Oh, this is an issue. I really should’ve thought this through better. I’m not exactly a navigator or anything, and I’m so far from land that I don’t really know where I am and where I’m going! If I swim in the wrong direction, I could be halfway to Former Chinese Shanghai before I even realize I’ve been lost!

I mean, when I untransform my clothes come back and stuff, but that means my phone is still in there, right? But surely it can’t be as simple as reaching into my tentacles and pulling it out, right?

The Source 2★: Compression Space

Shiori gains the ability to store seemingly limitless amounts of inert substance inside herself. This substance has no weight and can’t be detected without the use of magic, though storing electronics inside herself will still allow for reception.

To store living creatures or other magical girls inside her, Shiori requires to coat them entirely in dark fluid – a seemingly impossible feat now, but perhaps better accomplished with other Vestige abilities.

Also, as the long-awaited leaderess of the forces of evil, Shiori has the power to teleport away from confrontations with the heroines, back to some secret base or sanctum. Actually doing so means leaving behind the magical girls, though… not to mention leaving any kaiju or kaijin allies to their doom.

Oh. Huh. That’s convenient.

Anyway. To make a long story short, I’m somewhere in the Kagoshima Bay, so I thankfully blundered my way in the right direction this time. Fortunately, I seem to be relatively close to the Fujisaki ferry terminal, which will be a lot easier and simpler than trying to navigate over the ocean myself, and with a lot less risk of magical girls finding me. Hopefully there’s still enough daylight to manage it before papa comes home in a drunken rage!

Of course, my sense of direction isn’t great and I try to avoid anything with too many people who would otherwise see the ‘leaderess of evil’, so I end up missing Fujisaki’s ferry by, uh…by a bit. Seems like it’s a pretty rich part of town, so I fish myself up from the ocean and start walking! (Thankfully, my magically enhanced stamina keeps this from being too painful.)

Eventually, I come across…

Huh. Looks like the old Tomino residence. It dates back all the way to the Meiji era as one of the first Western-style homes built in what what was then still, very briefly, the Satsuma Domain! I remember hearing that it was used by the British before being briefly occupied by some local samurai during the Satsuma Rebellion. What happened next is lost to history, but I remember Karasawa-sensei getting very upset when someone made a joke about it involving some American named Tom Cruise –

…what is that noise behind me?

I look behind me, and I hear gurgling from some tentacled kaijin! Aah, no, they must’ve followed me from the ocean when I wasn’t paying attention! They’re bizarre tentacled creatures, that resemble the classic Toho monster ‘Millennian’, the original, all-CGI form of the more famous monster ‘Orga’ from the underappreciated Godzilla 2000 –

Wait. Something’s not right.

Darklurker 1★: The Destroyer

Shiori is no longer considered an enemy of the kaiju and kaijin; they won’t harm her, though they won’t extend this courtesy to her allies should they attack. They will, however, allow her to use her powers on them, claim, alter or empower them as she pleases.

Why aren’t they attacking me? When I transformed the first time, they totally went after me just like any other magical girl! It’s almost as if…

“I knew it!”

A voice calls out to me from behind, as the kaijin simply stand before me, unwilling to make any moves against me. A voice I well remember, and a voice I continually sing the praises of even as countless other magical girl fans dismiss her as nothing but a useless lunatic!

The girl with brown hair like cinnamon rolls, in an elaborate dress and ruffles, holding a parasol in her hands, the underappreciated ‘magical scientist’…

Laplace’s Witch.

“So it’s you, then! How lucky I am that the Astral Queen Maledicta has chosen to make an appearance in my territory! And judging by the behaviours of the kaijin behind you, you do indeed have at least some of the qualities of the rumored ‘leaderess of the forces of evil’!”

“T-they weren’t doing that until just now!” I exclaim, but the little science lady just clucks her tongue.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not like those hotheads in the Saints and the vultures of the media, Maledicta! Though certainly I can already see that your relationship with the kaiju and kaijin is clearly very different from mine, I’m willing to offer you an accord!”

“Oh! Oh, that’s great!” Finally, someone who doesn’t think I’m evil incarnate! And it’s one of my cute favorites! Oh, I just wanna pamper her like a big sister! “Does this mean we don’t have to fight?” Because I’m getting awfully tired of that, and it’s only happened once!

But Laplace’s Witch just smiles at me. “Nope!”

Eh. Well, it was worth a shot.

“Now, I have no quarrel with you, good woman, but as the mistress of the house…” Laplace lifts her parasol and points it right at me. “I am ever so eager to see your true capabilities. Thus, I, the Witch of Laplace, challenge you to a duel!”

Oh.

Oh dear, this could be an issue.