Polygal

Polygal (left) battles Spirit Guard Tenacity.

**Polygal** is a character in *Magical Girl Policy*. She is a monster created by Platicore, designed to drain Investiture from people as well as battle the Spirit Guard. Initially hidden within a *Zombie Mansion* arcade machine, she reveals herself when she is unable to drain Robert Dreese.

## Appearance

Polygal initially appears as a character in the *Zombie Mansion* arcade game. She has blue skin, dark green shoulder-length hair, black-and-red eyes, and appears to be made up of polygons. Her jagged, low-resolution appearance evokes that of early 3D computer graphics, with many of her features being boxy or lacking depth. As she is not actually part of the software, Polygal's voice is unaffected by the cabinet's low quality speakers.

After exiting the machine, Polygal's true form is revealed. She retains her basic features, but is less pixelated and incorporates parts of the cabinet into her body. Her shorts and midriff-baring breastplate are made out of plastic casing, and she wears thigh-high combat boots. Her abdomen incorporates coin slots, her wrists ticket dispensers, and her back the wires for a pair of light guns that are holstered on either side of her hips.

Her core essence and her Investiture reserves are contained within her empathic capacitor, an object resembling a black pearl. When her body is destroyed, she is briefly capable of speech as just a capacitor, but she quickly dies in this state and the pearl shatters.

## Personality

When Polygal appears in the *Zombie Mansion* game, she acts as its host. She has an authoritative but reassuring demeanor as she grabs her victims and drains their energy, addressing them as her children. This same behavior also has her come across as patronizing, as she addresses even the college-age Robert as "little boy". The act of draining Investiture induces pleasure in Polygal, and losing it is extremely painful.

After revealing herself, her arrogance and violent nature are put on full display. She is excited at the prospect of presenting Robert to Platicore, even if Rob would make for a better servant than she. She expresses annoyance at the Spirit Guard's banter and cuts it short with her attacks.

## Abilities

Polygal is capable of draining Investiture from those next to her, preferring to grab the victim so they can't escape. Like other monsters, her draining method is considered simple in that is ill-equipped to detect or handle Investiture components other than the basic will. This is demonstrated when Robert's complex Investiture resists the process and triggers an explosive reaction in Polygal where she loses hold of all the energy she has collected. Her power is directly proportional to the amount of Investiture she has drained, and even in her weakened state her attributes far outclass those of an ordinary human. Based on the pattern of their foes whenever a new Spirit Guard is found, the heroes believe that Polygal would've been strong enough to defeat the four Spirit Guards had Robert not inadvertently weakened her.

In her disguised form, Polygal appears as an image on the arcade cabinet's screen and can reach parts of her body out of it. When shifting to her true form, she fully materializes and can use all of her combat abilities.

She can extend tickets from the dispensers on her wrist and use them as makeshift rope. The light guns corded to her hips can be mentally manipulated to hover next to her and fire black energy shots.

### Special moves

* **Ticket Snare:** Launches a line of tickets from either wrist to whip at or entangle the target. The tickets are empathokinetically reinforced until they are severed from Polygal, at which point they may be easily removed.
* **Quarter Jam:** Fires a flurry of coins from the slots on her abdomen.

## Biography

### Week 1

The Loose Change arcade receives an arcade cabinet for *Zombie Mansion*. It appears to be a standard zombie-themed light gun shooter, but behind the booth's curtain, those who play the game have their Investiture drained by the game's Polygal character. A group of middle schoolers are among her victims, becoming sickly and sluggish but generally staying near the game, with some even playing it more than once. Their strange behavior scares off other customers, including Kara Balmer, who leaves shortly after noticing it. Employee Eli Drake inspects the booth, but fails to find signs of drug use or anything suspicious about the machine itself.

Robert Dreese and Cory Frost visit the arcade to see Eli. Robert feels a strange heaviness in the air and an icy sensation in his bones that seem to point toward the *Zombie Mansion* machine. Curious about the shambling children that seem to be obsessed with the game, Rob and Cory decide to play it themselves and find out what's so special about it. Polygal's hands reach out of the screen to grab the two friends, draining Cory. Her attempts to obtain Robert's complex Investiture are foiled by him instinctively weaponizing his icy sensation to repel her from his inner self. This causes a violent reaction where Polygal releases the two and loses the energy she had drained, returning it to its victims and weakening her. With the monster's presence known and the victims reenergized, everyone but Robert, Cory, and Eli flee the arcade.

Polygal bursts out of the machine and reveals her true form. She demands Robert tell her how he resisted her, but he has no idea what she's talking about. She comments that Rob's sudden glowing is a mark that he's "special" and likely some sort of ally of "theirs", so she wants to bring him to Platicore so he can be empowered into a new servant. She ensnares Robert and holds Cory and Eli at gunpoint. She is distracted by the appearance of a symbol on Rob's forehead, believing it means something impossible, and is forced to release the boys when Spirit Guard Charity fires an arrow at her, as the Spirit Guard have arrived to save the day. Valor and Tenacity try to corner Polygal, so she makes them scatter with Quarter Jam and attempts to hit the hiding Robert, Cory, and Eli, but is stopped by Charity's Altruistic Barrier. Spirit Guard Felicity appears and uses Encircling Joy to restrain and incinerate Polygal, with Tenacity's Intrepid Blade finishing the monster off. Polygal's empathic capacitor, a black pearl, rises from her ashes and shatters, yielding no Investiture for Platicore.

Trace later comes by the arcade to retrieve Polygal's Investiture harvest, but is confused when the empathic capacitor is nowhere to be found. After she reports to Platicore the appearance of Spirit Guard Serenity at the Day LaMode battle, it is correctly guessed that Polygal had overloaded herself trying to drain the new Spirit Guard's civilian form.

## Relationships

### Platicore

Polygal was created by Platicore, and as is standard for his monsters has unyielding obedience and a desire to please him. It is implied that Polygal, like many other monsters, is unaware of those that came before her.

### Robert Dreese/Robynne Darling

Robert approached the disguised Polygal to investigate the mystery of the lethargic *Zombie Mansion* players, getting caught by her once inside the booth. When Polygal attempts to drain Rob's Investiture, his unusual resistance to the procedure causes her to violently react and lose containment of her energy. She is intrigued to find him glowing with the mark of a Champion, making her shift her focus to capturing him so Platicore can convert him into a powerful new servant. She is then confused, however, when Rob's glow also forms the symbol of Spirit Guard Serenity, marking him as the highly improbable reincarnation of the Shrine Maiden. Based on the pattern of previous battles whenever a new Spirit Guard was discovered, the heroes believe Rob was essential to Polygal's defeat, as even though he didn't enter his Spirit Guard form to fight the monster like the others did, making her Investiture drain backfire weakened her to the point that the four Spirit Guards could easily win.

### Spirit Guard

As with the other monsters, Polygal is given the mission of killing the Spirit Guard, as they oppose her goal of draining people of their Investiture. She was given some information on them beforehand, and is even familiar with the unique glowing symbol that marks a new Spirit Guard. She has little patience for the heroes' banter.

## In *MGP Alpha*

Polygal's role in *MGP Alpha* is much the same as her MGP appearance. She sports a different look, featuring buttons and joysticks along her arms, a translucent screen on her chest, and a visor over her eyes, and her ticket dispensers are on her palms rather than her wrists. Polygal doesn't recognize Robert's glow, so she never deduces the reason she can't drain his energy.

## Trivia

* Polygal's name is a portmanteau of "polygon" (referring to the kind used in 3D computer graphics, like in video games) and "gal" (an informal synonym for "girl").