Puella Magi American Sensei

25


Thursday, June 21.


I yawned, making my way to the kitchen to cook breakfast as a surprise for the girls… only to blink as I entered the kitchen and found it packed to the gills already, with nearly every magical girl in our group. They looked up as one as I entered, only to go right back to what they were doing as one of them came over—Homura, specifically. "Good morning, sensei."

"Uh…" I stared. "Didn't I leave like half of you in bed…?"

Homura giggled, before reaching up and touching her red armband. That was when I noticed that every girl there wore one. "We're all clones, sensei. We have minds of our own, but it's our job to take care of you and everyone in the Castle."

I eyed the girl. "You seem… peppy."

Homura smiled wider. "Original Me is still mostly asleep, cuddling with Madoka. She was a bit disappointed when you left. As for that… we're starting to diverge from our originals already. And, well," she held up her hand—her bare hand. "No soul gems. I can be happy. We all can. Or sad. Or angry. Everything we shouldn't have before." She moved up, standing on her tiptoes, and kissed my lips quickly before pulling away. "Don't worry. We're still us. Now. I'm guessing you wanted to surprise the others with breakfast?"

"That was the idea," I admitted. "But…"

"There are a lot of them and only one of you. It's okay. Go sit down and we'll start bringing out food. Let us handle this."

"Alright." I took a moment to kiss her again, to her delight, before making my way out to the breakfast table.

I was joined a few minutes later by a frumpy looking Tsubaki, who dropped down at my side and leaned into me. She closed her eyes and relaxed as I put my arm around her. "That was fun," she chuckled. "We should do that more often."

"It was. But… nah."

"No?" she asked sleepily.

"Only every now and then, for special occasions. Otherwise, it'd just get boring."

Tsubaki hummed quietly, considering, before I felt her nod. "You're probably right."

Clones began coming in from the kitchen. Amusingly, a clone of Tsubaki hurried over with a cup and a pot of coffee. At my side, Tsubaki eyed her clone, who simply smiled. "That's not weird at all," the one beside me muttered.

"It is, a little," the one with the coffee admitted. "Here. Drink, before you get grumpy."

"I don't get grumpy," Tsubaki pouted.

Her clone turned to me with a wink and a grin. "She does."

I laughed as Tsubaki pouted and sipped her coffee. Soon after, the other girls began to filter in, one by one and in small groups. Eventually, the whole group had gathered, along with the new addition of Yachiyo. I relaxed and enjoyed the happy, friendly atmosphere. …Which dimmed a bit, when someone new walked in.

A copy of Nico hesitantly approached the table, before sitting down on the end. Tsubaki perked up as the conversations around us quieted down. "Asako-chan, how are you?"

The girl sighed as she made herself a plate. "Not great," she admitted. "I, I can't use mirrors."

The other girls exchanged sympathetic looks at that. Nico quietly muttered, "I'm sorry," and shrank in on herself.

"Not your fault," Asako shook her head. Looking up from her plate, she looked over the group. "I've come to a decision. I want in. And I want to kill that bitch before she does my friends, or anyone else, like she did me."

"We'll happily accept you, but due to the nature of the wishes she's made, we're not sure that's even possible," Tsubaki shook her head.

"Still, I'd like to try," Asako nodded.

"Welcome to the group," I sent her a smile.

"Umm… is this a bad time to say I want to wish today?"

The sound of a fork scraping across a plate drew our attention to Homura, sitting beside Madoka, who looked sheepish and apologetic. "Yes," was Homura's immediate answer. Followed by, "With Kazumi filling the role of ensuring everyone can return with my loops, there is no need for you to wish."

Madoka sighed. "Homura-chan, that's just not true."

"It's not worth it—"

"It is!"

I stepped in before those two could get going. "Madoka, have you decided on what you want to wish for?"

"Um!" she nodded, smiling.

"Well, share with the class already, before Homu snaps over there," Kyoko smirked.

Nodding again, the pinkette explained. "I'll wish to be able to grant wishes and create magical girls. And… to be able to undo wishes and turn magical girls back into normal girls."

The room fell silent at that, for just a moment, before erupting into noise.

"She could take out Hijiri!"

"We'd have our own wish farm without needing to use Kyubey."

"What would happen if someone made a wish, then reverted. Could they wish again?"

"…Can it bring back my sister?"

"Ah, actually Haruka-chan… sorry? I was going to wait until the start of the next loop to surprise you, but I can just bring her back myself."

"You can do that?!"

Beside me, Tsubaki chuckled. "So lively, first thing in the morning."

In all the chaos, I think Madoka and I were the only ones to notice Homura simply disappearing. I leaned over and gave Tsubaki a peck on the lips and stood, at the same time Madoka got up. The pinkette sent me a smile and joined me as we left the room in search of Homura. Leaving the dining room behind, the door closing behind us, we wandered down the hall.

"Is Homura-chan mad at me?"

"No, sweetie. She's not mad at you. She may be mad at me, though. No, for you, she's upset and afraid. Which is a bad thing and Homura needs to bring me to her right now."

The hall shifted around us and we found ourselves in the control room. Homura placed her soulgem in my hand and turned back to her monitor.

"Homura-chan…" Madoka tried, but Homura remained silent.

"Come on. Talk to us."

"Why?" she croaked. I waited and she turned, tears leaking from her eyes and her fists balled at her side. "Why can't you just take my word for it? That every single time Madoka makes a wish, she dies! I can't, I can't see it happen again! And you!" she glared at me. "You promised me, you would help stop her!"

Sighing, I reached out and laid my hand on her shoulder, only to have it angrily brushed off. "I know. You know I know, better than anyone. And I'm telling you, this is worth the risk. I think I can keep her from becoming a witch."

"Homura-chan, please, trust us," Madoka begged, reaching out and taking Homura's hand. "I know you're hurting. Let us help you."

"The only way you can help is if you don't wish—"

"You're wrong!" Madoka shook her head. "Between the three of us, we can do it! I believe it."

"Might go over better with a little help from Kazumi, but yeah. Look, here's what I'm thinking. You take Madoka and Kazumi and find the rat. Madoka makes her wish. You stop time for yourself and Kazumi. Teleport to me, get me, bring me to Madoka, I grab Madoka, we all teleport back. I'll grab her soulgem as soon as she has it."

"Nn," Homura closed her eyes, looking away.

"Does it sound like it might work, Homura-chan?"

Homura looked like it physically hurt her to say it, but she nodded once. "Maybe."

I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder again. When she didn't brush me off this time, I pulled her gently into a hug, along with Madoka. Quietly, I explained, "Plans change. You know this. Sometimes, you have to just deal with it when it happens. And it sucks, but there's not much you can do."

Homura clung onto us and silently cried. In my hand, her soulgem tingled.


Akemi Homura. Kaname Madoka. Kazusa Michiru. You wished to speak with me?

My hand itched to draw one of my weapons from under my shield, but I resisted the impulse. Barely.

"I want to make a wish," Madoka said, her voice determined.

The rat perked up. Very well. What is your wish, Kaname Madoka?

"I have a few questions first, though!" The Incubator nodded. "Where did you come from?"

Earth. We were created here.

I frowned. "What? What do you mean?"

Exactly what I said, Akemi Homura.

"But then, if you were created, who made you?" Kazumi asked, a curious look on her face.

The rat turned to face her, reaching up with its front leg to scratch at its ear. You did, Kazusa Michiru. Humanity.

"Why?"

For the purpose of finding a solution to entropy. In order to prevent the heat death of the universe.

Tilting her head in confusion, Madoka asked, "When did we do that?"

Far in the future from now. But it was impossible to solve the problem, so close to the end. We believed we found a potential solution, however. We discovered that by creating 'magical girls' from humans, they would eventually mature into witches—releasing an exponential increase in energy compared to the energy invested in creating a magical girl. So, we traveled through time and spread across the universe, traveling to every world capable of sustaining life. There, we terraformed planets and turned them into garden worlds, then seeded them with human life. After which, we influenced the growth of humanity across approximately 33^30 Earth-like planets and have been carefully incubating magical girls into witches ever since.

Horror filled Madoka's face even as Kazumi asked, "Why only girls?"

Human females are much more emotional than the males. Less logical, more emotional. More likely to properly experience the emotions required to mature into a witch. Easier to manipulate. Much easier to control and less likely to attempt to rebel!

A quiet laugh escaped my lips. "You have… no idea. You really don't understand humans at all, do you?"

We don't need to fully understand you to model and predict your behavior, Akemi Homura. It turned back to Madoka. Would you like to become a magical girl now, Kaname Madoka?

Madoka nodded. "Yes." Taking a deep breath, she said, "Kyubey! I wish to be able to grant wishes and create magical girls, and to be able to unmake wishes and turn magical girls back into normal girls!"

You seek to replace us? Kyubey asked, even as its ears lifted up. Very well, Kaname Madoka. Your wish surpasses entropy. You will become a magical girl.

Madoka clutched at her chest as a dazzling pink and white light rose from her body—her soul pulled out and condensed, stored within a soul gem. I watched and waited as the gem fell back down into her hands.

It matters very little whether we're the ones making magical girls or if it's someone else, so long as magical girls, and thus witches, still exist.

"Shut up," I growled, as my shield clicked over and the world… remained the same as Madoka transformed, wearing the familiar pink and white outfit she always did. My mouth fell open as I brought my shield up and looked at it—in the center position to freeze time, and yet…

As I said, Akemi Homura. We do not need to fully understand you in order to predict your behavior. Based upon past experiences—

I drew and put a bullet through its head. "I can't stop time! We have to go!"

"Right!" Kazumi nodded, grabbing onto both of us and… nothing happened. She grunted, a constipated look coming to her face.

We hypothesized that when the time came—

Another shot, another dead Incubator body.

That you would attempt to betray us in some manner. More of them poured out from the surroundings, tails flicking back and forth and red eyes glowing. Too many to take out with my guns alone. Their voices spoke as one. The most logical method would be to combine chronoprohibiris and teleportation, to move Kaname Madoka back to John White and have him ensure Kaname Madoka would not mature.

Reaching out to try to speak with the others telepathically, I received only static. A check of my cell phone showed no bars, no signal—in the middle of Japan, in a populated city. We were cut off. Being jammed.

"New plan!" Kazumi yelled, her outfit changing as a hood covered her head. Grabbing Madoka in her arms, she said, "Hold on!" and started running. The world around us went dark—not the same static gray of time stop's twilight. "How do we get to the Castle from here?"

"The school," I instructed. "The barrier is still up! They can't enter."

We have been studying the manipulation of time and space for millions of years.

We jumped together, running along the rooftops as more Incubators popped up. "Yeah, but they've shut off my teleportation somehow! And I don't know if you've noticed, but somehow they're following us! Also, I can't get in touch with the others!"

"Homura-chan! Heeelp~!" Madoka mewled, and I looked down to see her soul gem slowly filling with black.

Think Homura, think! I tried to focus through the mounting panic. They suspected we would do this. They know about the Castle. They've likely figured out the school already. They've shut down teleportation and they're somehow tracking us. Madoka doesn't have much time… Time.

"Stop."

"Wha—?" Kazumi skidded to a halt at the end of our next jump as I pulled her to a stop. "Homura, we have to go—"

"No. No, that's what it expects. It can't actually see us. It told us how it's doing it already," I murmured. "And they cut off time stop, but my shield still works. So…" I smiled down at Madoka. "You have to go to sleep for a little while, okay?"

"Okay, Homura-chan," she whimpered, and held out her soulgem.

Taking the gem in hand, I slipped it behind my shield. Madoka's body went limp. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her body behind the shield as well. "There."

"That… I guess that works too! Hehe~!" Kazumi laughed as, around us, Incubators continued running for the school.

"This way."

With that, I turned and ran, Kazumi following close on my heels. We ran not for the school, but for the tallest building in the city. Reaching out to my connection to the Castle, I brought it down quickly to a level where we could just jump to it. Or at least, I attempted to, only for glowing white beams to spray up into the air from the tops of buildings, sweeping this way and that.

What are they— My eyes went wide as one of the beams hit the invisible, hidden form of the Castle. Up, up!

All of the beams swept into the space the Castle had just occupied as I sent it up and away. Shit, shit, shit, miss damn you!

"Was that the Castle?!"

"Yes. Come on, change of plans."

Dropping down to street level, I pulled my bike out of my shield and slid on, Kazumi climbing on behind me. Firing up the bike, I gunned the throttle and we zipped through traffic, heading for the freeway leading west out of the city. As we rode, however, Kazumi abruptly squeezed my chest. "Stop! Turn us around!"

Trusting her instincts and powers, I threw the bike into a slide, stomping the ground and digging my heel in to whip it around, before shooting back the other way—the wrong way up a one-way as I wove through traffic without the benefit of time stop. "What was it?"

"Someone up ahead," she murmured. "Chitose Yuma. Wields a hammer shaped like an hourglass and… can accelerate herself similar to your time stop. She's the one who—"

"Wished for Hijiri to be able to tag along," I growled quietly.

"Right! She doesn't know she's trying to hurt us, specifically, but she was alerted by Mikuni Oriko to stop us. They're… using radios. Mikuni can see the future, it's how she knew we were coming even though we're hidden. She's got Yuma blocking the interstate to the west, Kure Kirika blocking the interstate north. Kirika can… slow her targets."

I frowned at that. "Precognition, Haste, and Slow. Time Stop and Teleportation blocked. Air support shut down with anti-air. It's not a bad combination."

"Stop praising the enemy!" Kazumi wailed. "And that's not the last of them! No, the worst is Yuuki Sasa! She can basically mind control people and can control witches! She and Oriko are waiting together in the center of the city and… apparently Kyubey has a whole lot of instant witches he's waiting to dump out on top of us—filled up grief seeds that will become witches as soon as they're out in the open, kind of like your shield."

"Fuck."

How were they ready and waiting to make their move today? Why were they waiting for us?

"Who clued them in to us?" I demanded as I turned down a side street, just buying time for the moment while I thought. "Why didn't you see this coming?"

"Uhh…" Kazumi thought on it for a moment. "They were all told of Kyubey by text and warned of a threat to the city. Oriko and Kirika are the only ones who wished today. Yuma believes Hijiri texted her and told her that the 'villainous group' may make their move soon, along with instructions for a deal with Kyubey to tell her when Kaname Madoka wished… in order to protect Madoka from people looking to hurt her. What—? But we—"

"So Hijiri twisted your wish by lying to Yuma, so she would think she was saving Madoka. From us," Homura nodded.

"They got texts telling them to spread out to certain parts of the city and wait with a Kyubey each. After that, as soon as Kirika and Oriko wished, Oriko had a vision and got into contact with the others and started directing them. That's where we ran into Yuma!"

Taking a hard turn, I made my way towards the bridge to Kamino. "So who sent them the texts? How were they able to do that without tripping your power?"

"I don't know!" Kazumi wailed. "It's like my power just hits a brick wall when it tries to go past the others. Like there was no intent at all behind the texts!"

I nodded, taking a moment to think. I could almost feel the trap closing around us. With the best escape routes cut off, or capable of being cut off quickly enough that we couldn't just bypass them, there weren't many options. I needed to get Madoka back to John, or she would become a witch—not just any witch, but the most powerful witch. We didn't have time to fight our way through a team that could keep up with us, slow us down, predict our every move, and then drop witches on our heads. We were just scurrying around like rats in a maze at this point…

I was so used to the advantage that chronoprohibiris gave me that it felt like I was crippled without it. I wasn't used to fighting when I didn't have that overwhelming advantage on my side. I certainly wasn't used to being so thoroughly on the back foot like this. Fighting Walpurgis was an entirely different matter from being pursued—

"Left!"

I jerked left, zipping down a side street as a dark figure landed right on top of where we would have been, wielding a set of dark, sickle-shaped claw weapons that shredded the ground around her and destroyed a car she hit accidentally.

"I can only predict they're going to attack at the last minute, so try not to hesitate," Kazumi warned.

Fighting Walpurgis was like fighting a wall. Nothing I did hurt it, but at the same time, it didn't actually pose a real threat to me when I could just move out of the way of it, unless I started getting close to the edge. This? This was just a mad dash through the city trying to keep away from our attackers. It wasn't even a fight. As long as Oriko could see what we were going to do ahead of time…

"Kazumi."

"Yeah?"

"How many of you are in there?"

Kazumi giggled. "All of us! We came ready for things to go sideways! We just didn't expect it to go this sideways!" Her eyes widened. "Right, left, about face—full stop!"

Once more, I relied on magical girl strength to whip the bike around—and not a moment too soon as suddenly, the street ahead and behind us exploded as lasers blasted down across them, along with the streets to either side. Car alarms went off, windows shattered, people began screaming and running—the entire block devolved into chaos. Looking around, I spotted an empty car hauler. Dropping down a gear and spinning around back the way I was going, the bike popped up as I accelerated and shifted back up as the speedometer hit 150kph. Drawing my pistol with my off hand, I lined up a shot. "I need you to create a distraction."

Kazumi nodded behind me. "Right. Clones. I'll swamp them with clones."

"Just be mindful of your limits."

"Hehe~. Worried about me? Am I growing on you, Homura-chan~?"

Before I could answer, return fire answered from the street behind me as there came multiple cries of, "Limiti Esterni!"

Taking a breath, I held it, and squeezed… Shifted, breathed, squeezed again.

The 1911 in my hand kicked twice. Ahead of me, the mechanisms holding the car hauler's ramp failed to gunshots and it rushed down the back of the hauler, just in time for me to drop gears again and pop the front wheel up. The bike climbed the ramp and I had only a second to reinforce the bike and pull the whole thing up. The back tire screeched as it caught on the cab of the truck and kept going—sending us flying over the line of destruction left in the wake of Kyubey's attempt to cut us off.

We landed with a teeth rattling crunch that would have destroyed the bike, and probably broken bones, if it weren't for magic. Another Kazumi popped out and rolled into the street behind us, coming up firing as I caught sight of a shadow hopping along a rooftop ahead, catching the dark figure and blasting her away.

Spotting the bridge ahead, I veered down a side street and came roaring out the other side. "Where are we even going?!"

"The canal! It's low right now," I explained as I took aim and shot the lock off a fence guarding my target. A magical shield flashed around us and we slammed through the chain link fence and rode down the ramp into the canal. I kept away from the water and opened the throttle up on the bike.

"I think we're safe—oh crap! Right!"

I veered right just as we went under a bridge crossing the canal. Behind us, concrete exploded into the canal as something burst through the bridge. Checking my mirrors, I found that same dark-clad magical girl pursuing… surfing on top of a big, black diesel tow truck.

"Oh come on!" Kazumi yelled behind me. "This is ridiculous!"

"How many of you are left in there?" I asked as I eyed our target.

"Two! Just Nine and Three!" A moment later, she added, "Kyubey's got over a dozen witches out in the city now that the rest of me are handling. Two of me are going after Oriko. One is trying to track down Yuma and talk to her but she's annoyingly good at running away and doesn't want to listen— She's coming up fast! Way too fast!"

I glanced down at the speedometer—125 and climbing. Which meant that this must be Kirika and she had to be using her Slow effect. Reaching into my shield, I began pulling out my go-to. I left bombs and grenades in our wake as the diesel approached. Within seconds however, they began going off. Fire and shrapnel exploded under, around, behind, and in front of the truck. The dark purple energy surrounding it flared, but the truck kept rolling, even as it wobbled.

Spotting a path to the side up ahead, I waited until the last second before veering hard left, bearing down the new part of the canal. The truck nearly flipped, but the girl on top managed to steady it, clipping the wall and blasting out more concrete, denting the front of the truck in the process. Raising her hands, three black scythe claws appeared in each hand. Kirika brought one hand slashing down at us, followed by the second.

"Distraction, ignore it!"

This would be a lot easier if I could fight back actively and didn't also have to drive…

"Kazumi, you drive."

"Eh?! I've never driven anything before!"

"Time to learn," I muttered, before throwing myself up off the seat, balancing on the gas tank with one foot for a moment as Kazumi yelped and leapt forward to grab the handle bars. Once more, I surrounded the bike with my magic. This time, I pulled the throttle all the way back and let Kazumi handle the steering as I stepped over her to stand on the back seat. "Just keep it steady."

"I'll try!"

I finally got a good look at our pursuer. Tanned, with dark hair, and one golden eye—the other hidden by an eye-patch. Reaching beneath my shield, I retrieved one of the party favors I kept in stock for Walpurgis.

Kirika's eye widened and her jaw dropped, her lips moving in shock. 'Well that's just not fair!'

Flipping the safety switch up on the M136 AT4 84mm, I took aim through the sight and squeezed the trigger. If chronoprohibiris weren't jammed, I'd be able to read the yellow label on the missile as it launched: 84MM HEAT.

High Explosive, Anti-Tank.

"Get wrecked."

"Shiii—!" Kirika screamed.

"What the—?!" Kazumi shrieked.

The projectile, slowed it as was under the effect of Kirika's magic, didn't make it in time before she managed to veer out of the way, just barely. For a second, she appeared to breathe a sigh of relief. The missile hit the embankment behind the truck and detonated in an explosion that shook my bones and made Kirika flinch.

I dropped the spent launcher.

Then pulled out another.

"OH COME ON!"

I fired again, dropped the tube immediately, then fired again, and again—spacing them left, right, then center so as to force her to take at least one hit.

"How many of those do you have?!" the girl screamed as she began flailing out in attacks with her claws, trying to detonate the missiles early. She managed to catch the only one running down the middle that would have actually hit—due to her Slow effect.

I sent her a few more of those before pulling out an M249 light machine gun. Pulling the charging handle, I braced myself and opened up, aiming not for the truck, but for the rider. In between fending off missiles, Kirika was unprepared to deal with the stream of 5.56mm and I put the line of tracers in her chest. The stream of fire punched straight through her body, taking out bloody chunks and making her body jerk back and forth under the assault. Spent links clinked and pinged off the ground behind us as I shifted the stream of belt-fed rounds up towards her face.

Kirika brought up her hands, crossing her blades over her face and deflecting the rounds. A moment later, we passed under another bridge. I grinned and slipped the M249 back into my shield, pulling out another M136. Kirika, bloody mess that she was, peeked out from behind her crossed blades just in time to spot the bridge. The bridge that was entirely too low for her truck to pass under. The girl yelped a second before the truck hit, momentum and mass sheering off the cab section. I fired at the engine block just as it cleared the bridge and Kirika poked her head up.

This time, the missile actually hit and the whole truck rocked as it went off, blasting straight through Kirika's magical field and destroying the engine block. And yet, somehow, against all odds—on fire, blasted open, tires destroyed and metal rims throwing up sparks as it ran along the concrete of the canal—the damn thing just kept going.

That is, until I heard the magic words that made my heart soar. "Tiro Finale!"

A golden, magical cannon blast tore through the truck and blasted it into so much metal shrapnel as Kirika leapt from the vehicle just a second before impact. I watched as the blast carried her forward, flipping her through the air and sending her tumbling along the concrete, blood spraying all over.

We zipped past the familiar yellow and red clad forms of Mami and Kyoko, standing to either side of our path—Kyoko with her spear held over her shoulder, Mami carrying one of her muskets in a low ready.

"Stomp your left foot on the ground," I instructed.

"Eh?!" Kazumi asked. I released the throttle and slammed the front brake, standing the bike up on its front wheel. "Ahhh~!" Kazumi squealed, but she did as I'd instructed, given the way the bike abruptly pivoted on its nose. I twirled, spinning around as the bike set back down, shifting back up through gears for just a moment before sliding to a stop behind Mami and Kyoko, hopping down just as it stopped moving.

Behind me, Kazumi squeaked, before climbing off as well and summoning her staff. "That was insane!"

"What took you?" I asked, stepping up to join the other two.

"Yo," Kyoko greeted, holding out a box of pocky and shaking out one of the sticks.

"Sorry we're late~!" Mami smiled. "We didn't realize something was wrong until Sensei told us you had been cut off, then two new magical girls popped up and the Castle started moving on its on and got shot."

"Everyone else is dealing with witches and those other magical girls," Kyoko explained.

"Mm." I took one of the offered sticks and stuck it in my mouth as Kyoko offered one to Kazumi, who lined up on her other side.

"So… we doin' what I think we're doin'?" the redhead asked.

"Yep," I confirmed, pulling a fresh M249 from my shield as Kirika began to find her feet. "Kazumi, any problems with that?"

The girl hesitated a moment… before splitting into two, both of them pointing their staves at the enemy magical girl. "No. They shouldn't have tried to kill Madoka-chan."

"Good! Let's… just keep this between us, hm?" Mami smiled, before twirling in place and dropping a dozen muskets around her as Kyoko summoned up spears.

"Oh fuck you—!"

Machine gun and musket fire turned the canal into a shooting gallery, filling it with orange tracers and golden balls.

Blasts of magic lanced out while a forest of spears sprouted around Kirika.

"Big finish, girls!" Mami called, before dropping a cannon in front of herself. I pulled another rocket launcher. A giant spear the size of a city bus made of other, smaller spears launched itself.

""Limiti Esterni!""/"Tiro Finale~!"

When the smoke cleared, we made our way over to what was left of Kirika. Most just a few chunks… and a soul gem on the verge of transforming into a witch. Pulling out my 1911, I ran a round through it and removed the problem.

"So," Kazumi asked as she merged back together. "How are we getting back up to the Castle with Kyubey cutting off teleportation and shooting at it if it comes down?"

"We leave the city."

I turned to find that at some point during the explosive ending to that little conflict, Tsubaki had joined us—John's car idling behind us as the miko-themed magical girl sat on the hood. I eyed the car for a moment and she winked. "How did you even get that down?" Mami raised her hand and I shot a glare her way. "One scratch. One—"

"I know, I know! Sensei loves that car," Mami sighed, even as she smiled.

I collected my poor, abused motorcycle and we piled in. This time, I didn't let Tsubaki -bully- persuade me into letting her drive. "Where to?"

"The girls all have their orders. The primary fallback position is Asunaro. At least, that's where everyone else is going."

"Had to throw off Hijiri and the rat somehow," Kyoko shrugged. "Hate to lie to 'em, but…"

"They know it's necessary," Kazumi nodded. "It's okay."

"We'll make it up to them later," Mami promised.

"We're going to Kamihama—so send the Castle that way," Tsubaki instructed. "We'll meet up with John there, take care of Madoka-chan, and pick up some new friends courtesy of Yachiyo-chan."

"Before we left, sensei told us that the Castle reported that the field Kyubey put up to scramble certain abilities only extends over Mitakihara. So once we're out…"

"We can teleport and do other stuff again. Awesome," Kazumi sighed. "I hate feeling useless."

Glancing into the rearview as I merged us onto the interstate, I met Kazumi's eyes. "You weren't useless. You were more help than me. I…" I looked away, turning my eyes back to the road. "For a moment, I couldn't do anything without my power. I felt helpless. Trapped. You kept us alive." Looking back up, I sent her a smile. "Thank you."

"I really am growing on you~!"

"Shut up," I sighed, ignoring the laughter of the others.