeing the various items. “Ahhh, there’s so much cute stuff!” She went over and looked at a green beach ball, twirling it on her fingertip like a professional basketball player. “We could totally play volleyball with this, Aurelio!”

Lily decided to mentally prepare herself for the stage show by gathering her courage. And nothing helped her get into a socially challenging task like hanging out with Alex.
“Let’s go to the shop, Alex: Dan mentioned that they’re selling magical items. Also also, Sally and Aurelio are going to be there, so we can start the double date there!” As a result, Lily and Alex also arrived in the Boutique, with the former leading the latter in.
“Ooh, what is that? Wait, what’s that? And THAT?” Lily vocalized her reactions to seeing the strange relics and artifacts that littered the shelves. “Oh, hi Lily and Alex!” Sally greeted them with a bouncy wave of her hand. “Weren’t you going to perform at the stage?” She asked with a blink. Lily looked a bit sheepish, and held her arm.
“Yeah, I just...Want to prep for it first, hehe.”

When Sally and Aurelio came into the boutique, the little witch at the cash register stood up smiling excitedly.

‘Welcome to Brittany’s Bewitched Beach Boutique! How may I be of serv-?’ Brittany happily called out as someone entered her shop, then her eyes widened. ‘M-multiple customers! I-I'm a real shop now!’ the witch said in wonder.

“Just what is most of this stuff?” Alexander mumbled to himself as looked at a ring with far too many gems on it “This place just screams ‘tourist trap’” he shook his head and turned back to Lily ‘I wonder...should I make some more enchanted items for Lily? I mean, you’re supposed to give your girlfriend jewelry and stuff...right? Plus, I’d feel safer if Lily was decked out in power boosting gear. Although...she did kind of freak out when I gave her a ring...so maybe not those. Earings, a necklace, bracelets, maybe some bangles. But that sounds a lot harder than a simple metal ring. Plus, I have to make them look…’cute’, I think. Dammit, this is way more complex than it should be. Maybe if I just use a lot of colors? Hummmm, I wonder if I can find something her to help me make accessories?’

He was so lost in thought, that it was only a few seconds later that he noticed the new girl ‘crap! When did she get there!? Wait, isn’t she that girl who dragged away emotion boy? So does that mean she’s going to be part of our-’ he paused with a grimace ‘-double date. I still don’t understand why Lily wants to invite other people on what should be something private between us...but I have a really hard time saying no to her.’

Aurelio was content to allow himself to be dragged around by Sally. He had a few Clones of his wandering around as well taking a more in depth look at anything that caught their eye. The boutique had plenty of things to draw the gaze. “Ooooh shiny” not that he had much of an idea what most of the things did. Granted with all the Curiosity floating around he could learn if he wanted to, but why ruin all the fun?”

“Hey you two,” He would greet warmly. “Prep work is always a vital step to success when it comes to putting on a performance,” he would agree sagely with a nodded. “In fact, I’ve got a Clone off taking a look at the stage so I can get some idea of how much room I have to display my talents as a magician.” he would explain, picking up an interesting looking bobble as he did.

“You planning on putting on a show yourself Alex?”

Alexander shrugged “Wouldn’t even know what to do. I’m not really an entertainer, so unless beating something up counts, then I don’t have a show to put on”

“Hi Doctor Love!” Lily would greet Aurelio with a big grin on her face.
“You look dapper, tehe~” She would comment, still holding on to Alex’ hand as he was browsing through the various items.
“Are you going to put on a magic show? I can volunteer to be your assistant for it!” She raised her hand, only to immediately shriek.
“But no cutting me in half with a saw! Or throwing daggers at me! You can pull me out of your hat though, that’s fine.”

Alexander’s eyes widened “I second the no sharp object things very strongly”

“Relax, relax” Aurelio would say waving aside the worry about sharp and pointy things that happen during a magic show “As much as you’d make a great assistant, not sure that would be very fair to you. Assistants do a lot more of the work then most people are aware of.” He’d stop and tilted his head to the side for a moment before continuing on “I am going to need to find another rabbit to pull from my hat though. Can’t get incontact with my current one”

Sally nodded as she listened to the others talk, having withdrawn to the swimsuit section of the store. There, she made a grand discovery, and held out a skimpy but colorful bikini out. “This swimsuit is super cute, and cheap too! How lucky! I’m going to buy it.” Lily’s eyebrow raised as she saw it.
“Yeah, it’s cute, but isn’t that-”

“Oh, no buts! ” Sally grabbed Lily with a single arm, pushing the lithe girl’s cheek against her ample bosom. “This is absolutely perfect, and it would be a shame if I left it here.”
“Uhhh...Sure.” Lily looked unconvinced, but decided to leave it at that.
“Do you have anything suitable for a date or double date, miss shopkeep?”

Alexander raised an eyebrow “Why would you need another swimsuit when you already have a magic one? These aren’t like normal clothes; you don’t have to worry about them getting dirty”

“Don’t worry about me, I’ve got my own outfit situation covered” Aurelio would say in regards to the clothes shopping before wandering off to look at some more of the interesting things in the shop for a moment. As much as he could appreciate physical beauty, how people felt inside was much more important to the emotional mage.

‘Keh-heh, for a date, eh?’ Brittany made an amused smile as she considered. ‘Well, there’s the Eternal Ice Cream, an ice cream that’ll never run out, that you could share with each other for as long as you like! There’s the Dolphin Flute, that’ll let you control nearby aquatic life, which could make for quite a show. Otherwise, there’s the Ultimate Surfboard, Windsurfer’s Sail or the Super Jet Ski if you want some speed on the waters…’

‘If you’re confident you’re a match, then confirm it with the Greaser’s Sunglasses, which’ll tell you your chances of romantic success with this person by meeting their eyes~! Oh, and we have a BUNCH of Quick Change swimsuits if you want to show off different looking swimsuits to your boyfriends, keh-heh~! Or, if you’re really bold, then-’ Brittany’s eyes fell on the swimsuit Sally held. ‘Oh. You’re really bold, huh,’ Brittany said with a mild blush. Then smirked. ‘We also have a whole ARSENAL of water guns of different shapes and sizes if you want to get each other wet in a shootout~!’

Alexander’s attention was grasped by the mention of the Eternal Ice Cream “Endless ice cream!?...What flavor?”

Lily also perked up at the mention of the ice cream, having noted Alex’ reaction to it.
”Is there banana flavor? That’s my favorite. Oh, and strawberry too! And raspberry, blueberry...” She counted the flavors with her fingers. ”But chocolate is tasty too...” Her eyes noted the Dolphin Flute, and she bit her lip. ”I would love to swim with a whale...” Then the Quick Change artifact was mentioned and she blushed.
”Then I would get to wear something really cute instead of this...But will I have enough for ice cream...Probably not.” She pulled out her magical coins, and began counting them on her hand.

Alexander raised an eyebrow “Are...are you actually thinking about choosing clothes over unlimited ice cream? I mean, the one you have on right now looks perfectly functional.” He sighed “Girls really make no sense at all.”

A coin dropped from Lily’s hand upon hearing Alex’ compliment, and she immediately crouched down to both pick up the coin and hide her blush. ”You think so? Well, I guess I have a unique look like this...”

‘Keh-heh, magical ice cream has most imaginable tastes, depends on what I sell it as!’ Brittany says with a wide smile. ‘The things unique to this resort are pretty cheap, though. The Eternal Ice Cream is 1 bronze coin, the Quick Change swimsuit is two! Buy as many as you like~!’ Brittany told excitedly.

“That’s...suspiciously cheap.” Alexander said “unlimited ice cream for only one bronze coin? There has to be some kind of catch. Does it have an expiration date or something?”

‘Well. You can’t bring it along back to Penrose? I would have sold it for more if it wasn’t for that!’ Brittany replied.

Alexander nodded “Yeah, that makes sense. I’m guessing that whatever magic is in the ice cream is sustained by this place...or something like that.”

Lily went over to the counter and placed four bronze coins, having made her decision. ”Two Eternal Ice Creams, strawberry flavor please.”

“Huh?” Alexander said surprised “Why do you need two?”

Brittany smiled, before jumping back and producing two cones from a box. Then over to where the ice cream was stored, scooping up two already round ice-cream spheres of strawberry flavour and put on each cone. Then back to Lily and handing them over. ‘Yupp! Here you go!’

”Thanks a lot, miss!” Lily would respond with a big smile, and took the ice creams. She held one out for Alex, having averted her eyes as her cheeks reddened.
”H-Here...My treat.”

Alexander’s eyes widened and he waited a few seconds before reaching out to grab the offered ice cream. His fingers brushed against hers as he gripped it and brought it to his mouth for his first bite, a strange wetness forming around his eyes ‘That’s weird; I thought I didn’t like strawberry.’

“Hey Lily!” Aurelio would callout as he emerged from further back in the store with a bemused smile on his face and a pair of plushies in his hands “Did you know that you were famous already?” He would ask holding up one of the plushies, revealing that it was in fact a plush of Lily herself. “They have a few other types back there as well, but I think Alicia would get a kick out of this one” He would add holding up the other plush, which happened to be one of the Seraph herself.

Aurelio would then note the ice cream “Ooo Ice cream, how much?”

‘One bronze, sir~!’ Brittany replied.

”F-Famous!?” Lily looked dumbfounded as Aurelio pointed out the plushie; it was her in her new dancer uniform, complete with tiny soft balls and buttons for jewels.
”EEEEEHHH? This is...Is this allowed? This is illegal, right?”
She took the plushie, and held it out at the shopkeep with a pout.
”I deserve royalties for sales of this, you know.”

Broken out of his daze by the plushy, he looked at the plushy and said “That...is extremely creepy. I’d ask how you already have plushies of her made, but I get the feeling that the answer is just ‘magic’”

Brittany smiled widely as the subject of the plushie came up. ‘Keh-heh, I did figure it was you. Nope, sorry, can’t give you any royalties. We don’t exactly have a magic government managing our magic funds, anyway~!’ Brittany called, exceedingly unconcerned about any such matters.

Alexander flinched “Seriously? That sounds ripe for abuse. I mean, I have an issue with authority, and even I know you need someone to set some kind of ground rules. Otherwise things break down into chaos.”

“That's what Beacon is working towards” Aurelio would chime in “Sadly not everyone agrees with having someone to monitor things”

Lily sighed, and put the doll back. ”It’s fine, Alex. It’s not like anyone would want to buy it. Besides, we got our ice creams, and that’s enough for now.” Meanwhile, Sally set the money down at the counter, and held the peculiar bikini with a wide smile. “I want to change to this as soon as possible. Dan said the cottages were free to use, right? I’m gonna make a quick trip~” She turned as soon as the transaction was made, and walked out of the Boutique. “Why don’t you lovebirds decide where we go next. Maybe the stageshow; if Lily’s not ready to sing to us, maybe I could give it a try, and act out a scene~”
As she went, Lily looked on with pure bewilderment.
”Oh, there’s no need to, Sally.”
As she passed by the boys, out the front entrance, they saw the business receipt fall from her hand:

“Swimsuit of Guaranteed Wardrobe Malfunction: 1 Gold.”

Lily once again shook her head, and took a lick of her ice cream.
”You’re...Going to cause a scene anyway...”

Alexander took a few moments to think about the name of the item he had seen on the receipt “...1 gold for a faulty swimsuit? Thats...that’s insane! What kind of idiot came up with that!? Why would you...why would anyone want to buy that!? Hell, you could probably set up a normal swimsuit to do that for free!”

Aurelio just gave the receipt a long look before he gave out a sigh. “Some people enjoy the thrill of it, some people want an excuse to get into a compromising situation with someone else” He would answer Alex “And I get the feeling I might have placed myself directly in the line of fire for a very interesting Vacation.”

‘I didn't think anyone would buy that for themselves,’ Brittany stated, having followed the boys just partly out the door, standing dumbfounded with a little blush and gold coin in hand. Then, she shrugged and smiled widely to the still present boys.

‘Well, thank you for using my store! I'll have my shop open in Penrose when you come back, and then I'll have my battle equipment to sell again! So please, do swing by, I'd love to see you again~!’ So she said, and skipped back into the shop.

Hilaria and Lupa were on the beach when Mika appeared. “Hi guys!” She was still carrying way too much lotion on her person. “You missed it, but there’s going to be a bunch of cool events, and we’re going to get paid to participate in them and make lots of friends while we do it!”

Hilaria had been staring at the copious amount of sunscreen Mika had been holding -- err, attempting to hold, that is. "Whatever could you use that much sunblock for, I wonder~?"

“We won it!” Mika hopped up and down. “You got us over here dry, so we get unlimited beach supplies! So I brought enough for everyone!” A bottle slipped out of her arms.

“Just because there’s an infinite amount of something doesn’t mean you need to take so much of it with you.” Lupa picked the bottle up off the beach. “I’m sure one bottle would be enough for you, me, Su, Helga, and I don’t think the ghosties need any.”

“What about Hilaria though?” Mika walked up to the giant magical woman. “I want to share the prize with her too!”

Hilaria gave a soft smile. Since Mika seemed so happy, Hilaria felt her 'sacrifice' was not in vain. "Hmm~? You want to share the sunscreen with me~?" she would normally decline because she did not do something like this expecting repayment unless it was a job. But in this case, she felt taking some of the sun block off of the girls' hands would probably be for the best. "If you don't mind, Hilaria would appreciate it~"

Lupa shrugged her shoulders. “I guess it makes sense to share it with everyone who didn’t complete the challenge. This vacation would kind of suck if you had to spend all day inside.” Lupa took a few of the bottles off of Mika. “I’m going to run these over to a few people. You don’t mind do you?”

“Nope! Just hurry back! It’ll probably be your turn soon.” Lupa gave Mika a nod before unloading everything under her arms and sprinting away.

As Lupa set off, Hilaria waved at her. "Hilaria appreciates you getting her here~!" She watched for a moment as the girl disappeared into the distance.

The feline cat girl spun on her heel to face Hilaria. “Your name is Hillaria right?”

She looked into Mika's feline eyes and nodded. "Yes, Hilaria is Hilaria~ And you're Mika, yes~?"

“Yup! That’s me!” With a smile, Mika cocked her head to the side. “You’re really pretty. You could be a supermodel.”

The silver-haired girl couldn't help but giggle at Mika's compliment. "Do you think so~? Some boys said the same thing the other day, too~" She placed a hand on her cheek and blushed, though this was because she was remembering the big meal she had that day. "But Hilaria heard that supermodels don't get to eat as much~ How horrible that must be~!"

Mika opened her mouth in shock. “I didn’t know that!” Mika crossed her arms. “Well, maybe be a librarian then? Wait, what was Tetrad’s job again? You might be good at that too.” The girl mumbled to herself before approaching some tropical ferns. “I just realized you don’t have anything to lay on. One second.” She shoved the remaining lotions in her swimsuit before turning her hands into crab pincers. Mika whistled to herself as she snipped away at the oversized plant. “There we go.” The ferns bounced with every step the cat girl took until she spread them out on the beach. “Now just have a seat!” Her hands turned back to normal as she pointed at the makeshift beach towel.

Hilaria had clapped her hands together in delight after witnessing Mika’s DIY beach towel. She thought that the girl must have been really resourceful. “My~ How wonderful~!” she admired Mika’s handiwork for a second longer before plopping down right on the ‘towel’. “Hmm~ Hilaria isn’t too used to being helped herself, you know~” she paused. “Sorry to impose upon you.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Mika tugged Hilaria’s jacket off of her shoulders and cast it aside, exposing most of her back. Next, Mika took one of the bottles and squeezed it out in a zig-zag motion between Hilaria’s shoulder blades. She went about half way down the woman’s spine before setting the bottle aside. Then Mika placed her hands on Hilaria’s back and worked the lotion into her skin. It was a symphony of sensations. The cat girl’s warm hands swirling in cool sunblock. “I enjoy doing stuff like this, It’s fun!” Mika used her tail to hold up Hilaria’s hair and her fingers over her shoulder blades. She worked every bump along her vertebrae, and was determined to get everything.

“Mmm~” Hilaria softly moaned, obviously satisfied with Mika’s work. She could feel the tension leaving her body by the second, and the sun being blocked.

“Have you been in Penrose long? I don’t think I’ve seen you before today.”

“Mmm, Hilaria hasn’t been in Penrose for too long~” she answered. “Only a couple of weeks. Hilaria hasn’t seen many magical girls, even though she was told there would be a lot here~ Until today, that is~ How about you, Mika~?”

“About a month now.” Mika had finished Hilaria’s back, and was now moving along her arms. “I didn’t see a lot of magical girls either at first, but once you start seeing them, you don’t stop!” Mika took one of Hilaria’s hands and opened it up, stretching out all of her fingers before running her own between them. “I think it’s because I have so many magical friends right now. They’re all over the place, you just don’t know it until they put on their costumes. I’ve seen more in Penrose than anywhere else.” She grinned. “Lay on your chest please. I wanna get your legs and feet next.”Once Hilaria changed her position, Mika sat on Hillaria’s back and started to slather up her hamstring with lotion. “Whoever told you there were magical girls in Penrose didn’t lie. You just need to look harder.” Mika looked over her shoulder at Hilaria. “Why are you looking for magical girls? Is it because you want some friends?”

"Mmm~ Not exactly~" Hilaria was silent for a moment, idly staring to the side. Eventually, she gave a somber smile and answered. "Hilaria knows that there are always people in need of saving wherever there are magical girls. They go hand-in-hand. That's why." She told Mika. "...Hilaria isn't looking for friends."

“You’re not?” Mika didn’t look away from her “work.” Her tongue was sticking out of the side of her head as she tried to get everything above the ankle. “What about the boys that feed you, aren’t they kinda like friends?”

"Mmm...Hilaria can't save her friends, so it's better if she has none to begin with." She explained, still enjoying the feeling of Mika's hands despite what was clearly not the fondest subject she could be speaking about. "Boys...Hmm, did they even have names? I wonder? Hilaria is approached by a lot of boys, but they're never in need of saving, so there's not really any reason to stick around."

“Of course they have names silly!” Much like what Mika had done to Hilaria’s hands, she was running her fingers between each of her toes. “But no friends, that’s just, weird.” Mika climbed off of Hilaria. “Roll over, please.” Mika helped Hilaria roll over before sitting on top of her hips and eyed her body. “Lots of large surfaces. I’m glad I have so much lotion!” She reached into her swimsuit and pulled out a new bottle.

"I hope they're not troublesome~" she worried. There was, unfortunately, nothing she could do about her chest so she merely remained on her back and allowed Mika to work her magic.

Mika squeezed more lotion over Hilaria’s stomach before placing the bottle back. She rubbed her hands together before placing her hands on Hilaria. “If you don’t want to have any friends, why did you want to help me fly?”

"Ah!" the cold sunscreen on her stomach elicited a cute gasp from the silver-haired girl. She quietly tried to pretend that did not happen as Mika spoke. "Why? Whatever do you mean?" she asked, confused. "Hilaria likes helping those in need~"

“Silly Hilaria!” Mika Leaned over her, their faces were just inches apart. Her hands had moved up to the woman’s collarbones. “Even a knight who helps people eventually finds their princess.” She took her finger and went over the bridge of Hilaria’s nose. “Once that happens, protecting them comes above everything else!” Her hands traversed Hilaria’s chest and stomach, avoiding the bikini-clad mountains. But her vigorous hand movements were causing the mountains to tremble like jello resisting an earthquake. “Then you’ve gotta raise a family of littler knights! And then you go on adventures together and rescue even more princesses! And the cycle continues!”

Hilaria hadn’t bothered to comment on Mika’s story initially. She found that naivety rather cute, but it also brought her a bit of sorrow. At one point in her life, she did think like that. That she could befriend people and work together to help others. Be a family. But, of course, one could only think that way when they had yet to experience loss after loss. “Hilaria wonders if that is what Mika wants~? A family of princesses? How noble~!” She laughed as Mika continued applying the sun block.

Mika was not oblivious to the keyhole opening in Hilaria’s bikini. She promptly sent her “mountain climbers” in to cover the exposed flesh. “I wouldn’t mind that!” Mika froze when her fingers touched Hilaria’s sternum. “Um…” Mika pushed Hilaria’s breasts apart and looked inside.

Hilaria gave a soft yelp, not expecting Mika to delve so deep. “Mmm~! Hilaria isn’t worried about the sun getting there~!”

The sight caused Mika’s eyes to bug out of her head. “Wow! That’s a pretty big scar. I didn’t know magical girls could get those.”

She looked down, noticing Mika staring rather intensely. “Hilaria is getting a bit embarrassed with the way you’re staring at her~” But then came the question she figured she was going to be asked. “Mmm, that one’s been there since Hilaria changed.” she told the cat girl, resisting the urge to run her hand over it. Most of the specifics of the event were lost to her, but she did retain the negative feelings she experienced. “Is it really that strange~?”

Mika needed to think about her response. She let out a low hum as her tail wagged side to side. “I’m kind of new at this, actually, but that’s the first one I’ve ever seen.” She hopped backwards. “I think that’s everything. I’m going to go find my friends. You take care!” she turned around to run off.

Standing up, Hilaria reached out and held onto Mika’s shoulder. “Mmm, but what about you, Mika~? Hilaria can help you, too~”

Mika froze in place. She made no sudden movements, but eventually decided to turn around. “Um, you mean with the lotion?” She put her hands together. “I wouldn’t mind, but I kind of have someone else in mind.” She gently pushed Hilaria’s hand off of her shoulder. “But I’m sure there’s plenty of other girls that could use it! Here.” She pulled a bunch of bottles out of her swimsuit and dropped them into the sand. “I can always get more, but you can use these to do as many people as you want!” She took a step backwards. “If you need any more, I’ll be around!” She was a bit faster to turn around and sprint away this time.

Hilaria looked rather dejected, and wasn’t able to say anything before she ran off. “But Hilaria wanted to help…” She eventually decided to look at the bottles of sunscreen. Well, if she couldn’t help Mika, maybe someone else? She placed them in her swimsuit and set off.

After Dan the Dolphin’s delightful dissertation, one would find the three representatives of the Archive sitting by the Beach Boutique, in a nearby shaded gazebo. It offered a clear view of the volleyball courts, but it’s not so close to the shop’s entrance for the group to be noticed by most people going to buy things.

Though frankly, the flotilla of fancy ferns and flora flapping flippantly in front of the freestanding facility might be faffing about with finding them on first glance. Fuck.

By the time the narration had the chance to catch up with them, they've already been engrossed in conversation. Better late than never, at least.

Lee sipped from his drink. "Well, there is some twink representation here. But I'm not recognizing any magical traps here so... I could fill that slot if it came down to it." Another sip, but slower this time. "Maybe Shields could do it too, if he made sure the magic formed them above the belt. Or if Magical Senpai over there can control the gender of his clones."

Lee hummed thoughtfully. "Yeah, theoretically speaking, all three guys that are present and accounted for could become magically enhanced traps."

Delta shook her head. "You wouldn't be traps if you had boobs. You'd be futanari."

"No, we wouldn't..." Lee trailed off. "...hmm. Actually, it could be possible for one of them to flub the transformation like that. But I know that I wouldn't become a futa. I'd just be giving myself boobs. I don't think I need to adopt a kitten as well just to play Keijo."

"I didn't say you had to. You're just confusing futas with hermaphrodites."

Lee looked at her over the top of his sunglasses. "They're synonyms, Anna. The things you really need to be a futanari are both sets of version-exclusive organs."

Xi sighed in exasperation. "Just call them penises and vaginas. It's not like Dan the Dolphin's going to strike us down because we're not 'keeping it family friendly.'" she gestured vaguely to the islands around them. "He's got a bunch of magical girls (and a few guys) on a set of tropical islands. I've watched enough beach episodes to know what that means."

"As a firm believer in narrative causality," Lee said, "I see your point. Correct me if I'm wrong, though, but don't beach episodes also tend to dance around the topic? Come as close as they can, but edge away just shy of being explicit?"

"Like thinly-veiled orgasm jokes," Xi deadpanned.

Lee shrugged. "Hey, I'm just getting in the mood."

"I am too. It's been a while since we've been to the beach, and I’m definitely renting a sailboat while we’re here. Still, I'm just not going to fall face first into fanservice." Xi smirked. "...if I'm going to provide any, it's gonna be on my own terms, bitch."

“Then you should be careful when we look at their stock,” Delta said. She didn’t bother gesturing towards the Boutique.

"Oh yeah, I could just see a lot of the magical items being specially geared for fanservice. Like…” Xi reached for a suitably ecchi idea. “A lotion bottle made to explode mid-splurt, guaranteeing at least one sunblock bukkake per customer."

As she was saying this, a receipt came fluttering out of the Boutique. Lee caught it in mid-air, and curiously read it. "...Swimsuit of Guaranteed Wardrobe Malfunction: 1 Gold. Purchased by one ‘Sally Shamrock.’" He raised an eyebrow. “I recognize the name - she’s a member of Beacon. Wonder who she bought that for?”

“Maybe she’s an exhibitionist?” Xi guessed. “It could be a prank gift for all I know.”

Delta looked thoughtful. "...I wonder if that would be a good investment for Keijo."

Lee shrugged. "I doubt that's her only reason, considering it costs a single gold to get one. Unless maybe you shared it with a few of your friends between rounds?"

"You know, you're right." Xi's smirk grew so wicked, you could almost hear the sound of flying monkeys in the distance. "We've only got three gold on us right now. We might as well conserve our money."

Several paces away, Bass the Legstep decided to go into the Boutique to browse. But as for what she went into get… well, that’s better left for later.

---

Since a lot of things were happening really quickly for Speedwagon, it was high time to take a moment and take stock of everything that had happened in the past… several hours? Sitting in a hot tub with Joanna

She’d heard from her network about someone who’d seen where Chloe had went after she stopped talking to Alice, way back during that night when Tattoo had died.

She’d went to meet that person alone, since that was the one condition they had before they’d reveal what they knew, and simultaneously learned very much and very little from that conversation.

She went over to Joanna’s house for their sleepover and fell asleep.

She woke up on an island with Joanna, Nina, Alice, and several other girls that she had never met before in her life (though she actually had heard of a few of them).

She, Joanna, and Alice made the trip over inside some kind of small but surprisingly well-furnished room, one that was accessible by means of a turtle spirit that Nina summoned. One that was called Coco… Calypso? Was that it? Speedwagon would have to ask Nina if she remembered its name right, because at the present moment she was a bit preoccupied. And no, it wasn’t because she and her friends were stuck on a group of islands, along with a massive chunk of its Magical Girl population.

Right now she was still really distracted by the fact that Chloe was here with them.

Well, not literally in their hot tub or anything, but just. Here. On the same island where they were sitting.

It was a miracle that she was able to convince Miss Jo-star not to confront Chloe yet. Not that she actually would have tried to fight Chloe - Joanna didn’t think they should break Dan’s Rule about (non-Keijo) fighting, especially since Chloe seemed content to do the same. Instead, what Joanna had wanted to do was take the opportunity to get some answers but just asking her.

As much as Speedwagon wanted the truth, she knew that charging in blindly would probably convince Chloe not to tell them anything, not to mention put a target on their backs for when they weren’t in an Enforced Neutral Zone. They were still nonentities to her, after all. X factors. She had no idea that they were investigating just what the hell she was up to, or how much they knew.

But for now, all Speedwagon could do was sit in that hot tub, try to figure out a plan on how to approach this… and hopefully, try to relax a little. Because frankly? She needed to try.

Especially after she'd been told that the Archive was working with Chloe.

 
There was little to set up for the volleyball game. “Larry Lifeguard” hammered a few stakes into the ground, strung a net across them, and threw a Volleyball to Regina as soon as she neared. He looked strangely like Dan the dolphin, but nobody paid him any mind. "This is so exciting!" Regina eyed the ball intensely.

”One game.” Su repeated. ”How did you want to do this anyway?”
 
"We can just toss the ball back and forth until everyone shows up." She ran to one side of the net. "Have you ever played volleyball before?"
 
”It’s been a while.”
 
"Alright, I’ll go easy on you then." Regina prepared to serve the ball, only to have a huge gust of wind catch it and blow it back into her face. "Blah!" She managed to catch the ball with her hands before it touched the ground.
 
”Holding the ball like that is a foul.”
 
"Maybe wait for a few real rounds before bringing magic into it?" Regina pouted.
 
”Alright.” This time, Regina was able to successfully get the ball across the net. They continued to pass the ball back and forth. ”By the way, how did you hear my name?”
 
"Huh?" Regina raised an eyebrow, but grinned before popping the ball back over to Su.
 
”I don’t think you heard it during the graveyard fight. I want to know where you heard my name.” 
 
"Oh, right!" Regina chuckled. "Mika told me!" 
 
Su caught the ball on her knee and flung it straight up. ”You met Mika?” 
 
"Like duh! Who hasn’t?" Regina’s eyes were glued to the ball. "She’s rather talkative. We bumped into each other at the pit stop." Su jumped into the air and gave the ball a soft tap, just enough to go over the net. A low power play like that was unexpected, so Regina had to run to the net to get it. "Why doesn’t a hotel manager just eat a continental breakfast anyway? I’d think that would be better than sending someone to get you food every morning." Regina had to slide through the sand in order to get under the ball in time. She managed to buy herself just enough time to stand up and whack it over the net.
 
”Hmm.” Su caught the ball with her hands. She hadn’t thought about it much, but perhaps sending out Mika every morning wasn’t the best thing to do. Veronica hadn’t tried to stay in touch with her these days. That was just as well, because Su had little desire to affiliate herself with the Mint. It was probably safer for Mika to stay in.

"That’s a foul, by the way." 
 
It was hard to think and play a game like Volleyball at the same time. It demanded a lot of focus and fast movement, especially if you were serious about scoring. Su decided It would be best to think about this later and focus on the game for now, even if it was with an opponent she didn’t care to be with. ”Do you think warming up too much is cheating?” 
 
"Nah, that’s one of the perks to arriving early. You serve this time."

Lily arrived with great gusto from a distance, though she seemed to be moving strangely slow. In fact, she had purposely slowed herself down with Time magic, running with her elbows lifted.

When she arrived a few minutes later, she whisked her short hair in slow-mo, posing with her hand on her hip. “Hi everyone. Wasn’t I just like Pamela Anderson from Baywatch with my cool entrance?” She asked, only to realize she made an incredibly outdated reference that no girl present would likely recognize, and bit her lip in embarrassment. “So, uhh, how will we form teams? I can play in any team, so...please don’t...” She looked like she was about to say something, but averted her eyes and put the tips of her index fingers together.

Regina raised here eyebrows. "Well, we’re uneven at the moment, but you can’t really play volleyball with just two people. Until we get another person maybe we can just play a few casual rounds? Loser rotates out or something like that?" Regina turned to look at Su, who was covering her face with her hand. "You okay?"

Su lowered her hand and looked at Lily with a faint smile. ”If you were blond and wearing a leotard it would have been perfect.” She looked away, her smile faded instantly. ”At this point, I think we should just wait for someone else to show up.”

Just as Su suggested waiting for another person, Chloe landed right next to her, a small cloud of sand being kicked up from her wings. She hadn't seen her since the graveyard, but now seemed as good of time as any to have a bit of fun. Besides, getting her to let her guard down would be a good idea. “Su, right? You guys need an extra for Volleyball, I think I'm feeling sober enough now.”

The oriental magical girl raised an eyebrow. ”You know my name?” Shortly after speaking, both of Su’s eyebrows jumped up. ”Oh! Um, Chloe, from a few weeks ago? Right, I didn’t notice you in that-”

Helga dove out from the sea, leaping out like a dolphin and making a gymnast’s landing. “Enough talk, let’s play ball!”

"Oh boy!" Regina jumped and clapped her hands together.  "We got two more people! And one of them isn’t fully sober! Haha!"

”The teams would still be uneven if everyone played though.”  Su put her hands on her hips, keeping the ball in the crook of her arm. ”Well, maybe we should get a game started. We can rotate players.”

Regina nodded. "Okay! Let’s draft our teams then!" Regina rubbed her hands together. "You can pick first, since you decided to come with me."

Su looked at the people she could pick from. Her eyes hovered over Helga momentarily before jumping onto Chloe. ”I’ll have Chloe on my team.”

You sure?" Regina said with a giggle. "I’m going to pick Helga if you don’t." 

Su looked at Regina out of the corner of her eye. ”You said I get to choose for my team, right?”

Yeesh! Whatever!" She waved Helga over. "Come on, we gotta school these fools."

Helga lifted an eyebrow at the fact Su chose Chloe over her first, and crossed her arms, having averted her eyes, looking annoyed. “Sure.” She didn’t recognize the girl who invited her, but that didn’t matter; volleyball was volleyball. “You made a serious mistake not choosing me, Su!” She announced, and took her position, her posture ready for action. “Let’s go!”

“Heh, I'm surprised you picked me.” Chloe grinned. “It's been awhile, Su. Got busy with work so I kinda haven't been able to keep that promise for our date, heh, but lets play this volleyball game annnnd maybe I could be convinced to treat ya to something.”

Su coughed. ”We did make arrangements for something like that, didn’t we? ” In truth, Su had mostly forgotten about her encounter with Chloe. She remembered wanting to get close to Penny so that she could get her boat back, but forgot exactly what she told Chloe to help set that up. ”We’ll see.”

“Oh, hey!” a soft voice called out as Emily approached the group. She almost seemed out of breath, as if she had ran over. “Do you guys still have room? I’d love to play with you all, if that’s okay.” 

Regina hopped over to Emily’s side. ”We have so much room! We’re still about six people short of a competitive match, but we’d love to have you play with us! Then there wouldn’t be any bench warmers."

”Emily, is that your name?” Su eyed the girl before looking at Regina. ”Mind if she plays on my team?”

”Only because you let me have Helga!" With a wave, Regina stepped back over to her side of the net. ”I’m kidding! Emily and Lily are both super sweet, so I’m glad we get to share them."

“Hi Emily!” Lily waved at the girl. “I’m Lily. Good to see you. Our names kind of match.” 

Regina folded her arms. ”Everyone in positions? Good! We’re all magical girls, so I’m expecting this game to get a little magical. Hopefully we can play a few rounds without getting too crazy though okay? Everyone familiar with the rules?"

Su hovered the ball in her hand with wind magic. ”I wouldn’t mind a refresher.”

”Cool! Alright, so basic rules are this: One side serves, other side returns, and you repeat until there’s a foul. The team that doesn’t foul gets a point. There are a lot of ways to foul, but the primary ones to keep in mind is letting the ball hit the ground on your side of the net, hitting the ball out of bounds, hitting the ball when it’s not on your side of the net, hitting the ball consecutively after the serving shot, having one team hit the ball more than three times consecutively, there are a few more but those are the big ones." Regina took a moment to catch her breath before going on. ”Oh! And something else to keep in mind is that ‘hitting’ the ball and ‘blocking’ the ball aren’t the same thing. So if you block the ball with your arm, that doesn’t count as a hit. Just remember anything that causes the ball to ‘rest’ is a foul, so don’t catch or grab the ball unless you’re getting ready to serve. Now magic…" Regina giggled. ”Normal rules don’t account for magic, but I’m going to say that regardless of what you do, anything you do to influence the ball should count as a hit, meaning hitting the ball yourself after using a spell to influence it or vica versa is a foul. Using magic on the opposite side of the net is a foul, and that includes any enchantments you might try to put on the ball. And of course, anything that damages the ball counts as a foul." She looked at everyone. ”How does that sound?"

”Sounds good to me. Everyone ready?” Su tossed the ball into the air smacked it with the base of her palm. With a satisfying pop, it flew over the net towards Regina’s team.

“U-Uuuhhh...Ah! ”The ball came in Lily’s direction, but the nervous girl fumbled at the last second, and tripped, only barely hitting the ball before it hit the sand. “Sorry, I haven’t played this before,” she admitted, and Helga came over to grab the ball. “That’s okay, I haven’t either. We can learn together.” She stuck her finger out at first, measuring the direction of the wind, before she let the ball lift with her clasped-together fists, easily sending it to the other side. “So you’re Chloe from the graveyard brawl, right?” She asked in the middle of play, easily hitting the ball as it came over. “I could recognize that naughty tone of voice from anywhere, hah. Really cute swimsuit, too,” she added with a wink.

“Heh, glad I left an impression.” Chloe smirked. Naughty tone of voice, huh? She'd take that as a compliment. As the ball came her way, the DMG quickly intercepted, keeping her wings out to easily cover the ground needed. She balled her fists together, hitting the ball and sending it sailing back over to the other side of the net. “You don't look half bad yourself. If I wasn't already planning on taking Su out, I'd ask you for one.”

”Speaking of take out, I’ll take out your entire team with THIS!" Regina dove into the air and spiked the ball as soon as it came over to her side. She laughed like an imp the entire time she was moving. 

“Not so fast!” Emily spotted the impending spike and dove for it, accelerated by her own flame magic. The result had her looking almost like a misfired rocket, lodging part of her arm into the sand. She did, however, manage to knock the ball up, hopefully in a position someone could capitalize on. “Ow, I think I got a bit too excited there…” 

”Just a little.” Su extended an arm and helped Emily to her feet again. ”That was still an impressive play. We might need you to do that again.” Though Su didn’t appear to be paying much attention to the ball, a sudden gust of wind came and blew the ball just hard enough to get it over the net.

Of course, Helga instantly recognized the swirls in the air. “There!” She held her hand out, and a rumble of bass sounded from her palm, sending the ball out. “Now you’re the naughty one, Su!” Su’s eyebrow twitched at the remark. 

Lily hoped around on their side of the net, now better used to moving on the sand, and successfully hit the ball back. “So who are you? Are you one of Beacon’s new recruits?” Lily asked Regina.

Not letting the ball out of her sights, Chloe quickly intercepted it. Well, sort of. A purple colored specter formed in the balls path.

“Hey, catch this!” With a skeletal hand, the spirit spiked the ball, right towards Regina side of the court. Now, how to go about this...maybe a good shock would do? Or just exhausting her? Hm, decisions decisions.

”With pleasure!" Regina’s body seemed to surge with energy. The ball was moving pretty fast, but it seemed to slow when Regina approached. She had just enough time . to hop and block the ball with the side of her arm. Then the volleyball catapulted away, like gravity was radiating outward from Regina. A bit too far it seemed. ”Oh, uh, yea, that’s out of bounds." She giggled. ”I’ll get that." It just took Regina a few seconds to get the ball and return. ”But to answer your question Lily, I am Regina Bates! And yes, I am with Beacon now. That fight at the graveyard and Beacon’s efforts to purify me really showed me the error of my ways ." She spun the ball in her hands before passing it to Emily. ”I think I saw all of you there, except for you, Emily! But you must have been there, right?"

Emily caught the ball, drawing in a long breath and taking a few steps back from the court. “Yeah, I was there.” she answered, tossing the high and forwards into the air. Perhaps a bit too high. Nevertheless, she continued. “But I was-” she took three quick steps forward and leapt into the air to meet the ball, “-occupied-” her hand smacked the ball hard, rocketing it towards the other side. “-with pumpkins and spiders, for the majority of the event.” she gracefully landed afterwards. “That reminds me, wasn’t there some girl claiming to own the city now?”

“It was Cindy; she’s over there at the cafe,” Lily pointed, only to gasp and with lightning speed make a last-second block on the other side of the field, lifting it up for Helga to make a spike. “Watch this!” She vibrated her fist to extreme frequency, and hit the ball with enough force to make it wobble back and forth, making it very difficult to predict the sphere’s movement.

The volleyball wizzed over Su’s shoulder and smacked into the ground, throwing sand in all directions. She dusted the sand off of her legs before reaching for the ball. ”I’m pretty sure you don’t get to own a city just by saying ‘this is all mine’ on the radio. Or was it TV?” Su floated into the air and tossed the ball to Regina. ” I don’t think anyone can control Penrose. Her insisting on being some kind of leader is just going to create more conflicts.”

Regina turned the ball over in her hand. ”I agree! I wish we could all just get along." The ball was shaking, despite her attempts to hold onto it. ”But if she wants to help curb the chaos, I’m all for her appointing herself mayor." She released the ball, and it catapulted towards Chloe. It wasn’t going to go out of bounds this time.

“Right?” Chloe agreed. “Us magical girls need to stick together.” She was vaguely aware of this Cindy person, just another person who would probably get in her way. Chloe tried to keep up with the balls erratic movements, placing both her hands together, she gave it a powerful slam right back in Regina’s direction.

Regina didn’t have much time to set up before Chloe fired the ball back in her direction. She let out a small yelp before batting the ball with the back of her hand. ” You’re working me pretty Chloe.” Regina giggled. ”I can’t decide if you like watching me move or you think I’m the weakest player.”

“Personally, I don’t care if Cindy does want to own Penrose, but if she touches my home I’m sending her back from where she came from,” Helga commented, and looked in the cafe’s direction. “But I am getting parched. You girls want to get a few drinks after this? Losers pay!”

Lily on the other hand looked apologetic. “Sorry, but I already agreed to do something else right after this. You girls can have fun.”

Emily, presumably engaged with the conversation, nearly missed the ball in its entirety. “Woah!” she stumbled as she tumbled, sloppily hitting the ball high into the air, where it would then fall back on the same side. “Uwa... um, I’d love to hang out more if you guys don’t mind.” she said as she regained her posture.

Su floated over to the ball when it was at peak altitude and popped it even higher into the air. She made her decent while the ball was still flying upwards. ”Depends on a few factors, but I might be up for it.”

“Well!~” Chloe grinned, ignoring the others, being mostly focused on Regina. “You are fun to watch moving,” The dark magical girl shot upwards, chasing after the ball that Su had shot upwards. With an acrobatic flourish, Chloe slammed the ball back towards Regina. “But I think I'd like it more if you weren't using some silly illusion to hide yourself.”

”So you know then?" There wasn’t a whole lot Regina could do against the incoming shot. The high angle made it difficult to predict. At best, Regina could block it and hope that the ball didn’t veer off and give the enemy team a point. She placed herself where she thought the ball was going to land. Or was at least close, as most people don’t try to catch high speed volleyballs with their face. With a loud thud, Regina’s head was thrown backwards into the sand as the volleyball bounded into the air one last time. Her team might have continued playing if they weren’t concerned for the poor girl’s health. ”Mmmmm…" Regina was able to stand up on her own, but there was something off about her. Her very shape was unstable, like her skin was a collapsing tent. Her hair was changing color, and she was starting to look like another girl they were familiar with. "I was worried nobody was going to find out." 



Tetrad dusted off her shoulders. ”Man, Beacon couldn’t tell me apart from the original. I’m not sure if I should laugh or cry about that. I’m going to laugh anyway.” And so she did. 

Helga was in complete shock, as was Lily, who pushed her palms against her cheeks so hard her lips puckered. “Nooo wayyyy!”

”What?” Su’s head was tipped in confusion. ”Why would anyone pretend to be Regina? Who are you even? Why did we play a game together?”

”I can’t speak for you, But I wanted to see how long I could go before someone finally figured me out. ” She shrugged. ”And I think the whole point of going incognito is to become invisible. Regina was perfect because nobody likes her and everyone would sorta ignore me. Also, everyone calls me Tetrad. Just ask Emily, or Mika!”

“But wait, if you were here pretending to be this Regina chick,” Helga asked, scratching the side of her head with a befuddled look, “Then where’s the real deal?”

"I'm sure she's around. People react differently to spotting their doppelganger. Some choose to confront, others hide and watch from a distance." Tetrad turned over one of her hands. "Maybe she hasn't seen me yet, and is elsewhere on the island." She bent over and picked up the ball. "Anywho! This game is just getting started! But it appears to be your team's turn to serve."

Su was holding her head with one hand. "I'm not sure if I feel like playing anymore."

Tetrad suddenly dropped the ball and placed her hands on her hips. " We need to at least finish a game to get paid!" She had a massive scowl on her face. "I hope I'm not surrounded by quitters!"

Helga smirked as she noticed Su giving up. “Oh, come on Su, don’t give up yet! One final round, let’s do it!”

She served the ball, launching it so far up towards the sun nobody could clearly see. “Lily! Go for the spike!” Lily nodded, and crouched. “Okay! Here I go!” She waited until she could barely see the silhouette of the ball, and activated her acceleration magic, launching herself up with a leap at incredible speed, and slammed the ball down.

“...well now I'm kind of disappointed.” Chloe muttered, grumbling lightly to herself, her enthusiasm seeming draining in an instant. “Here I was hoping to flirt with a cute girl, but it’s just you.” She sighed, fluttering her crystalline wings with an irritable flap. “Oh well, Su, want to get a drink?” Chloe was almost wholly uninterested in the game now, it seemed.

The ball flew past Chloe and bounced off the ground, but Su wasn’t paying it much mind. "Why not? Seems like the game’s over now.."

”Awww, I’m hurt.” Tetrad said, not looking very hurt at all. ”She low key implied that I wasn’t cute. Which is probably true when you take into consideration how obnoxious I was acting. Actually, yea, that’s right, I’m not cute at all! I’m one sexeh biatch!” Tetrad observed everyone present. ”Well kids, this was fun. Sounds like Lily’s in a yank. So I don’t think we should start another game up. But I’m sure we’ll all meet again later.” Tetrad waved while walking off the beach. ”Oh and if you see Regina, I never stole her identity right? That was someone else.”

Helga pouted with a slouch as the ball slowly rolled on the beach. “Well, that was disappointing. At least I’ll get some free drinks.” She turned to walk towards the cafe. Lily looked on with a somewhat happy expression. “”I wasn’t useless, or a bother...I’m glad, heh…” She muttered to herself, and waved goodbye to the others. “That was a good game. Let’s do other fun stuff too, ok? Bye!” She then ran off, and Helga waved back. “I guess it was....But what was up with Su? She seemed strangely distant...” She muttered as she went to get a coconut juice.

---

Veronica had returned to her room. It wasn’t nearly as luxurious as her home, but a standard “hotel” room was enough given the circumstances. A bed was a bed, and the air conditioning was welcome. She hadn’t realized how hot it was until the cold air struck her face.

She stumbled over to her bed and fell backwards into it. Veronica’s encounter with Chloe didn’t go anything like she had expected. It wasn’t until after the fact that Veronica remembered that not all of her vodka bottles contained vodka. She had filled one with “ogre breath,” which was a magical concoction that has the sole purpose of making anything drunk. She would need to be more careful when mixing in the future. Regardless, Veronica had won. Chloe was well on her way to betraying the mint. And by the sounds of it, Al was tied up in this. He must have given Chloe a mission in an attempt to hurt the cradle’s efforts. She would need to find out what it was later. But betraying one’s side was something Chloe had done in the past. Seeing how easily she did it again made Veronica wonder how long this alliance would last. Chloe’s loyalty to Penny hadn’t faltered yet though, so a long standing alliance was possible with Chloe. The others needed to be notified.

“Attention Cradle Agents. Chloe Irving is interested in fighting against the Ebon Mint and sees us as allies. I have yet to negotiate in length with her, but she appears interested. Remember though, the only people who are sure allies are those who join Crimson Cradle. She knows who you are, so don’t act surprised if she reacts unexpectedly to you.”

”I think we have a problem.” Tetrad’s voice sounded dire.

Veronica blinked. “This isn’t a joke, right?”

”No I’m serious.”

She closed her eyes. “What is it?”

”Well, you know how she’s a turbo lesbian right? And you told her who we were? She straight up told me I wasn’t a cute girl!”

“Tetrad…”

”This is serious!” She stammered. ”She’s clearly lying! I-I’m the best looking girl, no! W O M A N on this beach. At first I thought it was jealousy, but it might be because she knows I’m a Cradle Agent.”

“She flirted with me plenty. She also told me that I was beautiful and more or less said she wasn’t the type to get jealous.”

”And you believed her?!”

Veronica opened her eyes. “Wouldn’t she have lied to you too? If anything, her not showing interest is a sign that she isn’t out to back stab you.”

”Maybe. But why would she do something like that? I mean she’s all over Sil for crying out loud!”

“I get the impression she prefers people with more submissive personalities. Not that it stopped her from flirting with, well anyone else honestly.” Veronica dragged her hand over her face. “You said she was a ‘turbo lesbian’ right? You were crawling all over Alexander, maybe that’s it.”

Tetrad giggled. ”Right, that makes sense, and it gives me a great idea!”

“Good, just don’t jeopardize the alliance.” There were a few things Veronica thought she would do once she established the cradle, but helping her agents understand why people didn’t like them was not one of them. “Hmm.” She slid her fingers down from her temple over her cheek, where Chloe had kissed her. “About twenty years ago. Was that the last time someone did that to me?”

---

With everything going on, the last thing Abigail wanted was for someone to drag her into the tree line and cover her mouth. This would be the second time she was kidnapped this month, and wasn’t too happy about that. Last time she was kidnapped because Tonya lured her around a corner where she was jumped by the Bates, and now someone just up and captured her while she was off by herself. She probably had herself to blame for this. Beacon had always said that, while tremendously powerful, she needed to work with others and not try to do everything herself. Maybe she could have been spared this fate if she had only left with Regina. She could feel the strength in the hand over her mouth, there would be no escape. She was ready to resign herself to whatever forces had taken her this time.

"Don’t scream! It’s me!"

Abigail threw Regina’s hand off of her mouth before turning around to look at her. "Why did-" She stopped speaking when she realised how concerned Regina looked. She also recalled seeing Regina pal around with Aurelio and everyone else not even a second ago. After taking a moment to think, she whispered. "You can’t duplicate, can you?"

"No, I can’t." Regina sighed. "I don’t know who that is, but it’s not me."

"Pulling me below the treeline and capturing me again is definetly something only the real Regina would do." She grumbled and looked over her shoulder. "So when are you going to come out of hiding and reveal that they aren’t actually you?"

"I don’t want to make a fuss right now, there are too many people around."

The gravity girl rolled her eyes. "Alright, as soon as everyone leaves, we’ll talk to someone from beacon privately."

"Thanks Abby."

Abigail groaned. "It. Is. Abigail."

---

There were plenty of things to do on this tropical island besides sports, and missing out on them would have been a shame. For example, the wildlife and beautiful plants that surrounded the resort itself, as well as the other facilities that were available to take advantage of. With this being the first day of however many that they ended up stuck here for, Alicia Hayden was taking the opportunity to explore it a bit. A Parasol Familiar followed dutifully behind, shielding her from the bright sun as she approached her destination. 

She’d been told there was a cave formation nearby, one that didn’t require climbing but had a wide variety of stalactites, stalagmites, and worms that positively glowed in the light. That was the sort of thing that seemed difficult to believe, hence why she was going to check it out in person. She had the time for it. 

Yet the sound of movement in the bushes drew her off course. Guiding her to walk over and see what was going on. Reaching the edge of the path, she poked her head over the bushes and foliage to see what the source of the noise was.

For a few brief moments there was a spark of curiosity in her eye, only to fade somewhat as a relatively-familiar face came into view. It was Regina. “Oh, I see,” she noted quietly, mostly to herself. ”I’ll just be on my way then.” She didn’t know why Regina was hiding in the bushes, but she hadn’t paid much attention to the girl since they had arrived here. It wasn’t really her business, and she didn’t really want to deal with it. So for now she went to return to her initial bout of exploration, and a much more palatable task in doing so. But just as Alicia was getting ready to leave, someone wrapped an arm around her waist. Alicia tensed up before she was dragged and dragged back into the foliage. Her mouth was covered before she could make a sound.. It was only the appearance of Abigail floating up to the two that prevented things from getting violent. Non lethal of course, but still violent. Luckily for Regina, she was denied this fate for now.

"You don’t, um, need to do that once they’ve seen you." Regina released Alicia once she was told this.

“Hello Abigail, it’s a good thing you were here Things were about to reach a critical misunderstanding,” she observed whilst glancing over at the other magical girl. Art least she had wound up here safely like the rest of them.

Regina spun Alicia around. "Socks! I have an imposter! They have everyone in Beacon fooled!" Her expression was grave, like a child who lost their favorite toy. 

There was little time to focus as Alicia found herself seized by a stricken Regina. And while an eye twitched at the nickname used, her statement earned a frown as the Seraph treated it with all the seriousness that it deserved. “Really? Do you know who’s doing the impersonating? And for how long?” At the very least she didn’t want to risk that Regina was lying about this, she just needed more information. 

"At least as long as the rest of Beacon has been on the island." Abigail folded her arms. "I was watching ‘Regina’ cuddle Aurelio, when this one dragged me into the treeline." Abigail turned to look at Regina. "You are the real one, right?"

"I am, yea." Regina put a finger on her lip. "I don’t know who it is either. I just came to the island and searched around a bit, but when I got to the help desk place they were there already. They must have seen me while I was walking around."

Abigail nodded. "Even if they saw you in that PI interview with beacon, they wouldn’t know you weren’t with them unless they spotted you elsewhere." She looked at Alicia. "Chances are this was all done pretty spontaneously, if not set up by the people who put us here."

Listening to the situation left Alicia not pleased. Hands balled into fists as her teeth ground together. It was a good thing that there was a no fighting rule in place right now, or she had it in mind to march right up to this doppelganger and sock her right in the face. She might not be much of a fan of Regina, but someone messing with Beacon was a bigger priority, even if it was someone’s idea of a practical joke. 

She was finally starting to understand the appeal of that Water Gun Orbital Strike Laser back at the Boutique now. 

”I see,” she replied at last, once the duo had finished relating the situation as it was.  ”Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I’ll go get Sylvia and we can put a stop to this. Unless you already have a plan of your own to deal with it.” It couldn’t hurt to ask even if it turned out that they didn’t. 

"Aside from kick their butt? Not really.." Abigail put her hands on her hips. "This was about as far ahead as we got. Just touch base with the rest of Beacon in secret so that we could trap them." She patted Alicia on the shoulder. "Anyway, you can babysit Regina now. I’m ready to start having some fun." She floated off without looking back.

Alicia nodded as Abigail excused herself, waving goodbye as she was left with Regina and this unpleasant situation.

”See you later,” she called, confident that it would happen sooner or later. These islands weren’t that big after all, especially with the events happening throughout the day.

Regina hugged herself. "I don’t think I need to be babysit." She took a few steps closer to Alicia. "So um." She twiddled her thumbs. "I’m glad you found us. What do we do now, Socks?"

That just left her with Regina, as she turned to face the remaining girl. ”First thing, don’t call me Socks,” she warned with a firm tone. She had been ambivalent when Elroy had been using it before, but now it just reminded her of all the stuff that had happened because of her failure to act. 

Regina pouted and looked away from Alicia.. "Does nobody in Beacon like nicknames? Hmph!"

Holding back a huff of annoyance, Alicia’s mood hadn’t gotten particularly better at this point. ”I’m fine with some nicknames. Just not that one,” she protested. Surely Regina could figure out why that might be the case. ”As for this, it depends on how much she knows about you. If it’s off the cuff and based on the news then we can use that and lure her into a trap to turn the tables. If she’s got memories or something, then I'm out of ideas besides me and Sylvia confronting her? she admitted after some thought on their current dilemma. But the first plan seemed reasonable with what they currently knew. 

"I don’t know." She hung her head.  "I figured there was a procedure for this."

Her primary thought earned a shaking head and a scowl. ”There are, but those procedures usually involve being able to capture people. Which doesn’t really work since there’s the ‘’no fighting; rule in place.” Doubtlessly this person would stop if confronted, but that wouldn’t really send a message. And after all the brainwashing and infiltration, messing with Beacon like this didn’t really sit well with her. They looked after their own, even if they didn’t necessarily like them.

With a sigh, Regina tucked her hands behind her back. "If you want to confront her, that works for me. What should I do?"

That just meant going with the first idea. If this was a prank, then there was no harm in pranking back. ”Well, whoever this is knows you’re a new recruit. I’ll just approach her, say we’re doing some light training, then lead her to wherever we’re springing this trap. We just have to decide on what kind.” It had to be appropriate to the crime, after all.

"I have an idea for that!" Regina cleared her throat. "You lead them into the forest, that’s when I step out, and then everyone else in beacon steps out and surrounds them. Then they will look and feel really stupid, and be forced to reveal themselves!" She pumped her fist. "It’s a flawless plan! Well, we just need to get everyone else on board with it. Maybe it would be easier if you just called everyone over here. Then it would be like ‘yoink!’ followed by feelings of severe embarrassment." She chuckled nervously. "I uh, don’t really know what else we could do. They haven’t hurt anyone, so I don’t think we need to hurt them back, right?"

”Normally I would agree,” Alicia admitted as Regina said her feelings on the subject. Normally she was the sort who was more than willing to live and let live. But after being burned before, you could only take so much before not being so considerate. But infiltration is a bit of a touchy subject after these past few months. I think a demonstration is needed, or people will keep not taking us seriously, and then it’ll hurt us later on.”

Well, maybe Regina didn’t understand that. But after what she and Justine had done to them, if this was a joke then it was in poor taste. And whoever it was would have to accept the consequences for that. 

Eying her companion, she gave a small shrug. ”You don’t have to be involved. I’ll think up something fitting for the situation.”

"That’s fine." Her gaze shifted from side to side. "Um." Regina tipped her head. "So do I just wait here or what?"

Tapping her chin in thought, after a few moments Alicia decided on what her plan would be, at least in the short term. ”No. I remember hearing that there was a cave system nearby. I want to check that out first. It might be useful.” She began walking in the general direction that she thought it was in, indifferent to whether or not Regina followed along. 

Regina took a few steps forward. "No? Like I should follow you?" She hopped after Alicia. 

”If you want to. I’m going to handle this personally either way,” Alicia replied, glancing over her shoulder at her companion. 

Focus returning forwards, she sighed while shaking her head. ”Of all the people they could have impersonated it had to be her….” she muttered, a sharp bite in her tone. This would have been so much easier otherwise, even if it had been someone like Serenity. 

Well, she would handle this, then she could get back to actually enjoying herself.



Dramatic much, magical girls?

^{Conversations with a Strange Stranger}

“Um...thanks then?” Amaryllis scratched her cheek awkwardly, still confused about how she should be taking Veronica’s compliments, but deciding to roll with it anyways. “You’re...attractive and powerful too? ...though I guess you already have magical girls being your bodyguards and all so haha, Captain Obvious here…”

The beachside babe wasn’t certain how exactly to take Veronica’s following words either, after hopping down the tree to follow her. A part of her was flattered, sure, to be scouted, but another part was concerned about what the ramifications of joining someone with bad ties to the Mint would even be. And then there was the part of Amaryllis who had never actually thought about severing ties with her Sword. Though she was most definitely a ‘young’ magical girl compared to some of the others, and though her Sword was a Lesser Force that communicate through psychically-inflicted pain, there was still…

It was weird. She never thought about her relationship with the Sword all too much. Rina was a solo magical girl who answered to no Patron. Penny had been a monster magical girl who hated her Patron. Annabelle was a dark magical girl who was forced into pure evil by her Patron. With those extreme examples, how should she judge her own relationship with the Sword?

Amaryllis mulled over it still, as Veronica left. Her Patron had been sealed before; a sword was meaningless without a wielder. Should she even pity it for robbing her of her normal life? Or should she be grateful that it gave her the power to protect the world, and indirectly, her family and loved ones? Was it Fate that made her life a mess, or was it random Chance that she came across that cave in the forest? Questions mounted, building up in her skull, uncomfortable questions that she wasn’t sure she wanted answered. But if she couldn’t answer them, what did that make her?

Nothing but an indecisive child who never changed from the moment she grabbed ahold of that silver hilt.

Frustrated, she took a step, only to immediately collide with someone else. Amaryllis immediately jumped back, eyes wide. “Oh my gosh,” she said, genuinely surprised she had lost so much focus of the world around her, “I’m sorry, are you alright?”

The person Amaryllis ran into may as well have been a wall. She didn’t budge an inch, her imposing figures unwavering, and she smelled heavily of freshly-applied sunscreen. “My my~” the silver-haired girl gave Amaryllis a once over, then continued. “Mmm, Hilaria is okay so don’t worry about it~” she gave a warm smile and giggled. “Hilaria thinks you look a bit troubled~ Is there something she can help with~?” she set Mars, her board, to the side and leaned on it.

Amaryllis couldn’t help but twitch her nose slightly at the stench. Technically, sunscreen wasn’t as bad as the offal of a Horror or whatever, but it was still a different smell, divorced from the norm. “Uh, g-glad you’re alright then,” she said. There was something odd about this particular magical girl, but she couldn’t pinpoint it exactly...and it wasn’t as if Amaryllis was in the business of profiling anyways; that was what her Sword did. If nothing else, however, this ‘Hilaria’ did tick all the boxes that Veronica pointed out, and she knew that, if she couldn’t figure something out herself, she might as well ask a total stranger for their own opinion. Resolved to this, the beach babe clenched her fists together, willing mental strength from physical exertion. “Oh, then actually...wait, wait, first, I’m Amaryllis, nice to meet you. Anyways, I was wondering...and this is totally random, but would you say that your relationship with your Patron is good, Hilaria?”

“It’s good to meet you, Amaryllis~ Such a wonderful name you have~” she softly repeated the name under her breath a few times before continuing with a somewhat glum expression. “Hilaria doesn’t have a patron anymore…” she was clearly disappointed she wouldn’t be of help, until her expression suddenly brightened up once again, an idea coming to her. “Mmm, but Hilaria did have a patron a short while ago~! Hilaria can say with confidence that before they turned on her, that she really enjoyed being a member of the Beacon~!”

“Ugh…” Amaryllis groaned, the moment that Hilaria revealed that she was basically Solo as well. “Yeah, that always feels like it’s a problem...like, everyone I know is either solo, or seems to have a bad relationship with their Patron, you know? And if everyone has a bad time, it’s hard to view your own relationship with any perspective…”

Wait, no, she’s getting too gloomy and emo now. And you can’t make conversations by not asking questions. “Uh, why did you get excommunicated from Beacon though? I thought they were getting more lax with who they accept? ‘Specially with their White Coin now and all…”

The busty girl with silver hair raised a finger to her lips and looked elsewhere, attempting to recall the event that severed her ties with the Beacon. As she did, her expression noticeably darkened momentarily. She replaced it with a small, but likely hollow, smile afterwards. “Hilaria has a hard time remembering specifics, but she knows she was a very good Beacon girl~!” she seemed somewhat proud of this fact. “Hilaria had a lot of friends back then~! And she had a different name, too~! Ah, but what was it, I wonder~?” she spent a few moments trying to recall it, but failed to do so, so she continued her story from there. “Mmm, well anyways, Hilaria was corrupted after she beat a big bad monster, and then that’s when her friends weren’t her friends anymore. Even though she did her best, they tried to hurt her!” she spoke almost as if she was telling someone about a movie rather than a personal experience of hers. “Mm, but she doesn’t know about this White Coin though. Hilaria wonders what it is~”

“Eh…” Amaryllis could sympathize, but couldn’t really understand it either. It was certainly tragic, becoming a dark magical girl so you could slay a monster, only to be backstabbed by your friends for that sacrifice. “It’s like...mm...you’ve heard of those, uh, Dark Coins that the Mint give you? It’s like that, except Beacon, and it gives you like, a super spark? I think it also turns monster girls back into normal girls? Honestly, I sorta just skimmed that article myself, but it’s like, a real big deal here.”

Hilaria took great interest in the conversation, leaning forwards as Amaryllis explained the coin. "Hilaria wishes she could have had one when she became corrupted, maybe then her friends would have been nicer~?" she thought about it, but realized she probably wouldn't have rejoined them after that anyways. "Mmm~! But it's quite the feat~! Hilaria is reminded of when lights were first made, I wonder if it'll have the same impact~"

“If you wanna go back to Beacon, I think you can just ask them for one?” There was a bit of a shrug there. Amaryllis wasn’t totally certain what the ruling was on excommunicated members of Beacon asking to come back. “But...mm, dunno if it’ll be that big of a revolution, y’know? Not like they can force the coin onto people to convert them…”

"You are certainly right. The look on people's faces the first time they saw an actual lightbulb -- it was priceless and it’s one of the few vivid memories Hilaria can recall. But even if it's not the same for most people, Hilaria's sure that an accidental dark magical girl may think the world of it~!"

She knew she would have, back then.

Hilaria wound up shaking her head when Amaryllis brought up the possibility of rejoining her old patron. "Hilaria isn't interested in returning to them, just curious. But the information is appreciated, greatly~! Hilaria owes you one, so you can ask anything of her that you would like~! Do you need someone to apply your sunscreen~?" she definitely appreciated what Mika did for her, so she was thinking she could do the same thing for Amaryllis, if she wanted. She went to reach for where the sunscreen was hidden.

“Wait, wat.”

Amaryllis tilted her head to the side, very slightly. There was something about it now that she definitely couldn’t overlook.

“Hilaria, uh, like, how old are you?”

The magical girl narrowed her eyes slightly and raised an eyebrow, as if she was trying to discern what the intention behind the question was, her hand stopping short of her chest. “Hmm~? Is that really an appropriate question to ask, I wonder~?” she giggled. “Mmm, but Hilaria doesn’t mind~” much like when she tried recalling how she was booted from the Beacon, she took a moment to think. After her pause, she raised a finger into the air. “Mmm~ Hilaria remembers now~! She’s almost ten~!” she claimed proudly.

“Oh…” Amaryllis said, nodding slightly. “Ok, sorry, that was weird huh?” She chuckled awkwardly, scratching her cheek. “Yeah, sorry Hilaria, for some reason, I thought you were like, a super old magical girl.”

Hilaria seemed to be at a loss when Amaryllis finished speaking, the last statement being the cause. Soon after, though, a sudden realization, betrayed by the spark in Hilaria's eyes, helped her understand what was wrong. "Mmm~! Hilaria thinks you're misunderstanding her~" she shook her head. "Hilaria measures her age by centuries, not years~"

“Ah...huh?” Centuries? A thousand years old? A magical girl that actually lived that long? Amaryllis’s jaw practically dropped, agape at how crazy that sounded. Hilaria didn’t have a reason to lie about this, did she? It didn’t feel like she was the prankster type who’d lie to strangers either. So…

“Woah!” Amaryllis cried out, grabbing both of Hilaria’s hands and clasping them together. “Y-you, you were around during the time of Shakespeare and Chaucer? Milton and Alighieri? Holy...geez, wow! Did you like, ever meet them or see them in person? What about like, Elizabeth the First? Wait, no, Beowulf! Was it like, actually a real thing back then? The manuscripts and all? It must be so cool living so long, wow!”

Giving a strained smile, Hilaria tried to figure out the best way to say she wasn’t so lucky. “Hilaria was certainly alive, but… the world is a big place, don’t you think~? Hilaria regrets to say that she can't remember everything that’s happened to her, so she can’t say.” she wore an apologetic expression on her face. “Oh, but she does remember meeting Leonardo~! Oh, and Lavoisier, too! Isn’t that neat~?”

“Yeah, that’s super neat!” Amaryllis exclaimed, before her mind caught up to her body and she abruptly let go. One thousand years ago was a lot of time to cover a lot of tragedies, after all. Two world wars, the Black Plague, and all the brutally medieval battlefields to live through. It was easy to enjoy history at a distance, but for one to have lived through it, to be forced to live through it… “Must be difficult too. Glad you’ve made it this long alive, Hilaria. Like, how should I say it...hm...well, Penrose has lotsa magical girls, so at least you won’t be alone for another big long amount of time. Yeah.”

A thousand years of outliving anyone you’d care about. The more she thought about it, the more Amaryllis wanted to give Hilaria a hug. But she didn’t do that. That was weird.

Do it fegt Amaryllis backflips

A short bout of silence may have betrayed that Hilaria hadn't entirely agreed with what Amaryllis said, but Hilaria still smiled. "Mmmhmm~ Until now, Hilaria hadn't seen many, but she did hear about there being a lot of magical girls in Penrose~! So exciting~!" she clapped her hands together, quite eager at her thoughts. "Hilaria can save many people, she knows it~!"

She certainly seemed more interested in the latter point, judging by the tone of her voice. "Hmm~ Hilaria is happiest when she can be of use to those in need, but what makes Amaryllis happy, I wonder~?" she gazed curiously into Amaryllis' eyes.

That was a rather pointed question, wasn’t it. Leaning back a bit from Hilaria’s pointed stare, Amaryllis thought about it for a couple seconds, before saying, with a half-laugh, “Well, probably world peace. Otherwise I’d still be, you know, doing magical girl stuff.”

Hilaria found herself resting an elbow on Mars, but her smiled had lost its warmth. "World peace?" she repeated, sounding almost disgusted at the thought. "Mmm, but then there would be no people to save, would there~?"

“There wouldn’t, yeah.” Amaryllis blinked. “That’s like, the point.”

Hilaria stopped smiling entirely by this point. "No people to save...?" her voice had started to quake. "Then...Hilaria wouldn't be useful anymore..." her eyes started to glisten and her bottom lip started to tremble. "...You wish Hilaria won’t be useful anymore...?"

Amaryllis frowned, confused now by this reaction. No, she wasn’t that confused at all. It must be some sort of ancient magical girl thing, huh. One’d have a thousand years to develop a hero complex, after all. “I think,” she said, carefully, “It’s, mm, important to think of world peace as a goal? I mean, unless, I dunno, instrumentality happens and we all become a collective consciousness, there will always be bad people doing bad things to good people...so, rather…”

Geez, she felt like she was really going off the deep end with this one. “I’d rather thank you, Hilaria, for your service in the eras before, and in the eras after. You are, after all, one of the people contributing to a more peaceful world.” Did she get that right? Hopefully Hilaria visited Beacon soon. Amaryllis was definitely not equipped to deal with ten centuries worth of baggage.

"There will always be bad people...?" Hilaria sniffled, then began to wipe away the tears that had been forming. "...really? Then Hilaria will still be useful...?"

Wasn’t she a thousand years old? Amaryllis felt as if Hilaria was the one more qualified to make judgments like that, honestly, but she nodded regardless. “And if you ran out of bad human beings to punish, you can always just, y’know, pick a fight with the Horrors. They’re immortal, invincible, and obscenely evil. I think, like, you’d be saving the future just by keeping them occupied, yeah?”

"Eh? But isn't that kind of mean?" she questioned suddenly, apparently recovered from her fit, the evidence of tears nearly wiped away. "Hilaria wants to save everyone who needs it, to start discriminating against horrors... that's cruel, Amaryllis." she now sounded like a mother who was scolding a child.

“Eh...but a Horror’s just a Horror.” This girl was seriously weird now, huh. Amaryllis narrowed her eyes slightly. “I mean, you wouldn’t save someone who’s trying to, I don’t know, destroy the world, would you? ‘Specially if you know that they’re just going to try again if you do save them.”

"You know, ignorance like that was something Hilaria was proud to see fade away with the change in times." she too narrowed her eyes. "Horrors need saving just like anyone else. Hilaria doesn't think that just because they have frightening appearances, naughty goals, or are often the reason why Hilaria is asked to help other magical girls, that she should stop saving them when asked. Everybody is equal, Hilaria knows."

She took a moment. "Mmm, but if Hilaria is asked to save someone trying to destroy the world, then she will do so. But she knows she'll be asked to save the world, so she'll do that too. People can change, Hilaria knows this. She'll save that person, and then they'll change." she assured.

“Well.” Amaryllis nodded. “That’s a very interesting viewpoint. Ok. Sure. I suppose if you’ll be saving Horrors, you’ll never run out of things to save, Hilaria. That’s great. Did you have those views while in Beacon too?”

Hilaria shook her head profusely, the memories of her immature younger self flooding back. "No, not at all.” she denied. “Hilaria was ignorant back then, and she wanted to rid the world of anything that tried to harm humans.” a somber air fell upon her, but her tone was somewhat bitter. “Hilaria isn’t ignorant anymore, though.”

“Hm...so what changed? Did it, I dunno, take being persecuted by Beacon to make you sympathetic towards your former enemies, or?” Amaryllis trailed off from there. Retrospectively, she was getting off-topic, huh. Gonna have to bring it back then.

“Hey, hey, did you know that Hilaria joined the Beacon because they reached a hand out after her Puchuu betrayed her? Mmm, that’s why her friends doing that to her felt like a super-betrayal, and it really hurt! Most Horrors are less cruel than that.” she added pointedly. “But Hilaria would be lying if she said that was what changed her goal. Ultimately, Hilaria’s goal is the reason why she changed her goal.”

“Aha…” So she just always wanted to save people, only now she just made it apply to everything. A little bit weird, and Amaryllis could definitely imagine a future where they’d clash, but for now… “By the way, Hilaria, you’ve met with a lot of, uh, other magical girls who weren’t solo or Beacon in the past before, right? Do you still remember them or stuff?”

“Not all of them.” Hilaria said. “Hilaria has a hard time remembering everyone and everything she has done. Mmm~ but she does recall a few magical girls like that~ Did you want Hilaria to tell you about them, I wonder~?”

“Ah, sorta,” Amaryllis said, pretending not to notice all the complex emotions that this ancient magical girl showed so easily. “It’s like, most of the people I know either have pretty shitty Patrons or just not any Patrons at all, so I sorta don’t really have an ‘average’ to work off of, y’know? So if you could tell me what you know about their relationships with their Patrons, that’d really save me on time and all.”

“Ah, Hilaria sees…” Hilaria went silent as she thought about the subject. “...is there really an ‘average’ relationship like that, I wonder? Hilaria’s met many, many magical girls whose loyalty lie with many, many different Patrons. Horrors, Beacon, Solo, Puchuu, Lesser Forces, and even the Mint.” she explained. “But it’s not like every girl has the same feelings towards their Patron, or their Patron towards them, you know? Mmm, but since you want an ‘average’, Hilaria will try to see if there’s trends she can remember for each. Is that what you wanted?”

“Yeah,” Amaryllis bobbed her head up and down, “Basically I want to see what the trend is n all, so...yeah.”

Hilaria spoke almost immediately, apparently having girls in mind. "The Horror girls Hilaria has met were all similar in a way, in regards to their Patron. They all expressed one extreme emotion directed at the Horror. Fear was most common, Obsession sometimes, and, unfortunately, apathy occasionally. Hilaria would have to say that generally they did not get along with their Patrons."

She shrugged, deciding to move on to the next faction. “Hmm~ Hilaria can think of a lot of Puchuu girls. Most of them are really kind~! But also very ignorant. Puchuu are adorable, don't you think? And they'll tell you everything you want to hear~ That you'll help save lots of people~ That the world needs you~ That is until they think you're no longer worth the effort, then they'll throw you right away, like a used bottle of sunscreen~!" as if on cue, a bottle fell out of the keyhole in her bikini top. She bent down to retrieve the bottle, placing it right back where it had been resting before. "Mm, where was Hilaria~? Oh, yes, well, Hilaria thinks you can take that however you want. At least most of the girls think that they have a positive relationship with their Puchuu~”

Thinking about the next topic, she recalled something interesting. Suddenly, Hilaria bounced up and down, like an eager child. "Mm, mm~! Why do you think Hilaria speaks like she does?" she asked Amaryllis.

“Uh...because you’re a thousand years old and still use speaking patterns from that era?” Amaryllis ventured to guess. Her first thought had been to consider mental disability, but that was a bit rude, to be sure.

"Mi dispiace, Amaryllis, ma si sbaglia di grosso." she denied in a different language, for some reason. "Hilaria knows and can speak many languages fluently, but she does tend to favor certain speech patterns over others... Mmm, Hilaria supposes you aren't entirely wrong there, then~ But there's a more important reason:

…

…

...

Hilaria doesn't want to forget her name, so she says it a lot~!"

“Oh. Hm. Guess being a magical girl doesn’t beat Alzheimers, huh…” There was nothing but soft pity in Amaryllis’s voice.

“That’s not it. Hilaria has always been a bit forgetful, and it doesn’t help that there’s periods where her name isn’t necessary.” she said. “Mm, but the reason Hilaria brought this up is because many Deities do the same thing, but not for the same reason~! They just like hearing their name and their voices~! Most of the girls under a Deity that Hilaria has met didn’t care very much for the arrogance their Patron exhibited, but they didn’t ever seem like they truly hated it, either. Hilaria thinks that could be considered a positive relationship, in a way.”

Amaryllis’s cheeks flushed, embarrassed that she let that assumption slip. “O-oh, I see…” she said, thinking it over. Deities were basically actually gods, right? That sounded like something they’d do. It was like… “Guess you can’t hate someone if it’s just ingrained into their being…”

Then again, if Horrors were born evil, she’d still hate them, wouldn’t she? She crossed her arms over her ample chest, furrowing her brow. Yeah, she still would.

“What about, uh, Lesser Forces then? Were they a thing back when you were...a thing?”

“Yeah, Hilaria has met Lesser Forces too, but…” she trailed off as she attempted to find a proper answer to Amaryllis’ question. “Umm, in Hilaria’s experience, they’re… different? As mentioned, other factions have outliers and exceptions so they’re not set in stone or anything, but Lesser Forces… are only that. In Hilaria’s opinion, Lesser Forces are like a “misc” faction and so they do not adhere to any specific relationship with their girls. No consistency from what Hilaria has seen. Each girl could be under the work of an entirely different Force, who acts in a way that could either be pleasant or terrible.”

She tilted her head afterwards. “Mm, was that helpful at all~?”

“Hrm...so no trend after all…” It was basically what Amaryllis expected, but her expectations didn’t help her at all in this case. She was disappointed, but it wasn’t as if she could direct that disappointment to any particular person. “Yeah,” she said, nodding slightly, “Confirmed what I already knew, I guess…”

The silver-haired girl shared in the disappointment. Failure to provide anything deemed useful was a failure on her behalf, after all. Though she frowned, she managed to ask Amaryllis about the situation. “What sort of issues are you having with your own Patron? Have they been causing you trouble, I wonder~?”

“Hm…” Amaryllis furrowed her brow and crossed her arms. “Like...not really? It just wants to fight big things, and it fights alongside me when we do stuff like that, so it feels like it’s good. But it also communicates through like, sensations, and it wants to kill things all the time, so that’s also annoying...but like, it doesn’t brainwash me or control me either, so...yeah.”

“I dunno, I didn’t ask to become a magical girl or anything like that and I don’t want to really fight things or kill things or stuff like that, but considering everything that keeps happening, it feels like it’s a good thing that I can do that, even if I didn’t want to? Like, do you get that? At all?”

"Mm~ The fulfillment Hilaria has felt from becoming a magical girl is unrivaled by anything else she has experienced. It's most certainly the best~! Greatest~! Wonderful~! But it is also a burden, and one Hilaria doesn't believe should be forced upon the unwilling. Oh, how cruel it is to be plucked from a normal life and to be thrust into a world of magic and monsters with no strong desire to selflessly serve~! Yet it happens anyway and the victims are left with no option other than to accept the unfairness of it all and do what they can." she sighed. It was a problem she couldn't exactly solve. "Hilaria thinks it's good that despite all of this, you can see some positivity. That'll help you in the long run, and it does speak wonders about your character, in Hilaria's opinion~"

A "But" came afterwards.

"...Hilaria suggests you determine exactly what it is your Patron truly desires as soon as you can, and do so in a way that leaves no room for doubt. Being tugged in a direction you don't especially care about is something you may regret, but even more importantly is tied to your Patron's apparent obsession. Do they desire to kill because it will get them what they want, or is killing what your Patron wants? The latter has, in Hilaria's experience, never led to anything but terrible experiences."

Amaryllis nodded. It still felt like things that she could have come to on her own, but them again...affirmation was pleasant. Good to see that a one thousand year old magical girl had the same thought processes that she had, even if Hilaria had a bit of a screw loose. “Ok,” she said, bowing slightly, “That, uh, was helpful. Thanks. I’ll...think about it a bunch.”

Hilaria returned to leaning against Mars, reaching into the valley on her chest and retrieving a bottle of sunscreen. “Hilaria will always be happy to help if she can~ But if that’s all, then Hilaria needs to get going so she can figure out what to do with all of this~” she explained as she retrieved yet another bottle. One might question just how much stuff she could fit in her cleavage. “Wasting things is not good at all~” holding the huge, certainly heavy board with one hand, and the sunscreen in the other, Hilaria would set off, likely to find people possibly in need of protection from that pesky yellow sun.
^{Saving Private Binky}

The sun shone above as Amaryllis enjoyed its warmth, floating idyllically on top of an inflatable sofa in the pool. It had been a bit terrifying to begin with, seeing all the monster girls and dark magical girls around, but as no fights had broken out and no one seemed interested in destroying the world, the bikini-wearing knight decided that she could take it easy too.

When was the last time she had time to herself?

Far too long ago, that’s when. Readjusting her position, she laid back, stretched out, and breathed it all in. The salt of the sea, the sweet of the flowers, the verdance of the trees. Ah, could she be getting old, preferring lounging in a pool to any physical activity? Mayhaps, mayhaps…

Mulling over such wasteful thoughts, Amaryllis bent her head forwards slightly, lips parting to take a sip of the bubbly drink balanced upon her chest. It was loud in the distance, the vestiges of the stage performances drifting into this isolated section of the resort. Maybe she’ll pay a visit there later. Phantom Boy would certainly have something flashy going on, wouldn’t he?

For now, though, Amaryllis was content to recline and relax, drifting nowhere in particular.

But Amaryllis would not have much time to relax. Unbeknownst to her, someone had joined her in the pool. She entered the water without making a sound. Her body sank under the surface where she was no longer visible. Underwater she had much more freedom to move. Amaryllis might have noticed her approach, but with her head pointed at the sky there was no hope for her. The knight was vulnerable, merely unsuspecting prey to this underwater predator. She closed the distance between herself and the inflatable chair with haste, but slowed as she got near. The predator was ready to strike. She wasted no time in popping up behind Amaryllis, making a noisy splash as her body bobbed up and down in the water. Her long white hair floated on the surface of the water, and her marble white skin was clad in a black swimsuit.

”Hi Amaryllis!”

“Buwh?!” Startled by the voice behind her, Amaryllis tried to push herself up and turn around. But she was superhumanly strong, even if she didn’t feel as if she really transformed, and her platform was, in the end, just a flimsy, inflated thing. Pushing down on one side caused the other side to rise, and a moment later, the buxom girl dunked herself into the water.

She came up sputtering, her bubble tea bobbing up and down as well. Coughing water a couple of times, Amaryllis hurried pulled wet strands of hair out of her eyes, before realizing, to her horror, that her top had almost been displaced as well. Pulling her soaked jacket over them, the amethyst-eyed woman fixed her outfit as best as she could, before, for the first time, noticing the white-haired girl that had spooked her to begin with.

The predator had been smiling, but the corners of her lips dropped into a troubled frown. Her pale cheeks were also showing a hint of color. She looked away from Amaryllis ”O-oh, were you trying to sleep? I just got kind of excited when I saw you, and um.” She fidgeted with her fingers.

“Uh...huh,” Amaryllis smiled awkwardly, “S-sorry, but, do I know you?”

The girl raised an eyebrow. After some thought, she raised her other eyebrow before tensing up her body. ”Oh gosh! Right, you’ve never seen me transformed.” She made eye contact just long enough to give her name. ”Betty Barton, I guess I need to work on my introductions so that this doesn’t happen a third time.” With a long sigh, she turned to face Amaryllis ”Want me to grab your flotation devices? I-I mean your chair, or do you want to dry off?”

Betty Barton...woah. It was always weird for Amaryllis to see a magical girl that didn't look at all like their transformed state. It made sense, of course, and her own physical constants between her mundane and magical states were probably a bit of an anomaly, but still. The soaked girl wrung out her hair once more, before finishing her awkward swimsuit adjustments.

"Oh, uh, don't worry about it," Amaryllis said, reaching over to grab it herself. "I sorta...got it." She scooped out her bubble tea as well, glad that the straw hadn't gone under. "So, mm, nice seeing you here, Betty. Are you, like, sure you shouldn't be, I dunno, protecting Veronica from, well…"

A vague shrug.

"Other magical girls?"

”She told me it wasn’t necessary. I guess she wants to meet some people. Sometimes having a body guard can make things feel uneven or hostile, you know?” Betty sighed. ”I also think it’s redundant given our circumstances. Dan seems cute enough, but anyone who can make all these magical girls just appear in one spot must be pretty strong. No one’s suffering, so there’s no point in resisting.” Betty back stroked to the edge of the pool and pulled herself up. She sat with her legs dangling into the water. ”Do you think she might be in danger? You’re not just saying that to get me to leave are you?” Betty lifted her fingers to her mouth and bit her nails. ”N-no, you’re too polite to send me away, even if you didn’t want me hanging around. But you look pretty relaxed.” She swirled her legs in the pool. ”You earned it though. I wish I could have been at the graveyard with you.”

“Oh, no no no,” Amaryllis said, quickly trying to amend the faux pas, “I just didn’t want you to get in trouble for, y’know shirking your duties to talk to someone like me.” Well, Betty was also right, though it was less politeness that prevented Amaryllis from turning people away and more that she didn’t want anyone else to feel bad, even at the expense of her private time. The mention of the graveyard incident, however, pulled a frown into her expression. For a moment there, the Midsummer Rose struck an image of beautiful melancholy. Even now, it still sorta stung, imagining the what-ifs that always spawned at the heart of such a hollow victory. She sipped at her bubble tea momentarily. “It wasn’t that great,” Amaryllis said, “The definition of a pyrrhic victory, honestly...but, uh...thanks, anyways. I honestly didn’t do much.”

”You did something though, right? You weren’t stuck guarding someone during an important fight like that.” Betty hugged herself.

“Well…” Amaryllis glanced off to the side awkwardly. “I was also mostly just guarding someone, so…” She trailed off from there. The difference between her and Betty, really, was that the one Betty protected was still alive. A bit stuck-up, but alive.

”B-but on a different topic, I’m looking for a friend of mine. Since we were all placed on islands with people we knew, I’m surprised I haven’t encountered them yet. Everyone I’ve seen so far seems to be from Penrose.” She raised and eyebrow. ”You didn’t see a girl with short green hair and red eyes walking around here, did you? She has a tattoo of a bat on her lower back, and wears a cultist’s-” Betty squeaked. ”Uh, she’s probably wearing a swimsuit now, scratch that last part. But she’s on the small side and almost never smiles. Her name’s Binky, does any of that sound familiar?”

Amaryllis eyes bounced back to the white-haired magical girl when she spoke up about Binky. Could it be that likely? Retrospectively, probably. “Mm...I’ve definitely heard about her before,” she said, “But, well...maybe Dan has a PA system or something for the main island? If she’s not there, then she’s either on the other islands or…”

A bit of a dark thought. Amaryllis doubted Sammy wanted Binky to die by drowning either. “...she’s in the ocean, somewhere?”

”That’s what I fear, that she never completed the first challenge and is just floating off.” Betty hung her head. ”If someone saw her, it would make finding her a lot easier. Normally I can talk to her via, um, telepathy? But I think she’s too scared to respond.” She buried her face in her hands. ”She’s suffering out there, and here I am catching up with you. That’s not good, pull it together Betty!” With a sigh, she stood up. ”But you didn’t see her since coming here right?” She bit her fingers. ”This is pointless, she might have been on an island by herself. No one would have seen her then, and where do I start searching?” Betty continued to ramble.

“Mmm, sounds like Binky’s pretty important to you, huh?” Amaryllis said, stating the obvious. “If you have no idea how to start searching, why not just, like start searching?”

She blinked, then shook her head. “Sorry, that came out wrong. I mean, hm...stop thinking about how you’re going to do it and just do it. Dan’s giving out free jetskis, so why not just, like, snag one, ask him for a map of the whole place, and then just...going ham? I heard somewhere that ocean currents naturally lead people to land, so it’s probably not going to be the case that Binky’s being swept off into open waters…”

Though all bets were off if, of course, there was another landmass in this strange world, beyond merely the archipelago.

Betty nodded, her face hardened in determination. ”Right!” She turned around to bolt away when she took one last look at Amaryllis. ”You didn’t, want to-” She averted her eyes. ”Help look, did you?”

Amaryllis felt a tinge guilty about it, really. But maybe she wasn’t as good a girl as she thought, because she said, “Well...I did plan to go jetskiing eventually, and y’know what they say…” She did some jazz hands. Didn’t particularly relieve the squeamishness of this particular scheme.”...always safer to do the buddy system if you’re going out into the wild.”

Betty took a step back from the pool edge. ”Uh!” The corners of her lips softened. Her eyes were starting to glisten in a way pool water never could. ”Thank you!” She bowed. ”Thank you! I’m going to get us some skis, and head over to the beach, thank you!” With a deep sigh, she wiped her eyes. ”You’re getting a hug when you get there!” Betty turned to face one of the exits, and vanished in a puff of green smoke. For just a moment the cloud resembled her shape before dispersing into nothing.

M-Mysterio?!

The image of a snowglobe-headed villain popped into Amaryllis’s head in that instant, before she quickly shook it out of her head. Veronica may look like some variant of lawful evil, but Betty seemed like a good enough person. And even if Sammy thought Binky as Satan incarnate, Amaryllis felt like she could withhold judgment of that rotten apple until after she met them face to face.

Oh, but she could do without the hug though. Should have said that, huh…

Regardless of the building trepidation, however, Amaryllis made it to the beach with little fanfare. While waiting, she began to collect pretty little shells and shoving them into her big backpack. Would be interesting to see if they were still here after this...dreamworld? Weird space? Ended.

She didn’t have to wait very long before Betty showed up again. She was carrying a jet ski on both of her shoulder when she showed up. ”Okay!” She dropped to one knee and offloaded the jet skis onto a rubber mat that lead into the sea. ”You were right. When I stopped worrying about how impossible it would be to find Binky, it dawned on me that what we really needed is someone with deviation magic.” Betty crossed her arms over her chest and crabbed her shoulders. ”What’s kind of embarrassing is that I actually had access to someone with that kind of power, but didn’t make use of them because I was panicking.” She averted her eyes. ”So I’m starting to feel a lot more hopeful, but also really stupid at the same time.” With a chuckle, she refocused her eyes on Amaryllis and smiled. ”But I’m really happy you’re here. We shouldn’t have to wait long before they arrive.”

The sound of a jet ski zooming across the water got the two girls to turn their head. The driver steered their watercraft so that they were drifting sideways towards the beach, and coolly leaned off the side to stop with her bare foot.

”Tetrad: ocean navigator!” She was wearing a pair of shaded goggles, which she pushed up onto her head after parking. ”I understand you chumps need one?”

Betty turned back towards Amaryllis. ”She can seem a little intimidating, but she’s not a threat.”

”Amaryllis right? Saw you talking to boss lady.” Tetrad folded her arms and leaned on top of her jet ski. If there were any teenage boys present, they would have been very excited. ”Charming, isn’t she? But enough about her, why do you want to tag along on this little trek?”

This new girl...certainly didn’t have the same vibes as Betty, huh? Amaryllis shrunk back very slightly under Tetrad’s scrutiny. Why was it that literally everyone knew who she was? “Uh, yes, very charming,” Amaryllis ended up saying, “And, well...jetskiing was a thing I planned on doing eventually, so...might as well look out for a castaway while I’m at it? Y’know?”

”I see.” Tetrad hopped off of her jet ski and walked closer to the group.”You’re the heroic type then huh?” She placed a hand on her hip ”Out to save damsels wherever they may linger. A noble sort, or maybe it’s all part of the adventure. A noble adventurer?” Tetrad chuckled. ”Well, as long as that’s it, I guess we don’t have any problems.” Tetrad reached under her shirt flap and pulled out a few pamphlets. ”She had a few admirers back in Penrose, to put it mildly.”

”I don’t get it.” Betty balled her hands into fists. ”Why is everyone so interested in her-.” One of the pamphlets smacked Betty in the face.

”Whoa! Sorry about that! It’s windier than I thought.” Tetrad showed everyone a map on one of the pamphlets. ”By popular request, I have tracked down Binky to this location.” She tapped a large red circle that covered a cluster of small islands. There was also a green line drawn inside it. ”Now I know what everyone’s thinking, Sure, we have jet skis, a dame to rescue, but how can we make this even more exciting? Well you guys don’t have to worry, because I already did the legwork and figured out how to do that for you.” She hopped on top of a boulder and pointed at the two. ”It’s also going to be a race! First one to Binky wins!”

“Uh...I mean, what else is there to do?” Amaryllis shrugged. “With all this power, it doesn’t make sense to use it just to kill monsters and get rich, y’know? If I can save people even with just a sword and a strong body, I’m sure there’s a whole bunch of more magical girls out there who’d be able to do even more than me.” There was a half-laugh. “Maybe climate change can be solved with a sufficiently powerful Nature girl.”

Before Amaryllis could dwell too much on the subject of heroic responsibility in accordance to superhuman power, however, Tetrad shot off, white foam shooting skywards. The cold ocean water splashed onto her face, eliciting a short yelp, before she quickly wiped her face clean. Jetski instructions, jetski instructions, where were they…

“Ahhhhh, I’ll just waterski instead.” Before the monochrome cardshark could get too far away, Amaryllis gathered up her magical energy and shot out silvered ivy, hooking onto the back of the machine. In an instant, she lurched forward, and from there, the buxom girl was skidding on water, her posture impossibly graceful as she held on tight.

Maybe she’ll even do some flips and shit. Who knows.

Tetrad and Betty had both gotten to their jet skis at the same time, but Betty hesitated because she didn’t want to leave Amaryllis behind. She didn’t anticipate her abandoning her watercraft and ended up lagging behind both of them.

”Wah!” Betty opened her throttle all the way up, but it would take her some time to catch up to Tetrad. ”It’s just a rescue, It’s a rescue first, race second.”She mumbled.

”Hmmm.” Tetrad looked over her shoulder. ”Yea..” Her grin widened. ”We might have difficulty splitting up and looking for Binky with you latched on like that. On the other hand, we can have a lot more fun like this.” She looked straight ahead. ”Hold on tight, we’re going to go on the expert course!” She threw the map she had drawn over her shoulder before crouching low.

Off in the distance, there was a lone island with gigantic pasta noodles floating around it. Amaryllis could easily discern what Tetrad’s intent was. She wasn’t slowing down, and wasn’t making any attempt to steer away from the giant pasta noodles floating on the surface of the water. A moderate sized watercraft would drive over them without incurring any problems. But human feet skimming across the water didn’t have the weight or shape to allow easy passage over a giant noodle spill. There were so many of them, it would be impossible to make in a single jump.

But gigantic pasta noodles were an obstacle wholly inferior to giant lasering tentacles, and though the boring way would simply be to stay behind the jetski the entire time, allowing the watercraft to plow a path through the soggy pasta, Amaryllis could afford to take some extra risks. Sucking in a breath, she began to kick off water itself, a collection of miniature hops as she danced between the gaps in the weave of noodles. Occasionally, she slid on water like a figure skater, gliding on one foot as her back arched. Other times, she yanked on the chain itself as she leapt up, sailing farther than could be possible with leg strength alone. If she could dodge energy beams, she could dodge pasta noodles. And if she couldn’t?

Well, she may be a waterskier right now, but her sword was still in hand, ready to slice into ribbons whatever oversized carbohydrates sought to ruin her day.

Tetrad was watching things unfold in a make-up mirror she was holding in her left hand. ”That’s how you use your noodle.”

Betty was able to get closer. Naturally, Tetrad’s jet ski couldn’t go as fast with the weight of a second passenger and long metal chains latched onto the back. ”She was here!”

”About thirty minutes ago.” Tetrad looked around. ”I think we’re going to find her somewhere over there.” Tetrad pointed at a group of islands. They were two large islands that were side by side to each other. It could have even been one island with a wide river running through it. ”You should drive ahead, it’ll be less awkward if you pass us now.”

”Right!” Betty sped off, but Tetrad wasn’t far behind her. Though it was evident Betty would only get further and further ahead as things went on. The water behind Betty was chopped by the wake of her watercraft, which cause Tetrad’s jet ski to skip along the water.

”Question.” Tetrad was looking at Amaryllis in in her mirror. ”People tend to find exciting things more memorable. How memorable do you want this expedition to be?”

That felt like a very loaded question, considering how both of them were magical girls. After a moment of thought (as well as a backflip over a high wave), Amaryllis replied, “As long as it doesn’t hurt?”

”So long as it doesn’t hurt, huh?” She folded up her mirror and stashed it. ”You look pretty sturdy, and if I’m wrong, let’s hope you’re swift!” Tetrad Drew a knife out of her sleeve and held it over her head. The weapon arced with energy. It was evident she was dumping her mana into it. Once it was the size of a sword, she threw it at a group of palm trees. The sword cut all the way threw them, causing them to fall just as she was driving under them. ”We’re not done yet!” A red card appeared in her hand, which she tossed into a tree on the opposing side of the river. Tetrad sped past the tree just as it exploded, sending palm leaves and coconuts towards the water skier.

“But why???” was Amaryllis’s primary complaint as an explosion destroyed pristine beach property, sending debris streaming her way. Did this not count as fighting? Was Dan’s Beach Patrol gonna crack down on them now? Or did that dolphin only care about the main island, with the open ocean being free for anarchy and violence? As those questions pounded in her skull, the waterskiing lady bent backwards, shattered coconut husks streaming above her like slow-motion bullets. She snapped palm leaves out of the air as well and, when a whole chunk of tree flew towards her, Amaryllis detached herself from the chain altogether, leaping up into the air and kicking off the log to grasp onto her ivy-chains once more.

“Tetra,” she called, once the danger had passed, “Look, could we like, uh, do this after we find and bring Binky safely back to the island? Maybe please?”

Tetrad looked over her shoulder at Amaryllis. Her eyebrows were crossed. ”I mean we could have had a race instead, but someone thought it would be funny to latch onto me like a barnacle.” She started to grin, even with her brow being so cross. ”Why did you do that anyway? Were you going to like, jump over me as soon as we got close to Binky? Or maybe, you like the view last place gives you?” She wiggled her hips side to side. With a sigh, she looked ahead.

“Eh…it’s more like I don’t actually know how to jetski, so, y’know…” Amaryllis shrugged, an oddly difficult maneuver to do when you were skidding on top of salty water. “If everyone was going to be racing, I didn’t want to get left behind and then just disappear, so, y’know…thought I’d just hang behind someone else and take my loss.”

”You can’t just throw a race, that’s lame! ” Tetrad groaned. ”Tell you what, how about we find Binky and then you and I go to one of the arenas with me after this. That cool with you? ”

Tetrad’s whole ‘tell you what’ elicited a confused expression from Amaryllis, pure bafflement in her tone as to how the conversation even segued there. “Wait, why? I mean, hm...how? Um, like huh?”

”I mean, what we’re doing now isn’t a race anymore. It doesn’t sound like you were interested in it to begin with. and you don’t seem to be enjoying this cool obstacle course I’m whipping up as I go along. I’m wounded, really. I’m having a lot of fun with it.” She shrugged her shoulders. ”But that’s fine. I feel like you owe me though. A race, a fight, something. So we’ll go find Binky now and then have some fun in the arena when we get back.”

A...fight? “C-c-c-c-cageo?”

”Is that the one where you get a gold coin for participation?” Tetrad’s eyes shot open as she looked over her shoulder again. ”I would love to do that one! Since you don’t know how to jet ski or want to go through an obstacle course with me, we should go for a round of Keijo!” She grinned. ”You look like you’d be a tough opponent, OH! Or we could go for a two-vee-two and be on the same side! We gotta do it though. You can’t back out of that too!”

“Um…uh…” For a moment, Amaryllis was seriously considering just plunging into the waters and, like, dying or something. But no, Tetrad had a good point. She ruined the race and Tetrad’s obstacle course that the girl definitely must have put some good effort into. She was honestly terrible for doing that. Briefly, the sword-wielding waterskier recalled her younger days, where she was more of a brat who was incapable of appreciating the effort other people put into events like birthday parties and stuff. Briefly, the sword-wielding waterskier recalled her slightly older but also still younger days, where she stuck herself in a little corner because no one else would entertain her own interests and play with her. Briefly, she considered all this, swallowed, and…

“O-ok...I dunno if I’ll be good at it, but like, I’ll definitely do it! Oh, but uh, 2v2 would be good...cause I’ll probably be worse 1v2…”

Tetrad just nodded along. ”We’ll talk about the specifics once we get back. But I’m glad you’re interested.” Tetrad looked ahead. ”Just keep your eyes peeled for Binky. We’re looking for a giant white bowl the size of a raft. That’s what they’ve been floating around in.” Looking ahead, she could see that Betty’s jet ski was parked near a far off island. It looked like a dot at this distance, but it wasn’t moving. ” Looks like Betty might have found something. That or she crashed.” It took Tetrad a minute or so to ride up to the abandoned watercraft, but what also came into sight was a giant white bowl. She pulled up to the island and pulled her jet ski onto land. ”Oh, and while we got a moment.” Tetrad pointed at the jet ski’s handles. ”The green button on the left handle turns it on, the red one turns it off, and the big trigger-like-thing on the right handle is the accelerator. There’s no breaks, and there’s a safety chain you can attach to your life vest so that it turns off if you fall off of it.”

“Um, right, got it,” Amaryllis replied, romping through the shallow waters as she allowed her chain to disintegrate. “But, we’re not going to be jetskiing on land or anything, yeah?”

”Juuuuust showing you what’s going on in case you actually want to jet ski in the future. Not everyone wants magical metal plants tearing into the backs of their jet skis, right? Don’t make me force you to drive us back.” She chuckled before walking between two trees. ”I’ve got a good feeling about this. Let’s go.”

Further inland, the two could hear the sound of Betty sobbing. When they rushed further into the jungle, they found Betty holding onto a startled Binky.

”I thought you were gunna die!” Betty said between sobs. ”I miss you! It’s been weeks since we last spoke.”

”Yea.” Binky didn’t seem to share in Betty’s strong emotional reaction. It could have been because she was tired, but it could have been because she just wasn’t that emotional. ”I missed you too.”

”See? I knew she’d find her without us!” Tetrad clapped her hands together. ”The Jet skis should be able to carry two people, and I think we should get Binky back to land as soon as possible.”

Betty dried her eyes and stood up. ”Thank you! Thank you both of you! I couldn’t have done it without either of you.” With a sigh, Betty approached Amaryllis ”I didn’t forget about my promise to you, and I think you deserve every bit of it.”

So this was Binky. Amaryllis looked at the rotten apple girl and committed her face to memory. It was a pity her Sword wasn’t present; it’d have been able to recall her taste and track her at another time. Still, maybe it was the swimsuit, maybe it was the situation, but the girl certainly didn’t LOOK hella evil. At least, not comparatively as evil when put up alongside people like Tetrad. Maybe it warranted a talk or something.

Maybe…

Before her thoughts could turn too sinister or scheming, however, Betty suddenly popped up in front of Amaryllis, causing her to jump back a bit. “Oh, no, I don’t think I actually did that much at all in the end,” she said, her hands up, “I mean, like, Tetrad found Binky, and then you found Binky too, so it’s like...why am I even here, outside of getting a glimpse at Penrose’s most wanted girl, y’know?”

”You helped me during my time of need though. Tetrad didn’t think to look for Binky until I suggested it, and even then it was only because she gave me… something… the last time we met. But I wouldn’t have been thinking about any of that if you hadn’t told me to just start looking!” Betty was smiling, even if her eyes looked a little wet. ”It’s because you were here that I was able to start this journey. Even if all you did was make a suggestion, you were just as instrumental to all of this as we were.”

”Besides.” Tetrad placed a hand on Amaryllis’s shoulder. When she looked to see Tetrad, the dark jungle made her face appear entirely black, like the shadows. She looked like the Cheshire cat: a floating pair of eyes and a grin. ”If you’re going to play Keijo with me, you need to get over being shy around other girls. Especially if you like them.”

”You like me?” Betty placed a hand on her chest and blushed. ”Well, either way. I really would like to hug you. So if you wouldn’t mind…” Betty closed her eyes and pulled Amaryllis into a tight hug. Betty wasn’t a small girl, but she lacked many of Amaryllis’s qualities, including her height.

Tetrad leaned in close to the rose knight’s ear. ”I’ll be waiting by the beach when you’re ready to leave.” Just like the Cheshire cat, Tetrad vanished from sight.

Amaryllis shivered at the ASMR-Tetrad tingle, but it was Betty’s embrace that grabbed her attention. After some hesitation, she returned the gesture awkwardly, keeping her hands strictly on the smaller girl’s upper back. Counting to five in her head, she gradually peeled away from Betty, before nodding. “I mean, I think I like most people as long as they, I don’t know, try to end the world. It’s like benefit of the doubt, yeah? So...yeah...we should go, right? You’ll be riding with Binky?”

Betty’s face became more red. ”O-oh! Um!” She looked side to side. ”The way Tetrad said that, it made it sound like-” She bowed. Several times. In rapid succession. ”O-of course! You’re not so shallow that you would just fall for any girl willy-nilly like that. I’m sorry! I’m just a mess right now because I just found Binky.” She pulled the aforementioned girl to her feet and started to run towards the beach with her. ”Thanks for everything, good luck on your Keijo match!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Amaryllis waved. “I’m happy you found Binky too, so, y’know, have a safe trip back…” With that, the ponytailed girl watched the two head off, eventually following after. A couple moments of silence was pretty pleasant, and the lack of humanity around her even more so. She was tempted to stay a bit longer, but then…

Yeah, felt like Tetrad would be the type of person to just leave after an arbitrary amount of time, huh?

By the time Amaryllis got to the edge of the island, Betty and Binky were already shooting across the water. Tetrad was watching them shoot off from her seat on her watercraft. ”And there you have it. That’s mission complete for me folks.” She turned to look at Amaryllis. ”So did you want to drive back, or did you want to water ski some more? I’ll warn you I didn’t carry any rope with me, So I’d have to sit behind you if you want to drive.”

Breaking out from the shadow of the palm trees and into bare sunlight again, Amaryllis squinted slightly, striding up to the jetski. “Mm...I think I’ll try,” she said, doing what she could to recall the sharp-eyed girl’s previous instructions. “Yeah, I’ll do it. Just, uh...mm, be ready to switch if I lose control?”

”Sounds fair, if you don’t throw me off too quickly that is.” Tetrad let Amaryllis sit down before taking a seat behind her. ”Oh, and another thing. You’re going to want to drive fast. You have a lot more control when you’re at higher speeds. It’s not hard at all. ”

Amaryllis nodded, before putting her full attention on the jetski. Breathing in deeply, she gripped both handles and pressed the green button. Immediately, the machine rumbled beneath her, the vibrations reaching into her very bones. No brakes, but she had to go fast anyways. The faster she went, the safer she was. And there was no way that the jetski could actually move faster than Amaryllis did normally, so her reactions won’t fail her either. Everything was good. Everything was fine.

Now, it was just...MAX SPEED, FULL THROTTLE, PEDAL TO THE FUCKING METAL.

With a gut-wrenching lurch, the machine leapt off the beach and smashed into the waves, hopping up and down with wild abandon as it skipped over the waters like a stone that’d never stop bouncing.

Some time later, as the double date crew waited for Sally outside one of the cottages, they were confronted by a pair of Aurelios. “Boss, done with the walk through,” One clone would say before moving to clap the original on the back and vanishing in a puff of smoke on contact.

The original Aurelio would take a moment to disseminate the new influx of information before nodding his head. “Seems they have surfboarding rentals down at the beach, not far from a place to eat. So what do you say to fooling around learning to surf?” He would offer as the next activity for them to partake in.

Alexander simply shrugged before looking over at Lily ‘Well...she’s a crazy enough driver that she might find it fun. Actually, how would magic change surfing? I mean, I could probably make my own surfboard and fasten my feet to it, and Lily could probably use Time magic to get some insane air time...or something.’

“That sounds like a great idea!” Lily enthusiastically answered, and took Alex’ hand.
“I’ve never tried surfing, but I’ve seen it on TV, and it looks super thrilling! You’re also gonna try it with me, right Alex?”

“Uh...sure” Alexander blandly responded, the feeling of Lily’s hand holding his slowing down his mental processing power.

“Did someone say surfing?” The three of them (plus a clone) heard a familiar voice, and turned to see Sally in her proudly patriotic bikini:



“What do you think? Isn’t it awesome?” She giggled, and made a turn as she let Lily gasp in awe.
“Wow! The American flag look really suits you...But...Uh...” She bit her lip, looking like she was hesitating.
“Aren’t you part-Irish? Sorry, I know I shouldn’t assume-”

Sally came over and took Lily’s hands, smiling kindly. “None taken. My grandparents on my mother’s side were Irish, and they moved to America before I was born. So in that sense, your guess turned lucky, tee hee! Anyway, let’s go surfing already!” She took Aurelio’s hand. “I still wanna go for juices at the cafe before the sun sets down!”

The solitary clone of the group let out a soft wolf whistle at Sally’s new look, before he got clapped in the back of his head by the real Aurelio “Be nice” he would say, reprimanding himself.

The clone would just shake his head take one look between his real self and Sally. “Lucky SOB” he would mutter, before stepping away “I’ll just return to scouting” he would say before wandering off.

“As the lady wishes” Aurelio would reply as he was pulled back into the conversation at large. “And as I told them the cafe isn’t too far from the rental hut” he would explain to Sally with a wide smile as he lead the way down to the surfboard rental shop near the beachfront.

Alexander sighed “I still don’t get why girls actually seem to like those things.” He said while looking at Sally’s new swimsuit “I mean, it looks so flimsy that it could just suddenly break with the slightest pull. I mean, I’m not wearing it, and I’m getting a little stressed out just looking at it. But then again, this is the girl who bought a malfunctioning swimsuit...so maybe it’s just her.”

Lily nudged Alex’ side with her elbow, pouting. “Don’t just say that...” She mumbled. Sally on the other hand laughed. “Flimsy? Hey now, no need for calling each other names, you know. Now come on, let’s go-AH!” The moment she pointed with her thumb towards the rental shop, the strings keeping her top in place came loose, and the top began peeling off, like a flower in spring. “Kyaaaah!” Lily screamed, blushing as she held her cheeks.

However, before anything indecent could be seen, a palm leaf carried by a strong breeze suddenly hit Sally, covering up her chest. She giggled in response, the bikini top bundled in her arms. “Whoops. Looks like I didn’t pay enough attention to the knot, so it came loose. I sure got lucky with this leaf though!”

Lily shook her head.
“No, Sally. It’s because of the curse-,” she began explaining, but didn’t manage to continue before Sally had already began walking towards the cottage. “You guys go on ahead, I’ll catch up to you in a moment.”
Lily sighed, and looked at the boys.
“Well, I guess we can go already. Geez, that girl is so carefree,” she muttered as she went.

Alexander sighed “See, that’s exactly what I was talking about. Damn near gave me a heart attack...” He grumbled the last sentence

Aurelio for his part just stood by with a bemused look on his face. Sally’s emotions were still on the up and up, but there were hints that he was picking up that had him starting to think he had misunderstood things.

Later at the rental, Lily was looking through the surfboards stacked on a rack.
“Hey Alex, I think I’d like this one with the lightning bolt...But is that too cliche? Maybe I should just go for a cute sparkly one like this?” She compared the two boards, her head swinging from left to right and back again.
“What kind of surfboards do boys like?” She then noticed that there were surfboards in the magical item section, and bounced over there.
“Do you have Ultimate Surfboards in different designs? I’d like one that’s bright yellow and cute, please.”

Alexander shrugged “No clue. I’ve never even been to a beach before, so if there’s some kind of standard operating procedure for guys at the beach, then I don’t know it” He glanced over at the magical items section “I’m thinking that I’ll just make one with my magic.” He explained as he took in the size and shape of the surfboards “Not only is it cheaper, but it’ll be easier for me to stay on.”

‘Oh, sure! Just let me have one!’ Brittany replied to Lily happily as she skipped away off to the boards, grabbing one of them and taking it back to the counter. She grinned happily as she took something out of her pocket, lifting it up and placing it against the board. The board was suddenly overcome by indescribable fluid, coating over it while shimmering in all the colours of the rainbow, until eventually it shifted back into the stone it had come from. This left the board a bright yellow, with little cute blue depictions of Dan the Dolphin here and there on it. ‘There! A piece of cake for my Colour Stone!’ Brittany said, happily. ‘… Which there’s only one of, and it’s mine!’ Brittany quickly said, stuffing the stone back into her pocket!

“CUUUTE!” Lily was impressed by the colorful transformation, and slammed the Bronze coin on the counter.
”I’ll take it! Thank you very much, miss Brittany!” She now remembered the shopkeep’s name as she had become a returning customer, and hugged her surfboard like a toy. ”I’m going to name him George, and give him lots of hugs!”

Alexander stood there silent for a few seconds as he took in what he just heard “you...gave it a name?” He sighed and shook his head “I’m not sure what to make of that. I might be getting too used to you’re weirdness. Clearly, whatever you have is starting to infect me.”

Lily pouted her cheeks. ”Of course I did. George will keep me afloat in the ocean when I can’t.” She carried the surfboard outside, and hopped on it.
”Whoah! It’s hard to stay on top of George!” She exclaimed as she wobbled...On the flat, unmoving board. “Oh Lily, you’re now being silly.” Sally couldn’t help but laugh at the sight as she took a normal surfboard, colored blue with red streaks. She also set her surfboard down, and took a wide stance. “You need to lower your balancing point, like this. And then you lean back and forth.” Lily followed along, smiling as she got the hang of it.
“Oh, it’s like riding a skateboard! Thank you so much, Sally!” She turned to look back at Alex and Aurelio.
“Did you boys pick your boards yet?”

Perhaps it was due to his nature as an Empathy mage but Aurelio vastly enjoyed just sitting back and watching Alex and Lily interact. They were such a wellspring of positivity that he was reluctant to do include himself more often.

“Got mine” He would answer the question posed to him as he hoisted up his choice, a white board with a rainbow stripe running diagonally down the length of it. It was a just a standard board, he had never been surfing before and wanted to learn the normal way.

Alexander shrugged “I was just planning on doing this;” he created a surfboard shaped barrier in front of him and grabbed it “I feel more comfortable riding one made of my magic. It feels like I have more control...or something.”

“I guess you don’t trust Brittany’s selection, huh?” Sally would ask as she observed the barrier from under Alex’ feet. “Well, even if it turns out defective, I can trust in my luck to keep me safe. So Lily, ready to-” She turned to look at Lily, but the green-haired girl was already running down the beach, the surfboard lifted above her head in excited glee.

“Last one at the sea is a Slowy Sam!” She would yell with a giggle as she jumped, using the board to slide on the water. Sally laughed too, and looked back at the boys. “And that’s gonna be one of you guys, haha!” She also began running, the surfboard tucked in one of her armpits.

Alexander scoffed, but unbeknownst to him, he had a small smile on his face “Well, at least she’s having fun.” He then began to leaserly jog after them, not at all concerned with this impromptu race.

“And at the end of the day, that's all that matters” Aurelio would agree, immensely pleased with how well his decision had been going, before breaking out in a wide grin and bolting towards the water “But your still a slow poke!”

”Now let’s see...According to the shopkeep, I should be able to propel this...”
Lily would wonder as she stood up on the board, and concentrated her magic. Slowly, bubbles and foam began forming around the board. Sally swam up to her using the board. “Try imagining you’re moving at high speed. Maybe that does the trick?”
Lily nodded, and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, and hummed a theme tune of some kind. Then, the surfboard dimly glowed, and began moving forward, gradually picking up speed. “Whaaaaaa!” Lily would scream out of sheer thrill. She saw a tall wave forming, and attempted to ride it...Only to immediately wipe out. Sally rode the wave with no trouble, and went over to check up on the other girl, now floating by holding onto the surfboard.
”This is hard...But I’ll try again!”

Alexander cupped his hands around his mouth “Be careful not to drown!” he yelled at Lily, and heard her shout back in confirmation...or because she wiped out again. “Alright now...time to fail miserably at a thing.” He mumbled to himself as he began to paddle his way out to the water on top of his homemade board, making sure to put large flat barriers on his hands to give him some more push. When he got far enough out, he reached a wave and quickly got onto his feet “Whoaaaaaaaaa!” He fumbled around a little bit before quickly fastening his feet to his board with barriers. That helped a lot, but he was still a little wobbly “Okay! Okay. I...think I’ve got this.”

Aurelio was doing passable in the water, able to keep his balance and manage small turns well enough to make it look natural with the small waves that were all over the place, but kept getting caught up in the larger wave and wiping out. “They make this look a lot easier on TV!” he would complain good naturedly as he clambered up onto his board again.

”You can say that again!” Lily could be heard yelling as she made yet another attempt; she failed again, but this time managed to stay up a bit longer than before.
Eventually, she managed to ride a small wave with some wobbling, and screamed in joy.
”YAHOO! This is so much fun!” She saw as Alex used his Reinforcement magic to create a board of his own, and let out a giggle as she saw his expression in the midst of nearly tripping. ”You’re already so much better than me, Alex! That’s not fair!” She laughed, and got up on her own board, continuing to brave the ever-changing waves. Getting to spend time with friends like this was something Lily had always dreamed of. She had been an introvert in her mundane life, looking on as other girls and their boyfriends went out to parties and other wild gatherings. But now she felt like it was all in the past. The warm waters of the sea reminded her of the turbulence of life, and how you shouldn't let yourself be swept away, but instead let it carry you to new heights.

A couple of hours passed by as everyone had fun. Lily had managed to fully master the Ultimate Surfboard’s magical nature, and skillfully launched herself up and around the waves, even performing a simple jumping trick that ended in a wipeout. Sally’s performance wasn’t as flashy, but she gracefully rode the waves as if she had years worth of experience, all thanks to her luck.
She gave a pleased wink at Aurelio upon seeing him ride next to her. “Wow Aurelio, you’re quite skilled with that board. Or are you just lucky-Kyah!” As she was travelling down a tunnel of water formed by a collapsing wave, the ties of her top turned loose. Sally tripped on her board and disappeared into the water, causing Lily to scream out.
”You can say that again!”
The green-haired girl jumped into the water, attempting to carry her up, but soon popped out of the water, looking worried.
”I can’t find her...Wait, she washed up on the beach!”
She swam up to where Sally was lying face down on the sandy shore. She turned her around, and gasped at the sight; her chest was once again miraculously covered, this time by a couple of seashells that were stuck to her skin. Lily had to hold in a laugh as she performed a few CPR pushes, after which Sally immediately revived, shooting out water in a thin, fountain-like stream from her mouth.
“Th-thanks, Lily,” Sally would speak after coughing a bit, and looked down at her chest with a look of befuddlement, poking at one of the seashells. “Well, now I know how Ariel feels, hah. This seashell ‘bra’ is a lot less comfy than you’d think.” She stood up, and stretched her arm. “Geez, once again I didn’t tie my top right. Seems the salt air is making me a bit ditzy, tee hee~” Lily groaned in frustration.

“But it’s the cursed bikini, Sally! You need to change out of it!” Sally stood up, smirking. “Curses, shmurses. I’m just a bit careless, that’s all. Or...Maybe you’d like me to wear something less fabulous?” She suggested, and quickly whispered as the boys approached them. “Don’t worry; Alex likes your look. He doesn’t seem the type to actually care, to be honest.” Lily blushed a bit, looking aside. The bouncier girl waved to the boys, signalling that she was alright as she picked up her top and dusted it of wet sand. “I think I’m gonna hold off on the surfing and soak in a bit of sun. Hopefully that’s alright with you boys~”

Alexander took one look at Sally’s new…’swimsuit’, and groaned “Ughhh. Seashells, really? You have problems woman. Whatever, she’s your problem, not mine” He said that last part while looking at Aurelio before turning to Lily “So what now?”

”I’d like to do a few more waves,” Lily pondered, a finger at her lip.
”How about we switch boards? Your magic-made board looks gnarly, hehe.”
She gave her board to Alex, and then ran off towards the sea, laughing and having fun with the flat Reinforcement barrier.

Alexander looked at the new board in his hands and sighed “This can only end in pain.” So he took the board that he had less control over out to surf some more.

...He didn’t do as good as before.

Lily on the other hand seemed to instantly master the magically constructed board, making jumping tricks like an expert.

While Aurelio had been worried when Sally took an unexpected dive, the lack of Panic coming from her helped him keep his composure. Didn’t stop him from surfing directly to Sally and Lily once the latter had pointed out the former.

His smile easily returned as he overheard the whispered advice that Sally gave however, mainly because he knew it to be fact. “You say that like it’s a bad thing” Aurelio would reply to Alex as the other boy turned towards Lily.

Plopping down his board the Magician would ruffle his hair for a moment, his Eternal style kicking in and leaving him dry in an instant, before plopping down next to Sally. “Hope you don’t mind if I join you in taking a break from the waves for a bit?” he would ask grinning as he watched the other two interact.

Sally lazily waved her hand, having put on a pair of sunglasses. “Ever the gentleman, ain’t you Aurelio?” She smiled sweetly, and turned towards him, leaning on her arm. “This has been a wonderful double date. Sorry for ruining it with my airheadedness, haa.”

The sun began to lower down on the horizon, and Lily returned back, her hair a bit frazzled, but smiling widely.
”This was a tubular double date! Totally radical!” She laughed, and went over to Alex, taking her board back.
”So you had trouble with the board too? You looked kind of cute as you fell, heh...” She added, blushing a bit as she took his hand in her own.
Sally stood up, and took a breath of fresh air as she began walking, facing away from the group.
“Alright, let’s go have juices at the cafe, every-”AAAAAHHH!”

Lily made a bloodcurdling scream, and lifted her hands to cover the eyes of both boys. Sally’s luck saved her one last time from embarrassment: her behind had become exposed due to her bikini bottoms having nefariously lowered. Sally froze, and with shaky hands lifted her bottoms back up. Afterwards she turned slowly; she had a shocked expression on her face, as she realized that Lily had been right all along. She couldn’t help but let out a nervous laugh.

“...Well, at least nobody got hurt, so that’s lucky, right?” Lily lifted her hands, slowly shook her head in a knowing sigh.
”Even good luck has its limits.”
She then proceeded to get metaphorically wasted on mugs and mugs of juice. It was a good time.

---

Mariette stood leaning against the edge of a building a bit of a distance from the beach and everyone else, having got up from the pool when Dan had appeared and then consequently stood there and listened to it all. She’d then promptly sent off Eli to inform the others under a cloak of Darkness magic that they should attempt to win as many of those coins as possible. Who knows? It might be an edge they’d need, eventually. However… Mariette herself was not particularly physically capable. She looked over the girls in the distance. Yeah, it served no purpose for her to involve herself, she’d only needlessly be seen by Beacon and then they’d see how well that no-fighting rule was enforced…

She was going to do this. She was definitely going to do this. There were no Patrons here. That included Mariette’s own Patron. So she was definitely going to do this. Right here. Right now! Amaryllis locked onto the young girl from 50 meters away, her long strides carrying her as if she were a homing missile. In an instant, she was upon Mariette, and, with a boldness unbecoming of a delicate flower like Amaryllis, the girl grabbed her by the hands.

Mariette turned her head, her visible eye widening a bit in alarm when Amaryllis came running. First instinct was that she was in danger, but, Amaryllis was an ally last time? Someone might have told her something that changed her mind. But, there was a no-fighting rule that Dan had-!? Mariette's hands were clasped before she had time to decide on an action.

Drawing in a breath, Amaryllis said, perhaps a bit too loudly, “Mariette, we need another member for equal teams! JOIN US.”

‘O-okay,’ Mariette stated silently and abruptly, without proper consequence-analysis, eye still wide.

Amaryllis grinned, before pulling Mariette with her to the court. Still feeling the adrenaline rush of successfully inviting the girl to a game, the Midsummer Rose waved at the others. “Penny, Rina! I found our fourth! Let’s get started!”

Mariette was just wide-eyed and forced to sprint, until they finally arrived and she could stand mildly panting, looking on somewhat stunned at those she’d been led to.

“Eh, that's our fourth?” Rina looked over Mariette with an incredulous look. Something about her felt...off, but more than anything she didn't look like she'd be any good in a sport like Volleyball. Well, whatever. As long as they could start.

Penny, who had been fooling around with keeping the volleyball in the air, did a double take on who the fourth person ended up being “I’m calling dibs on being on Mariette’s team” she would say suddenly, catching the ball as she did.

Cindy walked forward with grace befitting a self-proclaimed queen, a confident smile on her lips. “I suppose I can try out this game of yours. However, I won’t accept anything less than the very best you have.”

“C-Can I join too, nya?” Kimble asked as she slowly creeped closer, her ears twitching from nervousness; her eyes were focused on Mariette especially, only to meep as the girl’s one eye looked back.

“Yeah I’m definitely on Mariette’s team if we’re going all out.” Penny would reply with a chuckle, easily placing her enmity for all people involved off to the side. They had been placed on enforced vacation, might as well make the most of it.

“You’re welcome to join in as well Kimble” She would add directly addressing the catgirl before turning to the group at large “So how are we playing this? Rules wise and team wise”

Amaryllis blinked curiously at Cindy. She didn’t recognize the girl at all, but all things considered, it was quite uncanny how similar the two looked. She shook herself out of the weirdness soon enough though, glad that there were more people in the game. More the merrier, and less burdens on herself. “I guess,” she said, “It’ll be like normal volleyball? Except, uh, don’t use magic to hit the ball, and don’t destroy the ball by hitting it too hard? So basically, yeah…”

Mariette stood silent watching the others for a bit, then walked to the side of the court, and gently placed down the bunny she’d been carrying so that he sat up as an audience for the game. ‘Stay here, okay, Bunny? You’ll be fine. I’ll be back,’ she told the bunny, and then stood up to face the others again. ‘Okay, um. I’m Mariette,’ because not all present had ever seen her. ‘Let’s… have a good game, then.’ She was incredibly out of her element here, but, hey, she could give it a try. She nodded in appreciation to Penny. Having her as an ally would certainly make things easier, given Mariette’s less-than-optimal physical capabilities. She then stayed silent as rules were being discussed.

Cindy raised a knowing eyebrow as Mariette greeted the group, and gave a single nod; she recognized her as the mysterious voice who wished to form an alliance with her. “I’m Cindy. Welcome to playing with us. Now then, I shall play with the weaker team,” she announced. “Then this will be a fair game.”

Kimble on the other hand was less enthused, and averted her eyes to look at Penny; her ears drooped a bit as the two seemed to be on the same team. “Hi, I’m Kimble. C-Can I joinnyah your team?” She asked Amaryllis and Rina.

“I’m just going to toss out that since magic use is on the Table, that Mariette is the strongest person here,” Penny would say absently as she tried to sorting the group in her head in different ways. She didn’t want Kimble to feel left out, or be forced to team up with people who would make her uncomfortable. “Portals are kinda broken like that.”

“We could have it be Cindy, Amaryllis, and Mariette on one team. With Me, Kimble, and Rina on the other.” Penny would offer up after a moment “Me and Cindy would have to be careful about not hitting it too hard. Rina and Amaryllis are roughly equal when it comes to skill and Kimble and Mariette can both pull magic shenanigans within the rules“ She would explain looking to the gathered girls in case they had anything they wanted to add.

Cindy whipped her hair-resembling appendage back, causing it to sparkle from electron discharges. “I accept. I am curious to see how well Mariette plays with others,” she would comment, giving a wink at the gothic lolita girl before she took her spot on the field after having passed by Amaryllis. A couple of seconds later, she blinked, and looked back at the shapely woman. “You and I look very similar. As a reward for beating these opponents, I shall ask for your name as payment.”

Kimble smiled as Penny suggested the teams, and went over to give her a hug. “Yay! Thanks, Pennyah! I promise I’ll do my best!”

“No problem” Penny would reply as she returned the hug one-armed before quickly ending it. She was willing to give Kimble plenty of slack when it came to physical contact, but she still wasn’t going to let it last very long.

“Uh...huh?” Amaryllis paused slightly, surprised that everything was getting set up super fast, before quickly turning to her teammates. “Just to confirm, but you all, like, know how volleyball works, yeah? Like, general setups and all?”

“Works for me.” Rina said, confirming the teams. She glanced over to Kimble, resisting a strong urge to pet the catgirl. “I know how it works, but I haven't played in awhile.” She inhaled, doing a light stretch as she glanced over to the cat girl. “Kimble, right? Don't think we've met, but if Penny says your good I'll take her word for it.”

“Yup, she’s another probationary member of Beacon” Penny would supply for Rina “Alicia’s the one who gave her the chance, after we ran into her on a mission.”

“Based on the name of the sport, the goal is to unleash a volley of that ball, correct?” Cindy asked, pointing to the ball Penny was holding. “Which means sending it to the opponent’s side successfully, while preventing the same to our side. Am I wrong?”

Kimble nodded. “Yep yep! We can only use our hands to hit the ball, and the side who failed will start the next round.” The monster girl crawled in a cat-like manner over to Rina, and looked up at her with a wide smile and gleaming eyes. “Hello, Big Sis Rina! Please take care of me!” She then nudged her head against her leg while slightly purring like a cat seeking attention.

‘… May I confirm, I’m allowed to use magic? Do I have a range limit, like up to two meters from my body? My side only?’ Mariette asked and suggested, as her team had apparently gathered. Because, yes, Penny was right, portals are broken in this. How well she played with others, Cindy wanted to know… Mariette was curious, too. To Amaryllis question… ‘The purpose of volleyball is to hit the ball so it impacts the ground on the opposite side of the net. However, I’m not as educated on the details. Is there a limited amount of times you can touch the ball? Rules of who starts?’ Mariette asked Amaryllis, first time the portal girl ever played volleyball, definitely.

“Hm?” Amaryllis blinked, tilting her head to the side. “I think it’s fine to use portals as long as it doesn’t touch the ball, if that makes sense? Oh, I guess only on our side too. Don’t think it’d be fair if you made people fall into space or something if they stepped into the portal, yeah…same goes for all the other magic, mayhaps?” As everything went on towards the rules of the game, however, the ponytailed girl found herself in her element, and was suddenly possessed to push up her non-existent glasses. Earnest as she was, Amaryllis was one of the few girls who used to actually listen to her teacher when they went over the rules of whatever sport they played, even if she had been total trash at them.

“Right, onto the basic rules of volleyball then! Essentially, you have three hits to make it over to the other side of the net. Usually, the plan of action is like...receive, set, and then spike. Which works out pretty well cause both sides have three people. Unlike what most people believe, you’re actually allowed to use any part of your body to touch the ball, as long as you don’t hold the ball. So, uh…” Amaryllis demonstrated with a bicycle kick that transitioned into a backflip. “Kicking it is ok as well. You just don’t see it often because people usually can’t, uh...jump that high...oh, also, there’s rules for blocking too. Basically, you need to be starting in the front half of the court when the serve begins to be allowed to block, and blocking only doesn’t count as one of your three hits if your hands are above the net when you block the ball. So...yeah. Oh, right. You can’t block serves, and your hands can’t go past the net when you’re blocking. And also...huh?”

It was only then that Amaryllis noticed Kimble molesting Rina’s leg with her face. That was certainly...weird.

“Right, uh...we can just decide who goes first with a coin flip or something?”

“....Eh?!” Rina stared down at Kimble as she was rubbing her face against her leg. What was with that adorable cat-like behavior?! Well, she was a catgirl so it was to be expected, she guessed, but still! Rina quickly reached a hand down and gave the catgirl a headpat. “Tch, okay, okay!” She blushed hard enough to make her usual magical girl attire seem dull in comparison. “I'll, uh, look after you. Just stop with whatever that is.” She refrained from saying 'you adorable creature'.

“Right, coin!” Pulling herself away from the cat girl, Rina entered herself back in the conversation. “Uh, we'll be heads you'll be tails then?”

Amaryllis didn’t see any reason why tails would be worse than heads, so she nodded. “Yeah, go ahead. Whoever gets it can choose, like, whether they wanna serve first or receive first?”

“Okay!” Kimble answered cheerfully, and then purred, slightly waving her head back in forth as she basked in the headpat her cat-eared noggin had received. She then looked on as the coin was pulled out. “Yay, we’re tails!” She spoke out, and took her place.

Cindy giggled a bit upon seeing Rina’s reaction, and smiled pleasantly. “Mm...I might get to enjoy myself after all.”

‘May use magic, but not on the ball, only on our side,’ Mariette confirmed. She swallowed a little. That meant that she’d probably have the best mobility on the field… but she’d actually have to hit those balls herself. It’d be difficult to warn her companions that they’d be going through a portal, but if they were about to miss… Mariette reaffirmed her strategies. ‘Okay, I’m ready.’.

Penny just shook her head, while she grinned at the antics that were going on. “I’ll cover the front” she would offer to her teammates as they awaited the results of the coin flip.

“Alriiight.” She pulled a coin from her pockets, placing it on top of her thumb. “Annnnd-” She caught it mid air, slamming the coin back onto her wrist. “...Tails! Alright, you guys decide.”

“Then, uh, we’ll serve,” Amaryllis said, picking up the volleyball and tossing it in the air. Lighter than how it was when she was still normal, but maybe that’s just because she was stronger now. She closed her eyes briefly, listening to the wind, before turning to Mariette. “Hey, wanna give serving a go?”

Mariette blinked a bit as she was asked to serve. It took a moment, before she figured there was no harm to it. ‘Sure. … How does one typically serve?’ Mariette said, walking to the back to serve.

Amaryllis demonstrated quickly, extending one hand out while swinging the other hand back. Emphasizing the heel of the hand, she kept her arm straight as she swung it to meet the forwards-extending hand. “Basically like that,” the buxom youth said, “Overhand serves are more common in competitive play, but underhand is easier to pull off. It’s all good as long as you send it over the net. Questions?”

‘M-hm, Mariette nodded attentively. That did look practical. ‘I’ll learn from watching from here on. Thank you,’ she said, collecting the volleyball and then walking to where she was directed to. ‘So, is everyone ready?’

“And waiting” would be Penny’s reply as she cracked her knuckles.

“Ready, nyah!” Kimble shouted out, her tails having sprung up as a sign of alertness.

“Let us begin,” Cindy also responded, having taken a ready stance.

‘Alright. Here I go, then,’ Mariette took a deep breath, created numerous of her tiny portals from her eyepatched eye to the sides and above the battlefie- volleyball court so that she may keep a perfect track of everything going on at all times, boosted by her Awareness, as she directed her arm back and held ball forward, and swung! … She only messed up once, hitting it somewhat sideways but quickly created a portal which took the ball right back to her! … And so, she tried again without even acknowledging the failure.

The second time, she let go of the ball a bit earlier, swung, and got a good hit, the volleyball flying in a simple arc over the net. The game was on.

Penny hopped up and lightly, for her, smacked the ball back across the net. She was sticking to normal human limits for now and was planning to slowly ramp up as the game went on.

Cindy seemed to flow through the air with unnatural grace as she cupped her hands and bounced the ball up. “Go for it, beautiful stranger!” She shouted to Amaryllis.

It was a bit of a shame that Cindy immediately transitioned into setting. Delicate touches like that seemed like something that’d fit Mariette. But Amaryllis responded regardless, running up to the net from the wing before kicking off the ground. Sand burst underneath and she sailed into the air, her back arched as she prepared to snap out a spike, ready to smash through Penny’s block.

In the last moment, however, her swing slowed to a halt, simply grazing the volleyball instead. Contacting a single knuckle, the volleyball fell off gently, bounced off the top of the net, and dropped down onto the opposing team’s side.

“Oh no you don't!” Rina slid under the ball, using her superior agility to position herself close to the ball. She couldn't send it back over, but she could at least stop it from hitting the ground. “Oi, Kimble, your up!” She shouted as she smacked the ball high into the air.

“N-NYAH!?” Kimble’s posture straightened in her crouching pose, like an agitated cat, and she leapt up, having coated herself in magical green winds. “CAT POUNCE!” She screamed with sharp teeth showing in her mouth, and swung her pawed hand; it hit the ball with surprising ferocity, causing Cindy to fail in the block as it hit the sand. In that short moment, her nature as a monster girl had showed itself, before she returned back to her regular adorable self. “This is exciting, nyah!”

Amaryllis landed and picked the ball back up, tossing it over to the other side to serve. “Nice effort, Cindy. Good serve too, Mariette.” Easy, automatic words of encouragement came out as the Spiker of Rose readied herself again, setting herself up in the back row with the portal girl.

Mariette was making motions with her arms, trying to copy the movements she’d just seen others do in order to knock the ball over to the other side. Cupped hands like Cindy just did, or smacking it like Penny or Amaryllis, trying to get used to the movements with a determined frown on her face. Little nod of acknowledgement to Amaryllis, otherwise.

“Nice spike, Kimble,” Penny would praise her as she caught the ball from Amaryllis while moving back to serve. “I’ll serve to start then we rotate?” she offered to her team as she waited for them to get set up.

“Thanks Pennyah!” Kimble responded, bouncing on her spot in the sand.

Penny spun the ball lightly on her off hand a time or two as she focused, a few steps outside the court line. Once she was sure everyone was ready she would toss the ball high into the air towards the net before taking a step forward and jumping after it and striking it towards the back half of the opposing court.

The second rally had begun.

Cindy countered with flexibility beyond human physiology, her movements fast yet graceful. Now she passed the ball to Mariette. “Your turn, Mariette! Show me your power!”

Mariette blinked a bit as the ball flew above her to fall straight down at her. She could see the exact angle it’d take. However, her muscles were not trained enough to know how exactly to move in order to actually receive the ball. So instead… she darted forward creating a portal in front of her that she stuck her joined arms into. Then, behind her, she instead moved a portal with her arms sticking out of it so that it struck the ball, sending it flying high above the net to fall down on the other side.

‘T-tsk,’ Mariette made a noise as she stumbled back a bit, extracting her arms from the portal, which then vanished. Hitting the ball with her arms like that hurt a bit…

As the other team was preparing to serve, Cindy suddenly came up to Mariette, and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Good work, Mariette. That was a clever use of your magic. But you seem to rely on it a bit too much.” She smiled a bit. “Learn to also use your empowered body to its full potential,” she would say as she returned back to her spot.

Mariette blinked a little to being touched on the shoulder by lightning-girl here. Partly because she expected to be electrified on the contact, but then she was a bit shocked by the words themselves. Not rely on magic? “Empowered body”? Did this woman not know how fragile Mariette was? … Probably not, but still.

Kimble hissed as she picked the ball, her fangs showing; the catgirl’s aggressiveness has begun manifesting more and more as the volleyball match continued. “Let’s beat them, nyah!” She served a hard ball, launching it high into the air.

Amaryllis squinted. That...was going to go out, wasn’t it? She shuffled back a couple of steps, before volleying it back into play. “Mariette, set,” she said, before immediately heading off to one side of the court, hoping for Cindy to take the other side. A coordinated attack, with one being the feint. Hopefully she’d get the message.

Mariette had to wonder, what did “set” even mean? She’d heard the word during preparation, but. Still, with how Amaryllis was moving… Mariette skipped into the air, and created a portal to bridge the distance which she wasn’t able to jump so that her hands reached the high-flying ball, her hands gently bopping into the ball so it would skip lightly back towards the net on this side so that her allies could catch it on the descent.

Cindy simply nodded at Mariette’s question, and went on to receive Mariette’s set with a spike of her own that was caught by Kimble, who had by now become a hissing monster. The rest of the game played in a similar fashion, with Mariette setting up using her portals, and Amaryllis or Cindy delivering spikes. On the opposite team, Kimble began playing more aggressively; however, Penny and Rina continued co-operating well despite this change. In the end, the lack of experience on Mariette’s and Cindy’s part caused them to barely lose against the other team. “WE WONNYAH!” Kimble celebrated, hugging Rina and pressing her cheek against hers affectionately.

“Bweh?!” Rina recoiled as Kimble pressed their faces together. On one hand, this was nice. Kimble was adorable and having a cat girl give you hugs was probably a way to world peace. On the other hand, this was embarrassing, damn it.

Amaryllis sucked in a breath, her hands on her hips as she recovered from the rather intense round of volleyball. It was a bit of a shame that she couldn’t just power through and make sure Mariette’s first game was a win, but, well...it was also just a game. “Nice work,” she said, raising hands up for high-fives, “We’ll get ‘em next time. Shame ‘bout the name though. Arms feeling alright, Mariette?”

‘… Stinging. They can really shoot…’ Mariette told, breathing out. One primary reason for their loss was most likely Mariette’s ordinary-human level strength, even if she could reach a spike in time with portals nothing told her arms could deliver enough force to repel the ball. Still… ‘… Sure. Next time,’ Mariette agreed, recognizing the gesture for high-five and giving a light slap in reply to it.

“We may have lost this match, but we will win the next time,” Cindy proudly proclaimed, a hand on her hip as she leaned her eyes down at Mariette. “You exceeded my expectations, Mariette. I would like you to join me for a round of juice; I would like to talk to you, from one magical girl to another.” She then walked away confidently, as if she had left the sandy court a winner.

“Got to admit, wasn’t expecting Kimble to be a warrior,” Penny would say to herself as she did a bit of light stretching to help cool down. Not that she needed it, she was almost the direct opposite of Mariette as her physical dominance was likely a contributing factor to her team’s victory. Yet it was a long ingrained habit to downplay her own capability.

“Good game girls” Penny would callout as she approached Mariette and Amaryllis to shake hands on the match. She’d be giving Kimble and Rina congratulations on the win, after they got done hugging it out. She’d filled her quote of close contact already.

Mariette looked a bit in surprise at Cindy’s call to drink juice with her and have a conversation. … Hm. It was probably for THAT, now, wasn’t it…? ‘… Hm. Very well, Cindy Ford. I accept,’ she said. Then, well, Penny came over to shake hands. Mariette politely lifted a hand to shake hers in turn, nodding to her. ‘Good game. It was… entertaining. Thank you.’ Mariette said, both to Penny and to Amaryllis.

While Penny and the others congratulated each other on a good game, Rina was still trying to contain this ball of adorable cat energy. “H-hey!” Rina's face quickly turned a shade of red. “I get it, I get it! We won!” She tried to disentangle herself from Kimble, only to lose her footing in the process and end up falling over, pulling Kimble over on top of her.

“...I am okay with this.”

---

Sylvia had watched the volleyball games from the shade of the cafe, sipping on a coconut drink and reminiscing about her talks with both Shannon and Alicia. “Hmm...If I address the issue using straight facts, they couldn’t possibly deny the claims. Then again, maybe relating the experiences of our chapter would help better relay the issue...”

[colo=violet]“Hmm....”[/color] Hovering a few feet away from Sylvia, Chloe tapped a few settings on her phone. Upon the screen was the picture of her 'no-hands challenge', just herself. Didn't want Veronica in the picture, after all. If Penny didn't like the other dark magical girl, then it'd be kind of silly to include her in it. That was the entire reason for her to take a solo one before hand, after all.

After applying a cutesy filter, she hand wrote the text 'Feeling cute, may steal your heart later, lol' on it before sending it to Penny.

[colo=violet]“Heh, perfect.”[/color] Chloe chuckled, putting away her phone. Well, then, who to bother with next? Ah...was that...? She was part of Beacon, wasn't she? Chloe weighed her options, and quickly decided she'd have a bit of fun.

Her orb spun in the air, summoning a small, fast spirit. It swiped the coconut drink Sylvia was drinking and brought it to Chloe.

Sylvia was looking elsewhere as she reached for the drink, only to swipe empty air. She blinked, surprised, only to frown as she saw Chloe floating nearby. “You really should thank Dan when you get the chance,” she coldly spoke, fingers tapping the table on the spot her drink was taken from. “Because otherwise you would be burning at the stake right about now, witch.”

“My, how rude.” Chloe giggled impishly. “And from such a cute girl, too. It doesn't suit you.” She took a long sip of the drink, before scrunching her nose and licking her lips. Yuck. “Eugh, you have about as terrible taste in drinks as you do people.” Chloe huffed. “What did I ever do to you, anyways, huh? Not Like I've bothered Beacon, hm? I even helped out at the graveyard. You should be thanking me, if anything.” She grinned, chuckling as she held a hand over her mouth. “Or is it that you're just jealous that a Dark Magical girl like myself does a better job at fighting 'evil' than you beacon people do?”

Sylvia, tapping hand tightened into a fist. “You slaughtered innocent people in the middle of the street.” She stood up, pointing at Chloe with anger in her eyes. “You have no right to speak of gratitude!” Her other hand glimmered in silvery light, only to end it as she took a deep sigh. “And of course, now that you don’t have to fear for retaliation thanks to the rules set in place, you’re bothering others and trying to draw attention to yourself like an imageboard poster living in their mother’s basement. I really shouldn’t be falling for this kind of low-level bait.” She scoffed mockingly as she turned to leave the cafe. “So if all you’re here to do is be a thot, then fine. See if I care.”

“Ouch. Your words are about as painful as that swimsuit you're wearing. Ever tried actually being cute for once?” She chuckled, landing next to Sylvia with a grin. “If I’m a thot, I’m a pretty popular one.” She followed after Sylvia with a giggle, still holding onto her coconut drink. “Not that you’d know what being popular or having friends meant.” Meaning, people she could boss around that were pretty expendable once they ran their use, but details, details.

Sylvia blinked, taken aback by Chloe’s statement. “I didn’t choose to wear this! And I wouldn’t have if given the chance either!” She retorted, and kept walking at a slightly faster pace. “And...And I’m popular. All of Beacon is my family, and we are also friends, with deep bonds.” She was now at the beach. “A witch like you could ever understand. Now stop pestering me!”

“Heh.” Chloe matched pace with Sylvia, walking behind her. “But you're so cute when you're flustered.” She slurped loudly on the drink. “Mhm, you know the more I drink this the more I like it. Got any more?”

“No!” Sylvia stopped at the edge of the roiling waves, her hands clenched into fists as she began losing her temper. Eventually she would lash out and try to kill the girl, which she wanted to avoid until she knew more about Dan’s power. She took a deep breath, and turned to face the dark magical girl. “Okay, obviously there’s something you want to talk about so Beckoner-damned much that you’re willing to follow me around like this.” She stepped towards Chloe with her fists pressing against her sides, “Still want to boast about being better than us? How you have a better taste in drinks, or that you’re cuter? Huh?” She would not stop approaching Chloe until the other girl took a step back.

“Oh, you're approaching me?” Chloe grinned confidently, holding out her arms. Unfortunately for Sylvia, Chloe had no intention of stepping back. “I'm not boasting, I only tell the truth. Unlike you beacon girls, I understand the true meaning of beauty and purity.”

Sylvia eventually ended up pushing defiantly against Chloe’s body, their chests smushed together. Her eyes were sharpened and lips curled as she looked at the dark magical girl straight in the eye. “Then how about you enlighten us ignorant,” she spitefully spoke. “What is the true meaning of beauty and purity? Is it being a pain in my ass? Because you’re doing a fantastic job at that.”

At that moment, Sally happened to pass by, and her mouth opened in surprise. “What’s happening here? Do you need help, boss?” Sylvia glanced at Sally, and scoffed. “This witch here thinks she knows about purity more than us.”
“Uhh...” Sally scratched the side of her head, looking confused. “Well, I don’t know about that, but she is admittedly cute. Too bad she is a heartless psychopath.”

“Wow, rude!” Chloe scoffed, pressing her body harder against Sylvia's. “I'm not heartless. I care deeply for my girls...” She chuckled, flashing Sally a smile. “At least you're not calling me a witch. Words hurt, you know. You're a cute girl, though, so maybe you won't be as insufferable as this one since you haven't threatened to kill me just for existing.” She still hadn't removed her chest from Sylvia's. In fact she was pressing against it harder.

“...by the way I'm totally enjoying this, so thanks for the Fanservice~” She flashed a rather suggestive grin at Sylvia.

Sylvia could not believe the sheer audacity that Chloe had; not only did she stand her ground when she tried to intimidate her to the point the two were literally bust-to-bust, she even seemed to enjoy it. And, as much as she hated to even think of the possibility, the sensation was not one she loathed. As a result, she was the one who backed off because of it, having crossed her arms. “...Don’t mention it,” she responded with a tinge of frustration, and sighed. “This is not going anywhere. Any suggestions, Sally?” The bouncy magical girl went right up to Chloe, her knockers blocking most of the dark magical girl’s view as she leaned down to look at her. “Maybe I should also try the boob-wrestle? It could be good practise for Keijo.”

Sylvia facepalmed. But then, she blinked, having reached an epiphany.

“...You know, there is a good side to this. If we’re keeping an eye on her, she can’t cause any real trouble around the islands.” She took Chloe by one hand. “Come on Chloe, let’s spend some quality time…” She grinned in a most evil fashion.

“...With me preaching about the good values of Beacon.” Sally took her other hand. “When Sylvia starts one of her lecturing sessions, she tends to go on for hours and hours, heh. So you can kiss goodbye to any other plans you might have.”

“Oh my, two girls holding my hands. You beacon girls are awfully lewd.” Chloe chuckled. Well, this seemed like a wholly unfun time, but if they were wanting her to run off at the thought of being 'lectured' she wasn't about to give up so easily. “You'll also be losing any other plans you have, you know...plus, besides, I wouldn't say I'm not wholly uninterested in beacon, heh.”

“That’s fine,” Sylvia responded, and led her to a couple of beach chairs. “I’ve been lazing off enough for today. Now it’s time I get to work.” She sat down on the beach chair while Sally wrapped her arms around Chloe’s waist and also sat down on a lounging chair, keeping the dark magical girl on her lap like a child being scolded. “Now, it all began in 495 BC, when Saint Alessia received a vision beckoning her to spread the good of light and purity across the world...” What followed was indeed a history lesson that would bore even the most attentive of listeners. And it went on...and on...and on...

Chloe, much to their surprise, was at least appearing attentive, if not overly completely interested in the complete history of Beacon. She'd even ask a few questions...but eventually she would get bored. She wasn't here for a history lesson, after all, even if it was mildly interesting. It didn't matter in the end anyways.

“Hmm...so this Saint Alessia seems like saint.” Chloe held a hand to her chin. “I'd love to have met her, heh. Ask her what she thinks of beacon murdering innocent magical girls in this day and age~”

Sally hugged Chloe a bit tighter, pushing her breasts up. “Question time is later, Chloe~”
Sylvia on the other hand nodded. “Our mission to spread light and protect humanity is the very same as that of Saint Alessia’s, only we have the knowledge to know how to do so best. And it is purifying corrupted ones such as yourself. Now, where was I?” She put a finger to her chin. “Ah, yes, next came Saint Rosabeth of 367 BC, who...”

Rolling her eyes, Chloe tossed the coconut drink at Sylvia.

“Oi, you, if you don't let people ask questions to clarify you're a terrible teacher, you know. Besides, I take offense to being called 'corrupted'. If anything, I'm far more human and pure than you holier than thou types ever will be.”

Sylvia caught the drink with uncanny finesse, not spilling a drop of it as the contents sloshed in the cup. She had a cocky smile to her as she took a sip. Sally looked miffed at the continuing insults from Chloe, but Sylvia did not seem fazed; in fact, she seemed to revel in Chloe’s boredom and growing frustration. “I will answer any questions you have after I have finished my lecture, Chloe. Now, Saint Rosabeth had arrived in the city of Memphis, where...”

Chloe simply gave Sylvia a fairly unimpressed look. Well fine, if they wanted to play tough then.

“...You know, I made a new friend recently.” Chloe began slowly. “A rather lovely, honest monster girl. I’d love to introduce you, but she’s terrified of you beacon types. Shame, really. She’s such a good girl, but you beaconers would probably kill her.” She idly looked at one of her nails. “I think her name was Divina?”

“And so Rosabeth started a new moveme-” Sylvia was prattling on when she suddenly stopped, her mouth frozen mid-sentence. Her eyes widened, and she slowly turned her head to look at Chloe. “What...Did you...Say?” She glanced up at Sally, and with cold eyes, gave her a nod. Sally immediately understood; before Chloe realized what was happening, her head was violently pushed down, barely avoiding her head being slammed into the chair as it now drooped mid-air, the rest of her body pinned down and unable to move by Sally’s massive frame.
“What was that about Divina? What did you do to her?” She asked, barely holding her composure. “You turned her into a monster, didn’t you? You damn bitch!” She slapped Chloe’s cheek, leaving a red mark.

“Ow...” Well, that was expected. “I kind of deserve that, but really! Be nicer to a girl.” She looked at her assailants with her usual smug grin. “Now that I have your attention though...how about you let me go and we can discuss this like civil adults instead of someone being a cranky child?”

Chloe was slapped again, this time with enough power cause her to bleed from the corner of her lip. “You shut it!” Sylvia was absolutely fuming. “You stole Divina from us, you homewrecking skank! I’ve now had it with you...” She took a step back, and held her hands before her. Sally did not seem to expect that move. “Sylvia?”
Her magical girl weapon was summoned to her: it was a gatling gun that shone brilliantly against the warm sun thanks to its chrome plating, every part of it custom-made with state-of-the art parts. “I’m not letting you abuse another victim any more...” She turned a valve, and the weapon’s nozzle turned into a flamethrower. “Wait, Sylvia!” Sally shouted, but Sylvia aimed down at Chloe, a furious grimace on her face.
“BURN IN HELL, WITCH!”

“Of all the – you don't listen to anyone, do you?” Chloe seemed utterly unimpressed by Sylvia's show. She gave the other magical girl a deadpan look as she summoned her Gatling gun. Well, Dan was probably going to do something. If not....well. Chloe's Orb shimmered a bright blue color. Lucy could use a few playmates anyways.

“Not so fast, girls!” Dan had appeared, looking more menacing than before:



“You broke the rules, and I’m not going to allow that. You need to be punished.” He aimed a muscular finger towards her, and shot her with a blue beam, causing her to drop her weapon and fall back into the sand. The two then saw what happened to her: her skin was covered in purple spots. “That curse is because of your contagious anger: it will go worse every time you hurt others until you apologize to Chloe.” Next, he shot a beam at Sally and Chloe, and they both felt the impact of powerful magic on them; Sally’s hair grew super long, to the point it was dragging down in the sand. “That’s for not thinking for yourself and getting involved in this. You also need to apologize to Chloe, and until then will grow every time you do something without thinking..” And finally, Chloe’s nose extended, making her resemble Pinocchio. “And that’s for saying hurtful things to others. You need to apologize to Sylvia before your nose turns shorter, otherwise it will grow longer with every mean word coming out of your mouth.” When he was done applying the curses, he crossed his arms, looking disappointed. “You girls need to learn to not harass each other. Otherwise there’s even worse curses coming.”

“....What the hell you creepo dolphin?” Chloe narrowed her eyes at Dan, and her nose magically extended a couple of inches due to the curse. “I didn't say anything mean. If those two can't handle some mild teasing, they're really out of touch.” She grunted, folding her arms. “They're the ones who decided not to listen to anything I say or take me seriously, automatically assuming I'm some evil witch hell bent on world domination – which I'm not by the way. I’ll admit that I’m not the nicest person, but you ask any girl I’ve helped they’ll tell you I do look after them.” She lightly touched her elongated nose. Ugh, this was annoying. “If they want to apologize first, by all means then, I'll apologize for the teasing. If they don't, then I think I've proved my point.”

Dan shook his head, not looking convinced. “That was not a genuine apology. I can tell.” Chloe’s nose turned crooked, and grew a wart. “Lying will get you nowhere. How about you, Sally?”

“That's because I hadn't even apologized yet though?!” Chloe shouted, feeling her nose grow again.

Sally was sitting in the sand, holding her mass of hair with a sad look. “...Yeah, I shouldn’t have gotten involved. This is supposed to be a fun vacation, right? So...Sylvia, maybe we should leave it be, at least until we get back to Penrose. So, I...I’m sorry, Chloe.” Dan nodded, and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, glowing light enveloped Sally’s hair: the next moment, her hair was short again. “Good. Sylvia?”

Sylvia stood back up, looking horrified over her new state. “Wh-What is this? A sickness? I don’t feel sick at least.” She glanced at Sally, and grit her teeth as the other girl was turned back to normal. “I’m sorry, okay? Now turn me back!”

Dan shook his head again, and Sylvia’s body was now also covered in sickly green triangles in addition to the purple spots. “Not good enough; you need to apologize straight from your heart, or this won’t mean anything.” Sylvia clenched her fists, and averted her eyes. “This is really freaking annoying...” She grumbled. Dan turned to Chloe. “You two may share a different worldview, but that doesn’t mean anything on these islands. So for now, you need to put aside your differences, and make up.”

After about a minute, Sylvia finally made a heavy sigh. She grumbled something incomprehensible as she slowly stepped before Chloe, and held her hand out. “...I’m sorry for hitting you, and calling you a skank, and almost immolating you. I should have been more patient with you.”

“Maybe if these two didn't jump to con-” Chloe stopped herself mid sentence. No, that wouldn't get her anywhere. Watching Sylvia apologize, she seemed genuine at least. Chloe let out a breath, smiling a bit as she waved a hand dismissively. “Right, right, I shouldn't have teased you quite so much. Sorry for calling you unpopular or saying you have terrible taste in people.” She took Sylvia's hand. “And look, I'm always up for talking and not fighting. Fighting is not something I like doing, you know.”

Sylvia hesitantly shook the hand, clearly still upset over what Chloe had spoke, but willing to ignore it. “Alright. A temporary truce.” Dan sighed again. “I didn’t want to intervene like this, but it couldn’t be helped: you two are like water and oil. But, you did apologize, so I’ll let you off easy this time.” He snapped his fingers, and the two returned to normal: Sylvia’s skin was once again pure white, and Chloe’s nose returned to its adorable look. Dan then stepped between the two, and flexed his abs before he turned back to the smaller form in a puff of steam. “But next time you won’t get off with a mere apology. So no more bullying, whether it is physical,” he pointed a fin at Sylvia, and then Chloe. “Or verbal. Goodbye!” He then teleported away, leaving the three girls alone.

Sally came over, and took Sylvia’s hand. “So, uh...I guess we should head back now.” Sylvia nodded; she held her arm as she looked out at the ocean. Time passed, as the wind flew past. “What is it that you really want, Chloe?” Sylvia then asked, still gazing into the horizon.
“You went to a lot of effort to make Divina your ally, corruption and all. Are you like Justine and want to accomplish some sort of ritual?”

Chloe gave the two a smirk.

“...You think I can casually tell two people of Beacon what I want?” She chuckled, her magic orb floating over to her. “I'm many things, girls. I can be violent. I love watching other people fail miserably and I certainly love it when I make them squirm. Watching someones life die by my own hands is absolutely, ah, ahem, thrilling, to put mildly.” She flashed toothy grin and a playful wink to Sylvia. “And I certainly don't trust nor like people very much.” She admitted with a dismissive shrug. “Most are pathetic beings that need to be led around like cattle to accomplish anything of note, but you get more flies with honey and all that so I try to control myself with little acts of impertinence here and there and treat people as fairly as I can.” Chloe frowned, glancing towards the horizon. “But I'm not stupid...as much as I would prefer us magical girls getting along, you Beacon types wouldn't like what I'm doing. Sylvia proved that much just now. Just know that In the end, I'll be saving saving the poor girls you have ignored, murdered, and abused for far too long...because I love every single one of them, heheh.” She finished with a light giggle.
“As for Divina...I saw a girl being affected by some mind control magic, so I helped her. Unfortunately I was...testing something, so the chaotic magic went slightly out of control and turned her into a monster girl. I admittedly didn't have completely altruistic intentions behind it since I need some...manpower, so to speak, but that's as much as I feel comfortable saying.” Really, she was probably saying too much as it was. But that was fine. She's given them plenty of chances. Even if they don't take it, it would just prove her point even more. If they did take the bait, it was still a win for her. “...I suppose if you agree to further non-hostilities, Divina may feel more comfortable potentially meeting the two of you once we get off this island.”
Sally bit her lip, looking upset, but Sylvia’s face didn’t budge; both of them could tell Chloe was now speaking the truth. “That’s...” Sally attempted speaking, but couldn’t find the words. Sylvia only shook her head. “There is no need for that. Like I said, this is a temporary truce.” She turned away. “Once we’re back in Penrose, we’re coming to rescue Divina. And you will pay for your crimes, one way or another.” She made one final glance back at her.
”Enjoy your vacation while it still lasts.” And with that, she finally began walking away, with Sally following her.

“So stubborn.” Chloe watched as they left. Well, that was fine. She had already gave Divina the option of returning to beacon if she wanted. The moth girl was adamant about her position now...so they would be sorely disappointed, even if they succeeded.

Tossing the orb into the air, Chloe launched herself after it. More ammo to use against beacon was always a good thing, heh.

They'll regret it sooner, rather than later.

For a forced island vacation, the day had gone pretty well. There had been sports, relaxation, and time to chat with friends while meeting new people. There hadn’t been any fights yet, but who knew if that would last. They didn’t even know if they would wake up back home, or if they would be here even longer. Dan hadn’t been clear on that.

Right now Alicia was erring on the side of relaxation. She was in a reclining chair, currently situated near the beach where she could watch the setting sun. A drink sat on the cupholder of her chair, which she occasionally sipped from as time passed by.

Perhaps after this she would check out some of the indoor attractions, or stake a claim on a room. With it growing darker there wasn’t much that could be done outside, that she was willing to do anyway.

“Haa, this could have been a lot worse,” she observed to no one in particular. Hopefully the rest of the trip would be like this.

Alicia heard a familiar meow coming from a distance, and from a glance happened to spot Kimble, who had returned from the volleyball game and subsequent dip in a pool. She had a pink towel draped over her shoulders; coupled with her habit of moving while crouched down, it gave her the look of some kind of round animal. “Nhh, Mistress is here...” The Seraph could hear the catgirl whisper under her breath. She seemed to stop, as if thinking of something, and then hesitantly went to sit on the chair next to hers. “M-Mistress Alicia...” She began speaking.
“How was your day?”

A familiar sound drew her gaze away from the beach, and Alicia glanced over to see Kimble approaching. She wasn’t sure what the other magical girl had gotten up to today, but what Sylvia had told her earlier flashed through her mind. Now seemed as good a time as any to address that.

She waited until Kimble had seated herself on the chair next to hers before speaking. ”Hello Kimble.” She shot her friend a warm smile as her gaze returned to the horizon. ”Busy. Lots to do, but in a good way. And apparently someone gave them permission to make a doll of me at that boutique.” With her own day related, she turned the question around. “What about you? How was your day?”

Kimble’s lips slightly parted in surprise upon hearing about the Alicia doll. “A doll of Mistress! I would like to visit the store too, nhh.” When asked the same question, her ears perked up, and she gave her trademark smile. “I’ve had a lot of fun-nya! It’s so warm, and there’s so many nice people to do fun things with. I couldn’t have even imagined that this could happen! It’s like paradise.” She then blushed a bit. “B-But even better, I can spend this time with Mistress...I’m really happy.”

On the subject of the plushies, Alicia nodded to confirm what she had said again. “Yeah. There’s one of Penny too, though it’s her old form from before the White Coin.” Still, at least Kimble was enjoying herself here on the island. It would have been hard for her to imagine that not being the case, admittedly. She wasn’t exactly the loner type.

But that made her remember what Sylvia had said, and she moved on to addressing that while they were here and relatively alone. “Speaking of….Sylvia said that I should talk to you. Is something going on?”

Kimble was looking at the sunset, humming a happy song when she suddenly froze and her tail shot up. She looked at Alicia with a blushing face. “Unnyah! I-I…” Her tail wrapped around her as she lifted to sit on her knees, her lips wavering. “Well, uhh...Someone told me...That I should be honnyehst, and speak straight from the heart. Miss Sylvia also said the same thing. So, I will do that.” She closed her eyes, an intense expression on her face as her throat rumbled with a purr, before she finally managed to speak.

“Mistress…I...I love you!”

She afterwards lowered her head, as if she was afraid of seeing Alicia’s reaction. “Ever since you rescued me, you’ve always been so kind to me, Mistress. You're so wise and brave, and beautiful...My heart beats like a drum whenever I see you, nyah!” She then lifted her head, biting her lip: a tiny fang could be seen poking out, as she waited for Alicia’s response nervously.

Alicia felt her smile rising as Kimble steeled her resolve. She didn’t know what the other girl wanted to say to her, but it had to be fairly important if she was psyching herself up like this.. Though, if it hadn’t been important then Sylvia wouldn’t have mentioned it to her.

Then Kimble said what she had been trying to get out, causing eyes to widen at the unexpected declaration. The Seraph could feel her heart leap into her throat again, even as her mood fell. This was….it was like Penny all over again. At least she could be grateful that it didn’t come with any other shocking revelations, but that was a small grace in the face of being blindsided like this.

Kimble was not the only one to avert her gaze, with Alicia turning back to the beach and bowing her own head as the catgirl listed off her reasons. At the same time, what Sylvia said rang through her head. She had to be straight with Kimble, rather than string her along. Still, this was going to hurt. She could tell that already.

“Kimble, I….” Glancing back, she immediately regretted the decision as she was faced with that nervous look. God, Beckoners just kill her now “I’m not that special. I just did what anyone else would have done in that situation. I’m not….i don’t know if….” With a groan her head came to rest in her hands. “I’m sorry. This isn’t how I imagined this going.”

“Nyeh...” Kimble quietly vocalized her emotional distress, realizing how heavy her confession was on Alicia; her fluffy ears drooped low. “That’s wrong...You are a wonderful, amazing person, Mistress!” Her tail hung limp from the side of her chair as she pressed her hands down before her. “I...I don’t mind if Mistress doesn’t love me back. As long as I can be Mistress’ pet, then I’ll be happy…” There were tears developing in her eyes “But please don’t put yourself down.” She stood up, and walked over to Alicia. “You’re willing to save anyone, even a monster like me, nyah! That’s not something any magical girl would do.” Then, she crawled onto Alicia’s chair, and sat on her lap. “I will always believe in you, Mistress Alicia.”

Head rising from where it had fallen, Alicia cracked a small smile as Kimble sat on her lap. She appreciated the effort to cheer her up, sincere in intent. Yet she didn’t want to make this about her. Not when Kimble was willing to be so honest. That would have been too selfish.

“I...I don’t. But I….” The Seraph was forced to take a deep breath, placing a hand softly on the catgirl’s shoulder. “I’ve been unfair to you. I guess I got so distracted by the ‘cat’ part that I overlooked who you were as a person.It’s just...hard to tell if it’s monster instincts or not.”

She did her best to keep that smile, to relax as she gave her own realization and shortcomings a voice. ”I’d like to get to know you. As a friend, more than just a pet. If you’ll let me.”

Kimble shivered as she felt Alicia’s hand on her skin, causing her to let out a cute little gasp. She lifted her hands up, and hesitantly placed them on the Seraph’s arm; not to remove her touch, but to keep it there. “It’s how I feel in my heart, nya. I-If that is a lie...I don’t want to know the truth.” Alicia did not detect a single falsehood in her statement. Then she blinked at Alicia’s suggestion. Slowly, her smile grew, and her ears perked up. “Of course, Mistress!” Her tails swung behind her as a sign of genuine joy. “Thank you so much!” Before Alicia could react, Kimble hugged her, tickling her chin with one of her fluffy ears. “This is the happiest day of my life, nya!”

She then realized she may have gone too far; she got off the chair, and blushed a bit. “Um, sorry, nyeh...I got a bit too excited, ehe...”

For a moment Alicia wasn’t sure how Kimble would react, even if she didn’t pick up on any lies. Not that she had really been looking in the first place, but at least the confidence was there. The hug was abrupt though, and she had to keep from laughing at the ticklish sensation.

There was no effort made to stop or to push Kimble away as she dismounted the chair amidst her apologies. ”It’s okay,” she assured her with a small wave, before gesturing to the seat that Kimble had just abandoned in her energetic revelation. ”So where should we start?”
Kimble pawed at one of her ears and gave a catty grin as she sat back down, her tails still whipping back and forth. “Let’s do fun stuff together! Like Keijo! I heard Penny is planning to participate too. Maybe we could form a team!” She then jumped up, carried by her wind magic as she leapt and pounced. “And Dan said there’s a prize for winners! With you leading us, we’ll be sure to win, Mistress!”

Alicia held back a wince, though she still wore a look of uncertainty as Kimble made her proposal. ”I don’t know, that seems like the sort of sport where you’d need particular...endowments,” she replied, gesturing with a wave over her bust.

Still, Kimble’s excitement was infectious as she bounded through the air. This wasn’t really what she had had in mind when she was discussing starting, but that was alright. While not sold on the idea, it was clear that she was willing to be convinced by a compelling argument.

Kimble floated in midair, her rear lifted up as she tried to turn and look at it. “Sally told me it doesn’t matter how big your butt is if you use it right, nya!” she then began turning around, like a dog chasing its own tail. “Nhhhhh-!” Then, she performed an incredibly quick hip swing. “Also, I may not have a strong butt, but it is a fast one! I’m sure can deliver more attacks than any other Keijo player, nyeh.”

It was unusual, watching Kimble floating in midair, chasing her tail while talking about a sport like Keijo and how you could succeed without a big rear. ”Somehow I’m not surprised that she said that.” If there was anyone who would make an observation like that, it would be Sally.

Of course Kimble was fast, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that Penny would probably be an immovable rock when it came to Keijo.That just left her the odd girl out, since she was skeptical of how much leadership you needed in a game like this. She was about to say more before pausing as she remembered something from earlier. ”Oh. Right. Dan said we could only team with people who had started on other islands, didn’t he.” So much for that idea.

Kimble made an audible brake sound with her magic as she stopped to a halt, her cat ears having flapped at the revelation. “WHAT? I can’t compete with Mistress?” She slowly dropped down to the sand, and sighed as she looked down. “No...” She sniffed. “Well, I still want to compete. Mistress, I’ll prove that you can depend on me, nyah.”

Watching Kimble’s enthusiasm be crushed was both slightly cute and sad at the same time, if only because of how she reacted to the news. ”Yeah,” Alicia confirmed as what the dolphin had said came back. ”Something about trying to encourage friendship outside your usual social groups. Maybe he’d make an exception if someone asked, or maybe not”. Who could predict what that guy would do.

She gave a slow nod as Kimble voiced her intent to continue regardless, flashing her a warm smile at the same time. ”Well, I may not compete but I’ll watch you compete anyway.”

“Yeah!” Kimble purred, and returned to her chair; she laid down on it in a curled position like a cat. “Thank you for being there for me, Mistress....” She closed her eyes, and after a moment, only quiet breathing could be heard; Kimble had fallen asleep.

”You’re welcome.” Alicia waited for a moment before glancing over to see that Kimble had fallen asleep in the growing twilight. It was probably safe, but she didn’t feel like leaving her out here by herself. At least not on the first day. So she’d relax for now, and see about getting her into an actual bed a bit later. It had been a full day, that was for sure.

The Volleyball game was awkward, but it was over now. All Su could do was hope herdate went better. This wasn’t the type of thing she did too often, especially not with women like Chloe. But that really couldn’t be helped. Going on a date with Chloe was better than telling her that the truth. That the date was an attempt to capture/kill Penny that she no longer had the desire to go through with. But Su believed she could enjoy their time together. She had to.

”So, you wanted to get something to drink?” Su walked beside Chloe when she spoke. ”You mentioned sobering up, if you’d rather do something else, I’m okay with that.”

“Hmm, I do normally drink tea...” Chloe replied, lightly tapping her chin with a finger. “I swear the only reason I got drunk was because someone spiked my drink.” She chuckled. “But hey, if you wanna get another drink, why not. Might as well after that loss.”

People were getting their drinks spiked? Su would need to be more careful. But those thoughts faded as the bar came into view. There was quite a bit of room at the bar itself, and a few tables with chairs under the shade of tropical umbrellas. She walked over to the counter and ordered something. She had no idea what it was, but it looked colorful and had a slice of pineapple on the edge of the glass. Hopefully it would be a little fruity. The drink was presented to Su, which she took in her hands.

“Hmm...I'll take one of those.” Chloe pointed to a light blue colored drink with a lime perched on the edge of the glass. “I think it's called a mermaid something or other.” She smiled, taking the glass. “Almost as pretty as me, wouldn't you say?” She chuckled, taking a light sip from the drink and taking a seat at the bar.

Su took a seat beside Chloe ”You’re certainly easy to look at.” She raised her glass before taking a sip of her own drink.

“Sorry about disappearing at the graveyard, by the way. Beacon found me and all I had was a name and a pretty face to go on, so finding you was a tad bit difficult.”

Su coughed into her hand. ”It’s okay. I also left a bit earlier than I had anticipated. The whole pirate ship and…” She trailed off. ”Well, that doesn’t feel as important now.” She turned to look at Chloe. ”What sort of things do you do for fun? Aside from picking up girls, that is.” She forced a smile.

“Hmm, truthfully? Just sit around.” Chloe sighed. “My patron doesn't give me a whole lot of free time, but...Hm, I suppose I do like reading. I am a fan of the good kind of horror movies, too. Not the bad gory kind, mind you. Those are trash.” She held a hand to her chin. “...used to play a lot of video games with my old roommate.” She took a sip of the drink. “What about you, huh? What's a girl like you do for fun?”

”I’m usually brushing up on my talents. I use to do a lot of drawing, calligraphy, played a few instruments, danced, played chess, cards, but I haven’t really had a lot of time to dedicate to that recently.” She smiled. ”I’m in the same predicament as you, as I’m usually kept busy helping my Patron.” She paused. ”I’m also running a Hotel as a front for his lair, so I essentially have two jobs.” Su pushed her drink to the side so that she could lean on the counter. ”Reading is something I try to make time for though. I binge a detective novel from time to time, but I’ve recently been reading a book about the Choson Dynasty in Korea.” She folded her hands under her chin. ”Horror movies are good too. I tend to watch those with other people though.”

“Eeeeh, mystery novels?” Chloe grinned. “I used to read a lot of those, too. Might be a bit cliché, but the lovecraft sort of novels are my favorite sorts...though I guess that's because of my love of horror stuff, too.” She scooted her seat a bit closer to Su. “Maybe we should watch a horror movie together sometime.” She took another sip of her drink.

Su didn’t shy away from Chloe. ”I wouldn’t mind that.”

“Hotel though, huh? That's some pretty mundane work. You ever get bored?”

”The paperwork is a little tedious. But that’s usually done over the night shift, and it beats sitting at the counter with nothing to do.The hardest part of the job is needing to have a flexible schedule, since I can’t hire enough people to run the place entirely without me. But I can’t say it’s all boring.” When she reached for her glass, her other hand slid across the back of Chloe’s seat. ”You meet a lot of interesting people. Hear a lot of interesting stories. And they don’t stick around long enough to become mundane. After a few nights, they’re usually off to their next destination. My employees don’t have the same allure our guests have, but they’re good people. I’ve also been renovating the place, and it’s neat to see the old hotel transform into something more spectacular.” She lifted her glass to her lips, but didn’t drink. Su turned to Chloe again. ”Do you have any coworkers? Or is your patron content with just having you?”

“Aaah, my patron refuses to hire anyone else.” Chloe sighed, sipping her drink. “The stuffy old dragon is comically paranoid about humans and other people. Thinks they're nothing but food or playthings.” She leaned back a bit, not mentioning the Mint. Best not too for now, after all. “I do have some girls I'm personally employing, but for the most part I'm all by my lonesome.”

”You serve a dragon too huh? What is he like? She?” Su sipped from her glass.

---

It wasn’t long before they emptied their glasses.

”Oh.” Su examined her cup. She wasn’t sure how long she had been here, but it probably wasn’t a good idea to have more than one of those. Especially if Chloe was still recovering from a hangover. ”That was a nice treat, even if it was a bit early in the day for something like that.” Su chuckled. ”We should do something else.” She placed a hand on her chin. ”I haven’t looked at my cabin yet, but there might be a TV in there. It’s a long shot, but we could see if there’s any scary movies on. Would you be up for that?”

“Hmm, sure why not.” Chloe replied. She should probably go see about meeting up with Penny again to ask if she got that totally adorable photo, but...hm, maybe a movie with Su wouldn't be terrible. Getting her to let her guard down around her was still a good idea, even if she still wasn't sure she was going through with this whole Mint thing.“I could use a good scare.”

Su slid off of her seat and guided Chloe towards the cabins. They weren’t very far away, so no words were exchanged on their brief trek to Su’s room. The layout was similar to the hotel rooms in the golden trove. A window on the north side of the room shed light onto a large king-sized bed, with two night stands on either side. There were a lot more tropical accents however. The walls were a deep blue with sea shells, starfish, and sand dollars adhered all over them. The lamp shades on each nightstand looked like palm trees, and the quilt on the bed was covered in underwater designs.

”It looks like a kid’s room.” Su shrugged. ”And I don’t see a television either.”

“Well, we'll just have to make our own fun then.” Chloe said in response. “Board games? Maybe...some–”

Su didn’t have very high expectations going into this date, but she was starting to enjoy Chloe’s company .Su would never admit it out loud, but she liked Chloe. She was intelligent, charming, and had a lot in common with Su. More than that, it had been a long time since Su had gotten the chance to go out with anyone. Chloe was willing to buy drinks, so naturally it was up to Su to make sure the rest of this date progressed without any problems. But there was no way she could make a television pop out of thin air. She had to think. No! She had to know what to do in this particular instance. Fear. Cthulhu. Chloe, Date, Those words flashed through Su’s mind before she made her move. As soon as Chloe was in the room, she shut the door behind her. A gust of wind blew the drapes closed just as Su flicked off the lights. The once cheerful room was now illuminated by just a single sliver of light. The wall was teaming with miss sharpened shadows, and the swinging drapes seemed to give them life. ”Chloe, do you like tentacles?”

“ huh?” Chloe turned to Su as asked a rather odd question. “Tentacle-yaaaah?!” A shout of surprise more than anything. Chloe felt something wrap around her waist, a second was wrapped firmly around her neck. She tried moving an arm, only to find it just as bound. Well...this was quite the odd situation she found herself in.”Eeeeh, I didn’t take you for the type to be into this.” Chloe smirked. “Ah wait...ahem, sorry - ” Chloe cleared her throat. “Waaah!~ Not the tentacles! unhand me this instant foul beast noooo~~”

The tentacles coiled and whipped around in the air before retracting with a sigh. ”It’s just not the same.” Su flipped on a light before clapping her hands together. ”I don’t really think I should continue with that. It could get really weird. You’re not really damsel material anyway.”

“Tsk, no fun.” Chloe pouted a bit as she was released. “I could be a damsel just for you, if you want...you know, as long as you get to be the damsel later~” She chuckled, flashing Su a rather suggestive smirk.

Su placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. She decided it would be best to change the topic before she got roped into something Mariette did best she’d rather not repeat. ”Something I was debating on doing was trying out a Keijo match. It’s not quite the same thing as watching horror movies, but I’d love it if you wanted to try that with me.”

“Keijo, huh? I'm definitely participating.” Well, it'd be boring to let things end so easily...ah, wait a minute. “...wanna have a practice match?”

Su lifted a hand to her chin. ”Well…” She looked out the window. ”It would probably benefit us both to… learn each other’s moves if we were to play on the same side.” Su approached the smaller girl. ”I think practicing is a sound idea.” She took Chloe’s hand in her own… and ran out the door. ”I’m a little unfamiliar with the rules, but I think the arena is the only place we could reasonably practice it.”

“Heh. I'm all for learning your moves.” Chloe grinned. “Lead the way then, my beautiful friend. Ever play Keijo before?”

”No, this would be.” She rolled her eyes with a smile. ”My first time.”

---

The Arena for Keijo was a lot simpler than Su thought it would be. It was just a round platform that was maybe ten or fifteen feet across. The set up was similar to a sumo wrestlers ring, except the out area was a giant body of water. There were grandstands for spectators to watch from, and some people had actually stopped by to watch. But Su didn’t recognize any of the spectators. She put them out of her mind before looking at Chloe.

The rules were simple enough to remember. You can only contact your opponent with your chest and rear, with momentary contact from your hips being permitted. That, and magic could not be used to directly attack your opponent. “Enhancements” were allowed however. Su felt a bit miffed, being that her strongest tool was useless in the current situation. She wasn’t a physically capable magical girl, which the rules seemed to be made in favor of. Unless you happened to be blessed with reinforcement magic. But that wasn’t Su’s opponent. Chloe had the same disadvantage in that she seemed to be a magical opponent. But looks could be deceiving. Regardless, Su put winning out of her mind. This wasn’t a battle of great importance. It was just casual sparring, or to be more accurate, an excuse for two people to smash their assets against each other. She was sure Chloe would enjoy this. Su inhaled deeply.

”Ready?” Su broke into a sprint. She might not have been physically strong, but she did have some manner of natural swiftness. She didn’t have a game plan, just to use her height to her advantage and hope her chest collided with Chloe’s face. She probably wouldn’t just stand there and take it though, or would she?

“Yep, totally ready for this totally wholesome game of friendly sparring.”

Chloe was wholly prepared for Su's attack...she had one advantage she wasn't sure that Su had. A very simple, basic advantage. Crystalline wings sprouted behind Chloe's back, and just as Su would have impacted her she shot herself into the air. Making a quick loop, she bolted for Su, only to turn her body at the last second so her butt would slam into the other girl.

Su slowed her charge once Chloe hopped into the air. In hindsight, it was probably something she should have seen coming. Su had just enough time to face Chloe before her butt slammed into her chest. She was able to brace for it, but the attack caused Su to stumble backwards towards the edge of the arena, with her heels hanging over the water. She let out a panicked gasp as she attempted to shift her weight forward, but her center of gravity had been pushed too far back to recover. At least, not without the use of Magic. The wind kicked up under Su and propelled her into the air. She hurdled for a bit over the water before stopping. ”If that’s how you want to play it…” The desire to win returned swiftly to Su. She would have been fine with something more casual, but she was competitive by nature. If Chloe wanted to play hard right out of the gate, Su could deliver. She flew over Chloe’s head so that both of their backs were turned towards each other. Then in one swift motion, she opened her dread wings and summoned a great gale of wind to blow her back into Chloe. Naturally she looked over her shoulder and lead the attack with her rear.

“Aha, almost thought you were gonna let me win easily there.” Chloe grinned, only having seconds to consider her next option. Well...might as well stand her ground here. Digging in her feet on the platform, Chloe planted her feet firmly into the ground, sticking out her butt to meet Su's head on.

When their butts collided, Su was reminded of some martial arts advice she stumbled upon a long time ago. The advice was to strike hard targets with soft weapons and soft targets with penetrating weapons. Punching someone in the face was great, but the solid structure of the forehead was likely to break the fine bones in your hand. You’d be better off using a palm strike or a hammer fist against such a sturdy target. A derriere was an ineffective weapon against another derriere for the opposite reason. Because both targets were soft, they just bounced off of each other. That wasn’t to say they didn’t both experience some discomfort. Chloe’s torso rocked forward, but she was able to extend her arms before colliding with the ground. Su’s momentum was reversed, which caused her to throw back her limbs as her body was launched away from Chloe. She eventually stumbled to a stop. That was the problem with Keijo. Buttocks and breasts were both soft weapons, and needed to be aimed at hard targets. The right type of hard targets that wouldn’t painfully disturb inner tissue. Neither of the combatants had access to hard weapons, as they were both so well endowed. Magic was the key to victory in this fight, The black tendrils that made up her wings were as flat as ribbons. Su had an idea.

She slid her wings under her bathing suit. It made her outfit look a little more exotic, but Chloe might discover the intent behind Su’s actions with her next attack. She hopped towards chloe and thrust her hips backwards. With the aid of her dread wings, her buttocks would be a lot firmer than last time.

“Ahahaha, oh my how lewd.” Chloe grinned, watching Su put her wings in her bathing suit. She didn't quite understand why she had done that, but Chloe wasn't one to take chances. Obviously she had something planned, so she'd need to do something herself. Her wings weren't flexible enough to do whatever she had just done.

Flapping her wings, Chloe shot herself forward. Instead of countering using her butt, she instead aimed for Su's head with her boobs.

Su didn’t have much time to react. She had hoped to catch her off guard, but it appeared she had underestimated Chloe’s reaction time. With the two of them flying towards each other full speed, there wasn’t time to form a plan B. Su looked away just as Chloe’s breasts smacked against the back of her head. ”Gah!” The attack rocked Su’s head forward. Much like she had expected, her skull was a hard target, and was an effective area to hit with your chest. She could feel her brain rattle around in her skull. But also, she could feel Chloe. Her mounds pressed against her head and shoulders, their warmth radiating into her body. It was a pleasant feeling. Su could feel her eyes flutter as she prepared to take a nap on Chloe’s chest. She was such a wonderfully soft pillow. Before blacking completely out, Su became aware that she was drifting unconscious. Her eyes shot open, now fully aware of her surroundings. She had to salvage the situation, she had to win! Su’s swimsuit modification gave her another ability beyond firming up parts of her body. Chloe had draped her body over Su’s back. This allowed her to clamp her butt around the frills on Chloe’s waist. ”Gotcha!” Su floated into the air and spun. If she managed to get going fast enough, she’d release Chloe and throw her into the water. Provided she could hold onto her swimsuit long enough.

“Weh?!” She hadn't been prepared to be grabbed like that. What an odd strategy, but there wasn't much Chloe could do besides struggle against the grip...and unfortunately Su was just a bit stronger than her. Just barely, since she wasn't using her gloves. Su spun her, and the moment she was released she launched towards the water, and she couldn't stop herself.

With a loud splash, Chloe slammed into the water, taking a few moments to float back up to the surface.

“Ugh, this is not the fun definition of a girl making me 'wet'.” Chloe grumbled, knocking some water out of her ears. Did she just...lose? She lost, didn't she. Ugh. She ground her teeth together. That was an unpleasant feeling.

Su was not faring much better. Apparently, it was not a wise idea to take a shot in the back of the head and immediately start spinning in circles. Her inner ear was all screwed up and she found that she was unable to stay stationary in the air. Su wasn’t the first to fall into the pool, but she did fall in regardless. She made no sudden movements and just floated on the surface of the water while she waited for her head to clear. She didn’t attempt to prop her torso up, and just coasted along the surface of the water. She looked towards Chloe when she heard her speak. Had Su won? She wanted to win, but it felt strange beating Chloe at a game like this. Given the nature of her victory, she’d almost have been happier with a loss. The fact that she had taken this game so seriously was, honestly, strange. The fact that she had even taken part in it was odd. And Chloe didn’t sound especially thrilled about the outcome either. Once Su was confident she could float vertically without upsetting her stomach, she did so.

”Um.” Su rubbed the back of her neck. ”I um, yea.” She looked away from Chloe. ”Sorry, I got kind of competitive back there. Though to be fair, you almost knocked me out. If you had thrown your butt at me instead of your chest, that probably would have done it.” She looked back at Chloe and blushed. ”J-just because it’s harder, mind you! I mean your chest is firm too but-” Su sighed. ”This was kind of a disappointment, wasn’t it?”

“Heh, what’s the matter?” Chloe teased. “Disappointment? Well I don’t like losing, but you can’t win all the time. Some losses are to be expected. Next time I’ll get ya.” She moved next to Su, giving her a friendly bump with her hips. This caused Su to blush before looking back at Chloe. “But other than that...well, I had fun. Stuff like this is much better than fighting, isn’t it? If magical girls like us could bond over silly games instead of fighting all the time, I’d much prefer that.”

”You’re not wrong.” Su swam with Chloe to the edge of the arena. ”This isn’t exactly what I think of when it comes to dates. But it was exciting.” Once they climbed out of the water, Su glanced around to make sure no one was looking at them. She felt so conflicted. Ever since she arrived on this island holding herself together had been a struggle. ”I like you Chloe. I didn’t think I’d enjoy being around you as much as I did.” She hugged herself. ”But let’s make this the last time, alright?” She kissed Chloe on the cheek. ”Besides, you like Penny right? That’s who you should be spending your time with.” Su half broke into a run as she moved away from Chloe.

“...haaaa.” Chloe exhaled as Su ran away from her. Well, she wasn’t wrong. Penny was her one and only, but there was certainly room for others. Besides, lately she wasn’t so sure. Yes, Penny was...well, the things she’d do to that girl given the chance need not be mentioned. But lately...with her getting chummy with beacon.

Maybe Veronica was correct.

“Tsk, tsk, there I go thinking something needless again.” Stretching, Chloe leisurely left the Keijo arena, bolting off to find Penny.

---

---

"La la la la..."

Regina was walking around with a bucket in one hand and a small trowl in the other. She had been to the beach a small number of times, but only to swim or build sand castles. Both of which were more fun to do with other people Regina didn’t really feel comfortable asking anyone from Beacon to come play with her, and she didn’t want to impose on anyone else either. For now, she would find something else to do. Maybe if they had some time to themselves, they would warm up to the idea of including her in more things.

"La la la la!"

But just because she was alone didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy herself. “Treasure hunting” was something you could do by yourself, and you could show or even share your findings with everyone else later. Her bucket was filling up, and she had plenty more stored away in her hammerspace. But this bucket was special. She had quite a haul of seashells, and was just looking for things that were more special in nature. She stopped singing when the shadow of an incoming wave covered her.

The wave of which, was carrying a surfer on it.
The water on this side of the beach was perfect for surfing. Big waves, a nice breeze, and a lot of other people didn't seem to be out here. The wave started easy enough, and Rina quickly rode the wave to the top, catching plenty of speed as she zoomed down the wave – almost too much speed. Normally waves don't reach all the way to the shore unless there was bad weather, but this monster of a wave quickly became something more than she could handle.
The surfboard wobbled under her feet, the crest of the wave started crashing in from both sides.
“Ah shit-!”
She tried to angle the board to ride straight down the wave, but it was too fast. Rina shouted as her board was yanked out from under her feet by the fast moving water, seconds before the wave hit the shore and the beaches sole other occupant.
There was a loud crash as both girls were momentarily underwater, but it didn’t take long for all of that water to flow back into the ocean. Regina was hugging her bucket, which was now filled to the brim with water. She was drenched, but otherwise okay. She couldn’t speak for the girl who had washed ashore however. "Oh no!" Regina exclaimed before running up to her. When she flipped the person over, she noticed that she looked familiar. But there was no time for her panicked brain to figure out who it was. She knew the first thing she had to do was make sure her airways were clear. Regina inhaled deeply before leaning in to perform mouth to mouth *resuscitation.
^{*It is worth noting that studies show mouth to mouth resuscitation is less effective than straight chest-compressions. However, it is still recommended to do on small children, as their breathing often stops before their heart does.}

Just as Regina went to provide the breath of life, Rina regained consciousness. Not realizing someone was standing over her, she lifted her head up at just the right angle...and caused her to lock lips with Regina. It took her a full three seconds to realize what was happening.

“What the hell!?” Quickly pulling herself back from the other girl, face a mild shade of red. Regina also pulled back. “For the love of - ” God dammnit what was with everyone being so touchy on the goddamn beach?! Wait, there was probably a perfectly logical explanation for this, right?

Regina blinked a few times. Aside from pulling back, Regina made no movements. She remained kneeling in the sand with her arms at her sides. "Your airway isn’t blocked, that’s good." She said at last. "Wait, I didn’t notice you in that outfit. You’re…" She fret her brow. "That…Swarcher." Regina smiled, albeit nervously. "So um, do you remember me?" She took her fingers and poked them together.

“Swarcher?...” Right, okay, she was just making sure she didn't drown or something lame like that. “Uhhh...I don't think we've...met?” Rina frowned, glancing at the other girl. Something about her seemed familiar, but...she was fairly certain she didn't know her. She seemed awfully nervous though, so maybe she should just go along with it?

...wait a minute, that scar...didn't she see an interview with this girl?

“...the monster girl from the graveyard?” She asked slowly. She didn't seem hostile, or like she was planning on causing trouble. In fact, didn't she hear something about her and beacon...?

Regina nodded. "Yea!" She leaned towards Rina. "I forgot about that actually. I mean, my um, transformation. Almost everyone knows who I am from the PI’s article about the white coin." She lifted a hand to her mouth and ran it across her lips before examining it. "I should say my physical transformation is something I forgot about. I feel a lot more content being this way. The monster girl and boy in the graveyard, they weren’t very happy people." She ran her fingers together before sitting up a bit straighter. "It’s fine to think this is all really weird. I haven’t gotten use to it myself." She placed her hands on her knees. "So um." Regina folded her hands together. "Am I interrupting anything? I don’t mean to hold you up, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t drowning."

“Nah, not interrupting anything.” Rina sat up properly, putting her arms behind her and resting on her hands. “Just trying to catch some waves, saw how well that went, heh. Think I'm gonna take a bit of a breather.” She chuckled. “Thanks, I guess...and uh, dunno about weird.” She replied somewhat uncertainly. “I've seen weirder stuff when I was a human, and a lot of weirder stuff since I've become a magical girl.” She chuckled, sitting up and resting an arm on her knee.

"Well that’s good to know!" Regina smiled, but the corners of her lips were quivering.

...well this was getting awkward. What to talk about? She wasn't a conversation master to start with and now here she was talking with some former monster girl that she tried to kill.

“...uh, so how have you been?”

"That’s a hard question to answer." Regina looked around cautiously. Once she was sure there wasn’t anyone watching, she turned back to Rina. "I was two very angry monster kids a bit ago, and now I’m me again." She blinked. "A magical version of me, but you get it. Anyway, as you can imagine, most of the girls in Beacon don’t like me very much. I don’t blame them, but at the same time I kind of think it’s a little unfair?" With a huff she folded her arms. "When you’re a monster, you aren’t really in control of your own mind. I mean like, there are really, really strong impulses that you just can’t ignore." Her shoulders became a bit more square as she continued to talk. "Like if I were to make fun of the fact that you wiped out, you might get a little annoyed, right? You might get really annoyed, but I don’t think you’d haul off and slug anyone unless they were really trying to agitate you. It’s just some harmless teasing." She pointed at herself. "If I was still a monster girl, you would not be able to get away with saying something like that. My brain would start telling me stuff like ‘if you don’t stand up for yourself now, you’ll forever be a weakling!’ or it’ll just keep repeating itself in my head, being made worse and worse every time until I get physically mad. But see no one in Beacon is a monster girl, so they don’t get it. I mean, there’s Penny, but that’s like, something else entirely. " She stroked her chin. "Where was I? Yea, I just, I don’t know. I realize I almost ended the world, and I know how stupid ‘monster brain made me do it’ sounds, but you still shouldn’t just be outwardly hostile to someone like that. I’m going to need to live with the fact that I did that for the rest of my life. Beacon kind of has a reputation for coming across as all high and mighty anyway, they could stand to be a bit more humble in those kind of situations, you know?" Regina didn’t stay quiet long enough for Rina to respond. "Other than that, I think they treat me well enough. Nobody's killed me yet, and my new parents are sooooo much better than my old ones. They’re the best part about joining Beacon." Regina leaned over sideways and propped up her head with her elbow. "How about you? Are you doing alright on the friend front?"

There was so much information here that Rina wasn't all to sure how to respond to start with. She agreed about a lot of things she was saying though. She was certainly no stranger to killing a monster girl or dark magical girl. She's done it before, but only when she was left with no other option, or when she had chosen mercy once and she got screwed by it.

“Woah woah, could you slow down there for a minute?” Rina chuckled. “I mean, I guess It's good you think I'm easy to talk too but jeez that was a lot.” She flashed Regina a grin before shaking her head. “Uhh, it's been going well enough I suppose. I'm not really a people person, but I got a few. Kimble, Amaryllis, Mika...guess I could count Alicia and Penny in there. I spend most of my time working, though, so don't really have a whole lotta time for friend making.” She scratched her head lightly. “...which is why I kinda want this vacation thing to be over. I'm not good at the whole relaxing thing.”

Regina raised an eyebrow. "You prefer it when there’s fighting?" She looked baffled, but then she smiled again. "Oh I get it, you’re the thrill seeking sort! That’s why you were riding on a giant wave!" Regina stood up. "Well, I don’t think it’s possible to be ‘bad’ at relaxing. But I think what most people find relaxing might not work for you. Maybe relaxing is the wrong word, but what you do as a recreational activity might not be laying on the beach or collecting things." She placed her hands on her hips. "You sound like the type of person who might prefer the arena! Shooting people with water guns or, uh, that ‘kie-joe’ thing might be more your speed."

“Yeah, that’s not happening;” Rina replied with a wave of her hands. “I am not doing Keijo. Not for all the gold coins in the universe.” Rina harrumphed. Well, maybe if Mika or Kimble was participating, she might be more inclined. “...maybe some other arena games though, sure, but I'd be fine just like...surfing or jet skiing by myself.”

Regina nodded. "Yea, I get that. I mean I don’t really want to be alone, but I do understand the whole introvert-extrovert thing. Some people like being alone. I mean I don’t think anyone wants to be alone forever, the same way nobody always wants someone to be around. That’s just how people are, you know?" She fell back onto her knees in the sand. "But sometimes I have to wonder if that’s just conditioning from being around the wrong people too long. Not to bring up beacon again, but some of them are downright jerks! Like, a few of them spray painted indecent words on our house." She looked away. "I mean I don’t know it was them but it almost has to be. Like I don’t see anyone other then a group of beacon girls tagging a home with things like ‘monster whore.’ I mean to be fair my last costume was kinda slutty, but it was still a bikini top! It’s not like I was walking around in lingerie or anything like that." She cleared her throat. "Not that I have a problem with sexy costumes. I mean, I don’t really think it matters too much. It’s not like any of us get to pick what we look like. I mean, why do we even have to wear costumes at all? If our patrons can make a bikini protect as well as the strongest metal, it would be a lot more viable to just look like our normal versions. People don’t remember all that magical stuff after they see it anyway. Did I mention I like your costume? Anything that accentuates the legs is a big thumbs up in my book." She giggled. "I’d show you my costume, but the bikini curse we’re all under prevents me from doing that. Oh and speaking of showing, I’ve got to show you all the cool treasure I’ve picked up." Regina slid the bucket towards Rina, only for it to tip over in transit. "Oops! Forgot it was full of water." She giggled again, but her nervousness was more apparent. The treasures that Regina had found were not conventional. There was a rubber boot with some coral growing out of it, a gnarled piece of steel, a glass bottle, A pair of pliers, and a six pack of soda that was missing five of its cans. Regina cracked it open, but there was no fizzle. "Weird, it isn’t expired. It’s a little warm though." Regina placed her hands on her lap. "Well, how are you feeling? Think you can stand up?"

Rina stared at Regina for a few long seconds before giving a defeated sigh and shaking her head. She really needed to talk less. It was difficult to keep up with just...all of that nervous rambling.

“Jeez...” This girl really did need a 'friend' didn't she? Well, whatever. Looking after people was just part of the same job as protecting them and putting down threats. “Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just some wounded pride.” Rina stood up, brushing some sand off her shorts. Rina picked up the gnarled piece of steel that Regina had found, mulling over a rather silly idea. Wait no, it wasn't silly. She could still nail this and be cool about it.

“Look, uh,” She turned the piece of metal over in her hands. It wasn't very big, but she could probably do something with it. “I'm glad you're doing better. Honestly, I don't get to see girls like you saved often. Most choose...well,” She glanced to the side. “...they don't give me a choice.” The piece of steel seemed to twist and bend as Rina held it before forming into the shape of a small dagger. It still maintained the general look of the gnarled piece of steel, but it was definitely a blade. Definitely. Her phone number incidentally happened to be etched into the blade.

“And uh, if beacon or anyone else gives you trouble, just like uh, give me a call or somethin'.” She handed the hilt of the newly made dagger to Regina, looking in the exact opposite direction of the other girl. A small hole had been left in the pommel, perhaps so one might be able to carry it around on a string or some sort? Maybe like a necklace, or a belt loop.

oh god why was she doing this this was embarrassing.

Regina looked at the knife, then back at Rina, then back at the knife again. "Oh! I thought that was a model number! I thought that was kind of weird to put on there." She closed her eyes. "Cool. Thank you." With a sigh, her phone appeared in her hand. She slid the knife on a ring that held all of her phone charms. The gnarled knife looked a little out of place between a beckoning cat and sailor moon. "I complain about beacon, but they are the reason why I’m not a monster right now. The ones I complain about are the minority." She flashed Rina a smile. "It was fun to vent though. I promise I’ll do less complaining next time." She shoved the rest of her treasure back into the bucket before standing up. "I can call you when I’m not in trouble too, right?"

“Whatever you want.” Rina replied with a dismissive shrug. “I'm pretty busy most of the time but I could probably talk some.” Reaching around her waist, Rina made a motion to grab her jacket, which should have been tied around it...only to find nothing. Blinking in surprise, Rina looked down with a bewildered expression. She was...wearing nothing but that skimpy bikini top and shorts.

“Uh...” The magical girl quickly looked around the beach, finding nothing but sand and waves. “...you uh, haven't seen my jacket have you?” It should come back if lost, right? That's how these swimsuits worked, right?



Though it had been fun jetskiing around, the wild winds and rough waters had proven their point by the time Amaryllis came back: she definitely needed to get a different swimsuit. What sort of hell was a bikini anyways, when it felt as if her censored bits could pop out at any moment? She could trust her normal outfit to stay on because it was magical, but this…

Ugh, definitely too embarrassing. The moment she got back to the main resort island, the ponytailed waif immediately set off for the Beach Boutique, praying that, if nothing else, she could find herself a jacket that actually had a zipper.

When the door of the boutique slid open, the air of an air-conditioned proper shop at the beach came through, the walls wooden and loads of beach things being prepared in the shop. In the middle was all the prices for arriving without getting wet, all manners of imaginable non-magic items available that was basically just to pick up. However, there were no non-magic clothes for sale. Because here, swimsuits are magic. There were, however, swimsuits prepared among the other magical items outlying the sides of the shops, with descriptions what they were. Most swimsuits were labelled “Quick Change”.

‘Welcome to Brittany’s Bewitched Beach Boutique! How may I be of service~?’ Brittany called excitedly when Amaryllis entered her shop.

Oh no, it was a pushy sales rep! That was Amaryllis’s greatest weakness! Her Sword already had no pockets, but the girl definitely had no willpower to refuse the pitch of another, so she guessed that her money’s just going to vaporize now. Resigned to her fate, Amaryllis held her jacket together tightly, before asking, “Mm, would you happen to sell any...normal clothes here, Brittany? Like a jacket with zippers?”

Her name was Brittany, right? No name tag or anything, but she had to be the owner here, yeah?

‘Oh, of course not!’ Brittany replied happily. ‘The whole idea is that everyone’s equally forced to wear swimsuits, so that nobody gets to feel left out! … Or so I figure, anyway!’ As in, she hadn’t actually been told. ‘Although, if you’re unhappy with your current swimsuit, then we have the Quick Change swimsuits over here!’ she said, jumping over to the swimsuit section. ‘When you put them on, they’ll change your current swimsuit to a new one, that’ll take inspiration from what you’re thinking you want it to become! It may take some liberties, but you could get a one-piece that covers your stomach if you’re so shy~ Maybe~ Keh-heh~ Two bronze coins!’ Brittany told.

‘Oh, or alternatively you just buy the Magic Scuba Diver Set and just, like, wear it on land. You’re gonna look pretty silly, though~’ Brittany said, smiling.

“Aha…” went Amaryllis, not all that pleased with this arrangement. This was definitely some sort of scam, wasn’t it? Put everyone in scandalous swimwear so that they’d be compelled to purchase these ‘Quick Change’ swimsuits, for a ‘small’ price of two bronze coins. But of course, those small bits pile up, until this Brittany girl was swimming in money. How shrewd. How cruel. Swallowing, she asked, hoping for a different tactic, “Um...do you maybe have...beach towels then?”

‘Sure. Middle shelf, left side, for free since you got here without getting wet,’ Brittany told, pointing out the location. ‘Don't hide your figure too much, though. It's one to die for~! I have unfortunately not found any “Quick Change” for body-type, keh-heh!’ Brittany giggled, clapping her exceedingly young, flat chest twice with a grin.

The door to the boutique slid open once more, a draft of cool air meeting Rina's face after an hour or so of surfing out in the hot sun. After the fifth time getting a mouthful of seawater and losing her jacket a few times leaving her with just this string bikini, the option of finding something else was getting more and more appealing.

So, she walked in just in time to hear someone...hitting on someone? Maybe this was a bad idea, until she saw the poor soul who was being hit on.

“Yo, Amaryllis!” Rina gave a small wave as she walked over to the other girl. “This twerp bothering ya?”

Oh, thank god they had beach towels. Amaryllis let out a relieved sigh, before immediately jumping up again when Rina called out from behind her. “No no no,” she said, waving frantically, “Brittany’s just trying to sc- I mean, tell me where everything is. Thought I’d get, like, something more modest, y’know, but all the swimsuits cost magical money and they don’t sell jackets here…”

She paused, tilting her head slightly. “What happened to your own, Rina?”

‘Keh-heh! I’m a twerp, huh?’`Brittany smiled as she repeated. ‘Welcome to Brittany’s Bewitched Beach Boutique! I’ll be right here~!’ she then told to Rina, then let them have their conversation.

“Lost it in uh, a surfing accident.” Rina shrugged nonchalantly. “Apparently whatever jackass gave it to me decided to make it the kind that doesn't come back.” She folded her arms with an irritable huff. “Heard you could get others here, so I wanted to check it out before anything else.”

“Ah, uh...sorry to hear that,” Amaryllis replied, recalling her own...interesting experiences in the open seas. “They don’t sell them though, unless you buy this ‘Quick Change’ swimsuit thing...so maybe it’s Dan and Brittany’s plan to get more money or something…only two bronze though?”

“Two bronze? Really?” Well she supposed it wasn't too expensive, but she wasn't exactly swimming in coins. She didn't really need a new swimsuit that badly, but on the other hand.... “You...gonna buy one?”

“Beach towels are free, so…” Amaryllis looked at the cheery Brittany, feeling a bit bad about robbing her of magical coin business. She leaned in and whispered. “...thought I’d just sew something up myself, Rina.”

“Uh, you think you can do that?” Rina asked incredulously. “Would ya mind making one for me then? Just another jacket will do I guess.” She didn't feel particularly bad about not paying for whatever it was Brittany was selling herself. If Amaryllis could make one, she wasn't about to waste money on something.

Amaryllis blinked, a bit uncertain now at Rina’s awe. “Oh, no, it’s not like, super fancy or anything like that. Just like, y’know, a poncho or something, but, like, if you’re fine with it, I could teach you too?”

“Well if I don't have to pay for a anything...” Rina rubbed the back of her head. “...but wouldn't that even be just as embarrassing as not wearing one?” She had to ask aloud. Rina wasn't a fan of bikini's, but she wasn't quite certain she would wear something so...uh, obviously meant you were on the 'uncool' side of things.

“Huh? You don’t like ponchos?”

Rina simply stared at Amaryllis. This girl...she couldn't say much when it came to social interactions herself, but this was just...

“...Okay, you're buying a new swimsuit. Actually, I’ll buy it for you.”

“Eh? But, like, why?” Like, was it really that bad? It couldn’t be, right? Ponchos were like cloaks, and everyone looked good in those while also keeping most of their body hidden. “Really, it’s fine, Rina. Seriously.”

“What, do you want to look like the kid with a serious germaphobia problem and overprotective mother? Because that's what you'll look like.” Rina folded her arms before frowning slightly. “I don't like this whole bikini top thing either, but really, a Poncho is kinda...lame, and I'd honestly be kind of embarrassed to be friends with the nerd who wore a Poncho to a beach.”....Was she being too harsh?

Amaryllis’s face fell, a flash of hurt fell as she almost seemed to shrink into herself, just a little bit. “O-ok,” the girl said, “I guess we can get, uh, quick change suits then…”

Not seeming to realize she was completely embarrassed, quickly moved on. “Great, so uh, how do these things work anyways?” Rina walked over to the suits, still a bit unsure about what swimsuit she'd even look good in.

“Oh, uh…”

‘The “Quick Change” swimsuits are magical artifacts that change your current magical swimsuit! Their current appearance is temporary, as they’ll transform into something new when you put them on! They’ll draw inspiration from what the one who puts them on wants them to look, though they may take certain liberties with the details! Oh, and of course, what it transforms into will always be a swimsuit of some kind~! The swimsuit you’re currently wearing will vanish, or, like, its magic will be transferred to the new one that the Quick Change swimsuit became, or something like that. So, yeah, you can’t browse these on their looks like normal clothes, if you want one simply buy it and see what happens when you put it on! It only costs two bronze coins~!’ Brittany was quick to explain, smiling widely.

“Here ya go, twerp.” Rina tossed four bronze coins towards Brittany. “Alright, lets see.” Now what swimsuit would she want? She didn't have a solid idea if she were to be honest, just a vague idea of what she didn't like. “You got some idea, Amaryllis?”

Brittany happily caught the bronze coins and put them into her register, which ate the coins and then promptly prompted out a piece of magical paper reading “2 Quick Change: 4 bronze - Katarina Nekrasova”, which Brittany then handed over to Rina. No notice of how the register knew her name. ‘Thank you for shopping with us~!’

There was a part of Amaryllis that didn’t like other people spending money on her. After some thought, she said, “Probably a, mm, one piece? With a large jacket. That has a zipper.”

Rina narrowed her eyes at Brittany. Yea, this was kind of fishy still, but oh well. Not much to do about it now. She grabbed two of the quick chance swimsuits, handing one to Amaryllis.

“One piece...large jacket.” Rina nodded lightly. Hm, she wanted something a bit more sporty herself, maybe. “Well, alright, lets go try it on.”

Amaryllis nodded, receiving it graciously before inspecting the strange artifact carefully. Right, it would be nice to get a jacket. Maybe some pants too. If they could go super far, maybe she could get a furry jacket as well? Something nice and fluffy and comfy. Everything was fair play as long as she had a swimsuit underneath, right? Yeah, that sounded good. Maybe just like, a whole set of clothing like what she usually wore, with the swimsuit just working as a bikini…
And just like that, her swimsuit exploded, reformed, and…

“Oh no.”

“That's-!” Rina watched as the swimsuit did as its name implied. Amaryllis' swimsuit went from something mildly acceptable to...well, actually it didn't look that bad. In fact, it looked pretty similar to hers. “...not actually half bad, huh.” She replied with a curious humph.

Amaryllis shot Rina a questioning look, before her hands raised upwards, brushing the fluffy ears on top. Ah. That...made sense. So the Hunter was an animal person, huh. “So, uh, are you going to…”

Those were cat ears! She resisted the urge to pet the other girl on the head, quickly clearing her throat and returning to the matter at hand.
“...Aha, guess I did say I was gonna get a new one.” Rina frowned slightly. Well, might as well get this over with. Something sporty. Probably a one piece. Something easy to move in that didn’t quite show as muxh skin. Putting on the swimsuit herself, Rina's suit shimmered like Amaryllis, deconstructing before forming to her body. Her previous swimsuit disappeared, and finally, when it was done.

“Ah....what the hell?”

Gone were Rina’s bikini bra and shorts combo, and replacing it was a competitive swimsuit with a relatively open back. Though it was hard to perform the calculus as to which costume had been more shameful, and which one covered more skin in the end, Amaryllis basically thought…

“This, uh...suits you?” She tilted her head to the side slightly. “Like, it’s pretty sleek, and that works well with you, so...yeah.”

“Suits me? Isn't this more revealing than the other thing?!” She shouted. Well, it was kinda her own damn fault she guessed. She did want a one piece, but this was...well, careful what you wished for and all that she supposed. “Ugh, well...thanks I guess. Not going to be doing that again, not even if its free.”

“Maybe it’s just, like, y’know...creative license or something,” Amaryllis suggested, tilting her head towards Brittany’s direction. “Designs being more revealing than imagined? Or, well, more scandalous? Cause, um, without your jacket, the bikini doesn’t cover like, more than your one-piece.”

There was a pause, and then the girl managed a grin.

“You wanna take me up on my parka-sewing offer then, Rina?”

“Hah, I'll pass.” Rina gave a dismissive chuckle. “At least I'm gonna look sporty with this. Got any plans after this?”

“Plans?” Amaryllis blinked, before recalling why she had gone looking for a new swimsuit to begin with. “Oh, yeah, uh, someone like, basically invited me to play Kaijo with them, so, yeah...thought I’d get some better fitting swimwear before I went and all…”

“...Yea, I'll pass on that.” Rina replied curtly. “Well, I'ma go hit the waves. Good luck with uh...Keijo.” Her eyes, were once again, drawn to the top of Amaryllis' head. “...cat ears, though?”

Amaryllis blushed. “R-really don’t know how that happened. I just, like, thought something like a furry jacket would be nice...not like, a furry jacket, but, y’know what? Have fun with the waves!”

Excellent topic change, really.

“I'll try not to lose my swimsuit this time.” She flashed Amaryllis a grin, quickly making an exit. Yep. Cat ears made almost everyone adorable.

Once Rina left, Amaryllis turned back to Brittany, waving to get the shopkeeper’s attention. “So, uh,” she began, “How much do beach towels cost?”

‘Nothin~!’ Brittany said, smiling widely. ‘They’re part of the package you get for free for arriving to the main island without getting wet!’ Brittany then turned and waved after Amaryllis, who was making an exit. ‘Thank you for shopping with us! I hope to see you again, either here or in my proper store in Penrose!’ Yupp, that was that.