Ponn

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

Connie and Mia Stats

Connie

3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3
5 | 4 | 6 | 22 | 5

Oddball: Nightmares | Tentacles

Enhanced Weapon | Power Artifact | Mystic Artifact | Ally | Interdimensional Home

Focused | Mental Link | Hidden Death | Mana Font | Mystic Might

Alien Mind | Formless | Rival Force | Clueless

---

Mia

3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3
5 | 8 | 7 | 22 | 5

Wood | Barrage

Enhanced Weapon | Dual Weapon | Purification Artifact | Big Red Button

Blessing | Divine Competence | Gifted Item | Mana Font | Mystic Might

Rites| Arrogance | Big Brother | Clueless

Finally ready to set off, Connie and Gaia (and Mister Wister Kitey Witey) followed after Lily on their rainbow unicorns, the enchanted dream creatures easily keeping pace with the lightning-wielding greenette’s motorcycle as it sped across the desert sands. However, it wasn’t long before those sands trailed off into grass covered plains, and it was at this point a cheerful voice sang out from overhead.

“Golly wolly!” Mr. Kite exclaimed. “I see some smokey wokey up ahead!”

Indeed, a pillar of steadily-darkening smoke was now rising up from a forest on the horizon, even as the sound of distant detonations began to ring out. These developments, coupled with the animal trio also pointing in that direction made it quite clear that the forest was where they would find Alexander. Of course, Lily, ever the chatterbox, wasn’t about to let the trip there pass in silence, and so began noting the strangeness of the normally rather reactionary Alicia’s recent take-charge attitude.

“I cannot say I know her very well,” Gaia admitted. “But perhaps she has simply become fed up with these vile fiends’ needlessly cruel buffoonery. I, for one, certainly have.”

“Y-Yeah…” Connie agreed, her shaky voice tinged with worry. “U-Umm… I-If A-Alexander is b-being h-held p-prisoner, then w-why are w-we h-heading t-towards what l-looks like a f-forest f-fire?” she inquired, her mask forming an uncertain frown. “O-Oh, g-gosh!” she gasped a moment later, the pitch black eyes of her mask going wide. “D-D-Do you t-think t-they’re t-trying to b-b-burn him a-alive?!”

“It’s certainly possible,” Gaia conceded. “Although I do not believe it is particularly likely,” she added, giving her frightened friend a reassuring smile. “Far more probable is that Alexander has escaped whatever form of confinement the Wonderlanders placed him in and is now expressing his displeasure at being held captive by them.”

“I-I hope s-so…” Connie replied, still sounding somewhat unsure. A moment later, she gave a yelp of surprise when Mr. Kite sang out once more.

“Alarmy warmy! I spy an army!” the whimsical kite announced. “Friend or foe, I just don’t know!”

“I see it, too,” Gaia noted, her emerald eyes narrowing as she focused on the sizable force heading their way. “Let us be on our guard, everyone,” she advised, conjuring Nature’s Blossom. Although the army was still quite distant, it was growing closer at a fairly rapid pace, and the verdant maiden wanted to ensure their small rescue party was fully prepared for the possibility of combat.

---

MDP Stats

Magical Dream Princess

3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3
4 | 9 | 4 | 24 | 9

Oddball: Sweet Dreams | Barrage

Wealth and Resources (not while tf'd) | Enhanced Weapon | Power Artifact | Dual Weapon | Natural Aging | Money | Intuition

Focused | Mental Link | Hidden Death | Mana Font | Mystic Might

Alien Mind | Formless | Rival Force | Clueless

Meanwhile, back at the Mad Hatter’s fortified factory complex, MDP was overjoyed that “Penny” approved of her idea. “Okie dokie~!” the whimsical girl declared with a wink and a playful peace sign salute just before the Mechanical Monarch teleported away. Then she set to work befriending the hat drone. “Like, what’s your namey wamey, Mister Wister Hatty Watty thingy wingy~?” she inquired with a cheerful smile. “Magical Dream Princess’s namey wamey is Magical Dream Princess, and, like, she would just wuv to be friendy wendies with you~! (giggle!) Would you like to be friendy wendies with her~?! Oh~?! You would~?! Yaaay~!” she squealed in delight as the hat drone bobbed up and down while rapidly spinning in place. “Magical Dream Princess wuvs making friendy wendies~! (giggle!) So, like, what thingy wingies do you likey wikey~?! Magical Dream Princess also walso likey wikies glitter witter, and rainbow wainbows, and flower wowers and…”

(nearly a minute later)

“…and dancing wancing, and singing winging songy wongies, and playing waying gamey wamies, like that one over theresie~!” she concluded, her painfully limited attention having been claimed by the small army of chess bots, which were now being engaged by the other magical girls. “Like, Magical Dream Princess plays that gamey wamey lots and lots~!” she told her new friend. “But, like, this version wersion is super duper biggy wiggy~! (giggle!)” So enthralled was the Princess of Dreams by this fascinating sight that she completely forgot about asking her new friend if he knew where the Mad Hatter and the eggs might be found. But that was okay. She was having funsie wunsie, and that was all that really mattered. “Come on~! (giggle!)” she told the hat drone as she dragged it along behind her. “We’ve gotta give those grumpy wumpy kingy wingy thingie wingies huggy wuggies so they’ll, like, totally wotally be our friendy wendies, too~! (giggle!)”

Rushing over to the chess board like the ADHD-addled child on the world’s largest sugar rush that she was, MDP began gleefully hopping from square to square, jumping around each obstacle or bounding over it with the help of a hastily-conjured candy cane stripped spring or smily face trampoline. “Onesie, twosie, comin’ throughsie~! (giggle!)” she sang, tapping the weapons she couldn’t avoid with her whimsical wand and turning them to harmless rubber. Of course, her allies helped, too, but MDP was enjoying herself far too much to notice any of that. A white knight lunged at her with its spear, only for the playful princess to leap atop it, skip along its length, and bound off it with a cheerful wave. “Thanky wankies, horsey worsie~! (giggle!)” she told it, before refocusing on her objective, the white king. With a final bounce, she was hurtling towards the alabaster sovereign, her arms spread wide. “Kingy wiiiiiingy~” she called in an even more sing-song voice than usual. “It’s huggy wuggy time~! (giggle!)”

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

Huh, you actually look kinda tolerable!
-Nyxia Torrentia, Neon Tempest of the Ultraviolet Rainbow

It didn’t take long for Nyxia to reach the source of the massive light pillar, but even so, she soon discovered that she was far from the first to arrive. The fact that the club voyeur was present hardly came as a surprise, but the same couldn’t exactly be said for Earthshaker’s presence. Yet, after some thought, she realized it was rather reasonable for the Rule Keeper to want to be on hand to ensure that the other club members’ interactions with the mysterious newcomer wouldn’t get out of hand. More interesting by far, however, was the newcomer herself. Encased in a high-tech suit of armor, with glowing energy wings, she presented an impressive appearance, and if her recent light show was anything to go by, she was impressively powerful as well. That said, she didn’t seem to be acting particularly imposing, let alone snobbishly imperious, instead looking more awkward than anything else. This was actually a very good sign, as far as the Neon Tempest was concerned, since she never much cared about a girl’s affiliation in regard to light or dark, just that they were at least moderately tolerable to be around, and this girl seemed to fit that criteria, at least so far.

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” A grinning Nyxia reassured the armored girl when she noted that the Miseria had begun growing rapidly denser. “It just gives my precious baby more to FEAST ON!!!” she added, giving voice to a peal of unhinged laughter as her enormous death ray unleashed a crackling, writhing cylinder of ruinous energy, which promptly obliterated not only the dense clusters of Miseria, but more than a few of the mosquito monsters feeding upon them as well. “By the way, thanks for drawin’ ‘em all here!” the Neon Tempest told her benefactor during a brief lull in the slaughter. “That fireworks show ya put on was badass as fuck!”

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

---

“Home field advantage” Nicole had said. Perhaps that might have been true in the daylight, but on this tempest-wracked night, Nova Lux’s elaborate gardens seemed just as treacherous and foreboding a labyrinth as the one Guardian Gunslinger Alexis had faced in Season 1, Episode 14- Botanical Battlezone. In fact, Dana half expected a genetically engineered carnivorous plant to lunge for her at any moment, or one of the statues to start opening fire on her teammates with concealed magitech weaponry. Actually, now that she thought about it, armed statues would make for a pretty cool defensive system, and the golden gunslinger made a mental note to speak with the faculty about that idea after the typhoon had passed. As it was, the blinding arcs of lightning and torrential rains propelled by gale force winds were more than enough of an impediment even without the threat of hidden traps, and Dana grit her teeth as she pulled the wide brim of her hat down to cover her face in an attempt to block at least some of the stinging drops of rain that were slashing across it in a seemly endless torrent. Yet, even if her parma was completely soaked, no amount of rain could dampen her spirit.

“Nice of this lightning to help guide our path!” Dana’s jovial voice shouted over the roaring winds as she splashed through yet another puddle. “Even if it’s nothing compared to what you can dish out, Penny!” she added, giving her roommate a stardust-trailing wink. Of course, the smiling sharpshooter was doing her part as well, having conjured a small swarm of glowing stars to orbit the team, but she was never one to sing her own praises when she could boost the spirits of her friends instead.

Soon enough, however, Dana and her teammates would make out another, far brighter source of illumination, a blazing pyre rising up from where the medical wing was located, one promptly joined by an explosion, whose fiery roar seemed to rival the storm’s own peals of thunder. Upon arriving a few moments later, the golden gunslinger gave voice to a gasp of horror at the sight that greeted her. Not only was much of the medical wing set ablaze, but that wasn’t even the worst part. She heard them over the comms mere moments before she caught sight of them with her own eyes: Amanda and Priya’s bloody and battered bodies laying on the waterlogged ground in front of the burning structure, their teammates nowhere to be found. The former wasn’t moving, and Dana prayed she was merely unconscious, but the later…

No sooner had Dana heard Priya’s pained cry than her auric eyes caught a glimpse of movement from within the blazing building behind the injured girl, causing the shining sharpshooter to freeze in her tracks. The figure perched in the second floor window was obviously a hostile Ars Magi, one armed with a sniper rifle of some sort, and while she had yet to open fire, Dana was almost certain that would change the moment she, or any other member of team Radiant Storm dared to move even a centimeter closer. The hostile figure’s choice of weapon made the golden garbed Norban think of Priya’s instructor, the legendary Amara Volkov, but there was no way this was actually her, right? One of the most loyal and respected Ars Magi couldn’t possibly have… No, Dana told herself with fierce determination. This wasn’t the time for what ifs. Her friends were in danger and keeping them safe was what mattered most.

“Watch out, guys!” Dana cautioned the rest of her team. “There’s a sniper in that second floor window!” she added, pointing out the enemy Ars Magi’s location with a gloved finger. “Let’s keep her pinned down while we get Amanda and Priya to safety!”

Not wasting another moment, the golden gunslinger rushed forward, a massive glowing star positioned on her arm like a shield as she fired several auric energy bolts at the shadowy sniper. While Nicole was officially the team’s leader, Dana’s overwhelming concern for her fellow Ars Magi refused to permit her to wait for even a moment before charging to their aid. Indeed, the sight of her friends’ wounded forms called to mind not only Noah, Dima, and the other officers she’d met on Aiya’s yacht, but also Crystal and the rest of Team Kheper. Then, of course, there was Lada, the eccentric scientist whose lab was inside the now set aflame medical wing. Dana had no idea how any of them were faring, but she only hoped they were all okay, and if not, that they at least had comrades-in-arms poised to come to their rescue…

Battle Toyale — Christmas Rumble!

@BrokenPromiseYes.

Battle Toyale — Christmas Rumble!

And just like that, the Orks were in full retreat, a sight that pleased Octolys greatly. More interesting by far, however, was the combat occurring between the mysterious swordswoman and the massive, mask-wearing amalgamation. It would seem the woman possessed considerable agility, augmented by potent hydrokinetic abilities. While clearly no match for the gargantuan creature in a straight up fight, the woman was able to employ her advantages to swiftly acquire the mask and make her equally swift escape. Yes, Octolys reflected, she would be a formidable opponent indeed, were they to cross paths. Yet, perhaps the best path would be one of avoidance, allowing his foes to slaughter each other, while he simply ascended a throne made of their pilled corpses once the last of them had fallen. Although the Orks had fled, the dark-matter Domiarch knew that it would only be a matter of time before the battle hungry creatures regrouped and returned with renewed fury. Thus, he resolved to be elsewhere before that sequence of events could fully transpire.

Setting into motion, Octolys began heading towards the labyrinthian prison’s rear wall, a destination chosen in response to the recent explosive shattering of the facility’s transparent-walled entrance. Under normal circumstances, such a development would offer a means of escape, yet it soon became quite apparent that this was yet another fiendish trap. Indeed, no sooner had the barrier been shattered, then a torrent of liquid had begun streaming through the ruptured portal to swiftly flood the multi-tiered prison’s lowest level. This latest danger was yet another reason why Octolys chose to remain upon the top level of his confinement block, although it also provided an opportunity. The more potential opponents that were swept away by the rising tide, the less opposition he would face when the time eventually came for battle to be joined…

NHTD:ARPWAEHTD (Tower of Eternity)

I love this artwork.

It's super atmospheric.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

It's Tempest Tuesday, bitches!
-Nyxia Torrentia, Neon Tempest of the Ultraviolet Rainbow

As has been mentioned many times, Nyxia had never really cared for Rei, but on this particular night, she found herself despising the club’s enigmatic leader even more than usual. There the girl was, standing atop a light post like a total fucking chuuni, giving vague orders and trying to look as cool as possible. Hell, the one-eyed bitch wasn’t even transformed, as if announcing to all who cared to look her way that she didn’t need her mystical abilities in order to be a total badass. Nyxia found it incredibly grating at the best of times, and with the weight of the afternoon’s distressing revelations still pressing heavily upon her mind, it had become almost unbearable. Thankfully, the night had provided the Neon Tempest with no small number of distractions to help with taking her mind off such dark ruminations, if only for a few hours. There was the swarming Miseria, of course, the ever reliable punching bags whose slaughter never failed to bring her great joy, but there was also the night sky itself.

As she stood atop one of Hibusa Town’s taller buildings (to gain both a better vantage point from which to blast Miseria and from which to look down on Rei), Nyxia couldn’t help but note the cluster of billowing storm clouds gathering in the distance above the far side of town. Their contours stood in sharp contrast against the sparkling stars of the otherwise clear sky, lit up as much by the moon’s soft glow as the flashes of intermittent lightning from within the depths of their turbulent forms. It reminded the Neon Tempest of a scene in an anime film she had watched with her brother several years prior. It was one of Makoto Shinkai’s earlier films, one released long before the country had lost its collective mind over Your Name. Yet, as an ardent fan of the director’s work, Kaito had always felt Shinkai’s lesser known, and less well-regarded, works held a particular charm, a rawness that had been lost in the wake of overwhelming commercial success. Nyxia, too, had come to share that sentiment, even if she didn’t entirely agree with his opinion that those early films’ less-than-happy endings were far more accurate portrayals of reality than the more upbeat endings of the director’s most recent fare. After all, if striving against all odds to attain a seemingly impossible goal could only end in failure, then what was she even doing any of this for? No, the Neon Tempest told herself with firm resolve as she glanced over to where the illuminated spire of Hibusa Town’s tallest antenna rose up into the highest heavens in an uncannily similar manner to the iconic tower from yet another of Shinkai’s works. It wasn’t impossible. Not for her. She would get Kaito back, but first, she would force-feed Ashbringer her own intestines, and to do both of those things, she needed to get stronger. Culling the night’s crop of Miseria was sure to assist in attaining that goal, at least, if she was able to find them…

An instant before she was about to fire one of her death ray’s writhing cylinders of annihilation at a nearby cluster of Miseria, Nyxia felt her body suddenly begin to shudder. At first, it was slight, like a shiver brought on due to cold or fright, even if she never experienced such things while transformed. All too quickly, however, the shaking became much more pronounced, and the Neon Tempest realized that she wasn’t the one shaking. It was the very ground itself. It had been quite a few years since she had last experienced an earthquake, but the sensation was unmistakable. Although the trembling subsided in short order, its aftereffects promised to have rather unfortunate implications for the success of the night’s hunt. Although Rei, predictably, didn’t seem especially bothered by the turn of events, Nyxia knew that the power outage brought about by the quake would make locating and exterminating the Miseria all the more difficult…

Bracing herself so as not to unceremoniously plummet over the edge of the roof, Nyxia’s glowing eyes scanned the darkened streets. While some of the club’s members were heeding their leader’s command and mopping up any stragglers, the vast majority of the Miseria had since departed for more lucrative feeding grounds. “Fuck…” the Neon Tempest hissed. “Now we’re gonna need to find a way of gathering up the little shit stains…” She didn’t see her partner yet, but then, she hadn’t exactly been looking for her either, simply figuring Earthshaker would meet up with her sooner or later, as the Rule Keeper usually did. Now, Nyxia began actively scanning her shadowed surroundings for the tribal girl. It wasn’t long before something caught her attention, but it wasn’t Roche.

A massive pillar of blindingly bright radiance had suddenly lanced up into the sky near the center of town as if to serve as a consort to the towering, cloud-piercing antenna. While it only lasted a few short seconds, that was more than enough time for the beam’s afterimage to be thoroughly seared into Nyxia’s mind. “Holy fuck…” the Neon Tempest breathed in hushed awe. In all her time as a Magical Girl, she had never seen an expulsion of power quite so spectacular, and, she had to admit, this particular spectacle soundly surpassed even the most intensely powerful of her own ruinous energy beams. Not only that, but whoever had fired it was clearly at least somewhat intelligent. While Nyxia normally didn’t care to fuck around with what other magical girls were doing (like how she’d simply ignored that portal in the back ally she’d leapt over on her way here), the recent light show was obviously intended to attract the Miseria, like moths to the proverbial flame, and that was an opportunity the Neon Tempest wasn’t about to pass up.

“Maybe this’ll be more fun than I thought…” Nyxia mused as she raced off towards the pillar’s point of origin. She had to admit, she was very much looking forward to meeting whoever had fired it…

---

It’s also April Fools Day!
-Stacy

Actually, I think it’s closer to Halloween.
-Ramona

A short while earlier...

“And here we are!” Stacy Sterling (aka Storm Witch Stacy) declared as she stumbled out of the crackling portal. “Huh,” she added a moment later, a puzzled frown forming as she took in her surroundings. “Geopolis looks kinda different from how I remember it…”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure this isn’t Geopolis,” Ramona Ralorin (aka Razor Weaver Ramona) observed in her trademark deadpan.

“What makes ya say that?” Stacy inquired, turning her head around to look at her companion.

“I don’t know,” Ramona replied. “Maybe it’s because Geopolis doesn’t have any mountains looming over it, or maybe it’s the fact that all the signs are in Japanese?”

“Holy freaking crap!! You’re totally right!” Stacy exclaimed as she finally noticed those two prominent incongruities. “Man, and I was soooo looking forward to taking that tour of their snowplow museum!”

“Yeah, what a disappointment,” Ramona muttered, before giving voice to a tired sigh. “Well, as far as fuck ups go, this might just be your worst yet. We’re not just in the wrong city, we’re on the wrong continent.”

“But, that’s still crazy awesome!” Stacy insisted. “I mean, I always wanted to visit Japan, and our magic should totally translate things for us, like it did with that Big Foot guy!”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was just a school mascot,” Ramona replied, although Stacy was no longer paying attention.

“Oooh! Look!” she cried in delight. “An arcade! We should totally go in there!”

“You’re forgetting the fact that our money isn’t good here,” Ramona pointed out.

“We can use our magic!” Stacy replied. “I’m sure if I gave the coin machine a little jolt—”

“You’d probably blow up the building,” Ramona cut her off.

“Well, then we can use your magic!” Stacy declared with her typical irrepressibility. “You can send those crazy cool web strings of yours inside the machine and get it to give us the coins! Y’know, just like how you used them to control me like a puppet that one time so I could actually hit what I was shooting at!”

“Did you also forget that normal people can’t see us while we’re transformed?” Ramona inquired. “Don’t you think it’ll look a little odd for the machines to start running through games all by themselves?”

“I guess…” Stacy conceded before rapidly brightening back up. “But I’m sure it’ll totally be fine! Like, when they see all that crazy stuff and suddenly find our names at the top of the score boards, it’ll totally be like an April Fools Day prank!”

“It’s the beginning of October.”

“Well, maybe it is here, but back home it should totally be early April! Y’know, because of timezones and rotation and junk!”

Ramona simply stared at her companion with a blank expression before finally uttering an even more deadpan than normal, “…What.”

“Yeah! Like how on one side of the planet it’s Fall, but on the other side, it’s Spring! Just like how on one side of the world it’s day and on the other side it’s night! I mean, that totally is how it works, right?!”

“Wrong.”

“Huh?”

“That isn’t remotely how it works. For one thing, seasons are only reversed on the northern and southern hemispheres, and even then, the months of the year stay the same. So there’s no way it’s April anywhere on this planet.”

“But maybe it is on another planet!” Stacy suggested. “Or in another universe! Well, anyway, let’s check out that arcade!”

“Fine…” Ramona relented with a weary sigh. “But only because I don’t wanna get rained on…” she added, glancing up at the ominous thunderheads that seemed poised to unleash a torrential downpour at any moment.

Although Stacy was often blissfully unaware of it, her magic had the unfortunate side effect of causing extremely localized storms, especially if she was feeling exceptionally emotional about something. Which was to say, most of the time, and this seemed to be yet another such occasion. Ramona only hoped it wouldn’t end up leaving her soaked, struck by lightning, or worse…

No sooner had they entered the arcade, then Stacy darted over to one of the machines along the back wall. Its cabinet was covered in artwork depicting several robotic warriors in dramatic poses, while a battle between two of the fighters was playing out on the machine’s waiting screen. “Oh sweet!” she cheered gesturing to the machine excitedly. “They’ve got Gearmantic Hearts! Come on!” she insisted as she grabbed the far more sedately moving Ramona and pulled her over. “Let’s play a match!”

“If you insist…” Ramona muttered.

“But, uh, first we need some coins, so, like, if you could get those for us, that’d be great!”

“Yeah, whatever…” Ramona grumbled. “After all, what could possibly go wrong?”

Surprisingly, nothing did go wrong, and soon enough, the multi-limbed patchwork girl had returned with a small fortune in less-than-legally acquired coins. Placing the required amount into Gearmantic Hearts’ coin slots, the game commenced its start up sequence. First, the logo for Covington Arts filled the screen, before the elaborately calligraphed letters gave way to the opening animatic, which succinctly summed up the game’s meager story. Then it was time for the players to choose their respective fighters…

“Okay! So, I think I’m gonna go with Finnegan Fabricant!” Stacy declared, selecting a brooding bishonen pretty boy with a robotic crow perched on his shoulder and wearing a tattered trench coat. “He’s crazy handsome, has really cool moves, and a super tragic backstory that just makes me wanna give him the biggest hug!”

“I guess I’ll take this girl,” Ramona decided, her sullen voice devoid of any hint of enthusiasm as she chose an attractive female android with stark white hair.

“What?!” Stacy exclaimed, her eyes going wide. “But, uh, that’s Penny Pinnacle!”

“So?”

“Well, she’s, like, crazy OP, and she’s banned in all kinds of tournaments and stuff!”

“I was able to select her just fine,” Ramona noted.

“W-Well, yeah…” Stacy conceded hesitantly. “I mean, they didn’t remove her from the game or anything, but…”

“Then I can play her,” Ramona stated flatly.

For a moment, Stacy didn’t say anything, looking rather conflicted on how to proceed. But soon enough, she clenched her fists and her visage took on a look of fierce intensity. “Okay, fine!” she relented. “You’re on! I’ll show ya that I can still beat the game designer’s super busted special snowflake with a balanced character like Finnegan!”

“Knock yourself out,” Ramona replied as the game began.

“I’m gonna knock you out, Ramona!” Stacy shot back as she charged Finnegan into combat.

“I choose violence!” the fabricant declared as he thrusted his glowing energy rapier at Penny, the blade leaving a series of after images behind itself.

At first Penny didn’t move, Ramona’s controls having been locked to represent Finnegan’s manipulation of the very fabric of time to grant himself hyper-accelerated speed. Yet, at the last possible second, Penny leapt above the thrust and over Finnegan himself, leaving after images in her wake as she slammed a supercharged fist into the fabricant’s back.

“Cool power.” the android remarked. “Think I’ll take it.”

“You really don’t get it, do you?!” Finnegan shouted as he got to his feet and conjured a flock of robotic crows from his outstretched palm. “No one can see what’s really going on!”

“Don’t need to see,” Penny replied as she activated her four energy blade tipped spider limbs and sliced each of the robo-crows apart in a rapid flurry of motion. “Just need to win.”

For the next minute and a half, the battle proceeded at a furious pace, Finnegan making rapid jabs with his energy rapier and shooting crackling arcs of bronze lightning at his white haired opponent, while Penny employed her prodigious strength, nanotech mastery over metal, and devastating gauss cannon to keep the fabricant on the very edge of total destruction. However, although Penny was clearly the more powerful fighter, Ramona wasn’t the most experienced player, and Stacy’s expert knowledge of the various strengths and weaknesses of Finnegan’s moveset ultimately allowed her to gain the upper hand.

Leaping above Penny, the fabricant held out an antique golden pocket watch that furiously crackled with writhing tendrils of lighting as he prepared his ultimate attack.

“Time to end this!” Finnegan and Stacy shouted as one, the finishing move an instant away from striking home.

And it was at that exact instant that all the power in the building suddenly went out, immediately followed by a bout of shaking that reverberated for several seconds.

“W-What the…?!” Stacy exclaimed in horror as her seemingly inevitable victory was snatched away at the last possible moment.

“Wow. It looks like you continue to be your own worst enemy,” Ramona observed with a wry smirk.

“That wasn’t me!” Stacy shot back as she held onto the game cabinet in an attempt to maintain her balance. “It must’ve been this stupid earthquake!”

“Then I guess the universe itself didn’t want you to win,” Ramona snarked. “Or maybe Penny’s just too powerful for a ‘balanced’ character like Finnegan to ever beat.”

“She is not!” Stacy protested. “I totally had you on the ropes! I just needed that one last hit!”

“But you didn’t get it,” Ramona told her, pointing out the obvious. “Which means it’s a draw at best. And since I had more HP left,” she added with a smirk. “I think that counts as me being ahead.”

“It does not!” Stacy shot back. “Penny had waaay more HP than Finnegan to start with, so of course she’d have more left before I landed my killing blow!”

“That sounds like the kinda thing a sore loser would say.”

“Oh, whatever!” Stacy grumbled, before grabbing her lighting staff and infusing it with mystic power. “I’ll just recharge the game with a little zap, and then we’ll see who has more HP by the end of the match!”

“I really wouldn’t do that,” Ramona advised. “You’re more likely to completely fry it, and then we’d never be able to have our rematch. _{Well, at least not on this machine…}”

“You’re probably right…” Stacy conceded with a defeated sigh. “So, uh, I guess we should head back home now… Or, maybe we could try going to Geopolis again?!” she suggested, her dour mood brighting considerably in response to this new possibility. “I mean, with all the extra power I can draw on thanks to this storm, I’m sure I can get a super strong lock on it this time!” Before Ramona could protest, the cheerful witch tore open another crackling portal in the arcade’s back corner and gestured to it eagerly. “Come on! If we hurry, we can make it to the snowplow museum before it closes!”

“The anticipation is killing me,” Ramona muttered as she was dragged through the portal, idly wondering where they might wind up this time…

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

Stupid fucking parents, stupid fucking mystery investigator, stupid fucking... Rei?!
-Nyxia Torrentia, Neon Tempest of the Ultraviolet Rainbow

As Nyxia continued to listen to the conversation between her father and the mysterious visitor, she found herself growing more concerned with each new word spoken. They knew who she’d given the money to and were planning to get it back. Not only that, but it was very likely her father would be taking legal action against the flower shop owner and their family. Everything she had worked for was falling apart, and the worst part was, in hindsight, it almost inevitably would end this way. After all, her father was stubborn, unrelenting, and had incredibly vast resources. Of course he would seek answers and ultimately find them, especially when Nyxia, blinded by rage and righteous indignation like she so often was, had simply brute forced her way into the safe and stolen the money without giving the possible repercussions a second thought. She was thinking now, though, her mind racing with possible solutions to this mounting problem. While the Neon Tempest still doubted anything would actually lead them back to her (even if the mystery man was claiming the robbery to be an inside job), she was still incredibly concerned for the flower shop owner and the fate of their reconstruction efforts. Everything she had done was intended to help them, and now they seemed to be in an even worse situation than before…

Damn it! Of fucking course that greedy piece of shit had to go and trace the money! Fuck… Couldn’t he just let them keep it? I mean, he certainly likes their daughter well enough, shitty bastard…

A moment later, Nyxia’s embittered ruminations came to a crashing halt when she heard, and then saw, that Rei, of all people, was suddenly standing next to her, having appeared seemingly from out of nowhere, as was often the case with the enigmatic girl. “Y-You?!” the Neon Tempest gasped in shocked annoyance, before the greenette’s words finally registered. “Shit…” she hissed, her body tensing in preparation of rushing back to her room. “Yeah…” Nyxia muttered as she passed the club president, before leaping back onto the roof. “See ya tonight.”

Creepy bitch…

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

S-Strange people visiting your house is never a good sign...
-Norika Tsukishima

Norika only backed further into the corner of her bed when she heard the faint sound of the man’s voice, her shaking hands clasped around her pendant and her breathing coming in rapid gasps. Fear filled her wide eyes as her frantically racing mind tried to figure out just who this man was and what purpose he might have for coming to her home, but these thoughts abruptly ceased when she heard one of the servants answer the door. Now the frightened girl tried to focus all of her meager energy on making out what the servant and mystery man were saying. Father wanted to see him? Numbers? she wondered as she heard the man cryptically evade the servant’s questions. Perhaps this really was just some innocuous business associate of her father’s, but a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach made her think otherwise. Something was seriously wrong here, and it wouldn’t be long before she leaned exactly what it was.

H-H-He knows what?!

If Norika had been frightened before, now she was on the verge of a complete panic attack. Nononono… H-He has to be lying! T-There’s no way he could…! By this point, she had begun to hyperventilate. Her head was spinning and her vision was growing increasingly blurry. She was close to passing out when she squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to calm down. D-Damn it… I-I have to be stronger than this…! O-Otherwise… Otherwise, she’d never learn who this man was, or how much he really knew about what she’d done. Slowly opening her eyes, she glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It would still be several minutes before a servant came to take her food tray and ensure she’d eaten everything (or berate her if she’d failed to). It wasn’t much time, but she figured it should still be enough for her to eavesdrop on her parents’ conversation with the mystery man.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, focused on the power within her pendant, and then…

This fucker sure better talk fast...
-Nyxia Torrentia, Neon Tempest of the Ultraviolet Rainbow

“Okay,” the Neon Tempest told her beloved weapon as she hugged it tight. “Let’s do this, baby.”

In a surge of motion, she opened her window, slipped out it, and flung herself up onto the roof. After darting across it, she leapt down behind one of the columns supporting the back porch. The dining room was set against floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a magnificent view of the backyard gardens, and on a pleasant day like this one, the glass panes had been slid aside to allow the crisp autumn air to fill the house. Yet, even though she would be utterly invisible to any mundane human, Nyxia didn’t want to take any chances. Thus, she stood stone still with her back pressed against the column as she held her massive energy cannon close to a chest heaving not so much from exertion, but from the yawning abyss of anxiety that even now threatened to completely engulf her.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

I-I sure am glad I don’t have to deal with all that stupid school drama. H-Huh? W-What’s that outside?
-Norika Tsukishima

As Norika slowly ate what meager lunch her poor constitution would allow, she found her mind thinking back to the previous day’s club meeting. Despite Roche’s assurances that she was all right, the fact that something, or rather, someone, had called into question her worth as a leader had still clearly been gnawing at the rule keeper, even during their nightly patrol together. Even worse, while Norika had done her best to encourage her partner, nothing she’d said really seemed to make any real difference, just as nothing had been able to quell the rage she felt towards Rei for placing Roche in such a state. It had even gotten to the point where Norika, who normally hated being around people, found herself wishing she were able to share lunch with her teammate and offer the troubled track captain her continued support. Instead, all she could do was wait for their next afterschool tutoring session, and later, their Miseria hunt with Rei…

W-We’ll show that stupid bitch we don’t need her help…

Suddenly, a flash of movement outside her bedroom window caught the sickly girl’s attention. W-What the…? Normally, there were no arrivals at, or departures from, the house in the middle of the day, so then…? Slowly moving over to the window, she peeked through the blinds just in time to see a strange black truck moving up the driveway. A delivery? Did my parents order something? She had to admit, it would be a rather unexpected development, considering how frugal her parents had been with their spending in the wake of the “mysterious” break in, but perhaps it was a new security system of some sort. Still, for some reason Norika couldn’t quite place, the sight of the truck’s driver when he emerged from the incongruous vehicle sent a shiver of fear down her spine, and that fear only grew more pronounced when the man turned to look directly at her…

Giving voice to a startled gasp, Norika quickly backed away from the window and hugged her trembling body tightly as her heart pounded like a jackhammer. W-Who even is he?! her racing mind wondered. A-And why does he make me feel so terrified?! Although she had always been apprehensive around strangers, and people in general, this was something distinctly different. The feelings evoked by this man were suffused with danger, although for the life of her, Norika couldn’t even begin to guess why. All the frail girl could hope for was that he would leave soon, and, far more importantly, that she wouldn’t encounter him before he did so…