Time For Some IMP-rove!

Well, this game is all in fun and if anyone else noticed the mental kibitzing they have not said anything yet. In that case, why not humor the voice in your head a little?

You draw five cards and they vanish from your hand as you say, "I summon the Drain-Imp!"

On your side of the field appears a small creature that only comes up to the waists of the two Magical Girls across from it. It has purple skin with a black tuft of fur on its chest and a small, white horn growing out of the top of its head. It stands hunched over... because the erect "horn" between its legs is almost as big as its entire scrawny torso. The Drain-Imp wraps its thin fingers around the sides of the cock, giving a few teasing strokes as it licks its lips at Marie and Tara.

The two Magic Maidens flinch and give the monster a look of disgust while Artie suddenly looks more uncomfortable. He flinches as well and fidgets in place, unable to take his eyes off your Imp. The odd reaction from him makes Mana look at your summon as well and she seems quite baffled as she asks, "Wait, why does it take five cards to summon if it has no attack points?"

Selena looks at your creature as well and a small smile comes to her lips as she says in an almost sing-song tone, "I think we're getting more weird Void stuff!"

"Pretty much," you reply, "You see, the five cards were not deciding the power of the monster itself..."

The Drain-Imp visibly shakes as it silently chuckles before a black smoke suddenly engulfs its body and spreads out to cover your entire side of the field. When the smoke clears, the three Pegasus students gasp as instead of one Drain-Imp there are now six of them. "... But how many clones it can summon for its gimmick."

Artie, still looking unsettled, blinks as he looks at your now small army. "S-S-Still... zero... a-a-attack?"

You raise two fingers dramatically, a smirk coming to your lips as you say, "Two turns. You get two turns to attack without me being able to summon another monster. Everything but the original Drain-Imp is an illusion. If you manage to hit the real one, I take the full damage AND lose two cards for each illusion still on the field that turn. And if I survive the first round, I have to spend two cards to replace however many illusions you destroyed at that time for the next round."

"Th-Th-Th-That's a c-c-c... crazy big risk!" Artie exclaims, "S-So what's the r-r-reward in two rounds?!"

"Should you miss all your attacks both turns, then the Drain-Imp will... well... drain a point for each attack from each of your characters and add it to itself."

Mana scrunches up her nose in confusion and hugs the pillow she is holding tighter as she asks, "So if Artie attacked once both turns with what he has now but missed, then Marie and Tara would each lose two points and the Imp would gain four?"

You nod and Selena asks, "And I suppose there's something special you can do if he doesn't attack at all?"

"Yeah, but that's not probably going to be an issue yet so I don't need to go into it right now," you reply, turning your attention back to Artie, "You are going to try and attack, right?"

Artie continues to look rattled, though it is hard to tell if it is because of the stakes or something else. His attention returns to the Drain-Imp and one might think he was staring at a cobra about to bite him. You lose the mock smugness you had been using during your explanation and say, "Artie, if something's really bothering you about all this, you can still say stop."

He looks up at you, sighs, and for a moment starts to reach for his deck in such a way that looks like he is going to pull the whole thing out to end the game. You start to do the same but that movement causes Artie to pause... and he gives you a little smile as he draws four cards instead. "I... just h-h-have to destroy... the r-r-real thing," he says, "b-b-before it can... do... anything, r-r-right? Then I-I'll summon... M-M-Magic Firefighter... Sasha!"

With that, the four cards vanish from his hand and popping onto the field is a woman in a frilly and bejeweled firefighter costume (you do not get how that works but you suppose it fits with the theme the other girls have). You are also surprised to see that, much like Tara resembles Amelia, Sasha is a very close resemblance to Harmony's, complete with a bust and hips that her costume seems just barely able to contain and blonde hair flowing out from under her firefighter helmet. The similarities of those two of the Magic Maidens are enough to make you give Marie another look over just to confirm she does not resemble anyone you have seen before, which she thankfully does not.

Artie looks to be preparing for his attack and you wait to see which Drain-Imp he will go for first. You refrain from mentioning that you actually have no idea at all which of the Imps is the real one, the game having apparently decided its positioning on its own. Oh well, that just means the you get to be as surprised as everyone else if the attack lands successfully or not.

Speaking of said attack, Artie decides which of the Drain-Imps to attack and points to the one in the middle as he calls out, "M-M-Marie! U-Unite with the... other... Magic Maidens! H-H-Healing Finisher!"

The three Magic Maidens gather together, Marie standing between Sasha and Tara as she points her scepter at the targeted Drain-Imp and the other two cross their scepters over hers (and only now you realize that the top of Sasha's scepter resembles the nozzle of a fire hose with a blue jewel on top). Energy gathers at the point they touch and, after a second or two of build-up, a united beam of white energy zaps out towards your monster...

... Which is fortunately just one of the fakes as it ripples out of existence when the beam hits, causing the attack to harmlessly hit the edge of the board. You let out a breath you did not realize you were holding as, if that had hit, you would have taken seventeen points of damage, which is more than the remaining cards in your deck. Artie had only a one-in-five chance of getting it right but the potential damage, is more than enough so you can see why he would blow his whole turn on--

"A-A-Arresting Finisher!"

To your surprise, the Magic Maidens switch position, with Tara taking the center as they point their scepters at the Imp on the far left, a beam of golden energy lashing out this time to strike... another illusion.

"Hey!" you shout in alarm, "I thought using united attacks meant the others took their turn at the same time!"

"Actually, that's the gimmick of the Magical Maidens," Selena interjects, "They're friends and a team, so they always support each other on attack and defense whenever they take their own turns."

"BUT," Mana adds, "Because they FIGHT monsters, they can't WORK with them. So when two of the Maidens are on the field, he can only summon the missing one. And if there's only one Maiden on the field, you HAVE to sacrifice them to whatever other kind of monster you summon. So you gotta plan around them and how you want to use them."

Artie looks over at the two girls and a small smile comes to his lips. "Y-Y-You... do... pay a-attention sometimes."

The two girls unleash a united attack of their own in the form of dual pouts. You are frowning for a different reason as you remark, "So basically, that all means you have one more nine point attack you can use. And then you get three more at that level your next turn too."

Nodding in confirmation, Artie points at the Imp on the far right as the Magic Maidens reposition again so Sasha is in the middle. "A-A-And one in three... is... M-M-MUCH better th-th-than one in... five. E-E-Extinguishing Finisher!"

This time, a cyan colored beam of energy shoots forth from their united wands and races towards the right-most Imp. You brace for the impact as you realize how this game plays out is now all down to luck.