It was a normal day in the rural town of Town, United States with nothing but the chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves being active in this quiet little town. At least, that was the case until the sounds of shoes rhythmically hitting the pavement started to echo through the empty streets of Town, Texas.
“Where is it! Where is it?!” The haggard voice of a young girl echoed through the streets as she ran through the empty streets of Town, with her short blonde hair bobbing up and down as she rushed through street after street, curiously enough, this girl had a peculiar outfit, a frilly sky blue dress that appeared to be emitting a slight glow, white-heeled thigh high boots that complemented the soft blue dress. And to finish it all off, she had a bracelet and a crown of the same design, nestling in her left arm and forehead respectively.
The young woman turned a corner, fully intending to keep running through the serene town in continuation of her search. But once she did turn the corner, the sight in front of her made her slide to a stop.
“There you are!” She pointed and exclaimed at her target. Said target moved around to face the vibrantly dressed girl.
It said nothing, only staring at the girl in front of it with a face as solid as stone, and how could it? After all, it was a giant teddy bear. It did not need to convey its feelings and thoughts to the girl screaming at it.
But, while it could not say anything, the giant huggable toy did have something that could help in their communications with this silly cosplaying girl.
Steel claws slammed down at the young woman, fully intending on finishing her right there on the spot, but thanks to the stuffed bear’s size, he was slow enough for her to avoid the attack and land somewhere else. “Woah! That teddy has some mean claws!” The frilly-dressed heroine didn’t hesitate to leap back into the fight, with the plush animal having descended one of its claws into the concrete, she seized the moment and charged; her bracelet glowing brightly in a rainbow hue as she jumped on its arm.
“Bracelet! Rapier form, go!” She stretched her right arm, and with a resounding hum, the bracelet flew from her arm and began to turn into various pieces of fluid, as the small bubbles of rainbow fluid all separated, they slammed together just as fast, but instead of a bracelet, it now bore the outline of an elegant rapier with a flower-based pommel.
With the rapier fully formed, the young girl grasped the newly forged weapon from its place and began her attack, the young woman quickly dashed up the big teddies arm, thrusting the rapier into its soft, fabric-like skin over and over again. The monster recoiled from the sudden attacks, but that proved to be a mistake as the girl in the frilly dress leaped from the flailing arm and landed on its head.
Again, she ripped into the poor beast with a thousand pokes and prods into its soft skin, white cotton leaking out as her barrage picked up speed. “Come now! If you’re a good teddie and give me your crystal heart, this can all end peacefully!” She exclaimed.
The plush bear used its undamaged arm to counter-attack, but it hit nothing but air.
The girl herself landed behind the bear with a fumble in her steps. “Please, if you can just cooperate then we don’t have to-” Try as she might, the young girl could not parlay with the angry seven foot tall monster, as she was forced to dodge another one of its aggravated swings.
With no other choice, the girl stayed her rapier and let the monster take another swing at her. “By the power within this bracelet, and the hard work of magical girls everywhere, your heart now belongs to me!” In a split second, the self-proclaimed magical girl dashed at the creature and thrust with all her might, once their attacks clashed, they both stood still, their backs turned against each other.
The plush menace silently writhed in pain one last time before collapsing onto its knees and disappearing in a puff of cotton. In its place was a man- knocked out on the floor - but otherwise looking alive and breathing.
The magical girl looked no worse for wear physically, but even so she decided to lean her back near a light pole. Staring at the heart-shaped crystal she forcefully took from the monster at the end of the fight. She had to admit, had the Japanese magical girl forces HQ not requested for the heart-shaped crystals to be collected, she would have made one into a necklace. Ah, but then again, how would she explain how she got the seemingly expensive necklace to her mom?
“And you looked super pretty too…” She pouted as she casually threw the crystal heart to the sky. “Alright bracelet, you know what to do!” The bracelet hummed as it slipped from the girl’s wrist once more, and with a faster transformation, it turned itself into an ornate sack bag, with a myriad of diamond shaped crystals making various flower patterns. The crystal heart was sucked into the bag, and after a few seconds, a ball of confetti popped right out of it.
“Congratulations Haru. A few more of these hearts and you’ll be one step closer to becoming an Arch Magical Girl.” The bracelet robotically conveyed its message to the magical girl.
Haru’s ears perked up, no longer having her back leaning against the light pole; she stood straight up as she spoke with the bracelet. “Come again?” An Arch Magical Girl wasn’t a term to be thrown around lightly in the Magical Girl community, so hearing that her, a relatively fresh Magical Girl that’s entered the scene is getting closer to that coveted title, well, you have to forgive her if she gets a bit giddy at the prospect!
“You heard me, Miss Haru. The council have been watching us closely, and thanks to your dutiful work as a Magical Girl they have considered applying you to the Arch Magical Girl training program.” The Bracelet spoke again, its female monotone voice never wavering once during the explanation. “So again, congratulations are in order.” Another pop of confetti slapped the young Magical Girl from her inner thoughts.
“Bracelet! Change form: Magical wand!” Without missing a beat, haru grabbed the bracelet turned magical girl wand and with a big jump, took to the air to survey the town of Town with a bird’s eye view.
“Oh dear, it seems the excitement has gotten to your head, Haru.” It was to be expected. And it’s why the bracelet wanted to keep its mouth shut on the matter until after the mission was completed, but alas, the council is the one with the final say in the matter.
“Wha- No it hasn’t! I mean all I have to do is keep doing what I’ve been doing, right? So all we need to do is defeat that dastardly Witch Eveline and we’ll be a step closer to being a part of the Arch Magical Girls!” Without knowing it, the girl was doing loopty-loops in the air, her excitement clearly shown in her actions.
The bracelet, taking notice of this, decided to speak up once more. “Well, Miss Arch Magical Girl Haru, if you keep doing stunts in the air you’ll pass by the dastardly Witch in no time.”
True to her words, back down in the town the mad cackling of a girl echoed through the streets below as she terrorized all in her way. This included all the townsfolk of Town, which were busy running and screaming for their lives from the mad Witch. Those unlucky to be caught in her jagged, purple beams of chaos were forcefully turned into monstrous creatures, giant monster teddy bears, wooden snake hydras, and even lions made of gummy bears, it was a cacophony of madness down below as the poor citizens were now being terrorized by a child’s dream come true.
And to think Haru almost missed the chaos below, the bracelet simply hummed in disappointment. “Really, Miss Haru? I know you get excitable. But is this truly the behavior of an Arch Magical Witch?”
“Oh shut it!” She lashed out to her inanimate companion. “Why didn’t you stay silent anyway?!”
“That’s hurtful, Haru.” The bracelet tried to feign hurt in its monotone speech, but the acting could leave something to be desired. “You know, we older magical girl weapons have to receive the council’s messages through magic fax. It’s a scary process, you know.” The bracelet continued.
To this, Haru simply crossed her eyes, and pouted. “Yeah, I get it. But sometimes you really need to be mindful of a maiden’s feelings too!”
“Point taken, Miss Haru.” The bracelet relented. “But as much as I’d love to learn about a maiden’s feelings, we still have a mission to complete.” The bracelet pointed out, with the sound of ensuing chaos down below emphasizing her point.
“Oh yeah… hehe~ whoops!” Haru lightly bonked her head, the tip of her tongue slipping out of her mouth. Not wasting any time, the magical girl let herself go into a free fall, her skirt flapping violently as she rocketed down to the earth below. Unfortunately, with terminal velocity working against her, it would take a few minutes to reach the ground, so it gave Haru some time to think as she descended like a sparkly rocket to the surface of Town.
How would she introduce herself? Maybe she should yell out her Magical Girl name? “Magical Girl Scout: Crystal Bluecrown!” That was pretty good already! But simply exclaiming her name would most likely not be enough, after all she’s still a relatively new recruit in the Magical Girl Global Brigade, and the wicked Witch down below probably wouldn’t recognize her.
Wait, maybe that lack of notoriety could help! Yes! A mysterious newcomer lands on the scene, making a splash where no Japanese magical girl has ever been before! Not only would it be a stylish intro, but if things go well… Such flawless execution of magical girl etiquette would surely bring her closer to that famed title of Arch Magical Girl, which only the best of the best have ever received.
But, as Haru cobbled up how the small intro would go inside her head, she neglected to pay attention to her surroundings. “Miss Haru!” Lucily, Bracelet was there to slap her back to reality. “Please, stop yourself! If you hit the ground at this speed you’ll destroy the entire town!”
With the realization that her ornate companion let out a burst of panicked emotion, just to warn her. Haru quickly did as the screaming bracelet instructed. “Whoops.” She muttered as she raised her hand, since the wand gave her the power of flight, simply lifting it upwards would be enough to start halting her rapid descent. But, while it did slow her down to an extent, it seemed that the crash would still make a large impact on the floor. With more magical input on her end, she could slow herself down even further to daintily land on the asphalt street below…
But where would the fun in that be?
“Wahaha! You may not know me!” Haru bolstered as her form finally landed. “But I am the Magical Girl Scout: Crystal Bluecrown! And I have come to reap your evil heart for the sake of all magical girls!” Once the large clouds of- very convenient - baby blue dust and debris cleared from the area Bluecrown landed, it revealed her, striking a pose while staring at the blonde Witch.
Silence overtook the area, the two powerful entities staring at each other with their thoughts racing a thousand miles a minute.
But the silence had to end eventually, and the evil Blonde Witch decided she would be the first to break it in half. “Sorry, I didn’t bring any money for cookies.” She bluntly replied to Bluecrown’s passionate introduction.
“I’m not that type of scout!” Bluecrown exclaimed as she waved her wand angrily toward the Witch. “Besides, why would an evil Witch like you pay for cookies? Wouldn’t you just steal them?”
“Sure would, but I like to give false hope, it makes even the pettiest action even more evil!” Purple flames erupted around the Witch as she cackled maniacally into the sky, her floppy Witch hat jiggling as she arched her head further back, to accentuate her evil laugh.
“That’s so rude! How can you be so evil?!” Bluecrown stomped her foot in anger, sure, the act of stealing a box of cookies was pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but to actively take pleasure in the grief it would cause to those poor girl scouts was enough to make her blood boil.
“Pfft, it’s easy.” Purple beams popped and flickered into existence as she raised her arms toward the magical girl. “Because I’m a Witch! It’s in my blood!” With her arms thrown forward, the self-proclaimed Witch fired off her chaotic purple beam toward Bluecrown.
The Magical Girl quickly deflected the first shot, but was forced to roll to her left as another beam followed after. With a quick flourish, Bluecrown pointed her wand toward the Blonde Witch and let out a few beams of her own to give her some breathing space, and it seemed to work to an extent. The Witch’s jagged beams of chaos would try to weasel their way around her own, straight and orderly beams. But with her prodigious manipulation of her magical wand beam, it was easy to simply slap the offending beam away from her and continue to lay on the pressure.
But they knew the stalemate wouldn’t last forever “Woah, her magic really packs a punch! H-Hey, Brace! You got any tips for this one?!” Bluecrown’s baby-blue high heeled boots dug themselves as best they could onto the hard concrete, but with each reflection of the jagged beam, the more she risked getting blown back, by the Witch’s opposing beam.
Brace stayed silent for a few minutes as the raging beam battle continued, but then, the magical bracelet pulled something unexpected out of the proverbial hat. “I apologize for the rough handling, Miss Haru!” The wand apologized as it reverted from its magical wand incarnation and reverted back to its original form as a bracelet, with unparalleled Brace went up Bluecrown’s arm and yanked her away from the, now, unopposed Witch beam.
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With a fumble in her steps, Bluecrown came out of the attack unscathed, but it didn’t mean she was out of the woods yet; the beam seemingly not being happy that it missed its victim, took a wide U-turn to correct its course back to the recovering magical girl.
“Hey, what the heck was that for?!” Rightfully, Haru was demanding answers to the bracelet's sudden decision.
To its credit, the bracelet did not falter at the girl’s heated questioning. “Again, I apologize Miss ha- Bluecrown, but any further ranged confrontation like that and we would have come out of that battle the defeated.'' Haru had great manipulation of her magical girl powers, that the bracelet couldn’t deny, dare she say it. If she had more experience the girl could possibly be a walking magical reservoir with the efficiency of a factory to boot.
But her magical experience wasn’t enough for this fight.
“Hey, what do you mean we’d come out the losers? You’re not making much sense here.” Bluecrown was on the move again, the Witch’s wave was getting too close for comfort, and with Brace’s sudden disengagement of the fight, there was no offensive or defensive action she could take for the time being.
“It’s as simple as it sounds Bluecrown, in the brief clash of power you two had. I managed to - for lack of a more elegant term - size each other up.” The wand seemed to wretch at its own words at the end. “Do not be fooled, despite the Witch’s comical exterior, her dark magic has enough potential to rival that of your peers easily. We’re simply lucky that her usage of magic is unrefined, easily exploitable…”
Using mailboxes, weaving through cars, and elegantly flipping on various other objects was enough to keep the dark beam at bay, all while having to listen to her partner’s explanation. “So if I can’t take her head on, what can I do?” Just as she asked this, the dark beam whizzed by her right arm and hit a trash can, a quick transformation later, and the trash can was now a big gummy version of itself, with candy corn teeth adorning the lid and below it.
“Holy-!” Not wasting any time, the girl yanked out the bracelet from her arm and forced its transformation this time. “Sorry, Mister Trash can, but Magical girls aren’t on the menu today!” Multiple blasts from her wand were enough to put the creature down.
Now with the beast out of the count, Brace spoke once more. “It’s quite simple, Miss Bluecrown, we bring the pressure to the Witch in a more intimate sort of manner.” This was enough to make Bluecrown scratch her head in confusion, what did she mean by this?
“Hey! Hey! HEY!” The Blonde Witch was angry to say the least, seriously! They were having such a cool beam fight, and then that stupid magical bracelet decides to break it off?! “ Get back here and fight me already! Or I’m going to kick your stupid bracelet into a boiling pot and feed it to my piggies back home!” She exclaimed as she spewed more beams from her place atop her magical broom.
“Jeez, she’s really mad now…” Bluecrown muttered as she avoided another beam and landed on the roof of a white van. But Brace’s plan sounded simple enough, now it was time to stop with the song and dance. “Alright already! You want a fight, then I’ll give you what you want, Witch!” Jumping up to her level, Bluecrown stared right into the Witch’s mischievous eyes.
They were full of excitement, while hers were scrunched up. “Alright Bracelet, you know what to do!” Blucrown exclaimed as she lobbed the wand forwards, letting it dissolve into a rainbow blob. But unlike the previous two transformations that had happened during the fight, this one was different. The blob did not form a weapon, instead, all the little bubbles made their way toward the magical girl’s back, and fingers.
And like that, Bluecrown had undertaken a new form, with the solidification of her wings, and ten rings on her fingers- “Magical transformation: Silk Butterfly!” Those were the words she exclaimed, and just as she finished saying them, Bluecrown went on the attack. Blitzing the Witch with her newfound tremendous speed.
“Ha! If you think a small speed boost is going to help you, you’re dead- Gwah!” The poor Witch didn’t have time to conjure another attack as the speeding comet that was Bluerown slammed into her gut, sending her flying across the town of Town.
But not content on stopping there, Bluecrown swiftly followed after the flailing Witch and once she got close enough, she extended both of her hands, the rings on her fingers erupting with vibrant lights. “Strings, go!” Very thin wires were released from the rings and quickly made their way to the Blonde Witch, and with some tricky finger movements, the strings encircled, overlapped, and finally tightened around the Witch’s form.
“Sorry, but a mischievous Witch like you needs to learn her place!” With the Blonde Witch’s form fully cocooned by the magical strings, Bluecrown was free to lay into the Witch. So, with a full swing of her arms, the magical girl slammed the Blonde Witch to the ground, then with another full swing of her arms the Witch was sent crashing into a building, and with extra effort on Bluecrown’s part, the Witch slammed back onto the asphalt road, a small crater forming in the wake of the impact.
As the dust settled, Bluecrown decided to reign her ensnared enemy back and finish the fight for good. But just as she motioned the tug back… There was resistance.
“Mischievous? Mischievous?! Tsk, tsk, tsk. You magical girls really need to get your eyes checked!” The Witch calmly walked from the dust cloud, her wizard robe in tatters, and holes littering throughout her hat, but otherwise looking unharmed. “I’m no ordinary Witch ya know! I’m the extraordinary, dark magical prodigy, Evelyne Blanch!”
With her magic Evelyne cast a myriad of purple explosions behind her, the violent winds accentuating the flapping of her large Witch hat, and general attire, plaster in the best evil grin the Blonde could conjure and it was safe to say that she’d made her point.
“I’ve never heard of you.”
The blunt response to such a bombastic introduction almost made Evelyn stumble over herself.
“Wh-What do you mean by that? Haven’t my dastardly deeds spread throughout Japan by now?! I mean, surely someone as powerful as me would be monitored by your silly organization?” She tried to play it off as passing curiosity, but Bluecrown knew better.
A simple shrug is how she continued. “I’m still new to the job, so I can’t say for sure.” But she did know someone who could shed some light on this, admittedly anxious-looking Witch. “Hey Brace, you got anything on her?”
The bracelet turned rings gave a slight hum to her question. “A good inquiry Miss Bluecrown. I do have a profile on the enemy question-” A not so distant “really!” confirmed that the Witch was invested enough in the topic not to attack.
“Anyway, the Witch in front of you is, by her own admission, Evelyne Blanch, a rather infamous figure in the magical girl community.”
This was enough to make Evelyn puff her chest in pride. “See, I told you I was right. I bet you feel silly now, Bwahahaha!”
The bracelet, seemingly unfazed by the girl's sudden boastfulness, continued talking as the Witch continued with her idiosyncratic laugh. “If she would have let me finish, she would also know that she’s widely known as the ‘Prankster Witch’ due to her attacks on Japanese grounds being elaborate pranks, most of the time.”
The silence that followed was palpable. The gusto Evelyn openly touted was no longer there, and her expression was now hidden from view with the help of her hat. “I’m going to hit you now.”
Bluecrown, stunned herself, could only reply in kind. “Um, sure. Give it your all?”
And give it her all Evelyn did, as she used the wires wrapped around her body to violently yank the magical girl toward her. Not content waiting for Bluecrown’s rocketing body to reach her, Evelyn swiftly called upon her broom and rode it to meet the speeding magical girl.
“I’m a prankster, am I? Well. Would a prankster do this?!” Just as both girls were about to meet each other in the collision, Evelyn kickflipped her Broom and grabbed it, with a magic-enhanced swing the broom’s full might bore down on Bluecrown as she hit the asphalt road hard enough to leave a sizable hole on first impact.
It wasn’t enough to keep Bluecrown down, however, as she stood up and cracked her neck, and a few other joints here and there to limber up again. “Jeez, that was a bit harsh, wasn’t it? It’s not like I was the one that told you about your, er, status.” carefully, Bluecrown patted the rubble stuck to her magical girl outfit before continuing.
“But I gave you your free shot to let it out of your system, now it’s my turn to go with the hard-hitting attacks.” Without letting Evelyn speak, Bluecrown decided it was time to release the Witch from her thinly veiled cocoon, so with a casual clenching of her fists, the strings retracted.
The spinning Witch reminded Bluecrown of a very fast spinning top; They spun erratically, and with the help of outside obstacles, well…
“Sparkling kick! HA!” Thanks to her flexibility, Bluecorwn performed a perfect roundhouse kick, with a trail of various star-like lights producing a trail as boot met spinning Witch.
This time, the victim of this attack was a car parked right in front of the Witch’s direction, it crumpled like a soda can being forcefully pressed, but it held enough for the wicked prankster Evelyn Blanch to remain embedded in its doors.
“Excellent form, Miss Bluecrown. I expected no less from your acrobatic self.” Bracelet, in her own monotone way, praised Bluecrown’s kick. But the girl paid it no mind, instead focusing on the Witch’s battered form.
“Owie…” The Witch moaned, her tattered Witch’s hat falling to the floor, revealing a cowlick that strangely drooped over her head as if lamenting the girl's pain.
But, despite the condition she was in, Evelyne had enough strength to pull herself out of the wreck, and with some shaky steps, she stood to fight once more. “Okay, The Great Witch will concede that that one attack left a scratch, just a smidge!” Putting her hat back on, it seemed the Witch’s bravado came back in full. “But, if this is the best you have Bluecrown, then you’ve already lost!”
Bluecrown tensed once more, expecting the Witch to cast some sort of spell. But instead, the magical girl could feel something wrap itself around her legs.
“Wuh?” Looking back, she was met with a small army of various monsters at her heels, all of them with mischief laden in their eyes. “Oh, drat.”
The monster that took a hold of her ankle, an abnormally large vacuum whirred in joy as it quickly jerked the helpless magical girl into the air with its hose, and with a bit of effort on its part, the magical girl was forcefully dragged through some buildings. Eventually stopping right in front of a restaurant.
“Ayaya, that wasn’t very nice at all.” Haru, with scratches all over her skin, and various rips in her clothes did not hesitate to get back up and begin making her way back to the hole the vacuum monster created, granted, the limping from her right leg was not doing her any favors.
Brace, noticing this, took matters into its own hands once again. With minimal effort, the bracelet forcefully tugged the injured magical girl’s arm and forced her backward.
“Brace! The Witch is outside! Not in this small -really great- smelling restaurant.” Haru put her foot down, quite literally in this case as her heels dug themselves into the diamond-shaped tile-patterned floor of the restaurant.
“I am aware.” The magical companion simply replied.
“Then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” This time she tried running to the hole in the wall, but was fairly surprised when her body lurched backward. Looking behind her, the young girl noticed the arm Brace was on was held back by the magical item simply refusing to move.
“We need another form of action,” Brace stated matter-of-factly. “As it stands, you- no, I failed to survey the situation fully before letting you jump into the fray. Had we the element of surprise, fighting an entire army of evil creatures would have been feasible. But, we do not live in a world where we have that luxury.”
“I guess you have a point.” The Magical Girl muttered. Brace took the opportunity to slip out of her position and float in front of her compatriot. Now that she was free, Haru decided that it was best to take a seat at one of the nearby tables of the, admittedly, pretty empty restaurant.
“Hey Brace, are there any people that could be hiding nearby?” She asked the magical item as she, with no real reason to, spun the chair by one of its hind legs, and nonchalantly sat down when the chair was briefly facing her direction mid-spin.
The magical bracelet wordlessly spun in place, beeping every odd second as it did. “Signs indicate there is a singular life form in this restaurant.”
Now, this piqued the tattered magical girl’s attention. “Really?! Where are they!” From her hunched-over position in the chair to standing up with the chair under her, it was safe to say Bluecrown had regained her vigor just as fast as she lost it.
“Inside the restaurant’s kitchen. Despite the dire situation happening right on this store’s doorstep, the individual seems angered, stressed, and ready to commit murder. How bizarre… Miss Haru? ” Even more bizarre was the lack of response from her young companion, when it looked at the chair, the bracelet saw the chair spinning, and shortly after, the sound of two doors being slammed open was heard behind it.
“Oh dear.” Was all the bracelet would say as it wasted no time following Bluecrown.
As for the aforementioned girl, she giddily walked through the kitchen in search of the potential pedestrian hiding in the restaurant. She couldn’t quite figure out why her maiden heart was pumping so much, maybe it was the fact that this would be her first contact with someone from the west? Heck, maybe this foreigner could turn out to be quite the handsome figure, but that’s just a wild guess on her part.
But, one could always hope.
“Hello? Is anyone here?” Bluecrown called out to the seemingly empty kitchen, but there seemed to be no response. “Um, my name is Bluecrown! I belong to the Magical Girl Scouts, if you can hear me, please be assured that I’m here to save you!” It wasn't a proper response, but the muffled noises of someone talking faintly managed to reach her ears.
However, it seemed like Bluecrown didn’t need to search for the source of the noise.
With a wide swing, the Kitchen’s exit door made way for a woman dressed in a rolled up, long-sleeved button-up shirt, with her suit hanging from her shoulders, the pencil skirt, pantyhose, and heel combo was an obvious office worker attire. And she appeared to be quite busy on the phone as well, to the point where the well-dressed woman ignored the tattered Magical Girl in front of her.
“Uh-huh, yep. They’re pissed that I’m not there for the meeting?... Mary, did you send them the pictures as I instructed you?” The question itself was harmless, but the way she asked- no, commanded this Mary person on the phone. Was almost enough for Haru to spill the beans, on something she had no knowledge of!
The Mary girl at the other end of the phone sounded terrified by what little Haru could hear, after a few more back and forths the sharply-dressed woman put away her smartphone, took a deep breath, and suddenly turned to the Magical Girl in the kitchen.
“So, you mind explaining why my home is infested with oversized toys and candy?”