#kyubey.

The forest clearing was far too still. Grass rustled only slightly as Madoka cautiously walked through it, Kyubey’s ears twitching slightly as they look around from the view on her shoulders. Not a single other creature seemed to be around, watching in or out of sight as the silence stretched on.

Madoka pauses right before the trees at the other end of the clearing, switching from fidgeting with the glowing ring on her hand to fidgeting slightly with the singular red ribbon tying her somewhat dull pink hair neatly behind her as she stands, eyes scanning the area slowly. The small cat like creature’s face didn’t change as the girl stopped walking, in fact their face seemed entirely incapable of change, like that of a plush toy. The creature’s head turned around staring plain across the empty clearing that had just been crossed.

“Madoka! Watch out!” Despite their mouth not moving a muscle, Kyubey’s voice rang out just the same, the sound soon overtaken by the roaring of a multicolored whirlwind cutting straight towards them.

The girl didn’t respond, instead rushing sideways as a focused gaze overtook her usually unassuming face, dark pink eyes narrowing slightly as she turned to take in the threat. Kyubey quite quickly scrambled off her shoulders and up the nearest tree, enough out of the way to avoid the budding conflict while still close enough to observe.

She holds her position as the whirlwind stays in place but doesn’t dissipate, the ring slipping off into her palm as she shakes it loose, flipping it into the air. The slight glow it gives off engulfing it momentarily before it falls, having transformed into a golden almost cage like object with a bright pink oval shaped gem nested inside it. The soul gem lands in her hand, being grasped tightly as Madoka darts in a different direction, not straight towards the winds but not entirely away from it either.

The unrelenting force moved as she did, attempting to cut off the girl’s path, but just hardly falling short of ramming right into her, tearing through her side instead.

Blood flowed through the swirling winds before dispersing, but Madoka’s pace didn’t slow until she paused, one red heeled shoe leaned against a tree behind her.

Her outfit had entirely changed, a puffy sleeved dress with an equally puffy skirt, a pink almost flower like shaped trim sitting above the white, the pink and yellow torso of the dress not torn, but still bloodstained. Candy pink bows accented the dress, a similar bow replacing the red ribbon that had previously held her hair back. The soul gem had transformed again as well, a small gold pendant containing the bright pink gem sitting right below the red ribbon tied around her neck.

In white gloved hands the girl held a bow capped with a blooming rose, a white and pink arrow and bright pink bowstring forming as she stared towards the position of the now calming winds, the figure of a prepared Virizion finally clear.

“I don’t know what you want, but there’s no need to fight about it!” Madoka calls out, stance held in place. Her plea is met with little more than a silent glare from the legendary, who positions themself to charge again, grass type energy filling the air around them and forming into pointed leaves.

Virizion storms forward, the magical leaf firing ahead faster than even they moved, the brunt of it hardly missing Madoka as she rushes to the side, bowstring and arrow dissolving into the air and she drops holding them to cover her face, the shielding arm taking a majority of the cuts.

Madoka takes a long breath and exhales shortly, bowstring reforming as she grasps for it, drawing it back, the arrow forming right as it’s fired into the ground, right near where the legendaries charge ended. The pokemon pivoted their movement to the side, skidding slightly as the arrow disrupts their path.

The magical girl once again draws her bow back, an arrow forming again, the one splitting into three before being fired straight into the ground, once again veering the legendary off their intended path. The Virizion snarls, backing up and leaping over the blocking arrows.

The type energy around the legendary yet again reforms, dual grass colored blades circling them before both swinging down as they landed, the girl ducking and rolling backwards as the blades ended their arcs. Virizion trots backwards a few steps, eyes narrowing as Madoka draws her bow again, one arrow forming in it, but a collection of others forming in the air around her, all connected by shimmering pink geometric lines and circles, all firing at the same time and forming a semicircle around the pokemon.

The girl smiles slightly, pushing herself up from the ground with a surprising amount of grace for the situation. She leaps up and into one of the trees surrounding the clearing, steadying herself on a branch, just for a ramming thud to sound from the base, the legendary pokemon having slammed themself into the tree.

Madoka didn’t seem deterred in the slightest, pushing off from the tree as she starts to fall, launching herself backwards towards the next tree around the perimeter of the clearing. Despite Virizion’s ground pursuit, the magical girl didn’t seem all to concerned with the legendary, moving from tree to tree right around the clearing.

Arrows formed in her wake, pulsing and at ready to fire, each strung together by a growing circle of shining geometric lines and circles. Kyubey leapt onto the girl’s shoulders as she passed, a box settled on their head. They didn’t say anything, instead looking between the growing circle of arrows and the pokemon on the ground.

The circle of arrows finally connects as Madoka lands in the branches of the original tree again, properly balancing herself within the branches and drawing her bow once again.

As the string drew back, the circle of arrows in the treetops rotated slowly, and multiples into three, the two new rings of arrows tilting slightly from the original, all three rotating around each other like an armillary sphere.

The Virizion pauses in the center of the clearing, glaring directly at the girl and the Incubator huddled in the branches of a tree. The legendary gears to move, but Madoka releases the arrow from her bow, stopping the pokemon from moving long enough for the rings of arrows to fire towards all at once.

An explosion of dust and light fills the air for several moments, Madoka taking the opportunity to jump down from the tree to the ground, her bow dispersing into light as she landed.

“If I might ask,” Kyubey starts, the box bouncing as they popped their head up a little to try and look through the steadily clearing dust. “,what exactly did you do Madoka?”

The girl takes the box from their head, taking the treat out of it before stepping forward.

“I’m…not sure if it even worked.” She replies a tad nervously, taking a deep breath as the dust finally settles.

The soft pink glow of the arrows over linking each other illuminated the Virizion standing in a makeshift cage. The legendary looks down at the two with a far less hostile gaze than before, and even what seems to be a hint of a smile on the pokemon’s face.

Kyubey’s ears twitch as they take in the caged legendary, their head tilting to the side before they turn to look at Madoka.

“I must say, this is rather—“

“Clever.” The legendary finally speaks, interrupting the Incubators sentence. “And incredibly impressive for a complete stranger.” Virizion taps one hoof against the multitude of arrows confining her. “If you don’t mind, Madoka, was it?” The girl didn’t move, and the pokemon chuckled slightly. “The fight is over, I assure you. You’ve ended it quite competently, and I accept my loss.”

The girl smiled, reaching her free hand towards the arrangement of arrows, the array dissolving from the point of contact. Amidst the dissolving arrows, Madoka herself was momentarily engulfed in a flash of light, her outfit returning to normal in an instant. The tear from the torso wound was in her regular outfit, and with the wound now exposed it’s clear that she’s no longer bleeding, but it’s not near entirely healed either. Her soul gem returned to the oval like shape it had been before, although noticeably duller and muddied in color.

“So…what exactly was all this about?” Madoka questioned, holding up the treat to the legendary, who seemed noticeably delighted to be receiving something, and took a moment to eat before responding.

“This actually had very little to do with me. A friend wished to speak with you, but seeing such an odd stranger around my forests had me wary. I simply wished to gauge your reaction.” Virizion eventually explained, gaze settled on Kyubey despite her words addressing the magical girl.

“There’s someone else?” Kyubey asked, Madoka giving them a slight glare as they spoke but not making an effort to interject. “Who else around here would want to talk to—”

“You!” The Incubator’s questioning was cut short by a pokemon zooming right at the two out of seemingly nowhere, so suddenly Madoka stepped back to avoid them crashing into her face.

A bright pink Celebi hovered in front of the fallers, staring at the girl with an undeniable look of frustration.

“What are you?!” The small mythical wondered as though an answer might offend them. “You look human, but dare I say that means nothing when you can see like I can?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean…” Madoka replied, somewhat taken aback by the sudden question. She fell silent for several moments, trying to connect dots in her head, before something seemed to dawn on her.

“You wouldn’t happen to mean time, would you?”

“Yes I mean time! No normal human can see timelines, your brain shouldn’t be able to handle that! No matter where you’re from as far as I’m concerned!” Celebi huffed, still staring sourly as they were obviously unsatisfied with the girl’s slower musings.

Kyubey had grown quiet, and was looking between the two as though trying to figure something out themself, although what revelations they were pondering were kept to themself.

“I wasn’t even sure if that ability still worked, much less if anything could sense it…” Madoka‘s thoughts trailed off as she went entirely quiet, nearly zoning out as something deeper seemed to flash behind her eyes.

“I doubt knowledge of alternate timelines from either multiverse will help us get from here to there.” Kyubey stated after no one spoke for a few seconds, entirely ignoring the girl’s near trance and opting to speak to the pokemon directly.

“So we’re in search of the azure flute, and then we’ll be on our way to Spear Pillar.”

The legendary and mythical paused for a moment, gazes fixed on the Incubator. Instead of responding, both pokemon turned to each other and began to whisper. Kyubey’s ears flickered as they watched the pokemon communicate, and they quickly tapped the side of the girl’s face.

“Are you paying attention Madoka? They seem to have been interested in our plans.”

“Huh- oh really?” She questioned, not entirely aware until a moment after. The girl blinked, then went forward a few steps, looking down at the duller soul gem still clutched in her hand before focusing back on the pokemon.

The two pokemon break away from each other, and Virizion looks back briefly at Madoka and Kyubey, giving them both a nod before disappearing into the woods, a light breeze scattering leaves in her wake.

Celebi looks towards the two, flitting closer before glancing at the path out of the clearing behind them.

“I can’t do all that much to help you myself, but Meloetta should be somewhere around Castelia city. She could help you find the azure flute, if you can find her.” Before either had a chance to respond, the pokemon vanished into the thin air, teleporting away before the girl could say so much as thank you.

“…Castelia city then?” Madoka questioned, a non disguised look of annoyance as she was left with just Kyubey on her shoulders.

“It would seem so. Let’s get going!” The Incubator replied, clearly unfazed by the girl’s feelings towards them.