PRISMATIC PROPHESY
Episode 1 : Nightfall
I hate this place. I hate this place. I hate this place. I hate this place. There, that should cover all the bases. Saya Browning sat back and began idly toying with her hair, propping up her head with one hand in an attempt to at least feign interest in the proceedings of Class 3-1 of the Middle School Division of the Uminari Central School System. It had been four weeks since Saya had been enrolled at Uminari Central, but that had been more than enough time to make up her mind on the matter.
Having to move to a new city and a new school would be bad enough. Having to take a bunch of extra tests because this school enrolled in the Skyreach Advanced Placement and Annoyance System would be bad enough. Having to be stuck in the same homeroom with Arisa Fucking Bannings and her little band of hopeless optimists would be bad enough. But all three at once? What kind of bad karma do I have on my head to deserve all this?! Just thinking about the sparky blond girl was enough to set Saya's blood to boiling, and she caught herself turning instinctively to glare at her most-hated classmate. Saya forced herself to look away, tugging on her red-gold locks to pull her head back towards the front of the classroom. Whew. Glad she didn't notice me, or it would be another lunchtime shouting match. Or worse yet, she'd sic the other two on me! Arisa is bad enough, but at least I can fight her. Shizuka and the other one . . . uh, Something-or-Other, Takamachi? Those two will just ask me "what's wrong" again, as though they could fix anything. Saya refocused her attention towards her homeroom teacher once more, but the day's business had another rude shock in store for her.
"Class, we have a new student transferring in today. Please do your best to make her feel welcome." The classroom door slid open, revealing a sight that put Saya on edge once more. Oh, great, another blond! The girl was soft-spoken, polite, and cheerful, all qualities that made Saya despise her immensely. Fate Haralown, huh? Move over Alicia, I have a new least favorite person in this room! As she observed the new girl, Saya made a short, stabbing gesture with her hand, fingers split in a V. When she noticed what she was doing, Saya quickly shook out her hand and sat on it, glancing around quickly to see if anyone had seen her. Damnit, I'm spending too much time around Ryusei! That thought made Saya shudder- Ryusei Date was the closest thing to a "friend" she had made so far during her time at Uminari, and that wasn't particularly close at all; Ryusei was a hopeless mecha-phile and chuunibyou, and the gesture Saya had inadvertently picked up was his way of miming the snap-open-and-fire motion of a Lion's railgun. While the thought of unleashing one of the three-meter-tall Armored Frames on some of the more annoying of her classmates warmed Saya's heart, there was a small problem, in that the Lions were the property of the Divine Crusaders, and so if anyone saw her do it, they might accuse Saya of having sympathies for the terrorist organization who had sworn to destroy the Skyreach Project, or worse yet, they might mistake her for a nerd.
I HATE THIS PLACE!
Lunchtime was, as usual, no better than being in class. Saya reflexively headed for the most secluded corner of the school grounds that she could get to in reasonable time, so as to hopefully avoid any annoyances for a little while. There were two problems with this strategy; the first was that being a creature of habit meant that her "friends" knew where to look for her, and so not a minute later Ryusei came trotting up to Saya's hiding spot. The second problem was that Ryusei was about as stealthy and circumspect as an elephant wearing bells. And that meant that anyone else who had a problem with Saya needed only to look for the pot of gold hair at the end of the robot-nerd rainbow. Sure enough, Saya spotted just such a problem striding over not five minutes later.
"Ryusei, you wouldn't happen to have one of these 'turbolion'-"
"Guarlion," Ryusei corrected, with the connoisseur's disdain for the ignorant masses.
"Right, whatever. Do you have one, a real one, on hand by chance?" Saya asked, trying to drag the conversation back to a relevant point.
"Hah, I wish! It looks like they're being issued to squadron leaders only. The profile and pics just dropped today, I think they've only even been deployed for the California raid."
"Figures. Looks like I'm doing this the hard way," Saya said with a sigh, before stuffing the rest of her jam bun in her mouth and popping up to her feet. Hotaru Hikaru, now she is my least favorite person in the whole school! At least, I think she's a she- wears a boy's uniform and has a face to match, but she goes to the girls' bathroom and she didn't curl up and fall down when I kicked her between the legs last week. "Go away, Hikaru. Maybe you're not tired of having your face beat concave, but I can't afford to get in another fight, so don't tempt me."
"Very funny." Hotaru scowled at Saya. "Let's take this off-campus where I don't have to let you win, see how things go then."
"Uh-huh. Keep on dreaming, Hikaru." Saya rolled her eyes. "Besides, there's only 20 minutes left for lunch, it'd take too long to get off the grounds and back." When Hotaru failed to take the bait, Saya frowned. "So what do you want then, if not another beating to make your face look prettier?"
"The winds of La Gias are blowing," said another voice, and Saya resisted the urge to bang her head against a tree trunk. Instead, she turned around, and sure enough, there was Maribel Hearn, the chuuni who somehow managed to make it clear to the 3rd year of high school without being locked in a padded room for her delusions. "And she feels it too," Maribel added, nodding to Hotaru. Saya noticed that the green-haired girl glared up at Maribel, but didn't exactly say anything about it. Great, now they're sharing their delusions. Just what I need. Instead of investigating that worrying line of though, Saya instead decided to lash out at a convenient target.
"Lost hold of the leash again, Renko?" Saya grumbled at the newest arrival to the impromptu garden party. Renko Usami was the only other member of the Ghost-Sealing Club along with Maribel, and about the only person on campus who could deal with the other girl's delusions for any length of time, though Saya failed to see what Renko was getting out of the deal.
"Pehaps, Browning-san, you may wish to try being polite to others once, if only to surprise them." Renko replied.
"Yeah, yeah, sure." Saya waved off the complaint. And maybe people could try being nice to me for once? All I wanted to do was eat lunch without any crazy people around, and now I'm one shy of a perfect hand. Oh no . . .
Sure enough, Saya's karmic burden manifested itself in the form of yet another arrival- Ranko Kanzaki. This girl was the black sheep of the Uminari Central Middle School Division 3rd Year class; quite literally, in fact, as Ranko had gone so far as to dye her uniforms all in black and then adorn them with petticoats and ruffles, chains, beads, and other embellishments. Contemplating the girl's unusual adornments made Saya shudder; she had the misfortune of having Ranko in her P.E. Section. Ranko attached mystical significance to all the trinkets she wore, but two stood out far above the others- the red ribbons she used to tie up her silvery-white hair in twintails and the gold-clasped red gemstone she wore on a chain around her neck. It wasn't the trinkets themselves that Saya had a problem with so much as the fact that after showering, Ranko made sure to reattach the ribbons and chain before putting any of her other clothes on.
"The winds of La Gias are blowing," Ranko said, by way of greeting.
"What, did 'good afternoon' get retired when I wasn't looking?" Saya grumbled.
"Soon will the Witching Hour be upon us. It is important that all who know the curse of Nemesis stand ready."
"Uh-huh," Saya replied, before returning to the more important task of scarfing down as much food as she possibly could before it was time to head for her next class. Having the bell go off just as she reached for her lunch box came almost as a relief to Saya. At least something around here is reliable. Reliably annoying!
However, when Saya got seated for her first class of the afternoon, Applied Sciences, she discovered that she had brought something else with her from lunch; a dose of paranoia. This manifested in the form of suspicion, directed at the teacher standing up at the front of the class. Next thing I know, Professor Shirkawa will turn out to be a spy or somesuch. Yeah right! Saya shook her head, hoping to rid herself of the strange thoughts that she had been infected with. To be sure, the Professor (as he insisted on being called) had plenty enough of his own personal quirks, as well as a "tall dark stranger" air about him that could have invited suspicion. But come on! He doesn't push any kind of agenda, he doesn't sneak around digging into things late at night (which already puts him ahead of half the students!), and his classes are actually interesting. Interesting, hah, the textbooks are learning from us rather than teaching us! That was the beauty (or horror, depending on the student's point of view) of being enrolled in a Skyreach Partner School- students and faculty alike were drawn from all across the world, bringing with them a multitude of exotic talents.
It'd be nice if more of them were talented instead of just exotic, Saya thought, staring across the classroom. It was her considered misfortune to share a section of Applied Sciences with Hotaru. At least there's no lab today, so I don't have to worry about glass whizzing over my head at ludicrous speed. Again. Saya shivered; somehow the green-haired tomboy was making decent grades in the course, but it sure didn't show in her lab prep; barely a week went by without Table 4 blowing some bit of their lab apparatus to hell and gone, though if she had been in a charitable mood, Saya would have admitted than none of the eight groups in the section still had all the original equipment that they had been issued a month ago.
All too soon, however, the class ended, and with it the school day. Saya stuffed her things back into her bag and headed for the door, dejectedly. Classes aggravated her, but home both aggravated and bored Saya, so all things considered, she preferred being in school. "Home", such as it is, Saya frowned down at her shadow, leading the way. It had been Saya's parents' wish that she go to one of the Skyreach schools, well, technically speaking; Saya had been orphaned when she was little enough to not really remember her parents. In fact, it had been the orphanage administrator who told Saya about her parents' love for learning and enlightenment, and how it would be fitting to their memory that she go to Uminari. They probably just wanted me gone, Saya thought, not for the first time. Ah, damnit, I suppose I should cut Hotaru some slack. At least there's only the one of her here. I got in a lot more fights at the orphanage. Determined to hold her grudge for just a little bit longer, Saya clenched her teeth and strode for home as fast as she could without actively shouldering any of the other students out of the way.
Due to her status, Saya was housed in a "residential" block instead of one of the student dormitories. This had its advantages, as the residential suites had their own kitchen and shower, and didn't close for breaks, but it also came with some disadvantages; specifically, neighbors. More specifically, one specific neighbor, who also happened to be an orphan. This girl called out to Saya cheerfully and waved at her, receiving neither greeting nor wave in reply.
Yeah, yeah, smile and wave, fuck you too, Hayate Yagami. What is it with people whose names begin with 'H' being a problem? I could be all happy-go-lucky too if I had minions to cater to my every need. The thought drew an unconscious wince out of Saya. That's uncalled-for and you know it; she's got "minions" because she's stuck in a wheelchair and can't hardly move even with it.
Also . . . what does a girl have to do to have a decent sulk around here?! Saya entered her abode just long enough to set down her bookbag and change into more comfortable clothes, before exiting in the same hurried stride as before and pulling out her phone. "Yo, Ryusei! Get down to the bus stop, we're going to the arcade!" Without pausing for an answer or even giving the impression that there was a choice, Saya mashed the end key and pocketed the phone, and then she made for the appointed meeting place as well.
Hayate watched her neighbor go by and made a little indistinct sad sound at her passing. "You know, we should introduce Vita-chan to that girl. I think they'd make great friends." Hayate mused, which drew a somewhat pained grunt from the woman who was pushing her wheelchair.
"And what makes you say that, mistress?" Signum frowned down at her charge; she loved Vita as a sister and comrade-in-arms, but Signum couldn't imagine a meeting between the acerbic little Knight of the Hammer and the equally sour Saya ending any way other than with the latter's brains splattered all over the wall when Vita brought her signature weapon out to play.
"Well, they could take turns scowling at the whole world and everything in it," Hayate replied with a giggle.
". . . indeed," Signum replied, stifling her own laugh behind her hand.
"Speaking of Vita-chan, is she going to be home for dinner tonight, or is she . . . out?" Hayate asked, a trifle sad once more, which made Signum swallow hard before replying.
"I'm sure she will call if she won't be able to make it home in time," Signum replied, diplomatically. I'm sorry, mistress. I know you don't like our mission, but it is the sworn duty of we, the Wolkenritter, to serve you by completing the Book of Darkness to which you are bound. Incomplete as it is, it is hurting you, and that hurts us worse than any of the deaths we've suffered over the many years.
"What the shit is this?" Saya cried out, her voice cutting across the noise of the arcade like a sword-stroke. Ryusei turned reluctantly from where he had been waiting in the queue for the Call of the Crusade machine, just installed that week and sporting hour-long lines from minute one, and went to see what was the matter. It's not like she's my girlfriend or anything . . . but I'd feel bad if there was an actual problem. Deep down inside, Ryusei knew he should probably be more conflicted about the newest, most popular game in the arcade; Call of the Crusade was essentially a DC marketing tool, part of their slick and highly invasive media campaign. But . . . it's so cool! With the full-motion body rig and the 3-D holographic display and . . . really, how much can a few Y100 coins really help them out, anyway? Besides, it's not like they're trying to glorify their actual battles! Taking one last look back to reassure himself, Ryusei nodded; in the holotank, the player currently locked in to the motion-control rig was smoking down wave after wave of . . . things, there was no good way for Ryusei to describe them, just throbbing nightmare shapes that poured out of the sky. Nothing like that prefectural police department up north that had their own Armored Frames. The "crab-suits" (as the Crusader's Weekly Online called them, since their operators hadn't seen fit to give out a name for the world to use) were heavy, ungainly and slow, but at least they were solid, and real, and didn't look like a glitch in reality itself. Maybe I don't want to play that thing just yet. Looks like the holotank isn't dialed in quite right. And I'd look stupid, upchucking all over the console.
Following the wary looks back to their source, Ryusei found Saya standing in front of her favorite game; the DDR machine. At that moment, Saya was winding a finger in her hair, which was a sign she was about to have a serious meltdown. Ryusei didn't know exactly what would happen if Saya ever managed to tear out one of her red-golden locks that way, but he expected the carnage to rival a Godzilla movie. "So, what's wrong? Did somebody break it?"
"No, worse! Some fucker knocked down all my high scores!" Saya fumed. "Look!" Ryusei did as commanded, and sure enough, the top 10 scores were all one tag, and it wasn't Saya's.
"Huh. I wonder who this 'red' person is?" Ryusei asked, reading the tag.
"Well, when I find out, I'll let you know, after I break their neck! Gah!" Saya mimed strangling someone as she spoke. "Anyway, you might want to find something to keep you busy for a while. It's going to take all the damned night to shove these tags off." Looking to the top of the list for her first target, Saya recoiled once more. "And whoever it is has no taste to boot! Choujuu Gigaku, are you fucking joking here?" Shaking her head and growling, Saya stomped down on the "start" button and began her self-appointed quest. Meanwhile, seeing that Saya was under control if not exactly calm, Ryusei wandered off to see how long the line had grown.
BGM: Poplica* - Love. - "P-Rhythm Players"
A minute into the song, the little voice in Saya's head that counterbalanced her caustic side decided, while she may still not like the song that her mysterious adversary chose, it was at least a worthy challenge. Or possibly a bit more- on the top setting, the song didn't contain any gallops or stop-and-start tricks, just a nonstop waterfall of layered steps that had Saya sucking down great gulps of air to stay on her toes, and as soon as the last note rolled past, she sagged back against the grab bar at the back of the pad, too beat for the moment to even see where her score had landed. It was at that point that Saya discovered she had acquired an audience, one that was lightly applauding her.
"Hah, not bad, Goldilocks!" said the newcomer, who Saya now noticed was a girl with unruly red hair, dressed in a rather shabby combination of faded teal hoodie and denim shorts. "Try a little harder next time and you might beat me!"
"Yeah- Well- I- Shoulda- Warmed up- First-" Saya panted. "Also, come here- I promised that I'd- strangle you- when I found you . . . but I don't think I can move just yet."
"Hah, nice try!" replied the mystery girl, smirking. She then produced a packet of Pocky from inside her jacket, shook out a stick and nipped it from the pack before motioning to Saya. "Want one?"
"Uh . . . sure." Saya reached out and grabbed a stick, inspecting it for signs of corruption before eating it. "So, now that you're here, who the actual fuck are you, and how do you have time to wipe out my scores during the daytime? You can't be older than 15."
"Try 17."
"Nuh-uh."
"Oh yeah. Just one of the many perks of being me. C'mon, let's go find your buddy. I want to talk to both of you."
"Okay . . ?" Saya replied, dubiously. "Sure, why not, it's not like today hasn't been entirely weird front to back, let's not break that winning streak!"
"Yep. And it's about to get weirder." Saya turned to ask what that meant, but she was interrupted by Ryusei, who just shouted "Whoa!" when he saw the two girls.
"You're the Bloody Angel! What are you doing here?"
"I- what?" the redhead asked as Saya barked out the same question.
"The Bloody Angel, the enemy ace who struck down five Armored Frames in a single battle!" Ryusei replied, far too deep in shock to keep from fanboying all over the floor.
"Whoa, hold up there Champ, 'enemy' ace?"
"Well, yeah, that's what it says in Crusader's Weekly. You guys don't have a fanzine, so . . ."
"Yeah, I suppose that's true (if not the freaking point)," the girl replied. "For right now, how 'bout you call me Kyoko instead?" Kyoko asked, receiving nods from both her charges.
"Kyoko, right. I'm Saya, and this is Ryusei. Now that introductions are handled, do you want to start making something make sense?!"
"Can do, but we're a little pressed for time, so do you mind talking about it in the car?"
"No! I'm not going any-fucking-where until you explain what's about to happen that you're so worried about-" Saya snarled, only to be cut off by an air raid siren.
"Well, that, for starters!" Kyoko replied. Without breaking stride, or her insolent grin, Kyoko took out her phone and flipped it open, punching a speed-dial button. "Yo, Sparky, I found 'em. Making the extract now. You might want to get your stuff together and get ready to leave too, before the fit hits the shan."
Outside, downtown had turned into a veritable catastrophe as the DC raid churned the throngs of afternoon amusement-seekers into a panicked human tsunami. Overhead, waves of Armored Frames swooped and slashed, occasionally pummeling a ground target with missiles or railgun fire. Kyoko was the first to notice the problem.
"Goddamnit! There's no dropships!" Kyoko swore, shaking a fist at the heavens.
"Uh, isn't that a good thing?" Saya asked, her acidity boiled away by the very real crisis.
"Not in the slightest. It means they're not here trying to stop us from getting you, which means that one, we just blew the cover off an op that took months to set up, and two, somebody's got save all these idiots from themselves. Get back inside, find something sturdy to hide under, and wait for me, you got it?"
"What? Hell no, I'm not waiting around here-" Saya started to shout, but she was cut off by Kyoko grabbing a fistful of her shirt and hauling the younger girl right off her feet.
"Get. In. The. Building. Now!" Kyoko dropped Saya to her feet, and Ryusei dragged the pale-faced girl off toward the arcade. Now for the hard part. Kyoko nodded to herself, seeking out an alleyway secluded enough for what she needed to do. As she did so, she sank deep into the empathic link. Guys, we've got real trouble down here. Peachie, wake up Three-Eyes and get the crew moving. We're gonna need some Centipedes down here in a hell of a hurry. Blueberry, I'm going active in just a minute, some fire support would be lovely.
The operational security protocols used by the DC's raiding parties were extremely thorough, maybe even paranoid. Among the measures employed was a roster-randomization system which had pilots being assigned to their squadrons and squadrons assigned to their taskings only after the Armored Frames were aloft and the launching platform had re-submerged. In some cases, the system even provided multistage orders, shifting a squadron's destination in midflight or bouncing them back to the Orcus itself. So why is it that I always seem to end up flying with the Shooting Star herself? mused Lieutenant Sleigh Presty. Nicknames were semi-common within the DC for their veteran pilots, and most were well known to the wider community as part of the Crusaders' media blitz. Pilot Officer Ibis Douglas was not one of the elite, however, and her nickname wasn't published in the Weekly, for it was one of the few not bestowed as a token of esteem; rather, the name came from the fact that, much like a meteorite, Ibis usually returned to earth in an uncontrollable plummet, trailing fire and bits of her Lion behind her.
Thus, when one of Sleigh's squadron burst into flaming pieces and fell out of formation, she already had a suspect in mind. "Goddamnit, Douglas, can't you even keep it together in level flight?!" Sleigh barked, banking her Guarlion to get a sighting on where the wreckage landed and determine whether it was worth calling for an evac crew.
"H-huh?" came Ibis' reply over the comm, and then Sleigh actually looked up at her HUD and saw that it was actually Diamond 3 who was down. "Okay, what the hell is going on here?" Sleigh growled into the comm, and then she received her answer in the form of a crimson flash that made her blood run to ice. "All call, this is an all-call for Crusaders in Uminari OA, enemy unit sighted! The Bloody Angel is here!"
Kyoko hit the roof of a major building just long enough to reorient herself before making another thrust-assisted leap to slash at Sleigh's panic-stricken Diamond Squadron. The maneuver looked a bit like a cat trying to leap for a bird, but in this case, the cat was winning as Kyoko loosed her scorpion spear to pull down another of the enemy AFs. This time, however, Kyoko didn't land unmolested, but instead she was followed down by a pair of missiles snap-shot in her direction by Sleigh. As soon as she touched down, Kyoko spun and lashed out with her spear once more, slicing the incoming warheads apart before they could connect, and then she was off in a dead sprint before any more ordinance could come her way. The blooming cracks of electrolasers dogged Kyoko's heels, earning a grudging measure of praise from the so-called "Bloody Angel". Okay, give that one credit, those bug zappers are starting to become a problem!
If Ibis could have heard Kyoko's praise, she would have hung her head with embarrassment, because she hadn't gone for her Lion's rapid-firing antipersonnel weapon on account of any sort of strategy. Rather, in her excitement, Ibis had forgotten which fingering triggered the railgun and so she got her secondary weapon instead, but now that she was committed, Ibis stuck to it, keeping the weapon trained on Kyoko until the capacitors went dry. Following standard procedure, Ibis then hauled skyward, clearing the lane for her teammates to make their own firing runs while her weapons regenerated. Hey, maybe I can even get a missile lock on her or something . . . Ibis looked down at her target, feeling optimistic.
Ibis' hopes were dashed a moment later, when Kyoko turned to face her pursuers. Okay suckers, get ready to dance! Grinning fiercely behind her faceplate, Kyoko pounded her fists together, causing the links of her spear to attach themselves to her forearms, three and three. In this configuration the rods worked to channel her magic, which Kyoko had used in her very first AF battle to bludgeon her opponent utterly senseless. Today, however, Kyoko chose to stay true to the name the DC had bestowed upon her, and so she rocked the heavens with bloody crimson bullets.
Diamond 5 was caught in the middle of his attack run, took a double dozen hits in just over a second, and evaporated, and just behind him, Sleigh was tagged with a handful of shots as well, her heavier Guarlion weathering the blows better, but still she staggered up to altitude with amber warning lights glaring at her. And Ibis . . . well, at least I'm familiar with this part of the game, thought Ibis as she entered something best described as a "semi-guided fall". Being higher on the field had only made things worse for her, as instead of catching Kyoko's shots on her glacis, the danmaku had torn up the legs of her Lion, which snuffed out the EM Floater Field that was keeping her aloft.
Sleigh swore profusely as she watched her squadron come apart around her, and let her displeasure be known by triggering off a full salvo of everything she had on hand. None of the hastily-aimed shots actually hit Kyoko, but they did force her to take cover. As she swung into an evasive pattern while her weapons recycled, a new telltale lit up on Sleigh's screen- her call for help had been heard, and another squadron was entering the fray. But then, before Sleigh could even start filling in her counterpart in Sapphire squadron the situation, the DC reinforcements were blotted from the sky by an overlapping burst of explosions. Sleigh's jaw literally dropped inside her helmet, her mouth open in an unvoiced scream as she struggled to make sense of what had happened. A moment later, the Guarlion's battle computer helpfully informed her that it had recorded a spread of six surface-to-air missiles and gave her a probable location where they had come from.
As the smoke faded, it turned out that one member of Sapphire Squadron had survived, but Sleigh could see he was too numbed by shock to be of any use for the moment- Sapphire 4 was just flying in a standard patrol circle, a reflexive fallback for DC pilots that his quailing mind had seized upon while trying to cope with what had happened, and so Sleigh dived on the new threat herself. A police car? An entire squadron just got wiped out by the fucking cops?
Sitting behind the wheel of her interceptor, Sayaka watched the vengeful Guarlion coming at her and muttered into her radio, "Kyoko, now would be a real good time to repay the favor." Sleigh saw Kyoko swing back into action, but she discounted the infamous red AF for the moment. She can't possibly do . . . whatever that was again so soon. You should've stuck to a donut shop, because now I'm going to have roast pig on a spit! The Guarlion's railgun arm split open, revealing the launch channel which crackled with stray energy as the weapon prepared to fire.
It was true that Kyoko didn't have the ability to another spray like the one that had done in Diamond Squadron, at least not without tapping far more precious resources . . . but that wasn't the only trick she had up her sleeve. Homerun sends her regards, asshole! Kyoko thought as she hoisted up an RPD machinegun. The trick was that the only part of Homura Akemi's hyperspace arsenal that was completely unique to her Wish was the ability to manipulate the weapons out of time. While that made storage and maintenance considerably easier, with enough focus anyone with a Soul Gem could pocket a weapon for later. Ordinarially this wasn't worth the trouble- the strain on the Soul Gem was at least as much as manifesting the Puella Magi's own magical weapon, and those were usually better. There were exceptions, however, and being sealed inside a bulky, magically-conjured Armored Frame was one of them. The ping of Ophelia's rangefinder array gave Sleigh only a tiny sliver of a second's warning, just enough time for horror to blossom within her before the heavy 7.62mm slugs started slamming home.
"Well, that worked," Kyoko mused as she lowered the gun. Sleigh's Guarlion had tumbled out of her sights at the end of a long, sustained pull, which Kyoko followed up by emptying the magazine on Sapphire 4, sending him down to the dirt in flames as well. "So, Blueberry, tag 'em and bag 'em?"
"Yeah, as soon as I find 'em. You didn't happen to get a vector trace on that fancy one as it went down, did you?" came the reply over the radio. "Still, that went pretty slick. And you know what that means . . ."
"Yeah. Reload and get your back to a wall before the other shoe drops, 'cause our luck is never that good!" Kyoko grumbled, but when she went to suit actions to words, she discovered two dismaying facts; firstly, she hadn't 'memorized' any additional ammo for her gun; and second, in the time she was talking with Sayaka, Kyoko's concentration had slipped enough that the RPD had evaporated back into nonspace. "Okay, so there's still some bugs to iron out."
Kyoko's assessment of the situation was indeed accurate, although she didn't yet know the particulars; there had been one other party present for short battle over Uminari, and shortly after Sleigh was forcibly returned to earth, that party returned home to get the proverbial "other shoe".
"You're home early," Valcyone observed, silently congratulating herself for not jumping straight through the ceiling when Alchemie suddenly stepped out from behind her command chair.
"I'm not staying, just here long enough to whip up an alpha strike for carryout, and I also need you to move in and launch an assault company and some dustoffs." As she spoke, Alchemie budged Valcyone out of the way and began inputting commands into the control console there, sounding 'battle stations' aboard the Orcus and directing the submersible carrier to make a maximum speed dash for land, and generally usurping the hell out of Valcyone's authority.
"Mind, uh, cluing me in?" Valcyone asked, bemused at the abrupt upheaval in the chain of command.
"The Bloody Angel was in town and she disrupted my op. I intend to figure out why she was there and then do something about it."
"Okay. Wait, you're not planning on taking the Time Bomb out on this run are you?"
"No, I'm not that angry. Yet." Alchemie turned on her heel and stalked for the door, but paused just before exiting the chamber. "Oh, and call in the Special Special Snowflakes as well. It's about time those unnatural abominations earned their keep."
"Yes, sir, three bags full, sir," Valcyone replied sarcastically, glaring at the empty doorway.
"Well, 'bout damn time you guys showed up!" Sayaka called out cheerfully as a second vehicle wearing the livery of the Mitikahara Constabulary's Special Tactics and Active Response unit. The Centipede was STAR's answer to the problem of field logistics; a semi-tractor unit re-engined with a larger version of the PT6 turbine in Sayaka's interceptor, hauling a double set of trailers, each one loaded with a 4-unit Gespenst team, along with spare ammunition and patching kits. The tractor itself was fitted with a powerful comm array and radar to assist the AFs in the field and a point-defense gun system on the roof.
"Yes, well, anything above double the speed limit is just ungentlemanly," Daichi Miki called down from the driver's seat. "So, what do we have?"
"An unknown quantity of DC, we're thinking 5+, have gone to ground in the city. We need to find them, dig them out, and figure out what they're doing here." Sayaka replied. "You didn't happen to pack any Javelins, did you?"
"Trailer 1, I think. Hang on, I'm gonna open shop." Daichi toggled a series of switches on the Centipede's dashboard, which caused the rig to first drop a set of leveling jacks that turned it from a somewhat strange road vehicle into a somewhat strange building; then the sides of the trailers broke open and folded up in some places and down in others, becoming awnings covering the workspace below and ramps for boarding. Eight Armored Frames stood within, four to a trailer, partly disassembled and attached to cradles to facilitate donning.
"Alright, let's get cracking!" Sayaka ran up the ramp into Trailer 1 where, as promised, there was a stockpile of the same kind of missiles she had used earlier to ruin the DC's day. Kyoko boarded the trailer as well, rifling through the AF-scaled weapons racks for something that wouldn't disappear as soon as she stopped using it. With a missile propped over each shoulder, Sayaka looked rather silly tiptoeing down the ramp, but inside she was feeling less than sanguine. Kyoko, tell me I'm just "seeing" things that aren't really there.
You mean that twinge in the air, like a Witch is gonna pop up at any moment? Yeah, I feel it too.
Wonderful. Sayaka scowled as she rammed one of her projectiles into the interceptor's trunk-mounted launching tubes. You'd think with them having an Incubator on staff, the DC would know better than to cause that kind of trouble.
Other way around, Kyoko replied, shaking her head as she clipped a new RPD to her armor's maglock. Now that I'm feeling it, I'll bet all of next week's meals that was the whole point of this attack. They've got two- at least two- Puella Magi to feed, and unlike us, they haven't had a chance to stockpile Grief Seeds.
"That's sick!" Sayaka exclaimed, lapsing back into speech. Oops! I can't believe they would do such a thing though. It's too awful.
It's what I would've done, if I was still how I was when you met me. It makes a hell of a mess on our turf- and you can bet they're not trying to farm Witches wherever their secret lair is. Man, fuck Kyubey!
Huh? Sayaka paused at the top of the ramp to turn and look at Kyoko, eyebrow arched.
Remember how we all used to be able to see through Kyubey's bullshit? Then he became a she and went from "cute but devious" to just "cute and kinda dumb".
And now just because Alchemie looks like Nova, we thought she was essentially harmless like Nova. Sayaka frowned as she loaded another Javelin into her car. Then Sayaka turned to make another trip back, but instead ran straight into a fresh missile, being handed to her by her father.
"Not to make things worse, but I just picked up a bunch of fresh DC signals in town. They just . . . appeared out of nowhere 30 seconds ago." Daichi relayed the grim news along with the armament. Sayaka accepted the burden, then looked over to Kyoko, and she didn't even need to touch the empathic link to know they were thinking the same thing; I should've stabbed that little bitch when I had the chance!
"Okay, I'm sick of waiting. I was sick of waiting about 5 minutes after that crazy bitch told us to 'sit tight', but it's been an hour, and there haven't even been any explosions recently." Saya stood up from where she had been fuming in the mostly-deserted arcade's snackbar. "I'm going the hell home. You coming, Ryusei?"
"Uh- sure." Ryusei frowned as he stood up tentatively. "Although, are you sure this is a good idea? That, er, girl," Ryusei stuttered for a moment, not quite able to use the epithet "Bloody Angel" having met Kyoko in person. "She seemed to want to talk to you some more."
"Yeah, well, she apparently knew me well enough to stalk me and fuck with my DDR scores, she can come find me again if it's so important!" Saya marched up to the front door and yanked it open, striding through like a conquering hero, with Ryusei scurrying after. Once outside, however, Saya received another unpleasant shock.
"So, I didst scry the truth with my shadow-sight. It is good that I have found thee, Saya Browning." Ranko said, stepping out from the shadow of a tree to address Saya, who nearly jumped out of her skin at the surprise.
"Damnit, didn't anyone ever teach you not to do that to people?" Saya cried out, still highly-strung from being scared.
"Apologies, but the way was barred, and I dare not let the minions of the false shadow witness my true strength, so I was forced to wait for some other confirmation, and I wished not to be exposed to the gaze of mine enemies." Ranko made a short bow to Saya, who was nonplussed.
"Right, whatever. I'll pretend that made sense. Why me, though?"
"Whether thou knows it or no, you will have a role to play in the coming struggle against the false shadow. I am duty-sworn to see that none so marked are lost to misfortune."
"Uh-huh," Saya scoffed, but then she recalled something she had heard earlier in the evening. "we just blew the cover off an op", she said. I dunno if I'd feel better if everybody really was conspiring against me, or if all this shit today has been just the most annoying set of coincidences ever. "Say, this might sound weird, but you're not like a spy or anything are you?"
"I am as ever, only that which I am required to be." Ranko replied, with a note of some dark emotion.
"Riiight," Saya replied. "That's not an answer." Ranko opened her mouth to make some reply, but then a shiver ran down her spine, and Saya shivered along with her- a tinge of something dark and malicious had flooded through the night sky, and it felt like the shadows themselves might be out to get them.
"When I said the Witching Hour approached, I didn't mean it literally," Ranko muttered, gritting her teeth. "Come on, we need to get somewhere safe, and quickly!"
"Now that's the first sensible thing you've said all day," Saya replied, breaking into a jog as the three of them hurried back to campus. Along the way, Ranko pulled out a phone, flipped it open, and started punching in a hurried text, which caused Saya to snicker a bit.
"I just figured you'd do something a little more arcane, like inscribing a message on vellum with a raven's-feather quill and then burning it in a sacred candle to send the message or something." Saya supplied her reasoning when Ranko turned to look at her.
"Don't be weird," Ranko replied, which earned her an open-mouthed stare from Saya and a similar look of disbelief from Ryusei. "Moreover, decisions needed to be made, and there was no time to wait. If the situation declines further, we shall be obliged to quit the city entirely. That means abandoning others who are gifted, but they are not marked as you are. It is what I believe you call 'cutting your losses'."
"Gifted, let me guess, you mean Merry and Renko." Saya replied.
"Good, you are beginning to understand." said Ranko, which caused Saya to blanch.
"I was joking!"
By unspoken agreement, the trio had chosen to stick to secondary pathways, neither willing to risk the darkness of alleys nor step out on to the main boulevard where there was sure to be panic and other problems. However, this choice turned out to be a poor one, as the side street they were following abruptly terminated in a steaming crater where an Armored Frame had crash-landed. Before the party could decide whether to risk scrambling over the junkpile or turning around a flare fell from the sky, illuminating the wreck with harsh light, and a second Armored Frame descended to street level.
"Well, you did say you wanted to see a Guarlion up close," Saya muttered.
"I take it back!" Ryusei replied hurriedly, as the DC unit turned to face them, capacitors whining with rising charge. However, Ranko was no so easily dissuaded.
"Begone from this place, foul thing, or I shall smite thee for thine sins!" Ranko shouted, pulling the chain from her neck and twisting it around her hand so that the large red gem hung before her as a talisman. The Guarlion's posture radiated surprise and irritation, saying with its stance "is this actually happening?", and instead of complying with the demand, the DC pilot brought the Guarlion's railgun into line with Ranko, the forks splitting open in preparation to fire.
"You truly are a fool, and now you shall suffer for it." Ranko held her talisman high. "Beneath the sign of Nemesis, I curse thee; drown in the Darkness!" A beam of pure shadow shot forth from Ranko's hand, so dark the night sky seemed bright against it, and where it struck the Guarlion the AF vaporized like butter before a blowtorch. There wasn't even time for the power pack to explode, so quickly was the AF destroyed by the shot. Saya and Ryusei were left gobsmacked by the sudden outburst, which unfortunately left them vulnerable.
"I have had enough of this freaky shit today! I dunno what you did, kid, but try it again, and I'll blow this one's brains out!" Sleigh, who had been waiting near the crash site for rescue, took advantage of the momentary shock to leap out and grab Saya in a headlock, pressing her sidearm up to Saya's temple.
"Don't think that your cowardly actions can save you." Ranko turned to face Sleigh, a slender but fearfully sharp sword suddenly appearing in her hand. "But let me assure thee; harm even a hair on her head, and I will personally bring you the end of the world. But that won't be necessary," said Ranko with a nasty smile. "Because I'm not the only one who wants a piece of you."
A sharp whistle got the attention of everyone present, and Sleigh turned just in time to see a butterfly knife twirl past her face at unreasonable speed before smashing into her gun and knocking it from her hand. This was followed immediately after by a flying kick which bashed into her shoulder, sending tendrils of pain shooting up and down the arm. Saya slipped out from Sleigh's nerveless grip, but she was nearly as dismayed as the DC pilot by the source of her rescue.
"Hotaru?! Don't tell me you're in on all this, too!"
"Yep!" replied a grinning Hotaru, who was favoring Sleigh with the same sort of look that a shark reserved for a bloody morsel. "Now, you wanna see what a real fight woulda looked like? Watch this!" Sleigh took up a combat stance, having been given a good and thorough education on hand-to-hand combat as part of her training, whereas the girl Saya knew as Hotaru sauntered up with arrogance.
Sleigh threw the first punch, but Hotaru scored the first hit, blocking Sleigh's opening strike with blistering speed and then turning the block into a hold on the DC officer's wrist, and then turning that into a pivot point to drive a sidelong kick into the Crusader's ribs. Sleigh hissed in pain, but she twisted free of the block, and even managed to use her superior reach to clout Hotaru on the head in return. The glancing blow did little more than annoy the green-haired girl, however, and she swung in for another round.
Back and forth the two fighters traded blows for about a minute, long enough for Hotaru to see that Saya had realized just how much the other girl had been pulling her punches. With that knowledge secured, Hotaru then cut loose entirely. On the next clash, Hotaru switched up her blocks, using a cross-body punch to drive Sleigh's fist off the line, then Hotaru threw what looked like an abbreviated palm-strike at her opponent's face, and there was a sudden blossom of intolerably bright light in her hand. Sleigh cried out as the sudden illumination dazzled her, and in that moment Hotaru laid a roundhouse kick into the Crusader's head. The blow was enough to knock Sleigh senseless, but Hotaru wasn't finished, pulling her opponent into a grab on the way down and turning it into a throw that saw Sleigh bounce off the pavement and not get up.
"Okay, now that we're no longer in danger . . ." Saya spoke up, after checking to make sure that there actually was no more danger in the immediate vicinity. "Can someone explain to me what the fuck is going on here?!"
"Well, in the beginning, there was nothing, and then we had the Big Bang, and then there was everything . . ." Hotaru said, trailing off when she noticed she had three people all glaring daggers at her. "Hey, you never specified!"
"Do you really want to know what is going on?" Ranko asked, in a terrible calm voice.
"Yes! That's it, exactly! Drop the crazy chuuni crap and tell me the straight truth for once!"
"Very well, but it will take some time. I suggest we get indoors at the least."
"Stop fucking with me and tell me something for once!" Saya shouted, grabbing Ranko by the lapels and shaking her out of frustration.
"I am an alien gifted with magical powers by a process invented by my kind, and I came here to locate and destroy another of my kind who has gone rogue and given out these powers to people that shouldn't have them; specifically the person who runs the Divine Crusaders." Ranko said, delivering the news in a dead monotone to Saya, who turned more and more livid with every word.
"I HATE THIS PLACE!"