Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey, Helen. How you doing?”

Nate did a finger-gun with his free hand as he facetimed Helen amongst the hustle and bustle of the rest of the gang decorating the large mansion he and Buzz lived in. Aianna and Roxanne were hanging some banners with their extendable limbs, Buzz was helping Bob cook some refreshments in the nearby kitchen, and Felicia was supervising to make sure everything looked good.

“Don’t pull a Joey-from-Friends on me, Nate. And I’m doing fine. Felicia’s there, right?”

“Yeah. She’s supervising to make sure it all looks as accurate as possible.”

“You’ve got the...gang, too, right?” Helen sounded unsure as she showed a crudely handwritten note to the camera. It read:

Dear whoever’s-in-charge-of-the-Jackbox-stuff,

We’ve heard you have magical girls working in the vicinity. Said magical frilly people will mess with our plans, and we cannot allow that.

If you don’t write with photographic/video evidence that they’ve given up their duties, we’ll have no choice but to attack you during the event you guys are holding tonight, and for every day after.

Thanks for understanding,

The Hexes

Underneath the byline was a child-like drawing of Helen herself, looking angry, with the arrow pointing next to her saying “Ignorant”.

“You can say team if you want, I don’t judge.” Nate teased. “And yeah, we’ve got them. Kiruru got updated by Mick in case this isn’t just a couple of interns being stupid again. You can thank Roxanne later for that info.”

“That’s good to hear.” Helen sighed in relief. “We can never be too sure.”

“Cuz?” Buzz could be heard in the background.

“Not right now, I’m busy.” Nate yelled back. “So anyways-"

“CUZ?”

“Not now.” Nate sighed. “Don’t you worry, we’ll help you guys out with the whole security thing. I’d better get back to working on that texting app. It’s almost done, just needs a final bug check.”

“CUZ! THE OVEN IS ON FIRE!”

“...Oh shit.”

With the sound of the facetime call ending and the fire alarm going off, Nate rushed towards the kitchen, while Aianna sighed and shook her head, her face in a smile.

“That’s Nate for ya.” Aianna couldn’t help but laugh. “Wonder if that threat is legitimate? I have heard of a group called ‘The Hexes’ before...but they wouldn’t really threaten us, would they?”

“Yeah, but you thought they were witches. Google said that they’re part of a circus troupe.” Roxanne reminded her.

“True. But maybe it’s a circus troupe consisting of witches.”

“They are pretty unknown, so who knows. Either way, we can handle ‘em if they do try to attack us. And if they don’t, we can ask if one of them works in our place as a day job.”

“Heh. Maybe.” Aianna giggled. 

“Fire’s out! We’re good!” Bob yelled as Nate walked out, covered in fire extinguisher foam. 

“You’re lucky I’m not wearing this to the show, Buzz.” Nate teased. “I’ve got a lot of these green vest outfits in the closet, anyway. Might need to use more hair products, but otherwise we’re good.”

“Well, we confused Bob with Guy as the cooking expert. Mistakes happen.” Buzz admitted. “Besides, we were able to salvage a couple of potato skins.”

“That’s good to hear.” Felicia glanced over at the group. She was a green-skinned Cthulhu-esque monster, with countless green tentacles poking out of her short purple skirt and her large purple double grommet belt. She wore a grunge, loosely fitting dark green tank top with a neon purple eye, accenting the twenty-six other eyes on her arms and her three eyes on her face. To finish her look off, she had a long, wavy hair-style, with her left bang stuck in a permanent giant cow-lick via hairspray. “I hope that’s the only thing that goes wrong ton-”

“Best not to jinx things. As soon as you say it-”

“Sorry, Buzz. I remember now.” Felicia admitted. “This is...well, it’s my night, that’s all. Monster Seeking Monster finally has a chance to shine, y’know?”

“Totally understandable.” Aianna placed a hand on Felicia’s shoulder, being careful not to touch one of the eyes. “But even if something does happen, we’ll be there to help protect everyone. Nobody will get hurt under our watch. That’s a promise-”

“-so prepare yourself!” Bob finished her sentence, walking out of the kitchen with the snacks. “They’re ready!” He placed the snacks on a table that had been set up for that purpose.

“Oh, you’re so corny, Bob!” Aianna laughed. The doorbell chimed shortly after. “Sounds like-”

“Must be the contestants!” Felicia excitedly interrupted. “That reminds me that even I have a few final touches to make! Mind if you guys...step out for a bit?”

“No problem! Kitchen’s probably gonna need some cleaning up anyway.”

Aianna looked over to the others, who clearly agreed with that statement. The five of them hurried back to the kitchen, while Felicia seemingly prepared to perform some kind of verbal spell - one that would allow her to eventually reveal each of the guests throughout the game show.

***

“Okay, so the host app requires a passkey, but I made it something nobody would guess...”

As Nate was showing Felicia his phone, the audience was gathering in the living room of the mansion, converted into a makeshift stage. There was a projectable screen stationed in the middle of the room, with the rented theater chairs filling up with guests, and the live cameras being tested behind them. On the stage itself, the seven contestants were taking their seats. One of them was a tan-skinned man, dressed in a white suit-black tie combo covered with sparkly wisp-like patterns. His eyes were a light yellow color, he wore black dinner gloves, and his hair was in a loose wavy style.

Next to him was an Asian girl with long, sharp straight hair and very noticeable concealer accenting her emerald green eyes. She wore a lavender one shoulder dinner gown covered with sparkles. Her black heels and white ballroom gloves completed her frilly look.

Next to her was an African American man who had dark brown hair and reddish brown eyes. He wore a suit vest clearly stuffed with...something, though it wasn’t clear what the padding was for. His gray dress pants and black dress shoes completed the look.

Next was a Native American girl who had an orange buttoned polo shirt and dark denim blue leggings. She wore high black laced boots, and her long black hair was in a ponytail, held up by a leather-textured ribbon. Her eyes were a chestnut brown, clearly expressing a bit of discomfort on her misunderstanding of the dress code.

Next was a person who wore a full black dinner jacket suit with a black skirt to give it a dress-like look. They had orange hair slightly curled in an androgynous way, as was their makeup and black beret hair clips. The person finished their look by a fake beauty mark, accenting their teal-eyes and fair skin.

Next was a more feminine-presenting, lighter-skinned person, whose outfit had a bit of uncanniness to it. It was clear that their face was sort of mask-like, but it still had the ability to express emotions and react like a normal human. They had minimal makeup, but the medium-length wavy brown hair looked almost synthetic, and was decorated with a pastel yellow and a pink strand right next to each other. Further adding to the differences was the fact that their pastel pink suit didn’t showcase any skin at all, not even a sock. The sleeves were made of some white silk bandage material, and were accented by yellow dinner gloves. With a bandage placed on their cheek and a neon yellow chain belt to accent the pastel yellow buttons and bowtie on the undershirt, it was certainly one of the more unique outfits.

And finally was a Hispanic girl with her ash brown hair tied into a side ponytail via a yellow rose-shaped scrunchie. She wore a sleeveless dress that started out white and ended in forest green with a patterned trim, the colors being separated by a light-green, leaf-styled hip swag and a golden belt made of metal beads. The top of her dress was accented by a small green bow, and the dress itself was held up by two thin crossing straps over her neck. She had gray eyes and a shy smile to finish it all off.

“Guess it’s about time to start. Break a leg out there.” Nate had finished showing Felicia the host app, just in time for the cameras to start rolling. After winking and giving her a thumbs up with his then-free hand, he headed to the back where the rest of his team, now accompanied by Helen, was standing.

“Oh, you’d better be breaking a leg.” The Asian girl smirked. “I’m gonna win.”

“There’s no winner, Sally Goode.” Helen insisted. “Yeah, the free Jackbox Party Packs are the prize, but it’s not like an actual reality show.”

“Oh! Hi Helen!” The guy in the white suit waved. “Did ya check out the pictures of Taco?”

“Hey Andrew? Who’s Taco?” The guy in the bulky vest suit asked.

“She’s my cat, Blake.”

“Is that like the taco cat meme?” The person in the suit dress asked.

“How should I know, Morgan?” Blake protested. “You’re the guy who was online friends with him.”

“Isn’t that cheating?” The person in the pastel pink suit asked.

“No, Jackie, I don’t know either of their species.” Blake facepalmed. “Look. Let’s just have a good, fun show.”

“Easy for you to say.” The girl in the casual wear sulked. “You didn’t get the memo about it being formal.”

“So...you guys actually know each other or something?” The girl with the rose scrunchie meekly asked.

“Well...sorta? Some of us met during the audition phase.” She gave a much more friendly smile. “Look at me, giving a bad first impression. I’m Dakota. Dakota Wood. Your name?”

“Oh! ...Becky. Becky Sandoval!”

“Nice.” She stopped. “You look kinda familiar. Did you go to CalArts in 2019?” Her voice turned awkward. “I...know you probably didn’t, but I had some fellow monster friends there as well, so...”

“N-Not in 2019, no? Never went there.”

“Ah. You just have one of those faces, I guess.”

“Guys. Let’s get on with the show.” Helen insisted as the audience grew a bit quieter, with Felicia stepping on stage soon after.

“Hello! And welcome to Monster Seeking Monster !” She began, introducing herself before telling the contestants the rules of the game.

***

“So. Anyone seen Marie these days?” Meanwhile, off in the distance, Suzette appeared in a ghostly haze, lazing on the couch of the tour bus lounge that connected to a nearby circus tent. She resembled the vengeful ghost from Monster Seeking Monster, fully black eyes, stitched mouth, wisp and all. To hide her nakedness, she wore a dark blue top with puffy sleeves, a dark blue skirt with a two black stripe trim, and a lavender peplum accented with a white, mint blue, and pastel ribbon belt. She was adjusting her cornflower blue pigtail wig, which was held up by two black bows. The circus itself was advertised as a limited engagement, as evidenced by the schedule posted on the nearby wall, so it was little wonder the lounge had an air of temporary-ness to it. But it was enough for them.

“Hell if I know, Suzy.” Colette, a witch with gray skin and purple lipstick on her lips, rolled her eyes. She was in full purple sparkly acrobat leotard, which resembled a corset near the bottom with its black laces. While her legs were in full display, minus some black trim near the leg holes of the leotard, she still accessorized them with thin black ribbons. Her arm sleeves were made of white satin and were covered in black sparkles all the way to her shoulders, which had the same black trim as the leg holes. She wore her velvet purple hair in a messy braided bun, with two loose curls acting as fringe.

“You really gotta watch your attitude. What would the Ringmaster think?”

“You mean the old babadook?”

“Colette.” Cerise, a gray alien, huffed as she opened a can of beer. Her outfit was more simple: loose, black baggy pants, green sandals, a neon green high neck halter top decorated with some yellow swirls and dots, and a golden belt with a oval-cut ruby buckle to connect the two. She had no mouth and two, solid black eyes to accent her slightly odd-shaped head, though her loose green wavy hair parted on the right side of her head gave her overall figure some volume. With green particles surrounding a knife, she used it and her telekinesis as a way to open the bottle cap.

*POP!*

*sisssss...*

“Sorry, Cerise. But you know, sugar, there’s a reason witch rhymes with-“

“She’s in the Jackbox studio...‘Monster Seeking Monster’...thing.” Eloise, a shy simulacrum in clown makeup and a sky blue wig, peeked out from the door separating the kitchen and the lounge. She wore white makeup to accent her more colorful, pastel look compared to the others, with giant pastel pink hearts painted over her eyes and two cornflower blue dots on her cheeks. She wore a dress that resembled a cake, with the peplum having small neon purple dots resembling grape-like berries, and the bottom of the royal blue dress having a lilac trim resembling icing. She wore pastel pink, oversized, Minnie Mouse-esque high heels with salmon pink bows, and puffy lilac cuffs to match her puffy lilac sleeves. Her lavender coned clown hat was decorated with white pom poms. “Plan’s underway, I guess.”

“Is it about that magical girl team?” Cerise asked.

“Yeah, he wants us to stamp them out.” Eloise nodded.

“Fair enough. As long as we still get to do our circus stuff on the weekends, I’m fine with it.” The alien took a sip, the liquid phasing through where her mouth would be.

“You just wanna throw knives, huh.” Suzette scoffed. 

“Yeah, so? How’s taming lions any better?” Cerise defended.

Silence.

“...Fine then. Be that way.” She checked her phone. “Oop. It's arrived. Elle, be a sugar and pick up our UberEats order outside, ‘k?”

“...Sure.” Eloise nodded as she exited the room, to which Colette took the opportunity to smugly smile at Cerise.

“It’s ‘be a dear’, not ‘be a sugar’.”

“Quiet, you.” Cerise growled in response, shutting the group up once and for all.

***

The first round of “dates” had gone fairly well, with Andrew in the lead. Although the live standings showed Jackie in last place, it was clear that Becky was the only one who didn’t match with anyone. And that showed on her face.

Felicia, backstage, seemed to notice. 

“We’re gonna take five for our stream sponsors to play out, folks! Or as I like to call it, a brief intermission.” Felicia announced. “Feel free to have the non-burnt potato skins and the other excellent catering options while we wait for the audience at home to catch up!”

“It was one time.” Bob muttered as Felicia approached them. “I did the best I could...”

“Hey, I know you’re the security team, but do you think you can help out with Becky? Poor thing looks like she has a bad case of stage fright and disappointment.”

“Ten bucks says that if those ‘Hexes’ or whatever are real, she’s the first one getting targeted.”

“NATE.” Aianna growled, causing Nate to step back, hands up. “Sorry about him, but feel free to send her over. We’ve got time.”

Unfortunately, Nate’s remark could be heard from the stage, indicated by Becky putting her hands over her face and leaning over.

Buzz took notice, quickly walking towards her in a panic.

“Becky, I am SO sorry about my cousin. He tries to make jokes and he fails to consider that maybe people are listening.” Buzz apologized, his voice low. “Is...is there anything I could do to help you out? I noticed you weren’t feeling too good even before Nate decided to say that.”

“Maybe some water?” She looked up at him.

“If it helps out.” He stopped. “...Nice rose scrunchie. Reminds me of the stuff my mom used to grow back at the farm.”

Silence.

“Oh...that admittedly came out of nowhere. Look at me, having a little nostalgic moment when you need water.” Buzz awkwardly rubbed his shoulder.

“No, that’s fine, actually!” Becky reassured him. “I mean, I’m into botany after all. You know...flowers and plants and...all of that? Always found roses to be rather pretty.”

She was starting to smile a bit, but she quickly became embarrassed of herself, blushing a bit.

“I know that this...game show...is just a game, but I’m not even trying to get into that kind of relationship... I don’t want you taking it the wrong way-”

“Oh, no, I totally get it. But it isn’t, like, a high-stakes bachelor-type deal or anything. Once this is all over, I bet half of them are just gonna remain friends and that’s it.”

“If that, even. There was a bit of bickering between them as well...”

“True. Guess what I’m saying is...take this as a summer camp bonding activity more so than a bachelor thing. Make friends, not lovers.” He turned to see Helen sternly pointing at her watch. “...I’d better get the water before the sponsorship thing’s over.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Becky smiled awkwardly as she turned her phone back on, and as Buzz ran off.

***

Becky: Sorry about that, Dakota. I was trying to get to know others around here...

The messages began to show on screen, with Becky “asking out” Dakota.

Becky: So...what was that “CalArts” thing you mentioned?

Dakota: Long story. There was like a scandal or something with one of the freshmen getting murdered.

Dakota: She turned into a ghost and everything. Luckily the person involved wasn’t charged with anything. 

Dakota: The fireworks accidentally got set off because of some hazing dare with a torch.

Becky: Wait, that’s a lot of detail. You think there’s a ghost here...?

Dakota: Nah. I just remembered how crazy college was after that. 

Becky: Probably...

MATCH!

The exchanges between potential matches were being projected on the screen, with Felicia handling how fast it went through the host app. The two girls were the final match of that round, and the leaderboard adjusted slightly to accommodate everyone.

“Don’t forget! At the end of each night, from now on, the highest-ranking secret monster will have their identity revealed.” Felicia reminded both the contestants and the audience. A spotlight fell on Andrew.

“You’re at the top, Andrew Omar. Let’s take a peek at your monster identity.”

Andrew beamed as he walked towards a nearby small part of the stage set aside for this purpose, decorated to slightly resemble the reveal room in the original game. Felicia murmured a bit, and with a puff of smoke, his human form turned into one of a mummy.

“Yep! That’s right! I look WAY less attractive in person!” Andrew bragged.

“Sit down.” Sally scoffed. “5th place. Ugh.”

***

“Ugh, I told you already, Mr. Ringmaster. Becky calmed down, Sally is not making anyone upset, and there’s not a crowd member displeased!” Meanwhile, a bratty Asian girl was chatting to a figure appearing inside Nate’s bathroom mirror, silhouetted to the point where apart from him wearing a top hat, you couldn’t tell who he was or what he was doing. The girl’s magenta eyes accented her red square-framed glasses, and her jet black medium-length straight hair was accented by a gigantic bubblegum pink bow. She wore a gray mock neck tank top under her plum colored, short sleeved, off the shoulder wrap shirt. Her violet shorts and black ugg boots made her look human...even though she wasn’t.

“I, for one, think your prophecy powers are busted.”

“They were never ‘busted’. And I said Dakota was the person you need to hex, Marie.” A calm, yet firm British voice rang out from the mirror.

*knock knock knock*

“In a minute!” She turned to the mirror again. “But Dakota isn’t even close to feeling upset about anything!”

“Give it time.”

“How long then, hmm? Like five minutes?”

“...Three. Are you happy now?” He sounded on the verge of facepalming.

“Plenty, yes.” She opened the door and skipped outwards, the figure vanishing from the mirror soon after.

***

During the third round, the mansion was more illuminated due to the “full moon”. Felicia had explained that this was a mechanic in the game show, and not actually the current real-life moon cycle. Nevertheless, the success of previous rounds was met with only one match during the third.

Morgan: So, you said you were a cheerleader in high school?

Sally: Yep! Now I work as a doctor.

Morgan: Funny how life turns out, huh?

Sally: Yeah...

Morgan: I want to be a doctor too! 

Sally: Nice! Want me to share some stories after the show?

Morgan: You bet I do!

MATCH!

“I still can’t believe these messages have to go public.” Sally sighed.

“Let’s see what’s what now..." Felicia started, as Morgan and Sally both jumped up the leaderboard into 2nd and 3rd respectively. The spotlight fell on Morgan this time, who giggled a bit to themself.

“You’re the highest unrevealed player, Morgan Lee, so let’s see.”

“Okay!” They beamed, making their way to the side stage.

Felicia murmured again, and there was another puff of smoke. Instead of having a human-like form, Morgan’s form looked like a sentient, moderately tall pile of orange slime.

“Well would you look at that?” Nate said, much quieter this time so that only the team could hear. “SCP-999 broke containment.”

“SCP what now?” Aianna asked.

“SCP-999. It helps people calm down.”

“Then maybe we could ask Morgan about becoming an ally to-”

“It’s fictional, sis.” Roxanne stopped her. “You heard Felicia, right? They’re just a ‘glob’.”

“True, but-”

“And since this game’s halfway over, let’s cut the stream to another intermission. We’ll take ten this time!” Felicia announced.

Becky immediately took this opportunity to meet back up with Dakota.

“Hey... I did get the message you sent about making sure I was comfortable about that earlier discussion..." Becky admitted. “...Sorry I didn’t get back to you on that.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Dakota reassured her. “I was a social butterfly back in my college years anyway! Got to know a lot of people through the sorority, sure, but soccer was more of my thing. Pretty big team, I’ll tell ya that.”

“See, I’ve been trying to branch out as well. I don’t think they are into it, with me saying how I’m just out here to meet friends, not lovers..."

“You’re doing your best, and that’s what matters most. Coach Harper would always tell the team that, and it stuck with me. And this is definitely a time to tell that to someone else.”

“That’s...nice, actually.”

Silence.

“I wish I had that kind of friend circle, but..." Becky sighed, pausing for a bit. “...couldn’t do it for the longest time. Guess some monst- I mean...species- are just like that.”

“...Damn. But hey, you’re out here now and realized you are absolutely not alone. Being a monster myself, it ended up being the reason why I quit the soccer team, so I lost contact with a good number of friends in the process. Practice schedule was too much for me...at least, that was the excuse I used. But you find other people like you and bond over silly things like that. And you’re doing great, Becky!”

“Thanks.”

Their conversation did not go unnoticed, with Marie having secured a front row seat in the audience so she could listen to everything both on- and off-stage.

“And he wants me to hex Dakota? Not Becky?” She whispered to herself, groaning. “He’d better be right.”

***

Becky: So you’re into sewing? I saw the message last night...

Blake: Yeah! I’m a fashion designer by day and a cosplayer by night.

Becky: Oh really?! I’ve heard a lot of nice things about cosplaying

Blake: It’s really fun! 

Becky: ...I don’t know if I’d really be into it though...

Becky: ...is that why everyone’s been talking about the suit??

Blake: Yep! You’ll see ;)

“Wait!” Felicia, using the app, revealed that Dakota had also asked Blake out. “Looks like someone had the same idea! Let’s see what happens..."

MATCH!

“That’s gotta hurt..."

And it did. Dakota quickly rushed off stage and into the bathroom. She was on the verge of tears.

“Wait! Dakota!” Becky called out to her. There was no response.

“...This one’s on me.” Blake facepalmed. Becky looked just as regretful as he did.

“I-I could try to talk to her. I think I kinda get it.”

“If you say so.”

Becky got up from her spot and went over to the bathroom, making sure to stand outside it.

“Dakota?” Becky asked.

“Hmm...?” Dakota, in the midst of her tears, mustered out in acknowledgement.

“I...really don’t want you to think I did anything wrong. And I know how bad it must feel right now, feeling like everything went wrong. I was in that same position at the beginning, and honestly I still kinda...am. Really, I’ve been like that for a lot of my life. Just as this is an opportunity for you to meet new people, it’s one for me to finally put my inhuman nature aside and form friendships with others. And it’s not about winning. It’s...like a bonding activity, or a sorority group!”

“...It’s...it’s not that...” Dakota, with a few tears still on her face, slowly cracked the door open after hearing Becky. “But...I appreciate you checking up on me...”

“...Thanks...Oh, mind if I get you something to drink?”

“No thanks... I’ll get it myself.”

“You sure you don’t want me to help...?”

“I’m good... Just gonna clean up a bit..."

“Okay..."

Becky, although hesitant, walked back to the stage, where the leaderboard changes were being announced. She looked over at Blake.

“...Did it go well?” Blake hesitantly asked her.

“She said she was getting a drink. But I still think she’s not fully back into it yet..."

“Think I’ll just discuss it with her after the show then. You’ve got a good heart for trying to help her out. Honest.”

Becky, her face still looking at Blake, worriedly glanced her eyes back over to the bathroom door.

“Okay, let’s see your secret, Sally Goode!” Felicia said, with a spotlight shining on Sally.

“With pleasure!” Sally sashayed towards the reveal area, and with a puff of smoke, posed with one hand on her hip. She was a witch.

“Yep! I’m a witch doctor! Not a real licensed quack! I make potions and dreams come to life...for a price!”

Andrew seemed to be the only contestant intrigued by the reveal, given his awestruck posture. This couldn’t be said for anyone else.

“Doesn’t quack mean you’re a fraud?” Jackie asked, their tone deadpan.

“I don’t know, I just moved here 3 months ago.” 

Morgan, meanwhile, was unamused with Sally’s newfound attitude. Sally took notice.

“...Er, I mean. Surprise? I didn’t mean to come off as overconfident or anything. I was just looking forward to this and all.”

That didn’t affect their reaction.

“Welp. Worth a shot.”

“Anyway... here’s how her power works.” Felicia started.

***

“...He promised.” Dakota sniffled as she walked the long hall from the bathrooms to the stage, with a bottle of water in her hand. “He promised, and he went with Becky instead. God.”

“So? Why don’t you do something about it?”

“Huh?” Dakota turned to see Marie, head tilted as if she were curious. “Who are you?”

“The name’s MarieCure, your super spellbinding specialist, at your service.” Marie stopped, her face turning shy. “...Oop. Sorry. I’m trying to become a Youtuber one day. I’m...just Marie.”

“My brother is a Youtuber, actually.” Dakota sounded much more relieved. “Maybe he can give you some pointers. What’s your channel focus?”

“That’s why I’m here! One of my specialties in this channel, besides magical girl anime reviews, is to give people what they wish for, film it for the crowd, and post it. And it sounds like you’re wanting some serious revenge on Mister Bulky Vest over there.” Her voice turned serious. “I’ve got some magical powers and stuff if you’re really interested in trying out my offer.”

“...But Blake-”

“He broke the promise. Dick move. And to be perfectly honest, everyone else is acting like dicks here too. Nate made that joke about Becky. The others have done nothing but argue. Don’t you think you’re past due for some...divine retribution? Revenge? A good old fashioned Et Tu Brutus moment for all the pain and suffering you had to listen to and deal with?”

“...Guess so.” Dakota admitted. “I’m still kinda mad about that. But what’s the power thing?”

“Well...you know when you talked to Andrew that first round, you mentioned you were in a band called The Lunatics?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, first off, you get a cool punk outfit, and can summon a guitar that can stun people with all the heartbreak and sorrow you’ve been feeling. Also, and I can do this to anyone, but this is important to you too, you can spread your powers to people who feel the same way! Rally people towards your cause and start a band to make the heavens cry!”

“That sounds awesome!” Dakota’s eyes started glowing purple.

Satisfied, a black curtain appeared out of nowhere and surrounded Marie. When it cleared, her appearance was much more vampire-like. Her skin was a solid ghastly white with pink lipstick being the only method of color, her bow was replaced with a magician’s hat, her clothes replaced with a magenta suit and tie (and vampire cape to match) and her glasses replaced with a red mask that resembled a heart.

“Then take your seat, folks! The show is about to begin!” Despite the game show’s audience being relatively quiet, the sounds of an audience could be heard as Marie began to hex Dakota.

***

A spotlight appeared over an eager Dakota as Marie appeared to levitate. With a stereotypical magic wand in hand, she waved it to summon a cloud of dark blue smoke.

“Hocus-Pocus, Abracadabra!”

She shot it at Dakota, a magenta-colored curtain falling over Dakota at the exact moment that the smoke bomb hit.

Silence. The imaginary crowd murmured in anticipation. Marie, a smug look on her face, walked over and pulled the curtain away, revealing her volunteer had been hexed successfully.

"Ta-da! You’re on, my hex!" Marie yelled as the crowd went wild, before fading, alongside the dimension, back into reality.

END OF PART 1

Chapter Text

“GHHH!”

“Aianna!” Bob yelled as he saw his girlfriend wince. “Did it happen?”

“Yep. And it’s Dakota. She’s...hexed, I guess.”

“And this is why we don’t make bets about who’s going to get upset first.” Roxanne glared at Nate. “Not only did it-”

“I didn’t think about it!”

“Of course you didn’t-”

Kirumi appeared in a puff of smoke, with Kiruru close behind. “Kiruru was talking to me about its new powers when you summoned it, so I came along to make sure it was alright.”

“You can talk to each other?” Nate did a double take. “What, do you have a psychic link or somethin’?”

“Well, actually, I do-” Kirumi started-

“Guys, focus.” Aianna glared, before returning to her gentle voice. “We’ll summon you again if we need you, okay? Thanks for all the help.”

“No problem.” Kirumi beamed. “Now, pardon my French, but give them hell!”

“Looks like someone taught Kirumi a few swear words.” Nate teased as he pulled his compact out, to which everyone followed suit.

“Cuz...” Buzz couldn’t help but roll his eyes, a smile on his face as they began to pose.

***

"Kiruru!"

"Mirror of Miracles,"

"Magical Set!"

"Lend me your magic!" As the group said those words, the background behind them transformed into a mixture of bright yellow, pastel orange, bright purple, silver and light pink. Bob waved his hand over his compact mirror, causing it to float into the air and for his entire body to gain a teal-colored shirt and shorts combo. Buzz, Nate and Roxanne did the same, but their outfits were light red, neon green and lavender colored respectively. And after a few backflips, Kiruru flew into Aianna's chest, giving her a metallic chestplate and turning Kiruru into a jewel resembling the paint and gem that acted as the robot's core.

"Doki!" Aianna yelled,

"Doki!" then the other four,

"Lovely Start!" The group yelled together as they immediately began to spin around each other, before separating out in their own transformations. For everyone except Aianna, the compact flipped 360 degrees before it landed on their chests. Then all their compacts solidified into a metallic chest plate, transforming into a built in jewel as their sleeves/sleeve details formed on their shoulders.

For Aianna, cotton candy blue and pastel pink hearts flew out of the screen as she lept upwards and continued to spin around in the air, hands crossed in an x shaped formation across her chest. Two lightning strikes hit Bob's arms and surrounded them with magic, to which he crossed them into an x shape. That movement created his white gloves. Buzz did so too as fire went down his sleeves, as did Roxanne with her star dust and Nate with his pixels. Then everyone rejoined the same transformation plane as they all thrusted out their hands to the sides, grasping each other's hands as the details formed onto their gloves. They spun each other around in gradually increasing speed as their hair gained their signature styles and accessories, including the visors, before using the momentum to fling themselves back into separate transformation planes.

Robodoki crashed into the pile of hearts as normal, while Buzz and Bob's pillars of their respective elements allowed them to screech to a halt, Roxanne used the momentum to begin diving down, and Nate skidded to a stop, posing as the polygons hit him. All five forms of magic made their outfits and boots, and as Kiruru screamed its battle cry the team began to recite their speeches.

"When two hearts collide, then anything can happen!" Robodoki thrusted her arms out as if offering a hug for the first part of the sentence, spreading more cotton candy hearts out, before transitioning to a spin on the second part. Right on cue, a giant blue key summoned in her right hand, and she placed it behind her just before widening her stance and posing. Both of her hands formed in a heart shape on the right side of her chest.

"Call me Robodoki, cuz' I'll make your heart race!"

"The power of love that'll leave you in shock!" Bob covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before transitioning to posing with peace signs, almost failing to grab the keyblade as it fell. Nevertheless, after fumbling with it a bit he stuck it behind him, before spinning one last time and widening his stance. His hands formed a diamond shape to the right of his chest.

"Call me Robodenki, cuz' I'll light up your heart!"

"The power of courage that'll grow with the flames!" Buzz covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before proceeding to punch and kick a bunch, catching his clover key and placing it behind him during that sequence. Then, he spun one last time and widened his stance, his hands forming a clover shape to the right of his chest.

"Call me Robohino, cuz I'll make your heart burn!"

"The power of strength that will shoot for the stars!" Roxanne covered her hands across her heart for the first part of that sentence, before flipping her hair dramatically and punching her fists together. After catching her key and placing it behind her, she spun one last time and widened her stance, her hands forming a spade shape to the right of her chest.

"Call me Robohoshi, cuz' I'll fix your heart's wishes!"

"The power of wit that'll glitch out the evil!" Nate covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before blowing a kiss towards the audience with a wink, a flirting smirk on his face. Then, he caught his key, tossed it in his slot, spun one last time and widened his stance. His right hand formed a J on the right of his chest.

"Call me Robopixel, cuz' I'll patch your hurt heart!"

"With our lovely hearts, the future will start!" The magical girls, now holding hands with Robodoki in the center, recited the speech while quickly spinning each other, transitioning to a playful embrace. Then they dramatically faced the enemy as they completed their second spin, posing with widened stances and salutes over their foreheads.

"We'll make your heart race! Magical Robodoki!”

***

“Okay... What now?” Hino asked. Doki glanced out of the crowd.

“First order of business is to make sure...whatever this hex is...doesn’t get into the crowd.”

“Good idea.” Pixel nodded. 

The sounds of guitar shredding could be heard faintly in the distance.

“That’s her, no doubt.” Hoshi concluded. “Hino, Pixel, do you know where that sound might be coming from?”

“Hallway next to where we designated the lady’s bathroom. In other words, not too far off.” Pixel observed. “Shall we head over?”

“I mean, what else are we supposed to do?” Denki couldn’t help but laugh as the group followed the sound.

***

Marie had vanished, and the hexed Dakota was testing out the light energy construct electric guitar she held in her hands. Dakota had denim blue skin and neon teal hair in a messy high ponytail, held up by a black scrunchie. She wore a sleeveless shirt of the same color with a neon blue pentagram design, which was accented by a dark blue sleeveless jean jacket. The jacket had a white embroidering of a broken heart on its pocket, which was conveniently layered over where her own heart would be. She had high-waist jade-colored trousers, boots the same color as the jacket that had white laces, and a sharp-toothed smile. Her eyes were still glowing purple as before.

“So. You’re telling me I’ve gotta spread despair as revenge?”

Yep! Marie’s voice beamed. It’s a whole thing my boss wants me to do. Plus it makes for good content.

“Can’t argue with that.” Dakota shrugged as she noticed the Robodoki gang rush in. 

Oop. There’s those brats I told ya about earlier. Destroy them and the world is as good as yours!

“Hey, Dakota! You might be upset over Blake rejecting you, at least from what I’ve sensed, but we all know that taking your feelings out on everyone else is unforgivable!” Doki pointed towards Dakota, the wind rustling the gang’s hair. “But we, Magical Robodoki, will heal that horrible hex inside your hurt heart. That’s a promise-”

“-so prepare yourself!” The group finished, determined and guarded stances at the ready. Dakota just stared blankly.

“Well. That was cheesy.” Her expression turned unamused. “Honestly, if you five are all that’s standing in the way between me and my sweet revenge, this’ll be a piece of cake.” Dakota got into position, preparing to play a cord.

*TWANG!!!!!!!*

She shredded without much warning, sending shockwaves throughout the halls. 

“Robodoki Barrier!”

Doki was able to use her barrier to shield Hoshi and Pixel. Denki and Hino, however, were just out of the small barrier’s reach, and collapsed to the floor in a fit of tears.

“DENKI! HINO! You two alright?” Doki asked as the smoke cleared. Dakota had taken the opportunity to escape, and after the barrier lowered, Doki raced over to check on them.

“Denki? Can you hear me?”

“...we...we had something special. You...you were so nice to me...we watched Sailor Moon...why...why...” Denki muttered.

“Hino?”

“...It’s just not fair. Demoted...demoted to writer? Really? I...I thought we sold decently, man, you can’t just...”

“...Hmm.” Doki stepped back. “What do you think, Pixel?”

“Oh, Hino’s definitely felt like this before.” Pixel quipped, before turning more serious. “Based on what we’ve heard, I think they’re both being affected by some sort of illusion or something? Something that makes people perceive that they’re going through some sort of rejection?”

“Could be plausible.” Hoshi stopped. “Fuck, that means I’m not immune.”

“Huh?”

“Well, if Hino’s affected, and he’s got no romantic attraction, that means-”

“Guys. We should probably rush out before Dakota gets the crowd.” Doki reminded both of them.

“Oh right! Damn, fell for the distraction.” Pixel cursed to himself. “Cuz, we’ll be right back, okay?”

A small whimper came from Hino’s mouth as if he was indicating he was listening. Still worried, the group left. Pixel in particular was glancing behind him multiple times as the group went out of sight.

***

“Felicia? Can you come here for a second?” Helen whispered loudly as Felicia nodded, quickly making her way behind the audience.

“Have you found Dakota yet?” 

“Sorta? Do you want it straight, or good-news-bad-news style?”

“...She’s...been infected, hasn’t she?” Felicia worried.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Helen confirmed. “I just saw her run past the backstage area. Guess the Robodoki gang hasn’t located her yet. We’ve gotta evacuate everyone.”

“I’ll make the announcement.” Felicia agreed, grabbing a nearby mic. “Attention guests! There has been a slight hitch in our show tonight, so we’re gonna have to evacuate the mansion. Once the emergency has ended, we’ll let you guys back in.”

“...Huh?” Becky wondered while the other contestants were making an attempt to book it. Something didn’t seem right to her. 

And that’s when she heard Blake arguing with Dakota. She couldn’t just leave the two of them...her friends...behind.

“It was a slip of my mind!” Blake protested. “I didn’t mean to forget the promise! I was gonna match with you, and then things happened, and-”

“ WHAT THINGS?” Dakota growled. “It was literally a solid 3 minutes between rounds. That’s a sure short time to forget.”

“I don’t have that good of a memory! Please...stop with the glowy eye punk phase and talk to me! Like a normal person!”

“I’d rather spread my misery to you. So you can at least be somewhat useful for once.”

*SHING!*

A giant purple flash shone from backstage just as Doki and the gang approached where Becky stood.

“Woah. Might be a good time to use this.” Doki observed as she put her left middle and pointer finger on her left temple. “Kiruru, analyze.” Her eyes glew white.

“Hey...uh...Becky? Did you see what exactly happened?” Hoshi, meanwhile, asked a concerned and confused Becky.

“...Hmm?” Becky broke out of her trance to see the magical girls by her side. “W-Why did it get heated so suddenly...?”

“We’re like superheroes. It’s hard to explain.” Pixel admitted. “Your friend over there might be infected by some...sort of thing that made her into...uh...have you ever seen Miraculous?”

“What’s a Miraculous?”

“Well-”

“Guys. We’ve got a problem.” Doki nervously pointed out. “Hexes have the ability to spread their powers to others who are upset...and Blake just got hexed too.”

“Shit. Well, at least it can’t get any worse.” Pixel pointed out.

*DA DUM DUM DUM!*

Becky stared back at the direction she had heard the two arguing earlier. A stray shockwave from the drum beat had ricocheted directly into the magical girls’ path, just barely missing Becky but unfortunately hitting the magical girls.

“What WAS that?!” Becky yelled in shock.

“Hey, don’t...don’t worry about it.” Dakota reassured her. “It’s not what you think. I’m just letting off some steam.”

“...Dakota? What...what did you just do to...?” Becky pointed to Blake, who sported the same purple eyes as Dakota.

“Nothing bad! It’s just some revenge stuff. Blake kinda acted like a jerk or, I guess as he put it, ‘forgot to honor a promise’ that he made a few minutes ago.” She spoke the quoted words in a mocking tone. “It was like an alliance sorta thing that he just broke. And it’s not just that. Everyone’s been mad, and everyone’s been mean-spirited, and this whole thing’s just not fun anymore. So I need to let these feelings out, k? That’s all.”

“...But... Even if he forgot...something I’d think everyone does from time to time...I feel like maybe everyone’s just stressed from the competition, y’know? It isn’t just you. Everyone wants to win, and everyone’s competing. But like someone had told me earlier? It’s...it’s not high-stakes. It’s more like a bonding activity... I mean, look at me. I’ve had it rough...just because I didn’t want ‘love’. You were one of the only other people here who... didn’t ...take it seriously... I remember what you said earlier...that we’re just doing our best. And that’s what matters. I’m here for you, really. And...Blake? You too.”

Becky was almost shaking in her shoes as she spoke to the duo.

“...Never thought of it that way.” Her and Blake’s eyes began to flicker. “I’m...thank you...I’m-”

Bonding-schmonding! Nobody else sees it like you two do! Marie yelled. Would you rather see everyone argue again? Becky’s the exception, I get it. You can hex her or spare her for all I care, but don’t let anyone else make you feel like that again!

“...You’re right.” Dakota clutched her head. “Don’t worry. I won’t hit you. I understand your point of view. But we’ve got a score to settle, and I think you’d be just right to help us out.”

“But-”

“No buts. It’s not gonna hurt, okay? We both feel the same way.”

“-it doesn’t mean...anyone else-”

They readied their stances in front of a now-horrified Becky.

“KI-RURU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Only for a blue Doki’s chest gem to glow brightly, shooting out a golden beam towards Becky. She gained a golden aura, and a golden compact, with a green Ace on the front, appeared in her hand. 

“The fuck?” Dakota stood in stunned silence, holding Blake back. Becky was equally as shocked.

“...What...”

Hi! Uh...this is new for me. But you’re not being hexed, far from it. You see Doki over there? 

“...The people who were...checking on me just then?”

Yep! They’re magical girls! They guard over certain personality aspects they embody with their powers of light. Doki represents hope and traditional light, Denki represents love and lightning, Hino represents courage and fire, Hoshi represents strength and stars, Pixel represents wit and computer pixels-

“Oh, that’s um...a lot to take in..."

-and you’re the new sixth guardian to join the ranks! Roboluna, the guardian of empathy, with powers over the moon and bioluminescence!

“...Um, wow... If it means...I can save everyone from whatever is happening..."

Yep! 

“...I’ll give it a go I guess.”

No problem! Just open the compact, wave your hand over it, say Mirror of Miracles, lend me your magic, and you’ll gain all the stuff you need to know!

“T-Thanks...!” Becky, still shaking a bit, nodded, holding her compact in a defensive position.

***

"Mirror of Miracles, lend me your magic!"

As she said those words, the background behind her was covered in white with a bright full moon in the sky and green and golden Aces flowing around her.

She waved her hand over the mirror, causing it to float into the air and for her entire body to be covered in yellow light. When it exploded, her skin was green, and she was wearing a golden shirt and shorts combo.

"Luna, Luna, Lovely Start! " She yelled as she immediately began to spin, the compact following suit as it landed on her chest.

There, it solidified into a metallic chest plate, transforming into a golden heart-shaped jewel as she gained three petal-shaped sleeves on each shoulder. The magic then continued down in the form of vine-shaped beams which spun around her, creating her light green top and short folded sleeves. Two more identical beams surrounded her arms, first the right followed by the left, surrounding them with magic, as she crossed them into an x shape. She thrusted her hands out to the sides, forming her gloves, and petal-shaped spheres of light beamed on top of each hand. The spheres exploded, adding two pastel blue and pastel pink colored Aces, layered on top of each other.

The light gradually went over Becky's eyes, as if the moon were going through its cycle from new to full, creating a golden visor. Her hair began to glow yellow and lift into the air, vertically splitting in half. When the light popped, her hair formed dark green-to-golden ponytails which lengthened to her hips, and two more sparks of light formed golden beads, accompanied by golden flowers on the outer ends, where each ponytail and hair bun met. On the left side of her bangs, a third spark of light formed a golden crescent decoration.

She began to spin, cuddling herself tighter with each rotation. After several spins, she dramatically thrusted her body outwards, legs crossed, and her arms and hands up, the moon now overhead. The light, now sparkling, spun around her waist to create a light green skirt decorated with white-to-yellow petals on the rim and dark green hip swags with golden trimmings. She jumped and landed with her arms down and legs uncrossed and split out slightly, bathing them in sparkling light which first formed white boots with a green Ace decorated on the front of her right boot and a golden Ace on the other. The remaining light formed half-green half-golden tights, the colors opposite from the boot decoration colors. A green-and-golden A-shaped keyblade fell down, to which she ran and jumped at, reaching for it and catching on the third try. She put it behind her and began her speech.

"The power of empathy that'll rise into the sky!" Becky covered her hands across her heart for the first part of that sentence, before raising her arms as wind blew from her right. After lowering her arms, the wind slowly stopped, and she spun one last time and widened her stance, her hands forming an A to the right of her chest.

"Call me Roboluna, cuz' I'll fill your heart full!"

***

“...What just-” Luna looked at her new form with a sense of confusion.

Aw HELL no. Marie cringed. I KNEW we should’ve hexed Becky! I knew it! 

“...I thought you were doing this for your Youtube channel?” Dakota, still in shock, asked Marie. “Come to think of it, where’s the camera?”

It’s a dress rehearsal? I thought you knew that.

“No, she didn’t.” Blake sounded just as pissed. “And why do you need a dress rehearsal for a prank video?”

While they were arguing, Luna looked at the various information on the left of her visor’s screen. She saw a white crosshair appear in her vision over Dakota, and one of her powers had to deal with whatever that crosshair indicated.

“...Roboluna…” She tapped her forehead twice. “…Telepathy?” She then pointed at Dakota.

All at once, just as the crosshair turned green, Luna could hear Dakota’s thoughts.

I’ve been rejected one too many times. The soccer team got mad when I left when I just couldn’t do it anymore. The werewolf thing alienated them further. I can’t even get a girlfriend or a boyfriend or whatever. Every time I try, it just ends in terror. So does making friends. As soon as I disclose my true self with trust and confidence, they become fair-weather. I don’t even know why I decided to come here if I’m just gonna deal with this shit again. Why can’t I be less of a monster to people? Why can’t they see me as like, not one?!? Is that too hard?

Luna smiled softly.

“...Actually, Dakota? That’s not too different from what I’ve been dealing with. I’m afraid of being called a monster. I mean... I’m still afraid of how people might react to me after all of this is over with. I’ve had...one too many experiences where something went horribly wrong... But I’ve been wanting to change that. That’s why I auditioned for this...game show...thing. It’s been uncomfortable at times... but...meeting a friend that you can confide in? Like you? It makes it worthwhile. I hope you understand that..."

“How the fuck did you read my mind like that?!”

“I...I guess that’s what my power does...?"

*TWANG!*

 “...Uh..." Luna panicked, quickly reading something off of her visor. She grabbed her key and set the wards of it on the ground. “Roboluna Eclipse?!” As she said that, a green pod-like structure emerged from the ground, sheltering her inside of it.

“Shit! No! What did I do?!?” Her eyes began to flicker. “Becky! Becky- or like- Luna? Are you okay?!? I...I didn’t want to hurt you?!?” She panicked.

The room was silent for a moment, but seconds later, the pod broke, and Luna emerged from it. She was a bit shocked, but calmed down enough to talk to Dakota again. “...It’s okay. I know it hurts...”

“...Ghh.” Her eyes turned back to normal, then Blake’s eyes. The blue slowly faded from the magical girls’ colors, causing them to groggily look around. “I’m sorry. I-”

“...and that it’s something we all experience. It’s okay to vent it out...as long as no one gets hurt. That’s what friends are for, the saying goes...right?”

“...I didn’t want to hurt anyone-”

“It’s okay. It’s all the corruptor’s fault.” Doki started. “Whoever they are. Also, uh, new magical girl. Guess that’s what Mick meant by ‘more juice’, huh?”

“Who?” Luna asked.

“Long story. We’ll get you all squared away once we purify her. Promise.” Doki gently reassured, only for an error message to pop up. “Huh. Too strong of a threat?”

“What now?” Denki asked as he and Hino rushed in. “What do they mean?”

“What...what even is this?”  Luna stuttered. Seeing the confusion, Hino stepped forward.

“Hey.” Hino awkwardly waved. “Uh...hi! I’m Buzz. The guy who helped you earlier.” 

“...That’s kinda awkward, huh...” Luna blushed a bit.

“Yeah! The reason Nate- the guy in the green- did that so-called joke earlier was because we learned of this new threat. Basically we fight evil threats who want to spread despair and make people feel hopeless.” Hino blushed too. “I mean...we wouldn’t be too fit for security otherwise. Especially me.”

“Uh, we gotta purify Dakota somehow.” Hoshi sternly pointed out. 

“Then what do we do?”

“KI-RUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!”

Doki’s chest gem glowed again, summoning a giant, bright light. This separated into many different paintbrushes, the size of their original keyblades, with their respective logo located between the brush and the handle. The handle itself was a bright salmon pink with 6 paint splotches lining the middle, each representing the Robodoki team’s colors in order of their placement on the rainbow. The brush tip was slightly curled at the top and had a blue bow on the crimp.

“Oh!” Doki sounded surprised. “Do we-“

Just say, Rewrite your future! Repaint your heart! Go from there!

“...Okay!” Luna nodded, hesitantly posing with the others.

***

“REWRITE YOUR FUTURE! REPAINT YOUR HEART!”

The Robodoki gang yelled as they used their paintbrushes to paint hearts on their chests, covering them in white light. When it cleared, they had gained a white artist smock over their original dresses, which were covered in neon splotches representing their theme color on both the skirt itself and the sleeves. A white beret with their respective pastel-colored card symbol, plus angel wings, completed their upgrade.

“Robostory Mode, Fully Charged!” They yelled as they leapt into the air, soaring around a bit before approaching ground level.

“With our hearts as one, let our colors combine!” They placed the brush tip near the ground, working together to paint a heart outline on the ground, surrounding the hex around a heart-shaped forcefield when done. Then, landing on the ground, they held their brushes into the air, causing their respective colors to shoot out of the brushes. Said colors combined into a gigantic heart, held up as if the brushes were causing it to levitate.

“Robodoki! Hopeful Halation… MIX!!!!!”

Thrusting their paintbrushes down at the word ‘Mix’, the heart fell down with them, landing with a thud straight onto the two hexes. The two were surrounded by rainbow-colored smoke, purifying them. 

“Made your heart race!” The gang cheered as they leapt up in victory. Said smoke surrounded the area, healing those who were infected and the damage caused by the hexes.

***

“...You saw everything?” Becky asked, somewhat embarrassed.

“Admittedly, I may have been watching through a nearby window just to make sure everyone was alright.” Felicia confessed, multitasking with her host app in the meantime. “I figured you two were quite tired out after the chaos that took place...and that’s why I allowed you to rest backstage! At least for this round. You don’t want to miss the finale after all!”

“Yeah..." Dakota started. “...Sorry about that.”

“You didn’t have control...as difficult as that sounds..." Becky comforted her. “Besides, Blake told me he wanted to make it up with you after the show’s over.”

“Oh!” Felicia interrupted. “Speaking of that, we should go ahead with the rest of the round.”

And with that, she headed to the stage to continue the game show. The girls, smiling at each other, followed.

“Time to see your monster power, Blake Hunter!” Felicia announced.

Although Blake didn’t say anything, he smiled at Dakota and Becky before stepping onto the side stage. Instead of any magical smoke appearing, he threw off the entire suit like it was a scarf to reveal a monster hunter-type outfit underneath. The audience gasped, then applauded him.

“I guess that’s what he meant by the whole cosplay thing he told ya about, huh Becky?” Dakota nudged her.

“Guess so.” Becky laughed a bit. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah. I suppose. It’s cool that you’re a superhero now.”

“You remembered that?” Becky awkwardly blushed.

“Yeah. I don’t remember how I got that way though. But I do remember some things. It’s...it’s like a dream. Once in a lifetime, that’s for sure. I’m glad I came.”

“After all of that?”

“Yeah. I met you. You helped me out. I consider that a win.” Dakota sighed. “You wanna exchange social media handles or phone numbers after I finish with Blake?” She paused. “...Not in that way. I mean as friends.”

“S-Sure!” Becky beamed. “I’ve...I’ve gotta talk to some people after this, too. I...I just hope they like me for what I am...”

“Your new teammates? Don’t worry.” Dakota reassured her. “They shouldn’t judge. They’re the last people that would, I’m sure of it.”

Becky looked away out of nerves. 

Dakota offered a hug.

She accepted it, a smile forming on her face once more.

***

The final round was underway. Not only was the “full moon” in effect, but the stage had been decorated with Christmas-type lights, and the mansion’s lights were dimmed. A relaxing song was playing in the background to further add to the mood.

Andrew and Morgan shared some inside jokes about Sally, much to her dismay, and the former’s cat, while Blake and Jackie had a nice exchange about the former’s “transformation”.

Dakota: I know I said already, but I wanted to apologize again. Emotions just kinda got to me.

Becky: And that’s okay! Nice to be able to help you out.

Becky: ...Even then, I’m still kinda terrified about what happens next.

Dakota: About the monster thing? I remember you mentioning that.

Dakota: But don’t worry. Despite the confidence boost, I still have some anxiety over my whole ordeal as well. You’ve got this!

Becky: Thanks.

Dakota: And if Blake sees this, I want to thank him too!

MATCH!

“Aw, it was nothing.” Blake laughed. “Glad you understand.”

“Time for the afterparty!” Felicia informed the contestants, alongside the audience. “Time to reveal any remaining hidden monster powers!”

Becky nervously took a glance at the leaderboard. She was in 5th, but still the highest ranked unrevealed contestant. Dakota took notice, and gave her a thumbs up.

“First, let’s see what you are, Becky Sandoval...!”

Taking a deep breath, Becky strolled to the side stage, freezing up a bit once she made it. Felicia, as before, muttered to herself, and with a puff of smoke...she looked like one of those “pod people” but had a visible, light-green face, similar to when she was Roboluna. She levitated for a second, though her anxiety about the situation made her fall with a slight *THUD* shortly after.

“A pod person? Nice!” Dakota beamed.

“...Body swapper... But I kinda like what you said more.” Becky admitted, slowly floating back up a few inches off the floor.

The rest of the gang looked on in mild surprise and intrigue. Except Aianna, who was trying to hold back an “awwww” and a squee.

“Well, look at that. We’ve got robots, cartoons-” Nate started-

“Half-cartoon.” Bob gently corrected.

“-half-cartoons, humans, and now pod people, huh?” Nate observed. “That’s a lineup I can get behind.”

“Yeah!” Buzz lit up. “Did you arrange the whole...thing?”

“Yep.” Aianna nodded. “Becky’s gonna meet us outside. And Helen’s gonna chat with me after we’re done briefing her.”

“Good to hear.” Buzz sighed in relief. “She looks so cool, man.”

“I know!” Aianna squeed, only to cough in an attempt to hide it. “Oh, I was just- clearing my throat.”

“Sure.” Nate smirked, before turning back to the stage to see Dakota’s reveal.

By that point, Dakota had already stepped onto the stage, with the smoke clearing to reveal her werewolf form. Once her “role” had been explained, Jackie was left as the last person to have their reveal, stepping in Dakota’s place.

Just like Blake, they simply removed their mask and bandages to reveal...nothing. Their body, besides the clothing and other accessories, was completely invisible.

“And yes, Andrew, you saw that correctly. Those bandages mean nothing to me!” They snarked.

“Hey, at least they make me feel more comfortable with myself.” He remarked back.

Meanwhile, Morgan had become fascinated with Dakota, trying to nudge against her. They eventually slid back in fear of messing up her fur.

“Looks like someone else found your true self to be welcoming.” Blake complimented them, then looked around for a moment. “...Becky still alright?”

“Y-Yeah..." Becky had also decided to rest for a bit next to Dakota. Blake chuckled.

Suddenly, the lights cut out...and a spotlight turned on and fell directly on Morgan.

“And here’s your winner of Monster Seeking Monster...at least by the total scores... Morgan Lee!” Felicia announced to a round of applause.

They simply squeaked out of excitement at the sudden attention.

“And one last round of applause for everyone that auditioned to be here!” She continued.

Everyone, including Sally, smiled back at the crowd. But for Becky, this felt like her dream came true.

***

As the party began to disperse outside the spacious mansion, cars leaving, the stars twinkling in the sky, Becky, back in human form, was hanging out with a now-human Dakota, before seeing Aianna waving her down.

“Hey! Becky! Mind if we chat a bit?” Aianna called out to her.

“I’d...better go talk to them.” Becky hurried.

“Go ahead. I’ll wait. Private superhero stuff, I getcha.” Dakota promised.

Becky smiled. “Still feels weird to hear that.” She walked over towards Aianna, pulling out her compact.

“...You called?” 

“Hey! And yeah. My name is Aianna. That’s Bob, that’s my sister Roxanne, this is Nate, and you already know Buzz.” She pointed to each team member as she said their names. “We’re that team from earlier, we just wanted to check on you and explain everything as promised.”

“Okay...I guess the thing is...what exactly do you guys do?” Becky questioned.

“I guess...the main thing is...our enemies usually target areas where we're at to spread despair and curses. Once I detect a corrupted soul, spider-sense style, we go to them and try to talk things out. If they don't want to listen, they tend to attack us, and we tend to both fight back and continue to try to get through to them. The target...well, hex in this case...doesn’t get hurt by our magic attacks. and the armor on our suits allows us to not get hurt by them." Aianna explained. “I know it’s a lot. But you’ll be able to help out so many people-”

“If she wants to, of course.” Roxanne added.

“No, I actually think...I think that’ll be pretty fun!” Becky beamed. “I really wanna help people. But you said they target places where you’re at, right?” She paused, showing some concern. “...What if I can’t get there in time?”

“Aianna and I are gonna talk to Helen about that.” Nate reassured her. “We’ve got a couple of positions open for question consultants, which is basically just helping with research and stuff. Pretty easy job. And I’m pretty sure one of those open spots has to do with botany, which I think Buzz told me you were interested in?”

“Yeah!” Becky beamed. “It’ll be nice to make some extra money anyways. Count me in!”

“Atta girl!” Nate beamed. “Now, the question is...how the fuck am I gonna clean up this place...”

“We don’t know if Becky is comfy with swearing.” Bob reminded them. “But yeah, I’d figured we’d help out.”

“...I don’t really swear myself, but I don’t mind hearing it.” Becky informed them.

“Fair enough. Same thing with me, anyways.” Bob admitted. “I really only swear if I’m super ticked off. Aianna can admit to that.”

“Oh, you.” Aianna smirked. “C'mon. We’d better get ready to clean up.” Aianna pulled out her phone. “What’s your number? We’ve got a group chat that deals with this Robodoki stuff.”

“Oh! Here.” Becky pulled out her phone and showed Aianna her number.

***

“Crud.” Marie pouted as she teleported back in the RV, where Cerise was making dinner. She removed her mask, revealing she had red glasses and magenta eyes much like her human form had.

“Lost the battle?” Cerise awkwardly looked at Marie.

“More than that. Becky became a magical girl.”

“Oof.” Colette sulked. She and Suzette were playing Smash Bros on the pull-out TV. “Got the identity of any of the others?” 

“Of course not! Dakota’s powers involved heartbreak, not stripping people of their magical identity.” Marie scoffed.

“Sorry I asked- HELL YEAH!” Colette yelled. “Minecraft Steve takes it again!”

“That character is so busted.” Suzette groaned. “Why was he even added?”

“So I can beat you at video games?”

“Very funny, Colette.”

“Anyways, did any of yall see if that ol babadook-”

“Colette...” Cerise narrowed her eyes.

“-the Ringmaster, did he see any potential new hexes for tomorrow?”

“Not that I know off. His powers only work the day of.” Cerise sighed. “Eloise! Stir-fry’s ready!”

“Oh! Um...right!” The clown walked in, almost tripping over her own feet. “Stupid shoes. Anyway, what did I miss?”

“While you were trimming your bushes, or whatever, those magical girls beat us... and they got a new member.” Marie explained. “We might have to send you in eventually. You’ve got the spell down pact, right?”

“Yeah! And don’t worry!” She gave an obvious, forced smile, one that was trying to hide her insecurities and failed. “I’ll try not to let you down when the time comes!”

“You’d better not.” Marie replied. “Anyway, let’s eat before this gets too cold.”

The group cheered in agreement as they sat down at the table...not seeing The Ringmaster’s shadow watching them briefly on the refrigerator’s reflection...

Chapter Text

“Hey, Becky!” Aianna waved a human Becky over, a huge smile on her face. Becky wore a casual white cardigan with a forest green collar, zipped up to cover some sort of undershirt. She wore pants of the same color and green mary janes, and carried a brown satchel over her shoulder. Her hair was still held up with the small ponytail resembling a body swapper’s stem, but now with a lack of a fancy scrunchie.

“H...hi! I clocked in. What now?” She asked, her face showing nerves. 

Nate took a moment to think.

“Well...we’re in between games now. Might as well give the tour while it’s still not as busy.”

“What tour?” Becky asked.

“All newbies get it. It’s just a tour of the facilities mixed with some training.” Buzz explained. “Nate’s usually in charge of it when Helen’s busy.”

“Which she always is.” Nate teased. “Plus...I need to get something off my chest, to be honest.”

“...R-Really?” Becky sounded nervous.

“Don’t worry, it’s not you, it’s me.” Nate reassured her. “And it’s not gonna be the majority of it, just a few seconds out of the day. Promise.”

“Okay then!” Becky adjusted her satchel. “I guess we should go?”

“If you’re ready, of course.” Nate smiled, stepping out of the way. “Allons-y!”

“Huh?”

“It means ‘let’s go’ in French. TV reference.” Nate awkwardly chuckled.

Becky laughed at Nate’s enthusiasm as they walked off.

***

“Okay...did The Ringmaster say anything to you? You look too happy for this early in the morning.” Colette, looking up from her phone, asked Suzette as she happily floated around the RV. Suzette had her wig taken off, revealing she had long, straight blue hair, complete with bangs covering her forehead.

“He said this robot named Kirumi is gonna be mad in 7 minutes! And that she gives the Robodoki gang some sort of power!”

“Oh shit, really? What for?” Colette quickly asked, slamming the phone on the table.

“Well, she’s less powerful now! Which means she’s angry at the other robot for being more powerful!”

“Wait. Don’t you mean she’s jealous of that other one then?” Colette glared scornfully. ”Don’t be stealing my jobs, honey.”

“I’m not!” Suzette huffed. “She’s more angry than jealous.”

“Says you. It seems like you’re spinning your words to steal my spotlight.” She growled. 

“What?! No! You know how I feel about the spotlight being taken from me.”

“And yet you take the spotlight from me ?! How is that fair?”

“Alright. Enough.” A deep British voice boomed. In the nearby reflection of the window, the Ringmaster appeared. “This is Colette’s mission. Not yours.”

“Hah. Told you so.” Colette smirked.

“Jeez...” Suzette fumed. “Fine. I’ll talk to you about this later.”

“Good.” Colette grabbed her spellbook. “Human form’s set up. You said 7 minutes, right, Mr. Ringmaster?”

“Yes, I did.” The shadow sighed. “Now it’s 6. You’d better hurry.”

“Right. I’ll see you later!” Colette beamed as she saluted her roommate, teleporting away in a puff of smoke. Fuming over the taunt, Suzette growled as she grabbed a spellbook of her own...

***

“Hey...Becky?” Nate sighed as he stopped in the middle of the hallway, confusing Becky. He looked more serious and solemn than usual, even as the bustling halls began to fill up around them. “Before we continue, about the other night. I...shouldn’t have made that joke, and I’m sorry about that. I’ve been kicking myself ever since I made it, and I should’ve thought about what I said.” He admitted. “Is there any way I can make it up to you?”

“...No need.” Becky responded. “I’d say you’re doing just fine. And...thanks for helping me around here.”

Nate gave a slight smile. “No problem. I’m honestly glad there’s no hard feelings.”

Gaining a bit more confidence, the two continued on, before stopping in front of a door labeled “CEO Office”.

“Anyways...continuing on, this is the office of our CEO, Mick Amekawa. He usually comes here during launch day to supervise, but he has a couple of other jobs too, so he’s not around that much. But he’s also the one who made Kiruru and-”

“I still think it’s unfair that you’re treating me like a morality pet to Roxanne, and nothing more!” A familiar voice rang out from inside the door. “Kiruru’s attached to Aianna, and yet it gets the powers?”

“Listen, it’s nothing bad.” Mick’s voice argued. “Roxanne needs someone right now. And I don’t think she’s gonna trust me after my failure of judgment. You’re not going to be totally useless-”

“I was literally made to become a mirror to purify people! I wasn’t made to be just a therapist!” Kirumi insisted. “I can be both, I’d be fine with being both! But I guess Kiruru’s your little pet, right? It can’t speak so it gets to summon the weapon.”

“I’ve got plans for you. I promise. Not just that.” Mick insisted, his tone panicked.

“Well, I’m not buying it.” Kirumi fumed. “My goal was to help Roxanne AND the team. And I think you’ve forgotten that mission, as my creator, no less. Jerk.”

And with that, Kirumi flew out the door, looking awfully close to crying, her navy bubble trail leaving slight stains on the carpet. Mick was running after her, but Kirumi was much quicker.

“Wh-What just happened?” Becky quietly asked, tilting her head at Nate.

“...that would be the other robot Mick made. Kirumi. The one that used to do our purification attacks.” Nate sweated. “Sounds like we came at a bad time.”

“You sure we shouldn’t help out?”

“I think Mick’s got it. Plus...if the hexes really spread like Doki detected, we could be affected if we get too close.”

“...But maybe we won’t have to worry about the hex stuff getting them?” Becky sheepishly wondered.

“You really are new here, huh?” Nate gave a slight laugh. “It’s honestly too unpredictable to tell. Some days they sort themselves out, some days they don’t. Most days they don’t, actually. But that’s why we’re here.”

Becky looked in the direction the two had run off in, then back at Nate. “And, they probably will sort it out...if they’re close enough like that.”

“Yeah.” Nate admitted. “Cmon. Next stop is where we learn how to use the graphics software. In your case, it’s used to add questions to the games.”

“Okay!” She paused. “...Sounds hard.”

“It’s not, really. If you’ve used Powerpoint, it’s a lot like that.”

“Oh!”

“Common reaction, don’t feel too bad about it.” Nate laughed. “Let’s go ahead and you can see what I mean.”

The two headed off to continue the tour.

***

“Why does Kiruru get a free pass?” Kirumi muttered as she sulked, leaning against the wall, her bubble trail allowing her to hover a few feet in the air. 

Kirumi was short and tiny, with a rocket booster shooting out purple and navy bubbles as it flew, and her "hair" was separated into two low twintail braids, with each section of the braids floating independently of one other, and both sides of the braids being mostly indigo colored except for the white hearts at the end. Her eyes, compared to Kiruru's circular screens, were slender russian violet colored ovals with navy blue eyelids. She even had eyelashes to complete the look. She had messy bangs painted onto her metal face, and wore both a purple heart-crystal on her chest and a white ribbon belt to separate her rocket booster, which had a purple and white stripe where the bubbles came out, from her chest. 

 “Yeah. I get why Mick would do this, but I just...I just want to feel included. The group attack we did together...it was my thing.”

Silence.

“...Then again, I can’t just blame-”

“Why not?!”

Kirumi floated back in shock as she saw the tall, busty girl in front of her. She had her dark purple hair in a wavy ponytail, accenting her dark purple eyes, lavender lipstick, and large golden hoop earrings. She wore a sleeveless button-front shirt in a more lilac color, with slight plum colored lace on the color and a bow of the same color behind her. A white ribbon belt, its bow tied elegantly like a princess gown over her wide hips, accented her dark purple pencil skirt and gray heels. She wore white princess gloves and modified arm sleeves that ended in a flounce rather than a glove-like fit. Said sleeves had a white stripe accenting the loose flounce part of the sleeve, and a bit of white lace accenting the tighter part of the sleeve.

“...Who are you?!” Kirumi questioned the girl.

“Oh, just a lil old witch who saw your problems, and honestly, dude, I agree. Mick dumping all his personal problems on you. I’ve been there.”

“Really?” Kirumi tried to not look too intrigued.

“Long story, parents would have kicked me out at one point, it was a whole thing. And I wanna help you become useful again. That is...if you’re interested.”

“I am, to be honest.” Kirumi admitted. “So what’s the deal?”

“I’ll give you the power to gain any superpower. And then, when you hex others, they’ll gain the superpower of your choice. What you do with it is up to you.”

“Normally I’m not a revenge gal. But...y’know what?” She sighed, her eyes turning purple. “I am kinda mad at those people. Maybe giving them a bit of revenge...wouldn’t be so bad.”

“Hey, you said it, not me.” The audience sounds from Marie’s hex rang loud and clear as the curtain went over the girl. When it raised up a few seconds later, she revealed herself to be Colette, back in her acrobat clothes, with a key difference being a neon purple mask resembling a tiara. 

“Now, take your seats, folks! The show is about to begin!”

***

Kirumi found herself sitting on a trapeze under a spotlight, and under Colette doing an aerial silk routine high above her head, almost touching the top of the large tent in front. She twisted, turned, and contorted her body, wrapping herself within the fabrics in various ways, before pausing.

*SWOOP!*

She let go of the fabrics and dropped to the ground, the lights turning off as she fell. The crowd gasped, then murmured with anticipation.

But the lights came back on, showcasing that she did indeed catch herself. She grabbed Kirumi’s hands while lowering herself down, removing her from the trapeze and covering her in purple smoke in the process.

“You’ve had enough of me? Then show them you , my hex!” Colette yelled with dramatic flair as she landed, setting Kirumi down, the smoke fading, and the crowd wildly applauding as the illusion faded.

***

“You called, Mick?” Roxanne rushed inside the CEO office nervously, quietly shutting the door behind her. “What happened?”

“...You’re gonna hate me for this.” Mick admitted. “But Kirumi came into the office, mad that she wasn’t the one juiced up. I told her that part of the reason was that I wanted her to be there for you. Because...you know...I screwed up so badly. But the way I worded it implied I wasn’t going to give her something later, and by the time I realized my mistake, she flew off.” He buried his face in his hands. “Helen told me about the potential threat, and now Kirumi’s out there, and I can’t find her.”

“Hey. First off...it’s not exactly potential anymore.” Roxanne gently explained. “Secondly, you didn’t screw up. You did the best you could, and I wouldn’t be against talking to you about stuff. Far from it, though I do admit the communication skills should’ve been way better.” She took a deep breath. “And finally...even if she did get hexed...we’ll heal her. That’s a promise, okay?”

“ ENOUGH WITH THE PROMISES!”

The door exploded open via a well-timed laser-eye beam, showcasing the hexed Kirumi in all her glory.

She had a more neon purple color scheme rather than the dark one she had before, with her floating braid segments much higher to resemble high pigtails. Her magenta colored segments and bangs replaced the dark purple color scheme, though the white bits of the hair remained. Her bows connecting the two segments turned a lilac purple. Her rocket booster, which was now shooting out dark purple bubbles, was much bigger and resembled a princess gown in terms of its more “poofy” look. The heart-shaped gem on her chest was a plum-color and had hot-pink lace over her shoulders, which acted as shoulder-pads.

“...What?” Mick sounded shocked. Roxanne gulped in response.

“Run. Now.” Roxanne spoke quietly, but it was too late.

*SHING!*

Kirumi had flashed her eyes towards Mick, causing his eyes to turn a bright purple.

“Mick?! Mick, get it together, man.”

“Why?” Mick tilted his head.

Roxanne began to hyperventilate, trying to find a way around him. But he remained firm.

*SHINK!*

*SWOOSH!*

Summoning a fist made of light from his wedding ring, not unlike Green Lantern would do, he managed to grab Roxanne before she could run. Kirumi flew towards her, with Roxanne nervously sweating by this point.

“I’m not afraid of you, Kirumi. But you have to snap out of it.” Roxanne spoke slowly and sternly. “You’re an important ally to us. You’re not a pawn of the enemy.”

“Not anymore.” Kirumi smirked as her eyes began to flash.

*SHING!*

Unlike before, this wasn’t something Roxanne couldn’t just fight off by sheer will. It happened in an instant; her fearful, fake stern look turned genuine, and her eyes began to glow...

***

“FUCK!” Aianna clutched her stomach. “...Wow, didn’t know that Kirumi could get affected. Who knew?”

“She’s been hexed?” Buzz worried.

“Yep. And she got Mick and Roxanne too. God, I’m gonna need some robot tylenol.”

“Ruru...” Kiruru appeared, looking noticeably more worried than before.

“Don’t worry. We can heal her.” Aianna stood up determinedly, holding the watch up to her face and pressing a small button.

“Nate, Becky? Well, I hope the communicator’s working on her end...can you hear me?”

***

“...Yeah, it’s working.” Becky sounded amazed as she sat with Nate in a computer lab, her heart-shaped watch on her left wrist. “So it works just like a walkie talkie?”

“Yeah, but if Aianna’s calling us, someone’s in trouble.” Nate informed her.

“Oh.”

“What’s the ‘sitch?”

“Kirumi’s hexed. Mick and Roxanne are down too. We’ll need all hands on deck down at the lobby, if the motive I sensed is right.” Aianna explained.

“Right. We’ll go down. Nate and Becky, over and out.” Nate turned to Becky. “Looks like the tour got canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. Just as well.” He winked at her.

Becky couldn’t help but giggle at the sly tone Nate had as she pulled out her compact. “So I just...say the miracle thing again?”

Nate pulled his compact out as well. “Smart learner. Let’s do this.”

***

"Mirror of Miracles, lend me your magic!"

As the duo said those words, the background behind them transformed, partially into a bright purple with pixelated teal Js forming behind Nate, and partially into a white with a bright full moon in the sky and green and golden Aces flowing around Becky. 

Nate waved his hand over the mirror, causing it to float into the air and for his entire body to gain neon green shorts and a shirt.

Becky waved her hand over the mirror, causing it to float into the air and for her entire body to be covered in yellow light. When it exploded, her skin was green, and she was wearing a golden shirt and shorts combo.

"Pixel!”

“Luna!”

“-Lovely Start!" The two yelled as they immediately began to spin, the compact following suit as it landed on their chests.

For Nate, it solidified into a metallic chest plate, transforming into a built-in jewel as green sleeves began to form on his shoulders. The magic then continued down in the form of pixels creating his forest green shirt, noticeably showing his abs, as well as creating a white and neon green line accenting the cut. The pixels then surrounded his arms as he crossed them into an x shape, and thrusting the hands out to the sides added both the gloves and the details, mainly the pastel blue and pink Js layered on his gloves.

For Becky, it solidified into a metallic chest plate, transforming into a golden heart-shaped jewel as she gained three petal-shaped sleeves on each shoulder. The magic then continued down in the form of vine-shaped beams which spun around her, creating her light green top and short folded sleeves. Two more identical beams surrounded her arms, first the right followed by the left, surrounding them with magic, as she crossed them into an x shape. She thrusted her hands out to the sides, forming her gloves, and petal-shaped spheres of light beamed on top of each hand. The spheres exploded, adding two pastel blue and pastel pink colored Aces, layered on top of each other.

A line of various shades of green and purple colored pixels went across Nate’s face from left to right, summoning his visor as it went. His hair then lengthened and tied itself into a ponytail as he spun around, with the process changing its color to a lime green with an additional pastel blue highlight.

A light gradually went over Becky's eyes too, as if the moon were going through its cycle from new to full, creating a golden visor. Her hair began to glow yellow and lift into the air, vertically splitting in half. When the light popped, her hair formed dark green-to-golden ponytails which lengthened to her hips, and two more sparks of light formed golden beads, accompanied by golden flowers on the outer ends, where each ponytail and hair bun met. On the left side of her bangs, a third spark of light formed a golden crescent decoration.

Nate then began to pose like a model multiple times as various wire-framed polygons landed on his body. This gave him a futuristic forest green skirt accented by a neon green belt, white boots with blue and purple Js on them, and half lavender half sky blue tights. 

Becky began to spin, cuddling herself tighter with each rotation. After several spins, she dramatically thrusted her body outwards, legs crossed, and her arms and hands up, the moon now overhead. The light, now sparkling, spun around her waist to create a light green skirt decorated with white-to-yellow petals on the rim and dark green hip swags with golden trimmings.

Nate then flipped his hair, the pixel magic creating an 8-bit neon blue pixelated pattern on the skirt's trim. A lime green J-shaped keyblade shaped very similar to Robodoki's heart collision key fell down, to which he caught and twirled it around his finger while leaning back casually. Then, he put it behind him.

Becky, meanwhile, jumped and landed with her arms down and legs uncrossed and split out slightly, bathing them in sparkling light which first formed white boots with a green Ace decorated on the front of her right boot and a golden Ace on the other. The remaining light formed half-green half-golden tights, the colors opposite from the boot decoration colors. A green-and-golden A-shaped keyblade fell down, to which she ran and jumped at, reaching for it and catching on the third try. She put it behind her, and the two began their speeches.

"The power of wit that'll glitch out the evil!" Nate covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before blowing a kiss towards the audience with a wink, a flirting smirk on his face. Then, he spun one last time and widened his stance, his right hand forming a J on the right of his chest.

"Call me Robopixel, cuz' I'll patch your hurt heart!"

"The power of empathy that'll rise into the sky!" Becky covered her hands across her heart for the first part of that sentence, before raising her arms as wind blew from her right. After lowering her arms, the wind slowly stopped, and she spun one last time and widened her stance, her hands forming an A to the right of her chest.

"Call me Roboluna, cuz' I'll fill your heart full!"

***

“Woah...that was actually kinda fun!” Luna lit up. “You had a good transformation there.”

“Well, it fits my personality, and that’s what counts.” Pixel smiled. “Cmon, let’s help the others out.”

Luna nodded as the two rushed down the stairs...only to run into Mick and Roxanne, glowing eyes narrowing.

“...I thought you were targeting Doki?” Pixel sweated.

“Nah, Kirumi’s got that under control. We’re just making sure you don’t get there in time.” Roxanne sneered as her arms transformed into sword blades.

Luna, obviously trying to calm herself down, couldn’t help but gulp.

“It’s gonna be okay.” Pixel reassured as the two dodged Roxanne’s charge. “We won’t get hurt.”

Luna looked at him, still panting a bit. She smiled, despite the discomfort, then turned back to face Roxanne.

Pixel pulled out his keyblade and swung at Mick, knocking him back. “I think I have an idea. You told me you have that empathy thing, right?”

“...Yeah...?” Luna did the same, using her keyblade as a shield against Roxanne.

“Roxanne’s got a strong will, and she normally doesn’t fall for these sorta tricks. I bet she can fight it off, she’s just gonna need a little rousing speech to do so.” Pixel winked as he turned towards Mick, whacking him in the head to stun him. He closed his eyes in response, clutching his head. “As for me, I’m gonna lead this guy out so he doesn’t intervene. Robopixel Wildcard!”

She nodded, then refocused her attention on the one-on-one fight.

With a pixelated hoop going over him, Pixel had transformed into Robodoki.

“Hey, Mick! You wanted me, right? Come and get it!”

Mick, growling, began to charge towards him. Pixel ran a safe distance away...still close enough to watch Luna, but far away that Mick wouldn’t be able to.

Meanwhile, Roxanne had turned her fists into hammers, trying to knock Luna out. She kept dodging, eventually sliding into a position where she could detect an opening.

Her visor’s screen did mention an attack that could stun someone. She was worried about hurting Roxanne, but she had to act fast.

“Roboluna..." She started, using her right hand to draw a light golden circle above her. “...Moonlight Flash!” She lowered her arm in front of her, dragging the circle down so that it was in front of her palm, which proceeded to blast a golden beam of light towards Roxanne.

The beam made Roxanne step back a bit. Transforming her hands back to normal, she began covering her eyes as if she had been blinded.

Luna’s visor displayed the white crosshair over Roxanne at that moment. Remembering what Pixel said about her, she moved into position.

“Roboluna Telepathy!” She tapped her forehead twice and pointed at Roxanne.

I...I want to help Kirumi. She’s...she’s struggling, but I know she’s mindfucking me. I can’t leave her like this, but I can’t let her down. I...I’m not strong. I’ve gotta be strong...for her. But I...I know it’s probably Kirumi talking, but I need to help her to be strong...because she did so much to help me. But I...what do I do? I can’t...I gotta give in, swallow my pride and help her, but I can’t...I’m a horrible friend. I just can’t win, huh?

“You can help her.” Luna approached Roxanne, slowly embracing her in a hug. “You both look up to each other... You’ve got a strong will...and you can show her by fighting this hex off. It’ll mean a lot, and that’s a promise.”

Roxanne’s eyes flickered. 

One second.

Two seconds.

“Ghh...I...I...” 

Then, her eyes turning back to normal, she leaned into the hug.

 “...fuck. That was not easy. Thanks for the help...” She began to tear up. “You’ve really got a knack for helping people out. Sorry you had to go through all the trouble to save me.”

“It’s okay. Whatever it takes to help someone in need.” Luna noticed Roxanne tearing up. “You can let it out..."

She followed that advice, her voice blubbering. “I...I had a rough past. It’s hard to explain, but I was basically brainwashed by my abusive mother, and only Kirumi really understood that pain at first. I want her back...SO bad...” She sniffled. “Shit, look at me venting, I’m sorry.”

“...I’m sorry you had to go through that... And...and we will get Kirumi back, like I promised.” Luna started to tear up a bit too. She may not have understood what Roxanne meant about her mother, but she could tell it affected her.

“...Thank you.” Roxanne wiped her tears, taking a deep breath. “I...it’s just been hard, man. I needed this.” She admitted. “But I think I’m better now.”

“Woo-hoo! Roxie!!!” Pixel cheered, only to be sucker punched right in the face, glitching out the hologram and transforming him back to his normal form. “ Ow .”

“We should probably go help him.” Roxanne shook her head, a smile on her face as she let go of the hug. Grabbing her compact, she placed it on her chest, covering her in stars and transforming into Robohoshi, charging towards a stunned Mick. 

“What- You broke out?! How?”

“Simple. My friends helped me out. And if you mess with my friends, which I know you’re gonna do, you get my full fury.” Hoshi growled as she did a low sweep spin kick, ducking under a giant fist punch from Mick in the process.

*POW!*

“OW!” Mick was knocked to the ground, clutching his legs. “Cheap shot!”

“He’s down. We gotta help Robodoki.” Hoshi quickly got up and started running downstairs. “He’ll be fine, don’t worry, he’s just stunned.”

“Do you need some water beforehand?” Pixel asked as he and Luna joined her.

“I’m a robot, what do you think?” Hoshi teased. “At least you two made up.”

“Well, you win some, you lose some. My failures and successes cancel out like PEMDAS.” Pixel laughed as they turned the corner.

“...Guys?” Luna turned their attention to the scene in front of them.

Doki was struggling to free herself out of a chain made of light, causing her to be suspended in the middle of the air. Meanwhile, Denki and Hino were trying to land a hit on Kirumi, who was constantly dodging their punches with her super speed. Kirumi countered by doing a sonic scream, knocking them back. She didn’t seem to notice the group rush in.

“Well, you’re a bit late. Roxanne and Mick must’ve given you some trouble.” Doki grunted. “Wait, Hoshi? You got out?”

“Thanks to these two, yeah.” Hoshi sighed, pointing to Pixel and Luna. “Glad to see you’re safe.”

“Double that for me.” Doki smiled. “I can’t exactly get out to help, though-”

“Uh, guys? Little help here?” Hino clutched his ears. “I kinda need my hearing.”

“Right.” Pixel nodded. “Have you tried-”

“I already tried the flame chain. She’s too fast.” Hino insisted.

“Then we gotta slow her down.” Hoshi deduced. “It might not sound like a good idea, but I’m gonna stun Kirumi with my presence. Does anyone have an attack that can restrain her once that's over?”

“I could try the flame chain again.” Hino clutched his ears. “Once my ears stop ringing.”

“Then do it before Kirumi notices!” Pixel insisted, his tone impatient.

“Right. Kirumi?” Hoshi called out, a sheepish smile on her face.

“...Roxanne? You’re back to-” Kirumi was just as stunned as Mick had been.

Back to normal, yeah. Colette’s voice rang out. She’s got a strong will. I thought you knew that-

“ROBOHINO FLAME CHAIN!”

-DODGE!

“What?”

But it was too late. Hino’s rope had wrapped around her, tightening as quick as a blink. Kirumi growled in response as the sound of a slap to the forehead echoed in her mind.

Damn it. 

“Kirumi! Mick wanted to give you powers!” Hoshi called out. “He told me that he felt so bad about how the wording came out.”

“And how do you know he wasn’t just pulling it out of his ass?”

“Because he wouldn’t do that! Yeah, he’s been kinda crappy as a parent, but he’s not crappy as a person!” Hoshi insisted. “He loves you. Poor guy was devastated by this.” She began to tear up again.

“So am I.”

Kirumi’s eyes flickered at Hoshi’s display of emotion.

“...My god. I...hurt her. I hurt him. I...hurt them all.”

So what? Colette scoffed.

“So that’s my team you made me hurt.” Kirumi was in tears. “And I’ll never let you trick me into doing that again!”

Her eyes went back to her normal dark blue-violet color, and tears began to hit the floor.

“I’m so sorry. I...I didn’t want to hurt anyone.” Kirumi landed on the ground, curling up in a ball. Hoshi picked her up.

“It’s okay. You were basically cursed with extra steps.” Hoshi reassured, cradling her. “I know you. The real you. And unless you were possessed, which you were, you would never do this.”

Kirumi sniffled. “I just...fuck. It hurts, y’know?”

“I know it does. And I’m here for as long as you need.” Hoshi wiped one of Kirumi’s tears.

“Yep. Someone definitely taught her swear words.” Pixel mused. 

“Is now really the time?” Hino asked as the chains faded on Doki’s end. 

“WAH-”

“Hold on! I’ve got you!” Denki yelled as she caught Doki in a bridal carry.

“...Guess I fell for you?”

“Doki...” Denki giggled.

“Hey, I saw an opportunity and I took it.” Doki beamed. “Everything okay there, Hoshi?”

“She’s calmed down.” Hoshi called back. 

“Yeah... I am.” Kirumi took a deep breath as she flew out of Hoshi’s grip. Hoshi summoned her paintbrush in her hand, and the rest followed suit, though Luna took a few seconds longer to do so.

“Shall we?” Hoshi asked.

The group nodded, assuming their poses.

***

“REWRITE YOUR FUTURE! REPAINT YOUR HEART!”

The Robodoki gang yelled as they used their paintbrushes to paint hearts on their chests, covering them in white light. When it cleared, they had gained a white artist smock over their original dresses, which were covered in neon splotches representing their theme color on both the skirt itself and the sleeves. A white beret with their respective pastel-colored card symbol, plus angel wings, completed their upgrade.

“Robostory Mode, Fully Charged!” They yelled as they leapt into the air, soaring around a bit before approaching ground level.

“With our hearts as one, let our colors combine!” They placed the brush tip near the ground, working together to paint a heart outline on the ground, surrounding the hex around a heart-shaped forcefield when done. Then, landing on the ground, they held their brushes into the air, causing their respective colors to shoot out of the brushes. Said colors combined into a gigantic heart, held up as if the brushes were causing it to levitate.

“Robodoki! Hopeful Halation… MIX!!!!!”

Thrusting their paintbrushes down at the word ‘Mix’, the heart fell down with them, landing with a thud straight onto Kirumi. She was surrounded by rainbow-colored smoke, purifying her. 

“Made your heart race!” The gang cheered as they leapt up in victory. Said smoke surrounded the area, healing those who were infected and the damage caused by the hex.

***

“Aaaaaaaaaand there we go!” Mick beamed as he unplugged a plug from the backside of Kirumi. “You’ve got the info downloaded onto you, right? Can you read it?”

“Yep!” Kirumi beamed. “It’s a good fucking idea, that’s for sure.”

“...Who taught you swear words?” Mick couldn’t help but give a hearty laugh.

“Well...” Kirumi sheepishly laughed in response. “Cookie babysat me when Roxanne had an investor meeting. He told me swearing had a catharsis factor or something. And he was so bloody right.”

“Note to self: chew Cookie out later.” Roxanne muttered as she glanced inside the door, before turning to the group. “Whew. I’m still feeling a bit disoriented. Mind if we sit down in the lobby for a bit?”

“That sounds fine.” Aianna beamed as the group set course. Roxanne turned to Becky, a grateful smile on her face.

“Thanks again for the help. You have no idea how much that hug was needed.” She sighed, a smile on her face.

“No problem! I’m glad I was able to help.” Becky gave a shy smile.

“Hey, I helped too!” Nate teased. “Ol’ Luna did an amazing job for her second day as a magical girl, though.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah!” Nate smiled. “We need someone who can talk people down more than ever, and you know just how to get in there.” He pointed to his heart. “You have a good heart, and I think we all really appreciate that.”

“...Thanks!” 

“Alright, enough with the sappy stuff, cuz. Let’s help Roxanne out.” Buzz pointed out.

The group agreed, beginning to converse warmly as they walked downstairs.

***

“Damn it. Should’ve talked Roxanne back.” Colette cursed as she grabbed her spellbook-

“Hey! Colie!”

-only to see another human wheeling towards her. Her hair was medium length and straight, and she had v-cut bangs. Her look was more homely compared to Colette, with gray jean booty shorts accented with a small blue bow on the left pocket, and a periwinkle blue tank top. Her legs and feet were bandaged, and she wore white mary janes over said bandages. She had similar flounce sleeves to Colette, but in a dark blue color and without the lace. Her wheelchair was a dark blue as well.

“Suzy. Here to gloat?” Colette deadpanned. “Can it wait till we get home?”

“You lost. Badly. I saw.” Suzette sneered. “You couldn’t even get that ‘Roxie’ girl to stay under.”

“At least we know who she is. Thanks to Mick.”

“Well, it still means I could do better.”

“Oh yeah? Prove it.”

“I can’t , dumbass-”

“ALRIGHT! Enough with the bloody arguing.” The Ringmaster’s voice boomed in the two’s heads, causing them to clutch them in pain. “Suzette, you can have the next one. I’m taking you home.”

“But boss...” Colette groaned.

“No buts. You’re lucky I employed you two.” The Ringmaster sneered as black smoke enveloped them, causing them to slowly teleport out as it faded. “Sheesh. You guys can be replaced, you know?”

“Sorry...” The two spoke at the same time as they fully vanished.

Chapter Text

“And...that’s pretty much what’s happening.” Nate beamed. “So. Moral of the story. Hexes. Be careful. Got it?” He did finger guns towards Cookie, Schmitty, and Glitch respectively.

“So...wait. You’re telling me your new friend is a magical girl, Uncle Nate?” Glitch lit up as they glanced at a shy Becky, who awkwardly brushed off her blazer. Cookie and Schmitty, meanwhile, looked more nervous.

“I think you missed the point, Glitch-”

“Yeah, yeah, zombie stuff. But I was NOT expecting another magical girl!” Glitch beamed. “What’s your power?”

“...Empathy?” Becky shrugged.

“Alright, kiddo, we should probably dial it back a bit. She’s shy.”

“Oh! Sorry.” He backed up in response. 

“It’s alright! I...appreciate the enthusiasm, though!” Becky beamed. She started heading back to the computer lab a second later. “I’d better get back to work, though. Gotta help Jerri out with-”

“Hey, Vanessa!” Cookie yelled out, interrupting the situation as an African American girl looked up in surprise. Her body type was a pear shape, with her legs long. She had her black curly hair in a ponytail, and had surprisingly bright blue eyes. She wore a neon orange summer dress, which was covered in various rainbow neon-colored 90’s geometric patterns, a la Saved by the Bell. To finish off the look, she wore neon pink leggings to accent the dress, and brown sandals. 

“Who?” Becky asked, pausing.

“Vanessa Longbottom. Host of Blather ‘Round. Has a nice fashion sense.” Schmitty explained. “I work with her.”

“Ah!” Becky nodded.

“Oh hey, Cookie.” She smiled gently. “How’s the Pack 10 development going?”

“Pretty good, pear bottom.”

Silence.

“What? It’s a good one, admit it.”

“...Just forget what you were going to say.” Vanessa sighed as she walked off, clearly fuming.

“Geez. What was that about? Normally she’s way more chill about this.”

“Dude.” Schmitty deadpanned.

“What?”

“You do know she’s kind of sick of those nicknames, right? Everyone calls her stuff. Longlegs, Thickbottom, all sorts of puns on her surname that would get me in trouble in front of the kid...and you HAD to add to the fire, didn’t you?”

“What sorta names? Sounds interesting!” Glitch tilted his head.

“You’re 13. No.” Schmitty insisted.

“Awwwwww.”

“Schmitty, every time I tell her those jokes, she’s fine with it! She laughs and says ‘good one!’ I thought that meant she liked them!”

“...Maybe it was a bit... much ...?” Becky nervously shrugged.

“Yeah.” Nate scoffed. “At some point it always gets there.”

“Well...shit.” Cookie facepalmed. “And you said I could be mindfucked. Just great.”

“Not guaranteed, per say.” Nate quickly reassured him. “Just...increased odds, considering the circumstances.”

“THAT helps.” Cookie snarked, his expression panicked. “Nate, what do I do-”

“GUYS!!!” Aianna cheered as she rushed in, holding her phone in her hand. “I GOT THE PART! I GOT THE PART OF-”

Silence. She skidded to a stop, her face in concern. 

“...Oh. Bad time?”

“Kinda. But congrats! You were born to be a dorky host.” Schmitty smiled. “FixyText is going to be perfect for you.”

“Congrats!” Becky smiled, walking over to her. “...And, uh, yeah. I think they need a moment to themselves..."

“Always a good idea.” Aianna nodded. “...In any case, what happened?”

***

“Heheheh...” Suzette, in her human form, snickered as she glanced over at a fuming Vanessa. They were in the outside grounds, with Vanessa sitting on the edge of a fountain with the Screamer doll statue as its centerpiece, water coming out of her hands.  “Finally, it’s my turn in the spotlight.”

Vanessa paid her no mind, in part because she was cursing to herself.

“Nobody cares about my feelings. I’ve heard it all. I’ve heard it all before. And yet nobody calls people out on it. Honestly, why can’t I just...retaliate? Call them some stupid nickname back?”

She sighed.

“It’s because I’m a coward. I’m too nice.”

“Nah.” Suzette rolled in, startling her. “You just don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“How long have you been listening in?”

“Enough.” was her reply. “My name’s Suzy. And I’m a ghost with the power of giving people the ability to dish out harmless payback.”

“...Harmless, huh.” Vanessa sounded intrigued, yet unsure. “What exactly are you offering?”

“The ability to use people’s words against them! Literally!” Suzette sounded more tense. She was trying to rile Vanessa up. “If they say something you like, your response can be turned into a weapon! Much better than dealing with f-bottom comments and shit, right?! I mean, come on! Low blows, am I right?!”

“Yeah...” She growled. 

“And that dickwad, Cookie. He thought it was actually a funny joke for so long! And you didn’t have the courage to correct him. Well, no more! You can hex him and make him join your cause, and maybe others too! You wanted someone to call them out for so long, and now’s your chance to make that fury known! What do you say?!”

“I say let them have it!!!” Vanessa yelled, her eyes turning purple as they narrowed. “If they think they’re going to mess with me anymore...they’ve got another thing coming!”

“Hell yeah!” Suzette cheered as a mauve-colored curtain surrounded her. When it cleared, she was in her ghostly form, with the addition of a dark blue butterfly-shaped masquerade mask.

“Now take your seats, folks! The show is about to begin!”

The imaginary audience began to stir once more.

***

A sole spotlight shone on Vanessa, causing her to sweat nervously. It was super dark in the tent, with dry-ice fog and the sound of the murmuring crowd adding a sort of atmosphere.

*ROAR!!!!*

A giant lion made of purple smoke suddenly charged towards her, jumping up and lounging towards her...only to pause.

The crowd gasped. Suzette was right behind the lion, petting it to calm it down.This caused it to gently rub against a still shaken Vanessa, which caused the smoke to transfer to her body, transforming Vanessa into her hexed form.

"Good boy, Lionel!” She smiled, raising her hands into the air as both spotlights shone on her. “Now rage , my hex!”

The crowd applauded wildly as the illusion faded.

***

“Ow.” Aianna clutched her head. “At least it’s just Vanessa this time. She’s-”

“We can probably guess the motive.” Schmitty snarked.

Becky, shaking a bit from nerves, carefully wrapped an arm around Aianna to comfort her.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Bob asked as he, Roxanne, and Buzz ran in.

“Yeah.” Buzz added. “I think we just saw someone outside the office rush by, in some weird shape-covered bodysuit no less. Like David Bowie’s Robbie Rotten look.”

“You mean Ziggy Stardust? I can sorta see it.” Schmitty admitted.

“Not the time to debate that. That would mean she’s-”

“Right here!” Vanessa interrupted Aianna, a wicked smile on her face. She had the same skin tone as before, but with her ponytail longer and in a bright orange, slightly curled upwards at the end. Rather than a dress that hid her hips, she wore a hot pink bodysuit that embraced it. The suit was decorated with various neon shapes, with a giant triangular shoulder pad acting as her left sleeve, and a sunburst pattern acting as her right. Her left sleeve was entirely white and covered her hand much like a superhero’s outfit, while her right was a simple, shorter blue sleeve that cut off at her wrist. She wore white thigh-high boots and a scrunchie that resembled more various assorted shapes to finish the look up.

“Now, Cookie, you wanna join me?”

“Not right now, no.” Cookie snarked. “Look, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“How is ‘pear bottom’ not offensive? I think-” She summoned a few giant numbers, division signs, and equal signs above her. “-if you didn’t mean it...then let’s divide and conquer, shall we?”

She shot them out towards Cookie, who was quickly pulled out of the way by Aianna. The resulting explosions shocked Becky, causing her to tremble.

“...I-I’ll be back, excuse me-” Quickly letting go of Aianna, she took off.

“Wait! Becky!” Roxanne ran after her. “I’ll be back, go on without me!”

“Got it!” Aianna nodded. “You’re not gonna infect Cookie on our watch.”

“Kiruru.” Kiruru appeared, nodding in agreement, a sulk on its face. The group pulled out their compacts, posing and ready to transform.

***

"Kiruru!"

"Mirror of Miracles,"

"Magical Set!"

"Lend me your magic!" As the group said those words, the background behind them transformed into a mixture of bright yellow, pastel orange, bright purple, and light pink. Bob waved his hand over his compact mirror, causing it to float into the air and for his entire body to gain a teal-colored shirt and shorts combo. Buzz and Nate did the same, but their outfits were light red and neon green colored respectively. And after a few backflips, Kiruru flew into Aianna's chest, giving her a metallic chestplate and turning Kiruru into a jewel resembling the paint and gem that acted as the robot's core.

"Doki!" Aianna yelled,

"Doki!" then the other three,

"Lovely Start!" The group yelled together as they immediately began to spin around each other, before separating out in their own transformations. For everyone except Aianna, the compact flipped 360 degrees before it landed on their chests. Then all their compacts solidified into a metallic chest plate, transforming into a built in jewel as their sleeves/sleeve details formed on their shoulders.

For Aianna, cotton candy blue and pastel pink hearts flew out of the screen as she lept upwards and continued to spin around in the air, hands crossed in an x shaped formation across her chest. Two lightning strikes hit Bob's arms and surrounded them with magic, to which he crossed them into an x shape. That movement created his white gloves. Buzz did so too as fire went down his sleeves, as did Nate with his pixels. Then everyone rejoined the same transformation plane as they all thrusted out their hands to the sides, grasping each other's hands as the details formed onto their gloves. They spun each other around in gradually increasing speed as their hair gained their signature styles and accessories, including the visors, before using the momentum to fling themselves back into separate transformation planes.

Robodoki crashed into the pile of hearts as normal, while Buzz and Bob's pillars of their respective elements allowed them to screech to a halt, and Nate skidded to a stop, posing as the polygons hit him. All four forms of magic made their outfits and boots, and as Kiruru screamed her battle cry the team began to recite their speeches.

"When two hearts collide, then anything can happen!" Robodoki thrusted her arms out as if offering a hug for the first part of the sentence, spreading more cotton candy hearts out, before transitioning to a spin on the second part. Right on cue, a giant blue key summoned in her right hand, and she placed it behind her just before widening her stance and posing. Both of her hands formed in a heart shape on the right side of her chest.

"Call me Robodoki, cuz' I'll make your heart race!"

"The power of love that'll leave you in shock!"  Bob covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before transitioning to posing with peace signs, almost failing to grab the keyblade as it fell. Nevertheless, after fumbling with it a bit he stuck it behind him, before spinning one last time and widening his stance. His hands formed a diamond shape to the right of his chest.

"Call me Robodenki, cuz' I'll light up your heart!"

"The power of courage that'll grow with the flames!" Buzz covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before proceeding to punch and kick a bunch, catching his clover key and placing it behind him during that sequence. Then, he spun one last time and widened his stance, his hands forming a clover shape to the right of his chest.

"Call me Robohino, cuz I'll make your heart burn!"

"The power of wit that'll glitch out the evil!" Nate covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before blowing a kiss towards the audience with a wink, a flirting smirk on his face. Then, he caught his key, tossed it in his slot, spun one last time and widened his stance. His right hand formed a J on the right of his chest.

"Call me Robopixel,  cuz' I'll patch your hurt heart!"

"With our lovely hearts, the future will start!" The magical girls, now holding hands with Robodoki in the center, recited the speech while quickly spinning each other, transitioning to a playful embrace. Then they dramatically faced the enemy as they completed their second spin, posing with widened stances and salutes over their foreheads.

"We'll make your heart race! Magical Robodoki!"

***

“...Hey. Becky.” Roxanne peeked into the outside topiary garden, seeing Becky struggling to compose herself in the background. However, she was in her pod form, lying on her side.

“Becky?”

“...Please don’t tell anyone I’m like this. I couldn’t help-” Her voice was still shaky.

“Hey.” Roxanne reassured. “...I can sorta tell what this is all about.”

“Huh?”

“You...feel like a monster like this, right? Cuz of the reputation thing? I’ve...felt this before, so I sorta get what you mean.”

“...But you’re a robot...and you actually look human...”

“Well...I wasn’t always a good robot.” Roxanne sat down next to her. “Remember when I vented to you about my mom brainwashing me?”

Silence.

“I...I was manipulated to attack people.” Her voice struggled. “My mom favored my sister at the time. She did it on purpose to manipulate me into anger. Then she gave me a crystal that used its magic to make me a pawn of hers, and I wiped my sister’s memory in revenge. But it wasn’t enough. I...I was basically what the hexes are now. Minus the spreading. I corrupted people, taking advantage of them. But more than anything, I wanted to murder my sister.” She took a deep breath.

“It wasn’t me. Far from it. But it...felt like it was me. Like a reflection.” She paused, wiping her tears. “My sister managed to purify me, though, and now I’m here.”

“...I don’t get what that has to do with..." Becky turned herself over, facing up. “...how unstable my disguise is..."

“...Well, I felt like people saw me as an irredeemable monster. And I still do, as irrational as it sounds. When people look at me weirdly, sometimes I just want to crawl into a hole. When people bring up who I was or ask where I was for those weeks, I want to run away and cry. I’m hesitant to open up to people about it. It’s...a source of trauma.”

More silence.

“And...I guess I saw a similar feeling in you. Hiding a part of you because it was monstrous.” She sighed. “It might be a different scenario...but the feeling is the same. The fear of being discovered and outed as someone you don’t really want to be, to the point where you actively try to hide that part of yourself.”

She paused.

“It...admittedly was a bit ranty, I’m sorry about that.”

“...I’m sorry you had to go through that..." Becky finally spoke up. “...but I think I understand better. I’d rather not talk about my own past...but it affected me just as much. To the point where it becomes harder to keep up with a disguise..." She sighed. “...Sorry I just ran off...without any warning there. Stuff happened and it kinda just...started stressing me out. It got loud. Sent my mind into a frenzy and then...well...now look..."

“Hey, no worries.” Roxanne reassured, her voice calm.  “...If you want, I can hang here until you feel better. Maybe share some stories about Nate or something to cheer you up, too.”

“S-Sure..." Becky meekly started to smile.

***

“Y’know, this is probably the part where you swallow your pride and run away! Just saying!” Hino yelled at Cookie, who was still glaring at Vanessa. Schmitty and Glitch, on the other hand, were seen bolting away in the distance.

“Swallow your pride? Run away? I could use those words against you.” Vanessa sneered as she became engulfed in orange energy, charging towards the group in a sudden stampede. “In fact, maybe I will!”

“Use your what now?” Hino sounded flabbergasted.

“Like Blather ‘Round!” Pixel snapped his fingers. “In the game, you use words from other people’s guesses as part of writing your own word-salad clues. Cookie said ‘mean’, and she made a number pun by using that word. Same with the runaway thing, it gave her super speed.”

“So she’s using our words against us?” Denki sweated. “Guess we gotta be careful of what we say.”

“Yes, I am using your words against you. I just said that.” Annoyed, Vanessa summoned a sword made of a pen, blocking Pixel’s advances. “Guess you can say the pen is mightier than the sword?”

“Case in point.” Hino rolled his eyes. “Any ideas on how to stop her?”

“Stop me? Baby, I think you’re the ones who need to stop!” As she said this, an orange aura went over the group. 

“Huh...I can’t...I can’t move.”  Hino tried to budge. “Shit.”

“Well...” Doki smiled sheepishly. “Anyone have any ideas?”

“Nope.” Denki frowned.

“What do you think?” Hino struggled.

Pixel was just lost in thought.

“...Huh. You guys are despairing enough, I suppose. But I think successfully corrupting Cookie’s gonna make it more satisfying for my patron.” She walked towards a frozen Cookie, a smirk on her face.

“...Don’t you dare.” Cookie threatened.

“Oh, I will dare. Jerk.” Vanessa replied-

*SHING!*

-just as the light flashed in his eyes.

***

“...And get this, he actually went through with hiring a real band for the CEO party. Like, not someone in a coffee shop like I figured, but an actual high school marching band.” Roxanne and Becky, who was now levitating a few inches above the ground, were looking over some old photos, with Nate goofily smiling in a selfie taking place in the MiraiCo offices, and Roxanne covering her face, blushing in the background. “He was all like ‘You didn’t specify!’ and I was like ‘I figured band meant a small, special event kind of band! Not an underfunded high school band!’” She gave a small laugh.

“He sounds like he meant well, though.”

“Well, yeah. Even with all those spectacular misunderstandings, and general dumbassery, I really do love the guy. Bothersome as he is sometimes, he’s like a brother to me.” Roxanne stopped.

A faint scream rang in the air.

“...That’s Aianna. I gotta get in there.” Roxanne pulled out her compact. “Do you feel like coming? Perfectly fine if you don’t.”

“No, I actually feel a bit better. Plus, they need us.” Becky smiled as she used her telekinesis ability to hover her compact in front of her. She looked a bit startled that she had manifested it, then remembered that her human form had been carrying it in her satchel.

The two placed them on their chests, with stars and crescents respectively overcoming them, transforming into Robohoshi and Roboluna.

***

“You’ve got an idea yet, cuz?!”

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking!”

The magical girl gang, now able to move again, were dealing with Cookie, who was using a stick as a bat to hit stones at Robodoki.

“Come on! You said my words would never hurt you!” He laughed. “But sticks and stones do, you know?”

“I know that!” Doki held her shoulder. “I shouldn’t have- y’know what, not gonna give you that one.”

“Good call.” Denki yelled. He was double teaming with Pixel, trying to land a hit on Vanessa, but her increased speed was making them unable to land a hit.

Hoshi and Luna ran in, observing the scene.

“...Okay.” Hoshi looked around the area. “I’m gonna teleport Doki outta there. You think you could help us out while she’s stunned? I think we’ll need some more background as to why she’s annoyed by all this.”

“That’s what I do best.” Luna smiled. Hoshi smiled back, clasping her hands together.

“Robohoshi Teleport!”

A star-shaped hoop went over Doki, teleporting her away. Stunned, Vanessa and Cookie frantically looked around, only for Hino to act fast.

...I get it, those two decided to run away from you. Suzette’s voice rang in the two’s heads. ...Hey, are you two gonna focus on-

“Robohino Flame Chain!”

He shot out his flaming rope, aiming at the two’s left and right fists. The rope looped around each hand and tied in a knot, so that when tightened, it acted as handcuffs, only with Hino holding the rope to keep them together.

Damn it!

“Ghhh...Cookie. Help me out here, damn it.” Vanessa struggled to get free. Cookie death glared in response.

“What do you think I’m trying to do?!”

Seeing her chance, and seeing the white crosshair on Vanessa, she slid in front of her.

“Roboluna...” She tapped her forehead twice. “...Telepathy!” She then pointed at Vanessa.

...This revenge shit is way less productive than I want it to be. But what else can I do? The harassment. Just. Won’t. Stop!!! If I can’t do this by force, what the hell am I going to do?! Just sit and take it?

“Revenge...isn’t the answer. And I know you know it deep down. This isn’t what you really want.” Luna stepped forward. “Maybe you can talk to someone? Tell them how you feel? I know that people around here would be more than willing to listen.” She smiled at the other magical girls as if she was talking about them.

“ Talk? Maybe...you should SHUT UP!” Vanessa growled.

“...Mmmph!”

Luna’s throat started glowing orange. She felt her neck, terrified.

“Mmmmph! Mmmmmmmph!”

Her eyes began to widen, watering up.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Hino growled, tightening the restraints on both of them. “You’re just acting like me way back in the day. Hurting people just because you don’t have the balls to make it stop.”

“...What.” Vanessa tried to hide her stunned expression. Hino just growled in response.

“Yeah! And in case you haven’t noticed, I kinda hate when people emulate that.” Hino fumed. “Yeah! I was a dick! Who wasn’t back then, am I right? I dropped people down a fucking elevator shaft rather than just going to Helen. And that became my entire fucking image. A jealous bully. Just because I was a fucking door mat and had too much pride to stop the stupid Volume 2 jokes!”

Silence.

“Is that what you wanted to be?! Huh?!”

Vanessa’s eyes began to flicker. So did Cookie’s.

“Just...” He took a deep breath. “Sorry. Lost my cool there. But...you have to know when you need to talk to someone about shitty workplace behavior. Because if you just sit down and take it, like I did...eventually it’s gonna come out and bite you in the ass.”

“...Guess I didn’t really think of it that way. But...I don’t know, I just feel scared.” Her eyes flickered more. 

“Of what? Of retaliation? You know Helen doesn’t tolerate shit like this. And if anyone insults you for being a snitch, Nate will come kick their asses.”

“True story.” Pixel confirmed.

“...I just...” At those words, Luna’s throat glowed orange again. “...It’s been my image. Like, I’m known as the girl with a thousand nicknames. I...I know it hurts...but I don’t…wanna be a killjoy, y’know?”

“...H-Hino...” Luna managed to mutter, smiling at him. She sounded as if she had gotten over a sore throat.

“...I think what Luna would say is that you wouldn’t be one. Your happiness comes first. If anyone has fun bullying you, they deserve to go back to Twitter.”

“X.” Pixel corrected.

“I’m not calling it fucking X.”

And with those words, the eyes completely turned back to normal. Cookie clutched his head, looking like he was about to vomit. Vanessa, meanwhile, was tearing up.

“Wow. That was personal, huh.” Doki, running back in with Hoshi, couldn’t help but notice. “Heard the scream from a mile away.”

“Yeah. It’s a long story.” Pixel stood, his eyes slightly wide. “...Apparently way too personal for him still.”

“I think I’m gonna hurl.” Cookie groaned.

“Then we’d better purify them fast.” Doki glanced at the gang. “Luna, you think you could say the rewrite thing? The magic will do the rest and...at least partially heal your sore throat. Promise.”

“...Y..Yeah.” Luna nodded.

“Then let’s do this thing.”

***

“REWRITE YOUR FUTURE! REPAINT YOUR HEART!”

The Robodoki gang yelled as they used their paint brushes to paint hearts on their chests, covering them in white light. When it cleared, they had gained a white artist smock over their original dresses, which were covered in neon splotches representing their theme color on both the skirt itself and the sleeves. A white beret with their respective pastel-colored card symbol, plus angel wings, completed their upgrade.

“Robostory Mode, Fully Charged!” They yelled as they leapt into the air, soaring around a bit before approaching ground level.

“With our hearts as one, let our colors combine!” They placed the brush tip near the ground, working together to paint a heart outline on the ground, surrounding the hex around a heart-shaped forcefield when done. Then, landing on the ground, they held their brushes into the air, causing their respective colors to shoot out of the brushes. Said colors combined into a gigantic heart, held up as if the brushes were causing it to levitate.

“Robodoki! Hopeful Halation… MIX!!!!!”

Thrusting their paintbrushes down at the word ‘Mix’, the heart fell down with them, landing with a thud straight onto Vanessa. She was surrounded by rainbow-colored smoke, purifying her. 

“Made your heart race!” The gang cheered as they leapt up in victory. Said smoke surrounded the area, healing those who were infected and the damage caused by the hex.

***

“You sure you don’t want some lemon tea?” Nate asked Becky as the magical girls sat in the break room together, with her back in her human form.

“Leave her be. She’s had it rough.” Roxanne commented. “Besides, I’m not even sure if she can drink tea.”

“Tea is just leaf water, right?”

“Yeah, but she’s not a plant. She’s a pod person.” Roxanne turned to Becky. “Y’know, when days like this happen, I usually take it as a sign to just do something less mentally stressful. Like a mini self-care thing.”

“...A-Actually-” Becky tried to start-

“I just drink coffee.” -before Buzz joined the conversation.

“Buzz.” Roxanne glared, then turned back to Becky. “...This is your first rough mission, though. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“...I-I kinda just want water. Plain water.” Becky, still sounding sore, finished.

“Then we’ll get you some.” Roxanne insisted, using her extendable limb to grab a bottle of water from the fridge, then handing it to Becky. “Here. Sorry about all that.”

“N-No, I’m sorry about...running off earlier..." Becky admitted.

“Hey. No one’s perfect. But y’know what? Your feelings are valid.” Roxanne comforted Becky. “Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, hex or not. K?”

“I’ll try.” Becky took a sip of her water, then another larger sip.

“That’s all we can do, really.” Roxanne spoke to herself as she looked at the hearts on her hands, then towards Aianna.

She gave a slight, sad smile towards her. 

Aianna nodded in understanding.

***

“So I was saying,” Cookie smiled at Schmitty, the two happily walking with Glitch. “I felt like I was riding that UFO Gravitron ride again once I was back to my senses.”

“The one that made you puke all your guts out? And they had to shut it down mid-ride?” Glitch laughed. “That was AWESOME!”

“Yeah. That one.” Cookie deadpanned. “Middle school boys, I swear.”

“Well, that’s part of having a kid. You deal with these phases. Sometimes you never grow out of them.”

“I know you didn’t.”

“Hey, farts are hilarious.” Schmitty stopped as he saw Vanessa approach them, a hesitant smile on her face. “Oh, hey, Vanessa. Are you okay?”

“...Yeah. I...just wanted to apologize to Cookie.”

“No hard feelings. Those hex girls or whatever owe me a Dramamine and an apology, but you’re cool.” Cookie reassured her. “Did ya talk to Helen?”

“Yeah. She said she’d tell them to knock it off.” Vanessa sighed. “Still didn’t really justify the whole ‘revenge thing’. And I thought I was safe from being affected by all those...bad guys, y’know?”

“Well, it’s still pretty impressive that you lasted that long. But you had noble intentions. And I shouldn’t have used the name in the first place.”

“Well...you indirectly gave me the courage to stand up for myself, so don’t feel too bad about it.” Vanessa insisted. “After all, you learned your lesson.”

“And all it took was a bit of mindfucking. Wow.” Cookie feigned offense, his grin wide.

“I suppose that was the case.” Vanessa giggled. “Ah, that was a good one. But I’d better get back to work. Have fun with the kid!”

And with that, she left, a smile on her face as Glitch looked on in a deadpan manner.

“...I’m 13.”

“You’re still a kiddo to me, Glitch.” Schmitty reassured. “Now come on. Ol’ Schmitty’s gonna let you play the PS2 in the lobby while we finish up some important things.”

Silence.

“It has Sonic games on it.”

“ Now we’re talking.” He laughed. With big smiles and a nod of approval from Cookie, the three parted ways.

Chapter Text

“Alright...so...um... Prehistoric ferns. How can I make a question out of this?”

Becky, in her human form, was in a communal library-esque room, sitting alongside a few other employees consulting various reference books. She was preoccupied with information that she had found on the computer. Aianna peeked in, an excited smile on her face.

“Hey, Becky! Mind if I join you real quick?”

“Oh!” She sounded startled. “I thought you were going to do some...live session, or something.”

“Got canceled.” Aianna shrugged. “I’m the FixyText host now, and they’re having an orientation-table-read meeting thing in an hour.”

“Ah.” Becky turned back to the computer. “...I could use the company.”

“You seem really invested in this.” Aianna observed.

“Well...” Becky started. “I’ve always been interested in plants. Ever since I was a kid, really.” She paused for a moment. “I mean, as much of a kid as you can consider it..."

“Ooh, that sounds cool.” She paused. “Uh...if you don’t wanna answer, I getcha, but what was your childhood like? Y’know, since you’re kind of a plant and all.”

“I guess...kinda calming? It’s hard to explain. I grew up on my own, probably the normal for my species, I haven’t found much info on that. I remember living close to the woods, sometimes resting next to a tree, but I never really explored that area. My favorite spot was always this one flower field, full of I think goldenrods? There were dandelions too, but other humans tended to grab those while I wasn’t resting there. Never understood why at the time, but I appreciate its symbolism now that I know about it.”

She shyly glanced at Aianna.

“Sorry if I kept going on about that..." Her slightly nervous tone returned.

“Nah. It’s fine. Sounds kinda interesting.”

“Nothing too special... I’d imagine yours was a lot more fascinating because...well...you being a robot and all..."

Aianna’s face turned nervous.

“D-Did I say something wrong...?”

“No! No...it’s just...the reason I came to this office was...well...I don’t remember...my childhood, really. Got my memory wiped the day I was supposed to go to work. My earliest memory was the day I came here last March. Long story.”

“...So that’s what Roxanne meant...” Becky looked down.

“She told ya?” Aianna gave a slight laugh. “Guess she opened up. Good for her. I told her that maybe she should talk about her feelings more often. Save some angst, of course.”

“It’s just as much of a long story..."

“Yeah, she told.” Aianna admitted.

“...She must have mentioned about...that...after I ran off the other day..." Becky blushed.

“Yeah. Don’t worry though. Your secrets are safe with me.” Aianna sighed. “...It’s kinda weird, though. The memory thing, I mean. Like, Roxanne and Glitch remembered all this cool stuff about me when I was a kid, before they were manipulated by my Mom. But...when they talked to me about that, it felt like...it feels like...it’s not me. Like it’s me, but it’s...it’s distant enough where those memories don’t have an effect on my emotions. Even when they’re super sentimental and affected me deeply before. We...stopped talking about childhood stuff after a while.”

“Oh.” Becky sighed. “Sorry I brought it up.”

“You didn’t know. It’s fine.” Aianna reassured. “And as for the prehistoric fern thing...we’ve got a few books on the subject in the plant section. Mind if I grab them for you?”

“Sure! ...Thanks for helping with that.”

“No problem. Least I can do.” Aianna gave a slight smile. 

***

“Alright, a recap on the games, before we start things.” Helen spoke to a group of hosts around a meeting table. In clockwise order, Aianna sat next to an orange-haired girl in a lab coat, a black bodysuit, and wearing a giant robotic cube on her head, covering her eyes. She had a red LED eye glancing around. Next to her was a well dressed guy in a suit, pocket watch in hand, looking sternly at the people around him. A purple venus flytrap was next to him, looking like Audrey II with a bow tie, and rounding out the list was a blue oni-esque humanoid, with cat-like yellow eyes, three horns accenting her casual ponytail, blue spots, clawed hands, and a Tee KO themed t-shirt. She wore bell bottoms decorated with rhinestones placed in a flame pattern, and brown sandals.

“Okay.” She glanced at the sheet in front of her. “In order of the list I have here... Jerri Rigg, you’re hosting a time-traveling trivia game at your house. Cedar McFly, you’re hosting a rhythm game like Guitar Hero trying to eat the birds who are trying to defeat you. We still don’t have an official name for your character yet. Aoi Haramaki, you’re hosting a sequel to Tee KO that has Jackbox characters fighting with t-shirts in an anime-esque tournament arc style. Still don’t have an official name for you either, but right now we’re thinking of ‘The Tournament Mistress’. Aianna Flowers, you’re hosting FixyText, a game where a girl turns to the players to stop a bunch of spam callers via a machine that doesn’t have autocorrect or a backspace button. Again, your name is not final. And Steven-”

“-Master Mentalist.” The guy in the suit scoffed.

“-Master Mentalist, you’re a hypnotist that makes people think they’re objects in one of those ‘who is the imposter’ styled games.”

“...Excuse me?” Aianna sweated, her face fearful. “Uh-”

“Don’t worry.” Jerri reassured her. “You’re not gonna be near him long, honest. We’re in a recording booth together.”

“Come to think of it, I didn’t see her at the auditions.” Aoi noticed. “Do you work here or something?”

“Yeah! Host of You Don’t Know Jack-Pan.”

“...Holy shit. I think I played your game a bit.” Aoi lit up. “Didn’t really find it my thing. The swearing magical girl gimmick only held value for so long.”

“Wow. Look at you messing with the already nervous girl. How nice.” Jerri rolled her LED eye, her voice deadpan. “Sorry about her, she’s...not exactly good at holding her tongue.”

“You aren’t either!” Aoi retorted.

“That’s enough.” Helen insisted, quieting the room. 

“Thank you. Now, today we’re gonna read through some sample scripts before we start recording next week. The goal is for you to get used to your characters.” Helen began to pass the scripts out. “It also gives the writers who write the quips, and the researchers who write the actual prompts and questions, a clue on how you portray your characters for further tweaking and editing. So act like you’re speaking to the players when I observe your performances, okay? It makes it easier and prevents last minute rewrites.”

Aianna flipped through her script. “Hey, I’m canonically in an apartment. How relatable.”

“I’m in one too.” Jerri observed as her finger moved across the page. “Neat. I used to hold trivia nights there with an old fridge-turned-time-travel device. Long story.”

“Let me guess, science got in the way.” Aianna laughed.

“No. I became blind.” Her voice turned hesitant, slowly losing that nonchalant tone. “Then my friend helped make a machine that allows me to see, but due to tech limitations, I can only see in wireframe...silhouettes of sorts. The outlines of objects, not the actual objects. Meaning reading trivia questions became a no-go.” She looked away. “Long story.”

“...Oh.” Aianna sweated, glancing down to notice that the scripts she held were written in braille. “Sorry.”

“Nah, you’re cool. It’s not like it bothers me...at least that much.” 

Aianna could tell from her face that it did, indeed, seem to bother her.

“If...it helps-”

“...I’m sorry, Aianna. It’s not your fault, but I’m gonna have to excuse myself.” Jerri got up. “I’ll go last. Feel free to start without me, guys.”

“Wait, you shouldn’t-” Helen tried to call after her, but she was gone. “...I hope she doesn’t get hexed.”

“What’s a hex?” Cedar raised his leaf. 

“...Dark magic stuff that makes people crazy.” Helen explained.

“What’s the big deal? I do it all the time, and people pay me money for it.” The Master Mentalist scoffed. “If they’re doing it for free, they should really see one of my shows and see how packed it gets.”

“No, I mean like...turning people into cheesy supervillains. Not some stage-show thing.” Helen facepalmed.

“Yeah, and I doubt the crowds were good if you’re here.” Aoi snarked.

“Oh.” He sat back in the chair. “Carry on, then. And for the record, you clearly haven’t seen how popular the stage hypnosis scene is in Myrtle Beach. I merely wanted a change of scenery and to expand my brand of mind-manipulating-”

“Anyways, we’re not focused on that right now.” Helen interrupted. “What we ARE focused on is script readings. Aianna, since you’ve hosted here before, you go first.”

“...Oh! Right.” Aianna cleared her throat.

***

“Hey, Eloise! Heard it’s your first mission today.” Colette’s voice rang on the phone as a nervous-looking human walked through the halls of the Jackbox offices. She wore her white hair in braids, with some black parts of her original hair color showing. One eye was green, like her striped socks, the other was pink, like her thick, oversized sweater and canvas sneakers. She wore a blue skirt to accent her petite figure, and her expression was shy.

“Y...Yeah.”

“You’d better not mess up. But I’m sure you’ve got this!” Colette spoke with an air of smugness to it. “You’ve got a kind heart. Too kind, frankly. Still, it’ll seduce them for sure!”

“T-Thanks. I guess. I see the mark, though. See you soon!”

“Bye! Don’t mess this up.”

*Bloop*

Sure enough, Jerri was trying not to cry in the hallway. Elosie walked over, a shy smile on her face.

“H...Hey! I heard that you were...having issues with your self-confidence.”

“Yeah.” Jerri sighed. “...I was really excited to be a part of the Jackbox community, yknow? But now...now I’m not so sure. Aianna indirectly revealed that I was blind...and...I don’t know, I just...it brought back personal issues.” She looked at her hands. “Look at me rambling at you. Shoot. I shouldn’t be.”

“N-No, it’s okay! I can help you regain sight!” Eloise reassured her. “And help Aianna see that she’s being insensitive by giving her a taste of her own medicine.”

“...I am mad at her a bit...but I’m sure she means well.”

“How?”

Jerri stopped, her actual eyes turning purple. “...Not sure. But...if you’re really who you say you are, and you can bring my sight back...I’d do anything for that chance.”

“G-Good!” Eloise smiled as a pink curtain fell over her. When it cleared, her clown outfit was in full display.

“Now take your seats, folks! The show is about to begin!”

***

The spotlight fell on Jerri as the audience began to murmur, and on Eloise, who seemingly had a straight shot towards her mark.

So she ran...only to slip on a banana peel and land on her bottom. The crowd laughed wildly. Blushing, yet unphased, she continued on.

Only to slip on a roller skate.

The crowd laughed harder at the faceplant, all the while Eloise looked mortified at the response. 

Still she continued on, barely flinching at a pie being thrown in her face and the roaring laughter that resulted from it. And when she finally got to Jerri, she hugged her, causing the purple smoke to surround her body.

“You don’t have to feel alone, so go get 'em, hex.” Eloise whispered softly, to mild applause as the smoke and the illusion faded.

***

“Hey friends! I’m SO glad you’re here...I need a favor!”

Aianna was reading one of her introductory responses, nervously glancing at the door every second or so. Still, she remained in character, not showing any worry outwardly.

“I have waaaaaaaaaay too many people texting me. And since you’re all just kinda sitting here, you’re gonna help me!”

After reading that line, she clutched her chest.

“Alright, we’re gonna pause to check on Jerri.” Helen stopped. “You did good, Aianna-”

“Too late.” was the cold response from a familiar voice. The door burst open soon after.

Aianna’s heart sank.

Jerri had bright green skin, and her triangular hair was longer and became a bright blue. She wore the same body suit lab coat combo as her original self, though the sleeves of the lab coat were rolled up, resembling more baggy sleeves in the process, and the backs of both her hands had neon green jewels attached to them. She wore circular mad scientist lab goggles rather than the machine she used to see. The machine instead was placed on her back, summoning a couple of robotic arms as she prepared to charge towards Aianna.

“Look, I didn’t-”

“Enough. Look, I know you probably meant well, but outing something like that made me feel worthless.” Jerri admitted, her voice cold. “Nobody was going to see me like I was anymore. They were going to see my disability rather than me.” Her face assumed a wicked grin. “So...I changed. I was blind...but now I see. And now you’re going to lose the thing I gained from this pact.” She shrugged, a smug look on her face. “Hey, at least then we’ll be even. I think it’s a fair deal.”

“...Uh. Counterpoint.” Aianna nervously laughed. “I’d better go-”

“Jerri. What the hell.” Aoi stood in front of Aianna, motioning her to leave. “Snap out of it.”

“Hmmm, let me think. No.”

*ZAP!*

She clenched her hands into fists and shot out a neon green beam from her gems at Aoi. When the smoke cleared, her eyes were dull, and she looked around in a panic.

“I...I can’t see!” Aoi panicked. “What...how...”

“And this is the part where we start running.” Aianna insisted as the entire meeting room followed her outside, with Aoi holding Aianna’s hand in the process.

***

“You okay?” Aianna asked Aoi as they approached the third floor’s couches, which resembled quips from Quiplash. Aoi nodded as she helped her sit down on one of the bigger ones.

“As much as I can be. How long is this gonna last?”

“Until Magical Robodoki purifies her.”

“...Who?”

“Long story. They usually fix these sorta brainwashed-and-crazy things.” Aianna nervously laughed. “Jerri’s targeting me, so I should probably run away before she gets to us again. Just stay here, okay?”

“Gotcha.” Aoi nodded. “A few hours of boredom won’t kill me, anyways.”

“That’s the spirit.” Aianna beamed as she ran off.

***

“So...you accidentally made someone upset, and they were hexed because of that?” Becky asked. “Can that even happen?”

“Yeah, unfortunately, it can.” Aianna admitted to the group as they gathered in the lobby, with Roxanne rushing in a second later. “I didn’t know she was blind. And now she just took Aoi’s sight away, which I think was meant for me...”

“Like the Mankai/Sange thing?” Buzz asked.

“What?” Aianna tilted her head.

“You haven’t heard of Yuki Yuna Is A Hero? Oh man, we gotta watch it. It’s like Madoka Magica, but-”

“Let’s not make her upset with the plot twists.” Roxanne gently told Buzz off. “But...yeah, that happens in the show.”

“Ah.” Aianna nodded. “In any case, she’s after me. And with those increased senses, she might be able to deduce that I’m Robodoki and blast the beam at me. So you guys need to make sure that doesn’t happen, okay?”

“That’s what we always do.” Bob reassured Aianna, giving her a hug. “We’re a team. We help each other out.”

“...Thanks, Bob.” Aianna smiled back as Kiruru appeared. “Let’s do this.”

“Right.” The group spoke in unison as they pulled out their compacts.

***

"Kiruru!"

"Mirror of Miracles,"

"Magical Set!"

"Lend me your magic!" As the group said those words, the background behind them transformed into a mixture of bright yellow, white, pastel orange, bright purple, silver and light pink. Bob waved his hand over his compact mirror, causing it to float into the air and for his entire body to gain a teal-colored shirt and shorts combo. Buzz, Nate and Roxanne did the same, but their outfits were light red, neon green and lavender colored respectively. Becky waved her hand over the mirror, causing it to float into the air and for her entire body to be covered in yellow light. When it exploded, her skin was green, and she was wearing a golden shirt and shorts combo. And after a few backflips, Kiruru flew into Aianna's chest, giving her a metallic chestplate and turning Kiruru into a jewel resembling the paint and gem that acted as the robot's core.

"Doki!" Aianna yelled,

"Doki!" then the other five,

"Lovely Start!" The group yelled together as they immediately began to spin around each other, before separating out in their own transformations. For everyone except Aianna, the compact flipped 360 degrees before it landed on their chests. Then all their compacts solidified into a metallic chest plate, transforming into a built in jewel as their sleeves/sleeve details formed on their shoulders.

For Aianna, cotton candy blue and pastel pink hearts flew out of the screen as she lept upwards and continued to spin around in the air, hands crossed in an x shaped formation across her chest. Two lightning strikes hit Bob's arms and surrounded them with magic, to which he crossed them into an x shape. That movement created his white gloves. Buzz did so too as fire went down his sleeves, as did Roxanne with her star dust, Nate with his pixels, and Becky with her vines. Then everyone rejoined the same transformation plane as they all thrusted out their hands to the sides, grasping each other's hands as the details formed on their gloves. They spun each other around in gradually increasing speed as their hair gained their signature styles and accessories, including the visors, before using the momentum to fling themselves back into separate transformation planes.

Robodoki crashed into the pile of hearts as normal, while Buzz and Bob's pillars of their respective elements allowed them to screech to a halt, Roxanne used the momentum to begin diving down, Nate skidded to a stop, posing as the polygons hit him, and Becky thrusted her body outwards, legs crossed, and her arms and hands up, the moon now overhead which shone magic on her. All six forms of magic made their outfits and boots, and as Kiruru screamed her battle cry the team began to recite their speeches.

"When two hearts collide, then anything can happen!" Robodoki thrusted her arms out as if offering a hug for the first part of the sentence, spreading more cotton candy hearts out, before transitioning to a spin on the second part. Right on cue, a giant blue key summoned in her right hand, and she placed it behind her just before widening her stance and posing. Both of her hands formed in a heart shape on the right side of her chest.

"Call me Robodoki, cuz' I'll make your heart race!"

"The power of love that'll leave you in shock!" Bob covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before transitioning to posing with peace signs, almost failing to grab the keyblade as it fell. Nevertheless, after fumbling with it a bit he stuck it behind him, before spinning one last time and widening his stance. His hands formed a diamond shape to the right of his chest.

"Call me Robodenki, cuz' I'll light up your heart!"

"The power of courage that'll grow with the flames!" Buzz covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before proceeding to punch and kick a bunch, catching his clover key and placing it behind him during that sequence. Then, he spun one last time and widened his stance, his hands forming a clover shape to the right of his chest.

"Call me Robohino, cuz I'll make your heart burn!"

"The power of strength that will shoot for the stars!" Roxanne covered her hands across her heart for the first part of that sentence, before flipping her hair dramatically and punching her fists together. After catching her key and placing it behind her, she spun one last time and widened her stance, her hands forming a spade shape to the right of her chest.

"Call me Robohoshi, cuz' I'll fix your heart's wishes!"

"The power of wit that'll glitch out the evil!" Nate covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before blowing a kiss towards the audience with a wink, a flirting smirk on his face. Then, he caught his key, tossed it in his slot, spun one last time and widened his stance. His right hand formed a J on the right of his chest.

"Call me Robopixel, cuz' I'll patch your hurt heart!"

"The power of empathy that'll rise into the sky!" Becky covered her hands across her heart for the first part of that sentence, before raising her arms as wind blew from her right. After lowering her arms, the wind slowly stopped, and jumped towards her keyblade, catching it on her third try. After sliding it in its slot, she spun one last time and widened her stance, her hands forming an A to the right of her chest.

"Call me Roboluna, cuz' I'll fill your heart full!"
 
"With our lovely hearts, the future will start!" The magical girls, now holding hands with Robodoki in the center, recited the speech while quickly spinning each other, transitioning to a playful embrace. Then they dramatically faced the enemy as they completed their second spin, posing with widened stances and salutes over their foreheads.

"We'll make your heart race! Magical Robodoki!"

***

“...Hmmm. Guess you’re here to stop me?” Jerri observed as the Robodoki gang entered where she was at: the spacious, recently evacuated research room. “Lucky guess, huh. Well, riddle me this, Batman. You do know you’re gonna blind me if I give in to you guys, right?”

“You got sight from a deal with a devil!” Doki responded, trying to hold back her tears. “And...and that’s unforgivable!”

“We don’t have to do the speech. It’s okay.” Luna reassured, putting a hand on Doki’s shoulder. “I get this affects you a lot.”

“...Thanks.” Doki smiled, though it was clearly the fakest one she could muster.

“And yet you don’t know how this affects me.” Jerri huffed. “Wow. How hypocritical.”

Hino scoffed. “Enough with the mad scientist speech.” He began to charge towards Jerri. 

“Cuz, wait-”

“You’re hurting my friend, and I’m not gonna let you!”

“Cuz, I don’t think-”

But it was too late. Jerri, in lightning speed, had teleported behind Hino-

*ZAP!*

-and zapped him with the neon green beam, causing him to collapse.

“Hino!!!” Doki raced over to him. “Hino? Hino, are you okay?!?”

He slowly got up, feeling his ears. His face turned to terror, eyes wide, face stunned. 

“I...I can’t hear you. Doki, I can’t- I can’t hear you.” 

“Hino!” Pixel yelled.

“I can’t hear...no...I...” He began to hyperventilate. “Cuz! Cuz, I- I can’t hear! Where are you?!?”

“Shhh.” Still a bit scared, Pixel embraced Hino in a hug, startling him. “You may not hear this...but I’m with you. Promise.” 

Slowly, his breathing slowed.

“...Thanks. I...needed that.”

Pixel nodded in response. 

“You stay with him.” Doki instructed, turning to Denki. “Denki, I think it’s time for you to-”

*ZAP!*

“Already thought of that.” Jerri smirked.

“...Wait, did she-” Doki asked. 

Denki tried to answer, but nothing came out.

He nodded. 

“Damn it. He’s mute.” Hoshi scoffed. “You just affected my sibling’s best friends, but some stupid beams aren’t gonna affect me.”

“Hoshi, don’t-” Doki started, only for Hoshi to ignore that advice and charge towards Jerri.

She held her own in battle for a while. Jerri had multiple arms, but she was able to counter some punches with her keyblade, and dodged some kicks as well. It seemed like they were evenly matched.

“...I think I might have an idea!” Luna beamed, watching Hoshi keep up with Jerri. “Just need an opening..."

Meanwhile, Hoshi swung her keyblade towards Jerri, knocking her back a bit and stunning her.

“Well! There’s your opening!”

She got into position.

“Roboluna..." She tapped her forehead twice-

“Oh no you don’t.”

*ZAP!*

-only for two beams to shoot out. One hit Hoshi, the other hit Luna.

Hoshi fell to the ground, while Luna’s arms went limp by her side.

“Ghhh! What the-” Hoshi tried to help herself up. “How did my limbs get so stiff like that?”

“...It’s like how humans get paralyzed!” Pixel’s voice rang out as he continued to gently stroke a nervous Hino’s back. “And Jerri’s a human!”

“Thanks, Robo-Obvious!” Hoshi grunted. “Just come over and fight her already.”

“...How did she-” Luna, starting to tear up, looked at her arms as she tried to move them, then at Jerri.

This made Doki pissed.

“...Stop messing with my friends.” She growled. “I mean, look at them! Is gaining eyesight really worth ruining their lives?”

“You don’t understand the pain I went through to get this. The struggles. The isolation. The people who thought they could mistreat me. It wasn’t good. Don’t ask.” Jerri scoffed. 

“I do!” Doki insisted. “I have a disability too!”

“And what’s that? Empathy or something?” Jerri raised her fists out.

*ZAP!*

“NO!”

Pixel rushed over from Hino’s side, quickly jumping in front of the beam and being hit with it himself. Collapsing, he clutched his head, his eyes fading to a dull shade.

“...No. Not you too.” Doki sniffled as she dropped to the ground, tears on her face. 

“...Heh. At least I’m not brainwashed.” Pixel gave a slight laugh. “...But it’s all part of the plan.”

“What?”

“Just listen in. You’ll get it soon enough.” He winked. “...Can you help me up?”

“Mmmm-hmmm.” Doki, still sniffling, nodded as she did what he requested. Then, mad, Pixel turned to Jerri.

“...You made my friend cry. But more importantly...you ruined my chances of being a sexy-ass actor.”

“Well, that’s not- huh?” Jerri did a double take. “...Are you-”

“Yeah! You heard me right! For one, can’t see shit. Can’t do stunts. Can’t read scripts.” Pixel pointed out. “And I’m gonna be type-casted to hell and back. But back to the Doki crying thing, you’re causing her to despair. And unless she thinks of summoning her anti-magic shield thing, which she’s so tearful right now I doubt it’s likely, you’re gonna condemn her to a life of being blind in addition to her memory loss. Dick move, ex-lax.”

Doki lit up at the mention of the anti-magic barrier, tears still falling down her face.

“Oh, SHUT UP.” Jerri snapped, aiming her beam at Doki. “She outed my disability! Low blow! She’s been here before, I’m sure people know that she has that amnesia thing, if that’s really true. But nobody knew I was blind! I was going to have a fresh start! And she ruined it!”

“Then shoot her. I bet, deep down, you don’t have the guts.”

“I will.” Jerri growled.

*ZAP!*

“Robodoki Barrier!”

A pink anti-magic barrier summoned around Doki. The beam went around the dome, quickly fizzling out as soon as it hit.

“...What?”

“Thank you, Pixel!” Doki cheered.

“Yeah, she definitely played herself there.” Pixel beamed. “Let’s be honest. If she would’ve zapped me intentionally, she’d have taken away my mind. She took Luna’s arms so she couldn’t read Jerri’s feelings, took Hino’s hearing so he wouldn’t be able to attack or restrain her arms, took Denki’s voice so he wouldn’t be able to heal, and took Hoshi’s legs to prevent her from fighting. All strategic plays to make sure our strengths were nullified.” His grin turned into a smirk. “But she didn’t take away more than one sense. That’s because she couldn’t. If she really wanted to, she could’ve made everyone blind and deaf at the least, but she didn’t. Made that connection during Hoshi’s battle. So that’s where I came in. By taking the bullet for you, I wasted Jerri’s chance to disarm me. Then, I carefully chose my words to provoke her into irrationality, and give you a hint in the process.” He looked in the general direction of Jerri.

“Without you even noticing anything odd, I indirectly turned the tides. Even with increased senses, you can’t read me like a book. That’s a promise.”

“Yeah! What he said!” Doki beamed, before turning to Jerri. “So. Now we’re in a stalemate. You can’t attack me. I can’t attack you. And it’s going to remain this way until we can talk this out. Deal?”

“...What’s even the point of it? You can’t relate.” Jerri took a deep breath. “Nobody else could.”

“I can! I lost my entire memory up until late March of last year!” Doki insisted. “It may not be the same thing...but I’ve gone through similar mental struggles, and that’s what makes this hurt. The feeling that you know you're supposed to remember something about a moment, like it's just out of reach. The feeling that you don't even know who you are, because your development as a person is lost in the void. The inability to relate to memories that you should remember, but...don't. Like you're on the outside looking in. The strained relationship with my siblings because they were lucky to have their memories spared. It's hard, and like your eyesight....it can be devastating.” She sniffled.

 “And...you just gave my friends disabilities that can give them equal mental and physical struggles, stuff of which I have to deal with. That you have to deal with. So...that’s why this is personal, I guess. Nobody deserves that burden we face.”

Stepping back, Jerri removed her goggles, showing her lavender eyes that began to flicker. There, she saw a frightened Hoshi struggling to get up, Hino and Luna frozen in fear, Denki looking concerned for Doki, and Pixel standing in unsure anticipation.

The anger was clearly subsiding, with guilt and remorse taking its place. Doki couldn’t help but tear up at the sight.

“I...never thought of it that way.” Jerri admitted, her eyes back to their normal, dull, amber-colored self. “Oh...I...just wanted eyesight. I wanted to get back to a sense of normalcy after the accident. That’s all, I-”

“And I do, too.” Doki reassured her. “It’s hard some days. But like the friends that built your machine, I’ve got friends that’ll help me through the good and the bad aspects of my disability. Yeah, we’ll never be completely normal. But we can move forward regardless.”

Silent and stunned, Jerri fell to the floor. Pixel’s eyes turned back to their normal shining shade. Hino suddenly clutched his ears, and Luna was able to help Hoshi up.

“Doki...” Denki’s voice croaked. He looked at Luna. “...Is this...what you went through?”

“Oh, you remember that..." Still holding Hoshi’s hand, Luna glanced over, embarrassed.

“...Yep. Bad day...sorry.” He blushed as well. “I...won’t...bring it up.”

“Denki, please rest your voice.” Doki gently commented. “I’ll make you some tea after this.”

“...Tea isn’t good. But I’ll drink it...for you.” Denki admitted, blushing.

“Anyways, we’re gonna heal your hurt heart. Whoever did this took advantage of your fears, and we’re gonna fix that.” Doki reassured Jerri, who looked up, a sad smile on her face. “That’s a promise.”

As the group summoned their paintbrushes, Luna looked over at Denki again.

“Don’t worry. Your throat won’t feel sore while we do this. Doki taught me.” She smiled.

“Thank...you.” Denki smiled back. “She’s...amazing. Isn’t she?”

“The whole group is, actually.” Luna giggled, posing with the rest of the group afterwards.

***

“REWRITE YOUR FUTURE! REPAINT YOUR HEART!”

The Robodoki gang yelled as they used their paint brushes to paint hearts on their chests, covering them in white light. When it cleared, they had gained a white artist smock over their original dresses, which were covered in neon splotches representing their theme color on both the skirt itself and the sleeves. A white beret with their respective pastel-colored card symbol, plus angel wings, completed their upgrade.

“Robostory Mode, Fully Charged!” They yelled as they leapt into the air, soaring around a bit before approaching ground level.

“With our hearts as one, let our colors combine!” They placed the brush tip near the ground, working together to paint a heart outline on the ground, surrounding the hex around a heart-shaped forcefield when done. Then, landing on the ground, they held their brushes into the air, causing their respective colors to shoot out of the brushes. Said colors combined into a gigantic heart, held up as if the brushes were causing it to levitate.

“Robodoki! Hopeful Halation…MIX!!!!!”

Thrusting their paintbrushes down at the word ‘Mix’, the heart fell down with them, landing with a thud straight onto Jerri. She was surrounded by rainbow-colored smoke, purifying her. 

“Made your heart race!” The gang cheered as they leapt up in victory. Said smoke surrounded the area, healing those who were infected and the damage caused by the hex.

***

“...Well. Tea’s decent.” Bob admitted, his voice still hoarse as he finished sipping his tea. “You put lemon in it?”

“Yeah. Heard it’s good for sore throats.” Aianna answered.

 “...Sorry I couldn’t help you.” Bob sighed. “I wish I could. I really-“

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Aianna reassured. “You were the one who initially made me move on from my loss, what with the initial friendship-turned-relationship thing. Plus, it’s not like anyone but me had a counter for those beams.”

“True.” Bob sighed. “Still doesn’t make it any less sucky in my mind.”

“C'mon. You wanna watch some Sailor Moon while you recover?” Aianna offered. “The DIC dub looks so stupid. I wanna watch it.”

“Well, it’s the one that got me addicted to the magical girl genre.”

“Really?!? No way.”

“Way! During early Headrush development, at like, 4 or 5 pm, they had a rerun airing, and I was bored and loved Cartoon Network shows, so I tuned in. It was Sailor Jupiter’s debut episode, Jupiter Comes Thundering In. I’ve never looked back since.”

“Would it surprise you that Go! Princess was my entry way into Magical Girl shows?” Doki blushed, a grin on her face.

“Nah. But it was a good first memory.” Bob blushed back. “For you, I mean. Though it was the moment I realized I loved you.” He teasingly touched Aianna on her nose.

“Awwwww, thanks!” Aianna smiled even wider. “And I agree with that statement. Let’s see if I’ve still got those old DVDs I bought on Ebay.”

And with that, they were walking off, holding hands and glancing at each other all the while.

*** 

“You didn’t even chat with the victim once?!?” Cerise sounded shocked as she ate a sandwich in the mobile kitchen, the bites phasing through her mouth. Eloise, eating a salad, nodded nervously. “Let me guess, social anxiety-“

“She looked fine without any prodding! I didn’t want to mess things up and make you guys...mad, y’know?” Eloise insisted.

“Well, guess what. You did. Do better.” Cerise’s eyes narrowed. “You’re lucky The Ringmaster’s choosing me next. I’m going to avenge you. But next time you won’t be so lucky and you’ll become the loser you were before, got it?”

“...Got it.” Eloise sighed as she slumped into her seat, with The Ringmaster watching the entire interaction from the fridge’s reflective surface.

Chapter Text

“So. Who’ve I got this time?” Cerise asked The Ringmaster, who was on the reflection of the living room TV, watching her aim a throwing knife at a nearby target.

*SWOOSH!*

*THWACK!*

With a mighty throw, she hit the bullseye, causing her eyes to narrow in self-satisfaction.

“Felicia DeRuins, or Felicia Dederich. Monster and human form names respectively.”

“Ah. That friend to Becky, huh?” She readied another knife. “If I had to guess, feeling like she endangered her? Ain’t that relatable.”

“Yep. Though she’s endangered other people before.” The Ringmaster nodded. “I sense that this is a deeper feeling of putting people in danger. After all, she is a multi-eyed octopus creature that apparently ate half of Cleveland.”

“Again, I can relate. Well, minus the eating Cleveland part.” Cerise sighed. “Though seeing you’re telling me now, that means I should probably go, huh?”

“Yes.” The Ringmaster sighed. “But you’re going to do great. Trust me.”

“I know I will, Mr. Ringmaster.” Cerise sighed as she put down the knife. “...I just...don’t tell anyone I was practicing my knife throws in the living room. They’d freak out. And I hate freaking out, it reminds me of...” She trailed off, her eyes tearing up.

“Save your angst for later. I know, it was hard for you.” The Ringmaster gently reassured as Cerise grabbed a spellbook from the shelf. With a sigh, wiping her tears, she poofed away in a puff of black smoke.

***

“Alright. Since the Pack 10 people already know what’s going on, the rest of you are going to be caught up to speed.” Helen stood in the center of the stage, with Nate walking in. All of the host employees were sitting in the spacious auditorium, which was noticeably less quirky than the rest of the office. “Nate and I are going to explain what the hell is going on with those hexes, and it’s not going to take long. We swear.”

“Thank you, Helen. Now, some of you have been affected before, but we personally haven’t seen what’s causing the hexes.” Nate explained. “What we do know is that they’re strong and ruthless, and they don’t have as much qualms about using other people in their plans. Their powers are meant to spread despair, and one of the ways they do that is to hex other people via eye-contact.”

“Which means not only do we need to have an evacuation plan, but we also need to have a talk on what to do if a hex targets you. And so, we present the three Fs: Flee, Fight, Fuck Wi- I mean, uh, Fluster. Yeah.” Helen gave Nate an unamused glare. He gave a sheepish shrug in response.

“Anyway, try to run away first, then try to fight back, then try to confuse the hex as a last resort. Pretty simple, really.”

“I came up with that.” Nate admitted.

“He did.” Helen groaned. “Should’ve looked at the copy he wrote. But that’s not the point of this meeting. Now, for the explanation on the new evacuation routes...”

Felicia, who was sitting near the back row, had her heart sink during the explanation. She was in her human form, which was a fair-skinned, dark purple-eyed, triangle-figured beauty. Her purple, messy pixie cut had a slight cowlick on the bang that covered her right eye, and she wore lavender colored lipstick. She wore a green grunge frayed sleeveless shirt, with a lilac purple pattern of a realistic eye. She wore the same belt as her monster self, but her skirt was much shorter in order to accent her dark purple leggings and black laced grunge boots with lilac-colored laces.

“Hey, are you okay, Felicia?” Raven, who was sitting next to her, asked. “...This all brings back memories for me, too. Don’t worry.”

“It’s not that. It’s...”

***

“...You saw everything?” Becky asked, somewhat embarrassed.

Felicia knew she couldn’t lie that she saw what happened. When she was checking the stage to see if every contestant had evacuated, she saw Kiruru give the compact to Becky.

It was then a matter of staying behind after that to make sure Beck- Luna- could handle everything. But...this seemed like a secret thing, right? Even if the identities of the other magical girls were common knowledge within the workplace, Becky wasn’t a part of that. At least, not yet.

Maybe she wouldn’t be in too much danger. Maybe she shouldn’t worry as much. It’s not her fault that she became a fighter against hexes.

“Admittedly, I may have been watching through a nearby window just to make sure everyone was alright.” Felicia confessed, multitasking with her host app in the meantime. “I figured you two were quite tired out after the chaos that took place...and that’s why I allowed you to rest backstage! At least for this round. You don’t want to miss the finale after all!”

...Right?

***

“...Something I can’t really explain without endangering someone.” Felicia admitted. “Excuse me. I should probably find Becky and-”

“Hey. Maybe you...shouldn’t-” Raven started, but she had already found her way to the nearby exit doors. She turned to Tippet, who was sitting next to her. “Hmmph. Some people in this office could afford to be more bloody genre savvy, eh?”

“Exactly.” Tippet nodded. Raven gave a slight smile in response, before turning towards the meeting.

It didn’t last long.

“Alright. Morals won the day. Might as well try to prevent a kerfuffle.” Raven slowly got up from her seat, turning to Tippet. “If I’m not back in five minutes, go after me, okay?”

“Will do, my lady!” Tippet nodded in response. “Just be careful.”

“Don’t be daft. Of course I will.” Raven responded, a smirk on her face.

***

“Hey. Uh, Felicia, right?”

Sure enough, Felicia was met with a now-human Cerise. She was tan-skinned, her forest green hair in a tight bun with a couple of hairs loose to act as fringe bangs. Her eyes were a similar colored green as the hair, and she wore a gray face-mask over where her mouth would be. She wore a gray coat dress accented with a thin dark gray belt with a golden buckle. She wore ash colored shorts and charcoal colored heels.

Felicia looked at the weirdly dressed girl. “Uh...are you feeling-”

“Oh!” Cerise pointed at the face mask. “Sorry. Had a cold, and didn't want to take any chances.” Her voice turned low. “At least that’s my cover story. I’m...actually an alien. A monster. Caused some shit to hurt people before, so my goal is to make others not feel the same way.”

“...It’s true that I feel that way.” Felicia admitted. “But...how did you know?”

“It’s because I’ve got magic powers.” Cerise explained. “And I could sense the whole ‘eating-Cleveland-hurting-partners-that-you-date-and-causing-one-of-your-contestants-to-fight-in-an-endless-war’ trauma you’ve had.”

“That’s so oddly specific, but true.” Felicia sighed. “...What’s the deal?”

“Pretty simple, actually. You can trap people inside paintings, like the ones in the opening tutorial of your game. That way, they’ll never be hurt again. Plus, if you trap one of those magical girls that’ll try to stop you, they’ll have to fight their way out, leaving you ample time to affect others.”

Her eyes narrowed in anticipation. “So. Whatdaya think?”

“Well...that sounds amazing. I do feel like I need to atone, protect her and all that, and it does cover all the bases.” Felicia admitted, her eyes glowing a lavender purple. “Count me in.”

“Figured you’d say as such.” Cerise smugly admitted as a dark green curtain went over her. When it went back up, she was in her alien form, with the addition of a thin superhero mask that merely covered her alien eyes.

“Now take your seats, folks! The show is about to begin!”

***

A terrified Felicia found herself pinned to a target, which slowly began to spin as a spotlight went over Cerise, who was putting on a blindfold. Then, holding two knives in her hands, and with her neon green magic summoning countless more-

*SWOOOOSH!*

-she threw all of them at the target.

*THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK-*

The spotlights turned off as the knives began to hit their marks, causing the crowd to gasp in shock.

One second.

Two seconds.

Then, the spotlights turned on again, showcasing that the knives hit an outline around a relieved Felicia, surrounding her in purple smoke. When it cleared, Cerise undid the blindfold and helped the newly hexed mark off the target.

“Hell yeah!” The audience cheered wildly. “Right on target! Let's go, my hex!"

And with that, the illusion faded.

***

“And this is my office! My Mojo Dojo Casa House, if you will.” Bob opened the door to his cozy-looking office. Becky found herself drawn to a beanbag in the corner of the room, sitting down on it.

“Your what?”

“Barbie movie reference. Aianna and I watched it last week. Best date ever .” Bob smiled goofily, his cheeks blushing, and hearts beginning to float in the air from his head. But soon, he shook his head, and the hearts and blush vanished. “But! Enough of that. This is where we do meetings and stuff, mainly if we get vital information on certain things, like about our enemies. Feel free to make yourself at home!”

“...You really like Aianna, huh?” Becky observed. “...Sorry if this sounds weird...but between the tea talk and the way you reacted just now...”

“Heck yeah, I do!” Bob beamed. “She’s so sweet and kind! Very dorky, too. Always there to help me out and stuff.”

“She is pretty nice.” Becky smiled. “Mind if I do some research here?”

“What for?”

“It’s...not for any of the games or anything. I kinda wanted to help Jerri with her recovery after...that. Without giving away the whole magical girl thing... Least I could do is maybe find a green tea recipe we can make? ...It’s a natural tea! Heard it’s good for the body.”

“Yeah. Poor girl had a hard time recovering her senses after that mess.” Bob sighed. “I was planning to get her a bowl of soup and a ‘sorry you got hexed’ card, but I’d love to work with you on that too!”

Silence. Bob smiled.

“You know what? I kinda see a little bit of you in me.”

“H-Huh?”

“Not in a bad way.” Bob quickly clarified. “I just...I’ve always wanted to go the extra mile for the people who’ve gotten corrupted. But so far it’s only really worked out for the people closest to me. Like...Aianna. She’s been corrupted before, usually with messy mental health things I’m aware about. With strangers, I often feel like I can’t really accurately pinpoint what’s bothering them, and so I tend to stay away to avoid making things worse.”

More silence.

“She’s been corrupted before? I-I thought... I thought that-” Becky wondered.

“...Yeah. We’re...not exactly immune, if that’s what you’re asking.” Bob sighed. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have-”

“Oh..." Becky sighed, leaning further in the beanbag.

“Don’t worry. Uh-” Bob sweated, noticing her stress. “...Sorry again, I just- uh, what’s the tea recipe? Maybe we can go ahead and start it. If you want to, of course.”

“I... I guess we could. ...I’m sorry about that. Still learning a lot.”

“It’s okay. We should’ve warned you earlier about this, anyways.” Bob offered his hand to her. “Besides. What are the odds that someone will be hexed the day after Jerri, right?”

Becky tightly held onto Bob’s hand, feeling a bit calmer and gradually loosening her grip.

***

“Felicia, this is bloody ridiculous!” Raven growled as she stood face to face with a hexed Felicia. She was in her human form, though it was entirely in a monochrome grayscale, albeit with purple undertones. Her pixie cut was more messy, especially at the sweep bang that hid her right eye, which had a dark purple highlight. Emerging from her back were four tentacles, with their grayish green color and dull purple underside resembling the one seen from the tutorial of Monster Seeking Monster.

“It’s not ridiculous! I want to protect a friend of mine! Is gaining the power to do that really that bad?!?”

“Just... Listen to yourself.” Raven sighed, facepalming. “You’re grayscale, you’re angry, you’re sounding like someone I would’ve messed with back then. You’re speaking rubbish, and you know it. So maybe ease off the arguments like I’m in the wrong, okay?”

The sound of footsteps rang out behind them.

“Becky’s coming, and I’m not going to let her see me like this.” With those words, her tentacles grabbed Raven-

*PWOOSH!*

-surrounding her in purple smoke. And while the smoke took effect, she vanished herself in a similar puff.

“Is...that Raven?” Bob asked as the two rushed in. Sure enough, Raven indeed was there...trapped in a screaming position in a replica of The Scream, with the Monster Seeking Monster mansion in the background. “This...can’t be good, can it?”

“My lady! Did you talk to Felicia yet?” Tippet yelled, holding onto his top hat, only to stop upon seeing the two look at the painting. “Oh...I suppose that is a no, then.”

“...W-What about Felicia...?” Becky stuttered, her focus now on Tippet.

“Tell us everything you know.” Bob spoke gently, yet firmly.

“Well...the poor bird was feeling guilty about something during the hex procedure meeting. My lady could tell it was guilt, at least, though Felicia wasn’t exactly clear on what was bugging her. Shortly after that, she ran off to excuse herself, and Raven followed soon after. Normally she’s back within two minutes, so even though she said wait for five, I panicked, checked in, and here I am.” Tippet explained.

“So, you’re saying...that she..." Becky pointed at the Raven painting, freezing in place and eyes widened at the realization.

“Guys. Felicia is hexed.” Aianna panted as the rest of the group rushed in.

That only made things worse.

“Becky, are you-”

*POOF!*

Becky turned into her pod form, a scared look on her face. Unlike before, however, she managed to keep herself from falling.

“...Poor thing.” Bob sighed, arms open, then embraced her in a hug. “We’re gonna help her. Talk her out of this, okay?”

She remained silent, but accepted the hug.

“Kiruru...” Kiruru appeared, as the other compacts appeared in the group’s hands. In Becky’s case, she caught it in midair, holding it up using telekinesis.

“...C'mon. If there’s anyone who’s able to talk her down, it’s definitely you. And we’ll be right next to you, that’s a promise.” Bob spoke as he slowly released the hug. “Are you ready to go?”

“...I-I’ll try..." Becky admitted, still scared. “I know I keep saying that...but...I just didn’t expect her of all people to-”

“Sometimes our luck just ends up being crappy like that. Believe us, we’ve all dealt with close friends being infected before.” Bob teased, before posing. “Now, let’s heal her heart!”

“Right!” The group nodded.

***

"Kiruru!"

"Mirror of Miracles,"

"Magical Set!"

"Lend me your magic!" As the group said those words, the background behind them transformed into a mixture of bright yellow, white, pastel orange, bright purple, silver and light pink. Bob waved his hand over his compact mirror, causing it to float into the air and for his entire body to gain a teal-colored shirt and shorts combo. Buzz, Nate and Roxanne did the same, but their outfits were light red, neon green and lavender colored respectively. Becky began to levitate slightly off the ground, the compact moving close enough to her. She moved the compact to "wave" her stem over the mirror, causing it to float into the air and for her entire body to be covered in yellow light. When it exploded, she was in her human form, now with green skin, and wearing a golden shirt and shorts combo. And after a few backflips, Kiruru flew into Aianna's chest, giving her a metallic chestplate and turning Kiruru into a jewel resembling the paint and gem that acted as the robot's core.

"Doki!" Aianna yelled,

"Doki!" then the other five,

"Lovely Start!" The group yelled together as they immediately began to spin around each other, before separating out in their own transformations. For everyone except Aianna, the compact flipped 360 degrees before it landed on their chests. Then all their compacts solidified into a metallic chest plate, transforming into a built in jewel as their sleeves/sleeve details formed on their shoulders.

For Aianna, cotton candy blue and pastel pink hearts flew out of the screen as she lept upwards and continued to spin around in the air, hands crossed in an x shaped formation across her chest. Two lightning strikes hit Bob's arms and surrounded them with magic, to which he crossed them into an x shape. That movement created his white gloves. Buzz did so too as fire went down his sleeves, as did Roxanne with her star dust, Nate with his pixels, and Becky with her vines. Then everyone rejoined the same transformation plane as they all thrusted out their hands to the sides, grasping each other's hands as the details formed on their gloves. They spun each other around in gradually increasing speed as their hair gained their signature styles and accessories, including the visors, before using the momentum to fling themselves back into separate transformation planes.

Robodoki crashed into the pile of hearts as normal, while Buzz and Bob's pillars of their respective elements allowed them to screech to a halt, Roxanne used the momentum to begin diving down, Nate skidded to a stop, posing as the polygons hit him, and Becky thrusted her body outwards, legs crossed, and her arms and hands up, the moon now overhead which shone magic on her. All six forms of magic made their outfits and boots, and as Kiruru screamed its battle cry the team began to recite their speeches.

"When two hearts collide, then anything can happen!" Robodoki thrusted her arms out as if offering a hug for the first part of the sentence, spreading more cotton candy hearts out, before transitioning to a spin on the second part. Right on cue, a giant blue key summoned in her right hand, and she placed it behind her just before widening her stance and posing. Both of her hands formed in a heart shape on the right side of her chest.

"Call me Robodoki, cuz' I'll make your heart race!"

"The power of love that'll leave you in shock!" Bob covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before transitioning to posing with peace signs, almost failing to grab the keyblade as it fell. Nevertheless, after fumbling with it a bit he stuck it behind him, before spinning one last time and widening his stance. His hands formed a diamond shape to the right of his chest.

"Call me Robodenki, cuz' I'll light up your heart!"

"The power of courage that'll grow with the flames!" Buzz covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before proceeding to punch and kick a bunch, catching his clover key and placing it behind him during that sequence. Then, he spun one last time and widened his stance, his hands forming a clover shape to the right of his chest.

"Call me Robohino, cuz I'll make your heart burn!"

"The power of strength that will shoot for the stars!" Roxanne covered her hands across her heart for the first part of that sentence, before flipping her hair dramatically and punching her fists together. After catching her key and placing it behind her, she spun one last time and widened her stance, her hands forming a spade shape to the right of her chest.

"Call me Robohoshi, cuz' I'll fix your heart's wishes!"

"The power of wit that'll glitch out the evil!" Nate covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before blowing a kiss towards the audience with a wink, a flirting smirk on his face. Then, he caught his key, tossed it in his slot, spun one last time and widened his stance. His right hand formed a J on the right of his chest.

"Call me Robopixel, cuz' I'll patch your hurt heart!"

"The power of empathy that'll rise into the sky! " Becky covered her hands across her heart for the first part of that sentence, before raising her arms as wind blew from her right. After lowering her arms, the wind slowly stopped, and jumped towards her keyblade, catching it on her third try. After sliding it in its slot, she spun one last time and widened her stance, her hands forming an A to the right of her chest.

"Call me Roboluna, cuz' I'll fill your heart full!"

"With our lovely hearts, the future will start!" The magical girls, now holding hands with Robodoki in the center, recited the speech while quickly spinning each other, transitioning to a playful embrace. Then they dramatically faced the enemy as they completed their second spin, posing with widened stances and salutes over their foreheads.

"We'll make your heart race! Magical Robodoki!"

***

“Alright, Tippet. Do you know where Felicia might be?” Doki asked.

“Splendid transformation as always! And if I may suggest the meeting room?” Tippet suggested. “Every host is there currently, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Felicia is using it as bait.”

“Great idea. That’s almost as good as my deductions.” Pixel complimented.

“Alright, tone it down a peg.” Hoshi rolled her eyes. “We don’t want your ego making you a supervillain next week.”

“I still don’t get it.” Luna sighed. “Why would she be targeting everyone...? After all she’s done...”

“I don’t know.” Doki admitted. “But whatever it is, just remember she’s not herself right now. It’s...like she’s infected with a computer virus. To her, she’s acting on her own accord, but on the outside, she’s just doing whatever they want her to do.”

A crackle of the intercom speakers interrupted their conversation.

“Hey, I want to have a fair fight and all, and it’s clear the Raven bait isn’t doing a good job at gathering your attention.” Felicia admitted. “I...just want Becky to be safe, that’s all. Meet me in the meeting room, or I’m getting her myself.”

“Okay, that’s good news. She sounds half-hearted about it.” Hino noticed.

Luna, meanwhile, stood in shock.

“...Me?!” She exclaimed.

“...Well, crud.” Denki sighed. “Now she’s being targeted. This ain’t good.”

“But if she’s hexed and all, I could at least try to keep you guys safe...while I go and talk to her. Just be on standby, and don’t move until she comes to her senses, okay?”

“...Mind if I go with you?” Denki offered. “Because if she’s targeting you...even if it’s half-hearted, I can heal you if you’re trapped in one of those paintings.”

“I, um, might need everyone’s combined efforts still.”

“Fair enough.” Denki admitted. “I just thought you wanted us to not move? Or is this like a power or something?”

“Yeah. I’ve used it before but...I...I think you guys were infected or something? ...If you remember, that is.”

“Oh yeah. That.” Denki sweated. “I think you’re referring to that heartbreak thing. Don’t remember much.”

“Well, anyway-” Luna took a deep breath in an effort to stay confident. “-let’s do this.”

Doki nodded. “Ready when you are.”

The gang headed for the meeting room.

***

“...Geez.” Felicia glanced at the meeting door as the gang arrived, noticing the hosts trapped in various painting parodies. “...Look. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I...just want Becky- Luna- whatever, I want her safe, okay? And this’ll allow me to do that.”

“Don’t worry, I’m here!” Luna called out to her. “...I want to talk it out with you, without anyone else suffering from what you did to them. And...that’s a promise... So prepare yourself!”

Pixel gave an approving nod upon hearing Luna say the speech.

“They’re not. But...I could use reassurance, honestly.” Felicia sighed.

“That’s why I arrived. Really, I consider you a close friend, ever since the evening I became a magical girl. I don’t want what’s affected Dakota, and several others already, to...to take over your life.” Luna’s confidence was slowly falling apart, but she continued.

“Which is why you shouldn’t be fighting me. Or anyone else.” Felicia insisted. “You were my responsibility. And like everything I touch, I ruined that relationship. You shouldn’t be fighting with them. That’s their job. It’s their war. Not yours.”

“It wasn’t your fault, I promise. And I won’t fight you. I never would. I...I just want to talk things out.”

Felicia didn’t say anything in response.

“...Y’know, it’s never that simple.” Hino mused. “...Might be a trap.”

“And if it is, that’s why you guys are here.”

“Can’t argue with that logic.” Hoshi admitted.

Luna quickly grabbed her keyblade and prepared to place the wards on the ground. Nodding to herself and taking another breath, she closed her eyes.

“Roboluna-”

*ZIP!*

The tentacles shot towards Luna, catching her off guard. Denki, noticing it, quickly jumped in front of her, causing the two to be grabbed at the same time.

“NO! WAIT-” Felicia panicked, but it was too late. They were trapped in a painting of a meadow. “I- I didn’t mean to get them both!”

“What’s the difference?” Pixel tilted his head.

“...If Luna was by herself, she’d have a place where she’d be safe. If one of you were trapped, some monsters would be summoned to stall you from escaping.” Felicia explained, her eyes flickering. “But...they both were trapped. Which means Luna has a chance to encounter...”

***

“...Oh. Well. This is certainly a predicament.” Denki was nervously sweating as Luna stood in shock. The two were in a giant flower meadow, the sun shining above them. “She was fighting it off. I’m sure Doki is trying to talk her out of this as we speak.”

“...I really thought I was getting through to her.” Luna quietly admitted. “I...”

“You were. If I had to guess, she’s just afraid that you’re suffering from this gig.” Denki admitted. “I can tell from her eyes. It was the same expression Aianna had when I joined the team at first. Not empowered at the time, granted, but the feeling was there.”

“...Really?”

“Yeah. I fought against baddies with her using standard cartoony faire, and had a blast even before I got my compact. But...Aianna was always nervous. She thought I was only doing it because of an obligation to me.” Denki sighed. “...Maybe it’s a stretch, but-”

All of a sudden, a low chorus of growls rang out. Several monsters made of flower-vines emerged from the ground, their snapdragon-esque blossoms covered in teeth, and began to charge at them soon after.

“-we should probably stand guard.”

“...Right.”

“Remember, she isn’t trying to hurt you.”

“But... You might be vulnerable!” Luna grabbed her keyblade again to prepare for her Eclipse move again.

“I’ll prevent that from happening. Promise.”

Silence. The monsters stopped, their rage seemingly dissipating in seconds.

“...Huh?” The two wondered in sync.

Denki slowly approached one of the snapdragons, hesitantly touching its head. It whimpered in response.

“I mean, animals don’t exactly...work that way. I mean, from rage to fear in a second? Definitely not normal.” Denki observed. “...If Felicia is controlling the paintings, then maybe she’s hesitating? Unless you have powers over plants.”

“...To protect others. Not to control them..."

“...Wait. Let me try something. You still got your communicator?”

Luna raised her lower left arm, showing that she was still wearing the watch.

“...Let’s try to reassure her from here.”

***

“Hey.” Doki spoke softly. “...You...You saw what happened with Luna, didn’t you?”

“...Yeah.” Felicia sniffed. “I...I just...I’ve never had a relationship that worked out. Because of who I am, I mean. I really wanted this event to actually change that. But it didn’t. Now Becky’s stuck in the same endless fight against despair you were. And it’s all my fault.”

“...Hey. It’s not like that.” Doki consoled her. “...She’s able to help others like she really wanted to do. She seems like she’s having fun.”

Felicia wiped her tears with her tentacles, eyes still flickering.

“...Maybe if you teleport them out, I bet she can help explain it better than I could.” She suggested.

“Hi! Uh, we’re here!” Denki’s voice rang out from Doki’s watch. “Can you hear us?”

“Yes! Yes, we can!” Doki sighed in relief. “Luna’s okay too, right?”

“Yeah, I am! Can Felicia hear me?” Luna asked.

“...Yeah.” Felicia sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten you involved in this. I shouldn’t have given you this burden.”

“No! It’s far from a burden!” Luna reassured. “I know...I know you got hexed because you’re concerned about me. But it’s honestly been a life-changer. I finally get to help people I care about on an ongoing basis. I get to help people out of the darkness. And I’ve met so many friends. Not just at the event, but in the workplace too! Nate, Roxanne, Buzz, they really helped me out with my own struggles, and helped me come out of my shell- or, I guess, pod- a little.”

“...I’m glad that’s the case.” Felicia smiled slightly. “I just...I feel like I’m not supposed to say this as a host...but I don’t have that many lasting friendships. I know you don’t hate me. I know. But...I...every time I make a friend, something happens to chase them away. I figured being hexed would help, but I feel like I just made things worse.” She sniffled. “...So I totally get any changed feelings you’d have about me after this.”

“...Why would it change?” Luna asked. “You’re mind-fogged. You were acting under someone’s control...so why would I be mad at you?”

“...Because it’s happened before.”

“Well, then, I’ll stick with you! No matter what happens.” Luna exclaimed. “You’re an amazing host. An amazing person. An amazing friend. And if any monster tries to convince you otherwise...I’ll be there to reassure you. Like I’m doing now. Okay?”

Felicia’s eyes flickered to their normal dark purple. 

“...Okay.”

*POOF!*

And with that, the paintings turned back into the hosts. Luna took the opportunity to approach Felicia, offering a hug.

“You’re not supposed to see me like this.” Felicia admitted as she accepted it.

“I understand, though. It’s okay.” Luna reassured. “You’re not a monster.”

Felicia gave a slight smile at the hug. “...Some days it doesn’t feel true. But out of your mouth, it does.”

“Thank you.” Luna beamed. 

“...We’d better purify her before the other hosts wake up.” Doki awkwardly reminded her.

“Oh! Right.” Luna gently let go of the hug. “You want some extra green tea after this? We made some for Jerri, but I figured you’d like some.”

“Thank you. I’d appreciate it.” Felicia gave a slight smile as the paintbrushes summoned in the gang’s hands. 

***

“REWRITE YOUR FUTURE! REPAINT YOUR HEART!”

The Robodoki gang yelled as they used their paint brushes to paint hearts on their chests, covering them in white light. When it cleared, they had gained a white artist smock over their original dresses, which were covered in neon splotches representing their theme color on both the skirt itself and the sleeves. A white beret with their respective pastel-colored card symbol, plus angel wings, completed their upgrade.

“Robostory Mode, Fully Charged!” They yelled as they leapt into the air, soaring around a bit before approaching ground level.

“With our hearts as one, let our colors combine!” They placed the brush tip near the ground, working together to paint a heart outline on the ground, surrounding the hex around a heart-shaped forcefield when done. Then, landing on the ground, they held their brushes into the air, causing their respective colors to shoot out of the brushes. Said colors combined into a gigantic heart, held up as if the brushes were causing it to levitate.

“Robodoki! Hopeful Halation… MIX!!!!!”

Thrusting their paintbrushes down at the word ‘Mix’, the heart fell down with them, landing with a thud straight onto Felicia. She was surrounded by rainbow-colored smoke, purifying her. 

“Made your heart race!” The gang cheered as they leapt up in victory. Said smoke surrounded the area, healing those who were infected and the damage caused by the hex.

***

“My lady! Oh, you’re alright!” Tippet exclaimed as the painting vanished, and Raven appeared in its place.

“...Well. That’s the Robodoki lads for ya.” Raven groaned as she rubbed her back. “Always calming people down at a surprisingly fast rate. Better than I could do.”

“Well, to be perfectly honest...you were only trapped in that painting because Felicia needed a distraction.” Tippet admitted. “I think if she was targeting someone else, you’d be able to talk her down.”

“Of course I would be, Tippet. The poor girl’s heart wasn’t in it.” Raven giggled. “And either way, we should probably head to the meeting before Helen cancels it.”

“Fair point.” Tippet smiled back, offering his hand to help Raven up. She accepted.

***

“Uh...Mr. Ringmaster?” A near-tearful Cerise, hiding in the closet, glanced at her phone. The Ringmaster appeared on its reflective screen soon after, resembling a ghost.

“Yes?” A British male voice rang out.

“...I’m sorry I couldn’t avenge Eloise, or help Marie with the other Robodoki identities.” She sighed. “I read Felicia’s thoughts. They...were too much.”

“I see.” The Ringmaster consoled. “I understand. The guilt about feeling like a monster because of your past, I have felt it too. But you can’t let it affect your mission.”

“...I mean, being experimented on kinda makes you feel that way. But...I shouldn’t have let it affect my mission. You’re right.” Cerise admitted, wiping some tears from her face.

“You know what? We can just call this a fluke.” The Ringmaster offered. “Next time you’ll have a target that’s less triggering, you have my word. I didn’t consider the government’s treatment of you when I chose the mission, so I’ll take the blame here. But you have to promise me that you’ll actually coax the target to do things next time.”

“I won’t let you down.” Cerise declared, vanishing in a puff of purple smoke. “I promise.” 

***

“Felicia?” Becky peaked in Felicia’s recording booth. Now in her monster form, she was gathering some scripts for the day’s sessions.

“Hmm? What is it?”

“I...brought you some tea. And a few cupcakes. Nate ran to the store and saw some Halloween themed ones. Said you had to try them.” Becky shyly opened the door all the way, revealing a thermos and a tray of orange-iced cupcakes, with mansion rings placed on top of them. “I can see why.”

“Yeah.” Felicia gave a slight smile. “Just put them in my office. Oh, and-”

Silence.

“...Sorry that you had to fight me today. But congrats on the magical girl job.” Felicia smiled. “I’ll be here to help with whatever you need if you just call, okay? That’s a promise.” She winked at the last statement.

“T-Thank you!” Becky beamed. “I’ll keep that in mind!”

And with that, the two parted ways.

Chapter Text

“Alright. I’ve got this Nate kid, huh.” Colette sighed as she walked around the spacious, magenta pink tent, which was being set up and decorated as she spoke. “Guess my walk’s ending early today.”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.” The Ringmaster, who was reflecting off of the reflective bits of her costume, nodded in agreement. “He is pretty observant and clever, though, so just a heads up-”

“I figured from the description you gave me, hon.” Colette glanced at the spellbook she was carrying. “But I’ve got a plan to tear that rational thinking down. After all...” She smirked. “Nobody can resist a busty model, intelligent or not.”

“WOOOOOO! CURE MAJESTY WAS LEAKED!” Marie was heard cheering from the stage. Sliding down the banister and leaping in front of Colette, she promptly showed her iPad to her.

“Can you keep it down, sweetie? Colette’s monologuing.” Colette sternly asked. “Also, clearly fake. The eyes look out of place, and the thin line art is much different than the official characters’ thicker styles. If you’re going to show me a leak while I’m talking to the boss, at least do it with a proper one.”

“Spoilsport.” Marie pouted, turning into a bat. “You’re lucky monsters are immune to mesmerization, or I’d-”

“Yeah, yeah, we know.” Colette huffed as she vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

***

“So, back to Sailor Jupiter’s debut. They had to fill time somehow with the dub, right? And so they did the most epic thing ever.” Bob, meanwhile, was walking with Aianna, holding hands. “So not only did they write an awesome speech for Jupiter, which was way better written than Viz’s version, but they did this epic echo thing with ‘Supreme Thundercrash’, which was the dub version of ‘Supreme Thunder’. Honestly, I preferred it even when Viz’s dub did the line properly.”

“So like, what they did with Cure Flora’s Floral Tourbillon?” Aianna asked. “That first fight was awesome, by the way. Wouldn’t have changed my first post-memory-wipe magical girl anime for a second.”

“...Very similar, actually. Had more of an echo in Sailor Moon’s case than in Go! Princess’s case. And, aww, I’m glad I was able to get you hooked on the genre!”

“Re-hooked.” Aianna corrected. “I think Roxanne said I was a DiC Sailor Moon fan before-”

“And what exactly are your quote-on-quote TV Hits?” A snotty teenager’s voice rang out. Aianna and Bob’s attention was turned to a red-faced Nate and a smug water elemental intern.

“Well, I was 004 in That’s A Fact Jack, I played Dean Reaper in A Date With Deathstiny, I acted as Justin Cartwright in that Lunchbreak sitcom, and I played countless buff action heroes in-”

“See? But not the big-end stuff. Just cable and direct-to-video nonsense. Where’s the Video Brinquedo library you starred in?”

“Hey! I’ll have you know that I still made a pretty penny despite all that. What I lacked in notoriety, I made up for by being a damn good actor.” He crossed his arms. “Plus I did my own stunts. So there.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then why are you still working here, instead of retiring in some fancy-pants mansion?” They smugly remarked. “Cause we all know the magical girl thing isn’t the sole reason. You’re just a has-been coasting on charisma alone, and we all know it. Drop the act.”

His face gained a grimace, and he clenched his fists.

“Why you-”

“Alright, knock it off.” Aianna sternly stood in between Nate and the intern, with Bob concernedly watching from afar. “Nate, don’t do anything rash. As for you, we don’t talk to the hosts like that, okay?”

“He’s not a host-”

“He used to be one. And even if he didn’t, he still outranks you position-wise.” Aianna glared at the intern. They stuck out their tongue in response, then began to swiftly rush off.

Nate began to storm off soon after. 

“Wait, Nate, what if a-”

“Don’t say it, Bob, you’re gonna jinx me. I’m just getting some coffee, ‘cuz I need it after this shit.” Nate muttered as he entered the break room-

*SLAM!*

-almost knocking the doors off the hinges in the process.

“Maybe we’ll be fine?” Bob sheepishly smiled.

Aianna glanced over at the door.

“...I’ll call Roxanne.”

“Good idea.” Aianna sighed. “I’ll talk to Helen about that little delinquent. Feel free to meet me there.”

With those words, Aianna walked off, a nervous look on her face.

***

“...Stupid lil intern. Saying that I’m a charismatic has-been. Like they haven’t gotten shafted in their school play or whatever.” Nate huffed, drizzling some caramel into his creamer-infused cup of coffee. “I’d give anything to prove them wrong. And anyone else who agrees with them.”

“Hey.”

“WAH!” He squeezed the rest of the caramel into the mug upon hearing the voice. “Honestly, you oughta at least tap me or be more subtle than that if you want to-” He paused, seeing the tall, busty, human-form Colette in front of her.

“Oh.” Nate deadpanned. “Look, I know you’re probably here to hex me. Ruined a good cup of coffee too. And even if it wasn’t turned into a sugar bomb, you’re not gonna break through my-”

*SWOOSH!*
*WHAM!*

Colette smirked as she managed to pin Nate to the wall in a partially seductive way, slightly flustering him.

“Uh-”

“You were saying, has-been?”

“Please...stop calling me that.” Nate blushed. 

“I mean, it’s true. Interns have laughed about your status for ages. Helen took your joke too seriously during the hex-evacuation meeting. Chewed you out, if my boss recalls correctly. You’ve got a reputation for dating anything your age that moves. Frankly, you’re considered a joke. But I’m here to help fix that.”

“...Really.” Nate tried his best to hide his curiosity. Colette smirked in response.

“But it’s true. I mean, you’re pretty goofy. You have an amazing sense of humor, a clever, inquisitive mind, and the charming skills to match. That’s something I’ve never seen before in such an attractive, beautiful, handsome man. You’re the best human on earth that I’ve ever seen.” Nate couldn’t help but smile earnestly. “We’ve just gotta make others see that you’re the best, bar none.”

“Well...I do have those qualities.” Nate’s eyes glowed a lavender purple. “...And I agree with your methods. Let’s show them who I really am!”

“Hell yeah! Now you’ve got it!” Colette smirked as a purple curtain went over her. When it cleared, she was back in her witch form, and the audience began to murmur once more.

“Now, take your seats, folks! The show is about to begin!”

***

Nate found himself sitting on a trapeze under a spotlight, and under Colette doing an aerial silk routine high above her head, almost touching the top of the large tent in front. She twisted, turned, and contorted her body, wrapping herself within the fabrics in various ways, before pausing.

*SWOOP!*

She let go of the fabrics and dropped to the ground, the lights turning off as she fell. The crowd gasped, then murmured with anticipation.

But the lights came back on, showcasing that she did indeed catch herself. She grabbed Nate’s hands while lowering herself down, removing him from the trapeze and covering him in purple smoke in the process.

“You’ve had enough of me? Then show them you , my hex!” Colette yelled with dramatic flair as she landed, setting Nate down, the smoke fading, and the crowd wildly applauding as the illusion faded.

***

“Oh yeah. That’s Kai Waterson.” Helen mused as Aianna, Bob, and Roxanne sat in her office. Helen was typing on the computer. “They keep threatening that their dad’s the head of security. Only reason I haven’t kicked their ass out was because...it’s actually true.”

“Oof.” Aianna sighed. “You tried talking to their dad, at least?”

“He’s a hands-off parent. I tried.” Helen huffed. “Wish I could convince him otherwise.”

At that moment, Aianna clutched her chest.

“Ai? What’s wrong?” Bob held Aianna steady. 

“It’s-”

“Me!” Nate dramatically opened the door, a smirk on his face. 

His skin tone was normal, as was his hair, though the latter was blowing in a non-existent wind. He wore a white venetian eye mask to highlight his glowing neon purple eyes. He wore a solid white tux, accented with a purple bowtie and red rose corsage, in addition to light gray dress pants and shiny black dress shoes. To top his elaborate outfit off, he wore a massive white cape, which also blew in said wind.

“...Well. Shit.” Helen cursed to herself. “You three go.”

“But-” Aianna sweated.

“Hey. Helen, you know I’m not meaning any harm here.” Nate smirked, his rose slightly glowing. “C'mere. Let’s just talk it out, okay?”

Upon seeing the glow, Helen seemed to relax a bit.

“...Sure. I mean, it’s not like you’re going to hurt me, right?”

The other three took the opportunity to book it out the door.

“Now...uh...stay still, k?” Nate instructed. “I’m gonna do the eye-flash thing. It’s not gonna hurt.”

*SHING!*

“See? What did I tell ya?” Nate smiled. 

Don’t forget the weapon, hon.

“Oh- right. Sorry, Colette.” Nate apologized. “Boss wanted me to give you this.”

He tossed a bottle of concealer towards Helen, whose eyes were now glowing purple.

“...What’s this for?”

“Well, my next target is Buzz. He’s...gonna be panicked by my new look. This concealer is gonna act as a way for him to not leave while I make sure he’s on my side. Also goes for whoever is unlucky enough to be with him, I guess.”

“So...it’s a way for them to get stuck? Honestly, genius.”

“Yeah! I know!” Nate beamed. “With this rose, and my gadgets, and your specific gadget, we’ll be unstoppable!”

***

“And this is the year where Ma finally won first prize for the best flower bouquet at the fair!” Buzz was sitting with Becky at the research room, showing a picture of a slightly older woman holding a giant flower display. “We’ve also won the biggest pumpkin before, though obviously even if you take care of one well, it grows how it wants.”

“Reminds me of...myself, a bit.” Becky commented, staring at the flower bouquet photo.

“The pumpkin or the bouquet? Should steal that allegory for a line, honestly.” Buzz noted. “If it’s the bouquet, I totally get it too. Ma took the best flowers from the meadow.”

“What kind of flowers?”

“Some roses, some sunflowers, a lot of fall-colored flowers I...honestly can’t recognize.” Buzz admitted. “More of an animal wrangler and farmer than a flower guy.”

“Oh! I guess those compliment her well if she was dedicated to the hobby.” Becky looked at Buzz. “Have you ever heard of hanakotoba?”

“Sorta. Only really heard it because Heartcatch Precure had that as a theme, but I never really understood what it was.”

“Well, it kinda developed as...a storytelling device, if I remember. But I absolutely adore the idea of flowers having meaning!” She held the picture of the flower bouquet, attempting to point to the sunflower in front. “Adoration and loyalty, for example, is what the sunflower represents, so I think she made a great choice in picking it.” She smiled.

“So it’s like symbolism. That’s actually pretty cool!” Buzz beamed. “She’s an awesome, loyal, cool mom.”

“Wonder if she knew anything about it...?”

“Could be plausible. She spent her time reading books about the-”

“Aianna to Buzz and Becky? Did Nate get you? Do you copy?!?” Aianna’s voice shouted from their communicators.

Becky jumped a bit upon hearing the panicked Aianna.

“Nate?” Buzz groaned. “Aw no, Nate.” He pressed the button. “What happened?”

“An intern told him he was a charismatic has-been. Now he has the ability to convince others to do things that he wants. If he finds you, don’t look at his rose. We’re coming over now.”

“...Guess you’ve heard the girl.” Buzz awkwardly shrugged. “Don’t worry. He’s not going to hurt us.”

“You’re right about that.”

Buzz and Becky, startled, noticed Nate appearing behind them. 

“Cuz. What the hell.” Buzz growled. 

“Uh... B-Buzz...? R-Remember what A-Aianna said...?” Becky, quivering, reminded him. She made sure to look opposite from the two, shielding her eyes as a precaution.

“Yeah, yeah, she’s coming, don’t look at the rose, got it.” Buzz groaned, shielding his eyes in turn. “Anyway, snap out of it.”

“Oh, you’re doing the whole ‘keep your hand at the level of your eyes’ trick? How cute.” Nate smiled, though Buzz could tell he was assuming a friendly facade. “You do realize that I’m not the Phantom of the Opera. Nor was it used to prevent any mind tricks in the original source material. But I’m not here to rant.”

His rose glowed.

“C’mon. You can trust me. Like my own personality, my rose has a bit of an attractive siren-esque property to it, so it’s not like shielding can help you for long or anything.”

Sure enough, Buzz had to hold his hand in place with his other hand. Becky followed suit, their grips tight.

“Huh. You’d think I’d have more issues with Roxanne, but I guess knowing you two, it isn’t surprising.” Nate shrugged. “Ah, well. Plan B. Helen! Hold them back and dump the contour.”

“Got it!”

Helen, wearing a newfound lily flower in her hair, jumped behind them, shooting out a ball of concealer goo on their legs, which hardened into a wax-like substance. She then grabbed Becky’s arms, using the concealer to pin both arms on her back. Repeating the process with Buzz, the resulting lack of shielding caused them to be in full view of the rose.

“Whew.” Nate sweated. “All that work to resist, and what, for nothing? C’mon. I don’t know why you would harm me. We’re friends.”

“...Yeah.” Buzz’s body began to relax. “I don’t know why either.”

“S-Sorry about that..." Becky, similarly, started to relax.

“That’s better.” He snapped his fingers, the waxy concealer melting in an instant. “And don’t worry, I forgive you two. I just need your help in gaining some allies. And to do that, I’ll need you to stay still. Okay? It’s not going to hurt.”

With that, Helen stood next to Nate, directly in front of the duo, their eyes glowing.

*SHING!*

“Thanks for the help, guys.” Once the light cleared, and the two gained their purple eyes, Nate thanked them as Buzz gained a sunflower on his chest, and Becky gained a red rose as a hair clip.

 “We’re going to need a lot more people to fight the Robodoki gang. I want you to talk to as many people as you can. Use the flowers to convince them. It’ll induce a feeling like they’re dreaming, and that floaty sort of feeling will almost certainly help your message go through to them. If not-” He tossed a bath bomb to Becky and a tube of lipstick to Buzz. “-then you’ve got a smoke bomb, and you’ve got a lightsaber.”

“...Looks just like a normal tube of lipstick to me, cuz.” Buzz looked at the top.

“Twist the cap.”

*SHING!*

“Oh...OH!” He lit up at the sword of light emerging from the tube. “That’s so cool!”

“Um...a little help maybe?” Becky wondered, looking at her bath-smoke bomb.

“...Oh. Yours is pretty simple. Toss the ball over there.”

“...But it’s the only one I-” She tossed it anyway.

“It’ll respawn. See?” Nate smiled. “It gives off a sort of laughing gas agent. Stand back when that happens. Then, when the smoke clears, go in for the kill-”

Hon. We’re not killing anyone. Don’t scare her.

“-metaphorically speaking.”

That’s better.

“O-Oh, I get it now.” Becky, quietly giggling, looked back at her hands to see the ball back in her hands. She covered it, holding it up to her chest like a small gift. “That’s nice! Thank you!”

“You’re welcome! It is pretty clever, I’d admit.” Nate smiled. “Now, Helen, you go to the third floor. Becky, Buzz, you’ll get the second. I’ll target the lobby. We’ll meet back here once we get...at least six people each. Okay?”

The group nodded in response, going their separate ways.

***

“Buzz?!? Becky?!?” Aianna yelled through her communicator. “Damn. No answer.”

“Shit. I hope Becky’s okay.” Roxanne sighed. “She’s...well, she’s probably not going to like the fact that Nate used her as a pawn. I know I would’ve hated that if I was in her shoes.”

“Hey, she knows what hexes are.” Bob comforted her. “Besides, even if she and Buzz were affected, we’re gonna get them out regardless.”

“Hey? Guys?” Kirumi appeared, next to a groggy Kiruru, who was rubbing its eyes. “Remember the new power thing?” 

“Yeah? What about it?” Aianna tilted her head in confusion.

“I’m...going to have to tag along to give it to you. It’s a very situational external update that I’ll need to apply at the scene, and it’s going to be way fucking harder if I can’t see the fight. And given Nate’s power set, I’d probably need to give one out today regardless.”

“Hey, we don’t mind.” Aianna beamed as Kiruru flew into Aianna’s arms. “Just as long as you keep your distance.”

“Good.” Kirumi nodded. “Now, don’t let me keep you waiting. Transform!”

The group nodded as they grabbed their compacts and began to pose.

***

"Kiruru!"

"Mirror of Miracles,"

"Magical Set!"

"Lend me your magic!" As the group said those words, the background behind them transformed into a mixture of bright yellow, silver and light pink. Bob waved his hand over his compact mirror, causing it to float into the air and for his entire body to gain a teal-colored shirt and shorts combo. Roxanne did the same, her outfit lavender colored. And after a few backflips, Kiruru flew into Aianna's chest, giving her a metallic chestplate and turning Kiruru into a jewel resembling the paint and gem that acted as the robot's core.

"Doki!" Aianna yelled,

"Doki!" then the other two.

" Lovely Start!" The group yelled together as they immediately began to spin around each other, before separating out in their own transformations. For Bob and Roxanne, the compact flipped 360 degrees before it landed on their chests. Then all their compacts solidified into a metallic chest plate, transforming into a built in jewel as their sleeves/sleeve details formed on their shoulders.

For Aianna, cotton candy blue and pastel pink hearts flew out of the screen as she lept upwards and continued to spin around in the air, hands crossed in an x shaped formation across her chest. Two lightning strikes hit Bob's arms and surrounded them with magic, to which he crossed them into an x shape. That movement created his white gloves. Roxanne did so too with her stardust. Then everyone rejoined the same transformation plane as they all thrusted out their hands to the sides, grasping each other's hands as the details formed onto their gloves. They spun each other around in gradually increasing speed as their hair gained their signature styles and accessories, including the visors, before using the momentum to fling themselves back into separate transformation planes.

Robodoki crashed into the pile of hearts as normal, while Bob's pillar of lightning allowed him to screech to a halt. Roxanne used the momentum to begin diving down. All three forms of magic made their outfits and boots, and as Kiruru screamed its battle cry the team began to recite their speeches.

"When two hearts collide, then anything can happen!" Robodoki thrusted her arms out as if offering a hug for the first part of the sentence, spreading more cotton candy hearts out, before transitioning to a spin on the second part. Right on cue, a giant blue key summoned in her right hand, and she placed it behind her just before widening her stance and posing. Both of her hands formed in a heart shape on the right side of her chest.

"Call me Robodoki, cuz' I'll make your heart race!"

"The power of love that'll leave you in shock!" Bob covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before transitioning to posing with peace signs, almost failing to grab the keyblade as it fell. Nevertheless, after fumbling with it a bit he stuck it behind him, before spinning one last time and widening his stance. His hands formed a diamond shape to the right of his chest.

"Call me Robodenki, cuz' I'll light up your heart!"

"The power of strength that will shoot for the stars!" Roxanne covered her hands across her heart for the first part of that sentence, before flipping her hair dramatically and punching her fists together. After catching her key and placing it behind her, she spun one last time and widened her stance, her hands forming a spade shape to the right of her chest.

"Call me Robohoshi, cuz' I'll fix your heart's wishes!"

***

“Perfect! Oh my god, I’ve never had that big of a fanbase before!” Nate squeed as he looked upon the vast army of around thirty different hosts and interns in front of him. “Thanks a billion, guys. I owe you one.”

His mood dropped as soon as he saw the Robodoki gang rush in. Still, he retained his composure.

“Oh. Well, I expected you. Just not this soon.” Nate bowed. “Ah, well. Just get the speech over with, and then we can have a good, clean, minimal-dirty-trick-filled fight.”

“Oh!” Doki sounded like she was caught off guard, but quickly cleared her throat. “Er- Trying to gather an army of fanboys and fangirls to adore you unconditionally at the cost of free will is unforgivable, and you know it more than I do!”

“Yeah!” Denki nodded. “What she said!”

“But we, Magical Robodoki, understand that hexes can be...persuasive, from what we’ve gathered.” Hoshi sounded unamused. “And even though you being hexed first was admittedly unexpected, we’re still going to heal your hurt heart. That’s a promise, so prepare yourself!”

The group pointed towards Nate. He mimicked them in a mocking fashion.

“Well, I’ve got thirty people to back me up, so you prepare yourself, okay? Charge!” At his smug-toned word, eight people charged at the group.

“Guys, you heard the man!” Buzz yelled to his group of seven people. “Go get 'em!”

“Y-Yeah!” Becky added to her group of six. “Do what they’re doing!”

“You guys charge at them too, we’ll make sure they’re converted.” Helen spoke to her group of nine.

“Shit.” Doki murmured to herself as she dodged a charge from Schmitty. “We gotta snap them out of this.”

“If we talk one of the other three out of the hex, maybe their respective group will fizzle out as well?” Hoshi suggested after using the bow of her keyblade to bonk a fairy intern in the head. “It won’t get all of them back to normal, but even six less people is a huge difference.”

“Why not all of them?” Denki suggested.

“If Nate notices that all of his army is back to normal, he might be able to convince them back and remake the army, and then we’d have to repeat the process all over again.” Hoshi deduced. “Talking one person out of this is less noticeable.”

“Good point.” Doki noticed Buzz in the crowd, charging towards her with the lipstick light-saber. She was quick to block it with her keyblade.

“Buzz. Nate. Is. Hexed.” Doki spoke slowly and sternly. “I know he mindfucked you to believe that everything is hunky-dory. But it’s not, and we need your help.”

His eyes began to flicker, but he persisted, exiting the block and attempting to slice Doki in the leg.

“Don’t listen to her, Buzz!” Helen called out. “Nate’s fine. You’re fine. We’re all fine.”

“What she said.” Buzz agreed.

“Look. If I could take a happy pill to pretend that he was fine, I would. He’s my friend as much as he’s your cousin.” Doki sternly defended herself as she dodged Buzz’s slice. “But he’s not okay. His heart is hurting. He’s mindfucking people just to feel. He mindfucked you so you wouldn’t notice. I know it hurts to hear, but this is reality.”

His eyes began to flicker more, and his attempts to hit Doki became easier for her to dodge.

“...Buzz!” Becky took notice. “Remember! You’re fighting for...your cousin!”

Buzz clutched his head, eyes firmly shut. “I’m fighting for him either way. It...hurts, but it’s gonna be fine! Maybe.”

Seeing him struggle, Becky prepared to throw her smoke bomb.

“Becky, don’t you dare.” Doki narrowed her eyes. “Or if you do, at least tell me what’s in that thing.”

It didn’t matter. Without any warning, Becky threw the smoke bomb towards Doki and Buzz, quickly stepping out of the smoke’s radius.

Doki raised her keyblade in an attempt to reflect it, though the smoke bomb hit close enough where the keyblade didn’t even touch it.

She collapsed on the floor.

“...Woah. Is...Is this...” She laughed. “Huh. Guess I CAN be affected by laughing gas. How funny. Ah...I wanna stay like this forever!” She laughed once more. “It’s so fun!”

Buzz’s eyes fully turned back to their normal shade of brown at that moment.

“Shit.” He cursed to himself, wasting no time in grabbing Doki and rushing out of the now-clearing smoke...right in Becky’s direction.

“Hmmmm? Buzz... You’re back to normal, huh.” Doki stirred. “I was really fucking loopy there for like, two seconds, huh? Shit, that felt-”

“Then you’d hate going to a dentist.” was Buzz’s response, gently helping her down before continuing to run off. “I’m gonna transform, be right back!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t say that out loud!” Hoshi called out.

“And...maybe you shouldn’t transform.” Becky, now in Buzz’s view, responded. “...Maybe it would be better to relax?” She smiled as her rose hair clip started glowing.

“Oh no you don’t.” was Hoshi’s response, only to be dog-piled by the remaining soldiers. “Gah! Uh, Kirumi, didn’t ya say there was like a new power thing?!?”

“...No. No, I shouldn’t.” Buzz covered his face, though he found himself unable to move. “Why should I? Nate’s hurting right now. And people are attacking my friends.”

“There’s one for Doki and Denki. Hold on. I’m sending it over now.” Kirumi summoned a ball of magic, shooting it towards the two. It hit them square in their compacts.

“R-Right! And, look at me Buzz... He needs you now more than ever.” Becky reassured him.

“Got it!” Doki yelled. “Robocombo Tourbillon Thundercrash...hold hands...say this...thrust keyblade out- think I got the process down pact. You good there too, Denki?”

Denki, amazed while reading his own visor, nodded. “Just like Futari Wa!!!”

“Huh?”

“T-True.” Buzz struggled, using his other hand to keep his hand in position over his eyes. “But I’d doubt he’d want me to fight against my friends. Right?”

“We aren’t! ...Promise!” Becky continued to reassure him. “That’s why we have these flowers, right? ...We don’t have to fight if...if we get them back on our side.”

“I’ll explain later. Just- hurry up and hold my hand. Buzz’s gonna crack soon.”

Doki nodded, quickly rushing over to Denki.

She squeezed his hand tight.

“The lightning of love!” Denki yelled, holding his keyblade in the air. Teal blue lightning charged on it.

“The light of hope!” Doki did the same thing, with pink lightning charging on it.

“...I…don’t even know who’s in the right anymore.” Buzz struggled, his hand starting to give. “Are we?”

“Of course! I would never lie to you about that.” Becky, seeing Buzz start to give in, flashed her eyes at him. “You can trust me.”

“O hearts filled with darkness, cease this cruel behavior!” Doki yelled, her face in a now angry grimace.

“Or surrender to love and the power of light!” Denki joined in.

They lowered their keyblades towards the soldiers, the lightning becoming more intense as they squeezed their free hands harder, and leaned back, wind blowing their hair rapidly.

“Robocombo Tourbillon Thundercrash!!!”

The beams shot out of their keyblades as they dramatically thrusted them forward, now merged into one and transformed into a wide and massive size. The beam was large enough to hit the entire army, plus Buzz, Becky, and Helen, in its range. When it cleared, everyone sans Nate had collapsed, with the ones under Nate’s hex losing their purple eye glow and flower accessories.

“Alright. I call BS on that one.” Nate fumed. “Deus Ex Machina-type of shit. Do you know how long it took to gain this army that accepted me in the first place?!? One that didn’t think I was a joke ?!”

“Oh come on.” Hoshi rolled her eyes. “You know their loyalty was about as fake as an auto-tuned voice.”

“Stealing that bit.” Doki noted.

“And why do you feel like you needed it in the first place? You certainly didn’t think you were a joke until Kai Waterson over there decided to make fun of you.” Denki added.

“Because deep down, that’s all I have! My image!” Nate growled, his voice wavering and his eyes flickering. “Without it, I’m just a joke with magical girl powers. Without my fame, without my charisma, I’m just a failure of a cousin that can’t even be looked up to. End of story.”

By this time, Buzz and Becky, the latter placing one hand on her forehead, were waking up, with a few of the former soldiers following suit. Helen was still out of it, as were a large majority of the army, but nevertheless, it was right on time to see Nate struggling.

“...I’m supposed to be larger than life. But I’m not. So what does that make me? Huh? A joke, that’s what! A punchline to be groaned at! A person to be yelled at, because I’m too goofy and stupid to do anything without ruining it!”

“No, it makes you a good cousin, dammit.”

“Buzz?” Nate sighed. “Oh...shit. I didn’t-”

“Don’t speak about yourself that way.” Buzz insisted, giving a hug to Nate. “You’re such a good person. Even if you didn’t act, or had +10 charisma, or had bad hair days and acne like the rest of us, I’d still look up to you. Because you’ve got a good heart.”

Oh come on! Colette sharply spoke in his head. You almost tried to hurt them! Might as well go all in and drown in your sorrows. I mean, Becky’s gonna be traumatized forever after that shit, y’know?!?

“...She’s right. I...I tried to hurt you two. How does that make me have a good heart?” Nate’s eyes flickered. “I...know hexes make you do bad things. But I literally mindfucked Becky into being friends with me...and I don’t really have a good excuse for making her like that.” He shivered. “...I’m...I’m not even sure if I deserve to be friends with her after this. At least you...at least you could understand. I don’t know if she would.”

“B-But..." Becky, still clutching her head, got up. “You really do. Y-You helped acquaint me...around on my first day. And even when you...you accidentally...upset me? ...You owed up to your mistakes. That...That’s what it means to...to have a good heart.”

“...”

Nate’s eyes sharply went back to their green color, and he fell to his knees.

“Fuck.”

“Nate?!?” Buzz rushed over, offering to help him up. “...You okay?”

“Any chance you remembered who hexed you?” Hoshi called out.

“Not the time.” Doki hissed.

“Well, he’s gonna forget MORE when we heal him. What better time is there?”

“Oh. Good idea.” Nate sighed as Buzz helped him up. “Becky, Buzz, you two transform, I’m gonna fill these three in while you do so, okay?”

“Okay.” Becky responded.

“Got it.” Buzz nodded. 

The two rushed out, compacts in hand.

“...Okay. So, her name’s Colette, right?” Nate clutched his head. “She had a human form that she used to pin me to the wall. Had like, a purple outfit and a swoopy-bang sorta thing. Outfit didn’t look to fit the occasion, it was too fancy, yet also super casual at the same time? Think it was the sleeves and white gloves, honestly.” He sighed. “Though, a curtain dropped over her...and that’s when things kinda got fuzzy, but she had a leotard and gray skin, and like, a mask sorta thing? Like the one I’m wearing. Looked sorta like a fancy-dressed gymnast. Anyways, she pinned me to the wall to fluster me and prevent me from thinking straight. Helped that she was busty.”

“...So. You got distracted by the sexy?” Hoshi deadpanned.

“Yeah, sorta. But the fact that Colette was able to deduce what would affect me? I’m honestly sorta impressed. That’s some real good detective work she did.” Nate couldn’t help but sound intrigued. “The way she rubbed my ego too. Can’t be mad at that.”

“We’re back!” Hino ran in, with Luna following.

“Headache’s gone!” Luna informed the gang.

“Then I guess we can start the magic.” Doki summoned her paintbrush. “Shall we?”

The rest followed suit.

***

“REWRITE YOUR FUTURE! REPAINT YOUR HEART!”

The Robodoki gang yelled as they used their paintbrushes to paint hearts on their chests, covering them in white light. When it cleared, they had gained a white artist smock over their original dresses, which were covered in neon splotches representing their theme color on both the skirt itself and the sleeves. A white beret with their respective pastel-colored card symbol, plus angel wings, completed their upgrade.

“Robostory Mode, Fully Charged!” They yelled as they leapt into the air, soaring around a bit before approaching ground level.

“With our hearts as one, let our colors combine!” They placed the brush tip near the ground, working together to paint a heart outline on the ground, surrounding the hex around a heart-shaped forcefield when done. Then, landing on the ground, they held their brushes into the air, causing their respective colors to shoot out of the brushes. Said colors combined into a gigantic heart, held up as if the brushes were causing it to levitate.

“Robodoki! Hopeful Halation… MIX!!!!!”

Thrusting their paintbrushes down at the word ‘Mix’, the heart fell down with them, landing with a thud straight onto Nate. He was surrounded by rainbow-colored smoke, purifying him. 

“Made your heart race!” The gang cheered as they leapt up in victory. Said smoke surrounded the area, healing those who were infected and the damage caused by the hex.

***

“Hey...Becky? Are you okay?” Roxanne peeked into the research office. Becky, now in pod form, was startled by her appearance.

“...I’m...I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to-”

“Hey. It’s...understandable.” She walked in the room. “Sometimes hexes make you do bad things, because evil tastes good and all that jazz. If it didn’t, nobody would be hexed.” Roxanne stopped. “...Unless I’m misreading the situation.”

“But I...I tried to look away...yet he still got me. I’m afraid of what else I did..." Becky admitted.

“You didn’t do much other than command an army of people and try to get Buzz re-hexed. All normal stuff for being under someone’s control, and all undone by the end of this.” Roxanne reassured. “Besides, that flower-”

“I... I what?!” Becky was shocked at the reveal. She slowly closed up the pod, with only her eyes being visible.

“...Okay. Maybe I’m desensitized to all this. I...shouldn’t have told you, or at least told you more tactfully.” Roxanne admitted. “But you weren’t yourself, okay? That’s the most important part.”

“...I kinda understand.” Becky calmed down, opening back up. “If anyone understands...it’s you.”

“Thanks.” Roxanne smiled slightly. “...That time wasn’t exactly the best for me, and it sucked to see you go through it too. Honest.” She offered a hug. “...Want a cooldown hug before you go out there?”

“Y-Yeah, that’d be nice.”

The two embraced, taking deep breaths all the while. Becky teared up a bit, letting the last of her stress out.

***

“Okay. I’m not a monster.” Becky, back in her human form, told herself. “I...just need to get through the rest of the day. That’s all.”

“Hey, uh, Becky?” A voice rang out. There, a dark-skinned, pink-tailed merman in a wheelchair approached her. He had gills as a replacement for ears, a light-blue sleeveless shirt detailed with a magenta skull print, and a dark red mullet haircut. His tail was decorated with a light gray metal chain, tied in an x shape near his merman fin and decorated with black studs. “You’re the plant expert, right?”

“Yeah. I am.”

“My buddies and I had a question about where we’re supposed to go for the research thing. We’re new here.” The merman admitted. “...Also, what was with all the people gathering on the second floor? They were saying something about a hex or something. Is that a club?”

“Oh, the research room? It’s-” She paused, sweating a bit. “Um...I’d ask Helen about the...hex thing.”

“Leave her be. She’s clearly stressed out.” A ghost faded in. She was some sort of Asian ghost, her body see-through, wearing a purple beanie to accent her black hair. Her arms were secreting some sort of goo, and her black, trendy clothes were covered in kanji. She wore purple laced up boots and had chain themed jewelry throughout that seemed to rattle as she moved. “Sorry about Jess. He’s too invasive.”

“Mayoi...” Jess huffed. “I’m just asking her where the research room is.”

“Not from what I saw. Did you forget that I can turn invisible?”

“She’s right about that.” A gargoyle, wearing a red polo shirt, blue jeans, and black work boots walked in. He had a crack on his left eye, and his wings were chipped. 

“Louis, don’t take her side.” Jess protested.

Becky froze in place at the sudden gathering.

“If we’re gonna argue, we should probably move it to the research room.” Mayoi sighed. “...You don’t even remember where she said it was, do you?”

“She didn’t say!” Jess protested.

“I mean...the siren’s got ya there, May.”

“It’s merman , I thought we went over this. I only use the power to prank people and nothing else.”

“I was about to say but-” Becky started to feel tense. “I just... don’t ...want to talk about the hexes!”

“...Wait, so you know?” Jess tilted his head.

“JESS.” Mayoi growled. “Sorry, we’re going to go now-”

That was her breaking point.

*POOF!*

“...S-Sorry..." Realizing that she had turned back into her pod form, Becky apologized, a few tears starting to form.

“...Oh!” Jess beamed. “You’re a monster, just like us!”

“Jess, I SWEAR TO GOD.” Mayoi facepalmed. “He didn’t mean it like-”

But Becky had already floated away from the scene.

“...Well!” Mayoi groaned. “If the hexes are what I think they are, then I hope you’re happy.”

“What do you think they are?” Louis asked.

“Something that made Nate crazy and tried to target me.” Mayoi insisted. “Said he needed some help to prove a point to some Doki gang or whatever. I vanished and he didn’t notice, but his eyes were crazy and purple, kinda like the spellbook I’ve been reading about villain-making mind seduction. And the fact that I saw a whole bunch of people collapsed in the foyer and Nate in tears soon after, I don’t think it’s gonna turn out good for us.” She fumed. “We could be in major trouble.”

“...So it’s not a club?” Jess asked.

“Of course it isn’t.” Mayoi facepalmed. “Stay here. I’m gonna talk Becky out of this. If the chapter I read is correct, I won’t have much time if I don’t go now.”

“...Okay.” Jess shrugged. “I still think maybe you’ve been reading too many spell books for a ghost who can’t even do spells.”

“You watch surfing videos and you can’t even surf.” Mayoi retorted as she vanished.

“...Touche.” Jess sighed, slumping into his wheelchair. “I’ll just stay here, then.”

“Same. Not like we’ve got much better to do.” Louis agreed.

The group didn’t know how Jess’s comment hurt Becky. Nor the experiences that led to this moment.

But...they would soon enough.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter Text

“...Oh boy.” The Ringmaster sighed, walking through the empty circus tent, a cane in his hand clacking on the floor. His head wasn’t visible, only the shadowy, pitch-black silhouette of his Scrooge-like suit. “A vision about Becky, feeling like she’s a monster due to her past experiences...and...this is gonna trigger her like it did Cerise.”

Silence.

“...Well, I think I may have a way around this, at least, one that isn’t going to risk the spell wearing off.” He glanced at a nearby metal circus sign, tapping it with his hand. This caused the text to swirl, turning into a magic mirror of sorts. 

“...Eloise? You’ve got a mission.” He spoke into the mirror, causing the image to turn to Eloise cooking lunch. She slowly turned towards the ‘camera’ and jumped back.

“Huh?! Oh! Sorry, I was-”

“Cooking lunch? No worries, I’ll take care of it for you.” The Ringmaster reassured. “Becky’s upset that she feels like a monster.”

“...Because she is one, or-”

“No, no.” He gave a gentle laugh, as if to hide his unsureness. Eloise felt comforted by his grandpa-esque tone. “It’s merely because she feels like she’s a monster by being affected by all of those hexes, and causing them, and that sort of thing. Some intern at the studio yelled that she was a monster and it triggered her, so we’re going to take advantage of that irrational grief.”

“Oh. Well...in that case, I’ll do it!” Eloise beamed. “How long-”

“Wait, she’s getting the mission?!?” Marie appeared in a puff of smoke, causing The Ringmaster to cringe. “She coasted through the last one and it ended badly for her! Besides, I would know more about Becky than she does!”

“You’ll get another mission soon, Marie. Promise.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “She just needs someone a bit more gentle to get through to her.”

“...Ugh fine, you got me.” Marie rolled her eyes, turning to a sheepish Eloise. “Just get the identities of the others, okay? Or at least...I dunno, two of them or something.”

“Got it.” Elosie nodded, walking over to the living room bookshelf.

This time, she won’t let her friends down.

***

“But I...I tried to look away...yet he still got me. I’m afraid of what else I did..." Becky admitted.

“You didn’t do much other than command an army of people and try to get Buzz re-hexed. All normal stuff for being under someone’s control, and all undone by the end of this.” Roxanne reassured. “Besides, that flower-”

“I... I what?!” Becky was shocked at the reveal. She slowly closed up the pod, with only her eyes being visible.

“...Okay. Maybe I’m desensitized to all this. I...shouldn’t have told you, or at least told you more tactfully.” Roxanne admitted. “But you weren’t yourself, okay? That’s the most important part.”

“...I kinda understand.” Becky calmed down, opening back up. “If anyone understands...it’s you.”

It’s true that Roxanne would easily understand whatever it was that Becky had gone through earlier. But she couldn’t help but think about how she was being controlled against her own will. It reminded her of what she had done all those years ago...long before she became a human. But...she wanted to keep those thoughts repressed. She wasn’t a monster, she kept trying to tell herself. Besides, she’s a magical girl now, and she has enjoyed helping others overcome their despair.

What about Jess, though? His words echoed in her head.

“You’re a monster, just like us!”

Well, that was hard to shake off. Given that she had failed to keep her research partner, Jerri, and her mentor, Felicia, safe from being hexed in the first place; she fell victim to a hexed Nate; someone questioned her about the Hexes; and now strangers know that she’s a body swapper, maybe he said that for a reason. He clearly accepted that inhuman creatures like his group are just monsters, and she’s inhuman herself. She has to keep up this human facade just to coexist. If she didn’t have this “disguise magic” as she called it, she would be just that. A monster.

Besides Roxanne and Felicia, why won’t anyone else understand her pain?

***

Becky had decided to lie down near the topiary area as she had before. Just a few deep breaths...

*POOF!*

...and she had restabilized her human form. The fear of no one else seeing her like the monster she is had dissipated, but it was too late anyway. She still felt discomfort.

“I... thought ...I wasn’t a monster.” She quietly spoke to herself. “...I was wrong. Even if I try to help people, it doesn’t matter. They care more about what I am than who I am.”

She sighed.

“...Hi.” Eloise, in her human form, shyly approached Becky. “I...heard you were feeling like a monster. And...I get it. I’m actually one too.”

Becky jumped a bit at the stranger, making sure to not show any panic.

“Oh! Sorry.” Eloise apologized. “I...just saw your pain and wanted to help. Honest.”

“I-I just didn’t think anyone would see me here, that’s all.” Becky admitted. “Look, things are just stressful for me right now. I...don’t want to go into any detail about it. Some people have just...made things a lot worse, yeah.” That was true, but she had to hide the more important details in fear of what this girl would think of her.

“...Is it creepy to say that I’ve heard about the hexing thing, and-"

“...Please don’t.” Becky tensed up a bit at those words.

“...Sorry. I...just want to let you vent it out a bit? They called you a monster. I...don’t think that’s fair. You’re not evil, far from it. Those jerks were...well, from what my boss has heard, thought you were evil because of a few actions. And...” She paused, struggling to figure out the words.

Maybe Marie should’ve gone instead. Not that it mattered. It seemed like Becky was relating.

“...I think you’re really cool.” Eloise smiled. “...I’ve seen you around the office, and...your kindness and empathy really make you strong.”

“Really?” Becky looked at Eloise. “...People say that about me and yet they don’t-” She stopped herself. “Sorry about that. I was about to trail off there.” She laughed it off, clearly trying to hide that she almost revealed her monstrous identity to her.

Elosie laughed back, though in a more gentle, reassuring way. “...I guess those interns don’t have what you have, is what I was saying. Sometimes, you’ve gotta stand up for yourself and show them how it feels to be a monster. Make them understand what you go through every single day.”

“Well..." Becky started. “Jess did call me a monster... ‘just like his group’. I guess they don’t understand after all.” She sighed as her eyes glowed purple. “I do need to stand up for myself, honestly.”

Eloise nodded. “It’s something I need to work on too. Together, we’re going to teach them a lesson in empathy.”

The crowd noises began to ring out once more as a pink curtain fell over her. When it cleared, her clown outfit was in full display.

“Now take your seats, folks! The show is about to begin!”

***

The spotlight fell on Becky as the audience began to murmur, and on Eloise, who seemingly had a straight shot towards her mark.

So she ran...only to slip on a banana peel and land on her bottom. The crowd laughed wildly. Blushing, yet unphased, she continued on.

Only to slip on a roller skate.

The crowd laughed harder at the faceplant, all the while Eloise looked mortified at the response.

Still she continued on, barely flinching at a pie being thrown in her face and the roaring laughter that resulted from it. And when she finally got to Becky, she hugged her, causing the purple smoke to surround her body.

“You don’t have to feel alone, so go get 'em, hex.” Eloise whispered softly, to mild applause as the smoke and the illusion faded.

***

“WAIT!!! Becky, BECKY!” Mayoi panted as she floated into the scene, only to stop upon seeing her purple eyes and new look...and a lack of Eloise to boot.

Her hair was longer and more unkempt, a loose medium wavy style, and though she still retained the stem-like ponytail, the bottom of her hair faded into a dark green. Her skin was light green and veiny, most noticeably on her face. She wore a brown, loose, sleeveless top that had leaves growing into a collar, lime green vines growing into a bow, and a hot pink crown-of-thorns flower growing on the center of the bow. She wore forest green pants and brown flats accented with roses. Perhaps the most monstrous thing, however, were the tangled, more realistic vines almost completely covering her arms, with said vines being covered with thorns.

“...Becky. We didn’t mean it. I promise you, Jess is normally not that callous. He was just happy to see someone like him in the office-”

“The problem is that you guys obviously have no clue what it means to BE a monster. You’d never understand!” Becky vented as she approached Mayoi.

Suddenly, the vines around her right arm unraveled, shooting out at Mayoi and enclosing her.

“Becky?!? What- what are you doing?” Mayoi panicked as they began to consume her. “...I-”

“Oh, this?” Becky smirked. “You’ll understand soon enough. Just like you should have before.”

“...I...” Her eyes began to water up as she was fully consumed by the vines, into a pod-like container.

Good job! You tell her! Eloise applauded. Teach her that lesson!

“O-Oh, thanks um..." Becky trailed off, not knowing what to call her ally.

Oh! Uh...call me Elle. That’s what my friends call me...sometimes.

“Elle! Yeah, thanks again.”

You’re welcome! It’s cathartic for me too. She admitted as the pod faded back into the ground and the vines wrapped back around Becky’s arm, showcasing Mayoi as a more traditional Japanese stringy-haired ghost girl. Her eyes were stoic and dull, but Becky didn’t seem to mind.

“Anyway, how about you show me where your two friends are? I’ve got...things...to do with them.” Becky requested.

“It will be done.” Mayoi nodded, floating towards the door. Becky followed.

***

“...Any luck contacting May?” Jess asked, scrolling through his phone.

“Nope.” Louis sighed, slumping on the wall.

Silence.

“...I feel...a dark presence around here.” Louis suddenly grew tense.

“What? The whole dark magic sense thing? Give me a break.” Jess didn’t bother to look up. “Last time you thought that spider-sense was going off, it turned out you just had nerves.”

“Hey, it’s a similar-”

*ZIP!*

“Woah, what the fuck-” The duo found their arms tangled in vines, and noticed Mayoi and Becky looming in the distance.

“There they are.” Mayoi nodded.

“What- Mayoi- what the fuck?!? Snap out of it, man!” Jess pleaded.

“...Becky...” Louis sadly looked at her. “...You think you’re a monster, but you’re not. I’ve seen that look before. I’ve lived through-”

“Well, if you guys think I’m not a monster, why did you call me one? ...Because that’s what I am. Simple enough.” Becky responded, with little care of how panicked they were. “Clearly you don’t see things from my point of view, so why not fix that?”

“I didn’t say-” Louis started, only for him and Jess to be fully engulfed in the vines-turned-pods.

***

“So, anyways, Bob and I are gonna do tacky matching costumes this year! I’m roller skating Barbie, and he’s gonna be roller skating- Shit.” Aianna suddenly clutched her heart, as the rest of the Robodoki gang looked on.

“What?!?” Buzz sounded nervous. “Who is it? Sounds-”

“...Becky’s hexed.”

“...No.” Roxanne softly exclaimed as she stepped back in shock. “...She’s- what-”

“...She’s been stressed because she feels like a monster.” Aianna explained. “Between her being a pod person, not being able to help prevent people from being hexed, the time where she and Buzz got mindfucked...and some personal past bits.”

“What personal past bits?” Nate asked.

“I don’t know. My heart-wavering sense detects what’s inside hearts , not minds. Guess her heart doesn’t want us to know, and I think we should respect that.” Aianna shrugged, looking at Nate as she said that last bit. He gave a ‘yeah, I expected that’ nod, and the group stood up. “...We should probably go and fight her before she hexes other people.”

“Oh...I so agree.” Roxanne spoke, body shaking, fists clenched. “Whoever took advantage of her wavering heart...they’re going down .”

“Guess you really care about her-”

“Shut up, Nate.” was Roxanne’s response as the group pulled out their compacts from their bags. Kiruru appeared next to Aianna, and the group posed.

***

"Kiruru!"

"Mirror of Miracles,"

"Magical Set!"

"Lend me your magic!" As the group said those words, the background behind them transformed into a mixture of bright yellow, pastel orange, bright purple, silver and light pink. Bob waved his hand over his compact mirror, causing it to float into the air and for his entire body to gain a teal-colored shirt and shorts combo. Buzz, Nate and Roxanne did the same, but their outfits were light red, neon green and lavender colored respectively. And after a few backflips, Kiruru flew into Aianna's chest, giving her a metallic chestplate and turning Kiruru into a jewel resembling the paint and gem that acted as the robot's core.

"Doki!" Aianna yelled,

"Doki!" then the other four,

" Lovely Start!" The group yelled together as they immediately began to spin around each other, before separating out in their own transformations. For everyone except Aianna, the compact flipped 360 degrees before it landed on their chests. Then all their compacts solidified into a metallic chest plate, transforming into a built in jewel as their sleeves/sleeve details formed on their shoulders.

For Aianna, cotton candy blue and pastel pink hearts flew out of the screen as she lept upwards and continued to spin around in the air, hands crossed in an x shaped formation across her chest. Two lightning strikes hit Bob's arms and surrounded them with magic, to which he crossed them into an x shape. That movement created his white gloves. Buzz did so too as fire went down his sleeves, as did Roxanne with her star dust and Nate with his pixels. Then everyone rejoined the same transformation plane as they all thrusted out their hands to the sides, grasping each other's hands as the details formed onto their gloves. They spun each other around in gradually increasing speed as their hair gained their signature styles and accessories, including the visors, before using the momentum to fling themselves back into separate transformation planes.

Robodoki crashed into the pile of hearts as normal, while Buzz and Bob's pillars of their respective elements allowed them to screech to a halt, Roxanne used the momentum to begin diving down, and Nate skidded to a stop, posing as the polygons hit him. All five forms of magic made their outfits and boots, and as Kiruru screamed its battle cry the team began to recite their speeches.

"When two hearts collide, then anything can happen!" Robodoki thrusted her arms out as if offering a hug for the first part of the sentence, spreading more cotton candy hearts out, before transitioning to a spin on the second part. Right on cue, a giant blue key summoned in her right hand, and she placed it behind her just before widening her stance and posing. Both of her hands formed in a heart shape on the right side of her chest.

"Call me Robodoki, cuz' I'll make your heart race!"

"The power of love that'll leave you in shock!" Bob covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before transitioning to posing with peace signs, almost failing to grab the keyblade as it fell. Nevertheless, after fumbling with it a bit he stuck it behind him, before spinning one last time and widening his stance. His hands formed a diamond shape to the right of his chest.

"Call me Robodenki, cuz' I'll light up your heart!"

"The power of courage that'll grow with the flames!" Buzz covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before proceeding to punch and kick a bunch, catching his clover key and placing it behind him during that sequence. Then, he spun one last time and widened his stance, his hands forming a clover shape to the right of his chest.

"Call me Robohino, cuz I'll make your heart burn!"

"The power of strength that will shoot for the stars!" Roxanne covered her hands across her heart for the first part of that sentence, before flipping her hair dramatically and punching her fists together. After catching her key and placing it behind her, she spun one last time and widened her stance, her hands forming a spade shape to the right of her chest.

"Call me Robohoshi, cuz' I'll fix your heart's wishes!"

"The power of wit that'll glitch out the evil!" Nate covered his hands across his heart for the first part of that sentence, before blowing a kiss towards the audience with a wink, a flirting smirk on his face. Then, he caught his key, tossed it in his slot, spun one last time and widened his stance. His right hand formed a J on the right of his chest.

"Call me Robopixel, cuz' I'll patch your hurt heart!"

"With our lovely hearts, the future will start!" The magical girls, now holding hands with Robodoki in the center, recited the speech while quickly spinning each other, transitioning to a playful embrace. Then they dramatically faced the camera as they completed their second spin, posing with widened stances and salutes over their foreheads.

"We'll make your heart race! Magical Robodoki!"

***

“Alright...Robopixel...Scan!” Pixel yelled as light from his visor gleaned from left to right, making a scanning noise. After his eyes went left to right like he was reading, Pixel turned to his team. 

“Oop. They are-”

“Right here! And I’ve got backup.”

Becky smirked as she and her minions approached the group. Jess was a scaly, monstrous, green-gilled monster with a mermaid tail, floating in the air like he was underwater. Meanwhile, Louis resembled a gargoyle version of Chernabog, right down to a massive, hulking size.

Doki tried to retain her composure.

“...Uh, I know you feel like a monster right now, Becky, but turning people into them is unforgivable-”

“LET GO OF HER!!!”

“Hoshi- wait-”

But Hino was too slow on the draw. Hoshi charged towards Louis, dodging a swipe from his clawed hands, and managed to strike him in the head.

Denki muttered something, holding his keyblade high into the air. 

Nothing happened.

“If you don’t let go of her, you stupid circus freak, I’ll...I’ll find you, JERK! And I’ll kick your ass SO hard!”

Hoshi, meanwhile, dodged a punch from the ground, courtesy of Mayoi, and charged towards Becky.

“Resilient, aren’t you?” Becky noticed.

“SHUT THE HELL UP!” Hoshi growled. “You’re not my Becky. Becky would hate this. You’re just a mindfucked pawn of that stupid hex group. Just like I was.”

“So?!” Becky yelled in response. “I can finally embrace the monster that I’ve always been!”

*ZIP ZIP ZIP!*

She shot out her vines, and Hoshi managed to jump over them, though not before being punched by Louis.

“And so can they!” She declared, with her arms crossed as Hoshi fell to the ground.

Jess cleared his throat. “Want me to serenade her so she can be converted or something? I mean, I can do that. Make her all peaceful and shit so she won’t resist.”

Hoshi looked horrified for a split second, before resuming her stoic demeanor. “My Becky wouldn’t let that happen.”

Becky glared at Jess, albeit with curiosity that slowly turned to interest. “Show her.”

He approached. Hoshi felt her palms shaking.

“O...kay...guess we’re doing...the thing together, huh?” Denki nudged Doki’s shoulder, then nodded at his keyblade.

“You sure it’ll work?”

“It cured the army of Nate stans, it’ll cure this. If not, I’ll buy you an ice cream. At a different place this time.”

“If we’re not dead or monstrous by then.” Doki teased. ”Let’s try while they’re still occupied. And may my sister forgive me.”

“That’s the spirit.”

“...Okay. I have a couple of these songs in my arsenal, but this is one I won a chorus award for. Nobody will be able to resist.” Jess reassured, preparing to sing.

“Please just...just act quickly before-” Becky rushed him.

“Come little children

I'll take thee away

Into a land of enchantment...”

“No...I got to-” Hoshi tried to get up, but Becky used her vines to hold her down by her hands.

“You’re not going anywhere .” Becky warned her.

“The lightning of love!” Denki yelled, holding his keyblade in the air. Teal blue lightning charged on it.

“The light of hope!” Doki did the same thing, with pink lightning charging on it.

“Come little children

The time's come to play

Here in my garden of shadows...”

“I...I...” She yawned. “No. Can’t nod off. Can’t...song’s...no.”

“O hearts filled with darkness, cease this cruel behavior!” Doki yelled, her face in a now angry grimace.

“Or surrender to love and the power of light!” Denki joined in.

“Follow sweet children

I'll show thee the way

Through all the pain

And the sorrows...”

“I...am...pretty tired.” Hoshi admitted, slumping downwards. “...Maybe I should...”

“Weep not poor children

For life is this way

Murdering beauty and passions...”

“I’m...safe.” Her face went into a dopey smile. “Yeah. You wouldn’t hurt me, Becky, right? We’re friends.”

Doki and Denki lowered their keyblades towards the monsters, the lightning becoming more intense as they squeezed their free hands harder, and leaned back, wind blowing their hair rapidly.

“Yeah, don’t worry. It won’t hurt.” Becky softly smiled, although there was a hint of malice behind her voice. The vines retracted from around Hoshi’s hands, who found herself on the floor, lying down, half asleep. The vines were prepared to wrap around the sleeping magical girl’s body.

“Robocombo Tourbillon Thundercrash!!!”

The beams shot out of their keyblades as they dramatically thrusted them forward, now merged into one and transformed into a wide and massive size. The beam was large enough to hit the monsters in its range. When it cleared, everyone except Becky had collapsed, or in Jess’s case, slumped over his wheelchair. Hoshi shot back up from her sleeping position, and every monster was back to their normal self.

“Doki? The fuck happ-”

“ Sorry , sorry. I wanted to stop that too. It hurt, but I kinda needed them not on our trail?” Doki spoke quickly. “I wouldn’t leave you like this, honest-”

“Just...never mind.” Hoshi dismissed her. “Go talk Becky down. I need to recover and figure out how the hell I’m gonna sleep tonight.”

“...Are you sure? This whole scenario is something in your jurisdiction, y’know. That is, if you’re comfortable with it.”

Silence. Doki took that as a no and quietly approached her.

“Hey. You’re not a monster, okay? But those hexes...you can tell, it made you one.” Doki reassured her. “Is this a way to fix it?”

“Um..." Becky, her eyes starting to flicker, wasn’t sure how to respond to Doki’s question.

Uh, YES it is! Eloise fumed. Yeah, I know. Mind control isn’t your thing. But you did something like this before. I saw your memories. I know that stupid Ringmaster hid that “body swapper” thing from me. But whatever. The point is, they’re just trying to get you to stop. They’re not trying to reassure you because they care. They’re trying to reassure you because you’re acting like a monster. So show her what we do to people like them!!

“...YOU FOUND OUT ABOUT THAT , ELLE?!?” Becky suddenly yelled in rage, her eyes flickering back to their purple color.

Oh...mental connection. Sorry... Should’ve been more honest. Eloise sounded genuinely shocked. Well...at least you’re back on track. I’ll leave you to it.

“What the hell?!? Becky, what did Elle say?!?” Doki brandished her weapon, then quickly put it up. “...Oh. Not a clever move, huh.”

“...Forget it. I’m back to where I was before, where no one can understand me...unless..." Suddenly, the vines from Becky’s arms shot themselves towards Doki. “...Maybe it would help if YOU could.”

Doki yelped in surprise.

“Oh, HELL no.” Hino growled as he rushed over, only for Hoshi to hold him back. “Dude, she’s turning into fucking Robocop. Let me go.”

“What if they’re contagious? I’m not losing you too.” She sternly remarked.

“I don’t know!!! I just- I want to help her out. Becky and Doki. They’re both my friends, and I-”

“-Can never forgive myself, I know. Double the same here, but it’s not like we can get through to her now.”

“Hold on! I’ve got something!” Kirumi’s voice rang out, a ball of light hitting the two’s compacts soon after.

“...Huh.” Hino mused, gazing at his visor. “You’d think I’d get this with Nate-”

*PEW!*

Their conversation was interrupted by a stray laser beam, courtesy of a wax figure-esque Doki. Looking straight out of The Terminator , she was holding a giant gun and had a stoic look to match her magenta latex bodysuit and tight ballet bun.

“That was a warning.” Doki sternly looked at them. She stood in front of Becky, acting as a guardian for her.

“...Is it weird that I want to-”

“CUZ.” Hino growled, before sighing, his hand in a facepalm. “Okay. You and Denki distract her.”

“Got it.” Pixel nodded as they rushed over. Hino and Hoshi then turned to the interns.

“As for the rest of you...any of you’ve felt like a monster before? We’re going to need you to talk her down and restrain her.” 

“And you’ll get superpowers-” Hoshi started.

“-a superpower -” Hino corrected.

“- a superpower out of the deal.”

Louis stepped forward.

“...I’ve...had a past that sorta counts.” Louis sighed. “I was raised by-”

“Save the explanation for Becky.” Hino interrupted. “...Now. Are you ready to become a flying brick?” He paused. “I mean, minus the flying part.”

“So just super strength? I dunno.” Louis admitted. “Not really a super strength type of guy. Maybe if I could just get her out of the way and talk her down, we’ll be good.”

“Can you pick up people?” Hoshi asked.

“Yeah. Ain’t made of stone for nothing.” Louis awkwardly smirked, doing some finger guns in the process. “...Did that look too forced?”

“Kinda. But that’s not important.” Hoshi admitted as she and Hino clasped hands. “So you’re gonna get the flying power. Is that alright?”

“I’d love that!” Louis geeked.

“Alright.” Hino smiled as their hands began to glow a bright blue. Slowly letting go of their hands, they created a blue star.

“Robocombo Sunshine Starpower!!!” They yelled as the star exploded, going supernova into a sort of shockwave. It hit Louis straight in the chest, and he began to hover slightly.

“Oh my god. I’m actually-”

“You’ve got a minute. Be quick.” Hino urged, a bit of a groan in his voice.

“Right. Becky, hold on.” He zoomed towards Becky, grabbing her by her arms before she could react. 

“What?!? Let...let go! D-Doki?!? A little help?!?”

*PEW PEW PEW PEW!*

Louis didn’t say a word, instead flying towards a nearby office room while avoiding several laser beam shots from Doki.

“...I’m gonna make sure he doesn’t shoot himself in the foot with his speech.” Hoshi looked at Hino. “You try to talk some sense into my Terminatrix sister.”

Hino nodded, a smirk on his face as the two parted ways.

***

“What was THAT about?!” Becky exclaimed as she struggled to get out of Louis’s hold on her.

“...Now, uh, before you do the whole ‘monster-conversion’ thing, promise to hear me out, okay?” Louis tried to sound as calm as possible, while holding her hands. “...Typical, I guess. Asking for a last speech. But...I feel like it’s very important.”

Seeing the emotion in his eyes upon saying that last bit, Becky relented.

“...Fine.” She rolled her eyes at him. “But you better make this quick. Else I’ll-”

“Deal.” Louis nodded, beginning his tale.

***

“I...I’m actually over 100 years old. I’ve been here since the 1920’s. Well, sorta.

My...dad, I guess, tried to bring me to life in Paris as a young boy. He was a demon, kinda like Redacted, but French. Maybe one of his uncles. The ritual, I’m told, was interrupted, and it only accidentally completed itself when he became the same eternal age as me. So, like an adult.

He didn’t want kids, he was shocked and scared. I was too. He told me to get out. I took some of his notes and went. I later learned his wife wasn’t the best in terms of...keeping her temper in check, and she clearly didn’t want kids. Thus, I had to go.

And so...I roamed. Lived through the roaring twenties, the Great Depression, the second world war...and I'm not even kidding, I remained in my eternal adult state. While I eventually was able to get records of my existence a few years into the whole thing, people would still stare and judge.

It became less and less frequent the more I aged, but I had moments of power incontinence that would scare people away. One dark magic laser I had during an anger spell cursed a family’s lineage to have eternal bad luck. I was driven from that town that day, and I still haven’t been able to come back. It happened more often than you’d think.

And I never really had any real friends. Even in this tolerant world, the whole concept of a now immortal stone being brought to life by dark magic and disowned was a bit too much, and people ran away. Children grew up and became cruel. Other children were forbidden to see me. And I never really had a human form to fit in...so...it’s kinda...yeah.”

***

Near the end of his tale, his flight power had run out, but he had made sure to safely land himself and Becky back down.

“...I know it sounds strange, and you don’t have to believe it, but...it’s true.” Louis insisted. “...And that’s why it kills me to see you like this. I’ve felt all that pain before. Feeling like you don’t belong, feeling like you’re hurting people, all because you exist. And everything you do, hexed or not...just makes it feel worse. That’s what I was talking about with that feeling. I...meant every word.”

He cringed, preparing himself for a sudden vine attack.

So it surprised him when she didn’t.

“...You went through all of that...?” Becky sounded amazed at what Louis had endured, and her eyes began to flicker again. “You...went through worse, but I...I understand...the pain...”

“...Yeah.” Louis admitted. “I sounded like an anime character there. Look twenty but I’m secretly a hundred. Oh, and a demon. Well, if you ask the Williams family, who’s probably still cursing my name or something.” He gave an awkward chuckle. “But...don’t think that I went through worse. We still went through the same thing on the surface.”

“I’ll take it from here.” Hoshi spoke gently, peeking in the door. Touching her compact, she transformed back into Roxanne and placed the compact in her cardigan pocket.

She hesitantly walked over towards Becky.

“...You okay?”

“To be honest? ...I’m not sure.” Becky started crying as she became more aware of her surroundings. “This...This whole hex thing reminds me of...stuff I did long ago. I feel like I ruined people’s lives. I didn’t know anything about them, but I...I still swapped bodies with them whenever I could...just to understand humans better. In the end, I...those people were mocked because they seemed...oblivious to everything. And looking back...it was almost like-”

She stopped herself. Her eyes had turned back to their normal gray color.

“It still haunts me to this day... I probably should have said something from the beginning...but I had to hide it and...try to move on. Try to accept myself as a person. I genuinely wanted to help others. To understand their struggles. They deserved better...than...”

“...I totally understand.” Roxanne teared up with her. “...I know this is not the same, but I...” She sighed, her lips quivering, fists clenched. ”...when my mom corrupted me, I hurt others without knowing as well. At least from what I was told. While I don’t have memories...I remember...feelings.” She choked, her body shaking. “...in...in...my state of rage, it didn’t matter who I'd hurt or who I’d target. I...just wanted to vent my frustrations out on people like they were puppets. They were puppets to me, I-” She sniffled. “-Puppets that I had to control in order to...order to-”

She couldn’t make it through that sentence.

“...I’m...sorry.” She spoke through her tears. “Like you said. You try to move on. But...it haunts...” 

She couldn’t make it through that sentence either.

“...N-No, I’m sorry...” Becky leaned against the office walls. “I didn’t mean to remind you of your past... I didn’t mean to...to hurt others again... I just... I...” She struggled to finish.

“Can we cry it out together?” Roxanne asked. “I...feel like it would make us both feel better.”

Silence. Louis looked on awkwardly.

“Can I...go now-”

“You can go, Louis...” Becky told him as she slowly tried to embrace Roxanne in a hug.

Instead, she found herself falling into Roxanne’s arms.

“Oop. There ya go.” Roxanne gently hugged back.

“I was in a spandex suit? Nothing else? You guys are pulling my leg.” 

“Latex, Doki, and you looked kinda-” Pixel looked at an unamused Hino. “...Cute in it?”

“I know what you meant.” Doki rolled her eyes, then glanced over at Roxanne, who was putting her compact back on her chest. “So, now we’re even.”

“Yep.” Roxanne smiled as stars surrounded her, transforming her into Robohoshi. “Let’s heal her heart.”

The five summoned their paintbrushes in response.

***

“REWRITE YOUR FUTURE! REPAINT YOUR HEART!”

The Robodoki gang yelled as they used their paint brushes to paint hearts on their chests, covering them in white light. When it cleared, they had gained a white artist smock over their original dresses, which were covered in neon splotches representing their theme color on both the skirt itself and the sleeves. A white beret with their respective pastel-colored card symbol, plus angel wings, completed their upgrade.

“Robostory Mode, Fully Charged!” They yelled as they leapt into the air, soaring around a bit before approaching ground level.

“With our hearts as one, let our colors combine!” They placed the brush tip near the ground, working together to paint a heart outline on the ground, surrounding the hex around a heart-shaped forcefield when done. Then, landing on the ground, they held their brushes into the air, causing their respective colors to shoot out of the brushes. Said colors combined into a gigantic heart, held up as if the brushes were causing it to levitate.

“Robodoki! Hopeful Halation… MIX!!!!!”

Thrusting their paintbrushes down at the word ‘Mix’, the heart fell down with them, landing with a thud straight onto Becky. She was surrounded by rainbow-colored smoke, purifying her. 

“Made your heart race!” The gang cheered as they leapt up in victory. Said smoke surrounded the area, healing those who were infected and the damage caused by the hex.

***

“...So. Uh... Not how I expected to end the day, but I don’t mind.” Jess glanced over at Becky, who was lying down, a wet towel on her head. The gang was bustling around, trying to help Becky feel comfortable.

He wheeled over to her, a hesitant look on his face.

 “...Becky. I...can understand if you’re upset with me. But...I just said that because I thought you were cool , y’know? Someone like us, it’s honestly kinda surreal to see.” Jess sighed. “I shouldn’t have said it like that, though. I’m sorry about that.”

“...I understand now, don’t worry.” Becky, with the strength she had, reassured him. “It’s been...a rough day. I’ll explain later...”

“We can tell.” Mayoi appeared out of thin air, with Louis by her side. “...If there’s anything we can do to make it up to you, even if it’s something stupid like pizza...we’ll do that. It’s been rough for us too, with the first day stuff and everything. But we made it rough for you in the process, and that was wrong.”

“...N-No, I want to make it up to you-” And with that, Becky had passed out from exhaustion.

“...Hey Siri.” Bob spoke into his phone, a cringing smile on his face. “How do you deal with a body swapper that has passed out?”

“Here’s what I found.”

“Okay, body swappers who feel lightheaded need plenty of water. Thank you, WebMD.” Bob sighed in relief as he turned to the others. “There’s some in my office.”

Everyone followed him out.

Except for Roxanne.

“I’ll...make sure she’s okay.”

Nate took notice, stepping back.

“I’ll catch up in a bit!” He called out, looking at Roxanne. “Something bugging you?”

She blushed. “...I don’t know. I...just feel different when I’m around her. Like...I have butterflies in my stomach, and I feel nervous talking to her...but at the same time, she makes me happy. Like, over the moon, kind of happy. I can’t stop thinking about her...how she’s so nice...and kind...and-” She stopped. 

Nate had assumed a smug grin.

“...Oh, you like -like her, don’t you?” He teasingly punched Roxanne in the shoulder, causing her to step back in shock.

“No!” She paused briefly. “Well- maybe a little? I mean, I only have crushes when I gain a deep emotional connection with someone, and... I just don’t want to scare her off-”

“Hey. Don’t worry. Secret’s safe with me.” Nate reassured her. “I could be your wingman. Help get the two of you together, give ya advice on making the first move, make her know without her actually knowing, y’know? Promise.”

“Don’t push it. But...it would be nice.” Roxanne glanced at Becky. “...It would be nice.”

“Trust me, I’ve been acquainted with the whole goo-goo eyes thing.” Nate quipped. “Ol’ Nate Shapiro, Russia's greatest love machine, is gonna help you out with whatever you need.”

“I thought you were Jewish?” Roxanne asked.

“Half and half.” Nate shrugged. “I’d better get back with the others.”

“You do that.” Roxanne shooed him off...then glanced at Becky lying down on the couch.

She prayed that Becky wouldn’t notice her blush...or her tears, for that matter. 

But at the same time...she felt a sense of serenity she hadn’t felt in a long while.

Chapter Text

“So... Yeah!” Becky clasped her hands together, the resulting fist up to her chest, in excitement. She had gathered Jess, Louis, and Mayoi in the research room. “I guess I just happened to find out that I had my own ‘human disguise magic’ thing because of my childhood desires. Turns out all kinds of mystical beings have it...though I kinda learned that kinda recently?”

In reality, she had learned about this during the auditions held by Felicia weeks before that dating event. She blushed, trying to keep that thought to herself.

“Still... I wanted to apologize about everything that happened the other day. Whatever I did. I’d...rather not know. But I mean, I wasn’t really myself, y’know? I just wanted to make it up to you guys. Figured you’d really like this.”

She grinned widely.

“I love this, to be honest.” Mayoi glanced at her outfit. She had a simplistic, purple sundress, accented with white lines, black leggings, lavender converse and a bandage covering her cheek. She still had the same skin tone, but had long black hair rather than the more floaty bob cut, and blue eyes rather than her green. “Makes me feel like I might be able to cast spells after all.”

“Same here.” Jess beamed, still in his wheelchair. His skin tone and haircut remained largely unaffected apart from the lack of gills and fins, but the pattern on his tank top changed from a skull to bubbles, and he wore jean shorts and pink sandals to replace his tail. “...Honestly thought I’d gain the ability to walk, but eh, this outfit sorta makes up for it.” He teased, elbowing Louis in the shoulder.

“Yeah. Oh, and Helen got us up to speed about the hexes.” Louis finished. His skin tone was medium white, with his chestnut brown hair having blondish tips in the area near where his cracked left eye was before. He wore a long-sleeved ruby-colored polo shirt with jean overalls, wearing solid black vans to complete the look. “So we’re good-”

“Oh! Check this out.” Jess pulled out his phone. “The ‘Haunted By the Fireworks’ movie got released!”

“Huh?” Becky glanced at a visibly nervous Mayoi. “What’s...that?”

“A true crime movie special on Lifetime. It’s based on some real life accidental murder that happened due to fireworks and the guilt the murderer felt afterwards.” Jess beamed. “They filmed some of it here! Apparently we had pretty similar looking graphics offices to CalArts’s art classrooms. Whole office is BUZZING.”

“...I’m gonna be right back.” Mayoi quickly walked out. Becky sighed.

“What’s with her?” Louis asked.

“No clue.” Jess sighed. “Becky, are you into this sorta thing?”

“Not really.” Becky admitted. “But it is cool that it was filmed here!”

Silence.

“...I’m gonna make a call real quick.”

“Suit yourself. We’ll check in on her.”

The group parted ways.

***

“...Mayoi.” Jess huffed as he wheeled himself alongside Louis, who walked at a more brisk pace. “She’d be the last one triggered by crime docs like that. Girl lives, breathes, and bleeds dark stuff. And I’m not just talking about her being a ghost.”

“Well, to be fair, she does love the Coraline version of horror. Not the Saw version. If that makes sense.” Louis pointed out.

“What’s Saw?” Jess looked over at Louis.

“Oh, you’d puke.” Louis laughed. “We’re not getting into that-”

“Oop, hold that thought. There’s Mayoi.” Jess interrupted as they turned the corner.

Mayoi, now in ghost form, was shading a female rubber hose era character, a la Betty Boop or Sally Stageplay, on a sketchpad.

They gawked when they noticed.

Mayoi jumped back.

“That’s so cool!!!” Louis beamed. “I didn’t know you could draw!”

“There’s...a reason-” Mayoi started, only to be shushed by Jess.

“Wow, didn’t think you’d be SHY about it. Come on. You could get a job here with that talent!” Jess insisted. “Wasted potential.”

“It’s not-”

“I mean, come on! That looks straight out of Cuphead! Knew you liked that era of art, didn’t know you drew it.” Louis geeked. “I’m sure people won’t judge.”

“That’s not the point.” Mayoi growled.

“Then what is it? Parents don’t approve?” Jess tilted his head. “Cmon, you can tell us. We’re-”

***

“Oh hey, Beck. What’s up?” Dakota, on Facetime, was chatting with Becky in a trashed apartment room, to Becky’s slight concern. “Pardon the mess. Last night’s full moon was rough , let me tell ya.”

“Same here. But I made it. With no ill effects, at least... I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you though...” Becky spoke hesitantly. “I...just learned of some film about a CalArts...murder-” She stuttered around that point. ”-and that reminded me a bit about when we met. So, I was wondering if you...maybe knew about it?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard.” Dakota smirked knowingly. “Was friends with the student that was murdered too, if you can believe it. You want the short answer or the long?”

“...I’d rather just hear a quick summary.” Becky answered.

“Okay, so-”

“LOOK. YOU WANNA KNOW WHY?” Mayoi’s voice was heard in the background. “BECAUSE I WILL LITERALLY LEAVE THIS MORTAL COIL IF PEOPLE DO, OKAY ?! THERE! THAT’S MY UNFINISHED BUSINESS.”

“...Something wrong back there? Should I call back?”

“Uh, yeah... That’s one of the interns... Gotta go, sorry.”

“You deal with that. See ya tonight.” The call ended.

“Mayoi?!” Becky turned around, hoping to get back to the research room and find out what had happened. “You alright-”

Instead, she saw only Jess and Louis around the corner.

“...What just- Where’s Mayoi?” Becky, staring at the two, worriedly asked.

“I-I don’t know!” Jess sweated. “She just vanished, and-”

“...What did she mean by the mortal coil thing?” Louis wondered. “...I hope she doesn’t get hexed. We’d be targeted again, and...I don’t know how I’d deal with that.”

“N-No, don’t worry about the hex thing! I can try and find her!” Becky reassured the two. “You two just...stay here, okay? If worst-case happens...then you make a run for it.”

“...Got it.” Jess nodded. “Stay safe, okay? Don’t let her affect you.”

Becky nodded, hurrying in the direction she had come from.

***

I was a different person back when I was alive. Full college scholarship to CalArts, and an ego to match.

I dreamed of becoming an animator or an artist. Maybe I’d animate for Pixar, or Dreamworks. She-Ra was pretty cool. Or maybe I’d draw for companies who wanted mascots or fancy box-art or video thumbnails. Either way, I was set to achieve that dream.

But...I let the praise from my teachers, friends, and other sources get to my head. I was haughty, I felt like I was at the top of the world. On cloud nine. Like nothing could touch me.

But then I got invited to a sorority meant for gifted artists...and I joined. Head big as always. Wanting to make myself known as the best.

Some snobby blond-haired cheerleader-type named Brittney, who looked straight out of a 2000’s high school flick, disagreed. Or maybe she just didn’t know the old shed had fireworks in it, stored for a Walt Disney-themed Fourth of July show our school was hosting. Because for my initiation, I had to enter that old, creepy shed with a torch.

No, not a flashlight. An actual, wooden, fiery torch.

It was the most colorful death you could imagine. Lights, colors, etc. Stuff like that.

You know how in the Beetlejuice musical Adam and Barbara took a second to figure out they died? And that they are supposed to use a book to learn how to be dead?

That’s what happened.

I went over to be like “Hey, that wasn’t funny! I almost DIED!” only to find I...felt different. Wasn’t mad or anything.

And that’s before I noticed a lack of a pulse. Or the girls screaming over my ghostly self. Or the pieces of dead body charred next to them.

It...wasn’t fun.

So here’s the thing about ghosts. I somehow got a manual stuffed in the pocket of my ghost form. Ghosts are different from most fictional depictions; not everyone who’s dead gets to be one. Rather, they’re representations of a consciousness who had unfinished business. Mine, according to said manual, was being a famous artist. Once I achieved that dream, I could go to heaven or hell or limbo or whatever belief system existed in my heart.

Too bad I wanted to live. It...was a tough choice. But I decided to start my life anew. To stay on earth.

Call it stubbornness, call it denial. I call it guts.

It takes guts to leave college because your university would’ve forced you to finish that degree to save face otherwise.

It takes guts to move to Chicago using your life savings, with only a high school diploma and the clothes on your back, and figure out what the hell you’re gonna do.

It takes guts to be on the phone with the social security people arguing that you’re not DEAD, damn it!

And it takes guts to live with your decision.

Because once someone sees me drawing...it could be the end. And that’s the guilt and fear I face every day.

***

Mayoi sighed as she reflected on those thoughts, looking forlorn, wiping her tears as she glanced at her sketchbook.

"Still traumatized about something that killed your own ambitions? Heh, I’ve been there.”

Startled, she looked up at the human form of Cerise, who was adjusting her mask. Her sad look remained.

“...You wouldn’t know.” She looked back on her sketchbook. “...Would you?”

“Well, yeah.” Cerise shrugged. “Long story short, I wanted to work for the US Government, maybe as a police officer, maybe as a CIA or FBI agent. Someone who brings justice to others using super-cool weapons, and helps those in need in the process. Then I got kidnapped, abducted, and experimented on. That was before tolerance laws were put in place, granted...” She sighed, as if recalling something traumatic. “...Point is, I became a knife thrower at a circus some decades later, and gained magic to help people like you.”

“Magic?” Mayoi perked up. “...That sounds nice. Why me, though?”

“Because we’ve both dealt with our own struggles, and can’t do what we want anymore. With my magic, I was able to do my dream job, not just in terms of throwing knives like they’re bullets, but helping others in their deepest crises and inspiring them to do something about it. Point blank, it allowed me to do what I wanted, albeit in a different enough way where it wouldn’t trigger anything. Pun intended, of course.” Her voice turned sly. “...And just between you and me, I figure that making drawings come to life doesn’t fit the criteria for suddenly floating out of limbo. Promise.”

“Really?!? So I can just...draw?!? And make things come to life?!?” Mayoi’s eyes turned purple. “And then I’ll finally get to show the world what I’m capable of? Count me in!”

“Mm-hmm.” Cerise nodded as a dark green curtain went over her. When it went back up, she was in her alien form, with the addition of a thin superhero mask that merely covered her alien eyes.

“Now take your seats, folks! The show is about to begin!”

The imaginary audience began to murmur.

***

A terrified Mayoi found herself pinned to a target, which slowly began to spin as a spotlight went over Cerise, who was putting on a blindfold. Then, holding two knives in her hands, and with her neon green magic summoning countless more-

*SWOOOOSH!*

-she threw all of them at the target.

*THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK-*

The spotlights turned off as the knives began to hit their marks, causing the crowd to gasp in shock.

One second.

Two seconds.

Then, the spotlights turned on again, showcasing that the knives hit an outline around a relieved Mayoi, surrounding her in purple smoke. When it cleared, Cerise undid the blindfold and helped the newly hexed mark off the target.

“Hell yeah!” The audience cheered wildly. “Right on target! Let's go, my hex!"

And with that, the illusion faded.

***

Meanwhile, Becky’s attempt to find Mayoi had not been going well. She had been looking for a while and had become fatigued. For now, she decided to rest on a bench in the lobby with a water bottle in hand.

“So as I was saying, WOW. Turns out the real Brittney was way more sympathetic than the trailer made her out to be.” Nate’s voice rang out as he and Roxanne turned the corner. “I mean, the poor girl got bullied. Hard.”

“I still think the whole thing is creepy. Looking up the true story behind a literal crime for a stupid Youtube-” She stopped. “Oop. Hold on. Becky, you okay?”

When they found her, she was gorging down the water from the bottle.

“Just...tired!” She replied when she had the opportunity. She paused when she noticed the two arrive. “Oh, hey guys.”

Roxanne thought she saw Becky blush a little.

She blushed back, but covered it up with a magazine she held in her hand.

“So, uh, anyways. Becky! Hi!” Nate waved, drawing Becky’s attention away from the blush. “Think we’re gonna get the last Robocombo. Wonder what it could be?”

“Right. Uh...I’d rather wait until something comes up.”

“Fair.”

“Guys. We’ve got an issue.” Aianna’s voice rang out from the communicator. “Do you copy?”

“Please don’t be about Mayoi-” Becky, fearing the worst, muttered to herself.

“Mayoi? What happened?” Nate looked at her in concern.

“I...I don’t know. I heard her yelling earlier...I think towards Jess and Louis... But-”

“...It’s Mayoi.” Aianna sounded like she was cringing. “Her heart’s not giving off any clues minus ‘someone saw me draw’. I know something’s affecting her deeper than that.”

“...Hey. You doing okay? It...must be tough. But we’re gonna help her. Promise.” Nate reassured Becky. “That telepathy thing’s gonna help out.”

“I know, I know... I think I might go and make sure the guys are safe before-”

“Ladies and gentlemen, and all those lovely little genders in-between, welcome to the big chase between ol’ Jess and Loo-is-” Mayoi’s voice rang out.

“It’s pronounced Loo-e!” Louis stressed. “Like you’re in France-”

“-Louis, and boy oh boy are they gonna be in a tough pickle against this foe. Look out! Listen! See bee-fore your very eyes-”

As she said this, the entire area went grayscale, Jess and Louis found themselves frozen in place, and title card lettering emerged that read:

“Jess Gillman and Louis DuBois in: Beehive Beeline!”

“I can’t move, I CAN'T MOVE!” Jess screamed, only for the title card lettering to vanish, and for the group to resume running away from an army of rubber hose-styled bees, complete with gloved hands and stretchy legs. The area plunged completely in black and white, to Nate’s annoyance.

“...If I had known I was gonna become black and white today, I wouldn’t have worn this.” Nate cursed to himself. “We outta book it to Aianna.”

“I’ll...stay back. They’re gonna need some of my help.” Becky shyly admitted.

“...Wow. Brave kid.” Nate jabbed Roxanne’s shoulder, to her annoyance. “That’s a good idea, though. If you need any backup, just let us know.” He paused, his expression turning panicked as she saw Becky look at him in confusion. “Uh, wait, I didn’t mean to suggest you couldn’t handle it-”

“It’s fine! Really! I’m feeling a bit better anyway.”

“Hell yeah.” Nate beamed as the two began to run off. “If you’re able to use that telepathy thing, let us know what’s going on! We’ll see you in a few!”

“Of course I can.” She giggled. “See you guys in a bit!” She stumbled a bit trying to grab the compact out of her satchel.

“Becky? What are you doing ?!” Louis panted. “Hurry, before she gets you too!”

After a few seconds, she quickly pulled it out-

“My arms are getting tired, man. I can’t outrun them much longer.” Jess panted as his speed slowed.

-placing it on her chest, surrounding her in crescents and transforming into Roboluna...as the two arrived without her realizing it.

“Oh, uh-”

Louis punched him in the shoulder. “Oh! Hey, Roboluna, right?”

“Dude- what are you-” A death glare caused Jess to become silent.

“You two need some help?” Luna asked the duo.

“...Did you just-”

“Of course!” Louis smiled, glaring at Jess.

“If she gets upset that we found out, Mayoi’s gonna target her.” He spoke through a gritted smile. “So maybe we should-”

“I...uh...don’t know what happened...but you two stay put, okay?”

“Got it, Luna.” Jess gave a genuine smile.

Soon after, Luna grabbed her keyblade and set the wards on the ground.

“Roboluna Eclipse!”

As she said that, two pod-like structures emerged from the ground, sheltering both Jess and Louis inside of them.

“Woah, uh- that’s a kinda cool power there.” Jess sounded intrigued. “...Didn’t think it would comfortably fit my wheelchair.”

“You should be safe from the hex now, as long as you don’t move. But please, just...try not to say anything. I don’t want her to hear you and go back to target you.” Luna explained, a slightly solemn tone when referring to Mayoi.

“Got it.” Louis’s voice lowered. “Be careful. She’s pretty powerful.”

“I, and the rest of Magical Robodoki, will heal her hurt heart. Promise.” She winked, despite the two not being able to see her, and took off in the direction that Roxanne and Nate had gone in.

“Did you just wink?”

“She’s gone, dumbass.” Jess sighed. “Let’s just be quiet now.”

“Okay. Not much else we can do.” Louis replied.

***

“Damn. Where did they go?” Mayoi huffed, looking a lot smaller and chibi-like than before. She was in a monochrome rubber hose style, with noodle-esque limbs, cartoon gloves, and a slightly transparent ghost tail. Her hair was much more simplistic owing to the style, as was her dark gray sundress with white buttons. She wore an oversized artist beret. The only thing not matching the monochrome color scheme was her dark gray-purple eyes, complete with stylistic eye shine, though given the typical look of hexes it fit it seamlessly.

“I dunno, boss.” One of the bees shrugged. “Lost the scent.”

“Ugh.” She turned to see the rest of the Robodoki gang rush in. “No matter. Those are my targets, right?”

Yep. Cerise spoke in her head. Capture them, and your dream is yours.

“Okay, okay. I don’t know if the speech is gonna work since I don’t know the exact motive- I mean, saying she’s mad at someone seeing her draw is gonna sound SUPER callous.” Doki worried.

“True. Let’s just forget the speech.” Hino glanced over at Mayoi.

“Well, well, well. Look who it is, the Robo-Ransackers themselves.” She waved her cartoony paintbrush, causing the bees to turn into ink and return to the tip. “Hi. Nice to meet ya. But you’re not gonna make my dream die tonight. No way in hell.”

“Is this really the way to go about this?” Doki protested. “...I don’t know what you’re going through-”

“NOBODY DOES. The murder, the movie, the whole thing. Nobody sees my side. Nobody gets what I’m really dealing with, day after day.” Mayoi aimed her paintbrush at the gang. “So tonight...a special production from K-A-L-W Radio, it’s...”

The group froze in place, unable to move even if they wanted too. The area became black and white as a rubber hose version of a Robodoki warrior emerged from the ink. It had plain black eyes with a triangle cut off, its hair was much like Betty Boop’s, and its outfit was much more stylized. The gloves were cartoon gloves, much like Mayoi wore, and its limbs seemed to stretch towards them.

“...Rubberclone Runaway, starring Aianna Flowers, Nate Shapiro, Bob Sharp, Buzz Lippman, and Becky Sandoval. Guest starring Roxanne Flowers.”

Woah...you got their secret identities?!? Man, now that’s a smart use of that actor’s reading side-effect! Thanks! Cerise geeked in her head. Mayoi nodded, as if to say ‘you’re welcome.’

“What? Why am I the GUEST STAR?” Hoshi sounded flabbergasted.

“Doesn’t matter. Why does she know our identities? Isn’t she new?” Denki questioned as the title card formed in front of them.

“Radio announcer shtick. Have to say the actors’ names, and your codenames or whatever are not your names, but your roles, ya dig?” The group unfroze as the letters faded, with the limb revealing itself to indeed stretch towards Denki’s face, punching it soon after.

“OW!” Denki rubbed his face.

“You okay?” Hoshi asked.

“Fine. That hurts, for a pile of ink.” Denki cursed to himself as the Robodoki clone charged towards the group, pulling out a giant, sharpened inkwell pen.

“ROBOHINO SUNSHINE SHIELD!” Hino yelled as he summoned his sparkling sun shield to block an attempt to slice him, knocking it back. “Damn. It’s fast.”

“Get back.” Hoshi yelled as she summoned a crescent moon made of light in her hand. The group was quick to follow her advice.

“Robohoshi CRESCENT IMPACT!” She threw the crescent moon towards the clone, only for it to summon a shield made of ink to bounce it back towards them. Luckily-

“Robodenki Reflection!” -Denki had summoned a blue, faceted jewel shaped shield, which knocked the crescent back towards the clone as it exploded.

Just in time for Luna to rush in.

“Hey, Luna!” Pixel waved. “Great to see you here. Clone’s exploded. Pardon the inky mess.”

Mayoi teared up, but her face was in a grimace as she began to remove the ink from the floors and walls, seemingly in an attempt to summon something else.

Saying nothing in response, Luna took notice.

“Roboluna...” She tapped her forehead twice. “...Telepathy!” She pointed at Mayoi.

...I can’t. Is...this really worth it? I died in that firework accident. I died. Turned into a ghost. Ruined people's lives. Ruined my OWN life. I can’t exactly change that. Brittney, Dakota, Sarah, Antonia, Destiny...they didn’t mean to kill. But...I don’t know. I know I can’t draw, else I disappear without saying goodbye. But it’s not those magical girls’ faults. It’s not Jess’s or Louis’s fault, either.

That is true.

Yeah, Cerise, you get me. I just...is hurting people really the answer to this? Is this really the only way I can draw again? To destroy?

No, no. You’re not destroying, sweetheart. You’re creating . Once this battle is done, you can create real-life art not meant to attack, but to bring joy to others. Like bonafide animated actors. And you can stay in this mortal plane forever by abusing that loophole. What’s a few bodies in exchange for getting your life back? Like it was always meant to be? I know you don’t want to hide anymore. I didn’t want to hide myself, either. 

True. If...if I could have one chance at that...I’d do anything for that chance.

Atta girl. Now summon something stronger so you can achieve that dream!

Luna remained silent. Her thoughts were just as full as Mayoi’s.

Cerise...she’s behind this, huh. She thought to herself. B-But...firework accident? Brittney? ...Dakota?? Does that mean... She did seem panicked earlier... What does she mean by disappearing if she draws...? What am I supposed to say...? I...I can’t let her take anybody down though.

Finally, she spoke up.

“Mayoi! Please... Please stop... That firework thing...it was just an accident... I know Dakota especially understands that, and I bet...I bet the others do too... S-So there’s no reason to take people down just to...to have your life back... You’re still here, surrounded by those who care. And...we can find a way for you to draw without...without you disappearing...or putting others in danger. I promise you that.”

Mayoi’s eyes flickered briefly, but settled back to their purple color as she continued to charge up her ink.

“Wait, she’s the girl behind the firework stuff? Is...that what you read?” Pixel asked, trying his hardest and failing to contain an eager smile.

“She... Y-Yeah...“ Luna replied, struggling to get her words out. “I read...more...than that but I’ll explain later. I just...I tried to help her... What else can I do?“

Kirumi poked into the scene at that point. “I think I have something to help out with that!”

As she said this, a gray-ish light, rather than colored as a result of the hex’s effects, hit Pixel and Luna in the chest. A new attack popped up on their visors, and they began to skim through it.

“...How the fuck do I pronounce that middle word? Rose-a-cee?”

“Ruh-zay-see-ai. It’s the family that rose plants come from. Peaches, pears, strawberries, generic roses, that sort of thing.”

“Oh.” Pixel continued to read.

Luna did the same, though she seemed to be shaking a bit.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Is...this a bit too much?” Pixel asked, a look of concern and compassion on his face.

“I...I want to help, but...but I don’t want to put on a facade to do so...“ Luna admitted. “That’s what our...power...seems to imply, at least...“

Pixel paused, before placing a hand on Luna’s shoulder in comfort.

“...Look, I get the feeling. You don’t want to lie to your friend because you’d fear that once the ruse is uncovered, all hell will break loose. As a cousin who makes questionable decisions at times to Hino’s detriment, it’s a common guilt. But this isn’t going to do that. What I do, it isn’t lying in the traditional sense. We’re not taking advantage of her. We’re just...taking a form she’s comfortable with. Sometimes, people will only listen if the person talking is someone close to them. And sometimes that’s the only way to get to their hearts. Even when the illusion fades and they end up noticing, by that point the target has calmed down enough where they understand. At least, that’s how I see it.”

“Still... I feel like I’ll regret doing this...“

“I know the feeling. I...still feel like that at times when I use the wildcard thing. But right now, we’re going to get through her heart via that method, because if not, she’s gonna hurt other people in her grief. And we both don’t want that.” Pixel offered his hand. “Tell ya what. If you regret it, I’ll regret it with you. Okay?”

“O-Okay... Then if it helps...I read the names ‘Brittney’ and ‘Dakota’ from her thoughts so...“

“Do you know any of them by heart? Helps make the illusion more solid.”

“Dakota... I remember my conversation with her... It’s definitely the same Dakota that I met at that event.”

“That’s good. Think I know enough about Brittney Doble to give a convincing performance.” Pixel smirked as Luna accepted his hand, the latter taking a few deep breaths.

“Alright...finished charging.” Mayoi sneered as she shot out a ball of ink, which grew to an enormous size and transformed into a gigantic cymbal monkey toy, which proceeded to throw one of its cymbals towards the Robodoki gang.

“Robohino Sunshine Shield!” Hino grunted as he summoned another giant sun-shaped shield above him, the cymbal perfectly landing on top of it. The Robodoki gang was protected for now...at least until Hino’s knees began to buckle, and the monkey proceeded to reach for Doki.

“Can’t hold it much longer. Do the thing, please-”

“Robocombo-” Pixel and Luna tapped the compact jewel on their chest plates.

“-Rosaceae-” Vines quickly shot from their compacts and grew, covering their bodies.

“-ENCORE!” The vines retracted as quickly as they grew, revealing Luna had transformed into Dakota, and Pixel had transformed into Brittney.

Brittney had medium length blond hair in a high ponytail, with a salmon pink dip dye. She had fair skin with freckles on her face, brown eyes, and light pink lipstick. She wore a cherry pink sweater, a gray belt with a heart-shaped buckle, a denim blue skirt, white tights and navy blue boots.

Meanwhile, Dakota’s look was the same as what she wore at the party: orange shirt, leggings, and all.

Noticeably, their colors didn't vanish. Pixel!Brittney took note as she turned towards Luna!Dakota.

“...Just follow my lead, Luna.” Pixel!Brittney reassured Luna!Dakota. She nodded, and the two walked towards Mayoi.

“Hey! Bestie! It’s…it’s been a minute, huh? What’s with the black-and-white Casper look?”

Mayoi stopped. The monkey stopped.

She floated back in shock.

“...No. You’ve gotta be kidding. This...has got to be a power of some sort.”

“Can’t confirm, nor deny.” Pixel!Brittney winked. “...If it’s about the firework thing, and all...it’s not your fault you caused all this. Honest.” She admitted, her tone more regretful. “I just had a dumb senior prank idea. I don’t want you to feel guilty about that, it’s not your fault.”

“...I don’t know.” She teared up, eyes slightly flickering. “...I can’t become a famous artist without fulfilling my unfinished business. I...know you’re not real, but I feel like you two would hate the person I became. Someone who was showing her art to the world...hiding it because of a stupid clause in a contract I didn’t even sign willingly. But this? This would allow me to be the person you saw me as. The person you were proud of.”

The sound of their visors beeping rang twice inside their heads. One more minute to go.

Mayoi’s eyes flickered more rapidly.

“...But, deep down, you know she’s- I mean, we’re proud of you, right? We understand that a lot of things changed from here to then. It was an accident, it wasn’t your fault. No amount of...things between here and then will change that fact.” Luna!Dakota silently praised herself for that recovery.

Pixel!Brittney proudly smiled at Luna!Dakota, then turned to Mayoi. “What she’s saying is, we don’t hate you. Also...I mean, call me crazy, but I don’t think drawing for your friends counts as being a famous artist.” He gave a slight self-satisfied laugh. “But the most important point is...the fear, the trauma, all of that. You don’t have to suffer it alone, shut yourself in like that.”

“Y-Yeah! And if you feel like you need any help, we’ll be there! Your friends will be there, and not just us, but your new ones too. Please don’t feel like you have to hide.”

“C’mere. You want a girl hug?” Pixel!Brittney spread her arms out.

Mayoi accepted, sniffling. The three of them proceeded to embrace for what felt like an eternity, even if it was a solid minute, and even when the vine disguises wilted off of them, revealing their identities as Pixel and Luna again.

Mayoi sniffled. Her eyes turned to a shade of black, the toy melted into ink, and Hino exhaustedly unsummoned his shield.

“Took...took ya long enough.” Hino, out of breath, snarked while holding his knees in an attempt to regain some stamina. “I’m gonna need some Tylenol after this, good lord.”

“Well...at least she’s back to normal.” Doki reassured him. “Almost. You two ready to purify?”

“...I knew it was you two.” Mayoi admitted. “...Sorry for leaking your identities to the enemy.”

“It’s okay. You weren’t yourself.” Luna reassured as the three exited the hug. “And...like Pixel said, even though you knew it was us...it still comforted you, didn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Mayoi admitted, clutching her head. “Fuck. You guys always get sick after this?”

“Hello?” Hino impatiently tapped his foot, still sounding a bit exhausted. Denki elbowed him in response. “Ow-”

“...We’ll explain later.” Pixel sheepishly grinned as the group gathered, summoning their paint brushes.

***

“REWRITE YOUR FUTURE! REPAINT YOUR HEART!”

The Robodoki gang yelled as they used their paint brushes to paint hearts on their chests, covering them in white light. When it cleared, they had gained a white artist smock over their original dresses, which were covered in neon splotches representing their theme color on both the skirt itself and the sleeves. A white beret with their respective pastel-colored card symbol, plus angel wings, completed their upgrade.

“Robostory Mode, Fully Charged!” They yelled as they leapt into the air, soaring around a bit before approaching ground level.

“With our hearts as one, let our colors combine!” They placed the brush tip near the ground, working together to paint a heart outline on the ground, surrounding the hex around a heart-shaped forcefield when done. Then, landing on the ground, they held their brushes into the air, causing their respective colors to shoot out of the brushes. Said colors combined into a gigantic heart, held up as if the brushes were causing it to levitate.

“Robodoki! Hopeful Halation… MIX!!!!!”

Thrusting their paintbrushes down at the word ‘Mix’, the heart fell down with them, landing with a thud straight onto Mayoi. She was surrounded by rainbow-colored smoke, purifying her. 

“Made your heart race!” The gang cheered as they leapt up in victory. Said smoke surrounded the area, healing those who were infected and the damage caused by the hex.

***

“Good news!!!” Cerise beamed as the rest of the circus cast boredly slouched on the various chairs and couches of the RV. It was storming outside, and the lights were off. “I accidentally got the rest of the identities of the Robodoki gang!” She clasped her hands in excitement.

“Okay, who?” Suzette sighed.

“...Aianna Flowers, Bob-”

“I have no idea who they are.” Suzette groaned. “How long till the power gets back on?”

“...And I feel like you’re not appreciating the valuable asset I have.” Cerise fumed, her eyes still wide in excitement even as she spoke like she was gritting her teeth. “We can finally do stuff to them!”

“Like what?” Marie scoffed.

“...Actually, not sure!” Cerise spoke in that same cheery tone, her voice clearly dripping with sarcasm by that point. “Sorry about that!”

“It’s probably something you should tell The Ringmaster.” Colette admitted. “We’d forget it in a week. That ol’ babadook would love you forever.”

“I still think I should have a turn.” Marie sulked. “I feel like he’s forgotten me.”

“He promised you’d get one-” Colette started.

“You went twice!” Marie protested.

“Because nobody is having self-worth issues. In the office, at least.”

“Well, they SHOULD.” Marie sulked. “Anyway, Cerise, go tell The Ringmaster that. He’s probably adjusting his strings or whatever below the trapdoor.”

“...Okay! Fine! Have it your way!” Cerise stormed out the trailer and slammed the door, the sounds of thunder roaring in the distance.

***

“...Hey. You doing okay?” Mayoi, in her human form, peeked through the door of the research room, which was empty save for Becky. The thunder continued to rumble in the background, though in a softer way, indicating the storm was clearing up. “I...saw you guys transform, admittedly. If you need to mindwipe me or whatever, I might as well come clean.”

“Huh?” Becky’s attention turned from her research notes to Mayoi. “Why would I ever do that? I mean...if it’s about earlier... I wouldn’t blame you for that.”

“It was more so a 'if-you-have-a-procedure-to-wipe-someone’s-memory-when-someone-finds-out-your-secret-identity' sort of concern, but I do feel pretty guilty about that too.” Mayoi sighed. “Second day on the job, and I reveal your secret identities to some nut-job who can use them against you. Not my greatest move.”

“...Oh. Well, you weren’t acting on your own terms. The only one to blame is that Cerise girl. I get it though, I was in a similar position not that long ago. I understand the guilt that you must be feeling right now.”

“...Yeah.” Mayoi gave a slight smile. “Y’know what? Dakota, back when I roomed with her, told me once that ‘Kindred spirits stick together till the end of the line’, after I explained what the specific kanji in my surname meant. Honorable spirit, in case you were wondering.” She paused. “Anyway...I feel like it refers to us. In a cosmic sort of way.”

“Maybe!” Becky smiled back. “Dakota’s always got something nice to say, after all.”

“Y’all seem like cool besties. I...remember you and Nate talking about that while debating over the whole ‘Robocombo’ thing.” She paused. “...Don’t worry. Your secret's safe with me. Or about as safe as it can be with that whole mess.”

“You don’t worry either! The whole artistic hobby thing is safe with me too!”

“...Yeah. I feel like showing y’all doesn’t count as being famous, anyways. Whole ghost book was so... vague . You’d think it would give you... conditions or something.” She threw her hands up in exasperation.

“I’d think as long as you don’t go...professional, I guess...? Then it’s all good.”

“Makes sense.” She shrugged. 

At that moment, Becky felt her phone rumble in her satchel. She took it out and looked at the screen.

“Is that a Robodoki alert thing?”

“...Actually it’s Dakota. She’s on her way. We were gonna hang out tonight so we could destress. There was a full moon last night, so... We both needed to enjoy ourselves once it passed.”

“Oof, that sounds rough. Tell her I said hi.” Mayoi teasingly nudged Becky. “Haven’t talked to her in awhile, so figured that would be a good start.”

“I’ll let her know, and that’s a promise. I’ll see you later!” Becky waved as she rushed out of the room.

Mayoi beamed as Jess and Louis rushed in.

“HOLY JESUS FUCK-” Jess yelled. “Becky’s-”

“Yep. Figured it out too.” Mayoi smiled. “Turns out she doesn’t really mind that we know.”

“Oh.” Louis spoke a bit quieter. “Should we tell her?”

“Wouldn’t hurt. Becky didn’t mind when I told her.” Mayoi shrugged. “Up to you two, though. C’mon, let’s get back to work. Cookie’s probably waiting for his late afternoon coffee or something.”

The group clamored in agreement as they exited the research room.

Chapter Text

Deep down...I always hated the way that Kiruru chose people.

Like I get it. If we’re in a crisis and someone displays the courage, or strength, or empathy needed to turn the tides...we should probably enlist someone.

I just hate that it’s in a moment where they can’t think straight. Or where they feel pressured to enlist. Or when they would literally die from blunt impact trauma if it wasn’t for Kiruru.

And now...a year later...we’re still fighting. An endless war against evil that notices our power.

And...Becky.

***

“ Talk? Maybe...you should SHUT UP!” Vanessa growled.

“...Mmmph!”

Luna’s throat started glowing orange. She felt her neck, terrified.

***

-only for two beams to shoot out. One hit Hoshi, the other hit Luna.

“...How did she-” Luna, starting to tear up, looked at her arms as she tried to move them, then at Jerri.

***

“That’s why I arrived. Really, I consider you a close friend, ever since the evening I became a magical girl. I don’t want what’s affected Dakota, and several others already, to...to take over your life.” Luna’s confidence was slowly falling apart, but she continued.

“Which is why you shouldn’t be fighting me. Or anyone else.” Felicia insisted. “You were my responsibility. And like everything I touch, I ruined that relationship. You shouldn’t be fighting with them. That’s their job. It’s their war. Not yours.”

***

“...She’s right. I...I tried to hurt you two. How does that make me have a good heart?” Nate’s eyes flickered. “I...know hexes make you do bad things. But I literally mindfucked Becky into being friends with me...and I don’t really have a good excuse for making her like that.” Nate shivered. “...I’m...I’m not even sure if I deserve to be friends with her after this. At least you...at least you could understand. I don’t know if she would.”

***

“...YOU FOUND OUT ABOUT THAT , ELLE?!?” Becky suddenly yelled in rage, her eyes flickering back to their purple color. 

“What the hell?!? Becky, what did Elle say?!?” Doki brandished her weapon, then quickly put it up. “...Oh. Not a clever move, huh.”

“...Forget it. I’m back to where I was before, where no one can understand me...unless..." Suddenly, the vines from Becky’s arms shot themselves towards Doki. “...Maybe it would help if YOU could.”

***

Oh god, poor Becky.

I should’ve never gotten her involved with this.

I...should’ve never gotten anyone involved with this.

Is...

Is it selfish to wish for a normal life for everyone?

Because...if it is...what good am I as a magical girl if I can’t be a guardian of hope and justice for everyone, everywhere, all the time?

I’m a terrible magical girl.

And I always will be.

I should’ve just fought alone.

***

“...So yeah. They know our identities.” Aianna sighed, sitting across from Helen in the office as she reflected on those thoughts. “I...should’ve never had Becky join, to be honest.”

“What?”

“What?” Aianna feigned confusion, trying to hide her horror at what she just said out loud.

“I mean the identity thing. Not...the guilty feeling thing.” Helen huffed. “It’s gonna be much harder to deal with them now... I know you didn’t cause it, but I already had a hard enough time as it is, okay? I didn’t need that information!”

Silence.

“...Well.” Aianna tried to hide her emotions with a smile, but was clearly showing with her tears.

“...I’m sorry. I...didn’t mean to make you upset.” Helen held her head in her hands. “...I appreciate you telling me, really, but I...just need a moment to wrap my head around this. You can go.”

Aianna nodded, quickly rushing out the door as Helen sighed, burying her head deeper in her hands.

She didn’t notice a blue-haired girl in a wheelchair appearing in a puff of smoke in front of her.

“...I can’t deal with this eternal bad guy fight forever.” Helen admitted. “I...just can’t. It’s too much, I already have to deal with these hosts, and-”

“Oh, I know the feeling.”

“Huh?” Helen peeked from her hands. “...Ma'am, you really need a visitor's badge to even think about being in here-”

“Why? I’m here to chat with you about stopping the hexes.”

“...Really?” Helen sat up. “How so? Aren’t you a part of them, or something?”

“ Well... my boss takes advantage of people who are being jerks and breaking the rules. I kinda hate that, I mean, I’m a vengeful ghost, but I have standards, y’know?” Suzette lied through her teeth. “So I came up with a plan. You’re in charge of the place pretty much, so you’ll gain the power to put people in line. Handcuff them if they break a rule and you’ll get to control their actions for a set amount of commands. The worse the ‘crime’, the more commands you can ask of them to do before the handcuffs break. That way, we won’t have to hex people anymore for bad behavior, and you’ll gain more control over the situation.”

She beamed.

“Sounds like a plan? What do you say?”

“...Thank fucking god.” Helen’s eyes turned purple. “I’d do anything for a chance at peace.”

“Excellent!”

Suzette fist-pumped in excitement as a mauve-colored curtain surrounded her. When it cleared, she was in her ghostly form, with the addition of a dark blue butterfly-shaped masquerade mask.

“Now take your seats, folks! The show is about to begin!”

The imaginary audience began to stir once more.

***

A sole spotlight shone on Helen, causing her to sweat nervously. It was super dark in the tent, with dry-ice fog and the sound of the murmuring crowd adding a sort of atmosphere.

*ROAR!!!!*

A giant lion made of purple smoke suddenly charged towards her, jumping up and lounging towards her...only to pause.

The crowd gasped. Suzette was right behind the lion, petting it to calm it down.This caused it to gently rub against a still shaken Helen, which caused the smoke to transfer to her body, transforming Helen into her hexed form.

"Good boy, Lionel!” She smiled, raising her hands into the air as both spotlights shone on her. “Now rage , my hex!”

The crowd applauded wildly as the illusion faded.

***

“Have you seen Aianna?” Bob asked worriedly to Buzz as they sat together in an empty conference room.

“I think she was supposed to tell Helen about the whole identity thing. But...she looked kinda worse for wear today, so I’m not sure if she did.”

“I did.” Aianna sighed as she entered the room, sitting next to Bob. “She...wasn’t exactly happy about it.”

“Is something wrong?” Bob asked, offering his hand.

“...No.”

“I can tell there is.” Bob admitted, his voice soft. “...Anxiety isn’t good if you just keep it in.”

Silence.

“...I don’t want you to be hexed, that’s all.” Bob gently urged.

“...You shouldn’t have been involved in this fight. Neither should Becky, or Buzz, or anyone of that nature.” Aianna admitted, turning away from Bob. “Becky...she’s been through so many things that I think she shouldn’t have gone through as an outsider.” She teared up. “I...I caused her to get hexed. To fight everyone she loved when they were hexed. And I shouldn’t be the one to do that. You all shouldn’t.”

Bob didn’t really know how to process that information.

*BOOM!*

But it didn’t matter.

Aianna was clutching her heart, and Helen had busted through the door.

She had her normal darker skin tone, though her hair was longer, turned to a teal shade, and tied into curly pigtails. Her purple eyes were covered by a sort of Robocop-esque visor that flashed the words “UNDER ARREST” on its navy-blue screen. She wore a turquoise blue bodysuit with white go-go boots, robotic arms emerging from the rolled-up sleeves, and a white belt with a police badge acting as a buckle. To finish the look off she had navy-blue lipstick.

“Hel?!?”

“You’re under arrest for slacking off when you should be working.” Helen spoke sternly as she tossed handcuffs towards Buzz.

“What-”

Buzz’s shock didn’t last long as the handcuffs landed on his hands, latching onto them by themselves. His eyes turned green.

“My eyes...they’re glowing. Helen, stop it.”

“Not until you complete your sentence.” She turned to a scared Aianna, gently picking her up. “As for you, c’mere. I may have a business proposition you might want to consider. Buzz, if Bob escapes, your first task is to catch him, okay?”

“...It...” He struggled, trying and failing to get up. “...I don’t-”

“Too bad. Your body’s gonna do it anyway, whether your brain likes it or not. Maybe next time don’t slack off.”

And with that, Helen ran off.

“AIANNA!” Bob yelled as he chased after her.

“Wait no- I don’t wanna chase- This is just like Truth Queen again! No!” Buzz panicked as he followed suit.