Puella Magi
HonokaMagica
Hi there! My name is Kousaka Honoka. You probably know me best as a "school idol". And if so, I'm glad! I'm very happy about everything that my friends and I achieved with Muse. But this story you are about to read is about something that happened after the retirement of Muse. This story is about making great and wondrous discoveries about the world I live in! But those discoveries also included many things that were dark, troubling, and scary…
In my world, there was a secret war being fought by humans turned into magic-wielding warriors and protectors. It was a war fought against a variety of dark, powerful, and tormented creatures lying in the shadows. But this secret war had even more profound secrets lying behind it! These secrets involved alien beings, and humans that had gained incredible power but also tragic fates. One spring evening my Muse friends and I were thrown into this hidden world. This story begins there…
-a
"Now don't forget to keep these practices up even after I leave!" Nico exclaimed at Maki, Hanayo, and Rin, after the four had just finished exercising together.
"Yeah, yeah, we get it." Maki replied, with a slightly annoyed look on her face.
"Really, Nico, after all we've been through together, it's a bit disappointing that you don't trust us more…" Maki added on with a playful smile and a suggestive look in her eyes.
"W-What do you mean…" Nico replied incredulous, "I-It's not that I don't trust you. It's just… It's just… It's just that if I'm not around to show you all how to be proper school idols, who's going to take care of that, huh?!"
"Don't worry, Nico, you've provided all of us with plenty of inspiration when it comes to that." Hanayo spoke up cheerfully.
"~Nyaa!~" exclaimed Rin, pursing her lips and rolling her hands like a kitty cat, "Kayochin is right. You helped me a lot in learning to become the perrrrfect cat-girl!"
"Ha ha!" Nico laughed triumphantly, while standing proud with her hands on her waist, and her arms arching out, "That's right. Just keep everything that I've taught you in mind even after I'm gone, and I'm sure you'll all continue to be great idols. Well, not as good as me, of course, but still better than most!"
"Right, of course…" said Maki with a glimmer in her eye, and while playing with one of the curls of her hair.
"Hey, are you making fun of me?!" exclaimed Nico, pushing her face up close to Maki while leaning her body in towards her.
This colorful scene was all taking place at a local shrine, the one where Nozomi often worked at. Nozomi was currently a few meters away from the noisome foursome, and couldn't help but chuckle at their clatter. But it was a nostalgic chuckle, betraying how much Nozomi felt she would miss all of this since she herself would soon be moving on to a University in a different town. This expectation of missing her Muse friends caused Nozomi to miss what was currently occurring in the atmosphere above…
Nico, Maki, Hanayo, and Rin were all in their usual workout clothes, while Nozomi was in her miko attire. All five had not yet noticed strange blips and folds in the atmosphere. It was like the haze caused by a hot BBQ grill on a very warm summer day, except this haze was more fluid and seemed to be causing changes that went farther than mere perceptions.
Suddenly, Nozomi noticed bizarre creepy-crawly things walking around her feet. These creepy-crawly things had tiny anti-like legs, and large spirally eyes. The wind seemed to pick up, and darkening clouds covered the sky and the horizon. At the same time, though, everything became much more reddish in appearance.
"Huh? Huh?!" exclaimed Hanayo, being the first to notice all of these sudden changes, "W-W-What's going on?!"
"This is like something out of a horror movie!" shouted Rin.
"Nozomi!" Nico shouted out to her, "Is this something caused by those funky spiritual powers of yours?"
"No, it's not" Nozomi answered, "I'm as perplexed by this as the rest of you are!"
"Then what the hell is going…"
"Nico, watch out!" cried Maki
A large human-sized ball of fire was suddenly hurled downwards at Nico from above. Maki had noticed it just in time in order to push Nico and herself out of the way of it! The two girls then crash-landed on the ground, as a result of Maki's desperate rush save of Nico.
"S-Somebody is trying to burn us?!" Nico exclaimed in questioning terror, as her and Maki slowly rose back to their feet.
"I-It's up there!" cried Hanayo, pointing at a towering creature of sorts nearing towards them.
"Wow… it's really tall!" added in Rin.
This creature had a vaguely feminine humanoid form, but a smouldering fire for a head. Its "skin" and "clothes" were chocolate brown in color, and silver-like in texture and toughness. The clothes had the appearance of a leathery two-piece bikini, like a scantily clad warrior woman of lore. This creature stood 10 feet tall, and had large hands covered in whitish flames. Out of those hands were hurled great balls of fire!
"Oh no!" cried Hanayo, "It looks like it's about to…"
"Move!" exclaimed Nozomi, as she rushed as quickly as her feet could carry her towards Hanayo and Rin.
Nozomi then did for Hanayo and Rin what Maki had previously done for Nico. But this time, there was a bit more damage dealt by this strange creature, as the hem of Nozomi's outfit had been lit on fire by scaring against the descending fireball!
"W-We have to get that fire out!" cried Nico, as Nico and Maki then stomped down on the hem of Nozomi's miko attire, putting out the blaze.
Nico and Maki then helped Nozomi, Hanayo, and Rin back up to their feet.
"Thanks" stated Nozomi.
"What are we going to do about that… that… thing up there?!" asked a horrified Nico.
"That's a good question..." admitted Maki.
"Well, we need an answer to it before we get burned to cinders!" exclaimed Nico.
"Do you have any ideas, Nozomi?" asked Hanayo
"I'm thinking…" answered Nozomi, "I'm trying to think of some way my cards could help us here, but…"
"Oh no, it's about to hurl another fireball at us!" cried Rin, pointing at the creature.
"It's throwing three fireballs!" exclaimed Maki in total terror.
"Help! Somebody help us, please!" shouted Nico.
Thankfully for her, Nico's cries for help did not go unheard…
-b
A barely perceptible whitish-blue streak flashed in front of Nico and her friends. Several sword slash-like streaks adorned the air, as well as the three incoming fireballs. An unfamiliar youthful female battle cry could be heard while those slashes were made. They had proven enough to slice and dice the three fireballs into dozens of tiny flaming fragments, sent scattering throughout the sky like so many harmless shooting stars. They each landed on the ground, still flickering, but not large or powerful enough to cause the ground to light ablaze.
Nozomi, Nico, Maki, Hanayo, and Rin then noticed a distinctly attired figure standing in front of them. She had a white cape with golden trim, and it was flapping in the wind. The rest of her attire appeared bluish, as did her short hair.
"W-who are you?" asked Nozomi, as everybody else had been left stunned speechless and awestruck by this newcomer.
"There's no time for me to explain that." stated this sword-wielding newcomer, turning her head sideways to look Nozomi in the eyes, "Run! You must all run and take cover!"
"But what about you?!" asked a concerned Nozomi.
"Don't worry about me!" answered the blue-haired young woman, "I've been fighting these witches for a long, long time. I've defeated many of them, and I'll defeat this one too!"
"Witches…" stated Nozomi in a breathless and perplexed tone.
"Just listen to her!" interjected Nico, while grabbing Nozomi's arm, "I don't know who she is, but she certainly can handle those fireballs better than we can. Let's get a move on!"
So Nozomi and her friends did as they had been instructed. They quickly sought out a place to crouch down and hide behind. After finding that place, they peered out over the side of it, to watch an intense and fantastical frenzied fight take place before them!
The sword-wielding girl raced around the lower extremities of this towering fireball-hurling creature. While doing so she hacked away at those extremities with her swords, with the clear intent of trying to cut the creature down to size. What soon resulted from that was not unlike a large tree being cut down in the forest. The creature released a loud groaning sound while it feel over sideways, crashing violently into the ground below.
The sword-wielding girl then shot straight up into the air, like a rocketing torpedo! She magically came to a stop in the middle of the air, and then seemed to push her feet against something, though it appeared to be just thin air to Nozomi. The sword-wielding girl was now rocketing at a slight angle downwards towards the fallen fireball-hurling creature. The sword-wielder released a loud battle cry, and it seemed like she might be able to finish off the creature, until…
With incredible swiftness, the creature was able to swat away the sword-wielder with great velocity. The sword-wielder went hurtling through the air, eventually crashing against the wall of a nearby building. With a pained expression on her face, she came falling downwards, landing on her stomach, outstretched on the ground.
"No..." stated Hanayo, "She seemed to be doing so well!"
"We have to help her!" added in Maki
"How?!" asked Nico, "How can we possibly help her?!"
The creature regenerated the lost portions of its lower extremities, and came back to a standing position. It did this, while the sword-wielder slowly shifted from a lying position to all fours, gradually coming to her feet. The wind had clearly been knocked out of her.
"…I can't let those girls down" she said to herself, "I have to stop this witch, because nobody else here can!"
These words were said with firm and impressive resolve, but they were still just words. They could not protect her from a double-sized fireball that was rapidly descending towards her. The sword-wielding girl would normally be able to swiftly dodge it, but her body had hardened up a bit in order to withstand the earlier swatting attack. This meant she was not as fast as she could be, and would not be able to move quickly enough to completely avoid the incoming fireball. Thankfully for her and the girls of Muse, she didn't have to be.
A girl with brownish orange hair was sprinting with rapid speed towards the sword-wielder! With a great energetic shout, this girl would arrive just in the nick of time to push the sword-wielder out of the way of the descending fireball. Thankfully, she was also fast enough to not be caught by the fireball herself.
"…What is she doing here?!" asked Nico in shock
"I don't know, but what great timing!" exclaimed Hanayo.
"…Unnhhh…" lightly moaned the blue-haired sword-wielder, once more on her back due to the latest rescue.
"Here, let me help you up" said the girl with brownish orange hair, as she extended an open hand down to the blue-haired sword-wielder.
"Thanks" replied the sword-wielder, as she was helped off the ground, and back to a standing position, "Who are you?"
"My name is Kousaka Honoka!" she exclaimed, "And I'm going to help you save my friends from that monster!"
And so Honoka Kousaka had her first encounter with the world of magical girls and witches. Honoka's life would now be played fortissimo, for she had just met Sayaka Miki!
To be Continued…