Magical Girl Quest - The Fire That Burns

Una POV

Your pillow abruptly pushes you upwards, a small giggle interrupting your nap resting your eyes time. Blinking the sleep out of your eyes, you look up at Gaia questioningly. She just pats your head, ruffling your hair slightly as her laughter trails off. "Oh, it's nothing, something just amused me." You close your eyes, quietly grumbling to yourself as you try to get comfortable again.

You almost get used to your new spot when she speaks up again. "Though, I do have a little something for you to do." Not chores not chores not chores. You crack a single eye open to your pillows amusement. "Not at all." She sits up, rolling you off her lap and onto the not-warm sofa. You huff a little as you sit up as well, leaning forwards as you yawn. Mmm. She continues speaking as she starts strokes your hair. "Your sister needs your help." Your breathing stops and your freeze, but she keeps stroking your hair, toying with the end of a particularly long strand. "She got herself hurt and if she wants to heal properly, she'll need a potion that I don't have the ingredients for."

You look up at her with a lingering sense of dread, heart deafening in your ears as the ice down your spine fades a little. "Mmmh, indeed. Were I not a fair maiden I would be helpless." She smiles leaning forwards to boop you on the nose. "But everyone knows that every fair maiden has a brave and honourable knight by their side, ready to quest for glory and love." She giggles a little as your eyes follow her finger, crossing as it pulls back. "What say you knight, are you ready for your first quest? It is quite an important one, befitting of your noble station."

You stop for a second, messy hair sticking sticking out from Gaia's enthusiastic toying. "Knight?" The title settles onto you as you remember your awesome transformation name. "I have a Quest? A Quest Quest?" She nods her head, pulling her hand back from your ruffled hair. The thought finally clicks in your head. Ohmygodihaveaquestimthemaincharacter. You bounce in your seat as you look up at Gaia, resisting the urge to glomp her and demand details.

She continues explaining when you start considering tying her down. "Out in the forest, there are several ingredients that I need you to bring me." You nod, listening attent- attentiivv- very hard. "I need three things, the first of which, is a blossom from a Cherry Tree, they are very obvious since they are bright pink." You nod, desperately wishing you had some sort of writeybook on hand to make a proper journal. "Second, is a patch of moss and a tooth from one of the Spiritbound." She holds up a picture and you eagerly grab it.


"I have faith that you can handle them without much difficulty." You look intently at the picture, trying to burn it in your mind so you won't forget. "And finally." You look up, noticing Cuifen looking over curiously, Gaia just smirks and leans in to you, whispering in your ear. "Take her with you, the exercise will be good for her, she's finally gotten used to having her leg back."

You bite your lip as you look at her, then back to Gaia. "Will she be ok?" She nods at your whisper, leaning back and resting against the sofa. Before, you might have been interesting in her warm lap, but now. You had a quest! Adventure calls, you have no time for comfort when the fate of your sister's life shesprobablyfine hangs in the balance! Gaia pats your head again, letting out a soft squee as your hair pomfs under her hand. You pout up at her, wiggling out from under it and jumping to your feet.

"Cuifen!" Your soon-to-be party member jumps a little at your shout, turning from where she had just started sipping her tea again. Black tea, ugh. Sis says it's bad, but it doesn't smell bad... You shake your head. Adventure now, tea later. You point at her in your special pose, the one you practised when Cerys wasn't looking, all of that time waiting just for this one moment. "I choose you!" She stares at you blankly, not responding with her name and exclamation mark. You pout frown a little the missing of her cues and stomp walk over to her, pulling on the hem of her shirt. "C'mooon, you were supposed to do the thing."

She continues staring blankly at you, but at least she stands up, the motion perfectly balanced as she rests her weight on her bad leg. "What thing?" She doesn't protest when you start tugging her towards the door, Gaia's amused gaze following you the entire way. "Una, Cerys will not want you going outside and get hurt." Her words make you pause, but just for a second. But I'm helping! So that means it's fine right? Sis always told you that good people help others, and you were a magical adventurer now, you were supposed to do good deeds! Nodding at your profound knowledge making abilities, you start pulling your partner along again, her awkward halting walk moving into a smooth lope as she pulls ahead of you.

She turns around, signing and holding up her hand. "Alright, I need get exercise, I have not been able to do with no leg." She glances over your shoulder at something, but when you look, there is nothing there. Haau? When you turn back around, Cuifen has already put on a pair of boots, her hands covered in bandages. You prod at them, but she doesn't flinch. "Ah, I'm not injured. They are to keep..." She stops, mouthing several words before picking one. "Prevent injury when hitting something."

You poke them again, but they don't do any injury preventing. Maybe they are magic? Chinese people are all magic right? They do magic kung-fu. Satisfied with your faultless reasoning, you nod, taking the lead of your group once again. Gaia calls out to you just before you leave. "Good luck, you might want to try the glowing forest first!"

You spin around, pointing at her with all of your pointiness. "Don't worry Gaia-chan, I'll save my sister and be back in time for tea!" The massive smile that pulls at her face makes your heart all afluttery, her hands pressing against her cheeks as she vibrates. You turn and leave, content with the knowing that Gaia-chan knows that you can do it.

You jump off the porch, landing on the grassy ground with a muffled thump. Cuifen is boring and walks down, smiling faintly at you as you bounce while waiting for her. "'Cmon 'cmon lets gooo, we got a quest to accomplish!" She keeps up with you when you start running, nudging you around a couple of tree stumps you totally saw and didn't avoid so she could nudge you. The two of you bound through the forest, Cuifen sporting a wide grin as she intentionally uses her bad leg a lot. Hah, I knew she was exited too. You grab a tree, spinning around it as you dig your feet into the ground to slow down.

Cuifen looks at your totally awesome way of stopping with an amused smile as she uses a much thicker tree as a wall, jumping up onto it and dropping to her feet at your rather sudden stop. "What do you see then little knight? One of the things you want for your adventure?" She doesn't seem out of breath at all, which just means that she's just as amazing as you! Because you weren't panting a little, not at all.

You nod quickly, pointing down the hill at the multicoulouredshinyglowing forest. "Gaia-chan said to try there first, so we will." This must be the beginner area right? Where I'll train to get strong so that when I fight my rival I don't lose- oooh, I wonder who my rival is. A good Magical Girl always has a rival, and I don't have one! You almost walked into a tree as you make your horrifying realisation. Nonononono this isn't right, I need to find a rival or I'm not a proper Magical Girl! You run your hands through your hair, unconsciously copying your sisters habit.

Cuifen makes a worried sound from behind you and you spin to look at her, eyes glowing very slightly. "I'M A FAILURE OF A MAGICAL GIRL, I HAVEN'T EVEN FOUND MY RIVAL!" She flinches backwards at your shout, raising her hands in an aborted motion.

"Umm." She lowers her hands, looking around as she shuffles closer. "I can be your rival?" The hesitant and confused way she says it is almost cute, if not for the words themself.

"No! I mean, you aren't bad or anything I like you you are good but I needs to be a Magical Girl otherwise it's not right!" You pant a little as you catch your breath, slumping against a tree as you wallow in your failure. Your party member approaches you slowly, looking unsure but still pulling you into a warm hug. You half-heartedly resist as you sulk think on your goal, letting Cuifen pick you up and sit you on her shoulders as she starts walking again, you hugging her head.

"Don go bck." You mutter the words in her ear, not sure what you are saying yourself but apparently getting the meaning across. "m sorry, I was just-" She puts a finger on your lips, bending her arm strangely to make it reach.

"Hush now, you are worried for your sister, it's alright to be a little frantic." It's only now that you notice that she's been walking further into the forest, a brightly glowing orange leaf bounding off of your forehead. "But you must stay focused, fear is the enemy. Think of what you need to do and focus on that, all else means nothing." You stay silent as she walks further in, sniffling breathing in quickly to catch your breath and clear the pollen that is making you cry from your eyes. Stupid pollen, making me cry.

You come to a open area, the sun shining down through the gap in the trees. On the ground before you lay a nearly faded dirt path, splitting off in three directions. Cuifen makes a humming noise as she looks at it and something clicks in your head. Oh, right. This is my first quest, I get help so it's easier. You look at the path. You had three items to find, but two of them were from the same thing. So one of the paths was a dud and the other two were good?

You lean forwards, resting your chest on Cuifen's head as you stare into the shadowy forest ahead of you, rubbing your cheek with your sleeve. The left looks like it goes towards the edge of the turtle, you can actually see light in that direction. The front looks like it just leads into a part of the forest that is actually dark, rather than glowing enough to see. The right looks... completely ordinary.

[] Left
[] Right
[] Forwar-

"Forwards, into the black my noble steed, we shall purge the darkness of it's evil fogginess!" Your ride squeaks slightly when you drop forwards entirely, half hanging over her head as you stare at the shady darkness of your destination. Your ride steps forth, into the shrubbery and onwards, a tiny shake in her shoulder every time you get batted in the face by a leaf. You endure another two minutes of leaf whacking before you submit, sliding off of her shoulders while pouting with a quiet dignity.

You step forwards, only just able to see over the purple ferns to either side of you, the path barely worth being called one at this point. It was just a patch of grass that was shorter than the rest now. Still, you and your ally persevere, hiking through the endless forest of darkness it was really dark now for the good of your sister!

When you see flashes of pink, you know that you must be getting close, tiny little flickers of colour peeking through the trees as the wind blows. When you step through a particularly thick bush, you once again find yourself in a clearing, a stream quietly bubbling across the middle. On the other side lie both of your targets. Umm. You hesitate as the Spiritbonded? moves from it's laying position, a dull orange glow coming to life in it's eyes as it stares at you.

You hear Cuifen shift next to you and you feel it, the electric rush of magic burning deep in your chest. You don't need any more encouragement, hand outstretched and grasping for something not there.

"I am the End of Infinity! Magical Girl Eternal Knight!"

You feel your clothing burn away, your uniform beneath as is it had always been there, sword exploding into your hand in a rush of blue. Haaaaa, this is nothing like last time. Before it had felt like you'd been stuck by lightning, a fuzzy tingling all over as your sister's magic raced through you. Mmmm. You feel the familiar touch of her magic, just gently buoying you upwards with your own magic, but still there.

You hear Cuifen move, foot dragging across the ground as she moves into what looks like a fighting stance. "Hey, you gotta be careful alright? It's dangerous here." She doesn't move, but she does send you a slightly exasperated glance as you draw your sword, the sheath flashing away in a blue flame as you fall into the rough stance Daiyu had taught you before. "Magical Girl Eternal Knight is on the job!" Her eyebrow twitches slightly at your cheesy grin as you smile, feeling like you are walking on clouds.

"Well Ms 'On The Job', maybe should you pay attention to opponent." You pause at her words, quickly turning to look at the dogwolfthing. It had moved from the cherry tree it sat at the base of and was pacing along the stream, eyes leaving tiny little streaks of light as it moves. Preeeeety. It stumbles slightly as you think that and something inside you twitches, legs crouching down as magic builds up in your calves, hand tightening on your blade.

[] I AM YOUR END FOUL VILLAIN (Follow your instincts, charge forwards and take advantage of the opportunity)
[] YOU CANNOT TRICK ME FOUL BEAST (No way you'd let it trick you so easy, wait for it to come to you)
[] FOR LOVE AND JUSTICE, I WILL END YOU MONSTER (Write In)
-[] Write In...