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Techno yelped and bounced out of the way of the sickly purple rocket slammed into the ground where she’d just been standing.
“Ranboo! Some help, please!” She yelled over the cacophony of concrete turning purple and weeping, hurrying out of the blast zone as the huge, spindly monster turned slowly to follow her. The battle had pulled them further away than usual, their school just a distant shadow on the horizon. Techno spared a thought for grumbling about how they’d get back in time for the next class before she brought her sword up to counter a hit from the monster, gritting her teeth as it bore down from above. Her sword shocked it with light, but it was back within a second, pushing her back once more. She set her feet, feeling the pavement crack under the force. Where on earth was -
In the next second she stumbled forward, gasping for breath as her insides returned to their proper place. Teleports always got her dizzy, but she gave a weak thumbs-up to Ranboo as she fretted at her.
“I’m good, where’s the others?” she asked, pushing herself upright again to take in the battlefield. The monster was looking around, trying to figure out where she’d gone. She’d have to catch its attention soon, so it didn’t start trying to make its way back to city center again.
“Philza is on her way,” Ranboo hurried to say. “I haven’t seen Clementine. What are we gonna do?” She was trying to sound calm, but Techno could hear the panic starting to creep into her voice. She was still new to all this, Techno didn’t blame her. She wasn’t used to doing less than full team composition, and it showed as she looked around nervously. “Should we stall until they get here?”
Techno weighed the odds. It was a big monster, heavy-hitting, but slow in its movements. She could probably take it.
“I’m gonna go back in, see if I can’t whittle it down,” she said, hefting her greatsword back over her shoulder and shaking out her skirts. “You just keep teleporting me out when it looks like I’m in a tight spot, alright? Don’t let it lock me in.”
“Gotcha!” Ranboo said, voice shaking but determined. Techno spared a moment to put a hand on her shoulder and squeeze.
“You’re doing great. Just keep breathing, I promise I’ll be fine,” she smiled, and Ranboo gave a slightly less shaky nod. Oh yeah. She was killing it at this whole mentor thing. She released Ranboo’s shoulder and faced the monster, centering herself.
“Technoblade never dies!” She yelled out, raising her sword to gleam in the setting sun, power shimmering around her. The monster turned to her, unseeing eyes huge as it sped up just slightly lumbering towards her. She heard the sound of Ranboo teleporting away before she threw herself at the beast. It was tough, her sword barely making a dent, and alone she was not fast enough to get around to find any weak spots. But it was slow as well, and she could keep its attention on her.
“Someone clearly didn't come to rehersal,” she yelled up at it, barely dodging a heavy slam of its fist. Another slice of her sword, and then she was dodging again. “Come on, do something fun, you’ll never get a returning crowd!”
She never knew if the monsters in this form understood her, but it definitely seemed like it as the beast roared and leaned back, ports opening along its back. Techno got ready to dodge the rockets again -
And then a brilliant green light lit up the night, and Techno could only laugh.
“Philza!” She yelled, watching Philza zip through the air, flipping over herself before setting her rifle against her shoulder, hovering perfectly still like some sort of avenging angel. A shot, and a series of explosions lit up along the monster’s back as it roared and staggered. Techno seized her moment, leaping up along its arm and running over its dark, twisting skin until she reached its back and the swirling purple magic oozing out of its wounds. She let her momentum carry her into the air, grinning up at Philza for a moment before bearing down into the exposed magic with a cry of effort. The monster wailed as it kneeled in the destroyed street, and Techno could feel its power waning.
With a final shriek, the magic holding it together dissolved, and Techno let herself float to the ground as it expanded across the street, melting any sign of its presence, and then pulled back in until it was nothing more than a bright purple pearl, lying glittering in the middle of the street next to the unconscious form of - the lacrosse coach?
“Damn it,” Techno heard Philza swear, coming to land next to her. “Is that why she’s been such a bitch at practice lately?”
Ranboo appeared next to them in a shower of sparkles, fiddling nervously with her skirt.
“Is she… okay?”
“She’ll be fiiiiine,” Techno reassured, walking over to snatch the pearl up. She held it against the sun, inspecting it - crazy to think so much power could fit in such a small trinket. Techno tossed it into the air, caught it, and held it out to Ranboo and Booran, who detangled from around Ranboo’s shoulders to envelop the pearl. It had been Steve when Techno was new, an adorable little piglet, and apparently a crow when Philza was first starting out - but with Ranboo as their newest recruit it had turned, inexplicably, into a cloud of sparkles and dust.
Ranboo had also panicked and named it Booran, but that was a different can of worms that Techno was NOT getting into.
After a moment, Booran lightened and floated up, the pearl gone from view.
“Well done, girls,” it cheered, voice as peppy as always. “Evil will try again, but as soon as we have gathered ten of these shadow pearls, I’ll be able to learn where they’re coming from. Only three to go!”
“We’ll get them,” Philza said, confident and assured as always. She’d already changed out of her uniform, back into schoolwear with her tie askew and wearing the shorts she’d argued with every member of the school council to be allowed to wear. “And I’ll probably get to skip lacrosse practice tonight, so, score! You guys wanna come over to my place?” She said, glancing at the other two. Ranboo hummed and sighed.
“No, I can’t, I promised Clementine she could come over later,” she said with all the joy of someone talking about their next dentist appointment. Techno could relate. That didn’t mean she wasn’t jumping on this chance, though. She shook herself out of her frills and skirts as well, straightening her backpack as they began the trek back to the school.
“I’m free,” she said, trying to sound casual. Ranboo hurried behind them, stumbling a little as she changed.
“I hope you guys have fun!” She cheered, then hesitated. “Unless we get back too late, and all get detention. But I’m sure it’ll be okay, Clementine will probably come keep us company…”
Techno and Philza exchanged a glance and, as one, took off running towards the school, hearing Ranboo’s distant cry behind them as she struggled to catch up.
Back in school, they found Clementine, raging quietly about the fact that she’d been tied up in lunch detention and supervised to the point she couldn’t join the melee. As they walked to the next class she demanded they tell her what the fight had been like.
“I dunno, it was a monster and we killed it?” Techno said, and Clementine groaned.
“You suck. Ranboo, what was it like?”
“Uuuh,” Ranboo said, startled to be put on the spot. “It had rockets?”
Clementine threw her head back with a wail that had several of their classmates turning their head before they realized who it was.
“I should have been there! I would have handled it immediately and you would all have been like ‘wow Clementine you’re so poggers, you should be in charge!’”
“Hello, Clementine,” Philza said, voice full of barely contained laughter as Clementine stumbled over herself to straighten up and turn from complaining to innocent in a second.
“Hello Philza, the only woman ever, how are you on this fine day?” She said, trying to walk backwards and failing. Techno stifled a laugh.
“You know, that bit never stops being weird. We’re literally all women,” she said. Clementine’s face turned mulish and Techno tuned her out, pausing to straighten a crooked ad for their musical setting up in a few months. Her own face grinned back at her, and she left it alone to tune back into the end of Clementine’s rant.
“-ophobic, Techno, I cannot believe this of you. You’re a traitor to us all,” she sniffed, and Techno rolled her eyes.
“Sure sure. I got drama, I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Philza, I’ll catch you later?”
Philza nodded, giving her a thumbs-up.
“I’ll wait by the back parking lot, just text me when you’re coming out.” Techno nodded, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach. Clementine made a disgusted sound.
“Ew, don’t make date plans over my head, you sound like my parents,” she said, sticking her tongue out. Philza choked on her laughter and straightened, cracking her knuckles.
“What did you just say, you little shit?” She asked cheerily, and Clementine was already laughing and backing up, babbling apologies while Ranboo tried to calm them both. Techno decided this was a fantastic moment to skedaddle.
—
Techno stumbled out of rehearsals exhausted and with a sore throat. She waved off offers of rides and pulled out her phone to text Philza.
done, please save me
lol
got u a drink
You’re a life saver
She hurried through the empty school, shrugging her backpack higher on her shoulders as she got down the stairs to the back parking lot. It was almost empty outside of Philza’s beat-up old sedan, the puttering of the engine upgrading into a mild roar as the car rolled down the asphalt and came to a slightly squeaky stop in front of Techno. The window rolled down as Techno got closer and Philza grinned through it, shaking an iced mocha enticingly.
“How’d rehearsal go?” She asked as soon as Techno was inside, navigating out of the parking lot with steady hands.
“Oh, you know, tech only yelled at me once for forgetting to put a prop back and I finally got the monologue at the end of act one down,” Techno replied, taking a sip of her drink and sighing loudly. “Also the freshmen have finally stopped being scared of me, but I don’t know if that’s good.”
Philza cackled, predictable but always warming Techno from the inside out.
“Really? Good for them.”
“So where we heading? Not actually to your place, I’m guessing?” Techno asked, and Philza snorted.
“Fuck no, there’s children there. I was thinking, maybe we can head out to the sea and transform, get some practice in?”
Techno lowered her drink.
“Philza. Did you seriously just trick me into a training session?”
Philza shrugged, barely restraining a laugh.
“And if I say yes?”
Techno groaned.
“I’d say you don’t have to trick me, but also that I would have taken it a little easier with the dance numbers if I’d known, Philza.”
That got Philza to laugh properly. It always felt like a win, getting her to laugh - one Techno tried for as often as she could. And training with just the two of them? She’d get to really let loose. She tried to focus on that instead of the idea of the two of them alone on the beach at sunset. Techno could be so normal about her and Philza alone on a beach. Definitely. She sipped her drink and tried to think about anything else.
“So, uuuh, I’ve been working on some new tech with the blade,” she started, and Philza made an interested noise.
“Oh?”
They spent the rest of the trip chatting about team synergies, and Techno relaxed a little. This was why they worked so well together - Philza bounced off Techno’s ideas, came at them from different angles, brought up ideas and tactics that Techno could back up with examples and facts. She was real glad no one was tracking her library card and her recent habit of borrowing books on war tactics and history. Her parents would definitely have a fit.
They made it to the cliff beach with an hour or so left of sun. The place was abandoned, mid-fall winds cutting through Techno’s uniform mercilessly. Philza was grinning in the wind, though, her hair barely held back under her non-school-issue hat. Techno could almost see her wings fluttering in the breeze.
“Let’s go!” Philza yelled over the wind, laughing as she took off down the slope towards the beach. Techno watched as she leapt once, twice, and just on the verge of stumbling fell into her transformation. She never got tired of watching it: Philza’s wings bloomed like they’d always been there, silvery grey against the dark green of her skirt and top, her rifle nestled between them like the spine of some ancient creature. Philza looked older than she was, in-uniform, like she’d seen it all, like she could carry the world on her shoulders. It was glorious and brilliant and Techno finally had to look away, gathering herself for her own transformation.
The transformation felt different than it looked, at least to Technoblade. Philza said it made her feel lighter, faster; Clementine claimed it gave her massive tits and endless women, which was simply not true. To Technoblade, it felt like standing in front of a massive audience chanting her name: Like donning a cloak well-worn by warriors past, shouldering the weight of history for herself. She became heavier, stronger, the greatsword as tall as she was and light as a prop sword in her hands as she fell to the ground, facing off against Philza. She was watching her with a grin on her face, her own rifle in her hands already.
“Alright,” she said, flipping the safety off. “Your start.”
Techno grinned, flipped her sword in her hand, and attacked.
Fighting along with Philza was Techno’s favorite part of being a magical girl. Fighting against Philza? That was her favorite part of being alive. It was satisfying like nothing else, blocking Philza’s shots, trying to pin her down before she could evade, trading strikes where the barrel of her gun and Techno’s own sword scratched against each other in a shower of sparks. Philza’s face was a rictus of focus, a grin stealing across her lips every time she dodged Techno’s strikes. Techno wasn’t sure what her own face was doing: Every bit of focus in her body was aimed at Philza, Philza’s hands, Philza’s feet, Philza’s face, Philza, Philza, Philza -
Until she stumbled over a rock and went down hard in the sand.
Philza’s laugh echoed over the beach as she stepped forward and held out her hand.
“GG, Techno,” she panted, just as exerted as Techno herself. Techno stared up into the distant stars for another second, then reached out and grabbed Philza’s hand. Instead of levering herself up, she let herself go limp until Philza unbalanced, then tugged her forward until Philza fell forward, landing on her chest.
Philza’s sour look was worth it for the moment of breath across her skin.
“Rude,” she said, sticking her tongue out. She didn’t move, though, and Techno became suddenly extremely aware of Philza’s weight on her, warm and strong over her stomach and thighs.
“Technoblade never dies,” she gasped, and Philza’s laugh shook through them both. Okay, Technoblade needed her off of her like, right now. She carefully put her hand on Philza’s hip and pushed her sort of - sideways, until Philza was resting on the crook of her elbow instead of fully on top of her. Progress. Philza wasn’t moving, though, clearly about as exhausted as Techno was.
“What did you do after school?” Techno asked, curious now. Philza shrugged half-heartedly.
“Ran some errands. Did some more practice, went for a run. Just killing time, you know?”
“Philza the MVP,” Techno replied, and Philza giggled. “Seriously, do you ever rest?”
“I’ll rest when I’m dead,” Philza dismissed. “This job doesn’t really allow vacations, you know? We gotta be on our toes.”
“Mhmm,” Techno hummed, focusing back up on the stars. “There’s still so much we don’t know. I don’t know if Steve - “
She paused. Looked around.
Techno turned a little, facing Philza as she rolled to her side.
“It’s not - telling us everything, is it?” she asked softly. Philza shrugged, and Techno saw her glance over her own shoulder, just as Techno was doing. Watching each other’s backs.
“It’s - There’s definitely more happening,” she said softly, and Techno sighed, eyes closed.
The silence stretched between them, the soft sounds of wind and sea filling their senses. Techno thought about their battles, about Dream’s taunts and furious anger towards their mascot. About Winifred.
“What do you wanna do after all this, Philza?” she asked. Philza laughed, kind of tired and empty.
“I don’t know. Sleep for a week, maybe. A month. Play some lacrosse.” She hesitated. Techno picked up the thread, looking out over the ocean.
“I’ve been thinking I wanna go to college. Not theater, I’m thinking maybe - English?” She swallowed, going quieter. “Maybe… not here?”
Philza laughed a little.
“Come on, mate, you could get into anything you want, you’re smart. But yeah, I think…
“Maybe move. Once I’m eighteen, I’ve been thinking - I want somewhere with mountains.” She hesitated. “Somewhere cold.”
Techno couldn’t have stopped herself from pulling Philza into a hug if she’d tried. She didn’t, instead pulling Philza safe and close. The shimmer of detransformation came over both of them at once. Techno felt lighter and smaller all at once, shivering in the cool sand. Philza felt like a furnace in front of her, shaggy blond hair giving way to steel-blue eyes as she looked up at Techno.
“Mate,” she said, then paused. “Would it be super weird if we like - you know?”
Techno suddenly felt very, very warm.
“No, no it wouldn’t,” she hurried to say. “It would be great. For uh, team synergies.”
“No, I’m being serious, Techno,” Philza said, and suddenly there was a warm hand on Techno’s cheek, tilting her head down. “You have to promise. We’re friends, first and foremost, forever, okay?”
Techno nodded frantically.
“Yes, yes. Philza, you’re my best friend. But I’d like it if you kissed me, yes,” she babbled, feeling like she was freezing and sweating at the same time.
Philza’s lips were warm on hers, split wide into a smile against Techno’s mouth. She pulled back to laugh, smiling up at Techno.
“Like that?” Philza said. Techno wasn’t sure what kind of noise she made, but it was definitely agreeable enough that Philza leaned in for a second kiss.