Author Notes:
Yeah, yeah, I'm late. I really need to stop playing Beats for the Android sometime. sigh.
To the people who notice those little faults in each chapter...Just. keep. on. Believing!
I'll appreciate any kind of review and comment by the way. ^_^
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Plot:
Homura Akemi, the time traveler, has left a worldline in which Madoka becomes Kriemhild Gretchen, the greatest witch of all time, and Kyubey leaves Earth. With the help of nearly 1000 mahou shoujos, including Kyouko, Sayaka, Mami, Kazumi, and a different and more powerful Homura, can they defeat this witch and bring about hope again to an impending apocalypse?
Android Phone Edit: 06/01/11
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Disclaimer:
This message merely exists to (possibly) satisfy those copyrighters, so I say it anyway. I only own the idea to this fanfiction, the unofficial OCs, and ideas that are unsure or unconfirmed within Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Puella Magi Kazumi Magica.
By the way, it's best that you play Connect (TV version) when you reach the chapter title strip and Magia (TV version) when you reach the To Be Continued strip of the chapter.
In the middle of the highway, a certain magical girl had a few explanations needed for the confused Mami and Sayaka. Various discoveries about Homura herself, Kyubey, and Juubey had already had their fair share of tension to the group, who had barely escaped the indefinetely extending barrier borders, and fortunately Homura herself managed to keep a distance of 20 minutes worth to keep them company, mostly utilizing supersonic speeds to keep a far distance from Kriemhild Gretchen and to have more time just in case a few more unexpected things would happen: for example maybe a witch appearing in front of the highway, or maybe Kyouko doing more foolish things as she set up a rendezvous with her on Takunashi City, merely 4 km before their final destination in Asunaro City. What is to gain for Homura, in spite of everything that happened so far? Fame? Fortune? A piece of evidence proving the existence of Lemuria? No, but rather, it was only one: Madoka's promise.
"I didn't knew Kyouko could travel this far," Mami looked around, noticing a mountain far beyond the horizon. "And where are we really going?"
Homura's hair extended her reach towards the infinite space that is behind her, well almost. A few cars came in from behind in an unintentional atrempt to crash with Homura. But Homura merely dodged them, most often projecting her path 5 km in ad ance just to avoid crashing within a 0.01 m margin of error.
"Explain," Mai's eyes look more stern than normal, whether it was due to the extrme speed they had to deal with or the revelations she just unraveled, no one really knows. "What's a Type 2? And who's that creature you call Juubey?"
Mai herself had been stressed out of all that happened recently. All these revelations, and the very nature of their situation...she knew it was affecting part of the reasoning she had set for herself. It's not like a sort of entity is controlling everyone from the shadows...no...that'll be impossible, won't it? Or is it?
"Fine," Homura said as she turned right at a corner. "I'll tell you everything about mahou shoujos. You already knew it right?"
Mami nearly vomitted in that last turn, barely keeping up with her own composure.
"Isn't this a little bit too fast, Homura?" Mami asked, in an attempt to ar least decrease her tendency to vomit by 10%. "Just how fast is the witch's barrier extending?"
Homura looked at Mami, "around 300 meters per second and increasing."
A truck, merely 10 meters away from the gang, attempted a colossal impact, not knowing what's directly ahead of him. Homura jumped at that instant. Backflipping backwards, she took out her light-saber, slicing away the truck out of the way, much like how Moses divided the Red Sea during the Israelites' exodus. It was great timing anyway: the driver was a convict, merely escaping by stealing a truck, counter-flowing with the highway. Just as the gang tore through the truck, she reached for something inside it: a bottle of Morning Rescue.
Sayaka just couldn't believe they were still alive 1 second after that.
"After this, you life will like be that time when we encountered that truck." Homura said as she started drinking the bottle she took from the truck. "But instead of thanking that you're alive, you're gonna wish you never contracted. If you despair or lose hope, you shall die. If you can't accept that, I cannot tell you anything."
A couple of police car passed the gang as they quickly turned left, of which Homura avoided any contact by drifting, with the board horizontally inclined 45° against a ramp wall.
In spite of such extreme speeds, the two didn't felt like vomitting anymore, as this time they have now been engrossed in thought. Mai simply watched the two make thier choice. Will they want to know the cruel truth?
"Tell me, Akemi-san," Mami asked. "What happened when I learned the truth?"
Homura quickly answered, "You killed Kyouko, and nearly killed me and Madoka, who were mahou shoujos at the time. Madoka had to kill you to save my life."
Mami...for the first time...gulped.
"Is there still hope...for us then?" Sayaka asked.
A nearly steep right turn 10 meters away attempted to ruin thier conversation, of which Homura drifted in response.
"Can you cling to it when I say it's a one in a million chance?" Homura asked yet again.
"Hope," Mai muttered. "You mean...there's hope? I once gave up on that long ago."
Silence overwhelmed everyone.
"Tell me, then why are you alive?" Homura cried from that point on. "I said to myself that I'd never rely on anyone again...but here I am, seeking help from you...all because I believe in hope. Mami, can you tell me what it felt like to watch you die so many times? To watch Madoka die so many times?"
She knows it: her memory of Mami, her recent memory of Sayaka, and her irreplaceable memory of Madoka, all that hardships, all that efforts to retract Madoka from her nearly inevitable fate. Can they handle it all? And if so, what can she do now, but to tell them of thier fates, thier almost unavoidable fates?
"I'll...hear it." Mami resolved to herself.
"I...I..." Sayaka studdered.
"Even if it's just a small hope," Mami further explained. "I'll cling to it. If I lose hope in myself, then I'll just get it from you."
"...if Mami says so, I'll do it." Sayaka said.
"That kind of resolve is disgusting." Mai bluntly said.
"Fine, fine," Sayaka admitted. "I lack resolve! Maybe it's the reason I failed to confess my love to Kyousuke in the first place."
Homura sniffed out her tears.
"Fine," Homura said. "But Sayaka, if you ever lose hope, I'll personally end your life."
Homura's bottle of Morning Rescue dissappeared that instant, as she threw it in the open air, never to be seen again.
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Episode 5
"The Truth always hurt."
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"The Soul Gem..." Homura started narrating, only to turn right in a corner. "...is what it means. It's a container of the Soul..."
Homura kept on moving, instinctively dodging every car in the way. It felt that way to tell them here anyway, with adrenalin from thier 'coaster' ride cushioning thier emotional effect.
"Our bodies are merely but hardware that Kyubey, the Incubator, formed when she ripped out our soul. When my time-traveller counterpart left this body, I was merely a lost soul from myself; I am this world's Homura, whom Kyubey recruited yet again. My wish: to know anything I'd need to know: my memories, or how to defeat any witch. That's how I knew Mai Akane, even though I never met her before until now, because logic dictated I'd need a plan to defeat Kriemhild Gretchen, which I couldn't do alone."
No words can describe everyone's feelings right now. Is it of despair? Is it of misunderstanding?
"In the last timeline, that kiled Sayaka...or should I say..."
At that point, Mai intervened, "Sayaka, you turned into a witch..."
Sayaka and Mami couldn't believe it. But...all that Homura said...it was the truth. There was no other way to explain everything they exprienced just now, because, like it or not, those words made almost perfect sense.
"All puella magi," Homura continued. "when their Soul Gems completely darken, they will turn into Grief Seeds. That's the inevitable fate of any normal mahou shoujo."
"You mean..." Mami feared for the worst.
"Kriemhild Gretchen...is Madoka." Homura said.
Homura stopped talking at the time, letting silence take over the conversation. Mai could only simply watch the two, looking at thier faces, and at thier reactions...
"Funny how you say it so calmly..." Mami said. "...Akemi-san...when I think of it more... this makes us no better than witches themselves."
"Mami-sempai..." Sayaka sympathically held her hand.
Homura turned right afterwards as she continued her explanation, "The very reason Kyubey recruited us is to make us his fuel for fighting Entropy... Hmph, for that being, we're merely cattle..."
Mai stayed emotionless during all that time. It never occured to her anymore to feel despair. She knew she cannot because she would not, but she also knows she cannot let others experience that sense of hopelessness she felt back then...
"The Truth," Mai said. "always hurts..."
A truck past the sonic-speeding team, honking in an ever annoying tone as it passes by.
"...Kyubey...after contracting with Madoka, and, consequently, turning into a witch, already had a full quota at the time, but still, he recruited me at the time for a purpose..."
"Juubey?" Mai asked.
"Yes..." Homura said. "But not exactly... Kyubey... recruited me... because... I'm a potential Type 2."
"A Type...2..." Mai muttered.
Homura caught the attention of a pedestrian, 30 meters away from the road. Homura tilted her board slightly backward, spinning her board to create a lift effect, just enough to go through the pedestrian above her head, and with such a speed, it will most likely look to the pedesrrian that a strong wind came from above.
"A Type-2 Mahou Shoujo..." Homura muttered to the gang. "are Special Cases of mahou shoujos. They are those who wish for special wishes in that the normal system of mahou shoujos is completely compromised. These mahou shoujos have the potential to be more than witches themselves. You can say Type 2 mahou shoujos are more than witches."
A steep turn to the right 400 meters ahead caught Homura's attention. There, in the not-so-far horizon, is one of thier destination: Takunashi City. Going straight without hesitation, the team jumped from a cliff, 100 meters in length. That instant, she looked at Mai.
"For Kyubey and Juubey, a Type 2 can create infinite energy, being able to convert both a mahou shoujo's hope and a witch's grief into energy. That's why Kyubey needs me... to solve Entropy for good by giving me and another Type 2 an immortal state. If that ever happens..."
Homura took a picture of a nearby ground, slanting down from high ground at angle around 45°. Homura sent a signal to Mai, teleporting the team to the ramp.
"If that happens," Homura said. "There'll be no need of us Puellae Magi and they'll leave for good. However..."
Homura continued on the road, using the 45° ramp as a slide, now merely 15 kilometers from Takunashi City.
"There always two ways to end the universe the way it is right now...let Kyubey have his way, or let me get controlled by Kriemhild Gretchen. If Kyubey will take the only 2...no 3 Type 2's we have, including me, there's no stopping Gretchen from destroying the universe... and if Gretchen would manage to control me..."
"Controlled..?" Mami asked.
This time, 50 meters away, are two cars, one going in one direction and one going another. Using Homura's time stopping ability, she stopped almost instantly, reconverting her board back to a circular shield, and inertia kicking in, she held on to both Mami and Sayaka's hand, passing through the two cars like a human catapult. Homura unfroze time that very instant, throwing back her shield foward, only to return as an energy board again.
They couldn't say anything anymore at that point, as it would be conaidered a miracle that they just passed at that point.
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Kyouko held a piece of Pocky as she looked at her surroundings. Since when has she stayed in this place, merely attending to various underground meetngs, looking for a good prospect of witches?
"Hmph," Kyouko displayed her disgust at the place called Takunashi City. A couple of sky high skyscrapers met Kyouko's richochetting glances in an ever-teasing matter, as if the buildings served to mock the meek. Various businessmen passed her with an ever selfish malice, expected of anyone who had selfishly made money a god to themselves and displayed racial diacrimination over what they call 'lower beings'. While so many businessmen crowded the streets of Takunashi City, a few mahou shoujos would often times look at each other merely in eye, exchanging merely vague eye gestures that only they themselves can decode. Beside every street is a holographic screen, displaying various local, national, and international stocks, of which various people in Takunashi City would often brawl it out, to the point of hiring spies and assasins just to ensure thier win and generate wnough profit for merely nothing but to repeat the process. And then there's the even wider market of information techonology, famous for its gathering of crackers, ethical hackers, and intel gatherers alike, of which, unusually, 60% are actually puellae magi in disguise. In the dark alleys of Takunashi City are thugs: of various shapes, forms, and sizes – may it be kids, adults, women, or elderly, each utilizing their own trickery to survive with such a devastating state. People might say Takunashi City is a city made of glass and a city of businessmen, but to most people actually living inside of it, is a city of desperation.
Kyouko looked at the surrounding areas as she passed by the ever busy streets. There were a few thieves in the area, more so the street alone, as she could easily see with her contacts (which are actually magical in nature – much like the binoculars she used back then, but this time having x-ray vision installed), wearing knives in all the hidden places these creative thugs could come up with, often approaching some random businessman and attempting to rob him of his money. What most of these thugs (especially the newcomers) do not realize, however, that even businessmen have their own conniving tricks: often using stun guns, many of whom have actually been hidden in their long sleeves. Most often, however, puellae magi are the most 'affected' by their senseless scam.
"Hey...you..." a man was speaking to her behind her back, with a knife near her leg. He was quite a shady figure, with a cap with the words 'EMi&M' barely noticeable at the front, wearing a partially thick beige sweater. "Hand over your money...unless you wanna get hurt."
Kyouko sighed.
"C'mon..." the man hissed at the disappointed mahou shoujo. "Do it!"
"Here," Kyouko simply said. "If you plan to rob me, do it in that dark alley over there."
The man loosened her hands for a bit, giving Kyouko the perfect opportunity for a comeback. In that very instant, before the man could even attempt to slice his knife into Kyouko's head, Kyouko took a powerful grip on her hand and threw her upwards like a wrestler. The man, now unconscious, had a beating of his life.
"I hate this city." Were Kyouko's last words, just before disappearing into the crowd's shadows.
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Far beyond Mitakihara City to the north west, separated by a long series of mountain ranges is Takunashi City, also one of the famous places for information distribution and the one of the very centers of the mahou shoujo intel community in Japan. There, near the thick, grey monochrome borders of the city that separate the city central to the forest, is Homura, Mami, Sayaka, and Mai, who had very recently came to Takunashi City for quite a number of purposes.
"We're here only for a few purposes in mind: to spread word of the evacuation of all puellae magi in Japan and neighbouring countries, and to get Kyouko." Homura said. "We can never afford to waste even a second in this city, as we still need to get to Asunaro City."
"Underground mahou shoujo gatherings..." Mai said the word.
"Every minute, hundreds of terabytes pass by in Takunashi City, with Tokyo being the merely second in information technology. Only 30% actually come from Kyubey, while most other sources come and go through the internet or specialty mahou shoujos." Homura said.
Homura held Mami, Sayaka, and Mai's hands and activated her time-stopping ability, passing though the guard gates with ease. The guard post itself is made of several spy cameras and laser-guided detection areas. Of course, you can always pass them all with a few shots of teleportation or time-freezing magic, of which most mahou shoujos have already adapted to.
"Hey, Akemi-san." Sayaka asked. "What do we need Kyouko for...?"
Homura took a deep breath down. Beyond those walls of iron are small business houses coupled with a few obsolete residential houses, more often made of now-obsolete tiled roofs with pointed centers and sides and oriental sliding doors.
"She's probably the only other veteran other than Mami who can handle large groups of mahou shoujos that I can trust." Homura explained.
"Probably?" Mami asked. "Here I was made to believe that you, Homura, know everything."
If only that was the case, Homura muttered.
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Homura Akemi
(Timeline #4 Counterpart – 1st Form)
Weapon: Light-saber and shield
Specialty:Limitless 'need-to-know' Knowledge and Time Freeze
Nationality: Japanese
Description: Being a soul brought back into the world no thanks to her time-travelling counterpart, Homura (or let's say...before she became a mahou shoujo) was merely an innocent meganneko with red rectangular glasses and a long goldilocks-like twin tails that extend far until her waist. This timeline's soul was essentially trapped deep inside her own body no thanks time-traveller Homura's Soul Gem, essentially for the reason being Soul Gems and souls from inside one's body are quite different and cannot overlap each other. (Example: putting a Soul Gem in another girl's body would theoretically cause the girl' soul to be trapped inside it if a Soul Gem of another girl, but this never been done before, as only a few girls know of the nature of the Soul Gem, nor does anyone bother to experiment with such a thing called a soul except Kyubey)
Following Homura's time travel, Homura's real soul was released into the world, unaware of the 1 month that happened to her, including the very change in her body. It was the perfect timing for Kyubey to recruit Homura again, and releasing a trapped soul into a Soul Gem was so unusual it would count as a potential Type-2. First, Homura's Timeline #4 counterpart retains (or in Homura's case, regains) most of her powers as a time-traveller mahou shoujo, with the exception of time travelling itself, being able to freeze time for quite a longer period than the previous Homura and being able to store anything in her ever useful Hyperspace Arsenal (in her shield). In addition to that, Homura gains powerful speed (exceeding Mach II), and has an exceedingly large amount of magical potential (she can eject magical energy from her shield almost without any taint in her Soul Gem, resulting in her power to transform her shield into an energy-based board – normal mahou shoujos could never keep doing it for a full hour without fully tainting thier Soul Gems), as a result of Homura's body being reconfigured twice. However, due to the nature of her soul, her soul maintains quite a connection between her body and her Soul Gem, often causing unbearable pain in tasks normal mahou shoujo could endure, such as getting hit by a bullet or falling from the Eiffel Tower, without actually dying. Her real gained power, however, comes in two forms: her endless need-to-know knowledge and light-saber which she had kept inside her shield. Her endless knowledge enables her access to every information regarding witches, mahou shoujos (as they're considered pre-witches), and even fighting tactics and intel, but only when needed. To access anything other than that is most often quite a long shot, often utlizing life-threatening situations just to tap into her wellspring of knowledge and acessing her needed data for merely 50 miliseconds.
Homura retains most of her design, being very much similar to time traveller Homura. When acessing her limitless information, her eyes turn bright purple, but for only 50 miliseconds, and when holding her light-saber, her hands glow an eerie purple, indicating energy flow from her Soul Gem to her native weapon. P.S. she cannot summon light-sabers, in spite of it being her true native weapon.
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"We should meet up with Kyouko quickly." Homura said, looking at the monitor billboards, catching the attention of a single news. "The news is spreading faster than I originally thought."
Homura stared at the news, looking for a few moments at the news:
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Unknown Anomaly detected on Mitakihara City, Furukawa City, and neighbouring towns...
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"Right," Sayaka said. "...so where are we going?"
"Mai, you should know where the underground meetings take place, right?" Homura asked, looking at the time: 1:50 pm.
Mai nodded, looking at Sayaka and quickly holding her hands.
"You're always wierd," Sayaka commented.
Glancing at Sayaka, then at Homura, Mai grabbed Sayaka, stealthy dissipating among the busy crowd.
"Let's go meet Kyouko," Homura said, flickering her head in the wind. "I don't like this place, and I'm sure Kyouko feels it too."
Mami started walking, following Homura as her head turned back and forth. A few blocks away from the city borders are skyscapers - sky-high skyscrapers, ranging from 100 to 400-story buildings - all while hundred of busy businessmen made thier fancy way towards thier work.
"This city..." Homura said to Mami. "...was made from a single wish of a magical girl...a prosperous city...and now..."
Sounds are heard from Homura's far right: it was a thug, wearing a black T-Shirt and black pants, handing out a box to a mysterious man covered in a dark veil. While the conversation was barely audible, words that struck Mami the worst were Kill him.
"By giving hope to a city, same amount of despair must be given to someone as well." Homura said.
"But that means...!" Mami knew where this gonversation would be going.
"By me gaining hope to the world, an equivalent despair must be given," Homura said. "That's the rule of every wish..."
"But that's...?" the sound of the wonks of an incoming bus covered Mami's voice.
"...Yes... so... please..." Homura'a her body around and held Mami's two shaking hands. "Please find... the remaining hope to this world..."
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Kyouko glanced around the area. Why has she stopped running juat now, I wonder? I mean, there was no need for her to run in the first place: it's not like she has anything to run from, except for a few rogue puella magi, and probably the police.
"Now, lemme look at what that freaking stalker gave me..." Kyouko said to herself.
You may not know me but
I do know you. I'll see you
30 mins. from now, Kyouko,
a mahou shoujo.
#Homura Akemi
-0996XXXXXXX
"Damn it," Kyouko scratched her head as she read the measage all over again. "Just who is this Homura Akemi...?"
"That would be me."
Kyouko quickly turned around, startled at the clearly close voice, never minding the unconsiously malicious people surrounding them. There she was, Homura Akemi, in full frontal glory, and looking at the girl beside her...
"Mami-chan?" Kyouko displayed every bit of surprise at the sight. "So ya finally dropped out of that school and finally considered my offer in Furukawa City?"
"Not in the slightest..." Mami replied.
"Let's go," Homura got ahold of Kyouko and Mami's hands, her hair merely swooshing out into the open air as she activated her time-freezing abilty again, and just like that, everything froze in front of three, as if everything they saw were a recorded BD. As even the doves and the people stopped mid-air, Mami simply sighed at Kyouko's ever-generic sense of surprise.
"This...is..." before Kyouko could say anything, Homura gripped her hand.
"If you let go, time will stop for you too," Homura said. "Let's go meet the others..."
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Mai kept on moving, and, like a plow, dragged Sayaka through the busy crowds , and over the sky high skyacrapers, recalling the routes on which Mai went to, merely scanning the area for possible taboos on the current location of the underground meetings. Just then and there, a scribble caught Mai's attention.
cielo el psy congroo
"There," Mai's low pitched voice caught Sayaka's attention. "The sign...they're here."
"They're here, what do you mean-"
Before Sayaka could complete the statement, a warp literally warped her word into oblivion, as the sudden new surroundings flinched Sayaka. It was on a roof, just on top of the two buildings that just surrounded them seconds ago. 2 mahou shoujos wearing black-patterned rectangular glasses were in the blue, clear sky, wearing the usual business attires to cover themselves through the crowd without the unnecessary suspicion. One of the girls wore a black pin to shorten her otherwise long hair, wearing a beige mini-skirt, if that's what you call it, and a tight girl-style polo. Looking back at her other companion, then back at the visitor's new companion, she went back to typing in her black VAIO.
"Welcome, Silencer," one of mahou shoujo bow her head in respect to the veteran. "What can we do for you?"
Sayaka couldn't believe the scene she saw right now, but then again, to see is to believe, right? Just how can they keep a full community of mahou shoujos in thus city without clashes, and how the heck they can keep a constant flow of information on this city.
"Are you interested in a new prospect of witches?" the other girl asked Mai.
"I'm not here for that right now." Mai said to the two on-patrol mahou shoujos, sensing how little time she had. "Call a Threat Level 6."
"T-threat level 6?" the girl's glasses fell onto the ground. "A-are you s-serious?"
"You've heard heard the news in Furukawa City?" Mai said, looking at the monitors meters below her, then looking at the far horizon. There, far beyond the mountains, are dark clouds, as far as they are, steadily, but surely making making thier way towards the only mahou shoujo information center in Japan.
"Threat Information..." Mai started narrating. "Threat, Witch Level SS..."
The other girl started typing in her black VAIO laptop, taking close notes of the Mai's notes, all while Sayaka merely watched it all happening.
"Power Level, 500 more powerful than Walpurgisnacht..." Mai continued, then turned to Sayaka. "Check if Homura's here."
"No need," with a sudden entrance, Homura, Mami, and Kyouko appeared before the gang, with the two partially drenched in sweat.
"Just... why... the hell... does this underground meeting... be on top... of a 100 story skyscraper..." Kyouko fell from her stance. "And why... the hell... did we use... the stairs...!"
"No time to be resting..." Homura held Kyouko's hand, pushing her back up again.
「Sayaka's Soul Gem: 12% Darkened」
「Mami's Soul Gem: 5% Darkened」
「Kyouko's Soul Gem: 0.9% Darkened」
「Homura's Soul Gem: 2% Darkened」
"Yes, yes," the girl unlocked her pins, revealing long beige hair as she continued typing in her laptop. "Recommendations?"
"Evacuate Japan, and go to..." Homura's eyes glowed bright purple. "San Francisco, California. It'll be an excellent place to gather enough mahou shoujos for a retaliation."
San... Francisco... California... did I just say that? Homura wondered at her own words. Why San Francisco, California, I wonder? Is it a premonition? My powers? But... I could have just as logically choose Laos or Australia...but anyway...
"California sounds like a good place, but isn't it too far?" Mami checked Kyouko's phone (a Samsung Galaxy) and checking the maps.
"We'll need 3 days to prepare for the event, anyway... to prepare the necessary resources..." Homura pointed out. "Besides..."
"Hey...look!" Sayaka looked down on the ground. "The people...!"
Sayaka saw the scene right before her eyes. Hundreds of people, of whom in her point of view are like mere dots in a concrete street partially full of moving little rounded rectangles and static pointed rectangles that some of the dots would go to. In that instant, everyone stopped in thier tracks, then started gathering towards her left.
"That's rare in this city... a witch in the middle of the city," the beige-haired girl looked at her on-patrol companion. "Let's go, Hikari."
The other girl with her nodded.
"No," Homura said. "Continue on sending the necessary information. Kriemhild Gretchen's barrier will come to this city in around 15 minutes; save anyone you can."
"15 minutes? Seriously...?" Kyouko grabbed ahold on her last Pocky and started munching on it. "and Kriemhild Gretchen is strong because..."
"I'll tll you later, Mai-chan," Homura called her attention. "Call her attention and teleport as many mahou shoujo as you can to our meeting place. We need every help in the world..."
Mai nodded.
"Sayaka, Mami, Kyouko," Homura asked, staring at their worried eyes. "Can you still fight? There's a possibility this witch is..."
"Yep, we can handle it, right?" Mami smiled in a matter unrecognizable to Sayaka.
"Y-yeah, I guess," Sayaka responded.
Mami is... Homura thought.
I am... Mami thought.
such terrible liar.
Homura jumped from the roof then and there, followed by Sayaka, Mami, and Kyouko. As Homura fell from roof, she held Sayaka's hand, whom, in turn held Mami's and Kyouko's hand.
"Madoka, I'll save you." Homura muttered, and a click from her shield instantly caught their attention, both of them dissappearing into thin air, just to end up merely 10 meters from the ground, now ribing on her surf board with the 3 in sight. Now on the way to the witch's barrier, separated by an oblique barrier that covers a nearby bank, surrounded by a few fruit stores.
But just on top of a nearby building, someone was watching them from afar. A figure, wearing a silver-lined witch's hat and ever-revealing dress, covering her eyes, staring most especially at Homura, staring at everyone, wanting to help them, but cannot.
"Homura-chan..."
A teardrop fell from her eyes, just before dissappearing in the next instant...
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"We're here..." Homura quickly dragged everybody's hand towards the barrier. "Let's go finish this... like a team."
"Yeah, like-" Kyouko tried saying it, but Mami covered her mouth qith her two fingers.
"Just do it," Mami displayed her usual sisterly smile.
In that very second, everything changed: visions, distortions, and warps. By the time Sayaka opened her eyes yet again, a large plain appeared before them, with brick borders at the far end of the red-dyed plain. Trees surrounded thier entrance, but unlike real trees, thiese ones grew surreal designed dollars.
Sayaka giggled the minute she saw the design, "Money DOES grow on trees."
"Funny how you can still pull out jokes at a time like this," Mami commented, readying her flintlock.
"Here she comes," Homura diverted everyone's attention towards the emerging witch. "Mami, she might be a-"
"Yes, I know that all too well now," Mami interrupted. "We can't do anything about that can we?"
"Only Type 2's can go further than a witch," Homura coldly said.
"Type 2?" Kyouko hear the two. "what's-"
A generic roar caught the four's attention. It was the witch, looking at Kyouko with a menacing stare.
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Kopeck
Nature: Financial Obsession
M.G. Alias: Yoko Hizashi
Description: Kopeck's form is quite similar to a brown 4-horse chariot with a brown statue-like figure standing behind the chariot carts. Unlike most witches, however, Kopeck doesn't always have a predictable movement style. Using her familiars, named Rupee, Sheqel, and Notgeld, she utilizes a handful of attacks, in that, if you're not careful, will get you either turned into a bank note or worse, a coin as small as a penny. The key to defeating such a witch is always by recongizing patterns of attack, merely seconds after her style of attacking would change.
Rupee, the first familiar, contains a form a green elephant, but don't be fooled: it's extremely fast, and with it's suddenky attacks, you might end up getting crushed by its wide 4 feet.
Sheqel contains the form of a 8-arm 10-feet giant, armed with a large thick sword and gigantic armor, but with a bruised forehead, which continued (even until now) to bleed. He utilizes mostly melee attacks, but don't be surprised if it can throw well-rounded exploding slingahots even from afar.
Notgeld contains the form of a long thick anaconda-like snake and is the most predictable of the 3 familiars. Even with its extremely long length and large mouth, it often utilizes both strangling and venom techinques, mist often depending on the person that it would like to kil or paralyze.
[Forbidden File - Mahou Shoujo]
Password Required - Access Denied
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"Kyouko?" Mami asked. "Anything bothering you?"
"No, it's not that...it's just..." before Kyouko could say anything else, a sudden gunshot fire appeared from her left. It was Homura, trying to shoot one of the elephant familiars, only to fail as the elephant dodged the attack as if it were a ghost.
"We don't have time for that." Homura said. "Just fight."
Kyouko snapped out of her trance, finally turning into her mahou shoujo.
"Charge...!" Mami activated the trigger, Kyouko charging for Notgeld with her spear, Sayaka charging towards Sheqel, Mami charging towards Rupee, and Homura suddenly appearing in front of Kopeck.
"Ready, and..." Homura's blinking a glowing purple, just before continuing her attack.
A whisper entered into her mind in that very moment.
Limiti Esterni Infiniti...
『To Be Continued...』
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Preview:
"Everything…for good or for bad…it always ends up in price, whatever you do, or whatever you put it."
Next episode: "Nothing comes without a price."