Lyrical Chronicles Redux

[Olvelsper]

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is the property of Masaki Tsuzuki, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the property of Gen Urobuchi, Magic Knight Rayearth is the property of CLAMP, and Super Robot Wars is the property of Banpresto.

Stage 01: Set Up!

Time and space is an endless ocean. The Dimensional Sea is able to shrug off everything - from paradoxes to big bangs - and come back for more each time. This fundamental principal is the only truth that all Midchildans are taught in our schools. It is a principal that we fight to protect as we journey through the worlds.

We have to. If we do not, we could be proven catastrophically wrong once again. Like with the land of Al Hazard once upon a time. This is why we, of the Time Space Bureau Administration, must always ensure that we resolve issues dealing with Lost Logia – technology capable of damaging the Dimensional Sea – in a swift manner.

Who knows what great evils might be unleashed otherwise.

- Captain Eita Nadaka

*****

A sea of stars stretched as far as the eye could see. A panaroma of lights danced before the small white creature as it bounced down an endless road of silver light. His long, floppy ears bounced in direct counter to it small, chubby body's hopping gait as it moved forward on pudgy little feet.

To lesser beings, all of the shining lights and their chaotic dances appeared as whorls of swirling light, but the creature was able to see things as they really were. Its senses showed the worlds that the lights represented, twinkling with hope, despair, and everything in between. It could see the past and the future of countless worlds as he journeyed with his friend and child.

'It's beginning, Father.' A strong, breathy voice spoke to his heart. He raised his head, revealing slit eyes and a gleaming red gemstone on his forehead as he looked at the majestic shadow that flew overhead. Massive feathered wings spread out from the central, bird-like body hover him as the emerald figure cast a shadow over the white, rabbit-like creature.

"Puu..." The rabbit replied to the call of his remaining child as both beings gazed upon the merging of three neighboring worlds.

'Please speak normally, Father. You aren't playing the role of Mokona anymore.'

*****

Non-Administrated World #97.

Also known to the residents as 'Earth'.

The planet had recently been in the spotlight in the interdimensional community as the sight of terrorist activity. The world, a low level planet with low magical scans, was the stage for a battle over twenty one Lost Logia, collectively known as the Jewel Seeds. If they were unleashed at once, they had enough power to bring down the dimensional walls around Earth.

The Time Space Bureau Administration grew involved in the battle once the archaelogist that had originally discovered the Jewel Seeds, one Yuuno Scrya, failed to report to the rendevous location on schedule. The tracking signature of his Intelligent Device, Raising Heart, was forwarded to the nearest Bureau ship – the Asura, for further investigation.

On arrival to planet Earth, it was discovered that Scrya had been forced to involve one of the natives, Nanoha Takamachi, due to injuries sustained during attempts to contain the Jewel Seeds' power. Both Ms. Takamachi and Mr. Scrya were opposed by a non-licensed mage named Fate Testarossa and her familiar Arf. Under the orders of her mother and known criminal, Precia Testarossa, Ms. Testarossa attempted to gather the Jewel Seeds by force.

By the time that the Asura arrived, Mrs. Testarossa had already obtained enough Jewel Seeds to unleash a devastating blow to the fabric of space and time. It is still unknown what exactly Mrs. Testarossa was attempting to do from within her base of operations, the Garden of Time, when she activated the Jewel Seeds, but agents of the Bureau – along with Ms. Takamachi and Mr. Scrya – stormed the Garden. Mrs. Testarossa apparently dove to her death along with the body of her child, Alicia Testarossa, as they plunged into a section of the Garden which had been swallowed up by the Dimensional Sea.

The Jewel Seeds were safely recovered, and Ms. Testarossa and her familiar have been placed under protective custody. Investigation is still pending to clarify what goals Mrs. Testarossa was attempting to fulfill.

- JS01, last accessed on  05.26.0065

*****

The Corvette class ship Omegane was one of a limited number of ships that the Bureau had sent to the Milky Way Galaxy. Measuring 50 meters long with a 20 meter diameter, these class of dimensional ships were armed with the latest in sensors. Weapons were minimal, normally just limited to one main cannon.

Their goal was simple – research and repair.

Normally the tour of duties for these vessels lasted about three months. The crew compliment totalled 50 in all. This was to be the first ship sent out to the space around Non-Administrated World #97.

"May Precia Testarossa's gothic, over the hill ass rot in hell." A red haired woman in a white lab coat led a rousing murmur in the bridge of the Omegane. "Especially for making us come out to this backwater burg."

The six Bureau agents on the bridge of the ship navigated the dimensional ship out of the depths of the Dimensional Sea. The chaotic flux of colors and signals gave way to a shining blue-green marble of Earth far in the distance from where they had appeared.

"Don't speak ill of the dead." The other, the captain of the ship – Eita Nadaka, glanced at Marion Radom with sharp eyes. "What are you doing up here anyway, Radom?" The man prodded. "Only five here unless an emergency."

"Hee hee..." Marion rubbed the back of her head a bit sheepishly. "I wanted to peek at some of the scans on Earth." She admitted. The sensor technician that she was looming over gave Eita a glum nod. He glanced up at Marion, who subtly waved him to keep scanning the planet at the edge of their sensor range.

"...still going on about wanting to study that Takamachi girl?" Eita asked with a tired sigh. He didn't pay Marion any mind as he glanced away from her. Their monitors currently showed their ship was hiding in the shadow of the moon as they attempted to work a cloak to be able to draw closer to the planet.

"I'm just curious. Admiral Graham was the last person we detected with a Linker Core on this world, and his was every bit as powerful as that young girl's was shown." Marion smirked as she moved next to Eita's desk. She crossed her arms across her blue blouse as she shifted in place.

"So, hoping to turn her into a human experiment?" Eita wondered, causing Marion to smirk. "I don't think you'll be able to convince her. I mean...she even managed to face down Admiral Harlaown's recruitment song and dance."

"Then just boil her some tea!" Marion begged.

"I only use my tea for good. Never evil." The captain smugly replied, causing Marion to pout.

'That's fine, I'll figure out someway to get her yet.' The curly haired redhead thought to herself as she plotted.

*****

Loneliness was something that Mami Tomoe was well acquainted with for three years now. It was a bitter concept to accept, but in being granted her heart's greatest desire she had been denied so many things that she had cherished.

'To think that the gift of resurrection from near death could be a bad thing.' The blonde haired girl had nearly been the third victim of a tragic car accident that had instantly claimed the lives of both her parents. In those final moments, Mami had screamed and pled in the face of the absolute red tinted darkness that crept from the sides of her visions. She had begged the universe for a miracle. The universe had responded.

It had cost her everyone she loved. It was only a down payment. Miracles are not cheap, after all.

Still, it was a wonderful thing, right? In the wake of a tragic accident, she was granted a miracle. She lived where others had died. She was reborn amongst twisted steel and flame. She was given a direction for her new life as well.

Mami raggedly coughed once again. The fair haired girl grimaced as the taste of blood filled her mouth as she slowly dragged herself down a darkened and rotten wooden hallway. She glanced backwards only long enough to sadly observe the fallen body of another young girl. Her chest had completely been ripped open by fangs, but in return the killer was also bleeding from multiple stab wounds and a slash across its neck. 

Katrina had gone down fighting, but now here she lay dead. No longer a warrior, but a simple teenager in a bloody school uniform.

'Alone again.' Mami's golden eyes gazed as the blood of killer and victim mixed in a slowly growing pool beneath them. She clenched her teeth as she steadfastly ignored the cooling body of her comrade. Her pace started picking up as into first a jog and then an all out dash down the halls.

'I'm sorry for failing you too, Katrina.' Mami projected silently towards the corpse of the young girl as she the soft golden glow that had been illuminating the hall before her until now died down. The return of the gloom of the hallway also heralded the end to her pain as injuries mended themselves and hurts vanished. She glanced down at the her outfit.

The formerly stained short sleeved was now white where it had been red. Leather corset which had been sliced through was now mended. Baggy detached white sleeves which had been ruined into shreds had been mended.

Mami patted down her brown skirt and tapped her boots into the ground as her stockings tightened around her legs. She reached up and took off the feathered beret she wore on her head and inspected it. It was clean as well. Even as she put it back on, her fingers gently brushed against the golden flower shaped broach on the side of her blonde hair.

She had to be careful with it. This was what defined the life she had been reborn into. The golden gem set in the middle of the flower broach was her tie to humanity. This was what allowed her to fight depraved horrors named Witches and Familiars for the sake of her fellow man as a Puella Magi. As a Heroine of Justice.

Most importantly, the Soul Gem on that broach was the proof of the covenant which had restored her life. It was proof she had ultimately mattered enough in the eyes of the world to be granted a second chance. She would be thankful for that until her dying day.

'The Witch is bound to have sensed the annihilation of her Familiars by this point.' Mami thought to herself angrily. She had to find the beast before it let loose another wave of its minions into this maze. Katrina would be saddened if her loss were for nothing.

The blonde's eyes widened as she found a door at the end of this hallway. Racing up to it, Mami reached for the door's handle and twisted it. Her hopes crashed around her head as the sound of a broken lock rattled in the silent hall. In the distance, Mami could hear the twisted laughter of the Witch mocking her.

'No...I was so sure.' The Puella Magi's eyes wearily closed. 'There's only one hall left.'

Katrina and she had been wandering within the Witch's boundary for a good hour now, and it seemed a good three fourths of the doors they encountered in this endless maze of hallways were jammed shut. The first and last time they had tried breaking down a door with brute force had unleashed an attack by three of Walpurgisnacht's familiars on them, and they had stopped trying at that point.

Mami let out a bitter chuckle as she was forced to double back past the body of her comrade. The blonde glanced towards the Familiar that had ended her comrade's life. At some fundamental level the Familiar could have passed for female, but the heavy blood stained gauze wrapping and dirty hospital gown it wore made it resemble a potato. A deformed growth of skin rendered its face unrecognizable and the smell of disease hung off it like cloying perfume.

The figure had all it's body strapped into harness, which in turn was tied to rusted remains of a bed frame. This type of Familiar had attacked in masses early on by breathing out noxious fumes that dazed the Puella Magi long enough for them to hover within attack range and slam their claws and limbs into them with monstrous power.

This particular Familiar had been smart and had hung high in the ceiling and came down on Katrina before either of them could do anything. Blood coated the Familiar's mouth like lipstick. It disgusted Mami.

Mami called forth a silver musket with engravings and blasted the Familiar in the head. The body jerked and another splurt of black blood poured forth to mix with Katrina's blood. 

"Let's go, Katrina." Mami dragged her comrade back to the three way split they had encountered before. She could at least drop her off there. The blonde Puella didn't want her comrade anywhere near the fallen Familiar now that she had examined the corpses.

Mami knelt down once she was in the center of the three hallways and set down Katrina. The blonde brushed aside the girl's light brown hair and gently closed the older girl's hollow green eyes. The surviving Puella Magi took her hands and crossed them over the wounds on her chest. The silver ring on her hand and dark green gem embedded in it gleamed at her from the darkness of the hall.

"I'll avenge you."

*****

'Walpurgisnacht.' Mami sounded out the foreign words to herself a half hour later. The blonde Puella Magi had found herself hopelessly lost within the distorted hallways. After the last attack, she had kept her eyes peeled for any surprise attacks. Fortunately her weapons let her stay away from the beasts, but she was afraid that time was running out.

If she couldn't destroy that Witch before it hit Katrina's city there would be untold deaths as the Witch would drive every human to kill themselves. From there it would then move on to ravage Mitakihara Town. The saddest thing would be that no one would be the wiser, as it would strike from this unseen world that was moving steadily towards its goal. She couldn't let that happen. Too many had been lost.

"There you are..." Mami breathed as she saw light peek out beneath a door. Reaching towards it, the blonde flung the door open. A wave of fire magic spread outwards to annihilate her, turning her vision red even as her instincts took over in a flurry of activity.

'What a beautiful killing chamber.' Mami thought with a sick smile as she leapt high over the initial horizontal wave of flame. Her body twisted into a twirl as the beast that lorded over this maze sent two more bursts of flame in three vertical flaming bursts. She was able to contort her body at the last second to squeeze in between the second and third pillar of flame.

The blonde Puella Magi ignored the scent of burning hair as the beast she was hunting was revealed in all its twisted glory. The monster before her was female like the one before, and appeared more human than its Familiars had been in that it had a discernible face. The Witch's cold, dead eyes darkly gazed out upon her from a pale face that appeared carved from stone.

However, just like stone, its almost surreal beauty was broken as dark veins rose up from the jaw line. These dark veins jaggedly tore across pale skin and made the Witch's features look even more like a cracked mask. Stringy and dirty black hair came down from its head in a river of onyx up to its shoulders.

However, from the neck down, it was a horrid creature, with its flesh stripped off its torso, revealing only pink muscle and exposed veins. From its torso to its hips nothing existed except for its spinal column, bloody and still raw.

Its hips shone whitely in the dim room as the bones were exposed for a little, but the majority of everything below that point was consumed into the darkness as the Witch kept itself upright with one arm while the other angrily swiped at her with its other claw.

Mami leapt to the left to avoid the attack, leaving six silver muskets hovering in place. With furious roars, they blasted at the raw torso that was embedded in the walls.

The beast enraged shrieks caused rotten chunks of wood to rain down from the ceiling onto Mami. She lashed out with an arm and batted one of the chunks away. Her eyes caught sight of the Witch rearing back and flinging a wave of blood at her. Moments afterwards, it ignited as mid-air as another blast of flame exploded outwards.

The Witch did not allow Mami a chance to fire back as she unleashed more and more waves of bloody flames at the girl. The battle field was shrinking too quickly flames licked at her exposed thighs as she dashed away from the Witch's sweeping claws.

'Is...is this it?' The Witch's overwhelming strength was swiftly turning the room into an inferno, and her exit was now completely blocked off by the falling debris. Just as the Witch raised its bloody claws for one last blow something wrenched the world around them.

An explosion of light and cacophony of noise rattled exploded outwards from the center of the circular room the two had been battling within. For one brief moment Puella Magi and Witch both screamed in terror as their magic reacted with the distortion.

Then darkness.

*****

'I wonder if Mami fell into a pinch?' The Incubator in charge of Mitakihara Town hopped down from the branch it had been sitting on for the past two hours. Its gaze focused on the odd ripple in the sky.

This Incubator considered it for exactly three seconds.

It delegated the research of the vortex to the local Incubator. The area in general was just too low on their priorities to do more than that.

'Well, I hope we meet again. I would like this Witch's Grief Seed.' With that declaration it began scamper away.

As the Incubator left the forest behind to properly enter Katrina's city, it ran an analysis. It requested the combat data observed from Mami Tomoe and Katrina Bernsten, and sat on its haunches for a few moments.

The Incubator compared the combat data between Katrina and Mami to what the current model of Walpurgisnacht was capable of doing.

'Hm...yes. Mami Tomoe will return at least.'

This Incubator paused, raising a floppy ear as it received an incoming communication.

'The high probability of Katrina Bernstein's loss requires new influx of energy.' A flow of data coursed down the hierarchy to this Incubator. It immediately began crunching on probability data once the data was received from the higher echeleons.

The Incubator conversed with the local Incubator and determined that Katrina's sister was current protecting the city.

It began to move towards her home. Fortunately one of the hopeful Puella Magi in the area was a close friend of the two sisters.

'Kyoko Sakura.' The image of the red haired and eyed girl appeared in the Incubator's database. It shouldn't take too much effort to convince the girl to join. The initial attempts at gaining favor with the girl had been successful.

All together, once this Incubator concluded its task, it should have its quota filled within three weeks. Then a new Incubator could be assigned to its duties and it would go to its final destination.

It would be an interesting to experience oblivion for the first time.

*****

'I wonder when I became someone who continued ahead even when I got smeared with mud?'

Homura Akemi viciously glared up at the towering mass that was Walpurgisnacht. Her left fist was tightly clenched around a pipe bomb and the other was holding a nine millimeter pistol. Her right hand trembled slightly as she aimed up at the veritable Goddess amongst Witches as she stood high above a skyscraper in a distorted and crumbling reflection of her home town. Of Madoka's home town. The beast...no...her fellow Puella Magi let out a shriek of undying torment as it spread its massive wings wide as its shadowed frame loomed high above her. At her feet were all the discarded and used up weaponry she had brought to this battle.

'I...need no one else.' Her trembles worsened as she opened fire.

"Who?" Madoka's bright eyes dimmed slightly as a fearful and skittish expression crossed her face as I walked up towards the open window towards my best friend's room. Can't you show some common sense, Madoka? It's hot, but it's so dangerous to leave your window open for anyone to come up to it.

So very, very dangerous.

"Madoka." I acknowledge even as deep within my soul I'm screaming for you to not look at me like that. Please believe in me! Don't be afraid of me! "Even if someone shows up promising you miracles in exchange for helping him, you must not do what he says. I feel dark satisfaction surge through me as the lifeless form of Kyubey dangles from my right hand. Damn empty-eyed bastard.

"Homu...?" The fear in Madoka's eyes fades away as worry replaces it. God, this girl was one in a million. That was why ...they... wanted her so much too. Before she could ask me anything else I was gone. The clicking, grinding noise from the shield on my left arm heralds the return to that slate grey existence that signified I was in between moments.

Even as I began to race away from Madoka's house, I begin to wonder...

How come it was beginning to appear so grey in my normal life as well?

'I...have no one else.' Homura bit off a scream as she attempted to fly through a concentrated blast of magic. Her loyal shield lets out a horrendous cracking noise as it fails to allow her to break through, and the dark haired Puella Magi is blown out of the sky. Silently until she crashes into the bark of a twisted and massive tree.

'A little bit of courage is the real magic.'

The door to the armory swings in front of me. I boldly stride into the surplus and acquire all the weaponry I could ever need using my abilities. The ability to control time affects space as well, I've found out. I'll never want for this wondrous ability.

Images of countless battlefields fill my mind.

I can finally...

The roar of heavy assault rifles tear through the fragile bodies of my fellow Puella Magi as I coolly remove them from existence.

I can definitely...

The choking sensation of smoke and flame clings to me like an old lover.

I must...

"DIE FOR THE SAKE OF MY FRIEND!" My soft voice cracks as I madly shriek at the top of my lungs as another Witch dies and I gain another Grief Seed for the sake of preventing myself from joining my fellows in their eternal hell.

PROTECT MADOKA!

'Unfortunately I find that every emotion is the real magic, and only despair lies at the bottom of it all.'

Homura dazedly watched through hazy eyes as Madoka came before Walpurgisnacht with the white, adorably charming Dealer of Death. Or was that a Dealer of Fates Worse Than Death?

"Madoka! Don't listen to what he says!"

Homura dives towards the waiting Madoka. Her eyes and face break from their porcelain perfection as she desperately seeks to connect with Madoka. To make her see that only horror awaits her down this path!

"Don't!" She wails like a banshee as her magic fails her the moment she absolutely needed it. Homura finds herself plummeting down to the depths of hell. Tears pour from her eyes as she sees the birth of a new star high above her.

And it all...returns to....nothing.

*****

This Incubator used to be assigned to Mitakihara Town. As of five minutes ago, it was now assigned to the ruins that used to be called Mitakihara Town. It raised a white paw and rubbed it up against its cheek in thought as it gazed towards the distant horizon. In the distance, a massive dark figure loomed in the grey skies.

'Madoka Kaname was a triumph.' The white creature thought. 'She exceeded my quota far above anything I could have imagined.' Clouds raced away from the massive figure in fear as the newly created Witch flared its might into the world.

'Madoka. Thank you for dying for the sake of the universe.' Its voice called out towards the figure. The hierarchy of Incubators on Earth were hurriedly making their final preparations as they sought to completely gather the dividends from the contract with their Puella Magi before the last ten days were over.

This Incubator's triumph over its fellows did not mean that business was closed, after all. It turned towards the weakly squirming Puella Magi that had attempted to stop Walpurgisnacht before Madoka made her wish.

"K-kyubey..." The dark haired girl's slowly opened as she came back to awareness. Her purple eyes widened as she went deathly pale as she took in their surroundings. "M-madoka! Where's Madoka?!" She scrambled to her feet.

'I apologize, but the girl you knew as Madoka Kaname is gone now.' This Incubator replied. It pointed with its ears off in the distance. The girl's purple eyes turned in that direction, and a scream of absolute loss ripped out of her throat as she flinched away.

"Madoka...Madoka, no..." Her lips trembled as she collapsed to her knees.

'She was really amazing ... when she transformed.' It told the Puella Magi. 'I thought she'd become the strongest Puella Magi, but to defeat Walpurgisnacht in just one hit...'

Furthermore, Madoka's ascension had restored all the energy they had lost a year ago with Mami, Katrina, and Walpurgisnacht. This Incubator had to hurriedly connect into the greater network to drop the energy that had gone past his personal quota into it.

Sometimes the Incubator unit wondered what had become of the lost Puella Magi and the Incubator sent in after her. It had been the last thought that its predecessor had before it was remotely deactivated by the parent race on reaching its quota.

"And how will this end? If she's even stronger than you thought." The dark haired girl brokenly stared at the ground.

'Either way, her end will be the same. As the strongest Puella Magi, she defeated her greatest enemy. Now there's nothing left for her but to become the most evil witch ever. As Madoka is now, it won't take long before she destroyed this planet.' This Incubator paused in thought. 'But well... that is not my problem. I gathered a lot more energy than our complete collection quota.'

It'd soon be time to rest.

This Incubator heard the shuffling of the Puella Magi's boots behind it. It wondered if she was going to attempt to kill it again. It had been getting a bit repetitive over the last three weeks. Fortunately, Madoka had provided yet again.

'Madoka Kaname wished for your happiness, Homura Akemi.' This Incubator spoke up. Hearing a shocked gasp, it turned to face Homura. 'She was moved by your plight, I believe.' It postulated when Homura continued to gaze at him with a blank expression.

"You..." Homura's dark eyes blazed with hate in them as she reached for her shield. "What do you know about happiness, Kyubey?!" Her dark eyes widened in shock as she was suddenly surrounded in a dome of light.

'Enough to measure it.' It wagged its tail slightly in thought.

This Incubator quirked its head as the Puella Magi banged on the sphere of light surrounding her.

"What are you doing?!" Homura demanded. This Incubator noted that she was growing quickly agitated. Perhaps the fact they had moved to suppress her temporal power with the force of Madoka's wish was the cause...?

'We would have never attempted to send another through that tear, but Madoka's power is truly monstrous. Surely her wish for you to find happiness, and this magical power of hers will protect you.'

Homura's screeches were reaching levels that were potentially damaging to its audio sensors. This Incubator moved to prevent that by shutting them off. Homura silently screamed and wept as she slammed herself against the interior of the sphere.

'Well then, good bye.' The sphere was suddenly compressed to a flickering mote of light that soon vanished.

With that final duty completed, the Incubator assigned to the ruins of Mitakihara Town quietly began transferring the energy he had gathered back to its parent race through the network. One of the Incubator's ears flicked slightly as it patiently sat on its haunches and waited for its turn as he found himself the last in queue.

That was fine, though. It and the rest would have all the time in the world. Madoka's power was deliberately avoiding absorbing any of them within her barrier. So long as that was the case, the Incubators and Madoka would stare each other down until the Incubators were remotely switched offline.

This Incubator's tail swayed slightly as it received an update. Oh, it seemed that the parent race had decided to honor Madoka by giving her a new name that would suit her grand nature. The slowly growing number's final thoughts were to mentally project thanks on behalf of their parent race.

'Hail Kriemhild Gretchen, the Witch of Salvation.'

*****

"MADOKA!" Visions of the Witch that was Madoka once upon a time dance before her eyes for a horrifyingly lengthy amount of time before Homura Akemi is able to fight the trembling in her body down to a manageable amount. The grey, overcast sky of this morning was a welcome respite from the constantly bright mornings that Homura always woke...up...to.

With a gasp, the dark haired Puella Magi sat up in her bed. She noticed she was still dressed in her normal Puella Magi hunting uniform and had her shield still on her arm. Her wildly twitching eyes gazed around madly at the strange and unfamiliar surroundings as she found herself resting on top of a bare hospital bed. Across from her, a pale skinned, short haired brunette with curious blue eyes gazed at her directly.

"...good morning, Miss Magical Girl." The girl hopefully greeted Homura. "My name is Hayate Yagami. What's yours?" She politely wondered. Her soft Kansai-ben accent. No, her entire existence in this hospital room was an anathema for the distraught Homura.

However, suddenly the two girls lock eyes and Homura sees something there. A warm fire that never could be extinguished that was fanned by concern and one's own love for their fellow man. For one brief, shining moment it almost seems like Madoka Kaname is gazing at her softly with her warm pink eyes.

"H-Homura Akemi." She curses her weakness from the depths of her soul.

"Oh?" That warmth is joined by a glint of playfulness. "Then H-Homura Akemi, how are you feeling today?" She faintly smiles at the older girl. "You did arrive at a hospital after all."

'Why the cheek on this girl...!'

Homura couldn't help it anymore as she begins to laugh. It was a loud laugh. It was a painful laugh. It was a hateful laugh. It was a sad laugh.

It was a happy laugh.

Tears poured down Homura's face, and the Puella Magi flung herself at the half seating little miss. She clutched desperately at the little girl's clothing as she gnashed her teeth and screamed and wept. Nothing could pull her away from her as even when the nurses and doctors rushed in, Hayate kept them at bay with a fierce glare as she patted and stroked and ran her fingertips through Homura's long dark.

Just like Madoka had run her fingers through her own hair so very, very long ago.

Just like Homura would continue to do so on her own hair because she was alive.

'I'm alive!' Homura tried to scream through her clenched throat as the muscles blazed with pain along with her lungs. 'I'm alive thanks to you, Madoka!' Her voice gurgled instead of articulated the deepest emotions in her heart. She wailed silent tears as she hyperventilated and hiccuped as her soul screamed at her to speak the words she longed to say.

She could not. She would not.

'I'm alive! I'm alive!'

"You're alive. You're safe. You can keep living." Hayate repeated the words to her in a comforting coo over and over again as she patted her head, and Homura found herself ridiculously happy to see that Hayate too understood her.

Because Madoka would too.

'I'm alive, Madoka! I'm alive and I'll come save you! Just wait for me! Just wait for me...!'

With her magic shield she would undo the future that was Kyubey.

*****

The two gods had moved closer towards the three worlds. Before them there were three seperate world clusters spinning on their individual paths like shining discs.

Two of the discs – one of which was an incarnation of their Cephiro and the other was a version of Earth that the Magic Knights had been born in - had been occasionally flittering along a parallel path with each other for years now. Yet the new disc – which had a world that held off the tide of the inevitable with the hopes and despairs of sentients - had just brushed alongside the previous two at the worst time possible.

'What should we do, Father?' Windam quirked his head. The Rune God's feathers worriedly rustled as the massive bird glanced down at the white rabbit. 'The damage might spread into Cephiro and its alternate incarnations if we allow the damage to spread further.'

'I will descend. If things get too dangerous, I will make a move to prevent further degradation.' Mokona quietly answered the Rune God. It glanced up at the emerald bird besides him on the silver road. 'I'll need you to monitor the new disc for me, Windam. Tell me if anything new enters Earth.'

'Certainly, Father.' The massive bird glanced down at the small speck besides him fondly.

Mokona was surrounded by a nimbus of white light. He levitated off the silver road and shot towards the Earth that was tied to Cephiro.

*****

A shrill buzzing sounded through the bridge. The alarm cut off Eita before he could make a brilliant speech on why they couldn't let Lindy Harlaown be the only one in the fleet with mascot of their own.

"Captain! We've got a massive energy reaction coming into Uminari City through the dimensional barriers! Its completely shattering through the protections we set in place!"

The glasses wearing captain's face grew grave once the heads up display appeared with the approximate threat level of the being. "Scramble the mage troops." He paused and pensively bit his lip. "Get a communication sent out to Takamachi as well." His troops at best were only B-rank in general, but several were under limiters due to the delicate nature of the repair work.  If it was something that big they might need Nanoha Takamachi's assistance.

"Aye!"

*****

It was a warm Thursday afternoon as Nanoha Takamachi found herself practicing her control by bouncing a soda pop can with a single sphere of mana. She had a tiny grin as she the rattling of the can echoed in her private sanctuary. The brunette found herself giggling a bit as she finally was unable to maintain the can airborne anymore and it fell to the ground with a loud clanking noise.

'Yuuno is going to be proud of me when I tell him how good I'm getting.' She wiped her brow after retrieving the can from the ground.

As she stood up, her pigtails swayed lightly in the wind and she saw a bit of her new black hair ribbons flutter into her peripheral vision.

If anything, her smile grew brighter. 'Fate, I hope you're getting good too or I'll whomp you one next time we meet.' It was probably silly to think of competing with the blonde haired girl, but Nanoha refused to let herself get sad. She had faith that Captain Harlaown, her son, and Yuuno would all make sure that Fate and Arf would be fine.

With visions of chasing Yuuno's ferret form with the help of Fate and Arf's wolf form in her head, the bright eyed girl took a second to respond to Raising Heart's call.

"Oh, I'm sorry. What was it, Raising Heart?"

"Incoming communication from the Omegane." The ruby sphere in her hands glowed as she spoke. At Nanoha's nod of recognition, the Intelligent Device patched through the message.

[Takamachi, we have need of your assistance once again. It's a matter of utmost importance that you please assist us in repairing a dimensional breach in the downtown business district.] The schoolgirl gave out a gasp as Captain Nadaka gave her the directions on where the incursion was going to take place.

"That's where Fate tried to single handedly seal that activated Jewel Seed. There were probably thousands of people using that cross streets right now!"

The telepathic link briefly went dead. Nanoha quirked her head as part of a word she was sure her mother told her should never be used in public was uttered by the Captain as the signal came back. Well, she supposed he was far enough out of bokken swinging range that he could get away with it this time.

"Takamachi, we need you to go down to that area now. I've sent all the mages I have on board the ship, but they might need help. The ship's sensors are showing that it's growing to the point it'll consume that entire cross section of Uminari City."

"I'm on my way!" Nanoha raised her Intelligent Device in the air. The ruby sphere shone with a brilliant inner light which expanded into a misty sphere as the world around Nanoha vanished.

"I am the one who gives you this charge: release your power to your contracted master..."

Massive spell arrays formed out of her will and that of Raising Heart's shimmered into existence in the heavens as Nanoha floated up into the air.

"As the winds fill the sky, and the stars fill the heavens, so shall my heart fill with courage, and my hands with magic!"

Her brown orange shirt and bright orange skirt vanished into motes of light as pink ribbons of light shot towards her slight frame and surrounded her. In bursts of energy, the white and blue barrier jacket formed. Metallic gauntlets hovered into place and were locked down with screws onto her long sleeves to gently grasp around her hands as sheer white ribbons formed in her pigtails. Rich blue armor latched onto her small boots with a hiss and click.

"Raising Heart, set up!" Landing a spinning pink spell array beneath sent ripples along it as Raising Heart gathered the material components, forming a golden armored shell around itself as the ruby sphere grew in size as it loaded spell casting programs into itself. The device and its frame spun and locked into place with silver staff. Various clicks echoed in this soft rose world as Raising Heart completed it transformation into its staff mode.

"Lyrical! Magical!" Nanoha grasped Raising Heart in time as the world swirled back into her Intelligent Device. Twin angelic white wings erupted at the base of her shoes as she hovered in place with her Flier Fin spell. The brunette closed her eyes rapturously as the feeling of flight settled in on her for a brief moment before an intense look entered her dark blue eyes. In a blur of motion she was gone as the girl sped downtown.

*****

The streets of Uminari City were busy as men and women headed back home after a long day in the office. One particular salary man named Gen was in a particular foul mood as he walked towards the train station. His boss back in the office had given him a dressing down that day. 'Who is he to complain?  I met my quota.' He had been scribbling down some ideas for some short stories he had been thinking about expanding when his boss had torn them up. 'The Song of the Sea sounded like a good title too...' The office worker's eyes widened slightly as something wavered in the side of his vision.

"Huh?" With a muttered apology to the annoyed looking teenager that he to now walk around him, Gen turned towards the center of the busy intersection. Perhaps this was fortunate since it's what saved him from being completely blown off his feet as a rapidly spreading distortion suddenly explosively expanded outwards, tearing apart the road and flinging people like feathers every which way. With a yelp, Gen threw himself onto as a concussive wave almost beheaded him and went on to heavily indent the brick wall behind him.

The salary man shakily got onto his feet. The sounds of groans and a faint but quickly increasing screams sounded in the dusty cross streets. Gen was briefly confused as to what that meant as he turned towards where he could hear heavy breathing for some reason.

Gen would later regret his bout of curiosity.

A female's laugh followed by a wave of flame exploded outwards from the dust cloud were followed by explosions as the dust cloud were vaporized with force. Several burnt and wounded men and women were lying amongst the rubble of the street as a massive and grotesque female rose from the center of the circular pit that had formed in the epicenter of the street. Rotten and decayed skin made the sight of her bare body a repulsive sight even as her rail thin hips and legs made something deep within Gen's mind scream about the impossibilities as the twenty feet tall giant gracefully moved towards a blonde teenager.

'Why is she wearing a feather in that beret?' Gen stupidly thought to himself as he tried to find some grounding amongst the injured and screaming around him as shock settled down on him like a warm blanket. It looked like the teenager stirred and groggily tried to rise before the giant woman reared back and kicked her in the side towards him. The salary man continued to stare at the swiftly approaching girl in numb shock as she smashed into the ground before him.

A loud buzzing sound rang into his head as he observed her bloody wounds. While she tried and kept failing to get to her feet, Gen took the moment to observe her.

'Oh, what a lewd girl. She shouldn't wear a skirt that short or that shirt too tight. It'll give people bad ideas.' His brain burbled as the buzzing sound continued as the blonde gazed up at her soulfully and kept moving her lips in time with that damn noise. That gaze turned fearful as she glanced away towards the street before turning back towards Gen. She started waving an arm towards him desperately.

The salary man gasped in shock as he was pushed back with surprising strength. He wondered how much that elegant looking girl must work out to get that effect...

With a loud crack, Gen's eyes widened in horror as the rotten, skeletal giant cupped bleeding fists together to smash a hammer blow down on the blonde haired teenager. The buzzing gave way to actual shouts, and screams from the blonde girl to get away you damn fool, get away as the giant smashed more bleeding hammer blows down into her.

The teenager started sinking into the ground with the force behind the strikes.

Yet she kept screaming for him to run.

"SHOOT!" Several white beams tore through the thick flames finished off by a pink ray of light. Those blasts smashed the giant off its twig like legs and gave the groaning and bleeding teenage girl an opportunity to move. Which she couldn't take because of him and how he had stood there like a damn fool. Even as he raced towards the blonde haired girl and bent down to grasp onto her and pull her safely away, the giant was being harried further towards the center of the street by a flying girl clad in white and blue and about two dozen darkly clad men and women. Each of the shooters were carrying futuristic staves which emitted more of those brilliant beams of light that drove the decaying woman backwards.

Gen began to hyperventilate a bit as he noticed the injured began to vanish in bursts of white light as the black armored men and women on foot walked past them. He nearly yelped as the blonde in his arms rattled off a cough as a bright yellow light shone from a jeweled clip on her feathered beret. She stood a bit more steadily on her feet as well as she pulled away from the salary man.

"Hey, wait! That thing was killin...you?" Most of her injuries were already closing up as the gem started pulsing at an eerie pace. "Ah..." His growing panic was swiftly cut off at the base as the blonde haired girl gently smiled at Gen.

"Thank you for your kindness." She politely bowed at the salary man. "I owe you my life. Please get away. The Walpurgisnacht hasn't had the opportunity to spread its enchantment in the city yet."

She pointed at the rotten giant, and Gen noticed a rapidly flailing yellow and red ribbon on its right wrist. With that said, the blonde turned towards the ongoing battle.

"W-who are you?" Gen blurted out. The beret wearing girl faintly grinned at the salary man.

"Mami. Don't be afraid. I'll show you a happy ending." With a wink and an insane burst of speed, Mami joined the fight as she leapt high into the sky. The salary man began to run away towards the train station, but he couldn't hide the awe from his face as with a gesture the girl was joined in the sky with what seemed like a hundred muskets that roared their defiant cry. Untold points of light gathered around the crosswalk as for a moment it looked like Mami had brought down the stars from the sky to join them.

Then a sea of silk ribbons swirled in and around obstacles to wrap around the screaming beast, tightly cocooning it from every angle. The beast began to still as Mami landed on top of a portion of the street that had broken off from the rest. This part of the street was jutting out of the ground at an angle.

The blonde was swiftly joined by the people that were attacking the beast, but that was everything that Gen could keep watching as a sea of humanity pushed him further away from the cross streets.

'Happy endings, huh.' He continued racing away from the blonde as the thought bounced around in his head.

******

Intermission Omake

One More Is One Too Many

"W-who are you?" Gen blurted out. The beret wearing girl faintly grinned at the salary man.

"Mami. Don't be afraid. I'll show you a happy ending." With a wink and an insane burst of speed, Mami joined the fight as she leapt high into the sky. The salary man began to run away towards the train station, but he couldn't hide the awe from his face as with a gesture the girl was joined in the sky with what seemed like a hundred muskets that roared their defiant cry. Untold points of light gathered around the crosswalk as for a moment it looked like Mami had brought down the stars from the sky to join them.

Then a sea of silk ribbons swirled in and around obstacles to wrap around the screaming beast, tightly cocooning it from every angle. The beast began to still as Mami landed on top of a portion of the street that had broken off from the rest. This part of the street was jutting out of the ground at an angle.

Neither Gen nor Mami were prepared for the massive pink energy beam that slammed down on top of the blonde Puella Magi.

"Don't you even dare try and make me second fiddle again!" Nanoha roared. The TSAB mages around her were desperately trying to break out of an assortment of magical bindings as the maddened little girl began to cackle as she focused more energy into the Starlight Breaker she was using to attack Mami. "This is my series! Mine, mine, mine!"

'And I thought I was being harsh on her!' Gen thought in horror.

Transmission Lost

[Olvelsper]

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is the property of Masaki Tsuzuki, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the property of Gen Urobuchi, Magic Knight Rayearth is the property of CLAMP, and Super Robot Wars is the property of Banpresto.

Episode 02: Queen of Darkness

Homura wasn't having a good day at all. Her early embarrassing display before the eyes of a young girl was compounded further as she was nearly taken down to the ground by panicked orderlies once she had composed herself enough to stop ruining young Hayate's hospital gown with her tears. As one of the male orderlies snatched onto her arm and began to tug her away increasingly forcibly, the dark haired Puella Magi began to consider how much magical energy she would need to wrench the man's grip off her.

"Enough!" The little girl's voice rang out imperiously. The orderly automatically released his hold on Homura's arm and the dark haired girl impulsively rubbed at her wrist. She once again wondered why she tolerated feeling pain if she could just as well choose not to feel it.

Probably because it made her feel human.

"Mizuha, I know Homura." The young girl merely smiled as the orderly glanced at her.

"Are you sure, Yagami?" The man hesitated. At Hayate's nod, he slowly left the room and its quickly awkward air. Homura wanted to question her, but couldn't really take herself seriously at the moment.

"So...how'd you teleport in? Did you cast Zoom?" The little girl innocently wondered as she clutched at her sheets excitedly. Homura faintly smirked at the girl's question. "Aww, c'mon. I kept you from getting thrown out on your rear. At least tell me that." She wheedled playfully.

"Hm...I should have been traveling through time right now." The brown haired girl's eyes sparkled in the afternoon sun. "I didn't wake up where I have before when I've gone through time, and I began to panic...I'm sorry for breaking down on you. May I ask where I am?"

"You're in Uminari City. Specifically you're in the Uminari University Hospital." Homura grimaced. Damn. She was in a completely different city. By the time she returned to herself, Hayate had asked her another question.

"I'm sorry, but what did you just say?"

"Ah...well." She squirmed a bit uneasily on her bed. "I was just wondering what year you came from? It must be amazing!" Homura was privately growing worried at the speeds that Hayate was squirming at as the impressionable youth concluded, "Where you came from must be amazing if they have time travel magic!"

Homura quietly chuckled, "Well, I'm from Mitakihara. It's not that amazing there." She ran a hand through her long hair, "And I just came back from a few weeks ago. I came back from May 1st, 2011." Well, there was nothing wrong to show off a bit.

"What do you mean by a few weeks?" Hayate blinked. "It's May 26th, 2006!" Both Hayate and Homura shared a mutual look of horror at the implications.

"N-no!" Homura felt herself buckle as she forced herself to lean on Hayate's bed. A strange short of background noise buzzed and rolled around in the back of her head as she tried to get a hold of herself at the sheer impossibility. Had her wish failed? It hadn't done that the last four times she had gone through this time loop.

'Oh, how stupid of me...' Homura quietly chided herself. 'If I had arrived in a brand new town, why did I think I had even landed in the right year?' Then again, not a lot of people would make the mental connection from area to time. Would they?

"H-hayate..." Homura nervously licked her lips. "At least tell me if you know anything about Mitakihara Town." She could at least try and convince Mami. Mami had made a pact around this time, right? Then she could try and scare Madoka's family somewhere new?

It was a weak attempt, but at least her brain was trying to keep itself from shutting down.

"I'm sorry, Homura. I've never heard of that town." Hayate gazed at her sympathetically. Homura shook her head.

'It's fine. I can just look things up with a directory.' The dark haired Puella Magi stood up. "I need to head out to check on some things. Thank you very much for your help, Yagami." As she turned to walk out she heard a yelp.

"Homura! Wait." Once Hayate had Homura's attention she continued. "If...if you need anything at all, just come back, alright?" Homura paused for a few moments before nodding once and left the room.

*****

Jinta Asakusa, clad in his uniform, easily carried a bucket of soapy water down towards a corner of the observation deck. Tokyo's skyline impressively spread out as far as the eye could see, but Jinta was well used to the sight of it after a year of working here.

The janitor let out a soft sigh at the sight of human waste in the corner. His annoyance was further excaerbated as he realized he'd have to go back for the warning placards. Jinta turned and headed back to the supply closet once he set his bucket down near the mess.

"Ooh, check this out! 'Demon Attack in Uminari City – Magical Girls Swoop In And Save the Day'?"

"Lies, that can't be real! You're just trying to mess with me!"

Jinta rolled his eyes a bit as he passed a pair of gabby middleschool girls. One of them had their cellphone out and was showing it to the taller of the two. He blinked as he realized that the supply closet near the two of them was slightly ajar. Jinta tensed; he wondered if someone was trying to sneak something out.

"I would never dream of lying to you!" The smaller girl's voice reached Jinta as he crept to the closet.

"Oh? Like the spiel about the three collge girls that vanished from the face of the earth five years ago?"

"That's completely true! It happened right on this observation deck..."

Jinta threw open the door, whipping out the can of mace he was given by his bosses from his uniform's pocket...

"...Puu?"

...only to droop in disappointment. A pudgy white rabbit was currently lying on top of over a dozen rolls of toilet paper.

'Well, at least I don't have to beat any punk kids down.' Jinta thought.

They had been practically making the cleaning crew's lives a living hell ever since those three young women had gone missing.

'Always bringing damn rabbits like you with them too.'

The rabbit bounced off its pile of toilet paper and onto the ground. It glanced up at him with a shady type of look on its features for some odd reason.

"Hmph, going to spirit me away too?" Jinta picked up a roll of toilet paper and flung it at the rabbit with a deliberately awkward toss. It quickly scampered away as the roll smacked the ground next to it.

'I wish I could get spirited away like those three. I bet they don't have to clean up after damn kids all the time.'

*****

"I did the right thing." Mami softly reassured herself. One of the many darkly clothed people that were surrounding her gazed up at her curiously. Her heart skipped a beat as the man reassuringly smiled at her.

"Don't worry. You're not in any trouble. It's just that we have to make sure that creature can't escape. To that end, we have to guard all participants in the incident. We saw that you were protecting the civilians, so you aren't in any trouble."

Mami nervously nodded at the man in return as she observed the sky above them, which was now a uniform brownish-grey. It seemed the world had the majority of its color choked out of it once these people had arrived.

"Don't worry about that." The brown haired man suddenly spoke up as he caught her look. Three other adults that were with him stepped back slightly as he gestured slightly for them to give the two some privacy. "We raised a barrier." He pointed to the sky. The word relaxed her slightly with its familiarity, but she still tensed slightly.

'What are they doing using the same kind of magic as a Witch?' She privately wondered. These new people did not cause her Soul Gem to react, and they had been nothing but supportive in the last forty minutes they had been lingering around her.

It was a seductive notion to just stand here and act like a vegetable. To let them fuss over her as she simply allowed herself to observe. So, she decided for a moment to just let her higher brain functions rest as she sat down on the ground to observe.

*****

The pedestrians of Uminari City swiftly learned to fear Homura Akemi's approach as the young woman stalked down the streets. A couple of gawkers had received a frosty glance when they had insisted on glancing at her shield.

Without knowing more about her situation, Homura just couldn't afford to let her transformation drop at the moment. So here she was walking to a nearby news stand after getting some directions from the hospital's help desk.

"Excuse me." Homura called out to the rather thin looking man manning the closest stand. Once he glanced up at her, she smoothly continued. "I need a copy of today's newspaper."

"Sure thing, miss." Once she paid the man, she quickly walked away from the stand and towards the closest train station. She internally grimaced as the crowds around her steadily grew more packed as she arrived. Homura held her ground for a few moments against the surge of foot traffic about her before sheperked up and walked over to the train schedules.

It was only a moment before she was on the train that would take her to a nearby library. Homura was glad  that she was only given a few dry glances by the passengers around her before they turned to their own business. The slim brunette shifted slightly in her chair so she would not be pulling on the ribbons on the back of her white blouse before opening her newspaper.

She grimaced as the date on the newspaper confirmed Hayate's words. 'So, the little girl didn't lie to me.' Small comfort on that piece of news. More troubling than that was that she had attracted the wrong sort of attention already.

Homura took the time to intentionally fold and crinkle her newspaper open and close to disguise the surreptitious glance she had given the shady looking teenage girl that was intently glancing at her left hand. Specifically at the amethyst that was embedded in the back of her left hand. With a false tan and bleached blonde hair, the girl that was sitting across from her was by far the most laughable creature she had faced since becoming a Puella Magi.

Still, it was best to be cautious. The girl did have a few inches on her. More weight as well.

As Homura's stop approached, the brunette kept an eye on her new shadow as the slim Puella Magi led her away from the train station and towards the library. Occasionally Homura would pass some mirrored store fronts and see that her new best friend was getting closer and closer.

Eventually Homura ducked down a side street and patiently waited for her would be assailant as her mind quickly categorized every object in the rather narrow street. Not much for her to use here, but at least she had her shield with her. Her eyes widened as she found something.

"Well, the cosplaying girl decided to have a face to face discussion? Here I thought you'd ignore me forever." The faux blonde faintly sneered at the end of her line as she approached. "Still, that's a rather pretty piece of jewelry you're wearing."

"It's just a costume piece." Homura drawled, causing the other girl to harshly chuckle.

"No, my father runs a jewelry store. I know what is and isn't jewelry." The taller girl lunged forwards. Homura had a small frown on her lips as she began to sway backwards out of the grasping swipes of the older girl.

That sheer minded focus proved to be her downfall as she let out a yelp as her foot was snagged on a small pot hole on the street. Homura rushed past the girl and smashed out with her left hand in the brief window that was opened. A loud smack filled the brunette's ears as her shield smashed the faux blonde haired girl in the back of the head and sent her crashing to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

The Puella Magi merely grunted and after a few moments of consideration she bent down over the larger girl and frisked her. She came up with fifteen thousand yen for her troubles. Dropping the wallet on the taller girl, she was on her way.

*****

[Takamachi, we've linked Raising Heart to the Storage Devices in the area. The dimensional tear is playing havoc with our sensors so I'd like you to link your Area Search spell into the search team's so we can clear up the area of any stragglers that may still be there.]

Nanoha found herself walking four combat mages from the Omegane as they slowly began to fan out. They were sweeping along the rubble of the area along with another team a good half block away. The young girl kept her eyes focused for any more wounded civilians as Raising Heart worked alongside the Storage Devices as the sweeping lights of the young girl's Area Search were expanded into a searching net.

Her Area Search reported another team beaming down from the Omegane and begin fanning out in the final direction that had not been covered by the teams she was on. Occasionally one of the soldiers would move in to help her when they would have to turn over some heavy rubble as the Area Search was giving very fuzzy readings this time for some reason.

"You alright, kiddo?" The adult she was searching the immediate area with grunted once the pair shoved a rather large chunk of concrete to the side. Finding nothing beneath, he continued. "You seem a bit distracted."

"Oh, I'm sorry, eh..." Nanoha awkwardly glanced at him helplessly. The man brightened up, and suddenly chuckled.

"I'm Kai Kitamura." He smirked. "Don't worry. We've just barely started working together, it's fine."

"Oh, it's nothing, Kitamura." Nanoha shook her head to as she smiled at the distinguished man. "I was just wondering about that girl that is being looked over. That's all."

Kitamura stroked his mustache in thought. "Well, she handled herself fairly well, considering her circumstances. It didn't look like much from the outside, but she drew the attention of that hostile long enough for us to arrive and knock it unawares."

"She was tough too." Nanoha mused.

Kitamura's arms gloved, drawing the young magical girl's attention away from the topic at hand as she turned her staff on chipping away at the massive block of concrete so they could move it. Chunks pelted their barriers as Raising Heart calculated the shots to keep the block from collapsing inwards. The two suddenly heard a cry after about a minute of digging.

Kitamura and Nanoha glanced at each other meaningfully before they picked up their pass, the energy around the older man's arms glowing brighter as he brought up larger and larger chunks away.

"Ah! Thank you!" The elderly man below the rubble looked dazed, with a wound above his temple. "I didn't know if I could've lasted much longer."

Kitamura brought up a gauntlet clad fist, "Don't worry about that, sir. We're going to move you so you can get treated now, alright?"

The grey haired nodded. "Bless you both." The man began to babble slightly in shock as Nanoha and Kitamura moved around him once the older mage gave the go ahead to the young girl. Both of them raised their Devices to the sky, and the man vanished in a burst of light.

"Come on. We should not linger any further." The soldier gestured as Nanoha went to follow after the older man. As the young girl briefly glanced away, she met the curious eyes of the older girl that had come into Uminari City with the monster. She made a promise to herself to meet her as soon as possible.

*****

Homura was as quiet as a church mouse as she scurried about the rows of bookcases in the library. The Puella Magi let out a tiny gasp of victory as she found some maps she could use. Now she only needed one last thing.

"Excuse me. May I borrow your directory?" Homura quietly asked the librarian on duty. The man gave her a particularly penetrating stare, but the brunette stoically weathered it before the older gentleman nodded and handed her over the phone book.

"Bring it back." With a nod, the Puella Magi made a show of taking her gathered materials over to a nearby table before setting it all down and beginning the job of pouring over the information available. Less than an hour later she ran into the first snag in her plan.

By which that it seemed Mitakihara Town simply did not exist.

Homura gazed down at the references she had gathered like if they had personally walked up to her and ate a baby's leg and slapped her with the bone that remained. The map before her stubbornly refused to change and show her what she wanted.

The Puella Magi closed her eyes as a feeling of panic began to well up within her. Setting aside the library materials where they could get reshelved, the girl set down the directory at the main circulation desk and walked out towards the back of the building.

First Homura checked to see if Madoka would answer her cellphone, but she found that the device just refused to work. After that was denied to her, Homura headed straight towards a bank of public phones. She quickly slipped some of her ill gained money in and dialed a number she knew by heart.

'Pick up, pick up, pick up...' The dark haired girl chanted in her head as she heard the ringing on the other end of her line. Beads of sweat ran down the back of her neck.

Click.

"Hello?" A man's voice answered. Homura's fingers spasmed around her cellphone as she closed her eyes.

"Would Madoka Kaname be in?"

"I'm sorry. You have the wrong number." The world began to shrink down to only herself and this conversation as background noises began to fade away.

"I see. I apologize for the inconvenience."

Click.

Homura hung up as the bottom of her stomach fell. 'Now what do I do?' She thought hopelessly as her feet shuffled her away.

*****

Mami glanced away from the young girl that was helping about a dozen or so adults pick through the rubble. "I'm Mami Tomoe." The blonde teenager offered the soldier by her side a hopeful smile and a curtsey. "Uhm...do you think I could help?" She asked.

"Kyosuke Nanbu." The brown haired shock trooper with a streak of darker hair in the front gave her a respectful bow. "Thank you for your offer, but it's best to leave this to us. The Bureau is experienced in rescue operations." He gestured at the twelve soldiers walking around the area.

"Bureau?" The older girl blinked at the lieutenant. She glanced around at the three other soldiers arrayed around her.

"We're primarily a peace keeping force, but we step in to render assistance in cases related to magic." The older man nodded knowingly at the look of recognition on her face.

"Even her?" Mami pointed to the young girl with the adults.

"No. She's a resident of the city. However, she can provide extra power with her Device to boost our sensors to find more victims. We have a lot of white noise because of the small rip you and that thing came through." Nanbu thumbed in the direction of Walpurgisnacht, which had another four soldiers arrayed around it passing their staves along the surfaces of her bindings.

Mami suddenly gazed towards the Witch. Walpurgisnacht was still covered from head to toe in crimson ribbons, but she noted how some of them were turning yellow and started flaking off. She held up a hand for Nanbu.

"Sir, my binding shots are starting to come undone. I know you're supposed to be watching me for any signs of duplicitous actions, but the last thing I want is for that beast to start rampaging again." She gazed earnestly into Nanbu's face. "Please, let me at least reseal it."

A strange look entered the older man's features. Mami felt like Nanbu was assessing her. "Give me a moment, alright Tomoe? I need to check in with my Captain." At the Puella Magi's hesitant nod, the man stepped back.

A bulky glove formed on Nanbu's left fist in a blaze of blue light. Forming about six inches above his wrist, the glove, going down about an inch before layers of armor began to form. Predominately blue with white trim, it resembled more of a box with the semblance of knuckles sort of pounded into the metal, and thick metallic fingers coming out the front.

Along the left and right sides of the glove, gun barrels rested. They were short enough that they didn't stick out to block the range of motion of the hand or fingers. Along the top of the box like bracer rested a thick pointed spike, which extended past the fingers.

The weapon lit up as Nanbu crossed his arms before his chest. Mami nervously took a step back. One of the soldiers with her shook her head.

"Don't worry. He just needed to bring out his Storage Device to connect to the ship." Seeing Mami's lost expression, she smiled a bit and pointed upwards. The blonde glanced upwards and her eyes widened as the dark sky had a point of blazing white light in it.

"Wow! Just like Star Trek!" The blonde's eyes lit up.

"Mm. Well, maybe more like Gundam." The blue haired woman mused playfully.

"Alright, Tomoe. Captain Nadaka said for you to go ahead and do it. We'll get it up to the ship for further study." The man held out his empty hand to her. "Welcome on board the Omegane."

"Ah..." Mami hesitantly took the hand. Once he gripped her hand, she gave a tiny grin at the man. "Thank you!" She shook it firmly. The man gestured for the blonde to follow him towards the center of the devastated area.

"Uhm. What are we going to do about the damage?" Mami wondered as she looked around.

"Since it already happened, we can't really fix it. It'll be up to Uminari City itself to do that. Our barriers can only prevent damage." Nanbu replied. The two arrived at the bound Walpurgisnacht. "Here we go." He gazed at the four soldiers waiting for them and gestured for them to stand aside.

"Go ahead." With Nanbu's permission, Mami moved ahead towards the Witch. The blonde's eyes narrowed angrily at the sight of the monster that had taken Katrina, but she knew that the last thing she needed was to get in any misunderstandings with these friendly people.

'I'll get you later.' She promised the beast as she gestured. Multiple silver muskets hovered in the skies above as they rained golden fire on the area around the beast. More ribbons streamed in to tightly wrap around the monster, fusing with the existing bindings. She stepped back as her weapons vanished and looked at the five soldiers.

The four that were inspecting the monster were looking surprised at her, and Nanbu just nodded at her approvingly. "Come on, let's go." He offered her his arm.

A few minutes later, Mami felt a tingle of nervous energy race up her spine as she clasped onto Nanbu's arm as the rush of teleportation made her feel like she was flying up along a long, thin pillar of light. 'I'm being teleported up!' She mentally squealed happily. 'I should've asked him to tell them to Beam us up, Scotty~! Wait...no! I can't show off my power level. Too much.'

She had already embarrassed herself badly by telling the super advanced civilization's soldier about Star Trek. Ooh, they were going to laugh at her so much when she got to meet genuine aliens. She bet the Bureau was full of non humanoid life forms and all manner of strange and wonderful people.

'I wonder if they'd enjoy taking some time out to have some tea with an Earthling?'

Nanbu nervously edged away as much as one could within a teleportation beam as a slow, manic smile crossed the blonde's features. He nearly breathed a sigh of relief as the two of them arrived on the teleport pad on board the Omegane. In front of them stood Captain Nadaka and to his left side was the same little girl the blonde had seen down below.  She was swaying back and forth on the heels of her feet, but stopped that once she noticed that she was being looked at.

"Ah!" The girl blushed a light pink as the older occupants of the room shared a quiet chuckle.

"Lieutenant Nanbu reporting back from successful extraction, Captain Nadaka." The soldier was the first to settle down as he saluted the glasses wearing man as he led Mami off the teleport pad. The Puella Magi gently smiled at the young girl by the captain's side, and doffed off her beret and curtsied deeply towards the Captain, sending her curls a flutter.

"Good day, my name is Mami Tomoe. I sincerely thank you for the aid I have been given, and would humbly ask for your name, kind sir." Mami spoke softly as she remained in her position without any strain on her features whatsoever.

The addressed man's frame went taut for a second. Mami could swear that for a moment the older man's glasses had gleamed ominously. It was probably for the best for her that she couldn't hear the ravings of the man within his own mind.

Outwardly, the Captain simply tutted as he rubbed the back of his head and smiled disarmingly. "My, such good manners." He blushed a bit too red for his words though. "My name is Eita Nadaka. Please follow us and we can have a spot of tea while we discuss the situation."

Those magic words were the only thing that had to be said. Mami finally relaxed. The tiny nagging voice that kept her wary in strange situations went quiet  as she beamed a bright smile at the captain and the young girl at his side. Captain Nadaka choked and began coughing a bit too hard while the younger girl matched the wattage of Mami's smile. Nanbu ran a hand through his hair and started for the door with a shake of his head.

"I'm sorry, Captain, but I have to go make sure the prisoner was properly contained." Nanbu began.

With a tiny nod the captain waved him off. "No need for explanations. It's of the utmost priority." The Captain had heard everything Mami had told his soldiers while they were down there. The last thing they needed was to test if they could bind the beast if it got loose...

With those words the four of them parted ways. Mami glanced down as the young girl immediately began following at her side. Occasionally the white clad girl would glance up at Mami eagerly but bite her words back. Up ahead, the captain led the way.

"Uhm...maybe I call you big sister, Tomoe?" The brunette finally decided to blurt out, looking shy. The question was asked so suddenly and with such innocent enthusiasm that the blonde Puella Magi temporarily forgot to breathe. She even continued walking ahead while both the captain and the young girl turned left down a hallway.

"Nyahaha. Are you okay, Tomoe?" The young girl's blue eyes gleamed with mirth as she dashed back to stand before Mami.

"Ah...?" Mami's cheeks burned a fiery red. "B-but we just met...and I've never had a little sister...I'm sure that there's better role models for young girls...I'm really old fashioned, is that really okay?" She blurted out her worries to the attentive nine year old.

The tiny ruby sphere that hung around the brunette's neck on a thin string answered her concerns with an answer that forgave any real or perceived faults.

"You shot the bullets really well, Tomoe-aneki." Raising Heart's voice was cool and to the point.

"...ah." Mami drooped a bit. The young girl's giggles filled the hallway as the two magic wielders swiftly caught up to an amused Captain.

It was Tea Time.

*****

It was hazy as Katrina came in and out of unconsciousness. Several adults – all dressed in police and firefight uniforms - were gathered around her. Flashes of recent memories bled into the present as red lights flashed on the peripheral of her vision.

"Katrina, let me come with you!" Her sister shouted angrily up at a patch of empty air in the center of their living room.

Mami remained silent behind Katrina, keeping her council to herself as Katrina used her magic to continue weaving a powerful illusion around her youngest sister. Whatever Alyssa was seeing seemed to have been enraging indeed, because Alyssa's face turned almost purple with rage.

"Why are you trying to shut me out? I only want to save you!" Katrina felt icicles stab her in the heart.

"Miss? Can you hear me?" A paramedic leaned into her vision. More words tumbled out of the man's mouth, but she could only pay attention to people that mattered.

"Katrina..." Mami began.

"No...she isn't coming with us to Walpurgisnacht. This is the only thing I can do for her." Katrina held back the tears from running down her face. She turned and began marching out of the living room. "She'll be safer here."

She was joined by Mami. The few moments walking past her sister's garden were tense affairs.

Well, forget Mami. She didn't have a sister to protect.

Irrational hatred began to surge within Katrina as more people crowded around her. They drew their hands away from her with large amounts of blood on their hands. Seeing that made her grow even angrier.

Katrina and Mami entered Walpurgisnacht's barrier. It had been attempting to approach her city from the woods, but they had been able to cut it off at the pass. That damn demon wasn't going to be touching anyone if she had anything to say about it.

'I HATE YOU!' Alyssa's choked scream hit her like a brick in the head. Mami let out a yelp as she tried to stabilize Katrina's stumble. Simultaneously, the protective armor Alyssa blessed her with shattered.

Mami looked at her with pity for a brief second, but it was enough to cause Katrina to shrug off her helping hands.

"I'll have to make do without..."

Why was the blood making her get so angry?

Why was she feeling so hungry?

Katrina felt herself stirring. Walpurgisnacht's barrier was silent outside of her moans of agony. Pain great enough to make her throw up on herself radiated across her body. It robbed her of strength as she laid on her back helplessly.

The corpse of a familiar lay next to her. Mami was nowhere to be seen.

"Too much was lost..." The adults were looking at her with pity. It seemed that was all that she could get lately. The dripping of blood echoed in her ears. One of the police officers held up her Soul Gem.

The crystal, shaped like half of a moebus strip, mocked her with its incompleteness. The other half was held by Alyssa, but it was safe there. She was safe there.

Right?

'I...have to find Alyssa...'

The Soul Gem began to crack.

*****

The sun was setting the skies aflame as Homura found herself wandering along the streets, lost in her thoughts as the ever deepening shadows crept out from the alleys. Her mind felt adrift out at sea as she merely put on foot in front of the other.

"Hey, look! They're showing those clips of that magical girl again!" The black haired Puella Magi glanced up with glazed eyes as the sound of those bizarre words. Two teenagers were standing in a small store, gazing at a television. Homura's curiosity piqued, she walked up behind the two.

'Mami!' She gasped as the newsfeed showed a shaking video feed of Mami Tomoe being pummeled into the ground by a massive woman with rail thin legs and a rotten, bloated body with long black hair. Their surroundings were absolutely ruined, and several bodies were weakly twitching and trying to drag themselves away as chunks of the streets were flung up with each the beast's raking blows.

Homura's surprise was further compounded as moments later the creature was blown off the blonde by a group of a dozen flying men and women in black outfits and wielding staves.

A young girl in white kept the giant pinned down with several blasts of pink light from her own staff. There was a suddenly jerk on the camera as it whipped to the left in time to see Mami leap up high into the air and call forth a swarm of muskets to bind the creature down in a sea of binding ribbons.

Once the blonde landed, she was quickly joined by three of the darkly clad staff users and they led the somewhat reluctant looking blonde towards their group, which was gathered around the twisting and squirming beast. Five of the staff users raised their weapons and in the entire group vanished as a ripple expanded outwards from where they all stood.

"Isn't it amazing?" One of the teenagers glanced back at Homura and misinterpreted her shocked expression. "It looks like we're going to have to start taking cosplayers like you more seriously from now on." He laughed.

"Where did that happen?" Homura quietly asked as she glanced up at the two.

"Oh, that was over by the business district. You going to go watch? It's just the police cleaning up at this point." At the dark haired girl's nod, the man smirked. "Well, I guess it would be something more interesting to fans like you. Just go north for like five blocks and then east for a mile. Police are diverting traffic so you'll have to go on foot."

Once the girl left the shop, the two went back to their previous conversation.

"Still, you have to feel bad for those people that were at ground zero, huh?"

"I guess. This isn't a magical girl series no matter what. Some people aren't mentally strong enough to have something that scary looking breathing down their faces."

"Oh, don't be such a douche. I bet you'd be bawling and reaching for a butcher's knife to slice yourself up too if something that fucked up came after you."

"Hmph. They're damn cowards. We find out the universe may be more interesting than we expected and a bunch of people go off and kill themselves. It's pathetic, I tell you!"

*****

Nanoha glanced around at her new idol and Captain Nadaka before arranging her posture properly like she saw Mami set herself. The blonde haired Puella Magi faintly smiled at the younger girl's earnest expression before she took a biscuit from the serving tray for herself and then offered the tray to Nanoha. The young Takamachi took a few moments to consider how to position herself before taking a biscuit as well.

For the next twenty minutes, Nanoha kept her eyes glued on either the Captain or her idol, taking her cues from them as all three enjoyed some warm walnut biscuits. The young girl privately wondered what the hoopla about dipping the cracker like biscuit she had served herself in miso before sipping the green tea was, but at least it tasted different. Different was good in Nanoha's opinion.

The three of them silently sipped at the remains of their tea. The steps and decorum of the situation settled their anxieties and centered them after the long day. However, it would eventually be time to speak, and the captain was the one to break the leisurely silence.

"This could be very well the highest culture that Earth has to offer." Nanoha was about to counter that the bread was surely the better of the two things involved in their Tea Time, but realized that it would be petty. After all, the biscuits were just better all around. It was self evident, yeah!

Mami smiled at Captain Nadaka's kind words. "I'm glad that you think so highly of the art of brewing tea." She blinked at Nanoha's vaguely betrayed look, but pressed on. "May I ask how your people found out about us?"

"Certainly. It may help us understand your sudden appearance as well." Captain Nadaka gestured at Nanoha. The young girl sheepishly rubbed at her cheek. "The Time Space Administration Bureau is in charge of any and all incidents relating to the acquiring, destruction, and/or sealing of Lost Logia within both worlds within our administration or in non administered worlds such as Earth."

"Lost Logia?"  Mami blinked and quirked her head a bit.

"They are objects with great power invested within them. The ones that caused us to locate you were twenty-one jewels with the ability to breach the walls of time and space if they were used incorrectly. They are called the Jewel Seeds. About three weeks ago the area you arrived in was flooded with an incredible amount of raw power when one of the Jewel Seeds was unleashed."

"Wait...arrive?" The blonde's golden eyes widened in shock.

The captain nodded gravely in return, "I'm sorry, but this isn't your world."

Nanoha winced as the blonde teenager pulled back from the tea table like she had just been slapped. "No wonder Kyubey never told me about any of you." A look of absolute desolation crossed her idol's face at that. "So we're still alone..."

Nanoha bit her lower lip anxiously, "Are you alright, Tomoe-aneki?" She had only seen her look this anxious down in Uminari City while everyone was working on guarding the prisoner until the scientists found a way of sealing it.

The older magical girl smiled at Nanoha gently. "Well, call me Mami first. Tomoe-aneki makes me seem too old." The blonde's put upon pout made the younger girl giggle. "It's just that in my world we don't have any fancy space ships or laser beams like you all have. We're all alone when we fight."

Captain Nadaka hummed, "So you often battle creatures like those?"

"Yes. I was given the power to hunt down Witches by my friend, Kyubey."

The captain steeped his fingers as he considered this, "I apologize, but I'm not seeing the wisdom in single-handedly hunting these Witches down considering the state that Takamachi, Nanbu, and the others found you in when they drew that woman away from you."

Nanoha felt a spike of irritation rise in her gut. She had been there with the other mages that had been sent down by Captain Nadaka, and she had seen the older magical girl try her hardest to protect the people of her hometown. She lightly bit on the side of her cheek to keep from speaking out though. Nanoha knew that the captain was probably worried because of how badly the girl had been manhandled at first.

"Ah...no, I can do more than just the binding shots." And it seemed like Mami had realized that as well. "It's just that my binding shots were the safest thing to use in that crowded area." The blonde smiled as the captain acknowledged that with a nod.

"Alright, I understand. May I ask the reason the Witches are hunted down?" He went to his next question.

"Well, they consume human grief. If a Witch is able to draw up enough grief out of a person, they will be driven to ..." Here Mami paused and glanced at Nanoha before looking at the captain with an odd glance. Nanoha blinked as the captain glanced at her as well.

"I see."

Nanoha's brow tightened in worry. She recognized the atmosphere that was descending on the room right now, and she did not like it one bit. It reminded her too much of what things around her mother had been like when her father had been in the hospital, but... it was not her place to complain. "Mami-aneki, do you need me to leave the room for a bit?" She politely asked.

Mami flashed her a surprised look. "Ah...Takamachi..."

Nanoha giggled. "Call me Nanoha! I'm Nanoha Takamachi." She noticed with a sense of mischief that Mami flushed a bit in embarrassment. Well, she'd forgive her idol this time. She must be so lost and confused right now, but she had leaped to do the right thing when she arrived. What better of an example could she have as a magical girl than that?

So she rose from the table and walked to leave after giving the two a polite bow. "Mami-aneki, please come and see me in the training room. I'd really like to talk to you." After telling the blonde how to get there, her eyes locked onto her idol's solemn golden eyes for a moment before she left.

*****

Mami observed Nanoha's departure for a moment in mute wonder.

"Yes, our Takamachi really is a responsible and solemn kid. She would be the pride and joy of any Midchildan family." Captain Nadaka's words drew the Puella Magi's attention back to him.

"Ah...what do you mean? She can use lasers like your soldiers..."

"Oh, that's because of the equipment itself. If you have a magical organ called a Linker Core you're able to use our technology to wield magic." The blonde made a note of that for future reference. "Anyway, you were saying?"

"Yes...well..." The Puella Magi glanced at the door one more time before turning back to the captain. "Witches are able to drive people on my world to suicide. The Witch is able to draw more people into her charm magic depending on their power. The one I was fighting is called Walpurgis Night, and they're able to annihilate entire cities at will." A grave look crossed Captain Nadaka's face at her words.

"How long have you been fighting?"

"For years." Mami glanced away as a look of pity crossed ever so briefly across his eyes. "We're the only ones that are able to cross a Witch's Boundary Field and do battle with them. I'm not really sure how that one was able to manifest in the open." She admitted. "Maybe it had to do with how we arrived? I was fighting her at the time." She tried to guess.

Captain Nadaka grunted. "Well, what do you do once you've subdued them?"

"We don't." A feeling of righteousness filled Mami. "We put them down for the good of our fellow humans." She interrupted the captain from speaking. 'I'm sorry, but we have to. Those monsters produce an item called a Grief Seed that must be used by us Puella Magi to continue to live..."

"Tomoe..."

"It...it isn't that bad, you know." The blonde haired girl tried to explain. "I was granted a second chance at life. If it hadn't been for Kyubey I would've died long ago." Her words came a bit rapidly. "I...I get to protect innocent people, you know?" Mami closed her eyes as an odd surge of energy came from deep within her.

"I'm not afraid anymore."

Opening her eyes, Mami glanced at the captain. "Well, is there anything else I can answer for you, Captain Nadaka?" She felt a bit disappointed that the man still remained in a slight amount of shock.

"No, that's fine. I apologize for troubling you..."

"Don't worry. It's good that we had such an open discussion."

"Well then, I believe Takamachi wanted to speak to you." Captain Nadaka paused for a moment. "But I have one question. You arrived in the world in that uniform, correct?" Mami nodded. "Does it use up your magic? Our barrier jackets don't use up any magic when we have them on, but since you said that your magic is your life..."

Mami beamed at the concern in his voice. "Don't worry, sir. I have to be actively using my magic in the form of my muskets, witch detection, or walking into barriers to use up any more of my magic at this point." She awkwardly giggled. "If I didn't get weird looks at school I'd stay in this outfit most of the time if I could."

"Since it's safer?"

"No, I think the beret and my boots look totally cute." She teased. "Well, may I go see Nanoha?"

The captain nodded. "Certainly. Whenever you're done we should take care of that Witch, then..." He sounded a bit uneasy with that thought for no reason Mami could decipher. Maybe she had just gotten too far into the situation. That was probably it.

She stood up and started heading for the exit. "Thank you very much for the tea, Captain Nadaka. I really hope we have time to take some more together in the future." Mami blinked to get a shining light out of her eyes. Taking a step backwards, she attempted to glance past the impenetrable field of light that had become the captain's glasses.

"You would really like to have more tea with me?" The man sounded surprised. "Hardly anyone else on the ship enjoys tea very much."

"Well, they haven't educated their palate yet." Mami grinned. "I know a really good blend we can try next time. Well, I'll go see Nanoha now. Once we're done we can go up to the bridge if that's alright?" Seeing Captain Nadaka's nod, she smiled and left the room in search of Nanoha. Fortunately she was able to find the young girl after only one mistaken turn.

The training area was an open room with several targets several yards away from the entrance. There was plenty of room, and it seemed like some of Nanoha's fellow shock troopers were already taking pot shots at their chosen target further away from Mami and Nanoha. The Puella Magi wondered why their shots weren't pink like those few shots she had seen while down on Earth.

Nanoha perked up once she saw Mami, "Mami-aneki, did you finish up with Captain Nadaka?"

"I did." Mami nodded. "I wanted to come talk to you too, Nanoha." She sounded a bit uneasy as she continued. "Could I...ask you how come you wanted to call me big sister?" She had been surprised with how the girl had come up to her and said as much when they first met. Nanoha merely answered that with her light laugh.

"Nyahaha. Of course, Mami-aneki! I saw how bravely you fought to protect everyone from my city." Nanoha sagely nodded. "I think you'd make a wonderful example for me as a magical girl!"

The older girl blushed a bit, "W-well then!" She lightly coughed. "I...I would love to be your senpai." She couldn't quite claim herself to be Nanoha's big sister though.

Nanoha grinned. "Great! I'm an artillery mage like you." She reached for the ruby sphere around her neck. "Raising Heart, please set up."

"Yes, my master." Mami stepped back in surprise as the tiny sphere began to glow brightly. It visibly grew in the girl's hands as it was joined by several spinning metallic parts that clicked into place around the larger orb. The transformation was completed when a silver staff clicked into place at the base of the golden frame around the sphere with a hiss.

"Staff mode." The red sphere glowed as its voice announced the completion of its transformation.

Mami's eyes sparkled. "So cool..." Nanoha blushed.

"Thank you, Mami-aneki! Raising Heart is a wonderful partner." The younger girl gushed.

"Thank you both." Raising Heart solemnly replied. "Shall we get to shooting?"

"It won't be as impressive as that, but..." Mami reached behind her back. As her right hand gripped onto the shaft of her musket, she felt the familiar uncontrollable tug as the muscles on her arm jerked and nearly sent her toppling to the right. Covering for it as she always did, Mami forced mana into her left foot and turned it into a graceful side spin. She quietly focused on a target as she spun three hundred and sixty degrees as she soared to the right. The musket she had initially summoned went off with a roar as the head of the dummy jerked backwards. Mami quickly called forth two more to hover in front of her.

Each of the muskets was plucked out of mid-air and rapidly fired at the target. The dummy's head jerked back twice as each shot penetrated the same spot the first shot had hit. Mami gently landed on her feet and her right foot less than an inch more to the right before she centered herself with a quiet breath. Raising Heart dimmed slight, Nanoha raised an eyebrow, and several of the soldiers that had been practicing stared at her.

"...what?" Mami internally fretted. Had she been unable to disguise that twitch?

"I'm... jealous." Raising Heart's voice sounded vaguely ticked off. A passing soldier looked faintly amused as he passed them by. "My master, we must practice on our forms." She insisted. Mami rubbed at her left arm a bit shyly at her words.

'Good. They didn't notice.'

"Amazing, aneki!" The young girl suddenly began to gush happily. "Would you like to keep practicing with me?" Mami nervously broke out into more sweat at the earnest look Nanoha showed her.

"Yes. I'd like that." Mami walked up to the targeting range with Nanoha. With a sweep of her left arm, several muskets appeared in mid-air. She made sure to not touch them until a few moments passed. She grasped onto one of them once she was sure enough time passed and brought it up to her sights and fired. The dummy's head twitched to the left side as the lost shot was a bit off.

Nanoha stepped to her sight, "Shooting mode." Raising Heart's voice called out as the golden frame clicked open and slid along the surface of the ruby sphere smoothly to form a pointed tip. A blue and white handle slid out of the top of the silver staff as Nanoha shifted her grip on the weapon. A firing trigger and hilt clicked out of the middle of the weapon. She steadied and aimed the weapon down towards her target with her left hand and lightly held onto the trigger with her right.

"Shoot!" Nanoha's voice called out as a pink sphere of energy formed at the tip of the staff and unleashed a thin bolt of light that raced towards the dummy and smashed into its torso. Mami nodded appraisingly in recognition of that distinctly pink bolt as she watched Nanoha concentrate on her target. So she was there too? She noted how the energy beam hadn't pierced her target unlike her own shots. Maybe a stun mode?

"Good shot, Nanoha!" Mami praised. "Say...would you happen to have been at the Witch's attack?"

"Thank you, sempai!" Nanoha smiled, "Yes. I was called by Captain Nadaka as backup. I was training myself in the park."

Another shot rang out. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" The curiosity was starting to itch beneath the skin.

"What is I?" Nanoha paused for a moment to glance at her.

"Well...are you one of these soldiers? You were calling yourself a magical girl, and you seem to be so distinct..."

"Nyahah. That's because I am!" She smiled. "My friend Yuuno gave me Raising Heart to protect Uminari. During that time I also made friends with a nice girl named Fate and her wolf familiar named Arf. With their help I was able to seal away the Jewel Seeds before they could cause too much damage..."

"So you're not alone." Mami nodded.

"Right! At the moment Fate and Yuuno have left, but the Bureau is full of friendly people. Captain Nadaka stayed here to fix the problems that the Jewel Seeds left behind, and Admiral Lindy, her son, and everyone on her ship helped me a lot during the Jewel Seed case. I really can't thank them enough."

The two sank into the repetitive task of shooting at their targets as the younger girl grew bolder and began to aim for her own target's head. Mami was so lost in contentment that she didn't notice as Nanoha gave a pointed, and concerned glances as Mami would pause for a few moments before gripping one of her muskets to fire at her target.

*****

Homura found herself madly running down the streets of Uminari City. She weaved in and out of the foot traffic as she felt the fires of determination build. 'If Mami is here, then there's a chance!'

With a cool grin, the dark haired girl approached the police officers that were blocking her path forwards. However, she skidded to a halt with a look of shock on her face as her right hand slapped at the crystal that was shining on the back of her left hand.

'A Witch...?' The pair of bemused looking officers walked up to her.

"Excuse me, miss. We need you to...what are you doing Yamada?!" The speaker turned to his partner in shock as a wild look entered his partner's face. Homura's eyes widened as a flickering image appeared surrounded in a green border on the man's cheek.

Before the panicking officer could react, Yamada snapped out a Nanbu M60 from a side holster and aimed it at Homura. His finger squeezed the trig-

Click. Griiiind.

The world was plunged in shadow as Homura moved to the side and rushed towards the frozen Yamada. A thick cloud of smoke surrounded the tip of the barrel of his gun.

Time resumed as the dark haired girl smashed her fist into Yamada's wrist even as she heard the echoing bang of the gun go off, causing him to shout as his hand spasmed open. Shouts from the crowd rang around the trio as Homura snatched the gun out of the man's loosened grip, and Yamada's partner took him down.

Homura quickly snatched up the gun and checked it, "Hey! Wait!" The officer struggled against Yamada for a few moments. "What's going on?!" The Puella Magi watched as three more officers ran in. 

"Sanada! What's going on?!" Their shouts echoed the man's own. Homura opened her mouth to answer, but was stopped in her tracks at what she saw.

'Oh no.' All three of them had the same mark the struggling officer had, and once their gazes locked on her, any semblance of intelligence in their eyes went away as a dull look of hostility entered their eyes. Each of them reached for their sidearms.

"Wait! What are you three doing?!"  Homura ignored Sanada's shouts as she shuddered. The amethyst on the back of her palm significantly darkened as she drenched the world in darkness once again.

Click. Griiiind.

In the space between moments, she lashed out as she rushed up to Yamada first and channeled magic in her right hand to his face, searing off the mark.

Click.

Ignoring the noise from her shield, Homura raced to the three officers as well and repeated her actions as she laid her hands on their chin, forehead, and lips as well. Taking advantage of the situation, she went ahead and secured their weapons for herself as well.

Griiiind. Click.

The Puella Magi shook slightly at the feeling of her soul gem darkening further as she stepped past the trio of officers as time resumed. The four charmed police officers collapsed into blessed unconsciousness. "I suggest you send out a warning to your fellow men and women. Some of them may have been infected with that uncontrollable rage." She called back. "I can't afford to use up my power stopping them and then killing off what's controlling them."

"I will..." The man sounded baffled. "But how are you going to stop it?"

"By shooting at it until it stops. I'm going to borrow their guns for a bit, officer." Homura nervously ran a hand through her long hair. Whatever the officer said in return was lost to the rush of the wind as she broke out into an all out dash towards the center of the area.

Towards the Witch's barrier.

Homura grimaced as her left shoulder was pierced by a bullet along with her right thigh before she managed to find some cover amongst the ruins of the street. Hiding behind a torn up piece of asphalt, she heard a few more pinging cracks echo off it.

The throbbing in her shoulder and leg were lost as the Puella Magi cut off the nerve impulses. Commanding her body to charge out again, she raced for more cover as she darted towards where the sensation of wrongness was at its peak.

With a leap, Homura's image vanished in mid-air in a flicker of motion.

*****

Intermission Omake

Magnificent Marketability Means More Magical Maidens

'It's fine. I can just look things up with a directory.' The dark haired Puella Magi stood up. "I need to head out to check on some things. Thank you very much for your help, Yagami-san." As she turned to walk out she heard a yelp.

"Homura-chan! Wait." Once Hayate had Homura's attention she continued. "If...if you need anything at all, just come back, alright?" Homura paused for a few moments before nodding once and left the room.

Hayate's eyes began to shimmer as she clasped her hands before her. In her eyes, Homura's long silky hair majestically trailed behind her like a curtain of ebony. Roses framed the cool looking middle schooler in the little girl's eyes.

'I...I want to grow up to be just like her!'

Hayate paused.

'Maybe more in the chest...' She thought.

Down the hall, Homura felt an irrational urge to shoot something.

Transmission End

[Olvelsper]

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is the property of Masaki Tsuzuki, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the property of Gen Urobuchi, Magic Knight Rayearth is the property of CLAMP, and Super Robot Wars is the property of Banpresto.

Episode 03: Innocent Starter

Homura found herself standing about a mile above the burnt out ruins of Uminari City. Her pedestal was a tree branch that was as wide as Homura was tall. She glanced up at the rest of the tree. It towered over the city for another good ten miles, but it looked half dead.

The bark beneath her feet crunched and flaked off as she stepped towards an open passage that led inside of the tree. She grimaced as termites squirmed about in the door's entryway, but walked within.

The interior of the tree was completely hollow with the exception of a spiraling staircase that wound upwards from where she stood. Being mindful of the condition of the tree, Homura began to slowly ascend the staircase.

Along the way, her eyes could make out faint carvings on the wooden walls. Homura briefly paused to run her fingertip along the image of two stick figures in dresses. The taller of the two was holding what appeared to be a sword over her head while the shorter of the two held onto her free hand. Both had bright smiles on their faces.

Homura frowned, 'Nothing can change now.' With that thought in mind, she did her best to ignore any further carvings as she ascended.

*****

The world was off-kilter, her mind insisted as she stumbled up the hollowed interior of the great tree. She leaned against the decaying wood walls, the rough bark crunching beneath her dragging feet. Distantly, she felt Bifrost in her hand, drawn along the ground, carving a path in the wood itself. From further out, she heard the fluttering beats of feathery wings.

'Where am I?' she wondered dizzily, her eyes lolling lazily about her head. Her last memory was of rusted steel girdles, colored with dried blood that flaked like old paint. Not rotten wood that crunched beneath her feet, swelling with writhing termite larvae. Her feet felt like lead weights, barely lifting off the ground as she continued her climb up the rotted stairs. Crunch. Creak. Crunch. Creak. Her mind struggled to focus on each step, even as she felt herself buried further under the fog of hunger...

...and rage.

"Mami?" she called hoarsely, the effort causing her vision to swim. She doubled over as nausea overtook her, slamming her head against the wall with a crunch as dead wood gave way, revealing more termites. The shock was enough to wake her, and she jerked back, falling on her rear in her scramble away from the squirming insects.

The fluttering drew closer.

Now some distance from the wall, her eyes could take in its full splendor. What she earlier throught was brittle scratches in the dead wood, she now saw intricately carved murals that superficially resembled childish scrawlings. A trail of red stained the wall, but only seemed to accentuate the murals. Her heart leapt into her throat as her eyes traced along the eerily familiar story etched along the walls. The story of two girls, one distinctly smaller than the other, her face etched with a sorrowful expression. The elder keeping her distance, even as the younger chased futilely after her, until she finally fell, with little Xs over her eyes.

"Katrina..."

"Wait for me, Katrina..."

"Don't leave me alone..."

"No... no... nonono!" She wailed in horror, instinctively trying to cover her eyes. The wetness of her palm on her face surprised her, and she lowered her hands to stare incomprehensibly at the sticky red liquid soaking her skin. The same red that stained the wall before her. Flashes of awareness came to her mind. Of uniformed men suddenly taken upon by emaciated corpses. Their death rattles cutting off into wet gurgles as the beasts fed upon them. The hot splashing of their life blood baptising her. The sounds of skin shredding as the beasts mutated, and winged serpents bursting free with a joyous shriek.

The fluttering drew closer.

Bile rose in her throat, and she drew Bifrost once more in hatred as she spun to face the beasts. Five serpents flew towards her, filling her chest with an alien sensation. Her lips curled back in a snarl as she waited, channeling the patience of a predator. They now surrounded her, their wings flapping gustily as they circled just out of reach. The alien sensation crescended within, and with a roar, she slashed at the closest monster, cleaving it in twain with her enchanted blade.

The creature made no sound, save the wet squelching of its body splitting. Its death however, caused the sensation to well within her, flooding the anger and hatred out of her mind with the purest feelings of joy and elation she had ever felt. She fell to her knees in shock, Bifrost dropping from her nerveless fingers as she stared at the dissolving corpses of the monster. The remaining four circled closer, and embraced her within their coils, stopped short of touching her by a aurora like barrier. Undeterred, the beasts rubbed against her longingly, purring with affection. She realized with a start what that alien sensation within her was. It was the same sensation as the barrier that surrounded her... as Asgard...

"I love you..."

Horror and shame filled her, and she doubled forward and retched, emptying the contents of her stomach onto the floor. A pool of black tar bubbled mockingly before her eyes, before it was hungrily absorbed by the dead wood. Her head spun dizzyingly, and she picked up Bifrost to use as a crunch, slowly coming to a stand. The sound of glass shattering filled her ears, before her eyes gained a new focus.

She giggled.

*****

Twenty minutes had passed since Homura had entered the barrier. Homura felt gritty air hit her face as she exited the stairwell at the first opportunity presented. To her back the tree continued ascending further, but up ahead only blood red sky stretched as far as the eye could see. The tree branch that stretched out was different from before, however. Whereas the old plant was dead and infested, this branch was healthy and had moss and vines growing out of it.

"Welcome." Directly across from Homura stood another girl. She seemed to be about one or two years older than the Puella Magi, and had short brown hair that hung a little above her shoulders. Green eyes gazed into Homura's own as she stood before her in a sweater and denim jeans. "Sort of chilly, isn't it?"

"Who are you?"

"Me? I'm Katrina Bernsten." The girl offered Homura a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "You're a Puella Magi, aren't you?"

"Well, yes-"

"I'm one too." Katrina interrupted. Her fingers twitched. "We should work together. Something is wrong, wrong, wrong with this place."

"Hm..."

Katrina's gazed past Homura.

Homura felt a dark presence race across her skin.

'A familiar!'

The brown haired girl was a blur as she rushed at Homura. With a meaty crack, Katrina's fist smashed Homura in the chest and flung her off the stairwell. Homura's expression was gobsmacked as the dark haired girl smashed off the other side of the trunk.

Homura's disbelief grew even worse as Katrina pulled out a Grief Seed from her pocket. Before she could even react, Katrina had somehow managed to cause a burst of darkness to erupt from within the depths of the sphere.

Instantly a twenty foot long winged serpent appeared by Katrina's side. The monster let out a shriek as it flung itself after Homura.

The wind rushed past the falling Puella Magi as the walls of the massive tree soared past her vision. The beast above her roared as it surged towards her. With a squirming of its body, it smashed her side with its tail. Homura's gaze exploded in stars as she wildly spun head over heel as her downward momentum was halted and reversed as she flew upwards a few feet.

Homura desperately shook herself out of her daze as she reached into her shield and drew out one of the revolvers she had acquired. The beast below her hissed and flew towards her as her magic surrounded the weapon as she started to descend.

Faster than it was possible for the weapon, its entire stock of ammunition was spent in a blink of an eye. The beast roared and twitched as the shots dug bloody gashes in its face.  It spun off to the side, barely grazing Homura's descending body. Tossing the spent revolver, Homura lashed out and dug into the beast's side as her magic allowed her thin fingers to dig bloody handholds into its side.

The monster shrieked as it put on a burst of speed as it ascended and slid its body along the walls of bark. Homura grunted as she was bounced and smashed across the surface as she clung on tightly before the two flew back towards the center.

Feeling the muscle beneath her hands begin to give way under the strength she was channeling, Homura quickly gazed around them.

'There!' The edge of the stairway beckoned.

The beast's head rushed towards her own as it contorted itself to bite her face off. Homura took a deep breath as the world plunged into shadow one last time.

Click. Griiiind.

The beast's fangs froze an inch away from her face once she opened her eyes again. The dark haired girl scowled as she pulled herself up onto what was now essentially a platform for her. Homura drew the second revolver from her stock, and aimed it at the beast's head.

"Die." With her rounds spent, Homura threw her gun away from her body, where it froze in mid-air halfway between her frozen ride and the staircase. The dark haired girl took a deep breath as she leapt from the beast to the frozen gun, and then using it as another platform to make it to the staircase.

Click.

The death rattle of the beast echoed in the hollowed out tree as its head was blown clear off. Both it and the empty revolver plummeted off to the depths below.

Homura felt her body buckle as she fell onto one knee from the expenditure of magic.

Pain burned within as Homura clutched at the pitch black gem on her left hand. Just as her mind began to crack under the strain of the pain, she saw a Grief Seed land on the step above at eye level.

"Here, take this." Homura desperately snatched up the Grief Seed and began to use it as darkness bled out of her Soul Gem. The pain began to recede along with the shakes as the seed she held turned pitch black instead of the gun metal grey it had been.

Homura woozily glanced up the solemn faced Katrina. Before Homura could react, the Grief Seed was taken by Katrina and Homura was shoved back. The world around her began to dissolve as Homura and Katrina's eyes focused on each other.

"We'll be back." Katrina promised.

With that, Homura dazedly found herself on her back and surrounded by police officers as she stared up at the orange sky.

*****

Mami stepped back from the targeting range with Nanoha as the two girls made their way out into the hallway outside of the training room. The older girl smiled down at Nanoha as the two set off for the bridge. "So, you said that Raising Heart was given to you?"

"Yes! My friend and magic teacher, Yuuno Scrya gave me Raising Heart when he came to Earth to seal the Jewel Seeds. He wasn't very compatible with her, and I had to take her up to seal them instead."

"I'm amazed you were able to use magic so quickly. My way of using magic is very draining on your body."

"My Master is a natural." Raising Heart praised Nanoha.

"Well, the style we use is based around a place called Midchilda. They use arithmetic to control magic. I guess I have a good head on my shoulders." Nanoha joked as she lightly tapped herself on the side of the head.

"My..." Mami breathed out slightly. "This Midchilda is certainly is amazing if they can grant magical power like that." She was happy with how it also encouraged people into studying and using their intelligence with their magic.

"How about you, Mami-aneki? You said your magic uses up your strength?" Nanoha grew pensive. "Are you okay?"

Mami smiled. "Don't worry about it. I've had enough experience with my magic that I learned how to make efficient use of my power. I could keep going at this pace for long while still and not even need a rest." She paused. Nanoha was admittedly looking up at her, so maybe a bit of good advice would help?

"I do rest when I can, though." Mami supported her right elbow on her left hand as she wagged a finger from side to side. "You should do the same as well, Nanoha." The guilty look on the younger girl showed that she had hit pay dirt. "You're not one of the official members of this ship, right? It must be dreadfully late at this point. You should get back to your home."

"But Mami-aneki..." Nanoha drooped slightly.

"And you probably have school in the morning too, don't you?" The blonde huffed as she stopped in place. She gestured and started leading the young girl over towards where she remembered the teleporters were. The young technician in charge of them looked bemused at the goings on. "You can come back here tomorrow, okay?"

"You mean it?" Nanoha grinned. At Mami's nod she pumped her left fist in the air with a happy hop. "Alright! We can train tomorrow too, then!"

"Nanoha, what did I say about resting?" Mami placed her hands on her hips. "You should always have an off day in between days of heavy training." She wagged her finger at the girl. Nanoha eagerly nodded in return.

"Alright then, Mami-aneki! How about I introduce you to some of my other friends, then? Suzuka, Alisa, and I usually go to her house and play with her kittens for a while before I head out to train, but we can stay with them for all the afternoon instead!"

'I can't say no to that.' The blonde instantly capitulated to the earnest look Nanoha showed her. "Alright. Just tell me how to get to your friend's house and we'll go there afterwards, okay?" Nanoha eagerly nodded and two minutes later she was beamed back down to Uminari City.

"You do a wonderful thing here." Mami murmured as she glanced away from where Nanoha had previously stood to the technician. "It's amazing that all of you just go around making sure to protect people like you did during that Jewel Seed mission, and with me as well."

"Oh...d-don't worry about it." The technician stammered a bit. "Cranagan takes the threat of Lost Logia very seriously. Beyond that, we try to help out anyone we can. At one point in time everyone needs a little extra assistance here or there, right?"

"Right!" Mami nodded happily. After a little more small talk, Mami left with a better opinion of the Time Space Bureau overall.

However, her happy mood was blown away once she arrived at the bridge, and was greeted by a stern looking Captain Nadaka.

"We have a problem."

*****

Homura blankly stared at the unfamiliar gray ceiling above her. The dark haired girl raised her hands high above her head. Her Soul Gem gleamed darkly where it was embedded on the back of her left hand.

She shifted on top of the long bench she had been summarily told by police officers to sit down and shut up on. As she moved, Homura felt the bandages wrapped around her left shoulder and right thigh rub against the wood.

Her empty stare had driven the medic away as soon as they had finished up with her after she had been apprehended 'for her own protection' after the disaster in the business district.  Homura snorted at the thought as she kept her body from feeling pain from her injuries with a mental shrug.

She couldn't even retrieve her shield from the police without forcing herself back into the red. She couldn't even use the minimal body enhancement magic either at the moment without risk.

'Why did Bernsten let me have that Grief Seed?'

The brunette was confusing the issue. Unfortunately this was an issue that was too important for Homura to let go. Was this girl friend or foe?

The sound of the interrogation room's door opening got Homura to glance over, and the person approaching her caused her to abruptly sit up. "Mami!" She called out happily at the blonde. Her brief moment of elation slowly died a crushing death at the blank look the blonde was giving her.

'She doesn't recognize me.' Homura fought to keep the unreasonable feeling of enmity from rising. Of course Mami wouldn't remember her. Maybe it was better that she didn't recognize her. Since the last time they had met...

Mami had aimed a musket at her face and very nearly killed her.

'No. Don't remember that. She wasn't in her right mind.' Homura closed her eyes as she tried to desperately grasp onto the memories from before that time. When she had tried to protect her along with Madoka. 'Focus...'

"Excuse me, miss?" When Homura opened her eyes, Mami was uncomfortably close. The door to her "Are you alright? Have we met before?" She uneasily glanced away from the open look of concern on Mami's face.

"What's...going on?" Homura decided to distract Mami with a weak ploy.

"Oh! My allies and I came here as soon as the reports began talking about a girl using strange magic to attack police officers." Homura glanced sharply up at Mami to defend herself, but was stopped before she could utter a word. "Don't worry. Now that I'm here I can tell you're just like me." The blonde tapped the back of Homura's left hand – where the Soul Gem rested.

"I'll tell Captain Nadaka and we'll sit down and have a chat, okay?" Mami gave Homura a smile.

"...who?" Homura's eyes narrowed a bit.

"Eita Nadaka. He'll be able to get us home." Mami explained with a friendly smile. She took a step back in surprise as the dark haired girl offered her a sharp look.

Homura scoffed, unable to resist making the rude noise.

Mami looked shocked and befuddled at Homura's reaction. That stroked the ire within Homura to greater heights. The dark haired girl quickly sat up and leaned up as close as she dared against the blonde as she gave her a baleful stare.

"You should never trust someone on their word like that." Homura's words were flavored with disbelief. Was this how Mami had been suckered into listening to Kyubey so long ago too?

Mami took a step back, but her own golden eyes sharpened as she glared back. "What's your problem?" She demanded angrily at the girl she had just met.

"My problem..." Homura's eyes flashed. "Are ignorant..."

The dark haired girl growled as images flashed in her mind's eye.

"...thickheaded..."

Homura remembered the faint undertone of superiority that Mami had possessed when she had first approached Madoka with her new powers as a Puella Magi. She could remember the terror that ran through her, nearly driving her to wet herself as the muzzle of Mami's rifles had come to bear on her.

"...and weak girls like you."

"Ah!" Mami clutched at her chest in shock Homura didn't give her time to react as she lunged forwards and nearly knocked her down. Both girls went down in a tumble of limbs and screaming outrage as Homura lost control over herself.

For an endless moment, Homura just gave into the frustration that had been building all day as she screamed and clawed at the blonde in front of her. Mami matched her shouts as both of them went rolling end over end.

There were distant shouts, but Homura couldn't make out from what direction they were coming from as heat just kept pouring up and into her arms as she struck at Mami over and over again for half remembered and grudgingly forgiven sins.

"I hate you!"

Each demented shriek urged Homura's fists to lash out. The loud smack of flesh striking up against itself echoed in her ears with each blow. The outside world dimmed as the only thing she could feel were Mami's arms rising up to smash into her as their bodies joustled for superior position.

"Why did you lead Madoka into that goddamned life?!"

Homura's head was jerked to the side and stars exploded in front of her eyes when Mami landed a solid blow. She felt her mouth fill with blood as her jaws ground into the tender flesh around her teeth. Homura dazedly looked around as the blow disoriented her, and she was greeted to the sight of a golden barrier covering the door and bars of the cell.

She gagged as Mami grasped her hair and lifted her face up. Her vision was filled with the sight of Mami's furious golden eyes for just a few moments before she smashed her straight in the face with a straight jab.

Homura gagged on the blood within her mouth as she felt the cartilage in her nose shatter.

The haze and heat of rage simmered as Homura began to choke. Shrill bursts of air surged out of her as Mami knelt on her upper arms and laid into her again with another strike to the face as the blonde's own anger was finally going unopposed.

Spittle and blood flew from Homura's mouth as she let out a low wheeze as she slumped below Mami. All traces of rage in the blonde's golden eyes fled as horror filled her gaze as she looked down at Homura.

"Why'd you betray me?!" Homura let out a plaintative sob in the all consuming silence that followed.

******

'What's going on back there?' Eita looked up from where he was smooth talking the police chief when he felt the presence of a barrier go up. His worry grew when he saw a few police officers gather around the door that Mami had gone into at his request. 'Did something happen?'

Eita and the police chief quickly leapt to their feet from where they had been sitting at the chief's desk when one of the police officers attempted to break down the door with his body.  The captain smoothly moved behind the chief as the duo left the main office behind them and rushed down the long hallway.

"What's going on, officer?" The chief angrily demanded.

The officer slamming himself up against the door and the three other police officers with him all snapped to attention. The man that had been trying to break down the door quickly spoke up once the chief's eyes went to him.

"We heard the suspect attack the girl that entered the room, sir!"

Eita felt the angry stare of the chief turn to him. The other officers in the room gave him vaguely sympathizing gazes. Probably because they thought he had drawn their boss' ire.

'Well, so much for trying to pass off my idea of her being part of a secret defense unit.' Eita mentally sighed. 'This isn't going to be a good report to right, is it?' The mage mentally prepared himself before he did what he'd have to do.

The captain drew on his Linker Core as he invoked the full strength of his hypnosis abilities – a rare school of magic that he had been taught as a youth. Eita thought as he focused the full strength of his power on the group before them. He wouldn't have any time to spare to deal with them when he shattered the barrier on the door.

******

Mami desperately tried to catch her breath. She winced as her body protested her trying ot move, but she refused to be too close to the new girl in case she went crazy on her again. "What are you talking about?!" The blonde demanded. "You're the one who just tried to ram your fist down a complete stranger's throat!"

From the way the dark haired girl was beginning to tremble and claw at her general direction, Mami was reassured that her idea had been the right one.

"You...you don't even know anything!" Her hair was wild, moving about her body like a living thing as she crawled up to her knees. "You could never understand anything, you close minded fool! That's what I hate the most about you, Mami!"

'Oh, that does it.' The blonde's patience, melted through by the sudden attack, finally snapped. Several swears that Mami had sworn never to use in her lifetime sprang to her lips. One of which fit perfectly for this insane situation.

"Well forgive me for not speaking crazy bitch!" Mami's declaration poured out of her lips. Her ears reddened with her complexion as she finally grew doggedly mad. Apparently her words caused the other girl to break her hateful glare to stare at her in shock.

"What was tha-" The dark haired girl stuttered.

"Crazy bitch!" Mami shrieked, interrupting her.

"But-" Her eyes widened, shaking her head from side to side.

"Crazy bitch!" Mami wildly shook her head, sending her curls a flutter.

"Mami, stop acting this!" Those same purple eyes grew moist. "This isn't you!" Her breath hitched.

"I guess I can speak crazy bitch too!" Mami howled back at Homura. "Now what are you going to do about that?!"

"S-stop it!" The dark haired girl wailed, voice warbling as she covered her face with her hands. Mami's already precorious mood crashed and burned around her as her own hatred crumbled in the face of the bizarre girl crying because of her.

"N-no! Don't you dare do that!" Mami trembled. Her demand merely made the other girl's body begin to tremble like a leaf. "I didn't start this! You're the one wh-" The blonde's voice hitched as she saw the moisture creeping out from between the other Puella Magi's hands.

Both girls started when they heard a bang from the direction of the door. They could both see Mami's ribbons begin to fade away as a foreign magic was carving into them from the outside hallway. Only a few remained barring the way, a testament of how badly they had lost their awareness of their surroundings.

"T-that's Captain Nadaka." Mami wheezed. The dark haired girl merely stared at her with a tear streaked face. "Can you heal yourself?" When the other girl shook her head a little, the blonde quickly crawled up to her and drew her Soul Gem's power out of the silver ring on her finger. "We can't let him know what we just did. They might not be able to help us get back home if they think we're insane, girl."

A faint glow began to fill the room from the Soul Gem, but before Mami could bring the healing magic to bear she felt the dark haired girl's iron grip on her wrist when they drew close enough to touch. Mami flinched, expecting a headbutt or worse for her stupidity, but the dark haired girl merely leaned  closer to the blonde.

'She looks about my age...' Mami realized in a moment of clarity. The dark haired girl leaned away from Mami, having seemed to have found something she wanted to see within the blonde. She summoned her own magic, a purple light in color, and began to swiftly heal herself before Mami's astonished eyes.

"...I'm Homura Akemi." Homura introduced herself. She reluctantly let go of the blonde's hand. "You better heal yourself before the Captain comes back into the room, Mami."

'What is going on here?' Mami wondered, simply baffled with the situation as she healed herself in mutual silence with Homura.

*****

'This isn't the same Mami.' The thought continued to hammer the back of Homura's head. She merely stood at attention as the blonde Puella Magi made a lame excuse for why the door had been sealed to the captain that would be getting them home.

Homura introduced herself, but it was hollow of meaning as she diverted most of her thoughts to focusing on Mami Tomoe. The girl looked as young as she did at the moment. Mami was arguably even more emotionally immature than Homura was at the moment too.

It just hadn't sunk in until Mami had her meltdown. One that hadn't been at the expected levels because she just didn't have enough stress at this point in her life. Homura recalled a moment when Madoka had accidentally caused Mami to snap with an innocent question about her family.

It had been a dressing down from a commander...no, an upperclassmate to a fellow student. It had been cold and brutal while maintaining an air of sophistication. This had just been loud and hot and had assaulted her in the face several times.

The fight they had reminded Homura of Kyoko Sakura.

'Weren't they partners at one point?' Homura thought. Eita was talking to them about what he had done to get Homura out at this point. Something about being a government agent. Probably helped the judicious amount of magic that the captain was using to keep people from paying attention to them.

'Mind control? Well, whatever.' All that Homura was focusing on was the shield that had been handed back to her by the captain.

A silence descended on the three.

When Mami glanced at her with a prompt in her eyes, Homura rewarded the captain with a tiny smile.

'They might not help us get back home if they think we're insane.' Mami's words bounced along with the changed attitude. That had further hammered in the point to Homura that the blonde was simply not the person that had tried to kill her.

Not yet, at least.

'Madoka wished for my happiness.' Homura remembered the words Kyubey had given her before banishing her. 'But why did it send me here? Why is Mami, a younger Mami, of all people here?' She signed some form she was required to by the police and the three began to exit the building.

Homura glanced over at Mami. The hint of the dazzling older girl was in those chubby cheeks and slightly gangly frame. Even now, she could see how Madoka could have been drawn to her. The blonde already made her an accomplice.

The dark haired girl wondered if this Mami could already fight as well as the older one.

'Could she help me...?' Homura felt her gut churn. Was this it? Maybe she could convince this Mami about the truth? She hadn't fought as long as she had in the future so maybe...

The three of them were now out on the streets – the captain and Mami were telling her that they would be going back to base. 'I need more time.' Homura scrambled for something to say when the two of them turned towards her meaningfully.

"So, let's be off?" The captain, Eita Nadaka, smoothly spoke up. The crowds around them were giving the trio a wide birth due to his magic again, apparently.

'Wish I had a don't notice me field too. I wouldn't have to abuse my timestop to gather materials.' Homura briefly thought with aggravation.

"Actually, sir...there's a girl that saw me arrive." Homura trailed off. Inside, she hoped that this would be what was needed. "We should ...handle her if it's so important to keep our natures secret."

"Good idea." Eita nodded, causing the stoic faced Homura to cheer inside. "I'll send someone over and..."

"Why don't we do it tonight?" Homura quickly spoke up. When Mami and Eita glanced at her in confusion, she casually continued. "Her name is Hayate Yagami. She said she was waiting for me tonight, so the staff would be expecting a middle school girl." The dark haired girl prayed that Mami would take the bait.

"I can go for you, Akemi." Mami spoke up, proving that at least she was still at her core the same person. "You need to get caught up on things by the captain anyway." She turned her golden eyes on the older man. "Plus I have that tracking device. It'll let me teleport back on board from wherever I want."

"That's true. We'll go ahead, then." Eita reluctantly accepted. "Where did you arrive, Akemi?"

"Uminari University Hospital." Homura felt relief as she began to give the directions to Mami. At least this would give her more time to consider the situation without Mami's presence distracting her.

*****

The exterior of the hospital looked like those clips from disaster rescue scenes, Mami thought. The middle schooler was walking along the edges and shadows of the grand plaza to avoid being hit by ambulances arriving and leaving the facilities.

Distant horns wailed as the sound of a helicopter nosily chopped through the night sky.

Mami was feeling slightly overwhelmed. She quickly entered the lobby of the building from a side entrance to keep out of the way of several stretches filled with moaning individuals.

Unfortunately throwing her into the proverberial fire.

"Where was the care for my mother?!" A hysterical looking man was crying as he confronting a harried looking nurse as Mami entered the building.

"Forgive us, sir..." The woman merely kept whispering as she offered the man a bow as deep as she could. "With all the victims coming here..." She weakly began.

"I don't care about them! My mother...!" The pairs arguing were swallowed up by the roar of chaos inside the hospital as Mami stepped entirely into the building.

Children and even some adults could be heard crying in the nearby emergency room. Shouts and the constant ringing of telephones rang and the smell of fear clung to Mami's tongue.

The interior of the building looked like war zone.

'Walpurgisnacht?' Mami grit her teeth. Her vision turned red as she quickly moved towards the walls of the hallway to get out of the way. It was only her experience with seeing such terrible things on a frequent basis that kept her from being overwhelmed from the sheer scale

The burning of her Soul Gem, dormant within the ring on her hand, reminded her to master her reactions. Once the sensation went away she quickly glanced away from the disasters around her and  to glance at the hospital's map.

Mami quickly walked away once she confirmed her destination, but the sense of disgust and helplessness lingered long after she saw the last shellshocked looking patient on this floor.

*****

Homura glanced around the futuristic surroundings around her and Captain Nadaka with a dull sense of confusion. Everything from hovering, transparent windows with information streaming across them like computer screens to even teleporters surrounded the dark haired girl as she was led in a bit of a daze.

This was technology fantastic enough to match the most imaginative in science fiction, but the first thought that came to her mind was wondering how she could get some for herself. She could hear the whispers from the walls. The words were muffled behind some power that was not her own, but Homura could  faintly tell a few of the functions of the ship.

The power of teleportation alone would be amazingly useful for her once she returned home.

"If you keep staring like that, your eyes will dry out." Eita smoothly spoke up as the two of them continued walking.

Homura jolted in surprise as she glanced up at the bespectacled man with a bit of guilt in her gut. "What's going on?" She curtly tried to ignore the way she felt for having spent the last few minutes ignoring the captain in favor of the technology around her.

"I was wondering if you wanted any tea?" Eita repeated himself for Homura's benefit.

The dark haired girl paused as she considered that offer. "No, I'm fine." She insisted. The back of her throat itched a little bit with lack of moisture. "Where is this place? What is going on here?"

The captain looked a bit chided for a few moments, but he shook the expression off. "This is the Omegane. A dimensional ship from the Time Space Bureau." He explained again now that he had Homura's attention.

Both of them entered a side room, which had a guard posted next to it and another one inside the room; Eita full of confidence, and Homura bit reluctantly. The older of the two took a seat at the front of the table and calmly gazed at the middle schooler.

Not wanting to have her back to the door, she moved to sit across from him, but at one of the corners of the table. With the entire room in view, she asked the question she had been holding to herself.

"...dimensional?" She pressed for details. While she did so, she continued glancing around the room. A strange insignia, one that she had never seen before, was stamped on the walls of the room. "So we really are in a new world?"

"That's right." Eita nodded. "We have already confirmed that Mami comes from a parallel world." The man leaned backwards as he gazed at her. "However, we were interested in knowing the situations behind your arrivals..."

Homura raised her hand before he could continue. "Can you send us back now, then?" She straightforwardly asked.

"I'm sorry, but we can't."

"It's imperative that I get back to my world right away." Homura insisted. "Madoka...my friend's life is in danger the longer that I'm held up here." The dark haired girl hesistated for a few moments, but knew the easiest way of taking care of this. "I was banished here by creatures that want to kill her."

Eita's open concern alternately disgusted and intrigued the magical girl. Didn't he at least know enough to try and doubt her? "Tell me more and I'll do everything in my power to aid you." He promised, eyes still broadcasting his sincerity to Homura.

"Let me tell you about our world." Homura took a deep breath. Her dark eyes drank in the light as she focused an intense stare at Eita. "Being Puella Magi is suffering."

Despite the dark conversation that followed, Homura actually felt the first inklings of relief in a very long time.

*****

Mami felt another involuntary shudder run down her spine as she entered the ward where Hayate Yagami was interned. The smell of the hospital and the soft echo of her footsteps reminded her of darker times. Worse was that her steps seemed to occasionally synch up to the beeping and hissing of monitoring equipment inside the rooms she passed on her way to her destination.

"I want to live!" Mami's own voice, panicked and weakening by the moment, screamed out. Her arms, coated with blood from numerous cuts, desperately raised to the roof of her car, which had crumbled around her and her parents.

A shrill, continuous blast of a car horn muted her words, but the young girl knew that her words would get through to the god above her. The white, squirrel like creature peered down at her with shimmering scarlet eyes from where it had been perched on top of the sun roof of her ruined car.

'Your wish has exceeded entropy.' Its rabbit like ears, hanging flatly at its sides, suddenly shot at her chest with tremendous speeds.

'Oh...Mama...Papa.' Mami could smell their burning flesh as a blazing corona of light erupted from her chest as the god's ears sunk into her chest with a meaty slapping sound. Her hazy vision focused on the ruined forms of her parents sitting in the front seats. 'I'm...sor...r...y.' Her world darkened in direct proportion to the blazing light released from within her.

Mami shook her head as she found herself heavily leaning on the wall. A quick glance upwards revealed that she had found Hayate's room. She made sure to wipe her tearing eyes clean as she walked into the room with a jovial expression on her face.

A tiny brunette, no older than ten at most, glanced up at her with bright blue eyes where she was watching a television on the ceiling in an otherwise dim room. "Who are you?" When she sunk back into her bed a little, Mami moved to assure her.

"Hello, Yagami, my name is Mami Tomoe. My...associate, Homura Akemi, sent me to check in on you." The blonde spoke up. Hayate's eyes lit up as she leaned towards Mami. The blonde noticed that a set of crutches were next to the bed along with a wheelchair.

"Ah, the magical girl!" Hayate cheered, causing Mami to chuckle. "Is she alright? How come she hasn't appeared yet? Was she the one that showed up downtown?" She excitedly hammered question after question on the blonde.

"Well, I guess you could say that." Mami murmured, feeling a bit annoyed that her own actions were being attributed to someone else. However, before she could continue, Hayate reached behind her and flipped a switch.

Mami winced a bit at the light, holding her hands over her forehead like an improvised visor.

"It's you!" Hayate pointed at Mami with a squeal. When Mami intelligently responded with a mutter of surprise and merely pointing at herself, Hayate erupted in cheers. That's when she noticed the newspaper at Hayate's side, showing an image of Mami in mid-air, in the midst of summoning hundreds of muskets to open fire on  Walpurgisnacht.

'Oh no...' Mami winced.

"You're the magical girl that saved the town!" Hayate happily clapped. Her eyes blazed with innocent curiousity and happiness at seeing her. "Eh, Miss! Miss! What's it like? Huh? Huh?!"

For a moment, Mami remembered Katrina's body, twisted and broken beneath her.

The scent of her parent's bodies burning filled her lungs.

Dozens of battles, where she only survived by the skin of her teeth, rapidly flashed through her mind's eye.

"I want to live!"

Mami put on the more gentle expression she could recall, one she had seen on her mother's face countless times when she returned from school. Her golden eyes softened as she thoughtfully tapped on her cheek.

"It is the most wonderful feeling in the world to protect others." Mami softly told Hayate, who looked completely enraptured.

"Wow..." Hayate murmured. Her glistening eyes stirred something within Mami's own heart.

'I want to see it more...' Mami realized. The blonde glanced at the clock on the wall. She only had about a half hour left for visiting hours. The weight of the tracking device, heavy in her pocket, whispered to her conscience.

She really should use the function on it to wipe her memories...

"D-do you want to hear about things some more?" Mami stammered. When the girl eagerly nodded, the blonde leaned forwards with the same soft look her mother had given Mami when they were in on a secret. "Just promise you won't tell anyone about me and Akemi, okay?"

"I promise!" Hayate's sincerely replied. With a small grin, Mami pulled up a seat next to Mami and spent the next half hour talking to her about her battles.

While making sure to edit the worst parts out.

*****

Katrina made her way through the darkened streets. The city around her was completely alien to the girl, who had been wandering The chill of the midnight hour seeped into her body, but she only paid it the barest hint of attention. She was mostly beyond worrying about petty things like the temperature at this point.

One of the three serpents that kept following her let out a quiet hiss. Its body, invisible to Katrina, coiled around her. The sensation of hunger was shared between the two as she felt it rub itself against her face.

Almost like a dinner bell going off, it caused another of the three serpents to silently approach her with the same plea. Katrina cast out her senses to check on the third familiar, but it remained calmly hovering nearby.

"You three eat grief, right?" Katrina asked.

Two of the three serpents eagerly agreed, anxious to be fed. The last merely agreed with the sentiment, but it was focusing on surveying the area.

"Hmph. Take these, then. That Akemi girl and I already filled them up. Don't think you'll be eating much more than that, though." Katrina drew out the two Grief Seeds from her pocket. With a dismissive toss, she flung both Grief Seeds up into the air where they promptly vanished.

Two different things happened simulataneously. Both serpents let out thrills of joy as heat bombarded Katrina's face as the two creatures materialized, drapping themselves on the teenager; and the last serpent sent a warning through its connection with Katrina.

Katrina summoned forth her sword instantly, but the weight of the two creatures on her slowed her spin down enough she couldn't bring her attack down on the intruder that was standing behind her. It was the only thing that kept the grey squirrel from being bissected down the middle.

'Katrina.' Her expression, perpetually held in a lazy looking grin, glanced up at the girl.

"Yoobey!" Relief flooded Katrina as she collapsed to her knees before her advisor. The two serpents that were drapped against her body quickly pulled away. Katrina let Bifrost drop from her nerveless hands; The prismatic blade vanished in a burst of darkness as she swiftly pulled the small creature into a tight, desperate hug.

The three serpents, which had almost attacked Yoobey on sight, grew still and attentive.

'It's good to see you again.' Yoobey's long fluffy tail whipped about lazily.

"Is Alyssa safe? How did you get here? Where is here? What happened to Mami? Did we stop Walpurgisnacht?" Katrina slammed question after question into her placid advisor. However, just like always, the little squirrel pulled through without a loss of composure.

'The barrier containing Walpurgisnacht drew both of you out of our world through a breach in space. I followed into the void a month after my allies and I investigated the rip. Alyssa is safe. I left her protecting our city.'

"Wait, that's too much for her!" Katrina almost shook Yoobey before she could control herself. As always, any hint of discomfort was hidden by the small creature.

'Don't worry. I have gone ahead and requested that an ally arrive to watch over Alyssa.'

"Who is it...?"

'My ally's designation is Kyubey.' Yoobey's ears twitched on top of her head. 'Kyubey went ahead and secured a second Puella Magi as well. Her name is Kyoko Sakura.'

"Okay...how do we get home?" Katrina held up Yoobey so they could see eye to eye. Her friend kept the grin fixed on her face as she spoke up telepathetically again.

'I have determined that there are several locations in this town that are weak. We have to investigate them first, but I believe we could use them to travel back.'

"Then let's get out of here!" Katrina smiled. Yoobey's silence put a damper on her enthusiasm, though.

'We need to find Mami and Walpurgisnacht first, though.' Yoobey chided her.

"...of course." Katrina's smile went brittle.

'Also, it takes quite a lot of energy to break even through the weakened dimensional walls.' Yoobey hesistated. 'I cannot request aid from my allies in this universe.'

Katrina felt a silent prompt from Yoobey. Both of them turned to look at the three serpents.

'Grief Seeds provide a large amount of power, though.' Yoobey's words made Katrina's stomach flipflop.

"You don't..."

'Have you regained Asgard yet? Alyssa was praying for your safe return when I left.' Yoobey cut Katrina off. 'We will need its protection when we all go home.'

"Aah..." Katrina weakly moaned. She slowly nodded. "I...I have it back."

'Good. Let's find somewhere safe to stay the night. I suggest you conceal your friends behind an illusion.'

Katrina bit on her lower lip as Yoobey hopped out of her hands and began to scamper off. The small creature seemed to cast an impossibly long shadow beneath the light of the moon shining high above.

'Alyssa...'

Katrina's firmed her resolve. She glanced over at the three serpents. With a single command, she ordered them to follow after her and Yoobey into the darkness of the night.

*****

Intermission Omake

Magnificent Marketability Means More Magical Maidens, Part II

"D-do you want to hear some more?" Mami stammered. When the girl eagerly nodded, the blonde leaned forwards with the same soft look her mother had given Mami when they were in on a secret. "Just promise you won't tell anyone about me and Akemi, okay?"

"I promise!" Hayate's sincerely replied. With a small grin, Mami pulled up a seat next to Mami and spent the next half hour talking to her about her battles.

While making sure to edit the worst parts out.

So lost was the blonde in her old war stories that she didn't notice the faint line of drool coming of the side of Hayate's lips. Nor the faint twitch in her fingers as Hayate's gaze lingered below Mami's neckline.

Yes. There was a rose frame here as well.

Transmission Lost

[Olvelsper]

Throwing my hat in here to help Brian out. I'm remixing, fusing, and adding onto my original story. My goal is to basically streamline Mami's bits and the overall experience. Working on the next two chapters right now which are the last two parts (Hospital and Suzuka's mansion) of Act 1. Then I'm starting Belka alongside the Witch arc.

[Olvelsper]

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is the property of Masaki Tsuzuki, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the property of Gen Urobuchi, Magic Knight Rayearth is the property of CLAMP, and Super Robot Wars is the property of Banpresto.

Episode 04: Just Communication

"Nanoha!" Shiro Takamachi's booming voice made its way into Nanoha's bedroom, causing the brunette to sleepily murmur and turn about in bed as she slowly rose. The door slid open, revealing her father still dressed in a white baker' coat.

"You march yourself out of bed this instant, young lady!" Shiro's voice grew stronger as unconsciousness began to give before parental disappointment.

"Mmwah?" Nanoha sleepily blinked her fogged up blue eyes at her father as she shifted in place with her green button top pajamas and draw string bottoms.

"Oh, you're not late to school." Shiro pleasantly replied. "But you still need to explain to us why you were caught on television fighting off an alien yesterday!"

A flood of energy rushed through Nanoha's veins as she hopped out of bed.

"Oh, good to see you're awake now, Nanoha." Shiro sighed. He pointed downstairs. "Now march."

Nanoha quickly grabbed Raising Heart and slipped the Intelligent Device around her neck. Nanoha sheepishly followed her father past Kyoya and Miyuki's rooms. At the intersection they turned left.

Well, at least they weren't heading for her parent's room.

The two descended the set of stairs ahead of them to the first floor, Momoko Takamachi was patiently waiting. Momoko was dressed in a light grey button shirt and a long skirt in earthen tones.  Over her outfit she wore a apron with two pockets in the front and the Midori-ya's name stenciled in the front.

Her mother was also holding onto a videotape.

Ooh. They had video evidence. This probably wasn't any good.

Momoko led the three of them over to cramped living room. Several unused cardboard boxes for the Midori-ya dominated the furniture, and while clean, it had the feel that no one had used the living room in a while, as a cool air lingered in the room.

Nanoha tried to sit on the ground in front of the couch, but was gently - yet firmly seated on their grey couch next to her father by the man himself. The brunette pouted as she tried to pluck at a loose bit of fabric on the side of the couch.

"So, before we do anything else today, how did you sleep last night, Nanoha?" Momoko serenely asked.

Nanoha's blue eyes gazed at Shiro and then Momoko - wondering how much was safe, and what exactly to say. "...I swear I did it for a good cause?" She offered with a weak laugh as she faced down the two, looming parental giants.

"Yes...it most likely was a good cause." Shiro offered her a kind smile.

Nanoha gripped onto the edge of the sofa as she looked at her father in askance. "What do you mean?" So she wasn't going to be punished?

"Kyoya told us about what you were doing last time." Momoko softly replied.

Nanoha felt like she had just been dunked in cold water as she gaped at her parents.

"You knew all along?" The girl blurted out instinctively. She thought that Kyoya would have kept the Jewel Seeds secret!

Both of her parents shared a silent look that lasted too long for the good of Nanoha's nerves.

"We would have punished you if you had tried to deny it." Shiro replied seriously, "But honestly, until this latest incident, they were things that we knew you could handle. In fact, we have seen you handle them."

What?

Nanoha she stared at her father with wide blue eyes.

Momoko caught the look and giggled with a surprisingly girlish tone. "Nyahaha! Do you really think we would be so oblivious, Nanoha?" She wondered with an impish smile.

"The Takamachi family...that is- Kyoya and I, have always been involved with delicate matters." Shiro began uneasily. "I did not want you to know too much about the work involved since you're so young, but I felt that it was time we all shared our secrets, Nanoha-chan."

Nanoha felt her father's warm hand land on her shoulder as the man himself leaned forwards to glance at her intently as he concluded. "Nanoha, I not only was a bodyguard at one point, but I am the last member of the Fuwa clan of samurai."

The magical girl's blue eyes widened as she stared hopelessly up at him. She turned her surprised gaze at her mother in shock.

"Yes. Your father changed his surname to mine to hide from his enemies, but he was hurt on his last job protecting Kyoya's childhood friend." Momoko seriously nodded. A fond smile crossed her lips. "Ah, to think Fiasse became such a famous singer." She sighed.

"You mean Miss Crystela?" Nanoha mumbled in shock. How could she not forget the beautiful girl that had stopped by last year. The mobs that had formed around Midori-ya had been so intense that Suzuka had brought her maids to help.

Shiro nodded in return. "Yes, regardless of that fact - the point of the matter is that Kyoya has had to deal with dangerous things these last few years. He's been gone from home with Miyuki often, right?" His question generated a blank nod of the head from Nanoha. "Momoko and I realized that we cannot force our children to walk a path they don't wish for themselves, but what we absolutely must do is make sure that they at least know they have our full support." The warmth of her father's hands seeped into her body.

"We trust you, Nanoha. We've always trusted and believed in you." Momoko sadly smiled at her daughter as she moved to kneel down at her side so she could wrap her arms around the girl. "Just please don't shut us out" Her mother placed her head up against Nanoha's shoulder. "Even if we don't have the right to ask you this after we left you alone so long ago - please don't leave us out in the cold."

"Ah..." Nanoha found herself relaxing into her mother and father's hugs. The feeling of heat gently seeped into her body, and the young girl found herself lapping up the attention and affection with the type of dying thirst someone lost in a desert would display. "I'm sorry."

"Did you do everything you could to help others?" Shiro mumbled into her hair as he gently kissed the top of her head. Momoko tightened her hold around Nanoha and began to rub her back in a soothing motion that made her recall fevered nights and her mother's loving presence.

"Yes." Nanoha felt a thrill jolt through her nerves. "Yes I did."

"How about we all start in the beginning?" Momoko murmured into her daughter's side. "Your father and I..."

"No." Nanoha cut her mother off, gazing down at her mother's own surprised eyes. "I think it's more fair if I started explaining myself first. It started out during a normal school day. My class was asked by our teacher what we wanted to be when we grew up." Nanoha's eyes began to mist. "Everyone was so excited over the assignment, but something deep inside of me was just so...so scared at the idea of the future! They could all at least dream, but I had nothing. Not even a vague notion! I was so desperate back then, and in my desperation I made a plea."

Nanoha's parents stared at her in shock as tears silently flowed down her cheeks as she tried to hide her face away from the two of them. Her hand tightly clenched around Raising Heart, which had begun to glow at this point.

[Master...] Raising Heart's voice begged to be allowed to help somehow.

Nanoha continued letting the tears silently track down her cheeks. Even she didn't know if they were tears of happiness or sadness. "Yes. It all started with a wish and a destined meeting with my friend, Yuuno Scrya..."

*****

Alisa Bannings angrily stomped through the halls of her school during morning break. The sandy blonde had her full attention focused on her cellphone's screen. Displayed on it was a low quality rip of her classmate hovering in mid-air and commanding vast powers against a monster.

5.27.2006 – Amazing! Real Life Magical Girl?!

'What kind of twist is this?!' The green eyed blonde began to dial her driver. 'Oooh, and she even skipped school too!'

Several of the her classmates smartly got out of the girl's way as she headed straight for the exit of the school.

With the exception of a purple haired girl. "I'm not letting you skip classes, Alisa." The blue eyed girl crossed her arms as she stood in a regal pose.

"Suzuka... you need to move. I'm doing a noble thing here."

"Throttling our best friend isn't a noble thing." Suzuka Tsukimura shook her head as she ran a hand through her long hair. "Nanoha had to have a good reason for doing what she did." The girl's statement made Alisa sigh.

"You're not going to move, are you?" Alisa tried to overpower the other girl one more time. Suzuka merely smiled back at her. "I guess not..." The blonde sighed and shut her phone.

Suzuka moved away from the front door. However, she threw her arm out and snagged Alisa's shoulder before she could rush past her. "Nuh uh." Suzuka shook her head, indifferent to the look of sadness on Alisa's face.

"That isn't fair." Alisa whined as Suzuka marched the girl back inside.

"I know you already." Suzuka paused. "Plus it would make me look bad if you broke away."

"Fine, class president." The blonde pitched her voice in a nasally tone to try and annoy Suzuka. "I'll behave for now, but you're coming with me when school is over." Alisa rubbed her hands together as the two girls made it back to their classroom in time for the bell.

"Of course." Suzuka assured the other girl. "I'm very annoyed with my sister in law too." She offered Alisa a smile so serene that it set the blonde's hackles off.

*****

Yoobey and Katrina stood in the center of the business district. All around them the sounds of construction, observed by what seemed to be dozens of police officers, continued. The two of them calmly walked around the workers.

Not a single eye turned towards the two as Katrina's rainbow hued sword softly glowed in the morning sun.

'It's fortunate that we have your sword with us.' Yoobey spoke up. 'Its illusions made this such a simple operation. If it wasn't for it, everyone would be able to see your familiars flying around town since last night.'

"Don't even joke about that, Yoobey." Katrina frowned down at the white familiar, uncomfortable with the notion of the snakes and their spawn being attributed to her. "This isn't an 'operation'. We're just trying to get back home."

'Of course. I'll just need to observe the vortex we arrived from.'

Katrina squirmed in place once they arrived at the center of the business district. The large crater that had been formed since the other day's fighting was still there. Large construction equipment moved broken piles of cement away as both of the dimensional travelers arrived at the center of the clearing.

"Hey...Yoobey..." The brunette began as the familiar raised its large floppy ears in the direction of the rift.

'What is it?' Yoobey questioned as it began to scan the sealed vortex with her internal scanners.

"Why haven't I felt tired at all this last day?" Katrina wondered. "I'm acting like a freak..." She didn't mentioned Mami's name here.

Yoobey suspicions on Katrina's question were confirmed. The Incubator moved to alley any growing fears within her charge.

"It could be another part of the bond you share with Alyssa coming to the front?" Yoobey hypothesized. Its scanners showed that it was a .01 percent chance of it being part of the sister's bond that was empowering Katrina, but it was still a possibility.

"You...you think she's sending me energy?" Katrina's axiety dropped off her. "Yeah...maybe you're right. If she prays for me I get her protection. So maybe this is another power she unlocked!"

Yoobey said nothing as it continued to scan the vortex.

*****

Sachie Ishida waved at the elderly woman manning the front desk in the lobby of the hospital. She balanced a tray of pancakes for Hayate in her arm along with her folders as she jogged towards the direction of the elevator.

'Hayate must have been so bored last night.' Sachie thought as she waited for the elevator to get back to the ground floor. 'I hope Hayate hasn't been given any extra portions today.' The neurologist knew that the young girl's doe like eyes drew the entire staff to pamper her whenever Sachie wasn't around.

The elevator dinged as the door opened. The doctor moved through the door and turned to press the button to go up to Hayate's floor.

"Please hold on!"

Sachie quickly stepped forwards and placed her foot in between the closing doors. A harried looking blue haired nurse powered through when the door swung open for her.

"Hoo...I almost didn't make it in time." The nurse breathed out raggedly. Sachie's sympathies went to the young woman as the door shut and they began to ascend.

"Double shift?" Sachie wondered. The girl shook her head, sending her short hair bouncing as she leaned towards the control panel and pressed a button for the next floor above Sachie's destination.

"Triple."

Sachie stared at the girl in shock. "Who's your supervisor?" She demanded, outraged at the cheek of someone pulling something like that in the hospital. The nurse stuttered as her eyes descended to the badge on Sachie's blouse.

"N-no, it's fine! It's just light duty for this one. I'll be out in a few hours."

"But that isn't right..." Sachie began.

The nurse grinned. "Don't worry about it. I have to pull my part with all the patients we got since that disaster yesterday, right?"

"That's...true." Sachie admitted. Part of the reason she hadn't been able to see Hayate last night was that she had been on a double shift as well. She had immediately fallen asleep after the last of the consultations she had been dragged into attending to see all the new patients.

Moments later the doors slid open as they arrived at the neurological floor.

"Thank you for your concern, though!" The nurse cheerfully waved as the doors began to close once Sachie left the elevator.

The neurologist smiled back at the young lady before she headed for Hayate's room. It was always a pleasure to see someone enjoy working in the medical field.

...

Kusuha Mizuha breathed a sigh of relief. The nurse leaned up against the wall of the elevator tiredly for a few moments.

'Mizuha, the doctor was right.' The voice of An, one of the operators of the Omegane, whispered into her ear through the communications and deployment array that was being sloppily set up throughout the city by the combat teams. 'You've been working throughout the night. Why don't you come back and rest for a little bit?'

Kusuha resisted the urge to frown. An was simply showing care for her.

"No, I'm alright." Kusuha took a deep breath. When the doors opened on her chosen floor, she switched to telepathic communication. 'We'd be terrible medics if we let any of the natives in this world die due to that dimensional invader.'

'I-I see...' An stuttered, making Kusuha shake her head.

'I'm not mad, trust me.' The nurse reassured the awkward young woman. She really wished An hung out with more people besides Mariko. Those two girls were practically attached at the hip.

...

"Are those for me?" Hayate gave Sachie a good natured grin.

"Of course. It's a special delivery just for you."

The young girl eagerly fiddled with the remote next to her bed. The back of the bed rose with the sound of whirling devices as Hayate moved herself into sitting position while Sachie quickly set her load down on a nearby table.

The doctor moved her lab chart away and set it on a nearby chair before she began to serve Hayate her breakfast.

'She looks really happy today.' Sachie mused as she gazed at how Hayate eagerly tore into her treat. 'I wonder if anyone in the staff came by during a break to visit her?'

Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask, now would it?

Sachie pulled up a chair and ignored her paperwork for a little bit of time. "So, what did you do last night?" The doctor asked as she poured Hayate some juice she had raided from the hospital's cafeteria. "I hope it wasn't too boring..." She tried to verbally nudge the girl.

"Nuh uh. Someone came to visit me last night." Hayate brightly declared.

'Someone? Then not one of the staff.' Sachie suddenly remembered what she had been told by the staff yesterday. 'That middle school girl again?'

"She was a friend of Miss Homura." The little girl continued, oblivious to the worry that was growing in Sachie's heart. "Her name was Mami Tomoe." She clasped her hands together. "She had really pretty hair..."

"What did she look like?" Sachie gently asked as she tried to keep herself from showing a negative reaction. As Hayate quicky went into details about the girl and all of her stories, Sachie made a note to let the staff know to keep an eye out for this new girl too.

It was just too suspicious.

*****

Mami and Homura hadn't quite expected this reaction to their warnings about the threat of Witches.

As many of the senior crew that could possibly be put into the Omegane's meeting room had been brought in to a meeting to discuss the current issue. As far as the two girls knew, the ones that were down in Uminari were listening in via the ship's communication system while they either aided the wounded or set up a sensor net to sweep the town for the missing Witches.

A quick introduction was done for Mami and Homura's benefit before the room was dimmed.

"Our backdoor into the police's mainframe shows a growing number of cases involving violent assaults since the arrival of our guests." Kai Kitamura spoke up as he moved in front of a blank screen. Homura gazed briefly away from the shaky footage of her own attack on the witch's boundary field from a local newstation.

"We believe that the Witches are the cause behind this trend thanks to information provided by our allies." Kai nodded at Homura and at Mami, who Homura noticed was lingering towards the back of the room. "With their abilities to take control of humans it would be a simple proposition to arrange for these incidents."

Homura clenched her fist. How she had wished she could have gone back and put a hole in that Witch's head. Her anger drew her the attention of Mami, who was gazing at Homura with a large amount of disbelief.

'You probably think that friend of yours wasn't involved, right?' The dark haired girl thought with annoyance as she met Mami's gaze. 'What was I supposed to do? Not say that this Katrina girl didn't try to murder me?'

"Also, their ability to self replicate at is a worrisome trait. We can't just hand them the city." Kai continued with a dark look. "However, we don't have the man power to run rescue operations, sweeps, and also try and repair the damage to the dimensional walls."

At this point, Eita cleared his throat as he rose from his seat on the front row. Kai and the catain traded a nod as they swapped positions. "I have already sent a message requesting aid from the Asura." He began as he looked over the assembled crew. "Once this meeting is over, I'll go ahead and follow up with a personal message to Admiral Lindy as well. The ship is only three days away. We'll just have to hold out until then.

From there, Kyosuke took over the meeting. Once he was up in front of the assembled group, the images of Homura's rush towards Katrina's barrier was replaced with images that were very familiar to both Mami and Homura.

"These are some examples of the enemy." The man began, gesturing at some of the creatures that the Puella Magi had described to the crew last night. "There are Familiars and Witches. A Witch is able to create a Familiar by splitting off a portion of its own essence."

Mami had chosen a white puff ball with a black mustache. That style of Familiar had never gotten out of her head after she had seen it the first time.

She never quite could figure out why so many Witches she faced tended to use them.

"Don't mistake them with the type of Familiars from Midchilda, though." Kyosuke warned. "Once created, these Familiars do not drain the energy of their creator. Worse still, the Familiar is capable of ascending to the status of Witch when it gains a certain amount of power."

The Witch that Homura had chosen was Sayaka Miki's form. The armored mermaid was fairly distinctive...

Well, no. Homura was just a feeling a little bit petty this morning, really.

"As you can see, a Witch and her Familiar can run the gamut of shapes and sizes." Kyosuke pointed out from the front row as the images were enlarged and rotated for the benefit of the crew. "The worst thing about these creatures is that they have the capability of growing out of control."

Kyosuke glanced at a redhead in the front row. The last of the presenters, Marion Radom, nodded as she rose and traded spots with Kyosuke.

"The rapid maturation is powered by feeding off humans." The head of the scientists on board the ship began to show the assembled group the raw statistics they had gleaned from the police records. "According to Miss Tomoe, it takes five kills before a Familiar can become a Witch. From there it takes one kill for a Witch to create a Familiar."

A few probabilities began to run across the screen. The numbers of Witches being born after even a short period of time was enough to get the several in the audience worried about what this meant to Uminari.

"Unfortunately it appears that a third factor is preventing our searches from being as effective as it should be." Marion continued to her next point. "Our sensor net has been registering false positives all day. Even loading in the scans we're taking of Walpurgisnacht only improved its reliability by twenty percent."

"So something..." Eita uncomfortably glanced over at Mami. "Or someone is conspiring against us?"

'Katrina...' Mami closed her eyes. 'You can't be doing this, right?'

"It appears so." Marion bluntly admitted. "Our scanners are showing a magical signature that's closely matches the one of our friends here. It fades in and out of our sweeps, but..." She uncomfortably shrugged. "There's another layer over it. The closest we have to it are the scans from Walpurgisnacht, but with all the conflicting signals down there..."

Eita rose to conclude the meeting. "Since we're not sure how long our friends and us will be fighting side by side, I have basically decided to disseminate as much information about our capabilities as we can justifiably allow."

When Homura looked outraged, the captain moved to placate her. "We each have our own specialties.  Until we actually face a Witch, we won't know exactly what we're dealing with. By the same token, if you're going to work with us, you should know a little bit about what to expect."

Kyosuke and Mami both agreed with the captain's reasoning, nodding their approval at the idea.

Kai and Homura both privately thought it would be too much to let the other know too much, but Eita's explaination assured them enough to be silent. The information about the violent assault cases behind Eita switched over to a side by side comparison of Mami and Homura. Both videos were seemingly plucked from the local newsfeeds, with the video skipping and jumpy at some points.

"We will begin by disseminating the information about the Puella Magi..."

...

Homura gave into her curiousity as soon as the meeting ended. 'I wonder if they can tell me if there's any new progress on stabilizing things?' She hoped as she  moved past several soldiers, who gave her an occasional nod of acknowledgment. Homura returned them with stoic silence as she moved towards the front of the room.

Eita and Kai had both left shortly after the meeting to try and contact the Asura once again, but Kyosuke and Marion were still standing in the front of the room and quietly discussing something amongst themselves.

"Excuse me!" Mami spoke up behind Homura. The blonde's suddenly arrival surprised Homura enough to make her freeze in place long enough for Mami to draw close to her.  "How did you know out about the range on the Soul Gem?"

The blonde had never heard anyone actually using the hundred meter range before, but she was intensely interested thanks to how her Soul Gem manifested as a hairbroach. Maybe she could actually pin it on her skirt now?

The dark haired girl crossed her arms in front of her chest. She briefly wondered why Mami had never really gone into anything with Kyubey.

Homura was starting to wonder if Mami had some sort of death wish if she didn't know about the basics. 'Considering what happened when she found out the truth...' The quiet girl winced at her own line of thought.

Maybe that was getting too petty for one day.

"Akemi?" Mami pressed. 

"Sorry." Homura sincerely mumbled. It was a weak attempt to salve her consciousness, admittedly.

A look of confusion crossed Mami's face, but Homura continued before they began to waste anymore time. "I asked Kyubey to tell me about the Soul Gems one time. He explained a lot about them to me." Homura could admit now that she had briefly gone mad in her last attempt to save Madoka from the combination of finding out and Madoka dying for her.

AGA-!

'Stop.' Homura felt heat and disgust well up from the depths of her heart.

"Akemi...?" Mami asked in concern.

Homura clutched at her chest for a moment, but shook her head as she moved to stumble away.

"Wait..." Mami began to move after the other Puella Magi. Homura held a hand up as she gave Mami a cool glare. The effect was ruined by the sweat on the girl's pale face, though. Some of the soldiers that had been lingering behind for their own reasons glanced at the pair worriedly – more focusing on the look of obvious discomfort on Homura's face.

"I just need...to lie down." Homura lied. She clicked her tongue in annoyance as her words came out a little slurred. The girl turned and quickly left the room before Mami's worried eyes.

*****

Homura's breath was ragged as she entered her room. Her hand fumbled along the wall before she slapped the display, dimming the room's light as she moved towards the bunk bed that the ship had given her and Mami.

'I'm coming...'

Her feet slipped a few times as she tried to scale the ladder, causing her hands to painfully scrape against the edges of the metal ladder. The minor throbbing was ignored as she moved up to her mattress and finally laid down for the first time in more than a day.

'I'm coming...'

The back of Homura's eyes ached. The skin around her Soul Gem, presently in its sealed state on her finger, burned as she felt her body desperately try to conserve mana; her mind turned in on itself as her magic punished it and her body for not replenishing it enough.

'I'm coming to save you.'

As Homura reeled from the lack of energy, her darker thoughts and memories spilled to the surface. Every failure she had ever been exposed to during her travels through time, jogged to the forefront due to a moment of weakness.

'Please.'

She desperately tried to stym the flow of negativity. The brunette knew what path laid ahead for her if she couldn't control herself, but it was so hard out here. The girl couldn't even gaze at Madoka from afar to assure herself. Only her own empty self consolation and the hint that she would be able to go back home to see her friend again kept her hope alive.

'Wait for me.'

Homura's body instinctively curled in on itself a little bit more as a spasm of pain ran through her frame.

'Madoka...' She closed her eyes as the memories of herself and Madoka from a lifetime ago filled her mind.

'Homura-chan...' Madoka's voice whispered to the girl.

...

'That damn fool.' Mami clenched her fist as she pulled away from the door. The blonde spun and quickly rushed off to inform the captain of Homura's condition.

*****

Nanoha glanced at the clock. She wasn't sure when, but the afternoon had caught up to the girl while she was still dressed in her pajamas. The conversation she was having with her parents was finally dying off, though.

The girl was of mixed feelings, fear and eagerness having continued to surge within her in turn as they simply talked. 'I never knew anything about my family at all, did I?' Nanoha thought to herself as she leaned back against her mother, letting the older woman simply run her hands through her hair as the trio had silently begun to watch television together.

"Mama, Papa, do you think that Shinobu let Suzuka know about all of this already?" Nanoha suddenly questioned.

"Probably." Shiro agreed. The older man tightened his hold around Nanoha's mother. Momoko merely smiled at her husband and continued to toy with Nanoha's hair. "They have as much right to know about what family they married into."

Nanoha still didn't quite know what to feel about the current situation. In the span of a day she had been told all sorts of outrageous stories about the family she had thought were normal. She wondered if Suzuka would have told the truth eventually.

At that moment, Raising Heart chirped as it received a message.

[Master, Mami Tomoe has requested your presence at the downtown business district.] The Intelligent Device's message broadcasted clearly for Nanoha's parents to hear. The brunette had decided that there was no reason to hide her secrets.

Both Shiro and Momoko glanced at the silent girl.

"I have to go..." Nanoha gazed back at her parents with a look of assurance in her eyes. "I'll be back." She hopped off her mother's lap, and for a moment both sides almost expected Momoko to reach forwards and grasp her daughter.

Shiro placed a hand on Momoko's shoulder. "We'll walk part of the way with you." He gave his daughter a look of confidence. His faith in Nanoha bolstered the girl's spirits as the three of them walked out of the house.

"Shiro..." Momoko squeezed her husband's hand worriedly as Nanoha began to walk away from the two of them. "I don't want to..." Her lips trembled as her voice cut off on its own. Shiro embraced the woman from behind as the two of them gazed out at their daughter together as she began to turn the corner down the street.

"You might not have to." Miyuki's voice cut through the silence. The dark haired teenager glanced at both of her adopted parents with cool blue eyes. "I just need your permission to take my swords out from the dojo and I'm after her in a few moments."

A look of profound relief crossed Momoko's expression.

"Go." Shiro gestured.

Miyuki set her school bags down on the sidewalk. "I'll make you proud, Dad." The bespectacled girl spun and raced towards the direction of the family's dojo. The only thought in Miyuki's mind as she headed to arm herself was a prayer that Nanoha hadn't gotten too far away.

*****

"Homura-chan...wake up." Madoka's voice, and the dream of the beautiful island that came with it, faded away.

Homura came back to the world of the living to an increasingly familiar and annoying sight. A plain, non-descript ceiling stared back at her, but the person on the peripherals of her vision instantly let her peg where she was.

"Why am I in a hospital again?" She felt the faint urge to mourn the days she woke up anywhere normal.

The doctor she had spotted gave Homura a relieved smile as she came near her. Her short blue hair was striking against all the sterile lights and ridiculously complicated looking equipment surrouindg her bed.

"Are you alright, Miss Akemi?" The woman, a Miss Mizuha, if that name tag on her outfit was correct, asked her in a warm and concerned voice. "Miss Tomoe brought you here, and Captain Nadaka immediately pulled me back here to attend to you. Your Linker Co...er Soul Gem was showing troubling instabilities, but it's since stopped."

"Yeah, but ...Mami brought me here?" Homura stared at Mizuha. If Mami had been the one to find her...

Mizuha nodded.

'Oh no...' An image of Katrina attacking her out of nowhere flashed in her mind. Homura knew that Katrina would succeed in taking down Mami where she failed with her. That girl was still too damn soft.

"Where is she?" Homura immediately questioned.

"She went down to Uminari City alone, but she went with Nanoha Takamachi..." The doctor stepped back in surprise when Homura fairly vaulted off her bed. "What are you doing?!" She demanded as the dark haired girl walked over towards her outfit and calmly stripped the white gown she was wearing. Only her panties and patches connecting her to the various devices around the room covered her.

"I need a way to track them." Homura demanded as she began to get dressed. "That damn girl is going to get herself killed."

*****

Nanoha and Mami made their way amongst the throngs of crowded people. Several times one person would glance at the two girls with an expression of surprised familiarity, but they'd quickly turn back to what they were doing originally.

"I'm...still not very comfortable with this." Nanoha whispered to Mami when another person glanced at them for a few moments. The young girl awkwardly moved so she was within Mami's profile and clutched at the blonde's skirts.

The older girl nodded in agremeent, understanding the awkward feeling after having done her job in the shadows up to now. "Let's just hold our heads up. Akemi is relying on us right now to get her a Grief Seed."

Led by the shining light of Mami's Soul Gem, the two of them tried their best to work around the crowds. The two of them paused at the lip of an alleyway that led to the annihilated ruins of the business district itself.

Mami crouched low to the ground as she peered out, noticing Nanoha glance at her and mimic her actions a few moments later.

Unfortunately for both of the girls, they could see that there were still many people around.

"Is this the location?" Nanoha looked strangely intense by this point, worrying Mami slightly. When Mami gave Nanoha a confirming nod, Nanoha's lips turned down into a slight frown. "They're trying to attack people again like when Miss Akemi fought last night, right?"

Mami checked her Soul Gem. From the luminosity of the golden gemstone she could tell there were twelve creatures amongst the construction sight.

"Yes." Mami's expression hardened slightly as she confirmed things for Nanoha. "We need to something get into the barrier, but there's a very real risk that everyone in the area has been Kissed." She paused as she tried to find a way to approach the area without alerting their target.

"I have an idea!" Nanoha's eyes brightened as she turned to look at Mami. "I can set down a barrier over the area. We can keep everyone out of it except for those bad guys we're after." She enthusiastically explained her idea.

Mami's eyes widened. "You can do that?" She muttered in wonder. "The only ones that can do anything like that are the Witches in my world."

"W-well, I couldn't do it at first, but I had a great teacher." Nanoha stuttered, blushing a bit at Mami's reaction.

'Learnable magic, wow.' Mami shook her head in amusement as she pictured herself flying. 'It's a pity that I can't take things easier here. I bet there's a lot we could learn from each other.' 

"Do you think you can set that up now?" Mami asked Nanoha. In response, the brunette simply held up her red crystal. "Great. Let's do that, then." She took Nanoha's hand in her own as they both headed deeper into the alley to transform out of the eyes of the public.

However, once they were deep within the cover of the buildings, they were greeted by a sharp eyed brunette with glasses. Nanoha's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden appearance of her sister. Mami simply took a step back in shock when she saw the two sword hilts strapped to the older girl's hips.

"Heh..." Miyuki flashed a quick grin at Mami's reaction. "You two aren't going anywhere without me."

"W-who are you?" Mami demanded as she pulled Nanoha back behind her. The reaction brought out an flush of pleasure across the young girl's cheeks and a calculating look from Miyuki. "Nanoha, get away from here now while I hold her off!" She commanded, eyeing the other teenager warily as she tried to estimate her threat level.

"Mami..." The word quickly tumbled out of Nanoha's lips before she could add her usual honoriffic to it. "This is my sister, Miyuki Takamachi."

"Hello, Miss Mami!" The brunette grinned at the blonde, liking her attitude already. "You're taking my job away from me, 'sis'. I'd like my role back as Lil' Nanoha's defender please."

Mami stammered uncomfortably for the next few moments.

*****

"Hey, Yoobey..." Katrina called out. Both she and the familiar had been hanging out in the business district all day. "Can we go back to the warehouse now? I'm not feeling well."

Yoobey glanced up from where it was continuing to scan through the wards that had been placed over the entry point. 'It'll just be a little more.' If it was able to pierce this barrier, the Incubator was sure that it would be able to find a better location for them to attempt to leave this world. 'I need to find out what sort of energy requirement this field has.'

"Then we'll be able to go home?" Katrina hopefully wondered. One of a growing number of snake familiars were gathering in the area now. While most of them had been sent back to the warehouse, she still had her original three plus another fresh set of six snakes trying to drap themselves on her body.

'Unfortunately not from this location. It has been tightly sealed.'

Katrina's suddenly twisted wrathfully. "Then what's the damn point?! I want to get back home now!" The brunette jumped to her feet and stormed over towards the Incubator with her group of servants – all of which hissed as they began to swarm around the Incubator.

'I will be able to find less protected dimensional tears once I have determined how this seal was performed.' Yoobey calmly explained even as the snakes swarmed across its small body. 'Please allow me to finish.' It only raised a protest once the snakes squeezing its body with vicious strength moved to its ears – slowing down the scan it was performing on the dimensional tear.

A proverberial light bulb went off inside the girl's head. An easy going smile crossed her face as Katrina gestured with her hand. The snakes instantly moved away from Yoobey and began to affectionately hover around the teenager.

"Well, I have some good news." Katrina sing songed to the uncaring Incubator. "Rena has managed to track down where all the Witch Kissed humans from Walpurgisnacht's original attack are being treated." She crossed her arms. "With any luck, Mami should be there along with that monster's Grief Seed."

'Oh?' Yoobey glanced back at Katrina. 'That's good, but how did you know?'

"I...was told." Katrina blinked, mumbling her words in confusion. She glanced up as one of the original four snakes let out a long sighing hiss towards the south.

"Yoobey, we have visitors." Her green eyes narrowed as the world around them began to bleed out its colors. The people around them swiftly began to vanish, making the snakes angrily hiss as they felt their ties to the humans sever.

In the distance, both Incubator and Puella Magi could make out the distinct golden curls of Mami Tomoe.

*****

Mami, Nanoha, and Miyuki were all prepared in their individual ways as they approached the strongest source of the disturbance the Puella Magi had felt. Miyuki and Mami kept Nanoha between the two of them at all times as they began to descended into the collapsed crater that Walpurgisnacht had turned the street into with her rampage.

'Where is the Witch's Barrier?' Mami wondered as she held a hand up. Miyuki and Nanoha immediately stopped their attempt to go further down the incline to the center as the blonde reached up to her Soul Gem. The gem flashed within her feathered hair broach as she looked around the area.

She still couldn't spot anything, though.

Miyuki felt a tingle, which surged into a warning klaxxon

"Nanoha, duck!"

The girl moved to follow her older sister's command instantly. Nanoha let out a scream as she heard a serpent's hiss above her ear from out of thin air, but Miyuki's sword was already there, flashing as it was swung.

A line of blood was drawn by Miyuki's blade out of mid-air. A three foot long winged snake materialized before the three females as the blood splashed onto the ground. The beast let out an aggravated hiss at them with a slowly closing mouth, which had been exposing gleaming fangs, wounded along its right side as it finished writhing in mid-air.

Mami realized that the serpent was at an angle that it would have torn into Nanoha's neck if it hadn't been for Miyuki. The swordswoman's cold stare at the serpent confirmed her thoughts, and Mami quickly pulled Nanoha closer to her side.

"Nanoha! Tomoe! Keep your wits about you, these things are fooling our sights!" Miyuki warned as she took a combative stance with her two swords.

'How did she spot that? Even my Soul Gem wasn't able to...' Mami thought as she went back to back with Nanoha. Her sleeves fluttered and disgorged two silver muskets from the shadows cast within as she brought her arms to her sides. Clutching the two weapons, she narrowed her eyes as she tried to sharpen her senses to pierce the veil with her magic.

The young girl snapped out of her brief moment of daze at the near miss as more serpents materialized in the air around them. "Please use Wide Area Search, Raising Heart!" Nanoha asked her Intelligent Device as she readied the formula for her Divine Shooter spell in her mind. As her mind ran through the mathetmatics, several pink spheres of destructive energy formed in mid-air as Nanoha brought her staff to bear.

[Wide Area Search.] Raising Heart's gemstone flashed as larger spheres of energy formed in mid-air along with Nanoha's shots. [Searching...] With that declaration, several of them sped outwards in every direction.

Mami's eyes widened, Nanoha gasped, and Miyuki grit her teeth as each of them were finally able to pierce through the illusion.

Depending on the girl, the level of solidarity of the images varied, but each of them were able to see nine other snakes floating around them like stalking lions, each starting at three feet and only growing larger from there.

'What's this?' A calm, young sounding voice spoke up to all three female's minds. 'You can see them now? Interesting...' While normally one could call the voice cute, the monotone it was speaking with sort of rendered it disturbing to Nanoha and Miyuki.

Mami recognized the voice from her time with Katrina and Alyssa.

'Yoobey?! What are you doing here? Where are you – I'll come and save you once we stop these monsters.' Mami's declaration made both Nanoha and Miyuki give Mami quick glances of surprise before they glanced at the forces arrayed against them.

'Mami Tomoe...' A note of intrigue entered Yoobey's voice. 'Do you have the Grief Seed of Walpurgisnacht?'

'Of course not! What are you talking about?!'

Nanoha felt a bead of sweat run down between her shoulders as several of the snakes angrily hissed and began to drawn closer.

'How...unfortunate. She isn't pleased with that news at all.' Yoobey continued after a beat. 'This may make the following few moments more difficult than I had hoped.'

"What news?" Miyuki demanded, sick and tired of the situation, but not willing to expose either of the girls to more danger if they could help it. "Is there something they want?"

"Of course." A cluster of snakes before them parted as the air rippled to reveal an unknown girl to Nanoha and Miyuki. The girl was holding her rainbow hued sword up against her left shoulder and a white squirrel like creature was perched on her right shoulder. "I want to go home now."

"Katrina!" Mami almost took a step towards the girl in her wonder, but Miyuki quickly barred the way with an arm and a stern look. The blonde winced as she adjusted her stance to keep formation with the other two females. "How did you...?"

"Survive? Pretty easily, but you didn't even try to kick me awake, did you Mami?" Katrina sneered.

Mami grimaced. 'But...you were dead. Weren't you?' She thought, not realizing that Yoobey's presence projected the thought to the others. Miyuki instantly grew wary even as Nanoha grew frightened with Katrina, and the other teenager snarled and adopted an aggressive stance.

"Say that to me again!" She brought her sword before her.

The squirrel creature on Katrina's shoulder shifted in place, waving it long and fluffy tail about as it peered at the three other females. 'Well, it's a major setback, but I wasn't very hopeful it would have survived the trip anyway.' Miyuki and Nanoha were startled as they gained the impression that the squirrel was the one projecting the voice of this 'Yoobey'. 'We will just have to work harder than before to make up the lost energy when we get back, Katrina."

"What...why are you two so calm?" Nanoha finally demanded, gesturing around them at the monstrous serpents flying around. Her question was answered a few moments later as three particularly attentive serpents tried to brush against Katrina, but they were repulsed by a field of yellow energy.

"Heh." Katrina grinned, demeanor taking on a radically pleased overtone as she shifted to a more casual stance. Her green eyes even faintly sparkled with happiness, disturbing all three of the girls she was facing.

"Asgard?" Mami muttered, confusing the two native girls. "So there is a way back home!"

'Of course. So long as Alyssa prays for Katrina's safe being, no Witch will pierce Asgard's defenses.' Yoobey replied. 'We'll follow this light back to our world.' The creature paused for a moment. 'You should come back with us.'

Nanoha's eyes narrowed with the slight tone of hesistance that the animal spoke with.

Miyuki continued to be concerned with the serpents, but had noticed that they had moved further away when Katrina's attitude had changed on them. However, there was the exception of three. Those kept hanging around the shadows of Katrina.

"I can't go. I need to get a Grief Seed for Akemi."

'...another Puella Magi?' Yoobey wondered.

"Oh, is that so?" Katrina replied goodnaturedly. She reached into the pocket of her skirt and drew out two of them. "I've got several. I don't mind sharing some with you." Her answer made the three girls relax for their own reasons.

"You can have one too, Mami." Katrina shrugged uncaringly as she tossed them to a very confused Mami. "Clean yourself off."

"I..." Mami had never known the brunette to share with anyone except her sister. The whole two weeks she was working with the pair she had to go off and forage on her own, or be given some by Alyssa when she knew the older girl wasn't looking.

"Go on." Katrina gave the blonde a wide grin. "We have very important work to do, don't we?"

Mami stored the Grief Seed she had been given for Akemi away in her skirt pocket, and very reluctantly lifted the second one to her Soul Gem. With a bit of nervousness – generated by the looks of curiousity Miyuki and Nanoha were giving her – she touched the Grief Seed to her Soul Gem.

Moments later, the two native girls were gazing at streams of darkness pour out of the golden gemstone on Mami's hairbroach. It swirled into the pointed Seed, bringing a look of mild distaste to Miyuki the longer she looked at the process.

'What...is that?' The swordswoman thought.

Nanoha was merely amazed as the golden color grew brighter.

'That is Mami Tomoe keeping herself alive.' Yoobey answered, startling both Nanoha and Miyuki as he scampered off Katrina's shoulders and raced across towards the three girls. It stopped to a halt a few feet away from them once the last of the darkness within Mami's Soul Gem was drained away.

Mami said nothing as she stepped past the two girls, ignoring their intense looks as she knelt by Yoobey. She was glad when the natives were stirred away from gazing at her when a portion of Yoobey's back – where a circular area of white fur was marked off by red lines – popped open.

"Heh. What's wrong?" Katrina taunted the shocked looking pair of sisters. "You act like you haven't seen this before..."

'They haven't before.' Yoobey answered.

Mami silently dropped the Grief Seed into the creature's back.

"What?!" Katrina's voice boomed as she stared at the two girls in shock. "

'It's...fascinating.' Yoobey calmly replied as it gazed at the two natives with its burning eyes.

"Snap out of it!"

A voice roared out even, moments later the heads of six of the serpents, each of them striking for the girl's jugulars, were blown away by precisely aimed shots.

'Thank goodness I got here in time.' From a nearby rooftop, Homura Akemi lowered the spent rifle she had used, clutching at the back of her hand. At her feet, the tracking device that she had used after finding out Mami had gone to get a seed for her lay.

Katrina lowered her sword, disappointed her attack hadn't been able to finish them off once she had lowered their guards with her ploy. "Oh well. This is boring me now. Let's go Yoobey." She grinned as her snakes swept in to rip the three females apart.

Even Yoobey was shocked as the snakes, which had been distant up until now, had moved instantly to striking range around the girls.

'Ah...right.' Yoobey muttered as it trotted after Katrina. 'How did you...?'

"They're worthless Yoobey. Let's just head out."

"Traitor!" Miyuki shouted as she moved to block one of the beast's charges at Mami, who simply stared at Katrina in blank horror. "How could you do this to her."

"She's a leech. Best get rid of her before she drags you guys down." A dark scowl crossed Katrina's face as she glanced over at them. The three serpents with her hissed as well, adding more menace to the swordswoman. "Before she almost gets you two killed as well."

Mami flinched back, finally collapsing to her knees at the brutal words.

Nanoha swung herself into the air as she used her Divine Shooters to harry the remaining snakes away from the trio. "What kind of person are you to do this to someone that trusted you...?" The girl's angry words caused Katrina to pause in her retreat.

"I don't know anymore."

With that, her and Yoobey vanished from their sight.

Then there was nothing to do but lose themselves in combat.

*****

She was on a mission. As her graceful body flew through the darkness of night, her long and sinuous body danced with the joy of being chosen amongst the brood. How glorious it was to be recognized amongst the throng of her siblings.

Her body curled around a younger member of the collective sacks of meat that her kind were to rule over and impulsively granted her Kiss to him. The simpleton merely stiffened for a moment as her fangs pierced its clothing and flesh to grant her distinction to it. Later on after she was done, either she or one of her siblings could come back and grant this being the honor of feeding the greater brood.

However, right now it was time for her to fulfill her most noble of goals as she flew towards one of the larger collection of meat sacks that had been already blessed with her Mother's Kiss. Unfortunately as she arrived at the building, she found a distressing barrier in her way.

How bold of these lesser beings to try and oppose her Mother's Will. Her body flew higher into the night sky as she searched for an opening. Ah! There it was!

Sliding into the building, she hovered over an elderly sack of meat that was groaning and moaning beneath on top of some sort of rectangular box. How queer! Clutching at some fabric while sweating and thrashing. Well, he certainly was producing enough despair at the moment.

Maybe a little bite would be alright?

Just a nibble before the main course?

Oh, what would it really hurt?

She slid around the man and let her forked tongue lash out and lick at the elderly man's ear.

Mmm. Well, just this once would be fine. A few minutes later her body sliced down the dark hallways as a cacophony of screams and shouts behind her filled the silence of the night.

"Morioka-san! Don't!"

She happily thrilled her praises to her wonderful Mother as she enjoyed her appetizer.

The slaughter continued unchecked as her body began to warp in such wonderful ways as the sacks of meat left to join the greater brood. Why was it that their fellows were so selfish, though? Could it be that they did *not* want to join the greater race?

She wondered. She wondered.

*****

Hayate gasped as she came out of her nightmare. Her heart attempted to burst ouf of her chest with the pace it was hammering up against her ribcage. 'God, what was that?' The young girl trembled in fear, remembering the feel of those alien thoughts surging through her nap.

A knocking was heard at side of her door.

Hayate glanced away from the setting sun in the window to look at who was visiting.

An extremely pale looking young girl, maybe five years old at most, was being led in the room by Doctor Ishida. The girl's bright and healthy looking long red hair contrasted with the sickly looking appearance of the rest of the newcomer.

"Doctor Ishida...?" Hayate blinked at the woman.

Sachie pleasantly smiled over at Hayate. "The staff and I were wondering if it was alright if we could move this little one in with you for the night." The woman questioned Hayate.

"Uhm..."

"It would really help us. We haven't been able to find her family, and we've had...issues all day today." Sachie trailed off as a disturbed look crossed her features for a moment. "Please, Hayate?"

Hayate instantly buckled beneath the older woman's pleading look. "Okay." She smiled at the other woman, who looked extremely pleased with her answer.

"Okay, let's get you set up, then." Sachie shooed the girl next to Hayate as she turned and walked away to call for assistance.

However, when the older woman turned, her neck length hair briefly moved aside from where it was covering the nape of her neck. A faintly glowing mark on it to Hayate's eyes before it was covered by her hair again.

'What...was that?' Hayate stared for a moment, but she was distracted by a tug on her arm. The red haired girl gave Hayate an intensely interested look, and Hayate shortly realized that she hadn't introduced herself.

"I-I'm sorry..." Hayate stuttered. "My name is Hayate Yagami."

The girl perked up. "My name is Fafnir." She introduced herself with a scratchy voice.

Hayate blinked. "Wait...isn't that a strange name for a girl?" She blurted. What kind of parent named their daughter that?

The little girl smiled at Hayate with gleaming white teeth.

"I wonder, I wonder."

*****

Intermission Omake

Being Hameru Is Suffering

The Witch that Homura had chosen was Sayaka Miki's form. The armored mermaid was fairly distinctive...

Well, no. Homura was just a feeling a little bit petty this morning, really.

"As you can see, a Witch and her Familiar can run the gamut of shapes and sizes." Kyosuke pointed out from the front row as the images were enlarged and rotated for the benefit of the crew.

"Excuse miss, Teacher!"

The meeting grounded to a halt as all eyes turned towards Mami. The blonde was boisterously rising from her chair in a bouncing motion as she waved her hand for attention.

"Uhm...yes?" Kyosuke asked.

"You forgot the picture I submitted!" Mami chided. Kyosuke blinked once in surprise. "You can't just show the Witch that Homura provided. That isn't fair!"

"That's true." Kyosuke turned to the rest of the room with a chided look on his face. "I apologize."

The image dimmed before Octavia von Seckendorff was replaced with an image of Kriemhild Gretchen. Homura gazed at the towering mountain of a Witch before turning to a content looking Mami with a look of murder on her face.

"Oh, you incorrigle bi-"

Transmission Lost

[Olvelsper]

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is the property of Masaki Tsuzuki, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the property of Gen Urobuchi, Magic Knight Rayearth is the property of CLAMP, and Super Robot Wars is the property of Banpresto.

Episode 05: Greed

"Move!" Miyuki sheathed one of her swords as she took Mami's arm and hauled her to her feet. The stunned blonde allowed herself to be pulled away helplessly as she looked back at the retreating backs of Yoobey and Katrina.

One of the snakes moved to strike at Miyuki's undefended back, but it was cut back by Nanoha's Divine Shooter. The creature let out a shriek of agony as the sphere smashed into it, burning its side lightly as the magic's stun setting caused it to recoil.

"Hurry up, Nanoha!" The older sister commanded the younger.

Nanoha abandoned her attempt at guiding her shots past the swarm of snakes towards Katrina. "Coming!" With one last glare at the other girl, she retreated to join the others.

The serpents themselves wouldn't allow it to simply end at that, though. Their forms sliced through the air as they struck at the trio, and two even rushed towards Homura's position. The dark haired girl's eyes narrowed as she reached into the shadow of her shield, drawing out the two pistols she had taken the other day.

"Snap out of it, Mami! Don't go dumb on me here!" Miyuki shook the blonde with one arm. The other trembled as she used the flat of it to keep one of the serpents away from the two of them.

Nanoha herself buzzed over the two, trying to keep the serpents on her trail away with a dizzying set of maneuvers as she unleashed her shots into the crowd.

The spheres were just enough to keep them from swarming, but the pain they were causing the serpents was quickly being ignored by the beasts. "Please use Struggle Bind, Raising Heart!" She called out as she tried her best at keeping the increasingly brave beast's off herself.

[Yes, Master!]

Several of the spheres near the serpents shattered, energy chains lashing out around the familiars as a few of them were brought crashing down onto the ground. Once they landed, they began to roll down the incline of the crater towards the center.

"I got yo-"

[Round Shield.] Raising Heart's gemstone flashed. A round shield made of light and geometric patterns appeared directly in Nanoha's blind spot. The snake that had appeared out of nowhere slammed into the field, but it had enough force behind its rush to cause both of them to go slamming into the ground.

"Nanoha!" Miyuki shouted. The combination of both of the elements shook Mami out of her daze, and with a snarl she erupted out of Miyuki's arms.

Magic reinforced her legs and oxygenated her blood, pumping adrenaline and a chemical cocktail through her brain. The distance to the top of the crater she was ascending vanished in a flash of motion as she cleared the rim of the hole and soared in mid-air.

Mami brought both of her gleaming muskets down on Nanoha, who was being swarmed by serpents, barely keeping them at bay with that round shield of light.

One of her muskets fired.

A serpent wrapped around Nanoha's leg erupted erupted in a burst of energy as the golden shell tore into its mid section.

The vein behind Mami's right ear throbbed as her vision tunneled, sight sharpening to distinguish the white scales of the serpents from the white cloth of Nanoha's jacket.

Her second musket fired.

The head of a serpent, rushing to bite into Nanoha's hand, was speared through by another shot. The eruption of energy released from the shot grazed the frills of Nanoha's jacket sleeve, sending the fabric fluttering as it body faded before it hit the concrete.

'Reload.'

Both spent weapons were tossed aside and new ones flew into her hands. More of the weapons appeared in her hands at her silent command as she began to plummet. More shots were fired at the monsters that dared to hurt Nanoha in front of Mami.

To Miyuki, who had finished bloodily slashing through the last of the serpents keeping her pinned inside the crater, Mami had seemed to be constantly firing.

The sleeves of Mami's jacket told a different story to Miyuki, though. They were constantly fluttering around despite the blonde looking like she was simply unleashing her shots as she descended back to the ground.

'How can she achieve that kind of speed?!' Miyuki stared in open shock. 'Only Kyoya's Blink Strike is that fast!'

However, Miyuki knew well the kind of pain and exhaustion using a technique like that brought, but  Homura was already rushing towards Mami's landing point.

The blonde collapsed on her knees as she noisily gagged and coughed.

Nanoha silently stared up at the skies for a few moments as Miyuki helped her to her feet. The older girl placed her hands to steady Nanoha as the girl let out ragged gulps of air, clutching at Raising Heart as she tried to put aside the thought of how close those serpents had come to getting her.

Homura, who was clutching at a wounded shoulder as she arrived at Mami's side, silently sympathized with her fellow Puella Magi.

Mami, having mostly recovered from the strain of her technique, shakily shifted her stance as she tried to take deep, calming breaths of air to restore her strength. While her eyes and head ached with the stress of her enhancement magic, Mami was profoundly relieved as she saw Nanoha be supported by her older sister.

A shadow covered her, causing her to look up.

"You did good..." Homura gazed down at her with hooded eyes. After a moment of considering her, they lightened ever so slightly. "Thank you. For doing all of this for me." She offered a hand up to Mami.

The blonde gladly took Homura's hand.

...

On the ship's main screen, Nanoha was gazing at Eita. "Captain, sis and I have gone ahead and split from Miss Akemi and my big sister." She dutifully reported.

In the background, the bridge's crew could make out the darkened streets of Uminari. Mami was currently invoking some form of magic on a rusted steel pipe. The weapon, lying on a circle of light, was swiftly transforming into another weapon before their eyes.

Homura, who had her arms crossed in front of her, looked  a bit amused as Mami proudly held up her weapon towards the other Puella Magi. A third girl, an older teenager, looked less than pleased as she held a pair of swords away from her body like they were live snakes.

"Look, I don't know why you kids keep thinking this, but gems do not belong on swords!"

"But that's the way the magic turned out..."

"Look, Takamachi, you can complain about it, but you can take out more Familiars this way. Your sword will only look different for a little while. It's not permanent."

"Oh thank god..."

"Hey!"

Nanoha looked a bit ashamed for the sake of the older girls behind her. "Uhm...would you believe that we can take out more Familiars this way?" She squeaked.

"Send Miss Tomoe a tracking device." Eita shook his head, bravely fighting back the smirk on his face. "We'll let you know when we have one done for your sister, Miss Takamachi."

Nanoha saluted. "Yes, sir!" The image vanished, showing them the scan of the entire city.

"I'm going to go inform Admiral Lindy of the growing situation." Eita rose from his seat, turned, and started for his ready room. "Inform me of any updates with the situation down in Uminari City." With a chorus of confirmations, he retreated to speak to the Asura.

...

"So, that's the cause of the recent dimensional storm." Lindy Harlaown sighed. She felt ten years older  as she looked over the summary of events. "Earth hasn't exactly been treated kindly by the fallout of our disasters, has it?"

"Unfortunately not." Eita replied. His image was distorting, rapidly switching from a clear picture of the captain to a hazy mass of pixels. "We don't have the man power to contain this situation. Especially with the nature of these beings confusing our sensors."

"I always wanted to be in charge of a First Contact, but never like this..." Lindy shook her head. "With the situation as it is, we're heading back as soon as we can. The storm that our new guests have caused with their arrival is going to delay us for a few days, though."

"So you'll be approaching through three dimensional space?" Eita asked. When Lindy nodded, the man continued. "Good. We'll send you all the information we have at that time." At Lindy's raised eyebrow, he mirthlessly smiled. "We can't risk some of this getting into the wrong hands. It's about the nature of our allies..."

Lindy frowned. "I understand." If it was important enough that the Captain was willing to put enough care into it, she was going to wait until it could be secured. "Until we meet again, then..."

"Godspeed."

"If anyone needs the favor of the gods, it may be your crew."

*****

'Well, that wasn't productive at all.' Yoobey finally spoke up as they arrived at their base. It turned to look at the brunette in the eyes. 'May I ask exactly why you wanted to help them if you were going to attack them immediately afterward?'

The loss of one of their three Grief Seeds and all of the nearly matured familiars were great losses until the fourth of the original serpents replaced them with more familiars. The closest sensation that the Incubator felt would describe this situation was...

Katrina glanced back at the Incubator from where she was looking at one of her serpents, looking distracted as she answered. "Oh, yes... Go ahead." She mumbled before wandering back in the direction  of the warehouse's main office, followed by one of her serpents.

...irritation.

'Right then, I'm going to see if I can secure some energy to make up for what you just wasted.' Yoobey felt slightly put out by the girl's reaction. The creature leapt from the girl's shoulder and began to head for the exit.

"Uh huh."

Just as Yoobey exited the warehouse, one of the girl's three serpents sliced in front of the Incubator, cutting off its path. Yoobey's tail twitched slightly behind it as the snake and it began to engage in a staring match.

The serpent hungrily hissed.

'We need these spheres.' Yoobey replied.

The large animal exposed its fangs.

'Your Mistress wants us to get home.' Yoobey insisted. It knew the creature had been gazing at its body ever since they left the business district. 'Go away, you greedy beast. Feed on humans if you must, but don't touch this seed.'

It needed all the energy possible now that Katrina had given away one of their seeds.

The serpent began to draw closer to the Incubator. Yoobey's tail twitched a little bit more erratically the closer the serpent drew to it. Just as the serpent dove towards the Incubator, Yoobey leapt, bouncing off the beast's head and away from the area.

...

Katrina found herself curled up on the ratty old couch in the manager's office on the second floor of the warehouse. She let out a yawn of exhaustion out from her lips as she attempted to stretch to alleviate some tension in her body. However, she found two of her serpents had attempted to cover her body while she was asleep.

The aura of golden light around her kept them a good foot away from her body even now, even as one of them desperately tried to push past it to get at the Grief Seed that was an inch away from her hand on the ground. The second one was content in merely trying to burrow past the field to try and nuzzle up against her chest.

"...where's Yoobey and Verdandi?" Katrina's eyes narrowed as she saw how dark it was outside the office. "What time is it, even?"

Skuld and Urd merely gazed up at her with beady eyes.

...

'Go away.'

Hiss.

'Go away.'

Hiss.

*****

[We should get you four back to the Omegane.] Eita's voice came through the hand held device Homura had brought with her. The four girls were gathered together inside the lip of an alley, watching over the area as the dark haired girl used a Grief Seed to restore her strength.

"No, she can't catch me off guard now." Mami promised the captain sincerely. "I can also feel a growing number of Witches in the city as well. We can't leave your men out here by themselves."

"It's bad enough having them deal with familiars with the power to hide, but full blown Witches?" Homura scoffed as she finished restoring herself before handing the Grief Seed back to Mami to use to bring herself back to full condition.

[Yes, but we now have someone else involved...] Eita cut his voice off, realizing how it'd sound to Nanoha. The youngest of the girls winced as she clutched her stained barrier jacket. The action caused Miyuki to scowl as she placed her hands on Nanoha's shoulders reassuringly.

"Look, it was bad enough we let her do this kind of crazy stuff before, but now these things want to kill  my little sister. You better believe I'll get involved!" Miyuki's tone was controlled and her gaze was even, but both Homura and Mami leaned slightly way from the older girl as her tone struck a fearful note in them.

[I apologize.] Eita responded in a composed voice. [It isn't fair for me to say those sort of things, its true. However, how would you be able to assist?]

Mami stepped up with a smile at this point. "I think I have an idea." Her golden eyes twinkled a little.

...

"I'm...not sure if I should be happy about this." Miyuki eventually spoke up. At her sides, her swords had been changed for lack of a better term.

The leather and wooden hilts had been swapped out with a colorful material that was studded with gemstones. The sword's guard had been replaced with fanciful looking dragons curling around the blades, which had strange runes carved into the steel.

"I think your swords look neat!" Nanoha spoke up, happily gazing at the magically enhanced weapons on her sister's hips.

"You certainly have...a unique sense of taste." Homura amusedly told Mami. The blonde smiled at Homura as she finished enhancing the rusted iron pipe into a weapon for the dark haired girl. Moments later, she handed the girl a brand new...golf club.

"Ironic one too..." Homura gazed at her new weapon with a bit of mirth.

"What's that?" Mami blinked at her.

"Nothing, nothing..."

*****

"Stupid fucking thing...!" She growled, lashing out with her leg to smash it against the cover of the vending machine. It shook under her fury, but refused to spit out her drink, further enraging the tanned girl.

'Calm down, Hikari. Don't break your foot.' She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her gaze went over towards one of the various trash cans in the park. A wicked smile crossed her face as she walked over towards one she could reasonably pick up, hauled it over her head, and flung it at the vending machine.

Trash exploded every which way as the can's lid broke off it as it collided with the vending machine. The plastic cover of the machine itself grew stained and bent under the attack, but at least Hikari felt some measure of satisfaction as she calmly walked away.

A few glares from her drove off the few gawkers in the area.

'Damn, my luck has been shitty lately.' Hikari thought to herself as she began to head back home before it got even later. Ever since she been mugged by that damn bitch the other day, she had been facing intense pressure from her parents to return earlier.

Not to mention all the uncomfortable questions she was getting about her hair and skin.

'Why are they giving a damn now?' Hikari darkly thought. 'They could have easily said something before, but nooo.'

'Oh, they probably awakened to their parental instincts after this incident.' A child's voice – possibly a girl by the pitch, came up from behind Hikari. The bleach haired girl spun around and came face to face with a white creature.

'Cat?' Hikari thought, holding a hand up to her panicked heartbeat.

'Incidents such as those tend to blow away the delusion that parents, and even the child themselves, have in regards to life.' The strange creature twitched a fluffy tail as it looked up at her with an unreadable expression.

"...what delusion?" Hikari decided to play along with the hallucination before her.

'That the young are safe from death.' The creature quirked its head to the side. 'Death is not a hunter unknown to its prey, Miss Hikari Sahashi.'

*****

It was hell. Flames raged around the Bureau mages, and several of the newer recruits nearly panicked and broke formation on the spot, but seeing the struggling figures hanging outside of the windows of their apartments was enough to strengthen their nerves.

"Throw on some environmental barriers and get those people out of there!" Kai Kitamura boomed, ignoring the crowds below his men. The mages answered as one, a chorus of acknowledgments as they  moved to follow his commands.

Kai himself checked his Storage Device. The gauntlet on his arm was showing him several dozen more areas that were in need of his squad. With a mental equivalent of flipping a switch, the large man began to descend to the ground as he began to project his telepathy through the relays they had finished setting up earlier that afternoon.

[Lieutenant Commander Nanbu, can you read me?]

[Yes, sir!]

[My squad have the fire at Yamada covered. While I proceed to touch base with the locals, I need you to go down to the oil refinery by the shore. There's rumbles of dissent in that area, and I don't believe the timing is natural.]

[I understand, sir. Will you be alright?]

Kai smirked and said nothing.

[...of course. Nanbu, out.]

As soon as Kai landed on the ground, he was beset by news media, and even a few of the higher ranking police and firefighters that were trying to restore order to the neighborhood. The heavy set man nodded at the two officers and simply ignored the rest as he gestured for them to follow. Police officers moved to keep the reporters back as the trio drew closer to a convoy of police cars.

"Who are you?" The fire marshal demanded, but the police officer actually stepped in for Kai at this point.

"He's one of the vanguard forces of the Defense Forces." The officer glanced at Kai thankfully. "We really appreciate your help with this."

The fire marshal's sharp look softened. "Do your men know how to handle this?" Kai merely thumbed up at his squad. The six mages were working as one, using barriers to lower people into the streets. Occasionally two of them would fly into the raging flames and return a few moments later with residents.

"We train all our people in the basics of rescue and salvage. Just give me your basic frequency and we'll patch into it so we can communicate easier."

"Right, just give me a moment!" The fire marshal turned and raced back to one of the massive trucks spewing water into the conflagration. At that point, the police officer cleared his throat, drawing Kai's attention.

"The police chef needs to meet with the head of your unit sometime tomorrow, sir."

"Of course." Kai nodded. "I'll let the Captain know right away." He gestured at the flame. "Have there been anymore incidents like the business district – with your men actually turning on others?"

"...a few." The officer reluctantly admitted. "We've gotten good at spotting the signs, but..."

"Right, well then, I'm going to have to check the area once we're done." Kai glanced back in the direction that the fire marshal had gone towards. "What is taking him so long...?"

Kai and the officer blinked as they saw a figure quickly scurry out from beneath one of several of the cars in the area. Seconds later, the man was propelled forwards as the car was explosively launched into the air.

Screams ripped through the night as Kai and the officer rushed to the side of the man that had been blown away. Only to stare as the fire marshal was lying on the ground, body blackened with flames. His chest weakly rose and fell before going still.

For a brief moment, Kai caught a gleaming mark on the marshal's neck.

Another explosion rocked the area, this one having enough force behind it that it actually launched one of the smaller police cars into the air. A small group of reporters, who had barely gotten of the way of the first explosion, fumbled and froze as the new projectile came crashing down towards them.

Kai let out a sharp curse as he dove, using his magic to switch into flight halfway towards them, and began to draw magic out of his linker core.

The ground beneath him began to glow as a massive magic circle began to form beneath him as he moved. A few pieces of torn off metal from the wreck of the first car shot towards him, tagging him harmlessly thanks to his Barrier Jacket. With a booming shout, he held his arm out towards the descending car as he came to a jarring stop in mid-air between the reporters and the car.

A silver disc of light appeared between them and the car, letting the vehicle smash into it with full force. Seconds after it hit, the disc swiftly grew in size as it completely wrapped around the car, containing the subsequent explosion of metal and the remaining gas inside the vehicle.

"Wha...what was that?!" One of the reports squeaked in alarm, speaking for the others as they stared up at Kai. The man glance away from the raging fireball inside his barrier and towards the group beneath him.

"Your tax dollars at work."

*****

The remains of a few Familiars dissolved before Homura and Miyuki - crushed and sliced up by the weapons they were wielding. Miyuki had a look of consternation as she gazed at her two overly ornate katana.

"She's got a silly sense of style that's true." Homura finally spoke up. She also felt a touch ridiculously wielding the golf club, which had its head stylized like a flaming fist. "Just roll with it. The weapons are much better at what they're supposed to do when she has a go with them."

"But...my swords look like some middle school class got them for an arts and crafts class." Miyuki complained. The dark haired girl had a wry look in her eyes as she reached for the tracking device strapped to her side.

"Imagine that, we are in middle school." Homura replied in a dry tone. "Don't go questioning me on magical girl stuff and I won't question you on your Highlander stuff."

Miyuki looked mortally offended.

Homura had a grand time ignoring the martial arts girl as she activated the tracking device.

A hologram appeared before her, showing several clusters of groups sweeping through the city as quickly as they could. Information also streamed into the map for their benefit. From what Homura was seeing, the Bureau were mostly focusing on putting out the disasters that were being generated from the monsters.

"Tch. We're never going to stop the Familiar's spread like this." Homura grumbled. At Miyuki's concerned look, she explained. "The Bureau's devices," Here Homura shook the device in hand, which looked a little bit like a personal data device to Miyuki. "Can't really track things as well as Mami and I can."

"So they can only come in after the fact?"

"Pretty much." Homura sighed, rubbing her head in exhaustion. "And there's only two of us here..." She suddenly perked up as she looked off to the west. A frown of confusion crossed the Puella Magi's face. "Only one..."

By this point, Miyuki had moved closer towards Homura to look at the device's map of the city. "We should go there, though." She pointed at the location. "It's the park. Lots of people are going to be there right now."

Homura silently nodded.

*****

"W-woah, slow down! You might bite your tongue off!" Hayate was having a mild panic attack as she observed the red haired girl's eating habits. The girl was laying on a bed across from Hayate, and she was currently shoveling a second plate of food down her gullet with sweeping motions.

Fafnir flashed her a messy grin, bits of food trapped between her teeth and around her mouth. "This stuff is great!" A piece of rice dropped off her cheek and onto her bed, which was stained with more waste. "Why aren't you eating more?"

"I'm...not very hungry." Hayate shakily replied, a bit disgusted at how the girl was eating. "Besides, I doubt they'd bring me any extra portions." She replied, a touch jealous of how the staff had been swarming in and out of the room to attend to Fafnir the entire afternoon and evening.

"Ooh...can I have your plate, then?" Fafnir completely glossed over Hayate's slightly scrunched eyebrows. A few moments passed before the brunette sighed with a touch of good cheer, trying to find the humor in the situation.

"Sure, sure." Hayate pushed her food cart away from her side. When she did, Fafnir's eyes lit up as the girl moved off her bed and towards Hayate's abandoned food. Halfway across the room, the redhead paused and simply stared off towards the corner that the television was located.

Hayate glanced up at the muted television, curious about what could have distracted the girl, and was greeted by closed captions rolling across the screen as a news feed displayed chaos in the streets.

-ifty confirmed dead in mass firebombings. Reports floo-

A group of buildings were shown burning brightly, with several people running out of the blaze under their own power, or with firefighter's assistance.

"My sisters must be there." Fafnir spoke up, face solemn as she gazed at the television screen.

"Oh no, they live there?!" Hayate gasped in horror – unable to hold herself back.

Fafnir glanced over at the brunette curiously. "No, they're working for Mother." The strengthening look of concern in the other girl's face confused Fafnir as she held her arms out towards her.

'She's so brave...' The brunette's heart melted, imagining how afraid she would be if her family was throwing themselves into harm's way.

"Come here." Hayate gently coaxed the girl over towards her. Once the younger redhead was sitting next to her, she wrapped her arms around the increasingly alarmed Fafnir. "You poor thing." Hayate shushed the squirming girl as she ran her hands through Fafnir's hair.

"A-ah...?" Fafnir squeaked, thoughts of eating forgotten for now as she was gently swayed from side to side.

*****

Hikari frowned, wrapping her arms a bit tighter around herself as she heard a hiss above herself and Yoobey. When she looked up at the tree tops, she saw a flash of white amongst the branches. Leaves rustled and fell down into their path out of the park.

"What was that?" Hikari suspiciously wondered.

'An annoyance. Ignore her and she will go away eventually.' Yoobey replied as it calmly walked besides her. 'Now then, we were talking about your wish...'

Hikari glanced down at the cat besides her for a moment. The fact she was actually negotiating with a damn cat made her wonder if she had snapped and finally gone insane. She didn't think that was the case, though.

Another confirming glance showed that Yoobey was still there. The people that were walking up to her, slightly older teenage couples, were heading past her without even a single glance at the cat. She did notice that the people were walking past the creature, though.

Even if this wasn't a sign of a diseased mind, it was still pretty odd that they were moving that much out of the way. She didn't personally think she was that scary looking to induce the reaction in others to give her so much extra room.

'H-hey, can you hear me?' She awkwardly thought towards Yoobey, feeling ridiculous for trying to 'project her thoughts' to a delusion.

'Don't worry about it. I'm used to this from other girls.' The cat's response sort of unnerved the girl. 'Now then, you don't have to make your decision right away, and I encourage you to think about it... but I'd like to know if you'd be interested. You will not begin right away, but I'd like to know if I can return to you later.'

'Well, I think I'm going to pass...' Hikari replied, not really thinking of anything she could want at the moment. At least enough to take up the strange creature's offer of becoming some sort of soldier for hire.

'Well, I understand.' Yoobey replied. 'If you'd like to defend the city from the Witches that are attacking it, just call out to me, Hikari.'

Hikari frowned, feeling that the cat was getting a bit too familiar with her. However, before she could voice her thoughts to Yoobey, a pair of girls began to come running at her and the cat full tilt. "Holy crap!" She shrieked in surprise as she only registered one of them, a dark haired girl, swinging something flashy in her direction.

She leapt back out of range of the weapon, seeing Yoobey do the sensible thing by doing the same. Fortunately for the both of them, since the weapon slammed into the cement with enough force to crack the damn thing.

'Oh my, we seem to be under attack.' Yoobey calmly spoke up. The two of them began to run away from the approaching duo with all their might. 'It seems that things have escalated even further than I predicted.'

Hikari heard shouts of anger behind her, making her pick up her pace even more.

...

Homura snarled at the retreating back of the Incubator. She wrenched the club out of the concrete, but was stopped from pursuing by Miyuki. "Get back here!" The rage tinting her vision only vanished when Miyuki squeezed her shoulder.

"Akemi, snap out of it!" Miyuki hissed, glancing around them worriedly. The two girls had attracted the attention of a few teenagers, all of which were staring at Homura with shock. A few of them already had taken out their phones and were either attempting to take pictures of them or report them to the police.

Miyuki dragged Homura away.

"You almost hit that girl!" The older teenager hissed at Homura once she pulled them away from the light.


Homura's scowl faded away as she finally took in the girl retreating with the monster. "Oh no..." Her expression paled. "We have to get her away from the Incubator!" She began to put on more speed, matching Miyuki's dash.

"What do you mean by that?" Miyuki demanded. "What else can that little fur ball do?"

Homura stayed silent.

"That bad, huh."

...

'That girl...!' Hikari's memory flashed back to her attack. 'She's the one from before!'

Both her and Yoobey vaulted over some bushes. The ground beneath it gave way to a steep incline, causing the two to start rolling downhill towards the shores of a small pond.

'Oh? You have a past history with her?' Yoobey wondered even as Hikari cried out with each bruise gained on the way down.

'She...it's complicated.' Hikari thought about her own part in what happened to her. 'But she wound up taking me down. That damn freak must want another piece of me!'

Both of them staggered to their feet. Hikari shook her pants, part of her leg having dipped into the pond before her momentum had completely bled away. While she did that, she noticed the flash of white high in the sky.

'Hm. That is a distinct possibility. The force applied to that blow would have smashed a normal human's head in completely.' Yoobey casually replied. The small creature glanced up at the white spot. Hikari noticed that it was descending. 'Well, this is where we part.'

"W-wait!" Hikari yelped in shock. "You can't just leave me like this!"

'I apologize, but my ally is only big enough to take me away. The being you will face is a Puella Magi.'

"Like one of those girls that fight Witches?" She demanded.

'Correct. I'm not sure why she would be after you.' Yoobey replied. 'There are no Witches in the area.'

Hikari's fists clenched at her sides. "She's gone insane..." She decided as the bottom fell out of her stomach. "That damn lunatic didn't want to leave well enough alone, and now she wants to kill me!"   

'That's a possibility.' The Incubator allowed as it thought about the behavior of Katrina lately. 'Would you like to make a contract to be a Puella Magi?'

Hikari, feeling her stomach do flip flops, gazed down into the crimson eyes of the Incubator.

"Yes."

"Stop!"

Hikari fearfully glanced up at the top of the hill. The two girls that had attacked them were running down the hillside. The bleached blonde turned towards Yoobey with a fierce glance.

"I wish for enough power to defend myself!"

'Your wish has been approved - this will hurt.' Yoobey's elongated ears shot towards her chest at amazing speeds, stretching obscenely in a way that they should never be allowed. In a moment of clarity, Hikari realized that the discolored portion of Yoobey's ears near the edges resembled fists in that moment.

Then her moment of realization was over as the rounded tips of the creature's ears stabbed into the depths of her chest.

Hikari let out a wail of pain as a bright light was unleashed from the depths of her body. Yoobey, merely wishing to complete its end of the bargain, sunk its ears deeper into Hikari, spilling forth more magical power into the darkness of the park.

"Bastard!" Homura howled as she used her magic to vault towards Yoobey now that she was within range. The blunt instrument in her hands swung down with a furious swish of motion, but she was blown away in the blink of an eye as one of Katrina's white serpents slammed into her side.

"Homura!"

"Stop them!" Homura shouted, dropping her club. In a flash, she wrapped her arms and legs around the serpent. The creature let out a hiss of shock as it tried to whip the girl off, but her added weight simply made the two of them plummet back on top of the hill.

"Of course!" Miyuki drew both of her swords, which reacted to the Familiar in the area by glowing with a powerful inner light. She rushed towards the white creature with a battle cry as she swung her blades down at it.

Only to feel an overwhelmingly sensation of fear choke her at the last moment.

"Gah!" With a start, Miyuki's body, which she had trained to instantly react to danger, vaulted away from the strange creature and the girl. Her reactions were justified as a large portion of the ground Miyuki had been standing on was torn to pieces – almost like an explosion had gone off below the surface.

Dirt and rock rained back down to ground - a barrier of earth between Miyuki's shocked eyes and Yoobey's placid stare.

Hikari's screams had decreased to soft whimpers as she lay on her stomach.

'Too late.' Yoobey chimed as a bright green gemstone, the size and shape of an egg, shone on the ground next to Hikari. The girl's left hand was pointed in the direction of the ruptured earth. With a shaky groan, the tanned girl rose to her feet.

"What did you do to her?" Miyuki demanded.

'I have granted Hikari the power to defend herself from attempts on her life.' The white creature calmly replied, almost like it was lecturing her.

"That's nonsense!"

'Perhaps, but she wholeheartedly believed in this 'truth'...'

Hikari's hair hung over her eyes, keeping her expression neutral as she continued to look down at the Soul Gem at her feet.

Miyuki's sense of danger began to scream at her. 'What is this?' She shakily thought, desperately trying to think up something to buy her ally time to return.

The green gemstone at the bleach blonde's feet flashed with overwhelming power as the ground beneath her erupted upwards in a curtain of bedrock and grass. The material shimmered before being drawn towards Hikari.

The air itself trembled as a heat wave erupted from the depths of the Soul Gem, slamming into Miyuki with enough force to make her take a step back and made Yoobey's ears flopped behind it on the ethereal winds that were being radiated outwards from Hikari.

Jet black stone began to form around the girl, adding layers of armor and intimidating height to her body. The stone sharpened at her hands into a set of wicked claws. The feet of the monstrous giant likewise were redesigned into a set of three gleaming talons to support the weight of the creature.

A mass of plant life erupted from the back of the giant's black helmet in a waterfall of green color that flowed down to the middle of its back in perhaps the only concession that this armored demon had towards the comparatively delicate girl that was within the suit.

The Soul Gem was wrapped up by the plants, lifted up by vines as it was brought across to the middle of the breastplate. The stone smoothly parted, allowing the gemstone to sink within the armor. Lines of magic, radiating outwards from the stone, flowed through the giant as it began to move.

The ethereal winds died down as the giant smoothly drew its massive arms up and smashed them together.

Yoobey leapt into the air. A flash of white passed Miyuki, catching the cat in mid-air on its back. Both of the creatures stared down at Miyuki and Hikari. The serpent looked hungrily at the shining stone on the giant's chest while Yoobey looked as calm as always.

'Your wish has successfully exceeded Entropy.'

*****

Admiral Gil Graham found himself slowly rising from bed, drawn out of his slumber by a continuous chiming. Once he was fully aware of his surroundings, he reached for his Storage Device, which was the source of the noise.

A quick glance at the hour showed him it was 0330.

'Has something happened?'

Gil quickly ordered his thoughts. He didn't want his telepathic communication to sound slurred. He had to make sure he sounded at his best. No one ever called him at home unless it was an emergency.

'This is Admiral Graham.' The man projected his thoughts through the Device and into the greater network installed into his home.

'Master, I'm sorry for bothering you, but we have an incident. You need to come to headquarters.' Gil moved out of bed as the voice of his familiar, Lotte Liese, brought him out of the lingering aftereffects of sleep.

'What is the emergency?' Gil demanded, tossing the covers of his bed sloppily onto the ground as he moved towards his closet.

He suddenly felt a numbing sensation creep up his neck from his spine, but the man didn't pay it any heed. Gil had long since been used to the sensation of their line of communication getting scrambled- it had long since become second nature for Lotte to weave the security wards.

It did confirm something, though. Whatever had happened - it was something big.

'Master...Earth is under attack from an inter dimensional force.' The announcement made the blood in Gil's veins freeze solid. 'Admiral Lindy Harlaown and the Asura received a request an hour ago from the research and repair vessel Omegane for assistance with a First Contact invasion.'

The man quietly cursed as he started to swiftly dress himself.

'How did this happen?!' Gil demanded, but he answered himself a moment later. 'The Jewel Seeds...'

'Correct.' Lotte awkwardly replied. 'The Lost Logia caused more damage to the dimensional walls than anyone had suspected.'

'Enough to breech them and allow a neighboring world to leak in?' Gil asked, astonished that that Precia had been mad enough to unleash that much power at once.

'Unfortunately, that is so.' Lotte's sorrowfully replied. 'The unstable walls completely crashed and deposited two different factions right in the middle of the city.'

An awkward pause ended their conversation - one heavy enough that it even Gil hesitated to breech.

'Lotte...' The admiral began. 'I need to know as much information as possible.'

Now that he was dressed, Gil quickly exited his bedroom. He quickly passed the empty bedrooms of his familiars and descended the stairs to the first floor of his home.

'According to the records, Hayate Yagami has not been caught in any of the attacks as of yet.' Lotte admitted. The man closed his eyes as he took a calming breath. 'Once the initial request was filed, it triggered the backdoor we placed in the system and caught my attention.'

'Did you already check the wards?' He asked.

'Yes, the magical spell we placed on Hayate is still holding.' Lotte waited a moment. 'She hasn't been hurt – at least as far as the wards can detect.'

'Goddamn it. She's practically in the jaws of the enemy and we're helpless to even go out to save her!'

'Master...'

'Why didn't I put Aria in the city earlier?' The man thought in dismay. If his other familiar had been around, she could have kept Hayate safe until it was time for the seal to come undone. As much as the idea disgusted Gil, he had to keep her safe so she could bond with the Book of Darkness.

It had already been a miracle that events had conspired to keep Hayate safe when the Jewel Seeds had been rampaging around Uminari City before, but this time she was in the middle of a war zone with no protection.

'It was only a few days since the Jewel Seed case ended, Master!' Lotte retorted. 'Please don't blame yourself, Aria and I should have already set up the trip to stay there.'

'No. I was too incompetent to have a backup plan. Again.'

'We were relying on the psychological profile of Hayate, Master.' Lotte sadly replied. 'Aria would have gone into Uminari City in a week to set up teleportation beacons and prepare for the Book's awakening. It isn't your fault that things have changed.'

Gil stubbornly refused to reply.

Lotte sighed, her frustration carrying through their connection.

'The Book. Have they discovered it yet?' Gil licked his lips nervously as he exited his home. The dread at the thought of one of the Bureau ships, even one with lower end sensors, running several hundred intensive dimensional scans per hour would easily breech the seal work on the Book.

The last thing that his plan needed was to be discovered due to standard operating procedure during an invasion...

'No sir, our seal is still holding steady.' Lotte proudly replied. Her pride faded away as he got into his car and started up the engine. 'But the fighting has already caused extreme damage to the dimensional walls. If this trend were to keep going...'

'I know. The city – everyone and everything in it, will get wiped out. Then the Book of Darkness will escape again,' Gil sighed. The early morning traffic was non-existent as he pulled out of his neighborhood. The large mansions and lush gardens quickly faded behind the admiral as he drove off to the nearest teleportation station. 'We need to prepare our final solution sooner than I had hoped.'

'But Master...Durandal is not ready.'

'I know...' Gil impatiently turned, only yielding instead of coming to a complete stop. With the traffic as it was at this hour, the admiral easily got away with the stunt. He roughly tugged at his car's steering wheel to try and bleed some of his frustration out.

A morbid thought came to him as his car came to a stop at a traffic signal. 'The dimensional walls – they've whipped the sea up in a frenzy once they fell, correct?' From the lack of Lotte's reaction, he knew that he had hit the nail on the head. 'So even trying to arrive quickly will be delayed... how much time?

'It's damaged the entire Milky Way Galaxy...' Lotte trailed off.

Gil broke out in a laugh as he joined traffic. Of course it couldn't be that easy.

'So, Uminari City will be defended by a crew of about...a hundred, correct? With a quarter, if that, combat mages of low rank?'

Lotte's confirmation was the last straw for the admiral.

'Tell Aria to begin diverting all available resources. I want my personal ship loaded with Device Meisters, Durandal's data, and a full assortment of crew by the end of today. We're setting off as soon as we have everything.'

'Sir?' Lotte sounded fearful.

'We don't have time to be subtle anymore.' Gil simply replied. 'I'll personally lead another set of forces down to Earth.'

'But the council...!'

'Will be dealt with by me.' The admiral replied as he joined traffic along the highways of Cranagan. The slumbering city was slowly awakening even as he turned off an exit towards the teleportation station. 'If there really is a magical war going on there, and the Book awakens...' Gil grimaced, feeling shame surge from deep inside him. 'Then that's the perfect time for the Book to gain Linker Cores. We must move the timetable upwards accordingly.'

'...I understand. We'll get to work right away, Master.'

'Good.' Gil arrived at the station. Parking his car, the man stepped out into the night once he shut the vehicle off. He dusted his uniform coat as he switched off the communication with Lotte. The moons of Midchilda shone down on him with their light, and for a moment he hoped that they were wishing him success with his plans.

It was time to throw some of his weight around.

*****

Intermission Omake

***** of Braves?

The green gemstone at the bleach blonde's feet flashed with overwhelming power as the ground beneath her erupted upwards in a curtain of bedrock and grass. The material shimmered before being drawn towards Hikari.

The air itself trembled as a heat wave erupted from the depths of the Soul Gem, slamming into Miyuki with enough force to make her take a step back and made Yoobey's ears flopped behind it on the ethereal winds that were being radiated outwards from Hikari.

Jet black stone began to form around the girl, adding layers of armor and intimidating height to her body. The stone sharpened at her hands into a set of wicked claws. The feet of the monstrous giant likewise were redesigned into a set of three gleaming talons to support the weight of the creature.

A mass of plant life erupted from the back of the giant's black helmet in a waterfall of green color that flowed down to the middle of its back in perhaps the only concession that this armored demon had towards the comparatively delicate girl that was within the suit.

The Soul Gem was wrapped up by the plants, lifted up by vines as it was brought across to the middle of the breastplate. The stone smoothly parted, allowing the gemstone to sink within the armor. Lines of magic, radiating outwards from the stone, flowed through the giant as it began to move.

The ethereal winds died down as the giant smoothly drew its massive arms up and smashed them together.

Yoobey leapt into the air. A flash of white passed Miyuki, catching the cat in mid-air on its back. Both of the creatures stared down at Miyuki and Hikari. The serpent looked hungrily at the shining stone on the giant's chest while Yoobey looked as calm as always.

'Your wish has successfully exceeded Entropy.' Yoobey calmly sat on top of Verdandi. The serpent herself looked distinctly less than impressed with the Incubator's statement.

"...the hell is this, you bastard?!"

Moments later, Yoobey was struck off its perch. Homura, who had just come out of her time stop, furiously began to beat on the Incubator with her flaming golf club.

"How dare you..." Crunch! "Get cooler stuff than our side!" Crunch!

Verdandi, Miyuki, and Hikari all stared at the beat down of the Incubator a bit uncomfortably with large sweat drops on the back of their heads.

"I only get a damn ero-game samurai girl, friendless musketeer, and a beam happy magical girl while you get the effing ***** of Braves?! How is this even balanced?! I demand a patch to fix this stupid scenario!"

"B-But I even brought my bleached underwear..." Miyuki hesitantly spoke up. Homura's answering stare was icy.

"Shut up, you brotherlover."

Miyuki collapsed onto her knees, hanging her head as misery wafted from her in waves.

Verdandi and Hikari traded a glance.

'Coffee?' Verdandi pleasantly offered.

'Sure, why not.' Hikari grunted, wanting nothing to do with the current scene anymore.

'Hey...did anyone ever tell you what warm eyes you have?' Verdandi began, the snake slithering around the giant's frame as they walked. 'Are you good with machines?' She hissed as she draped her body across one of the giant's wide shoulders. 'Do you believe in soul mates?'

And so, the armored giant and snake wandered off.

Transmission Lost.

[Olvelsper]

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is the property of Masaki Tsuzuki, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the property of Gen Urobuchi, Magic Knight Rayearth is the property of CLAMP, and Super Robot Wars is the property of Banpresto.

Episode 06: God of Destruction

The eyes of the armored giant flashed a bright green before its figure tore across the park. Great chunks of earth and grass were ripped asunder beneath its passage as it lumbered across at them at a fast clip shockingly fast for its size.

It pulled its arm back, and with a powerful jab it launched its right fist at Miyuki with an explosive blast. The detached appendage - began spinning in mid air, somehow managing to close its fist so its talons turned into the drilling lead of the weapon.

Miyuki barely managed to get out of the way of the attack, a chunk of her ponytail being shredded off her body by the near miss. It continued forwards until it hit the ground behind her, detonating in a plume of smoke and earth.

The force of the blast was enough to cause Miyuki, who was already running away from the charging giant, to stumble as she was pelted by the kickback wave of force. The giant, unaffected by its own attack, quickly caught up to Miyuki and swung its remaining hand at the teenager.

Click.

Griiiind.

Miyuki suddenly found herself staring down at the giant from the top of the hill. The armored monster, realizing that its target was gone, began to look around in a panic.

She realized she was in the arms of the middle school girl.

With a start, she let out a cry of shock, but was promptly dropped so it terminated into a yelp instead.

"Shut up." Homura hissed, diving onto the ground next to Miyuki.

The white cat that was above the golem on the back of the serpent gave them a glance, quirking its head up at them. Homura tensed besides Miyuki as the cat's red eyes swept over their location.

'Hello.' A pause. 'I can see you.'

The creature's greeting made both girls plan to bolt away from their hiding spot.

'Oh no need to fret. I'm not letting Hikari listen to this. Yet.'

The threat caused Homura to finally reply. 'Kyubey, you disgusting monster, what are you doing here?'

'My, what enmity my successor earned.' The creature paused. 'Do not confuse us; I am called 'Yoobey' by your people.'

A crashing noise caused Miyuki to peek down the hill side. Hikari had apparently regrown the fist she had launched at her, and was tearing apart the area looking for her. She quickly clung back to the ground, feeling a bit nauseous with the sheer brutality she was displaying as she ripped the ground she had been standing on.

"Let's go, Miyuki. We're done here." Homura whispered at the other girl. The two of them began to slowly back away from the edge of the hill.

'You're not even going to try and discuss things through?'

'We know what side you're on.' Miyuki decided to edge into the conversation. 'Why would we deal with a monster like you?'

'I was as surprised as you all were.' Yoobey defended itself. 'I didn't realize that the girl had grown that unstable.'

'Because you're all about charity and goodwill, right?' Homura's sneer was heartfelt. 'You can just take that act and sho-'

A flash of movement cut her off as the steel giant came lopping up the hill towards them.

'Well, if you're ever interested in getting back home, please look me up with any spare Grief Seeds you might acquire in the meanwhile. I'll need all the energy I can acquire before we can open a wormhole back home. You'll know where to find me.'

Yoobey's voice remained in their heads as the two girls began to race away from the giant. The sounds of steel pulverizing the earth behind them caused both of them to pick up their pace even more.

The giant reached over and ripped a torso sized chunk out of a tall tree nearby. It began to topple over even as the giant reared back and flung it at them, steam blasting out of the joints between its arms and body with a hiss.

Homura leaned over and grasped Miyuki's upper arm.

"What are you doing?!"

Then everything froze. The trunk of the tree was suspended in front of the older girl on invisible strings, inches away from smashing into the two girls. Even splinters that was falling away from the bark of the projectile were frozen in place. Behind the weapon, the lumbering giant – named Hikari, now that Miyuki had time to breath, was charging at them. Her fists were drawn back in the same position that they had been when she had nearly killed her by launching them like missiles.

"This." Homura shrugged. She kept a firm hold on Miyuki's arm, glaring at the older girl when she tried to shrug off her hold. The middle school girl merely tightened her grip to a painful level, cowing the sword wielder. "Don't force me to let go of you. I'm not going to waste more magic pulling you back into my stream of time." She grimaced. "I already wasted enough sand as it is."

With those words, she began to tug Miyuki away, who confusedly glared at the younger girl and wondering what the hell had just happened. Homura for her part gazed back at the Incubator that she was leaving behind, flying high above where she could even crush him with an attack.

'Well, maybe I can do this...'

Homura bent down to scoop up a stone. It was a small, petty victory, but she was feeling pretty petty at the moment.

...

Yoobey impassively watched as the two girls flickered and vanished from sight. Hikari's projectile and tree went crashing into the spot they had been at moments ago, but the Incubator knew that they were long gone from the trail of magic that was leading away.

Especially when it felt the stone smash into its face, sending it tumbling down to bounce off the ground. The serpent, Skuld, hissed in alarm and dove down to try and scoop it off the ground. Of course, it kept trying to find a way of not so discretely ripping into the pouch on the Incubator's back, but the Incubator merely hopped to its feet.

'H-hey! Are you alright?'

The Incubator's latest Puella Magi called down in concern, stopping her rampage when she had seen him go down. The white creature smacked Skuld away from itself with its paw before turning towards the girl.

'Yes, I recommend you release your armor. Your enemies are long gone.'

Hikari hesitated a moment, but did as he suggested as the steel cloaking her body lost its dark, oily look and visibly dried up. Dead plant material and earth fell off her body in giant chunks, revealing that she had donned a black and blue bodysuit beneath the armor.

'Damnit.' Hikari shakily glanced in the direction she had last seen the girls. 'We need to call the police or something! This can't be right, can it?' She glanced at the green gemstone that she had fished out of the pile of dirt and dried up weeds. 'And what the heck is this thing?'

Yoobey had made his way next to the girl by this time, and it attentively sat before her on its haunches. 'I apologize, but dealings between Puella Magi such as you and them can only be handled by yourselves. You've seen the kind of power they wielded, correct? Well, the girl with the shield was able to freeze time.'

Hikari's face paled substantially. "Then if I hadn't been wielding my armor...?" She nervously asked, choosing to finally speak out loud to the creature below her. However, before she could get an answer, she saw shafts of light pierce through the trees and loud rustling footsteps. "Crap! We have to get out of here."

She scooped up the white cat in her arms, but when she tried to look for the snake, she saw that it was long gone.

'Ignore it.' Yoobey spoke, catching onto what she was looking for. 'It's master called to it. We still have plenty of business we still need to discuss. Especially since you've joined the fight against the Witches and your fellow Puella Magi...'

Hikari shakily nodded and quickly ran away before she could get caught.

'Now then, a Puella Magi hunts Witches...' Yoobey began to explain.

******

Mami's shot went wide, missing the slippery winged serpent before them and smashing into the side of a rack of bicycles, detonating moments later in a conflagration of magic. The blonde ignored the screech of metal behind her as she tossed her musket away as she rushed after the winged serpent flying ahead of them.

The creature had two long tendrils flowing down the back of its head, having exchanged the svelte appearance of the earlier familiars they had fought for a more compact, sturdy frame. Hints of grow along its sides suggested limbs were forming, but she wasn't going to allow that to happen any time soon.

The bystanders around them which had the choice, swiftly either fled down side streets or boarded themselves into the building around them. Unfortunately, there were many still that were being herded down the street ahead of them by several more of the mutated familiars.

"Nanoha, do it!" She shouted as she summoned another musket to her side.

Up above, Nanoha brought her staff down, sending a rain of light down on the serpents below. The beast ahead of Mami whipped its tendrils ahead of it. Mami saw it begin to slip into its dimensional space once again, vanishing in a burst of light.

Mami's Soul Gem reacted, and the blonde followed her instincts as she twisted and sighted down her musket. With a loud bang, her weapon pierced through the lizard as it appeared several feet away.

Several more were handled by Raising Heart and Nanoha as they harried several more demons away. Unlike the swiftly vanishing figure of her target, their targets stayed stunned on the ground as the girl slapped them with some sort of bind which held their motions fast.

The streets themselves were still full of pandemonium as Nanoha descended from the dirty skies. The younger girl's jacket was stained with soot from several fires that were raging further down the street as she looked up at Mami with quietly pensive eyes.

"Miss Mami, we're losing, aren't we?" She softly asked.

Mami grimaced and looked around at the crowds that were trying to put as much distance as they could from the area now that the two girls had stopped the serpents. "We'll just have to do even better." She softly tried to encourage the girl.

Nanoha's gaze sharpened as she silently rose back to the skies. Mami waited until Nanoha was slightly ahead enough to not see what she was doing before she began to call her power to her. Muskets, called by her will, began to orient themselves at the bound targets before opening fire, their muzzle flash and distinct cracks blending into the chaos.

'No need for her to see this...' Mami thought, coolly looking at the jerking familiars fade away after her shots pierced their bodies. Once she confirmed they were gone, she began to run after Nanoha as they headed for the largest collection of grief that Mami had picked up.

******

Every available mage that the Omegane had was out in force. Kai Kitamura listened with half an ear as his lieutenants maneuvered their squads to contain the fire that was raging around them. Foreign magic kept trying to seep into them, but his and his men's barrier jackets were constantly flashing, repelling the affect of the foreign energies. Several layers of barriers came crashing down on the towering flames around the buildings around them, attempting to cut off the flow of oxygen while many more mages were attacking the lizards that were herding more civilians into the kill zone.

A short haired blond quickly approached Kitamura, drawing the man from his mediation as he and eight mages were focusing on breeching through the veil that the lizards were slipping through to escape their fighters.

"Luckfield, you better have some good news for me."

Brooklyn Luckfield saluted, "Major! We've secured the city's power plant. Lieutenant Nanbu sent me here to provide reinforcements."

Kai breathed a sigh of relief.

"The Lieutenant wished for me to report something strange about the incident, though. When we arrived, we saw several of the snakes drawing electricity from the energy grid, though." The soldier reported with a bit of an uneasy look on his face.

"For now we'll have to set that aside. Move with the others in keeping back the crowds." Kai pointed over to the surging mass of humanity that was pinned between their barriers and the combat mages fighting above their heads. "We just need a little bit more time before we can pierce this barrier."

"Right away, Major!"

Brooklyn began to head back in the direction of the crowd. A scream ripped through the air before the blond could get more than three feet away from Kai as a monstrously huge limb ripped through the air ten feet above the Major. Its black claws gleamed as the limb was brought down, casting a large shadow on the mages that were gathered around Kai.

"Major!" Brooklyn spun and launched himself at the older man, smashing into him as propelling the two of them out of range just as the claw came down on the remaining soldiers, crushing them beneath.

The limb was joined by another as the air rippled as a massive face, twenty feet wide from one side to another of its scaled maw to another, manifested in front of them. Slitted purple eyes with a black horizontal mark in the middle of them scanned the crowd, drawing more screams as the humans around them began to try to push away, only for the front of the crowd to be harried back from the bulky snake familiars, who began to flood out of phase in waves.

Droves of the monsters fell, bound by the mages who began to open fire on them like they fish in a barrel, but more still pressed the panicked people towards the barrier, crushing the tide of humanity up against it.

Smoke belched forth from the giant dragon's mouth as it opened its jaws, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

'Anyone who isn't fighting or maintaining the barrier, begin casting a wide area barrier! I need emergency teleportation for the crowds around us. Move them away from here now!'

'Mister Kai!' Nanoha's voice entered Kai's mind as the older man paused at the lip of the tear. 'Miss Mami and I received your signal. We'll be there soon!'

Kai's order sharply rang across the communication lines as he and Brooklyn rolled to their feet. Sparks of light began to gather within the back of the monster's throat as it spewed forth a wave of flames on the two. Kai slammed his boots into the ground, causing a magical field to form and propel a chunk of the ground in front of them in the blink of an air, causing the wave of fire to harmlessly pass the two men.

The barrier that separated the new arrival from the humans, on the other hand, shuddered and began to make all manner of ominous sounding noises. Motes of light ripped themselves off the transparent barrier and were swept in the direction of the dragon. The beast's purple eyes glowed as both mages sensed the monster greedily drinking the energy.

'Luckfield, boost my attack!'

Kai's armored palm slammed on the stone wall between them when the attack from the dragon cut off. The wall snapped in half and began to descend in the direction of the dragon. At the same time, Brooklyn slapped his hands together, the golden brown gloves on his hands lightning up as mana surged through the circuits within them.

"Boost Up – Strike Power!"

Three green circles of magic, filled with strength enhancing reinforcement magic, fitted themselves around Kai's wrists as he slammed his fist into the wall. The wall instantly shattered into dozens of pieces that were fired at the face of the dragon with all the efficiency of a shrapnel grenade. Chunks of meat ripped themselves out of the monster's face as the magically toughened earth left it a bloody mess.

"We don't need to play nice with you. You're not amongst the crowd."

The monster began to howl as it brought up its claws from the grisly remains of their fellow mages, but the two soldiers focused away from the sight as they began to rise away from the monster's strikes. More of the beast's head stuck out of the distortion it had created as it leaned back to fire concentrated bursts of fire at the two mages.

Both of them dipped and moved out of range, but the dragon's attacks began to draw in flame from all around them. Its eyes flashed as it focused on them and bursts of fire ripped themselves away from its breath attacks to chase after the two of them.

"Major, how can it...?"

"Just shoot it!" Both men unleashed two bolts of raw magic, scoring deep wounds along the top of the creatures' head, and actually managing to sever one of three long golden tendrils that flowed into the distortion behind the dragon's head.

The beast roared as it breathed out a cone of fire at them, with dozens of missiles breaking off it to individually seek to the two out. Both mages began to fly away in different directions, separating as they tried to get directly behind the dragon's head.

Then the second head showed up.

The air trembled, waves of mystic force distorting their vision as space split apart, the portal wrenching open as a second head slid out into the world. It was sleek, with none of the ridges or armored scales that the first head had and half the width and size of the draconic head. Its green eyes, bulging out of its head like a geckos, swerved over towards Brooklyn.

The blond shouted as the gecko head forked its out out at him. The wet appendage smashed into his chest, followed swiftly by a bolt of electricity which raced down the tongue in the blink of an eye. The mage didn't even have time to react as he went crashing out of the sky, chest smoking and barrier jacket ruined as the attack pierced through his defenses.

"Luckfield!" Kai roared in shock as he put on a burst of speed as he rushed to finish the draconic head. Mana built up within his linker core as he tried to swiftly end things, but the gecko head moved quicker. Kai's attack missed it completely – even as he was able to slammed the spike of mana into and through the top of the dragon's skull mercilessly. Like a puppet with its strings cut off, the dragon's eyes rolled to the back of its head as it collapsed onto the street, shattering it beneath its bulk.

Aware of the rip in space, Kai remained tense as he began to soar towards Luckfield, sadly aware of the pulped remains of his mages. The older mage formed the patterns for a barrier spell in the back of his mind as he soared around the tear in space that the dragon had made. The beast itself was already dissolving into thick, dark smoke by the time that Kai landed on the ground next to Luckfield.

Kai kept an eye trained on the portal as he reached and placed his fingers at the blond's pulse.

"Emergency teleport. Code word: Gespenst!"

Finding a weak reaction beneath his fingers, Kai immediately activated the override teleportation function in the Omegane, which he could feel was already teleporting the crowds around the barrier away from the battle site in the silence that had descended with the dragon's death. The blond beneath him vanished, the enchantments he had granted Kai breaking with the removal of Brooklyn from the battlefield.

Kai began to move towards the portal. As he approached it, he was at least relieved to see Nanoha and Mami finally arrive on the other side of the street, allowed through the barrier by the mages maintaining it on that side.

Realizing that his soldiers' mangled bodies were still on the field, he held a hand up. Fortunately they didn't look like they recognized what they saw next to him, but he didn't want to add any trauma to them if he could.

When he saw both girls pause in surprise, he sent a telepathic message to the Omegane.

'I need a teleport for four KIA mages.' Kai replied, giving them the coordinates.

'...of course.' The communications officer softly replied, voice thick with regret. The bodies vanished into the ether, whisked back to the medical bay's morgue. Once it was clear, he waved the two girls forwards.

He hoped that Brooklyn wouldn't join them by the time the night ended.

******

Homura and Miyuki found themselves neck deep in familiars as they raced towards the latest disaster site. The high school girl's swords were a blur as she tore through the snakes, opening up a path for Homura.

'I need a weapon.' She thought as they raced along the streets. Homura perked up as she saw an overturned bench, lying in shattered pieces.

"What are you doing, Akemi?" Miyuki demanded, stopping as Homura squatted down over the bench, reaching towards a loose plank.

"I lost my weapon." She grunted as she tried to tug on it. "I need a new one."

Miyuki slid her blades into the sheathes on her sides before walking over. Both girls began to struggle as they wiggled one of the boards which had popped out of line from the others.

"Can't you like....cut it off?" The look of alarm that Miyuki gave Homura was almost comedic. "You know...since they're supposed to be razor...sharp." She awkwardly trailed off at the look of pity that the older girl gave her.

"No! Of course not!" Miyuki touched the hilt of her swords protectively. "Why would I do that to my swords? They'll get dull even with this magic."

Homura sighed. So much for that idea.

Both of them strained and finally the board was ripped off from the broken bench with a loud crack. A deep gouge was in the center of it, almost causing the board to break in two along the center. When Miyuki gave Homura a guilty look for damaging it, she silently answered with a shake of her head.

"It's fine." She took the board from Miyuki. "I'm not as good as Mami, but I know a little bit about transformation magic."

Homura closed her eyes as she began to feed a tiny bit of magic from her Soul Gem into the board. The crack along the middle instantly began to mend itself as the material began to wrap in around itself.

Seconds later, she had a weapon that she intended to be a baseball bat, but really looked like a wooden tube.

Homura winced at the look of surprise on Miyuki's face. Not realizing the emotion, Homura blurted the first thing she thought. "Don't laugh. I know it isn't a bat, but it'll work as well." She huffed.

"It's fine, actually. How'd you know to do that, Akemi?" Miyuki wondered.

For a moment, Homura's expression looked distant. "I learned from two of the best Puella Magi." She muttered to herself as she gave it a test swing. The weapon let out a faint whistle as it swung through the air. "Let's hurry up and go. That signal from this thing isn't going away anytime soon." Homura muttered, patting the small hand held device on her hip.

Miyuki nodded as the two girls headed deeper into the city.

******

"This...is a bad joke, right?" Hayate asked with a shudder. On the television screen, they were seeing chaos across the streets as riots broke out. The images were enough to force the girl to twist and squirm in her bed as she elevated herself enough to look outside the nearby window.

The towering flames and smoke in several areas of town were a disturbing confirmation of what she was seeing on the television.

The little red haired girl glanced over at Hayate in confusion. Her blasé expression, which had been holding steady all night, cracked a little as she moved over towards the trembling brunette. "What's wrong?" She chirped. "Are you cold?"

Hayate glanced over at Fafnir with shock. The other girl's expression remained cheerfully carefree.

"Pardon me, is there -ah, there you are." A brunette who looked to be about fourteen poked her head into their room. Fafnir instantly grew alert, losing her cheerful expression as she leaned away from Hayate. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Ah...m-mother!" Her exclamation drew an odd stare from Hayate and a narrowing of older girl's eyes.

The older girl stepped into the room, dressed in a sweater and jeans.

"I'm sorry if this child bothered you unnecessarily." She bowed to Hayate. A look of annoyance crossed her face when she glanced over at Fafnir. "She should have been home ages ago."

Fafnir flinched.

"N-no, that's fine." Hayate waved her hands, desperately trying to prevent Fafnir from being scolded. "She was keeping me company, really!"

"Is that so...?"

Fafnir, catching onto what Hayate was doing, furiously nodded.

"I should be apologizing to you, miss." Hayate sketched an awkward bow for the benefit of the girl.

"Ah...Katrina Bernstein. No need for an honorific." The girl dismissed Hayate's attempt with a wave. She glanced over at Fafnir. "We need to be going now."

"But..."

"Now." Katrina's eyes narrowed.

Fafnir pouted. "Yes, mother." She turned towards Hayate and gave her a big grin. "It was nice hanging out with you. We should spend more time together later!" The girl raced up to her and gave her a hug, leaning up against the other girl.

"I'm not actually going to be here l-Ow!"

A brief, sharp sting made Hayate hiss, but the sensation was gone when Fafnir pulled away. Katrina eyed the two with a dull gaze, arms crossed in front of her as the girl joined her.

"Bye bye!"

Both of them turned and left the room, leaving Hayate confused about how things had turned out. She reached a hand up to her ear, remembering the brief pang of pain on it, but there was no sign of blood on her fingers she pulled her hand back from behind her ear.

Odd. She didn't know that someone could have muscle spasms in that part of the body.

'Was she really Fafnir's mother?' Hayate shook her head and looked in the direction that Fafnir and Katrina had left. 'Too young.' A strange thought came to her mind the longer she gazed out of her room, though.

'Shouldn't a doctor have been with them?'

...

"You've changed." Katrina mused as she sat next to Fafnir in the stairwell between hospital floors. Fafnir was running her hands along the flanks of her three sisters as she lightly kicked out her legs from her perch.

"Mmhmm." The three serpents coiled around Fafnir's body, rubbing up against her. "I'm almost like you now, mommy." She flashed a toothy grin at Katrina.

"How?" Katrina asked, eyes narrowed. "This shouldn't be possible. You should be a Witch now."

Fafnir quirked her head in bewilderment. "I ate a lot so I could grow up big and strong." She smiled blissfully at Katrina, leaning up against the taller girl. Katrina's field flared to life, making Fafnir yelp and lean away from the older girl, cheek reddened by the contact with the barrier.

"Ooow! Why'd you do that, mommy?!" Fafnir whined, eyes wide with betrayal. Her three sisters slithered off her body as she raised her fists to smack them against Katrina's barrier. "I wanna hug you!"

Katrina's own expression was bemused as the girl's fists bounced off her field.

'So, she really is a Witch...' The brunette turned her attention to her contractor. 'Yoobey! Can you hear me?'

Fafnir, sensing that Katrina wasn't paying attention to her now, stopping hammering her fists. She deeply pouted at her mother and start ascending to the next floor of the stairwell. Katrina kept a steady gaze on Fafnir, making the redhead smile at her mother a little as she plopped herself down.

'...yes, what is it?' Yoobey's voice sounded distorted. Katrina wondered how far away the creature must be.

'Where were you when I woke up? You weren't in the warehouse at all. I had to go start collecting Grief Seeds by myself.'

If Yoobey paid any attention to her aggravated tone, it didn't seem mindful of it. 'I went and recruited a local girl. It's best if we speed things up so we're collecting Grief Seeds as well.' It waited a moment to let that sink in before continuing. 'Your familiar, Fafnir, it seems to be spewing irregular creatures.'

Katrina looked upon Fafnir. The girl was giggling as she rolled around the ground, batting aside at the three serpents that were swarming her, licking at her face with their forked tongues. 'You don't know the half of it...'

'Oh?' Yoobey's interest was caught. 'Tell me more.'

*****

Homura swung her bat, smashing a serpent away as she stood in front a young boy, huddled behind her. The creature broke apart into magic as it crashed into the unforgiving cement.

'We're not getting anywhere like this.' She thought as she turned around. Further down the road, she could see Miyuki defending a crashed car from three more serpents. The front of the vehicle was bent around a light pole.

She felt a tugging at her blouse.

Homura quickly raised her bat, but sheepishly lowered it when she saw the boy fearfully pull away from her. She lowered her weapon, tugging on her long hair as she nervously ran her fingers through it as the boy expectantly looked at her.

"Stay behind me. We need to check on your parents, okay?" Receiving a nod from the boy, she started walking towards the car, but she was pulled back as the boy tugged on her blouse once again.

The boy had a shaky smile as he held out a hand to Homura.

'You got to be kidding me...' She thought. Closing her eyes, Homura counted for a few moments. 'Do what Madoka does. Don't glare at the boy.' The dark haired girl waited a few more moments. 'Just do what Madoka does and you should be okay.'

Homura offered the boy a tentative smile as she took his hand.

'Yeah, but what now?' Homura thought as she knew that the boy would only slow her down if she tried to help Miyuki. Her eyes instantly lit up as her gaze landed on a nearby light pole as she glanced over at the older girl.

...

Miyuki's breath came out in ragged bursts as she cleaved through another serpent. She could see the two adults were still unconscious in their seats in the peripherals of her vision, but she couldn't move to help them with the swarm above her head.

Her sword flashed as she twisted and slashed behind her, feeling the familiar sensation of her blade cutting deeply into the hide of one of the serpents. Fortunately for her, her swords really only needed to cut into them up to a point before they simply dissolved into motes of light. Her spin continued without any extra loss in momentum as she brought up her swords, parrying another of the serpent's attempts at biting her.

Their dance continued along those lines for a few more moments.

Until the first bolt of lightning blasted through one of the serpents. Miyuki and the serpents flinched away from the crumbled light pole in surprise. Some of the power lines which had been ripped off it by the car crash were gaining a purple aura to them as they rose. Almost like the serpents themselves, the lines buzzed and snapped at the monsters, sending out forked tongues of electricity.

Miyuki gagged as she covered her nose from the overbearing smell of cooking flesh as the remaining serpents jerked in mid-air as they were pummeled with electricity for a few moments before bursting into light. The power lines limply fell to the ground, seemingly exhausted with the attack they had performed.

"Take that!" A small boy's voice spoke up.

Miyuki turned towards that direction to see Homura pulling her hand away from a light pole on her side of the street. Purple energy withdrew back into the dark haired girl's Soul Gem.

'And to think we have one of those magical girls after us now.' Miyuki fearfully thought, shaking the notion out of her head as she turned to check on the condition of the child's parents. Seeing nothing visibly wrong with them except for the cuts above their heads, Miyuki checked their vitals and shook her head helplessly after a bit.

"How do you make it seem so easy, Kyoya?" She grunted, pulling her fingers away when she felt a pulse.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

Miyuki turned to face Homura and the small boy with her. She looked about as eager to be holding onto the boy as Miyuki would be dealing with suitors at school. With a click of her tongue, she gestured vaguely.

"We need to get you and your parents to the closest doctor, okay?" Miyuki asked, trying to soften her words by squatting in front of the boy. Hopefully that'd discourage him from trying to move his parents more than she already had. "I'm going to need you to be a big boy and stay by them. The doctors know what to expect by this point."

"You two can't come?"

Miyuki sadly shook her head at the expectant boy's look. "We have to go help more boys and girls like you." She kindly explained. "But there's going to be someone waiting for all of you to let you know what's going on and to take care of your mommy and daddy."

At least she hoped that they knew, considering how many times the Omegane had responded to Homura's calls to move the slower people they had saved between the park and here. The boy solemnly nodded, gazing up at her with large eyes as he took her words at face value. Homura let go of the boy's hand to reach for the small hand held device at her side.

"Okay!" The boy nodded, crossing his arms before his chest. Miyuki chuckled, ruffling the boy's short hair playfully. "I'll keep an eye out for them."

'Omegane, we have two injured adults and their child.' Homura thumbed at the Device, feeling it project her thoughts up to the cloaked ship. She received an automated response as the three people they had rescued began to fade away.

"What now?" Miyuki questioned, glancing off in the distance. She could see a thick cloud of smoke rising. "Do we keep heading there? It looks like it's nearly over."

Homura nodded. The hail hadn't been retracted yet.

"Okay." Miyuki sighed, leaning up against the abandoned car. "We're going to need to move faster if we're going to be joining them any time soon."

"Oh, I think I have an idea what we can use." Homura mused, glancing at the car behind Miyuki with a bit of a gleam in her eye.

"No..." Miyuki drawled, eyes narrowing. "No." She moved directly in the way of Homura. "I've helped you rip apart broken city property." The Puella Magi continued to approach her. "And you've pulled me out of lots of jams, but no. I'm not going to let you take a car!"

Homura glanced at her, flicking her hair back over her shoulder.

"It has air conditioning."

Miyuki was tempted.

*****

"What is this place?" Nanoha questioned as she, Mami, and Kai entered the warped space beyond the tear. Mami and Kai kept Nanoha's front and back covered as she led them ahead, Soul Gem blazing a bright gold. Nanoha aimed Raising Heart into the depths of the area.

[Area Search.]

Several spheres of magic shot off, scanning their immediate surroundings.

All around them, piles of golden coins and rotten wooden chests spilled into their narrow path. The skies above rolled with thick clouds of ash and smoke as the mountain of goods towered to the heavens. The air felt muggy and stale, brushing against their skin uncomfortably, like an unwanted caress.

"This is a Witch's barrier." Mami stated. A stray piece of paper fluttered beneath a pile of gold, drawing Nanoha's attention as the blonde continued. "It's a manifestation of the Witch's psyche." Her gaze flickered back in the direction they had come from. "Normally we open the way and it shuts behind us when we fight, but..."

Nanoha moved to grab it, shifting aside some of the coins on the pile to pull the sheet out.

Kai grunted. "There seems to be a lot that's going wrong." He simply mused, drawing a weary nod from Mami.

"Miss Mami, Mister Kai, look at this."

Both Kai and Mami glanced over at Nanoha, who drew closer to their side with a piece of paper in her hands. On it was shown a family picture of Katrina with a younger girl and two hazy figures, wrapping her arms around the smaller girl's shoulders and leaning her chin on the shorter girl's head. At the bottom of the paper there was a large number along with several runes. Mami's long experience with the runes let her figure out what it meant.

"It's a bounty."

A strong family resemblance between the two girls could be seen, but Mami's reaction solidified the connection between the two. Mami sadly shook her head, taking the paper from Nanoha as she glanced at the young girl with Katrina.

"That's Alyssa Bernstein." She pointed at the dark haired girl with green eyes. "She stayed behind on Katrina's order."

"So she wasn't in the vicinity?" Kai asked. When Mami glanced at him confusedly, he clarified. "The elder sister has already shown that she's a hostile. I don't want any surprises with the younger one too."

Mami winced.

"Wait," Nanoha spoke up. "I know that Miss Bernstein is doing a terrible thing, but should we start leaping to conclusions about her sister yet?" She asked with a slightly pleading tone. Nanoha looked over at Mami with a hopeful smile. "We still don't know what happened with Miss Bernstein either."

Silence answered Nanoha.

"M-maybe Miss Bernstein isn't so bad..." The younger girl weakly spoke into the silence.

Kai's gaze flickered over to Nanoha. "Perhaps that is the case." He softly agreed, not wanting to hurt the little girl's feelings. "We should still be careful, though." The Major glanced over at Mami stoically.

"That's true..." Mami reluctantly allowed. She looked tired as she spoke up in a disconnected tone. "Alyssa Bernstein controls light." She rubbed at the bridge of her nose as the three of them began to descend deeper into the cavern. "Because of Alyssa's wish, she can grant the power to her sister as long as she's praying for Katrina's safety."

'Doesn't seem like that was what those monsters were using as attacks.' Kai thought to himself. Recalling what Captain Nadaka had told him about Homura and Mami's conditions, he knew he couldn't share the fact with Mami.

"So, that could be how she's been hiding her familiars in plain sight." Kai's analysis smoothly drew the two girl's attention from his previous line of reasoning.

"How's that possible?" Mami wondered. Her eyes flashed with understanding a few moments later. "Oh! Like a stealth field?"

Nanoha quirked her head as she felt some of her area search spheres suddenly putter out of existence.

"Correct. We'll have to do a new sweep of the city with this new information. It might help us find them quickly." Kai shifted his gauntlets a little as he tried to contact the Omegane. He frowned when he couldn't get a solid connection. The distortion continued to grow worse the deeper they went into the barrier.

"Nanoha," He turned towards the girl – who also looked distracted.

"Yes?" Nanoha glanced at Kai. When she saw his expression, she somehow knew that he was feeling the same thing she was. "Can you feel that too?"

[Running scan.]

The piles of gold around them began to shift. Coins noisily jingled as they fell from the nooks along the wall and rolled away from them. Glancing behind them, they could see the large piles of treasure shift from side to side as the entire cavern shook around them.

A rumbling below their feet was the only warning the center of the cave erupted in a blast of flames, electricity, and raw magic. Nanoha and Kai threw themselves in front of Mami, bringing forth their barriers as flaming boulders smashed down on top of them. Their fields flickered wildly for a few moments before they shattered as the ground rolled below them, flinging the three of them into the air.

"Mami!" Nanoha shouted as she oriented herself, shooting across the air towards Mami, who was tumbling out of control. Dozens of monstrous figures shot out of the geyser towards Nanoha, snarling and snapping as their figures blew past the young girl, smashing themselves up against her barrier jacket.

The girl began to plummet down to the ground, dragged down by the weight of the creatures. Kai instantly flew towards her, firing blasts of mana from his hands to assist Nanoha in freeing herself from the snakes.

"Takamachi!"

Mami herself reached the top of her ascent and began to descend, but her motion was arrested as a massive claw slammed down around her. The blonde let out a cry of shock, glancing around her hurriedly. A massive scaled torso, leading up to to a thick and shout neck connected to a set of heads.

'Oh no, no, no!' Mami thought in horror as she glanced at the dragon.

One of them was nothing more than a stub at this point, oozing dark smoke, but the other furiously glanced at the girl in its hands as it kept them aloft with the beating of its massive leathery wings. Its dark purple eyes twitched, closing as the monster's tail whipped up and wrapped around Mami, bounding her arms to her sides as it released her.

Mami let out a shriek of surprise as she flew backwards. The dragon's torso gave way to a sea of copper and plastic wiring, seemingly dangling out of the beast's body like intestines. She desperately tried to break free as the tail dangled her over one of the piles of treasure, but the muscles in the tail refused to give any wiggle room.

The dragon's eyes flashed as it unleashed twin cones of flame, wrapping the two attacks around each other as they shot towards Nanoha and Kai, who were still in the midst of pulling off the last serpent familiars from Nanoha.

'Move out of the way!' Mami used her magic, projecting her thoughts at the two.

"Multiple Defenser!" Both Kai and Nanoha, who had her barrier jacket torn in several sections, barely managed to barely turn and bring up two large circular barriers, backed up by three smaller layers of barriers in front of it, to meet the flame head on as they descended out of the range of the attack.

The dragon roared, bringing itself further up into the skies as electricity surged out of its body and down the wiring to the ground below. Treasure burst into smoke, turning into three larger gecko looking snakes. These tore through the ground, flinging gold coins about them in their mad four legged dashes towards Nanoha and Kai as the dragon shuddered, taking deep breaths to stoke the fire growing in its mouth.

[Flier Fin.]

Nanoha and Kai immediately took to the air once again as the geckos' forked tongues lashed out, filling the air with electricity and lightning. The beasts tensed their legs and threw themselves after the two, Kai meeting one head on, slipping by one of their blasts as he smashed his knees into the bottom of its head before unleashing several punishing blows.

The monster snapped its jaws towards Kai, but he slipped below it, placing the bottom of its neck against his right shoulder. Before it attempted to squirm away, he wrapped his arms around the top of its head and pulled down as hard as he could.

A muted ripping sound filled Kai's ear. The gecko pressed up against him thrashed, but its stubby arms couldn't reach him from such a short range, and its struggles began to slow down.

A second gecko opened its mouth to try and blindside Kai.

"Restrict Lock!"

Only to get its maw slammed shut as energy rings bound its mouth closed. Nanoha briefly looked away when the lightning erupted out of its neck, instantly shattering it into motes of energy, but Raising Heart was there for her. Its gemstone flashed as she was instantly moved out of her position with Flash Move to avoid the third gecko's attack.

She reappeared in the monster's face. With a swift motion, Nanoha brought Raising Heart's staff form smashing into the side of its face as she unleashed a Divine Shooter right in the creature's face. It wailed as it was smashed back down to the ground below, leaving a cloud of smoke in its wake.

[Area Search.]

"What are you doing, Raising Heart?" Nanoha asked as she aimed at the fallen gecko. "Hoop Bind!"

Several more spheres erupted from the depths of Raising Heart's gemstone, flickering away as several rings of blue magic surrounded the gecko, its already weak struggles having been prevented all together.

[Master, look.] Raising Heart pointed out. The spheres themselves were growing transparent before vanishing all together. [Our enemy is draining our spells.]

"We need to free Mami and get more reinforcements." Kai heard as he threw the limp body of the gecko back to the ground below. "Split up!" Both of them began to tear across the skies, separating as they saw the dragon's breath attack reach its zenith.

'Go for the wiring. It's drawing energy from it!' Mami projected.

The dragon's eyes flashed as hundreds of serpents rose into the skies with it.

"Shooting Mode!" Nanoha called out. Raising Heart flashed, the top of the staff dematerializing, then reforming into a square shape with two prongs around the red gemstone on the top of the staff. The girl swung her staff before her as she charged.

[Wide Area Protection.] A pink ripple of light erupted in front of Nanoha.

"I'll clear a path for you, Mister Kai!" Nanoha froze in place as magic circles began to spring up in front of the prongs of her Device. She brought the weapon straight at the massive dragon. The beast's eyes flashed. "Divine...BUSTER!"

The dragon's breath attack and Nanoha's shot met in a terrific display of light. Smaller pieces of flame ripped themselves off the dragon's breath attack as they shot towards Kai like arrows, but the older mage soared past them as he twirled in mid-air, constantly smashing aside snakes with killing blows from his fists and feet.

Nanoha and the dragon's attacks erupted in a sphere of flame and magic as they canceled each other out explosively. The girl shot upwards to avoid several of the serpents. "Raising Heart, do it!" She commanded as she swung her arm in an arc as she hit as many of the enemies around her with bindings as she could

[Divine Shooter.] Dozens of mana spheres screamed out of the Device, smashing into the ones that Nanoha wasn't able to see with her head turned towards a wave of enemies.

"Flash Move!" Nanoha practically ripped the mana from the linker core as she desperately threw herself out of the way as six serpents smashed into her protection field. The girl appeared in the center of another cluster of snakes and before they could react, she shattered the field. "Barrier Burst!"

The energy of the field was launched away from her body in a wave of energy and sharp shards. The snakes hissed as their wings were perforated, dropping them from the skies between the combination of concussive and cutting forces.

"We need more space." Nanoha hissed as she looped over the top of a serpent, soaring backwards as several snakes chased after her. "Divine Shooter!" She called as she unleashed a flurry of shots into the encouraging line.

[Master, Major Kai is rapidly losing speed.] Raising Heart shimmered as she projected their relative locations, showing Kai's ID was getting pinned down.

Nanoha let her Flier Fins briefly fade, rapidly dropping herself to avoid another attack. The bottom of a serpent brushed against the top of her pigtails as she slammed down through a few serpents, knocking them aside as she descended. The two energy wings reappeared on her heels as she shot towards Kai's position.

'There's too many of them!' Nanoha thought, spinning off her path as she fired several spheres of mana, smashing through a wall of serpents. 'If I only had the same kind of attack that Miss Mami did.' She thought about the sea of ribbons.

"That's it!" Nanoha exclaimed as her figure blurred as she nearly slammed herself against the ceiling of the cavern with another Flash Move. "Raising Heart! Can you combine my shooting spells with binds?" She asked, her back brushing along the stalactites on the roof as she moved towards Kai.

[Which ones, Master? It will take longer for stronger binds.]

Nanoha weaved out of the way as she allowed some of the familiars to gruesomely slam themselves against the spikes above her. "I need..." She briefly flashed back to her training with Yuuno. "I know! Holding Net." She remembered how the magical net had caught her whenever she accidentally dropped out of the sky. Net launchers were still good ways of catching animals.

[I will work on it right away, Master!]

For now, Nanoha continued fighting her way towards Kai. The cave blurred as she began to put more speed into her approach, launching Divine Shooter spheres to her sides as she flew straight at the cluster of enemies.

Countless enemies fell from the skies from her attack as she drew closer enough to Kai to see the man crashing through the enemy lines. The dragon in the back of the cave continued gathering more energy as more of its snakes rose into the skies.

Magic roared from the tip of Raising Heart, ripping through the crowd to try and thin them down, but Nanoha could see that she was moving too slowly. The calculations for a Flash Move appeared in her mind and she began to form the syllables.

"Divine Buster!"

Nanoha vanished, feeling her vision tunnel as her body zipped through the skies. A tingling sensation began to radiate outwards from her chest as her mind calculated hairpin turns through the swarm of familiars, briefly appearing and vanishing as she was forced to double back and change direction several times.

Pink light flashed from the depths of the swarm as Nanoha briefly appeared next to Kai. The girl gave Kai a watery smile and tightly gripped onto her Device with a white knuckled hold, the weapon radiating raw mana. He threw off another serpent as he tried to speak to her, but her image vanished as he felt several bursts of Flash Move bring Nanoha ahead of him.

"Wait! You can't-!"

"Shoot!" Nanoha roared, appearing in front of the dragon, slamming her Intelligent Device's tip right into the mass of wires.

The dragon howled in agony as it was thrown back, the wires in its guts being ripped apart by the wave of energy. Its body slammed down on top of a pile of gold, sending a wave of treasure flying as the majority of the wires sustaining it were burnt asunder. More than half of the serpents attacking them popped – returning back to their original forms as treasure. The remaining half of them charged enmass on Nanoha's location, trying to kill the girl before she could finish off the dragon.

"Nanoha!" Mami squirmed, practically thrashing in the weakening grip of the dragon.

"Get Miss Mami!" Nanoha shouted over at Kai, eyes dark as she saw the hoard rising against her. The older man cursed and shot towards Mam.

[Master! Shot type: Heavenly Chain is complete.] Raising Heart flashed to life, having completed the calculations.

"Load it." The brunette commanded as her flight briefly wavered as Nanoha desperately ignored the pins and needles sensation that was following the numbing in her chest. She shakily raised her staff at the encroaching force ahead of her.

[Yes, Master.]

The two prongs twisted in on themselves, the metal growing and stretching into a spiraling top for the weapon as Raising Heart's program was loaded. The spear like weapon began to gather mana from the area.

Nanoha gasped as it felt like the needles were ripped and stabbed into her over and over again.

"You will not pass!"

[Heavenly Chain.]

A thin beam of magic streaked out out of the tip of Raising Heart, forcing Nanoha's aim off as it shot towards the roof of the cavern.

Kai, having crushed the scaled tail, and Mami, rising from her capture, both stared in shock.

The beam of light shattered into hundreds of lesser beams which began to rain down onto the hoard. Each of the rays of light erupted into fully fledged Holding Nets which immediately began slamming down on the serpents, tangling around their bodies and sending them crashing into the unforgiving ground below.

Kai immediately turned and rushed towards the dragon, trying to capitalize.

Nanoha's vision briefly blurred, body seizing up with agony as her figure began to spiral back down to earth. Raising Heart, realizing the strain that the last attack had caused, swiftly took control of the girl's flight as it turned into an awkward repetitions sputtering downwards and stopping briefly.

[Finish it!]

Raising Heart's voice snapped Mami out of her daze as she twisted towards the direction of the dragon. The angry hisses of the serpents behind them now possessed a note of desperation as they tried to break free from the Holding Nets. A dozen of them were able to break free out of the some of them as they charged towards Kai and Mami, but the blonde was there to meet them with her muskets.

The sound of weapons going off behind Kai didn't slow him down as he made the final charge towards the dragon. Scooping up some coins in his right hand, he converted his mana to earth element as he allowed his Storage Device to make the calculations needed for his final attack.

A sparkling field of electricity and magnetism surged around his fist.

The dragon weakly lifted its head in time for Kai to pounce on it. A brutal series of blows, rattling the monster's head and ripping chunks of its weakening body off its face slammed into it over and over again before Kai brutally kicked out. The blow made the dragon howl as its head snapped up, opening it up for the final blow.

"Jet...Magnum!"

He launched his left fist towards the dragon and released the coins in his hand. The metal, crackling with electricity, were repelled away from the intense magnetic field generated by Kai's Device as the coins were explosively fired into and through the skull of the beast.

The Witch's boundary field collapsed as the beast was felled in that final blow. The three serpents that were left after Mami's attack shattered in bursts of magic as the barrier fell.

Only a Grief Seed remained perched in the center of the area.

'Major Kai! I don't know what you did, but the serpents are dying in droves!' The sound of Captain Nadaka reached him as the communications block shattered. Kai began to relax, but Mami's shout of shock made the older man spin back to face the two girls.

Nanoha was lying on top of Mami's lap back in her civilian outfit. Raising Heart itself had transformed back into its storage mode, its leather thong loosely held in Nanoha's unresponsive hands.

'Medic! We need a medic!' Kai harshly barked as he rushed towards the direction of the two girls, not aware of the white cat like creature that had snuck in under the cover of the latest incident to snatch up the Grief Seed and retreat.

*****

The Witch's Barrier was impressive in a materialistic way.

Both Homura and Miyuki found themselves dancing amongst piles of gold as a car sized yellow gecko kept spitting lightning at them from two heads. The victims it had dragged into the barrier dazedly stood in the back of the cavern, swaying back and forth drunkenly as the Kiss ravaged their minds.

"Can you do your hocus pocus again?" Miyuki demanded from a nearby pile of loot. Homura once again resisted the urge to drop the other girl like a bad habit and try and use her as bait.

"No. I only have less than a handful of them left. I'm not wasting them." Homura dove, her boots almost losing their purchase on slippery gold as she raced up a pile of gold as the gecko nearly buried her.

Miyuki quietly asked for forgiveness to Homura for having her distract the giant lizard as she silently moved around the beast as it rained lightning blasts on Homura's new position. She could distantly smell the smoking shell of their car, which they had been driving until this barrier had swept them both inside.

She moved towards the swaying people, intent on moving them behind cover before she heard a noise that had started getting terribly familiar. With a shriek, she threw herself over the three people that had been Kissed as a metallic fist went screaming over her head and towards the back of the gecko.

The beast let out a shriek of surprise as the fist slammed into its body. It turned into a wail of agony as its entire body was then levitated and brought back in the direction that the fist had come from as the missing limb was reattached to the steel like body of Hikari.

Before Homura and Miyuki's stunned eyes, the giant reached up to the gecko's twin heads, ignoring its repeated clawing and thrashing, and casually crushed the neck of the beast with a loud crack. The barrier around them shattered as reality resumed.

Smoke began to waft from the giant's fists as the Witch it had crushed shrunk down to a single Grief Seed.

It then turned blazing eyes towards Homura and Miyuki.

'If you two get in my way again...' The giant promised. 'I will kill you both for what you did to me.'

With that warning, the giant turned and began to race away, the street below it shattering with each long stride. Both of the dark haired girls kept the grim silence up for a few more moments before the tracking device on Homura's hip beeped.

'-mation emergency medical transport; Nanoha Takamachi.'

Miyuki's eyes turned towards Homura with a look of alarm on her features.

Homura winced.

*****

"I think my daughters are getting too greedy." Fafnir mused playfully as reality swallowed up another of her daughter's barriers. Katrina calmly flicked her sword clean, once again revealing the shimmering blade. "Or maybe not being greedy enough." She offered Katrina a smile. "What do you think? I wonder, I wonder..."

Katrina didn't respond. The large dragon had practically walked into her sword on its own after she had exposed it to Bifrost's mind warping light, but she had been expecting some form of resistance. The eager suicide was...disturbing.

The Puella Magi bent down to pick up the Grief Seed before one of her snakes could eat it.

'I love you.'

She hissed in shock, dropping the metallic sphere like it had burned her. In fact, one of the tips pierced her skin in her shock. Radiant magic, tinted in the color of that damn void, oozed out of her wound.

The three serpents turned eager looking gazes on her, and even Fafnir stopped in mid-twirl as she turned to look at Katrina.

"So...who is going to grow up next?" Fafnir eagerly asked the question on all of their minds.

Katrina gazed at her wound and then at the three serpents.

*****

Intermission Omake

Call Me Barkeep

Nanoha, somewhere between the waking world and the darkness of unconsciousness, didn't register her body being moved away. She could only dazedly glance up at the Mami's shouting face as the girl was pulled away from her.

'Oh...I made them panic.'

[That's right, Master-zenkai.]

Nanoha grew startled at the response, but she relaxed as she placed the voice as Raising Heart as her eyelids heavily fell.

...but why did she tack on that odd tic at the end of her statement?

...

[Wake up.]

...

[UP AND AT'EM, PRIVATE-ZENKAI!]

Nanoha let out a squeal of shock as she found herself falling out of western bed with a metallic framepost. With a loud crash and soft moan, Nanoha shakily lifted herself up to her hands and knees as she looked around the barracks she found herself in...

And up past a rather painted on looking white and blue leotard and skirt- Was that even even legal to wear?

[Good morning, Master! It's time to train your new power!]

Nanoha nearly broke down in mad giggles as the extremely female looking body flowed up a neck connected to Raising Heart's storage mode form. The woman gave the impression of looking very cross with Nanoha as she crossed her arms in front of her.

[This is a great problem-zenkai.] Nanoha began to giggle as she realized that Raising Heart had a set of pigtails coming out of her stone. [Hey...TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!]

Nanoha yelped and rolled out of the way as the ground was flash fried by a Divine Shooter.

[I had to take over your flight-zenkai!] Raising Heart chided Nanoha. [Now you're in bed and unconscious because of your poor conditioning.]

Nanoha felt a bit of shame as she sat up on her knees, bowing her head to the weird delusion of her imagination. "I'm sorry..." She mumbled.

[That's no problem, though!]

"It's not?"

[Of course not! We can always train you to better handle your POWER-zenkai! And then you can handle...]

A gleam of interest entered Nanoha's eyes. "More power?" She wondered.

[That's right!]

Both Nanoha and Raising Heart began to cackle in earnest.

*****

Miyuki, sitting next to Nanoha's still form in one of the medical beds on the Omegane, wiped some forming tears away from her eyes when the girl gave a slurred giggle.

At least she wasn't suffering.

Transmission Lost

[Olvelsper]

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is the property of Masaki Tsuzuki, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the property of Gen Urobuchi, Magic Knight Rayearth is the property of CLAMP, and Super Robot Wars is the property of Banpresto.

Episode 07: Original Sin

"It is now the top of the hour." The disc jockey on the radio intoned. "Welcome back to our coverage of day three of the Uminari City Invasion. Originally starting on May 26th -ngck."

The radio let out a hollow echo as it was shut off.

"I wish traffic would move quicker." Rie Bannings stated angrily. "The Defense Forces are just slowing down the evacuation since they keep butting in."

Next to the older blonde, Alisa quietly sat in her seat, securely held down. The young girl had gone silent in opposition to her mother's decision to leave after they had shown the footage of the destruction that had occurred last night.

"Don't make that face, Alisa. It'll stick that way."

Alisa angrily glared at her mother, eyes moist with tears as Rie turned the car onto an avenue, coasting up the side of the street along with hundreds more. "Why did we have to leave everyone behind? Nanoha and Suzuka are still here!" She exclaimed.

Rie winced, her daughter hadn't taken the news that her friend had been hurt well at all. That was one of the main reasons that she had decided to pack up only a few sets of clothing that were in the back seat of their car.

"I'm sorry, but I have to watch out for you first." Rie softly replied, keeping her eyes on the road ahead of her.

Alisa remained quiet at that, remembering how her mother's reaction was set off by the call that Nanoha had been hurt yesterday.

Both mother and daughter silently brooded as they drove across battered streets.

*****

Nanoha was under mild sedation as she slept in the medical bay of the Omegane. The sensors around her let out reassuring beeps for Miyuki and her parents, the three of them sitting around the young girl. Other medics were busily running around the large room, attending to several injured mages, but a faint shimmering curtain of light around Nanoha's bed kept the sound outside of their portion of the room at bay.

Momoko reached over to Nanoha's brow and gently swiped sweat away from her face with a wet rag. On contact with the girl's skin, Nanoha let out a quiet moan, shifting about beneath her covers. The action made Miyuki wince and clutch at herself tightly.

I screwed up. What kind of bodyguard could I ever possibly be if I let my own sister get hurt like this?

Shiro, seeing the dark look on Miyuki's expression, reached over and gently squeezed his adopted daughter's shoulder. When Miyuki looked over at him in confusion, he simply gave her an understanding look and shake of the head.

"Momoko, I'm going to get us something to eat." Shiro spoke up, wanting to nip things with Miyuki in the bud. He glanced at Miyuki, gesturing for her to follow with a jerk of his head towards the exit as he rose.

"Okay..." Momoko miserably replied, only having eyes for Nanoha. She only looked up when Shiro embraced her from behind. They focused on each others eyes as he kissed her on the brow.

"She'll be alright. Let's trust Nanoha's allies." Shiro consoled Momoko.

The brunette sadly nodded before glancing back at Nanoha as Shiro and Miyuki walked past the privacy curtain. A frantic air descended on them as they heard the moans of pain from several victims as the medical staff moved to try and patch their own fighters in between dealing with many injured persons from Uminari.

Miyuki stared at a blue haired woman, running a magic circle along a young man's limb, slowly knitting together a vicious injury along the side. Bone could be seen in parts beneath the wound before it began to close up and the bed beneath him seemed to be resonating with a strange song.

"War is hell, Miyuki." Shiro called out, snapping her attention away from the man. "Even with something as fantastic as magic involved." Having drawn Miyuki's attention back towards him, Shiro gestured as he began to limp towards the exit.

Miyuki stayed silent.

"Maybe especially with magic involved. At least we can expect certain things with our mundane view." Shiro continued as they stepped out into the hallway of the ship. "Here? How can we even expect to be able to fight it normally."

"...I should have been by her side, Father."

Shiro frowned, ready to counter that.

"Mister Takamachi, Miss Miyuki, is Nanoha feeling better?" Mami called out anxiously, making both of them look up at the blonde as she dashed towards them. Shortly behind her was the captain of the ship himself.

"No, but Miss Mizuha said that she will be waking up in a few hours." Shiro replied, appreciative of the concern for his daughter. Mami smiled at him, but she also caught onto the dark mood that Miyuki was projecting, and she moved over towards her.

Eita Nadaka solemnly walked up to Shiro, taking off his cap as he stood in front of the other man. He looked exhausted, but he kept a stiff expression on his face.

"Mister Takamachi." Eita bowed deeply to the man. Regret laced his words heavily. "I'm very sorry that your daughter has been injured under my command."

For a brief moment, irritation rose within Shiro at the sight of the captain, knowing that Nanoha had only volunteered between of him and the others on this ship.

But he remembered what he had just left behind in the medical ward, and shoved that feeling down.

"Please straighten up." Shiro replied, shaking his head to deny the man. "I accept your apology, but what's done is done." He reluctantly continued when Eita rose from his bow. "Besides, Nanoha did a good thing."

Eita lowered his arm so his cap dangled from his hand.

Eita weakly smiled. "She saved several people by sealing those serpents." He sadly explained.

"I owe her my life too." Mami finally spoke up from where she had been quietly conversing with Miyuki. The dark haired girl looked a bit more sure of herself as she joined Mami by standing next to the two men.

"Nanoha is an amazing daughter." Shiro replied, smiling proudly as he looked back in the direction of the medical ward.

"She's a hero."

*****

"Nanoha..."

The girl stirred in her slumber.

"Nanoha Takamachi..."

An endless sky filled her dreams.

"Rise and shine..."

A massive shadow rose in the distant horizon.

"I'm sorry, but you can't rest quite yet."

A shimmering red tear shaped gemstone cleaved through the clouds above a gentle expression.

"So long as darkness stains this world, your light must shine even stronger than ever."

Raising Heart flashed into existence before her gaze, rising up towards the giant.

"Now go." A thin ray of light shot forth from the brow of the giant, streaking into Raising Heart. "Go and show them that kindness and mercy still have a place in this world."

[Installing: Sealing Mode G – Set Up!] Raising Heart's voice boomed as Nanoha was ripped away from the skies and back to her family.

Nanoha's eyes opened. Momoko's eyes teared up joyfully as she threw herself on her daughter, wrapping her arms tightly around the younger girl.

"Nanoha! You're awake!"

Nanoha happily wrapped her arms around Momoko, snuggling into her embrace as she saw her father and sister standing on the other side of her bed. At the foot of her bed, Mami and Eita stood at attention. A delicious scent reached her nose as she saw a tray filled with food in a back corner.

Nanoha's stomach rumbled, causing her to blush as she received smiling looks from everyone gathered around her.

"Aaah... I'm awake." The young girl observed, trying to play it off as the others laughed.

*****

'Miss Takamachi has woken up.' Brooklyn Luckfield observed, listening with half an ear to the communications network. The blond shifted a bit as he followed above Homura as she walked on a clear, straight path to their next target.

The crowds around, having spotted the pair, wisely began to move out of the area.

'Good. Then I'll dedicate the next one to her.' Homura replied, the device she carried carrying her thoughts to Brooklyn. The girl paused in place all of a sudden, manifesting her Soul Gem as she leisurely passed it through the air, trying to pin down where in the rapidly thinning crowd the distortion was located.

Brooklyn frowned a little at the cavalier tone. He gently lowered himself back to the ground, shifting a little bit as the landing stretched the recently mended skin on his side.

"You've been fighting non-stop since last night."

Homura accepted the man's observation with only a slight incline of her head.

"Even Miss Tomoe has taken breaks."

"She doesn't know what you've been authorized to know." Homura curtly replied, finding the scrying much easier now that the crowd around them had vanished. "Kyoko would have had a field day here, I think..." She mused.

"What...?"

"There." Homura's eyes flashed as she focused on a certain spot. "That's the location." It was weak, but as she summoned forth a pair of swords, she knew that she found a Witch's den behind the distortion. The two katana flashed in the light.

"Right. Let's go, then." Brooklyn replied as he gestured at Homura. "Boost Up – Strike Power!"

Homura felt power surge down his arms as she led the way to the distortion, the portal to the Witch's world slipping open before their determined gait.

Miyuki's swords shifted in her grip as Homura determined to grant them another victory.

****

"Do we have to go?" Fafnir complained as she and Katrina made their way to the location that Yoobey had found.

"We have to." Katrina harshly rebuked. When she noticed the flinch in the little girl's expression, she softened her tone. "I have to get back to my sister." She tried to sweeten the deal. "You get to meet your aunty before Skuld does."

Fafnir grinned toothily.

Verdandi and Urd hissed.

"Yes, you two will get to beat Skuld as well." Katrina replied.

'That's not fair!' Skuld's mental voice boomed in the back of the girl's head. 'How come everyone goes except for me, Yoobey?'

'That's because we need to secure this world.' Yoobey calmly replied. 'The rip is unstable. If we don't have anchoring elements on both sides, we'd lose the connection. Then your family would be lost.'

'You can defend yourself and Yoobey.' Katrina added.

'Boo...' Skuld complained.

'Be a good girl and I'll give you a treat when we connect our cities together.' Katrina promised.

'Mm...okay! I want Fafnir's friend, that Hayate girl! She smelled yummy!'

Fafnir snarled. 'She's mine!' She angrily declared.

'Hahaha!'

"Halt! State your business on the Tsukimura property!"

Katrina smiled at the three guards that were standing before her and came to a stop. Behind them, a large and expansive western mansion was hidden from the rest of the world by a stone fence and grated gate.

Several groups of camouflaged serpent Familiars were flying above and behind Katrina. On the ground behind her, three geckos angrily hissed at the humans in their way, and Fafnir was holding onto Katrina's hand.

In the other hand, Fafnir held onto a Grief Seed that was the size of her head, gained by sacrificing all but the majority of the Witches in Uminari.

"Hello. May we come in, please?" Katrina politely inquired with a wide smile, Bifrost's sharp blade gleaming in her free hand.

*****

The radio let out a low pitched hissing as white noise filled the car's compartment. With a soft grunt, Rie switched the radio off. Grand, this blasted car cost me a fortune and the radio breaks down. She thought with anger.

Alisa fitfully slept next to her. Rie wondered if she was dreaming about her friends.

Rie jerked the wheel and slammed on her horn as a car passed her on the freeway out of town. The blare of the horn made Alisa jerk awake as Rie angrily cursed at the car that was now ripping up the freeway far ahead of their car.

"What's wrong?!" Alisa yelped, groggily looking around.

Rie kept her glare focused on the car ahead of her.

"Mom?"

How...how dare they? Don't they know that I have my daughter with me?

"Not now, honey." Rie's foot began to descend on the gas, making their car begin to rapidly speed up. Her hands twisted on the grip on the wheel. "I need to focus, okay?" Several cars began to buzz past them.

The radio switched on, letting out a high pitched hiss, the sudden making Alisa scream and clutch her ears.

Rie's vision went red as she saw two cars slam up against each other on her left side. The older woman's vision tunneled down to the car that had nearly hit her before.

"Mom!" Alisa screamed as they shot off in pursuit.

...

Hikari tiredly went through the motions, crushing another flying serpent in her armored grasp. As the monster shattered into magical energy, so did her armor as she collapsed to her hands and knees. The bleached blonde gasped for breath as her Soul Gem weakly flickered on her chest, melded into her bodysuit.

'Hikari, we have an incident developing.' Yoobey's voice spoke into her mind. 'There's a Witch trying to prevent your people from escaping town.'

The teenager groaned as she stumbled to her feet. "How...much time?" She asked, unable to spare the concentration to actually project her thoughts, shakily lifting a used up Grief Seed to restore a bit of vitality to herself.

'It's happening now.' Yoobey paused. 'There's some good news, though. I sense a strong potential. We can recruit her to help you if we can stop the witch.'

Hikari, feeling somewhat better now, turned and dashed in the direction that Yoobey was showing her.

...

"Miss Yoobey, should I use my dolls?" Skuld wondered, sitting next to Yoobey on the freeway sign overlooking the disaster going on below. The former familiar had gained a human form like Fafnir had, fascinating Yoobey enough to ask Katrina to allow her to stay.

Besides, it was better that Fafnir and her abnormally aggressive Witches be far, far away from this world. One Incubator alone wasn't enough to run damage control on them.

Skuld brushed her long dark hair behind her, golden eyes twinkling in the sun as she looked at Yoobey.

'Witches are the affairs of Puella Magi.' Its ears twitched as it focused on a particular car. 'I'd like that car saved, though.'  It pointed its paw at the particular model for Skuld's benefit. 'Making new Puella Magi are my affairs.'

"Okay, Miss Yoobey!" Skuld smiled, drinking in the rage below as she held up her Grief Seed. "Warriors of Asgard: Berserker!" From the depths of the seed, tendrils of darkness wafted off before firing down to the freeway below.

They erupted in a wave of darkness as a ten foot tall doll, body obscenely top heavy in plastic shaped like muscles and thin, sword like legs, skid forwards on its legs. Sparks flew from the contact as the doll tore up the street behind it as it flew towards the car and held its long arms.

The engine block bent around its arms as the doll gave way, sliding backwards as it lifted its arms high above it, bending the steel as it gripped onto the car to the point of nearly ripping it apart. The momentum behind the crash caused the doll to begin to topple backwards, but two more Berserkers formed behind it, bracing the first one. 

Five more leapt over them to smash aside cars that attempted to crash into the first three Berserkers.

The first three Berserkers and their cargo moved off to the side of the highway and set the car down, moving around it like a protective shield as the rest of the lanes devolved into chaos. Skuld took in the meal below her as her fingers twitched, moving her Berserkers into smashing aside more cars that threatened

Yoobey's ears twitched as it glanced off to the distance. 'Banish them. We have guests.' The Incubator replied, feeling Homura rapidly approaching. Towards their back, both Skuld and Yoobey could feel the Witch slide out into the real world to meet its challengers, flanked by the Familiars it just created.

"Okay!" Like a bad dream, the eight Berserkers vanished as they burst into dark smoke. "Where are you going?" Skuld wondered, watching Yoobey start to walk away from her.

'I have my duties.' Yoobey replied, gazing at the smoking car that contained the potential Puella Magi. 'Don't let them see you.'

*****

'-chzakt! Requesting backup. We're pinned down; engaging hostiles!' The Japanese Self Defense Forces' communication suddenly cut into their communication array.

"Is...is this even legal?" Brooklyn asked besides Homura, flying in low as the both of them tore across the highway.

"Maybe." Homura replied, gripping onto the handle of the motorcycle she was riding as they weaved through several crashed vehicles. She kept her head low as her hair wildly wiped behind her in a long trail. Her magic fed into the motorcycle, which was distinctly lacking a key, but she gunned the engine even harder as they shot forwards.

'It is not.' Kyosuke Nanbu called up from high above, flanked by twelve mages as they began to descend to the highway. 'Why must you keep making it a habit of doing this, Miss Akemi?'

"Show me how to fly around and I might stop it." Homura replied as she pulled back, going back onto the motorcycles' back wheel as she took the back of a car, breaking its rear window as she went soaring into the air.

She passed by several flaming cars below before slamming down onto the highway, eyes focusing on the rippling wave of space ahead.

"We have hostiles!" Brooklyn shouted, spinning off higher to summon several spheres of magic.

From the depths of the space, a squat, massive dark green lizard slithered out into reality. The draconian creature was as wide as the five lanes put together and two stories tall. Dozens of flying white serpents escaped from the ripple as the Witch left its den to challenge them.

'Authorization for lethal magic.' Kyosuke called out. 'Take them down while the Omegane pulls the survivors out of the line of fire!'

Homura kept her shield arm on the motorcycle as she used her right hand to draw one of Miyuki's katana out of shadow cast by her shield. The golden sword flashed in the sun as the back of her Soul Gem lit up with a purple flame.

The sword engulfed itself in magical fire as she transferred her magic into it.

"I really...really need to find the yakuza in this world." Homura muttered, feeling completely out of her depth at the moment.

Then she heard the most wonderful sound in the world.

Gunshots sounded distantly up ahead.

*****

Loud explosions rattled Alisa's car, forcibly shaking the girl awake. The girl let out a weak cry of pain as her forehead painfully throbbed with the return of her consciousness. The world around her had a red tint to it as Alisa opened her eyes.

"Ma...ma?"

Alisa blankly looked over to her left, seeing her mother lying motionless, dangling across the wheel.

"Ma..."

She reached a trembling arm towards Rie.

'It's best not to move her.' A new and entirely unwelcome voice cut into Alisa's hazy mind. 'She might die.' The girl continued when Alisa made no motion of stopping at the initial statement.

Alisa's hand froze in mid-air. She distantly noticed the dark stains on her hand and along her mother's body.

'But I can help...' Alisa got the impression that the voice had entered the car. She turned to look forwards. Framed by a pitch red sky filled with dark splotches and towering gout of smoke, the creature in front of Alisa was the most assuring thing she had seen yet.

Alisa's twitched, spewing black liquid from her lips.

'Oh dear. You don't look very good either.' The creature, a strange mix of a cat and a squirrel, swept a long and fluffy red tail back and forth behind it as she addressed Alisa. 'But don't worry, so long as you make a contract with me, I can grant you any wish you want!'

*****

"I'm heading out!" Mami called back, already stepping towards the curtain as soon as the tracking Device on her hip beamed the distress signal. Behind her, she didn't see Nanoha try to rise, only to get pressed down by Miyuki and her father.

"Go ahead, Miss Tomoe. I'll order them to teleport you to the site once you leave the room." Eita replied.

"Wait! I have to go with you, Miss Mami!" Nanoha begged. Mami froze, glancing back at her indecisively. "We're partners...!"

"You barely woke up!" Momoko replied, sounding alarmed at the thought.

"Mom's right, you need to rest at least a little while longer." Miyuki added, gently pressing her down to the bed with Shiro's help. When Nanoha glanced at the captain hopefully, Miyuki continued. "You have to be checked out before you can leave a hospital, right?"

Nanoha drooped, but suddenly perked up as she reached for Raising Heart. She quickly pulled it off and offered it towards Mami.

"Then take Raising Heart with you, she'll watch your back, right?" Nanoha glanced down at the gemstone.

[Master...?]

"Please..." Nanoha begged, clasping her hands around the Intelligent Device.

The gemstone shimmered. [I will try, Master.] Raising Heart replied.

"Thank you." Nanoha turned towards Mami, holding Raising Heart out towards her. "My wings,  partner."

Mami turned, looking alarmed, hand raising to her chest. With a tentative glance at everyone else, she reached forward and clasped hands with Nanoha, grabbing Raising Heart at the same time.

[Guest user confirmed: Mami Tomoe.] Raising Heart spoke up. [Get set!]

Nanoha and Mami shared a smile.

Mami turned and strutted out of the medical ward, vanishing once she was out of the room.

*****

Homura tore past another serpent, blade slicing through it in a single pass as her motorcycle descended back to the highway and an army truck below.

The bike beneath her jolted as she landed back onto the ground harshly, only her control over the motorcycle keeping her from tumbling off it as she skidded to a halt in front of a pair of surprised officers, who were in the middle of shooting down a serpent from the skies.

The shock quickly vanished as they drew two rifles in her direction.

Homura simply replied, kicking the motorcycle's stand down as she moved back to the ground, internally wincing a little before disconnecting her sense of pain from that last landing. She couldn't afford to look her composure before those guns.

Madoka would probably think she was being uncool too.

"Who are you?" One of the soldiers gestured with his rifle.

"I'm your backup." She looked up at the mages fighting in the skies. "They sent me since they're busy."

Both of the soldiers traded anxious looks, but before they could say anything further, a third person approached them, hoping off the back of the truck. Homura bemusedly watched as the two soldiers harassing her immediately deferred to the new arrival.

"Who are you?" Homura took the time to ask, noticing the extra additions to their uniform.

"You said you're with them, right?" 

"That's right, but I need weapons right now." Homura cut off the chitchat. "Look up Eita Nadaka in your records. That will be your confirmation. I'm Akemi."

"Just you wait..."

"I can kill a lot more of these things with those than any of you can." The dark haired girl brushed off their complaints. Just as the trio began gaining looks of annoyance towards her brusque manner, Homura was saved from their expected remarks by Brooklyn, descending from above.

"Akemi, what are you doing charging on ahead?" The blond demanded. He glanced over at the stunned soldiers and sighed. "Now I know what Lieutenant Nanbu goes through..."

Homura faintly smiled.

It was a little bit wider when she was screeching along the highways on her motorcycle, shooting down serpents with one of her new rifles. Next to her, Brooklyn gathered more mana, launching spheres of power at any of them that broke their line.

*****

Mami alighted on Terra firma, immediately altering her feathered broach on her cap to meld around Raising Heart. The gemstone flashed as it was pressed up against Mami's Soul Gem, but had no other reactions.

"Okay," Mami quickly glanced around the devastated streets. She could already see Mister Kyosuke lead a squad of four mages against the large lizard in the distance. Occasional blasts of magic or cracks of gunfire could be heard as well.

'Miss Tomoe, this is An from the Omegane.' The communication's officer spoke up in Mami's mind. The blonde began to move forwards as she called a musket to her arm. Thick smoke rose from the cars around her. 'We've sent you down to support the rescue efforts. Four of our mages are setting down beacons to teleport away the victims, but they'll be open while they do so.'

[Displaying image.] Raising Heart flashed a pink tinted image of the highway for Mami's sake, showing the four mages' locations.

'We need you to protect them until that time.' Mami noticed that her own location was smack in the middle of all four signals. 'Just hold the line until we're able to divert more of our mages away from the Witches in town.'

"Alright, will do." Mami glanced at her musket and then at the sky filled with snakes.

She was going to need more muskets.

*****

"Haa...magic...?" The idea nearly sounded ridiculous to Alisa as her vision wavered in and out. Her ragged gasps as she tried to weakly paw at her seat belt filled the twisted cabin around them.

'That's right. You have the potential for wondrous magical powers.'

Alisa snarled at the cat. "Then...why...a contract?" She demanded, wanting to know why in the world the creature was just standing there while her mother was motionless and she was rapidly losing consciousness.

'Oh, I'm not allowed to intervene until you make a contract.' The creature plucked the question out of her head with casual ease. 'Once you agree, I can use the energy from your contract to do whatever you want, Alisa.'

Alisa almost wanted to laugh. Despite the creature's genial appearance, she could smell a twist coming a mile away. Still, knowing about things and being able to do anything about them were entirely different things.

Alisa glanced over at her mother with her ruined eyes, wondering if she was dead already.

'So, what will it be?'

"Contract..." Alisa gasped, knowing that if magic were real, then it shouldn't matter how long it took, just as long as she was still alive. "Let...me...see..."

Yoobey was silent for a moment. 'Excuse me?' She sounded a little bit incredulous.

Then a young boy's laughter filled the cabin. From out of nowhere, a long fluffy appendage smashed Yoobey in the face from a ripple in space, sending the creature bouncing out of Alisa's sight. The appendage – no, it was a rabbit ear, was joined by another one.

Both of them pulled against the ripple. Once the hole was wide enough, they shot forwards and grasped Yoobey around the head. The female thrashed in its grasp, but it wasn't able to avoid being drawn into the ripple.

'Clever girl, you'll both be saved soon.' The young boy warmly advised. The ripple vanished moments afterward.

"Hey! We got survivors here!" Alisa's vision began to fade to dark as an older girl's voice called out. The last thing she saw before blacking out was a blonde with golden eyes peering at them anxiously from behind the shattered windshield.

...

Skuld blinked and leapt to her feet as Yoobey slammed down on top of the sign next to her, ejected from the depths of a rippling eddies in the skies above. Seeing that Yoobey was unconscious, Skuld swiftly brought her Grief Seed to bear, swellings of darkness rushing out from their depths.

Glancing upwards, she caught sight of a tear shaped gemstone, but completely froze on the spot when she saw the eyes beneath the gem. They projected so much raw presence that her entire body began to quiver, muscles locking together as those eyes began to judge her.

'Unfortunate One, do you know what the original sin was...?'

The mental voice prodded, patient in tone to clash against those intense eyes. Skuld, just trembled a little bit more, somehow finding her neck released from the pressure just long enough to quickly shake her head.

'Reaching for dangerous knowledge. Knowledge the world is not ready for at this point. Knowledge to make boundary beings such as yourselves.' The gemstone in the center of the creature's brow began to glow.

Yoobey stirred.

'Re...treat!' Her voice caused Skuld to snap out of her daze as both of them vanished in bursts of darkness as she pulled them into her barrier world.

The eyes within the void tiredly closed.

"Puu..." The being raggedly sighed. The rip mended itself as the creature within went to its next duty. One that was going to be just as emotionally difficult as this one had been.

...

Hikari's body refused to cooperate with her. Her suit had transformed back into her original clothing and she had just slumped up against a corner light. The gemstone set on the silver ring Yoobey had given her pulsed a jet black.

With each beat, her heart felt like it was being put into a vice and squeezed.

'Why...?'

She couldn't even reach out towards the crowds walking past her.

'You were never meant to fly so high to the sun, Unfortunate One.' Hikari's gaze glanced off to the side, where she saw a snow white rabbit standing, perfectly unruffled in the midst of foot traffic. 'This was due to their hubris. They wished to test their knowledge and you were chosen. However, your fear allowed this ending to occur...'

Hikari twitched as her ring began to crack. Something...something was twisting within her, causing her body to twitch more. She wanted to scream at the people around her to help her, but her mouth refused to move as she silently convulsed with each crack added to her ring.

'But you could have delayed this...why didn't you?'

Hikari briefly thought about her parents, with their over-protectiveness when she was mugged. How much her father's face had reddened when she had first bleached her hair. Their lame jokes, their stupid clothing choices for her, their...

'Ah...' The rabbit breathed. 'It was Inevitable for you to fall, but...they don't have to if you decide now.'

The twisting in Hikari's guts began to grow like a vile plant, painful shoots growing out of it.

'How?' Hikari demanded.

'One more day. I'll give you one more day to fight for them. I'll send you to the highway now. You must meet the girl that will let you save them. You may even be partially saved from this final fate.'

The pain was still there, but locomotion was granted back to Hikari. The girl grit her teeth and bore it as she rose to her feet. Her Soul Gem flashed as she was clad in her bodysuit once again, raw magic pouring into her as she rushed towards the site.

*****

The Witch roared at the defenders, the sound unleashed shattering wind shields and setting off car alarms as its massive body lumbered towards them. With each blow that the Defense forces unleashed on him from above, several of its scales tumbled down to the highway, growing animated as they spun like wheels towards the cars ahead.

The soldier's rifles shattered the brittle scales easily as the mages, doubled in the ten minutes, took to the skies to shoot down the flying serpents.

However, the main body continued moving towards the fleet of cars faster than the Omegane could hope to teleport them away. The Witch itself began to slam its long, barbed tail against the highway behind it, sending chunks of rock up into the air as it tried to knock the mages away from it.

Homura's motorcycle screeched to a halt, shortly followed by Brooklyn landing next to her. Both of them had reached the final defense point between the Witch and the cars behind them. A fleet of JSDF armored cars were arrayed in front of them, with several soldiers breaking apart the scales.

The group tensed up like last time, but seeing Brooklyn allowed them to calm down a bit. The blond immediately moved ahead to speak to the leader of the group while Homura hopped off her motorcycle and walked around so she had a clean line of vision for the massive figure crawling up the highway towards them.

This is going to be impossible with what we have here. Homura grimaced, wishing she could take out the rifle she had banished before arriving here. If only as a security blanket. She shielded her eyes as she glanced up at shooters on top of the armored cars, shooting down the scales before they could draw too close.

"Miss Akemi," Brooklyn's voice drew Homura's attention back to the blond and an officer that was standing with him. "Lieutenant Kyosuke decided to hold the line here as long as we can." He gave her a concerned look.

The soldier with her glanced at Homura with concern. "Girl, you should retreat while you still can. We've heard that you're part of this group, but I'd rather not have you on my consciousness when that monster rolls on top of us."

Homura shook her head. "No, I'm staying here." She insisted. "Fleeing isn't going to grant me any tactical advantage. I'd rather risk testing out my own shots when the Witch draws near."

The commanding officer grimaced, but hesitantly nodded. "I've seen a few videos of you in action. You do good work." He replied.

"Better if I had something stronger on me." Homura replied, pitching her tone to turn it into a question at the end.

The older man shook his head. "I wish I could tell you we had more, but we're just the vanguard. We already used up the stronger weapons in our cache."

Homura considered the situation for a few moments.

I wonder if I can have their armored carriers. She decided not to voice her opinion of their chances. Wait, maybe there is something we can do...

"Mami, are you done yet?" She thumbed the tracking device on her person. It let out a squawk of noise before the blonde Puella Magi could be heard in the background. "We need you and the sheer amount of presence you can pull off..."

'...you're talking about my muskets, right?' Mami asked, sounding confused.

"Yes." Homura stamped down on a bit of jealousy.

The commanding officer gave Brooklyn and Homura strange looks.

"Radio communications." Brooklyn tried to sum up, making the older man nod as he turned towards his men.

"Freaky bullshit, gotcha." The commanding officer cupped his hands together. "We're holding the line as long as we can! Everyone get in positions!" He began to bark out orders as he walked along the soldiers.

"What are you planning, Homura?" Brooklyn asked, ignoring the bombardment from above as the the mages tried to slow down the Witch's approach by attacking the highway itself.

"We're going to need an armored carrier and Mami..."

...

Alisa briefly woke up to heavy pressure on her chest. Her vision was filled with a strange room, liberally decorated with gray and black spots as her eyes threatened to shut down on her. She could distinctly make out Nanoha's parents and sister.

"She's awake!" Nanoha, sitting up directly across from her in her own bed, shouted out. Unfortunately Alisa couldn't manage to keep her eyes open any more.

Blessed darkness consumed her.

...

"Are...are you both mad?" The commanding officer wondered as he stared at Mami and Homura in shock.

Both Puella Magi simply shook their heads.

"My specialty are bindings, but I am able to transform things to improve on them." Mami explained, ducking her head a bit. "I'd have to maintain it for something this large, though."

Homura crossed her arms. "I'm able to control anything technological." She added her own point. "We're tougher than your soldiers, so I'm the best person to not get in the way when we get closer."

[I'll shoot the laser.] Raising Heart concluded. [For my Master.]

'...I'll grant permission on my end.' Kyosuke called down from the skies above. 'You both have tracking devices, so we'll be able to teleport you two away. Miss Tomoe's output might be enough to stop the Witch.'

"We just need to create a hole in that armor large enough for the other mages to finish it off." Homura shrugged. She faintly smiled. "I just need to get one of your armored carriers. Very low cost, right?"

Brooklyn laughed. "Hell, it's a crazy enough idea." When the commanding officer glared at him, he held his hands up. "It's a better plan than wait here and die, right?" The commanding officer sighed, taking off his hat as he rubbed at his forehead.

"...just take it. Take it and go." He gestured at a Type 73 in the back of the final battle line. "We've exhausted the shells, though."

"That won't be a problem." Both Mami and Raising Heart spoke up as one.

*****

Up above, the mages that had been bombarding the Witch had gone silent.

The Witch smashed its head up against another line of rubble. The force of the headbutt sent several chunks flying towards the convoy three hundred yards away. Several of the vehicles were shoved away, causing several soldiers to quickly move out of the way or risk being crushed.

Distantly behind them, the Witch could feel magic whisking away its meal, and the large lizard like monster let out a howl of rage as it began to pick up its pace. Only to be blinded as twin star bursts ignited directly in front of it.

An engine growled to life to silence the Witch's cries of pain. An armored carrier, three times the size of the others, rumbled through the opening that had been created. Its surface gleamed with a white-gold sheen as crimson cannons, replacing the standard weaponry on top, were turned towards the Witch.

Mami, manning the main cannon up top, and Brooklyn, manning the secondary machine guns, smirked at the Witch's distress.

"Boost Up – Acceleration!" Brooklyn finished the incantation, empowering the tank as the large, man sized crimson crystal in the center of the armored roof gleamed as it received the enhancement.

[Acknowledged!] Raising Heart's boomed as the treads of the tank revved, digging up furrows in the highway.

"Ready!" Homura called up from where she was operating the tank, allowing her magic to synch her up with Raising Heart. "Then all that's left is..."

"The name, right?" Mami cheerfully replied. "I got just the perfect one..."

"Wait! Not that!" Homura winced, knowing it was hopeless now.

"Chimera Macchina, go!" Mami aimed straight down at the Witch ahead of them. A burst of dark purple light erupted from the back of the tank.

[Let us win this for Master!]

With the noise of cement grinding beneath them, the newly named Chimera Macchina tore towards the Witch, venting magic in its wake.

The Witch, sensing the amount of magic rushing towards it, shed hundreds of scales, firing some of them towards the carrier like missiles, while others rushed along the ground to try and take the vehicle down from the ground up.

Up above, Kyosuke waited until the Witch's attack began before he gestured down to the Witch below. "Clear a path!" He commanded, Apis igniting as he gathered a sphere of flame on his gauntlet.

"Yes, Lieutenant!" The mages under his command, fifteen in all, aimed their Storage Devices down at the lumbering Witch. Dozens of bolts of mana rained down on the monster per moment, nothing more than a bid for the armored carrier's safe passage.

Brooklyn spun the turret towards a cluster of scales that were rushing towards them and squeezed the trigger.

[Divine Shooter!] Multiple spheres of light spat forth in the blink of an eye, shattering the animated scales.

Homura desperately maneuvered them with her magic, the tank getting small parts of it nipped off by the missiles that couldn't be shot down.

"Main cannon, set up!" Mami called back to Raising Heart as she aimed the main cannon for the Witch's face. The Intelligent Device flashed as Mami felt her Soul Gem begin to feed energy into the engine.

[10% and rising.]

The Witch roared as it smashed it tail down on the highway, sending up another piece of it into the air. With a negligent looking swipe, it blew the fifteen foot wide chunk of cement straight at the roof of the carrier, hoping to smash Mami and Brooklyn beneath it.

The projectile flashed as magic infused it, keeping together as its strength was enhanced.

The Witch sent five more screaming after it.

"Barriers and artillery!" Kyosuke commanded, eyes twitching as he shot down missiles with his flame magic. Five of the mages in the group of fifteen immediately switched their spells. Three of them began to weave an array of shields in front of the armored carrier as the remaining two mages swiftly summoned add ons to their Storage Devices.

The stone slammed into the first barrier, shattering the magical shield to pieces, but it was immediately shot out of the sky by two intense beams of mana, knocking it askew as it was sent tumbling off the freeway.

One was sent skidding off the surface of an angled barrier, two more were shot down by the mage snipers, but the last three headed straight towards the carrier.

"Stop." Homura grit her teeth as she invoked the penultimate use of her Time Stop. The aura around the carrier flared as the world suddenly inverted its colors. She kept a scream bottled up inside her as she saw her Soul Gem nearly turn black from the sustained effort.

[60% and rising.]

"What was that?!" Mami demanded as they raced past the boulders before time resumed, the highway behind them being annihilated by the boulders.

"Focus for now, Miss Tomoe!" Brooklyn called out, shooting down more of the Witch's defensive scales. Their carrier was within spitting distance of the Witch when the monster began to breath in for another howl.

Up above, the mages oriented themselves back towards the Witch, aware of Homura's fallback thanks to her earlier discussion with their captain. At Kyosuke's signal, the entire group began to plummet towards the Witch at high speeds, gathering their strongest attacks.

A blonde Enforcer, one of the few amongst their crew, shot next to Kyosuke.

"Lieutenant!" She reported, her Storage Device gleaming in the sun as it finished gathering ambient mana.

"Browning, everyone: Shut that damn thing up."

A kaleidoscope of light swept down towards the Witch as its moved to unleash its devastating roar point blank on the armored carrier, but it cut off with a squeal as the magi's attacks slammed into the side of its head, causing it to jerk to the side as it unleashed its wail.

Even with that diversion of the attack, the Chimera Macchina nearly went off the road, almost crushing Homura inside of the carrier as the pressure made the sides of the tank squeeze inwards.

"Homura!" Mami called down anxiously, a glowing mix of gold and pink gathered in the front of the main cannon.

[100% -  ready to fire.]

"Take the shot, Mami!" Homura shouted up, feeling agony race up her left hand from her Soul Gem.

The Witch growled in the back of its throat as it lunged towards them with its last breath, fangs ready to rip them apart.

"Go!" Mami squeezed the trigger, aiming straight between the monster's eyes.

[Ultima Stella.] The large sphere of magic at the tip of the cannon suddenly compressed before firing a thin, spiraling beam of magic straight through the Witch's skull. The lizard's forward charge staggered to a halt.

Then the ray widened by a hundred times from the depths of the monster's skull outwards.

"Get them out of there, now!" Kyosuke commanded as the Witch began to descend on the carrier as the back of its head was reduced to sheer magic as the beam annihilated the back half of its head. The armored vehicle vanished just seconds before the Witch crashed on top of where it had been before, shattering into hundreds of motes of light.

And leaving a single Grief Seed in its wake.

*****

Hikari's armored body came crashing down on the highway. Immediately on seeing the fidgety soldiers train their weapons on her, she raised her hands up as she banished the armor. The soldiers, confused on seeing a young girl beneath the rapidly crumbling black steel, gestured for her to lie down.

She gratefully took them up on their offer, careful not to hit the cracked ring against the freeway beneath her.

*****

"...why are you back again, Bullet?!" The angry demands of a blue haired medic could distantly be heard as Homura and Mami, both holding Grief Seeds up against their Soul Gems, sat with their heads slightly lowered in a corner of the medical room.

Nanoha simply gave both of them faintly bemused glances from her bed as her parents and sister took turns attending to her, Alisa, or her mother. The latter of two were still resting from the incident.

Raising Heart itself was rapidly flashing, its voice pitched a little bit higher than usual as it regaled Nanoha with the story of the incident.

"Did you have to take the carrier?" Mami questioned quietly over to Homura.

"Yes."

*****

"This is a wonderful home you have, Miss Tsukimura." Katrina took a sip of tea as she sat in a gazebo with the current head of the household.

Suzuka glanced to the side, worriedly watching a red haired girl rub the belly of one of her cats. A warning hiss to her immediate left reminded her of her place.

"Yes...my grandmother is the reason we're so well off, Miss Bernstein." Suzuka wanly smiled at the brunette, who was brushing her fingertips along the bottom of a large white serpent's head. The woman's sword, still slightly bloody, rested along the railing behind her.

"Mmm..." Katrina nodded, feeling her families throughout the mansion. Outside of the odd ones like Suzuka, which had to be put down if they resisted, her familiars reported the rest of the staff were still under her control.

She felt a pulse of hunger from another familiar and immediately denied it.

"We'll be gone in about two days. Until then..." Katrina smiled at Suzuka. "Please call me Katrina."

*****

Intermission Omake

Ghost Princess?

Alisa's hand froze in mid-air. She distantly noticed the dark stains on her hand and along her mother's body.

'But I can help...' Alisa got the impression that the voice had entered the car. She turned to look forwards. Framed by a red sky filled with dark splotches and towering gout of smoke, the creature in front of Alisa was the most assuring thing she had seen yet.

Alisa's twitched, spewing black liquid from her lips as her vision...

Suddenly...

Broke.

'Oh dear. You don't look very good either.' The creature, a strange mix of a cat and a squirrel, swept a long and fluffy red tail back and forth behind it as she addressed Alisa. Its body was in a constant state of flux as vicious dark lines ran along its crimson body. 'But don't worry, so long as you make a contract with me, I can grant you any wish you want!'

"Any...?"

Its body suddenly broke apart where the lines met, floating apart before fusing back together along those same lines.

With a dissonant serenity that clashed with the wide smile on her face, Alisa unbuckled the seat belt and reached for a plastic spork on the ground in front of her.

'Yes...?' The mishmash of lines replied. 'That's about it. So what's your wish?'

"I don't need it..." Alisa breathed out. "I already know how to kill." With that, she threw herself at the squirrel with a roar.

[Olvelsper]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7349554/8/Lyrical_Chronicles_Redux : One more to go and Act I is done.

[Olvelsper]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7349554/9/Lyrical_Chronicles_Redux : Beginning of the End (of  the Act)