Puella Magi Adfligo Systema
- Thread starter Firnagzen
- Start date
-
- Tags
- puella magi adfligo systema puella magi madoka magica be gay do crimes (gay) female protagonist bad decisions dating mami tomoe (tomoe mami) diabolical laughter friendship is the best ship handholding identity crises microwaving tea gets you put in the bad place names are important the body is the fursona of the soul this is not the baked goods thread we don't talk about rionna what could possibly go wrong? who in the world is azure sanfrancisco?
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
Onmur
Archangel of Nutella.
- Location
- The Outer Plane Of Munchkinry.
After looking back at some of our earlier works i have some to the realisation that we should look into making semi-autonomous Grief wings of arbitrary size, if only as a form of storage, and we should look into making a automatic repair construct due to all the enviromental damage we tand to make while roof hopping.
mCooperative
meanderingCephalopod
- Location
- Back in Mitakihara after like 1000 years.
I thought we got better about the roof hopping and not damaging things?
Is this a normal turn of phrase? I mean, I mean, I don't speak english but I didn't know "related" could be used in that context. Wouldn't it be better: "Nothing you're going to discuss here should be repeated to anyone"?
Besides that, I think your vote is perfect
[X] Kaizuki
mCooperative
meanderingCephalopod
- Location
- Back in Mitakihara after like 1000 years.
That is indeed a way "related" can be used, yeah.
- Location
- The Outer Plane Of Munchkinry.
Well then we should get better about roofhopping until it becomes a problem again and we can fix it this way instead.
Onmur
Archangel of Nutella.
So I'm happier with this part than with the one before. Don't know if it's better, but it's at least part of what I wanted to write when I had this whole idea. 
I really want Homu to have a huge-ass magical sniper rifle...
Part 1: Oriko has a headache, an unlikely partner, and dearly needs to crash down and sleep but then something apparently explodes.
Part 2: Everyone knows Oriko and she knows everyone back even better. Homura's pissed and pulls out the big gun. Oriko gets a tagalong and wanders into totally-not-a-Barrier.
Part 3: The Wallyphant Gun. / It's actually a secret to the public at large.
---Next--->
I really want Homu to have a huge-ass magical sniper rifle...
Part 1: Oriko has a headache, an unlikely partner, and dearly needs to crash down and sleep but then something apparently explodes.
Part 2: Everyone knows Oriko and she knows everyone back even better. Homura's pissed and pulls out the big gun. Oriko gets a tagalong and wanders into totally-not-a-Barrier.
Part 3: The Wallyphant Gun. / It's actually a secret to the public at large.
Oriko had made three mistakes, mused as she trailed before her companion.
'... So this is all second-hand, but Ai's my bestie-'
Swosh-
Slash! A shadowy claw sliced clean as they walked.
'-and she knows her stuff. So! Back before you all got there-'
A precise stab speared a huge Grief palm out of the air. A sidestep and a swing and THUNK It was impaled on the corroded asphalt, like so many others.
The Seer's first mistake, she reflected as her armored companion conjured yet another spear and sliced two more shadowy limbs grasping that sprung from the Grief mist surrounding them, was assuming space would behave normally inside the Grief cloud.
'-Tokyo was a big. Hot. Mess. Like seriously, new contractees dying -or worse- every week, meguca gangs, some nutjobs trying to seize power...' a sideways swing slammed a hooked limb against a wall and impaled it there at the same time. 'Like, meguca mind controlling others into worshipping them, a crazy empress wanna-be trying to conquer territory, some dude abusing his meguca girlfriend to push his drug deals- can you believe that??'
Nodding and humming at the appropriate times, Oriko sought to fix that mistake. Without stopping, a wave of her hand sent a few of her Trademarked Oracle Orbs (really) rocketing skywards.
'Like, in context, the council wasn't so bad, or so I'm told. They're still the worst, though.'
'They are,' agreed Oriko wholeheartedly, to a telepathic laugh from Machiko, 'but you didn't hear that from me.'
'Of course not!' a grin and a whole body swing disintegrated a creeping limb with too many elbows reaching for her ankle.
Oriko's third mistake, yes, third, was making small talk.
'But all that got fixed real quick when you got there, right?'
'You mean when free Grief cleansing became available,' she had pegged the valkyrie themed Magical Girl for a silent type...
'No no no no no, I mean, yes,' conceded Oriko's temporary partner, slashing more of the purple-black hands, 'I'm pretty sure you were crucial, Mami too! Like, negotiating with the Council,' a lull in attacks allowed Machiko to turn around and walk backwards, her pink eyes boring into Oriko's with admiration, 'that was super helpful! Made cleaning up the city so much faster, and by all accounts it was super hard, and, well- you- you're awesome!'
She finished with both arms stretched towards Oriko, palms splayed as if to behold the Seer... who nodded graciously, a shake of her head pointing and Machiko swung a spear as it materialized in her grip and sliced another clawed limb in two.
What Oriko hadn't quite taken into account was that her companion was a fangirl. A Mami fangirl, mostly, but still... the moment she asked about her past, the flood gates opened.
'I mean it!' insisted the pink eyed girl, stopping to adopt a throwing pose, one arm and leg forward, the other hand holding the spear back, glowing. 'I've like, never went on a Hunt without at least three other meguca, so I was a tiny little bit nervous coming here...'
A step and whole body swing and swish the spear flew like a pink comet-
A two story tall six fingered smoky Grief hand reached around a corner blocking the entire street-
Thunk-
BOOM!
A pink conflagration illuminated the Grief mist streets.
The girls crossed the street under the demonic red traffic light, casually sidestepping the giant sizzling black arm as it fell in slow motion, landing on and crushing a lane full of cars.
'But yeah, we're kind of beating the crap out of these things, we're a great team!' finished the girl who obviously could throw exploding spears.
Obviously.
Oriko nodded, denying to comment that she had barely done anything after saving her partner from getting beheaded.
'So, as I was saying...'
The Seer groaned, the sound lost in the magical Grief mist. What had she asked that got Machiko talking so much?
'... the council were being jerks, so I told them I'd rather leave the city...'
Oh right, she had oh so innocently asked 'why did you come to Mitakihara?', only to get rants about the Tokyo Council, fangirling over Mami... and herself, and Sayaka, and Sabrina, and Kirika, though that one at least she could understand...
'... so I flipped them off and left. Always wanted to see Mitakihara, anyway...'
... and more rants about the Tokyo Council. Joy. Those bastards still found the pettiest ways to inconvenience Oriko, somehow.
CRASH-
-Left-
'Oracle Beam!' Laser exploded from an orb and pushed a monstruos hand back before it could snatch Oriko's head off her shoulders. The thing fought, pushing against the beam, sizzling and shaking, but it was inexorably pushed back through the window it had flown out of.
Oriko kept walking. Machiko was looking back at her, spear half raised as if uncertain whether she should intervene or not.
After the beam sizzled out, the hand didn't come back.
A thought struck Oriko as her armored partner hurried to keep up and take point once more. Their footsteps were completely silent; they had to use telepathy to communicate inside the miasma; no sound reached their ears, not even their own heartbeats... yet she could've sworn she heard that window crash into pieces.
'How long have we been walking, anyway?' ask Machiko as she slashed at a Grief arm trying to encircle her entirely.
'Too long,' sighed Oriko. 'At least six blocks, and the cloud was only around two hundred metres in diameter when we entered.'
'Weird, because I know that place,' a gauntleted hand pointed at a nearby cafe as the girl dodged a lunge from a second clawed hand, 'and also a shop we passed a block back.'
'It's almost like a Barrier,' as her partner fought, Oriko concentrated on the marbles she had sent up earlier.
An effort of will had them fly higher and higher and higher and higher and... break through something.
Finally.
If she was right, the marbles had made it outside the miasma. A thought had them rise higher and spread around. She would need a few vectors to work with.
'Uh, help?'
Now, Oriko's orbs were capable of shooting 'lasers'. Not actual lasers, as Sabrina was happy to remind her, but still, a magical attack that made light and hurt things.
'These things are fighting smarter...'
Light was the answer. With a thought, Oriko had her marbles pulse light in a certain pattern.
Then she looked back at her partner.
The valkyrie themed Magical Girl spun slowly in a circle, trying to keep at least eight shadowy claws and hands and -was one just a spike?- at bay. But rather than attacking blindly, the aggressive limbs were snapping at her-
Swoosh!
-and pulling back out of the girl's reach when she tried to stab them.
'Miss Mikuni?' the girl's pink eyes found her own, begging, helpless.
Oriko crossed her arms, nonplussed.
'... Sorry.' Machiko slumped.
Then she spun her spear extending and shining a pink whirlwind shredding arms and hands and crooked fingers apart.
After the lightshow cleared, Oriko approached the other girl, eyebrow raised.
'Riiiiight. Oracle,' the black haired girl blushed, 'I just wanted to see how you'd deal with them, but I guess you wouldn't fall for something like that...'
The silver haired girl sighed, walked past and patted the other one on the shoulder.
'We're a good team,' she simply said.
Her second mistake had been assuming Machiko wouldn't have been able to pull her own weight.
'Come on, we're almost there.'
Said valkyrie silently cheered, twirling her cross spear just to show off, and hurried along.
Oriko guessed, even if hunting in Mitakihara had become laughably easy as of late, one year under Mami's limited tutelage had to count for something.
'So, how do you know we're almost there,' asked Machiko with renewed enthusiasm.
In lieu of an answer, Oriko looked ahead as they walked into an humongous plaza.
'Oh.'
As if expecting them, the miasma that had covered the kilometre or so before them seemed to lift and thin out, though not entirely.
Dead grass, torn up asphalt, broken statues, smashed lights, fallen lampposts, turned over cars... as the girls entered the plaza proper, their eyes zeroed on the stand the Obelisk used to... stand.
But only a giant crater, a chasm was in its place.
The Magical Girls took deep breaths.
The ground shook under their feet.
Oriko concentrated on her marbles floating outside the mist for a moment, shining them in a pattern...
One of her marbles shook against her will.
Message received.
Rumbling. The ground shook harder, the girls had to catch themselves as they approached the middle of the square, circling it in opposite directions.
Before they were halfway there, the shaking stopped.
The world shook, the crater erupted tons of sludge sickness Grief, wailing curses filling the sky and raining-
-Back!-
'Jump!' hollered Oriko.
Crooked hands punched out of the ground as she threw herself sideways-
Tearing, blood flying, Oriko spun and tumbled and landed on her feet, clutching at her arm.
She spared a glance for her partner -doing fine, slicing and dicing even more shadowy limbs left and right- and checked her wound.
Superficial. She ignored it-
-Down-
She jumped just in time before the ground crumbled under her feet, smoky hands snapping at her ankles.
A giant marble materialized under her feet and she landed in a crouch, floating.
The clawed hands rose to tear her apart and the orb shone -Oracle Beam- and inundated them in purifying light-
-!-
The crater exploded.
A deep, deafening moaning preceded a colossal shadow rising from the depths and raising and raising and raising and raising and raising...
And raising...
Oriko and Machiko stared up and up and up as the giant stretched, a grinning, wrinkled head emerging emerging to glare with burning eyes, black mud oozing from its every pore and flowing down to cover it in a coat of flowing miasma and mud and curses.
A grieving moan erupted from its rotting mouth as it threw its head back, arms raised towards the black clouded sky. From the folds of its flowing tunic surged hands, dozens of stretching arms, hundreds of limbs exploded out-
-Shining beams pierced from the sky and shone like spotlights on the giant's head-
-Blinding light erupted from the thing's jaw and it surged forward to glare at the diminutive Magical Girls and a beam of pure sunlight erupted to engulf them-
Machiko's eyes wide as platters, she leaped way way way too late-
'Down!'
Arms caught and held her -a purple light surged around her and then all was white and screaming.
The light cut off abruptly.
Machiko blinked and rubbed her eyes, feeling a warm presence surrounding her.
She looked up. Oriko smiled down at her, holding her awkwardly as they both knelt under a purple dome.
A magic shield.
On Oriko's left arm, held over their heads, stood a silver buckler.
With a shake of her wrist, Oriko turned off the shielding dome -it wasted way too much magic- and stood up, pulling the valkyrie to her feet.
'Wow...' the girl's pink eyes shone.
'We're in the middle of a fight,' reminded Oriko.
Machiko swore as they turned to look up at their colossal adversary... who clutched at its head and trashed and moaned, its hundred hands digging inside its skull through a hole where its eye socket used to be.
A wave of Oriko's hands-
Streaks of light pierced through the clouds of grief overhead and shone on the giant's chest.
With a shriek the thing's shadow hands flew to block-
A thunderclap of an explosion blew the hundred limbs to smithereens and punched through the giant's cloak, flinging it swinging back, its spine bending-
Straightening-
The humongous monster roared down-
Oriko and Machiko leaped away as the sheer sound lifted dirt and trash and dead trees and flung them to crash against the buildings at the edge of the square.
The giant's own hand swept at Machiko while a fifty shadow limbs flew from the thing's coat and locked on Oriko.
BOOM the giant's gut exploded to bits. Unheeded.
Oriko leaped over a claw and turned midair under a stabbing hand and shielded a jab from one side and landed -Oracle beam!- shooting a mass of thrashing arms off and ducked under a swing, sidestepped a jab and Saw the next dozen attacks coming and-
Sat down and held her buckler out, a new purple shield spreading to cover her entirely.
Dozens upon dozens of claws and fists and hands crashed against the dome to no effect.
'Machiko.'
'What!' The girl's spear tore at the giant's arm as she ran up on it, but it was too big...
'Do you happen to have a finisher attack, by chance?' calmly asked Oriko, redirecting her sky marbles to shine their harmless light down on the colossus' shoulder.
'Of course I do!' the girl shouted, indignant.
'On the count of three, jump off that arm and use it.'
'What,' pink eyes widened as they spotted the sky beams lighting up the end of the giant limb she was approaching at quick speeds.
'One... Three!'
'Shit-'
Thunderclap.
The Valkyrie jumped up and up and glided as the giant's shoulder disintegrated, its enormous arm falling off as if on slow motion...
A pink corona of light illuminated the airborne magical girl, the light gathering underneath, coalescing...
The giant arm crashed upon the ground, impact waves rolling over dirt and asphalt and making shaking buildings shake.
Oriko's magical dome vanished as the dozens of limbs changed priorities, flying towards the armored Magical Girl as she took seat atop a stallion formed of pure pink light.
The Seer Saw, and waited as the Valkyrie raised a massive spear, the weapon's crossguard shifting, melting and reshaping itself into a giant spearhead.
The corona of light flew into the spear.
The colossal monster grumbled, blood-like mud pouring from its gaping wounds as it glared up at the gravity defying Magical Girl with pure loathing.
Oriko's arm snapped out, her silver buckler spinning through the air, faster than the dozens of hands reaching to rip apart the Valkyrie.
'ASSALTO-'
The warrior's voice drowned the giant's groans.
The blucker snapped in front of the luminous steed, covering it and its rider in a protective dome -crooked claws and fists crashed into it and bounced off.
Beams pierced down from the sky to shine on the colossus' head, washed away by the starlight pouring from its own jaws.
'-CELESTE!'
The flying stallion leaped as a pink comet and speared through the giant's throat and flew through-
CLAP-
The giant's head exploded one last time, the building attack on its mouth fizzling into nothingness.
The colossus stood headless, tilted backwards, spine bending at a weird angle. The dozens of shadowy limbs sprouting from its cloak crumbled, falling and fading away to nothing, followed by the rest of him.
Oriko walked calmly towards the crater the monster sprung forth, watching it dissolve and die without any further fanfare.
A pink horse flew over the crumbling giant, to land besides the Seer. In a second, it fizzled out, dropping its rider to land on her feet. And stumble.
'Whooooooooooooo...' Machiko's tired voice rung in Oriko's head as the Seer caught her. Trembling, head swaying, the Valkyrie turned so she could stare straight into Oriko's sea green eyes. 'I love doing that.'
Then she groaned, eyes scrunched in pain.
'Grief cube,' she mumbled, hand rifling through her skirt pockets. It came out holding a porcelain-white cube the size of a Rubik's cube.
She pressed it to her Soul Gem -a pink wing on a choker darkened by rolling waves of Grief- at the same time Oriko did.
She looked up, startled. 'You should cleanse yourself,' she murmured looking at Oriko's Soul Gem...
Which had only a thin sheen of Grief covering it, nothing alarming at all.
Pink eyes squinted up at sea-green ones.
'You lying magnificent liar, you... 'powerful long ranged attacks' my ass...'
The Seer ignored the accusation-slash-praise, watching the clouds of Grief stream out of the Valkyrie's Gem, attaching itself to the sides of the white Cubes. Cubes made out of the same material as the Obelisk that used to stand just a few metres from where they stood, an hour or so before.
'Hey!' Machiko complained, 'the free floating Grief likes the Cubes, too.'
Indeed, the white Cubes were quickly being covered in Grief, not only from the girls' Soul Gems, but from the very miasma they stood in.
'At least the cloud seems to be dissipating,' commented Oriko, putting away her Cube. Machiko did as well.
Both their Soul Gems shone brightly.
'... Can I ask something?' asked Oriko, turning and approaching the crater where the Obelisk, and later the giant, had stood.
'Sure!' the Valkyrie nodded cheerfully. 'After today, you're my second favorite idol, so ask me anything, Miss Mik- actually, can I call you Oriko?'
The Seer raised an eyebrow.
'Only if I were your top favorite,' she smiled.
The other girl pulled at her black hair. 'Awwwwwwww' she whined, 'but Miss Tomoe is... Miss T- Hmmmmm...' a thoughtful look crossed her face. 'I guess... it's cooler to be on first name terms? W-well, you already call me by first name, not that I minded, but-uh, also, I totally know your super secret, and it's cool so, OK!'
The girl grinned.
'But I'll have you know, that makes us friends, Oriko! And you have to introduce me to your secret partner!'
Said new friend nodded, still smiling.
'Then I'll ask,' she turned as they reached the edge of the giant crater, 'Celeste?'
Machiko froze.
Under Oriko's stare, the girl deflated, laying her face on her palm.
'It means 'celestial'...' she said as if she had repeated the same answer a thousand times. Looking up -at Oriko's suddenly not cool, smug, shark like smile- she droned, 'it does not mean 'celeste' as in 'light blue', I know my colour is pink, it made sense in my head at the time.'
Finally, Oriko took pity on the girl, and turned to look down the crater.
A sharp breath.
Her eyes widened and sharpened.
At the bottom of the chasm some thirty metres down below, a small figure curled in fetal position.
Shivering.
'... So this is all second-hand, but Ai's my bestie-'
Swosh-
Slash! A shadowy claw sliced clean as they walked.
'-and she knows her stuff. So! Back before you all got there-'
A precise stab speared a huge Grief palm out of the air. A sidestep and a swing and THUNK It was impaled on the corroded asphalt, like so many others.
The Seer's first mistake, she reflected as her armored companion conjured yet another spear and sliced two more shadowy limbs grasping that sprung from the Grief mist surrounding them, was assuming space would behave normally inside the Grief cloud.
'-Tokyo was a big. Hot. Mess. Like seriously, new contractees dying -or worse- every week, meguca gangs, some nutjobs trying to seize power...' a sideways swing slammed a hooked limb against a wall and impaled it there at the same time. 'Like, meguca mind controlling others into worshipping them, a crazy empress wanna-be trying to conquer territory, some dude abusing his meguca girlfriend to push his drug deals- can you believe that??'
Nodding and humming at the appropriate times, Oriko sought to fix that mistake. Without stopping, a wave of her hand sent a few of her Trademarked Oracle Orbs (really) rocketing skywards.
'Like, in context, the council wasn't so bad, or so I'm told. They're still the worst, though.'
'They are,' agreed Oriko wholeheartedly, to a telepathic laugh from Machiko, 'but you didn't hear that from me.'
'Of course not!' a grin and a whole body swing disintegrated a creeping limb with too many elbows reaching for her ankle.
Oriko's third mistake, yes, third, was making small talk.
'But all that got fixed real quick when you got there, right?'
'You mean when free Grief cleansing became available,' she had pegged the valkyrie themed Magical Girl for a silent type...
'No no no no no, I mean, yes,' conceded Oriko's temporary partner, slashing more of the purple-black hands, 'I'm pretty sure you were crucial, Mami too! Like, negotiating with the Council,' a lull in attacks allowed Machiko to turn around and walk backwards, her pink eyes boring into Oriko's with admiration, 'that was super helpful! Made cleaning up the city so much faster, and by all accounts it was super hard, and, well- you- you're awesome!'
She finished with both arms stretched towards Oriko, palms splayed as if to behold the Seer... who nodded graciously, a shake of her head pointing and Machiko swung a spear as it materialized in her grip and sliced another clawed limb in two.
What Oriko hadn't quite taken into account was that her companion was a fangirl. A Mami fangirl, mostly, but still... the moment she asked about her past, the flood gates opened.
'I mean it!' insisted the pink eyed girl, stopping to adopt a throwing pose, one arm and leg forward, the other hand holding the spear back, glowing. 'I've like, never went on a Hunt without at least three other meguca, so I was a tiny little bit nervous coming here...'
A step and whole body swing and swish the spear flew like a pink comet-
A two story tall six fingered smoky Grief hand reached around a corner blocking the entire street-
Thunk-
BOOM!
A pink conflagration illuminated the Grief mist streets.
The girls crossed the street under the demonic red traffic light, casually sidestepping the giant sizzling black arm as it fell in slow motion, landing on and crushing a lane full of cars.
'But yeah, we're kind of beating the crap out of these things, we're a great team!' finished the girl who obviously could throw exploding spears.
Obviously.
Oriko nodded, denying to comment that she had barely done anything after saving her partner from getting beheaded.
'So, as I was saying...'
The Seer groaned, the sound lost in the magical Grief mist. What had she asked that got Machiko talking so much?
'... the council were being jerks, so I told them I'd rather leave the city...'
Oh right, she had oh so innocently asked 'why did you come to Mitakihara?', only to get rants about the Tokyo Council, fangirling over Mami... and herself, and Sayaka, and Sabrina, and Kirika, though that one at least she could understand...
'... so I flipped them off and left. Always wanted to see Mitakihara, anyway...'
... and more rants about the Tokyo Council. Joy. Those bastards still found the pettiest ways to inconvenience Oriko, somehow.
CRASH-
-Left-
'Oracle Beam!' Laser exploded from an orb and pushed a monstruos hand back before it could snatch Oriko's head off her shoulders. The thing fought, pushing against the beam, sizzling and shaking, but it was inexorably pushed back through the window it had flown out of.
Oriko kept walking. Machiko was looking back at her, spear half raised as if uncertain whether she should intervene or not.
After the beam sizzled out, the hand didn't come back.
A thought struck Oriko as her armored partner hurried to keep up and take point once more. Their footsteps were completely silent; they had to use telepathy to communicate inside the miasma; no sound reached their ears, not even their own heartbeats... yet she could've sworn she heard that window crash into pieces.
'How long have we been walking, anyway?' ask Machiko as she slashed at a Grief arm trying to encircle her entirely.
'Too long,' sighed Oriko. 'At least six blocks, and the cloud was only around two hundred metres in diameter when we entered.'
'Weird, because I know that place,' a gauntleted hand pointed at a nearby cafe as the girl dodged a lunge from a second clawed hand, 'and also a shop we passed a block back.'
'It's almost like a Barrier,' as her partner fought, Oriko concentrated on the marbles she had sent up earlier.
An effort of will had them fly higher and higher and higher and higher and... break through something.
Finally.
If she was right, the marbles had made it outside the miasma. A thought had them rise higher and spread around. She would need a few vectors to work with.
'Uh, help?'
Now, Oriko's orbs were capable of shooting 'lasers'. Not actual lasers, as Sabrina was happy to remind her, but still, a magical attack that made light and hurt things.
'These things are fighting smarter...'
Light was the answer. With a thought, Oriko had her marbles pulse light in a certain pattern.
Then she looked back at her partner.
The valkyrie themed Magical Girl spun slowly in a circle, trying to keep at least eight shadowy claws and hands and -was one just a spike?- at bay. But rather than attacking blindly, the aggressive limbs were snapping at her-
Swoosh!
-and pulling back out of the girl's reach when she tried to stab them.
'Miss Mikuni?' the girl's pink eyes found her own, begging, helpless.
Oriko crossed her arms, nonplussed.
'... Sorry.' Machiko slumped.
Then she spun her spear extending and shining a pink whirlwind shredding arms and hands and crooked fingers apart.
After the lightshow cleared, Oriko approached the other girl, eyebrow raised.
'Riiiiight. Oracle,' the black haired girl blushed, 'I just wanted to see how you'd deal with them, but I guess you wouldn't fall for something like that...'
The silver haired girl sighed, walked past and patted the other one on the shoulder.
'We're a good team,' she simply said.
Her second mistake had been assuming Machiko wouldn't have been able to pull her own weight.
'Come on, we're almost there.'
Said valkyrie silently cheered, twirling her cross spear just to show off, and hurried along.
Oriko guessed, even if hunting in Mitakihara had become laughably easy as of late, one year under Mami's limited tutelage had to count for something.
'So, how do you know we're almost there,' asked Machiko with renewed enthusiasm.
In lieu of an answer, Oriko looked ahead as they walked into an humongous plaza.
'Oh.'
As if expecting them, the miasma that had covered the kilometre or so before them seemed to lift and thin out, though not entirely.
Dead grass, torn up asphalt, broken statues, smashed lights, fallen lampposts, turned over cars... as the girls entered the plaza proper, their eyes zeroed on the stand the Obelisk used to... stand.
But only a giant crater, a chasm was in its place.
The Magical Girls took deep breaths.
The ground shook under their feet.
Oriko concentrated on her marbles floating outside the mist for a moment, shining them in a pattern...
One of her marbles shook against her will.
Message received.
Rumbling. The ground shook harder, the girls had to catch themselves as they approached the middle of the square, circling it in opposite directions.
Before they were halfway there, the shaking stopped.
The world shook, the crater erupted tons of sludge sickness Grief, wailing curses filling the sky and raining-
-Back!-
'Jump!' hollered Oriko.
Crooked hands punched out of the ground as she threw herself sideways-
Tearing, blood flying, Oriko spun and tumbled and landed on her feet, clutching at her arm.
She spared a glance for her partner -doing fine, slicing and dicing even more shadowy limbs left and right- and checked her wound.
Superficial. She ignored it-
-Down-
She jumped just in time before the ground crumbled under her feet, smoky hands snapping at her ankles.
A giant marble materialized under her feet and she landed in a crouch, floating.
The clawed hands rose to tear her apart and the orb shone -Oracle Beam- and inundated them in purifying light-
-!-
The crater exploded.
A deep, deafening moaning preceded a colossal shadow rising from the depths and raising and raising and raising and raising and raising...
And raising...
Oriko and Machiko stared up and up and up as the giant stretched, a grinning, wrinkled head emerging emerging to glare with burning eyes, black mud oozing from its every pore and flowing down to cover it in a coat of flowing miasma and mud and curses.
A grieving moan erupted from its rotting mouth as it threw its head back, arms raised towards the black clouded sky. From the folds of its flowing tunic surged hands, dozens of stretching arms, hundreds of limbs exploded out-
-Shining beams pierced from the sky and shone like spotlights on the giant's head-
-Blinding light erupted from the thing's jaw and it surged forward to glare at the diminutive Magical Girls and a beam of pure sunlight erupted to engulf them-
Machiko's eyes wide as platters, she leaped way way way too late-
'Down!'
Arms caught and held her -a purple light surged around her and then all was white and screaming.
The light cut off abruptly.
Machiko blinked and rubbed her eyes, feeling a warm presence surrounding her.
She looked up. Oriko smiled down at her, holding her awkwardly as they both knelt under a purple dome.
A magic shield.
On Oriko's left arm, held over their heads, stood a silver buckler.
With a shake of her wrist, Oriko turned off the shielding dome -it wasted way too much magic- and stood up, pulling the valkyrie to her feet.
'Wow...' the girl's pink eyes shone.
'We're in the middle of a fight,' reminded Oriko.
Machiko swore as they turned to look up at their colossal adversary... who clutched at its head and trashed and moaned, its hundred hands digging inside its skull through a hole where its eye socket used to be.
A wave of Oriko's hands-
Streaks of light pierced through the clouds of grief overhead and shone on the giant's chest.
With a shriek the thing's shadow hands flew to block-
A thunderclap of an explosion blew the hundred limbs to smithereens and punched through the giant's cloak, flinging it swinging back, its spine bending-
Straightening-
The humongous monster roared down-
Oriko and Machiko leaped away as the sheer sound lifted dirt and trash and dead trees and flung them to crash against the buildings at the edge of the square.
The giant's own hand swept at Machiko while a fifty shadow limbs flew from the thing's coat and locked on Oriko.
BOOM the giant's gut exploded to bits. Unheeded.
Oriko leaped over a claw and turned midair under a stabbing hand and shielded a jab from one side and landed -Oracle beam!- shooting a mass of thrashing arms off and ducked under a swing, sidestepped a jab and Saw the next dozen attacks coming and-
Sat down and held her buckler out, a new purple shield spreading to cover her entirely.
Dozens upon dozens of claws and fists and hands crashed against the dome to no effect.
'Machiko.'
'What!' The girl's spear tore at the giant's arm as she ran up on it, but it was too big...
'Do you happen to have a finisher attack, by chance?' calmly asked Oriko, redirecting her sky marbles to shine their harmless light down on the colossus' shoulder.
'Of course I do!' the girl shouted, indignant.
'On the count of three, jump off that arm and use it.'
'What,' pink eyes widened as they spotted the sky beams lighting up the end of the giant limb she was approaching at quick speeds.
'One... Three!'
'Shit-'
Thunderclap.
The Valkyrie jumped up and up and glided as the giant's shoulder disintegrated, its enormous arm falling off as if on slow motion...
A pink corona of light illuminated the airborne magical girl, the light gathering underneath, coalescing...
The giant arm crashed upon the ground, impact waves rolling over dirt and asphalt and making shaking buildings shake.
Oriko's magical dome vanished as the dozens of limbs changed priorities, flying towards the armored Magical Girl as she took seat atop a stallion formed of pure pink light.
The Seer Saw, and waited as the Valkyrie raised a massive spear, the weapon's crossguard shifting, melting and reshaping itself into a giant spearhead.
The corona of light flew into the spear.
The colossal monster grumbled, blood-like mud pouring from its gaping wounds as it glared up at the gravity defying Magical Girl with pure loathing.
Oriko's arm snapped out, her silver buckler spinning through the air, faster than the dozens of hands reaching to rip apart the Valkyrie.
'ASSALTO-'
The warrior's voice drowned the giant's groans.
The blucker snapped in front of the luminous steed, covering it and its rider in a protective dome -crooked claws and fists crashed into it and bounced off.
Beams pierced down from the sky to shine on the colossus' head, washed away by the starlight pouring from its own jaws.
'-CELESTE!'
The flying stallion leaped as a pink comet and speared through the giant's throat and flew through-
CLAP-
The giant's head exploded one last time, the building attack on its mouth fizzling into nothingness.
The colossus stood headless, tilted backwards, spine bending at a weird angle. The dozens of shadowy limbs sprouting from its cloak crumbled, falling and fading away to nothing, followed by the rest of him.
Oriko walked calmly towards the crater the monster sprung forth, watching it dissolve and die without any further fanfare.
A pink horse flew over the crumbling giant, to land besides the Seer. In a second, it fizzled out, dropping its rider to land on her feet. And stumble.
'Whooooooooooooo...' Machiko's tired voice rung in Oriko's head as the Seer caught her. Trembling, head swaying, the Valkyrie turned so she could stare straight into Oriko's sea green eyes. 'I love doing that.'
Then she groaned, eyes scrunched in pain.
'Grief cube,' she mumbled, hand rifling through her skirt pockets. It came out holding a porcelain-white cube the size of a Rubik's cube.
She pressed it to her Soul Gem -a pink wing on a choker darkened by rolling waves of Grief- at the same time Oriko did.
She looked up, startled. 'You should cleanse yourself,' she murmured looking at Oriko's Soul Gem...
Which had only a thin sheen of Grief covering it, nothing alarming at all.
Pink eyes squinted up at sea-green ones.
'You lying magnificent liar, you... 'powerful long ranged attacks' my ass...'
The Seer ignored the accusation-slash-praise, watching the clouds of Grief stream out of the Valkyrie's Gem, attaching itself to the sides of the white Cubes. Cubes made out of the same material as the Obelisk that used to stand just a few metres from where they stood, an hour or so before.
'Hey!' Machiko complained, 'the free floating Grief likes the Cubes, too.'
Indeed, the white Cubes were quickly being covered in Grief, not only from the girls' Soul Gems, but from the very miasma they stood in.
'At least the cloud seems to be dissipating,' commented Oriko, putting away her Cube. Machiko did as well.
Both their Soul Gems shone brightly.
'... Can I ask something?' asked Oriko, turning and approaching the crater where the Obelisk, and later the giant, had stood.
'Sure!' the Valkyrie nodded cheerfully. 'After today, you're my second favorite idol, so ask me anything, Miss Mik- actually, can I call you Oriko?'
The Seer raised an eyebrow.
'Only if I were your top favorite,' she smiled.
The other girl pulled at her black hair. 'Awwwwwwww' she whined, 'but Miss Tomoe is... Miss T- Hmmmmm...' a thoughtful look crossed her face. 'I guess... it's cooler to be on first name terms? W-well, you already call me by first name, not that I minded, but-uh, also, I totally know your super secret, and it's cool so, OK!'
The girl grinned.
'But I'll have you know, that makes us friends, Oriko! And you have to introduce me to your secret partner!'
Said new friend nodded, still smiling.
'Then I'll ask,' she turned as they reached the edge of the giant crater, 'Celeste?'
Machiko froze.
Under Oriko's stare, the girl deflated, laying her face on her palm.
'It means 'celestial'...' she said as if she had repeated the same answer a thousand times. Looking up -at Oriko's suddenly not cool, smug, shark like smile- she droned, 'it does not mean 'celeste' as in 'light blue', I know my colour is pink, it made sense in my head at the time.'
Finally, Oriko took pity on the girl, and turned to look down the crater.
A sharp breath.
Her eyes widened and sharpened.
At the bottom of the chasm some thirty metres down below, a small figure curled in fetal position.
Shivering.
---Next--->
Last edited:
DB_Explorer
Purveyor of alternate realities.
- Location
- San Diego, California
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[JK] OK Sayaka, we have a secret .. or rather YOU have one!
-[JK] We know your working for Madokami Saykiel!
[X] Kaizuki
-[JK] We know your working for Madokami Saykiel!
[X] Kaizuki
Appletank
Acquire Cheese
I don't get it, who's secret, and what was it about Oriko's beams?So I'm happier with this part than with the one before. Don't know if it's better, but it's at least part of what I wanted to write when I had this whole idea.
I really want Homu to have a huge-ass magical sniper rifle...
Part 1: Oriko has a headache, an unlikely partner, and dearly needs to crash down and sleep but then something apparently explodes.
Part 2: Everyone knows Oriko and she knows everyone back even better. Homura's pissed and pulls out the big gun. Oriko gets a tagalong and wanders into totally-not-a-Barrier.
Part 3: It's actually a secret to the public at large.
Jonen C
F.M.D.G.
- Location
- Lincopense, Ostrogothia, Suecia
She's spotting targets for Homus Wallyphant Gun.
Homura isn't famous like the rest of the gang (Sabrina, Mami, Sayaka, Kirika, Oriko), she's fairly anonymous (which suits her well).
DB_Explorer
Purveyor of alternate realities.
- Location
- San Diego, California
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Now picturing Homura, Oriko and Kirika being a sniper team. Kirika is security, Oriko is spotter and Homura is the sniper.
Gillie suits for everyone!
Jonen C
F.M.D.G.
- Location
- Lincopense, Ostrogothia, Suecia
When the concept was sold to Homura, Orikos role may have been described as "bait".
Onmur
Archangel of Nutella.
*Notes down... 'Wallyphant... Gun'*
Onmur
Archangel of Nutella.
First few runs, Sabrina insisted on accompanying Homura. Homura insisted it wasn't necessary.
Once Sabrina figured all was working right and left them alone, Oriko started having spikes of pure dread on the job, like something was being aimed at the back of her neck.
In her privacy, Homura allowed herself to smile whenever Oriko flinched.
Julian Bradshaw
MSY Historian
- Location
- Local Group
@Redshirt Army
I think this line from your vote is too extreme:
I think this line from your vote is too extreme:
Without Sabrina there, yes, it would almost certainly kill her. But in the current circumstances, there's a strong chance her trust in Sabrina (and a huge effort on Sabrina's part) would pull her through. It wouldn't be wrong to say that telling Sayaka the witchbomb puts Mami's life in her hands, and that it could kill Mami, but "It would almost certainly kill her." seems excessive. How could we even reconcile that with the fact (mentioned later in the vote) that we explicitly offered to tell Mami the witchbomb? The truth is bad enough here, we don't need to exaggerate it.
AuraTwilight
The Sorcerer of Smiles
- Location
- The Silver City
Yea okay except we're trying to make sure Sayaka doesn't roll the dice.
GiftOfLove
From the Heart
If you can't trust someone not to murder your friends don't give them a knife.
Course all it takes is Sayaka asking Kyuubey and suddenly the train flies off the tracks into an orphanage. But the orphans are all Mami and it's adorable.
Course all it takes is Sayaka asking Kyuubey and suddenly the train flies off the tracks into an orphanage. But the orphans are all Mami and it's adorable.
mCooperative
meanderingCephalopod
- Location
- Back in Mitakihara after like 1000 years.
I feel like that metaphor sandwi(t)ch got away from you...
- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
mCooperative
meanderingCephalopod
- Location
- Back in Mitakihara after like 1000 years.
We could also just rephrase it as "Letting this slip to Mami would almost certainly kill her" or something more well-phrased. Because you're right, we've made Mami the offer to tell her- in a controlled environment, with us ready to handle the nuclear fallout. But at any time beyond that, it is something that is exactly that dangerous for Mami to learn. Re-emphasizing that a single slip-up with this information could and might well kill people we love- it covers the "this would be putting Mami's life in your hands", removes the implication that it's 'just' the information itself, and replaces it with something a little more nuanced, akin to, well, "this information is like a large pile of explosives, it can be handled and distributed, and may even be necessary in some cases, but requires the utmost safety precautions in order to not unintentionally get people killed".
Dragontrapper
Homeless Draconis
- Location
- A Tower in the middle of nowhere
Call me paranoid, but I think this sets the wrong precedence. If its a matter of establishing the fact that its even possible to tell this to somebody, the mere fact that we could tell Sayaka should cover that. IF you state that this information can be passed on safely in a controlled environment, then somebody could start thinking that they can create or identify said environment.
With something like this, you don't want nuanced, at least from the start. You want clear, simple and hard to screw up. This sort of thing is not the sort of thing where we should be concerned about perfect accuracy of statements, or nuance, or any of that. This is not the time to be properly subtle. This is not the time to try and elaborate on safe disclosure criteria. This is the time to be as subtle as our hammer.
'IF you tell a Magical Girl this, it CAN kill them, with no time for reaction or recourse.'
mCooperative
meanderingCephalopod
- Location
- Back in Mitakihara after like 1000 years.
I would myself prefer the subtle-as-our-hammer level of clarity. Was merely presenting a possible alternative or way to address the concerns as presented, since they are concerns.