Madoka Magica Portable Sayaka Route

The Wish I Prayed For(私が願った、奇跡)

Summary

This choice is unlocked after the Mami route is cleared without Mami becoming Candeloro. At the beginning, Mami, Madoka and Homura are already magical girls, with Homura wearing glasses. How would this take effect on Sayaka's tragic fate?

Story

Warning, this section contains spoilers.
Kyousuke falls into despair. One day Sayaka is on her way to school as usual, when she notices that Madoka is walking with a senpai from school. That same day, there is a transfer student called Homura Akemi. After school, Sayaka invites Madoka to go shopping together, but Madoka says that she has something to do with Homura, so Sayaka goes to the CD store alone. When she leaves the CD store, however, she meets Madoka, Homura and Mami, who have just defeated Gertrud's familiars. Then Sayaka sees a white creature on Madoka's feet. Mami tells Kyubey to hide but Kyubey declares that it would be better to have more magical girls. Mami and Madoka are worried about Sayaka's potential in becoming a magical girl. Sayaka visits Kyousuke that night, and Kyousuke teaches her how to play the violin. When Sayaka leaves, Kyubey calls her, but she thinks it's a ghost and runs away since Kyubey doesn't show himself. Madoka, Homura and Mami go to fight Patricia and defeat her. Sayaka still can't be together with Madoka so she feels lonely. She asks to leave the next day, but visits Kyousuke that evening. Kyousuke knows that he can't play the violin any more so he is angry. He damages the CD player with his broken hand and says he doesn't want to see anyone. When Sayaka leaves the hospital, Kyubey goes after her and ask her to become a magical girl. Sayaka refuses his suggestion. The next day, Sayaka invites Madoka to have lunch together but Madoka says she has another date. After school, Sayaka visits Kyousuke again but he wont see her. Once again, Kyubey suggests that she forms a contract with him. He says that there are many talented artists whose lives were fragile and choose to die when they felt that it was impossible for them to do any better. Maybe Kyousuke is such a type of person. When Sayaka replies Kyousuke is not such a weak person, he tells her to check it herself. Kyousuke is not in his room, he goes to the top of the hospital and he is ready to commit suicide. Sayaka stops him and then contracts with Kyubey to become a magical girl. After contracting, she goes patrolling at night. Since Sayaka doesn't know that the other three girls are also magical girls she fights alone. But Kyousuke playing the violin for her makes her happy. She also fights against H.N.Elly and finds it hard to defeat witches. One day, when she is hunting Albertine's familiars, she meets Kyoko Sakura. They then begin to fight. But before Sayaka can get into any danger, Madoka, Homura and Mami appear and stop them. Kyoko leaves unhappily, saying she didn't know there were so many magical girls in that area. Sayaka then joins Mami's team to fight familiars. Sayaka discovers that she is far weaker than all of them. Not wanting to become a burden on the others, she decided to train herself. Two days later she meets Kyoko again, near the factory. Both of them are ready to fight again but they are stopped by Mami. Suddenly, a witch (Charlotte) appears and sucks them into her barrier. Kyoko understands why Mami is here since she can feel the witch's power, so she stops her fight and tells Sayaka (who can't tell how powerful this witch is) to be careful. Mami says it might have been caused by the fight between them. The girls fight against Charlotte but it is too powerful to even be defeated by all three magical girls, and Mami tells them to escape. But Sayaka, who didn't want to leave Mami alone, insisted on staying to fight alongside with Mami. However, Mami suffers the same fate as in the anime (getting decapitated by Charlotte). Kyoko helps Sayaka to escape from the witch's barrier. Knowing she is too weak to protect others, Sayaka thinks it is meaningless to be a magical girl any more. So, she throws her soul gem to dismiss her magical girl duty. The gem goes into the witch's barrier and it moves away. Madoka and Homura arrive to the scene to encounter a soulless Sayaka. At first, they think that Kyoko killed her. But Kyubey comes into Kyoko's defense and reveals a shocking truth: He tells them that they need to get Sayaka's soul gem back in two days or Sayaka may die forever. As in the anime, Kyoko use her magic to keep Sayaka's body from decomposing. Madoka and Homura go out to find the lost Soul Gem. Then there are 3 possible endings after this, depending on whether her soul gem is found within 2 days, and whether her soul gem is already completely tainted. 1. Sayaka becomes a magical girl of justice. Madoka and Homura finally find Charlotte's barrier and they manage to defeat her; they recover Sayaka's soul gem. Both of them cry for Mami's death before her barrier disappears. They then go to Kyoko's place to revive Sayaka. When Sayaka wakes up, they tell her the truth. Sayaka is angry and asks Kyubey why he didn't tell them about this. Kyubey then explains the girls same was as in the anime. Sayaka thanks the three girls for helping her, and then she runs away. Sayaka cries near the river all night. The next day, Sayaka discovers Kyousuke going to school with Hitomi. At noon, she decides to confess to him. But when Sayaka tells him her feelings, her Soul Gem drops and Kyousuke sees it. Sayaka realizes it is impossible to be together with him. A depressed Sayaka goes to the observatory where she meets Kyoko. Sayaka confesses to Kyoko that she is in pain and tells her that she decided that she wants to leave Mitakihara. Kyoko tells Sayaka about her tragic story, and she says that she is even more 'baka' than Sayaka. The distrust and prejudice between the two vanishes and they begin to become close friends. Before the two of them leave the scene, they hear some screams. They finds Izabel's barrier and in the center are Kyousuke and Hitomi. Sayaka is afraid to save them at first because of what they would think of her, but Kyoko persuades her. Kyousuke and Hitomi pass out and they do not see the fight. Sayaka and Kyoko then leave the area before they wake up. Kyousuke and Hitomi would recall hearing Sayaka's voice saying that she was a hero of justice, but they dismiss it as thinking that they were just dreaming. After this event, Kyoko decides to return to Kazamino and she points out that there are already three successors to Mami's will. Kyoko suggests that they can call her whenever they need her help. Sayaka then fights Walpurgisnacht with Homura and Madoka, but she dies during the fight. Kyoko is not there because Sayaka chose not to ask for her help. Sayaka says it an insurance to keep Kyoko from this battle because they might all die. If this happens, Mitakihara will be left for Kyoko. In the end the three girls are defeated by Walpurgis but the town is evacuated on time. Sayaka dies and Madoka dies later because of her injuries, leaving Homura alone. Alone again, Homura starts wondering how things would have been if Kyoko would have helped them and convinces herself that Kyoko should help them next time. Promising to save Madoka, Homura resets the timeline. 2. Soul gem is found, but Sayaka becomes a witch. The beginning is the same as above, but instead of going to observatory, Sayaka goes to the street where she meets Kyoko. Then they hears some people screaming. In the center of Izabel's barrier, they find Kyousuke and Hitomi there, clear-headed. They witness the fighting. After the witch is defeated, they're both upset with Sayaka. Kyousuke calls Sayaka a monster rather than thanking her and Sayaka becomes depressed. Kyoko tries to comfort her, but Sayaka leaves alone and calls herself a monster. Sayaka begins to fight familiars endlessly, like in the anime, and meets hosts badmouthing their girlfriends on a train. Finally Kyoko finds her in the station and calls Madoka and Homura, just before Sayaka turns into Oktavia von Seckendorff. Kyubey then tells them how a magical girl turns into a witch and generates a lot of energy. Kyoko then tries to turn Sayaka back as what she does in the anime. Eventually Kyoko sacrifices herself to end Oktavia. After this, Madoka becomes very depressed and locked herself in her room. Homura visits her twice to have her heart unlocked. Then they are preparing hard for Walpurgis. However, Walpurgis Night comes and it plays out the same way. 3. Soul gem is not found within 2 days. Madoka and Homura are trying hard to find Sayaka's soul gem, but since they are newbie, they can't tell the difference between barriers of witches and familiars. After 2 days, Madoka blames herself badly, and Kyoko comes. Kyoko says it's her wrong to rely on those newbie magical girls, and asks them to return to school. She finds Charlotte's barrier quickly with her experience, and fights hard to defeat her. But Kyoko doesn't have enough magic to preserve Sayaka's body and hunt and fight witches at the same time, so Sayaka's body starts to rot. When Kyoko finally finds Sayaka's soul gem, she passes out from exhaustion. While Kyoko is asleep, Sayaka wakes up and goes home, unaware of her current condition. Kyosuke visits Sayaka at home to play violin for her as a thank you to her. Then he sees Sayaka's alive but in a state of decomposition, and calls her a monster. Meanwhile Homura, Madoka, and Kyoko, realizing that Sayaka is gone, they arrive at Sayaka's home after Kyosuke runs away. Sayaka now knows her condition by seeing the reflection of herself in the door. She begins to ask why she becomes like this, and calls Madoka and Kyoko for help. But since they have no way to help her, Sayaka falls into despair immediately. Kyoko sees her soul gem quickly become black then transform into grief seed, and Sayaka turns into Oktavia. What happens next is the same as above.

Observations and Trivia

Kyubey says that a magical girl's body will begin to rot after losing contact with her soul gem for 2 days.
In the 3rd episode of anime, Kyubey suggest Mami not to go too fast to avoid stimulating the witch. In this route, Charlotte becomes abnormally powerful because of the fighting between Kyoko and Sayaka.
Mami seems not too welcome new magical girls. When Kyubey tells her about irregular magical girl Homura, she is not happy. When Sayaka sees Kyubey, she concerns about her becoming a new magical girl. Mami doesn't think it better to have more magical girls.
Homura seems to know Sayaka as a magical girl in the beginning. Madoka corrects her that Sayaka is only her friend, not a magical girl.
In this timeline, Madoka's wish seems to be letting her family always happy.
Oktavia's barrier is a little different between ending 2 and 3. In ending 2, Kyoko gets into Oktavia's room immediately. They have to pass 5-level labyrinth before seeing Oktavia in ending 3.
Homura's personality is depicted differently in each separate route:
- Homura is a bashful and inexperience magical girl.

Speculations

Kyubey suggests Mami to have special training with both Madoka and Homura. Kyubey may try to get close to and make contract with Sayaka, without being aware by Mami, Madoka and Homura by doing this way.
There are five famous/historical artists depicted in the game. It is suspected that the famous artists are: Ernest Hemingway, Marilyn Monroe, Vincent van Gogh, and Yukio Mishima. The fifth figure at the extreme left in the drawing is Osamu Dazai, a famous Japanese author who committed suicide with his wife. Please compare the drawing of him here with that of this photothis photo and you will see that the one is a mirror image of the other.

Strategy

This route allows access to many abilities through multiple encounter opportunities with Albertine familiars, which is recommended to accumulate spell books.
- Sayaka can fight them once in day 9. Homura and Madoka can fight them twice or three times (in day 12~13), depending on whether Sayaka is meant to be given up.
Glasses Homura's base stats are very low by default, which means many of her powerful abilities cannot be accessed. However, she can use Suspend Time (時間停止), Time Bomb (時限爆弾), and High Caliber Pistol (大口径拳銃). These abilities will even allow her to solo Albertine familiars and Charlotte, the most difficult encounters Homura and Madoka will face alone. Though it is recommended to also make use of Madoka's higher damage attacks to minimize damage. The use of Suspend Time is also helpful in support of the fight against Oktavia, the most difficult encounter in this route, though Homura's lack of firepower should be compensated through the use of Kyoko's more damaging abilities. For Sayaka's route, the Oktavia fight will end when her health is at 30%.
Because the route offers opportunities to face Oktavia, it is preferable to invest more play time, base stat points and abilities with Kyoko, rather than Sayaka. Even if Sayaka is saved in the route, her soul gem tends to get dark quickly, so it's suggested to switch to playing Kyoko as much as possible to avoid using up too many grief seeds. It's recommended to invest in Kyoko's Negate Spec. Stat Effects (精神系状態異常無効), for the encounter with Izabel. Kyoko's Steal (盗む) and Dozen Thrust (打突) are also useful for all encounters. For Kyoko, Hammer Down the Witches (魔女に与える鉄槌) is effective for single target damage to bosses. Sayaka's strong ability for single target is Spark Edge (スパークエッジ), which is easy to obtain, has effective damage for the cost, and does not have a charge delay.
Madoka's higher level abilities such as Starlight Arrow (スターライトアロー) is effective, particularly against stacked enemies. However, she tends to take damage much more easily than Kyoko and lacks Homura's avoidance abilities, so it requires more of an investment to make her as useful in combat. But as in the case of fighting Charlotte, her Twinkle Arrow ( トゥインクルアロー) works in excellent combination with Homura's Suspend Time to quickly kill her off.
Although this is Sayaka route, it is unnecessary to give Sayaka too many enhancement items since she doesn't have many chances to fight. Leave most of them for Kyoko and Homura is better. Her status is OK to handle battles by herself.