Perhaps For Love, Or Maybe Justice (A Tokusatsu/Magical Girl Quest)

Akemi opens the door slowly at first, before fully opening it the second she sees the man behind it. "Satoru Hanbara? What are you doing here?"

The man at the door is middle aged, with shaggy black hair and bags underneath his eyes. He gibbers feverishly for a couple of seconds, before just barely managing to regain his composure.

"Atsugi— we've got to go! They took them all— Minato, Reina, everybody! This place isn't safe!"

Akemi steps away from the door in shock and confusion. "Now hold on. What happened, man?"

The ghastly man blinks, attempting to regain his bearings. "I'm sorry, I probably don't make any sense right now. But I swear to god what I saw was real. These men in skull masks took away some of the tenants here, then the walls started turning into glass! We've got to go, right now."

Himari and you gawk in confusion, but Akemi takes it well. "Ok, Mr. Hanbara, it'll be fine. I'll be with you in a second."

"Don't you wait a second! This building is under ata—"

And then in a split second, you see a blur of white—

And when you open your eyes, Mr. Hanbara is just gone. Where he was has been replaced with a solid wall of one way glass.

Both you and Himari are only able to sit there for a second, shocked. Your reflexes have dulled from the week not having much action, so you don't think to look around for the source. And that's all it takes for you two to be caught off guard.

[Physical Check (DC 35)]
[Rei: 6+15=21. Failure!]
[Himari: Natural 1! Critical Failure!]
[Akemi: 51+12=63. Success!]

The floor below the table where you two are sitting suddenly drops into the ground just by an inch.

Click.

Himari's eyes widen. "Wha—"

You try to stand up, but it's too late. You suddenly feel the floor below your feet drop away, and everything suddenly goes black…

---

???
9:50 AM

You blink open your eyes. Everything hurts... a lot. And this time, there's no armor to cushion the blow. You can't even see anything, since you're face down on what feels like solid concrete. You take a deep breath, before pushing yourself up and look around.

Well. It looks like we're in trouble.

As you take an account of the room, you vacantly think to yourself that... Atry's totally right. You're in a medieval jail. Somehow. And when you look up to where you think you came from, there's nothing. Just empty, blank gray ceiling. As you look around, you spot a prison's bunk bed (which you didn't land on, figures) Himari face-first on the floor, and a mirror embedded into the wall.

Wait, Himari's on the floor. You rush over to her and shake her to attempt to wake her up. "Hey, hacker girl! You've got to wake up! They sent us back to medieval times!"

As you begin to get closer to her (is CPR the right thing to do here? Is she even breathing?) she begins to stir. You lift up her head, get a bit closer...

And then she slaps you in the face. "Yo! Personal space, Rei."

Deserved.

[LMAO]

"I. Um... sorry." You feel a sweatdrop run down your forehead. As you do that, Himari gets up and shakes off some of the dust on her, looking around the cell. "Honestly, you look just as beat up as me. Don't worry though, just give me a second and we'll get out of here."

You take a second to look at your own injuries. Some bruises line your arms, but it's not nearly as bad as the red bump on Himari's head.

[Himari Kuromi has taken 3 Blunt Damage. Maruki Rei has taken 2 Blunt Damage.]

Himari takes a hairpin from the back of her hair, before cracking her knuckles and walking up to the jail bars. She reaches through the bars, and begins to pick at the simple metal lock.

Is she really going to be able to do that?

"Shut up, Atry."

...Forgot that you could hear me. That's on me.

[Mental Check (DC 60, Himari)]
[47+25=72. Success.]

Himari jiggles the lock a few times, before it opens. She grins. "What is this, amateur hour? This is easier than the stuff they used to test us on back in the academy."

The door opens, and you two walk through the gray halls of this dungeon in silence. You tread carefully, but it doesn't seem like there's anything here. With a steady hand, you begin to open a door emblazoned with a coat of arms you don't recognize.

But before you do, Himari grabs your hand. "Wait. Hold up. Shouldn't we transform? I'm getting all kinds of bad vibes from here, and it's not like anybody will remember our faces."

You'd normally be at least somewhat wary of that, but considering that you might not even be in the apartments anymore… you've got nothing to lose anymore.

You step back, and raise your arms a bit, before standing with a firm hand on the mysterious deck in your pocket. The belt/Driver from before manifests itself on your waist.

Alright, here's the fun part!

You throw in Atry and Gargoyle's card, and strike the same "arms crossed" pose you did last time.

DRIVER ON! Change! Synchro!

The armor from before locks onto your body, and you hit another pose. "I'm back again! Burning bright, even against the consuming darkness!"

Himari looks at you bewildered. "What are you doing right now?"

You realize that you aren't in a fight anymore, so you break your pose and just look at her with a grin. "I dunno. It just feels fun to do these theatrics. Besides, you said it yourself: nobody will remember our faces here."

Himari groans, but you see a hint of a smile on her face. "…Man, what have I gotten myself into? Ok, fine, let's be dramatic. Magical Girl Operative, beginning operation!"

She hits her own sick ass poses, before clarifying. "…I'm still workshopping the name."

You totally practiced a few of those.

Then, a wave of pixels and really bright light envelops her, and when you manage to open your eyes again, Kuromi's in the same purple and white skintight jumpsuit that she had on the last time you saw her. One thing that stands out to you are the small circular goggles she has on over her head— were those there last time?

As for Atry's comment, Himari just shrugs. "And if i did? Whatever, let's just get going."

Ok, then. Now in a much safer position, you two gently open the door, and— wow. Just where have you ended up now?

The setting around you resembles some sort of medieval castle's dining room. Fancy tables and silverware line the entire room, and the walls are all decorated with beautiful adornments and mirrors. It's incredible.

(And when you listen closely, you can just barely hear so many other things through the walls. Laughter, cheering, and the sounds of hustle and bustle.)
(And the sound of somebody laughing wildly yet joyfully. Ohohoho!)
You take a step forward, but before you can explore the area, Himari shoots out her arm in front of you. "Wait. Do you notice anything odd about this place?"

[Magical Check (DC 70, Rei+Himari)]
[Rei: 80+17=97. Excellent Success!
[Himari: 92+4=96. Excellent Success!]

You take a deep breath, before trying to look for anything you missed on your first go around. Something seems off…

And then it hits you. This room is exactly the same size as the lobby floor that you were on before. And the dining tables- they aren't meant to be so close together. You could barely scoot through the gaps in the tables if you were shuffling sideways.

To test out your theory, you summon your spear to your hand, and with one simple motion, you throw it towards a mirror. The mirror doesn't crack. Rather, it seems that your spear goes through it and hits a wall behind it. You hear a dull thud instead of any telltale mirror cracking, confirming your theory.

"You think we're in some sort of illusion? Whoever cast this didn't account for any correct sounds or the size of the building…" you say, as you return the spear back to your hand.

Himari nods. "I don't know crap about magic if it doesn't make my PC go faster, but my coworker back at the Guild, Hina, told me about this type of illusion. Chances are, some of the objects like… those tables over there? They're real. But in exchange for consuming less mana or prana and creating the illusion so quickly, whoever must have made this thing probably mapped out whatever rooms they were trying to make to the building they were targeting: in this case, the apartment complex. We're not in a medieval castle- we're in the rooms and decoration of a castle stuffed into a few very small apartments."

You grab a table, which seems considerably more solid compared to the rest of the room, and fling it to the side to make a path for you and Himari. "It'll take us way too long to find any exit. Let's try to go upstairs and find Akemi first. When we get to some windows, maybe we can jump out."

---

Meanwhile, on the other side…
9:51 AM, Upper Floors Of What May Or May Not Be Rensoku Apartments

You are Kaneko Akemi (good, thinking that means that whatever just happened hasn't affected your mind just yet) and you are running down the halls of what looks like a castle. Purrson, the weird cat that gave you a sword, rides on the shoulder of the kimono you summoned up.

Oh yeah, and you're also currently a Magical Girl, though not a traditional one. The painted black bamboo hat and the black lined with blue kimono that you're wearing evoke the look of a ronin more than any protector of justice.

With your new katana that Purrson gave you, the "Voidcutter" apparently, you dodge and weave through what used to be the halls of your apartment. Chandeliers barely fit on the ceiling and crash down behind you, and you slash right through another grandfather clock with arrows loaded in it- that's gotta be the fifth one now.

Click.

[Mental Saving Throw (DC 20, Akemi)]
[33+17=50. Success.]

You almost miss it because of the straw hat blocking your vision, but the telltale sound of a pressure plate forces you to dodge into an open room as a fireplace shoved into the walls starts to spit flames at you. Purrson jumps from your shoulder and yowls (as cats tend to do when faced with flames) but regains composure admirably quickly as you close the door to block the fire.

"Ahem… Akemi, your outfit."

You quickly notice that you didn't get fully out of the way. Some of your kimono got set on fire, but you barely manage to stomp it out. With a sigh, you take off your hat for a second. "Agh, this place is a deathtrap! You know anything about this type of magic, Purrson?"

You're talking to a cat and expecting it to respond to you. What has your life come to.

Purrson shakes his cat head. "No, sorry. I remember knowing some things about Magical Girls and Kamen Riders, and some things about you being very dear to Rei. Aside from that, I can't figure out anything."

You grumble a bit, before crouching down to think for a second. There has to be something you can do…

After a few seconds, you snap your fingers. You've got it!

"Purrson, how far can you go when you phase through walls?"

Purrson puts a paw to his face, before seeming to disappear into the floor. A few seconds later, his head reappears from the floor. "I mean, looks like I can go wherever I want? But don't expect me to actually fight."

You poke the cat in the head and look at him intensely. "Ok, listen here. Rei and her friend fell down a hole in the floor, but they probably lived somehow. Rei's just stupidly lucky like that. You are going to go in the direction I'm pointing right now and guide them back up to me."

"Shouldn't they be safe on their own? They're also magical in their own right…"

You grab that cat and pull him out of the floor, before standing up and carrying him by the front legs. You take a deep breath, and start shaking Purrson. "Listen to me. You are going to help out my one and only best friend, or I am never buying you that delicious cat ice cream that you like ever again."

Purrson yowls again, before phasing through your arms and beginning to sink into the floor. "Ok, geez! I'll be back in a minute."

---

Back with the other two girls…
9:55 AM

You and Himari run and vault over a junkyard's worth of toppled furniture and broken glass, before throwing open the door to another room together. As you finish your next jump over a fallen-down grandfather clock, Himari gestures for you two to slow down.

"Noticed anything else, Himari?"

She pants in exertion, before wiping the sweat off her brow. "Well, I think you probably saw that all the windows are barred off with this weird crystal substance as well. Also, if you look closely at the sky, it also looks really dark for this time of day. Probably some sort of perception barrier, I think."

The sky outside of the barred windows seems to be filled with purplish smog. Before you can voice any thoughts on that, you're surprised by the feeling of something on your shoulder. On instinct, you try and smack it off, but you just barely stop your arm when you see what it is. It's Akemi's talking cat!

Himari jumps back, but stops herself from releasing any electric shocks. "Why is the cat here?"

"Well Rei, if that is you underneath that armor, let me explain." Purrson says jumping off your shoulder, and rotates to face towards you. "Akemi was worried stupid about you, she's upstairs on floor 12. Explanation over.", now please follow me."

[SUCCINCT]

Himari pinches her nose, and you begin to follow the cat through the building. Mostly because you are not in the mood to argue with a fucking cat.

After a while, Purrson perches on your shoulder and begins to just vaguely point at which direction you need to go in with his paws. Himari follows behind you, trying to get her phone to pick up some signal. It hasn't been working.

As you pass another flight of stairs, Purrson brushes up against your helmet and points with his paws to go right. "By the way, Rei, do you know what that deck of cards in your pocket does?" he asks, "because I think I recognize it."

"Wait, you know what it is?"

Purrson stretches out his back like the cat(?) he is, before continuing. "Well, it seems to me like—"

Click.

Wait, was that a—

[Mental Saving Throw (DC 20)]
[Rei: 12+17=29. Success.]
[Himari: 63+25=88. Success.]

"REI! WATCH OUT!" Himari yells. You just barely hear it in time to look ahead and duck down to dodge a flurry of arrows coming down the hall. For her part, Himari bats away the arrows with a quickly timed electric shock before running over to you.

"Geez, pay attention! Your armor was about to become a pincushion, and that cat that was with you was about to be— wait, where's the cat?"

"Right here." Purrson says, as he pops his head out of the wall next to you. "Thank you for the warning, Himari, I likely would have become a "pincushion", as you put it, if you hadn't warned us."

Himari rolls her eyes. "You call me Kuromi. Only Rei gets to call me that. And besides, you're a talking cat. They never kill those guys off, especially not as early as this."

You look at Purrson for some guidance here, but he just does that cat equivalent of a shrug by looking very confused.

You take a deep breath, and regain your composure to keep walking down the hallway, dodging another table which seems to be… embedded into the walls. Himari walks just behind you, looking out for anything that could sneak up on this makeshift group, and Purrson gets back onto your shoulder.

"So, what were you talking about?"

Purrson shakes out any dust that might have gotten into his fur, before clearing his throat. "Ahem. As I was saying, while I don't remember much, I do remember a lot about you, Rei."

"Why's that?"

"I'd answer that question if I remembered the answer. Sorry. But what I do know is that the Deck that you have was likely attracted to you for some reason"

You take out the Mysterious Deck from your pocket and give it another once-over. Same brown and black card back, and on the front side most of the cards are blank white except for Atry and Gargoyle.

Purrson gently paws at it, before looking at you. "Chances are, whatever caused you to become a Kamen Rider put you in contact with the Void. Am I correct?" When you nod, he continues. "Whatever is sacrificed to the Void stays there, and becomes tainted with it's properties. Chances are the latent influence from the Glyph on your hand allowed you to use the spirits that were contained inside those cards."

Atry manifests again, floating right beside you, and for the first time talks directly to Purrson. "Yeah, but it's just been me and my partner Gargoyle. Any way to get more of the cards? Especially considering how hard the recent battles have been."

Purrson reels back a bit but continues. "...My guess is that exposing the deck to others that have been under heavy Void influence or are Kamen Riders or Magical Girls might reawaken any different spirits that were sealed inside those cards for whatever reason. Speaking of…"

He jumps off your shoulder, and with his mouth grabs a card from your deck and hands it to Himari. "Here. Hold this for a second."

Himari stops in her tracks as she catches the card. God knows what's going through her head right now. After about five seconds, she throws it back to you. "Not sure what that was about, but this card looks pretty cool." she says.

You look at the card as it returns to your hand. Instead of the blank white from before, you can start to see a faint outline of… something.

"Chances are that whatever spirit was inside there is starting to wake up. Now come on, we've got to find Akemi."

And with that, you all begin to run past another set of toppled furniture and up another set of stairs. You can't keep Akemi waiting for too long, after all.

---

Environmental Effect Active: Labrynth Labyrinth Complex
Oh god what the fuck is this architecture, what the fuck are the decorations, why are the corners circular, why is there so much glass, oh god-
[Every turn of navigation, and on your turn in combat, make a DC 20 Mental Saving Throw. On failure, take damage from one of these hazards:]

1: 2d6 slashing.
2: 1d6+2 blunt.
3: 1d4+4 pierce.
4: 1d8+1 fire.
5: Minus 20 to the next two Mental rolls. DC does not reset.
6: Roll for two of the above and suffer.

[On success, DC increases by 10. Failure resets DC back to 20.]
[It will likely take 5 successful rolls per person to get out of here and find the Shade at the center of this apartment. However, rolling above 80 could speed this process up somewhat.]
[(Currently, both you and Himari are 2/6 out. Losing that first roll knocked you into a deeper part of the castle. Akemi is 1/5 out.)]
[Rolling above 80 speeds up the process for you and the other person in your group, if you are in one.]

Select Card Spirit (Himari's, options below)
-A selection of debuff focused forms to use in the next fight and beyond.

[ ] Select Card Spirit (Akemi)
-Unfortunately, Purrson can't carry anything with him while phasing through objects…

[ ] The Codebreaker
[ ] IP Masquerena & SP Little Night
[ ] M∀LICE Cybers

The Spirit of the HERMIT is…
Atry's Advice: It's been. Thirty minutes. How.

Anyways, we should be fine as long as you stay with somebody. Keep an eye out for any unbarred windows, that way you could get Himari to fly out and get a better view of the apartments.

Gargoyle II's Advice: [BE] [CAUTIOUS] [HERE]


Author's Note:
Having the Shades be other Yu-Gi-Oh monsters was something that didn't occur to me for a while. Since either Direction or Soul collateral were winning out, I wanted to have the Shade be themed after the more general of the two. Besides, you guys were in a cramped apartment building anyways, so why not?

Then I misspelled Labyrinth, and then the gears up there started turning. I could still make it tie into the overarching theming for the Shades, anyways.

I will spoil one thing for the more Yu-Gi-Oh minded: Not all Shades will be Yu-Gi-Oh monsters. Gotta keep you on your toes. Some will be based on more esoteric things and whatever I find interesting at the moment.

As for Himari, the new M∀LICE archetype was an easy shoo in, if a bit late. (they literally got revealed this week) I mean, they're literally hackers in cyberspace! Who are Wonderland themed! Like, c'mon, it would be a missed opportunity forever if I didn't include them. Live/Evil Twins are being saved for someone else, don't worry.

Happy voting, heroes!