Jenny was confused as she found herself back on the ground, looking at the dark silhouette of a man. She was actually quite afraid, but after seeing that dog this person seemed a bit safer.
Tetra however, was quite annoyed. "Who told you to interfere!" the cat girl seethed her teeth.
Hawkins looked to the small doll-like cat girl, impeccably. "She appeared to need some aid, perhaps I should ask why did you put her in such danger?"
"I-Is it following us?" Jenny asked glancing at the way they came. How far were they taken? They had moved quite far, it shouldn't be possible for it to find them. It wasn't a normal dog... by no means. Not even a wolf, more like something a person could dream in a nightmare. Something partially animated, in the world of the living...
Tetra frowned a bit, then just as suddenly started licking her paws. "Mmmm... no. But Jenny, how in the world could you miss!"
Jenny swallowed. "I- I-"
"It was an easy shot! You could have just hit it and it wouldn't have even done anything to you!"
"I-" Jenny looked quite upset now. "I- don't know. S-Sor'y" She sniffled slightly. Why did she miss? She... she didn't know. Maybe she was distracted?
Hawkins watched the two carefully. "A confused set of events, and I really must know what is going on."
"It's not your business!" Tetra said annoyed again. "We don't even know who you are."
"Hawkins. As I already said. I believe it is my business now, under the circumstances. Unless of course, you rather fight it on your own?"
"You're not a magic girl. You can't." Tetra said flatly. "You have no idea what you have done!"
The shadow agent gave a shrug, glancing around.
Tetra sniffed the air a bit, her claws extended. Her heckles were raised "I think... this is really bad now." She glanced at Agent Hawkings with a measure of disbelief. "You were able to attack it... physically. You made contact with it. Also, It's a lot stronger then it should be. The only thing I can think of is that someone in the Mall, must have a huge amount of magical energy around them."
"A-Another Magic girl maybe?" Asked Jenny hopefully. She didn't want to fight these things alone.
"It's... possible. I guess. I'm not sure. This world does not have much magic. I suppose it could be a primal spell caster. They always have a hot aura for monsters to eat up. But I doubt the sun could create those. I mean, we don't even have the knowledge to cast primal spells here."
"What do you propose to do now?" Agent Hawkins asked, his voice even. Clearly this was a threat to security...
"The monster was attacked physically.. When you made contact with it, you gave it some of your own energy... your own intelligence. Possibly even abilities depending on how strong it is. It might not be dog-like any more." They could be dealing with something with actual intelligence now.... which completely changed the situation. Jenny was in real danger. No longer an animal, it would think strategically. "It's going to go to wherever it was eating... and instead of syphoning the energy source, It's going to take all the magic it can... It will then either break into this world completely, or if it has enough energy, it will bring more of its kind."
"Is the source in danger?" Asked Hawkins.
"No... It won't kill someone producing a huge amount of raw energy. It would be too valuable. I suppose it might try to use the energy to multiply too."
"M-Multiply? We could get more?" Asked Jenny worried again.
The little cat like doll sighed as she considered this situation. It was.. not good. They no longer had surprise. Jenny was a lot less apt at being a magic girl then she thought, despite being quite good in training... and now they had an unknown man with them, who seemed able to see the creatures and hit them physically. This was... really bad. This was not the first mission she had planned for the girl. It had all gone wrong!
Tetra tried to think what the beast would do. "It may gain sentient intelligence... I can't... sense it now. It might have fled." Her whiskers bristled. But where would it go now? What would it do?
Jon got up from eating his food. Suddenly the slug girl was hit by a wave of dizziness. It was brief though, and after blinking her eyes she was better.
"You okay Jon?" Asked Karyn, although she was also suddenly hit by a similar wave of dizziness though not quite as badly.
"Y-yeah.. I guess I got up too fast- Karyn?"
"Yikes... something must have been wrong in that food" she said.
"Yeah," Jon thought quietly. Still no harm done.
Tim however, was trying very hard to look at something behind Jon.. there was something there. He still didn't understand drow sense, but... he knew instinct. However, the feeling was gone quickly.
He figured he best stick close to Jon for now... that was quite weird.
Steve looked at her mother, and reached out and hugged her. "I- I'm sorry Mom... I didn't mean it..." she didn't like seeing her mother upset like this. She was only trying to help her...
"No.. I'm sorry I- I didn't want to push you so hard." She clutched her daughter tightly. "You are still my child... beautiful, as a boy and a girl..." She spoke honestly.
"I... I don't know what to do. Mom... I've lost my friends. My school... I won't be able to play sports, or games or..."
"Hush child.. you know that's not true. It will be different ... but you are still the same person. If your friends can not see that.. then they were not your friends in the first place."
Steve started to feel a little better. She hugged her mother again...
"Your pain is mine Steve... always. Never forget that. If I could... make it all go away, I would... I just want you to be happy. I believe... if you gave yourself a chance, you could be happy...."
Give this a chance? What advantage did being a flower girl give? Nothing that she could see... she smelt nice. That was about it. If she could maybe see some good in her form, maybe she could give it a chance... but what?
Steve's mother looked at her daughter, as if reading her mind. "You wont know unless you try."
"I- I- guess," the flower girl nodded.
Her mother nodded. "Now... I have informed the school..."
Steve winced inward.
"I'm sorry but I had to. You are going to be re-enrolled in the day side..."
"T-thanks... I.. guess." At least... She wouldn't have to confront her friends immediately.
"Steve... I am going to go into the sunlight."
"W-what?!" the plant girl looked aghast.
"As I said... my pain is yours. You are my child... I want you to see that." She smiled, already opening the door to their garden.
"W-wait mom!"
Mikey, the robot girl started to boot up.
She was instantly on... and aware. Glancing at the clock, it was the exact time she wanted to wake up... just after she estimated Jon would go out. She glanced down and saw the two digital fairies... Effie was curled up next to Dennis. She thought it looked very sweet.
It was interesting that digital fairies seemed to need to rest now and then. Effie once showed a desire for nutrition... in digital form. Even though they were just programmed entities, they had some basic needs. Or at least, they thought they did. She didn't think they could _actually- starve. But that was not something she was going to test.
She wondered what would happen if they had a family? Could they? She had to giggle a bit at such strange thoughts. The digital equivalent of having a child, would probably be an instant merging of two programs. Although if this were the case, Digital fairies should be able to pro-create almost infinity, with beings being created as fast as run time was around with generations and generations being formed every minute.
Clearly that was not going on, so there had to be some kind of limitation in place...
She carefully held the digital fairies in her hand, and placed them on the table. They didn't seem aware of the motion in the real world.
Dennis slept a little closer to Effie...
The little Robot girl smiled.
