It was a bit tricky to figure which pair should get magical items. It may have been simple enough to provide magical items for all of them, but Lilith would probably see this as building up an army and retaliate by either increasing the number of demons on her side or attacking them immediately. What they needed to do was build up their side in a way that didn't look threatening.
Eventually, Mary Elise came up with a rather surprising decision. "I think we should equip Samantha and Kumiko with magic items," she said.
"What? You mean it?" asked Kellie.
"But I thought you hated them," said Katie.
"I think we're over old grudges now," said Mary, "I admit I'm still not...comfortable with them. But if we want to be able to stand a fight with Lilith or be ready for if the kitsunes take revenge, we need to do something they'd never expect. I mean, the other pairs are a little too obvious, aren't they?"
"Well...Mika and Claudia are a pretty strong power couple in the other timestream," said Kellie.
"And Lisa is already really close to me," said Katie.
"And Karen is just as close with me," said Mary, "See? They'd expect us to arm them with magic. We need to do something they won't see coming. And trust me, I'm only suggesting Samantha and Kumi because I think they're our best option."
"So are we gonna give them Rings of Age or Transformation?" asked Katie.
"No, no, they'd be counting on that," said Mary, "We have to really be playing outside the ball park with this."
"I think my dad might have some ideas about that," said Kellie.
==========
Samantha and Kumiko were rather surprised to be called over to Kellie's house. Hopefully, that was a good sign of how their enemies will react. The explanation of their plan was rather confusing for them too. "So, you want to give us magic items because no one would expect us to have magic items?" asked Samantha dubiously.
"If we're going to be dealing with the Mother of All Monsters and a clan of vengeful kitsunes, we need to be as unpredictable as possible," said Mary Elise.
"I thought Echidna was supposed to be the Mother of All Monsters," said Katie.
"Lilith went by that name when she was in ancient Greece," said Merlin, "She's actually appeared in several different myths under different names and produced many monsters. You may also know her as Tiamat, Angrboda, and Grendel's Mother."
"Oh, that bad..." said Kumiko.
"Yes, which is why we need to prepare ourselves," said Kellie, "And like Mary said, the less predictable, the better. Which is also why you two won't be getting rings."
"But you said we were getting magic," said Kumiko.
"Not magic rings," said Merlin, "Your magical items will be of a different nature." He gave Samantha a bronze bracelet and Kumiko a light blue silk belt. "To know we're fully committed to this fight body and spirit, your items will likewise represent Body and Spirit," he said.
"So what are they?" asked Samantha, slipping her bracelet on.
"You wear the Bracelet of Size, which allows you to alter the size of yourself and others," said Merlin.
"Can't Mary already do that?" asked Samantha.
"To an extent," said Mary, "But you can shift the sizes of objects, better than I can. Also, when you shrink yourself, you become proportionally stronger."
"So if I made myself twice as small, I'd be twice as strong?" asked Samantha. She suddenly dropped in height, her clothes maintaining the same size with her. She had gone from the tallest girl in the room to the shortest. She walked over to an easy chair, which should have been awkward for her to lift at her normal height. Samantha was able to hold it over her head easily. "Awesome," said Samantha before putting the chair down, "But won't this mean making myself bigger will make me weaker?"
"No, you'll just retain your normal strength relative to that size," said Merlin, "It would be for the best if you didn't become too strong at larger sizes."
"Ok, so what can my thing do?" asked Kumiko, fastening the belt around her waist. The belt gave a soft glow before Kumiko became transparent. She held up her hand, which she could see the other through. "Whoa, that's trippy," she said.
"That would be the Ghost Belt," said Merlin, "You have the basic abilities of a spirit: invisibility, intangibility..."
"Can I fly?" asked Kumiko, jumping up and down to see if she'll stay off the floor.
"Eventually, but that requires more skill," said Merlin, "You'll also be able to possess people."
"Really?" asked Kumiko before walking towards Mary Elise. But when she would have walked into her, she bounced back as if she hit a wall.
"Your initial possession powers will only work on people who neither know about magic or can use magic," said Merlin.
"You could have said that earlier," said Kumiko with annoyance.
"I thought it was pretty funny," said Mary with a smirk.
"Anyways, your powers will improve with practice, so I suggest you two get as much practice as you can," said Kellie, "I only hope our enemies will allow us to have enough time to get ready."