Avatar of Anza
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    1. Anza 8 yrs ago

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6 yrs ago
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Just as Tokiko had expected, Hikari wasn't backing down. After a quick message to their respective parental units, they turned aside from their homeward course and strode quietly into the night.

Some parts of the city got noisy and bright once the sun set, but this wasn't one of them. Here a deep silence descended with the dark, and window lights shone few and far between, dim rectangular stars in a gaping black sky. It was the kind of atmosphere that brought to mind things lurking just out of sight— criminals, or feral animals, or perhaps something worse. Even in the heart of civilization, there were wild places, forests and jungles where only the bold dared tread after sunset.

Tokiko moved forward without any hesitation, as only a magical girl could. What had she to fear for them things that might be creeping in the night? She was a star, a light of judgement. She didn't fear the dark, the dark feared her.

And besides, she knew this route well. Soon enough a blocky shadow loomed before the two girls, a grey and ugly building tucked away where few would look for it. At first its walls appeared featureless, but as they drew closer a small side-door could be seen amidst the gloom, and Tokiko strode towards it, pushing it open without a second thought.

At first, the inside was even darker than the outside had been. Then Tokiko flicked a switch, and dim lights flickered on high above, revealing a huge open space, its paved floor entirely barren. During the height of the summer months this place would be packed with busy workers and massive crates, but right now it stood quiet and empty, just waiting to be put to use.

"Ta-daaaa!" Tokiko exclaimed, spreading her arms out wide. "Tokiko-sensei's secret training grounds! Pretty cool, right?" She ambled forwards a ways, her footsteps echoing through the massive space. "There was a nasty shade hiding out in here a few months back, so I busted my way in to take it out. And then once I was done, I thought, 'wouldn't a place like this be useful?' Nobody else was bothering with it, and I'd already trespassed, so..." She shrugged. "I just left the door unlocked. Sometimes life really is easy!"

With a quick burst of crackling green, she transformed, the lights flickering for a moment as she did so. The huge metal coffin materialized beside her, and she rapped on its front with one knuckle, eliciting a low groan from inside. A moment later, the monstergirl from earlier pried her way out, yawning into one huge hand and blinking blearily at the lights. "Waaaah?"

"You ready?" Tokiko faced Hikari with a grin, waiting a moment for her to transform. "Okay! You remember what I said about how barriers work, right?"

While the magical girl talked, the living Archetype stepped forwards, rubbing her eyes...

"I took the time to explain everything clearly to you. Which, I have to say, was very kind of me." Tokiko's face suddenly turned serious. "So you'd better have been paying attention."

... and then a massive fist filled up Hikari's field of vision, as the monstergirl swung at her head-on!

@VitaVitaAR
As soon as Deneb pulled out the Return scroll, Viri let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, right! We can just teleport awa—"

Except before she could even finish the sentence, the ninja put the scroll away, and yanked her along in a mad dash back towards town. The poor healer could only yelp in alarm and confusion, and try not to trip over her own legs as she was pulled forward by the smaller and nimbler Deneb.

Why didn't she just use the scroll? Based on what she'd seen of her before, Viri didn't think Deneb would be the type to take pointless risks just for the thrill of it. There must be some other factor, some facet of gameplay that she herself didn't know or remember. She might have asked for an explanation, but given the circumstances that could probably wait for another time...

Right now, they needed to focus on escaping. And Viri, her character being somewhat larger and less agile, wasn't helping. Gritting her teeth, she swung her staff with her free hand, waving it arbitrarily through the air.

"Conj—" The word didn't quite make it out. She was already breathless from the running, and her own panic wasn't helping. "Conjure—" She waved the staff again, to no avail. Damn it! How the heck is casting supposed to work? She squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. Come on, come on! Conjure Spirit! Conjure Spirit Conjure Spirit Conjure Spirit!

And then a burst of emerald light flashed through her eyelids, accompanied by a ghostly hum, and she opened her eyes to see it floating at the tip of her staff. A shadowy orb, horned and grinning, surrounded by a greenish glow that crackled and flickered like fire.

"Yes!" She cheered with delight, then pointed her staff forwards at Deneb. "Um... go!"

Somehow, the spirit seemed to understand. It flew forwards from the tip of her staff, hovering over the ninja's shoulder. As it slid into position, Deneb herself began to glow, that same light green aura outlining her form from head to toe.

Conjure Spirit: Speed UP! Assuming the spell worked like it did in the game, Deneb's own movement speed would be boosted for as long as the spirit remained attached to her.

"Let's see them try to catch us now!"

@PKMNB0Y
"Well, u-um..." Tokiko stuttered for a moment, surprised by the way the conversation had turned. Hadn't she been trying to warn this girl away from participating in Hex Night? How did I end up encouraging her instead?! But it was too late, she'd gotten caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment.

"Uh, yeah!! Kicking ass and saving the world, that's what we do!" Inwardly a part of her was cringing at her own words, but at them same time she was grinning, pumping her fist, almost giddy with excitement.

Okay Tokiko, calm down. She took a breath, evaluating the situation. I guess, if you look at it one way, getting a newbie up to speed is part of my responsibilities as a magical girl... so I guess I should at least see it through. Maybe she was a dummy for even letting things progress this far, for helping out Hikari instead of treating her as a potential competitor and getting rid of her. But, damn it, after everything that had happened, she'd feel like a coward if she backed out now.

"So... seeing as it's super important, we should take care of the 'learning to fight' part as soon as possible." She met Hikari's eyes, judging her resolve. "There's a warehouse not too far from here that usually isn't being used at this time of year. Should be a good place to start." Then she pulled out her smartphone. "So if you're in, text your parents and tell them you'll be out late tonight. Now that we've covered all the basic information, it's about time I put you through your paces."

@VitaVitaAR
Tokiko froze mid-motion as Hikari followed up with yet another question. "Huh? Why are you asking about that?" She paused, scratching at the back of her head with one hand. "I guess I can explain, if you're curious... But it's not gonna help you fight better or anything." For a moment or two, she was silent, letting that disclaimer sink in. And then she launched into the tale.

"So, magical girls have been around for a while, right? We're talking multiple centuries. And even if the world is a pretty safe place to live nowadays, it wasn't always that way." Her head tilted backwards, her eyes looking up into the darkening sky as she delved into the horrors of the ancient past.

"In modern times it's rare to see a shade get big enough to be an actual threat. Most of them are weaker than an individual magical girl, and even the strong ones can usually be dealt with by a quick team-up. Back when there were less magical girls around, though, before the Hex Nights... they could get huge. Really huge. And every hundred years, for some reason or another, one would grow completely out of control. We're talking Shade-zilla here, literal end-of-the-world type stuff. Against something like that, the only thing to do was call literally every magical girl available to come and fight it. And even then, with a literal army of magical girls from around the world, it could be a close thing. The Hex Night can get rough, but... those ancient battles were something else entirely." She paused, her voice falling quiet. "Some people died."

There was a beat, a moment of silence, as if she were paying her respects to the fallen of the past. And then she carried on. "Anyway, the fairies thought it was a real pain in the ass to have to deal with a bullshit-strong final boss every time a century rolled around, so they started looking for an alternate route. A cheat, a trick, some way to stop the Shadezilla from even being born in the first place." She shrugged. "I'm not sure about the exact reasoning behind it, but supposedly that's what Hex Night is. By having a big ol' magical girl throwdown every twenty years, they get us to push past our limits, so that the fights between us end up pushing so much magical energy out into the world that the final boss gets split up into a bunch of regular enemies before it even shows up!"

She smiled cheerfully. "Pretty sweet deal, right? We get to skip the boss battle, and we all get a chance to win a wish! We still have to fight, obviously, but battles between magical girls are a lot more fun than just beating up shades, if you ask me." She frowned, suddenly unsure of her words. "Well, I guess it hasn't been fun for you, since you've been way outclassed so far. But once I've trained y— I mean, once you've practiced a bit more, you'll see just how cool you can really be. The Hex Night can be harsh for a newbie, but if you can rise up and compete here, then taking on shades afterwards will seem like a piece of cake!"

She jabbed one small fist up in the air, somehow managing to be motivated by her own words. "Yeah!" Then glanced over at Hikari. "How's that for a tutorial?"

@VitaVitaAR
Kazamyr Silvestrov

"Ah-ah-ah!" Kazamyr held up a finger at the mention of the alliance. "I may have been the enabler there, the one who laid the terms, but the initial suggestion came from that girl, the Master of Assassin. I'd have been perfectly happy to wipe out both her and her Servant, had she not made the plea that we should talk instead of fight."

Throwing on a coat, he headed for the door, switching to their telepathic link rather than talking out loud. "But then, your very claim that I suggested the alliance should tell you how I mean to use it, no? Even if it was her idea to begin with, it has become mine, a tool in my arsenal." It was notable, as he strode silently out of the apartment, that he no longer accompanied his words with gestures. After all, only Rider could hear him, and a man gesturing without speaking would look quite suspicious indeed.

"The most difficult thing about this war is that there are several sides, none of which can fully control the other. Yet as you've admitted yourself, we're not strong enough to defeat them all with mere brute force. Our only hope lies in influencing the other sides into a situation that favors us." Once Rider was through the door, in spirit form or otherwise, Kazamyr closed it behind him and strode down the hallway, turning to make his way down the staircase to the ground floor. "And so, what better opportunity than this? You saw Assassin's Master: she's naive, without the proper ruthlessness needed to succeed in this war. Left to her own devices, chances are she'd have tried to lay low and hide, until a side like ours cornered her and crushed her like a bug. Useless to us, in short." One floor, two floors, and then he was down at street level, heading for the door. "But now? We can point her at things, drag her with us into fights. We direct Assassin's power, which her Master would have wasted so, towards our mutual enemies. I'll wager she'll get taken out somewhere along the line— but by the time she does, her actions will have shifted the board into a position more advantageous for us. We'll have influenced a Servant's impact on the war, and turned it to our benefit..."

He strode out the door, into the warm morning outside. The sun was up, now, no longer orange-red but shifting into its natural yellow. "And at what cost? Normally such an arrangement would see us manipulated in turn, but that girl? Pah! She's no conniving magus, and Assassin doesn't seem like a schemer to me. So long as we're not stupid about it, we should be able to influence their strategy without compromising ours."

Smiling to himself, he carried on down the street at a brisk pace, heading towards a quaint little corner café he'd scouted out a few days prior. That feeds into our larger goals, too. Lancer might be a difficult opponent in a straight fight, but if we can find Archer and Saber, then we can try to set them against her. As for Caster, she'll likely prove even better at influencing events than we are, so rather than trying to beat her at her own game I say we locate her and crush her as soon as possible. Against superior force, we strike with cunning, and against superior cunning, we strike with force."

@King Cosmos
All of a sudden, Viri was beset by an intense fit of coughing. One that coincided, start to finish, with Deneb's attempts to see across the plain by bouncing up and down like some kind of ninja rabbit.

Yes, the healer knew, this was serious business and that was a perfectly viable tactic to increase one's range of vision. It was just... A bouncing ninja... Pffffffffft! She couldn't quite hold the laughter in.

She quickly sobered up once Deneb finally landed, though, thanks in part to the announcement that their enemy was already in sight. In anything, we were lucky Deneb spotted it just now... If we'd wandered blindly a little further, we might have accidentally let it catch sight of us. Judging from Deneb's tone, though, the creature hadn't noticed them spying on it yet.

"Did you see which way it was going?" she asked, while the ninja tapped out a message for the others in town. Maybe it was just the aura of being near the boss, but she couldn't shake off this sense of unease that permeated the air—

Wait.

The air...

It was small, but obvious now that she looked for it. Her hair was moving, just slightly, long silver strands swaying on a gentle breeze. There's a wind.

"Hold on!" She piped up as the ninja moved to leader her one. "Deneb, you said it was a wolf, right? So logically, even if it couldn't see its prey, it could find it by scent..."

Was it just her imagination, or was that fearful sensation getting stronger?

"... and if it was over that way, then... We're upwind of it." She swallowed. "If it doesn't already know we're here, it will soon."

@PKMNB0Y
"Yep, barriers are a pretty universal feature," Tokiko said, gesturing vaguely at the buildings around them as if to indicate all the magical girls out there. "Just about everyone has them, though there's some who don't know how to use them or just don't bother. How strong they are varies, though, depending on your other powers. For example, close-range types like you will usually have tougher shields." She scowled briefly. "And mine are so weak they're almost useless... though I make up for it with range and versatility."

She stopped to yawn, surprised at how tired she felt. It's been a long day... But the Hex Night was only beginning. Forget other magical girls, she might die of exhaustion before this was all over.

"Anyhow, even if more concept-specific stuff can be tricky to figure out, a barrier is pretty simple. You just have to think about something you really want to protect, and pop! Barrier." She smiled. "Of course, the hard part is knowing when to use them. Hiding behind a barrier for too long just drains your magical energy, and even the strongest ones will break if you give your opponent time to charge up a big attack. You want to do it like boxing, see, you want to have your guard up when the enemy attacks and then, BAM! You go right on the offensive and hit them super hard—"

She kept going, her skinny arms coming up and making vague boxing motions, punching the air. For a moment, all traces of her usual surly demeanor seemed to disappear, and she looked almost happy to be getting to explain all this stuff to someone who was actually interested.

Honami Tokiko, as it turned out, was not only experienced with all this magical girl stuff, but a bit of a geek about it as well.

@VitaVitaAR
Have lightning-powered cyber-fists, will travel.

At first, Viri thought it was just her. Wasn't it only natural that wandering out into some strange wilderness would invoke a feeling of dread?

As the minutes passed, however, she found herself questioning that assumption. Dread was one thing, but right now the air around her felt heavy, the quiet oppressive, the tiny movements of grass and leaves in the wind somehow frightening rather than soothing. No, this wasn't just nerves. It had to be a phenomenon of some kind, another quirk of this world. And as for its nature... Obviously, it's a warning. Deneb's own speculations merely confirmed her thoughts on the matter.

"We don't necessarily have to fight them," she said, clutching her staff close to her body as if it could somehow protect her. "Our mission was to find and assess threats, not try to overcome them on our own. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to find the boss, and then message its location back to the people in town, maybe track its movements for a while. That way, if it does roam near enough to do harm, they can prepare for it."

Of course, that was easier said than done. Getting close enough to a boss to pinpoint its location would risk drawing its ire, and then they'd have little choice but to kill it or escape. Or be messily devoured, I suppose...

@PKMNB0Y
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