The Zakenna Electric Corps had many branches all over the world, bustling with workers in need of a decent waige. Lauren was one of them. Her job was to work the cash register, and thankfully for her, it wasn't a boring job. She was manning the only cash register in the building, and she got a lot of traffic. People were at her stand often, and since she worked the afternoon shift, she got a variety of customers, ranging from the kind, to the constantly rushed, to the outright unruly. Today was particularly bad day, and customers were behaving like sticks in the mud. One such customer yelled vulgarities at her because the price of a lightbulb was too high. When Lauren's shift ended, she felt completely exhausted. She was completely exhausted as she went to the business office to clock out of her shift. Her hair was droopy and her eyes were drained of all their glow, leaving empty cyan voids. As she turned in her clock out card, a small girl with golden hair and lovely yellow eyes walked up to her. She wore a fancy gold dress, and she displayed a bright and cheery smile. She held Lauren's left hand, sensing something was wrong. Lauren looked at her closely.
"Hey, Zion. How are things going on your end?" Lauren's voice was lower than usual.
"Don't worry about me, Lauren! I should be the one that's worried about you! You look like you had a rough day today." Zion hugged her friend, displaying concern for the state she was in.
"Yeah. Customers were complete shit today. Lots of them were yelling and screaming at me for shit that's partially their own damn fault. One guy even shouted all kinds of vulgar words at me." Lauren felt comfortable talking to Zion about her problems. Zion was a source of comfort to her, with her kind nature and sweet disposition. Zion ran her fingers through Lauren's hair while holding her close.
"I wish customers weren't so erratic." Zion began. "If they were more predictable, we probably wouldn't have days that make you feel this way." Zion tried to comfort her friend. "This way, you feel more comfortable working with us!"
"I really appreciate your kindness, Zion." Lauren hugged Zion in return. "You're one of the only people in my life who ever showed me kindness, despite where I'm from… For that, I couldn't be more grateful." Lauren teared up a little bit.
"Well I love having you around, Lauren! You're my best friend!" Zion continued trying to cheer Lauren up. "You know I love getting to know people, and I'm super glad I got to know you because you're really cool and smart, and I think you deserve to be treated better by the other people around you!" Zion carried a very optimistic tone with her words as she hugged Lauren tightly.
"Zion, there's nothing I admire more than your pure heart." Lauren began. "You really brighten my day when you talk to me, and I love being around you because you're just so sweet and kind." Lauren cracked a small smile as she spoke to Zion. The pair broke away from the hug, and Zion lightly caressed Lauren's left cheek. Lauren ran her fingers through Zion's hair.
"Goodness, your hands are cold!" Zion giggled at the cold sensation coming from Lauren's fingers.
"They are? That's weird." Lauren let go. Then the girls left the building and walked into the night sky. Zion briefly pulled out her phone and texted her dad that she was heading out with Lauren for a little while. As they walked down the street, they observed the behaviours of the townsfolk. Most of them just went about their daily lives as any normal person would, but then a big group of people split off and started a big, synchronized group dance. The ringleaders of the group had blue dancer marks on them as they did dances that controted all kinds of muscles. Lauren recognized the mark.
"That definitely doesn't look right." Lauren pointed out the dancers.
"There's a mark on the back of their necks. It looks like a witch's kiss!" Zion saw the witch's kiss on the back of the dancers necks. Lauren was surprised.
"You're a magical girl too?" Lauren asked.
"I didn't know you were a magical girl either!" Zion responded. "Can we fight this witch together? Please?" Zion asked if she and Lauren could team up.
"Hell yeah. I'm down to battle alongside you." Lauren smirked as she transformed. Her magical girl outfit consisted of a loose fitting blue and purple crop top with high heel boots and a skirt, and her weapon was a spear made of pure ice. Zion also transformed, and her golden dress was replaced with glittering yellow armor, steel boots, and a flowing silver cape. Her weapon was a golden italina rapier shaped like a thunderbolt. Zion then weaved through the crowd, using her small size and quick feet to get around the dancers and find a grief seed. Lauren jumped on the heads of some of the dancers to get over the crowd and catch up with Zion. The, they jumped into the labyrinth together. It looked like a concert venue that doubled as a hockey arena. Three rings of LED Ribbon Boards lit up in blue and green colors, acting as a small light source for the girls. Lauren and Zion looked around, and every seat was full of teenage girl familiars splattered in black and pink glitter goo. They lay silent in their seats as some gold and pink ballerina familiars began dancing on the floor and inching closer to the girls.
"Let's split up and keep these familiars contained, this way we don't get in each other's way." Lauren laid out a battle plan.
"Sounds good to me!" Zion nodded and charged into the pack of familiars chasing her. She used her high speed to dart around her side of the floor and confuse the ballerinas before her rapier lit up, crackling with lightning. When a familiar got close to her, she darted back and slashed at a group of the familiars, shocking the life out of the ones she hit. Lauren spun her spear around, forming a fierce blizzard in front of her, freezing familiars that got too close to her. Some of the familiars were just out of range and they all retreated to a concert stage near the back of the venue. The crowds began cheering a little louder as the center-hung scoreclock lit up, revealing tragic memories of a magical girl that once was, Then, electric percussion instruments began rolling. The voice of an idol was blaring through the speakers as a big screen behind the stage lit up and the idol witch appeared on the stage. She took the form of a six foot tall human girl who had long, icy blue hair, swords for legs, and sharp claws for arms. Her whole body was splattered with green and blue glitter glue, causing her to sparkle in the lights. The familiars in the crowd cheered wildly for the witch, as Zion and Lauren charged to the stage to battle the witch head on.
"Let's go for a pincer attack and strike the witch from both sides to limit her escape routes." Lauren laid out a second battle plan. Zion nodded and they closed in on the witch together. The witch jumped and twirled in mid air, causing Zion and Lauren to crash into each other and fall on their backs. The witch landed gracefully between them and grabbed Lauren by the foot, forcing her to dance upside down in ugly, and most painful movements. First she did a twirl, spinning Lauren on her head and then bent her ankle backwards before doing the octopus with Lauren's body and then throwing her at Zion, who was coming in to strike. Lauren collided with Zion and knocked her onto the ground. Then, some of the remaining ballerina familiars began dogpiling the magical girls. Lauren threw them away with her spear as she tried to get up off of Zion. She was effectively functioning on one leg thanks to the witch's dance, but she hopped up to the witch and tried to poke her head with her spear. The witch made an upward kick to try and cut Lauren in half from the waist up, but the spear hit the witch's head and sent her flying back. Zion jumped over Lauren and raised her rapier before slashing down on the witch, electrocuting it with her blade and limiting her vertical mobility. The familiars in the crowd began booing the witch for her failure to avoid the girls attacks, and the witch hated this. She ran into the crowd and raked out a pair of familiars with her claws. The rest of the crowd cheered louder for the demise of the ungrateful pair. The cheers made the witch return to the stage, but Zion was there, waiting for her. She wound up for a big strike and attempted to behead the witch with her rapier, but the witch blocked it with her claws. Then, she grabbed on to Zion and made her do a twirl before she threw Zion up to the center scoreclock. Zion's sword sent sparks through the clock, causing it to release a big explosion of sparks, which startled thr crowd, causing them to scream pretty much simultaneously, causing the labyrinth to vibrate from the noise. Meanwhile, the remaining ballerina familiars began lifting the witch up to Zion's height. As Zion fell, the witch raised her sword leg, trying to split Zion in two, using her momentum against her. Lauren fired off a quick blizzard from her spear, blowing Zion away from the witch and toppling the witch's support, causing her to tumble onto her familiars, slashing them apart with her own legs. The crowd went totally ballistic, cheering loud enough to cause tectonic activity under the labyrinth and even dislodging the scoreclock. The witch was struggling to get up as Zion quickly darted out of the way, causing the scoreclock to fall with a great big THUD. The witch and all the ballerinas were squashed under the scoreclock, leaving the magical girls with an opportunity to finish them off. Zion jumped up to the height of the scoreclock and then jumped in, using her momentum to fall towards the witch and stab her with her rapier, causing her to bleed dark energy. The crowd fell silent and began filing for the exits as the labyrinth disappeared, leaving behind a dormant grief seed. Lauren picked it up and gave it to Zion.
"You're a hell of a partner, Zion. I'd be down to do this again some day." Lauren gave Zion a smile, then headed home.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Lauren!" Zion waved goodbye as she headed back to the office. Being a magical girl seemed to be working out for her, and now that she knew Lauren was a magical girl too, she couldn't wait to battle alongside her again.