Magical Girl Trixie: Revival

Suddenly, La Proxy slammed her hand to the ground, engulfing all of us through the portal and sending us to a completely different dimension where we felt the ground beneath our feet disappear. Looking around us, it appeared like we were in outer space, only the force of gravity was still taking effect, pulling us down at an incredibly quick speed with a bright, orange light surrounding my arm. In the next second, I heard Dreamdrop scream, and looking down, I found out exactly what their plan was in sending us here. As we freefell below, picking up speed as we descended, we were headed straight towards the sun itself, while the Everfree City girls floated safely from where we fell. Divinity must have been keeping them in midair while the rest of us were subjected to the gravitational pull of the star beneath us, leading us directly to our fiery deaths.

“Trixie!” Night Seam shouted past the screams of the other girls. “Use your magic!”

That was it! It seemed so simple, but in the heat of the moment, I had completely forgotten that I actually had the ability to halt our freefall! Then, nodding my head, I stuck my arms out, slowing down the speed of our descent until we finally came to a complete stop, allowing us to catch our breath, if only for a moment. We were still hovering above an actual star, far enough away to where our bodies were feeling warm, but not close enough to actually cause any damage to our bodies. Honestly, we were lucky enough to have oxygen in this alternate dimension, which La Proxy must have done just for the sake of keeping herself and the others alive while we fell to our doom.

The enemies, however, were still above us, although they were plenty far enough away to where we couldn’t see their reaction to us surviving their plan, instead appearing as four small dots. Then, it looked like something appeared by their side, and three of those dots then made their way through the portal while one of them stayed behind, which I could only presume was Divinity. The figure, though, was beginning to grow larger and larger until we could finally make out the colors blue and silver heading towards us. For some reason, X Genesis volume 9 was the one who had stayed behind, and without Divinity, she was falling down from the gravity, outside the reach of Divinity’s magic. Just as I was about to question it, however, I noticed that she was on a direct collision course with me, but before I even had the chance to react, her whole body collided with mine, breaking my ribcage and causing me to release my magic, sending us all back down towards the heat of the star.

“My condolences for doing this to you,” she said, “but we can’t have you using your magic right now. Divinity is watching from a safe place and will transport me back once you have all been eliminated. Thankfully, though, I can survive even solar radiation, so I shall remained unharmed. Well, it’s been a pleasure.”

I was in so much pain I couldn’t think, let alone move my body enough to activate my magic in order to save the girls screaming around me. Even air was hard to grasp, even though I was trying my hardest to pull the oxygen into my lungs, and to make matters worse, I could feel the heat under my back begin to grow more and more severe. In a matter of what would probably be seconds, the flames of the star beneath us would completely engulf us, ending the battle before it had even started.

Just then, though, the light around my body disappeared in an instant, creating total darkness as I faced the opposite direction of where I was falling. I couldn’t move my spine enough to see what was going on due to the pain in my ribs, but before I even needed to ask, I felt my body press against something soft, stopping my body from falling any further. My arms were now lying against what felt like fur, and looking over towards the other girls as best I could, I noticed that everyone else had stopped falling as well, although some were still crying in fear. Genny, however, was nowhere to be seen, which meant that whatever saved us was playing sides in this war, leaving only one culprit left that fit that bill.

“Discord,” Divinity said unhappily, appearing out of the darkness. “Why are you interfering?”

“Oh, so you think you’re the only omnipotent being who’s allowed to take part in this game, hmm?” I couldn’t see his face without moving my body, but the sound of his voice, for once in my life, actually made me feel a small measure of comfort.

“This isn’t a game. It’s a war.”

“I know! Which is why I didn’t bother saving your friend over there! By the way, are you sure you don’t want to save her right now? Even though she can handle the heat of the sun, I doubt it’s very comfortable for her.”

Divinity glared at the god of chaos before stretching her wings and descending down, leaving the rest of us to breathe a sigh of relief. “I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Iron Maiden’s voice said, “but man am I happy to see you!”

“Don’t get used to it. I’m not going to save you every time, you know. I just wanted to make sure the playing field is fair.”

“Can we talk about this later?” Dreamdrop asked in a hurried tone. “Trixie got hit pretty hard; it looks like she’s in a lot of pain!”

“You know, I find it unfair that you’re allowed to refer to her by name, whereas I have to refer to her as the Great and Powerful Trixie. I’m just saying, it seems like a double standard to me.”

“DISCORD! PLEASE!”

Dreamdrop was right. I was in so much agony that I wanted to curl up and hold my chest, but every time I even tried, the pain inside me sent daggers to my brain, leaving me in misery no matter what I did. Just as I was about to surrender to the tears behind my eyes, though, Discord snapped his fingers, making the pain vanish instantaneously and allowing me to weakly sit myself up, seeing Dreamdrop’s wide smile.

“Great and Powerful Trixie, are you OK?” Mind Games asked urgently.

“Yeah,” Iron Maiden agreed. “That must have hurt.”

Nodding my head, I said, “Trixie is fine, but… what happened to Divinity and Genny?”

No sooner had I asked the question when Divinity and X Genesis reappeared, hovering above us in the space world with an icy glare coming from the magical girl in white. “What’s wrong, Divinity?” Discord asked sarcastically. “If you really have a problem, you could always just kill everyone right here, couldn’t you?”

All of our eyes suddenly went wide with half of our team vocalizing their disapproval, but Discord’s smile never faded, nor did Divinity’s angry scowl. “La Proxy!” she shouted. “Get us out of here!” Then, we all felt ourselves falling again, but this time, we landed on the pavement with a small thud, sitting ourselves up and rubbing our backs from the surprise landing. Discord was no longer there, instead leaving us with the four magical girls from earlier standing above us, each with starkly contrasting expressions.

“My, my,” La Proxy said with a grin. “It looks like defeating you girls isn’t going to be as easy as I thought.”

“Indeed,” replied Genny. “It would seem that there are limits to how much we can do without Discord’s intervention.”

“THEN LET’S FUCK ‘EM UP RIGHT NOW! SERIOUSLY, WHAT ARE YOU GIRLS WAITING FOR?!”

“We need to adapt, Catastrophe,” Divinity announced, keeping the angry cat girl at bay for a little while longer. “Although you do have a point.” Then, as all of us got back onto our feet, La Proxy lifted her hand again, the thin halos around her wrist spinning rapidly until another portal opened up, revealing the inside of the school. The portal was to the main hallway, and although there were no students there at the moment, it would only take a few steps to get to the first couple of classrooms, a sight which made my heart clench and Divinity’s lip curl upwards. “We did come here for a reason, after all. Besides, we have some girls that we need to revive as well.”

“YEEEEES!”

Then, without wasting another second, Catastrophe jumped through the portal, which La Proxy immediately sealed upon slamming her hand to the ground. My worst fears were coming true, and without taking another minute to think about it, I turned on my heels and started running as fast as I could towards the front entrance of the school.

“La Proxy, take care of her!” Divinity shouted, and in the next second, I found myself running into a wall, only when I turned around, there was nowhere left for me to move. I was in a wooden chest that barely fit my entire body, and no matter how much I tried pushing the case open with both my hands and my powers, the doors to the chest wouldn’t open. The lack of space was beginning to make me grow even more anxious than I already was, leaving me breathing heavily in the darkness that encapsulated my vision as I tried to punch my way out. The more I felt around, though, the more I realized exactly where I was.

I was in a wooden coffin. I had been buried alive.

“Discord!” I shouted, continuing to pound on the door, sealed by both a latch as well as six feet of dirt. “Get me out of here!” After each second that passed, I felt like hours were going by, which was time wasted where Catastrophe could be halfway finished killing all the students at my school. “DISCORD!”

Just as quickly as I had been pulled into this new environment, however, I was quickly pulled out, yet again landing on my back, although this time, I was in a place that I actually recognized. The walls surrounding me were filled with lockers, trophies and doors to classrooms, but what I was really looking for was nowhere to be seen, making me panic just as much as before. Discord must have been the one to teleport me here, but he had sent me to the wrong hallway, which hopefully didn’t mean that I was already too late. With adrenaline now pushing me to run faster than I ever had, even in my magical girl form, I looked around everywhere I could to find a pair of cat ears or paws, but found nothing.

‘Are you really sure you want to be going in that direction?’ a voice in my head said, similar to that of Divinity. ‘Your friends are all over here. It would be a shame if something were to happen to them.’

Now I was more conflicted than ever. If I went after Catastrophe, I would be saving the students from her attack in the short term, but if I didn’t go back and help the others, there was a chance they would all die, leaving me to defend the school against Genny, La Proxy and Divinity all by myself. I could feel my pace slowing down, especially once I arrived at the main hallway where Catastrophe had entered earlier. I had made the decision that I would still go after the cat girl, even if it meant leaving the other girls with one less person to help them, but when I thought of Dreamdrop out there without me, fighting Divinity…

‘Great and Powerful Trixie! Behind you!’

With another voice echoing through my head, I quickly jumped backwards, summoning my spear to block a sharp pair of claws just before Catastrophe managed to slice my neck. Her eyes were shaking just as much as her body was, giving me the sense that any sanity she had before was long gone, leaving an empty magical girl whose primary psychological function was to kill.

‘Thank goodness I got to you in time!’ the voice continued. ‘I was able to read Catastrophe’s thoughts, and you need to trust me when I say that you don’t want me repeating any of it. The both of you are at the end boundaries of my magic, though, so if either of you go any further, I won’t be able to speak with you. Also, Marrow says not to worry about us and to focus on Catastrophe. We can fend these three off for now, but it would be a real huge help if you could get rid of her so we can bring someone else back. If you need me, just think real hard!’

Then, my brain was left with silence, allowing me a quick wave of relief, despite the girl in front of me swiping at my throat as if her life depended on it. ‘Thank you, Mind Games! Trixie owes you one!’

“DON’T YOU FUCKING IGNORE ME!” Catastrophe shouted, leaping backwards and glowing a bright rainbow color. Then, before she even touched the floor, her body started to morph, taking the shape once again of a pony with a lion’s mane and a large, crooked horn in the center of her head, touching down while glowing a bright blue flame. “You know what the difference between blue and red fire is, don’t you? THE BLUE STUFF IS ESPECIALLY HOT!”

Then, lifting her horn into the air, the fire around her body projected its way outward, engulfing the entire classroom in a blue blaze that stretched to the ceiling, leaving cinders falling into the air. I had managed to use my magic to create a forcefield to protect myself from the initial blow, but I couldn’t stay on the defensive if I wanted any chance of beating her. Then, leaping into the air and feeling the fire around me burn through my cape and outfit, I swung my spear down, feeling myself swiping through the air as she once again transformed back into her normal form, falling to the floor on all fours. Once she transformed back to normal, though, the fire around us immediately disappeared.

That’s it! The fire must be physically attached to her body when she’s in her Autumn Blaze form! She isn’t using magic to make the fire!

“You know something?” I asked in a condescending tone, trying to take advantage of her less than ideal mental state. “If you really wanted to kill me, wouldn’t it just make sense for you to transform into Divinity and kill me on the spot?”

Then, after growling with anger, she took another step back and once again transformed, this time taking the form of the magical girl in white, making me hope that I hadn’t misinterpreted her abilities. “I’m going to give you one chance to take that back,” she said, looking down at me just like Divinity would. “Your death would be much easier to deal with if you let me kill you in my regular form, but if you even think of fighting back, I will turn your pores into termites and have them devour you from the inside out.”

“Ha! Is that really the best you could come up with?” I asked, slamming my spear into the ground and leaning up against it. “Marrow came up with threats that were way scarier than that growing up. Oh, wait! That’s right. You don’t know Marrow too well yet, do you? I know I introduced her earlier, but just as a recap, she’s the girl we brought back to life after we killed your sister.”

Then, with her face so enraged that she looked like she could pop a blood vessel in her eyes at any minute, she once again changed back into Autumn Blaze, giving me the exact confirmation I needed. With her body sending scorching fires into the air once again, I leapt forward, ignoring the burning pain around my body and swung my spear once again, leaving her to do nothing but dodge or block with her chitinous horn. For the first time today, I was the one on the offensive, causing her to retract her flames so that she could focus all of her energy on blocking my attacks. Plus, in the mental state she was in, if she tried breaking free for one of her own attacks, she would be left defenseless against a fatal strike that would end the fight altogether.

What mattered most, though, was that I had made her so angry that she had completely forgotten where she was. She was so concerned about killing me where I stood that she forgot how easily she could break into a classroom, kill one student and get Divinity to resurrect her sister for her. All I needed to do was be patient enough for the opportunity to present itself, where I would deal the finishing blow and join the others against Divinity’s team.

‘Dreamdrop is dead, Trixie.’

Suddenly, my body stopped moving, allowing Catastrophe the chance to land her attack, changing back into her regular form and swiping at my throat, which I barely escaped by allowing my shoulder to take the brunt of the damage for me. I then fell to the ground, finding myself trying to avoid slash after slash from Catastrophe’s claws as the tables quickly turned around, leaving me trying to get back up to my feet as I deflected her blows. The voice had come from Divinity, which very well could have been untrue, but I needed to hear it from Mind Games first before I let my emotions get the better of me.

Backing myself up to where I had spoken with Mind Games last, I thought as hard as I could, ‘Mind Games! How is everyone? Is Dreamdrop OK?’ while simultaneously blocking another claw to the face. Unfortunately, though, as I waited for a response, deflecting blow after blow, I was left with total silence other than the sounds of Catastrophe’s claws striking against my spear.

‘Mind Games is now dead as well. Night Seam is currently on the brink of death at the moment, which leaves just two more of your friends that I need to worry about.’

No! There was no way! Even though my deflections were gradually losing their speed, giving the cat-eared girl the confidence she needed to attack even harder, I didn’t feel like I could concentrate on the fight any longer. Even if I did manage to beat Catastrophe, was there even any point to it with Dreamdrop gone? Even if I was able to bring her back, what would stop them from killing her again? After all, it wasn’t like I could kill the other three by myself. Was there even any point in living anymore now that she was gone?

As I fought with myself in my mind, Catastrophe managed to deal another blow to my stomach, causing me to keel over in pain, dropping my spear in the process as she stepped on my back. When I weakly looked up into her eyes, she still looked like she was lacking sanity, trying to savor this moment for as long as she could before finally eliminating me altogether. “How does it feel to be on the other side, Trixie? Are you scared? Because I promise you, THIS IS NOTHING COMPARED TO HOW A FOUR YEAR OLD KID FEELS KNOWING SHE’S ABOUT TO DIE!”

Was that what was going to happen? Was I going to die? I guess it didn’t really matter anymore. We were stupid to think that we could ever pick a fight with Everfree City, even after we had them outnumbered.

‘Great and Powerful Trixie! What are you doing?! Get up!’

‘Mind Games?!’

Then, just as Catastrophe was about to deal the finishing blow, I bucked her off of my back, leaving her stumbling backwards with one foot in the air, trying to regain her balance. Without wasting any time, I picked up my spear again and struck towards her neck, which she blocked with her paws, growling in anger from the sudden turnabout.

‘Sorry! La Proxy sent me out of reception for a little bit, but I read your mind to see what Divinity told you. None of it’s true! We’re all still alive! Well, except the part about Night Seam. We’re trying to keep her alive right now, but Dreamdrop is totally fine! Iron Maiden is defending her with her life!’

Suddenly, all the energy that I had lost moments ago was flooding back into my veins, giving me the resolve I needed to focus my magic again, pushing her back several feet with a telekinetic punch. Just as she tried to get up, though, I pressed my foot down on her shoulder and sliced her right arm off, causing her to scream at the top of her lungs in pain as blood sprayed out of her socket like fountain. Still, though, she didn’t let up for one second, using the adrenaline in her body to grab my leg and flip me over, sending me face first into a puddle of her blood. The two of us then slipped as we tried to get our footing back, sliding around in the pool of red that was continuing to cover more of the ceramic flooring.

“I’m going to kill you, Trixie!” she said in anger. “Once Divinity’s done with those girls out there, she’s gonna put my arm back, but I wanna show her what I did to you one-handed first!”

As she continued to bleed out, her movements were becoming noticeably slower. Upon dodging another swipe at my jugular vein, I summoned my spear back into my hands, swinging it towards Catastrophe and cutting her across the abdomen, leaving even more blood trailing out of her body. She then quickly used her only hand left to hold her stomach, trying her best to stop the bleeding, but by this point, there was only so much she could do. Her skin was beginning to turn a pale gray. Her stance was becoming wobbly with her knees caving in after every step, which was becoming slower and slower as I backed myself away from her. As she looked back into my eyes, though, showing me all the anger she had stored over the past several hours, it was obvious that the blood loss was finally killing her, which she had probably come to accept at this point.

“Give… me… back… my… sister…”

Then, she fell to one knee, gripping her stomach as tightly as she could while she heaved air in and out of her lungs, none of which made it to her blood cells. After every life I took, seeing the next girl die just became harder and harder, which was probably the exact reason why Divinity was refusing to kill us outright. She probably wanted her teammates to do the hard parts for her, especially after being a magical girl for ten years. As Catastrophe glared at me one final time, I remembered how angry I was at her age when I took my first life, but this was not a memory that I wanted to experience any longer. Finally, closing my eyes, I raised my spear up and slashed in an arc, feeling the blade cut against her neck as more blood splashed against my body.

‘Mind Games!’ I thought as hard as I could. ‘Catastrophe is dead! Give me a minute to revive someone and I’ll be right there. Don’t let anyone else know!’

‘Sure, I can keep it a secret, but how come?’

‘I don’t want anyone getting in the way like last time.’

This time, I didn’t even need to summon the god of chaos. As soon as I turned around, I felt his presence slithering beside me, leaving the prolonged introduction behind him for once. “You don’t want anyone to get in the way, eh? Now who could you want to revive that the others would be cautious about, I wonder?”

“Cupid Symphony. Right now. No questions. With her powers, and bring her here this time! I don’t want to have to go all the way back to Manehattan Central Park just to come right back five seconds later.”

“I’m sorry. Whoooo’s in charge again? I think you’re forgetting who’s the one who’s actually going to be doing the resurrecting here.”

“Discord, PLEASE! Trixie doesn’t have much time!”

Discord then rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. “Alright, fine. Just know that we’re going to have to talk about this attitude of yours once you finish the game… or rather, if you finish.” Then, with a loud cackle, Discord disappeared, revealing a girl with a love-themed dress and a heart-shaped eyepatch lying on the floor, just a couple feet away from all the blood coming from Sweet Tooth’s body.

“Cupid Symphony!” I shouted, running up to lift her head up, shaking her shoulders as I pled for dear life. “Cupid Symphony, you need to wake up right now!”

“Mmm,” she mumbled, her lower lip trembling as her eyelid gradually began to open, revealing those gorgeous baby blue eyes that would drive any boy crazy. “Great and Powerful Trixie? Oh, you must forgive me. I don’t seem to remember what’s going--SACREBLEU! What in the world happened here?!” The minute her eye opened up, it was immediately drawn to the pool of blood covering the floor beside us, giving her the strength to get back to her feet, shivering at the sight beside her. “Is that what a magical girl looks like after she dies? Who is it? Mind Games? Palette? Please don’t tell me it’s Iron Maiden!”

“Her name is Catastrophe,” I said, trying to sound strong even though I already felt guilt from taking away another life, but Cupid Symphony replied by lifting her eyepatch and squinting at me with both eyes.

“Great and Powerful Trixie, dear… What exactly is going on?”

I couldn’t wait another second. As students were beginning to poke their heads out of their classrooms to see what all the ruckus was, I quickly grabbed Cupid Symphony by the hand and started dragging her down the hallway, only rather than walking towards the entrance so that we could join our teammates, I was walking in the opposite direction. I could join them in a minute, but first, I had something important that I needed her to take care of for me.

“Trixie will explain in a minute, but right now, you’re the only one who can do this.”