Manly Magi Kamina Magica Chapter 7
Chapter 7: Screw Justice and think of Yourself!
"Tell me something that I… don't know kid!" Kamina stated, using every sheer force of will to keep his strength up. He was pushing with all his fighting spirit to be able to stand up, and he found that he was now able to stand on his own, but with his back hunched over.
"So you've realized that Kyubey isn't telling them the whole truth." Homura replied in the same cold emotionless tone.
"I'd say that's…pretty damn obvious!" Kamina shot back. Homura looked at him with her cold purple eyes. If she mentioned the true dark secrets of being a magical girl, he would probably go off and start warning the others. Homura knew how each of them would react to hearing the truth. So she was going to have to beat around the bush.
"You may have been able to save Mami from her fate. But Sayaka is a person who cannot be saved." She continued. "I don't know how it works for a magical boy, but she sealed her fate when she made the contract."
"I'm not following you kid. What the hell do you mean when you said she sealed her fate?" Kamina asked, his strength coming back to him as he kept pushing on.
"Sayaka has fallen into a trap that all magical girls eventually fall in to. No matter what you do, her Soul Gem will darken, and she will fall into despair. Then she will be lost forever. There is a zero percent chance of her being saved." Homura replied back. She was giving him as minimal details as possible, but it was the only thing she felt like she could give right there. But Kamina wasn't done with her yet.
"What the hell do yo-?"
"Kamina-san!" Mami shouted. Kamina looked behind him to find that Mami had returned back with Lagann and his Soul Drill.
"I'll be with you in a second blondie, first I've gotta-HEY!" Kamina shouted as he turned around to find out that Homura had disappeared. "There she goes again with that disappearing trick, what the hell kind of magical girl is she?" He thought to himself as he turned around and climbed back inside Lagann.
"Did you get the information you wanted from her?" Mami asked as she started to walk back towards her apartment.
"Barely. She spouted some crap about Sayaka falling into a trap or something." Kamina replied as the expression on his face filled with determination. "But it's nothing we need to worry about! We're team Dai-Gurren! We're not going to let anything happen to our friends right?"
"Right Kamina-san!" Mami replied as she put more spirit into Lagann and ran home even faster.
"A zero percent chance of me saving her huh? Sounds like a one-hundred percent to me!" Kamina thought to himself. He turned his head towards Mami's. "Hey blondie, did Sayaka happen to mention what her wish was to you?"
The next day, Sayaka looked at herself in the mirror with a smile on her face. She had just returned from the hospital after hearing the violin performance of Kyosuke on the hospital roof, who had apologized for what he said to her yesterday. Those words meant nothing to her now. All that mattered was that his hands were working again. She thought that it was good that she was there to support him; otherwise there was no telling what might have happened to him. Kyubey was inside her house sitting on a cushion in her room.
"Are you nervous?" He asked.
"Well yeah." Sayaka replied. "One mistake and I could be done for. I can't exactly rely on Mami or Kamina to save me every time I get in a jam." She walked outside her room, and was thankful that her parents weren't going to be home until later. She couldn't exactly think of a good excuse to be leaving her house right now. She walked outside her door, and was surprised to find the people outside her house waiting for her.
"K-Kamina? Mami-san? Madoka?"
"Hey!" Kamina held his hand up while grinning. "You ready for the first hunt, newest member?" Sayaka grinned along with him.
"Yep! We're all going to patrol for wicked witches!" She replied, putting her hands on her hips in confidence.
"Are you truly okay with this? This will be the first of a lot of difficult battles." Mami replied with concern. She wasn't smiling, but she wasn't frowning either. She was worried about her after what Kamina told her. She wondered what Kamina meant when Homura told her that she fell into a "trap.""
"Look, I'm going to be fine! No witch is going to get the best of me! Not when you guys are all around!" Sayaka replied. The expression on her face changed from overly confident to somewhat sympathetic. "But seriously though…I'm glad you guys are around to help me. I mean Mami-san...not to bring up bad memories but if you had died against that witch from before, I still would have made the contract and have fought in your stead. I'm scared, I won't lie, but I have much more confidence seeing you guys there to back me up."
"All right! Well in that case…" Kamina shouted as her reached into his pocket and picked up Lagann and enlarged it. "Take it for a spin, kid! The only thing you need to get that thing going is that drill, and a fighting spirit!" He shouted as he tossed her his Soul Drill. Sayaka nodded and hopped into the tiny mecha. Kamina instructed her to put the drill into the hole. She did so and gripped the two bars as Lagann started up. She kept her Soul Gem rested on the edge of Lagann to look for any witch or familiar. Mami and everyone else walked beside her to let Sayaka get a grip on Lagann. As they walked, Kamina looked at Kyubey, who looked right back at him. He wasn't too comfortable with the whole "Soul out of your body" thing. He might have been able to save a part of his soul with his fighting spirit, but Homura seemed to indicate that magical girls dropped dead when it happened to them. That fuzzball pissed him off every time Kamina looked at him. Kamina didn't think about mentioning it to girls right now. The last thing these girls needed was for their fighting spirit to be destroyed.
"Madoka, thanks for coming with us." Sayaka spoke up as they started walking. "I know you're probably scared about what almost happened that day, but you don't need to worry about me." She looked at her and smiled. "With you along with everyone here, I'll be able to focus and think about my actions better." She saw Madoka smile at that, but was unaware that Kyubey was telepathically talking to her after she said that.
Sayaka was really impressed with how easy it was to pilot this mecha. There was no steering wheels, no gas pedals, no anything. She just needed to grab the two bars in the machine and then everything came naturally! She grinned at it. Something like this could put cars out of business! There was another interesting fact about it that she heard from Mami that grabbed her interest.
"So this thing can combine with other machines?" She asked.
"You got that right Sayaka!" Kamina replied. "That little feature of that big fella you're riding there was what secured us victory for the battle of the Dai-Gunzan! It was thanks to that that Simon was able to steal that thing from the beastman!"
"What did these beastman look like?" Madoka asked, curious. Kamina scoffed at being reminded at what those stupid hairballs looked like. Those things and one of them in particular really pissed him off. Madoka noticed this change in attitude and quickly apologized. "I-I don't mean to pry if it's something you don't want to talk about!"
"Don't worry. It's not you." Kamina reassured her. "Some of those little bastards were half-human half animal while some of them were just cannon fodder fuzzballs." He replied as a memory of one of them came back to him.
"Hold that thought Kamina-san." Mami interrupted. "We're here."
"She's right. I can feel it too." Sayaka added. Kamina looked up and found out where they were. They were in front of what looked like a small passageway between two big buildings. It did not look good for Kamina. They weren't going to be able to combine and use Gurren Lagann in this place. Lagann wouldn't even fit in there. Sayaka got out of the mecha and opened the labyrinth. When it opened, Kamina felt relieved. This was the kind of labyrinth for cannon-fodder, he could tell by the cheerful visuals around them. While he'd normally be pissed off about having to fight cannon-fodder, he figured it would be good for Sayaka to at least start off with something small.
But that didn't mean he was okay with her becoming a magical girl. He made a mental note to talk to her about why she really became a magical girl. Because he had a feeling in his gut that told him that the boy Mami told him about had more to do with it than fighting for justice did. They continued to walk through the labyrinth, and it wasn't long before they found the familiar. Sayaka got to work immediately. She transformed into her blue and white outfit with a white cape. She showed no mercy as she attacked the familiar like crazy. She threw cutlass after cutlass at it as the familiar let out a screeching noise. But then something odd happened. Another weapon, a spear that seemed to curve around, showed up and was blocking Sayaka's cutlasses, as if to defend the familiar. Everyone noticed this and was shocked to see another magical girl drop down and land on one of the fallen cutlasses.
"Hold up there you. What the hell do you think you're doing?" She asked. When Kamina got a look at her, he instantly knew what that image reminded him of. Her hair was a slightly dark red and it was in a long ponytail. Her Soul Gem was implanted in the middle of the upper area on her chest. Her dress was red, but it had small traces of white near the bottom. She also wore red boots with black socks. She looked like a smaller Yoko to Kamina, but something about her struck as familiar to someone or something else.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?!" Kamina shouted.
"The familiar's getting away!" Sayaka cried out. She ran over to go after it, but was stopped as the girl's spear suddenly extended and stopped her.
"Exactly. Why the hell are you trying to kill it? You weren't going to get any Grief Seeds out of it. Ain't that right, Mami?" She grinned at Mami. As she grinned, Kamina noticed those fangs of teeth that she had.
"What are you doing back in Mitakihara Kyoko?" Mami asked. Madoka, Sayaka, and Kamina turned to look at Mami in shock. She knew this crazy redhead?
"Friend of yours?" Kamina asked as well as he realized just who that redhead reminded him of.
"She was a friend of mine. Then she changed after a certain...event." Mami replied, frowning. She remembered Kyoko Sakura very well, and it broke her heart knowing what happened to her and what caused her to change.
"By "changed", you mean saw the truth." The girl replied. "So you're the rookie and this new magical boy? You both made an embarrassing mistake right from the start. You two gotta let familiar's eat around four or five people. Then it'll become a witch, and you'll get a Grief Seed out of it!"
"So you're just going to sit back and let the familiar kill innocent people?" Sayaka shot back at her.
"Of course. You ever heard of the food-chain kid? Witches eat weak humans, and in turn, we eat witches. It's part of being a magical girl. Screw justice and think of yourself!" She replied as she slowly walked over to her, grinning and showing her fangs. She took a bite out of a fish-shaped cracker. A bunch of red and black diamonds appeared in front of Mami and Madoka, dividing them between Kamina and Sayaka.
"And what if I don't!" Sayaka shouted and swung her cutlass at her, but she parried it with her spear.
"Pfft. It kind of pisses me off, with you thinking this is some kind of game." The girl replied, knocking her with her spear and causing Sayaka to fly back and hit a pipe on the wall. The pipe broke and water spilled all over Sayaka as Madoka called out to her in worry. "Go cool your head off a bit rookie."
"Oh that is it!" Kamina stepped in front of her and grinned at the redheaded girl. "You better listen closely kid! Having fallen in battle on his home world, he never yields, and never retreats! The reputation of team Dai-Gurren echoes far and wide! When they talk about their badass leader, the man of indomitable spirit and masculinity, they're talking about me! The mighty Kamina!" He shouted as he unsheathed his massive long sword and pointed it at her.
The redhead wasn't even fazed at his speech. In fact, she started laughing at it. Hard. "There it is! There's the pathetic bravado that gets the rookie magical girls to bite the DUST!" She screamed as she whacked his sword with her spear. Kamina stood his ground and parried it. It had been a while since he had been in a close-combat fight like this. He took a slash at her, but she parried it as well.
"I'm starting to get why that mug of yours excites me and pisses me off at the same time!" Kamina shouted at her. "You remind me of that fuzzball beastman Viral from my home world!" He swung his sword once again at her.
"Viral?" Madoka turned her head towards Mami and gave her a questioning look.
"If I remember correctly, Kamina told me that he had fought with a beastman by that name." Mami replied with a sad and worried expression on her face. "He told me he was strong and had piloted a mecha that had two faces at one point."
"Two faces? You mean like Gurren Lagann?"
"I would assume so." Mami replied as she watched her former friend fight her newer one. It saddened her to see once a nice girl turn into someone like this. She looked at Kamina, who was fighting her with a massive smile on his face. She then turned to look at Kyoko, who was also smiling, but was starting to get a little bit angry.
"Guys like you don't belong in the territory of magical girls!" She shouted as she turned her spear into a whip and wrapped it around Kamina and threw him into the wall next to Sayaka, who was starting to get up. Kyubey notified Madoka that since her contract involved her wishing for someone to be healed; she possessed healing magic and healed twice as fast as a regular human being.
"Kamina!" She cried out. A blue circle with strange patterns appeared below her as both her and Kamina's wounds from the fight suddenly healed. "Let me take her down. She's being an insult to all good-hearted magical girls by letting that familiar go!"
Kamina looked at her sternly, before noticing the determination in her eyes. But there was something else he noticed in her eyes. He had been around Simon enough to know what a worried look looked like as well as a determined one. Still though, she attacked her first, and Kamina assumed it was only fair for her to have a shot at it.
"All right then. Listen kid, it's cool that you're worked up and all, but don't be impatient. To win a fight, it takes guts and a cool head! You got that?"
"Right!" She replied and faced the redheaded girl.
"You two are pissing me off." The redheaded girl replied. "You two are REALLY pissing me off! If you want to beat me that bad, why don't you get out your so-called "Gurren Lagann?" Kyoko grinned. "Oh but you can't use it here can you? Not in a tight spot like this!"
"Go to hell!" Sayaka shouted at her as she charged forward at her with her cutlass.
"Oh yeah? Well YOU FIRST!" Kyoko replied as she charged towards her as well. The two immediately went into a full-on brawl as Kamina watched them fight.
Madoka hated seeing this with Mami. Why were they both fighting? They weren't witches! They were both magical girls! They should be working together! She started to tremble beside Mami as those thoughts rang through her mind. Kamina took notice to the way she was trembling.
"Hey Madoka. Don't worry about them." Kamina looked at her smiling. "If they gotta slug it out to settle their differences, then let them go at it. That redhead's got her own ideals while Sayaka's got hers!" He had to be honest with himself. He wasn't really sure how he felt about Kyoko. On one hand, she looked like a younger version of the woman he promised to repay with a kiss ten times back. On the other hand, she had the grin and tenacity of that fuzzball Viral! But there was one thing he felt that she also had: fighting spirit. He wanted to see this fight go on.
"But this isn't right! Why are they fighting but they should be allies?" Madoka cried.
"She wasn't always like that Madoka." Mami replied. "She did have a kind heart like I did before, but that was before-" She cut herself off as the fight got more and more intense. The two magical girls went at each other faster and faster with their weapons.
"You just don't get it when I try to beat it into you, looks like my only option is to kill ya!" She said as she charged forward with her spear. Kamina was about to step in when she said that, but then he noticed that she had moved a lot slower than before when she said that. Sayaka blocked the spear with her cutlass with ease.
"You think I'm going to lose to you?!" She shouted as she fought back. Kyoko then jumped into the air and prepared to stab Sayaka with her spear. Kamina then got really curious. Why did she move slower than before if she had murderous intentions? Did she really think Sayaka couldn't dodge that attack from before? At this point in the fight, none of them had gotten a good hit on the other yet. Something was fishy about her. Really fishy. Kamina was about to ask Mami for more information about her, when someone else joined the fray from above before Kyoko could strike.
Before any of them realized what happened, Homura was standing in between Kyoko and Sayaka.
"Man." Kamina thought to himself. "This world gets crazier with every passing second."
…What? Kyoko reminds me of Viral.
Fun Fact: This story was originally going to involve young Simon instead of Kamina. But I went against it because I thought Kamina would be a way better candidate for a story like this. And judging by the reviews and favourites this has been getting, I think I made a good choice. This chapter was a tricky one to write though. A lot of things had to be acknowledged, like Kyoko knowing Mami before the anime.
Next Chapter: Your Soul is always with you!