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9 mos ago
Current "I've spent a lot of time thinking about my past... My mistakes... And I've come to the conclusion that I was right about everything."
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12 mos ago
"What you know will kill you but you will die laughing."
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1 yr ago
Hey, you know what's annoying? Being self-centered. Getting mad at people for doing something instead of something else when they're just having fun sucks. Gotta love self-loathing, too.
3 likes
1 yr ago
"You were last seen the day you disappeared."
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2 yrs ago
"There will always be shitheads. That's why they'll always try to out-shit them." - yourMoonstone | Reminder that all fanart is illegal. |
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Looking at her map, Aki saw as what she assumed was the tower's marker changed from azure to crimson. Looking around didn't reveal any changes in the tower itself, nor did it indicate what the change might mean. In the girls' vision their holographic squares showed a new message. a message echoed on their Expanse Callers' screens.

-Ally?- It read, followed by each of the names of the other two girls. Aki, looking at her minimap, saw that as the word flashed, so too did two new dots on her map, one yellow and one red, which certainly looked like they were showing the location of the other girls. Apparently now that they'd fought together, the possibility of forming a connection with each other was possible.

Danny was all but dragged by his partners towards the three girls who had appeared from nowhere. When he got closer to the group, Aki's map began to show a pink dot that seemed to correspond with his location. After a few moments of awkward silence, Roll encouraged him to introduce himself and so he did, stating his name and his apparent partnership with his Navi and Digimon.

A cool breeze washed over the four humans, and all seemed quiet. The only thing that didn't seem accounted for was the blue dot on the edge of Aki's map...
It had been a few days since the big meeting. People had gone their separate ways in preparation. Back at the Golden Trove, Shion would be going through her things and would find a glass bottle with a golden top nestled among the various items.

Shion was wasting time, waiting for her little group to decide on marching orders when she found it. She cautiously picked it up, not knowing what it was, and took a closer look at it. The brilliant red swirling inside it captivated her, and she found herself staring for a moment. She was really tempted to open it, but her natural distrust won out. When it didn’t explode after a few minutes of watching it, she decided to take it to the others and see if they knew what it was. She had just started to leave the room she kept her things in when she tripped, the bottle falling from her hands and onto the floor with a thud.

Bouncing and rolling around on the floor, the top of the bottle would loose and come free. Like a smoke bomb, the red mist within bellowed out. Instead of filling the room though it all came together to form a young woman with bright red hair. Her legs remained the red smoke trailing back to the bottle. Anyone with any kind of knowledge could connect the dots that this was a Djinn. The clasp around the neck of the bottle unlatched and whipped around dragging the glass object with it until it clamped around Shion’s wrist.

Turning to look at the fallen magical girl, the woman would speak. ”Well who do we have here? Master Shion. Good to see a new face.” She would offer a hand to help Shion up.

As Shion took her hand, there was a look of incredulity and surprise, which was rare for her nowadays. ”What… what just happened? Why is there a genie’s bottle in my stuff?” She looked down at her wrist and the glass now attached to it.

Giving a sly smile, Ruby would answer. ”What, not a fan of surprises? I’m here because fate brought me to you.” She would gently lift Shion’s arm that had the bottle attached. ”And as my new Master you have three wishes that I must fulfill for you.” She would bow low to meet the girl’s eye level.

”Not a fan of fate, more like. But three wishes? Alright, I’ll bite. I assume that you can’t grant wishes that go beyond your power… So I guess I need to know what sort of things are within the realm of possibility, though I’m not going to spend a wish to find out.” Shion tilted her head in thought as she spoke.

”Oh of course not. That would be ridiculous. You’re standard fare, no additional wishes, I can’t make people do things they don’t agree to, I cannot take away another’s magic, you can bring people back if it’s been within 24 hours though.” She would start listing things out. ”If I’m not able to do something that does not expend a wish. It must be fulfilled to count.” Ruby would add for reassurance.

”Hm…” After about twenty seconds, Shion finally thought of an idea. ”Well, we’re getting ready for a huge fight, so maybe wishing away Wonderland would be good? But I sort of doubt you can do that. So the next best thing would be something to help. How specific can a wish get?”

Ruby would nod and sigh reluctantly. ”Yes, unfortunately it wouldn't be that easy. As for how specific, it was be as detailed as you want. May not fly if you're trying to effect too many things together at once. Like trying to squeeze two wishes into one.”

”So if I were to wish for an item, I could specify the details of the item, but not wish for a second one, basically?”

”Only one way to find out.”

Shion nodded. ”Then let’s try it. Just don’t judge me on it. My first wish is for a semi-automatic pistol that has the ability to fire infinite non-magical ammunition without needing to be reloaded. How’s that?”

Without change of expression, Ruby would hold out a hand flat with palm facing upward. A case would appear in her hand. Opening the case, Ruby would present what looked like an ordinary handgun. ”As you wish, Master Shion.” Taking the weapon, it seemed unremarkable. Checking the clip or the chamber the weapon looked to be empty. However, whenever Shion would go about testing it would fire the correct rounds with the equivalent stopping power. ”And you shouldn't worry about judgment from me. I have seen some quite unusual requests. If anything, I enjoy seeing the creative things people come up with.”

That was surprising. Shion didn’t think that request would fly, if she were honest. ”Thank you, both for the gun and for not thinking it’s a really weird wish. This should at least come in handy in the future.” She would pause to think again. Had she really ever had any wishes that she wanted granted? Well, yes, but those were either no longer necessary or would be beyond what even a genie could do. Was there anything else that would help keep her and those she cared about alive with the upcoming battle? Since the meeting had stopped Summer’s scrying, she didn’t know if they had found any details that could be useful to the Penrose “army” that she could wish for.

”Well, the simplest thing would be a mana battery of some sort. I guess it’s worth finding out, so my second wish would be for ten mana batteries, each capable of fully recharging the average Magical Girl’s mana.” That would hopefully allow for letting them fight longer and for someone to use their Killing Blow more freely. Sure, it might not be enough for some on the Penrose forces’ team, but it might turn the tide.

”An excellent idea, Master.” Raising her hands up, they would crackle with energy and be surrounded by light. Spreading her arms apart the light would split into ten smaller spheres. They would form into violet crystals and drift down to the floor. ”Your wish has been granted. When used, each will expend all their energy and restore the user's mana.“ Mechanically, each crystal had the capacity to restore up to 15 MAG to one magical girl or boy.

”Wow. Wasn’t sure that one would work, either. Hmm…” A thought occurred. ”Hey, do you have something you would wish for, if you could?”

”To not be in the situation I'm in now. That ship has long since sailed and there isn't really a way out at this stage. Aside from that I don't really have any recommendations. I can't really grant my own wishes.”

Well, that made things easy. ”That’s about what I figured, so I want to try this. My third wish is that you were able to grant three of your own wishes.” She’d pause a moment to let Ruby try to grant it. ”Did it work?”

”Fortunately not.” She would scoff slightly. ”I don’t think that would end well for me in the long run.”

”Well, it was worth trying. Do you think you could get just one? That would be equivalent, wouldn’t it? Or is there a ‘get out of jail free’ sort of wish I could make? I can’t imagine being a djinn, genie, whatever the correct term is, so if I can help with my final wish, I’d like to.”

Ruby would cross her arms and think about it for a while. ”I’m not sure. I am this way because I ‘flew too close to the sun’ in order to give someone the power they needed to help defend Penrose. As far as I am aware I cannot undo or change the fact that I am a Djinn. Prior to this I was essentially Fated to be where I am now. I don't know everything though, so there may be a creative way to help.” She knew that wasn't really helpful, but she really didn't know a way out.

”If I remember right, isn’t a red, or better yet, ruby, coin able to change Fate in exactly the way that would help?”

”Normally, but I am no longer a magical girl that a Red Coin will work on. I am a patron. The rules are different for me.”

”Geez, what kind of thing did you make mad? What’s strong enough to turn someone into a djinn that’s capable of granting wishes?”

”Originally, a Djinn. That just made me a magical girl where I was forced to go around and essentially do his work for him. How I am now though has more to do with a brush with the Nexus. Not something most come out unscathed, if they survive the encounter.”

”So I’m guessing that a white coin won’t resolve your curse or anything like that, either…”

”Exactly. Those things apply to individuals like yourselves.”

”Dang. Alright, mind if I phone a friend? I’ve been told I’m surprisingly stubborn, but I don’t get what’s surprising about it.” Shion reached into her pocket to call someone, when Tay, that damnable Puchuu, came walking from around the corner. When he saw Ruby, he stopped.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me.” He looked between the Djinn and his so-called ally. “This is ridiculous. Please tell me you haven’t wasted wishes on something moronic.”

Shion pointed her new handgun at him, careful not to put her finger on the trigger. ”If we weren’t inside someone else’s building, you’d be my test subject to find out.” After saying that, she lowered the gun. ”Hey, wait a second. You’re a pain in the ass, and the type to take contracts seriously… You’re definitely not who I wanted to bring in, but maybe you can help. Any ideas on how I can use one wish to get Ruby free from her overbearing position?”

“... You want to pass up a wish from a wish-granting Patron in order to-” One of Tay’s ears smacked him in the face in dismay. “Yeah, sure, okay. Why not waste a once in several lifetimes opportunity both for yourself and for anyone who would be in the same position after you? What have you tried?”

”Apparently, Red and White Coins won’t work on her, and just wishing for her freedom probably won’t work either. She can’t grant her own wishes and she’s in the situation she’s in because of the Nexus. That’s about it.”

“I see. Well, there’s the traditional ones…” He looked over at Ruby. “Please feel free to say if any of these are an obvious ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on viability.”

With that, he cleared his throat (does he even have a throat?) and placed one of his prehensile ears against his head in thought, then began listing off potential wishes. “You could wish that she fulfill whatever potential wish there may be that would result in her freedom. You could wish for knowledge of a way to free her that is within your power and also doesn’t require a further wish to achieve, or for a ritual that would free anyone in a similar position to what she’s in. There’s also the legal loophole approach, where you make a very specifically worded wish that prevents her from being sealed, which would make her a ‘free djinn,’ so to speak, and should give her ample time to figure out her own way to become free. Or, there’s the draining approach, where the wish is for all wishes, starting with the one used to make it happen, that the djinn grants gain their magic from the source that is keeping her sealed, resulting in a paradox that breaks her free, or at the very least a massive drain in the mana needed to be used up. That one might require future wishers, though, so if you’re trying to free her now, in one, you’ll need to be more precise.”

He paused, removing his ear’s “hand” from resting on the side of his head, and looked to Ruby. “Any of those sound plausible for your specific situation?”

Ruby would listen to the list of ideas. Most of them she didn’t imagine would succeed as it would require using her magic on herself. They weren’t entirely all without merit though. ”I haven’t looked into thing much since becoming a Djinn, but I imagine a ritual or obtaining the needed knowledge would be the most likely to yield results. You will have to wish for one to be sure.”

”Then let’s see if it works. I wish I had complete knowledge of a method to free you and others in your position, if there are any, that is within my power to achieve and does not require an additional wish.”

Listening to the wish, Ruby would look a bit surprised. She could feel that the wish was working. Ironically she herself wouldn’t be granted the knowledge. ”Well, you’ll have to let me know how this will work.” Reaching out she would place a hand on Shion’s head. Knowledge not her own would begin to flow into her mind. The steps and resources needed to complete a ritual to remove the Djinn power from Ruby and others like her. However, that power would need another mortal vessel willing to receive it, effectively transferring and transforming the other person into a Djinn.

”Your wish has been granted.”

Shion wasn’t fully certain that her wish would work, and she had been in the process of thinking of wording for another when Ruby touched her. As the information filled her mind, her eyes widened in surprise at the success. The fact that it would need a “sacrifice,” of sorts was expected, but it was still much better than a wasted wish.

“Well, that’s unexpected. I thought a Patron-level djinn would take more than that. But if it was granted, what’s the answer, Shion?”

”There’s a way, but it needs a vessel for the magic to be transferred to.” She focused her attention on Ruby. ”Are you going to have to leave now, or are you relatively ‘free’ for a bit? I think I could pull this off fairly soon, but I don’t know who would be willing to trade places. I can ask around, at least.”

The clasp around Shion's wrist would release and the bottle would roll over to Ruby. ”I don't have to leave immediately, though I can't stay here for more than a few days before I must move on. Likely sooner than that given the circumstances Penrose finds itself in.”

”I’m sure it’ll take longer than that, and it might be best to let others use wishes to prepare too. Any way I could track, or just find you again, once I’ve found a volunteer? She was already mentally going down the list of those she knew who might say “yes” to the idea.

”I have a magical girl under my charge that goes by Angel of Despair. She shouldn't be hard to identify, she usually swears up a storm. You can speak with her to get in contact with me.”

Shion nodded. ”Alright, I’ll get on that, then. Good luck, I’ll try to hurry.”

Nodding in return, Ruby would disappear in a swirl of red smoke.
The Would-Be Investigators


As the images flashed across Wisdom's sword, Kain was awestruck. Seeing the way one died from another perspective would always be an interesting thing, and he was stunned for a while. So it was Makoto who took the lead. She was about to give a rather long response, but she hadn't put it all together before Wisdom continued talking. When she was finally finished and apparently ready to fight, Makoto finally spoke up just as Kain snapped himself out of his stupor.

"Uh... Yeah, I guess we can fight, but... Why are we fighting? If you're just looking for that, there's probably a war about to start that should satisfy you."

Kain stepped forwards to speak as well. "Though if it's just sparring, that would probably help all of us, so I'm down." He looked over at Makoto. "Might as well make sure that we're ready for the bigger stuff that's coming, right?"

"Mmm... Yeah, that makes sense. Alright." Makoto grinned as her weapons spun in place on her arms, getting into position to fight.

As soon as Makoto replied in affirmation, Kain got into a fighting stance and summoned his armor. "Let's have a fun, fair match, yeah?



"Summer, could you please send me as well? I could scout out the area while they fight." Morrigan spoke up as those in the room saw Kain and Makoto get into a battle stance.

"... I guess that makes sense, are you sure you want to go, though? There might be enemies in the area that we don't know of."

"I'm certain, thank you."

"Alright, go through the TV, I'll send you in above them."

And so Morrigan, still in her raven form, flew directly into the television and went right through it to arrive thirty feet above the heads of the three magical beings about to fight.

@BrokenPromise
The Would-Be Something or other



Aria gave her explanation and disappeared through the television. Makoto looked towards Summer and asked, "Wait, you can do that?"

Summer opened her mouth a moment before closing it again, only to speak a second later. "Probably? I didn't think of doing that, but it should work for you, too.

"Like I said, I'm planning to stretch a bit, so how far away is that place? Is it within running distance?"

"Not really." The others looked at Shion after she spoke. "... What? I know this town better than you all, and it's not close enough to run to unless you want to keep Aria waiting quite a while."

"Quick way it is, I guess." Makoto took hold of Kain's upper arm and dragged him towards the TV. "So how does this work?"

Summer got up and walked over to them. She picked up the television and slammed it screen-first onto Makoto's head, the machine enveloping her until it Summer brought it to the floor. Makoto was gone, now standing in front of Wisdom. Summer repeated the process on Kain, moving quickly enough that he didn't have time to react to what happened to Makoto until he was already standing next to her at the crater.

"-n of a bitch! Warn me next time!" He heard as he looked around at his surroundings.

"I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to her magic..." After a moment's pause, he looked towards Wisdom. "Uh, hello? It's nice to meet you."

The Would-Be Helpers


@BrokenPromise

When Aria sat up, Kain was the only one who jolted at the surprise. "Aren't they holding the meeting right now?"

As she went on talking to Summer, there was no outward reaction from the blue-haired girl. That is, until the name "Binky" was mentioned, where she visibly jumped slightly. Finally, when Aria finished talking, Summer sat up again. "... It's not that I want to be unique because I want to be proud of it. It's that it's depressing being like me, and I don't want others to go through that." Summer looked up towards the ceiling. "But you're right that a small victory is still a victory, and Binky's right about past experience being important."

"It's probably a good idea to go check out what happened, too."

"Oh, oh! I'll go!" Makoto said while waving her hand in the air. "A lot of this stuff is going over my head anyway, and I don't like the moodiness that's starting to take over here, so I'll go with whoever goes to check on... 'Mac'?"

"I'll go too. It'd be nice to stretch my legs a bit, before the real stuff starts going down."

"Then I'll go as well, I'm not-"

"It's probably best that at least two of you stay here, in case something happens. Don't put all of your own ducks in a row for your enemy's sake, after all." Tay said, secretly glad to be getting Kain away from him.

"That's a good point. If something happens, it'd be useful to have at least one of you here."

The five in the room other than Shion and possibly Aria all looked at Shion, as if they all came to the same conclusion at once.

"... Ugh, fine. I'll stay here with Summer." She looked her brother in the eyes. "If you get hurt, I'll kill you. So come back safely, got it?"

He nodded. "Got it. So where are we actually going?" As he asked this, Morrigan landed on his right shoulder in her raven form.

"You should probably transform while we're here. Otherwise you might get caught off-guard." She offered, speaking directly into his ear at a volume slightly too loud for such a close proximity.

"Good point. 'I am the bone of my sword. Steel is my body and silver is my blood. Through Aurichalcum I'll become a knight to protect the weak.'" As he finished saying the words, his body was wrapped in a bright silver light. By the time it faded, he was notably taller and in his magical form.

"I'd do mine too, but, uh... You know. Monster-girl and all that." She looked over at Aria. "Are we going the quick way or the fun way?"
The Would-Be... Helpers?


Summer blinked. "Why do I have the feeling something terrible just happened. No, no, this is worse than terrible, there isn't a word for how bad this feels. It's like I missed something integral to my survival by forgetting it under the couch. Or like the feeling of remembering something embarrassing you did when you were younger but times one-thousand. What the hell just happened?"

"What do you mean? What-"

"I swear, if you ask me 'what happened' after I just said that I don't know what happened, I'll slit your throat."

"... Fair enough."

"Hey, that 'A's in every stat' girl is getting hurt pretty bad. That's... reassuring, right?"

Everyone turned to look at their resident "explain things to us like we're idiots" girl, and then to their other when they realized that Summer had stopped paying attention and was looking at her phone. But when they went to speak up...

"Aria, do you have any id-"

"Hey, hey, hey." Summer began, breaking out a new gravitas in her voice she'd not used in present company. "Shut up." She began holding her phone to her ear, though no sound seemed to come from it. It took a while, but finally she set it down, and sat down on the floor with her legs crossed and head in her hands. "Damnit..."

Tay, being the only one there with no subtlety or class, was the one to break the silence. "Alright, what happened?"

After several long seconds, and with a deep sigh, Summer finally said what she'd been thinking. "I thought, when I first heard Shion's story, that bringing her brother back was a good idea. 'Kicked out of the cycle of reincarnation, bring him back and on top of it, end the situation with Patrons,' I was told was the plan. And I guess it was the plan, even. So I gave her my ruby coin and the best hopes I could give her that she would succeed. But I ended up actually joining this little group because I thought it could end the cycle of F̵̫̱̏͗*̶͖̪̀@̸͈͔̒^̶̳͎̆͝!̸͔̙̐$̷̦̯͠#̶̦͇̔ that we're stuck in." The others grimaced at the strange sound she somehow made. "Then I find out that we're not strong enough to do that without the ̸̫͖̿w̵̳̆*̷̰̇̈^̸̝̤̏̃0̶̘͍̿̕(̶̧͌$̸̣̅̕' help, regardless of all the time, planning, and resources that went into it. Because we didn't have that one thing, not only could we barely do what Shion personally wanted, but we couldn't do what Makoto and Shiki wanted, and we absolutely couldn't bring out what I wanted. And now, only now, after failing at that, do I find out that I'm not even really that irregular. That my curse isn't unique, which it's appalling that others have to go through this garbage, but that there are those trying to obtain it, too. Why would people want this? I-..." She drew in a shuddering breath.

"Anyway. The point is that my dream of living without those things is apparently the only thing out of the ordinary, not the knowledge of them. Which doesn't make any sense to me why others aren't even trying to fight, but... It sounds like even if we had done what we set out to do, that I had done what I set out to do by helping you all, it wouldn't have been enough. I guess 'there's always a bigger fish' is just... true."

"Summer, what the hell are you talking about?"

The blue-haired girl shrugged. "Don't worry about it, I guess. Just... You're probably better off not knowing. I'm going to lie down for a bit, wake me up if something happens." she said, gesturing to the television and jumping onto the bed in the room.
The Would-Be Watchers


Summer turned to Aria and gave a slight wave. "Nice to see you again, I'll be sure not to mind you, Aria."

"Oh, hey, Aria!" Makoto said with a much more enthusiastic wave, now that she knew who had entered the room.

Cutting off her brother's soon to be asked question, Shion spoke up. "She's the one who made the mana collectors that- ... Wait a second." She began counting on her fingers for some reason unknown to the others.

Just as greetings were finished, a new magical girl appeared on the screen.

"Damnit to hell..." Summer managed before the girl, Nefer, threw an artifact into the air and the screen went to static.

"What just happened?"

"Some bitch just cut off all scrying in that area. Which unfortunately means that we're clueless for the moment. Though I'd guess that she's giving the actually useful advice. Figures that the message wasn't understood. Which is fair, we had a low chance of that in the first place. Still..." Summer trailed off as she stared at nothing. "Not super someone we want to fight, so I guess we're SOL."

"So now's the time to go there ourselves, ri-"

"Better question," Makoto interrupted, "How is an artifact stopping your magic, whole-stop?"

Summer muttered something under her breath before speaking up. "I'll probably be able to figure out what was said later through context clues, but that's not exactly helpful at the moment. No point scrying over spilt milk."

Shion groaned at the pun while Makoto grinned. "So what's our plan now?"

Silence enveloped the room as those in it were at a loss of what to say.

Tay, the Puchuu, was the one to break the silence after a few moments. "Let's be totally honest here. Do we need a plan? You three wasted so much magic on a pipe-dream, and everyone else has grown so powerful that you have no chance of victory against them. If you can't beat them, what help will you be to them?" The creature looked towards Kain. "You were impressive, in your heyday, but that time's long past. There's-"

"Shut the hell up!" Kain shouted as he stood. "Who cares about that!? If we don't fight, people are going to die! Even if we don't make it, we get to come back at some point! There's no telling what can tip the scales of a war, so don't act like we've already lost!"

"Kain..."

"That's right! So what if we're outmatched? There's gotta be something we can do to help!"

"I hate to agree with the digimon reject, but he's right. How do I put this in terms you'll understand?" Summer thought for a moment. "Okay, so. It's like we're in the UBW route, right?"

"That's not a good sign."

"And we've just lost Archer and Saber to Caster. Except Shirou actually was in a better position, because he was the main character. Or to put it another way," She reached into her Hammerspace Bag and pulled out a large whiteboard and a few markers, making a childlike drawing of a blonde girl as a stick figure. She then wrote several letters next to her before moving to the other side of the whiteboard and drawing a grey, hulking figure in lifelike detail, next to which she wrote several other letters. "Makoto and Shion are like... Rider. Good, really good, makes a human look like an ant, right? She then spun the whiteboard over to the blonde. "Me and Kain, we're like Saber. Really durable and really lucky, respectively. A's in those stats." She then flipped back to the lifelike grey man. "There's this chick out there, who... one sec."

Summer grabbed the remote for the television and clicked a button, turning the screen from static to one that showed a vehicle crashing into a magical girl. "This girl." she said as she went back to the whiteboard. "She's like Berserker. A's in every stat. And they," she gestured at the screen, "are the side characters. The 'ones who are more important in a different route.' Everyone has invested their magic in themselves, and we... We didn't do that." Summer trailed off. "We have little to no chance if we have to fight her, and we probably won't even have to. We will probably be fighting even stronger people, so-"

"Who gives a shit about that!?" The siblings in the room shouted, before looking at each other and nodding in approval.

"We still have to try! Shirou didn't give up just because he fought a superior opponent, and I won't either!"

"That's right. We have something to fight for, and that's more important than whatever stats you think we have."

"Heh. Sounds like you have your answer, Puchuu."

Ko nodded as well, turning towards her mentor torturer tutor management fellow Puchuu. "That's right. The human heart is the most powerful thing there is. That's why we bet so much on it. That's why we reach out to them to fight the darkness of the worlds. Even if I don't fully get what they're talking about, even if I don't know what the source of their convictions is, and even if I don't really understand them, I believe in the power of the human spirit. As long as we don't give up, the battle isn't over. The fight doesn't end until someone gives up, and I know that they aren't going to do that anytime soon."

The other Puchuu only sighed. "Couldn't you have at least sent a clone of yourself to the park in case of something like this?" Tay pointedly asked Shion.

"Admittedly, that probably would have been a good idea. But it's not like I made a lot of friends in Penrose. I doubt they'd have taken kindly to it, or to my copy streaming the conference on her phone."

Morrigan spoke up. "I could go. I'm quite quick, we wouldn't miss too much of the conversation."

"I don't want to risk your safety like that." Kain quickly replied.

The raven girl hesitated a moment, but ultimately acquiesced to her partner's position.

"Besides, there's a good chance we've already missed something crucial. Might as well just stay on this channel." Summer said as the screen showed Mac rip off the bumper of the truck she was just hit by.

We are so screwed.
The Would-Be Unionizers



"Are we really just going to sit here and-"

"Yes, yes we are. Nobody there knows any of us very well, except Makoto, and that's as an enemy. Alicia might recognize me, but it's not like I did a lot for Beacon. We're out of our depth if we show up, and that's just going to make things more complicated."

"I wonder why nobody's suggesting the Overcity. That seems like a good idea, doesn't it?"

"I think they're already at a 'too many cooks' situation. Which is part of why we should stay here, right?"

"Exactly." Somehow, it seemed that Summer had become the leader of this little group.

"How long is it before the attack happens?" Ko asked, to which Summer simply shrugged.

After a pause, Kain looked towards Makoto and asked, "How much mana do you guys still have after all that?"

"Not much. Why? Looking for another miracle?"

"Well, it's just... What if they pulled a Karakura Town on Penrose?"

Shion gasped and pounded her fist into her other palm. "That would be really useful, actually! But I doubt we have the resources for it."

"Okay, clearly I'm out of the loop. What does that actually mean?"

"It means replacing the town with a fake one, in the same place, right overtop of it. Leaving the town as it is and putting a fake one in the same space so it can't be damaged, and nobody in the real one can be hurt."

...

"Wait, weren't you going to name the Paradox Orb the 'Hogyoku' at one point? How do you not know what happened to Karakura Town?"

"I'm the one who wanted to call it that. She doesn't know anything about it."

"O-oi... You don't have to say it like I'm dumb or something."

"So do we go and tell them that idea, or do we just wait and see what they do?"

Summer put her hand on her chin in thought. "... Alright, I have an idea. Let's see if any of them know the reference, yeah?" she said before grabbing a piece of paper and writing the words "Karakura Town - Important Spirit Zone" in a black permanent marker.

"Alright, I'll bite. What's the point of writing it down? Are you going to have someone deliver it?"

"Huh? Oh, right, you don't know about my magic yet." Summer replied as she folded the paper into the shape of a Boeing-747, adding more and more paper as she did until it was a nigh-perfect replica.

Kain was stunned as he saw her origami vehicle. "How did you do that? That's not-"

"Supposed to be possible, yes, I know." Summer interjected before he could finish. She went to the window and set it on the ledge before bringing out a lighter and lighting the engines, causing it to roar to life and fly out into the air, heading towards Penrose Park. She didn't know if anyone there would understand the message, and she didn't really care, on a personal level. She wasn't one of Penrose's defenders, not really. It wasn't up to her to save the world. She'd already failed at that, so all she could do is put her faith in the ones who were still trying their best.

Expect messages like the rainbow for a while.


While Suzi wondered where her newfound friend was, Kudamon was slowly recovering from the earlier (or was it now the later?) battle. Despite there being no sign of the viruses that had attacked before, there was also no sign of Clockmon or Meramon, nor of the other humans that had been there. It seemed that Clockmon had been telling the truth about only being able to send back three of them and their partners. But if things were different this time around, would they even end up meeting again?

Aki's minor battle experience alongside Ciel.exe had unlocked a new ability, her Synchro Meter. A system she was probably familiar with as a Megaman Battle Network fan, it was likely that increasing it would prove useful, if she could manage to do so. In her daze, she didn't think to count the bootleg purple chip she had as part of her collection, nor the Capture Chips or Actualization Chip that she had in her possession as well.

Octavia, now mindful of the possibility that this world could handle time travel, was the closest to the boy in the girls' sight. Still just under five hundred meters away from him, it was her Expanse Caller that alerted her to his ownership of one.

"New Expanse Caller located." came from her own in her voice. It seemed that it had already registered Aki and Suzi's Callers, somehow. Similarly, Daniel's spoke up with the same message in his voice. Just as it did, his partners seemed to wake up fully, as if they were shrugging off dizziness. The two stuck in his vision smiled at him; they didn't know much more about the situation than he did, but they knew that he was their partner, and that together they could handle anything. Though, without having been in a battle, Roll's Synchro Meter was not yet unlocked.

While things seemed to still be peaceful, there was a cool breeze that blew through the area. If the three girls had gone back in time, where were the viruses? And why was it not as hot as when they had first arrived? From where Danny stood, he could see a few buildings in the far distance, much farther away than the apparent radio tower where the girls stood, and not visible from where they were either.


The four magi, two puchuu, and one raven sat around the room of the Golden Trove. There was silence for the sake of Summer's concentration on her divination. Everything seemed to be going well when an alert sounded on all four of their phones.

"Looks like Lily's sent out a rallying cry." Makoto said, commenting on the message.

"And we're part of the cavalry?"

Summer stopped what she was doing and sat up to her full, very short sitting height. "That's about the best we can hope for, yes. And, well... Did you know that I've only been in one fight since coming to Penrose?

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Are you familiar with... the Worf effect?"

Shion facepalmed. "Look, I know you think this is all some kind of story, but do you really think you're going to get ganked by these Wonderland guys?"

"Look, all I'm saying is, be prepared for the very real possibility of them steamrolling any one of us. Stick together if you can, or with the others who show up to fight them."

"Well, my token is still in the park, where we're supposed to meet up anyway. Funny how she ended up choosing the same rallying point we wanted."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, for some reason, people want this city."

"Too bad we lost all our equipment. Magical Girls fighting each other is a great source of mana and all that. Better than coins, if you can collect it."

"So we're just waiting here until the fighting starts? That's not especially-"

Summer waved her hand back and forth, dismissing Kain's remark before he could finish. "Makoto's mark is literally there for her to Big Damn Hero her way into a situation. We'll tail onto that and show up in the nick of time, before inevitably getting our asses kicked. At least, with our luck," she nodded at Kain, "not counting the silver golden boy over there, that is."

"Don't be such a downer! We'll show up when the fighting starts, hopefully have the element of surprise on our side, kick some ass, and then we can relax a while. Take a well deserved vacation after all the work that went into the Paradox Orb, even if it failed."

"I suppose that makes sense. It just doesn't feel right to go into a fight without a proper declaration of intent."

"Chivalry is dead. Besides, this isn't an anime, bro. Our lives are on the line, we can't be worried about that kind of thing."

"You're right, but that doesn't change the way I feel about it."

Summer walked over to the television in the room and whacked it once, imbuing it with magic. The screen flickered to life to show Penrose Park, giving the group a good view of the area that the meetings would take place in. All that was left to do was wait.

---

Looks like they're having quite the adventure. Let's turn the page and see what they do next.
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