"Okay you ready for this?"
"You know I'm ready cat bro."
"Because this is where things get intense."
"Yeah I get it."
"Seriously you gotta be prepared for this-"
"I am, I am"
"Because this is going to be huge. Like the largest amount we've seen all night-"
"Duh, I've been paying attention."
"Good, though you're going to need to do more then pay attention to take this these out."
"Well then check this out" the sounds of explosions, fire and cries were heard, celebrating the first win of the battle.
However this was simply a battle played of Tom Clancy's The Division between two friends which even fairly late at night, wouldn't seen so out of place. If one wasn't a four winged, furry magic cat familiar and the other wasn't a teenage looking girl in a poofy dress with rainbow energy glitzing around her that is. It felt especially apparent seeing the two, obviously Deena and Milly leaning town on the bed of what otherwise appeared to be a more typical cliché of a boy's room. A mess of various t shirts and pants scattered about the still very messy wall, old plates that had crumbs of pizza and chicken, with various flags and posters of Lakers, Bulls and Yankees team images, only lit by the TV screen in front of a PS4 where the game was played. Despite having more claws then paws though, Milly still expertly maneuvered her fingers along the controller pad, maneuvering the gun man from a hail of return fire, getting behind the cover of a car.
"Round two's going to be more intense" Milly stated, the car shattering with windows breaking and tires being popped as she maneuvered her player up to shoot at some of the enemy. "These guys aren't going to go down so easily."
Deena smirked, twisting the control and holding it at the side as her characters was shown jumping above one of the park cared to deliever fire with two guns which took out a few of the grunts on screen. "Pfffft, they'll go down easy if I say they will" she remarked, hitting buttons so her character rushed forward as she continued shooting. "This fodder ain't no match for my mad skills..." suddenly an explosion was shown on screen right in front, knocking back the character as it scrambled along the ground. "Oh what the what is this?"
"Looks to me like said mad skills need some work" Milly teased, still continuing to lay down cover fire.
"Yeah it still ain't no thing" Deena pressed a button combination, getting her character up and diving under the cover of a nearby car, ready to fire back. "I'm ready for...." Deena's eyes suddenly went wide as she the new enemy stomping out in front of where her character had taken cover. This larger foe was decked out in black high tech armor, holding a giant bazooka weapon with multiple guns to the side. It looked across the screen, shooting a crimson beam scanning the area as purple lightning flashed in the backroung. "For..." Suddenly Deena imagined herself behind the car, holding not a gun but her magical staff, gripping it as tightly as she could as she pictured not a human, but a monstorous hulking NeFiend on the field instead, scanning around and blasting the car in front of her. "For..." Deena imagined the car being destroyed as the creature began scanning her, the magical girl desperately holding onto her staff as it shook. Her body began to twitch uncontrorablly, trying to scramble back some as the creature focused on her, taking a few steps closer, aiming it's sword and bevy of other weapons straight at her. "F..f......ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"DEENA!" Milly's voice rang out, causing the magic girl to snap out of her trance as Milly's character was shown using cover fire to shoot at the creature, whose attention made it focus on shooting the familiar's character. "You need to focus!" He called out as the enemy started stomping towards him.
"NO!" In the magical girl's mind Milly's character in the game became Milly himself being targeted by the NeFiend. In reality, Deena suddenly dropped the controller, quickly picking up her wand instead, glaring daggers at the screen. "DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM YOU BASTARD YOU HEAR ME! DON'T YOU-"
"Whoa whoa time out!" Milly pressed the start button on his controller, stopping the action on screen as he quickly flew in front of Deena, grabbing her arms and shaking her. "Deena deena relax! This is just a game, okay? No need to freak out so much."
Deena breathed in heavy a few times, slowly letting go of the wand as she fell in a lump on the ground, a couple of tears on her cheeks as she tried brushing them away. "It isn't though... it... isn't" she muttered out.
"Yes, it IS" Milly informed her, moving closer. "You can't loose your grasp between fiction and reality. You go down that path-"
"It's... it's not that" Deena said, rubbing her forehead some. "I... know this is a game" she said pointing over to the still paused screen. "But what we're doing... our mission isn't and....and... and..."
Milly gently wrapped himself around her, hugging her tightly. "Deena whatever it is, please tell me" he said, sounding worried. "I need to know what's wrong, and if I can help."
Deena tried looking away, shaking her head. "No...I'm sorry I said anything. Tonight... tonight's not suppose to be about that. It's suppose to be just... relaxing and having fun-"
"Does screaming out in terror and treating the console like an enemy sound relaxing?" Milly asked her. "Are you having fun shivering and trying to pretend that nothing's wrong, when that clearly isn't the case?"
Deena sighed, crading her hand in her heads, still not being able to focus her graze on the cat familiar. "Do... do you think I could of taken him?" she muttered out.
"Huh?"
"The Hunter thing... Sentarus... the one you said not to fight" Deena recalled earlier that night hiding behind a bush as the NeFiend general scanning and marching around the block before disappearing in a burst of crimson lightning. "Could I of beaten it?" Deena recalled watching the thing, holding herself tightly as her eyes were wide with fear as she tried to stop herself from making a sound. "If it had been a real battle... if I was actually protecting someone... if I couldn't of just ran or hid... could I of won? Or would I of lost a fight... would I of... lost this war... lost myself before it even began?"
Milly looked down, pondering seriously for a moment. "To be honest, presently as you are now... I'm not sure" he admitted, looking down at Deena seriously. "In time, absolutely. You're only just beginning to learn the extents and limitations of your powers. There's still plenty more power and strength you can tap into, with the right amount of training and focus. While models like that.. they are powerful of course, but can't ever advance past a certain point. They have much more limitations then you do in the grand scheme of things then you do."
"But those limits don't matter... if I died there!!" Deena then pounded the ground angrily, a few tears falling down her cheek. "If all I was able to do was kill a few of the lowest level grunts and then just get dusted by someone higher up on the food chain!" She then pounded the ground a few more times. "What potential, what power could I of achieved there huh? What kind of world would of there even been left to save if I failed in an actual fight?!"
"But that's not what happened" Milly reminded her, holding her tightly. "You extinguished those low levels before they could make a trail, and prevented him, an in turn the higher up NeFiends from spotting you" she then turned Deena around so she could look into her eyes. "You did the right thing and because of that, you have a chance of continuing to fight, to gather allies to drive and exterminate these things off our planet."
"Only because you told me what to do" Deena spat out. "If you hadn't been there-"
"Don't think about that possibility! I'm ALWAYS going to be there."
"Not if I get you killed first" Deena muttered, leaning her head against the Familiar's chest as tears continued flowing down her cheek. "I know you say I'm more important and you're more expendable but... honestly, it's the other way around." Deena looked over at her wand. "If I could find that and become this, so could anyone. Maybe someone who instead of pointless flaunting their abilities around and leaving so many trails and clues like a big neon bulls eye for the enemy, would of been able to raise a resistance without ruining it the first chance she got."
"You think I'm any better at this then you are?!" Milly asked, his paws tightening into fists. "You think I was some super one in a billion kid who was the only one could bark orders on the sidelines about whatever the enemy has planned?" Milly cried out, actually flying a bit away from Deena as her tail flagged back and forth. "A familiar is ALWAYS less important then a warrior, let alone the Matriach" Deena looked up at her as he continued flying back annoyed. "Anything I can do... anything I can help you with you could honestly get from a Wikipedia page or a PDA or a cell phone update."
"That's not true!" Deena spouted out. "You're far more important then an object Milly!"
"Not on the battlefield" the feline muttered out as Deena was shown getting up. "Not where it counts."
Deena shook her head, slapping her chest roughtly. "You count... you matter right here!" she said as Milly focused her attention back on the magical girl, trying to rub her tears away. "To the mission... to the world... especially to me. Never... ever forget that okay? I would never be able to go on... to want to keep fighting if I lost you so... please don't act like you're insignificant okay? You're my best friend and I... love you too much to not have you around, okay?"
Milly thought for a second and nodded. "Okay, but only if you do me the same" He flew right in front of Deena, looking her at eye level. "Just because you made a couple of mistakes, doesn't mean you are worthless. Or that you were chosen poorly" Milly once more wrapped herself around Deena tightly, rubbing his cheek on hers. "You found the wand, you obtained this power... and I know it won't be for naught. You will be able to gather support needed to vanquish this threat, but not if you start doubting yourself or your abiltiies now." She used her tail to lift Deena's chin. "Just because you know your limitations and weaknesses does not mean they need to rule you, or that they stop you from getting better and improving. The strength of magic, especially white magic, comes from the confidence and love needed to pull it's most latent energies out. And if you continue fighting for what is right and working on breaking those limitations, no single opponent or general would be able to stand against you."
Deena gasped, leaning closer to Milly. "Wow you... you really think so?"
"Of course" Milly said, kissing the girl's forehead. "If at the lowest base level you could take down an MG Hunter, even the upper class Fiends and monarchy that governs them should be the ones worried."
"Thanks" Deena blushed some, not noticing energy gathering around her. "I thought so to first getting the powers but... it feels a lot better hearing you say that."
"Only because it's true." he then smiled bigger, going over to the little closet on the side of the room and taking out a mirror, holding it over Deena. "Especially when you're already growing."
Deena looked a bit surprised as she saw bright white energy around her. "Woah, guess all this emotional bond talking has it's ups" she then smacked her hands together tightly, as a white energy barrier glowing with the smallest remants of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet color forming around it. "Nica nice" she said, pounding her hands again as the shield around her glowed with brighter energy. "I think I just leveled up or something."
"I think that something being discovering one of your abilities; the Color Shield" Milly pointed out. "Not at it's peak, but I have a feeling it could easily take quite a lot of shots from a Sentarus model and give you plenty of time to fire back."
"Yeah no doubt" Deena said with a laugh, looking over at the TV screen and sighing. "Though in real combat, you wouldn't have the time to find out by pausing, would you?"
"Yeah, but we're not in real combat, nor should we be right now" Milly pointed out. "Even if you aren't technically human, you aren't a machine who can work 24/7 either, and need your breaks."
Deena looked over at the wand in thought for a second, sighing. "True but... I haven't really done any actual work so far on this mission" she stated, going over and picking it up. "And honestly before we transform the school on Tuesday there... are some things we have to take of first. Things I can't put off forever."
Milly saw Deena turn around starting to open her door. "Oh you mean..."
"Yeah; transforming the rents" she opened it fully, walking out of the room as Milly floated behind her. The magical girl was shown walking down a fairly narrow hallway before reaching a stair way that led downstairs. "Honestly, I really of should done this already" she admitted, jumping on the railway and slowly standing down it, not even bothering to adjust her position as she gracefully angled herself downstairs. "If the enemy's already in the neighborhood."
"Well you wouldn't have anything to worry about" Milly commented as Deena jumped off the banister, and started walking through a not lit dinning room to another hall way. "At this point, NeFeinds are only looking after those with wicked energy they can directly feed off of, or magical threats they'd have to combat. Neither of which would fit your folks."
"Regardless, I'm not taking any more chances" she whispered, a small smile escaping her lips. "I already took one coming in and just retreating to my room without checking with them first" Deena stopped in front of another door, turning and leaning against it. "For all they know, they're "son" who doesn't even longer exist is simply spending another unproductive day hanging with his best bud."
"Well at least half of that is true" Milly pointed out, smiling back as he extended his tail, Deena extending her right arm for the best bro-fist they could muster.
"The unproductive part isn't" Deena sighed, looking intently at her wand. "Though I'm not sure how capable they'll become... or even how capable I want them to be for the fight."
"To be honest, that is up to you" Milly pointed out. "If you were close to the person, you do have some control over what they wind up being changed into."
Deena recalled Guy One transforming into Milly and nodded. "Makes sense, I do recall imagining you being some sort of four winged flying kitty" she then slowly turned around. "Though since even before I wasn't really close to many people, that little rule won't help going forward."
"Well that's why you need large groups" Milly pointed out. "So there's better chance of there being the kinds of different magical girls that would have all sorts of unique advantages in this war."
Deena thought for a moment, a smile actually forming on her face. "Yeah, including some who won't need to fight directly" she then lightly pushed open the door, tip toeing into the room. On the far end, laid a king sized mattress. Sleeping inside was a rather tall brown haired main (in yellow pajamas) and a curly haired middle aged woman (in a white night gown). Deena continued gently making her way in until she was on the right side of the bed. 'Good, they're asleep' she thought to herself. 'It's better they only find out about this on the other side but... guess I can leave one last reminder.' She then leaned down, lightly kissing the man's forehead. "Bye Dad" she whispered out before leaning over and kissing the woman's forehead. "Bye Mom. I love you both so much". Holding out the wand as she saw the woman stir a bit, she held out the magical tool, with an intense white glow as energy circled around the two sleeping figures. It pulsuated and ran through their bodies, transforming them in a matter of seconds as soon, a different pair was now shown sleeping on the bed, the covers pulled away so you could see a full view of them.
The two were now an almost identical pair of 8 year old twins. Their small figures, bright short red hair and when opened violet eyes, in addition to matching star tattoos on their cheeks made them virtually indistinguishable, as it was only their attire that set them apart. What had been Guy Two/Deena's Father was wearing a puffy light orange one piece leotard with a bright blue blazer and jacket, with thigh high white boots that had yellow tips, and a pair of red tinted glasses. What had been Guy Two/Deena's father wore a puffy bright blue leotard with light orange blazer and jacket, with thigh high yellow boots that had white tips, and a pair of blue tinted glasses. The twins were shown smiling happily, holding the other's hand and nuzzling a lot closer together then they were before.
"Have to admit they clean up real cute girl bro" Milly whispered, now appearing behind Deena. "So what are their area of expertise going to be?"
"You'll see soon enough Cat Bro" Deena whispered back, putting her wand behind her as it started glowing brightly, Milly noticing the energy starting to transfer through the entire house as Deena held out her other hand, snapping her fingers as loud as she could. "Time to wake up!" she commanded.
At the sound of the snap, the twins both opened their eyes, spinning out of bed and landing in front of Deena, saluting at they did so. "Up and ready for work, Matri Deena Happy" they said at the same time, their voices echoing and mixing together in a cute high pitch squeal.
"Good to hear" Deena said, holding out her free hand as she started pacing in front of the two. "And just to be clear on what that work is, name off your title, moniker, position and purpose to me. Do you understand?"
The two nodded happily, holding one another's hand. "We understand perfectly Matri Deena Happy!"
"Good, but just call me Deena? Also if you could speak one at a time."
What was the father nodded. "But of course-"
"Deena" what was the mother said, nodding as well.
"I Am Operator Class SA-"
"And I am Operator Class SB-"
"View Marissa"
"And Observe Patricia."
"Who Locate any the largest, safe potential of candiates to turn into more magical girls-"
"Along with finding out any nearby NeFeind activitiy of any kind."
"And report our findings as soon as possible-"
"To you or any active Magic Girls under your rulership."
Milly looked over at View Marissa and Observe Patricia as they then stood at attention, still holding hands as he smirked a bit. "My my my, how very useful" he said, shooting a look back at Deena. "Or would be, if I could not do the same thing."
"Not to their degree" Deena said leaning down. "Want to show Milly how you peform your tasks?"
View Marissa nodded, going over and hugging Deena tightly. "Of course Deena-"
"Anything for you" Observe Patricia added, also hugging Deena as well.
"We love you" they said at the same time.
"And I love you" Deena said lightly rubbing their hair. "And promise as long as you peform to the best of your abilities, I'm going to protect you to the best of mine." The two simply nodded as they headed off, Marissa and Patricia still hand in hand skipping happily down the hallway.
"Man I haven't seen your folks so in tune... ever" Milly observed.
"Well technically I'm more the parent now" Deena said with a smirk. "Which means giving the orders and the care falls more on me, while they can just do work around the house." Deena then walked out the room, Milly following her as they then approached an open door which Deena went in and started walking down. "Though I'm giving them much more important chores then just taking out the trash and watching dishes."
"Ones they'll actually do instead of putting off all the time."
"Hey I only did that like half the time, and that's past tense" Deena continued walking down the stairs, Milly suddenly noticing the area was a lot larger then a typical basement as he starred in awe at the site in front of them. "I think you'll find the present is much different cat bro."
"Whao!" He said, looking at the site in front of him. The basement was now more of a giant underground cave, with various television and computer monitors and cameras all around. There were two little station set ups with rather intriciate glowing keyboards and digital 3D virtual switches and buttons, which Marissa and Patricia were seen working on, typing and viewing at incredible rates as their glasses showed various figures buzzing thousands of words and letters every single they were inputting and relaying to other monitors and boards around the room.
"Welcome to our Info base" Deena said with a confident smile, crossing her arms as she stopped walking down the stairs. "I know you have an incredible knowledge of the enemy and of our activities but you also admitted to only being able to process what you know so fast. Well with this set up, View Marissa and Observe Patricia can compute and triangulate and process current and upcoming information at alarming speeds. And the more girls we get, the more energy we can pump in and the more our global database can expand and find NeFeind info on the entire planet."
Milly quickly shook his head to stop from simply floating slack jawed and looked over at Deena impressed. "Hmmm you really took that "expand your limitations" talk more seriously then I thought."
"Well I have to" Deena pointed at herself. "Deena Happy can't stay too down in the dumps for long, and always has to find one way of staying one step ahead."
"Which means ripping off the bat cave then."
"Uh.... no?!"
"Pffft, don't fool me girl bro. Once you get past this being in your house being operated on by little magic girls, that's totally what this is."
"Well... hey if they knew about such facets, they'd use them in those shows right?"
"Or you know have more original set ups instead-"
"Oh don't be higga hating on that" Deena said twirling her wand as she made a small rainbow bridge to slide down the rest of the stairs. "This is awesome and you know it."
"Yeah, and I guess all awesome is based on taking awesome things that exist and tweaking them" Milly admitted, floating down next to Deena. "And it makes sense you wouldn't want to put your folks in harms way."
Deena sighed. "Honestly even old me wouldn't want to put as many in harms way as we're going to have to but... there will still be a lot better candiates for warriors, mages and defenders going forward. Right now we could always use this to expand our intel." Deena then spun her wand a bit, making a pose. "Plus I wanted to check how my transformation magic works on the inanimate as well. And like with people, I guess it's the easiest to change what you know and have more then the unknown."
"Well even your transformation magic will only go so far" Milly pointed out. "You're going to need more actual magic girls to transform super large groups or areas."
"And we'll get on that shortly" Deena then walked closer to the consoles the twins were working on. "Till then, what info do you got for me girls?"
Marissa turned over to her. "So far we've found three viable new candidates-"
"For mass magical girl additions" Patricia stated. "And as instructed-"
"These places will not only allow us better numbers-"
"But places we can control easily enough without our secret slipping."
"Good" Deena pointed to herself. "Unlike lots of things where the identity is a secret, since we no longer have those, our very existence and purpose needs to remain the secret, anyway it can" Deena smirked over at Milly. "And that's different from Batman."
Milly waved his tail. "Well technically I think Dark Knight Returns had him like that at the end-"
"Yeah this is... still different" Deena muttered out before focusing back on the twins. "Anyways, what's the status update on the NeFeinds? Spot any more?"
Marissa nodded. "Yeah, two have made their way across town-"
"And bonded with hosts they are now feeding on." Patricia added.
Deena nodded. "Good to..." she then gasped, moving right next to them. "WAIT, WHAT?"
Marissa turned back to the console. "Two NeFeinds made their way across town"
"And bonded with hosts they are now feeding on" Patricia repeated, the two again typing on the console.
"But... but how is that possible?" Deena asked, pacing around. "How did we let two slip up."
Milly grunted, slapping his own tail with his forehead. "Ugh, okay that one is my bad" he admitted. "Packs of low level NeFeinds like that usually travel in groups of at least a dozen, so there was more then that 10 you destroyed."
"Yeah, that is something you should of brought up BEFORE" Deena pointed out. "Sentarus or not, we should try and take out as many as possible before they become a problem."
"Yeah though in truth... I kind of thought the other two would of evaporated on their own anyway."
"Wait what do you mean evaporate on their own?"
"Look this may still be a pretty recent invasion, but there are reasons besides you that the NeFeinds haven't totally swarmed and conquered the earth yet" Milly pointed out. "First off, this isn't the only planet where they're doing battle, as these conqueror and devour demons have been ravaging the universe for eons as a threat, and this is only the latest battle."
Deena blinked. "Oh so does that mean there are like others fighting these fuckers besides us?"
"Yeah the magicial girl transformation into white soldiers of justice is a pretty ageless concept for a reason you know." Milly pointed at the console. "More importantly focusing on our fight, larger and more dangerous NeFeinds would of come through by now, if they could. But the atmosphere of certain planets and worlds is a lot more hostile to them then others."
"So... are you saying pollution is good in this case?"
"No this isn't a lame half hearted PSA or anything, I'm talking about specific chemical compounds that are different depending on each world you're in. Just like how humans can't breath in nitrious atmospheres, NeFeinds can't normally survive on their own for long on planets like this without attaching to a host and feeding off their negative energy."
Deena thought back to Milly asking her to eradicated the 10 Ne Fiends with the blade of the wand. "Oh so that's why you said utterly destroying their shells would put us in the clear."
"Exactly, I'm sure others have been lost this way, but unfouratnley with a host now, these two won't be."
Deena then focused on the twins again, holding out her hand. "Marissa, Patricia where exactly are these NeFiends operating out of."
The two typed into their consoles, before responding at the same time. "138 Hallser Avenue, Deena. Approximately .3 miles from this location."
The magical matricah's eyes widened in shock. "You... you sure?" The two nodded. "But that's... that's-"
"Where I lived" Milly said solemnly. "So those hosts... likely are... were my parents."
"No" Deena said shaking her head. "No no no no NO! That... that can't be!" Deena looked over at Milly sternly. "You said it yourself: our folks shouldn't be targeted."
"No I said YOUR parents wouldn't be targeted" Milly spat out. "NeFeinds first target those with a lot of negativity and hatred within them which... yeah my old rents were already full of."
Deena looked down sadly. "I... I never thought they were that bad" she muttered out. "I mean I know you've told me some things but...."
"Look, don't worry about it" Milly said. "That was the past when I was just a stupid kid with jacked up parents. Now I'm a familiar assisting the war against NeFeinds who are using them."
"Not for long" Deena held out her wand. "I'm going over there and-"
"NO!" Milly screamed out, grabbing Deena's hand with his tail. "You aren't going over there!"
"Why not?" Deena asked, trying to struggle out of Milly's grip.
"Attacking low level NeFeinds that are just floating around can be easily excused enough: you totally evaporate them and the leaders will just assume the planet's atmosphere snuffed them out. Easy enough" Milly brought Deena closer looking her in the eye. "But just like taking out higher ranking hunter generals will seek major attention, so will destroying NeFeinds who already attached to hosts and are shuffling back energy to the cracks of their home dimension" Deena continued her struggles, though lesser as she saw the sad, broken look in her friends eyes. "The mission comes first Deena, remember? Doing anything to compromise that will only assure their conquest of the entire planet" Milly's body start shaking, her grip loosening to the point where Deena was easily able to escape. "In the end, what are two... jacked up parents matter when it comes to saving billions of lives?"
"They're your parents" Deena pointed out, putting a hand on her chest. "If I got to protect mine, shouldn't I be able to do the same for you?" Milly continued floating there, not saying anything as Deena looked at him pleadingly. "Please there has to be something... anything we can do."
Milly looked at the ground, a couple of tears coming to his eyes. "There isn't a good choice" he muttered out. "Just the right choice."
"And what choice would that be?" Deena asked holding out her hands. "Milly I.... I want to help but I get your concern.. your reasons for not wanting to attack" she clenched her hands tightly. "So whatever you decide we'll go with but... know I'm there for you no matter what okay? I... know if our situations were reversed you'd be there for me Mil and... I know you'd also let me best choose how to handle this."
Milly sighed once more, before making his choice.