The long day finally began to come to an end, the sunset casting a vivid pink hue across the sky. Leah thanked her luck, managing to get off the highway before the lighting could get any worse, pulling into the parking lot outside of Annie’s. “Finally made it,” she sighed in relief as she parked the car. “You two doing okay back there?”

“Annie’s still upset.” Melody frowned.

“I… I’m fine.” Annie shook her head. “I… I’ll get over it.”

“You say that, but I know how important that car was to you. You had a lot of good memories with it.”

“Yeah, but it’s only a car. I can replace it… even if it’ll take me a while to find another one like it… and to replace everything in it… and the stickers I used to decorate it… and it was where you and I first kissed… and…” Annie’s mood continued to drop into a freefall as she continued to rattle off the increasingly minor yet precious details she was going to miss. As she did, Leah glanced a few spaces down, her brow rising in confusion.

“It had a Venus symbol and a pride heart hanging off the rearview mirror, right?”

Annie sniffled. “Yeah. I’m going to miss those.”

“Uh… I think that’s your car.” Leah pointed to a red sports car in the parking lot.

“Yeah, I’ll miss finding it in the… parking… lot?” Annie looked up, her brain starting to process what Leah said. “Huh!?”

“When did it…” Melody gasped as she floated out of the car. “How did it get here!?”

“I have no idea.” Leah crossed her arms as she tried to think of how. Chi and Cleo were the only other drivers, and they’d both driven their cars away. Heck, Cleo’s car wasn’t even here, and she didn’t even know where Annie lived in the first place. “It IS your car, right?”

“Yeah!” Annie said, rushing to it. “My purse is even in there.” She sighed a breath of relief.

“Crisis averted, I suppose.” Melody gave a gentle smile. “Still, how did it get here?”

The three stood there thinking about it, but they couldn’t come up with anything. “No, that couldn’t be it.” Melody shook her head.

“What couldn’t be it?” Leah asked.

“When we were fleeing, I saw some woman standing near the outskirts of the mall. She had some elegant, even important feel to her.” She pursed her lips as she thought more about it. “It seemed like she was watching what happened.”

“You think she brought it back?” Annie asked.

“No, that doesn’t really make sense either,” Melody sighed. “I have no idea.”

“Well, I’m just glad it’s back.” Annie smiled. “We can figure it out later. It looks like the others are waiting inside.”

“Wait, they have a key to your apartment?” Leah asked.

“Yeah, I gave all of them one in case they needed to get to my apartment while I was out.”

“I see.” Leah nodded as she followed Annie up the stairs to her apartment. Annie opened the door, welcoming Melody and Leah in. A slender and elegant cat with a split tail approached Leah and wove herself around Leah’s legs. “Hello, Peachy. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Leah smiled.

“You guys sure took your time.” Carmen smirked. “What took you?”

“Just traffic.” Leah shrugged.

“Well, I’m glad we’re all safe.” Ichika smiled.

“Yeah.” Vivi beamed. “All thanks to you, big sis.”

“Aww, shucks.” Leah blushed, scratching the back of her head as she approached Vivi. “Thanks, little sis,” she said, ruffling Vivi’s hair as she giggled.

“Alright, I think we all need some food after everything,” Annie announced. “You all okay for some leftover lasagna?”

“Am I!?” Vivi chirped.

“You sound excited,” Leah laughed.

“Yeah.” Vivi pumped her arms in excitement. “You’re gonna love it. She makes the best lasagna. It has so much cheese, especially the ricotta.”

“Annie does make a good lasagna,” Melody giggled. “My girlfriend is a great cook after all.”

“Heh, what can I say, Mom and Dad taught me a lot,” Annie laughed. “This is my dad’s recipe.”

A few short minutes later, food was served, the group of six happily eating the lasagna, filling their starving stomachs. They relaxed for a bit when Annie noticed her phone buzzing in her purse. “Hmm?” She looked at the phone then looked at Vivi. “Hey, Vivi. Do you mind if I give Cleo your number?”

“Hmm? I don’t mind, but why?” Vivi asked.

“Apparently, Wisp really wants to talk to you,” Annie chuckled.

“Oh, I’m okay with that.” Vivi smiled. “It’ll be nice to talk to someone else like me. Even if she’s a bit younger than me.”

“Try a lot,” Carmen teased.

“You know what I mean.”

“Says the one who thinks that a large bowl of chips isn’t ‘that big.’”

“That was you!”

The others started to laugh as the two spatted. The group joked and laughed for a while as they relaxed from their battle. Before long over an hour had passed since they had gotten back.

“Hmm?” Leah grabbed at her pocket as Annie and Carmen teased each other over their tastes in music, Annie expressing her love of rock and ballads as Carmen raved about her video game soundtracks.

“What’s up sis?” Vivi asked.

“My phone is ring-” She fell silent. “It’s Mom.”

“Mom?” Vivi repeated, the others quieting down. “What does she want?”

Leah slumped. “Dammit, she wants us to come home.”

“Come… but I can’t.” Vivi shook her head. “If I go back like this, I’ll…”

“Crap,” Leah grumbled. “There’s not much of a way out of this. She knows you’re with me, and she’s being rather adamant about you coming home,” she said between a flurry of texting. “Sorry, sis. I know you want to stick around like this, but…”

“That’s not the issue.” Annie frowned. “We don’t know how to turn back.”

“You don’t…” Leah blinked. “But wait, then how…”

“The transformations wear off when we’re sleeping,” Melody responded. “It’s typically why we stay out late like this, or have Vivi stay with us.”

“Vivi?” Leah looked to her sister. Vivi gave a quiet nod. “Shit, then what do we do? I don’t think I can convince Mom to let her stay here.”

“And if we don’t, who knows what she’ll do later.” Carmen crossed her arms and grimaced. “Vivi’s mom is nice plenty of the time, but she can be really strict too. I wouldn’t put it past her to forbid Vivi from coming over later if she suspects foul play.”

“What do I do?” Vivi folded upon herself. She grabbed at her legs, a soft whimper escaping her lips.

“Vivi…” Leah frowned.

“So, all you need to do is learn how to undo your transformation, correct?” an enthusiastic voice chirped.

“Huh?” Annie rose up as the others looked around in confusion. “What was…”

“Over here.” The voice directed them towards the windowsill before it leapt into the air and began floating above the Living Room. They were a long white fluffy creature that floated effortlessly in the air, gazing upon them with soft pink eyes. Its body fluttered like a long tail, with ribbon like appendages floating off its body. “Hello there,” it giggled.

“Wh-what is that?” Ichika yelped.

“I have no idea.” Annie looked at the creature. “It’s like a flying ferret or something?”

The creature seemed to shudder at the comment. “What part of me is like a ferret!?”

“Well, you are kind of like a long fluffy rodent,” Melody chuckled hesitantly. “But I can’t say I’ve ever seen a ferret with tassels like that.”

“I’m clearly a fox!” the creature objected. The others looked at the creature with confusion. “Oh, come on,” it whimpered.

“So, uh, fox… thing.” Annie scratched her head. “Who are you? And why are you here?”

“Fox thing…?” the creature moped. “I guess I’ll just have to settle, for that then,” it relented. “Anyway, my name is Palu. I have traveled quite the distance to find you all.”

“To find us?” Leah questioned.

“Er, not you,” Palu chuckled hesitantly. “I’ve been looking for these girls. The Prism Girls.”

“You were looking for us?” Annie pressed. “Why?”

“My mistress sent me to support you all in your endeavors,” Palu replied.

“No way, they’re our mascot!” Carmen declared.

“Mascot?” Melody blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s a staple of any magical girl adventure. A cute sassy mascot that helps out the heroines,” Carmen explained. “Right, Vivi? Like that plush guy who turned into that lion in that one anime about the cards.”

“Yeah. He was really funny,” Vivi giggled.

“Hmm, thinking about it, I remember the one about the girls in the girls in sailor uniforms. I think they had a pair of cats,” Annie commented.

“Right!” Melody giggled. “The one with the ‘cousins.’ Shame they censored that.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember at one point they turned into humans or something, right? Can you transform like that?” Ichika wondered aloud as she looked to the floating fox.

“Oh, gosh. I don’t know. Becoming a pretty fox lady does sound fun,” Palu giggled. “Oh, now you have me excited to try and figure that out.”

“That would round our group out rather well,” Carmen laughed. “Then all we’d need is Peachy to turn into a cute girl too.” She eyed the lavender cat lying at Annie’s feet. The cat looked up curiously, her twin tails bobbing with curiosity.

“You leave her out of this,” Annie objected. “Peachy just needs to be my lovely kitty.” She stroked the cat, prompting a satisfied purr.

“At any rate,” Leah looked to Palu. “So, are you all saying you’re okay with this, fox thing?”

“Do you really have to tack on ‘thing?’” Palu’s voice quivered with sadness as she drooped a little.

“Well, it is a little weird.” Annie crossed her arms. “I mean, who is this mistress you mentioned? And why does she want to help us?”

“Uh, well,” Palu chuckled nervously. “She kinda forbade me from saying who she was.”

“Who she was?” Annie cocked her eyebrow.

“She wants to introduce herself on her own terms later,” Palu explained.

“Wait… when we were leaving before… that beautiful blonde woman, was that her?” Melody wondered aloud.

“No.” Palu shook her head. “Well. Yes, she wants to introduce herself too, but she’s not my mistress. My mistress lives on the other side of the country, on the East coast. Mistress simply asked that girl you mentioned to help me find you all.”

“So, she was real… and you can’t tell us anything,” Melody sighed.

“Uh, sorry,” Palu apologized. “Mistress is a little temperamental like that. Knowing her, she wants to show up and use the surprise to tease her… uh…”

“Tease her what?” Annie questioned.

“Uh, y-you’ll find out,” Palu deflected.

“Hey, you’re not getting away with…”

“Oh, right, you all need to figure out how to undo your transformations right?” Palu blurted.

“Huh?” Annie stopped short, then sighed in surrender. “Yeah, actually. Vivi needs to so she can go home. Her predicament is a little…”

“I understand,” Palu nodded. “Teaching you all will take a little bit of time. But for now I can undo it for you myself.”

“Wait, really?” Melody gawked.

“Would you like me to demonstrate?” Palu asked. Melody nodded, summoning Palu to her side. Palu landed upon her shoulder and strutted around the back of her neck, her long tail dangling on Melody’s chest. The tail began brushing against her breast until it appeared to melt into it, much to their shock.

“Melody!” Annie stood up, darting to her side. “What are you…”

Suddenly, Palu’s tail pulled up and off of Melody’s chest, her pendant emerging with it. In that instant, her clothes began to change, returning to her street clothes from earlier in the day, and her wheelchair apparated beside the couch. “There we go.”

“No way, it really worked!” Carmen looked at the mascot in excitement. “Do me next!” Palu chuckled at her request and performed the same movements. Her brush-like tail dangled before her, as if she were fishing with her tail, sinking into Carmen’s chest before emerging with her own pendant. “So cool!” Carmen cheered as her outfit reverted as well.

“Would you like me to do you next?” Palu looked to Ichika, who gave a hesitant nod. Palu landed upon her shoulder and fished out her pendant prompting her clothes to change like the others, then finally came to Annie.

“Oh, fine, go ahead,” she smiled a little. Palu giggled and landed upon her should before fishing out her pendant as well, her outfit transforming back to her red dress and jacket. “Guess that just leaves Vivi.”

“Y-yeah,” Vivi pouted.

“Sorry, sis,” Leah frowned. “I wish we could find another solution.”

“It’s okay,” Vivi said, trying to hide her sadness. “Alright, I’m ready,” she closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself as the others frowned. She didn’t want to, but she had to, otherwise her mom would freak out, and she wasn’t ready to cross that bridge anyway. She took a deep breath as she felt Palu’s small feet upon her neck and girded herself. She began to feel a brushing sensation… but it confused her. It wasn’t around her chest like the others. Instead, it was… “AHCHOO!” She made a cute sneeze. “H-huh?” She opened her eyes, noticing Palu’s tail dancing in front of her. “What is…”

“There’s no reason to do it now. If you ask me, we should wait until we’re closer to your house.” Palu nuzzled her cheek.

“B-but…”

“Are you planning to go with them?” Annie asked.

“Of course,” Palu nodded. “Vivi, right?” Vivi nodded to her name. “If I go with you, I can change you back anytime you want. That way you can even change in private and have me on hand to turn back when you need to.”

“R-really?” Vivi’s voice shook.

“Of course. I came to help. And this is one thing I can do that no one else can,” Palu answered gleefully.

“That sounds perfect to me,” Annie smiled. “We can figure out how else you wanted to help us later. In the meantime, helping Vivi takes priority in my opinion.”

“I agree,” Melody commented.

“Absolutely.” Ichika grinned. “Vivi deserves to be happy.”

“Well, duh,” Carmen laughed.

“I-is this really okay?” Vivi looked to Leah.

“Well, as long as she avoids Mom and Tommy, we should be fine.” Leah smiled. “And I’m in favor of whatever helps you, too.”

“Leah...” Vivi hugged her sister.

“Well, I guess it’s time to split up,” Annie said reluctantly. “You two need to get home.”

“Yeah.” Leah nodded.

“Goodnight, everyone.” Vivi waved to the others, Palu bobbing beside her as she waved her tail and one of her tiny arms.

“Goodnight,” the others said as the three headed out.

Leah led them down the stairs and to the parking lot. She eyed the red sports car as they walked towards her own car. “That’s still weird.” She frowned.

“What’s weird?” Vivi asked.

“Annie’s car. We left it behind at the garage earlier. But now it’s here.”

“Huh? She didn’t drive it back herself?” Vivi questioned. “That’s weird. It wasn’t here when Carm, Chi, and I got here. So then…”

“Oh, that must’ve been Thena,” Palu commented.

“Thena?” Vivi questioned.

“She’s the girl your friend mentioned. She’s been my partner in tracking you down. She wanted to meet you today, but she chose to observe your fight instead.”

“Did she know that we were going to be ambushed?” Leah asked. “Wait… now that I think about it, there sure were a lot of them there. It was almost like…” She grimaced.

“You don’t think someone tipped them off, do you?” Vivi frowned.

“That’s what Thena thought,” Palu commented. “She had intended to meet with you, but she quickly noticed that you were being watched, so she chose not to meet you.”

“Then does that mean that one of the others…” Leah frowned as she considered the possibility of a traitor, Vivi quickly following suit.

“No way,” Palu shook her head. “None of those girls would ever do that. Even that witch.”

“Witch?” Vivi looked at her confusedly. “You mean Cleo? I know that she uses magic, and people don’t think highly of her, but a witch?”

“Hmm?” Palu blinked, her tail resting on her head as she gave a thoughtful expression. “You know, I just thought that on reflex. But I think she’s still a witch. It’s not a bad thing. Witches are kind of like humans, but they have better magic. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if they really are humans at that point.”

“That’s a little harsh.” Leah grimaced.

“I mean like how your friend is a Yuki-onna. She’s not really human like you two are.”

“I… hadn’t thought of that.” Vivi scratched at her cheek.

“Neither had I,” Leah admitted.

“It’s not like it really matters though. Human? Non-human? I don’t think it really matters. I mean, I’m not human either,” Palu giggled. “And I’d like to think I’m a very sweet person. And I think that witch is too.”

“No arguing with that logic,” Leah laughed.

“Yeah,” Vivi laughed too. “I feel kinda silly overthinking it now. It’s just kinda weird thinking that people aren’t really… y’know, human anymore.” Her voice shook a little with uncertainty. Certainly, it didn’t matter much, but at the same time, it was a rather intimidating thought. She shook her head. No need to dwell on it now. She returned her gaze to Palu and asked. “But then, who told the police?”

“Thena seemed to have an idea about it, but she didn’t say. But I think I can guess what she was thinking.”

“What do you mean?” The two sisters asked.

“Thena’s been looking for someone going by Mr. Z,” Palu explained. “And I think he may have been the one behind all of this.”

“Mr. Z?” Leah repeated.

“Yeah, Thena thinks he’s been pulling the strings of a few things around here, but she didn’t have much evidence of it,” she lamented.

“If that’s the case, then that means there’s no traitors,” Vivi sighed in relief. “But, then, what kind of person are we up against?”