"And then, by mustering all the power with Gurren Lagann's mighty drill, we drilled right through that beastman and got that big-ass gunman for ourselves! I thought right then and there that it was the end of the line, and then I woke up in that crazy place, and then you showed up." Kamina finished his tale with a grin. "Gotta say though, never thought I'd end up in a fancy place like this after kicking the bucket. But that's enough out of me blondie, now it's your turn to tell me what I don't know!"
"That's…quite the interesting story you have Kamina-san." Mami replied smiling. However that smile only masked the sorrow she felt for him on the inside. "I can't believe how ridiculous that story was. Mecha? Beastmen? Living underground? This poor man must have hit his head so hard in there he probably can't remember a thing about who he is!" She thought to herself. She decided to play along with it for now, as he told the story with a huge amount of pride, and that wasn't really something she wanted to destroy. She figured his real memories ought to come back sooner or later. "Well, I can assure you we do not live in fear of these "beastmen." She continued. "None of live underground either. Everyone lives peaceful lives on the surface, but there are creatures that disrupt that peace. Those are the witches."
"I don't get it, how the hell are things so peaceful around here if there are things like those running around?" Kamina asked, taking another bite out of the cake. "Wouldn't people be on the lookout for those things or something?"
"They can't. Regular people are unaware of their existence. They hide in their labyrinths, which was where we were, and they hypnotize people into doing terrible things. All of the murders and suicides that occur here without a clear motive are all caused by witches hiding in their labyrinths." Mami replied sadly.
"Yeesh! What a bunch of cowards, doing their dirty work hiding in the shadows like that!" Kamina replied angrily at this information. "At least the beastmen actually had the nerve to show themselves for a fight!"
"They are cowardly. This is why it is the duty of magical girls like myself to find and hunt them down."
"Wait a second! If they hide and the shadows and all, then how did you find out about them blondie?"
"That was my doing." Came a reply from the small white creature. It hopped on Mami's shoulder. "Since witches are born from curses, then magical girls are born from wishes. Simply speaking, I grant a girl a wish, and in turn, they become magical girls that fight the witches."
"Whoa, hold on a minute fuzzball! Are you saying you just take girls from their own lives and force them to fight those things?" Kamina replied, shocked and angry at that.
"Of course not!" Mami quickly responded, taken aback by the sudden outburst. "Kyubey certainly does not force anyone to make to the contract. In fact…he saved my life." Mami paused for a minute, to let it sink into Kamina that she thought Kyubey was definitely not an enemy. He remained silent, but he continued to stare at the white rabbit and cat mixture, trying to get a reaction out of it. "I was...in a terrible accident with my parents. I thought for sure I was going to die, but then Kyubey came to me and offered his contract, saving my life. Now I must fight witches for the rest of my life as a magical girl to protect this city."
"So let me get this straight fuzzball. You grant little girls wishes, and then they gotta go and continue to fight these witch things for the rest of their life?" Kamina replied with a small hint of suspicion in his voice to the creature.
"You are correct." It replied, still not showing any emotion in its face or its voice, which Kamina didn't like.
"What if they decide that they don't want to go and fight witches and just take the wish and go huh? What then?" Kamina replied, pushing his face a little bit closer to the creature, trying to intimidate it.
"K-Kamina-san, please calm down." Replied Mami, stepping back a bit. She considered Kyubey a friend, and prepared herself if Kyubey was about to become attacked. She put her guard up as Kyubey replied to Kamina's question.
"No magical girl I've ever made a contract with has ever said no to fighting witches before. However, should they continue to use magic, it could become a problem for their Soul Gem." As he said this, Mami took out what looked like a fancy gemstone from underground to show him. "If they use magic recklessly, their Soul Gems will gradually get dirty, to the point where it could become dangerous to use magic. To replenish their magic, they hunt witches, who drop the Grief Seeds that clean the Soul Gems."
Kamina continued to stare angrily at Kyubey. The tiny white creature wasn't fazed at all by his glare. He didn't know what it was, but something about that little thing really pissed him off. Mami took notice to this, and tried to think of something to change the subject. Thankfully, there was a knock on her door right at that moment. She put Kyubey down and walked off to go answer it as Kamina continued his staring contest with Kyubey.
"This whole wish-to-magical-girl thing sounds a bit fishy coming from you fuzzball! Call it a gut-instinct but I'm getting the feeling that there's something you're not telling her!" He then shoved his angry face right into the creature's face; however it showed no sign of intimidation.
"I have told her everything she needs to know when making the contract. I grant their wishes, and they get a responsibility to fight wishes for the benefit of humanity. Doesn't it seem like a win-win situation to you?" Kamina was about to respond when Mami came back into the room, along with two other girls who looked around her age.
They both wore the same white shirt and red bow tie that Mami was currently wearing. The only thing that set them apart from one another was the fact that one of them was slightly taller with blue hair and the other was shorter with pink hair with ribbons. Naturally, he was the first thing they laid their eyes on when they walked in.
"Uh…Mami-san, who's the dude sitting here?" Said the one with the blue hair.
"Oh, I just rescued him from a witch labyrinth." Mami replied. Kamina scoffed at the word "rescued." He was pretty sure they both kicked a lot of ass in there. She introduced the two girls to Kamina. "Madoka-san and Sayaka-san, this is Kamina-san. Kamina-san, this is Madoka-san and Sayaka-san. They have been chosen by Kyubey and are potential magical girls." She said while pointing to him which was which. Kamina looked a bit shocked and taken aback by that.
"Potential?! Hang on a second there blondie! You mean to tell me these two are planning on doing that whole witch-hunting thing too?" The two girls nodded.
"Well yeah! We don't want Mami-san fighting alone out there!" Sayaka spoke up. Madoka nodded.
"Right! We would like to become magical girls, but we haven't decided on a wish just yet."
Kamina stared at those two girls with disbelief. He took a quick look outside the window. There were no beastmen, no gunmen, and no wastelands. Just a setting sun where a few people walked around outside. It was the kind of world he always wanted. A world where people could look up at the sky without worrying about being attacked. But here there were these girls about to throw away all that and join a fight that they didn't need to join! There was no way in hell that the mighty Kamina would sit back and let two innocent little girls throw their lives away like that.
"Sorry, but that will no longer be necessary!" Kamina stood up and put an arm around Mami. "Because starting today, me and blondie here will re-form the ultimate team Dai-Gurren and take care of the witches!" He whipped out his triangle sunglasses, put them on his head, and shot his hand upwards while pointing his index finger towards the ceiling as he shouted that. The entire apartment went silent for a few moments before Mami spoke up.
"Who said anything about you and I teaming up Kamina-san?" Kamina looked down on her with a questioning look on his face. "I'm flattered that you seem concerned for them, but you're only a male civilian, even if you can see Kyubey. You certainly can't become a magical girl. It was pure luck that I was able to save you from that labyrinth." Kamina was about to retort against that, but Madoka spoke up.
"Um-about that, we came here wondering if you were going to go fighting another witch tonight Mami-san!"
"Well…I just came back from fighting a witch." Madoka's and Sayaka's expressions immediately saddened. "But I supposed we could go look for one more tonight." She replied smiling. Kamina wasn't however as he took his arm off of her.
"Are you nuts? We can't bring two innocent bystanders to a place like before! Are you trying to get those two killed?!"
"Hey! For your information mister, we know perfectly well what those places are like! We've been with her to witch labyrinths before!" Sayaka retorted as she pointed her finger towards him. Kamina responded by pushing his angry face in front of hers.
"If that's true, then you know it ain't exactly paradise in those places right? Are your really sure you want to spend the rest of your life fighting in places like those?"
"Kamina-san, please!" Mami shouted. "Listen, they are well aware of the risks of becoming magical girls. However, it is their choice if they want to become them. Please don't pressure them!"
"I'm not saying that they don't have a choice, I'm saying that I think it's something they just shouldn't do!"
"But…I've always wanted to be someone who could help people." Madoka sighed. Everyone in the room turned their heads towards her. I mean…I've never been really good at anything in my life, and if becoming a magical girl could change that…then I don't think I could be happier!"
Kamina looked at Madoka with awe. The tone of her voice was shy, but determined. She sounded like becoming someone useful to everyone around her was her main goal. Thinking more deeply about it, he could understand why she and her friend were so excited at this opportunity. She sounded like someone who wanted to become stronger. Almost like a certain person who was like a little brother to Kamina before.
"Simon…" Kamina thought to himself. He would probably jump at an opportunity such as this. Of course, Kamina would be there to catch him and tell him that the only thing he needed to do to be strong, is to use his drill to bust through the heavens! That was exactly what he felt like he should do here. He just needed to figure out a different way to tell them that.
"Well, if we've all calmed down now, I think we have enough time to go hunt a small familiar tonight." Mami spoke up. "You're welcome to come along with us too, Kamina-san. Now is everyone ready?" Everyone nodded. Mami and the girls along with Kyubey walked on ahead out of the apartment, but Kamina remained in the back and thought to himself.
"I'm not liking the feel of the wish and magical girl business. That fuzzball's definitely hiding something, and I'm gonna find out what it is! There is no way in hell that I'm just going to sit back and let little girls force themselves to do a man's job of fighting the forces of evil! Just who the hell do they think I am?!"
…PHEW! Damn this was a tough one to write. Kamina was HELL to keep in character for this part. Also, just a heads up here folks, there will be absolutely NO SHIPPING OF ANY KIND in this story. Got that? Just letting you know.
But anyways, it looks like Kamina's not exactly too fond of this whole contract business! But what can he possibly do about it? Find out next chapter!
Next Chapter: All you need is a fighting spirit!
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!
