Chapter 10

I was finally back to my regular self and was staring off the rooftop at the city below. My hands were gently placed on the railing and I could hear the other talking loudly behind me.

"HEY!"

I immediately turned because someone was yelling loudly at me. bela had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot impatiently.

"Wait- I'm in this conversation, too!?"

Everyone just glared at me for a moment. I finally walked over and decided to join the conversation.

"First thing's first," Len said, "we need to test out your transformation, Lanie."

I stared at him with a confused look on my head, "trans- form- a- tion?"

Len crossed his arms, "Tadashi! Did you go over anything with her!?"

"It's not my fault I got stuck with the world's most-" he looked at me and then shut his mouth, "never mind."

"Fine, I'll do it myself." Len pulled a small charm out of his pocket. It was shaped as a yin- yang sign, only it was sky and royal blue with golden trim. "This is a transformation charm, everyone has one. It transforms you and it also captures monsters once you have defeated them. Each monster is ranked by level, level one is the easiest, level one hundred is the hardest."

The second I heard this, I thought of a video game. Monsters are always ranked in videos games... But, this wasn't a video game, it was something better.

"You can also release monsters from your charm." Tadashi added on, "but you have to be careful you don't release a powerful monster into the human world."

"This is how we're going to test your powers, by releasing a level one monster. That way you won't get defeated and we get to check out your transformation and weapons." Len said with a smile on his face.

He then threw the yin-yang charm in the air, "I summon level one monster, Plumph."

Immediately bright colors surrounded Len, it looked golden. The charm began to shape shift into a creature. It just looked like a white blob, but as the light calmed down, I could make out a shape.

"Seriously, Len..." Tadashi crossed his arms, "you have to name every monster, don't you!?"

"I think it's a cute name!" I added on... But it was strange that he was naming these monsters.

Suddenly, the sky turned golden and a creature formed at Len's feet. It was about a foot tall and was very fat. It has huge brown eyes and a cream colored body. It had stubby little legs and arms and a brown beak that matched its eyes.

"Awwwww, its so cute!" I said, running over to huggle it.

"Plumph is a bird based monster, he was my first catch. Once you defeat him, he will be yours to keep." Len smiled.

"Okay, so how do I get started?" I asked.

Len pulled out another charm from his pocket. It was a golden bell and was tied on a red ribbon. He walked over and placed it in my hands.

"It looks just like the cats," I muttered.

"That's because, you will become something just like her when you finish becoming a magical girl." Bela said.

"Just, hold the charm in your hands and believe in yourself. Then shout the words that come to you." Len said.

I held the charm in my hand and closed my eyes, "okay, here I go."

Everyone was watching me and I felt pressure. I would be laughed at if I messed up. I knew that I was bound to mess up. I couldn't feel any power running through my body, nothing was different.

Suddenly thoughts flooded in my head, the first day I met Len what he said to me, how he seemed to be the only one who cared, "how am I unique if there are 1,400 people who look just like me!?"

Then my body started to glow and I could feel energy flowing through my body, so many phrases went through my head. I could only pick one, though. "To save the memories of the world- make me neko~nya!"

Suddenly, pink waves surrounded my body flames and a circle formed below my feet. In the center of the circle was a pink star that suddenly turned golden. Light raised from the star and created a barrier around me. My body began to glow white and the bell that was once in my hand began to float besides me.

The ribbon that the bell was attached to grew longer and wider. It wrapped itself around my torso, creating a cream colored circle skirt. Then it formed a five- panel light pink strapless-top that overlapped with the skirt. The edges of the top ended with a point and everything had dark pink trim. Then another dark pink ribbon tied itself around my waist and formed a tiny bow. More dark pink ribbon wrapped itself around my upper arms and made a cute bow. It then formed cream colored gloves with another dark pink ribbon around the risk. Another dark pink ribbon wrapped around my left thigh. The ribbon then traveled down my legs to form dark pink knee-high boots with a cream colored bow on the tongue. Finally, the bell that was attached to the ribbon tied itself around my neck with a bow in the back.

As the circle and the flowing light faded away, I was left there, standing in front of everyone, with neko mimi and a tail on my body.

"I'll show you some neko spirit~ nya!" The words flowed out of my mouth with no hesitation.

Tadashi, Len, and Bela stood back up against the railing to watch the fight between me and Plumph.

I stood there, staring at the little bird. It just looked too adorable to defeat. The bird blushed and my heart nearly melted away.

"I can't... defeat it! It's too adorable!" I moaned.

"Lanie, you have to! If you don't then it will kill people in the city! It could even destroy the world!" Len said loudly.

"Destroy the world!?" I repeated.

My vision then went began to fade. Blackness appeared everywhere and I couldn't make out any colors. Everything became a shade of gray, even Plumph looked like a fat blob. I rubbed my eyes and tried to get my vision back to normal. I was terrified everyone would see how weak I truly was.

This didn't feel like me at all, I always made myself look perfect, so no one could see how weak I truly was... But I couldn't be perfect here. I couldn't hide the fact that if I was to make one simple mistake, the whole world would suffer the consequences. Even if I was facing a level one monster... or even a hundred level monster,one mistake could do unimaginable things to this world.

"This is why I can't mess up!" I muttered. I planted my feet into the ground. I closed my eyes and tried to think of how to summon a weapon.

My fingers touched the bell around my neck lightly, it rang softly. I immediately opened my eyes and everything was back to normal. I could finally see colors again. The bell still dangled slightly from my touch, swaying back and forth and making a soft sound. I ripped the bell off of my neck.

It dangled in my hand for a moment and I called out, "My memories- are forever in my heart! Neko Mimi Magica!"

Then a cream colored staff appeared before my eyes, the top was shaped as a heart and it was tied with a dark pink ribbon and a golden bell dangling in the center of heart. It was a little bit shorter then up to my shoulder.

I grabbed the staff in my hand and waved it around, "Neko Mimi Staff- Rainbow Wrap!"

The ribbons on the staff grew long and changed to the colors of the ends tightly wrapped themselves around Plumph. I pulled the staff backwards a tiny bit and Plumph's body got surrounded by white light.

"Captured!" I yelled as Plumph dissolved into a tiny pink bead. I ran over and scooped it up into my hand, "Collection complete!"

Everyone began to clap loudly, and before I knew it, I was back to wearing my school uniform with my bell on the ribbon laying on the palm of my hand.

"So, how was it!?" Bela asked with a smile.

It was strange to see Bela smile at me, it was the first time she's ever gone that. For once, I felt the rivalry between us cleared up.

"Lanie, you were perfect!" Len said with a kind smile.

"I-I c-can't do this! I make myself look strong and perfect, so no one will notice the weakness inside of me! If I even make the simplest mistake- the world will be punished! How can someone take that pressure!?" I turned around and ran for the door.

Tadashi leaned up against it, blocking me from leaving. I glared at him and he still didn't move.

"Just move!" I yelled at him, trying to push him out of the way.

"Do you know the meaning of being weak? It's people who always say 'I can't'! Those kinds of people don't necessarily mean they 'can't'...but they just don't." Tadashi looked at me.

"I... I just can't be the cause of everyone in the world suffering... not because of me." I stared at my feet.

"How do you think we feel!?" Bela asked, she walked closer to me, "every day we put our lives on the line to save the world from being miserable!"

"But... No matter what happens, this world will still be miserable, there will always be someone who is unhappy." I said, still staring at the ground.

"But you aren't the cause of their unhappiness. We are helping millions of people realize the true meaning of happiness." Len added on.

"But I am the cause! You are the cause of this! All humans are!" I raised my voice.

"Would you rather be part of the cause!? Or... would you be part of the solution." Len said.

I turned to face Len, "the solution."

I then realized that these people were not causing the world distress and harm, they were causing the world happiness and peace. That was why, if I messed up, the world will be in distress once more. The very opposite of what these people want to do.

"Then... I guess... I just can't mess up!" I managed a small smile and everyone smiled back.