Magic Beginnings Read online

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  Magic Beginnings: Magical Girl Academy #1

  by Kayla Bashe

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  Text copyright © Kayla Bashe

  Created using inklewriter

  writer.inklestudios.com

  inklewriter developed by inkle

  www.inklestudios.com

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  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

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  Magic Beginnings: Magical Girl Academy #1

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  How to read this story

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  Start the story

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  How to read this story

  This is an interactive story. To move from one page to the next, choose one of the choices at the bottom of the page. On a touch device, simply press; on a device with a cursor, press UP to begin choosing, then use UP and DOWN to change option, and the main button to select your choice.

  On cursor-based models, pressing select when not over a choice will start a highlight. If this happens, press select again.

  Every section ends with a choice. If you can't see it, use the page forward buttons to read on as usual. Use the menu to return to the beginning.

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  Begin the story

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  Magic Beginnings: Magical Girl Academy #1

  by Kayla Bashe

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  “You are now entering Magi Town airspace.” The beach, the forest... L’Academe, the Academy’s sibling school... the city proper—and there’s the hover train station! Growing more excited by the second, you zip up your purse, gather your bags, and hurry towards the train car’s doors.

  Today will be your first day at the Magical Girl Academy, a school where magical girls learn how to use their powers.

  The Academy takes girls with a spark of magic and turns them into Magical Girls. Girls who can defend their hometowns, families, and loved ones against the monsters that attack our galaxy. And Magical Girls become Magical Women. They protect whole cities, countries… even planets! You don’t know if everyone in your class will live that long—still, you’ll try to stay optimistic and do your best!

  Living with your adoptive fathers and your several younger siblings—and occasionally your birthmother, who comes to visit you sometimes—you were totally used to the rhythm of life in a small farming village on a small colony planet with lots of beautiful fields and forests. Then a swarm of bug-eyed, onyx-colored hornets, each the size of your hand, darkened the skies... and you transformed for the first time and zapped them all away. Two days later, a letter from the Academy arrived on your doorstep. Now you’re having the adventure you’ve always wanted.

  Due to a mishap involving the post office in the next town and a hungry goat, the head girl, Lilah, has to fit you out with a uniform when you arrive. The clothes she picks out for you aren’t exactly what you’d chose for yourself, but you look pretty cool, which kinda makes up for it. Still, you resolve to get some new outfits from the school store when you get the chance.

  Lilah steps back and eyes her handiwork approvingly. “Wow, you actually look like you belong here! And your student guide will teach you how to actually, you know, belong here.”

  She hands you a few folders.

  “Here are the profiles of your squadmates. Take as much time as you need to decide who your guide will be—you’re making a pretty important choice.”

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  (1/3) Read Aya's profile

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  (2/3) Read Sophia's profile

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  (3/3) Read Kione's profile

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  Please turn back a page

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  Please turn forward a page

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  Magic Beginnings: Magical Girl Academy #1, by Kayla Bashe

  ——Press UP to make a choice

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  Activities: Rhythmic gymnastics, modern dance, calligraphy, Meditation Society

  Favorite things: Mystery novels, the night sky, keeping food in my room

  Least favorite things: Bright sunlight, nosy people

  An accomplishment I’m proud of: I can do three perfect backflips in a row.

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  (1/1) Choose Kione as your guide

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  Please turn back a page

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  Please turn forward a page

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  Magic Beginnings: Magical Girl Academy #1, by Kayla Bashe

  ——Press UP to make a choice

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  You inform Lilah of your choice; with a brisk nod, she heads off.

  Shortly afterwards, a tall girl strides towards you.

  She’s so elegant. How can anyone have such perfect, long hair? And those eyes… She looks like she’s just stepped off the cover of a magazine! If she were a fictional character, she’d be the sort of cold, fashionable girl who wears the boys’ uniform and makes every girl swoon…

  “…You are wearing no badges, and you are standing outside in the hallway at a time when nearly all students are in class. Therefore, you must be the new student.”

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  (1/2) >>That's me.

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  (2/2) >>You're Kione, right?

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  Please turn back a page

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  Please turn forward a page

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  Magic Beginnings: Magical Girl Academy #1, by Kayla Bashe

  ——Press UP to make a choice

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  “Ah. Inevitably. I am Kione... Let us proceed to class. I have no wish to be late.”

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  (1/1) Go to class

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  Please turn back a page

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  Please turn forward a page

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  Magic Beginnings: Magical Girl Academy #1, by Kayla Bashe

  ——Press UP to make a choice

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  “Indeed; that is correct... Let us proceed to class.”

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  (1/1) Go to class

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  Please turn back a page

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  Please turn forward a page

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  Magic Beginnings: Magical Girl Academy #1, by Kayla Bashe

  ——Press UP to make a choice

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  Activities: Card Games Club, Dance Club, Galactic Culture Club

  Favorite things: Wildflowers, music boxes, hair ribbons, random acts of kindness, walking through the streets of a city that I have never before visited

  Least favorite things: Gunky smells, confusing grammatical structures, idioms that are refusing to translate properly

  An accomplishment I’m proud of: The dialect of this planet has significant differences from the dialect of Diamanda, the planet that is my birthplace. At first it was very difficult for me to master your language, but I did not give up! Now I can carry conversations onwards and make new friends.

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  (1/1) Choose Sophia as your guide

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  Please turn back a page

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  Please turn forward a page

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  Magic Beginnings: Magical Girl Academy #1, by Kayla Bashe

  ——Press UP to make a choice

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  You go to class with Kione.

  You once read that, a thousand years ago, kids couldn’t decide what they wanted to learn. They had to sit in rows of perfectly aligned desks and spend the whole day listening to what their teachers were saying. They could only talk to their friends between classes, and they had to take terrible things called “tests” and “quizzes.” If they wanted to learn about something that was important to them, they were called ‘troublemakers’ and accused of ‘wasting time!’

  …How did anyone ever learn anything back in those days? Those sound like impossible conditions under which to learn.

  The Academy is a lot like the schools in your hometown. As long as you learn something new every day, you can learn about whatever you want. You can even work with other students! If you want to research something, there’s a huge library on the second floor; plus, there are computers in every classroom.

  Today, you think you’ll…

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  (1/5) >>learn about the history of magical girls

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  (2/5) >>learn about the history of the Academy

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  (3/5) >>learn how to do a new hairstyle

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  (4/5) >>practice singing

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  (5/5) >>paint a picture

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  Please turn back a page

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  Please turn forward a page

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  Magic Beginnings: Magical Girl Academy #1, by Kayla Bashe

  ——Press UP to make a choice

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  You inform Lilah of your decision, and she nods briskly and heads off. Shortly thereafter, you spot a girl with long blonde hair walking down the hallway, occasionally twirling. When she sees you, she beams and waves, then sprints towards you.

  She has such lovely deep blue eyes…

  “What ho and what up! Greetings, future chum. You are the new student, are you not? Henceforth, I swear to guide you to the best of my abilities! My name is Sophia Clemence Leontine Gintara Zavrina du Diamantina—but please just call me Sophia. That is correct, is it not?”

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  (1/2) >>Yes

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  (2/2) >>It's nice to meet you

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  Please turn back a page

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  Magic Beginnings: Magical Girl Academy #1, by Kayla Bashe

  ——Press UP to make a choice

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  You read a book about the history of magical girls.

  “The first monsters appeared nearly 100 years ago. They came from beyond the stars to wreak havoc upon society. The brave inhabitants of the galaxy did their best to fight them, but traditional weapons would not harm these creatures, and traditional methods of warfare only made them stronger. One day, the inhabitants of a town that was about to be overrun by monsters were evacuating. Among them was a seventeen-year-old girl named Maona, as well as her best friend, whose name has been lost to history. However, on their way down the road, the inhabitants were surrounded by monsters, and a Melancholic pounced on Maona’s friend, knocking her down with his powerful limbs and claws.

  Maona saw that her best friend was about to die. She resolved to not let it happen. In that moment, she became the first magical girl.

  According to eyewitnesses, glittering pink light blossomed around her. She flew up into the air, suddenly clad in a beautiful dress. Subsequently, combat stopped as she transmitted a telepathic message of love and encouragement within a three-mile radius. After the incident, her friend gave a handful of interviews before disappearing entirely from the public eye. (It is suspected that she has since died of old age. ) The following passage is a quote from her final, and most extensive, interview.

  “Glittering pink light blossomed around her. When it opened like a flower and faded into a shower of sparkles, she was clad in a beautiful dress. I had never seen her look more… more uniquely herself than in that moment. You weren’t there, you wouldn’t understand, but it was the most beautiful, wonderful thing any of us had ever witnessed. Everyone stopped fighting, even the monsters. She rose into the air until she was floating high above the battlefield, and… she spoke to us. Her message was one of love and encouragement. I knew she was speaking to everyone, but it felt as if she was communicating only to me. She told me that she loved me. That I was good enough, no matter what I thought about myself, and that I deserved to be happy. That I could do whatever I wanted to and be whatever I dreamed of becoming. She didn’t use actual words, or maybe I just forgot her exact words when she stopped talking, the way one forgets dreams… or, perhaps, ordinary humans cannot comprehend the true essence of a magical girl. Then she began to glow—brighter and brighter, until I could no longer look at her. When I could see her even through my closed eyelids, she… erupted into a shower of sparks, like a firework the size of a palace. Sparks landed on monsters, and they disappeared. Sparks landed on soldiers who were wounded and close to death, and they healed. Sparks landed on torn-up blades of scraggly grass, and they became beautiful wildflowers. …She was an amazing person, and I miss her so, so much.”

  Subsequently, girls and women all over the solar system began discovering their magical powers in one incident after another."

  ... Oh, wow. Now that you’ve reached the end of the chapter, you realize that you’re actually really hungry. This morning, you were so busy... Traveling by yourself for the very first time. Scrambling to collect all your luggage as you got off the spaceship, deciphering the confusing train schedule, sprinting to catch a cross-country train, keeping track of all your belongings, struggling to open a map in the wind, trying and trying to flag down a hover taxi... gosh, it’s amazing that you even managed to make it to the school! Luckily, lunchtime is just around the corner.

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  (1/1) Meet up with your student guide and head to lunch!

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  Please turn back a page

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  Magic Beginnings: Magical Girl Academy #1, by Kayla Bashe

  ——Press UP to make a choice

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  Three years after the Emergence/Sacrifice of the first magical girl, the Academy was created. Its first students—

  A young heiress who donated the castle she’d received for her birthday to serve as the school building—

  A street urchin who, after saving her city from monsters, had started to train younger children in the use of their powers—

  A Diamandian princess whose parents and peers deemed her magical abilities “unladylike—”

  A girl raised by wolves and brought up in the wilderness—