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SECHSUNDVIERZIG
TIMELINE X + N + 1
I've been on worse infiltrative bodyguard assignments, Yoruichi thought idly on Saturday night. Sure, she had to endure an excitable toddler's grabby hands reaching for her ears and tail all afternoon, but his sister and father corrected him when he made contact and gave her pieces of chicken to reward her for her patience, so it worked out. Besides, baby giggles were highly entertaining. Thankfully, Tatsuya was equally amused by missing when she dodged creatively or pounced around. Madoka watched her play with him after dinner until she wore the toddler out enough to go to bed early.
Tomohisa had given her slivers of yet more chicken— score!— and murmured his sincere thanks while musing that maybe they should look into getting a cat of their own.
Yoruichi lazed among the small army of stuffed animals on the shelves in Madoka's room and watched her do homework for the rest of the evening, wondering when the girl's mother would get home from her business dinner. Her feline ears heard the rattle of the front door and muffled voices a few minutes before footsteps approached. She and Madoka looked up when the door to Madoka's room opened. Tomohisa leaned in and sheepishly asked Madoka to help him. Madoka sighed fondly and got up. Yoruichi dropped to the floor and followed, curious.
Junko Kaname was sprawled in the entryway. She was barefoot, her briefcase and discarded high heels half in and half out of the front door. To Yoruichi's feline nose, she reeked of sake. Drunk as she was, her clothes and makeup were still immaculate. She just writhed a bit and grimaced as she looked up at her husband and daughter. Madoka left to get water while Tomohisa stooped to help his wife get into a sitting position. Junko's head flopped to one side as she whined a protest. Then she stilled, her eyes widened, and childlike excitement warmed her features.
"Kitty!"
"Yes, dear, Madoka is cat-sitting tonight," Tomohisa explained patiently.
"Ahahaha, kitty!" Junko clumsily reached out for Yoruichi, who cautiously padded over and allowed herself to be petted. The drunk businesswoman cooed.
"You sound like Tatsuya," Madoka teased as she returned from the kitchen and knelt to offer a cup. "Here. Water. I'll hold it for you."
Junko blinked up at her daughter. She tried to take the glass herself but Madoka batted her hands away easily and put the cup to her lips. Junko drank as best she could, water dribbling down her chin. She sighed in contentment when Madoka pulled back.
"She drinks like Tatsuya, too," Madoka giggled to her father as she pulled her mother's shoes and briefcase all the way in the front door.
Junko scowled. "My s-son is too young to drinks!"
"Ah-ahhhh, that's not what I—"
"Let's get you to bed, dear," Tomohisa said gently. He took one elbow while Madoka hurried around to take the other and Yoruichi darted out of the way. Madoka and Tomohisa heaved Junko to her feet.
"I d'wanna move," Junko moaned.
"I know, dear," Tomohisa said. He shuffled them all around to aim for a hallway. "The dinners are running later these last few weeks," he said neutrally. "Is something wrong?"
"Pigs," Junko slurred.
Tomohisa held himself more rigidly as his face went cool, but Madoka looked confused and said, "Eh?"
"Pigs," Junko repeated, then slid into a rant that distracted her from the fact that she was being compelled to walk toward her bedroom. Yoruichi trailed them and listened. "Greedy pigs. My ideas, my proposals, those two goddamn trustees treat me like a goddamn— a goddamn— seca— secta— ughhhhh." Her voice and face slid into a slurred, mocking leer. "'Ohhh, Kaaaname, maybe you'sh'd g'home an' change diapers while we finish talkn businz ha ha haaa', 'don't worry 'bout keep'n up li'l ladies can't hold 'eir liquorrr,' pigs. Our whoh-ohhh-ooooole innernass'nal promo things is my ideas, idiots. So I drunk 'em unner the table. Show them. Pigs."
Madoka and Tomohisa eased Junko into bed. She flopped on the mattress haphazardly and pouted up at them. "Sorry."
Tomohisa sat on the bed and reached over to caress her cheek. "Don't be." He smiled gently. "I'm very proud of you." She flushed and shyly tried to pull covers up over her, but wasn't coordinated enough to figure out she was on top of the covers. Tomohisa's smile gained a sharp edge. "Under the table, huh?"
Junko gave up on the sheets and flung her arms onto the pillow on either side of her head, lips curled smugly. "I stayed 'wake and din't e'en throw up," she slurred proudly. "Unlike some pigs 'oo neeeeed~ newww~ shoooo-hooooze~~~." She snickered evilly.
Tomohisa smirked and pushed her hair from her face. "Pigs do tend to make messes of themselves," he murmured philosophically.
Junko's giggles spawned hiccups as her eyelids drooped. Just as Tomohisa moved to stand, she grabbed for his wrist.
"Thanks," she mumbled. "Love."
"Love you, too," Tomohisa said as he squeezed her fingers.
Junko's smile was blissful as she immediately drifted off.
Tomohisa glanced at Madoka and gestured toward the door with his chin. She picked up Yoruichi and left the room, followed by her father. When Tomohisa had carefully closed the door, he turned to his daughter and quietly asked, "Want some hot chocolate?"
"Sure," Madoka answered, scritching Yoruichi's chin. She tilted her head and looked at the bedroom door. "Mama has it rough, huh?"
Tomohisa loosely wrapped an arm around her shoulders and ushered her down the hall. "That she does, sometimes. But she eats snobby old men who think women should only be secretaries for breakfast. Defying their expectations is one of her life's missions. Making them squirm entertains her. It wears on her sometimes, but your mother is a very strong woman."
Yoruichi decided Junko Kaname was her kind of woman. Drinking with her and Kūkaku would probably be highly entertaining.
Madoka looked down at Yoruichi and smiled warmly. "Mmhmm. She really is." She looked up at her father and hopefully asked, "Do you think I can be like Mama when I grow up?"
"Of course!" Tomohisa ruffled her hair with a grin. "Don't take that to mean you have to be a hotshot businesswoman if you don't want to, though. Mama and I will be very proud if you grow up to be a young woman who can be herself while doing whatever it is she loves and doesn't let the world discourage her from doing it." He squeezed his daughter's shoulder. "Mama had lot of uphill climbing to do to get where she is today. She fought hard to accomplish her dream. Still has to fight to keep it. If you want to be like Mama, find what you love and fight to keep it. And know we'll do everything in our power to support you."
Cheeks pink, Madoka leaned into her father's side. "Thanks, Papa," she murmured.
§ x § x §
Late Sunday morning, Yoruichi was sprawled out on Madoka's bed watching the girl dream with drowsy amusement. It turned to vague concern when the girl's face became troubled and her breathing labored. Then Madoka's eyes snapped open as she fearfully mumbled, "Homura?" with a breathy little gasp. Yoruichi watched the girl sleepily clinging to her stuffed bunny toy and looking around in confusion. Madoka's eyes settled on her and stared for a minute before clearing as she apparently remembered why there was a cat in her room.
Madoka dragged herself upright and stared blearily at the floral window shades. After a minute of waking up, she scrubbed her eyes with her knuckles and moaned, "Ahhh, dreams are so weird."
She cooed good morning to Yoruichi, stretched, and staggered out of bed with a yawn. Yoruichi trotted after her as she wandered to the back door in her pajamas and found her father picking produce from the garden. He didn't need any help, so he told Madoka to go wake her mother.
The uncharacteristic devious smirk on Madoka's face surprised Yoruichi. She was instantly curious.
They went to the door from the night before. It was already ajar. Madoka slammed it open ferociously. Yoruichi peeked in. Junko had managed to get under the covers at some point in the night. Little Tatsuya was perched on top of her duvet-cocoon, lightly pounding his fists on it.
"Mama! Mama! Up! Mo'nin'! Up! Maaamaaaaaa!"
Madoka marched over to the curtains and threw them wide as Yoruichi slunk along the baseboards of the room. The girl picked up her baby brother and put him on the floor. He smiled and stuck his chubby fingers in his mouth, gleefully expectant. Madoka whipped the covers off Junko and cheerfully yelled, "GOOOOOD MORNING!"
Yoruichi was hard pressed not to laugh with the siblings as Junko shrieked and flailed.
Breakfast with a hungover Junko was amusing. She was zombie-like and bleary. Madoka and Tomohisa played a game of making bizarre suggestions in reasonable voices to hear her replies. Tatsuya helpfully threw his own food at her from his high chair when she looked at her plate in confusion. Even when she began regaining her senses thanks to glorious coffee, she played along and ate the strawberries and cherry tomatoes that reached her general vicinity because Tatsuya squealed proudly whenever she did.
The Kaname family seemed to be one of the healthier, happier families Yoruichi had ever encountered in her work. Observing them was a treat.
The next couple hours were occupied by the family claiming the living room, parents perched on the sofa, quietly talking to one another and occasionally participating with the ball rolling-chasing-bouncing game their children played with the borrowed cat. Then the doorbell rang. Yoruichi sensed who it was before Tomohisa returned and announced that Miki was looking for Madoka. Junko took Tatsuya and Yoruichi trailed after Madoka as she padded through the house.
Miki turned to face Madoka when the door opened. "Oh, uh, hey, Madoka. Um. Sorry to bother you."
Madoka noted the way her friend was shifting uneasily. "Is something wrong?"
"No. Or, um, kinda?" Miki took a deep breath and straightened. "Mom said I had to go shopping for some stuff. She wouldn't let me say no. I can't tell her about the Witch thingy." She looked down at her feet, balled her hands into fists, and looked back up. "I— I don't want to go alone. So I thought— I thought, they always say that if you have to do something kinda risky, have someone with to help... so... yeah."
"I— I don't know, Sayaka..."
Miki reached to one side, where Madoka and Yoruichi saw she must have leaned a baseball bat when she came. "I— I have a weapon!" Miki gave an experimental swing and looked at Madoka hopefully. "But... safety in numbers, you know?"
Madoka bit her lip as Yoruichi wove between her ankles. "I don't have anything I can use."
Miki stood straighter, bolder. "I'll protect you!"
After nibbling one thumbnail for a minute, Madoka hesitantly said, "Let me get dressed."
Yoruichi trailed her through the house, meowing unhappily. While she was pleased that Miki had the presence of mind to think of the buddy system, the entire situation had Bad Idea written all over it in flashing neon letters— especially considering neither of them had any idea how to use the reiatsu they possessed. When Madoka and Miki left, Yoruichi darted out the door to follow them. They tried to make her go back inside, but gave up and resigned themselves to the black cat trotting along with them as they headed for the shopping district.
They were cutting through a quiet lane behind an antique shop and a florist when Miki stopped in her tracks and cocked her head to one side. She looked around in confusion. "Do you hear that?"
Madoka frowned. "Hear what?"
"That girl."
"What girl?"
"She's calling..."
Yoruichi looked up at Miki's face. She looked lost. Then Madoka stiffened and looked in the same direction as her.
"I... I hear it, too. But— but where is it coming from?" Madoka wondered, looking dazed.
The disguised shinigami cast her senses around them more carefully. Nothing. Miki turned toward the dumpster behind the florist and took hesitant steps toward it. Yoruichi still sensed nothing until the air warped and a large circle of dead butterflies spun into existence, the space within like a blurry kaleidoscope image with a large red butterfly sigil in the middle. The distinct Garganta-like feeling she had noted in Karakura popped up from nowhere. The heat haze effect must have been hidden by the dumpster, dammit.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, Yoruichi thought. I knew this was a bad idea.
Eyes glazed, Miki stepped inside and disappeared. Madoka startled into full awareness with a small flare of reiatsu and gasped, "Sayaka!"
Yoruichi yowled as Madoka jumped in the portal after her friend. She had no choice but to follow the girls. Akemi was going to be pissed.
The world within was bathed in dim twilight. It was composed of assorted architecture, art, and gardens. Arbitrary girders and bridges zigzagged from tower to tower. Atop the girders were rows of silhouetted Familiars conveying large rose blossoms across the air in an unending chain like a bucket brigade, stick-like arms swaying back and forth above them as they were partially silhouetted by a permanently setting sun. Old-fashioned elevators and wrought iron staircases were placed at random, some straight, some spiral, linking each checkered floor to the next. The girls and cat were currently on a platform of red and black tiles bordered by strips of dry grass and scraggly trees with twitching teabags dangling from their limbs.
Yoruichi had just resolved to claw Miki's calves to snap her out of her trance when the girl blinked and jerked into awareness on her own. As with Madoka, it seemed to happen because of a small flare in her reiatsu. Kisuke would have a field day with this information.
Miki glanced around, saw Madoka completely frozen in terror, and gulped. "I didn't— I didn't mean to do that."
Madoka whined far back in her throat and looked around like a caged animal. There was no sign of the portal. "H-how do we get out?"
Miki turned in a circle. "The only doors I see look pretty crazy. And they're almost all the same." She chewed her lip and weighed their options. "Stranger Danger called them labyrinths, right? That's a kind of maze, right? Mazes have exits. So— so maybe we just need to find the exit? If we wander around, we'll find it eventually, right?"
Yoruichi wondered if Japanese schoolchildren were taught the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. The one where wandering the labyrinth got most people lost and killed, which she only knew because Kisuke was both a polymath and an unrepentant over-sharer who had inventor's-remorse feelings about Daedalus and Alfred Nobel when exceedingly drunk.
...Probably not.
Hadn't their parents taught them to stay in one place when lost to be easier to find?
"What about the Witch? And the— the little thingies?" Madoka squeaked.
Whatever Miki was going to say was interrupted by the tinkling of small bells and chirping of baby birds as a flock of mustachioed blobs with butterfly wings and many eyes swarmed them. Both girls screamed and held their arms up to protect their faces as Yoruichi sized up the Familiars. They were all multicolored and didn't seem to have any appendages, simply flying around the girls in an irritable flock as their ringing and chirping grew louder. Then both girls broke and ran— thankfully in the same direction. Yoruichi tailed them as the Familiars chased them like a flock of oversize bats. Madoka followed Miki through twists and turns, up stairs and down stairs, until they got cornered in a courtyard surrounded by teabag trees decorated with multicolored caterpillars and chrysalids. Then came a clattering and giggling as giant cotton balls with mustaches lurched out of the rose bushes on butterfly legs.
They matched the description Akemi had given her, but Yoruichi still felt like she had accidentally ingested one of Kisuke's experimental products.
As the Familiars began closing in on the girls and chanting in childish German, Miki straightened her spine, hardened her face, and hefted her baseball bat into a few practice swings. "I— I'll handle it," she said with shaky bravado.
"S-sayaka—!"
"I'll handle it!" the blue-haired girl shouted with an edge of panic in her anger. She swung at one of the flying creatures, missing the one she intended to hit but connecting with a second one behind it. Miki gave up on trying to aim in the mayhem and just started swinging wildly at the swarm while Madoka huddled at her feet with Yoruichi.
Yoruichi, for her part, seriously considered blowing her cover to assume her human form and save the girls before they could be badly hurt. Two things stayed her hand: the possibility that this experience could scare them out of contracting better than any words that could be said to them and the thought of if this Incubator is anywhere near as conniving as Kisuke or Aizen, this is a setup.
She held herself back and repeated this mantra as Madoka broke down and sobbed into her fur. Just when Yoruichi decided to throw caution to the wind, a bolt of reiatsu slammed down from above, hit the ground in front of them with gold and red light, and rapidly expanded in a storm of ribbons in every direction to blow away the Familiars as if by an explosion. Miki and Madoka's hair and clothes rustled as though caught in wind as light forming a floral kaleidoscope shimmered beneath their feet and exuded an outward-pressing force.
"Ah, that was a close one," a girl's voice called out pleasantly. Yoruichi and the girls looked up. A blonde with her hair in curly pigtails was descending a nearby set of spiral stairs, spring green cardigan and pale yellow dress fluttering in the streams of golden reiatsu pouring off the yellow Soul Gem she held in her left hand. Her right hand hovered near the Soul Gem as little flowers made of light popped into and out of existence around it like bubbles. The girl smiled kindly, eyes warm. "But don't worry— you're safe now."
Annnd there's the bait for the trap, Yoruichi thought drily. Mami Tomoe, paragon of magical girls. Sometimes she hated being right.
Miki sputtered as the newcomer reached their floor and strolled closer, seemingly unmindful of the masses of Familiars angrily surging around her barrier. Madoka stared with wide eyes, surprised out of her tears.
"Are you injured?" the new girl asked.
Madoka stammered, "N-not really" as Miki squawked and gestured at the blonde with her bat and demanded, "Who're you?!"
"That's right, I haven't introduced myself yet," the new girl said contritely. She opened her mouth to say more, but the strange blob Familiars were clustering together into large masses and beating on her barrier as the cotton ball minions generated thorny vines wielding scissors longer than the girls were tall. The girl let out a little huff, sounding more amused than anything. "Before I get to that—" she held up her Soul Gem and smiled— "Do you mind if I wrap up a bit of work?"
Miki opened her mouth to retort but it turned into a gasp as the yellow Soul Gem flared brilliantly. Yoruichi narrowed her eyes and committed as much as she could to memory to report to Kisuke later. Whereas Akemi's transformations seemed to be her violet reiatsu consuming her as though in some combination of flame and fluid, this girl's transformation seemed to consist of shining ribbons of yellow reiatsu twirling around her, pulling tightly around her form, and bursting away with a sparkle of flowers until her normal clothing was replaced by a magical girl costume featuring a white blouse, white arm warmers, brown fingerless gloves, brown cincher, short but puffy yellow skirt, striped saloon girl stockings, and brown and yellow boots. A flower-shaped topaz— her Soul Gem— was attached to a brown pillbox cap with a puff of white feathers. Yoruichi noted that the girl's reiatsu was very strong. Stronger than Akemi had been when facing the Pumpkin Witch; but Yoruichi was certain Akemi had been holding back then. And her use of conventional weaponry masked her true strength.
Yoruichi really wanted to know how strong Homura Akemi was when she went all-out. She admired the girl's ability to conceal her true prowess, though. It bespoke caution, self-preservation, and strategic planning— playing her cards close to the vest. As former commander of the division specializing in covert ops and subterfuge, she had true respect for that.
The magical girl winked at Madoka and Miki, pointed the toe of one boot out, and span in a circle, throwing her arms wide as tiny flowers burst up in a trail behind her dragging boot. Bolts of yellow reiatsu lanced out from her hands like party streamers and turned into ivory muskets. Dozens of identical copies of the weapon were suspended in midair, all pointing outward. The blonde gracefully raised one arm and let it fall in a sharp movement. The guns each shot a molten gold projectile. It looked like countless hot coals exploding out from around them. Secondary explosions happened whenever a musketball made contact with an enemy.
Yoruichi shook her head slightly and flicked her ears. She had long known how to use her own reiatsu to protect her ears from explosions— anyone who had ever lived in the same building as Kisuke Urahara or been friends with a Shiba learned this to preserve their sanity— but she had been just a bit slow on the uptake. Unacceptable. She'd have to practice. An irreverent thought crossed her mind: Well, it was obvious where Akemi had picked up her habit of suddenly firing the ordnance of a small army without warning anyone around her that she was going to do it.
With another gesture, the girl caused a yellow ribbon to spiral out of her hand and around the clearing, then retracted the ribbonlike reiatsu quickly to generate a small whirlwind to clear the smoke of her attack. The butterflies from the minions fluttered away. The magical girl settled her hands on her hips with a satisfied sigh and turned to the girls. She smiled contritely once again. "My apologies. Are you all right?"
Madoka stood shakily, clutching Yoruichi to her chest. The cat could feel the girl's heart thundering. Madoka's mouth opened and closed, but all she could do was gape. Miki behaved similarly. The magical girl looked concerned and stepped toward them.
Miki took half a step back. "Wh-who are you?"
The blonde blinked and stopped short in surprise, then smoothed her skirt and laced her hands together demurely. "Ah, I apologize. We were interrupted. My name is Mami Tomoe." She bowed slightly. "As you can see, I am a magical girl." Tomoe smiled and winked conspiratorially. "Don't tell anyone, okay?"
Miki and Madoka shared a wary glance. Neither answered. Then Miki shifted uneasily. "So, Tomoe. What now?"
"Normally, I would try to get you safely out of here and chase down this Witch later, but this one has been so slippery I can't afford to lose it again— it may take more people like you before I can track it." Tomoe tilted her head and looked at them searchingly. "But you are conscious and sane in here. That's rare. I can feel your magic. You should be able to withstand this labyrinth as long as I do the fighting and you hang back and do exactly as I say."
"Won't— won't we get in your way?" Madoka asked meekly.
A sunny smile warmed Tomoe's face. "Of course not! Not if you cooperate! Stay behind me, stay together, and I'll be able to protect you."
"W-well," Madoka said hesitantly, "I— I don't want someone else to get hurt just to get out of here, so— so I-I'll come!" Determination didn't quite hide her fear, but Yoruichi was pleased that she could push through it.
Miki straightened with the trickle of her confidence returning and tentatively held up her bat. "We— we won't be completely helpless."
Bemused, Tomoe hesitantly asked, "Why do you have a baseball bat with you in the shopping district?"
Miki flushed and looked at Madoka. "Well, uh... long story?"
Tomoe's lips quirked with restrained humor. "You'll have to tell me later. Hold it up toward me, if you don't mind?"
Miki brandished the bat as Tomoe stepped closer. The magical girl grabbed the bat. Reiatsu, ribbons, and flowers flashed and transformed the bat into... well, a more ornate bat. Instead of scratched wood, it was pale blue and embossed with golden rose filigree. Tiny flowers bubbled around it, apparently a calling card of sorts for the girl's techniques.
Tomoe let go and stepped back. "There you go. It's not much, but it should work much better on anything you can hit. It's the closest thing to a magical weapon I can get you."
Kisuke is going to love this, Yoruichi thought. Imbuing a mundane object with one's reiatsu to enhance attack power was common enough, but to be able to do so remotely for more than a few seconds— as with Karin and her soccer balls— was advanced. Especially if the object itself was changed or encased.
Miki marveled at the changed bat and swung it experimentally. She must have liked what she felt because her eyes lit up even more. "Wow, thanks, Tomoe!"
Tomoe giggled into her hand, then turned serious. "Follow me. I'll finish this enemy and explain everything over some cake, okay?"
"I never say no to free cake!" Miki crowed.
Madoka looked uncertain, but firmed her face and straightened her shoulders with a nod.
They set off at a jog, Tomoe in the lead, Madoka in the middle carrying Yoruichi, and Miki as rear guard. Of sorts. Tomoe's floral kaleidoscope barriers did most of the guarding, but Miki got a few hits. Yoruichi took mental notes on Tomoe's abilities. Her supply of guns seemed to be endless, but Tomoe only ever got one shot from each gun before she threw it aside and conjured another one. The ammunition seemed to vary; most of the time, it was a glowing yellow musketball. Sometimes, Yoruichi could swear it was buckshot. Tomoe was a pragmatic fighter. She seemed to thrive mostly in ranged combat, but would allow specific weak enemies to get close to her if she could take them out with a blow from a used gun in one continuous motion between shots— excellent conservation of motion and effort. The girl often summoned multiple guns at once and went through them with the fluid grace of long practice, her style a mesmerizing hybrid of rhythmic gymnastics, flag twirling, stave fighting, and skeet shooting. She was methodical enough to get predictable if you watched her very long, but she was also dealing with floods of the same kind of enemy very efficiently, so that may or may not mean anything. And she was young, still. So much potential. Graceful and conscious of manipulating range as she was, Yoruichi bet the girl would be a holy terror if properly trained in hand-to-hand combat.
The party progressed through the labyrinth at a steady clip, plowing through twilit hallways, bridges, gardens, and galleries, past strange art, doors, and windows that looked like they had been slapped onto the walls with découpage and little respect for perspective or logic. Patrolling flocks of the chiming blobs kept finding them and clamoring to summon more cotton balls to stop them as they navigated rose-filled tea gardens and black hedgerows. They finally reached a pit that contained a fancy door. Tomoe jumped down into the pit, conjured a row of guns, and fired at the mob of cotton ball Familiars juggling roses. Madoka and Miki awkwardly dropped down after her and approached the door. It was covered in strange runes.
"There will be a much stronger monster called a Witch behind this door," Tomoe explained with a businesslike tone. "You need to stay behind me and do as I say. I'm not sure what the inside will look like. Be ready for anything."
Miki's face firmed with determination while Madoka squeezed Yoruichi tighter and swallowed hard.
Behind the door was... another door, surrounded by a ring of giant dead butterflies. And another, and another. The butterfly doors had begun to seem infinite when suddenly a door opened into a massive chamber. Tomoe cautiously stepped to the floor's edge and assessed the battleground. Madoka and Miki peered around her. They were on a ledge high above a tea garden full of brambles and roses. There were also stone pillars with cotton ball heads and random artwork strewn about. The cotton ball Familiars bustled about the ground, apparently tending the roses. The chamber's walls were constantly shifting overlapping rings of different materials— lace, wrought iron, picket fences, burlap, plaster molding, accordion fencing, patterned wallpaper— a wildly rotating jumble, often featuring silhouettes of butterflies. Above them, the ceiling was completely blanketed in red rose blossoms. In the middle of the garden was a massive red fainting couch that served as throne to an ungainly monster.
"Look. That is a Witch," Tomoe said to the other girls.
"Eugh," Miki said with a lip curled in disgust. "Gross."
"Y-you're going to fight that?!" Madoka asked, voice small.
Tomoe glanced at them over her shoulder with mild surprise, then turned and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. I won't lose to the likes of that. Here." She took the magically-augmented bat from Miki's limp fingers, twirled it around, and slammed the end of the bat straight down into the ground. Yellow and red ribbons exploded upwards like party crackers, arched outward, and formed Tomoe's floral barrier. She smirked playfully. "I'll just be a minute. Then we can talk over cake!" Without further ado, the magical girl hopped over the edge and disappeared.
Madoka and Miki rushed to the edge. They and Yoruichi watched Tomoe stroll through the garden to approach the monster. The majority of it was an amorphous blob whose surface was swirled with colors that balanced out to peach mottled with red. Six black insect legs jutted out from the blob. The blob narrowed up to a vague neck holding a rough head of hanging moss and red roses. The whole thing was slumped over like a weeping willow, but shifted and twitched in a mockery of life. Gigantic swallowtail butterfly wings beat slowly on what was supposed to be its back.
Tomoe stopped within plain sight of the Witch, but it didn't react. The magical girl glanced down at what, from a distance, looked like little candle flames floating along the grass. She straightened, stared at the Witch, and deliberately stamped a candle flame under her heel. The Witch jerked up in alarm. Tomoe crushed another under her boot, grinding the thing into the sod for good measure. The Witch whirled to face her and roared. Tomoe curtsied and caused guns to fall from beneath her skirt. The Witch roared again, presumably at the impudence, and outright hurled its throne at the magical girl. Tomoe calmly grasped the guns as she rose from her curtsy, aimed, and shot at the furniture flying her direction. The two shots were sufficient to make the thing explode into a mess of splintered wood and upholstery as Tomoe back-flipped away.
Damn, this girl has style, Yoruichi thought appreciatively. She could condone a certain flair for the dramatic as long as it wasn't detrimental to actual battle performance. It certainly worked in the current situation. The Witch was agitated and jittering around the huge room like an angry bee with no apparent direction— too upset to coherently attack, it seemed. Perfect for taking pot-shots.
Tomoe took off her feathered cap, held it to the side and above her head with the brim down, and drew it across the air in front of and around her. Ribbon-like bolts of gold dropped out of it and turned into over two dozen muskets that stuck stock-up in the grass— her own garden of weaponry. She calmly replaced her hat, braced herself in a good stance, and began methodically firing gun after gun after gun at the flying Witch, her motions smooth as she swept up a gun with one hand and discarded a gun with the other in an easy, alternating rhythm. Those shots that didn't connect with the Witch pockmarked the walls and sparked yellow.
Yoruichi noticed the problem before the other girls did. Madoka and Miki gasped as the grass-borne candle flames that had converged on Tomoe turned black and rose up in a line, melding into a black vine that wrapped around the magical girl's lower body and yanked her skyward. Madoka and Miki yelled her name as Tomoe cried out in surprise and immediately shot both guns she was holding, pelting the ground with buckshot and yellow sparks. The vine slung her around in the air and whipped her at a wall. The girls screamed, but Yoruichi watched intensely as she felt Tomoe's reiatsu spike right before the unexpectedly loud impact. When the dust cleared, Tomoe was sitting upright in the cracked wall, which looked more like a wrecking ball had hit it than a human body. The grimacing magical girl was still entwined in the vine but also surrounded by her floral kaleidoscope as little sparkles Yoruichi presumed were the eldritch flowers she'd seen earlier bubbled around her head and joints.
The little part of Yoruichi's mind that would forever speak in Kisuke's voice when evaluating oddities crowed, Fascinating! Practiced or instinctive? How many techniques did she just combine into one? Would that be more akin to shikai or kidō? Or is it a completely new toy? She also noted that the girl would do well to drill in situational awareness. Getting snagged so easily had been sloppy.
The vine swung the girl airborne again and jerked her up to hang upside-down over the center of the garden— directly over the Witch. Tomoe's arms dangled loosely as the monster beneath her strained upward like a dog seeking a treat. Madoka and Miki screamed the girl's name again, terrified panic in their voices.
Tomoe shook herself a bit, shifted, and called out, "I'm fine!" She swayed a bit and glanced their way with a confident smile. "As though I could ever let myself look so uncool in front of my future magical girl juniors!"
Yoruichi's ears flicked back to rest against her head. Was it an innocent presumption based on the power Tomoe had sensed from the girls? Or had she been told to actively recruit them?
A hissing sound echoed in the chamber as all the bullet holes pockmarking the ground and walls sparked and sprayed ribbons of yellow light in every direction, accompanied by the tiny flowers characteristic of Tomoe's techniques. The cotton ball Familiars who had been tending the garden scattered around uncertainly as though trying to prevent damage to the roses. Many of the ribbons ensnared the cotton ball minions and thrashed them about in the brambles. The Witch turned this way and that in panic, decided the magical girl was to blame, and shrieked as a cacophony of machete slices rang out in the chamber. Gigantic pairs of black scissors burst from the Witch's mossy head, snapping toward Tomoe as they were propelled by thorny black vines. Tomoe's yellow streamers swirled through the air after them, lassoed them to restrain them, and wrapped around the Witch with a shower of tiny flowers. Once the Witch was bound and struggling, Tomoe looked satisfied and murmured something as she put one hand to her neck and untied her costume's neck bow with a quick tug. The yellow ribbon flew a short distance of its own accord, snapped straight, and shot up at the vine Tomoe was suspended from. It cut the vine and freed the magical girl, then rebounded to return to her hand as she righted herself mid-fall. The ribbon enlarged and spiraled into a cylinder which filled and flashed with Tomoe's sunny reiatsu as it turned into a massive flintlock musketoon without a stock. Yoruichi didn't know how the hell the girl was holding it to her shoulder without looking comical— the barrel was nearly as tall as its wielder and should have looked ridiculous.
The magical girl cheerfully yelled, "Tiro Finale!" The ensuing discharge sounded like cannon fire and looked like a flamethrower of golden light. It seemed to ignite the ribbons of light around the Witch. Then everything exploded in blindingly bright yellow light.
Yoruichi stared in dumbfounded surprise. That was several orders of magnitude more devastating than she had expected. That Lieutenant-class attack could have done serious damage to a Menos Grande. And the one who used the technique was a cute fifteen-year-old girl in a cute dress and cute pigtails daintily landing with a pirouette and smiling up at them as though she had swatted a bug and was eager to return to her tea party.
Just.
Wow.
God, she hoped whatever Kisuke put together included teaching this girl something. She knew her friend had something in mind for her to do with Akemi, though he had been vague on details. That was going to be fun on its own. The prospect of adding Tomoe filled her with glee.
The garden world wobbled and collapsed, leaving all four beings standing in the alley once again. Tomoe released her transformation, replacing her battle costume with her civilian clothing. The technique she had applied to Miki's bat faded as it fell over and clunked on the asphalt. Madoka and Miki stared at Tomoe as she delicately smoothed her dress and adjusted her hair. Yoruichi saw the light of newborn hero worship in their eyes. Which was probably the Incubator's pla—
Good job, Mami! a cheerful voice rang in their heads. Yoruichi stiffened as Madoka turned around in search of the "voice's" source.
"Ah, Kyubey!" Tomoe said pleasantly as she retrieved the Witch's Grief Seed from the pavement. "I was wondering where you were."
Perched on the edge of the florist's dumpster among wilted bouquets of baby's breath, pink roses, and rotten white carnations was a creature that matched the sketches Karin, Yuzu, and Akemi had drawn for Kisuke. Its fluffy tail undulated lazily as its beady red eyes stared at the girls. What unnerved Yoruichi was that she hadn't sensed it at all. Still could not sense it. No noticeable reiatsu. She could smell it, though. Very faintly. Oddly, it didn't have any residual scents aside from Tomoe's. Usually, Yoruichi's feline sense of smell could assist her in making educated guesses about where any given item or being had been— traces of grass, smoke, sea breeze, food, and so on. Madoka tended to have the residual scents of laundry detergent and baby shampoo common in her home. Akemi had a constant undertone of gunpowder. Currently, Tomoe smelled strongly of baked sweets— probably the cake she had mentioned. Yet the Incubator only had its faint unique scent and Tomoe's faint unique scent. It hadn't picked up the scent of baked goods from the magical girl. It was something Yoruichi decided she should pay attention to in the long term.
I apologize for my tardiness. But I knew you could do it, Mami! the creature cheered. And I see you made new friends! It turned to the two girls it had yet to contract and tilted its head cutely, eyes crinkled in an approximation of a smile. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Madoka Kaname! And also you, Sayaka Miki!
"H-how do you know our names?" Madoka asked timidly.
I have a request for you two, the Incubator said, completely ignoring the question. I want you to make contracts with me and become magical girls like Mami!
Straight for the kill, the cat observed grimly. Think fast, Yoruichi.
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WITCH DATA
GERTRUD, the Rose Garden Witch with a distrustful nature. She holds roses dearer than anything else. She expends all of her power for the sake of beautiful roses. Despite stealing the life-force of humans who wander into her barrier to give to her roses, she loathes the thought of them trampling the inside of her barrier.
Minion: Anthony. His duty is landscaping. His mustache is set by the Witch.
Minion: Adelbert. His duty is to act as lookout. Upon seeing a human, he will sound a warning bell and headbutt him mercilessly. They have 2.5 (20/8) vision. The smaller type can change into rose vines to hinder intruders.
This chapter was replaced with an edited version on November 1, 2019. Reviews with timestamps before that date refer to a slightly different version of the chapter.