“You know, I don’t think I ever asked, how does the whole… sharing a body thing, work?” Natsuki asked.

“Heck if I know!” Hikari said cheerfully, “Weirdly, I guess?” She paused, as if listening to someone, although Natsuki couldn’t hear anything. “...Can you rephrase that in a language I understand?” she asked, evidently not to Natsuki.

“Well I guess that’s one question down, you’re both still awake…” Natsuki said, giggling a bit.

“It’s kinda like… how do I put this… watching someone else play a video game?” Hikari said after a bit. “Like, you’re seeing all the same stuff they are, usually understanding it the same, but you can’t actually control it short of wrenching the controller out of their hands. And also you’re both super chatty since privacy isn’t much of a thing when you’re sharing a brain, except we can just choose to ‘leave the room’ so to speak and like, take a nap on the couch… and this metaphor is kinda breaking down isn’t it?”

“A little bit, yeah,” Natsuki said.

“I can also… usually feel what’s going on even though I’m not controlling, unless I try and dissociate a bit, which feels sort of weird honestly. So what brings it up?”

“Curiosity, mostly. It’s kinda weird having two people I love sharing a body.” Natsuki said with a shrug. Natsuki Nakano, part-time heroine and also part time minion, was in a pretty good mood - Hikari and Izanami had just switched again earlier that day, leaving the former in control, and they were celebrating by going out for ice cream. Natsuki, of course, liked Izanami a lot; what kind of minion would she be if she didn’t? But Izanami was her mistress, whereas Hikari was her best friend. She valued both relationships in their own right, but they were distinct things.

“So, how’s Akemi doing? Izanami didn’t interact much with her this round, and she didn’t ask you about her, so I’m kinda wondering.” Hikari asked between spoons of ice cream.

“About the same as usual,” Natsuki said, “Waaaay too focused on you and Izanami. She told me she was going on a training trip so she could ‘stay competitive with Himura!’, so I figure that’s why she wasn’t around to fight Mistress.” Akemi usually popped up shortly after Izanami did, playing the self proclaimed nemesis - but hadn’t this time. That was kinda disappointing, there’d been a magic show theme to it this time due to the villain that had been controlling Hikari when Izanami seized control, and Akemi would have looked cute in a bunny suit.

“Aww, it’s nice to know she was thinking of me!” Hikari said cheerfully.

“I think you’re missing the point… wait, what’s that noise?” Natsuki listened closely - there was a ringing from nearby, and… someone screaming?

Hikari started to shovel ice cream into her mouth, and stood quickly once she was done. “Sounds like troub- AGH! Brainfreeze!” she clutched her head at the ice cream headache, before shaking it off. “Sorry Izanami… Do you have your stuff Natsuki?”

“Yep! I kinda counted on your awful luck, ehehe…” Natsuki hefted her bag to show it. Hikari seemed to draw villains like moths to the flame - even if they weren’t outright after her they were often starting stuff near her or even just by coincidence deciding to set their lair in her path. Whether this was more unlucky for the villains or for Hikari depended on how blatant they were. Given Natsuki’s… hobbies, it was pretty lucky for her however it turned out.

Not long after, Hikari was transformed and Natsuki had pulled on her enchanted gear. The ringing bell turned out to be a bank’s alarm. No cops were on the scene yet - the place had been basically across the street from the ice cream parlor that Hikari and Natsuki had decided to visit, so they’d gotten there first. No minions were patrolling outside and the wide windows of the bank showed nobody inside either. Hikari started towards the door, only to be stopped by Natsuki’s hand on her shoulder. “I’ll scan the place,” Natsuki said, taking out a bronze cube and pressing a button. As she threw it into the air, it unfolded into the shape of a bird.

The construct circled a few times before flying to the door and directly through it, phasing threw without a sound and only a little glow of magic. Natsuki didn’t have magic of her own. What she did have was a mother with connections and a best friend who was a magnet for trouble; while Miss Nakano didn’t really want to hand out magical gear to a teenager, she knew that Natsuki was just about the only one who could add a dash of common sense to Hikari’s usual strategy of walking up to the enemy and blasting it, and tended to be near her when trouble started. So, some magical gear requisitioned for research by other agencies got… lost in transit.

The bird construct sent out a pulse of magic in each room - it worked sort of like sonar, bouncing off the natural magic that would be contained in people, villains, or magical booby traps. While Natsuki couldn’t see through the bird’s eyes, she could kinda feel it. “There’s nobody here… did they all get away…?” she said, as the bird flew into the vault. This time, the ping came back strong, showing several magical signatures. “Everyone’s in the vault.” Natsuki said. “Probably held captive by the villain?”

“Well,” Hikari said, twirling her staff and directing it at the entrance as it began to glow. “Guess we know where we’re going!”

“The vault’s open.” Natsuki said, gently pointing the staff down.

“Awww, that’s no fun.” Hikari pouted.

The pair walked into the deserted bank and around the counter, heading towards the back. “You know, I’m pretty sure these movie style vaults aren’t in fashion with banks these days… probably magic got involved.” Natsuki said.

“They’re not? Why do they show them in movies then?”

“Because that’s what you associate with banks?”

The vault door was, as the construct that returned to Natsuki’s side had told her, open wide. The pair walked into it, the clicking of shoes against tile turning into the scrape of boots on stone. Rather than a normal vault, the bank vault had been transformed to resemble a cave, with a pile of gold in the middle of it. The stone was actually visibly spreading across the floor and walls, the edge of the villain’s domain expanding over time.

There weren’t any minions, which was good - but what there were was a dozen gold statues. The magic residue Natsuki had detected earlier informed them that they were transformed civilians, rather than simply art… and there was one left, on a metal platform hanging above the treasure hoard. The woman groaned softly.

“Someone we can save!” Hikari said, and grabbed Natsuki by the wrist. “Come on, let’s go!” Something was weird, and Natsuki wanted to say it, but Hikari was too fast as she pulled her friend with her into the air and then onto the platform. “We’re here to save you! Natsuki, untie her, I’ll keep watch…”

Natsuki nodded, and started working at the woman’s rope bindings. “Ah… thank you…” the woman said softly.

“No problem! It’s our jobs… hey, what happened to the others? Why aren’t you transformed?” She asked, as she managed to unbind the civilian.

“No, let me finish,” the woman said, standing and turning to the pair. “Thank you..." Something was wrong with her eyes… namely, the reptilian slit in them. “For falling into my trap!”

The villainess leapt from the platform as a cage came crashing down around the pair, trapping them inside. Hikari started to charge a blast, and Natsuki ducked - one does not get in the way of Hikari’s magical attacks if they know what’s good for them.

“Ha! You think I’ll let you?” the villainess laughed. Looking at her now, she’d discarded her disguise, revealing leathery draconic wings, horns, a long and thick tail, and a coat of amethyst-purple scales in a pattern that resembled a dress. She raised her finger and snapped. “I can already sense your power, so I won’t banter! Instead, be remade!”

The cage suddenly and violently dropped into the hoard of gold, coins flying everywhere. As the cage came to a stop, the gold began to glitter and glow, and Natsuki felt the magic taking hold. She sighed - she’d done her part to try and help, but they’d been tricked… so may as well relax and take it.

The magical nature of the gold meant that both the villainess’ victims were quite capable of breathing inside of the pile - the gold flooded into the cage, covering them entirely as the magic began to take effect. With so much in such close proximity, it was nearly impossible to resist even if Natsuki had wanted to. But, well… submission was something of a hobby of hers.

Natsuki let the magic wash over her as the gold began to stick. In many places, the gold started to fuse to her body, to her arms, legs, torso. She felt it coalescing around her as her body shape changed, bosom swelling and bottom ballooning to match. Her hair began to lengthen as well, dyed yellow by the treasure. It felt really nice, to just lay back and submit, to just let it happen. Her clothes were torn away - she wouldn’t need them anymore, she knew, as her coat of scales began to form from the gold.

As the gold stuck and fused as scales, more changes began to occur. She groaned as she felt something pushing out of her newly enhanced bottom at the same time as a similar feeling came from her head. Remembering what the dragon lady from before had looked like, it didn’t take a genius to guess she was growing a tail and horns - and, going from the feeling on her back, wings weren’t far behind.

Remembering the woman sent a thrill through Natsuki’s body, one that she recognized well. The pleasure of thinking of one’s mistress, that’s what it was. The villainess was in control of her now, and she loved it. “Ah… Mistress…” she moaned softly, as the transformation continued to wrack her body. She loved being transformed, having a mistress mold her body to her whims… right then, she could think of nothing better than becoming a dragon girl just like mistress, subservient to her, helping her in all her plans…

Not long after, the cage raised from the hoard. Inside were no longer a pair of heroines. Natsuki gazed lovingly at her mistress below, golden tail flicking around lazily. “Mistress~ I can’t thank you enough for making me just like you~” she said.

“Ehehehe…” came a giggle from behind her, and she knew Hikari had changed to. Part of Natsuki wanted to look, but her eyes were only for the amethyst dragoness…

-----

Akemi Foster dashed towards the bank at top speed. She couldn’t fly like some magical girls, but her stamina and speed on land could often make up for it. The powerful solo magical girl had received the call only minutes after returning to Matsushita City from her training trip. A dragon-themed villainess taking over a bank, converting the citizens into golden statues for her hoard or golden dragons as her minions.

The training… admittedly she wasn’t sure it had made her any stronger. A lot of it was just, refreshing what she already knew. But well, when it came to defeating Izanami and getting onto the same level as Hikari, anything was worth the try!

She hadn’t been going long when she arrived on the street. It had been long enough that the corruption had spread into the terrain; in place of a bank, was the entrance to a huge cave, looking distinctly out of place with the rest of the city. Police had a cordon around the block, in a staredown with an assortment of golden golems.

One of the cops turned to see her, ready to tell her to move along, but her reputation preceded her. The man instead called in on radio, and the barricade opened a bit to let her through. “It’s hardly worth using my power upon mere minions!” she declared, playing up the formal angle for the cops. “Allow me to proceed to your master, and you’ll be unharmed!”

The mobile statues looked at each other. Their frozen faces could hardly show an emotion, but the movement gave a sense of confusion. Akemi cracked her knuckles, magical gauntlets forming as she did so. The golems turned to her. “Very well then! This is the path of your own choosing, so I am not to blame for what happens to you...”

The ‘fight’, if you could call it that, was vicious and short. Akemi honestly loved that kind of fight the most. Stacking herself up against Izanami, comparing herself to Hikari, it made it easy to forget that she was legitimately powerful - her nemesis and her rival were just ridiculous. Despite the swift nature of the fight, she made sure not to hit too hard; after all, she didn’t want to leave actual damage for when these people were reverted to normal.

Leaving knocked out and restrained living statues behind her, she stepped into the cave. Most of the minions had been outside, looting the surrounding area - she only came across a few lone golems returning with the spoils. Of course. Dragon-themed villainess, probably had a hoard of valuables. She made sure to pick up whatever the golems had had on them; she’d throw them on the hoard as the zone shrunk. It would be easier to sort and recover if everything was in one place, rather than, say, getting stuck in a wall because the place it dropped used to be a bathroom.

The lair was large - larger than the bank had been, thanks to it’s magical growth - but not infinitely so. Soon, she was approaching the vault that she was sure was the center of the place. It looked unguarded, besides the big vault door.

“Oh, hi Akemi!” A chipper voice said from behind as she started to try and pull it open. Akemi sighed. Hikari was here. Of course she was.

“I don’t need your… help…” she trailed off as she turned. It was definitely Hikari and Natsuki… but they were almost completely different. They could have been sisters, both gold-haired, golden scaled dragon girls, with reptilian eyes. “...Oh, I see.”

“I’m sure Mistress would love to have another follower!” Natsuki said. “So nice of you to come and join us!”

Akemi didn’t wait around for banter. The two minions wouldn’t appreciate it anyway and the cops weren’t there to watch. So instead, she just lunged for Hikari. The dragoness dodged backwards away from the punch, wings taking her to the air. “Well that’s rude! Guess we’re gonna have to take care of you real good first~”

Natsuki darted to Akemi’s side, but the magical girl was prepared and sent a magic infused punch her way. Natsuki dodged that, but not the follow up kick, sending her flying into the wall. Before Akemi could turn to face Hikari though, she was shoved to the ground by the force of a magical fireball. Hikari landed on top of Akemi, keeping her down. “Don’t worry! Mistress will get all that rude heroism out of you! If you’re lucky you get to be a dragon like us! Although with how you’ve been acting, she might just want a decoration…”

This was bad - even under mind control, Hikari was freakishly strong, both physically and magically. But from the sounds of it, the dragoness hadn’t bothered to change her personality much. Her easily distracted, common-sense lacking personality. Akemi reached into the pouch of her magical girl outfit… “Hey, what’re you doing? I’m not stupid you know…” Hikari asked as she placed a clawed hand onto Akemi’s, keeping it in place.

“Getting you a gift.” Akemi said between grunts of pain. The scales added a lot of weight…

“Oh, that’s nice of you!” Hikari said, removing her hand. Akemi took out a handful of jewelry that she’d rescued from the golems. Hikari stared, transfixed by the shiny gold and gems…

“Go get it!” Akemi shouted, throwing it as far back down the hall as she could - which given her magically enhanced strength was very far. Hikari - and even Natsuki - flew after it, cackling gleefully. Akemi quickly got up, and turned back for the door. If she were lucky, the two dragons would fight about who got to keep it while she dealt with the villainess.

The first thing she noticed in the room was a huge pile of gold. The kind of pile that cartoon rich people go swimming in. It was studded with gems and various other valuables, but gold by far was the most present. And more than that, Akemi could sense immense magic coming from it - and seeing as there were no visible minions, it meant the pile itself was probably magical.

On a platform hanging over the pile was a woman. Akemi’s first instinct was to leap up after her. Her second, stronger instinct, was to call her the hell out - could you get a more obvious trap? It had probably been what got Hikari.

The third instinct was to try and make it backfire.

She leapt onto the platform, carefully. “Hey, are you ok?” she said as she walked up to the woman and made sure she was breathing.

“Ah… thank you, hero…”

“No problem…” Akemi said. She noted the cage up above.

“For falling into my trap!” The dragoness finished, and darted away. Or tried to. But Akemi’s grip on her leg was strong.

“Do I look stupid? The only civilians I’m finding here are those statues.” Akemi said with a smirk

“Insolent cur!” the dragoness shouted. “I’ll melt you down into a set of boots once you’ve been properly gilded!” Her neck started glowing red, and Akemi could tell fire was on the way.

“I’m sure you’ll try!” Akemi shouted, ducking out of the way of the fire, and leaping upwards. The fire tracking her hit the frayed rope keeping the cage part of the platform in the heights of the room, dropping it around the platform. The dragoness shrieked with rage, and started to burn the bars. “You think that people are yours to collect, hm? Well, why don’t you see how it feels!”

As Akemi spoke, she powered up a magical punch and broke the chain keeping the platform aloft. Between the obvious nature of the trap, the fact she wasn’t just laying atop the hoard, and the earlier detection of magic in the hoard, Akemi hoped this would do something useful. The platform dropped into the cage, dragoness with it, leaving Akemi dangling from the ceiling chain.

She couldn’t see what was going on inside the pile of gold, but it had begun to glow. She held on tightly, and just as her arms were starting to get tired, the floor started getting closer. The cave was shrinking.

Stone turned to tile and plaster, torches became electrical lamps, as the room started to turn back to a normal bank vault. The pile of gold was shrinking, as most of it’s contents turned to paper bills, deeds, and other modern valuables. The exception was the golden dragon statue that was at its center. At least the villainess had gone out as she’d lived - surrounded by treasure. It would probably be some time before the techs figured out how to reverse the spells she’d put down…

The vault door opened, and a pair of gold scaled dragons came in. Hikari and Natsuki. Well… the powerful minions usually took some time to revert. But rather than attack, their eyes were drawn to the golden statue of their mistress. They leapt to her, and started pressing close and hugging it. “Ah, Mistress~ You’ve become the best treasure of all~” Hikari crooned, and Akemi couldn’t help but laugh.

“You can keep that if you follow me…” Akemi said, with a smile. This was something she’d be able to hold over her rival for weeks! ...Assuming Hikari didn’t just say thank you for saving her. Which, knowing her, she probably would - the girl seemed utterly unaware of their rivalry! But a victory was a victory, and with how things had gone for her since Izanami entered the scene, she needed one of those.