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The End of the Circus: A Tale of the Yizibajohei
Girls of the Crystal: Record of the Crystal III or The Bountiful Fireball's Return and Yachiyo's Reunion
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
Based on characters and situations in Worm, created by John C. McCrae; various shows produced by World Wrestling Entertainment and its predecessor organizations, founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt; Urusei Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko; Sister Princess, created by Tenhiro Naoto and Kimino Sakurako; Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magika, created by Urobuchi Gen, Shaft and Aniplex; normalman, created by Jim Valentino; and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon.
Kamihama, the Banbanzai Restaurant, the first Saturday in December in 2012, lunchtime...
In the days following Akino Kaede's Gifting as the Shaking Geyser, the battle team effectively formed around Tamaki Iroha continued their search-and-destroy sweeps concerning both Rumours as well as the odd witch. As this carried on, Nanami Yachiyo began to suspect there was some sort of connection between the Rumours and the mysterious group supposedly working on a way to "save" puella magi. The teen now known on Yiziba as She Who Destroys Castles was also concerned for an old friend, Asuza Mifuyu. When the others asked her about this, Yachiyo reported the silver-haired teen was a veteran magical girl who had been active for a year in Kamihama; given her experience on the streets, the chances were good that Mifuyu might have heard something concerning their current target of interest.
During this time, more puella magi — both themselves and their eldritch witch other-selves — became new "players" in the Great Show of Life. Togame Momoko became the newest incarnation of the Courageous Cheerleader, Era'a ("Valiant"); such made her a mid-level FISS-type with broadcast empathic powers which had been used over the incarnations to encourage others around her to overcome their fears when confronting a fight scene and persevere to victory. Her other-self Elfriede — now known as Togame Minako — became a ki mistress/wilderness hunter of the same general type as people like Fujinami Ryūnosuke, Xander Harris and Steve Austin; Momoko's twin was now the Close Shaver, Taneruse; at Iroha's suggestion, she took up the German word Rasierer in lieu of either the English "barber" or Japanese "kamisori". Minami Rena was Gifted as the Shifting Prober of the West, Taraka ("Replica"); such an empowerment gave the reborn noblewoman hailing from old Dimsetuto on the western equatorial continent shape-shifting abilities which her first-self had used as a spymaster in the early seasons of the Dawn of Power. Her new sister Minami Chinatsu (née Cendrillon) was now the Silicate Siren, Batakata ("Glassworker"), a vitreokinetic who could manipulate any form of glass into forging anything from weapons to mundane items like bowls. Along the way, Yachiyo's new sister Nanami Sasori (the former Campanella) became the Twisting Bladeswoman, No'okrota ("Turnabout"), a combination empath and teleporter experienced in using bladed and other projectile weapons in battle. Finally, Akino Kaede's darker half Zola — now Akino Emiko — had been Gifted as the Dark Forester of the Centre, Masa Bolem ("Lady Oak"), a same-gender battle line born from a reborn ecological terrorist from old Damgatuto who would later become part of the central equatorial continent's most infamous metahuman army, employing her chlorokinesis to help wreck enemy strongholds.
"So Manaka's been putting together a 'special menu' for Walnuts," Yui Tsuruno cheerfully informed her current guests while everyone enjoyed their noonday meal in the family's restaurant near the local train station. Accompanying She Who Demolishes Castles and the Courageous Cheerleader for this meeting with their fellow would-be puella magi were their reborn other-selves, both of whom where greedily trying out all sorts of dishes that Tsuruno's mother Tamiko could give them. "It's got mesonium-enhanced versions of her more popular dishes." Here, the brown-haired restaurant heiress winked playfully. "Got even the chance to try some of those dishes out."
"Lovely!" Sasori declared as she picked up a napkin before wiping her face; she just demolished a rather large plate of gōngbào jīdīng.
Minako herself had slurped up her third bowl of chǎomiàn, eagerly nodding in return. "Oh, yes! Very lovely indeed!"
The "normal" humans all giggled on seeing the former witches sample things they couldn't have consumed before being embodied as their own beings and Gifted. "Well, that's a good thing," Momoko happily declared. "You'll soon be out of the Incubators' clutches."
"Have you narrowed your Gift choices down?" Yachiyo asked.
A shake of the head responded as their host's almost-constant smile slipped from her face. "I mentally 'looked over' some battle lines' memories already. None of them feel right, Yachiyo-san."
"Have you chosen a name for Yú Hóng yet?" the Close Shaver then wondered; Tsuruno's darker half had gained the name of a central Asian practitioner of Zoroastrianism who served as a local administrator and later provincial governor during the early years of the Suí Dynasty in the late Sixth Century CE; his tomb in the Shānxī capital city of Tàiyuán was quite famous worldwide.
Before their host could answer, the main door of the Banbanzai was thrown open, revealing a visibly annoyed Tamaki Iroha. Tucked under her armpit was a lavender-coloured folder. Seeing that, Yachiyo nodded; that particular file was the "Ui Folder", which contained information concerning the Mobile Healer's search for her missing younger sister Tamaki Ui...a person that virtually NO ONE, not even Iroha's parents, could remember whatsoever. And while Iroha hadn't given up trying to track down Ui, the compiling of information concerning the missing girl had revealed clues concerning the mass exodus of puella magi to Kamihama in recent months.
Tsuruno got up to warmly embrace the other woman. "Find any leads yet?" the restaurant heiress asked.
"Hai, I did! We'll have to discuss them later," the pink-haired healer replied as they walked over to join the others. As one of the small staff of waiters came over with a glass of water, Iroha added, "More important business to take care of, minna-san. I saw a couple of girls in black robes hanging around a spatial distortion not far from here; once that appeared, my PAA went off."
The others immediately tensed. "A witch?" Yachiyo asked. "I can deal with her nice and quick."
"Not this time," Iroha cautioned, holding up a warning finger. "Guess who those girls were talking to?"
That made the brunette's eyes widen. "Mifuyu?!"
"Same," Iroha affirmed. "You and Sasori-chan should have a chat with her." She gazed on the others. "The rest of us can handle the witch and those other two if they should cause problems." She then gulped down the water. "Taeim letam!"
The others all screamed out in anticipation, pumping their fists...
Somewhere, minutes later...
Gazing at the pastel-coloured landscape filled with plushies and pillows, the would-be puella magi-turned-metahumans and their non-Gifted companion were quick to react when a regiment's worth of minions — resembling masses of wrapping paper, tinsel and wire — charged them. "C'mon!" Minako snarled as she used her ki-charged finger-bolt abilities to wipe out a company's worth of said minions with one fusillade. "Give me a damned challenge, will you?! This fight scene is BORING already!"
"A weak witch, you think?!" her template/sister wondered after grabbing two rolls of paper to effortlessly crush them.
"There she is, minna!" Tsuruno advised, indicating somewhere to her right after blasting apart another company's worth of attackers with a fire scythe formed around one of her two large war fans.
The others looked to see a large pink bipedal rabbit doll, such a being striding back and forth. Minions were swarming around her, bringing offerings of shiny paper and tinsel for the supposed witch to peruse. Much to the humans' amusement, said rabbit doll clearly was a VERY picky eldritch witch; shaking her oblong head frequently while said structure opened irregularly to display something resembling a human being's pelvic bone, she would slice away both minions and offerings with wide sweeps of her paw-claws.
"That's just plain wrong!" Momoko sneered with disgust. "All in favour of finishing her off quick?!"
Before anyone could answer, Tsuruno's hands glowed. "Hang on! I'll handle her...!"
Tene lomher'buo, Yui Tsuruno...
Soon, her whole body was covered with blinding light. "Taeim letam!"
Nesu...ASAPA!
Bursting free of the corona of power with two energy constructs similar to the war fans she used as a puella magi, the just-Gifted Bountiful Fireball, Asapa ("Flourish"), charged right at the eldritch wish, a delighted grin on her face. "Good choice!" Minako whooped, immediately recognizing what her sister's kōhai had become before sending another fusillade of ki-bolts at a large mass of minions.
Winking at the Close Shaver, the high-level pyrokinetic/mid-level FISS without the flying abilities dispersed her old weapons, allowing her just-woken soul flames to create protective fields around her fists. With that, she got up close and personal, punches lashing out to effortlessly shatter the defensive barriers surrounding the witch before said being herself found itself becoming an unwilling punching bag. As her friends moved to sweep away the rest of the minions to prevent any of them from evolving into witches themselves, the Chinese restaurant heiress soon rendered her target into a disintegrating morass of energy and a grief seed.
One that would become something QUITE different than what the Incubators had in mind...
The Banbanzai Restaurant, mid-afternoon...
"You're really not a puella magi any more?"
"That's right," Nanami Yachiyo declared as she twirled around to show off her jumpsuit to the person she arranged to meet after the fight against the witch earlier that afternoon. "Neither is Momoko. She got Gifted not too long ago."
Azusa Mifuyu hummed, tapped her chin in thought. "It seems almost too good to be true," the sisterly silver-haired magical girl mused, sitting back in her chair as She Who Demolishes Castles reverted back to her normal clothing before sitting down, nodding her thanks as Yui Tsuruno came up with bowls of yúntūn miàn for them and Yachiyo's sister Sasori to enjoy; even if the Nanami sisters hadn't directly dealt with the latest eldritch witch to bother those who could have become them hadn't the Children of the Forge interfered, fight scenes were always something that perked one's appetite. "I've seen what the Magius have planned," Mifuyu added after thanking their host, before calling out, "Itadakimasu!" Slurping down some noodles, she said, "Believe me, it's not pretty! Their intentions are good but..."
Silence then fell before she shook her head...
...then she gaped as both Yachiyo and Sasori hugged her from either side. Smiling at that show of support from the pair, Mifuyu took a deep breath. "Is there a price?" she wondered. "Like how American parahumans get their powers via trigger events?"
A shake of the head answered her. "Only what we've already paid," Yachiyo answered before she gazed knowingly at the Twisting Bladeswoman who was born from the darker parts of her own soul. "Even if we hadn't, it would still be worth it."
A thoughtful expression crossed Mifuyu's face as she considered that answer. She had little doubt that becoming Gifted sounded far better than what the Magius were planning, especially since the former didn't involve the sacrifice of innocents who knew nothing about puella magi and eldritch witches. Still, she wasn't sure that she could just abandon everyone who was counting on her.
What if they were to be Gifted too? she mused to herself before turning back to her meal...
To Be Continued...
WRITER'S NOTES
This short is set a week after the end of the first main story, Boy Meets Girl Meets Metahuman.
Translation list and source language (the first two Yizibajohei, the last three Mandarin): Dimsetuto — Literally "land of the dimse" (a type of shrewmouse), local analogue of Spain; Damgatuto — Literally "land of the Damga", local analogue of Uganda; Gōngbào Jīdīng — Literally "chicken (made by) the palace's defender", this is the proper way of saying Kung Pao chicken invented by Qīng Dynasty court tutor Dīng Bǎozhēn (1820-86); Chǎomiàn — Literally "stir-fried noodles", this is the proper pronunciation of what is commonly called chow mein; Yúntūn miàn — Proper way of saying won ton noodles, a familiar soup common in southern Chinese cuisine.