Open message to everyone reading this: thank you for the over 3k pageviews back during my last set of updates. Watching that little number climb and fall is more encouraging than it probably should be.

I wish I was better at writing action scenes. Every time I have a big battle that I need to write, it takes twice as long to get the chapter written.

"In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them... I destroy them."

― Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game

Mitakihara City

Alleyway

Local time: 9:15 PM

Nanoha stared down the alleyway, past the last illuminated light into the cold darkness at the end of the alleyway. She turned to look at Fate, who had n

"Are you sure it's a witch?"

Fate nodded. "I think so. It feels like the other one we ran into with Tomoe-san, the Familiar, but much more powerful. Of course, we've never been close to an actual Witch's barrier, so I can't be entirely certain."

Nanoha looked down at the already-transformed staff she held. "What do you think, Raising Heart?"

Raising Heart blinked. "A powerful magical barrier, consistent with the described pattern."

Nanoha nodded and gulped. After days of searching with no results, they had finally found one; a true witch. Fate gripped Bardiche tighter as the device slid upward into its saber form. A bead of sweat ran down her forhead. Nanoha smiled. Fate was as nervous as she was.

Passing through the barrier was much the same as it had been before. The ambient sounds and smells of the outside world disappeared, leaving a space that felt empty and alien.

The space Nanoha and Fate entered was scarcely brighter than the alleyway had been. The two of them had stepped into what appeared to be a techno rave. Colors flashed randomly, and greenish laser lines streaked through the smoky air. Pulsating waves of sound washed over them. Humanoid shapes, no more than wavering outlines of glowing light, danced in a tightly packed mass on the dancefloor. The entire scene looked as if it had been painted with glowsticks. The undulating, gyrating mass of light made Fate's eyes ache.

On a raised stage, standing over the crowd was something even more alien than the rest of the scene. The creature at the turntables may once have been human, but it certainly was not now. It looked as if it had been painted into the air with light. The glowing outlines of two hands spun and scratched a pair of records its head, long trailing lines of neon blue answering for hair, bobbed in time with the beat.

It looks like we were right, Nanoha commented, the witch must be the one onstage.

It feels more powerful than the others, Fate agreed.

Nanoha glanced at the crowd. What are these…things? Are they people? Familiars?

Fate dodged the question. She was not certain that she wanted to know the answer. For right now, they don't seem interested in us.

Nanoha nodded. What's the plan?

Get as close to the stage as we can without alerting the witch or the crowd. Once we're close enough, strike fast and hard at the creature. Ignore anything that tries to get in our way.

Nanoha gulped and nodded.

The two of them were able to get halfway across the dance floor before the witch reacted. All seemed to be going according to plan until Fate accidentally bumped one of the glowing outlines. The witch's head instantly spun to gaze at the two intruders. Its right hand lifted the glowing outline of a record off of the turntable. It flicked the neon circle like a frizbee, careening though the air. Nanoha was just barely able to dodge the flying disk of light by flying upward. It exploded as it struck the ground directly behind where she had been.

So much for stealth, Nanoha thought as she leveled Raising Heart at the witch. She felt hands grab her ankles, pulling her off balance. As she tried to recover, she was met by another flurry of glowing disks, forcing her to dodge once again. The danging of the crowd became more intense, undulating and swelling. The dancers surged onto the stage, surrounded the witch. Every time she tried to line up a shot, she found glowing forms blocking her shot and more disks flying toward her. Fate, meanwhile, was trying the same with no more success than Nanoha. Nanoha created a circle in the air far out of the creature's range and landed on it. After a moment, Fate joined her. Both girls caught their breath for a moment.

We won't accomplish anything this way, Nanoa thought to Fate, I can't get a clear shot with all of the dancers in the way.

The witch seems to be using mostly ranged attacks, Fate mused, It tosses disks to keep attackers from getting close and the dancers to block ranged shots.

What do we do? Blast the whole lot?

Fate considered the suggestion for a moment. While one divine buster would likely take care of the problem, something made Fate hesitant to use that course. There was something about the glowing figures that did not sit right with her. They could just be familiars, but then what if they were not? Fate shuddered. No. We have to do this in a way that we don't harm the dancers.

How?

Fate thought for a minute. They needed a way to get close in, but without the witch having time to react. A memory surfaced in her mind, one that was not her own. Long ago, before the incident that had fractured her mother's sanity, Precia Testarossa had taken Alicia to a circus on Mid-Childa. Fate remembered Alicia's amazement as she had watched the daredevils and acrobats. All of the stunts had been impressive, but one particular act rose to her mind at that moment; a man who had climbed into the barrel of a canon. Fate smiled. Remember Vita's Raketenhamer attack?

Nanoha thought for a minute, then nodded.

Fate hovered directly in front of Nanoha, Orienting herself so that her feet were pointed to Nanoha and her head toward the witch. She clutched Bardiche tightly to her chest, trying to make her profile as narrow as possible. Behind her, Nanoha raised Raising Heart. Magenta rings formed around Fate's ankles, locking her in place.

Half a dozen alternating gold and magenta magic circles surrounded Fate's ankles as both girls concentrated all of their might on casting. Fate mentally calculated as circle after circle formed and began spinning. At exactly the right moment she sent a mental message back to Nanoha. Now!

The glowing rings which had held Fate in place vanished. With the bind released, the circles, each designed to repulse both physical objects and magical conjurations flew apart. Fate shot forward at an incredible speed, clearing half the distance to the witch in less than a heartbeat. Glowing records flew all around her as she shifted Bardiche to her side. She was ten meters from the stage, then five. The dancers were thrown to the sides by her wake. In the fraction of a second where she and the witch were level, Fate swung.

Fate skidded across the ground, thowing up an enormous wake of dust. She spun as she came to a stop, raising Bardiche once again. Behind her the witch had flown apart. The glowing form blurred, then faded away. The outlines which were the dancers stood stock still, then faded into human beings who slumped to the ground. Fate panted as the barrier dissolved, leaving the two girls in an alleyway full of unconscious partygoers, and a single dark object floated slowly downward.

As Nanoha landed, the two of them smiled triumphantly. They had done it.

Time-Space Administration Bureau Cruiser Arthra

Sickbay

Two hours past start of Second Shift

Mami sighed in relief as she watched the dark stain fly from her soul gem into the Greif Seed. The peaceful effect was spoiled somewhat by the dozen or so sensors Amy had trained on the two small gems.

"…Then I remembered the human cannonball act from the circus," Fate continued. She had been describing her and Nanoha's fight against the DJ witch to an increasingly concerned Chrono and Lindy.

"That was incredibly dangerous," Chrono scolded her, "If your barrier jacket had malfunctioned at all, you would have died."

"It was the only way we would have been able to get close enough to hit." Fate countered.

Mami handed the grief seed to Amy as she finished cleansing her soul gem. "Here you go," she said to Amy, "Were you able to get good readings?"

"It'll take a while to analyze what we have," Amy replied, "But I think we were able to record the process."

Mami nodded and smiled. "I'm glad I was able to help. That grief seed can still purify a little more. You might be able to stabilize our other guest a little." She turned to look over at the one occupied bed of the sickbay. Haruhana Midori remained unconscious as long as her soul gem was suspended in a small barrier the doctor had cast.

Mami turned to Chrono and Lindy. "I know Fate was reckless, but please don't be too hard on her. She was just trying to help me."

"I still say it was reckless," Chrono grumbled.

Amy pinched his cheek. "Of course you do, you're her older brother."

"At any rate," Lindy concluded, "At least we have a grief seed now, and Mami's magic has returned." She patted Fate on the shoulder. "You've done a good job, Fate. Why don't you take tomorrow off? Now that we have what we were searching for, we no longer need a round-the-clock search."

Fate felt the small slip of paper she had tucked into her top for the fight. The note from before. "Actually," She replied, "There is one thing I still have to do tomorrow. What does the cook have in the galley?"

Mitakihara City

Mitakihara Central Mall Third Floor Arcade

Local time: 10:10 AM

Kyoko repeatedly hit the down pedal on the Dog Drug Reinforcement machine, cycling through the possible songs. She had played on this machine often enough that she had mastered almost every song, so finding one she still enjoyed was difficult. Taking another bite of her half-eaten Taiyaki, she finally settled on "Zankoku na Tenshi." It might not be the fastest-paced song on the machine, but it was one of her favorites that she had not yet become sick of playing.

As she was just about to hit the start button she heard the chink of a coin being inserted into the second coin slot. A second column of arrows appeared as someone else climbed onto the other pad. Kyoko smiled.

"Decided to come after all? I figured you'd chicken out."

"A playwright from my present home once wrote that discretion is the better part of valor. I had to be certain we were alone."

"Whatever. You bring the food?" Neither girl missed a beat or took their eyes off the screen as Fate threw an apple and Kyoko caught it. She began to devour it as they continued talking. "That was quite a trick you pulled back in the alleyway. Only one other person's ever been able to knock me back on my ass."

"You're a formidable opponent," Fate replied, "I have only met two others who have your level of skill with close combat. Your weaponry, however, is archaic even when compared to what they used."

"Hmph. Well, you like my little present?"

"The Pocky or the witch?"

Kyoko laughed at that. "Figured you'd appreciate if I let you have a kill. You ate the Pocky, right?"

"The grief seed was for a friend. I have other business here. I'm looking for answers."

"Answers to what?"

"About the witches. About being a Puella Magi."

Kyoko snorted. "Listen here goldie, there's only one thing that matters, and that's gathering grief seeds. If you're gonna start looking for some sort of deeper meaning to it all, you're gonna be disappointed. I don't know who this friend of yours is, but when it comes to Puella Magi, it's every girl for herself. "

"Looking out for your own well being is not a bad thing. You do no one any good by mindlessly throwing away your own life, even if it is in service to another. But blatant egotism is simply self-destructive."

"How old are you, kid?"

"Five."

Kyoko risked shooting a disbelieving expression at the other girl. Fate had the barest hint of a smile on her face.

"Ten on official records. It's a long story."

"Well, either way, you clearly haven't been at this life long enough to know what it's really like. Let me give you a little advice. Being a Puella Magi isn't some cutesy anime where you can fight monsters after school, date cute boys and save the world with the power of friendship. Sure, you might convince someone that hasn't been a Puella Magi very long to work with you, but when push comes to shove they'll be more worried about their own skin than your friendship."

"You make two assumptions about me that are entirely wrong. First, you think that because you're older than me that you've been fighting longer. Second, just because I hold ideals does not mean that I am naïve. I've been using magic for years longer than you've even known it existed, and in that time I've learned that fighting for a reason is more important than pure survival." The two of them danced on in silence for a minute before Fate continued. "One day, you'll find someone or something you care about more than anything, and if you aren't careful, your attitude will drive them away."

The music ended, and the screen switched. Numbers wheeled on the screen, adding up the girls' points. Finally, both numbers settled on a total value. Two perfect scores, S-rank. Kyoko couldn't help but feel irritated.