#topspeedwitch

The first sign that Ripple was dreaming was the unrealistic scenery. The clouds were various shades of pink and blue, and the sky was pale yellow. Such a sight couldn’t exist in real life. She had considered that maybe she was hallucinating, or under the influence of someone else’s magical skill, however she quickly decided that while those were both possible explanations, they were highly unlikely.

The second sign that Ripple was dreaming was the fact that when she tripped and skidded down a slope, she was not at all injured. Irritated at her own clumsiness, definitely, but not injured. After brushing herself down, there was no sign that her trip had even happened and so she continued onwards.

And then, she saw the third sign that this was a dream. Another magical girl, this one with a rather unique silhouette. A long cape. A pointed hat. Her back was towards Ripple and she seemed to have no idea that she was there.

Despite knowing that this was obviously a dream, Ripple’s legs refused to take her any further. Her eye grew wide, her breath caught in her throat and her heart pounded against her chest. This is a dream, she desperately tried to remind herself, this is not real.

Lapis Lazuline had a problem. She had been sent on an important errand by her mentor to deliver one of Blue Bell’s candies to another magical girl. Lapis didn’t know what was contained within the candy- apparently, it wasn’t important for her to know- but she knew that it would be bad news if she couldn’t deliver it.

Usually, an errand like this would be no problem for Lapis Lazuline, but as she wasn’t familiar with either the magical girl or the city she was hiding out in it became problematic.

Did she overextend? Just a moment ago, it was the Precure who seemed to have the upper hand in that skirmish. Whatever it happened, now she was the one in disadvantage, being thrown away from the bell tower and directly towards the void of night. What seemed to be an easy battle against the Kirakiraru thief was suddenly turning into a challenge.

Seconds after she could recover from the daze, the sound of something bursting through the air reached her ears. Before any attempt to look towards the direction that noise was coming from, something gently hit her back. Amidst the commotion, it was no surprise a soft meow came from her lips as an unknown object touched her spine. 

This is humiliating, was all Ripple could think as she stood on the street beside her partner.

Today, what they were doing was completely different to their regular magical girl activities. Instead of flying across the sky on Top Speed’s broomstick, jumping across rooftops or walking in the shadows of nearby buildings, they were just stood right out in the open where anyone could see them.

Taking into account the time of year, Top Speed had assured Ripple that no one would think anything weird about them, but Ripple couldn’t help but feel that was unfair. Top Speed’s outfit was ridiculous, but it definitely fit in better with the Halloween theme than Ripple’s did. Even knowing that it was most likely just her paranoia, Ripple was sure that she was getting strange looks from passer’s by.

Still, it wasn’t as if there was really anyone to blame for this. According to Fav it was a magical girl’s duty to watch over trick or treaters. There was nothing to be done about that, and Ripple knew it.

Ripple’s confusion only grew as the witch magical girl spoke more. What did she mean disappeared? Ripple hadn’t disappeared from anywhere. She was exactly where she was supposed to be. Had this Top Speed somehow gotten her confused with someone else? ...No, that was probably unlikely. Ripple doubted there was another magical girl who looked like her running around, much less one with the same name.

She didn’t protest as she was pulled in for a hug, although she still had no idea what was happening. To calm her heart, Ripple reassured herself that her master must have planned for this to happen. That was right. There was no need to be confused or distressed.

“--Snow White?”

Ripple recognised that name. Her master had often spoken about Snow White, the Magical Girl Hunter. She was an ideal magical girl. The ideal magical girl, in fact.