Magical Fracas, Episode 5: New friends and enemies?

[Teal Mage]

Summary: What Alex and Miranda did on Thursday. Something normal, followed by training. It's three short scenes.

A romantic walk by the river, Alex mused, is far more romantic when you're with someone. It was sunset on Thursday night, the blond had taken a train to the river on Miranda's orders. He'd had to blow off Kenji and Rin to come here, Miranda had said it was to train after all, so he couldn't have them see him crossdressing.

But, he wasn't training. Miranda had been strangely silent since he'd arrived, beyond the occasional encouragement to walk around. He'd been listening for an hour. "Argh," Alex sighed, tugging at a lock of his long hair, "this is boring."

The scenery isn't enough? Miranda asked, he could sense genuine confusion, Your memories of this place all seemed to be staring out at the water. I thought this would be a good place for you to relax.

I wasn't alone in any of them. Alex retorted with a grimace. She'd tricked him!

He heard her laugh, My company isn't sufficient?

"You are," Alex stated firmly, "not," he crossed his arms, "my type."

Yes, yes, I can see that. An image flashed into his mind. Alex turned red. Thankfully, I prefer my men to be men. Miranda continued, surprisingly light. She must be in a good mood.

Unfortunately for her, Alex had recovered from the shock enough to form a response. So, he grinned, anyone who isn't as pretty as you.

Miranda was surprised; her mental form stood blinking at Alex. That was the first time someone had said it like that. After a moment, ...yes. You could say that.

I knew I was the pretty one! Alex stated triumphantly, nodding to himself. You just can't compete.

* * *

"Faster." Miranda stated dispassionately as her armoured leg connected solidly to Alex's- as the Great Priestess Ayame-Barrier, sending the auburn haired priestess flying out over the dreamscape lake.

Ayame recovered quickly, sending herself into a short series of backflips before landing on her feet in the air. Her green eyes widened before she recoiled, arms folding up protectively before her face as a barrier of red magic blossomed around her. Just in time to block a flurry of white magical bullets, Miranda's Storm spell. The swarm died off moments later, leaving Ayame's barrier riddled with dents.

Still behind her barrier, the priestess's eyes flickered back to where Miranda had been moments ago. The lakeshore was empty.

"Shouldn't have stopped." Miranda's glowing blades swept through her barrier like paper, from behind. Ayame's floating scarf flashed into their path, stopping both in their tracks.

"Gale!" A strong gust of light filled wind exploded from Ayame. Miranda breathed an oath, her wings beat hard as she pulled away. Her swords changed into white light, before shifting into a bow of white fire. She had the arrow formed and aimed at the center of the swirling white mass of lights in moments.

"Angel's Arrow!" The crackling bolt of white magic flew. Without waiting for the results, Miranda shifted the bow back into sword form. The swords moved in tandem, one in an arch over her head, and the other swept around her in a circle. White magical cutters flew from their tips, arching outward.

Above her now, Ayame cursed and broke off her casting to summon a disc shield of red runes. One of Miranda's cutters broke over its surface, blinding the Priestess momentarily.

The light cleared in time for Ayame to see another of Miranda's arrows coming at her shield. The priestess flinched, dispelling the shield and pulled back. The arrow flew past her, scrapping the outer edge of her jacket's barrier.

"Storm Lash!" Miranda's voice, predictably from behind her, announced a stream of lightning that wrapped around her barrier. The electrical current swept past it, and Ayame let out of cry of pain. Miranda closed the distance, her blades shining with white magic.

The spell fell away, leaving Ayame panting. It had hurt.

"Final Exorcism!" Miranda's twin swords moved in a circle-one clockwise and the other counter-and a complex casting mandala formed.

Ayame spun, a shield of red runes blossoming between her and the familiar.

"Game over." Miranda's swords merged into a single blade of white magic. She thrust it through the center of her circle. There was a blinding flash before the light blade exploded out, sliding past both the priestess's shield and barrier jacket. Ayame gasped as the beam swept through her-

* * *

Alex sat bolt upright a gasp, trembling and in a cold sweat. He stayed like that for a time, the covers of his bed pooled around his waist, breath coming in harsh pants. Eventually, he looked toward the digital clock on his night stand.

One twenty-six. He fell back to bed with a sigh, Only been asleep two hours.

"You're getting better." Miranda stated, a transparent version of her battle form appearing at his bedside. Her arms were crossed, but she didn't look displeased.

"Huh." Alex replied, unconvinced. He didn't like Miranda's training sessions, thankfully she wasn't cruel enough to make them last all night.

She gave him a sympathetic half-smile, "I'm not lying. You surprised me with that Gale Spell, not many mages would have reacted the way I did. It would have turned the battle."

"I should have used the Sacred Shot." Alex stated.

"It was the Surge you were trying, yes?"

"Yeah," Alex nodded tiredly, "I wanted to make sure the hit counted."

Miranda nodded in return, "I'm just experienced. A trick like that should have worked on an Autekka."

Alex's eyes closed, "If you say so."

Miranda's amber eyes rolled, "Go to sleep."

"Kay."

[PhoenixFlame]

Things blent into a terrible, fragmented montage to Akari's senses. Waking in the day, eating breakfast, going to school, speaking with friends, coming home, doing homework, flopping on her bed to sleep and only to then be assaulted by yet more training. Some days, she would look forward to school because it meant she wasn't getting shot at in the immediate future. That said, Ceres wasn't such a bad person, and often helped her with her homework.

-

"Mh, a point at 3,2... And 5,3... Eh, points." Akari spoke with no level of interest as she stared blankly at a sheet of graphing paper and poked it with a pencil.

"Points are important representations of objects in zero-dimension space, Akari. They are ideas rather than places, and exist with indeterminate size or dimensions."

"Oh." Akari said dispassionately.

"By linking two points by a line, we create the first dimension, 'length'."

She sighed inwardly. Great, her intelligent device wasn't only here to torment her at night with more impossibly difficult martial scenarios, but also to school her only hours after she'd just left school. Akari tried to zone her out, and drew the line between the two points as her book instructed her to do, finishing the third and creating a right triangle.

"By intersecting a number of lines, we percieve the second dimension. To percieve higher dimen-"

Akari was not listening. Ceres could sense her lack of interest, and she felt guilty that her master did not particularly enjoy her company. Still, she could see why the constant training might be strenuous.

"This is important, Akari."

"Yeah. Sure." She said, flopping back on her bed, "Could you shut up and let me get done so I can call Reiko?" Akari protested, but the voice wouldn't stop.

"Akari, imagine if you were two dimensional. You could only percieve objects in two dimensions. A balloon for instance, might appear as a dot, expanding to an empty circle of unpredictable size, before shrinking back into a dot and popping out of existance."

Okay, that was a pretty funny mental image. That little triangle on the sheet of paper seemed like it had something deeper behind it. And lo, if she drew lines 'behind' the triangle, it did indeed look as if it had depth. "Huh... That's, weird."

"The third is depth. Many exist beyond it, and one can alter space on the current dimension by folding through the one above, much as one might fold the paper and touch two opposing ends of the two-dimensional triangle against one another."

Akari folded the page so that the triangle touched one vertex to an opposing vertex. "Okay. ...I don't get it."

"Imagine if you were two dimensional, and walking on the far point. If an outside force folded the sheet of graphing paper, you could cross instantly from that point, to the opposing point, without crossing any space inbetween to YOUR perceptions." Ceres' disembodied voice spoke in a disturbingly matter-of-fact way.

"Okay. Why is that important?"

"Because it happens all the time."

"... People fold space, all the time?"

"Magic is an outside force, dear."

So maybe Ceres wasn't the best person to help with homework, but Akari quickly got the vibe that whatever she was, she was very, very smart. Way smarter than Akari, and it raised even more questions why the Autekkan living weapon bothered to train her at all.

[Arhra]

Mitsuko dreamed.

She floated in fluid darkness, dull patterns of gold shifting like the surface of a pool. She could hear singing.

As if that had summoned the singer, a girl suddenly stood in front of Mitsuko, impossibly pale, and with golden hair. Her eyes were the same colour.

"I've seen you before." Mitsuko said slowly.

"..."

Static.

"Why -"

The girl wavered like an image on a still pond broken by up ripples.

Mitsuko sighed as the darkness became thinner, losing its buoyancy. She stood on a plain of solid darkness, surrounded by airy darkness. Strange patterns crawled over it, assembling into a de-saturated cityscape. Vague distortions in the sky confirmed it was within the boundary of a Phantom Zone.

She found herself approached by a copy of herself, wearing an identical Barrier Jacket. It lacked colour, but it held Bright Day in its pale hands. A little creepy.

["Ceres has suggested you are lacking in spell techniques. I agree."] Bright Day said without preamble, in a rare moment of self reference.

["For this reason, emphasis has been increased on magical theory. Now, this exercise is to encourage spell development and confirm core strengths to further build on. A secondary goal is reflex training."]

Mitsuko's doppelganger tossed her a colourless replica of Bright Day, holding on to the real one. Her copy seemed to be displaying Bright Day's expressions. It was difficult to tell.

Why can't I do that cool and serious look? Mitsuko wondered.

["The opponent will be equipped with all major spell types discussed, operating at a technical level within your ability. You will not receive any aid outside of basic Device spell assist."] Bright Day paused for a moment, shifting to a ready stance and the yellow energy shapes of her Impulse Wings flaring into life. ["You will not win this battle."]

Mitsuko gulped. "Anything else?"

["Nova Cannon."]

A thin laser stabbed out from the levelled Device's tip, burning yellow-white. A second later, an explosion erupted along the beam's entire length.

Mitsuko had frantically ignited her own Impulse Wings, jetting up and sideways to escape the attack. Bright Day shot straight up, gaining height on her.

Kicking off an Aerial Step, Mitsuko flung herself forwards and chopped at Bright Day with a massive swing of her naginata. With a clang, Bright Day parried with the haft of her spear.

["Impulse Bind."]

"Whaaa?!" Mitsuko was taken back, the wing thruster on Bright Day's left forearm suddenly transforming into tendrils of lightning to capture Mitsuko. Jolted by the tether, Mitsuko felt the world reel as Bright Day waved her around and then threw her at the ground.

An Aerial Step opened beneath Mitsuko, the magical disk halting her fall. Mitsuko glanced up. Four Celestial Spheres floated about her doppelganger's spear, held up like a staff.

Bright Day swung downwards. ["Shoot."]

Still on her back, Mitsuko activated her Impulse Rush, nearly instantly relocating in sudden flare of her wind thrusters. The crimson shelled orbs shot past the space she'd filled.

Touching down on a new Aerial Step, four Celestial Spheres materialised around her. Newly formed missiles shot off in pursuit of Bright Day.

Bright Day held her spear out in front of her horizontally and shielded. Three explosions blossomed on the baleful red glowing array. She erupted out of the light and smoke, only having to furiously back-pedal when Mitsuko fired off her last remaining Celestial Sphere.

Mitsuko looked at the dark shadow within the thinning explosion steadily and pointed her newly reconfigured spear skywards, holding it one handed. A casting circle drew itself around her.

"Light of dawn, I stand before you with a courageous heart and a resolute will. Wash over me from the far horizon and gather the power of the heavens into this sacred tool." Starting with the tip, golden magic condensed, Mitsuko charging the Device with her magic.

Bright Day's yellow eyes widened slightly.

"Let my judgement be carried on flaming wings!" Mitsuko shouted. "Daybreak Spear!"

She hurled her Device, dragging streamers of fire behind it. A golden spear that scattered all in its path, it covered the distance in an innocent, Bright Day barely raising her spear before vanishing within a spherical explosion of white light.

"Ah..." Mitsuko halted in shock, looking at the expanding nova in front of her. Watching it dim, she remembered she was now without her Device and cautiously advanced to recover it.

A quartet of Celestial Spheres fired out of the radiance.

Mitsuko halted and shielded instinctively, throwing up a directional shield. As the spheres bored into her shield, she turned almost instinctively, a battered Bright Day racing at her from behind.

Thrusting out her palm, she raised a second shield, sandwiching herself between them. Bright Day collided, spear tip grinding with sparks as it grated on the shield.

["Strike Phantasm."] A small array formed around Bright Day's core and the spear tip glowed dusky purple, thinning and lengthening. Bright Day's Impulse Wings burned with renewed effort.

Mitsuko's eyes widened in horror as the energy blade started to slide through her barrier with the aid of the dimensional spell.

["Through Shot: Celestial Flare."]

An energy sphere condensed just past the bayonet's tip, murky purple energy wreathing it. Mitsuko closed her eyes and waited for the blow to land.

["Simulation halt."]

Mitsuko opened her eyes cautiously.

["You were shot down."] Bright Day told her. ["Do not hesitate. Even a bad decision is better than inaction."]

Mitsuko bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

["Initial assessment is passable use of technique. A full review will be conducted tomorrow. For this moment, we did not discuss a spell such as Daybreak Spear?"]

Mitsuko looked embarrassed. "Uh, it's a variant based on how my Celestial Spheres use a barrier to better condense the energy charge and how a lot of enhancement type spells make use a similar use of Devices or Barrier Jackets to structure the effect. I did find some examples of such attacks."

"It was more powerful than I thought." she admitted in a smaller voice.

There was an awkward silence.

["It is an effective technique, although it does involve throwing your Device away."] Bright Day gave her a strange look. ["Try to remember this."]

Mitsuko was utterly shocked as she faded into true sleep. Bright Day making a joke?

* * *

Mitsuko slowly and luxuriously allowed herself to wake up. It was finally the weekend.

She went through her morning routine. No magical business today. It was Sakiko's birthday and she could relax and enjoy herself. No more stressing about a present or a costume: she had finally settled that yesterday.

Brushing her teeth in the upstairs bathroom, Mitsuko felt sudden dread when Bright Day chimed. She lifted the pendant up and looked at it with concern. "What's the problem?"

["Magical beacon detected. Autekka-type distress signal, pre-War pattern. Probable response to an attack."]

"Do you think we can deal with whatever it is in -" Mitsuko checked her watch. "One and a half hours?"

Bright Day's core pulsed once.

["Uncertain."] the Device replied.

Mitsuko sighed. "Alright, I'll get Akari now. We'll have to call Miyasaki and meet up with her. I wish we could contact that Masked Man..."

"Akari." Mitsuko called out casually. "You want to head down to the shops? I just realised I forgot to get something for Sakiko's birthday, so we'll have to hurry."

Bright Day chimed again. ["Second beacon detected. Modern Verda-type. Unable to fix location. Possible area intersects first beacon. Probable call for reinforcement."]

Crap crap crap. Mitsuko dashed into her room to put some shoes on.

[Teal Mage]

Summary: Alex scries things. He's watching you!

Magical distress beacon detected. Miranda's cool and professional voice stated, cutting through Alex's empty haze of sleep. Get up. She continued, curtly.

The blond teen groaned, before rolling over to look at the digital clock by his bed. He let out an annoyed, "No." Before rolling back over and trying to salvage his beauty rest. It was barely nine.

I'm not asking. Miranda replied mildly, The distress beacon is Autekka, we should monitor- She paused mid sentence, frowning. -second Beacon detected. This one's Verda, modern. Her eyes widened, The first is pre-war! That's...

Be quiet and let me sleep. Alex cut in. He was not a morning person.

The silence stretched and, face buried in his blankets, Alex grinned triumphantly.

Until something sharp pounded into his skull.

* * *

A five minute morning routine later, an annoyed Alex stood in front of the full length mirror in his room dressed in a plain white shirt and jeans. His hair was still wet from the hurried shower he'd taken, looking at it made him feel like a drowned rat.

"Why can't we fight a magical battle at a reasonable hour?" Alex complained, running his hands through his hair and trying, unsuccessfully, to untangle it. "Like, at night. No sane person gets up this early."

Deal with it. Miranda replied, unsympathetic to her charge’s plight.

"Fine." He sighed, "Here I go-" Alex frowned suddenly, "-wait a sec. Should I be scrying after the last time?" Sensing mild puzzlement from Miranda, he continued, "The fire snake. The last time Verda and Autekka signatures were this closely linked..."

It can't be helped. Miranda replied calmly, But you're right to consider this a trap. The frequency of the distress signals is suspicious, at best. Once we establish contact with the area, and determine which Verda have mobilized, you can warn them.

Alex nodded, before gesturing curtly to the mirror. "Dancing Colors." The edges of the mirror flashed red, before his reflection began to distort...and kept distorting.

Blinking in confusion, Alex stared at the swirling image in the mirror. "That's..." he had to look away, the distortions were making him sick, "...not right."

Zoom out.

No change. He tried again, and again. "No good." Miranda and Alex frowned, "Something's blocking me, I can't..." The blond shook his head; a different tactic would be required. "Let me try a location shift."

That worked. "...a forest?" Alex murmured as the image took shape, he'd had to move good distance off, but, it was something. He began to shift the scry around the distortion field, trying to get an idea of the source.

"...nope." Alex sighed, he sorta knew where it was. But the field was too large to triangulate with any reliability. At least he'd managed found a good teleportation point during the search, that was something.

Now, the mages. They should be going there by now.

Alex nodded, releasing the image and focusing on the seven magic users, both Autekka and Verda, that he knew. Mitukso, Akari, Shimizu, Menarker, the White Knight, Ivy and the little girl. Lines of red light appeared on the mirror, dividing it into seven sections...

[Astral Harmony]

Miyasaki Shimizu was looking forward to a good day. She had made plans with Kazuki and Yayoi last night to go hang out together later today when the two of them were done with student council business. She just entered her room to find the phone ringing. Shimizu Mitsuko was on the caller ID. Shimizu's eyes grew hard as she picked up the phone.

"Miyasaki Shimizu speaking. What's up? ...What? Okay, where do you want me to be? ...Right, I'm on my way. See you soon."

Shimizu wasn't thinking straight, that was for certain. Without changing out of her towel, she took up Ponpon and held it high. "Please don't cry and please don't frown 'cause Solblaster's taking flight to rock this town! Trans! Form!"
Ponpon yawned and started glowing. "Honestly, Mother, you rocking this town sounds like a very good reason for people to cry and frown, paya."
"Jus' shut up and transform me. Oh, are all systems good? The suit took a lot of damage in the last battle."
"Don't worry, paya. After a good night of self-recovery, all systems are good to go, paya! Just try not to get beat up this time, paya."
"It's worth get beaten up a little if none of us're killed."

Being careful to sneak outside and take to the skies, Shimizu was rocketing towards the rendevous with Mitsuko, Akari and the others. But she halted in midair when something caught her eye.
Altering her course, Shimizu landed near a tree and looked at one of its lower, thicker branches. Dangling her legs over the side and swinging them lazily was none other than Novaburst, the mysterious magical woman who challenged Shimizu to a fight for the use of the Spreiga Ponbit. "It's you again," Shimizu said, sounding more annoyed than anything.
Novaburst finally looked down at Shimizu. "Don't you have something more important to be doing?"
Shimizu ignored that. "What're you doing here?"
"Isn't the morning beautiful today?" Novaburst said, hopping down from the branch. "When you're finished with your current business, please return to this place. I shall stay out of sight and will wait for you to come back. I have something for you, but you won't need it now and you should attend to more important matters for now."

Shimizu wasn't sure what to say in response, then turned around to launch off again. "Fine. I'll be back. Wait for me."
Novaburst nodded and waved as Shimizu took flight and hurried to where Mitsuko was waiting.
"I can't scan her," Shimizu said to Ponpon. "Can you identify her at all?"
"No, paya." Ponpon said with a low voice. "Her suit is preventing all kinds of scans, paya. Maybe we should ask someone else to try and help us in finding out who she is, paya?"
"Nevermind about that," Shimizu said. "The other magical people probably have enough on their own plates to worry about some mysterious chick with equally mysterious motives. All in all, I don't think she's an enemy. Not now, anyways."

[Overcast]

The crab felt something in his little shell. It was a tinge, repeating, a sense that kept coming back. A cycle. It had been a while since he felt something like this. Something that seemed to be calling, a signal. There was another word. Another word that should have been important. Dammit it has been so long since the last time he felt it. It wouldn't stop like a damn...

"BEACON!"

Carcinos jumped up and scuttled toward Nicia quickly. She was already staring down at the crab, a little shaken by being woken by the whole screaming thing. He was really trying to scuttle as fast as he could, but anyone could tell you crabs don't really have speed, they are more akin to agility,

"You doing okay man? You seem a bit distressed."

He lept much higher than she had ever seen the crab jump before. Really it was amazing he could jump at all according to how his physiology should be. Seeing him in distress was so much less serious than it should be though. He was just too damn CUTE!

"A beacon! We got a distress beacon! We are about to see if your creativity can be applied to a real situation. We need transportation though!"

She stared at him a moment...this was what all of this was for wasn't it? The summon applied to battle. So up went her hand and the void where all her summons came from seemed to attach to her body fully before floating out into an orb that broke to reveal her in her Witch's Reverie. She grabbed Carcinos and jumped out the window. On the fall came Scotty dragging them up high enough that people wouldn't even notice she was there,

"Just tell me the way Carcinos."

Carcinos gave off a very determined feeling. Trying to figure the exact location. At the time though the frequency was not as strong as he could have wanted. He could point out the direction though,

"Be sure to keep some of your Michaelmas ready. A summoner is a commander of sorts, they never rush headlong into the battle. A key to any major battle is preparation. A good scout can reveal some amazing things. Be hidden, let your creatures be obvious."

And so a few winged men hung on for dear life on the shark fins. She wasn't sure what she was getting into. Though she hadn't been this excited for a LONG time,

"I'm ready Carcinos."

"We can only hope."

[Menarker]

Menarker tossed and turned during most of the night, his mind riddled with the various gaps in Mero's tale and some of the worries they entailed.

"That story had such a huge hole in it... What sort of botched up training? I sure hope mine wasn't. I mean, if she was as talented as Mero said she was and still ended up broken, then what's stopping it from happening to me? And it would probably have to be something pretty darn profound, not just some routine daily exercise gone wrong. And damn, talk about no real ending. Well, I guess it could just be that she dies, but Verda and Autekkas fight all the time against each other and even against monsters. A death of a mage would be regretable, but not terribly uncommon I would imagine... So why would Mero and Sora be so special as to restrict her ability? Outsides forces intervene? Additional traits about familiars that no one told me? Of course, it's possible it's just a case of emotional or mental blockage or maybe this entire power loss thing has never had anything to do with Sora in the first place and that I'm just overthinking again... Damn, it's so open ended... and I'm still wondering what Mero meant about Sora hating "family bonds"."

-------
The next day, Mern woke up and maintained his normal weekend routine of breakfast, personal grooming and the computer. He glanced quizzically wondering where Mero had hidden, but his general fatigue bade him to push it as a minor worry. Until he saw a text message on his desktop that he never made. Curious, he opened it and glanced at the mostly coherent message, wishing he could smirk at her difficulty typing with cat paws. He read it repeatably, approximating a rough guess as to an appropriate translation.

"Dear Mena,

I can't stay any longer. I fear the worst should reoccur should our partnership continue to run.

Sora was a mage who despite having offensive magic was a gentle soul. Her talents made it incredibly easy to master anything posed to her, but her heart was never in combat. But she had a companion dear to her whose life was threaten by a vicious monster. I objected to her rushing off without gathering allies, but she was so driven and possessing of a adamant spirit that I felt that with her natural abilities, she wouldn't lose. I went along with her to assist her, but it was a catastrophe. Despite both our attacks, it buried itself into our space and left me weak, as she panicked from its speed and chaotic killing intent. Allies finally came to our aid, but not before it had viciously wounded her twice over, batting her around like a toy.

Ultimately, she never quite was the same again as she would flinch in terror with the slightest provocation and would rarely ever leave her friend's side. I took the blame since while she was enamored with the magical world, she never wanted a mage's duty to fight, although I feel she felt compelled by the obligation of the bond between familiar and mage which ultimately put an end to our partnership. And our friendship, as she and I have never met since that day. And I feel horrible because I feel the same could have happened to you again, pulling you suddenly into the reality of magic and straight into combat which you had no interest or stakes prior to.

You can stop fighting and go back to your life. You already done so much already and no one would blame you for leaving for a peaceful life with the perils you bravely faced already.

I'm sorry for everything and I praise the success you earned thus far and any you have in your bright future."



Mern instantly bolted out of his chair, gathered his outdoor clothing, and bolted out of the house, wandering absentmindly to any location he figured she would likely venture to, barging through alleyways and streets, and even trespassing on rooftops. He tried to twitch and twinge his senses however he could to attune to their unique link, but he grunted in frustration that she went into hiding. Moments after, he felt something like a tingling sensation, of a familiar element in the air far away, a Verda presence which had probably been around for a short while but had been unable to firmly grasp before in the panic.

"I can't be absolutely certain... but something is passionately telling me that what Mero told me isn't quite true... and there is something else that I can't put my finger on. I get the feeling that my best answers would be to search for her within that field..."

[Naqel]

Daichi was playing some online game with Hidesuke. They were actually playing it from yesterday evening, but Daichi was fine with just a few cups of tea, since he purposely slept through all the Friday afternoon.

Suddenly, a familiar sensation hit him. Something magic related was going on nearby... Something was calling him...
Knowing there were other magic users in his own class, there could have been more in the school, or even the entire town...
He had to go, find out where he stands, find out why and who is calling him. He quickly typed on the keyboard:

[Dai-wizard] says: RL is calling. :s
[Hiderrior-kun] says: NOW?! We're a boss away from getting my enchanted swords of fire and ice! >:O
[Dai-wizard] says: sry... we'll have to finish this later...
[Hiderrior-kun] says: If we break it now, we'll have to start all over... :'(
[Dai-wizard] says: Maybe that "hot elf" you like will be online when we take this quest on again.
[Hiderrior-kun] says: Nah, she won't... :( But nice try. :P
I'll let you go if I get all the money from your reward, when we redo it. >:D
[Dai-wizard] says: That's not really fair... I'm already giving you the sword so you'll have a set. :|

For a while Daichi seriously considered not answering to the magical call.

[Hiderrior-kun] says: That's cause you don't need swords anyway. :P
[Dai-wizard] says: Alright, alright... :P You can have the gold.
*Dai-wizzard is crying*
[Hiderrior-kun] says: C ya when you're back.
*Hiderrior-kun waves*
[Dai-wizard] says: Yeah. Later.
[system]*logout in 5*
[system]*logout in 4*
[system]*logout in 3*
[system]*logout in 2*
[system]*logout in 1*

***

With his bag packed with all sorts of things he remembered were used for some spells, Daichi was about to leave the house...
As he was reaching for the doorknob, the door opened. Kotone was standing on the other side. They both looked at each other in surprise for a while.
"Oh... Hi. Wh-Where are you going Daichi?" Kotone spoke first with a sad, slightly shaking, voice.
"Uh... Hi. Ummm... I'm going to... to meet with some new classmates..."
"A-At an hour like th-this?"
"Y-Yeah..." Technically, it wasn't a lie, but Daichi felt like he was doing something wrong. He spaced out for a while.
"Is everything alright?" Kotone calmed down pretty fast for someone as sensitive and gentle as she was. Though she still sounded a bit sad.
"Y-Yeah... Yeah." Daichi was back on earth again. "I'll have to go now... We'll talk a bit when I'll come back. Okay?"
"IF, I'll come back." He thought.
Over his own steps, he didn't hear what she replied.

***

Hoping to attract as little attention as possible, Daichi used pubic transport to get to where he felt the magic calling him. It was quite easy to do as the park he picked as a good place to start looking was one of the stops on a special touring line. If everything would go fine, he'd be there in 20 minutes total, and have a plan on how to move next ready.

[OOC: I really hope I haven't messed anything up... It's 4am as I finished this, and by finished I mean deleting the "sadfvtnh" and "mjhgfrv" parts from the sentences where my head hit the keyboard. Edits for fixing spelling and grammar. :P]

[Inbred Chocobo]

Friday at Lunch

Kazu found a seat near Ashley to the dismass towards pretty much every girl in the lunchroom. After exchanging greetings they had a little discussion about the progress she was having with Kendo. Once she had learned the disciplines, it was really a matter of learning the art of Kendo. Due to her physical condition they didn't have to pay much attention to working out, it was really the forms and footing they were working on.

Then later Kazunori ask Ahsley "So I got invited somehow to Sakiko's birthday party tomorrow. I was wondering if you would like to come with me?" In basically a week of being together, he was finally asking the girl out. He had to admit he liked this girl's spirit, even if it made her headstrong a bit, so he might as well start advancing things and see where it leads.

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Saturday morning

Kazunori was at the front gate of the mansion. It was a lot bigger than he was expecting, and he was starting to wonder what exactly he had gotten himself into with trying to date Ashley. He whistled to himself as they let him in and he walked up towards the front door. The people there said they would let her know he was there and he could wait in the main lobby.

Taking a seat in one of the benches, a voice spoke in his ear. "We got a problem. I'm picking up two distress beacons. One of prewar Autekka and one modern Verda." Shiro spoke. "Immediate response is required." He added in. Kazu groaned a bit. "We have a slight problem, what are we going to do with Ashley?" Kazu responsed. Shiro replied "Think of something quick, we need to move." Shiro finished. Kazu sighed and waited for Ashley, having to break a date before one began.

[PhoenixFlame]

*yawn* Akari rolled out of bed and quickly dressed, preparing herself for Sakiko's birthday party. She'd got a nice card, and her sister had helped her pick out a proper present for the girl, so everything was squared away. Aah, and she'd even get to meet that boy from the kendo team!

*ding* ["System, Update."]

Though she hadn't fully dressed yet, Akari was as usual wearing Ceres as a particularly stylish necklace. Unfortunately, as the two began to become more familiar with each other, the girl'd begun to pick up on her mannerisms. Ceres usually ran longrange area searches and coordinated with Bright Day in the morning, after which she'd signal new developments with the previous prompt.

"Awh, but it's Sakiko's party today! I'm gonna have a great time, and Mitsuko too."

"Akari." Mitsuko called out casually from the other room, "You want to head down to the shops? I just realised I forgot to get something for Sakiko's birthday, so we'll have to hurry."

"Sis!" She called back, "Didn't we just go out yesterday and decide everything was done with?"

["Priority Alert."]

"You've got to be kidding me." Akari sighed in frustration, "Another talisman?"

"Effectively. We've detected a pair of distress beacons on simultaneous report. One's Verda, the other is Autekkan. Predictably I can only lock the latter to a reasonably precise coordinate." Ceres reported mentally, with all of the distinct professionalism that came with her demenour.

"OKAY SIS!" Akari called back, "I forgot something too!"

Today had gone from good to worse.