Malleus Maleficarum

A quarter of a circle is 90 degrees of arc. 90 degrees is a separation great enough to spare those who would otherwise have died, and a turn sufficient to release a lock. But what may lie behind the door, and should things which were sealed away with lock and key be released?

Episode 1 : Killer Doll

The first day of the new school term dawned clear and sunny. Madoka Kaname yawned and stretched and reveled in her familiar surroundings. Well, this is certainly better than how last term started! It seemed little more than a bad dream now, easily dismissed, but during the course of the previous term Madoka and her friends had been subjected to a parade of horror, misery, and death, all thanks to a strange little creature known as Kyubey.

For such a sinister little creature, he sure managed to look like a cute stuffed animal! Madoka giggled at the thought; indeed, Kyubey had spent much time in Madoka's room, sleeping amongst her collection of stuffed animals. But Kyubey had also been changed radically by the events which led the Puella Magi to triumph over the horrific power of Walpurgisnacht. What had the pink-haired girl giggling on this morning was the thought of the now-altered Incubator, or Nova as she called herself now, trying to make a bed out of Madoka's stuffed animals. She would do it, too. Madoka giggled again- Nova Floresca might be biologically human, but she still had some quirks which needed to be ironed out.

Thinking about the white-haired girl brought to mind an image of Nova being pried out of her nest with a combination of bribery ("I'll make your favorite pickle-and-cheese sandwich for lunch!") and bludgeoning ("Out! Out! We'll be late, sleepy head!") which made Madoka smile. What she was seeing was actually an impression of what was happening over at Mami Tomoe's apartment. During the battle of Walpurgisnacht, the eight Puella Magi of Mitikahara had linked their Soul Gems together to wield the power needed to defeat the uber-Witch. The connection had several lasting effects, one of which being that the girls all shared an empathic link with which they could communicate thoughts and feelings.

Madoka contemplated the girl who had discovered the connection with a fond smile and a shake of her head. Her first meeting with Kyōko Sakura had been, well, ugly. The gluttonous, carefree girl with the wine-red hair had pounced on Sayaka Miki, Madoka's oldest friend and attempted to kill her in order to "secure" the territory of Mitikahara as her own private hunting grounds as a Puella Magi. Nowadays, well Sayaka might scream like she's being killed, but for different reasons. Madoka chuckled at herself for the deliciously naughty thought. The delinquent thief and the self-proclaimed Knight of Justice had fallen for each other, hard, and had taken to expressing their love for each other with an enthusiasm that could put blushes on the faces of the other Puella Magi even when not in the same room. Just because Homura and I aren't as noisy, doesn't mean we're not in love!

And there was the most amazing thing to come out of the trials of the previous term, in Madoka's mind at least- Homura Akemi. The cool, mysterious black-haired girl had been stuck in an endless loop, trying to save Madoka from the fate of becoming a Puella Magi herself. Instead, I saved Homura-chan from herself. Madoka lifted her left hand and admired the elegant ring on her middle finger. And I broke Kyubey in the process.

Madoka herself had caused the profound change of heart in their Incubator which led to the creation of Nova, but her timely intervention against Walpurgisnacht had yielded other benefits as well: The white-haired girl's cheating of the system had rescued Mami Tomoe from the clutches of death, along with another Puella Magi named Ami Hikaru. Mami was a tall, cool blonde who had first introduced Madoka and Sayaka to the world of the Puella Magi, and then been slain by the Witch of desserts, Charlotte. Ami, meanwhile, was the Puella Magi who had become Charlotte, and in fact the small peach-haired girl now answered to that name instead of the one she had been born with. Considering the unfortunate circumstances which led to her becoming a Puella Magi and then a Witch, Madoka didn't blame the girl in the slightest. Charlotte currently lived with Mami and Nova in the blonde's spacious apartment, under a simple arrangement; Mami gave Charlotte cheesecake, and Charlotte gave Mami her undying adoration. As she could sense all of her friends were awake and active, Madoka decided it was time to roll out of bed to get ready for the first day of the new term. Together, we beat the Walpurgis! Compared to that, highschool is nothing. Magical Girls, ready and charge!

The first task on Madoka's morning checklist was to rouse her mother. True to form, Madoka's mother Junko was still entombed in blankets and took considerable prodding before she too was willing to enter the world of the wakeful. This was not a surprise for the pink-haired girl, which is why she always allotted extra time for the chore. If Junko happened to rise early, it was then just a pleasant bonus. Madoka loved her mother, and knew the morning routine was part of her way of coping with the terrific responsibility rested upon her by the company she worked for. The surprise came during their ritual mother-daughter chat.

"So, when are you going to bring her home so we can meet her?" Madoka just about swallowed her toothbrush when she heard the question.

"Eee?! What do you mean?"

"I saw the look on your face when you left to go on that beach trip with your friends. That was the look of a young woman going courting, and I know it!" Junko favored her daughter with an impish smile. "So which one is the lucky girl?"

"It's Homura-chan." Madoka finally replied, with downcast eyes.

"Oh, good!" Here the pink-haired girl gave her mother a look out of the corner of her eye with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, shush you. I know all your friends are good people, and you know your mother would cheer you on, no matter which one you picked. It's just that I'll cheer you on a lot more with Homura-chan than with that catlike delinquent girl." There was only one thing Madoka could say to that.

"Um, which one?"

"The red-haired one, Kyōko isn't it? She still has that look of an alley cat to her, that 'I'm going to do the opposite of what you want just to see what you'll do' attitude. The other one has more of a ferret-y feel about her, I think." Madoka snickered at the honest assessment of her friends.

"Actually, Sayaka got Kyōko."

"Ahh! That's a regular Romeo and Juliet pairing, isn't it?"

"That's them, all right!" Madoka agreed.

Just outside the main gate of Mitikahara Student Academy, Madoka met up with the rest of the Puella Magi, and there she caught up with the most taciturn member of the circle: Hitomi Shizuki. The quiet green-haired girl had been approached by Kyubey in a moment of weakness and became a Puella Magi in order to win her friends' respect. After being set straight, however, Hitomi became a reliable and powerful member of the team. Maybe that's why Nova is so weird, mused Madoka. After becoming human, the ex-Incubator had spent a considerable time apologizing to the Puella Magi whom she had deceived or otherwise manipulated into their positions. For the first full week Nova ended up bowing in apology to at least one person in every conversation, which was an amusing sight to behold considering the white-haired girl wore her hair in a fat inkbrush ponytail and long sidelocks, mimicking her appearance as an Incubator. All that time bowing must've let the blood rush to her head and boiled her brains. The other Puella Magi laughed as they picked up the comment through the empathic link. The summer break had given the girls time to gain more control over their communal link, to where they could somewhat tune each other out, but when all together like this, the link became as loud and prominent as their own voices.

"I know you're concerned since you'll be in a different division from us, Charlotte-san, but you have to go. You'll be okay; Saotome-sensei is a nice person." Mami put her hands on the younger girl's shoulders and guided her forward toward the gate, but Charlotte shook her head vigorously, making the long mismatched red and blue streamers which tied up her hair flap about. Charlotte was a year younger than the rest of the Puella Magi, which meant that she was still going to middle school this term while the others were now 1st year (or 2nd in Mami's case) high-school students. Charlotte-san, you know you can feel us and we can feel you, Mami sent over the link, with the other Puella Magi chiming in to the affirmative. You won't be alone in there, I promise. However; Mami then put a surprising bit of steel in her "voice" as she showed the stick which went along with the carrot: That also means we can tell where you are. There will be no cheesecake on days where you skip class.

"Yahhh!" shouted the peach-haired girl in fright. "I'm going! I'm going! Evil! Mami-san is evil!" Charlotte stopped to blow a raspberry at her "big sister" before dashing for the building.

"Brrr!" exclaimed Sayaka all of a sudden. "That's weird!" This got looks of mild concern from the other Puella Magi and the blunette shook her head to clear it before explaining. "For a moment, I felt like I was being watched." Sayaka gazed up at the skyline, but she could discern no reason for the strange feeling and so dismissed it.

In fact, Sayaka and the other Puella Magi had been under observation, although it would not have been revealed by something so casual as looking around. However, the surveillance was now at an end.

"My apologies, onee-sama. I could not continue sensing at that range any longer." The 'elder sister' looked down at her winded companion and nodded.

"Very well. It appears at least one of the foe was aware of what you were doing in any case." This drew an exclamation of shock from the smaller of the two observers. "We shall have to rely on that person to do her job if we are to succeed at our task."

"I wish that I could express confidence in her ability to do so."

"As do I."

Classes went surprisingly smoothly for a first day, and soon the Magical Girls were regrouping in the lunchroom to compare notes about the situation.

"I don't like the new girl." Kyōko scowled as she plowed into her lunch. "Sunny or Catchy or whatthefuckever her name is."

"Oh come off it, you just don't like her because she's not in the Harem." Sayaka teased. This caused Kyōko to snort- at the end of the previous year's C term, the Magical Girls had been renamed to 'the Harem' by some of the sharper of the wagging tongues, although who exactly was supposed to be in said harem and who was reaping the benefits was never quite explained. The only girl who definitely wasn't in the Harem was Charlotte- the one time it had been suggested, the little peach-haired girl hadn't understood the meaning, and then burst into tears when it had been explained in great details by one of the Magical Girls' chief detractors.

The bearer of that bad news, Akiko Tomohara, had come to Mitikahara Student Academy the next day looking extremely unwell. A tale was told of ambush, and wicked and unjust violence being heaped upon her person in great quantities, but the Tea Ceremony Club swore up and down that their beloved Captain Hitomi Shizuki had been with them practicing all evening, and that her busted knuckles were the result of a tragic slip and fall in the clubroom. The message was received loud and clear, and no one bothered the littlest Puella Magi again.

"So yeah, I don't like the new girl. She's perky and happy and arrgh! We don't need another Mossy around here, no offense Mossy." Hitomi just chuckled, as she was too well acquainted with the redhead's mannerisms to take offense at this stage. "And there's something weird about her too, like she's just playing the part of a schoolgirl for a TV show or something. And honestly, I've seen better acting during the day shift at Kageyama- er, I mean-" Sayaka flicked Kyōko's nose to cut her off.

"Hey, it's no concern of mine what delinquencies you may or may not take part in so long as you don't bring anything or anyone funny home." replied the blunette with a smirk.

"Uh, Blueberry? Little late for that." Kyōko angled her thumb at the end of the table. Nova looked up to see Kyōko pointing at her and replied with a confused "Huh?" which caused Sayaka to crack up.

"Although between that and this morning, I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this term." Sayaka squeezed an innocent sushi roll to death for emphasis.

"The hell? Don't go all weird on me now Blueberry. We kicked Walpurgis' ass, and the only Witches who have shown up lately are so weak even one of those happy-go-lucky shōjo anime Puella Magi could beat 'em. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Sanae Kochiya." was Homura's addition to the conversation when she sat down.

"Gesundheit, Homerun!" was Sayaka's response, which merited only a single eyeroll from the black-haired Puella Magi.

"That is the name of the new transfer student, and there is most definitely something unusual about her." Homura twisted the amythist seal around her left middle finger for emphasis.

"Arrrgh! I knew it! We're doomed!" exclaimed Sayaka. Kyōko reached up and grabbed a handful of Sayaka and hauled the blunette back down into her seat. Sayaka wasn't taking the hint, so when she went to inhale for another outburst, Kyōko did the expedient thing and stuck her tongue into the blunette's mouth! Sayaka's eyes went wide and angry, but that didn't seem to keep her from enjoying the embrace for a moment before breaking off. "Gah! You're horrible! Is this your plan, to embarrass me in front of the whole school so I'm forced to quit the Academy and become a delinquent alongside you?!"

"I apologize for dispelling your delusions, 'Blueberry'," Homura put a sneer upon the nickname, clearly annoyed that Kyōko's obnoxious habit of renaming everyone around her was spreading. "But the student body of Mitikahara Student Academy is quite inured to your antics. I highly doubt there is anything you could do while still fully dressed that would shock anyone here. For the record, that is not an invitation to try and prove me wrong. Remove anything in public and I will end you." Homura pointed with her chopsticks at the girl she considered to be the most likely culprit, and so Kyōko scarfed the dumpling off the offending sticks in retribution.

"Aw, jeez Homerun, what crawled up your skirt and bit you?"

"Huh?" interjected Madoka, which caused the other Puella Magi to break down giggling, and even Homura felt a bit of smile breaking her temper. Nova took a bite of her sandwich so no one could see her grinning and slid her hand back from where she had poked the pink-haired girl to provoke her reaction.

Now, levity aside, sent Homura when the laughter died down. This new situation will bear watching.

So is she a new Puella Magi trying to move in on the territory? Having another of their kind show up in Mitikahara was foremost among the girls' worries- while there were a few pure-hearted allies of justice like Mami and Sayaka amongst the Puella Magi as a whole, most prized efficiency over kindness, and compared to some whom Nova knew about, Kyōko at her worst still looked like a saint.

No. Whoever Sanae is, she is no Puella Magi. If anything, I would be tempted to classify her as a Familiar, but the pattern of her magic is like nothing I have ever seen. This caused a few worried looks around the table- even though she was now reformed, Homura had spent over a thousand lifetimes trying to save Madoka from her fate, and for nothing like this to have cropped up over the course of all those cycles was worrysome indeed.

So what than shall we do? Technically speaking, it wasn't like the Puella Magi had to do anything about the situation. This Sanae might simply be a plain schoolgirl with an unusual touch of the supernatural about her. And, Madoka might suddenly sprout bird-wings and fly to school tomorrow. It was theoretically possible.

I have a crazy idea . . . Madoka interjected into the link, and all eyes turned upon the pink-haired girl. We could try just asking her what's up? What! We could! Madoka added, trying to refute the dubious looks coming her way.

In the end, Madoka got her wish, and at the end of the day she approached Sanae with a cheerful smile. "Good afternoon, Kochiya-san!" The green-haired newcomer turned to see who had addressed her, and immediately Madoka had her answer about the situation. Yep, she's definitely trouble. Nobody with hair decorations like that could possibly be normal! The decorations in question were a frog hairpin on the left side of her head, and Sanae had some of her hair pulled into a sidelock wound up with a wiry silver tie shaped to look like a snake of all things, and she had also replaced the the standard red bow tie which came with the uniform with one in a light blue- Madoka was surprised the girl had gotten away with that, but the color seemed to fit her so well it looked like it belonged, and admittedly the stock red bow would've clashed horribly with Sanae's bright green hair. Or maybe we've just caused such a ruckus this last term they're starting to let things slide. The thought made the pink-haired girl shiver slightly- not even the Walpurgis was sufficient excuse to do away with discipline.

"Can I help you?" Sanae was brusque and businesslike, and Madoka immediately took a bit of a dislike to the green-haired girl. Now, now, Kyōko was just as bad, no, worse when you first met her!

"Hi, my name is Madoka Kaname, and I'm p-part of the welcoming committee for transfer students. I wanted to see if you were settling in well? Have you found any clubs you'd like to join?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I really need to get going . . ." Sanae turned away from the conversation, but Madoka noticed the girl with the bright green hair left a lingering glance upon Madoka's left hand before turning away. She recognized my seal! I'm sure of it. Okay everyone, now I'm starting to get worried. The last bit went out over the link, and was reflected by several "voices" sounding off in agreement.

Now we do this the hard way, sent Homura. Mami Tomoe, if you would accompany me please?

"So when are you gonna admit I was right all along?" Kyōko muttered as she peered over the edge of a rooftop to get her bearings. The redhead and Sayaka were shadowing Mami and Homura, who in turn were shadowing Sanae in an attempt to determine what the green-haired girl's problem was.

"Oh, I dunno, just as soon as you admit you're actually worried about Teacup and Homerun?" Kyōko whirled around, ready to refute the charge, but she couldn't say it to Sayaka's determined face.

"Yeah, okay. I'm worried sick about those two. There, are you happy?"

"No, not really." Sayaka frowned. "I'll be happy when we're all sitting in Mami's apartment tonight eating cake and talking about how stupid that greenie is."

"Yeah, me too." Kyōko took the blunette's hand in her own. "Now come on, we gotta keep up. Can't leap in to save the day if we lag too far behind!"

Outwardly, Sanae Kochiya looked like any of the hundreds of other happy-go-lucky schoolgirls streaming home over the course of the afternoon, although not many Mitikahara Student Academy girls would be found out here on the outskirts of town where her apartment was located. On the inside however, the young shrine maiden was fuming. First and foremost there was an uncomfortable realization; I can't do the Outside World anymore! Just two years ago, Sanae and her patron deity Kanako had packed up shop and retreated to Gensokyo after growing tired of the effects of a "starvation diet" of faith. When she had first arrived in the Land of Illusion, Sanae had been extremely dismissive of the "backwards" people of Gensokyo and had sought to bring them enlightenment both figurative, and literal once they had a set up a powerplant for electricity. The thought of that debacle still brought a flush of shame to Sanae's cheeks, adding to the foulness of her mood, which had been steadily crashing ever since arriving in Mitikahara. I can't stand the smell, I can't stand the noise, I can't stand the buildings, and I. Hate. Cars! Sanae shook her head. Kanako-sama, give me strength, for I just want to burn this place down and go home! And the first thing I do when I get home, I'm going kick that red-and-white bitch's ass! And Yukari's while I'm at it! God-damned lazy bitch, solve your own problems for once!

The problem in question had actually surfaced some months ago, when a powerful emanation of magic had rocked Gensokyo. While the various communities in Gensokyo had assigned the cause to one of the usual suspects ("Marisa had gotten hold of something she really shouldn't have"/"The Nineballs had gotten hold of something they really shouldn't have"/"Kaguya and Mokou were feuding again", take your pick or roll a die), Yukari had convened a meeting of the heads of the various "power groups" within Gensokyo to inform them of what had happened. It had . . . not gone well. Yuyuko Saigouji had shown up promptly, but that was not surprising, seeing as how the Princess of the Netherworld was a close friend of the Youkai of the Border, and furthermore Yuyuko could be counted on to show up anywhere and even feign attention if one simply piled up enough food in one place. Likewise Byakuren Hijiri had attended, both because the conference was being held at her Myouren Temple (chosen on account of it being the least hostile location with sufficient seating), but also Byakuren was a sucker and could be led into anything by piling up a nice collection of sob stories right next to Yuyuko's "Pay Attention Buffet". Sanae of course had been there- Moriya Shrine was going to be the center of power in Gensokyo if she and Kanako had anything to say about it, and so showing the flag at events like these was vital. And of course Reimu Hakurei had shown up in representation of Hakurei Shrine and the interests (or rather the studious disinterest) of the Human Village.

Sanae snorted. Calling that red-white's little shack a Shrine is like calling Cirno a natural disaster! From there, things had gone downhill, quickly. Remilia Scarlet had shown up in person, but the little vampire made it obvious that she was just looking for an excuse to get out of the house, and couldn't even be bothered to politely feign interest in what was going on. (At least she didn't do something really stupid, like send Flandre! Sanae still cringed at the possibility.) Eientei had sent Reisen, which indicated exactly how many fucks they did not give about the situation. And then there had been the representative from the Palace of the Earth Spirits. Sanae shook her head as she remembered the arrival of "Hell's Traffic Accident" herself.

The door burst open suddenly, nearly jumping its' tracks as Rin Kaenbyou threw open the panel. The kasha hadn't even bothered actually setting foot in the room and just stood in the doorway smoldering with anger. "We don't know what happened, we didn't do it, and if anyone tries to pin this shit on us, we'll kill you and stuff your corpse in the fucking reactor, got it? Good!" And then the door had slammed shut as quickly as it had opened and Rin stomped off, making full use of her innate feline ability to make each step sound like it came from an elephant wearing concrete kneeboots.

"Well that was, er, abrupt." Byakuren had remarked after the crashing and banging ended.

The meeting had taken just an afternoon, and the plan was in place. The pissing and moaning over who should be sent, however, had taken weeks. Sanae, of course, had been a lock from day 1; never mind her opinion of the Moriya Shrine's place in the scheme of things, she was the only one with any practical Outside World experience. From there, it had been mainly a matter of getting people to accept who could not go. Byakuren wanted to send Shou, and Sanae would have loved to have Momiji along (reliable and capable! that would have been a nice change!); however, unless the disturbance was in the middle of Akihabara, none of the more monstrous youkai were going to escape notice for more than five minutes. Marisa Kirisame would gladly have gone along, and indeed she had volunteered herself, despite her having been specifically excluded from the meeting. Sanae shook her head. I'd take Nue and Flandre before I take the Starlight Berzerker!

In the end, it had come down to just three: Sanae herself, Youmu Konpaku, and Sakuya Izayoi, and Sanae strongly suspected the latter two had been pushed forward mainly because their mistresses wanted them to bring back trinkets from the Outside World. And there was the rest of the problem- while Yukari had been able to deposit the team in the Outside World easily enough, she and Reimu had insisted on setting up a means of instant communication, "in case it was needed." The method chosen amounted to sticking all three of the party with charms attuned to the Hakurei Yin-Yang Orb. Unfortunately, from Sanae's point of view, the Big Ball of Bullshit Hax had considerable power behind it, and that meant Reimu could contact the outside team anywhere, anytime, even when Sanae tried to shield herself, and the green-haired shrine maiden was getting sick of answering the near-hourly check-in calls. And so Sanae stomped determinedly along, towards her apartment, blissfully unaware of her pursuers.

Sakuya Izayoi was no more sanguine about the mission than Sanae was, if for different reasons. The Outside World was really not so much different than Gensokyo when one pared it down; a hostile, claustrophobic environment where one was either the hunter or the hunted, and Sakuya was well versed in playing the role of hunter. Currently, she was waiting outside the apartment building for Sanae to returned, dressed in what was this world's equivalent of tiger's stripes- a close-fitting black coat and matching razor-creased pants over a crisp white dress shirt, narrow black tie, thin black leather gloves, black wingtip shoes, and a black fedora tipped low over her head, hiding her eyes from direct contact with the world around her. Prey animals and lesser predators didn't like it when they knew you could track them even without seeing them.

The reason Sakuya had joined this excursion was pure survivalism- her mistress had been forced to pack up her entire estate and move within the bounds of Gensokyo due to threats from the mundane world. If that world could now shake even the foundations of Gensokyo itself, they needed to know and be proactive, lest history repeat itself. That didn't mean Sakuya was happy with the mission, or her partners. Youmu Konpaku she respected because of the half-phantom's skill with the sword, but in the mind of the chief maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, there was a line between being obedient to your mistress and being a gormless doormat. Youmu fell on the wrong side of that line. And then there was Sanae. Brash, arrogant Sanae. The green-haired girl saw the Hakurei shrine maiden as both a rival to be destroyed and a wretch upon whom to shower contempt, and that proved in Sakuya's mind at least that the girl was as childish and naive as the schoolgirl she was pretending to be. Speaking of which . . . Sakuya drew a large golden pocketwatch out from her coat and consulted the indicated time. Sure enough, here came the green-haired girl, stomping down the street in a huff. And to Sakuya's dismay, she had pursuers.

"Kochiya-san," Sakuya called out, loud enough to carry down the block and get the shrine-maiden's attention. "Welcome home. Would you care to introduce your friends to me?"

"Huh?" was all the reply that Sanae gave, but the two figures up on the rooftop both froze at the call. "What are you talking about, friends?"

"Since your two pursuers were being so blatant," replied Sakuya. "I figured they must simply be friends you became acquainted with at school who were simply indulging in some odd travel habits. Surely you didn't simply let our targets follow you home without noticing?" There was killing cold in the maid's voice, and Sanae was struck dumb by the realization.

Mami and Homura took that as their cue to enter the field. Both girls jumped down from the three-story roof in their Puella Magi regalia. Sakuya remained impassive, although she was a bit impressed that the intruders would announce themselves so boldly. "Good evening, Kochiya-san, and who might you be?" Mami was nothing if not polite.

BGM: ziki_7 - AKAMETAL - "Thor -alpha break VI-"

"My name is Sakuya Izayoi, and this is Youmu Konpaku," Sakuya extended a hand to indicate her other companion, who stepped out from the lee of the apartment, wearing a samurai's hakama and her trademark pair of swords.

"Mami Tomoe, and this is Homura Akemi. Might I inquire as to what brings you to Mitikahara?"

"We sensed a significant magical disturbance some time ago and have come to see that whatever caused it is neutralized." Sakuya made clear with her tone of voice what and how that was to happen.

"Oh. Then you have my apologies," replied Mami with a curtsey. "But we have no wish to be 'neutralized'." As she spoke, the blonde Puella Magi swept up two of the cocked-and-locked muskets which had fallen from her skirt when she curtseyed, raised the muzzles to aim directly at Sakuya's heart and fired.

"We should get down there!" said Sayaka as she watched Mami light off the first shots of the fight. The whole street seemed to explode with sound and fury, bullets, arrows, knives and paper charms flying in all directions.

"Hang on," replied Kyōko as she bit into a candy bar. "I wanna see how they fight, and wait for the best moment to jump in."

"Hey, that's not very sporting!" Sayaka slugged Kyōko in the arm, causing the redhead to almost choke on her snack.

"Hey, what the hell Blueberry? First, don't make me choke, and second, 'unsporting' would be waiting till the intruders went to bed and then firebombing their apartment and then hosing down the survivors with machineguns as they tried to escape. This is just being clever."

"Bah," replied the blunette.

Down on the street, things were not going exceptionally well for the Puella Magi. Sakuya appeared to be glitched- she would jerk from place to place, frustrating the normally-calm Mami as she attempted to put a shot into the silver-haired maid. And Youmu was horrifically fast- Homura had given up trying to directly tag the swordswoman with a shot and was just trying to keep her away from Mami, who had discovered just how sharp the half-ghost's swords were when she blocked a slash with an empty musket, only to have it cleaved in half down the length of the barrel by Youmu's katana. And Sanae was just plain cheating as she shot beams of acid-green light which slithered through the air, making them near-impossible to dodge. Mami and Homura were already sporting a couple of burn marks each from where those beams had grazed them.

"Ya know, I think now might be a very clever time to jump in," said Kyōko as she stuffed the rest of her candy bar into her gob and pounced from the rooftop. At that moment, Sanae was busy disengaging from a clever hand-off that had Homura pinning down Sakuya for a moment while Mami tried her best to blast the shrine maiden to bits. Suddenly the blonde gunner was rolling out from beneath a vicious one-two combo from Youmu and Sanae breathed a sigh of relief- only to be cut off by Kyōko dropping almost on top of her. "Sup?" snarled the redhead before crossing her swords and doing her best to the shrine maiden's head off.

Homura's eyes narrowed as she watched Sakuya glitch out of another barrage, only to leave a spray of wicked-edged knives coming at her from all angles, only to ping off her blue-haired companion's shield as the Knight of Justice interposed herself. Took you two long enough. Sayaka, think you can get the wannabe-yakuza riled up? I know what she's doing.

At the same moment, Kyōko's presence reminded Mami of something, and she favored Youmu with a nasty smile as the swordswoman turned for another strike. Youmu dashed in with blurring speed once more, a corner of her mind noting that the blonde hadn't even drawn another of her endless supply of muskets yet. As she passed by, Youmu noticed with some distaste that Roukanken bit nothing but air once again; if nothing else the gunner was good at dodging. This time however, Mami's own attack hadn't missed- Youmu was too focused on the attack to notice the ribbon which Mami trailed behind her, and the ribbon suddenly and tenaciously adhered to the half-phantom's foot. Instantly Youmu was redirected from rushing past her target at racecar speeds . . . to rushing into the pavement at the same speed.

Even as Youmu was being turned, Sanae was descending into a world of seething rage. Kyōko's sudden attack had not managed to hit the shrine maiden, but as she could only duck backward, the swords instead sheared through her serpent hair tie, removing the sidelock and mangling the device itself. Sanae's eyes went wide as she saw the strands of hair drifting on the air.

"Y-you! That was a gift from Kanako-sama!" Sanae snatched out a handful of ofuda charms and hurled them headlong at her red-haired opponent. The shrine maiden's only consideration had been how best to hurt Kyōko, and she succeeded beyond all expectation as one of the magic papers adhered to the glowing red Soul Gem front and center on the Puella Magi's chest. With barely a whispered "oh" Kyōko went blank and limp, flopping suddenly into Sanae's arm like a big puppet with the strings cut.

Sayaka's cry at this unexpected turn of events was enough to break the standoff which had been brewing between Sakuya and Homura. The maid stepped into frozen time even as she saw her foe loose a divided shot, and here Sakuya hurled a fan of knives towards the black-haired Puella Magi, then let time seize control once more as she darted to the right to make another throw- but there was already an arrow there, slashing across the silver-haired fighter's wrist. Sakuya snatched her hand back with a wordless cry and looked to her opponent.

"Time manipulation is such a crude, amateurish trick." said Homura, giving her hair a dismissive flick before nocking another arrow.

"How do you so judge?" asked Sakuya, buying time for the wound to clot.

"Because I once was a crude amateur myself."

Kyōko! Damnit! Don't fade out on me now! Sayaka was frantic at the sudden separation, and she was flooding the link with her worried cries. And then, insubstantial as a feather being pressed against plate armor, the blunette felt an answer.

?

Yes! I'm here! Where are you!

Sayaka made the connection as soon as she got a good look at Kyōko and her opponent. A shrine maiden! If she's got real magic, then those ofuda are the real deal, not just really expensive stamps. KYŌKO! HEAR ME!

As a traditionally trained priestess of the Shinto religion, Sanae possessed the traditional revulsion for corpses, which had only been strengthened by her time in Gensokyo, where tampering with a corpse was a good way to earn a severe beating when its' owner resurrected. Because of this, she was completely flustered by the fact she was holding what seemed to be a dead body, and was completely unaware of what was happening to her teammates. Or even that the "dead" body was coming back to life.

". . . think I'll call you 'Grassy'," muttered Kyōko as she regained some use of her body. Sanae was seized by panic, which gave the Puella Magi enough time to rip the ofuda off her Soul Gem. Fully back in power, the redhead then grabbed a hold of Sanae's collar. Now all of the Puella Magi would readily agree that "hardheaded" was a good descriptor for Kyōko, but they didn't expect the redhead to demonstrate the quality literally. Nonetheless, Kyōko reared back and headbutted Sanae with all the strength she could muster. The shrine maiden's nose broke with a loud snap! and then it was Sanae's turn to go limp in another's arms. Kyōko dropped the green-haired girl like a moldy sack of rice and drew her swords once more.

Sakuya assessed the situation, and she did not like what she saw. Her side had 66% casualties- Youmu was getting her wits back after her disastrous last attack, but Mami was hovering over her, ready to obliterate the half-ghost if she went for her weapons, and Sanae was down for the count after that hit. It appeared these new enemies were playing for keeps, which meant it was time for Sakuya to start playing games.

A flick of her good wrist drew out a card, but not just any card- this device was a powerful spell bound into physical form. Sakuya chose her targets and then cracked the seal to release the power contained with in. Clouds of conjured daggers exploded outward all around Sakuya from pockets of frozen time, and the Puella Magi were forced to dive for cover lest they get shredded. At this point, Sakuya had two options: she could press the attack, and hope she could win against 4-to-1 odds, or she could gather up her teammates to retreat and determine how best to try again. Considering the damage done, the maid considered retreat to be the more prudent option, so put time aside once more, scooped up her fallen allies, and put as much distance between herself and her opponents as possible.

"Okay, what the hell was that, and how can we make it never happen again?" Kyōko picked herself up off the ground slowly and painfully, wincing as the many cuts in her skin informed her that she had not in fact dodged everything.

"It appeared to be something like an Ultimate spell bound into an activation token." Homura shook her head. "It also appeared to hurt like a bitch." The black-haired girl flicked out her hair with a casual hand- or tried too. After the barrage of knives, Homura's silky black hair ended just a few inches below her shoulders. An unhealthy tic developed in one eye as Homura held up her Soul Gem and drew upon the power within. In a moment her lacquer-black tresses hung down to their customary length, and Homura gave her hair an irritated flick before putting her Soul Gem away.

Kyōko pondered her own Soul Gem. "Huh. I wonder if-"

"No."

"But I didn't even tell you what I was thinking!"

"But I already know it's going to be a bad idea, so the answer is no." Homura glared at her fellow Puella Magi.

"But what if it was a good idea?"

"Is it a good idea?"

"Well I was thinking, since you can regrow parts using the Soul Gem, can you use it to improve what you already have? Y'know, get a little help . . ." the redhead mimed having a profile more like Mami's than her own.

"No."

"Well you're no fun, Homerun."

"Neither was that battle just now."

"You said it!" Sayaka stood up from where she had contorted herself to cover both her and Mami with as much of her Aegis as possible.

"Shall we return home? I believe there is cake to be had . . . and hot baths." Mami chipped in once she regained her feet.

"Now that right there? Smartest idea I've heard all day!"