2034/Prelude in the Storm

Prelude in the Storm
Date of Scene:	31 October 2024
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Sensing the unease in the storm, Sayaka comes to Madoka to get a confirmation over her friend's previous warning. Thanks to Kamiko's Paradise, the two of them train for the upcoming threat!
Cast of Characters:	Sayaka Miki, Madoka Kaname
Tinyplot:	Walpurgisnacht

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Sayaka Miki has posed:
The winds were howling outside, and the tension was high across Tokyo, especially evidenced by how completely deserted the city was. The 'shelter in place' order is not the reason Sayaka is in Radiant Heart's dorms, or rather, it is not the reason she is back inside, having started her patrol as usual, only with a bit more care so as not to get spotted by law enforcers.

Had it been like things were previously, the bluenette would have gotten to stay in the school, but now it was much more important for them to patrol together. "Are you alright?", Sayaka asks the fairy as she is walking towards Radiant Heart, her cape wrapped into a cover from the strong wind for the tiny mermaid. "Yes, don't worry, this works great", was the reassurance she had gotten. "We are about to be inside", the bluenette confirms, looking at the dorms' building only 30 meters away.

What made her get back was the unusual magical signature permeating the city, that feeling she has learnt to associate with Witches, only way more potent and omnipresent. She was willing to bet that had she had a Soul Gem still, that would have been shining intensely. Which would have made it harder not to get spotted, too.

Madoka's warnings echoing in her mind, she had immediately gotten in front of her friend's door, knocking in front of it two times. "Madoka-chan, you there?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Shortly after resolving things with Gretchen/Kamiko, Madoka had moved out of her house and into the dorms, specifically staying in Homura's room which had previously been a solo unit. Homura Akemi was out now, presumably making final preparations to fight the Super Witch who has in the past been her own personal nemesis. Meaning that Madoka was currently in the dorm room alone.

    Well. Not that alone. Madoka's Chara are always with her. Kamiko, Brai, Medo and Lydian were currently hovering over the circular table in the middle of Homura's white room. Kamiko was flying upside down and spinning in the air with her arms spread out wide. "So... it's gonna be like this, right? She's gonna show up, and the buildings are gonna rise up and then she's gonna throw them around..." Brai and Medo take notes while Lydian watches and considers.

    When Madoka hears the knocking on the door, she immediately gets up to check. She cracks open the door, sees her friend, and says, "Saya-chan, Ula-chan... come in!"

    Madoka opens the door just long enough to let Sayaka and Ula into the almost otherworldly white room that makes up the main area of Homura and Madoka's dorm. One wall is covered in a huge screen that displays various pictures and maps and detailed data regarding Walpurgisnacht. A pendulum swings overhead. Several curved couches are arranged in concentric circles surrounding a small table in the middle, where the fairies are currently talking and plotting.

    Madoka smiles to Sayaka and says, "I'm glad you came. Things have been getting pretty rough." The pinkette glances towards the screen, at the images of the Super Witch, Walpurgisnacht, floating across it. "You can feel it still, can't you? The Witch in the middle of the storm."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Despite her reason for being there, Sayaka gives the pinkette a smile as soon as she is let in, always glad to see her best friend. A glance is given to the many pictures and maps detailing the appearance of Walpurgisnacht and various related data, Sayaka's jaw tightening slightly in response. "Yes, I can", she replies to Madoka, turning her gaze to her. "I was intending to patrol despite the prohibition, when I realised just how strong the pressure felt."

She nods at the comments about things getting rough. Between the white sterility of the room, the hanging images and the confabulating of the Chara, to her it feels like she has walked into more of a war council than a dorm room. "It was worrying me, even before I walked outside to check on things. How have you been doing instead?" she asks the pinkette.

She approaches the table where the fairies are plotting, waving at them while Ula flies off and joins them on the table with a greeting of her own own. "It really is Walpurgisnacht, then?" she seeks confirmation from anyone there. Madoka was the one who had warned her at first, either her or Kamiko would probably hold the answer, and the other Chara probably have been told too.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Kamiko flips around to fly uprightly as Ula approaches. The fairies look at each other, and then at Sayaka and Ula when asked for confirmation. Madoka fidgets for a moment before Kamiko nods and speaks. "It is. I mean, probably. Very likely. No other known Witch acts like this, or is that powerful. The only known Super Witches to us are Kriemhild Gretchen and Walpurgisnacht, and the former..." Kamiko spins around, showing off her divine form. "... has been handled already."

    Madoka speaks after Kamiko trails off, standing near Sayaka and looking up at the screen. "It's her, I'm sure of it. The winds, the storm, the path of travel. This is a Witch that tears cities apart and kills even veteran magical girls. If we don't stop her, or at least drive her off, she'll..."

    Madoka glances towards the ground and looks away. Kamiko floats higher to be at Sayaka's eye level. "Maybe it would be best to show you. Pictures and descriptions alone will not fully inform you of the realities of fighting this Witch. If I may..."

    Kamiko pauses for a moment to close her eyes. A moment later, the world shifts, wavers and changes. Suddenly they are inside a Labyrinth, Kamiko's personal Paradise, only this place is far from idyllic or serene. The inside of Homura's dorm is replaced with a scene of destruction. Tokyo lies in ruins, buildings tossed and thrown around, with a few inches of flooding water covering the entire ground. Far up above, floating upside down and filling the air with its inhuman Witch laughter, is the subject of both legend and nightmares: Walpurgisnacht.

    Madoka stands on top of a piece of rubble, feet above the flooding waters. Kamiko and Brai float closer to her side. The pink girl points up at the large Witch and says, "That's her. That's what she looks like. This world, this scene, is just a facsimile of what we can expect. A representation of my memories from many different timelines." She glances towards Sayaka and says, "You've seen one of her Familiars before, back when I first transformed into Hope Witch. That was nothing compared to this."

    Madoka reaches out for Brai, and in a flash of light she merges with the Chara into Hope Blossom. "I've been using this place to practice. I haven't quite gotten the hang of it. Walpurgisnacht can handle a lot of damage, and skyscrapers are hard to avoid, but... I figure any amount of prep is better than nothing."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"A Witch whose influence spans several different worlds, and a Witch that is a conglomerate of many others..." Ula whispers. "I am glad you got out of that ok, Kamiko, and to have you here with us", she looks at the divine Chara first, then at the image of Walpurgisnacht. "Not that we have anywhere near enough of them, but I wonder if all the PreCards together would have been able to help. They are the power of a god too, right?"

Sayaka listens intently at what Madoka has to say, her thoughts veering towards the other super threat they have fought. How did the other timelines go? Did they have the experience from fighting Beryl-Metallia, or was that their first things on that level? Can they expect things to go better with what they have learnt there?

The bluenette's whole body tenses at the unusually realistic depiction of the Tokyo ruins, almost instinctively transforming at the inhuman laughter that makes a mockery of all the suffering and destruction. "Walpurgisnacht... laughs then?", Sayaka asks with surprise. If she is a Witch, is she so far into despair that she can't help but deride her situation?

"I remember that familiar", Sayaka frowns at the nasty memories. "But even if there are many more of them, we know to look out for those magical girls. They won't be able to rely on that kind of cheap shot this time around. And I am a lot faster as a Precure, so I can help provide cover", she considers. That is only true due to her regeneration, and not actual barrier abilities, but still.

"Oh, I see", Sayaka nods when her friend explains the other function of this place, reaching for the Pretty Change Mirror and likewise changing form. "I would like to train with you, Madoka-chan", she asserts, expanding her back ribbon into wings for when she is expected to fly.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    In response to the comment about Walpurgisnacht's laughter, Kamiko confirms, "She does. Granted, one can't really look too deeply into a Witch's behavior. We have no idea if there's a real girl in there or not, or what her nature would be even if there was."

    Madoka shakes her head. "Walpurgisnacht is something special. I don't know if the usual rules regarding Witches really apply to her. I don't know if I'll be able to reach her at all, if there even is a 'her' to reach."

    When Cure Sharpsong says that she wants to train, Hope Blossom nods. "We should. Maybe if we're both prepared, we can avoid the worst."

    Kamiko hovers before them for a moment and starts laying out some ground rules. "Okay, so first off: nothing here will hit as hard as the real thing. This is for training, and I'll be watching you two closely, so if it looks like someone's going to actually get injured I'll stop things for a bit. However, just because it doesn't hurt, you should assume that most hits here are very dangerous." The goddess fairy glances to Sayaka and says, "You might be able to take more hits than usual, due to your self healing, but most magicals would be taken out the first time they take a bad hit from a thrown building. Just keep in mind while you train: anything less than perfection can be lethal."

    Kamiko raises two fingers and says, "Point number two: right now Madoka-chan is training as Hope Blossom, but there will come a point when she'll need to henshin with me, too. Because of the limits on Hope Concept's use, especially the heavy stamina drain, we'll be saving me for a critical moment, meaning that she'll have to use Hope Blossom for much of the fight."

    Madoka frowns and says, "A part of me hoped to be able to train with the Meisters but... I haven't seen them in a while, and I haven't been able to find them." Her mind considers their potential fates for a moment, but even without clear answers she can make a few assumptions. "I guess we'll have to finish this fight for their sakes, too. Them, and anyone else who has lost loved ones because of this Witch."

    Hope Blossom reaches out her hand as her branch bow appears with a flash of pink petals. "Kamiko-chan... We're ready."

    The goddess chara nods, and then snaps her tiny fingers. The scene resets, showing a scene of a river running through Mitakihara. They stand at concrete riverside platform, behind railing. Nothing is destroyed. Everything is intact. For the moment. The evacuation center is some ways away, and aside from the two magicals and their mascots the streets are empty.

    Everything is unnaturally calm. A procession of circus creatures, neon colored elephants, and odd passive Familiars march past them. There's a countdown, coming from seemingly nowhere. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

    "This is how it often starts," relates Hope Blossom. "These ones don't usually fight, but... any moment now..."

    Walpurgisnacht descends from the sky, laughing. Within seconds, the buildings that make up the Mitakihara sky line break in half and rise into the air, floating around the Super Witch. Madoka winces, knowing that anyone who hasn't fled those structures by now is probably already gone. Granted, this is a simulation, but the real thing wont be much different...

    Hope Blossom looks up to the sky, draws a single arrow, lets it charge for a moment, then unleashes. Then she fires arrow after arrow, trying to catch the Witch's attention. The long travel time of each arrow manages to sell not only how far up the Witch is, but how utterly huge it has to be. It laughs off the pinkette's attacks, as a beam of magic fires from the massive monster, crossing that impossible distance in a second and tearing through the concrete platform, treading through rock as if it were water. "Careful!" shouts Madoka before she turns and runs away from the resulting blast, raising her arms to cover her face as rock and shrapnel fly past her.

    Fortunately it was only one blast. Unfortunately, this is only the start.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka had been thinking about how Walpurgisnacht could have been born, when shr was afraid of what would happen to the Oktavia she was able to call on if she had ever become a Witch again. If she would simply faded into her, or if there would be an even stronger Oktavia born from the merging of two Oktavia.

"I wonder if Walpurgisnacht started out to something with a power similar to the scroll of Ka", she ponders aloud. "If something like that had happened, "she" could be lost under many repetitions of her own Witch. Would Hope Concept be able to reach someone like that?", she asks, knowing that there would likely be no answer to this hypothetical.

"I think I can get away with taking it for others when it comes to the magical girl familiars, at least once or twice, but I will be careful to stay out of their way as I can, Kamiko-san", Sayaka confirms after listening to her recommendations.

The Pretty Cure winces when the dystopic sight is replaced by that peaceful hill and river. "Way to drive the point home of how much it's at stake here", she sighs, clenching her left hand into a fist, while the right one materialises a sword. Somehow it feels more natural to make use of both now.

When the blast and the shrapnels come, the bluenette flies out of its way, watching it impact the ground with a huge crater instead. "Pretty Cure Sharpsong Bar!", she shouts, a giant water cutlass forming in her free hand and tossing it with incredible force and speed towards Walpurgisnacht. Even with how fast it is, the huge distance of the Witch makes it feel impossibly slow before the strike can even connect. "Are you ok, Hope Blossom?", Sharpsong looks at Madoka, her heart beating rapidly.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Kamiko shakes her head. "There's no way to know if we can reach someone who has gone through all of that. If it's possible at all, we'll only be able to find that out on the day we fight her. I wouldn't bet on it, though."

    After the dust settles from the opening blast, Madoka looks down at her body and arms. The image of several scratches and drawn blood flickers over her arms, but the wound itself is an illusion. One can't really be harmed here, after all. Kamiko isn't powerful enough on her own to really damage someone in henshin even if she wanted to, and she really doesn't want to.

    Madoka holds up her arms, showing her illusory wounds and says, "I'm okay! But... if this was the real thing I'd be in trouble."

    The thrown sword crosses the distance, taking a very long time before it connects, but when it does the hit is direct. It just... doesn't do much. It's impossible to tell if Walpurgisnacht is outright invincible or if it's just really good at downplaying damage. Madoka winces. "It... it really takes a lot to beat that thing."

    Hope Blossom frowns as the Super Witch just continues on as if it barely noticed their existence. It wasn't fighting them for real yet. It was only trying to swat them out of the way. "It's probably really dangerous to do so, but... I'm going to try getting in closer. At this range we can barely do anything, but it can hurt us as much as it wants."

    Madoka leaps to the top of a three story building, runs along the rooftops, and then leaps onto the suspension cables of a bridge crossing the river. Running and leaping up the cables, Hope Blossom gets to the peak only to realize... it's still pretty high up. She probably can't jump or fly to the Super Witch's altitude at all. She fires a few more magical bolts at the monster, trying to get it to stop or at least pay attention to her, but she draws the aggro of something else instead.

    Several of the magical girl void familiars descend from above, each of them firing beams of darkness at Madoka and chasing them around. Some of them also appear and chase after Sayaka, trying to harass her and keep her occupied. Their attacks don't deal real damage when they hit, but they might cover the target in more wound illusions to simulate what the real attack would actually look like. At least with Sayaka, her wounds would heal up pretty quickly.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Gritting her teeth at the uselessness of the attack, the Pretty Cure looks at the sword she is holding. They are probably just like needles to the Super Witch in front of them. She could try to use Rondo con Toccata, but if that's the only way she can damage her, she is going to get exhausted fast.

"I will be right after you!", Sayaka exclaims, moving to follow Madoka when she hears the Chara Bearer's plan, but before she can make good on her words, the void familiars surround her, forcing her to fly in the other direction while she tries to throw them off. So much for their plan.

As the chase continues, they fire at her with beam of darkness, some of which she is able to avoid, but some strike her, throwing her off path, all she can do then is directing herself at a nearby rooftop, the illusionary wounds lingering for a few seconds before "healing", taking several deep breaths as she looks at them surround her.

"How about you stay where you are!?", Sayaka shouts, raising the arm with the Love PreBrace above her, a blue sphere of shining water forming there. "Pretty Cure Sharpsong Legato!" At the command, the sphere splits into thin water beams that rush at all the familiars chasing her, trying to wrap them and hold them tight. Right after, Cure Sharpsong takes flight again, hitting those she could wrap with a mix of fists and sword slashes.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The good news is that the Familiars can actually take noticeable damage. They aren't terribly clever so much as they are vicious, and these ones at least end up getting caught by Sayaka's Sharpsong Legato, bound as they are by thin beams of water wrapping around them like rope. Some of them still try to lash out at her even as she focuses on them with fists and slashes. Madoka helps by shooting those who managed to escape the binding, and otherwise providing cover fire for Sayaka.

    Thing is, these Familiars are vicious and take more than usual to kill. Each one is light fighting a fully fledged magical girl in terms of endurance and power. While the two are focusing on these, the illusion of Walpurgisnacht draws closer and begins its attack in earnest.

    Some of the skyscrapers that have been floating through the air start turning and launching themselves at Sharpsong and Hope Blossom. The pinkette looks up at the incoming buildings and shouts, "Oh shoot! They're coming!"

    She clenches her gut, and the moment the first one reaches them she leaps into the air and lands on the building-turned-projectile's side. She starts running along the concrete and glass walls until she reaches the roof of the building before jumping off of it to land on the next skyscraper. Each time this brings her closer to Walpurgisnacht, meaning that she gets yet another taste of just how... Big... the Super Witch is.

    If Sayaka hasn't finished off all of the bound void Familiars by now, some of them are probably just trapped or crushed underneath the rubble of thrown office buildings.

    The attacks don't really let up. More skyscrapers are thrown, more void Familiars appear, and it's all Madoka can do to keep dodging the attacks she can avoid, and brace for the hits that she can't. Getting out of this unscathed isn't really an option for her.

    Then, just when Madoka thinks she's finally getting close, Walpy's mouth opens and out pours a stream of magical fire. Hope was expecting that, and she dives through the window of the building she was running along to avoid the hit, hiding for a moment to let her bow charge before unleashing the bolt from the dubious safety of her temporary hiding place. The bolt splits and spreads and covers Walpurgisnacht in pink arrows, each one exploding on impact, but there is just so much Witch to damage and she doesn't even seem to care what is thrown at her.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Thank you, Blossom!", Sayaka smiles at the cover fire Madoka provides for her, allowing her to focus on the ones left over. As tough as these things can be, they are at least able to harm them. Mami was much harder than them, at least as far as she is concerned, though, so they can do this!

"Coming? Oh, heck!", Sayaka shouts nervously when she realises the skyscrapers have started raining down at them. Even if Madoka had warned her this was coming, seeing it actually happen was another matter entirely. Fortunately, Madoka's cautionary scream has given her enough time to fly out of the way, leaving some last familiars to their concrete doom.

Cure Sharpsong starts feeling the pressure of air passing by her when she moves upwards trying to catch up to Hope Blossom, all the while dodging random pieces of concrete and bearing with more darkness beams from the void magical girls grazing her.

"Sharpsong Accelerando!", Sayaka says, spinning the dial on her Love PreBrace just as she sees the stream of fire come at her too. A stream of water surrounds her, having the unexpected benefit of making the heat more bearable as she surges towards Walpurgisnacht, using her absurdly fast momentum to dodge all around the column of fire and other attacks, and bringing her ever closer to the Witch, letting Sayaka slash at her with the full impact of that momentum.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Things keep getting worse as they both draw closer to the Witch. The Familiars keep growing in number, the fire gets worse, and the thrown buildings begin to shake more violently and then suddenly... it all stops. There's no fire, no familiars, and the skyscraper that Madoka's standing on seems to hang in the air for a moment. Then the Witch turns through the air, and its laughter at this distance is loud.

    Sayaka's high impact slash hits the Super Witch directly, leaving a person-sized mark that seems like a relatively small scar on such a giant monstrous woman. The impact makes a loud thud. At this distance, the damage is very clear, but Walpurgisnacht is just so huge.

    Madoka follows up Sayaka's attack by firing a fully charged arrow into the fresh scar, causing the magical bolt to explode and widen the wound. Strange multicolored smoke pours out of it.

    Then the Witch turns, and it gazes directly at the two would-be Witch slayers. It opens its mouth and unleashes flames directly at Madoka and Sayaka. The pinkette panics and forms a wall of wooden bows, woven together and glowing with pink magic, but the branchbows all burst into flames.

    Madoka dives back through the window to hide from the fires. The giant Witch moves forward, crashing into the skyscraper and breaking the building into pieces, as bits of rubble fall away, knocking Hope Blossom out of her hiding place. As she tumbles through the air, she shouts, "Kamiko, now!" and suddenly she's covered in a flash of white light.

    Moments later, Hope Concept appears, and her bow reappears in her hand. She nocks her arrow back and releases a terrifying barrage at Walpurgisnacht, as the air between them becomes increasingly filled with magical fire and arrows.

    More than that, an aura pours out from Hope Concept, radiating out of her and covering Sayaka with a pearlescent glow. She calls out telepathically, "Sharpsong-chan, I can only do this for so long, but... if you strike now then this should boost your power!"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka grimaces when the loud laughter resonates around her, instinctively covering her ears even if it only helps relatively against the terrible sounds. Even so, she smiles despite the tension, glad that they are actually making progress with both of their strikes into that wound, as small as it is.

She has to make a hasty retreat however when the column of fire aims at both her and Madoka, and even so, she can't actually avoid it completely, no matter how fast she flies away, leaving her with bad illusionary burns up until her healing factor takes care of it.

Sayaka sighs with relief when Madoka comes out of that well enough, even unleashing a powerful barrage on Walpurgisnacht, and giving her an opportunity by making her stronger. It's a bit tingling, being filled with all that extra energy.

"Right away, Blossom! Symphony of Justice, turn into sacred power!", she says, raising her right arm and with the left spinning the dial on her wrist, water coalescing all around her. "Love PreBrace!" At the callout, 10 water train wheels spawn into existence out of said water floating in the air.

"Pretty Cure Rondo con Toccata! Justice, return to the Heavens!" Cure Sharpsong says, all the wheels converging unto Walpurgisnacht at the same time, each and every one of it assailing the Witch with purifying power.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Between Madoka's and Sayaka's attacks, and Walpurgisnacht's fire, there's a lot of chaos and energy, noise and light, and after the dust clears...

    Everything turns greyscale. The Super Witch turns perfectly still. Everything stops. Hope Concept turns back into Hope Blossom, and Kamiko pops back out of her egg. All of Madoka's illusory wounds vanish and she turns back to normal.

    The divine fairy speaks, "Alright, so... that alone probably isn't enough to beat her, but..." The tiny Chara holds up a finger, "When the real one comes, we won't be fighting her alone. Other magicals will be with us, so there's no need to worry about not being able to beat one of the most powerful Witches by ourselves. Also, I should note that we have no idea how strong Walpurgisnacht today. She's always been strong, but it can change a lot from timeline to timeline."

    Hope Blossom scratches the back of her head and laughs sheepishly. "Eheh... yeah. That miiiight be enough to drive off some of her weaker iterations, but... not really kill her. I'm really hoping to have additional backup for the real thing. I mean... I'm sure we will." Madoka takes in a deep breath, and then lets it out.

    Kamiko floats closer to Sharpsong and says, "Now you have an idea of what we'll be dealing with, but the real thing will be a bit more brutal than that. Let's take a break for a moment and then start the fight over from the top. The important part is that we know which of our attacks will be effective, as well as knowing how to avoid what she'll throw at us. The next time, I'll have to up the difficulty."

    Hope Blossom rubs her shoulder a bit, and then moves her arm in a circle to try and loosen up her muscles. "So, how are you holding up, Saya-chan? It's probably a bit easier since none of the wounds are real, but we don't want to get complacent."

    Kamiko chides Madoka, "You say that, but you're the one who should worry more. You got hit almost right off the bat! If that happened in the real fight, Saya-chan would've had to fight all alone."

    Madoka turns a little sheepish. "Well... I mean, that's why we're practicing, right?"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka blinks slowly when everything around them turns back to normal, staring up at the frozen firm of Walpurgis, glad to have that annoying laugh out of the way. "Wasn't quite expecting her to be taken out with so little, but we will definitely have other people helping then. With how big it is, it's not actually hard to see", she agrees with Madoka, taking a look at her wounds.

She falls into silence, trying to imagine something extra in the scenario she has just outlined, eventually deciding to express that thought aloud. "Might be that some from Obsidian chime in too. I doubt they want their offices destroyed, or normal houses if they have any." She makes a mental note that this was what Walpurgisnacht had been like originally.

"I guess I will have to use Sharpsong Accelerando a whole lot", Sayaka shrugs, her body aching a little in protest at how the impact had felt then. "I was a bit worried I would have only been able to hurt her with Rondo con Toccata, so that's actually quite a relief."

"I am ok", the bluenette replies to Madoka. "I definitely underestimated how troublesome the familiars could be, especially when you called to move upwards and I found myself chased. I will pay more attention next time instead of being so careless, that could have been really ugly. Either of us could have gotten seriously hurt if we get split again like that", she chides herself.

"I think Madoka was doing quite well", Sayaka turns to Kamiko. "She was always a step ahead of her Witch after that, and she fought off the familiars that were chasing me."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "That was easy mode," reminds Kamiko. "That was just to get us started. When the real thing comes... it won't be that easy. Don't let your guard down even for a moment."

    At the mention of Obsidian, Hope Blossom considers out loud, "They might help us. As long as they can be convinced not to try and capture and study her or something. Not that I'm sure they'd be able to."

    Kamiko blinks at Madoka and says, "Would they be able to do something like that? Would anything outside of my own Paradise even be able to contain her?"

    Madoka shrugs and responds, "Well... they have barriers too, Kamiko-chan." Then she pauses to consider Sayaka's words. "True. We need to be careful about splitting up. We'll have to watch each other's backs as much as possible. Now that we know they'll probably chase us, I'm sure I can keep some arrows flying around us if it'll protect us from them. Though... I think... I might end up wasting time trying to shoot Walpurgisnacht herself as Hope Blossom. My attacks just don't do enough without the full power of Hope Concept, but I really need to save enough power so that I can boost everyone else's finishers."

    Kamiko says, "Do you want to try being Hope Concept the whole fight? It'd give you a chance to fly at least. Honestly, I'm mostly worried about how to stay up there once we get close."

    Blossom says, "I mean... if our Labyrinth powers still work in that fight, we can absolutely create our own terrain to help the rest of our team stay close. I don't mind playing a support role if it helps everyone else."

    Kamiko considers, "Hm... true, though something's been interfering with Barrier-like magic of late."

    As they talk things over, the scene starts to change back to the starting point. They're back by the riverside platform, the skyline is back to normal, and Walpurgisnacht returns to her starting point high up in the sky. Blossom looks up, then looks over to Sharpsong. "How are you holding up? I guess you don't have to worry about running out of magic anymore, but that might not save you from getting tired regardless."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Capturing her might be beyond them, but I could see them try anyway, just because they are not convinced they can't", Sayaka furrows her brow for a second. "The worst part is... if they decide to go for trying to steal her familiars instead, then we have to worry about what they might grow into, and their special resilience", Sayaka slaps her forehead with realisation. That's much more feasible, and just as dangerous.

"Hmm, would it help if I flew you at an elevated position, so you wouldn't have to worry about getting there yourself?", the bluenette chimes in when it is brought up Hope Concept would be able to fly, as costly as that form is. "I could also use my speed attack to deal a good strike, then fly back down so we are always close enough to cover for each other", she considers.

"I am feeling well enough", Sayaka smiles at Madoka widely. "Just needed a small break, and then I am good to go again."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka and Kamiko listen to Sayaka's realization and frown. Kamiko says, "You're right. That's a lot more possible. Hopefully they never get the idea."

    Madoka adds, "All the same, we better make sure we track down all of those Familiars and never let even one get away. Kamiko-chan, you're pretty good at sensing Witches and Familiars, can you keep tabs on them all?"

    Kamiko floats a little closer to Madoka and nods. "I can! That will be my job, up until the point where you henshin with me."

    At the offer of flying her to an elevated position, Madoka considers. "Could you? I'm pretty sure I could manage once I get up there, and if I end up falling I'm sure one of Kamiko's portals could catch me. Also, if we're that close to each other, it'll be easier to watch each other's backs."

    After hearing that Sayaka is okay, Madoka smiles and then turns to Kamiko, saying, "I think I'm ready to go again, too."

    The divine fairy nods, and things repeat from the top. The parade comes, then the countdown, then Walpurgisnacht descending from above and ripping all of the tall buildings in half. Madoka looks up with a frown. It's a dire sight, but... one that they'll need to be ready for.