“They’re just like so super cool! :D”

“I know right? They’re super nice too. >^u^<”

“Yep yep! Also, wow, when did you start using emotes like that? :o”

“Carmen turned me on to them. Cute right? >^m^<”

“Super duper! Btw, who are your faves?”

“That’s no fair! I can’t pick!”

“Hehe.”

“>ono<”

“It’s okay, I have a hard time picking too. I really like Red and Blue. You don’t see adult magical girls in anime much, and they’re so cool!”

“You just like them cause they’re a couple. >^w^<”

“Uh, well… I do ship them tbh. >.>”

“???”

“WAIT! You were being serious!?"

“I mean, yeah, they get lovey dovey all the time.”

“Clips pls!”

Vivi stared at her phone for a second. Of course, Erika didn’t know they were dating. The clips online didn’t show that stuff. She tried to figure out an excuse. She snapped her finger. “A friend showed me them, I guess. I don’t have them. >o,n,o<”

“Boo! Free the lesbi clipies!” Erika quickly responded, making Vivi giggle.

“But they’re still a good pick for faves. >^.^<”

“Oh, right. I didn’t finish saying. I’m not sure if they’re my fave, or Magenta,” read Erika’s text. Vivi felt her cheeks begin to warm up.

“Really?”

“Duh! I’m a sucker for her pink hair and frilliness.”

“You did always like frills.”

“Plus she’s just so uber cute!!! I just want to hug her and squeeze her till she goes boop!”

“>o//////o<,” she began to type, only to immediately erase it. Vivi’s blush was now gobbling up her face like it was a lobster buffet, leaving nothing but a bright red face behind. Erika didn’t know that SHE was Magenta, and she wasn’t about to tell her that now! Her fingers twitched trying to find a response before finally settling on “boop?” She took a sigh of relief when she saw the next text show up.

“You know, like that old skit from Tiny Toonies.”

Vivi chuckled. “Now who’s the cute one,” she teased. By the time she hit send it she had only just realized how flirty it sounded, resummoning the blush to her cheeks.

“Don’t tease me! >n<”

She nearly sent another text reading “you make it so easy” but immediately erased it. What was going on with her? She suddenly felt so excited and eager to keep going, but… Erika didn’t know that she was Magenta. Heck, she didn’t even know she was a girl yet. Thinking about that made her more than a bit sad, but that was a bridge she wasn’t ready to cross yet.

“Texting your girlfriend?” a high voice chirped, causing Vivi to fumble her phone.

“S-she’s not my girlfriend!” Vivi protested.

“Oh, so you have a habit of flirting with all the cute girls you know?” Palu wondered. Vivi was speechless. Breathless too. Palu just looked at the phone, using her phone to send a simple text reading “<3.”

“Palu!” Vivi whined.

“It’s important for kids like you to learn to take initiative like that,” Palu sagely explained.

“Okay, Grandma.”

“Uh, whuh?” Palu looked to her blankly. Before she could say anything else, there was a knock at the door.

“It’s me,” Leah called out.

Vivi got up, leaving the stunned Palu to fall over on the bed in shock. She opened the door to find Leah in a forest green dress, and her hair hanging down in a braid. “Yes’m?”

“I’m about to go off to practice. You good to look after Tommy?”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Vivi smiled. “Palu, be sure to hide if anyone else comes in here.”

“R-right,” Palu mumbled.

“What’s wrong with her?” Leah asked.

“I called her old.” Leah looked at her confusedly, which gave Vivi pause. As far as they knew there weren’t any people that became animals due to what happened with the mist, but there were animals who became human. But it seemed strange that an animal turned magical creature would be that old… right? The two sisters looked at each other.

“Just how old is she?” they asked each other.

* * *

Vivi sat in Tommy’s room, leaving the young boy to his own devices. He was definitely at an age where he didn’t need as much constant supervision, but watching him excitedly play with his toys was kind of charming in its own right. It wasn’t as unpleasant as she remembered it being last time. In fact, watching Tommy play around and build things with his little stackable bricks was pretty endearing.

However, she couldn’t stop her mind from wandering. It was about that time that she peeked at her phone, noticing another text. She tried to quiet her racing heart as she suspected another reply from Erika, but as she opened up her texts, she was greeted by a different, but equally joyful message.

“Big sis! Big sis! Momma’s letting me text on her phone!” ‘Cleo’s’ message read. Although, it was pretty obvious that it was Wisp’s phone for the moment. And she certainly didn’t waste time in making her feel embarrassed in a good way. The surge of being called her big sister filled her with a desire to go hug her… Gosh, was this what Erika was talking about earlier? No, no, it certainly had to be different. She wasn’t a little kid, but that would mean…

“Big sis! Can you teach me about make up? Momma says I’m too little, but I wanna learn how to be a big girl! ^-^”

“I don’t know much about it,” Vivi admitted through text, “but we can learn together!”

“I get to learn stuff with big sis? Yay!”

“I’m excited to learn too! >^w^<”

“Oh, oh! If you come over to my house, I wanna play the puffball star car game!”

“Puffball star car came?”

“Yeah! You play as a puffball and ride stars and cars around to power them up. Then you do cool races and stuff! Momma plays it with me, but she’s super bad at it.”

“Oh, I know that game. I’d love to play it with you.”

“Yay! Puffball star cars with big sis!”

Vivi smiled, making a soft giggle as she read Wisp’s silly-sounding text. “Got it!” Tommy’s voice pulled at her attention. She looked up, noticing Tommy grinning as he looked at the finished castle gate. He grinned at her as if he had done some incredible feat. She couldn’t help but giggle at his enthusiasm.

“Are you having fun, little bro?” Vivi smiled.

“Uh huh,” Tommy nodded. “I did it all by myself too.”

“That’s my little brother. All smart and clever,” she teased him. Tommy looked up at her confusedly. “Huh? Is something wrong?”

“Jackie?” Tommy looked at her with wide inquisitive eyes.

“What is it, Tommy?” She smiled sweetly.

“You’re acting weird.”

“I, uh, well…” She blushed.

“Is it because of the clothes Miss Annie bought you? You’ve been weird ever since you brought them home.”

“Huh!? H-how…?”

“I saw you bring them in.” He smiled. “I remember because they reminded me of Prism Magenta. The pink shirt and those pants.”

“T-they did, huh?” she stammered, scratching her neck shyly, Tommy’s quiet gaze causing her to retract more and more. She felt like disappearing. It was only her little brother, but the anxiety felt worse than when she fought with Gunther or the police… well, maybe not the police. She wasn’t being shot at after all.

“Big brother?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Prism Magenta is my favorite.” He smiled.

“S-she is?” she asked. “I thought Mom told you not to watch stuff about them.”

“Yeah, but they’re so cool. And Prism Magenta is the coolest. She’s so nice and I think her plants are cool.” He grinned.

“How do you know about that?”

“One of my friends shared a video about it over Sky-P.” He smiled smugly as he flaunted his technological prowess, Vivi giggling at his funny pronunciation. “And Prism Magenta was so awesome. She was like boom, and whoo, and whee!” He flailed his arms. “That’s why she’s my favorite.”

“Y-yeah?” she chuckled nervously. “She’s the favorite of a friend of mine too,” she said before clearing her throat.

“You’re my favorite,” he giggled.

“I... Tommy, what did you say?” she askedas he hugged her.

“Prism Magenta is my favorite, just like you.”

“Tommy...” She watched him in awe. “You’re really cool too, little bro. You know that?” She hugged him back, carefully holding his small body as he giggled.

* * *

“I… I want my m-mommy and daddy,” a little boy cried as he leaned against the bookcase of a large personal library.

“Whinny brat, ain’t he?” a tall and bulky man grumbled as leaves fell from his twiggy hair.

“Just focus and keep me covered,” his pale comrade snapped at him. He looked at one of the nearby windows, hissing at the bright light hiding behind the tinted windows before getting back to work on the safe before him. “Why does it have to be so bright today?”

“Still sticking to the whole, ‘can’t stay in the sunlight’ thing, aren’t ya, Vampo?”

“You do realize that I have that codename for a reason, right, Trent?”

The large bark covered man scoffed. “Whoever’s been making up our codenames really needs a wedgie.”

“What are you, twelve?” Vampo side-eyed him. “Next you’ll be suggesting a noogie.”

“Uh…”

“Dude, seriously!?” As the two argued, the little boy continued to sniffle and whine until he started crying again. “Seriously with this kid!? Why are we stuck with the hostage!?”

“Maybe it’s just your luck?” a mature girl’s voice mocked.

“Huh?” The large tree man looked up to see a young woman with blue skin giggling at him from the floor above. “How did you get in here?”

“Oh, what can I say, I’m a bit slippery,” she teased. Trent roared, reaching his large trunk-like hand towards her. Ichika gracefully skated out of the way with ease. “Tell me, sir. What do you think about chilling thyme?” she joked as she spun her hand, creating a frigid gale to blow upon the forested man.

“Why you!?” Trent roared. He curled his raised hand, his fingers growing into sharp wooden claws which sprawled across the upper floor.

“Now that’s what I call a green thumb,” Ichika laughed as she continued to skate out of the way.

“Stop that!” he yelled as he raised his other fist to punch her.

“Oh, don’t like that? Maybe I should turnip.”

“That doesn’t even make sense!” Trent growled.

Meanwhile, Vampo turned the safe’s dial, the number rising on the digital interface. He paused. “Oh… I get it…”

“Get back here, you!”

“You’re not a very good weedwhacker!” Ichika continued.

“Shut up!”

“She has a point.” Vampo shrugged as he continued.

“You’re not helping!” Trent yelled.

“Oh! Oh! I like helping!” a small voice chirped, from the upper floor. Trent looked up to see a small green-clad fairy girl smiling at him. “Here, let me show you!” She beamed as a small ball of wind whooshed in her palm. Ichika looked over in shock, realizing what was about to happen, she charged her magic into her hands and then slipped under the railing, hooking her arm around the rail and hanging off the second floor. The floor began to freeze around her hand, the frost covering the floor before large walls of ice rose up, sealing the bookcases behind them. Down below, a plume of cyan light flowed from Ichika’s hand, repeating the process behind her, finally sealing all the bookshelves behind a rigid wall of ice, and not a moment too soon.

Wisp’s ball of wind collided with the massive tree man, hurling him backward, his body colliding with the stern steel behind him, his knuckle banging into and breaking a nearby window, causing a stream of light to shine through in all its intensity.

“You dumbass!” Vampo yelled as he winced in pain. “Hurry up and…”

“Yeah, yeah!” Trent grumbled as he placed his right hand against the wall, a mass of plant growth emerging from his wrist and covering up the hole in the window. “Now to take care of you two.” He glared at the fairy and yuki-onna. He slammed his hand down, Ichika narrowly grabbing Wisp and hiding the fairy under her own body as the mossy hand came down upon them. “Now, I’m down a hand,” Trent complained as he looked at his right arm.

“It’ll grow back,” Vampo reminded him. “You’re sure that’s enough?” He glanced over his shoulder, watching Ichika stumble to her feet as she found herself in a wooden cage. But… it was only… “Shit, the fairy kid escaped!”

“What!?” Trent’s eyes widened as Wisp fluttered up to his nose. “H-how!?” He blinked as he realized that she was smaller than before and… she was growing, returning to her previous size. “Damned sprite!” He threw his now handless right arm at her, but she easily avoided it with a giggle.

“My turn!” Wisp smiled as her butterfly-like wings began to shimmer. Trent stumbled a little as his vision became blurry. His gaze was transfixed upon the bright colorful wings as his eyes began to grow heavy. Wisp couldn’t help but giggle as the large tree man swayed back and forth with a groggy look in his eyes. And then she stopped giggling. In fact, she stopped moving, much to her shock and confusion.

“Green!” Ichika shouted. She looked to the pale man below the massive wooden fellow. The man clicked his tongue.

“You can’t do anything on your own, can you?” The vampire’s eyes glowed red as he stared at Wisp, her gaze transfixed to him, much like Trent’s had been to her. It paralyzed her, gripping her tightly in place as gravity tried to reassert itself upon her as she slowly drifted towards the ground. “Trent!”

“Yeah, got it,” Trent grumbled as he rose to his feet. He used his remaining hand to grab at Wisp, his viny hand crawling around her, securing her tightly in his grip.

“Good.” Vampo grinned, his eyes returning to normal. “Now back to work.” He turned back to the safe.

“Right.” Trent nodded, turning his attention to the frightened girl trapped in his grip. “Heh, you’re kinda cute. Maybe I’ll keep ya as a pet.”

“Dude, can you like try not to be creepy?” Vampo rolled his eyes.

“Whatever.” Trent shrugged.

“H-help me...” The little boy cowered in the corner.

“Ugh, not this again…”

“Let them go,” Ichika muttered.

“Hmm?” Trent looked to the Yuki-onna trapped under his detached hand.

“I said, let them go!” Ichika shouted. Trent gave her a bored look before shrugging and looking back to the girl quivering in his hand. “I said…” A chilling wave erupted from her, causing Trent to shiver uncontrollably as frost began to cling to his body. “LET THEM GO!” she howled. A flurry of snow consumed the room, surprising the others. Trent squinted to try and see what happened until the snowstorm began to retract. Ichika stood in the center of the room, her wooden prison having shattered into frozen shards as the snowstorm congealed into a frosty sphere of crystal.

“Wh-what?” The crystal ball floated around Ichika. She raised her hand, the sphere moving above her grasp. It shimmered and glowed, and then a set of four jets of frigid energy shot at Trent’s shoulders and legs, instantly freezing them. He looked at her in shock as his limbs snapped from the weight, his torso crashing to the ground and sliding towards the enraged yuki-onna. “You have got to be kidding me.” Trent threw his head back in anger.

“For the love of --” Vampo rose to his feet and looked back to the battle worn room. He glanced to the side, watching the small fairy girl free herself from the broken wooden hand, and the young boy look at the yuki-onna in awe. He then looked towards Ichika, who instantly shot a few rounds of frigid energy at him. He shirked them off like they were nothing. “Sorry, babe.” He shrugged. “I’m basically a vampire, the cold doesn’t bother me,” he chuckled. “But something tells me my claws could do a number on you.”

He charged at Ichika, throwing his sharp claws at her. She used the frozen ground to her advantage, using it to slide around and dodge his attacks. As she weaved through his attacks, she used her crystal ball to fire some more ice blasts at him. They didn’t really hurt, but they were certainly annoying. And then he tried to attack again, only to barely move. He looked down, his eye twitching as he realized icy lady wasn’t attacking as wildly as he previously believed, his ice-covered foot evidence of that fact. He swiped at the ice on his foot, breaking it free.

Ichika took a breath, clearly trying to figure out how to proceed, when the crystal ball began to shimmer again, a surge of icy power pulsing into her grasp, her nails growing long and sharp, like slender icicles. She grinned and looked at the vampire. He looked between his clawed hand and her icicle-covered mimicry and groaned. “Seriously?”

They continued to battle. Vampo was convinced he had the upper hand in their one-on-one blows, but her better maneuverability was too much. Even if he could parry her blows and get a good swipe in, it wouldn’t matter if she could just slide out of the way and pin him down again. That was when he noticed something. Maybe her maneuverability was the answer all along.

He moved in for another attack. Ichika dodged it. Her eye tensed with confusion as she recognized the simple and basic attack for what it was. Vampo grinned, it was too late. Ichika’s eyes widened as she realized where she had moved to. Two thick trunk-like arms locked her into place, pinning her to Trent’s torso. They had battled just long enough for him to regrow his arms, and even if they were just a little larger than a normal man’s arm now, they were still plenty. Ichika slumped in defeat as Vampo smirked, victorious.

And then behind him, the doors flew open, a pink blast of energy smacking the vampire backwards. “Magenta!” Ichika called out excitedly. Vampo looked up to see the pink haired girl confidently standing before him.

“Vampo!” Trent yelled. “Move!” Vampo moved as instructed, noticing Trent’s broken body pieces moving on their own. He grimaced. He had heard of this girl and her ability to control plants. It was a really bad matchup with Trent’s body fragments now acting against them.

“Vampo?” Vivi repeated.

“Trent, you dumbass,” Vampo growled.

“Trent too?” Vivi giggled. “Wow, you guys have pretty generic names.”

“They’re thematic!” Trent argued.

“Shut up, Trent!” Vampo yelled.

“That must mean…” Vivi grinned, looking up at the suspicious plant growth on the second floor. “Wait, sunlight doesn’t actually kill you, does it?” she asked with a genuine tone.

“Uh… yeah… it does.” Vampo nodded sheepishly.

“For the last time, you’re not actually a vampire! You shut-in!” Trent yelled.

“Trent, you piece of…”

“Oh, well, that’s good to know,” Vivi smiled as she exposed the hole in the window from before.

“NO! NATURAL LIGHT, MY SWORN NEMESIS!” Vampo screamed as he collapsed to the floor.

“It’s just sunlight, you melodramatic asshole!” Trent complained. “You’re not getting a sunburn just because you look pale!”

“You’re going to let my friend go now, right, Mr. Tree?” Vivi smiled at him. Trent looked at her and considered saying no, but a certain glimmer in her eyes sent a shiver through his bark, causing him to reconsider.

“Y-yeah… sure,” Trent said before releasing Ichika.

“Green!” Ichika rushed over to Wisp. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.” She smiled. Ichika chuckled as she realized how easily the girl had bounced back from the quivering mess she was in the tree man’s grasp.

“How about you?” Vivi asked the little boy. “You okay?”

“Y-yeah,” he nodded. “B-but… Mommy and Daddy…”

“They’re okay,” Vivi reassured him, surprising the boy. “They were hurt when we found them, but they’re okay now. And they’re excited to see you.” The boy looked at her in awe, his eyes glistening with tears. “There, there, you’re going to be okay.”

* * *

“Thank you for saving my son,” a tired-looking woman smiled.

“It’s no problem, Dr. Smith.” Annie smiled. “Besides, you should be thanking those three. They’re the ones who actually found and saved him,” she said, looking at Ichika, Wisp, and Vivi.

“Still, though.” The man beside Dr. Smith grinned, crossing his athletic arms. “I have no idea what we would have done without you.”

“I’m curious, why didn’t you contact the police?”

“Funny story about that,” Dr. Smith chuckled.

“They’ve been after my wife’s research for the past few weeks.” Mr. Smith grimaced. “We don’t know why, but they’ve been trying to confiscate her research materials.”

“Your research materials?”

“I’m an archeologist,” said Dr. Smith. “I’m used to being hounded by a lot of people, but this whole situation’s been new and weird. Part of me wonders if they had a hand in all of this. I mean, if I called them, and they went in, they’d have an opportunity to take it as evidence.”

“I see.” Annie grimaced. She’d never trusted the police to begin with, but this was suspicious. What did the police want with her research materials? Sure, they might be corrupt, but this seemed out of their territory. There was only one possibility that came to mind.

“Looks like you learned something,” Melody noted.

“Not much, just that the police were after her research materials,” Annie explained.

“You think it’s this Z guy, don’t you?” Cleo asked.

“Yeah.”

“There’s so many questions.” Ichika frowned.

“Yeah, but I’m sure we’ll be able to answer them.” Vivi smiled. “Right, Carm?” She looked to her unusually quiet friend. “Carm?”

“Huh? Oh… yeah, we’ll find him.” Carmen smirked. Vivi looked at her oddly for a second. Something felt off about how she said it.

“Well, at least a certain someone found out how to use her weapon,” Melody said cheerily.

“Heh, it was just like what Palu said. I just had to focus. And it was super easy once I saw Wisp in trouble.” Ichika smiled.

“Sorry I got in the way.” Wisp frowned.

“No, no, you did great,” Ichika reassured her. “You just have to learn to be more aware in situations like that. But you’ll get it.”

“You think so?” Wisp asked.

“I know so.” Ichika grinned, making the little girl giggle.

“You sure you’re okay with this, Cleo?” Annie asked.

“I’m not.” Cleo shrugged. “But she was really insistent. Plus, you saw how she acted at the mall that time. She’ll get into trouble even if I forbid her from fighting.”

“Reminds me of a certain someone,” Annie chuckled.

“Hey.” Carmen pouted in protest.

“Um… excuse me,” a small voice interrupted them. They turned to see the little boy looking at them with big eyes. “Thank you for saving me,” he said.

“We were happy to.” Vivi smiled as she approached him. The boy looked at her with excitement.

“Thank you, Miss Magenta, you’re the bestest.” He gave a big wide smile.

“Oh, uh, sure.” She gave a big smile back, as the others giggled.