[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/SnS9nlp.png[/img][/center] While the magical girls rushed towards the conflict as fast as they could, One moved with all the tardiness of an inmate on death row. She could see the construction site, the humans in peril, and the peril itself. Lumière bombarded the pageless with her spells, some weeb with a bow shot arrows at them, Lilac erected some barriers with some of the most tired one liners to ever be conceived by a chuuni, and Captain "even-better-than-normal-hope" radiated enough positivity to make her want to vomit. It was interesting to think that several years ago, such a sight might have struck her with awe. The idea of a tiny angel woman floating over head while a knight, archer, and captain fought beneath her would have brought her wonder. But all she could feel was apathy in this moment. A mundane human might find the spectacle to be unbelievable, but it was the same drudgery that "Stripes" had seen for years now. Oh, how dull such things had become. It was a pretty routine event. The Grand Ministry caught wind of some pageless gathering, and they flung more magical girls than were really necessary to deal with it. Human lives were at stake, but that was only more reason to keep a few girls in reserve in case more cropped up somewhere else, she reasoned. Come to think of it, it was pretty strange how they just seemed to [i]know[/i] exactly where these things would show up. Even if special magics were involved, it didn't make things look any less strange. But sure, trust the Grand Ministry. Though misgivings about the organization she worked for aside, she just wasn't very practical for this type of fighting. Were she by herself she could probably do a number on the pageless present. If there were one or two other girls, her powers would be syphoned off into them. It was bothersome, but at least they would be far more formidable than normal. But with so many magical girls present, her power would be divided among them and herself. Not only would this make her even weaker, but the amount of power each girl received from her would be even weaker than before. And only more magical girls were going to arrive as time went on. It got to the point where most wouldn't even notice they were becoming stronger, and Stripes would be little more than a liability in such a situation. Though her fortune was changing, if just for the moment. It seemed as though some of the pageless were retreating, distancing themselves from the other magical girls. Stripes stood by her initial thoughts that she was wasted on a task like this, but maybe she could do something useful before the rest of the girls showed up. In an instant, her body twisted and contorted, orange and black hair pushed out of all of her pores, and before long she was a thousand or so pound Bengal tiger. One with a witch's hat, but otherwise very similar looking to the real deal. The other magical girls might of had time to grandstand and such, but that wasn't Stripes style. She dove into the metal jungle and gave chase. Tigers were ambush predators by nature and were more than capable of slaying a fleeing opponent. The frail creatures were eviscerated in a single swipe, turning into tar and cloth on her claws. But slaying the pageless was not her primary goal. The other magical girls could pick off any stragglers, so there was little reason to worry about them. She pushed ahead, hoping to get to whatever the pageless were after before they did.