"Alright – let's see what you can do."
It was late evening. Helga, Phoebe, and Gloria, stood behind the rear of an old abandoned building. Phoebe was standing opposite the two other girls as they observed and assessed her fighting abilties. Phoebe's eyes were glazed over, and she looked scared and unsure; she turned to Helga for guidance.
"It's okay, Phoebe," said Helga, reassuringly. "Gloria's here to help you. Just do what she says."
Phoebe sighed and nodded her head. In an instant, she was in her maid Puella Magi costume before them. She then forcefully outstretched both her hands; several fencing swords materialized above her head, then simultaneously struck the ground in a circular pattern around Phoebe. Gloria nodded approvingly while Helga just stared, her mouth agape.
"Whoa," remarked Helga, speechless.
"Not bad," admitted Gloria "Impressive, even."
For the first time in days, Phoebe allowed herself to smile weakly, feeling at home with the sound of praise.
"But wasn't there something else you could do?" asked Gloria innocently.
The smile on Phoebe's face quickly dissipated, and turned to apprehension as she immediately balked. "Well, uh…I can't really control it…"
"I see," Gloria said, pensively. She tapped her chin with her gloved hand. "Alright, then. Perhaps this will help to jumpstart it." She struck the ground with her staff and in an instant, the entire area that the girls occupied was shrouded in fog.
A low bleating noise seemingly came out of nowhere. Phoebe looked to her left; out of the haze emerged a large ram with a sharp pair of horns. The beast looked angry, and dug its hooves in the ground before charging straight for her.
Phoebe shrieked and attempted to run away from the ram, but it quickly close the gap between them. Finally, all Phoebe could do is shield herself from the impending attack.
"Phoebe!" Helga yelled.
The ram's hooves drove straight through her friends body, and she was literally lifted off the ground. Infuriated, Helga grabbed Gloria by the collar. "What the hell are you doing? I told her you'd help her, not shish-ka-bob her!"
"But I did help her," responded Gloria., pointing above her head. Helga looked upward; sure enough, Phoebe several feet in the air, dangling precariously from an emergency escape ladder attached to the building. Looking back at the ram, Helga realized that it was merely a decoy, the two puncture wounds were leaking rice onto the ground.
Phoebe let go of the ladder and Helga broke her fall. Gloria tapped her staff on the ground a second time, and the fog and ram had dissipated. "Interesting. Right now it only looks like you can use your second power in times of stress, but with enough practice, you should be able to control it to your benefit."
"So, will she be alright?"
Gloria smiled and nodded. "She'll be fine. She just needs to get her feet wet, but she has the potential to be a very powerful Puella Magi."
"You hear that, Phoebes? You're a natural!" Helga patted Phoebe encouragingly on the back.
"Now let's get going – perhaps we can find an easy target for you today."
"Wait, you're making her hunt witches ALREADY?" asked Helga, incredulously.
"Relax. I'll only have her fight the familiars for now, then when she hones her skill set and she thinks she's ready, Phoebe can tackle witches. Besides, it's in her best interest to become a competent fighter as soon as possible."
"And why's that?" asked Helga, but Gloria was already out of earshot.
"Do you really think I can do this Helga?" Phoebe asked quietly, looking at the ground.
"Hey…you're the smartest girl at P.S. 118. If you can handle a crap load of homework and tests, you can handle this. Now let's go kick some butt."
After some brief searching, the three girls quickly found themselves deep in the heart of a familiar's nest. Grotesque creatures (oddly enough, in the shape of bagpipes) hovered overhead in a circle, making a cacophonous din.
Helga covered her ears with her hand to block out the noise. "This is giving me a headache…!" she complained, but her words fell (literally) on deaf ears, as the bagpipe creatures drowned out any and all sound in the area.
About twenty metres from where the girls stood, a giant version of the bagpipe-creatures lumbered slowly and lazily on the ground. From its horns came the occasional burst of sound, strong enough to knock a person off their feet if they were in the way.
Gloria glanced at Phoebe and nodded knowingly; Phoebe glanced back and, after a moment's hesitation, gulped and nodded back. Then, the two girls simultaneously charged at the gigantic creature.
"You can do it, Phoebes!" yelled Helga, her voice once again overtaken by the horrible noise.
Gloria lead in the assault as she slammed her staff into the ground; a long line of sheep materialized from where she stood to one of the "mouths" of the bagpipe-monster situated several metres from the ground. She used the makeshift pathway to make a beeline straight for the top, but was blown off-course when another "mouth" assailed her with a sour note.
Unfazed, Gloria stamped her staff on the ground a second time; this time, several sheep appeared stacked vertically before her. Using her staff as a baseball bat, she swung and hit every sheep high into the air, above and towards her target. The bagpipe creature blew its horn again, but rather than blow the sheep away, the sheep's fleece actually grew in size as they descended down onto their target; one in particular found itself lodged atop the bagpipe's main horn. The bagpipe monster struggled to expel its air, but to no avail.
Now was Phoebe's chance. She charged at the beast, which was all the while expanding larger and larger due to the build of air inside of it. Sloppily, but very forcefully, she extended both her arms outward, and the gesture translated into a line of fencing swords which made a path along the side of the monster, to the beast's summit. Phoebe hopped from hilt to hilt of each sword, the ascended a ladder made by more swords, until finally she found herself on the very top of the bagpipe-monster. Exhausted and out breath, Phoebe expended the last of her energy by outstretching her palms above her. Hundreds of fencing swords came raining down from the sky above, and she collapsed just as they made impact, causing the overblown creature to pop like a balloon.
No sooner had the creature been vanquished did the area revert to its normal state, a narrow alleyway. Phoebe – who was back to her regular self – was still lying on the ground, unconscious, and Helga ran to her aid.
"Phoebe!" she yelled, propping her friend's head up with her hands. Eventually, Phoebe's eyes fluttered open.
"D-did we win?" she said raspily.
Helga nodded. "You smoked 'em. I knew you could do it." Helga took Phoebe into her arms in an embrace.
"Not bad for your first time," conceded Gloria, also back to her civilian form. "You mind if I take a look at your soul gem?"
Phoebe nodded and pulled it out for Gloria to see. Helga noticed that, unlike Gloria's soul gem, Phoebe's was blue in colour. Also, unlike Gloria's, she noticed that its glow was significantly dimmer, almost muddy in comparison.
"Hmm," said Gloria. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out a small object. It was about the same size of a soul gem, but it was black in colour and pointy, almost resembling a needle.
"What's that?" asked Helga.
"A Grief Seed," explained Gloria. "We expend a lot of energy when we use magic, and it gets reflected in our soul gems as a result. These things help to counteract the eventual deterioration. May I?"
Helga took Phoebe's soul gem to give to Gloria, who then proceeded to hold both it and the grief seed an inch apart from each other. Suddenly, the grief seed began to respond to the close proximity of the soul gem and sap away the dark energy, recharging the soul gem to its original blue luster.
Gloria tossed the soul gem back, then brandished the grief seed deliberately in front of the two girls. "This is why we need to fight witches. Our soul gems must be purified regularly if they are to be any use to us. Don't ever let your soul gem get too corrupted. Understood?"
Helga and Phoebe both nodded.
"Good," Gloria placed the grief seed in her pocket and turned away from them. "I need to dispose of this. That's enough for today, go home and rest."
As Gloria walked away, Helga helped Phoebe to her feet.
"Feeling better now, Phoebes?" asked Helga.
"I think so, Helga, thanks," replied Phoebe.
"Hey, Sheep Girl! So when can we expect to see you again?"
Gloria stopped abruptly in her tracks. At first Helga thought she was going to answer her question, but when she turned around, she could see the look of absolute dread painted on her face.
"Hey…Gloria? You OK?"
Immediately, Gloria went back to her Puella Magi form.
Before Helga could react, Gloria was at her side, and was kicked into a nearby pile of garbage so hard that the wind was knocked out of her. She stomped her staff on the ground and the area where Helga lay immediately became shrouded in fog.
"Sorry, but it was for her own good," she explained to a mortified Phoebe. "Listen, you need to change back right away."
"Why?" asked Phoebe. But Gloria didn't get a chance to respond. The answer came from overhead when two Puella Magis descended from the sky onto the group.