[@Phonic]

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[color=9b83de]‘Ooooh, signs! What do the signs say? And who’d be wandering here? … Well, clearly me. I thank you for your consideration! Haha!’[/color] Deni laughed a little as she skipped forward to check the sign, because, honestly, that was curious to her. She sort of knew where this was, after all, and judging by the state of it she sort of knew what had unfolded, too.

And, turns out Valkyrie truly did know of Penrose. Deni grinned. She was being uncharacteristically lucky today. Clearly, everything had changed since she now had parted ways with Asengav. However, that Deni had some answers to give to this Magical Girl, it turned out. And Deni could not tell the truth. Because if the truth reached Mariette, Deni’s life of freedom would surely end. Hence, she had to lie…

That’s when something else struck Deni. Light-specialization girls can tell truth from lies. And this girl looked a [i]lot[/i] like she might be Light-specialized. Detecting a lie in Deni right now would be a [i]serious[/i] black mark on any chance of them getting along and going to Penrose together. … But it was fine to tell mostly the truth, right? Deni could tell this girl was no Horror-girl. Then Deni had her ways. What mattered the most, though, was that this girl had introduced herself. Which meant Deni had to introduce herself, too. Deni could not introduce herself as Deni, for then Mariette would find her by her name, but she could also not lie. So, what to tell Valkyrie…

… Wait. Valkyrie. [i]Valkyrie[/i], really?

Clearly, that was not her real name. She was using a moniker based on her appearance. But, Deni swore she’d surely not be triggering any lie-sensors by calling herself “Valkyrie”. Very well, then. Deni grinned.

What did Deni appear like? When she looked into the waters, the reflection had been one of a tiny samurai of sorts. … No, that’s not true. She was a masterless samurai. There was a shorter, and much sweeter term for that!

A ronin! Deni was a tiny ronin! 

Deni put all her mental strength to persuade herself of this fact. [i]I am Ronin! I am Tiny Ronin! I will name myself tinyRonin on the internet! My moniker is Tiny Ronin, Ronin for short, and as such, when I introduce myself as Ronin, it will not be a lie! [b]I AM TINY RONIN![/b][/i]

[color=9b83de]‘Anyways! Well met, Valkyrie! I am Ronin!’[/color] Deni said, oozing with confidence and continuing to grin, hoping to lord she was not triggering any Light-specialization lie-detectors Valkyrie or anyone Deni talked to in the future might have.

[color=9b83de]‘Penrose is this nexus of all magical forces or something equally dramatic, right? Well!’[/color] Remember, no lies, Deni. [color=9b83de]‘I’m looking for someone. I have reason to believe I will find her in Penrose. She’s gotten herself in a load of trouble, and I just can’t just not try to help her. I’m sorry to be vague, but there’s also someone who would immediately end me if they learned of me and my quest, and I’d rather not talk too much before I’ve been able to scout the scenery in the city. Sorry!’[/color] Deni grinned apologetically and held her hands together in a “sorry” gesture. She then got a bit of a serious expression. Why she was here. Still without lying.

[color=9b83de]‘I’m here right now, because a monster brought me here. I fought a monster, lost, they brought me home, that home happened to be in the Overcity, and I was stuck here for a god awful lot of time, but I just got out! Unfortunately, I lack the means to get home, so I’ve just walked the Overcity,’[/color] for a couple seconds [color=9b83de]‘but now I’ve walked into you! And if you’d guide me there, that’d be really swell of you! I really don’t know what I’d do otherwise!’[/color] Deni grinned again, no shortage of that, looking hopefully towards Valkyrie. She wouldn’t just leave a lost little girl in the Overcity, would she!? She can’t possibly be so heartless~!

The girl she’d been talking about was Eli, of course. She had to save her. Both her and Mariette, really. Who knows what sort of trouble they got into without Deni around! … She’s so sad she missed it! Who knows how many shenanigans she’d missed while stuck for an unknown amount of time in the Overcity… … … Wait. Deni’s eyes suddenly widened in stunned realization.

[color=9b83de]‘Aaaaah! And I had a date! I had a date, and I missed it! O-or, maybe not a date, but at least we were going to meet again! Oooh, darn it, how could I…!?’[/color] Deni said and raised a fist with sincere regret in her eyes…!

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Protectors of Penrose, huh? Had Mariette ever actually considered herself a protector of this city? … Eh. The idea with this was that it’d be easier to move around if a couple people in town liked her, wasn’t it?

Very well. For today, Mariette would be one of the champions of Penrose.

First Billy charged at her. No hesitation whatsoever, huh. Intimidation strategy failed. Not that she’d figured it’d work on someone flying through on a flying car. A failed attempt to counter-attack later and Mariette as well as Eli were standing on a rooftop, glancing down at the villain and his car. 

There were four cars. Billy’s car, police car, fire truck and army wagon. Billy and army took off towards Amaryllis, police charged Mariette, and the firetruck went for a building. And… a huge pirate ship descended from the skies, and for a moment… for a moment Mariette thought of someone else, but that wasn’t it. It also wasn’t a foe, as Sophia fired at Billy and the army wagon. Then Hilaria backed up Amaryllis, and there were [i]three[/i] Magical Girls focused on the front lines.

Suppose it was up to her to clean up the backline, then.

Mariette grabbed her mystical weapon, her hand mirror, with one hand and waved it. She manifested a big portal, which led directly into the solid foundation of the building she stood on, widened it considerably wider than a car to block any bullets heading for her… and then sent it careering at the police car coming flying towards her. They’d crash into solid ground at top speed if they kept going. This hopefully bought enough time for the rest of the scene.

[color=077ae6]‘Clean this up for me, Eli. I’m giving you some backup,’[/color] Mariette told, and black shadows manifested around Eli, a dozen or more powered shadows coming up through the ground, her minions coming to play for this fight. They had the shapes of men, but their cores were filled with the darkness of Asengav, and they surely would be of aid in a battle against mere ghouls.

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And with those summoned, Mariette dropped through a portal of her own and the wall-portal she’d sent at the police car vanished. Behind there, Eli gave a confident little smile, backed up by Mariette’s shadows.

[color=57a345]‘It would be my pleasure, mistress,’[/color] Eli said. The slime-harpy let her wings retreat to behind her back, becoming proper wings instead of arm-wings. Two new limbs were coming out, making Eli’s overall size a bit smaller because she was sprouting out more of it…

[color=57a345]‘Hey, ghoulies!’[/color] she shouted at the ghouls. [color=57a345]‘You didn’t think you’d be the only ones with guns, did you!?’[/color] … Eli shouted as her arms shaped into a slimy assault rifle and, by the power of Eli’s “magical weapon”, it started to fire magical bullets at the incoming enemies. With her, the numerous shadows also struck with clawed hands, their arms stretching as if the length of their arms was a suggestion rather than a rule directly for the police, surely doing damage wherever it hit car or ghoul. The shadows were intelligent enough to dodge if they knew they were aimed for, as well, so while albeit not a match for regular magical girls, they surely would do at least okay against ghouls. 

Eli dashed forward, firing at the cop-car trying to take out those that would hit her first, and then leapt so that she may land on the car and start commandeering it, dodging fire while clearing ghouls. Besides, she was made of slime. What did it matter if a couple bullets hit her? Sure, her overall vitality was low, but a bullet going straight through her body without hitting anything within her wouldn’t do any damage to that vitality!

Meanwhile, Mariette appeared before the firetruck crew, falling from one portal to stand on another newly formed portal next to them, glaring at them while squeezing her stuffed bunny.

[color=077ae6]‘I don’t know what you’re planning on doing…’[/color] she started, before she’d probably have a number of guns directed at her… which were immediately met by an explosion of dark tentacles spewing out of everywhere around Mariette.

[color=077ae6]‘… but it won’t matter. Return to death, misguided souls,’[/color] she told, as her tentacles took to disarming, restraining and tearing apart ghouls while she stood, glaring darkly as she watched what took place before her. If her Awareness caught a ghoul outside her tentacle range about to fire at her she’d simply open a portal to [i]severely[/i] shorten that range and let her many limbs have at it, intending on tearing them apart before they’d have any chance to attack her. Besides, her tentacles could probably block gunfire if she was fired upon. In the unlikely event she’d end up in danger, she could once again drop through her portal to end up on another rooftop.

She had to make sure the other Magical Girls had their backs free.

[@BrokenPromise][@Crusader Lord][@FamishedPants][@ERode]