The Chronicles Of The Finalists

Say Here's Where You Belong

Tanqr remains in the back of the group as they get over to the place Hyper tracked. He's silent, thinking. He doesn't know how this will go, especially since the Magius already know they planned to raid. Do they know they're still going ahead with it? Do they know that they're here? What will happen when they get in? What will they find inside the Magius's base?
Hyper looks up at the sky. Tanqr doesn't know exactly what he's seeing, but whatever it is makes him sure they're in the right place. Where are they? It's a strange looking area, with a pale yellow wall in front of them, seemingly pulsing with light. Curled and pointed patterns stand out from the backdrop. Bushes of roses accent the sides with their green coats and buds of reds and pinks.
"We're here, at the entrance." Hyper reports, sounding a lot sterner than usual. "Now we just need to get in."
As Tanqr turns, he can see a circle-shaped entrance. It's rimmed with glowing blue and green particles, and it appears to simply be a ring floating in the sky. There's no door, no nothing, just a ring that acts like a window to the wall behind.
"How are we gonna do that?" Kreek says, walking up to the ring where the entrance should be. Out of curiosity, he pokes his hand through to see what happens.
And something does happen.
A burst of light, much like electricity, spurts off of his hand and out to the portal. Kreek steps back from the noise it made. It makes a slight buzz.
"We're not gonna be able to get in this way. It closed in the time it took to get here." Kreek comments, annoyed. "We have to enter somehow, I'm not backing down now."
Ashley starts to pace around the area, looking through fences and into flowers.
"What are you doing?" Tanqr quietly asks.
"Looking for something that can help us." She flatly comments, as she opens up one of the rose bushes. Suddenly, her eyes light up as she reaches her hand in. Tanqr watches as she pulls out something golden, yelping a little.
"I found something, guys!" She whispers, before looking around a bit cautiously. Gotta make sure no one's heard. That they're not being watched. But after making sure the coast is clear, she walks up to the entrance and holds up something in her hand that isn't visible to the others.
"ACCESS GRANTED."
The group all remain silent, but the surprise is detectable easily. Just like that, the ring appears to split in two, opening up two doors from the inside. What they can see through it is a pink, blue and green mesh of colours, and that's it.
"Guess we go in." Hyper mumbles.
Not another word is spoken from the group as they all jump into the portal in front of them.
After a flash of white, Tanqr opens his eyes to see darkness. He can hear the sounds of mechanics running, gears turning and steam churning. He can't see much, but he can see they're standing on a rickety wooden platform, with creaks everywhere. In the distance, he can see the shine of metal on something. The lighting comes from lanterns, which are positioned like soldiers every so often.
He looks back at the others, who are also just taking in the place.
"This is the Magius HQ, eh? Hotel Faint Hope." Kreek murmurs to himself, hushed to a whisper.
"Well we can't stand around here for too long, this platform feels like it's gonna fall." Hyper responds, looking around frantically.
Ashley stands up and points to something behind Tanqr.
"Look!"
Tanqr turns to see what appears to be a carriage. It seems to be powered by steam, with clouds coming off of it. It's got red seats with some form of fabric, and four of them in total. There's no walls, just some poles and a roof, with a backing part to keep the seats from falling. A gate is wide open, waiting for occupants.
The group all jump from their platform to the platform just beside the tram, before stepping in. They all take a seat in it and silently wait as the tram toots and sets off along the two metal lines as it's track. Tanqr's sitting beside Kreek, and opposite Hyper.
"This must be some sort of train they use to get around." Kreek looks behind him a bit, back at the platform they came from. "Sketch did mention the Magius had an ornate base, though, with velvet carpet and stuff. Like a palace or some sort of parliament that humans can't see, or something. This sure doesn't feel as grand as he described."
"It's not. Maybe it's some sort of basement." Hyper posits. "A place where they do all the dirty work.
Tanqr's not paying attention to the chat, he's just staring into space, thinking. How on earth did he get here? How, in his seemingly leadless life, did he get to the point where he was fighting alongside actual friends, and sitting beside someone who he hated? How did he get to this point? His past self wouldn't have believed it.
He thinks back to those times, to the time he made his wish.
~~~
Life couldn't be harder for Tanqr. He was constantly fighting, constantly having to defend his safety from attackers. No one ever cared about him, or how he was doing, all he ever got were attacks upon attacks.
He wasn't human, after all. He was a demon, a type of creature from the shadows. He lived in a different realm for much of his life. But he'd always wanted to live with humans, and understand them. He was a different person back then, cheerful and outgoing. Many of the demons were, for that matter. Not many people know it, but the legends weren't true.
They very much disapproved of his wants, but they obliged.
Finally, one day, he was able to get to a city called Arsenia, where he could live.
...He regretted it very very quickly.
Tanqr had to adjust fast to the consistent violence there. Almost everyone owned a gun, and everyone hated everyone. You'd be shot at constantly, bullied by the gangs and could barely get anything.
And this little newbie was a target.
From the very moment Tanqr appeared he was attacked. Not just for being new and easy meat, but for being a demon too. All these humans didn't want a demon around. They hated who he was, they didn't want him there. They wanted this creature, this monster dead. They didn't care if he had good intentions, this monster needed to be killed.
Tanqr quickly learned not to rely on his powers but to rely on guns and weaponry. He learned fast how to use a gun, and he had great accuracy. He was able to take down any attackers, but that didn't stop his emotions, and that didn't stop people harassing him. He couldn't escape the constant hatred and gunfire, he could never escape.
Tanqr lost all the cheer and the kindness that kept him going at first. After a few years of living in Arsenia, Tanqr became a cold and collected person, calculative and blunt. He'd lost any of his charm and was now a quiet and stern person, completely different from who he used to be.
But it didn't help. No matter what he did, how he changed, it didn't help. He was always a target, he could never catch a break.
He wasn't happy. He'd never be.
He knew there were cities out beyond here, but he didn't know how he could escape. There were no proper exits out of the city, no maps, and he'd be shot dead if he tried to run.
He had no way out.
Well, there was one way out.
Which was how he got to the point of standing at the railing on top of a skyscraper, at midnight, gathering up courage. And his wings hurt too, with all his injuries.
No one could see him up here. No one could really reach up here, he'd had to climb. While he could fly, he wasn't very good at it.
He exhaled. He was about to climb over when a voice spoke.
"Hello. Are you sure you want to do that?"
Tanqr whipped around, pulling his gun out and pointing it in the direction of the voice - only to see no one was there. He looked down to see a cute little white fairy thing, with pink unblinking eyes.
"What the hell are you?" He spat at the thing, staring at it. He didn't question why it knew his name. He was used to it.
"My name is Kyubey."
"Well, Kyubey, I want you to leave me alone. I just want to get this over with."
Kyubey just stared back.
"You don't have to do that."
"I have no other hope, Kyubey. What else do I have other than this?"
"Listen. I can grant you a wish. Any wish that you'd like."
Tanqr was curious. He lowered his gun.
"Any..wish? Tell me the extents."
"Well, I can heal someone. I can transport you somewhere else. I can cause someone to cease existence. I can destroy a town. I can do anything."
"Anything?"
"Yes."
"What's the catch?" He knew no deal was this good.
"Well, you'll become a magical girl! And you'll fight evil witches!"
"Magical..girl?" Tanqr chuckled a little bit. "I'm a guy. Then again, I guess you don't care about that, do you?"
"I don't discriminate."
"I guess. Fuck gender norms."
"Well, do you want to make a wish?"
Tanqr nodded.
"I don't know if this is possible. But..I wish to have a human form. I wish that I could be human like everyone else is here."
"Wish granted."
Tanqr's stomach felt like it was heaving. He'd never felt that before.
And then he blacked out.
When he woke up, the sun was just rising on the horizon. He could already hear the first few gunshots of the day.
"Good morning. Are you alright?"
Kyubey, again.
"I'm...okay." Tanqr says, before pausing. His voice sounds..weird. It's not as deep as he's used to. "Woah, what happened?"
"You're a human now, Tanqr. That was what your wish was, wasn't it?"
"..Yeah. It was." He looks down at himself. Pale skin, no wings..it's weird, but it at least makes him feel better. "So am I just human now? Do I still have a demon form?" He asks.
"You see, magical girls get a special ability that relates to their wish! And yours is the ability to transform into your demon form! But you can only do that when you're in your magical girl state, not in this casual one."
"Oh." Tanqr looks down at himself. He has the same outfit he made his wish in. "That's fine."
"Oh, before you do anything." Kyubey puts something into Tanqr's hand. "This is your soul gem. You'll need it to transform."
"Soul gem...? I'm a demon, I don't have a soul." Tanqr asks, staring at the thing. It's blue. Is everything blue?
"No, but you're human now, remember? That was your wish."
It wasn't, but he's too tired to argue. "..Right. So you gave me a human soul and you put it in there for safekeeping."
"Exactly." Kyubey nods. "So you have to keep it safe, and near you at all times."
"Alright. Thank you, whatever you are."
After that, Tanqr, surprisingly, went fairly unrecognised. He had bright blue hair still as a human, and his same necklace so he was shocked, but it helped him a lot. Maybe it helped that he refused to take his hood down. Eventually, he was able to get his hands on a map of the country and figured out how to get to Robloxia, a nearby city.
It took him some time, and a lot of running, but he got there.
He wasn't too tired, thankfully, he was able to take a train when he got to a smaller station. But at the station..well, he didn't really know where to go. He'd brought some stolen money with him so he could eat for at least a week, but what of after that? He didn't have a place to stay or anything.
It was kind of lucky when he ended up in his first witch labyrinth. He went in because Kyubey showed it to him, and he decided to do his best to fight it. With just a gun, but hey, he knew how to use one, he could use it.
It just so happened that three other magical girls were fighting that same witch at the time - and were really struggling. Tanqr very much helped the three, on complete accident.
After the witch died, and Tanqr grabbed the grief seed, he was about to find Kyubey to ask what it was when the three other people he saw ran up to him.
"Hey! You did really well in the fight back there! Thanks for helping us out!"
It was a girl with bright pink hair and glasses. She had a ribbon tied around her waist, and a bow and arrow in her hand.
"Oh. Thanks." Tanqr took a step back. He wasn't trusting of these people. He wasn't sure about trusting anyone here.
"What's your name?" She asked.
He wasn't getting out of this without telling them, he could already tell. So he might as well.
"Tanqr. You?"
"My name's Ashley!" She pointed to the two people behind her. "And they're Denis and Hyper! Nice to meet you! Are you new around here? I haven't seen you before."
"..Yeah. I literally just moved."
"Oh, we'll have to show you around, then! Come with us!"
"Oh- uh- okay?"
And that's how he met the others in Finali villa.
Meeting Kreek was a completely different story.
~~~
Tanqr is snapped out of his daydreaming with a hard jab in his arm.
"Ow! Hey!"
"Don't nudge him that hard, Kreek!"
"Whatcha daydreaming about?" Kreek mocks a little, laughing. "Cmon. We're here."
Tanqr looks around to realise that the tram they're sitting in has come to a halt, and behind them is a grey pathway which goes straight. It looks to be made of stone, and some of the corners have cracks in it. He can't see how deep the path goes, or what it's constructed on.
"..I guess we are."
And so the group get out, ready to face what they're going for.
It's time to figure out the Magius.
~~~
A/N
Huh, interesting chapter! In my opinion, we're getting to the good bits now.
Anyways, take Sketch, Keyin and Peeta's refs! Aka, Dead, Dead and Angry Dude

Now, the next chapter will have a major plot altercation. So, now that I've told you that, what are your theories and thoughts? If you have any.
See ya'll around!
- YanDan