Magical Star Cacophonous Raventale

[ArlequineLunaire]

Author's Note: Putting this story up here for now, but I might give it its own Wordpress site if it gets enough interest.

* Magical Star Cacophonous Raventale *

Episode I: Prelude​

"You heard me, I'm Magic Coyotl, with my sparkling might I shall defend Olympia from darkness! Hyaah!" came the voice in front of me, bubbling with vibrato. Oh hi, name's Rachel Woodhull, and you've caught me at an... awkward time.

Where was I? Oh yeah, this voice belonged to a girl with short, curly pumpkin-coloured hair, an over-frilly orange-and-white dress with fake animal ears and bushy tail, and a wand she was waving right in my face, I imagined this is what a highway robbery by a Disney Princess would look like. Her costume certainly clashed with the worn-out leather jackets, flannel and jeans I and nearly everyone else in this guitar shop wore, not to mention my straight black hair.

The weirdest thing for me to admit was that I kinda recognised this girl, though from where exactly I was straining to recall.

"And you can defend Olympia from darkness too, by remembering-to-shop-locally-and-support-local-businesses, for-instance-Howlin'-Coyote-Records, and the magic can be yours!" she finished and then struck a pose, and with that the puzzle pieces fit together.

Upon outing herself as an advertising mascot the customers quickly lost interest in her, apart from one quick mutter of "Sell-out".

"Oh come on! At least I'm doing this for local stores, not the corporate machine- Ah, forget it" she sighed and slumped, she would've hit the floor had her voluminous dress not made that an impossibility.

Trying to think of something I could say to her, I only managed "Well, don't take this the wrong way, but if you want to support the local economy I don't think dressing up in a costume a six-year-old would wear at her birthday would be the best choice. Er, no hard feelings? Oh, I think I've been to Coyote Records twice, er, once" I tried to smile and help her up.

Remembering my job here, I then added "Hey, know what'd cheer you up? This old-yet-proven Rickenback-"

"What, this?" she cut me off and held up her dress "I thought the kids'd really be into it, ya know? What with Magic and Princesses and Big Sparkly dresses being real big right now".

"Well the kids, sure" I began, but then pointed out the customers around me "The slacker crowd, not so much, as you can see. Um, so is there anything else I can help you with?"

'Magic Coyotl' pondered for a little bit, with her soon saying "Hmm, maybe my own guitar could use a couple fresh strings, now that I think about it". It was picturing her holding a guitar that actually served as the missing piece to me working out her identity.

"Yeah, now I remember you! You're Elisa Blake, Rip In Heaven's singer, am I correct?" I beamed at her "'Cause if you are, I've been to your shows heaps, and you're, er, certainly something, that goes with without saying..." I tried to stay cheerful but my brightness couldn't help but fade.

Elisa made up for it by beaming even brighter "Why thank you, not meaning to brag but I'm always flattered to receive the adoring praises of fans! Well, ah, that is, a fan, in this case" her voice and face's brightness went out with mine. She had already given away she was a bit desperate I guess.

"Hey don't worry, I know the feeling. I once had my own band Fool XXII, before y'know, life got in the way and everything, to keep that long story short" came my feeble attempt to cheer her up.

With it looking to have little effect, I made a quick dash through the guitar store I was working at, a fairly unremarkable sterile-looking place whose most distinguishing feature was how little effort my boss and I had made to keep everything organised (though don't tell her I said that), went behind the counter and came back with several packets of guitar strings.

"Okay, so we've got nylon, steel, roundwound, flatwound, bass, banjo, those 12-String pairs, and if you buy-" I began rattling off almost subconsciously by now.

"Thanks, I'll just take these" Eliza said grabbing the closest packet and waving goodbye "Hey there, er-"

"Rachel Woodhull, don't wear it out"

"'Kay, nice meeting ya Rache" she finished. Thus my first actual conversation with Eliza Blake ended, and at that time I thought it no more than just one of life's many little encounters, albeit with someone I looked up to, or tried to anyway.

Yet there'd been many musicians I'd met at the store or at a show I'd looked up to but whose presence came and went, along with a few meetings I'd had with people even stranger, like this one guy who was buying certain amps and sheet music in order to perform an exorcism in concert he'd said, to give you a random example.

But hoo boy, all that stuff was normal compared to what was about to happen.

* * *​

It was much later in the afternoon, and with the stream of customers slowing to a trickle I was left staring out the back window, looking aimlessly at a patch of rainforest tinted orange by the setting sun, listening to one muddy, distorted band among many on KEXP, which the boss lady turned on just to have some noise.
This sort of too-slow-to-be-punk-too-sloppy-to-be-metal sound had been gaining ground here in Washington State for a while now, while the rest of the world had been hooked on synthpop and hair metal (the synthpop I didn't mind so much, as many cool points as that would cost me, but I'll shed no tears for hair metal), and now said rest of the world was acting like the underground had come out of nowhere-bah hah hah, I'm starting to sound like the boss lady.

My boss here at this guitar store? Ah yeah, guess I should be introducing her by now. Karin Garland to use her real name, says she was there when punk first broke back in the late 70s, and at nearly forty now she still has the ripped black clothing and spiky hair died green-and-pink.
At this moment she was flipping through what I'm guessing is some old fanzine, I think I even heard a sigh escape her lips.

I shook myself, I had to find a way to get out of this daze somehow. Trusting that the boss wouldn't mind if I took a bit of time off, I headed upstairs to my flat above the store, squeezed my way of the cluttered mess of books and old Hollywood posters that make up my room, picked up and plugged in my own guitar, a somewhat old and worn-I mean vintage Epiphone Stratocaster, and just tried to play whatever I could to keep me awake.

As I did so the radio downstairs gradually grew louder, which was strange as my boss rarely listens that intently to modern rock... and a minute or so later my cozy little normal world would be shattered to pieces.

An unearthly scream filled my ears, and with claws extended an I-don't-know-what I could only describe as a 'monster' comes flying at me. I could only duck out of the way at the last moment, clutching my head and wondering if I dozed off back there because there's no way this can be real.

I had little time to think as the creature grew more unreal as it shot what looked like a fireball at me, I raced to stamp it out and then met whatever this was face to face. It was a humanoid beast, its skin a light purple, its snake-like hair a premature silver, its green eyes like a cross between a cat's and a snake's, its fangs jagged, its thin tongue flickering and upon its back spiky wings.

"W-what the hell do you want? What the hell are you?!" I spat out.

"Ah-ah, that's for me to know and for you, hopefully, never to find out" the monster's strangely girlish lilting voice teased, before knocking me off-guard with another sonic scream to my face.

"I suppose I can tell you a little about why I'm here. You've been listening to a spell we've been casting, a spell able to drain any unsuspecting human's passions, but for whatever reason you've been able to resist it somehow. Good, that means your passion will be an even bigger heist!" her eyes grew wild as she stood over me.

Thinking fast I pushed the headstock of my guitar right up to what I assumed was her ear, flailing rapidly on the strings I was able to send that thing reeling back from the sheer noise.
Yet that alone seemed nowhere near enough to deal a finishing blow, that thing having got back on its... feet at rapid speed, so I unplugged my guitar and with it took off downstairs, hoping a new plan of mine would work.

I ran back into the store leaping every second from side to side to avoid getting hit by any more screams or fireballs that creature hurled at me. "Woah Worker Girl, slow down" Karin said with not much commitment at me, and I stopped to wonder if she was really so apathetic or engrossed in reading to not see or hear this thing chasing me, or if some limited invisibility was another trick up this monster's sleeve.

I collapsed when, distracted for a second by my thoughts, I got hit in the back with a fireball. Hurriedly I rolled around on the floor to put it out, and when I glanced up I was relieved to see I'd reached just what I was after.

I slowly got up and plugged my guitar into the two biggest amp stacks in the store simultaneously, I moved away again before yet another fireball could hit me, then I quickly leapt back and turned every knob I could find to maximum.

With that flying creature about to lunge at me with its claws again, I spat out "No future for you!" and struck the first chord that came to mind. The resulting blast of sound was so loud that even Karin had a reaction to it, and to my embarrassment quite a few of the instruments on sale were knocked to the floor in the process.

"Er, just testing these amps, yep they're all good, ha ha!" I said as fast as humanly possible before gulping and shuddering. Luckily for me the boss lady said nothing more than "Well, just clean this up before tomorrow" before returning to her reading.

What I did have to worry about was that beast suddenly being nowhere in sight, but even to that I found my answer soon enough.

"Hey, lemme out! Lemme out, ya hear me?!" that monster's voice said from alarmingly close to me, specifically feeling like it came from... my guitar? Eh, made about as much sense as anything else at this point I 'spose.

"I've got no idea how I can let out you when I don't even know how you got in that thing" I hissed quietly down at my guitar "Besides, even if I knew how to, give me one good reason why I should. After all I'm not the one going around stealing people's 'passions', whatever that means".

"If you don't let me out right now" her sing-songy tone returned "Then all the others will have to come get me, and they're not gonna like you one bit, oh no".

"Feh, let these 'others' come" I tossed my hair and made my bluff "If I kicked your ass, what's stopping me from kicking all theirs?".

The little beast now started giggling "Hmhmhm, in that case maybe I oughta stick around, since if you honestly think you can take on all of them, then ooh baby this'll be tons of fun to watch!".
Another sigh from me, those friends of hers better hurry up I say, I don't know how much more of her I can take.

"Well, if we're gonna be stuck together a while, it'd at least help if I knew your name" I eventually raised the question.

"My name?!" the caged beast let out another shriek "As if your low-life ears are even worthy of the honour". Great.

"Okay then, if that's how you're gonna be I suppose I'll have to make up a name for you" I stated. I thought it over a bit as I walked back up to my flat, before inspiration struck "Hmm, so you're this girl- I think- spirit-thing stuck in my guitar, ah-ha! Got it! How about Fenderbell?".
I heard no words back from her, but did receive a buzzing snarl.

"Cool, Fenderbell it is then" I announced with a smile as I put my guitar back on its stand. From my small-as-it-is window I saw the sun about to set, and tried to process what'd just happened today. Naturally there was a whole heap of questions I had for Fenderbell... that is, if she'd answer a single one of them anyway.

Then I remembered I still had to clean up all those fallen instruments, eh least it was good to have something normal to do again.

On the next Magical Star Raventale:

"Ah, hey there Eliza! Wow, you... really don't look like yourself, like, at all"

"Stealing people's Passions, but why?"

"What the-? Where on Earth is this place?!"​

 

[ArlequineLunaire]

Reserved for Dramatis Personae.

 

[ArlequineLunaire]

Reserved just in case. Okay, you can begin posting now.

 

[Alturangga]

The last sentence makevme think this is a quest posted in a wrong section for a moment

Hmm, the end part there feel a bit rushed perhaps.

 

[tricholysis]

The start makes it seem as though you know a lot about music, so that's good, but then when the monster comes in it breaks down a bit and becomes a little hard to follow. I'm still interested to see where it goes, though.

 

[ArlequineLunaire]

Episode II: Overture​

When I ran into Elisa Blake next, it was a stranger encounter still.

I was walking back from an audition (that went... not swimmingly) when I saw her standing on one of Olympia's dingy street corners, still wearing that pretty-pretty-princess costume of hers and still carrying flyers for local businesses. But her expression was the exact opposite of before, with her face as animated as a corpse's.

"Ah hey there Elisa! Wow, you... really don't look like yourself, like, at all. A-Anyway, how's Rip in Heaven doing these days?" I tried to strike up a conservation, but the tone of her reply was just as lively as her face.

"Fine. Everything's fine" she droned. Woah, had something major happened to her band... or did Fenderbell's pals possibly have something to do with this? I mean, Fenderbell had told me she was here to steal people's passions, and here was Elisa looking as passionate as a slug.

Or maybe, judging by the crowd that had suddenly gathered around her, she was just bandwagoning on the apathy that was so 'in' with teenagers in our little fin de siecle?
Seemed to be working, I was already hearing calls of "Wow, she's so cool!" from some little kids who'd dragged their parents all the way to see her, and "Woah, is she for real?" from the flannel crowd.

Good thing I had my guitar case with me so I could get to the bottom of this faster. Making my way behind a nearby tree I opened it up and hissed down at Fenderbell "Right, is this your doing?".

"If it was, what'd be the harm? If anything that Little Miss should be thanking me, her new attitude's made her quite popular, tee-hee!" Fenderbell's reply was as helpful as I'd thought it'd be.

I groaned, before slowly stating "Alright Fenderbell, stop being funny with me or I'll go full Pete Townshend on you!".

"Now now Miss Woodhull, is that any way of a lady of your status to behave? Oh that's right, you don't have any status, hah!" Fenderball came back with, and I shot her another glare in return "Alright, sheesh! To answer your question, yes, your little 'Elisa' does show all the traces of my kind having stolen her passion, as we've done with many others already"

"Stealing people's passions, but why?"

"Come now, don't you think you're overacting? You may be too young to know this-"

"It's not like you act super-mature yourself".

"-Oh really?! Anyway like I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, passions, dreams and ambitions can lead foolish young souls down a path to ruin, a lifetime of never making it, or making it only to be drowned by sheer pressure! Ahem, so take it from me, Elisa will be much happier this way" and so Fenderbell's little rant reached its end.

At first I said nothing, but with me barely able to contain my fury any longer I lunged out and almost yanked apart my guitar strings.

Just in time though Fenderbell shrieked "Okay okay, listen ya hear?! Ah good, well if you so desperately want your pumpkin-haired brat's emotions back so badly, I'll tell you where they are. Just head to the nearest tower, play a little tune that reminds you of 'things lost', and you'll be in our world soon enough, hmhm".

I caught my breath and gently lowered my guitar, though all I could think was 'could Fenderbell get any more cryptic?'. Ah well, least I was getting somewhere with her now, so I played along.

Okay, 'nearest tower' did she say? The only thing that came to mind was the Washington State Capitol, I guess that'd count.

Then suddenly I remembered something else, that oh yeah wasn't there one of those old-timey, long-inactive Moonlight Towers close by? Those things we had before streetlights, though I think Austin still has some functioning? Ah, getting off track, well I'd say it's worth a shot, though what else would be in a situation like this?

"Hey, you talkin' to your guitar?" A voice out of nowhere jolted me out of my inner monologue. "I mean 's cool, like my guitar talks to me all the time, once I've taken y'know, and then I'm fingering that high note on the, erm, think it's the B-string-"

"Okay, cool, thanks, gotta go!" I replied in haste and immediately sped off.

* * *​

Minutes later I was standing beneath a few scraggly poles and wires that were all that remained of a more-than-a-century-old Moonlight Tower. I then wondered how I was supposed to play a thing on this guitar without an amp, true I could sneak off with an acoustic from under the boss's nose but-

"Wondering about amplification? Hah, with a being like me stuck somehow in your guitar, you have all the amplification you need" Fenderbell then chimed in. Oh, okay, guess that's that part taken care of, now for that, er, song that 'reminds me of something lost'. Hmm, those words made me think of some old folk tune... but then I thought of something even better.

It's a fairly simple tune I played, originally meant for the human voice and maybe an accompanying flute, but I could transcribe easily to guitar. A few notes later and, my eyes then went as wide as possible, the ancient Moonlight Tower seemed to spring to life again.

With a great flash of silvery light my eyes then could've almost popped out of my skull.

Any trace of Olympia had gone entirely, and I was now standing in what I could only describe as... a colossal library, bigger than any library I'd ever seen, so much that I couldn't even see how far up the bookshelves went. What I could see was what looked like books flying from shelf to shelf, and these wisp-of-light things hovering up next to certain shelves.

"What the-? Where on Earth is this place?!" I blurted out to Fenderbell, though she gave no more a reply than a giggle. I said before my room was swamped with books, so in any less urgent case this place could've almost been a dream come true for me. Not able to help my curiousity I grabbed hold of a book flying next to me, only to find it written in a language I had no clue how to identify, let alone read.

With me startled the book then flew away, and Fenderbell's full-blown laughter was quick to follow "Hah, that's book probably older than even your quaint little English language, to think you had a chance of making heads or tails of it".

I ignored that remark and started making my way through whatever-and-wherever this place was. As I got further in and began noticing big Ancient-Egypt-style columns along with statues of all sorts of creatures, from sphinxes to hippo-crocodile hybrids to beastmen, I couldn't help but be reminded of the fabled Library of Alexandria.

"Hey Fenderbell, have... have I gone back in time?!" I exclaimed. Yeah yeah I know, I should've really been thinking about Elisa, but when you're somewhere this out-of-your-world how could you not get swept up a bit?

"Back in time?" Fenderbell may have stated as a question but it could've easily been childish parroting "Oh poor little dear, what fun would it be for me if I just gave you all the answers, hmm?".

Right, what other answer should I have expected? "Well, could you at least tell me how I'll recognise Elisa's stolen passion?"

"Oh it should be easy to spot, just look for the ring of light glowing the colour of her strongest emotion. Y'know, red for anger, blue for sadness, yellow for joy, that kinda stuff" Fenderbell was at least somewhat more helpful this time "Now I have question in return. Tell me, what exactly was that tune you played at the Tower? I... don't think I recognised it"

"Oh that? Well, it's an old Native American lullaby my grandmother used to sing to me when I was little" I told her, relieved at how harmless her question was.

"Native American? Hm, guess that explains why I'd never heard it. Ah, so you're one of them, are you Rachel? Now that you bring it up you do look the part" Fenderbell remarked.

One of them?! I tried being gracious and answered with "Well yeah, though as a city girl it can be kinda hard for me to keep in touch with my roots, so it's not something I bring up all that often".

Our conversation ended there, as I then picked up the smell of smoke, and was soon greeted with a fiery wall that had risen high up in front of me. I was soon running from side to side dodging the firebals that were springing from it, only to turn around and find another barricade of flame was blocking the path I came down. Great, did they have to take everything from the Library of Alexandria?

Fenderbell started laughing once more, with not a care that she might be caught up in the blaze too. With no other option I began scrambling up the shelves beside me despite the lack of any ladder, though as I climbed higher and higher it became harder to breathe as the smoke kept invading my lungs.

Thinking impulsively and balancing precariously, I held out my guitar and began playing something that reminded me of flying, I believe a big arena-oriented song from back in the 70s. My thought was that I'd gotten to this world in the first place by playing a song that meant 'something lost' to me, maybe another song could help out once more in this strange place?

At first it looked like I'd failed miserably as I slipped off the shelf and began falling into the inferno below, but when I opened my eyes I found that I hadn't been burnt to a crisp, but was flying high in the upper reaches of this library, with giant black wings looking like a cross between rifts in the void and streaks of lightning having sprouted from my back.

I could've almost burst with excitement... but my enthusiasm soon took a blow as my wings experienced a sudden, er, glitch you could call it.
"Bwah-hah-hah, that Melody of yours won't last long without a Harmony to support it and a Rhythm to keep it controlled, ever pay attention in Music Class?" Fenderbell mocked, and I briefly contemplated dropping her from this great height, if only that wouldn't leave me without a guitar.

In other news, from here I could see that this library wasn't as endless as it'd first appeared, though it was still far from being petite. I could make out several other strange places in the distance, such as a city of stone, a flying shipwreck, a tall tower covered in vegetation, and even more if I could squint.

Not that I had the chance to, as not knowing how much longer my wings would stay together I hurriedly tried spotting a place to land.

I didn't have to search long, as I soon glimpsed a great golden light sitting atop a pair of scales in front of this crocodile statue. Okay, not a pleasant sight from what I could recall about Egyptian mythology, but I still flew straight there hoping this light was Elisa's stolen passion, if Fenderbell's words had been at all accurate.

The moment I landed however, a whole new problem arose.

A single book about a hundred times larger than normal sprung up in front of me, and as it opened on its own its pages began rearranging themselves until they took the form of this towering paper monster.

"You go no further" this paper monster then spoke "This library is a place of knowledge ancestral, knowledge intruders like you have no right to. But if you still seek forbidden knowledge, then I, the paper torn from the tree ancestral, will give it to you... and make your soul regret ever knowing anything to begin with!".

"This guy one of your 'friends', Fenderbell?" I said to her, only to get struck with an almighty papercut before I had the slightest chance to react. The blow was bad enough, but what followed pushed things over the edge.

My mind was flooded with all sorts of awful sights, massacres, torture, genocides, aiiee! In desperation I furiously shook my head to get all these images out, but on and on they kept coming. Did that monster do this, was this what he meant by making me regret ever knowing anything?

As giant paper whips kept trying to lash out at me, a dash behind a convenient statue my salvation, I racked my brain working out how to deal with this thing. Unlike the fire I couldn't just run away, it was standing between me and Elisa's Passion after all. I kept telling myself it was paper, how hard could it be to take down? I just had to come up with a song that reminded me of-

I ducked out of the way just in time as that Guardian somehow split the statue apart, and now there was no place left for me hide me. As I held my guitar at that point I wasn't even thinking of anything, with my fingers fretting away I just hoped whatever I played out of impulse would be the very song I needed...

On the next Magical Star Raventale:

"Really Rachel, you think I'll just believe anything?"

"You can play any song, what matters is the emotion behind it"

"I'm Magical Star Coyotl, and this here's my sworn ally, Magical Star..."​

 

[tricholysis]

To play the pedant: a little weird that the Library guardian talks about paper when the original Library was papyrus etc. etc. typical SV historywank

I think the story'd benefit from some elaboration on the reasoning Rachel takes. You have her do it and then explain herself, or you rely on genre convention, but it'd move better if the reader didn't have to justify for you ahead of time.

Anyway, I like the sequence of events/outline (it covers the appropriate amount for a single update with good choices of scenes).

"I mean 's cool, like my guitar talks to me all the time, once I've taken y'know, and then I'm fingering that high note on the, erm, think it's the B-string-"

Click to shrink...

Oh, 'band' kids, you little freaks.

 

[ArlequineLunaire]

^Actually I do have an explanation behind the references to paper and books, without spoiling too much this isn't the 'original library'.

 

[ArlequineLunaire]

Episode III: Fuocoso​

With me reduced to desperately playing random notes as that monster closed in on me, it was then this huge burst of flame suddenly erupted from the headstock of my guitar. Wait, flame?

Ah yeah, I knew these musical powers come from my mind, and of course the memory of those walls of fire in what looked like a place famous for its fire was still close at hand.

While that seemed to get the Guardian away from me, luck stopped smiling on me then as he was quick to recover, with him ripping huge chunks of paper from some nearby hanging scrolls and patching himself up with them. Still, I had something that could at least wound him now.

I played that tune that'd given me wings before, and immediately flew up high into the air. "W-wait, what are you doing? What, oh hell no, hey you know if you do something reckless I get hurt too" Fenderbell shouted at me, but I smiled as I paid no attention to her, as I then tried to recreate those fiery notes I played a few seconds ago.

I launched more fireballs at the monster from high up in the air, and while my wings were still intact I delivered the coup de grace by lighting a great fiery aura around myself and rocketing downwards straight at him. That was all it took for him to explode into an inferno, normally I'd condone such arson against books but in my defence he started it.

I found myself covered in ashes and with my head throbbing from my little skydive, but anyway victory was mine!... or so I thought.

It quickly turned out my naive self was celebrating too soon, as the remaining scraps of paper that made up the Guardian were quickly bunching themselves together, and before I could react they'd formed into what could be called little paper golems.

Dammit, now I was surrounded! I reached for my guitar to call forth those flames, but didn't get the chance as the golems all jumped and started slashing at me.

Those images I'd seen before when I got struck promptly came back, but now they were even crazier! I was now seeing bizarre, almost indescribable-looking beasts, dead and rotting bodies up close and things I didn't even know what to call.

Barely getting the chance to move I slammed my palm down on the guitar strings, and while no magic came out it at least made enough of a sudden noise to distract those pieces of the Guardian.

Seizing my chance I rolled away, sprang to my feet and leaped up onto those scales that Elisa's Passion (if I was right) sat on top of. Right, from what I could now tell that Guardian had some power over 'forbidden knowledge', least that was my explanation, would make sense in a place like this.

I scrambled up fast, as already the Guardian was forming back into its original self. Luckily I'd already reached the top of the scales and was touching the glowing Passion... and was immediately treated to another vision, thankfully a far less nasty though still pretty, um, personal one.
​

"Wow, everyone looks up to her! I... I could never be anything like her"

"That was great! Just being there and seeing people like me up close getting out there, I... I could really do this!"

"Oh come on, how could you guys give up now?! After everything this band has been through..."
​

Of all that I heard Elisa's voice. In any safer situation I could've smiled, seeing those rock stars so distant, discovering the underground and finding out you could do it yourself, er, finding out how hard doing it yourself was, that was practically my story and probably thousands of other kids' too.
But I had no time for fond reminiscence, as already a sudden crash nearly made let go of the scales I was holding on to, that Guardian now trying to topple the whole thing over as it also sent its bladed paper tendrils after me.

With a blind leap I now found myself clutching onto that nearby crocodile statue, the scales having already fallen to the floor. Standing up on a ledge with the statue to my back, I took out my guitar and fired a few more blasts of fire at the monster, keeping it at bay but hardly putting it down as it kept on reforming itself.

"Great, you got what you so wanted, now get us out of here!" Fenderbell screamed at me.

"Hey, if this monster's one of your own, can't you just talk to him, work something out?" I hissed back at her, with my fingers still on my guitar.

"What, and have him think I'm a traitor?!" Fenderbell shot back with.

Still, since I'd already got what I came for I could just maybe play a song that reminded me of home, warp back and not have to deal with this monster anymore, at least for the time being. Wasn't fully sure if that'd work, but worth a shot right?

I tried to rack my brain to come up with the right song, but with those paper blades again coming at me I resorted to the first thing that came to mind, some grotty, herky-jerky CGBGs-type song from back in the late 70s the boss lady played all the time in the store. I tried to say to myself that you could play any song, what mattered was the emotion behind it.

I winced as it looked like I was going to get all slashed up again, but then I heard a loud thump and when my eyes opened, I saw myself back in the guitar store again, having made an... unfortunate entrance in a heap of instruments.

A bunch of customers' eyes stared at me for a second, but soon lost interest. "Hey Worker Girl, what kept you?" I then heard my boss' familiar voice and sighed with relief, I thought I'd never be so happy to hear her.

Unfortunately I had to keep her waiting her little more. "Really sorry I'm late, but there's just this one little thing I've still gotta do. Don't worry, won't be long!" I said as I immediately took off.
​

* * *
​

"Elisa!" I called out at the sight of her, it was strange but lucky for me that she hadn't moved from her spot all day, though I suppose people'll do that when they've had all the emotions sucked out of them.

"Huh, what?" was all her life-drained voice said back to me, but as I willed her stolen Passion to appear from out of me I could see her eyes grow wide as streams of light came flowing back into her.
"Oh, ah, Rachel! Woah" Elisa shook her head "Man have I really been out of it, feels like I've been in a complete daze since- since- Hey, ah, what exactly just happened?".

"Well it's, er, kinda hard to explain" I smiled yet shrugged at her "But, ah, let's just say went-into-another-world-full-of-all-these-lost-things-to-retrieve-your-stolen-passions-using-magic-from-my-guitar" I gasped for air as all that flooded out of me, then gave a twitching smile.

"Really Rachel, you think I'll just believe anything?" Elisa said with her hands at her hips, but eventually had to admit "But it's not like I have any way of explaining what just happened myself, so maybe I'll go with your explanation for now".

"Oh she's so 'lively' and 'full of energy' now, man she used to be cool" someone in the crowd nearby then said before he and the others began walking away.

Well, that was kinda a blow for Elisa's popularity, but hopefully none of them were close enough to hear what we were saying. I did notice a long-haired older Mexican woman with a fringe looking at us for a second longer, but she too was soon off.

"You don't have to take my word for it" I said extending my hand to Elisa "Just come with me a bit and I can show you".

"Yeah, after all we don't bite" Fenderbell giggled, with Elisa instantly jumping back at the sight of my guitar talking.

"Oh right, er, Fenderbell, hoo boy is she gonna be a lot to explain" I gave a laugh, but Elisa's face retained its shocked expression. She soon however shook herself and took my hand.

...And just some time later, she was laughing wide-eyed as I held onto her and flew high in the, er, 'sky' over the Ancient Library, keeping my eyes peeled to make sure that paper Guardian was nowhere near.

"Alright, whoo! Rache this is cool and all, but, um, mind landing soon? I mean, y'know, don't wanna risk falling too much longer" Elisa said, and I sharply took notice since it looked like my wings were starting to falter.

We swiftly came down on top of a bookshelf and allowed ourselves to catch our breaths. "Hah, and here I was calling myself a 'Magic Star', with no idea the real thing was right under my nose" Elisa smiled at me.

"Thanks! But, erm, it's not like I've been in the 'magic' business all that long" I couldn't help but blush.

"Really I'm the one who does most of the legwork" Fenderbell then said before I quickly glared down at her.

"But hey, all I gotta do is capture one of those in my guitar and I'll be magical too, right? Though hopefully I, er, can find a nicer, more agreeable one" Elisa said, and it was probably for the best that Fenderbell didn't reply. "Still, if these 'monsters' have really been stealing people's drive and emotions, then man we've really got our work cut out for us in Olympia alone!" Hm, got that right.

"Let's change topic though. Now if I may so Rache, what you've got in the way of firepower you don't got in the realm of style. I mean, leather jacket and jeans may fly in the rock world, but kinda seem underwhelming when you bring magic into things".

I squint my eyes a bit, not really comfortable with where I think Elisa's going. True, I had to admit it might be for the best if I made some attempt to conceal my identity while I'm here.

"Oh, and another thing my mascot days have taught about being a Magic Warrior, it's that you gotta have a real cool title to go with it" Elisa went on, and now I was really worried where she's going "Okay, let's rehearse 'I'm Magical Star Coyotl, and this here's my sworn ally Magical Star..."

Well, you can probably guess what name I came up with. Again, first thing that sprang to mind really.
​

On The Next Magical Star Raventale:

"It's like, why bother anymore, y'know?"

"So this 'Chosen' of yours is the one doing all this?"

"Okay Elisa, ready for your first day on the job?"​