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

Alright, what weapon should Akemi have?

  • Let her keep the gun!

    Votes: 9 33.3%

  • Give her a sword!

    Votes: 10 37.0%

  • More Magic!

    Votes: 6 22.2%

  • Hand to Hand!

    Votes: 2 7.4%
  • Total voters
    27
  • Poll closed .
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Morrowlark said:
Tell me truly:

Is Rei ready for this level of reckless American rage-depression
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I dont think ANYONE is ready for this level of Reckless American Rage Repression....

On the other hand with all the shit thats has happened in the last few weeks a pair of toxic lesbians probably doest breach Rei's top ten ngl. As long as they dont mess with her or her friends she will probably take one look say hmmm... and go on with her day. She has WAY to much shit to deal with.
Although it would be hilarious to see them during the Water missions... unlikely though.

Although I wonder how they would react to Akemi and Himari...
I can see them being somewhat neutral with Himari and just immediatly pegging Akemi as a Schemer of some kind.
But thats just me.
 
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Omake: New, Big Things (Canon)
  • Apocrypha
    • Kermie said:
    Edit: the real question is if Fuji will be ready for her.
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    Sounds like I need to get on my read, which I will be returning to right after I post the last chapter

    Which I will be doing

    Now

    Omake: New, Big Things

    There are upsides to a Magical Girl transformation that you hadn't thought about. Point the first, you are now completely dressed, while Trista is racing behind you in a bathrobe and a stolen pair of your boots with no socks on. Point the second, you are armed, when you had not been before; the Voiceless Harpoon, full of the virtue of silence and able to do things that physics does not like, rests easily over your shoulder. The relative downside of the bit where you're going to be stark raving naked the moment you transform back is a problem for later, especially since you're gonna need to have a loud word with all these passengers about how they didn't see you, right. The other relative downside of your rubber boots squishing and squelching wetly as you corner as fast as you humanly can is one you'll just edit out of telling this story later. Not like there's some kind of outside observer watching your life as it happens who's going to notice the bit where you sound like a rubber chicken in a gimp suit getting the good shit from its domme.

    Trista is not used to this level of athleticism and she is making the terrible decision to try and shout after you as you lead the way up the stairs to the next deck two at a time. "If it's any consolation you look really hot like this!"

    Oh your fucking God. "Trista, I have the libido of, not to put too fine a point on it, a corpse while I'm like this."

    "Not hearing an obstacle!"

    You love her but if she doesn't shut up you're gonna throw her overboard.

    The two of you hit the starboard observation deck just as the ship rights itself with a creaking, groaning crash, and you stare. Trista comes up moments later, huffing and puffing, looks up at what you're staring at, and -

    "Where did they get a topless kaiju mermaid?" Trista wheezes.

    "She's like the size of a blue whale, that's not a kaiju," you correct, distractedly.

    Trista glares at you. "That's a fucking kaiju, Rachael. Just because she's fuckin' Gamera's hot smoll bean stepsister doesn't mean she's not a kaiju."

    "These! Words! Have! Meanings!"

    Your beloved smacks you upside the back of the head and yells for you to go fight it, which, fair. You vault the railing and blow the boatswain's call, and instantly the water all around Far Horizons goes still; its color changes as fresh water suborns salt, and instead of hitting the surface as is logically what would happen, you crash hard into the deck of Edmund Fitzgerald as the Drowned Armada surges from the deep all around you, your silent sailors manning their posts, sharpening weapons, banging drums that should have long-since rotted away. You look back at Far Horizons - yep every fucking passenger is staring at you God fucking damn it - and tip a grin at Trista.

    "Don't you dare die!" she yells down at you.

    "Don't worry!" you yell back, before you turn and point your harpoon at the raging mermaid, who is straightening up in the water and noticing that there are a lot more ships now. Much more quietly, and to yourself, you mutter: "Everybody gangster until the Latin choir kicks in..."

    The approach of the Drowned Armada gives you plenty of time to size up your opponent. To wit: she's big. Her sea-green hair alone, cascading down until it vanishes beneath the waterline, could probably crush you to death if you weren't currently a fucking zombie. Clawed hands, scales climbing up just past her bellybutton, which, wild, live births in the giant mermaid community? If you can publish a paper on that you've got a doctoral thesis in the torpedo tubes just waiting for you. She doesn't seem to be undead and the Lake isn't registering her as some kind of unnatural intrusion...

    (A distant voice in your head, from happier days, your own voice from when you were full of hope and life and didn't know the taste of heartbreak, shouts excitedly: Magical girls make friends with their enemies! With the power of love!)

    Yeah. Nice try kid. Welcome to the real world.

    ...

    What the fuck are you saying, you're floating on a wrecked ship amongst an armada of the faithful dead from a distant freshwater ocean, sailing towards something from your ex's fanfic folder, and you're literally a Magical Girl. Maybe sometimes they gotta fight it out until people are too tired to be angry, but that is a power your older, bitter, cynical self has in spades.

    "Yo!" you call out at the top of your lungs. "Is there a particular reason you're attacking those people?"

    The mermaid peers suspiciously at you, then at the ship, then at you. "My waters are being invaded by a necromancer, who is sailing aboard that ship and intends to dredge my depths for the dead that rest peacefully within them."

    Oh wow, motherfuckers accused you of doing their shit, that's low. You sigh. "I'm not intending to do any such fuckin' thing - wait, you speak English?"

    "...Yes?"

    "I owe some apologies to a lot of people on TvTropes," you mutter, and then you speak up again: "I am not intending any such thing, and those people are innocent. Look at 'em. There's children on there, lady."

    For a long moment, it seems like giving peace a chance might just work by itself. Wouldn't that just be a punch to your cynicism's tit? But it doesn't, not by itself. However, the massive mermaid points some distance away from Far Horizons and swims off, and you give the order for the Armada to follow. So she's not devoid of morals or standards...man, there's that existential crisis about being a spree killer that you've been putting off.

    Wait, what crisis, you've been killing grave robbers, amateur assassins, and one (1) fascist, fuck those guys.

    "Dagon," you call out, looking to port; the sturgeon pops his head out of the water. "Is there any universe where you can negotiate with the local sea spirits and prove I am who I say I am to her?"

    ...If they exist to be negotiated with. My champion, I will try. But if such a gambit is to work, you must not slay her.

    "And it's real hard to refrain from killing people when you fight them, I know. Trust me, I'm fucking aware." You pull the rope that is wound 'round the haft of the Voiceless Harpoon, and begin lashing it to your left arm. "Do it. I'll keep her busy."

    Which is a lot of confidence from you considering that you've never fought anything but seemingly ordinary humans, were assuming sea spirits exist because Dagon exists, and are assuming they'd bother, and are assuming the mermaid is gonna care, but fuck it, you're all in. When you'd agreed to become November Witch, with lungs full of lake water and eyes full of tears, knowing you were a dead thing, you had begged the Lake: let me show you how much we love you, and the world.

    And the Lake had said, what is love?

    "You got a name?" you call out. "I'm November Witch, champion and slave to the depths of the freshwater sea called Lake Superior, defender of the world's glory." The mermaid gives you a dubious look and points at one of your sailors, who is trying to reattach his currently detached head. You shrug, apologetically. "I said the world's glory, not the world's dignity."

    "...A marooned American called me Jade, once," the mermaid finally accedes. "You may do the same, before you die. You defile my waters with your unnatural sorcery."

    "I don't suppose you're willing to believe I've got a really good reason that all these dead dudes listen to me?"

    "No."

    You glance back at Far Horizons, gauging the distances, then back at the mermaid. The passengers should be safe enough. "Thought not," you say with a sigh; you draw air into lungs full of freezing water, and bellow: "HARPOONS!"

    Your sailors let spears fly, and battle is joined.

    Jade ducks the first volley by diving beneath the waves, and the Armada follows, plunging into depths made brackish by the fight between your power and the Pacific. Fish scatter in terror, and sharks suddenly and mysteriously have better places to be than here, where the dappled sunlight through the surface is clouding over and dead men lurch battle cries in a hundred languages. One swat of Jade's massive tail splinters a viking longboat, only for rafts of co-eds wielding broken beer bottles to make landfall on her massive body and begin stabbing. Thin lines of red blood cloud into the waters as you hop from deck to deck, the endless rope of the Voiceless Harpoon trailing behind you.

    "Defiler! You will regret invading my dominion!"

    "Ma'am I am going to Japan," you call back, landing hard on a wrecked yacht. You order its dumbass rich-dude "captain" to encircle Jade, and he spins the wheel hard. "I really hate to say this but you've been lied to by the actual necromancers!"

    Jade stops in the middle of swatting dead co-eds off her body and glares pointedly at the armada of the dead all around her.

    "Yeah I know how it looks alright -"

    You leap from the yacht just ahead of the mermaid's scything claw. Her follow-up strike is intercepted by the heavy bulk of a descending freighter, which goes careening out of the battlefield and back to the Lake, taking its crew with it, but it took its toll; Jade snatches her hand close to her chest, and blood runs out from under her nails where she's hurt herself. The swarming dead are pressing in closer, attaching themselves to her scaled tail with harpoons, climbing up her body, and it's clear that she's not really had to deal with this kind of problem before. There's such fear in her eyes...

    You complete your circle and call the Voiceless Harpoon to your hand, and in its obedience it cinches its rope tight around Jade's arms; at the same time, you bellow for your sailors to stand down. Jade thrashes, and you are yanked directly towards her, which is exactly where you want to be; you land with your boots on her clavicle, and hold the point of the Harpoon to her neck.

    "Wait," you murmur to her, looking directly into an eye the size of your entire body. "...Just wait. Don't make me do this."

    Your unbeating heart somehow goes even more still...

    ...And then the sea starts singing.

    * * * *

    Jade is not the biggest fan of letting human doctors see to her wounds, but, then, the doctors are not the biggest fans of being hoisted up to those wounds by cranes on ghost ships, so everyone just gets to go fuck themselves. While this is happening, you turn to the gathered passengers, crew, and Captain of Far Horizons, suck in a deep breath, and shout.

    "REPEAT AFTER ME: I DID NOT SEE JACK NOR SHIT."

    "I did not see jack nor shit."

    "THERE ARE NO AMERICAN MAGICAL GIRLS."

    "There are no American magical girls."

    "THANK YOU MISS JADE FOR BEING SO HONORABLE AND KIND AS TO SPARE OUR LIVES."

    "Thank you Miss Jade for being so honorable and kind as to spare our lives!"

    The massive mermaid blushes faintly. "It's fine, anyone would have...it's okay."

    You tilt her a grin. "Nah, not anyone. I'll make time to get away from shore and tell you about my Lake, yeah? And maybe learn some of that sea magic you were talking about. It'd be nice to not throw zombies at everything."

    Jade offers a single finger, and you shake it with both of your hands. This solemn moment is immediately ruined by Trista, red-faced and nervous, blurting out: "Ma'am are you single?"

    * * * *

    Customs is Customs is Customs, it's hours to get the four of you waved through into Japan proper, and your first order of business is to buy a translation spell. If you're gonna be a dipshit American abroad, you can at least not be one that assumes everyone speaks English. Y'all then immediately get up to shady shit by renting a pair of apartments under false names while Karl begins building fictitious marks of the four of you traveling around which should throw off pursuit for a week or two while you get your sea legs, so to speak. Karl'd found a name, Umbra, but not much beyond that; Trista is working to link it to the money. Combine the money and the name and you'll have targets, and once you have targets, there will not be survivors.

    Trista is pouting. Jade had very politely turned her down. You hug her from behind and sigh, a little wistfully, and a little happily. "Still intending to get me laid?" you tease.

    "...Yeah. Duh."

    You think about that for a bit, and then say, "Okay. Tell me why. If you can tell me why, I'll try it."

    Your ex takes your hand in hers, and looks up at you from her chair, eyes inches from yours. "Rachael...I am a very proud slut. You know this. I suspect you like it about me. But against all odds and my own good sense, after seeing what the women of a dozen nations had to offer me...I still want you. And I'm not gonna hear you say I'm your 'one true love' or whatever until you can say the same. I don't want you to say you love me when I've been the only one. I wanna hear that I fought all comers and won."

    "In the middle of us also declaring war on a whole-ass criminal syndicate?" you ask, raising an eyebrow.

    "Life won't wait for your convenience."

    You press a kiss to her forehead and close your eyes. "...Okay. You've got a deal."

    End.​
     
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  • Apocrypha
    • Morrowlark said:
    Omake: New, Big Things
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    I have so many things that I want to say here, but:

    Morrowlark said:
    When you'd agreed to become November Witch, with lungs full of lake water and eyes full of tears, knowing you were a dead thing, you had begged the Lake: let me show you how much we love you, and the world.

    And the Lake had said, what is love?
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    RAAAHHHHH IT'S SO GOODDDD

    +100 EXP, +25 EP; I'm increasing it for the fact that this is the conclusion of such a well-connected saga. Spectacular job— I'm 100% throwing Rachel and Trista into somewhere this Arc or the next.
     
    Kermie said:
    I have so many things that I want to say here, but:



    RAAAHHHHH IT'S SO GOODDDD

    +100 EXP, +25 EP; I'm increasing it for the fact that this is the conclusion of such a well-connected saga. Spectacular job— I'm 100% throwing Rachel and Trista into somewhere this Arc or the next.
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    Omg t_t

    I am very open to those many things if you want to put them into words, and of course it's completely your call if the passengers actually stay quiet or not. November Witch could easily end up posted to those forums.
     
    Morrowlark said:
    (A distant voice in your head, from happier days, your own voice from when you were full of hope and life and didn't know the taste of heartbreak, shouts excitedly: Magical girls make friends with their enemies! With the power of love!)

    Yeah. Nice try kid. Welcome to the real world.
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    Oh so she's an idiot, nice!

    We'll have to learn the hard way that that is the "Real World" :)
    FRIENDSHIP LAZERS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

    Also just... wonderful Omake all around!
     
    Hot damn tbat was quite the ride. Quite the series of omakes Morrowlark I salute you! They were great!
     
    I sincerely respect Trista's commitment to the bit. The bit of being really down bad, that is.

    Social check, pls, d100.
     
    Morrowlark said:
    "REPEAT AFTER ME: I DID NOT SEE JACK NOR SHIT."

    "I did not see jack nor shit."

    "THERE ARE NO AMERICAN MAGICAL GIRLS."

    "There are no American magical girls."

    "THANK YOU MISS JADE FOR BEING SO HONORABLE AND KIND AS TO SPARE OUR LIVES."

    "Thank you Miss Jade for being so honorable and kind as to spare our lives!"
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    That is hilarious.

    Also Trisha is going to become a badass by dint of regularly ending up in insane situations. I'm betting she ends up a Kamen/Kajin Rider
     
    As far as Trista becoming a Rider that ball is entirely in Kermie's court, both because I got them where they're going and because I really just do not know or understand Riders. The most I can really say there is if that power could be purchased, Trista wouldn't pass up the chance to go from noncombatant to partner.
     
    I'll play it by ear. As of now, it depends on a lot of factors that have not yet been fully set in stone by certain big players.
     
    Morrowlark said:
    The most I can really say there is if that power could be purchased, Trista wouldn't pass up the chance to go from noncombatant to partner.
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    ... I mean there must be a black market for driver like devices right? Or like Umbra being stupid enough to sell something they have as a stupid recruiting tactic. That feels like them-

    I really want that to be true, only because someone can ask Trista:
    "I became a Rider due to having a pure heart, what caused you to get your powers?"
    "I was rich, saw one on the black market, and just outbid everyone."
    "Oh."

    Also... actually would Drivers show up in the Yokai Market? Maybe? SO MANY QUESTIONS!
     
    I mean, isn't that basically what Yggdrasil do in Gaim? Put Drivers in front of a bunch of young kid's hands and see what they do with them to gather data?
     
    Morrow's Liveblog Restarting at 1 b/c I forgot the fucking number I was on and it's a new arc anyway (2.0 <-> 2.3 pt. 2)

    New arc, new building of momentum. This is honestly an excellent set of breather beats, showing our heroines (and Jun) getting to know one another. It's odd to me that Jun seems to have fallen into a trainer/mentor role for which I would have thought him WILDLY unqualified, but what do I know? Maybe the dude did time in the military. Maybe when he's off-screen he's frantically going through training programs on YouTube and every time he finds a scam "self-defense expert" he destroys their credit score. The world may never know.

    Big revelations here, and while they feel a little contrived I am honestly on board with that contrivance; we're finally in familiar territory for me, and this is a staple I'm happy to see done well. Also fascinated to see the training on using transformations to block attacks (hilariously, the penultimate November omake also featured this, admittedly as an attack of opportunity rather than a honed skill). Honestly right now the big thing is I don't feel like I have the immediate strong impression from Akemi that I got from Himari, and as a result I don't have as much of a grip on her. But then, that also may just be a consequence of her somewhat more reserved nature. Himari deflects with banter and reveals her true feelings even as she tries to deny them; Akemi has at least some modicum of stoicism to draw on instead. Still, I'm looking forward to getting to know her better.

    Omake Character Side Thoughts: There is no universe where Trista doesn't at least try to get Rachael to shoot her shot with Akemi. There is also no universe where Trista doesn't try to shoot hers with Rei's favorite bartender. Older woman, successful in business, dangerous in an understated way? Trista's in fucking Danger.
     
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    Tbf, that's an unfortunate consequence of Akemi's limited screentime thanks to Himari's surprise appearance (Himari was originally intended to die, she didn't, things happened)

    I'm planning to fix that soon, tho, just wait for 2.16 for the Akemi/Rei duo mission.
     
    Kermie said:
    Tbf, that's an unfortunate consequence of Akemi's limited screentime thanks to Himari's surprise appearance (Himari was originally intended to die, she didn't, things happened)

    I'm planning to fix that soon, tho, just wait for 2.16 for the Akemi/Rei duo mission.
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    It's honestly not a strong condemnation or anything, just a comparison. Himari has a very strong voice.

    Then again, reformed villains do tend to be darlings of Various Fanbases for a reason. They join the side of truth & love and get to take their ham with them.
     
    Morrowlark said:
    Then again, reformed villains do tend to be darlings of Various Fanbases for a reason.
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    I mean yeah, what's better then hearing about someone getting better from being in a dark place then seeing it ya know?
    It lets you see all those precious moments of "Their living their life free now" like uh...
    Kermie said:
    It takes her a while to respond, her eyes almost plastered to the dazzling display in front of you.. Kuromi slowly tears her eyes away from that tapestry-like night sky, and for the tiniest fraction of a second, you see a sparkle inside of her eyes. "Huh. That does sound nice. Maybe… maybe I'll stay here for a while if this is what freedom is."

    [You feel a strange force growing inside of you…]
    [You don't know what this means yet, but you're pretty sure that it's good.]
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    THIS BUT ALSO WILL HI HELLO OMG WAAAAAAAAAA
     
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