[Mari]

...A brief flashback to about three days ago...



Arle laid in a bed at the Magical Girl's Society lodge, staring up at the ceiling in thought. Three days. She had three days to mentally prepare herself. This time it wouldn't be a mirage. She was stepping up to become Leader of the Life Sphere alongside Mario and Samus. She'd already sent Roco to do some investigative work, such as doing some research into the actual merits of Sonic's plans so that she wouldn't just be pointing out the obvious when someone asked about that. Some of the magical girls had even chipped in to get her a pretty ... weird outfit to celebrate her becoming leader. But hey, she wasn't complaining. New clothes! Now that she'd delegated work though, all she had to do was rest and recover. Arle could still feel the phantom aches and burns on her body from her fight with Solaris. She'd done all she could to heal herself physically, and yet her injuries still haunted her. It was a constant reminder that her body was never meant to withstand the pressures she was putting it through. Without the aid of magic, she would have died long ago from the grevious strain she'd put herself through, nevermind the wounds. Arle had to wonder--How far could she push herself before even magic couldn't simply fix her. ...With this new burden looming over the horizon, the question felt relevant. ...She resolved to try and take better care of herself so that she wouldn't have to find out. Even still, it was kind of painful waiting an entire three days before getting back to the day to day grind. She just hoped her sisters would stop by and keep her company so she wasn't just waiting here feeling dumb. Maybe a friend? She wouldn't mind a visit from Schezo or Rulue. They knew where she was right? ...Maybe not. She generally didn't make a habit of telling people that, come to think of it. Another fear, less easily resolved, hovered over her though. ...She could no longer put off confronting Viridi about what happened. It was a conversation she felt no more prepared to have than when she left the Lunar Sanctum for the last time, and yet she knew she needed Viridi's help if she was to make this plan a reality. She just hoped she wouldn't be forced to regret her decision. Finally something came to distract Arle from her thoughts. Carbuncle leaped up onto Arle's stomach, startling her! She reflexively cupped a hand around him, chuckling a bit. "...Where've you been?" Arle asked, only to finally take notice of something on Carbuncle's head. "...Is that Samus' helmet??" Arle asked in bewilderment. "Gu?" carbuncle replied, matching Arle's confusion. "...That better be a replica." Arle softly lamented.

End of Flashback

"It's a new day and a new life sphere~!"

Where better than to connect with people than Busy Bee Lobby? Arle was lowkey eager to see how people treated her now that the announcement had been made. She really wasn't sure how to go about it though, so she entered and just got something to eat like she usually would, Carbuncle resting comfortably on her shoulder. But of course, she didn't even get that far before someone confronted her and stopped her dead in her tracks... with a net drawn over her head.

"Yeah! I catch rare shiny bug!"

...God damnit...

"...Let me go or you'll catch these hands."

"Pfffft! Wimpy hands catch easy. I catch--"

Kodomo Dragon was suddenly interrupted as Arle pushed in and grabbed him by the shoulders.




"G...Gyuuu..." "...I'm not a bug."

Arle began to walk away from the fallen Kodomo Dragon, whose dragon just kinda nudged him with its nose a few times before beginning to slowly drag the groaning boy away. She got about five more steps before another familiar face confronted her.

"Hey Arle~! Glad to see you showed up. You're just in time for our beauty contest!"


" . . . What--... Draco, people are trying to eat."


"I don't care about that! Seeing you probably makes them hungrier anyway!"


" . . . Hhhah?? What would you know about that, huh??"


"It's true! Nobody can compete with you when it comes to being delicious, Arle."


"...Gee, thanks."

...And yet, it was still the same old, same old routine and gag. "Miss Arle! What do you plan to do about Trophy Trafficking??" a bystander asked, grabbing Arle's attention. It took her a really long moment to register that she was being asked an honest question. "--Uh? Oh... Honestly, I don't know much about that. I'll have to ask around and see what people know first." Arle awkwardly replied. "Is it true you're secretly an insect person??" another bystander asked. Arle blanched. "I... don't even know what that means." she replied in frustration. "Is it true you've devoted your life to the Dark Prince of Hell, Satan??" another bystander asked. "...No. I have better things to do than kick his butt all day." Arle flatly replied.

[Therider]

"Ooooooooooh, oooooooooh! Pick me, pick me! I got a good question!"

And there he was, newly minted member of the Shiya Squad, #006... Hau! He walked... Well, to be honest, nothing changed about his walking. The only thing different was the fact that he had the Membership Card laminated and put on a necklace around his neck. Hau laughed a little as he started picking up Kodomo Dragon and placing him on the back of hi dragon friend. "Here, pal, you don't need to drag him! There you go, now make sure he gets someone to help him out!" Hau waved off his comrade in stupidity with a bright smile and sighed in contentment. "...OH, sorry about that. I'm Hau, representing the Shiya Squad as member #006. I was wondering if you had any opinions on the popular argument being had in the Life Sphere? Y'know, "boys rule and girls drool"?

Hau waved his hands nervously after he finished his sentence. "N-not to imply that either side is better or worse than the other, however, as a rep-represant-represenative! Yeah that's the word! Ahem, as a representative of the Magical Girl Society, we were wondering if you had any official comments." It was clear now that Hau read most of that off a piece of paper in his hands. Did... Did he write this himself?

[PolarStarQuote]

And so, here came a Troupe of Fellows, coming up to Arle after scooping up a plate of food, each set to ask Arle a Question that was clearly worth her time...



"Hey Mama! Can you ban bedtimes forever please?" Cirno would ask, clearly not understanding the true weight of this situation,as she seemed to hope her own Chosen Mom would bend the 'Mom Code' Just for her...Even though she's one one making 'em.




"Lady Arle, Will you do anything about the demon infestation on the Life Sphere? I mean, just now a demon attempted to apprehend you, Surely thats an issue!"

"Athena, I believe thats simply a misguided boy?"

"...Also, Whats a Boy?"




"What's your favorite part of a Girl, Hips or Busts~?" Junko would ask, Before getting immediately escorted out by Security. "Aww, C'mon, you know you wanna know too!I just wanna know if she wants me to wear a more open blouse or a shorter skirt-- Woah!" Junko would let out, before getting chucked right out of busy bee lobby.

[Blade Unlimited]

Suddenly Hau would feel a very sharp blow to the back and top of his head as Shiya's fist mercilessly rained down on it. "What the hell kinda question is that supposed to be?!" After that satisfying jab, Shiya straightened out his signature red cloak before stepping in front of Hau with the wave of his hand. "Hi! Shiya, actual representative and leader of the Shiya Squad™. Ignore that first question from my newer member here. He's.......... new." God, Shiya was gonna have to do some sort of training montage with the new recruits... Huh, maybe he could ask Chell to? She seemed to have no problems whipping him into shape. She probably loves training people!

Yup, that's probably it and no other reason. Anyways, back to the matter at hand.

"Hey Blarle, Sup!" He greeted, almost too casually; lifting a hand to wave at the girl with a dumb grin on his face. "So real, talk. I've been thinking about campaigning for the leader position myself. Any advice?" Was.... was he serious?

...Oh god. He's serious, isn't he.

"Oh yeah, also who's the person that keeps cloning you? I feel like we should be stopping that." The supposed faction leader offhandedly mentioned; his expression and tone relatively consistent despite the drastic change in topic. "I mean, I'm cool with it if you are; and most of the Arles I've met have been pretty cool... but I feel like it's getting kinda out of hand."

[Mari]

Hau

" . . . "

Arle patiently gave Hau her attention and politely waited for him to finish. However, as he went on she became increasingly bemused. Was that really an argument a lot of people were having? ...Really?? She had her doubts. She also just kinda stared blankly at Hau for a moment, at a loss for words.


"Well, if anyone's an expert on who drools the most I bet it's Arle~!"

Arle visibly shuddered a bit. She passed Draco a dirty look but chose not to respond to that comment.


" . . . "


" . . . Y'know, I don't know if you ever noticed but there are actually a lot more boys than girls in the Life Sphere. Like, twice as much. I've heard some people make some really negative assumptions about why that is. Some people think girls had a harder time escaping and surviving the infection, but if that were true, wouldn't most infected be girls? I've fought a lot of infected and I can tell you they more or less mirror us when it comes to how many boys and girls there are. That's kinda why the Magical Girl's Society exists, y'know? The cultural differences in the Life Sphere can be pretty extreme, and not all of them are friendly to both genders. Honestly, though, I have no idea why there are so many more boys. It's really weird to me, but some people from other worlds don't even notice the difference. So maybe Li's just odd that way! I just think it would be nice if boys worked to support each other kinda like the magical girl's society does. Is that what the Shiya Squad is all about?"

---

Cirno

"...Uh--Let's see how you handle an all-nighter and go from there. It doesn't feel good. Trust me."

---

Athena

"Uh--...Well, demons aren't like the infected, you know? They can choose not to hurt people and help us fight for our survival here on Li the same as any of us. Don't get me wrong that guy's an idiot, but I don't think he deserves to die... And boys are..."


"...Boys are weeeiiird!! They can't have babies on their own, so they hunt girls but instead of just eating us they force us to make their babies for them! It's awful!! Waaah!!"


" . . . "
Draco, what the hell.
Arle wasn't sure how, but she was starting to feel dumber just by standing next to Draco.


"...I don't think think you should listen to her. Maybe you should be asking an adult this sort of thing. ...In private, y'know?"

---

Junko

Arle became incredibly flustered by Junko's question. ...She decided not to answer that one honestly. She did decide to break the silence with an answer to a question Junko hadn't technically asked after Junko got dragged out though.


" . . . U-um... I think girls' hair is really underrated, actually. We get really creative and expressive with our hair and sometimes it's really awe-inspiring! You can learn a lot about a girl sometimes just by looking at her hair, which is really cool."

---

Shiya

"Honestly, all I ever wanted to do was help people and that desire to help people eventually took me here~ Hehe. I guess it helped to be pretty popular with the life sphere's citizens, though. There was never any campaign. Just a lot of hard work and a meaningful desire to change things."

[Rina]

The news that Arle stepped up to the missing seat was quite a shock to Schezo when it hit the screens, rushing over to the Lobby to see how she's doing. Unfortunately, he never got the memo that there would be a big gathering with questions being flung left and right, turning the day into an improvised Q&A session. Of course, with a crowd like this, he'd be held up by common folk stopping Schezo for an autograph, or getting yelled at for being part of the problem Li is in. What other choice did he have than to brute force his way to the front so he could get to Arle? Late to the punch, yes, but at the very least he's there.

"Arle! Are you alright? I didn't think you'd take up the seat... but I confess that you're more qualified than I am. But I digress. There is an important question I wish to ask of you."

Schezo cleared his throat.

"What do you think of the rise of the Absolutionists?"

[TheSpatialWeeg]

"Well, well, look who's suddenly worthy of dating a princess~" Called a familiar peppy voice, teasing the new leader, giggling all the while. "Shame your work will have us be so apart from each other~" She spoke, dramatically pretending to be wounded emotionally. Next to her, Rulue could be seen trying to stifle a chuckle. "--Ooooookay~, now that I'm finished with that...question!" Amitie continued, raising a finger. "So, like...Do you think expanding the Life Sphere shield to cover more area would be a good idea? That's if you have enough resources?" ...Huh, that question was...actually kinda serious.

"Hmm, that's not a bad question to ask." Rulue interjected, folding her arms in thought. "That does make me want to revise my question...let's see..." The Fighting Queen 'hmm'ed for a moment or two, before snapping her fingers. "...Right. I think I got one. You might've heard of the Absolutionists already, but how do you plan to...you know, deal with them?"

Meanwhile, a certain Dreamland monarch eyed the newly elected leader with clear doubt on his eyes. Looking up and down as if scrutinizing the girl, he 'tsk'ed. "Ya don't look like much." Dedede said, shaking his head as he shrugged. "I know I can't judge a book by its cover, but ya look like yer gonna crack from too much stress, kid. Try to prove me wrong, a'ight? This place's dependin' on ya now."

"Hey, Arle! Congrats on the promotion!" Came the voice of...Sonic the Hedgehog?! The blue blur was sitting on top of a random table, spinning a chilidog with a hand as he looked towards his otherworldly friend. Of course, several were looking at the hedgehog (some clearly not in a happy way), but this time, he didn't pay attention. "So! How about those privileges, eh? What do you get after being elected? A mansion?"

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

"A most sincere congratulations on your accomplishment Arle." came a sudden voice that could easily make all the Puyoverse residents turn, and even make Schezo Wegey feel dread; it was Succubus, and surprisingly, she was calmly floating above the crowd of people, looking at Arle Nadja with a pleasant smile on her face, though she was happily munching on Puyo candy on occasion. "I was wondering how we are going to restore Harvest Acres after all that kerfuffle with that comet and the famine." she added, clearly interested in what Arle had to say about that situation.

[Mari]

Schezo

"I don't need any absolutionist's help! For their information, I'm perfectly happy as a servant."


" . . . That's 'abolitionist', Draco."


"What'd I say??"


"Nnnevermind. Hi Schezo. Yeah, I was definitely surprised too, but someone's gotta look out for you right~? I'll be counting on people I can trust to help keep me informed so I can do my best. As for--of course they named themselves after that ship--the 'Absolutionists', I kinda get where they're coming from. It'd be nice if we could all just go home or run away to some other planet more like home. But that was kind of the big lie of Mephiles' plan. He wanted to take us all to space, but he had no idea where we'd go! People have been trying to find other planets for a while now, but so far we haven't had any luck! And drifting through space without a plan is just dumb! That's like trying to cross the ocean without a map! Only the place you're looking for could be deep underwater or far in the sky. I'm pretty sure the plan was to kill us faster, not save us. I just wish they'd focus their efforts on finding a planet we could live on instead of making things harder for us while we're here."

---

Amitie and Rulue

"Wh--...What?? I-I... What're you getting at anyway, huh??"


"...Like I'd ever just cut you out of my life. This isn't a journey I can make alone, y'know! Speaking of which ...Yeah, that is a good question. I think expanding the Life Sphere isn't the best way to start off, though. What we really need is more farmland, and the fastest path to getting that is probably helping Princess Peach collect power stars so that she can secure a larger area of land. We've actually got a map showing where every last one of them is, but it'll take some work collecting them all. Somehow I don't think trust is going to be a big issue between her and the other leaders, so you should expect more visitors around the castle!"


"As for the absolutionists... Weeeell... being dumb isn't a crime, so I guess we'll just have to deal with them the old fashioned way as they cause trouble. In terms of preventative measures though, I think we really need to look to Doctor Ciel for a starvia cure and start proving we can make change. I bet once they see us making real progress, a bunch of them will rethink their ways and rejoin us as valuable allies."

---

King Dedede

"--Hold on just a moment."

Arle turned about and began putting on some new armanents, finishing with something quite regal atop her head.


"How about now~? No matter what happens, I'll push through 'till the end."

---

Sonic

For a moment, all Arle could see was Sonic getting torn apart by a giant glacier shard. She went a bit pale and seemed to space out briefly. Mephiles?? Mephiles here?! Come to take back his spot as leader and usurp them all?! AAAAAAAA!!--No, wait. Hold on. Something else was going on. He was just sitting there, chilling out. A part of Arle couldn't stop panicking, but she suppressed the desire to confront him. Planning for the worst was a self-fulfilling prophecy!


" . . . Sonic?? You're--..."


"Nnno... No mansions. Just... some t-top secret security clearance."


"Wh-Where've you been..? ...We missed you... ...A lot..."

---

Succubus

"Huh? Oh it shouldn't be too hard to reclaim that land. There are really skilled magicians at manipulating nature here in the life sphere. With a bit of overtime from them, I think we can get back to our regular throughput in no time flat! That should take most of the edge and some of the body off the famine, but the thing is we'll need a lot more than Harvest Acres before the famine is completely gone. Once we get Harvest Acres set back up, we have to turn some other pastures green!"

[Blade Unlimited]

"Hey, so... I got a question!" A voice rang out from further behind the crowd of onlookers and questioners. A very distinct and iconic, yet slightly different, tone rang out as a certain blue hedgehog looked out over towards Arle; hanging off the side of one of the light-poles that lined the lobby street.

"What's the deal with all those gangs using my face? I worked hard for my image, you know?" Sir Sonic T. Hedgehog stood, bandages sports tape, hipster scarf bandanna, blue and all. And he didn't look particularly happy. After all: Ever since he got here, if he wasn't being berated by a complete stranger about some sort of egghead-level scheme, he was being assaulted by even worse weirdos called the "Abolitionists" or something. Totally not his day.....s. He's been around for a bit. "I don't wanna get into politics or anything; but defamation like that is super uncool." He held up two fingers before shooting Arle a smirk.

"I am not a crook!"

[PolarStarQuote]

Coming into the Dinner, A Mysterious, absolutely not noticeable figure would enter. It seems that, during this time, Certain figures would need to hide themselves to make sure  that they wouldnt be attacked. And so, From the enterance came someone...



Who was absolutely Not Samus. "A-ahem, Pardon me Miss Arle, I am a Certain...Fan Of yours. A-anyway, I had a question myself. How do you plan to defend Li itself against any upcoming threats, like Black Shadow or Mephiles again?" She would say, Though Arle's wisdom could no doubt tell that this Not Samus was probably, possibly Samus. And boy, Samus sure did look Proud of the Bab.

---

...Oh hey, Velvet remembers this girl. She turned into her once. Velvet would think for a moment. "...So, Were putting our efforts into relying on you..." Velvet would ask, before looking to Arle rather seriously. She had a question she always had to ask to determine if she could trust people...

"Why do birds fly?"

---

"Are Nya' Gonna do anything about Pokemon cove, Since they lost there forest to the dreaded Ice Cream Mom??" Taokaka would ask, clearly missing the point. Atleast she wasnt looking up Arle's skirt...

---

"Are you gonna do anything about the mall?!" Nokia would ask, Seemingly distressed herself! "Ive wanted to go shop there, but im too scared somethings gonna attack me in there!"

[Mari]

Sonic (Boom)

"--H-Hah??"

Arle just kinda cringed when Sonic grabbed her attention, looking at him like she'd seen a ghost. Good grief, she just might've! Arle just kinda gave Sonic this very concerned look as he went on, squirming a bit where she stood. Arle was lowkey screaming internally. Was she just seeing ghosts now? Would everyone else think she was insane? ...Was she? She knew the job would be stressful, but...


"...They got this weird idea that you wanted to run away from the planet and rallied behind it... Does--...Does that hurt? I-It looks like something's going on with your ...dimensions."

---

Samus

" . . . A fan, huh? It's nice to have you here~!"

Arle beamed slightly, seeming to play along. She then turned to address Not!Samus directly.


"That's a good question! With all three leaders working together now, there's simply no room for another Mephiles! And Black Shadow ... Well, we'll have to take care of our heroes so that next time a big lug like him comes along we can send him packing in no time flat. I think there's not a lot we can do to prevent another fight with the starvia, but I'm confident whatever happens, we can overcome it."

---

Velvet

Arle blanched rather hard, trying her best not to stare at Velvet's outfit. It resulted in her having this spaced out look for a moment, after which she seemed to recover her composure just long enough to get bewildered by Velvet's actual question. What the ... hell? She'd learned not to have expectations, and yet even still she found herself surprised. ...Why would anyone ask why birds fly?? Did they want to know how their wings worked? ...No, that would be how birds fly. Then what exactly was it that they were trying to ask? ...Perhaps she was overthinking this. If she hand wings, which she sometimes did, why did she fly?


" . . . Because they want to, I guess!"

---

Taokaka

"--Wait, what? --Um... I don't know a whole lot about Pokemon Cove, but it's weird that they didn't want to live here in the Life Sphere. They must have some pretty strong feelings toward us to risk infection out there just to stay away, and something tells me that didn't improve things much... Maybe we should reach out to the monsters that live there though and see how we can help!"

---

Nokia

"Oh, that? Honestly, nobody's really sure why all that craziness is happening in the first place! There's some kind of magic at play, but we're not sure if the ground is cursed or if there's some crazy magician messing things up! We've considered moving the mall, but some of us are worried whatever's haunting it will just follow us to the new area. Plus, what happens if taking down the old mall releases whatever it is out into the life sphere? I hear there've been a bunch of investigations, but the thing is... every time someone seriously tries to look into this, the mall seems completely normal! Sorry..."