August 9, 493 U.C.

The air was still, and the sky was blue. Like a polished piece of glass, the ocean stretched out before me. I breathed in the air and grinned out at the Pacific Ocean.

Spinning, I meandered down the glass walk above the street below. Bikes shot by on their lane. The street was plastered with cars and trucks. Some looked completely ancient with drivers steering them and everything. I stopped and stared at one old thing. Is that a manual transmission? What?

In complete fascination, I was tempted to teleport into the car to try it. I wasn’t certain that the owner would approve of that. So, I just stared like some country bumpkin tourist.

“Never seen a car before?” some guy asked as he walked by. “Tourists,” he muttered.

“It’s a manual!” I shouted at him.

“So what?”

I scowled at him and resumed my rebellious sightseeing. I didn’t have a hard time justifying it. They had stolen my birthday, and I wanted to explore things.

To that end, I turned and walked down the passage, studying the towering glass and metal buildings. Drones whirred overhead. Larger versions with human passengers shot by. A train whirred by on its elevated track, screeching to a halt in front of me.

Tempted to take a train ride, I forced myself to walk towards the aquarium. I had wanted to visit one for a while. I wished that I could have brought Daniele. Sadly, I was on my own.

“Summon me! I want to see fish!” Ela said cheerily.

“Ela, that would get me into so much trouble so fast!”

Ela grinned. “Who cares? I’ll straighten it out!”

“Sorry.” I shook my head and looked down the street below. Horns blared on the busy streets. Turning, I looked out to see solar panels dotting roofs everywhere. Palm trees towered around.

I nearly ran into the man in front of me. I peered around him and saw why. A group of six guardians had entered. People had swarmed.

“We are doing a press release at the aquarium,” Sunshine said cheerily. “You can see us there!”

Poseidon grinned and waved. He winked and water swirled around him. I rolled my eyes and cheated, teleporting in front of them. I was not about to get stuck in that mayhem.

“Pardon us,” Poseidon said, moving forward and forcibly parting the sea of people.

I picked up my pace, moving swiftly down the glass walkway.

“Come on! I’ll talk to Poseidon!” Ela pointed behind me. “Summon me, Casey!”

“Not a chance. I’m getting this visit!” I strode forward with determination. In the distance was the aquarium. You could see something swimming through the dark glass that was nearly three stories high.

Restraining my desire to sprint, I slipped around people to stay ahead of the human traffic jam behind me. I don’t know why they didn’t change when they got there.

Passing a woman in a silver dress and dyed blue hair, I nearly ran into another person. Is she cosplaying?

“Guardians! Up here!” the woman called, flashing badges.

I nearly stole them just for a chuckle. Instead, I darted forward and joined the line. Nice and legal for me. There are guardians around.

“Let’s skip the line!” Ela said with a groan.

Ignoring the devil, I watched a few fish in the massive aquarium. Admittedly, it was difficult. Since they didn’t want to bake the fish, much of it was coated with dark paint. A few clear stripes ringed around it, revealing fish inside. I grinned and watched the fish from Earth. They looked similar, but many lacked scaley armor or horrible teeth.

I watched and waited, wearing my Innocent Bystander disguise. It gave me auburn hair that was pulled up in a ponytail. It also gave me a larger nose, larger lips, and the body of most fourteen-year-olds. I reached for my purse while walking forward.

“Excuse us, please!” Sunshine called out.

I stayed in line and turned to see a crowd surrounding them. A smile quirked across my face as I saw frustrated guardians. Then I felt bad for them as they tried to move forward.

This work was stolen from Magical Girl Platinum by Samantha Nelson on Royal Road. Please message me there.

Cursing my empathy once more, I turned and prepared to aid them. I squealed, sending an ear-shattering noise ringing down the corridor. People everywhere stared at me. Several covered their ears. I ignored them while pointing at a cosplayer outside. “Platinum Princess!” I gushed.

Half of the mob shot forward to look. I slipped up the line with a grin on my face. The guardians burst free, shooting forward toward the entrance.

“That’s just a cosplayer,” someone groaned.

“Fool girl,” another muttered.

I grinned and walked through the doors. Digging through my purse, I pulled out credits and winced at the price which had clearly gone up due to the event. I looked back down at the stack and felt my cheeks burning. God, this is embarrassing.

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“If you don’t have enough, leave,” the woman behind me said with a huff.

With my cheeks burning, I turned and walked away. Then I paused and contemplated. I can make another amulet if I need to. I froze time.

“Yo, Casey!” Death said as he appeared with a grin.

I waved. “I’ll get you something and toss it in my demi-plane.”

“Much obliged!” Death chuckled and hefted a sword. “I’m going to go impale someone that made a time loop. Have fun!” He vanished.

I giggled and swapped to my Viper necklace. That’ll work. They may not even recognize me. Moving forward, I appeared in a bathroom stall and walked out into the center. Guilt ebbed through me as I walked out. I’ll pay them back later.

“I can get you inside without issue,” Ela said with a sigh. She sat in the air instead of flying. "Just summon me!"

I ignored her and headed through the tanks, enjoying the fish that darted by. There was a massive crowd. Poseidon was putting on a show, sending out pillars of water. Dad had said to practice my villainy, and a crooked smile spread across my face.

Walking over to a stand, I swiped nachos. I sent one into my subspace for Death. Then I headed over to the stadium to watch the show, enjoying the cheesy treat. I snacked on it while watching the show. People were clapping. The seals did too.

Sitting in a soft movie theater recliner, I enjoyed it. The trainers had him swim with dolphins while the rest were singing in the background. Munching on chips, I enjoyed my little vacation. Then ripples began spreading through the crowd.

“Viper?” some girl asked with wide eyes. “Is that you?”

I turned and winked at the sixteen-year-old with black hair. “Nacho?” I held them out.

“Are you really Viper?” she asked and took one with a look of awe. Her friends crowded forward.

“Yes,” I replied. “Shhh. I’m enjoying the show.”

“How’d you get in?”

“Snuck in.” I chuckled and clapped as the dolphins did flips through the air.

“You aren’t really Viper,” the girl said and shook her head.

I nodded. “That’s right. I’m cosplaying.”

“I knew it.” The girl sounded completely disappointed.

I winked at her and tossed nachos in the air. Using haste, I caught every single one of them in my mouth on the way back down. It was not challenging. Then I took a seat and dropped the spell. I winked at her.

The girl’s squeal put my own to shame, causing the entire place to tremble and shake. The dolphins splashed everyone. The whales bellowed. The microphones screamed along, adding to the cacophony.

“Can I get your autograph?” another girl asked, peering around the banshee.

“Miss, you need to leave,” some security guy said as he walked up.

The girl froze and stared at him. “But she’s Viper!”

The guard scoffed. “Yeah, right. Come along.”

Smearing my lips, I used Haste again and walked over. Then I kissed the security guy’s forehead. Zipping down the concrete steps, I vaulted onto the aquarium wall. Then I ran over to the group of guardians.

Since they didn’t have a speedster, I kissed each of them and took a guitar. Dropping Haste, I wailed on it, creating a complete mess of sound. They all turned to stare at me.

“Viper!” Poseidon bellowed. Water and ice surged forward.

I teleported and appeared near the fish tanks inside a small building. Then I began studying fish while a roar reached my ears. “People, am I right?” I asked the older woman next to me.

“They get excited,” she replied. “What do you think of the octopus?”

“Awesome. I’m glad they didn’t get bigger.” Memories of Vuln filled me, sending a shudder down my spine. I turned and stared at a Vuln tank. They have them here.

A massive crustacean sat on the bottom, clacking its claws and beak. You’d taste good. The beacrab seemed to realize that I was a threat, because it scuttled away, hiding in a corner.

“That’s odd,” the woman said. “He’s usually quite aggressive.”

“It’s the magic,” I replied with a long sigh. “It knows that I could kill it.”

The woman turned, revealing her name badge; Maria Hernandez - Expert Aquarist. She studied me. Then she realized what all the ruckus was about. “Viper!” she screamed, pointing at me.

I waved at her cheerily, stamped the wall, and teleported, appearing in the large tunnel within the massive tank. Given the massive distraction that I’d caused, I began watching the colorful fish swim by. Maybe I can leave another calling card.

Walking down, I watched the large hammerhead shark swim overhead. Its gray tail flicked, sending it around. Rays swam by. Vuln doesn’t have those. Maybe someday. I enjoyed watching them and walked towards the entrance of the tunnel. I used haste and zipped through the area until I found the guardian wall.

Dropping haste, I posed and said, “Viper approved! Aquarist Maria Hernandez was a gem!” Ensuring it was on film, I teleported back home. Pulling out jerky, I took a seat and started eating.

Dad poked his head in. “Did you have fun? You're on the news.”

“I was low on mana, and you owed me for my birthday,” I replied.

“Well, you did make our point with that one.” Dad walked out.

I pulled up the news; it had me all over it. There were pictures everywhere. Several were demanding answers from Guardian Command, and the aquarium was running a press release saying that no one was harmed. It showed my video in front of the guardian wall.

I giggled hysterically at that. Then I shut it down and began meditating. I had leveled up to eleven. I wanted to check. So, I made my way through the trees and upgraded Haste to get more force across. Then I sat down and made potions.

Current Level 11 Current XP 0.67% Current Max Mana 8238.76 Regen per minute 12.48 Reputation 2000

Tier Skill Cost Tier 11 User Time Dilation (Haste)

- User experiences 256 seconds for 1 earth second.

- Force transference limited to 25%. 1 mana per earth second. Tier 6 Pocket Dimension

- 128 cubic meters of pocket space.

- Rapid stash and rapid draw.

- You may tether objects to your pocket space.

- Your pocket space preserves items inside. 32 mana Tier 6 Time Stop

- Caster leaves spacetime. They may remove and place things back in spacetime.

- You may control the flow of time in the demiplane.

- You may summon in willing living creatures.

- This automatically triggers if you take significant damage. 200 mana to cast.

Variable cost to move items in and out. Tier 6 Teleport.

- Teleports the caster or a willing creature.

- You may cast this on an unwilling creature if they are within ten meters.

- You may teleport inside an object, causing the matter to push outward.

200 mana for the caster.

400 mana for a willing creature.

1000 mana for an unwilling creature with no resistance.

- Short range casts cost less mana.

Tier 3 Attire Swap

- Locked to a single outfit. Current outfit set to Magical Girl Uniform.

- Attire cleaned on swap.

- Attire repaired on swap. 20 mana. Tier 3 Enhanced Body

-Caster’s body is enhanced by a factor of eight. 2 mana per caster second. Tier 2 Enchanting.

- Enchantments last twice as long. Variable cost. Tier 2 Potions.

- Potions last twice as long. Variable cost. Tier 1 Free casting

- Cast any spell you can replicate. Variable cost. Penalty of 8x mana. Tier 1 Familiar Manifestation. 20 mana to cast. 1 mana for each additional minute.