Magical Fracas, Episode 5: New friends and enemies?

[phil_]

Brief and to the point? Panko laughed a little at how well Picky had inadvertently prepared her. "Well, I shoot stuff with cuteness. I haven't really hit anyone with it yet, but it works good on monsters. Oh, and I can heal stuff and break stuff and move fast."

Picky shot a look at the newcomer. "So, like the girl said, 'what's your deal,' newbie? And has anyone seen Kid Psycho and Crazy Cat yet? We kinda need to know what we have before we make a plan."

[Overcast]

She stared at the two of them. Morgan? That was a strange thing to call someone off the wall, though she guessed it fit the profile of her appearance. She would have to work her actual alter ego name in there since everyone probably had one...so what was her alter ego. She had to think quick about the whole presentation. After all the first impression was always something she enjoyed to nail on the get go. First a name, Greek is probably best for her. Khaos was the origin of all...though a hermaphroditic origin creature wasn't best. Origin goddess, Greek, strong willed, undefeated, good name, fits the dark nature of her look...ahh there we go,

"I am the summoner Nyx. As my name implies."

She raised her hand and the portals of the void opened up and Michaelmas, reflectolites, the primal emotions, the goddess, the furies, and of course Scotty. Who all dissipated back into the void soon after they appeared. She tiled her head to the side, the veil revealing her clever smile before falling back to cover her perfectly. She pointed up at her hat real quick,

"And up here is my familiar, Carcinos. Clever little creep. My creatures often fight in the frontlines, save for the shark who is the one who keeps me out of harms way when things go badly. And if all else fails I can always risk my health to turn someone into a frog with just a touch of my finger."

The hat wiggled about as Carcinos tried to speak up loud enough that the hat didn't dampen him too much,

"Pleasure to meet you ladies. Glad to be with other Verda again."

[Teal Mage]

Summary: Ayame talks, then waits for an answer. But she doesn't think planning will work well.

"Your familiar's a hat!?" Ayame asked incredulously, before giving Nicia a pitying look, "You poor girl." She shook her head, "I hope for your sake we don't fight giant moths. You have enough problems." She didn't elaborate.

Instead, she turned her attention to Picky. He'd asked a good question after all.

"I'm afraid we're all there is." Ayame stated, brushing back a strand of her red mane, "Only two of my messages reached their targets, and Sparkie didn't sound like he was gonna come." She paused thoughtfully, "In fact, I think I scared him, he freaked after I told said it might be a trap." Ayame shrugged, "So, unless there's more newbies like Witchy over there, this is our team."

"So! Plan away." Ayame smiled, "I was just going to see what was what, and then blast away." She shrugged, "Couldn't get enough information on the enemy to go beyond that. There's a pretty twisted field around the beacon."

Any plan we make'll fall apart pretty fast. Ayame added gravely to Picky, telepathically. And if I'm right, the enemy won't have simple spells waiting for us. Keep it general.

[Astral Harmony]

"Oh, wow. We found each other pretty quickly, didn't we?"

Shimizu looked at Ponpon. "Hey, Ponpon. How much longer will it take for Mitsuko to get here?"
Ponpon was silent for a moment. "Given the distance and speed, I'd say she will be here in three minutes and fourty-two seconds, paya."
Shimizu nodded and walked towards Akari. "I wonder if there's-"
"Provided she doesn't run into anything...distracting, paya." Ponpon interrupted.
"-any of those Verda mages around yet?" Shimizu finished. "My equipment can't find out how to get to the beacon, but yours can, right?"

"Incoming transmission to your cellphone, paya. Caller identified as Mitsurugi Kazuki, paya."
Shimizu blinked. "Since when were you able to interface with my cellphone? Ummm...oh, can you patch him through or something?"
"Of course, paya. Connecting."
"Sorry, this'll only take a moment," Shimizu apologized to Akari, then focused on her All Purpose Scanner. The clear screen showed Kazuki's face and profile, his phone number and, Shimizu discovered, it recorded all that was said in the conversion. "Hey, Kazuuuu. What's up? I'm sorry, but I've really gotta make this quick."
"Oh, magical girl stuff? Cool. Listen, I've got these two tickets to the theme park and I was wondering if you wanted to go some time today?"
Shimizu nodded without thinking. "Yeah, I can easily work that into my schedule. This shouldn't take too long, I'm hoping."
"Awesome, great. But man, I actually feel kind of bad for Yayoi."
"Why, what's happening?"
"She actually called me earlier this morning. She's got two tickets herself and wanted to take me today, but I've got you so-" Kazuki left it hanging.

Shimizu paced back and forth a few times. "Alright, I've got it. I think two o'clock's a good time."
"Sure, two o'clock's a great time."
"Just don't expect it to be the two of us. See, you know me. I gots plans."
"Have you been hanging around my older sister Kazuna? You're starting to sound like her."
"Nope. Anyways, I gotta go. Savin' the world 'n' whatnot. I'll catch you up on my plan later. Bye, Kazuuuuuu!"
"Ah, yeah, take care, Shimizu."
"Conversation stored, paya."
Shimizu shrugged. "Delete it. I don't need it."
"Conversation deleted, paya."
Shimizu turned back to Akari. "No rest for the wicked, eh? Now we should go find that beacon before the shooting starts."

[PyrosNine]

AHA! She'd forgotten something. Something so worthwhile Ashley actually skipped AND picked up her ribbon on the way to the phone.

She had Kazunori's phone number! She wasn't sure if it was his cell phone or home phone, but she was certain somebody would be there to help explain why Kazunori had both failed to show up, or showed up and failed to take a comfortable seat on the porch while important matters of clothes were attended to.

She dialed it up. It was hard to tell with the region's phone numbers, whether it was cell phone nor not. Back in the podunk, a cell phone number was any number that lacked anything remotely resembling the local area code. Over here...she thought they must allow you to buy custom cell phone numbers, or something...

The phone was ringing.

The ribbon had another idea!

[Inbred Chocobo]

Kazu was flying, the area he was heading towards was visible up ahead. Shiro was briefing him about what to do. "Play it safe, remember we don't know who is ally or who isn't. You can probably approach Verda while your arms are up and befriend them. The same can't be said for Autekka, so be warned."

Kazu asked back "So any idea on what is up ahead?" Shiro replied "I'm not exa..." Then the phone rang. Shiro automatically replied. "Why is your cellphone on?" Shiro asked immediately.

"Sorry, forgot about it. We arn't there yet so.. CRAP! Its Ashley." Kazu stopped in mid-air. "Hopefully this will just take a second." Kazu said as he flipped the phone up and answered it. "Hey Ashley, I'm really sorry about having to skip out, my mom got sick and needed some medicine. When I get done taking care of her I'll come back and we can try to catch the tailend of the party, is that okay?" Kazu said, probably a bit too hastily into the phone.

[PhoenixFlame]

["Beacon locked, thirty meters."]

"Yeah, I've got it." Akari replied as Shimizu asked her about the beacon and the verda mages, "Hey Ceres, do we know where the Verda signal is?" When in doubt, ask the experts.

["Negative. ECM and passive scan decreases detect probability."]

"That's ours, right?" She raised an eyebrow, parsing Ceres' device form broken speech and referencing it with what she'd learned of Autekkan stealth techniques. It meant that since Ceres was running in a low-power scan mode and masking the signal with background noise, she could not detect anything beyond the beacon, nor likely be detected in turn.

["Affirmative."]

"Well, I guess none of us know where we are." Akari put her right hand behind her head, and idly scratched her hair, "Or anyone else, for that matter." she nodded and allowed Shimizu to take her call, idly kicking her armored boots against the ground in anxious anticipation of her sister's arrival.

*Bing* ["Message Recieved."]

Akari looked down at Ceres with suprised eyes, "Huh?"

"When I interfaced with your computer system on the first night, I took the liberty of, ah... Reverse-engineering the operating system." Ceres explained in Akari's head with a semi-embarassed tone, "And then I rigged a wireless reciver device via simulation magic to connect to your email and messenger clients so that you could communicate with your friends while working, thus maintaining the illusion of staying home."

"Wait, you have me logged in now, and you never told me?" She continued, trying not to sound too scolding, but certainly not pleased.

"Well... No. Not exactly. The system has yet to be completed, but you have recieved an email from your friend Ishioka Reiko. She's wondering what you're bringing to the birthday party."

"..." Akari glared.

"Master, this moment has become quite awkward."

"Yeah."

"I will terminate the uplink."

"No rest for the wicked, eh? Now we should go find that beacon before the shooting starts."

"Let's hope it's only the verda shooting at us this time." Akari sighed, and pointed the way toward the cave entrance, "Onwards!"

[Arhra]

Mero chased after the Verda beacon, the Familiar intent on dealing with whatever it was by herself. There was a scent of suspicious magic very close by: a clearing. No, more a thinning in the density of the trees really; thin, younger trees growing up in this break.

Black links shot out of the ground, spreading out to ensure Mero was within the wide space they enclosed. Arcs of crackling orange tied them together as they began revolving around the edge of the clearing like a gigantic snake chasing its own tail. Beneath it, orange lines shimmered patchily into existence, forming into a band filled with geometric shapes and symbols. A barrier trap.

"A Familiar without a master?" a feminine voice came from ahead of Mero. It chuckled. "Are you lost?" the voice continued from a different direction. "Maybe you'd like to be my little kitty?"

* * *

In accordance with Mitusko's wishes, Shimizu went on ahead, deactivating part of her Barrier Jacket for extra speed and suddenly rocketing off with a scream.

You'd think she'd be able to keep the undersuit on. Mitsuko sighed, averting her eyes.

Panting, Mitsuko caught up with Akari and Shimizu, the two having already found the cave the beacon was coming from. "Onwards!" Akari declared.

The entrance within the cave proved to be hidden from normal eyes. It had been anchored in a Phantom Zone, but it was one easily entered. The door - huge and armoured like a vault - would have proven more troublesome, if it hadn't already been half melted.

Inside was a cavernous space, walled in by rack upon rack of strange slabs, wide streets between the tombstone-like monoliths. It was lit by dim, emergency lights, lamp-posts extending along the avenues and lights mounted on the holding structures.

The place was approximately one third full, a chaotic maze of haphazardly placed walls, extending up into the third dimension. Some sections were empty, others in ordered shells headed inwards, suggestive of how it should be arranged. Avenues were blocked, rail like structures suggesting the arrangement was reconfigurable.

Ahead, at the centre, was a fat tower. Lines of energy crawled over it in periodically changing patterns. It wouldn't even be visible if sections of the airspace ahead hadn't been cleared, the empty holding racks retracted against the ceiling.

"It's too quiet in here." Mitsuko said, firmly repressing a shiver. "Like a grave."

She looked at one of the slabs and the rack holding it. "What is this place?"

The answer was alarming.

This place was a factory. The blocks were able to be transmuted into a wide variety of Autekkan weapons and machines by a structure conversion tower. For example, the one at the center of the facility. A tower required an abhorrent amount of mana to function, which was why this one was capping a nexus of magical energy, masking it in the process.

No immediate sign of any activity at all...

[phil_]

Picky grunted and nodded his head sagely. "Right. For now, Nyx, was it? Nyx, try to run interference if we run into trouble. Your summons are our defense perimeter. Panko, remember your Cat's Call; after that, keep mobile and fire from mid-range. Ayame, you seem talented at detection spells, so keep alert." Mentally, he added, "Everyone keep in mental contact. Let's move." With that, he started flying once more toward the Verda distress beacon. Panko followed.

[PyrosNine]

"What do you mean sick? How terrible is it? Are you picking things up at the local pharmacy, because it's only like a block away. And I think you can order these things by phone or internet and have them delivered nowadays. Does she need a nurse? I have my family doctor, and she could...."

"That Verda is not taking care of any mother. It is likely a ruse to explain his disappearance."

"WHAT? How would...err, hold on a sec, My... my tv's left on, let me turn it off..."

Ashley held a hand over the receiver. "Shut up! How would you know anyway!? Thin ice!"

She placed the phone back to her ear and mouth.

"Oh, sorry about that. My housemaid's kids were watching a tv show. Verdericons, some anime robot show. So...umm.....when do you think you'll be available again? Or should I go have fun without you?"