Madoka saw the city stretched out before her, in a strange and ghostly light. The sky was tearing itself apart, with huge, swirling storm-clouds. In the distance, and yet somehow perfectly clear to her, was a girl dressed in dark clothing. She appeared to be about the same age as Madoka, with a metal shield the size of a Frisbee on her arm. Suddenly an entire building was uprooted and flung itself at the girl. It crashed into the tower she had been perched on. Madoka gasped.

There was suddenly a small, white creature at her side. "I know you don't want this to happen, Ma-"but the rest was lost to the raging storm.

"Wow, a Pokémon…" Madoka thought.

"Madoka? Madoka?"

She awoke. The turbulent city was replaced by the familiar site of her room. Her mother was standing beside her bed, gently shaking her and calling out her name. Sun was just beginning to come in through the large, airy windows. Madoka rubbed her eyes and sat up, seemingly surprised by the fact that she was still in her own home.

"I had a weird dream, Mom. There were buildings, and they were falling…"

"Well, hopefully you haven't been incepted or something," her Mom said in a concerned tone, "Now hurry up or you'll be late for school!"

Madoka took her advice, rushing through her morning routine. After dressing, brushing her teeth in an almost violent manner, and tying her twin bows in her hair, she hurried downstairs and was about to head out of the kitchen, when her Mom called out to her.

"Madoka! You forgot your obligatory toast!"

She took the toast, stuffed it in her mouth, said a muffled thank you, and was out the door. She soon caught up with her friends Hitomi and Sayaka along the way. The sun shone pleasantly down on the path through the park as other students began to trickle in alongside them. Before long they were through the doors and sitting within the transparent walls of their classroom.

"As usual, there's a transfer student," their teacher announced dryly, lazily gesturing towards a girl at the front of the class.

Madoka stared blankly at the student in amazement, for she was now looking at the very same girl from her dream. She contemplated this bizarre occurrence for a moment, before reaching what she saw was the only reasonable conclusion. She leaned slowly towards Sayaka, who sat at the desk beside her, and whispered, "I think I'm still dreaming."

"I'm pretty sure you're not, Madoka," she replied.

"But I saw that girl in my dream last night…"

Sayaka rolled her eyes. "Madoka, maybe she lives near you and you just saw her somewhere."

"But everyone's house has see-through walls, so I would know if she lived near me…"

"Well I guess you're still dreaming then. Nice," Sayaka conceded, though she hardly appeared to be convinced.

The class passed quickly for Madoka, whose thoughts were constantly straying back towards the girl. She had a very stern demeanor, never smiling or even making much facial expression at all. During break she was besieged by her curious classmates, whose questions generally received short answers. Suddenly, however, she rose from her seat, and walked towards Madoka's desk.

"You are the nurse's aide for this classroom, correct?" she asked in a rather lifeless voice.

"How did you know?"

She gave her long, straight black hair a toss. "It's complicated."

"Uh, okay," said Madoka, walking with her to the door, "So are you okay? What happened to you?"

"Angst."

The two of them continued in silence until Homura stepped in front of Madoka and stood there looking intently at her for a moment before saying. "Do you like things the way they are?"

Madoka stopped, taken back by the abrupt question. "Y-Yes…?"

"Good. Then never do anything to change that."

"What do you mean, Homura?" asked Madoka, her blank expression giving away her complete lack of understanding.

The transfer student gripped the bridge of her nose and sighed, closing her eyes. "Honestly, I don't even know anymore. I've tried explaining this so many ways. One time, I just made you read "Doctor Faustus"."

"I don't really know-"

"But you ended up missing the point pretty hard. So just," Homura sighed again and placed a hand on the other girl's shoulder, "Like, be careful, okay?"

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, without Homura approaching her again. After realizing that she was most likely still dreaming, Madoka began to forget about her brief and confusing conversation with the transfer-student/figment of her imagination. After school, she and Sayaka went to the mall. Sayaka suggested going to get CDs, which somehow still existed.

Madoka was listening to a sample they had in-store when she began to hear a faint voice that sounded as if it was somehow very close to her. When, even after she had removed her headphones, the voice remained, she tapped Sayaka on the shoulder. Her friend took her headphones off as well.

"Do you think Yeezus would be a good gift for a hospitalized musician?" Sayaka asked.

Madoka looked curiously around the room. "Sayaka, do you hear that?"

Sayaka shook her head and returned to her music, but Madoka wandered out of the store, and the sound grew more distinct.

"Madoka…Madoka…" it called.

She followed the sound of the mysterious and bodiless voice down into a dark storage level that was made mostly of concrete and ominous shadows. A shaft above her began to rattle and shake, until one of its metal panels gave way and clattered to the floor, accompanied by the very same white creature she had seen in her dream. It was battered and bloodied. Madoka picked it delicately up from the floor, cradling it in her arms.

"Wow, that was easy. Do they not have stranger danger in Japan?" it said. Although its mouth did not move, Madoka could hear the voice in her head, and recognized it as the same one that had been calling out to her.

"Seriously Madoka," said Homura, emerging from the darkness, "You are basically begging to be kidnapped."

The foreign creature stared up at Madoka with a face that was totally lacking in any sort of emotional quality. "You know, you'd never have to worry about getting kidnapped if you became a magi-"

A shot rang out, and Madoka turned to see Homura holding a smoking gun in the air. "Madoka, I need you to let go of Kyubey."

"Why do you want to hurt this Pokémon, Homura?" asked Madoka, eyes trembling.

"How about you take this fire extinguisher instead!" shouted Sayaka, smashing Homura over the head with the metal container. She grabbed Madoka by the hand, yanking her to her feet, and they took off. The two of them ran down a dimly lit hallway that seemed to be growing darker as they went on.

At once, everything around them began to shift and change into bizarre shapes and forms. They were suddenly running down a path of huge, dancing weeds with mustaches. Beyond was what looked like a Tim Burton-themed amusement park.

"Madoka why didn't you pay attention on stranger-danger day?!" Sayaka cried out.

As the mustached plants circled closer and closer, and the two girls were forced together, Kyubey still in Madoka's arms, something dropped down beside them. It was a slightly older looking, blonde girl. She waved her hand, and a row of ornate-looking muskets appeared before her. In a series of flashes, bangs, and puffs of smoke, she proceeded to decimate the entire advancing group, tossing each weapon aside after firing it. Their surroundings slowly returned to normal.

"Amazing…" breathed Sayaka.

Homura slipped out of the shadows. "What are you wearing, Mami? You look like an 1800s prostitute," she said in her bored monotone.

"I will overlook this," the blonde girl said, staring down the other girl, "Only because I do not wish to fight you in front of them."

"You may also want to consider just buying one actual gun," Homura muttered to herself as she stalked off into the darkness.

Kyubey coughed, then looked up at Madoka and Sayaka. "Alright, so who wants to become a magical girl now?"