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The End of the Circus: A Tale of the Yizibajohei
Girls of the Crystal: Chatelaine and Dashboard
by Regina Magia

C&C by Fred Herriot and Rose Ash

A side story to The End of the Circle: A Tale of the Yizibajohei, by Fred Herriot

Including characters and situations from Mahō Sensei Negima, created by Akamatsu Ken; Azumanga Daiō, created by Azuma Kiyohiko; Sweet Valley High, created by Francine Pascal; Urusei Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko; Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magika, created by Urobuchi Gen, Shaft and Aniplex; and normalman, created by Jim Valentino.

Mitakihara, a Monday in mid-November, after school...

It's all going to be okay, Shizuki Hitomi thought to herself. We'll all be in a better place soon...!

The green-haired girl with the sad yet expressive matching eyes sadly smiled as she set down the bottles of cleaning chemicals. She and a small band of people from Mitakihara Middle School had clandestinely gathered together to commit mass suicide, using the chemicals they acquired on the sly from the chemistry lab and various families' local stock to create a very heavy form of chlorine gas, thus ending their lives via effectively choking to death. Any bystander who saw this would immediately would wonder why such a privileged girl as Hitomi would willingly take part in such an act.

To those in the know, the Eldritch Witch Kisses on their necks made the situation more than clear...!

"Hitomi-chan!"

Hitomi blinked, then turned to smile at the pink-haired girl her age now standing at the warehouse entrance, her chestnut eyes wide with disbelief and horror. "Oh! Konnichi wa, Madoka-chan," she greeted her schoolmate with a casual wave of the hand. "Are you coming with us to a better place?"

Trying not to scream at the obvious effects of yet ANOTHER eldritch witch having struck even MORE victims for whatever reason, Kaname Madoka took a deep breath before she strode inside. Much to her relief, none of the small crowd of students gathered there with Hitomi weren't moving to hinder her, much less do ANYTHING that could set off the current incarnation of the Noble Neighbour.

"Don't do this!" she protested as she leaned on the desk holding the gathered ingredients needed for a massed gassing. "You're not in your right mind...!"

KK-KRUNCH!

Madoka winced, inwardly quite surprised that Hitomi had actually shot up from her chair to hit her. Of course, being a high-end FISS-type who could mix it up with the Wild Warrior of Passion or the Mistress of Pain and Pleasure and break even, the effects on Hitomi's hand were...predictable.

"ITTAI!"

As Hitomi staggered while trying to comfort her VERY bruised hand, the blue-and-white square mark showing two angels moving to kiss vanished from her neck. As the others who gathered there tensed on sensing that one of their number was no longer under their mistress' control, nearby shadows shifted before they melted into the darkened figure of Akemi Homura. With a wave of her hand, the current incarnation of the Custodian of the Mind stunned Hitomi's companions while Miki Sayaka came out of the shadows, holding a device that had been passed onto her for these occasions by Tomoe Mami.

Shaking her head, Hitomi then blinked before she looked around, surprise flashing across her face before she cringed on seeing the dazed looks gazing her way. "Wh-what's going on...? Itte...!" she demanded before the pain in her hand nearly overcame her, making her curl on herself.

Madoka moved to her side, then she proceeded to escort her schoolmate away. "I'll explain..."

Meanwhile, somewhere...

Immediately transforming into her battlesuit as soon as she found herself in what had to be some pocket dimension — as to HOW she got into this place, the Guardian of the Oceans simply had NO idea whatsoever! — Sayaka found herself gazing into a blue void lined with what appeared to be digitized images of merry-go-round horses. Fluttering around them were figures resembling artist model dolls about the size of Super Dollfies, angel wings projecting from their backs and halos hovering over their heads. They were holding what appeared to be television screens, all displaying various images.

Before the Guardian of the Oceans could focus her well-honed combat senses on a target, two of the doll-like beings approached her, instantly making Sayaka tense. To her surprise, the two creatures were carrying an object shaped like a desktop computer monitor, black wings projecting from its sides. As she focused on the screen, various images flashed by in a dizzying horizontal avalanche that would have made any normal person get an instant headache from the sensory overload.

Suddenly, the whirling images stopped, displaying a black-and-white picture of several silhouettes. One was obviously a girl Sayaka's age, possessing pigtails; the other shapes were clearly the same type of dolls that were inhabiting this weird pocket dimension the native of Mitakihara just found herself in.

Then, eldritch runes flashed across the screen behind the girl.

Fortunately, Sayaka had been taught by Mami how to read them:

H.N. ELLY
(MY NAME IS KIRSTEN)

Noting that, the tomboyish azure-haired metahuman nodded in determination. "Don't worry, Kirsten-chan!" she then proudly declared. "Aqua Knight is here to save the day!"

A meson-boosted ice sword was conjured, then the Guardian of the Oceans lashed out with a scream. The scalding touch of the Atom of True Life saw the dolls ripped apart like a heated knife ripping through melted butter. The eldritch witch recoiled from such a brutal attack, then she moved to flee.

Sayaka was far too quick, though.

Her blade lanced through the monitor, literally shearing it in half. A shadowy figure was barely noted by the Guardian of the Oceans flying out from the magical machine's halves...before said shadow morphed into a larger form resembling a girl draped in a yellow dress. Said being crashed into unforgiving ground just as the barrier faded and Sayaka found herself back inside the warehouse once more.

Not a metre ahead of her, a Grief Seed clattered on the concrete...

Outside Habitation Four on Yiziba, three hours later...

Nesu...LUOROLEM!

Applause echoed from the crowd of locals and Terran-borns who had gathered by the entrance to the Cave of the Future for the central equatorial continent as a slender teenager in a mint-green fighting uniform emerged from the corona of power that indicated yet another person had embraced her destiny as one of the Children of the Forge. Noting the crossed golden skeletal keys over her cleavage, Kaname Madoka could only beam. It had taken Shizuki Hitomi a while to settle on her Gift, but she had finally come to chose that of the Mistress of the High Castle, Luorolem ("Chatelaine"). In her first life, that person had been the lady chamberlain to the man who had become the Noble Neighbour; that now gave Hitomi the same level of FISS powers that her reborn liege lord possessed.

A mischievous smile then crossed the just-Gifted girl's face as she came before Madoka, then gave her a courtly bow. "My Lady!" she formally greeted with a formal air to her voice.

That caused the rose-haired teen to awk, acting exactly like Mihama Chiyo often did when she was shocked about something, complete with her shaggy pigtails standing on end as if she'd been given a dose of Redet Lum's lighting at point-blank range. "Hitomi-chan...!" she then whined.

Seeing Hitomi's eyes twinkle, Tomoe Mami giggled, which made the others in the crowd pause before roaring laughter escaped them. "Oh, you guys!" Madoka snapped before she huffed in embarrassment, then she gazed once more on her reborn major domo. "Are you feeling better now, Hitomi-chan?"

A nod responded as the Mistress of the High Castle came back up. "Much..."

Nesu...TITEHAM!

A wild whoop escaped Miki Sayaka as a girl the same age as Hitomi emerged from the Cave. She was draped in a cyan-shaded jumpsuit crossed by a pale yellow circuit board pattern, gunmetal grey boots and belt completing the ensemble; like others who were hyper-genius polymaths like members of the Circle of Thought or those who could manipulate technology with their minds, Kirsten Weiss wore goggles over her dark blue eyes that were even now flashing readouts as her bodysuit's systems keyed into the various communications networks that helped guide the Great Show of Life.

"Well, that's two more away from the Incubators," Akemi Homura noted as Sayaka ran over to embrace the newest incarnation of the Sovereign of the Virtual World, Titeham ("Dashboard"). A frequent past working partner of the Mistress of Knowledge now living as a middle school senior in the famous university city of Mahora north of Tōkyō, she had taken the name of a no-maj born supporter of the infamous Regina Mitchell who helped the descendant of Pilgrims fight against the mugalophobes in the Magical Congress of the United States prior to the Wars of Liberation.

Thinking about that, Mami hummed as she recalled that Kirsten's first-self had been an expert computing cracker who gladly provided tremendous aide to rebel forces in overthrowing her home nation's government in the first stages of the Dawn of Power. Which would do their whole group a lot of good. With what just happened on Promised Island the previous evening, members of the International Confederation of Wizards — already smarting hard from the massive increase of non-magical metahumans all around the world — were starting to sniff around the many incidents concerning the many "Puella Magi" that have risen across Japan over the last few years.

If anyone from America who remembered their history lessons heard the name "Kirsten Weiss"...!

"Hai, you're right, Homura-san," the Self-Moulder of Pure Chaos mused, causing her companions to gaze her way while Sayaka walked Kirsten over to join them. "I just was contacted by a past recruit of mine from Kamihana. There's yet another large group of Puella Magi who require our aide. Do you people think you can hold the fort down in Mitakihara while I go check this out?"

Determined nods answered her. "You bet we can, Mami-chan!" Madoka affirmed. "Leave it all to us!"

The End...For Now!

WRITER'S NOTES

This particular short takes place around the time of Part 15 in Book One of the main story.

The Wild Warrior of Passion was first introduced in the alt-verse story A New History; she is Takino Tomo of Azumanga Daiō. The Mistress of Pain and Pleasure was first seen in Fred's original story Manacled Dominatrix and will appear in a future side story concerning both the Sweet Valley Boosters and the Scooby Gang concerning events around Hallowe'en of 2011 (shortly after the Tag Race that started the Urusei Yatsura manga series); she is Molly Hecht of the Sweet Valley High novel series.

A Super Dollfie is a model of resin-cast ball-jointed doll made to be about 60 centimetres (24 inches) tall. They are produced by the Volks company of Kyōto. They are probably one of the most well-known brand of BJD available on the open market.

Dashboard (Kirsten Weiss) is named in tribute to a fantasy/mystery/suspense author of the same name from San Mateo in California. She is best known for the Doyle Witch series. As for the fictional witch, she was "no-maj-born" ("muggleborn" in Britain) who would later side with the infamous Regina Mitchell (her background is explained in Magic and Canada) against the repressive policies forced on American magicals by the mugalophobes in the Magical Congress of the United States via Rappaport's Law; this indirectly helped contribute to the Wars of Liberation parallel to the Second World War.