Mami fiddled anxiously with her blouse as she waited impatiently for the next stop.

After having been informed about an hour and a half prior that Miki and Kaname were going to forego school in order to see Akemi and make sure that everything was, in fact, alright, she'd agreed to join them. Yasutora came as well, having called in sick for the day. He had even offered to let the others - Suzuki and Hitsugaya - know, so there wouldn't be any surprises if they crossed paths or they got back to Mitakihara only to find the house empty.
Both of the other girls had high levels of unease, and that had set her on edge. What if something really was wrong? What if Akemi actually did need help? Or were they all just being paranoid? The blonde truly hoped that that was the case; they were still quite far from her.
Akemi was currently in Yokohama, while they were still in Kazamino.
The only individual who seemed to be calm was Yasutora, who was as quiet as always. If only she was as easygoing as he looked - the train ride probably wouldn't feel like it was taking so long if she'd had that quality.

Said man must have noticed her state of mind, because he gave her a thumbs up and a slight smile, as though trying to reassure her. She couldn't help but give him a grin of her own, though it was a bit forced.
Mami went back to looking out the window, wishing she'd been there for her friend. Maybe, just maybe, if she'd been there, she could have helped.
Perhaps none of this would be happening if she'd been more reliable, and had checked on her after school. She frowned as guilt ate at her, and promised herself that such a thing wouldn't happen again. Not if she could help it.

"Mami-san..."

Why couldn't she be a better friend? Was she always going to fail at this sort of thing? She wasn't going to lose Akemi like she had for Kyoko...right?

"Mami-san..."

No, no, no. She wouldn't be so useless. She couldn't be...

"Mami-san!"

Startled, she turned to Kaname, who stared out the window, and slowly but shakily pointed towards something outside.

"W-what is that?!"

Mami followed the girl's gaze and looked towards the sky. At first, she saw nothing and was momentarily confused.

But just as she was about to look away, a part of the sky cracked then ripped open as though it were paper, revealing giant, horrid black figures with white masks that almost instantly poured out of the sky and landed in the city. They destroyed everything in their paths and killed dozens of people at a time, either by blasting them to oblivion or devouring them.

Kaname screamed at the sight as did many other passengers who happened to be looking out their windows on that side, while Mami just gaped, shellshocked.
Yasutora, who had clearly just sensed what was happening since he couldn't see what was going on from his angle, was the fastest to recover and immediately activated his fullbring. The older teen didn't bother going for he door, instead smashing the window and jumping out. He went straight for the Gillians, clearly intent on preventing any more damage.

The train drove past all of it within seconds, leaving Mami vaguely wondering what had just happened before she was brought back to reality by Miki frantically shaking her. Kaname was trembling, eyes wide, and all of the passengers on the train were now panicking wildly, creating total and utter chaos.

With a start, the blonde teen finally triggered her transformation, and told her two friends to stay in the train while she'd go help Yasutora. She then left the two scared girls behind as she swung out the window.

The teen, who'd been ready to backtrack a few hundred meters towards the Gillians, failed to notice another rip in the sky above her until it was too late.
All she heard was a massive roar, before she heard a loud crash followed by many more screams of terror.

A Gillian had just torn off the entire front part of the train, letting dozens of passengers fall a few hundred meters to their deaths. Another smashed its face in near the middle, halting what was left of the vehicle in its tracks - and definitely crushing people in the process.
Thank goodness Kaname and Miki were in the back.
Reacting quickly, Mami conjured ribbon nets to save those falling from the monster's jaws and summoned her signature giant musket, aiming at the second one.

"Tiro Finale!"

The hollow's mask shattered on impact, but many more of them clawed their way our of the sky. Mami grimly realized that she couldn't possibly return to Yasutora without leaving all of the innocent people she was trying to save along with her friends at the mercy of the hollows.
Knowing she could no longer assist her friend as she'd intended, she tried to believe that he'd come out in one piece and focused on her own battle. The blonde knew she wouldn't help anyone by dying.

Once Mami had secured as many passengers of the train as she could by making a barrier over them, along with other people nearby, she was finally able to let loose. She no longer bothered to be particularly careful about damaging property ; having scanned the area with her magic, she could tell that the area was already practically deserted. Everyone who could flee had already done so, and she was grateful for that.
Unfortunately, in the short amount of time she'd taken to ensure the safety of those around to prevent any more victims, the number of Gillians had increased drastically.

Suddenly, a blur of red sliced through a large number of the monsters, and a familiar redhead appeared at her side in a flashstep. Mami just stared with wide eyes, not quite believing just who had come to her aid.

"S-Sakura-san...?"

The red-haired Puella Magi barely spared her a glance, scowling fiercely.

"The hell are you standing there for?! Get your dumb ass into gear and fucking help me out here!"

0.0

"Karin, as much as I agree with the fact that onii-chan was going overboard, is this really a good idea? I think he'll just get more worried..."

Karin just looked at her twin, unimpressed, before refocusing on her soul gem. The two were walking down a narrow alley of a dingy part of town just out of Karakura.
They'd just escaped their brother and had gone witch hunting only to find that there wasn't a single one in their territory. Clearly, someone had been snatching them under their noses, and Karin was intent on repaying them in kind, but for now, they desperately needed grief seeds.
Yuzu's soul gem in particular was getting much too dark for comfort.

Suddenly, the green gem started to glow brightly, and the ravenette nearly cheered. This was definitely a witch, and it was a strong one. It would be difficult to defeat for sure, but she was sure that the reward would be worth the trouble.

She turned to her sister and nodded, and the two transformed before flash-stepping to its location.

Both of the girls ignored the gargantas that were tearing open the skies. They knew that the residents of Urahara Shop and some fullbringers would deal with them soon enough.

A few twists and turns later, they found themselves in an old, abandoned warehouse. Neither hesitated to open and enter the labyrinth. They couldn't afford to let another girl get to the witch first.

The moment they were inside, incredibly bright lights momentarily blinded them to the point that they actually had to heal their eyes from the damage and use magic to protect their vision. A current pulled them downward, and while neither fought against it, they made sure there weren't any familiars in their way as they went.
They seemed to be simply falling into a pure void of light, and there was only the color white as far as the naked eye could see.

Karin immediately tried to speak with her sister, but no sound came from her mouth. Said brunette noticed and activated her telepathy.

"I don't think sound works in this labyrinth. none of the familiars are here, so there's a good chance they're with the witch-"

Yuzu silently veered to the left as a large laser from a previously unnoticed cartoonish headless purple tutu-wearing mannequin passed the spot she'd been in from far below.

"N-nevermind...",she thought, sending a blast of magic from her staff as dozens at a time rippled into existence. However, her attack was much weaker than usual, and it only singed her target instead of eliminating it. A look of fright crossed Yuzu's face before she made an effort to cover it up to avoid worrying Karin, but it was too late. She saw her.
Yuzu really didn't have much magic left.

Karin grit her teeth in resignation as her chakrams bursted into emerald flames and she gained a slight greenish hue. If the two girls were going to survive, she was going to have to do the brunt of the work. Her sister just wasn't in shape for battle.
Hopefully, the boost she was getting thanks to the brunette's vulnerability would be enough for them to pull through. She doubted Mao would appear out of nowhere to save them, and her brother and father probably had their hands full considering the sheer amount of gargantas that had opened while the two had gone witch hunting. Plus, this witch's barrier was in foreign territory, where another Puella Magi could attack at any time.

Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all.

Yuzu fell back as Karin charged in, cutting through as many mannequins as she could and throwing chakrams at those that were out of reach, making a path for her sister to freefall without worrying too much; the brown-haired teen could still dodge any incoming attacks if it became necessary.

The light of the void only seemed to get brighter the deeper they went into the labyrinth, and eventually, the light was too much even with her efforts to protect her eyes. Eventually, the ravenette was reduced to fighting blind and deaf, relying solely on the accuracy of her magic sensing. It wasn't as sharp as if she were trying to sense reiatsu, but it was good enough.
Thank goodness Mao had thought of training her to fight while being stripped of her sight and hearing; she'd have been done for otherwise.

On instinct, she switched from falling headfirst to the opposite, and hit a hard surface. She caught her sister - who was now too busy conserving what little was left of her magic to actually sense anything - and spread her magic.

Nothing.

All of the familiars had dissappeared in one go, and while she knew the witch was nearby, she couldn't tell where it was. Setting the brunette down on her feet, she poked her, and felt Yuzu's telepathic link open in her mind. She worriedly noted that it was quivering, barely staying intact, and she knew that she had to be quick about it.

"Sorry Yuzu but this one's urgent. The witch is obviously good at masking it's presence; I don't know where it is, where it could attack from, or if what I'm feeling is just a decoy..."

Yuzu's magical signature switched from fright to foreboding almost immediately, and Karin felt a chill run up her spine. Something was very, very wrong here.

"...Witches shouldn't be smart enough to know how to do that, Karin."

"I know, dammit!"

" Just be careful. We're too far in to go back now; I don't think the two of us would survive all the way. I'm really sorry I can't help you right now Karin, but I'll just be a hindrance if I try to do anything."

"...Fuck. "

"Yeah, we're up shit creek without a paddle."

The link closed, Yuzu's magical signature decreased drastically - meaning that she'd undone her transformation, something the brunette wouldn't do in labyrinth unless she was truly desperate - and Karin was feeling the pressure of being their only way out. She couldn't make a single mistake, or it'd be the end for the both of them.
The black-haired Puella Magi wasn't dumb; their chances of getting out alive considering the circumstances were slim - and her sister thought the same, if her incredibly unusual and out of character cursing was any indication.

Taking a deep breath, she focused on sensing where they were standing, and spread it to their surroundings to try and determine just what kind of challenge they were facing.

What she found wasn't promising.

They were on one of many floating platforms, just above a void that stretched for miles - where she could vaguely sense the dark aura of witch, carefully and neatly intertwined with that of thousands of familiars.

Unable to determine its exact position, she would be forced to actually guess where to attack.
And she'd have to do that while making sure that an incredibly weak Yuzu stayed out of harm's way. The only way she could actually get the girl to move from her position if it ever became necessary would be to physically move the girl herself - she had no way of communicating with her, and said girl couldn't see, hear or sense anything without wasting what little was left of her precious magic.
The witch wasn't doing anything for now, but she'd already learned the hard way not to trust that. The second she so much as made a hint at attacking, she'd get shot down if she wasn't careful.

In short: they really were up shit creek without a paddle.