A lot of people diss on witches. As you might know a witch is the official title for Magical Girls who have retired from active battle duties.
Civilians would rather have Magical Girls use their power to fight the Unfeelings until their dying breath. Not only is that messed up and shortsighted. But if we want to be honest witches are the backbone of Magical Girls culture. And most Magical Girls I know, know this and respect them for it.
They might not fight anymore but their service in instructing the next generation, in providing magic medecine and advancement in magiteck technology has saved more Magical Girls on the field than I can count.
So the next time you see a witch instead of acting like an entitled brat. Thank her for her continued service instead.
An excerpt from the 'Magical Girls and retirement' article. By Usagi Kaname. -2057
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The second day of school had come and gone. At the start of the day she had been summoned by the Director of the school. A man named Adrien Kimonoto. A few classmates made fun for her for arleady being in trouble on her second day. But Rin suspected it had to something to do with her status as a Magical Girl and she was right.
Apparently the Magical Girl program at this school took the form of a school club rather than a classroom. The Director told her she had been automatically enrolled in the Magical Girls Club when she signed up for the school.
He told her she could go to the club any days of the week to meet with the other Magical Girls. But attendance would be mandatory on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Those were the days where the club manager and instructor would be available and they would be sent on official Magical Girls business.
Today was Tuesday and so it was her first mandatory day of the club. She might have had attended yesterday if she had known about the club. But maybe the Director had wanted her to be more acclimatize to the school first.
She arrived in front of where the the Director told her where the club was and saw the sign above the door. 'Mahou Shoujo Kurabu'. Rin cocked her head in confusion. Why was the club's name in Japanese? Oh well it didn't really matter she supposed.
Looking around to make sure no one was watching her. Rin's body was engulfed into a yellow light, completed with sparkles. When the flash died down she was in her Magical Girl form. However this form was very different than how she looked like during the Alagia's Emergence.
Her pink dress was completely gone. Replaced instead with a dark blue lolita dress with many yellow frills and ribbons. The front of the dress was covered in two yellow triangles facing each other. Making it look like a stylized hourglass.
She had a yellow bow on the left side of her hair and on the right she had an hairpin in the shape of an hourglass. But the most drastic change of all was her new ears and tail. She had the fluffy brown ears and the lucious tail of a fox. She swished her tail around experimentally. It was a bit weird to suddenly gain new appendages but she had to admit it felt pretty nice.
She was a bit embarassed about how over the top her outfit had become but Lupin had said it was for the best.
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One day after the Emergence.
Rin had woken up at the hotel after her long day spent fighting the Unfeelings. And she was immediatly assaulted by notifications from her heads up display.
> Quest completed: Escort the Senior Citizen
>
> For escorting the old woman to the Central Shelter you have been awarded. 100 points and 150 experience
>
> Quest Completed: Destroy the Nest
>
> You have assisted fellow Magical Girls with destroying an Unfeeling nest and ended the Emergence. You have been awarded 500 points and 500 experience.
>
> Contratulation! You have leveled up multiple times. You are now Level 5!
> Max HP and Max MP Increased
> You have 15 skill points available to spend.
''W-what all this?'' Rin wondered sleepily.
[Ah yes, this is normal. The Reality Usurpation from yesterday had cut off our access to certain systems. Since they weren't relevant to your current survival I did not bother explaining them back then. But normally you will be able to accept quests. While killing Unfeelings can be a good source of experience fullfilling quests is by far the superior option to level up. Since you couldn't accept quests yesterday the system gave you rewards for quests you unknowingly fullfilled.]
''That's good to know...so how do I accept quests from now on?'' Rin asked curiously.
[Technically you don't, you simply have to fullfill the quest requirement and it will automatically by completed for you. Even if you don't check on your quests often you should be able to fullfill a lot of quests simply by taking your Magical Girl duties seriously.]
Rin nodded in understanding before opening her skills menu. ''Mmh I think I'll focus mostly on raising my stats this time. What do you think I should focus on?''
[I think agility would be a good fit for you. Your signature ability is to freeze time. If you can go faster you would be able to acomplish even more with your ability before you have to take a breather. That being said you should not neglect your other stats. They're all very importants. A balanced approach is for the best. Very few Magical Girls can make a min max build work for them.]
''Alright then.'' Rin decided to put nine points in agility. She used her remaining six points and divided them equally between strenght and dexterity. Since she used both ranged and melee weapons she would need to invest in both.
With a push of the accept button Rin felt a small rush of energy. And wondered if her boost in speed would be noticable.
[Speaking of builds and customization. It might be time to seriously think about branding now that the danger is passed.] Lupin stated with a bit too much eagerness for Rin's taste.
''Okay, you said I could change how my outfit looked. How do I do that?'' Rin asked.
[I'm glad you asked! Simply lay down on the bed and close your eyes. I'll start the Inner Outfit Program and we'll try to find a perfect outfit for you!]
''A-alright'' Rin replied before laying back down and closing her eyes. In no time at all it felt like she was falling asleep. But when she opened her eyes she was in what looked like a small rustic store and it looked and felt more realistic than any dream she ever had.
A giant wardrobe suddenly plop in front of her from the sky making her shriek in shock. Before she could even recover another puff of cloud suddenly poof in front of the wardrobe. But she relaxed when the smoke died down and revealed the familiar form of Lupin.
The small black fox grin at her before pointing at the wardrobe with his paw, proudly. ''Let's find you a perfect outfit shall we?''
They had tried many, many outfits. And it felt like with every new outfit the dress became more lacey and over the top. Finally they arrived at the dress she was currently wearing. She felt the amount of ribbons was a bit excessive but Lupin assured her the public would eat it up.
But both of them felt something was still missing even as she put an hourglass hairpin in her hair. Something to make her really stand out.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
[Well if you want to go even more cute I can't think of anything more adorable than animal ears and maybe even a tail.]
''Hum, you mean like accessories or do you mean that literally?'' Rin asked a bit embarassed at the suggestion.
Lupin did his best equivalent of a shrug. [Both options are available. With magic we can give you actual ears and a tail that are biological copies of the animal of your choice. Personally i would prefer the biological option. Not only would it make you stand out much more than simple fake accesories. But the ears would give a bonus of 10 points in dexterity and the tail a 10 points in agility. The accesories wouldn't do much more than just make you look cute.]
''It sound like the biological option is the better option of the two.'' Rin stated somewhat reluctantly.
Lupin nodded. [It is, unfortunately gaining brand new appendages can be very jarring for some humans. Which is why you don't see many Magical Girls using them.]
Rin looked even more unsure. ''If I end up not being able to handle them I can remove them later right?''
Lupin nodded rapidly. [Of course! If you feel too overwhelmed by your new appendages just tell me and we'll come back here to revise them! You can change your outfit once a day. But I would recommend to try sticking closely to a theme. It would be hard to develop a fanbase if you look like a different Magical Girl everytime you go out.]
Rin nodded slowly. ''Make sense, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.''
Almost as if to contradict her words Rin felt a flash of pain both on top of her head and at the bottom of her tailbone. With a flash of light the pain subsided and she was left staring in shock and wonder as fox ears had appeared on to of her head. To her amazement the ears moved and twitch exactly like real ones and as she shuffled around she could hear the sound of her dress ruffling in excruciating details.
Turning around she was met with a massive fluffy brown tail. She put a hand on it and couldn't help but gush at how soft and fluffy it felt. It felt a bit weird to be petting an appendage on herself that hadn't even existed before but she had to admit it felt nice.
[Are you satisfied with this new form?] Lupin asked with a satsfied smile as if he arleady knew the answer.
Rin nodded. ''Y-yeah I think this will be my Magical Girl outfit from now on.''
[I'm glad then, if there's nothing else then it's time to wake up. Your new guardians will be getting worried about you.]
The world around her faded to black and like that her new persona was properly born...
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Present Day
Rin approached the door of the club room and gulped nervously before summoning her courage and opened the door.
There was five other girls sitting around a table. One of them she could tell was Melody who she was arleady familiar with. Her outfit was completely red just like her aunt Moruga. But while Moruga's outfit had been more practical and armor-like. Melody's dress was much more poofy and the skirt was layered in a way to avoid any accidental panties shots while fighting. It almost reminded Rin of a red rose. Her red hair was tied in two buns on the side of her head.
There was a girl with completely white hair and yellow eyes that glowed almost like a lightbulb. Her hair was really long and reached down all the way to her butt. She had a completely blank look on her face as if she would rather be anywhere but here. Instead of the traditional poofy and frilly Magical Girl outfit. She wore a long white robe and had a necklace around her neck with a golden christian cross.
Another girl had purple hair tied into braids and looked at Rin's entrance with an almost motherly look that somewhat flustered Rin. She wore what looked like traditional Japanese clothes. She wore a white shirt along with a long red skirt completed with a pair of sandals with red straps. That was the tradional look of a shrine maiden if Rin's wasn't mistaken.
Then there was a girl with blonde hair tied into a ponytail that looked at Rin's entrance with a calculating look. Almost as if she was measuring what was her worth. She was wearing a violet corset and a violet skirt and large blue cape behind her back.
The last girl in the room was standing in front of a board. Unlike the rest she wasn't wearing a Magical Girl outfit as far as Rin's could tell. Instead she wore a simple nurse uniform. Was that their instructor? She looked just as young as the rest of the club.
She knew that Magical Girls didn't age the same way as normal humans but that made it difficult to judge how experience a Magical Girl was if you didn't know them personally.
''Ah, welcome Millennium. We were just about to begin.'' The nurse said gesturing for her to sit at the table.
Rin decided to go sit beside Melody since she was the only one she knew.
The nurse smiled as she looked back at the rest of the group. ''Now as you might have noticed we have a new Magical Girl joining the club. Please treat her well.''
''Welcome Millenium! I'm Magical Girl Miko. I'm basically the supporter and healer of this club. So if you're ever in need of support don't be afraid to call me.'' The girl in the shrine maiden outfit said with a bright smile.
The girl with white hair looked unresponsive but she still presented herself. ''I'm Magical Girl Maria, I like to punch things in the face.'' Rin would have tought it was a joke, if it wasn't for the completely serious expression on her face.
Finally the blond girl rolled her eyes. ''Tch, I'm Magical Girl Primoria. My speciality is earth magic. But I'm good with any kind of weapons too. I'm the best Magical Girl in this club, so just try to not slow me down.''
Melody and Miko rolled their eyes at her words. Then the group turned to Melody exectantly. ''Oh! Millie arleady know my name since we're in the same class! But in case you forgot it's Heartsong! I specialise in magic and use a magic staff! Primoria here might be stronger than me but I can use magic of any elements I want! I'm kind of a magical jack of all trade master of none kind of thing.''
Primoria scoffed at her but didn't comment.
Finally the nurse clap her hand. ''And I'm Nurse Emily Perenelle. I used to be a Magical Girl just like all of you. But nowaday I'm just a witch working as a school nurse and as an instructor for the Magical Girl club at this school.''
Primoria cleared her throat. ''So what are we going today? Are we still going on patrol even with the newbie here?''
The Nurse nodded which seemed to surprise Primoria. ''Normally we would slow down when a new girl is introduced. But Millenium was contracted in the middle of an Emergence. So I feel like going over the basic would only slow her down. Am I wrong? What level are you right now?''
''I-I'm level 5.'' Rin replied nervously.
The other girls seemed surprised at that for some reason. ''You arleady fought Unfeelings?'' Miko asked with clear surprise on her face.
''Is that weird? I pretty much had no choice to kill some Unfeelings to reach a shelter. And after that I decided to help the other Magical Girls deal with the Unfeeling nest.'' Rin replied confused about the reaction.
''You fought a nest?! Did you see a Queenless?!'' Miko asked her eyes bulging.
''Huh? Umm I don't think so, what's a Queenless?'' Rin asked confused. The term seemed vagely familiar, didn't Moruga mentioned something like that?
''Oh yeah, I think my aunt told me she dealt with it before she came to help you with that last Rageless. so you wouldn't have seen it. Queenless are basically Unfeelings incubators. They have the DNA of all the different types of Unfeelings and can birth any kind of them as long as they are fed with magic. They are also massive beasts and will attack anyone that dare try to destroy the nest.'' Melody explained with a smile.
''You've dealt with Rageless?!'' Miko shrieked.
Rin slowly nodded. ''Well Pomelo and Moruga did most of the job with the ones at the nest. I just dealt the finishing blow with the last one. Tough I did have to deal with one Rageless on my own while trying to reach the Central Shelter. I barely survived that encounter.''
''Wow I hadn't heard about that.'' Melody said with an impressed look.
Primoria scoffed in disbelief. ''And how did a newbie like you dealt with a Rageless of all things? A fucking rocket launcher?'' The other girls glared at the blonde girls for being rude but Rin only grinned ruefully.
''Actually I used four of them. But the asshole wouldn't stay down even after that. I ended up having to decapitate it with my sword. I'm kind of confused why that actually worked when even rockets wouldn't do the job.''
The other girls all gaped at her in shock. ''Y-you used actual rocket launchers? What kind of Magical Girl are you?!'' Miko shrieked again.
Rin shrugged sheepishly. ''Well I was kind of stuck and didn't know how to do magic so I decided to blast the Unfeelings with more mundane methods, I guess.''
To Rin's surprise the Magical Girl with white hair that had stayed silent and completely unresponsive until then started adressing her. ''To answer your question, the reason why the sword worked better is because of your own magic. You probably unconsiously poured magic in the blade making it better at dealing with the Unfeelings. Metals are a very good conductor of magic. The Unfeelings have strong defense against mundane armement, no matter how powerful. If you don't use weapons that can be enchanced by your own magic you will have a hard time.'' Maria said in a completely detached voice.
Rin nodded in understanding with a smile but inside she felt kind of dissapointed. Was there really no way for her to keep using guns? Bows looked cool and everything but she preferred the ease of use guns offered. Especially one hand guns that she could use at the same time as her sword.
[Well there is a way that you could continue using guns if you absolutely have to but it could get pretty expensive. Silver bullets are very good conductor of magic and could solve the problem of your guns not doing enough damage. But for just four cartridge it would cost you eight points. Two point per cartridge which is eight time the price of normal bullets. It might not seem like much. But it could stack up very quickly.]
Rin closed her eyes toughtfully. That might be a problem, maybe she should give the bow a fair shot. But honestly Rin was very attached to her current fighting style. It would take a lot for her to give up on guns completely.
Nurse Perenelle clapped her hands. Getting the attention of everyone. ''Alright I think you all had enough time socializing. It's time to go on patrol! Heartsong you will team up with Miko, Maria will be with Primoria and Millennium you will be with me. It's time for your great debut!''
''M-my debut?!'' Rin exclaimed both nervous and excited at the same time. It looked like Millennium was arleady going to make her first public appearance...