Another wraith swung with his whip-like arm. Mami managed to cartwheel out of the way, narrowly dodging the blow. She regained her footing, aimed her rifle, and fired. The blast went straight through the monter's head, causing it to crumble like a depixilating video game villain.
Another one roared behind her. She spun on her heals, preparing to shoot this one, but before she could, the haggard figure split in half right down the middle.
"Watch your back!" Kyoko snapped as she got back to her feet.
"I was doing fine," Mami smiled back, playfully bickering with her.
"Yeah, sure you were," Kyoko laughed, flicking her wrist and impaling the wraith trying to sneak up on her.
Two more charged, but in a moment, as soon as they had sprung up, two glowing arrows hit them square between the eyes, and they collapsed, and Homura landed before the two other magical girls, having just flown in on her radiant angel wings.
And with that, the miasma faded, and the wraiths disintegrated into piles of grief cubes. The girls found themselves on the rooftop as normal once again.
"It looks like that's the last of them," Homura stated.
"Yep, another job well done," Mami nodded as she and Kyoko went around gathering the grief cubes.
Once they were done gathering the grief cubes, the girls all used them to purify their soul gems until they were clear as crystals. They still had plenty more left over for later as well.
"Seems like that's all of them for tonight," Mami said, looking out over the city once again. "I was thinking. Why don't we go see a late movie?"
"Sounds great!" Kyoko exclaimed. "You in, Homura?"
"Not tonight," Homura replied sullenly. "We have that one homework assignment due tomorrow, and I'm tired."
"Oh, alright," Kyoko replied. "Yeah, I guess I should get to that too." She was clearly disappointed.
"Alright, but then how about on Friday?" Mami suggested, a smile returning to her face. "We'll all finish off the wraiths as quick as we can, then all go to the movies together!"
Homura looked between the two hopeful faces awaiting her response. "Alright," She finally said in a huff. "I suppose it will be fun."
"Awesome!" Kyoko exclaimed.
"I'm looking forward to it," Mami smiled.
Before they could head out, Kyubey suddenly appeared from over the side of the building.
"Hello girls," He said warmly. "Any grief cubes for me tonight?"
"Yeah, we have some," Homura said. The three girls each scooped up their used grief cubes and tossed them at the little white beast. He spun and danced to catch them all in the pouch on his back.
"Thank you," He said. "It seems then that everything went well tonight?"
"Yeah, the usual," Kyoko shrugged. "Nothing special."
"Good to hear," Kyubey replied, wiggling his ears. "Well then, if you'll excuse me, I must be off. I have a very important business meeting with the other incubators tonight." With that, the creature turned and leapt off the building.
"You guys ever get the feeling that that guy is out to get us?" Kyoko asked, scratching her head.
"He is," Homura stated simply. She decided not to completely spill the beans.
"Yes I'll admit, Mami replied, a little sadness in her tone. "After everything that's happened, I do have reason to suspect him. I try to be optimistic about it though, and tell myself that he's doing his best to guide us and do his job at protecting humanity from the evils that manifest into wraiths."
Kyubey stood in a large auditorium, surrounded by other incubators, facing a tall desk. Upon this floating pedestal sat five more incubators clad in ornate jewelry, the council.
Kyubey held a pointing stick in one "ribbon" on his head, pointing it at the holographic diagram beside him, projecting various figures and images to aid in his argument.
"So as you can see here," Kyubey continued, "The mental and emotional states of human adolescent girls fluctuates in almost volatile patters. Not only that, but by fighting wraiths, facing such negative emotion, and by using their energy, they only come to bear more negative emotion, and therefore more energy. Therefore, one magical girl has more energy potential than any any wraith, which is merely a collection of the negative emotions in the general area, and therefore a more potent source.
"In conclusion, if we could harvest magical girls for their energy, our efforts would be trippled in production and efficiency, and we would meet our quota that much sooner."
His argument done, the holographic diagram disappeared. Already the conference room was a booming with gossip and chatter as incubators in the stands discussed their individual views on the proposal.
The council glanced between each other, their faces as unmoving as the rest of their race, waiting for someone to speak.
"Kyubey, you do provide a very strong argument," the grand high incubator finally spoke. Once he started, a blanket of silence fell over the stands. "However, there are a few loopholes in your suggestion. First, you suggest that we overturn the Subjects' Rights Act, and disregard all feels the humans may have with being treated in such a way."
"As I have said before," Kyubey replied. "Times have changed. The demand for energy for holding back entropy has increased, and such cases of moral cannot be afforded to be taken into account. Many cultures we have seen over the years have abandoned religion in times of economic evolution, so why should we not do the same."
"I agree with Kyubey's argument," announced another incubator from the stands.
"As do I," added another. "I believe our needs and our duties outweigh theirs."
"I support this as well," exclaimed another incubator, Antsubey. "I grow tire of these humans anyhow. They treat their animals as livestock, why should we not do the same to the fullest extent we can?"
"I disagree," shouted another one. This was a voice Kyubey recognized, Obey, a member of the Council of Agreement. He was one of the incubators with a stronger preference to morale and values and considered the feelings of the subjects. Kyubey did not like him.
A few more started gossiping about agreeing until the Grand High Incubator spoke again. "We will take a vote. Those in favor of overturning the Subjects' Rights Act in regards to humans?"
The Incubators in favor each flashed a light from their heads. The number with lights far outweighed the number that did not light up.
"Very well then, motion carried," The Grand High Incubator stated. "However, the other issue to be aware of is that The Law of Cycles causes the soul of all magical girls to disappear once their soul becomes clouded with negative emotions. As far as we know, it is impossible to harvest the soul of a magical girl at the right moment because of this."
"But suppose there was such a way," asked another incubator from the stands. "I do not think that Kyubey would take the time or effort or research to make such a proposal if it were impossible to harvest magical girls." This was Ruubey, an incubator with ideals more similar to Kyubey.
"Indeed," Kyubey added. "I do believe it is possible."
"Indeed," said the Grand High Incubator musingly. After another moment of silence, and the high council exchanging glances, the Grand High Incubator spoke again. "Very well Kyubey. The council accepts your proposal. If you can come up with a method for harvesting energy from magical girls without the Law of Cycles interfering, we will accept it."
"Excellent," Kyubey nodded.
"However, I repeat that finding such a method is entirely up to you, and you alone."
"Not to worry," Kyubey replied. "I have done research on that as well, and I believe I know just the man for the job."
Later, Kyubey was in his own private realm, a large glass room of colors constantly shifting back and forth like an ocean. With a flick and a twist of his ribbons, he crocked them into an "L" position. This was a communication method that incubators used to contact other incubators from a long distance. It was similar to the cell phones that humans had.
After a moment of waiting, he got the response he wanted.
"Huh? What? Hello?" A voice replied. It was the Eastern United States Incubator, Doobey. "Who is it?"
"Doobey, it's me, Kyubey," Kyubey replied.
"KYUBEY!" Doobey nearly screamed on the other end. "Hey buddy! It's great to hear from you again! I haven't talked to you since... uh... when was it? Anyway, how are things?"
"Doobey, are you using human recreational drugs again?" Kyubey asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"...uh... no? I don't think-"
"It does not matter. I have a task for you."
"Yeah? Sure. Anything bro."
"Doobey, who are you talking to?" asked a new voice at the other end. Obviously female. It must have been one of Doobey's clients.
"Oh, hey Penny. Hey I told you about my friend Kyubey, right? Well he's on the phone right now, wanna say hi?"
"Nah, that's okay, I'm talking over here. Just tell him I said hi."
"Okay. So Kyubey, Penny here says... uh, what did you want me to tell him again?"
Kyubey put a paw to his face and sighed.
"Okay, yeah, Penny said hi."
"Doobey, listen to me," Kyubey said, a little more sternly now. "I need you to go to Springwood Ohio, and enter the dreams of someone who is asleep there. Are you following me so far?"
"Ohio... Springwood... Dreams... what's this about anyway?"
"We've decided to harvest magical girls for energy."
"Woah woah woah! Wait, what?"
"It seems you've missed the conference," Kyubey huffed. "Not all that surprising to me."
"Dude, we can't do that. That's horrible! Wasn't there like an act for that, and some protesting. I think I was there."
Kyubey groaned. He had forgotten that Doobey was one of the incubators that considered the morale and values of subjects. And courtesy of the drugs he had been taking, he had become more attached to emotions, which heightened his attachment to clients and his consideration of their feelings.
"It seems you are incapable of this task," Kyubey sighed. "Nevermind then. I will come over there and deal with it myself."
"Oh okay then," Doobey replied. "Well stop by my place some time so we can smoke some stuff. "Penny's friend got this stash of weed the other day. You'll LOVE it! I know I do!"
"So you admit that you are using human drugs?"
"I'm using drugs? Who told you! It was Antsubey! Wasn't it? She's such a snitch! And a buzzkill, and a bitch."
"Goodbye Doobey." Kyubey straightened out his ears, hanging up.