Crazy Talk had amused itself for 200,000 years on these apes. It didn't care how good or evil it did, let alone how great or small the changes were, its only goal was how much it could amuse itself with its game of twisting these insects around, and seeing one squirm and break down as they saw reality contradict them in ways for most of the time made no sense. Like a child with an ant in a maze that they could twist and turn to their pleasure, leaving the ant terrified and confused.
But Crazy Talk may have been old, incredibly old, easily older than humans, but it was not all seeing, and not all knowing, it knew how to screw over its victims to leave them confused messes for the rest of their days questioning their own sanity or left wonder why it felt like the very world was against them (never mind it actually was in this case).
But it did not every precise detail of the entire universe, it simply plucked the strings and laughed to itself as the spider scurried around as their own web changed shaped.
It played this game with more apes than it could remember, not that it would BOTHER to remember the actually names of its playthings, or count them. Count the number of times you've gone to the movies your entire life? Or the name of every actor in every TV show you've seen? Even WHAT changed wasn't really the point, the point was watching the insect squirm!
But recently, things had gotten, annoying. The insects would continue to act exactly the same whether what they said was true or not! They were ruining the game! Two sides in a political debate, they wouldn't break pace, or even change their rhetoric as Crazy Talk changed what they believed to be true or false. Crazy Talk even flip flopped two sides in a internationally televised debate, several times, but the two speakers kept saying the same thing, and their followers kept believing the same thing! It DIDN'T MATTER TO THEM whether what they were saying was true or false! Most were just saying whatever they thought would get them the most votes, they didn't CARE if what they said was true or false! It was INFURIATING!!!
To blow off steam, Crazy Talk had targeted a small child. Normally this was beneath it, not out of any sense of empathy or morality, children were simply too easy. They'd make patently false statements they believed were true most of the time, and they'd always always just argue with their parents or friends about it forever. And they stumbled upon a A TRUE statement that Crazy Talk could turn around... they'd just cry. No questioning their sanity, no running around like chickens with their heads cut off, no being dragged to the loony bin, they'd just cry. It was much the same reason it usually didn't bother with the mentally challenged.
But at this point, like someone playing video game with a 100 level character through hordes of level 1 enemies, it needed some release, something simply and easy. It would simply latch onto the nearest child and adult, and reverse their statement on the spot!
So... it zeroed in on one random neighborhood, one random house, one random child, and assumed the form of a white bat with golden eyes, and invisible to all but the one it would strike, it stalked its latest plaything, waiting for the child to say a statement that was true, and they believed was true, and remake existence to make it false with only its victim knowing different.
True be told, heh, this was often harder than it sounded, humans more often than not would fully and completely believe things that were FALSE, and often feel doubt or uncertainty over things that were ACTUAL true! And when they DID fully believe something that was ACTUALLY true, they rarely, if ever, felt the need to actually SAY IT!
At best it was stuck with little things like making 'dinner's ready' actually needing fifteen more minutes of cooking or something.
What was truly annoying was scientists, AND spiritualist! Scientists questioned, knowing nothing was truly certain, while spiritualists, if there was no doubt, no uncertainty, then it couldn't be faith!
It was one of the strange paradoxes of these little bugs that Crazy Talk amused itself with.
Its target this time, was a little girl, and her mother, the father working a 8 AM to 8 PM job to support them. Sadly, the woman had no reason to ever say 'My husband is not having an affair' or 'he'll be promoted soon' or even 'he'll never be promoted.'
"Mom! I can tell fantasy from reality."
Make the girl a complete delusional? Meh. She was too young, she'd be taken care of rather than 'taken care of', the mental institutions were so much more fun in the old days! Meh! Whatever she'd say next, it would strike! It was tired of this!
"I know magical girls and stuff aren't real." And Crazy Talk struck. "... but I wish they were." The little girl finished her sentence [i]after[/i] Crazy Talk had changed the world.
"Cloe," her mother said. "Are you feeling alright? You were just accepted for the Magical Girls Academy today. Are you feeling well?" Her mother put a hand to Cloe's head.
The girl blinked. "Huh?"
Crazy Talk laughed to itself, out loud. Huh? Cat weren't supposed to be able to do that.
Her mother showed her a sheet of paper from the table that hadn't been there before.
The emblem on the letter showed a cartoonish heart surrounded by a circle of small stars, with a crossed pair of magical wands in the background.
From No Port Town Academy of The International League of Magical Girls.
The little girls eyes widened larger and larger. "Mom are you joking?"
"She's not joking at all!" Crazy Talk heard someone say right near it, then, without intending to at all, it flew into the living room. The nearby voice then said, as Crazy Talk found itself looking at Cloe, "Your application has been accepted! You're officially a student of No Port Town's Magical Girl Academy!"
The girl kneeled and looked at Crazy Talk, she said, "Are you..."
"I'm your familiar!" Said the happy voice, Crazy Talk couldn't see where it was coming from at all! "You can call me Kooky! Not every magical girl is assigned a familiar, so you should feel extra special, and AS your familiar, only you can see me!"
Wait a minute... was it... was that ITS VOICE?! The fuck?!
"Oh my, is your familiar here already dear?"
"Uh... yes... yes they are mom..." Cloe said... and the confusion on her face... slowly turned to glee... and she was grinning. She whispered too low for her mom to hear. "My wish came true."
Crazy Talk wanted its eyes to widen, but they wouldn't! What was going on?!
It ran through everything that had happened... all the changes made to reality... Magical Girls had mascot characters, little cute magical creatures who were their advisors and side kicks... And following the path of least resistance... Crazy Talk... was now Cloe's familiar... that wasn't so bad, and could have been amusing... but now... 'Kooky' would act only in the way that Cloe saw as a familiar SHOULD act... because magical girls were real after all, and she'd been dead wrong now.
Cloe hugged 'Kooky' hopping up and out and letting out whoops of joy! Her mother thought they were for being assigned a familiar. Not that her 'wish' for Magical Girls to be real had come true.
"This is the happiest day of my life!" Cloe cheered, and Crazy Talk instantly reversed it to the worst day of her life... except... nothing happened... at all... It's power... it's precious power, that which defined it... was sealed away... within Kooky. Unable to reverse sincerely believed statement to being falsehoods.
Kooky the white Bat lovingly nuzzled Cloe. Inside, Crazy Talk was riving! It's hatred would have dwarfed the moon! It's fury would have vaporized the ocean! And all that rage and spite was centered around this tiny insignificant worm whose innocent statement had trapped it.
And one true came to its mind from Kooky's chirpy simulation of a mind... Familiars, were bound to the life-force of their master. If she died, he'd die. His life was now bound to hers.
As Kooky began to tell Cloe everything she'd need to know, what time to show up for school, what her classes would be, what to expect for receiving her transformation charm ... Crazy Talk made a vow. It would break free of this humiliation, this criminal farce brought upon it. And when it did... it would twist every possible believed in true words it could, to make this worm's life as horrible, as pain filled, and misery inducing, as possible! It would not kill her, not first, it would make her suffer beyond comprehension! She'd cry out for death a thousand times, and a thousand times she'd be denied, suicide would not save her, the undertaker declaring her dead would be proven wrong, AND! It would kill her family, kill her friends, kill her classmates, anyone who had so much as smiled to her would die a horrible death for their guilt by association! It would have its revenge!
"Want to play video games Kooky?"
"No!" Crazy Talk said.
"Oh... I'm sorry."
Crazy Talk blinked. It tried to tell Cloe she could go hang herself... but nothing. 'So... It's only things that contradict what she sees things with magical girls that I can't act on... I will find a way to get my freedom... and I will crush this grub.'
"You got any comic books?" Kooky asked.
"LOTS!"
"Cool!"
Crazy Talk smoldered within.