Flamelord

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

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Sometimes, ruling did have their own sort of unsavoury things and awkward bed partners. It had been a while since Penny had decided to make her an important person in her cabinet. Of course, the memories of both the Mariette raid and the subsequent attack were fresh. Above all, Dina was becoming painfully more aware and aware that Cindy’s demise had not been the opportunity she had once hoped to be.

It had been a very dire warning. One that made her rethink the whole status quo of the city.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing“ Dina said, she sipped her iced tea on one of the still shops that like weeds, still stubbornly surviving in the near empty city. This reeked of a warzone to her memories, albeit one of a shadow war. While her appearance as a monster girl was not usually a concern, she had taken extra care to make an effort and appear as a human girl this time.

“Well, we’re not exactly men, but we must give it a shot I think.” Dina said, as she awaited. She had pulled this unlikely information out of the Queen herself. And the first time they saw each other, they were on opposing sides.

And yet, they had almost reached a compromise. She had felt bad things had fallen through. And Mariette, as bound as she had been bound to help her, had a terrible master who had actually tricked the well-meaning but utterly clueless Beach Guardian in a conflict that had been Anathema to it all.

So, it was time for a chat in neutral territory. With Alicia. She had laid some groundwork, but she did not fully expect her to show up.

it was interesting, Alicia noted to herself as she walked down sparsely populated streets. She was used to being contacted by Penny, but being told that there was someone in the Sanctuary who might want to speak with her was a bit more unusual. That it had actually happened even stranger still. From what she’d been told, the two groups rarely found reason to intermingle, aside from coincidence.

Dressed in a heavy coat to brace against the cold, Alicia made her way to the cafe that she had been directed to in the message. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure what she intended to accomplish with this. Humor a friend/ Make new allies? Raise the flag? It was all kind of up in the air. So she resolved to be flexible and play things by ear. It was the best way to approach an uncertain situation

at last she arrived at the cafe. It was not hard to figure out who she was here to meet, given there was basically no one else besides employees around. ”Dinah, I assume?” she asked as she took a seat across from the tea sipping girl.

“Indeed.” Dina said as she called the waitress to serve Alicia. “As surprising as it might be, lady Hayden.” The disguised catgirl said. “It’s a change...from how we first met, don’t you think?” She added, offering a small smile.

”Most situations are pretty different from that,” Alicia observed as she glanced at the menu. She settled for some hot chocolate, to balance out the cold that currently afflicted them outside. ”So, what did you want to talk about?’

Dina raised an eyebrow at the choice of the senior Beacon leader, but did not comment further. Trust youths to have a sweet tooth. "Take a look around. What do you think you see?"

Alicia glanced out the window before returning her focus to Dina. ”So, cooperation to get the city back on its feet then? Or is this about the Ascendancy?” Those were the two things that immediately sprang to mind based on the prompt she had been given.

"The second is merely a consequence of the former." Dina said. "This city's future...does not bode well at all. High handed has become the common language… and as such, everything suffers. Both magical and non magical worlds are intertwined like vines." She added. "And a difficult choice is slowly but creeping in. Peace paid in blood, or Justice over ashes."

An eyebrow rose as Dina laid out her view in eloquent language. Still, Alicia did her best to cut through that to the heart of what she was trying to say. ”And which of those do you value most? For those who would disturb the peace must be brought to justice, lest they continue to scheme unchecked.” Like Mariette, or Justine.

Dina said. "It's a terrible choice, indeed… but If I were to say I prefer to bring the former. Scheming is part of any being, and there will be no shortage of schemers. All doctors seek to undo all ailments, but sometimes a triage has to be made."

"Would I ever meet with you if I did not think that sometimes It's better the evil you know, as they say?"

”I see.” Alicia did her best to overlook the fact that she was being described as an ‘evil’ in the first place, albeit a lesser one. ”I take it that’s why you chose to join in the defense of Mariette the last time that we met? She is one of the more egregious schemers after all.”

Dina's lips curled in a slight frown. "My patron was not the smartest tool in the shed. He was tricked in believing it so. And I honour commitments. Nevertheless, Dan has taken one of Mariette's most powerful artifacts and locked it down until she behaves. Trickery comes at a price."

An eyebrow rose as Alicia took in what Dina had said. She recalled Janet mentioning something like that, though those details had been from a different perspective. Interesting to know, though perhaps not that helpful at present. At least she knew a bit more than she had before.

For now she left that behind, to approach the actual details of this plan. ”So how did you intend to go about creating this peace? Some sort of conference of big factions, or playing middleman to keep people from taking shots at each other.” Even if Beacon agreed after all, one would still have to convince everyone else who might ruin that peace.

"That would be ideal yes, but not all factions care about reputation in that way to work… unlike real world state affairs." Dina said. "We cannot be at peace… but we can scale things down to a cold war."

Her gaze became unfocused for a brief moment. Those words brought bad memories. "Standoffish attitude is already taken care of, unfortunately. We need a sort of Red Phone to avoid escalation."

"Like Mariette calling friends, Justine calling allies… What was a feud between two magical girls dragged half of Penrose with it. I am sure you did notice."

Dina then looked at the rest of the cafe, and the lack of crowds."I am not sure how many of these escalations this otherwise industrious city can take, If I am being honest with you."

”Yes, I noticed,” Alicia replied, verging on a grumble without entirely expressing that exasperation. So she could see what Dina was going for. That said, it was not necessarily a foolproof decision. ”That only worked because of the threat of mutually assured destruction. There is no verifiable way to claim that the destruction of Penrose is assured, aside from personal feelings. And there’s enough people who don’t respect Mint or Beacon that a ‘Red phone’ would only be of limited use. Unless i’m misunderstanding what you’re aiming for.”

“The scale of it, mainly. We need to round up as many pragmatic people as we can across factions, and get them in touch. It’s true that there’s no shortage of rash individuals.” She placed the teacup on the saucer dainty, with a small clatter. “People like you are far rarer.”

“We have had attempts to reach out in the past… but how do I say, they seemed as if they were meant to appease someone’s conscience rather than actually helping a fellow. They did lack the weight of commanding.” She stared at the Beacon girl.

“I was that hydra, you know.” She then promptly revealed.

Alicia barely reacted as Dina revealed the other role she had played in the last fight. ”So you were,” she answered, her tone measured and calm. It wasn’t as if that hydra had fought her, and it only played a small part in her general frustration with the event.

For now, she did her best to move on. ”Regardless, I am open to the idea. If you can provide proof that it will work as you hope it will.” She had been led astray by words before. She would be a fool if she let it happen again.

Dina sighed. "If i was able to produce proof beyond doubt, would I even be talking to you and not your superior?" The catgirl said. "Fortunately, It is not as the world will end tomorrow. I may be able to gather some good will in the meantime." She paused. "I heard that there was a nasty attack on the Cardinal. How is she?"

While Dina pointed out the fairly obvious, Alicia found it hard to be sympathetic. After all, her weight was only really good with the Sanctuary, and if that were a problem then Dina wouldn’t be here. ”Well then, let me know if you make any progressOur word may not be all that much in bringing people on board.”

Sipping her drink, Alicia turned to the matter of the Cardinal. ”On the mend. Things were tense for a bit there, but she was able to pull it out with some help.” Luckily for everyone involved. Otherwise there would have been no check on Rachel’s authority

"Hmm, less bloodshed. That is… good." Dina said. She then pulled a pen and some paper from her purse, and began scribbling in exquisite penmanship, before she handed the paper to Alicia. "My contact details." She added.

Alicia took the paper, glancing at it before slipping it into a coat pocket. ”Do you want mine?” she asked, more out of courtesy than anything. After all, Penny had her number, so Dina could always just ask her if it was needed.

“I could use it. Her highness it’s not a phone company… I mean, she might as well be, but that is beside the point.” Dina said, tilting her head.

Nodding, Alicia picked up a nearby napkin and jotted her number down on it. Once finished, she passed it over to Dina. ”There. Now you can skip the help line.”

“Brilliant.” Dina said, offering a smile. If her ears and tail were out, her tail would be stiff and up like a pole. “Here is some little extra. From Saladin to Richard.” Dina added as she pulled a small bag, with a glittering substance. “Some fairy dust. I could get some unicorn horn if need be. For your leader.” She added.

It took Alicia a moment to figure out what reference Dina was making, partially because she wasn’t that old and partially because the normal school system didn’t go that deep into the crusades unless you were taking a particular class. But once she’d figured it out she would nod and take the offered bag. She didn’t imagine it would be needed, but it would be rude to refuse.

”Thank you, but this should be alright,” she assured Dina. ”I’m afraid I didn’t bring anything for you though.” she might need to start doing that in the future, if these sorts of diplomatic meetings were to become more common.

“Your presence is a good enough gift.” Dina stated. “I do like these sorts of meetings… unlike most girls with my condition. Mine is surprisingly much more manageable.” The catgirl said. “I’d love to stay and enjoy more company, but I am afraid we might be accused of colluding.” Dina said, waiving the waitress for the bill.

””Fair enough,’ Alicia agreed with a shrug. That was probably more of a problem for Dina than herself. It wasn’t as if she had not dealt with those sorts of accusations before. ”I’ll look forward to your next message then. I hope you find success in your project.”

“Be well, this city needs you.” Dina said, as she paid the expenses, before draping her skirt in a curtsy and leaving with measured steps.

Alicia observed Dina leave, taking some time to finish her hot chocolate before she considered doing the same. ”No pressure,” she muttered, with the hint of a smile to accompany it. It seemed there was still plenty going on these days.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Yet Another Escort Mission

Starring: ‘Kill Bill’ Ronin
"Yakuza series protagonist" Sakura

A foot tapped against concrete, a hand adjusted glasses as they fogged from the mixture of cold air and warm breath. The brick wall supporting her back sent chills along her spine, but that was not a discomfort for the girl. There were worse things to deal with than cold weather.

Once more blue eyes swept the square as Lysandra searched for any sign of the girls she had agreed to meet with. She would have preferred to convene in the Overcity, but apparently her companions did not naturally have access to that dimension like she did, so they would meet here first before going there together.

A sigh escaped as she glanced at her watch before once more sweeping the area, trying to recall what she knew of the girls she was meeting with. Ronin, short girl, black hair, one of those ‘for hire’ types, though she did seem to have standards beyond simply getting paid as far as their interactions had indicated. Then there was Sakura. Light hair, a brawler, the sort who didn’t waste time in small talk but who also sounded like she’d been a sailor in a previous life.

Hopefully they were up for the task ahead.

For now, Lysandra continued waiting. She’d give them another half hour before moving. As it was though, her magic tended to make her...easy to overlook. She might have to approach them first, so she’d keep her eyes peeled for their arrival just in case.

Sakura arrived in full regalia, the pink motorbike stopping with a skillful skid mere inches away from Lysandra, her eyes scanning the other magical girl before smiling softly, running a hand through her unfortunately always gorgeous hair as she stood in front of Lysandra. She was a bit of a gray character, but Sakura was sharp.

"Fucking traffic motherfuckers."

If there was any illusion of cuteness it was promptly ruined.

"You the Lee Sanders girl?"

At some point within the time-limit, a girl in a samurai-inspired state of dress dropped out of the sky as she'd been practicing her “running in mid-air technique on the way, grinning as she did a perfect “bent knees” landing. ‘Ronin has arrived!’ the visually seven-year-old called excitedly.

‘Now, where is- Oh…!’ she sounded out, looking around and suddenly fixating on Sakura…’s bike. Ronin promptly jumped over, eyes beaming. ‘Oh, man, that's a sweet ride, both in senses of the word! I'd have wanted one for myself, but it might clash with my aesthetic. Teh-heh, Motorcycle Ronin. That's a TV-series just waiting to happen~’ Ronin said with a grin, now giving room for replies.

Lysandra’s gaze narrowed for a moment as Sakura approached and made her introduction. Though she did not say as much, she was clearly not impressed. “I am,” she replied with a curt nod. “But we’re waiting for one more. Then we can get down to business.”

Fortunately Ronin did not take much longer past that. Admittedly she did fixate on the bike first, but that was fine. She seemed a bit more professional at first impression. “Hello,” she said to Ronin before looking between the two magical girls who would serve as her escort on this trek. “Thank you for agreeing to my contract.”

Sakura tilted her eyes, and then eyed the newcomer with a raised eyebrow, before beginning to speak in a different language, Japanese. <<”You know, you look more like shinobi than Ronin. Where’s your armor. And why the flashy jump? Disgraceful”>> She said addressing Ronin.

“Heh, don’t mention it, Lee.” She quickly switched to address her employer. “So how many fools do we need to turn into burgers?”

Ronin froze up when the bike-rider spoke to her in what she definitely absolutely recognized as Japanese. That didn’t help the fact that she had no idea what Sakura had just said. Oh, shit, it’s the real thing.

Fortunately, Sakura had turned to speak with… “Lee”? Oh, well, anyway!

‘No problem! And, heh, more than turning others into burgers, we’re to prevent HER from becoming a burger! Anyway, hello! So, what will we be doing in the Overcity?’ Ronin asked, smiling happily, inwardly panicking about being revealed to the authentic Japanese to be the pretender she was.

Sakura’s eyes narrowed, upon seeing the reaction. “Oi, you would not be one of those gaijin pretenders who just slap ninja, samurai and ronin just to look cool?” The pink-haired girl quickly switched to english as she bore a hole in Ronin’s head with her glare.

Ronin positively winced. ‘Noooooo, that’s not it! I just picked a suitable moniker for my appearance!’ the tinier girl waved her hands in panic. ‘Look, I didn’t even realize I was picking my Magical Girl appearance at the time! Call it a homage! A sign of admiration! Samurai are cool, and I wanted to be one that moment! Sure, I might not be the most authentic real deal around, but I’m stuck like this, so I just had to go all out with the theme, you know!?’ Ronin explained, starting to grin happily half-way through her defense. ‘I’ll happily take pointers…!’

"You know, if you want to behave like samurai you have to err… act all serious all the time, face opponents head on… also prune bonsais. Bonsais are important." Sakura said, folding her arms. The junior wanted pointers. She would happily give em. Even if she only had a few pointers from drama movies. " I will make a man out of you, girl!"

Ronin’s eyes widened as this girl, that except for knowing Japanese she really had no proof of actually knowing what she was talking about was talking being serious and, huh, pruning trees. ‘I-I’m not sure I’m cut out for acting serious…!’ Ronin replied, grinning once again. Still, seemed like she was gonna give her pointers, and it seemed too fun not to play along, so Ronin happily saluted (no matter how inappropriate the gesture may be). ‘Yes, sir! I mean, sensei!’

Somewhat overshadowed by the talk of Samurai and etiquette, Lysandra coughed in order to draw their attention back to her rather than their discussion. “Anyway,” she resumed, her fingers no longer drumming on her upper arm. “I don’t know what the opposition looks like yet. We’re retrieving an item known as Vuvoteya’s Shard. The stories I heard claim it was bathed in the energy of several intersecting dimensions at their formation, bestowing it incredible power.” she just wasn’t all that strong herself, which was why she had reached out to them.

‘Oooooh,’ Ronin made a noise of realization. So it wasn’t just a matter of getting Lys from point A to point B. They were DEFINITELY going to be fighting something. ‘Sounds cool! What would you like to do with the shard?’ she asked with a little grin.

Sakura winced so slightly, at the mixup of answers, before looking at Lysandra. “Seems like outta a chinese cultivation novel crap.” She added. “Betcha there’s a bunch of people who want it to become boss.” She added. “Let’s show em who’s boss instead.” The pink-haired vulgar loli grinned. “Yeah, that’s a good question. What are you going to do with it? Super power level up juice? A bonsai ornament? Hmm?”

Pleased to find that they were interested in her work, Lysandra saw no harm in indulging their curiosity. “Study it, for one,” she said as a finger rose to adjust her glasses. “That artifact could further our understanding of the ways dimensions interact and affect each other, as well as the source of magical energy that all beings draw from.” Past that she wasn’t sure, maybe a museum? But one thing at a time for now.

‘Teh-heh, alright. Well! To start with, just as a matter of precaution!’ Ronin said, stepping forward to Lysandra and holding her hands forward on her. She just did a couple of Reinforcement enhancements on her, some typical magic glowing effects taking place… ‘There, that should make you a bit more durable, just in case~’ Ronin said and smiled widely. ‘Alright! Shall we?’

“Hmm, can we fit us three in a motorbike? I mean it’ll be a tight squeeze but we could do it faster…” Sakura pondered.

Lysandra eyed the bike somewhat distrustfully once Ronin was done laying on her wards. “I’m not sure how well that will work on the terrain we may end up in, especially with all three of us.” That, and she was not quite comfortable with Sakura’s demonstrated driving skills when she was going to be a passenger.

“I’m ready to go,” she added, glancing between her escorts. She knew Ronin was ready, but was Sakura?

“Fine, fine we will do a leg workout.” She started walking, without much further prompt.

‘Alright! Then let’s goooo~!’ Ronin called excitedly.

Nodding, Lysandra raised a hand into the air. “By guiding light, the stars shine upon me. Transform!” With that she shifted into her magical girl outfit, which comprised of a purple beret, short cape, and gold studded outfit like one would see in a marching band.

Focusing, the Overcity Shift would take but a moment as she sent the three of them to a point near the walls of the city. Once they had arrived she took the opportunity to orient herself in the exotic locale before gesturing towards a glowing star in the alien sky. “This way,” she told her bodyguards, and soon they were underway. Lyandra moved confidently, only stopping a few times to make sure that they were on track as they went along.

‘Weeeeeeeee! Back here!’ Ronin called at the walls as they appeared in the Overcity. And then… ‘Alright! Onwards!’ Ronin skipped a bit to be in front of Lysandra, just in case, and then headed on towards wherever they were going.

“Hey, what the hell you are doing.” Sakura interjected. “You’re the loli, so you stay back with your eyes peeled, I will take point!” The former yakuza interjected as she one-stepped Ronin, her keen senses scanning for threats.

‘Um,’ Ronin was a little confused about the label, but, eh, sure! She grinned widely and waited a bit to take the rear instead. ‘Okay, sensei!’

Lysandra was silent for the most part, not really caring who was in front as long as it didn’t interfere with their progress. “Size matters less than ability,” was her sole contribution to the discussion at large.

After some time of uneventful walking, they would reach the edge of a deep crevasse. “We’re going down there,” their employer noted, moving to the edge and looking downwards for a viale route. “There’s a cave along the wall that we need to reach. It will lead towards our destination.”

‘Heh, then perhaps I should lead, anyway?’ Ronin skipped forward. ‘I can do a little something like this!’ she said, jumping off the edge, but landing on mid-air, standing on a small barrier, but left enough room for someone to stand next to her. ‘It’s a little tight, though. Hey, Lys, can you fly? Otherwise, I can carry you~!’ Ronin said, spreading her arms to potentially grab onto Lysandra if she felt like obligating.

"Show off." Sakura said, tapping her fingers with arms crossed as she looked at Ronin. "You are making yourself one hell of a target. Wait until there are freaks to pummel. " Sakura said, as she focused and using her Eternal Style, created the frilliest parachutes ever, while grimacing, and handed it over to Lee Sanders.

"This is better."

Looking between the two options presented, Lysandra would admit she was a bit more confident with the platform than with the parachutes. “I haven’t used one of these before,” she noted. “Is it hard?” After all, what would a magical girl need a parachute for?

“Shouldn’t be too hard. Strap and pull. We got the loli’s barriers and healing if need be.” Sakura grinned as she strapped the chute to herself. “But this doesn’t give off as much as a wimey piffey magic smell shit or whatever you call it.”

Ronin grinned a bit. ‘I’ll make sure to catch you~’ she said, before skipping down to the cave, somewhat assuming Sakura would be able to get there safely, but she’d make sure to catch Lysandra if she failed, heh.

Shrugging the parachute on, Lysandra would look over the thing one more time before taking a strong leap out into the chasm. Deploying the parachute went easily enough, and she gently floated downwards to land near the entrance of the cavern that she had mentioned. Fortunately there had not been any complications, their own making or otherwise.

She would wait for Sakura to land as well, before gesturing to the wide cave entrance. “Next we go through there. This should bring us close to the junction point.”

‘Senpai, is your specialization cloth?’ Ronin asked curiously as they were on the way. ‘I’m Reinforcement, as I'm sure gathered already! I make barriers, enhancement and healing and stuff~!’

“Nope, this is just Eternal Style. Since I’m not fond of dresses -stupid ass rat-, I find other uses, kid.” Sakura said confidently, as she created a small gathering of sparks on her hand. “I can zap people.” She paused, before taking point from where Lysandra indicated.

‘Oooh,’ Ronin made a noise of slight amazement. Wonder, could Deni do similar things with her shapeshifting? … She doubted it, as she’s forming her own mass rather than create it out of nothing. Instead, she grinned. ‘Well, guess that regardless we’ll be using my platforms to make a staircase to get up again~!’

Into the cavern they moved, through winding tunnels and down rocky slopes. As they walked along Lysandra would guide them, making sure they did not get lost on split paths or loops. As they progressed further down the rock changed as well, morphing from what one would expect of normal stone to different colors and textures. Some had bumps, others ridges, astill more had spikes protruding from them. In an odd case, they would find a section where part of the wall was not solid at all. Touching it caused ripples to spread across the surface like it was water, but it did not fall to the ground.

Eventually the tunnels widened out into a cavern. Stone spires crisscrossed the inside, leading to different parts of the cave system and deeper beneath the Overcity. “So far, so good,” Lysandra noted as they moved onto the first bridge. “Watch your step.”

‘Watch your step, yes,’ Ronin said with a smirk. ‘I’d fall just a meter before I stopped myself, don’t know if it’d be the same for you~’ she said, but otherwise kept formation of being behind, but regardless kept her wits about as who knows if something might attack them in here?

“I can ride the lightning, chibi.” Sakura said, eyeing Ronin with a glare, and stepping through the bridge with the keen senses of a martial artist, her eyes also scanning for threats on the van of their little formation.

‘You can!? Oh, man, that is so cool, sensei!’ Ronin briefly exclaimed before they kept going.

Lysandra huffed at her bodyguards and their seeming lack of difficulty with this obstacle, though she supposed she could always make an ice slide or something if she had to. But that would not be nearly as comfortable. So they walked on, her watching her step all the way.

Fortunately the ice bridge seemed sturdy enough, and their progress would see little difficulty to the other side. Drawing to the entrance of the next set of caverns, they would hear sounds emanating from beyond. Scratching and growling and other ominous noises emanated from within, though the sources were not in eyeshot just yet. “I think you two are going to earn your keep soon,” Lysandra noted as she moved inside with little sense of fear in her stride.

“Right on.” Sakura said. “Loli, you cover the target. Imma do retcon in force!” Sakura butchered the pronunciation of the word, as she went with a brisk pace, trying to keep herself inconspicuous with her Awareness and Incognito traits.

As directed, Lysandra hung back near the entrance. She had no intention to run into a mob of monsters if she could help it, though depending on how things went she might plunge ahead regardless. She was not a coward, after all.

While Awareness would be a boon, Incognito did not provide the effect that she might hope it would. Initially she would not encounter anything in her plunge down into the depths of the overcity. Merely more tunnels. But the sounds drew nearer all the same. Then they appeared, rat-like beings entering the passageway she was in from the side. They were about the size of a small dog, with sharp teeth, claws, and whipping tails. About five of them ended up emerging in total, snapping and lunging at Sakura. They were hungry, and she looked like a tasty meal. And if her Awareness was not wrong, more were coming too.

‘Alright, sensei!’ Ronin said about covering the target, and then turned to Lysandra. ‘Alright, stick close so I can cover you while I do generic fighting!’ she told her, because Ronin had no intention of sticking by the entrance. Then, Ronin also started going inside, albeit a bit after Sakura as to let her take the first blow so Ronin could stay back and cover Lysandra if so needed.

‘Woo, rats! They’re like, half-way to Skaven! You got this, sensei?’ Ronin asked loudly, stopping a bit to see how Sakura dealt with them but also with a hand on her sheathed sword in case any came her or Lysandra’s way, so she might cut them through.

Sakura raised her eyebrow at the animals. Any other girl would have been grossed out, but not the former Yakuza. She instead grinned back and bared her teeth, in an aggressive smile. She could smell a fight. They thought she was the meal. But vermin like these should be taught their places. Adopting a fighting stance, she eyed the animals…

And then she burst forth like lightning, sparks on her fists as she relentlessly targeted the weak points of the rats with her own hands. Eyes. Snout. Neck. Soft abdomen. Everything was fair game to her.

The rats charged in, heedless to the danger as Sakura struck. Her fighting style was well suited for rapid combat, and she cut a swathe through the attacking monsters. Bones were smashed, claws slashed, and she defended her charge.

Yet just as her Awareness had indicated, more monsters showed up to replenish the ranks of the fallen. Their weight became that much harder to resist, and some would seek to slip past Sakura and attack the two girls behind her.

Taking a step back, Lysandra glanced around at their surroundings as she calculated in her head. It was looking like they might be in need of a backup plan. But what to do from here…

‘Heh, if it’s just these…’ Ronin grinned, before darting forward and drawing her sword to slice, while a barrier formed to block other rats from approaching. Then she’d dart around, kicking a barrier in mid-air to launch herself to the next rat, having some barriers handy to make sure they didn’t get past her. If they were just “some”, Ronin should be able to handle them easily enough. ‘I can handle those that slip by, sensei!’ Ronin claimed.

“Annoying shitbags…” Sakura muttered, as she concentrated and performed a change of tactics. Fighting on fists and kicks alone wasn’t feasible, but giving the amount of crowded rats it would bring forth other tactics. Being that crowded, they would be vulnerable to lightning blasts, as she quickly switched from punching to zapping the creatures.

Lysandra would be forced to admit that they had perhaps underestimated the duo. They dealt with the rats quite handily, working in tandem with each other and their magic to block the rats and keep them hemmed in for Ronin’s blade and Sakura’s lightning blasts. Soon the last one fell, the smell of charred meat filling the air at the same time.

“Good work,” she told them as she stepped forward. There was a bit of urgency in her step though, as they would be able to hear other things appearing, some from behind them as well. “We should be going before we get stuck here all day. The chamber shouldn’t be far.”

‘Phew. Sensei, we're awesome!’ Ronin called about their latest achievement, dead rats all around. Lysandra urged them to move on… ‘Alright! Then let's go!’ Ronin excitedly called, skipping onwards on the way.

Sakura for her part, was sporting a vicious grin, as she received each scream of the critters with delight, the awful smell of charred flesh being somewhat rewarding. Yes, nothing like the smell of charred vermin and the thick of battle to keep one alive. Lee Sanders and the excitable loli’s words woke her up from her ever increasing rapture, as she narrowed her eyes at the even more giddy Ronin.

“Save that for when we’re done with the mission. Stay sharp. This is never this easy.” Sakura said curtly. “You’re the barrier loli. Stick to the lady Sanders. I will take point” She added, as she overtook Ronin to keep doing recon-in-force, grumbling somewhat she had run out of targets this quickly.

Onwards they moved, passing through yet more tunnels. Lysandra remained resolute in her pathfinding, head held high as they made their way onwards to the junction point. There were no more rats to bother them, leaving the only danger as their attitude towards each other. Lysandra did her best to bear with it, pushed onward by the promise of the reward she was seeking.

Rocks shifted and twisted, shimmering with alien patterns and colors. Little waving roots sprang from the ground below their feet, shrinking as they passed by only to spring to life once more. The feeling of magical energy grew more palpable, even for those who might not be attuned to such sensations. This was a place of power.

Yet for all her plans, there were some things she could not predict. It was hard to notice at first, a slight intensifying of the colors that filtered through translucent crystal sections of the walls. There was a shift in the charge that hung in the air. Then the ground began to shake. It grew in power and intensity, throwing Lysandra off balance and causing jagged cracks to appear all around them. The walls, the ceiling, even the beginnings of fissures in the floor.

“Dimensional shift!” Lysandra cried with wide eyes. “Hurry, before we get buried!” sure, maybe they could survive with Barriers and healing, but she would have to give up any chance of reaching their objective. And she was not ready to accept that.

‘ALRIGHT, THEN!’ Ronin called out upon Lysandra’s command of hurrying, and quickly yanked up their charge into her arms so that the tiny samurai carried her, then skipped up on a mid-air platform as to be unaffected by the shaking and fissures, and then finally dashed ahead on a series of small platforms towards their destination. She assumed sensei could handle herself. She was awesome, after all.

"Fuck" Sakura muttered as she concentrated briefly, focusing as much lightning as she could on her tiny legs to dash forward leaving a trail of sparks on her way. She combined it with her knowledge of wall running to her maximum effect.

While Ronin would gain her and her charge safety, it was only temporary. Shards began to crumble and fall from the ceiling at varying speeds, as if it defiance of the normal laws of gravity. Jagged spikes suddenly shot into the air at any time and at any angle, forcing her to course correct quickly.

Meanwhile the fissures shifted as well. Some grew in size, glowing light issuing from deep inside them. Others snapped shut after a few moments for no discernible reason at all. But that was not the only hazard Sakura would have to deal with. A rumble filled the air as the tunnel began to shift and buckle wholesale. Some pulled away, creating larger dips, while other portions moved to close and make the tunnel impassable. The latter was of a greater concern as they continued their flight. Hopefully Lysandra’s escorts could keep up with the sudden and erratic changes occurring around them.

Ronin made quick course-corrections, but the fact was, Sakura was much more agile than she was. She made a quick assessment.

‘Sensei, I’ll hold onto you and Lys, run on my platforms!’ she called, spreading her mid-air platform for Sakura to potentially jump up on, with the intention that she’d adjust so she held Lysandra in one arm and grab onto Sakura with the other, and then she’d make Reinforcement barriers for Sakura to run on so the way faster Magical Girl could carry them safely forward!

Sakura, for the most part, made a clicking sound and put all of her senses and martial arts training to work, dodging and deflecting as best as she could, while keeping her arms and legs charged with lightning. “This might pull a little.” She said, gripping both Lysandra and Ronin with as much force as she could and then pulling like there was no tomorrow, her feet becoming hot with lightning as she tried to plow through the landscape as if Ronin and Lysandra were just a couple of training weights.

“C-Careful!” Lysandra yelped as Sakura grabbed on to her and then pulled both magical girls forward like so much dead weight. Which would have been more fair if they were, in fact, dead weight. Unfortunately Lysandra did not quite fit that description, and she was left yelling and twisting as they ran along to try and dodge an unfortunate end.

Still, the haste was warranted. Things only grew more intense and volatile around them, rocks crashing together and pelting them with sharp fragments from near misses. Blasts of energy crackled through the gaps, adding to the chaotic destruction that occurred around the trio. It might be easier for Sakura to handle, but being dragged meant that both Lysandra and Ronin would suffer several close call.

Eventually it was too much. The tunnel slammed together behind them, dimensions crashing together with forces immeasurable to the human mind as the boundaries of realities reshaped themselves. In more practical terms this manifested itself in a massive shockwave, one that would catch the fleeing trio and shoot them forward like a rocket along with a bunch of rock and crystal and the like. Despite Sakura’s best efforts, she would not be able to hold on to the other two as they were all tossed about in the blast wave. They would be ejected from the tunnel into a large cavern at the end, where hopefully their prize waited. If they weren’t crushed by everything else flying and landing along with them, anyway.

Ronin did her best to hold onto Lysandra as well as they ran, keeping reinforcement magic working on her to keep her protected from damage as good as she could. Then, when things crashed together and Sakura couldn’t hold onto them, it was up to Ronin to keep Lysandra safe. If she too had lost grip of her she’d spin and kick, a barrier manifesting as a platform to let Ronin propel herself so she could catch the one they were to protect. Then, she spun so her legs could step on a barrier slightly angled from the direction they were coming from. If this succeeded, she’d create more barrier to create a weak but workable slide that was going to periodically slow them down, periodically turning away from the direction they were heading to slow down their impact speed.

If that succeeded and they came to a stop, Ronin’s next job was simply to establish a new barrier that was as strong as her low magic could make to block any debris from crashing into them, and dodge out of the way if she figures it won’t be enough.

Sakura, cursed under her breath as the swerves made her go off course, trying to break her landing and succeeding in some measure, as she managed to twist and turn and avoid massive damage.

Until she noticed she was essentially ass up, and like everything on her magical girl kit, her private cloths were a cutesy pink.

The group went flying through the air, Lysandra flailing as she combatted her sudden disorientation. Her hold was temporarily lost, but with quick thinking and deft feet Ronin would catch her before she fell too far away. That was just in time for them to exit into the larger chamber.

Unlike before, Lysandra finally made herself useful. She augmented Ronin’s barriers with her own magic, using Ice magic to create a much more functional slide than the barriers alone would have. They’d end up feeling a chill, but the solid fall was translated into more of a tumble along the ground by the time they came out of it. That left the rocks, pummeling the barrier for a few seconds until tentacles lashed out to aid in the defense.

Then in the blink of an eye it was over.

Rising to her feet, Lysandra looked away from Ronin with a blush. “Apologies. You weren’t meant to see that,” she muttered as she shifted back to her feet. It seemed she was sensitive about some aspects of her powers. Once back on her feet, she pointedly ignored Sakura to instead look around their surroundings.

Ronin grinned at her. ‘It’s cool! Just as long as you’re not using them for the Japanese purpose, it’s cool!’ She knew tentacles were a relatively common power, after all. She skipped up to follow. ‘Hey, sensei! Save that for when there’s a boy around!’ she 100% joked.

The walls of the cavern shimmered, a mixture of ice and crystal and stone and unknown materials, all fused together and clashing from the pressure of the dimensions around this space. It was of a moderate size, with large arches and a central pillar over uneven ground. Given what they had just experienced, it stood to reason that things could shift at a moments notice. And in the middle of that central pillar, a glowing object that shone too bright to see and illuminated the entire cavern with its radiance. Though light did glimmer through the surrounding walls too.

Lysandra froze, eyes widening as she beheld it. “I think this is it,” she said to her companions, hurrying forward. All that calculating, all that work, her quest seemed to finally be at its end.

‘Nice! Just beware of any final traps!’ Ronin said, hurrying to keep up, because Lysandra by herself could be hurrying into her death somehow.

Sakura for the most part stood silent. Her earlier blunder, and the sudden reveal of tentacles made her a bit weary. It was one thing watching videos, and the other being a protagonist. She eyed her two colleagues as she took notice of Ronin.

“I’ll go first.” She said as she carefully treaded towards it. “You stand back for now.” She said as she kept her eyes peeled for any kind of reaction.

Lysandra hurried forward, too busy to respond to Ronin and oblivious of what Sakura was saying. How could she show caution at a time like this?

After some jumping and running, she reached the pillar. Her gaze rose up as she touched it, deducing the structure of the column, its various physical qualities. She quickly discerned what was going on. “It looks like the resonance between dimensional planes has created a barrier. I’ll need to figure out how to access it.”

It was a task easier said than done as the cavern was rocked with a sudden tremor. Fissures opened up like the ones that they had encountered before, Unlike before though, shimmering monsters began making their way through. They were spectres from other worlds, trapped in the void between dimension and bereft of much of their power and form in this space. Hulking monstrosities, tentacled humanoids, all advancing towards the trio as Lysandra worked.

‘I… guess we’re to protect you while you’re doing that?’ Ronin asked, looking startled at the shimmering monsters on the way through. ‘Whelp, okay, then. Sensei! I’ll guard Lysandra, you can go do damage!’ Ronin figured was a good plan, the Reinforcement girl establishing numerous barriers around while she brandished her sword, intending to stay reasonably close to Lysandra as she was going to use her skill to dodge and cut monsters headed for their charge!

"Alright you fucking uglies." Sakura said as she got ready, her first crackling with Lightning. Since the objective was defense, Sakura did not commit much effort into putting them out of commission, merely striking to get them off Lysandra and moving all around the battlefield to single-out the nearest attackers.

Lysandra focused on the crystal pillar, tapping it, feeling out the vibrations, working out numbers in her head. She didn’t respond to Ronin, so focused was she on the work that she had to do. At least she wasn’t in danger right away. Meanwhile Sakura fought. She would quickly find that physical blows were less effective than magic, owing to the strange ethereal forms the monsters that she fought held. She could blast them back with Lightning, but her fists were more likely to just pass right through. The reverse was not necessarily true, claws slashing and blows flying as more monsters entered the room.

“Okay, I’ve got it,” Lysandra announced. “If I can set up a harmonic resonance to match the frequencies of the dimensions, I can crack open the pillar.” Muttering to herself, she crouched and began assembling some devices from what she had in the pockets of her outfit. It seemed that she would need more time.

‘Oooooooh, darn,’ Ronin said, noting how their enemies were unharmed by physical attacks. That’s basically all she had to work with. Well. It was time for some experimentation. She focused her reinforcement magic on her blade. On the surface of her weapon, she created a barrier that followed the edge of the sword, creating a sharp magical barrier, and infused it with extra magic to not let it break as easily. That meant some of the barriers around Lysandra had to go, but it seemed otherwise Ronin wouldn’t be able to fight. Still, did a barrier on a sword even count as magical?

‘Whelp, only one way to find out!’ Ronin called, leaping at the closest to cut it, only going so far away from Lysandra that she could still get back if any monsters started a mad dash for her.

“Hey, loli samurai, got any of those for my fist? Could use some to channel my lightning.” Sakura said, getting tired of not being able to punch these denizens properly, forcing her to switch to shooting lightning to keep these beings at bay.”

‘If you get over here and let me enhance your fist, then yeah, sure!’ Ronin called, probably somewhat behind Sakura, but yeah.

“On it. Fuck. “ Sakura said, as her scratches stung, and channeled blasts of lightning to suppress the advance of the beasts, to allow Ronin to apply her magic on her.

While the two conversed, Lysandra worked. She had assembled her devices, and was now hammering them into place at various points from the pillar itself. This required the others to shift to protect her as she circled the center, though at least they did not need to defend the devices she was deploying once they were in place. The first finished, she moved on to the next.

Roars filled the air as blasts of lightning flashed and pushed the monsters back. Some of them were dispelled. They sought to close the hole between Sakura and Ronin, to isolate the duo, but Sakura was able to prevent that. Though she would need to act fast. One of the more feral and misshapen creatures leapt at Ronin with wicked, serrated claws, while a bipedal-alligator looking thing sought to sweep Sakura’s feet out from under her and then pummel her while she was defenseless. They had to do their best to keep from being overwhelmed.

‘Okayhereyougo-!’ a mildly panicked though perpetually grinning Ronin said, placing one hand on Sakura’s fists while swinging her Reinforcement-barrier-covered blade at the claws of the beast that was attacking her, intent to just keep it off her long enough for the fist-shaped barriers to manifest. ‘Rightdon’topenyourfiststhosebarriersarenotmallable!’ Ronin cried finally before dodging under another swipe and now testing if her magic barriers allowed her sword to cleave the misshapen creature swinging for her. She definitely had to look over to see if anything was approaching Lysandra now-!

Sakura let out a snarl as she quickly.performed an evasive jump to avoid being swept, using her momentum and knowledge of martial arts to rain a hammer blow on the creature attacking Ronin, followed up by a ground lightning strike at the bipedal crocodile.

Ronin would find that there was some resistance to her barrier clad blade, though she would succeed in slashing through and dispelling the beast with additional force. Not efficient, but it worked. Sakura would have a bit more ease, thanks to her lightning magic to boost her power.

This was a good thing, as Ronin would spot Lysandra having finished the second of the four points she needed. Which would have been fine, except she was headed towards a point opposite the duo and completely oblivious of the monsters. Specifically, some big thing with segmented carapaces, like a giant vicious centipede. With arm blades. This one looked like it might be a bit tricky. Especially as it loomed over their charge.

‘Alright, I CAN cut them!’ Ronin exclaimed after her magic barrier on sword apparently worked. Though, then she saw that. Yeah, that needs handling. ‘… Sensei, that one!’ Ronin made a quick estimation of their abilities and figured probably better she dealt with the small fries and Sakura dealt with the giant centipede! That said, Ronin still kicked off a barrier to fly closer to Lysandra, ready to raise barriers, grab the monster’s attention or grab Lysandra to carry her to safety if so was needed…!

Sakura wasted no time into getting in action using her reinforced wrists to redirect the blows from the blade arms back to itself and punching deeply in the joints of the segmented beast, sending shocks all the way. "Alright let's dance you gross noodle!"

Looming tall over her, the beast reared back and prepared to strike Lysandra. For the most part she had been oblivious divining the location for the next marker, but she finally realized her situation as she saw the shadow looming over her. Eyes widened as she prepared to move, only for Ronin to intervene with her barriers.

She could have said something about earning their pay, but Lysandra was much too focused on the task at hand. “I’m close ""to working this out,” she told her bodyguards. “Just a bit longer!” With that she went back to work, deploying the third spoke.

Sakura would find this foe to be a tough one. It was surprisingly fast on its feet for such a big creature, arms swinging at her in wide, sweeping blows. Which would be easy enough to handle, if they were not coming from multiple angles. It roared as Sakura sought to strike the joints, but that ended up being easier said than done for the moment. And with more monsters approaching, Ronin would soon have her own preoccupations.

"Hey, loli." Sakura said. "Can you reinforce cloth?"

‘Uh, yes. What for?’ Ronin answered, smiling and working on plans.

"On my signal." Sakura said, as she focused, creating an abundance of frills and ribbons with Eternal style. So many legs meant so many ways to tangle it up. "Now! make that fucker choke on it!"

‘Oh, yikes-’ Ronin leapt past Sakura, grabbing the apparently limitless amount of cloth generated through Eternal Style, then skipped on barriers as she enhanced the cloth. There was a lot of it, though. Did enhancement work like her barriers had? Oh, what the heck. She had an idea. She ran on the side of the beast, letting it be focused on Sakura, and then threw unenhanced parts through the creature’s legs. Then, she jolted an enhancement through it, hopefully making it manifest as if physically to it after it had passed through and tightened. Then, one large piece was thrown similarly, hoping to attach around the centipede’s head, leading back to Sakura. ‘Something like that!?’

Sakura would then see to use the assorted clothes to wrangle the creature in hopefully a better striking position.

The centipede shrieked as Ronin and Sakura went to work, entangling it and blinding it. Its limbs thrashed, erratic swipes cutting through the air and threatening potential harm to both girls. It stampeded one way and the other as it tried to throw Ronin off, at least until its legs were immobilized. But they would find that that was only temporary, as ephemeral blades began to cut through the fabric Sakura had created.

Meanwhile Lysandra finished the spike she was working on and moved for the last. Though monsters closed in, she was able to handle herself for the moment with blasts of freezing magic and thrown icicles. Still, her progress was notably slower than before as the amount of foes finally interfered in her efforts.

“Stay still. This will hurt a lot, you fuck noodle!” Sakura gritted her teeth, as she moved towards the head, now that the blades were cutting through the bounds, instead of threatening her and Ronin’s flesh. She then charged a powerful dropkick, electricity crackling on her heel, aimed at the creature’s eyes, with the intention to pierce and fry its brain. “Loli! Get to Lee Sanders!” She urged.

Well, that kinda worked. ‘Yes, sensei!’ Ronin called and spun, kicking herself to end up between Lysandra and the monsters, slicing at whichever ones came closest. She’d use barriers to stop some advancing so she could focus on taking out one or two at a time, using her Martial Training to read the movements of her enemies to keep them at bay. They only needed to hold them off for a little bit longer, maybe, possibly…!

The dropkick was a bit difficult to manage with the thrashing and shifting, but with a yell of determination Sakura’s foot slammed home. Electricity shot through the monster with a loud ‘crack’, and it lost all tangibility before sinking through the floor. It might not be dead, but it was out of the fight at least.

For her part, Ronins interjection would draw much heat from Lysandra, who nodded in approval as she located the precise spot needed and got to work. But all that fancy Martial Training would only go so far as the group of smaller creatures sought to pounce and drag her to the ground by brute force. Could she endure their assault a bit longer?

“Switch, Loli!” Sakura said, as she inhaled breath, to get herself back into rhythm. She eyed her coated fists. “Time to make some more damage!” She said as she charged the smaller creatures with forward flips, and began punching to try and stagger and swat them away from Ronin. There were simply too many to go for the kill but if she could manage an elastic defense by striking opponents out of the way, they would manage… hopefully.

Sakura shouted out to switch, and Ronin rolled backwards to avoid a blow and let Sakura forward flip above her to punch into the enemy Ronin had been about to be pounced by. Ronin got back up on her feet, smiled a bit, and then resumed the protection of Lysandra by cutting at ethereal monsters that were getting too close for comfort. Frankly, she was starting to run low on magic, maintaining the barriers on both her sword and Sakura’s fists, and all that had been happening before that. Still, it was time for teamwork, and she’d help keep the monsters away from Lysandra for a bit longer!

Shrieks filled the air as Sakura clashed with the horde of ravenous monsters, pushing back and doing her best to keep herself from getting outflanked. Ronin helped with that last one, protecting Lysandra too. Sakura would find some success, though she was starting to accrue an unsightly amount of scratches and cuts from slashing fangs and biting teeth.

No doubt she would have gone down too, but she did not. Lysandra finished driving the last spike in, and fished a detonator from the rest of her gear. “This might get a bit bumpy,” she warned her companions. “Here goes nothing!”

With the press of a button a high pitched whine filled the air as the four spikes attuned and directed their vibrations towards the central point. The ground rumbled and the monsters reared back, moments before large cracks lanced up the pillar. Then, with the sound of shattering glass, chunks of the crystal fell away to reveal the glowing object within.

Lysandra wasted little time as she leapt upwards and grabbed the glowing object as it hung in midair. Hopefully it was what she had said it was, and that it lived up to expectations. As she landed, she marshaled her magic and triggered an Overcity Shift. “We’re out of here!”

The trio vanished in a warping of space, leaving behind the monsters that sought to do unspeakable things to them. With the trio departing, the monsters would leave too, slipping back through the wall that had admitted them here in the first place. Monsters snapped and roared their frustration, and a blond girl with rainbow wings giggled maniacally as she sank back through the floor. Peace descended once more.

As for the trio, they appeared in the parking lot of a department store several towns away from Penrose itself. It would be a bit of a trip back, but given how distance worked in the Overcity it wasn’t much of a surprise. Better than being eaten by monsters at least. Lysandra took a deep breath as she relaxed, mentally bracing herself before she made the effort to look at her prize.

Sakura felt the breeze of the city on her stinging wounds, as she looked at Lee Sanders and Ronin, before pulling out a crumpled packet from her waist, and extracting a white tube from it, pressed it against her lips, lighting it with a simple spark before she made a deep inhale as she smoked.

"Bit of a scrap, that one. You did well, loli. Least you're not an entirely fake gaijin pretender." Sakura added, as she looked at Lee Sanders. "So that the stuff thingie, yah? Must be worth a lot."

‘Woah, that was a show…’ Ronin sighed out, wincing a bit as they’d come back to their world. Then, sensei praised her, instantly boosting the tiny wannabe samurai’s energy level. ‘Thank you, sensei! You were great, too!’ she immediately said, smiling and bowing to Sakura. Then, attention went to Lysandra, and the item she got.

‘Is the shard we were looking for? Is it safe, now?’ Ronin asked, looking curiously at it.

Glancing over at Sakura, Lysandra held back a scowl as she clutched her prize protectively. “Incredibly. Dimensions colliding with anything surviving is very rare. Don’t worry, you’ll get paid fairly.” So long as Sakura didn’t try to steal what they had come to acquire, of course.

Ignoring Ronin for a moment, Lysandra carefully unclenched her hand. Still glowing, a jagged spike laid in her grip, slightly larger than her palm. To call it crystal though would be to undervalue this material. It was captivating to the naked eye, swirling with exotic structures and patterns, a testament to the forces it had been subjected.

“I’ll have to run some tests, but this should be it. We won’t have any more problems,” she confirmed once she had inspected her prize.

"It hurts to look at." Sakura said, as she blew out a bunch of smoke out of her mouth. "Just be careful about that. Run the wrong experiment, and a horror poop is eating some poor bitch's face away." She eventually gave in to her tiredness and squatted on the ground.

‘Well, if something goes wrong, just post another bounty and we, or someone, will be on their way!’ Ronin called, chuckling a little.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Lysandra agreed with a nod. “It was a pleasure working with you.” Judging by how she was positioned when she said it, it was clear that that comment was directed more towards Ronin than Sakura, at least at present. But she left things as they were as she began walking back towards Penrose. The sooner she could begin her tests, no doubt the happier she would be.

Regardless of how one felt about the personalities involved, it had been a successful mission.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

&

It had been a week since the unsuccessful purification weapons test, and four days since the Howell sisters had fallen off of Beacon’s radar. Things weren’t looking good. Either Cindy’s plan to separate didn’t go as planned or something else had happened. Finally though, Alicia received a message to meet at the old lake house outside Penrose. There was really only one person that would request this location.

It was still daylight out this time. The lake looked quite different this time with it being frozen over. With her arms folded around her and glowing with some magic for warmth, a girl waited. The freezing wind caused her long white hair to flow behind her as eyes as icy blue as the lake looked out over the scene. Two smaller girls, clearly Twinned Soul, stood by wrapped in pairs of wings for their own warmth.

Picking up the Beacon girl’s approach, the white haired one turned and gave a cheerful greeting. ”I’m glad you got my message.”

It felt like Alicia was walking down memory lane as she approached the lake. It was crusted over with a thin layer of ice at points, but overall it had not been too affected by winter. It had been months since then, but with the time dilation they had suffered it had been far less for them. So her memory of meeting Janet after the fight with Justine here was much more fresh. Despite everything that had happened.

Drawing near the meeting site, her gaze narrowed as she eyed the trio that waited for her. Only one person knew this location, and the numbers matched up. It seemed she should not be in ease. ”Janet, Jenna? I see you’ve had a makeover again.”

”A bit more than a makeover I’m afraid. I can explain, but my name is Kayli Devon.” She would introduce herself.

Alicia lifted an eyebrow as she regarded Kayli somewhat skeptically. ”I see. Well met Kayli. Go ahead and explain what’s happened this time.”

Kayli couldn't help but laugh a bit. ”Yes, this seems to be a theme of theirs. I am not sure if you are aware, but the test of the weapon did not go as hoped. Four days ago the twins had an encounter with the djinn girl. Seeing this as another chance they wished for a weapon of purification. For whatever reason the wish enveloped and used them to fulfil the wish and created me. I am my own person with pieces of the ones you know as Janet, Jenna, and Cindy filling in the gaps. I have their memories and share most of their aspirations. It's strange to say the least, but the struggle they were having is over at least." She gave a light shrug and took a couple steps closer. "They promised to update you, and I thought that if there was anyone they would want me to tell it would be you and perhaps Penny."

Alicia nodded slowly as she listened to Kayli’s explanation. It sounded ridiculous, but after everything Janet had been through it came off as more reasonable than one might expect. She looked Kayli over once more, critically and trying to observe what she could. ”Well, that explains that I guess. I don’t suppose you feel particularly weapon-y, do you?” It was a long shot, but if that was what the wish had been about then it was odd that nothing had come of it.

Holding out her left hand, Kayli summoned her lance of purifying light. With her third eye Alicia could tell that it's magic was not much different from what she'd observed purifying Janet before. Looking at it briefly she soon lay it down across her other arm. "It appears I have been crafted to better bring purification to others. When I came to the djinn girl was gone so I was not able to ask why the wish manifested the way it has."

The girl with the reddish hair spoke up. She was a little sheepish at first, but seemed to gain some confidence as she went on. "Uh, hi there. I'm, er, was Hilde." She started off. "I was there when they made the wish. I think that maybe it didn't go like the wish girl though it would because she seemed surprised when it went around Janet and Jenna. I tried to get them out of it but, well, the magic changed me too."

Having offered what little she could to explain things she gestured to herself and then the similar girl beside her. "You can call me Rose and this is my new sister, Iris." She offered a weak smile. Iris gave a slight wave but didn't add any further comment.

Alicia eyed the lance curiously, recognizing the magic at play and how Kayli interacted with it. That was impressive, though at the same time it did raise a lot of questions regarding her abilities. If the potion had been able to purify the Spark, who knew what Kayli could do now?

Before she could pursue that further, Hilde drew attention to herself. Alicia would admit that she had not been as close to her, so the news of her fate was not as personal as it had been with the Twins. But it was still interesting to see nonetheless. ”It sounds like their Patron was playing some tricks of his own,” she observed. It was the only explanation she had for this happening.

With that having been explained, she turned back to Kayli. ”So what will you do now? I’d like to hope we can still be friends.”

The weapon disappearing from her hands, she gave a smile and clasped her hands together. ”Yes, I would like that very much. I realize it may not be the same as with Janet, but I would like to do my best to be helpful to you and Beacon. I believe we have similar goals. Though I hope to offer a lighter touch. Since I am not affiliated with any patron perhaps I can serve as a go between for some of the factions here in Penrose. I am confident that a few of them are more reasonable than one might expect.” As she spoke, her words carried magic with them. It wasn’t necessarily something she was purposely using to persuade Alicia. Rather the Beacon girl would pick up that this was something of a side effect of her altered magic. The djinn certainly did a number to her friend.

Alicia folded her arms over her chest as she settled onto a back foot, listening to Kayli’s explanation. She wasn’t sure about how successful the girl would be, but perhaps that was because of the tug of magic that accompanied it. Trying to purify her of the Spark? It was hard to tell, but it made her a bit more wary all the same.

”That sounds pretty good, though you can turn off the magic whammy. I’m not the one you’d need to convince after all.” It didn’t seem like Kayli intended to become some sort of evil villain, so Alicia was not opposed to her expressed goal. ”That said, I am going to miss having you around.”

Taking a breath and holding it for a second, Kayli reigned in her passives a bit. ”Sorry. I’m not quite used to some of the nature of my magic. I didn’t mean to… She sighed a bit and looked down at the ground. She could tell Alicia was being cautious of her. Taking a few moments her magic guided her a bit. ”I will miss being around. I’m fairly certain I couldn’t rejoin you in Beacon even if I wanted to. At least not in an official capacity."

Hesitantly, she stepped forward with her arms open a bit. It looked like she was asking for a hug, but she didn't want to just give Alicia one if she didn't want it. "I don't want to hurt you in any way, Alicia. And would like to keep up the friendship you had. In a way, you were instrumental in forging who I am now. The circumstances might be dubious, but I wouldn't go around your back to change you or anyone else in Beacon. I know it's like family."

Alicia slowly nodded, less tense now that the magic had been dialed back. As much as she hated to admit it, Kayli was right. She wouldn’t be able to come back so long as she was still purifying herself of the Spark. That would raise too many questions, too many doubts. It wasn’t like Janet had been particularly trusted even before all of this had gone down.

Though Kayli advanced hesitantly, she would meet with a warm reception as Alicia gave her a modest hug. It did not last long, but it was notable nonetheless. ”I’m glad to hear that. You’ve got my number, so feel free to send a message whenever you want to chat or hang out or something. I can make the time.” If she could work Penny into her schedule, she could do the same for J-Kayli.

"Thank you. I'm just glad the crazy roller coaster is over." She smiled. "I'll be talking with Penny next. See if maybe I can help things there. I still believe we can work things out between them and Beacon. If nothing else I can help remove some of the more harmful mutations with my magic, if they'll have me."

Alicia could only hope that Kayli was right about the ride being over. For some reason though, she did not find herself at ease considering such a thing. Not with past experience. ”Sounds good. I wish you the best of luck with that.” She certainly didn’t mind Kayli helping out with the Sanctuary and Penny. So long as she was still doing good, then what was there to worry about?

Remembering something, a red envelope was presented. "Oh yes, Jenna was given this to give to friends. We were all invited to a Christmas party by Dan the Dolphin. You can concentrate and make copies to give to others at Beacon. Maybe you could invite Rachel so she can meet Dan and clear up that we were indeed trapped in his world. He's fixed the time dilation issue so we don't have to worry about that happening again."

A hum escaped as Alicia took the envelope. A Christmas Party run by Dan? Considering what had happened last time, that sounded...interesting. For now, Alicia slipped it into a pocket so she wouldn’t forget it. ”Thank you. I’ll see what I can do, but no promises that Rachel will go along with it.” At least they wouldn’t have to worry about missing several months again.

The answer was fair. Seemingly out of things on her mind, the white haired girl let out a sigh. "Well, that was the main things I had on my mind. I don't know if you have any questions for me or anything. Or maybe if you aren't too busy we could try and do something more normal to unwind" She would offer. They had something of a friendship from before, but in other ways they were starting over.

”Not right now. But if I do then I have your phone number. So it should be fine,” Alicia replied as she shook her head. Things seemed fairly straightforward at this point. The only question was whether more would develop from here that could complicate the situation.

There was one thing that occurred to her though. It was small, relatively minor given the use of magic, but knowing how Janet had been it seemed only reasonable to ask. ”...What should I tell your ‘parents’?”

That question gave her some pause. Beacon had provided her parents, and she wasn't really sure if they were created or an existing family. Thus far their memories seemed to alter to fit with Janet's various changes. This time though she wasn't connected to Beacon so it was hard to say if the wish would make the same leap. Her expression became more solemn as she contemplated what to do there. For all they probably knew, their girls went to a game with their cousin and they all just vanished. Opening her mouth for a moment she stopped. "C-could we go back to my place first so I can see what they believed happened? I don't want to send them the wrong message. I don't know what Beacon does with families if their girls go missing." It was a rather heavy topic, or at least could be.

”Of course,” Alicia assured Kayli with a quick nod. It seemed the question had been as important as she had expected it would be. She then extended a hand to her friend. ”We can leave whenever you’re ready.”

Kayli would take the hand.

Together they would make their way to the home the twins had been given by Beacon. As a format member, with a little looking Kayli would be able to see that there were some changes. Alicia though would recognize right away that Beacon had removed their magical protections.

”I guess Beacon knows already,” Alicia observed once the pair had returned to that familiar dwelling that Janet had lived in during her time in Beacon. ”The magical protection is gone, since it isn’t really needed anymore.” After all, the protection they provided was for the well being of their members families. So they could do their jobs without worrying.

Alicia then turned to face Kayli. Learning this did change a few things. ”I can’t promise that they’ll remember who you were before. But if you want to try anyway, I won’t stop you.

"Uh, well… Let me take a look." Her magic was sensing something up in the room. While she wasn't as strong as before she was still pretty agile and climbed up to look into her old room. Two beds sat there in their usual place. However, they were not empty. Two girls slept, looking strikingly similar to Janet and Jenna's untransformed appearance. Eyes growing wide she slipped down back to the ground and stood silent for a while.

Breathing in she exhaled in order to calm herself. "It looks like… Beacon replaced Janet and Jenna with normal girls so their parents wouldn't worry. Uh… " The development left her a little conflicted and she sat down on the porch.

Waiting down below, Alicia was silent as kayli scaled up to the second story bedroom to confirm what she had sensed. She slowly nodded as Kayli returned and revealed what she had found out. She’d heard about this, but had never experienced it personally. It seemed that things were running particularly fast with Rachel here to supervise.

Stepping over to Kayli, Alicia crouched beside her to rest a comforting hand upon her shoulder. “Do what you feel you should. You wouldn’t be the first.”

Despite what Janet or Jenna would have felt Kayli was not them and she seemed to rationalize the scenario rather quickly. Brushing a little water from her eyes she reached up and put a hand over Alicia's. "It's alright. There was no way I could really go back and give either of them a proper send-off. They would be happy to know their parents didn't have to go through losing them."

Removing her hand she would take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Putting on a much more peaceful smile she stood back up. "I have a new life to live. Your friend's memories will help guide me. Hopefully I can live up to their hearts." Her confidence seemed to rise as a burden had been lifted. Kayli could let go of one of the biggest problems the Howell 's had been causing her.

Smiling, Alicia removed her hand now that it was not needed and Kayli announced her intent. She didn’t mind either way, so long as there were no regrets about the decision made. And right now, it seemed like that was something she did not have to worry about.

For now, she nodded in approval. “In that case I suppose this is goodbye.” she mused, though her smile nonetheless remained. “I’ll see you around.”

Giving her friend one last hug the two parted. There were a few other loose ends the twins and Cindy had left that needed tying up.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Shocking Encounter

Starring: ‘Magic Mike’ Aurelio
‘Fire Emblem Wizard’ Shane

In the past week or so, Penrose had been afflicted with a series of blackouts. This by itself was not entirely unusual considering what the city had suffered, but it seemed that someone knew a bit more than might otherwise be let on. They had placed a bounty, indicating that these events were the result of some sort of monster rather than failures from damage. At least entirely.

Then one day it came in that another blackout had occurred. It was evening, and the disturbance had affected a portion of the residential area of the city. While the power would come back eventually, allowing a monster to feed and grow stronger would only cause more trouble down the line.

And so two brave magical girls boys sallied forth, to put an end to this terror once and for all. Rows of modest homes, front lawns, and parked cars stretched out before them. And in the distance one could see the occasional flicker of blue electricity. Their foe, or something more mundane? There was only one way to find out

Finding and following the trail of the blackout turned out to be a pretty trivial matter for one that answered the call. Following the lines above and below ground would lead him right to the source. The call was for two however so Shane would wait for just a little bit for whomever would join him.

Shane wouldn’t have to wait very long as shortly after he arrived there would be a sudden appearance of a vibrant orb of light. It would hum with power before imploding slowly to reveal the white clad marvelous magician himself. Aurelio would take a moment to survey the area, as he always did after porting into a new place, before he regarded his compatraite for this endeavor.

“Hello there, hope I didn’t leave you waiting long?” He would ask as he tipped his hat to the other mage.

A flashy entrance if he’d ever seen one. Shane would shake his head slightly at the apology. ”Not at all. I just got a bit of a head start.” Offering a hand he would introduce himself. ”Shane. You go by Aurelio if memory serves me.” He pointed in the direction of the occasional flashes. ”Pretty sure our quarry is over that way. Might as well start heading that way.”

“Only while I’m in uniform” Aurelio would agree while he shook Shane’s hand “Glad to hear my reputation precedes me. Been stuck behind the Ascendency’s for long enough” he would add as he tucked his cane underneath his arm as he turned in the direction of the blue flashes and began walking.

“So, what do you think it is we are going to find?” he would ask conversationally. The bounties weren’t exactly held to a universal standard as far as Aurelio knew, so it was possible that some postings had different bits of information.

”Considering it says it’s a monster, and the thing is drawing in the energy, most likely it’s an elemental. Haven’t really dealt with a lightning elemental before so I’m not sure of their disposition.” He talked with his hands just a bit as they moved forward.

Moving forwards, the flashes of light would become more visible. It was a stark contrast against the dark surroundings, and owing to the evacuated state of the city most of the buildings around them were abandoned. Only occasionally would they see people peeking out through their windows to see what was going on, before taking refuge once more to wait out the blackout.

Soon they would near the place. It seemed the pulses were coming from a duplex, which was suffering some serious electrical issues. Lights flickered, music wildly varied in volume. And there was an occasional flicker of odd blue light that radiated out from the inside of the building. No doubt the monster was inside right now, gorging itself on the power of this building as well as the neighborhood around it. The very thing they had been brought to deal with.

Surveying the building Shane would nod approvingly. ”Well, the monster has some good taste in dwellings at least. I’ll take a quick look since my magic should shield me a bit should I get zapped.” She would approach and check in through the windows to get a look at what exactly they were dealing with.

Peeking through the window, Shane would be witness to quite the display as arcs of blue lightning soared through the air, jumping off of appliances and racing through wires that all but burned out the insulation and walls they were embedded in. It was a miracle the place had not caught on fire yet, and that was likely because whatever the monster was doing was keeping it from igniting until it was done.

Amidst it all sat a glowing sphere of electricity, about the size of a basketball. It bobbed and floated in the air as energy fed back into it, the only manifestation of the creature immediately apparent. More bolts of electricity struck it before stopping for several moments.

About the time confusion might start to set in, a blast of lightning shattered the window and lashed out at Shane. All that energy running through the house began to coalesce as the elemental began to take on a physical form. It now knew it had been noticed, and did not intend to go down easily.

“Seems it’s a bit shy about being caught eating” Aurelio would call out, or at least an Aurelio would call out. Looking back there were four Aurelio’s standing about where Shane had left him. All of them seemed rather relaxed as they regarded the living mass of lightning. “Don’t suppose that you can understand us can you?” A different one would ask as he approached the lightning elemental with his arms folded behind his back.

Despite getting shocked, Shane would shake it off. Cindy’s was worse anyhow. ”Apparently.” He would say simply. Looking back in the window he simply watched with a stupid grin on his face. Depending on the response there were a number of ways this could go.

Floating forward, the elemental’s physical form would appear. Blue lightning crackled and shifted in a facsimile of a dragon, glaring at the two magical boys as they made their case. A low growl issued forth before it turned and shot away, weaving around metal and conductive materials.

Aurelio would see where it went first, the elemental looming over them atop the roof of the building. It glared down at them before unleashing a blast of lightning that swept across the lawn and both of them. It gouged at the dirt, scouring and sweeping for several seconds before it came to an end.

“And behold he who lives within the motive force” Aurelio would mutter quietly as he and himselves watched the elemental solidify into the shape of a dragon. They would quickly dive out of the way before it started it’s attack. Though the one who had always walked closer wasn’t quick enough to dodge out of the way and vanished in a poof of smoke.

The three that remained all landed in a defensive crough “I’ll ask again. Can you understand us? We want to talk”

Shane stepped out of the way of the blast. Since Aurelio was trying to talk the boy would hold making any action to directly antagonize the elemental. Though he could perhaps see where this was going. ”You’re hungry yeah? I can get that. Maybe we can offer an alternative so you don’t have to come out here where people will constantly be bothering you. Does that sound good?” He would direct his words at the lightning dragon.

Another growl escaped as the magical boys dodged out of the way of the attack. Rather than answer the question posed to it, the monster would flicker and spark as it surged across to the roof of the building next more. Energy built in its maw before it fired, this time discharging an orb of energy that radiated lightning in a small area around it as it flew towards them. If it could understand or was interested in talking, it made no indication of wanting to do so.

“Right, seems we are doing this the hard way for now!” Aurelio would say, he hadn’t abandoned the talk it down strategy, but sometimes things wouldn't listen without a smack upside the head or two. With that in mind. Aurleio , Aurelio and Aurelio split off in three different directions. One Aurelio went charging straight at the Dragon looking to dodge the electro orb of pain and see if punching it in the nose would have the kind of repercussions one would expect from punching a being of live electricity.

The Second Aurelio went tearing into the house, he was a man with a plan. That plan was finding the Breaker box and flipping all of the switches. If the thing was hungry and chowing on the house’s electricity flipping the breakers should help cut it off from said food.

The third, and true, Aurleio dashed over to Shane, his cane glow a sky blue. “Time for some fun my friend” he would say as he tapped Shane on the shoulder, a feeling of simple Joy blossoming from the contact. A bit more spring in their step and a bit more gas in the tank. Always a good way to start the show.

”Yep, so much for that plan.” Rather than moving out of the way Shane took out his spell book. Opening it up to one of the early pages he would send out a bolt of lightning that would shoot through the orb and zigzag into the yard. Making that grounding connection a majority of the power behind the attack would get sucked into the earth. Enough for Shane to use his own magic to punch the orb out of existence.

He would turn to his companion. ”We need to wrangle the thing. I’m fairly certain I can Ghostbusters it in a sense.” He would tap on his book. He had something specially prepared for this. While one of the clones went to shut off the power Shane would form and lob a bolt into the distance at a visible line. Right now the creature could just jump one house to the next. It would take a few seconds, but eventually most of the nearby blocks would go dark as his attack tripped safety mechanisms to prevent damage to the infrastructure. Crews shouldn’t have much trouble resetting it later.

With the source of power gone it wouldn’t be able to keep drawing in more energy to throw at them. Neither could Shane but in this case it might not be the best idea except to potentially draw the thing in. ”Let’s see about bringing it to us.” That said he would draw out his own magic to charge the area around him.

The Aurelio going into the house would run a gauntlet of arcing electricity, sparking appliances and outlets. Eventually he would make it to the fuse box, though perhaps not entirely unharmed. This would join with Shane’s move, cutting off the power and plunging the neighborhood into darkness (more darkness than there had been already). That part of the plan had gone off without a hitch.

Unprepared for the vaulting warrior, Aurelio would find that punching a dragon made of electricity would go about as well as one might expect it to. Instant electrocution until he was sent flying back through the air. However he would part the surface long enough to see the core further down the body. That would be a good target.

The punch kept the elemental from going for Shane’s bait, though it eyed him with a hint of suspicion. Instead it darted away, crossing the street and turning to face them. The next time its breath lashed out, it was not aimed at them. Instead it curled around a nearby lightpost, coiling around it and wrenching it out of the ground before the object was thrown at the duo. It seemed to have realized that Shane was interacting with its elemental abilities, so it was trying more direct applications of force now.

“Good to know” Aurelio would say to himself as he witnessed his clone puff away as it hit the ground after it flew away from their electrified foe. So was seeing it’s core, though that didn’t need to be stated twice. “It’s core is still solidified within it, but close quarters is a no go really.”

Inside the house the clone would whip it’s brow before it dismissed itself, its job done.

He would start twirling his cane around his fingers as he spoke the simple blue turning into a prismatic steam as he did. Colors and emotions racing through his mind. Those thoughts got put on hold as he jumped over the light post thrown at him, careful not to touch the possibly electrified metal.

Once he landed his cane turned a forest green. A moment later he flicked it at the monster and a pair of brilliant green manticales would erupt out of his focus flying towards the dragon with the intent of binding it for a moment at least.

Looks like Shane was going to have to go to the elemental to get the job done. No close quarter though? "Thanks for the heads up." He would use the boost that Aurelio gave him to leap up over the light poll. He wouldn't clear the object as it went past, but he didn't need to. The thing was being manipulated with magnetism. Creating a temporary field around himself they two would repel, the light pole being driven into the ground while Shane shot out toward the elemental. Seeing the green bindings moving in he had a window.

Expecting to encounter something of this nature he had taken the time to prepare a nice little spell. It was inspired by something he did when first arriving at the rave, after another kind of lightning dragon struck. Hand to page he would channel the spell for a few seconds as he drew closer.

Tossing the tome on the ground below the elemental he would continue traveling upward over the dragon as a distraction. Back on the ground the spell would trigger and all the electricity nearby would begin to be drawn in like a vortex. Now the book itself could not hold all the energy potentially being drawn in which is why it was being discharged into the ground. It was also all the more reason to kill the local power as it made no distinction as to the source.

The monster snarled as it was caught, thrashing and sending blasts of electricity crackling into the sky as it sought to break free. The light post slammed into the ground, jutting out of it as if it had been haphazardly flipped.

Then Shane’s spell activated. Rather than wild discharges, the energy the elemental was releasing would be drawn towards the book with incandescent bursts of power. Its ‘skin’ frayed and parted, revealing the core inside. Yet the monster had its own magical energy, and it managed to slip free of the manacles that bound it in place. It did not hesitate, instead leaping from rooftop to power line to rooftop as it sought to escape. Which was more of an issue than it might appear at first, as it seemed to be heading in the general direction of a power plant. Which would be not good, if it made it to its destination.

The moment the core was open Aurelio would launch off a few basic bolts of magic from his cane. Regardless of how much damage they did would be better than nothing at this point. The moment it slipped the binding that Aurelio had placed on it he was already channeling for his next move, or two moves.

“We want to be the ones chasing it or do we want to be the ones that cut it off?” Aurelio would ask Shane even as he was twirling his cane around his fingers the colors of it shifting to red and brown. “As I can do either or both really” And he would default to doing both if it took too long to get an answer out of Shane as they were kinda on a time limit at the moment.

”I’d rather keep it here where it can’t keep drawing energy. If I can get a hold of that thing and crack that core I’m pretty sure I can take it down.” There wasn’t really time to waste as he scooped up his spell book and went after the elemental. He would rely on Aurelio to halt the monster while he readied his next spell. The creature had tried to use magnetism to throw an object. Shane knew how to do that, but there were some other potentially better options.

During the fight against the monster queen Shane had improvised a weapon from scrap. While it worked in the moment it had a number of issues that he’d been able to correct. He could definitely improve further, but to make it most effective would require building an actual weapon and he wasn’t exactly tuned to crafting magical weapons. Anyway, he would take out a small rod and place it in the crease of the book’s spine. Made of tungsten carbide and only a couple inches long it was not a particularly remarkable material in its own right. For Shane’s purposes though it worked just fine. Dense, a lousy conductor, and barely metallic it made a great projectile. More importantly it wouldn’t have issues passing through a magnetic field and wouldn’t be much use for metal users either as it was mostly ceramic. Not particularly expensive but carrying a bunch around wasn’t very practical so he had limited ammunition.

“Got it” Aurelio would reply shortly before he was overcome with an orb of white light which descended from nowhere. It would land and collapse in on itself as at the same moment another orb of light flared into life on the far side of the elemental. When the Orbs vanished A red cloaked Aurelio was standing next to Shane while a White and Brown Aurelio stood in the path of the Dragon.

The Red Aurelio would lay a hand on Shane’s shoulder and a vibrant anger would appear, simmering just underneath the electric mage's skin. “You’ve got one charge” The violently angry looking Aurelio would bite out before rushing at the fleeing monster.

On the far side of the electric creature The true Aruelio would slam his cane point first into the ground, a great flare of light was released from the point of impact before various points of light streaked outward. At points known only to the magical the points of magic would spiral upwards from the ground. And in their wake a massive cage would be formed. One that trapped the magical boys and the monster within it. The white Aruelio would then step back to the edge of the cage, his cane glowing green as he did so.

The Brown Aurelio paid no attention to his compatriots actions. He simply stalked forward with a stubborn scowl as me huttered to himself under his breath drawing strange arcane muck from his cane and fashioning it into chains that floated around him. When the dragon drew closer the Stubborn Frustration would lash out at it once again seeking to bind it where Determination had failed to hold it.

Shane would wait until the creature was halted by his partner and would send a surge of electricity across the pages. The way the magic flowed across and between the pages of the book it would accelerate the projectile and fire it off at high speed. Effectively, he’d fashioned a railgun. Not wasting any time he would charge in after to get closer.

The Elemental was not expecting the sudden cage, earning a roar from the monster as it darted around above the two clones. Lightning flashed as it struck at the dome, before trying to slam its head against the barrier directly to break through it. Erratic bolts flew through the air, drawn in from household generators, car batteries, and nearby sources of electricity to provide a further boost.

This did mean it was not prepared for the second attempt with the chain, though at the same time it had a better idea of what to do now in that situation. The crackling of its skin picked up in intensity as it channeled its energy into the magical constructs, seeking to overwhelm them.

That was when the railgun hit, punching through one side and out the other. The Elemental screeched, clearly in pain this time with a visible hole through it. It struck wildly, blasting at the clones and Shane with searing blasts of sweeping energy. Yet it was already healing, and Shane would have only a few moments to implement his attempted strike at the core before it would be out of sight again.

The cage would seemingly disperse the lighting thrown at it seamlessly. But the True Aurelio would still curse at seeing the elemental drawing in more electricity as it sought to rush the cage itself. His illusions were good, but not that good. He left Frustration to deal with keeping the dragon contained as he moved into a position where he could conjure up a barrier, to reinforce the illusion of being trapped that the cage gave off. Dark green would begin to suffuse his cane as he formed more Determination for that task. Dodging the incoming strike was easy because of that.

The brown clone, Frustration, just kept pouring out more and more of it’s arcane muck, but no longer did he care to fashion it into anything other than the muck before throwing it at the elemental above. The muck and the chains would draw both magic from the Clone and frustration from the elemental, growing stickier and sturdier as it was in turn fried away by the localized storm. Frustration was losing the fight, but slowly, and it would not give in easily. The dragon would pay for each inch of chain it destroyed.

That clone remained resolute in the face of retaliation, after all it needed to keep the creature held down.

Because Rage was still active. And it took the opportunity to unleash a roiling blade of crimson energy at the distracted Elemental. It knew where the core was, but it was telling, perhaps, of Aurelio that even at his most angry he still was seeking to end this fight without killing if he could get away with it. For he didn’t aim at the core, he aimed near it, but not at it.

The others providing the distraction he needed, Shane would launch himself at the elemental. Even if the creature would lash out at him with electricity he would just take the hit in order to close the gap. The damage he’d managed to inflict was the literal opening he needed. This particular maneuver was going to suck though. Reaching out he would slam one hand into the breach of the core. Balling his hand into a fist he would lock himself in place as the damage closed around his arm. ”Could have just listened.”

The book dropping back onto the ground the same spell from earlier would trigger. Electricity would begin to get pulled again to the book. The assault on Aurelio’s barriers would be drawn away as the spell did its job. While the shell of the core protected the elemental earlier, this time Shane had access to the main source of its power. Drawing out the electricity he would unleash it out where the spell could absorb it. Of course the amount of electricity that had to flow through him would do damage. His inherent electrical resistance and Regeneration would sustain him through the discharge.

Working in tandem, Shane and Aurelio would keep the Elemental from escaping the bonds it was trapped in long enough for them to launch their attacks. There they seemed to work at something of cross purposes though. For Aurelio struck near the core, hoping to disrupt and isolate without killing it. Meanwhile Shane went for the core itself, channeling its energy into his book.

Severed by the blade of energy, what was left of the Elemental spasmed and shook. Energy discharged through Shane as planned, striking the book and pulling power from the core. Soon itsa blue glow began to flicker and fade as its power waned with it. The large body it had constituted dissipated as well, forming around the core in a last desperate defense It burned, all but seeking to sever Shane’s hand with concentrated electricity so it could escape. If they chose to give it the opportunity to do so, of course.

Wrapping his other arm around the now basket ball sized core, Shane would hold it in place. He would pull what remained of his hand free of the shock before completely sapping away all of its energy. At this point they could crush the thing if they so chose. The spell drawing away the energy would stop as well. ”Hey hey, enough already.” He would grunt out as his regeneration would continue to heal him. ”This fight is over. I’m still open to offering you the chance to be free. Our issue here is the disruption of the city and human safely. You’ve probably been around a lot longer so I get if you don’t see it that way. Are you willing to listen to our proposal?”

Now firmly in Shane’s grasp, the core of the Elemental had lost any surrounding physical form. It pulsed erratically, its ability to shock Shane falling away as well. Eventually the pulsing slowed though, the being seemingly willing to listen. If it could understand them in the first place.

Well, that was something. He would relax a bit to try and seem less threatening. ”Alright. As enticing as the electricity humans make is, it draws attention. I can provide you with a Lightning Stone. It will give you the energy you need and you can go off wherever you want to be left alone.”

Aurelio would let out a relieved sigh at the capture of the elemental, with that sigh he would also drop his illusion and call back his clones. No need to keep them out if they were past the fighting part of this encounter.

Once he was done with that, and had caught his breath, he’d make his way over to Shane and the elemental. Storing his cane away as he went. “Here, this might help with the negotiations.” He would say shortly before placing a calm hand on both Shane and the core of the elemental. At that point the three of them would be able to feel each other's emotions, as Aurelio was doubting that the living lightning would be able to understand speech.

The assistance Aurelio provided in this avenue of dialogue was invaluable. They would be able to feel the beast's emotions, the fear, the anger, and the gnawing hunger for electricity that sustained its being. While Shane could try with words, there would always be a communication gap of sorts. This sped up the process.

It could feel the desire to help from the other two, and its emotions seemed to calm as it proved receptive to the offer. Shane just had to live up to his end of it.

”Alright then. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He set the elemental down gently and gave it a light pat before he left to the shop. It wasn’t all that long before he returned with a Lightning Stone and presented it to the elemental. ”This should sustain you. You won’t need to cross paths with people again if you don’t want to.” How much of what he said got through he wasn’t sure. Hopefully giving it something it needed would prompt it to avoid, or at least have it leave alone, people and their homes.

It fell on Aurelio to keep the Elemental sedate and contained while Shane went to retrieve the stone. That took longer than perhaps might be desired, but he eventually returned with it in his possession.

The Elemental shifted as Shane presented the stone, little flickers of lightning reaching out from it to the stone. The object reacted, and in a blaze of blue light the Lightning Elemental was reborn in physical form. This time however it was a much smaller dragon, one that could fit in cupped hands rather than the large monstrosity it had been before. The stone had been engulfed by the Elemental, and now rested inside near its core.

Floating into the air, the dragon nodded to both Shane and Aurelio, the latter of whom could feel the warmth of its gratitude. Then it took off, shifting to something more akin to a bolt of lightning. It streaked towards the edge of town, and soon moved out of sight. Their mission had been accomplished at last.

Seeing the diminished size of the elemental was a little sad, but it would grow with time. Shane gave a little wave and let out a huff when it was out of sight. ”Could have gone better, could have gone worse. Hope it manages to stay out of trouble.”

“Agreed” Aurelio would give a nod as he too gave the parting elemental a short wave. “But at least we should be able to talk to them easier next time” He would go on to say smiling as he did.

“Still should be a while before they overwhelm that Lightning Stone.”

Shane nodded and shook Aurelio’s hand. ”Good working with you.”

“That is has” Aurelio would agree.

With the job done, the two boys went their separate ways. Whether they would see each other again in the future, only time would tell.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

&

Having been assigned basic training in Beacon, Janet and Jenna went through without much fuss for the better part of a week. They needed things to simmer down, especially with Alicia. They weren't going to be able to avoid talking to and bringing up some potentially difficult realities though. At least one of them was something they couldn't avoid even if they wanted to. They invited their friend to join them at their house after one of the sessions specifically to talk. Eventually they managed to coax Alicia to come. After getting a little small talk the three went off to the twins room.

Janet drops onto her bed and stares at the ceiling for a little while. "Jenna told me you were mad at us after the attack on Mariette's fortress. I realize that things didn't go to plan, but I don't fully understand." She rolls on her side and looks over at Alicia. "Have we done something wrong? I thought…" She rubbed her head and sat back up. "Clearly something is wrong. If it's us then we would like to fix it."

Holding back a huff of annoyance, Alicia had joined the Twins in hanging out at their house. She had been perfectly respectful to their parents, if a bit distant to the Twins themselves. The trial had vindicated their actions, but that did not mean that she was ready to slip back into the old relationship with nary a thought. Especially not with how that clever plan of theirs had worked out.

Arriving in their bedroom, she stood at the other end of the room with her arms folded while Janet sat down on her bed. ”The point of the mission was to stop Mariette. Instead, she escaped. From my point of view it looked like you had let your feelings towards Justine keep you from carrying out the primary goal of that mission so you could get revenge, when we still needed Justine

She glanced away, a small shrug accompanying the aloof gesture. ”Now she’s being held by the Cradle, Mariette is still running free, and all that effort to set up that assault was wasted. We’re not going to have that kind of advantage ever again.” And without it, how could they stop Mariette? They had all seen how things had worked out this last time. Clearly the court did not agree, but knowing that logically did not stop her emotional response.

The two looked down. Jenna spoke up first. "I wasn't trying to disrupt the mission. I thought it was the right thing." Being the one that had caused such a mess she shrank back and fought back the urge to break down. She apparently had taken the criticism personally.

"Of anyone, I should be the most angry about Mariette. She kidnapped me from this very room and delivered me to Justine. What did she do to you?" There was some legitimate confusion there. Janet was generally a lot more geared toward logic and what have you than her sister, but she wasn't emotionless.

”I know, I know,” Alicia assured Janet with a sigh. They had had a whole trial about whether that was the case, and there wasn’t really a need to relitigate the point. Not this far along.

She felt like she had already explained her reasonings, but perhaps she was confusing that for another person. It probably didn’t hurt to repeat this information again, just so they could understand how frustrated she was right now. ”Because when we were preparing to go after Justine, she showed up and offered her help because Justine was trying to kill her. It worked out then, but she took advantage of the situation to abduct a bunch of the girls she had abducted for Justine, stole a bunch of her wealth, her books, that sort of thing.”

Alicia was forced to fight the urge to pace about the room as her emotions swelled to the surface once more. She’d considered talking to Aurelio or Serenity about it, but there was never a good time. ”Every time something big has happened, she’s been there. She’s been lurking in the shadows, growing stronger and more influential. But I seem to be the only one aside from Justine who really cared. And she can’t keep getting away with this.” Yet she had gotten away with it, once more, and seemed to be as strong as ever.

Listening closely the two waited for a while. Obviously considering what Alicia had to say. After a bit Jenna spoke up. ”I don’t think she came out so great this time. An entire dimension was destroyed with who knows what all it had. I also have reason to believe that an object they were trying to protect has gone missing. If that’s the case then she’s probably in hot water with her patron.” She was recalling some confusion she’d picked up on in Dan’s dimension.

While Alicia would concede that the destruction of the pocket dimension was something, she was not sure that it was enough to make a difference. And learning what they knew did not entirely help their situation either. ”Maybe. We don’t know for sure, and she’s proven her ability to recover in the past. Especially with all the support she got in this last fight, she’s not exactly lacking for gullible allies.” Honestly, it still dug at her every time she thought about it. How could so many ignore what was right in front of their eyes?

There was a bout of silence for a bit as they all sat with their thoughts for a while. It took some time but eventually Janet stood back up. ”We’ll figure it out. We didn’t just invite you over to stew over the mission. I would rather talk about where we are with our friendship and some things that we haven’t quite figured out how to tell anyone.” She stepped over to a small vanity and lightly poked at a glass bottle. Alicia would recognize it as the one that had held the purification potion she’d wished for. Picking it up Janet held it in her open palms.

”There aren’t that many people I really consider good friends. You especially I owe for more than one occasion. I can count on you and I don’t want to lose that. It’s one of the reasons I keep coming back. I want to try and be as transparent as I can and help with your goals. I’m worried you’re starting to see me as an enemy. If I’d been found guilty they probably would have killed my sister and I. Or if we’d somehow become Excommunicated then it might as well have been the same thing.” She stared at the object in her hands for a while.

Janet changed the subject, and Alicia did her best to leave that behind her. She needed to focus on the here and now, not what had happened in the past. She glanced at the purification potion, before her gaze returned to the girl holding it. ”It feels like ever since Cindy got stuck in your head, you haven’t trusted me.”

A finger rose to tap the side of her own head, mimicking the insertion of Cindy’s consciousness to some degree. ”Rachel left me to handle the Mariette operation. But I had to find out all of your side schemes and secret alliances in a courtroom and after the fact. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she has had a bigger influence on both of you than you’re willing to admit.” After all, it felt like there was a real connection there. One that she could not easily dismiss.

Janet would sigh and nod a bit, but also shook her head afterward. ”The secrecy had more to do with the contract she and I made. I thought it was necessary to protect Beacon’s secrets as well as my own. To an extent I believe it did because Cindy couldn’t turn around and take what she learned and give it away. By the same token it prevented me from telling you everything I wanted to. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe it could have been put together better. Whichever it was I’m not sure how much longer it, or she, is going to matter.” She set the vial down.

Alicia had some choice words for the idea that the contract had actively inhibited her sharing information in a manner that was helpful. But before she could actually say anything, she was met with Janet’s ambiguous and slightly ominous ending. ”You’re not doing more magical experiments on yourself, are you?”

”No no. If I knew how much trouble it was going to cause I might never have wished to know how to make those potions. I would rather it stop. Something we learned though, specifically with the potion I used, is the effects don’t go away. Things probably would have stayed the same for a while if it weren’t for Cindy moving the process forward. It’s kind of like the ShineSpark in that it’s just there and works, but it’s the purification magic trying to protect us. This was going to happen eventually and I could never really figure out a good time or place to say it. The magic is starting to... overpower the ShineSpark. I-I can’t...” She watched for Alicia’s response. For the first time in a while Janet looked legitimately scared. ”I can’t stop it.”

It took all the strength the Paladin had not to do a double take. She was not expecting what Janet told her, and it was ridiculous for her to believe, at least at this point. For now she opted for the simple question. ”Do you have any proof?”

”Someone with Third Eye looking closely should be able to see it. It’s only this way because it came from a wish. I know for a fact the things we made won’t have this side effect. I’m not so much worried about what it will do, more how others will react.”

Luckily for them both, Alicia had Third Eye. She didn’t answer immediately, her eyes beginning to glow as she turned it on and went for a closer look. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she would probably know it when she saw it. There was the familiar warmth and glow of the ShineSpark. It didn't seem to be burning as brightly as one would expect. Gazing deeper though it looked like one of many lights in a field of stars. This would be somewhat familiar to Alicia as she'd witnessed how the potion had enveloped and changed Janet the first time.

The sight was strange, but it did seem to back up what Janet was saying. Alicia’s eyes returned to normal as she took a step back. The corner of her mouth ticked downwards as she frowned, though her anger was perhaps not as poignant as before. ”Purified of the Spark. That’s pretty ironic,” she said to herself.

Having taken a moment to appreciate that fact, she returned to the dilemma at hand. ”Do you want me to talk to the Cardinal, see if she knows anyone who might be able to help?”

Holding her breath for a bit too long, Jenna took in some air. She stepped back as well and took a seat. ”Yeah. We didn’t really think much of it at first and would figure it out later since it wasn’t really doing anything. This and the Spark aren’t necessarily opposed, it’s just… over zealous. You can ask the Cardinal. I don’t really know if she’ll have anyone that knows more about it than us though. Our wish has pretty much taught us everything there is to know about it.”

Janet had looked back at her sister while she spoke. ”I don’t want to leave Beacon, but I expect that once we’ve lost our Spark we won’t be allowed back in. If we aren’t outright Excommunicated. I doubt Rachel will believe any of this no matter what we say.” She fidgeted with her hair a bit. ”I’m… not sure what to do.”

Well, it was hardly a situation that anyone could envy. Alicia nodded along slowly, her mind already going to work on the problem. Yet if the two girls who knew purification the best did not have a solution, then what chance did she have? Better to turn to someone who might have access to more arcane knowledge. ”I’ll do that then.” You never knew, maybe Beacon had run into this sort of thing before. At the very least it would have been foolish to not try.

The mention of Rachel earned a wince. ”Yeah, I can imagine how well that will go. ‘Purifying the Spark’ is going to be hard for her to believe even if she sees it.” After all, the Spark was supposed to be Light. They’d seen it get twisted before, but never deleted. ”I’m...not sure what to do there either,’ she admitted hesitantly.

”Don’t…” There was a moment where she stopped and rolled back her thoughts. ”I’m sorry. I don’t mean to dump all these things on you. I just don’t know who else to talk to that won’t try and kill or exploit us. Don’t worry about it too much. I’ve gotten myself in a lot of this mess trying to find ways to do things not by the books so to speak. I just want to help and everyone sees it like we’re betraying them or mad scientists out to experiment on everyone. I know I wished for more potions, I didn’t expect it to fill our heads with all this magical knowledge. What else was I supposed to do with it?” This stuff had been tumbling around in her head since the wish. Some even before as she tried to hold out an olive branch. It seemed as though it was all taking a toll. Jenna tried comforting and steadying her sister with a hug.

Alicia remained in place, unmoving and just allowing Janet to vent as she lamented her situation and the problems that had resulted from it. It seemed like the nicest thing to do at the moment, So she’d let the Twins say what they needed to say, and think in the meanwhile.

”it’s fine,” she assured them both. ”I may not be an Empath, but I am supposed to be here for all of my sisters, as much as I might disagree with them. And you’ve still caused less general chaos and problems than Rachel has. Things will work out as long as you keep trying.” She wasn’t sure if she really had better advice than that, at least in the present.

After letting off a little emotion Janet dried her eyes that had filled a bit with tears. Taking in a long breath she tried relaxing again. Rather than dwell on her own downward spiral she shifted subjects slightly. ”Speaking of. Rachel wants us to make a weapon. Something that can purify others when used on them. I’m not certain we can do it like she wants. I’m kind of… Well, do you think such a thing would be good to have?” She wanted to know Alicia’s opinion on the matter. She usually was good about giving the sisters a different perspective without throwing them under the bus.

Alicia frowned, thoughtfully stroking her chin as she considered what Rachel had asked the Twins to make. As much as she might want to say one thing, the more rational part of her could not follow those words. ”Honestly, that sort of thing could have been pretty useful. We’d spare a lot of suffering if it were easier to purify people.” Without their consent if need be. But that might just be the fight with Mariette showing. Who could know for sure?

”Mm. We’ll give it our best shot then. No guarantees it’ll work though. We have to be careful not to make something someone could steal and turn into something else.” That was certainly the last thing they wanted and the biggest hurdle for sure. Removing the consent part is risky.

While Janet was understandably cautious about what they were making, Alicia remained confident. If anyone could do it, it would be them. The sooner the better, with the way that things were going. ”Nothing ventured nothing gained, I guess,” she said in turn. As much as they were pushing a line, she was not convinced that it was a line that they did not need to cross.

The mention of it being stolen did raise another concern though. ”Is Cindy going to make this an issue?” Alicia asked. Considering how it had messed with their plans already, another wrinkle like that would not be….helpful.

"Because of how we have to make it, someone would need to use a potion like we did and the weapon would act as a channel. At the moment that means only Jenna, Cindy, and I would be able to use it. I think she's banking on only us having access." She mused.

Despite what was said, Alicia could not help but note that it was not a firm answer. Still, she supposed it would have to be good enough for now. They didn’t even know if they could make a functional weapon in the first place, so Cindy getting up to tricks was a bit pre-emptive to worry about.

”Well, I guess I’ll wish you good luck then.” The sooner they got things under control in this city, the better.

Managing a weak smile the girl closed her eyes and took a slow breath. She looked tired, which was a little unusual for a genki girl. Shortly after though her appearance changed signalling Cindy was now in control. Seeing a familiar and safe place she seemed content at least. Realizing Alicia was there she straightened up a bit. ”Paladin Seraph.” She addressed the girl with her title given by Beacon.

Alicia was only slightly surprised as Janet found herself falling under the sway of Cindy once more. Despite this though, she didn’t really have anything else to say to the spectre. Unless Cindy had something to say to her of course. She’d said what she needed to. ”Cindy,” she replied with a curt nod. ”The Twins wanted to talk.I’ll get myself out of your hair now if you’d prefer.”

Considering the gesture for a couple seconds, she shook her head. "No, you are just the one I want to speak to right now." She would say rather matter of fact. "I have been observing and conversing with the twins about our arrangement. With everything that has happened it is clear that my presence puts myself and them more at risk. I wish to seek a way to separate from your friend." perhaps easier said than done. Janet's persistence, her sister, and their magic was more than she'd bargained for. There might have been some intent to exploit the girl, but it was becoming more clear that was not a war she could win.

Alicia maintained silence as Cindy laid out what she wanted, It was a sudden shift in opinion, but she had a feeling that she knew why. After all, if this potion could eliminate the Spark, what was to say that it would not seek to remove her next?

”Well, I suppose I can’t argue with that,” Alicia agreed with another nod. ””Did you just want my blessing, or do you have a plan?”

”I thought it best you should know. Penny seemed to have some idea that might be helpful. I was thinking after the twin’s training is complete I could seek her out to see what can be done.” Looking off for a moment she sighed. It was less than ideal. Everything about her existence was though.

Hearing that Penny was involved made Alicia feel at least a little better. She’d keep an eye on the twins and their carry-along persona. ”That’s good to hear. Keep me in the loop with how things go.” She didn’t want any more unpleasant surprises if she could avoid it.

”We’ll be sure to update you.” This was her first time hearing this herself. She and Cindy talked, but she didn’t realize she’d made a choice. It made her feel a lot better about the situation though. They just needed to get through this week and move forward.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

The Mint Squad turned, prepared to address Reaver's question. He was likely not going to enjoy the answer, which in turn meant they might have to get rough with him just like they had with Viva. but that was something none of them felt particularly bad about.

before they could say anything, a figure appeared beside Reaver and swept him away in the blink of an eye. The Squad looked at the spot where he had been for a few moments, before turning away. Varjo scowled, pouting as she was deprived of her fun.

"I guess Al's got it under control," Alma mused. With that they headed away, dodging the security around here as they did so. Their work here was done. It was time to move on to other assignments.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Varjo

Age: 36/18 | Gender: Female/Female | Darkness/Illusion
Mystic | Focus Fire | Horror/Ebon Mint
Familiar/Sorcery/Awareness/Gifted/Incognito/Enhanced Weapon/ Intuition/Mystic Artifact | Minions/Mystic Might/Gifted Item/Transportation/Supplier/Magical Overload/Non-Exclusivity/Mana Font | Insomnia/Quick Tempered/Mind Bent/Fearsome Reputation/Debt/Betrayal/Monstrous Form
7/7/8/23/6

Ilmarinen

Age: 26/17 | Gender: Male/Male | Time/Air
Ranged | Prime | Puchuu/Ebon Mint
Gifted/Sorcery/Incognito/Overlay/Masculinity | Well Connected/Mystic Might/Physical Prowess/Supplier/Magical Overload/Non Exclusivity/Mana Font | Debt/Betrayal/Monstrous Form/Distracted/Hostile/Clueless | Wings/Chaos Engine/Broken Reincarnation/Second Specialization
5/20/6/18/8

Alma

Age: 30/15 | Gender: Female/Female |Beast/Reinforcement
Fist | Regeneration | Lesser Force/Ebon Mint
Healing Artifact/Martial Training/Mana Channel/Monstrous Metamorphosis/Bestial
Magical Overload/Non-exclusivity/Mana Font/Focused/Subtle/ Mystical Might/Physical Prowess | Debt/betrayal/Monstrous Form/Limited/Alien Mind/Rival Force (Gaia)/Formless | Thick Skin/Discordian/Second Specialization/Weakness (Wood)
15/7/9/20/6

Seppa all but rolled her eyes as Reaver warned of the potential threat he might bring with him. At least he wasn't insisting on some pointless fight that would only serve to get himself killed. So he had lived up to her very low expectations at last. Relax, tough guy. We've got it under control,' she told him before waving to Varjo. She cast the spell, wrapping him in shadows before teleporting him to near the group of Mint aligned magical girls.

Of course, it looked like Seppa had also mentioned what he had said to the others. Varjo waved to him as she turned on her feet, still grinning eagerly. "Come on, let the Cradle come. We'll send them running back to their mommy for their nap times," she gloated with a toothy grin. She did not fear a fight with them.

Ilmarinen nodded along, though less enthusiastic than his companion. "Al would probably not object to us fighting Veronica's pawns. We need a better idea of what she's built anyways."

While they debated the merits of fighting the Crimson Cradle posse, Seppa had been keeping an eye on the ongoing battle using her Psychic powers. As such, she was aware of when it resolved, and the general opinions of those involved. "Looks like things are wrapping up in there. They managed to talk penny down. If there's a grudge, I'm not feeling it," she informed Alma.

"Tch," Alma grumbled. Her teeth clicked together as her tail agitatedly swished in frustration. "People in this city are way too forgiving." They could do all the manipulation and mind games that they wanted, but when the heavy hitters were so willing to make up it made things very difficult.

Well, they had done what they could. Alma calmed herself before looking to her companions. "We should get out of here before they come looking for us. There's no point in lingering now." They would depart, and then plan their next move. She turned and began leading the way in the opposite direction from the Sanctuary, out into the city beyond. This particular act had concluded, but the play was far from over.

@AtomicNut

---

Hider

Age: 22/15 | Gender: Female/Female | Light
Ranged/Melee | Barrage/Third Eye | Beacon
Enhanced Outfit/Sorcery/Get Out of Jail/Blood Magic/Wings/Dual Weapon | Shine Spark/Perfect Life/Gifted Item | Vow of Patience/Excommunication
10/9/11/15/7

The trial had concluded at last. Leaving the courtroom, Alicia's shoulders sagged fro9m the weight of it all. She was tired from the fighting, the lost adrenaline that now pulled her down. She continued to feel the sting of her wounds, though that was perhaps more mental than physical by this point. Then there was the emotional weight, which continued to tug at her mind even now.

She knew that she should not harbor regrets over the trial. She had presented her case as best she could, drawn n the facts as she knew them. Perhaps she had been wrong to think the Twins were in league with the Cradle. But all the same, it had looked pretty incriminating from her angle. Ultimately the trial had ended against her favor. Now she just needed to move past that and follow the verdict of the Cardinal.

For all that she wanted to do that, it was easier said than done. She continually found herself shocked and dismayed by the local girls who had rallied to defend Mariette. She just couldn't understand how they had been so fooled. Not only that, but as the one in control of this mission she found herself continually replaying events in her head as she made her way down the halls of headquarters. What could she have done better? Continued inside the mansion through the ambush? Blasted their way to the roof? Over and over, again and again.

Honestly, if the Twins plan was the one that ultimately ended up working, she wasn't sure how well she would take it. Whatever said plan was. Denied a final confrontation, denied that resolution, and humiliated by the clandestine actions of her own subordinates, it was a galling thought.

God, she was going to need to do something to destress later.

For now she arrived at her office. Swinging open the door, she stepped into the welcoming atmosphere and moved over to her desk. Writing a report would distract her from the more annoying emotional issues, so that was what she would do. All she could do now was wait and see how things resolved themselves. She could no longer impact how Mariette's story resolved. She just needed to be ready for whatever came next.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Varjo

Age: 36/18 | Gender: Female/Female | Darkness/Illusion
Mystic | Focus Fire | Horror/Ebon Mint
Familiar/Sorcery/Awareness/Gifted/Incognito/Enhanced Weapon/ Intuition/Mystic Artifact | Minions/Mystic Might/Gifted Item/Transportation/Supplier/Magical Overload/Non-Exclusivity/Mana Font | Insomnia/Quick Tempered/Mind Bent/Fearsome Reputation/Debt/Betrayal/Monstrous Form
7/7/8/23/6

Ilmarinen

Age: 26/17 | Gender: Male/Male | Time/Air
Ranged | Prime | Puchuu/Ebon Mint
Gifted/Sorcery/Incognito/Overlay/Masculinity | Well Connected/Mystic Might/Physical Prowess/Supplier/Magical Overload/Non Exclusivity/Mana Font | Debt/Betrayal/Monstrous Form/Distracted/Hostile/Clueless | Wings/Chaos Engine/Broken Reincarnation/Second Specialization
5/20/6/18/8

Alma

Age: 30/15 | Gender: Female/Female |Beast/Reinforcement
Fist | Regeneration | Lesser Force/Ebon Mint
Healing Artifact/Martial Training/Mana Channel/Monstrous Metamorphosis/Bestial
Magical Overload/Non-exclusivity/Mana Font/Focused/Subtle/ Mystical Might/Physical Prowess | Debt/betrayal/Monstrous Form/Limited/Alien Mind/Rival Force (Gaia)/Formless | Thick Skin/Discordian/Second Specialization/Weakness (Wood)
15/7/9/20/6

Things shifted rapidly, as happened so often in Penrose. First was the sudden influx of magical girls from some outside source. This in itself was not an immediate problem, aside from the increased risk of them being detected. It was just more food for the monster to feast on as it moved along the second floor of the facility.

The return of Penny was another wrinkle. “What the hell is she doing here?” Alma hissed. Whatever that crazy girl had done earlier clearly had not stalled Penny for as long as they might like. If she was back, then the initial plan to undercut her leadership by solving the crisis in her absence was clearly not going to work. Again. Well, it wasn’t like they could pull the monster out now. They’d just improvise.

Where hostages might have been an option, it was quickly dashed by Mariette and her effective use of portals to evacuate those who could not reach an exit. The monster reared back as Penny unleashed a spread of gauss shots, punching holes right through the monster and giving Shane the time he needed to get out along with the others. Still, it did not do as much damage as it might have, given the lack of apparent internal organs for her to target.

Moments later the trio of witches appeared on the scene, creating their own monster to join in the fray and getting in close with melee combat. Tendrils lashed out, seeking to grab Lauren and drain her magic like it had the girls before her. For how much it could target the Witch, more effort was devoted to Penny as it surged and sought to grapple with its attacker. The damage from her initial burst reformed, though the beast was lesser for it.

That was when the other nightmare creature joined in, stabbing and crashing against the monster. For a few brief moments there was a frenzy of action as the three fought, until suddenly a shriek filled the air. The monster that had intruded in the Sanctuary began to thrash and writhe as its skin bubbled and sizzled. It dramatically slumped, and was wiped out by the other nightmare monster that had been created by the trio of witches.

On the whole it was very anticlimactic. And there was a reason for that.

In the shadows, the Mint group watched as the monster was ‘dispatched’ courtesy of the killswitch they had put in the beast when they first found the creature down there in the sewers. In an ideal world they would have done the deed themselves, but that was not possible. So they had done the next best thing and given the official defeat to the newcomers. It would deny the prestige of the victory to Penny, and raise some questions about the power of the new arrivals.

“Looks like we’ve been noticed,” Seppa growled, already cracking her knuckles and itching for a fight. Those thoughts had not been particularly hidden, to say nothing of Penny herself. Which was unfortunate. She would have liked to have had that matchup. Perhaps another time, on a more fitting battlefield.
Alma nodded. “Varjo, get us out of here.”

Giving off a cute pout, Varjo waved her hand, wrapping them in Darkness and shifting them out of the depths of the Sanctuary. They did not travel too far, not yet anyway. There was one last matter to attend to.

As they left though, they would leave one parting gift. Twin spells directed at Penny, tinted with Illusion and Psychic magic. The first would twist the air, illusions carefully crafted to alter the appearance of the coven witches to any who would look. No longer human, instead they would appear as nightmare monsters, twisted abominations eager to rip and tear like the previously dispatched for and the new monster that had been summoned to fight it. It likely would not last once they had left the area, but it didn't have to.

The latter would push her to defend the Sanctuary. An insidious voice winding through her subconscious and pushing her thoughts in a specific direction that met their ends. 'Attack. Destroy. Eliminate All potential threats.' All of this simply by playing off her robot instincts and exaggerating the threat she was faced with. Which would, at least in theory, keep the ShineSpark from kicking their butts by merely enhancing what was already there. It was no different than how Aurelio used his emotion magic, though the Mint agents didn't know that.

Seppa reached out to communicate with Reaver again. ’It’s too hot there now. Get somewhere dark, we’ll pull you out’. As much as she wouldn’t have minded Reaver getting himself pointlessly killed for breaking her stuff, the boss still wanted him alive. They had gone to all that trouble of capturing Viva after all.

Hopefully he didn’t keep them waiting too long.

@Majoras End@AtomicNut@Shifter_Master@twave

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Hider

Age: 22/15 | Gender: Female/Female | Light
Ranged/Melee | Barrage/Third Eye | Beacon
Enhanced Outfit/Sorcery/Get Out of Jail/Blood Magic/Wings/Dual Weapon | Shine Spark/Perfect Life/Gifted Item | Vow of Patience/Excommunication
10/9/11/15/7

Alicia was not happy about it, but there was a sort of grim satisfaction as Rachel headed off in response to the information she had provided. If putting their own house in order was what they needed to do in order to ensure future success, then so be it.

Initially she was reluctant to go to the infirmary. There were things to do, debriefings to be had. This had been her mission, her plan, and she needed to see it to the end. And while Jenna might have been handled, there were others who needed to be held accountable for their actions. If they were going to have to do this again then she did not want to run into the same mistakes.

That was the plan at least. Reality intruded as fading adrenaline and tumultuous emotions were stamped on by pain lancing through her chest with each deep breath. It seemed Trixy’s sniper shot had done more than she had initially thought in the heat of the moment.

Grimacing, a hand fell to press near the impact zone, and with a frown she turned and made her way after the others to the infirmary. It looked like she needed that trip after all. “Rachel reacted a lot better than I thought she would,” she noted as she rejoined FanFan and Leena. Not that she was complaining about that fact, it just seemed somewhat out of character. Especially with the responsibility she had placed on Alicia for this.

For now, she joined the others in heading to the infirmary. Hopefully nothing else had fallen apart in the delay between the general return and her appearance back in HQ.

---

Varjo

Age: 36/18 | Gender: Female/Female | Darkness/Illusion
Mystic | Focus Fire | Horror/Ebon Mint
Familiar/Sorcery/Awareness/Gifted/Incognito/Enhanced Weapon/ Intuition/Mystic Artifact | Minions/Mystic Might/Gifted Item/Transportation/Supplier/Magical Overload/Non-Exclusivity/Mana Font | Insomnia/Quick Tempered/Mind Bent/Fearsome Reputation/Debt/Betrayal/Monstrous Form
7/7/8/23/6

Ilmarinen

Age: 26/17 | Gender: Male/Male | Time/Air
Ranged | Prime | Puchuu/Ebon Mint
Gifted/Sorcery/Incognito/Overlay/Masculinity | Well Connected/Mystic Might/Physical Prowess/Supplier/Magical Overload/Non Exclusivity/Mana Font | Debt/Betrayal/Monstrous Form/Distracted/Hostile/Clueless | Wings/Chaos Engine/Broken Reincarnation/Second Specialization
5/20/6/18/8

Alma

Age: 30/15 | Gender: Female/Female |Beast/Reinforcement
Fist | Regeneration | Lesser Force/Ebon Mint
Healing Artifact/Martial Training/Mana Channel/Monstrous Metamorphosis/Bestial
Magical Overload/Non-exclusivity/Mana Font/Focused/Subtle/ Mystical Might/Physical Prowess | Debt/betrayal/Monstrous Form/Limited/Alien Mind/Rival Force (Gaia)/Formless | Thick Skin/Discordian/Second Specialization/Weakness (Wood)
15/7/9/20/6

The fighting at the Sanctuary continued, both above and below. The Mint team rapidly became aware of Oros’ sudden and dynamic return, but that was resolved before they needed to intervene. If anything it had helped their plan, though in an indirect manner. At the very least it had not hurt. It merely served to confuse the defenders and hinder their response to the real threat all the more.

Still, the monster would not be entirely unimpeded. Shane went to slow it down, and some of the more bold in the Sanctuary would go to help him and defend their home. Of course the monster was a formidable foe on its own, surging forward and lashing out at any target with a myriad of tendrils. As one could guess, being caught would be unwise.

The Sanctuary had a lot of strong members though, even when one did not consider Penny. Given time they could have found a solution, or dealt with the monster on their own. That was why the Mint team was here. It fit their agenda much better if those efforts did not succeed.

That was the problem Shane and his allies would run into. Illusions to confuse, Time magic to alter reaction speeds, reinforced barriers to weaken attacks before they could strike, mental spells to weaken the resolve of girls to potential setbacks. With Varjo’s powers the team was able to move in the shadows, unseen and unnoticed. With someone actively working against them on so many fronts, Shane was leading a doomed effort as the monster surged forward towards the passage to the second floor.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Huh, when I asked just after the hunt, you said it was 2 Silver.

I'll adjust her sheet.

EDIT- Fixed

@Ponn

Ugh this is gonne be the death of me

After some extra more digging around, you can keep the two silvers. I apologize for the headache