A large smiled grew on Megan's face as @Magi Heart took her hand. Her shivering stopped and her confidence began to once again boil deep within her. Megan didn't understand what Magi meant by things that would inspire them, but she was at the very least eager to learn. Magi's comment about Kronos caused her to tilt her head in confusion, "Turn Kronos? But he's a dark lord Magi! That's just dangerous, he'd consume you!" She paused and stared at the girl for what felt like the first time, truly taking in her whimsical persona, "Some obstacles are too large to face like I said I don't think you work for Kronos, but his powers do exist. You have to be careful, love can turn to hate...so easily..."

Megan brushed her eyes with her elbow, pushing back the newly formed tears. "No.," she said out loud to herself, "I promise I'll try to believe you!" Forcing herself to smile, Megan produced her Staff once more, waving it in front of her. "Leave or stay?" she asked with a smile, "Fu~ Fu~ Fu~ Megan the D- er uh, Princess of Ice doesn't run away from a fight!" Boldly she began to march the way leading forward but stopped before going too far.

"Hummm" She said waving her staff in a slight bit of indecision, "Normally I'd like the big guy to go first but I guess we don't have one...so we will need one! Hmm but who to choooooose....." Crouching Megan began to tap on her personal UI. To others, it would seem she was merely poking the air, but before her eyes, she was paging through a variety of menus. "Something big....ngggg...Frost Wurm! Oh...at my current level all the cool stuff is locked out... hmmm no, yetis are ugly...what's a 'dire elk...'? Nggg..." Several minutes passed as the girl became more and more frustrated, swiping through a seemingly endless amount of pages before getting angry and standing up and slamming her staff into the ground.

"Fine! I'll just let it give me something at random! Oh spirits of ice, my lady shiva, have mercy on me and send me forth a servant suitable for our ranks! Thanks!" Giggling at her rhyme, Megan finished the required incantation using her staff to absorb the air's excess magic and slamming into the ground. The ground before her began to glow as a small magical circle slowly formed. As it completed a shimmering object began to rise from it, growing about three feet tall, and taking form, a small ice golem appeared.

Megan blinked at her creation, the golem had an oblong head, and arms that it drug on the ground behind it, and hardly seemed to be a capable fighter. "Errrhmmm" she said worried that the magic she had lost from summoning the stupid looking creature would have been better suited elsewhere, "Lets....let Ice-kun lead the way I guess...?" Upon her command, Ice-kun began to confidently stride forward into the darkness.

 

The Riverside Ruins

Floor 2

While at first Magi was in awe of the ability to summon, as she had not seen someone do that yet. She could not help but giggle a little when Megan used a Japanese honorific for her ice elemental. Wendy as a total otaku herself and it often put her into awkward situations with friends and her parents. Since she often went way overboard, especially with her passion for Mahou Shoujo.

"Cool beans Megan! You can summon like a character in Lyrical Nanoha! *Giggle* and you use kun?! Yay, Megan-chan! That's awesome! I kind of thought you might like anime but I didn't know you were that into it! Me too! O-or do you live in Japan? I've been curious about it and would love to visit someday! ...but my parents are busy and... oh... haha, sorry."

Magi blushed at her outburst. It was rare to find someone who might be that much like her and she did not want to be overly aggressive. They may be friends now but she still had to prove to Megan how good friends were. She also had to prove to herself that all of the horror and cruelty she had experienced so far was not the norm. So often her own words and preaching were for herself as well. Simply nodding at Megan's offer to have 'Ice-kun' lead, Magi Heart would walk alongside her and keep her bow in hand. Protecting her friends was something she took very seriously. Game or not.

Descending another set of stairs, this time they led to a long hall of broken pillars. Every one of them was shattered. The walls of the hall were broken at the top. Showing the hollowed out cavern that the ruin seemed to be built into. Many small waterfalls were flowing both up and down the sides of the distant cave walls in a surreal sight. It was impossible due to the ruins walls to see where the water was flowing to and from. Obvious magic was in play here, but the kind was unknown, especially to less experienced players like the two girls.

"Wowzers..."

Magi said walking slowly, her shoes thudding lightly on the old stone floor.

Then came a bright bluish light from one of the taller pillars. It moved fast and the spiraling discs of surprisingly sharp water came twirling from the light right at the trio!

"No! Get down Megan-chan!"

Magi threw herself onto Megan to drag her to the ground as the magical attack flew overhead vanishing into a mist. Magi quickly looked up to see the blue light was some kind of glowing ball of uh... something. Magical stuff! Fairies or spirits! Not very nice ones either!

Several of them began to gather, approaching from further down the long hall. hovering quietly and mana swirling around the spherical bodies.

Water Elemental
@Megan Tritor

​

You can only do one of these actions per post. You can flavor it however you want, but you must use the correct template depending on your action. Feel free to roll in this thread and edit in the results.

Hidden: Fight

Fight: Attack the Water Elementals! Remember to use the same current DC total for all actions!

[Water Elemental: 500 / 500 HP]
Modifier: any mastery may get +5 per mastery tier (excluding beginner); +10 if mastered.
Specialist Modifier: Arcanamancy and Aeromancy gets +10 per mastery and +20 for mastered.

Damage Look at your natural roll.
Natural 100 = Crit x 2 damage to Water Elementals!
90-99 = 0 Damage!
80-89 = 15 Damage
70-79 = 20 Damage
50-69 = 25 Damage
30-49 = 30 Damage
10-29 = 20 Damage + Elemental Recovers 25 DC
01-09 = 30 Damage + Elemental Recovers 50 DC!


Damage Reduction
-1 HP for each gray armor piece
-2 HP for each blue armor piece
-3 HP for each green armor piece
-4 HP for each yellow armor piece

This action costs 10 EN (5 EN if you are wearing only Light Armor)
Make sure you write Fight in the rolling post.

Roll Template

Code:

[center]Fight[/center]
[dice]d100[/dice]

Post Template

HTML:

[hp]100[/hp] [en]100[/en]
Post here
[CENTER][b1]Fight/b1]
Tracker / Roll
[score][b1] Your roll + Modifier = Total [/b1][/score]
[b1]Water Elementals: 500 / 500 [/b1][/CENTER]

Hidden: Heal

Heal (Naturamancy, Muse, or Illumancy) Restore health. For AoE there's a max of 3 targets.
You may roll to add to the thread's progress, but you will receive zero damage reduction this turn. You are highly vulnerable to damage if you rolled for progress. Remember to use the same current DC total for all actions!

Single Heal: +5 HP per tier of support mastery (including beginner) +10 for mastered.
Cost: 10 EN (5 EN if you are wearing only Light Armor)
AoE Heal: +5 HP per tier of support mastery (including beginner) +10 for mastered. Then, divide by 3.
Cost: 15 EN (10 EN if you are wearing only Light Armor)

(Optional) Roll

Code:

[center]Risky Fight![/center]
[dice]d100[/dice]

Post Template

Code:

[hp]100[/hp] [en]100[/en]
Post here
[CENTER][b2]Single/AoE Heal @Name for ## HP[/b2]
Tracker / Roll
[score][b1] Your roll + Modifier = Total [/b1][/score]
[b1]Water Elementals: 500 / 500 [/b1][/CENTER]

Hidden: Buff

Buff (Heroic Shout, Naturamancy, Muse, or Illumancy) attack or speed buff, add # to someone else or your own roll; can only buff attacks. For AoE there's a max of 3 targets.
You may roll to add to the thread's progress, but you will receive zero damage reduction this turn. You are highly vulnerable to damage if you rolled for progress.

Single Buff: +5 per tier of support mastery (including beginner) for 3 turns.
Cost: 10 EN (5 EN if you are wearing only Light Armor)
AoE Buff: +5 per tier of support mastery (including beginner). Then, divide by 3.
Cost: 15 EN (10 EN if you are wearing only Light Armor)

(Optional) Roll

Code:

[center]Risky Fight[/center]
[dice]d100[/dice]

Post Template

Code:

[hp]100[/hp] [en]100[/en]
Post here
[CENTER][b2]Single/AoE Buff @Name for ## x turn(s)[/b2]
Tracker / Roll
[score][b1] Your roll + Modifier = Total [/b1][/score]
[b1]Water Elementals: 500 / 500[/b1][/CENTER]

Hidden: Cleanse

Cleanse (Heroic Shout, Naturamancy, Muse, or Illumancy) Cleanse condition from allies.
You may roll to add to the thread's progress, but you will receive zero damage reduction this turn. You are highly vulnerable to damage if you rolled for progress.

Single Cleanse: Clear up to 3 conditions from 1 target
Cost: 10 EN (5 EN if you are wearing only Light Armor)
AoE Cleanse: Clear 1 condition from 3 targets
Cost: 15 EN (10 EN if you are wearing only Light Armor)

(Optional) Roll

Code:

[center]Risky Fight[/center]
[dice]d100[/dice]

Post Template

Code:

[hp]100[/hp] [en]100[/en]
Post here
[CENTER][b2]Single/AoE Cleanse @Name of ConditionX[/b2]
Tracker / Roll
[score][b1] Your roll + Modifier = Total [/b1][/score]
[b1]Water Elementals: 500 / 500 [/b1][/CENTER]

 

80 HP

MAX HP

80 EN

MAX EN

Megan blushed terribly as Magi managed to pinpoint her obsession. If she were honest with herself the anime influences in her roleplaying were something she tried to keep under wraps, but it was easy to spot for anyone looking for it. "Well...uhm...you see..uhh no I'm American..but. I like..to uhm, watch things...from...japan." She mumbled as she stared blankly at the floor. Friend or not, Megan clearly wasn't used to sharing her activities outside the game with anyone. Luckily for her Ice-Kun continued to trudge along oblivious to her embarrassing ordeal giving her reason to rush out of the conversation.

Heading out of the corridor they immediately hit a set of stairs, which seemed to profoundly confuse the small ice golem, as it tried to slowly lower itself onto the second step Megan reached over trying to pick it up. "Epp!" she yelped as she recoiled from the creature, sending it barrelling down the stairs in chaotic fashion. "ITS MADE OF ICE!" She exclaimed seemingly uncaring for her summons fate. "...that's so cool! The ones before were just stone..." she said as she descended the stairs where they found Ice-Kun shaking off its tumultuous journey no worse for wear.

"Wow" Megan chimed as Magi did, taking in a unique beauty the ruin possed. Water was, of course, something Megan had always been fascinated with, so seeing the dreamlike waterfalls on display had her mind reeling with possibilities of new ways to take her Hydromancy. She was so stuck in her reverie that she never even heard Magi scream before she was tackled to the ground. "Wha-!?" She screamed before she realized the predicament they were in. It seemed the spell controlling the waterfall had some sort of defensive power as well. "Fu! Quickly Ice Kun take it out!" The little golem purred in pleasure at being given a command before launching itself head first at the elemental easily being absorbed into the floating water.

The water elemental seemed to be none to disturbed by having the golem swimming around inside of it, however, and quickly went on the offensive, sending a bolt of water at Megan's torso as she began to stand back up. The burst knocked her back to the ground with a thud, causing her to moan in pain. Despite this she shifted her staff forward, hurling back a spear of ice which tore through the elemental's body before shattering against a wall behind it. "Nggg!" Megan complained, "What is this thing!"

Fight
The Misadventures of M & M Tracker/ 59 Megan/9 Ice-Kun
59 + 10 + 9 = 79
Water Elementals: 421 / 500 ​

 

@Magi Heart

 

90 HP

MAX HP

95 EN

MAX EN

Even if Megan, or Megan-chan (much cuter!), was not as strong as Magi Heart originally thought upon first meeting her. She was still better at this game than Magi. Magi, no matter how much she did, always felt like she could not grasp how to do everything right. VR was hard...

Now they were fighting glowing blue water thingies and they were not about to run away now! This was a chance to practice magical girl teamwork with a new friend! It also was not like these bubbly things were... people right? They were not animals either, so Magi could fight without worrying she was causing someone pain. Hopefully there weren't any little fairies in those bubbles.

"Okay! Time to fight... for Love and Justice! I know it's real! Magi Heart for ever lasting peace!"

She was really into it now. These monsters attacked entirely with water so it was not like it would hurt that much... right? Or maybe better not to test that. The last time a super watery thing attacked her from the air... she ended up both drowned and electrocuted. That was not fun at all.

Pulling back on her Love Bringer and letting her Arcanamancy form of magic into her bowstring. She fired and it zipped through the air bursting right through a bubble monster! Yay! She was not going to let them hurt Megan-chan and make her doubt Magi's offer of support! The happier look on Magi's face faded when another of the Elementals shot off a piece of their water bodies and it... it merged with the one she had shot. The damaged Element reformed and continued it's attack, unleashing a blast of water directly into Magi.

"Aaaaah!"

She was blasted back into a pillar but did not fall to her knees. The water had a lot of pressure but the damage came more from the collision with the stone pillar than the attack. It was the spinning spiral disc things that looked more dangerous. Luckily none have hit them yet.

@Megan Tritor

Fight
Tracker / 13 (Discord)
13 + 40 = 53
Water Elements: 393 / 500 ​

 

60 HP

MAX HP

75 EN

MAX EN

Megan was struggling to stand, the last attack she had shaken her, leaving her a huddled mass of shivering. "W-why, is-s, it-t, s-s-o, c-cold?". The answer made itself readily apparent as the water elemental began to grow after Magi's last attack. The spell creating its body seemed to be capable of absorbing latent energy, thus the chilling effect of its attacks. The only one seemingly undisturbed by this was Ice-Kun who was still struggling to escape from the depths of the water elemental's stomach. "Ice-Kun!" Megan called out, "Freeze it from the inside!" Whether or not the Golem made its usual gleeful chirp or not could be heard in the commotion but it suddenly stopped wiggling vainly and curled into a ball and began to glow a pale blue. Soon, small ice particles could be seen forming inside the elemental.

The Ice Golem's attacks seemed to go unnoticed by the water elemental that sluggishly turned towards the two girls as began to grow to large appendages on either side of its body. Megan gulped audibly, as the monster suddenly twisted sending its newly grown arm lashing out at her. Within a moment she was smacked upside the head and sent back to the ground wheeling in pain, dazed by the assault. Megan tried to blink the stars from her eyes and force herself up off the ground, only to find the particles of lights replaced by tears and her arms weakened from fear. For a long moment, all she could do was sob in a huddled pile of rags. Sniffing loudly, she eventually managed to compose herself enough to stand. "fu...fu... I will make you pay...for that.." she said in an obvious attempt to play off the attack, even though her puffy red eyes betrayed her true feelings.

Shakily she raised her staff at the monster and began to chant, "I - Uh, summon you the lady of the ice... goddess of tranquility, wonder of the word itself to turn your gaze upon us. See your disciple in her ruined state, desperate and out of breath, give mercy to your child deep within the monster's throat and let loose a breath, a chilling wind, of icy fury that will cover our enemies, in A SLEET OF FROST!" As Megan spoke, she grew more and more confident once more, her mana flowing about her wildly, in large blue arcs. The spell she cast came with a sudden fury in the form of a gust of wind slamming into the side of the water elemental, covering it with a white coat of frost. It, much as before, seemed unaffected by the ordeal, as it continued hovering in place, sucking its appendages back into its core body. Ominously it stood in place for a moment causing most of her former confidence to drain from her body, "Magi..." Megan whined, "This isn't good.... we have to do something!" She stared wide-eyed @Magi Heart clearly hoping the girl had some unannounced trick up her sleeve.

Fight
The Misadventures of M & M Tracker / Megan: 52/ Ice Kun: 6
52+ 10 + 9 = 71
Water Elementals: 340 / 500 ​

 

75 HP

MAX HP

90 EN

MAX EN

This was bad, Megan-chan's attacks were not working very well. Magi Heart was beginning to lose her confidence again. It was happening again wasn't it? They were losing... her effort to prove the power of friendship was going to fail because of monsters... Monsters that felt nothing but to hurt and ultimately kill them both. The magical girl refused to let that be true! What could she do though... she lacked powerful attacks. She lacked the sheer skill everyone else had with this game.

"....Gee whiz... what do I do? C'mon Magi... get it together...."

Furrowing her brows, she gripped another energy arrow and fired her Shining Line. It was the best attack she knew how to do. It zipped through the air, a line of pure magic. It pierced several of the elements and they bubbled and foamed as the water of their bodies hit the floor. Each small puddle tried to rise back up to rejoin together again! Oh noes... stop that! Meanies!

"Oh no you don't! You stop hurting us right now! Bad water thingy! Whatever you are! Stop! Megan-chan is my friend!"

Magi rushed forward and leapt off the ground and landed on the puddle aiming her bow down at it. She prepared to fire. Her pink shoe splattering the puddle everywhere. Then... it seeped into the floor and vanished.

"I-I did it... yay."

Sweat came down her face. Magi was amazed she even did that so quickly. It was another one of 'those moments'. Well it was good that it happened now. She did hope that was not a fairy in there. She would never live it down! It was not over though, Megan-chan was still fighting more Elements! Magi Heart readied her bow again and aimed at more bubble monsters. Then came a sound and she had a really bad feeling now...

Red eyes approached from the distance. several sets. The growl and chattering of teeth could be heard. Then it came into view... a goat, llon and lizard like head all gnashing their teeth in unison. Large bat like wings flapped on it's back however it remained grounded. It's tail of was made of nearly a dozen snakes whipped around furiously. OMG what was that thing!?

"W-W-Wowzers! Megan-chan... what i-i-i-s that!?"

Whatever it was... maybe they were in over their heads in this dungeon after all! If they continued to push on, Magi would have no choice but to figure out what she had not done yet to help... maybe buffing?

Oh yeah, why hadn't she thought of that? It was really scary though, so would that even help at this point?

@Megan Tritor

Fight
Tracker / 67 (Discord)
67 + 40 = 107
Water Elements: 233 / 500


Chimera Joined the Battle!
DC: 500
To target Chimera, replace Water Elements and the DC with it's name and total.
Specialist Modifier: Hunting and Beast Taming gets +10 per mastery and +20 for mastered.


Damage Rate for attacking Chimera

Damage Look at your natural roll.
Natural 100 = Crit x 2 damage to Chimera!
90-99 = 0 Damage!
80-89 = 20 Damage
70-79 = 25 Damage
50-69 = 30 Damage
30-49 = 40 Damage
10-29 = 30 Damage + Fire Breath Attack (Burn Ailment :5 Damage per turn until removed.)
02-09 = 30 Damage + Snake Tail Bite (Paralyze for 1d2 turns or until cured.)
1 = Triple Maul: 90 Damage

Note: Any time either the Water Elementals or the Chimera are not being targeted by the next round. Each character receives 10 HP Damage with no armor reduction!


​

 

30 HP

MAX HP

70 EN

MAX EN

Megan continued to stare at Magi Heart hoping the wanna-be magical girl could pull one of those fantastical miracles she had seen in so many different animes. Magi seemed shaken, but still determined launching off to fight the water elemental with her bow. It only last a few moments but the ensuing struggle seemed to last a lifetime to Megan, but somehow Magi managed it. "You killed it!" Cheered Megan from behind, waving her staff in the air. Granted there were still more of the elementals left, but she had managed to kill, or at least banish, one of them. This meant they had a chance!

"Ok Megan." She said in an attempt to pump herself, "We can do this! You hear that Ice Chan! We're getting you out of there!" The golem wiggled slightly within its liquid prison before returning it concentration on casting its spell from within. Megan on the other had whipped her staff before her leveling it at the remaining water elementals while Magi moved back into position. Not everything was perfect but things were going so well.....

Until it came.

The three headed monstrosity came into the room slowly, filling Megan with dread with each step. They had come so far, done so well, they even managed to defeat one of those water things, so why did the game feel the need to throw such a terrible mcguffin at them now? Megan wasn't sure, but she knew by shaking of her knees she wasn't going to be able to last much longer in this room. No, she needed to get away, and fast. A quick glance at Magi told Megan she was likely thinking the same thing, but surely these things were slow right, the two of them could easily... "We have to go Magi! This is too much for just the two of us!"

Then she remembered her familiar, Ice-kun. The poor golem was still trapped within the confines of one of the monster's stomach. Megan turned too the creature who seemingly shivered in fear, likely sensing her fear. "Ice kun!" Megan yelled holding up her staff channeling magic once more, he was her responsibility she had to save him! As she prepared her spell through the Chimera suddenly lunged forward, spewing a torrent of raging fire right at Megan. She had no choice but to move backwards as the flames raged around her, burning her deeply and igniting her clothes. Still she screamed, "ICE KUNNNNNNNNN!"

As if in response the tiny ice golem shook even more as it began to emit dim blue light. The golem had not been afraid before, it had understood its master's intention, and realized its predicament. Slowly it had begun the irreversible process of polarizing the mana that created it, and in time began to glow brightly as that mana surged out of control. With a final sad chirp, it let go, unleashing an explosion of raw arcane magic from within the water elemental, which rippled outward forming large icicles which pierced its comrades and created a small barricade in front of the chimera.

Megan sniffed, holding back the tears in her eyes, she wanted to ignore the flames and take revenge but she wouldn't let Ice Kun's sacrifice go to waste. Instead she flicked her staff sending a small barrage of daggers made out of ice at the Chimera before turning back to the stairs. "We have to go now." she said to Magi in a somber tone before trying to run back to the entrance.

Run!
Tracker / Roll
18 + 10 + 22 = 50
Running 50/???​

 

@Magi Heart

 

Magi began to glow as she focused her heart on Megan and Ice-kun. She would help them with the power of the bonds they formed together! Uh... the bonds they had formed over the course of maybe twenty or so minutes anyway! Bonds formed quickly after all, especially in a battle with evil mean things like these guys!

"Don't worry Megan-cha-"

Unfortunately... as had become the norm with Magi's attempts to save the day. She was too late. Ice-kun sacrificed himself for the two girls and now Megan-chan was already turning to run with a downtrodden voice. Magi halted her magic and her eyes teared up. But she closed them hard and fought them back. Now was not the time to whine like she always did. If Megan saw how upset she was. Or heart stricken. She would just call her a weakling probably. Magi knew how Megan's character type usually worked in anime anyway. So hopefully she was right here too. Magi Heart had to stay strong and seem smart now. Even if she felt stupid for pushing on and just letting them both meet failure. Hadn't she learned this by now? Gee whiz...

"...*sniff* Y-yeah... let's get out here! It's just dark and creepy anyway..."

Taking one last look as the Chimera broke through the ice wall, and shrugged off Megan's magic. The two anime fan girls would head for the stairs, up said stairs, and ultimately back to the room with tentacles from earlier. One of Magi's rare tastes of success. Not waiting around just in case more show up. Magi would tell Megan to keep going with her until they reached the exit. Only when the slowly setting light of day was shining on them was it that they could finally rest.

"...*huff huff*."

The pinkette panted with her hands on her knees. Catching her breath she looked to Megan who was definitely more injured than she was. Magi was oddly much more resistant to damage ever since her experience with death a few months ago. It was horribly ironic since in turn she could never seem to stop everyone else from suffering or dying. And even if her health bar rarely dropped below half. She still felt the pain and still felt her failings. So it was all the same at this point.

She hated Terrasphere. Fantasy fulfillment or not. It was not the fantasy she imagined, that was for sure. Maybe someday she would log out and never return. That day was slowly approaching. Magi just wanted to try a bit longer. Hoping it would improve... somehow.

"Are y-you okay Megan?"

She was too depressed to use honorifics right now. The fun of the adventure having worn off. Returning her to the more somber state she had been in recently.

"I'm so sorry that I could not stop what happened. I..."

And she realized she just did it. Magi acted weak. Revealed she failed. Oh well, that too was love.

"I'm sure you can just resummon him right? He's okay? Just in a different dimension or something... right?"

She went over to Megan and grasped both her hands into her white gloves.

"It's okay. We did good... I mean we aren't that strong you know? ...um... haha... I'm a bit surprised we even got that far!"

Magi Heart nodded gently trying to look satisfied and proud of their accomplishment. That was what a magical girl was about... making positive outcome out of everything they could.

"I-I have a idea!"

Magi shook Megan's hands a little hoping to take the girl's mind off of whatever dark thoughts the recent venture may have left her with.

"Wanna go to Rocky Road? They have great sweets and I love the skittles smoothies! They aren't really skittles but taste just like em *giggle*."

Magi closed her eyes and made a smile only she could do. One that was why she was known throughout her school and by all of her friends, including Raina that she was different. Different for being too good, too nice, too pure. If anything... it was pretty unrealistic even more so in the real world. This was just who Wendy was.

Even this dark game would not take that away from her. It could damper her dreams and ruin her day. Stress her out and make her go through trauma and even PTSD from death. But she always would revert to what she was.

A real life magical girl. At least in her soul.

@Megan Tritor

 

Megan's breath became ragged as the two of them ran back up the stairs backtracking the entire way. It seemed that Ice-Kun's final attack had given the creatures pause enough for them to get away, but seeing the chimera break through the ice so quickly made her uneasy. She didn't think an animal that large could keep up with them, but she wasn't about to wait and find out. So onwards through the tunnel, and into the sizeable cavern-like area where they had fought the tentacles previously. Pushing through the cavern she saw the golden streaks of the sun, piercing the cluttered canopy that made up the entrance. With labored breaths she struggled to the finish line, doubling over as she attempted to recover.

The physical exertion had been strenuous, but it had at least given her a slight reprieve. A moment to collect her thoughts before the trauma of losing a loved one began to bear weight on her soul. However, the reprieve was momentary, and as soon as she caught her breath, her emotions came crashing down upon her. As if sensing her incoming meltdown, Magi attempted a variety of soothing words, as she took Megan's hands in her own. Megan sniffed in a somewhat successful attempt at holding back the tears, "I...I don't know...none...have ever..." She trailed off moving away from Magi's embrace. Sure ice cream sounded good, but she had to make sure of something first.

Tapping on her on-screen display, Megan went through the complex set of menus that took her back into her summonable familiars. Slowly she retraced the steps she had gone through earlier, only to realize she had given up and summoned one at random. With increasing speed, she tried to sift through the menus searching for Ice-Kun's type, but she knew deep down it would be fruitless without his exact summoning parameter. Almost defeated Megan stood up straight holding her staff before her only to realize it was now missing the large piece that had broken earlier. During their escape her ice spell must have worn off, leaving the damaged portion to fall in their rush. Megan sighed but tossed away the now useless magic tool instead holding her hands before her.

She had to try and remember what she had chanted previously; she had just blurted out something that sounded cool at the time, but...it couldn't have been too complicated. "Uhhh spirits of ice? Er, My lady shiva. Uhm have mercy on me and send me forth a servant suitable for our ranks! Thanks!"As she spoke the words came to her as if Shiva herself whispered them in her eat. Within a moment a magic circle appeared before her from which a creature slowly emerged. And low and behold the same Ice Golem from before emerged, chirping happily as it had the first time it had been raised. "ICE KUN!" Megan screamed, slamming into the creature, ignoring the burning sensation of his ice cold skin. "MAGI! ICE KUN IS BACK! HES BACK! HE LIVED HE LIVED!" Megan cheered prancing around in a circle, showing off the golem which happily danced with the girl. On its back an odd symbol could be seen, one that might have been missed before but indicating something important. It was the roman numeral "2". Megan blissfully unaware turned to the magic girl with a wide grin, "Can he come with us?! To the ice cream store!?"

 

At first Magi worried.

Megan was not cheering up all that much. She was doing something, most likely rummaging through her UI, at a great speed. Magi just stayed quiet and watched with her white gloves clasped together tightly. Her brows furrowed with concern. She knew what she was doing... Megan was trying to see if she still had the summon in her inventory right? Magi Heart never used any summon or beast taming skills, but she was getting a tiny bit better with the interface. From others she had seen, it was possible that it worked like that.

So she waited and pink eyes shifted to the dark entrance to the ruins. That place was hard, really hard. Magi definitely did not want to go back there again... but wasn't that also bad? Didn't she want to get stronger? Hmmm... yeah, but how? By going around killing things? Wendy missed the days of just practicing to get the best combo scores in Ultimate Candy Storm Revolution. Those were fun times.

Then Magi looked back at Megan just as she was shouting her casting phrase again. Then... it was...

"Wowzers Megan! He's back! Ice-kun is back! Yay! Super cool beans!"

The ice spirit had emerged from the ruins... how was that possible? Well uh... Yay?! For once this awful game was not completely cruel. Magi ran up to the two and clapped her hands with a huge smile on her face. Then that meant they did all make it out pretty much! The ran up and wrapped her arms around them both as much as she could in a triple hug. Ice-kun was just that, cold! She backed off then and watched the two dance around happily. It was nice... to see something turn out good for a change. If only she could help make that happen more often. A lot more.

"We did it, he's back, we didn't let the baddies kill anyone! YATA!"

Magi fist pumped and spread her spun into one of her extremely well practiced magical girl poses. Megan was already excited to go and have ice cream at the Rocky Road! Okay! Oh yeah... Megan wanted to bring Ice-kun. Was that really going to be okay? Magi was not really sure but she was totally okay with it herself. Why would anyone not want Megan's friend to come?!

"I-I think so? He's our friend too! So yeah, it'll be okay! C'mon I'll lead the way!" You know... I'm a sweets eating champ! Okay, let's goooo!"

And so the two had a somewhat less bitter ending in Terrasphere... for today.

[FIN]