Volume 1: The Beginning of Something Magical

It was a day like any other in America City, a breezy Tuesday afternoon just as the work-a-day folks of the city were beginning to leave their jobs to return to their homes or shopping for groceries or... you know... whatever normal people do after they leave their office jobs for more civilian life.

Malady, Malaise and Misery, however, were just reaching the end of another long day of shopping and Misery really needed to let off some steam with a good show. Malady leaned back against the wall of the swanky shop they'd just departed from while smoking a cigarette and Malaise had chosen to take a seat on the sidewalk, half-sleeping as she lay against the pile of bags that Misery had been towing about for them as they went and collected more for their pack mule to haul.

Every now and again the sister's would let the baby of the family have her fun. This just happened to be one of those times. Malady had needed to take a smoke break anyhow, so it worked out and made her feel like the good sister that she definitely was.

From the middle of the street came a loud boom, bringing several cars that had been going about their business to a screeching halt as harmless pyrotechnics exploded and today's villain appeared to claim dominance over the city and, possibly, the world.

"Hwahaha!" the undoubtedly adorable chubby little pink bunny man chortled as he stepped from the smoky remains of his explosion. "This city will be mine and there's nothing you pathetic earthling people can do about it! Hwahaha!"

"Not so fast, Mr. Fluffybuttkins!" Misery called out excitedly, far too joyous to make it sound like anything more than an act that she was incredibly happy to play out. She pointed at the bunny with her magical girl wand decorated in hearts and bows and ribbons. "You'll not be victorious this day so long as Lutea Grace is on the case!"

"Wahya?! Not Lutea Grace!" the bunny man recoiled as he exclaimed with the extreme fear only one who's had his fluffy butt handed to him many times before could muster. "Argh! You've foiled my plans for the last time, Grace! I'll have this city yet and even the greatest magical girl on the planet will be helpless to stop me!"

"We'll just see about that!" Misery called out as she leapt forward and into a truly magical battle in the middle of the street amongst quite a few stunned onlookers, effectively bringing all business in the city to an end during the spectacle.

Normal. Normally quiet, easily taken in stride Tuesday. Like any other for Noah whom after his afternoon classes was shopping on the way back to home or work or whatever you might call it. He'd preferred not to dawdle too much, he spent more of the precious green that was keeping him in college. The balance was tedious but necessary.

Stopping to enjoy the evening sun on the east-west boulevards the young Revelle's eyes were drawn to three young women across the street with what appeared to be loads of cash, time and accessories. It was a life you were just born into, and the three of them, though a little odd seemed to fit the lifestyle perfectly. "Takes all types I suppose." Noah didn't envy their wealth it was just something they were given. If he ever got that rich he'd earn every penny of it.

While reaching down to pick up his reusable bag of produce and whatever else he could find at bargain price Noah jumped out of his skin at the fireworks as the loud explosion left his ears ringing and his balance off. Some people had even been startled enough to start running away , some stopped when the danger passed, some kept going.

Across the way right through the imaginary battle zone a older lady had tripped and though she hadn't fallen she didn't look like someone who could pick up her own groceries easily. Noah was also less than pleased at the ringing in his ears and the lack of a warning before such a blast and promptly stepped through the bright colors and flashing lights to the ladies side and began helping her with her groceries completely ignoring whoever or whatever kind of racket the street performers were making. "Are you alright Ma'am?"

Finishing with the bystander the student turned his eyes to the magical battle. What the hell was going on here?

Today had been a slow day, like most days being a detective. Most people thought that everyday working for the police was just filled with stress and misery. There were some forced and some places that were like that, but Reza's job was much more unique. After the incident revealed his powers, he was basically assigned no cases unless they involved another powered individual. At first Reza thought they were blocked him from his work, but it didn't take him long to talk to his captain and realize that he was very important. Against someone with powers, he might be one of their best shots.

Reza was walking home, his coat hugging his body comfortably as he stopped at a street vendor to buy one of his favorite hot dogs. He tipped the man before walking away with his chili dog. He got about three bites in before he heard shouting and screams. Reza turned and saw...

"What the hell is that?" he asked himself as he saw what appeared to be a giant rabbit, and it was talking.

You know, you'd think life in this city and learning you had fire powers would mean that nothing surprised you anymore. Well, Reza was certainly surprised. The man had no idea what was going on, but he knew that he had to help. He quickly wolfed down the rest of his dog before entering a sprint, trying to catch up to the rabbit and the girl that seemed to be doing battle with it.

For the moment, Cody was living on bonus vacation days, ever since he developed a habit of frying any computer he was too close to. This wasn't actually a habit, since he'd figured out how to stop it, but it seemed that way to his company, and firing him because of the new... power, or whatever, was a lawsuit waiting to happen. So for the moment he was being given lots of paid leave, which was fine by him!

The day of, Cody was sitting on the roof of one of the many skyscrapers in the city, dangling his feet off and enjoying the view that you could only usually get from the sky. Finesse work was still rather beyond him at the moment, but even without it, he could still get very rudimentary flying. So it was from above that he saw the rabbit monster appear in the city.

"What the...?"

Or rather, as it wasn't quite small enough, from there all he could really see was a sudden abrupt flow of all movement going rapidly away from one spot in the city. Whatever it was, something was going on there, and Cody wanted a better look! Pushing himself to his feet, he let out a small grunt and jumped off the building, focusing as much as possible on his control of magnetism to slow and him is fall to the roof of the next building, making his way down towards whatever the hell was going on.

The two undoubtedly magical beings duked it out right there in the street, leaping this way or that as each dodged dangerously colorful streamers of light that flew all about like a Sailor Moon bullet hell game. Though each combatant dodged their opponent's attacks with expert precision, the light beams and spiraling, colorful lasers had no effect on the environment as they flew by, fizzling out into nothing as they hit concrete and car alike.

"You've no chance of victory against a champion of justice and love, Fluffybuttkins!" Misery taunted the bunny as she dodged yet another long distance attack and launched an identical blast of her own. "Give it up and I'll go easy on you!"

"Not a chance, Grace!" the rabbit retorted back, ducking under Misery's own fire to send out several blasts of his own in all directions. "I'll see that you don't leave here alive if it's the last thing I do!"

"It may just be!" Misery returned his volley with more of her own as the crowded street became a My Little Pony disco dance floor with all the lasers about.

It was quite the spectacle, and Noah was simply content watching the street performers or what he began to think it was simply a single performer. Though if she was looking for attention then she was having the opposite effect. Most people had taken shelter in nearby stores or had kept walking to get away from the commotion that the young lady was causing.

Though, the young security guard would note, that she was also attracting people, a man falling from a roof, but his decent was far too slow to be a jumper, and another man that took off like an eating competition contestant was late for work.

And then there were these two girls, weird high society types that reminded him of more of Kanye West than Bill Gates, that unlike everyone else seemed to have almost no reaction whatsoever outside of looking more bored than anything else.

If nothing else the show was enjoyable, more like harmless fireworks than a death defying act. Maybe not completely family friendly but Noah could think of worse places to spend his time.

In a world of powered people, normal was completely subjective. Reza hadn't met too many other people like him and he certainly hadn't met anyone like the girl in front of him fighting the giant rabbit. After seeing something like this, no power could really surprise him anymore. The detective just shook his head.

He watched the fight for a moment, long enough to realize that no one could actually get hurt. All of the "attacks" seemed to just faze out before doing any possible damage to anyone. Still, people were scared because they had no idea what this girl was capable of. It was best to put an end to this before things got any worse.

"Stop this!" Reza shouted as he walked forward before pulling out his badge and flashing it briefly. "Detective Reza of the American City Police Unit. This needs to stop now before I put you under arrest for disturbing the peace. What were you thinking anyway?" Reza asked as he glanced from the girl to the rabbit. He couldn't tell if these were two different people or not yet.

Coming to a reasonable graceful landing on the fire escape of one of the buildings two stories off the ground, Cody takes a seat to watch what was going on more closely. There was.... a giant rabbit fighting someone dressed up like a magical girl. What the hell.

After watching the 'fight' for a bit, it's easy to see there isn't actually anything happening, is someone creating an illusion? A few other people are standing around just watching as well, so with another jump, controlled falling and a bit of parkour, he lands on the ground and heads over to guy who looked a couple years younger than him, right as the older man headed out to... arrest the magical girl and the bunny. "Any idea whats going on here?" Cody points his thumb over his shoulder at the trio out in the middle of the road.

It was quickly obvious that Reza's attempts to get Misery's attention were in vain, his calls being drowned out by the sounds of sparkles, lasers, explosions and the pair's dialogue as they taunted each other in Saturday morning cartoon hero fashion.

It would be the bunny that first noticed their showstopper, his wickedly adorable gaze falling threateningly upon the officer of the law.

"It looks like it's that time once again to exploit the heroine's single weakness!" the lagomorphic villain chortled just before launching an attack, this time aimed at the bystander who had attempted to interfere in the magical combat.

Before there was much time for Reza to react to the incoming attack, however, he'd find himself knocked aside by Misery as she came to his rescue as was intended, causing her to take the full brunt of the attack straight to the chest. The force of it threw her backward with a cry of pain, slamming her into the rear of a car with a hard thud before she slumped to a sitting position on the street.

"Agh... That smarts..." she complained with a groan.

It was beginning to get out of hand, and then a policeman flashed a badge and threatened to arrest the performer. While it was a high energy event nobody had gotten hurt and many people watched from the supposed safety of store fronts. The girl pushed the policeman and then was hit with some kind of attack and collided with the trunk of a car and seemingly collapsed obviously phased by the attack.

Then came the man with the question jumping down from a fire escape above Noah and scaring him out of his skin he'd obviously forgotten about seeing the man levitate down before but quickly realized he was one and the same. “I have no idea what is going on. I’m not sure of this is serious or foolishness.” Noah responded only glancing at the guy. If the Bunny made another move against the girl Noah would discretely place a shield in the path of the attack. He didn’t want to attract attention to himself unlike the girl.

Too much happened before Reza could react. While he was reaching for his weapon, he soon felt a force push against him and knock him out of the way. He landed with a thud, gaining a small scrape on his forehead from his head hitting the cement. He quickly turned around to see Misery taking the hit from the bunny and falling backwards.

"Alright, that does it" Reza said as he pushed himself up. He moved his hand past his gun and in to his pocket for a lighter. After igniting the flame he moved it to his hand which seemed to capture the fire in an orb on the palm of his hand. Reza flicked the lighter shut before passing the flames between his hands.

"You were warned!" Reza shouts before moving both of his hands forward, a stream of fire now launching out towards the bunny monster.

"That makes two of us..." Cody starts to lean against the wall when everything really starts going to hell. The girl shoves the cop out of the way -that was sure to end well- and then gets hit by the bunny, and actually looks hurt for once, and the cop.... shot a fireball?! Well, more like a flame thrower. Still! What were the odds!

"Oh Jeez..." This was going to turn into a clusterfuck if he had any sense of things. Slowly, Cody reaches back into his backpack, reaching around until his hand settled on a scratched CD. He'd keep his hand in the bag for now, see how this went.

"Lutea Grace? More like Lutea Fall-on-your-Face! Hwahaha!" The bunny had a good belly laugh as the cop shouted rather forcefully, obviously upset about the situation. "Big tough police man gonna teach me a lesson now?" he chortled to himself before Reza began to do some rather abnormal things... like mess with a fireball that had formed in his hand.

"Hey, what the-?!" Fwoosh! The rabbit was so baffled by this new development that he didn't even get a chance to attempt a dodge, the flames blazing straight over his now very much ablaze form. "AAAAAAAAAH! CRAP! AH! IT BURNS!" Fluffybuttkins raced out of the flames without an inch of his fur not currently burning like a bonfire, flailing and bouncing and tumbling and getting up and still burning as he panicked and screamed uselessly.

The unexpected development had given Misery pause as well, Gawking rather obviously at the display of pyrotechnics and the aftermath immediately thereafter. She hadn't expected someone else who was special like her to jump in like this!

Wait... what? Now the guy that had flashed the badge at the girl and bunny-monster was now throwing fire. Today made about as much sense as the day he'd nearly been hit by the truck, these people were coming out of the woodwork. Lutea Grace the magical girl, The bunny-monster-thingy, The floating guy, and Fire cop. And he was here. But who else was here? Noah's eyes glanced around to those still about before settling upon the girl called Lutea, still upon the ground at the back of the car where she'd crashed.

"Excuse me." Noah nodded to the man that he had been talking with, politely leaving their conversation. Before stepping off the curb and walking across the street ignoring the burning rabbit and the man that had just BBQ'd it. Moving strait over to Lutea and holding out a strong hand. "Come on, let's get you off the ground." He offered with a winning smile eager to help out in his own way whilst Fluffybuttkins was busy putting himself out.

"That...was far more flammable than I realized" Reza said to himself as he watched the rabbit just burn. He was struggling and flailing around, but he wasn't near anyone or anything. At least property damage was going to be kept at a minimal for now. Reza just kept his eyes on the rabbit, unsure if the creature was finished with its rampage.

As he waited he casually pulled a cigar out of his pocket before placing the tip against his burning palm in order to light it before placing it in his mouth. He casually smoked it as he decided that the rabbit wasn't going to cause problems for a while now. This could be someone else's problem now.

Reza glanced back to see the girl that had been injured along with some kind of newcomer. "You two alright?"

That was.... unexpected! Cody hastily moved from his former position to circle around the intersection to get further away from where the flaming giant rabbit man was screaming in agony and looking like the weirdest novelty candle or something. Should he... try and put it out of its misery?

Considering that prospect, he walked slowly towards where both the man he'd been talking to, the 'magical girl' and the cop were gathering, keeping a bit away, and listened curiously.

With a quick shake of her head, Misery returned to her senses as she realized that someone had approached her and offered a hand up. Her first thought was that he must have been pretty brave to walk straight into the midst of such a dangerous battle, but then perhaps he was special like Fire Man?

"Oh... thanks..." she responded hesitantly with a mild blush as she finally realized that she should probably accept his help and bring herself back onto her feet. Once she'd done so she took a moment to dust off the front and back of her outfit, paying special attention to smoothing out her magical girlishly short skirt. Unlike those other girls, she wasn't wearing a leotard and wasn't especially eager to flash her panties to so many innocent bystanders.

"This isn't over yet, Lutea-..." Buttkins coughed sickly in the middle of his sentence, having finally fallen to the ground and extinguished with no fur left on his entire body. He didn't appear to actually be seriously burned however, so much as mildly charred which was a testament to his actual durability as a foe of Lutea Grace's. This time, however, it did appear to be over as he didn't get up from his position flopped over onto his stomach in the middle of the road. "...-Lutea Shmace..."

"I beg to differ, Mr. Fluffybuttkins!" Misery announced heroically as she stepped around Noah to look upon the barbecued form of her nemesis. It was time to take center stage once again! "This day you've been defeated by the combined efforts of Lutea Grace and Fire Man! It's time to bring this fight to a close!"

With a few elegant spins and twirls, Misery's body lit up in a bright kaleidoscope of colors. It was time for the big finish! She continued to spin about dramatically like a hyperactive ballet star before finally slowing to a stop and casting her attack. "Lutea Pretty Star Absorb!" she called out, pointing her wand forward aggressively as a bright array of colored stars erupted from the tip to strike the unmoving villain. He himself glowed brightly as the stars seemed to vanish into his form before that form morphed into a bright light that returned and absorbed into the tip of the wand.

"And that's that!" Misery announced gallantly with her hands firmly placed upon her hips. And just as quickly as it had begun it was finished as Misery appeared to entirely forget what she'd just done, jogging back to her sisters with a bright smile and some joyously cheerful waving. "Okay, I'm done now! We can go home or whatever!"

"It's about time..." Malady scoffed, throwing her second cigarette to the pavement to be crushed harshly beneath the heel of her designer leather boot. "You even attracted the cops, ya fuckin' bimbo. If we get a ticket or something for this, I'm taking it out on your ass once we get home."

"I-it'll be fine...!" Misery answered with much less enthusiasm than a moment ago, following it up with a nervous, forced chuckle. "People love watching a heroine of justice save the city, see?" She turned about from her position facing her sisters to look back out on the street, cars in general disarray and no one looking all too happy to have been rescued by Lutea Grace. "Uh..."

"Shyeah..." Malaise chimed in sarcastically from her position still laying against the pile of bags meant for Misery to carry. "Keep it up... A few more of those rescues and we may not be welcome in the city anymore..."

The girl was light, Noah noticed as he pulled Lutea to her feet with ease, stepping back to let her have her spotlight convinced now that she was a street performer. And this had been a wonderful act for her to put on as she was quick to vanquish the card-carrying-evil monster and save the day. "I think we're alright." Noah responded to dismiss the fire throwing man's concern.

Noah would quietly applaud having silently returned to his shopping bags. Grasping them and began moving passing the opposite side of the street from the three ladies. Close enough to hear Malady's threat but wise enough to know not to intervene as the three of them sounded close.

Though he worked Security Noah wasn't too big into dealing with anyone higher than beat-cop.  This had been quite the pleasant distraction but now he had to get home and get to work. Though he would move slowly making sure there was nothing else that needed his attention before he scurried off home.

"I get the feeling you're right" Reza said mostly to himself as he watched the rest of the display. He still couldn't quite figure out what was going on, not until the girl absorbed the rabbit in to her wand though. So, the girl was a powered and the bunny seemed to have come from her in the first place....great. Shit like this only made Reza's job harder. He shook his head as he watched Misery travel back to her two sisters.

The situation had been taken care of, but people weren't going to be happy about this. Reza was going to have to do something or else he'd get an earful from public relations later.

Reza casually strolled over, heading over to where the three girls now stood. "Excuse me ladies" Reza said as he walked over. "Sorry, going to have to bother you for a few minutes, or at least you" Reza said as he looked over to Misery. "Miss...Lutea was it?" Reza questioned before continuing on. "Would you mind explaining to me what exactly just happened. I think I have most of it figured out but I could use a bit of confirmation before I report this to my boss"

The 'fight' continued to be interesting to watch, and once he'd decided it was just a show, it was fairly entertaining as well. Lutea rallied remarkably from having it interrupted by the the fire wielding cop, and Cody joined in with the other man in a quite round of applause once it was over.

He was about to go as well, but just as he was turning to find somewhere metal to pull himself up to, the cop went over to talk to the three women (sisters?). There might be a little more entertainment to see here.

"Excuse me, ladies." The words and who was speaking them made Misery's heart sink. She really was about to get in trouble for being a super magical girl and saving the day for everyone in the city! She gulped, her eyes shifting about in a guilty panic as she attempted to come up with something to say.

"Isn't it obvious?! Lutea Grace is the best magical girl in the world, keeping this city and the world safe from all kinds of awful monsters and villains!" Chimed a bright, cheery voice as an orb shaped... thing emerged from behind the pile of bags. One could most closely relate it to a white and blue pacman-like creation with stubby little arms and legs that appeared to serve no function other than locomotion and looking totally adorable as it waddled about.

"Dolfini!" Misery called out with excitement, instantly losing her panicked expression as she turned to scoop the roly-poly figment into her arms. "You need to stop hiding whenever there's danger about and be more brave. I really could have used your help out there!"

"I know..." Dolfini's expression turned down as he replied with some disappointment. "I can't help it though. You fight such scary things!"

"It's okay! You can be brave next time, right?! Haha!" Misery giggled with enjoyment as she poked and tickled the fat little ball into a laughing fit. Obviously Reza wasn't going to get any sort of formal explanation from her like this.

Malady, in the meantime, simply stared at the cop with an annoyed expression while Malaise pretended to be too asleep to be questioned. She really couldn't be bothered.

As much as he'd wanted to bow out of this shindig, Noah stopped short feigning interest in a rack of Oranges that claimed fresh. He was still within earshot as the hustle and bustle returned to the streets. He even glanced over to see the new... thing... whatever it was and the magical girl playing with it like it was some kind of pet.

The officer was now trying to question the three girls that were most likely related in some way. He was simply doing his job but Noah would rather not be involved in something like police questioning, he guarded some pretty private stuff and the last thing he wanted was a detective snooping around his employers warehouses. Even if said cop could shoot fire.

Reza just watched, staring at the exchange between Misery and whatever this...thing was. The powers that were creeping in to the world were getting out of hand. Reza could throw fire, and yet there were people who could do all kinds of things. The world was starting to change, even if only a small amount of the population had received these powers. Reza just had to learn how to figure it out, he could only imagine how everyone without powers would deal with it.

"Right" Reza said as he put his notepad away. He was going to take a statement, but he had no idea what kind of a statement this was going to be. "Look, I don't exactly know what happened...but if you girls had anything to do with it try to keep your heads down okay? People are scared as it is, we don't need anyone showing off and scaring them even more" Reza said as he was mainly looking at Misery at this point. "Just be careful please, people are watching our kind as it is. No need to make it harder on everyone else right?"

"I'm not making anything harder!" Misery shouted, immediately switching from playing with Dolfini to an angry pout, holding her finger up at Reza matter of factly as she spoke. "I'm making the world a better place for everyone! Just cuz you're Fire Man doesn't mean you can boss me around, mister!"

"Yeah!" Dolfini chimed in with gusto from his new perch atop her head. "Everyone knows Lutea Grace helps the weak and protects justice!"

At this new outburst, Malady rubbed the bridge of her nose as if she were developing a serious migraine before taking a step toward Misery and laying a hand on her shoulder. Almost instantly the magical girl appeared to be growing green around the gills, her previous enthusiasm fading into woozy wobbling before hitting a high point as she gagged and struggled with... something. That something became much more obvious moments later, however as she began to upchuck all over the sidewalk. In order to shut her up in the worst way possible, her sister had put together a murderously sadistic cocktail of viruses to infect her with.

"We're going!" Malady barked the order. "Malaise! Get the bags! I'm not waiting all night for Misery to get home so I can try on my new boots." At that, she turned to Misery with a scowl. "Once you've crawled your way home I'll cure you, but not a moment before."

"Damnit!" Malaise cursed, jumping up from her false sleep with her own angry expression now. A lazy woman like her wasn't meant to carry someone else's bags and now look what had happened! "Why do you have to suck so much dick, Misery?!" And with that said, she hauled off and slugged the poor girl straight in the face, sending the weakened sister toppling to the sidewalk before both elder sisters stormed off with bags in tow.

And that's how Misery's attempt to bring joy to the masses ended; laying in a puddle of vomit with a black eye. Dolfini stood at her side still, attempting to fan the ill woman with his little stubby arms as she let out a pained sob.

Well that went swimmingly, Noah thought to himself as he watched the girl become defensive with the cop again. But then something distinctly odd happened the girl fell instantly ill after being confronted by her older dark haired companion and was summarily punched by her red-headed companion. They were devious to leave her crying in a puddle of her own disgorging.

Forgetting that he'd been trying to keep himself out of the cops line of attention. Noah approached the girl and squatted down, a few feet from her and the officer passing her sisters as he did so.

"Hey, hang in there Superhero." Noah cooed trying to bring Misery into better spirits, before looking up at the cop. "We should get her to a hospital. She doesn't look so good." All in all as much as he didn't want to be around cops he'd rather put what the Lutea needed before what he wanted.