With a wave of her hand, the flames swayed like a spiderweb in a wind, before curling up and converging into Flame’s hand.

On the other side of the room, the shards of ice finally clicked together as Frost and Spark stepped back with a huff. They looked over the ice prison with the demon inside, a grimace evident on their faces.

Finally, there was the unconscious kid. Bloom hadn’t wasted any time in tending to him, trying to undo whatever the demon had done. She sighed after a moment.

“Doesn’t seem like there are any side effects,” she said before carefully lifting the boy up, and putting him on her back.

The others nodded or grunted in acknowledgment as they began to leave the building but otherwise stayed silent. The demon had been defeated, the innocent kid saved, and the fire stopped. They’d won and yet…

“So… This will just keep happening then?” Spark stated, more than asked, as her fists clenched.

“It… might still just be an odd coincidence, but…” Bloom tried.

“No… Something is happening. Clearly,” Frost stated with a tone of certainty. “If we have aberrant demonic spirits running free, possessing random people, something must have happened in the demon world.”

“Dissent in their ranks?” Flame suggested as she glanced at her teammates.

“Maybe…” Frost’s grimace deepened as she crossed her arms. “Maybe our mysterious minion helper knows more. If only we could somehow contact her.”

Spark scoffed at that. “You put too much stock in her. She’s suspicious as all hell. I wouldn’t be surprised if she did something to start a civil war.”

“You’re exaggerating…” Bloom chipped in. “Did something like this ever happen before, by the way?” She turned to Frost.

“Hmm… Not that I remember… Or, wait. Actually…” Frost looked up at the ceiling as her eyes momentarily widened. “There was something a long time ago. Your predecessor –” She nodded to Spark. “-- was visited by some demonic spirit, and offered to join the demon army.”

“Wait what? Seriously?” Spark gaped at that.

“Yeah. It was before she even became a magical girl. Apparently, the spirit wanted to possess her or something. She would get great power yada yada.” Frost shrugged. “She obviously refused.”

“Huh… so they ask their victims before possessing them? That’s just weird.” Flame shook her head.

“Hold on, why haven’t you ever told us before?” Spark asked.

“Well, nothing ever came of it, the spirit left and never came back, and we never had to deal with people being possessed, so we all just kinda forgot about it.” Frost shrugged again. “But now that this is happening –” She glanced at the unconscious boy on Bloom’s back. “-- maybe the demons are trying again… This time without asking.”

“Well… great…” Spark grunted.

With that, they finally made it outside. The firefighters were still running around, making sure all the fire was put out, and the police also seemed to be present.

One of the officers made his way to the girls once he spotted them.

“The magical girls? What happened here?”

“There was a demon… It used fire magic,” Frost explained to him. “We took care of it. Sealed it up.”

“Right…” The officer nodded, before glancing at the kid on Bloom’s back. “Is the kid alright?”

“He should be fine,” Bloom confirmed. “But… he got caught in the middle of it. The demon was basically holding him hostage.” Her expression warped.

“Damn, demons…” The officer muttered. “Well, thanks for the help, ladies. We’ll call his parents and take over now.” He gave everyone a small smile, before grabbing his walkie-talkie and mumbling something into it.

In a few minutes, more people in uniforms and some EMTs came running, and Bloom put the boy into their care. With some more pleasantries and confirmations that demons indeed suck ass – Spark’s words – the magical girls lifted off from the scene.

A moment of silence later, Spark groaned. “Why does this always happen? It’s not even the generals now! I thought we could relax a bit since only two of them are left, but nope!”

“Yeah… It’s unfortunate…” Bloom said before grimacing. “Which reminds me… I bet they are training up two more again. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ll have two new generals to deal with soon.”

“Oh, don’t even mention that! Hopefully, they aren’t as narcissistic as that Forneus guy, at least. Ugh… I need another chill gaming night.” Spark glanced at Bloom. “Which reminds me… You better have gotten rid of that message already.”

Bloom sighed. “I didn’t think it would catch Jessica’s eye.”

“I’m still wondering why it did,” Frost mused. “Do you think she could sense the magic in it somehow?”

“What? Jessica? Having access to magic? God save us all,” Spark jested. “Just imagine Jessica getting her hands on that little bomb and accidentally setting it off.”

“Don’t worry about that… I already gave it away to my cousin,” Bloom assured everyone. “She said she wanted to take a closer look, and maybe talk to the first generation’s Frost about it.”

“Huh? The first gen? Is that little thing really that big of a deal?”

“Apparently.”

“Hmm… Well, either way, do you really think Jessica has some magical potential or something?” Spark glanced at Frost.

“Who knows?” She shrugged. “Probably not. I was just thinking out loud.”

Their chatter turned to more mundane topics from then on.  When would the next gaming night be, Flame considering joining the local running event, Frost’s boyfriend’s antics, and so on.

Once they made it far enough from the burning building, they descended into an alleyway where nobody could see them and transformed back into their civilian selves.

“So, next Sunday then?”

“Yeah, I’ll send Jessica a text.” Erika nodded.

“Alright! See you then!”

“Bye!”

“See you all later.”

“Until next time.”

The girls parted ways, each going in a different direction. Sarah, however, didn’t really have a destination in mind. She had been planning on going to a movie, but then the fire happened, and now the movie was probably over.

Stupid demons.

BottledChaos

Next time: "Prepare yourself!" or "Oh? A personal challenge from one of the generals? Don't mind if I do!"