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[color=tomato]"I wish someone would jump all over me the way everyone’s jumping on Black Gate. Frowny face emoji."[/color]

[color=888888]— Suki Oyama[/color][/center]

After the dream Oros had, having a giant monkey tear the roof off the school and march away with Black Gate almost felt normal by comparison. Every step the giant ape took shook the school, and soon most of the remaining girls took off to fight it. Part of Oros wanted to join them. But leaving Tsubomi alone in a space teaming with miseria didn’t sit well with her. That, and Evil Eye had fallen to the lower floors. 

[color=ff6347]"We leave no babe behind."[/color]

Oros scooped up Tsubomi into a bridal carry and bounded over to the hole in the floor. She was prepared to hop to the lower floors, only to be startled by a swiftly emerging entity. Once the shock of that passed, she prepared to hop down again, only for some human faced locust to rush past her. She hadn’t been able to suppress her scream, but once the last of the bugs had parted, she turned back to the hole. Oros pretended to jump down, only to hop backwards. After waiting a moment, she looked into the hole and squinted her eyes. Once she was sure there were no more insects, she hopped down and skated towards the cafeteria. It seemed a little risky to go to where the monkey was headed, but that was exactly why Oros expected to find Evil Eye there. 

While maneuvering down the many halls of the school, the power suddenly went out. That or Oros had fallen on her face after a giant shockwave. When she looked up at the ceiling light, she realized that it was possible for both to be true. [color=ff6347]"Is your butt okay?"[/color] The only problem with bridal carrying anyone was that if you fell, you were going to fall forward, and they were going to land butt first. Unless you were the one doing the carrying. While it might have been nice to faceplant onto Tsubomi, she overshot and ended up smashing her nose into the floor. This was by far the tamest thing that had made her nose bleed. 

A bit more skating and they were at the cafeteria. It was hard to see much as there was no natural light in the room. The windows had the blinds drawn, and all Oros could make out were several human and table shaped silhouettes. During night time miseria hunts there were enough street lamps to see by, but it was hard to see much of anything in total darkness. She wasn’t even aware that Evil Eye was to her left flipping the fire alarm lever. But that didn’t stop Oros from reaching to the right to flip the light switch. 

Both clicked at the same time. 

While both switch and lever were pulled at the same time, light was faster than water. The floor of the room was almost completely filled with sleeping bodies. There were a lot of students, but also some faculty members as well, and even people from the rest of town. There was almost no room to stand without touching someone. But the room wasn’t just filled with people, it was filled with those short apes too. The nightmares all looked up from the person they were standing on and locked eyes with the magical girls who had come so recently. A few seconds later, the sprinkler heads went off, dousing everyone in the room. The monkeys did not move from their spot, but didn’t look too happy to be soaked so thoroughly by the sprinklers. Their hair stuck to their bodies, making them look more like wet rats than primates.

[color=ff6347]"Heh!"[/color] Oros looked at Evil Eye. [color=ff6347]"I always wanted to do a wet t-shirt contest! And sprinkler water is…suitably…cold."[/color] The monkey’s eyes didn’t move from them even still. Oros flipped the light back off, but the ape’s eyes shined a vivid red, and the falling water was caught by the light as it fell down. [color=ff6347]"Okay, well, we can take them."[/color] She set down Tsubomi. Hopefully she would remain standing, but if she didn’t, she’d guide her to the ground and prop her up against the wall. [color=ff6347]"I’m gunna jump in there when I flip the light back on in three, two, one!"[/color] When Suki flipped the lights back on, the monkeys [i]spread their wings[/i] and the ones closest to the magical girls attacked. [color=ff6347]"AAAAHHHHHH!"[/color] Suki lashed out as they pounced on her, but these apes were far stronger than Black Gate’s usual variety. Though Oros’s flailing tentacles still managed to batter them back, so they weren’t as impossibly strong as the ones in their dreams. An ape raked its nails across her face, and Oros countered by firing barbed tendrils out of the new wounds in her face. That ape lost all of his fingers before one of Oros’s main tendrils cracked him in the head and reduced him to dust and shadow. 

People were waking up, but there were so many more asleep.

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[color=9a8c9a]"How impatient. I’m not going to ‘evolve’ just because someone says mean stuff to me."[/color]

[color=888888]— Black Gate[/color][/center]

Earthshaker was on top of the roof, but it wasn’t like the ape creature was always there. A massive dreamcatcher opened upland the ape thing crawled out before smashing Black Gate out of there. He had also peeled back the roof to look into the club room, which removed one more obstacle between the girls still in the club and Black Gate’s friend. It was close, but Earthshaker would be beat out by both of her companions. 

[color=9a8c9a]"It’s okay."[/color] Black gate locked her tired eyes on Hizuki. [color=9a8c9a]"I figured we’d end up fighting."[/color] 

The ape looked over its shoulder as soon as Hizuki’s thrusters activated, and she slammed into his back. His face twisted in agony as he stumbled forwards.  The intent might have been to throw the patchwork ape away from the school, but with it wading through Hibusa High that was not possible. The ape stumbled off course, pivoted on one of his feet, and swung his tail around. The tail sweep alone took out twenty classrooms, a gym, and at least two teacher’s quarters. But while it rained debris and smoke billowed up from the creature’s legs, there was no sign of human life. No blood or bodies to be found in all the destruction. Only shadows that turned into more miseria.

[b][color=ffffff]"Sonovah!"[/color][/b] The ape caught Hizuki in his hand and curled his fingers around her torso. Her head was the only thing that stuck out of his fist. The giant had little difficulty maneuvering her heavily armored frame in front of his face. [b][color=ffffff]"Why you…"[/color][/b] His eyebrows lifted. [b][color=ffffff]"Oh baby! Is that you, Hizuki?"[/color][/b] The ape smiled. [b][color=ffffff]"It’s good to finally-"[/color][/b] He grimaced as a laser attempted to borrow its way through his chest. 

[color=9a8c9a]"Please focus, Mr Banana."[/color] The words came just in time for Mr Banana to pivot his wrist. Earthshaker slammed into the back of the giant ape’s hand as a strange shadowy figure showed up behind them. 

[b][color=ffffff]"I think I need an exterminator, because somethin’s buggin’ me!"[/color][/b] The quip possibly had something to do with the bugs trying to tear into his stitches. But Mr. Banana wasn’t a punching bag. With a swing of his arm, Earthshaker was flung from the back of his hand and straight at the floating vampire-like figure. Hizuki was thrown straight at Nyxia, and in such a way that she would momentarily block the laser fire. [b][color=ffffff]"Time to rock and roll!"[/color][/b] With all the locusts nipping at him, he curled himself into a ball, keeping Black Gate safe, and rolled through the school like an old tire. The locusts that didn’t fly away in time were rushed under his weight, along with more of the school. 

But in focusing on the giant ape, the miseria were allowed to coalesce and spread. Two miseria flew up and hovered over the edge of the roof. Even though they weren’t in a configuration they had seen before, the magical girls recognized them as the greater miseria from before. They both had the head of storks, with both having four wings from various large birds. One opened its mouth and latched an intestine around Nyxia’s baby, while the other soared towards her, black bile bubbling in its elongated mouth. 

And with everything happening at the school, one would be forgiven for not noticing the shift in the distance. Some trees slid down the mountainside as something rose from its base. It was large and yellowed from age, and had no flesh to speak of. Just twisted bone and half a dozen eyes to look at the town with. It sat up abruptly, flinging the dirt in a crescent over its head. It rose slowly, erecting its legs, torso, and finally its heads. Its arms, if they could be called that, unfolded at its sides. Then with a yell that shook the mountainside, it announced its presence to everyone in the area. Then it took a step, and the earth trembled.

The giga miseria had returned.