Chapter 35: The Union of Jeet Kune Do and Karate
"That's not important! Just protect her!" Sera's voice was sharp, her eyes already fixed on the heart of the Labyrinth. A swirling, viscous darkness was coalescing, taking the shape of a giant, twisted humanoid. Its body was a mockery of a police uniform, pieced together from countless stained and yellowed report files. Its limbs were bent at impossible, unnatural angles, as if shattered by the sheer weight of its own paperwork. It had no face, only a gaping, irregular slash where a mouth should be, from which spewed a constant stream of shredded paper and dried ink, accompanied by the grating, soul-crushing sound of a jamming printer.
"Found you," Sera hissed, her body sinking into a Jeet Kune Do fighting stance, the energy circuits on her black combat gloves glowing.
The Witch let out a piercing shriek, a cacophony of busy signals and clacking typewriters that seemed to tear at their very souls. The paper hell around them churned, a whirlwind of missing person posters and rejected case files bombarding Sera's senses. The Witch's arm—a grotesque limb made of red tape and binders, tipped with a giant metal stamp that read "REJECTED"—swung down at her head.
Sera dodged with a fighter's instinct, the heavy stamp cracking the ground where she had just been. She weaved around the monster, her glowing fists a blur as she searched for its core.
Just then, a streak of pink light shot in from the side. It was Ran. Her karate stance was perfect, her fists glowing with a protective pink aura as she slammed a powerful straight punch into the Witch's paper-armored side.
BAM!
The sound was a dull thud, followed by an explosion of shredded paper. The Witch staggered, a momentary opening in its defenses.
"NOW!" Sera yelled. She shot forward like a compressed spring, her own gloves glowing with a blinding white light. "Jeet Kune Do: One-Inch Impact!"
Her fist, infused with all her magical power and martial arts skill, struck the damaged area. At the same instant, Ran followed up with a high-speed roundhouse kick, her own pink magic concentrated at the tip of her foot, striking the exact same spot. The two distinct, powerful forces converged, and the Witch's core imploded.
BOOOOM!
The monster let out a final, tearing shriek and exploded into a blizzard of black, burnt paper. The Labyrinth dissolved, and they were back in the dark, grimy alley. A single Grief Seed drifted down from the air. A white figure—Kyubey—appeared, its tail flicking out to catch it.
But before it could, SMACK! Ran, moving with lightning speed, chopped its tail with a karate chop, sending the creature flying. She snatched the Grief Seed out of the air.
"You..." Sera stared, utterly baffled. In her experience, the little white creature was mysterious, but... harmless.
Ran clutched the cold, pulsating Grief Seed. "I'll explain later."
The collapse of the Labyrinth shocked Sato out of her trance. Takagi rushed to her side. "Senpai! Are you okay?!"
"I... what was that...?"
"Hey, what are you two doing sleeping here?" Sera and Ran, now back in their school uniforms, asked, feigning innocence. Sato and Takagi, their memories of the Labyrinth already fading into a surreal, shared nightmare, could only stare. The strange, dream-like connection they had just experienced left Sato flustered and blushing, a new, complicated warmth blooming in her chest for her earnest, goofy partner.
Beika Town. A corner cafe.
"Mouri-san... can I call you Ran?" Sera asked, stirring her coffee. "Back there... why did you attack Kyubey?"
"Sera-san," Ran replied, her expression serious. "You're a magical girl, too, aren't you?"
"Yes. For a wish... that's very important to my family."
"Don't trust Kyubey," Ran said, her voice low. "It's hiding things from us. The Bell Tree Express incident... that was caused by people who got their power from Kyubey. My dad and Conan... they know it's hiding something important about the Grief Seeds."
Sera listened, a thoughtful frown on her face. "Speaking of which... that little boy, Conan Edogawa. He seems... special. Are you sure he's not one of us?"
Ran actually laughed, a real, genuine laugh. "Conan? No way. He's just a normal kid, though Kyubey is always trying to get him to make a contract. He helps us, but he's not a magical girl."
Sera watched her, her suspicions not entirely gone, but she didn't push.
"But," Ran said, a serious look returning to her face, "we're not the only ones in Beika."
Just then, a breaking news alert flashed across the cafe's TV screen. "...multiple areas across the city, including Beika and Haido districts, are reporting unexplained gas leaks and communication blackouts. There has also been a sharp increase in missing persons reports..."
Witch Labyrinths. And they were erupting all over the city.
Dr. Agasa's house.
A world map on the computer screen was covered in blinking red alerts, from Tokyo to London, from New York to Cairo. It wasn't a series of isolated attacks. It was a coordinated, global assault.
Conan stared at the screen, his face grim. His small team couldn't possibly handle this. They needed to unite every ally they had. He picked up his voice-changing bow tie and began to make the calls—to Ran, Kogoro, Haibara, Mitsuhiko. Then, on encrypted lines, to Vermouth and Shuichi Akai.
"This is an emergency," his voice was calm, but the urgency was unmistakable. "I'm calling a meeting of everyone who knows the truth. Immediately."