Aftermath (A PMMM fanfic)

Route 6:III

*One Last Chance

I call Kyōko for a meeting the next afternoon with the location still undecided. Mami and the others are still unaware, they need to be informed. Returning home, I open the door to find Mami and Sayaka seemingly deep in conversation. Guess who might just be in trouble...

Mami notices me.

"How much did you hear?"

"Only the bit about gems."

"Mami-san , you should let her be here too. She knows something as well. We could fit in the missing bits."

Mami agrees and pats the chair next to her. I sit there and peer at a bunch of pages scattered across the table.

"We got these from books in the library. My recent research includes magical beings. You'd expect a book of that sort in the fiction or fantasy section. Imagine my surprise at finding material in current events. Finding something odd, I brought the books home and copied a couple of interesting bits. While returning it, Sayaka happened to be around. I called her home and we've been discussing at length about the possibility of us being magical girls."

She takes a breath and Sayaka continues. "Currently, we're sure of a couple of facts.

~We two are magical girls.
~Homura Akemi is a demon.
~She must be stopped real soon.
~There's an alien species called the Incubators which look like cats.

We are also considering a few more points.

~Madoka might be one of us.
~She might be even more powerful than us, hence Homura's attention is turned on her.
~There may be others of our sort."

"Most of them are true. I'll fill in some." I take another page and my pen, beginning to write. When finished, I speak.

"Madoka is very powerful and so is Homura, but they're on opposite sides of the spectrum. They were both once magical girls, not anymore. The Incubators aren't exactly looking out for us, it's best to be wary when they're involved. Kyōko from the Con is also a magical girl like you two. Homura controls this very universe, yet she isn't omnipresent, thus we have a chance to defeat her. Also her mind appears to be deteriorating quickly, which will lead to impending disaster."

"Is that why you took Kyōko's number? So that you could inform her?"

"Exactly, and I was to return here to tell you'll too."

"If we're going to have a showdown, don't we need all our allies together? Shouldn't we be making plans?"

"I've called Kyōko to meet us tomorrow, but haven't yet told her where."

"How about here itself? Nobody to overhear us."

"Only if you're fine with that, Mami-san."

"Sayaka, get Madoka too. If you're able to, tell her as much as you can before reaching."

"Sure thing." Sayaka leaves soon after, leaving Mami and I to make an advance plan.

She divides a page into columns and begins filling them. I read the titles she gives.

Member, Range, Weapon, Role,

We then fill them up together

Mami-Long-Guns-Observer/Defence
Sayaka-Mid/Short-Sword-Offence/Guard
Madoka-Total/Close-(?)-Central
Kyōko-Mid?-(?)-Offence/Guard

I add my name, writing range as Total, role as Relay/Strategy and leaving the weapon column blank. We look at the page together and Mami speaks.

"This could be our plan A, unless things go wrong. We'd have to improvise then"

"What if things get so bad we don't have time to think? We'll have to still have some idea of what to do."

"We could have a final plan. Maybe call it plan Z. We should make it include isolating the battle so that outsiders aren't affected even if we're on the verge of being defeated."

"Good point. What should we consider as a scenario that would need this to be enacted?"

"We could count the presence of a majority of the following conditions:
*Madoka is nearly defeated, physically or mentally.
*Madoka turns evil. There's no telling what can happen in the heat of battle.
*Homura is about to die but the reins to control the universe haven't been passed on.
*Civilians, even those far away from the battleground are being injured by an otherwise unknown cause.
*Only one of us remains conscious and able to fight at a certain point."

"That does make sense. Let's keep a note of everything so there'll be less to explain. Time is of the essence."

We do so, and are ready the next afternoon with everyone present. We have a tea party of sorts, with cake that tastes awesome.  The meeting goes pretty well. Additions are made to the list, like the bow for Madoka and spear for Kyōko, a couple more sections are created too. Madoka and Kyōko read the papers Mami set before them and appear satisfied, as much as one could be with that sort of knowledge. Madoka is told to not reveal herself in the other form until very near Homura, while the others distract her. We have some small talk, Mami's idea for us so that we are able to act better as a group.

Thus the lot of us are prepared when bolts of lightning and thunder streak, the sky darkening on what should be a clear day. We run out, Mami and I on the lookout for Homura, the others to the isolated section of a certain garden. They warn people to stay indoors and spread the news that the outside is absolutely unsafe. A murderous laugh rings out, and we go towards its source.

Continues in 7 C