Vitalizers Chapter 4 - In Shining Armor (OC Princess TF/MC)

List of 10 Cutest Magical Girls in New Union - Who's Number 1? -Buzzfae

Strange Figures Seen Near Villain Attacks; MGA Refuses Comment -New Union One

Villainous Fashions - Telling the Costumes From the Traps -Glamour Gala

— — — — —

Celica Klyne had allowed herself to sleep in - her van was parked somewhere nice and nobody was bothering her. Others might think that hers was a sad life if she had to live in a van, but frankly, it was a choice for her; she liked the freedom of it more than she would want to settle in one spot. Her job at the MGA paid well enough that she probably could get an apartment if she wanted, but that would be rooting herself to a spot.

She woke up slowly, in a mess of blankets in the spacious back of the van, and let herself enjoy the moment. “Ah… that was a good sleep… maybe I should sleep in a bit more…” she said with a yawn. She was always a little bit tired, though today had at least let her feel kind of good waking up. She did want to just, continue sleeping, but if she did that then she’d never get anything done that day.

Celica got herself a breakfast shake out of an icebox and then pulled out her phone, flipping through any messages she might have missed overnight. Mostly some cute pictures from her friends. Seeing one of them trying out twintails reminded her of Alex and their magical girl form - maybe she should tease them and get them to try out some girly outfits. She’d have to see if she could swing that without being too mean about it, the female version of Alex would look great in them.

She spent the first hour or so since waking up replying to just about anything her online friends had said overnight. Didn’t want them to think she was ignoring them. She browsed chatrooms and even the forums for MagiGal Watch, a popular Magical Girl focused blog. Nothing new that had to do with her, she was pretty sure. Then she went back to the earlier chats to check for responses.

Her mind properly running after the short conversations, she checked the time on her phone. “…Excuse me?” she said aloud. It was nearly noon. Surely that wasn’t right. She’d hardly done anything with her day yet but sleep, drink something, and chat!

Scrambling to throw on some proper clothes, Celica prepared herself to leave the van for work. She was parked pretty close to the MGA so if she hurried she wouldn’t be too late for the meeting!

“Oh fuck, oh damn it,” she swore as she leapt out of the van and started running off - only to recall what she was doing and backtrack to close the doors and lock it up before running off again.

—————

“Ehehehe… slept in, sorry~” Celica laughed as she arrived in the Magical Girl Association.

Maya, or Vita Rose, gave her a sharp look and pointedly tapped her wrist as if she had a watch. “How late did you stay up? It’s past noon, are you telling me you slept that long?”

“Maybe you should sleep a bit earlier? It’s probably not healthy to stay up so late that you don’t get up until lunch.” Alex, currently in mundane form rather than their Vita Sky self, added.

“Oh, relax~ It’s not like these meetings are that important, if it was we’d get the big loud alerts right?” Celica waved off the concern, even though she did feel kinda really bad about it.

“What’s the meeting about, anyway…?” Hina, the newest member of the team and their Handler, asked. “You probably told me and I forgot, sorry, but I don’t think we’ve had one.”

“It’s the meeting to review our last few combats.” Maya said, adjusting her glasses. “As Magical Girls, it’s our job to make sure we’re constantly improving, so we must observe past actions and ensure that when next we fight, we do better. Usually we do them sooner, but seeing as Celica was indisposed for a time…” she snapped her finger loudly, and Celica found herself involuntarily saluting. “We’ve only been able to begin now.”

Celica awkwardly dropped her arm, laughing to play it off. “Ehehehe… yeah, sorry about that…” she said.

The group filed in to a meeting room that had been reserved for them, and Maya put up a video on a screen. “This is what footage we have of our past two engagements. Thank you, Hina, for providing your recordings.”

“I didn’t even know I had recordings before now…” Hina said, rubbing her ponytail. “Hope they’re helpful.”

The first fight was a pretty simple one to follow. The group talked about how they should have waited to get more information about the foe, how they needed to be on standby to save each other if one tried to attack and botched it. Maya was probably a bit overly focused on this one - she obviously felt bad about being taken so easily. Or maybe… “Are you trying to rush us through this one so we don’t pay attention to you in a bunny suit, hmm hmm~?” Celica posited.

Maya flushed, and adjusted her glasses. “A-Absolutely not. I reviewed my own performance thoroughly and just don’t have very much to speak about.”

Alex nodded quietly. They hadn’t been talking very much in this meeting, so Celica turned to them. “Well, what about you~? Bet you’re appreciating the sight of your girl form in a hot outfit~?”

Celica’s provocation seemed to work, as Alex turned tomato red. “I-I, uh, I, well, it was, uh, cute…”

“No need to be shy~ You make a cute girl~”

“Stop teasing the young man, please.” Maya interrupted. “It’s getting us off topic.”

Ah. Had she fucked up again? Made her friends mad at her? They were probably mad at her. Celica sat back in her seat and tried to make herself small. “Sorry.” She said. Though, Alex… didn’t look unhappy.

The next one was the fight against the Marshal, and that was another notable one to watch. The recording began when the group had been able to intervene, after Vita Rose began the fight on her own. Maya made a point of speaking about what the cameras had not captured on that matter, and condemned her own actions in that time.

Arriving late, Vita Sun and Vita Sky had first had to prioritize saving their impulsive teammate. A fast shield and a blast to knock out the attackers had taken care of that, but afterwards, they started having issues when they began to fight as individuals against such a large number of minions.

Celica fidgeted in place as the cameras caught her being taken by the minions - overwhelmed in close combat when she didn’t have time to rest between shields. She should have noticed the danger and pulled back, she thought. Or maybe she should have been able to fight them off, the other two had had to deal with larger numbers of minions than her and they were fine. But she was a support fighter and not a strong personal combatant, so she’d been taken easily, and dragged over to be turned against the team.

As the video showed her transformation, Celica was prepared for the conversation to turn to how useless she was - just a liability really. But she was saved as, when Maya opened her mouth to continue, they instead got interrupted by a blaring alert. Unauthorized magic detected, and reports beginning to flood in about a newly appeared Villain.

“We’ll finish this conversation later.” Maya said, adjusting her glasses and gripping a small gem on a necklace - a focus for her transformation, even though for her it was basically natural.

“Ah! I’ll get going and try and start preparing, I think,” Hina said, pulling a small device out of her pocket that would instantly equip her magitech Handler gear as she already began to run for the door.

“O-Oh, it’s time to transform…” Alex said, with a small, barely perceptible smile.

“Hmm, hmm~ I wonder what sort of Villain thought it was okay to interrupt us like this~?” Celica said, standing and putting herself back into her confident persona. “Let’s go make them realize the mistake~!”

— — — — —

“I think I’ve found them!” came Hina’s message, as the team approached their foe’s location. “Since initial detection they’ve moved four blocks South, or something like that. Very few combatants detected, so I think this type isn’t making too many fighty minions.” Hina said.

The Vitalizers, now all in magical forms, followed their Handler’s directions towards the villain. Police were already moving in to restrict movements and keep new people from entering the area where they might fall victim to the Villain, so they could engage without fear. “I wonder what sort of foe this one will be~? So many different kinds…” Vita Sun wondered aloud.

“I’m getting a visual on them now! Looks like… lots of armor on the Villain themselves, not a lot on the people around them.” Hina said.

“Maybe it’s a fighting type? Since it seems like the minions aren’t tough.” Vita Sky suggested.

“A-Ah, yeah, the sword kinda implies that…” Hina added.

Soon the Magical Girls were turning a corner and could see the foe themselves. They were a tall individual with  elaborate plate armor. It hid much of their figure, leaving it a mystery if they were a man or a woman, not least because she wore a fully concealing helmet as well. Their tabard and shield bore elaborate rose-and-vine crests.

This was a knight that had not come to dally and dance - they were a proper fighter alright. Their minions, from the look of it, were more for personal enjoyment; beautiful damsels in elaborate silks, fawning over their “Charm Knight”.

There wasn’t going to be an ambush this time - the street was too open and even striking from the back would not break their armor so easily. So the team stepped forward to face the Charm Knight. Vita Sun took the lead. “Hello there, Prince Charming! Is your personality perhaps not so charming after all if you need to use magic to woo these ladies, hmm hmm~?” she said. While Vita Rose was the sort who preferred action to words - brutally practical, that girl - Vita Sun saw no harm in exchanging barbs with the foe. After all, where was the fun in a grim-faced silent contest? Nowhere!

“Oh, darlings!” The Charm Knight said, spreading their arms wide - their voice muffled by their helmet. “So good to join us! And what a dazzling trio you are! Come, come! I’ve been searching for so long for a proper princess to save, but none of these ladies thus far have been worthy of the title! Mayhaps you will be different?”

“Come join us~” One of the women said.

“They’re so dashing!” Another swooned.

“You’ll look pretty in the dress~”

“And prettier out of it, ohoho~”

“Hmph. You’re annoying me.” Vita Rose said, cracking her knuckles and dropping into a boxing stance, “We’re not here to be your arm candy. We’re here to stop you.”

“Yeah! Stop being a creep!” Vita Sky added, pulling her wand out. “Going to knock some manners into you!”

“If you face me, there is no difference.” The Charm Knight said confidently. “Come, then! Come, and face a true knight of honor!”

The fight began… slowly. Not really a fight at all in it’s early stages, as the trio of Magical Girls spread out. The maidens in the peanut gallery began to talk amongst themselves as if watching a show or something, cheering on their Charm Knight and telling the girls to just give up and become more cute girlfriends. No blows were exchanged for a surprisingly large amount of time as they sized each other up.

In previous fights the Villain had opened with minions, fighters who did their attacks for them. But Charm Knight was a different breed. They were in a combat posture with their blade drawn and shield protectively in front of them. Hina tried to analyze her, but with how mundane her tactic seemed to be, there was nothing magical to interpret. She was just ready to fight with sword and board.

Vita Rose broke the stalemate first, charging forward and throwing a punch. She might have been barehanded, but magical enhancement would make her blows land like a war hammer. The first slammed against the Charm Knight’s shield and bounced away, and the second went around to try and get under their guard. That second was intercepted by a swing of Charm Knight’s sword. Vita Rose leapt back - it had been a probing attack, a test of the foe’s defenses. “Sky, Sun. The shield is magic, try not to hit it head on,” she reported - meaning more magical than just it’s initial creation, since it would need to do more than “be a shield” to not crumple against one of her blows. “They ignored my attack at their body to attack me in turn; bet the armor’s tough too.”

“Oh-ho! A smart foe! I do believe I will enjoy this battle!” The Charm Knight said, before charging forward in turn. It was their time to take the initiative!

“So cool!”

“Nothing can break our Charm Knight’s armor!”

“Daaaarling~ Maybe make one of them a maid for meeee~?”

“Mmhm! Good to know, Vita Rose!” Vita Sun nodded at her teammate. That was useful. Maybe she could be useful too…? She wasn’t a particularly strong attacker, better at defense and support - just perfect with the Charm Knight bearing down on them!

The Knight was facing down against Vita Rose still, swinging their sword at the Magical Girl. Vita Sun focused and put up a shield in between the two, trying to interfere with the attack. It worked better than Celica expected, bouncing the sword right off the shield - but rather than be stunned, the Charm Knight turned the bounce into a new swing targeted at Vita Sun instead.

Not expecting the quick thinking of their foe, Celica took the hit and was knocked away. Vita Sky took the opportunity to strike for herself, sending a beam of magic at the Charm Knight. “Ah, Sky, no, their shield’s magic will-“ Hina tried to warn, but a bit too late. The foe shifted their position, bringing up their own shield between themselves and Vita Sky. The magical beam suddenly bounced, deflected off the shield and flying off into the distance. A couple blocks away, Hina had to duck as it swept over her head. “Watch it!”

“Sorry!” Vita Sky yelped, looking to see that Hina was alright - and giving the Charm Knight an opportunity to close in.

“Oh my, what a beautiful maiden!” The Charm Knight said as they reached over to cup Alex’s chin in their hands. “You simply must be the Princess I’ve been searching for!”

“E-Eh?” Vita Sky was too surprised to even speak. Especially when the Charm Knight removed their helmet.

Flowing golden hair spread behind them, as they revealed a beautiful face - the Charm Knight was a very attractive woman, and Vita Sky flushed. “They call you Vita Sky, but I believe the name fails to capture your shining beauty. The mere sky could never compare!”

“E-Eh!? W-What are you saying!?” Vita Sky shouted, going as red as a tomato - she was prepared for an attack, not a beautiful woman complimenting her! Charm Knight moved to hold Vita Sky close, and in response the Magical Girl blasted her once more at close range, using the force to knock herself out of the way.

“Vita Sky, I think she’s trying something! B-Be careful!” Hina said, even as Vita Rose moved to re-engage with the Charm Knight and keep her away from their teammate.

Alex landed a good distance from the fight, taking a moment to catch her breath. It was simply unreasonable for the lady knight to be so pretty. There was no reason for her to be that pretty! And to talk to her like that… well she liked the compliments, of course, but still! It was so embarassing… Vita Sky was so focused on her own thoughts that she hadn’t realized that she’d landed near the charmed women, who were closing in on her like a pack of hyenas.

“Oooh~ I see our prince charming has found her princess~” One said.

“She really is very pretty! Her hair is such a nice shade of blue!”

“And her skin is so smooth~”

“Such a nice figure!”

“We should make her ready for Charm Knight~”

Vita Sky turned just in time to see the women lunge at her, grabbing her from every angle and practically dragging her back into the pack. “W-Wha- leave me alone- s-stop!” Vita Sky stammered as she was surrounded. Two of the women appeared with makeshift curtains to put in between the Magical Girl and her fellows, while others came with cosmetics, with a dress.

The handmaidens swarmed her like a pack of wild dogs tearing into their prey. But rather than, well, eating Vita Sky, they were changing her. They forcefully pulled her out of her clothes, except for her undergarments - the pink, white, and blue bra and panties were deemed adequately cute and allowed to remain.

Alex found herself set up in front of a makeshift vanity, blinking the shock away. The women were not powerful, and if Vita Sky were less flustered she’d easily blast her way out, but they were very enthusiastic and insistent, which combined with the young lady’s embarrassment about her state of dress made it rather difficult to do anything but complain - she couldn’t go out there in her underwear!

“A bit of blush, a bit of shadow…” One of the handmaidens murmured, “It’s really unfair, how are you allowed to be so cute without any makeup?” She complained, even as she went and applied the cosmetics to Alex’s face.

“I-I’m not cute…” Vita Sky muttered. She was a fake, how could she be cute.

“That’s right, you’re not cute,” Another woman agreed, and Vita Sky’s heart sank, “You’re very cute. Now pucker up for the lipstick.”

“Bwuh-“ Vita Sky gasped, but the woman did as she said.

More handmaidens arrived, now bearing a gown. “It was kind of short notice for the dress, but we got one that looks like it’ll be good! Blue is really her color.”

They somehow managed to force Alex into the dress - a modest blue number that matched her hair. It was a finely cut piece, emphasizing her figure without flaunting it, and absolutely bedecked in frills and silks. It’s skirt was wide and poofy, and frankly, Vita Sky was just glad there wasn’t a corset.

After they got her in the dress they took some brushes to her hair. Already lengthy, it got even longer and more fancy as they subtly restyled it. She naturally had twintails in this form, but now they were larger and curled into refined ringlets. They emphasized this with significantly larger flowers pinning the hair in the style, along with smaller ones trailing down her locks.

“T-This is too much, really, I just look silly,” Vita Sky stammered. It was hard to remember that this was something being done by a Villain’s minions. It felt kind of nice to be pampered like this, to be taken care of.

“Nonsense! You’re the prettiest of all of us~!” One of the handmaidens said, as they tried out a few different kinds of jewelry. Soon the finishing touches were done, adding a sapphire necklace and gold bangles to the new outfit. Her shoes were swapped for elegant high-heels, and her gloves replaced.

The Magical Girl could hardly recognize the elegant woman in the mirror. She was so pretty… that couldn’t be her, could it?

“There we go~ Beauty befitting Charm Knight’s darling princess~”

“Princess…?” Vita Sky stammered.

Vita Sky was in a daze as she was escorted out of the makeshift booth and back onto the street. Charm Knight was waiting for her now, as a group of the handmaidens fanned out to make themselves nuisances to the rest of the Vitalizers and give her this moment to meet with her captive.

The Charm Knight’s eyes widened as she saw Vita Sky, and she dropped to one knee. “Darling, you’re more dazzling than I could ever have imagined! The seas and sky are dreary in comparison to your radiance! I could get lost in the depths of your sapphire eyes! Please, darling, be this unworthy knight’s Princess!”

It was so strange to see such an attractive woman falling over herself in seeking Alex’s favor. She was so pretty, so strong… her perfume was intoxicating, the way her armor shined dazzling. Sky felt she could be safe with her, be protected and cared for… her eyes started to swirl with spirals as the Charm Knight’s hypnosis took root. She could be a princess for her. She wanted to be her princess, to be her darling…

The increasingly hypnotized Magical Girl took the Charm Knight’s hand and smiled. “Please, my Knight. Rise. I want nothing more than to be yours… you’ve earned my favor…” she said. She took a blue rose from her dress and pinned it in the Charm Knight’s hair.

The Villain rose and leaned forward to delicately kiss her Princess on the lips. “Oh, Princess, I am honored… by what name shall I call you, my sun, my radiance?”

The brainwashing locked in, the former Vita Sky withdrew. She curtsied. “You might call me Princess Skyla, madam knight. I look forward to our courtship. For now, though, I suppose we must attend my friends? I’m certain they’ll be made to see how dashing you are shortly.” One of the handmaidens offered Princess Skyla her wand, which now looked like a royal scepter. “May I assist you in your battle, my Charm Knight?”

Charm Knight bowed and kissed her princesses’ hand. “Of course, Princess Skyla, whatever you desire.” She said, before turning to the Magical Girls again.

“Well… it looks like Vita Sky has been, uh, compromised…” Hina said awkwardly - Vita Rose and Vita Sun finished beating off the interfering handmaidens just in time to see the transformation wrap up. “…Very cute though.”

““Oh, that’ll be troublesome won’t it…” Celica huffed. She should have been able to protect her! But she’d let herself be knocked away and by the time she was up and at them again she was too late to help. She’d messed up once again and made the situation far more difficult than it had to be - it was two against one.

The Charm Knight resumed their attack. Once again, Vita Rose intercepted - and Vita Sun added her protective spells, so that when the Charm Knight struck with her blade it didn’t do much harm. “Just because you claimed one of our members doesn’t mean you’ll win, princess charming!” Vita Rose said as she landed a surprise kick on the Charm Knight’s side.

“Oh-ho! Does it not? Princess Skyla, my darling~?”

“Of course, Charm Knight, darling~!” Princess Skyla replied, bringing her scepter close to her chest and closing her eyes.

“Oh, that’s… not good…” Hina said, as she tried to analyze the magic that the newly made Princess was doing. “I think she’s not just arm candy! She’s charging up some kind of magic to help the knight… I think it feels kind of like Vita Sun’s?”

As Charm Knight and Vita Rose clashed, Charm Knight started to glow softly blue. “Ah! My lady’s favor strengthens me! With her behind me, I could never fail!” she haughtily declared, and suddenly Maya was being pressed back - the sword bursting through her guard, the shield more protective than before.

“Sun, could use some help!” Vita Rose called - her own practical skills helped make up for her disadvantage, but there was only so much she could do; she was using her fist against a blade, and while swords weren’t renowned for a long range they were certainly further reaching than fisticuffs.

Vita Sun swallowed hard. Oh, of course - “Princess Skyla” was even better at support than she was. Why was she even here? The logical part of her told her it was because of the Charm Knight’s influence, and not because of Alex’s normal magic. She shook her head - focus on the fight. She added her own magic to the battle, boosting Vita Rose with a golden light.

“Charm Knight’s gotten a lot stronger now! Not just Sky’s magic, she seems like just having her there is helping!” Hina said. “I think we need to neutralize Sky-“

“Hmmm~ I see we have a rude little voyeur~!” came the elegant tone of Princess Skyla. Despite being stripped of her Magical Girl uniform, Vita Sky was still linked into their communications. “That’s hardly fair to my darling, now is it~? Perhaps you should become a maid of mine, Hina~!”

“...Oh no.” Hina said - and ducked once again as a blast of sparkling blue magic passed above her head. “H-Hey, she’s going for me now, so that’s a decent distraction?”

Vita Rose kept trading blows with Charm Knight, strike for strike. She managed to duck and weave through most of the strokes of the sword, leveraging both magical enhancement and pure skill to keep herself in the fight against a better armed and armored opponent, but she could only go for so long. And, as Princess Skyla sent long range blasts of magic against Hina, it was obvious that this was not a state of affairs that could go forever.

Vita Sun realized she had to contribute more to the fight. She could enhance Vita Rose, and not a small amount either. But she wasn’t as much of a fighter as Alex was and right now, Princess Skyla was firmly on the side of the Charm Knight; whether she dealt with Hina or got bored and decided to return to enhancing the Charm Knight, or even blasting at Vita Sun and Vita Rose directly, once she returned to the fight she’d be a decisive weight on the scale.

Celica bit her lip. This was… too much, wasn’t it? It was her failings that had let Alex be so easily taken, her failings that let the Charm Knight make a mess of them. And now ‘Princess Skyla’ was doing her job better than she could and was a competent combatant besides. If she’d been taken like last time they’d have hardly noticed her absence.

“Vita Sun!” Rose called, as she ducked a sword swing and sent a jarring left hook at the Charm Knight’s helmet in response, “I’m busy here, so you’ll have to deal with Sky! Stop her from empowering the Villain and we win this!”

“How!? I can’t exactly out blast that walking talking magical artillery, Rose!” Vita Sun complained - her confident facade momentarily cracked.

“Well, distract her at least! You know how people work, or at least how we work, so put it to use!” Vita Rose insisted.

“You think I’ll let you harm my Princess? How little you think of your foe!” Charm Knight laughed, and redoubled their efforts to beat Vita Rose down. “You are strong! Perhaps you shall be my Squire Rosaline when we are done! I can train you in the ways of knighthood!”

Celica swallowed hard. Alright. She had to do it. She strengthened her blessing on Vita Rose enough that it would persist for a time without her influence, and then turned her attention. ‘Princess Skyla’ was on the other side of the battling ladies, still trying to take aim at Hina - her sweeping blasts were another hazard that both the Charm Knight and Vita Rose ducked and weaved through while engaged in their violent dance.

Vita Sun picked her timing well, in between a beam of Princess Skyla’s magic and while Vita Rose had herself in between Charm Knight and her princess. She approached Princess Skyla slowly, trying to think how she’d distract her. What was she good at, anyway? She couldn’t smack her, using her enhancement would be completely counterproductive, and if she tried a beam she’d be overmatched easily. What was Vita Sun good for in this kind of situation?

“Hm? Have you come to submit, and become one of my darling Charm Knight’s adoring lady loves?” Princess Skyla asked with a head tilt as Vita Sun approached. “I’m sure the girls have just the dress for you, Celica.”

“I’m sure nothing I could possibly wear would make me look nearly as pretty as you.” Vita Sun said before she even realized she was speaking. It came out automatically; she loved to tease her friends, and the words came easy. Alex especially was easy to play with; they’d be absolutely mortified with how they were acting right now once they were saved, nevermind the fancy dress. And…

Skyla was blushing, just a bit. She’d taken the compliment at face value and clearly enjoyed it. “O-Oh, I’m certain we could find you something, b-but thank you. You flatter me.”

If Celica was good at one thing, it was talking. And Princess Skyla - being rather more independent than your usual victim of hypnosis, in accordance with her power on par with the Villain’s - was more vulnerable to words than she’d ever be to mere magical attacks. There was a gleam in her eye as she caught on to a plan.

“Thank you-“ Hina’s voice added over the comms. She’d been narrowly avoiding blasts for several minutes now (and half her outfit had been somehow replaced by that of a maid - she wasn’t even sure how Skyla was doing that).

Vita Sun pressed forward heedless of the words, focusing on Princess Skyla. “Oh, why would I need empty flattery to talk to you~?” Vita Sun said. She stepped a bit closer. “Why would I need such a thing when you really are that pretty~?”

Skyla swallowed a bit, flushing a bit brighter red. “I-I thank you, truly… but perhaps we can speak more after my Charm Knight has finished? I’m sure you’d be a delightful handmaiden, or even a fellow princess.”

“Charm Knight just cares for your beauty. And in due fairness to her, you certainly don’t lack for it.” Celica said. She stepped closer still, a smile curling on her lips as she spoke. “But I think it’s quite shallow to only care for a maiden’s beauty, don’t you~? What about your personality, your mind?”

The blush was creeping higher, and it seemed that Princess Skyla was quite thoroughly distracted. “I-I, uh, I see… Charm Knight surely cares for such things. She is no poet, for all her virtues, and can only put the words to things she has seen. We’ve only met recently.”

“Ah, but I’ve known you for a long time, haven’t I?” Vita Sun said. “I’ve cared about you for quite a while, haven’t I?” As a friend, but it was clear that Princess Skyla saw the world through a field of roses, she could interpret that how she pleased.

“I-I suppose,” Princess Skyla stammered. “It’ll only make it all the better to be sisters in love with our darling…”

“Hmm~? Oh, you’re okay with sharing me, hmm hmm~?” Vita Sun teased. She was close now - close enough to cup Princess Skyla’s chin with her hand and make her look closely. “You, my friend, are a very kind person. One who cares about their friends more than anything, who stands by their beliefs. This and more makes me care about you. What if a selfish person like me doesn’t want to share a selfless flower like you~?”

She was laying it on thick but that was clearly working. She could practically see the steam coming from Princess Skyla’s ears, and even the peanut gallery of handmaidens was whispering and swooning. They seemed intrigued in hearthrobbing action of any kind, not just featuring their Charm Knight.

“Darling Princess, might I beg of you a boon?” Came Charm Knight’s voice. In Skyla’s distraction, her blessing had faded. “That I might strike these foes and make them see things the way we do.” She was being pushed back by Vita Rose’s attacks now.

“Why don’t I ask a boon, Princess Skyla~?” Vita Sun interrupted. “Why don’t I ask that you give one of your dearest friends a little kiss and let us go home, hmm hmm~?”

Princess Skyla was flustered and distracted, but she answered - and leaned up to give Celica a kiss. A nearly chaste one, but one on the lips.

“Oh, dear…” Charm Knight said, as Vita Sun was empowered, a blue glow mixing with her own magic’s yellow.

She turned and smiled a cocksure grin at the lady knight. “Now, ‘darling’, might we have a little dance together~?”

Celica’s magical blasts were never the most impressive, but with this magical assistance even she could put out strong attacks. She launched a beam of magic that the Charm Knight was forced to block with their shield. But rather than bounce this time, it pressed against it, forcing her to keep her guard up - even as Vita Rose came swinging in.

The Charm Knight was forced to fall back, step by step. With Celica now capable of contributing to the fight they had a hard time holding their ground; if they tried to strike at one Magical Girl, the other was on them. Dents in the armor built up, and up, and culminated when Vita Sun had them locked down with another blast. An ax kick to the back of the head from Vita Rose, boosted with a burst of magic at the moment before impact, sent the Charm Knight sprawling to the ground.

“I thought you were a boxer.” Hina noted.

“Among other things.” Maya flipped her hair over her shoulder casually, an echo of her adjusting her glasses in mundane form. “My lessons since learning my magic is better at physical augmentation than ranged attacks have been thorough.”

“…I see.”

With the Villain defeated, their magic began to dissipate, the brainwashing especially. Cars came in as the MGA sent a cleanup team to take the Charm Knight into custody and their victims to the hospitals. Most of the maidens were dazed and confused as the hypnosis fell from them.

Skyla wasn’t. She was clinging to Celica’s arm the whole time. Either her brainwashing had been more thorough than the others or Celica’s redirecting of her affections meant that she wasn’t fading as fast, but ‘Princess Skyla’ was affectionate enough that Vita Sun had to ride the car back to the MGA with her.

—————

“This was a failure of our teamwork.” Maya said. “We didn’t work together and support each other, and as a result, allowed Celica to be isolated and captured.”

They were picking up the meeting where they left off, having brought the Villain down. They were missing Alex - ‘Princess Skyla’ was still in the hospital ward where they had healing magic users working on deprogramming her conditioning.

Celica blinked at Maya’s assessment. “Excuse me? No, I think that was my fault. I should have stuck with you.”

“You should have.” Maya agreed. “But the responsibility for you becoming ‘Lieutenant Sun’ is on no one person, any more than Alex being turned into Princess Skyla is any single person’s fault. We’re fighting together. Making up for each other’s failings is part of the job description. So if something is one person’s fault, it’s all of ours.”

Hina nodded. “Yeah! It wasn’t your fault. And you were super helpful against Spellbinding Sorcerer! You should be proud of what you do, Celica!”

Celica swallowed hard. Surely they were just being kind to spare her feelings. She had failed, and consistently. But they were being nice about it.

Maybe she could accept that. They wanted to be nice to her, and why shouldn’t she let them? She sighed. “Oh, very well, if you insist that you share the blame, I suppose I can lend you some, Ruby Rabbit~”

Maya’s cheeks colored just a bit. “Good. Now, I think that’s all we can handle for now, until Alex is feeling better. Speaking of which, Skyla was asking for you again.”

— — — — —

“Awww, that was a fun one though!”

“Few acting on their own last long against the MGA. You shouldn’t get attached.”

“I appreciate her style, making friends like that.”

“In a sense.”

“You’re no fun, Hecate.”

“This is not supposed to be fun.”

“Plans for the debut moving along?”

“Of course. And you’ll be ready?”