Resonance Days

by TakerFoxx

Falling their mutual demise at each other's hands, Kyoko and Sayaka wake up in a strange world. Now, with Kyoko's soul gem missing and Sayaka's humanity and personality only partially restored, they must band together to survive.

15. Breaking Through the Clouds

Breaking Through the Clouds

Even with Charlotte screaming in her ears and Nikki still brandishing her knives, Mami kept her head. She twisted her body around and took aim at the insane little girl plunging down at her. Focusing on Nikki's forehead, she fired.

Nikki's screeching laughter increased in pitch. She hurled both knives down and spread her limbs in all directions. The knives exploded with a burst of smoke, and a storm of tiny flechettes came tearing down. Three of them struck Mami's bullet and destroyed it, while the others singled in on her and Charlotte.

Oh. Well, that had been unexpected.

Mami's ribbons crisscrossed in front of her, while another tethered her and Charlotte to a nearby rail. Most of the flechettes were caught in her impromptu shield, and she managed to swing out of the way of the rest. Before Nikki could attack again, Mam quickly scampered to the relative safety of a close cluster of glass railings.

Behind her, Charlotte was shaking heavily and her face was pale. "I-I-I…oookay then," she panted. "Uh, m-maybe you'd better let me off."

Mami did so, though she made sure to help Charlotte get a firm grip. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Licking her lip, Charlotte concentrated on getting her breathing under control. "G-gimme a minute," she said, holding a hand to her chest. "Jesus, did you really do that sort of thing every day?"

Mami gave Charlotte's shoulder a comforting squeeze. "Just hang in there," she said. Then she looked back to the sky.

To her surprise, Nikki was no longer falling, nor was she also clinging to a safety spot of her own. Instead, some kind of softly glowing yellow membrane had appeared between her outstretched arms and legs, and she was gliding around in a slow, lazy circle, no doubt searching for some sign of her quarry.

"Uh, huh," Charlotte said, looking up. "Well, okay then. Is…is that one of her powers, or just some kind of fancy toy she's brought along?"

Mami shook her head. "Honestly, neither answer would surprise me. Data on her has been limited, but she has to be able to do more than just stab people with-"

Then a small, black object plummeted from the elevator tube, and Mami's breath caught. It was the large duffel bag Annabelle Lee had been wearing on her back.

"Kyoko!" Mami screamed as she scrambled to save her friend.

"Mami, wait!" Charlotte shouted. She grabbed Mami by the collar and yanked her back, but it was too late. Nikki had seen them.

Shrieking like a pre-adolescent banshee high on caffeine, Nikki folded her arms and dropped down at them. Mami instinctively brought a musket to her hand and fired.

Now, Mami was a dead shot with her muskets, and even if she wasn't Nikki was barreling right at her. But it was then that Mami was reminded of a hard fact: in the last seven years, she had rarely had reason to use her muskets for anything other than good-natured duels with friends, during which they would be loaded with things like snowballs or water balloons. In fact, she could probably count on one hand the number of times she had to bring them out in response to a viable threat. Ticky Nikki, on the other hand, had spent the last four decades as part of Oblivion's standing army, which, for all their faults, was not lax when it came to keeping its minions well trained and ready for action. Moving practically at the speed of thought, Nikki slashed through Mami's bullet and was on her like a rabid cat.

The next few seconds were a confusing blur of activity, and then Mami found herself in the precarious position of having the deranged child sitting on her shoulders facing her, with her legs wrapped around Mami's neck and both of her tiny hands raised high, each one clutching a gold-handled, serrated knife, ready to plunge both into Mami's head.

"Get off her!" Charlotte screamed. She wrenched off a piece of the rail and swung it at Nikki's head. It shattered on impact, and Nikki was knocked off Mami's shoulders and sending shrieking into the abyss below.

Mami nearly followed her, but Charlotte managed to grab onto her in time. "Are you okay?" she said, pulling Mami back. Mami shrugged her off. "Kyoko," she said, moving forward again. "We have to-"

Another horrible sight greeted her, stopping her cold. Oktavia was now falling from the hole in the elevator tube, her as body limp as a corpse's. Following her was her wheelchair.

But as sickening as it was to see her friends hurled into the open air like pieces of trash, what came next was just bizarre. Before Oktavia had gone a quarter of the way, the Void Walkers' angry leader, who was almost certainly Annabelle Lee in disguise, threw herself through the hole and fell in pursuit of the captives she had just sent tumbling. Her arms were held stiffly at her sides and her face directed downward, and it seemed as if she were gaining on the lifeless mermaid.

"Oh God," Charlotte whispered. "What the hell are they doing?"

"Taking the fastest way down, I suppose," Mami said. She summoned up a musket and lined up her shot. While her stomach churned at the thought of coldly sniping another human being, these were desperate times.

Unfortunately, that was when the cavalry arrived. Annabelle Lee's cavalry.

The two remaining Void Walkers exited the elevator much in the same way everyone else had. But instead of falling straight down, their trajectory was aimed toward the cluster of ai'jurrik'kai rails that Mami and Charlotte had taken refuge in. The distance was great, and at first it looked like they wouldn't make it. But one managed to snag a rail with one hand and deftly caught her partner's outstretched hands with the other, swinging her to safety like a trapeze artist. Soon the two of them were making their way toward the Tomoes at an alarming speed, navigating the maze and assisting each other with a level of synchronization that Mami had never seen before.

Mami readjusted her aim, but had to quickly take cover again. The Void Walker with the pistols was firing already. Her shots shattered glass and sent fragments flying, but they weren't deterred the same way Nikki's fletchettes had been. The rails barely deflected them at all.

"Well, if the marshals weren't coming before, they sure as hell are now," Charlotte said as they huddled behind a doubly-thick shield of ribbons. Though the thought scared her, Mami knew that she was right. Cloudbreak gave a lot of leeway when it came to unorthodox methods of commuting, but drawing and firing weapons in public tended to draw unfavorable attention.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot they could do about it. The girl with the guns was not letting up, while her partner had disappeared. To Mami's mind, that was a very bad sign. To make things worse, Kyoko and Oktavia were falling at a fast rate, with Annabelle Lee swiftly catching up. Directly below them were the emergency repulsors, which were designed to stop accidentally falling objects (and people) from tumbling all the way to the lake below. Given that Annabelle Lee could fly, all she needed to do was grab her hostages after their fall had been halted, drag them over to the nearest walkway, and continue on her way, having skipped several stories in seconds.

Nothing for it then. Keeping this conflict under wraps was now straight out. And as much as Mami hated the idea of causing even more property damage and possibly hurting an innocent bystander, Charlotte was right about not letting the Void Walkers get away with their friends. Now was not the time for restraint.

"Watch for the ones with the syringes," she told Charlotte, who nodded. Then, after taking a deep breath, Mami leapt.

The barrage immediately intensified. Mami scampered through the network as best she could, shielding herself with a constantly regenerating shield of ribbons. Praying that she wouldn't hit anyone that didn't deserve it, Mami fired in what she desperately hoped was the shooter's location. This temporarily brought the onslaught to a stop. Taking that as a positive sign, Mami fired again. And then fired again. And then fired again.

After the seventh shot, she heard someone cry out in pain, someone that mercifully was not Charlotte. Mami dropped her tattered shield enough to see. The webwork above her had been blown to pieces, giving Mami a clear view of their assailant. Or rather, what was left of her. By pure dumb luck, Mami's shot had taken off half of her entire left shoulder and the attached arm. With a small moan, the girl toppled and fell, her body bouncing off of rails like a rag doll, golden smoke trailing behind her.

Mami felt a surge of relief, offset by a sick feeling in her stomach. While she knew that the girl was a deadly enemy who was going to be fine in a few minutes anyway, she still didn't like shooting people.

Unfortunately, she wasn't given time to ruminate on her moral dilemma, as a shout of rage drew her attention. The shooter's partner, upon seeing her friend shot down, had abandoned all pretenses of stealth and had broken into an enraged charge at Mami, her syringe hand unshrouded and filled with a deadly looking red substance. Charlotte, her original intended target, saw this and scrambled after her, but the syringe witch had too much of a head start and was fueled by animalistic fury.

Mami pulled out two muskets and prepared to shoot her down as well, but then an intense burning pain flared up along her right leg, nearly causing her to lose her balance. To her surprise, there were two neat holes in her calf and a third one in her ankle, all with twins on the other side of the leg, and all seeping golden vapor. So, she had been tagged after all. It had just taken her this long to notice.

On the whole, it was no matter. With the medical gel those girls at the zoo had put in her, wounds that small would heal up in no time, and she could block out the pain before the syringe witch reached her. Unfortunately, though she didn't know it at the time, she didn't have time for even that…

(a sharp shriek of anger came from below, assailing her ears)

…because Nikki had come back.

…

Closed, tight spaces gave Annabelle Lee the willies. But immense heights, sharp drops, and intense vertigo she was perfectly at home with.

Her arms held tightly to her sides and face pointed downward, she dropped like a meteor. Wind rushed in her ears and pressure built up behind her eyes, but she didn't even noticed. Her attention was fixed solely on the three objects falling below her. Above, she could hear the sounds of battle. Fine. So long as those two idiots were kept distracted, let them fight all they wanted, just so long as her teammates remembered to bail before the marshals showed up.

Multiple stories and platforms passed in a blur, and suddenly the city's lower levels were coming up. By then, Annabelle Lee had passed the mermaid and the wheelchair and had reached the duffel bag, but she didn't grab it, not yet. Instead, she kept one eye on it and the other on her surroundings, waiting for a specific signal.

She got it. Red lights started flashing around her, signaling that the emergency repulsors had kicked in. Annabelle Lee found her descent being slowed by outside forces. She let it, finally grabbing onto one of the bag's straps in the process.

Finally they reached the bottom, or at least the bottom insofar as the repulsors were concerned. Rather than let herself be gently carried along like she was supposed to, Annabelle waited for Oktavia and her wheelchair to arrive and again took flight, using the extra lift provided by the repulsors to snatch up all three large, ungainly objects and haul them over to the nearest walkway.

Down there, the city wasn't nearly so nice looking. It wasn't exactly ugly, but most of it was metal girders and mesh catwalks, a far cry from the graceful architecture above. Annabelle Lee didn't care. The hanger wasn't far from where she was, and that was the only thing that mattered. She got Oktavia back into her seat, again shouldered the duffel bag, and readied herself to head out.

And then several glass shards fell into the grip of the repulsors and bobbed in place. Soon they were joined by two pistols, followed quickly by a barely conscious Nie, who seemed to be missing one of her arms. Startled, Annabelle Lee gaped at her for a moment before resignedly going after her as well. Well, things didn't seem to be going all that great upstairs. But what else was new?

…

The bad news: Nikki was back.

The good news: Nikki was apparently now so blinded by fury that she had forgotten her knives entirely, and was trying to scratch and bite Mami into submission rather than stabbing her. Not a preferable state of things by any stretch of the imagination, but fingernails and teeth were easier to deal with sharp blades.

The other bad news: syringe girl was making a beeline straight toward Mami, who had her hands full with the rabid little girl currently climbing all over her.

The even worse news: Charlotte was just too far away to be reasonably expected to catch syringe girl in time.

She tried. She had always been agile and good at quickly navigating things like tree branches, rooftops, and ai'jurrik'kai webs, and scampered through the glass bars as swiftly as a monkey. Her desperation drove her to move faster than she had ever gone before, and she came less than a meter within reach. She made the grab for the syringe girl's leg, but as small as it was, the distance was just long enough. Her fingertips brushed the girl's ankle, and her failed lunge caused her to lose her balance. In the time that it took to regain it, her target had already passed far out of range, and was within moments of reaching Charlotte's very distracted wife.

Mami was about to get torn apart, or injected with something horrible and then torn apart, and she couldn't stop it. Rage built up inside her, overshadowed only by her fear. Mami was about to be torn down right in front of her eyes, and there wasn't a damned thing she could do to stop it.

Except one.

She almost did it. God help her, she almost unleashed the one part of her that she had sworn she would never revisit, the thing she had kept locked away for years. Because despite all the progress they had made, despite all the happy years they had spent together, and despite making a conscious effort to acknowledge the problems resulting from their first encounter and working through them instead of ignoring them, the fact of the matter was simple: Charlotte had killed Mami. Yes, they both knew that it wasn't her fault. Yes, she had been as much a victim as Mami. Yes, they long forgiven each other for those first offenses. But forgiving wasn't the same as forgetting, and Charlotte had never forgotten the blood on her hands. Or teeth, if one were to be accurate.

It was for that reason that Charlotte had always refused whenever Mami had suggested that she take one of the many classes intended to help witches unlock abilities that they may not have known that they even had. She didn't want to risk unleashing that monster, or possibly even discovering another one.

But as Nikki bit and clawed at Mami's face, and as the syringe girl drew ever closer, Charlotte almost broke that vow. And why shouldn't she? That monster had killed Mami. It only made sense that it be used to save her.

Though she wasn't falling, Charlotte suddenly felt the sensation of rapidly descending. An emptiness was opening up in her stomach as pressure built up behind her eyes and her ears. But more importantly, there was a tickle at the back of her throat, one that was growing stronger and stronger. She had to get rid of it, to force it out. All she had to do was keep pushing until she vomited it up, and then it would be-

NO! Charlotte pushed the urge back down, forcing the monster back into its cage, though the effort of it caused actual pain. She couldn't let it out for any reason, not even this.

But in the time it took her to do that, the syringe girl was already rising up behind Mami, her glass-and-metal hand upraised and ready to plunge into Mami's exposed neck and filled her body with that vile crimson liquid.

"NO!" Charlotte screamed, reaching toward them. "Mami, watch-"

Then Charlotte blinked. Now the syringe girl was wrapped tightly in yellow strings, so that it looked like she had woven a golden cocoon. She pushed and struggled against her bonds, but they were too tight to allow much movement. It had happened so suddenly that for a moment, Charlotte had no idea how to react. Then she snapped out of her stupor and allowed herself a small smile of relief. Mami had heard her warning and managed to use her ribbons in time.

Except they really didn't look much like ribbons. More like wires, actually. Wires that weren't coming about of everywhere like Mami's ribbons did. Instead, they had an identifiable point of origin. Namely, the tips of Charlotte's fingers.

Charlotte stared numbly at her hand. Protruding from each fingertip was a golden wire, which then twisted around its siblings in a sort of latticework before going on to cover the syringe girl.

Uh, well, okay then. That was…that was new.

Next to the gold-encased Void Walker, Mami had finally managed to bring her own yellow restraints to bear. A ribbon wrapped around Nikki's waist and pulled her off. She still lunged and snapped like a rabid animal, but a musket shot to the head put an end to that. The ribbon tossed her limp body down after the sharpshooter.

Sighing, Mami gingerly touched her scratched-up face. Then, probably hearing the muffled cries of syringe girl, she turned around to see what the noises were coming from. She saw the golden, human-shaped cocoon and froze in place. It was a testament to how much strange stuff she had gotten used to that she didn't fall right off her perch in shock.

Then she noticed the latticework. Her eyes followed it back to its source, which so happened to be her still-stunned lover. Charlotte, who was still sprawled on her belly across several rails with her hand outstretched, stared back. "I have," she said, "no idea. It just sort of happened."

"Oh," Mami said with a numb nod. "Well. All right." She glanced back to the still struggling syringe girl. "Can you…get rid of her?"

That was a good question. In theory, if Charlotte had created those wires, she should be able to control them with as much ease as Mami controlled her ribbons or Oktavia controlled her wheels. However, she had absolutely no experience in this sort of thing, and in fact had no idea she could even do until a few seconds ago.

Now she had a good idea how Oktavia had felt the other day.

Well, what had she to lose? Charlotte sent a long a mental command. To her partial surprise, it was obeyed. The wires reared up, taking their webbed prisoner with them. Then they tossed syringe girl down into the abyss like a discarded soda can.

"Oh," Charlotte said as she watched her fall. "Cool. And creepy. But mostly-"

Then the wires suddenly retracted, sucked back into her fingers like a released tape measure. It felt incredibly strange, tickled quite a bit, and made her revise her opinion.

"No, definitely creepy," she said. What else was she to say?

Mami cleared her throat. "We can puzzle that out later," she said, making her way toward Charlotte. "For now, we'd better-"

The air was suddenly split apart by the sound of sirens. Mami and Charlotte's heads whipped in the sound's direction. It was just as they had feared. The violence had not gone unnoticed. The marshals were on their way.

"Later," Charlotte said, scrambling over to Mami. "Right."

They peered down into the abyss that Annabelle Lee had tossed their friends down, which they had responded to by tossing Annabelle Lee's friends into as well. Charlotte's stomach clenched up. Even though she knew the repulsors would be there to catch them, that didn't change the fact that it was a very long way own.

Taking Charlotte's hand, Mami whispered, "Are you all right?"

"Not in any sense of the word," Charlotte said. "But I don't see why that should change anything."

Mami nodded. Then, after taking a deep breath, they jumped.

…

The hanger was just ahead. Annabelle Lee pressed on as fast as she could, but she was carrying two limp bodies, one on her back and one flung over her shoulder, while pushing a third in a wheelchair. Even as strong as she was it was still tough going.

No alarms had gone off, which was a blessing, albeit probably a temporary one. Kyoko Sakura's Compacted buddies may not have called the marshals yet, but it was only a matter of time before someone noticed the exploding elevator and the ensuing brawl. With any luck, Arzt and Nikki would be able to-

Annabelle Lee faltered for a moment. She quickly glanced over her shoulder. She bit her lip. No one was there. Normally that would be a good thing, but if Nikki was still there when the marshals arrived, then she wouldn't stand a chance. Sure, she fought like the devil, but she also thought like a mushroom. They would take her down and arrest her in seconds.

If it came down to it, Annabelle Lee would be willing to leave The Twins behind. Teammates or no, she still couldn't stand them. Their alliance was one of necessity, not loyalty. And when it came down to it, they would be just has happy to abandon her as she would be to take off with them holding off the marshals for her. Hell, all things considered that might actually be a plus! Trading The Twins for Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff sounded like a fine deal to her.

But Nikki was her sister. Sure, Annabelle Lee could be a little blasé with her personal well-being at times, but being immortal did that. Call her callous, but there were only so many times you could see someone take a horrific mortal wound in the morning and return to her usual chipper, deranged self by evening as if it had never happened before you stopped fussing. But leaving her behind in the hands of the Alliance was a different story altogether. Nikki was the only real companion Annabelle Lee had, the only family she had, the only friend she had. They had not been apart since they had died over forty years ago. Or a few months ago. The time difference was admittedly screwy, and Annabelle Lee hadn't bothered to keep track. Either way, they had always said that when it came time to be released and leave this miserable excuse for an afterlife behind, it would be together. If Annabelle Lee retreated now, she risked leaving Nikki in the Alliance's hands. And then her sister would be trapped here forever, alone.

She hesitated, even though she knew it was a bad idea. They needed to leave now, before anyone got wise to what was going on and initiated a lockdown. But Nikki was still up there, fighting. Should she go back? If she flew fast enough, maybe she could snatch her sister and drag her back down in time. But she would have to leave her acquisitions behind, and that was just too much of a risk.

Hurry up, she begged. Hurry up, and-

Wait. Footsteps against metal. Someone was coming, and quickly. Annabelle Lee tensed up. From the sound of things, there was only one of them, but if they had any way of raising an alarm, then one was all that was needed to bring everything crashing down.

Easing Nie's body off of her shoulder, Annabelle Lee fingered her still out-of-commission teammates pistols. She wasn't a great shot, but if she fired quick and often she might be able to-

Arzt came running into view, her human hand holding Nikki over her shoulder. Annabelle Lee had to keep herself from slumping with relief.

"There you are!" Arzt cried as she rushed over to her. "It's bad. Those cretins got the drop on us, and I'm pretty sure I heard the marshals-" Then she caught sight of Nie, who was curled around her still-growing stump of an arm. She wasn't unconscious, but judging by the bewildered sound of her moans, she had yet to gather her senses.

"Darling!" Arzt cried, dropping Nikki like a sack of flour. She pushed past Annabelle Lee and all but flung herself over her twin. "Oh, sweet Lord in Heaven! How could you let this happen?"

Unsure if Arzt was addressing her or God, Annabelle Lee decided not to care. She hurried over to where Nikki had fallen. So much for The Twins' supposed affection for the little lunatic.

Nikki was, for the most part, intact, but Annabelle Lee winced when she got to the face. Most of it had been blown off, and the hole plugged with yellow gunk. Headshots were nasty things. They didn't hurt much, as the victim almost always immediately dropped into stupor, but they took longer than most wounds to heal, and left you feeling like hell for a long time afterward.

Gathering up Nikki onto her shoulder, Annabelle Lee rushed back to the wheelchair. "C'mon," she said, pushing it forward. "Angst later. Pick her up and let's get out of here."

Arzt did so, though not without one of her customary dirty looks, followed quickly by associated tirade. Annabelle Lee tuned her out. It was the same thing every time, only with different words. By this point, it was practically an ad-lib.

When they reached the hanger door, Arzt was finally winding down. Annabelle Lee gripped the metal handle and twisted. The door opened with an echoing screech, and they entered. Arzt paused for breath, allowing Annabelle Lee to put in, "You know, if we're talking about failures, I can't help but notice that I've pulled off everything I was supposed to do. But when it comes to sneak attacks, you're only batting one out of three today."

The hate in Arzt's eyes grew hotter. "Have you ever tried to sneak up on two angry people with superpowers and a lot of guns perched on a goddamned jungle gym? It's not exactly easy."

"Yeah, and when the marshals catch us, that'll make everything better. It was too hard. Got it." Then Annabelle Lee whirled around so that she and Arzt were practically nose-to-nose and screamed, "Fuck your 'it's not easy'!" Startled, Arzt stumbled back, but Annabelle Lee wasn't done. "It was three on two twice, and you guys cocked it up both times! And now Hell is coming after us! Great job, you narcissistic bimbo!"

Arzt opened her mouth to retort, but it was forgotten when Annabelle Lee tossed Nie's pistols at her. She fumbled around to catch them, her syringe fingers grasping clumsily, and almost dropped Nie in the process.

The hanger was a large, open room surrounded by catwalks. At one end were several receptacles in the wall, for the purpose of docking elysians and other aircraft. Only four were full, the transport provided by the Madam being one of them. Unfortunately, while their ship was fast, it was an older model that required several minutes to fully power up. Annabelle Lee was convinced that Reibey had had the Madam saddle them with it as a means of punishment.

Annabelle Lee pointed to the catwalks that clung to the walls. "Nie'll be up and about pretty soon. Get her up there and find a shadow to hide in. Cover the entrance, and-"

"No," Arzt said coldly.

Annabelle Lee blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I said no." Arzt had shifted Nie over to the shoulder with the syringe hand. With the other, she aimed one of the pistols at Annabelle Lee's head. "I'm not taking orders from you any-"

In one fluid moment, Annabelle Lee dropped Nikki to the ground, slipped the duffel bag from her shoulders, and dove low over the ground. The sudden movement took Arzt off guard, causing her to reflexively fire off three wild shots. Two of them harmlessly struck the ground, while the other went straight through the duffel bag. A trick of red drifted out of the tiny hole.

Annabelle Lee came up from below. She made two quick cuts across Arzt's knee. They were shallowly and would heal quickly, but they were still painful. As she stumbled, Annabelle locked her hands around her waist and flipped her onto her back. Already unbalanced by her wounded knee and the body on her shoulder, Arzt went down quick and she went down hard. She tried to sit up, but the blades she found digging into her throat quickly dissuaded her.

Now that she had Arzt's undivided attention, Annabelle Lee growled, "Listen to me, you…" Adjectives failed her, so she skipped the insults. "We do not have time for this bullshit. Nikki won't be up for another seven minutes at least, and I need to get the ship going. So it's up to you two to hold them off."

Squirming back from the razor-sharp points pressing against her skin, Arzt hissed out, "No. You'll just take off and leave us behind."

Far off in the distance, Annabelle Lee could hear clanging footsteps. "No, I won't! Now, stop arguing and just do it! We don't have time for this!"

Despite the fact that she was mere centimeters from having her throat split wide open, Arzt still managed a ghastly smile. "No. You got more riding on this than we do. We all go or we all get caught."

Annabelle Lee's hand was starting to shake. Willing the rising panic down, she said, "Fine! Me and Nie will cover the door while you take Nikki and the deadweights and get our ride going! That way, no one is gonna leave anyone behind!"

Arzt's eyes boggled. "And leave you alone with-"

Annabelle Lee hauled her up and shoved her toward the ship. "I'm trusting you with both the targets and my sister!" she shouted. "And in the time it took us to do this stupid dance, we could've had the thing halfway ready to go! So please, get that thing moving before it's too-"

Then she heard the sound of a loud engine. Looking up, she was horrified to see a human girl bringing in her swifter to one of the smaller docks.

Swifters were the sky's answer to motorcycles. The basic frame was similar, though instead of tires, they had four spherical repulsors that kept them afloat. As the name implied, they were very fast, but notoriously difficult to control. That made them popular among daredevils, or people that just needed to get from Point A to Point M in a hurry.

Whistling, the girl slipped off her airborne bike and pulled her helmet off. She started to descend the metal stairway when she caught sight of what was going on.

"Uh, hi?" she said. "I'm not…interrupting something, am-"

In a blink Annabelle Lee had snatched up one of Nie's pistols and flew at the swifterist. Taken wholly by surprise, the girl stumbled back and tried to retreat. Annabelle Lee dropped her with two shots to the head.

As the girl lay still, Annabelle Lee turned to Arzt. "So. We're agreed?"

…

Mami and Charlotte ran as fast as they could through the metal corridors of Cloudbreak's underbelly. Mami's magical senses were extended as far as she was able, but there was so much magic in Cloudbreak that it was difficult to pick up on anything useful. Still, it was better than nothing, and the Void Walkers didn't have that much of a lead. With some difficulty, they navigated the narrow hallways around the massive engines and maintenance yards that kept the city aloft and functioning.

"So," Charlotte said. "Any idea of what to do once we caught them?"

They reached a four way fork. Mami paused long enough to choose a path before answering. "Well, defeat them and take our friends back I suppose. What else can we do?"

"Granted," Charlotte nodded. "But I meant after."

The question made Mami feel uneasy. It was a logical question, to be sure, but something about the way Charlotte was talking was setting off Mami's alarms. "What do you suggest?" she said carefully.

Charlotte wore a small, humorless smile. "Apparently, one of them can fly. I say we see if the other ones can too."

That was what Mami had been afraid of. "Char, I don't think we can-"

"They attacked us, kidnapped our friends, and are risking turning our home into the frontlines of a major war just by being here," Charlotte said in a short tone. "I'm not exactly overflowing with mercy right now."

Neither was Mami, if she were to be honest, but that level of bloodthirstiness scared her, even if it was the smart thing to do. "Let's just concentrate on finding them first," she said firmly. After a short hesitation, Charlotte nodded, and the matter was dropped.

Mami's shaky guidance led them to a rough steel door. "I think this is it," Mami said. She twisted the handle and pushed the door open.

Then the two of them threw themselves back as bullets zinged by in greeting. "I think you're right," Charlotte said, her back pressed against the wall next to the door. She glanced to Mami, who was doing the same on the other side. "Care to clear the way?"

Mami waved a hand, and six ribbons rose up, each one clutching a musket. They made for the door, but two got shot up before they even got close. The other four managed to fire though. There was a short pause, and then the shots resumed.

"Missed," Charlotte remarked necessarily. "Try more."

Mami did, only to receive the same result. "It's no good," she said. "The room's too big, and I can't see where I'm aiming."

"Right." Charlotte's brow scrunched up. "Uh, okay. Listen. I'm going to make a break for it-"

Mami's head whipped toward her in shock. "Charlotte!"

"Look, I'm fast enough to get pretty far, and it's not like anything they can do will stick," Charlotte said, though the paleness of her face betrayed her fear. "So, while I'm drawing their fire, you get in there and blow the bejeezus out of their gunslinger. Only one of them has guns, right?"

"As far as I know," Mami said. "Though Nikki's knives also function as a ranged weapon."

"Right, forgot about those," Charlotte muttered. She took a deep breath. "Well, let's get this over with."

Then suddenly Mami remembered something. Unlike Charlotte, she had taken a few classes to improve her abilities. She hadn't attended them for long though, as during one she had accidentally pulled off something that the others had found to be very impressive. However, she had just been incredibly unnerved by what she had done and never tried it again. But given the circumstances, she couldn't afford to be squeamish.

"Wait," she said before Charlotte could move. "I have a better idea."

…

Surprise, surprise, Nie was unhappy with Annabelle Lee once she had regained her senses. Being pushed back into active duty so soon after having her arm blown off had not put her in a good temper, and she had caught enough of Annabelle Lee's exchange with Arzt to know that their leader had assaulted and threatened her beloved. If it weren't for the urgency of the situation, she might have voiced her complaints right there on the spot, using her pistols as mouthpieces.

In fact, as Nie broodily sat on her perch and Annabelle Lee skulked in the shadows, Annabelle Lee was struck with an unpleasant realization. There really wasn't anything preventing Nie from shooting her down now and joining Arzt in the ship once it was ready to go. And with that they could depart, taking the prizes, themselves, and their Darling Nikki to safety, leaving Annabelle Lee to take the fall. Yeah, they would love that. Just take all the glory, screw over their detested "leader," and forcibly adopt Nikki as they always had wanted to do. Granted, they would have little time to enjoy it before claiming their "reward," but just seeing Annabelle Lee fall would probably be enough for them.

Annabelle Lee cast a pensive glance up at Nie. The Twin was looking down at the pistols in her hands, a thoughtful look on her face. Damn it, she was probably contemplating doing just that. Annabelle Lee tensed up, preparing to defend herself against her ally while she waited for her enemies.

Fortunately, the enemies showed up first.

The clanging footsteps finally reached the front door, which in turn creaked open. Annabelle Lee got just a glimpse of Mami Tomoe's face before Nie opened fire. Her bullets wouldn't blow off limbs like those damned muskets would, but hit someone in the right place, and their body would react as if it had taken a mortal wound, even if no such thing existed anymore.

Mami Tomoe quickly retreated, though that didn't stop Nie. She was to slow them down, not destroy them. And in that, a constant barrage would work just fine.

A pity then that Mami Tomoe packed more firepower than all her friends and foes combined.

Muskets held by magic ribbons returned fire, and Annabelle Lee winced and covered her ears as the shots created deafening echoes. Fortunately, none of them came close to her or Nie, but there was nothing stopping Mami Tomoe from trying again until she got it right. And if the ship were to be damaged, then they were really in for it.

Another musket barrage followed, a larger one this time. Nothing important was hit, though considerable damage was done to the walls. If there was any consolation in all this, it was that no matter what happened, the Tomoes would have to eat the bill for all the property damage they were causing.

And then, to Annabelle's shock, the Tomoes decided to forego caution and made a mad dash into the hanger. Nie immediately fired on them, but now that she could see what she was doing, Mami Tomoe wasted no time in driving Nie from her perch. As for Charlotte Tomoe, she bounded straight toward the far end, where the ship was.

But as fast as she was, she couldn't fly. Annabelle Lee shot after her and tackled the pink-haired witch from behind. They rolled around, trading punches, but Annabelle Lee managed to push Charlotte Tomoe back with one hand to her throat while drawing the other back. Charlotte Tomoe's eyes widened when she saw the blades slicing straight toward them.

They hit and cut right through. But instead of an explosion of soul vapor, Charlotte Tomoe simply deflated and fell apart, and Annabelle Lee found herself grasping at a pile of ribbons.

What?

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nie finally managing to get the upper hand and shoot Mami Tomoe through the chest. But like her wife, she too fell apart and became ribbons, to Nie's naked confusion.

Too late, Annabelle Lee pieced together what had happened. And by the time she did, Nie had lost another arm. Screaming, the remaining Twin abandoned the fight and ran back toward the ship, firing over her shoulder with her remaining pistol at the pursuing Mami Tomoe, presumably the real one this time.

"Hey. Asshole."

A booted foot slammed into Annabelle Lee's solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her. Then two clasped hands hammered down against the back of her head, slamming her forehead against the floor. Annabelle Lee saw stars.

"This is for taking our friends!" Charlotte Tomoe shouted as she hoisted Annabelle Lee up back the back of her collar and punched her in the face. Annabelle Lee's personal constellation grew.

A knee to the gut, and Annabelle Lee doubled over, gasping. "That was for attacking us!"

The next thing Annabelle Lee knew, her body was tightly bound by golden wires that extended from Charlotte Tomoe's fingers. "And this," Charlotte Tomoe said, lifting her hands, "is for bringing this mess into our lives in the first place."

Moving as if they were alive, the wires lifted Annabelle Lee high off the ground and started to swing her around like a lasso. "I could get used to this!" Charlotte Tomoe crowed as she spun Annabelle Lee around faster and faster, no doubt intending to fling her with body-breaking force against one of the walls.

Annabelle Lee didn't give her the chance.

As she completed one of her arcs, Annabelle Lee suddenly shot forward, retaining her momentum but changing her direction. Taken by surprise, Charlotte Tomoe was yanked off her feet and hauled along for the ride.

The hanger was a large room, yes, but it wasn't that large, and Annabelle Lee was making a beeline for the wall anyway. However, she had no intention of reaching it. She looped around, popped her blades, and yanked her arms straight up. The wires shredded as her blades came up, freeing her. Charlotte Tomoe wasn't so lucky. As she passed by, Annabelle Lee jabbed up and slammed all four blades into her stomach. The strangled gasp of pain almost made the beating worth it.

"And that's for getting in the way," Annabelle Lee hissed as she hurled the limp girl against the hard wall that had been intended for her. Charlotte Tomoe hit and fell the ground, pink soul vapors trailing behind her. Annabelle Lee blinked. Wait, pink? Her eyes had been blue! Wasn't that supposed to take precedent?

But that mystery would have to wait. Upon seeing what had happened to her wife, Mami Tomoe screamed and started blasting away, and Annabelle Lee was forced to dive down and take shelter behind a metal column.

The column shook and shuddered as Mami Tomoe continued to fire. It wouldn't last long. Annabelle Lee glanced at the ship. Her face paled when she saw that it was almost ready to take off. She was out of time.

Then she saw it. Nie's remaining pistol lay not far from her. The severed arm had dissolved, leaving the gun. Without giving herself time to think, Annabelle Lee dove for it, snatched it up, and frantically began firing back.

Mami Tomoe didn't so much as budge. She just shielded herself with ribbons and kept right on shooting.

Annabelle Lee took off, flying for the ship for all she was worth (which admittedly wasn't much), all the while firing wildly behind her. She got within five meters before Mami Tomoe finally landed a shot.

There was a blinding flash of pain, and Annabelle Lee slammed into the ship's side and bounced off. Crying out, she clutched at her right stomach. To her horror, it now featured a sizeable hole, from which an amethyst cloud poured out.

Her mind hazy with pain, Annabelle Lee looked down at her foe. Her illusionary heartbeat stopped. Mami Tomoe had dispensed with the muskets, and was now aiming a gigantic cannon right at the ship. One shot from that monster, and everything would be blown to pieces.

The pain from her missing limb now seeming unimportant, Annabelle Lee lurched up and screamed, "HEY! Let me in! She's gonna blow us all up!"

Indeed, Mami Tomoe was about to do just that. She took aim, her crosshairs settling on the back of the ship.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Annabelle Lee screamed, slamming her fists against the ship's metal side. "Can't you see her?"

"Tiro," Mami Tomoe started to say, her hand on the trigger. Annabelle Lee squeezed her eyes shut. This was it, this was-

And then the ship's hatch blew open and Ticky Nikki leapt out, no fewer than six knives clutched in her hands. Screeching her little head off, she thrust her hands forward. There were several pops, a small explosion of grey smoke, and Mami Tomoe shouted out "FINALE!" and fired. Her cannonball shot forward.

Too bad for her that there was a cloud of metal fletchettes waiting to meet it.

They tore the oversized bullet to shrapnel and rained down on the cannon. Annabelle Lee didn't see if Mami Tomoe herself was hit, though given how many tiny blades there were, it would be a miracle of she wasn't torn to shreds. As for Annabelle Lee herself, her sister hauled her inside. The hatch shut, the ship left its moorings, and they were off.

…

Mami lay flat on her back, staring upward. Above her, a steel sheet jutted out from the ground at an angle, in which were embedded dozens of Nikki's tiny blades. She felt very strange. Her emotions were pulling several directions at once: relief at being spared from dismemberment at the last second, shame at her failure to save her friends, fear for what was to come, anxiety over her loved ones' predicament, and, to her shame, a small amount of smugness over the realization that she still had it.

Deciding giving into any one of those directions would lead to some kind of breakdown, Mami decided not to think about it and just get moving. She eased her way out from the sheet and stood up. Her legs were shaky, and she needed the help from a nearby support column, but she managed to get to her feet. As soon as she did, the steel sheet that had sheltered her collapsed into a pile of shredded ribbons, and all its fletchettes clattered to the ground, where they disappeared in tiny puffs of grey smoke.

Once she was vertical, Mami looked out to the empty dock where the Void Walker's ship had been. Beyond, she could see it pulling away from Cloudbreak, slowly at first but rapidly gaining speed. On it were Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff, the witch form of Sayaka Miki. Her friends, her protégées, her kouhais, whom she had failed.

Again.

Mami's conflicting emotions drowned beneath a wave of crippling despair that rose up and threatened to submerge her as well. She had failed, and done so in miserable fashion. She and Charlotte had literally given up everything for the sake of this quest. They had long discussed the dangers that would face them, and had done what they could to ready themselves for the horrors they would experience. It had been a fool's quest from the beginning, one with nearly no chance of success. And yet they had been prepared to see it through anyway, all for their own reasons: Kyoko because of her desperate need to have her sister back, Charlotte partially because she saw inevitability of things and partially because she had a noisy conscience, and Mami…well, there were many reasons similar to those of Kyoko and Charlotte, but when it came down to it, her reason had been, to her shame, selfish. She wanted to redeem herself. She wanted to stand with Kyoko to the end and not lose her again.

But lose her she did, and Oktavia as well. Before they could even embark, Annabelle Lee and her comrades, a minor problem long thought to have been conquered, had waltzed right into Cloudbreak and taken them away. And despite all her best efforts, Mami had been unable to stop them. Who was she fooling? If she couldn't protect them when they had been at Cloudbreak of all places, what use would she have been once they had actually begun their journey? And now it was over. Kyoko and Oktavia were now on their way to the Withering Lands, and would soon in the hands of Oblivion. And from there, war would be declared. The Free Life Alliance would have no choice. Freehaven would burn, and everything would fall to-

ENOUGH!

Mami slammed a stopper down on that line of thought, sealing it up. Yes, things were bleak, but she couldn't afford to give into despair and do nothing. Kyoko and Oktavia needed her, and all was not yet lost.

A small groan then reminded her that someone else needed her as well.

Charlotte lying on her face at the far end of the room, near the wall. She was trying to rise, but was doing a poor job of it. Pink vapor was still coming out of four gashes in her stomach, and the front of her face was looking rather squished.

"Charlotte!" Mami rushed over to her wife's side. She tried to draw her up, but that just ended with Charlotte gasping in pain, so she stopped. "D-don't move. I'll…I'll call the paramedics, and they'll help." Despite her words, she wondered if Cloudbreak even have paramedics. Except in extreme cases, the most commonly prescribed treatment for injury was to walk it off.

Charlotte blinked up at her, her eyes worryingly vague. "Mami?" she mumbled.

"Don't try to talk," Mami told her, taking her hand. "Just…just hang in there." Damn it, what was she to do? She couldn't leave Charlotte like this, but every second wasted meant that Kyoko and Oktavia were moving closer and closer to the point of no return.

Charlotte squinted, trying to focus. "Ok…Oktavia?"

"Gone," Mami said. "Kyoko too. They got away. We need…We need to..."

As soon as she heard that, Charlotte's gave snapped into focus. "Gone?" she said, her voice still low but no longer dazed. "I do not think so."

With that she lurched up, one hand on Mami's shoulder while the cover covered the gashes in her stomach. Mami protested the sudden movement, but Charlotte was resolute. "We need…we need something," Charlotte hissed out, her eyes searching. "We need…anything."

And then, miracles of miracles, they found it.

"Are they gone?" said a small, scared voice.

Mami and Charlotte looked up. To their shared shock, a human girl was tentatively peeking out from one of the far docks. Parked in it was a shining silver swifter.

"Hello?" she said. "Are they gone? Is it safe to come out?"

The Tomoes exchanged a look of disbelief. "No way," Charlotte said.

"I'll take it," Mami replied. Putting Charlotte's arm over her shoulder, Mami half-carried her over to the swifterist. Fortunately, by the time they got there, Charlotte had recovered enough to be able to support her own weight.

"So, they're gone?" said the swifterist as she hesitantly rose. "Who were they? They shot me in the head. Do they work for-" Then she caught sight of Mami and Charlotte's condition. Her jaw dropped and she ran down to meet them. "Oh my God, are you two all right?"

While she appreciated the concern, Mami had no time to answer questions. "Your bike," she panted. "How much did you pay for it?"

This was answered by a blank stare. "What?"

"Your bike!" Mami repeated, trying very hard to keep her composure. "How much did it cost?"

"Uh, well, they sell for new for forty-five thousand, but-"

"I'll give you eighty thousand talents for it, right now."

The swifterist's eyes boggled. "What?" she said again.

"Eighty thousand talents," Mami repeated. "Yours. Right now." When the swifterish failed to respond, she added, "Please!"

That jolted the other girl out of her stupor. "I, uh, wasn't really planning on selling-"

"My wife can pull guns out of thin air," Charlotte deadpanned.

"I…Uh, okay." The swifterist held up a steel ring, to which was attached a small, metal rod. "Sure, whatever you say."

"Thank you," Mami breathed. She pulled out her bank card. "Do you have a bank pad or…"

The swifterist did. A few pressed buttons and a transfer of funds later, and Mami was holding the bike's key. "Thank you so much," she said, pulling Charlotte along. "And I'm so sorry about all this."

"Sure," the swifterist muttered. She stared numbly down at her displayed bank account, which was now eighty thousand talents heavier. "Whatever you say…" Shaking her head, she shut off the landlock. Then she displayed a high level of good sense by fleeing the hanger as fast as her feet could carry her. Perhaps she was heading to a dealership, though it was more likely that she had gone in search of a bed to hide under. Mami wished her well.

The swifter was only intended for one person, so Mami and Charlotte had to squeeze in the best they could. Since Mami was going to provide the majority of their offense, it fell to Charlotte to do the actual driving. "Are you feeling up to this?" Mami asked, gripping Charlotte's shoulders.

"As much as I'll ever be," Charlotte said, studying the dashboard. It seemed simple enough. She had no idea what most of the readouts meant, but she wouldn't need this thing for long. "Though this is the first time I've driven anything that doesn't go on water."

"I don't have much more experience than you."

"I know. Okay, pedals down there," Charlotte said, jiggling the brake and acceleration. She gripped the handles, which curved up on either side of the vehicle like horns. "And these…whoa, they're loose."

"I think it's supposed to be like that," Mami put in. "That's how you steer."

"Huh. Well, okay." Charlotte glanced over her shoulder and favored her wife with a cheeky grin, though it failed to mask her apprehension. Mami smiled back anyway. Charlotte took a deep breath and said, "Let's do this."

With that, she plunged the rod into its socket and twisted.

The swifter roared to life, lifting up from the dock while its engines growled noisily. Apparently its previous own had been playing some sort of music, as they were immediately greeted by a harsh electric guitar riff and a gravely woman's voice declaring them to be b-b-b-bad to the bone.

"Great," Charlotte said. "A soundtrack."

"Just ignore it," Mami said, peering out. Her heart fell. The Void Walkers' ship was now so far that she could barely see it. They had some catching up to do. "Move."

Charlotte pressed down on the acceleration, and then screamed as the swifter shot out in a cacophony of growling guitars, piano, and roaring engines.

…

With an agonized grunt, Annabelle Lee flopped onto the elysian's metal floor. As luck would have it, she landed on her punctured stomach, causing her to cry out as the fresh burst of pain nearly paralyzed her mind.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" she heard one of The Twins say mockingly. "Welcome to my world."

Grimacing, Annabelle Lee looked up to see Nie, now sans disguise, sneering down at her. "Got shot twice," Nie said, holding up her own arm. The hand was still a formless stump. "But do you hear me complaining? Face it, Annabelle Lee. For all your talk, you really are a lightweight."

"Don't say mean things!" Nikki cried, clutching at her sister. "Or Nikki cuts you!"

Annabelle Lee stared up at Nie, wondering how to respond. When nothing scathing came to mind, she simply held up her remaining hand. In it was Nie's abandoned pistol. "Saved your gun for you," she rasped.

That clearly had not been the reply Nie had been expecting. "I, uh…" she stammered, the scorn leaving her face, to be replaced with bewilderment. She hesitated for a moment, and then awkwardly took the offered weapon. "Er, thanks?"

Ignoring her, Annabelle Lee got up, though she needed Nikki's help to do so. Nearby was a First Aid kit. She tore it open with clumsy fingers and pulled out a syringe. Biting off the cap, she jabbed it into her wounded arm and breathed a sigh of relief as the pain numbed and the flow of violet vapor slowed. That done, she tapped the device she wore on her left wrist, banishing the glamour to resume her normal look.

"What's our situation?" she said, floating over the cockpit. There, a similarly undisguised Arzt was sitting in the pilot's seat. She shot Annabelle Lee a dirty look over her shoulder (lots of those coming from them lately, it seemed), but she said, "Despite a rocky exit, we seem to have successfully escaped Cloudbreak. According to the radio, the marshals are still investigating the fight at the elevator, and have not yet moved to stall outgoing traffic."

Annabelle Lee grunted. That was as good as could be expected. "What of the cargo?"

In response, Arzt stuck a thumb toward the back of the ship. There, Oktavia von Seckendorff had been laid on the floor next to the duffel bag. Her wheelchair was folded up and lying next to her. Annabelle Lee sighed in relief. "Good. That's…good."

"So glad to have your approval," Nie said, coming up to them. Without a word of warning, she leapfrogged over the back of the pilot's chair and landed neatly into Arzt's lap. Smiling, she touched a finger to her completely unsurprised lover's chin and drew her face close. "But really, with us at the helm, how could it not be good?" she murmured as their lips met. From the back of the ship, Nikki started retching.

"Oh, fer the love of…All right, that's enough!" Annabelle Lee groaned. She grabbed Nie's dangling legs with her good arm and upheaved her out of Arzt's lap. When the other Twin stood up to protest, Annabelle Lee just shooed her off. "Knock it off! Go in the back if you gotta do that, okay? We're not out of this yet."

Grumbling, The Twins walked off hand-in-hand. Shaking her head, Annabelle Lee took over piloting. Her stomach still hurt, and the vapor loss made her woozy, but the medical gel she had injected herself with was taking care of that.. And in light of their escape, her mood was starting to brighten.

"Hey, Nikki!" she called over her shoulder. "If you wanna try out those sushi recipes, now would be the time!"

Ticky Nikki brightened immediately. "Really?" she said excitedly.

"Sure, you earned it. And it's not like she's gonna feel…" Annabelle Lee's voice trailed off. The sensors had just picked something up, something small and moving towards them. Frowning, she jabbed at a few buttons, enlarging the image. When she saw what it was, her eyes went wide. "Oh, you have gotta be fucking kidding me."

…

"Char, this is not right! Char, this is not right!"

"I know, I know, I'm working on it!"

"We're upside down, Char! You've turned us upside down!"

"Yes, Mami! That has been brought to my attention!"

The Tomoes' first swifting excursion was not off to a good start. As adept as Charlotte might be at boating, operating a sky-faring vehicle was a bit outside of her range of expertise, especially one with as sensitive controls as the swifter. While she had managed to get it out of the hanger without incident (unless you counted being scared nearly to their second death), it hadn't taken long for her to find out that unnervingly flexible handlebars responded to any movement, and simply keeping the damned thing moving straight forward was proving to be quite the chore, one that she had been wholly unprepared for.

As such, they were now upside down.

"Just…just move the handles to the left," Mami shouted. She didn't want to raise her voice, but given how loud the engine and the music was, she had little choice. "To the left, Char! To the left!"

"I'm trying, thank you!" Charlotte snapped back. She wrestled both handles to one side, but unfortunately exerted too much force. Both girls screamed as the swifter spun around in a tight corkscrew.

"Ease up, ease up!" Mami cried. Charlotte complied, but once again she overcompensated and ended up spinning in the opposite direction.

All the while, the music continued playing on, with the current song declaring them to have been born to be wild. It was not an assessment that Charlotte would agree with, but given their current circumstances, she was finding it difficult to argue.

"STOP!" Charlotte screamed as she wrested the bike back. Finally she got to stop spinning, thought it was leaning precariously to the left. If there was one silver lining to be found, it was that trying to control that horrible machine was distracting her from noticing just how high they were.

"That's close enough!" Mami shouted. She pointed. "But you've gone off course!"

They had. The Void Walker's ship was swiftly pulling away in a completely different direction. Sighing, Charlotte tried easing the thing around. Her results were questionable.

"Char, we really don't need to go back to Cloudbr-"

"Not helping, sweetie," Charlotte growled. "All right, hell with this."

With that, she roughly yanked and wrenched at the handles this was and that, sending the swifter into a mad, topsy-turvy epileptic fit. The world blurred before their eyes, until finally Charlotte brought it to a sudden stop.

The Void Walkers' ship was directly in front of them.

"Ha!" Charlotte crowed as she slammed down on the acceleration. "Nailed it!"

"You…never mind," Mami sighed. "Just keep it steady the best you can."

Charlotte nodded. But it didn't take long before another problem came to her attention. "Uh, Mami? They're going too fast! I don't think we can catch them!"

"Then we'd better slow them down then." Mami raised a hand, and ribbons flashed to life in front of her. They constricted and glowed, becoming a long-barrel sniper rifle. Charlotte gulped and ducked her head.

"Hold still," Mami shouted and she took aim. Her crosshairs lined up with one of the elysian's engines. "They're not getting away."

…

The elysian suddenly bucked like a stallion that had been given a swift kick in the rump. Annabelle Lee nearly bounced out of her seat, and something made of glass broke behind her. "What happened?" one of The Twins cried.

"You're not gonna believe this, but Pinkie and Blondie got their hands on that chick's swifter," Annabelle Lee called back. "And now they're chasing us!"

"What?" Arzt bolted up to the cockpit. To Annabelle Lee's dismay, her corset was undone. Apparently they had taken her advice literally.

Doing her best to keep her eyes on the instruments and away from Arzt's chest, Annabelle Lee pointed at the small approaching image. "Check it out. But put your clothes back on first."

Arzt complied with the first instruction but ignored the second. She studied the readout for a moment before slamming her fist against the dashboard. "Damn it all! What does it take to get rid of them?"

Nie came up to join them. Thankfully, she at least had the decency to put her outfit back together. "They're following us?" she gaped. "Really?"

"Following and shooting," Annabelle Lee told her. "That bump was us losing part of one of the-"

There was another jolt, and this time the lights flickered. "And there goes the rest of it," Annabelle Lee remarked. "We're down to three engines. Oh, and Arzt? Put your clothes back on, for God's sake."

As Arzt sulkily refastened her corset, Annabelle Lee studied the information she was being given. The swifter had greater acceleration than the elysian, but was stunted by a lower top speed, and as the elysian had already reached its own, it was a moot point. But if they lost another engine, the swifter would be able to catch them without trouble. Already it was starting to gain.

"What about weapons?" Nie asked. "Do we have any?"

Annabelle Lee shook her head. "No, this was supposed to be a stealth run, remember? An armed ship would have attracted attention."

"Which is stupid," Arzt muttered darkly. "It's not like half the city can't pull guns, swords, and knives from thin air."

"Yeah, well, don't care." Annabelle Lee tapped her finger at the approaching blip. "Right now, I'm concerned with that." She shoved herself away from the controls and floated out of the chair. "Arzt, take the wheel. Nie? You're with me. We're going skeet-shooting." She hesitated for a split-second before moving to the next name. "Nikki?"

Ticky Nikki, who had been completely oblivious to the recent attack and the ensuing battle council until now, looked up in surprise. She had been busy pulling several rolls of seaweed from a small cooler.

"Forget the sushi for now," Annabelle Lee said. "You're in charge of guarding the deadweights. If Blondie or Pinkie get aboard, slice 'em up good."

Nikki's face fell. "But Annabelly said-"

"I know, situation's changed. Guard now, seafood later. Oh, and don't call me Annabelly."

"But-"

"Stop arguing and just do it, Nikki!" Annabelle Lee grabbed the hatch's handle. She glanced over to Nie, who, while looking as disgruntled as she always did whenever she had to follow Annabelle Lee's lead, had her pistols out and ready.

"All right," Annabelle Lee said. "Let's do this." She pulled the handle down.

…

"We're gaining!" Charlotte called in excitement.

"So I see! Just keep heading towards them, we'll catch them." Mami summoned another sniper rifle and line up another shot. One of the Void Walkers' four engines was a dead, smoking thing. It was time for another to join it.

Unfortunately, the swifter shifted under her just as she fired. It wasn't much, but it was enough to change her shot from a crippling one to a simple graze.

"Char!" she said in annoyance.

"Sorry, still getting the hang of this!"

Sighing, Mami took up another rifle. But as she did, she saw movement on the elysian's hull. The hatch that Annabelle Lee had escaped into was moving, opening.

The hatch swung open and an angry face appeared, framed by her ragged, violet hair. Apparently Annabelle Lee had finally dropped her disguise. Mami readjusted her aim and fired. Annabelle Lee quickly ducked out of the way, and before Mami could bring up another weapon the Void Walker had thrown herself from the elysian and into the open air.

"Whoa, did you see that?" Charlotte gasped. She tried to track Annabelle Lee as she dove down, but a cloud swallowed her up.

"Yes! Watch out for her, I'm going to try to-"

Something zinged past her, followed by another one. The Void Walker with the pistols had partially emerged from the hatch and was shooting at them. Mami tried to shoot her down, but had to duck as more bullets flew past.

"Mami?" Charlotte said, her voice filled with uncertainty.

Mami shook her head. The bullets were easy to avoid. Annabelle Lee was the real threat. "Just keep going towards it," she said. "Try to get on the other side, where she can't aim."

Charlotte gave her a quick look. "Yeah, okay," she muttered. "I'll go ahead and do that then."

As Charlotte struggled to make the swifter obey her will, Mami kept an eye on the clouds below them, searching for any sign of movement.

And then the swifter violently shook. Charlotte swore loudly.

"What happened?" Mami called.

"I think we got hit! Nothing important, but-"

The swifter jerked again.

"-okay, that was probably something important. Hurry up and cripple them already!"

Mami gritted her teeth. This was hard enough without being shot at. She focused on one of the engines, created a new rifle, took aim, and-

-and Annabelle Lee chose that moment to attack.

She simply appeared out of nowhere, striking at the swifter from below. Sparks flew as she slashed away at the metal plating, cutting into the circuitry beneath. Cackling, she hauled herself up over its side and struck at Mami's leg.

Mami cried out as the steel blades bit into her calf. Charlotte tried to turn around, but the swifter suddenly lurched to one side, forcing her to fix their course. Annabelle Lee yanked her claws out and readied herself for a second strike.

Then, acting more on instinct than anything, Mami took the rifle in her hands and slammed the butte of it into Annabelle Lee's long nose. The Void Walker made a sound not unlike a breaking rock and proceeded to do a passable impression of one.

Grimacing, Mami swung her rifle around, took aim once again, and fired.

"Got it!" Charlotte called unnecessarily as the engine went up in smoke and sparks. "Nice shot. You okay?"

"Yes!" Mami said, trying to keep the pain from her voice. Her lower leg felt like it was burning, but that would pass. "Can you get us in closer?"

"With this-Ah!" Charlotte quickly swung to one side to avoid another shot. "With the damage we took, not likely. I mean, if you took out the rest of their engines, then maybe we'd have a chance, but I see us going down before they do."

Charlotte was right. The swifter's speed was dropping, as was its altitude. It wasn't falling, per se, but remaining level with the Void Walkers' ship was becoming a problem. "All right, I'll take care of it," Mami said. Using her ribbons to keep herself tethered, she leaned over as far as she could. As she did so, she was struck by a wave of dizziness that had nothing to do with vertigo. All that magic she had been using was starting to catch up to her.

Mami frowned and pushed the fatigue away. She couldn't afford to lose focus now. She touched a glowing finger to the gashes Annabelle Lee had torn. When she removed it, the tears were repaired, and were now studded with sparkling topazes.

"All right, that's done," she said, straightening up. "I'll try to knock out another engine."

"Sounds good! You think you could enchant this bike to go faster while you're at it?"

Mami shook her head. "I've used too much magic as it is. I need to save it for fighting."

"Figures," Charlotte muttered. "Well, okay. Onward then."

...

Ticky Nikki was not renowned for her patience, nor was she especially good at following instructions. It wasn't her fault, she just got distracted easily. And when she got distracted, she often forgot what she was supposed to be doing.

At the moment, she was supposed to be guarding the Fishy and Stabby Stab Stab Girl. Annabelly and Shooty Sameface were outside, making the Yellow Boom Boom and the Pink Monkey go away. Pointy Sameface was steering their sky boat, which was bothersome. Nikki didn't much care for either Sameface, but at least they weren't together. When that happened, icky things happened.

Sighing, she idly dug at the floor with her knife, wishing she had something to do. Annabelly had told her to wait until later for sushi, and that was just mean. First she said Nikki could turn the naughty Fishy into sushi, and then she changed her mind just as Nikki had gotten the ingredients out. She had done that on purpose, Nikki just knew it. Annabelly had been very cross lately.

Nikki cast a sulky glance at the Fishy. She was lying on the floor, fast asleep. And thanks to Pointy Sameface poking her, she wasn't going to wake up. Maybe Nikki would be able to make a few rolls. She was supposed to watch her, and she could carve without watching, right? She could do both at the same time.

A flick of her wrist, and her knife swung upright into her grasp.

Keeping an eye on Pointy Sameface, Ticky Nikki edged over to the food locker. She opened it as quietly as she could and carefully pulled out the packages of dried seaweed. Giggling softly, she laid them aside. Then she went for the rice, which was nestled behind several plastic jugs of water.

Just as Nikki was shifting the water out of the way, the sky boat suddenly lurched hard to the right. Squealing, Nikki fell backward, taking the contents of the food locker with her. The water jugs hit the floor and burst open, spilling everywhere.

The packet of rice had landed on Nikki's face. Lifting it off, she saw that the back of the sky boat had blown up. Well, not completely. It was still there, as were Fishy and Baggy, but small holes had been blown out from the walls, and smoke was everywhere. One circuit board had exploded, and several large, sparking cables had been severed and were now jumping and hissing on the floor.

Up front, Pointy Sameface was struggling to bring the boat back under control. She wrestled with the controls, pulling the ship up. As a result, the floor started to tilt, and all the food went rolling back to where the deadweights were lying, as did the spilled water.

As Nikki watched, the water splashed against the sleeping Fishy. That wasn't a problem. Fishes didn't mind water. But there was a lot of water, and there were live wires lying exposed nearby.

Nikki might be a little nutty, but she wasn't stupid. And as she watched the water approach the wires, her eyes went wide. Oh, ticky…

…

Mami's aim had been true. Three of the elysian's engines were now smoking ruins. She left the fourth, as at least one was needed to keep the ship airborne. They wanted to catch up to it, not shoot it down.

Which was what they were doing. The swifter slowly gained on the lagging ship, closing the distance between them. Seeing this, the sharpshooter's shots became more frantic, which wasn't doing her aim any favors. A couple of shots from Mami quickly sent her retreating back inside.

"Once we get inside, I'll keep the Void Walkers busy while you get Oktavia and Kyoko!" Mami shouted as they came alongside the crippled elysian. "Get them out and on the swifter as fast as you can!"

Charlotte nodded, though the plan made her feel uneasy. "Are you sure you can handle all three?"

Mami shook her head and smiled. "I don't have to handle them, I just have to distract them. I can do that for however long as you need. Once you're out, I'll take out the remaining engine and join you."

"All right," Charlotte said, though she still had a long list of reservations. "Be careful, and watch out for the little one."

"Don't worry," Mami said. She kissed the back of her head. "We've gotten this far, we can make it the rest of the way."

She brought the swifter close enough to the elysian for Mami to tether them together. "All right," Mami said as she leapt onto the other ship and grabbed onto an exterior ladder. She held her hand out to Charlotte. "Now, move fast, and-"

The swifter suddenly jolted, causing Charlotte to miss Mami's hand. "Whoa!" she said as she held on to keep from falling. "What the-"

And then she and Mami saw that the ribbons that had been used to tie the swifter to the Void Walkers' elysian had been slashed. It took them all of two seconds to realize what that meant. When they did, Mami's eyes went wide with fear.

"Charlotte, jump!" she shouted, holding out her hand. Charlotte tried, but before she could even rise from her seat, a skinny arm covered by a leather sleeve rose up from under the swifter to seize the left handle while another came down on the accelerator. One pulled while the other pushed, and the small craft was sent careening away from the elysian.

"No!" Mami shouted. She tried to snag Charlotte with a web of ribbons, but the swifter was moving too erratically, and it soon disappeared into a cloud. "Charlotte, no!"

…

The toxins that Arzt Kochen had used to knock out Kyoko and Oktavia were entirely unique. She produced them from her own soul vapors using magic. As such, there existed no recipe by which to replicate them, and as such there was no antidote. Once she stung you, the only thing you could do was wait until they passed out of your system, for however long that took.

However, they had not been intended to withstand being doused with electricity.

Oktavia came awake screaming. Or at least, she would have been screaming had the electricity surging through her not paralyzed her so completely that making any noise at all was completely out of the question. She twitched and spasmed, her tail thrashing and her mouth open in a silent agonized wail.

And then the world pitched to one side and the live cable was pulled out of the puddle. Oktavia collapsed gasping. Her skin was still twitching and her mind was frazzled, but was a step up from being electrocuted.

Her situation was still far from desirable though. One moment she had been talking to Kyoko at the hotel's zoo, the next she was on an epileptic spaceship getting shocked. And to top it off, why-

Her head fell to one side, giving her a good view of the person staring at her.

-was there an adorable blonde little girl staring at her like Oktavia had just taken her milk money?

"No!" shouted the girl, clearing things up in an instant. She pulled out two very familiar looking knives. "Bad fishy! You go back to sleep!"

Well, this wasn't good. Apparently the Void Walkers had somehow gotten her, stuffed her on an ugly spaceship that they didn't know how to drive if the way it was pitching to and fro was any indication, and Ticky Nikki, who had seemed to have traded in her outfit but not her desire to cut Oktavia into tiny pieces, was about to finally experience the pleasure of dismembering the mermaid bit by bit. There was nothing about this that was good, save perhaps for Nikki's new wardrobe. It did not suit her by any stretch of the imagination, but it was at least a step up from that Daddy's Little Dominatrix get-up she had before.

Ticky Nikki bared her horrible teeth in a low snarl. She crouched down and sprung. Panicked, Oktavia cried out as she threw her hands in front of her in a futile effort to defend herself. She closed her eyes, unwilling to watch her own mutilation.

The mutilation never came. Oktavia hesitantly opened her eyes to a very strange sight. A spoked train wheel had sprung into existence directly in front of her. Nikki had managed to embed her knives in the wheel's spokes and now looked completely beside herself as she tried to puzzle out where in the world this round thing had come from.

Oktavia didn't intend to give her the chance. Remembering how she had controlled the wheel back at the pool, she frantically sent the wheel a single command, repeated over and over.

SPIN.

The wheel obeyed, and as Nikki had not the wherewithal to release her grip on the knives' handles, she was taken along for the ride. The little psychopath screamed as she was spun around like a top so fast that her body became a brightly colored blur. That was weird enough, but even stranger that it never occurred to her to let go.

Well, Oktavia wasn't going to wait for her to figure it out. She threw her hands out, and the wheel flew away from her, still spinning Nikki around like a drill. Her eyesight was still blurry, so she couldn't make out where it went, but there was a loud crash followed by another series of epileptic seizures from the ship, so she presumed that it had hit something important.

"What the bleeding hells!" someone screamed. Uh-oh. Someone was coming.

Oktavia frantically looked around for something to give her an edge. Her wheelchair was lying nearby, with all of its bags. Her cutlass was in one of them, so there was always that, though Oktavia questioned its effectiveness on dry land. There was also that sparking wire, which was fortunately not near the water. And there was some kind of large, black duffel bag.

Someone walked into the range of Oktavia's eyesight. She felt a rush of fear when she recognized the girl with syringes for fingers.

The Void Walker took one look and her and all expression went from her face. "Oh," she said. "You're awake." A pause. "How?"

Oktavia wasn't interested in answering questions. She propped herself up on the best she could and scooted away, though her recent shock made that difficult. She was moments away from being attacked again, and unlike the last time, all advantages were strictly in her opponent's favor.

…

Charlotte held on for dear life as the swifter pitched and turned this way. She tried pressing down on the break and stamping Annabelle Lee's fingers away from the accelerator, but the Void Walker had a persistence born from madness. She just laughed as her hand was mangled.

"LET GO!" Charlotte screamed as the world spun around her. "LET GO BEFORE-"

The hand she was stomping on popped its blades. They sliced into Charlotte's foot, causing her to jerk back. And all the while the swifter continued to spin out of the control, while the current song lamented something about the girls of summer being gone.

Grimacing, Charlotte did her best to ignore the sharp pain in her foot as she pulled as hard as she could on the handles. "Let go right now," she seethed through clenched teeth. "Or I'll-"

"You'll what?" The swifter righted itself and came to such a sudden stop that Charlotte nearly pitched over the side. Laughing, Annabelle Lee crawled up over the front to look Charlotte in the eye.

Charlotte tried to punch her, but her clumsy attempt was easily swatted aside. "Yeah, in case you haven't noticed, I can fly," Annabelle Lee said. "You're kinda outmatched here."

"Yeah?" Charlotte said. "Well, outmatch this!" She thrust her hand forward and shot of a tangle of golden wires. But to her dismay, Annabelle Lee ducked it easily. Perhaps the lameness of the comeback had affected her chances.

"Okay," Annabelle Lee said with a grin. "My turn." With that, she sliced off both handles.

"What?" Charlotte gawked. "No! No, stop it!" But Annabelle Lee did no such thing. Instead, she ducked down out of range of Charlotte's fists and started hacking away at the swifter's motor. Panicked, Charlotte slammed her wounded foot down on the accelerator, hoping that the sudden movement would shake Annabelle Lee off. Instead, the swifter just gave a sad little cough and did nothing.

"That should do it," Annabelle Lee as she rose up again. "Bye bye now." With that, her arm lunged forward, and Charlotte let out a strangled little gasp. She looked down to see two blades sinking into her chest.

That wicked grin never leaving her face, Annabelle Lee withdrew her arm and rose up. Charlotte helplessly watched her go.

And then the swifter sputtered and fell.

Charlotte's vision was going fuzzy, but she was conscious enough to know that she was in a lot of trouble. The clouds were moving away far too fast, and if she didn't do something soon, she was in for a short, but painful, landing.

With nothing else to do, Charlotte held up one hand and shot off her wires as far as they would go. It was a shot in the dark, but it was all she had.

…

"CHARLOTTE!" Mami screamed as her wife was wrenched away. She sent out a grasping tangle of ribbons in a desperate attempt to snag her, but her aim was off and the swifter's movement too erratic. Charlotte and Annabelle Lee fell away to be swallowed up by the clouds.

Mami stared numbly at where they had disappeared. She felt a horrible pressure in her chest as the darkness returned to envelop her. It really was happening again. She was failing the people she loved, and now they were being taken away from her. First her parents, then her friends, then Kyoko, then Madoka and Sayaka, then Kyoko and Oktavia again, and now Charlotte. She was losing them all, and she was going to be alone-

Wait. She sensed movement above her. Mami looked up. The hatch was still open, and the sharpshooter was climbing out. She glanced down, saw Mami clinging to the side of the ship, and her golden eyes narrowed. She didn't say anything though; she just pulled one of her pistols out and took aim.

Unfortunately for her, Mami was faster on the draw. A musket sprang to her fingers and she fired off a quick shot, forcing the sharpshooter to retreat back down the hatch. Disinterested in letting her get away, Mami hauled herself up the side of the ship, practically clawing her way up the ladder.

As she reached the hatch, the sharpshooter peeked out. Seeing how close Mami was, her face went pale, and she quickly tried to fire. Mami snapped her fingers, and the sharpshooter suddenly found herself wrapped tightly in a yellow cocoon, much like Charlotte had done using her wires. Only this time it was ribbons. And Mami wasn't interested in simply flinging her away.

"Wha-wha-" the encased Void Walker gaped as she tried to free herself. "I-" Then she saw the look on Mami's face and her eyes widened with fear.

Mami held up a hand, and the cocoon rose up out of the hatch. "Wait," the Void Walker gasped. "Don't-"

Mami punched her in the face.

Hand-to-hand combat was not her forte. She was a long-range fighter. And as such, hitting things was not something she was used to. But she was strong, and she was angrier than she ever remembered being.

"Why?" Mami snarled, and punched her again. "Can't you?" Another punch. "Just leave." A sharp uppercut. "Us alone?" The dazed Void Walker's head lolled to one side, her face swelling and her eyes unfocused.

Then Mami pulled out a musket and shoved the muzzle right between the girl's eyes. Her finger tightened on the trigger, but then she hesitated. What was she doing? This wasn't like shooting down an enemy in a live confrontation. This was a cold execution. True, she wouldn't actually "die," but this was far more extreme than anything Mami had done.

And then she remembered Charlotte screaming as Annabelle Lee pulled her away. She remembered Oktavia's limp body tumbling from the elevator tube. She remembered Kyoko's prone form being taken into the Nautilus Platform, seeping from three different wounds. She remembered Reibey's face as he taunted them, and imagined the sort of horrors he was planning for them.

Gritting her teeth, Mami squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out, and her burden went completely limp. Eyes still shut, she released the ribbons. Something heavy bounced off the side of the ship and fell away.

Mami shuddered and slumped forward. She panted heavily, one hand over her heart. "Forgive me," she choked out. "Forgive me, forgive me."

She let out one last sobbing breath, and then steadied herself. She had a job to do. Mami rose up and readied herself to plunge into the ship.

And then a miracle happened.

Five golden threads shot up from the clouds, shimmering in the sunlight. Mami stared in shock, her tired mind not understanding the significance of what she saw. But when she did, she almost fell off in surprise.

"Go!" she cried, sending as many ribbons as she could summon out at the wires. This time she didn't miss, and the ribbons and wires swiftly tangled together in a tight knot. The makeshift robe snapped taut, and to Mami's delight, there was something moderately heavy hanging at the other end.

She hauled it up as quickly as she could, praying that her strength wouldn't give out. And when Charlotte's body emerged from the clouds, she almost wept with joy.

Charlotte was hanging limply from one hand, the other clutched at her chest. Still, she managed to look up and, seeing Mami, smiled with relief, which Mami returned. But then Charlotte's expression turned to one of horror. Mami followed her eyes, and felt a rush of fear.

Annabelle Lee was hovering in the air about ten meters away, arms crossed and one finger tapping irritably against her bicep. She scowled at Mami and slowly shook her head. Then she uncrossed her arms and held them wide to either side. The sun flashed off the steel of her blades as they popped out of their sheathes. Then, with a challenging shout, she swooped down low, aiming for where Mami's ribbons and Charlotte's wires were tied together.

Panicked, Mami desperately searched for some way to stop her. Both of her hands were full, so shooting her down was out of the question. Plus, she was moving too quickly to get a clear shot at, but if she didn't do something soon, she would be cutting right through the knot…

…a knot that was composed of several of Mami's ribbons.

Wow, she was really out of practice.

The ends of the ribbons loosened just enough to swing around and point at Annabelle Lee. Their tips glowed and lengthened. When the glow faded, each ribbons was tipped with a loaded musket.

Annabelle Lee's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. She tried to avert course, but Mami had already opened fired. When her body passed by the golden cord, it didn't so much resemble as person as it did a violet comet.

Sighing, Mami hauled her wife up the rest of the way. Wire and ribbon alike disappeared, and Charlotte collapsed into her waiting arm.

For a time, neither of them spoke, content to just hold onto each other. And then Mami drew her up to kiss her, murmuring, "I thought I lost you."

Charlotte chuckled. "Sorry, no such luck."

"Are you okay?

"More-or-less." Charlotte made a face and looked down to where her hand was clutching at her chest. "Got a bit stabbed. That kind of hurt."

Alarmed, Mami shifted her weight to see. "Is it-"

"Fine for now," Charlotte said. "Guess I still had some of that med gel those girls gave us in my system. Though that's not the worst of it."

Mami swallowed. "Then what is?"

"We're out eighty talents."

"Oh," Mami said. She laughed. "Well. That's too bad."

"Mmmm-hmmm. A shame. That bike was starting to grow on me." Then the two of them looked up, at the beckoning hatch.

"Well," Charlotte said as Mami shifted her over to the ladder. "Let's do this. At least it's one down now."

Mami shook her head. "Two."

"What? What are-Oh." Charlotte looked a bit beside herself. "Well. You've been busy. Remind me never to piss you off."

Normally Mami might have responded with a quip, but she didn't have the heart for it. Shrugging, she started to climb.

And then a sudden crash nearly startled them off the ladder. Their heads whipped around just in time to see a spinning wheel smashing through the windshield to go spiral off into the distance. And while it was moving too quickly to tell for certain, Mami was pretty sure she saw Nikki flattened against its front.

"What the hell?" Charlotte said. "Is that…is that a wheel?"

"Uh, yes." Mami nodded. "Yes, Charlotte. That was a wheel."

"Huh. Well then." Charlotte's mouth widened into grin of delight. "You know, call me crazy, but I think Oktavia's awake."

…

"Get away from me!" Oktavia shouted as she hurled one wheel after another at the syringe witch. Unfortunately, it wasn't going so well. The witch was proving to be surprisingly agile, and had managed to duck, dodge, and hop over every spinning ordnance sent her way.

"You will," the syringe seethed as she vaulted over one wheel to slide under another, "stop this and lay down like the good little girl I know you-"

Finally a wheel managed to clip her in the shoulder, sending her spiraling back. Oktavia immediately launched two more at her, but she managed to recover in time to roll out of the way.

"Nie!" the syringe witch called toward the ladder that led out of the ship. "I need aid, darling! The fish is awake and flopping!"

Oktavia gulped. One Void Walker was bad enough. She had no idea how she was going to handle two. Already the effort of creating so many wheels was getting to her. She propped her back up against the wall and readied herself for the fight of her life.

It never came. The syringe witch stared up the ladder, her face twisting in confusion, and then to horror. "No," she whispered. "No, they couldn't have. Not my Nie. Not my-"

And then Oktavia clonked her on the head with a wheel, knocking her sprawling.

There was no time to waste. Now that she was out of immediate danger, Oktavia immediately went to the big black bag and yanked at the zipper. To her relief, the first thing she saw was a mess of red hair framing a thin face.

"Oh, thank God!" she breathed as she hauled Kyoko out of the bag. Her redheaded friend was as limp and unresponsive as she had been after Elsa Maria's island, but fortunately now Oktavia knew the remedy for that, even if it wasn't a pleasant one.

The cable was still sparking angrily against the floor. Summoning up one more wheel, Oktavia wrapped one arm around Kyoko and used the other to grab onto the wheel's rim. From there, she had it haul her over to the smashed circuit panel.

Grabbing onto the cable, Oktavia cast a guilty look down at her unconscious friend. "Sorry about this," she said. "I'll make it up to you later."

With that, she jabbed the cable into Kyoko's mouth.

…

Kyoko hated rude awakenings. If was asleep, she intended to stay that way until her body decided that it had enough.

She also hated being electrocuted. True, she had never been electrocuted before, but it was such a painful experience that people hated it by default. And after being rudely awakened by electrocution, she came to hate in on a personal level as well.

Her eyes snapped opened as her body jerked and convulsed. Something was in her mouth, something sizzling and painful. Part of her considered pulling it out, but the rest was so overwhelmed by agony to get behind the plan. Not that her arms would have responded to the command anyway.

And then it was gone, taking with it the flow of electricity. Kyoko fell forward onto her face and gasped, every breath feeling unnaturally cold.

"Kyoko? Kyoko!" she heard someone cry, though her hearing was all screwed up. Then that someone grabbed her and pulled her back. She blinked and saw Sayaka staring down at her in concern. Or at least she was mostly sure it was Sayaka. For some reason, her hair was sticking straight out in all directions. "Are you okay?" the mermaid said, her voice still sounding all garbled. "Sorry about the wire, but you were kind of unconscious, and I needed you up."

Wait, Sayaka had been the one to electrocute her? Why in the hell would she do that? Kyoko scowled and opened her mouth to unleash a barrage of profanity, only to double over and start coughing. A puff of dark maroon smoke issued out of her mouth. Okay, that couldn't be good.

Sayaka patted her back. No doubt she was trying to be helpful, but each touch felt like a hammer blow. "St-st-stop it," Kyoko wheezed. "Y-you fucking-"

"Call me names later. After you've helped me deal with her."

Her? Kyoko looked up. The first thing she noticed was that they were no longer at the zoo. Instead, they were in the back of some kind of moving vehicle, one that had taken copious amounts of damage and had food strewn everywhere. Evidently, a kidnapping had taken place. What was more, their kidnappers seemed to be quite careless with their food storage.

That just made her angry. The kidnapping she could forgive. Business was business, after all. But to treat their food in such a disrespectful manner was just goddamned insulting. Fortunately, with the anger came increased focus, and she was able to zero in on the person Sayaka was talking about.

Though her blurred vision made it difficult to pick out details, Kyoko was still able to see some blonde chick in a gothy bondage outfit struggling to her feet. It didn't take a genius to figure whose side she was on.

"Yeah, that's the one that put you in that coma," Sayaka told her.

Kyoko raised her eyebrows. "Is…is that right?"

"Yup."

"Huh. Well, okay." Taking a deep breath, Kyoko moved her feet under her and slowly stood up. Her aching limbs protested the movement, but she told them to quit bitching and get with the program.

That done, she held out her right hand. The pole of her spear filled her grasp. A vicious grin slashed its way across her face. She focused on the stupid bitch's back, hunched down, and charged.

…

Arzt shook her head and blinked. Spots still filled her vision and her head ached something fierce. But she still had to fight through it. Nie was in trouble. She had to save her.

Groaning, Arzt staggered up and turned around. She blinked. Was it her imagination, or was a frizzy-haired Kyoko Sakura lurching towards her?

The swinging blade that came centimeters from taking her head off confirmed that it was.

Kyoko stumbled and fell with her back against the wall. She grimaced and pitched forward again, jabbing her spear at Arzt's stomach.

Arzt leapt aside and grabbed the weapon's pole. "How did you wake up?" she cried, staring into Kyoko's trembling eyes. "It's impossible!"

Instead of answering her very reasonable question, Kyoko just frowned and squinted at her. "Hey," she said, her voice rough and raspy. "Do I know you?"

The unexpectedness of the question took Arzt by surprise. She quickly rewound her memory. Had she and Kyoko ever met face-to-face while both were conscious? She didn't think so. "No," she said. "Why?"

"'Cause I swear I've seen you somewhere," Kyoko said. "Not positive, but I'm pretty sure I've kicked your ass at least once."

Arzt snarled. She wrenched the pole to one side. Kyoko held on, but the sudden movement made her stumble.

It was then that Arzt realized just how slow and clumsy Kyoko's movements were, no doubt an aftereffect of the toxins she had been pumped with. On the other hand, despite the beatings she had taken, Arzt was still relatively fresh.

With that in mind, Arzt shoved the spear's pole hard to the other side, making Kyoko stagger. She tried to jab at Arzt's torso again, but the witch easily sidestepped the lumbering attack and put her down with a spinning bicycle kick to the back of the head. Kyoko went down with a cry of pain.

Smirking, Arzt held up her syringe hand, and all five tubes filled with a deadly red liquid. She advanced on the gasping girl, ready to dispatch her the same way she had dispatched Margot.

And then a flying train wheel smacked her right in the forehead. Again.

The next few moments were little more than a blur. Arzt's vision swam, as did her thoughts. She was vaguely aware that she was in some kind of trouble, and that she had to go help Nie, but the specifics escaped her.

And then someone grabbed her by the neck and the waistline of her skirt and hauled her off the floor. Arzt flailed her arms in a futile attempt to defend herself. She was then rushed forward and hurled straight at the cockpit at the front of the ship, the same one that had been smashed to pieces by Oktavia's wheels. She flew through one of the holes and slid down the nose of the ship.

And then there was nothing but sky.

…

Mami gaped as Kyoko tossed the remaining Void Walker out into the open air. She and Charlotte had come down expecting a fight, only to find that both Oktavia and Kyoko had woken up and done all the work themselves. It was about as good an ending as they could have hoped for.

Groaning, Kyoko painfully turned around and leaned back against the controls. "Oh man," she said, rubbing her forehead. "Those emos. They're gonna be the death of me, I swear."

Then she caught sight of Mami and Charlotte staring at her and her face immediately lit up. "Holy shit!" she cried, standing up. "You made-erk!" The rest of her greeting was cut off when Mami rushed over to her and snatched her right off her feet in a crushing embrace. Kyoko gagged and kicked, but Mami refused to let go. That had been too close. She needed to reassure herself that Kyoko was there, safe, and not being taken away again.

"Gerrrofffamee!" Kyoko gasped as she tried to squirm free. She managed to get her arms between them and push back a little. "Damn it Mami! I can't breathe!"

Mami smiled. "Sorry," she said, letting Kyoko down. The redhead stumbled back and fell on her butt, panting.

"Took you long enough," Oktavia chirped in. "Seriously, you wait until we're all the way out of the city before you try to save us?" The mermaid was sitting at the other end of the ship, being seen to by Charlotte. The pink-haired witch had found a First Aid kit and was injecting a syringe into the Oktavia's arm, presumably filled with medical gel. For some reason, Oktavia's blue hair was sticking out in all directions, though it was nothing compared to the disaster on Kyoko's head. Like Oktavia, her hair poofed straight out, while her ponytail now looked like a squirrel's tail. Apparently they had had a bad experience with electricity at some point. Mami wondered if she should comment on it, but decided against it.

"So sorry for making you wait," Charlotte said with a small smirk. "Got caught in traffic, you know how it is."

Everyone laughed at that. They were beat up, cut up, run down, worn down, out of gas, (apparently) electrocuted, drugged, and on a heavily damaged ship that was down to one engine and no workable controls, but they were free and they were together. Which was a damned sight better than they had expected to be.

After using up the rest of the First Aid kit's med gel, they saw to problem of the ship. It didn't take long to confirm that the system that kept the so-called elysian afloat had been among the collateral damage, and while they still functioned, it wouldn't be long before the strain caused it to fail as well.

"So," Kyoko said, staring down at the single functioning computer they found. "We're gonna crash."

"We're not going to crash," Charlotte said, fiddling with the controls. Or perhaps "wrestling" would be a more apt description. Very few of them did anything anymore, and those that did performed their tasks halfheartedly.

"Yeah? This ship is wrecked and about to fall out of the sky. From what I hear, that usually results in a crash."

"We're not going to crash," Charlotte repeated, this time with a hint of irritation. "There's got to be a way to get this thing down safely. We just got to find it."

"Why don't we call for help?" Oktavia put in. "I mean, we can't be that far from Cloudbreak."

Mami checked. "Radio's gone," she announced.

"Oh," Oktavia said, her face falling. "Can we fix it?"

"No. It's not broken, it's gone." Mami pointed to a gaping hole among the controls. A wheel-shaped hole.

"Oh," Oktavia said again. "Er, oops?"

Kyoko scratched her head, still apparently oblivious to the fact that she now looked like a redheaded Super Sayian. "Well, how'd you guys get on here?"

"Took a swifter," Charlotte answered shortly.

"A what now?"

"Flying motorcycle," Mami explained.

Kyoko's eyes popped wide open. "You got a flying motorcycle?" she said in an awed whisper. "And you never told me?"

"Only had it for a few minutes," Charlotte said as she yanked hard on a lever that had gone stuck. "Then your buddy Annabelle Lee cut it apart."

"Oh." Kyoko's face twisted up into a scowl. She kicked a piece of scrap metal out into the air. "Well, damn it! Annabelle Lee ruins everything."

"You'll hear no arguments from me," Charlotte muttered, finally giving up on the lever. She rubbed her chafed palms and sighed. "Idiot stabbed me twi-no, three times. And smashed me against a wall. Really not sorry to see her gone."

Mami considered pointing out those sorts of things tended to happen in a fight, but decided that defending their enemy to her unhappy wife probably wasn't tactful. Either way, it didn't really matter. The Void Walkers were gone, which meant they had to focus on-

Wait. Mami frowned. Come to think of it, every time they had scored a hit, none of the so-called Void Walkers had misted white. Instead, Annabelle Lee's vapor had been purple while the other three had all been yellow, like Mami's was. Furthermore, weren't Void Walkers supposed to have pure white skin? Because those four had too much color in their tone to qualify.

Mami turned that mystery over in her head. This was significant, she was sure of it. An explanation, perhaps, for their surprising boldness? If Annabelle Lee and her associates were no longer Void Walkers, then that would explain why they had dared infiltrate Cloudbreak. But then why were they still after Kyoko and Oktavia?

While Mami pondered, Kyoko leaned back against the smashed controls and folded her arms. "Well, gotta say, this really ain't how I pictured our little adventure beginning. Usually the bad guys wait until halfway through before beating the shit out of us."

Oktavia perked up. "Wait, it's started?"

"No," Charlotte said, frowning. "As soon as we get out of this, we're going straight back to Cloudbreak. We're not starting this thing until we're fully ready."

"Yeah? You ever figured out how?" Kyoko put her hands on her hips. "I mean, even if we don't crash, we're way in the middle of nowhere, with no way of telling-erk."

Kyoko's gasp was so small that at first Mami though she had burped. She didn't pay it much heed at first, until she noticed that there were four thin blades protruding from Kyoko's chest.

"Kyoko?" she said, pointing. "What are…"

Kyoko numbly looked down. She lifted a finger to touch one.

And then the blades retracted and an arm came out from behind Kyoko to wrap around her neck. Before anyone could comprehend what was going on, Kyoko was hauled out through one of the holes in the windshield and out into the open air.

…

Despite being stabbed in the back and thrown into the sky, the attack had been so unexpected that Kyoko fell several meters before she figured out what was going on.

And then she twisted around to find herself nose-to-nose with a very familiar face, and she understood. Granted, the headdress was gone to be replaced by spiky violet hair, and her skin no longer looked like it was bleached, but there was no mistaking that ugly mug.

"You!" Kyoko shouted in outrage.

"Me," Annabelle Lee said, her lips twisting into a smile that was as ugly as the rest of her. "What's up?"

Screaming, Kyoko slammed her forehead forward. Annabelle Lee blinked and shook it off. She drew her arm back to stab Kyoko again, but Kyoko shoved off with both hands and kicked her assailant in the chest, creating some distance.

But unfortunately, Annabelle Lee could fly.

Laughing, she swooped in at Kyoko over and over, slashing at her each time. Kyoko blocked with spear and diamond plate alike, but while she could defend against five attempts, the sixth got through. And they just kept coming. Soon Kyoko was misting from half a dozen cuts. None were deep, but they stung.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Kyoko screamed as she whipped her spear out. The pole separated and lengthened, but Annabelle Lee ducked it with ease. "Why can't you just leave us alone already?"

Annabelle Lee just grinned and came in for another go. This time Kyoko tried surrounding her attacker with a sphere of her diamond-shaped shields, but Annabelle Lee just cut straight through them. And then Kyoko was sporting a seventh cut, this one along her leg.

This was insanity! Kyoko couldn't even defend herself properly, much less fight back. And how the hell was she supposed to break her fall? It wouldn't be long before they ran out of sky. And then Sayaka's earlier quips about saying hello to the ground for her would become all too literal.

It was then that Kyoko was struck with a sinking realization. That had to be Annabelle Lee's plan. Her attacks weren't doing any real damage. She was just playing with her. Because sooner or later, the ground would win the fight for her.

Kyoko frantically looked around. Damn it, there had to be something she could use. Nope, nothing but clouds. It couldn't end like this. There had to be something-

And then the clouds opened beneath her and she saw her salvation. A fat-bodied elysian shaped like a giant subway was leisurely passing below them. Judging by how it had no fancy enchantments, it was probably transporting goods of some kind. Kyoko didn't care. It was the edge she needed.

Annabelle Lee must have seen the look on Kyoko's face, because she frowned and looked down. And oh man, the way her eyes nearly bugged right out of their sockets was a thing of beauty. Kyoko might have laughed, but she was too busy figuring out how to avoid being smashed.

As the transport neared, Kyoko flipped herself around, drew her legs back, and slammed them into Annabelle Lee's midsection. The agonized oomph she let out was very satisfying, but more importantly it was enough to push Kyoko a few meters, so that she was heading for the transport's side instead of its top.

As the large elysian's hull passed by, Kyoko struck out with her spear, digging the pointed edge of the spearhead into its side. The spear dug a furrow through the metal, sending out sparks as Kyoko hung on for dear life. At first it looked like it would keep cutting all the way down, but eventually her momentum slowed until she finally came to a complete stop less than two meters from the bottom.

For a moment Kyoko just hung there, feet dangling while the transport kept moving forward, completely oblivious to the fact that it had picked up a stowaway. Then she grimaced and let go with one hand long enough to summon a second spear and jab it into the ship's side.

And so she progressed, using the spears as climbing spikes as she wearily made her way to the top. Though that med gel stuff Charlotte had given her had helped, Kyoko was still sore from being drugged, electrocuted, stabbed, and slashed. But she pressed on, fueling her ascent through sheer stubbornness.

It was enough, and soon Kyoko clawed her was onto the transport's thankfully flat roof. She rolled onto her back and lay there, focusing on doing nothing but breath. Ho-boy, this had not been her day. Hell, she'd take another go with those senators over this. Well, maybe.

Then her head flopped to one side and she saw a pair of violet eyes glowering at her. Annabelle Lee, somehow managing to avoid being smashed like a fly against a windshield, was clinging to the roof only a few short meters away.

Kyoko stared for a moment before leaping to her feet. "You just don't quit, do yah?" she said, crouching down and bringing her spear to bear.

Annabelle Lee spat. "Got nothing to lose, bitch. And I still owe you a thousand times over."

"Ditto." Kyoko's eyes narrowed. "All right, let's get this over with."

Annabelle Lee readily agreed, and the two of them charged at each other. Annabelle Lee swooped down low, blades zeroing in on Kyoko's stomach. Kyoko responded by vaulting over Annabelle Lee's back and whirling around to slash at the flying witch's side.

Jerking back just in time, Annabelle Lee came at her again, much like she had done when they were in freefall. But this time, with a firm ground beneath her, Kyoko was more than a match. Sparks flew as Annabelle Lee's blades met the pole of Kyoko's spear. Kyoko held fast, gritting her teeth as Annabelle Lee pressed down.

"You've upped your game," Kyoko grunted out.

Despite being locked in mortal combat, Annabelle Lee still managed a half-grin. "Been working out. You'd be surprised at how much hate can motivate you."

With that, she seized the pole with her fingers and shoved back. Kyoko stumbled half a step, giving Annabelle Lee the opening she needed to jab all four blades at the redhead's stomach.

With only half a second to react, Kyoko did the only thing she could do: let herself fall completely on her back. Two blades still sliced over her skin and tore her shirt, but it was far better than being impale again. As Annabelle Lee passed over, Kyoko again bunched up her legs and slammed them into the skinny girl's stomach, sending her hurling back.

Kyoko was back on her feet in a second. As Annabelle Lee flailed backwards, Kyoko added to her momentum with a flying tackle. They bounced and rolled across the ship's hull, while Kyoko rained blows down on Annabelle Lee's face.

And then she noticed something distressing. They were still moving back long after their momentum should have petered out. The transport wasn't moving quickly enough to account for it, and Annabelle Lee was now too dazed to do much flying. So what was causing it?

Kyoko look up and her heart sank. Much like the Void Walkers' ship, the transport had four large engines near the back, each one flaring out from all four sides. These ones looked that those of an airplane, rising up on a curving wing with a large exhaust port in the front. Inside wasn't a propeller though. Instead, behind six crisscrossing metal beams, there was something blue and glowing, no doubt magic or weird alien technology of some kind. However, it was still as hungry as a propeller might be, and the closer they came to it, the stronger the pull got.

Releasing her opponent, Kyoko twisted around and again slashed at the ship's hull with her spear, slowing herself to a stop. Unfortunately, Annabelle Lee hadn't noticed their peril and didn't know that they had stopped fighting, as she immediately grabbed Kyoko and yanked her back. Chortling, she rose up with her arms wrapped around Kyoko's waist, intending to take their battle back into the sky.

Regrettably, the engine had other plans.

It didn't take long for Annabelle Lee to notice that she wasn't going straight up as planned. She looked over her shoulder and her face turned almost as white as it had been the day they had met. She tried to fly away, but by then the pull was too strong. Screaming, the two girls were sucked right in.

Kyoko closed her eyes. It was cowardly she knew, but whatever that blue glowing thing was, she didn't want to watch what it did to her.

And then her back hit metal, nearly driving the wind from her. By sheer dumb luck, she had hit one of the metal beams instead, though the pull was all but flattening her against it.

She looked above her. Annabelle Lee had hit the same beam and was now clinging to it for dear life right over her head. Behind them, the blue glow hummed hungrily. She could feel the heat of it.

Taking a deep breath, she shouted, "What happens if we get sucked in?"

Annabelle Lee stared at her like she was an idiot. "What happens?" she shouted back. "What do you think happens?"

Okay, so it had been a stupid question. "Will we come back?" was Kyoko's next.

Annabelle Lee grimaced. She looked absolutely terrified. "Sure," she said. "Eventually."

Kyoko swallowed. She glanced down at the blue glow and quickly looked away. "I don't want to do that."

"Me neither."

"Truce until we get out of this?"

Annabelle Lee hesitated for less than a second before nodding. "Deal."

Kyoko snapped, and a wall of shield plates formed at either side of them, preventing them from falling off. Then, using smaller spears to pull herself along, Kyoko slowly squirmed her way across the beam toward the side of the engine. Once there, she formed a horizontal chain of shield plates from between her legs to the wall. Grabbing on, she tried to haul herself up, but the pull was too strong.

"Give me a push!" she shouted over her shoulder. Annabelle Lee gulped, but she crawled under Kyoko's head and pushed up. As they rose, Kyoko formed a succession of plates behind Annabelle Lee's back, essentially "saving" their progress.

Once they were vertical (or rather, horizontal), Kyoko surrounded them on three sides with shields, pressing them against the wall. "Okay," she said. "Get your arms under my armpits and use those Wolverine claws of yours to start climbing."

Annabelle Lee obeyed, though not without a suspicious look. "And what will you be doing?"

"This." Kyoko lifted a foot, and a shield appeared under it. "You climb, I push."

Working together, they slowly and painfully crawled their way across the engine's wall. It wasn't far, but the pull fought them every step of the way. Plus, having to rely on a hated enemy didn't make the journey any easier, but the threat of total disintegration kept either of them from turning on the other.

Finally they reached the lip of the engine. Hauling themselves out, they fell onto the fat wing and slid down to the bottom. Fortunately, the engine was directly over them, leaving them well outside of it pull.

Now safe, the two girls collapsed side-by-side on the front of the wing. Kyoko rubbed her forehead and groaned. "Damn it all," she grumbled. "Bring back the senators."

"You're crazy," Annabelle Lee said. "Deal with politicians? I'd cannonball straight into that engine first."

Kyoko had to laugh at that, and even Annabelle Lee started chuckling. Then their heads rolled toward each other, their eyes locked, and the laughter stopped.

"Uh," Kyoko said.

"Huh." Annabelle Lee responded. Her eyes narrowed, and her smirk appeared. "Well." She sat up and lifted an arm, blades bared. "Truce ov-"

And then there was the sound of a very familiar gunshot. Annabelle Lee blinked once, and amethyst vapor poured out of the two holes that had somehow appeared on either side of her head. Kyoko gawked as Annabelle Lee's eyes rolled back and she slipped off the wing to fall bonelessly into the sky.

"Kyoko!"

Kyoko turned her head and, to her immense relief and confusion, saw the most bizarrely wonderful sight she had ever laid eyes on. The Void Walkers' busted-up ship was now hovering off to the transport's side. Well, hovering was perhaps a bit of a stretch, giving that it was losing altitude at a rather alarming rate. Still, it was there, and Mami was hanging out of the smashed windshield, beckoning insistently.

Well, the gift horse was calling. Kyoko bolted across the hull and threw herself at Mami. Ribbons wrapped around her, altering her course so Mami could grab her and pull her in. The two of them fell onto the floor and laid still.

"Are you all right?" Mami asked.

Kyoko's non-existent heart was beating a kilometer a second and her whole body was shaking, but she still managed a grin. "Never better."

"Oh, that good too." Mami smiled back. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to pass out for a while." With that, her eyes rolled back into her head and she did just that.

Kyoko blinked. Remembering all too well how using too much magic had exhausted her, she found herself empathizing with Mami's sudden bout of unconsciousness. Then with a sigh, she wearily sat up.

Oktavia sat with her back against the wall, staring at Kyoko with wide eyes. "What?" Kyoko said.

Oktavia took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Don't scare me like that again."

Kyoko scowled. Like it was her fault. "You look like Vegeta." Then she looked over to Charlotte, who was sitting in the pilot's chair with a forlorn on her face. "Hey, thanks for the ride. You figure out how to save our asses yet?"

Letting out a low sigh, Charlotte idly pushed at a now pointless switch and said, "I managed to restore some basic steering. That's how we got to you. But that's about it."

"Uh…" Kyoko blinked. "So…"

"The last engine's gone, and the anti-grav system's seconds away from crashing.

Kyoko thought for a moment. "Hey, can't I just enchant them so they'll work right?"

"Funny story, that. Mami tried doing just that."

"And?"

Charlotte leaned back with a sigh. "It blew up."

"What did?"

"The enchantment. And the engine. Turns out there were some enchantments already in this thing. They don't work anymore either, but they really don't like to be messed with. Shoddy thinking, that." She shook her head. "We are complete dumbasses. We should've jumped out to join you on that transport then have you come in here."

They watched silently as they transport in question moved further and further away, now far out of reach. Sayaka cleared her throat. "So what happens now?" she asked.

Charlotte sighed. "Now? Well, as it turns out, I owe Kyoko an apology."

"You do?" Kyoko's face scrunched up. "Okay…for what?"

In answer, Charlotte slid off the chair, picked Mami up, and brought her over to where Oktavia was sitting. Sitting Mami in her lap, she lowered her head and laced her fingers behind her neck. "Assume crash positions, everyone."

…

Two hours later…

It wasn't the most dignified way to start an adventure. At least Bilbo Baggins had a pony. And Kyoko was pretty sure that Sun Wokong didn't start things off by crashing a magic spaceship/airplane thing into the ground.

Still, it could have been worse. They had actually not been far from the ground by the time gravity took an interest in them, and some quick shield-work from Kyoko prevented them from being jostled around.

Still, by the time she and Charlotte emerged shaky-legged from the wreck, they were all pretty bruised up. But they were in one piece, which was a hell of a lot better than Annabelle Lee's crew could claim, wherever they were.

Once they were able, Kyoko and Charlotte had worked at helping Sayaka and the still-unconscious Mami from what was left of the ship. From there, they scoured it for any supplies they could use. They managed to recover some food and basic First Aid, but little else had survived.

Now the four of them were sitting in a circle near the edge of the crash site. Or rather, Kyoko, Charlotte, and Sayaka were sitting, while Mami lay with her head in Charlotte's lap, slumbering away. Miraculously, Sayaka's wheelchair had survived with only a couple of easily-fixed dents. What was more, her sword and harmonica had been stored away in the attached pouches, which struck Kyoko as painfully ironic. They had been forced out early with barely any supplies at all and had taken a hell of a beating along the way, but somehow the stupid harmonica had managed to come along.

As had Sayaka, come to think of it. Charlotte was still adamant that they find their way back to Cloudbreak and send her off with those friends of their, but Kyoko had a funny feeling that that wouldn't being happening. For one, they had no idea where they were, much less which way Cloudbreak was. When she pointed that out, Charlotte had sighed.

"Look, we can't start this way," she said. "We're all beat up, have barely any supplies at all, and there's no way we can take Oktavia with us."

Sayaka, who was contently humming away on her harmonica, cracked open an eye to glower at her.

"I'm sorry, but it's true! There's a bunch of terrain that we'll have to cover that your wheelchair just can't handle." Charlotte slumped over her knees and sighed. "Besides, we're all on the verge of collapse here. If we seriously set out like this, we're screwed."

"Yeah, but again, how the hell are we going to get back there?" Kyoko pointed out. "We're in the middle of nowhere, no way of knowing which way to go, and we're all on the verge of joining Mami over there in slumberland."

"Point," Charlotte groaned. She glanced back to the wrecked ship. "Okay, we spend the night here and rest up. The ship'll provide more shelter than anything else back there. In the morning, we'll…we'll think of something."

Still looking a little disgruntled, Sayaka nodded, as did Kyoko. But as they all headed back to the wreck, she paused and looked over her shoulder. The sun was setting over the treetops, and the sky was going dark. She stuck her hands in her pockets and shivered. While it wasn't much more than intuition, she knew that Charlotte was wrong. They wouldn't be going back to Cloudbreak. For better or for worse, this was where it started.

Then her fingers brushed against something made of metal in her pocket and she froze. When she realized what it was she pulled it out and smiled. In her hand was Elsa Maria's compass, which she had been carrying with her since Freehaven. Well, this may be a shitty start, but at least they weren't without some kind of guidance.

…

Hey guys! Guess what? Resonance Days is two years old today!

And on top of that, this chapter neatly wraps up the Cloudbreak bit, as well as brings the set-up to a close. Starting next chapter, the story will assume the episodic format that I talked about earlier. In television terms, everything up until now was the pilot mini-series. Now the main show begins.

On another note, I realize that there were a lot of unexpected powers suddenly being used here. For Nikki, her flechettes and gliding came from me realizing that a Puella Magi should probably be able to do more than just throw knives. For Charlotte's wires, that's an oft-forgotten ability she displayed when Mami fought her. Rewatch that scene, and at one point she rises up on a bunch of golden wires. I figured now would be a good time to introduce them. And for Mami's ribbon-decoys, that comes from the movie.

On another note, chalk any injuries that healed faster than they should have to the medical gel still being in their system.

Anyway, I was dead tired when I edited this, so if I made any mistakes or overlooked any contradictions, feel free to point them out and I'll fix them as soon as I can.

Until next time, everyone!