Magical Lotus, Mahou Shoujou Byakuren - Episode 2

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"Lily, do you remember how I found you unconscious the other day?"
>"You were unconscious because you had been attacked by a creature called a youma. It was an agent of some evil force that's attempting to take over this world. The enemy is weak right now, as I understand, and was using the youma to drain energy from people. I arrived in time to save everyone, fortunately, but I almost died myself, because I was powerless when I attacked it."
>Show her the ring. "I obtained this during the fight. When I first put it on, I had a... well, I think I was within myself. And something was trying to corrupt me-not the enemy I'm faced with now, but still something dark. It showed me... well, me, but a me corrupted by the darkness. Powerful, powerful enough to defeat any enemy, but lost in the darkness. I successfuly resisted it, and gained power of the light. It changed me, made me able to fight the enemy. Even just being near me was enough to harm the youma, although I doubt this will hold true for stronger enemies."
>"Lily, this ring is reacting to you now. If you put it on, you may face what I faced."
>"This is your last chance to turn back, Lily. Are you sure about this?"
>Assuming she says yes, remove the ring and hand it to her.
>"Put this on, then. And, Lily? When I put it on, when the darkness tried to take me, what defeated it was when I renounced its claims that I was alone. Remember that you're not alone, either. As long as you remember that you have me, that you have <INSERT THE NAME OF HER ROMANTIC PARTNER HERE>, that you have others, the darkness will have no hold on you."

[Hello Purvis]

>"But, that may not be the whole story. I have my suspicions about several things..."

[Oldmansour]

>"Lily, do you remember how I found you unconscious the other day?"
>"You were unconscious because you had been attacked by a creature called a youma. It was an agent of some evil force that's attempting to take over this world. The enemy is weak right now, as I understand, and was using the youma to drain energy from people. I arrived in time to save everyone, fortunately, but I almost died myself, because I was powerless when I attacked it."
>Show her the ring. "I obtained this during the fight. When I first put it on, I had a... well, I think I was within myself. And something was trying to corrupt me-not the enemy I'm faced with now, but still something dark. It showed me... well, me, but a me corrupted by the darkness. Powerful, powerful enough to defeat any enemy, but lost in the darkness. I successfuly resisted it, and gained power of the light. It changed me, made me able to fight the enemy. Even just being near me was enough to harm the youma, although I doubt this will hold true for stronger enemies."
>"Lily, this ring is reacting to you now. If you put it on, you may face what I faced."
>"This is your last chance to turn back, Lily. Are you sure about this?"
>Assuming she says yes, remove the ring and hand it to her.
>"Put this on, then. And, Lily? When I put it on, when the darkness tried to take me, what defeated it was when I renounced its claims that I was alone. Remember that you're not alone, either. As long as you remember that you have me, that you have <INSERT THE NAME OF HER ROMANTIC PARTNER HERE>, that you have others, the darkness will have no hold on you."

>"But, that may not be the whole story. I have my suspicions about several things..."

>Lily stands and waits as you recount to her your encounter with the youma, you experiences within your own soul and the temptation you found within, but also the strength to resist, to cast the darkness out of your heart and embrace the light. Despite everything that's happened to today, you almost expect her to not believe you, to shake her hand and simply walk off. She does not. Her attention is focused on you and your story. Not a trace of doubt enters her eyes; surprise, amazement, even, as you describe the Dark Lady, but never doubt, never disbelief. She wais until you finished your tale, and ask her, one last time, if she truly wishes to step into the war alongside you. She looks at the ring, at the purple light in its core, then back up at you. She smiles that beautiful smile at you.
>"I choose the danger."

>Her choice made, you reach for the ring on your hand which pulses with power. When you touch it, however, before you have a chance to remove it, a beam of light emerges from the jewel, and you retract your hand in a start as you and Lily gasp almost in unison. The shaft of light endures for a few seconds, and when it passes, a second ring floats a few feet above your own ring. This one is a pale pink, the color of a cherry blossom, and its gemstone is a shade of purple. The same violet shade as your own ring, you note.
>The ring hovers in the air, and then, of its own accord, floats towards Lily, pausing to hover in front of her. She stares at it while you deliver your message about how you defeated the darkness by affirming that you are not alone. She nods simply, then extends her right hand towards the ring. The pinkish loop slides down onto her ring finger. Somewhat to your surprise, there is no burst of light, no surge of power. Just a sense of a connection between your ring and Lily's. No, more than that. Between your heart and hers.
>Lily withdraws her hand and curls her little fingers into a fist, looking at the ring on her finger. Then she closes her eyes and lifts her head ever so slightly. The smile on her face is a gentle one, a picture of serenity.

[Hello Purvis]

>"How did it go?"

[Oldmansour]

>"How did it go?"

>Lily opens her eyes, still smiling that quiet smile. "How did what go?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Lily opens her eyes, still smiling that quiet smile. "How did what go?"

>"When I first got the ring, I had to journey within myself. Did you not?"

[Oldmansour]

>"When I first got the ring, I had to journey within myself. Did you not?"

>Your winged friend shakes her head slowly. "No. I'm having a couple strange sensations, but nothing like you described to me."

[Hello Purvis]

>Nod. "All the better. It's not entirely pleasant."

[Oldmansour]

>Nod. "All the better. It's not entirely pleasant."

>"I think that might be an understatement, from what you said."
>She looks at the ring again. "So that's something else that's different for you and me. I wonder different our powers are. I wonder what I can do now. I know what I FEEL, but what I can do..." Her smile is as much a grin as it is a smile. Obviously, her experiences with this have been much more benign than yours.
>She glances at you quickly. "Are there more? Like us, I mean."

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"I believe so."
>"If your power works like mine, how to use it should come to you on its own as needed."

[Oldmansour]

>"I believe so."
>"If your power works like mine, how to use it should come to you on its own as needed."

>Lily nods, then tilts her head to the side as she looks at you. "You 'believe' so?" She quickly points to herself,  then at you, then herself again. "Does that mean that, for right now, it's just the two of us?"

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"As far as I know, we're the only two that have awakened to the power so far. If we find others with the same potential, presumably they can be awakened to the power in the same way you just were."

[Oldmansour]

>"As far as I know, we're the only two that have awakened to the power so far. If we find others with the same potential, presumably they can be awakened to the power in the same way you just were."

>Lily chuckles lightly. "Great! All we have to do is drag folks back here one at a time to meet the big metal Kitty Cat!" Then she laughs, holding up her hand. "No, I kid. I think that meeting Him was for us. Others might need their own circumstances, but they gotta be out there somewhere." She glances at her sakura-colored ring again. "Wonder if this thing can make rings like yours can. Probably not. You were the first, the original, so that's probably your thing."
>A puzzled expression crosses her face then. "I got my ring from you. Who gave you yours? Did it drop out of the sky, appear in a flash of light?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"It was given to me by a strange doll. I saw it when the youma was attacking."

[Oldmansour]

>"It was given to me by a strange doll. I saw it when the youma was attacking."

>"A doll?" Lily chuckles pleasantly again. "Rumor has it that fall down the stairs you had a few days ago happened after you touched a doll. You've had bad lu...." She trails off as a startled epxression crosses her face. "That's more than bad luck, that's something else. Was it the same doll both times?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Was it?

[Oldmansour]

>Was it?

>Thinking back on that day, you remember that the doll that gave you the ring looked identical to the doll you touched on the stairs that started everything off. That doll, or those dolls, had short blonde hair, green eyes, a purple dress, a black ribbon around her/their neck, and a larger black ribbon on her/their head.

[Hello Purvis]

>Nod.

[Oldmansour]

>Nod.

>"Weiiiiird. That's one creepy doll." She seems to ponder that for a few moments, turning over the thought of a doll giving you a ring after making you fall down a flight of stairs. Then her eyes light up. "That's why you came here, wasn't it? You were looking for some answers to all this."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Quite. I was being a little...vague, when speaking of seeing things in a dream, we'll say."

[Oldmansour]

>"Quite. I was being a little...vague, when speaking of seeing things in a dream, we'll say."

>"Don't blame you, either." Lily blushes slightly. "And something you saw there... led you here?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yes. It was part of...well, a vision of sorts. I was being led around the city, and my guide continued to not look in this direction. I wanted to know what it is avoiding."

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"I was expecting something that would perhaps go against what my guide wanted, though. It was that guide who first told me of the danger we face and that I needed to fight it, which is also what I was told here."
>"I can think of two possibilities. First, she may have been trying to lead me here, although I don't know why she wouldn't have just told me to come here. The second is that she may be wary of Satori. The Metal Tiger didn't want us to remember what had happened until she'd left, which makes me wonder; maybe my guide had similar concerns."

[Oldmansour]

>"Yes. It was part of...well, a vision of sorts. I was being led around the city, and my guide continued to not look in this direction. I wanted to know what it is avoiding."

>"I was expecting something that would perhaps go against what my guide wanted, though. It was that guide who first told me of the danger we face and that I needed to fight it, which is also what I was told here."
>"I can think of two possibilities. First, she may have been trying to lead me here, although I don't know why she wouldn't have just told me to come here. The second is that she may be wary of Satori. The Metal Tiger didn't want us to remember what had happened until she'd left, which makes me wonder; maybe my guide had similar concerns."

>Lily's face is very serious as you tell of the Tiger's concern over Satori, and the possibility that 'Marisa' may also have had misgivings about her. "Satori... My memories were affected too, I only remembered my vision of Spring after Satori walked back into the shrine, as well. Did the Tiger tell you anything else?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"It told me there was a number of people I couldn't trust, that they would try to stop me or harm me out of jealousy or such. Your head maiden was one of them. It...strikes me as odd and unusual, really."

[Oldmansour]

>"It told me there was a number of people I couldn't trust, that they would try to stop me or harm me out of jealousy or such. Your head maiden was one of them. It...strikes me as odd and unusual, really."

>Lily shakes her head slowly. "That was the impression I got as well. But I'm not sure why. Although... she HAS been acting-"
>Her voice pitch changes slightly in midsentance "perfectly normally, we shouldn't have to disturst her." Then she blinks and shakes her head again. "Wait.. What'd I just say?"

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>That can't be good.
>"You sounded like you were about to say that Satori had been acting strangely, but then your voice changed and you said she was acting normal. I would guess that something made you say that."

[Oldmansour]

>That can't be good.
>"You sounded like you were about to say that Satori had been acting strangely, but then your voice changed and you said she was acting normal. I would guess that something made you say that."

>"But I... That doesn't..." Lily looks down at the ground, her head shaking back and forth slowly, as though she's trying to see though a fog. Then she puts her right hand to her head. "There's something that happened... (No, not really. It's been quiet here since I came back to work). Why would I say that? I don't like lies (except I'm not lying, Satori's been her normal self lately.)" Her voice vacillates back and forth.
>As she speaks, you notice the jewel on her ring is glowing faintly. A glance at your own ring reveals that it, too, is glowing, and you can sense... something, faintly, along the connection between the two of you.

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to focus on that sense of something, and see if we can figure out anything about it.

[Oldmansour]

>Try to focus on that sense of something, and see if we can figure out anything about it.

>Focusing your mind on the bond between yourself and your new ally yields a rather odd result. It is rather like your second sight that you had in your Magical Lotus state, when you could see past the outer shell of the youma to the object that had been corrupted. This, however, isn't quite as precise as that time. The effect is limited only to Lily herself, and not as pronounced as with the youma. You can see swirls of pink and purple energy within her, but also faint outlines of a grey something. You can't determine what that grey something is, but you have a strong sense that it is wrong. This, then, is probably the force that keeps Lily from speaking the truth.

>Lily removes her little hand from her head and looks at the pulsing light within the jewel of her ring. "You're strengthening the connection between our two rings. I... I can see, what is that? That doesn't belong there..."