Hakurei Honor Ch.13
Author's Note: Here's the new chapter, and yes, we get to see combat again.
Chapter 13: The Nightmare Begins: The Fated Encounter
It began akin something to tingling sensation, and then it became an itch and finally a pull. This was what both puella felt. And it was maddening. Homura kept twitching like mad, while Mami kept looking back from her seat. It was unavoidable and thus, both puella needed to leave.
#0#
For Homura's group, this wasn't easy. Despite the fact that both Sayaka and Madoka were well informed and both have encountered her in puella form already, they didn't go for it immediately. This was because Homura was wrong on one thing.
"A witch..." Homura muttered earning her shocked looks from the other girls with her. In fact Madoka almost dropped the headphones she was holding. 'It's' to be expected though.' Homura thought as she ignored (again, like that morning) her companions she felt the tug of her sou- no her 'transformation trinket' as Reimu had called it (oddly enough, they hadn't been able to give it a name yet). The two ignored girls on the other hand looked at each other before each taking one of Homura's shoulders and dragging her off.
"Miss transfer student! You're a puella?!" Sayaka practically shouted when they were able to drag the stoic girl far and secluded enough. Homura blinked in surprised before looking back and forth between her companions in cofusion.
"Don't you remember? You have encountered me before, and in bad terms no less. I even thought that your animosity to me was because of that." she told the blue haired girl, who gave her a confused look. Turning to Madoka, she found that the girl had the same look.
'Reimu-sempai said that o-my identity is safe.'
That's right. Reimu did tell her that. So it was possible that her sempai erased their memory of the ill meeting between her and these two. Even if was benificient, it incurred a problem. Nonetheless she knew that she owed her miko sempai more than ever.
"No matter. There is a witch in the mall. The question is if you'll come with me or if you'll go to the seniors and leave." Homura asked flatly. It was an odd question, especially for her since she was the one who said it. Normally she would just stay quite and left things to her sempai (i.e. Mami) and focused only on Madoka. It was unlike her.
'But this is what mahou shoujo do.'
Yes it was. But she only adhered... wait. That was it. She was experiencing something she never thought that she would feel again, and that was something she only felt on her earlier loops. Perhaps her association with Reimu-sempai who had a strong sense of honor and duty did this, then again so Mirai-sempai. Whatever the case was, it did not matter. She gave them a chance to accompany her despite the danger and it was up to them to decide if they wanted to go or not.
After a few minutes of deliberation, both girls nodded. And within minutes, they were on their way.
#0#
Mami's time was much easier. This is because despite Mami hiding the truth about the puella, witches and Kyubey to her friends; this did not mean that didn't. Reimu is a guardian and protector, Mirai is a 'devil child', Haruka was a 'Geass Child' (like the miko herself) and Vita was the daugther (adopted) of the 'Millenium Warlock' and thus was privy to all the details of what's truly going on in the world. So when Mami began lookong back as if expecting to find something, all four knew that their friend needed to go.
"Oi Tomoe! Is something wrong?!" Vita asked very crudely. Despite being raised by Lelouch, she wad still gruff at times (causing a lot of people to conclude that she's bipolar). Though now, she wasn't as volatile as she did back then. Mami looked so troubled that it was hard to deny everything. Fortunately, everyone with her understood her plight.
"I do not know what is wrong but if you need to leave, just say so."
"Haruka-san?"
"Even friends have secrets they hide from each other, but even some of those secrets can be shared and shouldered be others."
"Reimu..."
"So just go Mami. We won't think less of you. But know that we want to know what's going on, ok?"
"Mirai..." Mami was overwhelmed. She was incredibly lucky to have them, her friends. They gave her joy, respect, understanding... and most of all their friendship. She had been thinking on telling them a while now, and honestly she should have done so since the beginning. Stifling a tear, she stood from her seat, bowed and thanked them. After that, she abruptly left. The remaining four nodded and waited a few minutes before following.
#0#
The emergence of the witch's labyrinth was incredibly sudden. The two normals felt cold and frightened when it happened since it was the first time they were engulfed into a labyrinth. It was incredibly unlike the feeling of entering it. Homura on the other hand...
"It's a good thing that you decided to come with me..." she said as she grabbed her necklace and transformed. The gem on her hand glowed before evaporating into small motes of ligth and engulfed her, at the same time reality around her shattered like glass and its shards slamming into her small frame as the lights disappeared to reveal her outfit. It looked similar as her old one, except this one has long flaps of cloth like tails that extended fron her back, by her collar attached by a round metal object that also projected small jet black wings that molted feathers every minute that fade away before they hit the ground. She also had silver cufflinks adored with amethysts that glowed faintly. And her skirt had the numbers 00 stenciled on it. Dark lines also framed her dress and had hourglass designs on the lower parts of her dress. By the time the invisible shards of reality slammed into her, her shield then formed. It also looked different, it now had three circular layers with the outer layer darkest in color, the middle layer lighter in color with a gear-like outline design and the innermost part was the trusty hourglass she used most often. It was encased in a clear orb this time (which reminded Homura of her sempai's yin-yang orbs) and her shield this time was fastened to her arm with a large boxlike bracelet that looked remotely like a large storage case thay enabled her to draw her weapons and gave her enough room to use her weapons (this made her smile a bit). But the most important of all was the second shield on her right arm! This meant that her power increased thanks to her 'treatment'! Now she felt that she really owed her sempai this time. Though admittedly the return of wearing her glasses in puella form was jarring a little bit... ahh... no matter.
"Are you ready?" She asked her awestruck compatriots. Who could blame them, Homura's transfomation were more the traditional flashy transformations they showed on magical girl anime! This left them spechless leaving them to only nod in affirmation. Nodding herself, she went forward with Sayaka and Madoka following. Later on Mami followed as well.
#0#
The four seniors of Mitakahara walked lesiurely as they followed Mami to her destination; albeit slowly so they would not warrant attention. Until the world changed that is. As the surroundings twisted and the atmosphere began to strain, the four girls each went to a battle stance. Reimu stretched her arms and put them forward, Mirai held up her peculiar looking pink colored gun, Vita went ahead and transformed into her magical girl form or one could say activating her device: Graf Eisen and finally Haruka pulled out a pack of tarot cards she nervously shuffled.
"It's been a while since I fought in this kind of battle." the girl told her friends truthfully, her nervousness obvious from her tone. "I'm mainly a healer as well..."
"Ah! Don't worry; I'll protect you when you get into a pinch. Besides we are splitting up and I'm sure Graf Eisen and I could manage even if you don't fight." Vita told her.
"That's kinda insulting." Mirai said to her fellow red head while Haruka shook her head.
"Its fine Mirai." the girl defended Vita "I know my strenghts and my weaknesses. And I know well that I'm a healer first before a fighter."
"Kinda like Shamal nee-san." Vita acknowledge in which Reimu nodded as well.
Reimu began to speak but stopped when the witche's barrier fully formed. And like Mami, Sayaka and Madoka before, the four girls were now treated to large expanses of long bridgeways, stairs and hallways adorned with various flowers, mostly roses and the surreal multicolor void that formed the horizon. But the most important thing was the large array of mustaciod familiars that surrounded them. And like back then they wielded various deadly gardening tools.
"They look like the Pringles mascot!"
"I know! It makes me hungry too!"
The miko and the blonde could only groan at the two redheads before the battle began in earnest.
#0#
Mami grunted in annoyance as she shot another familiar in the face. The whole lot of them was preventing her from moving forward, annoying her greatly. And if her senses were any indication, her two juniors were just beyond where she was. The only good thing was, according to the same senses is that another puella was nearby and most probably with them. But the question was: where was Homura? Was she the puella with Sayaka and Madoka? Or did she leave the building before this disaster began? Or... a traitorous thought entered her head. That the other girl might've died. Hoping for either two not the latter, Mami began to concentrate on getting a breakthrough. But if the large wall of the same garden weilding mustaciode familiars she had already encountered was any indication, then it wouldn't be for a while. She knew something like this would happen. Ever since the fight with the samurai kaijin, she knew that she wasn't able to truly finish the master of these familiars, the witch that created this labyrinth. And it's very troubling. Witches employ nothing more than animalistic instinct than true intelligence. However, as she shot, dodged, jumped, evaded, clubbed and tore each familiar, she knew this was not so. In fact, if they just rushed her then this would be easy despite their numbers, but no. They attacked in droves, making lethal attacks while makjng sure that they did not hit each other at the same time. It does not help that they carried weapons that could easily disembowel her if she wasn't careful! And so she continued to weave through the mass with the same caution and skill she had shown when she first fought the things. Dodging another scythe wielder the blonde puella punted it with a musket before flipping over to dodge another scissor weilder and shot it. Twirling upside down in mid air she produced two more muskets and blocked a particular pincer attack, then promptly shot those two as well before throwing her spent muskets knocking down a few more foes. Stretching her arm to touch the floor, she pushed down to launch herself once more. Upon getting higher than her previous jump she is then assaulted by aerial familiars. As one drew close, this one carrying a rake, it swumg it's weapon attempting to club her. In retaliation Mami spun to dodge the weapon, and then as it missed, wrapped her leg around it and pried it off. She then using that, she spun on it delivering a devastating kick that knocked her opponent away crashing unceremoniosly into one of its fellow familiars. She then freed her leg from the rake and used it as a makeshift plaform kicking off from it, giving her a very small amount of height and into the sights of another familiar. That one instantly slashed forward with the scythe it carried but missed as Mami bloked the weapon's shaft with her right arm and nudging it to her right side. Then still using the same arm she punched the familiar hard, knocking it a step back. This was then knockedout as Mami's sleves puffed and threw out a hand gun which flew into said familiar's face. Grabbing the gun she shot down on the ground by the extremities of the amassed familiars, while kicking away another attempt at cleaving her in twain. Bullets out, she threw the spent gun into another familiar just a few ways below her stunning it, before using it as an inpromptu platform and gaining height once more. Now high enough and far from the reach of the aerial familiars, spun and looked down at familiars that waited for her to get down, probably to swarm her again. She didn't give them the opportunity. With a snap of her fingers, all the bullet holes she made glowed a golden color before shooting our large yellow ribbons than promptly cleaved, smashed and smothered all of her opponents that included the flying ones. As she landed, she thanked kami that they fought in a large domed arena like location beforw turning around and ran forward, not bothering if she killed all of her opponents or not.
#0#
Even with two civvies in tow, Homura had an easier time than Mami did. It was because for some reason, most likely due to her 'upgrades' all of her guns had infinte ammo. This led to her, carrying nothing but a large belt fed gatling gun (which Sayaka and Madoka wondered how in hell she could lift the large metal monstrocity while dismissing the fact that she pulled it out of nowhere) wherein the belt easily connected to her shield's 'pocket'. Thanks to this, each and every familiqr they encountered is promptly mowed down. This made every encounter trivial. It also helped that she was now a proper mahou shoujo and not a puella, in which she could use her ability with impuny. Heck, the only reason she didn't do so was fatigue! Still, she didn't need it anyways.
"There are a lot of them than before!" Sayaka exclaimed as Homura shredded a new wave of familiars. "This is much more ridiculous than the last time!" Homura stayed quite. They didn't do much the last time since all familiars bum rushed the trio when they entered the barrier, but knew that was true. When one compared the last encounter, the number of familiars has increased ten fold. Gritting her teeth she swung the Gatling gun to her left smacking a particular foe that had snuck up on them. She then shredded the thing into Swiss cheese.
"It matters not. We need to get to the witch's lair. For this is not a very defencible position." she told them. As the horde of opponents kept coming from all directions, though thankfully they didn't target the other two. "Are you two alright?" Both girls nod, and she nods as well in response. "Let's move then."
They began to run again. Homura leading them as she felt witch in the distance. Shredding another group of familiars that decided to block them, Homura grunted in annoyance. The witch was not far, but this witch's labyrinth was pretty literal. Each path, whether it is a bridgeway, hallway, open space or stairway led to more paths, turns and even dead ends. Navigation thus became increasingly difficult as paths diverge in no particular order and no particular paths made people continue to guess and ponder. It was a frustrating endeavor. Coming into another corner they were greeted by another wave of familiars. Wasting not even a second, Homura revved the Gatling gun and made short work of them.
"Homura! Behind!" Reacting to Madoka's warning she quickly dashed from her position, passed Sayaka and Madoka and then proceeded to shred the group that came behind them. Unfortunately...
"Ack! We're surrounded!" the blue haired girl muttered in fright as she backed into Homura with Madoka doing the same. It did not help that the wave Homura gunned continued to rush them infinitely. Homura tsked before grabbing a grenade from her shield, biting the pin she threw it backwards detonating the mass of familiars back there.
"There's still more! Lot's more!" Sayaka shouted in panic. The dark haired puella growled in annoyance.
"Here!" she shouted before dropping more grenades.
"Wha!"
"Pull the pin and throw! Continue to do so til' all of them are gone!"
"B-bu-bu-"
"NO BUTS!" So they did. Sounds of flames resounded around them. Sayaka kept throwing grenades that Madoka picked up from Homura, while said girl kept gunning down the foes in front of her. By this time all three are slowly getting tired, and Homura realized that her bullets came from her magic which slowly drained her. It was not noticeable at first, but she the slow fatigue she felt gotta come from somewhere. She cursed herself for being trigger happy. Still it kept them alive so that's fine for now. But it looks like she needed to train again, just like back then. Finally after a few more minutes of surviving, help finally came. Mami came. Like a golden light soaring from the sky she began to shoot down the familiars surrounding her juniors. Rifles in hand with the bayonets gleaming in the odd light, all her shots turned into deadly ribbons slicing in twain any and all of her junior's assailants. The trio relaxed as she came, especially Homura who has been panting heavily. Another realization came to her as they were fighting. She only carried ten grenades, but she had dropped more than that number. In fact Madoka still held six and Sayaka five. And it's been a while since she started dropping grenades, so it was the only other solution. Still, it was good. It meant that she did not need to steal from the local military warehouse anymore. Still it was not the time.
"You're timing is impeccable sempai." she said flatly. Mami did not mind, and shrugged it off.
"I'm sorry... these guys..." she said pointong at the burning forms of the familiars."...have ambushed me in one of the larger areas. There's a ton of them and it seems they really did not like me... or from the looks of it, tou too Homura." The dark haired girl nods and thanked her.
"But we need to hurry. We might not survive if they keep at it." Homura told her sempai, and thankfully she agreed. All four of them turned at the hallway they found themselves and the trio first there found a path that was not there before.
"It looks like an invite." The blonde puella said, eyeing the pathway suspiciously.
"And we have no time for rest and plesantries either." Homura said, readying her gatling gun.
"Girls, looks like Homura gave you arms. Be careful though." She theb turned to Homura. "Shall we?"
Homura nods while the two normals gulped. The quartet then lowly made their way inside. Where the witch was waiting...
#0#
Kai: Whew this chapter is done!
Vita: We're not fighting yet?
Kai: That's the next chapter along with witch battle.
Reimu: So get to it.
Mirai: Yeah we're getting antsy.
Kai: Yeah, yeah... Please read and review.
Haruka: And see you at the next chapter.