Chapter 1

A pink sombrero stood out in the distance, pacing itself slowly, but drawing ever closer as Kyoko Sakura stared out towards the near-endless expanse of the desert before her and her fort. She could not make out a face from this far, not even with her enhanced abilities along with a pair of binoculars, but she knew that there was only one possible being who could pull off this hat with any fashionability-- Madoka Kaname. Why was she out here? A knot formed deep within Kyoko's stomach, giving her an anxiety she hadn't felt in a long time. Madoka...

Kyoko took a bite of her taco. It was only her sixth one since lunch, but now she didn't feel all too hungry; she was eating purely out of compulsion now. This situation at hand, and the mystery behind it, and this stupid hot weather-- they were all making her... nervous. It was really weird a feeling, being nervous. Not an emotion Kyoko felt often, and not one she considered pleasant, to say the least.

Many minutes went by, the pink sombrero gradually morphing into the girl Kyoko knew so well. The knot in her stomach gripped ever tighter. Why didn't Madoka just fly over here or something?! This wait was absolutely murderous, not that Kyoko knew what that felt like.

Finally, she had arrived at the doorstep of the fort. She looked up to the top and waved at Kyoko, still peering over at her.

"Hey!" Madoka greeted. Kyoko gave a wave back, though not nearly as enthusiastically. The anxiety lessened, but certainly did not vanish as the fellow magical girl entered her presence.

Kyoko was too impatient to wait for Madoka any longer, so she jumped off the top of the fort and rolled as she hit the ground, instantly taking away any potential damage that she might have done to herself.

"According to the Zelda games, I defied no physics," Kyoko explained. She now had a perfect view of Madoka. Her large sombrero accentuated her bright candy-pink hair, and perfectly complemented her outfit overall. Kyoko had to admit that she thought Madoka looked really cute--- in a completely platonic way, she noted as she realized Homura was also there, having appeared out of nowhere, her usual stoic-yet-uncontent face glaring off into the distance.

"Holy crap, where did Homura come from?" Kyoko asked in shock.

Homura turned her head using one of those signature SHAFT head-tilts, and gazed plainly at Kyoko. "My mother's womb," she replied.

"No, I mean just now..."

"I froze time. And then I walked." Kyoko made no attempt to try and figure out the logistics of this, and neither did the audience, hopefully.

"Okay," Kyoko finally cut to the chase. "Why are you girls here in Mexico? I haven't seen either of you since Kyubey reassigned me to this fort, and now here you are. Do you need me for some reason? Are we doing that whole The Rebellion thing finally?"

"No, that's not until this fall," Madoka said. "But we do need you for something else. See, Sayaka turned into a witch last week."

"Gasp."

She continued. "As you know, in this universe, magical girls retain their human form when they turn into witches."

"Yeah, of course, that's common knowledge. Your point?"

"Well, Witch Sayaka has taken advantage of this, and took control of the Yakuza, with not a soul realizing that she is not actually a human!"

"Woah, that is badass," Kyoko said in wonder.

"Yeah, but problem is she's taken over all of Japan now."

"Oh."

"And now she's coming here to try and coup the Mexican drug cartels and topple Mexico's entire government!"

"How awful, I guess. We should do something about it maybe."

"We are," Madoka said. "That's why we've come here; to ask for your help."

"You want MY help? Really? The person who got exiled from Japan for--"

"Kyoko," Homura interrupted. "This is the eighth time I've had to reset the timeline for this mission. We need you to help, not want you to. Trust us."

"Ugh fine," Kyoko said. "Let me just grab my stuff."

"There is no time," Homura replied. "Your lance is enough."