"It's Your Turn, Artie"

Mana and Selena make small **** noises at your comment and Artie slowly raises his head again to gawk at you. "Y-Y-You w-w-want to... keep... playing?!" he manages to finally ask, "W-W-With th-this?!"

"Sure," you reply, "If you're cool with it. I mean, we already got the game going and it'd probably be a pain to stop now and restart on the normal board."

A mischievous smirk comes to your lips as you add, "And besides, we're learning more about what our lady friends are into. Could be... illuminating to keep going."

Artie slowly turns his gaze towards Selena and Mana, who both squirm uncomfortably as he asks, "Y-Y-You're... into this kinda... s-s-stuff?"

"I wouldn't say INTO..." Mana replies as she hesitantly returns to the couch to sit next to Selena, "... maybe just... a little curious?"

Selena nods rapidly in agreement and holds her thumb and forefinger less than an inch apart as if to show just how small the curiosity was.

You try not to laugh, as Artie seems to be taking this information surprisingly seriously before he finally returns to look at you and all but whispers, "O-O-Okay."

With a nod of your head, you wait for his next move.

"I s-s-summon Magic... Officer Tara," he explains as three cards vanish from his hand to allow a new figure to appear on the field.

Magic Officer Tara is a tan skinned, slender woman with short red hair tucked inside of a bejeweled police officer's cap, her outfit a frilly version of a police woman's formal attire and a scepter in her hand that looks like a nightstick topped with an orange jewel. For a second, you double take at her as she is, both in figure and in facial shape, very similar looking to Amelia and you idly wonder if your first fuck buddy might be willing to dress up in that costume for next Halloween (or maybe a roleplay, if she was into that kind of stuff).

Tara gives The Holder and the sexually zombified Marie an aggressive smirk and you wonder what Artie has planned. He could have summoned something stronger since it is past the first round and the combined power of your Holder and Marie is four, while Tara is only three. You suspect he is going to equip Tara with something but he does not draw any more cards as he starts to explain what is about to happen.

"B-Because I gave Magic... Marie... the Heal Guard," he says, "I-I-I can activate it's... s-special ability. M-M-Meaning I can undo one... status effect p-p-put on her by s-s-sacrificing it."

Uh oh. Realizing what that means, you look down to see the first aide kit looking shield pop open and cover the dazed Marie with a healing green light before it disappears. Your Holder's eye widens as it very quickly withdraws its tentacle before the green light touches it and Marie staggers towards Tara, still looking dazed. That lasts until she reaches the other Magic Maiden and the two embrace in a hug, Tara not seeming to mind Marie's naked and cum splattered state. The hug quickly turns into a kiss, which just as quickly becomes a much deeper one. Even at their smaller, board game compatible size, you can clearly see they are both plunging their tongues into each others mouths as Tara's grip around Marie's waist grows tighter. At the same time, the life returns to Marie's eyes as she lets her body sink deeper into the other Magical Maiden's embrace.

Just as it seems like things are about to get heavier, Tara's hands lightly stroking Marie's buttocks once, there is a flash of light and when it fades Marie is back in her costume. The two are holding hands as they stand side-by-side and give a united glare at your now unprotected (and woefully out-gunned) monster.

"So I guess in the story they're from those two are lovers on top of being teammates?" you ask.

"S-S-Sort of," Artie replies.

"It's kind of a messy relationship," Mana adds, "Tara's REALLY into Marie and Marie LIKES Tara but isn't quite sure if it's THAT KIND of like, even though they end up kissing once or twice. And Marie started dating the boy who's her childhood friend that they'd just freed from being brainwashed into being an evil general when Tara confessed her feelings and THEN there's Tara's relationship with Sasha who--"

You, Artie, and Selena all stare at Mana, who catches herself and giggles a little as she rubs the back of her head. "Sorry," she says, "Tara's my favorite character."

"A-A-Anyway," Artie says as your attention returns to the game, "N-Now that they're... together... I can h-h-have them attack H-Holder... together!"

The two Marie and Tara nod, pointing their scepters towards your all but cowering monster, a green beam coming from Marie's weapon and an orange one coming from Tara's. The two combine to become a spiraling lance of energy that cores right through your Holder and it instantly disintegrates along with four of your cards.

Realizing you both now have nineteen cards left in your decks, and suspecting that there may be more tricks up these magical girls' sleeves, you ponder your next move as the jewel on your deck holder lights up again. You are either going to need something that can take at least one of the Magic Maidens out before the next turn or figure out some kind of delaying tactic that would allow you to gather enough **** to overcome however Artie empowered his own.

If you went the aggressive route, you would either need something that could overwhelm both Marie and Tara, since Artie would most likely use them in a combination defense, or figure out some way of cutting off their ability to block together so that would not be a concern. The problem with the former strategy is you would need a five point monster with some kind of power boosting ability but that would be all you could play that turn. The problem with the latter strat would be you would need a spell strong enough to hold them apart while leaving you enough to summon something that is at least stronger than Marie.

If you went the defensive route, part of the problem is you are pretty sure this "Sasha" that Mana mentioned is going to be something Artie pulls out as part of his current strategy and you are getting the idea that related cards will have special abilities when played together that could render any plans useless. There are also not enough cards in either of your decks where you could pull the same trick you did on Harmony with the Final Wyvern, so a strategy that let Artie get that far ahead was out too.

Imp.

You are startled out of your attempts to ponder your options by the voice in your head and that feeling you get in Advance Psionics when you know someone else is THERE. You look around, the voice having spoken too quickly and softly to let you recognize the "sound" of it and the presence having pulled back fast enough you could not link back to its source. In the moment before they react to your sudden movements, you see Selena is looking in your direction and deck, Mana is looking down at the board, having grabbed a small body pillow to hug as she does so, and Artie seems to be pondering the state of the game as well. Out of the corner of your eye you see Tara has woken up from her nap, having rolled over onto her stomach and is lazily letting her legs wave in the air behind her as she looks at you as well.

None of the three in front of you seems to have glowing eyes when their attention turns to your unexpected jerk, so you cannot tell if it was any of them. You did remember hearing familiars, particularly higher level ones like fairies, could eventually form mental links with their summoners but you did not know if you were anywhere near that point with Tara yet.

There WAS a particular imp monster you could summon at that moment which would possibly work as a counter strategy against what Artie was doing, but it was going to be a BIG risk if you went through with it. But if it was advice, and someone had been able to see into your deck's connection to figure out what monsters you could summon, why not just say the monster's full name instead of just "Imp"?

Even if it was meant as helpful advice, was it still worth trusting if the source was concealing itself and if there was still a very likely chance it would blow up in your face anyway?