The enormous frog was distracted by the blue flame, shifting its head out of the way in a bid to avoid being struck directly. Of course, this meant it did not spot the flash of Kokoha's sword, and a strange gurgling sound erupted from it when the edge of the blade cut cleanly through its tongue. Spewing glowing orange and black, the remainder of the appendage rapidly snapped backwards into the shade's mouth, and it leaped back down off the wall in order to gain some distance from the magical girls.

It croaked once, a booming, rattling sound as its throat inflated with orange, swirling colors, and then again. The second time, its entire belly inflated rapidly, filling with air and ballooning its size considerably.

With a powerful leap, it sprang into the air, its shadow falling over the girls as it attempting to slam its bulk down upon them.

[@RolePlayerRoxas][@Rune_Alchemist][@Rin]

[hr]

What Nico would discover when she reached the spot that seemed to be the source of the strange sensation was that it wasn't on the ground level. Rather, it was directly above her, atop a building.

The only way to reach it directly would be to find some way up.

Provided she did, the sight the magical girl would be greeted with was not that of a shade. At least not a visible one, perhaps.

[url=https://safebooru.org//images/3280/c0a8851fbbb6c6c6e58a1ddf0aab0552d5b33aa8.jpg?3410455]A young girl, likely around Nico's age, stood at the edge of the rooftop.[/url]. Her  short, messy white hair drifted slowly in the breeze, and she was still wearing her school uniform.

She did not initially respond to Nico's presence, instead staring at the back of her hand as she remained nearly motionless, as close as she could get to the edge without falling off.

Slowly, she looked back over her shoulder, expressionlessly, when she realized someone else was there.

She didn't move away from the edge.

This location was undeniably the source of the shade-like sensation.

[@Ammokkx]

[hr]

"Oh, you're a magical girl!" relieved at both the fact that Abigail could speak Japanese and that she was talking to a fellow magical girl, the apparent child seemed to relax considerably. "And... so is your dog...?"

She appeared bewildered at the sight of the dog transforming as well, but after a moment she nodded.

"If you're the girl who sent the message about tracking a shade here, that's right," she continued, "It might be hiding, but that doesn't make it any less dangerous to innocent people."

A look of determination on her face, she nodded firmly to herself as she raised her bamboo broom. It sparkled slightly.

"Do you have any idea where to look? I'm pretty good at detecting evil, so even if you don't know I should be able to find it pretty quickly!"

[@Raineh Daze]

[hr]

The writhing mass of darkness twisted in on itself for a few moments. Its entire shape rippled at the contact of the icy blast, but it stabilized after a few moments.

Extending from the upper surface of the rippling mass came two forelimbs, ending in scythe-like blades lined with orange lights, and using those forelimbs it dragged itself out of the darkness fully. Its shape was comparable to a praying mantis, an upright upper body equipped with two bladed forelimbs and a lengthy lower body supported by four more limbs.

The similarities ended, however, when its upper body split down the middle, revealing rows of jagged, sharp edges that resembled teeth and a pair of floating orange lights, which flashed before letting off a scattered hail of lasers.

[@FrogRFlowR][@DDVicky][@LuckyBlackCat][@AzureKnight][@Shiyonichi]