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leeholtwrites · 1 year

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Magical Girl Reunion Tour: Chapter 7

Magda

This morning had not gone as Magda expected. She had hoped to convince Shonda to take over as leader, but after seeing her, leaving her to fight Omira on her own didn’t feel right. Shonda didn’t know what Magda had experienced last time, just the aftermath after her little truth mirror trick. She had kids and a husband. Magda would just have to tighten the straps on her trauma backpack like a big girl and pick up the leadership mantle again. Even if she really, really didn’t fucking want to. Just the thought of transforming into the short little skirt again made her want to stomp her feet like a toddler and scream.

Then she had seen Chloe. Magda had tried to make light of the whole situation after Chloe tried to slug her, making jokes, breaking ice, and the rest of that nonsense. The truth was, the whole thing had rattled her, especially after Chloe had pointed a sword at her. A sword of all things! She had never expect her friends to be so mad at her for not speaking with them in fifteen years. Sure, a little cold maybe. The kind of irritated with her where they wouldn’t even give her the time of day, but to both assault her. Well… damn. If they were going to defeat Omira, they might need to talk, and not the easy kind.

There was not enough booze in the world to make Magda okay with telling them the truth.

For now she would just have to wear enough truth on the surface to make them happy. Hell, if they defeated Omira quickly enough, she would never have to tell them. She wondered if they would be okay with getting only Christmas cards, even though Kelsey was Jewish.

At least Sarah might not try to kill her. She was always the nice one.

When the light faded, they stood behind a parked car in a lot behind a brick building. The day was sunny, but not too warm, and filled with screams.

“What the hell?” Chloe said. “Why are we in a parking lot?”

Magda turned on her, half panicked. “That is what you’re focused on? Not the screams?”

Shonda peeked over the car they stood behind to see people rushing by. In the distance, iridescent light flashed against dark, darting figures. “Remember when we said how lucky we were that Omira hadn’t attacked yet? I think our luck has run out.”

Magda joined Shonda, narrowing her eyes to see if she could get a better assessment of the situation. The flashing iridescent light came from a figure dressed in blue, brown braid whipping around behind her. “Sarah’s already transformed. We should join her.”

She whipped around to face Shonda and Chloe, holding out her wand, her face carefully controlled to hide that she couldn’t believe those words had just left her mouth. In her logical mind, she had told herself that she was here to lead, to stay, to help her friends and those in trouble. The part of her that still broke out in a sweat whenever she smelled the sickenly sweet scent of some teen girl’s body spray, or even the occasional strawberry desert, fought to shove her wand back in her purse and run for it.

Her wand thrust up into the air, she swallowed the lump in her throat and shouted, “Dress me in love!”

Warmth and light passed over her. The pull of the magic for white gloves. A hot magenta robe, mantle, and boots. The most ridiculous pink bow imaginable on a thirty five year old woman. Magda struggled to move with the magic, to let it guide her through the dance. The panic arose, choking, stifling. Every muscle strained with tension as the sweet strawberry scent bathed her, dragging her back to eighteen in the cavern made of prisms. It passed, leaving her sweaty and wide-eyed. She gingerly touched her forehead, the feel of her gold band under her gloved fingers. Another swallow and a sigh. Shonda and Chloe couldn’t see her panic. They weren’t allowed.

They would ask too many questions Magda wasn’t ready to answer.

Luckily for Magda, she had plenty of external distractions from the internal darkness threatening to break her down into a sobbing, hyperventilating mess. One of those many distractions was the great variation between what all three of them were wearing now versus what they looked like as a teenagers. Their primary colors were still pink, orange, and green, but there weren’t miniskirts and midriff bearing tops and many other fashion details that would have looked embarrassingly young on them in their thirties. For one, Magda didn’t have her tell-tale pig tails no matter how she had styled her hair that day. Second, they now looked more like some costume designer couldn’t decide if they were part of some fantasy show or some sci-fi show.

Shonda’s transformation leaned more towards the sci-fi side with a white full-body suit as the base with no definable shoes. Instead the soles on her feet were a low wedges of a vibrant orange, the only feature on her feet that didn’t make her look like she was wearing footie pajamas. To help flatter her wide hips, a multitier peplum starting with a top layer of vibrant orange, each shade moving lighter until the bottom layer was white, hung almost to her knees. An obscenely fluffy bow of bright orange started at the hollow of her throat and covered most of her chest, a feature that it seemed none of them could escape. Same with the gold band across the forehead. They all had it, except Shonda had a nearly transparent visor floating over her eyes. It couldn’t hide the ombre eyeshadow that tastefully complimented her vibrant orange lipstick.

Chloe was almost a complete one eighty. Her whole body was covered in a sleek white plate mail armor that looked simultaneously futuristic and archaic, like the Ren Faire version of Storm Trooper. Under the white armor was a layer of spring green. Her long black hair was tied up in a green ribbon the same shade as The Bow – which Magda could not escape thinking of despite her best efforts as the most tacky thing that just had to carry over from their original transformations. Her makeup matched Shonda’s – except green – which means Magda’s was the same only pink.

Magda looked down at herself. Shonda gets a future cat suit. Chloe gets armor. She gets a hot pink robe with slits down the side to show off white leggings. A robe. As their fearless leader, she was a tad offended. At least she had a stylish gold belt to keep her from looking like Gandalf’s daughter. And no sleeves longer than the mantle over her shoulders. She didn’t know how she would feel if her sleeves were long enough to smuggle kittens in.

Shonda snorted. ”Wow. You both look like LARPing rejects.”

Chloe scowled and commanded her wand to transform. “Do not mock me. I have the sword.”

“You have armor.” Magda waved at herself with a sweep of her empty hand. “I look like I repurposed some little girl’s sheets.”

Before Shonda or Chloe could respond, there was another scream. They all whipped around toward the sound. “I’ll keep complaining later. Let’s go help Sarah.”

They charged around the cars in the parking lot and out into the street, Magda calling her wand to its true form. Ahead of them, Sarah had rolled behind an outdoor cafe table she’d knocked over for cover and was firing periodically at four identical parasites closing in on her. Sarah jumped to her feet and shouted “Concussive Comet!” A bright streak of light the size of a softball smashed into one of the parasites. It staggered, but didn’t fall.

As Magda and the others neared, the parasites spotted them. Each had a little satellite orbiting them. Pinpricks of green light appeared, seeming to gather from the air around each satellite. Before Magda could say anything, Chloe charged in front of them, her shield up. The specks of light flashed, sending bolts the same color through the air at Magda, Shonda, and Chloe. Chloe shouted “Sunshine Shimmering Shield!” A glowing, golden convex wall flew up from her shield, deflecting the green bolts back at the parasites. The bolts smashed into the parasites, staggering them, but they still didn’t go down. All three of them slid behind the table, joining Sarah, Chloe keeping the shield up.

Magda cleared her throat. “So, what’s going on?”

Sarah seemed to finally see them, drawing her wary eyes away from the circling parasites to turn wide eyes on them. “You’re here,” she shouted excitedly, but then her expression morphed into confusion. “Wait, you’re here.” That last bit, was obviously not addressed to anyone but Magda by the intensity in Sarah’s eyes.

“I’ll explain later,” Magda responded, happy that for Sarah had yet to try to punch her or use her powers on her. “Can you give us an update?”

She shook her head as if to clear whatever shock at seeing Magda had wreaked on her. “It’s my friend, Michelle. I went to invite her to lunch because I hadn’t seen her in a couple days, and I found her looking unwell. We argued, and her computer mouse turned into one of Omira’s little toys. Of course, that can’t be right, Omira is dead.”

“No she isn’t. We were coming to tell you. Please, continue.”

Sarah looked like she wanted Magda to explain more, but decided that could wait till later. “After she transformed, she stole bits of tech to make those little satellites, and then multiplied. They have a wickedly strong shield, so I haven’t been able to deal a lot of damage, even with my strongest attacks. I was actually getting a bit worried. I don’t have any purification spells and I’m running low on energy.”

There was no doubt Sarah had been working hard to keep this thing occupied. Her hair was falling out of her poof and braid, and her skin was covered in fine sheen of sweat. She was breathing hard. There was even the suggestion of bags under her eyes. Of course, her magical makeup still looked flawless, which was strange considering how tired Sarah looked.

Magda adjusted her position so she could assess her team. Chloe was standing, holding her shield, but it started to flicker. Sunshine Shimmering Shield was such a high energy spell there was no way for Chloe to maintain it much longer. “Shonda, we need to figure out if those additional parasites are physical copies, or just illusions.”

Shonda nodded curtly, her gesture of agreement. She called her want to its true form, then held it out over her left forearm as if looking scanning it. The mirror melted without a command, conforming to Shonda’s arm like it were made of mercury. Except mercury didn’t harden like cooled silver. Her mirror had turned into a bracer of near white metal that gleamed in the midday sun. With a wave over it, a command panel appeared above it. It too had changed. Where once the panel had been nothing but garish colors, it had matured, taking its colors from the sunrise shades of Shonda’s transformation.

She poked at it with her right hand while peeking over the table. Shonda was silent for a beat. “They’re illusions being protected by the satellites. It looks like those satellites are projecting the shields as well as firing the beams. If we destroy the satellites, then Maggie should be able to cast her purification.”

“I’ve tried,” Sarah said. “They move like they know what’s coming next.”

“You’re going to have to use Sterling Stars,” Magda replied. It really was the perfect option. “We’ll cover you while you get the lock.” Chloe’s shield flickered again. “Everyone good with the plan?”

Sarah nodded, gripping her bow.

Shonda nodded.

Chloe nodded without taking her eyes off her waning shield.

“Right. On my mark. Go.”

They all sprang to their feet. Chloe stayed with Sarah while Magda when right and Shonda went left. Sarah raised her bow, her own visor appearing to float across her vision. Chloe dropped the shield spell and drew her sword. Magda needed to draw the parasite’s attention from Sarah. She extended her empty hand toward the nearest parasites and shouted “Miraculous Myriad Meteors!” Magda ignored the little part of her that shriveled inside from how absolutely ridiculous she felt saying the spell as silver streaks of light shot from her hands, smashing into the parasites. They staggered, their shields shimmering. They continued to advance.

Shonda threw her own spell, a web of shimmering light that wrapped around each parasite, lines of rainbow light extending from Shonda’s fingers. She had positioned herself next to a light pole and was using its leverage to keep the parasites from advancing, one foot on the pole as she pulled. “I really need to stop skipping arm day,” said through gritted teeth as she struggled.

Magda struggled not to laugh as she sent another scattering of silver light to pepper the parasites.

“I can help you with that,” Chloe replied before she shouted, “Glimmering Edge,” her blade cutting through the air. An arc of sparkling white light smashed into the parasite nearest to her. “Well, that’s new.”

“A sword and a new spell. You bitch,” Shonda tried to snark despite her obvious discomfort trying to keep the parasites tethered.

“Sterling Stars!” finally came the cry they were waiting for. Sarah released her bow string. Multiple sliver arrows of light shot through the air, each one streaking into the orbiting satellites. The exploded on impact, and Magda was ready.

Moonlight Purification was a performance. She can’t simple say the words and the spell is cast, problem solved. Her staff held out before her in both hands, she closes her eyes. Suddenly, she thrusts out her left arm and left leg behind her, spinning the staff in one hand as she rotates on one foot. A circle of light forms around her. She stops once it’s complete. She places both feet back on the ground, one foot in front of the other, continuing spinning her staff with both hands now. Then she stops, and with her right hand waves it from left to right as she calls with all the conviction she can muster, “Moonlight Purification!”

A wave of pulsating white light washes over the parasites. Unearthly screams emanate from them as three of them melt away, the copies. The last one keeps screaming, its armor peeling off and turning to dust in the wake of the pulsating light. Slowly a woman is revealed, shook, but alive. The light will sooth away the nightmares and horrors. She will only lose a few days. A pang of jealousy strikes Magda, and the light waivers, but by this point the spell has done its job. She lowers her staff, and weariness over takes her. She’s glad she has something to lean on as she surveys the aftermath.

Sarah runs from her place over next to Chloe, who was supporting her, to the woman kneeling on the ground. “Michelle,” she asked softly.

Magda frowned. That woman knew Sarah. What was the chances that the first parasite to pop up would know one of them?

She didn’t have long to dwell on that though. The people that had been in the area, the ones that had hid, started to reemerge from the shops and other hiding places they had found during the battle. Some of them even started whipping out phones.

Sarah was on the ground now, embracing the freed woman – Michelle if she recalled right. While many people could interpret their reunion as just a hero checking on a victim, Magda didn’t want to chance it. She rushed over and promptly dropped to her knees next to them. Sarah didn’t look up, and she had to touch her shoulder. “Sa-Blue.”

“What is it, Pink?” The distain in her voice was unmistakable.

“Do you have any plans you need to get to? People have their cell phones out, and I think we should work on maintaining our cover,” she whispered.

Sarah shot her a side-eye glare. There was a pause before she said, “I do.”

“We’ll take care of her.” Magda met her eyes. “I promise. I’m not going anywhere. We’ll meet up again before we go speak with Purple.”

Shonda and Chloe stood behind them now. Magda wasn’t sure she was grateful for their presence so she didn’t have to be alone with Sarah, or if she was feeling a tad ganged up on.

“Go, Blue. We’ve got your friend,” Shonda said.

Sarah glanced around at all of them, before standing and running off. They would have to send her a text later so they could meet up.

Magda stood, guiding Michelle to her feet. Flashing lights and the wail of sirens grew closer. She sighed. “When this is all over, who wants coffee?”

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