Showdown

The Fool Arc

The convention hall descends into a mass of screaming and terror as crowds begin pushing away from the cosplay area in a panic, terrified. The fear is spreading amongst the guests, staff, and grows with the horrific sounds coming from behind them. The rumors earlier that day of a monster haunting the center had been proven true in the most terrifying way.

A figure in red and white jumps out of the doorway to the internal corridor where the bellowing and roaring snarls emanate from. A scarce handful of seconds later, a huge, oozing, dripping monstrosity blasts out of the doorway. It lets out a howl to the sky as it stands to its full height, the huge mass of the creature growing larger and larger every second it absorbs the fear of the crowds.

♖ Queen-Side Rook ♖

I ready myself, hearing the roars coming closer. Inside the corridors, Tama has made contact with the creature and has commenced the assault. So far, the plan is working. But that’s only so far.

“Rook, you ready?” Bishop’s voice comes from the compact hanging on my hip. Her voice has dropped the frivolity. I want to comment on it, but it’s not the time.
“Ready.” I reply, gritting my teeth. As I do, I close my eyes and reach into the sky boldly.

“Resonance… Gungnir!” I call out, and appearing in my hand is the spectral lance of myth. I spin it around and ready myself in a combat pose.

There’s gasps of amazement from around me, people stop and face me, confused by this sudden real-world deployment of magical powers. Good. Keep that focus.

The huge snarling creature comes charging out of the tunnel, the panic reaches a fever pitch.

In the light behind it, atop the building’s roof, is a pink and white figure. Her hip is cockily to the side, hand reached out in a grasp-like gesture. She appears to be shining.

“Stop, evildoer!” Magical Girl Rinrin shouts out. The huge Maniacal turns to stare at her, twisting its whole body in confusion.

“Where evil charges and harms the innocent, there is always Good there to stop them.” She’s hamming it up. Badly. I wince, wondering what the hell she’s thinking.

“Bringing you peaceful and powerful punches, it is I, Magical Girl Rinrin!” She yells out. The Maniacal is facing her now, and I take my shot.

Lance out, I let out a combat scream of joy and charge, impaling it through the back.

It lets out a snarl and smashes its fists in the wall beneath Rinrin, nearly causing her to fall off.

The fight is on.

♥ Magical Girl Rinrin ♥

Alright, alright, I can do this. Bishop, Tama, Rook, they’re all relying on me.

The people down there, too.

I take a deep breath, and shout out. The Maniacal turns to face me, and as it does, Rook charges, her lance stabbing through the Maniacal. It won’t be that easy, we already know this. But it’s a start. My dad once said to me that every tree that falls starts with a single blow.

The Maniacal smashes its fists into the building beneath me, and I almost fall, but it’s not enough. I squat down and kick up, flying into the air and aiming. As it roars in pain, I land both feet onto its forehead with a double-kick.

The huge creature turns to face me as the crowd flees, and begins climbing the wall beneath me rapidly, finding its way up, same as before, only bigger. I swallow, not letting the fear get to me, and start running across the rooftop.

“This isn’t according to plan!” I yell out. Nyamu catches up to me, flying all out, briefly distracting the Maniacal as it swings to try and bat the fairy down.

The Maniacal is on the roof with me. Away from the crowds. Good. I pirouette on the spot, boots scraping up the rooftop, get into a low running start like a track star, and charge right at the creature. It looks at me confused by the sudden change in reaction, and I use that moment to its fullest, slamming my fists hard into its stomach, chest, stomach again!

It swings at me with one fist, and I dodge over it, letting it swipe empty air beneath me. As it does, I come in with another one-two punch. It comes in with the back swing, but it’s so much slower now, and I can easily move around behind it and slam into the big oozing back of the creature.

It lets out a roar and pounds on the roof hard, the waves of almost earthquake-like energy smash me backwards, and I land with a heavy thud on the ground. Looking up, I see it looming over me. There’s no way to escape as it raises its hands. I close my eyes and hold my breath.

There’s a loud crackling sound and a booming of magical energy as shot after shot fires out, hitting the creature in the side of the head. It lets out a roar and turns to face the next challenger.

♦ Magical Girl Tama ♦

The plan was in motion the second I stepped into the corridors with Nyamu. The second I exited the convention, the others engaged in battle, distracting the Maniacal from me. I start sprinting to where Boshi waits, and look up. Boshi gives a nod at Nyamu, and they swap. Boshi with me, Nyamu moves over to distract the Maniacal and buy us time to set up.

Boshi had been scouting the area and searching for the best position, and all I had to do was trust her. She led me across the courtyard area and up a nearby fence. Right at the top, she instructed me to jump, and I obeyed.

Cartwheeling through the air, I see Rinrin fly backwards, closing her eyes. I fire my rifle again.

Shot after shot after shot hits the exposed belly of the Maniacal as it raises its arm to strike down at Rinrin. Its head snaps towards me, and Rinrin has enough time to roll out of the way and get to a safe distance. The Maniacal begins charging towards me.

“Enough time for two shots!” Boshi calls to me.

Earlier today, while on her walks around the center, Bishop had measured the entirety of the convention center and fed that information to Boshi. The fairy had then simply waited until the Maniacal ran after Rinrin on the roof, timed how long it took him at full charge, and we were able to know exactly how fast it moved.

I fire. Once. Twice. Both shots hit the head and it leaps right at me. I duck and roll to the side, and start sprinting away. Had I tried a third shot, I would have died.

I’m poor in close quarters compared to the other Magical Girls, but that is okay. Because I am fast. I am the fastest of all four. And I can lead it to the slowest.

As the Maniacal charges towards me, I run past a ventilation block, and out steps a Magical Girl dressed in white.

“Shall we play?” Bishop asks.

♗ Queen-Side Bishop ♝

I admit to a certain theatricality in my decisions. It’s so hard to deny when the thrill of a dramatic moment is so gratifying.

No plan survives contact with the enemy, but when you prepare enough plans to make up for each one destroyed, you almost have strategy.

Delightful.

The Maniacal moves far too fast for me to catch up. Even at a brisk pace, I move slowly. Had it been able to turn and run, I doubt I would have been able to get close enough to attack. However, once travelling in one direction, it’s awfully hard to move to the other, isn’t it?

Aren’t the laws of physics entertaining?

“Shall we play?” I ask, with my sweetest smile. As the Maniacal charges at me, it raises its arms to defend its face and simultaneously tries to turn the other direction. It thinks it has time to cover and redirect itself.

How cute.

My fist slams hard into the Maniacal, with enough force to knock it sprawling onto its face. Not one to stop once the battle commences, I press the attack. I move forwards and jump up onto its back.

That’s another thing that’s interesting, you know. When someone becomes too muscular, they aren’t able to reach certain areas. Like the small of their back. Dodging around the legs that lash out, and land on its back. I raise both of my fists high above me and slam them down into the Maniacal’s skull. It bounces off the rooftop with a juddering slam that cracks the ground beneath it.

Again, this time I aim the slam at its shoulderblade, and hear something beneath the skin and grotesque musculature of the growing form crack and snap.

Finally figuring out it cannot reach me with its arms, it attempts to roll over and onto me, but that’s where the cracked shoulder comes in. Even Maniacals retain survival impulses, and it won’t roll over on the side that hurts.

Meaning it can only roll to the left. I only need to watch for motion on that side.

And it won’t be able to snatch me in the air with that broken right arm.

It rolls, and I leap into the air with just enough force to slam into its solar plexus hard. As it looks up at me, I bring my fists down into its unguarded face. I’d dearly like to keep the beatdown going, but that would not fit the overall goal. So I settle for three smashes into each side of the face, each one smashing the skull into the ground and broadening the dent, before flipping over and moving off and away.

It gets to its feet and readies to attack my back, but the love of theatricality is a trait oh-so-common to Magical Girls.

“Hey Fucker. Miss me?”

♖ Queen-Side Rook ♖

“Hey Fucker. Miss me?” I charge. Gungnir drawn and at the ready. The huge spear pierces through the huge Maniacal’s chest, and it lets out a howl.

“No. NO! DIE, DIE! HATE! HATE!” It bellows, the language becoming more base and primitive as it rages. Rage is good, I know better than anyone- rage makes you do stupid shit.

I force the blade in further, cutting into its back, as Bishop ahead drops away, skipping backwards to meet up with the others. The Maniacal is panicking now. Actually panicking. For the first time, I believe we can do this. Analyzing the creature, I see that Bishop’s brutal pounding broke its cheekbone. The eye is swollen and almost shut. Clever.

I aim my next stab for its bad side, the left, and stab towards its left arm. But watch in horror as it moves its arm too fast. My spear will hit wherever I stab, but that doesn’t mean it will penetrate, and the thick armoring across the left arm is enough to deflect it. I grunt in surprise, my spear twisting aside as the Maniacal’s natural defenses stop me.

“Language, dear, that’s not appropriate for a Magical Girl.” Bishop chides, her hand around my waist as she pulls me into the air with her. Below, the Maniacal smashes the rooftop.

The building is new, but far from perfect, and finally the rooftop cracks down, smashing into the ground below. There’s screaming from the people inside as the Maniacal falls into the crowded convention hall.

♥ Magical Girl Rinrin ♥

Bishop had run to me and Anya the second Rook reengaged with the Maniacal.

I ran inside, Anya following rapidly. We both got in and immediately climbed on the central tables.

“Get out, now! All of you!” I yell. A few people stare in confusion, some in disbelief. Then the roof starts shaking. Dust sprays on everyone present.

“NOW!” They all take that as a sign, and start fleeing towards the exit when one of them screams.

The roof cracks, dust showering everyone, and then it drops. Slabs of concrete twisting and slamming the metal piping of the exposed ventilation system as they fall towards us. One of the attendees stares up as a huge slab is about to crush him, only to be wrenched out of the way by a charging Anya, at full speed. Her arm basically clotheslined him, and I’m pretty sure he lost his lunch on the way, but at least he was out with the rest.

The Maniacal lands with a slam, but we were quick enough to pull everyone away. There’s still screams of fear and shock, which cause the Maniacal to smirk. It roars into the sky, the muscles slowly healing as the fear in the room reaches a crescendo, people scattering to the exits as fast as they can. The muscles of the Maniacal begin to knit together with a disgusting sound.

“Not… good!” I moan out, I look over at Anya, who nods in agreement, gritting her teeth and raising her rifle.

There’s tension in the air. And that tension is bringing fear in massive amounts to charge the reservoir of the Maniacal. With the spectators to the sides, we can’t get distance and risk them, we’ll have to get close.

I look over at Anya, who seems to have come to the same conclusion, and as one we charge.

“Magical Girl of HEARTS!” I roar out, swinging a punch straight for the Maniacal’s face. It lands, smashing the teeth and cracking the jaw, leading it to hang slack.

“...Diamonds.” Anya says, much quieter, but she slides down between the Maniacal’s legs and fires up, a shot scoring freely into its face. She lands on the other side and rolls to a crouching position, firing again and again, fingers operating the bolt of the magically-enhanced sniper like a professional assassin.

The Maniacal staggers, but lets out a triumphant growl as white glowing veins course along its body, gathering into its chest.

This has to be it. The lines match the ones I can faintly see tracing along Anya since she summoned hers.

“Ah… ah…” The Maniacal chokes out, eyes bulging.

“Resonance; Fool.” It roars. The power explodes inwards to the heart as a glowing energy ball starts summoning in its mouth.

“No… no!” I cry out, and charge. There’s something there. The glowing spot. I punch through the resistance, the burning sensation of the energy hisses on my skin. I grab whatever it is inside, forcing as much energy into it as I can.

“I won’t LET YOU!”

Something explodes. I close my eyes.