Spirit Stick

The **Spirit Stick** is a name given to an item in *Magical Girl Policy*. There are five of these powerful empathokinetic foci created by the Scholar for the Spirit Guard, with one assigned to each Champion on the team. The Spirit Sticks are the keys to the heroes tapping into their inherited powers, allowing them to battle monsters and other potential threats. The foci were dubbed "Spirit Sticks" by the Spirit Guard at some point in the past and are not known to have had a name beforehand.

## Description

A Spirit Stick resembles a baton, with a grooved metallic surface and rubbery ends. The color of each Spirit Stick matches the associated color of its intended user: purple for Angela, red for Mallory, pink for Vivian, yellow for Kara, and blue for Rob.

When a Spirit Guard activates their transformation, they split their Spirit Stick in two. The focus then disappears until the user reverts to their powered-down form.

The Spirit Stick apparently has some form of artificial intelligence, as it can perform various tasks and make decisions in the process without input from its user. This includes choosing where to warp when moving near its user, when to increase the intensity of its empathokinetic signal, asking its user subliminal questions to affect their transformed appearance, and scanning the area when adjusting their clothing in order to fit into their environment. The Spirit Sticks also seem to be linked to one another, as Angela's first transformation saw the creation of the Spirit Guard's cheerleader aesthetic, which was applied to the whole team once they transformed.

## History

### Background

During the Ardentia Civil War, the Scholar, using the limited data she could obtain about the seemingly unstoppable and incomprehensible Other Power, began development of empathokinetic foci that could potentially be used to oppose this threat. She did this by herself and in secret, not wanting knowledge of these powerful foci to reach dangerous individuals like the Empress. The result was an extraordinarily potent focus that would be considered a major breakthrough in empathokinetics. Due to the Scholar working alone against the time constraints of her world's impending destruction, only five such foci could be made.

At some point, the Princess learned of these foci, and the Scholar agreed to incorporate them into the plan to prevent the Other Power or thoroughly corrupt Ardent Empire from attacking Earth, a world with young peoples and the destination of the Empire's last remaining gateway. With the help of the Shrine Maiden, the team received a favor of the High Spirits: the gods would allow the team to reincarnate as humans when their powers are needed in the future. Knowing the inherited portion of the soul would include the Investiture, the foci were configured to allow a human with a matching Investiture to tap into the abilities of their predecessor and receive incredible power. During the final battle for the gateway to Earth, the Scholar placed the foci within the iris, an interdimensional storage unit shared by the Empire and Earth sides of the gateway, and made each one accessible only to one with a matching Investiture. Once the foci were secured, she severed the link between the gateways, making the foci only accessible from Earth and stranding the Ardentia on their own world. Platicore managed to warp to Earth at the last moment, with everyone else assumed to have died either in battle or to the Other Power.

The foci remained sealed within the iris for thousands of years, with the gateway now known as the Standridge Hill Stone Circle. In time, the Princess and co. reincarnated as humans, chosen by Fate to become Champions that would defend Earth. The first was Angela Warrant, who had retrieved her focus from the Standridge Stones but had no idea what it did, with even her Guide Kunapipi largely clueless. Angela activated the focus when a monster made by Platicore attacked, and the focus probed her subconscious for an image that would lift people's spirits. With Angela being a cheerleader who was just at a football game, her Spirit Guard costume was thus modeled after a cheerleader's, cementing the template followed by future Spirit Guard. With her powerful new form, Angela defeated the monster, shortly becoming known as Spirit Guard Valor, a superhero who appears to defeat monsters in Kessia City. Half a year later, Valor saw her friend Mallory Drake glow with a Champion's glow while resisting a monster called Alena Alfredo. Using her ability to remotely access any unclaimed foci and instinctively selecting the correct one, Valor threw Mallory a focus that let her become Spirit Guard Tenacity and defeat the monster. Angela would later inspect the foci, now dubbed "Spirit Sticks", and the iris they were contained within in order to recognize a new Spirit Guard in the future, which included Vivian Feliz and Kara Balmer as Spirit Guards Felicity and Charity, respectively. The team attempted to study the Spirit Sticks for purposes such as altering their costumes or disabling the inconvenient swear filter placed upon them, but to no avail.

### Week 1

In the present day, the Spirit Guard rescue Robert Dreese from Polygal and are confused to find him glowing with the mark of Spirit Guard Serenity. As the Spirit Guard transformation alters one's body to be closer to their Ardentia predecessor's, the heroes worry about what might happen if Rob transformed, as he is a boy reincarnated from the Shrine Maiden. This dissuades Valor from giving Rob his Spirit Stick like she had with the others, and she dodges Rob's questions on why he glowed by saying the team will look into it. After checking with Kunapipi, the team is convinced that Robert is to be the final Spirit Guard, but activating his Spirit Stick will likely force him to live with a female body.

Worried to break this news to Robert but concerned they will likely need his help to survive future battles, the Spirit Guard and Kunapipi meet with him at the Standridge Stones. After explaining their background, they have him retrieve his Spirit Stick from the iris himself, confirming his status as Spirit Guard Serenity. Not entirely on board with the idea of being a hero, Rob's refusal to join them becomes firmer when he is told what will happen to his body if he transforms. He tries to give his Spirit Stick to Ms. Kuna for safekeeping in hopes of finding it a new owner, but as warned it is now bonded with him and thus warps to remain at his side. Rob is unable to sleep that night due to being constantly aware of his Spirit Stick's presence, which Angela explains in the morning as his empathokinetic perception awakening, and that he will be able to tune the sensation out given time.

When Day LaMode attacks at Rale Valley Mall, Robert's Spirit Stick begins buzzing at his EKP so he may oppose this monster. He ignores it and sticks to the agreed-upon plan of fleeing the mall with Cory and Eli while the Spirit Guards handle the fighting. However, when the heroes get split up and Tenacity is put at LaMode's mercy, Rob activates his Spirit Stick to become Spirit Guard Serenity and save Tenacity's life. The transformation turns Rob's body female as expected, but it also changed the size and fit of the clothes he was wearing. Ms. Kuna explains that while the other Spirit Guard saw their current clothes resized to fit their altered physiques, the more dramatic changes of Rob's clothes were likely the result of his Spirit Stick scanning the surrounding mall for styles that wouldn't look out of place on his drastically different body. At Rob's insistence, Ms. Kuna promises to resume looking into ways to disable the swear filter.

### Week 5

After powering down following the battle with Cell-celia, Robynne suddenly feels weak a few moments later, while this effect happened immediately after the Day LaMode battle. Ms. Kuna explains that this is because Rob's body has since acclimated to the Spirit Stick's power and thus feels the force of returning to normal more gradually.

## Functions

### Empathokinetic focus

By default, a Spirit Stick is simply a very potent focus, allowing one to perform empathokinetic feats that they're not typically proficient at. This is demonstrated when the Scholar channels tranquility into what would become Rob's focus, activating the invisibility power that would later be known as Placid Mist. This functionality has not been used nor mentioned in the present day.

### Pairing with a user

When a Spirit Stick comes in contact with its intended recipient (e.g. one with a matching Investiture), the two are paired from that point onward. The creation of this bond is empathokinetically stimulating, as Robert's EKP noticeably improves after receiving his Spirit Stick. After being paired, the Spirit Stick automatically teleports about to be close to its owner, generally residing in enclosed spaces that bystanders can't see such as bags. The Spirit Stick won't warp if someone else is consciously focused on it, such as if they are currently holding it. The focus gives off a constant empathokinetic signal, increasing in intensity under certain circumstances, apparently at times when its power would be useful to deal with a threat. The signal can be tuned out after one's EKP becomes accustomed to it.

### Transformation

A Spirit Stick's primary function is to allow its chosen user to transform into their powered up Spirit Guard form. While the user is in tune with their title's namesake emotion, they can say an incantation and then pull their focus apart. The incantation is unique to each Spirit Guard and evokes their title and associated element (i.e. Mallory says "Surge of Tenacity, Spirit Guard Power up!"). The user is then placed in their Transformation Station, a personal dimension where they connect with the remnants of their past life within their soul, gaining access to their Ardentia predecessor's empathokinetic abilities and instincts. This is what allows the untrained Spirit Guard to fight as effectively as the Princess's team.

In addition to augmenting their power, the Spirit Guard form also affects the user's appearance. The user's body is altered to more closely match their past life's, which is more pronounced while powered up, and this appearance is saved by the Spirit Stick so the user's healing factor may attempt to match this image. The Disconnection Effect impedes observers, pushing them to mentally separate a powered-up Spirit Guard from a powered-down one. Everything on the user's person is removed to make way for the form's costume. The costume is intended to inspire positive emotions in bystanders, so whatever the first Spirit Guard to transform subconsciously associates with this concept becomes the basis of the costume for every Spirit Guard thereafter. In this case, Angela inadvertently got the team cheerleader-inspired outfits. One's first transformation has their clothing's shape altered in an attempt to fit their updated body and the surrounding environment upon powering down; while the first four Spirit Guards simply saw a shift in size, Rob's new body was totally overhauled and thus his clothes took on a totally different cut and fit.

### Other

The user is subject to a few lasting effects after using the Spirit Stick to transform. Besides their altered body and healing factor forcing them into a certain appearance, the user becomes affected by an inexplicable swear filter, automatically replacing certain curse words with those of corresponding sweet foods. Power from the Spirit Stick lingers in the user's body, allowing it to grow accustomed to the act of powering up and down, as the latter can be a shock.

The Spirit Guard don't understand the inner workings of the Spirit Stick, which has made the team's efforts in studying the foci fruitless. They had hoped that Vivian accessing the Scholar's instincts would help, but it has not. The inability of the heroes to analyze the foci has consequences, ranging from inconveniences like being unable to disable the swear filter or alter their costumes, to major problems like being unable to find a new owner for Rob's Spirit Stick when he refuses to transform and Rob being stuck with a female body when he does transform.