Test Run

"Test Run" is a series of oneshots from Season 3, December 28-29, 2014, in which Kiri reunites with Dagger, explains all that has happened, and then hunts down a witch to test out her new magical powers.
== Summary==
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== Full Text ==
=== Part 1 ===
Kiri leaves the fortress, bounding across trees and snow faster than she was ever able to before.  She really does appreciate the augmented physical abilities.
It doesn’t take her long before she reaches the area where she had asked Dagger to wait.
Even if she must keep it from the others, at least her poor dragon will know the truth.  She only hopes that Dagger takes it well… and doesn’t flame her on the spot.  Or abandon her completely.
It’s a fear that she’s had.  It’s a rather legitimate one; making the contract means an eventual transformation into a witch, and it goes against everything she advised and told the others.  But still… she needs to tell someone.  For her own sanity, someone needs to know.
That someone is her dragon.  Dagger, her friend, someone who has been with her and trusted her since the early days of the Rebellion.  Dagger still remembers the pact they made back when they were worried about possession by the Warden.  Kiri only hopes that Dagger will still recall that understanding and trust now.
Kiri sighs, both fists clenched as she takes a breath.  Then she whistles for the dragon.
Moments later, Dagger dives over to her, her head bobbing up and down like an excited puppy.
"Dagger!  I’m back!" Kiri laughs, rushing forward and hugging the black nadder’s nose.  She rubs her hand over the silver nose spike and grins.  "Everything is okay.  Crisis averted for now.  I hope."
Then her gaze softens.  Her heart beats wildly as she gulps.
"And… yeah.  You probably guessed it.  I did it… made the contract."
Dagger stares at her for a solid five seconds.
Then the dragon promptly pounces and sits on her.
Kiri winces at the full weight of a nadder on top of her as Dagger shrieks furiously.  The dragon is railing at her in the dragonese speech, and Kiri can only guess what’s being said.  It could be anything, and she’s trapped under her dragon…
Dagger finally lets out one roar, then gives her a matronly look.
And settles down, curling her wings around in an embrace.
Kiri blinks she finds herself pulled towards Dagger’s chest, drawn in and engulfed by the dragon’s warmth.  Dagger rests her head to enclose her completely, releasing a soft, nurturing croon.
"H-hey… Dagger, it’s okay…"
Dagger refuses to let her go.  The dragon holds her close, crooning as though trying to comfort a terrified hatchling. 
Kiri smiles, surprised by the nadder.  She reaches up and returns the embrace, the feel of dragon scales on her cheek and a deep, loving heartbeat. 
She’s still terrified of what will happen if the others find out.  But despite all of it, and knowing of the inevitability, Dagger has chosen to accept her.  Dagger will be there. 
Kiri feels a sudden sense of relief and gratitude.
"Thank you."
Dagger gives a soft reassuring reply.
I’ll be here.
=== Part 2 ===
"So I thought about it, and decided that then, right before going in to confront Stonegit, was the best time to… make the contract."
Dagger makes an excellent audience.  Kiri is just glad she can tell the story.
"So I did it… made my wish… with the white cat right there," she waves a hand, still rubbing Dagger’s snout with the other.  They’re both still on the ground, Kiri lounging against Dagger’s stomach while Dagger has curled her head to rest beside her rider.
"I wished to heal the damaged, corrupted, broken souls of the world," Kiri speaks, gazing up into the sky.  "To do so myself, with my own hands… for the rest of my time here.  Even for those souls who need aid after I’m gone.
"I had to talk to Kiyu afterwards, because there were some ramifications neither of us really expected.  While I’m still… mortal, I guess you can call it, I have to do things manually.  With my own hands.  I need consent from the living to help their souls, but for the dead, and those who might as well be… I can do it.  Heal them.  For the souls who need help after I’m… no longer me, well… apparently it’ll still be me, or some spirit version of me, going around doing it.  The corruption and despair that offputs all of that happiness though, has… already been placed upon me."
Dagger shifts her head, frightened.  Kiri lets her hand remain on her snout, smiling gently in an effort to comfort her.  The dragon rumbles and motions for her to continue.
Kiri takes a breath and removes the ring from beneath her gauntlet.  It quickly returns to gem form.
"See that partition there?" she shows her soul gem to Dagger.  "That partition, where it’s all black and crystallized?  That’s it.  There’s so much that it did that.  It doesn’t affect me right now, but the moment I become a witch…"
The reality of the situation has struck her.  It seemed so surreal before, but that band of crystallized black is yet another reminder of her coming fate.
She stares at her soul, hands shaking.  The world suddenly feels distant.
"You have to stop me once I’m a witch," she whispers to Dagger.  "I - I made a deal with the white cats, because I’m taking away another energy source from them, and every time I heal a soul, the hurt that was healed just goes into that partition.  But the energy they’ll gain from me transforming into a witch, because of my wish - it’s enough for their mission.  They’ll leave this plane of Midgard alone.  They’ll never come back.  The white cats will leave forever.  I just have to let myself become a witch…"
Something twists inside her.  Then straightens.  She made the wish for a reason.
"I don’t regret it.  Every single one of the people who made a contract with the white cats just wanted to help.  They wanted to make miracles happen and protect their loved ones from the curses of the world.  They shouldn’t be condemned to eternity in broken despair, and then their souls destroyed completely by the white cats.  I can free them from that."
She thinks of the little girl who loved flowers and play blocks.  Then she smiles as she thinks of another girl, four years gone and the one to whom she owed her life.
"We’ll have to take a vacation from the Rebellion at some point.  Once I’ve gotten affairs in order, made sure the witch hunters are strong enough, figured out the contingency plan.  We can do this.  We can make things right. 
"We’re going to save Lillith."
=== Part 3 ===
Dagger waits expectantly.  Kiri takes a deep breath.
"Here goes," she breathes, and her soul gem glows.
Instantly, she feels magic surround her.  She’s wearing light conjured armor, simple but effective, allowing her full comfortable movement.  Fortified leg and arm guards, ridged spikes on the boots and knuckles, all to amplify powerful martial arts maneuvers.  Retractable blades within both gauntlets for close combat.  A dagger at her hip.
Dagger gives an approving squawk.  Kiri grins, and she brings the magic forth.
It comes in the form of barriers.
Kiri is shocked at the ease in which the magic comes to her, and moreso at the shields that form around her.  She tentatively knocks on one, feeling an odd fuzzy tingle go through her knuckles at the touch.
Curious, she dispels the shields and then conjures one beneath her feet.
Platforms then, as well.  Movable ones.
Then she turns and focuses on small barriers.  Sharp edges.  Twirling them around her like a storm of petals, but for each petal being sharper than a razor.
She finally conjures a barrier in the middle of a small tree.
The tree falls, bisected, into two.
Kiri stares at her hands, marveling at it all.
This isn’t so bad…!
Dagger rumbles excitedly.  Kiri turns to her and grins with delight.
"My soul can track witches now… think we should take this all for a test run?"
The dragon trumpets in reply.
=== Part 4 ===
Kiri’s surprised at how quickly they were able to track down a witch.
It roars at them from above, a distorted metallic monster flying above desert ruins.  It’s certainly one of the less nightmarish labyrinths Kiri has found herself in… she supposes she should be grateful for it.
Dagger nods at her from the side.  The dragon is acting as a backup in case something goes wrong. 
Kiri lets the magic flow.  Her armor and hand-to-hand combat materials appear, ready for immediate action.  Then she summons barriers around her and leaps up into the air.
The witch appears as a segmented sand leviathan, and it immediately dives at her, roaring and blaring with destructive might.  Particles of broken glass whip about in a storm.
Kiri is more grateful for the barriers than ever.  The smattering of glass against magic sends sparks of light dancing around her while she sits in safety in the center of it all.
She sees that close range combat will help her little for this witch.  She summons the rain of blade petals, letting them whirl around her in an equal match to the witch’s glass.  Another barrier appears beneath her feet, lifting her higher to meet the witch on an equal level.
It roars again, staring with its one red eye.
Kiri holds out a hand and creates barriers around the witch.
Each one dives in, severing each segment of the witch.  The rain of blade petals swoops down, cutting everything, slicing through the metal and demolishing the witch entirely.  It barely screams out a mechanical curse before it falls in pieces to the desert ruins below.
Kiri lands, still within her barriers, staring at the wreckage.  The labyrinth is shattering now, the storm of glass shards snowing down to become one with the sand.  She stares at her hands once more.
This… power…
Dagger approaches, cocking her head to the side curiously.  Kiri banishes the barriers and rubs her snout, gazing at everything around them.
"I think that’s a new record for witch killing," she comments.
As the world returns to normal, Kiri dispels her conjured armor and weapons.  The sand and the desert ruins vanish, leaving them in a small grove of trees with a spring.
She picks up the grief seed left by the witch.  She doesn’t recognize the emblems on it, but it’s clear that it meant something to whoever the witch originally was.
"I think the test fight went well," Kiri chirps, grinning.  She stashes the grief seed in her pouch with the others and launches herself onto Dagger, laughing with delight.
I can do this.  I feel so strong.  We can fight.
Dagger props her rider into her seat, crowing with equal happiness.  Kiri laughs again, knowing what the dragon wants.  “A flight sounds great.  Let’s take a flight, then head back.  Get you some dragonnip.  Maybe some tea.  You know, all of that.”
Dagger croons and jumps into the air.  Kiri whoops as they vault up into the sky.
Category:Season 3
Category:Events
Category:BOTGD
Category:Toshioka Kiri
Category:Hrinthe Fishgiver