[X] Call out to whatever was watching them and try to have it make a move. If it were to enter the scene now, Baron's attention would surely shift. And if it fled instead then the threat would be gone, allowing Madoka and Homura to make Baron stop together.
"Who's there!" Madoka called, turning away from Kaito and his dust cloud, towards the other figure she had seen in the forest. "If you don't mean any harm, show yourself!"
She held out her weapon with the gun pointed into the trees again, but aimed low, so it was obvious it wasn't aimed at someone. If she pulled the trigger as she was, she'd just shoot the ground. Hopefully, if whoever was in the woods wasn't hostile, this wouldn't scare them off.
Baron didn't move for a few seconds after Madoka changed track, and Madoka couldn't tell if he was watching Madoka for some kind of hint that this was another trick, or if he was just surprised at the sudden change.
Whoever was in the forest didn't make a move in that time, so Madoka did instead.
"Watch my back." Madoka whispered to Homura beside her, as she began to walk off. Her weapon at the ready to intercept any attack, Madoka walked away from the fight, looking around for any hint that someone was watching.
As soon as she started to walk, so did Baron. His pace was slow, deliberate, as he moved towards her, and Madoka bit her lip. Was he thinking that this could be a trap? If he had intended to just attack Madoka again, he could have moved faster than this...
Madoka's thoughts were distracted, when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking towards it, Madoka tightened her grip on her gun, and focused her eyes.
It was hard to see through the trees, but the figure moved closer after a second, allowing Madoka a better look at them.
An Armoured Rider stalked through the trees towards her, his white undersuit covered by green armour, a shield on one arm and a sword like Madoka's on the other. He paced towards Madoka for a moment, who just stared at him for a moment.
"Who are you?" Madoka demanded, taking a step back as the Armoured Rider paced closer. Behind her, she heard Baron stop moving, as he saw the Armoured Rider himself.
...Madoka wanted to be wrong. She looked at the Armoured Rider, and from what she knew, there wasn't many answers as to who this could be. He was an Armoured Rider in Helheim, and the pattern on his armour and shield looked vaguely melon-like. This could be Zangetsu.
This could be the man who killed Madoka in the future.
But, she could be wrong, couldn't she? This could be someone else. Someone who'd be willing to kill Madoka... She wouldn't really just wander into them by chance, would she?
She heard more footsteps behind her, softer than Baron's. Homura was getting closer herself, then.
Madoka backed up a bit more as the Armoured Rider drew closer, and aimed her gun right at him.
"Stop!" She called. "Talk to me! Tell me who you are, and-"
The Armoured Rider raised his own gun, and before Madoka could properly process the action, he fired. Madoka stepped back as the blasts hit her, feeling the stinging pain hit her even through the armour, and she fell back, ducking under the blasts and dodging out of the way before she got back to her feet.
Hostile. He was hostile, he was an Armoured Rider, and Madoka knew she didn't have any reason to think otherwise beyond just trying to deny it. More and more, it looked like this was-
"Zangetsu!" Homura's scream cut through the air. "Madoka, run!"
And that was that, then.
Madoka turned on her heels and fled.
Homura had made it clear enough, how this ends. Nothing Madoka had would be strong enough for this. Homura had shown Madoka the Cherry Lockseed and told her it was an upgrade, and she had also said that Madoka's Cherry form wasn't enough to beat Zangetsu. In that case, Madoka couldn't win this now. So she had to run, and Homura-
Madoka looked to the side, to see Homura holding a golf club. Any idea Madoka could have had about it being just in case died as she looked at Homura.
She wasn't moving. She wasn't running into battle, nor was she running away. She was just staring straight ahead, as she held the gold club in a shaking hand. Tears were rolling down her cheek, and she didn't even seem to notice Madoka as the girl stopped running.
"Homura!" Madoka called, grabbing her arm. "Come on, we need to go!"
Homura's breathing was heavy, and she didn't reply, as Madoka shook her. Not wanting to waste time, Madoka just held on to Homura's arm and moved to run away.
Immediately, the Magical Girl fell, her feet remaining still as Madoka pulled at her, causing Homura to fall to the ground with only her arm pulling her up. Even then, she only let out a cry of pain, as her glasses fell from her face and Madoka froze.
She couldn't drag Homura across the floor of the forest to run, she thought to herself as she tried to pull Madoka back to her feet. As she did so, Madoka's eyes looked back to Zangetsu, in time to see Baron charge him.
Kumon's movements were awkward, somehow. They didn't seem as lively as before. Almost as if he was...
...Had Madoka hurt him more than she had thought, when she hit him with the Strawberry Charge? He had barely moved after being hit, and it had taken him a while to attack on his own while in the dust cloud where Madoka couldn't see him. Was he-
Zangetsu's shield smashed into Baron's chest, throwing him back. For a second, Baron glowed as he flew threw the air, and slammed into a tree. But as he hit the ground, the glow dissipated, taking Baron's armour with it in the process, reverting Kumon's transformation.
"Homura, we have to go." Whispered Madoka, as she picked Homura's glasses off of the ground. They had been cracked in the fall, and as Madoka stood again, she grabbed Homura's arm again. "Homura, please!"
Madoka's words must have gotten through to her somehow, because the Magical Girl seemed to act on instinct, as her hand flew to her shield. The world was dyed grey as the colour seeped out of it, and time froze.
Madoka felt her breath leave her in a sigh of relief, as Zangetsu froze mid-movement. Then, Homura crumbled, and the Magical Girl fell to her knees, sobbing.
"Homura." Madoka quickly knelt down, making sure she held on to Homura in the process. "It's okay, we can get out of here. We can run. It's fine."
Madoka looked over at Kumon for a moment, as he laid on the ground, frozen halfway through an effort to stand up.
"We can just grab Kumon and get out of here, it's fine."
"H-How..." Homura wept, finally making words. "A-Already? L-Like h-he was w-waiting for us..."
"We can talk about it after we get out of here." Madoka reassured Homura. "We'll work this out. We just need to..."
Madoka trailed off, as her eyes glanced over Homura's Soul Gem.
Earlier, it had been a brightish purple. Now, it was almost pitch black.
"I-I c-can't s-stop him..." Homura wept on. "Z-Zan..."
Her sobbing redoubled, cutting off her words again, as Madoka stared down at the darkening Soul Gem.
"Homura." Madoka began. "Your Gem. Do you have that Grief Seed on you?"
Homura looked down at her Soul Gem, but didn't react meaningfully. It seemed almost as if she didn't consider it a problem, or like Zangetsu being here already made this the worst possible situation that could be happening.
Quickly, the Magical Girl reached for her shield, and pulled out the nearly full Grief Seed. She tapped it to her Soul Gem, and a dark connection trailed between the two for a second. Colour returned to Homura's Soul Gem, but barely, and the Grief Seed started to almost glow with the colour-absorbing blackness it stared.
Pulling herself back to her feet with Madoka as a support, Homura turned towards Zangetsu, and hurled the Grief Seed at him.
"T-The Witch will..." She began, as the Grief Seed stopped moving just before it hit the Armoured Rider. "D-distract..."
Madoka nodded, as she looked down at Homura's Soul Gem. It had barely been cleansed, and using her magic like this certainly wouldn't be helping matters.
"Will Kumon be okay?" Madoka asked.
Homura paused for a second, then nodded.
"Z... H-He'll want us. Y-You're the a-anomaly. H-He'll beat t-the Witch easily, and leave K-Kaito to g-get us..."
Madoka nodded, as she held on to Homura's hand.
"We'll have to run without using your magic." Madoka said, as she put Homura's cracked glasses back over her head. "Hold on to me. We'll get behind him and run while he's fighting the Witch, and he won't know to follow us."
Homura looked at Madoka wordlessly for a second, before nodded. "I... You're r-right."
Madoka nodded again, as she led Homura around Zangetsu, careful to keep walking in a way that meant she didn't have to look at the Armoured Rider. It only took a few seconds, and the two girls were behind Zangetsu, ready to run.
"Let's go." Madoka whispered. She didn't look back to see what Homura was doing, but a second later, time resumed.
There was a faint thud behind Madoka, but anything beyond that she ignored, as she ran ahead. She weaved through the trees and shot to the side, determined to put as much distance between her and and the green Armoured Rider as possible.
...Wait.
Green.
Zangetsu was armoured in green, and his bodysuit was white.
But...
When Madoka had seen the interloper in the fight, it had been a yellow colour she had seen through the trees. And she hadn't heard any declarations from a Driver that would hint at him changing Lockseeds.
But if the colour didn't match, then why had Madoka seen yellow?
A screech rang out from the distance, that was cut silent shortly afterwards. Madoka had barely been running for a few seconds, and already, Zangetsu had killed the Witch.
There was a screech in front of her a moment later too, and as Madoka stopped to stare at it, she saw a pair of Inves walk out from behind trees. Both basic and advanced, but the two looked at her in unison, and charged.
Letting go of Homura's hand, Madoka swung her sword again. As it cleaved through the air and slammed into the first of the Inves, Madoka noticed she had left her Strawberry Lockseed in it. The first Inves recoiled from the attack, and Madoka took the moment to shoot it, pushing it back further. The second Inves threw itself onto the sword, grappling with it even as it plunged the blade into itself, and Madoka struggled to pull away from it for a moment.
Homura screamed, and Madoka nearly froze. Had Zangetsu closed the distance already?
As she finally pulled her sword free of the Inves, Madoka looked back, and her heart sank. It wasn't Zangetsu.
It was another Armoured Rider, holding two Lockseeds in one hand and a rapier in the other. One of the Lockseeds fell from his grasp as Madoka looked at him. He was dressed in a blue undersuit, with his armour yellow, and the Lockseed in his Driver was marked with a lemon.
Madoka was suddenly pulled back, as the Inves grabbed her arm and pulled her back, and the Lemon Rider turned his focus on to Homura, staring at the Soul Gem on her hand. Suddenly, he stabbed forward at her, and Homura raised her arm to block the blow.
The rapier clashed with the shield and bounced off, but with a sudden flourish, struck down again, hitting the Gem on Homura's hand. As the tip of the blade tapped against Homura's Soul Gem, a yellow light burst forth from the Soul Gem.
It shifted from it's usual position, embedded in Homura's hand, to a circular shape hanging just above it, and as the yellow light washed over Homura, her Magical Girl attire faded away, leaving her in her school uniform.
Madoka stabbed her blade into the Inves holding her back, barely even giving it a thought as she looked ahead. The Armoured Rider's other hand let go of his Lockseed, and darted forward, grabbing Homura's Soul Gem out of the air.
In the distance, behind the trees, Zangetsu had finally come into view, following the noise of the Inves and clashing weapons.
As the yellow light finally faded away, Homura collapsed, like a puppet without it's strings.
[X] Fight for Homura's Soul Gem. As soon as it had been hit, Homura fell. It had to be important. Take it back and hope she can get away.
[X] Grab Homura and run. Staying to fight Zangetsu was a fools errand, and Madoka didn't know if she could beat the other Armoured Rider.
[X] Surrender. Detransform and hope the Armoured Riders show mercy on the two girls if they weren't fighting back.
[X] Write-in.
