It is The Nature of Dreams to End

Kaneko’s eyes shot open. She was laying on the floor, looking up at an unfamiliar feeling. Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out and the room bobbed surprisingly gently. Sitting up, Kaneko saw that she was in Auto and Cardinal’s ship and then she locked eyes with Minny.

They both shot to their feet and Kaneko immediately looked for her tape gun. She found it on top of her jacket which was neatly folded on a small table next to an armchair. Kaneko grabbed them both, hastily throwing on the jacket.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” Cardinal said from behind her.

Kaneko turned around and saw Cardinal sitting in the air, with her legs criss-cross, before she slowly floated to a standing position.

Kaneko asked. “They’re both out there? Lab coat and the schoolgirl?”

“Uh, yeah. They’ve been hovering around on these drones and hitting us with psi rays.” Cardinal says. “Did Pastel Princess catch you up to speed in Dreamworld?”

“Yep. Now, how am I supposed to actually fight them? I can’t fly or anything.”

Cardinal points towards the red door that led to the cockpit. “In there, you can find a hatch that leads to the roof or whatever you call it. He’ll probably go up there with you.”

“I’m just supposed to climb on top of a plane and fight!? I’m gonna fall off! Then where will we be!?” Kaneko exclaimed.

“Don’t worry, the force field also makes you stick to the top.”

Kaneko stood frozen for a moment. “It makes me stick? What?”

“Look, I don’t know how it works, Auto developed it. Go ask him!” Cardinal responds, almost shooing Kaneko into the next room. “I have to help Pastel Princess with this thing anyway.”

Kaneko almost opened her mouth to ask what she was doing with Minny, but another explosion crashed into the ship. Minny too, stayed silent.

Cardinal shouted, “Just go! We need time!”

Kaneko ran to the red door, slamming it open to find a very small space with about the same walking room of a closet. Auto was messing with a computer and a panel in the wall on one side as she stepped into the only other standing space available, next to the ladder that led up to the hatch.

“Ah! Sukeban. Glad to see you’re awake. I trust that you’re ready to get in a little tussle?” He said, not pausing his work on whatever he was doing on the computer.

“Yeah, Cardinal said something about sticking to the roof though. I’m gonna need a bit more of an explanation.”

“Unfortunately…” He responded, as he messed with that panel one last time and something changed on the screen. “Nice. Oh, uh, unfortunately, we don’t exactly have the time to go in depth, but I can say that the shield that is currently being used to protect the ship from any major damage, also creates a small gravitational field that holds you to the surface with about the same force as earth’s natural gravity.”

“So I won’t fall off?” Kaneko asked.

“No, I can promise you that much. Even if the shields go down, I’ve made sure that that effect will persist on our backup power. Now, if I could get past you…” Auto awkwardly shifted around Kaneko to step onto the ladder, climbing up to the top before swinging open the hatch. “Don’t worry. I’ve tested it before. It should be fine.”

As Auto escaped to the top of the ship, Kaneko wrapped a line of tape around her waist several times before extending another 20 odd feet of tape that she could wrap around a few rungs of the ladder to keep her secure. She definitely trusted her tape enough to do that much.

Climbing up, Kaneko looked around for the two bad guys, before Gatal shouted. “Oh look! You finally decided to join us?”

Kaneko swung her head around toward the front of the ship, where Gatal was flying on top of a similar kind of drone to the one he had on Halloween. It had the same sort of eye, shrouded in a green film, and was covered with some kind of white casing. This one was a lot bigger though, enough that he was able to sit on it like a motorized scooter with his entire top half of his body free to move how it wanted.

“Where is she?” Kaneko shouted back, stepping out to stand on the ship.

“Oh, my creation is looking for your cousin. She should be back soon if I haven’t finished you off myself!”

Without saying another word, Kaneko tried to throw out a line of tape, which arced through the air, allowing Gatal to barely dodge it.

“So we’re just going to get into it? Fine by me!” He yelled, pointing his ray gun at Kaneko and firing.

The purple beam was thin and Kaneko was able to dodge with a sidestep. The shield absorbed the attack, releasing nothing more than a static whimper of sound. That confused Kaneko though, weren’t there explosives?

As if to answer that question, Gatal reached back behind himself and grabbed a puck shaped object with a blinking red light on the top. He threw it down onto the ship, getting it within a few yards of Kaneko.

Kaneko instinctively jumped away. Auto managed to step in between the puck and Kaneko as Gatal shot another beam, which he missed. In the next moment, Auto’s mechanical arms shot out behind him, all 5 extended as far as they could. A translucent blue energy field was projected between them, creating a sort of umbrella of protection as Gatal made another shot that managed to hit.

Yet again, a loud explosion rocked the ship, causing it to gently sway. Fire pushed its way outwards in all directions, climbing up Auto’s shield and finally petering out as it licked the top.

Kaneko got back to her feet, rapidly. She looked over at Auto, “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Now, do you have a plan? We don’t exactly have the best projectiles for this fight.” Auto said.

“Uh… maybe. Do you have anything heavy that you could attach to the end of my tape?”

“Oh. Hmm…” Auto patted himself down. “Not on me.”

“We’re gonna have to improvise.” Kaneko replied.

〰

“Okay, Pastel Princess. Let’s get to work.” Cardinal said as Kaneko ran through the door to the cockpit.

“What are you trying to do? Also, can you please not call me that. It's just Minny.”

Cardinal stands still for a moment, shocked that Minny would say her name, just like that. “Um… Okay. Minny. We’re going to help you bring out your full power.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s something I noticed back when we first met. You’re using your staff as if it’s only a stick. By only touching it to the head of whatever is possessed, you’re able to take the spirit out of them, but that’s not all that the staff can do.” Cardinal explained.

“How do you know that? Gaia never said anything about that…”

“Yeah, gods can be like that from what I’ve read. Thankfully, you met me. Actually…” Cardinal took off her mask, revealing that she was a normal girl. Well, her hair and eyes were still purple, but those could have been dyed. “My mask is a perfect example of what I’m trying to demonstrate. And now we’re even… not that I really have an identity to hide. Anyways, this object creates a field that projects over my whole form. This is the anonymity spell, the same kind that your staff uses to keep your identity hidden even without a mask.”

“I don’t understand what that has to do with fighting.” Minny said.

“I’m getting to it. Basically, the creation of that field doesn’t have anything to do with direct physical contact. Like, your clothes when you transform. I assume you don’t have to touch every article of clothing.”

“No…” Minny said, beginning to understand where she was going with this.

“I can help you to control that field and project it into a beam of energy.”

“I get laser beams?!” Minny exclaimed, before simmering back down almost immediately.

“Yeah. Laser beams that will let you suck the spirit out of any of those possessed animals.”

Minny didn’t respond for a few moments. She didn’t want to say it, but she pushed through anyway. “I- can’t do it.”

“What do you mean?” Cardinal asks.

“I can’t go back. I’m gonna do more harm than good.”

“Look Minny, I can’t exactly tell you what to do or anything, but don’t you think you should at least try before you get despondent.” Cardinal argued.

“I’ve tried to do the superhero thing. It doesn’t work. All I’ve done is get Sukeban hurt and everyone else that we’ve interacted with.”

Cardinal walked over to a big red button on the wall where the bay door was and slammed her fist against it, opening it. Somehow, there wasn’t an immediate vacuum of air, sucking everything outside like you see in movies. It was noisy, but not forceful.

“Minny, me and Auto did the same thing to you and that girl!” Cardinal shouted as she came back over to Minny. “We’re the reason that she was possessed when we first met! I was the reason! But I didn’t run away or quit practicing magic. It's a part of me. Everything I do is. The mistakes and the successes.”

Minny bit her lip, not sure what to do. “I- I don’t have my wand. I threw it away.” She eventually managed.

“Oh.” Cardinal said. “Close your eyes for a second.”

Minny did as she was told, not quite sure why she was doing it.

“Focus on the image of your wand in your mind. Imagine it being right in front of you. As if it was being presented to you.” Cardinal said in a softer tone. “Now reach out your hand.”

Again, Minny did what she was told and reached out her hand, only for it to meet something familiar. Her eyes shot open and saw Cardinal handing her the wand.

“How did you get this? I threw it out into the backyard yesterday!”

“I found it sitting next to you when I sent you into Dreamworld. I honestly don’t know where it came from. But here you are.” She placed the wand in Minny’s hand.

Minny hesitated to do anything until someone’s voice came from the still open bay.

“Oh! Goodie! Now dad gets to have fun with your cousin again, while I get to have fun with you again!” The spirit that inhabited Naoko was flying on the same type of drone as Gatal. It almost looked like she was floating though, as she was wearing a skirt that almost covered the whole thing.

Instinctively, Minny used her wand, extending it and transforming into her magical girl persona. “Ah!” she yelped as she realized what she had done.

“You’re gonna fight me? How? You need to touch my head, but you don’t have any ranged attacks, do you?” the spirit goaded.

Cardinal quickly stepped behind Minny, grabbing her shoulders. “Don’t listen to her. I’m gonna coach you through this.”

“But what if it works? Won’t she fall off?”

“I’ll catch her, don’t worry.” Cardinal reassures.

the spirit didn’t move as she waited for whatever they were trying to do.

“Okay, I was joking last time, but try to feel the staff. Point it at her head. Okay, now picture the raw mana that courses through your body, going through every vein and artery, every organ, every cell of your body, and then picture the mana inside the staff. It wants to connect, to be one, but your body will try to resist. Don’t let it. Relax your mind and let it come together with the staff. And then push past the staff. You’re using its mana, not its form. Go beyond it, and…”

As Minny did what she was told yet again, she really began to feel it connect with her in some extrasensory way. It was as though her will was being passed through the staff like it was her own finger or arm. Minny let out a breath as she tried to extend it. Push it past what it looked like was possible.

“Fire!” Cardinal yelled.

Minny did it. She shot a beam of light from the tip of the staff, which shot out, almost hitting Naoko straight on the head. Instead an explosion rocked the ship and sent the beam off course, a near miss.

“Woah! That was close!” the spirit yelled as she pulled out a ray gun from a holster on the back of her waist. “I’m not gonna let you do that again!”

The spirit began to shoot psi beams from her gun into the ship as Minny and Cardinal ran for cover behind some of the arm chairs.

“You did it!” Cardinal exclaims.

Minny yells back. “It didn’t work though!”

“Yes it did, you just need to try again. You can do this!”

Although they ran behind cover, none of the rays from the spirit’s ray gun were even making it inside. The ship’s shield was stopping them at the opening of the bay door.

“Ugh! You guys are cheating! You get to shoot me but I can’t shoot you?”

Cardinal gives Minny a look, something like “Dang, she’s annoying.”

An instant later, a much larger explosion shook the ship. It would have made Minny fall over if she was still standing upright. Moments after that the spirit began to shoot the ship again, this time managing to hit the stuff inside.

“Hey! You’re gonna hit one of my books!” Cardinal yelled, reaching out and grabbing one from the end table next to the chair and shoving it underneath. “And you better not mess up these chairs!”

the spirit didn’t respond and proceeded to shoot at the chairs where Cardinal and Minny were taking cover. Then a much smaller explosion sounded and seconds later, a smoking blue blur dropped out of the sky.

“Auto!” Cardinal exclaimed, running out of cover.

“Where are you going?!” Minny asked.

“I’m gonna catch him!” Cardinal said, running out and jumping out of the ship.

〰

“You want to weigh the tape down with an armed explosive?!” Auto exclaimed.

“Do you have a better idea? Just grab the next one he throws down and toss it to me.” Kaneko directed.

Auto shrugged, apparently going with the plan as Gatal began to shoot his ray gun again.

“Hey, you fart!” Auto yelled, trying to goad him. “You’re not doing anything! How are you supposed to hit us if you don’t come down to our level!”

Gatal paused. “Hmm, fair point.” Then he turned back and pulled out what must have been 10 or 15 of those explosive pucks. “Counterpoint!”

Gatal threw the pile of explosives onto the ship, creating a little pile of the deadly explosives. Auto tapped his fingers on a touch screen embedded in the armor of his wrist. His back piece then shot off, skittering toward the pile, quickly creating another force shield around it in an attempt to create a sort of seal around it. Although Auto seemed to have forgotten to get the actual arm-pack underneath the shield.

Gatal tried to capitalize on this by shooting the thing a few times. He missed the first few shots, hitting the ship’s shield and even the shield around the bomb. Auto tried to correct it’s position, hitting more buttons on his touch screen to flip the apparatus around. This made the arms start to flip, a process that didn’t actually reveal that much of the explosives underneath.

Apparently Gatal was lucky enough to make that shot though, causing an enormous explosion that sent the arms flying forward, close to where Gatal was flying, actually. Unfortunately, he was still able to dodge that.

Gatal gloated. “Yes! I think I’m getting good with this thing.”

“Ah! My arms! Now I have to make new ones! And fix the shield! This guy sucks, Sukeban!” Auto complained.

Kaneko chuckled, “Yes. Starting to get it, huh? Wait, the shield’s down?”

Auto looked back up as Gatal prepared another explosive. “Oh, you better not! How do you even have any more?” He yelled, sounding like he was scolding a dog.

Gatal threw the puck down and somehow Auto was able to catch it in one hand. “Lucky catch.”

“Don’t even think about blowing up the ship! I’m gonna be the one who has to fix it!”

“I know! How do you think I feel when you guys mess up my spirits? Thankfully this one is good enough that I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

Hearing Naoko mentioned, even in passing, caused Kaneko to start to spiral downward into a rageful state.

Auto ran up to her, unaware of this, and held out the explosive. “Sukeban!”

She turned as he was about 6 feet away, only to watch as Gatal flew his drone right over them and shot the puck in Auto’s hands. Kaneko was far enough away that all she felt was a blast of heat and a force light enough that she didn’t have to fight against it. Auto, on the other hand, was blasted off the side of the ship, sending him flying toward the ground.

Kaneko didn’t have time to process what had happened though, as Gatal moved to a new location next to the tail end of the plane. Kaneko jumped, sending a line of tape out and ensnaring both Gatal’s lab coat and the drone itself. And when she jumped, she suddenly felt the force of wind and gravity pull her towards him as well, practically making her a human bullet of rage.

She shrieked, “Gatal!” as she collided with the man, dismounting him from the drone.

Kaneko was able to get a hold of a handle, placing a foot on its seat. Gatal was also holding on by the lip of the eye on the front of the drone.

“Get off! It won’t hold us both!” Gatal screamed.

Kaneko didn’t care. If she had looked around, she would have been able to tell that he was not exactly telling the truth. They were falling, but pretty slowly, even being able to keep up with the ship.

Kaneko, full of anger and pain, kicked Gatal straight in the face, causing him to lose his handhold and fall about a foot, as well as a tooth or too. Now, the only thing keeping him in the air was the tape attached to his coat.

“I’m gonna make you-” Kaneko started.

Before she could finish, she was interrupted by the sound of stitches coming undone. Gatal’s white lab coat tore at the seam. He was able to barely grab a hold of the still taped sleeve as the rest.

Immediately, Kaneko shifted her footing, trying to get lower to hoist him back up.

Gatal held out his hand for Kaneko, “Help-” He pleaded.

In the moment that Kaneko managed to get her hand to reach, Gatal slipped. He lost his grip on his coat and fell. Kaneko didn’t hear him scream as he fell into a cloud, disappearing from sight.

Without the extra weight, the drone started to correct itself, shooting up into the air. Kaneko managed to jump off its side, barely hooking a line of tape around the ship's tail, which was only a foot away.

〰

“Dad!” The spirit cried, watching as Gatal plummeted through the sky, flying back far enough that by the time that the spirit even tried to save him, it would be too late.

Instead, the spirit began to fly the drone into the open ship. With the drone directed at Minny, the spirit jumped off and slammed into the chair. Minny managed to roll out of the way, with the massive object hurtling into the cockpit door instead, making a massive dent.

“I’m gonna make you hurt!” The spirit shouted as she charged at Minny.

Minny ran away, over chair, just trying to keep enough distance that this girl couldn’t attack her. “Get away! I didn’t even do anything to you!”

“You’ve done plenty!” The spirit screamed as she charged Minny again, this time pinning her against the wall next to the door.

Minny didn’t even have time to try to attack with her staff. The spirit had a forearm pressed against the top of Minny’s chest, just under her neck. She could breath, but barely and the spirit grabbed her arm carrying the staff too, forcing it against the wall.

“Please! I don’t even want to be here!” Minny pleaded, as the spirit pressed harder.

“You’re so selfish! I lost my father and you’re still crying because all your friends left you!? No wonder they did!”

“They- They didn’t leave me!” Kaneko barked back.

The spirit sniggered. “Of course they did! Just like your cousin Kaneko a few days ago.”

“She only wanted to go after you!” Minny said, struggling to pass her staff to her free hand.

“Sure, but you could have helped, right? If you did, we wouldn’t have had to plant her at your house and fight you all the way up here in the sky! And then…”

Looking into the girl’s eyes, Naoko’s eyes, Minny saw tears start to form.

“Then my dad wouldn’t have fallen! He’d still be here!”

The spirit pressed harder, as Minny started to hear a banging sound coming from the cockpit’s busted door.

Tears began to stream down Naoko’s face as she pushed her arm up to Minny’s neck, choking her out.

“And now, you’re gonna go with him. At least then you’ll finally have someone who can’t abandon you.” The spirit bit her lip, trying to hold back her emotions.

Minny could see the flames behind her tearful gaze, as her vision began to fade.

Suddenly, another voice came from behind the cockpit door. “She’s not alone!” Kaneko kicked the door open, throwing it off its hinge before jumping over it. “Now, get away from her!”

Instantly, the girl backed away from Minny. Kaneko shot off a line of tape at her, which she dodged, managing to hide behind one of the armchairs. The tape stuck to the leather, giving her enough time to make a dash for the open bay door.

Kaneko cut the line and shot out another length of tape, this time wrapping around her leg and tripping her. As she hit the floor, Minny began to aim the staff, ready to make another shot. The spirit grabbed the tape on her leg and pulled on it with enough force to snap it in half. She clambered up to run again, but Minny was already armed and ready.

Focusing on the flow of mana in her body, Minny shot out another beam of light, this one making a direct hit with Naoko’s head. The spirit was unceremoniously sucked out of her body and made its way into the staff.

It was finally over.

Minny collapsed against the wall, sinking down to the floor while Kaneko rushed over to her friend, trying to get her to regain consciousness. Minny let out a breath, finally ready to rest and content with a job well done.

Suddenly, her staff began to tremble. It shook violently until the bulb at the top shattered and an energy escaped. The spirit. It passed through the ship quickly, flying away.

On the edge of the wind, a cry could faintly be heard. “This isn’t over~~~~”. Before it was gone completely.

Minny sat shocked, with her mouth open. Looking down at her staff, she could feel the mana inside it dissipate. And looking down at herself, she had gone back to her regular old self. No powers.

Kaneko saw it happen too, and although she looked ready to rush over and help, something else captured her attention. Naoko had begun to stir from her long slumber.

“Now what…” Minny wondered aloud to herself.

“Wha~ Where am I? Who are you?” Naoko asked, still groggy from what must have been basically a coma.

“Oh! Yeah.” Kaneko said, grabbing her tape gun and detransforming. “It’s me. You’re safe now.”

“Kaneko?”

Kaneko hugged the girl as she lay on the ground. She was smiling. Minny had never seen her smile like that before. It was nice to see.