Chapter 2: A Bag of Witches

Hikaru opened his eyes to see his ceiling fan spinning slowly in a continuous circle. He sat up and stretched his back. To awaken in this world was nothing strange to him, but it always surprised him to see the sky blue sun and yellow-as-lemon sky before he realized where he was at. He shifted his covers and stepped on the warm, carpeted floor. He opened the door to a row of extravagant houses lining the street of the mysterious world. Everyone was up and active, except for Hikaru of course, who was still half asleep.

"Good morning Hikaru." Said one girl with green, rose-covered hair.

"Morning Gertrud, how are your roses?" asked Hikaru groggily.

"Blooming and better than ever!" chirped Gertrud.

"Tha...That's nice Gertrud." Yawned Hikaru. Hikaru walked along the sidewalk towards a long tube that stretched upwards into the yellow sky, encountering different girls each time.

"Hey Hikaru, finally awake, I see?" inquired a girl with long, black haired tied into pigtails and bangs covering half of her face.

"Well, I had a rough night last night. Those witches just seem to get more and more powerful, you know?" explained Hikaru.

"Why, good morning, brother Hikaru!" said a girl in a black, strapless dress and long, messy hair. Each follicle tipped with a leaf.

"Mornin' Elsa Maria. How's the cathedral going?" asked Hikaru more alertly than he was before.

"Oh, you know. The lord has blessed us all with a second chance to redo our lives, and repent for our sins. The other witches here must know of his everlasting joy and love." Preached Elsa Maria.

"You said it." Agreed Hikaru. He then walked off, nearing the tube. He entered a building with a front desk, and the tube sticking smack-dab in the middle of the room. He approached a girl with black, ragged hair and a skull mask on.

"Good morning Hikaru. I'm assuming you're heading out of the bag?" said the girl.

"Exactly. I have some witches to hunt. Send me up, Cecil?" asked Hikaru.

"Sure thing." Said Cecil, as she pushed a green button. Hikaru stepped into the tube and was shot straight up to the edge of the sky. The sky disappeared, leaving nothing but black, and he then found himself jumping out of his bag and landing on his bed in his room. He straightened himself up, took out his soul gem, transformed, grabbed his backpack, and ran downstairs to his mother, father, and little sister, Hina.

"Morning sleepyhead. Here's your breakfast. Eat fast, you're gonna be late for school." Said his mother.

"Thanks mom. Well, I'm off!" said Hikaru as he ran out the door.

...

Mitakihara High School was an average high school within the city of Mitakihara City. It went on a daily schedule, with the occasional fire drills and snow days interrupting the sequence. But when that cleared itself out, it went back into its droning schedule. New students weren't common, but they did happened.

"Men are such…such…IMBECILES!" droned Ms. Saotomi. "They promise that they will go out on dates with you. But, oh no, they 'have to go on meetings' or 'have to attend their cousin's wedding'. Not even ACKNOWLEDGING their partner's feelings. Boys, never make appointments without addressing your woman. And girls, never date a man who has to make excuses just to not go on a date with you!" complained Ms. Saotomi

"I guess this didn't turn out well either." Remarked Sayaka expectedly.

"Now children, we have a new student. He came all the way from America, so be kind to him. Come on in!" said Ms. Saotomi. A boy with green hair stepped into the classroom.

"Hello, I am Hikaru O'Connor. I was born here, but I move to America after the bombing of Tokyo. I am, as you can tell, both fluent in Japanese and English. I hope we can all be friends." Explained Hikaru.

"Why does that kid seem so familiar?" inquired Sayaka. Hikaru moved his bangs from his face, briefly showing a silver ring on his finger with the runes "Hikaru" displayed. Madoka and Sayaka gasped in wonder, as they received many questioning looks from their classmates.

After school, Madoka and Sayaka brought Hikaru on the rooftop. The other three were already present.

"Hi, Hikaru. We met before." Said Hikaru

"Ah, yes! I remember you! From the other night with Deidre." Responded Mami. "I am Mami Tomoe. The redhead's Kyoko Sakura, and the girl with the glasses is Homura Akemi. I believe you have already met Madoka and Sayaka." Spoke Mami.

"Yeah, yeah. Enough with the damn introductions already. Now tell me, what the hell was with all that witch swirling?" demanded Kyoko.

"Here, I'll explain just all that in a sec. but first, remember that witch from last time?" Hikaru asked as a small, clear ball containing a grief seed popped out of his bag. He held the ball high up in the air and yelled "I summon the ballerina witch with an unnoticeable nature; DEIDRE!" he threw the ball on the ground. Pink light flashed and revealed a girl in a ballerina tutu with hair tied in a bun and a line running down her face. Runes appeared reading "Deidre".

"I am a magical boy, or a Puer Magi. Aliens like Kyubey usually only hunt girls. But there are certain boys who have experienced a horrific trauma, and developed enough emotions to be of use to the Incubators. I am one of them." Explained Hikaru to the astonished magical girls.

"Well, what was your wish?" asked Madoka inquisitively.

"I wished that I could take witches and give them a paradise, one where they won't have to worry about any of their problems ever again. I now have this backpack that captures witches, and reverts them into a more humane form. This is Deidre, she's the witch we battled the other night."

"Hello. I hope that I'm not much of a trouble to you." Said Deidre with a soft voice.

"Well, okay Deidre. I time for you to return." Said Hikaru.

"Of course. Goodbye everyone!" said Deidre as she turned into energy and transformed into a grief seed. The grief seed then was concealed by a plastic ball, and flew into Hikaru's bag.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…how do you get grief seeds to purify your gem if you're capturing witches here and there?" asked Sayaka rather rudely.

"Not every witch I battle wants to go into paradise. So I just let them die and use their grief seed. It's sad, yes, but I can't force them all to join." Answered Hikaru regretfully.

"But luckily, the witches I do capture help me fight really powerful witches." Said Hikaru more cheerfully.

"I chose him because his power is special. He's amazing with his talent, and he is very kind to the witches that he makes friends with. How could I NOT see great potential in him?" said Kyubey as he entered the conversation from nowhere.

"Oh, hey Kyubey. How is the recruiting going?" asked Hikaru.

"Not well. Mitakihara City doesn't have anyone with much potential. So I am looking to go to Kazamino City on the east border for a few weeks. I won't be here for long, but you can always call me when you need me!" chirped Kyubey through his non-moving mouth.

"Wait, I'm picking up a witch. This one seems powerful. We need to go quick, I think some people have already been kissed by the witch." Interrupted Mami.

"Well, what are we still doing here? Let's go fight us a witch!" said Hikaru excitedly. They all transformed and leapt of the roof of the school, heading toward the slowly setting sun in pursuit of a witch.

The Holy Quintet (probably a sextet now) was battling the familiars of the witch. The familiars were keeping the magical girls from reaching the witch, and they were doing a very good job.

"I, Homura, and Mami are heading on to the witch. I'll give you guys some help." Yelled Hikaru in the crowd of rampaging familiars. "I summon the rose garden witch with a distrustful nature," Hikaru yelled, "GERTRUD!" he then threw a grief seed at the crowd and a girl with green, rose-covered hair, butterfly wings, and a long dress with black string hanging at the bottom popped out and started throwing rose thorns at the familiars.

"We need to intercept the witch. You think you can pop another on out of that bag?" asked Mami.

"Of course here, but I need to read the witch's information." Responded Hikaru as they zoomed past the towers of cake and sweets.

"I think I see the witch." Said Homura. The witch did, in fact, appear before them. The witch was a small, doll-like witch that had a candy wrapper-shaped head and a small body. It was sitting at a tea table high up in the air. Runes appeared that read "Charlotte".

"I summon the shadow witch with a self-righteous nature. ELSA MARIA!" Hikaru screamed as he threw a ball to the ground. A girl with a black dress and leaf-tipped hair appeared in front of Hikaru.

"The witch is called Charlotte. It's the dessert witch with a tenacious nature. It's we can distract it with cheese. But we have to do this quick, it has a second form." Informed Hikaru.

"Right. Mami will take the left flank. I will take the right. And Hikaru, you and…her attack straight on." Commanded Homura. They all sped off to follow orders. Mami summoned dozens of muskets to attack the witch. The witch is thrown of its chair, and out popped a second form.

"Over here Missy Witchy!" yelled Homura to the right. She had a piece of cheese and seemed to be distracting the witch. It was working. The witch was heading over to Homura, while Mami and Elsa Maria ensnared the witch. Mami and Homura then began shooting the witch. The witch was about to die when…

"I give you freedom from your eternal despair that you suffer. Come into my paradise of witches, and experience eternal piece." Shouted Hikaru. The witch transformed into pink energy and reverted into a grief seed. The grief seed was then encased in a clear ball, and it then flew into Hikaru's bag.

"Yeesh, that battle seemed as easy as Deidre. Who keeps saying that these witches are hard?" said asked Hikaru.

"It's probably just because of the familiars." Said Kyoko as she, Madoka, Sayaka, and Gertrud approached the other three.

"How were the familiars?" asked Mami worriedly.

"They were a lot easier to defeat because of Gertrud here." Cheered Madoka.

"Oh please, think nothing of it. I was just doing my job." Added Gertrud.

"Well, your jobs are done. You guys can go now." Said Hikaru.

"Well, thank you for having me." Said Elsa Maria, as she reverted into a grief seed and went into the bag.

"I must go now. I hope that I was of use." Said Gertrud as she repeated the process that Elsa Maria did. The witch's barrier disappeared, and revealed the light of the sun slowly dissipating over the horizon.

"Walpurgisnacht will be a breeze with you, Hikaru." Said Madoka excitedly.

"I guess this is gonna be a new experience for me," Hikaru thought, "I just hope that I can get it right this time."

Well, that wraps up chapter 2. I'm going to add some more witch battles to next chapter, so some witch suggestions, captured or cameo, would be greatly appreciated. See you guys next time!