Jon said, "I wish I knew whether having to do a quest had anything to do with being a magical girl."
"Oh, I never thought of that!" said Karyn as Jon stared into space listening to the stone's words. "What's it saying?"
A few seconds later, Jon blinked and explained. "A 'magical girl' is a kind of Japanese animation character. They're usually preteen and don't really fight."
"What? I've seen Sailor Moon, that isn't true."
"No, really. Sailor Moon is the extreme end of magical girls. She's about as old as they get and her series has about as much fighting as it gets, and that was very unusual. You didn't make me into a magical girl..."
"I didn't make you into anything, Jo-- Jennifer! You made the wish yourself."
"Whatever. Anyway, I'm not a magical girl, I'm a girl with magic. And I'm glad, because being the opposite sex and 10 years old sucks a lot more than just being the opposite sex. Your inspiration was Final Fantasy and things like that. Quests go with that a lot more than they do with magical girls. Now, I wish I knew how to find the powerup, and out loud, please."
A voice rang out, "Talk to the villagers and follow their clues."
"I guess we'd better do what it says," said Karyn.
"Okay. I wish that Karyn and I could speak the local language, and I mean without forgetting English...."
