"Now then, young lady," Nicholas Flamel says. "I believe it should be your turn to introduce yourself."

"Ah… right, I totally forgot," I say. "I'm Ashley Taylor, a magical girl from California."

Nicholas nods. "Yet another victim of that devious little white devil, are you?"

"Well, I did go into it fully understanding the implications," I say.

"Did you, now?" Nicholas says. "You must be smarter than you look. I hope your wish was worth it." He pauses for a moment, then adds. "You seem older than the average age of contracting. How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen and in the eleventh grade." I reply. "How much do you know about the incubators, anyway? Your wife's a magical girl too, after all… but you can't actually see them yourself, right?"

"Quite a lot," Nicholas replies. "Yes, I can't see them. Actually, while ma chérie has told me quite a lot about them, I learned just as much from observing Isabeau of Bavaria."

I blink. "Huh? Isabeau… um… isn't that the witch who swallowed France!?"

Nicholas nods. "Well, yes, she did end up like that in the end," he says. "But you see, she was also a very rare occurrence – a human with the power of an incubator. The incubators are completely rational, so they only use their powers in very specific ways. Isabeau however… she was an opportunity for Pernelle and me to see other ways those powers may be used, which helps us in our quest to try and understand them."

He averts his eyes for a moment, twirling a finger on his cheek, then looks back at me.

"Don't get me wrong. I know she was a monster, and I don't condone anything she did. But as an alchemist… no, as a scientist… I just had to observe her while I could. Of course, that was before she became a witch… after that, ma chérie formed an alliance with the incubators to destroy her."

"So um… do you two often meddle in history?" I ask. "Not that there's anything wrong with it, I'm just curious…"

"Meddle? No, why should we?" Nicholas says. "I have all of eternity to learn the secrets of the world, but that's a vast, possibly infinite amount of knowledge. There's no time for meddling in world events! Well, ma chérie may feel a little differently, but even so… ever since this house was built, we've spent most of our time cooped up here, engaged in our studies. Oh, there's been a student here from time to time, but usually that's the extent of our engagement with the outside world."

I'm about to question him further, but at that moment, a woman steps into the barrier. She has silver hair but looks to be in her thirties or forties, and is wearing loose pants and a thick sweater. I only have a moment to see this though before she transforms, donning her magical girl outfit – a white robe with golden highlights, worn under a crisp, clean lab coat. Unlike Nisha's lab coat, which merely resembles a lab coat, this one is more like the sort of thing a real scientist would wear in a real lab. She also wears a hat that exactly matches the one Nicholas is wearing.

The woman marches over to us and bends over to look me in the eye.

"So… you must be Ashley Taylor," she says. "I am Pernelle Flamel. Welcome to my not-so-humble abode, the Maison Paradis."

It's really her! I'm in the presence of the woman who helped Jeanne d'Arc, or Tart as she was affectionately known among friends, in her quest to free France from the grip of the Witch of Queen's Twilight, Isabeau of Bavaria, and her magical girl minions. Although Pernelle's role in that quest had been minimal, it was still very important… and now here she is, standing right in front of me.

"U-um, it's truly an honour to meet you!" I gasp. "I'm Ashley Taylor!"

Pernelle lets out a slight giggle. "Oh? You're a bit different from what I imagined, to be honest. Now then… oh, thanks mon chéri …what is it that you want from me?"

She takes a seat, accepting the tea her husband pours for her, and leans back in the chair. Before I have a chance to phrase my answer to her question, she continues speaking.

"I agreed to this meeting because you seemed interesting, and it's been such a long time since I met anyone interesting… but depending on what you say now, I may decide to kick you out of my home."

"R-right…" I say, nodding. "Well, you see, the thing is… my ultimate goal is to destroy Walpurgisnacht. However, I fully understand that it's impossible for a single person to do that, and to make matters worse, I don't think my powers are all that strong. So… what I'd like is a weapon that has the power to hurt Walpurgisnacht."

Pernelle's eyes widen when I mention the name of that catastrophic witch, but she lets me finish, even nodding along once or twice. Before she has a chance to say anything though, Nisha interrupts. I'd forgotten she was even here.

"Um, excuse me, Madame Flamel," Nisha speaks up. "This seems like it could take a long time, and I should get back to the shop…"

Pernelle flaps her hand at Nisha.

"Yes, sorry to keep you, Mademoiselle Patel," she says. "I will stop by your shop in the next couple of days, so please wait for me."

"Yes, I'll be ready!" Nisha says.

And with that, she hops up from her seat.

"Good luck, Ashley!" she says. "I hope you succeed!"

And then, she jumps out of the barrier and disappears. Pernelle turns back to me with a serious expression.

"So, you wish to defeat the Witch of the Stage," she says. "But do you truly realize the herculean scale of this task? I have seen Walpurgis lay waste to the land many times. Every time, she grows even stronger. She's probably even older than I am, and that's saying something. Even if I craft you a mighty weapon, you wouldn't be able to slay her."

I nod. "I know. The weapon is just one facet of my plan. I know Walpurgisnacht can't be defeated by a single magical girl. I intend to gather as many magical girls as I can for this battle. Anyone who's willing and able to fight will be welcome, including you."

Pernelle nods. "So you do comprehend the scale, at least somewhat," she muses. "Then, how do you intend to predict its movements? You should know that Walpurgis hides within her barrier for most of the year, stepping outside only once or twice to lay waste to a city of her choosing."

I blink. "Huh? Wait… she actually has a barrier? I thought she just… didn't…"

"This is just my deduction, but she must hide somewhere in between her catastrophic appearances," Pernelle says. "Otherwise, the news media would remark on a hurricane that never, ever dies, and scientists would be flocking around her to study the anomaly."

"Ahh, you're right!" I gasp. "I never thought of that!"

"Okay, so if you can't even deduce that, then how do you expect to be able to determine her movements?" Pernelle asks. "Even I have never managed to deduce the location of her barrier. I suspect it to be in the middle of the ocean somewhere, but that's not much of a starting point."

"Well, there's two ways I could answer that," I say. "Actually, I happen to know where she'll attack this year. I can't explain exactly how I know, but I just do."

Pernelle looks skeptical. "Without a concrete explanation of how you could know such a thing, I can't accept that reasoning," she says.

"But the thing is… I don't plan to make use of that information," I continue. "Why should I wait for her to come to me, when I can just summon her myself? All I need is a powerful radio."

Pernelle gasps. "Summon!? Have you learned of a way to…" She blinks, stroking her chin and gazing into her tea cup for a minute. "No, now that I think about it… I've noticed that some grief seeds resonate to certain frequencies of electromagnetic waves… so it might actually be possible…" Then she looks up again. "But do you understand the risk that entails?" she asks. "What if your plan fails? What if you manage to summon her, but all your efforts are insufficient?"

"That's why I'm taking every step I can think of to increase my chances," I explain. "Of course, I can never be certain, but… in the event that I do fail and the cost is too high, I know of a girl who can time travel, and I'm confident she'd be willing to use that power to help me."

Technically, she's not a magical girl yet, but I don't need to mention that detail.

Pernelle nods. "Time travel, huh? I've never heard of a magical girl with that kind of power, but anything is possible with a wish, so assuming you've already met this magical girl, then it seems plausible enough. Still, even if you do defeat her, the cost is going to be very high. What will you do if an even worse witch is born after you defeat Walpurgis?"

"I've thought about that too," I say. "What would you say if I said there's a magical girl who possesses some of the powers of the incubators? Someone with the ability to control corruption itself? With someone like that on my side, I can be confident that none of the magical girls participating in the battle will turn into witches."

"Honestly, I'd think you were lying through your teeth," Pernelle says. Then she sighs. "Or so I would say, if I had never met Isabeau of Bavaria. Still, that has to be even rarer than a time traveller… and you're saying you know both. It's a hard pill to swallow."

"Well, I haven't met her," I admit. "So I'm not entirely certain I'll even be able to find her. Still, assuming she really does exist, and with a time-traveller on my side, wouldn't you say I have eternity to work it out?"

Pernelle spittakes on her tea, spraying it all over me, and then bursts out laughing.

"Yes, you have a point there," she says once she calms down. "And on top of that, since you have an idea of what kind of magical girl you need, you could always create one yourself."

I blink at her, confused, and she quickly continues.

"Oh, I don't mean like Isabeau did," she says. "Just find a girl with potential who'll go along with your plan and make the wish you ask of her. That's what I mean. Of course, it's still Cube who makes the contract in the end."

"Oh… yes, that's a possibility," I agree. "Although I'm hoping I don't have to…"

"Very well," Pernelle says with a slightly scary grin. "Your plan is ambitious and far more well-thought-out than I had expected, though I have to say there are still some glaring holes… but I'll let that pass, as it's clear you've been putting in a lot of thought. Interesting! I'll take up your challenge and craft you a weapon that counters Walpurgis's nature. Will you be in Paris for long? It could take several weeks to craft your weapon."

"Well, we're staying here until next Tuesday," I explain. "Then we'll head to Madrid for about a week. After that, we fly home to California, but then I have just two days to pack up again and take a flight to Japan on the eighth."

"You sure are moving around a lot," Pernelle observes. "In that case, perhaps the easiest thing for me to do is to take your email. I assume you do have one, right?"

"Yeah, of course… though I don't really use it much, but it pings when I get a message, so that should be fine."

I fish out my smartphone to make sure I get it exactly right. Pernelle pushes a pen and paper towards me, and I carefully copy it out on the paper, then hand it back.

"Now then, before you go, is there anything you'd like to ask me?" Pernelle asks.

"Questions, huh… can it be about anything?" I ask.

"You can ask anything you want," Pernelle agrees. "But I can't guarantee I'll be able to answer."

"Um… I was wondering, are there any other magical girls like you? I mean like… ancient ones…"

"Besides myself, I've met only three others," Pernelle says. "I can't say whether they're still alive now, though. And there could well be others I haven't met."

"So, who are they?" I ask eagerly.

"Hilda, Mary, and Scheherazade are the names they gave me," Pernelle says. "Scheherazade is something of an enigma. I hear rumours of her from all over, wherever I go, but only rarely is it anything concrete. It appears that she often disappears for decades, only to suddenly show up somewhere at a historic moment. She describes herself only as a teller of tales. I met her twice by chance. The first time was near the end of the Hundred Years' War, when Jeanne d'Arc faced off against Isabeau, and the second time was during the Second World War."

"So she must be at least as old as you are," I muse.

"Likely far older," Pernelle says. "When I met Hilda, she seemed like a very talented woman after my own heart. I'm not sure what her original power is, but it seems that she's learned a wide variety of additional powers over the years. As for Mary, she's a strange one. I only met her briefly, but she seemed haunted by spectres of the past. At the time, she claimed to be two thousand years old. If not for that, I would have guessed she probably became a witch by now. But honestly, I have no idea. I only met Hilda and Mary once each and haven't heard any rumours of them since."

"Okay… so, how is it that you appear so young? Is it due to the philosopher's stone?"

Pernelle shakes her head. "I made the elixir of life for my husband's sake. As a magical girl, I have no need of it. Instead, I utilize a little-known property of the bond between body and soul gem. Over time, the soul gem will slowly adjust the body towards the owner's ideal form. The corollary of that is, when I'm already in my ideal form, I no longer age."

"But don't most magical girls age normally?" I point out.

"Yes, indeed they do," Pernelle says. "I simplified my explanation a little for the sake of brevity… a full explanation would no doubt take hours of your time. Are you still interested?"

I blink. "Uhh… okay, I guess that'll do for now… next question. What do you know about the ability to connect?"

"Connect?" Pernelle says. "Can you explain what you mean by that? It's possible I know it by a different name."

"Um, if I touch another girl's hand, I can transfer some of my power to her," I explain. "It increases her attack power and adds my charm effect to her attacks for a short time. And I've met other abilities who can share their power in a similar way."

Pernelle nods. "Yes, I do know of it," she says. "I call it 'body enchantment', because it is very similar to the practice of enchanting an object, but the target is another magical girl in this case. I have seen many magical girls with the ability. It is a fairly common skill to pick up if they fight as a team. I also possess the ability myself, although I rarely fight in a team, or indeed at all, so it doesn't see much use."

"I see… and can you explain the magical elements to me?" I ask. "Isn't there a missing element?"

"Ah yes, you must be comparing it to the Paracelsian description of the elements," Pernelle says. "It's true, there does not appear to be an element in magic that corresponds to air. I've seen magical girls of all elements using air-based powers, although you can imagine the details of the power would be quite different depending on the girl's element. But… you asked for a complete explanation of elements, so perhaps I should start with the basics."

She snaps her fingers, and a whiteboard suddenly appears next to the table.

"Huh? How'd you do that!?"

"It's just simple teleportation," she says. "Here, let me draw you a diagram. There are six elements in all."

She draws three circles in a triangular formation, one more to the right of the triangle, and two to the left in a horizontal row. In the bottom left circle she draws a teardrop with a blue marker to represent water, in the bottom right she uses a green marker to draw a triangle with a stick coming out the bottom to represent forest, and in the top circle she draws two nested teardrops with a red marker to represent fire. In the right-hand circle she draws a black fan design composed of five tiny half-circles to represent a lack of any element, and in the left-most circle she draws an asterisk with a yellow marker to represent light. The remaining circle, between the asterisk and the triangular formation, gets a crescent moon symbol in black to represent darkness. Then she draws curved arrows from light to darkness, from darkness to light, from water to fire, from fire to forest, and from forest to water.

"Flame is strong against forest but weak against water, forest is strong against water but weak against flame, and water is strong against flame but weak against forest. Light is both strong and weak against darkness, and darkness is both strong and weak against light. And finally, the null element is not strong or weak against any other element. Null girls like myself appear to be quite rare."

I nod. "This much is pretty straightforward, but… most magical girl powers don't fall cleanly into an element, right?"

Pernelle nods. "Yes, usually a girl's element isn't obvious at a glance," she says. "The element is more of a base essence that runs through all your magic. You could think of it as your magical blood type. Even if it's not obviously related to the element, any magic you cast will carry that elemental essence. And depending on your element, there may be some abilities you can never manifest, too.

"For example, a girl with the water or forest element can't manifest fire abilities. On the other hand, a girl with the light or darkness element could manifest fire abilities, although it would be unusual. However, even if a girl with the light element manifested fire abilities, they would not be any more effective against a girl with the forest element, because the magic is still of the light element, not the fire element. Similarly, even if a girl with the fire element learns abilities that are not fire-based, such as lightning, they would still be extra effective against a girl of the forest element and less effective against a girl of the water element."

Pernelle smiles and shrugs, then wipes the whiteboard clean.

"The null element is sort of special. Some people might tell you that it's not a real element and that some magical girls simply lack an elemental affinity, but from my research on the topic, I believe it truly is a separate element. However, some girls with the null element can temporarily adopt another element, applying that element's essence onto their magic and gaining both the strength and weakness of that element. This can make it especially difficult to identify that someone uses the null element. And of course, witches have elements the same as magical girls, and all the same rules apply. For example, from the many tales I've heard from magical girls who barely survived fighting against her, I suspect Walpurgis herself may be of the null element."

"But how can you even tell what element someone is?" I wonder.

"I've invented a measuring device," Pernelle says. "Some girls, like Mademoiselle Patel, can also detect it innately. And some girls intuitively know their own element, so you could try just asking. Any more questions?"

Huh. So that's how Nisha knew I was of the darkness element.

"I don't suppose I could have that measuring device?"

"Unfortunately, I've yet to come up with a portable form for it," Pernelle says. "I'll let you know if I ever do."

I ponder for a minute or two while sampling my tea. The concept of elements is a bit different from what I expected, though perhaps I really should have expected it. After all, the Magia Record game had to shoehorn a vast array of strange abilities into just those five elements. In the game, only Yakumo Mitama originally had what Pernelle calls the null element, although when it later introduced the Puella Care organization, the new members also had the null element… and Pernelle just let slip that she's also of the null element. I think the game called it void rather than null, but I guess the meaning is pretty similar. But anyway, it seems like it's not as much of a limitation as I thought it might be. I guess it just means I can't learn any light-based attacks, since my element is darkness.

"So, just how important is it to know the opponent's element?" I ask. "Can it make the difference between victory and defeat?"

"It depends on the opponent," Pernelle replies. "Against an average witch or magical girl, the difference isn't all that noticeable. Even if you're attacking the element you're weak against, you might only need three or four more hits to defeat them than you would if you were strong against that element. This could be part of the reason many magical girls never even realize what element they are. However… that's an average opponent. With a witch like Walpurgis, keeping track of which elemental essence she's using could definitely make the difference between victory and defeat."

I nod slowly. Perhaps I should try to find a way to detect a girl's element, then.

"I think that's all the questions I have in me right now," I say.

Pernelle. "Then let's get down to business," she says. "I've observed how you fight, and I've already purchased some raw materials that I could use for your weapon."

I blink at her. "Huh? You bought them before you even agreed to help me? Wait, when could you have watched me fight?"

"If I can conceal the entrance to this barrier, don't you think I could conceal my own presence too?" Pernelle replies. "I saw the whole thing in Sue's barrier."

"Oh… I see," I say.

"I see you seem to like getting into close combat, so would you like a sword or a polearm?" Pernelle asks. "A mace or other bludgeoning weapon would also be an option, I suppose."

"Hmm… a sword sounds good," I nod. "Teddy Mk II is basically a ranged weapon, so another ranged weapon wouldn't be as helpful… and it seems like fists aren't very effective against witches."

"They certainly can be," Pernelle says. "But the damage dealt by a blade is more visible, so it's easier to gauge how weakened the enemy is. Do you have any preferences on the style of the blade?"

"Uhh… honestly, I hadn't really thought that through…"

"I figured as much," Pernelle says. "Alright then, transform and let's spar a little."

I blink. "Huh? Right now? Right here?"

"What? Is it something you don't want Nicholas to see?" she asks.

"No, it's just so sudden…"

"There's no time like the present," Pernelle says.

"Alright!"

I jump up and transform, but I don't summon Teddy Mk II. Pernelle grabs the metal chair she'd been sitting on earlier and snaps it in half in a shocking show of brute force. The two halves then morph into the shape of matching swords, one of which she tosses to me. It feels a little big and awkward, but I give it a few experimental swings. Then we cross swords once or twice, and she makes some adjustments to the blade, making it a little smaller. This back and forth continues, sometimes based on her judgement, other times on my input. I lose track of the number of swords I sample before we finally settle on the ideal shape.

"Okay, I'll contact you when the sword is ready," Pernelle finally says. "Be sure to pay attention to your email."

"I will!"

I leave Pernelle's barrier in high spirits and make my way back to the hotel.

Magical Girl Corner

Whenever a new magical girl is introduced, I'll include a brief profile of her here. Some details may be redacted, or contain minor spoilers. You have been warned! The numeric ranking values are on a scale of 1 to 10.

Pernelle Flamel

Age: 7½ centuries (approximate)
Eye Colour: Grey
Hair Colour: Grey
Origins: Paris, France
Symbol: Caduceus
Soul Gem: Somehow not visible while transformed
Element: Null
Weapon: Caduceus-like staff
Powers: Barriers, teleportation, alchemical reconstruction
Wish: Unknown

Speed: 3
Magical Stamina: 10
Offensive Power: 3
Defensive Power: 10
Initial Power Usability: 8
Learned Powers: 8