Magical Girl Raising Project Zero

9th Chapter: "Loneliness"

Mount Funaga
Nabuka, Japan

Daniel and a few of his friends are on a camping trip on the mountains.

He takes the drone out of his bag to view the area and begins to fly.

The drone notices a someone in the camera. It is the Musician of the Forest, Cranberry.

Daniel: (A magical girl? No, wait a minute...)

Cranberry throws a stone on the bush, hitting Tama. She knows Minael is hiding and is no longer flying.

Daniel: (She threw a rock! Did she hit someone hidden in the bushes?)

Cranberry: (The sound of wings vanished?)

She walks slowly until she notices a strange rock and pierced her hand through it, revealing and killing Minael.

Daniel: ?!....(No way, she easily see through her disguise?!)

Mina: *death gurgle*

...

Cranberry: Winterprison is killed by quite the dull opponents, huh?

He sees another figure, but it disappears quickly trying to catch up to her.

Daniel: (Three magical girls?)

Swim Swim begins a surprise attack, but she avoids it in perfect timing. Her halberd hits the ground, and Cranberry tries to punch her, but Swim Swim managed to use her magic quickly.

Cranberry: Slipping through objects is one of the strongest magics for combat, but..

Swim Swim tries to hit Cranberry, but is stopped by her hand.

Cranberry: Did you know? If I can see you and converse with you...

She unleashes her magic that let out a large blast of light and sound. Daniel's drone is shaken from the magic blast. The campers are seeing the commotion happening in the forest.

*explosion*

The drone managed to survive and continue flying and recording. It is still near Cranberry. He hears what she said about her magic.

Daniel: (D**n it! That power, that blast radius... It must be her strongest magic!)

Cranberry: That means you're not able to let light and sound pass through.

Daniel: (Light and sound? So her magic is manipulating light and sound. Then Swim Swim's magic is slipping through objects as if they were water... Then it's possible since her magic is somewhat related to a conductive liquid such as water. If she has light and sound magic, then it's possible she can hear farther even in silence. Looping to the same sides continuously and closing in for a pincer attack against the Musician of the Forest wouldn't work since she tracks them easily even if they're not seen. I knew it, those two they're at disadvantage.)

Cranberry: Overcoming stronger opponents and achieving victory is what I live for. There's no point in me winning this free-for-all, you know?

Cranberry walks towards the place where Swim Swim is unconscious. She sees her true identity as a child. The drone flies a little close, but ends up giving its position away a little. She is still focused on her.

Cranberry: Since you failed to understand your own abilities and lost, you were not strong, even if talented. Huh?

Daniel: (A 7 year old child?! I gotta picture this...)

Cranberry: A child?

She felt an impact in her back, Tama scratched her.

Cranberry: Dumb mutt.

She stumbles on the ground, and afterwards she screamed in panic, as the hole scratched by her expands, killing Cranberry. It leaves only her lower body intact.

Horrified to see what she had done, she sets out to find Swim Swim.

She finds her, but in her original human form.

Tama: Is that you, Swim-chan? Hang in there!

Swim Swim, in her human form, wakes up.

Swim Swim: ...?
Tama: Thank goodness! You're okay! But that's incredible. I'm surprised that you're a child. Are you alright? You always have everything together, so I totally thought I was younger than you.

Swim Swim slashed her halberd at Tama's neck, a clean hit. Blood began to gush out of neck. Daniel is shocked to see her kill her own friend.

Daniel: (No!... Why would you--?!..)

Tama is detransformed to her human form, now as a corpse. Swim Swim expressed her regret on killing Tama, as a tear is shed.

Swim Swim: Ruler once said, that magical girls should never allow their identity to become known. So it had to be done.

Daniel: ("It had to be done"?! Like the hell it had to be!)

Fav comes out of the master terminal.

Fav: Hey, new Master! Can you hear me, pon? There's a lot I'd like to tell you, are you free now? I'm sure there's a lot you'd like to ask me, too, pon. Like, what is Magical Girl Raising Project supposed to be? Aren't you curious as to what it really is, pon?

Swim Swim walks towards the master terminal device on the ground. She asks Fav about being a master.

Fav: Hey, are you listening, pon? Don't tell me you don't want to be a Master, pon?
Swim Swim: What is a Master?
Fav: The most important magical girl, pon.
Swim Swim: Then I'll accept it.
Fav: Thanks for the positive reply, pon. Now, we'll work together toward---

Swim Swim: No, we won't. We won't work together. Ruler was a princess, all her own.

Swim Swim left the area, Daniel's drone flies in and takes a picture of the two corpses.

It flies back to him safely. He feels frustrated to see that other humans and children are killing each other in a childish fantasy survival game.

Daniel: This sick, twisted childish fantasy survival game is going way too far. I'm not letting them get away with this. It's time to take action.

He left the area to return his friends that are camping. In the distance, police and ambulance sirens are closing in.

*police and ambulance sirens wailing*

...

In the safe house, Daniel writes a report of magical girls that killed each other. Daniel contacted Johann about the situation.

Johann (Phone): So that is how it went. This is way more complicated and serious than we thought.
Daniel: We can't stand around and do nothing. If we stay like this, then the truth will vanish and never come into light. I'm going to make contact with them.
Johann (Phone): Make contact? With who?
Daniel: Those "magical girls" that were helping out people.
Johann (Phone): You can't do that. That's suicide, what if they target you?
Daniel: I don't care about that. More people are missing out there, dying in ways we don't know. I'll have to meet you again, should I succeed. Do not worry, I'll find out.