Azure and Crimson, Magical Girls of Light: Season 2
Episode 4 — Watch and Learn
The email from Kristen-chan was not surprising. She hadn’t been clear on what was happening to her only that there was some “really weird junk happening” and that perhaps they should get together. She wrote back asking if Kristen thought she could handle it without her help, since she was needed in Japan.
Even if she wasn’t needed to fight against the monsters that were starting to attack once again, she was also requested. Some members of the Meiyo Sentai had come out publicly to answer questions about the attack. Red spoke for the team, but on several news and talk shows he publically asked for the girl known as Mahou Bishojou Mizudori to present herself for questioning. He was cagey about if she was in trouble, but the implication sent shockwaves through the media who’d been making her out to be the new darling of Japan.
She took a day to think on it and decided to meet with them. She just needed to wait for the weekend, since she still needed to keep her job. But over the course of the week, the media frenzy grew. Some newscasters were questioning her delay, while some on the fringe were starting to put forth unflattering theories. Their vitriol peppered the coverage she grew more worried about perception.
Kristen still refused to tell her exactly what was happening over email. Over the phone she said she was having these weird dreams where she’d fight some kind of enemy and then when it ended she’d be back to normal right where she was. “Have you ever felt anything like that? Is that happening to you?”
“No, and it sounds terrible.”
“What do you think it is? I’m not going crazy right?”
“I do not think you are, Kristen-chan. It sounds like—maybe visions?”
“Visions? Like Hallucinations?”
Aoi thought, “No, hallucinations do not stop time. Maybe you are seeing the future? This might be a new power manifesting.”
“The future?”
“It is only a theory, but there are many stories in Western Mythology about seers. But it is rarely a pleasant experience.”
“No, definitely not pleasant,” Kristen lied with a bit of shame.
“If they are premonitions, we should use them to prepare. Can you tell me what you saw?”
“Oh, uhm, well, in one, regular people got powers and used them to… attack me. I couldn’t defend myself.”
“Hmm, any others?”
“Well, yeah, there was another one where I went to an authority for help, but he was controlled, and then these machines came to life and c- captured me,” her mind flashed back to the spirals and the pleasure.
“You must be careful, Kristen-chan. If the Goddess has seen fit to bless you with sight, then there may be great danger coming.”
“I will, I promise.”
There was a knock on her door, Sarah popped her head in to ask Kristen if she wanted to join them out at a party at a frat house. She shook her head and offered a smile leaving Sarah to close the door.
“She’s not coming.”
Hailey aped fake surprise, “Omg fer reals? She has way important plans to sit in front of her computer wearing headphones?”
Sarah shrugged, “Pretty much.”
Hailey wasn’t surprised. “You know, when she moved in, I thought, oh no. Like I was totes ready to hate. I mean she’s fruggin’ gorg. She’s like the kind of hot where you don’t want to leave your boyfriend around her.”
Oksana tilted her head spinning her thoughts together, “She’s really quiet.”
Sarah shushed her, “She is right in there!”
Hailey waved her off, “She can’t hear us. Seriously though, I mean look at her, I was like, I’m going to have to literally stop eating food. And she’s got like—Hollywood hair. No joke, I was psyching myself up to be the more approachable one of our group.”
Sarah sputtered.
“Right? Right? But it turns out she’s a total shut-in. Where did you find this girl, I thought she was supposed to be cool.”
“Hey, don’t blame me, I asked Lucy if she knew anyone fun and she suggested Kristen. I guess like she could have been a cheerleader but she was too wild or something? Like a stripper or something.”
“Okay, well I officially don’t believe anything Lucy will ever say. Like ever. But at least she’ll keep Tabby company. Tabby needs a pet.”
“Meow!” Sarah teased.
“Too catty?” Hailey grinned, “Please, I’m just saying what you’re thinking.”
Oksana kept quiet. Mostly she was puzzled wondering if a Tabby was a kind of cat and if they were planning on getting a cat. She prefered puppies, but kittens were cute too.
Kristen had gotten off the phone and heard the entire exchange. Her lip twisted in hurt as she stared at the door that seemed to grow thicker with every passing word. If she didn’t go out there she could pretend she never heard it. She could maybe turn things around later. There was a time when she was fun. Not just fun, she was the queen bee, but that was before all the magical superhero stuff. She dropped her head into her hands and wiped off an unbidden tear. The girls left.
She quickly decided that Hailey was kind of right, she was being too much of a shut in. She probably should go with them. Pacing around the room she decided she’d go stir crazy if she stayed. She put on a cute square neck top and a pair of jean shorts and rushed out to join them, but of course they were long gone. Silently, she cursed herself and just decided she needed to go for a walk.
Her long stemmed legs carried her at a brisk pace as her thoughts drowned out the world around her. She was fun, she just needed to be in a place where she didn’t have to worry about monsters and magic. Subtly the air darkened around her, and a figure took form as a shadow that watched her from a distance.
‘I’m not a social leper,’ her inner monologue was insistent. She looked around and saw a couple of people wearing earbuds and looking at their phones and kept walking. She headed in towards campus where she saw another group of people, all staring at their phones. She figured they must be watching some viral video together.
Twenty steps later, she saw another dude just starting at his phone. Okay, this was getting a little weird. She peeked over his shoulder to see what was the fuss and saw a video with some guy pulling off some girl’s blouse. ‘Ew,’ she thought, ‘save it for your dorm room perv.’ She made some distance between her and the porn addicted pervert.
She got even more skeeved out when she had to dodge out of the way of another group of distracted walkers. “Hey, watch it dude!” One of the guys looked up with a blank stare and went back to his phone.
“Jeez, surrounded by a bunch of iZombies,” she complained. They couldn’t all be watching the same thing, right? She started to get a chill up her spine.
“Waaaatch,” one of the iZombies moaned.
“Huh?” She turned to see a phone shoved into her face.
“Okay, that’s a little on the nose, don’t you think?” She shoved the phone away from her face and saw another student with the same blank look. But the brief glimpse she saw was a strangely familiar swirling pattern.
“Waaatch,” he groaned again, lifting his phone.
“Uhm, no thanks,” she pushed past him.
Another pedestrian walked up to her holding out his phone, “Waaaaatch.” The screen shone at her again with the swirly pattern. She blinked it off and grabbed the phone out of his hand.
“No, but thanks for the phone, I’ll go sell it on eMart, jack nugget.” Three more iZombies walked towards her with their phones out. Again, she saw that strangely compelling swirling pattern.
“What… what,” she shook it off again and grabbed their phones in frustration, “Look chuckle-knuckles, I’m running out of pocket space, so while I really appreciate the free money, I’m going to have to pass on any more phones.” She turned to see more coming slowly at her. “Okay, this is definitely one of those vision things. I know it is not really happening. I am going to wake up and just be walking along and all you zombies will be gone right?”
They kept walking towards her groaning, “Watch…” Their groans annoyed her, but she figured there was something she was supposed to get from this. If this was a gift from the goddess, it sure wasn’t like any of the others. If it was a gift, then she decided she may as well receive it as Crimson Spirit, and if not, then she was going to need to kick some butt.
“Crimson Flash!” she transformed in a blinding light into the fiery redheaded superheroine. She felt the power surge into her and smiled menacingly at the zombies, even as she felt unsure of her own powers. “Okay, boys let’s purify those phones.” Her favorite weapon the Crimson Baton hadn’t flared last time, she she willed her flaming pom poms into existence. “Pom Pom Power!” She’d half expected them to not light, but this time, they lit up in magical flames. “Oh thank goddess,” she muttered to herself. Feeling fully emboldened, she looked up at the incoming screens and called out, “Pom Pom Punch!”
She punched out stopping her fist right in front of the screens waiting for the big fire burst to engulf the phones without harming the obviously enthralled people. To her utter dismay, the flames died out as soon as they neared the phones. “Waaatch.”
She barely registered the word as the swirls caught her eyes again. She tried to shake off the molasses that was dripping over her brain, but it only barely manifested as a little head turn. Her eyes were caught in the familiar swirls. More phones surrounded her and swirls swamped her vision.
“Wait…” This wasn’t going the way she’d thought, but the swirls were so fascinating. Her jaw slackened and her eyes glazed over, “not again.” Her pom poms fell from her hands disappearing back out of existence.
The swirls and colored noisy pattern captivated her, but as she watched, she saw an image come into view. It was a girl with a smile on her face. “Remember…” There was something in her hand and she was bringing closer. Her mouth opened into an obscene O.
“Oh goddess,” she groaned realizing what she was watching. The hazy image of the girl was sucking a hard cock. More came into focus and she could see the girl was naked. Her body was twisting and jutting in pleasure. Her vision trailed down her quivering abs down to her waist and legs that straddled over top of another boy who’s hardness was thrusting inside her. Far away moans of her pleasure reached the enraptured heroine. Overlaying the beautiful spirals, she watched a young woman getting ravished and ravishing others all at once. A third person came from behind and teased her breasts. Crimson began panting as she felt an inkling of the strange mindless lust that was overtaking this girl she was watching. It was an intoxicating combination of need and pleasure. Crimson’s gloved hand rose to touch her lips and blushing cheek.
She wanted. She felt the hunger. She tasted the hunger they felt for her. The way her body writhed, lithe shivering in desire, tickled her own body with visions hidden in the edges of her subconscious. Her own fingers had reached down and found her own warm center. The magical cheerleader clamped her legs involuntarily and gasped in pleasure, the jolt was enough to get her to break eye contact with the screens.
“Hailey.” The girl in the vision, it had to be Hailey. She was going to some frat party with a bunch of hunky strong alpha guys, ‘No, not alpha guys!’ terrible evil misogynist dudebros who wanted to ravish her horny hot willing, ‘Stop it!’ body. With her eyes screwed shut, she asked aloud, “Okay, I get the message, I have to save Hailey, can I get out of this hallucination now?”
She took a quick peak expecting to be back to normal, but she was still surrounded by the screens. “Ugh, this is stupid, what good is a vision if I can’t get out of it?!”
She pinched herself, but to no avail. The voices kept droning, “Waaaaatch.”
“Ugh, fine, whatever, I’ll wa—” she opened her eyes and fell silent as the whirlpools took her gaze and spun her down. She slipped down to her knees and a hand found her own breast, gripping the tip of her nipple through the magical fabrics. She couldn’t form coherent enough thought to dismiss her suit, she just sat touching herself and watching the screens. She’d lost track of time before she looked around and she was back to normal, kneeling by the sidewalk. She felt mentally sluggish and wondered hazily if she’d missed the party. But the sun still hadn’t finished setting, so she got up and headed off with new determination.
A shadowed figure watched her go off on her mission and it spoke in a ghostly yet feminine voice, “I remember her.”
A disembodied voice spoke in her mind, “Yes, you are connected to her and getting closer every day.”
“I feel different.”
“I imagine you should. Let’s take some time. I have much to explain to you, my precious dark primal.”
It took her an hour longer than she expected to find the right party, but she knew she was there when she saw Oksana and Sarah. O was looking a little blitzed, but Sarah was straight. Kristen put on her friendly face with a wave and a smile, “Hey y’all!”
“Holy- Kristen! I can’t believe you made it, I mean I’m so glad you came!”
“Haalloo Kristen, you’re not shut in!” Oksana giggled.
“Hey, yeah so where is Hailey?”
“Oh, she’s around.”
Oksana giggled, “She’s probably snogging with Maaarcus.” She threw an arm around Sarah’s neck and fake smooched.
“Oh my god, no more schnapps for you, okee.”
“Where?” She tried to keep her voice casual, but she was getting more nervous. It she found her enthralled in some kind of demonically fueled orgasmic orgy, then the Crimson spirit was going to need to get her out of it without Azure’s cleansing waters.
“The Schnapps?” Oksana asked with a smile.
Sarah sighed, “I don’t know, just grab a drink and chill, she’ll be around.”
A frat guy in a button down, khaki shorts, and thick calves came back with two drinks in each hand, “Hurricanes! And a tropical storm for Oksie. Hey, new girl.” Sarah smiled to the tall guy greeting him as Dave. He passed cups out to Sarah, another guy who Kristen hadn’t even realized was standing there the whole time, and the third to Oksana who took it with a toothy goofy smile. “You want a drink?”
“Sarah, where did you say Hailey was?”
Sarah looked incredulously at Kristen then back at Dave. Her unspoken prompt was not subtle and not lost on Dave who stood there cup in hand being ignored by Kristen. She sighed internally and turned to Dave, sweeping her hair aside and flashing him a brilliant smile, “Oh hey, thanks, Dave? I’m Kristen.”
“Alright, you know I have made a great sacrifice for the sake of the party gods.”
“Are we talking ritual sacrifice? Demonic ritual?” She kept it jockular, but part of her wondered if maybe that was what was going on here.
He laughed, while Sarah kept giving her the stink eye, “Yes, the ritual sacrifice of a beverage to a beauty. That whole virgin sacrifice thing was just seemed like such a waste.”
“No one’s in danger of that here,” she muttered towards her drink.
“You staying for the band?” Dave asked, trying to pick up her line of vision.
“Yeah, definitely,“ Sarah interjected, “We’re really excited to see the live band play.”
Kristen thought fast. She needed to find Hailey and get away from the group. She looked up with a smile, “So, Dave, do you live here?”
“Oh, well yeah, second year in the house. I got a bigger room this year. You want a tour of the house?”
She smiled and went with him, leaving Sarah, Oksana, and the other dude. She let him guide her as he bragged about various amenities and told what she thought was supposed to be an amusing tale, so she faked the laugh as appropriate. She casually asked if Marcus also lived here, and he let slip the information she needed. Room 11. She dealt with his charm for enough time to not be obvious, then flashed a smile and excused herself to the ladies room.
She skipped right past the stairs down back to the common areas, walked straight to room 11, and a closed door made of old and dry wood that threatened splinters more than sound proofing. She took a deep breath and put her ear against it. She couldn’t hear anything with the general background sounds and DJ’d music coming from the courtyard. It could be nothing, but on the other hand, Hailey could be in trouble. Should she knock? She probably ought to, maybe she had it all wrong. Then she heard the groan from beyond the door. It was definitely female and probably Hailey.
She hyperventilated as she tried to think of the next step. She knocked on the door and tried the knob but it was locked.
“Go away!” That was probably Marcus. It was happening, whatever it was, it was already happening! She glanced down to the drink in her hand that she very consciously hadn’t sipped. What if it was in the drink, what if she was already looped. Could it be a non-demonic thing? No, she wouldn’t have had a vision if that was the case. She was here for a reason, she’d seen Hailey in her vision getting gang banged. She knew Hailey wasn’t that kind of girl there had to be something going on, she was sure of it and no one else was going to stop it.
‘Come on, Kristen, think.’ Dave would be coming back soon, she had to move fast. No, there was definitely something demonic going on. She took a step back and relied on her cheer trained legs to do the work and she kicked in the door right by the knob.
“Hailey!” she rushed in.
“Oh shit,” Marcus blurted out, his spiral curls jerking back away from Hailey. He was on a loveseat next to Hailey and she looked frozen in shock.
“Fuck! Kristen? What the ever loving fuck!?”
“My door, what the fuck?” He got in shock.
“Hailey, are you okay?”
“What? Okay? No, I’m not okay now, I have a psycho roommate who just fucking kicked down a door. Have you gone skits?”
Marcus looked confused, “Do you know this psycho bitch?”
She turned to him, “For like a week, new roommate,” she turned back to Kristen and rushed to her gripping her arm whispering angered obscenities. Kristen shrivelled. Hailey launched into a tirade about getting her kicked out of the school or arrested. Kristen fled.
The whole way home she was grabbing her head thinking the same words, “Oh my god, what have I done.” How could she have been so completely wrong? She’d seen Hailey in the vision, hadn’t she? It’d been a little hazy and mixed in with swirls. Every time she thought about the swirls, her head got a little muzzy so she stopped trying. When she got home, she hid in a corner of the bed, hugging herself and wishing she could disappear from the world. Things were going to get really awkward, really quickly.
JAPAN
News stations were set up for the first press conference that promised all of the Meiyo Sentai. They hadn’t been seen in full since the attack, and there was concern amongst the public. There were audible gasps when the team came out. Blue was visibly moving carefully, and Pink was riding in a wheelchair being pushed by Green. Immediately, the flashbulbs went off in rapid fire succession.
Red took center stage, spoke with gratitude about the commitment and sacrifices of his team, “And to the vigilante who fought with us on that day, I ask you now to have the honor to stand and speak plainly to the police and to the people of Japan.”
A blue flash fired from the back of the room and a girl of pure glowing blue light hovered towards them. Mahou Bishojou Mizudori appeared only as pure blue light until she descended to the stage and revealed herself in costume. “Hello, honorable Red-sama, I have heard your calls, and would be glad to answer any questions from the Police or the press here today for the people of Japan.”
She wore a winning smile to match her girlish outfit, huge shoulder ruffles, and bow adorned hair. The first question came quickly, “Ms. Mizudori, are you human, and if so, how did you come to be a magical girl?”
“Thank you for the question, Reido-sama, I am human, just a normal woman, but I have been blessed by the Goddess to fight an evil that had emerged. This evil has been defeated, but I remain empowered to do good in the world.”
The next questions were yelled out quickly trampling over each other, but one broke through, “Ms. Mizudori, why didn’t you help at Fukushima?”
“I did help, I have purified many waters and prevented much loss of marine life and by doing so, protected many more Japanese people.”
The questions continued, but one that came from Red stopped her. “Why did you let the creature escape?”
“I’m sorry?” So shocked she was that her composure dropped for a brief moment.
“The creature that hurt us, that injured members of my team. Why does this creature run free?”
“I am sorry, Red-sama, I tried to stop it,” she offered a smile, “but I’m sure working together, we’ll be able to win next time.”
“Perhaps, but now is the time for the authorities to do their jobs. Will you now promise to come with us to speak to the police?”
“Of course, Red-sama, I would be honored to speak to the police with you.”
He nodded, approvingly, and Azure felt in her heart that this conference was going perfectly. The media had turned back to her side, she’d answered tough questions well, and Goddess willing, she’d handle the police just as well.
Black approached her with handcuffs.
“That won’t be necessary,” Red interjected. He saw the way the media loved her and worried that this might turn the public against them.
“But sir, regulations demand that when a suspect is taken into custody they must be properly restrained for the safety of all.”
Azure smiled, “It is not a problem, Red-sama. Go ahead Black-sama.” She offered her bow adorned wrists with the grace befitting the paragon of perfection. When Black closed the cuffs around her wrists, she screamed.
Arcs of black magic bolted out fighting the blue and terror gripped Azure. Her hair drained of color, the bows undid themselves and shrunk to nothing, and blackness covered her outfit. Her scream turned into sobs as the magic was ripped from her body and her heart grew terrified with the sudden emptiness as her connection to the Goddess was severed. She fell to her knees, despairing in the lack of connection. The cameras blinded her but the fear chilled her once again when she looked up, and realized she was back in her own clothes. Tendo Aoi was kneeling before the press in just a regular blouse and skirt with flats.
“No, oh no!” She couldn’t stop the pictures, couldn’t flash them out, quickly, she hid her face from the lights, but the damage was already done. Red and black hurried and hustled her out of the conference room into the back.
The rest of the team followed after them, Pink tried to get through, but being wheelchair bound wasn’t able to. In the bustle, Yellow grabbed Black by the arm, “What did you do? Black what did you do?”
Red took her on promising to give her to the police. Relieved of his duty, Black turned around and bit back, “My job. We are supposed to bring in vigilantes.”
“That poor girl, she looked so scared, and now everybody knows her secret identity.”
“That’s her own fault! What did you want us to let her run around with super powers?”
“I thought you liked Mahou Bishojou Miz—”
“We’re supposed to bow before her, hmm? Not follow protocol? Do the laws not apply to the superpowered?”
“No, but—”
“No woman should be that strong,” he spat out making her jump back. Her stunned silence let him to finish. “No man or woman. She’s too powerful to go unchecked. She didn’t earn that, she didn’t get training, she doesn’t report to anybody. We can not allow this, if we didn’t bring her in we may as well surrender to a new magical emperor.”
“But how…”
He turned away and followed after the no longer magical girl leaving Yellow in her chilled silence. Her ever sunny disposition fell away. She left it behind for the moment and followed after her team.