Ranger24: Hello everyone. Been a while since I have started a chapter with an author's note. Some of you may have noticed that I started by posting this directly to the main Madoka fanfiction page. That was to hopefully draw some attention early on.
Sadly I made a few miscalculations. One, the prologue was to short. Two, it was rather generic. Three, my description have might come off as a bit vague and pretentious. Four, I really didn't do much editing. Errors are always worse when they are your own.
As you may have noticed this story is now a crossover. The main focus is still on the Madoka cast but other series will steadily become more involved with the plot. Hopefully as we move forward this will meet with more approval from readers.
Chapter 1: A new day.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or properties used in this story. They belong to their respective creators and companies, please support the official release.
Madoka opened her eyes and sat up in bed. She took in her surroundings quickly. She was in her bed room, it was early in the morning. Her eyes fell on the calender over her desk, it was still on the March page, more specifically it was March 25th. That wasn't right, it was supposed to be May 1st.
Suddenly she wondered if it had all been simply a dream? If so it had been the most vivid dream she had ever had. She yawned and brought up her hand to cover her mouth by reflex.
Her eyes went as wide as dinner plates. There was a ring on her finger, a ring with a pink stone. In a flash of pink light the ring vanished and transformed into a small pink and gold stone, a soul gem. Her soul gem.
Madoka's mind began racing through thoughts. It had been real. All of it! But now what would happen? What was she going to do?
Suddenly there came a hard knock on her bed room door.
"Madoka," her father called. "Do you mind helping Tatsuya get your mother up?"
"Be right there," Madoka replied shifting her soul gem back into it's ring form. She scrambled out of bed and through the door. Right into someone's chest.
She fell onto the floor flat on her backside.
"Oh sorry miss Madoka. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Madoka said. "It was my fault Pol."
The elderly elf set aside the stack of bedsheets he had been carrying and helped Madoka to her feet.
"Tatsuya had a little accident last night," he said motioning to the sheets.
Madoka gave him an apologetic smile.
"Sorry about tha-"
Then suddenly it hit her. Who was this Pol? Why was he in her house? Was he actually an elf? There were suddenly elves now?
She took a step back as he picked up Tatsuya's sheets again.
Then there was a flood of memories. Pol was their live in help, doing chores and other household tasks to support his family back in America. She remembered birthdays where he'd spent most half a month's salary just to get her a present. She remembered giving him a big hug and kiss on the cheek one Christmas when he had to stay with them because his flight home had been canceled due to bad weather.
Pol looked at her some concern on his face.
"Madoka," he said, "are you alright?"
"Fine," Madoka said quickly, "just a bit of deja vu."
"Yeah I know the feeling," he replied with a nod. "I'd better get this to the laundry then help your father with breakfast."
"Okay," Madoka said stepping aside. "See you in bit."
Pol slipped past her, carrying Tatsuya's soiled sheets. Madoka waited until he had passed and was out of sight before she continued on to her mother's room.
What had just happened? Why did she suddenly know all of these things? How much had her wish changed things? Did this happen to Homura every time she had restarted the timeline?
"Momma wake up!" Tatsuya said from inside mother's room.
Madoka took a deep breath to steady her thoughts. It would raise a lot of questions if she acted like she was very confused by what was going on, which she was.
Then she threw the door open, letting it slam against the frame. Then she crossed the room and opened the curtains, letting sunlight pour into the room. Last of all she grabbed a hold of Mother's sheets and yanked them away.
"Good morning!" She said in a loud sing song voice as her mother jerked awake with a wild yelp. She was clearly slightly hung over. At least some things didn't change.
For the next few minutes things proceeded as they had before in the previous timeline, Madoka got ready with her mom, telling her about the goings on at school. Once more she donned the pink ribbons, this time by her own choice. Then she went to breakfast for her next surprise.
At first everything seemed normal, until she noticed a very different change. As per usual her father was making breakfast the news playing on the TV, this time with Pol's help something she now knew was a common occurrence in this timeline. The reason why however was that from the elbow down, her father's right arm was gone.
Just as before with Pol a stream of memories came. As long as Madoka had known him he had been missing his right arm. Occasionally he wore a prosthetic arm but preferred not to due to it being uncomfortable and imprecise.
What was interesting was that Madoka, had no knowledge of how he had lost his arm. It made her uneasy.
"Dad," she said.
"Yes Madoka?"
"We interrupt our coverage with a special bulletin," the news anchor said before Madoka could ask her question. "A Witch attack has just occurred in the south industrial district of Mitakihara."
Madoka dropped her fork, her eyes darting over to the TV. There, next to the news anchor was an image of what was clearly a Witch attacking a factory in broad daylight without a barrier.
"Oh no," Madoka's mother whispered.
"Thankfully local Magical Girl Mami Tomoe arrived on seen quickly and contained the situation," the Anchor continued as an image of Mami appeared next to him. "So far no casualties have been reported though there was significant property damage."
"Oh thank goodness," Madoka's mother breathed.
Madoka's mind however was racing processing what she had just seen. First Witches were out in the open now, attacking people without barriers. Second, Magical Girls were openly known. What on earth had she done to the timeline with her wish?
This continued to plague Madoka as she walked to school with Hitomi and Sayaka. She was silent almost the entire time trying too figure things out. Unfortunately this ended up drawing attention to her.
"Madoka," Sayaka said looking at her with a look of concern. "Are you okay?"
"Huh?" Madoka said returning her attention to the pair.
"You aren't saying much," Sayaka said. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Madoka lied. "I just didn't get much sleep last night."
"Bad dreams?" Hitomi asked.
"Yeah," Madoka replied.
"You'll be fine," Sayaka said throwing an arm over Madoka's shoulder. "You're to adorable to get yourself into trouble."
"What about that time with the hair dye?" Hitomi asked with a raised eyebrow.
Sayaka gave a sheepish smile rubbing the back of her head. Madoka couldn't help but giggle. At least that memory hadn't changed. When they were in kindergarten, she and Sayaka had tried to dye their hair for a school costume contest. The dye they had used however was an experimental kind that had gone deep enough to change their hair permanently to pink and blue respectively.
The she realized there was a discrepancy, Hitomi had also died her hair with them. Hitomi still had green hair though so what had happened.
"Hey look whose talking miss green hair," Sayaka said.
"Not my fault," Hitomi replied. "My parents were given faulty information before I was born. It could be worse, I could be an insufferable genius like most Coordinators."
Once again memories came flooding into Madoka's mind. Not so much of a flood really this time to be honest, more like a trickle.
Coordinators were people who had their genes altered while they were still in the womb. In some cases it was small things like with Hitomi having green hair. In other cases it was more dramatic producing near super humans. She remembered that there was a lot of controversy surrounding such experiments and activities. There had even been a war when she had been a very small child, two in fact.
The rest of the walk to school was uneventful. They took their seats and waited, Madoka rather anxiously. Any moment now Homura would walk through the door. What would happen then she didn't know.
Soon enough Miss Saotome arrived with the same stern expression on her face as last time. The class quickly quieted down recognizing the signs that their teacher was about to unleash a storm of rage regarding her latest relationship problems.
"Everyone," she said firmly. "I have something very important to tell you. Please pay attention."
Then she slammed her fists loudly on the podium.
"Listen up girls!" She exclaimed. "Make sure you don't associate yourself with guys who complain about how well done they want their eggs!"
'Well at least she isn't going off on poor Nakazawa,' Madoka thought to herself.
"And you too guys!" Miss Saotome barked. "Make sure you don't become adults like that! Especially you Nakazawa!"
"Huh?" Nakazawa said looking up very confused.
'Never mind.'
"I guess it didn't work out with this guy either," Sayaka said rather dryly from behind Madoka.
"Does it ever?" Madoka asked.
This got a quiet snicker out of Sayaka. Madoka couldn't help but smile. After everything that had happened with Sayaka in the previous time line she deserved a bit of a laugh. It was nice being around Sayaka again.
'I can't take this for granted,' she thought. 'Sayaka doesn't deserve all the stuff that happened to her last time. She's to good for that.'
"And I'd also like to introduce a transfer student to everyone," Miss Saotome said rapidly brightening. "Miss Akemi please come in."
And there she was, looking the same as ever. Long dark hair flowing behind her, perfect posture and smooth purposeful movements. It was both eerie and enticing, foreboding, and haunting.
"My name is Homura Akemi," she said in her usual emotionless tone. "Pleased to meet you."
Her eyes scanned the classroom, silently taking everything. She paused briefly at Sayaka who was just behind Madoka before settling on Madoka herself. Her eyes softened for a moment. Then suddenly her eyebrows raised fractionally. Madoka followed Homura's gaze to her own hand and the ring on her finger.
Homura said nothing however as she took her usual seat. The class continued as usual until the end of first period and the arrival of their first break. As before a small crowd gathered around Homura asking her questions about everything. As before this left Madoka with Sayaka and Hitomi.
"Hey Madoka," Sayaka asked. "Any idea why she was staring at you so much?"
"Oh I think I saw her a few days ago," Madoka lied. "We didn't really talk but she seemed nice."
"Could have fooled me," Sayaka said with a frown.
"That's not fair Sayaka," Hitomi chided. "She's new here."
"I know, I know," Sayaka replied. "Something about her though just makes me feel a little uneasy."
"Excuse me."
Sayaka practically jumped when she realized Homura was now right beside her.
"You're the health officer right?" Homura asked Madoka. "Can you please lead me to the nurses office?"
'We need to talk. Now.'
Madoka quickly rose to her feet.
"Sure," she said, "sure."
She quickly lead Homura out into the hall.
Homura was silent for several minutes as they walked through the halls. Madoka had the distinct feeling of a volcano getting ready to blow from Homura. She felt like she had done something wrong and was waiting for a parent to give her a very long and very stern lecture.
When they reached the bridge between the two buildings of the school Homura came to a sudden stop. Madoka almost bumped into her it was so abrupt. Again Homura said nothing for several moments before she apparently found her voice.
"What did you do?"
"I-," Madoka started, taking a step back.
"What did you do?" Homura repeated firmly.
"Homura you're scaring me," Madoka said taking another step back.
Then Homura turned on her heel to face Madoka. She was glaring at Madoka with a look of purest rage. Tears were forming in her eyes, ready to go at any moment. Her fists were clenched and shaking as if she was trying to keep from attacking Madoka.
"What did you do?" Homura demanded.
"I made a wish," Madoka admitted shrinking back more.
"When!?" Homura snapped.
"At the end of the last time line," Madoka replied.
"You idiot!" Horuma snarled. "How many times did I tell you not to make a contract with that little white bastard?! After everything you saw with Mami, Sayaka, and Kyoko! Why did you make a contract with that thing?!"
"I thought you were dead!" Madoka exclaimed.
"I wasn't dead!" Homura snapped. "My Soul Gem got knocked loose!"
"And how was I supposed to know that?" Madoka asked. "You had a steel beam on your left hand!"
"Then you should have run away!" Homura shot back. "You should have run away and saved yourself."
"I couldn't do that Homura," Madoka replied.
"Yes you could!" Homura insisted.
This actually made Madoka angry.
"No I couldn't!" Madoka snapped. "My family and hundreds if not thousands of people would have been Walpurgisnacht's victims! I couldn't leave them to die and I couldn't leave you to die!"
Homura worked her mouth for a few moments in silent rage trying to form a new tirade.
"You selfless, naive, suicidal, idiot!" Homura shouted the tears finally pouring forth. "All that mattered, all that has ever mattered is that you were safe!"
"I don't want that Homura," Madoka replied, cutting off Homura's tirade as quickly as possible. "Not when the cost is that high."
"Do you have any idea what will happen!?" Homura demanded. "The moment you transform you'll turn into a witch! I've seen it time and again! You will turn in a witch so powerful it makes Walpurisnacht look pathetic!"
Madoka had had enough by this point. She raised her left hand, her ring glittering in the sun light. Homura's eyes went wide.
"Madoka no!" She shouted.
To late. Madoka activated her ring. In a flash of pink light the ring vanished just as Homura brought up her own ring. The light wrapped around Madoka and took shape. Homura transformed as well, her shield appearing in a violet flash. Madoka's transformation was completed first however.
To Madoka's small amusement her outfit was exactly like the drawing she had made in the previous timeline. The same outfit that Sayaka and Mami had gotten such a laugh out of at her expense. Best of all it actually fit comfortably.
Homura brought up her shield but stopped staring at Madoka.
"You were saying?" Madoka asked.
Homura trembled for a moment, took half a step toward Madoka, only to slip and collapse to her knees. Tears were falling like rain down her face as she quietly cried. Madoka slowly sat down beside her and put an arm around her.
"It's okay," she said gently.
"It's not okay," Homura said not looking up. "I promised you, once before, that I wouldn't let you make a contract with Kyubey. I promised you that I wouldn't let you be tricked by him."
Madoka remained silent, simply holding Homura close for a few moments and letting her cry on her shoulder. It was a minute or two before Madoka at last found her voice again.
"Homura," she said softly. "You haven't failed. I'm still alive, we have another chance." She gave Homura a gentle squeeze. "You are not alone this time, I'm right here with you this time. Okay? We'll beat this thing together."
Homura was silent but gently returned Madoka's hug. Madoka helped Homura to her feet without breaking the hug, changing back into her normal clothes.
"What did you wish for?" Homura asked.
"I..."
Then it hit Madoka.
"I don't know," she admitted. "I can't remember."
"You don't remember?" Homura asked, looking up confusion plain on her face.
"No I don't," Madoka replied. "I remember everything up to the wish but then suddenly everything goes blank."
Homura broke the hug, returning to her normal school clothes, her face set in a frown.
"Madoka," she said. "That's not a good thing, if you can't remember your wish how are you supposed to use magic?"
"Well," Madoka said somewhat sheepishly. "I guess someone will have to teach me?"
Homura shook her a small smile now on her face.
"Don't ever change Madoka," she said softly. "Don't ever change."
"Everyone changes Homura," Madoka said offering Homura her hand. "How come you wanted to know when I made a contract?"
"Because just last night you weren't a Magical Girl," Homura replied taking her hand. "I started in this timeline five days ago."
"I just started this morning," Madoka said leading Homura on to the nurses office. "Everything is so strange now. Have things changed so much in other timelines?"
"Usually its been small shifts," Homura replied. "Little things like that boy Sayaka likes playing guitar instead of violin. This is unusual in how much things have changed I'm still trying to get a handle on things."
"How far back did I change things?" Madoka asked.
"As far as I can tell thousands of years," Homura replied. "Geography has changed, borders have shifted, technology is different."
"I noticed," Madoka commented. "There's an elf in my house and Hitomi is a Coordinator. Not to mention Mami being an open magical girl. Have you seen her yet?"
"No I haven't," Homura replied. "I don't doubt however that it will be long before we encounter her face to face."
"Well try to be less hostile this time," Madoka said.
"I wasn't being hostile," Homura answered. "I just knew that Witch would kill Mami if she fought it alone. It isn't my fault she miss understood my intentions."
Madoka sighed.
"How about you just let me do the talking then?" She suggested.
"Fair enough."
At last they reached the nurses office. Madoka knew that Homura really didn't need to see the nurse but it would look suspicious if they came back together.
"So what are you doing after school?" Madoka asked.
"Usually I hunt Kyubey and try to keep him from making a contract with you," Homura replied. "But I haven't seen him in days."
Madoka smiled.
-Fantasia-
"So Homura," Sayaka said as they walked through the doors of the local mall. "How long were you in the hospital?"
"Most of my life," Homura replied. "I've been in and out of hospital rooms for years due to the heart condition I had."
"Any family?" Sayaka asked.
"No," Homura admitted. "My mother died when I was very young and I never knew my father."
"That must have been awful," Hitomi said sympathetically.
"It was," Homura admitted.
"Well we're here for you now," Madoka said putting a hand on her shouder.
Homura couldn't help but smile.
"Thank you."
It was so unusual for her. Madoka had invited her to come along with them to the mall after school. Having little else to do Homura accepted the offer. She had done this before with the trio but not for many timelines. She had actually almost forgotten what it was like to go out with friends for a while. It was pleasant.
There was also a practical purpose to such a trip. Gathering information first hand from the local environment was viable. For one thing while local currency was still posted in stores their was a second price set in something refereed to as CR. Most currency was also digital now.
Their first actual stop however was the food court. They got their food and found a booth, Homura noted that it was the same booth they had eaten at the few times she had previously gone with the trio in previous timelines.
"So do you have any hobbies?" Hitomi asked.
"Aside from reading in bed you mean?" Homura checked.
"Well what do you read?"
"Pretty much anything I could get my hands on," Homura replied. "I had a lot of spare time in the hospital. That or just make up stories about the interns."
"Whot du ou mean?" Sayaka asked through a mouthful, eliciting a disapproving frown from Hitomi.
"Stuff like who is struggling with paying off their student loans," Homura replied. "Who is having trouble with their boy friend or girl friend. I made little drama stories for them by just observing them."
"Seriously?" Sayaka said having swallowed.
"Sure," Homura replied.
She wasn't lying about that one. She had done that oh so long ago when she had actually been in the hospital struggling with her weak heart. She couldn't remember many of the details of her little stories however.
"Prove it," Sayaka said. "Do me right now."
Madoka now shot Homura a quick glance.
'Be nice,' she said via telepathy.
'I'll try,' Homura replied suppressing the urge to make a positively evil smile.
"Let's see," she said scrutinizing Sayaka closely for a moment or two. "You're an only child because your father is a disabled retired soldier, you have a crush on a boy you've known for years but have the occasionally bi-curious tendency, and you want to join the school women's baseball team but don't think you have what it takes."
Sayaka was silent for several moments, blinking once or twice as if she couldn't believe what she had just heard.
"I think you may have just stunned her," Hitomi observed.
"That was amazing!" Madoka exclaimed.
"How did you do that?" Sayaka demanded.
"You have a JSDF veteran's support tag on your key ring and I haven't heard you mention any siblings thus far," Homura began. "The second was just a guess but as for the third one you have a fairly well defined build and you also have a tag for the school baseball team on your key ring."
"You got all of that just from looking at my keys and my physical build?"
"What can I say," Homura said with a shrug. "Mystery and crime novels were some of my favorites."
"This one of those things you just pick up or learn?" Sayaka asked.
"It comes with practice," Homura answered.
"Alright let me try then," Sayaka said firmly.
"Go right ahead," Homura said. This was actually proving to be rather amusing.
Sayaka scrutinized her for a few seconds before speaking.
"Okay," she said. "You pretend to be cold and aloof to cover up your lack of social skills, you've never been to an amusement park in your life, and your favorite color is black."
'Not bad,' Homura mused.
"Two out of three I'm afraid," she said.
"Which one did I get wrong?" Sayaka asked.
"That's my business," Homura replied.
Sayaka frowned.
"Not fair," she complained. "I told you all of mine were correct."
"Actually you didn't," Homura said allowing herself a small smile. "You never actually confirmed any of my guesses verbally. But thanks for providing conformation."
Sayaka's face turned beet red while Madoka and Hitomi giggled at her expense. She then scowled at Homura, eyebrows furrowed.
"I'm watching you," she said in a low wary tone.
At this Madoka actually started properly laughing. Hitomi soon joined Madoka in laughing at the absurdity of it all. Finally even Sayaka couldn't help but smile at how silly she had sounded. Homura leaned back in her seat. For one of the few times in what felt like years she could actually relax a little bit.
After their snack they had to say good bye to Hitomi who had a piano lesson to go to. Sayaka suggested they go to mall's music store. Homura was actually surprised that such a store could survive considering how much technology had seemed to advance. She had figured such brick and mortar stores would have gone out of business considering online music sales.
When they arrived she quickly noticed something a bit unusual. Madoka noticed it as well.
'Why is half the store black?' Madoka asked via telepathy.
Half the store was given over to J-Pop, classical, and other forms of music. That half of the store was well light, inviting, and had a light blue and white paint scheme. It was also barely occupied by people.
The other half was painted what may have been the darkest shade of black Homura had ever seen, with red lights offering the only illumination. It was also three times as crowded as the other half of the store. Posters lined the black walls of dark scenes, a menacing male Mermaid, his features hidden by shadow, a human skull with horns and blades growing out of it, a demonic looking creature with horns and flowing long golden hair, and the largest showing five Caucasian men standing in a line. The one on the far left was somewhat heavy set with brown hair that looked like a trapezoid and a thick mustache, on his immediate right was a tall square face man with long blonde hair, on the far right was a tall man with long brown hair and a fu manchu, on his immediate left was a shorter man with red dreadlocks and a full face beard, and last of all in the dead center was a powerfully built man with pale skin, long black hair, and one of the most intimidating faces Homura had ever seen. Emblazoned above the men in blood red stylized font was one word.
"Great," Sayaka said with a small sigh. "Looks like they've got the new Dethklok album."
"Dethklok?" Homura asked.
Sayaka then gave her a look of confusion.
"You've never heard of Dethklok?" She said. "What have you been living under a rock your whole life?"
"I've been in and out of hospitals most of my life," Homura answered flatly.
Sayaka winced slightly.
"Right sorry," she said.
"I take it they're a death metal band," Homura observed.
"They aren't a death metal band," Sayaka replied. "They are THE Death Metal band. The best selling band of all time, those guys are so wealthy they're the twelfth largest economy."
"You're kidding," Homura deadpanned.
"I'm not," Sayaka replied. "Their so wealthy that if they delay an album the economy nose dives. They give an endorsement deal and that company basically dominates the market in a few days. No one messes with them and they can get away with pretty much anything. They're untouchable."
"How did this happen?" Homura demanded.
Sayaka shrugged.
"Don't ask me," she replied. "They got started almost twenty years ago. First album topped the global charts for months until they made a second one, then that one got the top spot. Next thing anyone knows their playing to crowds of half a million on average per show, building their own fortress home with a literal army of live in servants and roadies, and getting away with people signing their lives away to attend live shows."
"Why?" Homura demanded.
"I don't know," Sayaka said with a shrug. "Their fans are crazy."
Sayaka drifted over to the classical section while Madoka moved over to the J-Pop. Homura unsure of what to do drifted over into the darker section reserved for Dethklok. Weaving through the crowds she discovered that there was only one shelf, covered only in Dethklok albums which were rapidly leaving the shelves.
She moved to one of the sampler stands that had just opened up and slipped on the head phones. A selection of sample songs was listed on the small display. They were apparently from the "Dethwater Album". The song list was entirely water themed with names like Go Into the Water, Electric Eelchair, and Murmaider. Confused by the later name she selected it and put on the head phones.
The sound of whales calling out to one another greeted her ears along with a sound like a sonar ping. Then a heavy bass guitar began to play soon joined by at least two electric guitars and drums. Then the lyrics began in a deep guttural growl in English.
"There are no fingerprints,
Deep under water.
Nothing to tie one to a crime.
And if you seek vengeance,
All you need are instruments of pain."
Homura found herself tapping her foot along to the music.
"You need your,
Knives? Check.
Rope? Check.
Dagger? Check.
Chains? Check.
Rocks? Check.
Laser beams? Check.
Acid? Check.
Body bag? Check."
Then the tempo picked up rapidly along with volume blasting into Homura's ears.
"Murmaider!
Murmaider!
Murmaider!
Murmaider!"
Almost reflexively Homura tossed a look at Sayaka who was now at check out.
"Murmaider!
Murmaider!
Murmaider!
Murmaider!"
Homura turned back to the display.
"Murmaider!
Murmaider!
Murmaider!
Murmaider!"
She hit the pause button and removed the head phones, setting them back down on the display.
It was strange, so strange. That song had somehow totally fit with Sayaka's witch Oktavia von Seckendorff. She suppressed a shiver thinking of the witch. It was always disproportionally powerful compared to Sayaka's usual strength. It was always a tough fight, sometimes people died usually Kyoko. Sometimes she had wondered why Sayaka's witch was always so strong when Sayaka herself was at best a mediocre magical girl.
"Homura?"
Madoka's voice abruptly yanked Homura out of her thoughts. Madoka was holding onto her arm with a look of concern on her face.
"Are you okay?" She asked. "You were just standing there for a minute or two."
"I'm fine," Homura lied. "Just got a little lost in my own thoughts."
She was in fact not fine. Homura knew that everything she had gone through in all of the past timelines had left scars on her psyche. She had tried her best to supress such problems but it was clear that all she had really done was bottle up her issues. Once or twice they had leaked out in sudden bursts of uncontroled emotion. In her line of work however, therapists were few and far between.
"Maybe we should leave?" Madoka suggested. "Sayaka's just about to check out anyways."
"Right," Homura said turning away from the display.
Then there was a great crash from outside and the screaming started.
-Fantasia-
Madoka mentally kicked herself as witch smashed its way onto the mall's main concourse from a service passage. She had completely forgotten about the witch that had attacked both she and Sayaka in the mall previously. Now her was that same witch and its horde of mustached familars.
Or at least it looked like the same witch. It was much larger now and much more violent as it threw the body of a maitence worker clear across the concourse and threw the windows of a store. Its massive butterfly wings reached almost up to the ceiling and its horde of familars were already advancing out into the Concourse attacking people left right and center.
A security guard drew his side arm and unloaded his weapon into the familars a few of whom dropped before the rest swarmed him and cut him down. People were running for the exits, dropping their purchases and shoving others out of the way in the mad dash for the exit.
"Homura," Madoka began turning back to the burnette only to discover she had already transformed.
"I see it," Homura replied. "Gertrud."
"She has a name?" Madoka asked.
"Talk later fight now," Homura ordered.
"Oh right!" Madoka exclaimed summoning her soul gem.
"Madoka!"
Before she could do anything more Sayaka reached them. She came to a stop staring at Homura and then at the soul gem in Madoka's hand.
"What?" Sayaka began, flabbergasted. "When did you-"
"I'll explain later," Madoka assured her.
Then she transformed, her school clothes consumed by pink light. The rose steem like bow to shape in Madoka's out stretched hand. She took hold of it as Homura drew out a large heavy machine gun.
"Sayaka," Madoka ordered. "Get yourself to safety now. We can handle this."
"But," Sayaka started but Madoka and Homura had already rushed into the fray.
'Homura how do use my bow?' Madoka asked via telepathy.
'Just think about an arrow,' Homura replied in the same fashion.
Homura then opened fire on the advancing familars. Armor piercing rounds tore through them in seconds dropping about ten of them before Homura's first box of ammunition went dry. As the familars died small black cubes fell to the floor.
Ignoring the cubes concentrated on an arrow. Long and thin with a good hard point for penetrating. Sure enough an arrow materialized in her hand. She fitted it to the bow string, pulled back and fired.
Only to miss everything a smash a store front instead.
'It helps if you stay still when shooting,' Homura chided.
Madoka blushed slightly jumping back away from a charging familar.
'Right sorry,' she replied.
Homura's machine gun roared to life again mowing down a dozen familars in front of both of them. This gave Madoka critical space to work.
She set herself up in a stable stance and focused on an arrow again. The shaft materialized in her hand and once more she set it to the string of her weapon. She drew back, adjusting her posture to mimic that of an archery demonstartion she had seen once with her parents.
Then she fired, the arrow zipping through the air. It struck the closest familar right in its rather excellent mustache and destroyed it and three others standng just behind it. Once more the little black cubes dropped to the floor.
"I got them!" She exclaimed.
"Great," Homura replied reloading her weapon. "Don't get cocky."
Gertrud seemed to have realized that it was being challenged to battle by two magical girls. With a cry its familars turned from their persuit of the mall shoppers and charged the two magical girls from all sides.
"There's to many of them," Madoka called out firing again and again into the horde, cutting down two or three familars with each shot.
"I've got this," Homura replied. "Cover your ears."
A split second later a line of gray green boxes was right in front of Madoka. The line of boxes formed a ring about the two magical girls. Madoka had a fraction of a second to realize what they were, cover her ears and close her eyes, before the a wall of fire and shrapnel erupted into existence around them.
Homura's claymores obliterated dozens of familars in seconds. By the time the smoke cleared more than two thirds of the familars were gone. That still left a sizeable horde to deal with however.
Gertrud meanwhile seemed to be quiet a bit upset about the deaths of so many of her familars. She surged forward, beating her massive wings to propel her along. As she did so a strange dust began to fall from the wings.
'Poison," Homura said via telepathy, 'stay away from the cloud and don't breath!'
Madoka promptly shut her mouth but was forced to jump back as a stream of roses came flying from Gertrud. The roses struck the tile floor like they were knives some sticking in the floor while others skipped off it.
Madoka landed just in front of the store where they had left Sayaka. She summoned another arrow as the poison cloud from Gertrud's wings expanded. She fired off her shot, straight at the witch and struk it dead center in the chest. This attack however did little beyond agrivating it more. Homura quickly got the witch's attention with a rocket to the face.
The cloud meanwhile was advancing to quickly for Madoka to take another shot. She was about to move positions again when it reached her. She held her breath is it passed over her. She had to move fast and get out before she needed to breath again.
Then she heard violent coughing and hacking behind her. She whirled about to see Sayaka on her hands and knees, still inside the store!
'Sayaka!' Madoka shrieked over the telepathic link.
Without thinking she smashed her way through the store window, knocking over a display shelf in the process. She sprinted over Sayaka and covered her mouth and nose with her hand. She threw Sayaka's arm over her shoulder and half carried, half dragged her out of the store and the cloud of poison spores.
Once clear Madoka allowed herself a breath and took her hand of Sayaka's face. Sayaka was still coughing, her eyes watering when Madoka set her down by a drinks kiosk.
"Water..." she moaned.
Madoka snatched a water bottle from the stand. A moment later she dropped a few coins on the stand. It may hav beeen an emergency but it didn't mean she had to steal. She unscrewed the cap and put the bottle to Sayaka's lips pouring the iquid into her mouth, some of it spilling across her uniform.
'Madoka behind you!' Homura cried out via telepathy.
Madoka turned to see familars swarming towards them, Homura to far away to help with Gertrud bearing down on her. Madoka dropped the water bottle and drew up her bow.
Then the head of the closest familar exploded with a loud bang.
"You did good," a familar voice said. "I can take it from her."
Madoka turned just in time to see Mami Tomoe fire again. She looked the same as Madoka remembered her calm and confident with that smiile that radiated serenity and warmth. Tears welled up in Madoka's eyes at the sight of her.
"Mami!" She exclaimed throwing her arms around the other magical girl in delight. Mami was taken of guard by the sudden show of affection almost missing her next shot.
"I think introductions can wait a bit," Mami said in a bemused tone. "But its nice to meet a fan."
Madoka released her blushing.
"Sorry about that," she said sheepishly.
"No harm done," Mami assured her. "Now if you would excuse me."
Mami advanced into the fray firing her muskets one after the other with precise shots, each one landing right on target. When familars advanced on her she took them out with smooth graceful attacks, her dodges efficent and elegant. It was like watching a ballet rather than a battle.
It was different from the others she had seen. Where Homura used cold efficency Mami brought grace and bliss, where Kyoko had been passionate and firey Mami was relaxed and calm, and where Sayaka had been relentless and aggressive Mami was cautious and calculated. Mami was an artist and the battlefield was her stage.
Within a minute or two Mami had destroyed all of the familars. Gertrud turned to assault the new foe only to be bound in place by a series of ribbons. They wrapped about its limbs and wings immoblizing it completely. It struggled in vain, frantically thrashing about, trying to break free.
Mami jumped back raising a musket in the air. She gave it a shake and it became larger, another shake and it was larger, and then it was larger. At last it was the size a of a large artillery piece.
"Trio Finale!" Mami proclaimed as the cannon fired. The blast struck Gertrud dead center in the head blowing it apart. The witch crumpled to the ground as Mami released the ribbons binging it in place. The poison withered in the air scattering away as Gertrud's body disolved into black smoke. A single black grief seed was soon all that was left of the witch.
Mami released a sigh of relief.
"Well at least that's over," she said.
"Madoka!" Homura cried running over to them.
"I'm fine Homura," Madoka replied checking on Sayaka who was breathing more easily now. "Sayaka how are you feeling?"
"Better," she admitted. "When did you become a magical girl?"
'That is something I would like to know,' a familar voice said via telepathy.
Madoka looked up. Sure enough there he was.
"Good afternoon Kyubey," Mami said rather cooly. "I'm surprised to see you here."
Kyubey flicked its tail back and forth, red eyes glinting. Homura quickly moved between Madoka and Kyubey, a pistol trained on the innucbator.
'I'm here on business,' Kyubey replied. 'But it seems I am a bit late.'
It hopped up onto the drinks kiosk, so much like a cat, it's eyes fixed on Madoka.
'Tell me,' it said, 'when did you become a magical girl, Madoka Kaname?'
Ranger24: So there is the first real chapter. If you like it leave comments or reviews below as they make me feel specail and happy. Leave a good question and I might just answer it in a future author's note. If you hated it feel free to unleash your rage below in the comments as well and make me feel like a total loser. Regardless read and review.
Wow I haven't used that phrase in years. God I'm old.