Chapter 13: Teamwork

“…fucking useless dead weight…”

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“…making me watch over them like some kind of…”

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“…had the fucking nerve to…”

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I don’t know how long it took until Scarlet finally calmed down, but it was at least a few minute. Well, maybe calm isn’t the right word; there was still palpable anger bubbling beneath her surface, but at the very least her tirade had come to an end with a long, exasperated sigh. It had been unsettling to listen to the crack of rocks being crushed between her heel and the pavement as she ground them into dust, so I inwardly felt relieved when she stopped and took a moment to half-compose herself. She then turned to look at me.

“Alright newbie, grab the battery and let’s go. I’m not spending any longer here than I have to.”

“Battery?” I had no idea what she meant.

She sighed again, and gestured her thumb at Merino.

“The blue chick. That’s all they’re good for, so that’s what we call them.” She then scanned me and, apparently not satisfied, angrily asked “You have a weapon, right? One of those creepy wands?”

I shivered. So I had to do this again, explain my case? Would I need to do it often?

“Um… kind of. It’s here.”

Hesitantly, I stretched out my hand, palm up, and open the eye. Blue sky and white clouds filled my vision, and two magical girls looked down at me. One of them was me. I suddenly realized that I hadn’t seen Ravensong in the mirror yet. I would need to take a proper look later.

To my surprise, Scarlet raised her eyebrows and whistled.

“So you’ve already implanted it. Not bad. Gross, but that comes with the job. Maybe you’ll be useful after all.” She gestured again, “Alright, grab the princess’s throne. We have fights to pick.”

I nodded, and started pushing Merino’s table in step behind Scarlet as we headed out of town. Her mood had seemed to lighten, even if only by a little. I guess I had her approval, more so than the actual veteran in front of me. Just what was her deal anyway? She definitely didn’t seem ready for a fight. I wasn’t confident that Scarlet Crush would be happy to answer my questions, so I asked Shiquoth instead.

“How is she supposed to fight in this state? And Scarlet called her a battery, is that part of it?”

The blue maidens utilize spiritual energy. She will empower your magic.

“Oh.”

I honestly hadn’t expected Shiquoth to even answer the question, let alone straightforwardly. As for Merino, I guess that meant she would make my lasers stronger. That… would actually be pretty helpful. Was it something she could do while sleeping though? Maybe I would find out soon enough.

We walked for a while in silence. Scarlet didn’t have anything to say to me, and I figured she wasn’t a fan of small talk. Merino, of course, was still sleeping. I didn’t know how she could in this situation, or why she would, but I wasn’t in any position to try and wake her. Scarlet was leaving it alone, so I just had to assume it wasn’t an issue. The path was on a slight incline up, and pushing her forward only became that much more difficult once it changed from concrete to grass, but eventually Scarlet came to a stop and announced that we had arrived.

Our destination had been a wide grass field. In the distance stood rows of evergreen trees, blanketing the hills beyond, but immediately around us was open. Fortunately, nothing could sneak up on us here.

“Alright” announced Scarlet, “here’s the plan: you sit here with the battery and make sure it stays safe. If something manages to get near, you shoot. Otherwise, I get the glory of crushing anything that shows up.”

And with that, she took a number of steps forward into the field, planted her sword vertically into the dirt with her hands resting on the pommel, and waited. I guess she was intent on doing everything herself. Wasn’t this supposed to be my training though? Would I normally be left to sit back and watch? I felt like our roles should be reversed, but I wasn’t about to try and argue with her. So the waiting began.

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I was starting to feel restless. No robots had shown up and I nothing to do. Scarlet hadn’t moved an inch and Merino went without saying. At one point I saw a few green magical girls pass by at a distance, but the most interaction they offered was a few glances in our direction. I groaned and mumbled to myself.

“Just how long are we supposed to stay here anyway?”

“Only a couple hours.”

I jumped and looked at the speaker. It was Merino, who had apparently woken up. She let out a yawn and blinked sleep from her eyes.

“…Nice to have you awake?”

“Thanks, though I don’t plan to be for long. Care to chat in the meantime?”

“Sure… I guess I have to ask, why do you sleep so much?”

“It’s not like I have much else to do” she responded. I glanced down at her immobile figure and felt a lump form in my throat. I already regretted asking, but she nonchalantly continued, “I did used to enjoy knitting, but at some point the arms had to go. So now I can just sleep. What about you, have any hobbies?”

I was at a loss; the conversation had immediately gone in an uncomfortable direction, and I had no idea if whatever I said next would make things even worse. Merino, however, simply watched me with tired eyes and a lazy smile. Maybe she didn’t mind after all?

I cleared my throat and responded, “I… um… enjoy reading.”

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“Oh? That sounds nice. The caretakers read to me sometimes as well, though I’m never awake long enough to make much progress.”

She lightly chuckled to herself about this. I assumed the caretakers are those women in suits from earlier.

“What stories have you liked? At least, based on what you were awake for.”

“Hmm… it’s hard to say but probably-” she stopped, and looked over to Scarlet.

I did the same, and watched as the girl in red extracted her sword from the ground and spoke two simple words.

“They’re here.”

Out of the trees, five metallic figures marched in perfect unison. I didn’t recognize the type. It was hard to clearly tell their features at this distance, but they seemed to resemble large mantis shrimp, with mid-length bodies supported by numerous legs, and a torso bending vertically from the front with four arms attached. The lower arms were clawed and the upper ones seemed to end in long blades. And, of course, they each had a single, glowing red eye at the top of their heads.

I could only assume from the weapons that these robots were meant for combat. Scarlet, however, was not deterred, and lifted her sword into a ready stance above her right shoulder, pointing diagonally up and past her head, both hands on the grip, muscles bulging under its weight.

“Easy prey” she muttered.

The robots came to a stop about halfway down the field and began to spread out. Scarlet bent her legs, leaned forward, and a moment later exploded into a dash towards the one furthest on the left.

“Will she be okay alone?” I asked Merino.

“Technically, I’m helping, but yes, she’ll be fine. You just keep your eyes peeled for anything trying to sneak past her.”

I nodded, not entirely convinced that fighting five enemies was a solo job, but nonetheless putting faith in the senior magical girls. They would know better than I did.

In mere seconds, Scarlet had closed the distance, and when only a couple steps away she stomped down with her left foot in front, skidding to a halt and firmly planting it in place. The machine started extending its arms to defend itself, but it was already too late. Scarlet twisted her body, winding her weapon back as far as possible, and the sword bent with her, splitting at each segment to create a jagged curve. Now that she was facing me, I could see the wicked grin that had spread across her face. Then, in one, clean motion, she spun and smashed her weapon into the robot, cleaving it diagonally apart from top right to bottom left, sending the sound of shattering metal ringing through the air. The sword’s momentum buried it firmly in the dirt, but she tore it free without issue, and a chunk of turf was ripped out with it by the blade that now bent forward like a hook. The machine crumpled to the ground in a sparking mess, body split in two uneven halves, and she unleashed a shout that we could clearly hear even at this distance.

“Do you see me, Lord?! Do you watch as I crush your enemies?! You have given me power, so I will bring you honor!”

She then raised her weapon high into the air, blade straightening as she did so, and swung it straight down, crashing into the head of the already destroyed machine. Shards of metal went flying, but she ignored them and nimbly maneuvered the massive blade to pry out the robot’s eye, which she flicked into the air, caught with her left hand, and casually clipped to a hook on her belt. Was that supposed to be a trophy?

She turned to the next closest robot, slowly making its way towards her, and readied her stance once more. This time, she held the grip level with her head, on the right side, and pointed the blade forward. She charged, and upon reaching the enemy thrust her sword straight through its chest, before slamming it downwards to split the machine’s entire body. She then reversed the momentum, yanking the sword up to split the robot’s head, somehow managing to cut carefully around the eye, which she then casually stepped forward to grab and tear out with her bare hand. Adding it to her collection, she screamed again.

“Watch as I shatter them! Those who seek to desolate your kingdom!”

She assumed a new stance, charged again, and repeated this process until all five enemies had been dispatched.

“They fall beneath the vengeance of our blade! Do you still see me, Lord?!”

“Brutal, isn’t it?” Merino calmly remarked beside me. “Doesn’t it make you wonder what it’s like on the other end of that sword?”

I didn’t want to think about it.

“She wouldn’t do that, right? Aren’t we all… supposed to be allies?”

Merino had a complicated expression, and shifted her mouth a little before speaking. “We’re sort of allied with you, but what I have with red Scarlet Crush over there is more of a… tacit understanding. As long as I stay out of her way, that’s friendly enough.”

That… didn’t sound very magical girl like. None of this was, I knew that, but I had assumed that at least on any given team there would be a sense of camaraderie; that the bond of shared commitment would lead to trust. There were enough enemies after us already; I didn’t want to worry about traitors among my friends as well. That sounded unbearable.

I was mulling this over, when suddenly a voice called out from behind us.

“Heyo! You gals on patrol?”

I turned to look. It was a girl, and seemingly a magical one. She was probably around my age, though a little shorter, with a light step and childish grin. She wore flat brown shoes and white socks with orange stripes that came up to her calves. She had a short skirt that looked like it was made from light orange denim and pleated starting halfway down. Her orange blouse had short sleeves and white ruffles along its V-neck. She had short, wavy, carrot colored hair, and wore a small, brown hat tilted slightly on the side of her head. Her eyes shone like citrines, and her lips parted slightly to reveal pearly white teeth. She also wasn’t carrying a weapon.

I opened my mouth to respond to her, or at least warn her of the danger, but before I could a flash of red blazed past me, sword at the ready. That was very dangerous. The girl in orange, however, bent forward, hands on her knees, and began to retch. It was a heavy, sickening sound, but I could hardly pay attention to it as Scarlet rapidly closed the distance with wild aggression. But just as she swung down, the orange girl threw her head back and coughed out something the size of a fist. Sparks flew as it crashed into Scarlet’s sword, which was thrown back by the force and Scarlet herself staggered as she was dragged with it. The object ricocheted off and slammed straight into the ground, sending a cloud of dirt exploding into the air as it did. Fire blazed in Scarlet’s eyes as she steadied her stance and swore under her breath.

She stood clear of the cloud, and slowly circled its perimeter to place herself in a protective position in front of us, something I had not expected her to do. As the dust started to clear, I could see the orange girl step over to a small crater in the dirt and pick up a metallic lump. It was smoothly rounded on the bottom, speckled with clods of clinging soil, but a massive dent split halfway through its top. The girl excitedly looked it over, and Scarlet took a few steps back towards us. She was being wary, but the girl hardly noticed.

“Oh, how cute, you made it heart shaped for me!”

She smiled a wide smile, and then it grew wider, and wider, until she was almost literally grinning from ear to ear. Her jaw seemed to unhinge as she spread it open like a snake’s, revealing row upon row of razor sharp teeth. She nonchalantly tossed the misshapen chunk of dirt coated metal in her mouth and shut it to chew. Her expression made it look like the simplest thing in the world, but the muffled screech of metal scraping against metal did not betray reality. She swallowed after only a few bites, then looked at us with a smile that was slightly broader than could be normal.

“There’s no need to be so mean, you know. Let’s start again; I’m Fervent Feast. Mind telling me your names?”

Scarlet Crush spit in her direction. I took it as a sign to say nothing myself. Merino followed suit.

“Well that’s pretty rude” pouted Fervent Feast. “We’re all magical girls here; can’t you spare some courtesy?”

“I have no courtesy to spare for enemies” Scarlet growled.

“Incredibly rude.”

Merino cut in. “I believe it’s even ruder to interfere with another group’s patrol, is it not?”

Fervent Feast seemed to sulk at this accusation. “I guess so… but that’s not really what I- Oh!” her eyes seemed to sparkle and she held up a finger signaling us to wait, before tilting her head as if being whispered to, then after a few moments, a grin beamed across her face and she clapped her hands. “It sounds like Lady Gogo wants to speak with you!”

I didn’t get what she meant, but Scarlet loudly clicked her tongue at this. The girl ignored that, however, and proceeded to adjust her posture to stand tall, tilted her head slightly back, and massaged her throat while giving a few hearty coughs to clear it. She shut here mouth, breathed in deep, and then looked straight forward and began to speak.

“Hello. Hello. Don’t be so on edge, we’re not here to fight.”

Her voice came out strained, unnatural even, as though it were difficult to talk. But despite the clear change in the way she spoke, her uncanny smile never wavered.

“Maiden in black, it’s fantastic to see you again already.”

‘Maiden.’ The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Until now, I had only known one entity who referred to magical girls that way: Shiquoth.

“You can call me Lord Hegoagoach. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”