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|2012-07-15, 12:37
|Link #241
Senior Member
Mami Lives Chapter 14
Homura Romance
"Yes, a hole in one!"
Homura just showed a side of herself that I'm not used to seeing! She did this by smiling, shouting triumphantly, and pumping one fist after she managed to get her golf ball pass the windmill and over the sand trap to score an impressive hole in one!
Right now, Homura and I are playing mini-golf together. We're at a small and quaint resort just outside of Mitakihara Town. It's called "The Tiger's Woods", a name reflecting the exotic, wild, and thick foliage and scenery all about the resort. There's four parts to the resort; an old-fashioned gift shop that you can buy small crafts and mementoes from, an 18-hole mini-golf course, a jungle-themed restaurant with a very impressive menu, and a small animal exhibit.
Oh! And there's also a place connected to it where people can stay for the night if they so wish, but Homura and I are just here on a Saturday day trip. Homura and I were dressed a bit differently than usual for that day trip.
She was wearing an opened black fleece shirt over a button-up white shirt with an unbuttoned collar. She also had on blue jean-shorts and black thigh-highs. I was wearing an opened pink fleece shirt over a reddish one-piece dress. I also had on red thigh-highs.
Homura didn't want our first date to be something overly conventional, so she suggested that the two of us take a day trip to this resort. That idea did appeal alot to me due to how different it was! I also was surprised to learn that Homura loved golf when she was a young girl. In fact, she loved it so much that one of her most cherished possessions is her golf club.
"During my first few days as a Puella Magi, I tried to use this golf club as my weapon of choice." Homura had said a bit bashfully to me, but also with a tone betraying happy nostalgia, "It didn't really work that well, as you can probably imagine, but it was still fun to swing it about as a weapon."
"Judging by how good you are at mini-golf, I can definitely see why you'd try a golf club for other uses as well!" I said enthusiastically to Homura.
Homura smiled shyly at that, and even blushed a bit over the compliment.
"Thank you, Madoka." she said very sweetly to me.
"I just wish that I wasn't so bad at mini-golf…" I said, while scratching my head and feeling embarrassed over my horrible score through 15 holes of mini-golf, "I'm so far behind you on the scoreboard that the lopsidedness of our competition must be making this boring to you."
"Not at all." Homura replied to that, "I've thoroughly enjoyed playing mini-golf with you. Also, it shouldn't be too hard for you to get better at golf, since you do have the talent for it. The problem isn't your speed or accuracy. It's just that you need to fix how you grip the golf club. Here, let me stand behind you and show you how to properly grip the golf-club."
"O-Okay." I replied a bit nervously to that.
Homura then stood behind me, and leaned her upper torso over mine while I was leaning over the same way, taking the position of a person about to golf. I felt Homura's hands gently but swiftly shift over my hands. Homura moved my fingers slightly to show me how to properly hold my golf-club. But my mind then shifted a lot from golfing to something else…
Feeling the pressure of Homura's breasts against my back, her breath on my ears and neck, and her arms on top of mine, left me feeling very… warm. Warm, and a bit aroused. I started to lose focus.
"Madoka, are you all right?" Homura said, "I get the impression that the advice I just gave you on how to hold a golf club properly went in one ear and out the other."
"I-I'm sorry." I replied nervously, "I-I guess I'm just not cut out for golfing."
I then laughed a bit nervously to try to hide my embarrassment and bashfulness.
"It would probably be best if we try to finish off this mini-golf game soon." Homura said, "After that, we can have a nice dinner at Jungle Jin's!"
"Sure." I replied, forcing a smile.
The two of us then enjoyed a short but delicious dinner at Jungle Jin's. I had something called the Rhino Ribs combo, while Homura opted for a Chicken Caesar Salad. It was very tasty! It was the perfect way to end our date. However, I noticed that Homura was oddly silent, even by her standards, during both our dinner and also our train trip back to Mitakihara Town. It left me feeling concerned about her, and wondering what may be troubling her?
Finally, after our daytrip was over, I walked hand-in-hand with Homura until we arrived at her home.
"Well, I guess this is the end of our date. I'm sorry that our first date wasn't entirely pleasing to you, Madoka." Homura said to me, in an unusually weak tone of voice for her.
"No, I enjoyed the date a lot!" I piped up, as I really did enjoy our date, "Don't worry about the mini-golf game. Just getting to watch you do so well at it was fun for me, Homura."
"Thank you." Homura replied to that, as she took hold of both of my hands with her two hands, "I also enjoyed our date a lot, Madoka."
There was then a tense moment where I could feel my heart beat a bit faster, and much more forcefully. Homura seemed so smooth and cool in comparison to how I was feeling right now! Still, there was this captivated look in her eye as she gazed on my hair and face.
"…Our date doesn't have to end yet, you know." I stated to Homura.
"Oh? But what about your curfew?" Homura asked in turn, "I'd hate to be the cause of you getting in trouble with your parents."
"Well, I could call my parents and tell them I'm staying over a friend's place for the night." I said, as I allowed myself to reveal my most hopeful and passionate desires, "I mean, if you wouldn't mind having me over for the night, of course!"
Homura blushed deeply over my suggestion, but she also had a look of deep uncertainty on her face. She looked off to the side momentarily, before turning her eyes back to me, searching my face for some indication of what I really wanted here. But I was too shy to give that indication… at least so far.
"…Two girls enjoying a sleepover together is nothing strange, of course." Homura said at last, "I'm sure you've had many sleepovers with Hitomi and Sayaka, so it should be fine if the two of us enjoyed a similar sleepover together. Does that sound good to you, Madoka?"
It honestly wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, but given how desperately I wanted to continue being with Homura-chan, I nodded in reply to her question, while smiling serenely.
Homura then led me into her home. She told me that she'd prepare us something to drink. She also said that in the interim I should call my parents and make myself comfortable while she did so.
Mama and papa already knew that I was going on a daytrip today with a new classmate and friend. I've talked to them a lot about my new friend Homura, but I had kept the romantic nature of my relationship with Homura a secret from them. I didn't feel up to revealing that to them yet.
So I guess it's to be expected that papa would sound a bit suspicious of me when I told him that I was staying over Homura's place for the night.
"Madoka, I hope that you realize that you don't need to hide anything from your mother or me." Papa said to me over the phone, "You've earned our trust, and we're confident that you wouldn't make any rash decisions."
"Thank you." I replied, "Well… there's something I might want to talk to you and mama about later, but I need to sort some things out myself first, Ok?"
"Is it related to…" papa began in question, before cutting himself short, "No, its fine. You've become a very mature and responsible young woman, so I'm sure you can handle it. Just please don't keep your mother and I in the dark forever, Ok?"
"Ok." I replied, "See you tomorrow, papa!"
"See you then. Enjoy your sleepover." Papa said warmly before hanging up the phone.
I then breathed a sigh of relief over how well that went.
"You have very nice and attentive parents, Madoka." Homura said to me, as she returned with a couple cups of hot white chocolate, one for her and one for me.
"Thanks." I replied with a smile, "I am very glad and thankful to have such wonderful parents, and a cute younger brother."
Homura and I then chatted briefly about her family, while we sat on her couch, enjoying hot white chocolate together. I learned that Homura's parents are very busy, and also that they're very rarely home.
Homura's father holds a managerial position within SonySoft, a conglomerate of two massive tech companies of historical prominence. SonySoft has fallen on hard times in recent years, which has led to Homura's father working increasingly long and hard hours.
Homura's mother is a scientist. She works for JAXA. I told Homura that I thought that was really cool!
Homura said that's how she felt as a young child, especially when her mother brought her along for a tour of a nearby JAXA facility. But Homura said that in recent years JAXA's program spending has been cut, making it difficult for them to make ends meet. It's also resulted in substantial layoffs, which has forced Homura's mom to also work increasingly long and hard hours.
Homura said that since the age of nine or so, she's essentially been left on her own. This made me feel very sorry for her.
"It's Ok. I'm fine now." Homura said to me, after I became a bit weepy over what she told me, "Besides, I now have a very dear friend in you, Madoka, and that has brought a lot of light into my world."
"It means a lot to me to hear you say that." I replied to Homura, "But…"
"But what?" Homura asked, after hearing me trail off a bit.
"While I deeply value all my friends, and I recognize the importance of friendship…" I began in reply, "I know that there's also an important difference between friends and girlfriends… or romantic partners… or lovers."
Homura started to fidget a bit over my melancholic words trailing off like this. She then breathed a deep sigh of sadness. Small teardrops suddenly appeared in her eyes.
"W-what's wrong?!" I asked Homura, as I became alarmed at her sudden change in mood, "I-I'm sorry if I said something wrong."
"No, I'm the one that needs to apologize." Homura replied, "Madoka… there's so much that I want and need to say to you. A lot of it will be heavy and difficult. But it would be irresponsible for me not to say it to you. Is it Ok if I say that to you now?"
"Sure." I replied, wanting to be supportive of Homura, but also while being fearful over what Homura might now say.
"… I love you, Madoka." Homura began, while shyly looking away from me, "I love you with all my heart. And that's why I want to spare you the deep pain and suffering of losing someone that you're in a serious relationship with."
"Losing someone that I'm in a serious relationship with?" I asked in a tone of puzzlement, "What do you mean?"
"I know that I seem strong to you, and I'm glad that I do." Homura replied, "But the truth is that I came very close to dying at the hands of a witch recently. Beyond that, there's now four Puella Magi in this one territory. That will eventually cause a scarcity of Grief Seeds unless one or more of us moves to a new territory, and I doubt that will happen given how attached Sayaka and Hitomi are to Mitakihara Town. Then there's the fact that Mami, Sayaka, and Hitomi have all taken to hunting familiars. While I respect and sympathize with their decisions to do so, the unfortunate fact is that it will, over time, result in a drastic decrease in the number of available Grief Seeds."
"So you're worried that your Soul Gem will darken over time due to not being able to replenish it with Grief Seeds?" I asked Homura, while I tightly held one of her hands in my own.
"That's right." Homura replied, "And if the Soul Gem of a Puella Magi completely darkens, then… she essentially dies."
My heart skipped a beat over hearing Homura make this very sad revelation to me.
"That's so sad…" I said to Homura, as my eyes started to water.
"I know, but it can't be helped." Homura replied dryly, in a somber and accepting tone, "If nothing else, I hope you now see why I went to such lengths to try to prevent you and Sayaka from becoming Puella Magi."
"…But what about you?" I asked, before I moved suddenly to hug Homura tightly, "I… I love you too, Homura-chan!"
I didn't want to lose her! The very thought of losing her made me imagine my heart tearing in half, resulting in a wretched mixture of blood and water on the floor beneath me.
"I'm sorry, Madoka." Homura said in reply, "I was irresponsible in indulging myself when it comes to my feelings for you. I've brought you in deeper than I should have. I even considered cancelling this date, but I couldn't bring myself to disappoint you like that. But unfortunately, I had to disappoint you eventually. It is probably better that I'm doing that now instead of later."
I took all of this in while I slackened my embrace of Homura, and gazed up into her eyes. Both of our eyes were now at least a bit watery. I saw such dauntingly deep darkness, and sadness, in Homura's eyes. I wanted so badly to fill that with light, hope, and love!
And so I quickly moved my head upwards and forwards, while holding both sides of Homura's face tightly between my two palms. I then kissed her with such delirious desire and incredible intensity!
"I'm not giving up on you…" I said to Homura, "I refuse to give up on you, Homura!"
I then tightly embraced Homura as I lowered my head into her shoulder. I felt one of her hands rest gently on my back, while her other hand laid softly on my head.
"You've already saved me more than you'll likely ever know." Homura said to me, "You've done more than enough for me already. I very sincerely hope that you find happiness in life, Madoka."
"I want to find that happiness alongside of you, Homura." I replied to her, before I kissed her again.
By this point, I think that Homura was overwhelmed by being aroused at being so close to me. With frenzied motions and gestures, and while our bodies remained tightly entangled together, the two of us slowly made our way up the stairs to Homura's bedroom.
After we entered into Homura's bedroom, I caused the two of us to fall on top of her bed, with me on top of her.
"Madoka… I must admit… you've surprised me." Homura said to me, while we both breathed heavily, staring into one another's eyes.
"The way I feel about you is unlike how I've ever felt for another person." I said in reply to Homura, "I don't want to be selfish… but I can't deny that part of myself. I want us to be together forever, Homura!"
"I wish that was possible, but it's not." Homura replied, "I… I know what you want to do now, Madoka, and I share the same desire. But I'm afraid that you'll live to regret it if we go much further."
"No, I won't regret it, because I will make it work out between us, Homura!" I shouted, startling even myself with my atypical expression of steely resolve.
Homura soon relented to both my desires and her own. The two of us would end up making love together this night. It was a night I would never forget. It was a day and night of so many memorably magical first experiences. The irony is that magic was now at the root of the problem facing Homura and I…
The next morning, I awoke a few minutes before Homura did. It was so pleasant to wake up, and see Homura's sleeping face directly in front of my own. But looking at her resting so contentedly like this also made me feel very sad at the thought of losing her due to the horrors of the Puella Magi system. How best to overcome those horrors is something that would plague my mind throughout this entire Sunday.
But first, I would get up, have a quick shower, and change into the extra pair of clothes that I brought with me in case of an emergency. Right now, I was certainly glad that I brought that change of clothes! That change of clothes was a simple striped pink top, and a bright pink skirt that I think went well with my hair ribbons.
After I did all that, and began to exit the washroom, I saw Homura walking towards it. While blushing shyly, I wished her a good morning, and she said a simple good morning to me while smiling at me. I asked Homura if she wanted me to prepare some breakfast for us while she showered.
She said it was up to me, but that she certainly liked the idea of trying out my cooking. So I agreed to prepare breakfast while Homura showered.
After Homura was done showering, she changed into her light purple pajamas, and joined me at the dining room table for breakfast. She told me that my fried eggs were excellent. I thanked her for the compliment, and I told her that I learned how to make them from my papa. We then chit-chatted for a while, until it was finally time for me to leave for home.
At the door, Homura surprised me by how emotional her goodbye was.
"Thank you, Madoka." Homura said to me.
"What for?" I asked.
"For everything." Homura answered, "But especially for the last 24 hours. It was the best day of my life."
Homura then wrapped her arms around me, and kissed me very deeply and passionately! I was initially startled by the kiss, but then I chose to just delight in it. After our kiss was over, I told Homura that I looked forward to seeing her in school on Monday. But Homura said nothing to that, and she just told me to enjoy the rest of my weekend.
As I left Homura's home, and began walking back to my home, a terribly troubling thought raced through my mind. Was all of this Homura's way of wishing me a final farewell?
It's now the Monday after my date with Madoka. That date, and the way it ended, was all I could reasonably hope for. My chief goal has been accomplished, and I even managed to spend one unforgettable night with the girl that I love. I must now be content with that, for anything beyond that is impossible.
For Madoka's sake, and my own, I will now be putting the life of the high school girl behind me. I will also leave Mitakihara Town itself, and take up a life similar to what Kyouko Sakura now lives. Mami, Sayaka, and Hitomi should be sufficient to keep this city, and Madoka herself, safe. With them all supporting one another, and with Sayaka now happily together with Kyousuke Kamijo, they should last at least a few years before dying or turning into witches. By then, Madoka will have grown old enough to be beyond the target age range of the incubators.
Yes, this territory can probably support three Puella Magi working cooperatively, but four is one too many. So I will be the one leaving, especially since I can't stand the idea of continuing to watch Madoka from afar, given how deeply we love each other. It is also to Madoka's benefit that she never sees me again, and that she gets over me as quickly as possible. As much as that thought leaves my heart feeling numb, I must accept that it is for the best.
But before all of that, I will need to stock up on at least a few Grief Seeds as necessary provisions in beginning my life as a nomadic loner.
And so now I've tracked down another witch, this bright but hazy Monday afternoon. This witch's barrier is a relatively straightforward one. It has atypically normal scenery, with blue skies adorning a small grassy field next to a large misty lake. But that scenery is not the most important part of this witch's barrier. No, the most important part is the impressive scarlet mansion that looms tall over everything else inside of this barrier!
The witch must certainly be inside of that mansion, and so it is into that mansion that I have entered. I have dispensed with flying paintings, moving sculptures, and various other tiny foes, as I move through the hallways of this mansion looking for the witch. At last, I find her in a glamorous bedroom at the very center of this mansion.
The witch has a body that resembles that of a human girl wearing a tattered Victorian-style maid outfit. The outfit is colored blue and white. The witch's 'hands' are simply collections of knifes, somehow pieced together to roughly resemble human hands. The witch's head is shaped like a circular clock, albeit with a noticeable crack in it.
She hurls throwing knifes at me with impressive precision. But aside from that, she seems relatively weak for a witch, so this should not be an overly difficult fight for me. And so I use my powers to freeze time, while I pull out a few grenades to throw at the witch. But then…
Much to my shock and horror, this witch is somehow able to move within frozen time! She stealthily dodges my grenade throws, and sprints wildly towards me, actually running along the walls as she does so. I temporarily freeze due to the shock of the witch being able to move within frozen time, giving the witch an opportunity to stab my left arm with a knife, and push me hard into the far wall of this room! Various pieces of furniture are violently knocked aside and shattered by my collision with that far wall.
I scream in pain as I fall to a sitting position, and I then clench my teeth to try to block out the pain. The witch begins throwing her knifes at me once more. Desperately, I rush to my feet, and I race about to avoid these throwing knifes. But I soon surmise that this room is too small to effectively dodge those knifes for long, so I must lure the witch into a wider arena of battle. To accomplish this, I fire off some handgun shots at the witch, while carefully backing away from her, trying to force her to race after me. Thankfully, the effort works.
While the witch follows me, I end the time freeze, as it clearly will be useless here. I then find a flight of stairs leading all the way to the rooftop of this mansion, and I sprint up them while breathing heavily, followed closely behind by the witch.
My mind is now racing as fast as my body is. I can feel adrenaline pumping through my veins, pushing me onward. But when this is combined with injury and loss of blood, I fear that I will soon be dangerously disoriented, and possibly go into medical shock. I must finish this witch off soon!
After reaching the rooftop of this scarlet mansion, I pull out the one rocket launcher I had left unused from the fight with Walpurgis Night. I quickly fired that rocket off, directly at the witch just as she arrived on the rooftop behind me.
The rocket struck her at point blank range, and a massive explosion was left in its wake. To be on the safe side, I then followed that up by raining bullets down upon the witch, by using a large gatling gun. Once the gatling gun had been emptied of its ammunition, I collapsed to my knees, breathing very heavily, and feeling very tired. I needed to catch my breath. Hopefully that will be…
The witch suddenly leaped forward out of the billowing smoke left in the wake of my attacks. It felt like a strong knee had struck against my face, sending me crashing into the tall clocktower behind me. I could feel black and blue bruises form on my lower back due to the crash, and my body began to ache all over. My vision is starting to become blurry, due to excessive blood loss.
…This is it. This is one witch that I can't defeat. I had never before encountered a witch that was immune to me freezing time. It was the one possibility that I had no effective contingency plan for.
I close my eyes, accept defeat, and allow myself to be bathed in comforting darkness for my last few moments of life. I take some small measure of comfort in the thought that Sayaka, Mami, or Hitomi will be able to defeat this witch after she kills me. And I also take comfort in the thought that at least I will be spared the fate of becoming a witch.
… Goodbye, dearest Madoka. … Farewell, my love.
…But then I am amazed to find myself still alive after a few moments pass. During those moments, I heard what sounded like three laser shots. And then, as I open my eyes, I hear a fourth 'laser shot'… and the witch explodes violently, in a plume of pinkish glowing smoke!
Wait… pink and glowing?
Then I quickly pick myself up and walk out a couple meters. Then I turned about to look up the side of the clocktower. My eyes slowly move up, up, up the side of the clocktower.
There, perched with poise on top of it, is a girl in the most beautiful attire imaginable, shimmering with an effervescent pinkish-white glow.
"Ma-Madoka!" I cry out, at the startling sight of her in her Puella Magi attire.
"It's fine now, Homura-chan." she said warmly and confidently to me, "You're safe now."
"…So cool" I can't help but say, given Madoka's impeccable grace and timing.
Madoka then leaped off of the top of the clocktower, while the witch's barrier dissipates. Madoka landed on her feet with the skill of a cat. She then walked swiftly but carefully towards me. After reaching me, she embraced me tightly.
"You really shouldn't have run off on your own like that, Homura!" she cried to me, "I hate to think of what would have happened to you, if I hadn't decided to skip off from school and try to find you!"
Madoka used some magical ribbons to bandage my open wounds, stopping the bleeding and calming my body.
"I… Well, I…" I began in stammering reply to her comments, before I finally recomposed myself.
"Wait, that's not what is important right now." I stated, "Madoka, you've become a Puella Magi! That is horrible! You weren't supposed to…"
"Homura, please…" Madoka piped up, as she released me from her embrace, "Give me more credit than that! I'm not an idiot. I only became a Puella Magi because I found a way to safely become one! A way that also will prevent you, Sayaka, Mami, Hitomi, or Kyouko from ever having to worry about Soul Gem corruption!"
I blinked in disbelief over these comments.
"…What way are you speaking of?" I asked.
"I wished for all Soul Gems to always glow brightly, and never corrupt or darken from magic use or depression." Madoka answered.
My eyes went wide in amazement over what this wish would mean!
"Yes, I see that you're already getting the idea behind it!" Madoka exclaimed, "Grief Seeds have been rendered unimportant now. Now you, Sayaka, Mami, Hitomi, and I can all work together, as a team! That way will be safer. All five of us will be more than enough to defeat any witch we may encounter!"
"I…" I began, as I brought one hand up to my forehead in disbelief and slight shame, "Why didn't I think of that?"
"Because you were so focused on me that you didn't see the bigger picture." Madoka said, while blushing, "I find that very flattering and touching, but it also meant that I had to look at the bigger picture for us both. This wish means that I can safely be a Puella Magi, and that you can safely be one too. Most importantly, it means that we can stay together Homura!"
"Yes…" I replied, "Yes, Madoka, it does!"
I then embraced Madoka tightly, and we kissed passionately.
And so my Puella Magi story has went an unbelievable full circle…
First I was saved by Madoka and Mami. Madoka was so strong and admirable in that first timeline. I wanted so badly to be like her, even though I then lacked the strength to be like her.
But out of a deep sense of loyalty to Madoka, I tried to protect her and save her in timeline after timeline. I grew stronger, but she seemed to become weaker, as her dreams were continually denied her due to how they came within the poisoned chalice of Incubator's contract.
But now, in this finale timeline, Madoka has conceived of a way to sterilize that chalice of its poisons and impurities. From drinking of its purified form, she is safe… safe and strong! And now she has saved me once more…
My dearest friend, my most precious lover, my true hero… Kaname Madoka.
The weeks and months to come were amongst the happiest of my life.
Sayaka would once more come to Homura's aid, healing her wounds. But this time, Sayaka's Soul Gem did not darken from this injury transference and healing. Never again would Homura, Sayaka, Mami, Hitomi, or Kyouko's Soul Gems darken.
With the need to collect Grief Seeds removed, Kyouko happily rejoined the other Puella Magi of Mitakihara Town. All six of us worked together to eliminate the witches and familiars left in our city!
And we did this while relationships and romances grew and blossomed for all of us.
By the time that I introduced Homura to my parents, they had already long suspected that she was my lover. That lead to a few playful jokes and embarrassing moments for me, but it also meant that Homura was embraced warmly into my family by both of my parents.
A few years after we started dating, Homura and I would marry one another. Kyouko presided over the wedding ceremony, while Sayaka acted as my bride's maid, and Mami took on that role for Homura. Kamijo also regaled us with a moving violin recital during the wedding.
I now live very happily with Homura, with us having moved into our own apartment together as young adults working in Tokyo. But must exciting is that during nights in Tokyo, we take to the streets to put our powers to good use! Witches and familiars have faded away over time, but common criminals remain. But with us patrolling the streets, their impact on innocent people is lessened.
The only negative is that Homura and I are unable to have our own biological offspring due to the effect that Soul Gems have on our bodies. Or, at least, that's what we thought until we learned of a Dr. Jail Scaglietti!
Through his incredible reproductive technologies, Dr. Scaglietti was able to create a child that would be the biological daughter of both Homura and me. We named our beautiful purple-haired daughter, Lutecia.
Now Homura and I both work for JAXA, earning a good living between the two of us. Sayaka and Kyousuke have also moved to Tokyo, and so have Mami and Hitomi. Both pairs have become like Aunts and Uncles to Lutecia, due to how they visit Homura and I about once or twice a week.
Lutecia has already become very fond of Kyousuke's violin playing, and a big lover of Mami and Hitomi's delicious desserts.
The magic of the Puella Magi world was once a frightening and ominous thing for both Homura and I, but it's since become a seemingly unblemished blessing. It is something that has brought us together, in unending union and joyous jubilation. I will always be thankful to Homura for what she has brought into my life. And we will love each other always…
The End (Mami Lives, Homura Romance, Good End)
And there you go! It might admittedly be a bit on the short side, but I hope readers will enjoy it anyway.
As usual, the blue clickable bits link to YouTube videos that I think have good music to go along with the sections that immediately follow them. Know that for the second and third links, this musical bit is very short, only 40 or so seconds, so it's only meant to add some real punch to a paragraph or two. As always, it's meant to give the reading a bit more of that full VN effect.
This ending might strike some as overly happy, and with that in mind, I intend to release an Epilogue for it within a day or two. That Epilogue will show a potential darker side to Madoka's wish. But for now, I just want my readers to enjoy this hopefully epic happy romantic ending.
As always, any and all comments are welcomed.
Thanks a lot to Kirito for his comments and support on the previous update.
Anyway, that's all for now!
Last edited by Triple_R; 2013-01-21 at 10:18.
|2012-07-16, 20:04
|Link #242
Enjoying Snack Time!
It's great to see another update Triple R. I read all of it yesterday, and wanted to give you my review, but I wasn't at home for the past couple of days and my cousins were being bratty about the comp use. So, the only time I was on was to check for updates and that's about it, and couldn't make a single reply to anything for a couple of days. Now that I'm home, and on my own personal computer with no distractions!
Sorry, no ClariS this time, it's a Megumi Nakajima marathon due to the release of Rinne no Lagrange, when there's yuri, there's a bond. God I love episode 2!
Anyway, let's go and this is started!
Spoiler for Nostalgic Crossovers:
Grading Time:
Spoiler for Pros:
Spoiler for Cons:
Can't wait to see your take on the "dark side" of the epilogue will be. When there's light, there's darkness, I wonder what you'll pull in the next update. Well, once again, excellent work, take your time, from until then dude, until then!
|2012-07-18, 21:50
|Link #243
Senior Member
Mami Lives, Homura Romance
It was a dream for those who remember it at its height.
It was a nostalgic memory for lovers of the ancient.
It was a world that everybody once revered for its mystery and chaos.
Now it is but the chief jewel in the cold cosmic crown of a magic-wielding despot.
But today, four weeks after Kaname Madoka become a Puella Magi, it has a special visitor…
Jinopolis, El Hazard
"It's been a long time since you stepped foot on this world, Incubator." the greenish-haired, purple-suited, whitish-caped, golden crown-wearing magus stated from his throne.
"I thought you would be curious to know what's happened on the planet of your birth, Emperor Jinnai." the whitish, red beady-eyed alien replied.
They meet in the glitzy throne room of a capitol city structured like something out of an Arabian dream, but now redesigned to be purplish and crystalline. It certainly makes for a fascinating sight.
"I already know what Kaname Madoka wished for." Jinnai stated.
"That wish renders your wish somewhat inconsequential, doesn't it?" Kyubey asked in reply.
"You Incubators claim to have no emotions, but I find that hard to believe." Jinnai replied, with a smirk, "After all, it seems like you're here merely to gloat. Did my decision to not go along with your suggested plan bother you that much, Incubator?"
"No, but even a being without emotions can perceive the great irony in the current situation." Kyubey replied, "You chose to remain away from Earth because you felt that five Puella Magi constituted too many variables for you to account for. And yet those five still remain, and are joined by a sixth. Like you, those six now have limitless magical energy. A much worst situation for you than if Madoka had made the wish that you would have had her make."
"You're here in the hopes of persuading me to find a way to undo Kaname's wish?" Jinnai asked, choosing to cut to the chase.
"Correct." Kyubey replied, "That wish will result in far fewer witches arising, which makes it much more difficult to gather energy to combat the entropy!"
"Entropy is your concern, not mine." Jinnai replied.
"But Earth is your concern, and the current situation will make it harder for you to conquer it!" Kyubey stated.
Jinnai smirked widely at that, while he rested the side of his face on his fist.
"Not at all." Jinnai stated, "In fact, I couldn't be more pleased!"
"Why is that?" Kyubey asked in sincere puzzlement, while tilting his head to the side, "Even you are no longer a match for the Puella Magi of Earth!"
"Perhaps not, but other Puella Magi will be." Jinnai stated.
"What do you mean?" Kyubey asked in turn.
"Given how you no longer will gain energy from magical girls turning into witches, you will need to compensate for that by contracting with far more human girls, correct?" Jinnai asked, "In fact, you may even want to consider once more contracting with the stronger sex, Incubator!"
"That is a consideration now." Kyubey stated, "Whether we contract with human males or not, it is true that the total number of humans we contract with will have to increase, yes."
"And then it's just a matter of time until the world of magical humans is discovered." Jinnai stated, "Without witches and familiars to contend with, magical humans will more readily use their powers for gains in the real world."
"That already occurred in human history." Kyubey interjected, "Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, and several others… they used their Puella Magi powers to impact the real world. They did not just fight witches and familiars!"
"True, but they were anomalies, and didn't have to contend with other magical girls." Jinnai stated, "Once the total number of Puella Magi reaches a certain critical mass, you will see a considerable increase in the petty squabbles and fights between them."
"Like what Sayaka Miki and Hitomi Shizuki had?" Kyubey asked.
"Precisely." Jinnai answered, "Imagine dozens of Puella Magi fights like that all over Earth! How long will it take before world governments catch sight of one, and learn of the truth about the world of magical girls?"
"The general human population knew of Puella Magi in the past." Kyubey stated, "Those 'magical humans' were simply looked upon as gods and goddesses!"
"Yes, but that was in a less scientific age." Jinnai replied, "I know that you Incubators look down on humans, but we've come farther than I think you're willing to give us credit for. We'll now recognize alien involvement for what it is. And we'll recognize magical humans as having godly powers but malleable human hearts."
"So what are you saying then?" Kyubey asked.
"When your people look on humanity you see disorder and chaos." Jinnai stated, "You see dangerous and extreme individualism. So you think that we humans don't value order much. But in truth, we do. Once the general populace of Earth learns of the existence of magical girls, they will grow to fear magical girls, and hence Earth governments will seek to control them."
"I doubt many magical girls will agree to that." Kyubey stated.
"They won't." Jinnai replied with his most devious smirk yet, "And that's when Earth will be plunged into war. Wars, and rumors of wars, and catastrophic social upheavals. Such a planet will eventually lay ripe for my picking!"
Jinnai then laughed with a tremendously triumphant tone. But would his words prove prophetic or not?
Tokyo, Earth, 2072
My wife Homura and I are now joining our friends Sayaka, Mami, and Hitomi in a cozy basement lounge room in Hitomi's new home in Tokyo. Kyousuke is looking after my daughter Lutecia, and Hitomi's daughter Mugi. I am very thankful to him for that, as it allows the five of us to speak openly about rising concerns within the world of Puella Magi.
"I hope the coffee and cupcakes are to everyone's satisfaction." Hitomi stated, after she placed a tray of them on the central table in this room.
Homura and I are seated next to each other on one couch, Hitomi and Mami are seated next to each other on an identical couch, and Sayaka sits on a comfy chair about half the size of those two couches.
"This coffee really hits the spot!" Sayaka said with a smile, after picking up one of the five cups of coffee on the tray, and then proceeding to drink some of it, "It has a very nice aroma too. Thanks, Hitomi."
"These cupcakes are great too!" I exclaimed with a wide smile, after eagerly digging into one.
"I'm glad you approve." Hitomi replied, "But we probably should get down to the main point of our meeting."
"Right." Mami chimed in, somewhat soberly, "I'll start, if everybody's fine with that."
The rest of us all nodded in agreement with that.
"Recently, Hitomi and I were confronted by two Puella Magi." Mami stated, "One was brandishing a sharp reddish sword, and had a fighting style similar to yours, Sayaka. The other one had the ability to summon forth many machine guns, and her main weapon was a rocket launcher."
"That sounds scary!" I said.
"It was." Mami replied, "That's why Hitomi and I decided to make a strategic retreat from these two new Puella Magi. We later learned that their identities are Mion and Shion Sonozaki. They are members of one of the main Yakuza families in the area."
"In recent months and years, we've all managed to severely limit the effectiveness of the yakuza." Hitomi chimed in, "We've also helped to bring many of them to justice, by essentially capturing them for the police. But it appears that they've now learned the source of our powers, and are having daughters of important yakuza leaders take advantage of that same source."
"Any idea what wishes that they may have made?" Sayaka asked.
"We don't know for sure, but I have noticed a lot of unfortunate political changes lately." Hitomi answered, "It seems like increasingly more and more politicians are in the back-pockets of the yakuza. Perhaps that relates to one of the wishes that these girls made."
"More and more convicted yakuza criminals are also being let go on very light sentences." Mami stated, "There has been a definite change, and it's one that threatens to undo all of the gains we've made in trying to combat crime."
"Then it looks like we have no choice." Sayaka stated sternly, "We'll have to start taking the fight to these criminally-inclined Puella Magi!"
"But Sayaka…" I said, feeling very worried over her suggestion here, "A fight between two magical girls could be very dangerous! It's not likely we'll be able to knock them out as easily as we can simple crooks."
"Maybe not, Madoka, but it's a risk we'll have to take." Sayaka replied, "If we don't, the yakuza will be back, worse than ever!"
"What about escalation?" Homura asked, deciding to support me here.
"Escalation?" Sayaka asked in turn.
"You, Mami, and Hitomi go after them in force, so they recruit more magical girls." Homura said, "Madoka and I get more involved, and then they start trying to raid us."
"…And?" Sayaka asked.
"And then you have a situation like what's going on in America right now." Homura stated.
"America?" Sayaka asked.
"I caught the news on the radio on the way here…" Hitomi said in a low tone, "It's not good, Sayaka."
"A recording of it should be on our local stations now, along with Japanese subtitles." Homura stated, "So let's watch it on TV."
Homura then turned on the big screen TV in this basement longue room, and all five of us started watching it carefully. Sure enough, our local news network carried highlights of US President Jacob Bush's special national address.
"…earlier today, one of the largest high schools in the nation was thoroughly demolished as hostilities broke out between four of the new breed of metahumans that we've seen in increasing numbers in recent years." stated President Bush, "This is a national tragedy, as several lives were lost amidst the violence, and dozens more were injured."
"For years now, we've known of the existence of 'magical girls'" President Bush continued, "Since they were heroes helping out everyday citizens, we allowed them to go… unregulated. But with this latest tragedy, that is no longer an option. Starting tomorrow, I will begin working with Congress to enact a comprehensive Metahuman Registration Act. This act will legally require all metahuman citizens of these United States to register as such, and fall under strict government supervision. These metahuman citizens will be drafted into special government task forces, which will ensure the peace and prosperity of our great land."
Homura then turned off the TV.
"If a similar tragedy happens here, Japan will almost certainly follow in the America's footsteps." Homura stated soberly, "Madoka and I both essentially work for the government as employees of JAXA. But using our minds to help the cause of scientific advancement is very different from using our magical powers for whatever the government may want them for. That's not something I'm entirely comfortable with. Are you, Sayaka?"
"I…" Sayaka began in uneasy reply, "No, I guess not."
"So now we must determine what risks we're willing to take in order to fight against the Puella Magi that are working for the Yakuza." Mami said.
"Determining that won't be easy…" Hitomi stated, after breathing a brief sigh.
My wish seemed to create so much good for so many. But now I can see that there was a cost to it. Difficult questions would need to be answered by my wife, and friends, in the days to come. I can only hope that the right decisions will be made.
I had a happy life with my faithful wife and beautiful daughter, and many great friends. But now I can see that preserving that life may involve constant perseverance, and effort. I hope that I will be up to the task.
The End.
And that's the Epilogue for Mami Lives, Homura Romance. Who knows? A spinoff fanfic may one day come from it.
I hope that people found it an interesting read at least.
Now, thanks again for Kirito and his excellent replies. To answer one of your questions, Kirito, you nailed half of it. I was thinking of Sony and Microsoft. Your idea would work well too though!
Last edited by Triple_R; 2012-07-18 at 22:06.
|2012-07-19, 22:28
|Link #244
Enjoying Snack Time!
Whoa, another quick update. That was unexpected, considering that you've always been in and out with the last couple of scenarios. None the less, this was definitely a great read. Sorry for commenting now, I have no excuse, but I've been going over it trying to make sense of what happened this scenario. I think, I have an anwser for you and if I'm on point or off, just fill me in...when you have time.
Just to let you know, my approach for this will be a little different from what you're use to read...well I'm sure you'll get the point if/when you read this.
It's back to good old ClariS for this update, let's get this started! Oh yeah, thanks for answering that SonySoft question. Pretty clever and deceptive. Maybe I've playing too much Final Fantasy, who knows. "Shrugs shoulders"
Spoiler for Scenario End Overview:
Grading Time:
Spoiler for Pros:
Spoiler for Cons:
Can't wait to see what kind of scenario you're going to come up with next. It'll probably take awhile, but I feel the wait will be worth it. Once again, excellent work, from until then dude, until then!
Last edited by Kirito; 2012-07-19 at 22:46.
|2012-07-20, 03:47
|Link #245
Kneel Before Your King!
Deeply sorry about not getting to these sooner. I've been having more than my fair share of problems lately, though that's really no excuse for being so late I had to make this a double triple review... Anyway, enough about me, let's get to something actually important!
Spoiler for Second-to-last Piece of Tasty Dark Chocolate:
Spoiler for Last Delicious Piece of Chocolate:
Spoiler for Bittersweet Aftertaste:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANYWAY. Two nice updates and a very intriguing Epilogue here. Great job on another finished route/chain/whatever-you-want-to-call-these, and sorry again for taking so long with responding.
At any rate, I'm quite curious what you're going to pull out next.
|2012-07-25, 10:55
|Link #246
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Tennessee
Age: 31
Hey there my fellow Pure Pink Pretty Lovers... lovers. I would apologize for taking so long to post another review because I've been so busy and tired, but considering that I have... *counts* ... nine updates to comment on, I should probably dispense with the formalities and get to reviewing. >_>
Okay, starting off with the Sayaka Romance Good End, posted all the way back on May 20th (Good lord). Hehe, I giggled at Rushing Ramen Rainbow. Truly one of the finest restaurants of the 2060s, I bet. The characters themselves behave rather cutely, too; I smiled at both Kotetsu's sheepishness over blowing up the school and Madoka piping up with "Yeah! I'd like to know that too!" Sounds so childishly whiny and demanding, lol. (It's probably been so long since you posted the chapter that you've forgotten these small details I'm commenting on... >__>) And my vote goes to ""But I guess you kids don't have school tomorrow - even if the school wasn't blown up it's Saturday tomorrow" for best quote of the update.
Ritsu Hirasawa? Poor Mio... D: Despite Ritsu and Mio being BFFs their whole lives, I guess Ritsu just fell for Yui's charms eventually. And even though she's somewhere in her sixties now, it's hard to imagine Ushio as anything except ridiculously adorable.
But though the tale of Yui and Ritsu's love is surely a beautiful one, the main focus here is of course Madoka and Sayaka. With the exception of Nanami proving herself to be a bitch of the highest order (Seriously, I knew that she was a homophobe, but... wow. She is a cunt, plain and simple.), the wedding really was a blissful, perfect day. Kyouko performing the ceremony made for a nice mental image, and was a good way to tie in with her backstory growing up as a preacher's daughter. I do have to wonder if she put her own Kyouko twist on the ceremony, though... ^^; I'm guessing she did treat it sincerely, she might be crude and informal but she probably does have a respect for religion. Homura declining the wedding invitation was sad, though... it really is a bitter end to go through that much for Madoka, only to see her marry someone else.
I think that even the heartbroken Homura could agree, though, that Madoka and Sayaka do have a beautiful kid. I absolutely love that edit, the teal blue hair is very peaceful, tranquil, and relaxing. Hmm... so if they first discussed having a kid in early Autumn, that would be around September 2068, which would put Nanoha as being born around June or July 2069. Neat. That would place Nanoha and Nanoha A's as taking place during summer 2078 and Christmas 2078, so who knows, maybe I'll hear about Nanoha's Grief Seed adventures on the news or something. (Assuming she goes on the same adventures as the Lyrical Girl version, anyway. That would place StrikerS at 2088, ViViD at 2092, and Force at 2094, though, so we'll be long gone by then.)
The Epilogue was just as great. It was much more subdued and mundane than the wedding from the previous chapter, of course, but it's always a treat to read about Madoka and Sayaka together. ""So there are many evenings when Nanoha is on her own, but she's pretty good at keeping out of trouble when home alone in the evening, by watching TV or playing some children's video games. ... So she's a huge help some evenings, and acts so mature for her age!" Hehe, yeah... wonder if Nanoha was ever not mature. She's probably much older in spirit than than the adorably innocent kids her mothers were as children (as seen in the flashback from where they first meet). And I'm sure it goes without saying that she's more mature than her grandmother was as a kid, since Nanami isn't even a mature adult. (Cunt)
Madoka and Sayaka make a very well-oiled team. I like the way how they're so civil and pleasant with each other even when having a disagreement and a conflict in parenting style. They blend together perfectly and have a very calm, serene, easygoing relationship. And I agree with Madoka that the phrase 'Safe fight' and the breathless '... Or I'll make her quit it?' were both very cute. It can be difficult to write children - it's hard to make their thought processes and dialogue authentically simple and childlike without simply making them flat-out dumb - but you've nailed the essence of a little kid quite well here. Great ending to a wonderful story arc.
Welp. Lovely as the romance between Madoka and Sayaka might be, Miss Kaname still has three or four other hearts to steal and/or break, so let's move on to Mami Lives Chapter 9. I adore the picture that was used at the start of the chapter; was that something Kimidori or someone drew for the story, or was it just a random fanart you got elsewhere? (I'm guessing that there's been doujinshi and fanart drawn of Hitomi battling Sayaka, so it could've been from another source, I dunno) Very pretty, and though I don't usually love fanged characters like so many other people do, it adds a nice tomboyish charm to Madoka here.
Very cool fight with drama and tension in spades, this is definitely one of the scenes I'll always keep a save for in the visual novel. (Well, I'm kind of a save whore period, I usually use dozens of saves throughout VNs, but yeah...) The Gates of Brandenburg is an awesome move, I love the image of four black horses carrying behind them a shimmering green chariot. I'm not able to choose from any of the MSA choices - I haven't picked any options in ages, actually, because I'm such a bad puella magi that I'm not able to open most of the story routes - though my first instinct was to go for Choice B, because it made my Bad End Sense start to tingle (Which you're always great at). The choice between A and C would have been a tough one, they both sound like they could generate some interesting drama, but I think I would've gone for A. I would've assumed that Choice C would've been a futile effort and result in both girls simply saying 'No,' wheras A is the type of decision that obviously has major, decisive ramifications.
A couple of quotes I feel like commenting on (put in quotes to change things up)...
That about finishes up my thoughts on Madoka Lives Chapter 9. Moving on to Mami Lives Chapter 10, which was posted a torturously long seven days later (And I've been waiting for the Jinnai arc to continue for months ;_; )... Madoka Regrets Romantic Rejection demonstrates well the way that this story punishes you for failing at romance. Who knew that rejecting Sayaka would result in this, and things might get infinitely worse from here if you stumble into a bad end. Thankfully, Madoka manages to calm Sayaka down a bit with some well-reasoned advice. "Kyousuke must now love Hitomi… But he also feels very grateful to you, Sayaka! That should give you at least a chance of winning his love." Yeah, take it from Madoka, Sayaka - it's completely possible to love two people at the same time! Madoka knows that better than anyone, after all.
Hehe, "Mami Lives! ... But Nobody Else Does". That's a cute name for the ending. Of course, that's pretty much the only cute thing about the ending... I correctly predicted that Madoka forcing herself between the weapons of two rage-filled girls might not end very well, but I never expected that it might result in anything besides Madoka's death. This has to be one of the most thoroughly miserable Bad Ends of all. It was nice to see Mami and Kyouko patch up their friendship, though; I really like the character dynamics you have for the two of them, it's probably the most interesting platonic relationship in the series. Kyubey's disappearance is pretty creepy and haunting, too... Mami must not understand him very well if she thinks he vanished due to guilt.
Dramatic and awesome as the fight between Hitomi and Sayaka has been, I was glad to see things wind down to a fairly peaceful conclusion this chapter with no real bloodshed. To analyze Hitomi a bit, I don't find her very sympathetic here. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that as an insult; she's certainly not a straightforward villain like Jinnai (Who, despite being an interesting and nuanced character, is quite plainly and irredeemably evil), she's very human and very vulnerable, and her anger towards Madoka and Sayaka is perfectly understandable; but the behavior that anger fuels is so vile that she loses whatever moral ground she originally stood upon. She does make a very menacing and threatening villain, though, and the conflict generated during this stretch of the story arc was a fascinating one. You've taken someone that was originally bordering on 'background character' and given them a very unique, memorable, integral role. Very nice work here.
And I smiled at the cute nod to Shakugan no Shana with the whole 'love letters' idea. Of course, the love letter escapade was the last part of the Shana series that really made sense... >_> Let's hope PPPL doesn't take a sudden swerve into Nonsensical Land like Shana III did.
Mami Lives Chapter 10 of the Madoka Stands Alone Chain (The June 8th update where Homura kidnaps Madoka and brings her to Canada, in case you don't have the contents of each chapter memorized) was definitely one of my favorite segments of the entire story thus far. A very personal, intimate scenario; one of the most cozy chapters of the entire story, just Madoka and Homura sealed away in a little world of their own. I thought it was very cute how Madoka felt comforted at first by the fact that her surroundings were catered so much to her own personal tastes. That is an incredibly childlike reaction; teenagers and adults would probably feel creeped out and violated, but children would probably take a much simpler and less cynical view on the situation and simply be glad to be surrounded by things they love and enjoy. Of course, Madoka did admit to finding Homura creepy a short bit later, but her initial innocence was cute.
Homura's battle against the skeletons and the witch was really cool, and the abandoned hockey rink made for a unique, memorable battleground. This is one scene that I would love to see animated. There's some really awesome witch battles in this story, between the fight presented here, the witch that surfed on a sea of blood, and a future witch battle that I'll comment upon later on. The girl who used her wish to ensure the Maple Leafs another victory was sadly and amusingly realistic, too... I remember hearing about this grown man who tackled a five year old kid because he was wearing a jersey from the opposite football team. >_> (The guy's reaction was so silly that I couldn't help but laugh at first... I don't think the kid was hurt, thankfully) Some people...
The "rescue" scene was a bit painful, watching Homura get the third degree despite never having anything but good intentions, but it was a good scene. I smiled at "Nice to meet you at last, Kaname Madoka." Mami said warmly and politely to me, while briefly shifting her eyes from Homura to me to Homura again, "But I'm afraid that further pleasantries will have to wait." Mami's so classy and cool. And Hitomi behaving as a hero rather than a villain here is a nice reminder of her normal self. The way Hitomi expressed her anger this past stretch of story might have been inexcusably extreme, but whenever she's being righteous and virtuous, she conveys those traits 100 percent as well. She's a complex girl, just have to take the good with the bad I guess.
Oh, and poutines look delicious. Mmm... brb moving to Canada.
Wait, I can't move to Canada just yet because I've yet to finish this review... okay, Mami Lives Chapter 11 Homura Romance time. I liked both Very Nervous Sayaka and Very Firm Sayaka a lot. Whether she's being resolute or is a nervous wreck, Sayaka's an interesting person. (Madoka didn't handle their heart-to-heart in the 'nervous' choice very well... almost everything she said was some reminder of "Hey, I'm not in love with you!" Dang Madoka, stop pouring handfuls of salt on the wound.) She's endearingly fragile and vulnerable even in the Very Firm branch, snapping at Madoka for not getting instant support. I wonder how long until the awkward atmosphere between Madoka and Sayaka will completely fade away...
"While I will feel sorry for Hitomi if she's denied the man that she loves, it's also true that Hitomi has been mean about this. She needs to learn that you shouldn't be mean to your friends like this!" D'aww. Madoka sounds like she's in kindergarten here. Though it's also surprisingly vindictive. Speaking of which, Hitomi comes across much more sympathetically during her exchange with Madoka in the bathroom now that her bitterness is under control. I can understand both sides of the situation. Madoka really is hopelessly naive... she's the kind of girl who'd ask to hang out with her ex-boyfriend the day after breaking up, or ask him to spend an afternoon with her along with a new boyfriend... >_> So oblivious.
Kamijo's friends want to play Kanon: After Story? Wow, I wish guys around here would rather play VNs than FPSes. That's a long delay time between sequels though, 62 years. >_> I was 11 years old for Kanon and 73 for After Story.
Oh, and...
The early parts of Mami Lives Chapter 12, Homura Romance were such classic Madoka, with her self-depreciation and self-esteem problems. I laughed at Homura blushed deeply after I said that. So much so that it took me a bit by surprise. Haha, what did you expect, Madoka? It's only natural when you lather someone with that much praise. Such a cute girl. The aftermath of that compliment was really nice, it's impressive how you're able to write so many sex scenes without them ever coming across as repetitive; I included just a very rare handful of sex scenes in the long series of novels I wrote because, well, there's only so many ways you can write about making out and f*cking. That number seems to be higher for you than it is for me, though, because these scenes still feel fresh. Oh, and I have to say that I'm really liking the relationship between Hitomi and Mami. Hitomi's expanded presence as a sixth puella magi adds a lot to this story.
Mami Lives Chapter 13, Homura Romance was another winner. The Trio Tiro Finale is an awesome move, both in the cute wordplay used for the name as well as the ferocity and power of the attack itself, and the idea of Sayaka flying around on a magic hoverboard is really cool. She must have looked very stylish during the return trip to Homura's home, I bet... this could also be a good chance to sneak an action minigame into the Visual Novel, Sayaka forced to contend with the trials of both Mother Nature and human civilization (The weather's bad, so Sayaka has to avoid lightning, tornados, crashing into buildings, etc) as she tries to return Madoka to safety! ... okay, that's probably too much for Kimidori to program. >_>
I loved the mental image of Madoka coming into Homura's home to find her in bed. It reminded me very strongly of classical fairy tales like Snow White and Cinderella. Of course, much of the chapter's remainder covered things far more lighthearted. The drunk shenanigans were hilarious, I was smiling the whole time I was reading this part... drunk puella magis are the best puella magis. I loved Mami mistaking every cat-sized object for Kyubey, haha. The girl that gave me the most laughs this chapter, though, was Kyouko, as usual; some of them coming from before the slumber party. Describing Hitomi as 'the high society girl'... telling Mami she'd better be careful with her weapons or she might destroy the city herself... spiking everyone's sake at the end... ah, I love Kyouko.
Yet for all of this chapter's good points, I enjoyed Mami Lives 14 more. Seriously, this is one of my favorite chapters thus far. The Tiger Woods sounds like a very cool place, I'd love to be able to go somewhere like that. I was easily able to visualize the whole area in my mind, and a jungle-themed restaurant like Jungle Jin's sounds charming. Of course, I bet Homura would enjoy scrubbing toilets all day if she did so along with Madoka dolled up in that dress. An opened pink fleece shirt over a reddish one-piece dress, along with red thigh-highs on top of it? God damn, Madoka. Are you trying to give everyone who walks past you a raging hard-on? Kimidori better draw a new Madoka sprite for this scene, complete with the appropriate boner-inducing wardrobe. Sexy as hell.
It was sad to see their relationship take a temporary nosedive... much as I enjoy drama, I was starting to grow accustomed to their warm and blissful romance. Homura deserves a medal of honor, I say, for putting up a resistance (If only at first) whenever Madoka kissed her with 'delirious desire' and 'incredible intensity,' especially in that outfit. The witch running across the wall was creepy, and this battle sounds as though it might be one of the most traumatic Homura's ever gone through... must have inspired such a weird feeling of dread to see the witch continue running despite existing within the time-stopped world. Who knows if Homura will ever have the same faith in her Time Stop powers again.
But things turn up again once the battle's finished, and how. I consider this to be the ultimate Good End of the story (at least so far), with Madoka making one of the best wishes possible and all six puella magi uniting together as a team. Just about as perfect a conclusion as the story could reach.
Last but not least comes the most recent update, the Homura Epilogue. A rather short update, one of the very shortest to be found in the whole story in fact, but its quality more than makes up for it. The first half with the dialogue between Kyubey and Jinnai, and the second half with the 2072 gathering of puella magi, made for some very compelling reading; I was a bit surprised whenever the chapter ended because I was so absorbed into the story. Madoka's 25-26 here, since in the PPPL timeline she was born in 2046... it seems like the rest of her adult life might do nothing but become more and more complicated. It's a really fascinating conflict that's presented here, but sadly this is the end of the road for this story arc, so who knows what kind of social and political changes await Madoka and the rest in their future... here's to hoping that things never get too rough and that Madoka, Homura, and Lutecia are able to live out a happy life together.
... and that's all. Man, I'm beat. >_> Hope you enjoyed reading, though.
|2012-07-25, 18:51
|Link #247
Senior Member
Ok, to keep everybody informed, I'll soon be writing the rest of Mami Lives, Madoka Is Alone. That will be pretty short, but it hopefully has some interesting twists and turns (particularly for Sayaka fans).
Then it's finally back to Mami Lives, Mami Romance. Your long wait will soon be over, Kirito!
It's been awhile since I made replies to the fanfic reviewers, but I think that Dr. Casey's recent riveting review provides me with a good opportunity to do so. Below are a few short replies to Kirito, Kogetsu Shirogane, and Dr. Casey. I'm very glad that all three of you enjoyed the latest updates, and the conclusion to Mami Lives, Homura Romance!
Well, in Dr. Jail Scaglietti's world, any two girls can have a child of their own!
I think that K-On!'s Mugi is pretty close to an even mix of Mami and Hitomi, don't you?
So all of that is to say... *nudge, nudge, wink, wink* yes
Real World: Triple_R is a writer that occasionally gets lazy, hence not wanting to write a lengthy series of dates before consummation occurs.
Hint: There's a girl in Touhou that can manipulate time, hence why her witch form is immune to Homura's timefreeze.
In all seriousness, the idea of being able to love two different people at the same time is why I think Kyousuke could accept Sayaka's confession even while he's affected by Hitomi's wish.
I definitely think Hitomi is capable of being a heroic figure, but moments of selfishness can lead her into acting like an outright villain at times. In a way, Hitomi is the most versatile character in my fanfic.
The other pairings have their strengths to, of course, but it's really easy to imagine Madoka/Homura being happy all by themselves in their own little world.
There's other ways to keep these scenes fresh, but I'll leave that discussion for a more discreet place.
Last edited by Triple_R; 2012-07-25 at 19:11.
|2012-07-30, 04:33
|Link #248
Kneel Before Your King!
|2012-08-01, 02:10
|Link #249
Senior Member
Important Note: I strongly encourage re-reading the "Madoka Is Alone" section in the post linked to within "Madoka Is Alone" below. This is probably necessary to refresh your memory on a narrative chain that hasn't been touched on in a long time...
Mami Lives Chapter 12
Madoka is Alone
"Sayaka, you're wanted at the door!"
Today has been truly miserable for me, and so I feel like ignoring dad shouting out to me. I just want to stay curled up, under the covers, trying to forget about the wider world while I fixate on my bluish Soul Gem. I let its glow mesmerize me. It's strange. As I look into my Soul Gem, it almost feels like I'm looking into my own soul!
At least for now, that's less discomforting than looking into my own heart…
If you choose A for MS Opportunity Choice 1, read Section Homura Visits. Otherwise, read Section Mami and Kyouko Visit.
Section Homura Visits
Spoiler for Homura Visits:
Spoiler for Mami and Kyouko Visit:
To Be Concluded…
Well, this might be my most controversial update yet.
A couple things to keep in mind with it.
1) If you're in this section (as the VN player), it means you successfully saved Mami, but utterly failed to move Madoka into a romance with anyone. So Madoka no longer has a romantic chance.
2) The only plot alternative I could see for the rest of Madoka Is Alone is more standard Sayaka tragedy, and I felt that might be a bit overplayed.
So what I've basically decided to do is say "Madoka lost her entire harem, so now Sayaka gets one!"
Hopefully Sayaka/Kyouko fans won't be too bothered, since Sayaka/Kyouko is one of the romantic pairings that'll be offered up in the final chapter of MIA.
The final chapter of MIA will be broke into three sections, and I think it's fairly obvious what those three sections will be. Each will have its own end. If you're a Sayaka fan who likes yuri, don't miss it!
Any and all comments are welcomed. Actually, I've never been more curious to read reviews than I am now, lol.
Last edited by Triple_R; 2012-08-01 at 03:28.
|2012-08-03, 01:51
|Link #250
Kneel Before Your King!
Just for a change of pace, I think I'm actually going to respond before there's multiple updates.
Spoiler for Sayaka's Singing the Blues...:
Spoiler for Idle thoughts:
|2012-08-14, 16:12
|Link #251
Enjoying Snack Time!
Here's my feedback update. Sorry it's late, and I hope you'll understand if I cut the formalities. I had some...issues that sort of put me off from writing, but that's all I can say at the moment.
Please note that I haven't been good with my words recently so if this feedback is too wordy or over done, I do apologize and do what you see fit.
So putting that aside, I got ClariS playing as always (yeah!), and I'm ready to rock and roll.
Spoiler for Spaghetti and Milk Romance:
Spoiler for A Three Way Roundabout:
Grading Time:
Spoiler for Pros:
Well thats it for this review, so take your time with the next one. Well until then dude, until then.
|2012-09-19, 19:36
|Link #252
Senior Member
Mami Lives Chapter 12
Madoka is Alone, Homura/Sayaka Finale
Walpurgis Night has finally arrived. The main obstacle in my efforts to save Madoka now lies before me. And this time, with the aid of no fewer than four other Puella Magi, I will succeed!
But my steely focus on the gathering clouds, from which Walpurgis Night will soon arrive, is suddenly broken. It's broken by a now familiar touch being placed upon my shoulder. The touch of Sayaka Miki.
"Wow, you look intense!" Sayaka said to me, in a way that I think was meant to break the tension in the air.
"You, of all people, should know how important this moment is to me." I reply to her, as I turn my face sideways to gaze at her through one eye.
"I do." Sayaka said in a warm tone of voice, while she moved in front of me and looked me eye-to-eye, "But please try to relax. You look like you're carrying the weight of the whole world on your shoulders, Homura! But don't forget that we're all here to help. Between the five of us, I'm sure we'll take out this one witch!"
Sayaka's words are tinged with a casual confidence that almost offends me. I've seen too many disappointments… too many highly unpleasant surprises… to take anything for granted.
And yet, I know that Sayaka means well. In truth, and in fairness, she has been the very picture of a perfect girlfriend since she accepted my confession. She has been kind, attentive, supportive, and surprisingly relaxing to be with. She even managed to briefly move me when she bought me a purplish flower-print kimono when we went shopping together one day.
But in spite of this all, I can't allow overconfidence to cloud Sayaka, or any of the other magical girls aiding me at this hour. This time, Walpurgis Night must fall, and fall quickly, before Madoka is successfully tempted into intervening.
"We can't afford to be overconfident here." I said sternly to Sayaka, "There are too many lives at stake. Too many peo…"
Sayaka then startled me a bit by placing one finger on my lips.
"I know, Homura." Sayaka said in a somber tone, "I'm well-aware of the gravity of the situation. How can I not be? You've talked to me about Walpurgis Night almost every day since our relationship began. And that's precisely why I want to put your mind at ease, and reassure you. I want you to know that you can count on the rest of us. You can especially count on me."
Sayaka's words carry such weight and warmth. The romantic motivation behind them is unmistakeable. The day that I have to end this charade is going to be painful…
But for now, I may as well make use of it in order to assure victory over Walpurgis Night. So I pull Sayaka in close to me, as I wrap one arm around her white cape, and place one hand on the side of her head, running my fingers through her hair.
"Your support is truly invaluable to me, Sayaka…" I whisper demurely into her ear, "Yes, I do count on you. Please don't let me down… my love."
I then softly kiss the corner of Sayaka's mouth, and softly back away. I can tell, almost instantly, how deeply stirred Sayaka is by my words and actions here. She blushes brightly, and her face looks firm.
"I-I won't let you down!" Sayaka said to me, while gripping her cape in a theatrical motion, "I won't fail you, Homura."
"Ok, that's enough of that sappy stuff!" Kyouko Sakura suddenly interjects with a tone of irritation, as she steps between Sayaka and I, looking displeased.
Mami Tomoe looks amused by Sakura's reaction, while Hitomi Shizuki looks somewhat queasy. I guess this really is "Forbidden Love" for Shizuki-san.
"Let's get this party started already!" Sakura-san declared with a wide, mischievous smile, while pocky hangs out of her mouth as though it were a cigarette.
And with that, my plan begins to be put into motion…
From the storage compartment on my time-freeze device, I bring forth enough ammunition to fight a small war with. Rocket launchers surround me almost like an endless array of swords. They are but a small opening salvo out of everything that I have prepared.
I could sense Sayaka beaming at me with pride, but also with a touch of nervousness.
"Nobody prepares for battle like you do, Homura, that's for sure!" Sayaka stated smilingly to me.
"Yeah, but she better be careful with that much weaponry, or she'll destroy the city herself!" Sakura-san quickly responded.
"Homura's not that sloppy." Sayaka said to Sakura-san, while looking sideways at her, "I'm sure we can depend on her!"
"It is I who am depending on the rest of you." I stated sternly, "The use of these conventional arms will merely put a chink in Walpurgis Night's armor."
"And then we will use that chink to finish the job!" Sayaka exclaimed, while pumping a fist.
Well… I can't help but grin slightly over how my own romantically-scented motivations had worked on Sayaka.
Walpurgis Night was then bathed in a relentless fire of rockets bursting in air. I then took control of a large transport truck and drove it directly into the freakishly smiling maw of Walpurgis Night. After jumping off that truck, I was caught in midair by the whitish-bluish streak of Sayaka.
"We'll take care of the rest!" Sayaka said to me, after she carefully landed on her feet, and gently placed me down in a standing position.
"Yeah, let's do this!" Sakura-san exclaimed.
Sayaka and Sakura then both sprinted into combat, engaging the rainbow-colored shades of fallen magical girls that Walpurgis Night had thrown against me. As I had planned, they proved sufficient for dealing with this cannon fodder, keeping the field of combat clear for me to assess. More importantly, it would eventually allowed Hitomi Shizuki's horse-drawn chariot to carry herself and Mami Tomoe within close striking distance of Walpurgis Night!
Twenty-five minutes of battle had passed with such ferocity and speed, but everything was going to plan. The Gates of Brandenburg would now lead the way to a Trio Tiro Finale!
"Now, Tomoe-san!" I shouted at her as loudly as my voice could carry, "Finish it off!"
"Now, Mami-san!" I hear Shizuki-san cry in frenzied excitement, echoing my own command.
Tomoe-san then leapt out of Shizuki's chariot, and took hold of the final giant glistening gun of the three.
All three guns are discharged simultaneously, having the impact of three separate Tiro Finales! Walpurgis Night screams in horror as it is incinerated in the blast.
I feel a great and mighty relief wash over me. I allow myself to become entranced by that marvelous relief. Finally, my precious Madoka, I have saved you! At last, my wish and my promise have been achieved.
Sayaka and Sakura-san initially shout triumphantly, but Sayaka soon turns her eyes unto me. There is such a serene and loving smile on her face as she looks at me. With that look and smile, I can tell that Sayaka is saying to me "See, Homura? I was right. And you were right to count on the rest of us."
Given the emotional intensity of the moment, I couldn't help but to return Sayaka's smile with a similar one of my own. But then… the look on Sayaka's face changes from comforting serenity to sheer panic!
With a barely perceptible bluish-whitish flash, Sayaka sprints towards me with all her might!
Normally I'd be clear-headed enough to freeze time at this juncture, to determine what it is that so suddenly sprung Sayaka into action. But with my mind having given way at last to relief and relaxation, I was caught off-guard. And I was pushed several feet backwards by Sayaka's outstretched arm and hand.
But as I collapsed unto my side, what I saw next was as horrifying as it was startling! Sayaka was now buried under a large piece of debris!
For the briefest of moments, the old weak girl I used to be reasserts herself. In the blink of an eye, the shy glasses-wearing, braided twin-tails, girl I used to be is who I become again. I shake and tremble and frown in terror at the sight of Sayaka crushed under rubble. My mind freezes while my heart weeps. I feel consumed by so many strong and conflicted emotions. But strongest amongst them is sadness… sadness and shame.
I hear Sakura-san curse loudly once she realizes what has happened to Sayaka. I also can make out her screaming at me to do something, although it sounds to me as though her voice is coming through a long and distant tunnel.
Finally, after briefly being in a state of shock, I hear and feel the relatively gentle slap of Mami Tomoe's hand against the side of my face.
"Homura-chan!" she exclaims to me, before taking hold of my shoulders with her two hands and shaking me slightly, "Snap out of it!"
"… I-I… I don't know.." I begin stammering, searching in vain for the right words to say.
"Wow, you really do love her, don't you?" I hear the voice of Hitomi Shizuki coming from behind me.
"Look." Mami said firmly to me, but with a tone of sympathy, "I know how much Sayaka now means to you, but that's precisely why we need you to regain your senses! It's going to take all of us working together to ensure that Sayaka survives this."
"R-right." I manage in reply, able to make it only due to how obvious a reply it is to make.
Kyouko had already moved most of the rubble away from Sayaka, and now Hitomi and I saw to it that Sayaka received immediate first aid. Sayaka had been rendered unconscious, and she had some nasty lacerations all over one side of her body. I think she had suffered some broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and some torn leg ligaments.
"She's still alive." Sakura-san said, after taking Sayaka's pulse and breathing a sigh of relief.
"Ok, then this is what we will do." Tomoe-san said, taking charge given how I was still in a disoriented daze, "I'm going to head off to find Madoka, to tell her that we're all Ok and that Walpurgis Night has been defeated. As for the rest of you, make sure you see to it that Sayaka gets continuing medical attention and is watched over until she regains consciousness! Now, we need to find a good and safe location to move her…"
"Our meeting place." I interject, as I at last regain my mental composure.
"We should move Sayaka to our secret Puella Magi meeting place." I state, reinforcing my suggestion, as I think I initially took the others by surprise with it.
"That's probably a good idea." Tomoe-san responded, "Ok, I'll meet back up with you all there! I'll bring Madoka to that place too."
Shizuki-san was thankfully good with handling medical emergencies, and so we were able to give Sayaka proper medical attention. Sayaka's own regeneration abilities saw to the rest, as we carefully went about moving her to our Puella Magi meeting place.
But while Shizuki and Sakura saw to it that Sayaka's condition had stabilized, I felt my heart continue to be consumed with debilitating shame.
This is a girl that I had crudely used, that I had pretended to be in love with. And yet, the love she now felt for me was clearly strong and sincere. So sincere, in fact, that she severely endangered her own life in an attempt to save mine. And am I now to coldly dump her? End our romance when she has done nothing wrong? And yet, that was precisely what I had planned to do at the safest and most convenient moment.
I'm horrible. Detestable. Despicable.
In one fell swoop, I had betrayed both Madoka and cavalierly played with Sayaka's heart.
I should feel immeasurable relief and joy over having saved Madoka from contracting as a Puella Magi in order to combat Walpurgis Night. But instead, my mind is now plagued with the thought of how can I possibly handle my current relationship with Sayaka.
At last, Sayaka begins to stir and awaken. The first sound emanating from her lips is my name…
"Hom… Homura." I hear her say weakly, but with such deep emotion.
It is enough to bring tear droplets to my eyes once more. I walk slowly towards Sayaka as she continues to call out my name from a lying position.
She reaches one arm and one hand towards me, and I gently take hold of it with one of my own.
"I… I guess that wasn't the smoothest… of rescues… huh?" I hear Sayaka joke in self-depreciating humor, as she forced a reassuring smile, "I'm not… as smooth as you are… but at least I saved you. I'm so relieved that I saved you… Homura…"
The tear droplets in my eyes then turned to uncontrollable weeping.
"I'm just relieved that you're alive, Sayaka." I say, startling even myself by how sincere those words where.
I then lowered my upper body on top of Sayaka's, and gently wrapped my arms around her, taking care to not disturb any of her injuries or wounds.
Even Shizuki-san couldn't help but to be moved by the scene, as I felt her place a comforting hand on my shoulder.
By the time that Madoka had arrived, a stunning self-revelation had been made by me. I found myself really, truly caring about Sayaka. Was I actually falling in love with Sayaka? Was that why I felt a different sort of shame when I first saw Madoka enter into this scene along with Tomoe-san?
Upon arriving in this secret place, Madoka had immediately rushed to Sayaka's side, reflecting their long and close friendship. The two friends shared a hug of their own, and Madoka's eyes were filled with tears as my own were.
I could hear Sakura-san sigh and complain over how sappy and melodramatic this was all becoming, but I think that Sakura-san herself was very relieved at Sayaka's survival.
But I could not feel such relief, at least not such relief alone. For I had many very hard and difficult decisions to make in the days and weeks to come…
Sayaka-chan thankfully survived a close brush with death. I was very happy about that, and I was also very happy at how all of her and my newfound friends had survived!
In the wake of the Walpurgis Night incident, I saw many new relationships grow and develop.
Hitomi and Kamijou grew ever-closer together. He seemed completely infatuated with her. Of course, there is a disturbing truth behind that… Nonetheless, they seemed happy together, and I do think that Hitomi sincerely loves him, so in time I was willing to be mildly supportive of their relationship. It certainly helped that Sayaka appeared to be in a happy romance of her own!
Sayaka and Homura-chan had become very tight girlfriends. Homura occasionally seems shy and curt over all of the attention that Sayaka shows her. What's the famous term that so succinctly sums up how Homura acts towards Sayaka? Tsundere, I think it is? While Homura occasionally seems irritated by Sayaka's attention, it's also clear by how Homura acts around Sayaka that Homura loves her. And Sayaka herself seems quite blissful over their relationship.
Thankfully, Hitomi and Sayaka both still make some time for the friendship between the three of us. Although we don't spend as much time together as we used to, it's certainly a great weight off of my heart for the three of us to be friends again in spite of the harsh battle that Hitomi and Sayaka had become caught up in.
However, I started seeing less and less of Mami-san. I think that she and Kyouko were now hanging out together more often.
The one sad part of all of this is it did leave me feeling a bit left out at times. Part of me does feel some regret. As I think things over in my mind, I could have easily been in a nice romance myself. I had temporarily been very close to Mami-san.
And Sayaka had confessed to me… and to this day I wonder if rejecting that confession was wise or not.
For now, while I have many friends, I am romantically alone. All of those erotic yet disturbing dreams I had before this Puella Magi whirlwind took over my life… all of them seemed like strange and distant memories. Were those dreams ever really premonitions? Am I truly attracted to girls?
These questions rest uneasily in my mind, as I can't help but dwell on all the romantic opportunities that I allowed to slip by…
Nonetheless, my friends are all healthy and well, in spite of many dangerous struggles, even amongst themselves! I should take comfort in that alone, and continue to be supportive of my friends and the romances that they may find themselves in.
Every now and then I see sad regret in Homura's eyes as she looks at me. I wonder what this might signify. In any event, I want Homura and Sayaka to be happy together, so I hope that such looks of regret will not come from Homura's eyes much longer.
And I myself will eventually learn to move forward without regret as well. It's with such thoughts moving me on that I made a final rejection to Kyubey's attempts to persuade me to become a Puella Magi. After all, there's now more than enough magical girls to protect Mitakihara Town!
Much like what Homura said to me the first day that I met her, I should just live the life of a normal girl, and be content with that. I just hope that one day I might find somebody that I can love romantically too…
The End (Mami Lives, MIA, White Chocolate End)
Well, I hope this update is a pleasant surprise to some regular readers, as very late as it is.
I won't have time to update this fanfic as frequently as I did in the past, and with as much length per update as in the past, but I should be able to put out a little something every now and then anyway. Times when I have back-to-back days off from work... Those times I should be able to manage a short update at least.
This now ends this particular Madoka Is Alone subroute. Two MIA subroutes remain, and I hope to deal with both of them in my next update.
I'm very curious to know what people (especially regular readers) thought of this latest update. Mostly I'd like to know if you felt it's quality is on par with what I've wrote before. For if it is, that'll make it easier for me to continue on with this fanfic when opportunity arises.
Well, this subroute brings us what is perhaps the crackiest ship possible out of the entire main cast of Madoka Magica. As cracky as it is, I hope people enjoyed reading it! ^_^
Last edited by Triple_R; 2012-09-19 at 19:53.
|2012-09-20, 20:55
|Link #254
Kneel Before Your King!
Heh... something was telling me I should check this portion of the forums today. Looks like I called it right.
Spoiler for Indigo Dream:
Anyway, lovely update here. While the reason is certainly understandable, it's gonna be hard to wait for the next one. Oh well, I'm sure I'll manage somehow...
|2012-09-23, 00:29
|Link #255
Enjoying Snack Time!
It's great to see you bad with another update. Sorry for the late reply it's just that I've reading this over and over trying to convey my thoughts about this update. It was truly enjoyable, but words weren't coming to me during those few days. I'm confident that I nailed how I can give my review to you, so as usual I got ClariS playing, and let's get this started.
I'll keep this short and concise, so here it goes.
Spoiler for Swords and Guns Do Mix.:
Grading time:
Spoiler for Pros:
Spoiler for Cons:
Phew, it took some doing and soul searching but I managed to get my thoughts and write my review to you to the best of my abilities. I hope you enjoy my review here and I can't wait for the next one, whenever that many be. Keep up the excellent work inside or outside the forums, so until then dude, until then!
|2012-09-23, 10:10
|Link #256
Senior Member
Man of Steel, Girls of Frilly Dresses (anime related)
Man of Steel,
Girls of Frilly Dresses
Clark has started to concern me.
He's been less attentive at Justice League meetings.
His mind tends to wander off, with this annoying absent-minded smile plastered across his face. He hums these pop tunes that… aren't exactly music to my ears. More worrisome, I don't recognize the tunes at all. They seem… foreign.
Somebody must have got to Clark. Was it Luthor? Brainiac? Darkseid?
Whatever the case, I must investigate this further.
I am currently in a lead-encrusted Batjet equipped with Diana's invisibility cloaking device. Throw in some WayneTech HSS technology, and even Superman won't be able to detect me.
It is time to pay the Fortress of Solitude a visit…
I submerge the Batjet under water, and use the secret underground entrance to The Fortress of Solitude. It is an entrance that only the founding members of the Justice League, and one Miss Lane, are aware of. Thankfully, I make it through that entrance, and leap out of the batjet, without attracting any attention.
No kryptonian dogs or troublesome robots stand in my way. Good. I only have an hour to spare with this investigation today since Bruce Wayne has a charity dinner to attend this evening.
As I stealthily sneak and creep through the halls of the Fortress of Solitude, I eventually overhear the voice of its most famous occupant…
"Yes, it's my favorite part!" I hear Clark shout.
I feel strong gusts of wind coming forth from a nearby open doorway, likely caused by Superman gesturing theatrically with his arms. He must certainly be enjoying whatever it is that he's watching. Propaganda films? Programming designed to mind control him? Whatever it is, I will find out now.
Out of my belt, I retrieve a video camera. I then carefully place it next to the opening to the Viewing Room of the Fortress of Solitude, as I start to film both Superman and whatever it is that he's watching.
As I suspected, it doesn't take long for Superman to notice my presence. But in the time it did take him to notice me, I've captured the video footage that I need.
"… Wait, someone's here!" Superman shouts while turning around, and quickly ascending out of his crystalline coach to softly fly to the entranceway.
"Batman!" he exclaims in some shock and horror upon the sight of my cape and cowl.
"And what are you doing with that video camera?" he asks in an alarmed tone.
"I'm trying to determine whatever dark secret it is that has been affecting you lately." I answer, "You haven't been with it lately, Clark. Your behavior has been eccentric, strange."
"This coming from a guy that dresses up like a bat and fights clowns on a regular basis?" Clark asks in a teasing tone, while grinning slightly and raising an eyebrow.
"You know what I mean." I reiterate to him, "You've been distracted lately, and what I've recorded will reveal why!"
"No, wait, Bruce, you can't!" Superman states, in an unusually frenzied tone of voice for him, as he grabs my shoulder with one hand.
"Oh and why's that?" I ask, while raising an eyebrow.
"Just hand that camera over now!" Superman replied, hoping that a sterner tone might prove more persuasive with me.
Really, Clark, you should know me better than that. I respond by simply pushing the camera near his face.
"Gaahhh… kryptonite!" Superman exclaims, while his eyes are mesmerized by the greenish glow, and his body recoils in discomfort.
My video camera is made almost entirely out of kryptonite. This is to ensure that Superman won't be able to destroy whatever it is I record on it.
"Now…" I begin in a confident tone, realizing that I have gained the upper-hand as Clark slowly backs away from me, "Will I need to watch what I just recorded, or are you going to show me yourself what it is that you were watching?"
Superman sighs, before finally relenting.
"I guess I can't hide it from you any longer…" he says, in a starkly somber tone, "Just… try to keep an open mind, Ok?"
Now that comment was truly eyebrow-raising.
"I'm a Detective." I state, "I always keep an open mind."
Given what I was about to see, maybe I shouldn't have said that…
My eyes are bombarded with a lightshow so garish it would disorient the Joker. The music is so sweetly saccharine that it threatens to give my ears diabetes.
" 'Make a little wish?' " I ask Clark, while looking at him sideways and quoting a line from this show's ending theme, "Really, Kent?"
Superman's response to that is nervous laughter. As disturbing as that is, at least it's less disturbing than watching him tap his foot and bob his head to this foreign pop song.
"So…" I continue on, "You apparently have a fondness for little girls in pretty dresses. Am I going to have to report you to Gordon?"
"Hey now, it's not like that!" he quickly protests, while holding out his hands in a defensive stature, "Besides, it's no worse than you and your Robins…"
"What was that?" I asked, as I glare menacingly at him.
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." he dismissively replies, "And nor do you need to worry about me watching these shows. It's just something for me to relax to after a hard day's work as Superman."
"And what does Miss Lane think of all of this?" I ask.
"Um… she doesn't know about it." Clark replies sheepishly, making me sigh.
"But really, Bruce, this is great, wholesome, and even inspirational entertainment!" Clark states with such earnest honesty.
I know Clark well enough to know he can't lie this good. So he must truly believe what he's saying.
"How is it inspirational?" I ask.
"These shows are about young people – future generations, Bruce! – and they're like us superheroes!" Clark begins saying with considerable zeal and dramatic hand motions, "Like us, they remove their normal daily attire to take on the bold flashy attire of the hero. They also gain great superpowers! With those superpowers, they fight against the forces of darkness, and defend their families, cities, and loved ones! Why, it would be a dream for me to have a daughter like Nanoha Takamachi. Don't you see how similar she is to superheroes like you and I, Bruce?"
I stare blankly and coldly at Kent over those words. He deserves no better.
"Oh, right…" he said, while rubbing the back of his head, "I sort of forgot."
"Not all of us real life heroes have flashy, colorful costumes or have need of super powers, Clark." I state to him.
"True, but there's different characters in this show that I think you would love!" Clark exclaims at me as though he was a car salesman making a desperate pitch to save his career.
"Really, Bruce, just give this show a try, and I'm sure you'll see for yourself why I like it." Clark says, while laying one hand on my shoulder.
"I can see why you like it." I reply, "Still, if you're becoming obsessed with these frivolous pursuits, then…"
"They're not frivolous." Clark firmly interjects, "And if you disagree with that, then we should make a friendly wager to settle our disagreement."
"What wager are you proposing?" I ask.
"You agree to watch every episode of this show, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha." he replies.
"Clark, I don't have time for such non…"
"Please, hear me out here, Bruce." he asserts, "If you end up not liking the show, then I'll pay you back for lost time by agreeing to spend a full week in Gotham City patrolling it for criminals and the insane!"
"That's a rather generous offer." I reply.
"It shows how confident I am in this show." Clark responds.
"And on the unlikely chance that I end up liking this show?" I ask
"Then you have to promise to discard that kryptonite camera you have, and never reveal to anybody else that I watch this show." Clark answers.
"Very well." I reply, "You putting your neck on the line for a piece of animated entertainment is… intriguing enough to me to agree to your wager. But know this, Clark, if I end up not liking this show, I'll be giving Jimmy Olsen this video camera for Christmas."
"D-Don't worry." Superman replies, "You'll like it, I assure you! In fact, there's one particular character in it that I just know you'll love."
One week later, on the WatchTower…
It's been a busy week for the Justice League. It's been hard for me to find time to watch my favorite shows. Hhhmm… that reminds me. I wonder if Bruce made good on our wager? I should go ask him about that!
"Batman!" I shout out to him from across a crowded cafeteria, where dozens of Justice League members are currently dining at.
Batman instantly turns around at the sound of my voice, but naturally waits for me to get to him. That's Bruce for you, he really believes in economy of motion.
"What do you want to talk about?" he asks me after I've walked over to him.
"Did you watch Nanoha after?" I whisper into one of the ears of his cowl.
"Yes." he replies, "But let's talk about it in private."
Bruce and I then leave the cafeteria, and discuss things in the currently unoccupied Justice League training room.
"So what did you think of it?" I asked, once I had determined that the coast was clear.
"I have to admit, you were right." he answered, in an unusually sheepish tone for him.
"See, it's just like what I said!" I exclaimed triumphantly, "I knew you'd like the show just like I did."
"You were wrong about one thing, though." Batman replied in a slightly cross tone.
"What's that?" I asked.
"There are two characters in this show that I found very… admirable." Bruce answered, "You probably thought I'd be fond of the character Fate Testarossa. And so I am. She is a good character, with a good head on her shoulders. But the character that I most admired is Chrono. Now he would make the perfect Robin…"
"Well, the main thing is that you liked the show!" I said cheerfully, while placing one hand down on Bruce's shoulder in a friendly gesture, "I trust that you'll let this be our little secret then, right?"
"I don't like to break agreements made in good faith." Batman replied, "So yes, your magical girl secret is safe. In fact, it's given me a good idea."
"What idea might that be?" I ask.
And then, while stunning me with a very atypical cracking of a smile, Bruce answered with a simple, "You'll see. There's a little gift that should be arriving at Clark Kent's apartment soon."
Unsurprisingly, Bruce wasn't joking. When I arrived back at my apartment, I noticed something on the couch. It was a large gift-wrapped box attached to a letter sealed with a bat symbol.
"Forgive the lateness, but here's a belated birthday gift" was the short note on the letter.
Well, it's good to see that Bruce hadn't forgotten my birthday like I thought he had.
Now, it's time to unwrap this gift.
As I tore the gift wrapping off in a blistering flash, I soon saw what was underneath. Hey… it's three Blu-Ray volumes for a brand new magical girl show!
"Niiice!" I exclaimed in joy, "The girls on this cover sure have great character designs. They look like picture-perfect magical girls. And the name of this is… Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Well, it sure looks and sounds great. I'll start watching it now!"
Meanwhile, at the Batcave…
"Master Bruce, there's a certain concern of mine that… though trifling, I'd like to share with you…" Alfred says, while sweeping up behind me, as I sit at the batcomputer going over recent Gotham City crime reports
"Yes, Alfred?" I asked.
"It's the gift you gave to your reporter friend, Mr. Kent" Alfred answered.
"What about it?" I asked.
"I hope you won't take offense to this, but curiosity admittedly got the best of this old cat, and I watched some of that show myself…" Alfred replied.
"And what did you think of it, Alfred?" I asked.
"I think, Master Bruce, that it's hardly an appropriate gift for one of Superman's sensibilities." Alfred replied.
"I beg to differ." I replied, admittedly while grinning slightly, "It's the perfect gift for somebody of Superman's sensibilities. It'll show his idealistic heart that there's a darker side to the colorful, heroic worlds that he puts such faith in. And that knowledge should guard him against falling prey to that darker side himself."
Alfred sighed to that.
"If you say so, Master Bruce…" he said, finishing our conversation.
Two days later, during an important Justice League Meeting at the WatchTower…
"That's… certainly an interesting new look you have there, Supes…" stated the Flash, while the seven founding members were all sitting around a circular conference table.
"Yeah, but that bearskin hat with the small white plume doesn't go with his costume at all!" chimed in Green Lantern.
"And what's up with the new cape, dude, seriously?" The Flash asked, "Are you trying to rip off Captain Marvel, or something? Besides, you can't wear a white cape with a golden trimmed collar on top of a blue, red, and yellow costume. It just doesn't match, Supes!"
"It doesn't matter if it matches." Superman said soberly, "It's all about paying respect to fallen comrades."
"Fallen comrades?!" Wonder Woman utters in alarm.
"Hey, Bats, what are you snickering about?" The Flash says.
"I will never forget them…." Superman says, to himself yet out loud, while he places one hand over his heart and a single tear comes out of his right eye.
The End.
A little comedic fanfic that I hope my fellow magical girl fans will enjoy reading.
Any and all comments are welcomed!
Last edited by Triple_R; 2012-09-23 at 12:22.
|2012-09-23, 17:03
|Link #258
The iDOL(ove Live!)M@STER
Reading this made me realize only Mami and Sayaka have clothing pieces easily cosplayable. Madoka, Kyoko, and Homura's outfits don't have anything that could be mimicked on a whim.
At any rate, thanks for confirming the out of nowhere Batman and Robin ship. Maybe Wayne being initially infatuated with the whole genre would make for slightly better irony since Supes is something of a boyscout but that's just me.
Wonder what Luthor would think of Kyubey though...
|2012-09-23, 19:18
|Link #259
Senior Member
I hope you enjoyed it.
|2012-09-23, 22:25
|Link #260
Senior Member
Note: For regular readers of my PPPL thread, please consider the Superman/Batman story above to be a sort of comedic interlude in the PPPL narrative. You can think of it as the fanfic version of an Omake, maybe. At least it does relate to Madoka Magica, lol.
Anyway, the next update on this thread will be for PPPL itself.
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