gotta love it when you write a decent chunk of chapter and then a bad storm forces you to abandon your work before you can save-
also turns out that chapter 7 had a really really bad error on the basis of my bad attention span, but i fixed it
In which a bitter rivalry begins.
"Do any of you know what this new update means?" Ruler inquired.
"Oh! Oh!" Tama said, sticking her hand up slightly. "That those who have a lot of Candies should share with those who don't?"
"Zero points!" Ruler stated.
"Form teams and work together to earn more Candy?"
"Awesome idea! You're like, the smartest, sis!"
"No, thirty points." Ruler sighed. "And what about you?" She asked, referring to Swim Swim. However, the pink-haired Magical Girl silently shook her head, refusing to answer. "Seriously! The whole lot of you are useless! It's as if you all share a single brain cell! The game admins are sending a message."
"...What do you mean?" Swim Swim questioned.
"It says here that the exchange of Candies can occur even if the other party's device is off. In other words, the message they're sending is: go steal Candies from each other. It's quite simple. Steal Candies from the girl who's earned the most."
"I see." Both Peaky Angels responded.
"Are you talking about stealing from Snow White?"
"That should be easy enough!"
"Yeah, totally!"
"Hm?" The Angels noticed. "Tama? You have to listen to what Ruler says."
"Okay..."
The look on Ruler's face told Swim Swim that a plan to do just as she said was already forming.
"Wow, check out all that Candy! I'm sure you'll be in the top spot again this week." La Pucelle said, looking at the frankly absurd amount of Candies both she and Snow White had earned over the course of their patrol. However, her companion remained silent, a deadpan expression on her face. "I know." La Pucelle sighed, placing a hand on Snow White's shoulder. "But it's like I said before: If we let fear control us then we'll die."
Snow White nodded in understanding, not feeling any better. In fact, she'd soon be feeling worse, as the Peaky Angels (and Tama) were watching the two from an alleyway on the ground below.
"We're in position..." Tama muttered into her Magical Phone, signaling Ruler to begin with her part of the plan.
"Understood." Ruler replied.
"Now we're gonna get tons of Candy and popularity!"
"We'll be so cool!"
"Still, though... La Pucelle has a really big sword, are we gonna be okay?"
"You'll be fine." A familiar British voice muttered as Ruler stepped out of the shadows. "The only thing you need to worry about is following the plan I came up with, and not screwing it up like the complete and utter dimwits that you are."
"Do you see how relaxed that Snow White girl and La Pucelle are right now?!"
"Yeah, they tick me off!"
"How brazen of them." Ruler said, smiling cruelly. "However, their false sense of security will be their downfall... Yes, in a few short hours, Snow White will die."
And right on schedule, Fav began his announcements.
"Starting this week, the sixteenth Magical Girl has joined the party! But she won't have to gather Candies until next week. I hope you'll all play nice with her, pon!"
"Right on time. Minael, Yunael, begin." Ruler instructed, and the two Magical Girls flew off towards the Southern Radio Tower, each flaring their wing (yes, each only has one) upon reaching their destination in front of their target.
"It's the Peaky Angels..." Snow White muttered, staring at them.
"What do you want!?" La Pucelle demanded, seemingly already knowing that the Angels were up to no good. But instead of responding, the twin Magical Girls branched off and circled around the tower, ending up behind their target and launched a synchronized kick at La Pucelle, who easily dodged the strike. Exactly as planned. With the attention of the knight now theirs, the Angels dived right down towards the ground. "You won't get away!" La Pucelle shouted, drawing her sword and jumping down after the two Angels.
Despite how well-crafted Ruler's plan was, there was one variable she couldn't predict: Everyone's favorite blue hedgehog. Sonic was once again lounging on a rooftop, this time near the docks on the southeastern end of town. To some, this may seem a bit contradictory, due to the hedgehog's fear of water. However, that fear was only about being in said water. Running overtop of it or just staring out over the sea were some of Sonic's favorite pastimes (aside from thwarting Eggman's plans, of course).
Yet the calm crashing of waves on the shore, and the chirp of night insects was rudely interrupted by shouting.
"What do you want!?" A vaguely familiar voice called, making Sonic's ear twitch.
"Jeez, we want your Candy, obviously!"
"Yeah! Trick or treat!"
"You're gonna steal other people's Candies? What a cowardly way to save your own skin!"
The metaphorical lightbulb in Sonic's head lit up, and he almost choked on his chilidog. It sounded like the Peaky Angels were trying to steal La Pucelle's Magical Candies. And that naturally wasn't going to fly on Sonic's watch. He immediately finished his chili-covered treat and threw himself off the small roof he was lounging on, rushing off in the direction of the shouting.
"Oh, that's such a heroic sounding line."
"Do you practice saying things like that in the mirror?" The Angels laughed.
"Do you go around getting people killed for your own entertainment?" A new voice spat, causing both the Angels and La Pucelle to look towards the source. "C'mon, I get you're also trying to stay alive, but there's better ways than this!" Sonic said, tapping his foot.
"Uah!" Both Angels cried in unison. "Why are you here!?"
"Got bored, obviously. Besides, you're making way too much of a ruckus. La Pucelle, are you gonna need help?"
"No. But I left Snow White at the tower, would you mind making sure she's okay while I handle things here?"
"You got it!" The hedgehog stated, blasting off in a streak of blue.
"Dammit!"
"This isn't good!"
"Ha! I wouldn't even bother trying to catch up with that." La Pucelle chuckled, crossing her arms. "Now to teach you two a lesson..."
Snow White had barely been alone for two minutes when two more Magical Girls showed up. Ruler and Swim Swim to be specific. And judging by the look on the former's face, they weren't here for a pleasant chat.
"W- What do you want?"
"Foolish girl. You truly haven't put two and two together yet?" Ruler asked, summoning her staff. "I hereby command you in the name of Ruler! You will stand there silently! Don't you dare move an inch!" And as Ruler held her spear out, Snow White's body froze, allowing Swim Swim to begin walking towards her, taking her Magical Phone right from her hand. "And don't dawdle!"
Ruler watched as her subordinate began the Candy siphoning process, thinking back on Fav's words. "Your magic is effective within five meters, pon. And it's weakness is that the spell will break if you don't hold your pose."
'That just means I have to keep others from finding out it's weak-' However, she was unable to finish her though as a blunt pain erupted in her back, the impact broke her pose, and even sent her recoiling a few steps. As such, her control over Snow White was broken, allowing the target to swiftly grab her phone back before any meaningful progress could be made.
"Looks like I got here just in time!" Sonic's grating voice snickered. "Halloween's not for another month or so, y'know."
"Why you...!" Ruler seethed.
"Aw, chill out! It's just some harmless fun!"
Swim Swim, being the more experienced fighter of the two, ran up to the hedgehog and launched a roundhouse kick, her foot hitting nothing but air as Sonic easily ducked under the attack.
"Snow White! Keep moving! Call for help! I've got things handled here!"
"Right!" Snow White said, leaping off of the tower and disappearing into the night. Once Sonic was sure his friend was out of harm's way, he launched a sweeping kick at Swim Swim, yet his foot passed right through hers.
"What the-" Was all he had the chance to say before having to promptly roll sideways and behind his opponent to avoid an overhead counterattack. In response, he launched off to the side with Wild Rush, zigzagging through the air and once again passing through Swim Swim. Yet this time, it seemed like something had done a bit of damage, as his magical opponent rubbed her arm as if it burned.
'If it wasn't the attack itself, then what could it have been?' He though to himself, blocking another punch. However, that part alone confirmed one of his theories: Swim Swim's magic had something to do with becoming intangible. He leapt up and initiated a Loop Kick, soaring to one end of the tower before flying overhead to the other side and slamming his foot right into Swim Swim's face, going right through her again.
Swim Swim attempted to launch a downwards kick at Sonic's head once he landed, yet he easily ran out of the way. However, her foot connected with the blue trail left behind, and she noticeably winced in pain.
'Huh!? My trail hurt her?! How does that make sense?! It's just light!' He was barely able to bat away an oncoming strike, jumping backwards and swinging his foot once, throwing out a single blade with Sonic Boom. Swim Swim blocked it, yet he noticed that the attack still connected. 'Hold on a minute... Oh, that's genius!'
"I think I get it now." Sonic stated, skidding to a halt a few feet away from Swim Swim. "Your magic makes any solid object you want pass through you, so physical attacks are no good... But now that I think about it, I'm still able to see you, right? Meaning that light can't pass through you, making you vulnerable to it."
"...I won't confirm anything."
"But you're not denying it, either." Sonic countered.
"You're only partially correct. In any case, neither of us will gain anything from fighting." Swim Swim revealed, stepping away, once again next to Ruler. "I believe we should retreat."
"Yes." Ruler agreed. "That rotten hedgehog completely ruined the plan! We need to gather those three half-wits and get out of here!"
And the two Magical Girls jumped off the tower as well, leaving Sonic alone again.
"Rotten hedgehog, huh? Where have I heard that before?"
Meanwhile in a secret lair within Nabuka City, Doctor Eggman sneezed. Again.
"That rodent's talking about me again, isn't he!?"
"That could've gone better than it did..." Yunael sighed as she and the rest of Ruler's team returned to their hideout.
"Indeed." Ruler agreed, not mad at them for once. "Judging by the fact you kept La Pucelle distracted until I came back shows that our plan likely would have worked if it wasn't for that meddling hedgehog."
"I tried opening pits under his feet, but he was just too fast..." Tama admitted.
"No need to worry. We have more than enough time to make a better plan and try again. This is only a minor setback!" Ruler said, turning her Magical Phone on just in time to catch the big announcement.
"Here are this week's rankings announcements, pon." Fav stated. "The one with the least is..."
"Tama, pon."
And merely seconds later, quiet yet desperate pleading filled the room.
Yup, our first major deviation from canon: Tama dies instead of Ruler. Sorry Tama fans, maybe next time. Anyway I got distracted by Kingdom Hearts 3 while trying to write this, so that's kind of the reason why it took this long to make.
There's a few reasons I killed off Tama here: First, Sonic getting in the way of Ruler's plan would mean that Swim Swim and the Angels' plan to betray Ruler wouldn't work, and so then I had to find another character that had to die. So naturally, I decided to find the character who I felt was most likely to have the fewest Candies, and lo and behold, Tama fell right into my crosshairs.
But that's not all, no. Remember the cryptic thing I said at the start of the chapter? "In which a bitter rivalry begins."? Yeah, that rivalry is gonna be between Swim Swim and Sonic, since Sonic is indirectly the reason Tama died (and we know for a fact that Swim Swim cares about Tama), and it would also fuel later scenes.
Anyway this is getting long so byeee-