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She was proud of all her teammates. When the side was retired and she returned to her perch above the testing area, Nicole gave Astrelle a comforting wink on the other girl's way out to face her demons. She gave another to Penny, along with a friendly knuckle touch. For Astrelle's test, the Hastan watched with both her arms around her two younger teammates, eagerly taking in her roommate's performance. She had taken a quick lick, like Nicole had, but overall she acquitted herself well. Afterwards, she had taken a minute to recuperate on the ground; Nicole's mouth twitched sympathetically, remembering how laid up the both of them had been over the last few days.

Penny's turn came next, along with some encouraging cheers from both Dana, who already seemed inseparable with the glasses-wearing girl, and a single [color=ec008c][i]whoop-whoop![/i][/color] from Nicole herself. Penny kicked as much ass as any of them; as flustered as she had been at their luncheon days before, there was no denying she had the heart of a scrapper, and she proved it by brandishing her enormous [i]fucking hammer, [color=ec008c]oh man that's cool[/color][/i] until victory fell at her defeat. Cheers broke out again from the tower.

Then it all went wrong.

The air around Penny began to crackle again, along with a brutal impact that struck the bespectacled girl from nowhere for the second time since Nicole had known her. If they had still been the powerless girls on the [i]Laurus,[/i] she might have been crippled by the surprise attack. Now she was an Ars Magi - they all were. And she was more than capable of surprising back.

With some help, of course. 

[color=ec008c][i]The wind is on my back. May my sword cut like my smile.

"Vi faccio vedere come lotte un Hastano!"[/i][/color]

Her second transformation felt as good as the first. Nicole vaulted over the lip of the tower and laughed aloud, raucously, as the wind rushed around her and whipped her hair back in a scarlet frenzy. In the four seconds it took her to freefall, her thoughts turned over in her head:

[color=ec008c][i]Catchphrase, that one was a must. Hot guys and gals will eat that kind of crap up.[/i][/color]

Her feet hit the ground, as lightly as if she'd stepped out of bed. Her gladius formed in her hand; she sprung forward, using Dana's beam for cover. 

[color=ec008c]"Dana, keep using those! Chase it towards one of us!"[/color] she called out, laughing airily as she twirled towards danger. Nevertheless, her words had adopted an iron tone; she had gotten to see both of her friends in action, knew their mettle, and knew how to encourage them to be the magical girls they'd always dreamt of. [color=ec008c]"Penny, don't stray from its right! The left is mine!"[/color]

And it was; she nimbly dodged a spindly arm, having learned quickly from her first time at the wrong end of a Void's swing. Content with her gameplan and feeling her confidence swell after such an effortless dodge, Nicole kicked herself off the ground as though her legs were springs. Her sword swung in the direction of what almost passed for a neck, the size of the sword belying the shape of buffeting winds that formed its [i]true[/i] blade.