"I'm not really a fan of heights at all" said Mary Menella, the 10 year old black haired girl (wearing an overly long white t shirt, blue shorts and beige sandals, with a little rainbow ladybug hairpin in her short black hair) feeling the weight of the blue looking pen (though one with streamers on both side as well as various glowing buttons) that Mikey had given her once she accepted the title of a magic girl, inspecting it closely. "So I'm going to be... like this forever?"
"Technically, you'll be whatever the magic girl you transform into forever" Mikey pointed out, now landing on her left shoulder. "Which is something only determined by your soul and spirit. I don't know what you, and others will turn into until it actually happens, and there's quite a lot of types actually-"
"Wait... others" Mary said looking at Mikey.
"Well... yeah. You're not going to be able to stop all the demons on your own. Honestly I wouldn't even suggest going after a demon until there's at least 3 in your team."
"But... I thought you said no one else agreed to be magic girls."
Mikey sighed looking down disappointed. "They didn't, and trust me I have been asking around quite a lot..." he saw Mary's lips start to quiver again as Mikey quickly jumped to her other shoulder. "But hey, that was before YOU kid! Now there's an example of a warrior against this evil that can inspire others to help fight the fight."
Mary thought for a moment and smiled. "Yeah and maybe we can work on you saying it nicer cause.. maybe you were kind of mean before and people aren't going to want to help if you're mean to them."
"Trust me if you were called an odd freak and got ran over by a truck nearly a dozen times you wouldn't be that chipper" Mikey muttered before looking into Mary's eyes and nodded. "But yeah, the sales pitch IS important so it is something to work on." He then pointed over to the pen looking device. "First things first you need to access your magical girl form."
"How do I do that?"
"Oh simple. You just roll the pen around, focus and pray echoing the words "give me the power to destroy evil" in your mind and heart and you'll transform into your magical girl form."
"And how do I de transform?"
Mikey chuckled some Mary looking at her confused. "Detransform? Ha hahahahahaha" he then saw Mary's face as his face got serious again. "Sorry kid this isn't one of those "fighting evil by moon light, going to school by daylight" sort of things. This is a full time commitment."
Mary looked shocked. "So I won't be able to do anything ever again except... fight demons?"
"Oh no not THAT kind of commitment. Trust me mental health is especially important for magical girls if all you did was fight demons and worry about how you were fighting demons that would just wear on your spirit and drain your power much more quickly. Trust me once we get a team up there will be time for some breaks besides just planning on taking out the demon forces to do stuff you'd find fun."
"And after all the demons are done I can... go back?"
Mikey looked at her sadly. "Like i said this is a commitment kid and this isn't going to be just a series of a few battles. At best this could take years upon years."
"And after the years and years?"
The higher power being thought for a moment. "I mean if the magical girls destroy all the demons-"
"WHEN we destroy all the demons."
"Okay okay definitely appreciate the enthusiasm so WHEN you destroy all the demons, you'll still be magical girls. You'll just you know fight I guess more standard human evil until your ultimate defeat or you feel like ascending to Heaven like we talked about before."
Mary then looked around her home, a haunting thought for the first time appearing in her mind. "That means I'll... never see mom and dad again. I...don't want them to worry about demons or... other things in my fight." Mary gasped holding herself. "But... but I don't want them worrying about me either."
"Oh they won't" Mikey flicked his tail. "Once you transform all memories and traces of your former mortal existence will disappear from others minds as well. So you know it will be like you were never born." Mikey thought for a moment groaning. "Wow I am TERRIBLE at these sort of talks kid, I'm sorry."
"It's okay" Mary was shivering some as she gulped, trying to look brave. "I... wouldn't want mommy and daddy to worry about me if this is what I have to do and... even if they don't remember me, I'll still remember them right?" Mikey nodded at this as Mary tightened her fist. "That means I can protect them with my power."
"Oh yeah in fact dependent on what kind of magical girl you turn into, you could fully shield them from a demon assault even when you're not around" Mikey pointed out. "Granted even the most powerful magical girl barrier will only work for so long..."
"But if it works long enough to take out the demons then that's what matters" Mary clutched the transforming pen in her other hand tightly stepping away from the living room and into the kitchen of her house, taking one last look at her home as she focused on the pen. "Okay I'm ready then."
"You sure?" Mikey asked jumping off her shoulder to fly right in front of her face looking Mary right in the eyes. "You don't want to give your folks one last hug goodbye?"
Mary shook her head. "No cause if I know I'm hugging them for the last time I'll... never want to let go and..." some tears fell down Mary's cheeks as she rubbed them away. "That will... just be even more sad so I... I want to do this now."
"I understand" Mikey said looking away from her looking disgusted. 'It's not fair this only works on those who are truly innocent and pure. There's so many scum and degenerates in this world who would benefit it being turned into magical girls even if there weren't demons around to fight but kids like her... she would have done some good to this world.' He then saw Mary kneel on the ground closing her eyes as she put the transforming pen in both hands, concentrating as much as she could. 'However what magical girl she becomes... can SAVE this world and yeah, that's more important right now.'
Meanwhile Mary was shown thinking in her head praying as hard as she could still focusing on the pen rolling it back and forth between her clasped hands 'God please give me the power to destroy evil. Let me be a magical girl so I can stop these demons from hurting others. Please god let me have the powers of a magic girl for mom, for dad, for everyone. Please god....' Suddenly a powerful light enrapped the young 10 year old girl, Mikey looking in amazement as the transformation begun...
The enveloping light forced Mary not only to stand up but float a few feet above the ground, tilting her body so she was looking up at the divine light shining all around her. The power shown around the girl but thankfully did not attract attention from people passing looking into the house, or even from Mary's parents, shown downstairs in the basement doing laundry. Like with most magical girl transformations the background was now a swirling mix of colors (that one could assume was the lord giving a small taste of his divinity in a form not only Mary could understand, but viewers such as yourself watching this event) as Mary's shirt, shorts and sandals disappeared off her body, leaving the 10 year old naked. She then quickly shot up in height, her former 3 and a half foot size now about 5 foot 9 as she appeared about 7 years older, the ladybug hair pin hitting the ground as her now long, flowing and waving dark red hair fell behind her, pulsating with power. Her body then curved and adjusted to the standard proportions of well, your standard anime seventeen year old school girl.
That's when Mary's new uniform appeared. A dark black corset covered Mary's chest, accentuating her figure even more. It was then followed by three layers of different colored but matching dark red petticoats, with garter straps that connected to a mix of black and red stockings that slid around her legs. On the bottom of her feet were cherry red 4 inch high heels which glistened, followed by a pair of dark red cuff links that appeared on her wrists. Then a majestic and very detailed and enriched in exotic fabric dress was laced around the petticoats, puffing up and extending down to a few inches above her knees. Mary then opened her eyes now a bright shining yellow as large majestic dragon wings appeared from the dress that were also a dark red that perfectly matched the ensemble. Make up shined on her faced perfectly poised as she quickly imitated slicing the air with flames of red energy surrounding her arms and legs making it appear momentarily as if she had claws as she roared, shooting a powerful stream of fire out of her mouth before dramatically posing.
The transformation now complete Mary fell back once again into her world, looking around confused, looking in shock at her body as she quickly adjusting to the heels walked over to the bathroom. "Uh, Mary, are you okay?" Mickey asked concerned at the new magical girl to have appeared in ages.
"AHHHHHHHH!" Mary cried out, finally seeing herself in front of the bathroom mirror, backing away in shock. "Is... is that really me?"
"Sure is" Mickey said, flying behind her as Mary and closed her mouth several times, tilting her face and rummaging her fingers through her new long hair, still in a state of disbelief as various smash cuts of her reacting at this as Mickey spoke once again. "Man I can't tell you how long it's been since I've actually been in the presence of a new magical girl. Certainly not since this more recent demon invasion where I've tried getting so many to see the light as it were and none actually volunteering. Hmmm I'm guessing it's been since.... I guess humans would have called it the Medieval Ages since the last call of Magical girls on this planet. And back then we didn't use humans, it was birds because Hell had unleashed a different kind of demon, not nearly as strong as the ones you're dealing with and yeah it was decided the best ones to deal with that were-"
"Wow I'm... so pretty!" Mary said, finally over her shock not having heard any of Mickey's speil as she twirled along the floor, posing some at her reflection. "I didn't think I'd turn into this." She then looked over at Mickey. "Didn't you say I'd still need chairs to reach the high shelves?"
"Yeah again been awhile since new magical girls let alone human ones and I'm not ever going to be sure what kind of one you'll transform into" Mickey pointed out, holding out his hands as a book appeared in them as he thumbed through it, pointing at a page. "And.... yup, seems you've become a super rare, always surprising kind of magical girl: the Chaos Dragon."
"Chaos... dragon?" Mary repeated, now noticing for the first time the large wings on her backside that she overlooked due to the many other changes to her body she had focused on.
"Oh yeah. Technically the oldest a magical girl can be, physically anyway, is 18, youngest about... 4, and while younger forms are all about creation and transforming magic, older ones are about more direct combative kinds of magic." Mickey pointed over to his wings. "Of course there are many different kinds of magical girl types and many different animal or elemental or unique forms given, but dragon chaos are really special as they are some of the few older types who can harness three differing kinds of focus magic; Elemental Offensive which I think with you are going to be very fire focused; high speed transport because trust me taking advantage of moving around the battlefield is going to be very important and of course which you'll appreciate is high level defensive magic."
Mary thought for a second and gasped. "Wait does that mean I can use my power now to protect my parents from the demons?"
"Well you can place a defensive shield around this house and yeah it will protect from any nearby demons. At least for awhile but eventually they'll need to be taken out."
"Which me and the others can do later!" Mary squealed happily, unintentionally flying around with her new dragon wings as she spun in a circle, pumping her fist. "Alright, let's do it then!"
"Well I can tell you how to do it but you'll have to be the one putting your magic into it kid" Mickey explained going through the book. "Ah here we go; Dragon Shield. All you need is a totem to insert some of your magic into-"
"What's a totem?"
"Well in this case an object that was important to your former life you can infuse with your new power to set up the shield that will be invisible to everyone BUT other magic girls and beings like myself."
"Hmmm..." Mary looked around the floor, as she quickly flew over (this time more intentionally so it was more clumsy) to the kitchen picking up the hairpin from before as she then went over and showed Mickey. "Like this?" She asked holding up the hairpin. "It's the pin I got from Mommy at the fair last week" she then recalled her parents taking her to the fair, having fun riding on the merry go round and winning the pin from one of those water gun shooting challenges with her mom putting it on her hair as Mary now felt her long flowing magical girl hair. "The one they... they don't remember anymore, right?" Mary asked trying to hold back tears.
Mickey sighed nodding. "Yeah you'll always remember but to the rest of the world well..."
Mary shook her head trying to wipe away tears. "What's important is I remember and that memory gives me a reason to fight to... protect them and everyone else." Mary then held the hair pin tightly in her left hand, it not pulsing with powerful red energy as she slammed it hard onto the ground, the pin now a few inches below the floor, it quickly sinking into the boards as Mary looked down solemnly, the ground instantly repairing itself. "Starting... here!" Mary exclaimed, the red energy shown flicking as soon a crimson barrier invisible to most of the world now surrounded the an area 50 yards all around Mary's house , encompassing a couple of the neighboring houses as well.
"Wow, you tapped into that power fast" Mickey observed seeing Mary still on the ground, her trembling hand still on the floor. "From what I remember usually takes a bit to cast defense spells like that."
"I... I don't want to lose them" Mary said, more tears falling from her cheeks. "Any more then... then I... have." Mickey then flew next to her as Mary quickly grabbed the high power messenger, hugging him as tightly as she could as she continued crying.
"You did the right thing Mary" Mickey said wishing he could sound more sincere and hopeful then he did, feeling the girl's arm still shaking in his. "I know this is a lot to put on a young girl and I wish I could say it gets easier from here but...."
"I'm making this right... I'm going to make this right" Mary said finally getting up and wiping away her tears. "But... but I can't do that here."
"Yeah you're going to need to make your own hide out though that will at least take 5 magical girls working in synch to make one big enough for the amount of magical girls we'd need to recruit against the demons."
"I... I just... can't be here anymore..." Mary said as she quickly levitated on the floor breathing in and focusing as she powered up her dragon wings. In a few flaps she managed to blow past the door (though still politely opening it and closing it for Mickey) as the two took to the sky, flying several hundred feet up as Mary waved her hand below her. "Goodbye" she said quietly before taking off to the west, trying to wipe more tears that started floating out of her eyes as Mickey flew next to her. For a few minutes Mary flew in a circle unsure of where to go screaming out a lot of her frustration and sadness out to the clouds as Mickey simply flew next to her. Eventually Mary finally spoke again, surprised at her voice not sounding hoarse despite much ach she had bellowed out. "Okay so... so what's our next move then?" She asked.
"First things first, you probably should claim your weapon."
Mary thought for a moment. "Oh the... one you said was born from my fighting spirit?" Mickey nodded. "Wait I thought you said to wait for others before getting in a fight."
"That'd be preferable but I can't take the chance of getting lucky to fully avoid the demons before we recruit others" Mickey flicked his tail. "Plus you technically don't get it from being in battle."
"How do I get it then?"
"You have to fully embrace your new identity."
Mary looked around confused at her new body and wings. "Didn't i already do that?"
"Yeah but you still see yourself as Mary Menella right? And yeah to you that's who you will always be but to everyone else, be they friend or foe you're going to need a new moniker to go by. Maybe something a bit more spicy but hey up to you."
"Hmmmm" Mary thought for a moment as she turned around, floating so she was now looking at the sun, looking at her hand and picturing various mystical magical girl energies pouring from it. "How About Merry.... Marvelous?"
"Hmmm" Mickey thought for a second nodding and giving an approving thumbs up. "I like it! It's positive and true you since yeah finding someone to agree to this really is a Marvel."
"And I want to be Merry" Mary admitted folding her hands. "If I just think about the past then I'll be sad and... can't help out and then the demons just win right? So I gotta be happy for their sake for... everyone's sake-"
"Remember though Merry if you need to talk and open up about your emotions, do so. Bottling things up won't make you a stronger magical girl."
She nodded. "Right but I still want to be happy and... see the bright side of this too so... that's what I'll do!" Mary declared holding out her hand. "I am now Merry Marvelous, first of the magical girls against these awful demons!" A light then shone down as suddenly a powerful red crimson sword with a seared blade with various symbols along each side appeared in her hand as she grabbed it, looking at the weapon in shock.
"Gotta say Merry you really catch on quick" Mickey observed as Merry inspected her new blade. "Only a few minutes in and getting your weapon."
"One I hope I'll have time to learn how to use" Merry said, a sheath quickly appearing that she put it in, a strap around the shield fastening around her back as she now flew with the weapon as she looked over at Mickey. "First though... you said we should recruit others right?" Mickey nodded. "So how do we do that?"
"Well now that you've fully transformed the pendant should be able to guide you to the location of other potential magical girls" Mickey informed her. "So we simply find these young ladies through the pendant and then you know ask them to join. Again you have to volunteer to do so. Trust me if I could just transform whoever into a magical girl be they worthy or not I'd have like an army 10 fold but they have to want to join in addition of being worthy of joining."
Merry focused on the pednant now grabbing it and holding it in her hand. "Hmmm... oh maybe we can like find a lot of candidates and bring them all together for a meeting so then like no one will be alone when they transform."
"Nice idea kid but it has to be one on one" Mickey explained. "I heard from the big guy himself of when another world was in danger from a threat and it needed magical girls a big tiff from trying to recruit a bunch of magical girls at the same time broke apart the initial team sent in and nuked that world before they even had a chance to properly start the fight."
"Why?"
"I guess they didn't realize the collaborative effort required for these sort of teams. Like you are giving so much of yourself to do this sometimes you have your own specific vision and if that isn't adhered to you wind up self sabotaging even unintentionally and not getting things done."
"And... that lost a world?" Merry said frowning some. "That's so sad" she remarked as she focused. "Well i don't want to do that. I want to save this world so if we have to go and recruit one at a time, that's what we'll do!"
"That's the spirit" Mickey said though waving a claw. "Again though from what I heard that was a diff between the girl AND her companion who couldn't compromise so if I come off way too harshly on a point you should remind me of the valeu of compromise too then, okay?"
Merry nodded as she looked at her pendant. "Well okay then in the spirit of working together where do you want to go first then?" She asked pointing down at the pendent. "Cause there's a signal for one south a couple of miles in Temello Town-"
"Which is also the closest spot the demons could be in as well" Mickey pointed out.
"Then there's one several miles away east in Brenny Boulevard."
"Which according to the pendant located at a pre school so... we'd likely be having to convert someone really young into the fold."
"And finally the other closest one is like 20 miles north that's all the way in the next state!"
"Which you'd need to rest for some before going to New Pike Merry, to you know not tire yourself out too much."
"So then... which should we go with?" The magical girl asked, her and the messanger of a higher power thinking carefully....