This fight is going to be much more difficult than one-shotting everyone. They're going to deliberately stay out of our range, and we don't really have mobility tricks that work at fight speeds. Kirika and Mami will get a chance to show off even if we decide to go maximum power from the beginning.
So do you mind if I actually do some overplanning? Actually, what the fuck, omake form seems to be working a lot better than putting my thoughts to bullet points today. Let's see...
You can't sense anything. Peering around in the dark is useless. You close your eyes.
The grief of seven souls and your own burns bright around you. Chouko and her friends are nervous. No, they're afraid. They think of you as an ally, but not one so reliable as to give you control. You brought them relief, and hope, but that hope didn't play out. You should have came to them as an enforcer and not a mediator. But it doesn't matter now.
Cornered prey will go to ground. Yuko is preparing to take Rin's gem again. Then the four of them will flee. Their knowledge of this city is a boon, but their mentality is not. You won't win by being desperately defensive. Oriko told you that they would have been driven out of the city before returning with their allies. Your presence will change that, but the fight will be harder because of their mentality.
Yuko, leave her. Chouko, take us somewhere we can make a stand, you reply. You aren't going to search the city for your enemies, or lead them on a chase. Not when they seem so eager to come to you.
There are three more gems. Kirika is tense. Tightly wound. Not merely anticipating the fight. More than that. Why?
You remind yourself that she's only been in two real fights. Ishinomaki, where she did great but was frustrated by enemy powers. And the fight at the warehouses, where she...
Lost. Not only lost, but failed to protect her Ojou. Completely. And now, Oriko might not be here, but Kirika is on a mission from her all the same.
She's tense because she doesn't want to fail again. You doubt she realizes it herself.
The other in your group is on edge too, but her soul radiates only one thing. Protectiveness. This is someone who has your back completely, no matter what.
Trust her more, your heart screams, even as your mind clamps down.
Water falls from the sky. Darkness surrounds you. You stand atop a steel jungle. Those three opponents could already be working here. The teleporter is always a threat, even as you spare a peek at where she had stood vigil only moments ago. Upwards, up above the storm clouds sounds safe. But no. Gravity control makes that just as risky. And can a light controller bend light for remove viewing? You hope not.
You envision the enemy attack. Many methods you can predict, but countless more you can't.
Attacking from long range at the speed of light. Your shields seem absolute, but they rely on your reaction speed. This is an attack that can't be reacted to. Or can it? Beams might travel at the speed of light, but they're aimed and fired at the speed of thought. Your reflexes might not be good enough to pre-position shields, but you have someone who is. You spin out dozens of thin disks, opaque shields against any ranged attack, and intersperse them with angled slots.
Mami, weave ribbons into and around these shields. Your reflexes are better than mine.
As she does so, you release the grief constructs from your concious control. No need to fight her to move them. Her magical expense is large, but you're draining her gem faster than it can accumulate. You lay out hundreds more grief constructs in a constellation around everyone. Two sets of reflexes are better than one.
Attacking from range with water. Attacking from range with darkness. Attacking from range with metal. These all amount to the same thing. Control of your environment. You spare Kirika a glance. In the worst case, she can spam antimagic continuously while you drain her gem. It'll make any area control powers untenable. But you should save her first use for if you can disable several enemy magical girls. And that means you need to get into close range. Your enemy likely wants to keep the advantage of range. You know Akiko has a measure on yours.
And then there's teleporting, or other similar surprises. Light grenades. Can Sakura teleport objects without taking herself along? If she can, it's an ability she's kept very well guarded. You envision an attack where she teleports cooked light grenades into your midst. Then you realize that with a darkness controller, she could teleport everyone into your midst while all blindfolded with darkness, and have full seconds to take advantage of any light explosion.
You can't afford to play this safe.
Homura, Oriko, I'm putting you two on standby.
Mami, Kirika, if we're attacked, go all out. Kirika, antimagic using the same plan as last time. Catch the teleporter, if you can. And since they won't want to enter my range, we'll have to use whatever speed surprises we have to get into theirs. I'm taking suggestions.
There's one more gem flickering in your range. You wish you had time to say more to her. But you can't take her with you. You made a promise.
This may sound contradictory, Rin, but if it was me? I'd do right by my friends. Even if acting in their best interests isn't what they want me to do. Good luck.
You open your eyes. You haven't found your foes, but you've found yourself. The rooftop cracks as you step from it onto your team's grief platform.
It's a good sign, you decide.
The grief of seven souls and your own burns bright around you. Chouko and her friends are nervous. No, they're afraid. They think of you as an ally, but not one so reliable as to give you control. You brought them relief, and hope, but that hope didn't play out. You should have came to them as an enforcer and not a mediator. But it doesn't matter now.
Cornered prey will go to ground. Yuko is preparing to take Rin's gem again. Then the four of them will flee. Their knowledge of this city is a boon, but their mentality is not. You won't win by being desperately defensive. Oriko told you that they would have been driven out of the city before returning with their allies. Your presence will change that, but the fight will be harder because of their mentality.
Yuko, leave her. Chouko, take us somewhere we can make a stand, you reply. You aren't going to search the city for your enemies, or lead them on a chase. Not when they seem so eager to come to you.
There are three more gems. Kirika is tense. Tightly wound. Not merely anticipating the fight. More than that. Why?
You remind yourself that she's only been in two real fights. Ishinomaki, where she did great but was frustrated by enemy powers. And the fight at the warehouses, where she...
Lost. Not only lost, but failed to protect her Ojou. Completely. And now, Oriko might not be here, but Kirika is on a mission from her all the same.
She's tense because she doesn't want to fail again. You doubt she realizes it herself.
The other in your group is on edge too, but her soul radiates only one thing. Protectiveness. This is someone who has your back completely, no matter what.
Trust her more, your heart screams, even as your mind clamps down.
Water falls from the sky. Darkness surrounds you. You stand atop a steel jungle. Those three opponents could already be working here. The teleporter is always a threat, even as you spare a peek at where she had stood vigil only moments ago. Upwards, up above the storm clouds sounds safe. But no. Gravity control makes that just as risky. And can a light controller bend light for remove viewing? You hope not.
You envision the enemy attack. Many methods you can predict, but countless more you can't.
Attacking from long range at the speed of light. Your shields seem absolute, but they rely on your reaction speed. This is an attack that can't be reacted to. Or can it? Beams might travel at the speed of light, but they're aimed and fired at the speed of thought. Your reflexes might not be good enough to pre-position shields, but you have someone who is. You spin out dozens of thin disks, opaque shields against any ranged attack, and intersperse them with angled slots.
Mami, weave ribbons into and around these shields. Your reflexes are better than mine.
As she does so, you release the grief constructs from your concious control. No need to fight her to move them. Her magical expense is large, but you're draining her gem faster than it can accumulate. You lay out hundreds more grief constructs in a constellation around everyone. Two sets of reflexes are better than one.
Attacking from range with water. Attacking from range with darkness. Attacking from range with metal. These all amount to the same thing. Control of your environment. You spare Kirika a glance. In the worst case, she can spam antimagic continuously while you drain her gem. It'll make any area control powers untenable. But you should save her first use for if you can disable several enemy magical girls. And that means you need to get into close range. Your enemy likely wants to keep the advantage of range. You know Akiko has a measure on yours.
And then there's teleporting, or other similar surprises. Light grenades. Can Sakura teleport objects without taking herself along? If she can, it's an ability she's kept very well guarded. You envision an attack where she teleports cooked light grenades into your midst. Then you realize that with a darkness controller, she could teleport everyone into your midst while all blindfolded with darkness, and have full seconds to take advantage of any light explosion.
You can't afford to play this safe.
Homura, Oriko, I'm putting you two on standby.
Mami, Kirika, if we're attacked, go all out. Kirika, antimagic using the same plan as last time. Catch the teleporter, if you can. And since they won't want to enter my range, we'll have to use whatever speed surprises we have to get into theirs. I'm taking suggestions.
There's one more gem flickering in your range. You wish you had time to say more to her. But you can't take her with you. You made a promise.
This may sound contradictory, Rin, but if it was me? I'd do right by my friends. Even if acting in their best interests isn't what they want me to do. Good luck.
You open your eyes. You haven't found your foes, but you've found yourself. The rooftop cracks as you step from it onto your team's grief platform.
It's a good sign, you decide.
I'm tempted just to vote for Onmur, but can't we make it better?
e: apparently actually doing planning is too hard and assumes too much for this quest, so...
[x]Onmur
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