And with a zap, Madoka, Sayaka, Crispina, and Nagisa were back. Asuka was so glad, except for the fact that… none of the trainees were there. And there was another Sayaka whose color palette was very desaturated. And there was a Homura but with short hair and glowing red eye. Two Sayakas certainly wasn’t the worst thing in the world but Asuka was very disconcerted about it.

Madoka dashed up to Kyoko and hugged her, then gave her a big ol’ smooch. The Homura at the back of the crowd cocked her head to the side as Madoka did this. “I love you so much,” Madoka said.

“How was the… trip?” Kyoko asked.

“It was… fun.” Madoka collapsed onto Kyoko’s shoulder and burst into sobs. “I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry…” Kyoko patted her wife on the back, though seemed somewhat confused.

Sayaka walked up to Asuka and raised her hand for a high-five. Asuka crossed her arms. “What, you’re not going to give me a kiss and break into sobs?”

“Oh fine,” Sayaka said. She kissed her on the cheek. Dammit, Miki.

“How is… you know?”

“Being pregnant and fighting witches? It’s awesome!” Sayaka shouted.

Everyone stared at Sayaka.

“I probably wasn’t supposed to reveal that to everyone, was I?”

Asuka shook her head slowly.

“Well, at least it’s all over now,” Sayaka said. “We can finally relax, and we have a new Homura. Mission accomplished.” Her face turned into George W Bush for a moment. Asuka wanted to ask about the magical girl trainees but she was pretty sure she knew exactly what happened to them.

“Not just yet,” Asuka said. “We’re going to go on a rescue mission in just a few minutes. Since you guys are all already suited up, I hope you’ll be up to the task.”

Everyone groaned. The dark Sayaka raised her hand. “That doesn’t mean me, does it? I couldn’t care less about anything except for surviving. And going on a rescue mission really doesn’t sound like surviving to me.”

Kyoko, still holding Madoka in one arm, pointed her. “You’re going too. All magical girls are being assigned to this.”

“What are we rescuing?” Madoka asked, lifting her head from Kyoko’s shoulder.

“There’s a massive hurricane headed this way,” she said. “Mexico City is in big trouble and we’re going to do as much as we can to protect the citizens.”

Madoka froze in place and her eyes expanded into those horror-eyes you always see in anime when people get really scared or start going mad. The author Asuka wasn’t great at describing it.

Suddenly, the weird-looking Homura raised up some holographic red computer screen in front of her and began furiously typing on a holographic keyboard. “No… No.”

Madoka sprang away from Kyoko and began running away. “We have to stop them! Hurry!”

“What?” Kyoko asked.

“Kiiko Kawakami and Aaya Saito. They’re here, and they’ve brought Walpurgisnacht. Negasayaka, come on!” She and the other Sayaka left just as quickly as Madoka.

“Guys, wait!” Kyoko shouted. But they didn’t stop. Nagisa and Crispina joined them as well. “Don’t forget your… jetpacks… they’re supposed to be for cool battles like these… They can’t hear me.”

Sayaka kissed Asuka on the cheek again. “Babe,” she said.

“Don’t call me babe.”

“Sweetie. Honey. Asuka. I’ve uh, got to go fight a really bad person who is going to try to destroy the planet.”

“But what about the baby?”

“Didn’t stop me last time. Don’t worry.” Sayaka ran off as well, leaving Asuka and Kyoko alone.

“I’ll… go alert El Guante to mobilize the trainees,” Kyoko said. “You can stay put if you want.” Kyoko was shaken but was trying to act like she was still okay. “This feels almost like The Project but copypasted into Madoka… I don’t like it.” She left the room to begin calling him.

Asuka looked at her non-magical hand with fiery eyes. “And I… I am going to mobilize myself.”

“What’s that?” Kyoko asked from the other room. “I didn’t hear you.”

But Asuka didn’t answer. Instead, she ran downstairs.