Mori Beacon Prologue

#MGChronicle [02:13:18:42] <Reikim>
This is a story from "somewhere else".
The setting: a typical Earth-like planet, circa mid-2000s. A typical city, busy, noisy, and cramped; full of plenty of places for unusual things to hide.
Somewhere in the city, such an unusual thing licks its wounds. This is a problem... Not an unsolvable one, probably. And it could be worse. But a problem. A resource problem.
A solvable kind of problem. It flips open a mental Rolodex and flips through, looking for a nearby candidate...

<~Wander>	 Hmm...
Ah, here's one that might do.
Mori Maria Barnett, age seventeen.
Notably small for her age.  Tries to hide that she's sensitive about this fact.
Strong sense of right and wrong that occasionally gets her in trouble.  Passable enough grades, but lackluster motivation to excel.  No apparent direction in her life.  Few close friends, all of them younger.
The kind of girl who, when her class took a career survey, spent half an hour trying to come up with her dream job before just writing “Superhero,” then tried to laugh off the derision of her classmates.
-----
...At the moment, it's late evening in the Barnett household, and Mori is might as well be home alone.
Her father is off at work as a night-shift security guard, while her mother, a schoolteacher, has already fallen asleep at the kitchen counter, surrounded by a stack of half-graded papers.
It shouldn't be too difficult to recruit the girl.

<Reikim>	 There's a carefully-placed flash of light outside of her window, and then something goes *thunk* into the garden.

<~Wander>	 Mori is lying on her bed listening to music, but the sudden flash gets the her to sit up and take out her earbuds in time to hear the thunk.
She brushes a few strands of green hair out of her face and squints out into the darkness, then opens her window with a *creak*.
“Is someone there?” she calls out.

<Reikim>	 *Something* moves in Mom's wildly overgrown roses.
...Most people would probably wake up their parents. But all teenagers want to prove they can handle things themselves...some, more than others. And...well, there's always that natural human curiosity.

<~Wander>	 Certainly, Mori *could* wake her mother, but... some nights, it would almost be easier to wake the dead.  Besides, she's plenty old enough to check out whatever just happened by herself, anyway.
As such, she gets up, throws on her shoes, and takes a moment to climb onto the step-stool in the kitchen so she can claim a flashlight from on top of the refrigerator.  As expected, mom barely stirs at the noise.
Once prepared, Mori  flicks the flashlight on and heads outside.  She's still clad in her comfy pajamas, but that should be fine if she's just going out to check the garden.

<Reikim> The rose bushes rustle harder as she approaches. When she shines the flashlight on them, she sees...
...a cat.
Well, that's what it *looks* like at first glance, but on the second it clearly isn't. The eyes are too big, for one thing - cute, but unnatural. And cats are not supposed to be mottled green and brown. Are those leaves mixed in with the fur?
Anyway, it's stuck in the rose bushes. Injured, too - and not from the roses, though it's managed to get a fair few extra scratches there. Something blue and clearly blood-like shimmers on its coat; one ear looks like it's been half torn off.
It shies away when the light falls on it; its eyes widen like a deer in headlights.

<~Wander>	 For a few moments, as Mori tries to make sense of what she's seeing, the deer in headlights look is mutual.  This is... she's not sure what this is.  It looks almost like some kind of weird cat, but... it's certainly not an animal she's seen before.
Regardless, it looks like it's hurt pretty badly.  Maybe one of the neighborhood dogs attacked it?  She didn't hear barking, but then, she was listening to music, so that makes sense.
Her instincts as a cat-lover take over and she slowly crouches down.  She doesn't look away, worried that the creature might bolt if she does.
“*It's alright.  I won't hurt you,*” she whispers.

<Reikim>	 "I-I'll bite!" the creature threatens, at about the same time.
...
...what?

<~Wander>	 “...”
Mori blinks twice, then tilts her head.
“Um, did... did you just talk?”
Maybe she hasn't been getting enough sleep, lately.

<Reikim>	 It puts its paws over its mouth. "No I didn't," it blurts. This provokes another round of self-hushing, which is obviously pointless at this point.
"Um...this...this is a dream!" it says. "Don't worry about it-"
It hisses as the rose thorns dig into its side.
"Just a dream! You should go back to sleep now."

<~Wander>	 “If this is a dream, I'm already-”
Mori cuts off, frowning at the creature's clumsy attempts to distract her.  She tucks a hand into one of the long sleeves of her flannel nightshirt, then uses it to start slowly reaching into the bush.
“...Look, I ain't exactly sure what you are, but you look like you could do with some help.”

<Reikim>	 "Gh. Fine. This is embarrassing..."
The creature relents and lets her extract it. The moment it's free, it leaps away-!
...Or tries to. The moment it hits the ground, one of its legs gives out, and it faceplants hard.
"Gh-!" It drags itself to its feet.

<~Wander>	 Mori winces at the creature's pained struggling.
“Oh come on, you're just gonna hurt yourself *more* by doin' that.”
She attempts to gently scoop the weird animal up again.  This probably means getting more of its weird blue blood on her shirt, but she assumes something like that will probably come out in the wash, and it's not important compared to what she's seing right now.
“I guess maybe accepting help is an affront to your pride as a... as whatever you are, but we've got like, ointment and first-aid stuff inside.”

<Reikim>	 "No, no, no, there's no *time*." The creature deflates. "I have to...people are gonna be in danger!"
Still, it doesn't resist. Perhaps it's just given up...

<~Wander>	 Mori freezes at those words, though by that point, she's already picked the creature up.
“...People are in danger?  What's even-”
She cuts off, grimacing as she looks the creature over.
“Whatever's goin' on, I don't think you're in any condition to go savin' anyone all injured like this.  You can barely walk.  Tell me what's goin' on and I'll...  I'll uh...”
She trails off, staring down at the weird cat and wracking her brain for some kind of plan.
“...W-what can I do to help?  Contact someone or...?”

<Reikim>	 "No, no!" The cat...thing shakes its head. "I can't get normal people involved! Even if you're already...
"The peace of this world is fragile," it explains. "Every day, dangerous monsters seek to disturb your peaceful lives. And they're strong! Anybody you called would just get hurt. I need to get to another one of our warriors..."
It groans.
"But it took almost all my power to teleport here... Wait, where even *is* here?"

<~Wander>	 “*Peace of this world... dangerous monsters... teleport...*” Mori mumbles to herself, utterly bewildered.
This is obviously something a lot larger than one undersized teen can possibly handle on her own, though that fact seems to be taking a while to properly sink in.
“S-so you're basically some kinda... magical planetary defender?”
She frowns at the creature's question, suddenly finding that this bizarre situation has made the details like where she lives seem unimportant enough that she needs a moment to try and remember them.
“Here is... I live in Madison. It's a fairly quiet little... I'll be generous and say 'town'.  Around the center of Virginia, if that helps.  The nearest small city is like twenty minutes, maybe half an hour's drive from here.”
She gives a series of blinks as the issue with what she just said gradually sinks in.
“...Sh-shoot, we ain't somewhere big and important.  I'm guessin' that these warriors of yours ain't common enough to be *everywhere*.”

<Reikim>	 "Ge-!"
The weird cat's eyes widen with shock.
"Oh, no. I overshot *way* too far! We'd need to get to the next *state*!" That...kinda checks out, but it's also kinda sad. "Ugh. Nothing for it, I'll just have to find another power source..."

<~Wander>	 Mori winces at the statement that there's nobody that can help in the state.
“...Another power source?” she repeats, unsure what it means by that. “Like what?”

<Reikim>	 "Ley lines," says the creature. "Power spots. Shrines. Any place where strong magic gathers. They can be a bit troublesome, but..."
It looks up at her.
"...Is there, uh...anything like that around here?"

<~Wander>	 There's a lengthy pause at that question while Mori desperately tries to figure out how she can answer without resorting to bewilderment and uncertainty.
“W-well, uh... there's lots of churches around?” the girl answers, struggling to think of anything else nearby that qualifies.

<Reikim>	 "...Geh. I guess it's worth a shot." The creature squirms in her arms; its blue blood - I mean, it's probably blood? - smears on her shirt. "...Er. Sorry. I guess I should patch myself up first..."

<~Wander>	 Mori looks down at the mess.  How unpleasant.  It doesn't smell like normal blood, but then, it's blue, so that shouldn't really come as a surprise.
“Patch yourself up... wait, with magic?”

<Reikim>	 "If I had any left." It sighs. "You have a first-aid kit, right?"
...
A few bandages and a bit of disinfectant goes a long way; thankfully, they were all surface wounds. Actually, it's likely Mom's rose bushes did most of the damage. She really needs to bring them back under control. The blood, it turns out, washes away with water; sticky and slightly sweet-smelling, she might mistake it for tree sap.
"Normally I draw power from my partner," it explains. "But I don't know where she is, or if she's even..."
It sniffles, then draws itself up and puts on a brave face.
"Anyway, she's too far away now, and there's a monster on the loose."

<~Wander>	 It probably helps that Mori is apparently fairly good at basic first aid.  Inwardly, she decides it might be a good idea to take a hacksaw to a couple of the rosebushes if Mom doesn't get around to trimming them.
Regardless, that's a concern for later.  Right now, she has a stressed out magical cat that one of her own mundane cats seems vaguely hostile to.  That problem is solved with a shut door, and soon enough, the magical creature is properly tended to and Mori has changed into a t-shirt and jeans so that she can go out when the time comes.
It's all still so surreal to her, but so far she's been managing to roll with what she's heard is going on fairly well.
She taps her fingertips together for a moment, feeling awkward and worried, but then picks the weird cat up in a gentle hug.
“I'm sorry about all this stuff.  Y'know, all my life I've tried to hang onto a belief in magic, at least in some sense, but now that it's right in front of me, I...  If things were different, this would be nothing but excitin' for me, but this is all so serious that I'm a little...”
She trails off, trying to make sense of what she's trying to say.
“...Sorry, I guess we should get goin'.  Nearest church ain't too far up the road.”
As she makes to carry the creature out, she manages to momentarily put on a confident smile.
“I don't really know what the plan is beyond finding a magic power place, but I'm sure we'll figure somethin' out.  Oh, and as we go, I'm, um...” She fumbles over her words for a few more moments as she exits the house.
“Mori Barnett, at your service.  I'd shake your hand, but um...”
She lets out an uncomfortable little laugh.
“W-well, anyways, off to the church, r-right?”

<Reikim>	 The creature explains more while they're en route:
"I guess I better tell you my name, huh? My name is Dendryll." Obvious themeing, but kinda sounds like a cough medicine. "I'm a...I guess you'd sorta call us guardian spirits? But we're not that strong ourselves. Instead, we partner with one of you - humans, I mean.
"Magic power is everywhere, you just can't normally feel it...well, sorta. You know that feeling you get when you're in a special place? Like you're being watched? Or like it's the most peaceful place either?" Quite the range. "Sometimes, it's not your imagination, it's just magic...well, most of the time it really is just your imagination.
"Any place you'd think of as sacred ground, or haunted ground, there's probably some magic there. Humans actually have really good instinct for magic, you know? Creepy old mansions, burial grounds, temples, shrines..."
The creature frowns as they approach the church.
"...And, of course, churches."

<~Wander>	 At a glance, the church really isn't anything remarkable.
It's a modest little affair.  Baptist, according to the sign out front.  The building is one-story, with red brick walls, stained glass windows, and a little pointed steeple capped by a cross.  The lawn is well-kept, the bushes trimmed, and the parking lot is sized for maybe two dozen cars.
Of course, at this hour, there are no lights on and the parking lot is empty.  Does that mean that the doors are locked?  Do they actually lock churches?  Mori doesn't look like she knows, and her fidgety awkwardness only grows as the pair approach the door.
“This um... this ain't really *my* church, exactly.  Just the nearest one within walkin' distance.  Are we gonna bre-”
Mori cuts off, biting her lip for a moment as she reconsiders her wording.
“...Are we *goin' inside* or... do we just need to be on the grounds for this magic leyline stuff?” she finishes.

<Reikim>	 Dendryll is already ahead, answering one of those questions. It pushes against the door; it creaks open.
"Gotta get into the place of worship," it explains.
...
...The church has an eerie feeling at night.
There's definitely a feeling that they shouldn't be here. An unwelcoming aura. Is this what the thing was talking about? Not the kind of feeling that she was expecting from a church. Then again, maybe it has to do with the fact that they broke in. Or did someone just forget to lock up?
A dark church doesn't feel right...but maybe that's just all the horror movies talking. Nothing bad is going to happen here...right?
Dendryll doesn't seem worried in the least; it steps lightly up to the altar, and jumps right on top.
"Yup, definitely a lot of power here," it says. It looks around. "This place is popular, I can tell. Must be nice, being so popular."

<~Wander>	 “I... guess so?”
Mori follows along, glancing warily around and sweeping her flashlight over the shadows.  It reassures her that nothing menacing is lurking here, but the unease doesn't dissipate.  Part of her feels like she's doing something wrong by trespassing here, but her more adventurous side tries to shush that worried part.
“So, um, Dendryll, you... you said your kind partners with humans to... defend the world from evil?”

<Reikim>	 "Yup. I can't really fight myself, but I can bring out people's latent power." Dendryll sits on the altar, calmly puts its paws together, closes its eyes, and...
"Che!" It makes an exasperated noise. "Not cooperating, as usual."

<~Wander>	 “...I guess that means I have latent power too?” Mori asks, now standing in front of the altar.
“Is there... anything I can do to help?”

<Reikim>	 "Ah? Um, yeah, I guess. I didn't really sense anything from you, though..."
Dendryll sighs and flops over.
"So much energy gathered here, and I can't even get enough for the trip home! This is why I hate churches. Also, they remind me of something annoying..."
The plant-cat remains on the altar, looking up at the cross.
"Humans have so much potential," they sigh. "They can bring so much power here. Sometimes, I think we should just tell you all about it, and let you work it out yourselves. It would make this job a lot less lonely, at least...
"But we decided a long time ago that you should figure it out for yourselves. So we only tell a few of you - enough to let us keep you safe. Only as many as we need.
"I know what you're thinking, but I don't want to get you involved more than you already are."

<~Wander>	 Mori grimaces at that statement.
“Well then, uh, no offense, but... what's the plan, boss? You're just gonna figure out some way to scrape together a teleportation spell to go back to your home dimension?  You said the last one went off course, so if that doesn't work out, people will get hurt by that monster and you could be stranded *God knows where*.”
She draws up a halfhearted grin.
“TV shows always said that the first girl who comes across a magical spirit partner usually gets get magic powers and a fancy costume.  And if you're worried I can't fight, Dad got me to start taking karate classes back when I was ten.”

<Reikim>	 "Eh? Don't take this lightly!" Dendryll slaps their paw on the altar. Speaking of taking things lightly...
"Even if this *is* an emergency, making a contract is a big deal, you know? We don't just pick up the first person we see! Well, we're not supposed to but...um...uh...
"I'd have to check your potential first!" Nice save. Dendryll stands, proud and certain that they've won now. "There's no going back on a contract, so I'd definitely have to make sure you're strong enough to deal with it."

<~Wander>	 “So how do you check my potential?” Mori asks, clearly intent on the idea.  Her interest in the prospect of magical powers seems to have eclipsed any unease she feels from trespassing in the church.
“You said that there's people that need savin' from some monster, preferably soon, so... if there's nobody else you can reach from here, I'm all you got, right?”

<Reikim> The creature holds out its paw. "Come here and gimme your hand."
...It feels like being shocked.
When Dendryll's paw touches her hand, it sends a shock through her entire body. A tingling feeling, like static shock, or...no, like when your legs have fallen asleep, and you only now realized because they just started waking up.
"Keh." Dendryll closes one eye and scratches their head. "...Fine, let's try it. You have to promise not to be upset, though..."
"W-what the heck?" Dendryll jumps back, taking a cat's fighting pose. "What the heck is this? And..." Eyes dart left and right. "The power here is responding?"

<~Wander>	 Mori jerks back for a moment at the shock, but she draws in a breath and extends her hand again.
“Um, I guess this means I have potential?  W-well, that or I'm being chosen by God, but I'm not Baptist, so that one seems less likely, here...”
She giggles nervously to herself.  She isn't sure what's going on or what's about to happen, but it's exciting.

<Reikim>	 "This could...this could be it!" Dendryll's eyes sparkle. "With this power, we might be able to finally win!"
They look at Mori - and her enthusastic face - and backtrack a little: "B-but, it's really serious, you know? I'm seriously serious here, Mori."
Dendryll pads to the front of the altar and sits there, staring at her. Their eyes sparkle in the light from the full moon, which filters down in slanted pillars from the church's windows.
"If we contract...there's no going back to your normal life after that. Not even if you're scared or anything. We'll make sure you're, you know, you get paid somehow, but in return you can't quit. Even if we erased your mind, fate would just get you involved again. That's the kind of job you'd be signing up for.
"...I'm in a tight spot, so I won't say no, but..." Dendryll puts up a paw. "It's your decision at the end of the day, understand?"

<~Wander>	 As the gravity of volunteering for something like this finally starts setting in, a flicker of hesitation darts across Mori's face.
“No... no going back?” she repeats, taking half a step back. “Does that mean I... I won't ever get to see my family and friends again?”

<Reikim>	 "Well...not at first," says Dendryll. "I mean! You won't have to say goodbye to them yet.
"But as you get older, and the battles get harder... And this is all a secret, so you can't tell *anyone*. Your life will never be the same."
Dendryll scratches themselves behind the ear, and looks away. "I need your help so bad, I...sorta feel like you should know what the deal is. It's going to be hard."

<~Wander>	 That seems to placate Mori's fears.  She straightens up to her full height, still noticeably less than five feet, then grins at Dendryll.
“Oh, you mean like that.  If it's just that, then... then I won't hesitate!  Even if it's not all easy or glamorous, I finally have a chance to do something worthwhile with my life and really make a difference.  Please, let me help.”

<Reikim>	 "Idiot," mutters Dendryll. "I'm the one who should be saying please."
"All right, then." It jumps back in the air and does a flip. Something lands on the altar...
Looking closer, it's a seed. Round, dark brown, about the size of an almond. It doesn't look like anything all that special.
"Swallow this, then the power within you will sprout!"

<~Wander>	 “...Huh, just like that?”
Mori picks up the seed.  She stares at it for a moment, the more grounded part of her mind chiming in with the hope that she doesn't choke without water and it doesn't taste weird or anything like that.
Then she shrugs, pops it into her mouth, and hopes for the best.

<Reikim>	 The first thing she notices is that holy crap, Dendryll was right. This place has so much energy in it! It's like she's opened her eyes for the first time. Or unplugged her ears. Or... it's hard to describe it, other than as a sixth sense.
Then she passes out.
She's in a store.
Wooden shelves all around her carry a chaos of objects. Ordinary things, but...not stuff you'd put together on the shelf. Candles. Shiny bugs. A wand?
She instinctively knows she's here to pick something. Something that resonates with her.

<~Wander>	 Mori spends a few moments glancing around, taking in all the clutter.  There's something here that she needs.  Surely there is.
Maybe she could spend a lot of time meticulously looking over all the items to pick the perfect one... but that isn't what she does.
Instead, she closes her eyes, breathes deep, and trusts her body's instincts on where to go.
She needs something to help her find her way.  Something to keep her spirits up.  Something reassuring.
A few moments later, she's facing one shelf in particular.  When her eyes open again, she's climbed halfway up it, hand outstretched for something near the top shelf.
She smiles as her fingers wrap around the handle of the old flashlight, then hops back down to the floor.

<Reikim>	 As she lands, she catches a glimpse of something at the back of the shop. Something strange-
Then, she's in a cave of crystals.
The only light in the room is her flashlight, but it scatters through the crystals and illuminates the whole place. Surely, if it were any brighter than a flashlight, it would be blinding.
A single, enormous crystal lies in front of her, bigger than any of the others. The front of it has been cut flat and polished down to a mirror sheen...and in fact, it *is* a mirror. But a very special one.
She sees herself, in her ordinary clothes. Not very heroic-looking.
She can do better.

<~Wander>	 Diminutive height, long and somewhat disorderly green hair, green eyes, moderately dark skin, and clad in a blue hoodie, faded jeans, and tennis shoes.
The little teen in the mirror frowns back.
“Yeah, this sure ain't heroic enough,” Mori asserts, contemplating how she ought to look.
As she thinks up a suitably heroic costume, she can see her reflection altering to match.
To her credit, the outfit that takes shape is neither some comical mass of frills, nor is it anything scandalous.
White boots with red buckles.  A soft yellow skirt with red and green trim, over fitted shorts, for practicality's sake.  Yellow for the shirt as well, and a mix of yellow and green for the not-quite jacket over it that extended down in the back to be properly cape-like and flowing.  No need for proper sleeves, just a pair of white arm bracer things.  A big red ribbon tied at the collar, and a pendant with a big green gem at her neck.
Mori makes a thoughtful sound as the outfit coalesces into something that suits her standards, then her hair gains a bit more fluff and develops a sort of gradient, shifting from green at the roots, through yellow, then into red at the tips.
Another moment's study, then two enormous wings sprout from her back.  The wings are covered in something halfway between feathers and leaves, patterned with a similar gradient to her hair.
“I gotta be able to fly, yeah?” she tells herself with a grin. “That's pretty darn important.”
With that, it seems like she's ready.

<Reikim>	 "Heh, you've got a good instinct for this," says Dendryll from behind her.
She turns, and suddenly she's in a forest clearing. Buttery-yellow and blush-red flowers carpet the ground - pansies? - broken only by the treeline, and a ring of six stones around the edge. Dendryll is there, of course. Though...it's a surprise she's sure of that. They're now the size of a big mountain cat, and a little more canine than feline. Dark bark and bright green leaves shift under grey-green fur, and the tail now ends in a large flower-bud.
"...Oh. Right. This is..." They raise a paw and look at it. "...The result of your power, I think. I didn't expect to find something so amazing...
There's a flash from up above. The flashlight pops out of thin air and spins down to the ground; somewhere between one rotation and another, it changes, and suddenly it's something else. Something she can use to fight... Whatever it is, it lands hilt-up, just waiting for her to grab it.
"I guess it goes without saying but we don't have time to train you," says Dendryll. "You'll have to wing it. But with your power... I'm sure it'll be fine. Just believe in yourself. Understand? That's the secret.
"Ready or not, I'm going to teleport us right there the moment you're finished. Be prepared for that."

<~Wander>	 Mori nods a little numbly at Dendryll's instructions, unable to keep from feeling kind of overwhelmed by how she's transformed.
“I feel *incredible*,” she murmurs, fixing her gaze on the weapon before her.
Point-down, the weapon resembles a simple spear of golden light.  As Mori places her hands on it, however, the golden aura retracts upward, flowing like liquid sunlight along her arms before forming into a pair of claw-tipped golden gloves.
Mori blinks in surprise. “*...Huh, claws?*”
She takes a few experimental swipes, then frowns as the claws prove too long to clench a proper fist.
Responding to her will, the golden light melts and reforms to let her properly close her hands.  Another couple moments of focus reverse the change.
“*Gosh, this stuff is really somethin' else!*”
She looks up from her hands toward Dendryll again.
“Okay, I think I-” she shakes her head, then grins confidently. “No, now I *know* I'm ready!”

<Reikim>	 "Un. Yeah, that's the right attitude." Dendryll nods encouragingly.
...But why does she feel like Dendryll doesn't share that feeling?
No, wait, where did that thought *come* from? There's nothing she can see or hear that would give her that feeling...
No time to think about it, though. The creature...no, now it's her *partner*, isn't it? Her partner stands. The wind begins to stir, picking up flower petals and flicking them into the air.
"Ready or not, I guess...here we go-!"
The wind accelerates into a gale, and everything disappears in a flurry of flower petals. She has the distinct feeling of falling...
...And then, she realizes she *is* falling. Backwards, at that.
In front of her is a wall of sullen, gray clouds; when she turns around, she sees gray stone and blue-gray water, patched here and there with bits and pieces of green. Rushing towards her...
There's no time to even scream, no real time to think. Impact-
...
...She's fine. And, somehow, landed mostly on her feet.
How far did she fall? That must've been...at least several stories! Probably...no, definitely even more than that...
Amazing!
Hold on, wait, Dendryll said she was going to fight a monster. The monster could be charging on her right now-!
...Nothing.
She's alone.
...Alone. That's...a good way to describe this place. Alone, and gray. Gray clouds overhead; gray drizzle coming down. Gray rocks, gray-green moss, and blue-gray water beating itself against the rocks over and over and over... Behind her, lonely hills form a semi-circular wall against the rest of the world. There's no sound, except for the waves, and the faint hiss of the drizzle hitting the rocks.
There's something off about this place... But she's got more evidence for that than a feeling.
The rocks are wrong. They've been...carved, or perhaps *formed*, into hexagons, and tiled edge-to-vertex like some kind of strategy game-board, or a really poorly laid patio. She can also see formations, especially towards the coast, built with the same hexagonal blocks; the effect reminds her vaguely of a popular game she once saw. It's surreal.
...And it doesn't match with anything she's ever seen or heard of before. Where *is* this?

<~Wander>	 Mori dusts herself off and looks around at the unfamiliar surroundings.
At a glance, she doesn't feel like there's any immediate danger, but she's still on guard.  Being alone in an unknown place isn't exactly reassuring.
“...Dendryll?” she calls out, unsure where her new partner has gone.  If it isn't here, then she already has a serious problem on her hands.

<Reikim>	 *I'm here, I'm here,* says Dendryll. The voice doesn't seem to be coming from anywhere in particular, though...
*Teleporting us took it out of me, so I'm watching from a safe distance,* Dendryll explains. *Since we're partners now we can keep in touch with telepathy.* ...Hm, yeah, that checks out.

<~Wander>	 Mori lets out a breath, her posture relaxing now that she knows she isn't completely isolated.
“Um, like...” She closes her mouth and focuses. *Like this?*
It's a little forced, but hopefully her thoughts transmit when she wants them to.
*So is this somewhere near the monster?  I don't see anyone at all, just weird terrain.*

<Reikim>	 "Yes, definitely. We know she's around here somewhere... You might have to look for her, though."
...Look for her *where*? Wherever this is, it's the textbook definition of "bleak". She definitely doesn't see any clues anywhere. Then again, it's a really big...valley? Is that the word?

<~Wander> 	Mori sighs at that unhelpful answer.  Still, she does have a job to do, even if it's not going to be as immediately gratifying as saving a stranger from some wildly rampaging monster might have been.  Thinking about that, she feels a little guilty for practically hoping it would be that sort of situation in the first place.
Regardless, she doesn't want to broadcast those thoughts.  For now, it's enough that she has an open area to get used to her wings.  She may as well take advantage of that while searching for a monster or its den.

<Reikim>	 "Don't get cocky," says Dendryll, as if reading her mind. Which...isn't that how telepathy works?
"You can't see her right now, but she's definitely there, and she can definitely see you. If you don't find her first, she'll get the jump on you. Understand?"
...Right, Dendryll was saying this was an emergency. Even if it seems peaceful here...
...Well, no, that's not right. Her new senses - which are still a little...numb is the best word she has - warn her of a tension in this place. She can't see the magic like she could at the moment of the change, but she can currently feel it, sort of. An anxious, unsettled feeling, lurking in the cracks between the rocks...that's the sense she gets. The back of her neck prickles.

<~Wander>	 Mori is quick to go back on guard again when her body raises the alarm, even if she can't see the monster.  Certainly, it's not a perfect method to rely on that sense of foreboding to tell her that she's getting closer, but it's the best she's got as she circles wide and low through the air.
“*Den, I thought you got injured by it.  What does the monster even look like?*” she asks, grasping at straws to find some sort of clue toward what she's hunting.

<Reikim>	 "I barely even saw her. There was a storm here earlier - all I remember is the shadow of a giant."
A giant? How is a giant supposed to sneak up on her?

<~Wander>	 “*A giant,*” Mori repeats aloud, incredulous that such a creature might somehow sneak up on her, let alone pull an ambush on Dendryll, with its *presumably* superior animal senses.
...Well, maybe if it could turn invisible? Or teleport?  Or... no, that line of thinking will just lead to paranoia.
After another gliding loop of her search area, Mori touches down again on whatever high ground she can find.
It seems that the teen's impatience has gotten the better of her, because she promptly cups both hands around her mouth like a megaphone.
“Hey, monster!  We know you're around here!  My partner says you can see me and know I'm here, so can you hurry up and come out?” she calls out.

<Reikim>	 Her cries are swallowed by the ocean.
The ocean...the ocean? Maybe-!
But before she lifts off, the formation below her stirs.
Rocks grind and scrape. The vibration rattles the entire plain - each board-piece shivering independently. She's forced to lift off again, or otherwise be thrown to the ground and tossed around.
The land rises.

<~Wander>	 “Uwaah!?”
It's with an alarmed shout that Mori forces herself airborne again.  She doesn't intend to linger in the immediate danger zone, doing her best to make some distance before turning back to see just how huge the giant must be.

<Reikim>	 Hexagonal rocks fall off the giant's back like barnacles. The sea rushes in to fill the gap it leaves in the coastline.
It has to be...at least five stories tall! Maybe ten! And all made of moving, shifting, grinding stone. It's hard to tell right now, but something about the curves of it says that it's a woman.
A giant stone woman.
A giant, *angry* stone woman, slowly turning towards her...

--(Mid-episode splash art goes here)--

<Reikim> *That's her!* Dendryll tells her. *That's Galatea!*
She has to be at least seven stories tall...maybe as many as ten. There's a great rushing sound as the sea hurries to fill the place she used to take on the coastline, and great waves crash up behind her. The only thing louder is the horrible grinding and rolling of the rock that appears to make up her body.
Despite her name, Galatea is a crude caricature, more golem than human. Only a certain slimness around the waist, and something about the sea-greens that drape over half her head, identifies her as female. The rest of her is carved, or perhaps grafted on, sort of like armor, if you squint.
Her shadow falls over the land as she rises, stretching out across the entire hex-laid plain. The wind picks up, almost imperceptibly; and the clouds begin to move.
...Is...is this...she's supposed to fight this?

<~Wander>	 Mori suddenly feels very small.
...Of course, she already was, but never has she felt that truth so keenly as she does right this moment.
Certainly, the tiny teen is used to fighting people bigger than her, but this size difference is a fair few orders of magnitude more than she could have reasonably expected.
The girl lets out a momentary squeak, then instinctively fans out her wings, trying to climb through the air enough to at least avoid being stepped on or struck by any falling debris.


<Reikim>	 Galatea straightens and begins to turn. Slowly, ponderously...and then, suddenly, all at once! Her arm flings out as she does, in an impossibly fast backhand - impossible in that, that amount of rock shouldn't be moving that fast!

<~Wander>	 During the initial slow windup, Mori recalls that Dendryll told her everything should work out if she believes in herself.
Believing in herself is difficult while staring up at such a massive, hostile stone colossus, but... but Dendryll is counting on her, so she has to have faith that its belief wasn't misplaced, r-right?
She's already almost halfway to convincing herself that this could be more winnable than it looks when the golem's sudden acceleration all but swats her out of the sky.
To Mori's credit, she manages to pull her wings back from the initial impact.  She even meets the backhand feet-first with her knees bent.
Unfortunately, the girl isn't prepared to get hit with the unyielding force of what may as well be a mountainside.
...Nor is she entirely prepared for her claws to dig into the surface of the stony arm as she tries not to get slapped over the horizon.
“*Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!*”
It's not a particularly loud scream, at least when compared to all the wind caused by Galatea displacing so much air.
...Well, maybe it's plenty loud for Dendryll, but the weird cat didn't exactly give Mori the best chance to prepare herself for this, so it's going to have to deal with that.

<Reikim>	 Galatea's swing goes wide, of course, and trails off slowly. Her head grinds back and forth.
*Dodge! You're supposed to dodge stuff like that!* says Dendryll.
Right, right. If she dodged that, she wouldn't have...um...
She's all right.
A little dazed, but all right. She'd be dead if she were a normal person, but...she's not normal anymore, is she? The thought boosts her confidence again; as does the sight of her claws, sunk deep into Galatea's hand like it was made of bread, not rock.

<~Wander>	 “*S-sorry, I-I just reacted!*” Mori calls to Dendryll once the  daze wears off.
The fact that she isn't dead has a few moments to register as something like a pleasant surprise, then she manages to focus on the situation at hand... or rather, focus on the hand that she's currently latched to.
She glances all around in case Galatea decides to try and swat her off like a mosquito.  Figuring she has enough time to strike, she raises one claw overhead, straightens her sharp-ended fingers, and swings downward at the damaged stone with a karate chop.

<Reikim>	 There's a sharp *crack* as her hand hits the stone, then a series of smaller cracks start spreading out like a spiderweb. That gets Galatea to notice - she turns her head slowly, then curls her hand into a fist, and drives it down at the stones below.

<~Wander>	 It's not exactly the counterattack Mori expected, but thankfully it doesn't require a different strategy than she was already mostly prepared for.  She leaps free of the arm before she's caught between a rock and a... bunch more rocks?
By the time she's managed to get her wings out again, she's still closer to the ground than she'd like to be, but... she feels like she learned something from this.
Of course she already realized that her opponent isn't something she can reasonably fight head-on, but knowing that the golem isn't entirely aware of her exact location at all times is certainly reassuring.  And it gives her ideas...
While Mori's wings don't seem to be built for high-speed maneuverability, they're certainly large and strong enough to generate a sizable amount of lift with each beat.
She moves up, behind the golem, trying to take advantage of her opponent's own bulk to block line of sight.  This time, she opts to pick a better target location before committing.
She's certainly not sure whether a body made of stone has any sort of underlying bone-equivalent under the surface, but as she tightens her fists and focuses the light from her claws into hardened gauntlets, she figures that maybe it doesn't matter.  A divebomb straight into the back of one knee should definitely cause some damage, right?  Or at the very least, it should make a dent.

<Reikim>	 Galatea's fist slams into the ground. The stones that make up the plains floor buckle upwards, causing a ripple effect - and all of a sudden Mori knows how this place came to be. That's...a little frightening.
On the other hand... When the hits it, the rock that wraps around the back of the knee makes a high-pitched whining sound, then snaps right in half and begins to crumble.
...Oh wow, she's stronger than she thought.
So strong in fact she ends up bouncing off and ricocheting to the ground below. Control's something she'll have to work on... She goes bouncing off of several hexagonal columns before skidding to a stop, unharmed.
Galatea's knee buckles, but with her fist down already, she has no need to catch herself. Instead she slowly moves her legs apart, causing some small localized whirlpools, and places her off-hand to her head. You couldn't really call the jagged lines of her face an *expression*, but...somehow she looks...confused?

<~Wander>	 The effect of the golem's fist slamming into the ground certainly does an excellent job of selling Mori on the realization that the monster is incredibly dangerous to people.  Sure, she's out here away from civilization right now, but something that huge and that powerful is almost like a natural disaster.
It's a given, then, that she hit the goliath with her full strength.
The extent of that strength is certainly quite a surprise, but at least this surprise is mutual.
That gives Mori plenty of time to get herself upright again.  Immediately, she starts trying to get a good attack angle where she can follow up toward the supporting arm's elbow.
She's grinning, now.  She's never felt this good before in her life!

<Reikim>	 Before she can land anything, the giant sweeps her arm out. It's a wild, but somehow casual maneuver; like she's swatting at a fly. And, perhaps, that's what's happening.
The wind it causes sends Mori tumbling through the air. Galatea grinds her neck to watch her go. She seems to be thinking, now. She catches a glimpse of dim lights, buried far back in the (comparatively) tiny holes that are supposed to be her eyes.
*You're gonna have to pull out something big to faze her,* Den tells her. *Remember, you don't have to worry about aiming!*

<~Wander>	 Mori growls in frustration as she's so lazily blown away.
On one hand, it's probably good for her survival that she's still seen as little more than a pest.
On the other, it's incredibly irritating to be looked down on like this.
“*Like what, Den?  I ain't exactly fighting in my own weightclass, here!*” she whines aloud.
Her first idea is to try and form her shifting light gauntlets into a sort of javelin, but that doesn't make it more than ten feet before it evaporates.  Of course, she doesn't exactly have time to fine-tune that sort of technique right now, so... so much for that idea.
Oh well, if she can't directly form something to throw at the golem, that just means she...
...um...
“*Well, it's an idea,*” she mutters to herself, grabbing hold of one of the larger stone pillars that resulted from Galatea punching the ground and and trying to yank it free.  At minimum, maybe she can throw something heavy as a distraction and then go for the eyes?
 something heavy as a distraction and then go for the eyes?

<Reikim>	 Mori manages to catch one of the smaller tiles as it bounces up, before it goes back down with the rest around it. At first it refuses to just come free...then she remembers her claws. It only takes a few quick swipes to weaken it enough to come free.
This gives her a big, long hunk of stone about the length of a streetlight and almost too wide to get her arms around. *That* should be able to get Galatea's attention.

<~Wander>	 “*Big target.  I can't miss as long as I can make the distance,*” Mori tells herself, trying to believe that her idea will work out.
She wraps her wings around  the stone to help her get a better grip for a moment as she finds a good launch position.  Then, once she's convinced herself that letting the wings bear most of the weight for a moment isn't just going to snap them like twigs, she stretches her wings out along the rock by a few more feet to try and lift somewhere more  toward to the far end, at least enough to angle it up slightly in the general direction of the golem.  This  isn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but she only has to bear with it for a moment.
Mori draws both her hands back, reforms her claws into gauntlets once more, and then slams a fist into the base of the stone pillar as hard as she can.
“**HYAAAAAAAH!**”

<Reikim>	 Mori's makeshift ram goes sailing into the air, right towards Galatea's head. And like Den said, she doesn't have to worry about aiming.
Even though the pillar hits off-center, it still knockes Galatea's head back, with the rest of her following slowly. The pillar snaps, and the pieces go flying into the ocean, kicking up two big waves; not long after, pieces of the golem's skull go in too. There's a long, high groaning sound, and Galatea moves her hand to her head.

<~Wander>	 Mori lets out a whoop of excitement at her success, but the fact that the golem doesn't outright collapse quickly has her closing in to try and take out the supporting arm again.  Even though her opponent is easily the size of a building, the same lessons for trying to disable an attacker still feel like they apply.
Joints are still vulnerable areas and blows to the head still stun and disorient.
That means she still shouldn't let up until her opponent gives up or can no longer attack her, right?

<Reikim>	 Just like with the knee, the rock at the elbow cracks, then crumbles away after she hits it. And when Galatea swings her arm to try and get back at her, the big motion flings off a bit more. Where the rock has fallen away, Mori catches a glimpse of smooth, dark polished rock beneath.
*Nice work!* Den says. *I knew you could do it!*

<~Wander>	 A different kind of rock underneath?  Mori figures that probably signifies that it's something more vital, either structurally or otherwise.
She has to duck back a bit to avoid the counterattack, but maybe if she can just land another hit on the area, she can start dealing some *real* damage.
*Eheh, thanks!  I don't suppose the same trick would work twice?* she asks Dendryll, knees bending as if to jump at Galatea again.
She holds back from actually jumping, though, hoping to bait out another swing so that she can dodge past it to strike at the golem's wound.

<Reikim>	 It works, though...not the way she was expecting.
When she hits the inner stone, she actually bounces off of it; though she ends up taking a little more off from the area around it. Patterns emerge from the dark stone beneath - are those carvings? Yes - the edge of a dark stone bracer.

<~Wander>	 Plinking off the gauntlet comes as quite an unpleasant surprise.
“The heck?” Mori squawks, mostly landing on her feet, then quickly jumping away from the inevitable follow-up attack.
“Is there some giant magic lady *underneath* all this rock?” she grumbles, trying to refocus her targeting toward an area that might have less underlying armor.  Maybe closer to the shoulder will do?

<Reikim>	 Thanks to her attacks, and Galatea's own movements, her outer shell is now starting to come off. Though...it's not quite a *shell*.
It's...it's almost like she's helping to carve. Like how sculptors talk about extracting the sculpture from the marble. This is most clear when, on the way to the shoulder, she gets a good look at Galatea's face now - the parts that she broke off are darker, harder, and most importantly, more detailed, with a very clear eye and the left edge of a mouth poking out.
An big stone eye that moves to track her, swiveling around with a grating noise.
Galatea moves, faster than before - probably the weight that she's lost. She swings right, leaning her head away; which, although that wasn't Mori's target, alters where she hits. More rock disappears into the crashing waves; the outline of a pauldron appears.
Then the giant makes a noise like a small earthquake, and slams a fist into her own chest.

<~Wander>	 Mori lets out a small, worried moan, yet does her best to latch onto the armor rather than bouncing off, this time.  Hopefully she can make it to the head and start punching before her opponent gets too much faster.
“This is supposed to be the first monster, dangit!  Having a second form is *cheating*!” she whines to herself.

<Reikim>	 *What, did you think she would fight fair?* says Den.
Cracks spiderweb out from Galatea's chest, rippling out all across her body; then, as she shakes her shoulders, it all begins to fall off. The sheer noise of it is almost a physical blow.
Underneath is a much more detailed statue of a woman, clad in armor somewhere between Greek and Norse. The joints on this one are much closer and move much more smoothly.
This is what lets her swat Mori right out of the air.
Mori goes crashing into the ground, again. This one actually *hurts*, and also breaks a number of the stone tiles. Not enough to do much more than daze her though, thankfully.
Galatea steps up onto the land, shucking off the stone from her legs as she does. She's a noticeably smaller, now; but, obviously, also a lot more mobile.
She looks down at Mori.
"Why," she groans, "do you keep bothering me?"

<~Wander>	 Mori pulls herself back to her feet, but hesitates when the golem speaks up.
“*...H-huh, you... you can actually talk?*” she murmurs, obviously taken aback by this development.  When she signed on to fight a monster, she obviously didn't think it would be a *person*.

<Reikim>	 Galatea goes to one knee and places a hand on the ground. Tiles suddenly shoot up around Mori with a *bang* - trapping her in a (roofless, but cramped) cage.
"Why can't you just leave me alone?" she whines, in the cadence of a rockslide.
*Don't listen to her!* Den says. *She's dangerous, Mori!*

<~Wander>	 Mori hisses in discomfort when the stone cage rises around her.  Knowing better than to linger there, she digs in her claws and uses them to drag herself upward.  She needs to be out before the prison gets stepped on or anything like that.
“I... I have a job to do!  Y-you're a monster, so... so I'm supposed to defeat you!” She certainly doesn't sound as sure of herself as she did before, but even so, she rises atop one of the pillars, her claws retracting into gauntlets once more as she faces her towering oppnent.

<Reikim>	 Galatea is very still.
"*Look at me,*" she says. "*Do I look like a monster?*"
She straightens.
"*Of course not. I spent...time...so much time! Even with all the...annoyances!*"
*Mori, you can't listen to her! You have to stay moving! Keep her off-balance!*

<~Wander>	 Mori's brain tells her that Dendryll is right.  She's fighting something akin to a walking supernatural disaster.  If she hesitates, she's probably going to pay for it in blood.
Her instincts, too, tell her that monsters are meant to be defeated.  She's not entirely sure where that feeling has surged up from.  Maybe it was there all along?
...And yet, her heart wavers.  Something within tells her that this person... maybe doesn't have to be her enemy?
...Or is that just her own naivete making itself known?
Whatever the case, hesitation is probably dangerous for her.  Taking martial arts taught her that, and this isn't the ideal time to have to relearn that lesson...

<Reikim>	 "*I am*," mumbles Galatea, "*beautiful. That's all I ever wanted. Now...I want...to be left alone!*"
She slams the edge of her hand down next to Mori. At the edge of the field, a set of tiles slams up in reaction, forming a wall. Then she whips her hand out, backhanding Mori away, prison and all. She goes flying into the wall.

<~Wander>	 Mori lets out a pained wheeze as she slams into the wall with a muffled *crunch*.  Her wings absorb a lot of the impact, but that's not exactly a good thing, given how ragged they're looking when she peels off the wall and lands on her knees.
One hand goes to her chest to try and catch her breath, and... then the gem at her collar starts giving off a soft green light that suffuses her body, working its way outward along her wings.  In the process, they become livelier again, more intact.
“*...H-huh.*”
Once she's found her footing again, Mori stares up at the golem with a renewed sense of determination.
“*Hate to break it to you, lady, but from where I'm standing, you ain't exactly a diamond in the rough,*” she says, hoping to goad her opponent into another angry and hopefully well-telegraphed attack.

<Reikim>	 "*If you would just...leave me alone,*" groans Galatea, as she returns to her feet, "*this wouldn't...happen.*"
She summons a blade from the earth.
Though...could one even call it that? It was altogether too big, *way* too big, to be called a blade. It could not ever hold an edge. Yet the slab of rock she pulls, screaming, from the earth, is carved like one.
She whips it around, like a toy, and sends the tip carving through the rock...right at Mori.

<~Wander>	 Mori takes one look at the crude weapon and instantly concludes that she needs to *not* be in its path if she's going to keep fighting, and indeed, living.
It's perhaps ironic, then, that she launches herself *forward* at a slight angle to try and get in closer than the weapon's effective range.  At least there's some proper sense to that idea, unlike her earlier hesitation.  Right now, the safest place to be is probably too close for that sword to bury her.
…Of course, none of this solves the issue where she's not actually sure how to *hurt* Galatea, but hey, one step at a time.

<Reikim>	 Dendryll watches from a distance.
So far, so good. Most people would've passed out already; Mori's evaluation had been correct. Picking her up had been a little against procedure, but it didn't matter as long as there were results.
All that was left was to push her the right way...
*Mori,* the "fairy" asks her. *Why are you still holding back?*

<~Wander>	 *How the heck am I holding back?* Mori replies, jerking to one side to avoid being stomped like a bug and desperately slamming a fist into the golem's ankle.
*It ain't my fault she's so dang tough!*
Despite her complaining, a note of worry has crept into the teen's mental voice.  She knows all too well that she can't keep up this sort of hit-and-run strategy *forever*.

<Reikim>	 *You haven't even used a tenth of your full strength yet,* says Den.
Galatea's ankle plating does crack, at least - it doesn't slough off like the outer shell did, but it's still damage. She makes an annoyed noise and makes another swing with her sword, this time using the flat of the blade.
*I know you haven't gotten used to it yet, but we don't have a choice!*
*Are you...worried about something?*

<~Wander>	 *Of course I am!  Have you SEEN this lady?  She's absolutely- OH CRAP!*
This time, Mori's dodge isn't timed properly to completely escape the width of that sword.
She obviously realizes as much, too, and suddenly finds herself forced to choose between either taking a glancing hit to her wings or bracing for the impact head-on.
...
Mori could probably take the lesser blow and just repair it afterward.
Probably.
But Den says she should stop holding back, and with her life on the line like this, it's no longer an option, anyway.
So in defiance of all good sense, she plants her feet, grits her teeth, and readies her claws to try and stop the sword.

<Reikim>	 Simply physics dictates that she shouldn't be able to stop it. But...those don't seem to apply here.
The wave of dislodged rock washes over her, and her claws sink into the darker, harder stone of the blade. She holds for a bit...skids... Terror starts to curl around her heart when her rational mind catches up and tells her that she's trying to stop a mountain. Her life flashes before her eyes. Family...friends...
...For a brief second, she feels the presence of *something else*.
Power comes flowing out. Claws sprout from her feet, dig in, and refuse to give way. Galatea is thrown off-balance by the sudden resistance.

<~Wander>	 For a few moments, the only sound from Mori is her ragged breathing from the exertion of stopping the sword.
Then she digs in with one foot and presses the other forward.
“**I did not...**”
Her words come out rougher and deeper than they did before.  Almost like something more *primal* has decided to lend her its voice.
“**Come out here...**”
The claws on her hands spread out, trying to find the edges of the blade.
“**Just to die!**”
She lurches against the weapon, as if trying to yank it out of Galatea's grip.

<Reikim>	 Already off-balance, the extra push is enough to knock Galatea fully off-balance. She stumbles and topples forward onto her knees, letting go of her blade as she does. Her hand crashes into the ground; the earth rumbles again.
"*...Stronger. Than the last one,*" she groans.
*That's it!* says Dendryll. *Now, while she's off-balance! Hit her with everything you've got!*

<~Wander>	 Mori releases the weapon at about the same time Galatea does, letting the oversized sword fall to the ground and kick up a cloud of dust.
The teen hunches down for a moment, muscles coiling, then springs upward, launching herself toward her opponent's head.  In the air, she flips a half-circle forward, intent on maximizing the impact with her clawed feet.
The more rational side of Mori's mind is asking what exactly she's doing, right now, but it isn't the part in control.  She doesn't really know where all this power suddenly came from, but she doesn't hate the feeling.

<Reikim>	 Galatea's helm splits. Something blue-green shines from inside.
The giantess roars; the ground shakes. She slams her hands on the ground, and hexagonal spires start to shoot up; some of them are apparently random, just byproducts of her power, but an annoying number are clearly aimed to take Mori out of the sky.

<~Wander>	 Mori's own smaller roar echoes back as she vaults backward again off of the damaged portions of the helm.  Instinct has taken over for her in place of technique, but that fact seems to have discarded all her hesitation as she rises up for another swooping dive at her opponent's head.
The pillars flying at her, however, are somewhat troubling.
Her wings are struck by a pair of pillars, and though she howls as they immediately buckle from the impact, she still lingers in the air for a moment longer.
She has just enough time to kick off from another pillar for one more dive at Galatea.
Her trajectory has more in common with a meteor than a bird, but at the moment, she doesn't seem to mind all that much.

<Reikim>	 This one gets her in the chest. Galatea stumbles back; one foot goes sliding back into the ocean, and kicks up a massive wave.
"*You will...regret this,*" rumbles Galatea.
The wind begins to pick up. The clouds roil. The hazy drizzle starts to thicken.
*That's it, Mori!* says Dendryll. *I knew you had it in you! Now, finish her off, before she can hurt anyone else!*

<~Wander>	 The part of Mori that's still herself dully registers that the light along her clawed feet and hands has gravitated together into a single sharp point over her dominant hand.  She recognizes a distant wrongness in the fact that the claws don't exactly go away when the light leaves them, this time.
...Yet for right now, these things are trifles amid her disorientation.  She really doesn't feel like she's the one in control, somehow.
“*Sorry,*” she mumbles out. “*I don't really know... why we're doin' this?  Please don't... take it personally...*”
Before her mind has a chance to shake off its unpleasant haze, she's already leaping at her foe with all the destructive intent that her body can muster.

<Reikim>	 "*You are making...a mistake...*"
Galatea straightens a little, and repeats:
"*You will...regret this.*"

<~Wander>	 *Stop!*
Despite commanding her body to stop, inertia carries Mori toward Galatea.
*No, this isn't something a hero is supposed to do!*
Just before impact, the spearpoint fades away into motes of light.
It's still not a gentle collision by any means, but it might be worse for Mori, considering how barely a moment ago, she threw herself at her opponent with an almost animalistic killing intent.
She doesn't know where that intent came from, but right now... it's even more frightening than the golem.

<Reikim>	 While Mori is bouncing away across the stones, Den is practically screaming.
*What are you doing?!* says the creature. *You were about to defeat her!*
Galatea is rocked, and her armor cracks, but...in the long run, she's not really injured.
"*Did you run out of strength?*" she muses.
Then, with a groan, she starts to rise again.

<~Wander>	 Mori hisses in pain as she lands on her already injured wings and skids a short ways.  But she doesn't linger in her self-made crater.  Instead, she struggles to her feet, grateful when she realizes that her claws have regressed back to proper human fingers and toes.
“*Sorry Den, but I think I wasn't... I wasn't fighting as a human, there.  If I can't win as myself, then I... then I'm not better than her,*” she mutters under her breath, taking hold of her pendant and concentrating on happy thoughts until that green healing energy starts spreading across her back.
The process makes her a little lightheaded for a moment.
*Tiring.  Why is healing so darn tiring?*
“I know I must just be some pest to you,” she calls to the rising golem, “but I'm Mori Maria Barnett, age seventeen!  I contracted with Dendryll to help defeat you, but even if I've screwed that up a bit so far... what do you say we finish this in one final blow?”

<Reikim>	 Dendryll doesn't respond. Mori feels a faint sense of unease. No, wait, that's...probably just because she's trying to talk with a mountain.
"*I suppose I should...finish you then,*" says Galatea.
She raises her foot and brings it crashing down on Mori.
...Can she...not hear her?
Actually that makes a lot of sense. She can barely hear *Den* over the din of Galatea's movements. Looks like she's going to have to take the initiative.
Speaking of: *Mori... You really aren't human anymore. You're more than that. You're a hero of justice now. And you're the only one who can stop her from hurting anyone else.*

<~Wander>	 “*Oh of course she doesn't even hear me,*” Mori grumbles to herself, diving away from the descending foot.
Dodging the next stomp, she decides she could use a moment to collect herself for an attack.  Pale light forms into a loose orb in her hands, which she then lobs up toward the golem's face.
“*Sun Spark!*” she proclaims, and the orb bursts apart in a flash of white light.
There's a split second where she stands there, dumbfounded that she actually managed to cast a spell, then she's hurtling into the air to deliver something resembling an uppercut.

<Reikim>	 The orb slams into Galatea's chest with a sound like a cannon going off. Galatea stumbles back again; and then further, when Mori's fist hits her in the jaw and snaps her head back. Now she's fully out over the ocean. Spray from the waves mixes with the rain, leaving a salty taste in Mori's mouth.
Den seems to have been right: she *was* holding back, based on the cracks she's now putting into armor that seemed so impenetrable before. Why? It doesn't matter now.
*Now!* Den fairly orders her. *Mori! The finishing blow! End it now!*
Galatea snaps her head back. A crack in the impassive mask, which splits it from chin to temple by way of one eye, sparkles blue-green.

Mori's wings spread wide and she hangs in the air.  Her hands come together over her head, then she lowers them together to point her palms directly at Galatea's face.
“**Stardust Photon!**” she shouts triumphantly, blasting down at the golem with a beam of pale yellow light.
She probably could have gone with any number of finishing moves.  This one just struck her as the most stylish in the moment.

<Reikim>	 Galatea lifts up her arms to try and shield herself.
It doesn't work.
Well, it works for like two seconds at most. Then there's an ear-splitting shrieking noise, and the elbow joints fail. Next to fail her her neck; and then her knees. The armless, headless body wavers a moment, then collapses forwards. The roar of her falling apart goes on for at least a minute.
And then there's just the rain and the wind and the waves.
*...And you didn't need a speech or anything,* Dendryll wonders.

<~Wander>	 Once the body is done collapsing, Mori touches down on a hill and sweeps the hair from her face.
“*I feel like this... like that wasn't...*” she starts, but then shakes her head, halfway dazed by her own success.
Mori feels accomplished to have won, and yet also faintly ill.  It wasn't a human, but... she just ended a life, didn't she?  She *had to*, right?
She shivers a bit in the rain.  Right now, she doesn't want to think about such a heavy topic.
“*Hey Den, can... can we go home, now?*” she asks, her tone a little pleading.

<Reikim>	 *Un. Yeah. You did good, Mo-*
*Crack.*
In the sudden silence after the roar of battle, the comparatively small sound is shocking. Mori whirls around.
It could...just be Galatea's body settling-
*Snap.*
With the head blown right off, she can actually see what's inside now: crystals. Blue-green crystals, huge and beautiful and sparkling, line to inside of Galatea's body. It's like a...what are they called...a geode, she saw one in a museum once. Only...only, they shouldn't be sparkling. Not in this overcast weather.
The cracks on Galatea's shell have started spreading. Bits and pieces of the outer layer have started sloughing off, revealing more of the crystals. And the more of the crystals Mori can see, the more power she can sense leaking from them.
...
Far away, Dendryll closes their eyes, and sighs internally. "It seems I took too long..."

<~Wander>	 “*...W-what?  What is this?*”
Mori takes a nervous step back.  She doesn't know what's going on, but it feels ominous.
“*Den?*” She's prepared to start blasting, but she isn't sure this is the kind of problem that can be solved with lasers.

--(Intermission card goes here)--

<Reikim>	 *Mori. Listen closely.* Den's voice is deadpan and emotionless. *You must hit her again, right now. The entire human race is now counting on you.*
*Something* is stirring in Galatea's shell. Crystals shudder and shift and grow in brilliance.
Something bursts out of her back. In the rain, it's hard to make it out clearly. But it looks like a hand.

<~Wander>	 Mori's eyes widen as the severity of the situation is laid out for her.
This time, she doesn't waste time calling out the name of her spell aloud, yet all the same, her panicky reflexes shoot off a Stardust Photon beam toward the emerging being.
A second shot follows right after.
Then a third.
She's still not sure if that's going to be enough.  She desperately hopes it is.  The alternative is too terrifying to even consider.

<Reikim>	 The first two only succeed in cracking open the shell even further. She can see something moving inside, but she can't make it out through the dust and flying rocks. She doesn't intend to. The third, strongest one goes out...
And is stopped.
Some of the crystals suddenly grow up, forming a wall. They absorb the light and redirect it, splitting it a thousand different ways, into a thousand different beams, which eventually blow out harmlessly over the ocean.
"Enough. I'm awake already."
The crystal wall crumbles, and the light in the shattered crystal shell begins to fade, as Galatea absorbs it back into her own body. Her flesh begins to glow softly as she reabsorbs the light; in the haze thrown up by the rain, she seems to have a kind of aura.
Though she's gone from seven stories tall to a mere seven feet, she seems to loom so much more. Gone is the clunky, doll-likeness of her outer shells. The woman that stands before her now is a creature of living stone - something close to marble, or jade. There are no seams, except those that are artfully placed there to simulate light, ornamental armor; even her chest moves up and town as if she breathed.
The only piece that does not move is her face: an impassive mask, not quite smiling, not quite frowning.
She is beautiful, and terrible, and...incomplete. Rough, broken crystals just from seemingly random parts of her body; a large piece covers almost half her face. She reaches up and touches it.
"...You stupid tart," she says. "Do you know what you've done?"

<~Wander>	 Mori grimaces as she registers her beams failing to deal any effective damage.  She's no longer convinced that her laser beams are even useful against something made of crystals, but then... are her claws really going to fare any better against this?
...No, don't think that way!  Surely this is just like the initial failures to pierce that black stone armor, right?
...Only, this time, she's *positive* she didn't hold back.
“W-well, hopefully, what I've done is... is interrupted that fancy metamorphosis before you got to your full strength!” she answers, clenching her shaking hands and taking a fighting stance.

<Reikim>	 Galatea feels her jaw.
"You interrupted my beauty sleep," she says. Her accent is vaguely Irish; and there's an odd, soft chiming sound that seems to lurk behind it. It's oddly soothing.
"Now I'll have to start all over." She steps forward.
"But I'm going to kill you first."

<~Wander>	 Mori bares her teeth like a cornered animal.  She certainly feels like one.
“Well, I'm sorry to have ruined your thousand-year slumber, then,” she starts, taking half a step back. “But you see, the thing about killing me is, you kin-” she abruptly lunges at Galatea with claws outstretched.
It's certainly a desperate ploy, but what other options does she even have, here?

<Reikim>	 Galatea takes one quick step forward and puts her arm out. Mori's face smashes into her hand.
While she's seeing stars, Galatea flicks her other hand and summons up a pillar of stone. She inspects it closely.
"Only three months, seems," she says. "Bloody hell, you couldn't even leave me alone a year?"
She raises Mori a little further off the ground and looks up at her. At least, so she must assume. Those eyes never move.
"That's all I wanted, you know. Just. To be left. Alone."
She lets go of Mori and, in the same motion, spins and kicks her. She feels something *crack* before she goes flying.
*Galatea's specialty is close range combat,* says Dendryll, still eerily calm. *And she tends to be very direct. Circle her and stay out of her reach.*
"Who put you up to this, anyway?" asks Galatea, advancing on Mori. "Was it that little piece of shit Dendryll? I think I can feel him."

<~Wander>	 Mori lands roughly, rolling head over heels a few times before she manages to dig a fist into the ground to arrest her motion.
Her vision is a little blurry.  She can taste blood.  It hurts to breathe.
Her other hand goes to the pendant, and with a surge of happy thoughts, those urgent problems become less overwhelming, though they don't completely fade.
The more general issue of survival, on the other hand, continues to loom ever stronger.
“*Th-that's... right,*” she manages to answer, spitting a bit of red to the side as she rises to her feet again.
She has to stay calm.  Stay calm and listen to Dendryll's advice.  She has to.
Not wanting to get grabbed again, she leaps upward in flight, then trains her unsteady hands on Galatea's position so she can start raining down light blasts.

<Reikim>	 Galatea suddenly lunges forward. Her left foot goes out, and slams down on one of the tiles; at the same time that her right hand reaches down, and sinks into another.
The pillar beneath suddenly shoots up, and she shoots up with it, right to Mori's level. As she does, she rips out a long, hexagonal chunk of rock from the floor.
"So what did he promise you?" she asks, as if she were asking over tea; before spinning around and slamming the rock down on Mori.

<~Wander>	 Mori at least manages to put her hands between herself and the rock, but the impact still sends her hurtling to the ground with a yelp.
Her wings cushion her from the worst of the crash, but that's about the only positive.  Flying is only going to get more difficult, now.
As soon as she's on her feet again, she starts trying to distance herself at ground level.
She knows it's futile, but she still has to *try*.
Somehow, she manages to spare enough breath to answer the question.  Maybe she's hoping it will help stall for time so she can come up with some sort of trump card.  Or at least it might let her gain enough distance to fix her wings again.
“He needed someone's help,” she answers, “and I *offered* mine!”

<Reikim>	 Galatea lands lightly, then sprints after her. With every step, a piece of the ground spikes up under her foot, propelling her forward; from afar, it looks almost as if she's flying herself. When Mori strafes away, she merely tilts the angle of her little on-demand rode, so she swings around like a marble in a bowl.
"You really are a stupid little girl," she says. "Tell Den I'm going to kill him *slowly* for what he's done to you."
*Watch the ground. Her powers are still tied to the earth. Any long-range attacks will come from there.*
As he says that, several of the six-sided tiles shoot up, angled to cut off Mori or just ram right into her.

<~Wander>	 Mori doesn't relay Galatea's threat *intentionally*, but the ominous statement echoes in her mind as she keeps running.
Between that, the communication from Den, and the overall terror of being pursued, it's a wonder that she even has the presence of mind to respond to the onrushing hexes.  She certainly couldn't do all those things and still reply.
But somehow, the teen manages to time a leap well enough to hit one of the rising pillars feet-first, kick backward off it, and wrap her wings around herself for at least the slightest measure of protection as she tries to slip past above Galatea's head.

<Reikim> Galatea skids to a stop and puts both hands on the ground.
"Not bad," she acknowledges.
She pushes down. The earth ripples out.
"Are you here, Den?" she yells. "Or did you leave her to die already? Like you did to me?"
Columns begin to spring up around Mori, as fast as she runs. Soon she finds herself running in a ravine, one which grows as she moves forward and shrinks as she goes backwards.
She's being corralled.

<~Wander>	 Mori quickly grasps that she's being penned in.
She obviously isn't going to win in close quarters like this.
She hates that she can see her doom approaching, yet feels almost powerless to actually stop it.
“*I don't understand,*” she murmurs, facing toward Galatea for a moment.
Then she pivots and slams a fist into one of the encroaching walls with all her might.
During the earlier stages of the battle, Mori cut and punched through plenty of stone.  Surely this time shouldn't be any different, right?
Or so she hopes.
It's not really a proper plan, just one more desperate attempt to create an opening where she can gain some distance.

<Reikim>	 Not a moment too soon. A second after she creates a space, a giant cube of stone slams down into the ravine.
On top of it, Galatea leans to the left to look down.
"This is so much easier now," she remarks, wiggling her fingers. "This body is beautiful. *So* much better than the ugly thing Dendryll made of me. I can be so much more *delicate* now."
*You need to fight back, Mori.*
Galatea taps a finger against her chin. "How should I test this...oh, I know."
She puts her hands together.
Something pops out of the ground ahead of Mori. She swerves to avoid it... Only, it stretches out an arm and clotheslines her as she passes.
*Get to the sky. You'll have the advantage there.*

<~Wander>	 Mori hits the ground with a pained gasp, once again landing uncomfortably on her wings, then hurriedly rolling out from under *whatever* just hit her.  She's fully expecting some kind of followup attack that would crater her into the dirt.
Biting back a hiss of pain, she forces herself upright with an aching flex of her wings to look at whatever she just collided with.... and spares a glance back at the figure of Galatea, hopefully still on the cube rather than closing in to dropkick her or something equally unpleasant.
At the moment, Mori doesn't have the focus to spare on arguing with Den over whether she can even manage to get airborne again without being swatted out of the air like a bug.
Right now, her brain is working in overdrive to figure out how to actually get out of this situation with her life intact.
Galatea is demonstrably faster than her, obviously much more experienced, and clearly at her strongest up close.  She's essentially well-rested and unharmed. According to Den, the golem is reliant on the ground to launch all those attacks that change the terrain.  More concerningly, Mori strongly suspects that Galatea is *toying* with her.
By comparison, the magical girl herself can presently cast magical flashbangs, shoot lasers, possibly unleash that same vicious force that briefly overtook her earlier, and maybe even heal herself if she's fortunate enough to get a breather.  Despite these abilities, she definitely considers herself to be at her strongest up close, though obviously still no match for Galatea in a straight fight.  Her one advantage is her wings, if only she could just *get off the dang ground*!

<Reikim	 The thing that clotheslined her is a clone of Galatea - created out of the same dark, volcanic rock that the plain is made out of. And, indeed, it does go for a follow-up. It punches the ground where she just was, and does in fact crater the plain's floor - though it looks odd, since the tiles themselves don't break. The shockwave ripples out, tile after tile.
"Yes, I've always wanted to do that. Now I don't even have to get my own hands dirty. Sound familiar, Den?"
...She *is* toying with her.
Mori's heart falls. The realization makes her feel...so...*weak*.
"...You just couldn't leave well enough alone," says Galatea. "All I wanted was to be left alone. But just like always, you kept coming. Like flies! So annoying. The price of being beautiful. But it really pisses me off, you know?"
She looks up at the sky.
"...Yes, I think I can do it now. I'll destroy all of it. That will make it easier to make it beautiful again."

<~Wander>	 Sensing a narrow opportunity, Mori tries to ride the ripple to its highest point, then leaps upward and opens her wings.
She knows her chances at winning here are slim-to-none.  She certainly can't take expect to take another punch from Galatea and still keep fighting.
...Of course, if this madwoman *destroys the world*, it won't really matter anymore, will it?
So she starts firing beams again.
She knows it probably won't help.
She knows it's probably idiotic to do this before she's high enough off the ground to be out Galatea's effective range, assuming she could even *reach* such a distance.
But she still has to *try*.

<Reikim>	 Galatea may be resistant to her beams, but the clone isn't. It staggers when hit; follow-ups break off its head, then its arms, and finally scatter it, like a broken doll. Which, it more or less is.
*Keep your distance. Wear her down. Make her expend energy trying to get you.*
Galatea tracks Mori as she goes up again.
"Annoying little bint's stalling again. I have a lot to do, you know?"
Then, she spreads her legs, and holds her arms out, palms forward. The ground begins to rumble. The tiles separate. And then...she slams her hands together.
There's a titanic *boom*. Dirt and rock dust explodes out, quickly overtaking Mori; she's forced to shut her eyes, and even when she blinks them back open, it's like being trapped in fog.
*Don't let her get to you. Trust your senses. You should be able to feel her.*
A shadow rises up quickly to her left.

<~Wander>	 Mori lets her instincts guide her as she lurches away from the rising shadow.  She can't rely on her eyes, but tries to keep her other senses open as she redirects her fire toward the approaching threat.
Duck the swing and shoot back.  Draw one wing close to help dip below a grab.  Try to aim where the leg joints probably are.   The most important part of a stance is footwork, so messing up the enemy's leg would help throw off some of the attacks.
Mori can't linger forever in the dust cloud, though.  She needs to be able to draw a clean breath again.
When she tries to get out, she switches from beams to a booming Sun Spark, hoping the sudden change can gain her some distance.
Not wanting to get caught by surprise again, she immediately starts readying another spark in her other hand, in case she needs to intercept another swing.

<Reikim>	 While Galatea's clones keep Mori busy, the real thing summons a column of stone from the earth.
She considers it for a second, then touches it with her finger. Pieces of it immediately crumble off and fall away, leaving a heavy stone rod, carved 'round with a spiral pattern. Galatea hefts it.
"Let me show you how you *really* do this trick," she says.
She tosses the rod spinning into the air, and draws her fist back. As it comes down, she gathers her strength, and *slams* her fist into the end of it. A split-second later, the ground under her feet lurches and shoots her across the ground.
*Move.*
...But it's too fast.
Mori's managing to hold off the clones so far. Her confidence has been rising; the flame in her heart has been slowly rekindling. She starts to think, *Maybe I can do this.*
But while she can sense the clones' magic, she can't feel *anything* from the rod. She hears it coming, but she has no idea where it's coming from. And in the end...she's still not used to her wings.
...
Dendryll closes his eyes.
No miracles this time.
...
The pain is enormous. She doesn't even realize she's falling out of the sky for a second. Then Galatea catches her, wraps the broken wing in a hold, and *twists*; and for a white-hot second she's back in the clearing, with all of the flowers.
Clouds cover the sky. The flowers are limp and wilted. And something dark stalks the edge of the clearing.
Then she's back in reality, her cheek against the cold, wet stone; water pouring down from her bangs into her mouth, mixing with an iron taste. Galatea drags her up by the back of her collar.
"Did I tell you that you'd regret this?" she wonders. "That seems like something I'd say."

<~Wander>	 Mori is barely able to respond through the pain, only managing a series of wet coughs and a weak nod.
She shouldn't even be conscious at this point.  Her body certainly doesn't *want* to be.
...Maybe being sturdier than a normal person isn't always a positive.
It's agonizing to move, yet still she tries to reach for the gem hanging at her neck.  She's still dully aware that it's supposed to make the hurting stop.

<Reikim>	 Galatea tosses her away.
"If it makes you feel better, that little shit Dendryll's gonna hurt a *lot* more by the time I'm through with him." She turns away and raises her hands.
The shattered pieces of her shell quiver, then rise, and start to come together. The stone melts and merges; becoming something...massive.
"I don't *hate* you, you know. Not personally, anyway. I wanted to make this quick. But I couldn't have you flying out of the way."

<~Wander>	 Mori can't tell whether she blacked out again from landing on whatever might be left of her wings.
She doesn't manage to prop herself back up.
...Is this really how it all ends for her?
“*I d-don't... want to die,*” she coughs out, trying to curl herself around the necklace.  Happy, healing thoughts are no longer coming easily. “*Den... s-someone... help...*”

<Reikim>	 Dendryll doesn't respond. And...she can't...she can't explain it, but she can't *feel* him anymore either.
He's *gone*.
She's alone, and she's going to die.
It makes her angry.
She feels, dimly, like she should be afraid. No, she *is* afraid, deep in her heart. But it's mixing...with...something else. Something that amplifies certain thoughts.
*Fuck this*, she thinks. The thought slips into her mind without asking for permission. *Fuck Galatea. And fuck Den.*
Darkness creeps around the edge of her vision. Is she passing out? No...
Galatea's head snaps around.
"Oops. Suppose I'd better hurry up." She looks up at her creation. "But I mustn't sacrifice quality."
It's a fist. A giant...no, a colossal fist, made of rock. A fist as big as her first form was.

<~Wander>	 If Mori was stronger, more experienced, or more used to hardship, maybe this wouldn't be happening.
It *shouldn't* be.
Magical girls are supposed to *win*, damn it!
This is too cruel!  Too pointless and unfair!
Mori hates everything about her situation.  Hates the ones responsible.
But hate alone isn't enough to get her back on her own two feet again, is it?
...Then  how is she able to...?
Oh.  This must be that animalistic fury surging forth again.
She's losing sight of her surroundings now, but... maybe that's fine?
Yes, whatever she does next will be all instinct, won't it?  That's what she's chosen to believe, even if she knows it might be a lie.
She has to rely on that instinct to help her survive... or at least to repay Galatea in kind.
...But even that still isn't likely to work out, is it?

<Reikim>	 It's a sick feeling.
She flashes in and out of the clearing. Something stalks her from the trees. She can tell now that it's humanoid. About the same size and height as her.
She hates, and she hates the feeling of hating, and it all swirls and swells until it feels like she's going to burst. She might be crying; it's hard to tell, with the rain. But she can feel her teeth, ground together so hard she thinks she might feel them cracking.
Galatea turns and regards her with that empty, soulless, stupid mask. She raises her hand and slashes it through the air. The fist grinds up, then begins to come down, seeming slow only because of its size; or maybe that's just the adrenaline, as everything suddenly becomes absolutely, crystal clear. And Mori knows that unless there's a miracle, she's going to die.
But it's not going to come from somewhere else. Despair and hatred wage war in her heart. She feels suddenly that she is on a razor-thin line, and there is nothing good on either side, but there's nowhere left to run; she sees her shadow stretch out in front of her...
...Wait.
That's not a hallucination.
Sunlight explodes from behind her as something pierces through the clouds. She sees shining armor and white-and-gold skirts, and a sword...no. It's too big to be properly called a sword. And that's not how she uses it, either.
The other girl hits the ground hard enough to break the tiles. She does a swinging step forward, bringing her weapon around flat-first. One hand on the hilt, one behind it, with a yell she slams it into the oncoming attack.
Light explodes around her. And she holds.
The ground beneath her cracks and begins to cave in under the force of it. Mori feels shards of stone fly by so fast they leave cuts on her skin. The girl slides back a bit, then, with another yell, plants her feet and pushes back. Her sword shakes; her arms shake; her legs shake. But she holds, and *somehow*, slowly, inexorably, shoves the attack off-course.
...In the shocked silence after, there's no sound except the girl's ragged breathing. Then she raises a hand, brushes back jet-black hair, and puts a hand to her ear.
"Interception successful," she says, in a deadpan, almost emotionless voice. "ETA on reinforcements?"

<~Wander>	 At the moment of the deflection, in the explosion of light and sound, Mori isn't quite sure whether she's alive or dead.
Only a few seconds later, after the multitude of fresh lacerations have added to the other injuries that she *really* wishes she couldn't still feel, does she properly register that the answer must be the former.
It doesn't make sense.
She was *sure* she was going to die just now.
*So sure.*
...Is this what a hero's last-second rescue feels like?
Mori's unsteady legs give out underneath her once more and she crumples into something approximating a sitting position.
“*S-someone... r-really came?*” she murmurs out.
Everything hurts.
She's exhausted.
And she can still feel something *wrong* applying that dark, heavy pressure at the back of her mind.
...But she's *alive*.
She's alive and she doesn't have to fight this unbeatable monster alone anymore!

<Reikim>	 Her knight-in-shining-armor looks back at her.
"One casualty," she adds to her report. "Requesting medical support."
Galatea is very, very still. Then she takes a small step to the side. Then another.
"What. Are. You," she says.
Her mask is completely expressionless, as usual, but her body language reeks of hostility. Mori suddenly realizes that, despite the pain, her thoughts are completely clear; instead, she can feel that dark feeling - the one that was suffocating her thoughts - pouring from Galatea. All of it aimed at this newcomer.
The new girl remains still and silent, only turning her head to track Galatea.
"*What. ARE. YOU,*" the woman demands, punctuated by the screeching of rocks vibrating against each other.
No response. No reaction.
Galatea points at Mori. "Answer me *now*, or I kill the girl!"
...She moves so *fast*.
Her sword slams into Galatea's waiting hand; her fist, however, slams into Galatea's gut. There's a whispered word, and a blast of light, and Galatea staggers. She steps back a bit, twists the other way, and brings her sword around 360 degrees and sends Galatea flying across the field. The monster lets out a shriek of pure rage that puts icy needles into Mori's gut.
"Five minutes," says the dark-haired girl, in Mori's direction. Then off she goes.

<~Wander>	 With the dark pressure now directed at someone else, Mori finds it a little easier to think.
Mori thinks her savior definitely has the battle handled without any assistance... not that she could provide any with her injuries as bad as they are.
Right now, she can barely even make her vision focus on watching the fight as it shoots off into the distance.
...Then what *can* she do?
Her rescuer called for medial support, so Mori should probably wait for that, but... maybe she can at least manage a little first-aid on herself in the meantime?  Yeah, that's at least something.
Thus, she does her best to assess her own injuries, despite the pain.
Mori can't really feel her own pulse right now, but then, she can't really feel her fingers either, so that doesn't tell her much.
Various shrapnel cuts, what feels like at least a couple cracked ribs, and probably a sprained ankle?  None of that is really her most *immediate* concern.
The *real* worry is the twisted mess that used to be her right wing.
Between that and the rain, her back is all wet.
She isn't sure how much blood a person can lose before it becomes a problem, but she's definitely feeling cold and dizzy.
That's... probably pretty bad, right?
Either way, it hurts too much to ignore, so Mori grips her pendant and tries to think positive, healing thoughts.  Now that she isn't being overwhelmed by rage and despair, it's at least working better.

<Reikim>	 Blessedly, she's left alone...though, it seems, there's more to that than just luck. Whatever the knight is - and, she's coming to realize, it's not something at all like her - it draws Galatea's hatred just by *existing*, like some sort of cosmic lightning rod. Mori has been forgotten.
"*WHAT ARE YOU?*" Galatea demands, again and again. Dark veins start to work their way through her perfect skin, giving her even more savage power. "*STOP GETTING IN MY WAY!*"
When her strikes connect, the entire valley booms. The ground cracks and caves. Huge columns are used like weapons. The shape of the coast is redrawn repeatedly. But the knight bears it all, using her sword as a shield as much as she uses it as a weapon. She refuses to yield.
And yet...
After a particularly brutal exchange, Galatea staggers to her feet, and touches her mask. It's still unbroken and uncracked. She runs her hands over the rest of her body next; the same story, as smooth and perfect as ever. She poses like a Greek statue.
"You can't kill me," she notes. And then she raises her chin and laughs.
The knight raises her guard and tightens her stance. It's obvious that Galatea is right.
"Clever girl. You've been keeping me on the defensive. You're stalling." She raises her hands to the rain. "But I don't have to be careful with you. I can focus everything I have to *crush you*."
She drives her sword into the ground, and slowly pulls it back out. When it comes back out, the obsidian core has been covered in crystals - the same blue-green ones from her shell - forged into a blade to match her opponent's. It glows ominously; dark currents snake through the mana.
"You're going to suffer," says Galatea. "I'm going to make you *scream*. Because I've figured out your weakness."
The knight's eyes widen. She drops her guard and goes into a full sprint.
She arrives just in time to stop the colossal pillar of rock about to fall on Mori, swung by one of Galatea's clones. But it takes both of her hands; and while she's occupied, Galatea darts in and rams her new sword right into the girl's gut.
Some of the blood splashes on Mori's face. The girl's arms sag; she manages just enough strength to finish pushing it out of the way. Her sword clatters to the ground.
"There we go," breathes Galatea. "Good riddance to bad rubbish. Well...in a few hours. When the crystals finish growing out of you. And in the meantime..." Her masked gaze falls on Mori.
...But just as she's about to let go of the sword, one of the girl's hands shoots out and grabs Galatea's arm in what can only be called a death grip.
"No," she says, quietly. "Not until I die."
A warm, reassuring light radiates from her. Her other arm grabs the crystal sword, and channels that light into it; the darkness is burned right out. Mori suddenly becomes deeply, completely certain that this girl *will* protect her. And then she steps forward, jumps, and slams her forehead into Galatea's.
There's a *crack*. She staggers back, howling. One hand covers her face; the other reaches out and goes for the knight's neck.
Then, just to make the day stranger, a *motorcycle* runs over Galatea.
Though, on closer inspection, there's no way it's really a motorcycle. It's flying, for one thing; and trailing fire. A redhead in fantastic hunting leathers hops off, pulls a spear off her back, and throws it at Galatea; it sinks deep into her gut and carries her, screaming *again*, back into the ocean.
"Cavalry's here," she says with a grin. "Let's...um..." Her eyes take in the sword in the knight's gut. "...I'll handle her for a while."
While she lopes off, *another* new girl slides off the weird magical bike - this one dressed in what looks like a white-and-gold *school uniform*, and wearing something like headphones that wraps around the back of her head, over her *very* purple hair. She takes a look at Mori, then at the knight, and starts to move towards the knight.
The knight glares at her, then *pulls* the sword out of her stomach. It looks *horribly* painful. And yet...when it's out, Mori catches a glimpse of her skin underneath, and can't see anything approaching a wound. The schoolgirl sighs, rubs her temples, and hurries over to Mori.
She immediately falls to her knees and puts her fingers on Mori's head. She closes her eyes; Mori feels *something* rippling through her. "She'll be fine with treatment," the girl declares. "But I have to seal her mind right now. It'll take a while."
"I'll be fine," says the knight.
"Of course you will," the schoolgirl mutters, with a touch of sarcasm.

<~Wander>	 Mori is jolted from her healing trance when the blood hits her.
She gasps at the sight of her savior being run through with a sword, then for a moment, the look she gives Galatea is halfway between terror and cold fury.
Thankfully, between the feeling of protection and the next rescuer's timely interruption, the teen has no time to do anything suicidally reckless.
...And then one of the magical girls is touching Mori's head.
“S-seal my mind?” Mori parrots back, utterly confounded by this ongoing chain of events. “W-what?  Who even...? I don't...”
If not for the feeling that's telling her she's going to be protected, she'd definitely be trying to push the girl away from messing with her head.  As is, she's still reeling with internal panic.

<Reikim>	 "Hush now. You've been through a lot today." The strange girl smooths her hair and smiles warmly. "We'll take care of it from here." She turns to the knight. "I'll need a barrier-"
The knight is already ramming her sword into the stones. She puts both hands on it, and light pours into it, and down into the earth. A circle expands around them; a translucent white barrier forms in a dome. She lets go; then hesitates; then picks up the one Galatea left behind. She hefts it a bit, then puts it over her shoulder.
"Hold on! You still need treatment-!" But before the schoolgirl can finish, the knight has run off. She grumbles something, then turns her attention back to Mori.
"I can't do as much for your body as some others," she says, with a tone of heartfelt apology. "But I'll do my best, and I can keep your mind shielded. I'm going to need to check your memories too."
Her hands glow. A soothing feeling envelopes Mori: a sense of well-being, a sense that everything will be *all right*. Her body reacts appropriately, accelerating its own healing processes. At the same time, she can feel the girl going through her mind; it's a feeling like taking a shower after a long, hard day. Cleansing. Purifying. The last traces of the darkness are rooted out and scrubbed away.
And...and something else. She feels a vague sense of remorse, before some *other* connection is shut off.
Outside, the wind picks up; the clouds gather again. Lightning strikes. "Dual-aspect?!" someone yells. She catches a glimpse of Galatea; her skin has been broken by more crystals, and electricity surges through them. Lightning strikes her again, and she absorbs it.

<~Wander>	 Mori is too tired to voice her questions again, let alone argue with someone that's reassuring her like this.
Later, she'll probably feel like having her mind examined was a little invasive, but right now, it's soothing to her frayed nerves.
Some of the healing taking place must be natural, but the fact that it's easier to form happy thoughts inside of the barrier also makes it easier for Mori to add her own healing magic into the mix.  The cuts have at least scabbed over and her wing is properly wing-shaped again.
She's still exhausted, of course, but no longer quite so stressed out and dizzy.
“Is everything... gonna go okay for them, out there?” she asks, once she's in a state to actually talk again.
She doesn't try to move, knowing she's safe inside the barrier.  After everything that's happened, it's *incredibly nice* to feel safe again.
These people are nice, too, so she's sure she can trust them.

<Reikim>	 "Oh, they'll *live*," says the girl, with a playful smile. "We've got quite a few more of these to go before the day is up.
"Go ahead and rest. You've earned it."
...There *might* be a bit of a telepathic suggestion behind that, but...she really *has* earned it, in blood and tears. The suggestion probably wasn't necessary.
As she slips away, the last thing she sees is the sky opening up, and arrows of light raining down. *Angels*, she thinks.