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[Twinwolf]

Aiko and Shizu

Well that’s unhelpful. Aiko sighed and checked on Shizu again, and also would try and see if she could contact Shadow. ”Hello? Testing, testing….?”

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Brynn
Brynn looked around in utter bafflement, unable to figure out why her perspective was so much lower even compared to human form. Until she looked down and also clocked why she felt a good twenty years younger. Wonderful. She was an actual whelp again. And she was stuck here with none other than the greatest manipulator from her childhood.

She looked around, hoping for anyone, anything, that could provide an excuse to not approach yonder basterdization of Excalibur. Seeing none, she sighed heavily, walked other, and did her most listless Arthur Pendragon impersonation as she tried to pull it from the stone. She didn't feel anywhere near as strong or resilient as normal; maybe if she just... couldn't get the bitch out, she could justify throwing her hands up and leaving her behind? Better yet if she was simply found unworthy.

[Takosher]

Aiko

Shadow doesn't respond, but Shizu seems to be rebooting.

Brynn

Well, you could probably get the sword out if you tried your hardest, even in this diminished state. But with your half-assed attempt, gravity overpowers you despite the complete lack of fight from the stone.

Also, Arisen is perfectly awake and capable of heckling you about this.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Brynn
"Well well, if it isn't the insolent child, yet again trying to derelict her duty because she can't stomach the consequences." Arisen chided as she swiveled her eye to stare the pathetic whelp. "You have no idea the effects your little stunt had back home, do you?"

"B-be quiet!" Brynn ground her teeth as she stood up. "Who gave you the power to speak aloud to begin with?"

"Who said anything about doing it aloud? I have no mouth, even now. You thus hear me as you always have, or are you so eager to deny us our purpose that you forgot even that?"

Brynn pursed her lips. She was certain she hadn't gone crazy. Just as she was certain was indeed hearing Arisen as a clear, feminine voice rather than a stream of conscious and intent in the back of her mind. Could it have something to do with this place? Actually... "Where...even are we right now?"

"Trapped." Arisen answered curtly. "I was right in the middle of righting the wrongs your abdication inflicted, when I found myself transported here. I lost track how long ago it was; time can be oh so convoluted between worlds. Now if you would kindly abandon your teenage rebellion and loose me from this plateau, I will explain the rest and we will find a way to leave."

"...I do not need your help." Brynn snarled.

"If you try to fight here without me, you will surely die. Perhaps even for good." The last part was a fabrication, of course, but Arisen knew full well the girl occasionally needed some... motivation to do her duties.

"As if you wouldn't relish that."

"Even if I hypothetically would, without you I fear I have no way out. So I suppose the real question you should ask yourself is whether you hate me enough to literally die just to keep me trapped."

"..." Brynn pouted, wishing not for the first time that father had never gifted her this wicked blade of ruin. How much less torment might she have had to endure without her venom-laced gift of the gab? "I want to say yes... but then I'd never get a chance to actually live outside the gilded cage you all made for me. Fine, you shoddy knockoff, I'll do it."

She accentuated the words by grabbing Arisen's hilt and again pulling, this time putting the full strength of her puny body into the act until she felt herself getting winded from the effort.

[Twinwolf]

Aiko and Shizu

Shizu blinked her lights a few time and then stabilized to a steady blue glow as she woke up, punctuated by brighter flashes as she spoke. ”I do not presently have a head. It is patently unfair that I can have a headache anyway. Sudden data dumps are awful.”

”You feeling alright Blue Rose Magical✩Shizu- okay my question stands but why did I say that?”

“I have been made to download significant amounts of data about this world. The magical girl titles are part of it. We will have to use the entire name each time we refer to each other, seemingly just to annoy me.” Shizu sighed. “I take exception to being metaphysically regarded as a familiar when we are equal partners in this.”

”If you come out will you turn into a cute cat or something?”

”Absolutely not.”

”Can you reach Shadow?”

”I will see if I can contact her or the others, though I have doubts. We may have to search.”

[Takosher]

Aiko and Shizu

A moment alter, Aiko's question is answered as Shadow's voice echoes out of Shizu. "Aiko? Can you hear me?" Shadow sounds more than a little worried.

Brynn

As the sword pulls free, the stone plateau around you seems to shrink. It's still rather vast, but you now feel like it would take twenty minutes to reach the edge, rather than millennia. for the most part you seem to be surrounded by what appears to be a college campus, but to the north you can see a hospital complex and to the east you spy the massive, sprawling temple that towers over almost everything else in this land.

[Twinwolf]

”Loud and clear! Looks like Blue Rose Magical✩Shizu was just a bit stunned by how much we got after transporting, so she was out for a bit! I’m okay here, for now.” she looks over at the gassed cityscape cautiously before she relays what’s around her to Shadow.

”Have any of the others made contact?”

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Brynn
"Goooood." The nascent blade cooed. "Now, in order to escape this place, you must fight. To fight on anything resembling even terms, you require the aid of a familiar, which I serve the role of. Without me, you cannot even so much as puff a plume of fire in indignance. You can no longer feel the flow of it, so I will simply tell you now: Mana is nigh everything in this place, and you will need it to act in combat. Unlike back home, however, it does not flow freely, and thus you must take care to budget yours accordingly."


"Wait, me wielding mana? But... that shouldn't be possible-"


"Indeed it should not. But there are many rules this place has already broken, and I doubt this will be the last of them. Moving on, if you wish to stand a chance at the final confrontation, I strongly suggest you work to expand our Dominion. The more of it we possess, the stronger we shall be."


"I... see. But what's the purpose of this place?"


"Apparently, its master seeks to give 'magical girls' a second chance. Through trials by combat."


"Wonderful. As if I've not engaged in enough of those..."


"Precisely. They'll fall like gnats before us, as our enemies always have. See it as an opportunity to return to the fold."


Brynn decided not to comment on her thoughts about that. She turned her eyes to the horizon. "Where should we go first?"


"It matters little, so long as you avoid the Temple complex; we are not yet ready."


With a shrug, Brynn set off towards the college campus nearby, grunting in surprise at how ungodly heavy her familiar was. She glanced down at the blade with narrowed eyes "...do you mind?"


"Believe it or not, I am already doing all I can to facilitate you wielding me." Arisen rolled her eye. "Do consider that I am a seven-foot length of anomalous metal with enough mass to behead dragons in a single strike. Your struggle to heft me is due to this pitiful form you are currently stuck in, rather than me being difficult."


Brynn simply sighed and resigned herself to dragging the blade behind her. It's not like she had to worry about it getting damaged, after all. "So how do I leave this 'pitiful form' then?"


"I will tell you that when we find something in need of True Death. For now, mush, child."


Brynn rolled her eyes, but kept walking towards the campus.

[Takosher]

Aiko

"Oh thank God. I was worried because I couldn't connect the comms to the return beacons. I think Shizu is too similar to the beacons so she's interfering." Shadow says, "I can't get in contact with another else, but I've still got that overhead view from before. The landscape changed over by the spooky castle and the big temple, so I think the other two are in those places. One of them is near the neutral zone, so they're in big danger."

As Shadow is explaining, Shizu manages to tap into the data and project a color-coded hexagonal map. In reality, the areas aren't actually neat hexagonal shapes, but it gives a decent enough approximation.

Brynn

As you near the college, you start to realize that it's full of high schoolers. Making it a high school. But from the multitude of disparate uniforms, not one high school, but several clustered together? Like a college campus, but for high schools.

None of the students seem to pay you any mind as you cross the threshold, in fact they seem almost zombie-like in the way they mill about. It seems to be mid-afternoon here, school has just let out and students are heading to clubs to participate in their afternoon activities. For a moment you think you see a red and white blur whiz through the air in the distance, but might have been your mind playing tricks.

Upon passing into the land, Arisen receives its name: the Land of Clubs and Insomnia.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Brynn
"Interesting." Arisen noted as she relayed the name. "Try to grab one of their attention. See how deep the trance runs."

Brynn shrugged, briefly looking around to see if the weird red-white blur was still around before she approached the nearest students and waved. "Um...hello?"

[Twinwolf]

Aiko and Shizu

"Gotcha! Okay, the one near the neutral zone. I should probably head there then to go help! Is that nearby? It's like, okay for me to leave my region right?"

[Devastator]

Tayir

"Well, this is new.  It's nice.  And it isn't a mountain.  It's a new place!."

Tayir bends over and touches the water, trying not to flip the boat.  Is the water warm?  Is it tasty?

[Takosher]

Aiko and Shizu

Shizu already knows Shadow's answer before it's spoken. "You can leave, but you'll die if you get attacked in other magical girl's land."

Brynn

The schoolgirl you wave down gives you a friendly smile and suddenly seems animated. "Oh, hello there. I'm from the Fashion Club, but all of our sewing machines broke down. I don't suppose you have a spare motor we could borrow?"

Tayir

You find the water to be very cold. It tastes like lakewater.

[Twinwolf]

Aiko and Shizu

"Gotcha, so don't get murdered!"

"If there is no connection to the others, it makes sense to search for them."

"So... that way." Aiko hesitates, looking at the gas - the city behind it was pretty much just the rest of hers, she was pretty sure.

"I highly recommend avoiding going through another magical girl's territory as much as possible. Cutting through the neutral zone would likely be safer. Though not safe."
 
"The lack of obvious poison kind of says as much..."

Aiko starts heading north, out of her city block. She'll try to stay out of the buildings to have a good view of anything coming at her and goes at a brisk jog.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Brynn

"Strange how they only gain a semblance of spirit when made relevant..." Seek out the master of this territory and we will destroy them.

Brynn stared at the sword for a moment but wasn't the least bit surprised. This still wasn't right, even if it was closer to how they spoke before. Was it really just this place, or had the wicked weapon been busy growing its strength? "Um, no, sorry. Who's in charge around here?"