[Author Note: Heh, never expect that news reporter in the beginning to be mention again, did ya!]
Saturday, around Late Afternoon, at the Crawford's Resident
It was a pretty cool day, though it was obvious since it was just the autumn's air playing around. Outside in front of Crawford's Resident, Mayan was knocking on the door with a relaxed smile on her face. The female anthropomorphic Shisa Dog sighed as she waited, looking around the neighborhood. It was pretty peaceful late afternoon and the weather did seem like perfect condition for a picnic. However, she reminded herself that this enjoyable trip isn't just for fun, but to help Emily with this 'Magical Girl' business, as strange as that sound (even considering all the normal strange stuffs that happen since this whole thing started).
Finally, the door began to open and a figure happily greeted her, but what Mayan saw in front of the door way literally made her jumped backward in shocked, ending with a scream. The shadow creature freaked out by that reaction, but it remained focus enough to try to calm her down, waving its arms downward and feeling embarrassed, "Mayan, please calm down! It's me, Emily Crawford!"
That snapped Mayan back to her sense, surprised that new discovery, but now she was furious and yelled angrily at her, "DON'T DO THAT TO ME! You scared me half-to-death!"
"Ummm...eh, heh heh, sorry about that," Mrs. Crawford nervously apologized, then realized something, "Oh, that right, this is the first time you seen my...c-changed form. Sorry about not telling you, but truthfully, I'm not too proud of this form...too many bad memories with it. But, this form is necessary for Kenya to come with us without getting her expose to the sun."
"Huh, what do you mean?"
"To keep it short, I have a special ability that wrap around a small area with a veil of shadow. I can use that to speed up or slow down an artificial time inside of it, making five minutes seems like an hour, as well as block out the sunlight. However, the problem is that I can only do it for fifteen minute in real time and need to recharge from time to time. Thankfully, I had enough sense to tint up the window in my car...t-though I did it in case she needed to go to the...h-h-hospital."
Mayan was about to ask about that last part, which she could detect a very grim tone, but Emily interrupted with a weak smile, "Come in, you silly! You don't have to stand at the doorway all day until we leave." Mayan did as she was told and entered the house, making sure to shut the door in the process. It was pretty dark inside except for a few light bulbs on, but that was because Emily blocked out the sunlight, and yet strangely the place still appeared to have a friendly vibe to it.
"Hello; is that you, Ms. Freelance," asked a blissful voice in the hallway, "Mom told me what you changed into, but I have never seen a Shisa Dog before. Heh, you look really cute with those thick curl eyebrows."
"Oh, hello Kenya," Mayan replied, a bit surprised that she had managed to sneaked up on her, even with her enhanced senses, "Thank, I must admit that I do look cute with them, but I must note that this fur is a pain to wash!" Hearing Kenya laughed at that, she smiled and continued, "Anyway, how about you come out and let me get a good look at you! It had been ages since I lasted seen you...oh, you know what I mean."
"Oh, sure sorry about that! It's k-kinda a habit I pick up recently, t-t-thank to the sun," she said, walking out underneath the closest light bulb near Mayan, feeling a bit shy. Technically, what she said was the truth, but it wasn't the primary reason for that habit and it is something she felt ashamed of now. No matter how hard she tried to shake that bad habit, she just felt more comfortable in the dark than the light, where little to no shadow around. Her mother, who was watching the whole scene, understands why and felt a familiar pain in her heart: a powerful regret.
"Oh, you just look as cute as I'd last remembered." Mayan examined the twelve year old in a delightful enjoyment, but her examination began to drift into something else, as she grew more alarmed by what she discovering. "Kenya...w-what w-with those scars?! T-t-they are all over y-your body! How did this happen?"
Kenya froze hearing that question, not sure how to respond to that question. She didn't want Mayan to be upset with her mother for something she couldn't control. However, before she could find an excuse, her mother stepped in. "I'm a-afraid that I am to blame for that."
Mayan sharply turned her head at Mrs. Crawford, mentally gagged in shock, and Kenya was just as shock. She knew Emily for the longest time and never did she displayed even a minor sign of being violence, and the thought of this woman hurting her own daughter does not make any sense. She knew that Emily loved her daughter to death, so she just couldn't understand what was going on. Maybe this explained why she went home early beforehand on Thursday, trying to tend to Kenya's wounds and patched up their relationship.
Mrs. Crawford leaned her back against the door, her face was very grim as she continued onward, "I-it's very complicated and j-just something I'm not really too comfortable remembering. Remember those creatures I was talking about, the one in the pocket dimension that is trying to break out? They exposed me to the sun and implanted me with a seed of negative energy. It took advantage of the sun while I was changing and...w-warped my transformation and I ended up as their sadistic lieutenant, Shadoe Fae. Thankfully, Becca managed to purify the seed and snapped me back...b-but o-o-only after the d-d-damage was d-done to m-my l-li-little p-p-pumpkin...!"
Mayan watched in pity as Emily was trying to fight back some tears (and losing, badly), and went to her to hugged the poor woman. 'Poor girl, that must have been one heck of a living nightmare to wake up from. Hmmm...I wonder now if that dreadful feeling I had felt beforehand was the evil vibe from Emily. I had originally dismissed it because I thought I was imagining thing, but now I think it has something to do with being a Shisa Dog. I don't feel anything bad from her now, but I was getting a weird vibe from that Tiffany girl.'
"M-m-mom," Kenya broke in, trying to move the subject to a happier note, "Should we be getting ready to go and pick up Becca and Trident."
Sniffing and clearing her eyes quickly, she turned toward her and gave a weak smile, "Y-you're right, w-we better get going. Pumpkin, let me prepare a few thing for you to safely come along with us, as well as call Becca's guardians to tell them that we are picking her up, so in the meanwhile, could you do us a favor and get everything from the kitchen ready for us to go."
Kenya gave the biggest grin and replied before dashing off to do her assigned duty, "Okay, Mom!"
Waiting for her daughter to get out of hearing range, she turned back to Mayan with a deep frown on her face, "You have no idea how much I hate myself right now! I don't think I will ever forgive myself for the emotional scars that I gave to my little pumpkin. She did her best to act like everything is all right between us now, bless her big sweet heart...but, I know she still has some lingering fears of me. She will be afraid of me for the rest of her life, because of those monsters did to me!"
"Come on, Emily," Mayan replied with sympathy, "You're being too hard on yourself! I'm sure everything will turn out just fine in the end!" She gripped hard on Emily's black arm and pulled the surprised shadow woman toward the garage. "Now, you better cheers up now and enjoy yourself, or I swear, I'll put you into one of my infamous tickle-hold like the good ol' days! And, trust me, I can find a way to do so, even with these thick claws."
Emily couldn't help but laughed at that, "Okay, okay, I'll cheer up, I'll cheer up! Heh heh!"
"Heh, you better! Anyhow, do you have any clue on how to find Trident's relatives, or other Magical Girls?"
"Finding Trident's relatives shouldn't actually be all that difficult, if luck hold out well. Just ask around the area near where Trident first transformed to see who has gone missing. If the number is bigger than expected, then maybe we could get Trident to dig deep into her memory to help. As for the Magical Girls, that scenario is going to be a bit erratic, but we do have some clues where a few are. Asking the police to help us would be a good idea, and according to a cousin of mine in the news business, I believe one is with a police office."
"Cousin," Mayan asked in puzzlement, before it came to her just a moment later, "OH, I remember you talking about her before a bunch of times. Wasn't she the one who got transformed into a gynoid doing a report about the sun when this all first began?!"
"Yeah, she's the one with the centaur cameraman. We usually talked with each other a lot, but after the whole Shadoe Fae's incident, she lost all contact with me. A day after my 'return' (and after I had gain enough courage), I was able to finally talk with her and I explained the whole situation to her. I asked her if she could help us with the Magical Girls search and a day later, she found out that her boss Toby got a Magical Girl of her own. And, if we were correct about our early presumption, there might be another one at the school where there was some trouble at."
"You told her everything?"
"Heh heh, relax, I trust her, she isn't a stereotypical news reporter type that will do anything for a story. Beside, I...needed to talk about it to get it off my back, and since she was family, I figured it was a good idea. We always got along greatly...heck, we was practically best friends. Talking about it with her just kinda help me let out a lot of emotional pain."
Mayan couldn't help but to smile with sympathy and put her right thick hand-like paw on her shoulder. "Come on, you shadow doll, let get everything ready."
Emily smiled back and walked off toward the garage with Mayan. However, she noticed that something seems to be vexing her now, as she realized that she was peeking glances at her. "What wrong, Mayan?!"
Mayan sighed, feeling a bit embarrassed at what was going through her mind. She turned toward her direction and shyly remarked, "On, it's nothing, I am just cursing my luck, that all. I swear, I worked my butt off to get a proper figure, and even after transforming, my figure didn't improve enough for my taste. And, here you are now, with a figure that many girls would kill for and many guys would get close to, a body that is constantly teasing me to death. Honestly, with the exception of all the craps you have been put through, you are bloody lucky!"
Emily Crawford stared at Mayan for a moment, a bit shocked at her little speech. But, her shocked began to slowly morph to giggles as she couldn't help but laughed. "I-I'm sorry...hahaha...I k-know that I shouldn't be l-laughing...hehe...but, of all things to say, I would never expect you to actually be jealous of me. I-I don't know if it is my new sadistic side or not...heh heh...but something about that seems so funny!"
Mayan cocked her thick curly right eyebrow at her and gave a sarcastic remark, though her tone didn't sound like she was angry or even the slightest upset, it even sound somewhat playful, "Ohhh, very funny, ha...ha...ha!"
At the Cooper's Resident
Toby and Terri was preparing everything for a fun time, gathering board games and movies, hoping to spend a while with their children (or fused child, in this case). Riley was helping, feeling a bit happier now that there was a strong possibility that the fused girl wasn't going to lose them. However, something about what their parent said got them thinking. They never really thought about what was going on in their own head, about how being fused into a Magical Girl had technically changed them into a new person. Still, in many sense, that what fusion usually do to two people, and they are still themselves.
They felt that their parents weren't quite taking this serious enough. What happen if the changes become faster and more notable?! ...Or maybe they are taking it serious and just hiding it to keep their fused child happy and to keep themselves from panicking. Whatever the case, at least what their father had said did seems to comfort them a bit. And, they were happy to spend as much time with them as they can get.
But, now it brought up some other questions, though more out of curiosity than anything else. If they are going to become entirely new characters, what would the new them be like? Would they end up somewhat like her, having two identities sharing one body, like their father's theory about having split-personality? Would the new them even know that the fused girl is their children, or would they treated her like a complete stranger?
Riley sighed, tired of all these questions, decided to let them be and smiled as she ran off to get Charlie's baseball and Anna's karaoke songs. Whatever happened, everything will hopefully come out fine in the end, so it shouldn't be any point stressing out about it. They are just going to enjoy the moment they are having right now with the people they loved. And, who know, it might be a long while before the whole thing happen.
