Chapter two: A New Adventure
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Colette woke up and found herself on a bed. The room she was in was small and cozy, and had a table with a chair, along with the bed. There wasn't anything extraordinary about it, unlike the earlier experience she had with the demon-pig. Or had that been a dream?
"Hey! You've waked up!" said a childish voice coming from the front of her bed that she hadn't noticed earlier.
The owner of voice was a very strange thing. It looked like a stuffed animal, with it's small size, round body and limbs, and big, beady black eyes. Its body was white, with a purplish-pink belly, with the tips of its "hands" being the same color. The tip of its teardrop-shaped head formed into two blue and purple feather-ish things. Blue wings and a halo above its head accented it.
"Who are you," asked Colette, "and where am I?"
"I'm Mimi," she replied. "And you're in the Tower of Salvation"
"The Tower of Salvation?"
"What's that?"
"I don't know, since I don't go here much. But I do know that it's a really tall tower and we're really high up. Go look outside see for yourself."
Colette got out of bed and stared outside.
Out of shock, she jumped back. "Ahhh! It's just clouds outside!"
"See, I'm right," boasted Mimi. "Well, um, I have to get Akita now." Mimi walked right up to the entrance to the hallway outside. "Akita! Colette's ready!" she yelled.
When Mimi came back into the room, she brought another person with her: it was the fox-thing Colette had seen earlier.
"My name is Akita," the fox said casually as she leapt up to the bed of the bed Colette was sitting on.
"Akita? Isn't that a name of a prefecture?"
"What a coincidence. Well, welcome to our wonderful world of Aselia and the only livable room in the Tower of Salvation." She pointed towards Mimi, who had just flew up to the bed. "This is Mimi, my adopted daughter. She's a chao. They're basically living stuffed animals."
Mimi glared angrily at Akita.
"No, I'm just kidding. They're actually…I guess they're just another sentient species."
"Sentient?"
"Self-aware. Now, do you have any questions?"
"Umm… I don't know. There's too many in my head."
"Okay then. I'll start with the basics. As I have said before, this is Aselia.It's a world kind of like yours. We have people here who get on with their lives, just like you and your family and everyone else you know. But I'm afraid that this can't happen for much longer…"
Akita took a dramatic pause.
"You see, here something called mana is the source of all life. Without it, nothing can live. In fact, in certain conditions, you can grow a plant with just mana and no light. If the world has no mana, it will just simply die."
Akita took another pause.
"Our world is getting drained of mana. In a couple of years everyone here will…just die," the fox said solemnly. "And then your world will get depleted of mana also."
"That's horrible," replied Colette. "I'm sorry I can't help."
"But you can. In fact, you'll stop all of this."
"Me? I'm just an ordinarily-" Akita cut Colette off.
"No. But you're the Chosen. You have been selected to stop all of this."
"Who selected me?"
"I don't know. Anyways, it'll be really easy. You've already defeated a big demon pig thing, right? And also, I'll get a couple of my friends to help you. So, will you accept this task?"
"If I can do it, I will!"
By then, Mimi fell out off of the bed. "What! You're doing this just because you can! Do you realize that you can die!"
"I can't let all of those people die."
"Whatever."
"So, what do I have to do?"
"You just have to unlock the seals of fire, water, wind, and light."
"Now? I'm sorry, but I have to go home soon."
"Don't be silly. These will all be on separate days. Even if our world can't wait forever, but I know it can wait a couple of days. I understand you have a life, you know. But first, we have to go outside to do something."
Akita jumped off of the bed and went through the door. Colette and Mimi followed.
The three of them walked down the hallway. They continued walking until they reached a pedestal-thing emitting a tube of light.
"Huh? What's that?" Colette asked."
Akita answered, "This is a teleporter. It transfers you to a programmed place immediately. Unlike an elevator, which transports you on a moving surface, this splits up your molecules and then puts them back together. Things like this are far more convenient when you are a couple of hundred meters off the ground and want to get to ground level than elevators"
"But what if-"
"Don't worry," replied Mimi. "I've been on these hundreds of times and I'm still here! But it does sometimes make your head hurt."
Colette, Mimi, and Akita all stepped in the transporter and off they went.
They reappeared in a huge chamber that was a big contrast to the cozy room that they were in a minute ago. It was just so…mechanical. But it was very cool.
"Wow! Look at all of this! It's amazing! How did manage to build this place?" said Colette.
"I don't exactly know," said the fox. "But it's basically made out of mana through magitechnology. Magitechnology is the manipulation of mana, which allows you to build things you can't build with regular technology. But other than that, I really don't know, especially since this was built a long time ago. 4,000 years to be exact."
"Is the rest of the world as interesting as this?"
"I'd say so!" Mimi piped up.
"Then I can't wait to see more it!"
"Well, lets get going," instructed Akita.
The group walked out of the tower on floating transparent teal-green steps on to the field where Colette fought with the demon pig.
"I'm sorry to have to do this to you," Akita said as she jumped up into a tree. "But this will prove if you're ready of your task or not. Just follow your instincts and you'll be fine. Get ready!" With a flick of her tail, monsters appeared on the plain.
These were the weirdest things that Colette had ever seen. They were white ghosts with hollow faces (literally), zombies with yellow flesh starting to rot off, and big green slimes.
Colette started backing up, not knowing what to do. But then she remembered what she had done last time.
"Cruxis Crystal activate! Angel metamorphosis!"
The girl started slashing with her chakrams. Just as one of those ghosts were going to whack her with its hammer, she found herself jumping back almost before it even got close.
"One of the benefits of the Cruxis Crystal," commented Akita, "is that you have increased physical capability, including your reflexes. You can also jump higher."
While one of the yellow zombies was cornering Colette into the tree, the girl just jumped up into a branch, backwards, three meters into the air.
"Ray thrust!"
The chakrams hit all of the monsters in one round, before returning to Colette's hand. Just like the pig had, the monsters disintegrated into tiny pieces and vanished with the blow of the wind.
"Wow!" said Mimi. "That was cool, with the way the chakram hit all of the monsters."
"But there's more…" Akita flicked her paw again.
Now, there was a giant gold skeleton almost twice the size of Colette that wielded a giant ax.
"Ray thrust!"
The chakram hit the skeleton and bounced off, without leaving any damage.
Colette tried again. The same thing happened.
The skeleton raised its ax and chopped the tree that the girl was standing on. (Poor tree)
Luckily, Colette flew away before she was about to get hit, as the skeleton.
On the ground, Colette tried hitting the skeleton again. But still, nothing happened.
The skeleton raised its ax again and swung it another time and missed.
Suddenly, Colette got an idea.
"Pow Hammer!"
A pair of hammers appeared and bonked the skeleton on the head. It collapsed into a pile of bones.
"Whew," sighed Colette.
"Congratulations," said Akita. "You're now officially the Chosen. You can go home now. Just go through the Gate, over there." Akita pointed to the torii.
"Umm… but what about my Cruxis Crystal?"
"Just wish it away and it'll disappear. And you'll also get out of that costume you're wearing."
Just before Akita left, she remembered something. "Here's your schoolbag! I found them after you dropped them in the fight with the pig."
Colette went over to get them. "Thanks, Akita-san!"
"Just call me Akita in the future."
"Huh?"
"Well, here the language we use is English. But we can understand all languages, which makes us great language teachers."
"I don't understand."
"Neither do I. Well, remember to come here on Monday for the Seal of Fire."
"Okay! I can't wait!"
Before Colette stepped foot in the Gate, she wondered, "I wonder where Mimi is…"
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"Wahhh! It's sunset already! Thank goodness my parents aren't home."
Just as she was going to turn back to her house, something hopped out of her bag.
"Hi!" yelled the chao.
"Mimi! What are you doing here?"
"Well, I decided to see what your world is like!"
"But are you sure that Akita would let you? She is your mom right?"
"No, she said that I could stay here because no one but you can see me. But will you mind letting me stay with you?"
"Of course not!"
"This is going to be the start of a new adventure!"
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Preview: Since today is Saturday (they have half-day school on Saturday in Japan), what is Colette going to do with the rest of her weekend? Go to the amusement park with her best friend, of course! But what happens when they get attacked in the middle of the way by a living teddy bear? Find out next time, in Mahou Tenshi Colette: The Most Happy.
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Translations:
-san: A honorific roughly meaning, "Mr." or "Mrs."
No honorific: Not really a Japanese word, but it indicates that you're very familiar with the person.
