Chapter Text
Jay was having what he considered a mostly average day up to that point, of going to the arcade to see if there were any new games in yet or any new prizes in the claw machines, when he heard the noise and commotion outside.
“RUN AWAY IT’S A MONSTER ATTACKING!!!”
Ah, shit. It had been a while since he had been nearby a monster attack, but this was the first time it had happened in this area. He wasn’t quite familiar with the evacuation areas, so he tried to duck into a bathroom, grabbing his stuff. Jay never really understood why they always told you to leave your belongings behind in like a fire drill and stuff, like surely you can grab a bag or something without being a nuisance?
He turned the lock of the private stall, testing the handle to make sure that it at the very least could hold for a second, sighing as he then realized the position he just put himself in.
Wouldn’t it have been better for him to try to just run away? Cause now he can’t exactly go anywhere if the monster comes in this building…. And this room isn’t exactly equipped for self defense….
Ah, well. Can’t worry about that right now, Jay thought. Might as well gather his belongings and make sure he’s got everything with him and didn’t drop his phone….
He laid out everything on the counter. A half full soda, portable battery and cable, wallet, coin holder, headphones, headphones case, backpack, mysterious object that he hadn’t ever seen before…..
wait what was that last one
Did he accidentally grab someone else’s stuff??? He hoped not, since it’d probably be a lot harder to give it back to them at this point. Did he somehow forget that he had won a prize? No, especially since this seemed like it was WAY too nice to be in a claw machine. Or a Stacker machine, even….
It was some sort of circular object, metallic in nature, with a bunch of gemstones circling a much larger center red gemstone and a hinge on the side. It seemed like it might contain something, being big enough to hold something relatively small, but it didn’t seem like he knew exactly how to open it, if he could at all. It didn’t seem to have any sort of latch or button or release….
Wait, that’s why it seemed a bit familiar. Was this a makeup compact or something? Why was it so big, though? Jay needed to make sure he returned this to whoever owned it, they’d probably be pissed to lose it!
He began to try to clean it a bit with his hoodie to get some of the dust off, and accidentally cuts his thumb on the sharp middle gem.
“Ah, shit!” He licks his thumb a bit, before realizing he accidentally bled a drop on the object. “Dang, I gotta make sure that can come off later…” While looking around to see if there’s anything he can wipe it off with, he noticed it begin to pulse and glow.
“Is it supposed to be doing this?……” before he could question whether or not he should keep holding it, a blast of light shined from the center and projected an image of a pink and white cloud creature above like a hologram, holding steady as he fumbled around in surprise.
“AHHHH WHAT THE FUCK?!?” As Jay calmed down and held onto it carefully with both hands, it began to speak.
“Welcome, user! If you’re listening to this, that means a disaster is either imminent or currently ongoing! Press the center gemstone to summon the power of a magical girl to your location to resolve the issue swiftly!”
“Whoa, wait, a magical girl?” He’d seen photos and footage on the news of them defending the city against the new waves of monsters attacking, but never knew how they came to be. “So this is some sort of beacon to call one over here?”
“Press the center gemstone to summon the power of a magical girl to your location!” the device repeated. Jay took that as confirmation, and sitting down on the lid of the toilet seat, he hesitated. What were the chances this was actually a real thing? Why is it seemingly so advanced for just a signal device?
Hearing the muffled screams and shouting outside, he pressed his thumb on a flat portion of the middle gem.
“Screw it, I’d rather try and MAYBE nothing happen than not, and know that nothing did!” The gem pushed into the case like a button, and it began to shine again even brighter, filling the room with light as suddenly-
There suddenly was no light from the device. Not even a dimming of light, it suddenly just stopped producing any light. Confused, he looked around to see if he accidentally pressed another button he wasn’t supposed to, shaking it to see if there was something wrong inside, and couldn’t figure out what had actually happened. Did a magical girl actually get summoned?
Jay suddenly became aware of how quiet it was outside compared to a few seconds ago. Oh, no, did things actually just get worse? He unlocked the door to see if there was devastation, only to walk further outside and realize that the monster was gone.
In fact, it seemed like it had been thoroughly defeated, with puddles of greenish-black goop spilt onto the ground. There also seemed to be a lot of 3D hearts and stars floating about like bubbles in the wind, and he grabbed ahold of one, squishing it, trying to pop it, and then sniffing it for no particularly good reason.
“why did I do that.” snapping out of his distraction seeing civilians already cleaning up the mess in some areas that got missed, he stuffed it into his pocket and walked over to one to inquire what happened, talking to a restaurant owner.
“Hey, excuse me, but was there like a magical girl by here recently or something that fought the monster that was around here?” he asked.
“Oh, her? Yes, yes, I never saw her before, must be a new one, but she came and helped us all out when that disgusting creature was attacking our shops. She gave them a good ol wallop, she did, and then after all was said and done, she left as soon as she arrived. A shame, since I would’ve given her a free meal for doing such a good job!” The older man seemed fired up describing what had happened.
“She came and beat the monster THAT quickly already?” Jay asked.
“Oh, yes, that quickly. She certainly knows her stuff, that one.”
Jay thanked the restaurant owner and walked back home, fidgeting with the device he suddenly became aware he was still keeping.
“So it really DOES work….” He was amazed how quickly it had summoned a magical girl! So quick, in fact, he didn’t even get a chance to see who she was, or what she specifically did!
“Ah, dang it, I really wish I did get to see her in action…. But this thing is pretty dang cool!” he stuffed it back into his hoodie pocket and made sure it didn’t fall out. Every time he ever needed to make sure a monster didn’t continue it’s rampage nearby, all he had to do was use it!
Suddenly, Jay became aware of something mildly gritty dissolving under his tongue. Did he eat something that got stuck to his teeth? He swirled a tongue around so that it could break up whatever it was, and tasted the mysterious object. It tasted oddly sweet? Like an oddly small and subtle amount of sweetness, but he could tell it was still there. When did he eat something like that recently…..
Ah, whatever. He can just rinse out his mouth when he gets to his apartment and can get a glass of water or something, no point in reflecting on that.