Director Watanabe,
January Rain agreed to give us limited access to her status block in exchange for, and I quote, “star placement in your next Star Princess expansion.” I think we accept the deal. Having access to what Magical Girls actually use should give our games that much more realism and make their reach 13% more pervasive, according to our analysts. The starring role is currently occupied by Tang-Erin, but breaking our contract with her will be cheaper than the expected profits from January’s information.
Alan Glover
Head of MG Outreach
Haven Games, Inc.
* Internal eMail, Haven Games Inc., 2041
----------------------------------------
Chapter Eight
“Get out of here!” Dad shouted as the wall came down. The machine’s bright eye loomed over us, the size of the T.V. Its gigantic arms lifted back up, up, up until they drew even with our 14th floor apartment, or what was left of it. My little sister screamed. I froze. Mom ran at the machine, shouting something and brandishing a metal baseball bat. The machine’s eye blinked yellow for a second as the bat hit. Then it flashed red again. A gigantic arm crashed down on Mom and she flew out into the open space. She fell down toward the street and I heard Dad screaming. I looked down and saw-
I woke up sweating, biting my tongue, and breathing hard all at the same time. My mind blanked completely. I tried to roll over, but something held my wrist.
“Alice, your stress levels are off the charts. You were having a nightmare. You can push the button next to your bed for more sedatives if you want. It’s been long enough.”
I pushed the blanket off. The room was dark, but it was impossible to tell the time - none of the blinking lights were alarm clocks. I was dressed in loose blue pajamas with kittens on them. Humiliating, but not the worst. The thing holding my wrist was an IV. Sitting up, I started talking to James. “No, it’s fine. I’m awake now. We have a lot to get done, and…” I flushed red. If I was in pajamas, and James could see through my augs…My heart thumped in my chest as I stared at my pajamas in horror. "You, uh...um..."
“I promise as your Operator that I shut down audio and visual as soon as it was clear Officer Chen was going to undress you, and only rebooted them when your vitals spiked a minute ago. Protocols state that I can keep A/V running in an emergency to make sure you stay safe, but boundaries are important in any relationship, work or otherwise. Uh, according to the handbook.”
I sighed loudly and looked around the room. Overclock shook, just a little, under her blanket. “Overclock, are you okay?”
“Leave me alone! I’m fine! I’m just sleeping.” Her body curled up under the blanket as she pulled the edge over her head.
James waited a moment, then spoke softly in my ear. “Overclock got some bad news about the Emergence. It’d be best if we both gave her some space while she processes. In the meantime, you earned a level for rescuing Overclock. We also need to create an alias and a basic outfit. First, though, how are you feeling? You’ve been through a lot, it’s only natural to feel something.
“I…don’t know.” How much could I trust James with? “I’m going to be okay. I just…we lost Mom just after the Battle of Vancouver. I always imagined Magical Girls as…I don’t know, did you ever watch any of the old Marvel films from before First Emergence?”
“Yes, but only Captain America. The special effects were…lacking for my taste, and the synopsis for Age of Ultron was a bit too familiar for my tastes.”
“I imagined Magical Girls as those kinds of heroes. If there’d been one around when Mom died, I’d still have her. Dad wouldn’t have…” I trailed off. That was too much information. “Sora and I used to play ‘pretend Magical Girl’. We’d save everyone. Everyone. But all I did was save Overclock, and I didn’t even do a good job of that.” I teared up, sniffled, and kept going. “I can’t go out there again. I used up all my guts getting down the stairs. But I can’t stay here either. What do I do?”
“I’m not a trained therapist, Alice. What happened to your mother was awful. It’s part of your profile, so I saw the security footage. So were some of the games you played with Sora. What I’m going to tell you is against protocol. Lie to yourself for a day. Tomorrow, tell yourself you’re going to be the toughest Red in Haven, because you know what it’s like to lose to the Macks, and you don’t want that for anyone else.”
I wiped my tears. James was right, I couldn’t just sit back and let things happen. I had to do my part for Mom. “Okay.” I took a deep breath. Then I took another. “Okay, thank you, James. I just…I need to help, right? What do I do first?”
“Shall we take a look at your stat block?”
“Sure.” I tried the subvocalizing thing. “Stat block.” It tickled.
Basics
Name: Pendleton, Alice (ALIAS UNCHOSEN)
Level: 1
Class: _____
Color: White
Mana: 50/50
HP: 28/35
Statistics
Str: 3
Agi: 3
Vit: 5
Will: 10
Soul: 9
Points: 0
Sigils: _
Rank: _
Skills
Perk: Fogform
Mana Surge: Feu-Follet
Operator: James (Firefox)
“There’s a lot to your statistics and skills sections, even though it doesn’t seem like it, so let me explain. The first thing to be aware of is that the mana system isn’t, in fact, magic.”
“It’s not?” All my life, I’d grown up with Magical Girls. Cartoons. Video games. Movies. I’d lived and breathed Magical Girls, listened to their pop music even if I knew it wasn’t very good, and even eaten Nirvan-Os for breakfast for six months solid last year.
“No, not as you understand magic. It’s a lot easier to just think of what it does as magic, though, so the Arcane System is built to simulate it. Right now it's running in field mode to avoid overloading you, but that'll change when we get you to SHOCKS. The organs Sanctuary installed in you are a mana-driven remote creation engine that starts by creating enough nanites to work properly and a computer that needs time to sync with your mind. Now that they’re both running, we can access your Perk and Mana Surge.
“In video game terms, Perks are passive effects. You generally don’t have to think about activating them - they just happen when certain conditions are met. Grab one of those pens and hold out your hand. Good, now drop it, point down, onto your hand.”
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As the pen flew toward my hand, my whole arm grew misty. The pen traveled through it and clattered on the ground. “Whoa. That’s weird,” I murmured as my arm reformed slowly from the scattered fog.
“Indeed it is. Do it again.”
I picked up the pen, held out my hand, and dropped it. “Ow!”
James laughed. “I knew you’d do that. Everyone with a good defensive Perk does at least once. Okay, most Perks have a sort of cooldown before they can be used again. We could keep experimenting with the pen to figure out how long it lasts, if you’d like.”
I nodded. James and I spent the next few minutes picking up the pen, dropping it, and laughing as the pen drew lines across my hand. Finally, it fell through again.
> “The fog comes
>
> on little cat feet.
>
> It sits looking
>
> over harbor and city
>
> on silent haunches
>
> and then moves on”
“That’s…a nice little poem.” James hesitated. “I missed most language arts classes past 9th grade when I got enrolled in SHOCKS. I never got into poetry.”
“Thanks. It’s by Carl Sandburg. I’ll tell you more about it later, if you want, but we need to focus.” I made a horse sound as I blew air out of my lips. “What’s next?”
“Okay, Mana Surges, got it. Mana Surges are a Magical Girl’s main power. Not their only one, though. Classes offer spells, and you can also purchase magic and special weapons with sigils. Just remember that it’s nanites and Sanctuary technology that’s creating the effect, not actual magic. Anyways, Mana Surges! Yours is in French, believe it or not. I believe Feu-Follet translates to Will-o’-the-Wisp. You should not experiment with Mana Surges here, by the way. Try it out on some Macks later and see what happens. You’ll just kind of know how to activate it - usually, there’s a cheesy shout or a pose with it.”
“Okay, the pop-up I got last night before I…passed out…” I wasn’t willing to wake up Overclock and ask why I’d been sedated, but I wasn’t going to let it go either. “It said I had mission rewards?”
“Indeed!” James typed away for a moment and a new block replaced the status block in my vision.
Mission Menu
Mission
Difficulty
Status
Rewards
Priority: Save Overclock
1 (Tough Girl)
Complete?
3 exp., 1 point in Will
Priority: Alias Creation
1 (Easy-Cheese)
Unaccepted
N/A
“Uh, James. What’s with the difficulty ratings?”
“Nothing! Ignore that first one!” James quickly said while typing rapidly. ‘Tough Girl’ changed to ‘Challening’, then to ‘Challengig’, before finally settling on ‘Challenging’. “I haven’t had a chance to switch over all the details to your preferences, but since I’m assigned as your Operator now, I’ll make it a priority. Look at the first mission and subvocalize ‘Complete’.
“Complete!” I said out loud, then put a hand over my mouth, eyes wide, as Overclock rolled over and glared at me. I tried again, this time focusing on subvocalizing even though it tickled my throat. “Complete.”
Level Up! Congratulations!
You have reached Level Two! Consult your operator for help assigning points to your statistics.
James cheered in my ear, and I grinned as he chattered away excitedly. “A Girl’s first level-up is cause for celebration. The other boys will throw a little party for you, and for me of course, since I’m your Operator.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Let’s talk stats and assign points.”
“Okay. I’ve played a few games. Is it like that?”
“Yes, but with real-world parallels. I’ll talk you through the stats and then we’ll look at your status block. First is Strength. It’s self-explanatory - how much you can lift and how hard you hit things. Think of a point as between 10 and 30 pounds to your max, depending on what muscles you’re engaging.
“Agility controls speed, reflexes, and precision. You’ve done the ruler-catch experiment to measure reflexes, correct?”
“Yeah. I usually get 20 to 25 centimeters.”
“Slow and clumsy, Maiden Voyage, slow and clumsy,” James teased. “5 points would be catching at the 15 or running 100 meters in 15 or 16 seconds, while 10 points would catch at the 10 and run it in 12 or 13. Past that point, mana kicks in to get speeds faster than old Olympic runners used to go.”
“Vitality is how hard you can push your body and how much of a beating it can take. There’s also a place on the status block for hit points? Each point in Vitality is worth 5 HP, and everyone starts off with 10 no matter what their scores.”
"Will and Soul are related to mental strength and creativity. You’re a poetry nerd -”
“Hey now!”
“- Which is why your Soul is so high, and you’re one smart cookie -”
“Don’t call me that!”
“- Okay. You’re a smart person and you stick to projects well. So you got a lot of Will. The higher the will, the more mana you have, 5 points per Will. The more Soul you have, the faster your mana rebuilds after you spend it.”
“Okay, I think I’ve got it. Status.”
Basics
Name: Pendleton, Alice (ALIAS UNCHOSEN)
Level: 2
Class: _____
Color: White
Mana: 51/55
HP: 28/35
Statistics
Str: 3
Agi: 3
Vit: 5
Will: 11
Soul: 9
Points: 3
Sigils: _
Rank: _
Skills
Perk: Fogform
Mana Surge: Feu-Follet
Operator: James (Firefox)
“Your statistics are actually fairly good if you’re planning on becoming a Pink, Yellow, Blue, or a more spell-based Red. You have a lot of mana for a Level 2, impressive regeneration, and enough Vitality to keep you alive if you’re not in melee with any Class Two or higher Macks. You’ll need to earn some Sigils, though, so you can expand your spell list.”
“Alright.” I stared at my status block. “Let’s put one more point in Vitality, one in Will, and the last one in…” I thought about the spear shaft jarring my wrist as it dropped at me. “Agility.”
Basics
Name: Pendleton, Alice (ALIAS UNCHOSEN)
Level: 2
Class: _____
Color: White
Mana: 51/60
HP: 31/40
Statistics
Str: 3
Agi: 4
Vit: 6
Will: 12
Soul: 9
Points: 0
Sigils: _
Rank: _
Skills
Perk: Fogform
Mana Surge: Feu-Follet
Operator: James (Firefox)
“Now, there’s one more thing to do before you’re ready to do actual missions. Maiden Voyage is a name with a lot of baggage, and if you use it…” James paused. “Well, most Magical Girls aren’t remembered for their time as Maiden Voyage unless it’s for a bad reason. You’ll need an Alias of your own, and a uniform. For this next part, though, you’ll need to be asleep, and I won’t be with you. You'll be entering a simulation the Sanctuary AI runs.”
I shuddered and looked at my arm. The I.V. sat there, stuck into my vein and taped down. “Maybe if I know it’s coming, it’ll be better.” I tapped the button once and settled back down under my blanket as the cool feeling spread across my body.