Side Note

"Today is the day that the fall into darkness begins," A shadow clone monologues to itself, hidden in plain sight within the countless rows of seated shadow clones, the rest of her dark brethren too focused on the current bout between the last two pairs to notice the mumblings of this specific shadow clone. "With the destruction of the first of my sisters, soon my plan shall unfold. I just have to wait for Pinstripe's distraction."

Meanwhile, down in the arena's battleground, the last of the initial rounds was going on, fought between the recently named Gladiator and her slave arena buddy Sherry Phobos, against the slightly smarter than the other shadow clones, Jasi the Solver and her hilariously inexperienced in combat girlfriend Shay. 

The two shadow clones are face to face with each other, stuck in a battle of equals. Each strike is met with a block, each slash is met with a dodge, and each oddly specific usage of magic is met with an equally specific usage of countermagic. The only real difference between the two is that Kyrie is just slightly faster, thanks to her experience fighting as a gladiator in the very arena she was trapped in, while Jasi is slightly smarter, an unfortunate advantage that offers very little in this duel.

Around them are their partners, circling around the two fighting in a game of cat and mouse. The predator is Sherry, having fought more battles than everyone in this arena combined and won even more. The prey is Shay, the only real battles she's had are the silly little slap fights she gets into with her sister. She precariously runs around wildly, hoping to escape the berzerker whose thirst for battle is grand.

"For those watching, you're probably wondering why Shay is running away! The obvious reason is that she analysed Sherry with her Sacred Power! Let me show it off!" Darky snaps her fingers to make Shay's Side Note appear.

Shay continues running until she suddenly bumps into a fifth body that had entered the battlefield. Unlike the four already here, this fifth person was not meant to be here. "Wait… fuck! Drop the headset Myka. It's clobbering time!" Darky throws off her headset and jumps right out of the commentator's box, followed by Myka.

The Man In The Pinstripe responds by causing a wall of tentacles that block out the audience, with the ones closest to Darky and Myka attempting to swat them away from the arena. Meanwhile, inside the arena, the four participants freeze in their spots, staring at the suit-wearing anomaly that suddenly appeared.

The first to unfreeze is Sherry, glowing with glee and dashing towards the surprise, unnaturally huge axe in hand. She is followed by Kyrie, holding an unnatural amount of naturally small daggers in her hands. The last one to snap out of it was Jasi, who, concerned for her lover, picked her up and ran the opposite way, towards a hole in the tentacle wall made by Darky and Myka, who was now zooming towards the Man In The Pinstripe Suit. The worried shadow clone ran right out of the enclosed space, only to suddenly fall into a shadow she did not see.

"Hello there, sister." Jasi felt a chill down her spine, unintentionally dropping her girlfriend, then slowly turning to the voice's source. "It's the end. Say, 'I feel fine.'"

The terrified shadow clone turned around to sprint away but didn't make it far before tripping over her unconscious lover, whose presence was completely overshadowed by the malice of her fellow shadow clone. Jasi doesn't know why she's so scared. It's just Cookie and Madeleines are supposed to be fearless… yet there's something changed about the former outcast shadow clone that brings nothing but dread to her.

Cookie slowly walks over to the frightened shadow clone, who can barely crawl backwards. On the way, she stomps on the head of Shay, instantly killing her and sending more shivers down Jasi's spine. "Don't worry, she won't be alone. I sent her sister, and I'll send you next." Cookie quickly pounces on Jasi, her maw enlarging, and then it quickly snaps on Jasi, biting her head right off. Cookie takes a moment to chew and swallow, watching as the body of her formerly alive sister dissipates, returning back to the shadows. "Mmm… a soul breaks, little by little. A flavour I'll savour."

Hey there reactors, it's me, semi-finalist of the Madeleine Royale, Madeline here. Something tells me the Madeleine Royale is probably cancelled right now. The Man In The Pinstripe Suit crashed our party and is now fighting all the Shadow Clones, Myka, and some other non-Madeleine participants. That captain dude and his shadow clone sure know their way around tentacles. 

Anyways, me and Mel are providing cover fire, shooting out arrows, daggers, magical fire in the shape of unicorns, and other stuff at the snappy dresser. I was about to go forward, but Mel stopped me, saying she didn't want to see me get hurt. Ain't she just the greatest? Oh yeah, I'm also creating more shadow clones to go fight it. The mindless kind of shadow clone.

Something weird, other than the tentacle wall, the giant Darky, and the fact that Myka's weapon is a steel chair, is that one of the shadow clones ran out of the wall and then just disappeared alongside her lover. Now, I thought she went to the safety of the Shadowrealm, but according to #2, whose next to me, she didn't go there. They can't feel her there. So yea- 

…

…

Huh?

"Madeleine!" Mel came up to me, and that's when I realised she was above me… or more like, I'm on my knees… why am I on my knees? "What happened?!"

"I… I dunno? Leg cramp, maybe?"

"This is no time to joke!" Mel picked me up. "We're getting out of here. Darky can obviously take care of this."

"But.. but…"

"No buts!" Mel yelled out to Myka, telling her to come over.

"What?"

"505."

Myka eyed me with eyes that told me I looked weak. I don't feel weak… maybe… I don't know. "Understood." Myka snapped her fingers and into a familiar hotel room I ended up in.

Character profile: Shay Flowers

Sacred power: Analysis

Detective Agency Name For The Past Ten Years: Detective Agency (Temporary Name)

Description: The detective with a serial killer as a sister. Shay was a prodigy detective who, in her childhood, solved many murder mysteries that plagued the Sacre Pla's capital's slums, aside from a string of cases that all seemed to be tied to a singular killed. She eventually found out it was her sister, but instead of arresting her, she ended up destroying all evidence related to her, ruining her reputation. She still does detective work, catching a killer every now and then, but continues to be ignored due to her helping her sister. She's trying to arrest her sister now, but unfortunately, her sister has gotten significantly better at cleaning evidence.

Chapter namesake: Broken by Gorillaz