Vitalizers - Prologue

[Made another set of OCs in the same setting as my other main ones Hikari and company, though a different part of the world. Did their intro story as a patron thing for Dakra.]

- - - - - 

Magical Girls face down swarm of drones in city center! Traffic delays to follow. -New Union One

Team Crystal shuts down doll-villainess in historic toystore! To attend reopening in one week. -Rainbow Business Report

Sweet Heart officially reported missing, sightings of candied villainess related? And more conspiracies. -MagiGal Watch

Fashionista Fatale defeated by Rangers, how to steal her look. -Rogue Angel Fashion

- - - - -

The young woman scrolled through news article after blog post after tabloid. These days, just about any news article was about magical girls or villains - it was hard to get around them in a city like New Union, with this many magical issues.

Thankfully, Hina Rowen didn’t mind that - she was a massive fan of Magical Girls. She liked watching them fight in internet videos, she enjoyed the few times she’d seen a fight break out in person, she liked the aesthetics of many of them… for a Magical Girl nut, there were few better cities than this one, where basically every day there was some new villain plotting to take over the city and a team of Magical Girls sent out to stop them.

This most recent news story described a trio of Magical Girls battling with a small team of cyberpunk-ish villains; the chief and one of their lackeys had escaped, but only by sacrificing the second lieutenant and a bunch of their mask-wearing techno-drones. It was a cool fight - blasts of magic, power of friendship, all that good stuff.

Hina sighed happily and closed the video, checking her texts. There was one from her friend Alex - he was asking if she still wanted to come to a friend meet-up. They’d had to delay after some work things came up for him and the other two.

She replied with a yes as fast as she could. That was a relief - it had been far too long. Had she already missed the chance…? She fidgeted in place, finger twirling in her black ponytail as she waited impatiently. Her phone buzzed as another text came through, asking where she wanted to meet up, and she shot back ‘wherever you want’. Had that been a bit too fast? Did she look a bit desperate?

The meeting location was going to be at a cafe not too far from Hina’s own house. The young woman hopped to her feet and paused at the door, feeling like she was forgetting something… no, not the backpack, graduated last year… nah, it was fine.

Hina was the first to arrive, a good several minutes early since she’d left immediately after receiving the text. She went back to scrolling through her phone, but she’d barely started when the first friend arrived.

“Over here, Maya! You’re early!” Hina called over to her friend. Maya was a taller woman, with reddish-brown hair tied in a bun and glasses, who dressed formally out of habit. Maya smiled softly and raised a finger in a ‘one minute’ gesture, making an order at the counter before going to sit with Hina.

“And you’re earlier.” she replied, taking her seat. “Though, I suppose that’s natural given how close you live.”

“Hehe, I guess so.” Hina replied. “So, how’ve you been? We don’t talk enough.”

“Exhausted. Work is tiring, but rewarding. The classes have been fairly easy so far, but they are introductory after all.” Maya said, adjusting her glasses a bit. “And you?”

“Ah, well…” Hina started, feeling a bit awkward, but then another person arrived. A young man with shoulder-length black hair and wearing baggy clothes. He came over and sat himself down, and Hina greeted them. “Hey, Alex! How’ve you been?”

“Huh? Oh, pretty good.” Alex said. “What’s up with you?”

Oh, he was avoiding the question. Hina would not allow that. And also maybe avoid her own. “Not much besides working on college stuff. But I was asking for a real answer… how’s the new job?”

“O-Oh… it’s pretty good, honestly…” He said with a little smile.

“I think it’s better than pretty good~ It’s nice to work together!” said a new voice. Another young woman had approached the table and come up behind Alex to hug them, grinning at Hina. “Hina! Too long, too long! How’ve you been doing? Sorry we haven’t been talking much lately, work’s been really hectic since we all started! Especially for these two dorks who decided to double up with college classes on top of the job!”

“Celica, good to see you too!” Hina said, stifling a laugh at the energetic girl, “It’s fine really, I understand being busy! Don’t worry about me.”

Recently - a bit before Alex and Maya had graduated - the three of them had begun to work at some company or other together. They claimed non-disclosure agreements for why they couldn’t really tell Hina anything about the new jobs, and that was fair - if vulnerable to teasing about working for a cartel or a super spy agency - but it didn’t make Hina feel less like a third wheel in the group since she was the only one who didn’t work there.

“So… how’s the secret job been going?” Hina asked, “I get it, non-disclosures and all so you can’t tell me details, but you can’t blame a girl for being curious.”

“All we can really say is that it pays well and has good benefits.” Maya said, pointedly looking at her coworkers. “Really, that’s about it.”

As the group talked, a new group arrived in the cafe - a rowdy trio of punks in neon-blues and blacks waltzing in like they owned the place and making rude demands of cashiers. In a city like this one, that wasn’t so odd - every city had its jerks and this one had a bit of a reputation for weirdos even before the magic started showing up. Natives tended to filter out anything not directly influencing them.

A trio of phones rang at once. Hina’s friends all looked to their phones and grimaced, looking at each other and then at her.

“I’m sorry, need to take this-”

“Whoops, duty calls-”

“Be right back, sorry-”

“Guys, don’t worry about it.” Hina waved them off. “Take your work call. It’s fine.”

The trio retreated just outside, leaving Hina alone. She sighed, leaning back in her chair. There they were with lives and real jobs and she was sitting around doing… what?

As she waited for them to come back, the problem that had been brewing since the punks arrived was now boiling over. She felt a presence behind her and turned around, looking at one of the punks. They were in ratty black-and-blue clothes with a gas-mask covering the lower part of their face, and hair dyed as neon-blue as their clothes had been. “Can I help you?” she asked.

It was hard to read the punk’s expression behind the mask’s vicious painted-on grin, but her eyes gave Hina the impression she wore an expression to match. There was something weird about them. “No, but I can help you stop being a boring bitch!” she laughed, holding out another mask.

It was then that Hina clocked that there were no longer three punks but six, and the other patrons were no longer visible. “...Oh.”

Hina let out a startled ‘Mmmph!’ as the punk forced the mask on her face. She tried to hold her breath, not sure what the machine would do, but she was eventually forced to let go. She breathed in a sweet smelling and tasting gas, pumped in through the mask. She coughed and sputtered, but was forced to take several breaths of the substance.

Far from calming down, she felt herself starting to get angry. Oh, no, not at these punks - though she was mad at them to - but at the world. Society. Her hair was starting to get tinged with neon blue, the color leaking into her clothes as well, as she breathed in more of the gas. Yeah, she was pissed. She was sitting around here doing jack shit, because the world they’d built was the kind where girls like her got chewed up and spat out.

She saw her friends through the window of the shop, and felt angry at them, too. Those bitches going and getting jobs, becoming part of the corporate cogs - and leaving her behind! She breathed heavily now, the anger making her take in more of the gas…

Wait, what were they doing? They looked at her and pointed, saying something that she couldn’t hear through the glass. Maya seemed to be annoyed about something, but Alex barged past and held out a weird stick.  Celica was shortly behind him, and then Maya begrudgingly pulled out something of her own. What, were they planning to come in here and club the punks over the heads? No, the answer turned out to be. They had something different in mind. Light flashed red, blue, and yellow outside, and Hina was blinded.

There was a loud crash and a trio of shouts, and Hina felt the mask suddenly ripped off of her face. She fell over out of the chair from the force of it, and much of the bubbling anger left her. She looked up at the person who’d retrieved the mask through her daze. It was a young woman, blue-haired, and quite cute with her hair done in lengthy twin tails bound by ribbons. She wore a blue, midriff-baring top and a skirt of the same shade, along with white and pink gloves and leggings. “Pretty…?”

The girl blushed but didn’t linger on the comment. “H-Hina, are you alright? Not mind-controlled, right?” Said the girl. She seemed really familiar - she couldn’t quite place her though…

“Sky, how is she?” called another woman. This one was red-headed with an intense sort of look, with a sleeveless red top and red-and-black skirt and boots. She was holding up one of the punks by the collar with her fist raised to punch her. Another was coming up behind her while she looked over to Hina and the blue girl, but she simply backhanded the grunt away.

Hina’s sluggish brain felt like it was fighting through molasses to make the connection - but the serious look on her face gave it away. “...Maya?” she asked towards the red woman.

“Crap.” The blue girl said, going a little paler. “Sun, Rose, think we’ve got a problem!”

That left yellow - a blonde haired girl with a ponytail, in an elaborate white-and-yellow dress, with a prominent yellow-and-white headpiece and a cross on her collar. She waved a thick wooden staff at Hina, and she felt her head beginning to clear. That made it a bit easier to make that connection. “Celica?”

“Crap!” Blue-hair (“Sky”?) repeated, as a pair of punks sought to smack her while she was distracted.

“Alex, behind-!” Hina warned, and the woman whirled around. Blue light glowed from a metallic wand ending in a heart shape that she held, and a blast sent the minion flying.

“Ah… crap. You recognized us…” Alex sighed - and it was Alex, even though they were a lot more… female, than usual.

Hina finally recognized what was going on. “You’re Magical Girls!?”

“We’ll answer in a bit,” Maya called over, “We’ve got to mop up these jerks!” she said, before launching herself at the remaining two conscious punks with magically glowing fists.The two minions were knocked out easily, but that still left a problem - Hina.

Celica walked over and crouched down besides where Hina was still sitting on the floor. “How are you feeling? You were halfway to joining them before we managed to save you.” she asked.

“I’m… fine now, I think The mask didn’t finish what it was doing, whatever it was…” Hina reassured them. “But still, magical girls? You? Is this the job you all got…?”

“Ah, yeah, I guess…” Alex said, awkwardly rubbing the back of their head. “It kinda just… happened. We each got our powers differently… I got a deal with this weird fuzzy creature, she was very sweet.”

“Family business.” Maya commented. “Turns out being around that much magic gives you magic, who knew?”

“Transformation artifact passed through the family.” Celica said simply. “Really cute outfit it comes with.”

“...Ok, and why is Alex a…?”

“Look, I made a deal to become a Magical Girl… emphasis on ‘girl’...” Alex blushed again.

“So… what now?” Hina asked.

“These were stragglers from the baddies we beat up earlier. I guess the cleanup crew was sloppy.” Maya said. “We’ll have to bring you in to make sure all the effects are reversed.”

“And maybe let the boss know we’re a bit compromised. Secret identities and all.”

- - - - -

A few hours later, the healers at the Magical Girl Association local HQ had given Hina a clean bill of health. No leftover corruption, no need to worry about suddenly trying to dismantle society (unless that was already her personality), and the blue highlights would fade back to normal over time. She was sitting around on her hospital bed, waiting to be released.

“Vitalizers” were the ones that saved her - consisting of Vita Rose, Vita Sun, and Vita Sky. Respectively, Maya, Celica, and Alex. It was easy to guess how long they’d been Magical Girls, Hina thought. Probably ever since they took their new jobs. She wondered if those non-disclosure agreements they’d mentioned were like, actually that, or if it was a whole thing about secret identities?

They probably had good reasons for leaving her out of the loop. Magical girl work was dangerous, and it was generally understood that Magical Girls kept their identities on the down low to avoid friends and family worrying or villains targeting those same loved ones. Knowing that didn’t actually make Hina feel any better though.

Her waiting seemed to be coming to an end when the door opened, but it wasn’t the nurse who walked in but her friends (now in mundane form). They rushed over to her side and she couldn’t make out any individual questions over the wave of “how’re you feeling”, “are you ok”, “Sorry for leaving you there,” and more.

While Hina was assuring them that it was fine and she bore no hard feelings about the event, a woman in a suit cleared her throat to ask for attention. “Good afternoon, Miss Rowen,” she said. “I’m Director Clarisse Marion, head of this branch of the Magical Girl Association. I think we have some important matters to discuss.”

Hina swallowed hard and sat up. “Alright…?”

“Let’s not beat around the bush. You saw something you shouldn’t have.” Marion said. “The identities of three of my magical girls have been compromised, and that’s not something I can allow.”

Hina nodded quietly. Her friends got a bit closer to her, protectively. “I see. Yes, that’s… probably an issue…”

“So. Standard procedure is a magical memory wipe of anything related to these girls-” Marion started. Hina paled, and her friends looked angry - Alex in particular looked like they were about to throw a punch. But then the Director’s grave expression cracked into a smile. “Sorry, I had to make the joke. It’s what everyone expects when they end up in this situation. We don’t do anything that invasive anymore. We’re not the men in black suits covering up alien sightings or whatever.”

“R-Really? I was terrified for a second there you know!” Hina snapped.

“Sorry, sorry,” the Director apologized, but she continued, “What I’m actually going to do is give you a couple options. We do have to protect their identities. So you can sign about a dozen NDAs and agree to have one or two of our agents keeping tabs on you to make sure you stick to them.”

Hina thought about the idea of creepy men in dark suits following her, always in the periphery of her vision, and shuddered. “And the other option…?”

“Work for us.” The Director said. “We always need more people working dispatch or tactical. Having a good relationship with the Magical Girls is a must for a handler, and already being their friend before you start is just about perfect.”

Work for the Magical Girl Association? Just like that? Hina had been too distracted to be starstruck, but wasn’t that like one step off being a Magical Girl herself? “Of course I’d like to do that! That sounds awesome!”

“Well, we’ll have to run some background checks and such, and work something out with your university as well, but it shouldn’t be too much trouble.” Director Marion extended a hand. “Welcome aboard.”

When Hina got back home, it was already the evening. She’d have a hard time sleeping for her excitement - she’d gotten a real, paying job, at the Magical Girl Assocation, with her friends! It was almost too good to be true, but it was. She looked forward to learning more about what they did there and hoped she’d be a good help…

- - - - -

While Hina and the others left the facility, Marion went to a different part of it. It was not too far from the medical ward, a laboratory in which a man in a labcoat sat looking at a computer screen. Security camera footage tracked Hina’s exit of the building, until she turned a corner on the street outside and vanished from sight.

“See anything weird about her, Lecroix?” Director Marion asked.

“At a glance, no,” the man said, “There doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary, beyond perhaps the coincidence that she’s friends with my niece.”

“And yet.” Marion said.

“And yet, she saw through the Glamour.” Confirmed Doctor Lecroix.

“Could seeing them transform be enough to break it?”

“It could help,” the doctor said, “But on it’s own? No. It might just make her able to believe it if someone told her and was pretty persuasive, but from the reports she identified them on her own.”

“Strange indeed…” the Director nodded. “Good she accepted the job then. Makes it easier to keep an eye on her. Something’s not right.”

- - - - -

Maya returned to her home, not bothering to call out that she was back. Her family would probably still be at the company, and she didn’t feel like bothering the maid. She quietly walked up to her own room and sat herself down at the computer. Things to do, things to do…

Well first she had a report she had to file about how her magic had performed. That was for her parents. Then a second report about the operation against the punks earlier that day for the Magical Girl Association. Then another one about the leftover minions trying to take over that cafe. Three reports.

Apology letter to Hina for getting her caught up in all this. A few emails to the others so that she could see how they were thinking about the whole scenario. Though that might be faster on the group chat? And maybe they should invite Hina to that.

Essay on varied initial responses to the emergence of magic, a few math proofs, and a paper on long term effects of magical hypnosis (and how it differed from real hypnosis - she wanted to make an argument that calling the former by the name of the latter was imprecise and inaccurate), all for her assorted university classes.

She pulled up a document on her computer. The blank white page stared at her. Her head started to ache. She sighed and closed it. But when she tried to take a break and read, she found herself distracted by guilt over not working…

Maya sighed again. It was going to be that kind of evening, wasn’t it?

- - - - -

Celica let out a sigh of relief as she slid into her van’s back, putting her feet up on the small stool she had in there as she unwrapped the takeout she’d gotten on her way back. As she settled in, she pulled up her phone and checked through the messages in the team chat. Lots of talking about what had gone on. Maya, always on top of things, had invited Hina as soon as she got home and now Celica’s phone was practically vibrating with the notifications as she excitedly chatted with the girls.

She wrote out a polite greeting. No, too formal - she’s a friend, not just a new coworker. She rewrote. Too casual now. She is a new coworker and a bit of respect is due. She rewrote again. Then again. Then she settled on ‘Hi’.

Was that too awkward? Did it make Hina feel like she wasn’t welcome in that space? She bit down on the paranoia by biting down on her hamburger and trying to focus on her food. It was fine - she was plenty talkative in real life she didn’t have to think too hard about online chatting, right? She didn’t want to get too pushy and annoy anyone. As if she didn’t already…

She shook her head again. Nope, no bad thoughts tonight. Food time.

- - - - -

“I’m home,” Alex called. Not to their parents - they lived in an apartment provided by the MGA rather than back at home, though their parents were still in the city.

“Welcome back. Nice day?” Said the young man’s roommate - a small black creature, somewhat like a winged dog, greeted them. Their familiar that had given them their Magical Girl powers.

“You could say that. Certainly eventful.” Alex replied, “I’m going to my room. Mind giving me a bit of privacy?”

“Of course, of course.”

Alex slipped into their room and closed the door, then undressed. They opened the closet, with it’s full-body mirror on the door. They tried to avoid looking, but they caught a glance of themselves in the mirror. Alex winced just a bit. Pushing their mind off the matter, Alex pulled a bag out of the closet.

A few minutes later, they were dressed again. Alex dared a look in the mirror. They looked like… a young man with long hair in a dress. Alex winced again. They tried to pull in their shoulders a bit, suck in their gut, but it didn’t help too much. “Not yet…” they muttered.

They pulled some pads from the bag, and stuffed them into the pockets of the bra they were wearing. Alex couldn’t help but smile a little - in the modest dress they were wearing, it looked almost real. If they squinted a little they might call it a kind of gender neutral look.

But it clearly wasn’t enough. Alex pulled out their wand, the rod forming from light into their hand. “Vitalize, Vita Sky… cancel mantle creation…” they muttered.

In a flash of blue light, the Alex in the mirror was different. Blue hair in twintails. A naturally feminine figure. And a bright, contented smile as she saw how nice she looked in her dress, which had not been replaced by their magical girl uniform.

She’d taken a few steps… maybe she should tell them? She was sure none of them would react poorly. Maya would probably take her shopping the very day, and Celica would offer makeup advice. She took a few pictures with her phone, and nearly sent them in the chat.

Then she stopped. Alex wasn’t ready to tell them about herself yet. Maybe another day.

- - - - -

Hina lay awake in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Wondering how her friends were doing. She’d stayed up talking to them all into the small hours of the night - or rather the very early morning.

She really should try and sleep. But the events of the day were catching up with her. It had all been a blur - she’d been making massive decisions without a second thought. But maybe that was ok. It was nice to have a clear path forward for once.

The magical girls seemed so bright, shining stars, and for once they were in reach. For once she wasn’t being left behind.

Hina hoped she wouldn’t be a burden on them. She decided she wouldn’t be - no matter what. She’d make sure she was the best handler they could ask for!

…But to do that she probably shouldn’t come into work with no sleep.